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

[coolguy]

Originally Posted by FLYING BANANA

Let me know when you are down, meet up for a coffee.

Would love to, but it might have to be at a half-way point - the house we rent is in Portscatho on the Roseland Peninsula, although I do visit Looe and Polperro on occasions.

[FLYING BANANA]

Originally Posted by coolguy

Would love to, but it might have to be at a half-way point - the house we rent is in Portscatho on the Roseland Peninsula, although I do visit Looe and Polperro on occasions.

No problem, happy to travel down to meet up. If I bring the Bear it’s only an hours drive.

[coolguy]

Originally Posted by FLYING BANANA

No problem, happy to travel down to meet up. If I bring the Bear it’s only an hours drive.

..or less!
Assuming restrictions allow, it will be 8th to 15th May 2021.

[FLYING BANANA]

........................ 18 months today. After knocking my table lamp over last week whilst I was pulling the curtains back, I was gutted to think it was broken and I could not see how it could be repaired. The connection where the bulb screws in had come adrift. I phoned Allen to see if he could have a look for me.
So yesterday he came round to have a look. He literally took the complete lamp apart.

It’s made out of drift wood so the path that the cable inside takes is not in a straight line but bends round a couple of times following the natural curve in the wood inside down the centre. Now the person who put it all together had worked a right flanker as the power cable was in two halves. Top section traveled down about 8 inches and the bottom section traveled up about 16 inches and the join was behind what looked like a knot in the wood. That knot turned out to be wood filler.

So armed with my Dremel type tool, Allen cutout the “knot”. And the join was revealed a heat wrap had been used and it fell apart as Allen removed it. Not only did Allen feed the cable in at the bottom he managed to use the bottom section right up to the top section. Allen then set about repairing the lamp connector. And this is where I got to do some work. The plastic retaining clips had snapped off. So with the aid of my modelling tweezers and a dab of superglue I was able to put the clips back in place. Now for the moment of testing. And the lamp lit op ok. Just needed to get the shade back on, and put the lamp back on it’s little table.
It had taken Allen almost 4 hours, and 3 mugs of tea, to rebuild my lamp. I’m well impressed with his work. As Allen says “if it’s broke it can be repaired”.

The next job was to measure up for a new bannister rail to be put up on the stairs. There was only a small rail on one side that never went to the top. Allen was a bit concerned about my safety on the stairs.
We drove up to Travis Perkins in Saltash where a new bannister rail plus brackets was bought. Allen has a trade account to we got a fair bit of discount off.
Brought the rail home and left it into the house. Allen said he would come back today to put it up.

And he was back just as I made a cuppa, reckoned he could hear the kettle whistling from home. Armed with a saw and a couple of electric drills. As I’m the apprentice it was my job to hold the rail whilst he trimmed the rail. Cut about 14 inches off. Then very carefully marking the wall he set about mounting the brackets. Whilst he was doing that I made another cuppa. Then I had the job of holding the rail in place whilst he connected the brackets. There is a small window on the stairs that had a curtain covering the light. So we took that down. I’ll put a net curtain up in it’s place at some point.

Once our tea was drunk the next job was to try and get the back door to the garage open. The mortise lock has jammed. After a few attempts from both sides Allen said that he’ll have to remove part of the frame to get to the lock mechanism. But not today. No urgency, as I walk round to the up and over door to gain access.
So Allen decided to take the excess wood that had been removed from the eyesore aka the greenhouse. “Leafy” had her roof rack on so the wood was loaded up. Allen is going to take the beams out to the boatyard where they will be used for shoring the boats up whilst out of the water.

So I’m over the moon for not only for having my lamp repaired and working plus my new bannister rail fitted but to knowing such a knowledgeable person like Allen. I’ll forever be in his debt.
With such a good friend I would be foolish to want to back to Essex anytime soon.

I do have to go back next year as I have a wedding to attend. That’s in May.

So No Going Back till then.

Thanks for reading and the kind comments.

Hope to meet with you all next year.

[FLYING BANANA]

................................ from the doctors following my annual review. Threshold of diabetes is a count of 48, I have dropped below that number for the second year running. I was on 4 tablets a day but that was cut to two last year. I could go down to one tablet but the nurse wants me to stay on my current dose. Liver, kidneys all ok. The urine test came back as being very good. My cholesterol has dropped to 3.2, another improvement on last year.

Thought I would share the good news with you all.

Have a nice Xmas and I’ll see you all in the New Year.

[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.

[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.