where art collides philosoperontap

V successful day yesterday (football apart – the Pool lost 0 – 1 v the Arse enal). We had the full family team up for Hannah & George’s baby shower and everyone pitched in to get the house ready for the arrival of the guests. Lots of old friends many of who THG and I had known since they were babies themselves. There were many highlights but the one I specifically pick out for you was the pass the parcel game. Each layer had a baby related multiple choice question and if the person holding the parcel when the music stopped got the answer right they won a choccie from the bag. 

Two of the layers had a challenge which was a timed “putting a nappy on the baby (teddy bear)” These were “won” by Eve, a highly experienced nappy changer and prospective father George who had never done it before. Eve finished in a creditable 14 seconds whereas George took 54 seconds much to the amusement of all present. There is a video of the attempts (54 seconds long obvs) but that remains private for the protection of the innocent.

Half the visitors left last night and the rest of them go today, our John headed for LHR and thence BER. Right now the house is quiet. I’ve had a sausage sarnie and a cup of tea and will soon get ready for the day. This will involve putting the finishing touches to the compost bins and actually depositing some green material into the left hand compartment. Deep satisfaction all round and thanks to everyone involved in the project including our John for his carpentry skills and George for clearing the space of some v heavy logs.

We have decided to head to London for the launch of Tom’s new game “Your Call Is Important”, the first output of his business “Release The Owl”. A quick search will get you there. Now this is an unplanned trip so we figured we would see how we might get there as economically as possible. I’ve booked Hilton Tower Bridge on points. It’s near the venue for the launch party. Then the train down has cost £1.41! For the two of us!! I booked the cheapest train which, at 13:20 happens to be very convenient for us anyway, got std class tickets (I know, I know – it must be 20 years or more but this is very much an experiment) for £1.41 by using my LNER perks credit. Just indeed to book the return but THG will be travelling separately for that as I have now decided to use the time to pop to the National Archives for a spot of old document reading. I might be catching the 19:43 home which will make for a long day but needs must.

Saddened to hear that  Glens of Antrim Potatoes has gone tits up. A crisp manufacturer of 54 years standing. Bugger. Not that I ever tried a bag of their crisps, afaik. They are based in Antrim in Northern Ireland. Perhaps they struggled with expanding their market footprint. Another victim of rising costs I daresay.

I checked out their core crisp flavours:

• Irish Mature Cheese & Sweet Onion (also referred to as Irish Mature Cheddar & Sweet Onion) – Sharp cheese with sweet onion.
• Irish Sea Salt & Vinegar (or Clogherhead Sea Salt and White Wine Vinegar) – Local sea salt combined with white wine vinegar.
• Irish Sea Salt (Port Oriel, Clogherhead sea salt) – Simple sea salt seasoning.
• Sweet Sriracha Chilli – Fiery, sweet, vinegary sriracha seasoning.
• Roast Beef & Mustard – Vegetarian-friendly meaty flavor paired with mustard heat.
• Gammon & Pineapple – Salty, smoky gammon combined with sweet pineapple.
• Pickled Onion – Sweet, salty, and sour pickled onion flavor.
• Prawn Cocktail – Fresh and tangy seafood seasoning.

I’m mostly a cheese and onion fan really though not averse to other flavours. I assume the first three listed were their best sellers.

Full on day yesterday with a walk to Sincil Bank for the Birmingham game which we lost three one. Then a pint in the Tiny Tavern followed by a small pizza with George in Stack, which I’d not been to before but which some pals had praised. Number 5 bus home. Ended the evening watching back to back episodes of Father Ted in the shed with our Tom.

All is now quiet and I’m writing this from the shed as every room in the house is being used as a bedroom and my normal post breakfast (2 weetabix with milk, banana and raspberries and two slices of toast and marmalade) destinations of the front room and the snug are unavailable.

Once everyone is up the place will become a hive of activity with everyone pitching in to prepare the buffet for the guests for Hannah’s Baby Shower. This is a new concept for me but one I’ve had to embrace. We have had a few dropouts as there is a lot of lurgi floating around. THG and I have both had it. One of the dropouts is a toddler which means we can now light the fire in the front room.

The party is scheduled to finish at four at which time, assuming the place has been tidied up to the satisfaction of THG who has high standards, we will withdraw to the shed to watch the Liverpool Arsenal game.

More as it happens…

Busy day ahead. Gotta head to Waitrose to buy a few items. Anti bacterial spray, milk, big pork pies, green tea, French stick/baguette, beer, nosecco, Peroni, zero beer. We are hosting Hannah’s baby shower tomorrow. Mostly sorted except for the few last minute items. Then have to collect some helium balloons from the Carlton Centre.

After that the London contingent of the family arrives on the 10:35 direct from Kings Cross Stayshun. Six of us are off to see the Imps wallop Burmingum Citoy for a 12:30 kickoff. Shud be a gud afternoon of it.

Never made it as far as Thought For The Day this morning. Got a guy coming at 8am to do me a quote for air con installation in the shed. The hidden cost of global warming. Of course the answer to global warming is to spend money on air conditioning which means the summers will get back to the normal British state of affairs and you will never have to use it. See how it goze.

After that I’ll dash off a quick bacon sarnie before we have to go off to see a 4 D scan of Hannah’s baby. The rest of the day is spoken for. This morning, upon return from aforementioned scan, I’m going to make a beef casserole. The casserole is not for consumption today but will be heated up when we get home from the footy tomorrow pm. Imps v Birmingham City.

It takes quite a bit of time to make a casserole. Chopping up all the ingredients, the initial cook and then the long slow simmer. This evening, three of us are off out to see Damian Lewis’s gig at The Drill (Hall). Before that we are going to have a couple of frames of snooker followed by some nosh. Not decided what sort of nosh yet. Nothing too heavy.

Hopefully they will have fixed the power outage downtown by then. Yesterday afternoon I set off to the bank. There was a mahoosive queue to get out of the car park so I figured I’d have to hang around for a while after the bank to let it die down. Bloomin bank turned out to be closed due to a power cut, as were many of the shops. Huh. The 200 Degrees Coffee Shop was open so I sat there nursing an Americano for 20 mins or so. Fortunately the queue had gone by the time I got back to the car. Phew. Avoid that car park at around 3.30pm. The queue was from the third floor all the way to the exit!

Back into an old routine. Thought for the day comes on the wireless. I get out of bed. Today’s was particularly uninteresting. Couldn’t even tell you what it was all about. There has to be a knack in doing a good TFTD. Most of em don’t have it.

Anyway, now down at the dentist, again. My next checkup isn’t for a year but I bit into a bit of a french salami/sausage and felt something go. It was one of those they sell in bars as snacks. I bought 5 different ones from a market near Cussac. Managed to find a free parking spot near the Cheese Society. Result.

On the way back from the dentist I diverted to the bookshop on Steep Hill. Nothing jumped off the shelves at me but I did stop to read the sign at the Everest Nepalese curry house. Looked as if they were recruiting a complete set of staff. Perhaps the manager fired the previous team, lock, stock and barrel.

This pm, if I am sufficiently motivated, I’ll try finishing off the compost bin. I’ve already made the lasagne for tonight (effin good one even if I say so meself).

Mop that kitchen floor. THG reminded me she was going to do it before setting off for the stayshun this morning. Off to the Pool again to visit her sister. She is staying at the Hilton near  John Lewis with our Joe. Something like eighty quid for a twin room aaand she (I) got an upgrade to an exec room. As well as being handy for the shops (fwiw) and the Albert dock it is also near my fave watering hole, The Bridewell which serves good craft beer. The price is in marked contrast to the four hundred and fifty the Doubletree was asking during the Labour Party Conference. It’s also a bit like that on a home game weekend. People fly in from all over the place to watch the match.

In the news, Oxford Street pedestrianisation. I’m against it.  A step too far. Will just serve to clog up all the surrounding streets. Not that I ever go there – all it has is shops. Mind you we were in a taxi once en route to the Intercontinental Hotel in Park Lane. We had to get out half way down Oxford Street and walk the rest of the way. It was totally rammed with public employees on their way to Hyde Park for a union demo against govt austerity measures and pay freezes or simlar. A million of them apaz. Our train down was packed, even in 1st class which I thought was ironic. We checked in to the hotel and were given a room looking out onto the park. It felt very much like France just before the revolution. Let them eat cake.

We actually joined the anti Brexshit march whenever that was. It started somewhere near the Park Lane Hotel. Lots of doormen everywhere making sure no riffraff got in if they weren’t hotel guests. Took us 3 hours or more to get as far as Trafalgar Square as I recall. About a mile. There was no way we were going to get anywhere near the green in front of Westminster where all the speeches were being given. As it happened we were staying at the Trafalgar St James which has a rooftop bar. We spent a v pleasant couple of hours swigging cold beer looking down on the near stationary procession. When it finished there was a party going on in front of the national gallery.

Bailiwick. Great word. I decided this morning it is one of my faves. It isn’t a word I often use. Just came to mind as I was digging out a tshirt from the pile in the wardrobe. I don’t think the word and the act were associated. Funny how things just appear in your mind innit. Does anyone else have a fave word?

Anyway successfully dropped THG off at the stayshun. The dilemma of her being away is whether to get a takeaway tonight or a Charlie Bigham. The yellow reduced sticker on the Charlie Bigham chicken jalfraizie answered the question itself. Before that I had a relaxing extra hot latte in the caff with some “me” time on my device before perusing the offerings of the store itself. Randomly wandering the aisles the phone rang. Our John. Has a review meeting with a new customer to discuss the video QJAY Studios will be generating for them. Medical science type industry, or simlar.

BUELO BATTERS. Headlines in all the papers this morning. Not really. Well it might be but I haven’t looked and we don’t get a paper anymore. Haven’t since the advent of tintwerweb. Even my dad gave up buying the Grauniad when he got an ADSL connection. Used the saving on the newspaper as justification for the cost of the “broadband”.

Anyway Storm Buelo is currently blowing down trees all over the country. In our garden it has wreaked havoc with innumerable small twigs and branches littering the landscape. I’ll have to check to see if Brian the fishing gnome is ok. The tarp covering the garden furniture has held. A good investment that.

This morning we had a bit of a lie in. Only problem was that I still woke up at the normal BST time and so lay awake in bed for an hour or so checking the state of things on my device. Under the covers obvs as I didn’t want to disturb THG but she was probably also awake. I’m pleased we are now back to GMT. It feels more right than the artificialness (artificiality?) of BST. More solid.

Weetabix with a banana, bit of toast and a cup of tea followed by the three s’ and I am in the shed (having bowed by dead into Buelo for the journey) and ready for the day. Seeing as the clocks have changed I thought it prudent to replace the battery in the clock on the shed wall. It’s been stuck at half past six for a year. You know when it is time to get a job done. I have a few jobs today, the most important of which is to prepare the Sunday dinner. Roast chicken with all the trimmings except we have no bacon or sausages for the PIBs. Might nip out for those. See how I get on with everything else.

I’m thinking of retiring the rescue boat Saucy Sue. She spends most of her time upside down in the water nowadays and needs rescuing herself. Not much use when someone is in trouble in the water. She normally gets put away in dry storage for maintenance and tlc over winter anyway. Whilst you’d think the lake would be a more dangerous place to be in winter the fact is that people tend to bunker down in their log cabins and go out as little as possible. The lake is in a pretty remote spot and doesn’t get much passing tourist footfall. Otherwise I’d have opened a kiosk to sell teas and coffees etc. Brian will also be headed to his Caribbean winter quarters soon. He hasn’t let me know when yet but the big game fishing season beckons.

Set the first time machine backup to NAS going after lunch yesterday and it finished at around quarter to ten last night. Also backed up 2,800 photos to NAS this morning, never to be looked at again 🙂 That ain’t totes true as my Google TV streamer randomly picks from Google Photos as a screensaver. But that doesn’t touch the NAS. It’s an insurance policy. The day after I stop doing it the whole of Google will go down and people will have lost all their pics.

All is quiet in the house.THG has gone out running. Upon finishing her Park Run THG and I have arranged to meet at the Tesco garage to put air in her car tyres. Her tyres don’t necessarily need air but her bloomin tyre pressure alarm keeps going off and the only way to get rid of it is to reset it which needs to be done after putting air in. So now I have a plan. We measure the pressure before we put air in the tyres and make a note of each one. Then we reset the alert. Next time it goes off we do the same again. If it is going off when the tyres are within spec we take it to Peugeot and tell em to sort it out (the Silver Bullet is a Peugeot 208). They are notorious for having this problem apaz. If it looks like one tyre is slowly deflating we just need to get that one looked at but I don’t really think that is the case. We both need to do it because you can’t see the pressure reading shown on the machine if alone. I’ve never had to look at tyre pressures in any other car we have possessed, even though the books say you should check monthly.

The problem is that to do this we need to find a tyre inflator at a garage. Tesco’s was kaput, as was the one in Waitrose aand the Shell garage on Burton Road. We gave up and parked it until our John comes over from Burlin on Tuesday.

Tonight we are off out to see Undermilk Wood at the Broadbent Theatre. Gotta get there early to grab a parking space near the gate as otherwise it can take ages to get out of the car park at the end of a show.

…

Storm someone or other has been beating down on the shire all afternoon. I feel quite sorry for those who’ve gone to Sincil Bank to wath the Burnley game. Plus the players. Mind you at 68 minutes we are winning 4 – 1 after Burnley scored first. Some of the boys have gone to Newark on the train to watch Lincoln RFC play. Everyone there will be getting a real soaking.

I woke up this morning, it looked as if it rained all night, oh yeah,
I woke up this morning, it looked as if it rained all night,
I woke up this morning, it looked as if it rained all niight
And it looks as if it will rain all day, oh yeah.

There ya go. You know the tune. You can substitute the “oh yeah” for “oh no” if that is your personal feeling or mood. I don’t mind the rain meself. It isn’t actually raining as I write, in Lincoln. Don’t get complacent though.

I do feel a bit sorry for our friends who have gone to the Isle of Man for a long weekend break. Sgonna rain on their parade. Still I daresay they will pull their hoods up, bow their heads into the wind (and the horizontal driving wet stuff) and soldier on. We have pictures every year of the kids sheltering under the canopy of Laxey Railway Station booking office canopy, waiting for the next tram. Our friends alternative is to spend the day (well an hour or two) in the House of Manannan museum in Peel where they are staying, visit any of the other museums on the island or maybe indeed go for a ride on the electric railway and/or the steam railway. When they get back to Peel they can ensconce themselves in the Creek or similar and have an evening on the pop and tuck in to a hearty meal. They do a good queenies dish and the pie and chips at the Creek is also good. Tomorrow they can try the Marine which also does good nosh. Anyway it’s up to them. They are grown ups and don’t need me to tell them what to do. Just a few pointers here.

On more than one occasion we have had to extend our stay on the Isle of Man due to the weather stopping boat sailings and have returned early a couple of times. We would fly and hire a car but the flight times are not particularly useful for us, being either too early or too late. Fine if you are just heading to IoM or UK for a day’s business trip but no good if you want a leisurely start to the day.

THG has gone off to the gym leaving me with a jobs list. That is fine. I’ve already looked up the fix for the blocked washing machine pump which seems straightforward. YouTube ftw. I’ll let you know how I get on obvs. 

I also need to find some photos of each family member as a baby. We will have loads but they are fairly likely to be mostly in physical albums considering our kids are aged between 26 and 34 which predates the age of the digital camera. That’s fine. I can scan them in. This is all for Hannah’s Baby Shower organised for next weekend. A major family milestone (nowadays) that has to see some proper organisational effort put in to it.

…

Sorted the washing machine. Took 45 mins as there was a lot of watter to flow though the little black drainage pipe. I found the culprits: £4.85 in loose change. It’s all good now. I’m sure THG will put the cash to good use. Money laundering at its best.

Spent much of the day sorting out synchronisation between my macbook pro, mac mini, Google Drive and my NAS box. All sorted now. I’ve previously not bothered with a Time Machine on the macbook as the mac mini is my main machine and if owt happened to the former I would just restore the image on the latter. However I’ve been working on stuff that has been all consuming and from multiple locations so synching has become important.

Had a brilliant idea this morning: Statue of Libertea. They just take the flaming torch off and replace it with a cup and saucer, or a mug if you prefer. Would solve many of the world’s problems.

Radiator testing has commenced btw. We don’t quite need the heating on yet but THG quite rightly noted that last year when we did we couldn’t get the radiators to come to temperature and had to employ the services of Lincoln’s finest plumbers, Lincoln Plumbing and ‘eating.

This morning I rang the dentist as a chunk had fallen out somewhere in my mouth. Amazingly they had two cancellations for this pm but I wasn’t able to use either of them as I’m playing golf (if you can call it that). Now I’m having it sorted next thursday morning.

Tis a lovely afternoon for the golf. Not shorts weather though (I know I know worrawimp).  Didn’t play last week as (we) was en route to Burlin.

Dear diary, today is Wednesday 31st October 2026. As an inanimate piece of paper you will not have known that and it would be important for me to write it down (probably). As an online document you will know both date and time. Bit of useless waffle for you that I’m pretty sure will never come up as a question in a pub quiz. Feel free to prove me wrong.

Yesterday the Lincoln Wine Producers Coop team held its first pressing and as a result have thirty litres of fine red wine now in barrels. Still a long way to go but it is all heading in the right direction. Gawd knows what the wine will taste like when finished. We remain optimistic. Afterwards we repaired to the Strugglers to consume other fermented products. Unfortunately the heavens opened and Adie and I were forced to stay there a little longer than initially planned. Pete, who had the transport, having already departed. Later, I fell asleep “watching” Liverpool v Villa Real in the shed with THG.

Back in the shed this morning. The sun is shining in the sky. This is good as we are off to the Cathedral this afternoon to see a lecture on how cathedrals survived the Reformation. Or simlar. This is of interest. The Bishop of Lincoln was granted the Advowson of Llanllwni church after the dissolution of the monasteries. It’s on my jobs list to find out when and how/why.

…

Turns out a king, Edward VI, fancied some of the land held by the Bish (including Newark Castle fwiw) and took it. In recompense he gave the Bish some of his own less wanted property he’d come by as part of the dissolution of the monasteries which happened to include the advowson of Llanllwni, previously owned by the Carmarthen Priory.

THG drew back the curtains this morning. I was going to say flung them back but THG doesn’t fling, she draws. Anyway, looking out from my prone position in bed, the song Les Feuilles Mortes came to mind and Edith Piaf started singing in the corner of the room. I thought I’d drop a line from the song into this post but they don’t make it easy for you to find the lyrics online as the song, written in 1945, as the echoes of WW2 cannons had just died down, is still in copyright. Whilst looking I came across the original Yves Montand version which I think I now prefer to that of Edith. Nowt against Edith obvs. I thought copyright only lasted 80 years. What do I know!

Dropping THG off at the Pink Ladies meet this morning as I need the car to go and buy some footy tickets. You can buy them online but it is easier to get them from the club shop.

…

Tix purchaysed. Premium seats Rilmac Upper or similar.

Nice lie in this morning, even taking the hour’s time difference into consideration. Well it felt like it. In reality we went for breakfast at 09:30 local time which being 08:30 UK time is our normal hotel breakfast time. We won’t want to leave it any later tomorrow as we got one of the last free tables in what was a fairly big breakfast room. As we left a long queue had formed.

Having so many people in for breakfast had the beneficial side effect of fresh fried eggs being available. I don’t normally touch fried eggs in a  hotel as they have often been sat there for some time but here there was a high turnover.. Breakfast was generally better than the average Hilton though not in the top echelon. Top hotel breakfasts are few and far between. Considering this hotel is costing us perhaps a third of the cost of most Hiltons in London it seems very good value for money.

Not such a nice day out there today and an extra layer might be called for. Trouble is it isn’t quite cold enough for warm gear. Problems problems. I am looking forward to crisp mornings where a tshirt and a warm sweater are the order of the day. I’ve been thinking about investing in a Barbour jacket but tbh I already have so many coats I really don’t need another.

Woman opposite has been on the phone ever since we sat down. She is not holding the actual phone but is chatting through her earbuds. This looks v strange, borderline disconcerting. She is listening intently, occasionally altering her pose and stares and emitting the odd mhmm and sometimes even making a remark. Now the person at the other end has had an interruption so is going to call her back. They called back. Now she is leaning forwards, hands clasped together. Then she leaned back, left leg slung over right knee, right elbow on next chair and hand behind her head. Her buds died so she has packed them in their charger and picked up the phone.

Pleasant enough flight. Our concerns over having a bulkhead seat with emergency exit were allayed as it wasn’t an emergency exit row and there must have been four or five feet gap between seat and wall. Upon arrival my passport didn’t work at the egates which made me divert to the manual one. This proved to be a bonus as I realised I could take THG with me. Saved her (and me) at least an hour queuing. Taxi to the Hilton was a smooth enough journey as was the checkin. However when we got to the room we found it was already in use – a Calvin Klein robe was displayed on the bed and there were a few small bags there.

Back at the front desk we had to wait whilst they assorted things out and they gave us some drinks vouchers to use while we waited. Took a while to sort but all’s well that ends well. Out with our John for a perfectly nice wiener schnitzel and then early to bed.