where art collides philosoperontap

Dawn creeps steadily forward as we hurtle towards the longest day. Only five weeks away now wot! The purpose of the opening remark was to allow me to say that when I awoke, shortly after five, I didn’t hear the dawn chorus. Either dawn was earlier or the boids had gone somewhere else. Now, at shortly before six, I can hear avian activity but it is not nearly as intense as at dawn.

The milkman came at three twenty one, fair play. Well before dawn. I expect he has to get back before daylight as he turns into a yo’ gurt, or something like that. I wonder what flavour.

Sat in the conservatoire. Grass needs cutting again, I note, and it is fairly dull out. I’m playing golf this evening and I think the rain will stay away. We are fairweather golfers nowadays. When I were a lad I’d play in all weathers with me dad. We would only not go if the course was closed.

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At my desk by nine twenty five. What’s the rush. I did do an hour’s worth of toil in the conservatory but that does seem like a long time ago now 🙂. THG has gone hunter gathering and I have two conference calls before lunch. The shed doors are shut today. Not so warm and I am wearing a fleece.

The wildflower meadow is emerging nicely. I expect a carpet of greenery by the time I get back from Antwerp next Thursday.

Il pisseth down d’aujourd’hui on the empire of Tref. No need to water the new strip of flowers in front of the shed or my newly planted peas. This is fine, no pun intended. This is the UK. Ironically we are off swimming at nine thirty where it will also be very wet. Sfine. Sgood 🙂 In the shed the rain thunders down on the roof causing a shiver to run down my spine and bringing a smile to my face.

I wore my Tilley hat for the journey from the house to the shed. Just to keep the rain off my specs. It is perhaps a little understood side effect of my disability. The fact that poor eyesight gets worse in the rain. When we did the Coast to Coast walk on the first day there was a raging gale. Horizontal driving rain. I took my specs off because I could see better without them. Put them in my waterproof coat breast pocket. 

Unfortunately by the end of the day they were lost. I had kept putting a map or similar in that pocket and the continual act had dislodged the glasses somewhere along the route. Fortunately I had a spare pair. We got lost on the final leg of that first day. I got my phone out to use GPS but the rain rendered it unusable. Every time I looked at it the raindrops on the screen made the phone think I was touching something on the screen and it went haywire. Fortunately we made it thanks to navigator Tom.

My first meeting today is not until noon so I have some time to read after the swim.

The shed is a v relaxing place in the rain. Doors are wide open. It is not cold.

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The rain has moved on and the birds sound quite chatty. “Glad that’s done dickie, innit”. Shed doors still wide open but without socks my feet are a little on the cold side. I’m not ‘ard enough obvs. Off out in a bit, on shanks’ pony so will need to don socks. One of the dividends of living in warm countries, which this ain’t, is the ability to wear sandals or flip flops. For me today is a flip flop day. You have to grab the opportunity whilst you can. However I’m not going for a walk in flip flops.

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Swung by to see Wildthing this afternoon. St Barnabas Hospice. He is in there to stabilise his medication and fortunately is coming out on Thursday. When people go into a hospice it is normally a one way trip.

Now watching the Spurs v Man City game in the shed. Bloody boring.

We are talking idyllic morning on the deck in front of the shed. When I say idyllic I mean totes idyllic from which the sound of the traffic on the road in front of the house does not detract. 

The birds are in an ecstatic mood with the robin and the wren in full voice, joined just now by a sparrow. Then a dunnock. A small long tailed bird flitted silently in one of the apple trees, jumping from branch to branch. I couldn’t quite make out what it was. Got the camera out to zoom in but it chose that moment to fly at me and settled in the branches of the beech above the shed. A noisy crow has just flown out of the sycamore. Good. Go and crow elsewhere.

THG is getting ready for church. I am not. She picked up some more compost yesterday so I need to spend  time digging some of that into the raised bed where the peas are going but twill not occupy much of the day.

It is without a doubt the best time of the year. I need to put some effort into finding my sandals. A long period of hibernation means I’ve forgotten where they went. I may not even know where they went if they were tidied up by another. The rest of the household has been questioned regarding this without success and no offer of assistance. Fair enough.

Just caught my tea before it went cold. Today is a day for wearing silk shirts made whilst were in Thailand. I chose the silk from a factory outlet in Chiang Mai and got the tailor in the hotel basement to make me five or so. It is time we went back to south east asia to stock up with more togs. Not been to Singapore for quite a few years. A paradise in that part of the world. We shall see. Not rushing into it.

The shed doors are open as wide as they will go and Spotify is calming me with classical. My desk is in the standing position. This is partly because I shut down my mac mini on Friday as something had frozen and it is easier to switch back on from the raised position. I have left it in place for now (didn’t last long).

It is Sunday the twelfth of May. Twenty twenty four. Remember this. Each day is important 🙂 Enjoy all of it, to the full. Tell that special him or her how special they are.

I feel as if I could get on with a job or two. The trailer needs emptying, the garage and potting shed need tidying. The latter is almost impossible to get into such is the amount of gardening junk chucked in randomly. It all belongs there. Just needs a bit of order. We haven’t used it as a potting shed this season as the shelves in the greenhouse do the job.

Tuesday has been identified as the day to sort out the trailer. It’s a team effort, particularly as we need THG’s wheels to get the stuff to the tip. It’s all crappy old camping gear. The good stuff was removed to the garage years ago. Not that we go camping nowadays. We prefer nice hotels and cottages. Call me a wimp. Renting a MoHo for the Nile Rodgers and Sting gigs in June.

Saw a blackbird eating a worm this morning. Nature in action. It is similar to the time that Hannah and I saw a pride of lions eating a buffalo but completely different obvs 🙂. The    avian varmints have been pecking away at my newly seeded strip of flowers but it doesn’t look to be a major problem. Most seeds are hidden/buried and there are a lot of them.

It is such a lovely morning I’ve been sat outside on the deck reading a book and listening to birdsong. The usual members of the choir although we did have a blue tit today which isn’t always on the list. Best time of year.

I have a fairly relaxing day ahead. Couple of conf calls, a stroll to a local shop to purchayse some salad for lunch. WIll also fire up the bbq later as we have some keebabs to consume. It will only be the second or third time this season but I sense we will start using the bbq more often from now on.

I’ve started wearing the safari hat I bought in Cape Town. Perfect for this weather. A mix of cotton canvas with some leather. I have to wear a hat in the sunshine. It’s a killer yanow, the sun. The deck is nicely shaded but still warm and a perfect place to relax.

The milkman came at four seventeen this morning. I was asleep but apaz THG heard him.

THG called the dairy to cancel Friday’s milk delivery to be told that they were planning on bringing double the usual amount due to there being no deliveries on Monday. Odd. It isn’t a bank holiday. Maybe Sunday is the annual milkman’s picnic and none of them would be in any state to drive their floats in the wee small hours of Monday morning.

I once rocked up at some provincial airport in the USA one Sunday evening only to find it was the annual taxi drivers’ picnic. There was just the one van working who made a killing. He would charge everyone the going rate even if there were three of you going to the same destination. Billy no mates probs otherwise he’d have been at the picnic. Either that or by now a multi millionaire.

Looks like another beeootiful day in prospect. Am out and about this morning but a bit of gardening on the cards this pm. Most of northern Europe is on holiday so communication channels will be quiet.

As hotel breakfasts go ours was down there: 🙂Pretty grotty. Didn’t really have any expectations as we booked this palace for proximity to last night’s Pink Martini gig. The gig was fantastic. Tbh my expectations of hotel breakfasts anywhere are not high and this place met them

Now sitting in the window of Room 101 watching the marine traffic go by. A pretty historic place really, the Thames estuary. You can imagine the number of ships that have passed by here over the centuries. From all over the world. The Empire.

I find the British Empire a fascinating subject. On the one hand its global reach and diversity was phenomenal. On the other hand, with hindsight, it was all wrong. I guess you play the hand you have at the time. The unfortunate thing is that some people in the UK, mostly politicians, cling on to the dream of Empire and the influence that came with it. They will mostly not be around after the next election.

I quite like the fact that to travel across the Empire it had to be mostly done by boat. Slow travel. Given the choice those travelling in this way would have preferred a quick ten hour flight, or twenty four hours at a push. They clearly don’t understand the baggage that comes with long haul airline travel. The jostling for an upgrade, can I get into the lounge etc etc.

So this morning we kiss goodbye to Southend On Sea, a place that didn’t gain universal approval of everyone in the travelling party and move along the coast briefly to Leigh on Sea and then Aldeburgh. I quite liked Southend on Sea. It is a classic British seaside resort with ice cream kiosks, chippies, a fairground and the world’s longest pier. Somewhere you could spend a day out.

We did wait forever in a cold wind for a taxi that never materialised but then I blagged my way onto the open top bus to drop me off a mile or so along the prom near to our hotel. Actually I didn’t have to do any blagging. When he found out I only wanted to go one stop the driver let me on for nothing. THG had already left to go back to the hotel.

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It must be said that being in Essex almost feels like being in a different country.

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I am off to Manchester at the end of the month from Lincoln. A single train ticket costs £29.85 on LNER. No advanced purchase options. Anytime single only. 

However trainline.com offers me a place on the 09.15 for £12.95. Advanced purchase. Is there something wrong on the LNER site? I buy most of my tickets using LNER but can’t see it happening in future if you are so much more expensive.

There must be a software problem?

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So we’ve arrived in Aldeburgh. A few observations immediately spring to mind. The place is full of day trippers. Posh day trippers. This is totally at odds with Sarfend which although also had many day trippers, I imagine, few of them if any being posh.

It was pointless even to think about finding a free table in a caff. I queued outside an ice cream shop for what seemed like twenty minutes to get my double scoop vanilla and honeycomb. The kid in front of me in the queue said his family usually took a cottage nearby for four weeks. I didn’t bother looking into the posh kitchen shop, knowing its prices would not be targeted at me.

I’m hoping many of the day trippers will have buggered off home by four fifteen which is when we have to move the car. The free parking in front of the hotel begins to empty at this time, apaz.

We do have a nice room facing the sea and looking down over the petanque pitches, or whatever a boules playing area is called. There is a fish smokery directly outside the hotel and the pebbles on the beach are so nice they would be very suitable for our front drive. Obvs that’s not going to happen 🙂.

I am currently enjoying a cup of tea lovingly prepared for me by THG with, and wait for this, with a small packet of digestive biscuits for dunking. Digestive biscuits! This must be a good hotel. The only way they could better this were they to be bourbon creams.

Aldebough also seem to be home to quite a few Adnams pubs, all of which look to be worth a visit. Will have to see how it goes. Our dinner reservation is for eighteen thirty. Eating in the Brasserie as opposed to the attached curry house as Sunday is the one day they are closed. Huh.

Number of visitors and the scarcity of parking spots aside there is a sword hanging over Aldeburgh. The sword of the Sizewell nuclear power station, very visible up the coast to the north. Now I’m sure everyone has different views about nuclear power.  I wonder why Winscale changed its name to Sellafield. Also I note that when I was a student, the manger of the Wylfa nuclear power plant in Anglesey lived in Chester according to one of our lecturers who was a mate of his.

Enough! I have to go and move the car.

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It must be said that the Conservative Party is a spent force in British politics. We have had four disastrous Prime Ministers – Dave Cameron, Treesa May, Boris, I’m an inveterate liar and totally useless at governing but have a way with words that cons a lot of people, Johnson, Liz, I’m not only totally useless but also very dangerous, Truss and now an ineffective lame duck called Dishi Rishi who could call an election but who is clinging on for as long as possible hoping for an unlikely miracle.

The Tories believe their only hope is to move further to the right in the belief that this is what will win them back votes. Reality is that it is only a vociferous minority whose votes this will attract. Most “ordinary” people are just totally fed up with them. 

They can’t see that people who are poorer now than when the Tories came into power don’t want to vote for them. They are destroying the NHS and the education system. Doctors, nurses and teachers are leaving the profession like never before.

Government ranks are populated with third rate people who are only there because at some time they expressed support and admiration for BoJo. Most competent Tory politicians are no longer on the scene.

The hope is that the ranks of Tory MPs will be totally obliterated in the forthcoming general Election and the party will have to start again. Low grade extremists with a voice such as Suella Deville Braverman would better find their natural home in the Reform party and be relegated to a rightful obscurity, forgotten by history.

We awake to a sunny Chelmsfordian Saturday. The kitchen is a hive of activity as Hannah prepares breakfast and THG has wandered out to survey the garden, natch. My only responsibility is to poach the egg 🙂 Radio 2 entertains. Can’t remember when I last listened to it.

There is no urgency to the day. At some stage we will meander to Leigh on Sea and thence Southend where we have reserved a sea facing room at the Muthu Hotel. Our plan is to dine at the Southend Pavillion before the Pink Martini gig. I wouldn’t normally stay at the Muthu Hotel. It doesn’t rate particularly highly on booking.com or tripadvisor but there wasn’t much choice and it is only a three minute walk from the pavillion. It will do the job. Wasn’t particularly cheap but I suspect rooms were going fast due to PM fans needing somewhere to stay.

This morning I understand there is a plan to go to John Lewis in town. It is a shop. As such the ladies will make their own way. It is a short walk from Hannah’s. I could spend an hour or two watching Essex CCC but there is no game today. As a member of Notts I can get in for free by reciprocal arrangement.

George is away on rugby tour but Joe is with us and is good company. Unless he wants to go to John Lewis. A bit of time spent on your own is good for the soul. Inward reflection 🙂 Mind you I get a lot of that in the shed.

Quite a funny incident last night. The Ring app on my phone told me there was someone at the front door so I took a look. Turned out to be some yoof running up to the door, ringing the bell and running away again. Had to laugh.

A humble sausage sandwich for breakfast. The evidence has been destroyed in the usual way. I say humble but not sure the sausages expressed any humility as they went down. Go on, eat me. Might as well. 

Perhaps I meant a simple sausage sandwich. Certainly not majestic. The sausage, as the product of common endeavour, couldn’t claim to be majestic. The majestic pig? George Orwell revisited.

This morning’s chorus was brought to you by a chaffinch, robin, blue tit, sparrow, wood-pigeon, dunnock and blackcap. Milkman came at 03:50.

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We are now southbound at the speed of the Silver Bullet. THG driveth. I’m treating today as a weekend day as is oft the case. Bank Holiday. As you know we are off to Sarfend to see Pink Martini, manăna. Sarfend Pavilion.

As you may know I no longer have a car and although I am happy to share the driving where appropriate/relevant/required I also like sitting in the passenger seat doing stuff.

As we drive down the Great North Road the countryside is coming into leaf. Blossom adorns the roadside hedgerows. It is the best time of year. A mild drizzle is evident as we race past Stamford. This is why our land is green and pleasant. I quite like the rain.

The garden is alive with birdsong this morning. The usual blackbird, dunnock and chiffchaff but now with a blackcap thrown in for good measure. Am wondering whether the blackcap song is similar to the blackbird and therefore Merlin mixed up. I’d prefer to think not. Not sure I’d even heard of a blackcap before.

Busy enough morning but broken the back of it/delegated and now sat with a cuppa having actually done some tidying and filing. The stuff for filing, which dates back a couple of years, has either been moved onto my spare desk for filing, or onto a different pile for shredding. The stuff I want to keep is mostly scanned in anyway.

I was prompted to do a bit of tidying because I knocked a glass of water over on my desk and soaked some stuff that didn’t want soaking. Normally I do try and keep a tidyish desk but the last couple of weeks has seen stuff piling up and now it is not. Still got a few plastic boxes full of stuff to sort/dispose of. One day I’ll probably just chuck the lot.

Local elections today. Just heard a car drive past with a megaphone blaring out vote Labour or similar. We already did a postal vote. I see no point in having to physically go to the polling station. It isn’t as if I’m still agonising over who to vote for and leaving it until the last minute. TBH I have no idea about the police commissioner.

My new carving set and gloves have been tidied into the “projects” chest of drawers. It’s gone into the same drawer as the brand new and as yet untouched watercolour paint set purchaysed during some lockdown or another. The easel is lying on its side next to the beer fridge! Will not lie unused for too long obvs 🙂

Starting to get excited about the Pink Martini gig on Saturday. Just booked the restaurant at the venue for a pre show dinner. This being the Southend Pavillion it won’t quite be the same as the Royal Albert Hall VIP package we had when we last saw them but I’m sure it will be good. Had to prepay for the meal. Clearly they are a dodgy crowd in the Sarfend area.

The snooker is now on. One of the very few daytime TV programmes I’d admit to watching. Semi finals. The quality of the snooker has been steadily improving as we get through the rounds. There’s nothing more annoying than seeing sloppy snooker from people from who one demands perfection or as near as. I’m not very good at it meself.

And finally some book news. My order of Droppings Dung and Scats of Southern Africa has been delayed as the publication date is now November of this year. Wossgoinon?! I guess they might as well wait to make sure all the relevant poo is covered, so to speak. However the good news is that my “Easy Company Soldier” with Sgt Don Malarkey is out for delivery today. Looking forward to that 🙂

Another bright start to the day. Thought I heard some movement in the porch early on but it isn’t a day the milkman comes and nothing appeared on the cameras. Could have been a poltergeist I guess. Did see a cat in the wee small hours. Set off the light in the front. We often get a cat roaming the garden and sometimes a fox. 

It is early but THG has already been out for an inspection. Checking the progress of the stock. Plants don’t grow on their own yanow 🙂 Now chillaxing after breakfast pending the commencement of today’s proceedings. 

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Am watching Great Coastal Journeys with former Tory MP Michael Portillo on the telly. It is on mute because I find his programmes so superficial they aren’t worth watching. So I’m not really watching it but it is the programme before the snooker is on and watching the snooker is something that THG and I do together 🙂 Having it on mute is my way of noticing when the sport starts.

It feels a bit strange having the snooker on TV when it is very much light out. As a game played in darkened halls, snooker should really be a winter activity. I’m rubbish at snooker meself. My youth wasn’t misspent enough.

I typically have the snooker on as wallpaper as opposed to something I focus on although if it starts to get exciting I’ll put my book down. Yes it can be exciting.

THG is at the controls of the Silver Bullet and we are homeward bound. Driving through the rain in the hope of clearer skies ahead.

Yesterday before setting off on our Sutton Hoo adventure I partook of a “full Suffolk”. Someone must franchise the cooked breakfast concept. Full English, full Welsh, full Lincolnshire etc. Probs makes good licensing dollar 🙂. This morning the family celebrations of last night weighed heavily and I stuck with a simple bacon sandwich. Really the king of breakfasts.

On the way down to Woodbridge we took the scenic route. Today it is A roads all the way. Around thirty miles longer but thirty minutes quicker. In our busy twenty first century lives it is all about time. At least dual carriageways make for better typing conditions. Fewer roundabouts around which to fling the car, fewer gear changes to knock the typing elbow.

I can recommend Seckford Hall. It was Hannah’s actual birthday last night and the staff really looked after us. Particularly the restaurant manager Mike contributed greatly to the success of the evening. Each time Hannah blew out the cake candles Mike relit them and we went through the process again singing Happy Birthday three times in all including a jazzy version for the last go.

Hugs hugged and goodbyes kissed we are now negotiating the spray on the northbound A14. Flooded fields. Riverbanks broken.

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The Great North Road. Totally unrecognisable from the time when it was being called that. There is no romance in the name A1, great arterial highway that it is. Sterile. No room for the imagination to run wild.

Another new vicar starting at THG’s church this morning. Dearly beloved bretheren… I say ‘another’ new vicar but don’t get the wrong idea. They don’t have that high a turnover, I think. That would be a worry indeed. I did ask THG whether vicar’s wives were vetted for tea and cake making skills before being offered the job but she didn’t give me a straight answer. Dismissive even! 

I am in any case too far removed from the operational practices of the church to be up to date with its recruitment policies. There must be more to it than finding out which candidate can say how’s your father. Not for me to comment and I move on…

Passing RAF Wittering and its iconic Harrier jump jet we saw a dead red deer. A stag. Fifty metres further on a woman had stopped her car and was examining the front for damage.The action had just happened. Bit of a shock for both parties. More so for the deer. Another snapshot in life on planet earth. Life goes on.

We leave the deer and the woman behind and the Silver Bullet continues its journey north, still searching for those clearer skies.

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Stopped at Pennells Garden Centre on the way home to buy a rose. THG nipped in and I sat in the car watching the rain on the windscreen. V relaxing. Could almost feel meself nodding off. Then popped to the Carlton Centre to get my postal vote off. They have three collections a day from the Post Office there.

Bliss. Had one and a half bacon sandwiches for breakfast. No photos. Why one and a half I hear you say? Well there were three bits of bacon left. In this sitch I’d typically have one sarnie with three bits of bacon but on this occasion the loaf was a smallish one and it made sense to stick with two. Three slices of bread. There ya go 🙂

Not warm this morning so a good breakfast does the job. I sense that “we” haven’t turned the heating on. Sokay. A thick pullover will suffice. It’s supposed to be warmer than this. Fortunately I have a hot cup of tea beside me which warms my hand, albeit momentarily, when I drink it.

Off to Suffolk for the weekend. Family bash. Will be great fair play. Excited. It isn’t that often we get together with the wider Davies clan although my beautiful nieces can’t make it. Work, exams, that kind of stuff. Gets in the way. Ah yes I remember it well. Vaguely.

Gonna take my swimming trunks. Still got a terrible cough but I’m sure the others in the leisure spa won’t mind. It’s doing the rounds. They are bound to catch it sometime. Nice to have a weekend away. I know we do a lot of nights away but this one is going to be mostly about relaxing. May pop to Sutton Hoo tomorrow morning as we are staying fairly near to it. Got to be back for twelve thirty for the imps game.

Suffolk, specifically Ipswich used to be a regular trip as we bought an ISP there. I remember one visit I stopped with @Terry Mackown en route and we went on a pub crawl around Cambridge. Cambridge has some great pubs. 

On that occasion we were just walking past the Corn Exchange and saw a big poster promoting a 10CC gig and it so happened they were playing Cambridge that evening. Bear in mind it must have been at least nine thirty pee em by then.

In we went and asked if it was the real 10CC as opposed to a tribute band. Yes. They let us in for free. If you don’t ask you don’t get. Must have been only half an hour left of the gig because as soon as we sat down they started playing all their hits. Wow. Result. I am a fan. I had to call THG to let her know. I hadn’t actually mentioned that I was stopping with Terry for the night. Unlikely we will be stopping off in Cambridge this weekend as we will probs take the scenic route through Lincolnshire and over Sutton Bridge.

Ciao amigos

Oh and he came at three sixteen this morning. Over an hour earlier than last week.