Monthly Archives: April 2021

Musings on My Decline

13 Replies

I added quite a lot to my photographic archive on Wednesday. I now have a fine selection of shots of water where a bird just dived (particularly the dabchick), a number of new shots of empty twigs where birds just flew off, and some good ones of partial birds. The Starlings were excellent for that on Wednesday as they were close and quick. Added to my framing difficulties there was also the issue of the sun. It was at an angle where i couldn’t see what I was photographing, but I was getting a great reflection of a bearded elderly man muttering to himself. Take away the camera and add a can of strong drink and you would have the archetypal man sitting in a park shouting at the birds.

It is a worry.

They say that civilisation is only skin deep, and you can see that once a rumour gets round about a shortage of toilet rolls, but you can at least look at it happening and comfort yourself with the thought that it is “other people”. Examine yourself using the “sitting in the park” test and the result does not look quite so far from home.

When I had a junk shop on one of Nottingham’s mess salubrious thoroughfares (Mansfield Road a few hundred yards up from the Victoria Centre if you are local) we had a bus stop outside, that was a regular haunt of street drinkers. One of them used to fascinate me, because he always arrived with a large pack of sandwiches wrapped in foil.I assume he was in some sort of sheltered accomodation and they used to pack him up each morning for a hard day of picnicking. abusing his liver and shouting at pigeons.

Ah, the things you think about when your mind starts to freewheel, which is, of course, another story.

Starling running out of shot…

Fish and Chip Review – The Dolphin, Sutton on Sea

18 Replies

It’s been so long since I last had fish and chips at the seaside (13 months?) that I’ve forgotten how I used to do the titles and whether they were part of the Scone Chronicles or not. I have forgotten so much in the last year…

We had Fish and Chips from the Dolphin in Sutton on Sea yesterday, They aren’t always as good as they could be and we keep saying that we will try a different chippy, but we’ve been going there for thirty plus years and it seemed wrong to desert them after lockdown. We had to queue outside and use the takeaway side, but they were very good. Possibly better than eating in. W had cod, because there was no haddock and it was very enjoyable. I may go back to cod for a while. The word succulent comes to mind.

Succulent Fisha nd Chips

It is only frozen Icelandic cod, which is the same as we would have in Nottingham, but eating it where you hear the sea and the gulls seems to make it taste better. Talking of which, we didn’t see many gulls around. I wonder if a year of no easy pickings has persuaded them not to hang round in seaside resorts.

Though the fish was excellent to the point of succulence, the chips didn’t quite measure up. They were a bit thin and floppy. That was how people used to describe me when I was in my teens. Sadly, the chips will be unable to grow out of their thin and floppy stage as they didn’t survive being my lunch. Despite my comments, I ate every one and left nothing but a greasy stain…

A better photographer would have photographed his wife next to the chips and titled the photo “Two of my favourite Things” . Unfortunately the photo did not work out. And I totally forgot to take a picture of the succulent flakes of cod as I was too busy stuffing them into my face.

A Day at the Seaside with Fish and Chips

13 Replies

We went to the seaside today. So did a few other people, but we had chosen our day well and there were no crowds. We went to Sutton on Sea for lunch (yes – fish and chips) and Skegness in the afternoon where we had sugared ring doughnuts. After that we went to Gibraltar Point and saw a few birds.

Cod and Chips – slightly strange perspective

After twelve months of staying inside my legs are not as good as they could be and my enjoyment at being outside was slightly constrained by the persistent idea that I should avoid people. I have also developed a habit of looking at the fuel gauge with sorrow as we seem to have used a month’s fuel in just one tip. All in all, it was not a trip of unalloyed joy and it may be a while before I really start to enjoy myself again.

I took the small camera today and missed the reach of the longer lens on the big camera (look at me being all technical) but didn’t miss the effort of charging up all the batteries. I really must start using the “new” camera as I’ve had it for over 12 months and haven’t yet used it. The rechargeable batteries for the big Olympus are all unreliable these days, which is why I use the small one for work and decided to take it today. That one isn’t holding a charge particularly well, but it’s better than the other one. Twelve months of lockdown seems to have finished off all my rechargeable AA cells.

Starling Sutton on Sea – ruching about.I managed to take several shots of the back ends of quickly moving starlings

High points were the delicious cod and chips from the Dolphin, still open as a takeaway, and a couple of birds – a dabchick at Gibraltar Point and a curlew which Julia spotted on the golf course. We went back to look at it, and it obliged by flying a in a few circles before leaving to get some privacy.

Julia taking photo at Gibraltar Point – with my knees I have to do that sort of thin using the zoom lens. I’d never get up.

Dabchick and its lunch

It’s going to take a bit of getting used to, but I am sure I’ll start enjoying days out again. It’s worth it for a dabchick.

Me and Technology

6 Replies

I had an email today to tell me that ASDA were going to discontinue the use of plastic bags in their on-line shopping services. To be honest we went back to plastic bags during lockdown because it was simpler with the deliveries and my arthritis. We paid 40p a week extra and most weeks we got a couple of bags and a load of loose shopping so we discontinued it. TESCO was even worse with their tray liners – massive bags with no purpose once they had been used for shopping delivery, and too big for a man with arthritic fingers to lift.

Back at yesterday’s post, yes, it was the nuns. I have dealt with nuns before when I was selling poultry and always found them charming people, despite their portrayal in fiction. I would, however, hate to get on the wrong side of one as they always seem to be ladies of strong character. I have never dealt with them in the shop, though we have dealt with church volunteers, church wardens, temple elders and priests in the shop. The last vicar wanted a Roman coin to illustrate his sermon to a group of kids (render unto Caesar etc) and we also managed to sell him a widow’s mite (all those Sunday school classes as a kid finally paid off!). And yes, visitors to religious locations do take the opportunity to unload their holiday change. The local Sikh temple brings in regular boxes of foreign coins – mainly rupees and Canadian dollars – which I think come from an appeal for foreign change and the local Catholics brings in quite a lot that gets put in collections. There is probably a lesson to be learnt there about the relative values of the two religions…

This afternoon, by coincidence, we had a phone call from the lady at the catholic Aid Foundation who is going to bring us some boxes of donated coins on Friday morning. It seems this is a week for me to indulge in religious practices.

There were no orders this morning so I used my time before opening to write this post and email it to myself. I’m just adding a few bits, then I’m going to watch TV with a cup oftea and feel virtuous at having completed my blog post before I needed to panic.

This is, I think, the first time that technology has been employed to write the blog. Apart from computeres, but they don’t count because they are just big electric typewriters.

Not My Greatest Day

33 Replies

The week got off to a bad start when I turned up and found that the roadworks outside the shop, far from being “finished in a week” were looking worse than ever and the signs diverted the public through our car park. No point quibbling, builders just do what they want.

Then, looking for something where it should be, rather than where it had been randomly stashed by one of my colleagues, I fumbled the whole lot and dumped a box of coin sets on the floor, breaking several cases and letting a number of coins run free. twenty seconds later I had one of those premonitions and turned to find a couple of nuns looking at me as if they’d never heard a man swear before.

Though the meek many inherit the earth, the visitors they encourage tend to pass off a lot of foreign coins in the collection boxes, which they bring to us after it has built up enough.

As if this wasn’t bad enough my lunchtime sandwich disintegrated and spread a film of Marie Rose sauce (or Thousand Islands Dressing if you are American) and wholemeal bread crumbs over my keyboard. Then I produced a listing for Swiss coin sets that looked like it had been typed by a man with broken fingers. Some fo this was my ineptitude

I’m currently sitting at home typing and wondering why I bothered getting out of bed this morning. Very little has gone right and  have left my camera at work again, even though I wanted to use it for something tonight.

Warning – I am experimenting with being an unreliable narrator, as we writers say. Which of the above facts do you think is a lie?

Cyanosis and a Senior Moment

14 Replies

I have, as I may have said once or twice recently, been struggling for inspiration, enthusiasm or the ability to think clearly. I have also been suffering from cyanosis. For the last few days. In some ways this is a bit of a relief, as at least I can blame lack of oxygen for my problems, which have, so far, been confined to blue lips. There are a number of causes, and they aren’t all serious, so I consulted Julia about it. Obviously, if I’m going to die, I have to tell her what my computer password is.

So, there I was, with  a grave demeanour and a serious tone, explaining that my blue lips could be a sign that she might be a widow this time next week when she started laughing.

It wasn’t quite the reaction I’d hoped for, but I suppose we all have our own ways of coping with bad news.

“Are you sure it doesn’t have anything to do with cleaning your fountain pens?”

I was about to deny it when I realised that my method of getting pens to write (by licking the nib to persuade the ink to flow) has ben linked to blue lips in the past. My cleaning method, which involves soaking the pens and blowing water through them, also involves lips and blue ink. It had also involved a few sharp words this week, as it resulted in blue blotches on the work tops. I gave them a final blow through this morning, which was when I noticed the cyanosis again (having first noticed it on Friday after licking the nibs of two pens).

It’s likely that this is one of the less serious cases of cyanosis and we won’t require a doctor. I will however, keep a close eye on things just in case. The pens, in case you were wondering, are both writing well.

 

 

 

Rebus and Marillion and the Passing of Time

14 Replies

Where to start? As usual i have a lot to say and a feeling that much of it is boring. So I will cut out what I was going to say about the Inspector Rebus stories on TV and go straight to Marillion.  Their song Kayleigh was played on the pop quiz earlier in the evening and, as ever, took me back to an earlier place in my life. That was probably what induced me to watch Rebus, despite my opinion that John Hannah as Rebus is one of the worst casting choices of all time. Great actor, great character, but put them together and it didn’t work. And then, the dodgy club owner came to the screen. I thought “He’s familiar.” and he was. It was the singer better known as Fish, who wrote and sang sang Kayleigh before leaving Marillion for a career of solo work and acting.

I’ve always, by the way, thought that singers with nicknames, are a touch pretentious. This probably seems a little unfair from a blogger known as Quercus, but it seems to happen on wordPress – we end up being known by others by nicknames relating to our blog titles. That never seems pretentious. However, in fairness, they are nicknames given by others, not ones we give ourselves.  I am now going to quote Fish on the subject of his nickname. I do see his point, and probably forgive him.

“With a real name of Derek William Dick, it became very necessary to find a nickname as quickly as possible.”

Yes, I can see that, though it could have been worse. We had an Andrew Dick at school, or A Dick, as he used to appear on lists.  It must have all been rather wearing for him after a while, because the humour displayed by children between the ages of 11 and 18 is neither subtle nor varied. To be fair, mine hasn’t really move on much since then.

Do you ever get those days when something takes you back in time?

Friday Part 2

31 Replies

The day moves on. A man rings with four George IV pennies. That’s better than the usual junk people ring us with. He reigned 1820-1830 and there are only three dates. The 1827 is quite desirable. (That’s dealer talk for expensive).

He rather spoils the effect when he adds.

“They’re all dated 1919.”

Yes, I have yet another typical example of the British education system on the phone.

“That’s George V,” I say. “They are quite common. If they are in the normal condition they turn up in, it wouldn’t be worth your while bringing them down.

“No,” he says, “1919 is rare, I’ve seen them on the internet.”

“What does it say on the internet?” I ask, though I can guess.

“They’re worth between £60 and £900…” I know what’s coming next, “because they have mint marks on them.”

He’s right, they do. In 1918 and 1919 we needed extra minting capacity for pennies so the Heaton Mint and the King’s Norton Metal Company were given a contract to mint over 5,000,000 pennies.  The Royal Mint did over 110,000,000 that year, so the pennies with the H and KN mintmarks are quite scarce, but not exactly rare.  As a boy, in the days before decimalisation, I used to look for H and KN pennies in my change, and always managed to find a few before a new craze took over.

The truth is that if they are in good condition, and I mean the condition referred to as VF (Very Fine) or better, they are worth £30 fo the H and £90 for the KN.

The definition of VF, despite some of the coins you see claimed as VF is “A coin where all the fine detail is present, but not the ‘minute’ detail and signs of wear and tear to its higher points make it obvious that it has been in circulation but only minimally.”

That’s the point – wear from minimal circulation. Most of the pennies we see were taken out of change  and kept in 1971 when we went decimal. They had been circulating for over 50 years. They are almost flat but people say they are in good condition because “you can read all the lettering”. Well, if you mistake Georgius IV for Georgius V, I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that the lettering is not all it could be.  As you descend from VF you come to Fine, then to Very Good (which is dealer-speak for awful). And then you come to the area which most pre-decimal copper falls into – in the trade it’s called “clear date” which means, as you might guess, that you can read the date and mostly everything else is well worn.

He wouldn’t listen, so I passed him over to The Owner. He’s allowed to be rude to customers. He told the bloke that he shouldn’t believe everything he sees on the internet and that we can supply him with mint marked 1918 and 1919 pennies for 25 pence each if he orders them by the hundred.

I don’t blame the man with the pennies, I blame the internet. There is a lot of misinformation out there. And I blame the education system which is afraid to teach people how to thinkl.

Eventually, the day draws to a close and I queue in traffic to get home. Lockdown really has finished and the nation is back at work.

1921 Pennies Look how worn they are – these are a selected lot in about Fine condition. THey are good enough as an example but a collector would prefer something a bit better. 

 

Phlebotomy Friday. Again.

7 Replies

I woke several times during the night and at 5.48 decided it wasn’t worth going back to bed as the alarm was set for 6.30. This allowed me to have an unhurried breakfast, a reflective cup of tea and a few minutes answering comments. What it didn’t allow, was a parking space when I went for my blood test.

Parking has been getting tighter down there, and this wasn’t a total surprise, though it in’t normally full by 7am. It is supposedly a car park for visitors only, but I’m not sure this is true. When they first made it free they had a staff member on the entrance checking that you were a visitor. Since that check has been abandoned it has been steadily more difficult to find parking. The cynic in me, seeing a variety of clues inside the cars, and seeing drivers dressed in NHS uniform, tends to think the staff are ignoring the notices and taking the spaces meant for visitors.

The other part of me, the part that wants to believe they are all heroes and angels, doesn’t want to believe it. “Say it aint’ so, Joe!” my inner, innocent, self cries out.  However, when I think back to the times I have been in hospital, including the time I was left glued to the bed by dried blood despite a request for help, I do start to wonder. If they are capable of leaving me stuck to my bedding, they are certainly capable of stealing my parking space.

I will, however, cut them some slack, because they generally do a good job and it’s a lovely day. The sun is shining, there was minimal ice on my screen this morning and the Robins were singing in the hospital garden.

The blood test, performed with the panache odf a world class fencer, took mere seconds. Touché, you could almost hear her cry.

And now, having got home in time to write a post, I will go to work.

The End of the Day

17 Replies

Julia just woke me up with the words “You’ve done it again.”

She has, it seems, spent the last two hours in the company of a man who has been resting his eyes, and another evening has passed. Even the offer of a Club biscuit, which I found alongside my cold cup of tea, had failed to persuade me to open my eyes.

Looking on the bright side, I will be well rested when I get up tomorrow morning and head off for my latest blood test.

Today did not continue in the useful way of yesterday. I fell at the first hurdle. My initial to do list contained one item – write a to do list – and I failed to do that.

At work I packaged items which had only been listed on Tuesday. It is strange how things sell. Three of the items were newly listed – one of them had been listed for 18 months (the market for Edward VIII Coronation keyrings does not seem strong). You just can’t tell.

My first task, after seeing off the biscuit, was to make sandwiches. It is sandwich-making at its simplest – open a cob,  butter it, insert a cheese slice and add pickle – but it is also at its finest. The classic simplicity of a cheese and pickle sandwich is hard to beat. We had tomatoes in it today, but I don’t feel up to slicing tomatoes tonight. It is a technical job and not one well-suited to a man who is half asleep.

The same could be said for blogging, but I seem to have managed…