Today I shall be Mainly...

[PanBiker]

Aha, I did ours yesterday Stanley.

[Sue]

I have improved the shining hour by deep cleaning the vinyl floor in the kitchen. I Pre-treated it with neat flash and left it to stand for an hour and then mopped it with hot water, bleach and detergent. It was worth it, I now have as clean a floor as anyone in Barlick!

Not all at the same time I hope Stanley. Cleaning agents should not be mixed as they could react chemically

[Stanley]

Yup Sue, flash sprayed on and bleach and detergent mopped on afterwards. I use bleach and detergent mixed every morning when I clean my pot and the sink and surfaces....
This morning I shall have an hour in the shed and then a conversation with a visitor who is coming to give me some advice. I shall doze in my armchair instead of going back to bed for second sleep.
After that it's catch as catch can.

[Sue]

Morning

What a busy day. Up at 6, landed at 7, ( English time) off the boat and on the road for 8. 25 ( French time) then shopping by 10, ( where we had a speedy reminder of the food prices here). We arrived at the house for 10.30am. Yves had cut the lawns and the field but the gardens were a mess. The wisteria had really taken over. We had a cuppa and started to cut it back so we could get the table outside. The cuttings filled the trailer. I dead headed roses and pulled a few weeds, easy as they were so big. It was too hot 28 degrees to do much but at least it meant we could sit out with a glass of beer later when Yves called round and wine after we ate. I was in bed by 9.30 and Bob by 10.15 pm. I have just woken after 9 hours sleep. Bob is still asleep ( just woken as I write) it was a bit of a disturbed night as the house martens are back in the loft space running about and scratching all night. The house martins are also back with nests under the eaves.

Today will be a bit more general tidying. We must cut the hedge between us and next door as it is way above the legal height and they could complain. We didn’t cut it last visit as the tits were nesting in it. The garden just needs a surface tidy for now as on Monday we are taking a short break down in Bergerac for a few days. Once done it won’t grow much more over the summer until late September. Its nice to see we have some veg, though the beans failed miserably. We have lots of the small ripe tomatoes, that taste lovely. The large round tomatoes are not yet ripe.

Have a good day all. I see the forecast in Rochdale yesterday was still 14-16 degrees and rain, but today is 19 sun and cloud hope yours is ok

[Sue]

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[Stanley]

Sounds busy but rewarding Sue! Yes, if there is one gardening endeavour I miss it is the taste of sweet little tomatoes..... It's another overcast cool day here. You are having better weather.



As promised I set to to fit the front lid to the cylinder and the cylinder to the target end on the bed. Despite all the care I took in marking the holes I had to elongate the clearance holes in the target end to get the valve face perpendicular to the bed. I'm at the stage where I have to modify the front face of the target end to allow the nuts to fit the studs. Patience is the watchword when you are fitting!

[Big Kev]

Yup Sue, flash sprayed on and bleach and detergent mopped on afterwards. I use bleach and detergent mixed every morning when I clean my pot and the sink and surfaces....

As a general rule the 'don't mix any other cleaning products with bleach' is a catch all. Mixing bleach with an ammonia based product will give off chlorine gas. A lot of people won't know this hence the 'catch all'

[Stanley]

Yes, I know about that one and another.... I saw it on an industrial scale at the dairy when my mate Ted mixed boiling chlorine based wash water from the bottle washers with sulphuric acid..... Spectacular! Only four went to A&E.....

[Sue]

Yup Sue, flash sprayed on and bleach and detergent mopped on afterwards. I use bleach and detergent mixed every morning when I clean my pot and the sink and surfaces....

As a general rule the 'don't mix any other cleaning products with bleach' is a catch all. Mixing bleach with an ammonia based product will give off chlorine gas. A lot of people won't know this hence the 'catch all'

Agreed. In some cases the mix cab be quite explosive as Stanley explained …..apparently toilet cleaners can be a bad mix. When I worked as the bacteriologist in the industrial cleaners and disinfectant company this was drummed into us.

[Tizer]

..Yup Sue, flash sprayed on and bleach and detergent mopped on afterwards...

Your kitchen floor must be down to bedrock by now, then!

[PanBiker]

Maybe Sue can confirm this but it always makes me smile when the Listerine advert comes on. Magic mouthwash to attract the opposite sex and all that nonsense. Didn't it start life as an industrial floor cleaner?

[Sue]

Maybe Sue can confirm this but it always makes me smile when the Listerine advert comes on. Magic mouthwash to attract the opposite sex and all that nonsense. Didn't it start life as an industrial floor cleaner?

I really don’t know. There was one with a similar name, I can’t remember at the moment……Lysol I think.


Just found this on facebook

[Sue]

From what I can make out it was still just an alcohol. based cleaner which would clean by dissolving the grease and act as an antiseptic, by the alcohol affecting the structure of bacterial cell walls. The mouthwash is still depending on the alcohol but lots of different ones to affect its taste, smell and probably affect a wider range of bacteria. This is a guess based on my research into disinfectant efficacy. The alcohol antiseptic affect is not diminished by dirt , though as we know from covid handwash gels dilute alcohols are not very effective. https://globalhealthnow.org/object/listerine

[Stanley]

Listerine..... Here's the story I found.
In the 1920s two men in Chicago had a small company making and retailing household disinfectant but it was failing. One of the partners read an article on Halitosis in the dentist's waiting room one day and suggested to his friend that they dilute it and sell it as a mouthwash to combat bad breath.... It was called Listerine......
It was noted at the time that for some reason it was very popular with Rechabites.....
I shall be quietly pursuing my castings in the shed for an hour, putting my butcher's order in and veggie shopping in the Town Square later.
(Re. caustic wash water and conc. H2SO4.... The concrete was snow white afterwards!)

[Sue]

Morning

Another nice day, temperatures very pleasant at about 25 degrees. The rest of the week it will be cooler down to about 22 degrees. We gardened all day and things are beginning to look back to normal especially with the hedge cut between us and next door. Today I am going to try and uncover the vegetable plot then I ill be able to get to the potatoes. The pigeons have eaten my cabbages but I started watering them yesterday hoping to bring some life back. If I get any success I will try and cover them with some chicken wire. Somewhere under all the weeds are onions and garlic. The outcome of all this gardening is a body full of insect bites .

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Less happy news is that on Sunday Barry has been rushed in to hospital again. Apparently he has a blood infection and on Sunday they thought he may not survive the night. The antibiotics are working now , but he is still very ill indeed. I can’t help but think of my friend who died of sepsis in January. Its a very crucial time for Barry at the moment and with his already weak heart all we can do is pray for a recovery quickly.

[Stanley]

Blood infections are bad news aren't they Sue. Margaret's Mick had a close shave with one about two years ago and he was a healthy bloke in his prime. My thoughts go out to Barry.
Pigeons 1 Sue Nil at the moment but I'll put my money on the cabbages fighting back!



I started the morning working on the seat of the nuts on the back side of the target face on the bed. Then I rethreaded all the studs because they had been damaged at the end during fitting. Next I turned my attention to the piston and rod. I found the 1/4" stock for the rod and as usual discarded the cast iron blank supplied for the piston, I got a piece of cast bronze scrap out of the treasure chest and started to make the piston out of that. Thank god for indexed carbide tools as there was a glass hard inclusion in the bronze that had to be got rid of. I ended up at closing time with the stock to size, I can finish the piston tomorrow.

[Wendyf]

I've finally got the car of my dreams! Since my last one rusted away in our garden in Scotland I have yearned for another Fiat Panda 4X4 and Col finally agreed that it is a good idea. The Ssangyong Korando drank diesel, cost almost £300 to tax, was rotting underneath and parts cost a fortune. It has just had £500 of work done to get through its MOT so now was the time to sell, a 7 year old 1.2 diesel Panda 4x4 was identified in a garage in Stockport and off we went this morning to part exchange. Love it!! I even enjoyed driving back.

[Big Kev]

Good stuff Wendy, I've seen the picture on FB

[Wendyf]

Good stuff Wendy, I've seen the picture on FB

I had forgotten how good it is to drive a small car!

[Big Kev]

Good stuff Wendy, I've seen the picture on FB

I had forgotten how good it is to drive a small car!

I will be downsizing my car in February, I have my eye on a Mini Countryman.

[Stanley]

I shall be in the shed with my engine, Making the piston and rod this morning. Then Early Doors shopping at 07:00. That'll be a good start. If I feel up to it I shall cook veggies later this morning......
The nearest I am to spending money is getting a new boiler fitted as soon as possible. This one has done 18 trouble free years but I have a feeling it's time......

[Cathy]

Wendy your Panda looks just the right car to be zipping around in. Very nifty. Enjoy

[Sue]

Good stuff Wendy, I've seen the picture on FB

I had forgotten how good it is to drive a small car!

I will be downsizing my car in February, I have my eye on a Mini Countryman.

Morning

I have a Mini Countryman, and I love it., its comfy, roomy, and a pleasure to drive, though is not as manoeuvrable as my Jazz.

Yesterday was a gardening day and the temperatures were perfect for it, cloudy and about 23 degrees maximum. We had a very very light shower of rain in the evening and it certainly didn’t wet the ground. I had to water my freshly uncovered vegetable plot. I cut back the excess growth on my grapes and discovered a much bigger crop than I expected, and I thinned out the cooking apples to try and stop some of the windfalls before they are ripe. I was going to pick the plums but they are not yet ripe. In the morning I went online to do Zoom pilates class, I won’t get chance to do many but they are already paid for up front.

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This morning will be a domestic one, towels to wash and floors to sweep. The amount of dust on the floor became very obvious when I was lying there doing my pilates. We are expecting an oil delivery this morning too, sometime after 8.00 so we will be up early. It will cost 1150 euros, but its the first delivery in about 10 years. We are on bottled gas so the boiler is heating and water. We use a lot in the Spring for heating. After lunch we have some shopping to do, mainly bits for the garden such as a net to cover the grapes and the cabbages .

Cloud and 23 degrees forecast , but 21 most of the day. Have a good day

[Big Kev]

I had forgotten how good it is to drive a small car!

I will be downsizing my car in February, I have my eye on a Mini Countryman.

I have a Mini Countryman, and I love it., its comfy, roomy, and a pleasure to drive, though is not as manoeuvrable as my Jazz.

I quite like the fuel economy of the 1.6 diesel

[Stanley]

I've been diverted by domestic matters and interesting news so I have declared a holiday. No shed today, straight off to do the shopping.