What have I been doing?

Both work and home life have been quite hectic and, yet again, I have failed in my efforts to maintain The Journal.  Here is another half arsed summary of the comings and goings here at The Pile.

The weekend started with a trip over to Hailes Shooting Ground with Bubbles and BBQ Dave.  They both shot really well and I was pleased that my performance finally seems to be getting back to where it was before the lockdown started.*

I almost forgot to mention that Whiffler joined us up at Hailes and seemed to enjoy the new experience, especially the fuss and attention he got from the other shooters.  The reason for taking him was that we had a house viewing that morning, 30% was quite happy to walk Marauder and #3 while the viewing took place, but couldn't manage all three of the dogs.  So, Whiffler came shooting with the lads.

After shooting I spent an hour or so with Bubbles while he fitted a new Bluetooth DAB head unit to the Defender.  It seemed that our entire day was spent together as 30% and I were back there in the evening for one of Bubbles' "meat fest" barbecues.

Most of Sunday and Monday were spent attempting to tidy up the garage.  It was built when we extended The Pile back in 2007 and I swear that there was stuff in there that hasn't seen the light of day since it was first put on the shelves.

Over the course of the two days 30% and I worked through the various boxes trying to identify possessions that we no longer needed.  It is fair to say that this led to a few heated debates as I fall in to the "just chuck the bloody stuff away" camp, whilst 30% wants to either keep it, recycle it or spend an incredible amount of time trying to re-home stuff.**

Despite the strategic disagreements we have made fantastic start on the garage clearance.  A Defender full of crap went to the local refuse site and a Mini full of unwanted belongings went to local lady who is a fund raiser for the local Brownie Troop.

We now have shelf space in the garage and it looks a whole lot tidier, providing you don't look up in to the roof space ... That is yet to be tackled.

On the work front it is more of the same.  I'm busy trying to define a way forward on the latest project and have managed to persuade the Sales Guy that my proposed course of action is the right one.  That is a result, but it still means that I have a metaphorical mountain to climb over the coming weeks.

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* I shot 51% overall with individual stand scores of 62.5% and 75% on five of the twelve stands. (5/8 and 6/8)

** By way of example we have 396 jar lids that don't fit the honey jars we use.  They were supplied in error and we were not charged for them.  My approach is to just put them out for recycling.  30%, on the other hand, advertised them on Facebook and has had several exchanges over the past few days with a local chap who MAY want 20 of them.  For fuck's sake! 

Ouch!

One story from the past week that slipped my memory was Marauder's visit to the Vet.

At some point over the weekend before last we had noticed that she seemed to have an infection on her paw, so, at the beginning of last week, she was taken to her preferred private health practitioner.  The vet confirmed our diagnosis, prescribed a course of steroids and antibiotics and advised that we should bring her back in a week if there was no improvement.

At the beginning of this week her foot was marginally improved, but it was clear that the infection was still present.  We toddled off to the Vets, once again, and it was decided that she needed an x-ray and to have the site of the infection explored and lanced.*

To cut a long story short, another £400 pounds was added to last week's £60 bill.  There didn't appear to be anything nasty embedded in her foot and she has another course of antibiotics to consume.  She will, of course, be taking it easy on the end of the sofa until the incision has healed.

Despite her advancing years, Marauder appears to be in robust health ... this isn't that surprising as she appears to get better medical care than I do.**

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*  When I returned home without Marauder, 30% started to imagine horrible outcomes and ended up heading up to the Vets to say goodbye to M ... just in case!   

** Marauder ... "Badman, You should go private like me"

Catching up

It's been a week since I last made an entry in The Journal.  It would be untruthful to say that I hadn't had time, but I have been quite busy and, after brain melting days sat at a laptop, the last thing I want to do is prolong the experience by making another entry in BMJ.

So, what have I been up to?  On the work front I have been handed a new assignment and have spent much of the past week thinking "what the hell am I supposed to be doing?"  After several conversations I think I may have an understanding of what is needed and now have a very wordy PowerPoint presentation to waft in the face of the Sales Lead.  

I'm not expecting the Sales bod to be particularly informative, but the presentation is a documented view of my understanding and proposed course of action.  He can disagree and advise of what he really wants, but, based on previous experience, I am expecting him to pay minimal attention, agree and then slope off before he gets landed with some proper work.

So that was work covered; succinctly "very busy on a new project".

Away from work I had another three day weekend and it, literally, started with a bang, or more accurately hundreds of bangs ...

On Saturday morning Grubby Mark and I headed up to Burford for a simulated game shoot.  Basically this involved six pair of shooters stood in a line about twenty yards from each other.  At the sound of the starting whistle, clay targets were launched in the general direction of the shooters, simulating pheasants being driven towards the guns.

It was a fantastic experience with each "drive" seeming to last about five minutes and the targets came in thick and fast. There were so many incoming targets it was necessary to have your partner reload your gun after each pair of shots rather than waste time rummaging in a pocket for cartridges.* 

Over the course of the day we ate and drank plenty and shot nearly five hundred cartridges on eight simulated drives at four different sites.  It was a great experience and I would definitely be up for another simulated game day.

The game day was surprisingly tiring considering that we didn't exactly walk very far and spent most of our time blowing clays to smithereens, talking, eating and drinking!  Despite this seeming to take very little effort I was exhausted by the time I got home and was glad that Sunday was a quiet day.

We were joined at lunch time by M&M** for a quick bite.  They were on their way up to visit M's relatives in Birmingham and we had arranged for them to break their journey and lunch with us, so that we could catch up on each others' news.  We had a super couple of hours and it was hard to part when we had so much talking and laughing left to do.***  Hopefully we can arrange a "sleep over" in the not too distant future and continue the fun.

Later in the day we had our regular Sunday Zoom Cocktail hour.  It was just 30%, me and C&S.  We had another rambling natter that ended with us deciding to have an overnight stay with them in Abbots Langley now that is permitted following the recent easing of lock down restrictions.

Monday was spent with the bees and it is probably best if I leave it at that!  The weather has been pretty poor all week and it seems that they have spent most of their time huddled on the frames.  Very little nectar seems to have been gathered in over the course of the week and many of the colonies seem intent on swarming.  I'm finding that eight hives is way too many to manage and am definitely planning to cut them back at the end of the season.****

So that's a brief and scruffy summary of the past week; a lot of confusing work, much shooting and a modicum of socialising too.

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*  At the end of each simulated drive, the shooter and loader swap roles and the clays are repeated, so that each gets a turn.

**  From deepest, darkest Wiltshire ... Moonraker country!

***  and drinking too!

****  Colonies can be united late in the season, so watch out for a muddled narrative on that in September.

A blast from the past

Whilst rummaging around for my copy of Fitter, Fitter & Blamey, I happened to take a quick look inside the large wooden trunk on the landing.  It is filled to the brim with old photographs and, for some reason, I selected a wallet at random and thumbed through the snaps.  I was delighted to come across a couple of photos of my first "big bike".

It was a Honda VF500 FII and I can still remember the registration; C124 UWP.*  I have many fond recollections of her and she was quite special in her day.  This was one of the early incarnations of the Honda V4 motorcycle engine that was massively successful on both road and race track.  According to Wikipedia it is regarded as one of the finest handling bikes of the 1980s.  I occasionally search eBay ... just on the off chance of being reunited.

I bought her from Skellerns in Worcester, shortly after passing my motorcycle test, in July 1987 and can still recall the excitement and trepidation as I wobbled off up the London Road.  She was my only form of transport for a good few years and, when I moved down to South West London later that year, she made my daily commute from Motspur Park to Hinchley Wood an adventure and delight. 

It was a few minutes work to scan the photos and it's really nice to see her again ... She's still very pretty!

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*  A check of the DVLA website shows that she was last MOT tested in 2006 and had nearly 55,000 miles on the clock.  It also strangely records her colour as yellow?