yen_powell

Spanish builders I heard. Oak is cut whilst still green because it is bloody hard when it dries out. If there is any give in the framework then it will twist and warp. Hence some old timber frame cottages are quite straight, but most are on the wonk.

Just for Pete, I saw this about imperial measures.

I was out at a fake ELO concert last night and stayed over at my mate's house, so I was up and out at 7:30am this morning so he could go to work, I've got the day off so decided to head for a place 4 miles from home for a sit down in the sun whilst it was still out this morning. Cressing Temple Barns was a Templar property until just after nearly all of them were arrested on Friday 13th 1307 when most medieval monarchs took the excuse to seize their property. This was a working farm until my local council bought it in the 1970s. It's a nice place to wander about and costs nothing to get in if no events are on. They still have the receipts for the construction of the two larger barns, built in 1220 and 1280. I expect they are out of warranty now though. Apparently the tiles alone weigh around 70 tons.

Wonder if he's any relation to the Walking back To Happiness lady Helen Shapiro?

Another interesting tale from a seemingly ordinary person that you could meet in the street and not look twice at. https://spitalfieldslife.com/2021/09/20/the-return-of-benjamin-shapiro/

Bit of sump oil run through the hair and a rub of a car air freshener from the local pound shop always brings me up a treat.

Optical illusion, no matter how grungy they get, they always look cleaner in photographs. It's similar to the flattening of steep slopes effect. Also of course it's only a year old, the muckiness is still a work in progress.

That tree's a bloody liar.

I hadn't realised that one of those event photographers was there until I saw the little tent with a board covered in zillions of tiny images with numbers next to them. I stared hard as it blew back and forth in the breeze, but without reading glasses I had no chance of finding myself between 8am and 9:30am. Grabbed a card instead so I could find the website and checked it out on my large screen, much easier.

No idea, I just liked the red and white seats. I took the picture of the Bond Bugs next to this 3 wheeler because I used to have an orange Dinky toy exactly the same.

Went and visited my brother who lives about 2 miles away afterwards, not seen him since 2019 I think. He was telling me that he found two women walking along his street opening up peoples' wheelie bins and taking stuff out of them. He told them to fuck off and knocked on his neighbour's door to let him know that some one had been going down his bin. The neighbour exclaimed, oh it was probably them that stole the trainers. Turned out his son had trodden in dog do big time and left the trainers outside when he came indoors. When he came out to clean them they had been taken. edit. It's chucking it down outside now, perfect timing!

The kids, adults and a Lampkin throwing bikes over things

Last week I was helping my mate excavate a collapsed shed at his late father's house. We were trying to recover two bike wrecks he had stored back in the mid 80s. One was a TS250 frame and few other parts of it in boxes. He sold it for £450 to a dealer. I found it for sale today.

Never been before, which is a shame because it only cost a tenner to get in and was much better than the sad excuse for a show at Peterborough (Devitt/MCN?). Couldn't find my bike in the bike park when leaving, like a doddery old pensioner (no offence Pete). I was wandering up and down in a confused manner. Only XT1200 there as well. Turned out that in my head I was about 8 rows back from the front, I was actually only 3 rows back. I could see one of the stewards watching me, I must have looked like I was casing the joint for a bike theft. Dougie Lampkin was poodling past where I was standing when he saw a little girl waving so he slowed down and waved back. I was taking pictures of him at the time so caught a bit of it. I offered the picture to her parents, but it turned out none of us could manage to send it, so had to email it when I got in. There was some very young children attempting to ride over upturned skips, very brave, especially in front of a crowd. I had the place to myself when I first got there, so took a few pictures of the trials area and a lovely hearse and a product for the site owner.

Has he got a bike you hoped would be left to you in his will?