Friday November 10th 2023

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: "Those bastards!!!!!"

And I expect you've guessed, I'm talking about the skip-hire company that rented a skip out to our friendly local landscapers this week, you know, Adrian and his brother, who were here in mine and Lois's back-garden on Wednesday and Thursday this week, building us (1) a shed-base and (2) a path to get to it by.

Adrian, our landscaper, seen here in happier times,

seemingly working on one of our neighbours' flower-beds,

but all the while secretly developing "the vision" for our shed-base and path

Adrian's (overly-grand?) vision for how our back garden could look, 

if it just had (1) a shed-base and (2) a path to get to it by. 

What do YOU think of Adrian's "vision"? Some would say "too grand and ambitious by far", but Lois and I like to embrace the ambitious, so that's all right!

[That's not what I heard about you two 'noggins'!  Ed]

How did that poem go? You know, that one, "Shed Fever" by poet-laureate John Masefield?

Fabulous stuff, isn't it !

John Masefield (1878-1967), poet laureate and, like Dylan Thomas 

and all truly great poets, a notorious "shed enthusiast"

But back to the skip-hire guys. 

Those bastards!!!! Don't get me started on the skip-hire guys!!!! [Don't do it then! - Ed]

Well, seeing that you're obviously interested, for starters, on Wednesday morning the skip-hire guys didn't drop the skip off, as Adrian wanted and as they had promised - and when Adrian rang them, they told him it would probably come the following day (Thursday), the result being that work on our shed-base had to stop at midday and Adrian and his brother had to clear off and do a bit of work on somebody else's garden for the afternoon. 

Then, about an hour after Adrian and his brother had gone for the day, the skip suddenly arrived while Lois and I were in the back of the house having our lunch.

flashback to Wednesday midday - the skip hire guys eventually drop off

an empty skip after Adrian and his brother had already given up

on them, and had cleared off for the day - what madness!!!!

And then this morning, when the landscaping work was all done, Lois and I had planned to add to the contents of the half-full skip by dumping in it a lot of our own personal rubbish-items that we no longer want. But the skip-hire guys thwart us again by arriving super-early to take it away, at some time between 7 and 8 am, before we were even dressed.

What utter madness !!!!

What is it about skip-hire guys? Are they trying to be annoying? I think we should be told, don't you?

[That's enough about skip-hire guys! - Ed]

14:30 Time for the monthly meeting on zoom of Lynda's local U3A "Making of English" group - at least it used to be Lynda's, but she's officially resigned and we're without a designated leader at present, and everybody's secretly hoping that somebody else will volunteer to replace her. Oh dear!

Lynda, our former "Making of English" group leader (centre), seen here in happier times,

sporting her "mock-Hawaiian" tee-shirt, and taking part in an "old-codgers"  ukulele concert

Cynthia is "in the chair" this month. And the programme for today's meeting is as follows:

(1) Cynthia talking about the use of English in Shakespeare's Macbeth Act III Scene V and VI, (2) me talking about Henry V Act 4 Scene 1, (3) Joe talking about the use of English by Elizabethan author Robert Greene (1558-1592), when he suddenly realises that he's led a sinful life and he's going to go to hell when he dies, and (4) and (5) Barb and Maggie talking about the dreadful scenes in 1606-7, when the Danish king, Christian IV and his wife were making frequent visits to the British court, and all the drunkenness and sexual shenanigans that went on at the palace, all at the expense of Parliament and (ultimately) the British taxpayer etc etc.

I bet you wish (privately of course) that YOU TOO had been able to take part, don't you! Take part in our zoom meeting, I mean, not in the shenanigans at the palace, needless to say!

And what a packed programme we've got for this afternoon eh? And indeed it turns out to be too "packed" - there's a lot of malarkey over people joining late or disappearing between "sessions" because of problems with zoom, and also it turns out that Cynthia has a lot to say for Item (1), so much in fact, that we don't in fact have time to cover Items 2 through 5.

What a madness (again) !!!!! [That's enough madness for today, Colin, or I'll send the paramedics to call on you again! - Ed]

16:00 The zoom session finally ends, and it's all a bit of a blur to me now.

One thing that I remember from the meeting, now that I think back, is that I mentioned Bob Dylan's name in the course of the discussion n Macbeth. Can you guess why?

Yes, it's obvious why, isn't it, especially when you consider this passage from Act III scene 6:

Yes, of course it's the phrase "an't please heaven" or as we would say today "if it please heaven", or more colloquially perhaps, "if heaven is okay with it", or "if heaven is on board with this". 

Other group members think this word 'an' is obsolete these days, but I point out the existence of the expression "Ifs, ands and buts".

I also mention Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" (1962).

So there you have it. Is the word obsolete in this sense? The jury's still out on that one. But your views welcome, needless to say - postcards only, no Ph.D. theses this time, please!

[That's enough waffle! - Ed]

21:00 We wind down for bed with the last episode in the current series of "All Creatures Great and Small", although there'll be a Christmas special, apparently.

Tonight, Helen and her sister are worried about their dad, who's been limping around his farmhouse recently.

Later Helen comments to her sister, "Dad would say he's fine, even if his head dropped off".

However, let's just hope that that doesn't happen in the Christmas special, that's all I ask!

Here's a thought, though. The BBC is always looking for ways to save money. Could the "All Creatures" Christmas Special be  a joint special with the Christmas edition of "Ghosts", which famously features a talking severed head.

the severed head from BBC TV series "Ghosts"

Could the severed head from "Ghosts" and the head of Helen's dad have a dialogue on the carpet in the farmhouse, perhaps. Surely a first for television world-wide I would have thought?

I wonder.....!

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz!!!!!