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apple cycle spins

Alarm has just gone off at 6.15 am. I’m taking Joe and Charlotte to the station. In my pyjamas. Just with my new Black Yak hoodie for warmth. Obviously I’m assuming the car doesn’t break down en route. Joe decided he would stick some bacon on before going so now I’m sat in the TV room waiting.

Went to bed early last night because I was snoring away on the settee during Planet Earth II. I’d not long got back from lunch at The Taphouse and Kitchen. Had an excellent roast beef with trimmings, fair play. Nice and rare in the middle. Also had two pints of Timothy Taylor landlord, a pale ale, red wine, gin and tonic and champagne before trundling home through a Christmas market that was in the process of being dismantled.

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Hard frost on the car this morning. Dropped the kids off at the station and went back to bed with a cup of tea. At ten to eight my phone buzzed and told me I had  a conference call at 8am. W00t! Ah well some things just have to be done. I’ve now consumed a bacon sandwich and am sat tapping away. Slow start to the morning. There are jobs: move Stella Artois fridge from kitchen, take glasses back to Tesco, pick up parcel from Firth Road depot, send glasses to Joe in Nukassle – left them behind this morning. Stuff like that. Will also light the fire again. We have the fuel.

Big week this week. On Wednesday we have Jackie Gordon and her husband Paul swinging by to deliver some wine from their vineyard in California. I used to work with Jackie in Product Engineering at MEDL. Thursday it’s the LONAP Christmas Party at the Phoenix Artist Club. Then it’s my birthday day out in London on the Friday. Back Saturday afternoon.

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Someone btw has nicked my toothbrush. It’s a good job I’m going to Tesco this morning innit. I’m now showered and sat by a roaring fire. Just what is needed on a cold day like this. It’s currently 1℃ outside with a promise of a high of 4℃ at around 2pm. Dress up warm everyone. A log has just shifted. Living fire.It’s no different to a person changing as they grow old.

Just had a spam call. These calls are initiated by machines and a real person picks it up if the phone is answered. I’ve taken to picking the phone up and saying something straight away such as yo or yup. Usually this is before the human has engaged at the other end. Then I typically hear silence and they as often as not hang up themselves.

Featured image, which i think has turned out well, is “decay” on one of our trees. A piece of glowing ember falls out of the fire.

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Posted the specs to Newcastle – large queue at the PO. Picked up two parcels from Firth Road sorting office. Only two people in front of me in the queue. Traffic was terrible in town. These city centre roadworks are causing chaos. It’s a lot easier to drive downtown as long as you haven’t got stuff to carry back. Front room is nice and warm since I lit the fire.

Wragby Road Bowl

Must be said I think that last night’s Davies Christmas Market Party was the best to date which is saying something after 26 or so years. We had a good crowd of mostly regulars but with a few new faces to swell the ranks. Some folks cried off with manfly and simlar which is only to be expected at this time of year.

This was the first year the event was live broadcast, on Facebook. This had mixed results largely due to the difficulty of placing the camera in a decent position combined with the fact that Facebook live only works in portrait on Android phones.

We had two carol singing sessions with some excellent descant from the ladies present. There was also some wonderful jazz with Colin Dudman on the keys, Joe on horn and John on Sax. As a parent it gets you very emulsional to see two of your kids up there playing some fantastic music. They all got massive cheers. Finally we finished off with a short acoustic set by the Pylons which everyone really appreciated.

We had a very amusing start to the carol singing. Barney, the Pylons’ lead singer whose dad is a vicar, agreed to sing the first verse of Once in Royal David’s City. Unfortunately he sang it to the tune of Hark The Herald. We only realised at the end and had to start again:)

We got rid of the final lot at around 2am when a taxi arrived for Nige, Terry and Jenny. That’s the latest finish for a long time.

This morning I cleared out the grate, scrunched up some paper and stuck in some kindling newly fetched from the woodpile at the bottom of the garden and the fire lit in seconds without the need for matches. Yesterday’s hot ashes did the trick.

This morning has been mostly about sticking stuff in the dishwasher. I’ve had a fry up and Tom and I are now sat in front of a blazing log fire chillin a bit and typing stuff.

Today we start all over again. I’m meeting Terry in the Strugs at around 1pm before a 2pm lunchtime booking at the Taphouse And Kitchen. Looking forward to it.

10.45 am and  everyone has been seen except for John. Joe is playing some choons on the piano. Autumn Leaves, Have yourselves a Merry Little Christmas. Hannah is looking for a lift into town but there are no offers. It would take one of us the same amount to time to drop her off and come back as it would for her to walk in.

11.15. All the settees around the fireplace in the front room are now occupied and I even heard the word “John” coming from the kitch. We must all be up.

and the coathanger that never was

Clean out grate and reset fire – bring logs and kindling in
Move office stuff out of conservatory (Tref)
Shift conservatory table to side and set up PA (if considered necessary)
Move settee around in front room and set out chairs for party in conservatory and front room
Move tables in kitchen
Clear away worktops in kitch (move intrays out of way upstairs)
Move all coats to landing upstairs
Bring stella fridge down
Buy eggs
Buy booze and ice

It’s all goish in the Davies house. Actually quite a slow start but it will build up. Wearing my new Black Yak cardigan/hoodie/whatever you call it today and shortly off to Tesco as alluded to in the above jobs list (see last two items).

Goish is a good word innit. It obviously has to be correctly pronounced and would benefit from a hyphen but from an artistic perspective it is better that the reader be left guessing. I doubt it will ever make the Oxford English Dictionary but you never know. I’d quite like a copy of the OED but don’t want to shell out the hundreds of pounds it costs. I bought the Shorter OED about 30 years ago and it is still perfectly useful. Not that I ever use it. Tinternet. Now waiting for Jose and Charlotte to get ready to go to scote (anag). I may be waiting a while.

Had a very pleasant day out yesterday as guest of Wright Vigar at the lincolnshire IoD Christmas lunch. Most of the attendees were either lawyers or accountants with the accompanying grey suits. I noted only 7 or 8 people out of 150 at the lunch were wearing the party hats out of the Christmas crackers on the tables.

Afterwards met up with Matt Russell, Daniel, Plia and Dean at the Strait and Narrow. Had 4 pints of strong lager whose name subsequently escapes me and then walked through the rain up Steep Hill. Did a quick round of the market, looking for a bag of chips and curry sauce.

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Back from Tesco. Sussed the champagne deal. Veuve Clicquot £5 off at £30 plus a further 25% off for a case of 6. £22.50. Not for tonight but we will consume most of it over the Christmas holidays. Also bought some disgusting looking strawberry and lime Rekorderlig cider. I’m told the yoof like it.

Hannah back and off with her to Waitrose for more stuff. The house is now busy and noisy, I have to sit quietly out of the way. Next to the fireplace where the coathanger burns. It will soon disappear from our consciousness. The coathanger that never was. Despite the video evidence clearly displayed in this post  there will be conspiracy theories about this coat hanger. Is the video faked? Is it a different coat hanger? Was it ever a coat hanger. Where is the coat proof? Let us move on…

In the kitchen tonight’s chili con carne is in preparation for tonight’s pre party meal. Dunno how many people we are expecting. Between 35 and 70 if previous years are anything to go by. We don’t feed them but there will be plenty of booze. Even have a £12 bottle of vodka bought with our last Zlotys and brought back from Polska.

Tesco trip.

1. Ended up not buying the booze due to time pressures – these things don’t want to be rushed. Instead will get it with the kids tomorrow morning. Having the kids help you buy booze doesn’t sound right does it? 🙂
2. Greenhorn yooth behind the customer service desk ignored me for a while whilst he was fiddling with his till. When eventually he decided to begrudgingly acknowledge my presence it was with a “what do you want” or some such remark” I smiled inwardly.
3. Said youth, in response to my observation re their insistence on cash as a deposit for the glass hire that it was lucky I’d just been to the cashpoint  because I didn’t normally carry £45 around on me, said it was more cash than he had in total.
4. Returning to my car I waited with the full trolley for a person to reverse in front of my car. It was a high pressure sitch because the driver knew that I was watching as their car approached mine. No incidents, I’m pleased to report.
5. Taking the trolley back to the trolley park area I noticed that someone had left a banana skin in the one in front of me. Nice.
6. Had intended to chat to a baker at tesco to discuss dough rising techniques but there wasn’t one in sight and was not sufficiently bothered to hang around given my time constraints. The smaller 8 ½ inch tin is making a difference.

Now home, unpacked, writing diary entry and then a quick change in time for the car that is booked for 11am to take me to the Wright Vigar offices on Newland.

and more logs

Some repetitive tinny music grating down the stairs from the phone at the top. Oo it’s stopped. The phone is trying alternatives. “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas”. Michael Buble. Interesting to see how MB is this generation’s choice. We have finally moved on from Bing Crosby. Probably not a bad thing. I have to move on myself. For a swim…

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Not too bad a swim although for some reason the local traffic was worse than normal. There’s no telling why these things happen sometimes. Was the same last night when I dropped John off at Jazz Vehicle. Ended up coming home via Brant Road.

So right now I have two bags of logs being delivered. £135. Should see us for a reasonable while as we don’t have a fire that often. As soon as the trailer has gone I’ll light the fire. Petals Hardwood Logs. Looks like a good bloke. He is unloading and stacking them for me – thought I was going to have to do that myself.

Anne is busying herself in the kitch making stuff for various functions. One is a Christmas event in Market Rasen fundraising for John’s forthcoming Easter hockey tour to Amsterdam. They want people from the Lincoln contingent there but this is totally impractical this weekend because we have so much on.

The kids are starting to get excited about coming home for the market. Joe and Charlotte get here at 8pm tomorrow, Tom at 9 and Hannah at 11 on Saturday. In anticipation I’ve been down to Fosters on Monks Road and purchaysed 3lb of finest spicy Lincolnshire sausages and 2lb of dry cured back bacon. Curtis’ sausages and Fosters are neck and neck in quality in my opinion but Fosters’ dry cured bacon is top dog. I don’t think they cure it themselves mind you. We will also be getting the Christmas joint from Fosters and bought all the food for JoeFest from there. Especially as the Butcher in the Bail has thrown in the towel.

The main weekend (inc party) shop is Tesco tomorrow at 9.30am where I’m picking up the loan glasses, booze and other bits and bobs so I’ll bulk out the breakfast stuff with shrooms and tomaytoes then plus some bread. I’m not going to rely entirely on homemade bread this weekend as we will need quantity.

Coming back to the Christmas thing, it is now December so I’m ok with the season having officially started even if we don’t put the decs up for another week or so.

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You need to know that the first of the new batch of logs is burning in the grate.

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Made another loaf using a smaller tin. I’m optimistic about this. Will let you have the results before close of play. In the meantime popped out to Tesco for a couple or three ingredients. We need more milk and I’m making leek and cauliflower gratin so needed more cheese and some double cream. Anne will not approve but hey…

In the Tesco car park noticed a couple of old blokes sat in the front of a K reg car chatting away. Presumably the wives were in the store shopping. When I got back the car was still there but the old men were not. Got bored waiting so went for a stroll. Tesco have a caff but they would probably do well to have a small pub in there for partners to while away the time.