I just spent an hour writing a post that discussed ways of making water company executives take notice that we are serious about stopping water leaks in our mains and sewage in our waterways. It stopped slightly short of an unhinged rant, but when I started looking for illustrations of Victorian cholera outbreaks and hanging, drawing and quartering, I realised that it might not have stopped short enough.
So I started again. It’s lunchtime on Monday and Julia is just back from an extra stint at the tearoom. That’s probably a good time to have a break and restart today’s post. Today is a Bank Holiday in the UK. It means some people have time off work. Some don’t, as they have to provide services for those who do. And retired people like me don’t really notice the difference.
This morning, after the recent rain, I noticed our back lawn is beginning to green up. It’s hardly the miracle of the karoo, but it is nice to see.
Wooden Pens
This afternoon, after cheese and tomato sandwiches (the tomato crop has been bountiful this year, though cosmetically challenged) we assembled a press that Julia has bought for putting her turned wood pens and keyrings together. All we needed to do was put the handle to the press and bolt it on. There were no instructions on how to do it and eventually I used the handle to persuade the mechanism to unfold and all became clear.
Taking inspiration from Billy Mann we are now looking at producing pendants from wood. It’s still August and she is already producing things for Christmas. Whatever happened to sitting back and watching the world pass by?
I would say “another wooden pen, but it isn’t, it’s one of the previous pair, but on its own
Oh, Julia does beautiful work.
I am impressed. When I separated from my wife some years ago I sold everything and moved into a unit. I SOLD MY LATHE. Do I need to say anything more. I should have kept my lathe. And don’t tell me I can go out and buy another one – or a lathe.
🙂 I wish I’d carried on wood turning after my grandfather taught me, but I drifted my way through life and didn’t. By the time I thought of doing it again my hands were starting to deteriorate so I decided not to riak making them worse.
I think I would love to still have mine.
Yes, it can be relaxing, as well as practical.
Julia’s pens are so elegant and well turned. Water companies disaster really gets me going. I remember the furore about the blatant selling off for the government to avoid paying for renovation of the Victorian infrastructure, and the shareholders and management getting all the money for themselves – now we are paying the price.
At the shop we had several lots of roadworks to fix the crumbling Victorian gas mains – it started when some telephone engineers smelt gas whilst down in one of their underground work areas and gradually spread as more faults were found.
The management of the nationalised companies was, as I recall, deplorable. Then along came privatisation and established need for a whole new word, encompassing, dire, greedy, smug and disappointing.
The pens are very good.
Hanging, drawing and quartering sounds a bit much, even for privatised utility executives, but the underlying thought is very sound.
Yes, I realised I was going a bit over the top but water executives are taking the mickey. I must think of something more proportionate to cut off.