where art collides

I wonder how long Monday will stay as the start of the week? I realise that in many countries, not all, offices close on Saturday and Sunday. This is based on a combination of hard fought trade union victories which we don’t want to discard lightly and the oppressive rule of law that forbade working on the Sabbath forcing people instead to attend church where they could be controlled with establishment propaganda. 

Monday therefore has always been the start of the working week. I am now sat in the shed contemplating the day ahead. I have a newsletter to work on. Shouldn’t take long. Someone else already wrote it. I just need to improve the English and make it more readable. Chuck a few lines of poetry in. Stuff like that. Not really poetry. It’s a techy audience across many countries. If they start seeing us being a bit flowery with the prose they will wonder what’s going on. 

This is the last couple of weeks before lots of good folk start going on holiday. Schools here break up on Friday 21st July. I always think the the start of the school summer holidays means the clock has started ticking for the end of summer. Enjoy it while you can. Cram in those summertime activities. Wear shorts.

It is certainly a good time to avoid travel. Ferry ports will be rammed. News programmes will already have scheduled stories about the length of the traffic jams backing up the motorway out of the Port of Dover. Times to get through passport control lengthening. Government ministers blaming the French.

We have a couple of ferries booked. At the end of August it is Holyhead to Dublin and then after that weekend Dublin to Cherbourg. Am optimistic that we won’t see the same problem as the south coast. I have no idea when I’m coming back from France which will be fun.

In the meantime it is a Monday morning and newsletters don’t write themselves you know…

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Sixteen forty nine and tools have been downed for the day. Got quite a bit done including packing away the gazebos from the weekend. Still need to find out what I did with the peg bags though! Problems problems. These are industrial strength pegs for industrial strength gazebos. Also found Adie’s specs that he left behind after the barbecue on Saturday and managed to squeeze in a swim. 

All this as well as ghost writing some stuff. I quite like the idea of ghost writing. Yonks ago when I started the philosopherontap.com website I wanted the nom de plume of Hugh O’Rourke for my poetry but some bugger, presumably called Hugh O’Rourke, was already using it. I just stuck with Tref and actually I’m totes ok with people knowing that it’s me wot wrote something.

Gorra take me daughter Han and her boyf George to the stayshun in a bit. They stay until they’ve eaten everything and then go back to London. Only kidding. We like having them up. No sooner will they have gone when another kid will arrive. It’s John. Will need to restock the fridge 🙂

A tea-long post. THG has just delivered a piping hot cuppa. I like to leave tea to cool a little before imbibing so figured it would be interesting to write a post. The time spent writing will be the amount of time it takes for the tea to cool and for me to drink it.

This is not a particularly scientific activity. I don’t have an optimum temperature at which I like to start drinking. Also the time taken to finish the cup will be a combination of the size of the cup together with how engrossed I get with the writing. If I am in full flow the drinking time could well be longer, to the point where the tea might go cold and no longer be particularly drinkable.

It is lunch at Headingley and the test match is finely poised. At lunch I had decided to clean the gazebo canopies which might yet get done. However the rest of the household has also decided that they want a curry tonight so I do have to devote some time to that. We shall see, rhymes with tea. If I can I also want to squeeze in a swim but that may depend on how the cricket is going.

When it comes to cooking a curry it is important to put in the right amount of effort. It is too easy to rustle up a dish that fits the description of curry but is not a good example of the genre. We are after tender meats in rich gravy with just the right amount of spice and flavour.

I also quite like the idea of knocking up some naan breads but that’s a bit of hassle. Well worth it if you can be bothered. They only take ninety seconds or so to cook on a bakers steel on the barbecue. It’s the prep time that is the issue.

A simple curry with pilau rice will suffice. One lamb and one chicken. Washed down by a cold beer and perhaps some red wine that is left over from last night’s barbecue and which needs finishing. Back on the diet tomorrow.

Thassit. Tea is finished and I have jobs to do. 

Ciao.

Back on the LNER, 
You don’t know how lucky you are, boy
Back on the LN, back on the LN, back on the LNE are.

Not set off yet but weirdly looking forward to my bacon roll. Bey a con as we say in the dialect. They don’t do butter on the train but hey…

I will leave the flatlands of Lincolnshire for the great metropolis that is the City of London. Heart of empire. Beating heart. In times gone by, pre empire, this would have been an arduous week’s travel on horseback. I would have to have found some companions heading in the same direction and would be carrying a sword. Egad.

Now it is two hours by Azuma with a bacon roll, a cup of tea and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice (joking). I get there earlier than necessary. On these occasions I am wont to repair to the British Library whereupon a lah tay may be consumed. You are welcome to join me. The treasures room is well worth a visit.

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We race by large golden fields of wheat that suggest harvest time is nearly upon us. Our tomatoes are nowhere near ready 🙂The onions are coming along ok though.

At Cottage Lane the cars line up at the crossing whilst the train speeds by and we, in turn, wait at the signal outside Newark for the go ahead to roll into Northgate station. A few people board at Platform 3 and someone slides into the seat opposite. I have already put on my Bose phones and put up the shutters. It is too early for conversation.

Carriage E is unusually busy. Not full but only one or two seats showing availability on the journey to Kings Cross. Everyone must be cramming in the meetings before the summer break.

I get mixed signals about how the economy is doing and therefore people’s willingness to spend. The telecoms business is doing well but other sectors are definitely showing signs of slowing down. Campsites, for example, are very much down on bookings for the summer. Phones have stopped ringing in the automotive business. People hunkering down trying to pay their mortgage and energy bills.

Food as well. Four tins of Heinz Baked Beans costs four quid in the supermarkets. Wasn’t so long ago they were going for two pounds fifty. Can’t say I’ve noticed other prices because I never really look at the cost. Just for some reason remember the price of beans 🙂

My attire today is Hawaiian shirt and shorts. Summertime and the living has to be easy. I also have a track record of this at industry events which is where I am off to this afternoon. Folks would be disappointed if I rocked up in a suit. I do own a linen suit which is what I will be wearing for a funeral tomorrow. Not today though. It is the summer for goodness sake.

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Hit the ‘burbs. Nearly there now. Meeting Tom for a cawfee off the train. British Library probs.

All is well in the house of Tref. Avocado toast with a side of bacon consumed and now sitting in the conservatoire with a cup of tea. The door is open to the garden where a gentle breeze flutters across the border. THG has been out surveying her domain. It is good drying weather and the clothes line is already loaded.

The luxury of the Sabbath. My first Sunday at home in ages. What do others do on a Sunday morning? Wash the car? This is what the hand car wash around the back of Tesco is for and there is always a queue on Sunday morning. Did those queuing used to do it themselves on the drive? Is washing the car on a Sunday morning a compulsive thing? Mine gets done perhaps three or four times a year. Defo need to get the inside valeted. Don’t think it’s ever been done, properly at least. In three years! Will get it done before our big trip to France.

It is only the beginning of July. Height of summer but plenty of summer left to go at. The holiday season very much approacheth. I went through a phase of not bothering to take holiday during the summer. When I used to work in an office the month of August being in the office was very much like being on holiday. Half the people would take the first two weeks off and the other half the last two weeks. In consequence there was never anyone around to get anything done.

Now I work, albeit part time, with a Belgian company they don’t take two weeks off. It is practically the whole month. Cool. People need to have a good break. They work hard. I try to do as little as possible although there are times when I do get v busy. Not in August though.

Wimbledon starts tomorrow. I like this. I never used to be a Wimbledon fan. It was always this thing on the telly for a couple of weeks every July. Then I took our youngest son John and discovered that it was a great day out.

John was a member of the Eastgate Tennis Club and used to get tickets every year out of their allocation. It was a little hit and miss but most times we got something and it was usually Centre Court. Anne and I used to take turns to go with him, except for his last membership  year where we both went and stayed the night in London.

Instead of paying a pound a strawberry I used to buy a large punnet or two together with some double cream from a supermarket en route. We would then pinch a couple of pint glasses and plastic spoons from the catering concessions inside Wimbledon together with some sugar and have a pint of strawberries and cream each. Retail value about fifty quid from official Wimbledon sources. It wasn’t so much the money. Who on earth wants only five strawberries 🙂

Over the years we saw all the big names of the era: Murray, Nadal, Djokovic, Venus and Serena. Loads of others. We were even there the day that the longest lasting set happened where it went to a ridiculous number of games. Didn’t see that one but saw the scoreboard. It was on an outside court.

A slightly disappointing day was the ladies semi finals. Serena won in around 52 minutes. Both matches were quite short. Best value is men’s semi finals where you likely get to see two matches lasting a good four hours each.

I would consider going to Wimbledon on a corporate jolly if someone else was interested in going. Not this year though. Too much on. July and most of August are our quiet months during 2023 and we need the time at home. Anyway I will have Wimbledon tennis on in the shed in the background. It is something I can occasionally glance up at whilst doing other stuff.

Something else I’d consider going to is the British Formula 1 Grand Prix. Never been. The problem, I understand, is the traffic getting in and out. Still I’d quite like to go once. A helicopter could be the answer. Find somewhere local ish to stay down. I typically don’t watch F1 as apart from the start I find it quite boring. The start is only interesting because anything can happen. Crashes, overtaking etc. Maybe next year. Already a lot in the plan for next year!

So Saturday has arrived. Samedi est arrivé as the revolting French would put it. Who knows what the day will bring. A dramatic about turn in the England cricket team’s performance on the pitch at Lords! Hopefully. Not sure I can look. I’m a lightweight like that. Hide behind the sofa. A bit like when Dr Who was on when I was a kid.

Got a bit of shopping to do this morning Fosters for a chicken and some lamb then Waitrose for posh balsamic vinegar, asparagus and a few other bits and bobs. Also need to take my linen jacket in for cleaning. The one I wear to go and watch cricket matches. Not sure it’s ever been cleaned! About time.

Some days a jacket can be seen as over dressing, especially in these times of unusually hot summers, but I have to have somewhere to keep my wallet and phone n stuff.

The French are indeed revolting, again. They do have form when it comes to revolting. All I can say is just get it over before the Rugby World Cup in September. Regime change, whatever. We don’t care who is in charge as long as the bars remain open for watching the rugby. And the restaurants and the little boulangeries down the street where we will be nipping out to buy our pain and croissants for breakfast.

I’m currently researching duffel bags. I have got a big North Face one somewhere that I used for the Coast to Coast walk but I’m blowed if I can find it. It must have been left somewhere. Worranuisance.

I’ll be away for six weeks so need some storage capacity. Not that I have six weeks worth of underwear so will have to get some cleaning done en route. Can’t imagine I’ll be wearing the same pair of shorts for six weeks either. Or t shirt 🙂

This will be the longest trip we have undertaken. Timewise. Kids are taking it in turns moving into our house in the meantime. At least someone will benefit from the tomato harvest, and the raspberries, apples and anything else going. It’s a bit of an adventure and although still two months away we are starting to get excited.

Everything is planned for the first month. Then Anne flies home with some of the girls and I hang around  for a couple more weeks, at least until after the Japan v Argentina game in Nantes at which point us lads will amble back at a comfortable pace.  I daresay you will be hearing a lot more about this trip when it happens.

Ciao for now mes amis.

…

The morning shop has been done. Some fresh produce from various markets as previously discussed.

I feel I need to do something today although the criquet is on. At lunchtime i can trim the bits of lamb shoulder purchaysed from the butch. They didn’t have fillet but tbh what we have is fine. Spending time cooking is one of the luxuries of the modern society. 

Back in the cave man days the time would have been spent looking for the food but obvs that isn’t the case nowadays. Not totes true as I do like to meander around the aisles in Waitrose checking out the food action. If you get the timing right you can pick up some good reductions though that is not my primary motivation in Waitrose. 

I do sometimes stop for a coffee but am very conscious that most of the people in the caff are old farts with whom I don’t really want to be associated.In their old caff I used to occasionally treat meself to a bacon roll. When they opened this new one they changed the bacon from back to a few measly bits of streaky so I stopped that. They may well have changed it again now but I’ve not tried it out to see.

Bought a book yesterday: The Living Mountain (Canons): A Celebration of the Cairngorm Mountains of Scotland: 6 by Shepherd, Nan. Arrives today. It was mentioned on a TV programme about the river Dee. See how it goes. If I don’t order these things there and then I forget. 

I don’t always read all of a book. Sometimes i just read a few early chapters and decide the rest of it can wait on the shelf. My recent purchases about the Manx Electric Railway are good examples. There is only so much you can absorb about changes to the per way between 1906 and 1914. Nice to have though.

Someday soon I’ll sort my bookshelves in the shed. A quick glance to my left identifies the follow books on display:

• The Fighting Ship of the Royal Navy 897 – 1984
• The adjustable Spanner (definitive guide)
• Manual of Seamanship Vol 1 1932
• The Great Eastern Railway, Cecil J.Allen
• The London & North Western Railway, O.S.Nock
• The Ultimate Guide to Knots
• Llyfr Y Tri Aderyn, Morgan Llwyd
• The bartender’s guide
• Spitfire, Portrait of a Legend
• Collins Bird Guide
• Blacksmith
• Bradshaws 1863

I think you will agree there are some gooduns in there. I have yet to open the book of knots. It includes some bits of string/rope with which to practise my knot tying. May happen 🙂

Meanwhile the cricket is trundling along nicely, for the Aussies.

Sgonna be an adminny kind of morning. Throwing a dinner in London next Wednesday and need to finalise menu choices for the punters and seating plan etc. You didn’t think I’d let people rock up and choose where they wanted to sit did you? 🙂

I periodically chuck a dinner. Hire a private dining room and invite a few bods. This time I’m using the Ivy Market Grill in Covent Garden. Have used it before and it is ideal for this sort of thing. No noise and can seat 26 persons in comfort. We eat well and drink well and generally have a good time. It is also useful for business obvs otherwise I wouldn’t do this sort of thing.

I did use the Savoy Grill a few times. They have a really cool room looking down over the entrance. There was a round hole in one of the plate glass windows and the story goes it was done by a bullet fired from below by a jealous husband or simlar. Not that I believed that one. Since they put the min spend up massively (like 5x the previous one) I stopped using it. The room was also closed for refurbishment for a couple of years. Clearly they are trying to recoup the cost of the new wallpaper.

My special guest next week is @Jeff Keni Pulver who was an early pioneer of the VoIP industry and has some great insights into where it is all going. No space left if you suddenly decided you want to come. Soz.

After the dinner we are going to head for the Phoenix Arts Club. Long time home of trefbash and of which I am a life member 🙂. The beauty of this club is that it is on the eastern side of Charing Cross Road which puts it in the Borough of Camden. The other side of the road is in Westminster. Camden has far more relaxed licensing laws and closing times than Westminster. Trefbash finishes at 2am. You need stamina for trefbash.

It’s Friday today, thank God. It isn’t TGIF. It’s TG I’ve made it to another day 🙂 Right, off to buy some small black screws. Catch ya later.

Another blissful day in the shire. A female blackbird is poking around the vegetable plot looking for a second breakfast. She probably thinks it is more like lunchtime.

What a great time of year. It rained overnight and the sun is now out. This is as it should be. Off to Stretch And Flex class later this am. Need it every day really!

Last night I booked one of the last free spots in a campsite called Cae Mawr next door to the Eisteddfod field in Pen Llyn. It’s a caravan field with toilets, showers and electric hookup but looks as if the campervan I was going to take needs a new clutch. None available in the country at the mo so will be taking a tent in the Defender. 

The Defender will be a lot more comfortable on a 250 mile drive anyway and it seems reasonable that the 3 man tent that is ideal for one person purchased last September for the Scout camp gets a second outing.

I have all the gear and just ordered a teppanyaki grill so the electric hookup will still come in useful for that together with the cool box. Regrettably a few nights alone in a tent in Wales does not constitute a business case for buying the expedition roof rack, side boxes and ladder for the Land Rover. We can but dream.

…

I have decided that week commencing 10th July is a big one. I have a long standing job to clear out the garage. This is not a small task. It will involve emptying everything onto the front drive in order to decide what stays and what goes and then putting the keepers back a lot more tidily than is the current state of affairs.

One of my objectives is to find the decorative brass label holders that I need for my chest of drawers in the shed but it will do no harm for me to find out what we have and to sort the tools out tidily.

Once the garage is sorted I can put some stuff on Facebook Marketplace. Some of this might not need to wait until then. The Halfords top box, used only a few times before we invested in a trailer, is ready to go really. Just needs some pics taking and spiel writing. Same goes for the plethora of roof bars that we have collected over the years.

Then it will be the annual wood treatment for the shed followed by finishing off moving some junk up to the attic. I daresay The Head Gardener has other jobs in mind for me as well.

e suis knackered for some reason d’aujourd’hui. Must be a weather front crossing 🙂

Yesterday I came across a news item telling me that there would be no alcohol on sale at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Now ordinarily I wouldn’t want alcohol at an olympic sporting event. It feels counter intuitive, wrong. 

However I am off to two days of rugby sevens where beer definitely fits the occasion. The French ban booze at sporting events, unless you have paid for corporate hospitality which appears to be governed by a different law. 

There are several loopholes in the law which mean that wine, beer and cider are regularly sold at events for certain sports, such as rugby. It appears that Paris 2024 will not be taking advantage of any of these loopholes. Apaz the olympic games are so big they would need a change in the law to accommodate booze. The powers that be clearly decided they couldn’t be arsed with the faff and decided not to bother.

We have to remember that these are the same powers that be who, along with French government ministers, ie. the lawmakers, will be blue lighting in limos with motorcycle outrider escorts through the dense Parisienne traffic jams to the games. The same people who will be sitting in their VIP enclosures quaffing champagne and vol au vents whilst occasionally glancing up at the sport. Unlikely they even know what rugby is.

Yanow what. It isn’t going to spoil the experience. Actually I have a box at the rugby sevens so there may well be beer options but if not we are still going to have a good time. I’m going to investigate corporate hospitality when they start selling it and can always repair to Harry’s New York bar later for sherbert. There likely won’t be much cost difference between Harry’s and any corporate hospitality 🙂

There are six of us going. At some stage I’ll have to investigate accommodation. You can’t usually book that far in advance with Hilton and when I rang the Paris Hilton Opera yesterday to discuss they said that all their rooms had been pre sold to corporate hospitality organisers. Bloody hell, them again. I suspected this would be the case. 

Ideally we want an apartment near Montmartre or in the  Latin Quarter that will sleep all of us for three nights. If you know of somewhere by all means point me in the right direction.

I do like the occasional jaunt to Paris.

A week in the office/shed in prospect. This is good. Also we are around next weekend, yay. Also good. The shed doors are open to the garden. It isn’t as hot as yesterday but promises to be a perfect twenty degrees ish. Going to get a few things done. We have some happy birds in the garden. Great time of year for them. Height of summer. 

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Shed doors open again this morning although a slightly heavier tshirt on as it has reverted to normalish British summer temperatures. Another day of getting things done, including taking the car in for its first MOT. Fingers crossed. Those buggers at the Land Rover garage do their best to find things wrong that “aren’t life threatening but could do with looking at”. Took out the extended warranty which ain’t cheap  but worth it for peace of mind as when things go wrong on these cars it is expensive.

On the gardening front we have for the moment decided to cut the meadow that sits in front of the shed. None of the flowers I sowed came through and although there are plenty of grass seed heads my idea was to go for insect attracting pollinators. The meadow in itself has looked good but we will revisit the plan for next year.

I also began to thin out the apple tree and to prune the grape vine. Both jobs need finishing and I’m sure I’ll be able to snatch a few moments during the day for that. More bunches of grapes appearing this year which bodes well for the future. Last year was the first “harvest” although we only got a small amount of fruit. In fact I’m not sure I saw any of it 😉 We are training the vine at height around the barbecue area.

We aren’t totes sure whether the grapes are eaters or drinkers. The vine was a present from The Head Gardener’s dad years ago. If the latter I might need to invest in some wine making gear 🙂 In the meantime I will just have to continue sourcing the stuff from the local merchant.

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MOT passed without a hitch and also stopped by the opticians en route home to tweak my new specs. Specs now tweaked and are much more comfortable on the face which is somewhat of a relief as they weren’t cheap.

I think I’ve finished for the day. Tax stuff sent to the accountant, grapevine pruned. Need to thin out a few more apples but might do that after dinner.

Home James, whoever you are. The car has been unloaded. Mostly everything just dumped in the living room. Should really call it the staging room as we rarely use it to “live” in. It’s where things get assembled before loading into the car for a trip and where they are “placed” for further processing when we get back.

The outside temperature is around thirty degrees Centigrade. The shed, which is where I am now watching Glasto, is not too bad as it is well insulated and shaded by trees. I’ve watered all the pots and have now just left the sprinkler going to give the back garden a good soaking.

Currently watching the Los Bitchos set on the Park stage. Never been to glasto and can’t see me wanting to do it as I suspect I woul be stood miles from any stage. Happy with watching in the shed. Elton John is headlining tonight. People were queuing at 4am this morning to get a good spot. THG and I saw him at the Lincolnshire Showground a few years ago on what was notionally his farewell tour. We had VIP tix and were sat in row 4 directly in front of the piano and in where he was looking. That’s the way to do it.

Am liking Los Bitchos’ stuff.

Sat here in desperate need of a shower and a few weeks of diet. The diet will start again tomorrow. The campsite did not have a functioning shower block so that will shortly become a priority. We knew about the showers before going but as we were only staying a couple of nights figured we’d get by. Our pals, with their fancy MoHos had their own integral shower facilities. Huh! 🙂

Sat in the morning sun at the Wold’s Farm campsite. Facing east. At just before 7am the sun is already quite high. A fresh breeze gently carries birdsong. From my position in front of the tent I see a field of sheep quietly getting on with their breakfast and another field heavy with, presumably, wheat on the verge of turning from green to gold.

The birdsong is an interesting mix of beautiful and relaxing tunes emanating from the hedgerows and a cacophony of crows coming from a distant stand of trees at the brow of the hill.

Many campers are already up and sat in front of their pitches. Hushed tones keeping themselves to themselves, aside from the occasional nod to passers by en route to the toilet block.

New Flamborough Light House stands proud at the far end of the promontory. During the day a steady flow of ocean going vessels head both north  and south together with an occasional pleasure boat carrying tourists to on voyages of avian discovery.

On our walk yesterday someone mentioned that eminent naturalist Simon King was at a viewing platform just a little further along the cliff edge. Not having heard of SK I asked whether he was naked. The response was no he is a naturalist not a naturist 🙂 Don’t think they fully understood that I was joking.

We made it to the RSPB cafe at Bempton Cliffs whereupon, after a suitable pause for refreshment it being a hot day, the group spit into two. One party retraced their steps back across the cliffs to the campsite and another intrepid bunch continued along a single track road with the destination of the White Hart pub in mind.

Unfortunately the good citizens of Bempton do not appear to frequent pubs on a Saturday afternoon and the doors of the White Hart remained firmly shut. After a short break sitting on the picnic bench in the pub car park the party decided to continue the journey and removed to the Ship Inn in Flamborough. Chris and I had discovered the Ship the day before on our mission to pick up fish and chips for everyone’s tea.

The walk along the cliffs was very interesting. We saw a large number of nesting sea birds clinging precariously to any available surface. Gannets, razorbills and guillemots were there aplenty but of puffins, the main attraction, we saw but three. Turns out that puffins nest in burrows and do not emerge until their chicks have fledged.

As I sit here the day is warming up and shows promise. Another perfect summer day in the deep countryside. This area is truly a natural paradise and I would like to think we will return to this site which is located a long way up a farm track. Good luck if you are towing a caravan and meet another coming in the opposite direction 🙂

We are setting the compass south. It has been an action packed holiday but it is time to go home. There will be strawberries to harvest and I am excited to see the progress of my onions. A week of R & R in prospect.