31 - Woken by Sally around 5:30am needing the garden! Couldn't get back to sleep so got up . . .PCd . . walked around 7am. A pleasant quiet, calm morning . . PCd surfing - LOTS, for MANY hours!! . . Mum called to touch base. . after having gone round and round and round for hours, and agonised lots about spending some of my ever dwindling, irreplaceable savings, I eventually arrived at my usual 'What the hell. Just DO it for goodness sake!!!!' state of mind!!!!! Imagine how easy life must be for the wealthy - when throwing away a couple of hundred pounds is nothing! It's a REALLY big deal to me! :o( . ordered a 'Stagg SW203CETU-BK Electro-Acoustic Dreadnought Guitar' (£103.95 inc. from Normans) and a couple of sets of new strings (£10 from a different supplier), both from Amazon. I could have ordered the guitar direct from the supplier 'Normans', but the weird thing was, the postage was £3 or so cheaper when ordered through Amazon, so I went through them being the cheapskate I must be. . on a 'just do it roll', I then went onto e-bay and ordered a scanner! A Uniden Bearcat USC230-E Scanner with 'Close Call' (£116 Inc.) That's a whole bunch of money to me - and the moment I'd pressed the 'buy' buttons I was wracked with regret and guilt!? Should have bought a new fridge, consumer unit, lawnmower, etc etc etc instead. :o( Actually - it's also a 'big deal' to me, because of the - um - 'relationship' one can form with ones guitar. After all, you're gonna spend a lot of time with it, holding it, etc.. . cooked and ate bacon, eggs, sausages, black pudding, baked beans and fried bread followed by a little chocolate . . napped until around 7pm . . drove to walk . .guitarred despite the 'G' string about to break at any moment. At two different frets the winding of the wire is showing signs of breakage and unwinding! Imminent! Hardly dare touch it!! Having said that, I guess those strings haven't done bad. They must surely have been on that guitar for around - um - five years!?? Can that be right?!!! No wonder my recent recordings of it sound a bit weird. lol Wonder what my 'I can't actually play or 'hear' it' ears will make of a new set of strings? Probably won't be able to 'hear it' at all then!! Have to start all over again! lol I'm REALLY not looking forward to putting new strings on it. I've always found doing so, 'problematic' and then followed by continual re-turing every time you pick it up for ages, as the strings 'bed in' and stretch. :o( The old crappy classical guitar I recently re-strung is almost untouchable to me for that very reason. Every time I touch it - always totally out of tune and awful sounding . . . touched base breifly with BB . .TVd until early before bed.
30 - Broken sleep. Actually woke in the night feeling cold. Think it's cooled down enough to put the duvet back on the bed! Up around 8:30am. . walked in a misty drizzle . . PCd/guitarred experimenting LOTS, and then all of a sudden it was nearly 6pm!!!!!!!!!! - BUT - YAYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!! I've proved it IS possible! I've been meaning to experiment like this for ages, to see whether or not it was possible to use the video editing software to act as a rudimentary sound mixer. It has a section for adding music, and a seperate section for overlaying voice (never mind the audio track of the actual recorded video which could act as a third). Theoretically it seemed quite feasible to record and lay down a bit of guitar as the music track, and then record some more and lay that down seperately as the voice track. When played in the normal way, all the tracks are mixed into one. Well - it took ages to test the theory - with some chords strummed for one track, and then I think it was three seperate samples of some improvisation, inserted seperately like pieces of a puzzle, for the other track - and oh boy WHAT a fiddle trying to position them on the time line to get them in sync-ish - but IT IS POSSIBLE!!!!!!!! Never mind the poor guitar playing, random improv, and poor sync etc etc etc (it WAS just a test - but I admit I DID have the title 'Diamond Nine' in mind, or something similar!!) - here is the result of my day of experimenting. A 2.3MB mp3 file, 2.5 minutes long. Me playing with myself! Oooer! lol It's all given me a headache - but a bit of a 'buzz' too!!!! :o) . . Sally has her latest upset stomach and during the day was sick in the conservatory. Eeeew. Lots of letting her out in the garden . .skipped the walk . . . cooked and ate Mum donated pizza, a banana and chocolate. . TVd . . touched base with BB . .to bed before midnight.
29 - . . somehow come daylight I was still up! With a clear blue sky and the sun already streaming in through the curtains it seemed a bit pointless going to bed! Sat in the chill of the front garden with a coffee and cigarettes and then walked around 7am. Another quiet beautiful morning. Much cooler and autumnal. Found £2 . stopped at the store on the way home and bought a few provisions . . cooked a bacon, eggs, sausages, black pudding, baked beans and fried bread breakfast . .slept for a couple of hours until woken by Mum popping in for a few hours. A clear blue sunny sky when I lay down - almost total grey cloud cover when I got up! . . fitfully napped for a couple more hours. . drove to walk . . guitarred/TVd . . touched base with BB . .ate salami and lettuce rolls and some chocolate. . TVd until bed around 2:30am. s
28 - Up around 8am with a heavy rain shower . Watched my latest video over again a couple of times for breakfast. As usual, in the 'cold light of day', it's already looking pretty pathetic to me. Oh well. It made me feel a bit more 'up' for a short while there at least. . walked in the sun after the rain. Filled a carrier bag with litter and bottles from around my favourite gun emplacement. Had to leave the inside covered in a carpet of broken glass. . back up under the roof I got talking to one of the council bin men who'd turned up, warned him about all the broken glass down below, and suggested he'd need to take his broom. In conversation we got onto the subject of the bags of litter frequently left by the poop bin, that get broken open and scattered around by the seagulls (my rant and the picture of the 7th July refers - although it's been noticeable, none has been dumped there of late). Turns out they HAD done their best to go through all that litter when it appeared, to try and figure out who'd been putting it there, and had also tried to work out a pattern as to when it was being dumped. They had originally suspected it was the camper vans (as had I!), but according to him it'd turned out not to be (so my apologies to them!). Based on the evidence they'd gathered (lots of tea bags, and 'receipts'), they eventually concluded it was probably from the cafe down on the beach!!!!!? The 'word' about the problem had been passed around, and lo and behold, the bags stopped appearing. . the guy I was speaking to was the one who'd cleared up the pile of debris I'd collected up from the vandalised roof the other day, and as I'd hoped, he HAD reported it (but didn't seem confident anything much would soon be done about it.). .
PCd and then PCd this. Interrupted by the
phone. It was the police enquiry office letting me know the
bracelet was back there and awaiting my collection. . . walked
with Sally in the showers and picked up the bracelet from the
police office. (With it now actually mine, and there being no
further chance of someone reading this and going to claim (steal)
it as theirs, I'll now include the picture I took of it on the 27th.
lol ). . Toured a few charity shops etc. Couldn't resist buying a
box of as new/never-been-fitted basin 'lever' taps for £4. 'Cascade-Toronto'
style, the box even had the original purchase receipt included!
Originally bought on 29/03/04 at Homebase for £29.99! I don't
necessarily want them myself, but for that money I figured what
the hell, even if only for spares (or maybe Mum some time in the
future if her hands get less able to grip her bathroom taps?) -
or who knows, perhaps even 're-sale'?. . . bought ten 50p burgers
at the butchers and scored a couple of bones for Sally. . Forced
myself to sit in town for a cigarette as 'has' been my habit.
First time I've been down there for a while! Almost a month. Felt
'uncomfortable'! :o( . spontaneously popped into the nearby
jewellers, explained, and asked about the bracelet. They
confirmed it was silver, and suggested they sell similar-in-weight
for around £60. :o) I don't actually WANT it. Maybe I should try
and sell it? . . ate defrosted K donated beef and chips with
gravy. That huge lump of beef was meant or Sally, and has been
reheated/frozen/defrosted several times, but as far as I can make
out, it's still good and worth me having a go at! By rights, I
really should have died from food poisoning long ago! . . napped
for an hour or so. .spotted a bit of unusual air traffic
movements in the sky. 
PCd and tried
to check the Dartmouth Regatta website to get details of their
air displays, but the site was consistantly down, reporting
overuse/out of bandwidth! Typical - just when you want it! . .
sat out on the front step with coffee/cigarettes/guitar/cameras
for well over an hour waiting for the Red Arrows. Windy with
scudding clouds across the clear blue - pretty much perfect
weather for a dsplay. Touched base breifly with Mum . .at 6pm
sure enough they arrived in the sky overhead and proceeded with
their display, much of it in the distant Dart valley, well BELOW
the horizon. Had a prod with the video camera but nothing was
gonna come of it (other than a few still-frame captures). My
house is cursed by a nearby telegraph pole and a sky full of
cables out front! It WAS the usual impressive display, even from
here. With the mostly clear sky, and no limits on their altitude,
I think they even did their trademark 'heart in the sky' thing
with their smoke trails - although veiwed from here it was mostly
side-on. Plenty of neighbours were all on their doorsteps
watching. Felt pleasant to somehow have such a low key
spontaneous 'communal experience' like that (which seem to be few
and far between these days). . drove to walk . . PCd . . touched
base with BB . . PCd this and that all evening! . . s27 - Up around 7:10am . . walked . . PCd the cruise ship/'time to go video' all morning until it was kinda done mid afternoon. Given the awful, endlessly repeating guitar loop (actually VERY nice (fiddly) to edit to, because it's all kinda 'done by repeating numbers'), it seemed to me that sowing the seed of the title with the veiwer, was kinda important with regard to the up coming images - kinda. Hard to explain what goes through my mind when I do these things. All in the twilight and calm flat blue, the ship struck me as being a strangely ghostly image - unreal looking, all speeded up like I did it. Breifly researching MS Prinsendam on-line, I discovered it'd changed hands and been renamed a couple of times in its life. It was originaly launched in 1988 as the 'Royal Viking Sun'. So - my title was 'Time To Go', because I can 'hear' those words in the twiddle - and/or 'Ghost Of The Viking Sun' because of the feel of the images and the name change. Works for me. :o) Shame I can't do better with the twiddle! lol . . Uploaded it while eating crab paste sandwiches, crisps and biscuits . .one of my youtube 'twiddle' videos had been commented on by someone, and as is my habit I had a quick reciprocal look at HIS youtube page. monello198 Wow. That's an interesting character - with masses of his own, amusing/quirky songs! Boy - am I envious of his write/play/sing ability (and actually his moustache!! lol)! He makes it look SO easy and yet I find attempting my own, SO impossibly hard! . . fitfully napped for maybe an hour or less, being woken over and over by next doors loud motorised lawnmower . .TVd . drizzle. Skipped the walk . touched base with BB . .showered/guitarred . .ate corned beef, mayo and onion sandwiches with crisps, a banana and a little chocolate. . TVd until bed around 2am - after having watched my latest video at least a couple more times!! I'm sure after some time has passed without going near it, I'll replay that video and shudder at how awful it is, but I have to say at the moment, as with the couple of other 'twiddles' I've done, I'm - um - 'pleased' with it? It's because it's MINE - all mine! No one can hassle me or censor/mute it for copyright infringement or anything like that. That funny little 'postage stamp in a collection' type four minute entity, would not have existed but for me having created it. That strokes my pathetic ego! I'm slightly more 'up' today, as a result of having done so. Just imagine how satisfying it must be, to be able to write and play your own songs (like that monello guy - or the millions of others out there doing similar?)!!! To do so - just ONE at least - is the one and ONLY single thing I can identify, as a goal I would seek to acheive before I die! I just need to live long enough!!! lol
26 - Woken around 7:15am by the sound of the wind battering the bedroom windows . . walked in the wind and drizzly rain. Nasty, although not as bad as I'd imagined it would be, and the forecast is suggesting it'll be better later this evening . .PCd . .it's been a day short of a month, so I figured it was about time I called the local police enquiry office about the bracelet I'd found and handed in, to see whether or not it had been claimed, and if not to arrange to have it back. The officer said he'd check and call me back. . . Mum called to touch base . . the policeman called back, confirmed it hadn't been claimed and said he'd retrieve it from wherever it had been sent (Torquay?), and he'd give me a call on Friday once he had it. . PCd for hours experimenting with one of my favourite guitar twiddles and the footage of the cruise ship from last night. I dunno - I think it may actually work-ish. Ended up with various PC files entitled 'OnToSomething'. lol . . ate Mum donated crab paste sandwiches and crisps . . guitarred, just whiling away the hours and watching the weather, actually feeling rather unwell and headachey. .at long last, the weather improved a little, although nowhere nearly as much as the forecast had suggested. Still seemed touch and go about the Red Arrows display with such a drizzly low cloud base and all, but with rain at least holding off, it seemed worth the effort of walking down to BGdns to see. I'd have kicked myself if I'd missed it. It wasn't my specific intention to try to film any of it, but I couldn't resist puting my cheap and nasty but light tripod in my jacket pocket just in case. Walked with Sally and to my suprise and delight finding it free, was able to sit (ontop of a plastic carrier bag) on my favourite gun emplacement. Plenty of people were around, so it appeared it WAS going to be going ahead. Overheard some anorak/enthusiast type guy saying they'd taken off! How did he know? He didn't appear to have a radio? Maybe he did. The more time goes by, the more the desire grows in me, to buy myself a scanner with the new 'close call' facility, so I can eavesdrop on everything that's going on (marine band/coastguard, aircraft, etc. I presume it'd pick up the Arrows during display?) . .
despite the crappy weather and low, thick
grey cloud cover (actually worse than last year!) the Arrows DID
turn up at 6 o'clock on the dot, and made the most of the
conditions. I couldn't resist attempting to film, but such were
the weather and lighting conditions, it was pretty much a repeat
of last years disaster - blurred, shaky, cramp in my hands,
drizzle on the lens, etc, etc. I really should have learned my
lesson from last year and just sat back, watched and enjoyed. In
the true old fashioned sense of the word, they really are AWESOME!
How on earth could they do all that in the drizzle? Amazing. One
of these days they are going to HAVE to get decent weather for
the Torquay display. THEN I'll be filming for sure! . I was so
busy wrestling with my out of focus camera I pretty much missed
it, but right at the end of their display, they pretty much all
flew off away from Torquay, across the bay and directly overhead.
The last of the bunch was pretty low and seemed to run his jet
straight up the throat of the outer harbour and thence over the
town. People in the expensive houses with the view of the bay,
must have had an amazing close up look at him as he went. Some
people have it all! . hung around for a bit and actually had a
breif conversation with someone I'd spotted listening to a
scanner. Turned out he'd been listening to the coastguard,
because the lifeboat had been called away from the Torquay
display-line in the middle of the display 'on a shout'. (I HAD
noticed it leaving and had assumed as much.) Something about a
small boat with engine trouble - they'd got the engine going
again and were eventually just escorted back by the lifeboat. Yep
- I reckon it'd be pretty cool to have a scanner in a pocket, and
have one ear devoted to monitoring things like that. . . PCd the
worthless footage. . . TVd. . ate sausages, eggs and fried bread
followed by chocolate. . touched base with BB breifly. . TVd
until to bed around midnight. aas25 - Up around 8:15am . .
walked in a sunny spell only for heavy
showers to descend once I'd thankfully reached the shelters in
BGdns. Sat around with lots of other dog walkers for ages under
the roof, waiting for the showers to pass. As had been publicised
in the local news and to the delight of the local tourist
industry, a huge cruise ship had arrived in the bay and was
moored off Torquay with its small tenders queuing up alongside to
take the (rich and priveledged?) passengers ashore. "MS Prinsendam, part of
the Holland America Line, which can take 793 passengers, will
anchor off Torquay and bring passengers ashore by tender. The
ship will be moored from 7.30am until 7pm." The weather
forecast for tomorrow is absolutely awful. We're going to be
battered by the remnants of 'Hurricane Bill' apparantly. The bad
news about that is, the Red Arrows were due to do their Torquay
display tomorrow around 6pm. They'll be lucky to pull that one
off, under the circumstances! . . surfed a bit reading up on
consumer units/RCDs/showers, etc. again. I have a horrible
feeling, all things considred, I'm NOT going to be able to do a
DIY job on putting in an electric shower here!!!! It's going to
take a qualified electrician and a new consumer unit! That'd cost
a small fortune and plenty of upheaval, so I guess that's out of
the question! That's a blow! :o( . . PCd this and then somehow
PCd the rest of the day away. .drove to walk. Ended up sat on top
of my favourite gun emplacement for almost a couple of hours
watching the cruise ship eventually slowly, oh SO slowly leave
the bay. The 7pm mentioned in the paper turned out to be GMT, so
it was nearer 8pm BST when it moved off. Looked really impressive
all lit up in the dark. Couldn't resist filming . . cooked and
ate four sausages and chips followed by some chocolate . . TVd .
. BB called breifly. . TVd until 'early' to bed around midnight. 24 - Woken several times by Sally clattering around the room!!
Eventually got up around 6am or earlier to
let her out, only to find she didn't need to!? Don't know what's
going on with her. Back to bed in an angry mood and unusually
actually closed the bedroom door to enable me to try to get just
a little more sleep. . up around 9:15am . . walked under grey
skies . . sat around desperately trying to motivate myself to get
on and do something, but failed miserably . . PCd a bit . .ate
corned beef, mayo, onion, grated cheese sandwiches with crisps .
.napped until round 7pm . .TVd . .touched base with Mum . .
picked up Mum then drove to walk. Sat in BGdns (without 'incident'
this time!) and watched the regatta firework display over the bay
above Torquay, along with just a handful of others on all the
seats. Too far away to really appreciate it, especially having to
wait fifteen seconds or something like it, for the sound to
arrive. Mum isn't comfortable being too near fireworks, and was
quite happy with where we were. Understandable from someone of
her age group I guess. 'It used to sound like that during
the war' she said. Of course I've never experienced anything
like that, but I ALWAYS imagine EXACTLY THAT whenever I watch
fireworks!? . . Sat around quite a bit after it was all over. .
The nights are really drawing in! Definite hint of Autumn in the
air already! . . guitarred/TVd . .ate a tin of sausage in beans
with onion, cheese and bread and butter before to bed around 2:15am
as rain fell. 23 - Woken by Sally clattering around the room more than once then up around 9:30am after what felt like no sleep at all! :o( . . walked - slowly, exhausted, just going through the motions again . . PCd this while watching just a bit of the grand prix. Round and round . . . ate salami rolls and chocolate . . napped until around 7:45pm . . TVd . . touched base breifly with BB . . PCd aimlessly. .ate bowls of muesli before to bed around 4am.
22 - Up around 8:30am . . walked. Two carriers of litter. . did dish washing chores . . Mum called in . . ate Mum donated chicken and stuffing slice rolls with crisps . . napped . . drove to walk . . TVd/guitarred . . touched base with BB. . ate half a mum donated golden syrup cake . . TVd/PCd until finally to bed getting on for 5am! s
21 - Up around 9am . . sprinkle of rain just before heading out . . walked the woods . . TVd . . ate burgers and chips . . slept . . skipped the walk . . TVd . . stepped out into the front garden briefly to watch a bit of the firework display from the fayre on the green but pretty soon overwhelmed with who cares. . touched base with BB . . ate chocolate mini rolls and bowls of cornflakes . . TVd until bed around 2am. s
20 - Up around 9:30am . . drove to walk. Much cooler than of late with a breeze and strong gusts . . TVd . .ate cold chicken and bread and butter . . watched the live news broadcast of the scottish justice minister's speech about letting the Lockerbie bomber go home to die on compassionate grounds. Never mind all the contentious issues - it really WAS an excellent speech I thought. Very clever . . slept until around 6pm . . walked in a fleece with a hip flask of red wine and sat on top of my favourite gun emplacement for ages. Too many people with children around to be pleasant. I can't even innocently sit up there now without feeling SO uncomfortable I have to leave! :o( . . TVd/PCd a bit of this . . ate pizza . . touched base with BB breifly . . TVd/PCd until early.
19 - Up at 8:15am. PCd yesterdays useless shaky footage. . . walked.
Walking back up the paths below the gun
emplacements towards the roofed shelter, the area was once again
strewn with large (up to twelve inch square!) pieces of slate
like roof tiles! The yobs had obviously been at it in the night
again and had been wrenching tiles from the roof and launching
them high into the air above the paths far below like frisbees!
How many times is this going to happen before someone is actually
going to be seriously injured? It is NOT beyond reason that
someone could easily end up being killed by those flying tiles!!
F****** IDIOTS!!!!!!!!! With a sinking heart I eventually made my
way up to the shelter for my sit and cigarette and to see what
state the place would be in. Turned out to be far worse than I'd
imagined it would be. Not only had yet more tiles been torn off
and smashed up all over the place, but they'd even wrenched a
huge length of the wooden fascia from the structure and smashed
it up all over the steps that lead down from the seats. Rotten
wood, nails, broken tiles and debris was everywhere around all
the usual small crowd of dog walkers! I've seen so much of that
type of yobbish behavior first hand, mostly back in Bristol, I
could almost picture in some detail them actually doing it - and
how it would have caused them such amusement and how they would
have laughed when that fascia wood was torn off and smashed up.
Made me feel sick. Utterly sick and full of impossible to
describe powerless anger and utter despair. . collected up all
the debrsi and put it in a large heap by the nearby rubbish bin.
Because the council haven't bothered to attempt to make a vandal
proof repair to that first couple of courses of mssing tiles, and
because they've been off for so long now, all the wood structure
and joists beneath is now fully rotten. That'd cost a small
fortune to sort out now. Hard to imagine it will survive. Across
town, other such structures (notably one really nice old one on
the road above the end of the breakwater - once perfect for
sheltering in and watching the big waves during bad weather) have
simply been demolished and removed. If this one is similarly
removed, I will be heartbroken. I cannot sufficiently express,
how much of a loss I consider the removal of such structures, is!!!
These structures are worth more than the pathetic lives of the
people who damage them! . . Eventually returned home feeling even
more down than when I'd set off - and believe me, I was pretty
down to start with. What IS the point of having to live like this?
Honestly - I can find none. :o( . . TVd/sat around in full force
'down'. That sort of down where you can't even be bothered to
focus your eyes! I've even found myself walking along the street
with Sally while doing that! I'm not going to labour the point
with pointless drivel here, but I'm really not doing so good
right now. Sleep is the longed-for highlight of every day - most
especially the afternoon nap for some reason! In times gone by, I
would have been back on the prozac by now - but - been there ,
seen that, done that - it changes nothing - what's the f***ing
point. Psychologically, there's no return from the place I've
reached now. Humanity has no place for me and I none for it . . .
ate black pudding, baked beans and buttered bread rolls . . slept
. . drove to walk . . ate a banana, biscuits and some chocolate.
. TVd/PCd until bed around 4am or later. aa18 - Woke earlier, snoozed on then up at 8am. .walked.
Spent a crazy amount of time pointing the
camera at a seal which was unusually basking on a rock exposed by
the low tide off Churston cove. A couple of people in a small
motor boat got within about twenty feet of the thing and were
taking photos. They must have got some great shots. It got a bit
unnerved by their attention, and the sound of dogs barking on the
beach, and returned to the water, before eventually clambering
back up onto its rock. Did that a couple of times! Eventually got
bored with seeing it just sit there in the distance, but then
spotted two more as I carried on walking, and dared to have
another prod with the camera despite the proximity of someones
child. . 
shortly after they'd disappeared around the
coast, a twin engined aircraft did a real low circuit of the bay.
Caught my attention and got me filming because it was SO low, and
at first I thought it may have been in trouble. It wasn't - just
some lucky sod having a cliff height veiw of the entire coastline.
Aren't there rules governing how low they fly in relation to
buildings? He MUST have been in breach of them, especially when
banking over Torquay etc. NYaaa - I'm just jealous. You actually
see quite a few aircraft around here, military and civilian,
lower than you'd normally expect, apparantly just making the most
of the scenery and such. Assuming they are all on 'VFR', and some
are jets going real quick, it MUST be a 'bit' risky, particularly
for the occasional microlight etc. - never mind the 'bird strike'
issues. I'm not complaining. I love to see aircraft in all their
glory, as close and loud as possible . . All turned out to be
pretty blurred and shaky useless as usual - and what the hell is
the point anyway! . . coffee in the garden before back up the
ladder to put more paint on the roof and fill and paint a big
crack in the wall . mowed the lawns . . another coat of paint on
the wall . . weeded the front garden . . showered . .drove to
walk . . stopped at the store on the way home and bought cold
chicken, garlic mayo and bread rolls . . TVd . . ate half the
chicken mayo and buttered bread rolls, banana and chocolate . .
touched base with BB . . TVd until bed around 12:30pm. saa17 - Up around 9:45am - ready for more sleep already! . . walked real late. . sanded and painted a bit of the front garden gate latch keep. Some time ago a small thumbnail size bubble developed in the Hammerite paint I'd put on. I ignored it for ages but then the other day decided to try and press the bubble flat in readiness for sanding it down. Turned out the bubble was somehow actually full of rainwater which had corroded the metal and turned into a noxious ferrous corrosion goo which spurted out down the wall and eventually left a big rust trail!! Should have attended to that long ago. . the one negative thing about having built and reinstated my stairs bannister is that I can no longer thread the ladder through the house as I once could. Intending to have a look at the small rotting shared roof over my and my neighbours front doors, I had to carry the ladder all the way down the lane, down the hill and along the road to reach my front garden!! It's a long way to carry a ladder! :o( Movement in the rotting timbers of that roof, and a rust stain streaking the house wall beneath, has suggested for some time that despite my botched repair last year or whenever it was, rainwater is still somehow getting in behind the zinc top plate. I'd been putting off trying to improve things with a further bit of 'botching', because of the shared nature of the roof, and the fact that all that was left to try was to extend the botch across the neighbour's side! To be honest, on close examination while up the ladder, I couldn't really see where rain could be getting in. One or two areas 'may' possibly at a stretch have allowed a strong wind to blow water up into crevices where the roof joined the house wall, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to do the same botch as I'd already done on my side - i.e. run a line of PVA/cement mix along all the joins, mould it into a water repelling shape with a wet paint brush and then when dry cover everything with layers of masonary paint. Obviously a 'botch' but it could only help to improve things (as it definitely has on my side). . eventually had the job done. .trimmed just a little of the brambles in the front garden hedge and de-weeded some of the back garden pots while waiting for the cement to dry, before rushing on a quick coat of paint! Actually put in a little extra work scraping and sanding down next doors small tiled window ledge by the door. It's been in a sad flaking state since I removed all the ivy a couple of years ago. I'd sanded down and painted mine but didn't want to overstep the mark by doing theirs because I didn't know what they may be wanting to do about it, and it was right next to their front door and PVC double glazing unit etc. With busy lives it obviously wasn't a concern to them (or maybe he hadn't done it because he'd given ME the black masonary paint he had, which he'd been given by the previous owners of my house!). Since I was out there using some of that paint on the roof botch, it was just a small job to get a layer on that cill and make it look a little better. Just cosmetic stuff (which I don't think they've even noticed has been finally done. lol) . .left the ladder in the front garden overnight, chained to a garden seat! . . ate three Mum donated salami, mayo, lettuce rolls with crisps and some chocolate . . napped until around 7pm . . touched base with Mum. . drove to walk. A group of youths were stood by one of the seats, surrounded by empty beer cans, all drinking bottles of beer. Without any particular unpleasantness there was a breif exchange of words between us referring to the litter. They assured me the cans were not theirs and that they WOULD be taking their bottles away with them. I grabbed a nearby discarded carrier bag about to blow away in the breeze, and collected up all the cans. While I was doing so, they offered me a bottle of beer. lol I declined because I was driving, but a pleasant change from the usual obnoxious types that get down there. (I think they were true to their word too.) . .back via the shop for ciggie papers and then Mums breifly to drop off half the plums I'd been given. I know me - I'm just not gonna get through them all and they are gonna go off and end up being thrown in the compost bin!. . . TVd/guitarred . .touched base with BB . . ate the last salami etc roll with crisps and two bananas and chocolate . . TVd until bed at 1:11am. a
16 - Woken by Sally earlier then up around 8:30am. Down day. Pointless. . walked the woods. Returned home feeling so tired I couldn't help but lay straight back down again. Woke around 2pm feeling just as tired. . ate a Mum donated pizza and a couple of plums. .TVd a bit then back to bed and slept until around 7pm. . . TVd. . touched base with BB . . TVd/PCd until bed after 4am!!
15 - Woke earlier then up around 9am . .drove to walk with a hint of dampness in the air. Cleared up two carrier bags full of drinker litter from my favourite gun emplacement (and that after another dog walker had already filled a carrier with bottles!). Many of their bottles had simply been smashed in the gun emplacement and it was impossible to pick it all up, so the place is now just covered in a carpet of lethal broken glass fragments (and the usual pools of urine, beer, etc.). Amongst the debris left behind was a rucsack (tatty - not worth keeping), some female type sunglasses, an asthma inhaler complete with the medication, and 9p in copper. I kept the money, a dog walkers kid had the sunglasses, and I carried all the rest to the overflowing bin. (There are currently so many camper vans staying parked up on the road, we need more bins!). . guitarred in the back garden. Over and over again while trying to play my guitar, the damn fridge kept on making its awful pneumatic drill type noise, requiring me to stop, go in and give it a good beating - again and again! I confess I'd fully passed the point at which I really couldn't care less if the thing stopped working there and then, and I even walked in at one point and just kicked the damn thing, kung-fu style in a fit of temper, totally resigned to the fact (and actually rather looking forward to it) that I'll be buying a new one! Ended up tearing into the freezer and ripping away parts of the innards (breaking one of the plastic lugs) in an attempt to once and for all expose whatever the hell was making the damned noise. Don't ask me how I didn't see it before, but somehow I uncovered a small fan in the very back of the thing behind the pipes of the freezer unit, set into a circular recess in a big thick sheet of polystyrene insulation. THAT'S it!!!!! The recess was so tight fitting to the fan, that the slightest bit of movement in the poorly held polystyrene, or a tiny build up of ice on it would foul the fan blade, and start it making the noise - and even actually stop the fan from spinning (don't understand how that fan getting frequently jammed like that, didn't get burned out as a result. Must be one of those that doesn't actually have brushes - like on a PC power supply?)!! It was difficult to get access to the offending polystyrene, so already long since resigned to having to buy a new fridge, I simply took a large bread knife out of the kitchen drawer and sawed a whole piece out of it, before just stuffing everything back in place as best I could what with the now slightly broken pieces! Well - who knows - with luck, that has solved the problem and I may get a bit more use out of the old b****r yet. .guitarred until Mum called in with food donations for a cuppa and chats . . ate Mum donated chicken and stuffing rolls, crisps, plums and chocolate . . napped until around 6:30pm . . drove to walk and sat on the top of the gun emplacement for quite a while, before filling a carrier with litter and beer cans and walking it up to the bin. . PCd a bit of this . . touched base with BB . .ate ham and mayo rolls and chocolate . . TVd/PCd until finally to bed around 4am! s
14 - Woke earlier then up around 8:15am . .walked under a flat grey sky. . did paperwork and balanced my accounts. Uncle TJ called to say thanks for the card from Mum. .Mum called to touch base and then again to say her new washing machine had just arrived. . ate black pudding, chips and beans . . napped until around 7pm. Woke feeling a bit awful and stayed that way pretty much all evening. . TVd/guitarred . . touched base with BB . . TVd/PCd until bed around 3am or later. For the first time in as long as I can remember, I actually put in the considerable amount of time involved, in attempting to clean the PC keyboard. It really had got into a hell of a disgusting state. Slightly better now, but still full of dust, beard hair, tobacco, cigarette ash and all manner of disgusting debris trapped under the keys! lol. a
13 - Up around 7:30am headachey. .walked. On the way back someone started calling out my name behind me! That shook me up a bit until I realised it was a dog walker in one of the houses I'd passed. They called me back and offered me a carrier bag of plums harvested from their garden trees. That was jolly good of them. Turns out they'd actually given some to lots of people. Must be very productive/fruitful trees he planted. If I had the energy and money to intelligently re-landscape my back garden (as it SO needs - but I probably never will), I'd want to sneak in some fruit trees somewhere somehow, rather than the high maintenance blossom trees I have. . . bit of a 'groundhog' type of day - crushed rocks again until around 3pm, managed to get through all I had, and put the result in the lane up by the neighbours driveway. Sadly not 'quite' enough to be able to fully bury all the big stuff he'd dumped up there, or make as much of an improvement to the level as it needs. I think it's fair to say, mostly through my efforts, access from the lane to EVERY driveway up there now is somewhat improved, with less of a mud-flap damaging step up to each, while retaining a 'relatively' smooth(!) run down the length of the lane. With the one nutcase exception, I think everybody is quite happy about it. Nevertheless, if it was in any way possible, you could easily lose everything I've already done, over again up that lane, and STILL have need for more, to really do a decent job on it! All too much hard work! With the occasional rare exception of maybe a bit of maintenance and pothole filling (I DO have a bunch of breeze blocks left out by the garage for just that purpose), I don't anticipate doing too much more work on it all. . . showered, did laundry . . ate corned beef, mayo, onion, cheese and lettuce sandwiches with crisps and then a little chocolate . .napped until around 7pm . . drove to walk and sat in BGdns for ages. . guitarred and then some more out in the front garden watching for the perseoid meteors. Only saw one . . touched base with BB . . TVd . . ate a tin of hot dog sausages, banana and biscuits . . to bed around 2:30am. as
12 - Gave up trying to sleep through the clattering of Sallys claws on the bedroom floorboards around 6:30am after really hardly any sleep at all! :o( . . walked. Picked up all the Strongbow cans and litter left around the gun emplacement by last nights foul mouthed yobs. . Mustered the energy and exchanged a word with K in passing, and suggested I'd pick up some more of his rubble in my car later if he could temporarily move his out of the way. He was going out later anyway so I said I'd wait until after he'd gone to do it. . PCd a bit of this . . left Sally at home and drove to Ks around 11am and picked up all the slabs of tarmac/rubble he'd put in two ton bags. Managed to shift it all in just two trips (albeit probably overloading my poor little car rather!). . put in three hours or so breaking up some of the tarmac. Probably less than half of it! VERY warm - drenched in sweat! Funny coincedence but when it came to actually transporting it up the lane to dump it, one of the neighbours had also dumped a load of chippings/rubble out there by his driveway. Sadly of course, no one else in the world is so crazy as to put in hours breaking it all up into gravel-like pieces like I do, which meant what he'd put out there was pretty big lumpy stuff and really not good for driving over!! Bit disappointing that, given the effort I put in to making it all as smooth and drivable as possible, but never mind. Every bit helps. I still have a huge quantity of that tarmac to break up, so with a bit of luck there'll be enough to bury all the big stuff he's put there, and help him out by raising the eroded, sunken lane closer to the level of his driveway. . showered off the layers of black grime. I hardly perhaps need say it, but my face always wears a frown. I'd hardly noticed, but with age, those two sort of verticle frown lines above my eyebrows have become deep and permanent. So much so, after having almost finished my shower, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and realised that they were still full of black dirt! Had to adopt a whole new facial expression to be able to clean my face fully (with the aid of a nail brush!)! . .exhausted! Lay down to nap but only managed a fitful hour or so before getting back up. Ate corned beef, mayo, onion, cheese and lettuce sandwiches with crisps . .K stopped by on his way home and dropped of yet more left overs meat for Sally . .the lane was blocked by some car dropping stuff off, when I got in my car to walk Sally. I indicated that if he could just pull forward for a minute, I would drive out behind. Instead of that, he pulled onto a neighbours grassed area at the end of their garden, did a three point turn and then roared off up the lane at a crazy speed. (Most of those driveways are completely blind for getting out onto that lane. It must surely be only a matter of time before there's a collision up there! I kinda hold my breath every time I pull on to it and drive up - or mostly down it!) Stupid young idiot, but I guess it proves my efforts have made a difference out there. Only a few months ago driving up there at that speed would have been utterly impossible, what with all the deep furrows and potholes. Drove to walk and walked the woods 'in reverse' with plenty of quiet sitting amongst the trees . . TVd . . ate three kipling apple tarts . . touched base with BB . .I'm pretty dehydrated! Can't seem to quench my raging thirst . . TVd until bed around 1:30am. as
11 - Up around 8:30am. . walked. Found a penny. Sat on my favourite gun emplacement for quite a while. Sunny and warm. Thought it was just clouds at first but eventually realised there was a huge cloud of thick black smoke on the distant horizon over Paignton way. Big fire there somewhere. (Checking the local newspaper website later in the week, there were reports of various fires all over the place. Various cases of 'spontaneous combustion' of hay bails etc, but also one of a bunch of tyres having gone up at around the time. Given the blackness of the smoke, I reckon it must have been that.) A dog walker confirmed that there appeared to be 'something going round' and told of other dog walkers rushing their sick dogs to the vet with stomach upsets etc! . . did laundry . . TVd/guitarred a bit . . ate four Mum donated salami and lettuce rolls . .napped late until around 7pm! . .TVd watching the 'police dogs in action' program until 8pm. . touched base with Mum and suggested she may wish to accompany me on the walk this evening because there was going to be a big firework display over Paington at 9:30pm. Mum hates that sort of 'lets do it - NOW!' type call, but it really is the only way I can do things these days. I really can't plan ANYTHING in advance because I never know from one day (one minute!) to the next what sort of a mood I'm liable to be in, and whether or not I'll be up for doing whatever it is, or so down I can't move and just need to hide away from everyone/everything! . Drove with Sally and Mum to BGdns to walk . .lots of people around, all turned up to see the fireworks.
walked around
6am. Almost a cloudless sky apart from on the horizon, with the
sun rising from behind it. Just a hint of a breeze, fleece-cool,
dew glistening on everything, quiet, and hardly anyone around.
All in all, a really beautiful morning. . no sign of the 'Alladins
cave' car that'd been parked up there last night. Filled a
carrier bag of litter along the way around BGdns - even going out
of my way to pick up 'little' bits and pieces, because I'd been
so well 'paid' last night. Thought I'd made another 'find' at one
point, but the leather bag just left on an area of grass turned
out to be owned by some girl sat on the rocks a distance away -
and some distance from another girl, looking just a little 'out
of place' somehow, sat on one of the seats. Sat for a cigarette
watching the stunning sunrise (and unable to resist daring to
video just a little of it! Old habits die hard!). It was tempting
to assume from what I saw out of the corner of my eye, that the
two 'distant from each other/one sniffing a lot' girls, were
partners and had had some sort of argument/disagreement/lovers
tiff. Given the fantastic calm atmosphere to the morning and the
glorious sunrise/scenery, it was gratifying to eventually see
them reconciled in an embrace, before walking off together. .passed
a council litter collector on the way back up the path, and with
a breif pleasant exchange, handed over the carrier bag of rubbish
I'd collected. Eventually headed back as the sun rose higher into
the clear blue, promising another day of good weather for the