TheQ

Plenty of woolley shops in Norfolk.. somehow I've been in many. Though swmbo often spins any passing sheep's or dog's.... "The works " has, on the odd occasion, had wool.. as have B&M stores, and even poundland.. Buying almost anything from hobbycraft is expensive... We've now got all of two bluebells in the garden. Bits for spinny thing, and the USB charge hub have just arrived.

When I built the model Railway shed, I built a a foundation of breeze blocks all the way round, then a damp proof course, then a ring of heavy timbers onto which i built the shed. The outer walls of the shed overhang but don't touch the top of the breeze blocks so there is no chance of rain collecting on the top of the breeze blocks or DPC.

I looked at joining various trade bodies, one I selected, but then they increased the level of qualification needed. Then I realised , those in the society were pulling up the ladder behind themselves. The oldest members cannot have had the relevant even earlier electronics qualifications because they didn't exist when the society started. Looking at the history, the qualifications required increased a couple of times. Afternoon Awl, Ben's sample delivered, no phone call with the results yet. Then to the MRC, toilet room emptied, walls washed, pipe work cleaned , floor washed, before anyone else arrived. Discussions on cupboards sinks etc Measurements taken, The top of the cupboard has been made. Three into one toilet room don't go, so I painted a wall in the clubroom I'd previously filled. Painted? Well just the repairs and old pencil marks, there used to be a bench there. . Next time I'll roller the lot. Then to an orange shed, entertainment on the way.. someone doing a 450 degree turn at a roundabout. Deltic and a half spent, sand, timber, and a new hob. SWMBO doesn't know about the hob, I'll fit it Tuesday when she's out weaving and see if she notices. The three blocks for BM arrived yesterday, the errant one has got an apology, should arrive tomorrow. Bits for SWMBO's electric spinny thingy should arrive today along with the USB hub. Eta 1 hour. Ocular covering checking required...

Strangely walking to the MRC AGM a couple of nights ago, I saw someone's front porch was being held up by pied de poteaux, this is as built comparatively recently. However I don't think it is much good, the cup holding the foot of the beam above , had signs of water and soggyness into the wood.. Like this but with an adjustable threaded support rod. Nice water trap..

Worst interview.. with the police comms section. Radios repair, setting up remote incident transmitters etc. 3/4 of the interview was race relations obviously by someone in HR who'd never worked with other nationalities... Thing was, it wasn't a customer facing job, and the percentage of other races in Norfolk is tiny, this ain't Leicester or London. I have turned down other posts, twice because of pathetic pay offers, twice because when I got there, I thought... What a dump.... Also turned down interviews a couple of times when offered, because they were honest and said the pay band before the interview... Mooring Awl, and to the thrower of the Awl. 4 hours plus 2 hours plus 2 hours sleep.. Ben the surprised Collie had both swmbo and myself on moving patrol, it was capture a sample day. I'll be delivering that later. Blue welkin, light breeze, hint of frost at the most likely area. Weather wombles says high winds return tonight and through Saturday.. I was going on to a big orange shed , but instead I'm off to the MRC. We are re engineering the loo room, it's about 8 ft square so there's plenty of room.. we are going to add a dirty sink, next to the hand washing sink, for brush washing / liquids disposal and a rack for sheet materials.. Today is only clear the junk and measure up day, so I still might get to go to the orange shed later. Time to finish this muggacoffee Oh idiot TV environmentalist Steve something, this morning was saying the levels of pollution in some samples were so high the lab technicians wouldn't open the sample bottle test it.... Yeah? So how did they know they were so high?,

Difficult when they closed the local school, there are many more school closures in the pipeline as the birth rate is dropping. The school across the road from me has closed*** the primary school in the next village has closed ( about 25 years ago. ) the nearest is 4 miles away.. (*** Ok that was in 1894)

It is a " smart" charger.. capable of 3 A, .. the advert specifically mentions fast charging Samsung and Apple devices.

The card reader has arrived, in a box.... With all the packing one end and the card readers own box down the other. It looks intact though. The reader is remarkably heavy for its size.. It will of course need charging, so later I'll go plug it in. Only comes with a USB cable, good job there's a charger. upstairs. Of the 4 items identical ordered yesterday, one has missed the boat and won't be delivered till tomorrow, that doesn't matter they're not needed till Sunday. Just realized I'm building up a collection of items that need USB charging, often at the same time, so along with the missing bit for BM a 6 port charging station will arrive tomorrow. BMs tiktok is now batteried and upstairs facing out of a window awaiting a time signal. Then Coleman the coal man rang up , offering 25% discount on eco coal ( you can't buy anything else these days). Trying a different type this time as the last lot got hot and rapidly burnt out, or didn't get hot and went out.. the new one promises an 18 hour burn time. Bin an expensive day all this ordering, Needed some wooden circles to make the endplates of bobbins, I could turn them myself but it's a right pain, especially on thin ply, so I've ordered them.. strangely Amazon delivery.. 31 May to 12 June , er no, eBay, 3 days... Most odd..

Had an interview with a recruiting company where the woman doing the interview had a top that didn't cover much.. That definitely wasn't fair, I'd just come back from Saudi..

Sir Walter didn't need to. Hemp has been grown commercially in the UK for centuries, still is, but that variety has considerably less wacky backy about it. It is still the same plant though.. There are many places called Hempstead in England , somes name means "home farm", but others meant "hemp farm". Those hoping for legalisation of wacky backy now must realise that ain't going to happen, as I suspect it has the same effect on the lungs as smoking tobacco. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2516340/. Mooring Awl, 5 hours sleep, waterworks alarm call, due to pint of beer at the MRC AGM, held at a pub, short awake, 2 hours sleep, good. Ben the currently snoring Collie, only got up when I did, we had a good but chilly patrol. Blue welkin with a few fluffy white things up there, a stiff north easterly earlier but that's moved round to the north west. A dash out to Tes and Coes was required as I forgot to divert on the way back from the MRC last night.. lack of milk is a disaster for the tea by the gallon SWMBO. I've just been out working on the electric spinny thingy but have realized I need more parts, a huge £5.47 for 5 more parts, they are now ordered. There is a need for other things but they won't be expensive, just need the right combination of words to find them. I'm just going to go out to the shed again to put a second coat of paint on the mast wedge. Then upstairs for MRC accounts. Time to venture outside again.

One wonders if the ban on smoking might eventually cause a situation like the prohibition era in America... A new radio controlled tiktok for BM arrived, I'll start making the mounting for that tomorrow, it needs to be visible from my seat, in a place that won't get demolished by other equipment or me when I do move around the boat. Just thought of the perfect position!! Now to try to work out a mounting for it there.. Evening Awl. MRC AGM went well, unfortunately I got reelected as treasurer, just after I noticed a couple of errors in this years printout, the errors don't affect the overall results. I'll correct them tomorrow, before filing that for posterity and then creating the 2024-2025 spreadsheet from this years. Ordered 4x 20mm block from the house of strong ladies. ... The order has been split into 4, all are individually coming from different places, two of which are abroad somewhere.. The blocks are listed as £13.20 on the manufacturers website, around a tenner from most places plus delivery, and all 4 cost a total of £27 delivered via a big river. Muggachoccy gone, goodnight Awl .

Oi I was going to say that. The orange one also said in 2019 of the American war of Independence 1775-1783 “Our army manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do, and at Fort McHenry, under the rockets’ red glare, it had nothing but victory,” Afternoon Awl, BMs mast wedge, though not wedge shaped, think of it as an upside down J with squares inside the U bit of the J, has been constructed sanded and even painted. Luckily I was not working on that when swmbo arrived to see progress on the electrical spinning thing. I'd shoved it to one side some time ago in disgust, when on top of other problems, the electrics failed. That turned out to just a wire not connecting because I'd pulled it accidentally when trying to sort out the main problem. The main problem being the brake on the bobbin not doing it's stuff. So before starting work on it I reviewed other electric spinners. Iirc, Last time there were just 3 E-spinners showing up on researching the subject. This time there were 7. The E-spinner I'd chosen to copy was the only one using it's style of bobbin brake, all the others used a common other system. So I've started rebuilding the relevant area of the E-Spinner, now awaiting epoxy metal to set.. On checking in with swmbo before she set off to the weavers, I also checked the weather radar, a window opened in the rain and Ben took me for a walk, he did cut it short and we got back just before another round of soggyness. The wind has slightly changed direction, instead of a glancing blow on the rear windows, it's now bouncing off the front, so there's a little more East in it.. Hmm of food a company is opening in Norwich selling Yorkshire pudding wraps!! I e . The small making's of a roast dinner wrapped in Yorkie puds. Time for an eyelid inspection.

Mooring Awl, A terrible night's sleep, caused a lot by the noise of the howling winds, this mornings weather wombles say close to 50 mph for most of the day. Ben the impatient Collie, wanted out early, going back to bed during showers. We went out at 07:00 ish between further downpours, everything is dripping Wet out there. All those irate cricketers couldn't get on the jury... Had a few thoughts on BM during the night, some parts got ordered at stupid o'clock. There is another minor problem I'm thinking about though. Of that, I'll spend a little time in the workshop today, I need to make the wedge for the mast, it's actually a quite complicated shape. Then I need to restart work on Swmbo's electric spinning wheel, though today will be an inspection and cogitate. Much searching of ideas boating wise.. no solution yet Time to finish this muggacoffee.

The eco colour round here is brown mud, I won't by grey or white, it's a good way of not being seen in fog. I think Ford got in early with Utes.

Got to the vets, brilliant sunshine, left the vets, horizontal rain and definitely not nice. Ben's original problem fine, Ben's liquid test, results odd, but not conclusive, second liquid chase Thursday. We were going down the beach after Ben's visit, but not in that weather, it's stopped soggying at the moment but round 2 is imminent according to the RDF. Got interrupted didn't send the above, Ben took me for his long walk, but I refused the ultimate long walk in this weather, I was definitely only going where hedges provided some shelter from the wind. Came back printed 20 copies of the annual accounts for the MRC.. Then ordered the card reader machine, Numerous problems, one they don't know the existence of clubs, We are a limited company, but only the secretary and chairman are on HMGs companies lists, not the Treasurer.. Eventually I found a way round that but I think from the words they'll send me a form to sign to confirm I am a legal representative of the " company". Just waiting for another outburst of soggyness to clear, before delivering the accounts print out to the landrover so I don't forget them..

Mooring Awl, 7 hours near solid sleep, I needed that. Ben the surprised Collie found Swmbo coming downstairs before we went out. Then we put him on a lead and went down the garden.. also in unusual. Every time he went to water the garden Swmbo would approach him with a bowl, he would stop, look at us, " What are you mad humans up to?" Eventually swmbo timed it right and got a sample. Luckily we also have a supply of spare "sample bottles" from previous of our own problems . In 1/2 hour we head off to the vets with Ben.. that won't please him at all. I must admit I'm not looking forward to the Scottish trip in the " little red driving machine"© Gwiwer. It will be heavily loaded and I'm not fancying the A66 and M74 hills, there's no way I'm using the cross country / over the hills "A" road route in it. Ben's gone off for an unescorted wander out. All my working life I worked in air conditioned often clean air buildings. My nose is not liking this going outside regularly, I'm suffering from hay fever, the worst since 1971 when we moved to the Outer Hebrides and the different plant life out there. Plans for today, Vets, Print out copies of the years MRC accounts for tomorrow's AGM, the spreadsheets are done of course as I needed them for HMRC. Order card reader... Draw up wiring plan for French unmentionable, really need to make some decisions on that. But first... Time for a muggacoffee.

one " A " road I use in Scotland that used to be mostly 60, with drops to 40 or 30 through villages, now is 20 through villages. With every speed limit from 20 , 30, 40, 50, 60mph along the road and a lot of speed cameras. I'm glad I didn't use the car Rani was driving, that Toyota is basically the same car as our Peugeot " little red Driving machine"© Gwiwer. 999cc of nothing power. You have to change down on a Norfolk hill, slight slope...

Afternoon Awl, My landrover has a variety of settings for terrain, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th ,5th gear in high and low ratios. The limiting factor is my back, the landrover can take a lot more than I can.. Sailing went well, reasonably attended. Sunny most of the time, wind varying between not a lot and 20mph. South westerly with occasional north westerly.. Made a mistake and took the new club rowing dinghy to fetch BM, got there then found the new dinghy has no attachment point on the stern, had to tow BM across to the club with the rope tied round my waist.. Race 1, course , 3p, Xp, 2p, Xp, 1 lap Started middle of the line perfectly on time, lead boat was up ahead and had to tack off the bank, BM arrived just as they settled on Port, so a quick shout of Starboard!, they had to tack back, IBM swept past and by the time they recovered BM was about 100yards ahead. Got most of the way up to the bend when they caught up, Their handicap, 14, BMs, 21, So they are 7% faster. Kept them behind for a few hundred yards, then they got past. So after that it was just sail BM as best I could, I believe by the end BM was close enough to win on handicap. Race 2, 2p, Xp, 1p, Xp Nearly did the same again on the start line, but the leader just escaped, then while nearing X while it wasn't BMs next buoy a boat from 3 starts ahead, rounded it. Just above BM, so effectively they were blocking our wind, it took a couple of tacks to get clear air, by which time we'd lost a lot of ground never got near the lead boat. Race 3, 3p, Xp, 2p, Xp Had a good start, but was again behind the leader, then the wind dropped, their much larger sail area paid off, got left well behind, got round the first bend, then there's a section of short tacking, was glad to find BM was catching up.. not enough, once they rounded the top bouy onto the run, they just left BM behind. Race 4 wind dropping further, 2p, Xp, 1p, 5p. This is a different grouping of boats bermudans only in this race. The gaffers started 5 minutes later. Set off well but two boats had a better start, managed to get alongside one, but as we approached The bank, they called for water, and that then meant they were above BM on the next tack, their larger sail area really slowed BM. After that it was just chase the lead 2 boats. Never got near them. But didn't lose to much distance, it's a 50:50 whether BM got one or both or none of the lead Boats. Generally pleased with the way BM sailed, a couple of mods to halyard system , adding cheek blocks at the bottom, then back up through a spinlock jammer made it a lot easier to raise and unexpectedly it helped to lower the sails. Next week I hope to lean the mast a little further forward, she's still too much of a handful in a gust, measurements were taken for a wedge behind the mast to achieve this. I'm modifying the jib attachment to the bow, a 4mm kevlar rope will go from the jib club, round a block attached to the bow, then back into the boat. Then there will be a vang type block and tackle, to tighten to forestay / jib club ..

Mooring Awl, 4 hours solid sleep, 3 hours intermittent sleep. Ben the I'd like out Collie was cause of some of the intermittency, when I finally gave in, we had a good patrol, scattered white clouds, generally sunny, light winds. Two heavy duty tractor went by at 07:00, they are now trundling up and down the field to the south and east of the garden, harrowing the soil. Hmm my favourite tide site has gone walkabout, looking elsewhere low tide is just before 12:00, wind 15 to 20 mph , sunny scattered clouds.. Time to go sailing

Hmm that painting isn't a very good imitation of dress Stewart Tartan. Should be a lot more white in it. Royal Stewart, Tartan with red Background, Dress Stewart, Tartan with white back ground, Hunting Stewart, Tartan with green back ground, Black Stewart, Tartan with black background. The above have the same royal tartan lines but a different background colour, there are more. Then there are different branches of the family with different tartan lines and their own range of backgrounds. There are 32 different Stewart Tartans, last time I counted... Manufacturers of Tartans have muddied the waters by bringing out ancient / weathered and modern versions of Tartans. Ancient being of faded colours, modern being over bright versions only obtainable due to modern eyes. Often this is to get round license clauses by the owners of the tartan . So the RAF tartan can only be produced by one company so other manufacturers brought out something similar but not quite the same.

He sits there , looking at you, thinking... I'm glad I hid the correct lid...

My dear boy, we British spell the word as Programme.....

I bought a property big enough to need a ride on... No I can't afford to hire someone else to mow it.. And at the moment i can't mow it.. Took about an hour to remove and get into the deck to find one of the blade drive spindle frames had broken. Bodged it back together and drove one trip to the mobile home before the belt fell off again. I've since researched the part. Problem 1, this is a limited edition mower, the mower is not recognised by most lawnmower parts suppliers. Found a German site, an official main stealers that did recognize the mower. They, however, want main stealer prices, the part is about €75 plus delivery plus taxes.. but at least i got the part number. UK main stealer prices are similar. General UK lawnmower dealers price about £62 Copy parts from eBay, £30, same copy parts from general lawn mower dealer £52. Big search on net find Genuine parts in the USA ( the mower maker is American). It's $51 plus taxes and delivery. Eventually find Amazon genuine, £ 52 delivered from USA or Two Copy parts for a similar price. Went for two copy parts.. if it's broken once it's likely to break again. They seem to be generally pushed by most lawnmower dealers.. Note, all the genuine suppliers quote 2 weeks + for delivery, I suspect they don't keep stocks and order from the USA themselves. Ben taken for his long walk, the bottom track has had a big 4*4 tractor towing a heavily loaded trailer that was bottoming out in many places. When we reached the far end there was a huge pile of soil several trailer loads. Quite what they want it there for I'm not sure, its near the end of the pipeline that was put in... The tractor has had the advantage of squishing out the mud and water out of the tracks , the whole route is easier to walk now.

0.5MW transmission power... 1.9us pulse width at a prf of 500Hz and Frequency about 3Ghz Yes a scopies wagon, and a generator wagon. The radar controls were in the scopies wagon, though if all else fails you could always turn off the generator. A few years ago, SWMBO got commissioned to paint a picture of the main ice cream boat on the broads, I believe there are two now.. Mooring Awl, 3 hours sleep, 4 hours sleep, 30 minutes sleep. Ben the impatient Collie wanted out, he had a good patrol, plenty of snuffling, I think we have two resident Muntjac in the depths of the jungle. Thin high grey cloud, not a lot of wind. That grass is about 1/5 of our "estate" , the easy mow space is about the same area, about 3 more fifths are mowable, weaving between trees, plants and buildings, and the final fifth is effectively jungle. There's still a lot of chopping back before I can get the mower in. Plans for today.. Lying around , Under or by the lawn mower to change the blade drive belt..

Evening Awl, Don't get ice cream vans here, even though we are close to a beach. Just not enough people around, can hear them at a more popular beach occasionally, that's a couple of miles away. Museum was very quiet in the mooring, so did a lot of muddling on this. A Early Type 14 mobile Radar on a Austin K6 lorry. Anyway at 1/87 scale that dish is now attached to the transmitter cabin behind it. Almost ready to go ashore on 6th June ... Another hundred ish fence posts were fitting to RAF Neatishead 1/1000 scale 1983. Then on things unmentionable, at the MRC later things also went extremely well.. Muggachoccy gone goodnight Awl.