Hanging-up his pads.

 

Kimbo has just informed me that TOMORROW (Sunday) will be his final Cricket match. His illustrious Cricketing career is coming to an end.

BUT, there is a bonus. It's not just any old match. For his final match he's playing against ENGLAND.

"BLIMEY!" I said. Playing against ENGLAND!!! That's amazing.

"Yes" he replied "England's over 70's team.

"But you're not over 70" I said in disbelief.

"No, our team are over 50's".

"So some of your team could well be over 70 then!" 

"I doubt it" he replied; laughing.

"Right; so it's you team's over 50's, against ex-England players over 70's team. Who will win?"

"We will, of course" he replied with his usual confidence. "They'll all be using Zimmer frames or disability scooters".

"Well good luck" I said. "Don't let us down".

I don't know if W G Grace, Len Hutton, or Geoffrey Boycott will be playing , but it should be a great match. I'll let you know what happened (depending on the result).

Pool life

 

I probably say the same thing every year, but pool ownership isn't all sipping Pimms, and lounging amidst bikini-clad beauties. There are plenty of downsides.

Firstly the pool has been covered all through the winter months, and the black plastic tarp' will be deep in rotting leaves, about a foot of stinking water, and probably plenty of Frogspawn. It's never a pleasant sight.

After the majority of the leaves have been removed, the water has to be pumped off; I have a small electric pump for this but it gets easily blocked. Once the water is mostly gone, the last of the leaves have to be removed, and the black plastic winter cover taken-off, cleaned, dried, and folded away.

Then, and only then, can one look into the water. Usually it's not too bad, but there are always a few mysteries, dead Frogs, etc, on the bottom, and the whole thing needs to be well cleaned, and the chemicals added. This complete process takes a minimum of two or three days.

Then comes the tidying, cleaning, gardening, etc. 9 months with no attention means that the whole pool area is a mess!

We need to clean all the dirt from the surrounding flagstones (the beach). I now have a Karcher type pressure hose, and it does a great, if time consuming, job. 

By this time things are looking better. If it hasn't rained, it will have taken at least a week, and all that remains is to trim back the overgrowth, cut the wretched flowers/seeds off the Palm trees, and do general tidying.

What will the water temperature be? Well, after opening it tends to be quite low; well under 20 C. If the sun shines it will take a few days to reach our minimum swimming temperature of 22 C. 

I'm NOT looking forward to the task, but at least afterwards it should look like the above!

First Car.

My grandson, Suave Harve, has just passed his driving test (at first attempt), so the search is on to buy him a cool, simple, and reliable car.

Kimbo found this beauty on a Moroccan web site. It's a 1986 Renault 4, which has served its life as a Radio outside broadcast car. It was offered at 10,000 Dirhams (about £2,000).

Just imagine the looks you'd get, driving around in this!!! It's the epitome of COOL. I've owned a Renault 4 myself, and they are great cars. Very easy to tinker with, and lots of fun. The fabulous advertising is simply an extra bonus.

Kimbo is trying to find someone who'd be willing to drive it up to England (for a generous fee). We're still waiting to hear if anyone will do it.

Coming from Morocco, it'll probably be rust-free too. No Rusty-Renaults for us!

I would have loved this as a first car. I had a VW Beetle instead.

However, being realistic, I think there may be too many obstacles to overcome in order to get it here. We'll see!

On my own personal search I found this below, which I thought he'd like. It's a 3-wheeler Lomax, based on a 1980 2CV. Nice, but not too good in the rain! A bargain at £2,500, but I expect the insurance would be phenomenal.

 

Some Brighton sights. 3. 6. 25.

It was a cool and blustery day, so it was back to wearing jacket and scarf. Not what I was expecting for the third day of June.

I just loved these 'Daisy' type flowers sprouting from the bottom of a gravestone. They simply looked perfect; as if they belonged there.

Further along the path that goes around the exterior of the dog-park I came across this. 'You were here' scratched onto the ground with some Downland Chalk. Thank you to whoever wrote it. I was wondering where I'd been!

Then over the road from the park I saw this. Some bloody idiot had taken his filthy old mattress, and (I imagine at night) had dumped it by the entrance to the churchyard in a newly built flower bed. I'm used to seeing abandoned ironing boards and office chairs, but I've never seen a dumped mattress before in central Brighton. PIGS.

Such things really do make you lose some faith in human nature. 

As someone famously said "Tomorrow is another day".

Diet.

I won't show you the 'before' photo, but I've been on a no-wine-diet since April 22nd. I started at 15 stone 9 lbs, and I now weigh 15 stone 2 lbs. i.e. a loss of 7 lbs  without the aid of pills or potions.

Not a great weight-loss you might say, but I do feel a bit better, and have absolutely no desire to grab a bottle of rouge. 

I SHALL, of course, be drinking wine through the Summer months, but not in the quantities that I previously did. Perhaps one glass with my evening meal, and no more.

Lady M tells me I'm looking less 'bloated', and I think she's right. Looking at this recent photo (above), I think I can see some 'improvement', although in my case almost anything would have been an improvement. 

My aim was to be under 15 stone before the swimming-season. I think I'm still roughly on track.

When I first dip my toe into the pool, I shall weigh 14 stone 13.9 pounds MAXIMUM.

I shall try to stay amongst the 14 stones. I am about 6 ft tall.

 

Tis the season....

Just as we eat Asparagus at least twice a week at the moment (on my shopping days), we are now eating Strawberries even more often.

Whether they be eaten at Wimbledon, Ascot, Glyndebourne, Hickstead, or even at home, a few Strawberries always makes the world a better place. 

We always used to eat them with a very light sprinkling of White Sugar, but we have now changed that to Light Brown Muscovado. It adds another dimension, without spoiling the flavour.

The Garden Strawberry (as we now know it) was originally bred in Northern France in the 1750's, which is probably why my favourite variety remains the French Gariguette (below) with it's distinctive upward pointing 'crown'. We buy ours (in France) from a lovely lady who runs a roadside stall. 

Gariguette are amongst the very best flavoured fruits, with a hint of wild Strawberry, and an unrivalled aroma.

I do have a few Strawberry plants in France, which are in pots. There are always a few fruits on them, but only enough to grab one or two whilst passing. I really should plant some more; they look after themselves whilst we're away.

 

Foolish pedestrian gets instant karma

It's Sunday, so we need something light-hearted to start the day.

What was the point of shouting and gesticulating at a motorist who has just stopped at a red light to let you cross the road?

This silly man deserved everything he got. Watch it several times. Enjoy!