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.
…
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.