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How rude

What colleges have you attended?

Well I’m not going to spill the beans on my actual places of learning, that’s just plain rude WP. Does anyone else notice a daily prompt structure on this platform that possibly assists scammers and questionable persons regarding an easy way to obtain details about you? No? I must be alone on that thought process then.

Anyway.

Boring answer is I’m a fully paid up member of the college of life. There’s no time off, no years out, it’s a constant stream of learning, experiencing, and getting things done.

The only college that, emotionally drains you, exhilarates you and makes you judge and value your existence and why the hell you are even here. It’s brutal.

That’s life.

Keep learning, for instance, don’t tell WP everything.

Stay safe

Duga radar

What’s that then? I hear you ask. Well since I became a radio amateur (M0ESB) back in Feb 2003 anything regarding radio has fascinated me.

The Duga or – Russian woodpecker issue of the early 80s has always been an item of interest to me. It was allegedly constructed as a Russian over the horizon early warning system and was replaced in the late 80s when satellite systems took over the early warning mantle.

However it obtained notoriety by creating havoc on the airwaves worldwide for quite a considerable period of time.

This video by a fellow Amateur radio enthusiast M3HHY explains quite eloquently, in 11 minutes what the issue was. Some great photos of this absolutely massive antenna array can be seen in this video.

And whilst we are still here this is what Wikipedia has to say:

The duga system was extremely powerful, reaching over 10 MW, and emitted in the shortwave radiobands. It was given the nickname Russian Woodpecker by shortwave listeners for its emissions randomly appearing and sounding like sharp, repetitive tapping noises at a frequency of 10 Hz. The random frequency hops often disrupted legitimate broadcasts, amateur radio operations, oceanic, commercial, aviation communications, and utility transmissions, resulting in thousands of complaints from many countries worldwide. 

Courtesy: Wikipedia

I hope you find this as fascinating and informative as I have. Radio remains to this day special to me. I’d sooner be listening to it in any form rather than watching a tv. In my eyes or should I say ears, it was the most significant invention ever made, if only Marconi knew back in the 1890s just how important this communication method would become he would have been blown away. It has helped to shape so much, our modern day world, and how we communicate with each other on a daily basis.

Do I play? Sort of..

Do you play in your daily life? What says “playtime” to you?

Playtime. Without venturing back to my childhood days, that have disappeared into the ether of long forgotten days of fun and frivolities, playtime for me takes on a different meaning from what it did back then.

Yes I have a fascination for old retro toys of childhood that I buy, fix and then restore, however the play element has long disappeared to be replaced by fascination of how things have progressed in that relatively short period of time. The play things of my childhood are now being referred to as antiquities and I guess that also means i to, am starting to fall into that category.

The great majority of my life is consumed by work. So for me “Playtime” as such is anything that falls outside of the work category. As I have aged “Playtime” is not the singular activity it was in childhood, it now is an all encompassing activity that involves everything from rest, hobbies, family life, personal time, education and enjoyment.

I don’t “Play” as much as I’d like due to the way my workload pretty much consumes my whole existence, hence I’m looking forward to the time when that “Play” element consumes the workload – retirement. And I’m probably looking towards that occurring in the next 3-5 years, maybe sooner if a small lottery win arises.

Here’s hoping for six little numbers 🤞

Stay safe and happy.

2024-2025

Probably one of hundreds of thousands of similar posts that will go out around midnight as the clock strikes 12, I’m loving this year seeing some blogs I follow calling up “Happy new year” many hours prior to us even getting there. It’s lovely to see and I return the compliment of Happy new year, I sincerely hope that the coming year is kind to you and that you achieve all that you set out to do. I really do.

When discussing the years, we normally say it’s a good or a bad one, I’ve had one of those years where I’ve suffered loss, it has really hurt and still does. But it wasn’t a bad year. The last four months have been awful I won’t deny that, but the eight prior ones were fantastic as we spent good, quality time with that family member, and fantastic life long memories were made forever. I am so thankful for being blessed with having that individual in my life. He was a gift to us, and the Lord called him home to be at his side. We were blessed, you can really have too much of a good thing.

Going forward into 2025 we have a lot of plans, and hopefully these will come to fruition along the way. We don’t plan too strictly as plans often fail but they can always be scheduled for a more appropriate time. Happiness and contentment are all we really want, we don’t want anything material, we have all we need. We are by no way rich, far from it, but we are extremely wealthy where it comes to love and appreciation for what we have, what we have had, and whatever is coming our way in the future.

We are all blessed, I’ve stated in an earlier post that the fact we are all on this small planet in a vast universe, is outstanding, the odds on you being here are 40 Trillion to one. You are a very special and important person. It’s an exclusive club for sure.

Don’t cringe at this next statement, its corny but let’s hope the year brings less war and hate and more peace and compassion. I doubt it will, but we can all dream.

I send greetings to you, your family and friends and sincerely wish you all the most happy and joyful of years.

Be the special person, help that one person in need. Change the world, if only for that one person.

Love and peace to you all.

Pinch Pottery Pt:2

Back in September 2024 I wrote this post about pinch Pottery: Pinch pottery

It’s been a few months and I’ve just decided to finish it off and give it some bright colouring and a sealant coat or two. I want it to represent a bright sun if I can, but when I get to actually paint it, it could well turn out looking totally different. Here we go.

This is one of those things I think my wife dislikes but she knows it means a lot to me, even though it is a poor quality and there are probably kids of 5 or 6 years of age that could produce something a lot better. But I made it, it was made at a time when I was grieving and gave me a lot of pleasure. It still does and this will probably remain in my workshop when I eventually get it up and running. It makes me smile when I look at it and i love it. It’s simple, it’s how life should be.

This is how it originally looked:

Alf
Reminder

I started painting the base Yellow, and the inside Orange, with the dog done in white with a black outline. This is what I have so far.

Just started to paint.

I’m using acrylic paints here. I’m going to put a line of vine type effects around where the yellow joins the orange. At the moment I’m letting the piece dry for the next 24hrs and then I will try some touching up and repainting what I have already done. The yellow coat is quite dull as it is being absorbed quite literally into the clay base. I’m kind of hoping that the next coat will not be absorbed so much, fingers crossed.

Multicoloured madness

I’ve gone with a yellow scheme for the underneath and a red – orange on the inside. I’ve tried the same type of painting that you find on narrowboats on Uk Canals, when they paint the buckets and metalwork with flowers. I’ve used this effect around the rim and from one angle it looks like he is looking over a hedgerow. It’s exceptionally basic, but it’s brightened up a piece of pottery that would otherwise sit in the corner unnoticed, discarded and unloved. You can’t miss this now, it just stands out.

First coat of lacquer
Fast drying enamel clear coat lacquer

The final task is to give a nice coat of lacquer to protect the acrylic paint. I’m going to use some fast drying lacquer that I have sitting in the shed at home. About two coats will be sufficient.

Before and after
Side decorations

I’m pleased with the outcome, it’s made me happy, and I smile whenever I see it. It’s kept me occupied and busy, It’s special to me and that is all that matters. It’s adult pottering and nonsense at its best. But it’s my nonsense.

Thanks for stopping by.

Old Photos

What makes you feel nostalgic?

Probably the one thing that makes me most nostalgic is viewing old photographs. Not the many thousand you have on your phones (Though many are relevant), I mean the many thousands you have stashed away in boxes, in loft spaces and under beds. Those pictures that go back generations sometimes.

Old memories

Black and white, Polaroid many different formats, all forming a pleasant picture of how it used to be. Times were simpler, I know we had a lot more Illnesses and afflictions back then, but we were amongst the last generations that actually went out and had proper “play time” and were able to venture every where, oh how times have changed.

When I look at the old photos the first thing I do is turn the picture over and see what paper it’s printed on, having worked in the paper and film production process at Kodak for many years, I often have a wry smile to myself recognising where the paper was probably made. And in those old days you very often had date stamps on the back that would allow you to instantly age a photograph.

The photographs usually come out when someone stumbles on them, that rare occasion, or when you stumble across them when spring cleaning.

It’s one of those little treasures you know are there, but your mind forgets them until it decides to surprise you yet again sometime in the near future.

Have a great day.

Release Your Inner Ansel Adams With The Shitty Camera Challenge

Loved this post regarding the reuse and repurposing of old cameras. I know its social media based, but you can’t have it all your own way. I’ve got about 70 candidates that could quite easily be adapted for this purpose…

Social media microblogging has brought us many annoying things, but some of the good things that have come to us through its seductive scrolling are …

Release Your Inner Ansel Adams With The Shitty Camera Challenge

Was three, now two

What relationships have a positive impact on you?

This kind of makes me laugh. I was talking to my nephew yesterday and we were talking about Antisocial media. He was quite proud to tell me he had 875 friends on Fakebook and was quite putout when I told him he was having a laugh. I asked him to name as many of these friends as he could in 30 seconds, and he could probably reel out about 10 or 12 max. And there is my point, people on social media are not friends and a positive impact on you, nine times out of ten they are there to have a nosey around your life or to try and big up their own lives by stating “Oh look at the friends I’ve got. They’re not friends get over it. They’re doing it for likes.

That’s me off his Christmas list now.

Myself I can count my true friends on my hands. In fact I only need the one hand, in fact I only need two fingers, it was three before August but a death put paid to that relationship.

Now it is two. My wife who I trust implicitly, what she has done for me is just unbelievable, without her I would have been long gone many years ago, she has saved my life. Literally.

Second is my buddy Dave, i probably hear from him twice a year but we are there for each other we would truly go into battle for each other, this bond is strong and its roots go back to our childhood.

Trust is the foundation of a good strong relationship, it is a back bone, break it and there is no more stability.

875 friends eh? They’d all run a mile if you ever needed them.

Peace to your day.

Alfie Moon

Alfie Moon

Jan 2021, Covid in full effect and I’ve been brought a new set or art stuff for the previous Christmas. Using pencil and pastels I attempt a picture of our dear late family member, Alfie, familiarly known throughout the family as “Alfie Moon”.

Do You Know Vail Code?

Alfred Vail (public domain) We talk about Morse code, named after its inventor, Samuel Morse. However, maybe we should call it Vail code after Alfred…

Do You Know Vail Code?