GOGS...Grumpy Old Gits Society..

beardy56 said:

radio controlled clock is the one thing that hasn't change yet. Living in an old building with 9" solid brick walls it just doesn't like making contact

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We live in a 120-year-old quarrymans cottage. Similar problem here. But we have a modern uPVC porch on the front, so I put the clock in there overnight.

My problem is, as far as I know, the nearest transmitter is inline with the side if the building which being in a terrace means there are at least ten solid brick walls before you hit free air. Dab radios are just as bad, no signal, apart from a couple of stations, unless I take a tap of the TV aerial.

beardy56 said:

Dab radios are just as bad, no signal, apart from a couple of stations, unless I take a tap of the TV aerial.

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Radio Caroline is also on-line

I haven't listened to Caroline since back in the days when the DJ would put an album on and let the whole side play. Minimum words and lots of music.

^ they call that "Continuous Caroline Music". OK for me but 3 'till 6 AM for you😮
Main Caroline only plays from albums.

So it's the start of the schools Easter breaks, there's gridlock at Dover, who'd have thought that eh.
Not Rocket science to predict when you're busy is it.

More difficult to predict bad weather, though . . .

Easter soon which for thousands of old boys in Britain means just one thing. Yep, we'll be dragged without ceremony or consent to a 'nice' garden centre, where we'll spot similarly lost and tortured souls humping bags of compost and plants wearily to the car before having to endure some awful cream tea in the company of people who should never eat anything ever again.

And you can't get out of it. I've tried. Nothing works. Not even a pencil up each nostril, and shouting "wibble" every minute had any effect or sympathy last year. There were too many other chaps doing the same thing, so no one was let awf the hook.

A tricky one...

Garden centres........ Personally, I loathe gardening. It's about the only thing I never picked-up from my biggest influencer, my Granddad. He was one of those who loved it, but I digress.
I am convinced that there are "people of a certain age" who on any given day of the week, if they are not within the confines of their own garden, will either be visiting a local National Trust garden or a specific Garden Centre.

"I have been round to Moira's, but she's not answering the door"
"It's Monday today, Pet, she'll be at Dobbies. Dobbies on Mondays, Wallington Garden on Tuesdays, Clays on Wednesdays, Gibside on Thursdays, Wyevale on Fridays.........." etc, etc.

Don't get me wrong, I understand that sitting within the confines of home too much isn't good - and I'm all for routine. But the concept of a life revolving around regimented visits to Garden Centres or ornamental gardens is totally alien to me.

A trade off with SWMBO is the massive garden centre at Nantwich Cheshire, is only a couple of miles from Dagfields Antiques centre, which is a slight step up, plus in one of the large agricultural sheds is Trident trains, which whilst not a slot shop, does at least sell modelling materials and paints etc.

News channels and social media awash with the problems at Dover this weekend.
Stamping a passport is bound to take longer than just looking at it, one would have hoped that one of the many minions informing the home secretary would have told her, she's clearly not able to work this out for herself.
I just hope nobody who is irate in the queue voted leave.

I haven't been on a coach trip to Europe for many a year but back then we had to leave the coach at Dover and walk through passport control. In passport control my passport was check, I was given a long look and then the passport was stamped before walking back to the coach. On arrival in Belgium we had to walk off the ferry get our passport checked and stamped again before boarding the coach. On returning it was a quick check of the passports on the coach and no stamping but back at dover we had to leave the coach taking all hand luggage with us. Then full customs with passport check and random baggage checks. We did throw a spanner in the works as customs had the UK and EU channels open but we had Australian, Canadian and a US passenger on the coach so they had to open the Commonwealth and others channels so they had to take staff away from the baggage and coach checking. It always amazes me how things get forgotten and not as if they didn't have enough time to get this all sorted.

SWMBO is an ardent kindle fan, I still have a proper book, holiday reads for on the beach are always from charity shops, if I bring them back in good condition I donate them back, if after holidays they have sand stuck to ice cream residue, then it's recycling.
On the net there's many cheap book sellers, some with free postage.
Only grump today is with a third dry and sunny day in prospect tomorrow, SWMBO has deemed it an outdoor gardening day, I am expected to do the first cut of the lawns , all 6 of them at the back, but the upside is I've just had a new Bosch rotak mower, so it'll have a nice sharp blade.

One of my mates used to put Castrol R in his mower to make the task more pleasant!

Cheers,

John

I’m pretty sure this year’s excuse will hold up. Eye surgeon is giving me a cornea transplant in a couple of weeks and forbids heavy lifting or straining for the next few months. The whole concept of having your cornea removed by a small, sharp cookie cutter and a replacement sewn in place makes her ill so I will be given a pass on gardening this year.

vfr750 said:

One of my mates used to put Castrol R in his mower to make the task more pleasant!

Cheers,

John

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As a lad, I used to put it in my scooter. A friend said at lunchtime he could follow me around town without ever seeing me.

Our new gaff has Astroturf, so a quick sweep is all that’s needed once in a while - I did think of replacing it with wild meadow but can’t be arsed . . .

Gardening........

Wor Lass thinks that bunging a plant in a pot with some compost is sufficient. Then few weeks later, she bemoans the fact that the pot is over-run with weeds. For over 20 years I have been telling her that if she isn't going to look after her plants, she really shouldn't waste her time - or mine when I have to clear-up the resulting mess, because she CBA.
Yesterday I spent over an hour bagging-up the contents of her pots that have been left out all winter, ready to take to the tip today. Then she had the nerve to moan because most of the pots are cracked. My explanation that this is a result of them being left out all winter will have fallen on deaf ears, the same as it does every spring.