Today I shall be Mainly...

[Moh]

Did you get a good return on your invested flour Sue??

[Sue]

ha ha, typing slip or predictive text. Perhaps with a little yeast we may have got a rise on our initial investment

[Stanley]

I like 'invested' flour...... and Moh has been in the knife box.

[Stanley]

Making even more muck in the shed. My swarf bin is full! This is getting to be an urgent matter!

[David Whipp]

Earlier start for me today, with first meeting at County Hall beginning at 8.45am. (I realise this is very late for people like Stanley...)

Getting towards crunch time to deal with the huge impact of Government cuts and rising social care costs at the county council.

My group will vote against cutting vital services when it gets to the final budget meeting on 11th February. With hundreds of millions having to be cut out of the budget, county council services will be very different in future and we must save what we can from being cut.

Locally, the top priorities are the New Road Community Centre (accommodating a library) in Earby, Barnoldswick's Library and Town Bus service.

Wider issues include transport for disabled people, funding for the womens' refuges & homeless young people projects, the wider library service, highway services and ensuring a future for places like Wycoller, the textile museums at Queen Street Mill & Helmshore, and outdoor education at Whitehough.
Hopefully, we'll make some progress on these issues with the leadership at County Hall today.

Meanwhile, please remember the flooding roadshow in Earby today; 3pm to 8pm at the New Road Community Centre (I hope to be there at some point).

[Marilyn]

You are a busy lad...

We went to the big smoke (city) today.
We found it hot compared to our utopian coastal location. Got stuck in several traffic jams which may be due to The Tour Down Under ( so we sat patiently drinking our bottled water in the heat).
Amazing the number of pot bellied, Lycra wearing old farts you see riding bikes when you are stuck in traffic jams.
Glad to finally get home.
The Tour Down Under comes to us tomorrow, so we may walk to the finish line and give the Royal wave...

[PanBiker]

Amazing the number of pot bellied, Lycra wearing old farts you see riding bikes when you are stuck in traffic jams.

Two things here Maz, the "pot bellied, Lycra wearing old farts" are doing themselves a bit of good and, they are not stuck in a traffic jam.

[Moh]

They are MAMILS Maz - middle aged men in lycra!!

[Marilyn]

That's right Moh, though most are past middle aged.
They have all the expensive gear and lovely bikes.
We have watched them Panny...they ride from Bakery to Bakery!

[Cathy]

I will hopefully be catching up on some sleep this afternoon. Last night from midnight to 2.45am a neighbours house alarm (or fire alarm) was playing up and couldn't be switched off. I wasn't sleeping well anyway because it was hot and humid but ofcourse the noise made it worse. Then at about 2.15am our street was lit up like daylight with red white and blue lights, the Fire Brigade arrived!! It took the guys about 1/2 an hour to stop the alarm. Anyway peace came but then I woke up before my alarm and knew that if I didn't get up I would sleep too long so I got up, did my shopping early, but this afternoon I will be catching a few zzzzz's.

[Stanley]

I hope you had a good sleep Cathy, I always enjoy my afternoon sleep.
Maz, a clench of middle aged cyclists......
Worrying about swarf.....

[Marilyn]

Having a half hour snooze in the afternoon is a Winter pleasure for me. I don't seem to want one in the Summer. Mind you, I have intentions of reading when I lay down and invariably wake up with the book on my face.

Big crowds at the finish line. We were about 50 metres along from it. The crowd went wild...
I let up a quick prayer that the event hadn't been earmarked for terrorism. (Don't you hate it that these thoughts pop into your mind when you find yourself in a crowded event?)
Exciting to see the blurr of bikes whizz past, though I couldn't tell you who won!
We've had a big art show on the foreshore lawns all week, so I think people had lots to see.

I overheard one woman turn to her partner and say "We must find a motel room after the race". Good luck with that! You've probably left it a bit late...

[Moh]

I can only sleep during the day if I am unwell - the rest of the time I am wide awake and think if I did nod off I would not be able to sleep at night.

[Stanley]

It's all a matter of habit Moh, people vary enormously, look at the difference between habitual early risers and night owls.... My sleep pattern is the product of many years having to get up early and only surviving long hours by honing the ability to go to sleep at any time. I have a settled routine now I am retired and find that what suits me is early starts after six hours sleep and a couple of hours real sleep in bed in the afternoon. We all find what suits us best....
The weight of the swarf lifted yesterday when Wendy offered to come and shift my bin for me but then I rang the Council and found they seem to have changed their policy and swarf is OK in the brown recycling bin. So I tipped the almost solid mass (I tread it down in the bin to get more in) into the brown bin and it will go tomorrow with the recycling. I'd better keep my eye on them and reassure them that I have got permission, I don't want them rejecting my bin!
So today is on with the crankshafts......They're ready for marking up and some chopping!

[David Whipp]

Cheffing for Bloom cafe at the Rainhall Centre; better get chopping veg...

[Stanley]

My life is full of crankshafts at the moment..... More connected with the various ways of holding them in the lathe for maximum accuracy and rigidity.... My head keeps working through to permutations.... Just the thing to lull you off to sleep at night!

[Marilyn]

thinking of ways to celebrate Australia Day tomorrow.
I have suggested packing a picnic of sorts in a back pack and doing a cliff walk...and finding a nice spot to eat and enjoy the view...we might even spot a whale!
I haven't had an enthusiastic response to that suggestion yet, because the wind has picked up (honestly, that's the excuse he is giving!)
So I guess we wait and see what the wind is doing tomorrow...

[Stanley]

Sounds like a good idea Maz. Here we all are in 2001 waiting for the fireworks at Perth on Australia Day 2001.



My shed time will be curtailed this morning by an eye test at 9AM.

[LizG]

I'm sure you'll think of something Maz. You live in such a beautiful part of the world you're spoilt for choice.

[Stanley]

Eye test was fine, no changes apart from a slight improvement in the right eye.
Not sure what I will be doing today. I have a straight edge in the shed and articles are needed for the BET. We'll see how I feel....

[Marilyn]

We did our Australia Day Walk along the cliff top with a lightweight back pack laden with water, 2 muesli bars and two bananas ( plus mobile phone and a few sticking plasters in case Febby injured himself).
Walked for two hours and found a beautiful location to sit and eat our thrilling stash. Unfortunately the Bananas had taken a bit of a hammering by then and weren't too appealing.
Didn't require the sticking plasters...
Doing Ancestry with a glass of wine now (Happy Australia Day!), as we get free access to Aussie content today. I never joined the Aussie one as all my history is UK, but I am getting loads off for my son, who has Australian father. In fact, my son is 5th generation Australian on his father's side. Some very interesting characters on his Australian side. ( I thought my English side was interesting....the Aussie ancestors are a riot!)

[Stanley]

Mine are the same Maz. Some suspicions of murder and robbery and at least one compulsive gambler who owned a pub in the Outback and lost it in a card game. Then of course there was my father's abandonment of his wife.... Funny Lot!

[Marilyn]

I kid you not. We may be related.
The family I married into we're a funny lot...thought they were "a cut above" other folk. Claimed they came to Australia as "gentry". Not one of them did.
I never expected to say this, but I've uncovered more smut than I ever did from my side.
Having said that, I think the pioneer Australians were a special breed. They had to be, to take a chance on 3 months at sea to get here and leave behind all they loved and knew.
They adapted, and made the most of things...lived by their wits. Gotta love them!

[Cathy]

I'm glad your eye test went well Stanley.

[Stanley]

Thanks Cathy. I didn't expect any trouble but it's always reassuring to be checked by a good man who cares and told all is well. I know to my cost that things can go wrong very quickly! Like an eye going blind in two days!
When Mick married Margaret I pointed out to him that he was marrying into a family with a history. At the family celebration party there was a murderer in one corner (sentence served) and an embezzler who had escaped gaol by the skin of his teeth.
Today I shall be patiently carrying on with the crankshafts for my ladies.....