busy day with the garden and stockport

Well, it was a pretty productive day yesterday.
First off, l slaved away cutting the grass (with my fourth lawn mower of the year!), which had gotten unfeasibly long again, and trust me, it took bleeding ages, and there's still a little bit to do. Evidence is below.

Next, after cleaning myself up (a treat for everybody), l drove (with Mr Parrot to keep me company) to Stockport to pick up a load of Mojo music magazines that l bought the day before on ebay. Over 160 of the little beauties for under £14 (plus of course the petrol money). I am more than pleased with the purchase, but at some stage, l am going to need a bigger house for all my crap. Either that, or move out non essentials such as furniture.
Manchester United's first league game of the season later on, and no work till the 20th (apart from a trip to Wales next week), so l'm in heaven!!

toodle pip

eating dangerously like elvis

 

Yum yum!
During Michael Portillo's TV programme about travelling around America by train, he stopped off in a diner somewhere for an all American breakfast, that consisted of a peanut butter, jelly (jam to us Brits) and banana sandwich. Despite much trepidation on his behalf, he tucked in, and then, to his obvious surprise, declared it to be delicious.
Knowing that this is also the kind of sandwich that helped kill off Elvis Presley, and never having had one before, l thought l'd give it a go last night.
Result - very tasty indeed, despite my Sun Pat peanut butter being more than two years out of date (although it was only opened prior to making the sandwich). Living dangerously maaaaaaan, and l'm still alive!.
However (and some might say it has already happened), it looks like it the gateway has opened to proceed down the Elvis route.
I'll have to be on my guard against my own laziness and greed, but I don't hold out much hope.

toodle pip

cutting the bleeding grass again!

I've paid someone twice to do the garden this year, and the bleeding grass has managed to grow back again after both cuts, as every time l've been off work, the weather has been crap, or l've been out and about.
Yesterday however, l slaved away for hours trying to hack through thorns and bushes, plus cut the grass again and dig out roots, to find some semblance of a garden underneath. The grass bins are heaving, and will be emptied tomorrow, and l will hopefully finish it off afterwards, in preparation for the scorching sunshine that's about to appear (in my wildest dreams).
I may have to look at getting a false lawn down next year, and do away with all this crap.

toodle pip

my kind of tv

This looks like it's going to be my kind of programme. The warning stating that it contains scenes of drug use, violence, and of a sexual nature.
Bring it on!

toodle pip

the dodgy looking tomato sauce packet

After making some sausage sandwiches yesterday to watch the football with (the crunches and keep fit regime can always wait), l discovered that l'd run out of tomamto sauce. However, after a search of the cupboards, l discovered these satches of tomato sauce, bought while on holiday somewhere or other.
All well and good, but the trouble is, l know they are at least a few years old, don't know where they are from, and don't know how long the sauce will be edible for.
Did l google it to find out, or just slap it on the bread and take the risk?
What would Keith Richards do?
Reader, l think you know the answer, but l'm still alive and OK (maybe a matter of opinion) today.
Hopefully this won't be updated from hospital later on, and l still refuse to check how long the sauce lasts for.
Keith would be proud.


toodle pip

richmond firestarter locked up

Although l have sympathy with people who have mental health problems, and who are obviously seeking attention and help when they try to kill themselves on numerous occasions, the person above, Robert Kenyon (who is actually nicknamed 'Firestarter' and 'Rubber legs' around Catterick / Richmond), used to live below me in Hipswell, and was one of the main reasons for me wanting to move, as, apart from lots of noise at all hours, he tried to kill himself and set fire to his place when myself and my wife were living above him, and at one time we were tempted to go round and smash up his stereo with a baseball bat (I'm from Liverpool). Instead, the council were informed about the noise, (the fire brigade dealt with the fire) but they were pretty hopeless, despite warning him about disturbing neighbours (so to speak). Luckily, a house nearby that we wanted became available to buy at that time, so we moved out, otherwise it would have ended badly, one way or another.
He more than likely requires psychological help rather than imprisonment, but he certainly needed to be removed from his housing, as he posed such a risk to us, and laterly, to others.
I'm just surprised it has taken so long, as the earlier episodes living below me were over 10 years ago.
The story was taken from here.

toodle pip

bastard spiders appearing from nowhere

My hatred of spiders knows no bounds, so when one appeared in the living room the other day, l managed to kill it, and left it on the wooden flooring in the living room as a warning to others (as you do).
Lo and behold, the next day one nearly gave me a heart attack by dropping from the light attached to the ceiling in the living room, so l chased it down and managed to kill that (and a smaller one that tried to ambush me).
So, imagine my surprise when another one came running from cover in the living room the next day (to also meet it's premature death). AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!
Since then, l may be tempting fate, but the coast has been clear, and the dead spiders cleared away. l am however, a lot more on edge and unable to relax at the moment.
Bastard things (and they were bigger than they look in the photographs).

toodle pip

cutting the bastard grass - again!

It's been pretty good weather since l finished work this afternoon, so l decided to get stuck into sorting the garden out.  I'd already cut the grass about four weeks ago, but it had regrown way too quickly for my liking, and it was a bugger to do again (Three hours l spent pratting about out there!).
I've also tidied up the paving slabs and an outside storage container, but the shed still has a teeny weeny bit of fine tuning still needing doing.
I've now got bins full of grass and crap, have killed numerous spiders (nearly crapping my pants whilst doing so), l'm knackered, probably smelly (no change there), and l need to have a soak in the bath, despite Mr Parrot screeching that he wants attention..
No work now till Wednesday afternoon, so the bloody sun had better make an appearance, then l can dust off the old hammock.and chill.

 The garden looking tidier

The bin full of crap

The outside storage container looking organised

Unlike the shed!

toodle pip

mr parrot looking happy

Ah...what's not to love about the little boy?
Mr Parrot looking happy and contented.  You'd never guess that he is a vicious little bastard with other people.

toodle pip

mr parrot looking happy

Mr Parrot looking happy.  Taunting me after the Swansea v Manchester United result.
He'll be going in the oven if he continues to mock me.

toodle pip

bloody rats

Whilst letting Mr Parrot out in the garden the other day to catch some rays, l wandered over to the overgrown and usually (at the moment) rabbit run, and idly leaned on it, passing the time by wondering if any rats still came over from the fields at the back of the garden, like they have in the past.  Then l noticed something from the corner of my eye - a big rat that was a bit sleepy or dazed.  I managed to kill it by whacking it over the head with a shovel, and then threw it into the farmers field (as you do in these circumstances), and although l felt a bit sorry for it and didn't want to particularly kill it, l also don't want to be having loads of rats by the house.  At least it wasn't as big as the one above, but l might have to keep a look out in case his mates start gathering, and invest in some rat poison. Then again, l may just build myself a rat trap like in the gif below.
One of the many joys of living out in the wilds.
Watch this space.

toodle pip

decorating in an unusual way

Some excellent re-cycling of an old piano and a bath. Not that l'll ever get around to doing something like this, as it takes me years building up the momentum just to open a tin of paint, let alone slap it on the walls.

todle pip

training mr parrot

Training Mr Parrot, although l'm now not sure who is the boss of the house, as he may well be training me. He's certainly got an easier life.

toodle pip

some of the albums l've been listening to today, and my favourite tracks from them.

Bob Dylan - Another Self portrait box set.  When the album 'Self Portrait' first came out, it was famously reviewed by Greil Marcus, who started with 'What is this shit?', as it was indeed crap compared to what Dylan had produced before. However, the album has grown on me over the years, and the box set (part of the bootleg series) has some decent out-takes, plus the Isle of man concert, but it's nowhere near as good as some of the earlier bootleg series releases. Not a release l will listen to all of the way through on a regular basis, but it helps keep me out of mischief.

Jesse Winchester's album suffers because it is dominated by Black Dog, the last song on the album, which is unlike the previous tracks on the record, but a magnificent piece of work (later covered by Babe Ruth amongst others). Otherwise it's a slightly better than usual country lp.

'No Such Place' is also a country type album, but a lot more modern sounding, and with better songs overall. Jim White's singing puts across a tale in a believable and emotive way, and the standout track for me is the first one, 'Handcuffed to a fence in Mississippi'.

Old Crow Medicine Show sound like an updated old country band, but once again, there is one standout track, the much covered 'Wagon Wheel', which has become a standard in a short amount of time.  I know Bob Dylan wrote the bare bones of the song (naturally l've got the unreleased version), but the way it has been added to by OCMS (and then performed) makes it into something special.

Dion is a long way from his hits such as 'Runaround Sue' on this record, and 'Born To Be With You' has a big Phil Spector production, coupled with a moody atmosphere and vocal performance.  Sometimes sounding a bit like John lennon's 'Rock and Roll' album from the same period, which is no great surprise, as Phil Spector produced that as well. It gets better with repeated plays, and like most of the music above, is probably best listened to late at night in a darkened room.



I've realised these albums make me look like a sad old git, so here's something noisy l revisited as well (I watched some of my DVD of it).  Nine Inch Nails at Woodstock, performing 'Wish' in the mud, the blood, and the beer.  One of my favourite shows, even if Trent Reznor was apparently not that keen on their performance (idiot).



Right - time for Match of the Day!

toodle pip

the stones - a tribute to the rolling stones

Damn!  I was thinking about going to see The Stones tonight, but after watching the football and prating about, it started pissing down with rain and thundering, so l couldn't be bothered, and stayed in instead, reading, listening to music and watching films (the usual stuff).
Ah well, better luck next time.  I'm off out tomorrow though, no matter what the weather is like.  I have to - l've run out of wine!

toodle pip

the jenni sparks new york map

I was looking at some maps the other day with a view to framing a couple (probably of Manhattan and London), and was reminded of this little beauty by Jenni Sparks.  It's a hand drawn map of Manhattan and can be bought from here.  It's very cleverly done, and it looks great, but l might just go with the normal kind of maps so they both match (I'm sure l might be autistic!).
Then again, l might easily change my mind tomorrow (I'm that kind of guy).

toodle pip

the house is going to ruin

I can't believe it! The FPO only moved down south a day ago and the house is already falling apart!  The onion in the fridge has seen better days and looks like it's been grasping for some life (like us all), and a bleeding slug appeared in the bath, much to my disgust.  They were both thrown away, but l spared the slug the salt treatment out of pity.  Mind you, he did still go down the toilet, so that was probably a fate worse than death (or salt).

toodle pip