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May
31 - Up around 10:15am!!
. .walked very late in the hot sun! Stunning clear blue sky sunny
weather. Sat around in the shade on top of a gun emplacement in
BGdns for ages, just watching all the hubub of holidaymaker
activity below me. There was even a low flypast by a weird
sounding jet, although 'weird' simply because I think it was
quite an old one. I used to know what was what but have kinda
lost touch over the years. I suspect it was a privately owned
Hunter or Buccaneer just out on a joyride. What amazing lives the
rich can have! Imagine the enormous and costly infastructure
required, to have such a 'toy' all ready and waiting to be taken
out to play on some sunny day! Incredible.
. It was amazing weather for the time of
year. People were all hats, shorts and T shirts or bare chests
and sunburn. Well - most people!!!!
-//unfinished - and should probably remain so!//-
I was actually a bit
worried about the potential for invading someones privacy by
bagging this image - but then I guessed not. Wait a minute - oh
NO - THE BAG!!!!! :o)
. . . I was just about to leave my sitting
place with Sally on top of the gun emplacement (where people
frequently have barbqueues/'smoke'/drink/party/litter/defacate,
etc) when I spotted what I thought at first was a hand grenade!
On closer examination it turned out to be some sort of container.
Perhaps it should have been obvious what it was, but it wasn't to
me. I assumed it was makeup or some such, dropped by whoever had
partied up there last. Picked it up (heavy), unscrewed the lid
and - oh! I didn't expect THAT! Partialy enameled in some sort of
black flecked green over brass, it turned out to be an 'urn' -
full of someone's/something's ashes!!!!!!!!! It was so small, I
assume it must have been a pet? But - whatever - how weird is
that for someone to just leave it behind up there like that!?
That seems TOTALLY inappropriate to me. Privately spreading
someone or something's remains in a treasured spot is one thing (which
I have little or no problem with) - but actually leaving an 'urn'
lying around the place? That ain't right. You can't have that
going on all over the place. Where would you draw the line? Just
TOTALLY inappropriate. Having picked it up and opened it, I found
I had no intention of just leaving it there. What WOULD be
appropriate? Throw it in the sea? That didn't seem right because
whoever had left it there hadn't done that in the first place. If
it WAS a pet - well - it wasn't a fish then! It should stay on
land (for as long as coastal erosion/climate etc. allows). Bury
it? I really didn't want all the hassle and it just didn't seem
right burying whatever it was, trapped in some manmade ornate
brass pot (only to be probably dug up and mistaken for a WW2 hand
grenade by the next holidaymaker to come along poking around with
a metal detector)! Without any ceremony except for my thoughts, I
simply quickly tipped the contents of the urn onto the grass on
the top of the gun emplacement (holding my breath, lest I should
inhale some of it/them?!), screwed the lid back on and popped the
container in my pocket to take home!!!!!!! . .back via town. .
washed out the urn in the kitchen sink! lol Death has no dignity.
. . sat in the garden . .drank a glass of red wine . ate a Mum
donated spicy chicken pizza with extra cheese and onion followed
by a couple of squares of chocolate . . napped until around 7:15pm!
. .Tvd . . guitarred in the garden until around 10pm. . BB called
. . ate a bowl of stew . . TVd/PCd until bed around 3am.s
30 - Up around 9am!! . . walked. Clear blue sky
sunny day but VERY breezy. Bought the local paper on the way home
to have a look at their reporting of the fire. Quite extensive
coverage of it on a couple of pages, although there must be some
really amazing 'up close' pictures and footage out there
somewhere, since just about everyone for miles around must have
had their cameras pointed at it. . Mum popped in for tea and
chats with food donations . .ate mum donated ham rolls, two
packets of crisps and a couple of squares of chocolate. . JK
called and then popped in for a cuppa and chats. He seemed to be
handling everything that has happened incredibly well what with
soot on everything/no water/no phone/no electric/no house next
door any longer/etc, etc etc (LONG list!)! For sure - I wouldn't
be handling it anywhere near so well - and as for his neighbour
who's lost everything, I can only begin
to imagine! Desperate overwhelming complete loss! One of the most
upsetting parts about what I've heard about his neighbour is that
it would appear his cat is missing. :o( . . PCd a bit of this.
Damn - now I've uploaded the fire video to YouTube and it's too
late to alter, I find my video editing software could have really
quite effectively smoothed out a lot of the camera handshake. Oh
well - live and learn. . walked . . guitarred breifly but just
wasn't in the mood . . TVd . . BB called to touch base . . stood
outside on the front steps around 10pm watching the end of
Heritage festival week fireworks . .TVD/PCd . . ate a banana
before finally to bed around 4am! s
29 - Up around 7:30am . . .walked in a bit of
early hazey mist, but with the promise of a scorching hot sunny
day to some. Sat in BGdns having my usual cigarette around 9:20,
my attention was drawn by a strange distant popping noise, a bit
like a bunch of fireworks was being let off. Funny how familiar I've
become with the 'usual' sounds of the place, even recognising an
odd boat or two from their engine noise, and how something a
little out of the ordinary will grab my attention. With the surge
of summer growth of the unkempt bushes, it's almost impossible to
see anything from up there now (come the wintrer I may well prowl
around with a bow saw and cut some of those down!), but searching
and straining for a vantage point to look back in towards the
harbour, it soon became apparant there was a BIG house fire just
developing, way over on the Berry Head Road above the end of the
breakwater. Struggled to capture a little of the scene on the
camcorder, although without a tripod, handheld on maximum 25x
zoom it was obviously going to be a shaky blurred attempt. 
Squinting at the little camcorder screen, I
was able to eventually figure out exactly where the fire was. Oh
my god!!! That looks like JKs place!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my god!!!
Carried on fiming as best I could before eventually jogging a
short distance along the road, trying to get a better vantage
point from the cliff top, where the roadside wall gave me at
least something to use to attempt to steady my shaking camera
hand a little. . Once it became clear the fire had been brought
under control by the firemen, I figured I'd better make my way
over there, to make sure JK was - um- well - still alive, and to
offer him temporary accomodation if necessary. . eventually
reached the top road only to find it was completely full of the
fire brigade and was closed off to everyone (which caused quite
some traffic chaos across town apparantly). Ended up just sitting
around for absolutely ages, waiting for the road block to be
lifted. It is I think, little appreciated how much time is spent
on such a fire. The actual putting it out is just a small part of
things. Hours are then spent on damping down and making safe,
with various utility services having to be brought in, most
particularly of course being the gas board, staff from which at
some point were wandering up and down checking with some sort of
sniffer probe. . things dragged on for SO long, I eventually
figured I'd just have to give up and I began heading back.
Somewhere along the way I got in conversation with another dog
walker and a friend of theirs turned up and announced that
pedestrians WERE now being allowed past the road block. Walked
back and eventually found JK stood opposite his flat. Oh wow - it
was still intact! Incredible. The adjoining house was gone - just
a lightly smoking pile of charred remains, but somehow JKs place
was still sat there - albeit according to him, severly smoke
damaged and possibly also damaged from the dousing of water.
Depending on how you view such things, that I guess was either
good or bad luck, one way or another? Bizarrely what struck me
most about Jk during the breif conversation I had with him was
the fact that he was wearing a spotless and almost apparantly
freshly ironed white collared shirt! lol He seemed remarkably 'ok'
considering - and even had his camera in his hand. Bet he had
some amazing shots! (One wonders - if it had not been for him
battering on his elderly neighbours door and ushering him out
when he finally answered, would there have been a fatality?) . .
eventualy made my way home in the blazing hot sunsine, feeling
tired out and headachey . . PCd the crappy footage. . touched
base with Mum. Turned out she'd seen a footstool in a charity
shop down town which she thought may do to replace mine (the
cover of which is now badly split and awful tatty), and had put a
£1 deposit on it so they would hold it long enough for me to go
and look and decide. . once the video transfer had completed,
left Sally at home and drove with Mum to have a look at the
footstool. Since it wasn't quite as perfect as my old one, and
was £6:50 (!), I would probably not have bothered if I'd
stumbled upon it on my own without an enthusiastic Mum, but
because it DID absolutely perfectly match the colours of the wood
and curtains in the living room, I ended up having it - and Mum
insisted on paying of course!!! . . since we were nearby a 'house
clearance' store, I breifly parked on yellow lines and dashed in
to see if they would be interested in having Mums little old
tumble drier and an even older oil filled electric towel rail
which she's had carefully wrapped in her garage for years which
she was eager to be rid of. They were all unenthusiastic at first
- until they realised I was NOT trying to sell them - just wanted
to give them away and be rid of the hassle. That changed their
tune. They were just about to shut up shop and go doing
deliveries in the area, so they said they'd stop by and pick them
up. Yayy - just like I like doing things. Right now! . quickly
drove Mum home and carried the things out of her garage and
plonked them in the sun on the driveway. Within half an hour they
guys turned up and took them away - this time all
enthusiastically. That dryer was like new and even still had the
pristine manual - they'll be able to make a quick few easy £s on
that for sure (I guess I should have tried to - but I just couldn't
face all the hassle involved). . coffee and chats in Mums garden
and briefly cut down a seed branch which had been annoying her,
stuck in the top of the big palm tree which has strangely just
sprouted up in her garden (naturaly seeded from a nearby
neighbours tree it appears. Things grow REALLY well down here!).
. . PCd trying to edit down the shaky fire footage, nonstop
through until around 11pm before eventually eating a bowl of stew
and four pieces of bread and butter followed by a few squares of
chocolate while the file compiled and then uploaded to YouTube. .
. touched base with BB . . TVd until bed around 2am. saa
28 - Up around 7:45am . .breakfast of coffee and
cigarettes at the PC - and then all of a sudden the power went
off!? Touched base with Mum breifly. Turned out it was a town
wide power cut!! . .walked, eager to speak to whoever I passed to
let them know about the power cut, so they wouldn't think it was
a fault with something of theirs. Strangely satisfying to be able
to impart the 'good' news to a guy up the street who was coming
out of his house in slippers and a dressing gown looking all
worried, confused and forlorn. Even a postman I'd informed
thanked me as we passed again later, because he was able to ease
the fears of his wife who'd rung him on his mobile saying
everything had broken and stopped working. lol . . returned from
the walk with a HUGE joint of left overs beef for Sally from K .
.PCd the Border Morris and Heather and Gorse 'quickstep' video. .Mum
called to touch base . . a dog walker guy popped in with a DVD we'd
discussed earlier this morning. He'd scored it brand new in a
wrapper at a car boot sale for £1, and said I could borrow it. 'The
Complete Rock Guitarist' - six lessons of how to play guitar. . .
mowed the lawns while making copies of the DVD . Copying the
booklet containing the Tab is going to be more time consuming and
difficult . . ate a bowl of stew with four pieces of bread and
butter and a little chocolate . . JK popped in for a cuppa and
chats . . skipped the evening walk. PCd/TVd/guitarred the evening
away . . touched base with BB. .ate a couple of left overs beef
sandwiches, although I left the last one when I started feeling a
bit iffy. I think Sally better have the rest of that! . TVd until
bed around 1am. s
27 - Up around 8am. Rainy. . drove to walk . .
guitarred/PCd - still feeling really very VERY down!! This is a
bit of a bad one. :o( . . cooked a huge pot of stew while
drinking a glass of wine. .ate a bowl of stew with a garlic-bread
bagette. . napped until around 7pm . . touched base breifly with
Mum just in case she wanted to walk with me, but she declined. .
walked and carried on down to the harbour to watch (and NOT film!!)
the Grimspound Border morris men and Heather and Gorse from 8pm
until gone 9pm. As I sat watching them dance, some kids were
throwing themselves into the freezing waters of the harbour from
the harbour wall and nearby boats and I couldn't resist pulling
the camera out. Didn't really get much of them, and then ended up
filming just a little of the dancers - because of the shop front
('Fancy Feet') behind them visible from my vantage point, which
seemed kinda appropriate-ish to get in the shot and maybe use as
'bookends' to a short video of them. lol . .PCd footage . .
touched base with BB. . ate bowls of cornflakes. . TVd until bed
around 1:30am. sd
26 - Up at 8:30am. . walked in the blustery wind.
Took a pocket of doggy chocolate drops and did a little reminder
training of Sally - who is not my favourite dog right now -
although I guess that has much more to do with my seeming to have
slipped into a fairly unshakeable VERY down mood at the moment!????
:o( In some measure I suspect that has something to do with my
increasing/neverending frustration at still not being able to do
a damn thing of any use with my guitar. . .sat around/guitarred/TVd
. . cooked and ate two cheeseburgers with onion . . napped . .
skipped the evening walk . .TVd the BBC show about the 'missing
link' monkey type fossil. Utterly fascinating. More like that
PLEASE. . . touched base with BB . . ate lettuce, mayo, onion
cheese sandwiches and some chocolate. TVd until bed around 1:30am.
s
25 - Woke around 7am, snoozed on then up around
8am . . walked in a few spots of rain. Returned with a carrier of
meat scraps for Sally from K . . checked the news website. All
the police activity ('SWAT 'team!) yesterday was about some guy
barricaded into the derelict holiday shalets threatening to torch
himself! The helicopter had delivered a negotiator!! Damn - wish
I HAD gone back with the camcorder. . felt increasingly down as
the day wore on. . TVd/PCd the day away . So much for the heavy
rain warnings. Mostly clear and sunny all day. . . walked via
town to watch a bit of the band that was playing. Bagged some
left over chips from someone sat near me, for Sally to eat. It's
atrocious how much food is simply thrown away by people like that.
. . Back via BGdns where Sally ate parts of a dead fish in the
undergrowth and would NOT come when I called her to! Eventually
back home in a foul, foul mood. . ate ham rolls, crisps and
chocolate . .touched base with BB breifly . . TVd until bed at 2am.
24 - Up just after 9am to another warm sunny day
. . . walked real late and sat around in BGdns for quite a while
watching all the holiday boat traffic in the bay. On the way home
I passed a police van racing down in the direction of the holiday
camp, all blues and twos. A little further on a while later and
another police vehicle went racing past. . guitarred in the
garden. Wasn't long before it became apparant that the police
helicopter had landed over on the green! Resisted the desire to
race back out with the camera. . . . . . guitarred/PCd/TVd a bit
if the grand prix. .ate mum donated ham and mayo rolls with
crisps and then a bunch of biscuits. . napped the afternoon away
until around 7pm . skipped the evening walk. . guitarred/TVd . .
touched base with BB . . TVd until bed around 2am.ss
23 - Up around 8am to a clear blue sky and sun.
. walked . . guitarred/PCd . . Mum called in for chats with food
donations etc . . ate a Mum donated pastrie slice with crisps and
some chocolate. . . napped . .drove to walk. Called Mum on the
mobile and suggested she could accompany me down to see the
heritage festival 2009 opening fireworks . . left Sally at home
and walked with Mum down to the harbour to watch a bit of the
Shillito set and then the fireworks. My decision to resist
filming any of it this year appeared to be sort'of ok, because it
really felt like a time warp - except this time I could just
watch what was going on rather than be all up tight about trying
to capture everything. It was however, somehow 'difficult' for me
being down there with Mum like that for some reason. I couldn't
just please myself and up and go and do or sit wherever I wanted
like usual. I'd SO much rather be just on my own with Sally.
. walked mum back home . . cooked
and ate a Mum donated pizza . . touched base with BB . . TVd
until bed after 2am. s
-/unfinished/-
22 - Back up around 8:15am after only a few
hours sleep. .walked. Warm and sunny. . guitarred in the garden
for a bit. . PCd . . drank the last of the wine-in-a-box and
cooked and ate four sausages and chips. . napped . .walked town,
BGdns and back . . guitarred/TVd . . touched base with BB . . ate
corned beef, mayo and onion sandwiches with crisps, chocolate and
biscuits . . TVd until bed around 1:30am. s
21 - Up around 8am again. . walked in sunny
spells. Along the way, at a particularly narrow and fairly busy
stretch of road near the old cricket club, someone not
infrequently visits one of the houses there and always insists on
parking his 4x4 truck on the pavement so it's difficult to get
past. He'd done so this morning only leaving 'just' enough space
to be able to squeeze through. In a fit of 'pedestrian rage', as
I squeezed past doing a bit of a limbo dance to get past his big
wing mirror, I pulled the mirror back and clicked it into the
folded-in position before carrying on, just to make the point
about his selfishness. (actually exchanged a few words about it
with the postman, who was coming up the road with his trolley of
mail, which would have had to have been pulled out into the road
to get round it). Only a few paces further on, the guy in the
truck drove slowly by, glaring and clearly angry. If it hadn't
been for the traffic forcing him to carry on, I suspect he may
have pulled over for some unpleasantness! Ooops. :o| . . Funnily
enough, perhaps because of the sun and warmth, almost every
pedestrian I passed this morning, seemed to be in the mood for
showing a smile and saying good morning - and yet, on the way
back I witnessed another bit of road rage where someone in a
parking van ended up shouting obscenities after a passing car,
which couldn't spare the time to wait for even a second while the
van struggled to pull into an awkward driveway. Funny old world
innit. . .guitarred/PCd this . .JK called to touch base . ate
corned beef, mayo, onion, cheese and lettuce sandwiches with
crisps and a little chocolate . . napped . . skipped the evening
walk . . guitarred/TVd . . touched base with Mum and BB . . Tvd/PCd
until bed around dawn! s
20 - Up around 8am . . walked. Drifting clouds
but mostly sunny and felt very much warmer today. Wow - that was
quick. The old cricket clubhouse has been demolished - just like
that within a couple of days! And what a waste - ALL the timber
from the building was being burned on site in a huge pit. A relay
of huge trucks was removing all the rubble. Already the land is
all marked out for the new house builds. (And no - despite my
urge to do so, I haven't bothered recording ANY of it for
posterity. :o( ). . PCd/guitarred for hours while doing laundry .
This guitar thing is really getting to me and starting to look
like a total waste of time. Seems like I can put in as many hours
as I like, but still can't seem to EVER manage to strum a single
entire song, no matter how easy it's alleged to be. :o( One other
thing which doesn't help, which is actually just about noticeable
from the photo of my fingers back on the 6th, is the genetic
inheritance from my fathers side of the family. My little finger
has a bit of an 'inward bend' on it! My grandmother had it, as
did my father - and it gets progressively worse with age
apparantly. Weird huh? That may be why my trying to do the 'Message
In A Bottle' riff is particularly stretchy, difficult and painful!
. . mowed the lawns. . Mum called to touch base and tell me about
the latest instalment of her 'taps' saga! The plumber she'd had
in and ordered a new tap from, had turned up with the wrong tap
and had then attempted to convince her the one she'd asked for (chosen
from a new brochure) was no longer made!?
Thankfully Mum'd had the nerve to resist his efforts to get her
to have the one he had. All sounded real iffy to me (on top of
him saying the valves in the old tap were broken, when they
appear not to be), like he simply ordered the wrong one and was
trying to fobb her off with it, to cover his own mistake! Got the
info about what tap it was she was after and immediately went on
line and then rang the maker to check his story. Turned out to be
totally bogus!! The tap is particularly popular, they sell
hundreds of them, and they had hundreds in stock. They gave me
the names and numbers of three local suppliers and the first one
I rang confirmed they had them in stock. My recommendation to Mum
was NOT to use that plumber! Shyster!! I offered to order one on-line
but she instead suggested she'd be happier ordering one (and
the fitting of it) from a local store, which I guess
is probably worth a shot. . .the fridge freezer started making
its awful pneumatic drill noise so I had a bit of a go at trying
to see why it does it. Didn't go well so I pretty quickly called
a halt and just put it back as it was - at which point it
promptly started making the noise again! I'm going to HAVE to
replace it. :o(. . did dishwashing chores. Dropped a saucer which
smashed into tiny pieces all over the kitchen. Uggh. Just THAT
sort of a day really. Vacuumed . . drove to walk . .ansaphone
message from Mum. More about taps. Couldn't face calling her back.
. drank a glass of red wine to 'nudge' my down mood slightly
upwards. . . BB called breifly . . ate four sausages, mashed
potatoe with onion and gravy . . TVd eating chocolate biscuits
until bed around 1am. ds
19 - Woken earlier by rain battering the windows.
Slept on then up around 10am!!! . yay - the postman delivered my
new capo at last. That'll do nicely I think although it has a
hell of a strong spring on it!. . drove to walk VERY late.
Returning from the walk down the back lane, my way was
temporarily blocked by one of the neighbours dumping rubble next
to his driveway where the lane has worn away and sunk by a good
six inches or more. Exchanged a few words and explained I'd been
doing 'filling/re-dressing' work on the lane and why I'd stopped
short of his driveway (because of the weirdo/complaining
neighbour). Every time he drives his car down the lane and into
his driveway, he is in danger of tearing off his mudflaps
apparantly, which was why he was trying to do something about it
(and because he had to get rid of the rubble from some old
fireplace he'd taken out). Because I STILL have a small pile of
bricks I need to smash up and get rid of from when I abruptly
stopped working on the lane, during the conversation I was able
to confirm that if I was to put some outside his place he'd have
no objection. Quite the opposite of course (despite me making
sure he knew of his neighbour's likely objection (!??) to doing
so). . 
sat around with a coffee before deciding to
put in a few hours on breaking rocks and go and add to what he'd
put out there straight away (although, as much as anything else,
just to do 'something' with the day, and not have it end up like
yesterday!). . . crushed rocks and eventually added four big
plastic containers full of thumb sized pieces to the little he'd
already done. As usual, that little bit which took hours of work
(and earned me a blister), hardly made any impression on the lane
at all, but it should go some little way to making it easier for
him to get into his driveway, without
making it more difficult for the rest of us to drive on through .
Funny how the mind wanders when you do something as mind-numbingly
boring as that. It occurs to me, all that hard physical labour,
and the blister and aches and pains associated with doing it, is
kinda like my version of doing a bit of self harming. It makes me
feel better after I'm done - slightly more 'up'. . showered off
rubble dust . . guitarred . . walked . . TVd while slowly
defrosting stuff from the freezer . . ate a huge microwaved roast
beef, stuffing, peas, potatoes and a pint of gravy feast followed
by a few squares of chocolate around 11pm! . . touched base
breifly with BB . . TVd until bed around 1am. s
18 - Woken early by Sally barking at neighbours
I think. Snoozed on then up around 8am . .walked and back via the
store for milk. Tempted by a going cheap pizza. . felt
increasingly down and pointless as the day wore on!? Ignored the
phone and sat around/guitarred/PCd/TVd the day away - just
getting the 'non' day done and over with as soon as possible. .
skipped the evening walk . .cooked and ate pizza, chocolate and
shortbread biscuits . . JK called to touch base and tell of a
local 'drinking type of guy having been found dead in the harbour!
Foul play doesn't seem to be likely - more a case of being drunk
and falling over the harbour wall!! Funny way to go! . . .
touched base with BB . . TVd until bed around 2am. s
17 - Woken earlier by the sound of the rain,
snoozed on then up around 8am to sunshine . . walked and got
caught out in a downpour on the way home and got pretty soaked. .
changed out of wet things and then guitarred. Ended up going
through a box of old guitar books and such like for hours, re-familiarising
myself with everything that's lain in there untouched for years.
Damn damn and damn - found a bunch of brand new guitar strings in
packets but pretty much all of them were rusted useless! :o( What
a waste - could really have used those pretty soon - and where
the hell is that capo I ordered?!! Humph . . PCd this . .drove to
walk. Breifly stopped in at Mums on the way back just to check on
the glued aerial cable, make sure it was all stuck in place and
to remove the temporary wedge of bamboo. Yep - happy with that. I
reckon no point in doing anything else to it until such time as
she has the kitchen decorated. . TVd . . ate a mountain of
buttery mashed potatoe mixed with chopped onion with a ham ring,
followed by chocolate and Mum donated shortbread biscuits. .TVd .
. touched base with BB . . TVd until bed around 12:30am. s
16 - Up around 9am . . walked . . cut a couple
of pieces of tonge and groove PVC cladding to maybe use in Mums
bathroom as a temporary loft hatch when I eventually get round to
painting the wooden one.. collected up tools and bits and pieces
and drove with Sally to Mums. . very quickly planed off some of
the back garage door and put on a layer of 'one coat' paint, to
stop it jamming like it has been for ages, before going in to
attend to what I'd really gone up there for. Turned the water off
and swapped the unusably stiff quarter turn kitchen tap valves
for the ok regular screw ones. Mum'll have to make do with those
until the plumber comes up with her new tap, rather than wrestle
with the stiff ones. . Fitted the toilet flush mechanism lever
the plumber had left her. Turned out, where the screw goes was
stripped, but the screw from the one I took out fitted well
enough to make it a slight improvement. . Cut a groove out of the
kitchen cornicing and PVA glued the aerial lead neatly down the
very corner of the wall where it is visible above her kitchen
cabinets. Put an initial layer of PVA/filler mix over the scar
and wedged it all in place to dry with an offcut of bamboo cane
from her garage! Actually pretty pleased with how that looks
already (although I DO plan to return some time and sand it and
dab a little more filler on just to make sure it's pretty
invisible before painting). If it was mine I'd be pretty happy -
as I think Mum is. Used some of the left over PVA/filler mix to
dab on and disguise a tiny patch of the ceiling artex which had
long since cracked off and disappeared. .ate Mum donated prok pie,
crisps and chocolate . .touched the ceiling repair with a little
white undercoat before packing everything back into the car . .
back home and fitfully napped for only an hour or so . . JK
called to touch base - but 'just' after I'd woken so I left the
ansaphone to take it. . not quite awake, I succeeded in promptly
falling flat on my back down the stairs! 
. . came to
with a coffee and eventually called JK back to see what
assistance it was he wanted. Turned out it was with his TV and
digibox. From the sound of it, it simply needed the post
changeover to digital re-tuning. . late sunshine and a clear blue
sky (albeit very windy) , figured I may as well walk out and try
to get it sorted straight away. . walked with Sally and headed
through town straight out to Jks for chats, coffees and to have a
look at his TV. Eventually managed to make sense of the digibox
menu and successfully retuned it and got all the channels back
and then just chatted and drank coffee and admired the amazing
view from his sitting room window. It really is like being on the
bridge of a ship looking out of there. Quite amazing. WHAT a site
for a webcam! . . JK really seems to have a way with Sally. I
think she's a good judge of character - she was SO relaxed with
him - and even 'she' seemed to be impressed with the view out of
his window. lol :o) . . eventually straight back through town
heading home. Usual feelings of 'oh wow - do I really live here'
as I walked along the marina and harbourside, and then the
sickening feeling of 'threat' as I walked up the high street past
a large group of obnoxious rowdy youths and drunks heading to and
from the pubs. Back home by shortly after 10pm . . cooked and ate
pizza with extra cheese and onion . . touched base briefly with
BB on her dodgy mobile (blamed on MY phone! Huh) . . TVd until
bed around 1:11am. as
15 - Up around 9am . .drove to walk, late . .ended
up working on a DVD of the 'evidence' type pirate footage for
hours! . . eventually had it compiled and burned and then proof
watched enough to check it played . . looked up details on the
net based on the phone number on their website, figured it wasn't
far away, and I may as well get it over and done with and pop
over and deliver the thing. . Left Sally at home and drove to
short distance to the address the net had given me, only to find
they'd moved from there five years previously!! . returned home
and phoned the number and eventually agreed to pop it through the
letterbox of one of their members who had a shop in town. .
walked with Sally down town and posted the discs through the
letterbox. Back via BGdns . .dug my old pseudo 'classical' guitar
out of a cupboard and strung it with the new strings I'd found in
a pack wedged under the remaining unbroken strings! I don't
remember putting those there? I HATE re-stringing guitars. SUCH a
time consuming business for me and then it seems to be out of
tune every time you pick it up for the forseeable future as the
strings stretch! . . ate ham ring and mashed potatoe with chopped
onion and around a third of a pack of butter. Actually made a
really nice change, but mostly because of the amount of butter I
used I think. . . Mum called to touch base . . TVd/guitarred just
a little . . ate the last two kipling apple tarts . . BB called
breifly . . ate multiple bowls of co co pops . . to bed shortly
after 1am. s
14 - Woken by Sally clattering around the
bedroom in the early hours! Dismissed her and fitfully snoozed on
then up around 8:40am! . . received an e-mail suggesting none too
clearly my capo has been posted to me . . walked late . . PCd/guitarred
breifly . . received a call from Mum saying she'd had a plumber
in to look at her kitchen taps. She'd ordered a new one and he
was going to get and fit it. Apparantly he'd had a look at one of
the stiff mechanisms (the brand new ceramic quarter turn valves I'd
put on which keep going stiff - presumably because they are a
fraction the wrong size for that old tap) and had allegedly
promptly broken the inner ceramic!!? That really got to me. I
couldn't believe a supposed 'plumber' could blunder in and break
a brand new part like that! Somehow the conversation went all
awry as a result of my response to that news, and it seemed to
just end up with Mum moaning about everything - especially her
water meter which apparantly isn't saving her money. (Why get so
upset and keep going on and on about it ALL the time?!) And the
pizza I'd given her wasn't very nice either. This all went on for
WELL over an hour before I managed to get off the phone!!! By the
time I did, I was all wound up and in a terrible down mood - like
the life had just been sucked out of me!???? Terrible
overwhelming feeling of utter pointlessness and wanting to escape
from EVERYTHING! :o( . drank a glass of wine to get tipsy and 'escape'
and then ate the last of the left overs meat (big lump of pork)
from K with chips . . popped an asparin to see if it would help
me 'relax' and then slept the rest of the day away until 7:15pm!
. . woke feeling lackluster and tired out. Well over an hour,
before I'd even woken up sufficiently to decide I was skipping
the evening walk . . PCd a bit of this. . guitarred/TVd . . PJ
called to say the pirates WOULD be interested in any footage I
may have . . Jk called to touch base . . ate kipling apple tarts
. . touched base with BB . . TVd/guitarred until bed around 3am. a
13 - Woken by Sally around 6am. Let her use the
garden and then snoozed on for a bit. Back up just after 8am . .PCd
. . walked in the fine drizzle. Picking up litter as I was
leaving BGdns, I found an Adidas sport holdall type bag dumped on
the grass near the railings next to the road!? It contained an
adhesive L plate (I am sorely tempted to stick that on my guitar
somewhere!) and a small round container of 'Boss' spray-on eau de
toilette. Can't imagine how that came to be there, but under the
circumstances, it seemed reasonable to take it home and keep it.
I bags da bag! . Sally was treated to some left overs steak and
ale pie by K on the way back, and I was also given a lump of fit-for-me-to-eat
meat! . .stopped off for milk on the way home and couldn't resist
a reduced/half price pizza up for grabs for only £1-something.
It wasn't a meat one like I would want, so I figured because Mum
had said how she'd had a couple from there (because of me saying
how good pizzas were from my oven) and she'd really enjoyed them
(without meat) , I'd drop it in for her on the way back. .dropped
off the pizza and was presented with a brand new big stainless
steel roasting tin, Mum had gone and bought for me (around £14 I
think it was!!)!!! She spends more on me than I do!!! Sis2 always
said I was spoilt. lol . .
returning home in the drizzle, the nesting
long tailed tits in the front garden were all busily flying about
and making quite a bit of noise. As usual I let Sally off her
lead down by the gate so she could go on ahead up the steps and
give me space to close the gate etc before following her up. Oh
my god! I almost missed seeing it and could SO easily have stood
on it! On one of the steps up to the front door, between
me and Sally, was one of the babies from the nest!! It must be
their day for coming out (shame about the drizzle after all the
recent nice weather)!! What was extraordinary to me was that
Sally hadn't caught and eaten it. Perhaps she'd actually simply
not seen it and had just walked over it? 
No wonder the trio of parent birds were so
active, flying and whistling all around. Grabbed a couple of
quick photos before carefully stepping over it and quickly
getting inside to let nature take its course. . for the next few
hours I confess to spending much of the time just looking out of
the window. ALL of the chicks ('at least' five I know of) exited
the nest and went crash landing all over the place before somehow
eventually making their way back to the hedge and disappearing
back into the undergrowth (they ALL flew off in the direction of
another hedge - one of them via a crash landing on someones
window cill - up the street later in the day)!! SUCH a priveledge
to watch. I DID have a bit of a dabble with the camcorder from
inside the living room, but it wasn't easy to record any of the
goings on. All too quick and erratic, and I absolutely was NOT
going to go outside and maybe disturb any of them, or their fate.
The sense of how brutal nature can be and how oh SO fragile and
precarious was their existance, was quite overwhelming. So much
so, I ended up on the PC surfing YouTube play guitar videos,
looking up how to play Sting's 'How Fragile We Are' song and then
spent ages having a go at bits of it. Bloody difficult!. .
guitarred the remainder of the day away. . . ate a lump of K
donated beef with chips and then a couple of squares of chocolate
. .drove to walk with the guitar and sat in BGdns for a bit
making a bit of noise. . PCd . . guitarred/TVd . . touched base
with BB . . ate yesterdays left over burger microwaved and half a
buttered golden syrup cake. . TVd until bed around 1:11am. s
12 - Up around 9am . .drove to walk, late . .
PCd and guitarred the whole day away pretty much, pawing over all
manner of guitar video lessons on YouTube. Ended up feeling
utterly exhausted and a bit burned out with it. I keep
successfully doing little bits and pieces before stumbling over a
difficult bit and then just moving on to something else, easier!!
That pretty much sums up ALL my guitarring attempts thoughout my
lifetime! An indication of a regrettable flaw in my character? :o(
Not necessarily - just feels like I haven't much time! . . .skipped
the evening walk . . TVd . .ate a banana and biscuits . .
eventually cooked four burgers but only managed to eat three! . .touched
base with BB . . TVd until bed around 1am. s
11 - Up around 8am . .Sunny and windy as
forecast. Walked with the camera and tripod and eventually
carried on in the strong wind out to Shoalstone pool to see what
there was to film. It was rough and wavey, but I've seen a lot
worse. Sadly while I made my way out there and then hung around
for a bit, not a single boat was to be seen making its way
anywhere to give me something to film. Shame - with the sun it
would have been ideal filming light. . eventually wandered back
home via town . . PCd the footage and then set the camera
transferring the pirates video onto the PC again - but this time
with the time and date stamp on the image. I'd received a mail
from 'Captain Jack Sparrow' (after having seen the Youtube video)
saying how the buccaneers who organised the event were looking to
compile a DVD of photos etc, to be submitted as evidence of
numbers in their claim on the world record- and could I contact
the buccaneers e-mail address to discuss if I had anything useful.
. . ate Mum donated ham rolls . . Mum called to touch base and
say she'd returned the portable antenna to the store and received
a refund no problem. Gotta give them their due - they ARE good in
that store - the service they give - what with the free delivery
and set up and all of that. She'd paid by cheque which can't have
cleared yet - I can't imagine many shops giving a cash refund
under such circumstances. . started work PCing the 'evidence of
Pirate numbers' video before deciding I wasn't in the mood and
could well be completely wasting my time. Figured I'd wait for a
reply to my mail confirming they DID want it, before wasting any
more time on it. . napped around 3:30pm. . woke around 5:45pm,
deliberately to escape the vivid unpleasantness of the dream I
was having!! (In
the dream someone had died (actually very much 'Mike Smith' from
my working days!? I trust he is well!) and I was experiencing the
extreme distress and floods of tears - from the perspective of a
female, who I presume was perhaps his partner!) Something about sleeping on top of a full
stomach of ham rolls I guess. It's just THAT sort of 'REM' sleep
from which I seem to wake feeling utterly physically exhausted.
Something to do with the mechanism which renders the body safely
immobile during the dream. All my muscles appear to be activated
and put under opposing stress, to 'lock me down' and stop me from
moving while all the actions of the dream are imagined! It seems
to be quite a work out, when you wake from the middle of it
without having had the chance to sleep on, enter the more relaxed
sleep phases, and recover in the normal way! :o( I can't actually
remember the last time (if ever?) I awoke from sleep feeling
refreshed and not tired out! The mind is its own place, indeed! .
. drove to walk. Conversed with neighbours before leaving and was
informed that two cars in the street had been squirted with paint
stripper in the night!!!!!! No - I hadn't heard anything (or did
I with hindsight?) and no, my CCTV camera wasn't trained on any
part of the road! That news was unsettling/upsetting and got me
immediately all paranoid. :o( . . PCd Youtube how to play guitar
videos and had a dabble with some little pieces of the
complicated 'dust in the wind' and much simpler 'wonderwall' . .
eventually ended up on line and ordered a trigger release capo
for £4.40 including postage from somewhere on e-bay. . actually
stumbled into an e-bay advert for a brand new electro acoustic guitar (black)
complete with spare strings, strap, a bag, a tuner, AND an amp
for around £70!!!! Incredible how they can be so cheap - even if
they presumably sound like an old shoe box. Almost tempted to buy
one for that price, just for the 'lead-out' capability and the
tuner, especially given everything I play sounds like on an old
shoebox anyway!! (Seems as though the maker 'Swift Music' don't do them any more?) £30 for a brand new
guitar!?? Amazing. EVERY child should be given one! . . .JK
called to touch base . . guitarred . . touched base with BB . .
guitarred . . TVd . . ate almost a whole pack of Mum donated
shortbread biscuits . . TVd (Nascar) until bed around 3am.
10 - Up just before 9am . . PCd this . drove to
walk. Returned with a bin bag of left over pasties and a couple
of pork pies for Sally from K . . sorted out all the tools I
imagined I could need and then left Sally at home and drove to
Mums to have a go at getting an aerial lead down into her kitchen.
Actually didn't go badly at all (no rafters above where I wanted
to drill through) and I managed to get all the holes done without
causing any particular damage at all, with the exception of a
couple of scrapes on the inside of the backs of her cabinets
where the drill rubbed because I was trying to get the holes in
real tight with the corner. .that was the hard/worrying bit done,
just leaving what I always consider as the satisfying bit to do.
The actual wiring/soldering sockets, getting it working bit. .
drove back home to offload tools and get the aerial cable and all
manner of leads and sockets I thought I may need. Had to empty
out my chest of junk all over the PC room, but it did provide me
with everything I could need! Male/female sockets, leads,
splitters, etc, etc. . back to Mums and to cut a long 'up and
down in the attic' story short, eventually had both TVs working
fine off the one attic mounted high gain aerial (85%+ signal - no
errors) by just using a splitter up near the aerial and soldered
plugs on the ends of all the leads. (Only major hickup (not
including getting covered in and inhaling lots of fibre glass
insulation!!) was when I discovered a piece of (old 'Telewest')
cable I was trying to use with a prefitted crimped-on socket, was
apparantly faulty! Who'd have thought it. Made me panic for a bit.
Sadly had to bin it.) . at some point, just to make it as neat as
is humanly possible, I'll have to return to attempt to PVA/glue
the aerial cable right into the corner of the kitchen wall in the
short space above the kitchen cabinets, but it's hardly
noticeable as it is (even Mum said so!) so that can wait . .
terrible argument as I left, but absolutely no way would Mum take
no for an answer. She INSISTED - absolutely INSISTED physically,
I take money for having done the 'work'. £100 for goodness sake!!!!!!!
Well - thank you very much! Want any more done? lol . . back home
by around 5pm . . grabbed a quick coffee and sat for just a bit
before heading out to walk, just a little bit early to get it
over and done with . .ate the last of the chicken with chips and
four pieces of bread and butter . . TVd, too tired to move . .
touched base with BB . . ate bowls of co-co pops. . TVd until bed
around 12:30am. aas
9 - Up just after 9am! . . walked and was in
the mood to carry on down town and back in a hazey sun, to have a
look in a few charity shops and just to see whatever was going on.
Nothing much was the answer. Really rather quiet. Hard to believe
it was the same place, after all those pirate festival crowds. .
the big issue seller was down there with the little puppy again.
It's a tiny little thing - apparantly only twelve weeks old
according to snippets of conversation I overheard - and I don't
think it's even actually his - seems to be passed around! I'm -
um - 'uncomfortable' every time I see it - concerned for its
welfare and all that (although it had apparantly just been
chipped by a vet). I can't really believe that an alcoholic big
issue sellers lifestyle is such that a small puppy is going to
have a good/long life. These suspicions were somewhat confirmed
when I overheard him saying it had a bad paw at the moment -
because some drunk had stood on it!!!! Grrrr. :o( . .PCd this at
length for most of the day (what a waste!)!! . .Mum called around
3pm to let me know her new TV was just arriving . . walked up
Mums a little later only to find the store van was STILL parked
outside her house!? I'd expected them to have been long gone by
now - that doesn't bode well. . sure enough, the poor guy from
the store was still wrestling with the suilly little amplified
portable antennae desperately trying (and failing) to get all the
channels. I eventually felt obliged to butt in because it didn't
seem fair to keep him there any longer. It wasn't unexpected and
simply wasn't going to work, no matter how much he contorted the
aerial (and himself) in the attempt! It was 'our' problem and he
should leave us to it. According to him, it was the first one he's
failed to get to work. He seemed pretty relieved to be given an
escape from it. . explained to Mum (again) I'd sort out a lead
down from the aerial in the attic, although it would mean
drilling holes in the ceiling and kitchen cabinets. All got a bit
heated when Mum suggested she'd 'get a little man in' from an
aerial company to do the work! I foolishly took this as a bit of
an insult - but she just wanted to save me from having the work
to do. I insisted 'I' would do it. Hell - I've spent a large
portion of my life doing such things, many MANY times, I know
exactly what needs to be done. Get the cable from the attic to
the TV first - worry about the antennae and if it's catching
enough signal to simply split the downlead, or if an amplifier
will be necessary, later. At length, after much heated 'discussion',
Mum agreed to let me have a go at it - but not now. . . all
walked BGdns and then on Mums suggestion carried on down to the
harbour for sits on a harbourside bench with a Mum paid for lott
of cod and chips each from the 'usual' chip shop . . eventually
headed back via BGns, Mums and then home . . JK called . .
guitarred/TVd . .touched base with BB . . ate chocolate and TVd
until bed around2:30am. s
8 - Up around 8am, tired. .walked . . PCd a
quick DVD of the latest videos so Mum could watch it on the TV
later . . did dish washing chores until Mum arrived with food
donations for a cuppa, chats and to see the latest videos . .
guitarred/TVd/PCd/did housework chores, vacuuming etc, getting on
top of things a bit after having neglected everything for ages.
Popping out to the bin with the full vacuum, I spotted the
neighbour and managed to get rid of their parcel I'd taken in. I
HAD actually intended to just hang on to it and see how long it
took them to come and get it. Still seems weird to me they didn't
rush straight round to pick it up, as soon as they found the card
yesterday saying it'd been left at my house. People are SO weird.
. . finally got round to sorting out a camcorder tape to put in
the camera and eventually tape over - the young kids at last
years 'Bookstart' event (shame though - for the parents sake, in
time). Some of the original footage I've recorded throughout the
last couple of years I'm still not ready to discard (although
probably will eventually as time moves on. If I had the choice (££££)
I'd keep every second of it for posterity, maybe under the floor,
and have it found by someone after I'm dead and gone!). Since the
pirate festival I've been going out without
the camcorder, because I didn't have any blank tapes left - and
boy does that make me feel naked after all this time of never
going anywhere without it! I need to get on line and order some
tapes - just in case. . drove to walk . . cooked and ate a Mum
donated pizza with extra onion and cheese, with the last of the
tub of coleslaw, and then the last of the packet of jelly babies.
.JK called to touch base . . TVd/guitarred. . touched base with
BB . . TVd eating biscuits, feeling pretty exhausted again.
Putting in the countless hours doing these videos really takes it
out of me. I really need to resist doing any more - but it's so
hard with so much going on all the time. Only a couple of weeks
and it'll be the week long heritage festival again! NO WAY am I
going to cover (any of?) it like I did last year! . . to bed
around 1:30am. s
7 - Up around 9am! . . drove to walk . .
straight on the PC to work on what I thought was the rather
amusing Deja-Vu video (no offence - but because they just sounded
SO bad! They were even heckled by a drunk asking them to jazz
things up a bit!! lol) . . called a halt around 1pm intending to
have some lunch but caught the weather forecast on the TV which
said it was going to rain in the next day or so, so I figured I'd
better get out quick and mow the lawns - AGAIN! . .took receipt
of a parcel for next door. . after the lawns, cooked chips and
ate with cold chicken and two pieces of bread and butter . .returned
Mums ansaphone call. She's ordered a digital portable TV and
aerial for her kitchen from the local store (to replace her
existing analogue one), being delivered Saturday, so she said she'd
be popping in tomorrow instead of the usual Saturday. I reckon it's
gonna be real touch and go whether or not she can pick up a
signal on that new one, because she doesn't have an aerial socket
in the kitchen and is gonna be relying on the portable antenna.
We'll see. I said I'd pop up on Saturday (after it's been
delivered and 'installed') to have a look see. .. napped until
around 6:30pm!! Wow - it's been raining already. Glad I did the
lawns . . PCd and - um - dare I admit this - started coughing up
just a hint of blood! Oh well - it was only a matter of time,
what with all the PC work/chain smoking during it all, disc
cutter/brickdust over the years, etc etc. If your gonna smoke and
be realistic about it, you HAVE to accept that sooner or later,
things are likely to get nasty and you'll pay the price. (There's
a Homer Simpson episode - I think maybe the one where a comet is
thought to be going to hit and kill everyone - where Marge's
chain-smoking sisters celebrate when they think they are about to
die from the comet hit, 'because they beat the cancer'. :o) That
made me laugh and struck a chord with me when I saw it. ). .
drove to walk in a strangely reflective mood, considering my own
mortality and all that, as I passed all the memorial seats and
looked out over the views etc. . PCd (ignoring seemingly constant
ansaphone calls from JK/BB) and at length finished off and
uploaded the Deja-Vu video. I think I missed a cigarette or two
there for a minute, but was pretty soon back chain smoking again
of course! Ho hum . . . touched base with BB . . ate cold chicken
sandwiches with coleslaw around 1am, followed by most of a packet
of jelly babies while TVing. . had to just sit and relax for a
bit before eventually to bed around 3am!!
6 - Up around 8am. Well - I survived the night
and no signs of any food poisoning, so I guess that chicken is
fit to eat . . walked in a hint of drizzle, but not enough for a
coat. Stopped off at the store on the way home for milk and some
going cheap bread rolls . . PCd the whole day away again,
wrestling with what I thought would be a quick and easy couple of
edits on the 'Pyrates!' videos. Actually, not entirely sure why
it took me so long - although much of it was 'down time'
processing and uploading etc! Tried to make use of the time by
guitarring as I waited. . Could have taken longer if I'd bothered
to sort out the bad lighting properly (the band guys were just
dark shadows under that roof), rather than just select 'extreme
backlight' acoss the board and have much of it all over exposed
and bleached out! (My favourite bit of their performance funnily
enough, was the last song they sang - the one WITHOUT any musical
accompaniment! 'Chicken On A Raft' is it called? PROPER sea
shanty type stuff. I've got a lot of time for stuff like that. It's
kinda REAL. ACTUALLY the kind of thing you could have heard
aboard a ship years ago, to keep them in time doing the rigging,
hauling on ropes and such like. It suprsies me there aren't more
people doing that sort of stuff around the harbour etc, during
all the events that go on - Pirate Thursdays, etc, etc. It'd
really add something to the atmosphere I think and wouldn't
require any setting up or equipment or hassle. . JK called to
touch base . . Stopped around 4:30pm while the files uploaded to
Youtube for a trio of cheese, mayo, onion, lettuce and tomato
rolls with crisps . . carried on PCing until around 6:15pm before
having a break. . drove to walk. Unusually put the car radio on
when driving back and bumped into a BBC2 Mike Harding folk type
music show. Actually ended up sitting in the car after I'd got
home for a bit, just listening. I'd forgotten how I used to
really like some of that folky type music. I SO wish I was
capable of making some of it! :o( (The fact that I cannot is one
of the greatest disappointments of my life - of which I have an
infinite number of course, as I seem to be increasingly
reflecting on the passing of my life and the not so many years
yet to come!) . . listened to the end of the radio show and then
guitarred . . ended up back on the PC and cut out and uploaded
the pirate'ettes' video for the record/parents?. Can't imagine
that one getting 'too' many hits though! Awful. lol . . guitarred
at the PC for a bit, having a jolly good go at a bit of John Lee
Hookers 'Boom, Boom, Boom'. Suprisingly I'm getting pretty close
to parts of it - but then I guess to anyone who CAN play the
guitar, it's hardly very complicated (although it seems it to me!).
Wish I had a recording of him doing it on his own WITHOUT a band!
I keep getting all confused and trying to do the rest of the band
bits as well as his bits, which just can't work with MY skill
level! . . touched base with BB . . 
guitarred until my left hand fingers were
sore and the callouses on my fretting fingers were threatening to
start tearing off!! I really MUST get on line and order some new
strings pretty soon. Dunno why they make my fingers black like
that!? Incredible these have lasted this long - and how I am at
the moment, I'd be horrified to suddenly be without the guitar
when one breaks. I'm not sure, but I think the ones I have on the
guitar may be 'hard' strings. I'm pretty sure I deliberately
elected to buy 'hard' strings whenever I bought them (not knowing
what the hell difference different softness makes), to make
things as difficult as possible while learning - the theory being,
it'd toughen up my fingers and end up making it easier in the
long term. Kinda how I do things. Probably terribly in error. I'm
not sure I should have those hard skin/threatening to peel off
callouses like that - with the built in groove that definitely
shouldn't be there which'll unintentionally make a note when I
don't fret quite right and the string kinda slips into it!! - and
they sure do hurt after playing for a while! . . ate a whole Mum
donated buttered ginger cake . . TVd (drag racing) until bed
around 2:30am. sa
5 - Up around 8am. Actually ended up watching
the nesting birds to-ing and fro-ing in the front garden for a
bit. Looks like definitely at least three of them. I actually
caught sight of all three sat on top of the hedge at one point.
Boy was I close to cutting through that nest with the trimmer!!!
They really are now quite exposed. :o( Fingers crossed. . .
walked . . PCd the whole rest of the day away, working on the 'Pirate
record attempt video compilation' until gone 7pm non stop!! . .
drove to walk leaving the PC uploading the file to youtube. I'd
actually wanted to change a few bits here and there to make it
flow better, but I just couldn't face the prospect of putting in
even more time on the damn thing! Tough thing to edit down hours
of (largely my-crappy, should have taken more stills) footage to
so few minutes. Always end up finding 'the perfect shot' amongst
the footage some time later when it's too late! . .put the
chicken I'd bought the other day into the oven to cook after 9pm!!!
I've been putting off doing it day after day what with all this
video making. I was intending to do a big load of potatoes and
stuffing and make full use of the electric and make up several
meals, but I just couldn't face investing all that time in it
right now. I should have frozen it! I have a horrible feeling it's
actually gone off. I'm absolutely NOT gonna just throw it away (£5ish)
so I'm going to have to take the risk!! . ate a banana (first
thing all day) just to stave off my starvation-diet hunger pangs
while it cooked . . PCd a bit of this . .actually ended up
guitarring and cooking the chicken for much longer than I
probably could have, just to be as much on the safe side as
reasonably possible. . eventually somewhere around midnight I sat
down and ate the two chicken legs, with four pieces of bread and
butter and coleslaw. I 'think' it tasted ok despite its age and
the really rather unpleasant smell it gave off when I originally
took it out of the fridge and unwrapped it. .touched base with BB
(jokingly suggesting it could be for the last time if I develop
food poisoning overnight!) . . guitarred/TVd until bed around 2am.
4 - Up before 7:30am. . . walked. Received more
left over food donations for Sally from K . . PCd the 'Stripey'
videos and eventually uploaded them and mailed a couple of e-mails
to let him and the Samba Roc band people know of the existance of
the YouTube files. . . ate the pork and stuffing rolls I'd left
yesterday, with crisps a banana, a mini cheescake and some
chocolate . . napped for a couple of hours. . drove to walk . .
PCd, transfering the full LP tape of pirates footage from the
camcorder to the PC . . BB called briefly . . guitarred . . TVd .
. ate pork and stuffing sandwiches with crisps and a mini
cheescake . . touched base with BB . . got all hooked up watching
a couple of Eric Clapton programs on TV (while 'cuddling' my
electric guitar) and as a result didn't get to bed until around 3am!!
d
3 -
Up around 7:30am. . walked . . PCd the 'Samba Roc' band video all
morning and got it uploading to YouTube. . left Sally at home and
headed down town just after midday, as soon as the 'Samba Roc'
video had successfully uploaded, to have a look at the world
record attempt for the largest gathering of pirates . . amazing
scenes! The whole town was absolutely heaving with people (which
of course was actually pretty hellish for me, but I just couldn't
resist attempting to record at least something of it!)! As it
turned out (perhaps because I really wasn't up to all the 'get in
their faces' work it would have taken) I get the impression it
would probably have been a lot easier to do justice to the
spectacle with a stills camera rather than a video camcorder!
There was just too much going on to be able to do it justice.
Pretty much ended up with just lots of 'tops of heads' crowd
shots, because - well - it's a small town and there really were a
HELL of a lot of people! If they don't actually get the record,
it'll be a real shame. Seemed like half the town had really made
an effort. I of course hadn't (mainly becausee I didn't have
anything in any way piratey to wear - and certainly wasn't going
to start buying stuff) and along with the few others who hadn't,
I pretty much stuck out like a sore thumb as a result! Really was
amazing - pirates FAR outnumbered the 'straights'!! lolol
-//All
unfinished. Not enough hours in the day!//-
eventually called it quits and
started heading back via Fore Street, with the intention of
sussing out if there may have been a 'run-the-tape-out' video
opportunity of the piratey crowds leaving the harbour that way
for a timelapse. Actually somehow turned out to be quite quiet up
the street, but there WAS a busker. Sat on a seat with a
cigarette or two trying to just listen and enjoy, rather than
going into 'capture the moment' mode, but it soon turned out the
guy was good. Very good. Exceptionaly good! Brilliant in fact! I
just HAD to record at least some of it - I just HAD to.
PCd . . started to feel unwell and eventually ended up
feeling really bloody awful. Hadn't eaten all day and knew I must,
so made Mum donated pork and stuffing rolls. Try as I did, I just
couldn't get the things down, and without having even eaten a
whole single one, I bagged them up and left them for some other
time!! . touched base breifly with BB . . . to bed around
midnight. s
2 - Up
around 8am. Sunny as forecast. . . walked. I'd seen a sign on a
house on the way to BGns the other day advertising a garage
clearout/sale. Had a look on the way past. There was nothing much
of any interest to me - except for a bunch of white plastic
conduit, like I always embed in the walls to socket boxes
whenever I do any re-wiring work. As I showed interest in it, the
guy said I could actually have it all for nothing if I wanted,
just to get it out of his way!! Damn - I'd been intending to
carry on and walk down town, but the temptation of such a freebie
was too much to resist. Picked up the five full lengths of
conduit on the way back (that'll be enough for every socket/lightswitch
I have yet to do in the house, +) and even also bagged a free (albeit
rather rusty) large wood saw to add to my tool collection,
because I don't actually have one (I've been doing all my
carpentry with a metalwork hack saw - although I actually prefer
to do so because you get such cleaner cut edges, even if it is
almost impossible to get a deep cut straight with such a narrow
blade!). Cool. :o) . . grabbed a coffee and then headed back down
town to see what was going on in terms of the weekend long Pirate
Festival and in search of a new mini dv tape for my camcorder.
All the many I have are full! Neither shop had any which seemed a
bit bizarre and a bit of a bugger!!???? Had a quick look around
the pirate filled harbour and then at some of the birds of the
falcons club displayed on the green before back home (never mind
all the big owls etc. I was fascinated by a big black rook.
Beautiful - but I still particularly hate the idea of captive
birds, even if they are bred for it and know no different. Tell
that to their genes!) . . guitarred . . Mum called in with food
donations for chats etc . . ate pork pies and crisps . . TVd/PCd
. . walked back down to the harbour to see what was going on.
Bumped into JK for chats and then all rushed along to see
whatever was going on under the Old Fish Market roof when 'drumming'
started. Turned out to be 'Samba Roc' - a bunch of people from
Paignton with learning difficulties who performed in a samba band.
Maybe you had to be there to get the atmosphere, but I thought
they were really cool - and I think the rest of the audience
thought so too. Full of good natured energy and happiness. I
couldn't resist - ended up pulling out the camera and filming a
bit of them by resting my elbows on top of a large refuse bin.
After they'd finished their performance, I figured if I was to
make up a YouTube video, a picture of the big drum would be
useful because it had their name on it. As people walked back and
forth in front of it, I crouched down trying to get a few decent
shots of it. One of the 'learning difficulties' band members
apparantly noticed me doing so, and without any encouragement
from me, on more than one occasion took it upon himself to shift
the drum forward and reposition it a couple of times amongst all
the people, so I could get a decent shot. lol Nice one. I wonder
what his mind made of me trying to photograph their drum? lolol.
Hard to explain, but - well - 'learning difficulties'? It seemed
to me like they all had much to teach the rest of us about how to
act! . Back via sits in BGdns . . PCd . JK called . .Mum called
to tell me all about long tailed tits from her bird book -including
the remarkable adaptation that the parents of a brood will often
be assisted by another un-mated adult!! Aha. I wonder. When I'd
been watching them the other day it'd appeared to me there were
more than two - although they are so quick, I'd put that down as
my mistake.. . touched base with BB . . ate ham rolls, kipling
tarts and biscuits . . TVd until early before bed.
1 -
Up around 9am. Much sun.. walked and carried on down town to tour
charity shops. 
Scored
some rather ok looking unusued walking type shoe/boots for £5
and a couple of bones for Sally from the butchers. Actually tried
looking up those boots on line while pcing this to see what they
may be worth, so I could feel all good and gloating about what I'd
saved, but I couldn't seem to find them. They had 'TREX' labels
on, but all that seemed to come up with when I searched for that,
was kids shoes with a dinosaur footprint tread, or sets of shoes
for dogs!!!!!!!! Shoes for dogs???? Yeah - really - and up around
£50 for a set of four!!!!!!!!!!! Difficult to imagine living
somewhere where you could possibly need such a thing. I guess
maybe where it snows - given the way I HAVE had Sally have
trouble walking when the snow has compacted around the hairs
between her pads. Still - I've never seen a TV documentary where
a pack of wolves queued up outside a shoe shop! . . . back home
by midday as the weather deteriorated. .Mum called to touch base
. . as we chatted on the phone all of a sudden was the sound of
what I thought was fireworks!? Turned out to be a whole series of
maroons or flares (actually not unlike military aircraft let off
to attract surface to air heat seeking missiles) climbing up into
the southern sky before exploding with a bang and falling back
down all abright?? Weird. No idea what that was about. (I WAS
almost tempted to take the camera and jump in the car, but just
couldn't be bothered.) If my geography is right, it would have
been out at sea past Buryhead maybe? . . guitarred and ended up
on YouTube looking at guitar videos. . Even more of my YouTube
videos have been blocked for musical copyright infringement -
even including the majorettes!!!!!? I really should contest that
one. After all, I was just recording a public event - I didn't
add the music - it was what I recorded at the time. Surely some
bloated record company can't make a claim on such a video?
Nevertheless, I figured it was best to just let sleeping dogs lie,
in case my contesting it, could maybe have got the majorettes in
trouble for using a piece of music as backing to their public
performance which they really weren't authorised to. I'm really
starting to have a major problem with how these damned record
companies can somehow 'own' music like this, just so they can
continue to try to make a load of money out of it - MOST
especially when the actual artist who created the music in the
first place is long dead! . . JK called in for chats and a cuppa
as the weather turned to rain . . drove to walk . . cooked and
ate pizza . . TVd eating chocolate and kipling apple tarts . .
touched base with BB . . TVd until bed around 1:30am. as
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