where art collides

ph1l0soph3r0nt4p

It’s been a great build up to Christmas. Seems a long time now since it actually started with the Davies family Christmas Market Party. First weekend in December so an early kickoff to the festivities.

The next event is the London Christmas Party, long since known as trefbash although this year it was officially lonapbash. This year’s was a stunner with the theme of “What I was wearing when the Titanic went down.” Son Joe Davies sat in with the band with his horn. The following day we had a great family day out in London. V&A museum, The Parlour at Fortnum & Masons, cocktails at the Waldorf and finally margaritas and fajitas at Cafe Pacifico.

The build up continued with parties lunches and beers in pubs with the climax really the Carols and Jazz night at the Morning Star. The singing was terrific and the jazz, supplied by Colin Dudman, Joe Davies and John Davies, was outstanding. I have avoided stepping onto the scales. That is something for the New Year.

There is something wonderful about this time of year. All the kids are home, dad and my sister Sue are here and sister Ann has also been up for a visit so we had one day where we were all here. Also Anne’s sister Sarah is with us.

The pile of presents under the tree continues to grow. There is something not quite right about this but I’m not going to rock the boat. As we all get older and more people have sources of income other than the bank of mum and dad the individual abilities to contribute has increased. The fact that we have a great time does make me think about people who are no longer around to be with us. Mam and Anne’s parents Rene and Keith. We think of them and miss them.

They have been a huge part of making what Christmas is all about for us. I realise that the notional reason is the celebration of the birth of Christ. For me that’s a side show. I love singing carols but I like them for the tunes and memories they evoke rather than anything to do with the sentiment of the words themselves. Carols are part of my childhood and memories of Christmas time, the exciting wonderful memories of being a part of our family. Christmas is a family event supported by our long traditions.

These traditions even come down to little facts such as that on Christmas morning we have tinned grapefruit segments for breakfast. Never at any other time of the year. Maybe grapefruit segments were rare delicacies when my parents were kids. Probably. It would have been during the Second Word War. We don’t only have grapefruit. Usually there is something for everyone on the table.

I am writing this on Christmas Eve as the house will be chaotic on the day itself. At this time the veg has already been peeled and chopped by Sue and John. The parsnips are precooking ready to be coated in parmesan cheese and flour and then stuck in the fridge until needed on Christmas Day. Anne has taken Sarah to church with John and Hannah is preparing sticky toffee pudding as an alternative to Christmas pudding. Joe and Tom are sat in front of the fire playing a board game they have just invented. The house is at peace. We may pop out to the Star for a swift un or we may not. (we did and got the big table in the corner on the right – result).

Christmas Day itself I’ll be picking dad and Sue from the Lincoln hotel early. They are coming to us for breakfast instead of having standard hotel stuff. Then we will open the presents. In times gone by this would have involved a frenzy of flying wrapping paper. By now we are probably more civilised. At noon we have some friends coming around for drinks for an hour and then I’ll be in the kitchen. I’ll already have put the meat in at 9am or so. 5.5kg of prime beef rib. The rest of the day will go much as at any other household. A combination of over eating, drink and sleep. There will be chocs and brandy. We may watch TV. I doubt we will watch the Queen.

Not everyone will be doing this. There will be many people on their own and some without a home to go to let along a dinner on the table. Some families will have very recently lost a loved one and Christmas will involve significant sadness for them. For this I am sorry. 2016 has been a particularly turbulent year. Wars around the world seemed to intensify. Political decisions have gone in directions that I and many others have disagreed with but have been unable to do anything about. Trump. Brexit. Based on this is it easy not to be particularly optimistic about things in 2017 at least on a global scale.

On the personal front you have to have optimism. Life is there to be grabbed. As we come towards the end of 2016 and head into next year all I can say to you is do stuff. Do something that gives you a sense of satisfaction. If you disagree with what our political leaders are doing shout out about it. Don’t let them get away with it.

Just to finish off I’d like to wish all my friends and family a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year. Thanks for putting up with me and my ways in 2016 and I hope I am able to adequately return your friendship in 2017.

See ya soon 🙂

all is well

A day to go. Christmas Eve. Has a good ring to it. Christmas Eve. Kids everywhere will be getting excited. In our house the excitement levels used to reach fever pitch. Traditionally Christmas Eve was always the easiest day to get them to bed early. Except the one year that one of them, who shall remain nameless, refused to go to sleep in case they woke up in the night to go to the loo and bumped into Santa.

Then there was the year I bought a TV for the first time. The kids were all in our room. John was first downstairs and came running back shouting “there’s a TV in the front room”. Tom would have been 13. We watched it with a poxy internal aerial that day as we didn’t have a proper TV antenna on the chimney outside.

The year we bought the kids a trampoline was a challenge. Anne took them out for a walk whilst dad and I assembled it in the garden. Was a miracle that none of them saw it afterwards. We had shut all the curtains at the back of the house and it does get dark very early at this time of year.

These were all presents we bought over and above those delivered by Santa of course.

I’m not particularly excited right this moment. It’s before six am. I was awake so thought I’d come downstairs. It has got to the point where nobody particularly wants to rush to get up early on Christmas Day itself. A lie in is the more attractive option. There’s an element of this being down to a late night on Christmas Eve.

Before we had kids, and certainly as a single lad in the Isle of Man, it would always be a bit of a night out on Christmas Eve. We might even find a party somewhere, although who on earth would want to have to sort out their house after a party on Christmas Eve.

Then it became an early start with visits to the Morning Star for early doors. The pub would quickly fill up and the atmosphere was great. Lots of people coming home for Christmas and visiting their old haunt. We always had something pre prepared for dinner that night to make life easier for ourselves. Tonight Joe and Tom are cooking chicken fajitas. I’m assuming Joe made it back ok from his open mike stint at the Joiners Arms. The curtains have been drawn across the front door which is usually the sign.

Tom arrived at around 9.15 last night. He came on the direct train from London and is the last of the family to arrive. They had a bit of bad news at the flat in London. Burgled. Broken into at least because the burglar gained entry but didn’t take anything. Odd. Even unwrapped a present that Hannah had left for Ben but didn’t take it. There will be fingerprints all over the place. What they didn’t bank on was that Tom, Hannah and Ben are only early on in their working careers and don’t have much cash. Nobody had left a laptop and for some reason they left Tom’s camera. I guess they are after specific items they know will be easily shifted. In a pub maybe. Not a pleasant incident but one that could have ended up a lot worse.

We were burgled here a couple of years ago and as a result have put in cctv and upgraded the alarms system.

Not much to do today. Most of the shopping has been finished. Hannah has as usual wrapped my presents to Anne. Worrawonderfuldaughter. There will inevitably be some things we need to get. I know we are short on olive oil and loo roll. We could live without the former… Probably need to get bread as well and Joe and Tom need some ingreeds for tonight. There you go. A new word. Official. Ingreeds. Its an abbreviation we use at home. I can’t believe nobody else uses it as well. So it might as well become an established word. All it needs now is for the OED to pick it up.

It is now 06.26. Normally I’d stop here and go and make the tea. However today I don’t sense any pressure to do this. We can have a bit of a lie in and get up when the body tells us it is time. This is totally apart from the fact that I am already up but I will be going back to bed for a cuddle. My reward for making the tea. It’s the best part of the day, the early morning cuddle. News on the wireless.

It’s a funny thing, having the news on. I totally switch off listening if the article is something I have no interest in. Then Anne might comment about it and I will have no idea what she is talking about despite my ear being two feet away from the radio. Less probably.

We could do with a new bedside radio. One with preset volume levels. If Anne is doing something in the bedroom during the day she ramps up the volume. This volume will be too much for the early morning and so I find myself twiddling the dial to get it down to an acceptable level. However this is an imprecise art, finding the right volume. What we need is a preset. A button I can press to toggle the volumes. I doubt such a feature exists on any radio. It’s a bit niche. Maybe I’ll take a skeet around the sales and see what’s out there.

Took a quick look but there is nothing obvious. I think you have to go to a store to see a range of devices to see what they can do. What I did note was that Amazon Prime deliveries are now quoting December 27th as delivery dates. That’s a “3 day next day” delivery. Totally understandable but interesting nonetheless. Delivery drives deserve the time off 🙂

The Christmas cards have been flooding in. Not sure whether that’s the appropriate metaphor but it’s what you got. One from an old school friend said he’s taken voluntary redundancy. It’s amazing how many people of my age have been leaving their jobs. Looking for something new. Did it meself really three years ago now. Strange thing is I’m starting to do more work than I’ve done for a while but hey, you gotta go with the flow and it’s all good stuff.

Off to make the tea now. Ciao bella.

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Jobs to do today (in no particular order)

Get veg out for peeling –  delegate the actual peeling

Prepare trifle jelly base

Firm up on timings for tomorrow’s food prep

Last minute trip to Waitrose –  loo roll, olive oil, soft drinks, bread (? – might make some), croissants ice, anything else

Make sure drinks that need to be chilled are in fridge

Pick up dad and sue

Make sure we have enough kindling brought in from woodpile

Buy coal

Find the lindt chocs I hid but can’t remember where – check tree chocs –  some buggers have been pinching them

Make brandy butter

Check if gammon soaking required for boxing day joint

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Storm Barbara shook the trees on us a little yesterday and moved on. Now they are talking about storm Connor moving in on boxing day.

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A simple toasted bacon and mushroom sandwich with HP sauce (obvs) for breakfast cooked on the George Foreman grill to let the crap drip off. Second cup of tea and a glass of semi skimmed milk to accompany. The good things in life. I have some Fosters dry cured back bacon for tomorrow. Better than Curtis’ tbh and the latter is a specialist pork butcher.

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“Dad I don’t want a bike for Christmas any more. Why not son? I just found one behind the wardrobe.” 🙂 The old ones are always the best.

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The fire is lit, the last shopping list has been compiled, dad has been retrieved from the Lincoln hotel and I’m just waiting for Hannah to get dressed. In the meantime I have an idea for another post. How to hang a toilet roll. Toilet rolls are on the shopping list.

Couple of sonos play 1s have just arrived thanks to Amazon Prime. Ordered them yesterday when one of the kids mentioned that he was fed up with moving the play 5 from room to room. Quite right. One is going in the kitchen and one in the bathroom. Anne isn’t totally sure about this but it will be fine.

I’m going squeeze one more post in today but in case I forget have a wonderful Christmas 🙂

PS the featured image is my seasonal take on breakfast.

eve eve

Bit of a rush around this morning. Waitrose with Joe at 8am to get veg and stuff. Realised when I got there I’d forgotten the money off vouchers – £24 off if you spend more than £120 – doh. Decided to wait and see how much we looked like spending before going back to pick up the vouchers. In the end it totalled £108. All we had to do was add a gammon and we’d be there. It was worth going back for the vouchers because effectively it meant getting a free gammon joint – £18 in its own right. Even then didn’t get everything. They didn’t have any icing sugar left for example.

Had to make a decision re the yorkshires for Christmas Day. Decided I’d do my own.

When we got back Phil’s guys were sorting out our guttering. Good to get that job out of the way. Then cooked a full English for me n Joe, beans on toast for Sarah and bacon, beans and toast for John. Ann arrived back from having breakfast with tadcu and Sue. Was cold apparently. All a bit mad in the kitchen with everything going on. Now sat in the living room with Joe playing some seasonal elevator muzac for us on the piano. I asked him if he could play a bit of Rachmaninov and got “yes but I don’t like to show off” for a reply.

Will head down to Fosters in a bit to get the beef. Then nowt until we head off to Jezzers for drinkypoos at 4. Dropped that drinkypoos bit in – not language I normally use 🙂 Tonight we are having a takeaway with Cousin Helen and family. The order is being collated in a Google doc.

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Picked up three ribs of beef. 5.494 kg. A goodly joint for a good wodge of cash @ £68.68. I’m in the wrong game. Four ribs were going to be ninety eight quid. Would have been  magnificent joint but over the top. Added 3 lbs of dry cure back bacon and six chicken breasts – for tomorrow night’s fajitas.

Mal the plumber was here when I got back Sorting out a boiler leak. All go innit. Anne and Sarah have nipped to the bail, Hannah is downtown and Sue has just headed out for a walk.

The fire is lit and peace has descended on 118 Wragby Road. Well it would if the remaining inhabitants sat still and didn’t keep opening and closing doors.

Now the peace has gone. The girls are back and Anne is hoovering.

Featured image is the apple I’ve been photographing over the past few weeks. Nigel Titley observed that the tree suffered from both mummification disease and a cancerous virus (might not have got that right). Mummified apples need to be removed and the cancerous bits chopped off and burnt. Thing is I’m taking pictures of the degeneration of the apple. The treatment will wait another week or so.

Some of the lads are starting a bit of a session at the Jolly Brewer at 1pm. This is a session too far for me. We have other things on. Other fish to fry, although I’m not aware that any fish will be involved.

family meal

It’s thursday evening. We’ve eaten the chicken and chorizo stew (with chorizo cooked in dry sherry) and made a start on the cheese I bought for Christmas. I might need to top up some of the cheese for Christmas Day although it’s worth observing I doubt we will make it as far as the cheese on the big day. The brie de meaux was historic.

Absolutely terrific carols and jazz night at the Morning Star. A real success boosted by the fact that John nipped home to get his sax and we had piano (Colin), trumpet (Joe) and saxophone (John). Wow. What a night. The punters were very generous with the contributions into the pint glass and both sons walked away satisfied. I hung around afterwards drinking with the crowd Coops, Simon Forshaw and Ajax with wives.

This morning we were up at 6.30 to set off at 7 for Liverpool Airport to pick up dad. Dropped tom off at the railway station enroute. His plane was 30 minutes late but didn’t really matter. Afterwards we went on to Willaston to pick up Anne’s sister Sarah and returned to Lincoln. Fairly knackered after the drive. Dropped Anne and Sarah off at home then took Dad to check in the Lincoln Hotel. Have now booked a taxi to take Sue and dad back to the hotel at 10pm. Saves any of us driving.

Great meal. Couple of bots of champagne first to warm up. Also gin and tonic – will need to replenish booze supplies tomorrow. Drank our first bot of the Californian wine that Jackie brought. V good. Will have the other two Christmas Day.

Now just relaxing in front of the fire in the front room. Just enough seating to accommodate the nine of us.

featured image is luggage trolleys at Liverpool airport. Pic below is the view from dad’s room at the Lincoln hotel.

a Saturday

Feels like a Saturday morning but I am reliably informed it is only Wednesday. This is because we were at the Dawkinses last night and their hospitality is legendary. Much prosecco, gin, wine and brandy was consumed. It is fortunate that we had booked the cab for 10.30 which placed a sensible limit on the consumption.
When we got home Joe still had a house party in full swing with some of his mates in for “pre drinks” before hitting some club or other. They were very noisy buy at least they polished off all the crappy cider we had left over from the Christmas Market Party. Was quite cool having the Stella fridge in the kitchen. I brought the recycling bin into the kitchen to assist with the disposal of the detritus. Cans, bottles and pizza boxes plus our normal recycling stuff. They pick it up tomorrow so it’s good timing really. Classically we have more cardboard than will fit into our two recycling bins after Christmas Day.
I am now ensconced in the TV room writing this whilst Anne finishes doing stuff in the corner of the kitchen. No matter how big your kitch, and ours is big, you always end up wanting to occupy the same corner as the other person. This morning I’m planning on consuming sausages and bacon, although this information has not yet been disclosed to Anne so I’m not sure how well it will be received. It is only Wednesday, as I have reliably informed you.
Today I have three tasks. One is to cook a chicken and chorizo casserole in preparation for tomorrow evening. Secondly I have to make sure we are ready for the Morning Star Carols and Jazz session tonight (enough song sheets? etc) and thirdly I have a conference call this afternoon. Sue and Hansk are both arriving today. The house is filling up.
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Bit of a nice surprise. Who walks down the stairs but our Tom. Came home last night and kept quiet about it until this morning. He is up for the Carols in the pub and catching the 07.30 am back to town tomorrow. Cooked us both a bacon sandwich. Had to ditch the sausages as they had gone off. Now sat in the TV room again with a cup of tea. Must get dressed…
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Bought some Cornish cheddar from Waitrose – 6 on the cheese richter scale. Am expecting big things.

the passing of an old friend

We got some bad news yesterday. It seems to have been a year for such news. Geraint Evans, an old family friend, was finally beaten by cancer and died during the afternoon. I have known Geraint and Rose all my life and was treated like a son. Their back door was always open and you never had to knock or arrange to come in advance.

Before Sue moved to Cardiff I used to stay with them when visiting for rugby matches. I recall one time I as a student I was down with pal Dave the Rave from Dolgellau. The Evanses had a double and a single bed in their attic room. I had the double and Dave the single. We staggered in at around 2am with a friend Eleri in tow. Eleri had been locked out of the Halls where she had been camping so she came back with us. Dave and I shared the double bed. Apparently he didn’t sleep a wink. I was totally out of it.  Spreadeagled across the bed.

My biggest concern was that Eleri would decide to sneak off early back to where she was supposed to be and that Rose or Geraint would find Dave and I in bed together. Fortunately that didn’t happen. That story was brought up by Geraint for decades after the event:)

Geraint is a big loss to us all and I feel a melancholy as I write this. Goodbye old friend.

Otherwise today was a good day albeit a bit of an early start taking John to the Firth Road sorting office to pick up a parcel that the Post Office had tried to deliver yesterday. Afterwards we had breakfast in Waitrose before I dropped him off for the last day of term. School finished at 1pm today but Anne was still en route back from Bromborough at that time and I was out walking with Adie.

Today we walked along the canal to Washingborough and beyond and then came back by the road to the Ferry Boat Inn for a spot of lunch. Saw a big heron en route plus the usual ducks and swans. December is a quiet time on the river. It was cold when you walked into the wind.

Joe came out to pick us up and partake of a free lunch which was fair enough. Borrowed a car off Coops for the hols. Anne was home by the time we got back. Always nice to get a kiss. Had a soak in the bath and at 4pm joined a conference call with Dave Cargill and Manuel to talk about Netaxis providing ITSPA with testing facilities for the ITSPA Awards this year.

Now we are chillin getting ready to go to Jezzers for dinner. I might have a shave first.

Last night Joe and I had a couple of pints in the Star early doors and then us lads (+John) watched Everton v Liverpool. Crunch derby with the reds edging it with a goal in the 98th minute. Although I’m not really a football fan Anne comes from a long line of Liverpool supporters and the kids have inherited the trait so I tag along.

is like a year in any other town

Cooked a lamb tikka massala last night. Turned out perfectly edible but only 6 / 10 really. Not top class Indian restaurant standard. Set it going in the oven and gave it a good three hours cooking time.

Joe and I went to the Struggs for a swift one before dinner. Was little Stu’s 66th birthday and they had a Beatles band on halled Hey Dude. They were good fair play. A few of the lads were in and the pub was packed. It’s only a small room anyway. Apparently it’s like that most Sunday afternoons. Good times. Later fell asleep on the sofa watching time team. Woke up later and it was a different episode.

This morning I’m up at 7.40. Later than usual but that was the wine with the meal in action. Cooked John and I some sausages and am taking him to school. Now just sat in TV room waiting for the lad.

It’s a day for getting things done. Tomorrow I’m off on a walk with Adie. Thursday it’s Liverpool to pick up dad and Sarah. Friday it’s the food shop including meat from Fosters and veg from an as yet undetermined purveyor of such things.  Funny how there could be a market for ads designed to influence which last minute supermarket you choose for perishables. My only hesitation is the knowledge that they will all be busy. At least I have the self scanner at Waitrose. Never registered for the tesco one plus every time I used it something would go wrong.

It’s the final run in for Christmas. Tonight we are going to stay in and watch Liverpool v Everton as after today it’s gonna get busy.

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Back from school run & the ear grating sound of Radio 1 which status dictates we have on in the car at such times. The lowly status of parent that is. Kitchen tidied, mostly, ish. Now I’ve tidied out the in tray, loaded the dishwasher & set it going, washed the pans and the chopping block, done some filing and spoken with me dad. Whilst we were talking the last India v England test match was going on with an Indian batsman on 299 not out. He just got caught. On 299. Hard luck. I imagine they will now declare. India have already won the series being 3 – 0 up.

Next up is a trip into town to buy cheese and any other Christmas related bits and bobs. There is only one place to the the cheese which is the Cheese Society. Top notch stuff. We started on the cheese and biscuits last night using just the cheddar we had bought from waitrose for lunch the day before. Also started on one of the Austrian smoked processed jobs. I have to say the Jacobs’ biscuits were a bit on the boring side. We have alternatives for Christmas but I may invest in some more.

Am thinking we might have a spot of lunch somewhere in town. This afternoon I am going to dedicate to cooking the chili for Wednesday and arranging the fridge.

Petit Pont Normand soaked in Calvados
Apley goats cheese from Lincolnshire
Brie de meaux
Black bomber
Colton bassett stilton
Smoked beechwood

Little story about the cheese. We originally drove down Lindum Hill and turned left at the bottom in order to head towards the Collection to park. The road was gridlocked. So back up the hill we went, through the Bail and down Spring Hill. Got a free parking spot in St Andrew’s Square almost as near to the Cheese Society as you can get. Result.

Back up the hill and had a pear, walnut and stilton salad for lunch at the Sanctuary in the Bail. Joe had goats cheese salad. Felt a little out of place as all the other diners were women “doing lunch”.  Nice enough.

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Rewind. In the cricket Nair got 303 not out for India. Well done.

Lincoln City 2 – 1 Tranmere Rovers

What a great day yesterday. Picked Jose up from the station at 11am. Hung around at home for a bit and went to buy bread and cheese from Waitrose. Then at around 13.15 we set off downtown. Meeting Anne at the railway station at 2pm to go and watch Lincoln v Tranmere.

We were there far too early so bought a cup of tea and a sausage roll from the caff under the stand. I was dressed for an Arctic winter and immediately began to sweat buckets in the heat of the caff. We had to retire to seats in the stand and remove layers.

We ended up sat near the halfway line. Good seats and had 30 – 40 minutes of build up. John was down the far end standing with the the hardcore. In fact he couldn’t get a seat so stood on the steps.

Football
Look after the ball it’s the only one we have
Packed stands
The total euphoria of the crowd when we score first
Chants of we are top of the league, we are top of the league, we are top of the league, we are top of the league
Sense of outrage when the ref gives a penalty
Concern when they equalise
Emotional intensity
Swear words – would you take the kids?
Very mature crowd – agewise – not so languagewise
Centre forward substitution and the replacement scores within minutes
5 minutes of nervous added time with at least two bookings for time wasting
The crowd streamed out of the ground highly satisfied with going top of the league with their last game before Christmas

By the end of the game I had all my layers back on. We streamed out of the ground with the crowds. Joe and I stopped for a beer at the Jolly Brewer and made it home by about 6pm. Bit if a chill, change and out to the Brittains for their most excellent annual Christmas bash. Martin is renowned for his pulled pork and roast gammon.

A few match reports:

Theirs

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/lincoln-2-1-tranmere-rovers-12336828

Neutral

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38272960

Ours

http://www.redimps.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/lincoln-city-v-tranmere-rovers-3473250.aspx

Some vids:

write at your own chosen time

Look out of the window. Listen to the birdsong. Even in December there is birdsong. The level of the seeds in the feeder goes down a little every day. We haven’t reached the worst of the winter yet.

The pirate flag waves from the allotment. The fire crackles in the grate behind me. Decided that seeing as I am in this evening it would be a good idea to have it lit.

My facebook timeline is filling up with posts from friends going home for Christmas. Last flights being taken. This is good.

I’ll be home for Christmas.

Darkness descends onto the back lawn like a freezing blanket

Sat in front of the fire as night falls. The glow of the hearth and the christmas tree lights. Handel’s Messiah eases comfortably through the conservatory doors.

Once in Royal David’s City haunts the room. Eight days build up to go.

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That stuff was from last night. Somewhat random but I’d thought I’d let you have it full in the face. It would be good to be able to say that it smacked you in the chops, made your cheeks wobble and your eyes open wide but I doubt that was the case. I move on.

Asked Jose what time his train got in on Saturday, ie today. He came back with 1pm but this was moved forward to noon and now I wake up this morning to find that it is 11am. It’s a good job he told me otherwise he might have been hanging around that station for two hours.

It is early. Up at 5am. Was in bed at 10ish and asleep by 10.30 which is the time Anne comes up having watched to the end of the news. 7 hours kip is plenty. 6 ½ actually – must concentrate on getting the maths right. I’m sat in the front room getting the benefit of the residual heat from the fire. Ordinarily the TV room is warmer.

Busy enough day ahead, what with Joe home and us all going down to watch the Red Imps play Tranmere. This is a bit of a risk as we don’t have a good track record of Lincoln winning when we go and see them. They are on a roll at the mo tho and it should be fine. Big game, top of the table clash.

All is quiet around the house. The Christmas decs are up, except for the lights that get wrapped around the holly tree outside. They go up today is the plan. There seem to be fewer lights around the Christmas tree this year. Probably down to a diminishing number of working ones. Might sneakily buy another set sometime. I like lots of flashing lights on the tree and most of this lot aren’t flashing.

Did a bit of work yesterday on getting the 2016 book ready. I’ve set up a new blog on the server that hosts Anne’s Vans. I need this because the plugin that extracts these blog posts into word needs a later version of php than this current server supports. It was easier to extract the year’s posts and import them into a more up to date server which is what I’ve done. Used a spare domain. Works a treat. Only problem is that the software that then extracts the posts to Word doesn’t move the featured image. I’ll probably have to manually include them.

Featured image is Lincoln cathedral behind high walls. It would originally have been surrounded by a high wall to protect the clerics and monks inside. None of this openness arms out wide welcome:)

white batch

Lateish start this morning due to yesterday’s very long lunch. Met Gary Stobie and Adie on the Prince at 1.30 and got home at well gone 9pm.  The route was Taphouse > Prince > Duke > Strugglers > Taphouse > Morning Star > Peacock (for Steve Wildman’s leaving do). Presented Steve with a lottery ticket as his present. Kept one for meself with identical numbers. Couldn’t have him win with a ticket I’d bought for him without me sharing in the winnings:)

Nia from BBC Radio Cymru rang me whilst I was in the Prince and we have arranged to have a longer chat at 2pm today. They have a programme coming up in January that they’d like an input to.

Terry looks like he won’t make it up tonight for manflu reasons so a welcome quiet night in is in prospect. It’s the last night before the hordes begin their pilgrimage to the home hearth. Joe is coming back tomorrow in time for the Lincoln v Tranmere top of the table clash. Lincoln trail the visitors by one point with a game in hand so this is an important game.

Hannah arrives next Wednesday in time for the Morning Star Carol Session (together with Aunty Sue), Tadcu, Sarah and Ann (1 night only) are coming Thursday and then finally Tom arrives at 21.01 on Friday on the direct train tron Laandan. A gradual build up to the frenzied crescendo that will be Christmas.

Yesterday’s mixed seed loaf turned out ok but I’m still looking for the magic button to get the bread to rise to my liking. Not many more opportunities if I’m looking for the perfect loaf for Christmas. See how we get on.

at the West End Tap

The central heating has just kicked in. It must be 6.24am and nearly time to stick the kettle on. I woke up around 5am and took a look at my phone. Unfortunately it wasn’t on silent and loud video from last night started playing, waking Anne up. Feel bad about this. Hopefully she got back to sleep. I eventually came downstairs to do stuff.

We had a great night at the West End Tap Christmas Quiz. Our team, which had 8 people in it, only came fourth out of 6. I’m crap at pub quizzes. Anne drove which was most convenient. I sat at the bar next to Steve from Jazz Orbit and had a nice chat with him.

The road outside sounds quite busy. It’s amazing how many people are out and about at this time of day. A lot of people obviously start work early. Workers of the world unite. Up the revolution etc. I‘m glad we don’t live in the South East. Early starts are quite standard down there. It’s no life. People are trapped in the system. Afraid to break out from London.

I feel that if we were able to own a chunk of the allotments out the back we could convert them into a small holding. Keep a pig or two. Hens, ducks etc. The ultimate escape. It would be more of a hobby than anything we would rely on and we would have to be disciplined in getting the pigs slaughtered every year. We need to survive.  Actually that contradicts what I was saying about it being a hobby doesn’t it but you know what I mean. I’m not about to start getting sentimental about a pig. Especially when you know how much I like a bacon sandwich.

A thought for you. When I was a kid in Waunfawr I remember we always had to tip the milk bottle upside down before opening it to distribute the cream that had floated to the top. You also needed a stone or bit of slate to cover the milk bottles to stop birds from pecking at them to get at the cream. We don’t get that nowadays. Ok partly it’s because we are drinking semi-skimmed milk but I don’t think it happens even with full fat. Full fat must also be partly skimmed. I dunno.

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Alistair is taking the kids to school this morning. They normally get the bus home on Thursdays and John goes straight to his saxophone lesson with Colin. Usually Anne or I then pick him up from Minster Yard in front of the Cathedral to save him having to walk home with his school bag and the sax, both of which are heavy. Today I am having lunch out with Adie. It’s Anne who is the normal luncher-outer. The point is at the time of writing I’m not sure whether Adie has managed to offload his picking up from school duties and therefore whether beer will be involved at lunchtime. If there is beer I won’t be picking up from the Cathedral.

This evening it is Steve Wildman’s leaving do. Again. It is becoming a traditional party. He isn’t leaving anywhere but it’s a good excuse for a party. At the Peacock. Got a a few bits to sort out this morning before the day is written off.

behind the hedge

My bread turned out well. White bloomer. Used it as part of a toasted bacon sandwich for breakfast. Last night was chatting to a chef at the Wright Vigar do. He had made the quarter finals of Masterchef a few years ago. Gave me some tims. Butter is definitely better than olive oil and fresh yeast is better than dried. So I’m going to up the amount of butter, I think I wasn’t using enough, and up the quantity of fresh yeast to 20g. Let’s see where that gets us. I’m trying to home in on the ideal recipe.

The Wright Vigar do was good as usual. Also as usual mostly populated with suits. I guess that’s the name of the game. Bankers, lawyers, solicitors etc. Clients too. Stayed for a few beers then went on to the Taphouse and Kitchen to meet Nige. After that ended up at the new Castle View curry house. It’s where Tito’s used to be and prior to that the Castlegate Indian. Have to say it’s a good start. Food was good. Will get the Christmas takeaway from there.

One year we had curry for Christmas Day. Except Anne and John who shared a turkey leg. Made a change. I picked it up the night before and reheated it on the day. It was surprisingly difficult to coordinate getting all the dishes hot enough. It was ok but we won’t do that again. It’s beef again this year as you know.

With 8 working days to go until Christmas there is now very little happening. Not that much happens anyway but now there is even less. Richard is coming up next Wednesday for our regular LONAP 121. Last one of the year.

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Last night’s curry has certainly had after effects. I won’t elaborate. I’m now sat in the conservatory with the Dyson fan heater on. It is a bright day out there and I think I’ll go for a walk later on. Maybs check out a few bits and bobs for Crismus. Round the Bail perhaps.

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Words. These are what come out when you stare long  enough at a page. If you stare long enough something just appears. That’s how it works. It’s a bit like a cricket match. You start off slowly, maybe scoring nothing for a long time and then gradually the runs come. Sometimes you play a blinder and the runs start to come at a fast rate and in great style. This is just the same as when you are writing.

Sometimes a piece of writing comes from an idea you have when you are nowhere near a computer (or notebook). If you can capture the idea at the time and revisit it that can result in some good words. If there is no means of capturing, or remembering, the idea is likely to be lost. How many great ideas have blown away in the wind like this?

I imagine Archimedes, when he was having his bath and shouted Eureka, had to get out of the bath straight away, pick up his chisel and start writing that word down. He would have had to be quick because he’d have got cold quite quickly having just stepped out of the water. Although it can be pretty warm in Greece in summer, if that was the time of year, so maybe he would have been ok. Perhaps he quickly got into a dressing gown before picking up his utensil.

During a cricket match an interruption can change everything. Break the flow. This can be the lunch break, tea or stumps at the end of the day. In the case of the modern day writer it is more likely to be a Facebook message interrupting the streaming of content. You stop to check out the message and are further distracted but other stuff in the timeline. It doesn’t have to be like this. You can disable notifications on your laptop but in my case a) I can’t be bothered and b) I’d have to look up how to do it.

I’ve never thought of cricket as being a metaphor for life. It probably isn’t a great model but we can pick and choose aspects of the game that fit the bill. The game ends in a win, lose or draw. That could reflect how an individual has lived his life or how lucky he or she has been. On the other hand it could mean nothing. We all die in the end. You know. Nothing or nobody is immortal. Even these words will get lost or destroyed. Will there be anyone around to read them? Will the language have changed so much that only niche academics will understand them? Questions questions. Have you considered the structure of sentences like that last one? Two repeated words but still a perfectly good sentence. Good grammatically. Not necessarily good subjectively.

Words are an interesting subject in their own right. Someone died recently. A well known journalist. The eulogies have flown thick and fast. What a great wordsmith. I didn’t like his stuff meself because I thought that he used complicated words for the sake of it. I’m more into using simple language. Discombobulation is not my game:). Simplicity doesn’t have to mean not as good as sophisticated or complicated. Simplicity is an art in itself. I’m gonna move on.

Leonard Cohen died recently. Lots of stuff was broadcast about him at the time. I hadn’t realised that he spent 10 years living simply on an island in Greece. His routine involved writing three pages of words in the mornings and then chillin out for the rest of the day. Maybe good. Maybe not. It’s a lot of time wasted. The rest of the day. Maybe it doesn’t matter.

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Walked into the Bail and hand delivered a couple of christmas cards en route. Coffee in Lincoln castle cafe. Cafe dans the cafe du chateau. Oui. Not queit le meme.

In other news ever wondered what was behind that hedge. Well the featured image provides us with a tantalising glimpse of what lies beyond.

to dear life

Good kip. Woke up to hear that Trevor McCaskill the weather forecaster has died – yet another bit of bad news to add to the pile for 2016. We must surely be in for a bout of good news between now and new year. Maybe we will just switch off all sources of news. Trouble is people share these things on Facebook.

The consequence of a good kip is I wasn’t up before dawn to write the diary so that’s all you’re getting for now. Gotta go for a swim and need to get my stuff together.

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Hardly anyone in the pool. Had the slow lane to myself until the last five minutes. People get in towards the end to arrive early for the over 50s swimfit class, or whatever it’s called.  Mostly very large ladies who spend their time chatting. Both men’s shower still cubicles managed to find themselves occupied though so I went in the communal shower. Only problem there is I don’t like to shave in the open shower. Not sure what people would think. So if you see me unshaven after being swimming you now know why.

Now I’m chewing my way through a bowl of fruit and fibre. Do have some jobs to do today. Gotta nip downtown to do some Christmas shopping. Maybe. Trouble is I can’t find the right thing online. Rewind. Rang the shop. They haven’t got it either. Ordered from Amazon with free Prime delivery.

Only 12 more days to go until Christmas yay. Had a Facebook video call with sister Ann in Holt and a chat with Dad. Cleaned the grate out and brought some more kindling in but probably won’t use it today as we are off out tonight. May not need it now until Sunday. It’s not cold.

There is no bread to make a sandwich for lunch. I am making some more but it won’t be ready in time. Still on its first rising. This time I’m using a Paul Hollywood recipe. Replaced a knob of butter with 40ml of olive oil and giving it a longer initial rise time. Let’s see if it makes a difference. This is something we have to crack:)

Outside we are heading into deepest winter. This isn’t snowbound icy wastes of winter. It is miserable neither here nor there insipid colours everything has stopped doing anything for winter winter. The evenings are the best bits at this time of year. Fire crackling in the grate. Welcoming lights inside the pub. Chinks of glasses etc. I see a small bird diving occasionally into our beech hedge. Assuming it nests there. It’s too fast for me to spot its plumage. We have had wrens, robins and hedge sparrows in there plus I suspect blackbirds. At least the bronze plumage of the hedge appies a bit of contrast to the insipid yellow green of the rest of the garden.

It’s 12.47 and it already feels darker out there. A gentle drizzle has started to brush the conservatory roof. It isn’t a drum it’s a brush. A very gentle tapping of the finger tips. I’m glad I’m not a wild animal. Ok they don’t know any different . I like the idea of popping out to the ub for a couple early doors. Wild animals don’t do that. They don’t play the piano or listen to jazz on Spotify. There are too many things that they don’t do so I won’t/can’t list them all. Pretty much everything really. What they tend to do is get eaten by other wild animals. It’s a wild animal eat wild animal world. A bit like being a human but totally different.

The lunch issue still needs resolving. I will need something inside me before heading to the Wright Vigar Christmas drinks reception at 5pm.

Like it or not this is a time of death and decay. The hedgehog that appeared dead on our front lawn is still there. At least physically. Mentally he has totally gone. Gone to the place where hedgehogs go when they die. I don’t expect any hedgehog has ever given it a thought. Otherwise we would see hedgehog religions all over the place. The unknown over why we are here and what happens when we die seems to be why most people turn to religion.

Meself I’m just riding a wave. Trying to stay balanced for as long as possible before being engulfed by boiling waves, dragged under and shipped out to sea for my limp, lifeless body to be torn apart by sharks in a short frenzied attack on just another piece of carrion. They know not what they are doing. Don’t waste that life. Learn to surf.

Wake up and smell the coffee, or some totally random and unrelated saying. What’s your favourite saying?

Check out the featured image of the same apple from only a few days ago.

crammed into our conservatory

The choir of King’s College Cambridge are singing away in the background. They are all crammed into our conservatory. It’s a professional performance despite the fact that there isn’t really room for them all to fit in. I hear Gloria in excelsis Deo. Religion has provided us with some wonderful music over the centuries. Time was when the church was the only outlet for creativity, be it painting or music. Contemporary carols are rubbish. In my view. If you are a Christian you will no doubt defend the genre out of loyalty to your religion but in reality they suck. So much so that you never hear them sung. Maybe there aren’t even any?

I’ve only got nineteen days left of writing this diary for 2016. After that it gets turned into a book. I’m not sure what I will do with the time after 31st December. I’ve grown so use to devoting the time to it. Reality is I need to start getting off my backside and being more active. Right now I’m sat on one of the sofas next to the fire. Not good enough really although Christmas is a time where people sit around a lot just eating and drinking. We aren’t quite there yet though. Twirly.

There is something that needs doing before the book can be compiled. The app I’ve identified needs a more recent version of php to work with. This means moving server. Hassle. Will have to decide what to do over the Christmas break. Might look at alternative apps.

The fire is a great companion. Who needs a TV when you can stare into the living flames. I think of the logs. Their purpose in life to grow and be slowly consumed by fire. Who’d be a tree? Anne is in the house somewhere. I haven’t seen her since she came back at lunchtime. That was two hours ago. Ours is a good sized house.

The choir has moved out to be replaced by a different one singing Handel’s Messiah. HWV 56. Was looking for the Huddersfield Chorale version but Spotify brings up some anonymous outfit. It is fine. We always had the Messiah playing at home at Christmas when we were kids. It is part of the Davies culture.

It’s a bit of a contrast being sat here in our front room listening to Handel compared with the intensive two days in London. You can only sustain that level of activity in short bursts. The house remains quiet this week but will begin to fill up come Saturday when Joe returns from Newcastle.

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We have a tree. A 7 footer purchaysed from Fillingham. It’s erection in place in the tree stand was a piece of cake and it now awaits decoration from an expert. I don’t consider myself qualified in such arts. I’ve done my bit. I can now sit back and relax until it’s time to cook the Christmas Dinner.

I will have to get involved in putting up the lights and there needs to be an extension socket in place to cope with the number of illuminations that hopefully stiff work. That is of course skilled work and a task I accept responsibility for. My degree in Electronic Engineering qualifies me for this.

We are also converging on the menus for the Christmas period. Still needs some work but it’s fore rib of beef on Christmas day and gammon on Boxing Day. The beef has been ordered from Fosters. 3 ribs worth. 4 is overkill I think and 3 will be expensive enough. There is at least one day where we have a takeaway curry. Yay. I’m still looking for a curry buddy for tomorrow night after the Wright Vigar drinks.