Coombe Barton

... looking at the s**t stirring that’s going on regarding salary and donations in the government, I hope that we’re not seeing something similar to the last paragraph of Orwell’s Animal Farm comparing with the last government ... https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/09/20/postcards-from-home-2024-23/

I think the term tap is much more useful, especially number 4. This from the OED. tap | noun 1 a device by which a flow of liquid or gas from a pipe or container can be controlled: she turned the cold tap on | the air-supply tap. • (also tapping) British English an electrical connection made to some point between the end terminals of a transformer coil or other component. 2 a device connected to a telephone for listening secretly to someone's conversations: those taps produced hundreds of hours of recordings. • an act of listening secretly to someone's telephone conversation. 3 an instrument for cutting a threaded hole in a material. 4 British English a taproom.

I was going to go to a talk today at 11, but looking at the rather changeable weather forecast over the next few days sees that the lawn had better be cut today in opera for garden waste collection next week otherwise it may be to wet to get done. I'm off to Scaleforum tomorrow so a small census of stuff I 'need' has to be undertaken to make sure I neither miss anything nor duplicate unnecessarily. I must resist adding to the kit mountain - I must - I must ...

... finding somewhere permanent to put the stuff I’m sorting, and labelling. And then remembering where I’ve put it. That last bit’s the most difficult. ... https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/09/19/postcards-from-home-2024-22/

... After a (strong) suggestion from my son that I have been a grumpy old fart all my life I have again changed my LinkedIn Status ... https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/09/18/postcards-from-home-2024-21/

Skegness. Been once, passed through the vicinity a further twice. First time Sandy and I were leading a trip to Gibraltar Point for Oceanography and celled in just to say we'd been. The second time we led a trip to Gibraltar Point we avoided Skegness. You can probably guess the reason. Third time we went further north to see the submerged forest on the coast. We avoided stopping in Skegness that time as well.

... I have changed my LinkedIn Status to Retired - Apprentice Grumpy Old Fart. ... https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/09/17/postcards-from-home-2024-20/

I gave up wearing long sleeve shirts years ago - the sleeves just got in the way as I was forever rolling them up. And then they got wet if I didn't roll them up.

... This week I would have been attending and arranging inductions for new students, I’ve just realised. I’m sitting here grinning. ... https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/09/16/postcards-from-home-2024-19/

Back from drac with pix in can. And from the coffee shop bought this, for a neighbour who has rescued a mistreated dachshund pup.

Off to Sister Drac shortly, then a wander round with the camera on a cool, slightly misty but fine morning.

... I will also have the energy to become a grumpy old man and I intend to specialise in the art. ... https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/09/15/postcards-from-home-2024-18/

Mine are builders rubble from when the house was built in the 1960s There's some hard engineering bricks in there - haven't chucked any yet apart from rubble, looking to keep them for possible reuse.

They were intended to grow in my garden, perhaps.

The Seamus Heaney translation is probably the best