KEEPING TIME

SATURDAY

Set off from Flockton to go pick up and pay for the Westminster clock and of course to see it and hear its chimes for the first time that had  Helen bought through the week off Ebay .
The morning was very sunny and we headed for the A64 bound for the city of York to Kirkbymoorside .There is a roundabout after all the exits for York there is three or four that you always get tail backs it is controlled by traffic lights and it takes forever some times no cars will get through it can take a hour to do a few miles today was no better .

The turn off we needed was the one for Castle Howard you drive past the impressive Carlisle monument this is called the straight it is around 6.5 km long .

This road has to be one of the best drives it is just so grand and impressive and of course straight you drive past an obelisk and two further gates that will only allow one car at a time to pass through .

We kept driving on this road there is no need to rush there is so much to see and it is always quite we had one car pass us the coming way.It would have been great to get out of the car and take some photos these ones here I took off the Internet and our not my own .

About half an hour later we had reached our destination of Kirkbymoorside a small Yorkshire village .We parked up easily there was no charge for parking and  the shop was only  a few hundred yards away it was still sunny and it seemed hotter here  it was just after one in the afternoon we meet with Paul the owner and he showed us the chime mechanism and wound the clock up ,  there is three winding holes and it is shaped like Napoleons hat I have to admit it did sound real grand it has a lovely tone and the chime is made by five striking hammers . After we had paid he took off the pendulum weight you should always do this when transporting the clock and we took it back to the car then we went for dinner at the Lemon Tree fish and chip shop which is a take away and restaurant we ate them outside on tables on the pavement and i have to say they are really nice fish and chips and the curry sauce is to die for.

We took the scenic way back and we stumbled upon The Star Inn at Harome it is a Michelin star restaurant after already eaten we decided to stop for a cider Helen had a tea the gardens was lovely it was well maintained and they grow a lot of their own veggies to use  and serve in the restaurant .

Helen drinking her cuppa tea i had a cider the beer garden was well kept they also had a roof garden i think food is quite expensive but it did look nice but small portions i quite like the Jeepers Creepers character too.

After leaving the Star inn we continued our journey home once again we went through a market town we have never stopped off at before so we park up we were now at Helmsley we spent a our looking at some of the shops and had a walk up to the castle not sure how old it is we did not do the tour as it was getting late and we was going out for a meal with our friend Erin so we made tracks home .

We made it home in time for supper and we went to one of the Vintage Inns the Sovereign all three of us had the mixed grills which was filling and cooked to perfection another great meal two in one day after eating this i just wanted to go home and chill out .

Helen and I about to tuck in after a long day we both need this i have to say i cleared my plate should have got bread and butter with it .

The clock above the fire place in its new home chiming away happily keeping time .

ZTE FOR ME

Bought a Minimalist leather wallet for £5.99 of Ebay of course I have been using old iPhone 5s case which is getting worn I keep taping it but it is time to throw it away.

I also bought from the supermarket a smaller frying pan to go with the larger one that I  bought the other day I was also thinking of purchasing  a smaller wok as I bought the  large one everyone knows stir frying food is quick and easy and extremely yummy  . Also invested in a decent pair of kitchen scissors and an electric carving knife which make slicing the joints a whole lot easier .

Tomorrow we are going to an antique shop in York to pick up a Westminster chiming clock that chimes the hour quarter past half hour and quarter to hour that Helen bought for £70 of Ebay hopefully we will make a day of it and get to go round York it has been a few months since we have been there.

Another phone i have been looking at is a Zte Axon 7 which apparently sport a wicked pair of front facing speakers  decent battery and camera as well as storage see here it looks the dogs bollocks https://www.zteusa.com/axon-7

CHEESY BUT HOT

SATURDAY
Loving Mexican cheese that I bought I got a block rather than a packet of slices and it is great for burgers or a extra cheese topping on pizza.
Bought four ice cold tins of cloudy cider and I manage to bring three of them in a couple of hours .I and cut the grass done the edges with the trimmer and sucked all the cuttings up with the garden vac then watered all the garden and the pots .
After I had finished I  had a cold shower and a hot cup of coffee.

TUESDAY
A friend we use to work with came over to see us she came with her daughter and her daughters husband after going totally the wrong way they found us they loved where and how we lived so much so the husband offered us £75,000 next year when he gets some money through , i was not there if that was the cash we will have more or less doubled our money should we sell .

WEDNESDAY
Pay day we will do some food shopping and buy some goodies to drink and eat  ,we will also stock up on certain items coffee is on offer,  cider is on offer and i need more coconut ice cream .

Listening to  - Jon Bellion "Human Condition".

ICE FROM JAPAN

IT IS HOT too hot i have to g to work in a sweat red hot office no air no ventilation and uncomfortable we should have air con and free ice cold water .The temperature hit 35 degrees hotter than Spain and Athens .
I count the days until my two week holidays even thou we are going nowhere we will at least have to make it to the coast ,
Still not heard anything about my blue badge for my disabled parking it has been two weeks since my assessment i should hear soon i hope ,

THURSDAY
I have not got my blue badge i scored 9+ I needed a 12+ to get the  badge failed by only 3 points but  I will reapply in a years time.

I found this ice cream in a local supermarket Lidl it is from Japan is served in coconut shells because it is coconut ice cream if it is one thing i adore is coconut ice cream and this is the boss , two half shells for £1.79p what value its taste is gorgeous but of course only if you like coconut .

BEEN THERE GOT THE T-SHIRT

TFIF
I washed the car I hosed it down and washed it with Turtle Wax car shampoo i did not wax it , it is a black car and looks good when it is dirt free specially at night .

I took Pip out yesterday and George our ginger tom cat followed us  he has done this before no big deal , and he knows his way home.This was in the morning around ten o clock it was hot and sunny  , Helen went looking for him at around 21.00 hrs he been out all day no food no water .

He was in a field of rap seed oil plants and was  stood  there crying for some reason not moving he had been there all day , what was going through his head and why he was transfixed there I have no idea why , the farmer had his combine harvester ready to cultivate the field the following day he would have been cat mince .I think George is now down to seven lives .

SATURDAY
Went food shopping bought really nice beef burgers and Mexican chili jalapeno cheese slices to go on top also bought stir fry veg and fresh egg noodles and some quality chicken breast.

SUNDAY
Washed all the windows in the van also washed some of the van or parts of it then i had a shower ,
Drove over to my Daughters house she was colouring Helen's  hair. She was also cooking us Sunday dinner we had roast pork and roast potatoes we also had apple crumble and ice cream delicious.
I think it is the first time we have had Sunday dinner cooked for us other than dining out at a pub or restaurant .

I learned my son has lost his driving  license through drink and driving , his insurance is going to triple when he gets his license back in twelve months has he is still not talking to me i can only guess he is gutted living where he does it  is going to make life very difficult but at the end of the day the law is the law he broke it now he pays the price , I know how bad it feels I have been there done that and got the t-shirt  , I learned from my errors hopefully he will too.

He also has solicitors fees of £900 he was told they could get him off so it was a very expensive night out plus he will have a fine to pay and court costs.

WATCHING - Mr Robot season two.

LISTENING TO - U2

NO CONTRACT ON ME

I phoned my mobile provider Three and cancelled my phone contract which means no upgrade no new phone .
I have switched to a sim only plan which has dropped the cost from £48 a month to only £9 a month and is set for one year  rather than two years .

I have been looking at various phones Leagoo Shark , Cubot and Oppo so far i am favouring the Leagoo Shark with a 6300 mah battery at a cost of around £155 .The Cubot is cheaper and the Oppo 3 about twice the cost of the Shark ,  at the end of the day it is a phone and of course i know own the iPhone 5s i am currently using .

I got sick of being brained washed that you must have the latest phone , this generation , this years model or this years newest  release. I now feel that  it is all hyped advertisements making you feel you are lacking in social status because the phone you are using god forbid is two years old.

If get a Android phone i might look at getting a new Android tablet s well i thought the Google Nexus tablet was a great machine as good as any other model out there for about half the cost of a Apple .

BARBEQUE 2

As far as i can tell my assessment for my blue badge went alright it will be a fortnight before I know if my application has been approved or declined .

Started watching Game of Thrones once again I started on series three so far its been very good seen four episodes it does seem to get better and better , although it is gory and violent the storyline is gripping .

SATURDAY
It is the end of my week off work back to the grind Monday cant be arsed with it , Helen's brother goes back under the surgeons knife his kidney transplant is not working fluid is building up in his body and he is retaining water his arms legs etc have swollen to twice their normal size on of his main senior surgeons is all for operating the other senior surgeon apparently not .

SUNDAY
Went over to my nephews house in Bramley Leeds it was his mother's , my sister birthday mid week so it was decided to have a barbecue this Sunday.
The food was great really nice chicken ,  burgers ,  sausages , and kebabs with chocolate cake and strawberry gateau for desert .
We had the tv on to see Andy Murray win Wimbledon for the second time in his career which was good .
The weather was sunny then cloudy then sunny with intermittent showers of rain but we still had a laugh and a good time .Second barbecue of the year .

HAYFEVER WOES

SATURDAY - Off for a whole nine days and i am going to love every one because i rather be at home than at work .Even if the weather today is no better in fact it is mid morning and it is raining again.

Thankfully in the end we did get quite a bit of sun , went looking at tv's amazing picture quality still think Samsung are great tv's also looked at laptops , dab radio's and coffee machines nearly bought another Amazon fire stick for the bedroom but left it . Went to the Whereby Whaler restaurant for fish and chips we are getting quite regulars .

SUNDAY
My hay fever is back with a vengeance I have not had it as bad as this in a few years my eyes steaming , nose running ,  head thumping and to top it of no Priton tablets. I  drove myself  over to the supermarket the winding roads with major bends is no fun when every sneeze causes a major concern luckily I made it ok and bought the tablets .I really use to hate summer from April to end of August i use to get the dreaded hay fever I use to suffer immensely.

MONDAY
Hay fever just has bad I guess it will be a good twenty fours hours before the tablets I  am taking kick in .

TUESDAY
Hay fever is ok everything seems to be fine no more symptoms
Charlie our friend from Holmfirth called over to drop his girlfriend Katie of for a reading whilst we went to the pub for a couple of ciders.

WEDNESDAY
Power washed all the concrete paths around the van the van is forty foot long and ten foot wide we have quite a lot of the hard stuff to wash down using a nose that gives one  inch width of jet can take a while , I was absolutely soaked my feet and trousers from the knee down was wringing wet  I need it to dry so i can then go over it with the hose and yard brush to get rid of all the debris , that's a job for tomorrow . After I have been for my assessment for my blue badge parking permit fingers crossed if I am eligible then  no more parking woes at work ever again