![Picture](/uploads/3/4/2/9/3429912/490789.jpg)
![]() Oh dear. The sunny weather has not been with us today. There has been drizzle, grey clouds and warmish, muggy temperatures. Still, never mind, we are told by our ever trustworthy Meteorological Office that tomorrow will be hot and sunny. I am not sure that I believe them but I am prepared to be wrong. I get this feeling that conditions will change overnight and that yet another grey and very humid day is ahead of us but as HH said today over coffee "there is nothing that you can do about the weather". It is a thought though isn't it?
![]() A long day what with taking Mum-in-law to hospital again. Apparently it was just to get some results from the last set of tests but in fact turned out to be yet another scan (a heart echo scan) but these days Mum-in-Law isn't quite as with it as she used to be so she had forgotten. Anyway, the test went well and we got her home at a half reasonable time. Then it was a fight with Dad-in-Law who is losing his marbles big time and seriously quickly. I can't believe how bad he has become. All is not well there. At least I was able to stop off at Tangmere Air Museum on the way over there which is where I got today's shot looking down the air intake of an English Electric Lightning aircraft. A few weeks ago I pushed a domino. It fell and pushed the next domino and so on and so forth. Today, some hundreds of pounds later I have finally completed the pushing over of dominoes and the net result was that I didn't really need to push them that hard. Let me explain. I like my digital imaging and I had had my eye on a piece of software called DxO FilmPack. When I had the chance (and the money) I purchased it and installed it on my PC. It didn't work very well at all so belatedly I checked out the PC specifications. I passed them all except that I needed a 64 bit operating system. Cursing, I did some swift research and found that Windows 7 Professional x64 suited my purpose.
![]() What Sunday would be complete without a walk in the countryside? We needed to go down to Swains to pick up the fruit that we forgot to get yesterday so we decided that a trip up to Chanctonbury ring was once again in order. This time I was wearing my new, camera carrying gear. In my life I have had two almost endless searches. The first was for a pair of warm and waterproof motorcycle gloves - it seems that you can have either but not both characteristics - and the second is for some method of carrying a camera that doesn't put strain on your back / neck / shoulders / hips or wherever. I managed to find the first item in an Army Surplus store many moons ago and I am hoping that the Sam Browne affair is the other. I need to make some adjustments but it does seem to work reasonably well even if there are minor drawbacks. Regardless of this we did a rather nice five and a half mile walk on the South Downs to clear the head and lungs of fusty air. To the ![]() Do you ever have those sorts of days when there doesn't seem to be enough time in the day to do everything? Today was one of those days. Despite getting up earlier than usual for a weekend we seemed to be getting bogged down with small things. I really needed to get home to unblock a drain before the rain came (just an hour of drizzle that did little to cool things down) but it was not to be. Still, I suppose that in the end we did about ninety percent of what we wanted to do so it isn't all that bad. ![]() ... and who wouldn't? What am I warbling about? Gifts. I know that we all get presents for birthdays, Christmas, Easter, anniversaries, Mother's Day, Father's Day or whatever but just once in a while it is nice to get a gift out of the blue. I also get as much of a kick out of buying something silly for someone and giving it to them as I do from receiving something. Today I decided that I was going to get Donna a little something just to say that I love her. I could have plumped for flowers but instead I bought her a DVD of a film that we managed to miss at the cinema but she really wanted to see. The film? It is "Frankenweenie". It is a Tim Burton animation so it is likely to be great fun if a little gruesome! I don't know when we will get the chance to watch it because at the moment we are still dining al fresco each evening and will probably continue to do so until the weather breaks. Talking of which I bought myself a little gift but it is also something that Donna wanted so it is something for both of us. It is an external speaker for a mobile phone / iPod. I was surprised at quite how effective it is now that I have charged it up. It is something to add to the holiday technology heap so that we can have a little music of an evening whilst we are away. Going back to films once again. Another gift that I treated myself to was a copy of "Arriety" by Studio Ghibli. It arrived today and having watched it I can say that it is a charming animation loosely based on Mary Norton's book "The Borrowers". I found it very satisfying and enjoyable to watch. I think that I am reverting to my inner child once more. Here's a fun animation for you "Tulkou". Have a great weekend. We had some wet stuff last night! It actually rained! Not enough to make much difference to the aridity of the soil or the colour of the grass but enough to cool things down just a tad. That is, to begin with. AS the day started to wear on, the humidity rose to very uncomfortable levels and made people very grumpy (and the cats too!). I started off the day in uncomfortable fashion by buying something over the Internet from Screwfix. I have never had any joy with their e-commerce website at all and today was no different. I asked for a piece of equipment to be put to one side for me so that I could collect it from their store. They asked me to pay for it... oh well, I suppose that they could genuinely ask me to do that so I entered my card details, chose the item I wanted and clicked on "Proceed to checkout" whereupon it told me that it was going to charge it to a different card so I had to go through all of the nausea of re-entering the correct card details. I clicked on the "make a sale" button and it went off, verified my card and sent me a congratulatory email telling me that I had successfully purchased something entirely different! It had picked an item that I bought over a year back and re-ordered that for me! So I had to phone their help desk and then go to Horsham and pick up the item I didn't want so that I could then return it and have my cash refunded before seeing if they had the piece of kit that I had ordered in the first place! Thankfully they did so all was well in the end. Apart from that I have achieved very little today. Sigh... there is always tomorrow I suppose. Have a fun animation. "Tumbleweed Tango" Tumbleweed Tango from HUMBLE TV on Vimeo. So congratulations to Kate and Wills for producing a new heir to the throne. There; that has got that out of the way and apart from a stab at what the boy's names will be, I have no further interest. Just let them get on with it. We have enough trouble with newborn babies on both sides of us at the moment. Two sets of wailing lungs. When you have spent your entire adult life trying to avoid them, to get stereophonic screeching comes a bit hard. At least the neighbour over the back has moved out of his let so we aren't plagued with one there as well (plus his three little girls). Personally I think that it is a cruel world to bring a new human into. There is plenty enough trouble in the world, fuel is getting much more expensive, food and water is getting scarcer. I am only mightily glad that I am not destined for more than thirty or forty more years maximum on this planet. Unfortunately in between now and shuffling off this mortal coil there is the prospect of old age and senility creeping in (who said that I have already got there?) but at least I can get more eccentric along the way so that is a big plus as far as I am concerned. Following on from yesterday, Mum-in-Law has been drinking more water today, carefully watched over by Father-in-Law. Now all we need to do is get Father-in-law to drink more as well and all will be well with the world. Cauliflower cheese for supper! Hooray! How about a trip round Burma (Myanmar)? ![]() What a huge difference a simple glass of water could have made to the day. We started out with all good intentions to go down to Donna's parents to do a bit of gardening. The first disaster of the day (not that we knew it of course) was that I forgot to take my mobile phone with me. Not to worry because Donna had hers. If I had taken my phone we would have known of the pending disaster in good time rather than having it sprung upon us cold. We arrived at Ruth and Ben's to be met with Ben in a state of agitation at the door. Ruth had collapsed in a local supermarket and had been rushed to Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth. Whilst Donna phoned the hospital for more details, I took Ben the couple of miles into the village so that he could pick up Ruth's abandoned car. By the time we returned Donna had found out which ward Ruth was on and so we took off, leaving Ben to look after the cat. We found the ward easily enough and then we sat and waited for the doctors to deal with her. Where does the water come into all of this? Because Ruth had collapsed due to dehydration. She was being rehydrated by the simple expedient of giving her a small cup of water every few minutes. Now, the paramedics who dealt with Ruth initially can't be faulted. The ambulance crew can't be faulted. The doctors and nurses can't be faulted. The only person who can be severely reprimanded was Ruth herself. Like a lot of old folks, she doesn't drink enough fluid. Tell her this and she will bristle and tell you that she drinks several cups of tea a day but that is no good because good, old-fashioned British style strong tea is a diuretic which means that you pass more water than you take in! So what is the problem here? The problem was that due to Ruth not taking in enough fluid, the whole gamut of National Health Service emergency response had to be put into action. Paramedics, ambulances, doctors, nurses, laboratory staff, administration, the lot! A vast sum of money has been wasted because one silly old woman couldn't be bothered to have a drink of water. Take into account that there were several old folks in there who were being dealt with in the same way then you have a huge loss of resource at a time when the NHS is stretched. Because Ruth hadn't had that glass of water, they had to run a whole series of tests (for heart, stroke, kidney problems, thyroid, blood pressure etc). There were urgent cases waiting on trolleys in the corridors when for the sake of one glass of water they would have been assigned a cubicle for their own tests. Just one glass of water... Father in law is no better despite knowing how good he looked and felt after his last hospital treatment when they hydrated him intravenously before his cancer treatment. So the upshot of the day is that we got no gardening done, I drove several tens of extra miles and it was all a fruitless and pointless exercise due to one miserable glass of water. Needless to say, we have drummed it into both of them that they MUST drink plenty, particularly in the current hot spell of weather. I have also phoned my parents to make sure that they are doing likewise. So I urge all of you to keep an eye on your vulnerable relatives and family and make sure they are getting enough water - and that includes you! Tumbleweed Tango from HUMBLE TV on Vimeo. Donna had the day off today so we decided to make a day of it and go to the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust nature reserve at Arundel. Stopping only to pack a picnic with masses of things that we wouldn't normally have (because we were expecting guests yesterday but they had to cancel at short notice). We have had the most glorious day. The weather was superb, the picnic lunch was ace, the wildlife was there in abundance (including ratty above) and the electric boat trip we took was just wonderful. Following the visit we stopped off at St Mary the Virgin church at North Stoke and found another scratch dial for my father's collection and we rounded the day off with a trip to Park cameras to buy me a chest harness to carry Brutus the camera and we purchased a spare rechargeable battery as well because I am having so much fun with the new camera that I am using a lot of battery power. In fact, this camera is making up for all the heartbreak that the last camera caused me. Another day off tomorrow as we visit Donna's parents so I will leave you with a slideshow of a small selection of the pictures that I took today. How many times have you driven past something and thought "I must go there one day" but you haven't bothered? Sometimes it is because it is just so close and you know that it won't be going anywhere so you can "save it for a day when there is nothing else to do". When we lived in Lee-on-the-Solent I used that excuse for not going to the Isle of Wight because it was just across the water and wasn't going to go anywhere. Similarly for visiting Portsmouth Dockyard to see HMS Victory and the Mary Rose. Eventually I got around to seeing both, mostly because Donna made me go and I enjoyed both visits immensely. Today it was the turn of Buchan Country Park just outside of Crawley. For twenty one years I have driven past the sign to the entrance and hadn't bothered to go in. I was looking for somewhere to take photographs of in the local area the other day and the park came to light so today Donna and I went there. It is about one hundred and seventy one acres of heathland and forest with added ponds and whilst I can't say "I really must go back there", I can say that we had a nice time walking through the forested areas and admiring the scenery. Today's photograph for my 365project was taken there (see above and click on it if you want to enlarge it.) This has just made me wonder what else there is around the area that I have never visited and made me think that I might be missing out on something special. I shall make a study of the local area (within a fifteen mile radius, let's say) and then plan something different. I have already found a wildlife park over East Grinstead way but that isn't open all the time and you need to visit by appointment so that is on the cards. I must also make a trip back to Drusilla's Park Zoo at some point. I have a mind to take some photographs there and I might combine it with a visit to a few other places nearby. Here's to re-discovery! This animation is gorgeous and was done by the same chap who did the one about the dog and the soldier that I put on here a few weeks back. Have a good week. ![]() Today has been a really nice day, not as hot as of late but as nice as can be with one small exception; the number of people who are engaging their gearbox before doing so with their brains. I don't know what it was but I have had four or five people swing out of junctions right in front of me today. By "right out in front of me" I mean having to take drastic braking and avoiding actions. In each case, I doubt if the person who had done it was aware of what they had done. They seemed to be blissfully unaware that the screeching of tyres and the smell of hot rubber meant anything at all and they just bimbled onwards as if they had the right of way. It's not as if I drive an inconspicuous car - he's bright red for goodness sake - and it it isn't as if they needed to get somewhere fast because far from accelerating away like a bat out of hell, they have simply loitered and slowly moved off. The only strange thing was that not one of these drivers was a Volvo driver (unless they were using their second car). So for once the Swedish company can be exonerated. Apart from that? Not a lot. We have purchased a tranche of second hand books, gone to have some pictures framed, met a lovely lady artist from whom we are going to buy some pictures. Sort of a nothing day but nice to go with it. I might have had a gripe about other drivers but sometimes they can be very warm hearted. Watch this Russian video collection to see. ![]() Definitely a quickie today! I have had a splendid day up in London with Brutus (the new camera) and just a couple of lenses. I was up at the top of Shaftesbury Avenue where it meets Giles Street and I came across a set of buildings I had photographed once before, many moons ago (http://goo.gl/maps/sKtJw). They looked pretty much the same but when the No 38 bus came past, they looked a whole lot different in the windscreen.Click on the pic to enlarge to see the weird bendy effect of the glass on the reflections. I was up in town specifically to see the exhibition of handbags and necessaires at Goldsmiths hall but I had time to do some photography too. A visit to Foyles is always on the cards but I find fewer books to buy each time. I did pick up some more coffee beans from the Monmouth Coffee shop though. I also had problems with jostling tourists. Every time I stopped to take a photograph, one or more tourists would come and barge me out of the way to see what it was that I was capturing and to see if they could take a picture of it too! Ho hum. Eventually it was time to come home (even thought we met our friend CL for the exhibition and then post exhibition drinks) and a take away Indian meal was on the cards. All in all... a fine day!! First of all, today is our twenty sixth wedding anniversary. Twenty six years we said "I do" and we still do and still will! Twenty six years ago, I took Donna Veronique Estelle Fordyce to be my lawful wedded wife to have and to hold, from that day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part. We haven't had a lot to complain about and for all of those people who muttered "It will never last", I am pleased to say "YOU WERE AND STILL ARE WRONG!" so nurdy, nurdy, nurr nurr. Thanks are due to HH for a lovely card (and respective parents, of course) but as for gifts, we kept it low key seeing as Donna has just splurged out on a huge lens for me and I have bought the holiday. So we swapped a small gift and card each. The other anniversary was a photographic one. I have managed two hundred days of my project without missing a day! Today's photograph above (you can click on it to enlarge it) just goes to show what a wonderful "toy" the new camera is - the textures and colours are so "Oooooh!". The rest of the day has been glorious. Despite the high temperatures (I am NOT complaining! I love the heat!) I spent four hours in the garden today hacking back the wisteria and bay trees to get some more light back into the garden. This meant a lot of work and two trips to the local tip to get rid of the resulting greenery and I had to spend quite a bit of time extracting spiders and crickets from my hair before they fell down inside my T shirt and worse still, inside my trousers! I have also managed to chivvy up one of my pension providers who have basically told me that I don't stand a chance of getting my hands on the money but the law says that I can, so I am going to get that cash whether they damn well like it or not! Do you like dominoes? Well here is a record breaking attempt that worked. Enjoy! ![]() I was idling away my time this morning in between photography and fixing the immersion timer switch when I decided that I ought to check the mail. There right on top of the mailbox was an envelope that said proudly "Your water meter is here!" and announced that the new meter has been fitted and we can expect the bills to roll in soon, based on "estimates" of how much water we use. This business of estimation is what caused us grief with EDF recently where they estimated incorrectly and we paid too much for our electricity and then they estimated downwards too much and undercharged us but we were still expected to cough up the extra cash. I checked outside but you cannot see the meter because it is hidden under a layer of expanded polystyrene. Tomorrow, I reckon that I am going to have the lid off and have a look inside to see what is what because although they have promised us that the meter has been set at zero, I don't trust them; much as I don't trust their "drive by" meter reading. I want to be able to take meter readings and to keep on top of what they are charging us. Now it doesn't really matter a great deal to us because there are just the two of us living here and we already take steps to reduce our water usage but still, I need to get a grasp on what the cheating b@stards at Southern Water are up to. My main issue is that when they find people are saving more water than they expected and profits start to dwindle, they will just raise the prices in the same manner that the energy companies do. For all the profits and water savings that they generate through this licensed banditry I expect to see an concerted effort to reduce the number of leaks across the network and I want to see a wholesale increase in infrastructure improvements not just an across the board huge pay rise for the bosses. Call me an old cynic but that is the way I feel about this whole malarkey. I will be proved correct once again, I am sure. FEAR OF FLYING from conorfinnegan on Vimeo. |
Archives
May 2015
AuthorPaul Everest - Shining wit (at least that is what I think they said) |