A couple of things …

/ Tony / 1 Comment

We have just had a week in Whitby. We’ve been looking forward to it for some time now, and it was all what we had expected, if not hoped for. The weather had been quite kind (if a little cold) for the most time.

A couple of things happened that I was not expecting. One afternoon, we had some lunch in a pub. I can’t remember the name, but it was one of those pubs that had a few small rooms that sat around 10 people. There was a table next to us that had 4 people, and a table opposite that had a lone man sat at it. He kept looking at me and seemed a little drunk.

To my surprise he spoke to me. His slurred words confirmed my suspicion regarding is alcohol intake.

“What you got that thing around your neck for?” he said, referring to the cross I wear. I replied that it was a comfort and a reminder of who and what I believe in. “So, you’re a Roman Catholic are you? Only that lot wear a cross so openly!”

I was quite calm and replied “Jesus wasn’t a Roman Catholic, and he wore a cross on his back!” It was a bit of a shock that I actually replied and an even more shock at what I said. I have no idea where the words came from!

It had the right effect though. He stood up and left the room. One of the people on the next table congratulated me on my response and said that she had never looked at it that way.

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A few days later, my son, his partner an my granddaughter came to stay with us for a day or two. On the Sunday, my granddaughter, S***** decided she wanted to count the ‘199 steps’ up to the abbey. We had done it the day before when we went to the ‘Sung Eucharist’ at the church at the top of the steps.

She wanted to look around the church and we all did the same. After about 10 minutes or so, me and my wife came out (as we had looked around the day before) and waited for the others, whilst looking round the gift shop.

As we waited a lady(?) with a small dog in her arms complained to the sales person at the entrance to the church, that “There’s nowhere to tie my dog up to!” The sales lady explained that well behaved dogs were welcome in the church. ‘Dog lady’ was shocked! She told anyone that was close, that it was disgraceful that they let dogs in. To the immediate shock and surprise to my wife (and myself) I replied, that “We’re all God’s creatures, you know!” Where did that come from?

A bit let down . . .

/ Tony / 1 Comment

We need our gas boiler servicing. It’s been a couple of years since it was last done as we haven’t been able to get our usual gas fitter to give us a date. In fact, he didn’t even reply to any messages or answer his phone. So we looked in our local parish magazine and that recommended a local fitter that everyone seems to be very happy with.

However, we have not had much luck with this one either! They have given us a few dates, but has not turned up. The last date we had would have been around 17:30 (ish). The problem is that the boiler is in a corner of the garage and it is quite dark. And with it being too small to fit a car in (I can get mine in but cannot open the doors to get out of the car) it tends to be a storage area for things ‘that we might need‘.

We we told that the fitter would be here today. I’ve been up since around 07:15 as I fully expected them to be here first thing. It’s now 13:30 and there is no sign of them. They are either really busy or they are concentrating on the more lucrative jobs.

We also need our gas fire servicing, as the last time I tried to light it, the force of the jets blew the pilot light out! The other thing that we need doing is all the radiators need bleeding. I fear having to do it, as the last time I did, the ‘bleed nut’ sheared off and we had to get a new radiator.

I will update this post when and if anything happens today!

Coincidence or chance?

/ Tony / 2 Comments

I’m not sure about coincidences or chances, but this made me think.

A few months ago on a couple of occasions when we went to church, I was passed a hymn book that had been damaged. It was the same book each time. It looked like it had been scribbled in by (I hope) some young child, and some of the pages were missing or torn. Both Kath and me thought it would be a nice idea to purchase my own copy. I found a new copy of eBay and sent off for it.

It arrived at the beginning of last week and yesterday (18th Jan 2026) was the first occasion for me to use it. Before setting off, I placed on of my knitted cross bookmarks inside. It was a proud moment when I entered the church and asked only for the order of service as I explained that “I have my own hymn book now!”

We sat down and I looked at the hymn board and I was surprised to see that the last hymn was numbered 666, “The spirit Lives…Walk in the light” which is my all time favourite.

So this is where the post title comes in. When I opened the hymn book at the place where I had put the bookmark the hymn that was staring at me in the face was … “The spirit Lives…Walk in the light“. What are the odds?

Interesting Day

/ Tony / 1 Comment

All Saints - Bramham

I received an email from the Church Warden of Bramham village church on the 29th December. When I say “I” I mean everyone who is in the church email contact list. The email advised people in the list that the church boiler had broken down (again!) and that we would need to wrap-up warmly. The next day, another email arrived explaining that the ‘committee’ had decided that the Sunday service would be ‘re-located’ to the village hall.

St Mary's - Boston Spa

We both didn’t like that idea so decided to go a little further afield and ‘re-locate’ ourselves(temporarily) to St Mary’s church in Boston Spa which is only a few miles away. We’ve been a few times and some of the congregation do know me. Imagine our surprise when we realised it was the Christingle service and also that they were having technical issues with the visual aids. This meant that the service would be held in the church meeting room and not in the main church. It was a very pleasant service and it was held in the church rather than the building next door.

As I mentioned, it was the Christingle service and we were all encouraged to make our own. K*** made one, but I wasn’t too bothered about making one myself, but helped K*** and one or two others with the tricky bits. It was the first time I had been to a Christingle service and it was interesting to find out what it all meant.

One of the interesting facts since my Confirmation and decision to attend church more often, is the number of people I identify as friends at both churches.

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We are still having issues with the TV streaming ‘puck’ in the youngest’s bedroom. It seemed to be working fine, but then this morning the ongoing problem occurred again. It now seems that the wi-fi signal is not reaching the ‘puck’ so Sky are sending us a wi-fi extender/booster. In my opinion, because both his iPad and laptop are not having any problems, I think that this steaming box is the problem. We shall see what happens now, when the booster arrives tomorrow.

I knew there would be problems …

/ Tony / Leave a comment

I, of course, refer back to a post on the 20th November . I could have put money of the fact that something would no go according plan. After three weeks, we began to have an issue with, what Sky call “The Puck”. This is what we now know to be a Sky steaming device.

It’s 10cm square and 15mm deep and uses a HDMI cable to connect to R***,s TV and wi-fi to connect to the internet. The problem we were having was that the device would randomly stop working. The picture would often freeze, with or more often without sound. This was two weeks after the installation of the new ‘full fibre’ wi-fi

A call to the ‘customer service’ explained that we could do a few things and it would be fixed. It didn’t work and led to a further call two days later. This time the ‘puck’ software was updated (why it was not updated before it was sent to us is a mystery.) The problem still existed. The wi-fi router was re-booted to avail. The customer service agent now decided that we needed a new router, which should have arrived by post today. That never happened, but the issues we were have ‘appear’ to have stopped.

A quick Google of the issue came up with a number of reasons for the problem. One of them which seems bizarre but feasible, is that it could be an issue with the ‘back-end’ server from where the signal is being delivered from. We shall see if and when this new router turns up.

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Deliveries can be problematic here. Our house is number 23. The house next door is 21a! Often deliveries for us get left with the next-door neighbours. The reason is that many delivery drivers simply count the houses from number 19 and do not look at the house number on the wall. We often get food deliveries and I have now taken to tell them as soon as they park up (if I see them) that they have got the wrong house.

That was a week and a half . . .

/ Tony / 1 Comment

It was only three days, but it seemed more like ten days.

Some time ago, K*** decided that she wanted a new floor in the living/dining room. She wanted it to match the wooden laminated flooring we have in the conservatory and had got the same floorer to quote for the job. Last week we had the eldest son round to paint the walls and ceiling, as I’m not really up for it these days.

So on Monday, K*** spent the whole day emptying the side-board and the various cupboards ready for the next phase.

Just after 8:00 on Tuesday morning, the floorer arrived to take up the now defunct carpeting. It took him all day! Biggest part of the job seemed to be removing the old staples that were used when the carpet underlay was fitted.

Wednesday arrived and again he was here just after 8 am with a colleague to assist. It seemed to be all hammering and banging to get this floor fitted. But in between the noise, there was a lot of chatter between the two guys. We both thought that if there was less vocal action, more would get done quicker, but I guess that’s British workmen for you. By 5pm on the Thursday evening it was all finished. But there was three phases to this week.

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I had heard over the internet chatter, that our satellite TV service would be changing in the next couple of years. It appears that the dishes that sit on the side of the house would become redundant, and everything would come through our broadband. Sounds great! However, before that happens, we would have to have what the provider call “Full Fibre Internet.” This basically mean that the old copper wires that carried the telephone/broadband signal would be replaced with fibre-optic cable, which is faster and more reliable.

This happened on Thursday afternoon, and went extremely well with no hiccups at all. Our new TV contains everything we need to watch all the channels we watched before. The youngest has satellite TV in his bedroom and that had to change to a much smaller box that was capable of streaming the content was was used to. I just hope that he can quickly learn how to use the new system.

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As I mentioned, this was a 3 phase operation and on Friday the las part was to take place. As part of this ‘room upgrade’ we were to have two new chairs and a two seater sofa. K*** had bought these some time ago and they had been storing them until the floor had been finished. At just after 9am the furniture arrived. The two deliverymen (who were also the carpenters who had built the furniture) swiftly and expertly got the chairs into the house. But that’s when the problem started. They couldn’t, however they tried, get the sofa into the house. There was a problem with the legs. The only solution they could come up with was that they would need to cut the legs off and replace them with removable ones.

Hopefully, this will happen before Christmas, but I have my doubts.

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It should all look good when finally completed (🤞)

There could be trouble ahead …

/ Tony / 1 Comment

We are now definitely looking at full fibre broadband, with all the TV services coming down the broadband. This is potentially a worrying situation. R***, our youngest who you may know is Autistic, has a connected TV, a connected laptop and a small tablet in his room. This is part of his Autistic life and will cause him real issues if anything goes wrong with his IT. A fortnight ago the main Sky box reset, but the box in his room did not. We managed to sort it as soon as he realised, but had the potential to escalate to a dangerous level.

It is also worrying because we have quite a lot of tech in the house. So currently there are two laptops, three tablets and two smart phones, with other people that visit tapping into wi-fi with their tech. However the current broadband seems to mange for the most time.

Another worry, is the time frame for the work to be done. Our son, R*** comes for a family visit every other weekend, so the work must be all done and working during the days when he is away.

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Update: it seems that the work for the broadband will be done on the 4th December. Everything possible is now crossed.

And now K*** has to try and sort out the flooring.

It’s been a while …

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I’ve not posted since the beginning of October. There’s been a bit going on over the past few weeks. Firstly, we went on a short holiday. We took ourselves up the A1 to Embleton for a week stay in a self-catering accommodation. We went on the 3rd November and returned on the 10th of November.

We took in most of the local sites including the Alnwick Garden, Bambrough Castle, Howick Hall and a wet day in Seahouses. We managed to get to a Remembrance Day service at the Holy Trinity church in Embleton which was very good. We were, as in most churches theses days made very welcome. We had hoped to go the the church in Alnwick, but the service there was at an awkward time. But the church in Embleton was an old and lovely place.

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Last week was hard work. K*** had decided that she wanted the living/dining room decorated. There is a lot of furniture in this room (and a lot of stuff) so it took some moving around. S**** came around to paint the ceilings and walls (too much for me these days) and it took three days and it still isn’t finished. K*** would like wooden flooring down the whole room to match the flooring in the conservatory, but it is going to be a difficult job. The contractor will have to re-board the flooring to raise the level, but he is not happy that we have wires for the telephone and satellite traversing the floor under the current carpet and has said we will have to get someone to re-route the wiring before he can start. He was very surprised that we still have a dish as in his words “everything runs of your broadband, these days!” Admittedly that’s true in some cases, but you need super-fast fibre optic cable to the house for that to work and for the majority of people in our street the super-fast fibre optic only goes a far as the junction box half-way down the street. This is still a ‘work in progress’.

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I finally got to the “Beer & Banter” meet-up last week. There was eight of us there, but there didn’t appear to be any form of structure. It was just a group of various aged men chatting with each other. I will probably go again to be doubly sure, but I’m not convinced that this is something for me.

Another chapter

/ Tony / 1 Comment

I started a new bible/church/faith class at church this week. After enjoying my confirmation class so much, I decided that I would take a look at some of the other classes that my church was offering. One that came up was a discussion class based on a book by Tom Wright (aka N T Wright) called “The Challenge of Acts”. Which was basically looking at the Book of Acts and trying to understand it. The vicar explained that if we could understand 10% of the book then the course would be a success. I enjoyed this class as much as I did the confirmation class and I was determined to understand a lot more of what many take for granted.

This latest class (it was explained that it was a class and not a course) is called “Teaching The Eucharist” and it tries to help lay people and others what the Eucharist it all about. It talks about how it came about, how the format started and what all the parts mean. It’s being run by the, relatively new curate, and is her first time taking a class on her own.

There were six of us there and they were people I either knew from church or from the previous course. I found that very helpful as there seemed to be no awkwardness in talking and discussing things.

The class is in four fortnightly parts, although I will miss one as me and K*** are away for wedding anniversary on the third date.

It was a very interesting and informative evening, and I am happy to say that it was well presented.

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Next Tuesday is the second Tuesday in the month and there is a meeting of men from the church in Boston Spa, and apparently any church in the Benefice. The group run their meeting under the name “Beer & Banter”. It is supposedly just that. Local men having a beer and a ‘bit of a chat’. It’s held in the Crown Hotel, Boston Spa. I went along in September, but I think I must have gone to the wrong room as I didn’t see a group of men chatting about anything. The organiser emailed to ask if I had had a change of mind. When I explained, he told me that there had not been many turn up that time and it was being held in the beer garden. I will try again next week.

This is view of the inside of All Saints, Bramham from the pew where we usually sit.

It is unusual to think, that going to church again could lead to me having a better social life. One of the best parts of the Sunday Service (and there are many) is the refreshments at the end of the service. Many of the congregation will stay for about 30 minutes and have a coffee and a chat. Some of the regulars make it a point to come up to others, especially newish people, and make a point of starting a conversation. It’s all about making people feel welcome. I really feel that I have made some new friends over the past year or so.

Could have been a nightmare !

/ Tony / 1 Comment

Our youngest is with us for the weekend. I seem to think I have mentioned (on more than one occasion!!) that R*** is Autistic and lives in a care home, but comes for a ‘parent visit’ every other weekend.

Everything was going very smoothly and he was in a very calm mood. He went off to bed at his usual time of 23:00 and K*** and me settled down for the night.

At around 05:45, I heard get out of bed and go into the spare room. I got up and went to see if he was okay. His answer was “Sky is fix-it” which is his way of saying that there was a problem with his Sky connection.

It seemed that his mini-box was not connecting to the main box downstairs. I followed the instructions on the screen (or so I thought) and for the next hour tried everything I could think of to get it working again. The instruction on the screen said to disconnect the box and reconnect to fix the issue. This I tried, several times, but still the same message.

Google was, as is often the case, no help, and the Sky website just gave the same message as was on his screen. I scrolled through one of the forums and found a small post that said something about the problem. The poster had had the same problem, but he also said that the instructions were badly worded, and it was the Main Box that needed to be disconnected and reconnected, not the mini-box. I tried this and as if by magic, the problem was solved. His Sky was back.

What was the most surprising thing about all this was how calm he remained. As I say, his Sky box, his computer and his iPad are all very important to him, and previously when anything failed, he could go into meltdown and that would really be a serious issue. But not this time!

I emailed Sky this morning to say, that in ,y opinion, their error message was not worded helpfully. I doubt I will get a reply.

No DIY for me!

/ Tony / 1 Comment

We are having our decking repaired today. What has happened over the years is that water from our planters has run through and rotted some of the decking boards. It has got to the stage where it has become dangerous to walk in some parts. The problem has been where there has been no ‘drip-tray’ under some of the posts to catch any excess water.

A local guy came to give us a quote, and he explained that most of the decking was quite stable and only the damaged boards need replacing. He was also a bit concerned that the steps weren’t braced.

He gave gave us a price, which seemed very reasonable, and they came this morning to do the job. I didn’t think they would start today as the weather is not at its best and at 06:00 this morning, the rain actually awoke me. They have now been here just over 1 ½ hours and both pairs of steps have been replaced and they are now onto the main decking repairs.

They are going to do a couple of repairs to the shed that sits on the deck. Some of the panels have been damaged over the years. They are not replacing them, simply putting new ones over the top of the old. We’ll then have to paint the whole thing again (dread).

I had to laugh . . .

/ Tony / Leave a comment

Saturday the 23rd August 2025 should have seen our garden waste bins emptied. It was the programmed day and all of the village had put their bins out on the Friday evening. Now usually, the bins are emptied around 07:30 and we seem to be the first collection of the day. However, this particular day, the waste team did not arrive as usual. The bins were out all Saturday, but there was no collection anywhere in the region.

The problem was put down to road closures because of the Leeds Festival, which happens on the estate of Bramham Park. Usually, if a collection is missed, the the advice is to leave the bin at the roadside, and it should be emptied the next working day. The emphasis being on working. So all the bins were left at the side of the road. There is no collection on Sundays, therefore the next working day would be the Monday. This was a Bank Holiday so not an official working day.

Of course, as is usual these days, the “keyboard warriors” took to Social Media to express their disgust! One of the local Councillors had contacted to Council department and was advised that they were looking into a day when they could safely collect. Many of the residents in the street decided to put their bins back onto their property, but a few (us included) decided to leave the bins by the side of the road with the hope that they would be emptied before the next collection date.

Today, Thursday, the garden waste collection team arrived in the village. Of course, only the waste bins that had been left out were emptied.

I had to laugh!

Not my Laptop as well ? Scary!

/ Tony / 2 Comments

Recently I’ve been having a problem with my iPad. It’s not been charging whilst in use. This seems to have started (and I’m not sure) a couple of weeks ago. I now know that the chargers I’ve been using were too powerful and have been causing the (compatible cables?) to over heat. In fact, the point at where the cable meets the iPad has been getting quite hot, and I have never noticed this before. I have now bitten the bullet and have ordered a genuine charger and cable, which is due to arrive either today or tomorrow (God and Evri willing!)

I have a couple of iPad minis which I can use and have discovered that I can charge them by plugging them into the USB ‘C port on my laptop (using a compatible cable). Problems solved. Or so I thought!

This morning I was doing some ‘stuff’ on my laptop when I needed to close the lid slightly to get behind it. This is where the above ‘scary’ situation came in. Suddenly, without any warning, the laptop screen went black. I thought at first that I had closed the lid too far, and the machine had gone into sleep mode. Nope! The laptop did not come back on!

Hmmm, I thought. That’s a bit of a problem. I use the laptop for everything, and since the Windows update that trashed my wi-fi printer connection has not been fixed, I have no way of printing any documents. Disaster. Deciding (after a few choice words) that I was not going to panic, I switched the laptop off. After about 30 minutes, I switched it back on. Nothing! Now I was starting to panic. I began listing in my head all the things that I could no longer do without the machine, and there were lots.

I knew there was my old laptop in the wardrobe upstairs (I never throw any tech stuff out) and I decided to try and give that a go. I disconnected all the external appliances such as the printer, wireless mouse and external drive, then removed the power cord from the laptop. I then tried setting up the old one. Suddenly I noticed that the said ‘broken laptop’ had somehow come alive. Within a few minutes it was back up and running as if nothing had happened. It was then that I realised that simply powering the machine off did not fully turn it off. It was only when I removed the power cable the it completely shut down.

I plugged it back into the mains adapter, connected all the peripherals and as if by magic here I am. Everything running as normal(!)

My other one . . .

/ Tony / 1 Comment

I’ve just posted a new post on my ‘Other‘ blog, on Blogger.

I really find Blogger not very intuitive and much prefer WordPress. It’s probably because I have been a “WordPresser” for a lot longer than that I have been using Blogger.

I really don’t know whether my ‘Other’ blog will continue, or whether I will just let it go all together. It was my intention to use it to post some of my creative writing, but that never happened and I decided to use a “Google Site” for that stuff. Even that has stalled somewhat.

Waiting With Bated Breath . . .

/ Tony / 5 Comments

My youngest son, who is Autistic, lives in a care home. He comes to visit us every other weekend and stops for three nights. He then returns, quite happily to the care home which he now (hopefully) looks on as his home. However before he returns, he creates pictures on his laptop and saves them. I’ll come back to his saved pictures later.

Old Win7 laptop

His laptop, is an old Windows 7 laptop that has never been upgraded or updated. As a consequence it is quite slow. The main issue is that when he creates his pictures, he uses images from previous pictures that have been saved. This causes a huge problem as he has (at last count) over 4800 .png formatted pictures saved. When he starts to look for an old picture, the window has to refresh each time he moves back through the folder, which takes time and has been taking longer and longer.

Something needed to be done and that something happened today!

Some time ago we bought him a new laptop as there had been an accident in the care home with the laptop he uses there. It was believed that it had been ruined, as water had been spilt over the keyboard. He used this new laptop whilst his damaged one had been sent for repair. It was doubtful that a repair would work, bit it did and the laptop was upgraded to Windows 11. We thought he would continue to use the new laptop, but his Autism kicked in and he demanded his old laptop back. This meant that the recently purchased one was now a spare.

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Fast forward to last week, and it is Monday morning and he is creating his pictures. The speed of the laptop is now even slower than before. He would normally be on his way back by 11:00, but at 11:55 he was just finishing up. I have then to copy the images he has saved onto a memory stick for him to take with him. Now here’s the thing about his saves. He does nothing with them! Nothing at all! They just sit on his memory sticks (now standing at 5 sticks as he kept forgetting to bring one). That was the last straw so to speak.

Spare Win11

We decided that we should replace his old Win7 laptop with the spare. Easy enough. I copied all the pictures of the old one onto the spare. Set up the laptop as the old one and Bob’s my uncle. It has taken a good couple of hours. Hopefully he will accept the change. He will know it’s changed as some of the software is different, but fingers crossed, he will be used to the different software as his laptop at the care home is Windows 11. I will still have to keep the old one close by and fully charged … just in case!

Two things to celebrate …

/ Tony / 1 Comment

Firstly, last night was the first class in a bible study class. After my confirmation, I was given a confirmation candle and a book, by Tom Wright call “Acts for Everyone Part 1”. Unusually for me, I began to read it. I enjoyed reading is so much that I decided to get Part 2. And I read that also and although it was a more intense read, I enjoyed that too.

After my confirmation K*** and I decided that it would be fine for me to go to church when our youngest was with us. I think I have mentioned (a few times) that R*** is Autistic and lives in a care home, near Barnsley. He comes to us every other weekend for what we call a “family visit.” Usually on the Sunday he will have a bath, a hair wash and a shave. K*** cannot do the shave but his care team indicated that they would give him a shave before he came to us and if he needed one, he would have a shave during his bath-time when he got back to them.

This meant that I could go to the church service every Sunday.

About three/four weeks ago, it was mention during the notices that the Priest in Charge was holding a bible study group aimed specifically at The Acts of The Apostles. This class was based on another book by Tom Wright called “The Challenge of Acts” . The first of theses classes was last night. I had little or no expectation of what would happen or how many would go. It turned out that there were three of us plus the Vicar. So quite an intimate gathering. Suffice to say, I enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to the next eight weeks. I just wonder if anyone else will turn up.

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The second thing I’m celebrating is that I weighed myself this morning and the scales showed me to be 11st 13½lb. Which put me under 12st for the first time in many years. You may remember a post back in February where I mentioned that I had lost about 8lb and that I put it down to eating muesli and fruit for breakfast and mainly missing out on large lunches. This is paying off, as my first target was 12st. The target now 11½st. It feels great being able to get into size 34in jeans again and knowing that I don’t have to change them as soon as I get in.

Not always appropriate!

/ Tony / 2 Comments

I’m talking about posting to my blog, among other things. I’m not sure why, but I don’t enjoy doing any form of writing if there is a chance that there is someone in the room. This is why my blog posts are often spaced quite a few days/weeks apart. I suppose it goes back to my school days, when the English teacher had a habit of standing behind a student whilst they were writing, seemingly waiting to pounce if a mistake was made. In those days, many mistakes were made and often.

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When the group were confirmed, we were all given a Confirmation candle, a certificate and a book. The book was called “Acts For Everyone – part 1” by the prolific faith writer and former Bishop of Durham, Tom Wright. The book was very easy to read, but I did have to go back a couple of times to allow the information to sink in. What I did discover, whilst reading the book, was that I knew more than I ever imagined I knew. I was so taken with the book that I sought and found a copy of the second volume (part 2) on eBay. I have now finished book 1 and am about 10% the way through book 2.

When I first discussed confirmation with the Benefice Vicar, he advised that we all should get a bible for our personal research. He also told us about an app that was available for both tablet and phone. It was call the “YouVersion Bible App“. It contains many different versions of the bible and also has planned readings. I thought ‘in for a penny….’ and started to read one of the plans. I chose one that helps you read the whole of the New Testament in a year. I am currently 1/3 of the way through and am finding it a very easy way of studying the Bible.

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When we both retired, I thought it would be a good idea for the Sundays that R*** was not with us (he comes for a weekend visit every two weeks) for us to go to church. We both enjoy it and they have made us very welcome. Since my confirmation we have decided that K*** doesn’t need to give R*** a shave when he is with us. This means that she can give him his bath, which leaves me free to go to the Sunday service on my own. This has worked well the past two occasions. So well, that I am now considered a regular church attendee.

It didn’t go well . . .

/ Tony / 1 Comment

My latest knitting project has been trashed. The correct term is “Frogged” and it means that all the work I’ve done is pulled out. I didn’t really like the pattern and it was a bit tiring using 2mm needles. Anyway, I had completed two out of the five pattern repeats when I went wrong! Somewhere along the row, I gained two stitches. Unfortunately, I found it too difficult to work back to where the error was. I wasn’t even sure that the mistake was on the same row that I was working.

There was no real way I could recover, so it was all pulled out. K*** will be glad she wasn’t here to see the demise of the current project, but it doesn’t bother me too much. When I have problems like todays, I will either start again or consign the pattern to the online bin. On this occasion, the bin looks favourite.

Anyway, I think it was a combination of small needles (2mm) and fine yarn (3 ply) that was my real downfall. Part of the pattern required me to slip two stitches, knit a stitch, then pass the two slipped stitches over the knit stitch. It was here that the problems occurred. What happened was that I seemed to have split the yarn and created an extra stitch(s) somehow when passed the stitches over.

It’s gone now and I don’t think I will attempt that one again.

Felt for the vicar . . .

/ Tony / 1 Comment

Last evening, at our local church, there was a service for the “Imposition of The Ashes.” Neither K*** or me had not heard of this before. It is only since I became a little more involved with our local church, that I heard of it this time. For those not in the know, yesterday was Ash Wednesday and the 1st day of Lent. We were told that it involved the vicar/priest burning some of the palm crosses from last year. These would then be used to mark the forehead of members of the congregation. An internet search came up with this:

“Symbolic practice of repentance and reconciliation

Miércoles de Ceniza - YouTube

The Imposition of Ashes is a symbolic practice of repentance and reconciliation. It is a long-standing tradition in Jewish and Christian worship, and is the historic focus of Ash Wednesday observance. The ashes are imposed on the heads of participants in the Ash Wednesday service as a sign of mortality and penitence, typically by inscribing a cross on the forehead. The ashes are a reminder that “you are dust, and to dust you shall return”.

I did not know how many of the normal congregation members would be present, but it was a bit of a shock when we found out exactly how many would be present. Apart from me and K***, there were three of the Church Wardens and the organist. Including the vicar there was a total of 7 people.

It seemed such a shame after all the work that must have gone into it, that so few turned up. It was an interesting service. No hymns but music was played. I will go next time and hopefully others will turn up.

All done . . .

/ Tony / 1 Comment

It finally happened! I, along with six others was confirmed on Saturday. K*** was able to come, along with her father, so that was nice. Eldest son said he would come along and to all our surprises his six year old daughter asked if she could come along too.

It was a nice service, and not as long as the Vicar expected. The church was full, far fuller than I have ever seen it. I was a little concerned as the candidate and sponsors were asked to be in church for around 17:30, so that everyone could meet the Bishop and have a few words of encouragement. However, my sponsor, who is also a church warden was nowhere to be seen.

At 6pm, the service began. The candidates processed into the church led by one of the clergy and were directed to their seats. I was a bit past myself now as I had not seen my sponsor at all, and I was worried that I had asked her to be there at the wrong time. But then it was all okay as the vicar from our church mouthed to me that my sponsor had arrived. I learned later that she had been tidying up the village hall ready for the after service refreshments.

Everything went according to plan and I was confirmed by the Bishop of Selby at around 6:40pm. Two of our group were being baptised at the same time and that happened first. By 7:10pm it was all over. The recently confirmed were given there candles and were led out of the church by the Bishop, only to come back in for the group photos.

A very pleasant evening for all.

Not long now . . .

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My confirmation date is getting scarily close. 6pm on Saturday is a lot nearer now. We had a final class yesterday and I met the two people from the last course. So there are seven of us in total, with two of those seven being baptised at the same time. The priest has indicated that it could take up to one and a half hours to get through it, and it all depends on the Bishop.

The eldest son is coming and I was hoping a friend from my former workplace would be there. However, she has indicated that she might not make it for the full service. That would be a shame.

K*** and me will be going to the normal service on the following Sunday which will be the first time I receive communion from our local vicar. Could be a bit emotional.

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I have to have an appointment with a nurse at the Dr’s surgery next month. It seems that I am now in the diabetes range and I need to ‘have a conversation’ about what this means. I know what the issue is … alcohol! I drink too much. I know this and I have tried to cut down, but I need to cut down slowly because of the anticoagulant that I take. You cannot suddenly stop eating or drinking something when you are on Warfarin. There is also a weight issue, but since starting to eat Muesli for breakfast, my weight is starting to come down. In fact I think, over the past 4 weeks that I may have lost 8lbs in weight. I can now get into some clothes that I could not get into this time last year.

Feeling a bit rough . . .

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I’m full of cold at the moment. It started on Thursday evening with a simple sore throat and a silly cough. It is now nearly fully developed. The coughing as been so bad that I’ve spent the last two nights in the spare room, and I don’t like the bed in there. There’s no particular reason, I just don’t like it. I know where the cold has come from. I had an appointment at the Dr’s on Thursday and the waiting room was full of elderly people like me, but coughing and sneezing. I suppose it was inevitable.

The appointment was a let down. I’m not sure if it was the cold weather but the phlebotomist could not get any blood. She tried both arms and even my hand but the blood wouldn’t flow. So I have to go back in two weeks and they will try again. One of the ‘legalised vampires’ told me years ago that I had ‘flat veins’. The problem is of course, a sneeze these days can be a sign of Covid.

So I have another appointment next week, then the week after that the repeat phlebotomy and finally a telephone appointment with the pharmacist. All this for my medication review. I will also have to go through the same hoops in May and July when two other drugs are up for review.

I don’t really see why it is necessary. I’m going to be on this medication for life and if anything I may get another one. Seems a waste of time and money.

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I was going to have my annual rant about cyclists and cycle lanes, but that is going to have to wait.

Regular posting . . .

/ Tony / 2 Comments

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last post. Many of my readers will know that I post when I have something to say/moan/rant about. Fortunately, there has not been anything to grab my attention too much. I don’t want to delve into national or international politics as we could end up with an epic post on our hands.

One of the other things that stop me posting is people! I find it very difficult to concentrate on writing when there are other people around me. I have this phobia, if you like, of people watching me write. It goes back to my days in the Council office when I had to reply to peoples complaints and queries. There was at least three colleagues that liked to think they knew better than me when writing a letter. What really used to annoy me was that they may have known better, but they would never say. I suppose it was more fun if they knew a badly composed reply had been sent.

The upshot of that is that I do not like writing anything when my wife is in the house. Now that we have both retired, that happens a lot more often. I have tried writing later at night, but my mind seems to start to shut down by the time it get to 10pm. There has been the odd occasion when I have actually fallen asleep whilst sat at my computer desk. So my writings tend to only happen when I’m ‘home alone’ as the phrase goes.

That was quick . . .

/ Tony / 1 Comment

Way back in January 2023, I had an appointment with my GP. I had been suffering(?) with a cough for about three weeks or so. My late Mother in Law, who had been a pharmacist always reminded me/us that you have a cough for three weeks or more, then you should seek the advice of a doctor. The doctor did some tests and checked my breathing and chest and came to the conclusion that it was a mild chest infection and prescribed some anti-biotics. I was then asked, quite casually I thought, if there was anything else. I had been meaning to bring this up, but explained that I had not seen anyone from the hospital cardiology department for many years. I explained that I had been told I would get regular hospital appointments to check all was well with my heart and its valve. The GP checked my records and said that there should be a five year review soon and would look into it.

July came along with an appointment at York hospital. I had an ECG two weeks before I saw the cardiologist. He did some tests and put me on another medication to slow the pump rate of my heart. He explained as simply as he could that the lower chamber of my heart was not ‘filling up’ fast enough which meant that not sufficient blood was being pumped around which would lead to me being a bit breathless at times. He said he would see me again in six months or so.

About a month ago, I received a notification through the “Patients Know Best” app on my phone, that an appointment had been made to see the same doctor at York hospital. That appointment was yesterday at 15:15. We duly arrived at 15:05 and was seen by the doctor at 15:30, after I had my blood pressure measured. We discussed how I was feeling and I explained that I am still getting out of breath. He did a few checks and advised me that my blood pressure was good, my heart rate had improved and he checked my chest, which was also fine. He basically told me that this was as good as it gets given the problems I had, which was fair enough.

He then decided to send me for what he called a ‘lung function test’ which entails blowing into a tube a few times. K*** asked how long would it be before I would get an appointment. The doctor said it would be ten to twelve months.

This morning, I received a notification that my “Patients Know Best” record had been updated. I checked it, expecting just to see yesterdays appointment along with a brief summary. To my amazement, the app told me that my ‘lung function test’ would be next Wednesday at 11:25!! Totally gobsmacked.

Different . . .

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Christmas was different this year. Very different. We usually have S****, C**** and our granddaughter with us on Christmas Day, but this year they were going to C****’s parents for Christmas day, so that just left me and K*** and R***. They did call in at the end of the day, but it was different. Quiet! So Boxing Day was our family Christmas day. No turkey (don’t like it much anyway) just poached salmon on the Wednesday and a nice joint of Roast Ham of the Thursday.

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Usually K*** would be off shopping for the last minute stuff, veg and the like on Christmas Eve. This year she got it all on the Monday or what some people call” “Christmas Eve Eve”. When did that start to be a thing? People seem to be taking my language and messing with it. I really get annoyed when people talk about “Bonfire Week/Weekend”. It’s one night! It’s Guy Fawkes Night or Bonfire Night! K*** thinks I should just “Go with the flow” and not get upset about things like that.

I find that many people are now beginning to adopt the American way of speaking certain words. Especially when they pronounce the silent letter in a word. “Almonds” is the first word that spring to mind. I cringe when it is pronounced ‘Al-mond’ as opposed to pronouncing it ‘Arr-mond’. You never hear people feeling ‘Ca-lm’ or having something in the ‘pa-lm’ of their hand! And don’t get me started on people that use American terms when talking. One of my friends told me how they didn’t have a “trash-can when they were on vacation.”

Here endeth today’s rant.

It’s just wrong . . .

/ Tony / 1 Comment

I was watching the weather forecast on television this morning when the presenter said something, which I found strange. The presenter was talking about the temperature for the day and called today (23rd December) Christmas Eve Eve! When did this become a thing? How far do we go back with it? Was yesterday Christmas Eve Eve Eve? It has always amused (annoyed) me when people talk about “Bonfire Weekend”. We don’t seem to have a “Guy Fawkes Night” anymore.

In the same context, the most hilarious thing I heard this year was back in the middle of November. Two ladies, were talking, in the queue for the till (not checkout!) at the supermarket, about what their plans for “Thanksgiving Weekend” were! There was no mention of Harvest Festival! Are we fast becoming the 51st state of America? We appear to be picking up a huge amount of their ways and speech.

How?

/ Tony / 1 Comment

How do people get it so wrong?

We don’t get much post these days. We can often go 3 or 4 days without anything. When some post does arrive, it is often accompanied by a generous amount of advertising leaflets. However, we seem to be getting an increase in post for someone else.

Twice this week alone we have received somebody else’s post. On Monday it was an official letter from the NHS. Today it looks like a Christmas card. The odd thing is, that the address is correct, right down to the postcode. It’s just the addressee’s name is wrong.

The problem then is, what do you do with it? The NHS letter had instructions for if the person is no longer living at the address, with a return address on the back. The suspected Christmas card has no such instructions. So should I open the card on the off chance that there may be a return address? Should I write on the address “Not known at This Address” and put it back in the post? Should I just ignore it and put it straight in the bin? If there is no return address, will it get to the sender?

I find it incredible that people can get the address so wrong.

Update: The mystery of the ‘Christmas Card’ has been solved. It was for one of the neighbours further along the street. I do know them to speak to, but I didn’t know their name. Thanks be to Facebook!

Looks like a success . . .

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It was the day of the annual Christmas Fayre at my local church. Usually, when the fayre occurs, our youngest is on a family visit which means we cannot visit. He could not cope with it even if he wanted to go, so we haven’t been for a few years. With the inclement weather that has hit the country (officially known as Storm Darragh), I wasn’t sure that either we would not go or that it would be cancelled. It wasn’t cancelled and as our granddaughter was here with us, we went.

I was pleasantly surprised firstly at the number of stalls and secondly at the number of people visiting. The place was very busy. I spoke to one of the people serving refreshments who told me that people could not get through the door almost when the fayre opened at 11:00 it was so busy.

The stalls had been set out in the pews. Boards had been placed on top of the ends of the pews and covered with what looked like white tablecloths. Then the exhibitors placed their wares on top to make it look like a shop counter. It was very effective. K*** spent a fair amount on presents that S***** wanted to buy. All in all, a very successful day.

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On another note, the person who is doing the work to get our group’s Confirmation service was at the fayre. I was going to ask if a date had been set but K*** got in before me. It’s looking like it will be now in January not December as was thought. I thought it was a bit short notice for the new Bishop as she must have a million and one things to get through. Still, I can wait. Although non-confirmed parishioners can receive communion at our church, I think it is important to have been confirmed first. It seems more appropriate.

Mouse house . . .

/ Tony / 4 Comments

The youngest was with us last weekend. I think I’ve mentioned that he is Autistic. He lives in a care home near Barnsley and he comes for a ‘family visit’ every other weekend. Well saying every other weekend, there are occasions when he is away longer. It might be a well known thing, but many people on the Autistic spectrum have obsessions. R*** has had a few over the years, but his current one (and it has been for a long time) is Mickey Mouse.

All his clothes are Mickey Mouse related. This obsession also includes ham having nicknames for family and friends. I’m Pluto, K*** is Minnie, S**** is Donald and C**** Daisy. These names are transferable between us and his carers. So when he is at his home near Barnsley, his carers have the same nicknames.

When he had his last Motability car, there was a transfer in the passenger window of Mickey Mouse. This got damaged when the car was returned and the garage said it should not have been put on. Bearing this in mind his carers did not mention having this decal on the new car.

However, when he came to visit us back in early June, he decided that he wanted some kind of ‘wall stickers’ (his name) for his bedroom here. That started a new regular feature of his visit. Now he comes down for his lunch he will search the internet for Mickey Mouse pictures. He will find three and leave the web pages open for me. I then have to copy the images, paste them into a Word document, cut them out, laminate them, cut them out again and finally add pieces of Blue Tack to the back. He then places these ‘wall stickers’ on his wardrobe door. I have no idea how he remembers which ones he has, but he does. Currently, there are no duplicates.

Holiday over . . .

/ Tony / 1 Comment

It was around 12:30 when we got away. We discovered on the Saturday, that for some reason the cold supply to the bath in the main bathroom was not working. Just no water coming from the cold tap. All other cold taps were fine, just the bath tap. I initially thought that the plumber who found what this issue with the toilet was, had isolated the feed. But that was not the case.

After about 4 hours the fitter decided that he had no idea what the issue was and told us to call the company. K*** rang and the fitter had already explained to them beforehand. They advised that it may be just an airlock, and it could ‘sort itself out’ while we were away. It didn’t and someone is coming to try and figure out what is wrong.

Update: the plumber came on Tuesday and was here for about an hour. He couldn’t find what was wrong and surmised that the original fitter may have used some form of closed fitting when reconnecting the sink in the en-suite. So it seems they are going to have to run a feed from the sink in the bathroom to rectify this.

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The holiday was great. Good weather for the time of year. Sunny most of the days, but no rain. A bit windy on a couple of occasions, but it is the east coast! The apartment we rented was in a good location, being about 10 minutes walk from the harbour. It had everything we needed, and it was all in excellent condition. The only issue was parking. There was simply not enough. We managed to park further up the hill but we hear that other visitors had to park many streets away. We only moved the car once and fortunately managed to get back into the same space. It is difficult to see, but we were on the second level.

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The apartment was named “White Horses” and the view from one of the windows looked out onto the sea. The picture is not great (snipped from a much larger photo) but you can just see the waves breaking. Apparently, this is where the name comes from as the breaking waves are supposed to look like white horses running towards the shore.

From the same window, but looking in a different direction you were able to see the famous Whitby Abbey. We did a visit to the Abbey as C**** had her father’s English Heritage (EH)card so two of us could get in free. I was a little disappointed in the abbey. I have been to Fountains Abbey and used to live near Kirkstall Abbey and both of those were a lot more impressive. I suppose EH benefit from the Dracula connection as there were a lot of references.

We stayed mostly in Whitby for the week, paying a brief visit to Robin Hoods Bay one day. Not a lot to say about that really apart from the fact that it is steep. Then S****, C**** and S***** came over on the Thursday afternoon. They stayed over until Friday which was the day we visited the Abbey. This was followed by lunch at the restaurant we visited most whilst we were there. We found the Abbey Wharf restaurant/bar the last time we visited Whitby. It was reasonably priced and the portions were large. Ideal for sharing.

It was our intention to visit St Mary’s Church for the service on the Sunday. Since retirement, I’ve become more interested in going to church. This seemed an ideal chance. We have been before and it was a pleasant experience the last time. However, the last time we visited was in 2023 and was the week before the week we were visiting now. We entered the church and we were surprised that the only other people in we an American couple taking photos. We came to the conclusion that there was no service that day, which was confirmed by the staff in the shop. The lady explained that services at St Mary’s had stopped until April 2025 due to having no heating in the church. It was a bit disappointing.

That was about it. We came home on the Monday and life went on as normal again.

En-suite – Day five + 1 . . .

/ Tony / 1 Comment

It appears that the previous en-suite fitters/cowboys were exactly that. Cowboys!

The company that we bought the current en-suite have been up against it from the start. Not only did the original shower leak, but they also did a botch job on the toilet. K*** rang the company (I’ll name them, they’ve been really good,)”The Shower People” first thing and within 2 hours one of their team was knocking on the door. He did a lot of work trying to identify the problem and then trying to fix it. In the end he suggested that we need a new toilet cistern!

He explained that some of the pipework in our current cistern had been cut too short. Then to make up for that error, they had packed the inlet pipe with a huge amount of silicone so that it would fit. When the fitter moved the toilet and the other fittings it must have caused the silicone to crack. This led to a leak in two places. Result, is that we need to replace the cistern.

They are going all out to fix this on Monday morning. We are due to go away for the week on Monday and it looks like it could be Monday afternoon before we get off.

En-suite – Day five +

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You couldn’t write this, but should have expected it.

Late last night, K*** noticed that the floor of the en-suite was flooded. This had happened before, and the fitter claimed he knew what it was. He thought that it was the toilet flush system that was overflowing, and he did something to reduce the amount of water for the flush.

It is obvious now that this was not the case as when we awoke this morning, we found that the floor still flooded. What is worse is that the leak had now come through the floor and was dripping into the kitchen. To exasperate matters further, the leak, as leaks do, had found the way to the light in the kitchen and the water was dripping from there.

To end on a positive, the shower works well if a little less powerful than before.

En-suite – Day five . . .

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This is beginning to sound like an episode of Big Brother.

It’s finally finished. The guy started at 08:30 this morning and finished around 19:00. That’s without a break. It’s looking really good and worth the stress. R*** was an absolute star. He kept coming out of his room to see what was happening.

We have kept the fitter’s number, as good trades people are hard to find. Mind you after the job here and the problems he was up against, he may be a little reluctant to return.

En-suite – Day four (part 2) . . .

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Quite a bit done during the rest of the day. The new flooring is down, and the vanity unit is back in place. The toilet has been refitted so things are beginning to look better. The fan has been cleaned and the cover has been replaced.

There are still a few things to do. The shower unit is still in the back of the fitter’s van, along with the glass shower panel. The new radiator needs fitting, although all the plumbing has been completed. Then all there is to do will be the wall boarding and the waste outlet and it will be good to go.

Hopefully it will all be finished earlier rather than later in the morning. R*** is due back and his carer is going to try and delay his return a little. It should be fine as long as there are no sudden noises. We have every digit possible crossed.

En-suite – Day four (part 1) . . .

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Well, the radiator is finally out! Now the fitter is trying to make head or tail of the underlying pipework. As of 11:00, he still has to 1) fit the new radiator, 2) plumb in the new shower block, 3) refloor the parts that he had replace, 4) fit the wall boards, 5) install the new glass side panel, 6) refit the sink, toilet and vanity unit, then finally 7) lay the new flooring panels. All this should be done today! I don’t have much faith. It is looking like he may be here for part of tomorrow.

En-suite – Day three . . .

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We are a little further on today. The ceiling panels are fitted, and the new lights have been installed. They are LED bulbs which use a lot less power and are a lot brighter than the old ones. Still no movement with the radiator although he and the mysterious plumber have a plan. Something to do with freezing the pipework so it can be taken out without having to drain it. Should be interesting.

There is still a lot to do, but he’s done all he can today. The shower tray has been installed, but something needs doing with the fan. He was talking with his boss, and I couldn’t quite hear what was said. All it needs is a replacement cover so I hope they can get one quickly.

His parting words were “… hopefully it will be finished by Friday …”. Could be a problem if it isn’t. R*** comes here on Friday and he’s not going to be happy if there is work still going on. If there is any interruption to the electric, then we will have a big problem.

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Now I don’t know if you will be able to see this but when he arrived, he laid down some plastic sheeting from the door to the stairs. The idea being that he wouldn’t be treading and dust and stuff into the carpet. It has worked quite well but is getting a little bit worn now.

The rubbish is mounting up. I understand that when he is finished, someone comes to pick-up the rubbish to dispose of it. They are going to need a good sized vehicle by the time it is all done.

En-suite – Day two (part 2) . . .

/ Tony / 1 Comment

When you look at the room, there doesn’t seem to be much work done. But the fitter was still having a few problems. He seems to be having an issue with the radiator/towel rail. He cannot understand how to drain it so that he can replace it. I went to see my mother, so I was away when he finished draining the rest of the radiators. It seems that there may be a plumber coming tomorrow to try and sort it.

Apparently, apart from the radiator problem, all the other pipework is complete, and the fitter is looking at fitting the wallboards and ceiling board.

He is also intending to replace the lights. That could be another slight problem. We don’t have a loft ladder. We looked at this when we first moved in but never got around to having one installed. Also, although there is a light in the loft it runs from a cable that plugs into a socket outside of the loft. I’m just hoping that when the lights are replaced that there are some kind of cover for the back of the lights which are currently missing.

En-suite – Day two (part 1) . . .

/ Tony / 3 Comments

It was an early start today. As he left, the fitter announced he would be here at ” … eight o’clock. If that’s okay?” As we are quite desperate to get this finished by the end of the day on Thursday, we had no alternative but to agree. So, we were up at seven o’clock, which was quite a shock to the system. We shall see how it goes.

© J Sainsbury plc

As an aside, we had porridge for the first time since around February. We both like real porridge. The one we have found is Sainsburys “Taste the Difference” whole rolled Scottish jumbo oats. They are not like the usual sloppy porridge that you get with the quick cook stuff. No, this tends to be a very robust meal that take a good 15 minutes to cook.

En-suite – Day one . . .

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Back in January I wrote a post about the issues we had been experiencing with the shower pump. At the time, K*** mentioned to the plumber that we needed the en-suite re-vamping. Ten months on, we have had nothing from the plumber, so we have opted to go with a more professional company. We have seen their showroom and after some negotiation we settled on a design and a confirmed price. Today was the first day of the job and it’s been a troublesome one.

After a good start, I went for the weekly shopping trip whilst K*** stayed at home. She had decided to make a Christmas cake. I was out for just over an hour and a half. My first words were “How’s it going?” K*** replied that it wasn’t going very well. It seems that there had been a slow leak under the shower and the floor of the room was quite rotten. The fitter had to take up the damaged wood before he could do anything else. This took him quite a long time, much more than he thought. It also means an increase in the price of extra labour and parts. I for one expected that the price would not be the final one.

The fitter thinks he can get on more productively from tomorrow. He will still have to replace some of the floor, but he has said he will be here around eight o’clock in the morning. We have to have the job all done and signed off by the end of Thursday. R*** is back with us from about ten thirty on Friday so we need it all finished by then. All the fittings are in the spare bedroom which puts that room out of bounds for the week.

Bloody Electrics . . .

/ Tony / 2 Comments

We had been out to formalise the new en-suite with the plumbing company. On the way back we went to see my mother who is in a care home. She has been there since coming out of hospital after a fall. It seems to be a nice place, and it appears that she is being looked after quite well.

We got home just after half past three and K*** went to turn on one of the lights. It didn’t come on. It was then that I noticed that the displays on the oven and microwave were not displaying anything. I checked around and determined that the power was off. K*** checked with a neighbour who told us that the electric was definitely off and had been for some time.

At around four o’clock, the power suddenly came back on. I heard a bang in the kitchen but was more concerned with turning off the intruder alarm. By the time I had done that, and reset the clocks on the oven and microwave, I had completely forgotten about the mystery bang. I checked all the other electrics, especially R***’s laptop and everything seemed to be okay.

Fast forward to this morning and I decided to have a shower. There was no water which meant that the pump was not working. I went downstairs to where the pump isolator is, only to find that the light on the switch was not showing (it is supposed to be red). “That must have been the bang,” I thought. But the switch was still on. I located the fused spur and changed that fuse, but the isolator light was still not showing red. I checked the main circuit board in the garage, but all the circuit breakers were on. I was totally baffled and did not know what we were going to do.

Then I had an idea! I switched the isolator back on and tried the shower. It was working! So, it must just have been the isolator light failing that blew the fuse in the spur.

Almost there . . .

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All Saints Bramham

Saturday saw the penultimate class in my confirmation course, if you can call it a course. There isn’t one this Saturday, something to do with school’s half term (they never seem to be there these days!) So, the 2nd of November will be the last one. I understand it will be what the vicar called a mopping up session. Picking up on the bits that may have got missed and time for any questions. I’m pretty okay and I don’t think there will be many questions from me.

St Mary’s Boston Spa

However, the schedule mentions something about preparations for the service the following day. At first, I took this to mean that our Confirmation would be taking place on that following Sunday. This is not the case, as we have a newly ordained Bishop (just last week) who has not got back to us with a date. It is looking like it will be in December sometime, but knowing our luck R*** will be with us that particular day, so I’m not sure how we will tackle that. Now the mention of ‘preparations for the service…‘ bothers me a little. The vicar on Saturday alluded to the idea that our vicar “likes to get people involved…“. It’s that word ‘involved’ that bothers me. Sounds like we (the 5 students) may have something to do during the service, and I don’t know if I’m comfortable with that. Mind you, given that I volunteered to do this I may just surprise both me and K***.

And people believe this . . .

/ Tony / 1 Comment

I thought I would share the contents of a recent spam email that Mrs H received today. It came from this email address: info(at)news(dot)ikdenkaanjou(dot)net. She does get a number of these emails and unfortunately not all get caught with the spam filter. this is one of the worst ones I have seen.

I’ve copied the main body of the email and converted it to an image so that there are no problems with it.

How do people fall for this?

Something new ?

/ Tony / 1 Comment

I learned something new this week. I rarely buy anything from Amazon due to the delivery charges. I am still able to remember when you would be eligible for free delivery for item(s) totalling £10.00 or more. Now that free delivery is if your purchases total a minimum of £35.00. If I’m going to spend £35.00 + on something, I’m more than likely to want to see the item before parting with any money.

Then I found something I’d not seen before. They call it ‘Amazon Pickup’. Basically, what it is free delivery to a local pickup point. Often the local Post Office or supermarket. Delivery time is usually the same as standard delivery to your home, but it means that the rear wiper blade for my car is cheaper. Delivery would have been £3.95 on top of the selling price which would have made the total slightly more than if I had ordered and bought it from a major automotive supplier.

Everyday a school day!

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What is the matter with some drivers? This morning at around half past 10, I needed to go to Wetherby. It’s only 5 miles and the road is usually quietish. Today it was a bit misty. Not quite a fog, just very misty. Whilst driving, I could not help noticing (just) that there was a number of cars that were not using their headlights. Some didn’t even have their side lights on. Why? Is it because they think that if they can see you, you can see them? It can be quite intimidating when you suddenly see a grey Land Rover Discovery appearing out of the mist.

Difficult days . . .

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The youngest came for a family visit on Friday 4th, his 32nd birthday. He had been on a birthday holiday with two of his care team, to Disneyland in Paris. He went two years ago and when they asked what he wanted he told then “Disneyland”. He’d had a great time and there had been no issues at all.

However, it was different later that day. He has a Sky Q box in his room and there was a problem. One of the things he likes to do is check what programmes are ‘coming up next’. He used to do this by using the Right Arrow on the remote which brought a list at the bottom of the screen, showing all the programmes, on that channel, for the next few hours. For whatever reason, Sky seems to have removed this feature.

Of course, R*** could not comprehend what was wrong. His only thoughts were that the remote needed new batteries. Even after changing the batteries a few times, he could not grasp the problem. This led to frustration and finally to anger. His anger comes out as violently grabbing people, usually in a place where the skin is slightly softer such as the fleshier parts of the arm. It can be very painful.

Eventually he calmed down and we think (🤞) that he accepted that the feature was no longer working. But it was a difficult few days.

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I suppose you would call it a ‘deja vu’ moment. That instant in time when you ‘think’ you recognise something or someone. It happened last week. K*** and I were having a coffee at the local garden centre prior to buying some plants. I was absently looking around at the customers when I spotted an elderly gentleman (yes older than me) sitting at a table across the room. I immediately thought that it looked like someone I remember from my days at the Aged Persons Home back in the late 1980’s. It took a few moments before it clicked that it could not have been that person as they would have to have been around 120 years old! But he did look like the person I remember.

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Now this is more annoying than difficult. My current laptop does not have a CD/DVD drive built in. It didn’t bother me too much when I bought it as I had ‘acquired’ a portable drive when I left my previous job. They were no longer using them in the office and had decided to get them recycled. We were asked if anyone wanted one for home use and I decided that it may come in use. The problem I recently had was this.

You may recall that I’ve been having issues with my printer. Recently, after a paper jam, I had to unplug the printer to clear the jam. When I connected it again, the wireless option was not available. After much “Googling” the problem should have been solved by either uninstalling or removing the printer and then reinstalling again. It’s not a new printer and as such the installation software is on a CD. Not a problem I thought, I’ll use the portable CD drive. I connected it, ran the software and the printer was reinstalled. Unfortunately, the wireless problem remains the same, but I’ve decided I can live without wireless and use a USB cable.

After rebooting the laptop, I noticed that some of the desktop icons did not have the usual graphic associated with them. It was then that I realised that the icons for these shortcuts were located on my external hard drive. Since I started using the external hard drive it has been identified as “Elements (E):”. Now it seems, that after running some software on the portable CD drive, the “Elements (E):” drive was now called “Elements (F):”. This obviously meant that many of my bespoke icons could not be found. It took around 90 minutes to change the icons on the shortcuts back to the ones I wanted. Lesson learned.

What is your favorite hobby or pastime?

/ Tony / 1 Comment

Daily writing prompt
What is your favorite hobby or pastime?
View all responses

I don’t think I particularly have a favourite. It all depends on what kind of day I am having/had/expecting and the mood I’m in. I enjoy knitting. Small items such as headbands and bookmarks and the like. Things that don’t take long to do but, it’s not an obsession. I’ll start an item that should only take 3 -4 hour but will stop and it could take 3 – 4 days to finish. It’s a mood thing.

Then there is this blog. I enjoy writing about things that affect me. But I can go days, even weeks without writing anything, then on the other hand there may only be a couple of days between posts.

Then there is general creative writing. That can be very random. I’ve not written anything for a year or so, but suddenly I will have an idea, and I’ll make a start.

Not a pleasant experience

/ Tony / Leave a comment

Daily writing prompt
Tell us about a time when you felt out of place.
View all responses

It was early in 2013. I was moved into a different department. The one I had been working in had been my main stay work for 23 years. I rose from being a newbie clerical officer in 1990 to the dizzy heights of Senior IT Officer in 2010. I was always told that I was of great value to the team. Then suddenly I wasn’t.

I was moved to a similar position in a totally different department. I had no knowledge of the work or the IT systems they were using. I mainly concentrated on any work my previous job needed (they didn’t replace me, and nobody was knowledgeable about the work.) I was able to muddle through for a while, but I did not really know what I was doing and I stuck out like a sore thumb. It was embarrassing mainly, and it eventually led to me taking voluntary redundancy in 2016.