Town pretty quiet, although I did pass maybe half a dozen people heading back up the hill with bags from Waitrose. At a safe distance, naturally.
I was able to inspect the new terrace outside Wetherspoons, sadly without any customers. Hopefully it will look well later in the year when things get back to normal. And when it is busy, we probably won't notice what looks like sloppy finishing of the steps - a pity given the amount that must have been spent. Or, as they say, don't spoil the ship for a ha'p'orth of tar. And digressing, what I did not know was that the ship in question is a corruption of sheep - for which see reference 1 - mainly about something called instrumentation tubing but also including a reference to Sandvik, presumably the same people as the up and coming manufacturer of saws for carpenters when I was very young. Competing strongly with the proper native brands like Spear & Jackson: good blades, but plastic handles, which last my hands have never been very keen on.
Several trolleys about, but I resisted the temptation to tidy up. That will have to wait, at least as far as I am concerned, until things calm down a bit. And sadly, this does threaten the end year target of 500 trolleys. In any event, it looks as if I shall be busy in the Autumn.
The surgery was on a proper war footing, front door locked and entry by ringing on the back door. I didn't see any other patients, although the three receptionists sounded busy on their phones. Furthermore, I passed the test on this occasion, which means I am in the clear until well into May, which is a long time off.
Grape Tree, my supplier of brick dates, was closed when I left the surgery, so no dates - with us being down to two bricks now. The young lady who often serves me was there and perhaps she was planning to open later, but that did not amount to an essential journey. Waitrose, my usual supplier of bread flour, was open with a queue outside of maybe half a dozen people. But I was never much good at queues and we do have the flour from Carr's (of reference 2) to be going on with. So didn't do that one either.
And so back home to brick removal action.
PS: I suppose I never reached the sheep, because one does use tar on boats, not to say ships, at least the wooden walled ones. Both for painting and for caulking. And Simenon talks about the stuff in his passages about canal life.
Reference 1: https://www.valve-world.net/blogs/73/a-haporth-of-tar.html.
Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/03/flour-supply.html.
No comments:
Post a Comment