Author: Jeff

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Death of the red shed

Pic of the week

Wednesday afternoon – cold, tired and miserable, after refereeing a somewhat unnecessarily tetchy U15B team game, I go to the car and turn the key. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. The car wouldn’t start.

Now, I can’t say I hadn’t been warned: on Saturday, again at Kingweston, getting into the car after my match, I turn the key, it fires up and dies immediately.  I try again, nothing. And then again, and it bursts into life, I drive home and forget about it. Wednesady afternoon, going to Kingweston it did the same. I did pause, I did think “perhaps I shouldn’t take her” but she was running fine, and I figured worst came scenario the same thing would happen, so I drove to Kingweston – the airbag light coming on a couple of times on route.

But no, I was getting nothing.  Got a lift back to Street and I was annoyed (at myself more than anything, for ignoring the earlier gremlins). I figured it was either a sticking starter motor or, more likely, a failing ECU.  Anyway, we waited at home for about half an hour to allow the masses to disperse, I grabbed a few tools, and Becky took me back to Kingweston.

Suspecting an intermittent ecu/electrical problem I thought I’d try disconnecting the battery, reconnect it, and try and start the car.

I tried, I failed.

I was pretty much all out of ideas, and beginning to think about how I was going to get the red shed home, or arrange for it to be collected from Kingweston. I could see my half term being lost in admin and faff.

One last shot: I disconnected the battery again, but this time left it disconnected for longer, about 3 minutes.

I put the key in the car and turned. Still nothing.  This was the last throw of the dice.

But, but, I thought I’d heard a click of a servo I hadn’t heard before, so I gave the key one last turn, and old faithful burst into life! Overjoyed, I gingerly nursed her back home, the dashboard lights flashing like some poor-mans ’80s disco, but I got home. I was a happy man!

On Friday I tried firing her up again – nothing, but after disconnecting and reconnecting the battery I coaxed her into life. Same again today.

But the red shed is dead. I have arranged for her to be collected on Thursday afternoon, netting me the princely sum of £150 (at this stage, any money is a bonus, I just want her out of my life now)

And cometh the hour, cometh the 205 which will now be elevated to second car status and pressed into regular use.

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Films and thermostats

Pics of the week 4/2/24

Last night was cinema night.  Becky and I went to see the film “Next Goal Wins” at Strode studio we both really enjoyed the film. Based on a true story, it was about the American Samoa football team – the worst in the world – who were still licking there wounds after a record 31-0 defeat by Australia. They hired a new coach to try and turn around their fortunes, and it was a film about him, rather than football, all set against a back drop of green mountains, blue sea and even bluer sky (I think I could be happy living on that island!) The film was light hearted, funny at times and suitably uplifting to have made it worth dragging ones tired body out of the house on a Saturday evening, when a comfy sofa on which to snooze was the alternative!

Also this week, Becky came home on Tuesday saying that her car had made a “pffft” noise – not unlike me, asleep, she said – and then produced a lot of smoke.  My initial diagnosis that a coolant pipe had burst or come loose was correct, I found that one of the pipes from the thermostat had broken – the plastic insert that joins the body of the thermostat to the pipe had broken, necessitating removal and replacement of the thermostat.  As ever, the trickiest part was getting access – in the end I removed the battery and battery bay, I also removed the ecu, but probably didn’t need to, replaced the thermostat (£20) and the job was done.  Did rather enjoy the whole process.  This is the offending part (the black plastic insert had sheared at the joint with the body):

Sophie came home on Tuesday – fed up with the noise of the railway repair work going on outside her flat at night and it was nice to see her, although she was not feeling 100%  I think I’ve got over my cold, but am tired – I need half term to come in four and a half days ….

Not one that I planted, but the first daffodil is flowering – in the stone trugg outside my room, I don’t think it will be too long before a number of others are in flower as well. I hope so!

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A Greek Odyssey

Pic of the week 28/1/24

This week has been tough – I’ve not felt one hundred percent (a cough/cold has been bugging me since last weekend), work is in the difficult days when students and staff are tiring and starting to get things wrong, and I don’t seem to have had time to do much.

One thing we have been doing, though, is booking our accommodation for our Greek Odyssey in July. We’re now all booked up – we land in Santorini, then go to Milos, on to Sifnos, from there we go  Antiparos before our final island stop on Syros. Then its back to the mainland, landing at the Athenian port of Piraeus for a couple of nights then flying back to Bristol. (There is an error in the above pics – we were going to stay in Pollonia on Milos, but have changed our minds, and will now stay in the port town of Adamas. It seems (and it is) a long time away, but something to look forward to in these grey January days.

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The big chill


Pic of the week 21/1/24

The cold weather has persisted this week – in fact it got a whole lot colder towards the end of the week. For me, Thursday seemed particularly cold – walking home from school at circa 6.45pm (after detention) I was so cold I almost broke into a run just to get me home. I think the temperature did fall to about -4 degrees overnight.  I have decided that I definitely don’t like the cold . Did I say that last week? I think I did. It must be true!

But its all change today – its be grey and (relatively) warm (its still January, so not shorts and t-shirt weather, but could do a few outside jobs in fleece and body warmer) and a bit blowy.  As the afternoon has worn on, the wind has whipped up and it is now blowing fiercely and the rain has returned. Although I’ll probably be complaining about the wind and rain before long, I think I do prefer it, and I do quite like the energy and excitement of the wind when it blows.

Today, I replaced the sensor light on the back of the house. Not a difficult job – took the old one down last week as it kept tripping the circuit breaker, ordered a new one and wired it in today.  Also ran my second 10K of the year, am pleased I am now once again regularly running this distance.

Have been helping Sam, remotely, with re-arranging equations as he revises for an Economics exam tomorrow, It is pleasing to see that he does now take his studies seriously, and works independently; thought we’d never see the day!

This week I have a watched a Spanish language film, entirely in Spanish – albeit with Spanish subtitles. La Sociedad de la Nieve , a film about the Uruguayan plane crash in the Andes in 1972. It helped that I new the story – hace muchos anos, I had watched (with Becky) the film Alive, which was an English language version of the story, and I then read the book; plus it was a “slow paced” film so the dialogue was not too rapid (unlike in, say, and action movie) and I watched it over three nights, but I enjoyed the film, and whilst I didn’t understand every word spoken, I was able to follow along.  I am pleased with how my Spanish is progressing.

 

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Cold!

 

Pic of the week 14/1/24

This week it has been cold! Not the cleansing, invigorating blue sky, fresh cold, no, the grey overcast cold, with biting wind thrown in.

On Monday I refereed a school cup game. Two minutes to go we were 2-1 down (to the better side) Oh well, thinks I, a shame we shall go out, but I will soon be able to go in and start to defrost. But no, an innocuous free kick just beyond the  half way line, and somehow an equaliser is scored. Cue twenty minutes of extra time. A quick lead is claimed, and again, two minutes from extra time full time it looks like we’ll have a winner. But no, another last minute equaliser. Cue penalties. At least before I was running around, now I was stood managing the penalty shoot out, and feeling the last therm of warmth drain from my body. A the penalties just kept flying in. Sudden death – and I’m thinking if we don’t get a result soon, the sudden death will be me, from hypothermia.  At last, some poor soul has their penalty saved, and we can all go home. Rinse and repeat on Wednesday, but this time the sun was shining, and the game mercifully one-sided, no fear of penalties here. But after the brief appearance of the sun on Wednesday, the greyness has returned, along with falling temperatures.  I don’t like the cold, it has little, if anything, to commend it. Roll on warmer days!

On Thursday we (Year 10) went to Bristol en-masse and me and 100 students visited the SS Great Britain.  Of course, I took the opportunity to dress up and have my photo taken. A striking resemblance to Isambard Kingdom Brunel I think?!

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Happy New Year!

Pic of the week 7/1/24

So a new year – we already seem a long way into 2024, perhaps it was having to go into school for INSET on Tuesday 2 Jan and then starting on 3rd, and we are already a week into the new year, the holidays seem a long time ago!

Its been a wet week, by Thursday evening it felt it had been raining for months, and flooding was beginning to occur once again, but by Friday morning it had stopped, we saw some blue sky – the first since Malaga – and Becky snapped the above. But the temperature has now dropped, its got cold and although today did have some sunshine, there was a stiff wind and it has felt very cold, and promises to be this way for the next week.  I don’t like the cold. Even with crisp blue skies and sunshine (a rarity) the cold has little to commend it. Some people take great joy from hunkering down, donning another jumper and beating the chills – not me. I shall be happy when the warmth returns. My mood is lifted, though, by the sight of bulbs poking their heads bravely above ground level and there are many that are doing so, in my pots, the trough, and my lawn.

So with a new year I should have new aspirations, plans and resolutions.  To be honest, I don’t.  I will run – 500K in the year is a good target (I fell well short of that last year, largely because of my foot, but towards the end of the year I re-found my bounce and began running my 10Ks again) I want to continue with my Spanish, I feel in the latter half of last year I made real strides and I want to continue that, and I want to write more – on my maths blog, but also get myself a cheap laptop and blog whilst away.  On a practical note, I do need to re-roof my shed, and it would probably be sensible to have a sort through it. If there is anything I really ought to do this year (and I have made a start, albeit only baby steps thus far) is horde less and get rid of more stuff. Now there’s a challenge for 2024 …

 

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Adios 23!

Pic of the week 31/12/23

And so its farewell to 2023.

But before I look back on the year, I need to look back on the week that has just gone. We have enjoyed a wonderful Christmas week together as a family – no great dramas, no great arguments just plenty of time together enjoying each others company. I took Sam back to Cardiff yesterday, and Sophie travels back tomorrow morning.

So what of 2023? For me, it was a year of two halves – I started the year with a bad foot and weight that I couldn’t shift.  To say I was depressed in early ’23 would be too strong, but my foot really did hurt, which meant I couldn’t exercise like I wanted and it did bring me down. When I replaced my running with swimming, and also got back into spinning, and started running again in late April, early May, my mood picked up. Also, my “health scare” of high cholesterol in early June gave me the kick I needed to look at what I was eating, adapt my diet , stop snacking and I have enjoyed losing a stone or more.  My foot improving, and weight loss beginning, mid-way through the year did see a definite change in my physical well-being and, by corollary, my mental well being too.

On the travel front, I have enjoyed all my trips (Rhodes in April, Soller in July, Cavtat in July, Barcelona/Blanes/Girona in October and Cordoba/Malaga in December.  I think Cavtat – for the water – and Cordoba – for the chilled vibe – were my two travel highlights of the year.

My Spanish has come on well (again, more so in the second half of the year) and I have enjoyed continuing to learn (and, occasionally, use) the language and learn more about the country.

Work has continued to be fine – full of ups and downs, and, for now at least, the ups continue to eclipse the downs. The biggest negative is the all encompassing nature of my job – 6 days a week in term time is a slog, you never fully rest & recover, and have little (or no) time to do anything other than work. I do increasingly look with envy on those that do four or four and a half day weeks (but, of course, I get the longer holidays.) The biggest positive is mercenary – I get paid well and it allows me to take all the foreign trips that I do.

For the UK plc this has not been a good year – I am becoming increasingly angry with our political masters whose sole goal, it would seem, is to enrich themselves at our expense.  An election must come in the next twelve months – I hope it is sooner rather than later (but fear we will be waiting until autumn ’24)  but am hopeful that the current corrupt conservative government will be booted out (and emphatically so)

Anyway, adios 2023 – you’ve not been a bad year and, perhaps most importantly, you finished better than you started. Now it is time to leap into 2024 – may you be as warm and as welcoming as the beautiful Cavtat sea.

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Christmas in Cordoba

Pic of the week 17/12/23

Last Sunday, at early o’clock, Becky and I headed to Bristol airport to catch a flight to Malaga and begin our Andalusian adventure. But first we had to navigate the hordes of excited young children and Christmas jumper and snow boot clad mums heading for a day at Lapland. Fortunately, our flight was on time and we soon rose into the still dark skies to leave the grim, grey clamour behind us. We landed to see blue skies, hopped on a Renfe train from the airport to Malaga central (3 stops) and then found the bus station, which was surprisingly busy and hectic, and we boarded our Alsa bus for the two hour trip to Cordoba.

Cordoba was calm, sunny and delightful. Cold in the mornings and evenings, it warmed up during the days, and was “chilled” for our whole stay. I loved the Romano bridge

It was peaceful yet purposeful, beautifully bathed in brilliant sunshine.  The Mezquita was something special

an enormous space, part Mosque, part Cathedral.  I loved the space and patterns, the mix of form and function. For me, it was a much more special, and beautiful, place than the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, but Becky disagrees with me on that.

The Alacazar de los reyes cristiano was impressive, too

It was the gardens (again, basking in the beautiful sunshine) that I particularly enjoyed.

One of the things that I particularly liked about Cordoba was the sense that it wasn’t totally touristy – not everyone automatically spoke English and I had the opportunity to really practice speaking some Spanish.

We headed to Sevilla (by train) for a day, taking in the Plaza de Espana

A grand vista, and another chance to practice my Spanish speaking skills and then, after a bit of lunch , the Setas, or mushroom

A magnificent wooden structure that you could walk, affording fantastic views of the city, and also of itself – a bit of an engineering and architectural marvel.

And we’d timed our return to Cordoba to be late enough to allow us to take in the spectacular Christmas lights …

The next morning was another early start, to catch the 0830 Alsa bus back to Malaga. The 2hr 30 journey was a pleasant route through the Spanish hinterland and was enjoyable in its own right.  By the time we arrived in Malaga, the temperature had risen, we were in t-shirts as we took a paddle

and enjoyed a beer

Before later that evening, donning the puffa jackets and enjoying more magical Christmas lights

And then, the following morning, it was adios Andalusia and an uneventful flight back to the UK, after a wonderful, wonderful few days away.

 

 

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Adios!

Pic of the week 9/12/23

So term has finally come to a close and tomorrow we jet off to Malaga, and then onto Cordoba for a few days (fly out Sunday, return on Friday) Am looking forward to some Spanish culture, some time away and, in particular, some warmer weather and blue skies.

After the big freeze of last weekend, on Sunday evening the rain started to fall and didn’t stop for 24 hours, and it was heavy rain! There was quite a bit of flooding, road closures and at school one boarding house (Keens Elm) flooded and the boys (Y9) had to spend the night in the library. Living halfway up a hill as we do, there were no problems for us.

Tuesday and Wednesday were both dry and the forecast rain for Thursday was not as heavy as feared and so no further problems caused. But its been a wet autumn an early winter. If December and January are particularly wet then it could be a very soggy start to 2024.

Anyway, off to sunnier climes for a week – looking forward to it.

Hasta luego!

 

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Spotify wrapped

Pic of the week 3/12/23

This week Spotify wrapped dropped, giving an insight into my musical habits and tastes of the year.

Before looking at the numbers, my sense is/was that I haven’t listened as much this year (Becky not working on Sundays has denied me a significant slot of “kitchen dancing time”) but my listening has been more eclectic than before.

Abba were my top artist, although Olivia Newton John’s “Xanadu” was my top track and, along with Cher’s “Turn back time” in 5th place, I’ve clearly embraced my inner disco queen.

But I listened to 40 different genres, and I’m not surprised to see that “Soul” was the pick of that pile.  On the whole, I listen to “happy music”

My top songs, and …

… my top artists.

Looking back over previous years, both Deacon Blue and the Jam regularly appear in that list.

So, I listened for 7,302 minutes (down on all previous years), to 548 songs from 348 different artists. Music does still play a big part in my life, it brings me joy and happiness, and can change my mood, from bad to good, in the course of a few three minute blasts.

In other news, its been cold this week, very cold, with a heavy frost Friday into Saturday (my fleece seems to have done its job in protecting my outdoor geraniums. ) And yesterday I put up the outdoor Christmas lights – its beginning to look … and all that!