Tony_S

Morning all. I suspect today will mainly consist of making cups of tea. My wife has a cough/cold and won't be going to work today. She normally doesn't get colds in termtime but this one must have sneaked past her defences. It was raining late last night but seems quite dry now. Tony

I always wondered about the etymology of "old codger".

Morning all. It is bright and sunny so I hope I haven't overslept by a couple of months! Dd, I hope your father-in-law got everything sorted. I rather like our local bank branch. They seem to explain everything without being condescending. Matthew's former bank was awful. My mother would never fall for the scams of doorstep con-men but some of the respectable looking staff in building societies persuaded her to make some dubious investments. Tony

My father would always do the most exquisite joinery on even the most utilitarian woodwork. I think it was done so he he maximise the time in his shed. Tony

Morning all. I can't remember any dreams from last night. First thing I remember from this morning is the radio turning on. It isn't raining here but is very overcast. Lots of mail arrived early this morning, February "Model Rail" for me, "The Garden" for Mrs S and university visit invitations for Matthew. UCAS applications closed at midnight so I expect he will hear fairly soon from the two universities that haven't given offers or rejections yet. Tony

I don't know if it is true of other IKEA stores but the one at Lakeside now has much better signage that gives (fairly) direct routes to the department you want instead of being directed to follow Yeti sized footprints round every single bit of the shop. Tony

I can't remember which of my cars (not a BMW possibly the Astra) had the washer bottle in the wheelarch but after removing the wheel and plastic wheelarch liner it was recommended to rivet the liner back. It probably was the Astra as the 2litre engine and gearbox completely filled the engine bay. Tony Tony

I've had washer bottles leak but not usually because they are frozen, just poor moulding. Fortunately French cars seem to be designed to cope with inclement weather. The washer pump did fail on my wife's Clio and the manual suggested removing quite a lot of body trim to get at the pump but I managed to reach it (just). My car passed the MOT on Wednesday so I didn't have to start thinking about a replacement yet. Tony

Morning all. Still dark here and raining at the moment. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be doing today. Yesterday morning I was phoned up by a local reporter to ask if I would go and have my photo taken. There has been a local protest about some proposed building on a school playing field adjacent to this road. The County Council have backed down and are going to use another site that everyone else thinks is much more sensible, cheaper etc. Needless to say when I told Mrs S I was going to feature as someone in a crowd in a newspaper picture she said she hoped I'd combed my hair. Tony

Are they playing fallow my leader?

Did he ask you to say "R" and then examine your palette?

I once got hit on the head (by the bat not the ball) after being made to field at silly leg. This was in the time when PE teachers were socialised psychopaths rather than the pleasant characters who encourage their students in schools today.

BoD did of course forget the bit about the third umpire and the importance of the volume control. Tony

Morning all. I don't have snow, rabbits, or a Mac. I'm not sure if I've ever spoken to a bishop. I'm waiting for someone to take my car away for the annual service and MOT. I noticed on the reminder letter that the garage offer a collection and return service so I thought I would take advantage of it. Tony

Are you sure Albert isn't one of those giant rabbits (failed Korean export order)? He and Trude look very content! Tony

I had to replace a Volvo radiator once. I think ours was the model where you had to remove everything to get at the radiator. It was also the model where none of the main dealers ever kept the parts for. At least it was possible to replace the radiator though. For the Astra I used to own apparently the heater hose replacement needed a very small mechanic with very long arms! Tony

Mike, glad to hear your Dad's op is back on. Is it a long journey to the hospital? Tony

Hello all. I'm rather late this morning. I woke up early and had earache so I went back to sleep. All seems better now. Matthew's exam is this afternoon and he is at home until lunchtime so I'll take him to college then. He is working hard at his studies this year. He must have filled the UCAS form in properly as he has had a couple of university offers. Gordon. Very impressive woodwork and planning. Have you decided on what will be the inaugural train yet? Tony

It was probably concentrating on the vole or shrew it was about to pounce on and didn't see you. A bird flew into me when I was riding my motorbike down the A5. It wasn't very big but it seemed to explode. I had quite a bruise on my chest. That was before Kevlar motorcycle body armour. Tony

How do you tell one mustelid from another, I don't know unless it has Colman's printed on it. Is that the one you wanted or something stoatily different?

Thanks to the power of advertising I suspect many people in the UK think meerkats speak with Russian accents. Tony

I've never travelled by Pendolino. I thought I might be getting some interesting train journeys if I went with Matthew on university open days but the trip to Leicester was on whatever East Midlands Trains had repainted. It was at least punctual and other expeditions were by car or local train. That is more advanced than mine. I'm still reading the spec sheet. On Sunday I didn't do much at all. I just put up some bird boxes and took the dog for a walk. I didn't even do any cooking as my wife decided she wanted to cook something. It may have been a ploy to avoid starting studying but the end result was very tasty. Tony

It must be a work day, as Matthew needed a lift to college. It is General Studies AS (resit) examination today and I did't want him to be late because a bus driver doesn't stop. He has an Economics AS examination tomorrow. His economics tutor has just been taken ill (apparently he may not be back soon) and the replacement seems to have been a graduate of the Basil Fawlty Training Institute. Matthew was quite pleased for the first time in his college life to be told off for being "too clever". He then got criticised for talking in group work. It would appear that this tutor expects students to put their hands up for permission to talk during group work. The students have been told they can't complain as economics tutors are difficult to find! Tony

Sorry to hear about the pup not being accepted. How dogs accept who they associate with can be difficult to understand from our human point of view. Tony

Very cute puppy, Gordon. Fortunately Robbie was very easy to house train so I didn't have any oops what have I walked in moments. He hadn't even been in a house when we bought him so I suspect we were either lucky or the book we bought gave good advice! I did ask Santa for a puppy for Christmas but got a locomotive instead. Tony