Onions, 25 November

See post of 10 November, and as promised in posts passim (ooh, I do love a bit of alliteration!). Note the anti-fox cage. B*st*rds, kill 'em all!

Reynard resurgam

Yes, he's back, the scruffy half-tailed big balled b*st*rd! Things had been a bit quiet on the foxy front because, I guess, this year's three pups had moved on - hopefully not just to pastures new but to that great fox palace in the sky (I can but hope!).

However, dad has now begun to prowl around again and his latest trick is to pull out the bright red plastic cap which covers the rotary drier hole in the lawn. No problem, think I, I'll just put half a brick on top of the cap; no problem for me either, thinks foxy, I'll just move the brick and nick the cap anyway, and I'll give it a bit of a chew just to prove how clever I am. And that's just what he's done, the git. So now, the cap is in the house and the hole (have you ever lost the hole for your rotary drier? Blummin' hard to find again, aren't they?!) has a garden cane sticking out of it and looks really silly, but what else can a boy do? And if you say just leave the drier in the hole, that's a no-can-do because it already is - in a different hole, I thought I'd be clever by having a couple of drier holes to use at different times of the year to get full benefit from the sun.

And, by the way, did I tell you that when I had the pest control man round in the summer to get rid of a wasps' nest in the loft(!) that I asked him about trapping foxes and it costs around £120 a week to hire a fox trap and then around £70 for them to deal with it if you catch one? Even better, the chances of getting one into the cage is minimal if they're being fed by the neighbours. Which, of course, these pampered vermin are. Ah well, the fight goes on ....

Catching up ....

It's been a bit hectic since my last post, both socially, gardenwise and professionally. And, I'm sorry to say, I've forgotten to post a photo of my onions (ooer, missis!) but will do soon!

Socially, we had a lovely trip up to town to meet one of Diane's brothers, Jonathan, and his wife and we went to the Dean Street Townhouse (guess which street it's on?!) for an excellent lunch. The atmosphere was superb - a bit like a Brown's for grown ups - with a really relaxed atmosphere, comfortable seating and friendly service. I began with a smoked haddock souffle followed by steak and chips and ... couldn't manage a pudding, sorry! My steak was cooked exactly as I requested, just on the right side (or for many I guess it would be the wrong side) of medium, as was Jonathan's - although his was on the other side of medium. The chips were lovely and chunky too. Both girls had fish - pollock and sole - and both were delighted. They, and Jonathan, managed puddings too and these were received rapturously: chocolate fondant, apple pie and treacle tart. Also on the menu was a really good looking steamed ginger sponge for two to share - yum! This was washed down with a nice bottle of Prosecco (as aperitif and with the starter) and a lovely Sangoivese, Pieno Sud, from Sicily to go with the mains. Although I couldn't manage a pud, I did manage to try a pudding wine which I enjoyed but have forgotten the name of - wonder why, hic!?

Prior to our Saturday trip to town I'd been across to Borough Green on the Friday evening to the excellent (and very busy) Raj Tandoori for a convivial evening with five old mates from my former hockey club - if ever you're in mid-Kent and fancy a curry, I really recommend this place. One of the guys lives fairly close by, another lives near me and three still live in North Kent, so it's a convenient spot to get together. It's just a "normal" Indian restaurant, but does what it does very well. And then, on the Sunday, we went down to Brighton (in horrible wet weather) and took Emily for a roast dinner (it's all they do on Sundays) at the Park Crescent - what a fantastic little local boozer that is - a good pint of Badger, really friendly staff, great stripped floors and furniture and a bohemian (well, it is in the student quarter of Brighton!) crowd (excluding me, of course, but as my maternal grandma was from Bohemia, not really!). The best bit, though, was that they were playing the album "Hold Time" by M Ward. Now, I'd never heard of him but he's really great and the album is on my Christmas list - if you don't know him, imagine a cross between the Flaming Lips and the Fleet Foxes. Brilliant.

Professionally, I've been busy writing an ILM accredited Level 3 programme for a new provider and a new client. I deliver the first day on Wednesday 24 November, so it's all been a bit hectic, but I'm almost there now. I'll be glad when Wednesday's out of the way though.

Finally, I've been doing a bit of gardening. I had a really good tidy up a few weeks ago and it's looking good (except for my greenhouse, which blows down if my next door neighbour sneezes) and today I harvested a few more brussels and carrots, lifted my first ever turnips ("Tiny Pal", which you eat small) and picked the last of the raspberries. Having done this, I then pruned the canes, collected a few runner bean beans (is that otiose, or pedantic, or clear? It's meant to be the latter but see the picture if you're bothered!) to plant next year and bagged up a load of garden rubbish to be taken away by my friends from the council.

Looking back on it, one of the best weeks I've had for a good while.

A reprimand!

Well, I got told off today for not having blogged since the start of October and the person who told me off was quite right - I should be on here at least once a week. Apologies all - now I know you're out there, I'm inspired to carry on! But I'd be even more inspired if you left comments now and again so I know I'm not alone.

Anyway, not a lot has been happening, really, which is why I guess I've been so quiet. There's not a lot of interesting gardening to report (you don't really want to know about me mending the greenhouse or sweeping up the leaves) but I've got my onions in to overwinter (M (you know who you are!) - photo from 30 September above, up-to-date one to follow as promised when it's daylight!) and am desperately trying to find a space for some garlic - my forward planning for next year has been a bit affected by the fact that I've still got loads of things going strong (carrots, spinach, chard, turnips, broccoli and brussels) and haven't got the heart to pull them up. Pathetic. I've had a great crop of raspberries though, which took me a bit by surprise because I thought they were a spring variety and have been pruning them accordingly - they did fruit in the spring so I lopped off the canes that had fruited (which is what you should do) but the ones that were left fruited this autumn rather than next spring. Weird.

Work has been really quiet (have done nothing gainful since the end of September) but I've just got a new contract to deliver an accredited programme for a company I've not worked for before starting the week after next. It's particularly exciting because I'll be delivering - for the very first time - to a totally private sector audience, an audience from the production sector. Mind you, the lack of work hasn't been for lack of effort but, unfortunately, two companies I was due to see (one to do a presentation to, the other to do a week's training with after passing the first two parts of their selection process) have been messing around with dates. It's all been a bit messy .....

So, with lots of time on my hands and not much gardening to do, what have I been doing in addition to chasing work? Well, to tell the truth, I've started to write a book - it's going to be called something like "An A - Z of Work Based Learning" and is really a natural extension of the research I did for my Master's. I'm aiming for around 30000 words to begin with (around 3000 done so far) and then we'll see where we are. I haven't set myself a deadline though, but I suppose I ought to. Oh yes, and we went to the caravan for a few days, have been down to Brighton to see Emily a couple of times, up to Nottingham for Laura's birthday, had the latter at home for a few days during reading week, have done lots of visiting friends (but should do more), and that's about it.

I'll really try to be back a bit sooner next time .....

A new life

So, that's it then, we're empty nesters! Both girls are now away at university, one on the South Coast and the other in the East Midlands which makes logistics a bit of a nightmare, but hey-ho. Anyway, we took Laura up to the Midlands a fortnight ago (the day after we got back from holiday and the same day as the Pope was in London) and helped her (I hope!) settle in - she's got a lovely en suite room in the hall she wanted to be in and her flat mates seem Ok. The next weekend Emily went back for her final year and we went to see her in her new house this weekend and took her out for lunch at Zizzi's in Brighton Marina. I'm a big fan of Zizzi's - good, basic food and consistently friendly service.

Our trip to see Emily was via the caravan where we had a really nice weekend. A couple of friends came down to see the place for the first time and loved it. We had a lovley lunch at The Lamb (Steak and Kidney pie to die for!) and, although the rain then came down again, a bracing walk alongside the harbour and round the lagoon before bidding them a fond farewell and snuggling in for the evening with the rain thundering on the roof and the wind howling around - marvellous! Oh, and I should also point out that we had possibly the best fish and chips ever on the Friday evening from the Rose Green chip shop - doubly marvellous!

Back to Work!

At short notice (1730 on Tuesday) I got called in to run a two day CMI accredited middle management leadership programme for a sick colleague on Thursday and Friday. Agreed to do it and spent Tuesday evening and Wednesday working my little socks off to get ready - no prep time payment though! Loads to pick up (around 200 pages) and the programme could've been much better designed (far too much material, too many questionnaires, nothing for activists, etc).

Beautiful venue in the Surrey Hills but nervous as anything, took the view that as long as I was one page ahead then I was OK. Lots of the stuff was familiar on Day 1 and it went OK - lovely delegates. Day two was good, as I felt more confident, even though I knew the afternoon session would cause me problems because I simply couldn't get my head around what was wanted. Decided - using my judgement of the delegates and in the spirit of adult learning - to level with them and we worked through the Oshry total system power model really well together. Got a thank you from the group and really pleasing feedback to compensate for being totally wiped out by the effort. Happy days!

Holiday 2010

Notes kept on my Blackberry charting this year's holiday. Had intended to edit and write them up properly but somehow can't be bothered. Next year I'll take the laptop and do a proper job!

Day 1 - early train, marvellous automated check in, just time to grab coffee and papers and go! Good trip, no hold ups, picnic at aire. Domaine Borgnat, Escolives-Ste-Camille in Burgundy: leek tart, jambon a la chablisienne, fromage, cerises sabayon. Aligote, chardonnay, cremant blanc de noir, pinot noir x 3, pinot gris rose, ratafia liquer! Lovely greeting from Regine. Great room, nice pool, bad weather, cave tour with delightful Benjamin, fantastic hospitality, common board like pilgrims "a cote la gacieuse pte eglise"!

Day 2 nice bfast, bought wine, weather poor, cold n rainy. Sandwich lunch arr Venejan at abt 1600 no one about! Les anes. Eventually found JM who'd been Chez Mamie. Nadine home abt 1930, dinner of duck in honey, cheese, chestnut ice cream and vin + China China!

Day 3 visited Jeanne at Bourg St Andeol and lunched with Nadine and JM at Pierrelatte - salad, dorade, creme caramel, vin rose - all excellent. Pm to Anduze et foret de bambou and Les fumades avec JM. Dinner avec Steph n Flo - toms n mozarella, pork or andouillette! Cheese n gateau, vin de chusclan.

Day 4 au revoir venejan, via la cave, coop wine from Mamie et JM n bottle of cuvee Helly Cabrol, 1\100 bottles! Good drive to diano marina, hotel v packagey but fine. Proper riviera town. Stopped to view Monaco en route. Each days drive has been 4 or 5 hours - good and manageable. Nice meal, menu turistico, but hotel v noisy by railway line and echoey, dogs barking! Surprisingly good kip tho

Day 5 began and ended badly! Car stuck in car park for 30 mins and got here after good drive - loads of tunnels and bridges, chaotic coffee stop - to be allocated non lake view caravan, moved to top of site to van we had 1st time here. Lunch and dinner on site. Girls arrived safely at about 1400 - excellent taxi service from VRN

Day 6 supermarket and pool in morning, bbq lunch and dinner, lake in afternoon, nothing much more to say. Txt from BJ at Como.

Day 7 woke to heavy rain but calmed down to let us take boat to Garda - had planned Malcesine but decided against because of need to change to schnellboot and hanging around in greyness, wind and damp. Very rough en route, waves crashing over boat and soaking people. Chatted to Tony and Chris, on their way to Bardolino, no heart to tell them that Garda much nicer. Coffee on front, lunch at Bussano(?) and boat back. Still v rough - Diane soaked as well as man from morning, Chris through toilet door - hysterical! Heard later that Sirmione closed all day and many boats cancelled - we were lucky. Introduced Chris and Tony to pirlone at Oswaldo and to honey at Angelo's. Dinner with girls at Fausto - excellent vongole for me.

Day 8 - bliss, moved to lake view, no 42. Scouted out other vans and 24 - 27 on upper terrace and most on lower are fine for next time. Beaut day, over to Salo for coffee, pm by van and then up to see Rita's flat - beautiful and big but no lake view so slightly in quandary, plus isolated - maybe good way to learn Italian tho! Given coffee and grappa and driven to Baia de Vento! Tony and Chris for drinks and with them to Fausto for dinner - cotelete milanese. Looks as tho Oswaldo closed for winter - place becoming quite melancholy now.


Day 9 - coffee at Oswaldo - not closed! - before quick trip to Gardone for pirlone plus lovely pickled chillies. Came back for lunch, sat by pool, went to Chiusure for wine, no cash so arranged to collect tomorrow. Had bbq burgers and salamis.

Day 10 - collected wine, said goodbye to Marcella, coffee at Oswaldo again and boat to Salo. Wander, pirlone, lovely lunch at Molo, ice cream at duomo, boat back, photos with Rita, farewell to Angelo, pharmacy with Em, packed, farewell to Alan and Vicky, beer on terrace, drinks with Rita at Oswaldo, Fausto for lovely meal with Em and Romy and able to say goodbye to Sandro on way back - perfetto! Glass of wine for nightcap and arrivederci Eden, l'anno prossimo

Day 11 - on the road early and in drizzle. Road to A4 and A4 itself murder, especially round Milan. Frejus tunnel much nicer than St Gothard two years ago and made really good time to Bar Sur Seine. Stayed in a log cabin at Domaine de Foolz(!) found it in Michelin guide. Had an excellent dinner, top quality cuisine knocking dear old Robert Thompson's offering into a cocked hat!




Day 12 - Lovely breakfast and gracious host. On the road again, 250 miles or so to go. Beautiful morning, sun behind mist, autumn chasing us home. On train just after one, five hours earlier than planned, marvellous. And so to home .....

One of the best holidays we've ever had. Here's to next year!

Kenley Air Day

I enjoyed Kenley Air Day, despite the fact that the atrocious weather meant that very little actually took to the air, including the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight which was grounded somewhere due to the low cloud base. This was a real shame because it would have been fantastic to actually stand on Kenley airfield remembering the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain and hearing the sound of Merlins overhead. Ah well.

The great thing about the day was how "village fetey" it all was compared to other airshows I've been to like RIAT, Mildenhall, Biggin Hill and so on. It was a dream driving in (I got there at lunch time in a huge downpour) but not so good getting out of the single exit (in another and even worse downpour) along with everybody else who'd seen the clouds gathering and put two and two together in mid-afternoon. There were the usual stalls, but not many of them, and it really did seem to be a local event for local people. The static line was small but perfectly formed with several vintage UK aircraft on display - Tiger and Hornet Moths, Chipmunks and a Percival Prentice - marvellous!

















All credit to the organisers, Kenley Airfield Friends Group, and I really do hope that there's another event next year upon which the weather smiles a little more kindly ....

Madness!

Travelling by train last Saturday, alone, from Euston to Stone in Staffordshire for a family party. My wife is already there having driven up a couple of days earlier to stay with her parents en route. Just settling into my first class carriage (£18 - yes, £18! - single) and hoping for a quiet trip (see blogs passim) when 10 or 12 blokes, some of them carrying musical instruments descend and my heart sinks, particularly when four of them sit together and get the cards out. However, they're all perfectly affable and I fall into conversation with the guy sitting opposite me - I'm guessing you're a band (top marks for observation, eh?). Yes. What kind of music do you do? Oh, pop type stuff, we're just going to the V Festival in Stafford. Really, what band is it? Madness. Madness! Where's Suggs? Two rows behind you. And so he was! And I have to say that it was a really agreeable trip spending a couple of hours with a very pleasant group of people who had no affectations at all. Thanks, guys, I really enjoyed your company and I hope the gig went well.

After that excitement the family party went well and we drove back happily the next day with a boot full of runner beans - despite having loads of our own. The blessings of all your veggies coming at once! Talking of veggies, I've planted some turnips "Tiny Pal" (first time I've tried growing them) and some carrots "Nanco" which are supposed to provide me with carrots for Christmas - it'll be interesting to see if they work. I've also just sowed some "green manure" seeds. Now, growing green manure is meant to be a key part of organic gardening (and I guess I am mostly organic in my approach - I tend to squash blackfly rather than spraying them, but I do resort to sprays as a last resort) but I note on the back of the packet it says that the seeds weren't produced organically! Now, if I was a zealot that could cause me real grief. But I'm not, so it hasn't.

Off for a "Taster Breakfast" with a company on Friday so need to get on with preparing my presentation. Weather is really grim, cat's behaving strangely (perhaps she knows about that woman dropping the cat in the bin) and there's not much else to report. Oh, except that my beautiful daughter, Laura, has got her place at her first choice university to do Classical Civilisation - well done, Sweetheart!

August Garden

This is my first year of using raised beds and I've had successes, failures and mixed results. The main failure (let's get it out of the way first!) was parsnips (White Gem). Last year I just chucked my seeds into a fairly scraggy patch of ground and had reasonable results. I thought, therefore, that planting seeds this year in my beautifully soiled and composted raised beds would be no problem. I planted them with "tracers" of French Breakfast radish and, although I had good radishes, I've not managed to grow a single parsnip. Mmmm, back to the drawing board on that one. Another issue, but not really a failure, was salad leaves which just seemed to bolt away. Next year I shall plant these more sparingly and pick them much quicker.

Successes though, have been numerous: garlic (Thermidrome), onions (Senshu Yellow) perpetual spinach and Swiss chard (Bright Lights - see below) have been fantastic as have my lollo rosso and, to a lesser extent, iceberg lettuce (Saladin). My carrots (Amsterdam Forcing and Early Nantes) have also done well, although I made the mistake of planting my rows too close together this year - raised beds are meant to allow this, but I went a bit too far (or, more accurately, too close!). Next year I shall plant things a bit further apart. My ground grown new potatoes also did very well, although my experiment with growing them in sacks didn't work very well and the suppliers' claims for them were extravagant to say the least.

Mixed results include Broccoli Romanesco and Autumn Calabrese, some plants of which are really thriving whereas others just haven't taken at all. Spring onions (White Lisbon) proved to be a bit disappointing and didn't grow particularly well. Also I grew two types of broad bean, Aquadulce and Express which did OK although my dwarf beans (Sprite) have been a bit disappointing.

Having reflected while writing the above I reckon that I need to streamline things a bit more next year and not grow so many varieties. I also need to plan my crop rotation a bit better (particularly as I'm planning to plant some stuff now for "summer growing"), to think about spacing a bit more and to make myself keep better records of planting, germination and harvesting times. It's also important to keep some outline climate notes because, although it's hard to remember now, March and April were very cold and wet and this has to have had an impact.

Cat

This was first published privately on 17 May 2008:

Saturday. So there I am. Full of the joys of spring, even in the rain. Come trolling out of the house. Climb into car, turn engine on. Look to right. See cat lying on driveway. Not my cat. Someone else’s. Dead. Dead as a doornail, in fact. Not been there too long, but long enough. Turn engine off, go to have closer look. Beautiful thing, look of a pedigree about it. Don’t recognise it. Not a mark on it. Really peaceful. What to do? Tell wife and daughter. Shudders and pulled faces. No help there, will have to move it myself. Just check neighbours first. No, Peter doesn’t know. Kevin, however, has had a note through door – please check shed for missing cat. Called Tango. Oh God. Go to Tango’s house. Raining. 3 men outside, building a wall. You lost a cat? Yes. Sorry, mate, I think he’s outside my house. Dead. OK, I’ll come and get him. Walks back with me. Sees cat. He’s not mine. Not Tango? No, he’s smaller, wears a collar, paler. I’ve got black sacks. He helps me pick it up. Stiff as a board. We put it in sack. He leaves. I call council. Emergency number. Not sure if it is emergency. But what else to do? Really sympathetic man. We’ll send someone round. Leave it by the front gate. We’ll check for chip and tell owner. Do so. Rain stops. 30 minutes later. Sack's gone. Very impressive. Could have been a dream. Except ….. except that there’s still a cat silhouette. On the drive. Where it stayed dry beneath it in the rain. Like a murder victim’s chalkmark. I’m strangely upset.

Way Down(s) South

Just back from a lovely few days in the mobile home in West Sussex. Weather was fine, with one beautiful day and a few showers on the others. We managed to cram in quite a lot, and could maybe have crammed in a bit more if the service in a couple of places where we had lunch had been a bit quicker!

On Monday we went to Arundel for the first time - a beautiful, if a little twee, place which reminded me a bit of Farnham. And did I tell you that I once met the Duke and Duchess at an event I (well, British Offset really, but I was the boss!) was sponsoring at Windlesham School? No? Well I did! And very charming they both were. Anyway, after a quick mooch around and a coffee at Belinda's Tea Rooms (very C16 - beams and home baking) we drove up to the car park in Houghton Forest for a picnic lunch preparatory to setting foot on the South Downs Way for the first time. Lunch was totally ruined by wasps, which seemed to be plaguing everywhere we went but once we'd finished eating and swatted them away we had a lovely five or so mile circular walk down to Amberley Station and back. The weather was beautiful and the views were just superb. The view below was taken from the terrace at the back of the "George and Dragon" at Houghton where, bless them, even though they were closing as we arrived at 1500 they allowed us to buy a drink and have it outside. I can't remember the last time I came across a pub that wasn't open all day, although I do believe that they only close on Mondays. We'd just traversed the left to right slope in the picture and almost fell over a stoat or a weasel as we did so - it was just too quick for a positive ID, but was definitely a member of the mustelidae family.


Not such a nice day, the next one. However, having let the morning rain clear it was off to Chichester for a browse around the shops. Now Chichester is a beautiful city with lots of chi chi emporia but, on a summer holiday weekday, not much sign of chi chi people. My favourite was a fat, tattooed woman of unprepossessing mien with her belly hanging over her leggings (or they could have been jeggings, I suppose) with a fag gripped between her teeth and wearing a much too tight vest (vest - with her figure? UUUrrrgghhhh!) bearing the logo "World Cup WAG". Dream on, love, dream on. The Waterstone's on West Street is a proper bookshop and, much to the benefit of the rest of us, is probably not much frequented by the aforementioned wannabe WAG. It has a lovely cafe on the first floor and we had lunch there at a window table with a fantastic view of the cathedral. Service was lovely and friendly but sloooooooooooow and we had to wait over half an hour for a soup and a pate. The latter was gorgeous but the accompanying "hunk" of granary bread was about three inches of brown baguette and nowhere near enough to do the pate justice. After that, we drove down to the Sidlesham Quay side of Pagham Harbour but were only able to grab a short stroll before the rain came down again. I love the desolation of the place and it was a shame that the visitor centre had closed early, doubtless because of the weather. I was only slightly depressed by the sightings poster in the window which had listed on it, among lots of interesting birds, a "mole - dead". Poor thing - I've only ever seen one mole myself and that was way back when and also dead. Anyway, we drove back via Sidlesham to have a look at the Crab and Lobster, where we may eat one day for a special occasion. I say "may" because our last posh restaurant trip to The Hambrough in Ventnor was a disaster, as my TripAdvisor review here shows, and I may well just pick somewhere that's not quite so serious for my next important event.


Day three found us in Bosham and Fishbourne. We had a wander round the former and a quick (very quick - exit stage left, pursued by wasps!) al fresco coffee before putting on our walking gear for a nice flat stroll to the former and back. Bosham was gorgeous but beginning to get really busy as we set off for our stroll (dodging the incoming tide as we did so) and I was glad to get away from the swarms - of people and/or wasps - for some wide open vistas with distant views of Chichester cathedral. We had lunch - quiche for me and soup (again!) for Diane - at the Lime Cafe at the Roman Palace site (no, we only went for lunch, we're saving the visit for next time when we'll drive there). Now, this was much better VFM than Waterstone's and really tasty but we had to wait 40 minutes to get our food - I know the pace of life in the country is slower, but the really do need to do better.

On our final day we had a walk down to the beach at Pagham in beautiful sunshine and went for lunch in Amberley which as been, quite rightly, described "as one of the most attractive of all downland villages". The Black Horse is a really quaint old English pub with sheep bells on the ceiling, a part stone flagged floor and more beams and interesting bits than you can shake a stick at .... and yet, even though it was busy, somewhat lacking in atmosphere. Maybe it was because, like us, lots of people had driven there and were partaking of non-alcoholic beverages (great ginger beer, by the way!) or maybe it was the weather. Whatever, a chicken sandwich and a ploughman's took 45 minutes to be delivered. Once again, simply not good enough, but not sufficiently bad to totally spoil our trip to Amberley. Walking around it is quite delightful with some beautiful cottages, a lovely church and an amazing castle which, sadly, can only be visited by guests of the hotel which now occupies it.

And so to home via Sainsbury's, and back to earth with a bump!

Take that!

Bought and installed a "Sprayaway" which, as it says on the box, is a "motion activated water repellent" to deter "vermin". Bet you can't guess which particular vermin this is aimed at! And if any passing cats get in the way then I'm sorry, guys, OK? I wasn't aiming it at you! Although I'm not a big fan of cats' poo it's actually much easier to deal with than that of foxes (the things you read about, eh?!) - the former at least usually dig a bit of a hole and try to bury it (so the damage they do is incidental to their toilet habits) whereas the latter just do what they like where they like and the consistency of what they leave is gross and the smell is indescribably vile.

After attaching this thing (it's battery operated so much more reliable than solar and not as dangerous as mains) to the hosepipe you simply stick it in the ground, adjust the range and height and wait for results. And I have to say that it's been in use for two days now in two different parts of the garden to keep the b*st*rds confused and, touch wood, I've found no evidence so far of any visits last night. Mind you, you never know though - the other morning I found that one had actually climbed on top of a patio trough to crap on the lobelias. Charming creatures, aren't they?! Anyway, setting this thing up was great fun because you have to test the sensor by moving about in front of it and getting thoroughly soaked - wish I'd had one when the kids were younger and using their paddling pool, would have saved me hours of standing around squirting them with the hose. Maybe I should unleash my entrepreunerial spirit by marketing these things as toys! I bought my Sprayaway from a company based in Hartlepool called Pest-Products and they gave absolutely brilliant service - best price I found by about £5 and free delivery which took only two days. Marvellous! And while I'm recommending people, another company which has given me excellent service is PowerBee - they provided my solar fountain and the foxes actually bit through the cable between the battery and the solar panel. I rang to get a replacement unit and they simply said I should patch it up with electrical tape and it should work fine. I did and it does, so bless you PowerBee!

In last week's blog I reported that my October work had been deferred to February. Well, it's now been deferred for good because I've decided not to pursue my interest with that company. It's clear that they'd launched a new product on the market too soon and that this had created big problems for them. Why I was the one having to suffer for this I don't know (remember that I haven't done any delivery for them at all) and given my experience and skills I don't really think I need to prove myself by working unpaid for five or six sessions. One or two, yes, - observe, co-deliver, deliver usually seems to work OK - but that's just taking the proverbial. So now, to borrow an expression from the world of acting, I'm "resting" for the summer. I would be able to rest if only the foxes would leave me alone ......

So now, it's back out to the garden to do a bit of fencing.

It was the best of times .....

It was my birthday last weekend and I had a really great day. My presents included The Flaming Lips' version of "Dark Side of the Moon" and I have a question - why? Not "why did they buy me that?" but "why do it?". I mean, I love Dark Side, and I love the Lips (and seeing them at the Albert Hall in 2006 was one of the highlights of my concert going life) and I actually quite like some of it, but why just copy someone else's album when you're so good at producing your own stuff? Weird.

Anyway, back to the theme. Diane and the kids (Kids! They're 18 and 21 for goodness sake!) took me to see Toy Story 3. Well, really, we all wanted to see it and my birthday was just a convenient excuse. I hadn't been to the cinema for years (don't like the way it's all about food and drink and cranking up the volume now) but quite enjoyed the 3D experience, especially when Woody flew from the roof of the day care centre. However, I wasn't sure which bit I was supposed to cry at so didn't, but it was very moving and poignant all the same, particularly the scene in the furnace. For us it was made even more moving by the fact that Laura goes off to uni in September, so the plot being based on Andy doing the same had great resonance. Also, of course, Laura was four when the first Toy Story came out so the films have been part of the fabric of her life, and she'd waited a long time to see this.

Afterwards, we went to our local Zizzi's for dinner - beautiful grilled prawns as a starter followed by penne della casa and panacotta for me. Simple and basic but I love the atmosphere and the service is always good.

So, that's dealt with the best of times bit. Now, the worst of times. It's been a horrible week for work related things because I lost two contracts on succeeding days. One, which would have given me a few days' work a year for four years, was cancelled altogether and the second was deferred from October to February (I hope!). Actually, it's a bit worse than that, because I'm expected to shadow part of the second programme for several days without pay - it's a hard life being self employed at present. Additionally, I tried to apply for a consultancy post through Reed and, having spent a couple of hours honing my covering letter went to submit and found the post had been withdrawn as I was writing. Marvellous!

However, it's not all doom and gloom as I had an interview with a major player on Tuesday and, on the way there, bumped into a former colleague in Victoria who now works for a larger multi-national and he was happy to add my name to their database and pass on my details to a couple of his colleagues. Mind you, I'm on the books of lots of training companies - nine or 10 at the last count - but if they're not getting contracts then I'm not getting work. Still, all one can do is keep plugging away.

And, so as not to end on a glum note, the garden is progressing nicely and I've just spent a couple of days planting 30 or so shrubs and installing garden furniture and things are beginning to look pretty good. Oh yes, and a couple of frogs seem to have moved into the pond so, on balance, I guess I shouldn't complain. Onward and upward. Or should that be "to infinity and beyond"!?

An apology!

Foxes, I take some (a very tiny bit) of it back - it's not you nicking the plants from the pond, it's your mates the thieving magpies! Ironically, I've just "monetised" my blog by accepting adverts and the first one on here is for kids to have "Fun Learning About Foxes"! True, I swear. I give up.

A foxy post script....

Been searching the web trying to find the most efficacious advice for dealing with vulpes vulpes. Have ordered myself some natty little plastic spikes which are meant to deter them from climbing over fences and also, believe it or not, a catapult - the former someone else's idea, the latter mine! They might still wake me with their shrieking and continue to defile my garden but soon, very soon, I'll catch one of the b*st*rds napping and THWACK! If you're a bleeding heart don't worry too much - I only intend to fire earth pellets at them just to let them know who's boss and to get them to move on. I don't actually want to hurt them - but then again .... (nope, only joking!).

Anyway, as the fence where I intend to fix said spikes is technically my neighbour's, I called round to ask her permission to do so. And guess what? Yep, she's a fox feeder, and she fed me all the usual claptrap - they've been here longer than us, feeding them doesn't encourage them (I know, if I'd been sitting down I'd have fallen off my seat too!), they always use the same trails, they've become better behaved over the past couple of days, yadda, yadda, yadda. To her great credit, however, once I'd explained my full tale of woe she agreed to let me fix the spikes. Let's hope they arrive pronto and I can get them fixed before she changes her mind....

Why I don't like foxes

This year has been my worst ever for foxes and their damage. I don't know if it's the progeny of the fox shown above enjoying himself (or herself, and do foxes experience enjoyment anyway?) on my daughter's trampoline a few years ago now, but they're giving me real trouble. I know there's progeny, because the trouble really began with there being three cubs this spring. These little so-and-so's have taken regular delight in wrecking my vegetable beds. I use cloche hoops and net to keep the cats and birds off but these proved no barrier to the foxes who take great delight in leaping on the net, ripping it off the hoops and damaging whatever they can by a variety of means - digging, rolling about and/or cr*pping! And the latter has the most disgusting smell. They've even bent some of the hoops, which I thought were quite sturdy things. It's actually been quite soul destroying going up the garden each morning to see what I've lost or what repairs I need to make.

Anyway, as my veggies have got bigger there's been less scope for the vermin to do harm - theyr'e not interested in taking on a 2ft sprout plant, only seedlings - but they've now moved on to my new pond and its surrounding area which includes a number of recently planted shrubs. Yesterday morning I found that they'd cr*pped both beside the pond (on a stone slab!) and under my outdoor table on my wrought iron parasol holder - it was almost as though the latter was deliberately targeted. In addition, they'd dragged out the solar panel and the pump switch for the fountain, lifted all the floating hyacinths out of the pond and totally dug up a new potentilla which I'd planted two days before - if I didn't know better, I'd almost believe that they've decided to do as much damage as they can to spite me for fencing off one of their runs. And what really irritates me is that if I were to tell one of my cretinous neighbours who feeds these vermin they'd just giggle because foxes are cute, aren't they, and they've got more right to be here than I have etc, etc.

OK, OK I'm going on, but other reasons why I hate vulpes vulpes include their nocturnal noises of screaming and yipping, the fact that they eat the eggs that some prat feeds them in my garden and that they bring all kinds of rubbish in with them - gardening gloves (they've stolen mine before now), football boots, children's toys, yogurt pots and so on. B*st*rds. If I could invite the Quorn into my garden I'd be on the phone immediately.......

Here and There Again

Been on my travels to the North West again, this time to Warrington, a place I've never visisted before. Spent World Cup final evening (yawn) at the Daresbury Park Hotel which was really rather good and then had a meeting there all day on Monday. Can't say I enjoyed the "football" too much with those Dutch thugs setting out to kick lumps out of the Spanish, but it was interesting to spend the evening with future colleagues (seen in the picture, and bless you, H!) - the reason for my trip was to attend a get-together of trainers and support staff for a company which runs accredited training courses and for whom I'm due to begin delivering in November. This is a bit of a new experience for me as I've only delivered single courses before, and working with a cohort of students for several months will be a new challenge. It's all learning, though, and something I'm looking forward to immensely.

Aftert the horrible train trip to Preston reported previously, I was delighted to discover that one can upgrade to 1st class for £15 at the weekend and rarely, if ever, can I have invested £15 so well! Even though I had to go and fetch my own tea because the trolley was broken, it was bliss! The rest of the train was packed and hot, but 1st was calm and cool - I only wish I'd been going all the way to Glasgow rather than getting off at the first stop in Warrington. I travelled back on Monday evening in standard class and was dreading it, but it wasn't too bad. I've given up on quiet carriages now, though, because people can be so horrible - it's better to expect and accept noise in the non-quiet zone than not to expect it and have to accept it in it, if you see what I mean.

Anyway, although I passed very close to home on the way back I wasn't bound there - I was en route to sunny Sussex by the sea because I was working in Brighton the following day. Had a marvellous haddock and chips supper in a great little restaurant called The Regency which was adjacent to the Holiday Inn where I was staying. The latter really wasn't much cop at all - nice staff but tired and a bit worn round the edges and not really worth £120 when the Tickled Trout in Preston was half the price. I guess that I shouldn't really be bothered when someone else is paying my bill, but I am. The work went Ok and I repeated it on the Thursday, although I drove there and back on that occasion - a nice 40 minutes down the M23/A23. On Friday I was up at 0500 to join the 0600 shift at the local office of the postal services company for whom I'm working - a really worthwhile and fascinating morning, although it was weird looking at the clock at 0900 thinking I'd been at work for three hours .....

Spent the weekend in West Sussex at the caravan (although I believe I'm meant to call it a mobile home) and was joined for Saturday by our friends Tim and Jo who had a great time - they used to own a towed caravan and we met them years ago when we were both holidaying with Canvas Holidays at Lake Garda. They only live a few miles from us but, of course, we'd never have met except for the Garda trip. Managed to get a few more bits done in the van - hanging curtains and so on, and am looking forward to spending a bit more time there in a couple of weeks.

Here and There

Just back from Preston, where I went to do a bit of delivery for my postal services company. Stayed at the Tickled Trout (honest!) which was fine, but I do wish that they hadn't begun stocking up the meeting rooms adjacent to my bedroom at one o'clock in the morning. I have to say, though, that when I challenged the night porter about this (dressing gown clad - me, not him!) he gave one of the best and most disarming (in its real sense) bits of customer service I've ever had - he charmingly agreed that I had a good point and that in my place he'd complain too, that he'd mentioned the noise his trolley made to the management several times but nothing had been done and that if I could just bear with him for 10 more minutes he'd be done. Try arguing with that approach.

The trip up tp Preston was interesting - a packed train, reservations indicators not working (in fact, before we left Euston the driver had to do a "total shutdown" otherwise we might not have left at all) and bedlam in the supposed quiet coach where I'd originally had a reservation. Well, it wasn't exactly bedlam, but sitting in front of me were two female teachers who were escorting a small school party. They had a loud and intrusive conversation from the moment they sat down, making loud mobile phone calls and watching videos on one of their phones with the sound turned up. Eventually, several quiet coach habitues remonstrated with them, only to be told that the teachers hadn't wanted to sit in the quiet coach, ergo it was fine for them to behave however they wished. There's a logic there somewhere. Fortunately, their pupils were much better behaved. Coming back was much better in a non-quiet coach which was much quieter than the quiet coach. Life's a funny old thing.

The landscape gardners have finished in the back garden and have done a fantastic job - new fence, new paving, new large brick planters and ...... a pond! It's slightly ornamental but is designed for wildlife and the local sparrows are already enjoying it. The solar fountain is due to arrive today (my postie called this morning to say it was in his box and he'd be delivering it later - bless you Amazon and bless you Royal Mail) and I'm off shopping for plants for it tomorrow. Once they're in I'll stick a picture on. I have to say it looks very good and the plants should make it look excellent. Wish I could say the same for the lawn, which is in a dreadful state because of both the drought and the fact that the gardners have been walking over it for several days.

I've harvested, dried and bagged my onions and have a few bits of planting to do - several basil plants and a butternut squash (which appeared long after I'd given up on it - its two siblings which I grew from seed saved from last year have been planted out for over three weeks) to plant out, and several varieties of summer seeds to plant (I do love an Oxford comma). However, it's just too hot at present for doing planty things, so it'll need to wait.

Oh, and I almost forgot - last week was my beautiful daughter Emily's 21st family party. 21 of us sat down for dinner (how apt) including a couple of Aussie cousins and a grand time was had by all. We went up to the Midlands, where lots of the family live, and had the event at the Marston Farm Hotel, who did us proud. Highly recommended.

Culture Change

Funny old day today. Had a really nice group of nine on the change programme - included two women for the first time, it's a very male dominated organization. All was going well until the feedback element of an exercise when one table (all male) decided that it was appropriate to say that a difficulty they faced was the behaviour of women at a certain time of the month - although they described it in less elegant terms. Everyone was taken by surprise (including the lead facilitator, who was too stunned to take immediate action) and I was particularly shocked that my colleague on that table hadn't prevented what was said from being said, if you see what I mean.

One of the women on my table was especially upset by the comment and, when we went into the next exercise, left me in no doubt as to her feelings. She was particularly concerned that an external facilitator had been on that other table and hadn't, seemingly, done anything to prevent a sexist discussion from taking place. I decided that I ought to discuss the issue with said colleague and discovered that they had been aware of the discussion but, because it reflected, in their view, the current culture of the organization they let it go. They also said that their job as a facilitator is not to prevent conversations taking place nor to prevent groups feeding back what they want to feedback. I have a fundamental philosophical problem with this approach because I agree with Esther Cameron in "Facilitation Made Easy" that a facilitator's job is to remain in control without being overpowering.

Learning point from all this? (Oh, and by the way, the lead did deal with the issue later by pointing out that we are focusing on changing behaviours to help the organization move forward,
and that managers in the organization need to model appropriate behaviours at all times). Well, you never know people as well as you think you do and, even when you've been around a long time and think you've encountered most situations in a facilitated environment, something can still come along and bite you. Essentially, as the heading picture (taken at the Airport Hotel, Freetown, Sierra Leone) shows, it's still a jungle out there and there's a long, long way to go.

Waste of time?

Well, there goes my aim of having a weekly blog - I guess I've just got too much to say!

Went to Newmarket today - been through it before but have never stopped. Anyway, I find the office I'm working in really easily, get parked up, receive a really friendly welcome and directions to the conference room and toddle off there. I'm supposed to be one of three facilitators on site today, one doing a full day and the other two of us doing just the afternoon managing small groups of learners. Anyway, what do I find when I get to the room? I'll put you out of your suspense - not enough delegates, that's what! Why couldn't somebody have told me before I drove the best part of 100 miles to get there? So I spent about half an hour there and came home - roads were really clear, so I made the trip really quickly, but it was (and remains) dashed hot.

So I get home, painter has finished and it looks good and I have a restorative sandwich. I then get an email telling me that a Monday meeting I've got in my diary in early July which I was told was going to be in Birmingham (which I can make with an early start) is now going to be in Warrington, which means I've got to travel on the Sunday. And, what's worse, and a peril of self employment, is that the trip is expenses only. This isn't turning out to be my best day, is it?

However, I go out into the garden (here's a picture of my raised veggie beds taken a bit earlier in the year - they're all full now, the one at back left covered with anti-fox bits of wood has now got broccoli and romanesco in it) and take solace from the fact that most things seem to be growing well and my first tomatoes are on the verge of ripening. Set against the simple pleasures (at least when the foxes are behaving!) of gardening, most of life's little tribulations fall into perspective and I guess that that's my learning point for today.

Week 1 (How imaginative!)

I'm currently working on a couple of contracts for a major postal services company and enjoying myself very much. The programmes are about change and performance management and I love the culture because it reminds me of the MOD - uniformed, bolshie and Theory X! The change stuff is particularly interesting because I'm working with groups of other facilitators (some good, some not so good!) managing 50+ delegates. It's very "sheep-dippy" but what the client wants and it's interesting to see other people's styles. The delegates are great, mostly front-line operational managers and there's lots of banter but we're achieving good outcomes and getting good feedback - which is nice. To help with my own learning and understanding, I've arranged to visit a couple of the company's local operating sites in a week or two's time and will report back when I've been. Oh yes, and I'm working mostly locally in Kent, Surrey and Sussex except for a trip to Preston and am notching up new places where I've never worked before - Tunbridge Wells and Crawley among them.

Other hot stuff is that I'm about to start delivering a CIPD accredited programme in October and am required by the company I'm doing it for to provide a PDP. I actually took some time to think about it and delivered the PDP on time today. In it I included the fact that I was considering doing a coaching qualification and I've actually signed up for a programme this afternoon. Sadly, it's not until November (can't do the earlier one because I'm working) but it'll be interesting to see how it goes. Oh yes, and I also said that one of my developmental goals was to start keeping a blog again!

Not a lot else going on outside work. Spent last weekend in our lovely brand spanking new mobile home by the sunny Sussex sea and have been busy at home fighting foxes and wood pigeons. The latter have been pinching raspberries but have been easily dealt with by the judicious (oh, Colin, where are you now?!) application of a bit of netting. The former are nasty malodorous scum who take great delight in destroying anything they can get their teeth into - and anything that gives them the option to dig up my vegetables, particularly brassicas, they especially enjoy. Or am I anthropomorphising too much? I just wish that the bleeding hearts out there would stop feeding and encouraging the blighters.

OK, I guess that'll do for a week - need to go and offer the roofers a cuppa, its blummin' hot up there today!

Return of the Bradford Blogger!

This all comes about because I used to blog semi-privately on a social networking site which was used by my MEd Cohort at Bradford University (and guess what, that's us at our graduation on the left!). Originally, I set out to use the blog as a reflective medium for my learning, but it soon became much more than that. A reflective tool, yes, but also a place to discuss what I'd been doing (boring things like work and gardening) and, just as importantly, to receive the views and comments of cohort colleagues - and also for me to comment on their blogs. Interestingly, there's research (I'll look up the reference for a future blog) that shows that learners who engage in social networking tend to do better academically than those who don't. And blow me, guess what? The two of us who blogged the most also did the best. Strange but true.

Anyway, we all graduated in 2009 and, gradually, our use of the former networking site fell into misuse. Eventually, some of us transitioned to, of all things, Facebook, but it's just not the same. I'm hoping to resurrect my old habit of doing a weekly blog for my own satisfaction as much as the entertainment of others, so please watch this space!