where art collides philosoperontap

in Lincoln town

A cooler day today although I still have the doors open to the garden. Got to do it while you can. Didn’t go swimming this morning as I have Rich from LONAP coming up for our monthly meeting and wanted to get some stuff done first. Especially need to finish the playlist for Sunday’s street party gig. It’s now down to just me Joe’n John which will be fine. Just a more limited repertoire – limited by what I can play 🙂

John has a maths exam this morning and I’ll be picking him up before fetching Rich from the station. Alistair now picking him up.

Also been getting some more stuff sorted for Joefest. Chiller hire sorted, meat order sorted, marquee sorted. Generator conversation had and will be sorted. Was lucky with the chiller as Jocastas chillers are all hired out and H & H would normally be fully booked at this time of year but had one spare.

H&H cheaper than Jocastas as well.

Going to meet Lewis before lunch to discuss booze requirements. Tesco sell Fosters lager at £11 for a case of 12. You have to ask yourself why would anyone want to drink that stuff but we are talking a long day here so people won’t want to go overboard on the strength.

Thinking about putting on a pair of socks. Just saying:)

Lunch booked at OleOle. Should be a pleasant afternoon although as I mentioned it is slightly cooler today. Supposed to be warming up.

Up at the crack of dawn

Well not really. 6amish. Dawn is much earlier at this time of year. Up early anyway with the door of the conservatory open to the garden.

Unusually I can hear traffic going to work. It’s not unusual for there to be traffic. I don’t normally notice it. This morning it contrasts with the birdsong in the hedge.

We had big news overnight. The BBC have announced that Joe’s band The Pylons have been chosen to play the BBC Introducing stage at Glastonbury. We’ve been keeping it quiet for weeks now (ish) desperate to tell people. At last we can talk about it loudly  🙂

It is wonderful news. They have a long way to go before making it big but it’s a step in the right direction. There is a warm up gig at the West End Tap on Saturday 18th June but I’m gutted that I’ll be in Dublin. Wouldn’t have gone until the Sunday had I known.

This is a great time of day to be up. The time flies when you are sat here tapping away. Not that I particularly want it to do so.

The jerk rub was a particular success last night btw. Shannon had warned us about the kick but we didn’t find it too hot at all. We will be making some of that ourselves in future. Must get the recipe. It was very nice having dinner outside on the patio, just John and I. Anne was out sorting stuff out for the Curle Avenue Queen’s 90th birthday street party on Sunday.

I’m not a big royalist but I like a good street party. The girl who was organising it has passed the baton on to Anne and Julie because she is snowed under this week. As a result Anne and Julie are now snowed under but hey…

Last night she was going round the houses checking on numbers coming. Not much of a response from behind the intercoms of the closed doors of Gerards Close. A weird lot. Don’t think we’ll be seeing much of them.

Anne has been giving me some admin jobs to do. I don’t mind typing in her quiz questions and downloading pictures of crowns (for example) but the sourcing of the National Anthem for singing on the day does go against the grain somewhat for a Welshman:)

More later…

The broken Dyson fan heater is fixed. Dyson support was good. The machine is a fan heater and not an airconditioner. You have to put the temperature to zero in this weather. Otherwise the heater will just think “oh they’ve set it to 2 degrees (say) and thin kit’s already warmer than that and not switch on. Clever I’d say.

Just  saw a chaffinch in the garden. may have been a bullfinch but either way it is good

& hot Caribbean jerk marinade for the bbq

Only 20 mins swim today. Didn’t have my contact lenses in and saw the attendants move the black bins that they put the lane markers in in place. They usually do this right at the end of the session so i got out. It was only after I’d put my specs on that I realised I still had 10 minutes but I had psychologically already checked out by then.

Afterwards, in the car park, I saw a small car with a woman in it smoking as she drove by. For some reason she just drove in and then straight out again. Thought it was very symbolic that her rear windscreen wiper was hanging limp.

Booked a taxi for 6 at 3.45pm on Friday to go to the Elton John gig at the showground. It was a bit of a struggle at first as Handsom Cabs say most taxi firms were fully booked for the event but “try DIscount’. Discount’s initial reaction was that they too were over subscribed. In fact they were rammed between 5.30 and 7pm. Ahah I said. We need to be there for 4pm. The benefits of a corporate hospitality ticket where the drinking starts early.

I wasn’t sure what time to book a return cab as the instructions were unclear re what time the bar closed so I called the Showground this morning. The answer is that there isn’t a closing time for the hospitality bar. It’s going to be dependent on how many hang around to spend cash. I’m going to book it for 11.30. We will have been at it long enough by then.

Quite a busy day sorting out an exec event in soho in July. few dozen invites sent out. It’s another warmun and moved into the living room again. Not complaining. Apparently there the nice weather is set to break just in time for the Elton gig on Friday. Ah well. Nothing that a pair of flipflops shorts and t shirt can’t sort.

Finished for now so got on with marinading the chicken for tonight’s bbq. From left to right it’s Newman’s Own sticky bbq marinade, Shannon’s Caribbean jerk marinade and then Caribbean jerk rub. Be afraid.

life’s a brick

It’s another hotun in the conservatory/office. Perfect British summer weather again. I have the door open into the garden which my avian friends are filling with birdsong. There is an ever so gentle breeze that wafts the tops of the trees. There would appear to have been some rain overnight which is the perfect time for it.

Dropped Joe off at the station and picked John up from a history exam. Bloke came round to measure up for a new drive we are having done. Starts Friday all being well. Featured image is part of it.

Now moved in from the conservatory because it is getting a little warm in there.

Falafel burgers for dinner. Ate outside on the patio. Lovely evening. Don’t get many of these. New batch of contact lenses. I have -4.5 if wearing same type in both eyes. If I need to read I have -2.5 in left eye and -5 in right! Dont’ ask me:) Been wearing them today as it’s nice to be able to put my shades on in this weather.

Oakleys. Once cracked lens and the other scratched on the inside by the arm. They are a good few years old now so I might get a new pair. That optician is starting to cost.

Moved the green bins out – v heavy. The lorry comes tomorrow.

Now watching TV. Not particularly productive and pretty bland stuff to be honest. Great British Railway Journeys with Michael Portillo. It’s very coffee table reading stuff really which is a shame as I like railways.

John is practising on his drums in the attic. Noisy. The neighbours will be getting it full whack…

It’s nice to have the prospect of a few quiet nights in this week. I have a meeting with Rich from LONAP on Thursday which will involve a couple of beers afterwards. Then Friday we are off to see Elton John which, due to the timings of the VIP tickets/pre show dinner we will be meeting at 3pm in the Bail. At least I have three quiet nights!

lazing on a sunny afternoon

Sat in the TV room watching the French Open Mens singles final with our Andy and Novak Djokovic. Missed the first 4 or 5 games as I nodded off on the sun lounger in the garden. It’s a beautiful day here in the shire.

We have had a very successful lunch – boned rolled shoulder of lamb spit roasted on the BBQ. I used a smoked garlic and smoked sea salt rub with miscellaneous other spices, purchased at the Lincolnshire Show two years ago. Result.

Also cooked spuds and carrots in the drip tray below the meat and did leeks in orange and thyme.

The Pylons are rehearsing in our kitchen. They are playing at a charity gig at the drill hall tonight so having a bit of a warm up. Bit noisy but hey… When they are rich and famous I’ll have some stories to tell 🙂

Not sure why I’m watching the tennis – it’s such a frustrating game. So up and down. A bit like the cricket.

and I wear shorts

Good Joefest meeting out at the farm. Shaping up to be a good bash fair play. On the way home we stopped off at Waitrose to buy a boneless shoulder of lamb for the spit tomorrow. There was a butcher there who boned the shoulder for us. Last time I asked we got a negative response but I guess there wasn’t a qualified butcher around at the time.

Pylons are playing a charity gig Sunday and I was planning on taking a few lads along. It’s sold out now so those plans have been kyboshed.

This afternoon it’s get a few jobs done before heading to the cricket club to watch an over or two. The cold weather is set to finish today and it should warm up nicely just in time for the cricket and our bbq later today.

As I write one son is practising the drums in the attic and another is playing the piano in the conservatory. It’s a noisy house ours. The drums finish and electronic sounds approach down the stairs.

I have a small pot of tea brewing.

…

Well the deckchair is fixed. We will have to wait until Anne comes home to see if it passes muster. Also the Ed Waite painting has been moved to a place of safety whilst the pool table was moved from Tom’s old room to the “play room” gym and then replaced. We have complaints from a student that the house needs dusting!

Now watching Serena WIlliams vs Muguruza in the finals of the French Open Tennis at Roland Garros. We have tix for the ladies semis at Wimbledon.

Arranged to meet Shannon to talk Caribbean food possibilities for Joefest.

Nuts, bolts, washers, deckchairs, rotisseries

Totes forgot to stick an entry up yesterday but it isn’t too late. Everything is still fresh in my mind obvs.

Swim first thing with cereal and a banana for breakfast.Took the van back to coops with a list of a few things, mainly electrical, that need finishing off. You will also want to know that I swung by B&Q to buy a bolt, nut and washers for fixing the deck chair plus an anti mould sealant for the bathroom. They don’t sell individual nuts and bolts and washers so I now have a few spares.

Traffic downtown was a nightmare. They have some road closures due to the new bypass (not sure what it’s actually called – it will have an official name but it gets you past the town centre).

Back home, inserted nut/bolt/washer set successfully and set up bbq rotisserie. Plan is to spit roast a shoulder of lamb for Sunday lunch. Going to use the smoked garlic rub I bought at the Lincolnshire Show two years ago. Slightly past its sell by date but hey…

Morning Star for early doors followed by a very passable Rick Stein vegetable curry. Fair play Anne.

Joe returned after 10 having had a good meeting with Paul Walker and Peachy Productions re the stage setup for Joefest. The plan is starting to come together.

btw featured image is post flowering future apples

More travel – in a campervan

Picked up the campervan after breakfast. Still a few things need doing to it. Was heading to Grimsby with a view to buying a new condensing fridge. Took Joe and en route stopped off to see Ian Cleary in South Kelsey. Ian has a bay and a T5 and knows everything there is to know about VW campervans.

The 12 v electrics weren’t working off the leisure battery. We couldn’t figure it out but parked it for the auto electrician to look at. In Grimsby our destination was Magnum Motorhomes. A veritable treasure trove of caravan, campervan and motorhome spares.

Having studied the Waeco fridge with removable compressor we decided to give the existing fridge a chance. Instead bought some porta potty cleaners/fluids, some levelling chocks and a plug connector for hooking up the van electrics with 240v mains.

Back home mid afternoon we plugged in the mains and the 12v electrics not only worked immediately but also continued to do so when the mains was unhooked. Dunno what we did to make it work. Hey…

So have come up with a list of jobs that need doing to finish off the van. We also set up the in car audio so all the presets now have a radio station to go to (AM, FM and DAB). Carphone handsfree also tested and working.

Also bought a gas cylinder refill but failed to get it screwed in and the cooker working. Will sort it in the morning.

Now settled down watching a history programme about the dark ages having had chicken with salad bits for dinner. There is England v Portugal on the telly tonight. Think I might take a bath instead. More enjoyable. Football is rarely exciting and practically never when England are playing. We are in for a summer of football tedium.

I can see clearly now

Back to Clearview optician’s for a contact lens eye test and to choose some new specs this morning. Annabelle is fitting me in before she opens at 11am.

Pre breakfast swim this morning with Anne coming along. She forgot her locker token so we shared a family changing room and a locker. She is a lot faster than me in the pool. Walking too. Another unusual feature of today’s swim is that  I could see the time. Normally I’m pretty blind because I don’t wear specs in the water. Today I have been wearing contact lenses, a precursor to the eye test.

I think I’ll start wearing them more often. Other than when sat at my pc, as I am now, they are more convenient and I will be able to wear shades during the long British summer 🙂

Still raining today but expected to improve for the rest of the week, albeit remaining cloudy. I like the rain, especially when not wearing specs and it isn’t too windy.

The view out of the conservatory is very much green. We have some flowers in pots but the border hasn’t yet come to full bloom. The fruit trees have already blossomed and I am optimistic that we might see a few pears this autumn. The last few years have been barren on the pear front but during the winter I pruned the tree and stuck a sticky band around the trunk to stop mites climbing up. The brown spots on the leaves over the last few summers are supposedly down to the little blighters. Time will tell.

Joe is on his way home. He has a gig on Sunday at the Drill Hall. If you get a chance come along. Fundraiser to pay for a trip to New York for a boy with cancer apparently. Fair enough. Currently he is sat in Newark waiting for the connecting train.

He travelled down first class. This seems to be a habit instilled in them by a parent:)  Ah well. No harm in showing them the way:) I wouldn’t go back to standard class if I could help it. I have also got fussier with my hotel choices. I used to do travelodges but the last hotel we stayed at on our own dollar was the Intercontinental. In July when we have our jaunt to Wimbledon Anne and I have a Penthouse at the Camden Lock Holiday Inn. It’s the only way to live.

It isn’t Anne coming to Wimbledon btw it’s John. Anne is going up the Shard with Hannah. It’s my turn to take John to Wimbledon. Ladies Semi Finals. I may have mentioned it some weeks ago.

Through the trees I can see a pirate flag fluttering above the allotments over our back fence. This is good. A like minded person. I have a Red Rackham pirate flag (I think that’s the one). I also have Mexican, Ugandan, Welsh and Manx flags. Essential accessories for the keen camper/campervanner.

Today by the way is the first of June. We are almost half way through the year and I have only had one barbecue. That is largely due to my absence from home during May but nevertheless it is a statement that has to be made. In consideration of this we are going to bbq something on Saturday. I am going to use the rub that I bought at last year’s Lincolnshire show. Anne reminded me of it this morning. It’s been tucked away out of sight since then so no surprise that it hasn’t been used.

…

Back from the opticians, somewhat poorer but having benefited from good service and found an identical pair of Oakley specs to those I lost. Did try some others on but I really liked my old Oakleys. They clung to the face. I was tempted by a pair of Harley Davidson frames but the sides were too springy. Decisions decisions.

Meeting Nige with Joe at the Taphouse and Kitchen at five…

And other items of mild interest

Took John to the driving range in Whisby late afternoon and Hannah came along for the ride. Afterwards we had a stroll around the nature reserve before heading home for a chili con carne and an early night.

This morning went for a swim. Was a little late getting there – my first time back in the water for a while and I needed to find things. Afterwards to see Annabelle at Clearview to see about an eyetest. There don’t appear to be any replacement arms for my specs so I got a “nearly the same” one. They are my spare pair after all so it doesn’t really matter and I am back in the land of the sighted.

I’m going back tomorrow morning before they officially open for a proper eye test and to choose some new specs. They have the same Oakleys in as the pair I lost on the coast to coast. I liked those specs so may well go for them again.

The rain has arrived. Makes it very relaxing to sit in the conservatory. John is revising away at the other end of the table whilst I get on with some work.

…

The Elton John tickets have arrived. I picked them up from the Epic Centre at the Showground. We are in Row D of one of the front blocks and need to arrive at 4pm for the start of the corporate hospitality. Had to go round the houses to get there as the main gate was shut. Also they are having the carpark redone so I ended up on gravelly stuff. Setting up for some antiques show.

My first day back at work in the home office today. Been away for most of May which has been pretty exhausting. Body needs a bit of downtime to recover now.

slow start after late night

Quite an easy going day. Done a few jobs (tightened electrical socket in attic – don’t quite know how it got loose – removed a protruding nail from a beam, put away walking gear and moved boxes under worktop in garage, sorted out intray, rescheduled Tom and John flights to iom from one that had been canceled by BA, tidied clothes away from coast to coast walk (ahem yes), ordered replacement EHIC card, and so on).

Also uploaded lots of pics and vids from last night’s totally excellent Joanne Haylock School of Dancing Ball at the Doubletree. we got in at around 1am. Late for us.  Lots of dancing as you might expect, lots of drinking, lots of fun.

Broke my specs before going out by standing on them when I got out of the shower. Must have fallen on the floor somehow. This is a slight problem as I lost my only other pair on day one of the coast to coast walk!!!! Am surviving on the few contact lenses I have left and will need to go and see Annabelle tomorrow to sort something out. This ain’t gonna be cheap. My prescription is strong and I have to fork out for expensive lenses to avoid the bottle glass look.

More pics and vids here.

Ended up not trimming the branches above the deck btw. Health and Safety dept decided it was too dangerous and will be getting in a contractor to do the job.

As I write the house is calm. Anne is for the moment satisfied with my progress with the jobs list and I seem to be being given some free time to use as I wish. Anne thinks that unless one is rushing around doing stuff one is not doing anything other than being totally idle. She doesn’t understand the rich legacy that writing this blog will bestow upon future generations 🙂 Not to mention the book that will come out of it after the year is out.

pipes and poppies

v pleasant walk around the castle and the lawns finishing off with a drink on the rooftop terrace of the taphouse and kitchen. Home for a spot of lunch and then to gooutdoors for a microfibre towel for hannah’s trip to Italy in August and tesco for some supplies for her post exam celebrations back in Durham (3 x bots prosecco). had the peugeot washed and polished whilst in tesco. never been so clean.

now sat on the patio watching anne do some gardening and typing this entry. It is as bad as it sounds :). England v wales on radio (laptop). No idea why they are playing. Cricket going v well v sri lanka.

big night tonight. It’s the Joanne Haylock School of Dancing 25 year anniversary bash. black tie job. looking forward to it.

one of today’s jobs has been to fix the deckchairs. they are both old and inherited by Anne from Cunningham drive. One is beyond repair and the other needs a lot of work. to cut a long story short I’ve got to go and get a bolt in the morning. In the meantime it’s a cup of tea and then take John down to the nets for a stint.

btw note featured image – view of poppies through a pipe at Lincoln castle. Other pics and vids here.

as far as is known 09.18

do a lot of relaxing
nip to bailgate to buy sausages and other stuff¹ for bbq
joint chicken and marinade it
put up blind
trim trees abouve decking (now that I have 10ft step ladders)
deckchairs – fix canvas
tidying up my intray
sort out EE overbilling (again)
pick hannah up from station at 5.15

The first three and last two will definitely get done and we shall see how I get on for the others. Also meeting @baskers and Tim in the Strugs just after 5.30. They are up from London for the weekend.

Photo is of apples in formation.
¹other stuff currently includes baby new potatoes from greengrocer behind Curtis’, strawberries, bread, carrots, booze (not actually on list but hey…)

Loving and leaving

Good to be going home. Slept fitfully last night. Alarm went off at 7am and I snoozed it 3 times. Didn’t need to be up that early for a 10.50am flight.

Hung around in the room in the belief that breakfast didn’t start until 8am which I thought a little unusual but this was based on a notice in the lift. Googled the times only to find that really it started at 6.30 so I headed down. Realised that the sign in the lift alluded to how busy the restaurant was. It said Start – 8am not busy. I took this was 8am being the opening time. Doh.

I’m now sat on an uncomfortable bench at Joe & The Juice juice bar near to gates C. It’s 9.21 and I still have a ton of time to kill. Not having lounge access I’m slumming it. Drinking a “Pick Me Up” that comprises strawberry, banana and apple. Fine.

Taxi en route had wifi again. Quick through check in/bag drop and security though was bemused by the fact that the woman at security insisted I empty all my pockets. I made point of offloading an old hotel room card and an unused napkin. The napkin didn’t make it through.

Where I am at I can see a woman with a book entitled Far From True by Linwood Barclay. A nom de plume surely.  Who gets called Linwood Barclay. Sorry if this is you Linwood. It’s fine:)

As I said I’m looking forward to be going home. It’s been almost a month away living in B&Bs and hotels with three nights at home in the middle where I was mostly recovering from the coast to coast walk. Now I’ll be mostly recovering from two weeks in Europe.

Copenhagen was great. The venue for the social last night, Wallmans Cirkusbygningen, was impressive with a great cabaret. Rich and I would appear to be the first to bale out and had a coach to ourselves. I’d definitely consider returning for a weekend with Anne at some point.

…

Later on the plane;

Bit of a miserable woman at the desk in the airport. She called business class passengers and gold card holders first followed by silver. I hung around waiting for her to call bronze. instead she announced general boarding from rows 25 and back. I was in row 24 and challenged her as to why she hadn’t called bronze. She begrudgingly let me on. Huh!

I wish I’d downloaded a movie. I’m somewhat bored. I have positively no inclination to do any work. I need internet access anyway. The cart is coming along, It will be chicken and bacon sandwich – same as on the previous 4 or 5 flights. Something to do. Good job it’s only a 90 minute flight.

So yesterday’s big news was that Hannah has finished her last exam at Durham University. Knowing how ecstatic that makes you feel makes me incredibly happy for her. It’s one of those dual edged swords. You have a fantastic time at university and then it comes to an end.

For Han it is time to move on. She has a good job lined up in London with Colt Telecom. I’m very proud of her. All the kids have good things happening. We are very lucky parents.

The rubbish cart makes its way slowly down the aisle. Very good timing in fact. Having seen it I was able to nip to the loo and get back just as it reached my seat allowing me to both sit down and dispose of the cardboard packaging at the same time. Hey presto.

Looking at the map we are about half way to London. Eta 11.45. My train is at 15.08 so I will have a little time to kill in Kings Cross. Will put out a call on Twitter and Facebook to see if anyone wants to hang out for a bit.Perhaps a cheeky lime and soda. I’ll probably have 2 hours spare. The others are leaving this evening. At least Rich is. I have a lot further to go than him.

We have a great summer in prospect: Hannah’s graduation, Elton John at the Showgrounds, Ladies semi finals at Wimbledon, JoeFest, Latitude, the Isle of Man. The Pylons are starting to get Festival invites too. They have already announced Brownstock in Essex and will be releasing other dates as soon as the official announcements have been made.

This aircraft is not full. I’m in seat 24D and there is plenty of space further back. Not worth moving now though. I’m listening to my faves playlist in random mode. Now playing Bronchi Beat, Smalltown Boy. Saw Jimmy Sommerville live at the Flashback Festival a couple of years ago. He was brilliant.

192 miles to go. Dive dive dive. Or is that a nautical/submariner term?

One of the nice things about getting back to the UK is the restoration of mobile data. This time I’ll have to get in touch with EE because they have charged me for the complimentary 10GB I received on the last day of the coast to coast. Their systems are rubbish.

We are now over the North Sea. Cold down there. Brr. I’m sat behind the emergency exit row. This one has a huge amount of legroom. I tend not to go for exit rows because the seats don’t recline and I don’t like the responsibility of having to open the door if we crash. Never happened ops, cross fingers etc. In fact I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of an aircraft that has ditched and when’re passengers have had to make their way out through the emergency exits. Normally you only hear of the search for bits of the plane after the accident/incident.

Looks like we will be coming in over the Thames estuary. Don’t have a window seat so won’t see much. I don’t normally bother with a window seat for ease of access but the view could be quite good today.

House the Rising Sun. One of my party pieces.

Feeling reasonably good. Glad I had an early night last night. Early ish. Not as bad as the 4.40am I saw Paul Thornton announce on Facebook. Urgh. I’d say we were now over mainland Uniteeed Kingdurme.  Nearly there now. Feels as if we are getting a straight run in although I’m not an expert on these things.

I have listened to music all the way.

Just been told we are in a holding pattern! Doh. It’s 16 degrees in Landan. I’m wearing jeans and a Hawaiian shirt with linen jacket. Shorts would have been preferable but they need a wash. Both pairs. Och wheel.

Nothing really rocks and nothing really rolls and nothing’s ever worth the cost.

The featured image btw is of last night’s show and not Copenhagen Airport although it looks as if it could be a flying piano coming in to land:)

touristy bits and beer

Slow start after a 2am finish. Urgh. The sun has left us today so I think we have seen the best of the weather for this trip. Looking ahead at the weather back home it isn’t good either. Back to normal UK spring & summer conditions.

May has been an exhausting month and I’m looking forward to a few quiet days at home. It’s quite pleasant sitting in my home office/conservatory at this time of year whatever the weather. I’ll be able to get on with the coast to coast walk video.

Skipped breakfast today. Bit of a lie in. These conferences are long days and hard work. Did think about popping out this afternoon to see the Royal Palace. Supposed to be worth a visit. We passed it en route to and from the Little Mermaid Statue last night. The Little Mermaid was surrounded by what looked like a bus load of Japanese tourists and was a metre or two away from the water’s edge so I didn’t get right up to her.

Ended up eating oysters, prawns and what looked like baby lobsters at a fish restaurant whose name totes escapes me and thence to Warpigs, a cool if noisy bar in the meatpacking district. The others walked back to the hotel but Baz, Greg and I nipped in a cab and ended up in the Mash bar on the 12th floor of the hotel. We avoided the whisky bof which would have had bad consequences.

Next step is to nip down to the meeting and see who has yet to surface which I suspect will be most of them.