where art collides philosoperontap

Couple of separate hedgehog visits last night. The first at 22:19 caught him at both the Raised Beds and Lake and the second for ten minutes or so at 03:37 around the Raised Beds. I like the idea that the hedgehog spends time in the garden foraging for nosh. Snails and slugs r us. The fox came at 01:38, spent a few seconds drinking at the lake and then mosied on past the Raised Beds to the hole in the fence and on to next door. Good to see the lake becoming an established stop in the hunting grounds. I checked on Brian. He was right under where the fox stopped but the lad seems to be ok. Nothing phases our Brian. I had to move him back an inch or two to a safer spot on the rocks as he seemed to have developed a habit of slipping into the water. Good job the Saucy Sue rescue boat is moored nearby.

This morning we are orf to Laandan. Was up at dawn, as is oft the case. Catching the trane at Newark as the options from Lincoln on a Sunday morning ain’t great. I don’t suppose many people want to catch a train at breakfast time on a Sunday. Too busy reading the papers etc. Limo coming at nine fifteen. Well, DIscount Cabs taxi.

I have decided I am going to go posh this morning. Dapper. The only issue is which bow tie to wear. It is down to a choice of two: a blue Winston Churchill polka dot job or the one with strawberries on. I have a growing collection.  Am thinking strawberries and keep the Winston Churchil for the conference on Thursday. Surprise everyone.

Quite looking forward to lunch at the Ham Yard Hotel. Nothing fancy. Just good quality Sunday lunch fare. They have jazz on between 1pm and 4 on Sundays. We are there from 1pm. Will have been a pretty good lunch if we don’t finish until 4pm. Right, jazz has finished, drink up weroff.

It is my hope and expectation that when I get back on Thursday night the wildflower meadow will be turning green and the seedlings emerging.  There are already signs of life. THG is coming back from London a lot earlier than me so she can maintain the watering regime, both on the meadow and the chillies in the greenhouse. We are in the growing season. THG has some broad beans on one of the raised beds with enhanced levels of protection. Fingers crossed. There is some evidence of slug damage but not on all plants and the pigeons are going to find it hard to get near.

Ryanair flight FR2428 from Leeds to Riga has just flown overhead. Unless it’s the Turkish Airlines TK1174 from DUB to IST. Not sure. Both are exotic routes. Been to Istanbul but not Riga. No plans to go to either though I do fancy Istanbul some day. My last visit was a business trip and I didn’t see much of the city. Did a dinner cruise on the Bosphorus which was quite good and also a dinner at the Topkapi Palace. We walked past an armed soldier on guard to get there.

Anyway back to more mundane but nevertheless important issues. I need to make the tea, Ciao amigos.

…

update – can’t actually find my Winston Churchill bow tie. It’ll be in the same bag as my white shirt that I haven’t been able to find for a while now. It’ll turn up sometime!

I’ll have to have a good sort out. THG has a weekend where she switches her winter wardrobe to the summer one and then back again in the autumn.

Last night my bose phones decided my macbook would no longer be called macbook pro but macbookpro 2. I was on a hotel (I think) wifi network the other day when a pop up appeared (somewhere) telling me that there was already a computer called macbookpro on the network and that mine would henceforth be called macbookpro2. I guess that’s short for “macbook pro too”, or “macbookpro as well”. I thought it was purely for the connection on that DHCP server. Slightly concerned that the network was able to rename a computer though to the extent that the headphones called it something that it had not normally called it. Might look into that one.

Anyway I was awake with the dawn chorus again this morning, as is often the case, but on this occasion I nodded off again and before I knew it it was seven ey em and THG was up mekkin the tea. It’s a very refreshing sleep that extra bit. Had some toast and totes forgot I was meant to be having a bit of grapefruit to celebrate the return of my grapefruit spoon from Holt in Wiltshire where I’d accidentally left it at Christmas. It was brought home by son Joe after he had received it from his cousin Lils in London. A round about route but it saved the postage innit. 

Although it is a Saturday I actually have some work to do. A conf call at 9:30. The things you do eh? I also have to clear some stuff off the jobslist though I did manage to do one of those yesterday pm whilst THG was out. Needed to shift all the turf I’d lifted to prepare the ground for the renewal of the wildflower meadow. It is now all in a builders bag being turned into compost. The meadow itself is starting to show signs of life. V promising. Exciting even.

Got a bit of packing to do this pm as we are off to the smoke again on Sunday for a long lunch followed by a couple of nights out with @Stefan and Katya who are over from Berlin. I’m staying in town as I have meetings on Tuesday evening and all day Thursday so figured it wasn’t worth coming home for one night.

THG has left for the Park Run and the conservatory is warming up as the sun streams through. Should be a good growing day. I must check the progress of the chillies in the greenhouse. Ciao amigos.

Oh and fox spotted at the lake at 03:21 and hedgehog on two separate visits an hour and a half apart at the Raised Beds.

The dawn chorus started at 05:15 this morning. At least that’s when I first noticed it. It’s great to have these light mornings when I can nip downstairs and sit in the conservatory. There’s a bit of a breeze outside. Maybe it is more noticeable because the leaves on the trees are emerging.

Yesterday I noticed that the surface of the lake was turning green. I suspect green algae. Not totes sure whether this is the case and whether it is a problem. Or whether it will disappear in time. The lake is a very young feature of the landscape around here so this might just be a part of the natural process of the establishment of an ecosystem.

Some serious hedgehog action overnight. Must have spent most of the night foraging around the garden, including stopping for a swig at the lake. 11 separate video captures between 20:37 and 05:17. Hopefully retired to its nest/dem/home with a belly full of slugs and snails. Fox stopped by once for a minute or so at 01:06. This morning just thirty seconds was enough to record eight species of bird out back: wren, black-cap, robin, chiffchaff, blackbird, song thrush, chaffinch and wood-pigeon. There seems to be a significant increase in bird species this year. Historically we have been able to rely on the robin, blackbird, wren and the occasional bluebird and dunnock. The garden is becoming a true haven for wildlife. When the wildflower meadow gets established it should attract even more.

We (THG) is also planning to widen the border next to the beech hedge. The lawn is gradually becoming smaller. We no longer need it for the kids to play football etc and there is still plenty of grass ish if anyone was to bring some nippers along.

My golf last night btw was totes rubbish. Only one par and I didn’t seem to be able to swing a club. Four quid down! Keeps you out of trouble and it was a pleasant enough evening. Afterwards to the Woodcocks. This pub has very little going for it other than the fact that it is on the way back from the golf club. They’ve dropped at table service and you now either have to order via the barcode or queue up at the bar. In their defence the ordering from the table does bring the beers quite quickly but on the downside they’ve stopped serving Peroni. We had started using the Horse and Groom but that’s been shut for months following a fire in the kitchen. If we can find a better alternative we’ll be there.

At the Woodcocks, few yards away from us, there was a family with a baby using the table as a drum. The parents just sat there oblivious to the noise. I think I’ll buy that kid a drum kit for Christmas. That’ll teach em. I once mischievously bought one of Tom’s pals Giles a drum for his sixth birthday. This was the kid who was dropped off at ours once before school and ran into the house saying “what’s for breakfast”. He was also once heard to call us his “carers”. They moved away from the area.

So today is Friday, yay. Someone has had the temerity to stick a meeting in the calendar at 2pm. Friday is double time in my book 🙂 I do have quite a bit to do today actually so most of it will be spent working. Huh!

Ciao amigos…

So I’ve decided what my stance on posh restaurants is. I don’t want designer food. I want normal food done well. In a curry house, to use a recent example, I don’t want venison or lobster curry. I want a well executed lamb balti or ctm. Call me old fashioned. If I wanted lobster I’d go to a good fish restaurant, preferably near the coast.

This coming Sunday we are off out to lunch at the Ham Yard Hotel where I’ll be having either prawn cocktail or smoked salmon to start followed by roast beef (just looked at the menu for reference). These are all recognisable dishes but I am expecting them to be much better than the offering down your local pub. This isn’t to diss the local chef and you could actually get as good a meal as I’m expecting on Sunday. To some extent it’s related to price point but not necessarily. As a bonus they have live jazz at the Ham Yard on Sunday afternoons.

Having just returned from one business trip to London I am now getting my act together for another visit beginning on Sunday, returning Thursday evening. We are staying at The Trafalgar which is conveniently situated for lots of central london attractions, pubs and restaurants. Whilst we will have a good time it is still a business trip at the end of the day. I just have a particular approach to doing business that fits in with our lifestyle.

At home in Lincoln the back garden action has continued with all of the “big three” having been picked up on cam: fox, muntjac and hedgehog. It is particularly pleasing to see hedgehog activity as we need something that likes to eat slugs and snails. The fox seems to be getting bolder and his visits more frequent. I dunno if you’ve been watching the David Attenborough series on wildlife in gardens but this is very much reminiscent of that. 

I am in two minds about the fox. On the one hand they are pests and indiscriminate killers but also it is nice to see them around which is the approach taken by Dave. Currently sitting on the fence on this one. As long as the fox behaves itself then I think I’ll let it continue to visit. It would be easy enough to block off its routes but then that would stop the deer from getting in and I very much don’t want to do that.

I mentioned the big three but wonder what might make it a big four. A badger maybe but I’ve never seen one in Lincoln, other than an occasional dead one on the bypass. I’d probably count the peregrine falcon as a potential fifth but I’ve only ever seen one on the ground and that was in the allotments over our back fence. It had caught a pigeon and was chomping away at that. That said, we have occasionally seen lots of feathers on the lawn where clearly a bird has been taken. Could just have been a cat. Cat’s don’t make the big list as far as I am concerned. They are domestic animals and often seen roaming back gardens. At least I have the tech in place to pick up any new entrant. I look forward to the first zebra, or even a hippo in the lake, neither of which are native species but we travel hopefully, as you know.

Off for a curry in Town tonight with @Wayne, as you do. Some posh gaff. In the meantime I’ve just broken a wine glass in the dishwasher. Our dishwasher is not suitable for wine glasses really. Not the end of the world. Just a minor incident. For the record I hadn’t just drunk the wine. It was the kids last night before they left for the station. Sounds bad innit saying “the kids had been drinking wine”.

Also in the meantime I have a meeting at nine am. Dunno why I booked it for then. I think I must have thought I was leaving for London earlier than I am. Ah well. Will get me up I suppose 🙂 I am already up obvs. Had a bacon sarnie and a glass of milk. Still have some of the Isle of Man bacon which is da dogz. Will need to avoid lunch on the train to make sure I have max capacity for the posh curry. It isn’t until eight thirty tonight anyway.

Busy garden last night with fox at 7pm, ten to one and quarter to four. During the earlier visit he followed THG around. I wonder if someone is feeding him. Hedgehog was five to eleven and twenty five to four. The Raised Beds cam doing most of the biz.

Finally the walk to the shed this morning was done to the tune of blue tit, great tit and wren.

Today we wave off the last of the visitors after a successful weekend of sport in which every result we wanted was achieved. The last of these was Rory winning the Masters. I had to wait until this morning to hear that outcome because having sat in front of the TV in the shed from around 2pm I decided at 10.30pm that enough was enough and I retired to bed, tiptoeing to make sure I didn’t wake THG.

Tis a beeootiful sunny day this morning. The birds are clearly enjoying it. Can’t tell you the brand as my phone is charging in the kitchen whilst I tap away in my conservatory. I need the Merlin app on the phone to do the identification. Could be coal tit (turned out to be a great tit).

As I sit here an office is being set up at the table. The worker concerned considered the spare desk in the shed to be too untidy to use so she moved into the house. I have since tidied the desk (ie shifted everything somewhere else) but the die had been cast. Sokay 🙂 

It rained yesterday afternoon which meant I didn’t need to water the wildflower meadow. That’s how it works in nature innit. There was also some overnight fox action at oh three twenty six and three separate hedgehog visits at 20:27 21:45 and 03:41. The Raised Beds cam continues to deliver, especially on the hedgehog front which I am quite pleased about. I have been thinking of building a hedgehog house but I don’t think I need to now.

 All the Lake cam could offer was a cat at 02:18 and 03:25 which I’ve never bothered with before but am now. I’ve probably missed a lot of visits. Actually the 03:26 visit must have been the cat. Was difficult to be sure. Can’t imagine the cat and the fox would have been in the garden at the same time without some sort of kerfuffle going on.

Anyway, gotta go. Talking son #3 to East Midlands Airport innit. Ciao amigos.

…

Fox came at 18:59 and followed THG down the path towards the house!

Great day at the footy yesterday as guests of Aberellis Flooring. Lincoln beat Leyton Orient 2 – 1 and our box was in prime position to see both Lincoln goals, albeit one of them was a cracking own goal by the Orient defender who immediately buried his head in the turf in shame. He he he. The only very mild disappointment was that we only won 2 – 1. I had a tenner on Lincoln to win 4 – 1. Thought I might as well spice up the day a little.

After the game went with @Si, @Adie and Coops to the Millers for a beer and thence to the Tiny Tavern just down the High Street. Not been there before. Beer was v good. We squeezed onto a table with a couple from York called Chris and something beginning with M (sorry M – I can’t remember – beer played a part here). The day finished early at perhaps five o’clock, remembering it was a 12:30 kick off and we were at the ground by 11:45. Z very kindly came to pick us up. Early to bed.

This morning I was up bright and early to make the tea and be ready to deliver THG to her marshalling point on the corner of Higson Road and Burton Road. Right down past the barracks. No traffic around and ROAD CLOSED signs everywhere but I’d done my research and the roads where I needed to go didn’t close until nearer the start of the race and was able to drop the girl off exactly at the right place.

Next up was to drop @Hannah and @George off near the start. Our Joe had already set off to run there. Back to the house, a bit of lunch sorting then out with Tom and John to watch the three of them run past us on Nettleham Road. We were stood outside St Barnabas Hospice.

Now back home, roast in, veg ready to go on and fire lit. Decided we would have one more fire this year as it isn’t the warmest of days out.

The new Raised Beds cam continues to deliver with overnight recordings of hedgehog, cat, fox and muntjac. Had to rescue Brian again after he was pushed into the lake by the fox. Either that or he jumped in to escape the fierce predator.

The new investment in spy tech has already paid off with the discovery of a previously unknown level of hedgehog action. Raised Beds cam, as it is now known, picked up four separate hedgehog visits last night between 21:11 and 05:07. We also had fox at 22:32 and 05:06. Reynard must have learned to leave the hedgehog alone. I imagine it is the same hedgehog.

Sitting in my conservatory at 09:08 and it has just started to rain. Our plan today is to head for Sincil Bank at around 10:45 to get there early for a 12:30 kick off. Hopefully the aforementioned precipitation will have stopped by then but at the moment I’d almost label it as “heavy”. Certainly relaxing. It’s as if someone is holding a hosepipe with the nozzle in shower setting up to the conservatory roof. THG has gone to the park run and unfortunately will be caught out in the rain. She is tough so will no doubt battle on through.

Otherwise there is no sign of anyone. Hannah did appear for a minute or two and has gone back upstairs. Twas a late night for all of them. I went to bed when Rory was seven under and woke up to find he’d finished on twelve under. All good stuff. Keep up the pressure R.

Plenty to do meself today before we head down the bank. Gotta prep some stuffing for example to save having to do it tomorrow. Timings tomorrow are going to be an issue. The 10k starts at 10am. THG, who is marshalling needs to be in place by 8.30! I’m planning for dinner to be on the table for 1pm so I might miss much of the race. See how it goze.

H has now reappeared, dressed and ready for action fair play. I’m not. 

If we win today and Cardiff lose to Bolton then we will be 15 points ahead with a goal difference of at least 12. Cardiff have 5 games to play so they would need to win every game and we would need to lose every game for them to take the title and even then they would have to overcome the goal difference. If we lose by one goal in each game, then Cardiff would have to win their last 5 games by two clear goals in four of them and 1 in five. Snorrapnin. Lincoln odds are 1-500 to win the league (Paddypower). I might have a little flutter this morning before I go down. Not on the league thing. Just today’s game.

Tharrldo. Stuff to be getting on with.

Feels like a Saturday today. Often does. Isn’t though. It’s Friday. Just letting you know. If it was Saturday we’d be up and getting a good breakfast down us before heading to Sincil Bank for the early kickoff. As it is I am sat in my conservatory prior to making a decision as to what to have for breakfast today. Was up before thought for the day as the wireless is filled with bad news all the time and I had switched it off earlier than is normal. I guess we can’t just have back to back good news about the imps’ promotion on the Today programme can we? Not everyone is that discerning, especially those supporters of rival clubs unable to demonstrate the same level of success. Mind you perhaps they don’t listen to Radio 4.

I have already assembled the constituent parts of the Delia Smith chilli con carne recipe on the butcher’s block. This was in response to THG’s statement that she didn’t want me constantly ringing her whilst she was out asking where we keep the salt or similar. I have a habit of not being able to find things. This is usually because I wasn’t the person who put it away in the first place. Sometimes when I do put things away, as was the case with my supply of hawaiian shirts and shorts, they subsequently get moved, for good reasons obvs, and I still can’t find them. I do know where the salt is btw.

The chilli con carne is for Saturday night after we return from the game. Didn’t want to have to cook owt so making it easy for meself and cooking it in advance. The fact that the game kicks off at twelve thirty is neither here nor there. This is going to be a celebratory occasion that merits the consumption of beer. Just the one, or two. I can’t imagine that our runners in the 10k the next day will be consuming anything containing alcohol.

The avian community is in fine voice this morning. Robins, wren and great tits. I don’t count the wood pigeons. The growing season is very much upon us. Nature is happy. Today I plan to install the second trail cam in the back garden. It will be at a lower level and next to the route the fox likes to take to the hole in the fence. Expect to get some good footage. Part of me thinks a third camera right next to the lake would also be good. Will have to give it some thought. That spot doesn’t get as much sun so whether its solar panel will provide enough charge to power the camera might be an issue.

I also need to remove the turf dug up during the creation of the new Central Valley and wildflower meadow. There are a few bare patches on the lawn that could be covered with some of the turf but tbh the lawn is going to get a pretty severe scarification sometime over the next few weeks and there will be a lot of bare patches so I’ll probs just reseed them. Most of the turf is going to be deposited in a builder’s bag and left to turn into compost.

In other news the hoover service man has just arrived. Didn’t know he was coming and tb totally h I didn’t know it needed servicing either. THG runs an efficient ship. She has had to become an expert at it remembering that I am one of the crew.

I skipped (or delayed) breakfast and went out to water the wildflower meadow. Can’t rely on nature at this early stage in the season where the seeds need water and warmth to germinate. I can supply the water but the warmth bit is somewhat hit and miss. Fortunately I’ve not seen many birds helping themselves to seed. I must have done a good job raking over the soil. The seeds were purchaysed two years ago but I checked the box and they are still good to use so fingers crossed. At some point in the season I will be inviting folk to come and sit on the deck to consume tea and admire the lake and meadow.

Brian fell in the lake again btw. Good job we have the rescue boat in place. He is a bit of a one. Not careful enough clambering over the rocks I’d guess. Anyway he seems to be ok. If he keeps doing this I’ll have to help him by putting down some blu tack or simlar. I know he won’t like that but needs must…

The red arrows just flew over and the repair man has gone. It is now safe for me to enter the kitchen and start preparing the chilli. Ciao amigos.

…

Fox came through the hedge at 09:28 as I was locking up the shed to go back to the house. He immediately turned and went back through the hedge. I have it on CCTV.

The house has started to fill up with Lincoln 10k runners. They arrive in dribs and drabs until Friday. Some are supporters not runners. THG, being a runner herself and having more than once participated in the 10k, is marshalling. I will be spectating and ensuring that the lunch is in hand for when the hungry runners cross the finishing line.

The first of the arrivals headed for the shed this morning and immediately turned around and came back to the house, establishing her workstation in the conservatory. The spare desk is too untidy. One of my tasks this morning is therefore to tidy the spare desk. It isn’t just the desk itself. I did make a start on that yesterday, cognisant as I was that it would be in demand. It’s all the stuff kept underneath the desk. Miscellaneous camping gear and boxes of “stuff”. It’s probs a good time for me to get it all sorted innit. Whether that is doable or not remains to be seen. I’ll try my best.

The meteorological office tells me that today will be a cloudless day with a light southerly breeze and a max high of twenty two degrees. Perfect weather. Yesterday I started the process of removing turf from the wildflower meadow. It needs not inconsiderable maintenance. Its first season, two summers ago, was a success but last year saw a drought in blooms. Ok it was a very dry summer but I figured there was too much grass competing with the flowers. The grass is moving. Still plenty of seeds left in the box and they should be ok. Nature designs seeds to lay dormant for years.

Another job for today is to firm up on the spec and location of the second trail cam. This is going to be situated near the hole in the fence to next door where we get a lot, perhaps even the majority of fox sightings. It trots across the garden from the hedge near the house to the raised beds and thence through the fence. I catch some of these on cctv (19:02 yesterday evening for example) but a closer camera will be a good idea. Enhance the body of knowledge. We also had a hedgehog at 22:23 and again at 04:26 this morning.

Something else that happened yesterday was that Simon the plumber came to install a new shower to  replace the one that stopped working in the middle of someone’s shower. Ahem. I also called and asked him to sort out the wireless thermostat which he annoyingly did by just replacing the batteries. I had already tried that with no success! Another ahem. Anyway we now are back to a full complement of working showers and a working central heating system, just as it stops being used for the season.

Today’s big news however is the return of Brian the fishing gnome. I knew he was due back soon and had moored Saucy Sue the rescue boat to the jetty in anticipation. I also put back the Danger Deep Water sign and the lifebelt. What great timing. The lad is back. He is looking quite tanned from his winter season in the Caribbean, maan, and already settled into his spot by the lake. As if he has never been away. Great to have him back. He already has a fish on his line! I’m sure we have plenty to catch up on but I’ll leave him alone for now. When he wants a chat he will let me know.

Welcome back Brian.

Nice to be back in the shire though we did have a terrific trip. We arrived home just after the start of the imps game at Reading. The outcome meant we were promoted to the second division (ie the Championship) for the first time since 1961. To put that in perspective, that was the year I was born. I’ll be sixty five this December. At the time I was unaware of the undoubted disappointment that will have then pervaded the city of Lincoln. 

I was very much aware of the stunned silence that hung around the place when 10 years ago we dropped out of the football league to the conference. That night, having been out at the Victoria pub, I wrote a short piece on philosopherontap – A night of deep reflection.

Well I’m sure it would have been very different last night. We stayed indoors but it is easy to sense an euphoria about the place. The whole family is up for the Lincoln 10k next weekend and on Saturday we are going to see the home game against Leyton Orient. A time for celebration. Just need to keep up the momentum and win the league now.

In other news, Brian the fishing gnome has been in touch saying he expects to be back in his usual spot at the lake sometime this week and can I make sure the rescue boat etc is in place. I took a look in the locker and the paintwork on the signs look as if they could do with touching up a bit but I’ll have to see if I have the time as I have quite a lot on this week. I already had to top up the water levels which suggests we didn’t have much in the way of rainfall whilst we were away. Finally had some repair work to do on the jetty after the harsh winter we have just left behind. All sorted now.

Whilst we were away we did have a number of visitors captured by the lake cam – see pic for deets. The fox seems to make a more regular thing of drinking the lake water these days which is something I’ll need to make Brian aware of.