There is no doubt about it, that when I get involved in anything, one thing is guaranteed and that is, that you are going to get nothing but a full commitment of time and attention from me.
My main problem is that sometimes I immerse myself so deep that I sometimes struggle to get back out of the situation. Sometimes it maybe just be a helping hand that is needed and not a full scale immersion, and that’s where I sometimes struggle to find the fine line, it’s a personal issue I have always had.
I’ve learned a few harsh lessons in the past where a helping hand was all that was needed. The people I have been helping were either more than capable at completing the task, or had people with them that would have benefited more from participating in the task, rather than having me jump in and take over. I think I have become more aware of this now and even though I always wish to see a task through to its conclusion, I reluctantly stand by and am instead happy to offer advice if necessary. I just find it hard to take that step back occasionally.
I’m generally a busy person, just of my own making. I may not appear busy to the person passing by, however my brain is in overdrive keeping me busy or working something out within.
So in conclusion I’d say that pretty much all activities make me lose track of time. In some people that would probably make them bad timekeepers I’d guess, however that is again a problem I do not have. I like to help, though I guess my help may not always be appreciated, I just like to get involved, and I can be relied on to be there on time.
It must be horrible to have a wasted lazy lifestyle, however I do appreciate this is not the way everyone operates.
Maybe I need to lose track of time more often, just taking it easy. But hey, that’s just not me I’m afraid.
At the moment, the only thing Bothering me is WP. When I view my site in mobile mode it has gone all skewiffed with the photos looking mahoosive. Only happened in the last 24hrs but all they can say is, “We haven’t done anything?” You most definitely have as my settings have pretty much remained the same since I started this site.
C’mon, be fair, you know you have tampered with things.
I suspect an app update is on the horizon, but they haven’t done anything wrong!
We’ll take yer money, we will tamper with your settings, and deny all knowledge. But we still want yer money you weedy little peasant.
And this evening I was on a chat forum to talk to a specialist for nearly two hours, well it was mainly an AI bot, when the questions I asked got too difficult I was handed over to someone at WP who after another hour did not even answer back. I ask you, I pay good money to this bunch of arses who just couldn’t give a toss about you.
In the end, i sorted it myself. Yes it was their issue and i had to reinstall their crappy app, that the latest update had corrupted.
Edit:
Two days later they come back to me, telling me they have viewed my site and there seems to be nothing wrong with it.
I reply back simply, “I know, because I fixed it”
The reply to that was quite amazing,”Excellent that you fixed your issues with your site, if there is anything else we can help you with in the future, then please reach out to us”
Just as Neil Diamond serenaded us in 1976 in the middle of a summer heatwave, it was the first song that came to my head when I awoke around 06:30 this morning.
A nice amount of water above us
It was raining. The UK, or at least our little bit of it up here in the East Midlands has been under heatwave conditions for a few weeks now. We haven’t seen a good rainfall for a couple of months now, only the occasional spot of rain, but not sufficient to fill a hollow tooth….of a mouse.
It has been proper raining today, and it reminds me that in one of the upper gutter systems i have a joint that needs attention as it leaks a constant metronomic amount of water on to the downstairs conservatory roof, giving a constant, tap, tap, tap that is somewhat comforting to listen to. My water collection butts around the house are all nicely filling as a result with good fresh water that the plants and baskets love and crave.
It’s a beautiful sound.
I know there are parts of the world that probably only hear or feel this kind of weather on very rare occasions, and for those people, when it does finally arrive it must be super special and spectacular.
But they manage.
Where as here in the Uk or any other part of the so called developed western world, a week without rain and the whole nation starts to panic, water companies that are ripping us off with their inflated prices are telling us to cut down, and then the nanny state kicks in with its list of things you must and mustn’t do. It’s crazy, we’re in a crazy world.
But my part of that world just lays here quite content, I have my metronomic drip to comfort me, I have a cup of tea beside me, and my whole world lays beside me in a comfortable and cool slumber, totally unaware of the weather situation developing around us. She will be happy when she awakes. The plants are happy, the birds are content and for a brief moment the world is good.
Then the weather report comes up saying we are in for another heatwave next week. Oh well, that didn’t last long did it. A brief reprieve from the intense heat was nice, but I can’t complain at seeing the sun, as to be honest that will soon be gone and we will go through a long autumn and winter all praying for its swift return. We can’t have it all, can we?
But it is an absolutely beautiful noise isn’t it?
Have a super day, enjoy the rain, sun or whatever you have in your region. Just stay safe.
This is another post based around the current circus that is the selling of our house.
The estate agent tourist fiasco goes on despite us telling the agent that no one comes into our house without having the available funds, or proof that their own house is on sale. I thought we’d finally broken through the thick skull of our agent when we had an appointment for one gentlemen on Monday earlier this week. The cameras on the house told a different story when 8 other people went traipsing through our property.
I have duly phoned the agent and burned him another asshole. I don’t think he will be sitting down for a while. But this seems to be the way it operates in the East Midlands, and I don’t like it, in fact I bloody hate it. These charlatans that hide under a cloak of professionalism will do anything to appease the viewer, rather than abide by the rules and instructions of the seller.
And then they have the cheek to send feedback a couple of days later. Why?
I’ve told them in the past to forget feedback. I’m not going to change anything because someone doesn’t like something. You want to change things? Buy the bloody house then and you can change everything. Totally pointless.
Feedback on house visits, about as pointless as the person who installs indicator units into BMW motor cars. They’re never used.
Pointless
Apart from that life is extremely busy, all my work stuff is packed up so the tourists have a nice view of tidiness, and that’s why I have posted very little lately. I have a mahoosive back log of stuff but at the moment it’s a very much, I don’t give a hoot attitude as I take some well earned R&R.
Have a pleasant day, and don’t let the B***ards grind you down.
the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.
Before all the posts start appearing from the do as I say but not as I do, positive thinking brigade, it’s a quite simple response to be honest.
As it says, it’s a “Quality “ and not everyone possesses that quality. A rapid change in mindset will normally suffice.
Just be appreciative of what you have whatever that may be, a loving relationship, maybe someone has done well or made you feel a million dollars, with just a simple compliment you pay them back. Just be appreciative. Use the words please and thank you a little more, it will always go a long way. And always offer assistance. Just be nice and stop being an asshole.
Simplistic attitudes prevent the negative outcomes.
There’s a hairdressers that I drive past pretty much everyday whilst negotiating the traffic mess around the city of Leicester. I’m not knocking them, I wish them well and from what i can see, they do seem to have some high profile customers from the local community/football club. But whatever made them name their business Suez Canal barbers?
Strange choice of name
Anyone else have some strange names businesses in their area as I’d be interested to know?
This one caused me confusion when I moved to the area as I didn’t know whether I was getting a haircut or a chicken dinner.
Chicken or short back and sides?
Another Barbers shop, when I used to live in Watford, was a barbers called Bhatti Barbers. Nothing too sinister there as it was probably named after the owner
All the same it always made you look up and notice it, and maybe that’s the point of it all.
This could also be titled, “When is a mum not a mum?”
I married my dear wife over 30+ years ago now, and to say she has been the stabiliser of my life would be an understatement, the rudder to my boat, you get the point I’m a lucky guy.
However we knew very early on in our marriage that we would not be having children, and that was difficult at the start. Not as much to me as, to be honest, children weren’t really in my plans at that early stage, but to my wife, she viewed it as if it was her duty to produce a child, she was a woman after all and she dearly wanted a child. And I’d do anything to make her life complete. However this was never going to be a dream come true in our life time as unfortunately and for reasons I won’t discuss here, we were dealt the bum deal as they say. It wasn’t to be. We were to remain childless.
Those first ten years of our marriage were an immense test of our feelings for each other, I’d come home at times and often find her crying for the child she could never have, and yes my heart broke every time, it was a very sad period in our lives. We explored every possibility, in the early days when Kim Cotton was the first in the UK to venture into surrogacy, we followed that closely and were considering the possibility of going down that same route, it was early days and there were lots of pitfalls and heartbreak stood in each corner of the decision making progress. It was fraught with problems and legal issues. We stepped away from this opportunity, reluctantly.
Back in the early 90s the adoption process was not as open as it is nowadays, we just wouldn’t have been considered, it was so selective and as we were quite young and in local government housing at the time, we wouldn’t have even got through the initial application stages, oh how times have changed.
There’s a strange feeling taking your wife to baby shops such as “Mothercare” to chose prams and a decor for the child you would never have, we knew we would never be buying but it was “fun” in a weird sense as we learned a lot about how life would have been if we were dealt a fairer set of cards.
Then the younger members of the family started having children of their own, I thought things would be worse for us as I was worried about my wife’s reaction to all these upcoming births. I needn’t had worried, as this turned out to be the point in our married life where it all changed for the better.
We pretty much became permanent baby sitters, it’s fair to say we probably witnessed more periods of excitement and firsts in their little life’s than their own parents did, it was fantastic, and we could hand the nippers back at the end of the day, even though we did have the occasional overnight stay.
That was definitely the turning point, and my wife changed when this occurred, she was accepting of the fate she had been dealt, but she now had what she wished for, children to look after.
We had brilliant days out with them kids, we did all the stuff you just do and we could now visit those shops to buy gifts for these little visitors that we had been gifted the chance to look after.
We even witnessed teenage angst
To this day those kids, or should I say young adults spend so much time with us, they’ve even joined us on a recent holiday and the relationship we have with them is fantastic. They have grown up to be beautiful souls and it’s nice to think we played a part in their stories. We still ask each other what we think our kids would have been like, and often comment that if they are just like the nieces and nephews we helped bring up, then we couldn’t do much better than that.
The prompt for this post was encouraged by the fact that even though we are the only childless couple in our family, every Mother’s Day and Father’s Day we are showered with cards and gifts, and whilst I question it every year it’s their way of showing their appreciation, and just saying thank you.
I’ve sent them all a WhatsApp message telling them what I have purchased with their gift cards, as I like them to know where it’s been spent. This year I’ve purchased some new tools and a special extraction fan for my soldering, just so I can stay around and appreciate them a little longer. They and their parents changed our life’s for the better.
I should really be thanking them. But they know I’m always here for them. I’m not a dad, but they make me feel so much like a dad. ❤️
Thanks for passing by. Stay blessed and try to be happy.
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.
B**tard
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.
The Chav of the avian world
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.
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.
Self care
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.
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.
Gorleston beach
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.
Gorleston boating lake
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.
The boat
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”.
Pic courtesy of Steve CoeSitting in a corner of the hangar
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.
A walk around with both Grandfathers “J” just about to get airborne
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.
Foxes Den 
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