philmayfield

Thanks for the offer. I could have done with some extra muscle but I’m too independent to ask for help. Nearly beer time!

After a great deal of physical effort that’s just about knackered me I’ve extracted the lawn tractor which had sunk into the mire yesterday. It’s a heavy piece of kit with a 25hp Kawasaki v-twin. I tried to haul it out with the quad bike, which I had to recommission after being laid, up but it wouldn’t budge it. I put the big heavy farm jack under the rear and lifted it up sufficiently to put rubber mats under the rear wheels. After a bit of forward and reversing it popped out only to sink in again after a couple of metres so I had to repeat the procedure. My Apple Watch congratulated me on my

I’d never heard of George’s before but investigation shows they’re a nationwide organisation with lots of shops. They’re probably a franchiser so the quality may vary from shop to shop. My chip shop journeys start at a 10 mile round trip and I don’t think chips, like a fine French wine, necessarily travel well. Tonight it’s one of the nation’s favourite dishes, the traditional British Chicken Tikka Masala. It’s a posh one from Waitrose though, none of yer foreign muck!

I liked Harry Ramsden's in Nottingham. I met Brian Blessed in their once! Sorry to see it close.

I think there are some very good oven chips available now. Home cooked chips are excellent but do you want the smell or the potential fire hazard? I've witnessed it but not in our house fortunately.

We always have a ‘full English’ in a Sunday morning. It’s a sort of religious experience. We have one Indian meal a week, just so we can experience how the poor wretches in far away lands have to suffer. We have a traditional roast on a Sunday. We had more disgusting foreign food last night, chilli con-carne. I secretly enjoy a burger and chips. It’s not always fine dining in this household! I’m never buying chip shop chips again. A total rip off!

I haven't used a push mower in years Barrie but I do have an scythe and was taught how to use it properly by an old gnarled countryman. I'm not up to scything an acre and half at my advanced age though.

I managed to finish all the grass cutting today but on the last lap at the back of the orchard the lawn tractor bogged down in the mud. Rocking it back and forth only dug it in deeper. The plan for tomorrow is to lift the rear up with the farm jack, supported on a plank, and slide some large rubber pads under the wheels. It’s not the first time I had this problem but I feel a bit silly for pushing my luck near the swampy bits. Something to look forward to I suppose.

The old jokes are always the best!

Dans la merde en suite!

Ah, but these were from Bingham which has a growing Chinese community so they are ‘clossants’.

One of our cats has just eaten half of one of my breakfast croissants! He nicked it out of the bag on the worktop. Lidl croissants are my favourite as well.

The days of peasants in villages are long gone. It’s posh people who live in the countryside now. Most incomers are considerably posher than I could ever hope to be. Too posh for mosquitoes.

I’ve made a start on the grass cutting. It’s still very wet but it was getting much too long. There’s still a lot more to do but it’s in areas that have been ponded so I’ll give it a couple more weeks otherwise the tractor will sink in and make muddy ruts. In the 62 years we’ve lived in this area I’ve never seen so much water. There’s still a lake at the bottom end of the field.

‘A very pithy summary’. Yeth!

I noticed that yesterday, driving towards Nottingham. Hawthorns into leaf, lots of blossom. It seemed to have happened almost overnight. Our grass is about 10" tall, thick and lush but still too wet to cut

Walter Bates now appears to be owned and run by the O’Reilly family according to Companies House. No sign of Bates anymore.

I’m not sure who’s running Bates now. The old man is long gone. His son Phil used to work for Geoff Simpson the electrician in Arnold. He later worked for me as extrusion manager for a couple of years but went back on the road as a contract electrician. I last saw him at a funeral about 20 years ago and he was working with his brother installing kitchens. He must be retired by now. He did know about 105E engines though as he spotted a gasket in my office from a Caterham 7 I was working on.

No! Posh fish pie in a crusty pastry. Just finished it. Not my favourite really. Steak and chips tomorrow - proppa food!

No, I think Plains Motor Co., which was further along towards the Miners' Welfare, was owned by another acquaintance of mine, Chick Wheelhouse who later moved to Gorse Hill Garage, then Lortas Rd, and ultimately Nuthall Rd. That was the sort of car he would sell back then.

I’ve been on a ferry across the Mersey well before that song was written. I think it was the Royal Daffodil. We went to visit one of my dad’s old workmates who lived in a prefab in Speke. It must have been in the ‘50’s. My girlfriend was at college in Liverpool and I used to go up there some weekends in my Healey Sprite. That was when Liverpool was the place to be. I later knew Alan Sytner who used to own the Cavern Club. He opened the Nottingham BMW dealership with his brother Frank on Mapperley top. I’ve been driven by Frank who was a racing driver. Even being driven through Nottingham by hi

We’ve got salmon en croute for dinner tonight. None of yer foreign rubbish!

Chicks/chips whatever.

Used to go down the cattle market with my dad to buy day old chips when he kept hens. Little fluffy things they were.