TANKED

SATURDAY Went out to Tong Aquatic centre and bought a 300w heater with a plastic case to stop the fish burning their skin on the exposed heater I also bought  a two line air pump , a circular ball shaped air stone and a long slim air stone to give a curtain effect along with  5 metre of air tubing  for the base of the aquarium 3 bags of white coral sand and for the outside enough vinyl to do the two sides black .

Bought £200 worth of ocean stone of a good friend for £20 he wanted to give us free of charge ,  so the £20 was a token jester on our part , Ken my friend across the way got his son to put us a double electrical socket on the wall were tank is going to be  situated I gave him £30 for a hours work which I was a fair price for a job well done .

We need new lighting with night and daylight tubes and an external  filter that is powerful enough to clean 400 litres of water a hour our tank is only 198 litres so it will filter the whole tank twice every hour .
Went to the Wetherby Whaler for our tea I had battered haddock and chips Helen had scampi I know its a little bit ironic I know eating fish but we love fish .

SUNDAY
Went to another aquarium outlet at Bradford bought some mango wood to contrast with the ocean rock , they had loads of discuss fish but not many cichlids .When we got home we taped the black backdrop into place and bleached the rocks in the sun to try and get them whiter  than what they are we also finished the mango wood it will go at the front of the tank ,
Watched a few episodes of "Tanked" Steve Aoki three headed dragon tank he has an amazing house and Dj Ashba skull tank for his store in the Stratosphere in Vegas .

PROGRESS PROGRESSING

Yesterday dropped the car off at the garage for 08:15 for its M.O.T inspection , thought I would walk into Holmfirth for a cooked breakfast a full English not to be nowhere opened its doors before ten .
I had to settle for a hot coffee and a apple crumble slice from a bakery more healthy but not what I had in mind.
Anyway unbelievably the car sailed through the M.O.T received an advisory of new front pads  and disc's but nothing else I also taxed the car for a year so we are road legal for the next twelve months .
I have it booked in next week to see why it is scrubbing rear tyres there is something not right still but can leave it  month or two to save enough money to get the repairs done.
I bought new discs and pads for the front Ken my neighbourhood will fix them for me .

Got a black skin put on to the fish tank and its base unit looks so much better the the teak look will look better when it has gravel and rocks in , we are getting electric socket fixed tomorrow so we have a power supply for it so it is progressing in another month it will be good .

FRIDAY
Day off work going to Lee's my daughters boyfriend 30th birthday party should be a good night .
Apple are killing off the iPod nano and Shuffle be a good time to buy and put away reckon in ten years time you be quids in .

NEXT FEW DAYS

Watching The Beatles videos on You tube being nostalgic got to admit whatever your age someone loves a certain Beatles record or at least one of the solo releases a lot are timeless .

Weekend looming not sure what we are doing not even sure what we are eating cash is sparse till pay day we have some food and some cash could do with fifty quid more never mind such is life .

Going to buy plenty of mince both lamb and beef as well as pork chops a couple of joints of beef and brisket some bags of sprouts , swede , garden peas , mash potatoes Yorkshire puddings and roast potatoes it has been a while since we had a decent proper Sunday dinner .

Had a trip out to another Aquatic shop in a garden centre at Crofton we saw a nice prism light for the inside of the tank it submerges and you can change the colour of the light using a remote from pink .blue to red ,orange , purple  and green ,the ocean rock they are currently selling looked a bit broken up .

SUNDAY
Went for another Indian meal at the littlest curry house in Crossgates the food was a good has the last time we went this time we took some cider , we had the Buffet classic Indian food for a tenner a head  thanks Anne and Alan .

MONDAY
Last six - two shift until next week I have Friday off work going to a birthday bash my daughters boyfriend is 30 years old the party is at Kippax .
Ended up cleaning three operating Theatres last night due to staff shortage unbelievable .

Cancelled some direct debits last week just in case the car costs more than expected getting it through its M.O.T Thursday I have already got letters and phones calls and in theory I have missed no payments just stopped the out going direct debits harassment or what .If the car costs less than expected I will re-instate the direct debits and pay the due amounts owing if not I will be a month behind on payments .

SHIFTS

Booked the car in for its mot on Thursday next week at Holmfirth garage where I use to take it when I lived in Holmfirth village I think they are fair and will do a decent job should anything need doing .

I have more six - two shifts to do I have had this coming Monday added and the following week another six days is good it should make a half decent wage for the following month which I will need more so depending on what I have to pay getting the car sorted .

I am averaging five hours sleep to six hours sleep a night which is interrupted with the cats either wanting to go out or come in so I am loosing out on sleep but I am managing , if I was to do it long term I would have to get up a lot later in the morning that I am doing now . I might get a few more weeks things are not really going to change until October .A good thing working at six at night is I am only having one meal a day usually around half past four in the afternoon which is good and I am not really getting hungry through the day or whilst I am at work .

Completed season four of "Game Of Thrones" I have to admit it has to be one of the best tv series I have seen "Breaking Bad " was good I enjoyed it but the story line agree sex killing are done just right although I can understand some people not liking them .

HAIR CUT

Arrived home just after half past two in the early hours of this morning went to bed just after three .
We drove over to Ferrybridge to look at some Cichlids and other stuff he should us some better filtration systems and air pumps we need a double air one so we can have a curtain of bubble at the rear of the tank and a smaller curtain or a ring of bubble in one corner  at the front of the tank .

I manage to cut out the plastic corner filter and housing unit  for the heater and filter pads which was in the corner of the tank , I ended up cutting through the silicone that held it in place they was four spots on each side I used a bread knife and it took all of five minutes it was a lot easier than I thought it would be , I then scraped the residue of the inside of the tank with a Stanley craft blade sorted .

I panelled the glass partition either side using white faced hardboard gluing it into place with a grab adhesive I then painted them both to match the living room walls it looks a lot better ,We also bought a twin 13amp wall socket we have enough wire to spur off an existing socket go down and back up the other side of the van .

SUNDAY
We went to my daughters she coloured and cut Helen's hair she also cut my hair and she also cooked us dinner she is unbelievable she has grown up in to one great women I am very proud of her and her achievement specially when she travelled New Zealand and Australia I thought she was very brave no way I could do all that flying .

Determined to catch up with the Game of Thrones need to finish season four then should start eating in to season five .

Listening to - Imagine Dragons and Kasabian .

Reading - " The Couple Next Door ".

Eating - Chili and Jacket spuds and cheese .

LATES

Back at work started at six working until two in the morning it was organised chaos well understaffed had to make do with the workers we had .
At least I have two weeks of easy parking which is always a blessing and driving home is quite hardly any traffic .

Priced some ocean rock up £3.99 per kg will look well in the tank specially with a darker back drop .
We have ordered some black matt vinyl wrap to do the edges of the lid and the base of the tank we will get some paint to do the cabinet and both doors leaving the handles original .

WEDNESDAY
Had a call from the Fiat garage about servicing the car told them about the rear axle and they want to inspect it and do a diagnostic on it to see what the problem is they don't think it is the rear axle I beg to differ we will see who is right , I rather it be wrong and it be something else and end up with  a cheaper repair bill .

THURSDAY
Cleaned the fish tank out again washed the filter pads and filter housing ideally I would like to remove the corner housing so we can clean either side of the tank but it is glued in situ  which is a stupid idea .

Started watching "Game of Thrones " again watched three episodes of season four getting back in to it ,

FRIDAY
Last six -two shift of the week looking forward to the weekend catch up on sleep by going to bed at a reasonable time .Hopefully the weather is good my hunt down some tropical fish stores have a look at cichlids .

VERY FISHY

We got the  Juwel 190 corner fish tank and it cost us nothing it was a freebie unbelievably kind gesture from the person doing the giving thank you kind sir ,  Helen is of course over the moon.
We collected it yesterday afternoon tea time , Ken drove over in his Discovery and we got both the tank and base in the back once the seats had been flattened .On Getting home we placed it in the front garden and put the tank on it's base and cleaned it we also  filled it with water and left it over night just to be certain it had no leaks .
In the morning it started to rain we was up at half six emptying the tank into the water butt , I had to take the top of the base unit and the feet off to get it through the door of the van 27" just went through  the entrance any wider and we would have had to take the bottom panel off  too .

I have to admit it looks right at home in the corner of our living room we had to move the bureau and tv and a few other bits to accommodate it but the living room is looking better for it .

We need to get bits and pieces for it some sand and ocean  rocks a back drop for the two sides a new heater as it is shot it will take a few weeks to get it set up right  and Led night lights but we have more than we could have wished for .
Helen damage on of the panels carrying it in  which needs gluing and fixing back in to place and there is a mark on the top of the front lid which is easier enough to fix so all in we are happy , and of course we do need some fish., bright coloured Milawi  Cichlids.

BALLON

We might be getting a corner fish tank which will hold a massive  198 litres which is quite a weight I have supported the underside of the joists getting under the van to spread the weight hopefully it won't look out of place in the corner where the bureau is currently residing  .They are about £750 to buy new and  if it is free will be a great bargain it is more or less nailed on we are getting it .Helen had one years ago she had to get rid off so getting this will be great.

SUNDAY
Early this morning woke up to the weird sound of an hot air ballon over head  , the sound of the burners sounded like a dragon breathing fire , when the burner was not ignited it was silently moving and quite quickly I photographed it heading for Emily mast and passing over our neighbours van .

LAST ONE

Last day off work weekend fast approaching Monday even faster , at least I don't start until six in the evening .I have two weeks doing six till two hopefully with more to follow please .
FRIDAY
 We went to Thorne Park our first visit passed the park loads of times going into Wakefield Trinity .We was there for the classic car show ,cars over 25 years old . There was loads of different vintage cars MG, Bentley , Jaguar , Mini's and Vw's plus a load of American brands .Walking around looking at the restoration was unbelievable load of man hours spent just polishing them .
We saw a very old Fiat 500 it was amazing how much smaller they seemed to be in the olden days more compact then what they are now same with the Mini's.
The Burger Vans where modern and up to date  hopefully the burgers too I had one Helen had a hot dog hopefully no regrets .

HIGHEST BIDS

TUESDAY
Helen's parents came over we took them to Wentworth historic gardens they liked the walled gardens we must have been six times in the last few months , I still love the little stone photo studio and its landscaped garden to the from and sides would make a great small house .

WEDNESDAY
We went to our very first  farmers auction near York with Ken and Sharon  ,it was lie a massive car boot but for farmers they had loads of timber for sale . it was our first time it was worth going just for the breakfast alone .They had everything from old stone statues and grinding stones  to water features ,wrought iron benches mangles and sun dials to tractors and combined harvesters  and hen houses and pigsty's  it was very interesting . Helen kept asking the price of everything and found it hard to believe you could get stuff next to nothing ,  if no one was bidding.

SUN SEA AND FISH AND CHIPS

SUNDAY
We finally made it to costa del Scarborough , we went via Fridaythorpe and Sledmere which cut a lot of the A64 motorway out it was more scenic and not as busy although it was  slightly longer .

We parked up on Marine drive it was sunny with a nice sea breeze it cost £6.00 for 24 hour parking which was more than fair we walked in to the south beach past the lighthouse and piers .

Although it was cloudy mid morning it was still sunny and warm the breeze blowing in from the sea made walking pleasurable . As a Child we use to park on Marine drive nearly every Sunday and walk to the beaches at both end of Marine drive .

My sister Anne and her husband Alan was in Scarborough  they had come on his Bmw motorbike we meet up outside the lifeboat station and went for lunch of course we had fish and chips .
We walked into the town bit past King Arthur's tattoo shop I had a skull and cross bones done there years ago .
Went on the trolley tram to take us up from the spa back to the top so we could walk across spa bridge also referred to the suicide bridge too many people have jumped to their deaths .

These trams have operated from 1881 an amazing 136 years I would love to go back in time and take a ride in that era be amazing .

TWO NEW HIPS

Been up since before 4 am can't sleep wondering what to do with the car and does it really need a new axle , it needs new tyres and they be good for around three months then I should be ok driving it at least it will be legal until I can fixed next month but won't know for sure until this coming Monday .
At least I don't have to worry about work next week I have next week on leave the I do go back I am working six two for the first two weeks which will boost my wages I need more of these shifts , seeing that they are paid at night rate for the whole of the shift it is a lot better than working nights which there is currently a vacancy on nights .

Life sometimes id difficult and needs putting in perspective if it is the rear axle then I need to buy one of eBay , then  pay or get someone to fit it for me cheaper than £1250 which I reckon is very achievable. I can do this with my next pay cheque or the following one it is hard juggling money some months , not having a mortgage or massive rent to pay each month helps .

 .
FRIDAY
Had two new rear tyres fitted at a cost of £70 they are part worn put with thicker treads hopefully they will last a few months , I also had them confirm that the axle and torque bar is bent and that I have the option but to fit  new rear axle I have been quoted around £350 it takes four to five hours of labour to take the old one out and fit the new one , be like having two new hips fitted , as for my new hip so far so good .
Helen had a party to do in Heckmondwike for five people I dropped her off went home and watched tv until it was time to pick her up again just before midnight .