Today I shall be Mainly...

[Stanley]

Morning Sue! I'm back up after an hour of second sleep and gearing up to go to the Cathedral of Choice for milk cheese and eggs....
I'm sorry to hear of Roland's death. I didn't know him of course but realise how important he was to you and Bob. It's a cold time of year for funerals......
Whatever you do today keep warm.....

[Tripps]

He was a good friend who made us very welcome when we bought our house in France

Thanks for bringing Roland into our lives, and I guess he thought he could do worse than you and Bob for neighbours.

RIP Roland.

[Stanley]

Indeed David.... I thought about Roland again this morning.
Today I shall decline the shed again. I ordered my new castings yesterday and from experience they will be here tomorrow. The weight based courier charge is £19.50 so it gets next day service.
The nearest I shall get to honest endeavour is mopping the kitchen vinyl and some extension cooking.....

[Sue]

Morning

Thank you for your kind comments about Roland. We are thankful that he was in our lives, we had many laughs. He once described our french as bizarre but he still understood us. Both he and his wife Chantal and later Nicole took great care when speaking to us so that we could understand, and even tried a few english words and phrases themselves over the years. He often used to great us with ´´LES ANGLAIS’´ and though frail he still did that . On our last meeting he smiled and said he was absolutely delighted to see us. We had a feeling it would be our last meeting. We will never forget his friendship.

Yesterday I managed a little more garden tidying. Most of the cutting back is now done but I need to weed and generally tidy the soil up before applying its annual manure topping. Like France I am rationalising a bit digging out a few things and replacing with slower growing and less spreading perennials. My thumbs and wrists are really beginning to ache with arthritis, these days, all a sign of my own age.

This afternoon I think Jane is going to try and come for a fitting of her dress, but this morning we shall take a walk to the post office to post a Sympathy card and letter to Nicole. Have a good day all

[Stanley]

Pains in the hands are a bummer Sue. I found out by accident that when they are really bad Ibuprofen Gel can be a good thing. Nowhere near as expensive as Voltarol and just as effective eventually.
I am back up after an extra two hours in bed. I shall have a hot drink and then do useful household things....

[Stanley]

Later, I have a pan of cabbage, onions, garlic and spices gently cooking on the hob. Fiddly stuff to cook but tastes wonderful..... I shall put some in my dinner.....

[Sue]

Pains in the hands are a bummer Sue. I found out by accident that when they are really bad Ibuprofen Gel can be a good thing. Nowhere near as expensive as Voltarol and just as effective eventually.
I am back up after an extra two hours in bed. I shall have a hot drink and then do useful household things....

Voltarol has never worked for me sadly. I have noticed recently that I am struggling with basic moves in pilates and, not just with my hands and wrists, things I have been able to do for years. I decided to see the GP and amazingly was third in the queue today and got a face to face appointment. I had to the receptionist to repeat what she had said as I thought I had mis heard. I saw a new, young GP who was very thorough is sending me for a back xray and given me anti inflammatory tablets with a view to seeing how they go before we go down the steroid injection route. I felt like I was a person and not a telephone number….

[Stanley]

" things I have been able to do for years."
I know that one well Sue. I don't go to the doctor about it because I think it's part of the natural process of ageing. I may be wrong and your way could be better but old dogs aren't good at change....
Today I shall decline the shed again. I expect my castings to arrive today and we will will soon be back in the normal routine. Having a day or two off hasn't done me any harm..... I might fry my sweet potato chips today for light entertainment!

[Sue]

" things I have been able to do for years."
I know that one well Sue. I don't go to the doctor about it because I think it's part of the natural process of ageing. I may be wrong and your way could be better but old dogs aren't good at change....
Today I shall decline the shed again. I expect my castings to arrive today and we will will soon be back in the normal routine. Having a day or two off hasn't done me any harm..... I might fry my sweet potato chips today for light entertainment!

Morning
Not going to the. Doctor for that very reason has stopped me going for weeks. However I did have one thumb injected with steroid about 15 years ago and it worked a treat so finally gave in to the possibility of treatment but opted for antihistamines first. I was particularly concerned about my back so to have an xray is a positive move to checking what the problem is, then it can be managed. They say’ if you don’t use it you lose it’ but my concern was I was losing it so couldn’t use it.

After the appointment we walked to our furthest post office so we could have a look at a new housing estate going up where an old mill was. The land is on a steep slope and floods a lot at the bottom. It’s taking ages to do the ground work, so far a couple of years. We walked back along a very muddy path through the dell. Another 4 miles round trip. The colours were beautiful . It’s a long time since we walked so far so regularly . Jane came in the afternoon and her new dress is looking like it fits so I can plod on with that and get it finished over the next week or so.

This morning is art at Haslingden, then this afternoon I shall walk down to the hospital for an xray and back via our new pharmacist of choice to pick up yesterdays prescription, that is unless it miraculously appears in our front porch as all prescriptions seem to . It is our local pharmacist attached to our nearest GPs surgery, which is not ours which was built years after we came here but we have never changed surgery. Meanwhile our surgery was rebuilt and positioned a mile further away but we decided not to move. We may change our minds in the future .

Another day weather wise like yesterday . Have a good day all

[Stanley]

I hope it works Sue. Our weather here is a shade worse than yesterday as it is still raining. Never mind. I have no pressing need to go out in it.....
I hope your day goes well. All I want is for Fed-ex to deliver my castings.

[Stanley]

I fried my sweet potato chips and boiled three eggs for supper. Fed-ex delivered at 13:00.

[Stanley]

Back to normal. I shall be in the shed at 06:00 getting my castings unpacked and tidy.
Later I have some cupboard fillers I could shop for and we are promised a dry day so who knows, a walk into Town Square may be on the cards.
(But we were promised an overcast but dry day yesterday and it rained until mid afternoon.....)

[Stanley]

Back to normal this morning. I got all my components in their correct place and started this morning on the first rough fettling of the castings using the grindstone and files. 45 minutes later I have most of the flash chipped ground and filed off and I am ready to clean up the spokes on the flywheel. That will be the first job tomorrow but now I need a clean shirt and my breakfast!

[Sue]

Morning

We both walked down to the hospital yesterday for my xray but Bob went off to do a bit of shopping and we met up later at the hospital cafe. We walked back via the pharmacist but my prescription had already been dispatched and was sitting in the front porch on our return. We like our new pharmacist with its prompt filling off prescriptions including automatic renewal of prescriptions and home delivery. We assume that latter is because we are over 70. The previous pharmacy was slow, rude, and often did not have things in stock. Usually taking a week for anything not urgent

No art today, thats next week. Wendy and Keith are away in Wales for a few days so we are just meeting Barbara and Bill for lunch. We are going to our local pub as is nearer for them than Hollingworth Lake. No set plans for the day otherwise. Have a good day all

[Stanley]

Morning Sue.... Two Hours of second sleep. Back up and having a hot drink before a short walk. I'm glad your pharmacy is treating you so well and I hope the X Ray gives good and useful results for you.... Unlike yesterday the overcast has dried up, the rain we had at first may not be the day's treatment of us.

[Stanley]

At 06:00 I shall be in the shed fettling castings.... Not the nicest job in the world...... The weather looks to be the same as yesterday so the likelihood of a short walk is good later this morning.

[Sue]

Morning

We have had days of mist/fog , no wind, no sun to note and the ground staying damp. It looks like today will be the same. After Bacup market we are going to tackle the garden between us. Bob is going to prune the shrubs into nice neat shapes and I will do some weeding which is mainly randomly spreading perennials. The leaves have mainly fallen in the front so that can be tidied but have only just started falling in the back so todays tidying will not have a great impact yet. Otherwise I have some sewing and pattern drafting to do.

Have a good day all

[Stanley]

It sounds as though you are having the same weather as us Sue and it is set to remain in that mode all week. The Met office say it's a blocking high over Poland.....



The first half hour of the morning was spent on working to refine the internal structure of the flywheel the old fashioned way, with files and britches arse steam. Then as you can see I mounted it in the chuck and got to the stage where I had most of one side rough turned and had bored it for the crankshaft which I already have of course. The flywheel was a bit short cast and hard but I have managed to clean it up. The crankshaft is slightly oversize so I shall have to deal with that in the morning. The job now is breakfast.

[PanBiker]

Opening up at Green Street and running the Bosom Friends Coffee Morning as a member of the B team. All members of the A team are either on maternity leave or have a temporary pot leg! Needs must, fruit loaf, crumpets and probably cake on offer along with the brews.

[Stanley]

I shall be in the shed doing useful things. Once again we have a dry forecast and I can well imagine a short walk and perhaps even a spell on traffic duty later this morning.

[Sue]

Morning

Well we did a couple of hours in the back garden. I think all the shrubs are now pruned and a couple of flower beds are now very tidy. The green bin is full to the brim again and there is still more to do. I have two buckets of green waste to dispose of when the bin is emptied next Thursday and I have one more bucket I can fill today. In the afternoon I did my pattern and hope to make up the toile today. It’s another dull start to the day but I think a little sun is forecast later. Have a good day all

[Stanley]

Morning Sue. glad you got a good day in yesterday in the garden. No sun forecast here today, so far it looks like a rerun of yesterday. We shall see....



A bit of a change this morning. I preferred not to disturb the flywheel until I have finished cleaning up that side but needed to refine the crankshaft until it was a good fit in the flywheel so I mounted it in Johnny's 1956 Lathe, used file and emery to reduce the shaft slightly and checked progress using my Roebuck number drill gauge plate. A rare bird but just the thing this morning. The shaft is now exactly the right size for the flywheel and I have put a witness mark on the shaft so that I keep track of its orientation as I am fitting. I spent the rest of the morning working on the flywheel. It is very hard and I shall finish the refining of it after I have painted it but until then it will do. It is dimensionally correct, it's just the finish that needs attending to later. Now for breakfast!

[Stanley]

I have been up from second sleep for a couple of hours but am being idle. I haven't gone for a walk and am going to have my dinner and then a dad nap.... I do not feel guilty!

[Stanley]

I shall have another look at the flywheel this morning at 06|:00. I am not satisfied with the finish even though it's only supposed to be rough. It is a very hard casting!
We are promised a dry day. There is more chance that I will go for a walk today......

[Stanley]

I wasn't satisfied with the finish on my cold short flywheel so I went back to it this morning and tried a big old Wimet cutter. After 45 minutes I had got a better finish and that will do. Then I cleaned Mrs Harrison of CI chips and dust and put some tackle away. I am happier now and looking forward to my breakfast.