Today I shall be Mainly...

[Sue]

Morning

What a lovely meal we had last night at the French restaurant , Nutters, up on the moors just before Ows Betts pub. The girls had bought us a voucher for our Golden Wedding so we splashed out a bit extra and had the set meal . It was very enjoyable. Service was good and the surroundings very relaxed and dignified. It was definitely a get dressed up do, (well we thought so though many diners did not, ) and that in itself made a change. I even wore a dress! We also managed a 4+ mile walk yesterday during the afternoon following my morning of art. It was a usual route but in reverse, slowly chipping away at the last few miles of our virtual walk to Paris. We had hoped to finish by now, the 6 month mark, but as they say rain stopped play this last week. Perhaps our imminent week in Wales will help


Today we are off to Coventry for the day, which has had to be planned so I can cook with Eve and do some art with Briony. We will probably go for a walk later to Memorial Park. This is a big community park with golf course, bird aviaries, children's play areas, cafes etc and as the name implies the war memorial and trees planted all in the memory of specific people. Its the 100 th year anniversary today and to mark the birthday a new sensory garden is opening with seating areas to encourage socialising for the blind and others in a peaceful environment .

Have a good day all

[Stanley]

I hope you have a good trip to Coventry Sue, I'm glad it's not me that's going.

Bob will recognise the fiddle I have had this morning....



Some of these nuts are almost impossible. You have to be patient to get them on......

[Stanley]

I think I'll do a bit of straight turning this morning, making a crankshaft from solid..
I have some veggie cooking to do and the rest of the day depends on the weather. I am not walking if it is raining heavily!

[Sue]

Morning

It was a beautiful day yesterday in Coventry, we just spent the afternoon with the family at the house, pottering but mainly sitting in the garden. Ed was out playing cricket all afternoon and got home about 8 just as we left. It was an easy drive there and an easier one back taking just two hours on nearly empty roads. A pleasant trip all round.

Today I shall be doing the washing and ironing and probably a bit of sewing though I think a bit of weeding is needed in the back garden, and I think that is it. I must also send a letter to our neighbours in France and try and get that in the post. Bob will be at the park and I could do with popping to the garden centre to get some pond clear as the pond is still a little murky after its renovations....we can’t see the fish but then neither can the birds

Have a good day everyone.

[Stanley]

Just like clockwork.... I come out of the shed and find you are up and have posted.... I'll be back later....
Glad you had a quiet drive, were they were all watching the tennis?

[Stanley]

I'm crankshaft making so the first thing is to find a slug of steel the right size, there never is one so this morning was making it. Two enjoyable hours....

[Big Kev]

Not today but Thursday evening, after dinner shenanigans...
Me and P playing out

[Sue]

Just like clockwork.... I come out of the shed and find you are up and have posted.... I'll be back later....
Glad you had a quiet drive, were they were all watching the tennis?

Yup almost like clock work. No we didn’t watch tennis. It was too nice in the garden, but I am not a tennis person . I think it stems from school where I could not play and did not know why I always missed the ball ( rounders too) . There I did athletics instead, high jump and 880 yards. When I went to university I discovered I was short sighted ! Explained it all. However I only associate tennis with hours of picking up a ball and never hitting it

[PostmanPete]

Not today but Thursday evening, after dinner shenanigans...
Me and P playing out

I didn't realise you were both swingers.......

[Big Kev]

I didn't realise you were both swingers.......

[Stanley]

You can get into trouble doing that in Barlick......

[Sue]

Morning

Looks like you had a swinging weekend Kev and P . Its always good to have a break. We are off to mid Wales for 5 days next Sunday, and really looking forward to it. Not as posh as your place Kev, we are staying in a traditional welsh cottage , very similar to the one we had on Anglesey but without the extension and with no TV reception although there is wifi and there are lots of DVDs provided

This morning is grey and damp and it is supposed to continue as such on and off through out the day. However hopefully this afternoon will be lighter. This morning is pilates and relaxing yoga but this afternoon we need to walk to the post office in Whitworth to post a letter to France. Thats 4 miles the round trip if we go direct.

This morning I need the yoga, not so much the pilates as I have a back twinge. I did not do anything in particular but was on my feet a lot yesterday what with washing and ironing and tidying the garden. It was a nice afternoon, cloudy but warm so I pulled my broad beans up , podding and freezing the bulk. There are only a couple of servings but we have had quite a few off the ten or twelve plants just grown in a couple of tubs. I also dead headed a few things and cut back plants that were past their best. ‘ Big bird’ as we call our ornamental heron is looking a bit lonely and exposed so I shall move a couple of geranium pots into the spaces created....but perhaps not today. The pond however looks nice and clear after its treatment and in the afternoon we had 10 waterlilies in flower. We had a nice meal in the evening including home grown broad beans, chard and for afters some strawberries. Not bad for a garden that is usually just flowers and shrubs.

So just a normal Monday today. Have a good day all .

[Stanley]

Morning Sue, Have you seen the forecast for the next five days? It looks as though we are going to get a bit of summer. It's gently raining here on and off but dry in the shed!



This morning has been a careful move towards this point, the stock is set up in the 4 Jaw and ready for the eccentric turning which is necessary to get a crank pin on the right centre to give the throw of the piston rod. No mistakes permitted here!

[Big Kev]

Looks like you had a swinging weekend Kev and P . Its always good to have a break. We are off to mid Wales for 5 days next Sunday, and really looking forward to it. Not as posh as your place Kev, we are staying in a traditional welsh cottage , very similar to the one we had on Anglesey but without the extension and with no TV reception although there is wifi and there are lots of DVDs provided

We had a nice few days thanks Sue. As well as the swings there are various exercise machines in the grounds of the hotel, all good fun
A cottage in Wales sounds lovely. We used to rent cottages when the children were young and really enjoyed it, now they're all grown we should look at something for just the two of us although it is nice to be waited on in a hotel. We booked a swim on one of the days and had the pool, jacuzzi, steam room and sauna to ourselves for an hour. We do like live music and there was plenty of that in four different venues throughout our stay. Apart from it's own grounds the hotel is surrounded by Thoresby Park so plenty of walking opportunities. I will certainly be looking at a few days in a cottage though for a bit of walking.

[Sue]

Kev I think it was Thoresby Park we went to for my aunty’s 90 th birthday some years ago. I seem to recall a very nice pool area but we didn’t get out in the grounds much. Yes Stanley I have seen the forecast I think we have booked the wrong week in Wales. The garden will grow furiously over the next ten days . The next round of flowers is later in the month

[Stanley]

Susan and I are going on a bus ride on Friday to Skipton to look at the new museum layout and they are forecasting 23C.
I'm looking forward to the shed this morning, some quiet eccentric turning and the result will be a crankshaft chopped out of the solid, the way my old friend Newton used to make them. They made the crankshafts for their three throw pumps out of a billet of 70 ton steel. Bob Fort once told me making one was a week's work.



Later I might get a walk without getting wet!

[Sue]

Morning

That was one wet day yesterday, although relatively warm. Today is forecast warm and dryish. We shall see. I think we may walk into Rochdale this morning as Bob has to take money to the bank from Sundays train rides. He is down at the park again this afternoon. Apart from the walk I have no plans. My sewing for Maxine's session on the 28 th is done, and my winter weight jeans are finished. I have no other immediate sewing plans . I shall have to put my thinking cap on . This evening is pilates and yoga

Have a good day everyone

[Stanley]

Morning Sue! Yes, yesterday was a bit damp! Looking better today though and later this week it will be summer.



This morning was exciting, I had a smash! As usual it was my fault, trying something new. But I got away with it and learned something. I have a crank pin now.

[Sue]

That looks such hard work Stanley. I have decided that if the rain holds off this afternoon ( the chance seeming to increase every time I look) I shall continue with my garden tidying. I shall put some of my geranium pots, of which I have many , into the spaces created

[Stanley]

You had a busy afternoon in the garden then Sue if it was anything like Barlick.
Yes, crankshaft making is never easy but I have the easy bit today and will be making lots of swarf!

[Sue]

Morning

After a 4 mile walk to the bank and back in the morning I spent a couple of hours in the garden cutting back and generally tidying up. It looks better for it but my back is really twinging after it. I struggled with pilates and yoga. I could do standing exercices and lying exercises but not ups and down. Today it has eased a bit but not better. I shall take it easy though it is better to keep moving. I have no plans for the day and shall take it as it comes. I may sit and enjoy the sun.


Have a good day

[Stanley]

The sun has burned through here Sue....



Curtailed time in the shed but we are getting near a crankshaft.

[Stanley]

I tossed a coin and decided that weekly early doors shop at the Co-op is tomorrow morning.
That means a full 2 hours in the shed so the crankshaft ought to get finished. No rush, I shall only be buying another one after this. I am convinced that this spell in the shed each day is what keeps me going.....
(Remember that the Tontine is not resolved yet and I am not going to die before it is!)

[Sue]

Morning

Good day yesterday and promises even better today. I pottered in the garden moving a few geranium pots around to fill in spaces and I fed all my roses and flowering shrubs, the former ready for the second burst of flowering and the latter in preparation for any flowers. Hopefully they will do just that unlike my peony which although it has grown it has not flowered this year. I finished by lightly sanding the top of the outdoor table that nestles in the leafy corner of our garden and gave it a good coating of preservative oil.

After lunch we did a blood test as part of some covid research and walked it up to the post office in Whitworth, taking the more scenic route and indulging in an ice-cream on the way back. I had such a performance getting the right amount of blood in the little tube and ended up having to stab my fingers three times, even then barely making the level. My back eased considerably through out the day so I was able to do pilates in the evening. The lovely Deborah, my Wednesday teacher, has been stricken with Covid. She shielded for weeks ( I don’t know her medical problem) and had two immunisations early on. Fingers crossed in that she says it just feels like a really bad cold.

Its pilates this morning, which hopefully will loosen up my slightly stiff back . Its lunch with Wendy and Keith later and we will be joined by our mutual friends Barbara and Bill. No doubt it will be late afternoon when we return !

Have a good day everyone

[Stanley]

Nice morning, the crankshaft is finished and I have started on the flywheel.

Just seen your post Sue. Don't give them too much blood! I note that your teacher has got Covid. It's a reminder it's still about!