I don't know how, but it would seem that no matter how much time I have, I'm able to fill every second of it and still have things I want to be doing but haven't had time for. How does that work? I can vaguely remember, back when I was younger and more foolish, spending the afternoons sitting around watching films. Maybe I didn't have anything else to do (or more likely I was too hungover to do much else). Now I've not even got the time to sit down for lunch, let alone waste the afternoon watching TV. Oh, to be able to get some of that time back now! So what have I been up to this week that's keeping me so busy? Well, amongst other things I've made some good progress on project Patio. The weather put pay to a couple of days in the week but we're starting to get somewhere now. The first of the raised beds are complete, which has allowed me to move all the accumulated soil and empty out the old patio tubs, making space for the next steps. As I've said previously, I'm certainly not going to be getting a job as a brickie, but I'm fairly happy with my efforts so far. Hopefully we'll have a few more days of fair weather next week and I can get a bit more done before the weather really turns. Saturday I was up early, on what was a damp, foggy, yet surprisingly warm morning, for a few running miles. Nothing too strenuous by my standards, just a 20 mile jaunt up to Hannington and back, making use of the local footpaths and Bridleways. It's a nice little route this one, I would think that 16 of the 20 miles is off road. Which, when you consider it starts and finishes at my back door, isn't bad going for someone that lives in suburbia and not in the back of beyond. It just goes to show how much countryside is actually out there (and how local it can be) if you go and look for it. Saturday's, main event however was Christmas cake making! Having made the Christmas puddings a couple of weeks ago, there was a load of dates and a few other odds and ends leftover that needed using up. Handily, "The Old Cheese" has got a lovely fruit cake recipe that needs dates and this seemed like the ideal opportunity to get rid of them! Except when I got the recipe out I discovered that it also needed loads of dried mixed fruit, Apricot jam and Sherry. None of which were in the cupboard! This lead to a bit of a dilemma. Do I buy the things we haven't got and then end up trying to find recipes to use them up, leading to a never ending circle of trying to use things up, or should I just do something else? Well, I'm not normally one to follow a recipe, so why should this be any different. We did have; Marmalade, 1/2 a bag of Currents from 2016, lots of Sultanas and the dregs out of the bottom of a Martini bottle plus a splash of Port. As such, this years Christmas cake will be sort of like the recipe "The Old Cheese" lovingly copied me. Oh, alright, it's nothing like the recipe, but it smelled lovely and as it's about 90% fruit and has been liberally doused in Blackberry Liqueur (we've not got any Brandy either) it's bound to taste alright. Well, we'll find out in 4 weeks time won't we! Sunday, was another foggy, grey and miserable day that somehow managed to get colder as the morning progressed. In my never ending quest to squeeze as much into every day as possible, I was out on my bike just as it started to get light. Granted, it was early on a Sunday morning but the roads were absolutely deserted and I had a great couple of hours rolling through the still sleeping countryside before the sensible people stated to get up. Again, nothing too strenuous, heading out from home towards Odiham before turning South for some hilly fun on the edge of the South Downs National Park. I've got this route listed as 55 hilly miles on my Garmin and it certainly lives up to its name. There's nothing too silly or steep, but it's pretty relentlessly up and down. I suspect that Saturdays running efforts didn't help, but my legs certainly knew that they had been out by the time I got back home again! Having seen the weather forecast for the back end of next week, it seemed prudent to get the top net rolled back on the allotment before we have any snow. I know. It never snows in December, except for 2011 (?) when we had loads of snow in the weeks before Christmas! I've been thinking about how to put this away for a while. Most people seem to either fold it up, or push it all back to one side, neither of which seem that easy on your own. After a little bit of thought, I've gone with rolling it around a length of drainpipe. It was a bit of a fiddle due to the cage not being square and having to add more pipe as I worked my way down. But it's rolled up nicely and was easy enough to do on my own. Hopefully it should be easy enough to unroll again come the spring too. While we're talking about the allotment, we might as well have a bit of an update. All the winter veg is looking good, except the Leeks which seem to be rotting off. Leeks normally do really well, happily standing through the worst of the weather and easily seeing us into the Spring. That's not the case this year though. I'm not sure if I've grown a different variety (if only I wrote things down), or if it's just down to the weather, but I'm working hard to get them eaten up before they go to waste and we'll just have to have something else for tea in February instead of Leeks. On the positive side, the Parsnips are doing really well, as is the Kale and Chard, so we're not going to starve. I'm still picking the odd handful of Autumn fruiting Raspberries too which is surprising this late on in the season! And that's about it, another week summerised in a couple of hundred words. It doesn't look like much when you write it down, but I suppose when you add in the boring weekday running, cooking, cleaning, workshop tinkering time (I've got a few secret mini projects on the go, which I'll reveal later) and other pottering around it soon adds up and probably explains why I sleep like a dead man and feel like a 90 year old for the first 1/2 hour of every day until my stiff and aching old muscles warm up!
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Having written this weeks blog post I wondered whether to post it or not. I'll warn you now that it flicks around and wanders off on random tangents more than normal and seems to be a bit more introspective than I normally aim for. However, I tend to write what flows from my fingers, with as little subsequent editing as possible, (shut up at the back) and as such it's hopefully more of an insight into me and where my minds at (or been) than a carefully composed and edited article. Either way, this weeks ramblings are below and I'm sure a more normal service will resume next week. It's been a funny old week, mainly because for the first time since before I left school I haven't got a job to go too. Granted it's by choice, I just couldn't do what was being asked of me in the time allocated any longer, and as far as I'm concerned there is more to life than working your tits off, whilst getting nowhere with it. Don't get me wrong, I'm far from work shy and I'm quite happy to work 24 hours a day if that's what's required. But, and it's a big but, there's got to be a point to it and it's got to be making things better, not just treading water whilst struggling to stay afloat. Here I am then, for the first time in 30 odd years, a man of leisure, or shall we say "man without portfolio". I've got a couple of irons warming gently in the fire so my leisure time hopefully won't be permanent (much as I would like it to be) but I can't see anything happening this side of the new year. It's not the best time of year to be sat at home (or the best time Covid restrictions wise) but I'm going to try and make the most of my time. There's project patio on the go, plus there's always plenty to do around the house and allotment, and if all else fails there's always running and playing out to occupy my time. So, what have I been up to with all my spare time this week? Well, for a starters it's taken most of the week to stop thinking about work. There's been that constant nagging feeling in the back of my mind that the phones about to ring, or that I need to be checking my E Mithers. I guess that's just years of ingrained learning, that my minds struggling to forget, or can't believe it doesn't need to be worrying about for the time being? I guess it will take a few weeks for it to slip away, just as it's taken a few weeks for my mind to stop constantly thinking about work when I've been running or cycling. It had got to the point where work was my preoccupying thought, no matter what I was doing, and since deciding that enough's enough, that's slowly slipped away back into my subconscious. I first noticed it when I was out on my bike a couple of weeks ago when I thought, "what can I think about now to pass the time". Followed rapidly by "That's weird, I've been constantly thinking about work recently"! And you know what, it's a lovely feeling to have got back. Just being able to let your mind wander again whilst subconsciously working the pedals, or listening to your rhythmic breathing whilst running. This is how life should be, the opportunity for quiet contemplation or daydreaming, not constant worry and stress. Our bodies are designed for running, manual labour and hard work in the outdoors. Not being constantly bombarded by telephone calls, e mails and the other stresses of modern life. You can't keep your brain active 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, which is what modern life seems to think we need. It's not surprising everyone's stressed out, angry and on edge all the time. I know I have been and it's time to do something about it, take a step back and slow down! I've been busy doing bits and bobs all week, putting my affairs back in order and throwing away the reams of paperwork and detritus that modern "paper free" working generates. And that's another downside that were all going to realise pretty quickly as we all start working from home more and more. You just can't get away from it. When you work from an office or site, you get to 5 O'clock, shut the door and works gone until you go back the next day. When your working from home, the pile of works still sat there looking at you as you eat your tea, the phones still ringing when your on leave, and the E mails are still arriving whilst your trying to do the ironing. And this is progress? How? I'm no fan of the union movement, in fact I think they shot themselves in the foot by going too far. But, they spent a lot of years campaigning and fighting for better working conditions, shorter hours and workers rights. Yet here we are, all willingly giving up those hard earned freedoms to work from home. Yes, we may have done away with the commute, but its at the expense of 24 hour availability, reduced overheads for companies and a massive reduction in social interaction for one of the the most sociable species on the planet. If you want my opinion (which you probably don't) we're heading for a fall and the only people benefiting from working from home is big business. Remember, when your sat shivering in your back bedroom office, because your now paying for the heating, or you've got RSI from trying to type on a laptop at your kitchen table, that this is what we wanted! Right, enough, lets get this back on track. No one wants to read the random ramblings of a mad man! As I was trying to say, before getting sidetracked, I've probably been busier this week than when I was at work, but at least I feel like I'm achieving something and I can sit down at the end of each day and say "I made this, or I did that, or look at what I achieved today" and that's a good thing in my book. In between a bit of running, a few bike miles and dodging the rain showers, I've made a bit of progress on project patio. The foundations that I laid at least 4 weeks ago have now finally got a few layers of bricks on them and I've started on the next walls of the raised beds. This has to be the first phase of works as I need somewhere to relocate all the soil that's going to be coming out of the next bit, so there is a method in my madness. I'm quite happy to admit that digging out the foundations at the start of the week was bloody hard work. The grounds absolutely sodden and digging into the heavy clay subsoil was an absolute nightmare. Even chopping it out with a pick and mattock was hard, and as for shoveling it, well, either I'm getting old, or I'm not as fit as I thought I was! As the keen eyed amongst you will no doubt have spotted my bricklaying skills are more "Generation game" standard than "Auf Wiedersehen Pet", so it's slow going, and I'm constantly trying not to do too much for fear of injuring myself. With my child's wrists (and ankles) it's a constant game of doing as much as I can without overdoing it. I know they're a weak point. If "The Emma" does up the jam jars I cant get them open again, and it's not unusual for me to be sat staring at my un-marmaladed toast when she gets in as I'm too feeble to open the jam jar! As I often say to new people up at the allotment, little and often is the key. You don't eat all the veg in one sitting, so you don't need to do all the digging in one session either! If you try and do too much its overwhelming and you end up hurt. I'll get there though, I've got time on my side for a few weeks now, so we should continue to see some progress. Of course what I really need is someone to do the hard work for me, whilst I supervise and pass on my skills and knowledge. Someone in their early 20's with time on their hands would be ideal. I keep on hinting, but it's not getting me anywhere, guess I'll have to just keep on doing my own graft! In totally unrelated news, I've noticed the abundance of Sloes on the bushes this year. I suspect that there's some old wives tale that will tell us it signifies the end of the world or some such. Whatever it signifies I've never seen such prolific fruiting.
Hopefully I'll get the time to get my thick gloves on and grab a couple of bagful's whilst I've still got the chance. Sloe Gin, sat in front of the fire is one of life's little pleasures on a cold winters day. Good news everybody, having thoroughly tested them I can confirm that my new waterproof trousers are indeed waterproof. With there being no sign of the monsoon abating on Saturday, eventually I had to bite the bullet and make the effort to go and get wet. I've said before that walking in the rains not so bad, at least you can dress up and stay dry, so a few miles around Watership Down seemed like a good idea. I say seemed like a good idea, as it's pretty exposed in parts and at times the rain being thrown horizontally at me was almost deafening as it bounced off my hood. Never one to shy away from a challenge, the more it rained the more of an adventure it became and I managed a good 12 miles round the local countryside before I saw sense and headed for home. There's something incredibly satisfying about being out and about when the weathers bad, and it doesn't get much worse than that. Sunday morning didn't seem much better weather wise, but after an early start (more of which later) it looked like there might be a gap in the bands of rain lashing the house as long as I got out and got on with it early. So that's what I did, a quick bit of breakfast and out the house as it got light. How wrong could I be. Weather gap my arse! The wind was viciously strong and the rain continued to try it's best to drown all the fun out of it. I'm not being beaten by a bit of rain though, so carry on and keep smiling. Despite the weathers best efforts I managed 13 fairly pleasant miles around the local roads, dodging the puddles and trying to stay upright. However you look at it that's better than nothing and beats sitting on the sofa staring at the idiot box scoffing biscuits! So why was I up early then? Well, Christmas is slowly creeping up on us and the best part of Christmas is Christmas pudding. The only problem with Christmas pudding is the length of time it needs cooking for, and with my plan being to make 2 small ones instead of 1 big one, there's the small problem of only being able to get one in the slow cooker at a time. With two, 7 hour simmers in the slow cooker to squeeze in, the first one needed to be in early if I was going to be getting to bed at a sensible time. The first one was in and simmering away by 06:30, leaving plenty of time for running, and if the smells anything to go by then were in for a real treat come Christmas. And if not, there's still a couple of last years shop bought offerings in the back of the cupboard! Whilst I was making a mess it seemed a shame not to knock up a quick cake, and if I'm making a cake, then the ovens on, so we might as well have home made pizzas for tea. Yummy! And that's about it for another weekend. Although for the next few weeks it's going to be one long weekend. I'm going to be between jobs for few weeks. Well I say between jobs, except it's more a case of I've left one job, and at the moment haven't got another one to go too. I've got plenty to be getting on with though, including project patio, if it ever stops raining, and I'm sure something will turn up sooner or later. It's all another big adventure and I can't wait to see where this one ends up! Late edit: Apparently Stir it up Sunday , the traditional day for making Christmas pudding is next Sunday and I'm supposed to have stirred from East to West, not just mush it around with a wooden spoon until it got bored. Which incidentally didn't take very long. So that's probably all my good luck used up for the next 12 months then.
Best I keep the waterproofs out, make sure I've got plenty of puncture patches on the bike and avoid ladders and black cats (which is difficult when there's one sat on the sofa with you) for a while! Well this is no good is it, It's Saturday morning and I should be out playing on my bike, but I'm not, I'm sat here tapping away on the lap Top. And why may you ask am I not out playing? Well, have you looked out yet? I guess not as it's lashing it down and even I'm not that stupid. Don't get me wrong, I've got nothing against getting wet and muddy, in fact it's one of my favorite past times, but I always find it hard to muster the enthusiasm to go and deliberately get wet without a good reason, so I'll just have to find something else to do instead. I did manage to get out for some good bike miles last weekend, when the weather was a bit more co-operative, and having realised that in October I ran more miles than I rode, they were badly needed miles (195 V 120 if your interested (shocking isn't it!)) I'm a bit short on photos so you'll just have to take my word for it that I managed 120 miles on Saturday by pushing north from home towards Oxford, before doubling back via Marlow and the East side of Reading. This is a great little winter route with a good mix of climbing through the edge of the Chiltern hills and flat fast sections, making use of some good, but not overly busy roads, which tend to be better maintained, although less scenic, for getting in the winter miles. Once the sun burned away the early morning mist it was a beautiful day for being out on the bike and with no need to stop, and under the current regulations nowhere open to stop, I didn't hang around and was back home well in time for tea. My legs felt surprisingly good Sunday morning after Saturdays efforts, so a bit more of the same seemed in order. The weather wasn't quite as good so I stayed fairly local and headed out through Kingsclere towards Hungerford before coming back via the climb up to Coombe Gibbet before dropping back down to Whitchurch and home.
Not a bad morning out and handily I was home before the afternoon rain started (which was nice). A quick trip up to the allotment to pick up some veg for tea followed by a couple of hours pottering around in the workshop wrapped the weekend up nicely. And on that note, sitting here catching up on last weeks blog posts isn't achieving anything or getting us anything to write about this week. It's still wazzing it down and blowing a gale, but I got some new waterproof trousers the other day so I might as well take advantage of the opportunity and go and test them out! |
Paul PerrattOld enough to know better, young enough to still feel invincible, stupid enough to keep on trying the same thing again and again. Cyclist, Gardener, Runner, Hiker, Cook, Woodworker, Engineer, Jack of all trades and master of none, Anti social old git and all round miserable bugger. Archives
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