Natural Hydration Council - what! & a quick trip to Saltburn by the Sea

I listened open mouthed to "The Ginger Whinger" (Chris Evans) whilst getting ready for work the other day talking to his "Mystery Guest".  This is a spot on his acclaimed Radio2 programme in the morning where he has a "Mystery Guest" sprung on him and he has to engage them in conversation for 3 minutes.

"Digression" I quite like "The Whinger" especially on Radio2 he seems to get the programme just right in the morning unlike some of his previous stuff. in fact when he was working at Radio1 "The Daily Mirror" "that quality newspaper", asked its readers, back in 1997, "Should he go?" when it was rumoured he was to leave. Some of the comments were quite vitriolic, here's one of the ones that could be printed, and i quote, "Samantha Wharton, from Wirral, said: "I totally agree he's a rude, smug little twerp." That maybe so Samantha but he's an awfully successful and very rich "Smug little twerp"!  "End of digression"

Anyway his "Mystery Guest" this particular morning was a lady from the "Natural Hydration Council".  Now, at first i thought it was "National" not "Natural".  For 3 minutes this lady gave Chris advice on "Drinking Water" and "how much to drink!". 

I went into "Meldrew mode", saying things like "I don't believe it!" etc whilst wondering how much of my hefty tax bill was going towards funding this ridiculous idea.  On doing the research for this "Rant" I realised that the "Council" seems to be a front for the various "Natural Spring" water companies.  Hopefully "they" pay for the privilege of being a "Member".  I have never quite understood "our" fascination with bottled water and am amazed at the amount sold at work in the local Sainsbugs. 

We live quite close to a free source at Buxton where there's a trough into which real "Buxton" spring water flows and it is used by some, but so many folk buy the stuff from the supermarket just down the road!  So if you need advice on drinking water and in the interest of fair play here's a link to the Councils site

Sally and I are off up to Saltburn by The Sea" today to pick up our latest vehicle, (another Freelander) a replacement for "Phil the Freelander" sold last year.  I have mentioned Saltburn before and its a pretty unspoilt seaside venue on the Cleveland coastline here's a pic from a previous visit

A rather deserted windswept beach one early summers morn!

I always check our website first thing in the morning just to make sure its ticking over correctly as my weather data recorder sometimes throws a wobbly and that's why the data pic sometimes has a red cross in the top left hand corner.  I noticed the "skyview" cam was picking up the moon which a little earlier was obscured by the rainclouds, here it is.

I must attempt to capture the same pic in summer when the moon appears larger.  The other pinprick of light is from a quarry high up on the other side of the valley.  Thankfully obscured from our view!

Here's a nice one showing how good our garden is as a suntrap!

Finally one with the sun having left the valley,  look at the timestamp on the pic.  Of course looking at the sky the foreground will look darker than it actually is

Right then time to prepare for the trip "up t north" 

Enjoy the day
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Its a question of age! & The Bakery gets too "ot"!

"Hey Mike come and listen to this", said one of the bakers at work, "lets call him Dan".  He was having a brief conversation with a sweet young thing, "lets call her Ashley" from the grocery department. 

It turns out that Ashley knows someone who is getting married at 55 and she is appalled at them being "too old".  I join in the conversation for a short while and establish that Ashley is 20.  It doesn't take long to confirm that she considers people of 35 years to be old so yes in her eyes 55 to be positively ancient.

I manage to convince her that by the time she's 35 she will still feel like a 20 year old and that even at "my age" unless you have some debilitating problem you still feel "less than past it".  Comforted by this she wandered off on her duties hopefully with a less than "jaundiced eye view", of her 55 year old acquaintance!

Still on the age question, I was approached by a commercial department colleague, "lets call her Leanne" wanting me to sign her bit of paper to say my isle was not missing any price tags for the bread and cakes on display.  In the course of our conversation she mentions going up to Newcastle to visit her sister at Uni this weekend.  "Is that in preparation for when you go to Uni" I ask, only to be told shyly that she's already completed Uni and has a Psychology degree!. 

Proving at least one thing about getting old, "Everyone under 30 looks like a child!" 

Anyway being "too old" for anything other than a bath chair marathon! I was reflecting on my forthcoming Ice Climbing challenge on Ben Nevis (March 2/3) having read about those 4 poor folk who were caught in an avalanche near Glencoe.  This story was eclipsed however by the death of a 22 year old falling off Tower Ridge on Ben Nevis last weekend.  I often walk alone in the hills and mountains in some pretty severe conditions and am aware that it can be dangerous.  Ben Nevis has snow on it, especially the Northern Ridges all the year round so I wonder why he was soloing on such a dangerous climb without at least someone observing his progress.  Another age related thing I guess, I remember years ago thinking I was "Indestructible", Confidence can be a cruel taskmaster!

It too "ot" in the bakery said an anonymous colleague from deep within its environs.  She's worked in there for 4 years so i was perplexed as to why this was so.  I then noticed the "new racking" for the freshly baked bread.  We previously had a real hotch potch of racking which was well part its use by date but had some plus points going for it.  The various loaves could be replenished from within the bakery and the customers could get the odd look at how it all came together. 

The new racking however does look rather splendid but has this huge backing plate the whole length of it, effectively blocking the heat from the ovens getting out, hence the "ot" complaint.  Another thing it does is completely block the view from the "packing area" to the creamy cake counter.  We now have even more irritated customers tut tutting because they are not getting served fast enough and I am tasked to shout "can someone manage the counter please!" more often! Hey ho progress is a wonderful thing! 

 Here we are then with 2 pics of the recent weather. The view above with the lovely snow covering we endured for only a short while because of a rise in temperature and the normal view below with the rain coming down and the river level rising form the snow melt

Finally then a thank you to "Sandi" for pointing out the blogs inability to allow comments to be posted.  The problem was in the template I was using so I have changed that and added an "Anonymous" selection to the "profiles".  You can now "comment" without needing to be a member of the various organisations in the original list. 

Enjoy the day    
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Hello Australia we are not depressed! & the weatherman gets it right!

After a good snow storm last night, when i must admit "the weatherman got it right!" I turned on the radio when i got up to hear what the roads were like.  We have a tradition here of grinding to a halt when we get just a little bit of snow so a good dump of 6 inches left me wondering how things were going.

I heard a "simpering",  Anika Rice on Radio2 sending a birthday greeting to her god daughter in Australia and the parents.  She added "we are all depressed about our weather in UK and could do with some of your sun". 

I would just like to "rant" that we are not all depressed about the weather for goodness sake its UK we have "seasons" some of us actually enjoy the rain and also the wonderful spring colours and fantastic summer days and stunning colours in autumn and yes even the poxy snow in winter that stops us in our tracks.

Some of us wouldn't swap it for all of Australia's poisonous snakes and spiders and bush fires and Bondie beaches and barrier reef! "rant over"    Having said that we visited Sydney on our way to Fiji in 2011 and thought it was great and are intending to holiday there soon but WE ARE
NOT DEPRESSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

At work (the salt mine)  today it was a casual day because the snow put people off shopping so we are expecting a busy day tomorrow.  I noticed that there was a job going in the "fresh meat" department and when i asked it turns out that a colleague, "lets call him Steven", the one who "didn't want to be seen working in a crummy job by his friends" has finally left.  he will be "sorely missed as he provided us "normal people" with  bit of amusement!!!!!  all the best Steven!

My boss, "lets call her TracEy" turned up early for work having stayed overnight locally rather than drive home in the blizzard!  She was wearing a rather neat pair of "pink boots" i commented on them being rather petite and she said "these boots have done some miles" .  "Like the wearer" I said "been round the block a couple of times!"  As usual she took it in the manner it was delivered! 

Still no rumours about any moves in the management department, it looks as if it might take a couple of weeks to surface!

Here's a pic Sally took today when the sun was on the garden

So here we are in "mid thaw" lets hope it keeps going.   


Enjoy the day

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Back to the fun factory! the weatheman gets it wrong again! & Phil2 is on the cards!

After a week off shifting snow and getting some rather nice photo's its back to a week of shifts at the "fun factory" which is Sainsbugs in Matlock.

Due to the weather forecast yesterday predicting -7 to -9c last night the locals had raided the shop and the bread isle, "my domain" seemed pretty bare at 0700.  It didn't take long to stack up the shelves and even the night shift gave me a hand for 20 minutes.  Normally they tend to just hang around trying to look busy for the last 20 - 30 minutes of their shift so someone must have been on their case last night.

The temp didn't fall to anywhere near -7c and was just scraping -0.1c when i surfaced this morning, it "warmed up" to +2.1c during the day and the shoppers were out in force all morning.  This is partly due to the weathermen once again predicting temps of -7 tonight and snow up to 4" (10cm) between 1500 and 2100 tomorrow.  We shall see!  

At work I was called to the "conference room" today along with a few others to complete what sainsbugs calls a "talk back" session.  Its a kind of "blind" tick the box form about what "you" think of "the store manager", "your manager" and the logistics in general.  Its meant to be "blind" but you are asked which department you work for, your sex and age.  The age question puts me under the spotlight straight away but as I'm not in work for any type of "career" its of no consequence. 

Sainsbugs has a habit of changing managers around in January so its a baited breath time for them and for us at the sharp end it could mean yet another "new broom" to get along with.  Lets hope there are not too many surprises for anyone. 

Much as i like my little Corsa Combo van "Cyril" I couldn't help thinking that it would be so much easier to do the logging in summer with a 4x4.  Almost every time I took Cyril up there last year he gets stuck in the mud .  Boris is getting to be on the thick end of being too valuable for that kind of thing so I remembered that Sally's ex up in Cleveland had "A Freelander for Sale!".  Yes its quite old and a petrol version but after a few phone calls the deal was done and we go up to collect it next Friday!  Pics to follow once "he's" here, Name?  well it has to be Phil like the last one but we'll add 2 on the end, so "Phil2" 

Finally then here's to -7c tonight and a dump of snow tomorrow - - - Mmmmmmmmm not so sure!

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Enjoy the day.  

Cheap houses! & an early morning board meeting!

It came as no surprise a few months ago when an old factory site that had been cleared earlier in the year all of a sudden started to sprout buildings.  I noticed with interest as i used to drive to and from work that at first they looked like some kind of shed or garage. 

Eventually the buildings however took shape and in fact they were/are houses!

I'm told by those in the know that this is how they build "modern houses" today.  The structures in the foreground are like plywood studded walls with some insulation foil stuff on the outside.  once the upper floor is added the structure is surrounded by bricks like the completed ones in the background. Amazing!  it will be interesting to see the prices when they go on the market!

Once again, like the rest of the country we have had a fair sprinkling of snow and because the traffic is very light on the road outside (the A6) it looks quite dangerous at the moment, 

Here I am this morning attending an 0700 "board meeting!" Clearing the snow with a plywood board attached to a stick! from around the top of our back steps before being helped by a neighbour to clear the ramp that leads form the main road to the back of our terrace. 

I know the snow is a pain for a lot of people but the pics this morning are really quite nice here's a link to a few and a video showing much more snow that fell one Dec night back in 2010.
todays snowy pics

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Enjoy the day

I lead the panic buying! & what else? the snow

Sitting here Friday morn with 3 or 4" (10cm in euro's) of snow outside at 06:30 I'm feeling pretty smug at having been shopping yesterday at 0800.  Not panic buying you understand! (ahem tongue in cheek) although it did have a tinge of that about it.

With nothing planned yesterday except to attack my book project Sally decided that even though we could possibly get to the shop today, our normal shopping day, even if a foot of snow fell using Boris her faithful Land Rover Defender.  It made sense to pop down and buy "the essentials" before the forecasted snow fell.
The story has been on the news for days now that we were going to get "dumped" on and "hail the chief!" if this time the weathermen were'nt spot on! 
I noticed just a hint of a snowflake, so small it could have been mistaken for frost floating in the air about 0830 yesterday and gradually, ever so slowly through the day the flakes grew larger and larger until by 1645 it had begun to snow properly which it seemed to do all night.

Back to the shopping though! i arrived at the shop (Sainsbugs Matlock) just after it opened at 0800 and there were a few people around with only one dashing around like a loony, "panic buyer!".  I see this man when I'm at work there, hes quite distinctive having a full head of frizzy hair in the style of the professor from the "back to the future films! Always wears track shoes and lycra trousers and has, - -  "the list".  This is an A4 sized paper obviously printed from a spreadsheet which has a huge number of items on it in various named sections and the stuff he needs has the boxes ticked. 

Hes either American or Canadian, yeah sorry you lot, "we" still cant tell the difference in the accents, sometimes!  He'll approach me at 40 mph and fire of a question without a pre-amble for a product before expecting me to pick up speed to show him where it is, however i digress. 

So having shopped, rather than indulging in "panic buying" you understand! I escaped after only having to dash back into the shop to pick up my pack of loo rolls that i left at the self check out, I know, the size of the pack makes it hard to miss putting them in the trolley but there we are!

Reading the news this morning Sainsbury's Ripley, just down the road not far away had a flock of "Panic buyers! yesterday, clearing every loaf off the shelves amongst other things.  One shopper was seen leaving with 20 loaves of bread!  What!!!!!!.  pic at bottom of this story showing empty shelves

Safely ensconced back at the cottage i noticed that Sainsbury our younger cat has now learned how to
remove the plinth on the bottom of the kitchen units. Here he is in this pic about to scrawl under the units having removed the plinth, a little blurred I'm afraid as the flash was switched off

 He's doing this because now and again he will bring in a mouse and if its still alive, once he lets it go it will dash under the kitchen units.  I set a humane trap under there to catch them before releasing them back to the garden, probably to continue the game for Sainsbury!
Only an hour ago this morning I released one by the shed so it could escape the snow! I'm now putting a walking boot at either end to stop him pulling off the plinth but hes already figured out that he can move the boots!

Later on both cats adopted their usual winter time positions as you can see in this pic

 

 

Later still, Sally caught this shot of 2 old guys "watching TV"

 

Tom will sit like this for hours as long as you don't move about too much, - - not much danger of that in this pose!

 

Right then the dawn is breaking so its boots on and i will go and get some snowy pics from near the River after shifting a bit of snow, I'll put a link on this blog later for the pics

 

Enjoy the day - - - (Snow)



link to snow pics

"Clay stop play" and "the cold weather"

And so another week of shifts end for me with a few amusing bits and bobs going on in the shop.
I was working up and down the bread isle when these 2 noisy "liberated" kids were making a nuisance of themselves and a number of shoppers were looking at them.  I say "liberated" because a parent was with them and made no attempt to control them or stop them making shopping difficult for other people.

I had adopted a disinterested attitude and attempted to work around them when one jumped up on the stool we stand on when stacking items on the higher shelves.  For the last couple of weeks it has been minus the rubber gasket on the bottom that actually stops it moving when you stand on it. 

I said "can you get down from there please", instantly the child said "why?" rather loudly, in my opinion making sure the parent noticed him speaking to me.  He did however make to get off the stool but then slipped and fell off it rather heavily onto the floor.  I just walked past him on the floor and said "that's why?" and looked at the parent before going on down the isle.  A number of other shoppers were at this point smiling at the child who was dusting himself off and whining to the parent.

This incident apart, the day was also rather amusing when the colleagues in the bakery were fooling around when one of the managers, lets call him "Clay" came along and caught them red handed, hence the title "Clay stop play!"  they had a couple of hours before the boss was due in and caught the rough edge of her tongue when she did arrive.  I don't think we have heard the last of this though!

The weather is on everyones minds at the moment because as usual the weather agencies keep changing their minds as to what is in store.  Last night we had a min temp of -5.7c and some say its going to be colder tonight.  Most agencies agree snow is now on the cards for Friday and Saturday
Here's a pic of the view across the River Derwent today

Enjoy the day - - -   See more pics on our weather website

Snow at last! and panic buying is already underway

You know what its like the headlines in the papers have been trumpeting the "Freezing Temperatures" and "Blizzards across the country".  All this is picked up and magnified from the weather forecasters who say its going to snow at a particular tine and day.  This has been happening for the last 3 days all without so much as a snowflake. 

The prediction and graphics show snow and when it fails to appear they hastily re-jig the website and shove it forward 24 hours.  I know i have banged this drum before but i fail to see how these people are so wrong so many times and keep their jobs. 

So it was with much glee for the forecasters I presume that we had a dusting last night and a more complete covering this morning when it did snow for a couple of hours.  The temperature however warmed a bit and a thaw started.  So here's a pic of some of the snow.

The sun has just left the valley and gives a nice pic

Of course all this "promise" of snow seems to have started a bit of panic buying so Mr Sainsbury is going to be happy.  At work the usual staples flew off the shelves and some of the shoppers were quite irritated at the empty shelves.  One shopper mentioned the shop being so full on Saturday that it "was like Christmas", I mentioned the threat of snow but she seemed unaware of it!

So there we are some "Snow at last!" lets see what tonights weather has up its sleeve.

Enjoy the day - - - Our weather website

A trip to the Lakes

The lake district has to be one of our favourite places but you have to visit it at the right time.  Its said that in the middle of summer it is so popular that sometimes visitors cannot find a parking place - - - anywhere! 

We do tend to visit in the extreme ends of "the season" normally between November and April.  Its a fantastic wild place with some wonderful views and stark mountains just waiting to be walked!

So for my birthday we shot up on the 8th and spent a day in the rain.  Not unusual in the Lake District and anyone who visits without the relevant clothing is in for a disappointment. Suitably clad we visited Tarn Howes as my Number 1 Daughter Caroline had mentioned it and although Sally had been there as a child i had never seen it.  Wet misty but still very lovely and we were the only ones there  

A quick sortie into the shops where i managed to escape with only buying a pair of Jack Wolfskin slippers for Sally and then back to the Hotel where we arrived just in time to see a most wonderful sunset. 

We had hoped the following morning would be clear but unfortunately the fog had rolled in and so we decided to have a hearty breakfast and then head for home.  It had been our intention to visit one of our favourite spots at the Honnister Slate Mine but its closed until near the end of Jan. 

So there we are another great little trip to the Lakes follow this link below to see other pics, this is the wonderful sunset we managed to see
lakes pics

Lakes awash!

Arriving this morning in our wonderful Lake District it was as usual pouring with rain. It's just sorting itself out now as we watch the sun go down over Lake Windermere from our hotel window.

Tom gets the bird! & We are off to the Lake District

There's nothing unusual about our old cat Tom wandering around in the garden, its just "his patch".  I thought nothing of it then as I came down from looking in our shed at the top of the garden and passed him plodding up the garden path near the pond.  After exchanging pleasantries we both went on our ways.

A few minutes later I'm sat at the table just starting lunch when in strolls Tom with an expiring coal tit in his mouth.  The unfortunate bird is dropped onto the kitchen floor where Tom has a couple of swipes at it with his paw.  He then loses interest and wanders back outside to survey "his patch" from the top of the steps by the back door. 

This is an unusual "catch" for Tom as we thought he had given up "hunting" ages ago.  I reported in an earlier blog where Sainsbury our young cat was chasing a caught mouse around the back of one of our vehicles with Tom looking on when the mouse ran around Tom in an effort to escape Sainsbury's clutches.  Tom looked on with, "ah kids" expression on his face making no effort to catch the rodent.  He must have just come across the unfortunate bird, Instinct never wanes i guess!

Here he is looking a little confused after dropping it on the kitchen floor

 This though is more his style curled up enjoying the hot air coming from Sally's laptop!

Sainsbury meanwhile is intent on stopping our neighbour John from driving away

So its off to the Lake District for us today with an overnight stay in Ambleside.  The weather forecast for today doesn't look too promising but tomorrows is looking like it might be ok.  I'll post a few pics later if i can get a 3G signal

Finally then i was reading an article about the "emerging technology gadgets"  You know the kind of thing stuff we "wont be able to live without once we know its there!".  Ok i like my electronic gizmo's but i feel i have drawn my "line in the sand" by not rushing out and insisting on having the most up to date bits and bobs,  anyway i digress.

A reporter was talking to one of the "super geeks" on a stand at "Le Net" in Paris asking him what  "exiting technology" was emerging when the rather portly "super geek" pulls out a "thing" from his pocket and says "well like this wireless pedometer, it allows me to look at my PC and see when i'm sitting down or walking around!".  Rather surprisingly the reporter enthused about this "nugget" before moving to another stand

Me  - - - I think they should both get out more! 

Enjoy the day     Our weather website

Training starts & so does the year 2013

Ah well the xmas and new year festivities are over and who doesn't breath a sigh of relief!  its a pity the 2 are so close together but there we go. 
Heres a pic of the River Wye near Rowsley on our New Years Day walk, the building in the distance is Cauldwells Mill, worth a visit if you are in the area.

With the Ice climbing challenge on Ben Nevis only 8 weeks away I decided to start training yesterday.  Knowing that its really going to be a beginners couple of days I'm not going to get too much done just some walking and some arm exercises to get everything in shape.  Lets hope I'm not selling the experience too short although i guess the weather will also contribute to making it easy medium or hard!
First training day pic quite a dull old day

We are off to the Lakes for an overnight stay next week. Apart from getting in a little time up at the Honnister slate mine picking through the leftover slate for the garden i cant see that being too much of a strenuous time. 

My book writing has yet to see 2013 but i must get at it today and add a little more.  I cant seem to get into a rhythm with it but at least it is getting done - - - slowly.

Cyril my little white van has sailed through the MOT test so looks good for another year on the road.  He has one of these computerised analytical units as most vehicles do nowadays and there's a light appeared on the dashboard that indicates a problem.  I was hoping that the garage could tell me what it meant but they had a break in last Saturday and the computer that could have diagnosed it was stolen!   So inconvenient!

Boris will at last today get a new number plate for his back end.  It one of those that's stuck to a plate and it has been coming adrift for a couple of years now, the MOT man warned me that it would fail next time do it Will be fitted today!

Sally has started making noises about getting a job and getting fitter so things are moving on that front.  She has her sights set on a holiday to Australia in 2014 so that doesn't seem too great a goal to go for. 

Finally then - - - the weather is just as wet as it was over the xmas holiday so no change there then.  Here's hoping for some crisp weather up in the lakes next week.

Enjoy the day!      link to our website