May 2008

The Loudest Noise Comes From The Electric Wubble.

Yes he’s back blogging.

The garden is loving the typical bank holiday rain.

On a bummer of a note , the bottom step of my house stairs has broken , so will have to rebuild it when I’m next off.

London Times Obituary of the late Mr. Common Sense

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years.

No one knows for sure how old he was,since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:Knowing when to come in out of the rain; why the early bird gets theorm; Life isn’t always fair; and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place.

Reports of a 6-year-old boycharged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an Aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have a termination.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses;and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realise that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, I Want It Now,Someone Else Is To Blame, and I’m A Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on.

If not, join the majority and do nothing.

Mystery Delivery

Hmm, some goodly person left me a small prezzie through my door today.

Food For Free. ISBN 978-0-00-718303-6

A really nice book that will fit neatly in the pocket for my foraging.

Loads of recipes and ideas for stuff that one can find in the woodlands and British Islands.

So it slipped into my pocket and it’s now been pawed through at work.

It even has a calendar for things to look out for amongst the hedges and along the coastline.

Apparently things that can be collected this month include.

Carragheen – Seaweed that can be dried and used for it’s alginates to make jellies.
Dandelion Flowers –
Fairy Ring Champignon
Hop Shoots
Morel
Nettle
Ramsons – Garlic
Sea Beet – Like Spinach
St George’s Mushroom
Sweet Violet

Have to start researching plant types now.

I’m thinking it may be from my bezzie chum that popped it in but I don’t know just yet.

Nights Really Satisfies…… not

Yawn.

Three shifts of nights always fills me with such joy , well any shift at work fills me with such joy..not.

I find myself regularly searching the in house job vacancies for something else to stimulate me.

In house politics have made me unable to be a trainer , due to the fact of their draconian sickness ‘ policy’ , because I had two period of sickness [ certified on both instances ] , my ankle injury and my lump removal at the start of the year , mean I am not able to have the course.

This is all down to the number of shifts I was off , the policy was designed to make sure those that took days here and there ‘ to be sick ‘ would be penalised for applying for anything.

The fact that my two genuine unable to work periods of ‘ sickness ‘ took me over the number of shifts, I am now not able to do or apply for anything until next year seems pathetic to say the least and the muppets that implement this are unable to distinguish between mine and the p*** takers , beggars belief, so I’m bored more often than not , uninspired is not even a very descriptive word to ephasize my mind set.

Yet I see some woefully inept people being elevated to becoming supervisors of what I do.

One in particular has the mouth of a sewer and the most annoying whining girlie giggle that more often than not finds me wanting to drive a poleaxe through his numb skull.

I think I’m likely to come up against him in the very near future.

How my small professional team of supervisors can tolerate him on a daily basis is beside me.

All credit to them.

On a lighter note , I found the need to do some essential cycle maintenance today, replacing inner tubes on my Xtracycle, due to the valve going , luckily I checked the commuter cycle and noticed a nice sliced front wheel , which would have been a tad awkward to discover in a couple of hours when I need to transport myself to work.

So a quick phone call to my local longtime cycle dealer, and a new wheel [ which I needed anyway ] tyre and inner tube, carried in the Free Rad’s and both cycles now back on the road again.

I’m sorely tempted to maybe upgrading the Xtracycle to a new lighter frame , disc brake setup , but I’m not in a hurry and it’s not an essential at this moment in time.

Anyway my fence needs completing first before the airshow kicks in and I need to transport all my garden waste down to the recycling plant yet , but this cannot be done until the parentals return from them vacation as they have the car and trailer that will utilised to do this , although I suppose I could hire a van for a day.

I need to measure off and calculate how many panels and poles I will need in order to erect the new fence as well and that’s definitely a two person job.

Hmmm.

1535 hrs.

I notice also that Oil prices have hit a record high above $127 a barrel on speculation that China will need to import more fuel, stretching global supplies. Maybe those of you that read this will follow Murray , Mine and ‘The Velorutionaries’ and take up the challenge and get Xtracycling.

It won’t be long now that people wil not be able to afford to even run a car.

1556 hrs.

Loving the new album by Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid.

It’s Hot Out There Gardening

24 Hours to remove 9 Leylandi, pain in the backside trees to make way for a more stylish fence.

Counting Graces Boils [ And Cuts and Grazes ] Mix speaks for itself.

Message For Fexis In Sydney

Hello Matey.

Any chance you will be able to slowly scan in your old photos, that we chcukled through when I popped over.

I’m thinking the DYRMS85 Site need some fresh Stuff and Lofty Williams and others are desparate to see old nostalgic shots.

Hope all is well with your family over there.

Get Back Your ‘Ooo’ With Sunshine.

It’s sunny outside , the sun is now high in the sky most days so both gardens are full on go.

I now resemble a slightly cooked Crayfish, having spent the whole day pottering and repositioning my produce in the gardens.

I’m so looking forward to my next batch of leave.

Just so I can, moisten and watch my crop growing, if the weather continues this way I may have to invest in some more water butts and some connectors so I have a much better supply.

As I said earlier the sun is sitting far higher in the sky, so the day is that much longer for the growing period.

I have had some casualties along the way; I lost all my Ring Of Fire Chillies and some of my Big Sun Habenero’s due to the intensity of the heat.

One of my heated propagators went into meltdown and frazzled the contents that were in there.

I think I will just put it down to experience.

Life is indeed too short to worry about the temporary set backs that I encounter along my life path as evidenced by other news.

Sad news of the day, one of old school chums Dad’s passed away to day.

My thoughts are with the family.

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