I like being in remarkable good health today considering the amount of beer I put away last night at my wife's friend's wedding 

 

The bride and bridesmaids arrived to a Metallica track and were dressed in black! The wedding cake was also black and the grand march(Scottish traditional first dance at weddings, usually to traditional Scottish dance band music) was a medley of tunes including Ace Of Spades!!! 

 

A good night! 

Despite my post in the "don't like" thread, I do like getting home!  The 405 has done around 700 miles in the past 7 days and coped just as I expected - perfectly!  Plus the Focus is still in one piece having been parked outside our deserted house for 7 days, but the test will be tomorrow when I try to start it!  Hopefully the battery is in good shape, which it should be given that the service history documents it as having been replaced in the past 6 months.

As much as I enjoyed the caravan and being away from my problems for a while, nothing is quite the same as being in your own house, sitting in your own chair surrounded by your own furniture!!

On 03/10/2016 at 11:32 PM, GMX said:

A Focus automatic or a Peugeot?

There is an Mk2 Focus 2.0L Ghia automatic estate in one of the drives I walked past on Brandy's evening stroll tonight with a big "For Sale" sign stuck in the windscreen for £1500.  Although that might be a bit too far away for you

Either, but I'd especially be interested in an old Volvo estate to be honest.  Maybe not as new as our 1999 V40 (although that was a great car), but maybe a 1980s or early 90s model.  My price range is in the lower three digits so no scope for a MK2 Focus unfortunately, but you know me!  I can easily pick up a decent runner for less than £300, especially an older model that the owner has replaced with something newer and just wants rid of.  That's how I got the Focus for £190!

I do like going on a nice 50 mile run in the Focus this morning, around the Surrey hills. Weather was very mild too today!

Only bit I didn't like was achieving only 38 MPG, despite trying to drive very economically.

I do love my car especially since I've had the Bluefin.  Combined with the twin exits and it sounds gorgeous when you boot it and it is seriously quick for a 1.6.  I shall rename her the Ecobeast.  Also love Guy Martin & his programs, he is nuts & an absolute legend

Nutcase! 400mph.!

1 hour ago, Incontro said:

I do like going on a nice 50 mile run in the Focus this morning, around the Surrey hills. Weather was very mild too today!

Only bit I didn't like was achieving only 38 MPG, despite trying to drive very economically.

Oh yeah? That's my patch! Whereabouts did you go? 

I do like harvesting the last of the late maize, another 3 kilos of tomatoes, the first cauliflower of the season and trying to find exactly how many squashes there are.  The squashes have taken to growing through the adjacent hedges, at both ends of the squash plot and up on to the roof of the wood shed.  It's not helped that the skins of the Cha Cha variety are the same kind of green that the hedge's foliage is

Apart from the a handful of Lizzano, Peardrop and Yellow Pear, which have yet to ripen: the tomato season is all but over now.  2016 wasn't a good year for tomatoes, I've been picking them in 2-3 kilo lots every few days.  In a good year it's daily and at the peak period it's 7-8 kilos a day

It's been quite summery here all day, some sheets I put out on the washing line were dry in less than an hour and Brandy's evening stroll was as warm as her morning one. 

i like going out for a ride on a cycle for the first time in 36 yrs and didnt pass out or crash, did 8 miles with a bit of off road before getting home again . then i did like having a nap on the sofa after. 

 

8 mile cycle after 36 years...good luck walking tomorrow!  

On the same vein though, I do like increasing my own walking stamina lately, did 6 miles of 'rough' terrain and hills yesterday and didn't even feel it today.  

On 10/9/2016 at 9:35 PM, chrisroberson99 said:

Oh yeah? That's my patch! Whereabouts did you go? 

Guildford --> Dorking Town (via A25) --> Box Hill --> Leith Hill --> Guildford

Was a bit rushed towards the end as I had other obligations, but will re-do it sometime, and hopefully climb the tower. Supposed to be the second highest hill in SE England.

Weather was nice and sunny, lots of cyclists on the road, but little traffic. And surprisingly didn't encounter a single stupid driver the whole journey!

I do like using the mower as improvised leaf sweeper and mulch maker  All the birch leaves blown off last week are now in the tumbler, nicely chopped up with the lawn mowings  

4 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

On the same vein though, I do like increasing my own walking stamina lately, did 6 miles of 'rough' terrain and hills yesterday and didn't even feel it today.  

Before I got Brandy, I used to walk from sunrise to sunset, once a week.  Obviously, I got a lot further in June and July : than I did in December and January 

Once I got Brandy, my mileage decreased somewhat.  Whereas, I alone would just walk non-stop: Brandy needs to stop and sniff things, run round in a random pattern in a field, investigate other dogs etc..  I don't think we've done more than 27 miles in a day, in the summer  

 

12 hours ago, GMX said:

I do like using the mower as improvised leaf sweeper and mulch maker  All the birch leaves blown off last week are now in the tumbler, nicely chopped up with the lawn mowings  

Before I got Brandy, I used to walk from sunrise to sunset, once a week.  Obviously, I got a lot further in June and July : than I did in December and January 

Once I got Brandy, my mileage decreased somewhat.  Whereas, I alone would just walk non-stop: Brandy needs to stop and sniff things, run round in a random pattern in a field, investigate other dogs etc..  I don't think we've done more than 27 miles in a day, in the summer  

 

27 miles in a day!?   I haven't done 27 miles in the past two years!!

I do like having a few more days off before the return to hell!  Spending today (well, the next few hours at least) relaxing and playing my Roy Orbison records, something I haven't done in months. 

I do like the summery mornings that Brandy and I have one her first walk of the day, completely unlike the Octobers of my childhood.  It was 19°C again on the garage wall when we returned.

I also like taking my body stats a week into my diet and finding my %body fat is down by 0.4% already, or alternatively I'm 7.8lbs lighter and 12.5mm less girthsome: than I was this time last week. 

2 hours ago, jmurray01 said:

27 miles in a day!?   I haven't done 27 miles in the past two years!!

27 miles in a day with Brandy was quite low to what I used to do before Brandy on my own. Which was around 55-60 miles in a day, in the summer and 30-35 during the winter months. 

I once did 68 miles, one day in July, when I wondered exactly how far I could walk, but that wasn't sunrise to sunset.  I left at 4am, in the dark, walked all day and returned, rather knackered and with some involuntary thigh cramping at 11:40pm ish.  Which I think was caused by being a bit dehydrated during the last few hours.

I do like dusting off my wooden spoon and baking for the first time in months!  Just a simple raspberry loaf cake, but it is delicious if I do say so myself...  I don't use weighing scales or any measuring equipment, which I think is my secret to great tasting bakes.  Recipes are a guide only for me, following them to a tee does you no favours.

I do like being at Tesco deli counter just as they were marking down the olives, 12 large tubs for £10.80 instead £54

Which sort of makes up for my voucher debacle (on the I don't like thread)

56 minutes ago, jmurray01 said:

Just a simple raspberry loaf cake, but it is delicious if I do say so myself..

Is that like a courgette/apple/banana/beetroot loaf but substituting with raspberries? 

 

3 minutes ago, GMX said:

Is that like a courgette/apple/banana/beetroot loaf but substituting with raspberries?

Indeed it is, just a regular cake mixture with fresh raspberries mixed in and baked in a loaf tin.  I did one with blackberries a few years ago which was especially good.

first day of new job, went well. they are a bit disorganised and equipment is worn out or non existant lol

Yet another summer like October morning, Brandy was walking quite awkwardly in the fashion of an old doddery dog until one, her Metacam took effect and two, the sun beamed down on her hips - then she started bouncing about like a puppy 

The couriers DPD are the complete opposite of say, Yodel.  I've got delivery coming in by them later today.  So far, I've an email stating it will be delivered between 12:10pm and 1:10pm, a link to a map showing the live location of the van, a phone call in case my internet is down, a follow up text providing me with photo of the driver, his name and the quantity of parcels/package he's got to deliver before mine, mine's No.43, he's currently delivering No.25.  That's even more communicative than UPS and ANC, who provide an email with a delivery slot of an hour but nothing after that.

12 minutes ago, GMX said:

Yet another summer like October morning, Brandy was walking quite awkwardly in the fashion of an old doddery dog until one, her Metacam took effect and two, the sun beamed down on her hips - then she started bouncing about like a puppy 

The couriers DPD are the complete opposite of say, Yodel.  I've got delivery coming in by them later today.  So far, I've an email stating it will be delivered between 12:10pm and 1:10pm, a link to a map showing the live location of the van, a phone call in case my internet is down, a follow up text providing me with photo of the driver, his name and the quantity of parcels/package he's got to deliver before mine, mine's No.43, he's currently delivering No.25.  That's even more communicative than UPS and ANC, who provide an email with a delivery slot of an hour but nothing after that.

DPD are the crème de la crème of couriers, and I've never heard a single complaint about them, nor can I fault them personally.  That's why I always pushed people to use nominated day delivery for M&S orders, because that would mean that it'd be DPD who would deliver, and the item would arrive safely.  Never did I have a customer call complaining about DPD, not once.

DPD always deliver on time because they drive like complete donkeys...  I know its the company forcing them to keep to the time scale but if you're being cut-up or tailgated by a courier it always seems to be a DPD van! 

I find UPS best overall, but you do have to pay a premium for them.

45 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

DPD always deliver on time because they drive like complete donkeys...  I know its the company forcing them to keep to the time scale but if you're being cut-up or tailgated by a courier it always seems to be a DPD van! 

I find UPS best overall, but you do have to pay a premium for them.

I've never experienced that, but then again DPD vans are thin on the ground around here!!  It's mainly Parcelfarce vans I see that demonstrate poor driving ability.

I do like taking Brandy on an extra walk, so I could go and vote in the local election. Initially very slowly as she wanted sniff each every gate post again, but far more thoroughly than earlier, just in case it's aroma had changed from 3 hours previously

On the way back Brandy forgot she's an older dog with arthritis, and started bouncing and leaping and then periodically broke into a sort of gallop.  such are the positive benefits of Metacam for her

DPD arrived 6 minutes into their designated slot at 12:06pm yesterday, they even sent a text to tell me "the courier Aaron with your parcel is outside your house now" just as was opening the door to receive it

On 12/10/2016 at 11:40 AM, TomsFocus said:

I find UPS best overall, but you do have to pay a premium for them.

I tend to use UPS too for my own stuff, but we use DHL for business packages

I've got three ebay packages coming between today and tomorrow, two of the sellers have opted for My Hermes and one is Yodel  I wouldn't have thought Yodel can damage a dog hammock, but you never know, given their record

58 minutes ago, GMX said:

I do like taking Brandy on an extra walk, so I could go and vote in the local election. Initially very slowly as she wanted sniff each every gate post again, but far more thoroughly than earlier, just in case it's aroma had changed from 3 hours previously

On the way back Brandy forgot she's an older dog with arthritis, and started bouncing and leaping and then periodically broke into a sort of gallop.  such are the positive benefits of Metacam for her

DPD arrived 6 minutes into their designated slot at 12:06pm yesterday, they even sent a text to tell me "the courier Aaron with your parcel is outside your house now" just as was opening the door to receive it

I tend to use UPS too for my own stuff, but we use DHL for business packages

I've got three ebay packages coming between today and tomorrow, two of the sellers have opted for My Hermes and one is Yodel  I wouldn't have thought Yodel can damage a dog hammock, but you never know, given their record

I wouldn't be surprised...