新着記事一覧 | Jeremy and Junko in Stratford

Blowing in the wind (Bob Dylan 1964)

Well I think we have almost seen the last of the leaves on the wisteria bush for the winter. It was quite a breezy day yesterday and most of them fell. It’s a pity, but let’s look forward to the new year.Do you remember Aspi? He phoned the other day and it looks as if I am going to meet up with him soon. I forgot to ask him how Sid was, I hope he isn’t still having trouble with him.Junko baked a couple of our King Edward potatoes for lunch yesterday. Excellent. It’s always nice to eat something you have grown yourself.

2014年12月04日

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Marmalade (1968)

Junko bought some marmalade bread the other day, and put it in the freezer. I must admit that I was sceptical about the deal at the time. However, Junko surprised me by toasting a few slices for us to have along with our morning hummous. Not knowing what it was I was quite confused by the taste to start with, the mixture of orange flavour with that of caramelised onions and chick peas is an unusual one, to say the least, but once I had realised what was going on I have to say that it was very nice. Different.I bought this ipod dock and speaker system for fifty pence the other day. Good quality sound and excellent value. What more can you say? The iPod wasn't included, that I already had.

2014年12月03日

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December will be Magic Again (Kate Bush 1979)

So we move ever closer to Christmas. The festive lights have been switched on in Stratford, and I must say they look nice. What am I going to get Junko as a Christmas present?And back to the dual monitor setup. One thing I noted about the cable installation. The ports are spaced very close together which means that although the connection is not an Apple one, you have to buy a special Apple cable to be able to use it together with the one next to it because the plastic on the normal cable connector is too bulky. Sneaky, or perhaps I am just overly suspicious.Here is the pumpkin soup. Delicious.

2014年12月02日

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Harvest (Neil Young 1972)

We dug some leeks the other day. Not bad. Junko is going to make leek and potato soup. That should be well worth waiting for.And further on the subject of monitors. I bought an extra cable and now I can use two monitors at the same time. Amazing. Using two monitors on a Windows machine requires buying another video card as well as a cable and all sorts of other adjustments. So simple on my Mac Mini. And the cable was only £4.99. I don’t suppose I will use this feature much but I definitely will sometimes. It’s a pity it doesn’t all work as well as this.

2014年12月01日

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The Endless River (Pink Floyd 2014)

On our morning walk the other day we saw the river mist rising into a lovely clear sky. You can see that the river is slightly in spate due to the recent rain.A useful feature of the monitor I have just bought is the USB hub feature. It saves scrabbling round the back of the computer or having dangling bits everywhere - there are enough dangles already without adding more! I am thinking of getting a second hand sound bar for it. A good idea?

2014年11月30日

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Captain of your ship (Renatta and the Delrons 1968)

We went to Bidford today to visit Atsuko and Andy on their boat. A very nice cup of tea was had by all, and plenty of laughs. A nice morning.Coming home rather late for lunch Junko and I had steak and kidney pie and bean mush (which consisted of runner beans, celery, carrots and something else). Very warming. Spiced up with genuine Worcestershire sauce.

2014年11月29日

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The Doors

So here is the inside of the door. Quite smart but I wish I had lined the screws up better. I wasn’t thinking at the time. Also on display is the jumble that has already backfilled the available space. It was another miserable November day. However I did get out, to go to tasting. Very festive that was, too. A number of rather sweet Christmas items which I am not at liberty to disclose, but I am sure you can guess. Not my favourites at all, but quite a change. I suppose these are the ones they are trying for next year.

2014年11月28日

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In through the out door

So, here it is. The door to the shed extension. As you can see, it’s less than half a door really. Unfortunately I can’t make this door a full length one as this would mean that I couldn’t get the wheelie bins out from behind the shed. The gap is too small to have a door post in there. I could hang the door from the shed but that would make getting the bins out very difficult, you’d have to drag the bin past the door and it wouldn’t fold flat against the shed because of the rainwater downpipe (I could move the pipe but there is nowhere else to put it). Anyway, this is the most satisfactory solution. I am a poor carpenter but I am reasonably happy with my work. “You should have made it a few inches longer,” I hear you say, well, that was the length of the wood I had. I hope it will keep the rain out - the problem is that because of the prevailing wind direction, the rain usually comes straight onto the side of the shed, and hence if it’s windy it blows through where this door is. It doesn’t matter if the bin gets wet, and it will stop the rain from getting into the area in the bottom half. Another satisfactory thing about this door is that I didn’t spend a penny on the making of it. As I mentioned, the wood had been shelves in an old cupboard, I salvaged the hinges and I used some screws that Stephan gave me. Thank you Stephan.We had another frost last night, and some fog this morning. So it’s kind of damp weather. Rather unpleasant.

2014年11月27日

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Smashing Pumpkins

I was passing the local DIY store yesterday and a thought just sprung into my mind: “I wonder how much those hinges I used yesterday would be new?” So I went in and was astonished to see that an inferior pair of the same size (admittedly including the screws (which probably would have been useless, they usually are made of cheap metal and the heads strip easily)), an inferior pair was £7.05!! Amazing. I salvaged a bigger one of the same kind of hinge and that was priced at £8.00. It definitely pays to keep your eyes open. A pumpkin fell down from its storage place the other day, and split. Now that it’s damaged it won’t keep for long so Junko decided to make it into soup. Here is half of it chopped up.

2014年11月26日

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5:15

That’s the time when I am writing this diary entry. I won’t publish it exactly now, but that’s the time of writing. We went to see one of mother’s old friends today, for a cup of tea and a chat. Very nice. Last night was the coldest of the year so far, quite a hard frost. Tonight looks as if it will be the same as the air is cold already and the sky is clear.I made a small door this afternoon, for the shed roof extension area. In terms of carpentry it isn’t my finest hour, but it’s not too bad. Photo tomorrow, if I remember. By the time I had finished it was a bit dark and to be honest I also forgot.This is how bubbly we can get our morning coffee.

2014年11月25日

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On the Beach

That’s where I’d like to be! I’ve had enough of these cold and grey November days.But at least we managed to get down to the bookstall yesterday morning. We had planned to go to one this morning but the weather was foul. Rain, rain, rain. Junko bought this piece of kitchen equipment for opening bottles. It 's rather unusual in that it is made in Italy. I think the other opener that we have got, which is for opening jars, and which I showed you a photo of a month or so ago, was made in Germany. That's not particularly unusual, but the only kitchen utensils that you usually see that are made in Italy are things to do with pasta making.

2014年11月24日

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I Feel Fine

Actually that should read, I Feel Full, because that is how I felt after yesterday’s birthday lunch. Indian. Really great naan bread, lovely dosa and samba, plus three or four other Indian dishes, lentils, chicken, cauliflower and potato. Plus a beer and an ice cream. Is that enough?This Mac Mini has caused me more trouble than it is worth.Junko bought this cappuccino whisk this morning, for twenty pence. We’ve got another similar one, which is quite satisfactory (though not brilliant). This one is rather more vigorous and may produce more bubbles. We shall see.

2014年11月23日

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Birthday

So it’s my birthday today. No breakfast because we are going out for a large lunch. I hope you have noticed that the diary titles for the past ten days or so have been names of songs.I am not at all happy with my Mac Mini. It’s been raining for a while. The reconstructed read of the shed roof, despite my not being 100% satisfied with it, is holding up well.What is going on here? These are new road signs. How many poles are there? Wouldn’t you have thought that they could have done with a few less?

2014年11月22日

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Dr Robert

Junko has bought some herb tea. I thought it was called Dr Robert’s tea, but it is actually Dr Stuart’s Herbal Essence. I don’t know what it tastes like, but it smells interesting.I was pleased with myself today, I bought a second hand 19 inch digital monitor for my Mac Mini. Dell. It’s a really nice one with a USB hub enclosed. Super condition. £15. It makes my old 17 inch one look small. I have never used such a big monitor before! What luxury.I bought these plates the other day, I’m going to make them into a cake stand. Danielle’s Christmas present, maybe.

2014年11月21日

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Rose Garden

Well it’s not Lynn Anderson’s ‘Rose Garden’ but it is our garden as of this morning. From the back door. It’s quite surprising how many leaves and how much greenery there still is, considering we are into the last third of November. The light green feathery foliage is Junko’s asparagus. (it needs cutting down really but we have left it because it’s rather attractive, don’t you agree?)My niece has got an old iPod mini. The screen has been cracked for years and the battery is now not holding its charge. Otherwise it’s fine, and in quite nice condition. One of these days I will repair it. I have the same thing. Mine is fine but also needs a new battery, or will do shortly. I’ll do them at the same time, perhaps.

2014年11月20日

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The first cut is the deepest

These are my tin snips. A wonderful tool. I can’t exactly remember where they came from but you can be assured that I didn’t buy them new and they would have cost me either fifty pence or a pound. My Mac Mini makes an odd noise from time to time, kind of like a spring landing on a glass table. It sounds like something has arrived but I can’t see what. No mail, no message, no Skype. I wonder what it is?

2014年11月19日

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The River Runs High

Well after all this rain we have had it is not surprising that the river has risen almost to the top of its banks in Stratford. It’s flowing fast and is a rather brown and muddy colour. However we are not in for a major flood of any sort I am sure. Still on the river theme, here is the chain ferry being lifted out of the water ready for storage and maintenance over the winter.

2014年11月18日

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Lazy Bones

I think it must be the weather but for the last couple of days I have felt really lethargic. Dull, grey and lifeless, both me and the weather.

2014年11月17日

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Rock around the clock

Haha. On our morning walk we passed the clock on one of the churches in Stratford. The time showing was twenty past seven and the clock struck four. The actual time was ten to ten!This sign is on one of the farm track bridges over the canal near Stratford. I’m not sure how old it is, but isn’t it great? I guess the reference to ‘motor’ is in fact something like a steam engine. The sign looks too old to be referring to motor cars or tractors in the 1930’s, don’t you think? The canal was opened in 1816 and was not much used after 1900. It fell into great disrepair but was rescued and reopened in 1963. These days it’s busier than it ever was, I guess, not with commercial traffic but with tourist and pleasure boats. It’s a wonderful asset for the area.I got stuck in a queue yesterday evening in the car, down by the theatre. Masses of bollards and policemen on motorbikes, along with a convoy of large black cars. Perhaps Prince Charles, or indeed the Queen, went to the theatre?

2014年11月16日

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Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

I took this photo of a stinkhorn mushroom on our walk yesterday. Amazingly it’s right in the middle of the town, near the main bridge. Junko cooked a Japanese pumpkin yesterday. These pumpkins are different from the normal ones we eat, they both taste and have a texture rather like sweet potato. Very nice.

2014年11月15日

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I am the walnut

Junko has been keen on eating nuts for some time now. We have a small bowl every evening with dinner. My favourites are almonds, followed closely by cashews, but Junko prefers walnuts.It ha been rather rainy recently. I am sad to report that the new roof isn’t a complete success, I have got a guttering problem. I hope I can solve this with some glue, but I have to wait until its well dry before trying. (I hear you say, take the guttering apart and dry it out - it’s not that easy)These are some canal and river boats in the little marina near the centre of Stratford. This is the river, not the canal.

2014年11月14日

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Steamy Windows (zero visibility)

Junko has been busy all day today. She is preparing a meal for Sharon and Stephan who are coming round for dinner this evening. As it’s quite cold outside the kitchen windows are steamed up, even with the fan going.Seiko has eaten one of the leeks we planted for her in the allotment. I wonder what it tasted like? The last time I saw these leeks, about a week ago, they looked good. It’s hard opening jars of gherkins without one of these things.

2014年11月13日

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Grey

Today was a typical November day, grey and miserable. In fact it was so gloomy that it was pretty much dark at four o’clock. Still, at least it hasn’t been too cold.We had minced beef and onion pies for lunch, with lettuce salad. We’ve harvested some nice pumpkins, as I think I said before. These are two of the five large ones. Not bad, eh? And, you know, these pumpkins came from two plants which came up of their own accord in the middle of Junko’s beetroot patch. They were very late little plants and I really didn’t want them but I thought I’d give them a chance, so I took them to the allotment and put them in. And what a surprise to have such a good crop.

2014年11月12日

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Oven

I bumped into a neighbour, Bob, this morning, he was walking to his car with some ‘rubbish’ while I was going in the same direction, in a bid to get some sense out of the bank. I stopped to chat and ask how is elderly mother was. While talking and walking towards his car I noticed that he had a large piece of stainless steel sheet in the boot, which he said he was taking to the dump. I begged it off him. The he said that he was getting rid of his oven and would I give him a hand to move it. I was happy to help. Here it is. Quite heavy. My much maligned sack truck came in very handy for this job. That sack truck is a very versatile and useful piece of equipment.It was a chilly day today. Junko enjoyed sitting by the radiator!The river is pretty much back to normal today.

2014年11月11日

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The river runs high

Well, after all that rain that disrupted my shed roof exploits it is not surprising that the River Avon has risen about half a metre. It’s not over the banks yet, but it’s getting close.But today was a lovely sunny Sunday. And thoughts once again turned to the completion of the roof. I have to report that it is pretty much finished now, boarded and felted. And guttered. I’m not a hundred per cent happy with the job but it will do for the winter I think. I may have a bit of a rethink next spring but at least everywhere is dry and hopefully most of the rain that falls won’t now be going into the shed. Certainly some areas should be drier than they have ever been. And that is progress, but it has been a bit of a struggle. Mostly I am disappointed with the felt. It tears very easily and is much harder to put down than I remember, and I am sure that this is due to it being poor quality. My fault I suppose, I didn’t realise I should have bought a higher grade. The label said ‘Shed roofing felt’, so I believed it. Oh well.Junko made a lovely salad with those runner beans.

2014年11月10日

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Rain again

Well the rain scuppered the completion of the roof felting, once again. I did manage to do a bit of guttering, though, but not much. So we have to choose a different topic.I found this vintage cheese knife in a drawer the other day. It’s rather unusual, don’t you think? With the scalloped edge. I am not sure how old it would be, 1920’s I guess. Hardened steel with a bone handle. Made in Sheffield. Patented. The instructions on it read “re-sharpen on a steel” (a steel is a tool you used to get with a cutlery set, a matching handle and I long piece of hardened ridged steel. You see butchers using them still to sharpen their knives. I remember my father sharpening the carving knife on one before we had Sunday lunch).And some more runner beans. These ones are ready to be frozen, I think. Problem is there isn’t much room in the freezer, too much bread.

2014年11月09日

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Rain on a wooden roof (beats like a drum)

Oh my goodness we had some rain last night. That wasn’t what I wanted. And it was very windy. Just what you don’t want when you are half way through doing a roof.But it was dry this morning and the wind seemed to have dried out the roof boards quite a lot, so I decided to make a start on putting the felt down. Working under the tree and lots of cuts made it a hard job, and the wind didn’t help, either. I had to put four pieces of felt down. I had done one when the rain started again. I ploughed on in light rain and did a second, and as the rain got harder I managed to get the one under the tree pretty much in place. I nailed all of these down and weighed them down with bricks to stop the wind getting under the felt and then had to call it a day. By the end of it all I was wet, tired and frustrated. Actually, what drove me on was the fact that, with the roof unfelted and no protection at the back of it, the shed was once more full of water this morning, even though the roof on it is quite secure. As I said before, the concrete slab the shed sits on is lower than its surrounds. This is what the visible part looked like after the rain. This bit is still unfelted.

2014年11月08日

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More progress

On my way home yesterday evening I bought the felt and the screws which should allow me to finish the roofing job on the shed. Again I made an early start and, unlike yesterday, made good progress immediately. Yesterday I had had a few unexpected obstacles, but today things were pretty straight forward, just a few small snags. Actually, this is the way I tend to work with everything, I get the difficult bits done first and then have an easier time of it. However, this is not a good working system really, not unless you are working for somebody who knows what is going on. This system tends to look as if you are very slow at doing things (I am but that is another matter). Most people make great initial progress by doing the easy things first, and then they give up. Their work looks good to the untrained eye but in truth there is not much substance to it. Looks good is the key, though. Looks are more important than substance, as we all know. Looks are important but without substance they are nothing.Anyway, back to the roof. So a few small snags in the construction, not too bad, but the major problem was the weather. The roof was wet first thing this morning and then it rained at lunchtime. I had two more boards to screw down when it got too heavy to work in. That was that. But I did spend some time after the rain had stopped (but the boards were too wet for felting) on trimming the ivy on the back wall, stabbing my thumb in the process. However the result is that access onto the roof for future work is now much easier. The result is very satisfying and I seem to have lots of wood still left over, which is good. Enough for a trellis. Hopefully I will be able to do the felting tomorrow but the weather forecast doesn’t look great. But I can do no more.Below are the screws I bought to fix the wood down.

2014年11月07日

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Making a start

The weather was forecast to be nice today so I was up betimes and ready to start work on the shed roof. Before breakfast I had pulled down some more rotten wood. After breakfast we went for our customary hour’s walk and then I set to work. I have to say that I struggled a bit initially, fixing another large piece of wood. It was impossible to fix it straight so I gave up and did the best I could. I then organised all the lengths of wood getting all the same length together and making sure I didn’t cut any short pieces when I had some already in stock. That took a while. Then I started laying them on the rafters. It wasn’t long before I realised that the screws I had were too short for the job. Then I discovered that the area wasn’t square the other way. I’ve screwed three boards down but I will have to take them up again and start from the other end. It’s no big deal. I couldn’t do any more because of the lack of screws so I have put everything in place ready to be drilled and screwed. I could only work until twelve because I was going out in the afternoon. Anyway, all is ready for tomorrow. I’ve bought the screws now, and the felt, so, barring bad weather or some other catastrophe, I should get everything done tomorrow.This is the old roof, in a bag. I took this to the dump yesterday, in the rain. You can see how brittle it was, the effect of sunlight I suppose. It's horrible stuff this corrugated plastic roofing sheet. It splits, cracks, leaks, goes cloudy, is very weak and it always looks awful. It's horribly difficult to put up because you can't easily drill it. I can't say a good word about it. Even when you throw it away it's nasty as you can see. It isn't even cheap!

2014年11月06日

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Roof - part two

As promised Stephan arrived at nine thirty this morning, to help me with the shed. It was a cold morning, the coldest of the year so far, but at least it wasn’t raining. We set to work, gathered a heap of tools from Stephan’s van and in not much over an hour we had the job done. Actually I say ‘we’ but really it was almost all Stephan’s activity. I held things and made a few decisions but with his knowledge of his own tools it was in fact him who did most of the work. As I mentioned yesterday, the most difficult aspect of the job was to get the levels correct and to attach the piece of wood to the wall, as pictured below. We had just finished fixing the wood, both to the shed and the wall, when the rain came down. Lucky. So we had a cup of tea and a long chat about the problems that life brings us and then Stephan went home. The rest of job I can do myself, finishing the roof on the other side of the shed (which you can’t see in this photo), putting the boards on the roof, and then laying the felt to keep the whole thing waterproof. I would have cracked on and made at least a start on this this afternoon but the drizzle persisted and I decided to take all the rubbish up to the dump (even more necessary today as now there is nowhere dry to store it and I don’t want all those wet bags in the car). Anyway, thank you very much Stephan.

2014年11月05日

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Roof

Stephan is coming tomorrow morning to help me with the extension and renovation of the shed roof. Primarily he is coming to help me put a large piece of wood along the back wall. And to get the levels right.So we have to get one length of timber attached to the wall on the right, the whole length, it’s almost four metres. Junko and I spent the afternoon getting the old perspex roof down from the far end of this picture. Horribly dirty and dusty. And muddy, if something can be both dusty and muddy at the same time. But it’s done now, taking rather longer than I had anticipated so I am glad that we cracked on with it today rather than wait for Stephan to come.

2014年11月04日

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Mac Mini

Oh I am having a frustrating time with my Mac Mini. It’s working OK but I seem to have to spend rather a long time queuing for support. I’m having trouble resolving a minor issue, but I am getting there and all the advisors are good. It’s just the waiting.It was an odd day today, warm, wet and windy. They say it’s soon to turn colder.Stephan has offered to help me with the shed roof. That will be wonderful, if it comes off. The bit I can’t do on my own is screwing the large piece of wood to the back wall. It will be tricky getting the levels right. Once that is done the rest should be relatively easy. We shall see. Weather permitting, of course.This garden is just around the corner from our house. Isn't it attractive viewed through the gate?

2014年11月03日

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Another lovely day

We went to the bootsale early this morning, the weather was amazingly warm for the time of year, and sunny. We bought nothing of note at all and didn’t meet Stephan as expected. After that we continued to the allotment where we did a bit of tidying and digging. We cut the pumpkins and had a good crop, photos will follow.Then it was on to Seiko’s house to return the crowbar.We then went to Atsuko and Andy’s boat for a lunch of genuine French cheese (they have just got back from a short holiday in France). Then it was off for a bit of driving practice for Junko and Atsuko. This is what the trees look like in the churchyard.

2014年11月02日

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More bank strife

I really don’t know what it is with banks. In January I did something at the local branch, filled in a form with an advisor - having booked an appointment because I had no idea what to do. This person was the ‘expert’. Anyway, the form was sent away and then returned with a curt note saying that it was incomplete. My fault? I think not. So I phoned and the form was filled in correctly over the phone, at least it didn’t return. Yesterday, almost ten months later, it was returned saying a signature was missing. Unbelievable. How did it take them so long to find that something as basic as that was missing? When the form was filled in I only did as instructed.It was a lovely warm day today, springlike in fact. A gentle warm breeze. Junko and I had lunch outside on the patio. It’s not a great picture but it does show the fallen leaves. It is most unusual to have such a warm day at this time of the year.

2014年11月01日

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Horribly miserable

Luckily it’s not me that is horribly miserable, it was the weather yesterday. It drizzled all day and because the clouds were so low it was dark about five o’clock. It’s just the kind of weather we don’t want.On our walk we went through the churchyard. Until just a few days ago the trees in the photo below were covered with leaves. We’ve had some windy weather of late which has meant that almost all have blown down. The change has been quite dramatic and rapid. Oh well we have next spring to look forward to!Gosh, wouldn't Seiko like those leaves for her compost heap. Still, I am sure that someone will use them.

2014年10月31日

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Struggle

Well I don’t know what it is but I am finding it very difficult to upload my diary to Rakuten using pages and safari. It’s the images that are the problem. I thought I had mastered it but again the links don’t seem to work. I have installed Firefox to see if that makes a difference. I’m beginning to think that it’s something to do with the keyboard I am using. The inverted commas are different. But that is not the whole problem. Anyway, it’s just one of life’s mysteries.Yesterday we went out for lunch with Danielle. Steak and chips, not so good for my teeth but washed down with two pints of real ale it was a treat. I rarely eat red meat like this, very rarely.That salmon cooked up nicely.

2014年10月30日

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Back from the dentist

Ouch. But not too bad. Just a clean and polish and check up. No major problems so that is good. I have decided that I will go every six months, the cleaning is less painful. Actually I had booked an appointment for six months ago, but I forgot it. I booked it at a time when I was very troubled and have no recollection of it, nor records - it must have gone in one ear and out the other without stopping for even a drink! I should have had a text reminder but although the dentist’s surgery had my mobile phone number and they actually sent me a reminder text, I had lost the phone with that SIM card in it and got a new number. Oh well. At least today wasn’t bad. And the check up and clean was £18.99 if I remember correctly. Good value.This morning was gloriously sunny. Junko went upstairs and did her painting in the sunlight and I went for a short walk. Ah, iCloud. That's another nightmare.As well as getting a Mac mini when we were in Birmingham, Junko went to the fish market and got a good deal on some salmon strips, as below.

2014年10月29日

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Oh

Because I was using my brand new computer, I had trouble yesterday uploading the diary entry. It ended up with me posting the wrong picture. This is the one I should have posted.In general I am making progress with OS Yosemite on this Mac, but there are still a very large number of things which are a mystery. One of the things I can't get used to is the resolution of the monitor. Although I have had this monitor for quite some time, up until now I haven't been able to set it to such a high resolution as it is set to now. Consequently everything seems rather small and far away.It’s a warm and windy day today. I am just about to go to the dentist. Oh dear.

2014年10月28日

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I wasn’t misinformed

Haha. I heard that there was no bootsale. I checked on the website and it said that there was. We went to the bootsale site (the local horse race course) bright and early on Saturday morning, along with lots of other people, and found that there was indeed no bootsale, despite there being signs as to the opening times near the gate. Very mysterious.I have bought a Mac mini. A traumatic experience parting with all that money. I went to the Apple shop in Birmingham. What an adventure. It was roasting hot in there. Hundreds of people, too. Now I have to endure an experience even more traumatic, in learning to deal with it! Here it is, fresh and new in its box.

2014年10月27日

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Motivation – or lack of it

Ah, the roof at the back of the shed. I have gathered everything together, the timber beams, the timber for the roof, the screws for the fixing said timber and the screws for fixing the beams to the wall – see the picture below. I’ve got a new screwdriver and I bought myself a new handsaw the other day, too. And I’ve got the masonry drill and wood drills of the correct size, and the driller itself. And the electric extension lead to reach up the back of the garden. I’ve got a spirit level and all sorts of pencils, too. I’ve got a step-ladder long enough to do the job and plenty of time (weather permitting). What I haven’t got, though, is any motivation. I have to remove the old roof before I start and somehow I just don’t feel like getting started on it. Oh dear. It’s such a pity. I never used to be like this, I must be getting old!These are the screws needed to fix the long piece of timber to the back wall. Their official name is ‘hammer screws’, I think.

2014年10月26日

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Dumping

We took some more smashed up concrete up to the dump today. Four small bags, that’s enough. What a weight to lift into the skip. Ah well, it’s gone now. And there was an assortment of garden rubbish and general otherness, including an old TV, to go, so it was quite a car load.I’ve been trying to get a Mac mini from the Apple store in Birmingham, but they haven’t been delivered there yet. I could buy one through the post, from Apple, but I am not that keen on that idea. For one thing I don’t necessarily trust somebody along the line not to be collecting a database of where these things are delivered to, and for another, judging by my recent experience with the delivery people, if it’s a rainy day the package could well be left on the doorstep to get wet without my knowing it was there. So I feel happier collecting it in person. But I wonder how long I will have to wait?Junko mixed some beetroot juice with the last of the lentil soup. Ha, we went to the bootsale but it wasn’t on despite being listed on the website.

2014年10月25日

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Shed news

I am still having trouble with water getting into the garden shed. I had smashed up some more of the concrete base with the crowbar but it hasn’t solved the problem, the water is getting round the back somewhere. But now I have got an electric screwdriver that works I will be able to put a roof on that bit, and maybe mock up a door, which, together with the adjustments I have made to the concrete base, should finally solve the water problem. The thing is, though, it’s quite a bit of work putting the roof extension on. But I have the wood and the screws and the tools for it now, so really there is no excuse. (perhaps the weather !! haha)I had thought that everything was done in the garden, but I had forgotten the beetroot. It’s still flourishing, it had been rather hidden by the courgette plants. We had a couple of roots for lunch today. Surprisingly it was still tender, and very tasty. I have plans to grow more on the allotment next year. We need a net to stop the birds pecking the plants out when they are young, or perhaps it’s rabbits that do the damage. Anyway, whatever it is, they pulled the experimental plants out of the ground time after time this year.Here are some of the remaining beetroot plants.No bootsale in Stratford this weekend, so I was reliably told. That is a pity. However, on checking the website it seems that I was misinformed, it’s on as usual.The hurricane breeze has blown a lot of leaves off the trees.

2014年10月24日

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Fence extension

I have made some brackets to extend the fence posts in readiness for the trellis that I am going to make now that I have got a screwdriver. When I bought these from the bootsale months ago (with this plan in mind) they were a different shape. I cut them with a pair of tin snips (see photo at a later date), and drilled the extra holes with my driller. Each post has two brackets. You may think I am silly doing this kind of job but it amazing how expensive items like this are, I saw a similar thing in the local DIY superstore the other day, £4 each. These ones I made are better quality – the steel is a bit thicker - and cost a maximum of £1.50 for the four of them. Actually, it’s not just the cost involved in this kind of thing, it’s the satisfaction that you get from doing something for yourself. The brackets as I bought them. I am not sure what their intended use is, but they need adjustment to be of use to me.The brackets ready for the posts. (more holes and the ends cut off)It was very windy today, we had the tail end of a hurricane which had sped across the Atlantic.

2014年10月22日

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Another moan

Where ever you phone these days it seems that you have wait hours in a queue. This is annoying in itself but I acceptit to a certain extent. What really gets me irritated is the quality of the music that we listen to while waiting. It’s not the music that I don't care for, that is up to taste, it’s the actual quality of the recording. I’m listening to one at the moment which is just static, hisses and crackles for more than half an hour! Haha, it serves me right, as soon as I get to speak to someone the line goes dead! What a waste of time.Junko and I went to the allotment yesterday, the ground was too wet to work so we just did a bit of tidying up. I fear that we won’t be able to do anything until the spring now, when it gets a bit drier.It was very windy today. A lot of the leaves have blown down from the trees. Windy but fine, a lovely day really. Very warm for the time of year.In case you thought that the patio still looked the same as in the picture I posted a few days ago, here is what it actually looks like now.Remember those brown lentils that I made into a curry. This is some of the remainder made into lentil soup. Nice!

2014年10月21日

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More updates

I see in my system tray that there are another 49.6MB of updates ready for installation on my Windows system. This runs and runs, doesn’t it. There will never be a time when we don’t need to update. It’s rather like driving a car, however many cars you overtake, there will always be one in front of you!This is the final harvest of courgettes. You remember the story about the two massive ones, don’t you? Well, in fact they harvested themselves. This morning when I went out into the garden I saw that they had both just dropped off the plant onto the path, in the natural course of events. The stems had rotted. Still, I hope this means that they are as ripe as they ever will be and it will give them a chance of surviving a couple of months in storage. I cut down both plants and picked these small courgettes from the other plant. I counted the number of courgettes we had picked from the plant, I could see the stems where they had come from when I threw the plant away. There were about thirty five. That plant served us well, our thanks go to it.My sister and I went to a service to commemorate our mother’s death yesterday. A sad occasion.

2014年10月20日

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Not happy

About eBay. I bought an item in an auction, and paid for it. I chose a cheaper delivery method and gave the difference to the named charity. I sent a message to the seller and we had a friendly little exchange and he or she said that the item would be dispatched the following day. That’s good. The next day, at lunchtime I got a message saying that my money had been refunded, minus the charitable contribution. The seller said that the item had been damaged while it was being packed up to post and that I wouldn’t want it any more. I wasn’t happy. I hadn’t been consulted about the cancellation, I had no item and had given to a charity under somewhat false pretences, I thought. I looked at my eBay account and saw that I was classed as still owing for the item, as well!I telephoned eBay, after searching for the phone number for hours on their website. They weren’t happy. And said that the seller had broken his/her contract. But there was nothing that could be done about it. End of story. It’s dreadful really. I won’t be donating to charity in this way again. If I leave negative feedback the seller will only leave negative feedback for me. The innocent always suffer.I suspect that they just changed their mind about selling it because they were very evasive when I asked what the problem was, because actually I only wanted part of the item to repair one of my own. They wouldn’t tell me which part was damaged. I would have still had the thing if the part I wanted was OK, I didn’t need the rest, but the seller was adamant that he/she would no longer sell it to me. Here is the final curry. Even though I made it myself I have to say that it was very tasty. Sharon came round the other day and she could smell it from the front door. I felt guilty that we didn’t ask her to stay for lunch!

2014年10月19日

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Leaves gone

I cut the older leaves off the courgette plant and they went to the compost heap. There is still an almost edible courgette there, but it’s living on borrowed time!I have packed the garden table away, and also taken the wooden and iron chair to pieces. I shall put some preservative on the pieces and it will look splendid next spring, I hope.This is the chair I am talking about. This is a very old photograph, February 2009, I think. The chair is the one on the right. Actually this looks as if it was before I restored it last time. I replaced that wood with some better stuff and that is what needs preserving now. How time flies.The patio looks rather bare now. These are the brown lentils that are going to be the bulk of the curry.The screwdriver did arrive yesterday. We were out for about half an hour in the early morning. The courier must have rung the bell and left the package next door, without leaving a note as to where he had left it. I was embarrassed that our neighbour had to contact me about it, not that he really minded. But it annoys me really.

2014年10月18日

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Bank robbery

There was an old fashioned bank robbery in Stratford the other day, at a bank I go to regularly. At about a quarter past eleven on Tuesday evening, four men drove up in a black BMW with black windows, got out, smashed the door down, grabbed some money from some security staff who were there, and sped off in their car. I don’t think they have been caught yet, rather surprisingly. The money has got blue dye on it, though, so they can’t use it without great fear of being caught.Junko picked what I think will probably be the last courgette from our wonderful plant. We had it for breakfast. There is still one other small one left there, but I think that, unless we have some nice sunny weather, it won’t get big enough to eat. Part two of the curry process, frying the spices.The replacement screwdriver was supposed to be delivered today. It wasn’t.Don’t forget to remind me to write about the eBay saga.I mentioned I was thinking about a Mac mini. I have been waiting to see if it is updated. And yesterday evening, UK time, came the announcement. So, we have more research to do, but I think it’s time to get rid of this troublesome laptop. (I use it in the same way as a Mac mini anyway, with a monitor, keyboard and mouse – and I’ve got an external CD drive as well)

2014年10月17日

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More screwdriver troubles

I knew the saga of the electric screwdriver would run and run. Now I have been sent a message informing me that I have to pay for the replacement, and for the postage to return the broken one.We are still enjoying the potatoes that we harvested earlier in the year. We dug them up at the beginning of July and they are still OK. Really we dug them up much too early but we had to because they were going to get blighted. Some people are only digging them up now, which should mean they last right over the winter. This idea of keeping fruit and vegetables over the winter used to be very important when you couldn’t just go to the supermarket and buy whatever you wanted. I remember my mother salting runner beans and my father burying potatoes in the garden in an attempt to have some veg in February and March the following year. How times have changed.I made a brown lentil curry today. This was the onions. I bought something off eBay the other day. There is another nightmare.

2014年10月16日

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Horrible weather

The past few days have been really dreadful in terms of the weather. It has been cold, wet and windy. The sort of day that you really don’t want to go outside on unless you desperately have to.To combat this misery we had pumpkin soup and rye bread for breakfast this morning. The pumpkin was a small one from the allotment which we deemed not worthy of saving over the winter. We have harvested a few pumpkins already but most are still on the plants in the ground and were, until the last few miserable days, apparently quite happily growing there. We might have to harvest them now we have had this wet spell of weather. We can usually manage to keep at least some of them well into the New Year.Junko drizzled this soup with olive oil, which made it extra nice. Rustic soup, not finely liquidised.

2014年10月15日

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