Monday, January 25, 2021

Published Monday, January 25, 2021 by with 0 comment

Coronavirus - Sunday 24th January 2021

Started prepping for painting the front room on Monday. Managed to sand the window, door and skirting board but my finger ends are quire saw. Finished sanding on Tuesday, this time wearing marigolds, and washed everything down. Watched URZ v Coventry in the evening. 6pm KO which us not ideal. They won 3 0. Good goals but didn't play great. Started painting on Wednesday, Tony also came round to take off the radiator. Got one coat on the ceiling and made a start on the walls. Had a goolie chat in the evening. Got a coat of emulsion on the walls on Thursday. On Friday got a second coat of emulsion on the walls and ceiling. Popped out to pick up my bike. They replaced the rear mech also fixed a broken spoke I didn't know about. Made bread and pizzas for tea. On Saturday I taped round the coving and windows and painted the coving. It went on well I just hope its OK when the tape is removed. We heard from Tom and Sally that their Xmas parcel had arrived posted on 21st December.
M had tried to chase it up in the week and been frustrated that she was unable to speak to a human so had contacted Alok Sharma the local MP. His office had written to the  Royal Mail CEO. Coincidence? We woke up to snow on Sunday morning. 

It was quite heavy.


Tried pulling a bit of the masking tape off in the front room and it seems to have worked OK. Finished off the gloss. It now looks like this.
Had a zoom call with T, S, J and A to pull crackers and open the presents we had sent. Poppy liked her bowl.

Did burgers for tea.
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Monday, January 18, 2021

Published Monday, January 18, 2021 by with 0 comment

Coronavirus - Sunday 17th January 2021.

Did an early ride on Monday morning, down the Bath Rd, Nunhide Lane, Sulham, Pangbourne and back via Hardwick Stud and Mapledurham. Lots of red kites soaring. I got enough responses for the February Lockdown Festival to make it viable so sent out an email asking contributors to select their performances. Played around setting up a website for it. Added some wah wah guitar to Across The Universe. It turns out the black boxes I saw by the Kennet last week are dormouse nest boxes but they will be hibernating at the moment. Today's outdoor activity was meant to be an afternoon ride on my road bike going out through Caversham. I got half way up St Peter's hill when the same thing happened as when my chain snapped. I.e. the rear mech got jammed. Thus time the chain didn't snap which made this worse as the back wheel was effectively locked.
I rigged up strap to put over my shoulder to lift the back wheel off the ground and headed back home. Bumped in to Kelvin who was going out on a similar ride. It was hard work so decided to lock the bike up in town and go get the car only to find the battery was flat. Went back for the bike with a better strap. Bumped into Carolyn and Steve who had been out for Seville oranges. Went for a quick early ride on Wednesday just to the Cunning Man. Got the breakdown service to start the car. Chap recommended a new battery. Took my bike in to Rotec. They dont seem to any thing like as busy as they were before, hopefully it wont take so long as last time, about 3 months. Took the cupboard from the front room up to the music room. It was a bit too much with the top bit but fine with just the bottom. Had a goolie zoom in the evening. Got the car battery replaced on Thursday. We decided on the colours for the front room so I went off to get paint and stuff. In the afternoon I was planning to cycle out to Fobney Lock and round the nature reserve to see what birds I could see. I set of on my town bike but my bad luck with modes of transport continued as I discovered it had a puncture and naturally it was the back wheel. Went on my mountain bike instead. The ducks I saw the other day were still there and they are definitely gadwalls. Nothing much else though apart from some long tailed tits.  A lot of the area south of the Kennet is land fill and therefore there are lots of these pipes sticking up.
It turns out these are ground water monitoring pipes. I saw a chap with a white hard hat and bright orange work gear. At first I thought he might have doing some conservation work but as I got closer I could see he had put a tube down one of the pipes so he must been checking the ground water. Landfill sites are a lot more sophisticated then I thought. Not just a case of putting trash in a hole. I like this log cabin.
I stopped of to see if I could see anything in the almost permanent lake in the Coley water meadows but the light levels were too low. On Friday I took my town bike into Evans to get the puncture fixed. They did good again my telling me the labour would £20 because of the hub gears but only charged me £10. Whilst I was waiting I walked over to Waitrose in Caversham in search of Saville oranges as I'd bumped into Steve Snook earlier in the week and he'd been sent to buy some. Coincidentally saw Steve and Lindsey on the way. Managed to get some and started making marmalade when I got back. On Saturday went over to Purley with M to pick up some photos for the Coley book. Finished off making the marmalade but it came out runny. Had a Swiss based meal in the evening starting off with raclette.
A good start to the day on Sunday. Had a bit of a lie in. Did a bit of gardening including the annual lawn spiking.

Got the front room ready for decorating.

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Monday, January 11, 2021

Published Monday, January 11, 2021 by with 0 comment

Coronavirus - Sunday 10th January 2021

The new regime is to try and exercise everyday so did the ride along the Kennet to Theale on Monday morning. I saw what looked like a group of commuters leaving the station there. A sign of normality. Got a bit muddy. M had made cauliflower soup so had some for brunch. According to the covid app cases in Reading are rising rapidly.
Boris made an announcement at 8pm, the entire country is to be placed in a new tier 5. This is pretty much like the lockdown last March. Schools and colleges will be closed except for children at risk and those of key workers. All learning will be online. Stay at home, protect the NHS save lives. Its likely to be until at least February half term. They have started the roll out of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine though. Went for a quick half hour ride on Tuesday morning as wanted to get back before Tony came. He's replacing the radiator in fhe front room, decorating in there is our next project. We agreed he didn't need to where a mask when working on his own but we all would for ant interactions. I spent most of the day rejigging the music room so I can get the old hifi in.
l also managed to fix the broken chain on my road bike on Tuesday so took it out for a test first think Wednesday morning. Got another reply from the Green Homes Grant people saying Kellys Sash Windows are not eligible to do the work but I dont understand as their details are on the Trustmark site. Recorded an acoustic guitar track for Ian's Across The Universe. Tony finished installing the new radiator but we noticed the boiler wasn't coming on so had to call him back. It turned out to be air in the system. Had a goolie zoom in the evening, all except Roy who doesn't normally join. We knocked off at 10 to check out what was going on in the States. Pro-Trump protestors had invaded the capitol building to try and stop the electoral college election result being certified. They had to suspend the session but it was certified later. Ridiculously lax security. On Thursday had a bit of a lie in and then did the walk along the Kennet to Southcote lock and back through Coley Park. 4.5 miles in just under an hour and a half. Spotted a chiffchaff or a willow warbler and I think a gadwall. I think I'll make it a regular walk and include a bird count. Took a mask and put it on whenever I passed anyone. I've always liked the stretch at the back of Elgar Rd.
The water was very still.
Fired off an email to likely suspects to see if anyone is interested in doing another lockdown festival. Went for an early ride on Friday, did the loop up to the Lodden Brewery but avoided the Thames path. Bought 4 bottles of Night of the Stag as I was passing. No Ferrymans. Good to see the shop is still open. They're even selling veg. It was a bit nippy, a few flakes of snow fell as I was leaving the brewery. The Moderna vaccine has now been approved in the UK. Made 2 loaves and some granola. Made a goats cheese tart for tea inspired by the salad on new years eve.
A good start to the day on Saturday had a bit of a lie in. Watched the 2nd half of the FA cup game with Luton using Greg's BT Sport account. We lost 1 0. Went for a walk after, similar to the one the other day to Southcote lock. Found a new path from Fobney lock the otherside of the river. Found this which I've since discovered is a barn owl nest box.
There were some other odd looking nest boxes I assume.


I saw a couple of others but they weren't numbered. When you take a leisurely walk you see more then when you cycle.  I decided a video of the weir would be good to include.

There were a lot of people out though. On Sunday we did a bit of an urban walk as M wanted to take some photos for the Coley book. This involved an old school down Southampton St. There's a bit of a hill there and all the streets have very literal names. Alpine St, Edgehill St, Short St, West Hill and Hill St. We decided it must have been  Friday afternoon when they named them. 
Hill St. Had a zoom game of Sherlock Holmes with James and Amy in the evening. They will help with the lockdown festival so I think I have enough contributors now. 


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Monday, January 04, 2021

Published Monday, January 04, 2021 by with 1 comment

Coronavirus - Sunday 3rd January 2021

A lazy day on Monday. Did most of the Guardian Xmas crossword. Cooked a curry. Had a Sherlock Holmes zoom with JnA in the evening that worked out well. TnS got the picture of their main present in the post so had a quick zoom early afternoon so they could open. We got them 2 garden chairs that they seemed to really like. Went out for a ride after that but unfortunately my chain snapped going up Lambden Hill. That's never happened to me before. Had to call M out to pick me up. Had a gigs n ale zoom in the evening. KnA had had a very similar Christmas to us with lots of family zooms and games. Checked out the damage on my bike on Wednesday. The chain probably snapped on the join but the rear mech seems to be damaged as its sticking into the wheel. Left a message on the Rotec answerphone but they didn't get back. Bike shops can open in tier 4. Gave it a rare clean anyway. On Christmas Eve I had finally got a response from the Green Home Grants people saying they thought the cost for the underfloor insulation was too high.
So I fired off an email to the company to get some details. The Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved in the UK. Its cheaper and easier to store then the Pfizer/BioNTech one. Its not as effective though but some trials with an initial smaller dose indicate its about the same. The plan now is to concentrate on getting initial doses done and delaying the second ones as this will maximise immunity. Forgot to mention but a Brexit deal was agreed with the EU last week so parliament was recalled today to vote on it and it went through. We come out on 1st Jan. Cooked a mushroom roast to use up some veg and it was very tasty. Started another jigsaw. Had a goolie zoom in the evening. There was just me, Greg and Ian on. Good chat. Took my bike to Rotec on Thursday. They weren't answering their phone but thought I'd chance it. Closed until the 5th unfortunately. Managed to get a chain link free of charge from Evans though. They were actually quite helpful for a change. Had new years eve greater ounsley zoom meal.
Worked out really well. Chatted to Kelvin over the garden fence after but in the end he came round and sat in the garden. There were a few people out in the street at midnight. Had another zoom with TnS later. I was a bit worse for wear on new years day and didn't get up til about 2 30. Did nothing all day. On Saturday I cycled up to the Mad Stad to get some exercise and psych myself up the URZ game against Huddersfield. They have a test centre in the car park.
Watched the game on iFollow. It was snowing up there to start with but stopped as soon as the game started. We went 1 0 down but won 2 1 with two cracking goals from Joao. Did pizzas for tea. It was meant to be the society walk on Sunday but they cant happen in tier 4 so me and M did our Sulham walk. Finished off our second jigsaw when we got back except for the vast amount of sky. M did Thai fish curry. Watched Bridgerton, Spiral and The Serpent.

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