where art collides philosoperontap

HipHop2 + 13. Terrible weekend of sport. I don’t want to talk about it. Good job it’s only a game. On the bright side, getting the stitches removed tomorrow. Looking at HipHop1 + 13 it all looks very much the same progress as this current HipHop. Rubbish sleep. However it was two weeks before I made it to the shed the first time around so in that respect this time is an improvement as I am there every day.

Old Reynard visited last night. 01:03. Mooched around for a minute or two. It was absolutely bucketing it down. A fox doesn’t let a bit of rain get in his way.

Two small slices of toast and a piece of bacon for breakfast. Also finished off the grapefruit I started yesterday. To call it a half would not be accurate. More like a third. So yesterday was a two thirds portion. It would not be easy to split it into three thirds and make it last three days. Unconventional anyway. You still have to take all the precautions with a third; ie remove specs whilst eating. The meals planned for the rest of the day are a slice of Waitrose orange and marmalade ham and a tomato for lunch and a fishfinger sandwich for tea. It’s all I want. 

Made it to the bus stop this morning. This was a longer walk than you think as my start and end points were the shed. More like from the front door to Queensway, ish. A bit slippery under foot so care does have to be taken but it is a lovely day and a pleasure to be out in the fresh air. Really there is nothing to stop me walking further other than it is frustratingly slow. What I need is the companionship of another quadruped, ie crutch user, not a dog, to chat about subjects of mutual interest whilst we walk. Lakes n stuff.

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Absolutely chucking it down in the shire. I am stranded in the shed. All I have to survive on is a bottle of gin, some cans of tonic water and two packets of plain crisps purloined from the first class lounge in Kings Cross. I guess I could always order a deliveroo and direct them around to the back of the house to the shed. I’ll be alright for a while and it’s a bit early in the week to start on the gin. It would affect my performance on University Challenge tonight. At 14:15 is is quite dark out there, a contrast with the brightly lit interior of the shed. Good job I did the walk this morning innit.

HipHop2 +9 and counting. Another day another something or other. What really is there to report? The boys are playing golf today. Not me obvs. Another autumnal day out there. The apple trees in the garden are pretty much stripped of leaves, a few hardy stalwarts hanging on in there. Out there. Up there. Tomatoes continue to ripen in the greenhouse. THG picked the remaining greenuns and left them on a shelf and they have slowly been turning red. Nature’s gift that keeps on giving. A single pink rose provides colour around the arch near the apple tree and raised beds.

Last night’s visitors amounted to a/the cat at 22:16, 00:36 and 00:41 and fox at 03:13 and 06:14. The BIG NEWS is we had a hedgehog at the lake at 00:36. By 06:14 it was raining. 

The arrival of the hedgehog on the scene is very exciting. Having downloaded the lake cam media from the kitchen window the first thing I did after getting dressed was to hot foot/crutch it to the lake to make sure there was no hedgehog in the water. If a hog did enter the water it has a couple of exit points including the ramp at the entrance and the jetty at the far end, near where Brian fishes. No hedgehog there to worry about. Wondering whether it is the same little guy I rescued from the hole in the patio near the conservatory. Quite likely.

Anyway this is good progress and, I’d like to think, a dividend of the rewilding that has been going on in front of the shed. Earlier I’d checked the cctv as I do only to see a spider building its web in front of one of the cameras. You can see it in timelapse. If I get around to it I’ll put together a short vid of the process. I’ll also go around the cameras brushing off these webs. They are only visible at night but I don’t want them there.

Flurry of phone calls this morning. Firstly an expensive, ten grand,  cockup by the hospital where I had the hip done. They’ve invoiced the healthcare company with the wrong treatment descriptions and dates which Vitality has not recognised as a preauthorised activity. Sigh. It is all sortable. Just a pain that I have to do it.

Then I called the Bromhead hospital (now known as The Lincoln but if yer from around ere it’s the Bromhead) as they had sent me an email saying how excited they were about me coming in to see a physio on Friday, i.e. tomorrow. I thought I was going the following Friday. Turns out the physio from The Park Hospital had called the physio from the Bromhead and arranged it. Nobody told me! So now I’m seeing Clare who is the same physio I saw last time and not seeing Gabby Dunn who THG thinks is the sister of Harry Dunn and daughter of Pete and Caroline who we know. Harry was a good cricketer. Probably still is.

Now I’m on the phone to the dentist to book an appointment. Every thirty seconds I have to press 1 to continue to hold. Wtf is that all about. Just answer the effin phone. Given up. I’ll call back later. Called back and immediately got through. What’s more I got an appointment for next week! Unheard of. Not complaining.

Three red arrows just flew over in tight formation and then a minute later flew back the other way.

Usual crap night’s sleep but during my wanderings around the BBC podcast world I came across some triumphal works designed to help me nod off. One was eight hours of the sound of rain. I listened to ten minutes of it. Was good but didn’t get me off to sleep. Then I was offered an hour long shipping forecast with the sound of waves in between the voice. Wow. It did the trick. I set the sleep timer to the end of the show just to make sure that nothing else came afterwards and have no idea how far into the hour I nodded off. The fun thing about that podcast was that the weather was terrible everywhere. There were even a few “rising to violent storm force elevens”. I think that was the term, violent. Might be wrong but you get the gist. I like the idea of stormy weather. Nature at its grandest, most powerful. A time humanity must cower in its safe places to avoid the worst.

This morning I don’t think I can find the exact same podcast. Maybe it’s a time of day thing. I’ll be looking out for it tonight. You must be able to favourite something like that.

Update. Found it using my laptop – better UI than the phone app. It’s called the Sleeping Forecast – Seascapes. It’s the one with the sound of waves. There are other episodes with curated calming music but those are not the podcasts I seek 🙂 

This time one week ago I was still in bed in the Park Hospital. Earlier I’d had visits from Dr Brown the anaesthetist and Mr Manktelow the surgeon who drew a black arrow on my left thigh just to remind himself the difference between left and right. I had a surgical gown to change into but didn’t see the point of getting up, showered and dressed and then changing again into the gown. The knifing was scheduled for 12:04!

A week into the new hip there is progress but I’m still very much in healing mode.

Two visitors to the lake last night. Reynard the fox came at 02:05 and a solitary muntjac deer popped in earlier at 01:06. There must be two groups of deer because I either see a single as was the case this morning or a mother and youngun. Tis always the same fox I believe.

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Must admit I’m a bit on the bored side this morning. I’ve moved operations into the shed as that gives me more scope for things to do. Blasting out some Beatles while I figure out what to do. If you are bored for long enough you get off your arse and do stuff but my arse ain’t particularly mobile at the mo. I do have to make a start on sorting my screw collection but that is what the dark winter months are for. I am irrationally excited about sorting out my screws. When he visited the workshop yesterday Ajax mentioned that he tears the screw size label off the box and sticks it in with the screws in the carrying case. I bought pre filled cases of screws. The lid of the carrying case of a couple of them does identify the contents but not which compartments contain specific screw types. Maybe it does. It won’t be checked until the project starts for real.

I have now purchased a vernier caliper and should in due course be able to report progress with the calibration of my screw collection. Arrives today. May not see immediate action because as you know I am convalescing from a major operation but it gives me comfort to know that the moment I feel up to a stint in the workshop it will be there ready for me to use. It was the Amazon recommended tool for the job. A simple mechanical instrument as opposed to all the electronic versions I was being pushed, with LED screens. Huh. Wosthatallabout? They aren’t electronic screws.

Toast and bacon this morning. Bit more of an appetite although I have to say that my sleep patterns are not good having to lie on my back all night. Up and down all night to the loo. Dunno if it’s the lying on the back or the medication. Blood thinners. Nothing in the notes to suggest that side effect but it was the same when I had my first hip sorted.

I have to say I am confident that once I’ve got through the initial month or six weeks I will have a new lease of mobility. The last time I did it the first two weeks were a bit tedious but after the body started to get its act together and progress was rapid. Also the last recovery period, whilst being successful where the operated leg was concerned, was hampered by the clear deterioration in the other hip so I never totally got back up and walking properly.

Enough of this hip talk, daddy oh. I await the bacon that is currently sizzling under the grill. The toast is already made and buttered and there is a bottle of HP Sauce on the table in front of me patiently waiting to be squeezed.

So the day ahead looks like this. Well I have no idea actually. It will mostly be spent in the armchair in the snug. This was moved from the shed as being the most suitable height for sitting on in order to not bend the hip more than 90 degrees. In reality I add some cushions and also have a purpose built memory foam cushion for the top layer designed for a comfy bum.

THG is off out to the gym shortly but when she comes back I’ll have a shower. I can do this without help but I can’t get the surgical stockings and socks on (or off for that matter). At least the stockings are easier to get on and off this time. Since I lost a lot of weight my calves and ankles are smaller. Restart the Mounjaro jabs on Monday once I’ve got over the initial recovery from the hip hop. Progress must continue. Actually I bought a couple of shirts before going in for the operation. One size down from my usual and the fit was great. Don’t think I’m going to have the opportunity to wear them for a while. It’s all about slobbing about right now. Also whilst I normally wear jeans of some sort for the next few weeks it is tracksuit bottoms. A lot easier to get on and off using the grabber.

I did think I’d step up the family tree work once out of hospital but right now my brain still isn’t in top gear and I can’t focus on that stuff. It’s the writing it all up is the issue.

Fox trotted by at oh one fifty three, went around the back of the greenhouse and then off again. I have this on CCTV as well as lake cam. The lake cam also detected some movement at around half six but there is nothing immediately obvious in the footage.

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.

Fox News: Reynard came at just after nine pm last night. Nine oh two to be precise. There is no real pattern here and he/she doesn’t wait until we’ve gone to bed. THG has seen him in the back garden in daylight. Otherwise all is calm. We are mostly ready for the decorating to begin in our room. Long overdue, I’m told. I am not an expert in these matters and it is good that I am married to a woman of style and taste who knows these things.

Now I am spending a few moments of repose in the snug having breakfasted royally on smashed avocado and toast with a drizzle of Belazu balsamic vinegar. The sourdough loaf you get from Waitrose in a packet with “wild seeds” or similar emblazoned on the cover. Don’t remember exactly but it is nice bread and worth paying the extra for. Great for toast.

Last night we watched University Challenge on iPlayer having missed the live broadcast. Answers came in quickfire progression in the snug and I’ve gotta tell you it wasn’t from me. I do get some answers but am not the house champion when it comes to this quiz. I am the scrabble ace mind you.

Today we are going to see some football play. I was told what it is but forget the name. It’s about wotsisname Southgate the former England manager. Gareth Southgate that’s im. I am not the England football fan in our house but I am a supportive husband and am happy to be the plus one when it comes to such occasions. No complaining whatsoever. I’m sure it will be good. Hopefully 🙂

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Wouldn’t bother buying Barbour socks if I were you. They look nice and feel nice but the toes wear out very quickly. Bought a pair last year and the toe had worn through within a couple of wears. They did replace them but I’ve just put on that replacement pair and they’ve worn through again. Binned em.

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.

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.

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.

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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.

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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.