Tea Coffee Success

I have made the tastiest tea coffee thusfar.

Loose leaves tea, ground coffee, brewed together, sugar, evaporated milk.  Yummy.

Harvest Moon Eclipse

Before

About maximum.

Sunflower Microgreen

We left the sunflower seedheads out for the squirrel, when we can harvest them ourselves.  Although they are too small to be eating sunflower seeds, but they can be grown into Microgreen!  Let me have a go at this.

Thorpe Park

To continue the story, the entrance was fully of barriers to make you walk around, so you don't feel like you are queuing, I call this "Heathrow Experience".  We went through bag check and into Thorpe Park as it opens, most of the rides were not yet open.  

I went to the first one that was open, Stealth: 0-80mph in 1.8 seconds.  Because Sarah did not go with me, so I was a lone rider, I even jumped to the front to fill an empty space.  Its magnitude did not dawn on me until I was strapped down.  It was fast, it was scary, and it all ended very quickly.

After that, it was a bit of a daze!

Rush: giant swing is a modern version of the pirate ship, except scarier.  I cheated, by closing my eyes.  I hate pirate ship!

The Swarm: a winged coaster was actually very smooth, very nice.  As I described it, imagine being on Julie's motorbike, fast, smooth, sweeping bends.

The Saw's queue was too long, so I passed the first time around.  The screaming from the riders were not encouraging.

Colossus: world's first 10 looping coaster, in comparison is an old clunky coaster, it was fine, but it has too many corkscrew spins.

Mr Monkey's Banana Ride is a child's size pirate boat, which I just about to tolerate.

We weren't initially planning to get wet before lunch, but we walked past Storm Surge: spinning life raft, and we went for it.  Sarah's rain coat protected her from most of it, and I got a little wet.  The water was still quite clean in the morning. 

High Striker: child's size drop ride was just around the corner, so we forced ourselves on the ride as the operator wanting to get off to his lunch, I swore it was a shorter ride than the children before us.

We nipped to our car for lunch, changed into our wet gear, in preparation of the afternoon wet rides.

Quantum: magic carpet was just by the entrance, we so went on it just after our lunch, thinking maybe we needed something calmer just after lunch.

Sunset Cinema was showing a 4D race car short clip, so we went and sit down for a little bit, there was a bit of chair shaking and air jet spraying.

When we got to Dobble Tea Party, we were the only two in the tea cup, it was a bit too spinney to my liking.

Big Easy Bumpers were very calm dodgem, sparks no longer fly around. 

Most of the roller coasters' queue are getting long.  We queued up for The Walking Dead: indoor roller coaster.  

And Ghost Train: actors in the tube train, much like the real tube experience!  At the end of a tube ride, do we still have a soul?

Nemesis Inferno also came with the Heathrow Experience, and it was also a bit old and clunky.

After that, Sarah was ready for more roller coaster, so we went on Colossus and the Swarm.

The Saw's queue had died down, so we went for it.  It is like a smaller version of the Stealth, with the added thrill of part of it in the dark.

We have ruled out Hyperia, queue too long, and we might not have the stomach for; Samurai, Vortex, Zodias as we don't like to be spun; and detonator that we don't like to be dropped. 

It also started raining, we were ready for the wet rides.  Flying Fish junior coaster was a bit clunky, and we were on the coaster for 5 laps, we got quite wet!

Depth Charge: super slide actually wasn't wet as we imagined them to be, I slid a lot further than Sarah did.

Tidal Wave promised to drench us and it delivered, I had not been this soak for a long time.

Just as the park closes, we squeezed onto another Storm Surge ride, by now, the rafts are full of water at the bottom, that also got my feet wet!

I left the park shivering...  It was a very accomplishing day.

Surrey Day 6: Woburn

On the way north, we went to Woburn Go Ape, it was a nice, old course.  We took the opportunity to look at some animals.

And also stopped at MK Pride, had a walk around.

There were more delays on the road.  Before we get home, we even did a supermarket sweep, going to two supermarkets!

We are so glad to be home.

Surrey Day 5: RHS Wisley

Finally at last,we went to RHS Wisley.  RHS Wisley was the reason why we went to Surrey.

There were road works in the area, so the drive was not very nice.  The garden was unlike Hampton Court and Kew, a hillier version of Harlow Carr with a greenhouse.

There were different birds than Harlow Carr, I might have seen a Kingfisher.

Surrey Day 4: Kew Garden

Kew turned out to be out only day driving into ULEZ, why we brought Pizza instead of Danby.  It was very much London, traffic was not nice. We got there at 10am.

Having learn out lesson the day before, we agreed to stop every hour or so for refreshment as to make sure we are not exhausted.

All the greenhouses have now reopened.  I was steamed/cooked in them, not pleasant.

We finally got back to the car at 6pm, definitely got our ticket's worth.

Surrey Day 3: Hampton Court Palace

So in order to calm down from Thorpe Park, we went to Hampton Court Palace thinking it would be an easy day.

We left the house later, we parked at Thames Ditton and took the train to Hampton Court in order to qualify for the two for one offer.

Since the forecast was going to be rainy in the afternoon, we walked around the castle ground first, in the wind. That has exhausted us early.

We finally left the Palace in the afternoon, and walked back to Thames Ditton, in the rain, by then we were driving in rush hour, which we had to pick up top up groceries.  We ended up at home late, so much for an easy day out.

Surrey Day 2: Thorpe Park

I only realised we would be near Thorpe after I booked the accommodation.  Since then, we were preparing to go mentally.

We thought the park would open at 9am, only in the morning we checked and it was going to open at 10am, so we watched the boats on the Thames for an hour.

When we parked up, it was getting busy!  We actually got in the park before 10am.  Most of the rides were not open yet.  The first one open was Stealth, without thinking it through I went for it.  It was hair raising.

I will probably write up the rides separately, all in all, it was a good day!  I went on 18 different rides, I think we got out money's worth of thrills. We just have the nurse our mildly concussed brains the next few days.

Surrey Day 1: Windsor

We opted for the free option in Windsor, Windsor Great Park.

We went to Windsor Farm Shop first pick up some ham and sausage roll.

We parked up at a free car park, took a bus to Sunningdale, which was not £2/journey.

We strolled through the park, if we had done the park another day, we could have watched some polo!

The ham was a little salty, the sausage roll was okay.

The last stretch, the long walk, felt very long, even though it was downhill for a short mile.  

RHS let's us park at Saville Gardens, so we moved the car to have a look. 

Surrey Day 0: Thames Ferry

We were in the Weybridge area, and we had to take a ferry across the Thames.  The area's water is managed by a lot of weirs and locks, it is not tidal as we thought of Thames.  It was £5.5 return for that little hop!

Walnut Pesto

The pesto grows well this year, it grows so well that I had to make pesto! 

Dynamic Pricing

Oasis's concert tickets' dynamic pricing made to the news, we are just looking at Thorpe Park, and they also use dynamic pricing.  So unethical...

Green Tomatoes

One of my tomatoes has irreversibly snapped, so I had to take all the tomatoes off and hope they will ripen..

No Fee

When something advertises as "no fee", we just need to know where did they charge more, for this case, the poor exchange rate.  There is no such thing as free lunch...

Cat Beeper

So my neighbours have cat beepers, I am not sure they are effective.  One of the neighbourhood cats start pooping on my front yard, repeatedly.  I tried to add scent to deter them, they literally just move to the unscented bit!  Awful!  I just don't want to buy another piece of plastic...

No CHATS

I was chatting with Haylie, then we talked about money.  Surely everyone wants to send instant payment, free, who want to pay CHATS?!

Fushsia Berry

I showed Shelly a fushsia, I offered it to her, and she actually ate it!  So when I offered her a second one from another fushsia bush, it was hard for me to refuse my own medicine.  Shelley thought it resembles blue berry, I think it resembles grape, either way, fairly mild and tasteless. 

Chilli Honey

So when I was in Manchester a few month ago, I had a pizza with chilli honey.  I thought the pizza was too wet.  Then when we were in Kirkstall Market, Ninny and Mark also had pizza with chilli honey.  Apparently it is a thing, but I definitely don't like them.

Barber Trainee

So I have been going to the trainee for a long time, there were no big mistakes from the trainee before.  Today, they clipped my sideburn unevenly, as a result, they had to just clip them all together, so I am now missing the decorative bits around the ears!

When Universal is not Universal

I bought a visor extension for Unthank, but because Unthank has a tiny visor, right against the dash, so I cannot mounted the extension onto the existing visor.  So much for a "universal" visor extension...

Trespass Incident

There is the normal kind of train delay, then there is the abnormal kind of train delay.  I was caught out in one yesterday: some trespasser was on the line and wasn't removed for two hours. 

I didn't give up hope a quick resolution for an hour.  I count myself lucky when my train was stuck on a train platform, so we can get out of the box.  After an hour sitting on the train, I also decide to walk away.

Hanlon's Razor

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

Scunthorpe Pride

So much to people's preconception of Scunthorpe, I went to Scunthorpe Pride. It was alright, fairly small, a little bit like Belper.

Dark Kitchen Food Court

Whilst I was in Manchester, I went to a dark Kitchen Food Court, it is a thing, apparently.

Manchester Pride

After much debate, I took Unthank to Manchester for Pride instead of other taking the train.  I was a bit lost due to all the road closures. Coincidentally, I stopped right at another bike park.  Maybe all the road closures and the cops were good for my bike.

Free Washing Machine Clean

Supposedly I was getting free electricity, so I put the washing machine on clean.  It did feel clean afterwards.

Bongkrekic Acid

I have watched a video on bongkrekic acid, it causes very unpleasant death.  I looked it up, I maybe giving up a lot of food mentioned...

The out of date coconut oil is relegated to be fire starter...

Free Electricity: Summer Demand Flexibility II

I missed one of the sessions, this time I tried, I think I managed to use 1.38kWh... all 40p worth of it, if I actually have it for free.

Infinite Bridge

So I had a look at the Infinity Bridge.  It is a nice little bridge, except... The bends are not symmetrical, so the "infinity sign" from the reflection would be oO, instead of OO.

Sweet Pea Flower Harvesting

Apart from vegetable, apparently I have another produce in the garden, the flowers.  So I harvested three bunches of sweet pea flowers for Sarah to give away.  It is always best to give to those appreciate them.

Destructible Honda

It is a common believe that Honda motorcycle is indestructible.  It was proven wrong today.  A 2021 Honda failed to start after a small knock, ECU was cutting out, so more like a digital problem.

RAC turned up, they thought it was the battery and jumped it.

Calderdale Pride 2024

We had fun last year, so we went again.  I made a mistake searching for Halifax Pride, because the search returned Halifax Canada.

We parked at the same car park.  We still got some McVities goodies.  Nice little day out.

Woodland Creation - Potting III

I took Sarah to the potting session after I first went.  She liked it so much, we went again today.  This is the final session, as Arium is resuming the normal commercial potting works.  We actually get to see their potting machine in operation, gripping the plugs, pushing in the pots and rolling trays in their racks, impressive.

Free Electricity: Summer Demand Flexibility

Much like the Winter demand flexibility schemes, they are rolling out flexibility to us.  Although it was a cloudy day, I would have exported about 1kWh in that one hour.  We ran everything and cooked everything, and we still only managed to use my 1kWh and used another 0.96kWh, and I am hoping the full 0.96kWh would be free.  That will inform me if I should be bothered next time...

Northern Lights

Ever since the May, the recent sighting of Northern Lights in England, I have been following the Lancaster University AuroraWatch.  I knew one was coming soon, but I just wasn't awake at the right time!  So I missed them again!

Language Error - Caterpillar

So in Cantonese, Caterpillar is hairy worm.  The ones in my garden now are not hairy!

Cheshire Adventure After Math

After some rest, we had to take stock of the massive bag of food from TGTG.  As well as two loads of laundry to do.

My home grown produce has to wait till we clear the deck from TGTG.

Meanwhile, because of the Sun and the heat, many more caterpillars appear, I need to process our radish as soon as we can!  Also needing to catch up on the gardening...

Cheshire Adventure - Day 3

We finally left the lodge, first went to our other friends'.  Sarah had not been to their new house.

Followed by a very English lunch at the White House, by Blackstone Edge Reservoir.  

We took a long scenic route back to another friends' house for a birthday party, where we were grilled by the Sun.  The party was mostly expat like myself, we were differently complained about Southern Spain, Sardinia and Greece are too hot in Summer, and no heating in leaky house in Winter.

Finally, we went home to pickup a TGTG.  They literally filled out bag full of food, which was crazy!

Before I clock off for the day, I was watering everything in the garden!

Cheshire Adventure - Day 2

We had made travelling plan into Manchester for a friend's wedding, then our other friend messaged me in the morning.  So I called back, and we arranged to travel to hers instead, and she will drive in, much to Sarah's relief, the Manchester inner city driving can be overwhelming.

We were in town a few minutes early, had a walk around the library, went to the ceremony, had an inter-session coffee, went to the wedding breakfast, by then was a very late lunch.

We went back to our friend's, and went onto the Caribbean festival.  They had a stage for each country, our chests were pounding from all the amplified bass sounds.

We went back to town for the evening reception, the evening was concluded by the damn parking warden ticketing our friend even though we definitely bought a ticket, when he was in the car park!

Cheshire Adventure - Day 1

We went to Beeston Castle in the morning, it was lovely and windy as I remembered it.  What I didn't remember was the 4' roads getting to the castle.  I rolled my ankle at the top of the Castle, which was a little unwise...

The drive between Beeston to Frodsham was not that far, but extra slow when there are three oversized farm vehicles in front.

Then we went to Delemare Forest to do Go Ape, with my spraint ankle and spraint wrist.  It was a nice course. 

We finally went back to the "lodge" to cook again.  I was tempted for another TGTG, then we didn't.

Cheshire Adventure - Day 0

We made our way across the Pennines.  We opted not to go to Cheshire Zoo, fearing it will be overrun by kids in summer holiday.  We had a walk around RHS Bridgewater, which has now fully reopened.  We asked the helpdesk loads of gardening questions!

Then we went to the famous IKEA Warrington, had a free cup of tea.  Got some food from the supermarket before went to our accommodation.

The room was supposed to have a kitchen, they initially gave me a key to a room without a kitchen, then they gave me a key to a room with a hob.  No microwave, no sink, no tea towel, no pot or pan, no utensils.  I begged for a pan and I had to be inventive with my cooking.  Luckily I had my trusted pen knife from the car.

The Too Good to Go from the service next door was a very good supplement.

Apocalyptic Octopus

We are clicking on this Octopus game, and I didn't think about its meaning initially.  Someone told me the street is blue because it is water and that's how we get octopuses.  Then I had a deeper thought, did it mean the whole world is under water, and the octopuses are playing with human sports, human cars, human games.  And in time, they even develop nationality... 

In this case, the most unrealistic bit of this game is that, electric cars are famously hydrophobic!  

Sport Therapist

I often book massage on Groupon on a discount, I sometimes feel bad about it.  On the other hand, they are using Groupon to reach out to new customers...

Anyway, she properly beat me up, aka loosen my lower back.  Whilst I was there, she had a little squeeze of my sprint wrist, something I thought NHS could do, except they won't, as it is "just" soft tissue and I am not screaming my head off.

Summer Swell

My friend asked if the city appears to have more or less people in Summer, in particular August.  It is more noticeable in mainland Europe, when "everyone" goes to the countryside, I don't think it is the case in Leeds. If anything, there is more people in town, the Sun is shining, school is out.

Distilled York Tour

I dragged the reluctant Karen to see York.  We distilled it into 3 hours including lunch!

Belper Pride

I took Karen to catch up with Sarah in Belper Pride.

It was a, little, weird, pride... Good spirit tho 

Visitor Preparation

I give the bathroom and kitchen a wipe.  I vacuumed the conservatory.  I nearly had a fit when the air pump was playing up!  Preparation complete (as much as I am willing).

Rain Finally

After the dry spell, the rain finally came.  It has completely full up the water butt which was good.  But as soon as it cleared up, it was warm again...

Nero Working

With the encouragement of the free coffee, I have been working in Nero for a few times.  Sometimes I feel sorry for them, drinking a "free" coffee, and using their resources.

Cougettes

So I even tried one of my yellow courgettes.  It is the same verdict, a bit pointless, except for the vitamins and the fiber...

Bike Washing

After the single track roads, I gave Unthank a little rinse to get the worse off.  I came home to wash her, under the Sun!  It was not fun, but at least she is now black-ish again.

Union Chain Bridge

The next day, I went to see the Union Chain Bridge.

North Pennines

I went to County Durham to a GBMCC event.  I designed a little figure of eight, three counties, run around the North Pennines.  Beautiful! 

Summer Heat

Summer is here, the persistence Sun made me put the third sail up...

DIY Plumbing

So I finally see to Angela's sink.  It was not something PTFE can botch.  It was a perished washer, we should have gone to Toolstation just for the washer, but we went to get a full trap instead, which didn't really fit, but I just used the washer.  Glad to have helped.

Sunflower Mutants

I got some sunflower seeds, and as it turns out, these sunflowers are prone to suckers!  Even the one that looked normal, it now also has a little sucker.  Maybe they were all meant to be multi-head sunflower?

Summer Harvest

The produce is now coming thick and fast.  I managed to give some away.  Even I have to chip in to eat some courgette... 

Silloth Rally

Lovely summer rally.

Glasgow Pride

Glasgow Pride. great fun!

Piaggio MP3

A British company has jazzed up the Piaggio MP3 making it hybrid.  I wonder if Piaggio knows, maybe they are actually in agreement.

Carlisle LGBT

Carlisle LGBT+ are blessed with an LGBT centre managed by some lovely people.

Civic Duties : Report Crimes

I went to a networking event, and the event has invited a police officer to talk about the local crimes.  He reckon we should report all crimes, big and small, and all anti-social behaviours.  So I did.

Bike Bulb Replacement

One of the little running light has blown, so I looked up how to access it online.  It was indeed dead easy!  Two screws!

Grilled Courgette

So I finally had one of my courgette.  They are just as I remember them, a bit tasteless, a little pointless, except the vitamins, of course...

Riding School

So the little farm shop was next to a riding school, and we saw some kids just trotting around on their ponies.  Seriously, just give them little 50cc mini moto, 3 horsepowers that listens to you without having to brush them down and sweep their shits.

Little Roast

We went to a local farm shop for Sunday Lunch.  It was nice, but a little small.  On the other hand, Sarah was given half an 8" quiche!?

Cottage Garden Crop Photo

This is not my first crop of the year, just the first one I am bothered enough to take a picture of.

Too Good to Go Spree

I had a little Too Good to Go Spree recently, went to 5 different places that we had not been.  It was a mixed bag indeed.  One of which I handed straight to a homeless lady...

Two Locks

I brought two locks to park my bike in York.  I saw a biker pulled in and I thought he was local, so I asked how many locks I should put on, he said, there's never too many locks, so I put both locks on.

Later on the day, I bumped into the same biker, he changed out of his bike gear and as he turned out, he rode in from Manchester to attend the same workshop I was attending.  No wonder he thinks we need all the locks 😆.

Spring Onion Planting

I cut one of the spring onion to its base.  My mom seemed to think it will grow back.... I have put it in the front flower bed, let see if it is successful....

Summer Cut

I finally went to get my hair cut short for summer!  My neck has not seen the Sun for a long time!

Successions Planting

It maybe a little late to plant succession crop in July.  The extra sugar snaps I put down last week just germinated!  The one that is nearly ready looks really good. I am excited!

BANANA

We know about NIMBY, apparently there is BANANA.  Build absolutely nothing anywhere near anything...

Bike Fest Shafton

We went to Bike Fest Shafton today.  We do not expect it to be big like Bike Wise.  We were pleasantly surprised.

I have even found little old Endee.

Difficult Quiz

We were at the Garforth Gala.  Our Eco-friendly Garforth has a quiz.  They did not use my solar quiz, because one of the persons think it was difficult.  When I look at her quiz, I think hers is harder.  Ultimately, they look hard because we don't have each other's answers in hand...

MSG overdosed

I caught up with David and I got some Oriental noodles.  It had so much MSG that I had a headache the rest of the day...

Community Energy

Walt and I went to a community energy seminar.  It is clear that Walt and I do not want to run an energy company... Not-for-profit... for free...

Pontefract Scufflers

I was walking around Pontefract, most bakeries sell Scufflers, even the butchers sell baps in Scufflers!

Lidl Dried Shitake

Lidl was selling some dried shitake mushroom, I thought I would get some to try.  They turned out quite nice, albeit a little on the small size.

Townclose Glowworms

So we want on a glowworm walk with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust at our local Townclose Hills.  They are tiny.  We saw 9 with our own eyes, and the YWT team counted 12.

Because it was very dark, photo do not come out well!

QR Code Malfunction

I prefer typing website out long so I know the website better, but people are too lazy for that, so there is such thing as links.  The latest type of link is a QR code, which we had something printed, and it did not work...  Exactly my thought, just type it out...

Chickens for Beginners

I have been wanting to go to the poultry for beginners course at Temple Newsam for a while.  Although my house deed in theory does not allow for poultry keeping.

I saw the course popped up and I signed up.  Only to be confirmed that it is cancelled due to lack of student....

Is it a sign? That I shouldn't bother?

Motorcycle Crimes

I saw a poster in Squires for West Yorkshire Bike Crime.  Then I went to a shopping mall for a coffee on a motorbike, the security came running after me.  I thought he was going to tell me off for parking at the bike racks.  He told me I can move the bike to the safety of the compound.  So I just told me, I would be gone in a few minutes.  

I grabbed my drink, his colleague was standing by my bike, guarding Unthank.  I thanked them for their concern, and at the same time I am shocked of this happening.  I told them what I heard about Skelton Lakes.

I quickly finished the coffee and left.  What has the world become...

Useless Compost

I bought some compost, and I think they are not very good for sprouting seeds... maybe I end up using them all as soil conditioner....

Heck Factory Shop

I finally got the opportunity to go to Heck Factory Shop.  I had a sausage sarnie, which was okay, at least I was confident with the sausages.  I was on my motorbike, so I wasn't going to carry around chilled sausages for hours in this warm weather.  I got to go back another week!

I probably won't try some of the weird flavours tho.

Clay Bank

I went back to Clay Bank with some bikers.  I had taken little Rome, Flint and now Unthank there.  The car park got bigger and now they want to charge for parking!

Fizzy Cola is Back

I was disappointed the whole of 2023 because Haribo's fizzy cola was not available at the factory shop, and they said it was due to production line down.  I even look for them when I was in Holland.

They are back!!!!  I stashed up!

Woodland Creation - Potting

The second phase of Woodland Creation after collecting seeds is propagating them and potting them up.  I saw the advertisement and I took the opportunity to volunteer.  

I recognized the organizer from another event.  It was the first time I went inside Arium's green house.  It was basic manual labour potting the sprouting seeds and chit chat over plants and the project.  I hope I have helped.

Networking with Free Food II

I went to another networking event, it also has free food, except I didn't know, so I ate lunch before going to it!  

So I had paid for a hotel lunch, which was quite rich and a little greasy...  The view was nice tho.  I even considered recommending it to the bikers, but because of their room selections, I don't think it would work that well...

Networking with Free Food

I went to a breakfast networking event, the sausage sarnie was below par, I shall get a bacon sarnie next time!

Missing Bike Rack

My local gym has undergone entrance reconfiguration.  The main entrance is now reopened, but they haven't put the bike rack back!

USB-C PD

After some debate, I bought a USB-C PD charger, both as a backup charger for the laptop, and a charger for that massive power bank.

Cancel and Rebook

Martin Lewis often encourages us to check, rebook and cancel.  I made a mistake, I cancelled first.  After I couldn't find a more suitable accommodation, I was worrying about what I could do.  Then I went back to my original booking, and the marketing discounting has made the booking cheaper.  Cannot complain...

Humber Bridge Viewing

I have previously went to the designated viewing area, which often require walking.  The view from Waters' Edge is just perfect.

First Courgette

I cut down the first courgette and it went straight into the BBQ.  The first one is always going to be on the small side... It was said to be tasty, I wouldn't know...

Sandals

It is a common believe that we don't need sandals in England...  Or it is only required 5 days in a year for the brave souls.  My leather slippers had served me well for the last 7 years, and in the last few years, they were the garden foot ware.  I think a pair of sandals will be perfect replacement.

Yeasty Slug Traps

It is more common to use beer trap, but since I am too cheap to waste beer, so I saw online you could make yeast traps instead.  I tried, they are mildly successful...

Spotting Moon

So the moon has got a little bigger, and with a clear sky, I looked at it through the spotting scope again.

Calimoto Desktop

I was going to give up on Calimoto and I have already deleted the app.   As it turns out, I can use desktop to plan route and share.  So it works for me.  I just need to adopt it to other navigation tools.

Yo! Japanese Curry

I got a Yo! Japanese curry sachet, and finally used it yesterday.  Sarah thought it was smoother than the other oriental curry mix.  Looking at the packet, the Yo! sachet has a lot more artificial ingredients and the first few ingredients are sweetener and sugar.  Go figure...

Barbequed Chicken Wings

Chicken wings are a "must have" in a Hong Kong barbeque.  I don't normally get chicken wings for barbeque in England, thinking I would be the only person who would be eating them.  This time, I actually had to get a whole chicken, because I went to a small supermarket.  So I portioned out the drumstick and the chicken wings for barbeque, two of each.  

It went down well, and I am happy to have barbequed chicken wings.

Spotting Scope

I saw a used spotting scope in a shop window, after some quick search online, I decided to enquire about it. We saw spotting scopes in Bempton Rocks, it would come in handy.

We spotted this pigeon on the bank of River Ouse in Selby. We tried it on the Moon, and it was a new moon, making it extra hard! We are looking forward to using it more.

House Sparrows

I never knew house sparrows would make me so happy, they eat aphids!  Come my friend!

Loose Leaf Tea

Loose leaf tea does not imply their quality.  I made a mistake buying some Tesco loose leaf tea...  Having said that, still better than those Lancaster teabags..

Overpriced Sunday Roasts

We had a Sunday roast at Burford in the Cotswold.  Of course it was expected to be expensive.  It was 20 quid, and the beef was not carved to order, I could tell it has been bathing in the gravy.

Then we were in a local pub, this one was £17.5, the beef was overcooked, and the sausage was overly salty, the Yorkshire pudding was burnt...

I may have to do them myself...

Calimoto

Some bikers are raving about Calimoto, but is it £50 good?  They used to have a basic free level, but it doesn't anymore.  When we were last out, Mark's Calimoto app crashed.  It surely cannot be £50 good...

Oversized Battery Bank

As it turns out, oversized battery bank takes a long time to charge...

Kippered Out

When we were at Whitby, I popped up to Fortune's and got a pair of kipper.  I think we are kippered out.... Just too many bones!!!!  

Yorkshire Puffin Festival

I took the opportunity to go to Yorkshire Wildlife Trust Yorkshire Puffin Festival at Flamborough Cliffs.  Unlike RSPB Bempton Cliffs, there's no barrier.  There were more puffins than two week agotwo week ago when we were at Bempton Cliffs.

There were loads on the cliffs, some flying, some bobbing in the sea.

I actually took the bikers there, but they all opted for a warm cup of tea instead of seeing British wildlife.

Car Washing Finishes

I did wash the car, but I rarely finish it by wiping down.  Streaks really show in black cars...

Ribby

I bought some beef rib and pork ribs from the farm shops.  I have decided that ribs are too ribby, by that I mean bony.

Bin Diving

My neighbour has got a skip outside, then someone was very excited about the prospect of bin diving, which I am not usually a big fan of.  There were some MDFs, some old composts, sad plants and pots.  I will pass, thanks.

Barton Marina

I was going home on A38, so I thought Barton Marina would be a good place for a break.

 

It was a very nice marina, a lot of nice shops, it seems popular as a family outing. I would certainly stop by again when I near it.

Local Farmshops

Enroute home, I finally decided to explore my local farm shops.  

Rhubarb Triangle Farm Shop does some nice sausage rolls and free farm animal viewing.

Swithens Farm ShopSwithens Farm Shop has two access roads, I took the bumpier road in.  It has a working cafe, child play area, farm visit, etc.  The butcher was very chatty.

Overpriced Farm Shop at Chipping Norton

Fan of a certain show would know which farm shop I am talking about.  One of the bikers is a fan of the show and lead a run down that direction.  I have already expected it would be horrible, and it exceeded my expectations, in a bad way.

The farm is on a 8' road, and everyone just park up as soon as possible, which means parking on the verge, making the narrow road extra muddy.  The overflow carpark is only single car width and has a massive potholes at the entrance.  There is no warden sorting out the junctions.

The queue to anything is long.  There is no entertainment on site, apart from the queueing and fellow punters' company.  Apparently the queue for food, as well as queue to farm shop were two hours.  Some punters implied their burger would worth the wait, of which Gwilim and I concurred that no food is worth 2 hours wait!

There's no demarcation of the queue, so you have to ask your way around to find the back of the queue.  And some punters were walking and queueing what appears to be a lawn and occasionally a lady will shout, "please get off the spring barley".

Queuing, warm beer, overpriced burger, the holy trinity of British culture.

Lake Vyrnwy Bird Feeder

We rode to Lake Vyrnwy and stopped for coffee.  I announced I would be spending a few minutes at the RSPB bird hide.  The bird hide is actually a viewing platform for their bird feeders. 

There were a lot of different birds there, at least double the numbers of the one in RHS Harlow Carr.  There were the usual great tot, blue tit, coal tit and chaffinch.  Then there were nuthatch, woodpecker, which I saw at RHS before, in additional to a load of gold finch, green finch, and some other finch, some type of warblers, and a tree sparrow.

Scenic Route

Friday rush hour major routes are all congested, so I had to stick with the scenic route, except since I set off late, I had to power through the scenic route with minimum stoppage...

Although there was day light all the way down, but the overcast condition made the ride rather cold!

Second Sail

You know Summer is here now the second sail is up.  We may reserve the last sail for "heat wave"?

UKREiiF

I met up with a friend at UKREiif.  The event took over the whole Leeds Docks area!!

PV Planning

As it turns out, Steve's array is only on a 3.68kw inverter.  The system was mostly free from ECO4, so Steve didn't ask too many questions at the beginning, now he is furious....

Moral of the story, always get another pair of eyes on the proposal.

Underground Bakery II

We picked up a loaf from Underground Bakery at the Otley Show.  Last time I was in Otley, they already sold out their bread 

After trying them twice, I could rank them at top 5...

Holme Moss

I took the opportunity to ride to Holme Moss.  All the cyclists and walkers were also out, so the road was busy.  At Holme Moss, even the paragliders are out.

The Otley Show

The forecast kept changing, so we decided to go to Otley Show last minute.  A lot of fancy pigeons and hamsters, but no chicken or ducks this year. 

It turned out to be a very hot day, and we all ended with a bit of heat stroke.   All the stalls took the opportunity to the their soda pop prices up ...

The Tetley

So the Tetley restaurant is back open, but the short cut is closed, I guess I won't be parking on Sheaf for a while. 

Ice-cream on the Beach

 

Partial heat stroke stops me from the great Yorkshire war cry!  Three quid that!

Local Blue Tit

We now have a local blue tit that frequent out bird feeder on a regular basis.  Only if it would stay still for a second for a picture.

Coastal Trip - Day 4

The weather has finally turned, we did not take the bike out.  We walked around Flamborough Head, saw a bunch of sea birds we already saw and seals.

We went home via Wetwang, which is now branded Deep Blue, and the fish cake is still nice, just more expensive, smaller and a little underseasoned. And we went back to Sand Hutton for yet more asparagus!

Coastal Cycle Trip - Day 3

We took the bikes to edge of Cleveland Way, pushed down the hill, across the beach and cycled all the way to the Scalby Mills, all the way up to the castle and all the way back.  Apparently that is only 8 miles in total.

We did all that within the 3 hours free parking limit! We went onto Cayton Bay enroute home. We saw some sand martins at the beach.

Coastal Cycle Trip - Day 2

We cycled to Bempton Cliffs, which was only 7 miles but it was general uphill and we were cycling against the seabreeze.

We did manage to see three puffins... My trusted old camera manages take their pictures. As well as a lot of guillemot, kittiwakes, razorbills, tree sparrows and a few fulmars.

Coastal Cycle Trip - Day 1

After a long drive, via Sand Hutton picking up some asparagus, we parked up and cycled around Filey.

All the way to the edge of Filey Briggs and down the promenade. 

We spotted some seabirds on Filey Briggs' cliffs, namely guillemot, kittiwakes, and we saw some oystercatchers on land.

After the first trip, one of the plastic clips on the panniers already broke...

Another Folding Bike

In less than a year, I bought another folding bike.

Unlike the B Fold 3 bike with single gear, this Apollo Contour bike has 7 gears, also came with panniers, bike light, spanner and pump. Except that is too big to fit in my cupboard...

Hong Kongers in the UK: A Journey of Hope and Resilience

My friend from Birmingham told me about the exhibition.  I paid a visit, it was nice.

https://museumsandgalleries.leeds.gov.uk/events/leeds-city-museum/hong-kong-freedom-fighters/

We were pushed towards STEM.  STEM is where money is, but Arts is where culture is...  I am very grateful for the artists.

Coptic Wedding

We went to a wedding in a Coptic church.  It was different...

30kWh Day

This year my system hit a 30kWh Day on 30th April, which is earlier than last year.  Fingers crossed!

Glowworm

I only just realised glowworms meant firefly!  Let see if we can see some of them I. Our neighbourhood woods!

Leicester City Jam

We made a few mistake coming into the Leicester City Foxes celebration.  We should have avoided it.  Then the jam were not clearing off as we hoped, so we should have just pushed through rather then waiting.

ER

I have been binging on the old TV show ER.  Dr Corday commented on NHS and old boys' club still rings true today, some 25 years from ER.

Tyres Shopping

We still don't understand why sometimes car tyres wear down unevenly, even after all the wheel balancing, air pressure checking.  The worst part is finding replacement, even the branded offerings, they often change model, making matching difficult.

Early Radishes

After much struggle, the first crop of radishes were ready.  When I said crop, there were only 5 of them...

Plant Outdoor Acclimatisation

I have been wanting to put the seedlings outside, but it has been met with failures because of the cold and the slugs.  Now May has come along, the weather is looking up, I took a bunch of the plants out this week.  They definitely need some toughening up!

GreenTech

I went GreenTech Gathering. Apparently most people went because of the "tech" element of the title.  Some lost souls like myself went because of "green" element.  I should have read the detail description...

Manchester YHA

I went to stay at Manchester YHA, after all three of my possible futons were unavailable.

It was a bit of a mistake, Manchester is vibrant even on a Sunday, and the geese do not know the time.  Their tiny kitchen do not have any free tea or leftover food.  They also don't have any peelers nor knives...  Free parking tho.

Apple Peeler

So an apple peeler came in to repair cafe for an adjustment.  I didn't know it is still a thing.

Plant Identification

We went to a different Incredible Edible bed in a different part of Garforth.  They had a "herb" looked awfully like garlic mustard.  So I asked them about it, and they didn't know either.  They used an image search, and I was right!

Hairball

I stuck the snake down the shower trap not thinking it would be too bad, out come a hairball.  Hair, should be regularly cleared...

Insouciance

insouciance
noun lighthearted unconcern
NONCHALANCE

I have heard of nonchalance before, insouciance is a new word to me.

Energy Generator 1 Year Review

It took over two months from installation to connecting to Smart Export.  In the past 365 days, I have exported 3,997 kWh. 

Three Cornered Leek

We finally tried the three cornered leek from my garden.  It was good, except the texture of the bulbs were a little weird.

St George Mushrooms

I thought going to a foraging course around St George day would get us some St George mushrooms, it was not the case...

Wild Woodears

In the foraging course, we found some wild woodears.  I think they have a soften texture than the one we have dried.

Afternoon Tea Sugar Overdose

We has a very tasty afternoon tea.  Tasty often means sugary.  Both of us were suffering for hours after that...  Maybe we are too old for this.

Wentworths

So we finally went to Wentworth Castle to check out the Wentworth family feud.  As it turns out, if you have money, just buy an old castle, and get it renamed, then you can keep the "castle" title.

Weird Tulips

We missed out on the tulips last year as we were away.  This year, we are noticing all the weird tulips we have.  A bit like these.

Farmfoods Lucky Dips

I went into Farmfoods hoping to get oats, instead, I came out with discounted Alpro.  I supposed it was worth my trip afterall.

Try Twice

So I have tried some sourdough from other shops, they are alright, however I should start a new procedure, once I tried twice, and it failed to make an impression, I shall take my custom somewhere else.

Vanderbilt Fee

When NPR WWDTM mentioned Vanderbilt, about needing $100k a year, I had to double check their maths.  They were indeed wrong, the tuition is only $62k...

Wheeldale Gill Ford II

I had another ride on Wheeldale Road, and the ford was a lot less scary this time.

Whittling Injury

So we went to the Otley Green Fair again.  The whittler demonstrator again has a bandage around his thumb like last year.  It is not very good advertisement for whittling as a hobby.

Old TV programme

4OD has the catalogue of ER, so I started watching them.  Apart from having to fast forward all the sex scene, it is pretty good, good to see old decor and old machines.

Garden Reorganisation

The tall snowdrops we blocking the sunlight to all the plants behind them, so I move them away to give the rest of the plant a chance.  Let's hope there is enough time for the plants to recover from all the malnutrition and abuses.

Shop Closures

Sometime I think shop moves not because they are not doing well at that location, I think they rather take a new lease, prepare a new shop so they don't have to stop trade for refurbishment.

Horsepower

My bad for assuming one horse only produces one horsepower.  On the other hand, I really think they should increase the sample size and type of horses.

Model Bike

Model bike is so realistic, that foot pegs and side mirrors drop off when you drop the bike and the decal fells off after a few years.

Bad Hayfever

This year's my hayfever is pretty bad...  I don't know what more I can do to manage my sinus...

Wheldrake Ings

We were near Wheldrake, so we stopped by Wheldrake Ings.  For the first time, the plain was partially flooded, so there were more birds, but it was till too far too work out anything.

Supercar Trackday

As this year's birthday present, I got a supercar experience.  Porche 911 and Audi R8 got paddle shifts (speed shifting).  The old Mustang had old auto gear were definite much delayed.  It was fun.  Ticked off the bucket list.

Coconut Juice

We bought some coconut juice, aka "coconut drink" in lieu of the coconut milk from the tin, which is way too thick, for the purple rice pudding.  I think they worked well, kept the dessert cook and light for the chilled dessert.

Aluminum Steps

There was a set of small steps when I moved in, but it was quite flimsy, and one of the leg broke.  Since there, we only had the ladder, which is fine, but a little overkill.  So I got a used set of steps from Wakefield Hospice, double counting my spend as charity.  We are very pleased with the steps.

Toshiba RIP

I cannot believe I have this Toshiba since 2017.  It was working fine last night, albeit booted up weirdly.  I tried everything, booting into safemode, boot without ram, without battery, without harddrive.  I gave up.  I even took it to a local computer shop, he took one look at it and said motherboard and that there is no Toshiba spares.

Arboretum in Winter

When we thought going to gardens is silly in winter, and that arboretum should have some trees, except they have no foliage!  Something to bare in mind...

Spring BBQs

 We were very lucky with the weather, the local shops were rushing to get the charcoals loaded to the front of the shop. We had BBQs two days in a row across the bank holiday!

Natural Accelerant

I divided up the pork shoulder and kept the skin.  The skin/fat was perfect as a accelerant to get the BBQ going!  I will certainly do that again.

Scuffler

We tried a scuffler from a local bakery.  It was quite light for a breadcake.

Annual Tax Review

I reviewed my year end payslip, double checked my tax contributions.  I let out a Yorkshire war cry...

Francis Scott Key Bridge

Francis Scott Key Bridge was on the news, not in a good way.  I am pretty sure I have ridden Endee across it once, I remember it being very high and very windy.

Garden Capture

We have tried to capture and record what is in the garden, and obviously the plants keep coming and going.

I filmed the garden this weekend, and maybe I will be filming it quarterly until we have a good grasp what are in it!

Spring Planting III

I am optimistic that it would not freeze over, so I planted the sunflowers and courgettes out, fingers crossed.

And I cut a few branches of forsythia, to see if they will grow some roots and become a new plant.  We have seen how others cut their forsythia into a box hedge, pretty.

Nottingham's Sunday

We went into Nottingham early, forever worrying about parking in an unfamiliar city, only to find the city was quite dead before noon.  Only when we were leaving about 2pm, it became slightly more alive.

Spring Planting II

I actually bought sunflower seeds this year or planting.  They sprouted well, I already gave two away, let's the competition begins.

Spring Planting

The new seeds says it need to be sown between 15-20C, how is that possible?  The ones I sow in too early, I think they will never sprout now... Now I need to sow more.  I just need to remember there is a certain failure, I should always just blame the seeds.

Filter Inflation

I usually snap up water filter when I think they are a good deal, hence I buy them in a larger quantity and don't them on a regular basis, I just wanted to buy now, so expensive.

Fixed Menu

We go to this restaurant, always with a Groupon, and their menu haven't changed for the last 8 years...

Namewee It Might Break Your Pinky Heart

I cannot believe I haven't posted it before.

Namewee The People Of The Dragon

 

I wonder if they understand sarcasm.

Feoffment

I was reading Han history in England and came across a new English word: Feoffment.  I suppose investiture is equally archaic.

Fence Repair

Last time I did the fence repair at the old house, I remember I used a lot of screws.  I did the fence panel repair here, and I have just used up all my stash.  Except now, I have nowhere to replenish!

Oriental City Dim Sum Master

We went yam cha, and we wondered if they bought some of their dim sums in.  So I plucked up the courage to ask this very rude question.  The staff said everything was made there.  Dim sums were very nice indeed.

Repair Cafe at Home

I kept dropping the old scale, so I finally decided to take it apart and reset it correctly.  So it wasn't broken all along, it was just a screw loose.  I should have done it long time ago before buying a new scale...

Late Night Bargain Hunt

I came home after an evening seminar.  I got so much good stuff from the coop!!

Collage Name Tag

I had some old magazines out, so I decided to make myself a collage name tag for when I go to Garforth Repair cafe.

Brown Bins in 2024

Apparently some council makes you pay for your brown bin.  Leeds is not charging yet, but the brown bin isn't coming till April!  I will have to take a few trips to the tip when I do the Spring trim.

Random Made Up Games

Why do some child like to make up games than playing with the games made?  Let's play a variation game on "I Spy" called "I Think"...

Painful Paddy

I charged up Paddy and download some TV programmes.  Except it is now extremely painful to operate...

PV on Suboptimal Roof

So I finally went to see Ruth's solar.

They do look neat.

Bread Cannot Become Bagel

Tom was describing we can make a piece of bread into bagel by punching a hold in it.  I thought he is now old enough to have deeper understanding of bread.  I told him bread can never be bagel, as it is already fully risen...

Disney Plus Trial

My friend has Disney Plus, expiring today, so I helped them to make the most out of it by watching loads of Marvel movies, much to Sarah's dismay.

Roof Shapes

Whilst I was looking up roof, I also learnt all the different shape roof that I previously didn't know their names.  Flat, gabled, domed, mono-pitched, arched are all very self explainatory.  Hipped roof I knew.  Mansard and butterfly were interesting.

Vertical Roof

Someone kept calling their dormer elevation vertical roof.  Vertical roof is already an oxymoron.  Cladded elevation's cladding is very much not roof tiles...  If it elevates, it is an elevation...

Damage-Free Fixings

There are only so many ways you can fix things without damaging the surfaces, aka mechanically.  So I am using sticky putty for the string light and suckers for the sun sails, lets hope they hope up.

Quiz Master

I have done a couple quizzes for the knitters.  When someone mentioned about making a quiz for solar, I made 3.  There is no point of making a quiz that everyone knows all the answers, it is all about educate and making talking points.

Kids Quiz

Adult Quiz

PV Quiz

Moon Repair

I have had the Moon since 2018.  Since then, it has moved house, change charger, moved multiple times up and down the shelves.  I have kept that to minimum, on the necessary basis, because I know the Moon is fragile.  So it finally happens, the charger jack holding glue gave, and I have to reinstalled it surgically...   And contrary to popular believe, instead of the LED remote control, you can also touch control the moon, by touching its nipple. 

St David Daffodils

My daffodils are just coming up, perfect timing for St David day.

Free Dinner Seminar

I signed up for a seminar, it came with free dinner!  Learning and feeding, perfect!  Maybe in near future, I will ask my company to may my membership dues to that organisation.

Arena Swimming

I finally tried out my new Arena swimming goggles I bought in Hong Kong.  Arena is less popular here, so I don't see a lot of them, maybe only for proper swimmer?  It was very good indeed.  So much better than the cheap one I got from the SD.

Lets hope I will not scratch them too much.

Petting Zoo

I met up with an old friend at Longford Park, and they had a petting zoo.  I had never been to a petting zoo as such.  It was all chickens and rabbits, so boring...

One Day IKEA Erection

I put up the IKEA wardrobe in record time, less than a day, with a little assistant from Sarah.  A joiner has quoted me two person day rate total at £600, which is what I saved!  It was actually fairly easy to erect, long may it last.

Except one panel arrived damaged, I had the joy to return it...

Eat Leeds

Followed on the pandemic Eat Out to Help Out, some cities continue to do some kind of discount scheme, especially in the Winter low season.  I was hoping we would make good use of the Eat Leeds offers, but we only managed to go to one restaurant, one we had been before.  Maybe next year we should try something new.

Overwinter Garlic

I was certain the overwinter garlic was going to be ready.  I dug two out, there were no bulb!  I made the decision to stick them back in the soil, let's hope they would continue to mature...

Zero % Everything

We made the decision to use IKEA PLATSA wardrobe, sooner than I thought, with the help with zero percent APR loan.  I thought I was going to give spending a break, after the conservatory, but since they were doing zero APR, might as well.

When AI Doesn't Work

The camera is supposed to identify the item, and it failed.

Tiny IKEA Lunch

I have concluded IKEA lunch is actually tiny, so maybe I should just avoid it.  The same food is sold cheaper at kiosk, except it is usually longer queue and less choice.

Sunny Winter Day

A mild Winter Sunny day, my PV system has generated 16kWh!  Roll on sunshine!

Big Bird Deterrant Failure

I put some chain on one of the bird feeders, supposedly deterring big birds from feeding on them.  The local black bird still found their way...

Motorcycle Outing

I took Unthank out for the first ride of the year, it was wetter than expected.

The motorcycle trousers has shrunk a little over winter!

I managed to beat the rain home luckily.

The Daily Show

Jon Stewart is back on The Daily Show, only for one night in a week.  Diversity is always good.

Educational Xray

I have no use of the Xray film, but since I had it, I passed it along for educational purposes. Apparently children are facinated by that.

 

First Year PV Review

According to the inverter, I made at least 4,500 kWh.  Because I don't have a communication dongle, so I cannot see the exact numbers, which is fine. 

4,500kWh exceeds the MCS prediction of 4,320kWh.  On the PGVIS model, it seems to think I would make close to 4,600kWh, however it doesn't allow for clipping.

My export account wasn't setup till late April, so I wouldn't know how much I exported for a full year till then.

M60 Nightmare

There I was again, on the same trip, I already had a head start by going across M62 the night before, but M60 was still a nightmare.

Folding a Folding Bike

So there are actually two ways of folding my folding bike, with the front wheel turned in or turned out.  It really doesn't help when the bike did not come with an instruction, it does feel like neither is perfect.

Weekend Shopping Mania

We don't go out much, let alone shopping rush hours that is weekend.  Aldi was crazy, Crown Point was crazy.  It has totally confirmed our fear.

Superglue Dispenser

I bought a little super glue to glue a few things, the dispenser is so bad that I cannot access the remainder glue, which is a shame, and not very environmental friendly...

Conservatory Removal

You cannot make omelette without breaking some eggs.  The old conservatory needs to be removed to make room for the replacement.  The inside of the conservatory became the outside of the conservatory, and I had to worry about protecting the electrics and radiators against the cold and the weather...  Scary.

Snowy Sheffield

I went to Sheffield on a snowy day.  I knew Sheffield + Snow = bad, so I took the car to the train station and took a train.  Luckily the trains were also on time, the new umbrella had its first outing.  My feet got very wet though.

There were nearly 2 inch if snow on the windscreen, and that was too heavy for the wiper, heated windscreen also cannot shift them, so I had to manually remove them!

Etymology - Cathay

Follow on from the Kitay Etymology, as it turns out, the word has travelled all the way to the West, it turned into Cathay, but it usually referred to the Northern bit.

Radiator Booster Fans

Radiator booster fans sound like a good idea, except the price.  Just get a fan...

Garforth Repair Cafe

I repaired a couple things in the repair cafe.  I cannot believe it is possible to have that much bread crumbs in a toaster...

New Motorola Moto

Sarah got a new Moto G13, so I got her 4-years old hand me down Moto G7.  All setup well, let's hope they behave.

I am surprised that G7 has built-in Canton input, which works well.

Prashad

We went to Prashad to have some expensive South Indian food.  It was very delicate. 

Internet Failure

After discovering my internet not working, I spent a whole morning trying to get hold of the ISP.  They have concluded the BT master plug built in ADSL filter has failed, so they would mail me a new one.  The little filter is so precious, that they would not slot into my postbox?

So I tried to use the Library's internet, and their fibre was damaged last week and yet to be repaired! 

The only internet working was my work phone's 4G.  So don't think wired internet is any more robust than mobile internet...

I had to resort to watching terrestrial television!

After days of faffing, they finally agreed to send me a new router, and it finally fixed it five days later.  Which I told them day one when I spoke to them.  Let see if there will be any compensation come my way.

Ozone Hole Update

I read a short article about the ozone hole not getting better, then I talked about it with my friends.  I had a better understanding than them, but it also reminded me to look it up, so I did.

The Ozone hole opens in Southern Hemisphere Winter and normally closes for Summer.  The 2023 Antarctic ozone hole became the 7th latest closing observed.  And it was largest ever observed in September.

Claustrophobic Bin

I was so excited to get an automatic bin.  Who would have known, it stops working if it is inside a cupboard?  How can a bin be claustrophobic?

Hong Kong Reunion Day 16

Just because I left Hong Kong, my travelling was nowhere near done.  I managed to get a little sleep on the plane.  I watched Barbie, which was fine. 

I landed in Heathrow and I had nearly 4 hours layover.  After much deliberation, I had a panini from Wetherspoons.  I flew back to Manchester, there were a lot of taxiing in Heathrow, there were more taxiing than flight time, at one point, I thought we were driving back to Manchester in the plane!  In the short flight time, they still managed to give us water and biscuit.

I landed and when I got out of the airport, the shuttle was already waiting.  I got home in good time.

Although I was tired, I managed to fire up the water heater and did some unpacking.  I also noticed my internet was down!  Another thing to sort out!