where art collides philosoperontap

Up, dressed, breakfasted and at it by eight ey em. Gosh. There was a time, in the far reaches of my memory, where I would have to leave the house to go to the office. Eight thirty if I wanted to get in before nine but could have been any time of  the day if I was heading somewhere for a meeting. Swindon, for example, where we had offices.

If I have to be somewhere for a meeting nowadays I as often as not go down the day before. Usually London. I remember sitting having breakfast in the window of a hotel in Westminster somewhere. Victoria it was. Outside was jam packed with commuters pouring out of the underground station heading for their desks. Wrote a poem about it at the time. Tagged it on to the end of this post. The queue to get into the station was longer than at the taxi rank.

I’ll be in the shed early today though with hindsight I made the schoolboy error of turning off the heat before I left yesterday afternoon. Hopefully there will be some residual warmth to keep me going until the radiator kicks in.

Ordinarily I should buy a lottery ticket today. This is because I just picked up the teapot to pour and banged my elbow on the back of my chair. This caused a spurt of tea to shoot out of the spout and land perfectly in my cup without spilling a drop. How cool is that? Clearly today is going to be a lucky day. I wonder what else might happen? 🙂 No rabbit’s feet or other lucky charms neccessary.

Here’s the poem. It’s called Journeymen and is from 12th Dec 2008.

I sit in the window enjoying breakfast at my leisure,
Taking in the traffic on the pavement outside.
It is cold out there and
The anonymous scurriers are
Wrapped up against the biting December wind.
They have been up early to get there
Though I am now just sitting down to start the day.
Full English, tea and toast and then
I leave the warmth of the hotel and venture forth
Looking for my destination,
Unsure of my options.

Heading for Victoria Station I swim against the flow of office fodder,
Miserable looking people subjected daily to discomforts of the commute,
Crushed into compartments,
Standing within sweat smell of strangers
Trapped on the treadmill of the city.

Trapped.

I take the taxi option.
It is the only one available
As the voluntary queue for compression
On the Underground looks longer than the taxi rank.

A good meeting and later I do take the tube
For a lunchtime get together.
Plenty of time to people-watch.
A mother speaks Spanish to two young girls
Who reply in both Spanish and English
As they see fit, lucky girls.
Otherwise few speak.

A busker enters the compartment
Complete with bedroll and survival gear.
Tattooed, with shorts and worn leather gaiters
He entertains poorly with a penny whistle.
The carriage ignores him with a practised survival instinct.
But I give him a pound as I leave at the next stop
Poor pickings, and all he got.

Homeward bound
On the train a phone sings out “swing low sweet chariot”
And a voice answers “hello?”
Others doze or are sucked into their laptops,
There is little talk as the chosen ones
Head home after a long day at their machines.

…

A few stats from this morning’s walk.

Pedestrian crossing 1min 25secs

Queensway 4mins 25secs

Curle Ave 6mins 30secs

Round trip total 14mins

Bit slower on way back due to left hip starting to play up but overall better than previous and I think these timings are a significant improvement on what has gone before.

On the way back I saw a bloke taking in his grey bin and a Chinese woman on an electric bike with two large containers of veg oil and a shopping bag in her basket. She may have had more oil on the other side but I couldn’t see. Another Openreach notice of their intention to add a new pole near to Curle Ave was also spotted.

It began to rain quite heavily. When I got back I couldn’t press stop on the timer when I got until I’d dried the phone screen so the end time is approximate.

Before heading out my pole testing pal Steve swung by. We were going to have a look at the pole I thought would be being replaced. However it was chucking it down so we didn’t and Steve said that looking at it as he drove by there wasn’t a red D sign indicating it was a bit dodge and needed replacing. Instead it was the normal yellow which is meant to be gold apaz.

The new pole is likely to be in addition to the existing one. They put metal ones in if it is near a spiked fence which is the case with us but also if the line needs to cross a road as in those situations the pole needs to be at least 5m high which the wooden ones ain’t. I’m sure there are other reasons as well. Our pole is metal as indeed it is near a spiked fence. These metal poles have to be accessed using a cherry picker. They don’t want engineers climbing the pole and slipping to their deaths on the spiked fence.

The new pole near to next door is unlikely to be used for lines to cross the road as we are opposite a school which is served by underground ducting. Steve had no idea why therefore the pole was being installed but tbh he didn’t care as he is now retired. I don’t really care either. There we go.

Yay tis a Wednesday. Wednesdays are good. Moreover it is a bright and sunny Wednesday although I suspect it is cold out. Brrr.

The big news this Wednesday is that I didn’t listen to the Shipping Forecast. I was briefly awake shortly before it was due to broadcast but resisted the temptation to click on the BBC Sounds app. Have decided to wean meself off it. Let’s face it its only real purpose in life, other than to give relevant stakeholders the weather forecast in their bit of sea, is to be repetitively boring. Doesn’t mean it hasn’t got class but there is a limit to how much listening good radio will stand.

Let’s move on. The big decision of the day is how far to walk. All of my turning points up until now have been obvious and progressive destinations. The pedestrian crossing, lamppost, tree in front of next door’s drive, bus stop, tree between numbers 66 and 64, Queensway and Curle Ave.

The problem is what lies beyond Curle Ave. No obvious landmark comes to mind. Trees at this point become too anonymous. Too many of them. Not good enough a landmark that the reader of this post will instantly recognise the extent of my progress.

The Lindum Sports Association is a bit too far in my mind at this stage of the game though I may have to consider it and in which case would cross the road at the pedestrian crossing. In the other direction Tesco is also too far and the traffic lights at the junction of Wragby Road and Ruskin Ave are unattractive. Noisy and actually only the same distance as Curle Ave so why would I choose them?

At this point I don’t know the answer. If it was warmer I might find it easy to decide that the Lindum was achievable. It has lots of benches arranged around the cricket pitch that would be a good spot to sit and recover before turning for the journey back.

In the summer it is quite nice to stroll there and sit enjoying a bit of cricket of a Sunday afternoon. The thwack of leather on willow is somehow the sporting equivalent of listening to the Shipping Forecast. V relaxing. The occasional bout of clapping and the occasional cry of bad luck as a batsman loses his wicket and turns to make the lonely, lingering walk back to the pavilion.

I recall in the days of the Marconi Product Engineering cricket team there was only one chap with whites and his own bat. Two games running he was out for a golden duck and walked off around the boundary, bat dangling limply by his side with a forlorn expression on his face. He shall remain nameless but I know he reads these posts sometimes 🙂 Twas a long time ago.

On reflection, and after poring over the map, the corner of St Giles Ave and Wragby Road might fit the bill. This is half as far again as Curle Ave but is the only obvious turning point without choosing another unmemorable lamppost. St Giles Ave, as you could easily find out if you didn’t already know, has the Lindum Sports Association at the far end. It is a cul de sac for motorised traffic but has a useful cut through for pedestrians and is the route I would take if walking to the Bromhead hospital.

Stay tuned…

…

Just left the shed to go for walk but it started to rain. All of a sudden it is not v nice out there. It isn’t heavy rain. Intermittent really so I suppose I could go. Doesn’t look as if it will improve much today. Can’t let a drop of watter get in the way can we. Maybs 🙂 

…

Did the walk. Turned right and headed in the direction of Tesco. Wasn’t nice enough to stretch it as far as St Giles Ave and anyway my left hip is playing up a bit. Fingers crossed for that one!!!

So this walk took me past the lamppost that no longer has the Openreach notice on it. Blown away I assume. I made it as far as the next bus stop near the traffic lights. I figured there was poetry in having walked to two bus stops. The bus goes past our house to get to the one I’ve been mentioning on my perambulations.

On the way an unshaven bloke in a blue beanie cycled towards me. There was plenty of space for him to fit between me and the hedge but he stopped pedalling and let the bike roll through the gap just to make sure there was no collision. Fair play.

Then a young blonde woman carrying an equally blond baby in a papoose type carrier on her front smiled at me as she walked by. She was swinging a bird feeder in her left hand.

As I got nearer the bus stop a red car with blazing blue lights turned out of Ruskin Ave at the flights and blazed by followed a few seconds later by a fully staffed fire engine. All the firepersons were kitted out in their fire fighting gear. The engine had its siren on until it turned the corner and then resorted to just blue lights.

My return leg included seeing a man and his adultish daughter come out of their house and into a car. He in the front and she in the back behind the driver’s seat. I wasn’t totes sure whether she was his daughter or partner but then another older woman came out who looked very like the younger one. That answered that then. She stood on the pavement whilst the bloke edged the car out of the drive. I heard her get in but didn’t see it.

Thennn a middle aged bloke wearing just a t shirt and carrying his coat crossed at the pedestrian crossing by our hoose. Flippin eck I thought, he must be cold. Or well ard. He was not only carrying his coat but a fair bit of timber as well and I wondered whether he’d been building up a bit of a sweat on his walk. Hey. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

So back in the shed now and taken more paracetamol. Effin left hip. Lets hope it settles down. Tbh the right hip feels brand new, which of course it is, so if I needed the left one doing I’m pretty confident that all would be well. Trefor Davies, a man barely alive…

Conf call in five (wot?!). Gotta go.

…

That’s my calendar free for the rest of the week yay. Except for the physio on Friday pm. This afternoon will include cleaning and tidying the shed with my bezzie mate THG. She has had to change her plans for the afternoon as I got the day of the Tesco Click and Collect order wrong doh. It’s tomorrow not today. Honestly. What are we going to do with me!

Had a perfectly acceptable bacon sarnie for lunch.

…

Big nuze. The shed has been tidied, cleaned, hoovered and mopped Some stuff that has been hanging around for years has been thrown and some stuff put to one side for Facebook Marketplace. Emergency Exit signs for example. I have loads of em left over from Beyond The Woods. Couldn’t have done it without THG. 

The door is now wide open to speed up the floor drying. Nearly done. Half a hoover full of dirt came out of the carpet and floor. Twas clearly overdue but I’ve not been physically up for it for a few months. No problemo today innit. With, as I said, a little nay a lot of help from my friends.

I’ve also begun the process of putting up the neon tropical trefbash sign. Markings made – just need to get some screws. Twill either be done later today or tomorrow morning for sure.

Mostly northerly winds with a few easterly and westerly nudges thrown in according to the Shipping Forecast. Means it’s going to be cold again brrr. Thought about that brrr. Two rs or three. Went for three as you can see. These things matter. Not too many gale warnings. Viking and North Utsire if I remember right. Woteva.

My calendar entry for today says ‘write book”. It is a repeating entry every Tuesday. I do have a smidgeon of work to do as well but shouldn’t take more than 30 mins or so. Hour at most. In reality I’ve spent the last four weeks researching the book, being laid up as I have been. I’ve hardly scratched the surface. Will see how it goes innit. 

This morning the adventure continues and I plan on walking beyond the edge of the known world that is Queensway and going at least as far as the Curle Ave turning. Would be easier if it was warmer. Us cold blooded types perform better in the heat. I find it far easier to chill out on a lounger with a cold drink when it is warm than when it is cold enough to want to switch the heating on. 

Curle Ave and back is almost as far as a walk to the Bromhead. This is the Lincoln Hospital where I have the next physio appointment on Friday. It would be a serious win if I could walk there. See how it goze. I could take the shortcut through the cricket ground. It’s a nice route anyway although our manor is mostly scenic having as it does the Cathedral as a backdrop.

If I didn’t take the shortcut I could visit the statue of poet laureate Alfred Lord Tennyson and gaze down at the ruins of the Roman Eastgate. Probs won’t though there is a scenario where I could grab a coffee at the Lincoln Hotel. The Roman ruins are in its front garden. We live in a nice place.

It did take me a while to get used to Lincoln. The area is devoid of hills and moving here from Eryri as I did the absence of any scenery as such was strange. I’m used to it now. Lincoln is a bit of an oasis in a large expanse of flat agricultural countryside. We do have one hill known as Steep Hill. This is the edge of the glaciated valley of the river Trent, the other side being the Pennines.

Gotta go.

…

Sockless in the shed. Yes I have to admit I am sockless. Thought with my new found relative freedom of walking I’d be able to get my socks on myself but no. I’m still not allowed to bend my right hip more than 90 degrees and you try putting a sock on with that constraint. It’s the twisting it that is just as relevant and I’m defo not allowed to do that for another couple of weeks. I’m sure THG will help me when she gets back from swimming and weight lifting. If she has any strength left, which she will. A strong girl is THG.

Twas a v pleasant walk to the shed. Another beautiful morning although it is meant to cloud over at some stage. Still cold. Shed is toasty. Everything is calm and the birds are out enjoying the sunshine. Didn’t get the app out so you will have to assume they are a selection from those mentioned in earlier posts. Nowt exotic ere.

I can tell you that the shed is a little bit tidier after a flurry of activity this morning. Still needs a proper going over with duster and hoover and the floor needs mopping but it is a little better now that it was when I got here first thing (10ish). Still a bit of moving things around to do before the weekend. There’ll be fourteen of us or thereabouts squeezing in for Super Saturday.

17 mins round trip to Curle Ave and back. Keeping it steady. Included time taking a pic at the junction. Old geezer in green coat and hat whizzed past me on a blue mobility scooter. Swerved down onto the road to overtake and then back in again at the next driveway. Then a white haired chap with a walking stick, brown corduroys and a blue coat got onto the number 5 that pulled up at the bus stop just as I was getting to it. He brandished some card. I wasn’t sure whether it was a free bus pass type card or a payment card. I’ll have to wait 4 years to find out whether they give you cards to show your eligibility for free bus travel.

Back in the shed listening to tunes and the weather has turned from cold to orrible. Wet and miserable. At least the interior of the shed is warm and cosy.

Tuned in to the Shipping Forecast this morning. Oh five twenty. A few gales here and there. Snormal. Made me think a bit. I listen to the SF as a means to drop off to sleep again. The dulcet, repetitive tones are the equivalent of counting sheep. Although the SF couldn’t care less I did feel as if I should pay more attention and listen carefully to the whole ten minutes.

I’m pretty sure there will be people out there doing this. Mariners, fishermen and lighthouse keepers for example. Ok they may well be waiting to hear the forecast on their own patch but they will almost certainly be listening intently.

It may be that the trawlermen and lighthouse keepers amongst us have their own more up to the minute and detailed sources of info. I dunno. However the romantic in me still pictures them sitting around their wireless sets concentrating hard on the important information being broadcast directly to them as individuals.

Lighthouse keepers are a special case. Theirs is a lonely existence and any contact with the outside world is deeply cherished. For some reason I imagined a situation where civilisation had ended and the lighthouse keepers, with their store cupboards filled to the brim and plenty of fuel in the generator to keep the light burning, tending to the light to the bitter end. There would be no ships at sea to heed their salutary warning but lighthouse keepers are a professional bunch and would have kept at it to the end. That helicopter would not be coming back to fetch them.

I must have woken up again after that 🙂   

Farming Today was on. Yay. It was all about farm contractors and shotgun ammo. Two separate articles. Caleb from Clarkson’s Farm was on. Big business farm contracting. The equipment is v expensive and Caleb appears to have a lot of kit. Started his business when he was sixteen I’m told. Stopped watching the prog halfway through the last series. Only watched it in the first place because I was bored.

The shotgun thing is all about attempts to persuade people who like firing them to move to steel shot instead of the lead that has been used since the beginning of shotgun dawn but which is a pollutant. Not going v well apaz. Most folk still use lead.

Musta dozed off again because when I awoke the next person on the wireless was a climate scientist whose house had burned down in the Los Angeles fires. He said with hindsight he should have realise that fires were a growing risk due to global warming and shouldn’t have bought his house where he did. I dunno where else he could have bought it. LA, as its residents like to call it, is mostly a dump anyway and I doubt he would have wanted to commute from somewhere nice up the coast like Santa Barbara.

Some will have noticed that I dramatically crossed off two nights in one go on my sleeps countdown blackboard. The hip hop was 28 days ago counting today so the instructions to stay shuffling on two crutches for the first four weeks had a degree of ambiguity that allowed me to ditch a stick.

Can’t really tell yet how it’s going but I do plan to walk at least as far as the bus stop this morning and will report back. The issue is how my left leg is going to be. It’s taken some hammer over the last few months and I get some twinges coming from it. Hopefully everything will settle down. The right leg certainly feels great. Only using one crutch has the massive benefit of making it a lot easier for me to carry a cup of tea.

I’m still not allowed to bend more than 90 degrees but did manage to remove my right sock last night with the help of the grabber which must be called progress. No way I can get it on on my own though. That will have to wait another couple of weeks when all restrictions will hopefully be suspended.

V misty out. Worradifference a day makes.

…

In the shed I’ve closed down every window related to Family Tree research. Decided to take a break today. Had a lot of windows open. One for each farm for example plus a few Ancestry windows. I leave one page open with census results and one with births, marriages and deaths. Makes it a lot easier to navigate quickly to the right place for searching.

The heating in the shed was off for the last few days, what with the near tropical weather we’ve been having. Back on now. Cold hands ain’t no good for typing. Tapping. Will go for a bit of a walk shortly anyway.

It’s back to being a not particularly nice day. Cold doesn’t encourage long walks. Am thinking of seeing if I can make it to Queensway today. The edge of the known world.

…

Went for a walk. Yesterday the bus stop was a six minute shuffle. Today it took two minutes walking “properly’ with just one stick for support/balance. Ground breaking performance improvement.

I had in mind walking to the corner of Queensway but it is v cold today and my hands were freezing. Let’s be sensible about it. I’ll try again this afternoon with gloves on. The assault on Queensway shall succeed. I will plant a flag when I get there and claim it.

…

Queensway? Did someone say Queensway? Phuh. A doddle. Queensway is fine for today. Curle Ave tomorrow. The skateboarder who passed me the other day returned heading back down Wragby Road. Slight downhill slope so it was a lot easier for him.

Another joyful morning where we can be glad to be alive. Saw THG off to church and then went out onto the front drive to do my exercises. These are not particularly onerous but they are what has been specified by the physio and I’ve been doing them often. Almost every time I get out of a chair.

I then went for a shuffle in the sunshine. I almost said stroll but shuffle is a better description. You may have noticed a countdown in my Facebook background photo. That is the number of sleeps remaining until I can put full weight on the new hip. 4 weeks after the op. Reality is that the 4 weeks finishes tomorrow and I think I’m going to start eh next phase of rehab then. I feel ready for it.

The “shuffle” is to keep weight off the right leg but is now a real constraint. It took me six minutes to walk to the bus stop. I could shuffle faster but figured there was little to be gained. I certainly wasn’t “running for a bus”. Note that on a Sunday the busses are every fifteen minutes past the hour. I got there at 10.39 so ages to wait and too early to go into town anyway. The pubs will not be open yet 🙂

On my way to the bus stop a shortish guy overtook me and gave me a cheery “morning”. I responded with equal cheer. Fair play to him. He had cool round sunglasses and wore a black bomber jacket type coat with some Americun sports team emblazoned on the back. Couldn’t see quite who they were as he had a small red backpack covering the logo.

By the time I got to the bus stop he had whizzed past Queensway and was coming up to Curle Ave. I am looking forward to being able to walk places again and to be able to carry the tea tray up the stairs in the morning. THG will have a few “in the bank” having been the sole early morning tea maker for a few weeks now.

Back now in the shed with the doors open. Got one more stint on the family tree before stopping that phase of research. Every now and again a breakthrough is made and I feel I’m almost at the point of being able to leave it now until I get to Carmarthenshire in April and do the “on the ground” research. Tombstones and memorials and the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth as well as a few farm visits. I’m staying on one of the farms we owned in what was the outhouse in which they kept the bull. “Ty Tarw”.

Ciao amigos.

If yer in Biscay, Trafalgar or Fitzroy if i were you I’d batten down the hatches as it’s blowing a real hooley. In fact I would be moored up nicely in port and tucked snugly under the duvet in my fisherman’s cottage/holiday home/wherever you live. It’s the same principle as only playing golf in nice weather. Gales, gales, gales, gales, gales. I know because I caught up on the Shipping Forecast at around six thirty innit.

It’s lovely here in the shire. I daresay my avian friends will be out in force again. Yesterday it was chaffinch, sparrow, magpie, greenfinch, coal tit and blackbird. Don’t really like magpies. They are bullies and their song is an unattractive croak. Also I don’t count pigeons. Don’t recall hearing a woodpigeon. This is good. Their whooping is v irritating. 

Perhaps the peregrine falcons from the Cathedral got em all. Noone would lament their passing. I guess they have their place in the great scheme of things. Just food for peregrine falcons maybs. One imagines that a peregrine falcon might like to vary its diet. Falcons cannot live on pigeons alone. Or can they? I’m not sufficiently interested to find out.

Another big weekend of rugby in prospect. Well today at least. Tomorrow it’s just England v Itly. We get together with a crowd for the rugby watching every year. Every man and woman of them are England fans through and through to the extent that they will rock up in fancy dress/England shirts. I am the some Irish/Welsh fan but are they interested in turning up if England aren’t playing? Well no obvs.

The exception is next weekend which is Super Saturday when all three games will be played to conclude the Six Nations tourney. Some of them will come for all three games. They will be showing in the shed. Don’t consider this to be a general invite to come along. There will likely be 14 of us there already. V cosy. I’ll have to restock the fridge.

Gotta go. A full English lovingly prepared by THG beckons. Ciao bebes.

…

A glorious day to be alive. Shed doors wide open.

…

Moved in from the shed during the second half of the Irish game. My backside was getting sore sitting on my office chair. The settee is too low. Can’t win really. It gets sore after a while wherever I sit. Just a function of mostly sitting down for a month.

Last night at Adie’s 60th bash in BeerHeadz it was the fact that there were only hard stools to sit on and I had to keep on getting up to relieve the pressure on my glutes that informed our decision to go home. Have to remember as well I’ve not been getting out at all.

I assume the glutes will get back to normal sooner rather than later. Progress feels good in general.

Ireland lost to France. Ah well. Only a game innit 🙂 Next up Scotland v Wales.

Professor Greenhouse and the Eigg conservation project.

Two totally unassociated subjects that I picked up off the wireless this morning. I missed the 5.20am Shipping Forecast and the BBC Sounds app wouldn’t let me play it back as it was too close to the end of the programme. However Farming Today at 5.45 was just starting and I figured that more than made up for not hearing whether there were gales around Rockall.

I think this is one of the better Farming Today’s I’ve heard. The first article was about a 1,500 acre cattle farm on the Isle of Eigg. Grazing on Eigg is not particularly good as you might imagine so the farmer supplemented her income with land management grants from some conservation body. It was very pleasing to hear that the outcome has been a proliferation of wildflower meadows and consequently insect life. Cattle have to be kept off the area for chunks of the year.

Land was fertilised with seaweed and one year there was a glut of twin lambs born. This is not as good as you might imagine as the smaller lambs are susceptible to attack by seagulls and ravens. Farmers preferred a single strong lamb. Good to know.

The second article was about the food supply chain. Farm to table. It wasn’t really as interesting as the first and I drifted off.

The reference to Professor Greenhouse stems from an item on the Today Programme. I have no idea what it was all about as I tend to switch my brain off these days when that comes on the wireless. Too many mentions of orange Americun politicians that stress me out.

Anyway I heard the name of the aforementioned Prof and said to THG “hot stuff”. Quick as a flash she retorted “unless the greenhouse is unheated”. V good I thought. One of the enduring features of our marriage is that we laugh at each others’ jokes :).

So this morning I am dressed and up early. Waay before Thought For The Day triggered the action. At eight fifteen I have even finished my brekkie. A very excellent smashed avocado with chopped chillies and a drizzle of aged balsamic vinegar on sourdough with a side of bacon. THG spoils me for which I hope she knows I am grateful.

My only schoolboy error this morning was to forget to bring my phone downstairs. This means I will have to wait before crossing another day off my “sleeps to go” countdown blackboard and refreshing my Facebook wallpaper. For the record it is four sleeps to go.

Didn’t listen to the shipping forecast this morning. Woke up just after it had finished at five thirty and couldn’t be arsed to rewind It. I can tell you it’s gonna be a warm day in the shire. 17 degrees high. Tropical almost. Might get my swimsuit out!

On that subject I’m looking forward to getting back in the pool. Not totes sure when. My post op consultation is on 25th March after which I have three days in London Town and then the following week 4 days in Antwerp. Not totes decided whether London is a 1 or two night trip.

After that week I’m in Wales for a week on the trail of John and David Jones and a few Davieses. The Joneses are hurting my brain. They are all called John or David. The occasional bit player called Thomas is thrown in and at some stage they gained middle names so John Price Jones makes an appearance but it isn’t helping.  Especially as the census doesn’t appear to mention middle names. 

JPJ is a player so I’m trying to find his parents. He inherits the main farm but is only mentioned as a nephew in the will as opposed to “son of”. I guess this isn’t going to change my life but I am quite fussy about getting the detail right especially if it’s going to be included in the book.

Thought For The Day forced me out of bed this morning. Almost back to the usual routine. Down in the kitchen THG’s wonderful gran o’la n yo’ has set me up and I’m working on a cup of tea before getting ready for the day.

Spring is a good time to recuperate from an operation. Regeneration and progress all around. Springtime progress so far is represented by the daffs and other bulbs coming to life but there is more to come. Small birds have very much been in evidence in the back garden. Must get our feeders sorted. The ones we have are crappy old ones that the birds don’t go near. Seeing small birds eat at a feeder very much provides a feelgood factor.

5 sleeps to go…

Six days to go. Been thinking about this and the four weeks is actually up on the monday which is only 5 sleeps so I might do it a day early. Feels ok when I’m just stood still in front of the mirror for example and I’m sure it would be ok to walk on now but I’m sticking with the medical advice. I don’t particularly stand in front of the mirror. Not as if I do my hair every morning or check to see how I look. I’m sure it is fine.

I do need a haircut though. I know because I saw it in the mirror :). Will be a week or three before that gets done. Let’s go wild eh? Hair flowing in the wind as I breeze past the bus stop. I’m wondering if the corner of Queensway might be a suitable target destination this morning (oo says THG). What the heck eh? Life on the edge.

Just waiting for the sausage to finish cooking. Sausages take longer than bacon as you probably know.

I’ve moved my sitting position at the kitchen table to the end nearest the dresser. From this vantage point I can see the whole of the kitchen. Dunno why I didn’t think of it three weeks ago. I can now see the shed and I think this morning will pay it a visit for the first time in over three weeks. Exciting eh? Maybs before I go on my walk, nay expedition. 

…

Back in the shed. Good to be back. Blimmin cold mind you. Have stuck the heating on. It’ll take a while to get up to temperature as it’s been off a couple of weeks. My sitting position here is far more comfortable than in the snug so I think I’ll start using the shed again now. Staying away was only a temporary measure anyway.

Then went for the walk. Didn’t make it as far as Queensway. Although it’s sunny out there it is still quite cold. However using the shed as a starting point did add distance and I reckon that although I only went as far as the bus stop the walk itself was the furthest I’ve done yet. Especially as I returned down the side of the house and came in through the back door.

A few observations this morning. A woman jogged past, black leggings, blue jacket and grey woollen hat with cute pink bobble, stopped at a black VW Tiguan, put her bag in the car, turned around and ran back past me. When I turned to look she was disappearing into the distance on the other side of the road past Christ Hospital School. Parking on Wragby Road seems to be a thing. No idea what her story was.

Then on my return leg a bald thin bloke on a trike cycled past me with two walking sticks strapped to the back of his machine using bungee straps. There were other pedestrians but none stuck in my mind.

I am now nursing a hot tea in the conservatory. Have decided to ring the location changes more often. The daytime options now are snug, kitchen, conservatory and shed. Almost the whole world.

…

Peel pub crawl

Whitehouse
The Royal
Miller’s T’Ale
Central
Marine
Peveril
The Creek

Quite pleased to inform you that Shrove Tuesday, today, is historically a time for gluttony. The celebration of the end of winter and the coming of Spring. I know this because I accidentally find myself in the kitchen listening to Thought for the Day on the wireless. 

This is normally the signal for me to switch off said electronic device and get up however this morning I am already up and full of the joys of the aforementioned spring and am not in the position to switch off the wireless. This is because THG is in charge of listening in the kitchen. Well she is in charge of listening everywhere but she gets up before me and it is only after she has left the room the baton is handed over.

Anyway back to the gluttony bit. As you know I am very fond of pancakes but usually only get to eat them on pancake day. In the past this has been very hit and miss because if I’ve been away doing a bit of business the pancakes served up in hotels and restaurants are rubbish and you only get one. I like to eat them until I’m full. Historically we have rarely made up for my absence on the actual day but repeating the experience when I get home.

Today, however, I am very definitely home and I will be mixing up a batch of pancake batter this morning in readiness for this evening’s feast. THG herself will be manning the frying pan and doing the tossing because after yesterday’s butter dish experience I have been shown to be unreliable in my current state of mobility.

Although I was up before TFTD I did catch the Shipping Forecast. I am pleased to say it was as repetitive and soporific as ever. No idea what the actual fore3cast was. Gales up North and sunny times down south probably. I suppose people do listen to the forecast because they really want to know. Trawlermen for example. Mind you having just watched a boxed set on Trawlermen I can report that some of them stay out whatever the weather. Fish landed when most boats have stayed safely in port attract a real premium. Up to 3 x what might be considered a normal going rate from what I can gather. Scarcity innit. Mind you I’d have stayed in port meself.

In tuning in to the SF I did catch the fact that there was a Farming Today programme at 5.45 which I did catch up with before THG brought the tea in. Farming Today in the week seems very different to the Sunday morning “On Your Farm” if that’s what it’s called. FT is more about the nitty gritty of farming. New milk yield improvement techniques and the effect of avian flu on business. Still good stuff but defo more industrial.

OYF is more of an easy listener. People talking about their spin-off cheese business or how “pick your own” has transformed profits. 

Finally I have just taken some paracetamol as part of the soreness mitigation routine prescribed by my physician. How many times do you open the box from the wrong end to find access to the tablets blocked by that piece of paper with dosage instructions and a possible list of side effects that we are meant to read before consuming the contents. Happens to me 50% of the time, probs. I’ve just gone to the effort to see how you decide which is the right end to open but no doubt I will forget, or forget to look.

Ciao bebes

…

Excelled meself this morning as it is such a beeootiful day and very conducive to going for a long walk. Went left out of the drive and breezed past the bus stop to the tree between numbers 66 and 64. I may have done this once before when our Tom was staying and I wasn’t sticking to the 50% weight on the leg rule which I now am.

I would say it was a 240m round trip. To say I breezed past the bust stop does involve a small degree of artistic license. It would have barely reached number 1 on the Beaufort Scale – Light Air. One up from being becalmed and just enough to provide steerage. An old geezer on a mobility scooter shot by me without a sideways glance. Each to their own I thought.

Two young Polish guys also strode past. I assume they were Polish. It wasn’t English they were speaking though you never know these days. They were dressed in black from head to toe except one of them had beige trousers. The thing that most stuck in my mind was the fact that they both wore thin trainer liners. Not very warm I thought to meself. Hey…

On the other side of the road some guy was stood at the opposite bus stop. A bus did come along but I didn’t notice whether it picked up the passenger. Musta. Then thirty seconds later another bus with a  “Driver under instruction” sign whizzed by.

Back on my side I noticed a Land Rover Defender parked in a drive. Not seen it before. You see more things when you walk innit. The Defender had the expedition roof rack and ladder on the side. I’d always fancied having these accessories but couldn’t figure out when I would use them. Didn’t think it was worth forking out a few grand extra just to make it look fancy and have the reduced mpg that would inevitably have come with it.

Home now and sat at the kitchen table. Ringing in the changes.

For reference the Morning Star is half a mile away. The bells will ring out when I get there 🙂 

…

Just walked to the telegraph pole and back. The one subject to the Openreach notice. It was observed that the bin mounted on the lamppost carrying the now somewhat forlorn looking notice was pretty much full. I wonder how often they get emptied.

As I was turning for the return leg of my trip a bloke strode quickly by heading in the direction of Tesco. He was carrying what looked like a rolled up M&S bag for life. Might have been Waitrose. He wore a burgundy coloured fleece top, grey trousers and a black beanie.

That’s two good ish walks today. Well one very good one and one ok one. All good stuff. Had a nice visit this morning from old Marconi pal @Richard and his lovely wife Di. Nice when people drop in like that. We had several cups of tea and some nice biscuity cakey things.

Having a sit down and a banana and then plan on cracking on with the pancake batter. Needs a bit of time to settle before the big eat. I’ve already measured out the flour and milk. I consider meself to be a dab hand at making pancakes. The only thing wrong, and this happens every year without fail, is that the first one is never as good as the others. I think the pan takes some conditioning. I believe we have a crepe pan of some sort that we can use. Big circular job. Bigger the better innit.

The hidden cost of a hip replacement. Just broke the lid on the butter dish dinneye. Was carrying it from the butcher’s block to the kitchen table whilst using my crutches and off it slipped. V dramatic. Lid smashed to bits and scattered all over the kitchen floor. Not the desired effect at all. THG looked on and said she sensed it was going to happen. One of those things you see in real time but can’t do anything about. Ah well.

We do have two butter dishes that get rotated as necessary when one needs a wash. We will have to keep an eye out for a new one. Not just any butter dish will do.

The other bit of news, and this must be considered to be real progress, is that I am writing this from the conservatory. Hitherto my only places to sit have been the armchair in the snug, a seat at the kitchen table (with a cushion) and the stool at the butcher’s block. My right arse cheek is sufficiently recovered that it makes sense to vary my places to sit during the day. As I approach the full weight bearing phase of recovery, currently T minus 8 sleeps, it makes sense to move around a bit more. Being sat in the armchair all day has had a knock on effect on muscle (as opposed to bone on bone hip) soreness that will have to be sorted before I can properly walk to the Morning Star again (or Post Office. Not using the armchair as much is going to help I’m sure.

The conservatory is a much better place to sit and write. There is no real reason why I shouldn’t have used it before other than it’s been bloody cold out. The conservatory is heated but I sense it would still have been relatively cold compared to the rest of the house. With the sun shining and spring in the air this is no longer the case.

One massive benefit is that the view has changed. Instead of having my back to the drive and the main road I am now looking out over the back garden, the greenhouse and the shed. Still not been to the shed yet. In fact not been out in the back garden since my op. That will change very soon.

The back lawn is in a bit of a state. It needs scarifying and vertidraining and likely some reseeding in patches. A combination of chafer bugs and not clearing all the leaves away from last autumn. As I write a squirrel bounds across the lawn. Lorra moss in there. That should read pesky squirrel although they haven’t given us a problem since they were ejected from the loft space.

We will see if we can get someone in to do the lawn. Someone with industrial strength kit. We don’t want Green Thumb because they want a regular monthly payment for coming 4 to 6 times a year. Green Thumb were good but when we started getting chafer bugs they said they couldn’t help so we cancelled the service as I couldn’t see the point of paying them if they couldn’t sort the problem. At the same time the area of lawn they were having to treat was getting smaller and smaller.

Yesterday I booked a cottage in West Wales at a farm called Cwmiar, Llanllwni. It was one on the family estate and the next one along to the main gaff Maesnoni. Very excited to be going there in April. Solo trip as this is all about research and meeting people.

Last night during a short period of wakeness (is that a word, it is now) I decided to peruse the Register of St Cynllo’s, the Parish Church of Llangynllo (obvious really although I did google it to check). I’ve been trying to find the family details of Thomas Jones, one of the sons of my 5g grandaddy John Jones of Maesnoni. The parish register at Llanllwni has a lot of missing years so it hasn’t been a particularly helpful place to look. I had found Tom’s brother John. He became the Rector of Llangynllo. There was also evidence that Tom himself was man of the cloth. Yesterday, or the day before, it is all somewhat hazy, I found a reference to Tom’s demise in Cenarth Parish (Kenarth in those days due to the Anglicisation insisted upon by English overlords).

The lad was vicar of Cenarth and the obituary, or the announcement of his demise, included a statement that he was buried in Llangynllo where all the Joneses of Maesnoni were interred. This was a big clue.

Anyway at 4am I found the burial record of Thomas Jones, in Llangynllo. Llangynllo is now on my itinerary for the West Wales trip. There may be lots of gravestones of interest. They are mostly not online. It suggests that the Joneses were originally from that part of the world and not Llanllwni where they ended up. The whole point is getting me further back in time. See how it goes innit.

PS THG has set off for her usual Monday morning weight training class. Good on her.

…

Did some exercises in the kitchen using the butcher’s block for support and then donned my green pea jacket for this morning’s walk. Turned right for a change in the direction of the lamppost with the Openreach notice. The notice had already suffered from the ravages of the weather and was dangling at the back of the lamppost in a not particularly readable fashion.

As I approached the lamppost a guy came slowly towards me on a small skateboard which he was having to work as it was moderately up the slope. At first I thought he was wearing a WW2 German army helmet but as he got closer I could see it was a proper skateboarding helmet. Must be on the way to a skateboard park I thought though I’m not sure where there is one in Lincoln. I’m obvs not in the know. In that fraternity.

Considered walking to the next tree past the lamppost. This is roughly as far as the bus stop in the other direction but when I got to the Openreach pole that is subject to the now slightly battered announcement I decided to turn around and head back. As I was doing so a guy walked past me. Sounded as if he was talking to himself but I guess he might have been on the phone using his earbuds. Couldn’t see any buds as he sported a burgundy coloured beanie. He also wore black trainers, a pair of black shorts with two stripes down the side and a black hoodie, all a bit of a contrast with my green INEX hoodie and warm tweed jacket.

Approaching the drive I observed a couple standing at the bus stop. This is quite rare. Although still at some distance they looked of retired age. One clue was the fact that he was wearing a brown suit with a bright red tie. She had a matching bright red woolly looking coat with a beige shopping bag sporting red and orange hoops.

As I walked along he leaned out to see if the bus was coming and then turned around and scurried, half run half walk, up the road away from me and the bus stop to what would appear to be his car. Interesting. So people are using Wragby Road as a Park and Ride. No yellow lines and assuming they are pensioners a free bus ride into town. Don’t want to encourage this – can’t have people parking all the way down our road 🙂 

Anyway I’m back in the snug with nicely glowing cheeks. Good to get out of the house innit.

Aaaaaaaanother gorgeous morning in the shire to be sure to be sure, aaanother gorgeous morning in the shire. There ya go I’ve started writing a song. Easy really. Dunno what all the fuss is about. Dum dum dum de dum.

On the news this morning was a report that the bastards have put the price of railcards up. Mine has run out and I toyed with renewing it last week but firstly my logon didn’t work and the reset email didn’t come through. I had to set up a new account. In any case they wanted to renew the railcard from the expiry date and I won’t be using it until the end of March when I go to London for the Gamma shindig @Mike @andy @lee so I guess it didn’t matter that I now have a new account as I’ll be able to renew it at a time of my choosing. Albeit at the higher price and with the faff of having to redo the photo and proof of age stuff.

It’s gone up from £70 to £80 for three years or £30 to £35 for a single year. I am confidently going for the longer validity job and am fairly sure I have enough money in my Post Office savings account to cover the increase. Jokes. Mind you a tenner is a lot of dosh for some people although that is unlikely to apply for people planning train journeys. 

You can get really cheap train tickets if you drill into the booking system. When our Hannah was en route home from Paris on the university year abroad the Eurostar was cancelled because of high winds. Nae bother they said. We’ll stick you on one the next day at no charge, natch. 

The issue was the ticket from Kings Cross to Lincoln which she had purchased way in advance.  She couldn’t figure out how to change it and there was no freebie the next day because the LNER trains, or whatever they were called in those days, had not been cancelled.

I did the right thing and called the train company to sort it out. They said they didn’t really consider anything if the ticket had cost under £10. Hannah’s was £6. London to Lincoln. 2 hours. The problem was there were no cheap tickets left for booking the next day. First world student problems.

Can’t imagine you would get that fare for six quid nowadays and certainly not in first class. The free gin is worth more than that.

Back in real time THG has cooked me an excellent full English. She was opening a tin of beans anyway and I figured what the hey, it’s a Sunday. Had cawfee instead of the usual char and am now sat in the snug tapping away.

There is a downside to being sat here in that the wireless is shortly about to go on. Sunday morning politics. Completely missed the morning service so I can’t advise on its listenability. Did nod off after the Shipping Forecast though and can confirm there is a high over the country, or similar. Most winds down to force 2 or 3 with a few exceptions that include Rockall which as usual is being battered by gales. Who’d want to live on Rockall? Well nobody does actually 🙂 

The high pressure has manifested itself in another glorious morning out there as stated and I feel confident that the bus stop will be an achievable target for my walk. After I’ve done me exercises.

Feel very much constrained still by the need to keep 50% of the weight off my right leg. Limits my range and activity levels big time. The big day is a week on Tuesday, the 4 weekyversary of the op which as you know I’m counting down to. In the meantime it’s the laptop in front of the TV in the snug. I don’t switch the telly on until knocking on five pm although the occasional Dad’s Army has been known to slip through the picket lines. Unless there is sport on which I deem acceptable even though I would not normally have any interest in the teams playing.

There is darts but I can’t get excited about that without the Davies lads being around to watch at the same time. Luke the Nuke.

Gorra go.

Felt a bit like a curtain twitcher yesterday afternoon, not that I have the curtains closed during the day. Noticed that when next door’s car pulled bin to their drive they got out and walked to the pavement to peruse a notice taped to the lamppost. I’ll ave a bit of that I thought to meself so on my next “walk” instead of turning left for the pedestrian crossing I made a right (Americun term) and snailed it directly to the lamppost. 

It was Openreach announcing that they had applied for permission to erect a new pole. Ours is already aluminium but two doors down is served by an old pine job. Well I assume it is that one being replaced. I also assume that replacing it they are. No point in having two side by side is there? ?

Looking at the existing pole I couldn’t tell whether it needed replacing or not. I have a pal called Steve who is a recently retired Openreach pole tester. He would know. In fact he swung by for a cuppa only the other day and had we known then what we know now we could have nipped out to examine said pole. I’ll message him and see if he wants to come again in the week. I’ll report back obvs.

Steve used also to climb poles but in recent years I think that might have been left to younger sidekicks. Something tells me there were four pole testing teams in Lincolnshire. I must have got that fact from somewhere. Steve I assume. 

Steve was one of a group of dads who would go along on scout camps. A beaver would have to be accompanied by a parent. After the beaver had swam up to cubs the parent was still invited along and a cohort of us did indeed go. They would stick the (mostly but not exclusively) dads in a separate area of the camp away from the leaders and the kids. This was great. We had the benefit of the use of the mess tent but could chill out in camping chairs doing blokey things and talking blokey talk. Whittling wood and discussing the best place to buy replacement car tyres as I recall.

Privileged as we were, we had to fit in with the constraints of the scouting organisation. We took part in the activities, which were by and large fun, but had to wait until the kids had settled down in their tents for the night before cracking open the pop. This we would do in the mess tent accompanied by a cheese platter and a bottle of port. I would also borrow Akela’s geetar and bang out a few tunes more suited to the adult audience. We would already have done cumbaya earlier around the campfire.

The food was always good and plentiful and spuds peeling duties a prime job as it got you out of doing some of the morning’s team building challenges. The peeled spuds would be tossed into a large pan filled with water, sometimes obtaining maximum splash effect and wetting the person sat opposite. The lunches were fruit, crips and sandwiches with a multitude of choice fillings that included peanut butter, chocolate spread and jam as well as the usual cheese slices, ham and fish paste. My preference would be cheese and ham with a crisp sandwich as a sneaked second helping. Fill yer boots.

Good times. We always got home knackered, especially those of us who had had to pack all the gear back in the scout room at the Bailgate Methodist Church. The marquee would go back in the cellar unless it was still wet, in which case it would be draped over the pews of the upstairs gallery of the church to be stored away later in the week.

The remnants of the dads together with the associated kids would gather for a pint in the Morning Star before heading home for a soak in the bath. Happy days.

One summer we had a dad and lad camp in Jubilee Park, Woodhall Spa where we did the scout thing without the organised activities. Breakfast ingredients were sourced fresh that morning from the butcher in the village including copious quantities of bacon and sausages to be cooked in lard back at the campsite (my bad and the only time in my adult life I’ve done it – mam always used lard).

The kids were allowed to roam wild doing what kids do whilst the dads sat around chewing the fat. Another walk into the village secured the bbq ingredients, nothing too posh, and the evening began at around 3pm when the first tinnie was opened. Ahhh.

I did also, for balance and due to heavy demand, do a dads and daughters camp. Identical routine but different set of dads of Hannah’s friends. Our kids grew up with the camping lifestyle, mainly because with four of them and only one of us earning, it was implausible to go on holiday to anywhere other than a campsite or our mums and dads’. 

We had a huge tent that slept up to nine people and that required a  skilled and knowledgeable team to put up. This we had. TYHG’s main criterion for a tent was that she could sit or stand up in it and this one, the Gelert Zenith 6, had a large central atrium (?) where we would put the camping table and could in fact fit two large families in comfort when it was raining which it often was.

Times have changed and I now prefer the comforts of a cottage or a hotel although I wouldn’t completely write off another camping trip once the hip is fully up and running, so to speak.

As the pips squeaked eight o’clock this morning the newsreader announced the first day of spring. Meteorological spring, fwiw. Sgood. I daresay someone will know the difference between spring and meteorological spring. The plants probably do. Not sufficiently bothered to look it up meself.

Today is a Saturday. A day for kicking back and relaxing. Going for long walks to the bus stop, stretching exercises, chillin out in my armchair and watching sport on the box. Same as it ever was really. The countdown to crutch removal continues – see updated profile cover photo.

THG is preparing to head out for the park run and will afterwards swing by a shop for some essential ingredients. Coincidentally, bacon, sausages and a bottle of port. The port is because we need a splash of two for the sauce that will go with tonight’s duck kindly sourced by @Max and stored in the freezer once dressed on the kitchen butcher’s block by yours truly. Feathers everywhere. 

A bottle of port lasts us quite a long time. If we ever want a drink with cheese after dinner it is usually red wine and not really that often. We prefer the French way of eating where the cheese comes before dessert.

Azzal a hírrel fejezem be, hogy a jobb fenekem ülve úgy tűnik, hogy teljesen visszaállt a normális kerékvágásba. Gifted linguist me. Professor Higgins would be in his element. Time is a great healer.

Hasta la vista bebe.

…

Btw for convenience THG is dropping in to Tesco for the shopping. It is what it is. This is a compromise we all have to make as the quality of their bacon and sausage is terrible. Most get only 2 ½ stars, three at the most and when you look at the ingredients list the meatiest sausage I’ve been able to find has only 85% pork. Some are down at less than 50%. Moreover the bacon is all full of water and white crap. Even the dry cure. We love you Fosters.

…

Totes gorgeous morning out, it being both the first day of spring and St David’s Day to boot. This being a case I donned my green tweed pea jacket and went out for a stroll in the sunshine. I was far more comfortable with a coat on and felt emboldened to walk further. The pea jacket is the one I bought in Belfast when I had a bit of time to kill before the taxi came to take us to Will and Catherine’s wedding.

Turning left out of the drive I went past the pedestrian crossing, past the tree near next door’s drive and right up to eh lamppost that I noticed had some tape keeping the “door” at its base from swinging open.

On the way I noticed an old dear across the road racing the other way. She was pushing one of those strollers with a seat on it for when you want to stop for a bit of a rest and was making much faster headway than I. I must have been walking into the wind though I didn’t notice any air movement and nothing stood out to that effect on this morning’s Shipping Forecast.

On my way to the lamppost I passed a bloke with one of those nose rings as worn by large fierce bulls but in his case the ring was a lot smaller, walking the other way towards Tesco. No eye contact was made. He was focussed on getting where he was going, I assume.

Touching the lamppost and turning round I was overtaken by a young Asian couple. She smiled at me as she tried to keep up with him.

Then I noticed the postman turning into our drive. I hoped he had nothing that needed signing for as no way would I get there in time. Nope, he quickly reappeared and turned back to go into the next door drive that he had just walked past. Bit odd I thought and I mentioned this to him when he finally walked past me. In a nice way obvs. He smiled back and said he’d found a letter hidden underneath a leaflet which is why he’d delivered in the wrong order. 

Interesting what you see when out walking innit.

Back at the ranch and indeed in my armchair the box has been fired up and a very exciting Crystal Palace v Millwall FA Cup tie in prospect. Well, fairly exciting, or at least better than Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmare USA that I eyeballed when flicking through the channels to find the sport and light years away from the news that is all about an ignorant person with a bright orange fake tan. I’m not allowed to name the person as it would break a rule I made some time ago.

I can report that this is their eighth meeting in the FA Cup. Palace and Millwall that is. That’s what the commentator said anyway but I guess you are probably watching the same game so you knew that. Looks to be very sunny in London as well.

Oh dear. A Millwall player has just been sent off after 8 minutes. Game over. Might as well watch Gordon Ramsey. No wait.

…
Swallows and Amazons is on the box. One of my all time fave children’s books. However I finally think I’ve outgrown it. I’ll never outgrow William though.

Frosty out, and there’s me talking yesterday about the joys of spring. With caveats obvs. The wind direction most quoted in this morning’s shipping forecast seemed to be our prevailing souwesterly suggesting warmer times ahead. I also heard mention of a high pressure though there were a few gales thrown in for good measure. Always there are gales. Who’d be a fisherman?

The sitting with an elevated leg would appear to he having the desired effect on the swelling. Good to know. I assume I won’t always have to prop the leg up although I’d be quite happy to spend time loafing around on the sofa. The sofa is too low for my current sitch. Another ten sleeps to go before I’m allowed to put weight on the leg. Maybe I should make a counter that decrements daily. Good word, decrement. We have a small blackboard In the kitchen. Be easier to just chalk it on that. It shall be done.

Lambing season is upon us. Article on the wireless about stolen sheep. In my family tree research I came across a newspaper report of a trial that involved one of my relatives as a witness. The father of one of his farm hands had nicked some sheep belonging to a neighbour that had been moved to common land for grazing. The thief was sentenced to ten years transportation. Something tells me I’ve told you this before but it does bear repetition. Who’d be a farmer eh?

Apparently sheep from the same farm used to herd together on the common. Would have made it a lot easier to gather them in. Same when it comes to mountains. They stick to the places they’ve always gone to. Learned that on “the great mountain sheep gather” or simlar. It’s about gathering in a flock of Herdwick sheep on a mountain in the Lake District and driving them down to the farm for shearing. Gripping stuff. Might see if I can find it on iplayer today. A worthwhile use of two hours. It can be on in the background. 

Just took a look. It’s not on iplayer anymore. Why do they bother taking these vids down. All time classics. Timeless. There are a few different vids on YouTube I might check out. Leave it with me.

In the meantime I’ve scoffed a toasted sausage sarnie (on brown) and am now swigging tea as I have a little time before I need to jump in the shower. The absolute stop is nine fifteen at which time THG heads off to the gym for some weight training. She needs to be here to put my surgical stockings on. When I stop typing you will know I’ve finished the tea.

Had a message overnight on Ancestry. Two of my relatives emigrated to the USA in 1857 and following their trail I came across the fact that one of their husbands, a John Jones as I recall, or Davies, would appear to have been involved in the American Civil War. The facts didn’t seem to square up so I messaged the person who had made the links and she has just got back to me, after a month or so. Not everyone is on Ancestry as often as I am. I had decided in the meantime that the said relative was not really linked to me and they had made a mistake. Anyway the person is sending me a photo of his civil war military registration card and we will see what that has to reveal.

Sitting down continues to get easier by the day. My right glute recovering slowly. Day by day. When you think about it the glute will be the muscle that was sliced open. “Shudders”. Comes to something when your sitting down is affected as well as your walking. Even the lying in bed is affected.

Wake up, it is a beautiful morning. Feels spring-like. We aren’t totally clear of the winter doldrums yet, always a mistake to think that, but signs are appearing. Good times lie ahead. Lift your face to the sun and soak up the warmth. Remember that?

I must say I’m looking forward to the forthcoming spring and summer season. For one we aren’t heading off to foreign climes for lengthy holidays. It’s Hannah’s wedding in September so we figured we would go after that. The beneficial side effect is that we will be around to look after the garden for the whole summer. No coming back from holiday to find the tomatoes have gone crazy for example.

A little project is in the offing this year. I’m going to clear some of the border around the barbecue area to make room for bar stools. Makes sense to make things comfortable for your mates when hanging around being supportive when pitmaster Tref is flipping burgers (etc). 

I may even invest in some posh bbq tools though we don’t really need them. Last year when Hannah and I visited the Boschendal Winery in South Africa they had some terrific gear in the shop. V nice bbq tools with a cool canvas holder. Unfortunately they were v heavy and we were already at our weight budget for the flight into the bush. Problem is I have not been able to find another bbq tool set as good as the one I saw in SA. When you google for one it is clear that some vendors have worked hard on their SEO rankings and their stuff is pretty ordinary at best. Snorrabiggie.

Settled into the armchair in the snug, leg up. Tell you what I’m looking forward to the end of this phase of rehab. Having to keep 50% of the weight off my new hip and leg up to help reduce the swelling. I’ve developed a system for sitting. The cushion laden stool is up against the chair and halfway across so that I can choose to have leg or legs up or down and no gap for said cushions to fall through. When I sit down I dump the left crutch on one side of the chair and use the other for support when lowering myself into position. Once seated and settled I prop both crutches up against the window sill to the right. Important that you know these details.

One of my ancestors from Maesnoni farm, the place where early religious dissenters gathered, kept a diary. I found this out from email exchanges with someone I was put in touch with by @alun. If I could get hold of that diary, even just to read through it in the security of a library, I’m sure it would be massively revealing. Religious and farming life in the eighteenth century. He wouldn’t have done any of the physical work but still revealing.

Not sure I mentioned it but Hywel Harris, leader of the welsh Methodist movement and frequent visitor to Griffith Jones Llanddowror and William Williams Pantycelyn stayed at the farm seven times during his evangelical journeys throughout Wales between 1735, the year of his conversion, to when he died in 1773. This makes it really personal – you’ll have to look at this link to understand why but it goes back to my time living at the iconic  Coleg Y Bedyddwyr Bala Bangor. Bala Bang as it was known. Only the chosen few lived in Bala Bang.

Having to put more weight on my left leg is having a bit of a knock on effect on the small of my back which I’m sure will sort itself out once I’m up and running, so to speak. Got to make it through the next couple of weeks or so.

Must dash…

…

Made it out into the brisk, fresh February sunshine. Quite cold actually but good to be outdoors. We live on a wonderful planet. A combination of the cold and soreness meant I only walked to the pedestrian crossing and back. As I got there the number five bus raced by without stopping at the empty bus stop. Not many want to get off at that stop. They are all off into town.

Turning around to walk back I smiled at a woman jogging the other way. She returned the smile. Not sure I’ll want to go jogging again. Walking certainly. Great outdoors. Then as I approached our drive I could see a yoof walking towards me at a fastish pace, head buried in device. I wasn’t sure whether we were on a collision course or not but continued my slow progress assuming all would be well. It was going to be easier for him to take evasive. With ten metres to go he noticed me and veered to my left. All was well.

Did the rest of my exercises and back now in my chair. I do the exercises pretty much every time I get up. The mantra is more is better.