Olympic flame and all that

The London Olympic torch/flame travelled between Matlock and Bakewell today with the centre of Matlock at a standstill for some considerable time.  I was at work and the sainsbugs car park was full up but the shop empty.  This made for a very pleasant afternoon until it became time to knock off.  My exit coincided with the progress of the flame/torch. However a cunning shopping list put together at some speed this morning as i left for work meant that once I had picked up the goodies, I had a free run by the back roads to within a mile of the cottage and only minimal traffic thereafter.

Back to normal now with the prospect of a busy weekend at the shop!   

Squirrel for lunch!

When I was away treading the very soggy hills of Snowdonia a couple of weekends ago our tabby cat "Sainsbury" dragged a squirrel through the cat flap.  Thankfully it was dead, I imagine it put up a bit of a fight because they really are only rats with furry tails in my opinion, cute non the less.
He then dragged it to his favourite site of torment and dismemberment, behind the front door and was in the process of trying to eat it when Sally called a halt to the proceedings and disposed of the corpse.
Our old tabby "Grumpy" also managed to bag a squirrel in the garden but he was in the process of trying to eat it on next doors decking when I relieved him of his prize.

Phil takes a trip to "the Smoke"

My much loved Freelander, "Phil" was sold this morning and he's on his way to London as I pen this post.  

A nice young couple came up this morning and after a quick inspection and a drive up to Bakewell and back the deal was done.  

My attention now turns to Cyril the Vauxhall Combo van for logging, no doubt i will have to call on Boris now and then to tow me out of the boggy ground 

Heres a pic of Phil chatting up the couples transport up here before they all set off for the big city

Farewell Phil!  

The stiffness has gone but its a pain in the A**e.

After the walking rigours of the weekend in Wales it was good to get back to work on Monday.  Well I say good  what I really mean is all the bending stretching and movement managed to ease any residual stiffness.  The Boss lets call her Tracy! is away in Sharm el Sheikh Egypt on her holiday.  I managed to persuade her to get an underwater camera and urged her to get lots of underwater snorkelling pics so no doubt there will be plenty to look at on her return.

Its my colleague, lets call him Paul's last week starting yesterday, I nipped in to see him and he's really up for this new job his friend has talked him into, I hope all go's well.  The 2 "sirens of the sausages" colleagues, lets call them Linda & Debs are still asking if I will take over Paul's cage dancing routine but as I have said before , I haven't got the hips for the thong!

The driving force behind the 15 Peaks adventure Ginny, has issued a flurry of e mails and it looks as if we are going to go back the weekend 15/16th September to bag the ones we missed last weekend.  She mentions going back up Tryfan which was the only one we managed on the 2nd day before abandoning due to the appalling weather.  I could do without it but wont spoil the party.

So, the stiffness has gone but now as the blog title suggests "its a pain in the A**e" begins.  I'm selling the freelander affectionately known as Phil.  Hes worth a little over 2k so I have put him up for 2300 for a "No nonsense quick sale"
I put an advert on the Autotrader website quoting chapter and verse all the dents and scratches 5 pics, the whole shootin match.  I had a call yesterday and it was as if the bloke had heard it was for sale down the pub, even though he was looking at the website advert.  We went all through the detail he phoned me back twice about getting here to see the vehicle.  So here I am 2 hours after the appointed time of arrival having given up on him arriving at all.  Hey ho, I might just sell him to the first person who actually bothers to show up.
HERE HE IS IN ALL HIS GLORY! COME ON MAKE ME AN OFFER!!!

2003 Land Rover (Special Vehicles) Freelander TD4 Commercial 3 door, Taxed 03/13 MOT 15/09/12, 83700 miles
This vehicle has a couple of small (supermark​et carpark) dents and some MINOR scratches it does however "scrub up well"
Automatic gearbox with traction control on 1st and reverse for steep hill descent.  Also Sport setting and sequential setting.
Alloy Wheels, Air Con, 6 CD changer, L/R Rear Cargo floor mat, heated mirrors, elec windows and mirror adjustment​, Flip up driver and passenger roof vents (can be removed as can the rear cargo body cover).
All this and an ADDITIONAL spare set of 5 steel wheels with knobbly tyres.
FOR A NO NONSENSE QUICK SALE £2300 NO VAT TO PAY
RING 01629 735790 

I knew it would be wet but not that wet!

A great Friday and weekend stomping the hills to attempt the 15 Peaks.  The weather was atrocious there is no other word for it.
Friday,  horizontal driving rain with winds gusting to 45mph and we completed the required peaks that day on the Carneddau range 7 in all.  We all arrived back at the hotel soaked and thinking it had been a good day!
Saturday, horizontal driving rain with winds gusting to 55mph.  We were after the 5 peaks of the Glyderau range.  We managed Tryfan and down to the col to ascend the first Glyder and decided the weather would beat us.  We made the difficult decision to abandon the day and descended.  Later that day we observed the rescue chopper having a busy time and believed we had done the right thing.

Sunday, we were attempting the Crib Goch section with the knife edge on to Carnedd Ugain and up to Snowden summit.  If the weather was against us just Snowden and Carnedd Ugain.  I wasnt looking forward to the alternate plan as Crib Goch and the knife edge really make this one the reason to go up.  Luckily we traversed the edge in quite good weather and arrived at the top of Snowden with it looking like Picaddilly Circus due to the crowds up there.
We descended in bright sunshine cursing our bad luck the 2 previous days but promising to return and bag the 4 peaks we missed.

All in all a "character building" weekend and the pics are made more dramatic by the awful weather.  Follow the link below to view them.  Dont miss the short video's!

https://picasaweb.google.com/111512069750241714636/Welsh15PeaksChallenge?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCLLZkvmX95zRBg&feat=directlink

Here we all are at the Snowden car park having finished the Crib Goch bit on the final day the summit of which is in the background.  Left to right John, me, Camilla, Jo, Ginny and Adam.

15 Wet peaks this weekend!

I keep checking the weather forecast for the Snowdonia area where I'm attempting the Welsh 15 Peaks this Fri Sat & Sun with a group of 5 others.  Unfortunately it never gets any better, Thunderstorms Fri and a 100% chance of heavy rain on the other 2 days.
As its the middle of June and nearing the days of longest daylight I reckon there will be lots of other groups and individuals on the trails wondering why they bothered.

Still its only water!, onwards and upwards!  

"I've got you tablet", she said, I knew I was in trouble!

Either the tablet was to see me "off" one way or the other or, oh yes very nice that type of tablet!  Its our wedding anniversary today,  15 years, you get less for murder nowadays!
However I digress, its a toy I never even considered so that's why it was more than just a surprise.  Well more of a challenge really as there are no instructions with it, an oversight on the packer I think.  No problem I thought just download a set, go to the manufacturers website and there's an overlay that says the office is closed until July!  You can see all the downloads but cant get to them because of the overlay.

Here it is in all its glory!

My gift however did not need instructions in fact you don't even need an "app" to make it work.  After the less than rapturous reception the T towel set got at Sally's birthday I thought I would pull out all the stops and got these.

Jubilee oven gloves! What did I do wrong???   Women can be sooooooo ungrateful!

Maybe I should take the Tablet!

Boris gets a reprieve but Phil has to go

Boris is my wife Sally's beloved Land Rover Defender which we intended to sell, in preparation for this we bought a little Corsa Combo van now nicknamed Cyril.  Cyril is a 1700 Diesel Turbo and quite frankly go's like a rocket.
The decision to sell Boris was not popular with Sally however she reluctantly agreed but having spent some hours cleaning and polishing him the reverse smile once again crossed her face as he stood there in all his magnificence.  He did clean up well and i wondered if it might be as well just to sell the Freelander "Phil" instead.
I had done a bit of research on the net and discovered that the Freelanders few more mile per gallon than the Defender is more than taken away when you start to repair or replace bits on it especially the BMW engine i'm told.  Dont get me wrong bits for a defender should be gold plated the price they charge but they are at least "British".

So thats it then Boris gets a reprieve but Phil has to go, here they both are at our logging site in 2009

A colleague - lets call him Paul hangs up his thong

Working over the Jubilee weekend and Bank Holiday was "the bitch" I predicted only broken by the news that "A colleague - lets call him Paul" came in to hand in his notice!  Shock horror, i knew something was up as he "never" comes into the shop when he's not working unlike me who uses it like the corner shop and is in most days.

I digress however, now Paul is the subject of my "Paul's a cagey leather clad sprinter" post of the 18th May. A new fact has emerged about his cage dancing from the "fresh colleagues  - lets call them Debs and Linda" It appears that when Paul is performing for the girls he wears a thong!  Pity no videos exist they would be a hit on the "tube"
Paul will be missed and I'm sure we all wish him the best and hope the grass really is greener over that hill.  I will miss him more because I will have to train the new bod - - I wonder if he or she will take up the thong?  Debs suggested I take it up but I really haven't got the hips!