Napoleonic & ECW wargaming, with a load of old Hooptedoodle on this & that


Sunday 19 June 2022

Hooptedoodle #426 - Just a Minute...

 I'm still trying to get my sleep patterns into some more sensible state, after Covid. I woke early this morning, cross about having slept far too much yesterday, got myself washed and dressed and breakfasted and made a start at 5am on the tax returns - mine and my mother's. There isn't really a great rush to get them done, but I've been putting the task off for a few weeks, and its been starting to irritate me.

Sure enough, I completed my mother's return (on paper, since, not having a driving licence or a passport, my poor old mum no longer exists in the digital world) and my own (online, since I am privileged enough to conform to the required civic profile), and I even drove into the village to post the paper one. I can assure you that the place was very quiet at 9am on a Sunday.

Right - very pleased to have got that done - a bit of a fight-back after the hassle and the slobbing around.

 
Garden furniture, back on the patio; we'll have to tidy up a little, in case someone falls down a ravine, or gets strangled by a jungle vine

Later today, after investing the standard amount of effort into preparing our recyclable waste for collection tomorrow, I had another look at our new garden parasol. The previous one lasted for 16 years or so, but eventually this year we were forced to accept that Spring-cleaning it with the pressure washer was not a great idea. So we have a new one, which was cheaper than I expected, but also of observably inferior quality.

The parasol will be great - we've even moved the garden furniture back on to the patio, after it spent quite a few years in a sort of exile next to the front steps. One concern I had was that it is now more exposed to the wind, and it billows about in even a relatively gentle breeze. The old parasol had a built-in cord which was used to bind it closed, to keep the sail-area down and keep the beasties out. Today's great idea, then, was that I improvised the same sort of arrangement, using a spare roll of Velcro I've had in a drawer for years. Excellent - problem solved, and it cost me nothing. Result.

 
The improvised Velcro fastening; yes it is ugly, and it looks cheap and nasty, but I think you may be missing the point here...

I feel as though I'm on a sort of roll - yesterday's triumph was that I repaired a lampshade, which doesn't sound too impressive, but there are fitted shades on the bedside lamps in the attic bedroom, and one of the shades had a broken frame. It was originally spot-welded, I believe (Cheapo Productions - unbeatable value). I had spent some time trying to find a similar pair of shades, but couldn't find any the same size, and none with the conveniently old-fashioned fittings. In a Mother of Invention moment, I realised that I could probably repair the frame with a blob of Gorilla glue. Worth a shot. Worked perfectly. The lampshade problem is solved, and, like the Velcro fastener for the parasol, it cost me absolutely nothing.

 
And there was light, and you could see for miles

I was really quite invigorated by my successful couple of days, and it was only later this afternoon, when I was looking for other long-standing problems to cross off the to-do list, that I finally realised that I have turned into my dad...

17 comments:

  1. Don't we ALL turn into our fathers in time ?, I feel the onset daily .

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    1. I fear you are correct - it's just that I forget from time to time, and think maybe I imagined it.

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  2. It’s an awful state of affairs Tony. I saw my old fella in a shop window the other day and suddenly realised it was my own reflection. My wife pointed out that I’d just used one of his home spun sayings too, when talking to my grandson. Scary stuff.

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    1. Yes indeed - my problem is that people keep taking photos of my dad when I'm out with friends or similar - I don't understand how that happens. My dad's speciality was making jokes to his small grandchildren which were based on (for example) a trashy play on words that came from the script of a 1938 movie - how trendy is that? [to their eternal shame, they used to laugh anyway]

      I take special care to watch out for stuff like that.

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  3. Tony, you are becoming a regular, "Mister Fixit" on the Homefront. Good for you! There is a an old saying over here that suggests, "If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy."

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    1. There is something in that Jon - I'm sure there is, but there is a sinister political thread too - if a man fixes something, then that is just the sort of thing that men are expected to be able to do, so there is little in the way of appreciation. It's like lifting heavy boxes - it's what they are for.

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  4. Well, it is Father's Day and all. Mine been gone 20 years and still whispers advice into my brain when I'm doing my version of home repairs etc.

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    1. Great stuff - hard-wiring. My dad's voice is still audible when I'm doing DIY stuff, but it's mockery rather than advice - quite right too!

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  5. Wow! You got a lot done Tony. All I managed to do was wrap some insulating tape around a cable that had a split in it. "Job done" I thought, "My work is complete."

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    1. Insulating tape! - when I was a kid, everything was finished off/made safe/improved by the application of lashings of insulating tape - not the newfangled plastic stuff, but the old black fabric type. I was sure that one day it would be used to strengthen a new hat of my mother's or similar, and there would be murder, but it never happened. In my frenzy of post-Covid activity, today's effort will be two-and-a-half weeks' growth on the lawns - that should teach me to have a pandemic.

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  6. LOL - isn't it funny how little we can find satisfying when it comes to not very handy, home handyman's work?! I am exactly the same - my wife seems to think I should be able to do a job I am likely to do once in my life (the most extreme case was to replace two toilets) with the same speed, skill and expertise as a tradesman who has spent the last twenty years doing the job three times every week! I am just mightily impressed if I manage to do it without causing a flood or demolishing a wall!

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    1. Agreed - absolutely. Lack of actual tradesmen here post pandemic and post Brexit is getting very serious - this is bubbling under the surface, about to become a rant in its own right...

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    2. Hey Keith! I replaced a toilet not a month ago. It still works! Replaced some water valves too. No flooding yet! AND, I cut down two overgrown, 30+ foot trees in the front last week without injury. Nancy videoed part of the endeavor. I wonder if she was expecting me to fall off of the ladder with saw in hand???

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  7. 5am? It's been a very long time since I saw that ungodly hour of the morning Tony! Your garden furniture is very neatly arranged, as of course one would expect.

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    1. Since we have no friends, the garden furniture doesn't move around much. 5am was a sort of personal protest, I won't be doing it very often!

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  8. I do hope that you were wearing the full ‘Dad’ outfit while doing your repairs…
    Shirt,tie,slacks and a pencil behind your ear…

    All the best. Aly

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    1. I couldn't find a tie, but otherwise I was in full No.1s. Part of my dad's own kit was a Richards of Sheffield penknife he'd had since the dawn of time. After he died, my mother passed his penknife on to me, but I remembered how when I was a kid he used to mix up Brummer's Stopper (vintage wood-filler) into a paste with spit, using this very knife, and, suitably grossed-out, I binned it.

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