Wulf's Webden

The Webden on WordPress

2 April 2023
by wpAdmin
0 comments

Sans Notes

Since moving up to Thorpe Acre church, I’ve had quite a few opportunities to speak but, certainly for Sunday services, I’ve returned to generally doing that with a carefully worked out script in front of me. I know the quality of my first draft material and I’m inclined to want to give the congregation the benefit of something better than that.

Today, I had a little bit to say at our all age service to explain the lyrics of a song I wrote (!) 25 years ago. I had written a few notes for the beginning and ending but decided to leave them unprinted. It seemed to go okay. The next step will be a longer talk – how does it work if I convert the time spent on typing up notes into considering what I’m going to say? I’ve done it before in other places but it is something to work on. Notes are a handy scaffold and becoming less reliant on them doesn’t mean forgoing preparation but ‘sans notes’ is certainly something I want to work towards again.

30 March 2023
by wpAdmin
0 comments

Polytunnel Puzzling

Back in September 2010, when I constructed our first polytunnel, I noted that, “even with a relatively thick instruction book, there were still plenty of times when it came down to puzzling out how to proceed.” From my current building experience I concur with that although perhaps not with the follow-on statement, “I think it would be much easier to build a second one.” It might have been easier if we’d started on flat ground but, between working over the differently shaped footprint of the first tunnel in this garden (a much less solid construction but, to be fair, much easier to put up) and working in winter and spring weather, this one has been at least as hard.

However, it has inspired me to look back at my pictures from the time. Perhaps there I will find some of the answers to questions which the manual (probably much the same as the previous one) doesn’t clarify as much as I would like.

29 March 2023
by wpAdmin
0 comments

Everything you always wanted to know about the Spanish

Out of all the other countries in the world, apart from the ones that make up Great Britain, Spain is the one I have spent most time in. As an adult learner, I’ve picked up some of the language, some of the culture and plenty of the food and drink. That was why I was keen to pick up a review copy of Gaspard Chevallier’s Everything you always wanted to know about the Spanish* (*but were afraid to ask).

Yes, that is a French name (Spain is his country adopted through marriage) and, yes, it does seem a bit strange to be reading an edition written in English but it works wonderfully well. Next time I sit down with a Spaniard, it will be interesting to find out what they make of it but it seems to match up on many of the things about which I do have some experience and so I’m inclined to give it a fair amount of credence.

Chevallier gives a humourist’s view of the foibles of Spain but he does so with warmth and generosity; he is clearly inside the world he is commentating on rather than taking potshots from a distance. There are several points which indicate that his view is about the current state of the nation which means it may date over the next few decades but, for now, this is an excellent resource for would-be Hispanophile Anglophones and, I suspect, for the Francophones as well, given the right edition.

28 March 2023
by wpAdmin
0 comments

Bubbling Inflation

Over the past few years, Jane and I have bought quite a lot of bottled water. Specifically, we’ve gone through a lot of supermarket low-cost sparkling water. It isn’t as cheap as what comes in the tap but I don’t think we could carbonate it as cheaply. As far as I’m aware, the bottles are relatively easy for recycling plants to deal with and it makes an attractive drink on its own (very healthy) or mixed with other things.

The price has gone up over the last year or even just the past few months. For a long while, I had been used to 17p for a 2l bottle but Lidl recently pushed it to 24p and then, in the last two or three weeks, to 31p. What’s that? About an 85% cost inflation? It makes the increase on products like milk look relatively small!

I expect that a decision has been taken to no longer push sparkling water as a loss leader or minimal profit item. It is still significantly cheaper than most other drinks you can buy but I have to say that I’m starting to return to the plain old “tap” variety – not quite as exciting but just as thirst quenching.

27 March 2023
by wpAdmin
0 comments

Looking Down on the Back Garden – March 2023

If you click the image below to view it on my Flickr account and then look back to the equivalent shot from February, you might be wondering what has changed?

Looking Down on the Back Garden - March 2023
Back Garden – March 2023

It is true that there hasn’t been as much progress on the polytunnel as would be ideal. However, with the door frames recently added I think I’m now within striking distance of completion. With a bit of dry-ish weather, I can can complete the rest of the woodwork and then, with some warmish weather, Jane and I can get the plastic cover on (if it is too cold, the polythene will go floppy when it warms up, making it more susceptible to damage).

There are also some changes elsewhere – for example, next door’s magnolia (top right) is now in full bloom and we’re starting to get a decent amount of blossom on our camellia (towards the bottom on the left).

In April, you should see a lot more changes including, hopefully, a completed polytunnel.

26 March 2023
by wpAdmin
0 comments

One Ear

My ears have been feeling a bit blocked this week, particularly my right one. Yesterday I was a bit worried, with all that music coming up, but it was actually not too bad during the day. Unfortunately, that wasn’t quite the case in the evening. I wonder if it was the result of being seated next to a fairly hot radiator, causing the wax to soften and run together? Whatever the cause, I not only found my hearing very limited in my right ear but it was also more painful than it had been all week.

Just as well all the music was written down I just had to read it and glance round occasionally to make sure that the low brass players sat at the back with me were looking askance to indicate I was off beat, out of tune or too loud. The recorded snippet I saw today sounded good. I didn’t have the pain this morning but the ear was still pretty blocked. Playing at church is a very different kind of gig – in many ways, much easier (at least to me) but I do rely more on my ear. I had enough to make it through and several people reported that they really enjoyed the music.

Over the last few days, I have been making some use of olive oil to keep things soft. With a bit of irrigation this afternoon (using warm water and a rubber bulb – nothing high pressure), I was surprised how much gunk washed out. It still isn’t quite back to normal but I’m hoping normal service will be resumed in a day or two.

25 March 2023
by wpAdmin
0 comments

Spring Music

I’ve had one of my musical days. This morning I was leading a session to work on some new songs, and some slightly rusty old ones, that we are planning to use to support next term’s teaching series. This afternoon, I popped into the sing-around session at The Plough Inn. I took my ukulele along for that and played Fly Me to the Moon, as I knew I would have to beat an early retreat to preserve a bit of energy (and have time for dinner).

The time pressure there comes from gig number three this evening. I’m out with Charnwood Concert Band at St Mary’s in East Leake for our Spring Concert (doors open at 7pm). Details are on the band website and you can either buy your tickets online or purchase them on the door. I don’t think it will be sold out although the update at our Tuesday rehearsal was that the band should be outnumbered at least two to one and we’re not a small band!

Musically, I’m ready but I think I need to stop typing and go and get my ‘concert black’ clothes out.

24 March 2023
by wpAdmin
0 comments

Experience Easter 2023

In early 2020, I signed up at church to help with an event called Experience Easter. Originally produced by the Diocese of Gloucester, it involves creating a number of activity stations about the Easter story and inviting local schools to come and use them. For the church, it is a way of sharing something very central to our Christian faith and, for the schools, it probably ticks boxes for both Religious Education and providing an outing, so there is a mutual benefit.

Of course, in 2020, the UK’s first COVID lockdown dropped in late March and I never got to experience it myself. Last year, I enquired about producing an online version as schools were still a bit hesitant about outings (and, to be fair, church volunteers were also feeling cautious) and Gloucester politely refused the request. It ended up being too late to create our own set of online activities so it was shelved for another year.

This time round, although COVID still hasn’t quite gone away, vaccinations mean that it is much less of a concern and so we were able to put the mothballs away and run it again. Finally, then, I’ve had a chance to help out a little and I’m ready if we offer it again next year.

22 March 2023
by wpAdmin
0 comments

Pellet Response

I did get a response back from Ecoegg yesterday morning, only an hour or so after I’d contacted them, which is a fairly good turn around. It wasn’t the most helpful response but at least they sent one. Their advice was that their labs apparently found replacing the pellets when they got smaller yielded the best washing response. That didn’t satisfy my curiosity about why or answer the query about whether smaller ones come out of the egg and get stuck in washing machine pipes. They also said that they knew some customers did just top up and there is no problem if I’d rather do that.

I think we’re going to stick with my original plan and use the smaller ones for operations outside of the machine, like hand washing and pre-soaking. That avoids the potential risks I anticipated but also avoids the remnants just becoming yet more landfill.