01-Jul to 07-Jul 2012

Sun 01-Jul: Off to the Abbots Ripton Hall Garden Show this morning... early as well at 09:30 on the dot since Becky was on a mission. Great vendor stalls, nice food and beautiful gardens to wander around. Here's me and Becky sitting in front of The Hall with tea and cakes. For more pictures from the day click Allotment Heaven : Abbots Ripton Garden Show 2012

Mon 02-Jul: The allotment plot must be in it's most attractive phase at present. Still lots of produce to mature, such as tomatoes, plums, greengages, raspberries and gooseberries. Particularly pleased with the lettuce, seen here in four rows of great variety. Must be at least five different types, all providing loads for the extended family.

Tue 03-Jul: Bit of a panic yesterday when the 8mb SD card I copy all my OMED photos from down to the iPad got stuck in the camera. A quick trawl of t'Internet didn't give any good news... looked serious and needed to go to an expert. Don't know where I get my innate belief anything an 'expert' can do, so can I. Got me into lots of trouble in the past, with many occasions the word 'botched job' having passed Linda's lips.

This time success! Got the card out and spotted the problem... the locking tab had got caught. Managed to force back the bit of metal pulled out inside the camera dock and the backup 4mb card slid in smoothly. But the 8mb card now wouldn't work since the tab had come off and the camera thinks the card is locked. Whilst making another few steps forward in the kitchen decorations today had a bright idea the No Nails gunge used to fix some skirting board might just do the job. Here's the result. Not yet tried the updated botch in the camera... knowing my luck it'll get glued in and a £300 camera will be up the spout.

Wed 04-Jul: With the tiler working away in the kitchen today, time to catch up on some to do items. An important one was to check the London pub crawl details ready for Saturday's event with brother Andrew, nephew Steven, my sons and various other hangers on. Managed to find a free iPad app that let me add location points to a map, and with the book of Best London Pubs I got for Christmas, spent a contented hour revising the list of pubs to visit and preparing the route.

Here's the result... 13 pubs and 5 miles, though by the time we take in a few sights, stop off at a few additional watering holes to use the urinals 'cause I've left too big a gap between pubs, lost someone and had to search and any other of a thousand diversions, the venues and distance are likely to increase somewhat.

Thu 05-Jul: Here's three sources of trouble to make an early evening peaceful stroll across the fields anything but. The day had been a hectic one already, doing some tidying on the allotment, rushing back home for the tiler to finish off in the kitchen and back to the allotment, before returning home for a late lunch. Then mowing the grass and dropping the show cup off at a woodturners for fitting of a new base.

Sammy and Connor idled along at a snail's pace chatting the whole way while Jazz was eager to get on. Connor thought Sam was 'in paradise' because of all the tall weeds he could bash down with his stick. Didn't realise all those seeds I later spotted in Sam's hair were placed there by Connor!

Fri 06-Jul: Here's Andrew and me this afternoon at Pidley pitch & putt just before the first competition of his weekend visit. Went steeply downhill straight after this snap, with me traversing the first green like a demented dragonfly, desperately trying to stick the ball down the hole. Finished up taking 5 putts and 7 shots overall to Andrew's 3. Ended the 9 holes well behind, having lost two balls en route. To view some of the awful debacle click Andrew's lucky pitch at the first hole, my attempt at the first hole, fourth hole or seventh hole.

After dinner at The Dolphin and a wander around St Ives town centre things picked up at the first chess match of the weekend. In a game that saw the advantage swing from one side to the other, the tide turned when I captured Andrew's queen and went on to a narrow victory.

Sat 07-Jul: Here's a montage of a brilliant Saturday spent wandering around the historic pubs of London with Andrew, Steven and John. Managed to get to ten pubs, this image shows the crew near the start, at the end, and three icons of manhood beside a somewhat vague piece of artwork at Lincoln's Inn Fields. Lots more images and commentary at Allotment Heaven : London Pub Crawl 2012.

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