… my musings on, er, "stuff"
Pic of the week 25/8/19
Yesterday was the annual gathering of the clan, in the main to celebrate Dad’s 82 and Rog’s 53rd birthday.
All the Grandchildren were there, at The Sheppey, Godney. The sun shone, it was hot, hot, hot – we ate indoors before being shuffled outside to a table alongside the river when our “dining” table was needed for the next seating.
Pic of the week
Sam has turned 17, and taken to life behind the wheel.
I haven’t been out with him (yet) but Becky’s taken him out a few times and he seems to be enjoying life on the road. They started in Strode car park, but have since graduated onto the levels back lane (that I run along) as well us driving up Downside Road, to Millfield car park (main & swimming pool) and back home, to reverse onto the drive.
Other than his birthday, the week has been a little non-descript: the inevitable come down after the highs of a week away. I’ve ref-ed a couple of games, done some more painting of hall and utility room, but not too much to write home about. The weather has not been brilliant – high winds on Friday and Saturday and today – after a bright-ish morning – we’ve had some torrential downpours, thunder and lightening:
Pic of the week 4/8/19
Just back from a great week in Soller, Mallorca. We stayed in a villa in the town of Soller – a great villa, with a fab pool, in a charming Mallorcan town.
We paid (about) £2.5K for the villa, flights were £1.5K – Thomas Cook: good times – 12.30 pm out 16.55 return (local times) but, unfortunately the outbound flight was three hours delayed. The skipper then opened up the gas, meaning we landed “only” 2 hour 40 mins late and were thus denied the 250 euro ahead compensation for a three hour delay.
I’d booked transfers via Hoppa.com – worked well, cost £118 in advance. Probably would have been cheaper to just book local taxis, but this saved a lot of hassle – would be happy to use again.
Becky has two much better blog posts that are worth reading:
but below are some photos and memories from me.
Home (casa) for the week
and its pool (piscina)
El nino and padre enjoying said piscina
Perhaps the most picturesque train station in Europe? Discovering the (small) Miro exhibition was cool. (“Jefe” means “Boss”. I think I might start mis-spelling my name with an e instead of f at the end.)
Becky, Sam & I took the bus to Deia, walked down the hill (30 mins) to swim in the beautiful, clear see, before yomping back up in the midday heat to get the bus back to Soller. (Fortunately, the bus was deliciously air conditioned and gave us a great view on the switch back roads through the mountains.)
The four of us had a day out in Plama (outbound via train – worth it, at 18 euros ahead, back by those wonderful air conditioned buses, 2.50 euro each). A lovely picturesque compact city, but hot, oh so hot! Becky & I will return for a city break – sin ninos – at some point.
Soller itself was beautiful. I think I particularly enjoyed being immersed in a Spanish/Mallorcan town and not some “All day breakfast” tourist resort. I’m trying to learn a little espanol, I must keep this up.
I enjoyed the whole holiday, but if I must pick a best bit, i think it must have been having a leisurely breakfast in the square with Becky.
Till next time …
Pic of the week 14/7/19
Yesterday afternoon, sat in the back garden whilst taking a rest from hall decorating (see below) I heard a deep, rumbling roar and looked up to see a Lancaster flying by. It flew round the back of the Tor before doing another circuit and then heading off to (presumably) Yeovilton Air Show. A magnificent sight.
Today I ran my 10K backwards. Not literally, of course, that would have been foolish, but in the reverse direction. On the whole, I ran it faster – was an interesting experiment that I must repeat some day.
Having decorated the upstairs hall & stairwell, my attention turned to the downstairs hall. Still to be finished, but looks a whole lot better than before.
On Friday, Sophie, Becky and I went to see Scouting for Girls at Frome Cheese and Grain.
It was chuffing hot, but it was, not surprisingly, brilliant.
We ended up about three back from the front, a jumping, thumping, pumping set of their favourites. A great night.
And Sam applied for his Provisional Driving Licence – not long now …
Pic of the week 7/7/19
Its been a busy week – no sitting with my feet up in the first week of the hols!
Fed up with the “Steptoe-esque” state of the top landing, I took it upon myself to strip and paint the top landing, stairs and ceiling. The initial stripping wasn’t too bad, but its all the fiddly bits that frustrate. Anyway, at time of writing, I have now applied 3 coats and its beginning to look like the finished article – another couple of coats tomorrow and I could be done (to then begin the downstairs hall and landing. And then there’s the tilly room to be done …)
The weather has been good, plenty of sunshine and blue skies to enjoy when I have ventured outside in between my stripping. The garden is looking good, first sweet pea flowers just blooming, daisies look magnificent, lawn holding up. I do like the swishy swashy grasses in the front, they help to break up the sea of brick that is the extension. Some pics:
Sam decided to update his computer – which was a little fraught when it didn’t go quite as planned, and wouldn’t boot up. But calmly revisiting the situation the next day, and some good troubleshooting and fault diagnosis on Sam’s part had it all working as planned the next day.
On Thursday I caught up with Marck Radford in Shepton, and then Becky, Sophie and I went to the cinema to see “Yesterday”, which was a good film.
And then on Friday we all went to Cardiff for the day, an open day to see if Sam was/is interested in going to Uni. He was inspired by the Chemistry labs and he definitely wants to continue with Chemistry post sixth form, its just where and how. Will be looking into Chemistry degree apprenticeships this holiday.
And in amongst all this busy-ness I’ve still run, spun and swum. No wonder I’ve had to multi-task whilst having my evening snooze …
Pic(s) of the week 16/6/19
Father’s Day!
Up early and off for a run, to be met by the boy on my return. Later in the day, Sophie returned home from her first year at Reading University. Where has that time gone?!
Lot’s of presents from the pair of them – many food/snack related, but also a “Brexshite” mug from Sam and a book : “Zonal Marking” from Sophie.
Becky also gave me a card, writing in it:
“A fab Dad but hopeless at getting your son doing school work!!!
Whilst Sam had independently written in his card:
“Thank you for being a great Dad and helping me with school work”
I wonder who’s right?!
An an unrelated note, mention must be made of the dreadful weather that persists – the last two weeks have been little more than rain, wind and grey skies. Here’s hoping it changes in two weeks time …
Pic of the week 9/6/19
In some respects a rather unremarkable week, but not one without note.
On Tuesday I went to see Sam’s EPQ presentation. After quite a bit of badgering from us, he’s (almost) completed the project and it was good to see him so confident and comfortable in his school environment, discussing his findings with range of adults.
On Wednesday Becky went to see Sophie Ellis Bextor, and thoroughly enjoyed it, although since then she has been somewhat poorly with labyrinthitis. She has slept more than Rip van Winkle over the last few days, but made it into work today, so seems to be on the mend.
On Friday I went to dentist, having thought I had cracked my tooth a couple of weeks ago. Turns out it was a filling that had come out (of the back tooth, LHS, next to the “abscess tooth” that was removed last year.) She replaced the filling – hurt a bit at the time – but hopefully all good now.
Weather has been a bit rubbish – and doesn’t look like its going to get much better soon: quite wet. Lets just hope all the rain is falling now leaving uninterrupted sunshine from three weeks from now.
Pic of the week 2/6/19
So half term draws to a close -it’s whipped by far too quickly, but with only four weeks until the golden prize of the summer holidays, the end of hols sting is easily absorbed.
On Tuesday, Becky & I went to see Take That at Ashton Gate and, not surprisingly, they were excellent. More of a “classic” concert than their more theatrical “shows”, but they belted out all the hits with passion and panache and I really enjoyed it. Rick (Astley) wasn’t bad either – “Never Going to Give You Up” be belted out by thirty thousand was a sound to behold, too.
On Friday I went for my annual* shearing – back and chest wax. The back is over in minutes whilst suffering, at worst, mild discomfort. The chest, however is a whole different ball game (and I ain’t even going to contemplate going there …) It was soooo painful – I did actually feel a little weak and nauseous walking home afterwards. But the pain ebbs and now I’m left with smooth skin and only a smattering of measle like red rashes! *I think the answer may be to make it more regular than annual – it was the sheer forest of hair that needed removing that made it so painful; perhaps if I have it removed more regularly it’ll be less painful.
Running – yesterday I ran my 200th Km and, after today’s 10K, I’ve done 217 Km so far this year, not bad. And my running season is now upon me – with no football to referee on Sunday’s its a 10K each Sabbath, and with the summer hols a mere four weeks away, I should be pounding the streets with a regularity that’ll soon see the next 100K notched up.
Pic of the week 26/5/19
It says something about the state of the nation when the Euro elections dominate the news, and make onto my pic of the week (although, in part, this because Sophie came home so she could take part in her first election.)
We won’t find out until later today/tomorrow morning what the result is, but it is looking likely that it will be cataclysmic for the Conservatives, and not good for Labour, either. Theresa May announced on Friday that she is standing down as PM.
Other news – half term began today, with typical caravan weather: a mix of grey skies with the odd the burst of sunshine, a stiff breeze and intermittent drizzle. A disappointing start after some nice weather of late, and not even enough rain to do the garden any good.
Anyway, good to have a week off – shall watch the final, final episode of Game of Thrones tonight, see Take That on Tuesday, hope to potter in the garden, snooze, exercise, read & listen to music (and watch plenty of Newsnight and listen to plenty of radio as the car crash that is British politics continues to unfold. When I first started watching Game of Thrones all those years ago I thought it was fantastic fantasy, now reality seems far more unbelievable and tragic than George R R Martin’s epic.)
Pic of the week 14/9/19
And so the Easter hols roll on. The weather could be better, but it could be worse.
On the whole it has been dry and we’ve seen some sun, but sometimes, like today, it has been cold. Still, in weather forecaster parlance, there has been some usable weather that has seen me potter in the garden for a bit, sit in the garden for a bit, snooze in the garden a bit …
On Friday, Sam and I went for a walk along the Poldens, but this time we went West instead of East, parking at the YHA car park and then walking along the ridge to the windmill and back. A walk of about an hour or so, with some good views back across Street and to the Tor (above) or looking South across the levels.
On Thursday I tackled the hedge giving it a good trim and getting it back into shape.
It was all going so well until I cut through the cable of the strimmer. No drama, no disaster, no loud bang – it just stopped working. Am a bit annoyed with myself as I am normally quite H&S conscious. Not this time.
Anyway, 30 minutes of repairs later and I was back in action.
Becky & Sophie have been to Cornwall for the weekend for Auntie Avril’s 80th birthday – photo montage below. Looks cold & blowy, but the sea a perfect greeney blue, it would have been nice to see the sea.
Meanwhile, I’ve been busy refereeing this week – line on Monday (Floodlight U18 ), middles Thursday (Y&DL), Saturday (JPL U15) and Sunday (Bridgwater League) including a red on Thursday (dissent x 2) – my first non-school cherry.