where art collides philosoperontap

It is observed that the Pope is visiting Peru where he lived for 20 years, apaz, according to the wireless. I’ve never been, though thought about it. Probs wont go. Not met the pope either, yet. Still time. I’ve got a candle inside a glass with his picture on it that I bought last summer  for 10 euros in Limoges cathedral. I’d say that would be a conversation starter were we to meet. Dunno when. Our paths don’t seem to cross. Let’s face it we don’t have the same interests. Rugby, cricket, golf, stuff like that. No idea what floats the Popes boat. Jigsaws? Maybe ping pong, a passion developed over years of running the church youth group.

07:19 and it is light out. Just noticed. Happens every day though not necessarily at the same time. The sun pokes its nose over the horizon, sees that it’s ok to appear, and rises. Just like that.

Arr Jim lad. Just emitted that phrase in conversation with THG, for some unexplainable reason. Pirate talk. You probably don’t hear those words that often, certainly not in Lincoln anyway. Maybe nearer the coast. Some might suggest that a pirate could have sailed up the river witham to the Brayford pool downtown but that would demonstrate poor knowledge of the topography of the area. No way could a pirate ship get under High Bridge. The point being that the bridge ain’t all that high. Could have moored down stream at Stamp End and walked into town, I suppose. Rampaged more like, unless the pirates were taking a break from raping and pillaging and having a bit of well earned downtime. Lincoln would i’m sure welcome well behaved pirates wanting to spend some of their ill gotten doubloons in local bars and restaurants. I daresay they would also stop by M&S to stock up on wardrobe basics. Replenish their underwear n stuff like that. Maybe even swing by the  M&S caff for a lahttay and a slice of lincolnshire plumbread. As long as they remain well behaved and respectful of others’ space, obvs.

Good news item on the radio. Tourettes cure. A watch that tourettes sufferers can wear that detects when they are about to have a spasm and applies a gentle electric shock that stops it. Amazeballs.

I wonder if the pope ever met Paddington bear when he lived in Peru?

Enuff…

…

A cold, crisp late autumn day out there. We are playing golf this pm and will need a few layers. 12:40 tee off to basically as late as is sensible to make it round before the aforementioned sun kisses us goodbye for another day and heads on to all points west.

btw if you are watching amazon prime don’t try clicking fast forward through the ads. I did and found that I’d put a barbie doll in my Amazon shopping trolley

15 mins or so to dash off a post before taking the Silver Bullet to Coops’ garage for a service. Pete is picking me up from there to come back and rack the wine. I have all the gear ready and we have enough demijohns to take the whole 30 or so litres. This is the first time we will have a reading on how much alcohol there is in the brew. It will then be left on a high shelf in the garage to overwinter ready for bottling in the spring.

Feels like a Monday morning, having just returned from an overnighter in Leeds yesterday afternoon. THG has gone out to her strength class. The leaves have returned once more to the lawn. Even the acer by the shed has shed most of its beautiful ruddy bronze foliage. At least we have somewhere to put the fallen leaves now. One winter they just got left there which didn’t do the grass any good at all.

…

Back early from the garage. Coops gave me a lift. He’s got the window of the fun bus back in place and now just waiting for a part to reconnect the winder.

The early morning mist has begun to lift over the playing fields at the back of Adel Lane. The house is beginning to stir. I hear voices. Wondering whether a bacon sarnie will be on offer. The only way to find out is to get up and get dressed. I cant smell bacon though 😀 Praps they’re waiting for me. Granola. Sgood.

Dog walkers appear on the playing fields, armed no doubt with their little green bags.

THG has gone weight training leaving me in charge. I don’t feel this to be a burden. The responsibility sits comfortably on my shoulders. I do have a few jobs to sort out this morning. Call the Peugeot garage to book the Silver Bullet in to sort out the tyre pressure warning that keeps coming on despite the fact there is bugger all wrong with the tyre pressures. Also need to work on my order for the National Library of Wales for my visit next week. Got a lot of books n docs to sieve through. Plenty to be getting on with.

The new compost bins are being used to the satisfaction of all concerned. “We” mowed the lawn yesterday and the clippings, together with a green bin load of leaves all went in for compost and we added some from the old black plastic composter that is now redundant. Not much green garden waste left to add really but we will be well prepared for next season.

An autumn mist has descended upon the land of Tref and THG. It feels comfortable. Today will largely be one for relaxation after the high tempo of the last three days. For me it felt like a two centre holiday. The cancelled Lincoln train failed to slow us down and we made the CCUK DDoS workshop and Queen’s dress exhibition (see if you can guess who went to which one) in plenty of time. We both arrived early at the Intercontinental and took advantage of the excellent Kinaara restaurant before ambling over to the Stevie Wonder gig where Joe and Lucy spotted and joined us at the back of an enormous, albeit fast moving, queue. Steve was phenomenal. We ended up back at the Clipper Bar for a night cap before retiring.

An alarm clock poked us into life at six thirty ey em on Friday morning. Good breakfast with fried bread cooked to order, a walk to North Greenwich underground station and thence Stratford for the train to Norwich and the golf. Joined the lads on the fifth. I wasn’t going to bust a gut to make it for the first and detract from the excellent breakfast experience at the hotel. My golf was abysmal but the craic was of the highest order. We dined (nothing to write home about) at the hotel before Ubering it to the delights of Norwich. Back in the room by midnight ish.

Yesterday the format changed to a Texas Scramble and a terrific day of golf. Our tee times, 12:20 and 12:30, meant that it was dark by the time the second group (us) finished but the final birdie of the day was a strong conclusion to the round. We won by 4 shots. The journey home, which involved a stop for fish and chips at Sutton Bridge, was marked by the passenger window on Coops’ ‘bus’ falling into the door leaving us (me as I was sat in the front passenger seat) somewhat exposed and chilly even with the heater on full blast. At Sutton Bridge some remedial repairs were made in the guise of a hi viz jacket covering the hole in the window but I still had to hold it down and was lent a glove for the purpose. My other hand held on to the team’s bottle of Jura whisky which was periodically swigged to help fend off the cold. It was nice to get home to THG’s lovely smile and the warmth of the snug. A fantastic gig and another great golf trip.

One month from tomorrow is my 65th birthday!

The bastards have cancelled our train. It would be quite nice if they told you rather than relying on you to look as I just wanted to check the departure time. Fortunately there are drive to Newark and catch train from there options. I’m off to a DDoS workshop at the 8×8 offices. I think that’s what it’s about. Might be something else! 🙂 

I looked and the earlier direct train is also cancelled. Gemini tells me it is because someone has chucked themselves under a train south of newark. An email has now appeared telling me it’s cancelled. Sokay I called LNER (to my surprise someone answered straight away, ish) and booked 2 seats on the 11.42 out of Nuarque Northgate. We will actually get in earlier than planned albeit after forking out for a taxi.

Three sausages for breakfast. Just finishing off stuff in the fridge left over from the influx of visitors at the weekend. I almost said infestation of visitors but that would not have been a true reflection of the sentiment.

V successful day yesterday (football apart – the Pool lost 0 – 1 v the Arse enal). We had the full family team up for Hannah & George’s baby shower and everyone pitched in to get the house ready for the arrival of the guests. Lots of old friends many of who THG and I had known since they were babies themselves. There were many highlights but the one I specifically pick out for you was the pass the parcel game. Each layer had a baby related multiple choice question and if the person holding the parcel when the music stopped got the answer right they won a choccie from the bag. 

Two of the layers had a challenge which was a timed “putting a nappy on the baby (teddy bear)” These were “won” by Eve, a highly experienced nappy changer and prospective father George who had never done it before. Eve finished in a creditable 14 seconds whereas George took 54 seconds much to the amusement of all present. There is a video of the attempts (54 seconds long obvs) but that remains private for the protection of the innocent.

Half the visitors left last night and the rest of them go today, our John headed for LHR and thence BER. Right now the house is quiet. I’ve had a sausage sarnie and a cup of tea and will soon get ready for the day. This will involve putting the finishing touches to the compost bins and actually depositing some green material into the left hand compartment. Deep satisfaction all round and thanks to everyone involved in the project including our John for his carpentry skills and George for clearing the space of some v heavy logs.

We have decided to head to London for the launch of Tom’s new game “Your Call Is Important”, the first output of his business “Release The Owl”. A quick search will get you there. Now this is an unplanned trip so we figured we would see how we might get there as economically as possible. I’ve booked Hilton Tower Bridge on points. It’s near the venue for the launch party. Then the train down has cost £1.41! For the two of us!! I booked the cheapest train which, at 13:20 happens to be very convenient for us anyway, got std class tickets (I know, I know – it must be 20 years or more but this is very much an experiment) for £1.41 by using my LNER perks credit. Just indeed to book the return but THG will be travelling separately for that as I have now decided to use the time to pop to the National Archives for a spot of old document reading. I might be catching the 19:43 home which will make for a long day but needs must.

Saddened to hear that  Glens of Antrim Potatoes has gone tits up. A crisp manufacturer of 54 years standing. Bugger. Not that I ever tried a bag of their crisps, afaik. They are based in Antrim in Northern Ireland. Perhaps they struggled with expanding their market footprint. Another victim of rising costs I daresay.

I checked out their core crisp flavours:

• Irish Mature Cheese & Sweet Onion (also referred to as Irish Mature Cheddar & Sweet Onion) – Sharp cheese with sweet onion.
• Irish Sea Salt & Vinegar (or Clogherhead Sea Salt and White Wine Vinegar) – Local sea salt combined with white wine vinegar.
• Irish Sea Salt (Port Oriel, Clogherhead sea salt) – Simple sea salt seasoning.
• Sweet Sriracha Chilli – Fiery, sweet, vinegary sriracha seasoning.
• Roast Beef & Mustard – Vegetarian-friendly meaty flavor paired with mustard heat.
• Gammon & Pineapple – Salty, smoky gammon combined with sweet pineapple.
• Pickled Onion – Sweet, salty, and sour pickled onion flavor.
• Prawn Cocktail – Fresh and tangy seafood seasoning.

I’m mostly a cheese and onion fan really though not averse to other flavours. I assume the first three listed were their best sellers.

Full on day yesterday with a walk to Sincil Bank for the Birmingham game which we lost three one. Then a pint in the Tiny Tavern followed by a small pizza with George in Stack, which I’d not been to before but which some pals had praised. Number 5 bus home. Ended the evening watching back to back episodes of Father Ted in the shed with our Tom.

All is now quiet and I’m writing this from the shed as every room in the house is being used as a bedroom and my normal post breakfast (2 weetabix with milk, banana and raspberries and two slices of toast and marmalade) destinations of the front room and the snug are unavailable.

Once everyone is up the place will become a hive of activity with everyone pitching in to prepare the buffet for the guests for Hannah’s Baby Shower. This is a new concept for me but one I’ve had to embrace. We have had a few dropouts as there is a lot of lurgi floating around. THG and I have both had it. One of the dropouts is a toddler which means we can now light the fire in the front room.

The party is scheduled to finish at four at which time, assuming the place has been tidied up to the satisfaction of THG who has high standards, we will withdraw to the shed to watch the Liverpool Arsenal game.

More as it happens…

Busy day ahead. Gotta head to Waitrose to buy a few items. Anti bacterial spray, milk, big pork pies, green tea, French stick/baguette, beer, nosecco, Peroni, zero beer. We are hosting Hannah’s baby shower tomorrow. Mostly sorted except for the few last minute items. Then have to collect some helium balloons from the Carlton Centre.

After that the London contingent of the family arrives on the 10:35 direct from Kings Cross Stayshun. Six of us are off to see the Imps wallop Burmingum Citoy for a 12:30 kickoff. Shud be a gud afternoon of it.

Never made it as far as Thought For The Day this morning. Got a guy coming at 8am to do me a quote for air con installation in the shed. The hidden cost of global warming. Of course the answer to global warming is to spend money on air conditioning which means the summers will get back to the normal British state of affairs and you will never have to use it. See how it goze.

After that I’ll dash off a quick bacon sarnie before we have to go off to see a 4 D scan of Hannah’s baby. The rest of the day is spoken for. This morning, upon return from aforementioned scan, I’m going to make a beef casserole. The casserole is not for consumption today but will be heated up when we get home from the footy tomorrow pm. Imps v Birmingham City.

It takes quite a bit of time to make a casserole. Chopping up all the ingredients, the initial cook and then the long slow simmer. This evening, three of us are off out to see Damian Lewis’s gig at The Drill (Hall). Before that we are going to have a couple of frames of snooker followed by some nosh. Not decided what sort of nosh yet. Nothing too heavy.

Hopefully they will have fixed the power outage downtown by then. Yesterday afternoon I set off to the bank. There was a mahoosive queue to get out of the car park so I figured I’d have to hang around for a while after the bank to let it die down. Bloomin bank turned out to be closed due to a power cut, as were many of the shops. Huh. The 200 Degrees Coffee Shop was open so I sat there nursing an Americano for 20 mins or so. Fortunately the queue had gone by the time I got back to the car. Phew. Avoid that car park at around 3.30pm. The queue was from the third floor all the way to the exit!

Back into an old routine. Thought for the day comes on the wireless. I get out of bed. Today’s was particularly uninteresting. Couldn’t even tell you what it was all about. There has to be a knack in doing a good TFTD. Most of em don’t have it.

Anyway, now down at the dentist, again. My next checkup isn’t for a year but I bit into a bit of a french salami/sausage and felt something go. It was one of those they sell in bars as snacks. I bought 5 different ones from a market near Cussac. Managed to find a free parking spot near the Cheese Society. Result.

On the way back from the dentist I diverted to the bookshop on Steep Hill. Nothing jumped off the shelves at me but I did stop to read the sign at the Everest Nepalese curry house. Looked as if they were recruiting a complete set of staff. Perhaps the manager fired the previous team, lock, stock and barrel.

This pm, if I am sufficiently motivated, I’ll try finishing off the compost bin. I’ve already made the lasagne for tonight (effin good one even if I say so meself).

Mop that kitchen floor. THG reminded me she was going to do it before setting off for the stayshun this morning. Off to the Pool again to visit her sister. She is staying at the Hilton near  John Lewis with our Joe. Something like eighty quid for a twin room aaand she (I) got an upgrade to an exec room. As well as being handy for the shops (fwiw) and the Albert dock it is also near my fave watering hole, The Bridewell which serves good craft beer. The price is in marked contrast to the four hundred and fifty the Doubletree was asking during the Labour Party Conference. It’s also a bit like that on a home game weekend. People fly in from all over the place to watch the match.

In the news, Oxford Street pedestrianisation. I’m against it.  A step too far. Will just serve to clog up all the surrounding streets. Not that I ever go there – all it has is shops. Mind you we were in a taxi once en route to the Intercontinental Hotel in Park Lane. We had to get out half way down Oxford Street and walk the rest of the way. It was totally rammed with public employees on their way to Hyde Park for a union demo against govt austerity measures and pay freezes or simlar. A million of them apaz. Our train down was packed, even in 1st class which I thought was ironic. We checked in to the hotel and were given a room looking out onto the park. It felt very much like France just before the revolution. Let them eat cake.

We actually joined the anti Brexshit march whenever that was. It started somewhere near the Park Lane Hotel. Lots of doormen everywhere making sure no riffraff got in if they weren’t hotel guests. Took us 3 hours or more to get as far as Trafalgar Square as I recall. About a mile. There was no way we were going to get anywhere near the green in front of Westminster where all the speeches were being given. As it happened we were staying at the Trafalgar St James which has a rooftop bar. We spent a v pleasant couple of hours swigging cold beer looking down on the near stationary procession. When it finished there was a party going on in front of the national gallery.

Bailiwick. Great word. I decided this morning it is one of my faves. It isn’t a word I often use. Just came to mind as I was digging out a tshirt from the pile in the wardrobe. I don’t think the word and the act were associated. Funny how things just appear in your mind innit. Does anyone else have a fave word?

Anyway successfully dropped THG off at the stayshun. The dilemma of her being away is whether to get a takeaway tonight or a Charlie Bigham. The yellow reduced sticker on the Charlie Bigham chicken jalfraizie answered the question itself. Before that I had a relaxing extra hot latte in the caff with some “me” time on my device before perusing the offerings of the store itself. Randomly wandering the aisles the phone rang. Our John. Has a review meeting with a new customer to discuss the video QJAY Studios will be generating for them. Medical science type industry, or simlar.

I woke up this morning, it looked as if it rained all night, oh yeah,
I woke up this morning, it looked as if it rained all night,
I woke up this morning, it looked as if it rained all niight
And it looks as if it will rain all day, oh yeah.

There ya go. You know the tune. You can substitute the “oh yeah” for “oh no” if that is your personal feeling or mood. I don’t mind the rain meself. It isn’t actually raining as I write, in Lincoln. Don’t get complacent though.

I do feel a bit sorry for our friends who have gone to the Isle of Man for a long weekend break. Sgonna rain on their parade. Still I daresay they will pull their hoods up, bow their heads into the wind (and the horizontal driving wet stuff) and soldier on. We have pictures every year of the kids sheltering under the canopy of Laxey Railway Station booking office canopy, waiting for the next tram. Our friends alternative is to spend the day (well an hour or two) in the House of Manannan museum in Peel where they are staying, visit any of the other museums on the island or maybe indeed go for a ride on the electric railway and/or the steam railway. When they get back to Peel they can ensconce themselves in the Creek or similar and have an evening on the pop and tuck in to a hearty meal. They do a good queenies dish and the pie and chips at the Creek is also good. Tomorrow they can try the Marine which also does good nosh. Anyway it’s up to them. They are grown ups and don’t need me to tell them what to do. Just a few pointers here.

On more than one occasion we have had to extend our stay on the Isle of Man due to the weather stopping boat sailings and have returned early a couple of times. We would fly and hire a car but the flight times are not particularly useful for us, being either too early or too late. Fine if you are just heading to IoM or UK for a day’s business trip but no good if you want a leisurely start to the day.

THG has gone off to the gym leaving me with a jobs list. That is fine. I’ve already looked up the fix for the blocked washing machine pump which seems straightforward. YouTube ftw. I’ll let you know how I get on obvs. 

I also need to find some photos of each family member as a baby. We will have loads but they are fairly likely to be mostly in physical albums considering our kids are aged between 26 and 34 which predates the age of the digital camera. That’s fine. I can scan them in. This is all for Hannah’s Baby Shower organised for next weekend. A major family milestone (nowadays) that has to see some proper organisational effort put in to it.

…

Sorted the washing machine. Took 45 mins as there was a lot of watter to flow though the little black drainage pipe. I found the culprits: £4.85 in loose change. It’s all good now. I’m sure THG will put the cash to good use. Money laundering at its best.

Spent much of the day sorting out synchronisation between my macbook pro, mac mini, Google Drive and my NAS box. All sorted now. I’ve previously not bothered with a Time Machine on the macbook as the mac mini is my main machine and if owt happened to the former I would just restore the image on the latter. However I’ve been working on stuff that has been all consuming and from multiple locations so synching has become important.