No going back now.......................

[Rev Jules]

Originally Posted by FLYING BANANA

.......................... for every time I thought of you then I would be walking in the garden forever”.

It’s 10 years ago today since my Val took the hands of the angels. And on days like this I miss going to the cemetery. Oh! I talk to Val every day, but a visit to the cemetery is different. There I can sort the world’s problems out, discuss what is happening in the world today.
I’m hoping that her brother will go today and take flowers.

Keep safe my friends, catch up whenever we can.

Merry Christmas.

As long as you can keep fond memories of a loved on you will have all the happiness in the world.

Merry Christmas and a Very Happy and Peaceful New Year.

Dawn and Julien.

[planenut]

Bob, thankfully wherever we are they will always be with us. The memories are the treasures.

Best Wishes to you mate.

Fred (planenut)

[FLYING BANANA]

Today I have received very sad news. Elizabeth’s husband to be, Tim, has passed away from Covid-19. He was admitted to hospital last Friday after being taken ill at home. Elizabeth has also been tested positive but is staying at home as her condition is not as bad. This is the second time she has tested positive for the illness. She works in the care industry.Their baby boy is being looked after by relatives. I’m very shocked by the news. I would have never thought that Tim would catch the illness as I know he has been very careful. But it appears that one of his students had tested positive a week before.

The news gets no better as two of my very good friends, Emma and Kevin, have also both tested positive. Emma you may remember makes the MG-Rover cushions. And she was very supportive after I lost my Val. She also works at the Range in North London so it comes as no surprise that she has contracted the illness. Emma also has underlying health issues to do with her breathing. As far as I know both her and hubby are still at home. At the first lockdown back in March Kevin lost both his sister and brother to this illness.

I checked on the COVID-19 government website just over a week ago that in my current postcode 2 people had tested positive. I then entered my old London postcode and that figure was 508 people testing positive. This is very frightening.
I’m becoming more and more a recluse. Very rarely venturing out other than for essential shopping. Although I did drive into Plymouth yesterday to collect a new element for my grill. This follows on from the electrical issue I had on Christmas Eve.

On the 24th December I got up in the morning, had a shower and got dressed. Went downstairs and put on the central heating, turned the kettle on and switched the grill on. Well, that all went bang with the grill smoking. The element had split and caused the consumer box to shut down. I turned everything off and set about resetting the trip switches. The power points were working but I had no central heating or lights downstairs. Upstairs I had no power at all.
So onto Homeserve whom I have a contract with. The saga of actually speaking to a human is time consuming. Eventually I got to speak to a very nice lady.

I gave her my address and mobile number. The engineer that turned up had been given the wrong mobile number. I live at no.15 and he was looking for the Green. I was looking out of the window when I saw the van pull up. The engineer was asking people where the Green was, he was parked across the road from it. I live nowhere near the Green.
I ventured out and told him where I was. He showed me a copy of the details he had received about me and the job. The only thing on the paperwork was my name that was correct.

He isolated my grill element and reset my switches and everything was working now. He tested all the power points throughout the house plus reset the central heating for me. Having made sure that everything was working as it should then he was gone onto the next job.
I had lovely Xmas day with Allen, Val and Barbara. Allen and I were not able to go to the pub but we made up for staying at home. I started off with a coffee with Kraken spiced rum in the mug. Then I was drinking cider. At the dinner table I was drinking Rose wine.

Then it was cider with spiced rum chasers until I went home at 22.30pm. Val, bless her, gave me a lift home. I was very grateful for the lift.
New Year’s Eve was spent on my own. I was happy to see the New Year in on my own.
And I then set about finding where to buy my grill element. Allen put me onto the company, Vanrigge’s, in Plymouth and that was where I was yesterday.
Allen came round this morning and fitted the new element for me. Glad he done it as I had no idea. And he reset my cooker clock, as you need a Phd to reset the perishing thing.
And Allen took the last of the eyesore aka the greenhouse wood.

Still running the club shop which helps to keep my mind occupied. Still building the model cars. The last one tested my patience to the limit. Took me over two hours how to figure out how to attach the opening hatch at the back. The model being a 1/12th scale Jaguar XJ220. Still it’s built now.
The next project is a 1940 Ford pickup which will become a present for Allen to say thank you for all his help. Photos to follow.

So under the current circumstances I’ll NOT BE RETURNING TO London at any point for the foreseeable future.

Keep safe my friends. Please look after yourselves.

Thanks for reading.

[WillyHeckaslike]

OFFS, Weebs? Zzzzzzzzzz.

[FLYING BANANA]

................... by ambulance under blues and two’s. She is in St. Thomas’s in London. I had to phone her Uncle Roger who is in the West Indies. After all he is a blood relative and is able to get the information. I cannot as I’m not a blood relative. I started calling Elizabeth my niece after she kept calling me Uncle Bob.

Further information via Roger is that Tim was taken to hospital on Boxing Day, and not last Friday. But sadly passed away with complications relating to the virus.
Roger is trying to get a flight back to London. Last time he was here he also ended up in St. Thomas’s with COVID-19, last year.

It’s very frustrating that there is nothing I can do. All I can do is pray for a good outcome. I have everything crossed for her.

Many thanks for the kind words.

Please keep safe.

[coolguy]

Bob, Thought last year was bad enough, but your start to 2021 is even worse. Thoughts and prayers are with you.

[FLYING BANANA]

....................... is not looking good at all. Roger has got as far as New York but is still waiting on a flight to London, trouble with his passport I believe. The phone call was a bit garbled. Mobile to mobile reception was a bit iffy. But what I could gather is that Elizabeth is none to well. Emma and Kevin are recovering, albeit slowly but at least they have not been hospitalised.

I have the builder in, he is replacing the gutters/soffits/down pipes. Local man, lives less than 10 minutes from me. Really nice guy, very efficient. Cleans up after him and takes all the rubbish away daily. I asked him to take the satellite dish down. I have a Freeview box, not that I watch a lot of telly at the moment. He has taken the dish away to the skip.

He was here this morning sharp at 09.00, knocked to see if I was around. He didn’t want to start hammering or drilling if I was still in bed. I’m out of bed most mornings by 06.30 rarely any later. Work done so far is the back and most of the side. The guttering at the back is in 4 sections and three at the front, so there is a lot of sawing, hammering and drilling going on. And today he will get more done as we have sunshine, outside temperature is currently at 12.5 degrees. Almost like a summer’s day.

Banana went for her MOT which she passed, and to celebrate she dumped her antifreeze and water over the workshop floor. Seems the radiator has split, yet again. Garage has a new radiator on order. This will be her 4th to be fitted in my ownership, last one went in January 2017. Still it’s not like I’m going anywhere soon.

I am so glad that I moved from London when I did. To be perfectly honest I believe I would either be in hospital or no longer here if I had stayed there. I feel ever so sorry for everyone affected by this pandemic. Sad that so many have passed away, so many losing a member of their family. I can only do my bit by not venturing out, only for essential shopping. I only go to the Post Office once a week now to send club shop stuff off.

Being in lockdown doesn’t really bother me as I have lived on my own for nearly 12 years now. So not seeing or hearing from anyone days on end is not a problem. I keep in touch with Michael, Allen, Matt and Roger by phone. Allen does pop in to make sure I’m ok, socially distancing is in order.
I’m catching up on my reading, currently reading “The Flygirl Adventures” by Anita Mays. I met her when she was a guest speaker at the North London MG Club event. Got a signed copy of the book. She asked what name should she address it to, I said “ The Flying Banana”, she laughed about that.

Thanks for reading and the kind comments.

Keep safe and we’ll meet up at some point soon.

[FLYING BANANA]

.................................. because his passport was issued in Brazil. And no one from Brazil is allowed into the U.K. because of yet another new strain of the Covid virus. Although he no longer lives in Brazil he is still registered there. Had quite a lengthy phone call with him today. He needs to get clearance from a judge plus another Covid test. If everything goes to plan then he could be on his way by the weekend. I asked about Elizabeth but all he would say is that she is very ill.

Found out that my builder, Steve, used to play professional football, he was Exeter City’s goalkeeper from 1978 to 1981. His father had the building and decorating business which Steve took over running in 1987.
He has finished the work but is coming back to touch up the paint on the outside walls, where he took the old guttering and down pipes have left a few marks.
He had his assistant with him this morning. Where the long sections had to go up then he needed help.

Collected Banana from the garage this morning. Only drove her home. But will take her out tomorrow, essential shopping trip.

And it’s 3 years ago today that I put the flat up For Sale in Barkingside.

Thanks for reading and the kind comments, it is much appreciated.

Please keep safe.

[FLYING BANANA]

................................. amazes me.

On Saturday when the post came delivered by a new postman. I just grabbed it from the floor and left it on the side whilst I answered the phone. Then on checking the post there was letter that had my address but wrong name and Post Code. So I went onto the Saltash Community page on Facebook and asked if anyone knew the person whose name was on the letter, lots of answers about who the person was but no address of where they lived.

Scroll forward to this morning when my regular postman knocked on my door with a package for me, from DMGRS. He then asked if I still had the wrongly delivered letter, I still had. And I passed onto him and he told me where the person it was addressed to lived. But he said he would deliver it as it was his round. Amazing.

The builder dropped the invoice in for the work carried out. I said I can pay you now by either card or cheque. “No rush”, he said. “End of the month will do”. No I said I’ll pay you now. “Wow! Never had anyone pay me straight away”. So I wrote him out a cheque for the full amount. I’m well happy with the price for the work carried out. Whilst we chatted a chap walking past called out and said, “the house looks amazing with the new guttering, who did it?” I pointed to Steve and said “this is the man”. And he replied, “any chance you could come round and give me an estimate on my house please”.

So Steve took his details and said he would pop round this afternoon. Since then I have had three neighbours remark how much better the house looks. Happy with that.

No news from either London or Roger, who is still stuck in New York.

Many thanks for reading.

Keep safe.