where art collides philosoperontap

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.

American woman at breakfast complimented me on my Four Seasons Total Landscaping tshirt. Fair play. Same woman I saw yesterday and complemented her hat. Figured she was off to a wedding or simlar. She reappeared in the same hat this morning. I can only imagine the wedding carried on today. Either that or it’s a different wedding or maybe they were off to the races. Caernarfon isn’t the obvious place to stay when going to Chester races, which I think is the nearest track. People huh 🙂 

Caernarfon this morning has reverted to type. Pissing down. Fortified myself by restricting breakfast to the “small” Welsh. This is the same as the “large Welsh” but with only one sausage, egg and bacon. Still v filling. Will keep me going until lunch at 12.30 in Wallasey Wetherspoons with cousin Geoff. Wallasey is only an hour and a half hence and at 10am I am already packed so chillin a bit in the room before heading out into the weather. I’ve partially opened the window to let some fresh air in.

Out last night with @Rhys and @Eirian. Bombay Spice just down the road from the Black Boy. Everywhere is nearby in  Caernarfon. The curry house is under new management and already a significant improvement on what went before. Impressive the way the Indian waiter spoke fluent Welsh.  THG and I shared a chicken chaat starter and I had a lamb madras main. Food, food, food, food, food! Gawd. Good food, good company and good times. We retreated to the Black Boy afterwards for a couple of nightcaps.

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Fox visit yesterday at 03:20

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British Summer Time today innit. No wonder it is raining.

Lunch finished around six thirty yesterday. Mustabeen a goodun. A great selection of cheeses on offer, some of which was purchased from the market near our hotel in Roma. We sat around the fire afterwards gabbing until folk gradually drifted away. We will be on the Wirral for lunch next Sunday before settling in to the Hilton opposite the Albert dock. That hotel is quite handy for the steam packet to the isle of man but unfortunately there is no sensible departure time from Liverpool on that day so we are hoiking up to Heysham instead. We get a cabin in case it is rough.

In the evening I booked a restaurant in Loches where we are staying en route south in the summer. The table was for 7pm. The acknowledgement page showed 7pm. The emailed acknowledgement and calendar entry said 8pm. The system has obviously done a time shift to CET “on my behalf”. I didn’t want an 8pm booking. It was a no reply email address so I went to the website to see if they had a contact email. No, it’s an enquiry form. I filled it in. It wouldn’t submit as one or more of my fields had an error. No it didn’t. It’s a shite web form. Sigh. Now I have to look at cancelling the table and rebooking it for an hour earlier to see if that works. I bet it doesn’t. Gemini found me an email address so I sent it there.

In a similar vein I sent an enquiry to book a table for lunch at the test match in June. The first one went through ok but trying to do the same thing for the following day the dates looked to be completely to pot. Sigh. Then I checked. My first booking had been for the wrong day. It was me that was wrong. We once turned up at Newcastle train station for a train home to Lincoln but the tickets kept being rejected at the turnstile. Upon investigation I’d booked the return tickets for the same day as we went there. Had to buy three new full fare std class tickets that were more expensive than the advanced fare first class tickets we had originally had. Oh the shame of it! Schoolboy error. Ya never learn do you.

Fox: 04:40 22nd March.

Six o’clock in the morning begorrah. Up early for the milking. Discovered that the milk jug was already full and in the fridge awaiting deployment. It is now in position on the tea tray along with two mugs and the green teapot with two teabags. The kettle has been filled and is ready to be clicked on. It is, however, twirly to make the tea. Far twirly. I am therefore occupying my time in the conservatory half light watching nature gradually paint over the numbers on the canvas that is the back garden. The yellows of the daffodils have already been coloured in and there is ample evidence of green brush strokes elsewhere. A light breeze adds life to the scene. We await the emergence of foliage but that is for another day. A different brush.

The 112 words of the opening paragraph took ten minutes to pen.

Successful enough day yesterday. We have a plan for the compost bins. The weather is set fair for the week so should get the job finished. Fingers crossed eh? Tom the tree man is coming to do the hedges today and I’ll ask him if he can cut some more logs into smaller rounds. THG needs to be able to get her car out to go to the Pink Ladies running club so that will need managing. The skip is still in the drive which could prove to be a slight nuisance when it comes to manoeuvring Tom’s truck and THG’s wheels.

I doubt we will see the fox today, what with all the hedge action going on. Maybe. It was caught on cctv at 18:06 yesterday whilst I was in the shed but prior to that not for a few days. I have kept the record but the lake cam doesn’t detect all the comings and goings as the fox often now enters the garden through the beech hedge nearer the house and leaves through the hole in the fence the other side, behind the raised beds. I may invest in another trailcam and tie it to a post looking down at that hole. See how I feel innit. You have to draw the line somewhere but without it the story may be incomplete. 

Interesting that I feel I have the energy to get on with gardening jobs as never before. Perhaps it is because I have more time but the removal of the hip issue has certainly been the biggest factor. Looking up I’ve just noticed that the clock in the conservatory has stopped at two minutes to eight. Not sure I can be bothered to replace the battery. The clock looks nice but I hardly ever rely on it to tell the time. Never in fact. I can tell you that it is six twenty eight and time for me to click that kettle on.

St Patrick’s day.

17:14. Hung around for.perhaps a minute

Bishop of Manchester got me out of bed this morning. Cmon Tref, shake a leg  yeravin a sausage sandwich for breakfast.  Sausages don’t cook themselves yanow. I got up. Was helped by the wireless timer kicking in and switching the bish off mid sentence. He had been talking about bad things going on in the world and then moved on to the subject of his wife. Not sure what the association was but that was when it switched off. I will never find out.

It’s a much more relaxing start to the day. Gotta pick THG’s car up from the menders this morning and take Coops’ van back. Different to yesterday where I had the pressure of cooking a leg of lamb. If you read all the recipes a 3.7kg leg should take 4 hours. Even Meater said it should take 4 hours. After setting it going Meater changed its mind and said it would only be two and a bit hours. Blimmin eck. That meant it would be ready two hours earlier than I wanted.

Gemini, which I’d been using to advise on this subject, suggested double wrapping the lamb in foil, then in two towels and sticking it in a coolbox, not switched on obvs, and it should be ok. Well, the lamb turned out near perfect. Worrarelief. Lunch was a v boozy affair and I had an early night. Not totes sure how early but it can’t have been much after eight!

Mark Castle posted a flight radar screenshot of his trip yesterday showing all planes diverting around Iran. I looked this morning and was interested to note how you could tell which parts of the world were war zones. What I also found interesting was the relatively low density of flights over Russia. An indication of the lower levels of economic activity I’d imagine.

btw the fox appeared in the garden whilst we were having lunch. 14:18. Bit of entertainment laid on for our guests.

Fox spotted at the back of the greenhouse at 16:36. Didn’t appear on lake cam but the greenhouse cctv caught it. That is all.

Tis a joyful morning in the shire. The land is reawakening and the fact that spring is just around the corner has been underlined by a message from Brian the fishing gnome saying he expected to be back sometime in March. He hasn’t firmed up on his dates yet but has a flexible plane ticket so can decide on the spur of the moment. It will all be down to whether he gets to the point of being totes fed up with all the partying and craves for the solitude of the lake. We all like a bit of solitude from time to time. 

Last night at 18:35 we had a feline visitor to the lake. Might have been a panther but it could equally have been a cat. It was dark and hard to tell. It was certainly out on a wander, up to no good I daresay.

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The joyful morning has continued into a joyful afternoon and because tomorrow the forecast is for a less joyful rain all day I decided to get a few outside jobs done, to whit splitting some logs. I’ve worked out a method. I use a hand axe and bash it in with a lump hammer. Sometimes takes a few whacks but I now have a trug full of very fine oak logs ready for the weekend. We are having some folks round for Sunday lunch. With it being Dydd Gwyl Dewi a leg of lamb is on the menu together with leeks and any other dishes of a Welsh nature I can whistle up. Don’t think you can get Welsh lamb round ere but I’ll see what Fosters have to say.

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Fox update. As I was carrying logs back to the house the fox came in from next door. 15:04. We looked at each other for a second or three and then he continued his amble. He stayed in the garden for 10 or twenty seconds before going through the hedge to next door. A moment later he was back and went through a different part of the hedge. I stood there watching. Gosh.

Listened to an interview on the Today programme with the CEO of Netflix. V articulate and intelligent guy as you might expect from the leader of a $320Bn company. His bit was directly followed by Thought for the Day. A v dull delivery by some bishop or other which immediately made me switch off.

Made a good start on the raised beds yesterday. Wood cut to size though I ended up resorting to the old fashioned saw as the blade on my circular saw was totes blunt. Will need to get a new one before next I use the tool. Might use it to make a start on log splitting. The splitting axe is no use as the logs are too hard. I have a splitting wedge so if I make a cut and get the wedge in the crack it might help. Been investigating buying a powered log splitter but not got to the buying decision yet.

Whilst I was doing that THG removed a load of ivy from the beech hedge. Have to stay on top of it. Orrible stuff. Today I will plant the chilli seeds. A heated propagator is in situ with some seed compost. Just needs me to apply the seeds, add a layer of vermiculite and water. THG is planning on painting the raised beds wood with preservative. When she gets back from weight lifting obvs.

Otherwise I have some admin to do this morning. Tedious paperwork.

Been scanning the media for upbeat news about Lincoln City but it is all about the Premier League. The action is equally hot in the third division yanow.

Fox 05:32 this morning.

I was re-reading the History of Carmarthenshire Vol1 yesterday. There was a bit that said the folks of Mabudrud were all freemen. Somewhere else also said there were typically around 50 freemen in a maenor. This actually stacks up very well with the 44 comportioners in Llanllwni who gave up their rights regarding the church. Llanllwni is a part of the commote of Mabudrud. 

In 1291 “Llanllwni too was divided between the Bishop of St David’s and Walter Wynter. In the case of a messuage granted to this house in the vicinity of Llanllwni Church in 1291, the number of comportioners was 44……”

Some of these people were my ancestors. I have nothing to link me with them other than my imagination as any paperwork long since disappeared..

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Just back from a swim at Yarborough Leisure Centre. I’m ditching Total Fitness and rejoining Yarborough which has a new management. Yarborough is half the price, has a bigger window for off peak hours and is not as rammed. Since the new management team has arrived it has also been smartened up. Also the steam room was much hotter than in Total Fitness. The TF changing area is bigger and better but doesn’t make up for the other comparisons.

And finally planted my chilli seeds: habanero, scotch bonnet and jalapeno. Only 6 seeds of each in the pack but I probably don’t even need that many. Might have a plant or two to give away later in the spring. Oh and the rosemary bush is in flower. Not seen that before. Not sure how many pollinators there are around at this time of year.

Some v pleasant background noise emanating from the church in today’s Sunday Service. Switched it off now when vicar type (presumably – I dozed through the intro) got into his sermon but that was as much down to me getting up and going down for breakfast as any reflection on the listenability of the speech itself. Not talking about the content. Just the relaxation aspect.

Now downstairs and THG has already smashed an avocado in preparation for spreading it on sourdough toast. In fact she’s already eaten hers. I was going to say scoffed but I don’t think that would have been a fair representation of how THG consumes breakfast and I wasn’t in the room to observe the action anyway. I will add a chopped chilli to mine and fry three slices of streaky bacon as an accompaniment.

We spent much of yesterday with friends watching sport, eating and drinking. It is pleasing to report a huge improvement in the Welsh on pitch performance in Cardiff, albeit ultimately a loss to Scotland. Ditto the Irish walloping of Engerlund. Moreover Cardiff City lost 2 – 5 away at Prymuff and the Imps won 0 – 2 at Mansfield which brings them within a point of the Welsh side at the top of division three and ten points clear of nearest rivals Bolton Wanderers. You now don’t need to read the sports pages.

Today, if it is the will of god, I will make a start on building the THG requested raised beds in front  of the kitchen window. In this case the god concerned is the god of gardeners. Many of you will now say “oh you mean Monty Don” but Monty is not the god I had in mind. Monty is the god of middle aged women gardeners. I am more likely to be referring to Percy Thrower of whom I only have vague recollections. Percy was the gardening  trailblazer of his time and will almost certainly have built innumerable raised beds in career on the surface of the planet. As opposed to the cloud where he now sits in the presence of other members of the pantheon.

Outside the sky is blue. This is a natural feature we are unused to and it usually takes some time, eyes blinking, to reacclimatise ourselves to it. We are approaching the best time of year. Make sure you are well prepared for it. Your success during the growing season will determine how well you eat next winter. Let’s not talk about next winter. I know I started it but soon realised my mistake.

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Relaxing now with a cup of tea in the snug. Been hard at it all morning with raised beds construction. Have now cut all the pieces of scaffold plank to size and THG is going to splash some fence preservative on them before I assemble the actual beds. The measuring up is critical here – don’t want wonky raised beds do we?

Did have a slight issue with the circular saw who would now appear to have an extremely blunt blade. Rather than messing about sourcing a replacement I resorted to the good old fashioned handsaw which, to be fair, sliced through the planks with relative ease.

The Bishop of Lincoln has been arrested on suspicion of sexual assault. Just came on the news right now. Oh dear. Can’t tell you any more than that. I don’t listen to the news even if the wireless is on but this item must have triggered a keyword. Probs Lincoln.  There are almost certainly other keywords or phrases that will have the same effect. “Trefor Davies just won the lottery” and simlar. What’s not to like? Well the Bishop being a naughty boy for one but he is not guilty until the judge puts on his black cap and bangs the gavel. I wonder what the gossip will be in church tomoz. 

Lying in bed just now I have decided that potato rosti could be on the breakfast menu. Perhaps I should print one off. A menu that is. Just like they do in hotels. Not totes decide yet, about the rosti. I like rosti but im still feeling quite full after last night’s Chinese beef curry and fried rice. Was the first time I’ve cooked either dish and the result was a success despite the absence of rice wine from the list of ingredients assembled. Figured it wasn’t worth spending £3.60 on something I only needed a spoonful of and might never use again. Mind you I can see myself cooking the beef curry again. THG was most complimentary. 

The great thing about a Chinese meal is that it doesn’t take long to cook. I did all the preparation after lunch yesterday and only really took ten minutes from start to being served up last night. Just enough time to knock back a glass of tonic water with a splash of gin innit.

I switched the wireless off btw. Too much crap involving some deranged idiot with a fake tan. Mind you it’s the only way to get a tan around ere. Even when we fled to España last month it chucked it down. Just booked flights for a bit of a golfing trip to España in September btw. Thissun is purely for  pleasure although that will to a certain extent depend on the quality of the golf.

Back to the subject of breakfast, I have a sausage to cook. Was in Waitrose with THG the other day, a very rare event btw – we are not very compatible when it comes to shopping, and I playfully decided to buy one sausage. It came from the deli counter and was not a Lincolnshire or Cumberland sausage which would be my preferred variety of banger so decided that just the one would do. Normally I buy breakfast meats from Fosters as the quality is miles ahead of supermarket stuff but I was stood there at the counter, threw caution to the wind and made the purchasing decision. The young girl behind the counter must have thought what a weirdo, or tight git. She served me anyway. The customer is always right, especially if it is me 🙂 

Now in the shed watching the winter Olympics. 50km endurance race. Even 50km of just downhill skiing would be an endurance tbh, unless it was on a skimobile.

Last night we had an interesting series of visits. 23:37 saw the return of the muntjac and then again at 00:47. In between these visits at 00:23 the fox came. I’m waiting for the day when they both come at the same time, from different directions. Sparks might fly.

Didn’t cook potato rosti. Too much faff.

One other thing. I woke up in the night and for some reason checked the weather forecast. The metoffice told me there would be no weather next wednesday. This morning I checked again and they had changed their mind. Gosh.

Today, as you may well know unless you have just woken up from a long coma, is called Friday. If you have just woken up from a coma the first question you ask might well be what day is it but just as valid would be an enquiry as to who won the league or how did the silver jubilee go? I generally consider Fridays to be a day of rest although it is not officially so. Certainly Friday afternoons were always deemed to be a work free zone. In my mind.

Today is not such a day. I have to reattach two clips to the side of the worksurface in the utility room so that brooms and other useful items of household equipment might be kept upright in a tidy fashion. I don’t know how much of a job this is. It might be a five seconder or it might involve drilling, screwing and attaching that requires a risk assessment, careful planning and, in due course/fullness of time, timely execution. My bet is the former but you have to have contingency plans in place in case it is the latter. There is no contingency plan. I’m just living life on the edge. Caution to the wind. Sometimes you have to free yourself from the shackles of a restrictive society and inject a little danger into your life. Excitement. Thrills.

Yesterday, Thursday, the fox transited through the garden on three occasions. 12:16. 12:21 and 16:03. Visits like this don’t get recorded by the lake cam because the camera doesn’t wake up quickly enough when movement is detected. I do have CCTV as backup footage but it isn’t as near to the action as the lake cam. The visits have been recorded on my “Fox Visits” spreadsheet which is how I was able to remember the exact times.

For those of you who know me well you will agree that I am from time to time the fairest of people so this morning I decided to give Thought for the Day a chance. Canon Angela Tilbury, fair play. I was immediately rewarded with the knowledge that today is Ash Wednesday which this year coincides with the start of Ramadhan. Gosh. Moreover I googled it and discovered that:

“The start of the Lenten period (Ash Wednesday) coincides with the start of Ramadhan approximately every 33 years due to the cycle of the Islamic lunar calendar shifting through the Gregorian calendar. This year, 2026, both Ash Wednesday (start of Lent) and the beginning of Ramadhan will occur on February 17, 2026.”

Then she started telling me that Ash Wednesday was all about reminding me of my mortality and it wouldn’t be long, in the great scheme of things, before my bones would be “resting” in the dust. That’s the point I switched off. Life is too short to be reminded before breakfast that I am destined to be food for the worms.

Down at breakfast I was complementing THG on her home made granola when the conversation turned to yo’ gurt. I pondered over how the stuff was invented:

“Yoghurt was likely invented by accident around 5,000–10,000 BCE by Neolithic nomadic tribes in Central Asia and Mesopotamia, who stored milk in animal stomach bags. Natural enzymes in the skin containers, combined with warm climates, caused the milk to ferment, curdle, and create a sour, thickened, and preserved product.”

Oh ok, thanks. I am reminded of the time when I was at uni when my Sudanese pal @Mansour asked me to get some yoghurt for him when I went to the shops. When I got to the shop I realised he hadn’t specified a flavour so I randomly chose strawberry. I quite like strawberry yoghurt though we tend not to buy fruit flavoured yogs these days as they contain a lot of sugar in them. So I get back to his hall of residence to a general sense of amusement. Turned out he wanted natural yoghurt to stick in his curry. That was my first ever exposure to natural yoghurt! I hadn’t experienced curry before going to uni either.

Mans will be doing Ramadham today. I’m not an observant so had toast as well as my granola and yoghourt. Got a streaming cold so as the old adage goes, starve a fever feed a cold. Did my best. Left over curry tonight as well. Lamb madras. If that doesn’t sort the cold then I don’t know what will.

Will have a houseful today. Mark the joiner is coming back to finish off the bit of skirting board and Simon the plumber is going to fit a new heat exchanger in the boiler. Worcester Bosch provide free replacement heat exchangers but you have to pay for the labour which will be best part of ¾ of a day!

Other than that it’s business as usual. Better go. Should get dressed before Mark and Simon arrive.

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Fox came at 2.30pm and 3.15