Monday, August 29, 2022

Published Monday, August 29, 2022 by with 0 comment

Coronavirus - Sunday 28th August 2022.

I started doing the daily blogs to record events during coronavirus pandemic but these days we rarely think about it. Its still there though. This graph was in the Guardian its based on estimates derived by the ONS. Actual figures aren't reliable any more as people have to pay for tests.
The current strains are quite mild and so hospitalisations are relatively low.
It's still around though so I'll keep the posts going but I might not report on each day. Went swimming at 10 am on Monday morning. The pool was quite empty and it was a good way to start the week so might make it a regular thing. Went for a ride out Maidenhead way with Kelvin on Tuesday afternoon and early evening. Did about 45 miles. Madeline stood up. I've been breaking a lot of guitar strings recently so I fitted some Graph Tech string saver saddles. 
Did some birthday present buying on Thursday. The festival traffic has arrived.
Just when I mentioned earlier about not thinking about covid any more Amy has tested +ve. Everybody else up there is -ve but James is not going to Spencer's wedding. Madeline has a high temperature again which could be related so they are raking her to the GP tomorrow. Tom and Sally are aleady in New York for the wedding. The view from the hotel roof terrace.
Madeline tested +ve on Friday. We had a chat late morning. The symptoms are mild. The sad thing is that Warren and Mary-Ellen are having to keep there distance for a few days. Made my first baguettes.
I did the sound with Sarah at RSAC in the evening for a Club Velocity night. These are monthly events promoted by Sid Siddle. This one was called In Malcolm We Trust Number 11. Malcolm is Malcolm Unwin who used to promote gigs with Sid. When he was 50 they put on the first In Malcolm We Trust gig and its been going ever since. New Puritans kicked off proceedings. They are a punk band fronted by Malcolm since 1979. Next up were Burnt Tomorrow, a bit Jethro Tullish followed by headliner Jessica Lee Morgan. She's the daughter of Mary Hopkin and Tony Visconti. She did Those Were The Days as an encore. Great gig. James and Mary Ellen tested +ve on Saturday but not feeling too bad. Fired up the pizza oven for the first time in a while. Quite successful, went for a variation of the neopolitan style. No oil, 60% water and 00 flour. Made the dough very easy to handle.
Heard on Sunday that James had a bad night and Madeline's temperature was high in the night. Mary Ellen is round helping out as she is already infected. We did a walk down the Kennet and along the Thames to check on festival activity. Spotted some new art work in the underpass in Coley. Unfortunately a lot of it has already has graffiti but nit this bit.
Read More

,

      edit

Monday, August 22, 2022

Published Monday, August 22, 2022 by with 0 comment

Coronavirus - Sunday 21st August 2022

It rained on Tuesday. Spent most of the day practising for the up coming gigs. They took Madeline to the GPs and the diagnosis is strep throat or scarlet fever so she's on penicillin. She doesn't like taking it but has not reacted to it. Had a practice at Stoke Row village hall on Wednesday. Lots of wire.
Went to watch Reading v Blackburn in the evening. Went round to the fan zone. There was a big queue for the West Berks van and no GOB but only took 5 mins and had quite a nice pint of Detour. Good looking mexican, wood fired pizza and burger vans. Had another pint in the ground. Same old stuff. The Theakstons did settle but it was pretty horrible.
It was a brilliant game, we won 3 0. Played with new tactics, 4 4 2 with a high press, no playing out from the back. They couldn't handle it. Everybody played well. Had our final band practice on Thursday before Friday's first gig. The day before me, Tony and Mike all got cramp in our fingers so I invested in some electrolyte tablets that seemed to do the trick. Madeline is a lot better now she's on penicillin. Cracking up had their first gig on Friday in The Castle Tap. We got there about 17 45 to set up and it took a couple of hours. There was a good turn out of friendly faces and it went down really well in spite of a few glitches. 
I wasn't nervous until it came to singing my first number and my right leg started shaking. Got through it though and after a couple of numbers the shaking stopped. Didn't drink any alcohol. Here's the set list. We didn't do the * ones to keep the time down to 45 mins each.
We had our second gig the next day at The Cherry Tree in Stoke Row in the afternoon. This was a family fun day charity event. Apart from us  there was children's entertainment, 2 friends of Mike's known as the Undisguised, goats, sheep, rabbits and a pony. It went well again but I did snap 2 strings and we had a power cut. No alcohol again apart from a pint afterwards.
A good start to the day on Sunday finished all the crosswords and quiz before we got up. Then put the gear away and chilled. Madeline had her first train ride.

Read More

,

      edit

Monday, August 15, 2022

Published Monday, August 15, 2022 by with 0 comment

Coronavirus - Monday 15th August 2022

Finished cataloging all the Roy and the Rogers recordings. They're now all available on line on the Roy And The Rogers page. Spent the rest of the day practising and had a Goolie zoom in the evening. Did my ride out to Theale and back via Pangbourne and Mapledurham on Tuesday. They've started work on the festival site. There was a bit of drama late afternoon as there was obviously a fire somewhere as you could see smoke from the guest room window. It looked like if might be Coley Park way so I headed over there on my bike but it looked further over towards Southcote so headed off there via some back lanes. Got told by a policeman not to head towards the water meadows as the fire was heading that way. There was quite a lot of activity.
So thought I'd head over to Burghfield Bridge and cycle back down the Kennet. Got as far as Southcote Lock and was told by another policeman that I couldn't go any further because of the fire which was actually south of the river. Turned out it was a grassland fire and they'd had to stop the Basingstoke trains. Managed to get this picture from twitter.
I went out looking for where the fire had been on Wednesday. It was south of the Kennet between Southcote Lock and the railway line. Couldn't really tell how far south it went.
Its roughly the area in blue indicated on the map.
Headed off to Anne and Wynn's on Thursday. A couple of disasters before we set off. The automatic sprinkler thing got cross threaded so I needed to pop to BnQ for a replacement and we couldn't dead lock the front door. Also no aircon in the car. Arrived about 6 30.
Went for a meal at The Boat with their friends Kevin and Jane. Tom and Sally had arrived on Thursday but late so came round on Friday to work. We went for a walk along the canal to the aqueduct.
James, Amy and Madeline had just arrived when we got back.  Cooled off in the hot tub afterwards.
Went for a meal at The Cornmill in the evening. Got up early on Saturday to go for a swim in the river with Tom and Sally.
It was cold but OK once you got in. I was strangely cold afterwards though. Needed my fleece and took a couple of hours to warm up. In the afternoon I did a walk over to The Britannia Inn. Its just over a mile but with a steep climb each end. Nice views though.
 Interesting use of the phonebox down the lane.
Had a bbq later.
On Sunday had a go on Wynn's electric bike. Pretty good but if you try to freewheel it slows you down a lot. Also I think it has a max speed so going down a steep hill was quite slow. Wynn cooked chickens for lunch and Tom and Sally headed off. Unfortunately Madeline was a bit out of sorts and had a high temperature. We thought it was the heat and an NHS clinician suggested a virus so James managed to get some ibuprofen. They stayed the night instead of going back to their Airbnb as it was cooler. Not a good night for them though and they contaced a GP in Wrexham early Monday morning as Madeline had been rubbing her ear a lot and they thought it may be an infection. They went in later and the diagnosis was just a viral infection. So we all headed off late morning and all got home OK. Great weekend.
Read More

,

      edit

Monday, August 08, 2022

Published Monday, August 08, 2022 by with 0 comment

Coronavirus - Sunday 7th August 2022

They took the scaffolding down on Monday. Cant really admire the paint job though because of the rotten window on the first floor. Did a ride out along the A4, across to Pangbourne and back via Mapledurham. Spotted this field of what looked like dried out broad beans and seem to remember seeing another on our trip last week. Found an article in the Guardian stating fruit and veg crops have been failing because of the heat.
Did my 5 hills ride on Tuesday morning. Did a ride out to Sonning, up past Lodden Brewery and back via Caversham on Wednesday. Stopped off for doughnuts for breakfast. Had a band practice in the afternoon but without Peat again. He's back from the US and tested -ve yesterday but doesn't trust the result and is still feeling a bit weak and generally crap. Went for a swim on Thursday then had first Thursday drinks in the evening in The Ale House drinking mainly Downton Hopquad which slipped down a treat. On Friday morning I went down to the Rising Sun to help set up for the Here Comes The Sun festival. Left early afternoon and went round to Kelvin's for the annual summer get together with Brendan and Lynda. Kelvin's daughter Amy also put in an appearance. Went down to the festival about 11 on Saturday. My stint on the sound desk was at 5pm with Grae J Wall & Los Chicos Muertos. All went well apart from some mysterious feed back. Some good bands on and they sold out and had to turn people away. They sold 150 tickets.
Had a great society walk on Sunday based round The Swan at Pangbourne organised by Lindsey.

Read More

,

      edit

Sunday, August 07, 2022

Published Sunday, August 07, 2022 by with 0 comment

Coronavirus - Sunday 31st July 2022

We lost our internet connection on Monday morning. Came back about 3. Learnt some new songs. Had a goolie zoom in the evening. Everybody is crocked. Went to the dentist on Tuesday morning. I was surprised to find that my town bike was not locked up in it's usual place by the front door. Then remembered I had cycled to the station last Monday when I went to Wokingham but got a lift back from Vlad so its been there for over a week. Picked it up OK though. Played guitar most of the day. Watched England beat Sweeden 4 0 in the women's Euros semi final. Really entertaining with some great goals including a fabulous backheel. Had a band practice on Wednesday but without Peat who is currently in the States with covid. Did some new songs, worked well. We foolishly stayed up until 2am watching the first series of Jack Irish. Bit of a lazy day on Thursday therefore. Did a bit of gardening in the afternoon. Mike, Judy, Bobby and Fiona came over for a BBQ on Friday so spent most of the day tidying up and preping. M went to the dentist in Oxford for a clean up. Fiona got stuck on the M6 for 4 hours so was a bit late. Drank too much. A good start to the day on Saturday, didn't get up til nearly 2. Went to the Winter's 50th Reading anniversary in the evening. On Sunday went to a volunteer induction at the Rising Sun. Then watched England win the women's Euros. Beat Germany 2 1 after extra time.
Read More

      edit
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)