Good morning on this lovely summers day, not too hot, not too cold. The Goldilocks zone.
I went shopping earlier extra milk and a few odds and ends for my grandkids arriving tomorrow.
Rewired the lights in my garage, not a big job they were originally wired on two switches but I have joined them onto one switch. It had some point when I used the garage as a workshop but while I do use it occasionally as such it is getting rarer.
Shortly will be off the PO Box as Australia Post notified me that a package had arrived, it is only a three minute walk away.
Apart from those few little jobs the rest of the day will be spent getting the place ready for visitors. Not to forget to put the bins out!
That’s my day sorted, hope you have a great day. Take care
My middle son’s family has descended on me a day early, he has been recalled to his ship and sails for Vanuatu tomorrow with the ship packed with Australian Aid. Thank goodness I was already prepared for them.
it rained a lot in the night I know this because at 1.30am my dog asked to go out .
well got the toilet outlet dismantled and the washer was just crumbling its lasted 11 years , thats when we had a new bathroom put in .
So having paid for next day delivery , it should arrive today , and it should be easy enough to put it all back together , me hopes .
I had to look up Vanuatu to see where it was @Bruce , and news stories came up about an Earthquake , I don’t recall hearing about it or seeing anything in the news , I must have missed that one .
Good morning - A much brighter outlook today. The Sun is shining and the temperature is 6ºC at 9.30 A.M. Pub day today (just the one pint) and some more shopping to do later.
It’s a popular cruise ship destination from Australia, I have been there a couple of times. Typical South Sea Island group similar to New Caledonia except Vanuatu is independent whereas New Caledonia is still French.
The ship is being quickly prepared for relief aid, I presume they will have specialist rescue and repair teams on board, its a troop carrier and landing craft apparently it can carry something like 24 tanks (I don’t know if Australia has 24 tanks) They leave tomorrow morning.
The RAAF is already flying aid in and flying Australians out.
Good Morning from Foxy’s World…
Slept a bit later than usual today so the sun was just rising as I made my way down the street to the main road, had to stand at the side of the road for five minutes waiting for a break in the traffic to cross, just half an hour makes all the difference. They’ve put some temporary traffic lights on the bridge and the queue stretched back through the village, there were many agitated faces staring out of steamed up windows as I jogged past…I disappeared down into the quiet tranquility of Moor Lane and walked. A bit chilly at 4 degrees C but still in the shorts, I heard on the weather last night that Christmas day was going to be 14 degrees, so no snow this year, the last time we had a white Christmas was back in 2010 apparently, I remember delivering the post in my shorts… That turned out to be my last winter as a working man.
Here’s one for Surfermom.…concerning canals and narrow boats…
It never occured to me that the USA doesn’t have a canal network like the UK.
James Brindley 1716 - 1772 was known as the father of the canals and started building a network of canals to connect inland industry to the docks for exports, and to bring imports from the docks to the interior of the country. Just about everything was moved by barge on the canals until the railways took over. Although there is still some cargo transported on the canals some fell into disrepair. Holidaying on canals became very popular, with some swapping life on land for a life on the water. There are various restoration societies who are restoring some of these canals, and there are people who have converted working barges into homes, and there is also a thriving boat building business.
There are large communities of boat people some of which live side by side and some of which prefer a life in a more peaceful setting…
Before diesel engines, all barges were either powered by steam or horse drawn, and because of this that there is nearly always a towpath alongside a canal. Excellent for walkers, cyclists and runners like me…
It’s overcast this morning with just a ribbon of sunlight between the sea and sky. I like this kind of winter weather because it enables me to ditch the heaving running apparel. A nice 5K run turned into 10K before I knew it.
@Bruce, that is an impressive amphibious dock landing ship! I can see why it is particularly suited for this upcoming mission. I am sure you are very proud of your son, and I am pleased that you all get to spend some time together before he ships out. I wish him smooth winds and following seas!
@Eliza, good luck completing your remodeling effort. Your dog sound like mine; their inner clocks seem to work quite well until stormy weather hits.
@mart I always like it when you report in to say that you have had a enjoyable ordinary day getting out and about. Those days are the best days.
@OldGreyFox, thank you so much for the education on the canals! How very interesting! I could run those towpaths forever. There are a few towpaths around the US, up near the canal system in the northeast of the country, but they are limited. There certainly hasn’t been such an interesting culture of canal living and recreation develop around them in the way that it has there. Good stuff!
I am off to meet friends for lunch before settling in for more mundane work and a lengthy walk on the beach with the dogs.
I follow a couple of canal channels on YouTube, I used to follow more but they are all much of a muchness. The only one that cruises and lives on board their boat is Holly the Cafe Boat.
They stay near Macclesfield so I was trying to get my brother interested, he used to own a seagoing sailing boat but his wife didn’t like it.
A better one was Cruising the Cut but he no longer lives on a narrow boat however he still does a lot of canal videos and owns a small boat that he is repairing as ell as having a camper van channel…
When he was on a frigate they were doing exercises with the US ships he went on board an US Aircraft Carrier which had something like 5000 people on board (his ship had 200). He swapped hats with the crewman who was showing him about. The US ship had much stricter discipline than Australian ships apparently- probably because of the larger number of people.
It was called something like USS Stennis, he said it was like being in a small town, people everywhere.
That turned out to be my last winter as a working man.
