where art collides

Rocked up in Bower Hinton for Kev Boyd’s 60th birthday bash. The Hollies Hotel kitchen doesn’t open until this evening so we were directed to The Old Dairy Caff for a spot of lunch. Great caff fair play. On a farm in the middle of the village. I had a lamb shawarma pitta and THG had the vegetarian equivalent. Also bought a dozen fresh eggs. Looking forward to farm fresh eggs. Much better than the less fresh supermarket ones. Funnily enough the farm was using Tesco branded egg boxes. Perhaps they supply Tesco.

Now back in the hotel watching the cricket on my laptop. The in room telly has Sky Sports but not the specific channel showing the cricket. I say room but it turned out to be an apartment. I booked a suite thinking it would be a bit bigger than a normal room but you could live here on a long term basis. It’s all about quality of life innit.

We stopped off at my sister Ann’s last night and mostly drove along the Fosseway this morning. We are very familiar with the Fosseway in Lincoln but I’d always thought it terminated in Bath. It carries on to Exeter apaz. 

Google tells me Lincoln to Exeter is 261 ish miles  along the Fosseway. Six hour drive plus pitstops. A full day basically. The Romans used to average 20 miles a day so for them it was a couple of weeks journey assuming they had a rest day which they probs didn’t. If I were them I’d have stopped off in Bath for a couple of days to enjoy the spa. Wash away the grime from the journey 🙂Freshen up for the last stretch to Exeter.

Yer average rank and file Roman soldier probs wouldn’t have been able to afford entry to the spa anyway. I doubt the spa management accepted salt as payment. It’s the same the whole world over…

Gotta go. Party to get ready for.

Bread rolls, apples and ham. All I have on my shopping list this morning fyi. Might spot something else I fancy as well but who knows. Dropping THG off at the gym and then nipping to Waitrose. Might grab a cawfee an all. See how it goze.

We awake to yet another beautiful late summer’s day and are heading off to Wiltshire today to see ma blood and blister @Ann. en route to Kev Boyd’s sixtieth in Zummerzet. A gathering of pals from the old Marconi days.

We went through weddings, fortieth and then fiftieth birthday parties and now it’s the round of sixtieths. There has also sadly been the occasional funeral but that’s life as we know it Jim.

Don’t have much time to dally this morning so I’ll make this a short post.

Quick cuppa after breakfast before getting ready to go to Nottingham. Bit of a day out at the criquet. Going on the train. £9.80 off peak day return with Senior Railcard. Parking at Trent Bridge is a tenner. No brainer. Bus from the railway station to the ground. Squeeze that lemon.

We, Notts, are playing Surrey. This will be challenging as the visitors are the stand out team in this year’s County Championships. It’s a day out. No doubt I’ll keep you posted.

Golf last night was cancelled due to non availability of everyone else so went for a couple of swift uns in the Strugglers with Ajax. A rare visit to a pub really.

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Had a good day out at Trent Bridge with @Keith. We sat in the seats in front of the pavilion and had the best view in the ground. Right behind the bowler’s arm. One observation: I’d say there were fewer than a thousand people at the game. Far fewer. This is pretty dire. Most of the folk in the members area were old and white. A few kids and younger people around but not many. V sad.

This morning the milkman came at three fifty one. I figured that today this is headline news as he was carrying a torch which is a rarity. He doesn’t really need one as our floodlight comes on as he approaches the house. Thought for a fleeting moment it might be a ciggy but no, it was a torch. He had six empty bottles to collect.

Back in the conservatory. It is a good habit at this time of year. Doors open. Enjoying a cuppa before a fullish day ahead. Trip to B&Q for some decking treatment, more apple picking and finishing off with golf with the lads.

Quite noisy out there with the doors open. Could be the wind direction. It is South Easterly as opposed to the more usual Souwesterly. Will get noisier next week as the kids go back to school. This is a good thing because the swimming pool timetable should revert back to normal with lane swimming in the afternoon. 

For most of the summer holidays it’s been mostly devoted to “family fun” sessions which ain’t no good if you are there to plough up and down. Been even considering a light session in the gym before hitting the pool. Nothing too onerous yanow.

As I sit here I hear a very light pitter patter of raindrops on the roof. This is not what was forecast by the Meteorological Office but I am not complaining as long as they deliver on the promised nice warm day. Shudbegud.

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Still raining so did an indoor job – I’ve just finished sorting a box of nails and screws that was dropped and they were all mixed together. The box was also cracked so I bought two new boxes with compartments and painstakingly separated hundreds of nails and screws. 

All done now with a few spare compartments for any new screws and nails of different sizes that I come across in my travels. I have several screw and nail “tidies”. I need to go through them all and decide whether I could do more sorting – all cross head screws in the same box for example. Perhaps that is a job for the long winter months as an alternative to hibernation.

I thought about joining the Dull Men’s Club group on Facebook. There are several, some of which have over a million members. However looking at the content it isn’t dull enough. People write stuff thinking they are trying to fit in with being dull but they just don’t have the natural gift, the understanding of what is truly dull. The mundane.

My Fitbit is charging. It was down to nineteen percent and is already after a few minutes up to forty six. I feel that it would make sense to wait another fifteen minutes or so until it is fully charged before heading out to buy the decking treatment. The battery has easily lasted a week which is good innit.

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Pressure washed the deck in advance of the application of any treatment. Got soaked and filthy as much of the crap on the planking ended up on my legs and shorts. Also didn’t manage to get 100% of all the dirt off as it takes so long. Maybe I needed a different end bit. It’ll do.

Thought I’d get up early for breakfast this morning as THG and I have booked a lane swim at nine fifteen. Something didn’t quite go to plan as in notice it is now already five to eight. Had my granola with yo’gurt and berries though. Home grown raspberries and blackberries with a few coop strawberries thrown in for good measure. Coop was selling a big box off for not very much dosh so was a no brainer. I’ve mentioned it before but THG does a great home made granola. The stuff you buy in the shops or have in hotels tastes very sweet in comparison.

Looks like another great end of summer’s day out there again. Perfect for getting some outdoor jobs done. A job that’s been on the list a while is sorting the deck out. Moss needs removing from the grooving and it needs a good stiff brush putting to it. 

Then I need to put down some preservative/treatment. Not done this for a few years. Tomorrow is the ideal time to apply the treatment as the weather forecast is good and I’m off to Trent Bridge to watch Notts v Surrey on Thursday with @keith. Apaz you have to leave it for 24 hours before using the deck so good timing. Might have some treatment in the potting shed. Will need to look

Have opened the conservatory door again whilst drinking my tea. Approaching one of the best times of year so you have to enjoy it while you can. 

Half suggested a meeting in London tomorrow but I think I’ll persuade them otherwise. It’s going to be such a nice day in the shire. Will be in town for a few days in September anyway. Gotta get my money’s worth out of the Tate membership. I also renewed my IET membership this year but I may kick that one into touch after this year. I rarely use the place and have never bothered using the MIET label. Not even had a business card for the last ten years and before then it just said @tref.

This morning after our swim I have a load of cooking apples to peel and prep for the freezer. When I said I would do this I didn’t quite appreciate how many apples there were but it’ll be foine 🙂 May do them tonight whilst avoiding the telly. It’s the kind of job you can do sat at the kitchen table of an evening. We have a good kitchen table with a church pew down one side of it.

As an aside, and I know a lot of this stuff is an aside, it is noted that the clock in the conservatory is running ten minutes slow. This is not a major issue as it is there more for decoration than timekeeping. The clock in the front room has stopped completely as has the one on my desk in the shed. The shed one is also definitely more for decoration as there are plenty of places in there telling me the time. It isn’t going to get sorted quickly as it has an unusual sized battery. Maybe never. The kitchen clock still works but something tells me that too is around five minutes slow. Woteva 🙂

Now that I’m on the subject the clock radio by the bed is three to four minutes fast. It gains two minutes every six months and usually I correct it when the clocks change for BST/GMT but this spring I didn’t bother. I should sort it out at the end of October. No rush. As long as you know how much correction to make in your mind it is fine.

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Everyday life in 2024

When I go swimming I jump in the car and turn left out of the house. Google tells me to turn right but that takes me through the traffic lights on Wragby Road. I turn right into Lee Road and then at the end do another right onto Nettleham Road. Then I turn left into Broadway and right on Newport after which it is straight across the roundabout and then Yarborough Leisure Centre is on the left.

Coming home you would think I’d just do this in reverse but instead going straight on I turn left at the aforementioned roundabout and carry straight on until I reach the Wragby Road at which point I turn right. The house is a couple of hundred metres or so on the left.

Washing Line Naming Conventions

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Spent the last hour peeling apples and bagging them for the freezer.

Trent bridge train options

Out
08:38 arr 09:27
09:35 arr 10:25
10:34 arr 11:25

Back
17:35 arr 18:33
18:33 arr 19:29
19:34 arr 20:35
20:32 arr 21:39
21:33 arr 22:36

Tis eight fifteen of a morning and I have moved operations to the conservatoire with a cuppa tea. The sun is streaming in through the open door highlighting the fact that the macbook screen needs cleaning. Later, later. The gubbins are in the shed.  The cleaning fluid and microfibre cloth that is.

We have breakfasted healthily ish on a large ripe Waitrose avocado on Lidl brown sourdough toast. I had a smear of unpasteurized Isigny Ste Mer salted butter and a rasher of Duchy Organic unsmoked organic bacon, both also from Waitrose. The smashed avocado included a chopped red chilli and some crushed walnuts with a squirt of lemon juice.

Apparently today is a public holiday. We know this because most of the gym classes at Yarborough Leisure Centre have been cancelled, not that I was down to attend any. THG would have been.

This morning a stroll to the Bailgate is in prospect. At eleven the massed marchers of the Asylum Steam Punk event will begin their parade, starting through the Castle Westgate, going round the outside and back in through the Eastgate, the main entrance. We plan to assemble in Castle Hill to watch with curiosity. Although not my bag it is harmless fun and Steam Punk aficionados do put in a lot of effort with their outfits fair play to them. Should get some pics.

In the meantime relaxation is called for. I do plan to try and squeeze in a swim and maybe even a bike ride later today. We aren’t talking many miles here or kilometers even. Perhaps the cycling equivalent of a stroll to the Bail. Cycling is slightly riskier than walking. Take care.

As I write THG has entered the conservatory to discuss dates in her calendar. To cut a long story short I discovered that the Fleetwood Town v Salford City match due to be played on 7th September is postponed. Wossgoinon? Google tells me it is because the home side has three players away on international duty that weekend. We are talking fourth division football here. Perhaps we can expect big things of Fleetwood Town this season. Wonder which countries the players are representing.

THG has no interest in Fleetwood Town but we are in Liverpool that weekend for her 5k at Anfield Stadium on the Sunday and we did wonder whether there was a home game the day before. No.

Being a man of leisure I’ve scanned the morning news for some good cheer. There is none, on the first screen in anycase, unless you count the fact that Australians have been given the right to ignore work emails when they finish their officially contracted hours. 

Of the bad news the most interesting is that fish and chips have seen the biggest inflationary price rises of all British takeaway types with a portion now averaging almost a tenner. Woot! Makes a family day out quite expensive dunnit. 

Even kebabs have gone up 44% apaz. I might have fish and chips once a year when on a day out at the coast. A kebab perhaps twice a year when out on the pop somewhere. Probs not even twice a year. I’ve never noticed the price. All I can say is that you always regret having a kebab after eating it.

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Saw the Steam Punk parade. Interesting enough but really not my thang. Went for a cawfee afterwards with THG who rushed on ahead to the cathedral coffee shop and bagsied us a table before the hordes of parade watchers flooded in looking for the same. In the caff it was really nice to see Lofty (Paul) Lowbridge who I used to work with back in the old Marconi days. Not seen him for years.

Coffee consumed THG set off to see the embroidery display in the chapter house and I set the coordinates for home. As I was leaving the cathedral gardens I noticed a traffic warden striding purposefully towards the line of on-street 1 hour parking spots on Eastgate. Rich pickings for him as most of the parked cars will have been there for the parade and thus likely to have been more than an hour.

As I passed him writing down number plate information I noticed that his cap had the words “Civil Enforcement Officer” (CEO!) or similar emblazoned on his hat band. Clearly the phrase Parking Warden has run its course. I wonder if they are on commission?

Back ome now.

Lovely sunny autumnal morning out there. I wandered early to the shed but only to procure a teabag. We’ve used all the ones in the kitchen and I happened to notice one on my desk yesterday when alerted to the low levels of supply. 

You might think this is a strange item to have on your desk but it just happens to be left over from a couple of days where I decided to make tea in the shed as opposed to the kitchen. That did not last long although the kettle is still there on the floor in the corner behind the desk. Camping kettle.

The teabag is being saved for when I cook breakfast. THG has coffee so no competition for it although we could probs eke out two cups from the small teapot I use.

Unsurprisingly one of my jobs for today is now to go to a shop that sells teabags and refresh our stock. I have two options. One is to walk to Tesco and the other is to drive or cycle to Waitrose. The problem with Tesco is it is too big and I don’t like shopping there. Also too many people. Decision made then. Bike to Waitrose. The weather is nice for it. Not particularly warm but not cold either.

There is no rush. Waitrose doesn’t open until ten anyway.

Today we are going to sort out the tins of paint in the garage and pick the cooking apples.

…

Been to Waitrose and amazingly only got the three items on the shopping list: green beans, avocados and waitrose essential teabags. Was a bit worried for a while when in the tea aisle. They only seemed to have decaf essential teabags. Took me a while and a bit of staring to realise that I was actually in the decaff section. I cast my net around the corner and lo I beheld many boxes of the bags wot I sought.

Now I am back on the deck in front of the shed with a cup of newly sourced tea. There is plenty of entertainment on the deck this morning in the guise of falling leaves. I wrote a poem years ago entitled “I saw a leaf fall”. It is timeless. Never dates 🙂

I am wearing shorts but also a fleece just for that bit of comfort in the breeze. My shorts have taken a hammering over the summer months and I sense that some new pairs will need to be bought next year. The time to buy shorts is actually now in the end of season sales but there’s no point as I’ll be in a smaller size next year and don’t want to speculate or tempt fate. 

As far as I know the end of season sales could have already been anyway. They are probably getting their Christmas stuff out now. Aaargh.

…

Tins of paint sorted though not as many thrown as I might have hoped for. Lots of associated crap also chucked. Somehow we ended up with ten or more paint rollers. Also a fullish trug of cooking apples picked. After our swim THG is going to stick em in trays for storage whilst we watch the Liverpool game.

It is raining. This is a good thing although the folk in Lincoln for this weekend’s Steam Punk Festival will be hoping for some sunshine. We are planning to trundle along and watch the parade on Monday. My swimming trunks and towel are still on the washing line from yesterday and still very wet. 

Sat in the conservatory waiting for my tea to brew. Absolutely no point in rushing a pot of tea. Most of you will know it isn’t just about the colour it is the depth of colour that brings with it the infused flavour. Effect. The conservatory is a relaxing place to be when it is raining. A good place for a cup of tea.

THG is off to the park run. Hard core. It’s a good job she doesn’t have to wear specs. Rain is always a hazard for us optically challenged individuals. She is preparing for a 5k run in Liverpool that ends in Anfield Stadium. Exciting. Problem is us support team are not allowed in the stadium itself. I’ll just have to shut my eyes and picture the scene. She will no doubt be able to imagine the roar of the crowd.

The day started with some of THG’s excellent homemade granola. Need to nip to a local market for some lunch supplies. The store cupboard is bare. Won’t need much. Some eggs, bit of cheese, ham. Simple things in life. Mind you I have some bacon to use up in the fridge (it wasn’t totally bare). Could chop a rasher up for an omelette.

You have to ignore the news. The other day it told me that having two slices of ham a day is bad for you. If you added all the things that are supposed to be bad for you up you wouldn’t eat anything which is also bad for you.

Yesterday I took delivery of a fruit crusher and cider press. Today is the first try out using some windfalls. The rain is an issue. I am likely to get soaked out there. I also don’t really have all the containers I need but we can work that one out as we go along. My technical adviser, a certain Adie Smith is away for a week so this weekend is very much going to be first toe dipped in the apple juice, so to speak.

Don’t typically drink cider or apple juice for that matter as I am on a keto diet and the stuff you get in the uk shops is nowhere near as good as it is in France, in my experience. However the home pressed juice will hopefully be an improvement. Soon find out.

Using a fitbit has been and interesting development. Lets me track things like sleep habits and resting pulse. I noticed that after a boozy lunch in London the pulse was a fair bit faster the next day. Back down now after a quiet night in. Information is power.

Btw the milkman came at oh four oh seven yesterday and left four pints as it is a Bank Holiday weekend and he won’t be coming on Monday. Fair enough. I wonder what he will do on his day off. Day out in Skeggy maybe? Or Cleethorpes. I keep thinking about doing a day out by train in Cleethorpes. If anyone is interested let me know.

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Still raining. Fortunately it is fine at the cricket in Manchester. Can’t find my Tilley hat which is my go to rainwear. Don’t bother with a coat at this time of year. I do have quite a few coats but the season for most of them seems to go quite quickly. Those lightweight ones that are only any good for temperatures where shorts are no longer in play but we haven’t reached the woolly pully stage yet. 

I have some nice gear in that bracket. At least I think so. The kids have whipped some of it. The lads. There was the cashmere overcoat that was very warm and which occasionally got some use in winter. That now resides in London as does the denim Timberland jacket with leather collar. The natural order of things.

Not a good day if your hobby is flying kites. It is v windy here in the shire. The back garden is covered with leaves and small sycamore branches and a load more apples have fallen. On a bank holiday weekend that traditionally sees the country take to the roads we are staying put and have determined it is going to be a time of harvest. 

In years gone by this would have been a critical time of year for folks. Getting the crops in safely to keep us going over winter. Nowadays we mostly outsource all of that. The apple masher and press arrive today. Good timing. Lots of blackberries already in the freezer.

I made it across to the shed, which remains a brightly lit haven. The only sound is that of the refrigerator and my fingers flying across the keyboard. Plus the wind. My desk is in need of a good tidy. Bits of paper strewn all over the place. It will be done, on earth.

Feels like another Saturday. Must do something about this. Can’t have every day feeling like a Saturday although if I had to choose one day for them to feel like I guess Saturday might well be it.

…

My apple crusher and apple press has arrived yay.

Quite autumnal out there this morning. Apples are dropping in droves. I have an apple press and masher on order which are with Evri for delivery. This does concern me a little considering Evri is the new name for Hermes who were absolutely crap in my experience. I got an email from them yesterday saying the gear was at their hub but this morning it is still there. I’d have expected it to be in a van and on its way by now.

Our John is home with us for a few days. Joined me on the 19.06 last night. A somewhat boozy day out. I arrange a long lunch in London with some pals every August. Quiet time of the year for business so a good time for a long lunch. We were at St John Bread and Wine. Apparently I’ve been before but I didn’t particularly remember it. A very different menu.

I have started keeping a food diary as part of the plan to shift some weight but I won’t bother writing anything down about yesterday. At least I won’t mention the beer and wine. Oh and the gin on the train. Ate some dishes I’d never had before such as eel and ox heart. Can’t say I’d rush back to order either of them again but at least I’ve had a go. It’s like snails. Tried em once but tbh they just tasted of rubbery garlic and I couldn’t see the point. 

Back on the granola this morning but we have old school pal Paul Shimmin from the Isle of Man coming this evening so will be sticking something on the barbie. THG is making her very excellent brown rice salad and I would appear to be a dab hand at potato salad. Struggling with deciding on meat options though. Don’t worry I’ll get there.

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What’s life all about?

I’ve ordered a Fitbit Charge 6. I did use a Fitbit years ago but stopped, partly because I don’t wear a watch and the fitbit irritated me by clanking against the keyboard, bedside table and other inanimate objects with hard surfaces. However with an important wedding next year to trim down for I figure I have to give it another shot.

I also use Myfitnesspal. My account last saw the light of LED somewhere around 2018. Six years in the wilderness including long periods where survival was more on our thoughts rather than weight loss. Milk chocolate hobnobs were an essential part of the survival process. Doubt the Charge 6 will arrive in time for me to go swimming this morning but no matter. 

I’m following a combination of the Fast 800 diet and the 5+2. This is because I have a life and there are occasions in life where 800 calories of low carbohydrate sustenance is not going to cut it. Tomorrow’s (long) lunch in London is one example as is half of next week when a visit to Trent Bridge will be followed by a weekend in the West Country. This coming Bank Holiday weekend should be ok though.

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The next job on my to do list is to cancel my Vinci Autoroutes account and return the device that I’ve never used. I won’t bore you with the details but they are incredibly difficult to deal with. I tried cancelling a few months ago but their response said either I had to return their device or be charged for it. I figured it was a lot easier for them to just charge me than to faff about sending it back to France and informed them as such.

Now the annual “not used my account” charge has just been imposed and of course they haven’t charged me for the device which means the account is still open. This is despite emails from them saying that unless I uploaded proof of my identity they would cancel the account anyway.

This is in my mind going to take most of the afternoon, sigh.

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Been out blackberrying again. Sbeen another fab year for them. The frustrating thing is there are loads more too high up to be able to reach. The birds’ share. Plenty of purple coloured droppings around the shed. Our avian friends clearly don’t know that blackberries are for crumbles with custard. Cold custard.

Now sat in the snug with ma phones on to avoid having to hear celebrity marseterchef. More specifically cheeky chappie Greg Wallace. As usual have never ‘eard of any of the celebs. I could go on marseterchef. I do a very nice ham, chips and peas 🙂. I saw John Torode in Smiths of Smithfield once. Must have been ten or eleven years ago because I was still at Timico.

Since You’ve Been Gone by Rainbow blasting away in my ears. Then Life in the Fast Lane. Sure to make me lose my mind.

Tis getting dark out and it isn’t yet nine o’clock. These things happen obvs. The natural order. I’m ok with it. Need to decide whether to wear shorts or jeans tomorrow. I’m headed to Laandan for a bit of a day out. I don’t normally consider longs until the clocks change but there is an autumnal feel about the place and I’m not sure I have a clean pair of shorts. Not ironed anyway though that isn’t a reason not to wear them.

I’m not taking my Macbook tomorrow but may well need to take a man bag as the one thing I do need on a day out in London is somewhere to keep my headphones which I typically use on the return journey. Half tempted to take the ipad to use to write stuff but the user interface is pretty crap for that sort of thing. Mind you our John is travelling back with me so I guess we could, err, you know, talk to each other. He will have his phones on being very musically oriented so perhaps I will take mine.

I did have some beats which would fit neatly in a jacket pocket but I donated them to THG who uses them for running so I’ll leave them with her.

On this day in 1988 I woke up with a slight hangover. Actually a fair old sore head. I had made the mistake of staying up late in the Thornton Hall Hotel bar drinking Stella with Uncle Mick. 19th August 1988 was the day of our wedding. I went for a walk in the morning to clear my head. It was raining but as we drew nearer the time of the ceremony the sun came out and fine weather stayed with us for the rest of the day.

We moved to the Ship Hotel in Parkgate for the night of the wedding. I drove. Didn’t touch a drop after the speeches and toasts. Was high enough on the experience of getting married.

The Head Gardener wasn’t known as THG in those days. She was a Webster. In fact I don’t think we even had a garden at our mid terrace house in Greetwell Gate in Lincoln. Just a back yard with, believe it or not, a small pig sty. The deeds of the house stated that we were allowed to keep a pig, just as they kept a pig at my dad’s home in Blaenhirwaun in West Wales.

We never did keep a pig. It was a lot easier to buy bacon etc from the butcher. In fact the pigsty was demolished to make way for a barbecue area which was much used in those party filled pre children days.

So this morning at around six twenty I made it downstairs, with a clear head, and took up a pot of tea to my wife of thirty six years. Thirty six! How can such a thing be possible ? 🙂 The amazing thing about THG is that she grows lovelier with every year that goes by. I am a lucky bloke.

Now being married to THG is not without its downsides. She regularly leaves me a jobslist but I figure this comes with the territory of married life and is a small price to pay. Obviously a jobslist needs to be stared at for a suitable length of time before attempting any of the tasks. The successful completion of a job is down to 95% planning and 5% execution. Everyone knows this. Sometimes even more planning than that.

We have nothing in particular planned for our wedding anniversary. A nice quiet night watching University Challenge at which THG excels. She has a bit of fish for supper and I have some lamb chops. Chuck in a bit of salad and some sweetcorn blackened on the bbq and we have a feast.

The milkman came at 03:47. Mostly always the same guy. Does he ever take a holiday? Maybe he coordinates it so that he is away at the same time as us. That must be it.

Nearly time  to harvest the eating apples. Noticed a lot of windfalls this morning as I took a pot of tea to the deck. Feels as if this should be happening in September not August. In my mind the eaters are not as useful as the cookers which can be gently stewed and then frozen in batches ready to make apple and blackberry pies and crumbles over the winter.

Tis the sabbath and as such I might get a job or two done. Not picking apples. Trim the front hedge a bit. It has a few rogue branches sticking out the top. Also need to nip to Waitrose for bbq supplies. We’ve run out of good quality white wine vinegar. Vinaigrette essentials.

If you’ve never tried it you need to use the best vinegar and olive oil that you can afford for making salad dressing. Makes a huge difference using high quality ingredients.

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Norrabad day. Gentle start, a light lunch, a swim, bit of chichen on the barbecue with a corn on the cob, asparagus and a salad and a stroll out blackberry picking.

As I write the bells of the cathedral have struck ten. Very handy if you don’t wear a watch. Even if you only get a notification every quarter of the hour. The famous clock in Rouen only shows the hour so even less resolution. Works for me. Why do we need to know it is twenty three minutes past the hour? 

I gave up on watches perhaps thirty years ago. I would break them or lose them. There is always a clock somewhere if you really need to know the time. I recall once going to a meeting at Marconi Defence Systems in Stanmore. The meeting was at half past the hour and the pool car I had had a broken clock in it. Hmm. I couldn’t even rely on the news at the top of the hour to tell me the time. I stopped at a garage and bought the cheapest watch they had. It still cost something like fifteen quid.

Made it to the meeting on time but the watch broke in a matter of days. Never bothered again. I’m certainly not going to lash out on a piece of trophy jewellery watch that many of you seem to go for. It would be like pouring money down the drain 🙂

So this morning I am sat on the deck in front of the shed. An avocado on toast with poached egg and some streaky bacon has set me up for the day and I have made a start with tidying up the grape vine. It almost certainly needs pruning but I am inexpert in that art and have therefore for the moment settled for tying the various loose vines up with cable ties. 

I’m roughly half way around. In the process I came across a bunch of grapes. Well it is a grape vine, I hear you say. However we thought we hadn’t got any this year. Cold spring or similar. A result. I shall at some stage clean out the grape treader and get the barrel ready.

Really I should find someone who knows what they are doing with these things and get it done properly but that can wait until winter. So now I am enjoying the back garden while THG is out at the Park Run.

In front of the deck the strip of flower meadow has been a success in its first year. The first batch of blossoms are very much turning to seed and there is evidence of new growth coming through. The packet said to expect flowers from July to October so hopefully plenty more to come.