where art collides philosoperontap

Thought for the day’s subject is the traitors tv programme. Honestly! Even more of a reason to turn the wireless off. Avoided it last night by watching a History Channel programme with Wayne Mills-Kidals’ cousin Guy Martin parachuting into Normandy. THG watched the traitors on her device listening through her Bose phones.

Switched to Sioe Frecwast on Radio Cymru and they even started talking about the Traitors there. Is there no escape? Turned the volume down and a few minutes later they’ve moved on to discussing the chances of Wales in the Six Nations Rugby.

A piece on Diwyrnod Santes Dwynwen was played in with Dim Ond Mor O Gariad by Meic Stevens. It’s the Welsh equivalent of Valentines day but I guess you already knew that. It’s on now in da kitch. THG sat there patiently filtering it out in the same way I do when the news is on Radio 4.

Moved on from Sioe Frecwast to Ar y Marc where the content is mainly football. Apaz it’s the 30th anniversary of the Eric Cantona king fu kick. Who knew? The presenter did name drop the winners of the Traitors. I suppose everyone who wanted to watch it tuned in last night otherwise I’d be a bit pissed off about the spoiler. Don’t worry the ‘secret’ is safe with me.

I’ve turned off Radio Cymru. Swiped up. Peace at last in the kitchen. The tea brews.

A clearing up session lies ahead of me after an acceptable avo on toast with a side of bacon. I stuck a chopped chilli in the guac. Came from a bag of mixed Thai chillies. This one was particularly hot which was fine. Only thing is you can’t tell which ones are going to be fiery and which are just normal until you’ve started to eat them. Whatever ‘just normal’ is when it comes to chillies.

Sat on the church pew with the low sun edging around the side of the window trying its utmost to dazzle me. If it gets to that I will get up and get dressed. After tidying up obvs. Ok as it stands.

We seem to have avoided the worst of Storm Éowyn. This has to be good considering the wireless was reporting a million people without electricity in Ireland and Scotland. Hopefully their batteries held out and they had a plentiful supply of candles. Might experiment with a candlelit dinner tonight for me n THG. Romantic.

In the ‘old’ days, the days of yore, Éowyn would not have had a name and the bothy dwellers of the Celtic nations would have already been using candles. Or lamps. Candles were probably expensive. Nowadays you can buy 102 birthday cake candles (with holders) for £3.88. Otherwise it’s £12.99 (plus £4.49 delivery!) for 20 off normal candles which will probably be more useful in a power cut. Each one will burn for 6 hours according to the blurb so should last longer and the kids won’t be tempted to blow them out. Unless they were notionally doing their homework by candlelight and wanted an excuse for not finishing it. We have a few candlesticks dotted around the house…

…

Yo Steve

You probably know it is an old Lincolnshire tradition that when a bloke reaches the venerable age of 60 they throw a quiz in his honour. Here is the quiz:

What was Steve’s main source of employment?

1. Pole dancer
2. Pole vaulter
3. Pole tosser
4. Pole climber

There are prizes of a kiss off Steve for both correct and incorrect answers and you can have as many goes as you like. People called Tref are exempt from taking part.

Lotsa lurve

Tref & Anne

Éowyn is starting to make herself heard. Lying in bed I can hear the wind roaring through the branches of the trees on wragby road.

The Beeb reports 50 mph winds in Lincoln, 65mph in Pwllheli and 83mph in Peel in the Isle of Man. Ride not your bike. 

I saw yesterday that The Harbour Lights caff on Peel promenade said it would not be opening its doors today. Won’t be anyone on the prom anyway. The sea will be crashing over the wall. The waves at Fenella Beach, nestled below the castle, should be spectacular. 

The cosy snug in the Whitehouse pub will have the fire lit. A sensible place to sit out the storm, securely up the hill and away from the seafront. There used to be 60 pubs in Peel, at the height of the herring fishing, long since gone. The fleet is now reduced to a few crab and scallop boats.

Been looking at the webcams on the island. Still too dark to see the action. Will look again later.

…

I quite like it in the shed when there is a bit of weather. In here you feel cocooned and can look through the large glass doors with interest. Not much wildlife to be seen. They have more sense than to be out in this wind.

…

Avocado
Teabags
Bean salad
Milk
Carrots
Oil and vinegar
Tomatoes
cucumber
Bacon?
Mushrooms
Lettuce

Picked the right scanner today. It’s a game I play. On this occasion there weren’t many left on the wall so the odds were in my favour. However when it gets to the last few a number of them are only there because they don’t work properly so it isn’t that simple. Bought a lottery ticket on the strength of that success.

Storm Éowyn is a new one innit? Named after a Lord of the Rings character apaz. Old English origin. I looked it up so that you didn’t have to. “Horse lover“ or simlar. Who knew? Probs you did. Better start battening down the hatches. Éowyn hits town at the weekend. End of weather forecast.

Storms never used to have names. They used to be called a storm. Not sure what naming them does for us. It’s the Met Office trying to jazz up what may be an otherwise humdrum existence. Making rainfall measurement more glamorous.  They now advertise their job vacancies as “exotic storm naming engineers” Think you have what it takes? Knowledge of Tolkien and advantage. We are an equal opportunities employer.

I do have a raincoat. Not looking for a job though. Call me an amateur rain tester. Not yet certified. I did once invent a rainfall measurement technique based on standing in the pub doorway and holding your specs outside at arms length. It could only have been invented in a pub. We were probably trying to decide how heavy rain needs to be before we could officially declare ourselves stranded and settled in for a long session. A point where even walking from the pub door to the waiting taxi could be considered too high risk.

Those were the days. Not sure any of us could manage a long session like that anymore. Well maybs…

Up relatively early for me gran o’la. I do some exercises nowadays before getting up. Physio stuff in advance of the hip op. Gotta be done. Some of it hurts. When your hip is buggered… The exercises come with sound effects because I have to time and some of them and I do that by counting out loud. Ya gorra laugh. Just two and a half weeks to go now. Not that the exercises will stop then. Not until I’m bounding up Steep Hill or Y Wyddfa. Look em up. You know it makes sense.

Through the kitchen window I see some blue sky through breaks in the cloud. Nature lulling us into a false sense of security. No wind yet. The temperature is on the rise. Tomorrow is the day for the wind. I’m sure it will almost feel as if we are in da Carib ’ean during hurricane season mon. You can understand why folk depart these shores for warmer climes in January and February.

What’s life come to when all you can talk about is the weather.

…

At ten thirtynine it began to reign on Ragby Rode. THG took her car to the gymnasium which makes a lorra sense. I am in a brightly lit shed, observing. I’m also dipping in to my latest read which is handily positioned on the desk.

It must be said I am really looking forward to this hip op. I am sat on my backside all day. Not by choice. It’s because walking is v difficult. The worst bit is my “good” hip which really is no longer good and just as bad as the other. It has more strength and slightly more mobility  but is sore as hell. Two weeks on Tuesday is the day.

At 9.32am yesterday a fox came into the garden. Came through the beech hedge from next door, around the back of the shed, back between the shed and the greenhouse then around the back of the raised beds and through a hole in the bottom of the fence to the other next door.

I wasn’t in the shed at the time. And even had I been there I probs wouldn’t have noticed the fox. My desk faces in the wrong direction. Might have done. The fox may not have come had I been in the shed. Cunning.

Then two nights ago we had a hedgehog on the back lawn. Keep meaning to build a hedgehog house. It has been a long term item on my jobs list. Perhaps 2025 is the year of the hedgehog house.

Simple bacon and egg brekkie with a slice of toasted sourdough. I quite like the simple life. Some might not consider that breakfast to be a simple on. Porridge, Tref my son, that’s simple. Well I am not a porridge fan. I do eat THG’s very fine gran o’la with yo’ gurt and berries which is similar and perhaps slightly posher. Not today though, like I said.

Yet to cook said breakfast. Have settled onto a sofa in the snug. Too cosy man. On another sofa the talented THG is knitting a patchwork blanket. Fits in a row here and there when she can. We will be alright when the winter is at its worst. Oh that’ll be now. We have other blankets.

Makes me realise how different our lives are now compared to times gone by. Even when I was a kid, pre central heating days, you had to force yourself out from under the blankets. When you lived in a small farmhouse in Wales in the eighteenth century it would have been a tough one. They bred em hard in them days. 

I only mention it because that’s where I am at with the family tree research. THG’s side goes back a lot further – someone else has done the work. May get around to checking it someday. V time consuming. We are back to 1580 on her mum’s side, the Fletchers. Scotland.

I’ve been leaving the heating on in the shed so it is warm as soon as I get there. Otherwise it takes half an hour or so to get up to temperature and I’m sat there in a jumper with freezing cold hands. Ish. Only do this in the depths of winter.

It’s a big contrast to the height of summer where the shed doors are left wide open all day and I allow nature to enter into the picture. I have to shut the doors when going into the house for a cuppa or similar in case nature decides to go inside the shed. Had a bird do that in the past.

Anyway gotta go. There is bacon to cook.

Pre dawn down, stairs. Was awake. Time rushes by. Wind the clock forward, at pace. Back to  bed after making the tea. Back down for breakfast. Up, down, turning around, brewing the tea and defying the ground. I have another pot, of tea, in front, of me.

Bugger. Just missed a parcel delivery. Both of us were in but were otherwise engaged and didn’t hear the doorbell. The Ring doorbell is not the most reliable going. Now got to pick it up from the Carlton Centre Post Office tomorrow. Annoying innit. 

What if I was a little old person who couldn’t get to the door in time. I certainly was the latter. I almost certainly know what it is and due to the value will probs have needed signing for. Ah well.

Got another delivery coming between 11.10 and 13.10. Quite precise that. I’ve had examples of DPD arriving five minutes early and having to wait for the delivery window before letting me sign for something. This ain’t DPD. So I’m sat on the settee in the snug using my laptop. 

I’m wearing my spare specs this morning because I stood on my Oakleys in the shower room. Fortunately it looks like an easy fix but I’ll need to take them in to Clearview Opticians, when I have the car. Always something innit.

It’s come to something when listening to “thought for the day” is preferable to the news. Not that I normally like listening to the news anyway. Right now the news is full of Donald Trump crap. Ironically I’ve been putting drops in my left ear to unbung it a bit. The wireless set is next to my left ear. Feels as if I should be leaving it bunged up. Fortunately/unfortunately the drops seem to be working :).

Was a productive enough weekend, fwiw. I reattached the bath panel that the plumber had removed to replace the taps. All it needed was a replacement screw and a few drops of superglue at the top to keep it in place pending application of sealant. Simples eh?

Also took a look at THG’s ‘new’ slide projector and determined that it had been shipped sans slide magazine tray. Ten quid plus postage on eBay and five second hand magazines are winging their way to Lincoln as we speak, inshallah. We have zillions of slides from THG’s childhood to work our way through. A few gems in there no doubt. I believe we may have a screen in the attic somewhere but the front room curtains will do.

Finally the dinner last night was chops with veggies and the gravy for saturday’s poached partridge meal. Sensational even though I say so myself.

Exciting stuff eh? 

In the meantime I had a bit of a result on the family tree side. There’s lots going on but one of my great great grandfathers, William Davies was a farmer and a poet with the pen name Y Bardd Coch (The Red Bard). I’ve been looking for some of his poetry. Other than his epitaph I’ve not had much luck there but his gravestone does say that both he and my gg grandmother lived in a place called Maesybidie, or Maesybidiau.

Now their farm was called Coedsaithpren and the census records for his lifetime don’t show him as having lived in Maesybidie. However his burial record, found yesterday, says that his wife Anne died there and he died at his daughter’s woollen mill Maesdulais and that he had lived in Maesybidie.

This tells an age old story. Old couple retires from the farm and go to live in a cottage. Maesybidie may well have had other family living there as the census shows Davieses from the mid 19th century but not from 1901. William and Anne must have moved there after 1891. When Anne died in 1897 William will eventually have moved out and seemingly moved in with his daughter Mary Ann at Maesdulais.

Maesybidie is quite a famous place locally. It is a Welsh longhouse that has been there for hundreds of years and it is said to have provided shelter for Llewelyn ein Llyw Olaf, the last true prince of Wales, after a visit to Dinefwr (Dynevor). If yer interested there is an article from The Carmarthen Journal on Maesybidie here

If anyone can help with finding Y Bardd Coch’s poetry that would be most appreciated.

Ciao amigos

Finally found a use for the iPad Pro. I bought it maybe a couple or three years ago in a rush of blood after a boozy lunch in Soho with Charles Edwards and Martin John. Top of the range with all bells and whistles. We weren’t far from the Apple store in Covent Garden and it seemed to make sense. I had after all been thinking about doing it for ages as it could be useful to take on trips, being a smaller footprint than my macbook.

The reality turned out to be different. The user interface is crap for typing and it was not nearly as responsive as the macbook even with the expensive keyboard attached. Moreover, being a rubbish artist, I never used the stylus/pen thingy.

It is good quality for media streaming but most of the time I have my macbook for that although yesterday for some reason the latter stopped being able to see the chromecast. Even after I’d followed all the troubleshooting tips and updated mac os and chrome. I might have to resort to using the iPad to cast if I can’t fix the macbook but that is another story. Software eh?

So anyway now the iPad sits conveniently on the butcher’s block island in the middle of the kitchen in the ideal place to look up recipes. There is a scenario whereby THG decides it doesn’t belong there as it gets in her way but we aren’t there yet. Even looks the part. The modern kitchen/chef etc

Last night I cooked a deelish one pot poached partridge supper. It was loosely based on various online recipes but they all seemed a bit elaborate with fancy ingredients which I couldn’t be bothered to even look in the cupboard to see if we had them so I made it up as I went along. Did follow some of the processes which included pan frying the partridges first in butter. I think it made a difference. Anyway the result was good and was complimented by THG which is always v satisfying obvs.

This morning the day has started with one of THG’s invigorating granolas with yo’ gurt and blackberries we harvested in abundance last autumn and have frozen in batches. What’s not to like. Fruit related conversations this morning did cover the fact that the plumb tree planted against the trellis at the bottom of the garden was not doing the biz and we are considering replacing it with a fig. 

The apricot is diseased and is going to be felled. A bit of a dramatic way to say we are going to chop the apricot tree down. I’ve been watching too much Lawless Island on Disney Plus. It isn’t a particularly big apricot tree but an expert has said it ain’t going to do the job for us so going it is.

I don’t watch very many TV programmes but we got a free Disney Plus subscription so I trawled around the National Geographic section to see if there was anything worth watching and landed on Lawless Island, so to speak.

The first series was v good. Different. The subsequent series have been pretty samey. Wood chopping, fishing and deer hunting with a bit of trapping thrown in. Lots of swearing that is beeped out. Anyway I was watching the first episode of a new (to me) series to find that one of my fave characters had died during the winter because of a fire in his cabin. Oh dear. V sad.

Figured I’d google it  to find out more and it turned out it happened four years ago so presumably I still have a bit of catching up to do. Not sure I’ll manage the whole lot. 

During covid  lockdown I binge watched one of my fave programmes which was the one about the auction house in Yorkshire that sold classic cars. Can’t immediately remember its name. After four series I figured that every episode was just a repeat of the previous one but with different cars. Haven’t watched it since, even though I’m pretty sure that at least three more series have been produced.

It’s a problem, finding stuff to watch on the telly. Actually, no it isn’t. Just don’t watch the telly. We are ok tonight because the snooker is on and Liverpool will be playing in the week so that’s ok as well. And it’s University Challenge tomorrow. Yay.

Otherwise when the TV is on in the house I usually have my headphones on so that I don’t have to hear it. I’m a v fussy telly watcher. Dad’s Army isn’t on at the moment, at least not on free to air.  I especially don’t like the news. Too much bad shit happening.

THG has just put on her coat to go to church and I’m not even dressed yet. Better go. Ciao amigos…

Hooray it’s the weekend. That’s great isn’t it? Watcha doin? Anything good? Great outdoors, go to see a game, shopping? Stuff like that?

We used to have a routine at the weekend. The pre kid routine would have been different to when the offspring arrived but that would mostly have involved getting ready to go and play rugby, playing rugby, drinking, eating and falling asleep on the settee. Sundays were closed in those days though there may well have been a two hour window in the pub at lunchtime followed by a roast dinner and another slumber. I might be wrong. It was a long time ago.

When Tom arrived things changed. After breakfast he and I would go for a walk. It was the same walk every week. Living in Greetwell Gate we were only a stones throw from Lincoln cathedral and that would be our first port of call. First stop was the statue of poet laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson, the chapter house and the flying buttresses. Tom and I would do Hunchback of Notre Dame impressions shouting “the bells, the bells”.

Sometimes we would nip in to the cathedral. We would do this through the coffee shop which in those days was next to the chapter house. You could get in the back door of the cathedral that way without having to shell out real money to go in. At the front door there were fierce looking guards with, I’m sure, false smiles making you dip your hand in your pocket for a ‘donation’. It always felt a bit of a result being able to sneak in for free. That’s local knowledge for you.

Then we would mosey across Castle Hill to the castle itself and go and see the Magna Carta. After we had been doing this for a year or so the Magna Carta room got a new guard/attendant. Seeing a delightful small blonde child looking at the Magna Carta she wandered over to explain to Tom what it was all about, not knowing this was about the fiftieth time he’d seen it. You have to pay to see the document nowadays.

Finally we would end up at the Lawn and The Sir Joseph Banks Conservatory. This was a great gaff with different world zones containing plants he had brought back from his travels. There was a path meandering around the jungle and a large pond containing koi carp in the middle. We could easily spend an hour in there pretending we were going through unexplored jungle. There was a bench for me to sit whilst Tom got on his hands and knees and dipped his hands in the water.I might even have a paper with me. If THG took him he would only get a couple of minutes quick in and out and definitely no hands and knees and water. Happy days.

The routine continued when Hannah came on the scene, perhaps to a lesser extent but things changed when more kids arrived on the scene and we moved down the road to a bigger house. Sports clubs, swimming lessons and other family related activities took over.

Saturday afternoon was still the rugby club. The deal was the kids could have unlimited lemonade and crisps as long as I got to stay in the bar. I drew the line at chocolate thinking they would probably not eat their tea. As it was, THG always wondered why the kids came home with not much appetite.

The rugby club was a great place for kids. There were lots of others there and they could run around wild in gangs. There was always some parent or other keeping an eye out on them, I assume.

Anyway that was a long time ago. Today I am dropping Hannah off at the hairdressers and nipping to Wickes to buy some superglue. This pm might watch the imps on the box.  What you up to?

Warm house this morning. Wasn’t cold before but the heating was not quite up to scratch. Had the boiler serviced yesterday and in respect of the heating not working properly all the plumber had to do was increase the speed of the pump. At least it didn’t involve a new boiler which we only had a few years ago.

Had me granola and now contemplating the day ahead. It was the last of  the granola so hopefully another batch will magically appear. THG makes great granola. Fair play. Got a bit of work to do but nothing that will get in the way of life. Actually I quite like doing a bit of work once I get in to it.

Red arrows just flew by. I assume it was them or it could have been a jet from RAF Waddington. Sounded quite low. I’ve given up dashing to try and see them as they’ve always gone behind a tree or a rooftop by the time I get into the open. When I can see them they are usually quite high up and no good for photography.

The only thing I have in the diary today is “pay tax”. Fairly sure I did this in December though many festive spirits have flowed since that time and I’m not totes 100% positive. Could check the bank account I suppose. Obvs I have other things I could be getting on with. We do need to chop down the diseased apricot tree but this is something I might leave to an offspring. I can lop off the branches easily enough with my branch lopper (natch).

They’ve flown by again! Five times now and I saw them as I was walking to the shed. Just the two planes flying very low. As low as is permissible I imagine. Normally you see more than two of them practising formation flying. 

Many years ago when we lived in Greetwell Gate our neighbour Al did a stint at RAF Cranwell running the multi engined flying training. The time came for him to move back to his day job at BRize Norton so he got permission from the CO to take me up in the jump seat when he was on a training run. They don’t let just anyone go up you know but I was pitched as a VIP, being on the executive of the Parliamentary Space Committee (breathes on fingernails and rubs them on jumper).

Worra day that was. Crap weather but I got a tour of the base including the ops room where you could see who was flying where that day. Noone was allowed to come within a certain distance of a royal flight, fwiw.

Then we kitted up and spent an hour low flying over Lincolnshire including a couple of flypasts of the cathedral and our house. Unfortunately I had a crappy camera and it was raining so I didn’t get particularly good photos. That night, after a couple of beers in the officers’ mess Al and I went out on the lash in uphill Lincoln ending up, as you do, with a curry at the Raj Douth as was.

The Raj Douth was on Eastgate and very close to the Bishop’s Palace. It was my custom and practice when on the way home after a few beers to nip inside the gate of said palace and relieve the pressure in the bushes. Al, being a serving officer, declined the opportunity. Wouldn’t have looked good if he had been caught.

Nowadays the house is a former Bishop’s Palace, is privately owned and has electric gates that stay closed so the pleasure is no longer available to me. It was only a couple of hundred yards from our house and I could have waited until I got home to use the loo but the mischievous side of me liked the element of risk involved, albeit low.

Telling you all my secrets here. Better stop before I say anymore…

Searly. Looks as if sbeen a bit of frost out there. I read somewhere that some news hungry media outlet was forecasting snow towards the end of the month. Well it is January for Pete’s sake. Whoever Pete is/was. 

Doubt Pete was a weather forecaster cos that phrase is not just used in weather related sentences, for Pete’s sake. Being an oft used phrase, afaik, one assumes that Pete has benefited from the support. Would you call it moral support? Certainly not athletic.

So I’ve finished breakfast but have no pot of tea ready and can’t be arsed to get up and make one. My next step will be to pick up my new book: “Life & Tradition in Rural Wales” by J. Geraint Jenkins. V interesting. I half thought about getting in touch with him as I find his stuff interesting and useful and did look him up but discovered that unfortunately he kicked the bucket way back in 2009. Before 2009 I hadn’t read any of his books and wouldn’t have thought of hooking up. RIP J. Geraint.

I took delivery of three ‘new’ books yesterday inc two written by Gerry, the other being wool manufacturing techniques. Don’t recall the exact title but the book is in the shed and if you want to know just ask and I’ll look at it. 

The other book was The Historical Atlas of Wales. This was a well thumbed ex Manchester University Library tome but should come in handy. It has useful things like maps of the locations of Griffiths Jones Circulating Schools over time. I’d like to drill in and find the exact locations plus names of the students if possible. This information did exist as the teachers were remunerated based on the numbers of pupils and to support this they had to provide names. 

I am trying to find out where my antecedents learned to read and write. I began the process myself, I assume, at my mothers knee in Dolgellau, subsequently ably supported by the local infants school. Also learned to make bread in that school as I seem to recall. That class must have made an impression because I can’t remember anything else about that school.

Funnily enough I was approached by someone at Sue’s party last weekend who said she had been in primary school with me in Cardiff. Unfortunately I didn’t remember her. I was only seven for Pete’s sake. Pete must be one of the most mentioned people in history perhaps behind only Jesus Christ and God himself. Illustrious company. Helluva guy.

The totes incredible THG has just plonked a pot of tea down in front of me. This is the cue for me to stop typing and pick up my book. 

Ciao amigos.

PS Coffee at Waitrose around 10.45 if anyone interested. Book early.

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The big news this pm is that the plumber is coming to service our boiler. The hot tap in the bath is also dripping so needs sorting. We used to go years between boiler  “services” but got a letter in November saying it was a year since the last one. When I eventually got around to calling to book it I mentioned the aforementioned periodicity and the girl on the other end said she was newish and one of her jobs was to send out reminders. @Simon building up his retirement fund 🙂 V efficient. 

As it happens our central heating is not warming the house up as quickly as I am sure it can do so the timing is good. They were originally scheduled to come at the end of the month but finished a job early and are swinging by shortly which very much suits us.

THG reports it’s pretty gloomy out there. I looked up the forecast and misty it is. How do they differentiate between mist and fog? Maybe one is thicker than the other. Otherwise haven’t the foggiest 🙂

Although it is Wednesday morning it feels like a Monday cos we only got home yesterday afternoon. Just before dark. Freezing house which took ages to warm up. Boiler being serviced at the end of the month.

At ten o’clock it is still gloomy but the mist has dissipated. There’s a bird chatting away but I don’t think I can hear the other side of the conversation. Maybe I can and they both sound the same. The inside of the shed is brightly lit and calm. Needs a tidy though.

Breakfast was gran o lah, yo’ gurt and a strawberry with three or four blackberries. Nice to get back into a routine of sensible eating. I am pleased to say we face a quiet month ahead. Maybe the occasional get together for the rugby but no trips. Yay.

I’ve had enough trips to do me for now. Daresay I’ll get the itchy feet again and in fact I am working on a biggie, probs for next year. Got a lot of avios to use up plus a companion voucher.

…

Busy enough day of it. Bit of gardening, bit of family tree research, bit of work and an initial pre hip op call with the physio.

Three “new” books arrived.

Just had a dream. 

I rocked up at the hospital for my hip replacement and was immediately put on a bed/trolley, had a red arrow marked on my right leg,  given an injection in my spine and left alone while the anaesthetic took affect. After a while I got a bit bored and got my laptop out to start recording the whole process for posting later. Then I thought I might not have much time so hurriedly knocked out a Facebook post just saying I was about to go under the knife and I’d see you all after the op. At that point someone noticed I hadn’t actually parked the car and offered to move it to which I agreed. Then some others rocked up having been doing something in a field and set up a field kitchen or something. The place was getting busy. At that point it started to rain and I regretted not having the car to sit in so I got off the trolley and walked to a caff just over the road, climbed the stairs and took shelter under the canopy covering the veranda/porch. The anaesthetic still hadn’t kicked in and I started wondering where the medical teams had got to. I was just about to phone the hospital when I realised I was awake.

How about that then!

…

Nice spin out in the car for Sue’s birthday. Swung by Axminster Tools where THG bought a load of offcuts for two quid. Happy girl. Then went to Llanilltud Fawr where we planned to do the beach and the church which as you probably know is fifteen hundred years old. Worth a visit.

En route from Axminster Tools to LLiF (bit of a Welsh pun there) we got caught behind a funeral cortege doing thirty miles an hour. Maybe ten minutes into this  tediously slow procession we hit a junction which was a decision point. If the hearse and convoy went one direction we would go the other. They went left, we went straight on and before you knew it we made it to the car park down at the beach.

If you’ve never been, the beach at Llanilltud Fawr is a lovely spot. Great rock formations, pebbles and, on this occasion lots of driftwood including whole tree trunks. No way we would get that in the car. Caff was shut.  Bummer. Wot! Mind you most places were shut. A Monday South Wales in January. There were surfers out on the water and a couple of fishermen up on the headland. Seemed to be a long way from the water but who am I to say?

Now this is the funny bit. After the beach I expressed an interest in looking around the fifteen hundred year old church. I particularly like looking at the list of past vicars and seeing what was on the hymn list from the previous Sunday Service. Bugger me there was a funeral going on. The cars from the procession we had been stuck behind earlier were there, parked outside the church.

It was over an hour since we left them so can’t have been much longer to go. We found a caff and related the story to everyone who wanted to hear. They all agreed that it wouldn’t be long until the funeral was over as they had noted that it started an hour previous.

Two teas, a coffee and some sort of shortbread biscuit later we waved goodbye to the folks in the caff and mosied on back to the church. Blow me down, knock me down wiv a feather, the funeral was still ongoing. Ninety minutes in! Fakin L. We postponed the church visit to a time in the future and returned to the town hall car park. Ironically, as we departed Llanilltud Fawr, the church began emptying out. Black bedecked mourners making their way up the road to the centre of the village. Please note that when I go, the dress code will be flowery Hawaiian shirts. No black.

…

The road wound steeply up from the beach at Dunraven Castle. A barbed wire enclosed sheep field was decorated with scraps of wool. The telegraph wire perched heavily with small birds. These were not getting ready for an annual migration. Just a regular get together for the dissemination of information. Best place for worms in January.

We ignored the notice informing us of the parking charge. Nobody there to collect the money anyway and no obvious mechanism to pay. Parked on the front row by the sea wall and gazed at the surf, a couple of random surfers, two fishermen silhouetted on the headland and enough rock formations to distract a geologist. The driftwood heavy pebble beach banked up before us invited small children to throw rocks. It being a Monday no small children were to be seen. A good time to go.

A slow start to the day after Sue’s bash last night. Surprised meself by lasting until the end. I have a reputation for nodding off and going home early. Ensconced as I was in an armchair with a glass of wine within easy reach I held court. Sort of. Ish. Quite a few old pals of Sue there who I sort of knew from University days together with old family friends.

We are sat now in the front room doing our own thing. All is quiet. I hear the faint strain of the radio coming from the bathroom upstairs.

Great meal out last night with the scouts committee. Celebrating Akela’s retirement after 49 years as a leader, 47 with our group. Amazing. V cold out. Bacon roll for breakfast and finished off the sourdough with a bit of toast and marmalade. Gotta stoke the boiler, so to speak,on a day like today. 

Taking some survival gear with us in the car for the drive to Caadiff. A blanket and an extra cheese roll. Gotta be ready for all eventualities innit. Be prepared. At 9am it is minus two. I am mostly packed and am taking five minutes out to drink my tea in the snug.

THG is doing the first driving stint so I’ll be able to read my book n stuff. That’s one of the benefits of only having her car to drive. She wouldn’t drive my old Defender as it was too bit. I didn’t mind really but it did mean we wouldn’t be sharing the driving and I couldn’t spend half the trip buried in my phone doing social media. Not a bad thing really I suppose, probs.

Gonna wear my trefbash shirt for tonight’s party. That will halve the effective cost per wear. Another three wears and it will be down to the cost of a Tommy Bahama silk shirt! Feels a little out of place wearing a Hawaiian shirt when the temperature is below zero but that’s no different to its first outing in December in London really.

Tomorrow we have a family lunch in Heaney’s restaurant. It’s a posh gaff near Sue’s and I quite fancy a solid Sunday roast though no idea if they do such a thing, being posh an all. It’ll need to be substantial if this weather hangs around. Lettuce is out of season. Exactly one month today when I go under the knife so this is my last weekend “off”. 

Gotta go. Tara.

…

Lovely crisp white countryside out there. Someone has given the roadside trees a light dusting of white. V pictureskew. Minus three. The sun stays low, not rising above the treetops. Long journey ahead.

When we were kids and when we had kids a long journey would have included lots of singing. Took a while for ours to get into that but eventually they did and we got some great harmonies out of the. They all have good voices. Great voices even.

Stopped to clean the windscreen and then again in the garage in Newark to source winter screenwash. I daresay that’s what we already had in but when setting off it was frozen and the windscreen just turned mucky. Sorted now. 

The dirty windscreen has been replaced with fog as we drive through Nottinghamshire towards Leicester. Without the sun it’s just a yucky day on the roads. A foggy day, in Nottingham. There’s a song there.

Were it not for the fact that we are headed to Caadiff for Sue’s birthday the sensible thing today would have been to stay indoors and light the fire. Football on the telly. Tomato soup for lunch with nice crusty bread and butter and a chunk of mature cheddar cheese.

Cup of tea finished & now contemplating the day ahead. THG is out scraping the ice of her car windows. Heavy frost again last night. Will be killing off a lot of bugs in the garden. If I can psych myself up to do it, the issue being the cold, I’ll prune the grapevine this morning now that @Rod Whiting has provided instructions. 

It’s obvious what to do really but only once you know. When you drive past carefully tended vineyards with vines laden down with grapes you know there is clearly a knack to doing it and up until now I haven’t had that knack. It should only take five minutes and I have the secateurs in the shed and a pair of gloves so no reason why I can’t get on with it really.

With a bit of luck next autumn we will be picking bunches of grapes for the table although I’m not sure whether they are eaters or wine grapes. The few that we have managed to pick so far have been quite bitter but I put that down to just not understanding how to look after them.

I quite like this heavy frost lark. Feels clean. You have to be careful when treading on the deck in front of the shed but as long as you take care it’s fine. The shed is toasty and v cosy. A good spot to get on with some stuff today. Got an invitation to send out later. Organising a shindig in Antwerp. Just need to get motivated to do it.

Bit of packing to do this pm. Sue’s birthday bash in Caadiff. Going to wear my tropical trefbash shirt for the occasion. Gorra look good for ya blood and blister innit. The keto diet is on hold for the weekend starting today as it’s the annual scouts leaders Christmas dinner at the Wig and Mitre. Always a good evening. No uniforms allowed, not that I have a uniform. Chairmen don’t wear uniforms. I get to choose the wine he he. Don’t worry. There is nothing expensive on the Wig and Mitre wine list.

A squirrel just hopped by carrying a nut or similar in its mouth. Had my screen specs on so couldn’t make it out exactly. Nature in action. I’m assuming it keeps a stash somewhere. Otherwise all is calm in the shed. There is no wind to speak of. Just a layer of cold air enveloping the structure. No birds even. They have more sense.

We are at the bottom of nature’s cycle.The flicker of light that is spring is still far distant.

…

Pleased with my grapevine pruning efforts. Took more than five mins but it is now v tidy and I had a cup of tea brewing in the kitchen while I was at it so all good. Can’t believe it is Friday already.

Me new book has just arrived: A history of Wales 1660 – 1815 by E.D.Evans. The foreword mentions it as being written for A Level students. The first one in the English language as other books on the subject have been in Welsh apaz. So far it’s a good read.

I am reminded of the time that I bought a second hand French history book. The name escapes me (ohohiho) but the point is THG said she had had that book as an A Level French text book and couldn’t imagine reading it for pleasure :).