Retired Life

Monday - Yoga class
Tuesday - Gym workout
Wednesday - Gardening ( well, cutting the grass)
Thursday - Gym workout
Friday - Geocaching
Saturday - Cooking
Sunday - Church
Every day - do whatever I fancy, clockmaking, birdwatching, reading or just being absolutely bone idle. Its brilliant!

Categories: Life

Race for Life

The ladies in my life spent last Sunday morning at Stratford on Avon Racecourse taking part in Cancer Research's Race for Life. The weather was cool but dry, just about ideal for a 5k race. There were about 2000 women taking part (men are not allowed), some of whom ran the course and some just(?) walked.

The organization was very slick with a DJ on hand to keep everyone amused and informed before the start and an aerobics instructor who took over from the DJ to get everyone warmed up before the start. As a mere male I was only able to spectate but the time flew past aided by a bacon butty from cafe and the conversation with my son-in-law. Nice to be able to chat without interruptions for a change.

After the event was over we all adjourned to the Four Alls at Welford and had an excellent lunch by the river Avon.

Categories: Life, Charity

Shelsley Walsh - May 2006

A misty Saturday in May and the first meeting of the season at Shelsley Walsh. As you can see, not every classic car owner is content to just keep it nicely polished!

This nicely turned out Sunbeam Alpine was shared by Mike and Ian Broome (Mike driving in this photo) and was competing on handicap with a variety of pre-1975 cars including an E-Type Jaguar, a Hillman Imp and a Lotus 35 F2.

The meeting was comparatively quiet, but it did clash with the FA Cup Final, so the turnout was really quite good. Margaret had volunteered to help with the Regalia Shop in the morning and was grateful for a quiet introduction.

Categories: Motoring, Classiccars

Back to clockmaking

I seem to have let retirement go to my head and tried to do too many things at once. The skeleton clock is sitting behind me as I type, still unpolished and disassembled.

I really want to complete this clock but now I can spend seven days a week working on it I am giving it even less time than before I retired.

The latest distraction was yoga. Someone suggested that this would be a great fitness boost and based on my very limited experience they are probably right but it is yet another morning away from the work-bench. Still, the grass is mowed, the car can stay dirty for another day and I should be able to do clock work tomorrow!

Categories: Clocks, Clockmaking

The Sultan's Elephant

We went to London for the weekend to see "We Will Rock You", the Queen musical and it was fantastic. If you get a chance to see this show then do. As a bonus we noticed Brain May sitting a few rows in front of us. He clearly enjoyed the show as well.

After the show we picked up a new pair of binoculars at a very keen price (More about this in my bird blog) and then had an excellent meal in a new Thai restaurant in Charlotte Street. Back at our daughter's flat for the night we heard about "some kind of street entertainment" around St James's Park.

Sunday dawned and after we had been to mass at the nearest church (in Portuguese, we think) we went back into town.

Many roads had been closed to traffic and it was strange to be able to walk up the middle of roads that are normally choked with traffic. We cut up a back alley and turned into Piccadilly and stopped.

Absolutley awesome! The Sultan's Elephant is 40 feet tall! It moves. It is the most fantastic piece of street entertainment I have ever seen. The crowds were massed all around it but it is so big that everyone could see it and what it was doing.

Categories: Life, Entertainment

Pest Control

What do you do if you have a plague of gay mice?


Get yourself a poofy cat.

Categories: Humour

Time & Relativity

Einstein was right. Time is relative. I can't believe that four days have passed since I last updated this blog. What has been going on in my life?

It's been more fun than sitting at a computer keyboard anyway. Mostly walking and talking with a limited amount of wine and some beer. Just another Bank Holiday weekend really. Walk, drink and skittles on Saturday, another walk on Monday. It was our turn to count the collection on Sunday and we had a second collection for an organization called Survive-Miva who fund transport for aid workers in the third world. The volunteer fund raiser gave an excellent round up of the charity's work and as a result Margaret and I counted more money than ever before.

Transport for aid workers is a subject close to our hearts here in Stourport as we are trying to support the work of Father Sunny Joseph Mavelli who is setting up social services in the West Garo Hills region of India. He is a Catholic Priest who works in the Tura diocese of Meghalaya province and who spent some time in our parish while attending training courses. A remarkable man who wants to bring health care and education to the tribal people of the area, he desperately needs reliable transport that is capable of negotiating what pass as roads in that area. A registered charity has been set up, The Sunny Charitable Trust, but I don't think it has a web-site yet.

Categories: Charity