Monthly Archives: December 2023

Sempiternal Sunbeams of a Spotless Mind

12 Replies

This shot could have been great in black and white – see below for reasons why it wasn’t. Also for an explanation of why I am breaking out the big words for the title.

We met up in what is roughly the middle for us – me and Julia, my sister, Number One Son and Number One Son’s Significant Other. It’s not a pretty title, but it will have to do, as I don’t do names. Perhaps NOSSO will grow on you as a title. The “middle” is Peterborough – the edges being Nottingham and Norwich.

We had a meal. I had pie, chips and peas with gravy. It wasn’t the world’s biggest portion. but in truth, I am not in danger of starvation. I added a triple chocolate brownie as a pudding and had my sister’s garlic bread when she hesitated about eating it. Number One Son had the Festive Burger and the other three had fripperies made from vegetables. It was a pleasant gathering, presents and insults were exchanged, and we went home feeling festive and jolly.

On the way down we saw a Red Kite (they were reintroduced to the area in 1995, imported from Spain). On the way home, using a more rural route, we saw several more, including some good close views.

We also saw a kestrel (though couldn’t get  decent shot of it hovering as we didn’t have the right camera) and visited Little Gidding, as I was feeling literary. The visit to Little Gidding was something I’d bveen meaning to do for a while and I have a growing feeling that I need to do things now rather that stack them up for some imaginary “later” which may never come.

The photos aren’t very good as I merely slipped the old Lumix into my pocket as I left. I thought I might try some shots in black and white, but when I tried, I found I had forgotten how to switch it on. I will have to make a note next time I do it and hope I can remember to take the notes with me. The photos, as you can see, would have suited monochrome.

On a winter’s afternoon, in a secluded chapel
History is now and England.

Four Quartets – Little Gidding – T S Eliot (the poet of choice of those who love an anagram).

Disappointment

11 Replies

Sunset over Screveton

As I turned into our road tonight the dusk sky revealed itself in glorious shades of electric blue peeping out from behind pink clouds. This had been hidden from me by my car roof and direction of travel. Naturally I took pictures. And naturally, the colour of the sky revealed on the camera screen, was a poor imitation of the real thing. This remained true even as I manipulated the various colour settings available to me. I used the sunset setting to get the reds/pinks, but then tried the landscape and firework, and even the food settings, to enhance the blue. It didn’t seem to work.

Sunset over Sherwood

However, none of this mattered as my computer refuses to read the card. This is the second time this has happened in a week, but as I am using several cameras and cards I didn’t really get on top of the first incident.  It looks like I can still access photos on the card, but I just can’t access ones I have taken in the lat few days. I had thought it was the camera at fault, but as it has happened with two cameras it looks like it’s the card. I wish I’d worked that out at the time as I might have some magnificent shots of tonight’s sunset. However, you will have to put up with some shots of previous sunsets. With any luck, I will get another chance before the winter is over.

Sunset with pylon, near Codnor, Notts

We get some good sunsets at other times of the year too, it’s just that with them occurring round about the time I return home, it’s easier to see them in winter. Of course, like fish and items for your collection, the ones you get are never as good as the ones you miss.

Close to Last Glimmering - Sherwood, Notts

Close to Last Glimmering – Sherwood, Notts

Same place, but later

Christmas Stamps

In the Post

7 Replies

The day started with two emails from potential customers asking if items ordered today would be delivered by Christmas. I don’t know. I can, as I said, get them in the post today, but the rest is down to Royal Mail. They are generally very good, but if my life depended on them I’d be worried. They can, as recent events have shown, be erratic, and not very good at addressing complaints.

Last posting date for 2nd Class Mail is Monday 18th December, so in theory anything posted up until Monday will be delivered for Christmas. In most cases this will work, sometimes it doesn’t, and I don’t want an argument with a customer about whether I said they could have a parcel before Christmas. I don’t want to be the man who broke Christmas.

One of them ordered. The other didn’t. I hope it goes well. However, both items have been on eBay for months and there is no reason they could not hve ordered last week if time was important. I am, of course, too tactful to say this.

I got my Christmas cards in the post today, so I’m hoping they will be there before Christmas.

Stamps, stamps, stamps…

We also had a series of emails from a foreign gent, the penultimate one being “Why you not answer?” Well, I don’t know about you, but I pack up at the end of the day and do not spend the time between 7pm and 7am sending endless replies to a man who is making low offers on things. I merely said that we are happy to answer but he won’t get one after we close. As for his offers, when the owner is back tomorrow we will sort out a price.

That was about it. I am now home and have done my post for the day.

We had a package this morning. DHL was supposed to let us know when it was arriving. It did so at 07.14 this morning. I didn’t get the message as it was an email and I don’t do emails on the phone. At 07.28 there was a knock on the door, a relieved looking delivery driver.

“I’m glad you’re up,” he said, “I’ve been waking people up this morning.”

It’s an ever-present risk, I suppose, when you deliver at that time of day and only give 14 minutes warning. I’d been expecting it a day in advance so we could make arrangements to be in. I’m not fond of delivery companies.

Edward Lear Stamps (1988)

Tales of Senior Moments

12 Replies

My shoulders and elbows were aching last night. I first thought it was my arthritis playing up, but it didn’t feel right. Then I decided that I was going down with something fluish, but I didn’t continue to decline so it wasn’t that either. After that I started to worry about RSI, but I couldn’t see what I’d done to bring it on. The obvious thing, which came to me this afternoon, is that yesterday I’d walked quite a distance (for me) and it was  down to my use of sticks. It’s bad enough being ill, without having to work out what it is.

Something amusing happened last night, though I didn’t tell you about it at the time. I was seeking to expand my education by watching a programme on the Sky Channel about Mark Rothko. At one point I became very confused when they were talking about his early life in Ireland. I ws sure he’d grown up in Oregon. After a few seconds I realised that I’d fallen asleep and missed the end of the Rothko programme, wakening part way through the following programme on Jack Yeats. He did have an early life in Ireland.

I’m falling asleep too much. I fell asleep during the talk at the Numismatic Society on Monday night, though only two people seem to have noticed. I was listening to the introduction to the Roman coin hoards of Britain, then next thing I knew, I was struggling to keep up as the speaker spoke of several concepts I hadn’t noticed earlier on. That, of course, was because I’d slept through them.

I really need to get a grip.

Robin Hood lurking in the Forest

A Good Day

11 Replies

The X-Ray went well. I caught the tram with time to spare and took the correct one (having written it on the back of my hand). It wasn’t too crowded (lunchtime/early afternoon looks like the time to travel) and I arrived with two minutes to spare. Nine minutes later I was walking out. All done. It would have been less if I’d remembered to take my wallet out of my right leg cargo pocket when we started.

It’s important, I think, to mention when the NHS does well. The receptionist I spoke with this morning to make a blood test appointment was very cheerful and efficient too. I was “Number One” in the telephone queue and I can’t recall the last time that happened.

Very little else happened. We had veg stew with dumplings tonight. Tomorrow it is sausage sandwiches with soup –  that will be bean and vegetable soup, which is, by coincidence, the ingredients I have left after the two stews.

Daffodils at Mencap garden

I now have a notebook full of ideas too, as it’s the first time I’ve done anything part from work and blood tests for many months.

There were very few masks in evidence. Just three on the tram and a couple in hospital. I can see problems resulting from this.

It seems we have a re-emergence of Whooping Cough as a disease of note. Lockdown and masks just about put a stop to it, so we have brought up a group of kids with no natural immunity. Add this to low vaccination rates and we are looking at a potentially serious situation. Of course, scientists always say this, as do newspapers, who are calling it “the 100 day cough” and “the Victorian disease”.  What they don’t tell you is that what they are reporting as “an explosion” of cases is merely a return to the levels we had before lockdown.

Then we have measles.  It has killed millions. It can leave you with permanent problems.  We have virtually eradicated it, but vaccination rates are a little lower than ideal. On the other hand, I had it as a kid, as did my sister, and we are fine. It’s all a question of balance and it’s easy to get hysterical about these things. I’m sure that there’s a module in Journalism courses “Hysteria and How to Provoke it”. That’s the only explanation for some of the headlines they come up with.

Forsythia

Pictures are random spring flowers from previous years – roll on spring.

Bean Stew and Camouflage

14 Replies

We had bean stew tonight. It’s the first time I’ve made a proper bean stew and it worked out quite well.

Bean Stew – I had hoped the beans would stand out more.

Carrot, onion, leeks, garlic. Add a tin of tomatoes and a tin of water. Stock cube, Italian seasoning (note, do not become distracted and use two stock cubes – it becomes borderline salty at that point). Two half tins of beans (I thought I’d be sophisticated and use two sorts), simmer, rolling boil to reduce. It’s quite good. If the Zombie Apocalypse ever comes I could survive on this. Of course, there would be no carrots, leeks or onions but it would still be recognisable.

This picture shows the two phone cases. There’s a definite camouflage vibe coming from the Great Wave pattern. At least I hope it does, it went missing at one point.

 

Yes, there are two phone cases there, one is simply better at hiding it.

Tonight I saw one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen. Ring road, rain, darkness, rush hour traffic. There’s a light behind me, a buzzing sound and a scooterish two-wheeler (with L Plates) zips (going too fast) between me and the lorry next to me. It was uncomfortable, dangerous and ill-advised.

Then, it happens again. Lights, buzz, a motorcyclist forces himself into the unsuitable gap. He is more experienced and lacks the L Plates. What he does have, is an urban camouflage pattered jacket. Obviously his life of bad riding in poor weather conditions isn’t exciting enough – he needs the extra frisson of trying to camouflage himself, just to make it slightly more difficult for other drivers.

Even black is slightly better than that as it makes a hard-edged shape that you can see. Best of all, of course, would be something bright and reflective.

Robin – well it is Christmas

 

Oh dear, forgot the title . . .

3 Replies

Sorry, forgot to put a title on Sunday. Just noticed on Tuesday . . .

The second Sunday post, as I left a lot out of the first one.

It’s been quite warm today and I have been more comfortable, though still not very productive. I have failed to find a Christmas present for Julia and I have bought too much stuff on eBay for myself.

Yesterday Julia bought me a new phone case because the current one I have seems to make it easy for me to forget my phone and leave it on the desk at work. I bought one with a pattern reminiscent of The Great Wave off Kanagawa. I thought it would be easier to spot than my old plain black one. It doesn’t. It works like some form of camouflage. Fra from seeing the black block and realising it is my phone, it seems to break up the outline. Even in good lighting at home I sometimes miss it.

I will try to remember to take pictures tomorrow.

She ordered it yesterday and it arrived this morning.  Even I can’t complain about that level of service.n It’s orange and black. You don’t seem to be able to get high-vis on phone covers so this is the next best thing. So far it seems to be working.

I had a rejection letter today, which neatly rounds up ll the current submissions. I haven’t yet started sending out the December submissions. I really do need to get some work done.

And so, as i often do, I drift off to look t suitable material for submissions and end up, n hour later, realising I hve a post to finish.

Thoughts of Spring

Unwakefully Watching Wolf Hall

14 Replies

I once went to sleep during one of the Hobbit films. They were in the middle of a battle. I woke up, and they were still in the middle of a battle. The clock had moved on by over an hour, but the script had not. I didn’t really like the films, They were well made but painfully paced, a fact that owed more to the makers wanting to spread things out into multiple films and make loads of money. Making money – 10/10. Producing a watchable film that did justice to the source material – don’t really know as I slept through big chinks of most of them.

This afternoon, watching Wolf Hall, I fell asleep as Thomas Cromwell sneaked round  a dimly lit palace. I woke up and he was still loitering in dimly lit corridors, but we had a new queen and she was pregnant. Looks like another adaptation that failed to grip me. I have to admit that Wolsey, More and Thomas Cromwell all merge into one as parts of the Henry VIII marriage saga I never really got to grips with at school and the plotting is not as interesting as a good old-fashioned shootout or sword fight. I like films with pirates, robberies and Musketeers. Subtlety is lost on me. This makes it even sadder that I can fall asleep in Hobbit films. They really must be tedious. Narnia, on the other hand, has always kept me rivetted to the screen.

I have to go now as the batch cooking needs attention. Italian bean stew and vegetable stew (which will eventually have dumplings. Julia will be making creamy parsnip soup tomorrow and we are having cauliflower cheese and roast veg tonight. Mostly roast veg, as the cauliflower, as I mentioned in yesterday’s post, is the size of a tennis ball.

The Door to Narnia

Ready for Christmas

7 Replies

We now have a frozen turkey crown, and I have a feeling of foreboding. Julia keeps remarking how small it is  (despite it being a chunk of meat the size of her head which will serve six people). I wonder what she’s planning for Christmas.

Meanwhile, that’s Christmas done for me. If the shops closed tomorrow we have enough food to see us through to Christmas. Admittedly some of the stuff will be tinned beans of various sorts, but we could get through, and we could have turkey for Christmas dinner. Fortunately this won’t happen, but it could. As soon as the freezer door closes on the main meat, I always relax.

Not me.

Obviously, things will be better with a supply of fresh veg, but the pressure is off. There shouldn’t really be any pressure, but it always feels like it is. Ideally we should just eat normally through Christmas, but it doesn’t seem to happen. When i lived on my own, I just used to eat my standard menu, or eat my favourite food as a treat. This does not include either chicken or turkey, if I’m honest. I’d probably just have bacon sandwiches for Christmas Dinner, or beans on cheese on toast. Or soup with a nice cheese and pickle sandwich on the side. I’m not a gourmet.

Tonight’s shopping was not satisfactory. The cauliflower was the size of a tennis ball and there were no courgettes. This means the cauliflower cheese will make a poor main course and there will be no ratatouille, and no courgette in the pasta bake. It’s a minor inconvenience compared to being homeless or out of work, but most lives are made up of such minor inconveniences. And that’s before you get to the avocados, which are a touch riper than I would like. I am sure that the eighteen-year-old me would be staring at this strange elderly man in disbelief. Are cauliflowers, courgettes and avocados now my life? At that age I’m not sure I’d ever eaten a courgette and avocado was a shade of green used in bathroom suites, not a foodstuff.

Life is a strange journey.

And again – not me.

Pictures are of a variety of Santa volunteers who helped out at Christmas on the farm.

Insurance Renewal Blues . . .

12 Replies

Bean Soup with tortilla chip bits – my doomed final attempt at being sophisticated

I opened an email from the company that arranges my house insurance today. It’s been lurking in my inbox for a while and I’ve been putting it off. Bearing in mind how my car insurance shot up, I was not looking forward to this. It has gone up by 50%. At least, unlike my car insurer, they spared me the excuses, though they did say that although I had been with them for  while I may be able to get a better deal elsewhere. They are right. I can get insurance cover for about half what I was paying last year. Business is business and I don’t take offence at being asked for an inflted price. That, after all, is the basis of the business I am in. We name a price, the customer names a ridiculously low offer, and so it goes on . . .

However, our prices are based on judgement and we would not ask more than something was really worth. With insurance it’s less clear cut. Despite recent changes in the law, it still seems like companies keep boosting your premium to see what they can get away with. It’s not a pleasant feeling.

My soup flask – itb holds nearly two mugs.

I’m currently with a broker called Swinton. They are a national company that took over the local broker that used to do my insurance.  Their prices for house insurance and business insurance were always OK. When I tried them with my car a few years ago they were great for a year and then it went badly wrong with a quote that seemed wildly out of proportion. I changed provider and even after the latest rise in prices I am paying considerably less than that Swinton quote. I was tempted to move all the business but the household price stayed reasonable.

The new price was a shock, though not a surprise, and I just had a look round. I can do a lot better.

The top of my soup flask – a folding spoon sits in a recess in the lid. I never use it, but I like gadgets.

Of course, there is always an element of fear in swapping insurers, but sometimes you have to move. I can take out insurance with a company that will charge me a lot less than the current quote. I can’t, however, guarantee that they will be any good if the house falls down. On the other hand, having never made a claim, I can’t guarantee you that any of the previous insurers would have been any good either.

I am with a reputable car insurer, and have no worries there. I am with a reputable breakdown service, though I always feel the service may be less good than the AA. So far it’s been OK, but you never know . . .

Nettle soup with a very poor attempt at a swirl of cream

Now I’m changing house insurance. I have been with many people before, as Swinton is only a broker, so it’s not as if I really had a relationship with any insurer. At least by going directly I can select an insurer with a name that I recognise. It’s just a fear of change, rather than a logical fear, but it all adds up. That’s why I’m reading a book about being happy. So far, it’s not really working.

I think it’s broccoli soup. But it might be a failed experiment in producing life from primeval slime. I’m ambivalent about broccoli at the best of times, so it may even be a bit of both . . .

Today’s pictures are soup. Nothing like winter to make soup look attractive. Even broccoli soup.