Tony_S

I don’t think,I have a bucket list. There are I suppose a few places I wouldn’t mind visiting but I can’t say I am eager enough to create a list. I suppose being well enough to go to the places Aditi would like to visit . As for activities ,I don’t want to fly in a balloon , go diving or learn to dance. What my heart attack did do was make,me realise that if you do want to do,something it is probably better doing it while you can.

I had standardised on Bosch 18volt so was never short of a charged battery as I had one more battery than tools. However Bosch make some tools (professional range) with a different 18volt system and I have a couple of those. If ever we get a cordless lawn mower it will be one to take the Bosch batteries. All the professionals visiting this house seem to have De Walt tools.

Whatever it is, it is my new favourite toy. No more being held back by a trailing cable…

We only have Guinness Zero left now. The last of the full fat Guinness went into the casserole we will be eating tonight.

The new tracks,to connect to,connect to storage tracks on my garage layout have to cross non scenic parts of the layout. This was the first thing anyone one notice looking at the layout. So,I thought I would disguise it and also experiment with a few scenic techniques. The scenery has various removable panels so I can retrieve derailments from the main lines. The removable bits are very thin plywood covered in scenic grass mat. I think,it might be a Games Workshop product that has been rolled up,in the garage for about 10 years. I had a play with different ballasting techniques. I have decided two things. I don’t like the Copydex ballasting technique. PVA glue would seem to need a best before date. Mine was a bit gloopy. I will buy some more before any proper ballasting gets done. The bendy mdf behind the glue gun is the rear of the layout backscene.

My grandfather used to eat brains on toast for his tea on Mondays. I am sure drinking Brains is safer…

That must have been why Mum could get his records.

Perhaps it depends on the cake! The one we took over to MiL’s on Sunday contained no flour.

During the 1960s my Mum bought quite a few Val Doonican records.

I thought they were Spanish…

The waiting lists can move quite quickly. My Mum rang me and told me there was “one of those black private ambulances” in her sheltered accommodation carpark. Her next comment was “they are dropping like flies round here “. That was my Mum’s last phone call to me. The image of her looking out of her window remained on Google for quite a few years.

My brother had to have the remains of a big toe nail removed. The nurse told him to look away and yanked it out. My brother said he assumed she told him to look away so she could apply some local anaesthetic . She said there wasn’t usually any need!

I do have a red LT pannier but I bought that years ago. The new acquisition is a model of a crimson lake steam powered GWR vehicle.

The signage there isn’t that great. Fortunately (or perhaps not!) when I have to go to Basildon the departments I need have their own buildings so easy to find.

Juniors name remained lodged in my memory but I never bothered to find out why. Thank you. I wonder if I will ever get a chance to demonstrate my knowledge. We don’t go to pub quiz nights but I am sure I would enjoy them, though one that was on in a local pub where we went for a meal had some rounds where I would have scored zero.

My latest ex GWR model is in a rather attractive lined crimson lake livery.

There isn’t much non green field building land round here. Most developments now are flats or apartment buildings where a small business or a couple of bungalows with big gardens previously occupied the land. There are two sorts of apartment buildings “executive development “ and “retirement”. Executive means near the railway station with communal gym in basement. Retirement means alarm pull cords and a communal lounge area.

I think I may have once confused arthropods and orthopods. Fortunately the person I was speaking to thought I was being amusing rather than stupid.

Well even space flights with multiple redundant systems can go wrong. Once our Waitrose order van was crash damaged and the order was delayed but I wouldn’t criticise them. I think if @zarniwhoop is able to order his white asparagus from Ocado it will be despatched. It could of course be snatched from the air by an aggressive gull as it is carried to the front door…

Happy birthday. I can remember the TV series but I suspect I was in the room while my parents watched it rather than actively watching it. I do remember the theme tune and also being intrigued that one of the actors had Jr after his name despite being an adult. Isn’t it odd what gets recalled.

The technician from the solar power installers has been and gone. Nice chap, explained why he was replacing a couple of items in the fuse box , checked all our voltages and made sure our inverter had all its updates. We had a chat about car chargers and air source heat pumps and he was on his way. Next big excitement of the day will be the food arriving at midday. Tony

Though because Ocado use huge depots instead of local supermarkets to fulfill your order we have found them to be very reliable. The only problem we had was a robot error that packed frozen Yorkshire puddings instead of frozen croissants. With Ocado if you can order it, it gets delivered. Waitrose substitutes are things like perhaps an ordinary cucumber substituted for the organic free range, ethically sourced cucumber we of course order.

Evening all. The Moderna vaccine after effects have gone now and I feel normal (well, normal for me) again. I went out and gave the garage another sweep so that the solar power system technician doesn’t get bits of pink foam on his clothes. He will only be here for 30 minutes checking everything is ok. The pink foam was from some scenic carving for the model railway layout in the garage. It doesn’t spread as much as the bobbly expanded polystyrene but it can still be messy. Access to the batteries and inverter was still as it was when we had another battery fitted recently so I didn’t need to move much and there is nothing stored near the inverter and batteries . As the inspection is only 30 minutes I don’t think the roof panels get inspected. I assume if they haven’t fallen off and are generating the correct voltage they are ok. Tony

Aditi’s Mum lives in a 2 bedroom penthouse flat. It is on the third floor of a purpose built building. It has a very large main bedroom with a spacious en suite. The lounge dining room is huge. The kitchen has plenty of workspace and enough space for a table for kitchen meals. There are roof lights so rain noise is higher than in a normal building and pigeons tap dance on them too. The managing agents keep the communal garden neat but seem to leave the external maintenance longer than I would like. The second bedroom and main bathroom are adequate and there ismamroofmterrce where MiL can have a few plants. For someone with limited mobility when the lift is faulty (not often but lack of spares had caused long repair times. Parking is in dedicated spaces in an underground car park. Is the proposed view from the garden apartment nice? Is it next to a busy road? Aditi was looking at some properties (just out of curiosity, we are not moving) in Northamptonshire near her brother. One of the properties in the “offers over £1 million” section didn’t appear to have a kitchen sink, just a half depth butler sink in the dining room attached to the kitchen! We made a decision some time ago that we will stay here. It is easy to maintain and there would be no problem installing things like stairlifts if we became less mobile. We had all the soffits and fascias replaced with upvc when they started to rot.some years ago. Aditi’s Mum and Dad bought the Enfield penthouse as their property in Nottingham was too big (both house and land) and incredibly expensive to heat. Aditi’s Dad died before they moved. Aditi’s Mum missed living in Nottingham but would have found it difficult to stay there without considerable support.

It will be a mini vacuum cleaner. Then a wallet extraction…