Yawn Yawn Wakey Wakey 2024

Thanks Dove - that works too I'll get there....

 

Hi all

Well, it isn't raining, so that's a start, but it is so wet that the ducks are on the lawn, and I would swear they are swimming.
I have been in the g/h potting on, stuff is going to have to go out soon, I have no more space and as usual the window sills are all full, as are the propagators.

 

You are most welcome @Topbird and I'll pass on your good wishes to Hazel.

 

@floralies, the Avon stuff definitely works for me. I've been bitten in the past through the fairly thick jogging pants I wear for gardening, by horseflies - horrid creatures! Don't get many of those now since the livery stable closed down.

 

@Topbird, whilst you were in the Antarctic did you come across a crew member called Blaise Guld, I know he is down there at the moment, on a cruise ship. I met him many years ago when I was in the Arctic.

 

Sunny spells here and then heavy showers but only to be expected I suppose when it’s so very windy. Better than grey drizzle at least.
I did read that lupin aphids are a foreign invader and not eaten by ladybirds but not sure if that’s true.
I have shampooed the living room carpet which is a job I always put off then am surprised at how quick and easy it actually is. I am not “shoes off inside “ person and so the carpet does get very mucky. Every other downstairs room has hard floors which I much prefer.

 

I don't think I met him @Punkdoc but I really only know first names of the crew we had most day to day contact with and members of the expedition / science teams. What would his role be?

We travelled with Hurtigruten Expeditions (aka HX) but they had 3 ships down there and there are several different cruise lines operating down there this season. Some are big cruise ships which really just do sail-bys. Others (like ours) are much, much smaller and include landings, zodiac cruising and participation in science projects. Consider myself extremely privileged to have visited such an incredible part of the world.

Where were you in the Arctic? We have been up the length and around the top of Norway (also with Hurtigruten on the 'ferry') and places visited included North Cape, the most northerly point of mainland Europe (it was wild there at the end of January) and round to Kirkenes near the Russian border where it was -23C at lunchtime. However, it was also sunny and still and, somehow, it didn't feel as cold as it can when it's just below freezing in wet and windy Scotland. Fabulous displays of the Northern Lights most nights once we were above the Arctic Circle. It's all so, so beautiful.

 

Good afternoon all,

It’s a much drier day today and not as windy, though still breezy and chilly with it. Had a productive day in town, getting a few little jobs done so pleased with that. Still too chilly for me to spend long in the garden, though to be honest, it’s not looking too bad at the moment. OH got the grass cut on Sunday, which always helps the garden to look tidier, and I’d done a few tidying jobs on Thursday. There are still things to be done, though, once it warms up a touch.

 

My Dad was on the Arctic Convoys @Punkdoc & @Topbird but that was rather a long time ago !

 

My uncle was too @Bluejayway. Unfortunately he didn't make it out the other side. Brave men

PS: Looks like you're a Beatles fan too. Love (sorry - luv!) them esp. Mr Lennon.

 

Wow @Ergates
It's so often afterwards when you think what might have been, that it really hits you!
(No pun intended)

 

Thank you that just might work. Will be trying this, I expect it will work with those pesky fruit flies. We're so reliant on commercial type products we've forgotten what our grandparents did.

After all these years I've just discovered if you fill a spray bottle with white vinegar and a teaspoon of washing up liquid it's as good, or even better than the multitude of commercial cleaners. I'm saving a small fortune these days.

 

I was in Svalbard working as a medic for a research team. I was only there for a couple of weeks, covering the regular medics leave. It was a somewhat different trip to those I usually made, when I was working for MSF, although the Polar Bears could have been dangerous.

 

Sorry to hear about your uncle @Topbird , my Dad always said they were the forgotten part of the war. At least they eventually got a medal! Do you know which ship he was on? My Dad was on HMS Obedient.
Yes, I’m a Beatlemaniac, sixty years and counting. I love going to Liverpool or, as I prefer to call it, The Holy City…

 

Yes, my Dad was in the MN during the war and was in the arctic convoys, going across to Russia. He never really spoke about those dark times, but on one occasion when he’d come off his shift from work and had gone to bed, (sometime in the 1970’s), there was an army recruitment thing going on in the field of the local secondary school and they were using blank gunfire/shells

. In his half asleep state he came round with a jolt, believing himself to be back in the thick of it. Mum said it really unnerved him for a while- no PTSD counselling back then, of course.