where art collides philosoperontap

Beautiful autumnal day. Raining. I’ve watered the greenhouse but that is all. I’m off on a jaunt to Brussels today and just have no idea what to wear 🙂 Shorts are perfect for when it is wet but there was one time I went and THG and I met the gaffer and his mrs in a posh restaurant. It was a hot summer and I was in shorts and Hawaiian shirt, natch. We were first to arrive but there was a problem. There was a dress code. This didn’t really become apparent until the others got there and it was then openly mentioned. I offered to nip back to our hotel to change but in the end they stuck me with my back to the wall and legs under the tablecloth.

I do quite fancy wearing one of my new bow ties but that means wearing a collared long sleeved shirt. The rain has muddied the waters so to speak. Were it not raining then a shirt and sports jacket with chinos would have been fine with the bow tie.

I think I’ve decided. Bow tie it is.

As part of the “sorting out” of my book collection I have not only been making multiple trips to Oxfam but the process of categorisation has started. This is not a quick job. I have a number of themes of interest: Carmarthenshire history, WW2 history, Manx interest, general British history and everything else. If a general history book is relevant for my Welsh research it gets put in that category. Yesterday I began grouping these on different shelves. 

This is not a quick job. The shelves are mostly already full with random titles although Oxfam has helped me free up some space. So when a WW2 book gets put next to their WW2 pals others are displaced and have to be rehomed. This is going to be a long iterative process that can be done a little bit at a time. When I have spare five minutes every now and again 🙂 The Shed is going to be the repository of the Carmarthenshire works. I have an empty bookcase that needs moving across. The desk and sofa have already been moved forwards a few inches to free up some space behind.

Last night Lincoln were for the first time ever on University Challenge and they won. Had THG and I not been sitting on comfortable low level sofas we might have fallen off. Well done. They had a bloke sat at the end who knew most of the answers but that seems to be the case for many teams. There’s always one superstar/swot.

Mark the joiner is coming this morning. A lot of jobs lined up for him. There’s two or three days worth of work but he is just here for the morning today to get started. We seem to be going through a phase of spending on the house. Needs doing every now and again. It’s one of the reasons we aren’t interested in a holiday home. A house needs to be lived in to be properly maintained. It’s a continuous process really. There are other reasons for my stance on holiday homes. It’s just that one fitted into the theme of the paragraph.

Deconstructed bacon sandwich for brekkie. One slice of ordinary and one slice of smoked. Two slices of sourdough toast. Number five on the dial. That’s the last of the drycured unsmoked back bacon. I can source more when required to do so (by me).

Gotta go. Mark will be here soon.

Locksmith Steve rocked up at ten to eight this morning. He had fitted a new front door lock but it had a dodgy “curtain” or similar so came and replaced it. Good bloke. There is a side to being a locksmith that people perhaps don’t see. They occasionally get called out to a house where it is likely that the person inside has died and people can’t otherwise gain access. Not nice. This can involve hanging around for hours whilst the cops come and take statements. Happened to us when he was originally due to swing by and we deferred his visit as he didn’t know how long it would be before he was done.

The first day of autumn. The song doesn’t quite work for today does it? “If I ruled the world then every day would be the first day of autumn!” I don’t dislike the first day of autumn. Pinch and a punch. Busyish day ahead. Need to nip to the tailors and then to the gym before coming back for a conference call. Yes you heard, a conference call. Just a quickie hopefully. Then I have to be on hand to pick THG up from the hairdressers in case it is raining. There is a seventy percent chance of rain at two pm.

With a bit of luck I’ll also be able to make a start on my next project which is the construction of a jetty for the lake. Need to be able to safely moor the Saucy Sue rescue boat so that she doesn’t drift far out into the middle of the water, or even worse into the reeds at the far end where nobody ever goes. The rough design has already been done. Will also need to construct a cleat and glue it to the prow of the boat. Intricate stuff. Leave it with me.

My new trailcam also needs installing. I have to knock in a post in a suitable spot in order to mount it. The positioning needs to be such that it gets some sun. The corner I have in mind should just about be ok. None of the garden is in full sun for the whole day which I ordinarily consider to be a good thing except when it comes to solar charging 🙂 I have the post ready. Just needs sawing down to size. All good stuff.