Today I shall be Mainly...

[Stanley]

That sounds like an interesting walk Sue. Right up my street if I was capable!



Here's the result of two and a half hours in the shed. The steam chest and lid are fitted perfectly on the new studs in the cylinder. Not a bad result for an old cock! I'm very pleased, a good step forwards.

[Stanley]

Cylinder is going well so I shall be on it again today. Bored? How can anyone be bored? Everyone should have the equivalent of my shed, see MD in Covid corner.

[Marilyn]

Does anyone ever complain about the noise you make in your shed, Stanley?

We ( well...hubby) had to go and knock on our neighbour’s door yesterday. I could smell gas, very strong. I had checked our gas bottles straight away ( a spray bottle with detergent in will show any leaks when sprayed on pipes). Ours were perfectly alright. But the gas smell outside was annoying me and coming on the breeze. Later, in the afternoon, I was reading near the open window and I could smell gas coming in the window. That was it. I sent hubby next door, armed with the spray bottle as I knew it wasn’t our gas bottles leaking. I was right. It was the neighbours! ( bubbles aplenty). He rang his gas provider. I didn’t see them come, but all is sweet here again.
( Hubby said that when he knocked on the neighbour’s door, he began the conversation with “I am sorry to disturb you, but my paranoid wife has a nose like a blood hound and she has deducted that your gas bottles are leaking.”)
Neighbour kindly replied that he was pretty paranoid about gas leaks himself!

[Stanley]

What makes you ask that Maz? What makes you think I make a noise? The answer is no, never and that's because I don't make any intrusive noise and as the shed is an outshut and not party to another house there is no transmission of any noise through the walls, so no need for you to lose any sleep about it. On the contrary side, for the last five years I have had intermittent construction noises fro the houses next door to me as they have both been refurbished.

[Marilyn]

I don’t know what made me ask...

There is a man in the next street over from us who is terribly deaf and never stops talking. He yells every word. We used to joke that we knew when he was home. Of course with Covid, he is permanently home! I feel sorry for his direct neighbours ( he literally never stops talking all day).
I think he could talk under water with a mouth full of marbles

[Stanley]

I've just come out of the shed. I haven't done what I was expecting to do because I was diverted by other matters, some domestic and then in the shed itself. No problem about altering my intentions, all the things I did were, in their own way, important. It's important to be flexible!

[Sue]

Morning

Its not a noisy hobby Maz, the most that comes out of Bobs workshop is the radio, occasionally his laithe. .

So Rochdale is doomed again according to the news, making a big deal of figures for the virus that I have never seen before. After a deal of research I find the figures were for the 4 th to 11 th July, showing an upward trend and not the much lower figures of the following days which ( I follow daily ) show a more downward trend. They also fail to say the higher numbers related to a school and one place of work. The school was in a densely populated are of town with characteristics like Nelson and Blackburn. We have been reassured by the Council that no lockdown is on the cards and the figures are heading downwards.

Yesterday did not turn out as planned. I actually spent much of the day getting to know some of the features of my sewing machine that I have never used. We had a damp 3.5 mile walk to the pharmacist in the afternoon to collect our prescriptions. I very bravely went in the shop wearing my face mask, as I needed to discuss the fact that the brand of inhaler I use keeps failing when it still has 20 doses left. It has happened to 3 now so must be a fault of the product itself.

Before we set out on our walk my pilates teacher called at lunch time bringing some things I had bought from her . She is selling all her equipment to her clients mats weights etc. so that when she reopens we can use our own stuff and she does not have to keep cleaning it all. A real bargain price for what must be equivalent to over £100 of stuff. When we came back from the walk I spent nearly an hour on zoom talking to my niece Emma about the family tree. So a quiet day ended up being very busy.

Today Is pilates this morning and yoga at teatime. I shall do a bit more on my sewing machine or patchwork afterwards. This afternoon Bob is going to meet an engineer friend to carry on clearing the workshop of their friend Richard who died last September. It is the first visit since February. My pilates friend Gill is coming round fora chat and a cup of tea.



Have a good day all

[Stanley]

Morning Sue! Clearing a deceased friend's shed. I've been there and know it can be a nightmare for the widows and family. I have solved that one by talking it over with the family as part of my 'getting ready to die' policy and we all agreed, I have given the lot to my son in law Mo. As soon as I die he clears the lot out and takes it home. (He is delighted!)
Nothing concrete done on the engine, I needed to do a bit of maintenance on Mrs Harrison.



Not time wasted, a nice morning.

[Marilyn]

I do hear swearing come out of our garage...not many other noises that are noteworthy.

[Sue]

Morning Sue! Clearing a deceased friend's shed. I've been there and know it can be a nightmare for the widows and family. I have solved that one by talking it over with the family as part of my 'getting ready to die' policy and we all agreed, I have given the lot to my son in law Mo. As soon as I die he clears the lot out and takes it home. (He is delighted!)
Nothing concrete done on the engine, I needed to do a bit of maintenance on Mrs Harrison.



Not time wasted, a nice morning.

This was all given to the model engineers club. I think I have mentioned it before. So the engineers are clearing it in stages. No one has been since February. Now they are going in twos. Bob inherited some stuff personally like the steam train he is building with no plans!

[Marilyn]

Who is Mrs Harrison?
Is it the vacuum cleaner?
Pretty chilly at our place this morning....

[Cathy]

Great pic
Brrr...

[Stanley]

The Harrison L10 lathe Maz. we've been together over 40 years....
Now I have her in good fettle I can get on with my little brass bits for the cylinder....

[Sue]

Morning

It could be a nice day with higher temperatures forecast and possibly some sun this afternoon, I hope so as we are having visitors later , my sister and my cousin are coming over for a cup of tea and a chat. It would be good if we could be outside rather than in the conservatory with the door open. We haven’t seen each other since January. We had started meeting up once a month for lunch on a Saturday so of course all that stopped.

Yesterday was a typical morning, pilates , a bit of sewing, pottering in the garden then my visit from Gill in the afternoon. After she went a bit more sewing and pottering. Eve contacted us by Whats App. She was excited. Its her last day at primary school today. The school has mad a big effort to make these abnormal times special. She has a large hoodie sweat shirt and on the front it says CLASSS OF 2020 WE´VE MADE LOCKDOWN HISTORY on the back it says 2020 made up of children's names. There was no class photo this year so they had a socially distanced group photo taken by a drone. Today is a visit to the new school followed by a picnic in the local park, which is a large recreational park.

This morning is dance exercise, then perhaps some cutting out of some new jeans. My original fabric never arrived, story of my life, but the suppliers have offered me an alternative as they have now run out of lilac denim. That should be on its way. Meanwhile I bought some other fabric from a different supplier I use often. That arrived after only two days. The first lot of fabric was through Amazon and I think these suppliers are very accessible to numerous buyers looking for a bargain and quickly sell out. My second lot of fabric is not cheap and comes from a more reputable fabric firm. Anyway normal sewing can now be resumed. I am still waiting for my course material for my genealogy diploma too, although I have nearly completed the first assignment . Life goes on , with these various hobbies and activities keeping me mentally and physically active.

Have a good day everyone

[Stanley]

Totally in line with MD's CLANGERS Sue, all good for you.
I am having a sit down and a smoke after two hours in the front room with Johnny's ghost looking on. More later after a walk and breakfast.

[Sue]

We have next to no water, workmen and a very large water tanker are parked across the road. I hope that is resolved quickly, I hate not having a shower after strenuous exercise. That will be in 2 hours.

[Marilyn]

Sue ( now don’t take this the wrong way PLEASE) but do you ever take the time to just SIT QUIETLY and ZEN out?
I find I cannot go through life like a bullet train - well I can when I need to - but I am a “rose smeller” I suppose.

[Stanley]

We get so used to water just being there on tap don't we. You never miss the water 'til the well runs dry. Very true. I hope they get it back on soon.



Today was spent entirely in the front room on the 1927 lathe. Here's the result, they need finishing and making pretty but that's for tomorrow. A nice two hours.....

[Marilyn]

Looks like are playing “battle ships”, Stanley.

[Stanley]

[Sue]

Sue ( now don’t take this the wrong way PLEASE) but do you ever take the time to just SIT QUIETLY and ZEN out?
I find I cannot go through life like a bullet train - well I can when I need to - but I am a “rose smeller” I suppose.

Morning all

Maz , I am not sure you have been reading all my posts. I spend most of my day sitting, either having a post meal coffee sat chatting in the conservatory or sewing my patchwork. I exercise quite vigorously at least once a day for an hour, except Saturday, when my strenuous activity is cleaning the house with Bob. Exercise is always followed with a cuppa sat with hubby for half an hour then potter in the garden then have lunch and a coffee for about 90 minutes. If the weather is fit we go for a long walk. I love the scenery where I live. Its a long climb but at the top of the hills the view is magnificent and good for the soul. I try and do at least one housewifey thing each day such as tidy a drawer, slowly working through the house. The last two afternoons I have been sat chatting with friends in the conservatory or garden for three hours each day, is that not chilling. The day before I spent the whole day just playing with my sewing machine to see what different feet do. Not exactly strenuous. My ipad tells me my daily hours is over 5 therefore for at least 5 hours I am sat either writing, reading or playing games on my ipad. I watch TV every night for several hours, and read when I come to bed. I have been told I look 10 years younger than my age, my physical and mental age comes out at about 56. I must be doing something right. I have never ever been someone who does nothing.

Yesterday we had a wonderful afternoon with my sister and cousin and their dogs. How nice to have a normal afternoon. On Monday we shall go and see my brother. This morning is Bacup market as it opens, followed by breakfast of fresh croissants and coffee, made by Jon our pâtissière at Bacup Market. Afterwards its house cleaning and a video call with Julia as she wants some help reading a sewing pattern. B wants to make herself some thing to wear. We bought a pattern and fabric, but help is needed on sewing pattern translation.

I have now adjusted my jeans sewing pattern and may cut them out today in my new summery fabric. I did manage to sell my surplus bag of fabric and scraps on gumtree, so space to buy more now. We are going to Claires early afternoon for a chat and take some boxes over for their packing.
Thats my day
Have a good day everyone

[Sue]

The need to walk a long way every day is the result of being in France for 8 weeks and unable to go out for walks

[Stanley]

No need to apologise for walking Sue. I wish I could do your mileage but then it would mean cutting back on other daily activities!
I am sat down for a few minutes after two hours in the shed doing useful things, more later. Now for a walk with Jack a very light breakfast because I ate too much for tea last night. Then I'll post shed matters.

[Sue]

No need to apologise for walking Sue. I wish I could do your mileage but then it would mean cutting back on other daily activities!
I am sat down for a few minutes after two hours in the shed doing useful things, more later. Now for a walk with Jack a very light breakfast because I ate too much for tea last night. Then I'll post shed matters.

Just had croissants and coffee. Julia contacted me to ask for the video link at 10.15 instead of 10.00, so an extra long sit to enjoy the coffee. Torrential rain here, I won’t be planting the plant I bought at the market till tomorrow, neither will I venture down the garden to water the tomatoes. I can hear the ran water butt filling furiously

[plaques]

Recovering from yesterdays hair cut. Nearly 5 months of thatch removed without anesthetic, feeling quite light headed. Mrs P made an appointment for both of us to attend yesterday afternoon. Only the two of us in the place. Please use sanitiser on entry. Names and address recorded for contact purposes. Hairdressers wearing either masks or face shield, lots of tidying up after each customer. Not too sure about the cover sheet to catch the hair? Quite happy with the set up.
Round to the Samaritan's book stall, bought ten Terry Pratchett books. You never know how big the second wave will be? I think Tizer's 'Blacker than Black' will be in the 'Colours' book. I will see.