Author Archives: james

Apple pressing time again

This weekend I spent a morning collecting apples with my son, to press for apple juice. Last year we finished with sixteen gallons of juice, but I’m hoping for a little more this year. Hopefully we can get them pressed … Continue reading

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Veg plot 2021: First planting out

I really need to free up some space in the greenhouse now, and I should really have started transplanting my onion seedlings last weekend but the weather was just too bad, so today I took the Red Baron seedlings out … Continue reading

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Swimming, 9th October 2020

My vague plan for today was to change my set around and attempt: 20 x 50m front crawl no slower than 55s on a 75s interval some sort of recovery 16 x 25m front crawl aiming for somewhere around 20s, … Continue reading

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Swimming, 8th October 2020

I had a pleasantly uneventful drive to and from the pool today. My target was to repeat Tuesday’s performance and swim reps of 50m in under 55s, leaving the wall every 80 seconds. It wasn’t easy and I felt a … Continue reading

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Swimming, 6th October 2020

Cracking drive to and from the pool today. On turning down my usual cut-through to avoid the closed bridge I came up behind a flat-bed truck that was reversing down the lane because it had met another truck coming the … Continue reading

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One final trip down memory lane for the moment

This photo probably dates from the very early 1970s. I’m still just as scruffy, and still wear shorts much of the time (though the weather here over the last few days is making me question if I can stand doing … Continue reading

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And on the subject of “old stuff”…

…something even older. We’ve been moving books around recently (it’s quite possible my own collection runs into the thousands) and I found these, I think all actually written before I was born, though these particular ones appear to have been … Continue reading

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Recently rediscovered…

…at the back of a cupboard, the Casio fx-550 calculator that got me through my O- and A-Levels. I think this replaced a Texas Instruments TI-30 that eventually died. I think it must be close to forty years old, though … Continue reading

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It really has been a poor summer

This photo was taken on 16th August, still summertime by all accounts. But late in the evening a thick fog settled in the valley below us and gradually crept up to envelope us. Surprising to think it can be so … Continue reading

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Surely the BBC is better than this?

This is a still from a video on the BBC News site about Ruth Bader Ginsberg lying in state. Somehow I expected better of the BBC. I’m shocked that such poor English made it to the website without someone spotting … Continue reading

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