where art collides

Ankles bitten to death on the golf course yesterday evening. That hasn’t happened before. Either it’s because of all the rain we’ve had or perhaps I haven’t worn trainer liners before when playing golf. Will have to get the Avon Skin So Soft going next time. Anyway a good time was had by all and we ended up in the Frenny (Friendship Inn) for the traditional pie and chips. I lost a quid. Not too bad. I took the money last time 🙂

I’m supposed to be emptying the trailer today in anticipation of Will picking it up this evening but the weather forecast ain’t good. Gotta be done. It’s full of old camping rubbish that mostly needs taking to the tip anyway. The garden is looking very lush with all the rain of the past few days. A far cry from the perfect weather of last week and the weekend.

THG has brought me a pot of tea as she sets off on her rounds of the estate. Checking up on the plants yanow. It looks as if we will be in for a bumper apple crop this year. Last year’s was not particularly good, especially the cooking apples but this year they were later flowering and are looking good. On the other hand it looks as if we may only have six apricots. That tree was an early blossom job.

I’m told we have one dead slug next to the beer trap behind the raised beds. It is a start. It died happy. Need to get a supply of cheap lager in as the stuff I put in has now been heavily diluted in the rain. We do have a load Strongbow cider in the garage fridge (orrible stuff left over from various parties) but I’m not so sure that cider works against slugs and snails. Will give it a go. Cyberdoyle advised that I need to bury the containers down to ground level which I will do.

Dawn creeps steadily forward as we hurtle towards the longest day. Only five weeks away now wot! The purpose of the opening remark was to allow me to say that when I awoke, shortly after five, I didn’t hear the dawn chorus. Either dawn was earlier or the boids had gone somewhere else. Now, at shortly before six, I can hear avian activity but it is not nearly as intense as at dawn.

The milkman came at three twenty one, fair play. Well before dawn. I expect he has to get back before daylight as he turns into a yo’ gurt, or something like that. I wonder what flavour.

Sat in the conservatoire. Grass needs cutting again, I note, and it is fairly dull out. I’m playing golf this evening and I think the rain will stay away. We are fairweather golfers nowadays. When I were a lad I’d play in all weathers with me dad. We would only not go if the course was closed.

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At my desk by nine twenty five. What’s the rush. I did do an hour’s worth of toil in the conservatory but that does seem like a long time ago now 🙂. THG has gone hunter gathering and I have two conference calls before lunch. The shed doors are shut today. Not so warm and I am wearing a fleece.

The wildflower meadow is emerging nicely. I expect a carpet of greenery by the time I get back from Antwerp next Thursday.

Il pisseth down d’aujourd’hui on the empire of Tref. No need to water the new strip of flowers in front of the shed or my newly planted peas. This is fine, no pun intended. This is the UK. Ironically we are off swimming at nine thirty where it will also be very wet. Sfine. Sgood 🙂 In the shed the rain thunders down on the roof causing a shiver to run down my spine and bringing a smile to my face.

I wore my Tilley hat for the journey from the house to the shed. Just to keep the rain off my specs. It is perhaps a little understood side effect of my disability. The fact that poor eyesight gets worse in the rain. When we did the Coast to Coast walk on the first day there was a raging gale. Horizontal driving rain. I took my specs off because I could see better without them. Put them in my waterproof coat breast pocket. 

Unfortunately by the end of the day they were lost. I had kept putting a map or similar in that pocket and the continual act had dislodged the glasses somewhere along the route. Fortunately I had a spare pair. We got lost on the final leg of that first day. I got my phone out to use GPS but the rain rendered it unusable. Every time I looked at it the raindrops on the screen made the phone think I was touching something on the screen and it went haywire. Fortunately we made it thanks to navigator Tom.

My first meeting today is not until noon so I have some time to read after the swim.

The shed is a v relaxing place in the rain. Doors are wide open. It is not cold.

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The rain has moved on and the birds sound quite chatty. “Glad that’s done dickie, innit”. Shed doors still wide open but without socks my feet are a little on the cold side. I’m not ‘ard enough obvs. Off out in a bit, on shanks’ pony so will need to don socks. One of the dividends of living in warm countries, which this ain’t, is the ability to wear sandals or flip flops. For me today is a flip flop day. You have to grab the opportunity whilst you can. However I’m not going for a walk in flip flops.

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Swung by to see Wildthing this afternoon. St Barnabas Hospice. He is in there to stabilise his medication and fortunately is coming out on Thursday. When people go into a hospice it is normally a one way trip.

Now watching the Spurs v Man City game in the shed. Bloody boring.

We are talking idyllic morning on the deck in front of the shed. When I say idyllic I mean totes idyllic from which the sound of the traffic on the road in front of the house does not detract. 

The birds are in an ecstatic mood with the robin and the wren in full voice, joined just now by a sparrow. Then a dunnock. A small long tailed bird flitted silently in one of the apple trees, jumping from branch to branch. I couldn’t quite make out what it was. Got the camera out to zoom in but it chose that moment to fly at me and settled in the branches of the beech above the shed. A noisy crow has just flown out of the sycamore. Good. Go and crow elsewhere.

THG is getting ready for church. I am not. She picked up some more compost yesterday so I need to spend  time digging some of that into the raised bed where the peas are going but twill not occupy much of the day.

It is without a doubt the best time of the year. I need to put some effort into finding my sandals. A long period of hibernation means I’ve forgotten where they went. I may not even know where they went if they were tidied up by another. The rest of the household has been questioned regarding this without success and no offer of assistance. Fair enough.

Just caught my tea before it went cold. Today is a day for wearing silk shirts made whilst were in Thailand. I chose the silk from a factory outlet in Chiang Mai and got the tailor in the hotel basement to make me five or so. It is time we went back to south east asia to stock up with more togs. Not been to Singapore for quite a few years. A paradise in that part of the world. We shall see. Not rushing into it.

The shed doors are open as wide as they will go and Spotify is calming me with classical. My desk is in the standing position. This is partly because I shut down my mac mini on Friday as something had frozen and it is easier to switch back on from the raised position. I have left it in place for now (didn’t last long).

It is Sunday the twelfth of May. Twenty twenty four. Remember this. Each day is important 🙂 Enjoy all of it, to the full. Tell that special him or her how special they are.

I feel as if I could get on with a job or two. The trailer needs emptying, the garage and potting shed need tidying. The latter is almost impossible to get into such is the amount of gardening junk chucked in randomly. It all belongs there. Just needs a bit of order. We haven’t used it as a potting shed this season as the shelves in the greenhouse do the job.

Tuesday has been identified as the day to sort out the trailer. It’s a team effort, particularly as we need THG’s wheels to get the stuff to the tip. It’s all crappy old camping gear. The good stuff was removed to the garage years ago. Not that we go camping nowadays. We prefer nice hotels and cottages. Call me a wimp. Renting a MoHo for the Nile Rodgers and Sting gigs in June.

Saw a blackbird eating a worm this morning. Nature in action. It is similar to the time that Hannah and I saw a pride of lions eating a buffalo but completely different obvs 🙂. The    avian varmints have been pecking away at my newly seeded strip of flowers but it doesn’t look to be a major problem. Most seeds are hidden/buried and there are a lot of them.

It is such a lovely morning I’ve been sat outside on the deck reading a book and listening to birdsong. The usual members of the choir although we did have a blue tit today which isn’t always on the list. Best time of year.

I have a fairly relaxing day ahead. Couple of conf calls, a stroll to a local shop to purchayse some salad for lunch. WIll also fire up the bbq later as we have some keebabs to consume. It will only be the second or third time this season but I sense we will start using the bbq more often from now on.

I’ve started wearing the safari hat I bought in Cape Town. Perfect for this weather. A mix of cotton canvas with some leather. I have to wear a hat in the sunshine. It’s a killer yanow, the sun. The deck is nicely shaded but still warm and a perfect place to relax.

The milkman came at four seventeen this morning. I was asleep but apaz THG heard him.

THG called the dairy to cancel Friday’s milk delivery to be told that they were planning on bringing double the usual amount due to there being no deliveries on Monday. Odd. It isn’t a bank holiday. Maybe Sunday is the annual milkman’s picnic and none of them would be in any state to drive their floats in the wee small hours of Monday morning.

I once rocked up at some provincial airport in the USA one Sunday evening only to find it was the annual taxi drivers’ picnic. There was just the one van working who made a killing. He would charge everyone the going rate even if there were three of you going to the same destination. Billy no mates probs otherwise he’d have been at the picnic. Either that or by now a multi millionaire.

Looks like another beeootiful day in prospect. Am out and about this morning but a bit of gardening on the cards this pm. Most of northern Europe is on holiday so communication channels will be quiet.

A sunny morning out there. Not many walkers along the Aldeburgh sea front yet. Perhaps it is still early. Seven fifteen. A couple of smokeries on the beach have a truck outside so I imagine preparation for the day is ongoing. 

We will have gone by the time the day trippers get here. Taking in a visit to Southwold before stopping off at the Wards in Moulton for tea en route home.

A man with two sniffy dogs has arrived. He is content to allow progress at the speed of sniffy dog. There was no discernible dawn chorus, unless I slept through it, but the gulls are now starting to chatter. The tide is in and still at the place I last looked but all that tells me is that I last looked twelve hours ago.

The meal in the hotel Brasserie last night was pleasant enough. We just had a main course each. I had gammon egg and chips. Gammon was a bit on the thin side but it was ok. There was a family sat on the table behind us. Kid had a pink ipad or similar and was watching cartoons and the grandad spent most of his time gazing into his laptop and his phone whilst eating fish and chips. The grandmother eventually took the kid away to change the nappy. No sign of the mother.

Had a shower and popped out to enjoy the sea air. Met the man with the sniffy dogs coming in with a bag of what looked like bakery items. Not having breakfast in the hotel one assumes. Then sat at the bench by the petanque court and hit the jackpot.

Fishing boat LT1018 was being towed out of the sea by a tractor and then unloaded. Twenty yards from me. The sun was right behind so the pics and vids were somewhat in shadow. They had been out at oh four hundred to catch the fish. Looked like a load of crabs, couple of lobsters, lots of sole and then some large dogfish. No idea how much that lot would go for. I guess most of the catch would be sorted ready for the shop to open a bit later on.

Back in the room for a conf call. Considered doing it from the bench as the hotel wifi reached there but there was a drilling noise coming from somewhere so would have got in the way. Conf call now over and headed down for breakfast.

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Pretty countryside. Lots of signs objecting to Sizewell C. Husqvarna dealer. Village green. No mobile signal. Westleton? B1125. Free range pigs. Spa sign in state of disrepair.

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Arrived at Southwold Pier to a large and fairly empty car park. Immediately blew £2 between us in two pences on the amusements. Had to wash our hands afterwards, as usual. Those two pences carry the grime of thousands of tourists over the decades. Disgusting really 🙂

Walked to the end of the pier and then stopped for a cuppa in the caff. Took off my specs. Without my specs the world is a different place. Smaller. There is an element of retreat to doing this which I quite like.

Just passed a country church on the B1127.  Ancient edifice with brick flying buttresses. Couldn’t see where we were on the car sat nav and have now moved on. Possibly Wrentham? Not too far from Hulver Street. St Nicholas’ Church, Wrentham.

Anyway back in Southwold we strolled up the hill to the green. There was an Adnams pub there called the Sole Bay Inn. Made me realise I’d not had a pint of Adnams this trip despite being in the brewery heartland. Then I realised the pub was directly in front of the Adnams brewery. Was likely going to be the best pint of Adnams you could get.

No good. Far too early in the day. THG would not have approved 🙂 We bought nothing at a retro shop in the Methodist Church Hall and returned to the car. By the time we left, the car park had filled up and the seafront was teeming with people on a bank holiday day out. 

We pointed the Silver Bullet north and have now crossed the border into Norfolk.

The village of Thurton has three car parks. Two are just laybys on the edge of the village and with no footpath serve no real purpose other than as places for people to stop and stretch their legs. The other car park is handily placed outside the pub in the centre of the village. 

I mentioned to THG that Thurton was given permission to have laybys by royal decree in 1185 but I was told to shut up because she was concentrating on the driving. Clearly I am not driving and have time for a bit of banter. Bants as the kids would have it.

We are now in traffic on the A47 23mph. Who would want to drive in the UK!  We need to find a place to stop for lunch. I am in the mood for a sausage roll. Dunno if it’s going to work out. You rarely find decent sausage rolls in garages. Usually cardboard crap.

In the meantime the news has been switched on. I am not in control of this. In our car the driver decides. There is never any good news. Either that or they keep it for right at the end and it only lasts thirty seconds. 

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We are home and it must be said things are pretty idyllic in the back garden.  Our first greenfinch  of the season is tweeting away. THG is watering. The grass, only mown on Thursday, is going to need doing again soon. It is the growing season.

As hotel breakfasts go ours was down there: 🙂Pretty grotty. Didn’t really have any expectations as we booked this palace for proximity to last night’s Pink Martini gig. The gig was fantastic. Tbh my expectations of hotel breakfasts anywhere are not high and this place met them

Now sitting in the window of Room 101 watching the marine traffic go by. A pretty historic place really, the Thames estuary. You can imagine the number of ships that have passed by here over the centuries. From all over the world. The Empire.

I find the British Empire a fascinating subject. On the one hand its global reach and diversity was phenomenal. On the other hand, with hindsight, it was all wrong. I guess you play the hand you have at the time. The unfortunate thing is that some people in the UK, mostly politicians, cling on to the dream of Empire and the influence that came with it. They will mostly not be around after the next election.

I quite like the fact that to travel across the Empire it had to be mostly done by boat. Slow travel. Given the choice those travelling in this way would have preferred a quick ten hour flight, or twenty four hours at a push. They clearly don’t understand the baggage that comes with long haul airline travel. The jostling for an upgrade, can I get into the lounge etc etc.

So this morning we kiss goodbye to Southend On Sea, a place that didn’t gain universal approval of everyone in the travelling party and move along the coast briefly to Leigh on Sea and then Aldeburgh. I quite liked Southend on Sea. It is a classic British seaside resort with ice cream kiosks, chippies, a fairground and the world’s longest pier. Somewhere you could spend a day out.

We did wait forever in a cold wind for a taxi that never materialised but then I blagged my way onto the open top bus to drop me off a mile or so along the prom near to our hotel. Actually I didn’t have to do any blagging. When he found out I only wanted to go one stop the driver let me on for nothing. THG had already left to go back to the hotel.

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It must be said that being in Essex almost feels like being in a different country.

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I am off to Manchester at the end of the month from Lincoln. A single train ticket costs £29.85 on LNER. No advanced purchase options. Anytime single only. 

However trainline.com offers me a place on the 09.15 for £12.95. Advanced purchase. Is there something wrong on the LNER site? I buy most of my tickets using LNER but can’t see it happening in future if you are so much more expensive.

There must be a software problem?

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So we’ve arrived in Aldeburgh. A few observations immediately spring to mind. The place is full of day trippers. Posh day trippers. This is totally at odds with Sarfend which although also had many day trippers, I imagine, few of them if any being posh.

It was pointless even to think about finding a free table in a caff. I queued outside an ice cream shop for what seemed like twenty minutes to get my double scoop vanilla and honeycomb. The kid in front of me in the queue said his family usually took a cottage nearby for four weeks. I didn’t bother looking into the posh kitchen shop, knowing its prices would not be targeted at me.

I’m hoping many of the day trippers will have buggered off home by four fifteen which is when we have to move the car. The free parking in front of the hotel begins to empty at this time, apaz.

We do have a nice room facing the sea and looking down over the petanque pitches, or whatever a boules playing area is called. There is a fish smokery directly outside the hotel and the pebbles on the beach are so nice they would be very suitable for our front drive. Obvs that’s not going to happen 🙂.

I am currently enjoying a cup of tea lovingly prepared for me by THG with, and wait for this, with a small packet of digestive biscuits for dunking. Digestive biscuits! This must be a good hotel. The only way they could better this were they to be bourbon creams.

Aldebough also seem to be home to quite a few Adnams pubs, all of which look to be worth a visit. Will have to see how it goes. Our dinner reservation is for eighteen thirty. Eating in the Brasserie as opposed to the attached curry house as Sunday is the one day they are closed. Huh.

Number of visitors and the scarcity of parking spots aside there is a sword hanging over Aldeburgh. The sword of the Sizewell nuclear power station, very visible up the coast to the north. Now I’m sure everyone has different views about nuclear power.  I wonder why Winscale changed its name to Sellafield. Also I note that when I was a student, the manger of the Wylfa nuclear power plant in Anglesey lived in Chester according to one of our lecturers who was a mate of his.

Enough! I have to go and move the car.

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It must be said that the Conservative Party is a spent force in British politics. We have had four disastrous Prime Ministers – Dave Cameron, Treesa May, Boris, I’m an inveterate liar and totally useless at governing but have a way with words that cons a lot of people, Johnson, Liz, I’m not only totally useless but also very dangerous, Truss and now an ineffective lame duck called Dishi Rishi who could call an election but who is clinging on for as long as possible hoping for an unlikely miracle.

The Tories believe their only hope is to move further to the right in the belief that this is what will win them back votes. Reality is that it is only a vociferous minority whose votes this will attract. Most “ordinary” people are just totally fed up with them. 

They can’t see that people who are poorer now than when the Tories came into power don’t want to vote for them. They are destroying the NHS and the education system. Doctors, nurses and teachers are leaving the profession like never before.

Government ranks are populated with third rate people who are only there because at some time they expressed support and admiration for BoJo. Most competent Tory politicians are no longer on the scene.

The hope is that the ranks of Tory MPs will be totally obliterated in the forthcoming general Election and the party will have to start again. Low grade extremists with a voice such as Suella Deville Braverman would better find their natural home in the Reform party and be relegated to a rightful obscurity, forgotten by history.

We awake to a sunny Chelmsfordian Saturday. The kitchen is a hive of activity as Hannah prepares breakfast and THG has wandered out to survey the garden, natch. My only responsibility is to poach the egg 🙂 Radio 2 entertains. Can’t remember when I last listened to it.

There is no urgency to the day. At some stage we will meander to Leigh on Sea and thence Southend where we have reserved a sea facing room at the Muthu Hotel. Our plan is to dine at the Southend Pavillion before the Pink Martini gig. I wouldn’t normally stay at the Muthu Hotel. It doesn’t rate particularly highly on booking.com or tripadvisor but there wasn’t much choice and it is only a three minute walk from the pavillion. It will do the job. Wasn’t particularly cheap but I suspect rooms were going fast due to PM fans needing somewhere to stay.

This morning I understand there is a plan to go to John Lewis in town. It is a shop. As such the ladies will make their own way. It is a short walk from Hannah’s. I could spend an hour or two watching Essex CCC but there is no game today. As a member of Notts I can get in for free by reciprocal arrangement.

George is away on rugby tour but Joe is with us and is good company. Unless he wants to go to John Lewis. A bit of time spent on your own is good for the soul. Inward reflection 🙂 Mind you I get a lot of that in the shed.

Quite a funny incident last night. The Ring app on my phone told me there was someone at the front door so I took a look. Turned out to be some yoof running up to the door, ringing the bell and running away again. Had to laugh.

A humble sausage sandwich for breakfast. The evidence has been destroyed in the usual way. I say humble but not sure the sausages expressed any humility as they went down. Go on, eat me. Might as well. 

Perhaps I meant a simple sausage sandwich. Certainly not majestic. The sausage, as the product of common endeavour, couldn’t claim to be majestic. The majestic pig? George Orwell revisited.

This morning’s chorus was brought to you by a chaffinch, robin, blue tit, sparrow, wood-pigeon, dunnock and blackcap. Milkman came at 03:50.

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We are now southbound at the speed of the Silver Bullet. THG driveth. I’m treating today as a weekend day as is oft the case. Bank Holiday. As you know we are off to Sarfend to see Pink Martini, manăna. Sarfend Pavilion.

As you may know I no longer have a car and although I am happy to share the driving where appropriate/relevant/required I also like sitting in the passenger seat doing stuff.

As we drive down the Great North Road the countryside is coming into leaf. Blossom adorns the roadside hedgerows. It is the best time of year. A mild drizzle is evident as we race past Stamford. This is why our land is green and pleasant. I quite like the rain.

The garden is alive with birdsong this morning. The usual blackbird, dunnock and chiffchaff but now with a blackcap thrown in for good measure. Am wondering whether the blackcap song is similar to the blackbird and therefore Merlin mixed up. I’d prefer to think not. Not sure I’d even heard of a blackcap before.

Busy enough morning but broken the back of it/delegated and now sat with a cuppa having actually done some tidying and filing. The stuff for filing, which dates back a couple of years, has either been moved onto my spare desk for filing, or onto a different pile for shredding. The stuff I want to keep is mostly scanned in anyway.

I was prompted to do a bit of tidying because I knocked a glass of water over on my desk and soaked some stuff that didn’t want soaking. Normally I do try and keep a tidyish desk but the last couple of weeks has seen stuff piling up and now it is not. Still got a few plastic boxes full of stuff to sort/dispose of. One day I’ll probably just chuck the lot.

Local elections today. Just heard a car drive past with a megaphone blaring out vote Labour or similar. We already did a postal vote. I see no point in having to physically go to the polling station. It isn’t as if I’m still agonising over who to vote for and leaving it until the last minute. TBH I have no idea about the police commissioner.

My new carving set and gloves have been tidied into the “projects” chest of drawers. It’s gone into the same drawer as the brand new and as yet untouched watercolour paint set purchaysed during some lockdown or another. The easel is lying on its side next to the beer fridge! Will not lie unused for too long obvs 🙂

Starting to get excited about the Pink Martini gig on Saturday. Just booked the restaurant at the venue for a pre show dinner. This being the Southend Pavillion it won’t quite be the same as the Royal Albert Hall VIP package we had when we last saw them but I’m sure it will be good. Had to prepay for the meal. Clearly they are a dodgy crowd in the Sarfend area.

The snooker is now on. One of the very few daytime TV programmes I’d admit to watching. Semi finals. The quality of the snooker has been steadily improving as we get through the rounds. There’s nothing more annoying than seeing sloppy snooker from people from who one demands perfection or as near as. I’m not very good at it meself.

And finally some book news. My order of Droppings Dung and Scats of Southern Africa has been delayed as the publication date is now November of this year. Wossgoinon?! I guess they might as well wait to make sure all the relevant poo is covered, so to speak. However the good news is that my “Easy Company Soldier” with Sgt Don Malarkey is out for delivery today. Looking forward to that 🙂