Sea Area Tea Towel...

This recent purchase combines two of my enduring pleasures, the Shipping Forecast and washing up...
I love the Shipping Forecast, the comforting strains of Ronald Binge's (fantastic name!) 'Sailing By' followed by the mantra-like intoning of the forecast it's self (non of which I understand)...
It's sort of like 'putting the country to bed'...
I then rest easy in the dark night...

'You don't have a dish washer..?' Is a comment I often hear at the fashionable cocktail parties I'm always getting invited to...
'No I bloody don't' is my happy, an somewhat smug, reply...
Washing up is the one opportunity I have to impose my innate control freakery on inanimate objects...
I'm invariably left alone to get on with it...

I notice my tea towel is out of date as Finisterre (not shown in picture) is now named FitzRoy...
All things must pass I suppose...

You can buy your own Sea Area Tea Towel here:
Buy the Sea

The New Bicycle...

George Bernard Shaw said:
"Life contains but two tragedies. One is not to get your heart's desire; the other is to get it. "The saga of how I obtained this bicycle is long, tedious and a cause of great personal anguish...
The original spec was for a 24 inch frame. I ended up with a 22 inch frame but I haven't the energy to complain about it...
When I took delivery it had 28 inch wheels with Strumey Archer 3 speed but it didn't 'feel' right for some reason so I fitted the (ludicrously expensive) wheels that were intended for the cycle-motor project...
It's now single speed (22 tooth rear cog), has a rear coaster brake and front hub brake...
I'm involved in a process of eliminating all the clanks, clicks, knockings and creakings that, I suspect, would all disappear if I removed the fully enclosed chain case...
It's eating cotter pins at a rate of one a day which says a lot about the quality of the pins I can get hold of and it still refuses to be ridden 'look, no hands' which I believe to be the test of a good bicycle...

George Bernard Shaw also remarked:
'A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing. '

Errr...?
Anybody want to buy a bicycle...?

Things Are Looking Up...

The last couple of months have been a bit dour for one reason or another...
Things seem to be on the mend now though...
I was persuaded to visit Fontwell Race Course Car-Boot Sale today and found some real treasures...
A 'proper' bucket (galvanised)...As I walked back toward the car, I stopped at a table and saw this big black metal box...
"Everything 50p" said the man behind the table...
So, for 50p I got a large metal box, lots of copper/brass plumbing bits and bobs, a much needed metal funnel, a Wilkin's Red Boy toffee tin and a whole heap of nuts, bolts and screws...When I got back to the car I noticed my arms were at least two inches longer...
Bonus..!

Liquid Storage Solutions...

I don't like plastic bottles...
I have great difficulty getting the child-proof caps off which is very frustrating when I'm in the middle of a project and need a particular liquid NOW!
My solution..?
Bottles with corks or easy to remove stoppers...So, from left to right, I have methylated spirits, turpentine substitute, white spirit, paraffin and white vinegar...
The local bottle bank is a good place to find suitable bottles, the paraffin flask came from a charity shop bin, and the homebrew shop at the end of our road will supply any size of stopper, cork or bung I need...
The bottles look very attractive on my windowsill with the sun shining through them and yes, I aware that my lab could be engulfed in a huge fireball but I don't care...

Enamelware Collection...

I've never been much of a collector so, imagine my surprise to find that I had amassed, what seems to be, a collection of enamelware...
I love this stuff...Practical, utilitarian, unbreakable and cheap...
I still need a good sized dinner plate though...
I'm also a fan of gavanised products and am on the hunt for a 2 gallon bucket, a water tank and a pig feeding trough...
The shops where these sort of items can be found are getting rare...
I could hit eBay but prefer to scour the area for decent hardware shops and doing my bit to keep them alive...

Weird Fungus, sorry, Lichen...

Found under a rock, the strangest fungus I've ever seen...Like small green dusty trumpets...
I really must get out an socialise more often...

Blue Plaque Spotting No 1: H.G. Wells

Whilst doing a 'bit of gardening' in Midhurst, I took the opportunity to visit the building (now a tea and nic-nac shop) where that lovable old eugenicist and tip top writer H.G. Wells lodged...I also wandered over to nearby Iping where The Invisible Man has it's beginning. Sadly it bears little resemblance to the Iping described in the book, probably never did...
For some reason, misunderstanding no doubt, I also associate Midhurst with John Wyndam's Midwich Cuckoos though Wyndam lived closer to Petersfield than Midhurst (I think..)

Cleaning Copper Using Brown Sauce...

I'm an always on the look out for interesting experiments to perform...
I read that brown sauce can be used to clean copper...
I decided to put it to the test...
The equipment:Lid from a copper kettle, brush and bottle of brown sauce (I would have liked to use H.P. sauce but we don't have any...)
The process:Brown sauce applied to copper lid with the brush...
Wait for 8 hours and...
The result:Conclusion:Well, yes it cleaned the tarnish off but it took a lot of buffing to bring up the shine...
I'd do the rest of the kettle in the same way but I'm preparing a sausage sandwich and I have a much more important use for the brown sauce...
(Small sachets of brown sauce can be found in various cafe's and restaurants thoughout the U.K. and is usually free...)

Interesting Shops No 1: Period Features

Period Features is a small company based in Leek, on the edge of the Peak District. They are a useful source of products for period homes.
I ordered some bits and bobs from them and received this:Brown paper and string..!
I was deeply impressed...
It contained these essential items:My world is now a happier place...