Category: Pic of the week

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Beautiful weather

Pick of the week 27/3/22

Just a quick post as I am very tired today – another long week, 5 weeks into term, and one to go, and the clocks went forward last night, costing us an hour’s sleep. Was up early-ish (7.15 new time) this morning to go and collect Sophie from Reading, and Sam graced us with a flying visit (for food and a bed) last night. Suspect I’ll be snoozing on the sofa before long …

This last week we have had beautiful weather, sunshine, blue skies and temperatures in the high teens. Its been wonderful.  Its forceast to return to March normals – and possibly colder – next week, but we’ve enjoyed it whilst we’ve had it. The plants have enjoyed it too, this pic is one of the tulips that is now flowering in the “big planter” I built a year ago.

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Weight

Pic of the week 20/3/22

So its probably taken me a few weeks longer than I might have hoped, but I am now regularly seeing my weight as sub 13 stones. It fluctuates on a daily basis, with Monday seeing me at my heaviest, but for the last three weeks I have had several days each week in the sub 13 stone category, and I am pleased about that.  It would have been very easy to have accepted 13 and half as the new norm, but then a t some point, that would have crept up again and so on.  I’m sure come the hols, and Naples, the pounds will pile back on, but piling back on from a lower base must be a good thing.

Today’s pic shows the downstairs loo, with our new tiles and the bright blue woodwork, a colour I am really coming to enjoy.

The sun has shone for the last couple of days, and the week ahead promises to be glorious – I’m looking forward to blue skies and a bit of warmth.

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Magnifcent Magnolia

Pic of the week 13/3/22

It has been another tough, tiring week at work for me, but one’s spirits are lifted by the signs of Spring that are now beginning to burst forth. All of a sudden, I can look out of my window and see our magnificent magnolia full of bloom and flower. It is almost as if it has snuck up on us, going from a collection of twigs to big flowers almost overnight.

The daffodils we planted last September are now also doing their stuff and are sitting proud in their clumps all across the garden.  The giant planter at the front of the house looks really good now there is a mix of dafs in flower, interspersed with the grape hyacinths that have, at last, begun to flower. As I write, the rain is once again failing (and yesterday was v cold in the v strong wind) but much of the day today has seen the sun shine through blue skies, and it has been uplifting.

After my run – not the best of time due to the strong wind – breakfast, pottering outside (tidying up the scarps of tiles that were left outside in the front garden and went to the tip to dispose of them x2 bags at £4 per bag) lunch, a read and a snooze, I do feel re-energised and revitalised for the week to come. I think we can safely say winter is pretty much over, and spring is on its way.

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Fun with power tools

Pic of the week

It has been a tough week at work.  Can’t really write why, here, but it was both busy and difficult.

So I was looking forward to today – going for a run, and then firing up my new circular saw. We’ve had the hall floor tiled (looks ace), but that of course means the floor level is higher and so doors need the bottom slicing off them.  I decided to invest in a circular saw, a couple of saw horses to support my work, and some clamps to keep everything in place. Over the years, I’ve learned the value of having the right tools – it makes everything so much easier.

Its been dry (so I could work outside) but cold, and a bit blustery, and I enjoyed immersing myself in my jobs.  Still a lot to do – just having one day off a week really does mean you try and cram everything into the one day, and its never enough time.  I had fun, am pleased with what I achieved, but am tired now. Early to bed tonight …

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War in Ukraine

Pic of the week 27/2/22

With no home matches this Saturday, I wasn’t needed to referee so finished the day a little earlier. It was a beautiful day and, as I arrived home, Becky – who had at last tested negative after two weeks of positive tests – was about to set of for a walk, so I joined her.  Parking at the Hood layby, we walked down into Compton Dundun, looped round the village and back to the car.  It was only a 40 minute romp, but it was lovely to get out in the sunshine and se definite signs of spring on its way. A real treat.

Today, after swimming (I pulled/tweaked my hamstring last Saturday, so haven’t run since – could possibly have run today, but decided to give it a bit longer to heal) I spent the rest of the morning in the garden – another beautiful day with blue skies and warm sun – when you were in it. I continued to tidy the area by the compost bins, and then gave the buddleia a significant chopping back, only stopping when the car could fit no more for a tip run.

And yet the dawning of spring is marred by conflict in Ukraine.  Earlier this week, Russia launched an invasion into its neighbour. It is bloody and brutal, full on shooting war in Europe. The only positive is is that it doesn’t appear to be going the way Putin planned it, the resolve of Ukraine has been steadfast, Russia has become a pariah state, the west is unifying around the need to support Ukraine and, I suspect, in the long term this will mark the end of Putin and weaken Russia as a global player – it has been shown that if you stand up to them,  they can be beaten. However, the price Ukrainians (and, to be fair, many of the Russian soldiers – mere conscripts who are not sure why they are there) will be high. I think we are living through an event as globally important as the fall of the Soviet Bloc in 1989, 9/11 and the Covid pandemic. The world will be different a year from now.

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Plague House!

Pic of the week 20/2/22

It was, perhaps, inevitable. Since the pandemic arrived two years ago, none of the four of us have had Covid, until now.

Last Sunday, Becky started snuffling, and blaming me for giving her my cold. On Monday morning she did a Covid test and it was positive.  She has since tested daily, and each day the two lines appear, returning a positive result.

So that scuppered our plans to meet Sam in Bristol on Tuesday, but he also did a test on Monday which came back positive.  So both Becky & Sam confined to barracks for the week.  Sophie & I (Sophie came home on the Friday before Becky tested positive) tested daily, but negative.  I suspect that Becky may have picked up the illness when she went to the theatre (with Sophie!) on Saturday 12th Feb.  Sophie returned to Reading on Thursday, but then, today, Sunday, tested positive.

I’ve kept my distance from Becky, been sleeping in Sam’s room, and the house is well ventilated so, one week on, I’m quietly confidence I will escape its clutches. However, if I do fall ill, not sure what I’ll have to do as tomorrow our idiot Prime Minister Johnson (the worst PM of my lifetime) is set to abandon all Covid protocols …

We wouldn’t have been able to do anything on Friday anyway as we were battered by Storm Eunice. At least we new it was coming, we were in a Red Warning zone and my, were the winds strong, starting a little later than predicted at circa 9am and lasting the morning and into early afternoon.  Next door (down the hill) had  a few ridge tiles blown off their roof, narrowly missing the Corsa (which sailed through its MOT this week – I had put two new tyres on the front, and new wiper blades – all it needed was a drivers side track rod end) and my recycling centre got blown over (fixed it yesterday), however given the damage that was done across the South West, I think we got off lightly.  Is now windy once again, but nothing as bad as Friday.

Storm Eunice – the aftermath

I have done a lot in the garden this week – plenty of cutting back.  A good time to do it before all the new growth kicks in.  All the while I’ve been outside I’ve enjoyed the clumps of daffodils that have sprouted in my lawn.

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Hall

Pic of the week 13/2/22

We’ve decided to have the hall re-tiled.  Becky has found the tiles she (we!) like, and a man to come and lay them. On Friday he announced that he was ready to come and do them – perhaps a little sooner than we had anticipated.

Anyway, I spent much of the weekend lifting the carpet, underlay,  gripper rods and lino from the utility room and taking it to the tip, and then giving the floor a good clean,  Today we ordered the tiles (circa £600) – will probably come later this week – and then hopefully get them laid the week after, so exciting times.

Relapse.

Having said how I’d got over my cold in last week’s blog post, it came back with a vengeance. Perhaps swimming on Monday evening was not such a good idea, on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday I felt pretty grotty; by Friday I seemed to be over the worst and that does seem to have persisted into the weekend – not having to work (am now on half term) has probably helped.

First daffodil.

Got home earlyish from work on Friday (Half term began at 3pm) and spotted a single, yellow daffodil flower in a trug at the bottom of the garden.  The first of the year! Just as one swallow doesn’t make a summer, one daffodil doesn’t mean Spring has arrived, but with its appearance, along with a number of others showing promise and lighter evenings (’til, say, 5.30pm?) one does begin to hope that the worst is over, and better days will come (although it looks like halve term is going to be grey, damp & windy, rather than filled with blue sky and sunshine, which is a shame.)

 

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Sore Throat

Pic of the week 6/2/22

This week I have been suffering with a sore throat.  It first manifested itself on Saturday last week (29th Jan) which coincided with me being pinged by Track & Trace as a close contact, so I initially thought “well, this is it …” but I’ve tested daily and all have come back clear.  So just a good old fashioned sore throat, five weeks into term.

I didn’t swim on Monday as it was really quite sore, on the right side of my throat, and also manifesting itself as a little bit of earache.  As the week went on, it swapped to the left side, was still quite sore on Wednesday and Thursday. I woke up on Saturday and it had pretty much gone by then and today has been fine as well.

The pic of the week is a today’s “Wordle.” I began playing this game in the Christmas holidays, and have got Becky into it, who got the children to start doing it too. I like the way that it is one puzzle a day – something to challenge on a daily basis, but not something all consuming.  I wonder if I’ll still be playing it on a daily basis when I re-read my year’s posts at the end of the year, or I’ll be going “Wordle, oh yeah, I’d forgotten about that.”

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They think its all over …

Pic of the week 30/1/22

… it could be now.

Way back in September I decided that I wasn’t going to referee on “my” Sunday league anymore – a combination of getting fed up of low level dissent, a lack of respect and appreciation of what I did, and the time it took up on my precious day off each week.

On Thursday I got a text from Rich at New Forresters: they hadn’t been assigned a ref this week, and would I do them a favour and do the game. I agreed.  It was foggy as I left Street, but the air cleared by Ashcott and beuatiful blue skies made me think it wasn’t such a bad thing to do.

But 5 mins into the game, I was reminded why I packed it in.  The opposition keeper – who is also the manager of this team (I won’t mention it here, but you can use Full Time to find it) – started gobbing off that the nets weren’t fixed properly.  I remembered this keeper/manager – always gobby, always questioning everything and today was no different. He set the tone for his team and the morning became quite unpleasant.  I sent a player into the sin bin, then later, another two.  Things were calming down now, but then a NF player continued to argue, called him over, he was going to get binned, but continued so I gave him a red for offinabus.  He then got aggressive.  Below is my report of the incident.  I am certainly done with this league now, quite possibly refereeing altogether.

This relates to the red card/sending off of xxxxxxx, New Foresters FC Having taken the players name & number, I showed the red card to indicate the decision. The player then took a step towards me and raised his hands in my direction in a threatening manner. I felt physically threatened by his actions and took a pace back to add distance between myself and the player. Other players – from both sides – immediately stepped between the dismissed player and myself to provide a physical barrier between myself and the dismissed player, who then lowered his hands and left the pitch. Players from both sides checked that I was OK, and happy to continue with the game. After a moment to compose myself, we continued with the game. Some 10 minutes later, I became aware that the dismissed player had returned to the side of the pitch. I was aware of his presence as he shouted out a sarcastic comment about my officiating. I know the player should no longer have been pitch side, but the pitch was a public space without the facilities, structures and officials one might find at some clubs. Whilst I felt safe on the pitch, I did not feel safe to go and confront the player and ask him to leave, or ask any of his team to do the same, so the game continued with him pitch side. At the end of the game, accompanied by his manager, he did come and apologise to me on the pitch. At the time of the sending off, some of his team mates told me they would accompany me off the pitch at the end of the game, to ensure my safety. By the time the game ended, this was not needed as the threat from the player had diminished, but I am grateful for the support and assistance offered to me by the club & teammates of the dismissed player.

[Edited to add: the pic is of the amaryllis flowering, grown from bulb planted just before Christmas]

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We march on

Pic of the week 23/1/22

Whilst I have nothing significant to report, we continue to move through January at a swift pace – it seems unlikely that the coming week is the last full one of the month, but it is.

The weather has been kind – on the whole cold, but dry, with the occasional beautiful afternoon thrown in for good measure, and it looks set to stay dry for the week ahead.  The lightening evenings are now just about becoming noticeable, and they certainly do lift the spirits.  Towards the end of the week,  I did find myself looking forward to today as I get to see the garden in daylight – in November and December it matters little as there is no change, but now its quite exciting to see what is starting to emerge from winter slumber and show signs of life, giving hope that Spring will, one day, come.

Sam is still with us, he’s done some exams and has another on Wednesday, and has worked a few shifts in the prep school kitchen. On Friday he and Becky did go out walking, hence the “time lapse” photos above. Very arty!

I ran today – annoyingly my split timings were not reliable, but I did feel fit & strong today, running my 10K a whole two minutes quicker than two weeks ago.

Every day seems to bring a new drama in the political world, and one hopes that B Johnson’s reign as our worst ever Prime Minister won’t last for much longer; and it also seems that Covid may (but it is a big may) just be on the wane.

So I type this tonight with a sense of hope – there will be bumps along the way, but one does just get the sense that everything is starting to get better.