NOTA'S Sleep Thread

[none of the above]

Ahh, been busy... at this time of year it's forum shuffle routine and the ones lacking in sparkle just get to the "lurk" zone and I spend time filling shiny new sites with my usual brand of mad stuff. A part of the ongoing mission to have lots of new chums to meet and sometimes get 'em together for idle gadding about. Heh, yes... there are groups of virtual people roaming the country now thanks to me. It's all wholesome fun...


Good news, the man came to take the annoying skip away this afternoon. I noticed too before it went that an enterprising sort had relieved said skip of a crappy computer monitor. A monitor (old styleee ) that had been out in the rain all night. Good luck with that...
Car now in rightful place under my bedroom window.

I see the hosepipe ban is in place just as I have filled every container, three waterbutts, the pond and two empty 80kg stock salt lick/mineral tubs to the brim with the wet stuff. Excellent timing.


So, just for Soxy and any other lurky peeps... the full (but small) version of the "elbows out" avi.

[H. Franklin Layne]

You're lucky in a way, though we know roughly what day the binmen arrive (though it's a gamble which of many recycling bins they're after) the road sweepers are like rare creatures that appear once in a blue moon and because of that no-one knows when to move cars... what you see is a massive wavy line of "clean" where the sweeper has weaved in & out of the parked cars.
Do you have to pay a government type tax for this or is it a private sort of company that does the cleaning duties...?

My last boss (he's from US too) went to jail for a while here for "accidentally" bumping over a jobsworth traffic numpty that stood in front of his car to give out a parking ticket. Must be a tough job the world over...




In garden news my jokes some weeks ago about making a sort of "Peckham Spring" for the pond have been realised but alas it's about forty feet away from where it should be. A hole dug for one of the fenceposts yesterday (now popping them up one a day) was full of water, and this was before the rain.

On scooping it all out the water just gradually came back. Hole's too far from the house for water-main pipe and only about eighteen inches down. No-one knows why just this one hole is waterlogged, none of the others were like this. Anyway a concrete post went in and a bag of cement stuff went on top, saved me having to put the water in... we shall see what the next post hole reveals.

It's all excitement here... maybe I do have a well out there. I shall be self sufficient after all... hurrah.

We used to have our own city services. But of course, that had to go.......when done by our own, this place was CLEAN!! When they were phased out, and they contracted to work to private companies, the quality suffered, and people started putting up for sale signs. In the early 70's my town had Lincoln Town Cars for police patrol vehicles!!! That's when we had our own services..... The political cunts really screwed the pooch....

[none of the above]

One can never replace pride with profitability... if you own something you generally take care of it. I guess the widespread decline in respect for property and others means in some way the people feel they no longer "own" their immediate environment. A lack of care is easier than taking personal responsibility perhaps... this sort of thing is almost encouraged by politicos (whatever side) in order to suppress the population into apathy it seems, we forget we outnumber the grasping pocket-lining lying f*****s then.



Anyway, in happier news one of my net haunts after being closed for about a year has been tarted up & reopened again. The old regulars are trickling back (even though some cannot remember their old logins, including me ) and the place is getting back to it's usual ribald self.


Now, I am going to wander away to do something better... I have been bribed with plenty of Easter choc goodies and I'm in a very happy mood (not unusual that) so it's all good.

[none of the above]

Heh, back in the bath and back on the netbook of peace.


Odd, I know it's not Sunday (properly) but it feels that way having been off two days already. Phase Three of epic garden makeover commenced (after four orders of bacon sandwiches) at around eleven... we know how to look busy in the morning... and went on for about six hours. Workers were Baron von Wonka, SirQ, both younger Q's, a mate's husband (mate couldn't be arsed going out apparently) and me.
It was drizzly and grey all day, everyone was covered in mud and I had to cut up an old fence panel to fit a four foot gap that was left but finally the fence is done.

All in all it didn't cost too much what with the extra cement and labour (sons of accountants are expensive, £20 a day they cost me ) but they are strong. The others were just bribed with food, tea and immense hilarity...

There was a bit of old fence stuff left over which I set fire to.
My hair has a whiff of bonfire but I can't be bothered washing all that now.
So, a restful evening looking out upon the more tidy grounds of Castle NOTA, thankfully with new fence not on fire and the dog not able to terrorise next door's rabbits.

My ever increasing collection of solar powered novelty lights are making tat quite fashionable, soon everyone will be able to negotiate their way around their gardens at night by the glow of miniature lighthouses and puppies with lanterns in their mouths... trends start here.


Anyway, the talk this evening turned to other stuff... as my best mate bought DogOfNOTA for me from mum last year I thought I'd carry on the animal theme by convincing the Baron that some chickens would be nice *hint hint* in time for my birthday.

Alas, I know it's probably not going to be that easy but I've tried. Bets on whether I'll get some happy jewellery and a monster lump of chocolate like last year. Aww...

Now... out the bath and off to cause trouble.

[none of the above]

Ahh, they certainly know how to make a bathtime extra funny some of those peeps.



Anyway, today was a day of extreme rock arranging and visit from the head of the NOTA family...

I decided after breakfast to go out to the pond (in the murky drizzle) and put around it the 500kgs of giant rocks I was bought a few weeks ago for that very purpose. All was going well and the Baron was lurking about helpfully suggesting this & that and lifting the heavier ones when I accidentally dropped one of the rocks...

"Leave it there!!" says the Baron.

"Eh?" says me.

Apparently it looks cool in the place it is, I am bemused by this sudden need to re-create Stonehenge (albeit in a Spinal Tap way).
Has the Baron finally cracked under the strain of happy times and lots of food? Have I fallen through a gap in space & time to some hefty zen gardening program?

"Rocks have feelings too..." mutters the expert of expensive chocolate and crap music...



My initial assessment which is preserved my usual low key way at this precise moment was in fact more correct than I ever thought at the time or since...


Dad arrived and we had a full roast dinner with apple pie for afters... the new fencing got the dad seal of approval for straightness and the use of concrete posts. Aww, as if his only daughter would make wonky fences after having so much practicality in my childhood...

It's a matter of pride in this family to be both eccentric and to do stuff right.

[none of the above]

Easter hols are over now, so at least the sun might come out... still I liked the news story alternative Easter message. Unfortunately I had to fit in some gardening and a visit from dad but apart from that it sounded pretty good to me...

[none of the above]

Ahh, a bit of amusement for the evening... I can still write a proper funny article much to some amazement of certain people.


So, today back at work and all the usual stuff... waffling on about what happened during the weekend etc.

Also after some badgering of one of the customer company bosses I have permission to have a select few people and youngsters get a little guided tour of the workings of a car factory. This was in response to a mate that asked if it could be done (a free day out in other words, got to watch the old pennies)... so, in my world almost anything can be done and lo after not a little bribery it's arranged. Obviously not allowed in those "top secret" areas that abound in this industry, goodness even we have that sort of thing at work but just the general workings... no doubt it'll be hard hat & hi-viz stuff but hey ho...


Still no sign of any chickens, the Baron leaves for the chocolate growing areas of deepest Peru or somewhere like that tomorrow morning for a couple of weeks... unless I'm getting some Aztec hens of course. We shall see, I'm not going to be happy if I don't see some chicken action in time for my birthday.

Heh, loo stop in Panama on the way apparently...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nJETszZGoE

[none of the above]

Blooming hell, there's a n00b from Geneva somehow and he's making my eyes hurt...



So, day two of the Baron von Wonka wandering off to the other side of the world... actually it makes little difference as A- he lives miles away anyway B- I have plenty of other people to annoy instead.


I have ordered some chicken wire and a mate & me will attempt (if it arrives before weekend) to make a little extension to the run that came with the coop. In hindsight I would have bought the two separately but I'm a hen beginner so I'll adapt what I have. If that is I ever see any chicks.
On speaking to mum this evening apparently she wants a couple of hens too... I'm not sure how they'll get on with that as I don't think mum or my stepdad will be physically able to clean coops or catch hens if they're frisky ones.


We've had a new chap join the team at work... defected from one of our biggest customers in fact and he's been at our place about three weeks now. He remembers me from years ago when he used to visit our old company (I was just a QA engineer then) he said that he was a bit nervous at the time about asking me any questions... heh, little old me?? He came across as some know-it-all geezer that liked to rip our supplied parts to shreds and now he says that? Odd indeed...

Anyway, I had to take one of the technicians out to a company in the next town today as we needed to borrow a testing machine they have and some corporate bribery was necessary, this place tests all sorts of stuff and on walking through their facility you could see hard hats getting bashed, mattresses/sofas getting some artificial arse action and harnesses getting dropped from heights... all sorts of things going on. Just the sort of place I like, a word in the right ear and I could get a job there. Project managing is OK but it's not as exciting as making stuff explode.




Actually perhaps it's best if I'm not allowed to do stuff like that...

[Man-Erg]

So, day two of the Baron von Wonka wandering off to the other side of the world... actually it makes little difference as A- he lives miles away anyway B- I have plenty of other people to annoy instead.

Nobody has noticed this........................................































MUCH!

[none of the above]

What??


Liking that HoA thing link. Brace yourself for new painting series... I have an idea.

[none of the above]

Hurrah, it's a winning idea too... I have done lots of outlines this evening.


So, none of the chicken run bits I ordered arrived at work today but all was not lost. As it happens they had three rolls of exactly the same wire lying about (for some bodge job stillage lining) so I borrowed one of those and when mine comes Monday they can have that.
I have some old bits of fence posts and lots of nails. I'm sure we can knock together something that can outwit a chicken.

I have been on the video hangout to virtually annoy the Baron (currently lurking in Caracas) and while I was doing that I was lurking on Googlemaps too (yes, I have been down your roads... put that bin away) and I noticed it looked just like Milton Keynes... only with less guns and kidnappers running about probably.
Alas we don't have any business with exotic places like that, the last business trip I went on at the end of last year was to Wales.


Bugger, I just remembered I had some bags of rubble in the car to bung in the skip at work too... and it's still in the boot. I might have used up extra petrol bringing that back home. It's nearly down to halfway so I hope there's no empty pumps in about three weeks when I need to panic buy again...



Heh, forum birthday.
Three years of waffling on here... a baby in terms of my fave sites of over a decade. And yet longer than some... every year I stay at one new site in order to find happy peeps, this one was a bit of a hard job but in the years since starting this one I've had better results and new chums... hey ho, such is the life of an on-line explorer.

[none of the above]

A busy sort of day... busy in that one can fill the garden with bits of wood and tools again. The coop went down the garden, and back to the house... then down to the other side. We built the run though, through the hail and cold.
I've bunged coop & run near the summerhouse now, I'm not sure it's the best place tbh but my mate that was helping thought different.
I'll move it back probably...



Ahh that National post reminds me, stable lads... back in the day...






Heh, that's probably why I never fancy bigger blokes. Same size or less, them's always been the rules.

Speaking of rules as I'm on my own for a change this weekend I am waving the admin PAW at the astro forum... doesn't happen often nowadays but every now & then I will stir into action. Naturally it's more of a laugh as there's many under the influence of drink but it is quieter now. I can start on my latest mighty series of scribbles instead.


It's a tough life.

[none of the above]

I had intentions of doing things today but basically I dossed about in my scruffy dossing about at home clothes... I even went down to the little supermarket looking like a hippy too. While I was there perusing the apple juice there was a girl buying some cheese wearing what looked like diamanté covered stilettos.
I almost felt under-dressed to be shopping...
It takes such a long time to get to the shops & back... it's the sort of place where everyone knows each other. No sooner have you finished speaking to the mother of the people that used to own my house before me than you find yourself talking to someone that works in the Italian restaurant... and so on, all the way down the road & back.


So, I have just been practising some pudding recipes today as I reckon the rhubarb will be ready for some harvesting next week. I made chocolate & cherry clafoutis and a raspberry cheesecake. None of which have rhubarb but it used up the last of my fruits from last year. Next door's cherry tree looks happy for a bumper harvest this year too, knowing now that it grows near some sort of magic underground spring halfway up the garden I'm not surprised.
The rhubarb grows near the new fence, everyone knew at the time the fence was going up that to step on one of the three plants would mean spending some time wearing a fence post in an unusual place.


I was on the interwebs talking to one of my cousins earlier, all the way to Greece no less... apparently the bartering system really is taking off there. I've been doing this for years, I like all the organising but you might need to do a whole lot of swapping before you get to the item you wanted in the first place... obviously art, vegetables, chutneys and pies is the starting currency here.



Now, I've got a busy day tomorrow earning wads of cash money by saving the car industry/UK economy and my non-stereotypical expert bean counting foreign chum SirQ will help me evade as much tax as possible with it thereby making sure the economy stays right where it is again... such is life.

[none of the above]

So, this morning it goes like this... I send the chick molesting comedian SirQ a tarted up avi to his work mail...


"It's the wrong size" he waffles.

Send a smaller one...

"Not the right colours"



Change colours...

"Wrong font"



Needless to say I think it is good enough...


Now, today as well as earning wads of capitalist cash to add to my mighty tax free savings account I have been wondering what to wear to the Jubilee concert. Normally (out of work where I have to wear shite) I am on the bohemian side... as one should be when not painting.

Left to my own devices and in spite of any current fashion I will gravitate towards anything velvet basically and end up a bit like this...



Is that suitable to lurk at a palace concert... probably not. I shall have a think and consult some northern ghey people for extra fashion hints.

[Man-Erg]

A special closet for velvet garments you have. The Nancyboy might F*** about thinking he is Gok Wan but really he is a Wan C***!



Try something like this, it is a lot better for summer time concert wear.