rain

A difficult start . . .

/ Tony / 4 Comments

I knew it was going to be hard, but hadn’t really realised how hard it would be. The job entails me standing at a sink, washing the heavy stuff of the plates and pans and thinks from half past 10until 5 o’clock. It is the standing that is the hardest part. The kitchen is quite small, so there is not a lot of room to move about which is made worse when there is a couple of the table team in there too. Still, I couldn’t stay on furlough forever, so the bullet was bitten and I was back in work again.

My Space

By the end of the first day (of two!) my feet felt like I had done the walk I used to do when I was in my late teens. I often walked the 5.7 miles from work to home, especially if I had spent all my money in the pub at lunchtime. They just ached and it was even worse the next day when it happened again. What made it worse was that the café wasn’t as busy as it was expected to be. People are still a bit wary of eating indoors, so there were more customers outside than inside.

Oh well, I’ll see how it goes over the next few weeks, then look at my options.

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Spring Essentials

Thursday saw both of us at the Harrogate flower show, or Spring Essentials as it is called this year. I’ve been before and there used to be huge displays in the exhibition centre, but because of the current circumstances, all the indoor spaces were closed and everything was outdoors. There were two times when we could go, a morning session from 08:30 until 13:00 or 13:30 until 17:00. When my wife booked, only the morning session was still available as the numbers were limited to 5000 per session. So we arrived at 08:35 exactly. As the day progressed, it became obvious that we had got the better deal. By 12:00, it had started to rain, and from the pictures on the local news, the place became waterlogged very soon.

It’s not embarrassing … really

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Bottle Bank2Well maybe, a little. I went to the bottle bank today. We do get through quite a few bottles, but the recycling bank is just around the corner so it makes sense to me to go every so often with a good load. I have a prepared statement for anyone who queries the amount, and that is that “… I collect them for others in the street … older ones who can’t get about …”. It seems to work, although if it is someone from our street … well I tend just to smile and comment on the weather.

It was quite tricky this morning though. The wet roads had frozen during the night, and then this morning we had rain, and this froze also. So it was a bit hairy getting the bottles to the car or should I say getting the car to the bottles. I was told many years ago that walking on frozen roads needs a unique style of walking. You need to walk as if your ankles are tied together, so that you take very small steps. My friend likened it to ” … walking like one of the three little maids in The Mikado …” I may look like a fool doing it, but it seems to work.

It was cold last night though. Our heating boiler is programmed to come on at 06:45, which just seems to warm the house nicely for us getting up between 07:30 and 08:00. This morning I awoke for some reason at around 04:00. It happens some nights,Frost and I’m putting it down to age. I turned over, but then heard the boiler kick in. Cursing, I went downstairs thinking that we had moved the timer on in the evening and the heating had not gone off. But the controller was showing that the heating was off. that meant that the ‘frost-stat’ over the boiler had triggered due to the cold. It does that so that the water in the boiler does not freeze. Doesn’t happen often.

Is it that difficult …

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I’m moaning talking about driving. Not Formula 1, Moto-Cross or one of the myriad of other motor sports, I just mean everyday driving. Commuting to work, taking the kids to school or the weekly Tailgatingshopping expedition. I would like one of those cars that do not have to obey the legitimate speed limit. I don’t mean the emergency vehicles, no the ones I’m ranting ‘talking’ about are  those cars whose driver seem to think that because their car is bigger and more expensive than mine, they should be in front of me. They tailgate so close, just waiting for the opportunity to overtake. Half the time, I will end up catching them when they get to the next traffic lights or junction. Are these people so important that they have to always be the first in the line. I tend to liken it to bullying “Get out of my way, I’m better than you!”

Then there are the ones that have not adjusted their headlights to the correct angle. They always look like they are using full beam. It can be really dazzleSpeed Humpng when they go over a speed hump. While I’m on the side-subject of speed humps, why do some people like to speed-up between humps? I may have griped mentioned about this before, but there seem to be an increasing number of drivers that have an aversion to switching their lights on when it is raining. It can be so difficult to see a dark grey Volvo on a dark grey tarmacked when the light is poor and the rain in falling. Just because they can see others does not mean the opposite is true.

But a vehicle I would like to drive, is one of those vehicle that have the ‘Highway Maintenance’ sign on the back of their vehicle. I’ve seen the sign on the back of small vans,Highway Maintenance flatbeds, transit vans and even a few cars. I may be totally wrong about them, but most of them seem to be the worse for wear and look like they have not seen a MOT test in years. Most seem to have no regard for the rules of the road and drive like complete idiots (my opinion). They also appear to be able park anywhere they like, regardless of the danger to other road users.

Now the above does not apply to all the users mentioned, but it does in my opinion, apply to a great number of them.

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So that’s motorists out of the way and I spouted  talked about cyclists some time ago, so my next road diatribe discussion may be pedestrians. Possibly the most dangerous aspect of the outdoors experience.

Bit of a chunter …

/ Tony / 4 Comments

Chunter

There have been a few things that have irritated me this past week or so I’m having a bit of a mild rant today.

First up is driving in the rain. It’s not the driving that’s the problem, it’s other drivers. Not all, but Rainmany are guilty of the thing I’m moaning about. Picture this …driving along a grey road, on a grey rainy day and being closely followed by a grey car. Not so bad you may think. But he/she has no headlights on! Not even side lights! On the particular day in question, I counted three cars, two vans and a mini-bus with no lights on and that was in a one mile stretch of road. Incredulous. Do these people not know what the two functions of lights are … see and be seen. My driving instructor said that I should only put on my lights when they are needed. That was to ensure that lights were not left on accidently. But really, these days cars lights go off automatically when you lock the door, so leaving them on is not a problem. Even my little i10 turns the lights off for me.

Next up is those form you get through the post that have all your personal details already completed. Now I’m not talking Formsabout your name and address on the cover letter, that’s unavoidable, no It’s all those little boxes on the various pages that have all your details filled in. Quite often they are from banks or insurance companies and will have your details in two or three places. I reluctantly agree, that they can save you a little time when you fill the form in, but it is very annoying when you are not interested and have to spend time shredding every page. I once received a credit card application form (not requested) that had a total of 12 pages. My name and address were on both sides of six of these pages and on one side of another two pages. Fourteen different occurrences of the same details. The shredder nearly gave in!

This may be a strange one to some. It’s magazines! Or more to the point, magazine classifications. This is online and in shops. I’m currently in communication (ha…still waiting for a reply) with a magazine subscription reseller with regards to how they classify their sales. I had better explain where I am coming from. I’m a knitter. I’ve been a knitter for over 50 Magazinesyears on and off and I’m quite used to the double take when I mention this.  Now this reseller (not going to mention the name as my complaint is still on-going) has on their website a large number of magazines available for subscription. These magazines are listed in categories such as “Leisure Interests”, “Hobbies & Pastimes” and a few more. The thing that has caused this particular ‘chunter’ are the magazines that are listed in a classification called “Women’s Interests” and “Male Interests”. The Women’s list has magazines on sewing, crafting, the usual Woman’s Own type and all of the ‘chat’ types. The Men’s list has car magazines, motorbike magazines, so called ‘lad’s mags’ and heavy metal music magazines. Most of both lists are in other classifications, but it seems to me to be wrong in these times to have separate classifications for men and women. Just an opinion.

Just weekend things …

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About six months ago, I was preparing our Sunday meal when I had an idea. We were having tray bake (we don’t do traditional IMAG0817Sunday lunch type food) which was basically roughly chopped IMAG0816peppers, courgettes, onions with new potatoes and chicken thighs all mixed with olive oil and crushed garlic. I’ve got a picture somewhere but not sure where. Anyway, to the point. I was just about to throw the bit of the pepper that you don’t use, in the bin when I wondered if the seeds would grow. I’ve never had much luck with growing stuff from seed, but I thought I had nothing to lose. Within a week, the seeds had started to grow, and within a month I had nine small plants. Now six months on I have nine larger plants, with flowers and the first showing of some peppers. This has totally amazed me as I never even thought he seeds would grow. We shall see what we will get.

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Today is the first day of the 2018 “Leeds Festival” or as it is known locally “Leeds Fest”. It is one of the large music festivals that happen over the year and it runs at the same time as the “Reading Festival”. Both have the leeds_festivalsame acts over three days. Leeds is held at Bramham Park, which is extremely close to where we live. I have been back in 2011 and 2012 as local residents are allowed to purchase concessionary for the whole three days as part of a compensation pack. What happens is that the organisers donate a number of tickets to the parish council of Bramham, Clifford and Thorner (who are the most affected) and they sell them to the residents at a vastly discounted price. I think this year, the tickets were in the region of £40.00 for the three days in what is called the Guest Area, which is a much better camp-site then the general public get. So we get a few days of traffic disruption, a bit of disturbance during the night from the music and the local area gets some extra funding. As mentioned, I did got to the 2011 festival, and have great memories of dancing to Madness and seeing Ed Sheeran as an up and coming newcomer. There is a YouTube video of a band called “Bring Me The BMTH 2011Horizon” or BMTH, finishing their set with a massive ‘circle pit’. The sound is pretty bad but, I can say that I was in the midst of it and it was as scary as it looks. From what I can remember, I was towards the bottom right when you look at the video. The guy next to me, at the time said I was in the ‘wrong place at the wrong time’ and advised me that the safest thing to do was to run !! K*** says that it would kill me if I did it now … it nearly killed me then!

I had a ticket for 2012, but the weather was very wet, and I was not that desperate to see many of the bands so I gave most of them a miss. Although I did get to see Foo Fighters, The Cure and Florence And The Machine, so not all that bad.

And now, in time honoured fashion for ‘Leeds Fest’ … it’s raining !

Better not speak to soon …

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Well, the weather has not been as bad here as was forecasted. We had a bit of snow first thing yesterday morning, but it had gone within an hour or so. This morning there was more, but most of that has gone now. We keep getting the odd 10 minute shower, but we’ve had nothing like what seems to have been happening in other places. Looks like we might be in for another shower in the next hour (15:00 now). Some rather ominous grey clouds seem to be drifting in from the North East.

Now although, our weather has not been bad, in the five mile drive between here and Wetherby this morning, I did run into quite a heavy shower of snow, which  needed the wipers on at double speed to clear the windscreen. Bearing that in mind, you would think that motorists would drive with  a little more caution than usual. Not here they don’t. The road, a single carriageway, has the national speed limit along most of the route, only dropping to 40mph as you approach the roundabouts. This speed limit appears not to apply to some drivers. On the longest straight stretch, I was overtaken by two cars going at least 70mph and probably more. I have no idea why they need to go at that speed at all, especially as when I got to the roundabout, they were still waiting move on! I joke with K*** that it is ’… because their cars are bigger and more expensive than mine, that they in front of mine …’ but it could be true.

It’s 15:20 and those grey clouds have delivered. It’s gone from sunny to heavy snow. But now, P1020181only 5 minutes later and it’s stopped again! It was heavy enough to give a covering to the car though. Its strange, because the sun is coming out now and the sky is once again blue. It’s very confusing to an old ditherer like me. Still, the youngest lad will be in his element. He loves watching it snow. He’ll flit from room to room, looking out of the windows, just to make sure that it is snowing everywhere. It can be so funny to watch him at times like this. He should horse-riding today but I wonder if he has gone. It is one of his favourite activities, but he hates getting rain on his face so we are hoping that it will be different with the snow. You can never tell.

It’s the August Bank Holiday and Leeds Festival …

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This is that time of the year, when the Leeds and Reading Festival takes place. These are two of the largest music festivals in the UK, and take place simultaneous over Friday to Sunday. There are usually the same acts appearing at both sites over the Image result for leeds festival 2017three days. I was going to link to festival, but know of old that these links often simply disappear, so I’m going to make do with a couple of images. We live quite close to the site, so we get all the traffic and noise issues. Happily, Image result for leeds festival 2017the organisers seem to have got the traffic problems under control this year, as there has not (yet) been a repeat of the 5 hour tail-backs on some of the approach roads. The noise? Well it all depend on the wind direction. If the wind is in a certain direction, we do get the continuous hum from the motorway so when  that happens we do get some of the festival noise, but it’s not been loud enough to notice.

I have been before, back in 2011. The Parish Council of Bramham and Thorner are allocated a number of free ‘Guest’ tickets. From BBC NewsThese ‘sweetener tickets’ are then sold to genuine residents at an extremely discounted rate, with the funds going to local projects. Every year since 2011, I’ve thought about going again, but at the last minute, I back down. I don’t think K*** would enjoy it and I wouldn’t want to go on my own. But who knows how I will feel next year? I have to admit, even though the weather was bad that year with some rain on each of the 3 days, it is quite an experience. The weather has been sort of kind this year, except for the 23rd this month, when we experienced 3 weeks rain in one hour! Now that was a wet day!

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I’ve come to a decision! Crochet is not my thing and I’m dumping my hooks (except a 3.5mm and 6mm). I can knit. I do knit. I will have a go at any knitting pattern or stitch that you care to through at me, but I totally fail at crochet. I just cannot get my head/hands around it. I’ve watched all the tutorials and even had a ‘one-to-one’ with a work colleague and I still cannot do it. It looks like the old ‘Granny knots’ we used to do when I was a kid. So I’m calling it a day. I’ll keep the two hooks I mention, as they can be very useful to pick up dropped stitches and the like, but the rest …gone!

A couple of days away … day 2

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So, after a good hearty full English breakfast, we set off for Robin Hoods Bay. This is a small cove about 5 miles from Whitby that was used in previous times by smugglers. All very romantic and exciting … apparently.

We had a good look around the few shops that had not closed down for the winter and a nice drink in the pub at the bottom of the main road.

During a break in the rain, we managed to have a look out over the bay at the the slightly turbulent sea. Now here is my moan. It was cold. It was wet. It was windy. But out there in the sea we’re four or five surfers! I can barely understand why people do this in places where the surf is high and the weather hot, but when the weather is as bad as it has been and the waves seldom get over 2 foot high, I just don’t get it. We watched them for a good 20 minutes, in which time they managed to paddle out about 100 yards. Then “the wave” came and they started to paddle back. Only one managed to get to his/her feet and they lasted no more than 3 (and I counted) seconds before they fell off! It is completely beyond me.

Moan over.

Got some great pictures in Robin Hoods Bay which I’ll post later. Need to get them off my camera before I can upload them.

A couple of days away …

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It was our wedding anniversary on Friday. Thirty eight years! So here we are having a couple of days away in Scarborough. Not exactly in Scarborough, but just on the outskirts. 

It’s bloody cold! We were expecting it would be, and were expecting that it would be raining all the time too. But the rain has held off for most of the time, although it was a bit horrendous driving. 

Tonight we are staying at The Copper Horse in Seamer and then we move to The Plough at Scalby. Both are on the outskirts of Scarborough.

I have couple of photos, but I’ll post them when I do a full post later this week.

BTW … still not quite got my head around this retirement idea yet.  

So this is Christmas (cue song)

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Well, it’s Christmas Eve, and I’m at work. Nothing much happening and I’m beginning to wish I had taken a leave day. I don’t think anybo1229694269493111958sheikh_tuhin_Christmas_svg_meddy would have minded as it is not as if anything could have been fixed if there had been a problem. Although saying that, someone needed to be onsite.

There are very few colleagues in today and of course, being Britain it’s raining. A quick check of the support email inbox shows that as yet, nobody has forgotten their password/login name/own name (there is still plenty of time) and nobody has asked for a new user to be created.

Disappointed that the snack van did not turn up this morning. Had a feeling that it wouldn’t, so feeling more than a little peckish.

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What will the New Year bring? Well I’m tempted to try and take at least one day a month where I work from home. Then maybe build it up to two days a month. Others in the wider team seem to do it without any issue. Mind yhappy-new-year-mdou, I may not be in the same team this time next month. I put in my application form in for the job in the team I’m working with at the moment, and today is the cut-off date. I should hear by the middle of next month if I have got an interview. The interview will be the big test. I have not had a proper interview for about 10 years. All the job changes over the past few years have been ‘slot-in’ interviews which are just meetings to see if you are interested in the job. However, I’m not going to worry about it. If I succeed I succeed and if I don’t, I haven’t really lost anything.

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I suppose I should consider where this blog is going. Do I want it to be more specific? Should I have a theme? Should I have a set target for posting? Or should I just carry the way I am doing, with random posts on random themes? All things I need to consider over the festive period. I will also have to consider if I’m going take up one the many excellent WordPress blogging courses that will be on offer next year. Only time and commitment will answer that one.

 

After the Party … Leeds Festival 2011

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Well it’s over for another year, and how do I feel about it this year. Mixed feelings really. I suppose the weather Leeds Festival Mudhad a lot to do with it. The continuous rain on Friday, left me feeling very depressed. Then there was the mud, which really made the weekend, very hard work. I know festivals are supposed to be wet and muddy, but ….

We did not camp after the Thursday night. S****’s tent got a quite a bit of water inside. One of the door flaps did not get closed properly, so the floor of the tent was quite wet. Some rain got under the roof vent on my tent and leaked a bit. We only live a couple of miles away, so it was as easy to go home to sleep. With the added benefit of a cooked breakfast.

On Saturday, they had the bright idea of laying straw on top of the mud !! I’m sure I read, that they used to make houses out of straw and mud !! The walking was a bit easier, but the mud had started to dry out and was very thick. Sunday was much dryer, in Seasick Stevefact it was very pleasant. We did get to see a number of bands, but never even went near the comedy tent. For me, the highlight of the whole weekend, was seeing Seasick Steve. A real experience, made even more so by the fact that before his second song, he brought on John Paul Jones, bass guitarist from Led Zeppelin !! Such a legend.

This was followed a bit later by Madness. I’m afraid, I did get a little carried away with Madness. I’ve always liked them, and when you’re in the middle of a large crowd, close to the front and wedged in, there is not a lot you can do. you just have to go with the flow. I paid for it later though. My legs were like lead weights for a couple of days !!!

All in all, I probably enjoyed it more than I think. Next year ?? Well I don’t think I/we will be camping this time!

Rain ….

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Well, first full day in Blackpool, and it’s raining! To be honest, the weather-man got it right. Might pick up later in the day.
Drive here went OK. No hold ups at all, and for once, we did not take the wrong turning this year. Cheers Google !
R*** is doing well. No incidents yet (touch wood). He wants to do the charity shops today. May be better this afternoon.

Home again

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A ridiculous amount of rain this morning in Whitby. Made packing up the car a bit of a damp experience. The rain did not stop until we reached Pickering. Had a walk round, then onto a Garden Centre nearby. No purchases though.

Lunch at the White Horse at Deighton. Then back home to await the return of the youngest, and to wake up the eldest.

Saturday – Whitby

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A longish walk from the appartemnt to Sandsend. All along the beach. Lunch in the Hart Inn. It was quite a small place, but very busy. Managed to get a small table in corner, so that was quite good. We had a prawn sandwhich and a bowl of chips between us. It quite ample, with a nice pint of Greene King IPA to wash it down. Weather was great walking there, but it cooled down on the way back, with just a few spots of rain.

Not sure where we are going to eat tonight. Will decide later.

Another day off ….

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   Yes, another day off on Wednesday. well it is my wedding anniversary, so i think I’m entitled. A reasonable day at work today. S**** appeared to be in a better mood than yesterday (I’m still flavour of the month) although still managing to be a pain. The migration from Lotus Notes to Outlook continues, with very few hitches that I can see. A couple of people have had a few problems, but no one seems to have anything major. The photocopier/printer packed up today. It was unbelievable. The status message said ‘Faulty Printer Board  – call service engineer’. Now you would think that would indicate that a serious problem existed. However, it took one of the staff nearly 20 minutes off trying to remove imaginary jammed paper, before they told me of the problem !!!!

   Mrs H ordered the new car today. She’s not picked the colour yet, as there are new models coming out in December. Apparently, because of the popularity of the Volvo C30, she was advised to order now. It will seem very different for her, from the Scenic.

   The car seemed fine after it’s service, although it was a nightmare driving to work. Dark, foggy, lots of rain with plenty of spray on the motorway, made for a scary experience. Most of the drivers seemed to take note of the conditions and drive appropriately, but there are always the odd lunatic, like the guy that left it too late at A1/M1 junction. The half-wit came flying across from the 3rd lane and joined the A1 by crossing the hatchings. Another few seconds, and he would have hit the banking.

   The quote came through for my car insurance renewal today. I have not had a claim in 4 years, and LV have increased the premium by 10.5%. Outrageous !!!!

And now for something completely different …..

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   Firstly, may I apologise if I offended any non-spammers with my last post, but I get a little annoyed sometimes. I have been told, that it’s my fault, because of the the tags I use, but I do not remember using any tags that could invite some of the spam I have been getting. Rant over !!!

   It rained a bit today, didn’t it !!! First time I’ve travelled down the M1, in the outside lane, only doing 50 !!! A little hairy to say the least. Of course, you still had the HGV drivers, who think it is great fun to try and overtake other HGV’s whilst going uphill !!!! I don’t think, some of them, realise what problems they can make. Then you come to a downhill slope, and they try to overtake again, and that’s when their speed limiters kick in, and you see the overtakers going slower than the vehicles they are overtaking. I’m convinced, that their sat-navs must say something like “Hill approaching!!!! Move into centre lane immediately”, because that is exactly what they seem to do. Rant two over.

   Blogging from email seemed to work quite well yesterday. I managed to find out, how to add tags, in the email, which is good. Thanks go to the WordPress Forums and WordPress Support. Now I need to see if there is a ‘short code’ for setting categories. I don’t imagine there is for a moment, but if there is, someone will know.

Its official …… I’m a ‘nerd’

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It’s true …… I am officially a ‘nerd’. To be precise an ‘Excel Nerd’. Well here’s the story. I regularly read the ‘”Contextures Blog” (quick plug) which is an excellent resource for all things Excel, run by the wonderful Debra Dalgleish. I came across this by accident, whilst looking for a solution to a problem with an Excel formula. To cut a reasonably short story even shorter, there was a competition on the website, and I won a prize !!! Thanks very much Debra. It was quite unexpected.

Quiz-nite !!! Well what can I say. Our team was only three points off winning. Not in any of my wildest dreams have we got that close. To be honest, there three questions, that if we had not have changed our minds (and it was a joint decision), would have projected us to the dizzy heights drawn winners. And…… if I had looked a little more closely at the picture of the group, I may, possibly have got it right. I said Earth Wind & Fire, and it was The Commodores. So four questions off winning !!!!! However, I did win the Bingo. It was a joint win, so I had to share, but £13.50 came in very useful, and it was drinks all round for our team. It was a good evening. B** and R** are nice people, and good old Dr J*** was a laugh too, despite his injured Achilles tendon. I don’t know if I’ll go next week. They are after all S****’s friends, and I have serious doubts that when he has left, they will ask me to meet them. I may be wrong.

No walk again. This rain is becoming a bit of a bind, and I’m starting to get a little bored at lunchtimes. My ‘pedometer pack’ has not arrived yet, and according to the coordinator, we start on Monday! I also had a look at the price of ‘cheap’ running shoes. Best price at ‘World of Windsor’, was £25.00, for a make I have never heard of. I do not want to pay a lot, for what may be just a flash in the pan idea.

This blog, seems to be getting somewhere now. Forty two hits yesterday, plus a very generous comment from a reader, and at the last count I had thirty two hits today. This may of course go up (he said with his expanding head) when this gets posted.

Finally, work is getting tedious and annoying. The phone calls I was waiting for yesterday, I am still waiting for …… We have an update to the SQL Server on Sunday (yawn … nerdy Geek stuff … its in the blood now). I have emailed all the relevant people, but you can put money on it, that I will have to do a reminder, before I leave on Friday.

Done for now. or I’ll have nothing to write tomorrow.

Rain and more rain

/ Tony / 2 Comments

I did not get out at lunchtime. By the time I had finished troughing, there was no time left. And then it was raining when I got home.

It was another day of non-returned calls. Both the software house and repair company did not call back. I’m sure its a plan to get extra time.

Last family quiz-nite tonight. Eldest goes on Saturday, so it may be a little emotional. Then again it may not. I think a couple of his friends are joining us. Hope it is as fun as last time. We cannot move in here at the moment. Everywhere you turn, there are boxes and boxes of pots and pans and food and stuff for the flat. It is going to be hard work getting everything over there. I think it will take more than one trip, but we will see.

That is it for now. There may be more later.

Better put the bin out……

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I feel quite tired tonight. It must be du to trying to sleep with one ear open, listening for the eldest to go to bed. He has to be up at 7:15 this morning, but he was still chatting to D*** at 3am. D** finally went home at 3:15. Eldest looked like death warmed up and gone cold this morning. Apparently, he did not look much better this evening. I know he’s young, but even so. He is out with the ‘ex’ and her mother tonight. They have gone to see Blood Brothers in Leeds. I hope he catches to last bus.

Work is still work. Getting grief from ‘kid’ engineers, who know little about nothing. But good ole Spike to the rescue …. all is serene. What would we do without him. Answers on a postcard no later than Thursday…… It is quite annoying, when you have been doing something for many years, without any issues, and some little upstart comes along and tries to belittle you.

No ‘work out’ today. It was raining at lunchtime, and I just could not be bothered when I got home. I’d been to Asda, as I had seen Jim Beam at £10.00 a bottle on Monday. Of course, the offer had finished by the time I went today. I really must learn to impulse buy sometimes, when there are good bargains to be had. It was the same with the shorts I saw at half price. by the time I had decided that it was a good price, they were back up to full price again. Missed out on a linen shirt for the same reason.

I think that is just about it for tonight. Must remember to put the dustbin out though …

A wet day

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It was a bit wet at lunchtime, but still warm. Warm and wet does not bode well for a walk by the sewerage works. So I thought I would walk when I got home again. However, It was looking really unsettled, when I got home, and true to form, it was raining within half an hour. Anyway, after yesterdays ‘epic’ four miler, my legs were a bit achy.

Eldest is out on the lash, in York tonight, with some old school pals. As we do not have a bus service, that would get him the 15 miles or so to York, I took A64 at Bramhamhim. It is ridiculous really. It is only 2 miles from our house to the A64, but we would have to catch a bus to Seacroft (10 miles), to catch the bus to York. It always gets me angry, when people says we have to change our reliance on the car. Improve the bus services and people will change. I get even angrier, when they call it ‘public transport’. It’s not!! They are private commercial companies that are in business to make a profit for their shareholders. Customers take a back seat, and routes are only viable if they make lots of money. Rant over !!

J**** was back tonight. I left an offline message, but when I logged on to MSN, she sent a goodnight message. She will have been travelling for a long time, so bound to be tired. We will chat tomorrow hopefully. I have missed her. Strange that, after such a short time. I had a bit of chat with N*** on Yahoo this morning. We’ve not done that for ages. It was good to hear from her.

S**** is having his PDR (personal development review) tomorrow, so that means that we will have to have ours next week. It will be next week, as he is off the week after (hurrah). I would love to be a fly on the wall when he does G***’s PDR. I imagine that sparks will fly !!!!

All done (see I appear to be writing everyday…how long will this last … watch this space)

….. back to work we go ……

/ Tony / Leave a comment

What a horrible Bank Holiday Monday it has been. Rain all day, and cold too. It has been a strange weekend really. The youngest has been fine all three days, which was a help. The eldest……well that’s another story. He left his wallet at work on Saturday, he hopes. Then Sunday night him, his girlfriend and some friends went to the pub, then onto the friends house later. Did not get in until 3:30am. Then his girlfriend was ill all night, and this morning had to Harrogate for 11:00am. We left at 10:41am !!!!!!! I think I did pretty well to get them there for 11:10.  I thought he was going to burst into tears when he got in my car. He looked so depressed, and she looked upset too. so what could you do or say ? He had not even said goodbye. I told him to either say goodbye or go ! So he went! He was supposed to come home with me, but he decided to go out with them for the day, and stop the night. It is very upsetting for Mrs H.

It’s a four day week for the next four weeks. A leave day, another Bank Holiday and my hospital appointment. I could get used to this. Dentist tomorrow though and this time I need some work doing. I think I lost part of a filling. The tooth is quite sharp and was a little sensitive a week or two ago.

I put the new wheel trims on yesterday. They look very good. I also tried putting the graphics on, but that was not as successful. I got one on, but it did not look right. In fact it looked quite tacky. Not at all like I expected, so I took it off straight away.

Still no sign of Mrs C on MSN. As before, she has been in facebook, but not at the same time. I’ll just check MySpace ……nope not there. I’ll tell you what though JM left a tweeted at around 6:00pm that she was having a nap, and would someone text her at 6:45pm. So I picked up her mobile number from facebook and sent a text at around 6:50pm. Thought no more of it, until she replied back by text to say thanks. I was amazed … the power of Twitter I suppose.

Holiday …. all done

/ Tony / Leave a comment

Well back to work tomorrow. In some respects, the week seems to have flown by. In others it dragged a little. The drive there was quite reasonable. It was all motorway, M1, M62, M60, M61, M6, M55 with a short distance on an a road at each end. I don’t mind the motorways. I don’t seem to get a frustrated on M roads. We only had one hold up. It lasted for about 40 minutes and was due to some kind of spillage on the M6. A couple of very stupid girls in the jam. Sat in the middle lane, music on full blast, bouncing up and down in their seats. Suddenly the passenger opened the car door and started dancing in the middle of the road. Stupid.

Weather was kind to us though, no rain to speaBlackpool Tower Circusk of until Friday, but quite windy. I caught a bit of sun on the the Thursday and Saturday. On Tuesday we did the walk from the lake at St Anne’s to Lytham which was nice. Wednesday saw us in the Blackpool Tower. We went to the circus, but it was not the youngest’s type of thing. He lasted an hour, which was not bad for him. It is not the same though. I was quite disappointed with the whole show. The clowns seemed to reply more on vocal humour than the slapstick. Mind you, no body can come close to Charlie Caroli, and I think was expecting too much. Thursday was a trip to Marton Mere. We saw the leaflet last time, but never got there. Interesting place. It seems it Marton Mere is a 10,000 year old lake. One of only two natural lakes in Lancashire, and it was remarkably clean and litter free, despite  being next to a caravan site.

Saturday, saw us back up at Lytham/St Annes again. A different walk this time, and a lot less windy. Here comes the rantLytham Windmill … I get sick of seeing dogs everywhere. I worked it out, every third person/couple/family had a dog or dogs. They all seem to be on extremely long leads, when they are on leads at all. I never remember seeing as many dogs when I was a kid. And talking of kids (rant part two), why are they so noisy these days. Always screaming, and out of control. not like when I was young……… showing signs of age now.

One annoying thing though. I like to walk through the Pleasure Beach at Blackpool. Very rarely go on any of the rides (too pricey these days), but I enjoy marvelling at the amazing The Big One attractions. Not any more …… there is now a £5.00 charge for people just to walk round. So that means, those who go with their kids, and look after the bags and prams, now have to pay for the privilege. An absolute disgrace, and I think may be a wrong move, as I think some people just won’t go.

Set off home on Sunday at around 10:00 (I like to get home early on the last day) and was home for 12:15. It could have been 11:30 if we had not stopped for coffee.

All my plants/seedlings were okay. Eldest had done quite well there. The house was okay, no problems there. Just one problem, but we talked it through, and I think he got the message.