Busy and varied; some good some sad

As the title suggest, this month has been busy: everything from LNOTP to Fire Stopping, ie - shoving loads of fiberglass insulation in the gap twixt our house and next door as a fire break, and becoming seven again at Digerland.

The fire-stopping has been the least pleasurable activity of the month; partly because the header tank for the central heating, needed moving.

With the tank out of the way, two days of stuffing ensued.
Amidst a flurry of swearing at the itching created by what felt like a battalion of mosquitos, the fiberglass stuffing had been completed.

Yep! even dressed as though going into an infection zone, that damn itch got to me.

An example of stuffing; packing fiberglass really tight in the gap between the two buildings

 

Stuffing done, operation 'replace the header tank' came into play.

Putting in a new tank and pipes is easy; compared that is, to reconnecting old piping to an old tank, praying all the while none of the joints are going to leak.

Happily, passing the toilet paper test (a sheet of toilet paper placed against a joint is the best way to check for a leak, even if it's only seeping very slowly) it was time to refill the tank and flush the system.

How do you flush it?

Easy; run what seems like 'a reservoir' full of water (some times a cleaning agent might be required)  through the entire system, until the water 'cascades' from the hose like a crystal stream.

Only then is it time to refilling the tank properly.
In goes the Fernox; an 'inhibitor,' used to 'inhibit' rust etcetera in the radiators; then it's an hour or so  'bleeding the radiators.' Or in our case two days & it's still developing air pockets.

To do the stuffing, I'd 'mined' the loft of the insulation already in it, simply to avoid buying too many or not enough roles of insulation, so now we know how much we need to buy, then it's just a case of rolling the new stuff out.

So that's next on the list of 'to do' things; reinsulating the loft!
Oh we do know how to live, don't we......


Actually, I think we do!

LNOTP (last night of the proms) at Julia's was a hoot. We even had the President of the Women's Institute gracing us with her presence! OooOOOOOoooh! get that. And she was lovely.

Lovely too was the food; I'd done my signature cheese cake, Tracie loaded the table with cakes, and Julia did the rest; chicken and pomegranate salad, quiches, both gluten free and normal, more salads, more pastries. Essentially it was a luscious smorgasbord of 'Yumminess!'

Contrary to my natural shyness, but going along with the mirth and music of the moment, for the second half, I suddenly appeared from the hall in a modest outfit of a Union Jack Onesie.
(and yes I do know that technicaly, it's only a union jack when its on a ship, but what the heck, it made everyone scream with laughter, so it was worth it).

Two patriotic souls

 

 

Another bit of silliness was a day out to Digger-land; two tickets for which I had been given by Grace and Peter as a birthday gift.

 

It's meant for kids of course, but guess what; who ain't a kid just some times?

 

Me driving a JCB

You've all seen kids trying to lasso a duck at the circus as it bobs along.
How about doing the same with a mini digger?

Takes skill to knock over a skittle, one at a time, with a digger

Called a Polecat, these weird creatures don't have a steering wheel,
you sort of steer them like a tank.
Kids as young as six and seven were bombing round in these like they were formula 1 cars.

view taken from the bobcat of the mud lake we drove through

Not for the feint hearted, this thing goes 50 some thing off the ground

Fifty feet high.

View across Digger-land, with castle and cathedral in the background.

Add caption

 

Polecats track immediately in front of us

 

View of M2, & himself looking beautiful.

I don't know what it is? But I do rather like it.

Wish they had a few more old bits like this around, it would make it more interesting.

 

The saddest thing of this last month was the final flight of The Big Bird; my nick name for our lovely friend; Jon.

He was a wonderful artist and started me in the direction of painting.

These are just a couple of his pieces.

Inexplicably I can think of few people I have felt more bereft at the loss of.
Why? I don't know. It was just a wonderful friendship. And I feel so sorry for his lovely wife Daphne.

We all hope you'll be ok Daphne, and don't forget; that offer of a tea and cake in that café is still on.

Love to you all,
Peter

Oh yes, one last photo; The Red in the Bed celebrating political transformations.

 

Contentious and Contention  

It could be said that the election of Jeremy Corbyn as the leader of the labour party, and possibly the next government, has been a contentious issue.

But today, could anyone see the statue to commemorate King George II in Golden Square as a contentious?

Well it was...

 

It was seen as contentious because it showed him in older age.

It is only one of two depicting him so.

 

 

Even in more modern times, there are probably those that could find contention over his companions, which in my opinion are both rather beautiful.

 Unfortunately I have no idea who they are created by, so any input would be welcome

 

 For the really contentious issue of the week however, we need look no further than the recent 'Right to Die,' campaign, which in my opinion was sadly defeated yesterday (11/09/2015) by a three to one vote.

 

I know not everyone will agree with me, and I hope we don't fall out about it, but it has been some thing that I have cared about for a long time, to the degree of getting an early train to London to participate in the demonstration.

 

 

 

Despite passionate feelings and a few rabid arguments, most demonstrators were willing to enter into debate about their feeling.

 

To my the best of my knowledge, I know of only one demonstrator being admonished by 'officials,' for covertly inserting a 'Give me Choice Over my Death' poster onto the banner of some one of the opposite opinion. 

 

I have to admit that hooligan was me:

 

Contentious of a different ilk; 'Boy Meets Girl,' BBC2 Thursdays and Saturdays.
I've only seen episode one so far, but it looks like a brilliant piece of comedy about a very sensitive issue.

Hope you all have a good week,
Peter x

The Triffids are taking over the Asylum

Pyracantha

 

PassionFruit and Hypericum

(there's even an 8ft tree in there some where)

 





 We may really only have a Back Yard/Patio but with the right plants, you'd think you were in a jungle.

Along with the above, we have an eight foot tall BlackThorn tree that sort of just appeared in a planter made from old pallets, a bay tree or shrub, hosted likewise in a hand built planter, and some winter flowering Jasmine shoehorned into a slit of soil by the fence.

We did have a flowering Quince, in another hole hacked through eight inches of solid concrete, but, and let this be a warning to those who like me don't know too much about gardening, I over fed it with too much plant food.

Suffice to say, it died.

Our once lovely Quince Japonica

We are wondering if growing a grape vine up its remains might be possible?
It's on a south easterly facing wall and in the winter suffers shadow cast by the garage.
All suggestions gratefully received...

The day Margate became 'MarGAYte.'

Saturday (29th September) saw Margate become MarGAYte.
Not by typographical error, but by Thanet Pride having its Gay Parade, all the way from up at the Lido, right along the seafront & along to the station.

It's not been a easy ride for the principal organiser this year, a major supporter pulling out with resultant funding short fall, hence the intended 'Thanet Pride' was pulled, though happily continuing with the 'Parade,' in which hundreds participated.

Unintentional promotion of Margate Pride, came in the form of some irritating little snot rag (I do hope she / he comes to terms with his / her sexuality some time) posting hate mail through letterboxes.

For every 1 person who dropped out from coming along on Saturday because of this hate campaign, another 5 seemed to have come along in support of it.

As for the police who attended; they seemed to be there as much for the fun as any traffic control or troubles. They were brilliant. Thank you.



Parade snaking its way towards the sea front.
 

On the green opposite the station, where Peter Tatchell spoke.
Pleased to see the LibDems had come along to support the parade.

I can't say I always agree with political campaigner; Peter Tatchell, but his speech at the end of the parade was commendable. Condensed into five words; 'Don't let hatred oppress you.'
Too right, Peter!

I could have done with these balloons to take the weight of my legs.
We must have walked miles...

The Herne Bay Air Show, and more...

I dare some would question writing about the Herne Bay air show which happened almost a fortnight ago, as old hat. Well, it may be, but it's worth mentioning because of its magnitude and numbers attending; 70K!
Here are just a few pictures of the event; some are mine, but I used a load from Julie Blackmans catalogue. She's good, very very good, and worth looking at.

 

 

 

Luckily a bribe stopped the storm trooper from annihilating me.

The trouble is we have both been busy>
Chris, along with work, recently organised an LGBT disco organised at the Labour club, which was a great success.
"When's then next one?" seemed to be the mantra as he left the building.
Quite a compliment in itself.

LGBT by the way stands for 'lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender.'
Some people think there ought to be an 'i' on the end to encompass 'inter-sex,' covering those people half way between one thing and another.
Quite frankly I think 'LGBT' is already long enough, but there's always some one trying to push the envelope further..

We've had a couple of dinner do's, (which always seem to occupy the day before to prepare,) along with having two lovely guests stay for a couple of days.
Luckily we had found a bed for one of them to use, only the day before they came!

I'd better explain 'finding' the bed, before anyone thinks they'll never want to step foot in this house again, let alone ever sleep here. Even we have standards!

It was in fact the same base we'd seen on the way back from the club a couple of nights previously, after the disco, commenting to ourselves, 'that won't be there long.'

Walking the dog a few days later, I was surprised to see it still there; a virtually new, tubular metal frame that slotted together, then just screwed into place.

Despite looking clean it still underwent a thorough scrub down and spray with antiseptic spray, then once dry, assembled to make sure it was ok.
Bingo!

With a small mattress we already had, we now have a second guest bed. (though of anyone has a three foot single mattress that needs a home????)

Some what more expensive; we have recently had to contend with builders swathing the house in scaffolding to repair bits of roof and repoint the chimneys; the scaffolding alone cost £400!

Photogenic stuff; scaffolding.
And bloody expensive!

Some thing I did manage to save another small fortune on, has been a bit more painting of the pebbledash above the windows at the front of the house,


Dogs have featured heavily too; August's school holidays, so we look after doggies whose owners don't like kennels.

This is our favourite baby.
In love with him?
You might say, 'just a little.'