Clearing the decks

Afternoon, all!

As summer is a-coming, spring cleaning has been the order of the day in the onein400 household!

First, we have had the wooden decking and ramp around our pine cabin all pressure washed and nicely cleaned.

Looks good, yes? I didn’t want to add insult to injury this summer by slipping arse-over-tit on algae! So readers, if your decking is looking slimy, green (potentially oozing) and just that little bit intimidating, you should get it sorted right now before that date with your ultimate destiny! The last thing you need is a leg facing the wrong way whilst you look skyward and your dog(s) devour your nose! Our dogs eat anything! Humm, that reminds me of a story I once heard about a Great Dane and peanut butter ……. (“NO,LEE! – THIS IS CENSORED” – Jean).

This week, the sun has been streaming through the windows, and I have put my Vitamin D pills away for now and hopefully for the rest of the summer. Always good to have a stock in if you have a gloomy day. I got mine from Lord Bragg’s Supplements in a handy 50,000 pill box.

I apologise for Lord Bragg’s “Regionist” instructions!!

It was quiz night last week at our local pub and we arrived a bit late. When I say late, I mean I had to park about 50 yards away and it was pitch dark! I was a bit fearful of the walk, but all was well. We won a round this week, woo hoo! The winnings paid for a nice calorific dessert. Keeping my food intake high as this is essential for my condition.

Back to the Spring cleaning. We are relentlessly tidying up, partly because we are having some building work done shortly(plumbing, boiler, bathroom etc) so we have to make some space and rearrange things.

I love throwing things out. Don’t hoard, folks, be merciless. We cleared out a loft area the other day, “Don’t need that,…. chuck it out“. On this subject I remember helping a friend (he knows who he is) move into his new house some 15 years ago. He insisted that we stored about 10 huge boxes of VHS tapes in his loft. I was at the top of the ladder, taking the boxes from Richard and commenting “Chuck them“. But no, he wanted them kept. Well, I know for sure they were dumped a year or so ago now. Just trust me in future, guys! If anyone needs any guidance on whether to keep some stuff, drop me a line and I will say “Stash” or “Dump”

Anyway, plenty of rubbish was found this week, so it was a trip to the tip!!

Off we went, car loaded (by Jean). I had forgotten my disabled parking badge, so we could not park in the allotted space. However, I was suspicious, as the “disabled/wheelchair” sign was attached directly to one of the waste bins!!

Being wary that Jean might try and put me in the skip, I stayed in the car and let her distribute the rubbish to the various containers. I also kept away from the site helpers, as they might attempt the same!

You may laugh and say, “They wouldn’t try and chuck you in the bin, Lee”. Hey, but they might misinterpret the sign if not well trained?! I remember when I was about 30 years old I decided to learn to ride a motorbike (early middle-aged man).

“Lee, what has this to do with a waste tip sign?”

Patience, all will become evident.

It was during my training that the varied level of education in our Society was brought to the fore. I joined a great group that was managed by fantastic motorcycle enthusiasts. It was superb meeting people from all walks of life and learning together on a Sunday morning.

I recall discussing the “theory test” with one attendee and revising signs and their meanings. One must never assume that stuff that one thinks is simple and straightforward has been assimilated by all. To be absolutely honest, I was totally shocked by the answer given about a particular road sign.

I had to politely indicate that this was NOT a minimum speed as believed by some!

Education is simply the most important thing in the world. It enlightens, enriches life and can actually save lives. We saw this in droves recently with the actions of the public, trained medical and security professionals in London after the terrible events of last week in Westminster.

Education and technology are, to me, vital and fascinating.

We visited a friend in the village this week for her birthday. I walked there using my rollator as it was about 300 yards away. We met some lovely people, and I discussed technology with one gentleman. We talked about driverless cars. I love driving, always have. However, the next few years are going to bring a major revolution and change of attitude. The value of driverless vehicles is going to be huge. I mean absolutely game changing vast! Like a lot of advances, the value may exceed all initial predictions.

For example, pretty much every single road death today is caused by human error, and in the UK alone about 1500 people die a year, but more importantly about 25,000 are left with life changing injuries in the same period!! Driverless cars could remove all of this!! Staggering! The horrific event we saw in London was due to murderous criminal intent being made easy by the fact that we humans drive 1 ton missiles freely on the open roads! I believe driverless technology will potentially help to reduce effectively what we currently consider an unpreventable attack.

“That was a sort of serious post Lee!” Yes it was, but I hope you enjoyed it.

In upcoming posts, expect to hear Braggs of the Unexpected! and a new regular feature from the infamous Agony Aunt, Majorie Bragg! If you have any questions for Majorie she is ready and willing to give advice!

But in the short term, a research update post coming, and a regular post next week.

But really finally, it is now 1 year to the day that the late great Ronnie Corbett died of Motor Neurone Disease. Time has flown and I am totally aware that in this time many have been diagnosed and died within this time frame.  I consider myself lucky. Enjoy his side-splitting funny sketch from my Christmas Post last year.

Have a great week all!