Today I shall be Mainly...

[Stanley]

More work on the cylinder.... ready now for the finishing cuts, cutting the Exhaust port and Boring. All that is for tomorrow. Now I deserve breakfast!

[Sue]

Morning

There is a hint of sun at the moment but its another day of on and off rain. This morning is french conversation at Haslingden, this afternoon a bit of sewing than at. 5.15 its zoom yoga. That covers today. Have a good one.

[Stanley]

Our outlook in Barlick is very similar Sue. I don't see any great incentive for doing anything outdoors (and the heat has come on again!).
Best we can do is look forward to the improvement that seems to be heading in to us.

[Stanley]

I shall be in the shed first thing doing useful things to my current engine.... The weather forecast gives us a better day so there is every chance of a trip out on traffic duty this morning! We shall see later.

[Sue]

Morning

This morning I have a friend calling round for a cuppa and a chat. She is collecting two sets of wine glasses that we have brought back from France for her. Then its an early lunch as Bob is having a routine CT scan at Christies this afternoon. I doubt we will be back in time for me to go to pilates, though I may make yoga later.

Its been raining most of the night but I think it is due to be dry today. Have a good day all

[Stanley]

Morning Sue! I see you are still on French time.... Best wishes to Bob please, I know the scan is routine but we need a positive report!



This morning the task is to bore the cylinder. However, there were things needed doing first. I wanted to clean up some of the CI dust on the vertical mill and lathe but Henry, my shop vac, has been a bit short of suck lately.... Time to empty him! That's not quick and easy but it had to be done. Once that was out of the way I mounted the boring head on the mill and did some very careful measuring on my cylinder because I made a very small error when I was cutting it to length on the mill and wanted to make sure I was boring it in such a way that I would be able to compensate for that very small mistake. That took a bit of weighing up but once I had it done I mounted the cylinder in the vise and positioned the boring head ready for work. That's where I stopped for breakfast. My work tomorrow is quite clear, start the day by boring the cylinder to 1.5" diameter.

[Sue]

Yes Stanley I woke at 5.55 am English time. Add an hour to reach my normal wake up time

[Stanley]

I shall be in the shed first thing boring my cylinder..... (After checking yet again that I have got it set up correctly!)
We are promised 23C and full sun today so I shall chance traffic duty. This might be Flaming June!

[Stanley]

Today I bored the cylinder, cut the exhaust port in the valve face and drilled and tapped the hole for the exhaust pipe. Now I want my breakfast....

[Sue]

Morning

We woke at the normal time today and what a lovely sunny morning. Yesterday was too but we didn’t see much of it. It was nearly 7 when we got back from Christies. We will hear nothing I think unless there is bad news. This morning we are walking down to the bank, this afternoon I have sewing with Maxine and I have at last managed to catch up on some of the tasks I had to do.

I was just sending Eve her daily hugs for her GCSE exams, through What's App. Her first exam was May 6 th , her last one is next Wednesday June 18th. 24 exams in total I think, such a long time to be under exam pressure. Some days she has had two. She is into the big ones now, the 3 Sciences, Geography, maths and further maths, all the ones she wants to take at A level. She like many others must be worn out now and be glad when its all over.

Apparently the ‘heatwave.’ This weekend is not going to hit up north, with warmer temperatures than we have been having, starting today, but accompanied by some rain most days. I saw a map with a big red blob over Brittany, and the SE of the UK where temperatures could reach 30, they are forecasting 22 to 23 for Manchester , 19 to 20 here and 17 in Northumberland where we will be for a long weekend. The temperatures the following week are up and the rain down. 26 degrees for Rochdale on the 20 th PERHAPS. Have a good day all

[Stanley]

Morning Sue...., yes I have been hearing the talk of 30+C and can't see any evidence of it being forecast for us. From what I can see the main difference we will have to deal with is the humidity and the chance of thunder. (As always at this time of year I remember the 1932 flood which was the result of thunder in June....)
I shall go back to bed and dream of a better day.....

[Stanley]

I shall be in the shed as usual doing useful things to my castings and later will go for a walk and possible traffic duty.
The most exciting thing I saw yesterday was a man repainting the fascia of the shop that the solicitors had rented out to Keenan's the estate agents. With their departure it looks as though it is going to be re-let.

[Stanley]

I started the morning by taking two refining cuts on the exterior of the Cylinder and then I moved on the the steam chest casting. I have made a good start on this but will finish it tomorrow. Now it's breakfast time!

[Sue]

Morning

Nice day forecast. Art this morning then after lunch we are driving up to Hexham at the start of a 4 day break in Northumberland. Have a good day all

[Stanley]

Morning Sue, could be a good spell of weather for you.... I hope you have a nice break....
Later at 10:00 I forgot to mention earlier that I was roasting my chicken this morning. That's done and I am back from a trip to the Co-op for toilet rolls and kitchen wipes.... They only had a 32 pack of rolls so that was a bit of a problem, fine if you have a car but a problem if you haven't. I used my head and half an hour later here I am sat down in the kitchen and all the rolls upstairs in the bathroom.

[Stanley]

I shall do my hour in the shed first thing and later this morning go veggie shopping in Town Square, it's that time of the week again!

[Stanley]

The remaining external faces of the steam chest milled square, smooth and to size. Then the internal faces of the chest cleaned up using the files and vise. Lastly I measured, marked and drilled the hole and counterbore for the valve rod gland. A good 45 minutes work. Now for breakfast.

[Sue]

Morning Sue, could be a good spell of weather for you.... I hope you have a nice break....

Morning

Yesterday afternoon was a beautiful drive over. Sadly the rest of the forecast is not so good. We went up towards Carlisle but cut across Alston block through Alston to Hexham where we have stayed the night in the County Hotel which has recently been renovated in the hotel and restaurant areas. After a very nice shower with luxury towels we have just finished a hearty cooked breakfast which will probably last us most of the day . This morning we are off to Hadrians wall, the nearest place to our continued journey this afternoon is Chester Roman fort. There are not many direct routes up to Bamburgh with out driving back towards Carlisle.

Today is warm windy and cloudy, tomorrow rain most of the day and temperatures falling to about 13 degrees up there in Northumberland with more rain on Sunday. It stays better round Hexham but we will be gone by mid afternoon . Have a good day all

[Stanley]

Morning Sue. At least you can congratulate yourselves that you are going to avoid the violent thunderstorms that are forecast for the SE!
I hope you have a good day.....

[Stanley]

I shall be in the shed early doors doing useful things to my castings but am not sure about later on. Yesterday I was certain it would be veggie cooking but I now find I have more of the last batch than I thought I had so cooking could well be tomorrow. I shall see later when I pot up my remaining meat and veggies.

[Stanley]

This morning was all about the steam chest lid. It's a good thing to avoid any heavy cuts or aggressive milling because, being thin, the lid can be prone to cold short, very brittle areas such as the corners. So I took it very carefully and had no problems. Now I want my breakfast.

[Sue]

Morning

We had a lovely day yesterday. In the morning we had a guided tour of Chesters Fort plus a short walk to a Roman temple near the fort. In the afternoon we visited Wellington, on of the biggest National Trust properties. We arrived at our home for the weekend about 5.00 pm. We have stayed here before but in a two bed property. This is a one bed that has recently been completely renovated. It is actually the old grain store of a nearby mill( now a private home) .

The miller was so successful that he had a new home built adjacent to the mill, and near the old grain store. The miller used to live below the grain store( where we stayed previously) the old grain store is where we are now. When we were here before this apartment was occupied by the mother in law of the present owner of the house but sadly she died a couple of years ago.

The forecast is for a wet morning but drying up to give a sunny afternoon. We have not yet planned our day. Have a good one

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[Stanley]

Morning Sue.... Yes I heard the forecast for the far NW of England this morning and they were talking about heavy rain. It's looking very dull here as yet.

[Big Kev]

Youngest offspring is in Windermere, he says it was horrendous at 4am. Thunder, lightning and heavy rain.

[Sue]

Youngest offspring is in Windermere, he says it was horrendous at 4am. Thunder, lightning and heavy rain.

No lightening but heavy rain here in Northumberland about 4.00 am. Its just misty now and a lot warmer than was forecast