Thursday, September 24, 2009

A good time was 'ad by all - erratum

Today I put in a link for the very first time - posted the blog - then checked the link and it doesnn't work because I made a spelling mistake in the web address. Oops!!

Try this instead to find out about Soweto Gospel Choir.

This one definitely works -you learn by your mistakes - hopefully.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

A good time was 'ad by all

It's been a very busy week. In an effort to avoid mental deterioration I am indulging in some academic work.

I've attended the first session of an evening class at Walton High School. The course is called Science and Society - Looking at Contemporary Issues. It covers issues such as stem cell research, evolution, climate change etc. The same course is taken by the sixth formers and course tutor is Mr Hancock. He taught Physics to Andrew when he attended WHS.

The next day I went out with a group of my former colleagues. We went to the Symphony Hall in Birmingham to listen to Soweto Gospel choir. They enthralled the audience with their wonderful singing and their vibrant costumes. If you get the opportunity to go to one of their concerts it's worth the effort and expense ( personal opinion of course!)

At the weekend I went to an induction day for Open University students. This year I'll be tackling the beginner's course for Science. We were given lots of advice about distance learning and I managed to meet up with some of the people who have already completed this course and are ready to start on the first level Science course. OU students have left school some time ago and are now choosing to study for a degree in their spare time, so I wasn't surrounded by very youthful undergraduates. There will be more news about the joys of being an OU student as I get further into the course. I wasn't surprised to see that the arts and languages group and the management group had a lot more students attending their induction days. I think one complaint of the UK government is that not enough people want to study the Sciences.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Technology

I have decided since I am now at home all day and Frank works full time that I could take on the job of keeeping the grass cut. I don't like the electric mowers we have so Frank found out our very first mower - a Qualcast Panther Cylinder mower - and we've worked out that it is 35 years old. It's been buried in the depths of the garage and not used for many a year. After knocking off the cobwebs, to Frank's surprise and delight he found that it cuts better than the newer, and much more expensive electric mowers. He demonstrated how one uses a push mower and then I had a go at cutting the grass. His efforts looked a lot better than mine but he put that down to experience.


I think that my cutting skills will improve with practice. In the meantime I went inside and cooked the tea while Frank finished cutting the front 'lawn' and started on the back 'lawn'.

At sunset he couldn't see well enough to complete the job but the grass will wait for him till another day. This is the skyscape from the end of the road!

P.S. Leaf mould is very good for improving the texture of soil and this bag of leaf mould was spread at the base of one of the apple trees. It takes one to two years for leaves to break down into this rich looking mixture. This amount started as one bin bag full of autumn leaves and by the time it is ready to use it has reduced to about half a bucket. In another few decades I will have made enough leaf mould to put one layer over the borders, then I can start again.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

The vegetable patch - 2

The British summer continues as it has most of this year!
Taking the opportunity to get out into the garden between showers, the work on the vegetable patch continues. The appearance of blue sky through the clouds gave hope that this day we would manage to make progress.

The blue polythene had proved not to be appropriate for the job of depriving the vegetation of light and the grass and weeds had thrived under cover. We left two bricks on the grass at the same time as we had put down the blue polythene and when we moved them they had been highly effective - this is what I had expected to see happening on the patch. We bought some weed suppressant fabric but to use it, first the weeds had to be cleared "preferably by use of systemic weed killer" then once in place the matting needed to be covered by a thick layer of bark mulch "to protect the fabric from the sunlight". We returned the matting to the shop.

We went to a builders merchants to buy some black polythene. Back home the under-gardener placed a double layer over the top of the blue polythene.

He had to beat the polythene into submission.

This is how the vegetable plot looks now complete with resplendent castlellations. In a few more weeks we shall peep under one of the corners and hope to see dying vegetation.

PS - Once upon a time, several years ago, I bought some bargain pansies from a greengrocers. Some were pale yellow and some were delicate purple. I put them in pots on the patio and left them alone. They continue to seed themselves in any available space and this year some have mixed colour petals! They did this all by themselves.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

How to start your retirement

The first day of my retirement was marked by a visit to a garden centre with friends. We travelled to a famous rose growing establishment, David Austin Roses, and despite the grey skies and heavy showers of rain we managed to see all round the extensive rose gardens.

We were very happy because we were heading straight for the cafe where we enjoyed cakes and coffee and planned our route.

There were fresh roses on each table. I don't know the name of this one, but the perfume was very strong.

To get to the rose gardens you have to walk through the shop. It started to rain while we were in the shop and the rain was torrential so we browsed a while. This photo was taken from inside the shop.

On our next visit to the cafe we managed to get a seat by the windows and this rose was covered in raindrops so I photographed through the glass and hoped the picture would turn out. This time we did not order cake. The tea was served in bone china decorated with roses - very posh!

We didn't spend all our time in the cafe and the shop. The weather brightened up and we walked around the rose gardens and managed to buy a plant. This photo shows an elephant vine - the one we bought was small enough to get in the car.

There were peacocks roaming around the gardens but none of them had long tail feathers. Do peacocks have their tail feathers trimmed or where these young and not yet showing adult plumage?

The visit was worth the effort of the travel and we must have sniffed the perfume of hundreds of roses. We've decided which blooms we liked and maybe we'll return and buy some of our favourites and sample more cakes.

If you like looking at roses try www.davidaustinroses.com