where art collides philosoperontap

Woken up at six twenty five by a very cheery Jamaican nurse who knocked and breezed into the room pushing an equipment trolley before her. She did mention her name but my brain was a little fuzzy and it didn’t stick. Ran the usual gamut of tests. Temperature, blood pressure, that kind of stuff. Trying to think what else. That one where they clip something to your finger. Pulse! All good. So now I’m awake and the corridor outside sounds as if it is getting busy. 

Today is the day. No breakfast, no cups of tea and only the very occasional frugal sip of water. Slept well though I did avail myself of the rare opportunity to listen to the shipping forecast when I briefly woke at around three am. Set it on a fifteen minute snooze. 

At three am I also looked up BA reward  flights from Asia to London as I need to book ours in a couple of days. There were two available in business class on the route I’m after. By seven they had gone. I’ll need to be sharp when I come to do it myself later in the week. I’m adding to an existing companion voucher booking and in theory they do make more available for such bookings but I can’t see it if I’m not looking to book using the voucher and I’ve already used it so I can’t, if you see what I mean. Worst case is I cancel the trip if I can’t get the return flight. It’s always been ok in the past so will see how it goze. I have a backup route home.

Had a load of visits after the wake up call. Firstly the on duty night nurse called in to check on me and removed the jug of water from the side of the bed in case I was tempted. I said I could always get some from the tap which engendered a grimace. Not sure why as it is the same stuff they feed into the water fountain which is her preferred source. Then nurse Sheena came in to go through a checklist. Yes I do have an implant  – it’s in the hip that’s already been operated on. Dr Brown the Anaesthetist popped in for a chat and said I could have water. Knockout guy. Finally Mr Manktelow the surgeon swung by and drew a large arrow in black felt pen on the top of my left leg. All good. Need to be in my gown by about eleven. It’s eight now. 

It’s a good job I have my laptop and a book with me. I think if I was stuck in the bedroom for weeks on end it would be a problem. I totes sympathise with people who are in that situation. It’s going to be bad enough sat in our snug for the next month keeping the weight off my leg. They do want you to go for walks as well but you have to keep the weight off the “new” hip then as well. For walk read shuffle. Hey, first world problems. Look out, bus stop sign here I come.

The keeping the weight off  the leg thing is down to the fact that these days the hips are “uncemented” whereby they let the bone naturally bond to the titanium spike. This approach apparently makes it easier to redo the op if required in years to come. Using the old “cemented” method the bond was immediate and you could walk very soon after the op.

Physio just came in with a couple of crutches. I was happy to point to the ones I already had in the corner. Saved me thirty eight quid. I just need the rubber feet changing on the existing crutches which she is going to do whilst I’m under the knife, so to speak.

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Had a long trail of nurses visiting, each in a different coloured uniform from what I can recall. I guess I’d only really know if I lined them all up and took a pic.

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Doc swung by seven thirty ish to check up on me. Said it was pretty much a carbon copy of the other hip op which is encouraging as that has to go down as a major success. Even said it was easier to do as I’ve lost a load of timber. Now ten past nine and I’m watching the imps away at bradford.

Just entered a competition to win a used car. Exciting. VW Golf GTI or similar. I should find out by 31st December. Fingers crossed eh?

Having a relatively chilled day of it as we will be setting off for the hospital at around 3 ish. Staying in the night before as they want me in by seven in the morning. The thought of having to get up at 5am to get to Nottingham by seven is somewhat unattractive. Was the same last time. The only difference is that they comped me a night’s stay on that occasion but that must have been an anomaly. This time I saw a different nurse who told me the number crunchers wanted a hundred and seventy five of the king’s finest, paid in advance, before giving me the room key and doling out the cups of tea. Tbh it’s a bargain. Saves a lot of stress before the op.

I am hoping only to stay in for one night post op this time but time will tell. Depends on progress and availability of people like physios to sign me off. They want to see me walking with crutches including up and down stairs. After that I face a month of sitting on my arse with the occasional getting up to do some exercise and walking. I bought a memory foam cushion this time as my backside got somewhat sore with all the sitting down.

The one difference this time around is the fact that I’ll be starting back on Mounjaro after the op which will dramatically reduce my appetite. The first time around I didn’t bother with healthy eating. It was more about recovery. This time the dynamic is different. My use of Mounjaro has been quite successful. I’ve lost at least an inch off the neck, added two holes in my belt and dropped a shirt size. I would like that progress to continue. Had to go off the jab the week before the op but now need to decide when to restart. I quite like the idea of getting in a steak and chips before I do 🙂 We don’t have chips at home very often. Maybe one or twice a year! Home cooked chips are infinitely superior to anything you get in a restaurant. Proper hand cut jobs.

The prime meridian in Lincolnshire runs through Holbeach, Boston, Louth and Cleethorpes, running in geographic order. The nearest point on the Prime Meridian to Lincoln is near Tetford, in the Lincolnshire Wolds, roughly 20 miles away. The line runs through the churchyard apaz, a spot marked by a stone put there by the parish council to commemorate a royal jubilee. Dunno which one. Gemini did not elaborate and I did not ask. I had hoped that the meridian would run through Lincoln but deep down I think I knew that it didn’t as I’d already have known this, it being a big thing and all. I’m told that due to the movement of tectonic plates and improvements in satellite technology, the true prime meridian has shifted slightly east of the historic marker but tbh it’s good enough for me.

Okaaay I hear you say. Where’s he going with this? Well I mention it because this morning, as of one am, was two am, we are back on Greenwich Mean Time. At last. Yay. If you’ve woken up feeling a bit out of sorts, perhaps very slightly jet lagged, that is why. Goodbye British Summer Time, hello to the approach of winter. 

Some might think this is a little odd, or at the very least unusual. It isn’t because I am glad to see the back of summer and look forward to cold miserable January and February days. No siree bob. In fact the cold and miserable days do sometimes come with benefits such as cosy log fires, warming soups and wonderful Sunday roasts. Stuff like that.

No it is because I like the idea of being sat more or less where time begins. This is of course an artificial construct and it only begins relative to the rest of the planet and really only so that we all know when to turn up at the Odeon to watch the movie on screen 2. BST feels a bit flighty to me. Doesn’t last. GMT is always there whether you realise it or not.

On the subject of the Odeon. We get a “perk” every year through our bank account. Over the past few years we’ve had a magazine, Steam Railway Gazette or similar, membership of the Gastronomy Society, again or similar, whereby we got 25% off food at participating restaurants, Disney Plus membership and six tickets to the Odeon. The only outlet in Lincoln where we seemed to be able to use the Gastronomy discount was, if I remember correctly, Jenny’s Cafe just off the main shopping drag in town. Not much use to us. The most recent was the Disney membership but there was bugger all there we wanted to watch so in the new year now starting we have reverted to the Odeon tix.

This is all well and good but I’ve just had an email from the bank welcoming us to another year of happy Disney watching. This is as well as the one from a week or three back saying we would get our odeon vouchers five working days after 25th October. Sigh. Do I now ring them to sort it out or wait five days to see if the Odeon tickets arrive? Undecided. Certainly don’t want to hang around in a telephone queue.

Just looked to see what’s on Screen 2 at the Lincoln Odeon: Sketch (12A) – “a sketchbook falls into a strange pond, her drawings come to life”. Sigh.

Aside from this I sense a no pressure day ahead of me. I do need to put some stuff back in our bedroom following the decorating but that can be done at a fairly relaxed pace. It will even give me the opportunity to sort out/ditch more clothes that I never wear. I will also set the fire. As you know one of the nice things about racing headlong towards the dark days ahead is the fact that we can have a nice fire going. Thassit.

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Fox time btw was 01:17 this morning. Muntjac was 03:09. I’ve not seen the mother and baby for a while now. Either the kid has fledged, so to speak, and gone off on its own, or it has been taken by a fox or similar. Might have been mum who has disappeared. This one was very tentative. Looking around and making sure the coast was clear.

One of the nice things about eating half a grapefruit in the morning, and I’m sure not all of you will agree on this one, is drinking the juices straight from the bowl when you’ve finished. There is always some juice and the odd bit of grapefruit left over. Difficulty to stop really even when using the purpose built serrated grapefruit spoon. The spoon btw is a marvel. It isn’t accurate to say that it slices through the grapefruit like a knife through butter because its serrated edge is made for sawing. It saws through the grapefruit segments like only a grapefruit spoon can. If you don’t have one, buy one. If you don’t eat grapefruit for breakfast then it is time to start.

Today is a day for putting furniture back in our bedroom. @Micky has done a great job turning the old design into THG’s dream decor. No details necessary other than to say it is v nice. Now I have to put the curtain rail back on which is a bit of a bugger as it has to be screwed to the ceiling of the bay window. For the middle bracket we don’t have the ideal solution but it will have to do the job. It’s a wedge shaped bit of metal into which you slot the bracket that holds the curtain rail from which hangs the curtain. Because it is a bay window it is difficult to get the pole into the brackets at the end. Not sure I’m explaining it adequately here but tbh it doesn’t matter. 

I also have to repair the bed. It broke a decade or two ago. Before you start sniggering there is a perfectly innocent explanation but I don’t feel the need to tell you what it is 🙂 Anyway I did a repair job at the time that has served us well for many years but the moving around of the bedroom furniture undid the kluge and now I need to repair it again. This time with screws as well as glue.

Need to get it done this weekend as I will be returning to it from the hospital next week after hip hop two and it needs to be a certain height off the ground which I think our bed is the only one we have that fits the spec. In the meantime we have discovered how comfortable the bed is in one of our guest bedrooms. Fair play.

Overheard THG talking to Joe about the “Traitors” tv programme whereby she mentioned one of the cast members who has been chucked out. Blast. Totally ruined it. Now there is no point in my watching it, at all. Tbh this brings me no distress whatsoever. I did watch part of one programme some time ago and concluded it wasn’t my thing. Not many tv programmes are. I find myself unable to join in (what I consider to be uninteresting) conversations about last night’s episode of some programme or other. One of us is missing something. I’m sure we all have different perspectives on who that might be.

In the meantime I am able to report a visit by Reynard the fox at oh three twenty seven last night. This follows on from ten thirty one pm on Thursday and around quarter past eight in the evening on Wednesday. He appears to have been in the garden for five minutes or so on that occasion.

Ciao amigos.

Home sweet home, unpacked, lit the fire, feasted on sausage beans and toast, and now chillin on the sofa in front of said fire. There is news a plenty from the lake but tbh it will wait. It is time to switch off. Was called upon to do a couple of jobs upstairs but they have been sorted.

At 9pm we will watch HIGNFY. One of the few progs I like on telly. In the meantime the dancing fire is sufficient entertainment. Our Jose is working away in the shed. Came home from London Town to help us out next week whilst I am in having hip hop two, fair play but his week is not yet over.

THG is catching up on some of her fave progs in the snug. Tonight will not be a late one.

Every morning when I get up I bundle up my clothes from yesterday and chuck em in the laundry basket. I never miss. Ok I occasionally might if a sock comes free from the bundle. This is true even if I am lying prone in bed. I’ve tested it out. This morning the washbasket has been moved further away – we are moving things around in readiness for the decorating that will happen later this week. Didn’t miss that one either. The answer is not to think about it. Just turn and throw. Bit of sorting to do today. Room clearing in advance of the aforementioned decorating.

Good curry at Castle View last night fair play. Had a lamb madras. Couldn’t quite manage it all as I was full but it was just the right level of heat. Their naan breads are great. We shared a chicken chat starter. In consequence I’m feeling v full this morning. Need to decide whether to delay breakfast or skip it entirely. The moment of decision has not yet arisen as our visitors are still in bed. No rush innit.

Absolutely chucked it down while we were out but fortunately one of us was driving and we got a free parking spot right outside the Strugglers. Result. Felt obliged to have a couple of TT Landlords in the pub before heading for the indian. Twas planned. Don’t get to the pub, any pub, that often these days. How times change.

Very much noticed the AWS outage yesterday. Ancestry was so slow it wasn’t really worth using. Was taking my sister Ann through the results of my research. Realised that this was not a 30 minute job as there is so much to say. How do you describe two hundred and fifty years of time in thirty minutes? You can’t.

The lesson from the AWS incident must be that global platforms can’t rely on one cloud provider even though their cloud pitch is resilience. It is more expensive to have to run two clouds so that’s a difficult call to make. I don’t suppose it really matters when it comes to Ancestry as long as it isn’t a regular occurrence. Not going to get much done this week anyway but will have a month or so of not putting weight on the new hip where I might expect to make some progress.

No fox visits last night. Cat came out on the prowl shortly before three am. Would be interesting to plot the progress of the fox around the area. It must visit most back gardens around us. Not sure what it finds to eat.

It is ten o’clock. THG has gone out running with the Pink Ladies Running Club and I am relaxing. Sbeen a hectic few days. Couple of weeks really. Life is short. Keep it hectic. You do need the occasional break. The entertainment this morning is falling leaves. Don’t have to wait more than about ten seconds to see the next one flutter by. Drift by my window. Relaxing. Leads to work though. The lawn will soon be covered.

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After lunch I made a start on sorting my collection of screwdrivers. The good ones such as Stanleys have been separated into their own box and a great many put in the bottom of the old tool box just in case they are ever needed again. I only threw one, phillips, driver. Should have thrown more really. The bottom of the screwdriver box also revealed miscellaneous screws and bits and bobs, some of which have been tidied away and others put in a different tray for further analysis. The Allen keys are now in their own box. I have a goodly collection of Allen keys.

Also mowed the lawn, packed for tomorrow and finished moving all the clothes out of my wardrobe.

Bit of a result this morning. I was lying in bed browsing the world wide web when it occurred to me that we were staying in Liverpool this coming Friday. Doubletree Sir Thomas Street. Anyway I decided to look at our room rate and compare it with what I could get if I did a new booking. Lo and behold saved seventy quid and cancelled the old booking. Always v satisfying when you do that. 

I rarely book the pre pay rate as I like the flexibility of the flexible rate. In fact the one time I did book the advanced saver rate it was in London because the meeting had been arranged at short notice and London hotel prices are exorbitant at the best of times and can be even worse when booking only a week or two in advance. On that occasion and after I’d prepaid for the hotel, the customer cancelled the dinner and it was rearranged for a few weeks later. Still went to London and had a night out. After all, I’d already paid for the room. The things you have to do eh?

Off to see the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight today. Never been in all my forty odd years of living in Lincoln. We are usually only ever in the Conningsby at weekends at which time the BBMF is closed. The do displays all round the country innit. Won’t be any displays today as the weather is crap and I don’t think they do it on weekdays. Dunno. The Lancaster might well have taken off in all weathers in ww2 but these days it is far too precious to risk any conditions other than a pleasant light breeze. I like a pleasant light breeze 🙂 

Will report back, hopefully with lots of pics. We are lucky that the Lanc and the occasional Spit are oft to be seen gracing the skies above Lincolnshire. They fly through the air with the greatest of ease…

Breakfast this morning was a couple of slices of seeded sourdough toast with butter and marmalade washed down by a glass of milk and a cup of tea. Fox came at nineteen minutes past midnight and also twenty past seven this morning. I need to somehow find out whether we are talking a single individual or two different beasts.

It was very disappointing to see that Notts Forest manager Ange Postacoglou got the push yesterday. Ok ok his team are performing badly under him but the game can’t afford to lose people with such great names. I think Forest should have stuck with him for a few years for the sake of the rest of us. There would have been something truly beautiful about watching them slip down to a lower division every year. Pure art. Not sure how low they could go but I’d imagine it would be something like eight drops, maybe more. The best ground in the eighth division. Nothing against the football club per se.

Great day out yesterday. Our group had a party of walkers that set off shortly before eleven and Jezzer and I went for a mooch around Metheringham Airfield Visitors Centre. Those “short walks” always turn out a lot longer than they were supposed to be and I’m on the injured list at the mo so wouldn’t have gone anyway. MAVC is on the site of the WW2 106 Squadron Lancaster bombers, as was. RAF Metheringham. It has a C47 troop carrier that you can actually go into and sit in the pilot seat. V cool. We drove down the runway that the Lancasters used to take off, also v cool. Not sure there are many old airfields that you can just drive onto from a public road and do that. You do need to know that it is there. It isn’t obvious from the road.

This morning is all about packing up the expedition vehicle and going home. We leave the washing up until we get home. Easier to just stick it in the dishwasher. The van always ends up untidy as things get put down wherever there is a convenient space. The glove compartment is the repository for things you definitely need to be able to lay your hands on. Keys n stuff. 

Bacon rolls were prepared. This is almost compulsory when camping. Several cups of tea. Many cups of tea. There is no rush. We are forty minutes from home. An ideal distance for a weekend away in the campervan.

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Home now. Mostly unpacked and put away. Dishwasher washing dishes. Fire is set. Got the logs in just before le deluge. Heating and hot water switched on. Time to purge the accumulated grubbiness of a weekend out in the open.

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Fox came at 01:55 this morning.

There is something reassuring about the scene at the lake. A permanence. I realise that nothing is forever. Even lakes change over the millenia. Geological shift. From the perspective of our own microscopically short span on the planet nothing will change, other than that casued by the intervention of mankind.

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It is pleasingly autumnal out there. Rain has hit the shire and I am sat cosily on a sofa next to the fire. When you have a log fire you don’t need any other entertainment. It is company in itself. Talks to you. Not in the same way the sat nav person talks to you where I respond to instructions by talking back. No, the fire doesn’t ask for a response. A fire is happy to crackle away at this audience of one knowing that it has my full attention.

There are also noises off from the kitchen. Quiet food preparation on the go. I made the stew during the week but a bit of veg will go down well. Mash especially. The table has been laid.

The house of Tref and THG is at peace.

Heard an owl last night and then a flock of geese flew noisily by this morning. I assume they were geese as I only heard them. No eyeballs were involved. The owl was definitely an owl. A distinctive toowhittowoo if that is how you spell it. Dunno.

Anyway, a bacon roll has assuaged the raging hunger beast and I am now drinking tea. Wasn’t that hungry really. Just said that for effect. Sat in the great outdoors at the Woodhall Country Park. The Petwood Hotel is just down the road. Good to know in case of dire emergency. Actually under the extreme and hitherto non existent circumstances of dire emergency it would be easy enough to drive home.

Some person invisible has just bumped in to a friend. “Hello hello fancy seeing you here”. Her voice carried from afar. It is unlikely that I will ever find out who she was or who she bumped in to there being hedges several between us. I won’t lose any sleep over it.

Slept very well. I’ve just discovered that gin has that effect on me. Or maybe it was the tonic. I dunno. Maybe I was dog tired.

The butcher’s block in the kitchen lies heavy with camping equipment. Actually the butcher’s block itself is quite heavy, being as it is a large chunk of wood on wheels. Also I was applying artistic license in describing the camping equipment as weighty. In fact it is a plastic crate full of our camping cooking equipment and plastic crockery and not really that heavy. All the gear was handily put in the crate so that whenever we go away in the van all we have to do is lift and shift, so to speak. On this occasion we aren’t even going to unpack the crate. Certainly not before going. We might decide to do so once settled into the lush verdance of the Woodhall Country Park.

While I’m talking about the kitchen, which I was before moving to Woodhall Spa, it is breakfast time but I am not feeling hungry. This is because upon the return of THG from the smoke last night we had a very excellent beef stew. I’m a dab hand at making stews even though I say so myself. This particular concoction was lacking something when tasted during the cooking process but the addition of Worcestershire Sauce soon sorted that out. I even treated myself to a slice of bread and butter to mop up the gravy, it was that good.

As a result I am not, as stated, feeling hungry and am therefore going to delay breakfast until later this morning where it might then be called brunch. I did have a glass of milk and am now enjoying a cup of tea. Dunno why I tell you all this stuff. I like sitting on the sofa in the snug after breakfast, tapping away and drinking tea. On this occasion, as you know, I skipped the actual breakfast bit and have just gone straight for the tea on the sofa.

The bulk of the preparation for the trip has been done. Drinks chilling in the fridge and most things ready to go in the van. All I really need to do is throw a few items of clothing into a bag and transfer the bacon into the cool box.

I was pondering hitting the pool before going as we don’t need to set off until after lunchtime but I haven’t yet made my mind up on that one. I’ve been every day this week so it won’t hurt to miss one sesh. See how I get on with stuff this morning. I don’t like to rush things.

On a different subject did anyone see the sumo wrestling from the Albert Hall last night. I watched the first half. It was mesmerising, fascinating. The problem is ten bouts only lasted about half an hour if that and most of that was the time spent lining up in the ring standing on one leg and slapping thighs. I looked up the ticket prices. The event is sold out but if you are desperate you can still get tickets on viagogo for just under a grand. Unfortunately I can’t go (phew) because as you know we are going camping. These camping trips are great fun and not to be missed.

The life expectancy of a sumo wrestler is estimated to be between 60 and 65 years apaz. This compares with the average Japanese male’s life expectancy of 81–87 years. I’m glad I didn’t become a sumo wrestler. I’d only have just over a year to go. My birthday is in December. Same date as Donny Osmond but I think he is a year or two older than me. This year I’ll be sixty four and I’ve been thinking about a trip to the Isle of Wight next summer. Rent a cottage. Don’t want to make it a regular thing. Already been there three times. Twice by yacht and once by ferry but went sailing when I got there thanks to Adam Beaumont. While ago now. Also went up in a microlite with Danial Subhani which was a great experience. A great trip overall. I must take a look on AirBnB.

Anyway gotta go. My cup is empty and I have a day to get on with.

Ciao bebes.

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At ten oh seven I am feeling peckish and sense that a bacon sandwich might be in the offing. I’ve sorted my gear out including finding my green Timberland lumberjack shirt, ideal for camping expeditions. I will go nicely with a warm beanie. Gotta look the part innit. 

In the shed I remembered that I was going to take my Sonos Move2 speaker so that is now all bagged up and ready to party. Not that we are a noisy lot of campers. One has to respect the calm of the countryside, the enjoyment of the outdoors of other campers. This assumes there will be other campers. To some extent you need your head examined to go camping at this time of year. It’s all very well for our pals who have motorhomes. Squeezing in to a 1971 Volkswagen T2 Bay is a little less luxurious. Much cooler though and we do have the heater which can stay plugged in.

The scene around the lake this morning is serene. No fox action to report from last night. Nowt. Not even a cat. Lakecam doesn’t pick up mice movements.

Bit of a Tref day today. THG is off to the smoke with a pal and I have some jobs to be getting on with. Prepping campervan Betty for the weekend, bit of cooking, stuff like that. Quite looking forward to it. Might even start on my “coffee” table top for the shed. My biggest issue with this one is that I am using some original stuff to decorate the table. Gig tickets, boarding passes etc. Using PVA glue doesn’t protect them very well. It’s ok when using printed copies of things as is the case with the round table top as I can easily redo them but I want my Paul McCartney ticket, for example, to be protected and to endure. Was toying with the idea of using resin but that seems complicated and I might have to settle for varnish. If anyone has any suggestions feel free to fire my way.

As I have to drop THG off at the stayshun early I am already up and dressed for breakfast. This is not normal. When there is no rush to get ready I don’t rush. This isn’t to say I just sit on my arse doing nothing but if it is doable in my pajamas as is the case when tapping in philosopherontap posts then that is ok innit.

The sky outside is quite light. I got the impression from the wireless that it was going to be cloudy. One of them didn’t listen to the other – the weather and the BBC that is. Maybe one of them didn’t look out of the window or maybe they did and it was cloudy where they were. Maybe I didn’t listen to the weather forecast properly. Wouldn’t surprise me. At all.

In the jardin d’THG one pink dahlia adds a bit of colour by the decking. That particular flower has been there a while. It has stamina. We planted loads of dahlias for Hannah & George’s wedding but I don’t think they were ready in time. At least they are now there and ready for next season. The plan is to widen the border over the winter. It is overshadowed by the beech hedge and the thought is that a wider border with plants a little further from the hedge will produce more colour. It’s a plan.

You will also want to know that for the first time this autumn I had to switch on the car rear screen demister and the trees en route to the stayshun were very much different hues of brown and rapidly losing their canopies. The summer’s easy living has been left in the rear view mirror.

A pot of tea has been made and I must get busy in the kitchen.

Been investigating log splitters. Not all the team is particularly thrilled at the idea of me buying one as, like the fruit press, it will most of the time just be sat in the potting shed or woodstore. There is an element of truth in this but since when have we let facts get in the way of impulsive purchasing decisions. The biggest problem is that I’ve left them too long to split and the logs are rock hard. Can’t budge em with axe nor wedge. There isn’t an immediate emergency as we have enough logs of the right size to keep us going but there is going to come a time when that supply runs out.

It isn’t as if we light the fire that often tbh. I’m thinking of setting it in readiness for Sunday as we have my blood and blister Ann with her chosen life partner Toby coming for a couple of nights. Their visit presents a challenge. Not their visit per se but it follows directly on from a camping weekend in Woodhall Spa with the gang which are notoriously “lively” affairs and is in turn going to be followed by a trip to Sheffield and then the Wirral. So much for a quiet life.

I’m not complaining. I’ll be pushing up daisies for long enough. Get on with it while you can. The only real issue is the need to go into my next hip hop, which is now only thirteen days away, as trim as possible. You will be happy to know that progress has been good. I’m going to try and be a good boy this weekend. See how it goze innit.

I did come up with the idea of going swimming in the outdoor pool in Jubilee Park on Saturday in Woodhall before we go for a curry. This isn’t as daft an idea as you might imagine. The water is lovely and warm and once in you are ok. It’s just the getting in and out that is the problem. You just have to be quick. THG went last year and she was the only person in the water. It was chucking it down and the lifeguard strolled up and down under an umbrella. I guess they’ve wised up and the pool now closes at noon. Got me out of that one then :).

T’others go for a long walk to build up a thirst. That ain’t currently my thing. What with the hip an all. Also these walks aren’t meant to be long. They just end up like that. Different people have different ideas on how long a walk should be. Either that or different perceptions of distance 🙂 

The Coast to Coast was a long walk. Took a fortnight to cover a couple of hundred miles. If I ever do that again I’d do it over three weeks and make it more of a pleasant stroll. There were some days where it was just an endurance exercise. Twenty three miles off road. I have no ambitions to become a commando. They wouldn’t have me anyway, what with my eyesight. I daresay they would nitpick about some other areas where I might not fit their profile. Huh, pshaw. Anyway like I said, I have no plans on joining the commandos. I’ll just stick to watching the movies.

Talking about movies this year we have opted for Odeon tickets from our bank. We have an account that lets you choose one perk. In 24/25 it was Disney+ subscription but we watched very little. Maybe nothing. I struggle to find anything on any channel I want to watch. I daresay THG will find something to go and see at the flicks. A quick look yesterday suggested we might need to wait a while.

Enuff.

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I arrived in the pool a little late today but that turned out to be good. My fave lane which had been occupied when I initially looked through the big window  onto the poolside from the caff was free by the time I was changed. I dumped my towel and bag at the end of the lane, dropped in and began to swim. This is a real result because it meant that I could concentrate on the swimming and not have to worry about avoiding other pool users. Tbf this is never that much of a problem but being in the innermost lane removes that element of doubt and makes me a happy Tref.

I did my thirty minutes. There was only one moment when some bloke got in and was swimming uncomfortably close to my space but he either only lasted a short while in the pool or moved further away. Didn’t see. By the time I was finished I was the only person in the water. I noticed that the lifeguard was constantly walking around the outside of the pool and when I got out I mentioned this to him. He was trying to get to 20k steps. Fair play. You have to do a lot of walking to get to 20k steps.

As I was leaving the gym there was an announcement calling all staff to reception. Turns out someone was being given a presentation. Must have been his last day or simlar. They have a lot of staff there. The car park is huge. It’s a big gym but doesn’t feel like it.

Feels as if twelve forty is a good time to get in the pool. It’s not a problem for me. I don’t have much of a lunch anyway and it can wait until I get home. Usually a bit of protein and salad. Today it was a bacon sarnie. Why not eh?

Started shifting stuff from our room into one of the spare bedrooms. We are having a decor refresh. Well you do don’t you? Bit of wallpaper and a lick of paint. Some of the pictures are going, no doubt to be replaced by something new. I’ll find out when it is finished. Doesn’t do any harm. In fact it means I’ve been clearing out some of my drawers, chucking bits of paper that I wonder why I’ve kept for twenty years and realising that I’ve got a lot of old socks and tee shirts I’m unlikely to wear again and can therefore be moved on. Ruthless!

Rained overnight and the leaves have begun to fall in earnest. Interesting adjective that. The earnest leaf. Seriously folks. Those leaves are determined to descend, upon the lawn. Tis the time of year. Also the fox appeared in the front drive briefly at one fourteen ey em. Set off the floodlights and turned around and went back in the direction from whence he came which on this occasion was next door’s garden. I’ll check the lake cam later obvs.

It’s a shame the lake cam wifi range is not sufficient for me to download its media from the house. I can wake it up using bluetooth but the wifi is a bit sluggish. Oo rewind I’ve just tried and I’ve managed to pick up three “motions” so to speak. Maybe the rain improves the signal! It’s a cat though, not a fox and it came variously between a quarter to seven and five past – not long after I’d been downstairs to make the tea. Not really wildlife but still interesting I suppose. You could see it was raining.

Still waiting for that giraffe, wildebeest or lion. Any one of those would do although we would have to stay inside and out of the way if it was a lion. It would hit the news big time. “Lion caught on camera at local lake”. It is really why they invented the lake cam. Its main purpose in life. I’m not sure I would like all the attention. Not many people know about the lake and the publicity would almost certainly attract more visitors with the accompanying disruption and invasion of privacy. Litter, fires, over fishing. Overnight camping even. That kind of thing. 

Brian would be distraught. He might even be forced to leave to find a quieter spot, if the lion hadn’t already “got” him. If the crowds don’t drive him away the over fishing certainly might. Anyway it isn’t a problem, yet. If a lion did come I might have to keep quiet about it although that would be difficult, especially if I was in the shed at the time. I don’t have many provisions in the shed. Just a few packets of crisps and some g&t in the fridge. Man cannot live on crisps and g&t alone. Even if I did try I would soon be driven outside by the need to visit the loo and that would be dangerous with the lion there. Remember Albert and the Lion.

Lets face it there would probably already be an ongoing search for an escaped lion if he rocked up in our back garden. Where he would have escaped from I have no idea. A travelling circus maybe. Nellie did the same thing. Dunno if circuses have lions nowadays. Not v politically correct is it? The chances of a modern day Nellie the elephant appearing in our garden are remote in the extreme. Wouldn’t be able to fit through the gap in the hedge, obvs.

I am reluctant to do it but there could come a day when I might have to erect a PRIVATE KEEP OUT sign at the lake. This is something I don’t really want to have to do as the nice thing about the lake is the minimal signs of human interference. The rescue boat, jetty, Danger Deep Water sign and lifebelt station are pretty unobtrusive especially when you consider the vast expanse of open water of the lake itself.

One of these days I might see if I can walk around the circumference. Would probs need a packup. Have a picnic lunch when I reach the deck maybs. It is about half way around. Be nice to stop and chat with Brian. See how he is getting on. Share some wildlife stories. That kind of thing.

Anyway I must go. Things to do, leaves to gather.

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Set off early for my daily swim as I wanted to swing by Fosters to buy some meat. However there were no handy parking spots and some unneighbourly individual had parked across two spaces. I went around the block once to see if anywhere freed but but it didn’t so I carried on to Total Fitness and got there fifteen minutes earlier than planned.

The downside of this is that it is busier than I like it but in reality it was ok when I arrived. Just a couple of walkers and two swimmers, one of whose technique was so bad that she clearly wasn’t going to be in the water for very long. By the time I got changed she had gone but was replaced by a swimmer and three walkers, two of whom got in at the same time as me.

If you have never seen it, walking in the water is basically resistance walking and it is typically done by people recovering from illnesses or operations (eg me though I ain’t done it meself) or those who are desperately out of condition and for who walking in the pool is a sensible form of exercise.

My fave inside lane was already taken by someone we might consider to be a pro. This I don’t mind. She ploughed up and down and only got out five minutes before me. The lane next to her, the second best spot and one which allows you to easily slip into the best lane once it empties was taken by a walker. Sokay. I set off and worked around the walkers, eventually ending up in the second best spot once the walker had left the pool for the spa. 

The pro and I ploughed our furrows without interruption until some bloke got in and set off in her lane. This is v poor etiquette. Moreover he stopped for a rest after every length and was soon doing the same in my lane. Worraknob. Fortunately he didn’t stay the pace and left me and the pro in peace. After the pro had finished her quota she was replaced by a couple of ladies of a certain pace and it was with an element of relief that I completed my thirty mins and exited the water. 

Didn’t have time to hit the spa today. A decision helped by the fact that it was a lot fuller than is usual at that time of day. The spa users are normally a mix of body types. Those with sculptured frames who are just relaxing after a session in the gym and those, less toned individuals for whom the gym is a staircase too far but are pleased to be able to enjoy the healthgiving properties of the hot tub. I am somewhere in between. I’m not sure there is a pattern of pool and spa usage around which I can base my visit times. I guess a twelve fifteen arrival is as good as any.

Home now to find that THG (worrawoman) had already applied some primer to the new bits of woodwork that joiner Mark had fitted. Specifically to the bottom of the garage door. He does a good job. That’s all the external woodworking jobs done now in time for the onset of winter. Bring it on…

One other thing I did this morning, and this might strike a chord with some of you, is that I spent some time sorting out my screw collection. There is further work to do but good progress is being made. A bloke needs his screws to be tidy and orderly. It needs to be easy to find the right screw for the job. Ditto nails although I don’t use nails that often but I have a wide variety of them collected over forty or more years of adulting.

In 2025 I invested in a nut and bolt calibrating “tool”. It’s really a plastic card with lots of graded holes and slots which now that I think of it might come in handy for sorting my nails. It even helps you measure thread spacing. What’s not to like?

The workshop turns out to be a v cosy spot to spend time. It has excellent insulation and a small wall mounted panel heater that quickly brings the space up to a comfortable working temperature. The wifi access is much poorer than I had expected and this is something that will need working on. Either move the kitchen hotspot or stick a power line extension in. Not sure I have the mounting bracket for the hotspot which might be non optimal but lets see how we get on.

Bit les mis out there. Heating is on. The heat is on. Great weekend in London Town and now back in the shire. Back to reality. Routine. Humdrum existence. Not that I particularly have a routine, outside the usual stuff like get out of bed, have breakfast, brush teeth etc. Dunno if having no routine is good or not. Also when I say mis it isn’t really mis. Ok it is cloudy and maybe even drizzly but why should we call that miserable? It’s life, Jim, as we know it. The changing of the seasons. I like weather.

Over the weekend we caught the Northern line twice on both Saturday and Sunday. Balham and back. Bal ham. Don’t know about you but sometimes when I am on the tube I while away the time by commenting on the stations we pass through. Clapham Common as muck for example. Stock well. Gotta keep those kitchen cupboards filled, for a rainy day. Today is rainy and I expect the good residents of Stock well will be well prepared. The well prepared of Stock well. I daresay there are other London underground stations worthy of comment or observation but those are the two that spring to mind.

We now have a week of being sensible until the next outing which is a campervan trip to Woodhall Spa. This trip will be all about layers. Warmth. Possibly even gloves although I rarely have to resort to gloves at this time of year. That comes with the fierce temperature drops of January and February when the east wind blows across from the Ural mountains and forces us to huddle around the fireplace. Even that weather can only be described as bad if you are unprepared.

Operations now moved to the shed which is beautifully warm as I forgot to switch the heating off last night when I returned to the house and the company of the lovely THG. No fox action to report, at least from the side of the lake. It did momentarily appear in the front drive at oh two thirty three but seemed to change its mind when the floodlights came on and turned around and left. I download any relevant lakeside vids when I get to the shed as the hotspot doesn’t extend as far as the house. Sfine.

Not having a routine I am now sitting here wondering what to do. I leave for the pool at around noon (ok that is a weekday routine) so have some time to fill. I do need to make a start on the new tabletop for the shed. I have a couple of wooden crates on which is positioned a tabletop made out of two bits of scaffold planks glued together. The plan has always been to stick things on the scaffold planks to add a bit of interest. I have a load of things ready to stick. Stuff like old gig tickets, boarding passes, interesting postcards etc. The gig tix and boarding passes will be fairly old as it’s all done on your phone these days.

One of the wooden crates is filled with packets of pretzels and crisps purloined from the first class lounge at Kings Cross station. They will eventually be consumed but not at the mo. When I hit my fighting weight. Hopefully before their use by date. The plan with the crates is to stencil something onto them but don’t know what yet. Obvs I’ll let you know when I know.

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Had a couple of slices of ham and two tomatoes flunch washed down with a glass of h2o. On the way back from Total Fitness I stopped by Newland Pharmacy to pick up a prescription. Had a sms from the NHS over the weekend to say it was ready. No it wasn’t. Come back after 4pm. That’s the second time this has happened.

At TF I popped into the steam room, something I don’t often do. Was in a short while on my own quite enjoying being there when a couple of women came in and started talking about tv shows. The inane chatter drove me out and into the shower.