Sainsbury tames the shrew & John get laid -- sorry laying!

My number one daughter Caroline mentioned that she didnt think she had ever seen a shrew so heres a pic.  Cute little whiskers Mmmmm

The 2p piece giving an indication of the shrews size denotes its hardly worthy of being called a trophy but Sainsbury the tabby cat seems not to be too bothered by this.  This was Friday's "trophy" and we had a similar one this morning!  I posed a question in an earlier post about why cats dont east shrews - - the answer is "because the skin glands in European common shrews secrete a substance that predators find repellent".   Sainsbury seems to ignore this until he has despatched the poor creature! 

It was stop press news on Thursday when our "Gardener" neighbour John was spotted laying the turf, we had  imagined it would be in its original rolled up position well past Christmas day.  

So well done John on a first class job.  I'm sure that when the Conservatory does get erected, no sign of a structure as yet, it will have a lovely green "sward" outside its door.  Here is a pic of the laid turf 

It looks a bit stripy because its been rolled up for a while but I feel sure it will recover.  Watch this space for developments. 

I am to be abandoned by my long suffering wife this evening in favour of a night out with a "gang" from work.  Since she announced her intention to take time out from full time work a number of her colleagues have been organising "Chaz Vegas".  Not sure what's on the cards but as the company is paying for Sally to stay at a Chesterfield hotel for the night it looks as if I wont find out until I play chauffeur Sunday morning. A report will follow!      

The sheep is not dead! and the holiday fairy smiles down upon us

I put up a pic yesterday of what I thought was a dead sheep in a field across the river form where i take my time lapse pics.  I went to the river today thinking it would have risen and look good on the photo.  Sure enough the river was up a couple of feet but i noticed the sheep from yesterday as well.

Its legs were moving and it looked far from dead.  I jumped into my trusty van Cyril and drove up the river crossing the bridge a mile upstream and down a farm track on the other side to get within walking distance of the sheep.

When I got to it it was obviously trying to get up but was so fat it couldn't get off its back, see pic below

They often get like this, I mentioned righting one a few months and it could even be the same one as the flock it belonged to was just up the hill where I performed my last "righting"
After a bit of grunting and groaning, me not the sheep, I managed to roll it onto its stomach and fold its legs out to the correct place for it to get up.  After a few minutes it staggered to its feet and looking like a drunk wandered off bleating loudly to its mates up the hill.  A friend of ours always waxes lyrical about how stupid sheep are.  He reckons when they wake up there first thought is "how can I kill myself today?"

So there we are good deed done for the day!

The Holiday Fairy smiled upon us yesterday!  We had been playing e mail ping pong with Kurumba the Maldivian Island we are going on holiday to in a little under 4 weeks.  We had been trying to get the same Pool Villa we had in Feb.
After some initial confusion they confirmed our booking but couldn't promise we would get the particular villa.
Yesterday as I was on the PC an e mail from them popped into the inbox, here's the mail

Greetings from Kurumba Maldives! The date is approaching for you to arrive to your next home away from home J

Due to our continuous improvement plan, we will be revamping our Pool Villas during the dates you will be staying with us. I understand that you have specifically requested to be in Pool Villa number 184 for your next visit. We humbly request you to accept a complimentary upgrade into a Presidential Villa for your stay, which are very exclusive (just renovated and only 4 in number in the whole island).

Furthermore, we would like to offer you two 90 minute Spa treatments as a gesture of our appreciation and understanding. 

What a surprise, I sent Sally a mail with just "hold your breath" as the subject which brought back the reply Eh?.  When I forwarded the above mail she was shrieking all over the office! 

These Presidential Villas are $1034 dollars a day! and that doesn't include food apart from the champagne breakfast mentioned in the blurb below.

So the anticipation has been wound up even higher looking forward now to being shown around and using the Villa.  The blog will be full of pics when we are there!  Details of the Villa are in the pic below. Or you can follow this link Kurumba Pesidential Villa info 

Our "Gardener" neighbour has a lawn - - well nearly, and other bits!

I was having a break at work on Sunday having just texted Sally about the "state of play" of the shop when, "ping" a text arrived, nothing unusual in that you might think but the content was, - - - "Dynamite"
"John has turf" was the main thrust of the message with details of how a van had turned up and deposited the said article.
Readers might recall that John, our next door neighbour arrived a few years ago proclaiming that he was "a Gardener" of some note, waxing lyrical about his experiences.  To date he has taken a reasonably presented garden and turned it into a tip.  All in the best possible taste mind you with ambitious projects and grand designs that have produced absolutely nothing but weeds and a few holes.  however I digress - - -

So here it is then Johns pile of turf

 It will be interesting to see if it moves - - this year, if previous plans are anything to go by.  Sally suggested either laying it on the flat bit where it stands or maybe lawned steps might be in order.

Heres a pic of John's front "lawn" which i guess even if the above turf does ever get laid it will fast become a mirror image

Enough grass to keep a small herd of wildebeest going for a few days!

And so to work, On Sunday once all the bakers had gone there was only 1 colleague, "lets call him Mat"  behind the counter serving the creamy cakes and performing other duties.  I enquired about a lunch break and he said one of the many under managers would be standing in and if they didn't he would "close the counter".  This took me aback a little as he is rather a quiet unassuming young man.
At the appointed time, I was busy in the warehouse but came out to see the lights off and a handwritten note on the counter, "Closed" it said.   Time went by and only a couple of customers seemed put out by the sign and soon "Colleague Mat" returned followed swiftly by the under manager full of apologies!  - - - I fear there might have been a different outcome if the shop manager had been around.   He it seems had a severe case of man flu and had taken to his bed!

The weather yesterday was atrocious with rain for most of the day and I took a pic for my time lapse project and noticed the river level was up a good 2 feet above normal.  This morning I sauntered over there , through the cloud of cigarette smoke from the school children at the bus stop!, across the very end of the Peak Rail railway lines and stopped at my usual spot.  The river had dropped to its normal level and as I took my pic there in the field was a sheep on its back with its legs in the air.  I observed it long enough to see that it was dead and that the crows were already taking an interest in it!

 Such an odd position!  I remember recovering one in a similar position when I was training for the 15 Peaks but this one looked long gone!

Finally then, this mornings haul of rodents deposited , thankfully outside the house by Sainsbury our young tabby cat included a bat, a shrew and a pile of well, remains of what I could only assume was a mouse.  I often wonder why Sainsbury never appears to eat shrews.  I Googled it and found the answer. - - - - - - - - - - Go on you know you need to know now!

I'm walking too fast at work, Cyril takes a hit!, but Boris cruises through the MOT test

It came to me in a flash yesterday as I was working at my part time job in the local sainsbugs.  I have previously written about the new "team Leader", "Dash about Dave" but the dashing really was aimed at the fact he didn't seem to be doing one job for more than a few minutes.
Unlike one of our previous "Team Leaders" who i have to say was quite good but was known under the name "half a job Jono"  he would have 20 jobs going atonce of which only 3 might be completed by the end of the day, however I digress.

I observed that the speed he was walking from one area of the shop to another or from outside the bakery by the bread display to inside the bakery was uncannily like, heavan forbid!  "wot i do".

I sought solace and counselling from a colleague working in the booze department, "lets call him Dave"  well his name actually isn't Dave but he calls me "Rich" short for Richard of course and thats not my name - - - its a bit complicated but I'll save the explanation for another day.  It was decided I should slow down immediately! and "Dave" will observe me and we shall have regular meetings to discuss my "progress" or should that be "lack of progress" or maybe "slower progress" yes that's it!

Not long ago Sally had to borrow my little van "Cyril" to go to work and managed to wipe off the offside mirror going up a notoriously narrow road out of 2 Dales.  The other vehicle driven by "white van man" didnt stop so it was a case of £40 off ebay and a new mirror was fitted.

Once again today she had to use Cyril for work as Boris was going in for his MOT.  This time she avoided damage to the off side of the vehicle but decided to "modify" the nearside up against the hedgerow.

 So here we are "Cyril's hit" from earlier today, Sally is of the opinion that we might be trying to destroy him, a corner at a time.

Not to be outdone and not to be accused of sexism, I post here a pic of a minor "blemish", I inflicted on Cyril whilst trying to park him on the side of a narrow road when we were out for a walk one day.

Out of ten I think Sally's is the better "modification"

Triumph of the day is that Boris, Sally's beloved defender has yet again past the MOT!  It was funny when i went to pick him up.  The garage boss said the blokes had been fighting to work on him as most of the defenders around here come in for MOT or service with mud up to the windscreen!
So well done Boris!

Here's a pic of Boris earlier this year 05/02/2012

"Gardeners corner" or a day on the tip!

The transition between what has passed for summer and the beginning of Autumn seems to be upon us.  There is a definite cool edge to the wind especially when it comes from the North like it is today.  There are a few signs in the garden that the seasons are about to change.

So then "Gardening" fans lets take a look around John our neighbours garden and see the "fruits of his labours" since our last perusal on the 8th of August.  We have been regaled once again, and again, and once again! about the "master plan" for this lush green strip of  land but alas it does seem to be, - - -  "going its own way"!

"The coutyard" seems only to have grown a fine crop of weeds although the sign of Autumn is evident from the dying flowers on the budlia bush at the back of the "terrace".  The rusty alien landing craft in the centre has yet to turn itself into the rusty ford anglia we all know and love!

"The green house" terrace has not had a good summer,  it has produced very little in the way of bedding plants or fruiting crops.  I suspect its a case of bad positioning!

"The raised beds" area though has seen a little movement.  The square bare rooted bamboo, a little known patagonian variety, has managed to survive its lofty perch on the "raised bed" wall and looks set for another winter in the open.  The curious pyramid shape is a pile of cuttings taken from an area in the garden not seen by the casual onlooker.  Its apparent dumping on the "raised beds" area was a result of the, "gardener" not wanting to get stung by the nettles which were in a more suitable area for cuttings further up the garden.  

"The Conservatory terrace" which saw a lot of activity earlier in the summer seems now only to be visited to hang out the washing.  The only outward difference between this photo and the one I posted on the 8th of August are the number of chairs in the shot.  

Finally then a shot that is a little more pleasing to the eye! (double click it for high a high resolution picture)  This is a shot which is the basis for a time lapse video when my years worth of photos are collected in May 2013.  There are little signs of Autumn here , I took this pic yesterday.  No doubt this will change quite soon! 

Boris has a roof over his head for the winter!

Since deciding not to sell Boris my wife's Defender we had been talking about building a car port to give him some cover in the winter weather.
So it was with typical lets get it done spirit we set to the task.  It took 3 days and a little help from one of our neighbours to get it finished and here is Boris parked up in it for the first time .

I need to move a bit of log burner firewood and he will be able to be tucked further in.  About half the structure is bounded by a wall one side and the wood shed on the other. Eventually we may have to fill in most of the open sides to keep the ravages of the winter away from him.

More dashing about today lifting a shed off the ground onto some tanalised bearers for a friend, a spot of lunch out and then back to move that wood I think.  I'm looking forward to a day off tomorrow before its back to the fun factory at the local sainsbugs!

Ah! life's rich tapestry!

The taxman return-eth bearing gifts!

My entry of the 28th August explained how the taxman had sent me a bill for the last year I "had a proper job".  £252.06 was the princely sum he was attempting to recover with a mass of figures by way of explanation from years gone by.

As luck would have it I still had all my tax forms and the like and spent an hour or 2 leafing through them to find that "the taxman was wrong"! Armed with what i thought was the correct information I penned a reply and popped it in the post.  My confidence at what would return disappeared as soon as the letter left my fingers and fell into the post box.  Was I inviting him to a duel I thought!

A familiar brown envelope was behind the door a few days ago, you know the type, they make you groan because you know they are from "the taxman".  It appeared to have been written by the offspring of Sir Humphrey Appleby of the "Yes Minister" TV programme!  Sentence after sentence with little punctuation making it almost unfathomable.

The detail however made it clear that "they were wrong - - initially".  I went cold thinking that maybe they were out for revenge but No! their figures indicated either £35.15 too much had been taken or needed to be paid.  It finished with a simple more details will follow under separate cover!

I waited eagerly for the "separate cover" only to see 2 ominous brown envelopes on the mat today!  Rejoice! rejoice!  The first one contained a letter waxing lyrical once more but actually saying I would be getting a repayment!  It ended however with, once again that "more would follow under separate cover".

The second contained a cheque for the sum of £36.15 with a brief explanation that this was a repayment of income tax for the year shown above.  the letter ended with "My calculation of this amount has been sent to you separately".  I'm not sure why the cheque couldn't have been included with the explanation but I fear reprisals if I dare ask

As with the old adage "Beware Greeks bearing gifts", I shall view this refund with a "jaundiced eye" - - - Mind you as "the taxman giveth with one hand and taketh away with the other" I don't suppose we have heard the end of this yet.

Another team leader bites the dust. Dash around Dave arrives!

One thing strikes me as "normal" at the local sainsbugs where I work part time.  There is a tremendous turn over of staff or movement from one department to another.  This leaves the managers on an endless treadmill of trying to hold it altogether.

So it is with a tinge of regret that I say au revoir to my former team leader colleague, "lets call her Molly",  She has started college to be a nurse and needs to cut down her work commitment so will now only work on what we call "the counters" probably the fish or deli counters.

Last Sunday I was informed that the new team leader, "lets call him Dave" would be with me all Monday.  A master stroke on someone's part as the day is relatively light on customers and it would be ideal for me to really "break him in"

Monday came and went, "no Dave", it turns out that it was his birthday over the weekend and his partner had sorted it with HR that he would have Monday off? I was told late Monday that he would be with me Tuesday.  "Oh that will be nice", I commented but I dont need a hand helping out a friend chop up a load of firewood for the winter.  I never work Tuesday unless the boss, "Lets call her TracEy" invites me to.

I turn up Wednesday my last day of my 6 shifts before the obligatory 7 days off to be told that "Dave" will be in at 1300 to learn how to "do the reductions"  This involves printing off a report and searching the shelves guided by the report, for items with that days date on that are then affixed with a yellow label and new barcode with  reduced price on.

At the appointed time Dave turns up and I show him how to print off the report and then employ the old teaching maxim of "explanation, demonstration, imitation, practice before going back to re-filling the shelves with bread.

I notice the stack of empty bread trays I use as a mobile desk to print off the reduction labels is parked up at the end of the isle apparently abandoned.  Dave is behind the counter serving creamy cakes, strange as I observe 3 other colleagues in the bakery who normally handle this task.

A few minutes later he is out again "reducing" then vanishes a second time, I find him this time in the warehouse doing what we call disposals, in effect writing off items form the previous which have not been sold and are out of date.  He explains that the colleague who should be doing this is too busy to do it.

Cynic that I am I return to the shop floor and complete a few reductions while observing the "busy" colleague doing nothing.  A few minutes later I leave the shop floor like a rat from a sinking ship at 14:59 with a name for the new team leader "Dash around Dave".

The Christmas run up has started in earnest now with one of our bays in the isle turned over to the various puddings, logs and other edible goodies.  We always get the exasperated comments from the shoppers about this how early it is that this fayre appears .  I normally counter this by saying that he "Easter eggs" are out in the warehouse!

I enjoy this busy period not only because the shift time go's past even quicker but it is nice to see everyone picking out their favourites ready for the xmas holiday.  I do hope "Dash around Dave" enjoys it as well.

What! Christmas mince pies!

Yes it had to happen, working in the shop I seem to remember that the signal for Christmas items was the old girl asking for brandy butter at the end of October, "I like to get a bit in", she says!  We have however at least 8 cases of the festive mince pies which will have a best before date well before Halloween!  IS IT ME!     

No of course not, we have still 1 day to go for the ParaOlympics and already they are written off in an attempt to cajole people in to the Christmas spirit.  It only begins to bite though when the Christmas Puddings hit the store.  "Do you have an alcohol free one?" I was asked one year and bit my tongue long enough to be told that the daughter was an alcoholic and dare not even have a sniff! as she was an alcoholic! - - sad but there we are.

I believe an ASDA store already has a "Santa's Grotto" but I think that has gone down like a lead balloon!

Our short serving team leader, "lets call her Molly" starts college next week and is still going to be with the store but in a less, "challenging" role - - all the best Molly.  She is being replaced with another colleague, "lets call him Dave", who is a totally unknown individual except that he came to us, lets say, under a cloud.  - - - we  shall see.

I was working away, as you do, and overheard a colleague, "lets call her Sarah" who it transpires is a beautician, however her "makeup" some days appears to be a little, well lets say, "slapdash" saying that her boss, "lets call him Paul" had criticised her colour of lipstick chosen for today, tooooo "red" apparently.  I remarked that the possible reason for this slight might be that he couldn't carry it himself! Mmmmmmmmm.

So there we are a day at the salt mine, no wait, my boss, "lets call her TracEy" is going on holiday for a week from today and the whole place will go absolutely tits  belly up she will come back to unimaginable problems and crisis from the minute she steps back into the store - - - - - - maybe I should volunteer to work a few extra days to enable her return to be a little easier?

GET OUTA HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

have a good week off T

Batty bat bites the dust!

Just before I start on batty bat here's a pic of sainsbury the tabby, I somehow missed posting it when he committed the act as his sister tesco was still around and so much was going on so here is Sainsbury in hunting mode.

I think it was Sally who had opened the fridge door and he leapt in.  This was before he had leapt in the washing machine as my back was turned and had nearly 10 minutes of a washing cycle before we discovered him!!

Anyway Batty bat bites the dust, we had often seen Sainsbury looking up at next door's garage drainpipe.  This was because bats would use a gap in the eaves to fly in and out of the roof space during the night.  I spotted sainsbury on top of the roof a couple of days ago peering into the peak of the roof and could only suspect he had discoverd another exit point, here he is on the roof peak

Yesterday then i noticed a dead bat on the ground near my car and assumed it must have been he that caught it.  Here it is poor thing.

We do get quite a few flying around at night and it must annoy the hell out of him so in the end he has bagged one.  He still is set on drastically reducing the local rodent population as we find whole bodies and rather messy bits of them around the kitchen every morning! 

So after the excitement of my 15 Peaks completion and some glorious weather the last week its back to the fun factory tomorrow.   We are wearing white T shirts with Para Olympic logos on as Sainsbugs is sponsoring the event.  I have watched the odd event and think the wheelchair rugby is one of the best team sports.  For all the athletes It must be very difficult to lose a limb or have a disability, to overcome it and train as they do to such a high standard you have to take your hat off to them.   

Finally then - we have for some time used Kuoni the travel company when going on our holidays.  You know what its like you then start to get their brochures through the post.  The problem with our post code is it throws up some funny options for our address depending on what app you are using.  So after a while we would get 2 copies of each brochure then 3 etc.  I phoned and spoke to them about it but this just produced yet 1 more copy.  

I wrote a humorous complaint and we were rewarded with a hamper of "Champagne and Chocolates"  This seemed to have fixed it because only 1 brochure arrived in their next mailing.  The gremlins have returned however with us getting 6 copies of thankfully a small brochure!  so in a final attempt to sort it out I emailed SALLY BYRNE who sorted it last time and organised the hamper.  I might just send Sally a link to this blog so she can see her name up in lights.  Who knows we might get a free holiday.  - - - Mmmmmmmmmm! 

15 Peaks Completed!

I did manage to update my previous blog entry with timings and comments most of the time during the walk so if anyone is interested in that bit its in there.

Just to say it was a fabulous days walk with wonderful weather and a fitting end for me to our teams effort which had to be abandoned due to the terrible weather.  Ginny one of our team members is attempting to complete it on the 15th 16th so all the best to her.

All my pics and vids with comments have been up loaded and can be seen at Pic & Vids

One of the best pics of the day is below.  Its a pic of Tryfan summit and if you double click it to magnify it you can see someone stood on either Adam or Eve!

Welsh 15 Peaks revisited - 2nd day Completion

The Welsh 15 Peaks Challenge. Our Team, Ginny, Camilla, Jo, John, myself and Adam our guide.  Were due to complete the challenge over the period 15/16/17 June 2012.
As I have related a number of times in the blog our team decided to abandon the 2nd day over the Glyders section due to the very bad rainy conditions. The weather report for Mon 3 Sept is very good so i'm travelling across to Wales this evening (sun 16:30 now) and go for an early start Mon.  I'm going to attempt to "blog as I go"  O2 signal permitting!

Heres a link to pics I will attempt to upload to a picasa web albumn showing my progress.
Welsh 15 Peaks revisited - 2nd day completion  

I'm counting Tryfan as done because we completed that on the day so will tick off the others as i go.  My route is up from 609604 (car park on the A5) directly west up to the ridge just north of Y Garn 947m.  North to pick up Elidir Fawr 923m then reverse the route back to pick up Y Garn 947m.  South then to pick up Glyder Fawr 1001m then East to Glyder Fach 994m.  I'll descend to the stile at 661587 where we abandoned and count the day "completed"

Way points where I will attempt to blog are,

Start 609643 started. 0630 weather very good

Top of Ridge 630597 0750. Bit chilly up here weather still good

Elidir Fawr 612613. 0850. On first summit fantastic view. Might not be able to blog much after the second summit due to no 3 G.

Y Garn   630595 0950 on y garn summit Weather still good although I can see some mist forming on snowden summit. Just the 2 glyders to go!

Glyder Fawr 642579. 1045 nearly up the hill to the first glyder Hard work!! 1055 on top of first glyder weather still holding but a bit of mist gathering in the valley below

Glyder Fach 653581. 1145 on top of the final peak just a bit of mist around. Making a run for the bottom.

Stile 661587 1215. At the stile we abandoned the second day. I think I can call the 2nd day complete now.!

Finish  659601 finally arrived back at my van at 1315.  Weather still wonderful.  A reasonably hard walk took lots of pics wihich I will post later today