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The out of date coconut oil is relegated to be fire starter...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