Today I shall be Mainly...

[Stanley]

The video would sell.....

[Stanley]

Avoiding being infected by Pluggy. Repairing my braces and perhaps getting an hour in the shed!

[Stanley]

Repaired my braces but never got in the shed. Too busy with Pluggy and the FM3. Today I am building a mutton stew and I shall make a decision in the shed about the next project..... I have a lovely clean and tidy shed, it needs mucking up!

[Sue]

Still nursing my cold caught over two and a half weeks ago on the plane from Calgary to San Francisco. This is somewhat curtailing my activities as I feel so tired all the time. Today I will try and cut out the toile for an evening jacket I have designed.
Lunch with my friends from my old sewing circle

[Stanley]

They can be debilitating Sue, be kind to yourself!
Started building yet another steam engine yesterday.... The house is overrun with the bloody things!

[Sue]

All day art workshop with Jeremy Ford today. Off to France tomorrow for a week and taking a friend so I don't think the mound will get any attention. But then I have no energy anyway.

[Stanley]

Look after yourself......

[Tripps]

Today I went to Tattersall's yearling sales at Newmarket.
Tattersall's Yearling Sale.
It's day 3 and they are still on Book One. It continues for some time yet. They were up to Lot 390 when I got thereabout 1.00PM.

It was beautiful sunny day, and the complex is impressive - everything is freshly painted with white gloss, and you could play bowls on any of the grassed areas. It seemed full, so I asked the car park man for advice, and he kindly and very respectfully, sent me to the overspill grassed area. I walked back to the sales ring, (that's the physio for today), and found that despite seeing it on the web, it isn't a ring - it's an oval.

I kept ignoring signs saying - 'Bidders only - no spectators beyond this point' and no one seemed bothered. The whole thing seems at first to be chaotic- horses and grooms walking everywhere, but in fact it works like clockwork. There's a pre-sale ring which they walk around until called forward for their turn. Like buffering on a download.

Great for people watching - they were mainly in small groups, deep in conspiratorial conversations. Quote a few Arabs, and some Chinese. I saw leading trainers, Sir Michael Stoute, Sir Mark Prescott, Roger Varian, and Mark Johnson. I wandered about, sat on a bench in the sunshine, and listened to the bidding over a very good public address system.
There was no scope for chatting - everyone seemed to be in another world. I stayed about an hour, then on the way out picked up a book someone had left. Later found it was Book 3, for the sale next week on 15/16th Oct. The lots go up to 2108! Might go again.

I was reminded of the quote from the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII
"All men are equal on and below the turf"

I left, and went down the road to the National Stud (secret) cafe where a very nice lady did me a bespoke cheese and onion sandwich with salad, and a pot of tea.

[Wendyf]

Did the yearlings behave themselves Tripps? What sort of prices were being paid, and were you tempted to but any of them?

[Tripps]

You'd have loved it Wendy - yes, all I saw were surprisingly well behaved. I forgot to mention - here was no clip clop as the floor was some sort of cork - produced a very pleasing sound.
Prices realised are on the web link. Yes I was tempted, but this is all way, way out of my league. Hands kept firmly in pockets.

I was in an Owner and Breeder club at the National Stud a few years ago - it was a total disaster- cost me quite a few quid, but it cost them £140,000. That's how I know where the secret cafe is at the Stud.

This is a random choice of horse, Lot 394 a Chesnut Filly by Poets Voice out of Protectress. It sold for 22000 guineas, which in this sale is very cheap.

Lot 394

PS
I just looked at some of the small print. If the horse stays in UK, VAT is payable, but is later refunded in full. All training fees etc etc are zero rated for VAT. Some special pleading here?
'We're all in it together'. Yes George right.

[Stanley]

The nearest I ever got to those circles was that Sir Francis Weatherby lived at Whatcote Hall in the village where I worked as a farm man in Warwickshire. Do they run the registration of thoroughbred horses? Nice point about the VAT.....
Today is shopping and shed....

[Sue]

Off to take our friend Kath to see the Bayeux tapestry today. Beginning to feel a bit better. My head is clearing at last. Beautiful sunrise this morning at Caen. Moon and stars and with blue and orange sky.

[Stanley]

Glad you're getting over it Sue.... Don't do too much though, allow for a full recovery, so many of these modern bugs seem to recur just when you thought you were out of the wood!

[Wendyf]

Just been to see Melvyn Bragg talking about the Peasants Revolt and found both the man and his subject fascinating!

[Stanley]

I agree with you on both counts. Melvyn's Thursday morning programme is required listening for me as I toil in the shed....



(Another bloody engine grows on the bench......)

[Stanley]

Pot roasting a joint of mutton on the stove in the front room, it will take at least twelve hours.... Proper slow cooking!
Enjoying myself in the shed with my castings and watching the Sochi Grand Prix race live.....
What more could an old bloke want?

[Stanley]

Forcing myself to re-learn how to get a good finish on small diameter very hard steel! I failed miserably yesterday!
Putting my bin of general waste out for collection for the first time in three months.

[Stanley]

In the shed, all problems solved. continuing with my cylinder after a bit of thinking about valve events.....



Not everything goes badly. Love the finish on this valve chest lid!
One job I want to do today is wash my grey waste bin out with a hot solution of Jeye's fluid. It doesn't smell even though it was emptied yesterday for the first time in three months but it won't do any harm. That will be the last of the Jeyes. Must call in at Shambles on the Square this morning to see if they still stock it. Wonderfully old fashioned stuff which still does its job and I love the smell of it. By the way, it's good for killing moss and lichen on stone flags.....

[Sue]

image.jpeg

An update on the mound after we reseeded the clear bit at the end of August

[Wendyf]

It's looking good Sue, and it's the right way up! I hardly dare ask, but.....have you made another mound behind it?

[Sue]

That's the dirty compost as I call it, weeds and stuff. We are not allowed garden fires but can use a metal incinerater in the winter. We either burn it or spread it under the hedge round the field. It keeps the ferns and nettles down. The rest rots and we spread it on the field..

[Stanley]

Big Improvement Sue. Now.... STOP DIGGING!
Update on Jeyes Fluid.... Price on last 1ltr tin I bought £6. Price for 1/3ltr at Shambles £3.08! But.... they had a competing product called Black Fluid Strong Disinfectant, same colour tin, £3.80ltr so I got one of them. Haven't opened it but it will be the same.... They must be a new contender as their web site is under development but they are based in Moston, Manchester and say the fluid is made in England. If you use Jeyes well worth looking for!

[LizG]

That's the dirty compost as I call it, weeds and stuff. We are not allowed garden fires but can use a metal incinerater in the winter. We either burn it or spread it under the hedge round the field. It keeps the ferns and nettles down. The rest rots and we spread it on the field..

Have you considered covering it in black plastic and letting the sun cook it? The heat kills all the seeds and then you can compost as usual. I can't remember how long it needs under the plastic but it's less time than you'd think. I've used this process to kill weeds in the veggie garden before I replant.

[Sue]

Half the garden is under plastic Liz. Actually we do cover what is left after the fire in November. We use a blue tarpaulin. It works well, but I would never put it on my veggie patch . Not done any digging this time Stanley, we have a friend staying with us. Off to the sea today. Home tomorrow. More digging perhaps in No ember as the rain will have softened the soil making it easier to dig.

[Julie in Norfolk]

Big Improvement Sue. Now.... STOP DIGGING!
Update on Jeyes Fluid.... Price on last 1ltr tin I bought £6. Price for 1/3ltr at Shambles £3.08! But.... they had a competing product called Black Fluid Strong Disinfectant, same colour tin, £3.80ltr so I got one of them. Haven't opened it but it will be the same.... They must be a new contender as their web site is under development but they are based in Moston, Manchester and say the fluid is made in England. If you use Jeyes well worth looking for!

In the long distant past I used to pack Jeyes fluid working on the 6 to 10 shift. I always got a place at the bar at 10.30!