Zone Doubt, a.k.a. 'Surreal Я Us'...

Joules, trusted by... dozens... to make a drama out of your crisis...

Other sites:

:: JAT :: WaveWrights :: Publications ::

I live to write. It's not wise to get in my way.

... I'd write my autobiography, but no-one would believe it....


If you come across any words you don't recognise in this blog, take a look at the Taylorspeke Glossary in the left-hand infopane, you'll usually find a definition there.


The Poppy Tales

(Transformers fanfiction!)

Transformers mini-comics here.




Adventures in Orchids

Apparently I am now collecting them...

There's room for one - or maybe two, at a pinch - more on that bedroom windowsill (the only one in the house that's ideal for them). Let's see what I find. Well, that didn't last long...


EO - Everlasting orchid. Phalaenopsis. I've had this orchid since 2007 and it just keeps flowering...







AO - Alien face orchid. Phalaenopsis . Bought 2018 - lovely little flowers, all different patterns!





RO - Rescued orchid photo to come when it flowers. Phalaenopsis. Rescued from a bin up the road in 2019. Classic!






TO - Tiny orchid. Phalaenopsis. Bought at Tesco 21.8.20. It just begged to come home with me. How could I say no?





CO - Crimson orchid. Cambria. Another Tesco find. This one may be going to live in Ken's room once we've redecorated and put up the new shelving; it prefers a cooler, less sunny windowsill. If so, I'll need to find another cambrian to keep it company.






GO - Golden orchid. Phalaenopsis. Saw this one when I bought CO and left it behind - then immediately regretted it as soon as I got home. Never seen one like it before. Ken, bless him, went back over to Tesco in the rain and bought it for me...





DO - Dendrobium Orchid. Smells of wisteria, so beautiful...











RO2 - Rescued orchid no 2. Phalaenopsis. This is the one I rescued from the wall along the road middle of 2021.








PO. Pink orchid. Phalaenopsis. This is the one I bought at Cabury Garden Centre on special, late 2021. It's much happier here!










TWO. Teeny weeny orchid, Phalaenopsis. Rescued from Tesco end 2021 (I think).




















My IMDb ep summaries

(completed)
Arthur of the Britons
Sky
Star Maidens
The Starlost
Space Rangers
The Sentinel (part: seasons 2 and 3)
Swamp Thing (part: season 3)
Gravedale High
Transformers: Armada
Transformers: Energon
Transformers: Cybertron (part)
Misfits of Science (four eps)
Zoo Gang
Zodiac
Jupiter Moon
Transformers: Beast Wars (part: seasons 2 and 3)
Transformers: Beast Machines (part)
Vampire Princess Miyu
Starhyke
Nathan Barley
No Heroics
Undermind (3 eps)
Will Shakespeare (Tim Curry version)
Nightwalker
12 Kingdoms
Trigun (ep 8)
Rayearth
Hyperdrive (season 2 ep 3)
The Café

For later:

Missing Earthian ep
Missing Haibane Renme eps


Silver birch at Eastwood 

Farm

"Autumnal - nothing to do with leaves. It is to do with a certain brownness at the edges of the day... Brown is creeping up on us, take my word for it... Russets and tangerine shades of old gold flushing the very outside edge of the senses... deep shining ochres, burnt umber and parchments of baked earth - reflecting on itself and through itself, filtering the light. At such times, perhaps, coincidentally, the leaves might fall, somewhere..."

(Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Act 2: Tom Stoppard)

Autumn...

I love this time of year. I love the colours, the sharp slant of sunlight on the trees, mosaics of acid-yellow and harts- blood, velvet and darkness and a haze of mist-grey over the hills. I love its immanence, its mellowness, the tang of frost just around the corner of the year...

Watching the little birds in the goat-willow in my garden, I realised something more.

I love this land with a fierce, possessive love, deep-rooted in two thousand years of history. From the frosted beaches and cloud-brushing peaks of the north to the wind-haunted meanderings of the rivers of the east, from the sensuous rolling patchworked hills of the south to the demanding dark moors of the west, this land seeps into bone and blood and synapse, mother of motley nobility, culture, individual freedoms. It can be known. It can be understood. It can be felt deep inside.

I love its effortless eccentricities, its vigour and vibrancy, its flawed perfections, its silent strength and tenacious resilience, its hard-won tolerances and intense and variable beauty, the profound energy in its sacred mythical landscape.

Home and more-than-home, the forces that shape and protect and bind, in me, as I am in the land. Love returning love in the stillness for those who'll only take the time to listen...

(Joules, Autumn 2004)


All photographs taken by Joules unless otherwise specified. All photographs © Joules A Taylor or other specified individual.


In Memoriam

17.03.09 - Argent

25.07.08 - Raptor

18.12.07 - Quyn

02.12.06 - Ryme


Currently enjoying:
Muse
Transformers - IDW, Prime, Animated, Rescue Bots, Earthspark.

Currently reading:
Cixin Liu - newest favourite author.
Ben Miller. wow. Just, wow...


Currently working on:
Haadri
Dystopic novel starring Devon from Dystopia

Currently chuffed with:
My garden

Currently miffed at:
Effing BND (you know who I mean)
Nestlé, TFG Tinyhands Fart, Toadface Farage

Currently maintaining:
Wavewrights, on and off...
BCHS
BCW


Blog Pics
I've gathered some of my pages of photos together: the page of links is here. I'll be adding more as time goes by!




Evil Squid
A Little Glossary of Taylorspeke
(in no particular order)

plit popints - n. Typo for 'plot points' typed on a keyboard with more than half the characters worn off...

[PING] (alt [ping]) - n. A brainwave. The text equivalent of a lightbulb going on blindingly over someone's head. Usually mine. And usually at the most inconvenient of times. [sigh]

TPTB - The Powers That Be.

wulmet - n. A person of little or no talent who somehow inveigles himself into a position where he is in power over other, far more talented people and uses his position to downplay them in order to try to make himself feel superior.

biteable - referring to an anatomical part vb, tasty.

Flatterfed - vb. 27.02.08: my typo for flattered, but since it's so cutely apt I thought it would fit nicely here. Lutra defined it as "the lovely warm feeling of satisfaction resulting from enthusiastic reviews..." (which I've been getting for my MB fics).

Composted - vb, 'compos mentis', mentally capable of working. Contrast with uncomposted or non- composted, not 'compos mentis', not capable of working, hungover...

Cumbles - n, cucumbers.

Kewp - how Ken says 'thank you'. We rather like Lutra's 'nanx', too...

Musekick - noun, music, without which I cannot work.

'feinne - noun, caffeine, essential for correct mental functioning, especially first thing in the morning. I prefer mine in the form of SodaStream Diet Coke. And on that subject...

Skoosh - verb, noun. To skoosh - to add CO2 to a sodastream bottle filled with water to make it fizzy, prior to adding Diet Coke syrup (or just drinking as sparkling water). A skoosh - a bottle of water that has been skooshed. Skooshy - something that has been skooshed, water, or that whipped cream that comes in tins you have to shake then upend and press the nozzle...

Shoogle - verb. To shake gently, for example, of roast potatoes in a roasting tin to ensure they're covered with oil. I have vague memories of this being a real Scottish colloquialism...

Stegasaurus - n, spider of the genus tegenaria. Why? No idea. I just find it easier, that's all...
Edit 08.09.07: Lutra thinks that Brian is a good name for a mini-stegasaurus. From now on, any 'Brian's in the posts may be assumed to be a tegenaria. Except where otherwise specified.

Viterals - noun, vitamins + minerals. Also a pun on victuals.

Splish - verb. A combination of slosh and splash.

Parrots - noun, paracetemol (from the old joke "Why are there no aspirin tablets in the jungle? Because the parrots eat 'em all...")

Maggles - noun, magpies. As opposed to non-magical people.

Flamewings - noun. Swifts. So called because the first time we became aware of them was an early summer evening when they were flying high, the light from the setting sun seemingly turning their wings to flames. Lovely little birds. We always know summer's arrived when we hear their high-pitched squeeing.

Murfs - noun, moths.

Peasant cut - noun, roughly cut up into big chunks, e.g. vegetables chopped in a hurry for a hearty stew or soup. By extension, anything prepared in a hurry - haircut, material, even a first draft of a story...

Giraffe - noun, a carafe (of wine, coffee or water, for example).

Shrumps - noun, mushrooms.

Splings - noun, Kai's spelling homework: by extension, any spelling.

Tyops - noun, typos. var toyps, typso, psyto, psoyt, etc. Usual result of a dose of the fingerials (see next entry).

Fingerials - (pr. fin GEEE ree yalls) noun, fingers that will not type what you want them to.

Haddock - noun, time, of which I never have enough. (Origin of this term here.)

Sleep - noun? vb? a.k.a. sheeeeeeeeep.... I used to know what this word meant...


The Updates Blog

The place to stay notified of WaveWrights' Fiction updates: Zone, Darkside, DarkRealm, Matrix, Vault, Safehouse 13...




my computer gremlin Butch. click the pic to see the larger image

Butch, my computer gremlin. Click the pic for larger version, and read his adventures here...

Butch by the talented 

Sylverthorne

A gift for me! Butch by the very talented Sylverthorne. Click pic for larger image.

Joules' 

Haddock

This is MY haddock. It was caught exclusively for me by Talon. No, you can't have any. I need all the haddock I can get!!



A'lestrel by Valkyrie.

A'lestrel - a gift for me from Valkyrie...



Albino Alsatian Benten (c) MEBird 

2004

Another gorgeous Valkyrie gift for me - Benten the Albino Alsatian! Click thumbnail for larger image.

Radittsu, an oekaki for my birthday 04 

by 

Onna

Oekai by Bakayaro Onna - Radittsu at his sexiest...



The Zone Plant from
The Zone 

blog 

plant

OrganicHTML (which alas no longer seems to exist...)
[::..My Regular Reads..::]
:: Astronomical Pic of the Day [>]
:: What is Space... [>]
:: Dark Roasted Blend [>]
:: BLDG [>]
:: Watchismo Times [>]
[::..Fun Places..::]
::HubbleSite
Stunning...
::PALEOMAP Project
Absolutely fascinating.
:: Skymap
Check out the night sky where you are!
[::..Useful Sites..::]
:: GreenNet
First stop for environmental matters
:: The Forest of Avon
Our local community forest and places to visit
:: The Guardian
Online Guardian Newspaper.
:: Symbols
Exactly what it says
:: World Timeserver
For checking the current time around this world
:: Universal Currency Converter
Actually it's just a terran-global currency converter, not universal, but it's still useful...

So what is it with the haddock? Am I some kind of fish freak?

I'll leave that to others to decide.

The tale (or tail if you prefer) harks back to October 2000, when my GoodTwin and I, ably assisted by Sue, ran the first UK Professionals convention...
It's common knowledge that I never have enough time, and I was determined not to bewail the fact that weekend: hence I promised not to use the 'T' word...
Of course, that didn't really work (if nothing else I had to let the trainees know what times things were supposed to be happening!) so we decided a substitute word would be employed instead. There were several suggestions. Banana came very close to being chosen. However, I eventually decided that 'haddock' fitted the bill nicely. Ever since, haddock=time. Hence the title of my forthcoming autobiography,
My Half-Life in the Haddock Space Continuum....


Normally I wouldn't, but these were just irresistible...

How could I resist?

Just too adorable...

and to complete the rainbow...

These Too-Kawaii Kitties
were adopted from
Ghost's Anime Page (which appears to have disappeared, alas...)

[::..Anime/Manga..::]
Useful sites:

BBTS -
Fabulous anime figures

Anime Lyrics
A huge selection... evil popups

Anime still needed to complete series' I'm collecting... Many thanks to everyone who has helped me acquire the collection!
Ai no Kusabi

Owned:
   DVD
   Dj: June Special
   CD: Ambivalence

Cyber City Oedo 808

Owned:
   DVD
   All 3 eps on Video, dubbed
   Dj: Cyberage 1-3
   Illustrated Book 2 (Benten's) in Japanese

From Eroica with Love

Owned:
   Manga Vols 1, 9, 11

Mirage of Blaze

Owned:
   DVD Vol 1 (eps 1-4)

R.G. Veda

Owned:
   English Manga: Vol 1
   Japanese Manga: Vol 1-7 complete
   Tarot Pack
   R.G.Veda video

Twelve Kingdoms

Owned:
   Anime Vol 1-12: complete

Under the Glass Moon

Owned:
   Manga Vol 1, 2
Vol 3 needed

Vampire Hunter D - Bloodlust

Owned:
   DVD

   Vampire Hunter D Book 1



New Vampire Miyu

Owned:
   (Studio Ironcat) Manga Vols 1 -5 (complete)


Yami no Matsuei

Owned:
   Viz Manga: English translation, Vols 1 - 11 (complete: I believe vol 12 is only available online)
   Japanese 3-DVD set
   Central Park Media: Descendants of Darkness Vol. 1, English/Japanese subbed.
   Sketchbook


[::..Joules SP fied..::]


... this is Terra? How the hell'd I end up here...?

(Thanks, Lutra, for the quote!)

[::..archive..::]
07/01/2002 - 07/31/2002
08/01/2002 - 08/31/2002
09/01/2002 - 09/30/2002
10/01/2002 - 10/31/2002
11/01/2002 - 11/30/2002
12/01/2002 - 12/31/2002
01/01/2003 - 01/31/2003
02/01/2003 - 02/28/2003
03/01/2003 - 03/31/2003
04/01/2003 - 04/30/2003
05/01/2003 - 05/31/2003
06/01/2003 - 06/30/2003
07/01/2003 - 07/31/2003
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09/01/2003 - 09/30/2003
10/01/2003 - 10/31/2003
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12/01/2003 - 12/31/2003
01/01/2004 - 01/31/2004
02/01/2004 - 02/29/2004
03/01/2004 - 03/31/2004
04/01/2004 - 04/30/2004
05/01/2004 - 05/31/2004
06/01/2004 - 06/30/2004
07/01/2004 - 07/31/2004
08/01/2004 - 08/31/2004
09/01/2004 - 09/30/2004
10/01/2004 - 10/31/2004
11/01/2004 - 11/30/2004
12/01/2004 - 12/31/2004
01/01/2005 - 01/31/2005
02/01/2005 - 02/28/2005
03/01/2005 - 03/31/2005
04/01/2005 - 04/30/2005
05/01/2005 - 05/31/2005
06/01/2005 - 06/30/2005
07/01/2005 - 07/31/2005
08/01/2005 - 08/31/2005
09/01/2005 - 09/30/2005
10/01/2005 - 10/31/2005
11/01/2005 - 11/30/2005
12/01/2005 - 12/31/2005
01/01/2006 - 01/31/2006
02/01/2006 - 02/28/2006
03/01/2006 - 03/31/2006
04/01/2006 - 04/30/2006
05/01/2006 - 05/31/2006
06/01/2006 - 06/30/2006
07/01/2006 - 07/31/2006
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09/01/2006 - 09/30/2006
10/01/2006 - 10/31/2006
11/01/2006 - 11/30/2006
12/01/2006 - 12/31/2006
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02/01/2007 - 02/28/2007
03/01/2007 - 03/31/2007
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01/01/2016 - 31/01/2016
01/022016 - 28/02/2016
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01/12/2018 - 31/12/2018
01/01/2019 - 31/01/2019
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01/01/2020 - 31/01/2020
01/02/2020 - 29/02/2020
01/03/2020 - 31/03/2020
01/04/2020 - 31/04/2020
01/05/2020 - 31/05/2020
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01/11/2020 - 30/11/2020
01/12/2020 - 31/12/2020
01/01/2021 - 31/01/2021
01/02/2021 - 28/02/2021
01/03/2021 - 31/03/2021
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01/07/2021 - 31/07/2021
01/08/2021 - 31/08/2021
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01/10/2021 - 31/10/2021
01/11/2021 - 30/11/2021
01/12/2021 - 31/12/2021
01/01/2022 - 31/01/2022
01/02/2022 - 28/02/2022
01/03/2022 - 31/03/2022
01/04/2022 - 30/04/2022
01/05/2022 - 30/05/2022
01/06/2022 - 31/06/2022
01/07/2022 - 31/07/2022
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01/10/2022 - 31/10/2022
01/11/2021 - 31/11/2021
01/12/2022 - 31/12/2022
01/01/2023 - 31/01/2023
01/02/2023 - 28/02/2023
01/03/2023 - 31/03/2023
01/04/2023 - 30/04/2023
01/08/2023 - 31/08/2023
01/11/2023 - 31/11/2023

Thursday, October 07, 2021

7.9.21 - sky was gloriously clear. We took the telescope out and found Andromeda Galaxy, and ooohed over Jupiter's bands....

And now it's October. OK, let's try to get an update done before my haddock mutiny completely and leave for Andromeda...

I've completely lost track of the days and dates things happened, so I'll just write things in rough order.

Domestic stuff first, perhaps.

Painting in the bathroom is now done (except for touching up the pencil line Kai made accidentally when measuring up for a new loo roll holder, a sturdy old-fashioned one that Ken and I found in the Wells ironmongers that matches well with the retro-look new radiator and won't work its way out of the wall like the modern ones do - silly little screws too close together make for a very unstable device...), and the new kitchen sink and surround is now installed: looks really good, matches the other worktops, and is very strong. Makes it a bit of a squeeze to get to the larder, but that's a good reason to lose weight!

We need to put up new tiles on the wall above the sink now, so a trip to B&Q for me and Kai is on the cards, most likely next Fri.

Kemp Carpets came to measure up for new carpets right through the ground floor, and give us a price (actually cheaper than I'd allowed for which is good), then Kai and I walked up there to choose the carpets we want. Relatively soft but hardwearing for the hall and lounge, harder wearing for my room, and this -

for the kitchen (Kai said he'd like something that looked like slate tiles, and this was the most natural and rustic vinyl Kemp had. I really like it!)

This time I've insisted on a good thick underlay for the carpets, as I'm fed up with cold floors!

The bedroom orchids are still doing really well and looking beautiful.

I'm thinking the teeny one will be WO (for weeny orchid). This is the inner pot it was in when I bought it - no wonder it was unhappy!

The dendrobium has a new plant sprout - though as yet I don't know how to remove it to grow it. It's right at the bottom of the original shoot, and I'm hoping that more sprouts may appear higher up. Will wait and see...

CO is also looking beautiful.

Kai has upgraded my PC a little: it now boots up, and turns off, silently and in about 10 seconds instead of the 5 mins it used to take. I also have double the memory that I had before, and he's talking about putting a new graphics card in for me as well. Sometimes it's very handy having a son who can build a computer!

We visited mum-in-law in Babbacombe middle of September, and finally managed to give her the bronze pot with heucheras that she was supposed to get for her birthday two years ago. Nice bright colours so she can just about see it.

While we were there we walked up to the precinct and found a load of things we'd been looking for, so it was a very useful shopping trip as well.

Just for the hell of it, a back street in Wells, just up from the antique store Kai likes. (I found the Vulcan patch there.)

Kai and I managed our planned trip to the plateau at Eastwood Farm last week. The clouds were quite spectacular, especially seen from Arno's Park at the end of the road on the way to the bus stop...

I think the distinctive trees on the Farm's plateau are grey poplars. We thought they were silver birch to start with, but the leaves are wrong. They look fabulous when it's breezy, the silver underside of the leaves sparkling in sunlight.

Lovely walk. Aiming to try to do it regularly and record the leaves' changing colours.

There was an interesting moth at the bus stop at the bottom of Sandy Park Rd -

Very pretty, but it's the Asian invader box tree moth whose caterpillars kill off box trees, so not entirely welcome here.

The trip to Weston-super-Mare was great fun! Wendy and I both took (separate) trains - they're making big changes to the centre of town/the front, and FirstBus doesn't go to the front any more - and walked to the centre (about 10 mins away from the station, so very handy).


Pier on the left, Knightstone Island on the right, Steepholm in the middle...

Explored the shopping mall, and the pier, then went on the big wheel, then walked along to what used to be the seaquarium (which had gorgeous volitans) but is now the Revo restaurant. (Website not up to much but the location is beautiful, on stilts built out over the beach and with wonderful views out to the estuary. And their salted caramel gateau is to die for...)

There was a Luke Jerram installation on the beach just a short distance from the restaurant -

That makes three I've seen this year!

Fantastic day - thanks Wendy!

Today we've had Acorn Stairlifts visit to measure up (mine and Ken's knees are going, and if we have mum T to live here we'll need one, she can't manage steps at all.) It's doable, and sounds excellent, but I'd like to get another company's prices before deciding...

Coincidentally, Companion Stairlifts also rang as I was making dinner and we have someone calling to measure up and give us a quote (and see if a walk-in shower is possible) next Thurs pm.

Media...

We all re-watched and thoroughly enjoyed the Angry Birds movie, in preparation for Angry Birds 2, which I recently ordered. Hopefully we will watch it this weekend, maybe after we've all had our flu jabs on Saturday.

Kai and I watched Centaurworld on Netflix... it's... one of the most surreal, psychedelic, insane things I've ever seen. And oddly addictive... Really hope season 2 becomes a reality...

BND...

VOCAS got back to me. It was a long phone call, but very instructive indeed.

1. Wooden fences are considered, legally, to have a lifespan of about 10 years. Any damage they suffer after that is just normal wear and tear. We kept his fence going for at least twenty years by treating it with Cuprinol (for which we got no thanks, or even acknowledgement, and for which he owes us £1,000), so it was well past its use by when the split happened. Ergo, unless he can prove we caused the damage - which he can't, as we did not cause it, and I have photographs to prove it - it is simple normal age-related damage, and all his actions and harassment towards us (I should say, specifically me) since then have been illegal.

2. He has subjected us to 'low-grade harassment' for the last eight years. While this is obviously not life-threatening or legally serious, it is still illegal and we can take action. HOWEVER, at present court cases are taking a minimum of 18 months to be heard and have to be more serious to be considered worth what I would consider decent action (if that makes sense). At present I have more important things to do with my money so will simply carry on keeping the diary (which VOCAS recommend: lucky I'm so organised!) until such time as I can comfortably start proceedings.

3. VOCAS advised that if the harassment continues, it is perfectly legal for me to film it (on my phone) and send the footage to the police. That's very good to know.

4. Any further incidents, get straight back to the police.

It's useful to know where I stand legally, because of course the moron never learns, and was out threatening and abusing (and taking photos of!!) our Tesco deliverer on Tuesday: he had to park partially on the pavement by our drive as the next car up was a bit close to the DISABLED on the road for him to pull in safely. Perfectly fine, of course, as the guy said, legally they can park like that for up to 20 mins if making deliveries. Unfortunately for BND he picked the wrong person, as the deliverer was a delightfully foul-mouthed, aggressive character who gave as good as he got and rang his boss to report the incident. (When I said to ignore him, we've had endless problems with him, deliverer offered to come back later and sort him out!! Oh, so tempting... [grin])

Anyway, I reported it to the police as well, giving BND's log reference number so they could refer back to everything he's done so far, and got a very nice email back saying unfortunately as the harassment wasn't actually aimed at me, the deliverer would have to report it himself - which I doubt he will as he sounded as though this was pretty much par for the course for him (and I can believe that!) - but if they could do anything else to assist me to let them know. I guess the Sarah Everard situation has most forces now treading very carefully...

Anyway... now I know where I stand, I'm happier about matters. Have to admit since I shouted at him (and mentioned legal proceedings) he's stopped the worst of the harassment, though I can't see that lasting as he obviously considers himself above the law.

So that's where we are right now. He's abusing and upsetting more and more people all the time. I can't understand his mindset, (not that I really want to) and it gives me a headache trying to think down to the level of his room temperature IQ. Fortunately he's a lot older than us, has smoked for most of his life and didn't follow any of the Covid rules, so how much longer he'll last is anyone's guess. He won't be missed...

Later folks! Stay safe out there...

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1 Comments:

Blogger Sue said...

Lovely long entry, thank you. Well done on all the DIY and the bedroom windowsill looks lovely with the colours of all the orchids.
Glad you now have some firm facts regarding the issue of BND.
Your pics of Wells and Weston were great! We had excellent fish & chips on the beach at Weston a few months ago.

6:54 pm  

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