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Gnomadic Restoration

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I’ve been doing my own version of The Repair Shop this week.

Many years ago, when I was knee-high to a grasshopper, a neighbour gave us two unpainted concrete gnomes.  Despite my mother’s protestations, my father cleaned them up, gave them a lick of paint, and found a home for them in the garden.  They became part of the family.  We even named them after the neighbours (affectionally, I hasten to add).  One of the signs of spring was “the time to get the gnomes out of shed”.

two gnomes - black and white image
This is the oldest photo I have of the Chippy family gnomes. I’m not sure why it is black and white – I’m pretty sure colour film was in common use when it was taken!

So, fast forward half a century, and one of the gnomes is now in my safe keeping.  The other, alas, suffered a tragic and fatal encounter with a patio several years ago.

Although my father carefully repainted them every year or two, I have never done so.  The gnome was beginning to look a little shabby. [Read more…] about Gnomadic Restoration

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Confusion at the post office

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A couple of weeks ago I went to post Christmas presents to the ex-patriot members of my family.  “I’ll only be ten minutes” I told Mrs. Chippy.  After all, the packages were already wrapped and addressed.  I could avoid queuing by going to the self-service machines; print out a postage label; job done.  What could possibly go wrong? [Read more…] about Confusion at the post office

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Youth Hostelling then and now – part 2

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Remembering the fun I had had when staying in youth hostels in my younger days, I decided to introduce hostelling to my family.

We started with a couple of weekend trips, to Snowdonia and London respectively.  And then for this year’s summer holiday – having found all usual self-catering facilities either fully-booked or astronomically expensive – I booked a six-bed room in a youth hotel at Hawes in the Yorkshire Dales.  This cost around £600 for the week (that was with a 10% member discount, and a further 5% discount for including someone under the age of 26 in the party).  Now, where can you get views like this for that price?  A hotel up the road was charging as much per night!

View from Hawes Youth Hostel [Read more…] about Youth Hostelling then and now – part 2

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Youth Hostelling then and now – part 1

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Many years ago, at the tender age of 12 or 13, my friend and I stood outside a youth hostel, slightly confused by the notice that said it didn’t open until 7.  We’d thought it opened at 5.  Soon the warden came outside to welcome us: “you don’t have to wait out here, boys, come on in”.  We’d made the schoolboy error (well, we were schoolboys) of reading “1700 hrs” as “7.00 pm”!

This was our first trip to a youth hostel.  We’d cycled, well, nearly twenty miles, to Greens Norton and this was a taster to see whether we could cope with a longer trip in the summer. [Read more…] about Youth Hostelling then and now – part 1

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Confusing signs

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Signs are provided to inform, warn, and direct.  Road signs are designed so that drivers can read and understand them in no longer than four seconds.  Most of the time, the sign writers get it right.  But there are a few that leave you scratching you head in bewilderment.

Here are a few puzzling ones that I have seen recently.

At first sight, this one look fine.  It’s pointing to the Stoneham Lane Football Complex, isn’t it?

sign for football complex

[Read more…] about Confusing signs

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parkrun is back

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And it’s back!  After 70 long weeks of suspension, parkrun finally returned to England last weekend (24th July).

start sign

Almost 250 runners assembled at Fleming Park, both this week and last, plus about 40 volunteers to make sure the event ran smoothly and everyone stayed safe.  This week’s participants included twenty brand new parkrunners, plus another nineteen who had never run at Eastleigh before. [Read more…] about parkrun is back

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A year of notparkrundays

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Yesterday (Saturday 13th March) was the 52nd notparkrunday. That’s a whole year without parkrun. When Covid-19 caused parkrun to be suspended back in March 2020, Mrs Chippy and I decided we would carry on with our regular 5 km runs at 9 am on a Saturday morning. Originally, we called them Socially Distanced Runs, until the notparkrunday word was created. I don’t think anyone expected parkrun to be suspended for more than a few weeks – there was astonishment when we reached 13.

running shirt with slogan a year of not parkrundays
A new shirt to mark a year of notparkrundays

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Another walk in another park

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After the muddiness of our trek-through Cranbury Park, we looked for somewhere with better paths for our next walk.  We visited Riverside Park in Bitterne Park, parking near the White Swan at Mansbridge (better known to locals as the Mucky Duck) and walking to Bitterne Triangle and back.

map of walk through riverside park

It’s a smidgeon over 3 miles in total, so ideal for a Sunday afternoon stroll.  [Read more…] about Another walk in another park

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A walk in a park

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Looking to expand our repertoire of “walks withing five miles of home”, Mrs Chippy and I recently explored the public footpath through the Cranbury Park estate.

map of walk through Cranbury Parlk

The Chamberlayne family of Cranbury Park once owned much of the land in what is now Eastleigh town centre.  The names are preserved in the names of Cranbury and Chamberlayne Roads, and the Chamberlayne Arms pub.  I think that Desborough and Nutbeem were something to do with the estate as well, but I forget what. [Read more…] about A walk in a park

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How clear is your windscreen

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I admonished (in the nicest possible way) a friend this morning for inappropriate positioning of her mobile phone on her windscreen.  As the friend was Madame Editor, she instructed me (also in the nicest possible way) to post something about it.  So here goes.

using phone as sat nav
Image by Dariusz Sankowski from Pixabay

The Department for Transport guidelines divide the windscreen into two areas. Zone A is “a vertical area 290 mm wide, centred on the steering wheel and contained within the swept area of the windscreen.” Zone B is the rest of the windscreen covered by the wipers. [Read more…] about How clear is your windscreen

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The Christmas Jigsaw Tradition

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One of my childhood family’s traditional Christmas holiday pastimes was to complete a jigsaw puzzle (or two).  Christmas presents generally included at least one puzzle.  This year’s Covid-19 restrictions on travel and socialising made it a good time to resurrect the tradition with my adult family.

There is something incredibly relaxing and therapeutic about tacking a jigsaw puzzle.  You can’t rush a jigsaw; it takes as long as it takes.  They are addictive too – once you’ve started you have to keep going.  One evening, Mrs Chippy and I had to remind ourselves that it was 11.30 pm and we really should be going to bed.  I have been known to stay up into the early hours in order to finish a puzzle. [Read more…] about The Christmas Jigsaw Tradition

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Rumours of a cancelled Christmas have been greatly over-exaggerated

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Headlines across many of the today’s Sunday papers have been along the lines of “Christmas is Cancelled”, “The virus that stole Christmas” and other such hyperbole.  No, Christmas is not cancelled; Christmas has not been stolen.

December 25, Christmas Day, will still arrive this Friday.  OK, it may arrive in a different way than expected and we may have to spend a couple of days this week in reassessing and rearranging our plans.  But arrive it will surely do.

Negative language such as “killed”, “cancelled” and “ruined” gives pessimistic connotations to the thought of a scaled-back Christmas.  So rather than a problem, let’s see this as an opportunity. [Read more…] about Rumours of a cancelled Christmas have been greatly over-exaggerated

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Festive Afternoon Tea

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Christmas may unexpectedly be being scaled back in many households, but there is still time to give yourself an indulgent treat.

Following the success of the takeaway afternoon tea in the summer, the Blackbird Café at Pavilion on the Park (Kingfisher Road) are offering a festive afternoon tea, available for delivery in the local area up to Christmas Eve.

Two rounds of sandwiches, a small Yorkshire pudding with beef and horseradish, a pig in blanket, two slices of cake (one fruit, one sponge) and a mince pie.  A Christmas cracker is also supplied, and a tea bag for the essential accompanying beverage.  Gluten-free and vegetarian options are available. [Read more…] about Festive Afternoon Tea

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Living with a Fitness Tracker – Part 2

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In my last post I extolled the benefits of my new fitness watch – mainly in accurately measuring the distance and time of my runs, but a few other (less important) features as well.

But the data doesn’t have to stay on the watch.  I can upload it to web-based applications and, Oh wow!  What a plethora of fun and procrastination that opens.

For example, I can view pretty-coloured graphs that track my daily health and fitness, such as movement and heart rate and progress towards daily step goals. [Read more…] about Living with a Fitness Tracker – Part 2

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Living with a Fitness Tracker – Part 1

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So, as pondered in an earlier post, I decided to treat myself to a fitness tracking watch.  I justified the expense (both to myself and to Mrs Chippy) on the basis that it was less than half the money I was saving on fuel by working at home.  I didn’t really need to justify the expense to Mrs Chippy at all; within a few days she had bought herself one too!

Fitness Watch

I have to say, I am impressed.  Obviously, it tells me the time and date – it is a watch, after all – but it will also fairly accurately track how far I run, walk or cycle – it’s even clever enough to work out what type of activity I am doing. [Read more…] about Living with a Fitness Tracker – Part 1

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parkrun – it goes beyond running

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There have now been 23 Saturdays without a parkrun in the UK – or indeed most of the rest of the world.  The Covid-19 pandemic has meant that, for the first time since its inception in 2004, all events were suspended in March.  Since then, only New Zealand has been able to restart (but has subsequently been re-suspended).  Yes, we were 90% proud of New Zealand parkrun, but 10% jealous!

How have we coped?  How have dedicated parkrunners  managed without our weekly fix of running and camaraderie. [Read more…] about parkrun – it goes beyond running

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Exploring the Itchen Way

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I’ve written before about how one of my favourite local walks is the stretch of river from Bishopstoke to Highbridge.  As part of our “keeping it local” lockdown exercise, over the last couple of months Mrs Chippy and I have been exploring the rest of the river.

We started by running the stretch from Woodmill to Winchester and back.  No, not all in one go; that would be silly.  We took it in four stages – each stage a round trip of around 8 to 10 km (sorry to die-hard imperial measurers, but I measure exercise in kilometres – probably because the numbers build up more quickly).

The longest stretch was from Bishopstoke to Woodmill.  It takes a lot of perseverance as, once you leave Bishopstoke, there is no crossing point until Mansbridge, 6 km away (the M27 doesn’t count).  It’s also (possibly for the same reason) the least busy part of the path; we passed very few people. It was quite a surprise to see lots of people once we reached Mansbridge and completed the short section through Riverside park to Woodmill. [Read more…] about Exploring the Itchen Way

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Lockdown Afternoon Tea

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In recent years, afternoon tea has become the new decadence, being offered at a number of cafes and tea shops.

The Blackbird Café at Fleming Park’s Pavilion on the Park has come up with a great way to put our love of cake, sandwiches and tea (but mostly cake) to good use during lockdown: offering a takeaway afternoon tea to help fund a lunch club on wheels service for people who are isolated during the pandemic and might not otherwise get a hot meal.

blackbird Cafe Tea Flyer

[Read more…] about Lockdown Afternoon Tea

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Smart Phone – No thank you

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I bought a new mobile phone recently.  Here it is.

Retro Phone Nokia 3310

Anything wrong with that?  Yes, it’s not a fruit-flavoured smartie phone.  Much to the bewilderment and frustration of family and friends, I refuse to own a smartphone.  Why?  No one has yet convinced me of the need.  The phone I have makes and receives phone calls and text messages and that is pretty much all I need it to do. [Read more…] about Smart Phone – No thank you

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