DJ360

I like to think that I'm pretty good at Letter Writing. I can make my case.. tell a story.. sympathise, converse with a friend..lover..or whatever. Trouble is.. very few people can read my writing. It's always been terrible. It's why the evil Mr Deakin forced me to practice writing in his study at primary school... because he knew I was a genius.. but people wouldn't know if I couldn't write legibly. I would dearly like to write letters in elegant script, and post them on pale blue paper.. But word processed and printed on off white or very pale blue paper is as close as I can get. I do at least sign letters by hand...

Indeed. And how that speaker is supposed to be heard from there..... Where's the other one?

It seems to me that it is Fearnley-Whittingstall who has changed the subject. He's gone from a full on carnivore, to some sort of healthy eating environmentalist tree hugger. Whether he's had a genuine 'Damascene' conversion, or just has an eye to his ratings.. is another matter.. Cynical?.. Moi?... Anyway, I'm not having breakfast.. it's too late. May have a bacon butty for lunch though.. :)

His Dad was an Engineer on the site at the bottom of Southglade Rd when they were tunnelling through the hill to make a drain across to the Leen via Boowul Common. I had a couple of chats with him. I have Alvin's last album.. which I think is called 'Further On Down the Road'.. Must dig it out. So much music.. so little time...

A lengthy video.. but it explains the way Graham Nash moved on from the Hollies and joined two other band leavers. Stephen Stills and Dave Crosby.. to form Crosby Stills and Nash.. Crosby Stills and Nash.. from their first album... The Hollies were a terrific band.. but this was another level... This music was interwoven with life in that period..

Does anyone else grow Hibiscus? Mrs Col bought a little Hibiscus years ago. I planted it in a border and it took around ten-fifteen years to become a large and wide shrub... about 6 feet plus high and wide. It was only after last year's very hot summer.., that it finally flowered. All very nice but IMHO hardly worth the space and effort it takes up. The main problem is that it constantly 'falls over'. Every branch droops and wants to be on the ground. I've been online and it seems this is a feature of these things. Given the choice I'd just do away with it.. but if anyone has any better ideas?

I've been steadily potting on my Echinacea and Aquilegia seedlings I've left them inside the cold frame, but with the lid up. Just for tidiness really. The other night when out with my torch on 'slug patrol', I caught a little slug.. maybe 1" long, on one of the Echinacea. Next morning, I realised that it had taken the growing tips out of several seedlings. It won't be doing that any more.. We'll see in time if it has done irreparable damage. I planted three new Delphiniums a few weeks ago. One has grown on unhindered and is in full flower. The second had a flower spike neatly 'excised' by a slug.. as did a third. Slug pellets seem to have had no effect and there seem to be very few slugs about. After a week or so the second Delphinium managed to send up a couple of flower spikes which are now close to flowering. The third Delphinium looked healthy enough, but just wasn't producing any flower spkes. I looked at it closely every night for a couple of weeks but found nothing until...... last night after the Graham Nash concert, I went out with my torch and there, chomping away was a MAHOOSIVE SLUG. This thing was at least 5 inches long and bright orange. Suffice to say that it is no more.. Here's hoping my third Delphinim will now have mmore than leaves to show...

P.S. Earlier on Tuesday... I saw one of the Airbus A300 'Beluga' transports overhead. Not unusual to see one of these. Quick look on Flightradar showed it was Hamburg to Chester. Oddly though.. only about an hour later, another one appeaed.. also Hamburg to Chester. Never seen two in a row before..

You're right overall PP.. but we do have a way to go.. I rode everywhere on my bike as a kid and am not against cyclists 'per se'.. but.. It seems to me we now have three main types of cyclist in the UK. 1. The traditional cycist. May ride a 'racer', or a 'tourer', but has done so all his/her life. Fully capable of cycling safely on roads.. dismounts on pavements and in shopping centres/pedestrianised areas. Shows respect to all other road users. 2. The 'new wave' of 'sports' cyclists. 'All the gear and no idea'. Tend to ride aggressively, ...are on a 'mission' to claim their space on the roads and are not averse to doing so two abreast on a two lane country road, holding up everyone else. Also not averse to running a red light when it suits. 3. 'Mountain Bikers'. This lot have never seen a bloody mountain.. much less ridden up one. They are too scared or incompetent to ride on roads.. thus they spend their time riding on narrow public footpaths which are only there because walkers have fought for them since long before mountain biking was invented. They also infest woodland, canal towpaths and abandoned railway lines. They are generqally very polite.. with their 'Ding Ding' 'excuse me', routine.. but it never occurrs to them that maybe they should stop/dismount occasionally.. rather than expecting pedestrians to always move aside, break step or whatever... to let them pass unhindered.

On a brighter note.. I've just returned from seeing Graham Nash in concert at the Southport Theatre. He sang songs written by himself, and by Steven Stills etc., including some he recorded with Crosby Stills and Nash, some with the Hollies and some from his solo albums. His keyboard player was from Lubbock Texas, the birthplace of Buddy Holly.. which they marked by doing an almost a capella version of Buddy's 'Everyday' as part of their encore. The music wasn't all gentle and peaceable.. but the sentiments were. Excellent concert. As for funerals.. I don't care much what they do with me when I'm dead.. so long as I am actually dead.

Nahh. I know the results and didn't have the nail biting stress before finding out...

Today I learned that 3' x 2' flags weigh about twice as much as they did 23 years ago. So do bags of cement, gravel and sand. I finished the repair to my drive about 7:00 pm, though still a bit of work to do tidying up. I am, as they say, 'Cream Crackered', and will probably be unable to move tomorrow.

Yesterday, I jet washed Mrs Col's car, which was..as they say in these parts 'Ayvin' up'. There was moss growing around the number plates. She has never taken it to a car wash. I cleaned it inside last week and outside yesterday. She knows where the car wash is, and she knows where the vacuum cleaner is..... so she knows who will be sorting it next.. I also jet washed the drive and decided to finally tackle the problem with it... I laid it.. 56 3x2 concrete flags, the year after my MI. Took my time and it was fine until water started coming up from a retaining wall which keeps next door's drive about 3 ft above mine. Result, four flags have moved and created a hole. So.. today I went and got bags of gravel, sand and cement. When I've dug out the disaster area, I shall fill it with a dry mix of concrete and re-lay the flags. A few days should see it solid, and a good enough repair until I get the whole lot re-done properly by someone with more energy, better equipment and more idea than me! I'll also try to find exactly where the water is coming through and 'dam' it with concrete. It will have.. as they say.. 'two chances'. I've dragged the bags of stuff out of the car and am just "eying a bit o' snap", before I start the job proper. Time's gerrin on though and I'll have to get the flagging done before I start to flag..

Indeed. I'm rather ambivalent to it . It seems that there is now nowhere safe from cyclists. Canal towpaths, pubic footpaths, woods, parks, pavements, pedestrianised shopping areas... Some even ride their bicycles on the roads..

I went to the very top of the Anglican Cathedral a couple of years back. It is very high and quite a scary climb up the inside of the tower. If you've not been back since the 1960s I think you'd be amazed at the changes. The Albert Dock complex for a start. Museum of Liverpool Life, the new Central Library, newly polished up Pier Head area, Mathew Street bouncing 24/7, Baltic Triangle, Liverpool One.. etc.,etc. A weekend won't do it. I'd go for a week avoiding the weekend. Last time I was in the 'Phil' was last year about this time. They now have a sign up apologising for the slight 'whiffiness' of the Gents, but pointing out that too much bleach was damaging the exotic stonework.