coastalview

We have just found out what Xmas at Attingham Park will be like. It looks like we will have around 70 xmas trees around the estate and house. There are about 35ish in the house and if last year is anything to go by they will be beautifully decorated. So if anyone is around the Shrewsbury are during December it should be worth a visit. You will need to book online if you want to visit the house. For NT members this free and just reserves your place. It's always good fun and lovely to see the little kids who have never seen such big Christmas trees indoors

Enjoy, as they were rather fine. Yesterday was first time I've had a cheese scone for ages.

Thanks for the hospitality Dave and look forward to seeing you all in the New Year

A contemporary view on "train spotting" https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/oct/23/track-star-meet-tiktoks-trainspotter-sensation?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other Social media is rather odd IMHO

Well yesterday was a busy day, Julie had her Covid booster at The OrthopaedicHospital, we shifted loads of logs (that will all need splitting and seasoning from our neighbours across the road to our house. He is an 89 year old ex forester who had just chopped down a tree at his house. We helped him log it and then moved them to our house and another neighbours. On Saturday evening we went into Shrewsbury for a very nice meal and a visit to Theatre Severn to see The Dark Side a rather good Pink Floyd tribute band. Sunday started with a surprise, I found out we were having a sort out of our clothes, so that some could go to the charity shop. Then apparently the lawn needed mowing.... I thought retirement was supposed to be relaxing lol.

Whilst driving towards Shrewsbury along the A5 I spotted a white Tesla coming from the Telford direction. It had an interesting number plate E H11PP0 I wonder if the Telford Hippo collective are expanding westward. Do we need to prepare the defences for a cake raid?

My Dad was in the RAF during WW2 and was invalided out after a bomb almost blew him up, he survived but always had psychiatric problems. I tend to agree with Andy about WW2 weekends they started off as a rather romantic version of WW2 , we went to a number of them and to be honest rather enjoyed ourselves. With the introduction of Germans and as Andy says the alternative reality spoiled it for us. We have also be regular visitors to Twinwood which is a music festival at the old Twinwood airfield. It started off as a Glenn Miller festival (its where Glenn Miller took of from on his last fateful flight) and gradual expanded to cover music from the 1920's to the 1960's. Many people dress in period clothing, however I believe they have a ban on Axis insignia, Axis medals, and weapons (real or replica) . You do see lots of RAF and USAAF pilots, a sprinkling of naval officers and quite a few army officer and various rand people including a highly polished RMP sergeant. I do have a sort of issue with the wearing of medals though maybe that is just me as many seem to. Having said all of that it was great fun and if we can make the time we may go this coming year. It is on over the late August holiday weekend and if you like any music from that period I would recommend it.

Just had my Covid jab at the Orthopaedic and no need to wait. In fact I was in the car within 12 minutes of my allocated time. They no longer give the little cards out as its all on your online record. Following on from the jab I had to mow the lawns as it had got rather out of control in the time we have been in Cornwall

Have you tried any of the day rate insurance companies as I know some of them accept non UK licence holders?

After a day in West Cornwall it was really odd to discover that so many places no longer take cash, its card or nothing. This isn't a something I've found in Shropshire so is it just Cornwall?

The cheese scones are rather fine at Bodnant and with a slab of cheddar and some pickle even better. As an NT volunteer the last time I was there I got two bits of cheese 🧀 which made it even better 🤣

We have arrived in Cornwall after fighting our way through traffic jams, accidents and avoiding muppet drivers. I'm with @Happy Hippo with regard to the G&T, however, plain crisps are the order of the day.

£190.... 🤣 that has to fall into the crazy category

The decent quality stuff is about the same price you would pay for non branded furniture in somewhere such as SCS, however it has the advantage of being immediately available and you can trstbit, rather than on a 12 week lead time, which when you are turning round a rental property as my son was is rather useful.

It was just really poor QC, the thread was so obviously damaged. It was a close run thing on the stairs going round the 180 corner.....

Yesterday was a rather long day leaving home at 0730 to help one of my sons move some new furniture to Nottingham to a flat he is refurbishing. The sofa was in a box 210x92x55 cm and weighed 65 kg. I went down to Birmingham to meet him using the M54 and M6 and can certainly agree with Dave about the standard of driving, the number of people who seemed to enjoy sitting at 50mph in the middle lane. We eventually got to the services near Nottingham went to Costa for a well deserved drink only to find they had no milk at 10 in the morning!! Still there was an upside we found that the services had a Pret and had a rather fine Almond Croissant The only way we could get the sofa upstairs was to unpack it in the basement garage, once upstairs we tried to fit the legs on it only to find that one of the threads on the fitting was badly cut and wouldn't screw in. So once we had built all the furniture to check it was OK we then had to go across town to IKEA to get a replacement set. I honestly wouldn't recommend going to IKEA on a Saturday it was rammed and the car park was chaotic with so many people who seem to find backing into a parking space impossible. Two hours later we were back at the flat finished putting it together and headed home. I eventually got home at 7pm and was absolutely shattered. Still it was great to spend the day with my son and we managed to put the world to rights many times over.

Having survived the first meeting of the Hipposhire Collective I though I would try my luck at at getting some shots of the Welsh Marches Express (from Shrewsbury to Poole) it having failed the last time I tried So I toddled off to Church Stretton as at least it has a bus shelter on the platform to get out of the monsoon. As luck would have it it was 70000 and it was running about 14 minutes late and working quite hard as it came through the station Bringing up the rear was 47614

Just two vacs in this house, one of those upright ball cleaners from dyson which works well but has needed a number of replacement plastic bits over the years, all of which have been from someone other than dyson and half the price. The other one is a rechargeable dyson which needed a new battery about two days after the warranty ran out. They "kindly" sold a replacement to me at half price. This lasted just over a year. Replaced it with a non dyson battery and this has lasted longer than the two original dyson batteries. You do seem to be able to buy just about every component needed to rebuild a dyson from third parties. Needless to say we will not be buying a replacement dyson when they finally expire. On the subject of sheds, what does the roof space of a pitched roof oak framed garage count as? Is it a shed, a loft or the upstairs garage? Time to polish the shoes, brush the remaining strands of hair and get ready for meeting the Hipposhire Collective. Wish me luck.

I'm quite a resilient character so all being well I should survive

Started raining here about 7pm no T&L but the power started flickering on and off went off for five minutes and then was restored but on low power. So some lights worked and some didn't same with appliances. The lights that worked were those with dimmable LEDs Finally came back properly at about 9pm for us. However according to Scottish Power some parts of NW Hipposhire and Wales would be on reduced power until 1am today. Must admit out of all the utilities we have contact with Scottish Power are excellent at letting you know what is going on and checking that you are OK.

BT bought EE about 6 or 7 years ago if my memory serves me correctly. We both have Vodafone business contracts as until recently they were the only provider who could give you a signal here. This is less of an issue now with WiFi calling.

I would go for C speaking as someone who who has tried both A and B in the past. In our current house we have made the problem go away as both the walls and ceiling are the same colour😇

It was Repulse I believe. The guy doing the commentary said they were blue because Fowlers were late delivering them and they came out in a rush in blue undercoat. Don't know if its true but a good story. Here is a clearer shot

I think I was about 20 the last time I was 11 stone......

Apart from the chaotic traffic queues on the A5 a good day was had yesterday at the Shrewsbury Steam Fair, it luckily wasn't too hot although it was rather dusty particularly down by the field where the tractors were demonstrating. Here are a few pictures Here's one for @jamie92208 It seems that Health and Safety is optional on this engine powered saw and one final one Chris