November
30 - Up
at 8am around sunrise again. 13C in, 0C out with plenty of frost
and ice on everything. . walked Fgn and back via a tour of the
charity shops in town. . . PCd a bit but felt increasingly iffy
and not so well. . eventually retreated to bed and slept (despite
much hammering and drilling noise from next door) until mid
afternoon. . . still not feeling so good! Sucked annadin tablet
and just sat around for a bit. . PCd. I've been actively
resisting spending ANY money on ANYthing of late (I need to get
rid of lots more stuff, not accumulate more!), but this evening,
after days of mulling things over, I succumbed to temptation!
Before I make a rash decision and potentially regret selling the
MD-1 base mic (which despite its age, IS quite a good one, does
produce good audio, and IS still quite sought after for just that
reason), I want to try it out on the FT-897. Trouble with that
is, the 897 like so many modern radios, uses an RJ45 type mic
socket (yuk!) rather than the old eight pin round used on the
older yaesus (and the MD-1 base mic lead). Rather than start
butchering the base mic, the normal way to go is to get a short
conversion socket and lead. Trouble with that is, the cost. A
'proper' one is up around £20 or more - decent 'homebrew'
versions on e-bay are around £15. After having poked around on
the net for a bit, I figured it was worth gambling a few £s and
experimenting at having a go at making up my own!!! Pointless
investing in a crimping tool etc for making up the RJ45 socket
for this one occasion. Figured it was worth giving it a go using
a standard network cable. ( I DO have some knocking around I
'could' have sacrificed, but sadly, all freaky and unaccetable
colours.) Ordered a '1m Short RJ45 Ethernet LAN Patch
Network Cable' for 99p including
delivery! Cut in half, that 'should' provide me with TWO
lengths of cable, with the RJ45 plug to go into the 897 already
on one end. In for a penny, in for a pound, I also ordered TWO
'eight pin floating mic line plugs' (sockets actually)
for £6.18 inc postage to go on the other end to accept the MD-1
plug. So - IF I can
pull it off and make it work - I'll have made TWO for less than
£8!! Its a big IF knowing MY track record - but if I DO manage
to acheive that, it 'should' be quite possible on 'a good day',
to sell one on e-bay and recover my costs. We shall see. Worth a
modest gamble I thought. :o/ . . .walked FGn feeling quite wobbly
and woozy. . . touched base with Mum . . TVd/guitarred/PCd the
evening away until I started feeling a little better. . . finally
cooked and ate a big pile of mashed potatoe, peas, and tuna and
mayo around 2:30am, followed by a load of chocolate and chocolate
biscuits!! . .eventually to bed not far off 4am.
29 - Up around 8am. 13C in, 0C out. . .
walked the woods in the sun with a rucksack, and bagged another
stone from the ploughed field. Returned to BGdns for a bit of
ball play before the painful walk home carrying my booty.
Actually about the right sort of temperature for doing such
things. Just got nicely warmed up rather than overheating too
much. . . sat up the top of the garden in the sun recovering with
a coffee and cigarettes. Actually quite comfortably pleasant in
the warming sun. . The last time I walked up the back lane a
while ago, I'd spotted three large Ikea garden centre type bags,
full of what looked like 'mostly' soil, dumped outside the back
of a neighbours house. A couple of nights ago I'd collared the
neighbour as they were unloading their car out front, and asked
if it was up for grabs. It WAS, so I said I'd shift it for them
at some point. The front garden border beneath the fence is in
need of plenty more soil, and I can't escape the desire to make a
similar little border right across the bottom of the garden, with
a little dry-stone retaining wall of no more than about six
inches or so in height to seperate the border from the lawn.
Doesn't sound like much but it'll take a LOT of soil (and stone!)
to be able to build that up like that. I need every little bit I
can lay my hands on. Breifly shut Bella in the house and
eventually managed to carry the awkwardly heavy bags of VERY poor
soil (mixed with lots of weeds and grass!) down into my garden.
Dumped it all out on the upper terrace of paving slabs and then
dug it all over and removed the worst of the weeds and roots,
etc. Dug out the bottom foot or more of my
always-full-to-the-brim garden composter, and eventually mixed it
all into the pile of soil. Ended up with a quite respectable pile
of dark brown rich looking 'soil' - VERY different from the
bright orange 'natural' that you get around here . shovelled it
into a couple of big plastic tubs to carry, and after multiple
difficult trips carrying them through the house and into the
front garden, eventually had the border beneath the fence nicely
topped up (in part) and the remainder dumped across near the top
of the garden wall at the bottom of the garden. (the top of that
wall, is only a few inches above the lawn level anyway!) It was a
LOT of work - for very little improvement!! Only a couple of
inches higher - if that! If I AM going to acheive a little coupl
eof feet wide border down there, I'm gonna need PLENTY more -
somehow - from somewhere close (especially since with all that
plant material mixed in, it will break down and subside to even
less over time, like the border beneath the fence did)!! . .
messed around in the back garden, sweeping and tidying up around
near the composter. Jumped up and down inside it, to get
everything back down to ground level inside. Yayy - first time in
years I've actually got some space in the composter for a change!
Promptly filled much of it with some of the nearby weeds, and
with just some of the fallen leaves that the wind has blown into
heaps all around the garden. Didn't bother actually sweeping them
all up all around the garden, because there are still a bunch
lingering on the blossom tree still to fall, and because I was
just too tired to do so. Eventually called it quits early
afternoon. . . with all that having all the doors open moving
stuff through the house, the inside
temperature had dropped to only around 9 degrees C (only around
6C out, even with the sun)!! . . put the fire on, drank a bit of
wine and ate tuna and mayo sandwiches, crisps and a square of
chocolate while TVing the news . .touched base with Mum. Still
doing fine . . napped (ohhh - the joy of wrapping myself fully
clothed in a winter duvet and escaping the cold for a bit) until
the alarm at 6:30pm. . 13C in, <1C out! Felt tired, and
aching, really badly from my knees in particular. All it took for
me to skip the evening walk again! . . TVd/PCd this, trying to
catch up. It doesn't take much to happen in my quiet, almost
non-existant little life, for there to suddenly be a lot of
typing! I couldn't do it if I actually HAD a life! lol . . .TVd .
. ate a pastry slice and crisps, a couple of bananas and some
chocolate . . to bed around 1:30am.
28 - Up late around 9am!!. . . touched
base with Mum. Doing fine, and STILL no real pain??? . . walked
the woods with a rucsack and eventually picked up another big
stone for the garden (which I'd spotted and kicked out of the
ploughed earth the last time we walked up there). Carried the
heavy load all the way back to BGdns before sitting for a
breather and for Bella to chase her ball. Eventually carried it
all the way home and temporarily dumped it in the front garden
border with the others . .recovered from my exertions before
ending up on the PC for a bit . .tried very hard to actually 'do'
something, but felt cold and tired and ended up not!! . . .ate
two ham rolls, crisps, mini pork pies and a tin of oxtail soup
followed by a little chocolate. . . napped until around 6:30pm .
. listened in on the radio to the local club slow morse practice.
I seem to be getting worse/slower at it not better!? . . .could
very easily have skipped the evening walk again, but my milk was
going off, so I really had to get out to a local store before
they closed anyway. Walked FGn in the increasing cold under a
mostly clear, star filled, bright moon ('bombers moon') sky.
Ended up chatting to a dog walker for ages, and had to rush back
afterwards to 'just' catch the local store as it was closing at
10pm, to get my milk. . . TVd/guitarred with the gas fire on all
evening. . . ate ham sandwiches, crisps, banana, shortbread
biscuits and chocolate . . touched base with BB . . TVd/PCd until
gone 3am before to bed.
s
27 - Up around 7:40am. . PCd this . .
walked FGn . . TVd, just waiting for Mum to briefly stop by on
her way to get the bus to the hospital for her leg operation. She
eventually arrived just before 11am and gave me an envelope of
money for the taxi fare later, together with the phone number of
the firm she seems to like to use. Wished her good luck and then
watched, at length, until she was out of sight as she hastily
hobbled down the road to get her way-early bus. Sad. . so -
that's me all just waiting by the phone for the whole day now!
Ugggh. :o( . . . put a load of laundry on . . Finally bit the
bullet and made a radical decision about one of the old
non-digital CRT screen portable TVs I've had cluttering up the
place for years. I HAD toyed with the idea of listing it on e-bay
for a £, or even just trying to give it away on Freecycle, but
after poking around on the net, it was obvious that you just
can't even give them away these days - especially considering it
didn't even have a scart socket! It worked perfectly of course,
and it seems an outrageous waste, but I finally decided I was
just going to ditch it. Without a car to take it to the tip, that
meant actually putting in the time to dismantle it and break it
all down into wheelie-bin sized chunks (to be 'hidden' under the
rest of my 'legitimate' household waste)!!!!! The big old glass
screen/tube 'just' fitted straight into the bottom of the bin,
and the plastic case and various other bits and pieces were
eventually smashed up and thrown in on top. I HAVE actually
temporarily held onto some of the circuit boards, with a view to
'maybe' some time attempting to remove some of the resistors and
capacitors etc, which 'may' be of use in my morse-code oscillator
projects (which I AM FULLY intending to return to at some
point!). Good to finally have all that out of the way. (I have
two others (in occasional use - one in the PC room, the other on
a kitchen worktop - both needing seperate digi boxes! Lots of
space and plugs!) which I would LOVE to replace with new digital
slimline flat screen types, but they are so infrequently used,
it's difficult to justify doing so. . . TVd/PCd a bit and tried
as best I could to do some morse code practice, but my mind was
all over the place and I just couldn't concentrate. Just 'waiting
for the phone to ring' like that, hour after hour, was absolutely
seeing me climbing the walls!!!!!???? With hindsight, I'm shocked
at how badly I handled it. I really was in an awful
wound up state! Difficult to explain, but it wasn't because I was
particularly worrying about Mum. It was more about just
powerlessly having to wait around like that, until whenever,
before then being suddenly thrust into having to 'be out there'
and unfailingly fill the role with which I'd been tasked! I don't
do 'panic attacks' as such - but I guess the state I seemed to be
in, could easily be described as well on the way to having one!!!
Pathetic! Doesn't bode well for the future when 'things will
happen' (Mum? Funeral, etc?) which will demand I suddenly run
around and have to 'do things' and take care of everything!!! :o(
. . .showered and got clean and sweet smelling for once . . .ummd
and ahhd and eventually decided to go for it at around the time
Mum was due to be arriving for her appointment at 1pm. She'd let
me know the other day that one of her kitchen light spotlamp
bulbs had blown and then broken inside the fitting. The glass had
come away leaving the end cap stuck in the lamp. She'd put up
with it not working for a day or so before telling me (!!!), and
had then told me not to try to do anything about it until after
she'd got the hospital thing out of the way. That funny business
of her not being able to deal with having too much going on all
at once. How similar we both are!!! Frightening! Anyway - I
figured I'd take a couple of pairs of pliers up and have a quick
got at sorting it while she was out of my way having her
operation. . Left Bella at home and popped up Mums and actually
managed to quickly and easily remove the broken part and fit the
replacement bulb without any difficulty at all. What a relief. .
ate pork slice rolls and soup . . . used up some of the hours of
agonising waiting by doing all my dishwashing chores . . TVd
nothing - waiting - more - lots! :o( . . finally at around 4:30pm
the phone rang and a nurse from the hospital confirmed that Mum
was all done (local aneasthetic - awake throughout), everything
had gone fine, and she was having a cup of tea and would be good
to go home whenever I got there. Confirmed with her what
department I should be heading for in the sprawling hospital
grounds (so I could tell the taxi driver). . immediately phoned
the taxi company who said they'd be here in five minutes - and
they were! . left Bella at home and jumped in the taxi (I was out
the door before he'd even pulled up) and quickly let the guy know
the plan - out to Torbay hospital across the bay - wait around
for as long as necessary - and then return. Managed a reasonable
chat with the guy all the way there. Seemed like a decent guy
actually. Oh boy was the taxi hot! I'm all now pretty much fully
acclimatised to my usual winter routine of being cold all the
time for months and wearing multiple layers - and I just can't
cope with the sort of temperatures others live in. It was a
suprisingly quick smooth run out there, but by the time we got
there, I was sweating and overheating and couldn't wait to get
out of the car! We initially pulled up in what turned out to be
the wrong place. The taxi driver actually went out of his way to
ring his wife (who works in admin on the site) and managed to get
accurate details from her of where we SHOULD be. Eventually found
the right place and I was finally able to escape from the 'mobile
sauna'! It was only a breif respite. Inside the hospital it was
just as hot! . checked in with the staff on reception and then
waited for around five or ten minutes until Mum was eventually
escorted out by a nurse. Not even in a wheelchair. Walked out
unaided. . back in the taxi and an equally smooth and quick ride
home without any holdups. . back at Mums, the taxi driver seemed
to be cutting us a deal and asked for £35 - LESS than was on the
meter. He HAD been rather good about everything phoning his
missus and all, and given it was Mums money paying for it, and
because I think I was relieved to just have it all over and done
with, I happily gave him £40!!!!! (gulp!) . . . had a coffee and
chatted with Mum and made sure she was gonna be ok. She seemed
absolutely fine. Better than fine - even on a bit of a high!?
Sis2 called to see how things had gone. She'd been really
worried. (Why wasn't I?) . Eventually decided it was safe to
leave Mum alone and headed home (after being forced to take a
couple of mini pork pies and a chelsea bun with me!) . . Bella
was pleased to see me - and me her! I HATE leaving her like that!
Seperation anxiety - ME!!!! . . . walked FGn in the uncomfortably
cold strong wind in a very strange state of mind . . touched base
with Mum. Still doing fine. . . TVd/guitarred - still in a
strange state of mind, and VERY much needing to just chill the
**** out! . . PCd. The guy who'd won the SWR meter had already
done me e-bay feedback - saying he'd received, fixed and
re-calibrated it - already!! Given the symptoms I experienced
with that meter, I confess I have my doubts that he's FULLY fixed
it, but if he has, good luck to him. Made himself a nice profit.
All in all, nicely done by him. Respect. Nicely done. . .radiod a
bit! Some guy called on echolink and I (mistakenly) thought,
seemed to be wanting just a quick radio check. No one in the
world bothered going back to him, so I thought I would to be
usefull. Ended up me getting bogged down in a rather 'difficult',
largely one way conversation - and boy, am I NOT good at keeping
a one way conversation going! Not sure what the deal was with
that guy, but I have a suspicion he wasn't quite all there in
some small way. Hard work! My eventual excuse was, I had to get
off to catch a TV show!!! :o/ . . . Sis2 called to see if I
thought it was too late for her to call Mum. Figured it was still
early enough and told her just to go for it . .ate a couple of
pork slice rolls, crisps and a banana . . touched base with Sis2
- at length, 'de-briefing' events and then just chatting . . .
finally to bed around 2:45am. s
26 - Up around 7am. . PCd finally
checking on what happened with all my e-bay listings which ended
yesterday. Two of the things DIDN'T sell - but that wasn't
unexpected, and I may well now decide to actually bin them - or
maybe I should start making up my own 'box of toss' to list for
next to nothing? Wow - I got some unexpectedly good prices on
some of the things which DID sell. TV Switcher £7.16 (+6.25 post),
Brass Lamp £39.56 (+£6.30 post), SWR Meter £27 (+£6.25 post),
2meter module £100 (+£6.25 post). I am deliberately NOT
keeping a close tally of how much some of the 'faulty' things
I've ended up with have cost me, and how much of a loss I'm
making overall - but generally speaking, I'm pretty happy with
what I've managed to claw back this weekend. The TV switcher was
actually in the 'box of toss' I bought, and given I've already
sold other bits from that box, AND have the morse key I wanted
from it, I think I've come out of the deal pretty even (or better
- and still have another couple of bits from it which 'may' yet
sell for a couple of pounds in the future?). What I got for the
brass table/piano lamp was a huge suprise. It was given to me by
mum when she decided she didn't want it, and has been getting
knocked around in a cupboard for years, and I very nearly donated
it to a charity shop just to have the space! Can't believe
someone would have given THAT much for it<worry>!! The
faulty, or maybe not, SWR meter (which I bought new - but let the
warranty expire) represents a straight £50 loss or thereabouts.
:o( Not good - but getting 'something' back on it, and finally
having it off my plate and out of my house and mind, is a relief.
The 2meter module for the 767 was another pleasant, totally
unexpected suprise. Amazed someone would give so much for
something listed as 'maybe' not working and 'for spares or
repair'. (I AM ALWAYS meticulously honest and detailed in my
listings!) I think I've actually made around a £25 profit on
that - kinda! Blah blah blah. Suffice it to say - I am not
unhappy with how these few things went. :o) . . Walked FGn a
little early. Walked in full weather gear and wellingtons because
of the heavy looking shower clouds in the sky, but pretty much
got it done in the dry as it turned out. A big tanker, 'Golar
Maria' was moored in close in the bay. . . straight back onto the
PC to do the work to label up the four packages ready for
sending. . left Bella at home and walked up the post office and
got them posted around 10am. Despite being oh SO careful about
weighing everything and looking it all up on the Royal Mail
pricefinder website and adding a little just to be sure I didn't
end up 'out of pocket', I STILL didn't get the postage prices
right!!!!!!! Made a couple of £s loss on the cost of sending the
brass lamp, but made a noticeably embarassing profit of up to a
couple of pounds on each of the other three packages - so
overall, comfortably covered my costs for parcel tape, etc! (It
remains to be seen if, as a result of all that, I'll get some
negative feedback about how much I charged on the listings for
the postage! :o/ Ho hum. ) . . touched base with Mum and suprised
her with how much I got for her old piano lamp . . PCd this at
length . .chatted locally on the radio for a bit . . . there was
something weird in the sky. SUN! After all the rain we've been
having this last few days, and given the amount of time I've been
cooped up in the PC room doing listings and the like, I felt very
much in need of being out and about for a bit. . Walked mid
afternoon in the sunny spell. Passing the road that leads to the
short-cut lane to the local shops, there was a sign saying 'Lane
closed. Tree felling' and the sound of chainsaws could be heard
in the distance. I presume those dangerous fallen trees resting
atop a garden fence will have been removed by the time I next go
that way. Walked down to Fishcombe cove and threw Bellas ball out
for her to swim to fetch several times. A couple of seal in the
water within fifty feet as she did so. Carried on up the
waterlogged and oh so muddy paths through the woods. At least one
new huge fallen tree in there. Did the circuit through the woods
and then back down to the lower seat in BGdns for more ball play.
A chilly northerlyish wind! Eventually carried on alongside the
outer harbor down town, encouraging Bella to paddle just a little
on one of the slipways, in an attempt to wash off some of the mud
she was covered in.. 'Some' christmas lights around the inner
harbor and up through town appear to have been lit already. I
'think' they were due to be officially switched on yesterday?! I
don't recall hearing any fireworks as had been planned? Not sure
if anything went ahead or not given the appalling weather. Or
maybe I've just got the day wrong? I really don't bother taking
much notice of such things these days. As in previous years, an illuminated
float has been put in the inner harbor by the William of Orange
statue, although NOT of santa claus this year. Instead it has
three small illuminated sailing ships (which actually suddenly
came on as we were stood there looking as darkness began to
fall). Given the number of boats in the harbor, it seemed kinda
ironic they'd gone to all that bother to make up three more. lol
Having said that, they DID look quite pretty, and once you'd
thought about it for a bit, you are liable to end up with that
christmas carol ("I
saw three ships come sailing by, on Christmas day, on Christmas
day")
involuntarily going on in your head as you carry on walking
around town. Quite fitting. . back home by around 5pm as the
temperature dropped to single figures . TVd . . . drank a glass
and a half of red wine. . Mum called to touch base at some
length. I think she's pretty nervous about her upcoming hospital
procedure. . ate a large mum donated pork pie, crisps, a lump of
cheese, spring onions and a couple of mini apple pies . . TVd
until bed at midnight.
25 - Walked FGn a little early . . back
via the store for a couple of supplies. Headed for the short cut
through the lane like normal. Uh oh. ANOTHER much larger spruce
type tree had now also fallen across the lane next to the other
tree, and it too was amazingly precariously resting at a forty
five degree angle atop the smashed garden fence panel(s). No
way!!! That was FAR too risky. Had to turn around and go the long
roundabout way back home. . . managed to stay awake and potter
around sorting stuff out and doing photos and research etc for
just a few things more to list on e-bay. Oh my god, it takes me
forever to do these listings what with having to look everything
up on the net and honestly write all the details complete with
faults, weigh and lookup postage rates, 'stage' and edit-up the
best possible collage of photos of all the items, etc, etc - and
all that for something perhaps at best only worth a couple of
£s!! Madness! Having said that, I DO rather think that the
effort I put in (the photos mostly perhaps?), DOES give me the
best possible chance of getting as much as possible for what I
list. I just can't do things any other way!. . ate pestrami in
two buttered bread rolls with a spring onion, mini cheddars,
banana and some chocolate . . napped for just a few hours until
mid afternoon - by which time it'd started raining - AGAIN!!!!!!
. . PCd for hours whilst monitoring radios, and finally managed
to actually list a handful of silly things on e-bay. Nothing
major. Just stuff littering the place I want free of, but can't
bring myself to just throw out! A coax splitter and a weird
earphone thing (more junk from the 'box of toss' I bought!), a
small amount (£10ish?) of Polish currency (from when I visited
Auschwitz!), a scanner Pre-amp, a Readers Digest Encyclopedia of
Garden Plants and Flowers, two old Beatles films paperback books,
three old Post Office savings bank money boxes, and an old
aircraft fire-suppression time delay switch part! With the
exception of the scanner preamp which 'should' get some interest
and reach the 'going price' (£10+?), everything else is liable
to remain unsold because it's either surpisingly near worthless,
or the outrageous postage costs make it a bad deal. Worth a shot
nonetheless. . . skipped the walk as the latest storm raged and
rain poured. . wow - I 'm feeling rather up tight and spaced out!
Just lack of sleep I guess . . . TVd/guitarred. .was so tired and
blah, I didn't even sit at the PC and watch all last weeks e-bay
listings end as I would normally! It can all wait until tomorrow.
. . ate pestrami, mayo and chopped spring onion sandwiches,
banana, mini-cheddars and mini apple pies followed by a square of
chocolate . . .TVd until to bed shortly after midnight.
24 - Up around 8:20am to the sounds of
the latest storm! Not 'quite' as windy (yet) as the other day,
but absolutely pouring with rain AGAIN!! Jeeze we've had some
rain of late. I am SO tired of having to go out in it - and quite
frankly, am rather inclined NOT to walk Bella at all today given
the forecast is for this ALL day - AGAIN! :o( This seemingly
constant battle with bad weather and the winter cold and darkness
is getting me down. . Skipped the walk!!!!!!! Poor Bella seemed a
little confused for a while, but soon perked up when her normal
post-walk breakfast was immediately served. I 'think' that's
pretty much the first time I've skipped the morning walk since
having her?. . prodded at more stuff for listing on e-bay with a
whistling howling window!! Oh my god, that CONSTANT howling noise
from the window in this wind is driving me UTTERLY insane!!!!
Hour after hour of it, NONSTOP - day after day! Those b******
f***** window fitters - ruined this house!! :o(. . . . mum called
in (in the pouring rain - despite me calling her earlier
suggesting she shouldn't!!) with the papers and food donations
etc. . . . . PCd a bit more . . cooked and ate a pack of going
off/out of date sausages with a couple of buttered bread rolls
followed by a square of chocolate. . . napped until around 6:45pm
. . TVd . . listed a handful of things on e-bay. . . finally -
FINALLY stopped raining around 10:30pm!! . . . PCd a bit of this
and that while monitoring . . TVd and then ended up back on the
PC for hours more and eventually ended up STILL awake deep into
the early hours. . .Ended up being SO late, I'd have only gotten
a couple of hours sleep before having to walk Bella if I'd gone
to bed, so I elected to just stay up! TVd and drank a coffee and
it was pretty soon daylight.
23 - Up around 8:45am again. A forecast
lull in between storms today. Even some sun. . .walked FGn . .
PCd. At least some of the things I've put on e-bay have got bids
on them, so I went ahead and spent hours sorting out appropriate
boxes and packaging and got them all wrapped up ready for
posting. . Mum called to touch base and let me know she'd
received a hospital appointment to have her local-anaesthetic leg
procedure next week!!! Worrying. :o( ALSO 'worrying' from a
purely selfish point of view, because I'm gonna suddenly be
dragged out of my 'comfort zone' and have to leave Bella at home
and get taxis and go escort her home afterwards etc!!!! And then
afterwards - who knows what state she'll be in, how 'functional'
and up and about she'll be, and for how long!! Oh dear . . . with
another 'free' listing weekend this weekend, I ended up pottering
around for hours more trying to sort out a few more things to
list. Actually put in a huge amount of time meticulously cleaning
the MD-1 base mic that came with the 767. Cleaned up pretty well.
Silly thing is, I don't think I'm 'yet' ready to part with it!
The way radio things have evolved on my desk, despite my
preference for handheld microphones, I'm even considering maybe
keeping it and investing a few £s in a conversion lead so it
'could' be used on the 897 (which from what I've read, I believe
IS possible). Yep - not in any hurry to list that - yet. The same
goes for several other radio things I plan to 'eventually' sell
on - the important 'big money' items - which I'm gonna be making
a big money loss on of course!!! :o(. . . . walked FGn a little
early as the temperature began to plumet. . On the return, a
woman in a small group of people was walking a large black dog
along the pavement on the opposite side of the road. As we more
or less drew level, completely out of the blue, her dog made a
sudden 'leap', in an attempt to run across the road towards
Bella! The unexpected leap was (suprisingly) stopped by the woman
valiantly holding onto its lead, but because of how big the dog
was, it still managed to briefly end up with the whole upper part
of its body off the pavement and leaning way out into the
relatively narrow, busy(ish) road - just as a car was coming
close by!!! I experienced a horrible instant jolt of adrenalin
and panic, powerlessly witnessing what I thought was likely to be
the death of the dog! Amazingly the woman in the car slammed on
her brakes and managed to come to a halt within literally inches
of the dog (whos back legs hadn't actually left the pavement).
Boy - was that a close one! All credit to the lightening
reactions of the woman driving the car! Althoughh 'kinda' the
cause, Bella and I were in NO way at fault, so I quickly carried
on so as not to wind that dog up any further. I imagine everyone
was feeling as 'shocked' as I felt. The woman driving the car
looked VERY unhappy as she paused there. If things had been
different, I'd have liked to have exchanged a word and
congratulated her on her driving and having saved that dogs life.
She deserved it. Briefly - I thought how 'well behaved' Bella
was!! lolol . Back via the store for a frozen pizza. .My
short-cut home down an unlit lane by the industrial estate, was
partially blocked by a 'relatively' small fallen tree!! I only
JUST saw it in the pitch black! Almost walked straight into it!
It was precariously resting between the high bank where the roots
had pulled out, and the top of someones now partially smashed
garden fence panel! Far to big to move - it'll need chainsaws and
the like! A stupid and dangerous thing to do with hindsight, but
I eventually just about managed to stoop under it and we carried
on! (A homeless woman in Exeter camping under a large tree, was
killed when it fell during the recent storm!) . . . hurriedly
cooked and ate a pepperoni pizza with extra grated cheese, and
hadn't long finished when D arrived with his guitar . .
headachey. Chatted and made a bit of noise until gone 11pm .
.only around 4C out, and no sign of the forecast storm yet. .
.TVd . . ate bowls of cornflakes before to bed around 2am.
22 - Up around 8:45am - aroundabout the
time the wheelie bins were being emptied (with my multiple bags
of hidden garden waste. :o) ). . Blowing a real bad gale
already!! Dreadful howling from the PC room window! . . walked
FGn in the fierce wind. Actually put on an old pair of
wellingtons I've had laying around in the garage for years, and
had a go at walking in those. It always seems to me to take such
a lot more energy to walk about in wellingtons, I hate them - but
given how permanently wet all my shoes are (and my feet as a
result!), and how waterlogged the green is, I figured I'd better
give them another try. Suprisingly didn't go 'too' badly apart
from a bit of rubbing on one toe, so they may well be
occasionally getting used in the really bad weather - rather than
constantly end up being sat around in soaking wet socks like I
have been of late. . a handful of ships sheltering in the bay.
Managed to miss any significant rain, but boy - was it blowing on
the exposed green!! Actually difficult walking back against it,
frequently getting blown to a standstill and all over the place!
Worse to come apparantly. The MSI broadcast is forecasting up to
storm force ten later!!! :o( . . . vacuumed a little just
breifly. Checked the outside rainwater drain was still unblocked
- an almost daily chore of late. . . Mum called to touch base. .
. PCd this as the wind increased still further and the storm
arrived in earnest. Absolutely battering the place!! Worrying. .
. .ate ham sandwiches and soup . . napped (despite the wind
noise) until around 6:30pm. Still raining a bit when I woke, so
skipped the evening walk, although at least the wind has dropped
significantly already . .PCd/TVd . . ate a tin of hotdog sausages
and baked beans with two crusts of bread and butter followed by
chocolate . . PCd until bed around 2:30am or later.
21 - Woke earlier, snoozed on, then up
around 8:20am again. It appears to have finally 'just' stopped
raining. Everything is SO waterlogged - and there's another,
potentially even worse storm with high winds forecast for
Thursday! :o( . . . walked FGn. The whole place was absolutely
waterlogged and fast turning into a mud bowl. Both got pretty
covered in it. Back via the local shops for bread and milk - and
a couple of rolls of parcel tape . . . pottered around and sorted
out a small pile of things to donate to a charity shop. Books
mostly - some rather nice. SUCH a shame I can't really list them
on e-bay. People WOULD want some of them, but the outrageous
postage just makes a nonsense of listing such things. . ate ham
sandwiches, crisps and a piece of treacle tart . . eventually
walked late afternoon with Bella and a full rucksack down town to
one of the charity shops and made my modest donation. Returned
via FGn to give Bella a bit of ball play and enable me NOT to
walk again later. . The 'closed' road alongside the green that is
being resurfaced, has had 'traffic cones' placed all down either
side of it, to make absolutely sure no one parks there. Whilst
sat throwing Bella's ball from my usual seat across the green
facing that road, a bunch of school kids came walking up the
road, and thinking they weren't being seen, one of the kids in
the group picked up every cone he passed and threw it over the
wall of the next bit of green down!! One after another, all the
way up the road! True to form (I'll NEVER learn my lesson will
I!), I couldn't contain my anger at witnessing such pointlessly
stupid behaviour, and I ended up shouting 'Oi. OI!' out at him
and then marching across the green towards them, 'telling' him to
go put them all back over (the wall)! Suprisingly, he immediately
sheepishly did so. Returned to my seat for a little more ball
throwing before eventually returning home. . tu . . napped until
around 6:15pm . . . eventually got on the radio and sat in for
the local club net and preceding slow morse practice. Despite the
hours and hours of practice I've been doing, my receive ability
is STILL utterly hopeless and slow! Assuming I'm not just a
hopeless case whole NEVER 'get it', I think I'm definitely doing
something 'wrong' in terms of the way I've been trying to get my
speed up. I need to try to figure out what I'm doing wrong and
maybe take a step back and try things in a different way!!??? My
'mind' worringly does NOT have the learning ability it once did,
that's for SURE! Getting 'old'. :o( . . . TVd/guitarred the rest
of the evening away. . ate chunks of cheese rolled up in slices
of ham and microwaved, with a bunch of mini cheddars followed by
treacle tart, chocolate and biscuits . . to bed around 2:30am as
the wind began to increase. s
20 - Up around 9am!! The gale
continues! . . . eventually got all togged up in full weather
gear and reluctantly walked BGdns. Got cold and drenched! Wet
through. :o( . . The road alongside BGdns and all the long way
along the cliff tops and down past FGn is currently closed (for
days) for resurfacing. The whole area was a hive of activity with
much of the old road already all dug out, and workmen, lorries
and heavy plant all working away at relaying it. In THAT
weather!!! Amazing. Those guys (and refuse collectors etc, etc.)
sure earn their pay - and 'I' reckon should be paid SO much more
than cosseted office workers. . . PCd/monitored radios, letting
my soaking wet clothes dry on me - or not! . .Mum called to touch
base . . ate four crusts of bread and a tin of soup . . napped
(fully dressed in damp clothes!) - just to try to get warm for a
bit. . . still absolutely pouring with
rain. Skipped the evening walk again . .TVd the evening away .
.PCd a bit, just looking, at length through e-bay listings etc. .
. ate ham sandwiches, crisps, banana and a little chocolate
before finally to bed around 2am.
19 - Woke earlier snoozed on then up
around 8:20am again. Warmer with cloud and wind. . . walked FGn
and then back as a bit of drizzle began to fall in the
uncomfortably strong breeze . . PCd/monitored radios/practiced
morse, etc, etc as the wind and rain got worse. . just across the
way out front, and quite a bit below me, I can see a large part
of the roof of a quite large house. On two different aspects
facing towards me, that roof has three Velux type skylight
windows. Someone was hanging out of one of them yesterday with a
jet washer, trying to remove some of the layers of moss that
thickly cover the roof. While sat doing my thing at the PC this
morning, just to the right of the screen, I noticed that one of
those windows was WIDE open. The very side of the roof which was
most likely catching the worst of the wind and driving rain!
Somewhere around midday with the wind and rain getting ever
worse, I couldn't bring myself to just ignore it any longer, and
I actually put my coat on and popped down the road in the rain
and knocked at their door - apologised for 'not minding my own
business', and let them know. They WERE unaware!! By the time I
got back home, it'd been closed. Wonder how much rain had gotten
in and what affect it'd had? My (old mannish/busybody) good deed
for the day? :o) . . . and so another day drifted by . . PCd this
etc as the wind blew and the rain just poured and poured. .
skipped the evening walk . . TVd the evening away (with also a
little bit of morse-code practice on the MP3 player of course.
lol) . . cooked and ate a mum donated meat pizza with extra
grated cheese, banana, biscuits and chocolate . . PCd a little
before to bed around 2:30am. s
18 - Woke earlier snoozed on then up
around 8:20am. Sunny and cold. 15C in, 2C out. . . walked FGn . .
. PCd and monitored radios a bit before ending up spending HOURS
messing around trying to sort out some stuff to list on e-bay
(because they were having a free listings weekend again). . so SO
time consuming, cleaning stuff and trying to get decent
photographs, and then sorting out categories and wording etc etc
etc. Spent the whole day piddling around with just a handful of
silly things to list. (I'm not yet ready to list some of the more
saleable expensive radio type things I AM going to eventually
list - and make a big loss on of course!) . . needed a break for
a bit early evening, and ended up chatting locally on the radio
for longer then I'd intended. . walked FGn. Carried on down town
and bought some butter and burgers . . . back to the PC and at
length, eventually managed to get a small handful of things
listed on e-bay. The 'spare' 2 meter module from the 767, the
'suspect' SWR meter, an old microphone, matrix switcher and
distribution amplifier (all from the 'box of toss' I bought), and
a brass piano/desk lamp I've had in a cupboard for years. Less
things than I'd wanted, and none of it worth much or perhaps even
liable to sell at all, but it'll do for this time round. That'll
be more than enough work (assuming 'some' of it sells), getting
it all packaged and posted at pretty much the same time, given it
all ends on the same day! . . . .drank a glass of red wine and
cooked up four quarter pound burgers. Ate the burgers in buttered
bread rolls with mayo and grated cheese - followed by a large
number of jelly babies! . . to bed around midnight.
17 - Up around 8:15am again. Mostly
cloudy but with a hint of sun breaking through . .walked FGn . .
PCd and monitored radios until Mum called in with the papers and
food donations for chats . . .ate a tin of hot dog sausages in
four buttered bread rolls followed by a little chocolate . .
napped, heavily dreaming until around 5:30pm . . walked BGdns a
little early, with a coffee, in the cold under a clearing starry
sky. Purely because of what I'd written in my journal yesterday
about 'THE doberman', and knowing only too well how my ironic
little life seems to go, I STRONGLY suspected I'd be likely to
run into it again REAL soon. Would you believe it - sure enough,
as I sat down on the usual lower seat in the pitch black throwing
Bella's ball, I spotted distant torchlight playing across the
tops of nearby trees. The owner of that doberman has one of those
super-strong, over the shoulder, million candle type torches -
actually more like a WWII searchlight in performance! He's the
only person I know of to use such a thing aroundthereabouts, and
I assumed it was him. A useful early warning! I nervously got
Bella back on her lead and sat close by my side, and sat there -
anxiously waiting as the 'searchlight' wended its way along
various paths, lighting up the distant woods and shorelines etc.
Eventually the light came directly into view across the grass
from where we were sat, and sure enough, it WAS him (accompanied
by a young kid) - with his two dobermans and the little fat dog
all running loose. The dogs all have LED collars. Pretty
frightening to be sat there, alternately getting blinded by his
torch, and then peering into the darkness trying to see where the
(having been blinded) then barely visible LED collars were
heading!! My heart was absolutely in my mouth when 'THE doberman'
made its way directly towards us!!! It stopped about fifteen feet
from us - and just stared from within its green LED collar. The
owner presumably then saw us and called it - not TO him, but
sufficient for the dog to be 'distracted' from its stare, and to
then carry on running about with the others on their usual route.
Phew!!!! I called out good evening and we had a brief 'polite'
discussion about the weather as he passed by! I wonder. What
would have happened if I'd NOT seen him coming, and Bella was all
ranting around chasing her ball as they came around the path? A
VERY narrow escape 'I' reckon!!! :o( . . sat there for quite a
while longer, waiting for them to most likely be long gone,
before we eventually followed the paths and climbed up to the
higher seats. With the coast now definitely clear, I WAS actually
able to relax a little and let Bella run free and chase rabbits
etc, as I sat for ages with cigarettes, drinking my coffee,
listening to radios etc. Breifly pleasant and safe - 'like old
times'. :o/ . . . TVd/guitarred the evening away. . ate a pork
pie, crisps, the last of the garlic sasuage and a bunch of
chocolate . . to bed at 1am. s
16 - Up at 8:15am. Grey and looks as
though we recently had some rain. . . walked with another heavy
bulging bag of garden waste over my shoulder and eventually
struggled up into the woods, and then spread handfulls of the
stuff into the undergrowth as I walked along the tracks less
travelled, on my way to the stoney field. Found the big flat
stone I'd kicked out of the earth yesterday, squeezed it into the
bag, and then struggled straight back out of the woods and all
the way back down to BGdns for Bella's ball play. Along the path
approaching the seat in BGdns, I noticed an impressive buzzard
sat in a tree not more than fifty feet from us. Typical - the one
time I go out without my camera (because I didn't want to run the
risk of damaging it carrying the big stone against my hip).
Unusualy, as if to taunt me, despite me stopping right there
(with Bella) to stare at it and enjoy the sight, it just
continued to sit there! I even ushered a dog walker to quickly
come and look, and even when she approached with her little
barking dog, it STILL stayed sat on its branch. Impressive
priveledge to see. . played ball and sat and recovered with a
couple of cigarettes, and managed to cool down a bit. In
conversation with a passing dog walker, we ended up talking about
the doberman which had attacked Bella. Allegedly, it had
'recently' had a go at someone elses dog 'a bit' (nothing
'serious' I don't think), and as a result, was now allegedly
undergoing some sort of clicker/treat training in an attempt to
modify its behaviour! Yeah, right! Sadly - I was kinda glad to
hear someone else had had a problem with it. Kinda validates how
I feel about that dog. That it IS dangerous - and remains so -
and 'I' think, ALWAYS will be! :o( It really has ruined things
for me. Bella and I are always at risk of running into it at ANY
time at a moments notice, both down in the woods, and BGdns in
particular. I used to love being in both those places. They
really were like a second home to me. Really! Now they simply
feel like places of great danger whenever I dare to set foot in
them. I can't escape the sneaking suspicion that sooner or later,
no matter how careful I am, we ARE going to run into it again,
and it WILL end up having another go at Bella (purely because of
how SHE behaves, the manner in which she darts around and how
excitable she is about everything - she'll trigger its attack
instinct!)! I SO hope I'm wrong - but I can't help feel it IS
ultimately likely!! IF it ever DOES happen again - I have long
since decided, I would do everything
within my power, to regrettably see that it is destroyed!!! Its
almost a shame the owner doesn't know that. Then perhaps HE would
more fully understand and share in the feelings of danger I
experience when in BGdns and the woods - that it would be HIS
dog, HIS loved-one which could suddenly end up being killed? He
SO should muzzle it! . . eventually struggled home - suffering
quite a bit again. . . TVd for quite a while, cooling down and
recovering from my CONSIDERABLE exertions. . . trimmed my hair
and beard. The stupid plastic combe guard on the trimmer blade
slipped off at one point without me noticing, and I ended up
close-cutting a track in my beard right up one cheek!! Makes me
look a right weirdo! Oh well - guess I may as well look like I am
- a right weirdo! . . did vacuuming chores . . sucked an annadin
tablet and PCd this at length. . . ate a mayo, grated cheese,
chopped spring onion sandwiches, mini cheddars and crisps
followed by a bunch of biscuits. . struggled to stay awake
feeling headachey . . walked FGn quite early. Caught out in some
light rain on the return. . . D arrived just before 7pm. Left
Bella at home alone, and drove with D to his place somewhere over
in Torquay. . . coffee and chats . . . . eventually dropped back
home not far off midnight. Bella was VERY pleased to see me. .
ate garlic sausage sandwiches and a banana before to bed
somewhere after 1am.
15 - Up around 8am with various aches
and pains. Cloudy grey. . walked Fgn. Very mild and kinda quiet
out, without much wind. Not unpleasant. Back via the store and
scored a handful of chicken and mushroom pastry slices going
off/cheap . . . PCd and pottered around a bit knocking up some
new morse code practice MP3 files for my little MP3 player. . .
couldn't get the bin loads of garden refuse 'hanging over my
head' in the garage, out of my mind, and eventually decided to
walk and try to get rid of some of it down in the woods - AND
maybe see if I could dare to carry back some stone for the
garden!!!! Sooner or later I am going to probably dig-in some
more stones, edgewise in the front garden, to mark a bit of a
border at the bottom of the lawn near the drop to the pavement
(like I've already done down the right side beneath the post and
rail fence). I still have quite a pile of 'Brixham' stone up near
the garage saved for such a purpose, but most of that is big
lumps of the stuff and more suitable for 'feature lumps' in
borders amongst plants, rather than the dug-in 'edging' I have in
mind. I need bigger and flatter for that. I really could easily
use up a lorry load around the place! Easily!! Anyway - when that
idiot egotistical farmer ploughed-out all the footpaths around
the top field a while ago, a HUGE amount of stone was torn out of
the ground and was laying around all over the place. It's been a
temptation in my mind ever since. (It's not as though I'd be
stealing and ruining parts of any of the dry stone walls or old
kiln structures or any suchlike. Its virgin, out of the ground,
'bedrock' kinda - and lots of it.) Loaded up a large rucksack
full of hedge cuttings and walked (slowly - in pain with such a
weight!) with Bella all the way down into the woods, overheating
badly. I even took the MP3 player with me, with an earpiece
hanging on one ear, playing practice morse code!! The hope was,
it would take my mind off the pain and discomfort of carrying the
heavy bag! It didn't really work - and it was a very weird
experience walking along, multitasking, trying to deceifer the
morse AND still keep aware of everything going on around me and
keeping Bella in check, etc, etc, etc. Very weird. Very geeky! .
. eventually reached the woods (oh thank god!!!) and distributed
the bagload of cuttings in the autumn undergrowth, in a suitable
off the beaten track, unobserved place, deep in. Carried on
through the trees to the edge of the stoney field. Damn - I've
left it so long, loads of weeds and undergrowth has mostly
covered all the ploughed areas, and hiding the stone. Wandered
along for a bit kicking at the ground and soon found some really
nice bits worth having a go for. Test loaded the rucksack with a
couple of smaller flat ones before eventually 'going for it'. It
was uncomfortably heavy, awkward and bloody hard going, but to be
honest, was probably lighter than the rucksack full of chopped up
hedge cuttings that I'd just carried all the way down and up
there! Headed for the lower seat in BGdns before stopping to have
a much needed breather - and to give Bella a bit of ball play
(because she was confused we'd not gone our usual route all
through the woods to the beach, etc.). . sat and recovered just a
bit. Boy - was I wearing too much, and so, SO hot!!! . eventually
struggled all the way back up the steep climb to the higher part
of BGdns - stopping more than once along the way to get my
breath, because I WAS definitely overdoing it! . up near the
entrance to the gardens, a guy was raking up masses of fallen
autumn leaves. He was filling a 'ton bag' and had a wheelbarrow
waiting nearby. I exchanged a freindly word in passing, and
confirmed that he was from one of the nearby allotments, and he
was 'unofficially' collecting the leaves up for compost for his
allotment. :o) That struck me as funny/ironic. Here was me
sneaking my garden waste into the woods - and there was he,
sneaking woods-waste into his 'garden' as it were. Circle of
life? lolol. . a long, hard, painful trudge all the way back home
- overheating REALLY badly, and with my back and knees in
particular, protesting their displeasure at their abuse!!! .
dumped the stones temporarily in the front garden border, to be
dealt with some other time (next year probably - if it ever turns
dry again), before finally getting inside and being able to
TOTALLY collapse! . . sat for ages, recovering and cooling down .
. cooked and ate a pastry slice, chips and peas . . napped until
the alarm at 7pm. . .not sure where I suddenly got the energy,
but I decided to walk BGdns with another rucksack full, and get
rid of more of the garden cuttings right away. . because I
haven't been walking BGdns much these last several months, I
really have lost my intimate knowledge of the place. My off the
beaten path route to my favoured hidden dumping site amongst the
trees and undergrowth (diificult at the best of times - VERY
difficult in the pitch black of night) was suprisingly blocked by
a couple of fallen trees!!! That took some negotiating - by torch
light, carrying a heavy bag. Eventually made it through and
guiltily scattered my load. Yayy. :o) . . recovered from my
exertions with ball play and lots of sitting with coffee and cigs
- and even just a little morse practice using the MP3 player!!!.
. . ate four garlic sausage baps, mini cheddars and biscuits. .
TVd until early before ending up on the PC/radio for a while
before bed. Ended up chatting locally for a bit - during
which - I pulled a tooth out!! The one which was the cause of
that weird agonising pain a few weeks back, and which then
settled down to 'just' being all sore and wobbly. In the middle
of my radio conversation, it suddenly decided to just painlessly
fall out!!! :o( I appear to be able to still speak ok - but god
knows how I'm gonna be able to eat anything now! . . abed by
around 1:30am.
14 - Up after 8:30am. Sunny . . skipped
waking at the PC, and walked FGn with a coffee right away,
feeling oh SO tired and 'disconnected' - and ready for bed again
already! . . . PCd and did a little morse practice as best I
could, considering how awful I was feeling. Eventually HAD to
just get away from the noise and awful woozy feeling I had sat
there, and turned the PC off and walked away. . SO didn't want to
just waste away YET another day (especially since it wasn't
raining for once, and was actually quite 'quiet' out without much
wind etc) and somehow managed to muster the energy to have a go
at trimming the hedge high above the back of the pergola in the
back garden (as much as anything else, because I wanted to not
waste the opportunity of 'hiding' some more garden waste in the
bottom of the wheelie bin for next weeks collection. To
adequately HIDE such stuff, I figure it needs to go in the bottom
of the empty bin BEFORE I cover it and pile in the normal
household waste on top). Dragged a ladder down and used it to
climb up onto the top of the other ladder layed across the top of
the pergola, with the hedge-trimmer and secateurs. When DID I
last do all this? Seems like only a while ago!! Difficult and
dangerous job, trying to lean over next door as far as I dare, to
grab all the long bits to cut! Eventually cut it down as low as I
could, to the height of the pergola - AGAIN. A good three feet of
growth all the way along? Despite all that growth, perhaps
because of the abscence of 'summer' and all the weird wet weather
we've had ALL this year (or maybe because of my ruthless
trimming?), that hedge doesn't appear to be particularly healthy.
A fraction of the little red lantern like flowers I've seen in
other years. Trimmed and tidied a few other bits and pieces
around the garden before gathering everything into a huge heap,
and then using the hedge trimmer in a scything manner on the
heap, to cut it all up into manageable small pieces. Cut and
slashed and turned and hacked at that heap for ages with the poor
hedge-trimmer, until eventually it was all reduced to more or
less 'hand sized' pieces. Not unlike what I imagine would be
acheived using a garden schredder!! Moved all the heavy garden
table and chairs and swept up around the place before filling two
dustbins full of the debris. . dug out a pile of plastic carrier
bags from my collection and laboriously bagged up and 'disguised'
a whole load of the stuff, before then three quarters filling my
little wheelie-bin, ready for covering and smuggling out in the
next collection. That STILL left me with a dustbin full, and then
some, which ended up stored in the garage, for getting rid of
somehow, who knows when - again!! It's a never ending battle!!!!!
:o( . tu . . eventually called it quits mid
afternoon, tired and aching. . . ate ham sandwichs, crisps, mini
cheddars and chocolate. . napped for a couple of hours until the
alarm at 7pm. . skipped the walk and quickly got straight on the
radio intending to catch this weeks slow morse before the local
club net. Chatted locally a bit beforehand and found out the
morse wasn't happening this week! Bugger. SO irritating when I
kinda plan the whole day around aiming to catch it, only for it
to suddenly not be happening like that! The price I pay for NOT
being a club member, one of their clique, and being kept in the
know. Ho hum. . tu. . decided to walk after all -
walked BGdns quite late and didn't get back home until around
10pm. . . TVd . . ate ham sandwiches and a tin of soup before to
bed around 1:30am.
13 - Up around 7:20am. Slightly milder,
grey and cloudy . . walked FGn. The all weather lifeboat was in
the bay excercising and appeared to be about to put a tow on
another vessel, so I ended up walking down from the green and
then back up to the lower part of BGdns to have a better view.
Just then, the lifeboat apparantly 'lost one of its engines' and
cancelled the rest of the excercise before eventually returning
to station. . . PCd/poked at radios and morse/TVd - wasted the
whole day away again acheiving nothing! . . ate mini cheddars,
crisps and grated cheese, mayo and chopped spring onion
sandwiches followed by biscuits . . napped . . .skipped the walk.
. PCd/TVd/just at around feeling miserable until early. . ate a
whole pack of mum donated 'paradise slices' before finally to bed
around 4am! Just one more wasted day in a wasted life. s
12 - Poor, broken sleep again! Plenty
of waking up feeling queezy. . Up around 7:30am. 15C in, 9C out.
Raining. . .walked FGn in full weather gear in the rain . .
PCd/monitored radios and did bit of morse practice (I actually
seem to be getting worse!) before then pretty much just sitting
around doing nothing the whole day through. Felt very down. . TVd
. . walked FGn under a clear starry sky . . TVd the evening away.
. ate two corned beef, mayo, grated cheese and chopped spring
onion rolls, mini cheddars, a handful of sponge fingers and
biscuits. . TVd until bed at midnight.
11 - Broken sleep then up around 8am.
14C in 4C out and sunny. . . woke at the PC with coffee and cigs
as usual. My normal daily waking routine now includes at
least a ten minute session of morse-code receive
practice. I guess my receive ability HAS improved VERY slightly,
but progress is awfully, awfully slow! On a 'good day', I think
I'm maybe back up somewhere around the speed I could do when I
passed my test all those years ago. (12words per minute-ish?)
Even at that speed, I often can't! It isn't yet 'automatic' - I'm
still having to 'think' with many of the characters, and its the
time required to think which sees me fall behind the next
character being sent, and then go all to pieces and lose the plot
entirely. Continual practice is the ONLY answer. It's a BIG
investment of time and effort! :o( Also - I HAVE set myself a
pretty high target (before having ANY intention of actually
trying to go on the air and do it for real - which knowing 'how I
am', actually 'MAY' never happen!). The optomistic target I've
set myself, is to be able to relatively consistantly accurately
receive at around 25 words per minute!!!!! (Plenty of amateurs on
the bands are incredibly conversing way in excess of that!!)
Every now and then, just for 'fun' (!??), I'll wind up the speed
of the sending on my tutor software, and see what I can make of
30wpm! A while ago, such absurd speeds were just a stream of
unbroken 'noise' to me. At least now I CAN make out the odd
character or two here and there. . . walked with a coffee - the
beach (no swimming for Bella - the tide was way out), the woods,
BGdns and then ended up back up on FGn as the substantial
rememberance day procession headed for the memorial, way off in
the distance across the marina up by the lifeboat station. I DO
always find it moving. This funny little town DOES always 'show
its respects' in an admirable way I think. (Having said that, MY
view of the whole business does seem to have changed with
advancing age. Its just sad. 'Lest we forget'? Nothing seems to
have changed! Human nature appears to be just the same, despite
all that has gone before. Still all too willing to engage in
killing and causing unimaginable suffering. Despite all it has
acheived (and oh HOW fragile!), deep down, mankind seems hardly
to have stepped a single pace 'out of the jungle'. :o( ). I stood
on the green for the minutes silence (announced by exploding
maroons I think), before then getting back to more ball throwing
for Bella while I sat for cigs and drank my coffee. Wonderfully
warm and sunnny up there. Shortly after the minutes silence and
atmospheric distant last-post bugle playing etc, the lifeboat
(with plenty of smartly dressed people on deck, fore and aft)
headed out of the marina and bay, on its way to lay a wreath in
St Marys bay. The familiar local hymn of 'Abide With Me' drifted
across from the singing assembled crowds. Almost gets the hair on
the back of your neck all standing up. . eventually returned home
via the store for a pack of burgers and some cheese . . .
monitored radios (the 'SOTA' woman from yesterday was barely
audible up on ANOTHER more distant hill calling CQ again. lol). .
breifly chatted locally, PCd this at length . . . drank a glass
of red wine and cooked and ate four quarter pound burgers in
buttered bread rolls . . napped . . woke feeling pretty awful . .
. TVd the evening away, actually hardly moving for hours, feeling
headachey and a bit sick. . . eventually to bed around 1am. d
10 - Broken sleep then up around
8:30am. Headachey and feeling like I hadn't slept at all! . .
walked FGn in what turned into a good long, warm sunny spell. A
woman who has two 'boisterous' (and scary to me now) rescued
dobermans, was only walking one of them this morning. Turned out
the other one had sadly developed a worrying lump and had gone in
for surgery! It'd thankfully turned out to be a removeable cyst
rather than anything cancerous, but whilst inside the dog during
the operation, the vet had allegedly discovered a SOCK in its
stomach!!! Been in there for ages apparantly (from before she
even owned the dog!)!?! Amazing! That'll all take some getting
over!! . . Bella returned from the walk and all her ball chasing
with a bit of a limp!?. . sucked an annadin tablet and
PCd/monitored radios a little. I did briefly give someone a call.
They were calling CQ from a Dorset hilltop (Lewesdon Hill) as
part of a 'Summits On The Air'(SOTA) thing. I've NOT read up on
it, but I gather some people are into carrying radio gear up a
hill and then getting a certain designated number of contacts to
'activate' the location? I presume they can ultimately apply for
an award or some such? The person calling on this occasion was
unusually a woman. I gathered from her conversations (as she sat
in the sun on a hilltop amongst the bracken chatting on her
radio) that her and her partner do such things as the larger part
of their holidays! Later in the day, I heard them calling from
another hill! Funny old world ain't it. Weird bunch us radio
amateurs. lolol Anyway - I gave her a call, to help her
'activate' that hill. :o) Messed around thus, until Mum arrived
after midday with the papers and food donations for chats . . ate
Mum donated mini sausage rolls, crisps, the last of the cheese
and a couple of spring onions . . napped the afternoon away. Woke
with difficulty around 6:30pm, after hitting the snooze button on
the alarm three times!!! I clearly did NOT want to have to be
awake - and eventually got up feeling still headachey and tired
out. Easily skipped the evening walk because I felt so lousy -
but also to allow Bellas limp (presumably just a slight pulled
muscle or some such?) to have a rest and opportunity to repair.
I'll happily seize ANY excuse not to do the evening walks these
days!! :o(. . . TVd (Dads Army) . . PCd this and did some
morse-code recieve practice and monitored the radios for a couple
of hours. . ate bowls of rice krispies with mountains of sugar. .
TVd until bed around 2am.
9 - Up around 8:10am. Grey and a stiff
cold wind blowing . . walked FGn . . recovered from the walk with
a coffee etc before then pottering around on the PC/radios a bit.
I DID actually dare to give the ISS a call as it orbitted
overhead around an hour before the Italy school sched - but to no
avail again of course. In fact, I pretty quickly stopped calling
because seconds after I'd called a couple of times, I began to
receive a monster solid signal from the ISS as it began to send
what turned out to be some slow-scan TV!! Blimey - I didn't even
know they did that!? I may have to swap some connections around
in the shack and experiment with trying to recieve some of those
pictures in the future. THAT would be cool (although I've NO idea
when they are liable to send such stuff?). . . Eventually headed
back out with Bella with the intention of attempting to video
picking up the ISS again - but this time on the VX-7R handie up
on FGn!! Seemed like a good idea at the time! Got up there early
and had to sit around in the cold wind for a good thirty minutes
or so. Eventually the time approached and I set about videoing
the handie with the view in the background, as it picked up a
good strong signal from the space
station. It was a good couple of minutes into the questions
before I realised I'd not actually pressed the record button on
the camcorder!! WHAT a plonker!!!!!!!!!! My long guitar-picking
thumbnail had apparantly prevented me from fully pressing the
record button. I could have kicked myself. Very soon after
ACTUALLY pressing the record button, the signals quickly died
away. WHAT an idiot - after all the (geeky/pointless) effort I'd
gone to. :o( . . . returned home and spent hours making up a bit
of video for Youtube nonetheless. Ended up being more of Bella than
the radio! What I was 'trying' to do was convey the strange
fascination I always feel, for the weird juxtaposition of where I
am and the weird little life I lead, when I hear them whizzing
overhead like that. Oh well - I gave it a shot. . . PCd this -
and so went a whole nother day!! . . ate chicken and mushroom pie
with chips and gravy . . tidied up just a little and did dish
washing chores until D arrived just after 7pm with his guitar AND
his newly aquired 'toy'. An accordian! First time I've ever seen
one close up like that. Extraordinary thing it was. Seemed very
complicated to me - and SO heavy to have to carry! . . I confess
I wasn't really in the mood (to once again display how little I
can do and how inept I am with my guitar! :o( ) and we ended up
mostly just chatting over coffee until just after 10pm as rain
showers poured outside . . TVd (exhausted! By simply 'being in
company'?) until to bed around 1am. s
8 - Woke earlier then up around 7am.
Cloudy. . .walked FGn in the sunny spells . . . recovered from
the walk in the garden with a coffee before ending up back in
front of the PC and radios having a poke around. In no time at
all it was approaching midday, so I couldn't resist sitting in
and having a go at receiving the international space station, as
it was due to be having a contact with schools in Italy as it
passed over around four minutes past midday. First time I've had
a listen for it on the FT-8800, and it seemed like a neat test of
that radios dual receive capability, to see how much difference
(if any) the recommended 5khz adjustment for the doppler shift
makes. Picked up the pass really well, and as far as I can tell,
the doppler shift adjustment really made no difference to the
received signal AT ALL. (I 'may' have had a problem with the Ham
Radio Deluxe software (keplers?), because it seemed to be
indicating the ISS was further East than it actually was!??
Nevertheless, I also appeared to be receiving it further East
than I would have expected based on my previous experiences.
Intriguing?). . wasted the next couple of hours uploading another
'geeky', admittedly rather pointless video
of the monitoring to Youtube. I always get a slight buzz from hearing those
guys, live like that. :o) There IS another opportunity at 12:53
UTC tomorrow!! . . . ate grated cheese and mayo sandwiches with
crisps, a banana and a little chocolate . . napped until around
5:45pm. Heavy dreaming/nightmare!
Something to do with that going-off cheese I guess. Woke
overheating and badly bunged up. . tu . .walked BGdns with a coffee . . . TVd the evening
away . . ate the last of the chicken with four pieces of bread
and butter, followed by bowls of rice krispies . . to bed around
2am. s
7 - Up around 7:15am. 15C in 5C out.
Mostly clear sky sunny again. A bit of a lift on VHF it would
appear. Picking up all manner of distant repeaters (Reading and
Wales for instance!!) . . the two Belgium warships (Lobelia and
Stern) are STILL in the vicinity (over towards Dartmouth this
morning according to the AIS) and commencing diving operations
yet again from around 8am. Wonder what they are up to? They've
been doing their diving in different places all around
Torbay/Lyme Bay, pretty much every day for the last couple of
weeks now. .the news confirms Obama has won another term in
office. Good - although it appears to me, he can't ever easily
acheive ANYTHING he wants to do, because of the US political
system - and then he gets criticised for doing nothing - and
everything else! . . . PCd this . . walked. Just up the road,
Bella suddenly got all excited and uncontrollable (even more than
usual!). She'd spotted Mum hurrying along the road on her way to
get the bus for a hospital appointment. Had a brief chat along
the way before wishing her goodluck and going our seperate ways.
Walked FGn and then carried on down town for a tour of the
charity shops etc. Eventually couldn't resist treating myself,
and bought a freshly cooked chicken (and some bones for Bella)
from the butcher for around £4. . .recovered from the walk with
a coffee in the garden and then gave Bella a couple of the bones.
. mowed both lawns of weeds. Dunno what's going on with both the
lawns - not only are they fast turning into nothing but weeds,
but also becoming increasingly uneven, which means what grass
there is, is short in places, long in others, and all looks a
hell of a mess!? . . . eventually laboriously did a by hand,
three way dissection of the chicken - a tupperware full of meat
for me, a small pile of 'safe' yucky bits for Bella, and all the
bones bagged for the wheelie-bin collection tomorrow. . . Bella's
scratching has been on the increase - again! Would you believe it
- I found 'a' flea on her again! She's obviously STILL
infested!!!!! Jeeze - I'd thought we were over all that!!!
DAMN!!!!!!! Promptly gave her the first flea tablet for a while.
Here we go all over again! :o( . . . ate chicken sandwiches, mini
cheddars, banana and a square of chocolate . . . napped the
afternoon away until around 5:30pm, and woke overheating rather.
. .skipped the evening walk and had coffee and cigs in the garden
while encouraging Bella to do her business. . tu . . headed up onto the radios for the local club
weekly slow morse practice before their net. I finally bit the
bullet and dared to have a 'bit' of a go at using my morse-code
practice oscillator while keying the mic on VHF FM (145.425Mhz),
to actually have a brief morse code 'conversation' with D
(G4OTU)!!!! YIKES!!!!! Haven't attempted anything like that for
at least thirty years - actually, if ever! HUGELY stressful for ME
(immediate overheating, shaking, pouring armpits, inabilty to
'read' what I was receiving, etc!) - but glad I had the nerve to
finally give it a go. One small step towards eventually hopefully
actually being able to DO it 'proper'. :o) . . . PCd this . . .
touched base with Mum and then BB . . .ate the last of the mini
cheddars and a six pieces of bread and butter pile of chicken
sandwiches. . TVd. The news was sadly reporting that Clive Dunn,
Lance Corporal Jones in Dad's Army, has died at the age of 92.
:o( . . to bed around 1am.
6 - Up around 7:20am at blue sky
sunrise. 14C in 3C out. . put a load of laundry on before walking
FGn . . did more laundry and got it all out on the line in the
hope of drying it a bit in the sun. .pottered around a bit . .
vacuumed - at length! Usual nightmare of just 'stirring' the
clouds of dust and having the vacuums block with dog hair every
couple of minutes. :o(. . PCd . . .TVd . cooked and ate a ham
ring, two eggs and chips. . napped until 6pm despite a bit of
noise from where workmen were digging out and repairing the
leaking water pipe to the house just up the road. Wish I could
have poked my nose in and seen why it was leaking and how they
managed to apparantly relatively easily repair it like they did!?
Incredibly they've only left a small patch in the pavement.
Keyhole surgery? . . walked BGdns with coffee. A couple of
degrees 'warmer' than last night and a bit brighter with some
reflecting cloud cover . . TVd with the fire on all evening again
. . ate the last of the rice/mushroom soup concoction with four
pieces of bread and butter followed by biscuits . . TVd/PCd until
bed well after 2am. s
5 - Up around 8:30am (woken by
neighbour's door banging) after only a few hours of poor broken
sleep! I was woken in the night at one point by the sound of yet
more torrential rain hitting the windows and cills! . . walked
FGn. The whole place is utterly waterlogged and fast turning to a
mudbath! Near our normal seat were piles on the grass of what
turned out to be accumulations of hail! THAT must have been what
woke me earlier. Very chilly in the strong onshore breeze. Didn't
hang around for long. . . TVd a little before ending back up on
the PC surfing a bit and then doing just a little more morse code
receive practice. Somehow bumped into a couple of videos on
Youtube of some old guys (ex military) sending and receiving high
speed morse code. Breathtaking how fast they can send and receive
- and 'humbling' how they can 'see' and make sense of what they
are hearing 'in their mind' without having to write anything down
- and even do other stuff while doing so!!!! I can't imagine EVER
reaching anywhere near that sort of ability with it, even if I do
actually stick to practicing it (which knowing me, I'm surely
liable not to!) . . some welcome sunny spells by around midday .
. ate ham and mayo sandwiches, crisps, mini cheddars and a square
of chocolate . . napped until the alarm at 6pm, by which time
quite a few fireworks were being let off around the area. .
.walked FGn for ball play in the dark under the cold, clear,
starfilled sky. Bella was very good with the fireworks, and
didn't seem unduly worried by the flashes and bangs. Eventually
walked along to the high seat in BGdns, to sit and have the
better view out across the bay at all the distant fireworks over
Torquay way. (Joined on the seat for chats for a while by the
'canoe guy'. His leg wound appears to have slightly improved, and
he's now been advised to walk a couple of miles every day to aid
his recovery.) Caught the spectacular end of a BIG firework
display over Torquay. Sat for ages despite the cold with coffee
and cigs. . . TVd . . cooked and ate a big bowl of rice, peas,
chopped ham ring and mushroom soup with a couple of buttered
bread rolls . . .TVd with the fire on all evening until bed
around 12:30am.
4 - Up around 6:30am! Raining -
AGAIN!!!! . . . walked the cove, woods, BGdns and FGn and only
got lightly rained on. (Suprise snow showers only a few miles
away according to the news!) . chatted locally on the radio for a
bit and also put in a good bit of time listening around and doing
some morse code receive practice. . ate a tin of soup and four
crusts of bread and butter . . napped until 6pm - not because I
was particularly tired, but just to escape the cold! :o( . . TVd
. . . ate a banana and biscuits because I just couldn't motivate
to prepare anything else . . TVd/PCd until around 3am before
eventually to bed. s
3 - Woke earlier, snoozed on then up
around 8:15am. Currently blue sky sunny but more gales forecast
for later. . . walked FGn and back via the store for a few
supplies . . PCd/monitored radios . . . pottered around a bit,
trying to sort out the mess I'm in all around the place. I've got
radios, empty boxes, junk and all manner of stuff piled up all
over the place! I need to get serious with getting rid of some of
it - if only I could muster the energy to do so!! . . acheived
nothing and gave up trying mid afternoon, and toyed with the idea
of doing an early walk. Just then yet more heavy rain showers
were passing through and I just couldn't face the prospect of
getting cold and wet again. .TVd with the fire on all evening. .
drank the last of the red wine from the box and eventually cooked
up and ate four quarter pound burgers in buttered/mayod bread
roles. . TVd nothing. . ate a whole pack (!) of Mum donated
Thorntons chocolate finger cream sponge things. . . struggled to
stay awake and ended up in bed at around 10:30pm!!! Another
wasted day. s
2 - Up around 7am again. 14C in 4C
out. Heavy showers again - and the forecast seems to be that
continuing for days. Forever, feels like! :o( . . PCd this . . .
walked FGn in a prolonged sunny spell . . . PCd/monitored radios
a bit before turning off all the 'noise' and just sitting around
in front the TV throughout the whole rest of the day doing
absolutely nothing - again!! Plenty of heavy rain showers, and
felt very cold. . ate a six pieces of bread and butter pile of
ham and mayo sandwiches with some mini cheddars early eveing. .
.TVd until D called in with his guitar at 7pm for noise making,
coffee and chats until around 10pm. . . felt exhausted! Ate bowls
of rice krispies before to bed around 1am.
1 - Up at 7am. 15C in 4C out. Sunny
spells and heavy showers. . .walked FGn in sunny spells . . .
PCd/monitored radios. Mum called to touch base . . messed around
with the old electric guitar distortion peddle I've had for
decades. Many years ago the 9volt battery connector broke, and
it's been laying around unused ever since. I never really did
actually 'use' it of course. Managed to dismantle it and solder
on a new battery lead and get it back up and useable - or more
likely eventually sellable maybe? Having said that, it DOES work
suprisingly well with my electro-acoustic guitar. Makes it sound
like a full-on grungy electric! Not really my thing (because I
can't actually play anything!) , and of course I don't have an
amp anymore, but that may well make me hang onto it for a while
yet! . . pushed on and messed with the big ornate brass
candlestick I've also had laying around ('dumped' out in the
conservatory) requiring attention for the last couple of years or
more. It was the one I bought in a charity shop and actually made
a quirky video out of once - because it was SO elaborately cast
with all manner of heads and patterns etc. I'd long since decided
to probably get rid of it and perhaps donate it back to a charity
shop, but before I could, I had to sort out a better 'repair' to
how the two pieces of casting fitted together. I'd long ago tried
to replace the hidden, rusted-away bolt which had held the two
bits together, but it'd never really worked because the screw
thread in the shaft part had been stripped away and it all really
needs drilling out and re-tapping etc, etc. Too much hassle - and
I don't have the equipment to be able to do all that. Since it's
all solid brass, I'd long ago figured it was worth having a go at
seeing if I could just solder the two
bits together!! Cleaned up the mating faces as best I could with
emery cloth and wire wool etc, and then got the gas blow lamp out
up in the garage and eventually managed to run some solder onto
them before precariously positioning the shaft onto the base and
feeding in more (fluxed electrical!) solder around the join.
Suprisingly it didn't go 'too' badly, and DOES appear sturdy
enough to do the job and hold the two parts together firmly
enough to not even need a bolt up inside. (The solder is WELL
away from the candle end, so heat shouldn't be a problem.) Carefully
filed and cleaned off the excess solder with a soft wire brush
etc, and eventually ended up with the join being really barely
noticeable. With hindsight, I should have taken more care about
the positioning of the two bits. In an ideal world, because of
the ornate mouldings, the shaft would probably look a little
aesthetically better if it was rotated a couple of degrees, but
it seems like far too much hassle to try to redo it all just for
the sake of that! . PCd a while looking up alleged tips and
tricks on how to clean such deeply engraved brass. It's SO deeply
engraved/cast, it really could ONLY be effectively cleaned by
using some sort of chemical/acid dip! Tried everything I had in
the kitchen with a nail brush, including Cillit-Bang, detergent,
solutions of vinegar, etc, etc but NOTHING worked. Oh well - I've
wasted enough time on all of that! Even without a 'proper' clean,
it still looks pretty unusual and impressive I think. Actually
ended up putting it back on the window-cill in the living room as
an ornament - although this time, WITHOUT a candle in it. (The
sun coming through the window melts the wax and fully collapses
any candle I put in it there!) Maybe I WON'T be getting rid of it
after all - yet? . . . ate ham, mayo and grated cheese
sandwiches, crisps, banana and chocolate. . . napped until the
alarm at 6pm . . more rain. Skipped the walk . . PCd/TVd the
evening away again. Poked at the guitar briefly . . cooked and
ate a six eggs (!) chopped-ham and grated-cheese omlette,
biscuits and chocolate . . to bed around 1:30am.
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