An Indian Summer?

[Mike]

Funny how we Brits get so little summer that a bit of sunshine has us outside, feverishly soaking up the rays of what is surely an 'Indian Summer' right now.

Okay, it's a touch chilly in the early mornings but what a beautiful spell of weather we're having. Lovely stuff before our winter closes in and depresses us all for four months or so.

I have to say I dislike the English winter months. It is neither the cold nor the weather that irks me but the darkness; short days, long nights, and the grey, cloudy skies. Some say they suffer from something called SADS (seasonal affective disorder syndrome) but that, in my view, is just something inherent in the English winter months.

Mind you, when I was based in Aberdeen flying North Sea Oil Operations, that was one depressing place. Everything was either grey or white (white only when it snowed and only for the first few hours of pristine snow before everything turned slushy - and back to ... you guessed it ... GREY!). The weather was almost intolerable up there for someone used to the Australian climate, as I was at that time. One lives, right enough, but it is more existing than living. I long to be able to roll off south in the winter months just like the dicky birds, then stooge northwards again when the sun shines and the days are long.

Think I'd better build a live-aboard. Hang on a minute. That's the plan already. Just need to turn this dream into reality. Simple enough, then. :D

Regards

[Philip]

mike, l love it. for me its the start of the hunting season with my falcons getting my peregrine fit now and the other two will follow . then the shooting season starts ..plus the added bonus of ferreting . all my fieldsports come into play . cant wait must admit work slows down but thats after a mad summer . l dont do well in the heat like those cold mornings . maybe l will put up some pics of my falcons hunting we will see . l suppose thats why l go hectic during the summer with work stops me feeling quilty about time off in the winter . lol ! regards phil

[jwboatdesigns]

Ah, but for us here in faraway New Zealand, the Australasian falcons are doing amazing aerobatics in their mating flights, we've several pairs live in the area and its a rare occasion when one cannot see at least one patrolling the hedgerows.
With the spring eqinox just past we're into the boisterous changeable weather that will prevail for the next two months as the temperature climbs, I have tomatoes in the garden and its hot enough at lunchtimes to be very enjoyable sitting in the sheltered corner seat outside the workshop.
I can just about feel sorry for you, but not sorry enough to swap places.

John Welsford





mike, l love it. for me its the start of the hunting season with my falcons getting my peregrine fit now and the other two will follow . then the shooting season starts ..plus the added bonus of ferreting . all my fieldsports come into play . cant wait must admit work slows down but thats after a mad summer . l dont do well in the heat like those cold mornings . maybe l will put up some pics of my falcons hunting we will see . l suppose thats why l go hectic during the summer with work stops me feeling quilty about time off in the winter . lol ! regards phil

[Mike]

mike, l love it. for me its the start of the hunting season with my falcons getting my peregrine fit now and the other two will follow.Falconry is something that has fascinated me since I first saw that film about it ('Kez', I think it was - or at least that was the name the young lad gave his falcon). Sad film, but I could see the fascination. I guess if you are a Brit and have not known anything different, winter months are just a part of any year - and no more.

Perhaps I was spoiled for too long while living in a place where I simply did not own a coat of any sort. Winter was just a passing thing in Western Australia. A time where one put on a sweater for a week or three instead of just wearing T-shirts.

Don't get me wrong here. I love being in England. But I do not like the dark and dreary months of winter that seem to go on forever with cloudy skies, rain, and biting cold. Summer here - when we actually get a good'un - is just glorious.

In WA, there are usually about four weeks in mid-summer where the heat is quite intolerable - unless you have air conditioning in your home, your car, and your workplace. And Australia is getting even hotter, my rellies tell me, as the so-called global warming (I say 'so called' because I am not yet fully persuaded that we humans have an awful lot to do with it) sets in. In Darwin, there is actually a season that coincides with intolerable weather conditions that is known as 'The Suicide Season'. Some folk seem to go almost crazy with it and a few actually knock 'emselves off.


With the spring eqinox just past we're into the boisterous changeable weather that will prevail for the next two months as the temperature climbs, I have tomatoes in the garden and its hot enough at lunchtimes to be very enjoyable sitting in the sheltered corner seat outside the workshop.

I can just about feel sorry for you, but not sorry enough to swap places.

John WelsfordHa ha ha. No need to feel sorry for us, JW. And certainly no need to swap places. There may come a day, though, when you will be asked to move over a bit to let some of us 'evacuees' nestle in alongside you. I can think of a multitude of reasons why many of us Brits are looking to head off to somewhere else. And most of those reasons have very little to do with seasons or the weather. 'Nuf said, I think, or I'll have the 'Fuzzy Coppers' knocking on my door. You know the kind I mean - the ones who uphold the anti-swearing, anti-racism, anti-anythingthatishonestandtruthful lot. I had one local constable tell me recently, when I called the police to deal with a threat to kill my daughter at her school, that I should not talk about legal matters in front of my children. What utter garbage! What I discuss with my family - and others of my acquaintance - within the privacy of my own home is surely not anyone else's business, including the police. Or has freedom of thought and expression been legislated into obscurity too? Not yet, I think, though it may well be on the agenda.

What a strange world this is here in the UK at this particular moment in time. Methinks George Orwell (http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/1984/) ('1984') and Enoch Powell (the so-called 'Rivers of Blood Speech' (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/3643823/Enoch-Powells-Rivers-of-Blood-speech.html)) had it right. Come to that, perhaps so too did Nostradamus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostradamus) all those centuries ago when predicting the occurrence and combatants of an envisioned World War Three - yet another 'war to end all wars'.

Not to worry, though. 'No doubt the universe is unfolding as it should' - Desiderata, 1927, by Max Ehrmann of Terre Haute, Indiana, USA (http://backyardboatbuilding.org.uk/forums/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=1253).

Have fun looking up anything you don't already know about. I did! Ha ha. And don't forget to take it with a rather large pinch of sodium chloride. This is the Internet, after all. ;) In places, the Internet brings us fact as fiction, fiction as fact, and is often where the mischievous and the criminally-inclined are in their element. If you doubt that for even a second, check the content of your email 'junk' or 'bulk' folder. Q.E.D. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q.E.D.)

Regards

[Philip]

when l was doing my travelling spent a year in oz. found it very strange spending christmas day on bondi beach. mind you looking at all those lovely beach babes was a fair cry from looking at gran over the table! lol! the whole time l was there , the best bit for me was queensland , purely for the wildlife. wheather did me in abit just to hot!! . if we go anyway it would be canada/ usa border l reakon. if it all gets to much in the UK , and Token is finished, well l might just ****** off on her!!!!! As for token being today still fairing the hull, but got the cabin roof epoxy sheathed. as l said decided not to rush getting her in to water untill work is finished, rents the same just its alot easier to work on her drydocked. She is looking good thanks to carl and helens work , amazing what a extra 2 pairs o hands can do. The new british slogan should be " Fight For Freedom, What Freedom" lol:beatenup:

[Mike]

when l was doing my travelling spent a year in oz. found it very strange spending christmas day on bondi beach. mind you looking at all those lovely beach babes was a fair cry from looking at gran over the table! lol! the whole time l was there , the best bit for me was queensland , purely for the wildlife. wheather did me in abit just to hot!!You do get used to Xmas in summer - eventually - but turkey sandwiches on the beach ain't quite the same as at the roast at 'Gran's place', Phil. Very gritty and unpalatable.

Trust me when I say that the beach babes are great everywhere in Oz. Healthy young ladies wearing very little is trademark Aussie stuff. The babes here are actually better looking - and nicer, on the whole - but how often can they get down to wearing very little at all in a public place? There's the difference really.


if we go anyway it would be canada/ usa border l reakon. if it all gets to much in the UK , and Token is finished, well l might just ****** off on her!!!!!You would certainly be amongst a lot of boatbuilders there, that's for sure. And the fact you like chilly mornings would see you feeling right at home, Phil.


As for token being today still fairing the hull, but got the cabin roof epoxy sheathed. as l said decided not to rush getting her in to water untill work is finished, rents the same just its alot easier to work on her drydocked. She is looking good thanks to carl and helens work , amazing what a extra 2 pairs o hands can do. The new british slogan should be " Fight For Freedom, What Freedom" lol:beatenup:Good news on Token, Phil. Don't forget to post a few pics when you get a chance.

Don't disagree with the slogan, though we do still have more freedom here than many other parts of the world. I think we have a long way to go here to make it a great place to live - at least for us types. Others, especially those living in deprived regions of the world, would disagree, of course. They were once called 'boat people'. These days, it is more like 'ship people' thanks to the people smugglers. I often wonder how many actually die in the attempt to reach Europe. I have some sympathy for 'em but feel the answer is in lifting conditions where they come from rather than letting 'em in here as we have done for years. Hopefully, things are improving in that regard. The question is: Are the improvements now too late to truly resolve the problem of integration? Methinks the answer is in the affirmative. It's a case of too little and too late. And I am astonished at how very many people here actually feel the same way as do I. There has to be a good future in building - or restoring - live-aboards, eh? And we then become the 'boat people'; citizens of nowhere but Lords of all we survey! Ha ha.

Best wishes

[Philip]

sister ships a mike could be the answer, l can wait , can you . lol!!!! :approval: l tell you how mad this country is. helen, the wife brought a fast food van got a pitch sorted , local builders merchants . they were happy everything ok. untill the council got involved , papers started rolling along with licences. took the 800 odd quid of her for the licence. so, we thought great start trading........ mmmm a little time passed still no defo from the council got a call from them saying someone has complained. we called asked who ,to start they wouldnt tell us and just said the pitch cant be granted. turn out the council own the land and sublet it . AND it was the council who complained and refused to pay back the money!!!!!! how crook is that!! regards all phil

[Mike]

How crook, Phil? It sounds like your local council's employees are dishonest people. No real surprises there, then. I'd be surprised if they were not, really.

It's not the first time I've heard this kind of story. I guess the rot starts at the top and works its way down. When we already know we can't trust most of our politicians, we should not be surprised if we cannot trust local government officers.

If I were Helen, I would be inclined to file a claim against the council in question in the small claims court. If you need help on how to go about that, I have a law library and some successful experience upon which she might rely for help in doing just that.

Regards