They don't make em like they used to

Went to see the in-laws this weekend and he asked me if I could do a job for him.
"Would you cut my leylandi please?"
"Yes, no problem - which one?" says I looking in the direction of the leylandi and wondering why he didn't want them all cutting.
"The one down by Carol's"
I look, I look again and look again.
"What Leylandi?"
"Oh, sorry isn't it a Leylandi? The yew then"
I wander down, believing I know what a yew looks like. Spousey is gathering gooseberries (she's made some LOVELY marmalade and chutney with them!)
"Where's this yew he wants cutting?"
"What yew?" she says looking round.
I go back to him.
"Do you mean the beech hedge?"
"Aye, that'll be it"
DOH!!

Well I start cutting it and the trimmers jam.
"They keep doing that" says he.
Can I clear the jam? Can I 'eck as like!
"Have you tried hitting them on the floor?"
So that's why the cutter is bent! I start taking them to bits expecting to clear the jam with loosening it all off but it won't play, so after training Sunday (Or should that be TRAINing?) I stripped them right down, removed the 'bit' that was floating around and Voila! they work again. I have cut my leylandi with them (and it was leylandi!) and they work fine. Sometimes I surprise myself!

The TRAINing went very well with a society from Bradford visiting and bringing a couple of engines. There were some youngsters (11-14 year olds) amongst them and they spent a lot of time with their eclectric 'diesel' shunting and when the engine 'failed' they set about fixing it themselves. I was well impressed. It's good to see young blood take an interest.

Nearly a week gone by..

And it's been a busy week. Not done a great deal in the garden, although we have cleared some London Pride to fellow freeglers and the alderman peas have needed tying up again. They can grow to 5 feet and they now stand about 6 feet and climbing. I have also been looking at the shop for the ethical store and am pleased the way that is looking, although there is more work than I thought.

It's been a frustrating month in some ways. With SOC's birthday, Holidays, Father's day and gymkhanas I haven't been to see the trains and I am starting to get withdrawal symptoms. You can see some of the trains at http://www.derbysmee.co.uk

One positive this week though is that I can now get in my garage! - I have been tidying it up so I can start some of the projects I keep thinking about - including that clock! Still looking out for hardwood offcuts.



All This gym work seems to be paying off though.

Another weekend

Been a fun weekend SOC went riding Saturday and then in a pony club gymkhana on Sunday. Sunday was also Father's day of course so got some grief from FOC for not being at home when she wanted to come round. Hey ho - kids! Well Saturday we went to see the in-laws and I had a couple of jobs to do. Job one was straight forward - re lay a couple of slabs. Second job was to replace a fascia panel on his conservatory that had rotted through. I started this this job to find the board below the fascia also needed replacing so the job doubled. I then found the guttering was not properly secured. The gutters were blocked. He want the moss scraping off the corrugated plastic roof and passed me a collapsing rake that only wanted to collapse, so I had to fix that. Got to clearing the roof and called down, "Have you applied a patch to this roof?" - "No" - "Well there's a piece of corrugated plastic floating loose - are you sure you haven't patched it?" - "Yes I have" - Doh! So next I had to go up and patch the roof again. And so the catalogue went on. Fun in deed.

I said the wife said I was becoming a Victor Meldrew.. Guess what I got for Father's day - a One Foot In The Grave Book! About the making really so it could be quite good. SOC got me a Dangerous Book For Boys - Things To Do! Now I can make a tree house. Well I have made one already and will later add a piccie, in fact must put up some of the things I've made in a photo album maybe? FOC got me 'The Italian Job 40th anniversay edition" but the crowning glory has to be The Railwayman's Diesel Manual. It looks like being really good reading!

When FOC came over to see me she showed me a bleb on one of her tyres. I could not believe she was running on it! Dad, well what are dad's for?, then set about changing it. She passed the wrench while I jacked the up and she found the locking wheel nut. My word the nuts were tight! I had to jump on the wrench to shift them and I had flashbacks to kick starting my Norton Commando 35 years ago! Got them undone and the car jacked and the wheel wouldn't move. I was struggling to breathe and it was beginning to look like a job for the RAC but I went to get a persuaderometer from the garage. A 22lb sledge hammer - tapped the wheel a couple of times and off it came. Time to put the spare on and she produces this 'thing' - A mint condition extending bar and sockets! "Why didn't you find this sooner?" - "Would it have made things easier?" - "Where did you get it?" - "HE was throwing it out and it was shiny so I thought I would have it" - HELP me PLEASE! Job complete - advice on replacement given and superman flies off into the distance. Well to some carrot cake and low fat cheese with icing sugar! - Don't knock it if you've not tried it - it was beautiful and thanks wife.

City Centre

Went into Derby today. Derby is a 'pretty' little city but the architecture varies from some very early buildings that house or once housed some very 'reliable' institutions to some very modern buildings that, to put it politely, not many people understand. While walking into the city today I was struck by the geese beside the river.

The number of geese was far more than we normally see and there was a bit of variety amongst them. I am not an expert but I believe that we see a couple of pink footed geese amongst the canada geese.
We also saw quite a number of goslings with some of them looking oddly marked. Something that struck us about the goslings was that they seemed to being looked after by the rest of the flock and not just their own mothers.

Although this little fellow is odder still and I believe it is with the white goose, which I also believe, is an escaped domestic goose. I do need to apologise for these photos though as they were from my mobile which is only VGA compatible. But it is nice to get some image when you hadn't expected to want a camera at all.
Although you cannot help but love these little fellows. They were being used to raise money for disabled children although I totally fail to see the relevance. SOC loved this and without the camera she wouldn't have seen it.

Less exciting times...

One of those days.

It started dull, became duller and ended up remarkably dull.

It became necessary to 'shop'. I am a normal healthy male and as such have a natural allergy to shopping. It takes a lot of time to drag me around the store so we don't get to the wood on those days.

I then need time to recover and eat. When all this falls on a gym day, there is not a lot of time before I have to go to gym. Sounds like a chore, but I do sort of enjoy it while, at the same time, recognise the beneficial effect on the cardiovascular system and cholesterol levels. They say it releases endorphins but I feel that to see a continued improvement in anything we do gives a good feeling of reward. Couldn't face the intended 6.5k today so tried another program and on the mill wound up the speed to 11kph, a .5% (not much but it is >0) incline and 15 minutes. It did truly feel good to finish the exercise. The graphs showed a much more intense activity program and I think I did enjoy it more. I am going to work on this type of program for a while.

Tomorrow we need to go and pick up the last holiday photos and do some 'town' shopping. Although we have digital cameras, our hearts are still in 35mm. Unfortunately the cost of processing has doubled in the last year and digital does have the advantage of you can publish the pictures immediately and we recognise that one day we have to commit to a change over. We still have huge stack of vinyl that we won't part with! We never did eight track though.

Today I finished 'The Portable Door' and true to form it was a very good read. I started reading Tom Holt when in hospital with the heart attack. One of the nurses saw I was reading Terry Pratchett's Discworld books and recommended it and brought me 'Ye Gods!' to read. I was released into the community before I had finished it so had to leave it behind, but my friends at work bought me a gift voucher for an online book shop so I could shop from the comfort of my home (I was under house arrest for the first 3 or 4 weeks) and so I bought a copy to finish it. I have decided to read another Holt - 'Only Human' which is part of a batch of books I was given by a freegler.

What was all the fuss.....

We did Pony Club today and at 17:55 the lightning and thunder started (Why do people say Thunder and Lightning? The lightning comes first because of the relative speeds. It's even first alphabetically. Why then?) and they all retreated to the cabin and did indoor stuff. They did a rising trot (apparently) by hopping round the cabin like bunnies. Then they did 'putting a tail bandage on'. SOC was key to this as she is the only one with hair long enough to be a ponies tail and they couldn't get Enoch in the cabin. Nett effect? All our efforts for a body protector in time for today were unnecessary. Is there a complaint box for God somewhere?

Went to the wood again today (and forgot to take the camera - sorry) but half way there it tried to rain. In T-shirts we carried on and under the leafy canopy we kept dry. By the time we left the wood the rain had given up and we were back to brilliant sunshine.

I went to the gym and tried my 6.5k but I chickened out at 6.3. I might have been able to continue but I decided it was still a personal best and I would call it a day. See what Wednesday brings.

While waiting for SOC this eveing I all but finished 'The Chapel at the Edge of the World'. It's a shame but I won't be marking it high at all. It's not actually in print yet as I have an uncorrected proof so that I can review it before publication. I have read a few like that recently and while it is a privilege it is also a gamble that you end up with a book you don't like.

A Sunday....

It has been a day dominated by the body protector. We tried to several saddleries and tried on several but still no proper fit. We were giving up hope when at the 12th hour a Freegler contacted us and they have gifted one. It passes the test here at home and now we must wait and see what the instructor has to say....

We have finally given the last of our flowers (or 'weeds' as we think of them) away. Been a lovely warm day and bright. Got some reading done while waiting for the family to get ready and so we have had a generally relaxing day, despite the many miles travelled.