where art collides philosoperontap

Today I shall mow the lawn. Cut that grass. Get the scythe out. Well, whatever we use in 2025 as an alternative. The electric lawn mower. I did see a gardener using a scythe when we visited RHS Harlow Carr. V impressive. She stopped periodically to sharpen the blade. The plan was to leave the mown hay, which also contained a variety of meadow flowers, for a day or two to allow any insects to drop off. The mowings would then be moved and left to dry across an area that had been newly landscaped and needed reseeding. As the seed heads dropped off the drying hay they would effectively be planting themselves on the cleared ground. Good stuff. Hard work but rewarding. Mowing the lawn is on my jobslist.

I am told by THG that it is a Monday. I already knew really. Being a Monday it is not the sabbath and therefore mowing the lawn is acceptable and I won’t be excommunicated for doing so. You might think I’m being overly melodramatic here but it happened to my great great great great (ie 4g) grandfather the Reverend Daniel Davies because he let his farmworkers work one of the hay meadows on a Sunday. They used scythes in those days. And pitchforks. Can’t remember when it was. 1807 or similar. Times have changed innit.

One man went to mow.

…

FOX NEWS

Old Reynard the fox paid us two visits last night, unless there are two foxes which there could well be. The interesting thing is that he would appear to have stopped to drink lakewater at twelve minutes to one. This follows on from my observation last Saturday that no wild creature appears to have come to drink at the lake. This video evidence dispels that myth (is it really a myth? probs not).

On his second visit Reynard appears to be sniffing around the gap in the decking. We have taken one plank up for inspection before joiner Mark comes to do some repair work later this week. I have in the past seen a rat go under the deck and I suspect the fox can hear or smell this.  That’s a job for another day.

The final bit of news is that the lifebelt is now in situ at the entrance to the lake which is as you might imagine a weight off my mind. Simon Forshaw suggested we move the jetty to be nearer the lifebelt and I don’t disagree with him. Will mull it over.

That’s all folks. I have a lawn to mow.

Church harvest festival today, apaz. All is safely gathered in. Hopefully. I expect the flock at St Peter in Eastgate will be bringing in some of their own harvest to give to the poor of the parish. Bushels of wheat, wheels of cheese, a lamb, stuff like that. Very rural county, Lincolnshire. 

I daresay I’ll have a few jobs to do having been away with the lads for a few days.  Not looked at the list. Hey, I’ve been on holiday. Mind you it is the sabbath. Do I want to incur the wrath of the church elders? Difficult decision this, for THG. Whilst she is not officially a church elder her status as a respected member of the flock does suggest that she should probably toe the line and not insist on any of the jobs being done today. Do they have church elders in the C of E? Must do. Surely.

I may be being really unfair here. Maybe there are no jobs on the list for today. I do want to test the central heating in preparation for the long cold winter ahead. This can be a longer job than some may imagine. It isn’t just switching it on and feeling it warm up. It’s what you have to do when it doesn’t warm up. Go around each radiator, check if the thermostat is turned up or whether it needs bleeding. Bleedin radiators. It has to be done this morning as we are off out for lunch.

Otherwise all is calm in the Davies kitchen. The garden continues to supply us with fresh raspberries to go with the porridge. Coffee (THG) and tea (moi) is quietly being consumed. 

We did have a fox in the front garden overnight. Four thirty one eh em. You’ll have to wait until I’ve checked the lake cam to see if there was any lakeside activity. Later…

The wait is nearly over. Golf bag sorted. Overnight (s) bag packed. Sat in the window of the snug awaiting collection for onward carriage to Norfolk. Before heading out I checked the lake cam and cctv. Fox spotted in front drive during the night (11:26) and at 04:41 the pair of muntjac deer reappeared in the garden. They haven’t been seen in a while. It does concern me what might happen to the youngster if the fox happened by at the same time. They use the same bit of hedge for entry and exit.

A short while after I’d settled in to the shed this morning I heard a knock at the door. I had just finished doing my accounts and got up to see who it was as there was nobody immediately in view.

Upon opening said door a small high pitched voice drew my attention to the deck. It was Brian the fishing gnome. Brian was there to report that an intruder had entered the meadow area surrounding the lake and attempted to make off with the rescue boat. This is always the risk when you leave high value bits of capital equipment moored out in the open but it is also why we have invested in security measures around the water.

Brian and I immediately went to the lake cam and downloaded a number of videos that might reveal the culprit. I have to report that at six forty three last night a fox entered the garden and tried to steal the boat. It was lucky that Brian was sitting there as he usually does, doing a bit of fishing. Brian must have disturbed the fox because he dropped the boat and ran off (well strolled away).

Fortunately the fox left Brian alone. The outcome could have been a lot worse. For this we have to be grateful. We also have to be grateful to have neighbours like Brian who are willing to keep an eye on the lake for us. Moreover he does this with no fuss and no expectation of reward. Everyone should have a friend like Brian.

I’ve uploaded three bits of media. The first shows the boat out of the water where the fox had dropped it upon being alarmed. Then there is the video footage catching the bushy tailed culprit red handed. Finally a shot showing the launch back on the lake moored for the first time at the end of the jetty. (soz only available on Facebook – I need to change max uploadable file size).

This all happened in broad daylight whilst we were in eating our fish fingers.

Fortunately any damage to the jetty was easily repaired. Thank goodness we made that lake cam investment.

A quiet start to the day. Granola, yoghurt and strawberries with, when I get around to making it, another cup of tea. THG is off to the park run and I will, in due course, start clearing the space in the garage that had been taken up by the bench in readiness for moving the plastic storage crates currently stored in/filling up the conservatory. All go innit?

Was a slightly unusual day yesterday as we were greeted with the sad news of the passing away of a good friend. Chris Weston was one of our much loved camping buddies (well mostly motorhomes and campervans but we still call it camping) and had been ill for some time. It still hits hard when things like this happen and our hearts reach out to his wife Karen.

It significantly affected our crowd and we all got together in the Waggon & Horses in Branston for a couple of hours or so of intensive consoling with some bright (gaudy) shirts on show in memory of the lad. The intensive beer drinking that goes with such an event meant that when we got home we had to change our eating plans from chicken on the barbecue to a quicker to assemble beans on toast with sausage and bacon. There will be more drinking in his memory before we are all done. We are now having the barbecued chicken tonight.

Fairly still out in the garden. Just the smallest movement in the apple trees. Looking like a good crop this year, albeit smallish fruit with a significant amount of pruning needed over the next winter.

In other news it was noted that our fishing gnome had strayed too close to the edge and fallen into the lake. I have no idea whether there was wildlife involved in this incident but the lake had to be dredged and the gnome fished out. THG has made his seating position more secure which will hopefully avoid a repeat of the “accident”. I’ll have to put a sign up warning people not to get too close to the edge as the water is deep, if you are a gnome.

Might also stick a trail cam down as it will be quite interesting to see what wildlife is attracted to the water. I’m not expecting wildebeest or lions and their ilk but the occasional fox and hedgehog maybe.

…

Somewhat zonked now. Busy day on the tidying front. We moved umpteen plastic storage crates into the space in the garage formerly occupied by the bench. V tidy. Bit more left to do in the garage but it is definitely heading in the right direction. A load more books sorted to take to Oxfam. Even used my workbench to saw some MDF to put under the crates on the garage floor. Hitting the road running 🙂

THG was watching Who Wants to be a Millionaire with Clarkson so I stuck my headphones on and am listening to some tunes. You don’t need  to hear Clarkson to be able to join in the quiz. Got a few right but didn’t know who wrote the Batman stories.

At 9.32am yesterday a fox came into the garden. Came through the beech hedge from next door, around the back of the shed, back between the shed and the greenhouse then around the back of the raised beds and through a hole in the bottom of the fence to the other next door.

I wasn’t in the shed at the time. And even had I been there I probs wouldn’t have noticed the fox. My desk faces in the wrong direction. Might have done. The fox may not have come had I been in the shed. Cunning.

Then two nights ago we had a hedgehog on the back lawn. Keep meaning to build a hedgehog house. It has been a long term item on my jobs list. Perhaps 2025 is the year of the hedgehog house.

Simple bacon and egg brekkie with a slice of toasted sourdough. I quite like the simple life. Some might not consider that breakfast to be a simple on. Porridge, Tref my son, that’s simple. Well I am not a porridge fan. I do eat THG’s very fine gran o’la with yo’ gurt and berries which is similar and perhaps slightly posher. Not today though, like I said.

Yet to cook said breakfast. Have settled onto a sofa in the snug. Too cosy man. On another sofa the talented THG is knitting a patchwork blanket. Fits in a row here and there when she can. We will be alright when the winter is at its worst. Oh that’ll be now. We have other blankets.

Makes me realise how different our lives are now compared to times gone by. Even when I was a kid, pre central heating days, you had to force yourself out from under the blankets. When you lived in a small farmhouse in Wales in the eighteenth century it would have been a tough one. They bred em hard in them days. 

I only mention it because that’s where I am at with the family tree research. THG’s side goes back a lot further – someone else has done the work. May get around to checking it someday. V time consuming. We are back to 1580 on her mum’s side, the Fletchers. Scotland.

I’ve been leaving the heating on in the shed so it is warm as soon as I get there. Otherwise it takes half an hour or so to get up to temperature and I’m sat there in a jumper with freezing cold hands. Ish. Only do this in the depths of winter.

It’s a big contrast to the height of summer where the shed doors are left wide open all day and I allow nature to enter into the picture. I have to shut the doors when going into the house for a cuppa or similar in case nature decides to go inside the shed. Had a bird do that in the past.

Anyway gotta go. There is bacon to cook.

Off to the gym this morning, as opposed to the pool which I might do this afternoon. Worralife. In an ideal world I’d do the gym first then straight into the pool but the timetabling doesn’t work for that. Meeting a pal at the gym but swimming is a solitary activity. Annoys the heck out of me when two people clog up a lane chatting to each other instead of focussing on ploughing up and down.

Should also make some more progress with apple picking and perhaps the ivy behind the potting shed. Will need to get the ten foot step ladder to continue progress with the apples. Also need more crates for storage even though we only want to keep the majority of  them until the cider making session in October.

THG and I agreed the bare bones of a plan yesterday. We are going to move the water butt that is blocking access to the back of the potting shed. Just around the corner to the “lawn side”. Will get Phil to move the drainpipe when he comes to sort out the roofing felt.

There is more. The patch of lawn in front of the kitchen, next to the patio is going to become the kitchen garden. Gets the most sun out of anywhere in the garden so we are expecting lots of veg in the future.

Also I will clear some space around the outside of the granite worktop of the barbecue to put a couple of bar stools. There will also be a bar stool in front of the bbq itself for when I am there doing blokey stuff. This arrangement will be perfect for mates wanting to keep the pitmaster company during grilling sessions. Ideally would identify some all year round outdoors bar stools but will probs have to settle for ones I take inside when not in use. Unless anyone can point me in the right direction.

Not written half these jobs down yet. If not written down they are far less likely to be done.

The conservatory doors are open. There is very much a freshness to the morning. Gearing up for autumn. Yesterday I noticed one or two trees around the pool car park starting to change colour. Feels ok. We can’t have summer all year round. Life is good whatever the season.

At 3:07 this morning two cats wandered into the front drive. They looked very similar although the picture was greyscale so that could be misleading. I thought at first they might be foxes but on closer examination decided they were feline.

The milkman came at 04:12. Gonna cancel Friday’s delivery as we already have a few pints in the fridge.

…

Out and about I saw a yoof on a scooter. Thought to meself you see these electric scooters everywhere these days. Then I realised the lad occasionally put his left foot on the floor. Blow me down it was an old fashioned leg powered scooter. Don’t see many of them around. Really not sure how many scooters I see anyway. Certainly not in Lincoln. More a big city thing perhaps. Could be wrong. It isn’t particularly important.

…

35 mins swim this aft. Only three of us in my lane dwindling over twenty minutes to just me for the last fifteen. By the time the bell went I was the only one in the pool. Next week we will be back to a reduced afternoon lane swimming timetable as the schools are back and they seem to want to prioritise teaching kids to swim over my wants and desires 🙂I might squeeze in the occasional early swim. When I say early if you get in the pool by say eight fifteen it does start to empty out as the proletariat heads off to the treadmills.

Bettany Hughes was entertaining enough but not so much that I felt I wanted to spend twenty five quid on her seven Wonders book. I did however blow a wodge on a variety of books in the Oxfam bookshop including the Saunders Lewis comedy play Amlyn ac Amig first broadcast on Christmas Day nineteen thirty nine and subsequently published in nineteen forty. It cost two and six when new but Oxfam were asking a fiver. I didn’t have two and six on me anyway.

Took in a couple more gigs after Bettany. A live recording of the Radio 4 show Sliced Bread where they discussed the relative merits of in-ear noise reduction gizmos and then, after lunch the Poetry Pharmacy with special Guest Tim Rice.

Chucked it down on and off all day but there is plenty of cover at the Hay Festival and didn’t really have to call on the services of my coat.

Our jaunt to the Hay on Wye literary festival has been a success. All we need to do now is visit the Old Cinema Bookshop and the stall in the square selling sheepskins for fifteen notes. The Old Cinema is a big bookshop apaz. I am particularly interested in historical books about West Wales. Hay on Wye isn’t really the best place to get that kind of material and I sense that one day we will need to arrange a visit to the Antiquarian Bookshop in Caerfyrddin.

We also need to hand some stuff over to Rhys and Eirian wot we brought down in the car. Water bottles and tees left over from the festival.

…

On da way home stopped at Hopwood Park services for a sandwich and for THG to take over the driving. Frees me up to do stuff. Had a bit of a snooze. Then checked the cctv and spotted a couple of muntjac deer meandering around the back garden at around dawn. Saw where they came in from next door but didn’t see them leave. Not seen deer there before. Foxes yes.

The holiday spirit very much continues. I have a few days to prepare for one night in Manchester and then another eleven on the Isle of Man. TT Week.

Another bright start to the day. Thought I heard some movement in the porch early on but it isn’t a day the milkman comes and nothing appeared on the cameras. Could have been a poltergeist I guess. Did see a cat in the wee small hours. Set off the light in the front. We often get a cat roaming the garden and sometimes a fox. 

It is early but THG has already been out for an inspection. Checking the progress of the stock. Plants don’t grow on their own yanow 🙂 Now chillaxing after breakfast pending the commencement of today’s proceedings. 

…

Am watching Great Coastal Journeys with former Tory MP Michael Portillo on the telly. It is on mute because I find his programmes so superficial they aren’t worth watching. So I’m not really watching it but it is the programme before the snooker is on and watching the snooker is something that THG and I do together 🙂 Having it on mute is my way of noticing when the sport starts.

It feels a bit strange having the snooker on TV when it is very much light out. As a game played in darkened halls, snooker should really be a winter activity. I’m rubbish at snooker meself. My youth wasn’t misspent enough.

I typically have the snooker on as wallpaper as opposed to something I focus on although if it starts to get exciting I’ll put my book down. Yes it can be exciting.

Milkman came at four thirty four this morning. We also had a visiting fox at around twenty one minutes past two. Both are regulars. The milk is now in the fridge. No idea where the fox is. In its den probs.

I woke up this morning having solved the meaning of life. Well at least the what shall Tref have for Christmas/birthday aspect of it. I’ve been after a model sailing ship for the shed for a while. It is the last accessory I ‘need’ to finish off the decor and will sit on the spare/project desk. Now I’m going to redouble my efforts.

The other idea is to get a decent log splitter. @Steve Jones has one and I have a lot of logs that need doing. Steve lives a long way from me though so I’m going to look into getting my own. Industrial job. Would only use it every once in a blue moon but I don’t know how people manage without one. Not sure THG totes approves of the idea 🙂

Popped to the docs surgery to get jabbed for my January trip. There was a sign on the door saying ‘please use the back door’. Walked all the way around the building but no back door open. Back at the main entrance lo and behold the front door opens as normal!! Didn’t do me any harm I guess. Mentioned it to the receptionist.  “Oh that was from Saturday, I’ll take it down”. Oh.

Next up a member of staff calls out the next patient’s name “Olly Adenbayie”. The only bloke it could possibly be is sat there oblivious to it all. Then realisation dawned. He mentioned his name at the desk but it didn’t really sound very similar to the one called out 😀. Understandable mix up I’d say.

The things you observe eh? Everyday goings on. It’s like yesterday. Enroute back from dropping Joe off at the station, I noticed that the multi storey car park downtown was full. Barriers across the entrance preventing any more cars getting in. Christmas shopping in full flow. 

I really can’t understand this. At all. In the nineteen seventies when I was a kid ok you had to go into town for this sort of activity. I have been into town when it is busy. You can’t walk in a straight line because someone continuously gets in your way. Wossthatallabout! Not my bag man.

Apparently people go to cafes with their partner/spouse when they are downtown. All part of the shopping experience. This is where you queue for twenty minutes to buy two lattes, a toasted teacake and a millionaire’s shortbread because there is only one person on the till. Then if you are lucky you find a table and then wave at a member of staff to come and clear the previous customer’s crap away. Even ordering through the QR code doesn’t particularly speed things up as it is the same person trying to serve the queue.

So I can’t understand the going to town to do a bit of shopping thing. THG likes it! It is not something we do as a couple. In fact we are totally incompatible when it comes to shopping.