Tuesday 31 March 2015

London in a week



31 March

Something else has gone missing and I didn’t know about it until last night. I’m due to go for a retinopathy exam on either April 1 or 2. But I didn’t make a note of it in the diary and the letter is what has gone missing. So now I phone the surgery to find out when it is. One day I will learn to file things properly.

The race for #10 is well and truly kicked-off; and I’m bored with it already. I wonder if these prats take a course in talking for hours and saying nowt at all, or is it just a natural gift they have.

Yesterday I book a return ticket to London on the coach for a week tomorrow, at a staggeringly high price of just £10. That’s the cheapest price I had so far actually. The cheapest price before this one was £16. The downside is that it means an early up so I can be in Coventry city centre for 7.45am, ready for 8.00am coach service. The next I have is trying to get my printer to work so that I can print out my ticket.

I’m looking forward to it seeing as it’s been ages since I was last down there, and that was on a Sunday. A week day visit is even longer ago. The main reason for the trip is to visit Gray’s of Westminster, a Nikon camera dealer that I’ve always fancied visiting, even before I owned a Nikon. Now all I need to be careful of is leaving the shop without actually buying anything; but there again, I’ll have a look and see what’s on offer.

Yesterday I ordered a book from them and I was told it would be here by the end of the day. I think we missed it arriving this morning seeing as we were a tad late getting up. But we didn’t hear the doorbell at all. It’s not the first time that Royal Fail has done this across us. Now it’s a trip to the sorting office to collect it. While making the order I noticed that there is a Nikon Owners Club and I fancy that too, but at £60 a year, it’s fairly expensive. However, I looked on line last night and a lot of the members were saying that it’s a really good buy; so maybe I’ll give it a go while I’m there.

Altogether I shall have around six hours to find things to point me camera at, so after Gray’s it will off to Tate Britain, which I haven’t visited for a very long time. After that I’m not sure really but I do fancy a look at the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden … and maybe even a quick look in the whiskey shop just around the corner. Lots to do around there, too much for just six hours but hay-ho, I’m sure I shall manage.

Enough of my waffling, time for a photo … 

Neat neighbours, and there’s even a cafĂ© in one of them.

And funny time …

When I overheard one of my cashiers tell a customer, "We haven’t had it for a while, and I doubt we’ll be getting it soon," I quickly assured the customer that we would have whatever it was she wanted by next week. After she left, I read the cashier the riot act.
"Never tell the customer that we’re out of anything. Tell them we’ll have it next week," I instructed her. "Now, what did she want?" 
"Rain."

Monday 30 March 2015

Kile has moved on for a few days



30 March

That silly clock game had a bit of an impact on us here this year. Kile was really tiered all day and so was I. Jan seemed to have got away with it I think although by bedtime she was starting to feel it. On top of that I had a bottle of chardonnay, which was very nice but being so tired it knocked me a bit sideways. Something on face book is amusing about it too. It goes, ‘The hour I lost on Sunday I had allocated to going to the gym, ah well … … …

Kile is off to his nans for a few days now. His step-brother Billy is already up there so by now Jan and Leslie will be run ragged by them. Kile has always enjoyed coming to us for a few days, but it’s clear that just lately he’s been bored or just too tired to do anything. Of course, he hasn’t been able to be taken out for some time now, what with the weather and one of the three of being ill in some way. Hopefully we shall be able to get out and go birding more now that the spring is here.

With that in mind I asked him if he was OK with heights. Jan spoke up straight away that he isn’t, he’s terrified of heights. Oh dear, that’s one site out then. We will be going up to Bempton Cliffs later for get shots of the birds up there; but the cliffs are very high, around 2-300 foot I think. So now we will find somewhere else. One trip I know we will be doing is a return to the Parry Hotter studio tour now that Platform 9¾ has been added. Of course, we’re only going cos Kile wants to go, not me of course … … …

A short break there to watch the news and have a couple of Weetabix. Have you noticed the delays that are becoming more common in the news caused by the use of satellite use? I have and although it’s acceptable when a live report comes in from abroad, but from here in the UK – no, I don’t think so. So much for technology speeding things up then.

But do we really want everything to be so fast? Why can’t we just take it easy and enjoy things as they are in nature? I see a lot of things that cause problems for kids is that they have become so used to what they view on their smart phones or their PCs flashing by that they really do expect life to be happening that quickly. For many of them it comes as a shock to learn that it takes time to for things to happen, that can’t just click their fingers and have it all there laid out for them. At some time this quest for speed must come to a stop; not just so we can all but catch up, but simply because we are not able to work so fast ourselves anyway. How will so many of them manage then I wonder.

There was show on telly last week called, The Truth About Calories. I found it interesting but also a tad puzzling too. The average adult male is supposed to take in 2500 calories each day, but as with all such statements, that word average is a problem for many folk. An active 30 year old man who works on a building site or in heavy industry, will need to take in far more than that. Another 30 year old man who sits at a desk all day every day, will need to take in fewer calories. It’s finding the balance isn’t it, and that is really the answer and is a problem for many of us.

That made me jump! Yet another bird strike on the kitchen window. We seem to be getting them quite often just lately. I shall be looking for some sort of sticker to try to stop it, or at least cut the numbers down. Oh yes, Kile’s bird box does have a pair of robins nested in there. I think the female is now sitting on eggs cos t’ther one is flying back and for with food for her. Kile is very happy about that.  

Today’s photo is another old one … 


Bull finch at Pennington Flash.

And today’s funny …

According to a news story, if global warming continues, in 20 years the only chance we’ll have to see a polar bear is in a zoo. So in other words, nothing is going to change.

Sunday 29 March 2015

The magic of art



29 March

Half past midnight last night and I decided that enough was enough and put down Dan Brown’s Inferno. I said to Jan, ‘I hate reading books!’ Here reply was, ‘No you don’t, you hate having to put them down to go to sleep.’ She is right you know; how many of us don’t like stopping when the story line has grabbed you and is dragging up deeper in to it? Most of I would suggest. Anyway …

As I put the book down it accorded to me that there was a way to move on with Bristol Fashion. The idea was that the two baddies would come together but I just couldn’t see how to do it. Last night I did see a way of doing it. So out came the bedside notebook and it took me around ten minutes to work it out. Later today I shall type it up too and see if I can move on from there.

I wasn’t going to mention the twice a year stupidity of changing all the clocks … until I notice that my ‘puter time hadn’t done the normal day light saving thingy. So I had to do it manually. At that point I noticed that for some reason the box for doing it automatically wasn’t ticked; it is now! As if we had enough to do with all silliness of it all. I really don’t see the need to do anymore you know. Originally it was done to help farmers at harvest time when most of the work was done manually. These days it’s nearly all done by a machine and just one person, so really there is no need for it is there. One benefit to it I suppose is that birders can stay out later, but it does make the day longer and some of us, like me and Jan really feel tired after a days’ birding in the summer months.

Something else that occurred to me last night, is just how many fictional detectives get sent abroad as part of the story line. Morse went to Italy and Australia; Alan Banks travels to Holland to meet up with Dirty Dick, a Special Branch guy; Roy Grace goes to Germany and Rumania during one book. And don’t forget Sherlock went abroad in one case. Strangely, Miss Marple didn’t but her Belgian guy did on several occasions. Which reminds me …

Robert Langdon has been again ‘abducted’ by the good guys again in his latest adventure and ends up in a hospital in Florence. What the story has done so far for me at least is to awaken the love of art that picked up during my time with the OU. Now I’m itching to go there myself and see the original art works I’ve only seen in print versions. It has also made me want to read Dante’s Devine Comedy. At some time I shall do it all of course, but they have to wait for their own round toit turns up.

Paintings have a magic all of their own, especially if they are by a master and even more so if they are outside his normal usual style. So for today’s photo I offer … 

Olga by Picasso. This one was copied out of a book called The Essential Picasso that I once had on my book shelves.

And today’s funny …

Why does moisture destroy leather? When it’s raining, cows don’t go up to the farmhouse yelling, “Let us in! We’re all wearing leather! We’re going to ruin the whole outfit here!”