where art collides

All is still in the garden. Trees motionless. There is still life. Birds make themselves heard. 05.45. Daylight creeps. Dews the ground.

Looking out through the window I see dark greens, light cedar and a pale grey white where the sun has hitherto failed to add colour. Landscape painting a gradual process.

Behind me a runner passes the front gate. Wow. Dedication. Commitment. Desperation? I glimpsed him out of the corner of my eye when glancing around to compare scenes. Front and back. The runner registered but the drive did not. I cannot describe any north versus south contrasts.

Were I an artist I would set my easel here. There are no inspiring views except those of my imagination.

I now hear movement upstairs. The day is starting…

…

What will happen when I am gone?

When I can no longer gaze at your face

And wonder at the fact that you are lying there next to me

Now, I walk past buildings I will one day stop seeing,

How does that work?

My strength will wane, disappear.

…

Tis a beeootiful day in the shire. Tis also Super Saturday whereby the last three games of the 6 nations tourney are played to decide the final standings. I’m expecting Wales and Ireland to win, in chronological order. The last game, which is not until 8pm and for which we will have a good post pandemic crowd in the shed, is England away to France.

Thereby hangs the dilemma. Ordinarily I wouldn’t want England to win but if they do and Ireland beat the Scots as expected then Ireland will top the table and take the honours. V shall c.

It is a perfect morning to do stuff in the garden. I’ve already cooked the beef stew for tonight and nipped out to the Rose of Wait to buy some nice bread. So what am I doing in the shed? I did just check out the apple tree that Monty said last night was ripe for pruning but tbh the buds have already emerged and I’m really not sure about it this time. Should have done it earlier when the weather was freezing and not conducive to pruning apple trees. 

Pruning does make a big difference to the yield but there again we never pick all the apples anyway. The other thing that I found made a huge difference to the crop was thinning them out. The result in the only year that I’ve really made the effort was much bigger apples. I will discuss the tree question with Mrs Davies upon her (and my) return to the main house.

Later, we had a conversation and I checked with google whether our timing was good. A ladder was retrieved from the garage and an hour and a half or so of tree pruning commenced. Couldn’t quite reach everywhere I wanted to chop so that will wait until tomorrow and when I can be bothered to get my ten foot step ladder out.  My confidence with cutting grew as I went along and I think tomorrow I will also sort the eating apple tree near the barbecue area.

…

There are occasions when it suits me to adhere to the Sabbath. The bit about not doing any work, not the bit about going to church. Today is such a day. It is a bright and sunny afternoon and John and I had a very pleasant walk to the Bailgate. 

We had intended to have a coffee in the cathedral caff as part of our “try a new caff everytime we go for a walk” routine. However said caff was closed. We suspect it had been taken over by the film company that has been doing stuff around the cathedral. There was no sign of anyone filming today even though there was a big marquee on the back lawn. Maybe they don’t work on the sabbath either.

Instead we trundled along to the castle wherein we consumed our coffee. Another caff ticked off the list.

There were lots of tourists out and about around the castle and Cathedral. The weather brings them out innit. There is however a slight edge to the day which is partly why I’ve decided not to do any jobs today. I had told myself that I would finish the tree pruning but it is cold out there and is forecast is for it to warm up from tomorrow so the trees can wait until then.

Also I am enjoying my bit of relaxation.

When I was a kid the sabbath was a v boring day. We would be dispatched to Sunday School. On our own. Parents would stay at home. There was bugger all to do for the rest of the day. Occasionally there would be a cowboy film on the telly and the high point of the day was the comedy on Radio2 at 6.30pm. Hello Cheeky and similar.

Today the peace of the sabbath is disturbed by various sources of noise. An incessant bass line coming out of John’s studio in the attic and now next door would appear to have decided to cut the grass with an extremely loud lawnmower. I could move to the shed which would escape the bass but the lawnmower would follow me there.

…

Woke up to frost in the garden but the sun has burnt all that off and it looks to be a lovely spring day  out there. Still supposed to be cold this morning so will hold off on the apple tree pruning until this afternoon.

Noises abound. A loud woodpigeon must be sat above me somewhere. A siren, police or ambulance typically. Don’t see many fire engines round our neck of the woods for some reason although I don’t look.

…

Glorious first round of golf of spring on Tuesday. Now stiff and weary and back in the shed. It is a joyful afternoon in the garden with the avian chorus in full voice.

…

Friday. Gonna be a seriously nice spring day in the shire. We will be spending half of it in the car en route to the Wirral for a long weekend. It won’t be as nice on the West side of the country but still ok.

The doors of the shed are flung wide open and the heating is off. Will I turn it back on before the Autumn? Quite probably 🙂

…

V relaxing start to the day. Gonna be a lovely Spring day. The sort that makes you question the logic of even thinking of going abroad for a holiday. I realise it is not always like this but when it is it is good. “On the second day Tref saw that it was good”.

We are staying on a “street of a thousand Turkish barbers” or so it feels so am pondering wandering along for the full wax treatment. My last haircut was the day of trefbash60 which you will know was an aeon ago. Will depend if there is a queue. Am not queuing for a full Turkish.

You wonder whether they are all related. One is called Big Als which doesn’t sound Turkish at all. Could be Ali. They all get good reviews but Big Als is the nearest and had a lot of people in it yesterday which is a good sign shirley (stop calling me surely).

Maybe haircuts are a big thing here. I used to just think a haircut is a hair cut until I went to one in London (the day of trefbash60) recommended by my cousin Ken who is in the trade. Adriana was v good fair play and surprisingly cheap for London. Something line forty quid for the works. Anyway I’m boring you here.

On a day like this you suddenly wish you’d brought your sandals. I’ll have to find out where they were hidden at the end of last summer. I remember one year taking the kids to Old Trafford for a test match. There were a couple of hairy blokes at the end of our row wearing socks with their sandals. My thoughts were “if a cricket fan wants to wear socks with their sandals that’s perfectly ok by me”. Then when I walked past them I overheard one say to the other that he had no clue about the rules of the game which suddenly changed my view completely on their wearing of socks. Losers 🙂

An interesting snippet for the golf lovers amongst you. Yesterday we were in New Brighton and drove past Wallasey Golf Club which proudly displayed a sign saying “home of stableford”. Wow impressivo I thought. Who’d a thunk. Had to have been invented somewhere. How did they come up with  the name stableford though? 

…

Today we start the festivities with a dip in West Kirby Swimming Pool. I suspect it has a different name but that is an adequate description of the destination. I am minimally concerned that it is not lane swimming and it won’t be that long since breakfast but sufficiently minimal to not break out in a sweat.

Then at lunchtime I am off to the National Waterways Museum in Ellesmere Port. It’s the kind of activity for which I like going solo. I’m not a massive narrowboat fan like some of my pals on Facebook but I like old boats.

Fifteen spare minutes to make more marks on a virtual page. I keep in front of me a small blue notebook for writing in ink but really only add snippet when travelling. All adds to the volume of work by Tref that will largely remain hidden until the end of time.

It is quite nice when you come across forgotten stuff from many years ago. I have the diary I kept when hitchhiking to Greece at the tender age of 19. One day I’ll try and read the almost certainly barely legible script and move it into Arial 10 or 12 for sharing. Will need to check what I wrote first mind you.

We don’t seem to have the opportunity for adventure that used to exist, at least not in the same way. Most things have already been discovered or been done. Doesn’t mean you can’t redo them I suppose. 

One thing I would quite like to do is pop over to Paris for a totally free and unconstrained couple of nights. I want a night in Harry’s New York Bar and dinner at Au Bon Coin. In fact I could also squeeze in La Coupole where Hannah took me one night when she was in residence. If anyone is up for it I’m sure I could find a reason for going.

It’s unlikely we will be stopping in Paris in September 2023 when we head over for the Rugby World Cup though you never know. I think I’d need to find somewhere secure to park the campervan.

Coming back to the writing in ink comment I have to write in block capitals these days as my “joined up” handwriting is worse than ever due to lack of practice. This means it takes me ages  to write anything down. Far faster typing it in. I think I must have told you that before. Sanagethinginnit.

…

Wednesday

Yooves walk by en route to the pedestrian crossing and thence to continue their education. I could have said children walk by but apart from artificial metrics such as legal ages I’m not sure where you draw the line these days on when is a kid not a kid. There will be a mental maturity element to it.

Off to Doncaster this am to pick up some reupholstered campervan seats. V exciting. For us at least. Got a few jobs to do on the vans before the season starts in April. New radio/stereo, wheel bearing replacement, bit of rear panel paintwork and new floor as well as installing Westfalia sink unit. All good stuff.

…

It raineth steadily creating a very relaxing environment in the shed. I did get an emergency call asking me to take the washing down of the line which I duly did. I am a good boy.

The timing is good for the rain as yesterday I emptied the water butts on either side of the greenhouse, cleaned them out and made sure the self levelling hose pipe connecting the two was not blocked. Now the butts should refill nicely with water from the skies.

…

The water butts, emptied the day before for cleaning, completely filled up with yesterday’s rain, relentless. The thundering of the rain on the shed roof made video conference calls harder to hear and I melodramatically posted on the family WhatsApp group that I could be stranded. The response from the house was that I might miss dinner but was able to reassure everyone that a tunnel was possible.

I braved the storm and made it safely into the main house to everyone’s undoubted relief. We came back the other way to watch a very exciting game of football in which Liverpool prevailed over “the” Arsenal to move within one point of Man City at the top of the Premiership. 

This post is not about football. I will happily leave that to aficionados everywhere enthusiastic to comment on their side’s progress, or otherwise. We are talking water butts.

The greenhouse has one either side of the door gathering rainwater from the guttering and joined at their bases by a hosepipe which creates a single storage entity. A convergence of the twain. 

This usually works well but last summer there was a blockage in one of the connections that meant the secondary tank did not feed the primary thereby temporarily reducing the overall storage capacity. 

This year I have anticipated the problem by thoroughly (ish) cleaning both butts and the pipe before the start of the growing season and the reinstating of the solar powered irrigation system. The system was tested yesterday morning and the pursuant rain proved my forecast that I would not need the assistance of Anglian Water to refill the butts.

Up at 05.20 and now sat in the dark in the tv room avoiding most media sources. It’s all filled with terrible stuff about the Ukraine. It’s even moved to the sports pages.

My eyes did momentarily alight on an article on how the Queen, at the creditable age of 95, is getting frailer and taking on fewer duties. A bit of light relief. 

If modern science gets me to that age I have no idea what I’d want to get up to during the day. Obvs I’d have a glass of Guinness every day so that  I could boast that it was that wot kept me going. I certainly hope that my day would not be filled by daytime TV. What kind of sick brain comes up with that stuff.

It would almost certainly depend on my home sitch. If my life partner was still with me then I would have a jobs list to get on with. Without her it would be a very lonely existence. I know this from the experience of our own parents. We lived a long way from both sets so it was never just a chase of popping round for a chat and to see if everything was ok. 

Will be the same with us. Our kids are unlikely to be local to Lincoln although who knows? London is not a good place to bring up a family. Assuming they get to that stage of the game.

In four years time I will be sixty four. Will I be losing my hair? Will we rent a cottage in the Isle of Wight every summer? It’s more likely to be the Isle of Man. Doesn’t feel as if it is many years from now. 

I’ve lived in Lincoln since January 7th 1984 with one year away in London early on in that time. I remember turning up on the Sunday to stay at the YMCA where Marconi had put me up whilst I found somewhere to live. I remember heading into town that evening to check it out. There wasn’t much to check out in those days.

After a couple of pints in the Jolly Brewer and the Wheatsheaf I was excited to discover a place called the Vegas Burger Bar. Boy was this the big city. Remember I had previously lived in Bangor in North Wales where I’d hung around for a while after university.

The Vegas Burger Bar turned out to be a massive disappointment. I only ever went there the once and it did not survive for very long after that. Not a surprise.

I stayed at the YMCA around a month. It was full of characters. There was one guy, I can’t remember his name though I might have it written down in a diary somewhere, who was up in Lincoln on a building site management course and who managed to juggle relationships with five or six women at the same time. It was amazing to see him in action chatting them up. He eventually had to cut back on the numbers as he couldn’t cope. 

I remember one weekend where he rocked up for Sunday lunch having spent a couple of nights with the manageress of Binns department store. Having eaten he retired to his room with a bottle of champagne and the assistant librarian from the college library. 38 years ago!!

My other memory of the YMCA is popping out to buy a newspaper on a Sunday morning. There was an old guy who used to stand at the bottom of Lindum Hill by the traffic lights selling papers. On this occasion I trudged there through the January snow and stood in a short queue behind a bloke with a dog. Whilst the man with the dog chatted to the newspaper vendor the dog cocked its leg and peed on the latter’s leg. Instead of kicking the dog away the old guy just looked down and pointed saying “oy your dog is peeing on my leg!”. Left the customer to chase the dog off his leg. Couldn’t make it up.

I was almost certainly the only person staying at the YMCA who read the Sunday Times. I don’t read it anymore although I would consider buying the occasional copy as it would come in handy to light the fire of a morning. I don’t know if it is as substantial as it used to be. Hard times for hard copy.

Anyway time to make the tea. Ciao amigos.

12.8kg down on my get slimmer in 2022 odyssey. Fitting more comfortably into clothes that had grown tight and feeling a lot better with it. Got a big week ahead though. From Saturday my only nights in are Sunday and Monday until the following Sunday. 

I have mixed thoughts about this. Having made so much good progress it’s a bit of a shame to pause it. However this won’t be the first pause since Christmas and I have previously picked up where I left off and improved on it.

Secondly I have some great days and nights out in prospect and life is here to be lived. It’s about striking the right balance innit. 

There is always gin and slimline tonic although I rarely drink gin in pubs because of the miniscule amounts you get in a standard shot. Also if I was with someone drinking pints then I’d finish far too quickly and be totally sloshed before I knew what was happening.

Part of the keto diet is not consuming alcohol and this has been very easy when I haven’t been travelling which is quite reassuring 🙂 My rule when at home was always not to drink during the week (weekend starts on a Thursday mind you). It was too easy to break this rule during lockdown but things seem to be getting back on track.

…

Chillin in the tv room with ma gurl. Waiting for the Everton v Boreham Wood game to start. Not that interested in it actually other than like most watchers I want BW to win, being massive underdogs. Not sure I even know any Everton fans other than Anne’s Uncle Cliff.

Quite nice sat in the tv room actually. It’s cosy. Normally we would watch this sort of thing in the shed but the FA Cup is on terrestrial tv so it’s watchable in the house. Reality is that I could probs cast it from my phone were it on Sky or BTSport but no need.

Slightly annoying that they, ITV, just interrupted a somewhat poignant moment where the teams were paying tribute to the Ukraine with some adverts that seem most inappropriate. Everton have an Ukranian player by the looks of it. 

C’mon Boreham Wood.

Mind you ITV sports commentary is crap.

I have around 15m of bookshelves in the tv room. More elsewhere. I’ve decided that, shed apart, I won’t buy any more bookcases but will gradually relegate some of the fiction to the attic. In my younger days I devoured a lot of what might be considered to be classic fiction but nowadays I don’t have a problem with moving it to storage.

Sbeen a different sort of week. Tested positive for covid on Tuesday. This has consequences. A dental appointment arranged months ago has had to be rearranged for May! Bugger. Also due to fly to Barcelona on Sunday. Feels unlikely I will be going though I am going to leave it until Friday or Saturday to make that call. If I shake off the symptoms and test negative I’ll go. As I said feels unlikely.

I’ll be able to rearrange some of the travel bits. Certainly repurpose the train tickets. Funnily enough I got a text message this morning from LNER saying that my train time had changed and offering the option of a refund. Upon examination the change was that it arrived in Kings Cross 3 minutes earlier!

Dunno about the flights. With a bit of luck I’ll get a voucher but not so sure at the mo.

The covid symptoms are not severe right now but yaneverknow innit.

One of the side effects of all this is that I’ve been kipping in a spare room which has been very comfortable. It’s at the back of  the house and very quiet. I wake up every morning looking for signs that the covid has gone but so far, admittedly only 3 days in, it ain’t. Gonnahavetosee.

My day to day life has turned somewhat hermitesque as the others in the house avoid contact. Fortunately the shed is the perfect place to have to do this sort of thing. Also I am being well catered for by she who matters the most. Deelishus pea and ham soup for lunch was left in the pan when she went out  and a pot of tea has just appeared in the shed.

Although I have every means of communications possible and plenty of entertainment I do very much feel isolated. Makes you understand the issues people living on their own have had to contend with during periods of covid lockdown.

Had the occasional nap as well which is a bit of a luxury. On the settee in the shed. I rarely use the settee as I have two armchairs as well. 

There is a lot going on on the international scene. The Russians have invaded Ukraine. Old Putin looks more and more like Hitler every day. Deranged. This is a dodgy time for the world.

…

Friday and I’ve woken up feeling much better. Still sniffles and a slight cough but I sense the worst is over. Tested positive again so not totes out of the woods. I sense that Barcelona is looking worse than evens. Tomorrow is really the drop dead date although I could still cancel Sunday morning. Seehowitgoze.

Another day of spring in the shire. Shed doors open to the garden. Need to brush the detritus of winter off the deck.

Green Thumb have been and gone. We will need some seed putting down in April to fill a few bare patches. Leaves blown from around the shed base.

…

Sigh Saturday

Had to cancel a London to Newark train journey so I rebooked for a new date but the system won’t let me cancel the old one on the back of this. Upon examination it is because the old booking is from London Terminals to Newark whereas the new booking is from London Kings Cross to Newark. Different journey! At least there was a very nice person called Rosie at the other end of the LNER Customer Services line who sorted it.

Whilst I was in the middle of that the Yarborough Leisure Centre called to see if I wanted to renew my membership which I did but not in the middle of talking to Rosie who I’d have to wait on hold to get to. 

…

Another beautiful spring day out. I sense that I am mostly over covid. Just a few sniffles and the odd cough. It is hitting Anne hard poor girl but she is a bit behind me with it all.

Took me a good 45 mins to get through to BA this am to cancel flight. Only gave me the option of rescheduling it online

The news is all about Russia attacking the Ukraine. They have been at it a few days now. The problem for Ukraine, apart from the fact that Russian president Putin is a psychopath, is that Western armies can’t get involved as it would risk escalation into WW3. It does feel as if the world is on a war footing though and the repercussions are going to continue for years with the only end game being the removal of Putin.

Our house was built in September 1939. Walking out into the back garden just now it was very easy to feel as if nothing had changed. War going on in mainland Europe with a crazy expansionist dictator hell bent on his own agenda.

…

When I was 19 I hitchhiked to Greece. I caught a train and a ferry for some of the way because I bumped into a couple of guys headed that way but it was mostly hitchhiking and certainly on the way back.

When I set off from Bangor after the end of my first year at University I bought a rucksack and a waterproof raincoat and stuck my thumb out whilst holding a sign saying St Tropez. I made it to St Tropez and thence Greece.

I quite like the idea of doing it again. An adventure. You never see hitchhikers anymore. It’s quite sad really. In reality we have the campervan option. Next year when we go to the rugby world cup in the South of France it will effectively replace my hitchhike.

I’ve been thinking about planning something but part of me says to just freewheel and see where that gets us.

…

Monday 28th Feb. The red line indicating covid +ve was a lot fainter this morning and took a while to show. Methinks I’m nearly through it. The great thing about this is being able to go places without even thinking about wearing a mask. As a glasses wearer, masks have been a real nuisance steaming up my lenses.

I normally don’t work on a Monday so today is going to be relatively leisurely. Still a few bits and bobs to sort out but I might even hang some pics. They’ve been sitting on various sofas waiting to go up on the walls.  

…

1st March. St David’s Day, 1st meteorological day of spring and Shrove Tuesday. All in one. How about that. No pancakes though as the diet continues. Around 12kg off so far. Happy enough with that.

Also tested negative yay.

Sbeen a different sort of week. Tested positive for covid on Tuesday. This has consequences. A dental appointment arranged months ago has had to be rearranged for May! Bugger. Also due to fly to Barcelona on Sunday. Feels unlikely I will be going though I am going to leave it until Friday or Saturday to make that call. If I shake off the symptoms and test negative I’ll go. As I said feels unlikely.

I’ll be able to rearrange some of the travel bits. Certainly repurpose the train tickets. Funnily enough I got a text message this morning from LNER saying that my train time had changed and offering the option of a refund. Upon examination the change was that it arrived in Kings Cross 3 minutes earlier!

Dunno about the flights. With a bit of luck I’ll get a voucher but not so sure at the mo.

The covid symptoms are not severe right now but yaneverknow innit.

One of the side effects of all this is that I’ve been kipping in a spare room which has been very comfortable. It’s at the back of  the house and very quiet. I wake up every morning looking for signs that the covid has gone but so far, admittedly only 3 days in, it ain’t. Gonnahavetosee.

My day to day life has turned somewhat hermitesque as the others in the house avoid contact. Fortunately the shed is the perfect place to have to do this sort of thing. Also I am being well catered for by she who matters the most. Deelishus pea and ham soup for lunch was left in the pan when she went out  and a pot of tea has just appeared in the shed.

Although I have every means of communications possible and plenty of entertainment I do very much feel isolated. Makes you understand the issues people living on their own have had to contend with during periods of covid lockdown.

Had the occasional nap as well which is a bit of a luxury. On the settee in the shed. I rarely use the settee as I have two armchairs as well. 

There is a lot going on on the international scene. The Russians have invaded Ukraine. Old Putin looks more and more like Hitler every day. Deranged. This is a dodgy time for the world.

…

Friday and I’ve woken up feeling much better. Still sniffles and a slight cough but I sense the worst is over. Tested positive again so not totes out of the woods. I sense that Barcelona is looking worse than evens. Tomorrow is really the drop dead date although I could still cancel Sunday morning. Seehowitgoze.

Another day of spring in the shire. Shed doors open to the garden. Need to brush the detritus of winter off the deck.

Green Thumb have been and gone. We will need some seed putting down in April to fill a few bare patches. Leaves blown from around the shed base.

…

Sigh Saturday

Had to cancel a London to Newark train journey so I rebooked for a new date but the system won’t let me cancel the old one on the back of this. Upon examination it is because the old booking is from London Terminals to Newark whereas the new booking is from London Kings Cross to Newark. Different journey! At least there was a very nice person called Rosie at the other end of the LNER Customer Services line who sorted it.

Whilst I was in the middle of that the Yarborough Leisure Centre called to see if I wanted to renew my membership which I did but not in the middle of talking to Rosie who I’d have to wait on hold to get to. 

…

Another beautiful spring day out. I sense that I am mostly over covid. Just a few sniffles and the odd cough. It is hitting Anne hard poor girl but she is a bit behind me with it all.

Took me a good 45 mins to get through to BA this am to cancel flight. Only gave me the option of rescheduling it online

The news is all about Russia attacking the Ukraine. They have been at it a few days now. The problem for Ukraine, apart from the fact that Russian president Putin is a psychopath, is that Western armies can’t get involved as it would risk escalation into WW3. It does feel as if the world is on a war footing though and the repercussions are going to continue for years with the only end game being the removal of Putin.

Our house was built in September 1939. Walking out into the back garden just now it was very easy to feel as if nothing had changed. War going on in mainland Europe with a crazy expansionist dictator hell bent on his own agenda.

…

When I was 19 I hitchhiked to Greece. I caught a train and a ferry for some of the way because I bumped into a couple of guys headed that way but it was mostly hitchhiking and certainly on the way back.

When I set off from Bangor after the end of my first year at University I bought a rucksack and a waterproof raincoat and stuck my thumb out whilst holding a sign saying St Tropez. I made it to St Tropez and thence Greece.

I quite like the idea of doing it again. An adventure. You never see hitchhikers anymore. It’s quite sad really. In reality we have the campervan option. Next year when we go to the rugby world cup in the South of France it will effectively replace my hitchhike.

I’ve been thinking about planning something but part of me says to just freewheel and see where that gets us.

…

Monday 28th Feb. The red line indicating covid +ve was a lot fainter this morning and took a while to show. Methinks I’m nearly through it. The great thing about this is being able to go places without even thinking about wearing a mask. As a glasses wearer, masks have been a real nuisance steaming up my lenses.

I normally don’t work on a Monday so today is going to be relatively leisurely. Still a few bits and bobs to sort out but I might even hang some pics. They’ve been sitting on various sofas waiting to go up on the walls.  

…

1st March. St David’s Day, 1st meteorological day of spring and Shrove Tuesday. All in one. How about that. No pancakes though as the diet continues. Around 12kg off so far. Happy enough with that.

Also tested negative yay.