Mrs. G and I have secured next winters rental in Spain in a flat which belongs to a Spanish friend of ours. We can rent it every winter. This makes us feel very content, as we sit on the terrace, in shorts and t shirts with a beer. 
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Wasted at least 50 minutes of my life (still waiting) for someone to answer the self assessment help line. I’m going to be playing the holding riff on my guitar later, I’m sure.
Still, mustn’t grumble. After all, my call is important to them.
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Just fake it they’ll phone you. 
In total I waited 78 minutes to get through. Then they had difficulty working out why the sum I supposedly owe is different between the letter I received and the figure shown on line. Thankfully it’s not a very large sum!
My Cosworth engine block has been dropped off with a Cosworth specialist in Devon - so a 540 round trip starting with a 3:30am alarm 
this morning.
Other parts have been left also for a full balance of reciprocating parts.
The dog (Tilly) came with us and barked the whole way there 
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Attended lecture/discussion last evening at the University of Washington. The two guest speakers have been collaborating the past few years and exploring the issues impacting the region and people.
Mira is a Canadian citizen working at Carleton University - Ottawa Canada, Omar Dajani is a U.S. Citizen working at University of the Pacific, Sacramento, California. I believe both have podcasts and face book pages. Omar had been involved with the PLO’s negotiations support team back in the 1990’s.
All in all it was an interesting 90+ minutes of discussing the work the two have been collaborating on and the impact of October 7th and aftermath.
Note: did not post this to start a discussion regarding the issue, just what I have done in the past 24 hours. I thought of posting this after reading the Retirement … Eeeek thread. I could not always find the time to explore issues in depth when working full time. One of the benefits of retirement is having that time…
Life is sweet!
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Most people would be happy with some chicken and a steak… would need a large spit roast for a whole vegan.
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I don’t think it’s overtly political to say that the world seems a far more unstable and dangerous place than only a few years ago.
Maybe it’s the way of things and we’ve just hit a bad patch again, but being open minded and engaging with such matters has to be the way towards solutions for any of the current problems/conflicts.
Sadly the innocent humans without the power or desire to cause conflict suffer on all sides.
Sometimes I feel humans deserve to fail.
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A) How would you know in advance, and how is it relevant if the food you bought is sold there?
B) Tell them to F*** off as it’s none of their business what your culinary preferences are. They clearly have no respect for your choices.
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Despite being rather tired and irritable, I was quite gentle, “Bacon roll is the first item on the menu, so I guess you must have seen it. Doesn’t diversity work both ways?”
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That’s my point B.
Who on earth were these fuckwits?
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Turbo core just arrived. I’ve added tuppence to show the scale.
This should help the old jalopy keep up with modern traffic 
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Nah, you don’t fool me - that’s a turbo LP12 inner platter allowing you to play your 78 rpm records easily. 
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LOL. My hearing sounds like scratched 78s these days.
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Off course not.
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Having a really nice time today relaxing at Mottisfont Abbey in Hants. Lovely - no crowds !
The 13th Century cellarium was looking suitably atmospheric.
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Wowzer,what a vibrancy
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Now the evenings are getting longer it’s easier to go for a decent walk after my afternoon nap. At this time of year we have thousands of Brent geese overwintering in Chichester Harbour. When the tide is right out they often spend the afternoon in a field. There were hundreds there today - if you zoom in on the photo you’ll see them.
As it gets dark, they fly down from the field to the foreshore for the night. They are such a wonderful sight.
And I get my 12,300 steps in, get home and Mrs HH is knocking up caper sauce to go with dinner. Happy days.
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I arrived at the Whittington Hospital at 7am and after the paperwork and prep was on the table at 9. I came round at noon and now have no gall bladder. An epidural drip to manage any pain and 2 days of nil by mouth to come, I’m waiting to see the consultant who is finishing his last operation of the day to find out how long I’ll be in.
They couldn’t keyhole because I have too many abdominal organ issues and no safe place to go in, so probably 3-5 days judging by the NHS website. I feel fine, no real pain, another great piece of healthcare, I’ve been very lucky with my doctors and nursing teams over the last 2 years.
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