Thoughts – Page 8

Creepy Ba**ards and Chavs

This could just as well refer to the estate agents currently attempting to sell our place, however it’s more fitting to refer to the eight legged bastard that decided to walk up my arm at 1:30 this morning, disturbing what was probably the most peaceful nights rest I have had for ages.

It’s been so warm of late that the wife has requested the windows remain ajar at night. I don’t normally do this, due to the area we live in being so bloody noisy, it’s hard to turn off and sleep. Recently I’ve had to employ the ear plugs, a rarity when I’m not working a night shift.

So promptly at 01:30 I awake, I can fell something on my arm and I brush it, immediately I can feel it again and in one swift moment only lasting probably 1/1000th of a second I move from being horizontal to vertical standing beside the bed with the side light on, my wife looking at me as if I’d lost the plot. At that time I probably had. The next ten minutes were spent looking for said trespasser, alas nothing was found. I’m saying it was a spider, it could well have been a moth of a mozzie, but I’m sticking with the eight legged version.

Back to bed, senses at a high state of alert I finally drift off at about 2:15 and awake abruptly at 06:30 when a neighbour starts up a petrol lawnmower. Tempted to open the window and shout abuse at him i withdraw from the window and go make the first cup of tea of the day. The world seems a better place for 5 beautiful minutes.

Until the local Chavs of the bird world start clacking away outside the bedroom window. God the noise these ass holes make is deafening, one of the downsides of maintaining a garden, they go about bullying every other bird that enters the garden, a typical city bully boy with wings. And then the next doors bloody Parrot joins in, that’ll be him set off for the day now. The day is already getting worse.

Is it any wonder we want to sell up and move on?

And thats where the next creepy B**tards come in. The estate agents. For some reason these ones we are utilising do things differently, rather that bring interested parties around individually, this lot seem to ring up and say, “ oh we have a viewing for you next Tuesday at 17:30” “Ok” we reply, to then be told it’s for Twelve interested people. It’s a bloody party I tell you. Maybe we should be giving out canapés and drinks, because I bet you the majority of them are estate agent tourists as I mentioned in this previous post: Failures and time wasting. Estate agent tourists are people who use the estate agent networks to go nosey around people’s homes with no intention of buying, it is just a day out for them, just like anyone else would visit a stately home. They really are sad individuals who need to get a life, and they are rife up here in the East Midlands. And then they have the goddamn cheek to offer feedback after their day out, go shove your feedback up yer ass. I have told the estate agents that they can go take a running jump if they bring anymore such types, but they probably won’t listen, they’re just estate agents….bless ‘em.

Anyway I’ve taken too much of your time ranting and raving, but I do know two things. The bed is being pulled out to look for that 8 legged creep at a forensic level. And the bedroom windows are staying closed tonight.

Have a great day all..

Self care? Have a laugh…

How do you practice self-care?

Well this is a first. I thought I’d answered all of the WordPress daily prompts but I’ve either missed this one in the past or barring that they’ve actually added some new prompts. I personally think it’s the former and I’ve just not been paying attention, however they wish for an answer and who am I not to see that through. Here we go.

I’m not being pedantic when I post a title such as this, but I must admit that probably just like a lot of others out there, self care is not anywhere near the top of my agenda and sits quite low in the pecking order of things for me to do.

To be honest the feral cat that resides in our garden gets fed before I even think about feeding myself or taking my daily meds, to think of it even the plants in the garden get fed before i attend to myself, and my wife’s needs also come before any needs that I have that may need attention. I’ve always been a person that deals with others first, and get great comfort in seeing other individuals looking happy and comfortable, yes, being looked after.

I know people will start chuntering “Ooh you have to look after yourself “ and maybe they do need to do that, but to be honest I’ve managed almost 60 years without it and I’m doing just fine thank you. I’m not the sort of person always at the doctors door , expressing every ache and pain, I know when something seriously isn’t right and even then I question myself whether it’s even worth bothering anyone about.

My self care really is limited to my walking, my hobbies and occasional quiet time, all of which are just fleeting activities that are grabbed at, once every one else is catered for.

I know that there will come a time where I just can’t do anymore, and that will be the time when I will have no alternative but to stop, and look after what I have left. Yep, it maybe too late, but at least I will have great comfort in knowing I have put everyone else first.

No selfishness here.

Have a great day, whatever you are doing.

Sunday morning coming down

(To quote the lyrics from a favourite song)

I have just finished a run of night shifts, as we are heading out to the coast for a few days with 12 others from the wife’s side of her family. I’ve kind of been in that frame of mind for a few days when people get closer to a vacation or break away when they just slip into “Holiday mode” at work, you know that feeling when the not so important stuff gets shoved to one side in the hope that one of your colleagues will pick it up, when in fact it will probably still be waiting for you to complete on your return. Yep I’ve been in that frame of mind for a few days now. I need a break, no matter how brief.

It’s going to involve an early start tomorrow as we head out to the east coast, first stop Gorleston in Norfolk where us old farts in the family gather at the local boating pond for a break, before moving on to our destination further up the coast. Gorleston is a beautiful part of the UK with one of the finest beaches you will ever see, it just seems to go on forever.

At Gorleston as I’ve previously mentioned, there is a very large boating pond. Here the older specimens of the clan take a break from driving to float their model boats. I’ve been watching them do this for years and have always threatened to build a model warship to jokingly blow them out of the water.

This year I have built a model boat, it is a torpedo boat, I know it floats but this will be its first true test of operation, it could go either way, it’s so damned fast that it could either just take off or dive into the depths of the lake. I hope it doesn’t though. You can read about the build of this boat in the two posts I created about its construction: PT109 wooden torpedo boat kit – construction and the last part: PT109 wooden torpedo boat kit – finishing. I hope to post a video of the actual “Sea trial” pending its maiden voyage or ritual sinking.

Anyway that’s tomorrow and to be totally honest I’m really looking forward to it.

Yesterday was a busy one, I rose fairly early considering I was working nights as there was a special event taking place. One of the younger members of the family, Jude who is only 14 was going to have his first flying lesson, purchased for him by his parents as a Christmas gift from last year. Luckily we have an airport close by that used to be a base for American forces back in the day, that was visited by Dwight D Eisenhower, and was also the home to a squadron of old Stirling bombers. Today it is a local aerodrome, but keeps the title of Leicester airport.

I love having a wander around old airports and in one hangar I found a beautiful old plane tucked away under tarpaulins, a MkIV Harvard built in 1952 for the Canadian Airforce but currently wearing the colours of the California ANG. Registered as G-CJWE (NG481273) known as “Dazzling Debs”.

Jude was going to be heading off from Leicester up over Oakham and the Burleigh estate and Rutland water on a flight that was to be approximately 45 minutes in duration. His parents had paid for two passengers to accompany him, and I was asked if I’d like to be one of those passengers. I politely declined, as much as I love aircraft I’m not a good passenger and don’t really want to fly if there is not really the need to. This refusal worked out quite well as it now allowed both of his grandfathers to be those two accompanying passengers. How lovely is that, I never even got to meet either of my grandfathers, now Jude, has both of his grandfathers sitting proudly behind him.

First flight ✈️

Needless to say, he created some lasting memories this day and was full of smiles on his return, in fact they all were. And to top it all it was a gorgeous day, with some cracking food and fun company.

Blog wise I’ve got the backlog down to ten posts in draft now, and by the end of next week that should be reduced by another couple as two older posts come to fruition. It’s been a busy week, no more estate agent tours as yet, we’ve requested a strict viewing criteria with them now, to deter the time wasters who most definitely have spare time in bucket loads.

Have a great weekend everyone, stay safe and try to stay happy.

Failures and time wasting

Morning all, I hope I find you all well. I must admit I’m only dipping in here at the moment to see what’s going on and to update some old posts. I currently have 16 posts in draft and that’s down from 21 a couple of months back, so I am actually starting to clear the backlog if not at an exceptionally slow pace.

Failure: I deleted one project last night that had been in draft since May of last year, it was a work in progress and I was hoping to complete it last night when I confirmed the issue was terminal and there was no way it could ever be fixed. It’s a shame as it was a big post and I had learned a lot from it but it just wasn’t to be. I’m not happy at spending so much time on a project just for it to be a failure, and you good people don’t need to see that either. So I’ve just put it down to experience and chalked it off. Today the whole project will be dismantled and parts will be salvaged with the absolute minimum going to scrap.

Time wasting: I don’t know if anyone else out there has experienced the estate agent tourist phenomenon. We’ve had our house up for sale about two weeks now and have so far had a number of people allegedly showing interest. I say allegedly as I think the whole estate agent “thing” is farcical. There used to be a time when you had to prove to the estate agent that you had the funds, or your own property was itself on sale before viewing a property on their books.

Well one of those people who “Viewed” opened up to me by saying he had no intention of buying our house, he didn’t want to buy any house, he and his wife have days out where they just pick an area and go and have a nose around other peoples property. Yes, for them it’s a bloody day out, just like you’d visit a stately home or a pub, they just go to nosey around peoples homes, with absolutely no intention of buying.

To say this kind of boiled my piss is an understatement. The estate agents really got it that day. The bloody cheeky sods. I suggested they sell tickets and maybe we could sell ice creams as the clients came through the door. I don’t think he understood my sarcasm…

Apart from all of this things have just been so busy that unfortunately word press has had to take a back seat. I still get notifications, some very annoying, considering some of my posts have taken weeks, even months to put together someone manages to read about 15 of them in about 30 seconds, serial likers, the one thing I find incessantly annoying about this platform.

Hey ho, I need to go now as you can probably tell I’ve not had a lot of sleep and I’m acting a little out of character. Time to go before I become bitter and twisted.

Have a great day.

Saving Green Books from Poison Paranoia

Did you know Arsenic used to be used as a green pigment back in the day? This is an interesting read by the guys at Hackaday. Thousands of books have been quarantined over concerns of the amount of poison in the pigment, this post covers what they are doing to separate the good books from the bad. Do you have any of these green stained books on your shelves? Don’t worry if you do, just refrain from licking them for too long…

You probably do not need us to tell you that Arsenic is not healthy stuff. This wasn’t always such common knowledge, as for a time in the 19th …
Saving Green Books from Poison Paranoia

An elderly visitor..

It’s all been work, work lately and yesterday this old lady arrived at our depot to have some work done.

Class 37 Diesel- 37407 (Blackpool tower)

I’m not a train spotter, no way, but there is something special about these elderly beasts. No concern for clean air as they spew smoke and clag into the atmosphere, they are true old workhorses of the rail network and it’s always nice to see a well presented example arrive on site. this one was built in October of 1965 so it’s older than me (and better looking) here’s a little bit about it:

May 2019 – One of DRS’ most famous locomotives has been renamed ‘Blackpool Tower’ as part of the 125th anniversary celebrations for the North West’s most famous landmark.

The vintage ‘Class 37’ loco’ (37407) first carried the name back in the 1990s, when it became part of a fleet of locomotives running ‘seaside specials’ taking thousands of holiday makers and day trippers from Manchester Victoria Station to the seaside town known as the ‘Las Vegas of the North’.

Rail enthusiasts will be delighted to know that 37407 is one of several DRS locomotives that has been re-painted in the distinctive yellow and blue British Rail ‘large logo’ livery.

The locomotive will continue operating on the national rail network working on a range of DRS services, from freight and passenger services through to supporting the work to decommission and clean up the UK’s earliest nuclear sites.

Gov.uk

I spent the day yesterday ensuring “enthusiasts” behaved themselves and didn’t wander onto railway infrastructure, it’s fair to say it attracted a lot of attention.

Have a super day. I’m back off to work.

Hey, it’s June

Meaning just where the hell have the last six months gone. Sit back and blink and that’s half the year already gone. It’s amazing that once the better weather kicks in just how quick it just all seems to cascade by, if only you could put the brakes on time and just enjoy it a little bit longer.

The garden has bulked up after the perfect mix of rain and sunlight, and is about to abruptly burst into colour, some of them are impatiently exploding already and it’s starting to look lovely. But it will all be over too soon and that barren, bleak lack of colour will soon be on us. Oh for year round colour, if only.

The house is warming up, and as we are in quite an old house it’s the one time of the year when the environment isn’t controlled by the heating system, allowing a welcome break from the claws of the energy production companies. We now have the windows open.

That’s another issue. Opening windows. If like us you currently live near the intersection of two major road arteries then you will know what I’m on about. Opening the windows means you let every speeding, inconsiderate motoring manifestation into your home, like it or not. And the dirt and dust produced by vehicles throttling past your door 24hrs a day means no matter how much you dust, there will be more for you in a few minutes to remove. Maybe time goes so fast as the amount of toxicity we must be inhaling is controlling just how long we have left? Who knows?

Well the windows can’t stay open forever as you’d never get a good nights sleep if you wanted to, because of the boy racers and bike demons who constantly insist on revving their two and four wheeled steeds as they race off into the distant night.

We have a lovely family getaway coming up this month when about 18 of us are heading off to the East coast for a few days. The nice thing is that there is a great mix of ages from about 21 right up to the late 70s and that is wonderful, it’s great to know the youngsters want to spend time with us old farts, to be honest it’s pretty much down to them that this holiday is being arranged, oh and the usual organisational craft work of my dear wife.

On this holiday all the old fellahs, take a boat to float on the boating lake at Gorleston on the east coast. On the day we travel up, it’s always been a quick stopover and a tradition for two of the older members to float their radio controlled boats they have spent a lot of time and patience on. I’ve always jokingly threatened them that one day I’d build a submarine or military boat that would blow theirs out of the water. This year that veiled threat has been achieved and I will hopefully be joining the ranks of the family boating fraternity when I let my torpedo destroyer loose on the good folk of Gorleston. I’ve been building this boat since it was brought as a present for me by a very good family friend on my last birthday. Its construction has already been touched on, through my blog : PT109 wooden torpedo boat kit – construction and I’m hoping the build and testing of the boat will be completed and published within the next few days. It was always my goal to have it ready for this break. Let’s see what happens.

About now, is probably my favourite part of the year as I have discussed on here before, May & June, that period when spring kicks in and is a precursor to the oncoming summer. But as I’ve said earlier it is all over too soon.

And what a perfect canvas is currently in place for the ongoing sale of this property, yes that is in full swing now and the footprints of strangers should start being witnessed around this property very shortly….but in a way I’m not really bothered if it sells or not. I love this place apart from the negatives I’ve stated above, and as you can see they are few.

No doubt the Christmas stock is already sailing the oceans of the world to be in all our supermarkets very shortly. As if summer is not already short enough.

Whatever the season is wherever you are on this little ball of rock floating around in space, enjoy it, have fun and always spare a friendly outlook to those looking in. It doesn’t last long, so enjoy it whilst you can.

Thanks for popping by.

Forced E-Waste PCs and the Case of Windows 11’s Trusted Platform

I thought this was a very good post from the guys at Hackaday. Most of us who use the Windows platform will have probably come across this issue in the last year or so. Being told your perfectly good computer is not up to running Windows 11 when in fact it is probably more than capable.

Is it no wonder people are moving over to “The dark side” (Linux) in droves….

Until the release of Windows 11, the upgrade proposition for Windows operating systems was rather straightforward: you considered whether the current…
Forced E-Waste PCs and the Case of Windows 11’s Trusted Platform

The garden gathering

In a post I put up a few days ago I did mention that the wife had decided to invite some friends and family around for a gathering we usually have at the end of the football season, (Time goes so fast….) to either celebrate our success or to drown our sorrows. This year it was the latter as we were miserably incapable of putting on a decent show as a competitive team this season.

I stated that I had to put up the gazebo, due to the forecast saying there would be rain. I should have known better, as we are in a Bank holiday weekend it was bound to rain, I wasn’t wrong. Everyone had been invited around to help us celebrate/commiserate and to have a drink and something to eat, we also decided to incorporate a darts competition into the evening for a bit of fun.

Gazebo up and connected to the garden pub, bring on the rain!

The gazebo was suitably decorated with some football banners, food was in good supply in the house and a list of people who wanted to take part in the darts competition was drawn up.

The actual competition was a knockout format, and to add a little bit of extra fun I told everyone they had to have their photos taken in the pairs that they would be playing in, for this I had decided to use two of the “instant” Polaroid type cameras that I had recently repaired. My niece that I passed the first one I fixed on to, was more than happy to assist here.

The nights activity in miniature Polaroids

Pictures taken, lots of laughter and a lot of raised voices and joking about the competition began, 18 people took part and it was chaotic to say the least.

We eventually made it to the final with my nephew and cousin in the final, the younger talent shone through and young “J” won the competition.

I now have 38 fantastic little photos that really show the fun and spontaneity of the evening. We are going to get these into either an old style album or put them up on a board displayed somewhere around the house. Good old physical photos, on show just as they should be, not tucked away unseen on someone’s smartphone never to be seen by anyone else. At least people can look at these and say, “that group of people know how to enjoy themselves.”

I fallen in love again with this style of photo.

An interesting aside came from using these cameras. One other young family member loved these cameras so much she went onto a sale site and brought a broken one before approaching me and asking if i could fix it when it arrives. How could I turn that offer down so I had to agree. My brother in law who was there back in the day of the original Polaroid, wants me to get and fix an original one for him, it’s amazing just how young and old alike were totally impressed by this mode of photography, memories were rekindled, and memories were made….and I’ve got myself some work to do so I’m happy.

Another thing that made the wife and I extremely happy, is when one of the guests, our neighbours to be precise, brought us a gift for our pub which is totally Leicester city football club themed.

Our very generous gift from our neighbours

Last week i wrote of our captain and greatest player playing his last game for us : Jamie Vardy’s having his final party they brought us a shirt they had got signed by him and labelled up with the numbers he had achieved. I guess it helps that our neighbour actually works for the club, either way it was a superb gift that is very much appreciated.

So why are we looking at leaving this area, I don’t know 🤷‍♂️ our neighbours are just superb people. It’s going to be hard to match them anywhere else.

It’s been quiet in the vicinity today as I suspect there are a few sore heads as the last couple didn’t leave until about 3am this morning, we’ve spent most of the day cleaning up and had to get the gazebo and extra bits down and put away as they are coming to take the photos on Tuesday. I’m working late shifts so I’m not going to be around so I’ve got to do as much as I can to help prior to the full estate agent process kicking in.

Anyway, a great night was had by all, we have some super memories and meeting up with family and friends is always an enjoyable experience at gatherings such as this.

Have a superb weekend.

Time goes so fast….

Yes I know I have been a bit absent from here recently, but believe me there is a lot still going on behind the scenes. Just remember that old analogy that people tell you of, when a Swan is gliding serenely around a lake, not making a ripple on the surface when underneath him his little feet are going like the clappers. That’s me at the moment that is.

Old disused railway that we still have to monitor

Continuing on from this post: Busy, Busy, sell! The estate agents have now pulled us well and truly into their orbit. Numerous requests for forms, ID and information, and not to forget their commission payments have been received and returned as requested. The pictures will be taken next Tuesday and we expect the old home to be on the market by next weekend. And this is where my absence from this site has been utilised in the last week or so.

The little jobs, yes those ones you have been putting off for a while but can’t be left any longer as before long you may well have strangers in your home that will pick up on the most minuscule piece of detail.

The swines!

Quite enjoyed it to be honest, window surrounds painted and tarted up, cupboards and closets tidied and painted, steps and floors varnished, I must admit the old home is looking lovely, and to top it all the wife has invited friends and family around this weekend for a little party in the garden, and guess what? This is when we are forecast the first rains for a month or so, typically just as the barbecue was coming out of hibernation. So now I have to put up the big gazebo just in case 🤦‍♂️

In between this all I have also been doing my daily work duties, nothing too out of the ordinary, just every day railway stuff, and I do have a few little projects about to come on line both photographic and hobby related that I have just been awaiting parts for to complete. I’ve squeezed in some nice little walks, but beyond that I’ve not really had much time for anything else.

Maybe a little sleep?

Nah, they’ll be plenty of time for sleep when I’m in my box, however a little rest would be nice, I’m hoping the wife’s soirée this weekend will allow some nice R&R.

Have a lovely weekend people, take care and stay safe.

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