Bath Tec School

Hi Tony - Obviously not so brown that immigration queried that you were eligble then? Or been blockaded by French fishermen. Mind you a few of us are getting pretty brown as well, rust, I believe it's called, actually since you've been away the weather's been pretty good, chilly but generally sunny, so if it turns now and we start to get rain can we blame you and send you back to Spain so as to put it right?

 

Glad you had a good holiday, nice to have you back, those few 3/4 of us have been having a sponsered silence to see if any of the others crawled out of the woodwork, to no avail, as you have already observed. Still if we few can amuse ourselves, sod the rest of 'em.

 

Stu

Good morning  All

 

I thought Spain was unusually quiet then I read that Tony is back in the sunny UK! If you had the weather we have had in our little corner of Spain then you should be well tanned Tony. No fear of a blockade in Spain, they could not be bothered. More important things to like drinking vino and talking.

 

How can we persuade some other members to identify themselves and share their memories?

 

Have fun in the sun.

 

Cheers

 

Steve

Hi All.

Welcome back to Blighty Tony, I'm glad to hear you had a nice break. We've been a tad quiet on here to see if any of the "watchers' were going to make an appearance, but it seems not. It'll be down to the rest of us to keep up the waffle, I think !!!

 

I think we should be able to think of a thing or two to say don't you? Stu and his ever loving are coming up to Bristol to do a bit of Rockin' and Rollin' to the Zombies soon, so we'll look forward to the report about that one !!

 

Rich

Yep - waffle on it'll have to be I reckon Rich, our observed silence did absolutely nothing to encourage anyone out from under their respective stones, it would be nice to hear other snippets of silliness occasionally, but ho hum what will be will be.

 

To answer Steve, there seems to be very little that can be done to encourage others to participate, Bill, Tony and myself have tried at various times, but pleading, begging, threats of violence, have no impact, haven't tried the sex angle yet though. We've even sent out new invitations on Friends Reunited as there are several names posted there, and contacts are now free, again with no response. Personally I fail to understand why you would bother to register with sites and then fail to respond to potential contacts, do people just wait for that one particular person to contact them, or they all pretending to be Howard Hughes. Perhaps you'd like to have a go Steve, threaten 'em with the Spanish Mafia, or perhaps a Paella or something.

 

Changing the subject, I wish I'd had my camcorder at work with me this morning, middle age guy pulls up with an old "stand up" jet ski on the trailer duly pays his fiver launch fee, put his wet suit on and puts said ski in water. Now there's a group of us, old sea dogs, members of the gig club, general riff raff, hanging about at the top of the slipway, just chatting and watching the world sail by, anyway matey attempts to start the ski, after about five minutes he achieves this obviously important landmark, now we're starting to take more interest in whats going on, various dispariging remarks have already been made about the antiquity of the ski and its worthiness for use, as, in two feet of water he hops on board and promptly rolls upside down, that starts us off laughing, over the next ten minutes he manages this feat about a dozen more times, start her up, hop on, move about two yards forward, roll over, in between choking with hysterical laughter my pal Wally happened to mention that he's the local undertaker, I did suggest that perhaps he's experimenting with a new form of buriel at sea. For his final trick he managed to get up a bit of speed before rolling over and disappearing underwater, at speed like a submarine, ski and all, I laughed till I cried, as did many of the crowd that had by now gathered on the quay side. Best bit is I get paid to do this.

 

Zombies! - sittin' 'n shufflin' I reckon Rich, "She's not there" - she bloody well better be, repot to follow.

 

Stu

Tony,

Welcome back to the world of the busy.. yes some of us ..(well actually me in particular)  have been very busy ..Gardens R Us this week ..I have the pleasure of Carole`s company all this week, she is aiding me with my endeavours to brighten up our little corner of the village. Much wood (Tanalised of course) has been placed , screwed, bolted, sawn, hammered into a shape resembling a fore deck of a small trawler ..3 tons of Cerny gravel has been liberated from the land, and is now snuggled up in a heap at the bottom of the garden. It`s role? .. to provide topping for three new paths .. and the borders for nine new 1 mtr square raised beds ..(the vegetable kind) .. that I have yet to build.

I am awaitng my new rot proof resin bike shed ..(thursday), and the rest of my decking timber..if you are not busy, and useful with a saw ... then we have plenty of food and drink for any volunteer silly enough to call on us. There is no cash alternative, or insurance on site .. own hard hat and goggles will be required ..H.S.E. have been consulted.

 

Catch you later Lads..regards, Bill

Fore deck of a small trawler eh Bill! Sounds fishy to me!!!

Good morning fellow pupils

 

The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain and it it has been absolutely pissing down all morning!! If it goes on like this I will have to get Sue to drive me to the bar. You all put me to shame as I would normally be laying on the sunbed thinking about all the work I used to do. I would love to come and give you a hand Bill, the invitation of food and drink (alcoholic I trust) is very tempting. Can you send money for flights?

 

I see Neil Merrett is a member and we used to spend quite a bit of time togeher. So come on Neil, you were always very good with words so get writing and tell us your memories.

 

Keep working

 

Steve

I hate to do this Steve but it's been a lovely day here, sun beaming down, totty about in next to no clothes, warmest day of the year, just about to sit on the balcony and look at the sea with a nice cold Peroni.

 

Cheers Stu

Well Stu, It's a reall bugger this hot weather ( sorry Steve) but somebody has to endure it and dampen the dryness with a little liquid refreshment !! I've spent the weekend cutting Privets, a 4 times a year chore and a few glasses of the amber nectar are certainly soothing the old joints ( no, not those ones , Bill ) and bringing on the state of being as relaxed as an amphibian !!

 

I hope everyone is well and you've all had a great weekend.

 

Rich

It,s been pretty hot around Frome this weekend, dug out an overgrown flower border today followed by cleaning out the pond after the kids and I captured all the frogs and let them hop around the lawn, at least the rain in Spain is mainly warm Steve, unless that is you live on the mountains, coming back up from the south we left 28 degrees in the morning and headed north, as we headed over the mountains we saw snowploughs parked up with their amber lights flashing just waiting, we thought they must know something we don,t and sure enough five miles further on we headed into a snowstorm, luckily we were over the worst and as we dropped down it began to stop, but we still spent a cold overnight stop at Burgos (thats about a 700 km run from the Costa del Sol) and then on to the relative warmth of Biarritz.

Nice one Stu, why am I thinking of a tall guy with a black wetsuit and top hat, hi Bill I am sure all that work you and Carol are doing will look great, must ride the bike over and look at your new bike soon, Hi Rich, hope you have a good trimmer, I bought one last year and thought I would get the longest available, after about five mins my hands felt like jelly and I had a job to hold it up.

Hope you are all keeping well

Tony,

I have a lightweight 3ft petrol hedge cutter that you are more than welcome to borrow any time ..it doesn`t get much use now .. a few years ago we had over 200ft of hedges (leylandi & Berbis Perpuwensa?) removed for the very good reason of improving visual  secuirity and to minimise the work, as we are both getting no younger .. there is 2 stroke petrol avaiable with it if you need some. Bike is going very well, over 1050 miles on it now ..first service due this thursday. Having trouble keeping it up eh? .. try Viagra just before gardening .. does nothing for the trimmer .. just stops you getting too close to the hedges ..Ha Ha

 

Stu,

I always think there is something peculair about wet suits, do not under any circumstance try the hedge trimmer/ viagra combo whilst attired in rubber .. watery eyes, about all the use the wet suit will be for .. the wine, the sea, the views .. sounds a good little spot to live Stu. I have to admit that the "Zombies" is a group I used to enjoy in my youth, but don`t seem to pursue music as much as I did. Got oodles of MP3 on the P.C. as diverse as Joyce Grenfell, Vera Lynn, to The Corrs, Andrea Bochelli and Tiny Tim ..Oh, and for good measure a lot of local Bands and solo artists from the 60`s and 70`s that I recorded in my old Studio.

  

Rich,

Ditto if you need the cutter .. it`s a shame to see it lie idle so much, only the hedges aroung the motor home to trim now. There is no driver supplied with it though ..Ha Ha ..so, a bit of a Rolling Stones weekend then Rich? ..well, "the joints was a rockin` going round and round" .. especially after the cider I expect.

 

Steve,

Where shall I send the tickets? .. If you can get our Neil to pop up after all this time ..it will be well worth it .. I reckon he ovedosed too much on "Johhny and the Hurricanes" as a teenager myself ... or could it have been the snnoker hall? ..no doubt he will let us know one day.

 

Regards to the listeners, and where is Roger Coombe from Espana? .. we`ve lost him somewhere .. and the one who left us on here was caller Robert (I think)..Bill

Hi Boys!!

Thanks for offer of the trimmer Bill, but the one I have is OK so far. I know what you mean about jelly hands, Tony. I bought a set at Lidl last year, very cheap, very long and very good, but after 10 minutes you'd think I'd been using a pneumatic drill. The old hands really do shake.....and before Captain Stickler the Harbour Master chimes in, it has nothing to do with the DT's. No cider required until after privet cutting !!! Health and Safety don't you know.

Happy Days !!

 

Rich

I think you can get gloves that will help Rich, we used to get them from the builders merchant for some of the guys on site using tools that tended to vibrate a bit and I have some somewhere but you know how it is when you come to look for something in the shed ,

I may take you up on the offer Bill but as long as you don,t let it get out of hand and you trim it every month its not too bad, where have you been to clock up that number of miles,seems like only a few weeks ago you said you were picking it up, mine is still in the back of the motorhome and with all this nice weather I should get it out and use it.

Rich ,you will have to get a scooter and a parka, we can all go on a rally down to Appledore and play the Harbourmaster up by riding the bikes up and down the jetty

Beach Boys eh? .. (I`m picking up good vibrations) .. the problem with the electric trimmer is no balance in the mechanism, I used to have one .. drove me mad .. that`s why I bought the petrol one, it`s got a clutch that makes life easy .. and using it for upward of three hours at a time ,, no problem .. White Finger .. a serious hazzard according to the H.S.E. .. my other half works for C........n .. and I get the job of providing Duplicates for all the Site Health & Safety tapes and dvds ..schhhhh!!!!! .. trade secret .. the things you won`t belive that happen on building sites .. as for asbestos ..you don`t want to know.. The miles?, well like the years they kust roll by Tony .. seaside trips, jaunts around Bristol & Bath .. the Lakes ( Blagdon & Chew ) .. anywhere where it is sunny ... Appledore .. Carole and I were in the area last summer, and we were "buzzed" all the way to Barnstable by a "scooter" rally crowd ..it was great to see so many classic scooters .. the smell of the two stroke .. amazing.. they were coming out of all the lanes and byroads, my guess was they were heading for Croyde ... we were heading for Lynton & Lynmouth. Well, I`m up for a ride out to Appledore , and if the guy with the jet ski is still there we can give him a race ..Ha Ha .. and I have a spare Yamaha scooter, helmet and gloves Jacket, water proofs  etc (you`ll need to insure it, and supply your nwn 4 star ) it can do up to 50mph with a tail wind .. same speed up most hills ... over to you guys .. Bill

HOOLIGANS! RUDDY HOOLIGANS! that's all you are, the lot of you, I'll get you I will. It's bad enough the local kids using the recycling bins as football goals, that's when they're not jumping up and down on the top of them, BOOM! BOOM! I hate school holidays. Now the Arts Council has installed a bell on the mid water line "To help guide mariners", yeah help guide 'em straight onto a sandbank, AH! Esmerelda, the bells, the bells. Now you horrible lot threaten to invade my solitude even more HOOLIGANS! RUDDY HOOLIGANS!!!!!!! that's all you are, SCOOTERS!!!!! bah!!!

Don`t like scooters then Stu? ..and bells , I think bells are off as well .. see you soon ..Ha Ha...

Isn,t it nice to be called a hooligan after all this time Bill!!

ZOMBIES, no, not you two, I'm feeling better today, just a bit, great gig last night. I'm always a bit suspicious when we go to see bands that have been around since the year dot, some are brilliant, as they should be having been around for so long, others just go through the motions, the Moody Blues were like that last year, I kept thinking they'd get going in a bit but it never took off. Last night though, was a different matter, it would seem that the Zombies have got a regular touring band with Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent as the central players and excellent musicians forming the rest, this line up played the first part of the gig and for the second half the bass player and drummer were replaced by original members Chris White and Hugh Grundy to perform Odessey and Oracle. Absolutely brilliant, for a guy about to collect his pension Colin Blunstone can still hit all the top notes clearly and Rod Argents keyboards are as good as ever (possibly better). They're playing the Cheese and Grain in Frome on October 30th. Tony, do yourself a favour and get down there, if last night's anything to go by you'll be one of the youngest there anyway.

Oh, I 'spose scooters are allright Bill, as long as you haven't got a million mirrors and a fox's brush on the end of a ten foot aerial, still you've got to admit they're not proper motorbikes, a proper motorbike's a pig to start and then drips oil all over your trousers, sorry jeans, liable to break your leg if it kicks back, I had an AJS once that kicked back chucked me right over the bars once, good job it was on the centre stand.

Oh, I'm only just a bit better today, bloody gearbox on my car packed up on the way home from Bristol, input shaft bearing failed, new gearbox required, that'll be another £500 quid out of my pocket then, BLOODY ZOMBIES, BLOODY BRISTOL, BAH HUMBUG.

Carole has been calling me this (and other expletives) for years now Tony, specially when I lose it with the d.i.y. ..things have a habit of getting broken around me very quickly ..then I have to repair them all over again .. oh, the bike shed is up ..just, the wind was a bit blowy here today ..about 12mph regular, gusting to 25mph + .. the turbine sure is whooshing at the moment ..not a day for Appledore on the bike I think .. Hey Ho!

Just which is it Carole's been calling you Bill, Zombie or Hooligan? I'ts raining here, drizzly showers anyway, 15.30 and just off to work, I'll just sit there in me caravan, at least somebody's chained up the clapper on the bell so it should be a bit quieter.

 

When sober "hooligan" .. when intoxicated ..well, I guess "Zombie" could be appropriate .. The bells, the bells, all quiet on the Western Quay then today .. here, this 15.30 .. that`s P.M. .. why do you have to start work so early ..I thought you did the night shift Stu.

Evening today, morning tomorrow Bill, then the rest of the week off - I hope. The bells, UPDATE - it doesn't work! installed last monday at great expense, upwards of £60.000, all week the clapper's been chained to stop it moving, this evening there's a spring tide so the guy that made it turns up to "hear what it sounds like and do any fine tuning that's required", It dont work, when the tide's coming in the clapper's tight against the bell one way and when the tide turns it goes slowly through the vertical until it's pressed against the bell the other side, this process takes about half an hour so no ding there either. When I left he was still fiddling with it, so I'll see what's happened tomorrow morning. Further reports to follow. Mind you there are other compensations, the local adventure activity companies have started to get the school parties in for the season so I get lots of 16 year old school girls in wetsuits running past the caravan, wish I was 16 again, even more of an incentive to pay a visit eh?

Stu, have you still got the video camera? ... .. wet suits .. well, we didn`t have wet suits when I was a boy .. nor jump suits .. I wished .. oh well, back to the long johns and night cap ..Ha Ha ..

Bill don't forget your cocoa>

And brandy

Sorry to hear about the car Stu, know how you feel as I just spent £450 on my little clio having the cambelt changed and a full service plus new disks and pads and after a few weeks had a bit of a noise from the water pump, as this is driven by the cambelt it had to be all taken off again to install the new pump, another £150, wish I had thought of it at the time but it sounded OK.

Weather has been rubbish today in Frome and the rain only stopped about four when the sun came out for an hour but it was still cold.

Hi Tony, damn cars, always were an expense, no doubt Williams will have some wizard scheme in operation involving a rubber band, a piece of string and a candle that allows him to run a car of fresh air. Sad part is like you I've just had the cam belt replaced, fortunately my mechanic noticed a slight leak on the water pump and replaced it, I haven't had the bill for that one yet but he's a good lad it only cost me just over £200 about two and a half years ago to have a new clutch and the cam belt, but the gearbox is definately going to cost more a secondhand one's going to set me back about £350 before any fitting charge, eek!!!! At least it didn't pack up on the M5 on the middle of the night, almost but just got us home. On top of that a seagull's building a nest on next door's roof so there'll be tons of guano everywhere. Ah well at least the sun came out this afternoon,

Morning Guys, feeling a bit stunned this morning, been gigging again, bit of a bugger that these two came so close together, the Zombies last week and Gary Moore last night, both at the Colston Hall, 200+ mile round trip each time and had to hire a car for last night, worth it though, I don't think my hearing ever going to be the same I was partially deaf before, too many loud gigs, but last night was like standing next to a jet fighter while it takes off, head ringing from some cracking guitar playing and body shaken to bits by the bass, even my shirt was vibrating, mind you the final encore, a 10 mins plus version of Parisienne Walkways made it worthwhile. You come come down en masse on the scooters today guys I wouldn't be able to hear a thing, ha ha ha.

 

Stu

PS Thought I caught a glimpse of Neil Merritt, the guy looked awfully like him allowing for passing years, unfortunately I wasn't close enough to do the "Excuse me are you Neil" bit, I seem to remember Neil used to like a bit of rock and  I've been told to F off before so I don't worry about that.

Afternoon Stu, and any loose guys hanging about ...the cocoa went down well Stu, and I wondered what all the noise was coming over the top of the Sleifht Farm opposite me .. "parisian Walkways" ..well, that takes me back as well.  not to Paris you understand .. just one of those haunting melodies ... I trust you will be already at work Stu.

 

Tony, I`ve just looked at the piccies of "Spey Park" on your skydrive folder ..  amazing building isn`t it? ..and the sophisticated internals you would not suspect them to be there just looking from the outside .. Oh, and the decking ..is there to be any ? ..or do the sports(men/women) have to walk the beams? ... are you back at work now, if not, I`ll pop over one sunny afternoon / evening with the bike... al these questions ..bit like exams isn`t it????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Err!!yes ,no,no,yes  i think.

 

Hi boys, no work today Bill, a rare day off so I'm making the most of it busily doing nothing, at the moment I work mostly at weekends, at least until the season kicks in a bit more.

Yep the volume was such that I wouldn't have been surprised if you could have heard it even if the Sleight was in the way, at least my heads stopped ringing now, and I must take issue with you, you've obviously woken poor old Tony up from his afternoon siesta, poor chap didn't have time to put his brain in gear.

I've got to admit I missed the point a bit in your message the other day about people drifting off into the ether and other dimensions, you don't think they've been abducted by aliens do you? I don't think we want to be communicating with people who glow in the dark and tend to "talk in voices", do you?

 

Just been looking at your photos from Spye Park, Tony, cracking piece of work, you must be proud of it, Shirl saw them and said can't he come and do our kitchen, I told her we can't afford you.

 

Stu

HELLO!! - IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE, BILL ARE YOU THERE? TONY? I think the aliens have got Rich and Steve, Mick's probably been got by the headhunters, I hope the aliens haven't got you two as well, I'll have nobody left to annoy. Nice day today wasn't it.

 

Stu

It wasn,t very nice around Frome today ,or Weston Super Mare,we took my mum out for lunch and it rained nearly all day,we bought some more  goldfish for the pool and I have just finished reloading XP  on my old Toshiba laptop after stripping it and giving it a good clean internally. where does all that fluff come from Bill

Tony at our age one should really leave the fluff alone, it'll only get you into trouble. Shame about the weather, it was really nice here this afternoon, overcast this morning, but warm and sunny this afternoon went for a four and a half wile walk along the cliffs, that was after the half hour on the excercise bike and another half hour weightlifting, I'll have to be careful I might even get fit at this rate.

 

Hi All

 

Yes, I'm now back again!!! I notice that our membership has rocketed to 16. Who is the new member? I am sat here after a few days when the temperature has been over 30C and now it is raining!! It reminds me of England, after all it is a Fiesta day (Bank holiday) here. I seen Gary Moore at Gloucester about 5 years ago Stu and he was brilliant then. The encore was longer than the actual concert!!  We have been up to Valencia for a few days and we were enthralled, it is a beautiful city and I recommend a visit. The modern arcitecture is breathtaking.

 

Enjoy the Bank holiday weekend.

 

 

Steve

Hi Steve, last we heard from you it was raining and you were going to get Sue to take you to the bar, assumed you were still there. It's proper Bank Holiday weather here, started off this morning bright, sunny, quite warm, having been lulled into a false sense of security it clouded over, the wind got up, and it's now drizzling, lovely, I'm working all weekend so it'll probably stay like it, at least it'll stop Eccles and Williams coming down here to annoy me with their scooters. Regarding members, we might have 16 but it still only the five of us who ever add anything to the site, Bill and I have decided that either they have disappeared into the ether, or been abducted by aliens, as no amount of cajoling, threatening and outright abuse seems to have any effect.

 

Hi Steve, last we heard from you it was raining and you were going to get Sue to take you to the bar, assumed you were still there. It's proper Bank Holiday weather here, started off this morning bright, sunny, quite warm, having been lulled into a false sense of security it clouded over, the wind got up, and it's now drizzling, lovely, I'm working all weekend so it'll probably stay like it, at least it'll stop Eccles and Williams coming down here to annoy me with their scooters. Regarding members, we might have 16 but it still only the five of us who ever add anything to the site, Bill and I have decided that either they have disappeared into the ether, or been abducted by aliens, as no amount of cajoling, threatening and outright abuse seems to have any effect.

 

Hi all , can,t think who the new member is as everyone joined in Feb. except Neil, where is  Rich, he hasn,t been on for ages

We need to start a new subject as this one is over forty threads long

Hi Tony Stu and anybody else listening

 

You will have to get your slide rule out Tony!!   Sun is shining now and forecast is good, where did I put that sun cream? Probably will be so hot that I will have to go in a bar for shade - drawback of living in Spain!

 

Cheers

 

Steve

I would have called you a rotten swine Steve but the sun's come out here again and the weather forecast for the weekend is good!

And I think Tony's being a spoilsport I wanted to see just how many pages we could get this thread to run to. I reckon Rich has benn brave and gone back to the Nova Scotia, so that might mean he's lying in a gutter somewhere, or his wife grounded him, SORRY RICH, couldn't help myself. Wouldn't mind being in Spain this weekend Moto GP at Jerez, bring it on, one day maybe, ah well must get on and finish this bottle of red.

 

Forty four threads, might as well make it forty five then , never mind the weekend Stu the long range forcast is for a scorching summer, so out with the shorts and sandles.

Tony

 

Never believe an historian or a weather forecaster. Best bet is get your wellies out and leave the charcoal in Tesco's. I am watching an absolutely brilliant Blues programme on BBC 4. Such happy memories, hope you are watching Stu. 

 

Back to the vino and blues. Happy days.

 

Hasta luego

 

Steve