Peter X

Clearly the bolts exist, they're building a new junction onto it this year and they've got to make sure it holds together: https://www.essexhighways.org/highway-schemes-and-developments/highway-schemes/m11-junction-7a.aspx Maybe the bolts are made in Harlow, after all they say this new junction is: "supporting business growth in the area" Hardly ever been on the M11 myself, I'm from south of the river guv.

Dr Johnson once famously said "He who is tired of London is tired of life". He was writing in the 18th century at about the time the canals were being built, but I suppose he didn't really have life on water in mind. You could always do one slow trip; jn at Brentford, along the Paddington Arm and the Regent's canal, then decide you're tired of it. Easy decision, given the well known problems of boating in London. Out you come at Limehouse, turn right and keep going up towards Lechlade. A 60x12 should fit most of the way (last bit's got a lot of tight bends!) All good clean fun and you should stay alive, so long as you treat the very BIG boats on the lower Thames with proper caution.

I used to routinely bake my own bread, but as I was almost out of dried yeast recently, I'd stopped and was using bread my son bought in the shops; they have plenty, apparently the bakers can get supplies. Now I've got yeast because my brother found a shop with some; might have a go some time soon. The biscuit and meringue in my avatar were baked by me back when I first joined the forum; might do some biscuits too to pass the time.

The last time I moved, in Dec 2009, my brother hired, and drove for me, a van to move the contents of a 5 bed (rented!) house in Surrey, but only to take it all two miles across Croydon to cram it all into the 3 bed house (still in Surrey) I'd bought; that was fun and I've been slowly finding friends and relatives to take the excess furniture off my hands since. I've given his daughter two tables and a few chairs. South London is awash with good cheap unwanted second hand furniture; you'd have to be mad to buy new. Odd related footnote: in autumn 2019 I was given a very nice big mock Tudor dining table by my daughter; I'd bought it second hand for £50 in 1985, then spent £200 having it restored, lost it to my ex-wife in the divorce settlement in the 1990s, but my daughter inherited it back after her mother's death in 2018 and didn't want to keep it. Also related to this topic, my daughter recently bought and moved into a 5 bed house in Brentford (using money from the sale of my old marital home in Beckenham; that inheritance again!) which has kept her quite busy as she has three children and works in the NHS. But she didn't have far to move as they were previously in a rented flat in Ealing. The solicitors were her biggest problem, lots of delays in the conveyancing. Back with the original topic, good luck to you manicpb, it's not a long move and I suppose should turn out OK for you. But of course, try to make sure the boat is OK before you set off. I've crewed for various people on boat moves over the years, and found it really helps everything go more smoothly if someone who knows what they're doing has given the boat, especially the engine, a once-over before departure. Of course, the more you and your crew know about it the better.

Day whatever it is, not sure. I was counting from either my last day of radiotherapy on 10th March, after which I decided to not go out unless I really had to, or from the one day I've been out since, when I went to my MRI scan on 2nd April, i.e. after the lockdown rules were announced. On Tuesday 14th I'll be going to neuro-oncology clinic at the hospital, and might meet my consultant or one of his team (they usually phone or email nowadays), or talk to them from over 2m away across a room. I expect to be coming home with chemotherapy tablets. Today I left my property very briefly, going nowhere near anybody, but it might have been questionable under COVID-19 rules; however it was a little exercise and arguably good for my health (my mental health, it made me happier!). It was a very short trip from my (newly re-hung) back gate to retrieve two sections of corrugated iron sheeting which my daughter's [ex-?] friend had dumped on a neighbouring piece of land. I wanted to keep those all along because they'll be part of my shed extension project, but he's an arrogant man; he not only did damage to my gatepost which took me many hours to repair (he's a builder but I'm a better carpenter than him even though my career was in IT), he decided some of my stuff should be thrown away, and dumped it on someone else's land. I'd already retrieved some other lighter items the other day when I did the gate.

My son postponed his shopping trip, but my other brother brought me some toilet rolls. A 9 pack, wow! He's a decent fellow, a leisure boater who's leaving his boat in the marina for the duration, and is able to do his work mostly from home. His son is I gather a master of the new art of timing supermarket shopping, and also got stuff today to supply their elderly neighbours. Day 6 or 38 (Wed. 8th): I got cracking on my gatepost repair, and today I hope to finish that off and re-hang my back gate. I ate some more Lemon Meringue Pie, food of the gods. They have lemons and eggs in Greece (but my recipe is only in English, not ancient Greek), but it's a long way from Kentucky to Mount Olympus. I also got an email from the nurse, who tells me I'll get transported to hospital on Tuesday (day 12 or 44) to have a blood sample taken and get my chemotherapy tablets. Such fun!

Day 5, or 37 depending how I count it, haven't done much yet. Had a lie-in, washed my hair and some fell out. A continuing delayed effect of the radiotherapy, but I'm told it'll continue when the chemotherapy starts next week; I could end up with the full Jade Goody look I suppose. Thought about repairing the damage my daughter's friend did to my garden gatepost in January, but instead I just lazed about and ate some very nice Lemon Meringue Pie out of the fridge. Chatted to my youngest brother who phoned me. He's job hunting, but as he's a banking IT expert the sort of job he's after would probably be mostly possible from home. No more commuting to the City for him yet. Tomorrow morning my son goes shopping in Sainsburys; we're doing sort of OK for food but he'll see if they have any toilet rolls. Maybe...

The Thames swans have their own local dialect, in which at 7am during an NBT coal run it means "Party time over here alongside Brighton! Let's all wake up Peter X and the rest of the crew!".

It's day 4 of not going out for me, or day 36 if you count since my radiotherapy ended on 10th March but exclude my MRI scan outing on 2 Apr. My consultant phoned me this morning to tell me the scan looks good (Yes!) but I'll be having chemotherapy after 14th April. Later the Clinical Nurse Specialist phoned me, then emailed me the details; sounds as if the side effects of this chemotherapy lark are not nice, so I'm not looking forward to it. But worth it if it keeps me alive. So that was my day 4 (or 36?). Not too bad really, and I have L.M.P. to look forward to.

Common People? Jarvis Cocker is one of them, and probably already has some land bought with the royalties, if you'll pardon the expression. Amara's mum recently bought her own land, complete with a house on it, in Brentford. Handily placed between Buckingham Palace and Windsor. Of course I expect the future King George VII will pop in to say hello in due course; might be a while if he's caught coronavirus off his granddad.

I cut my own hair the other day for the first time ever, the bathroom mirror came in quite handy but it was mostly by feel. I reckon I made quite a decent job of it. It needed a tidy up after my radiotherapy, and some more came out when I washed what was left. I don't plan to offer a dog grooming service.

Are those The White Cliffs of Dover in the picture too? Whoever composed it was also confused about which of Vera Lynn's greatest hits they were working with.

Actually, the north end where I live is not posh, but it gets posher as you go south. Before I bought and moved to my present house, thus raising the tone of the street no end, I was renting a house in Shirley Park, a fairly posh area just east of the town centre, and Carshalton Beeches is definitely posh though not really in Croydon. Haven't you seen the episode of "Whatever happened to the Likely Lads?" which mentions it?

I'm one of those rare Londoners who doesn't mind talking to strangers. I had a brief chat across the garden fences with my next but one neighbours the other day. We had previously spoken, e.g. when I took in a parcel delivery once for them. A few years ago on Croydon Tramlink, very crowded as usual, I remember a man remarking to his friend in what I took to be a Liverpool accent (never been there but I remember hearing the Beatles etc. on TV), that Londoners never say hello to people. I had a little friendly chat with him using my full Saaf London accent, which really confused him.

She is going to announce that Charles having the virus recently has got her thinking about the succession, and that while she's confident Charles III and William V will do a good job, she wants to ensure that young George eventually marries the right woman. I correctly predicted in 2013 (not on the forum, it was before I joined) that he would be named George, given the trend of monarchs with prime numbers, hence George VII. Now I predict the right woman for him. He needs to meet my granddaughter Amara, to give them plenty of time to plan ahead. Amara (or FQA as I refer to her, not FAQ but Future Queen Amara), is ideal because she's just 6 months older than George, a nice sociable little girl who'd get along great doing all those public engagements, and perfect for the role. Not a girl genius like her older sister who'd make a good prime minister, but clever enough. I'm keeping all of 2035 clear in my diary so I can attend the wedding. Easy because I don't yet have a 2035 diary. The Queen will of course announce that each time George and Amara meet they'll stay over 2m apart, for the time being at least. Just as well because they're only 6 and 7.