Author Archives: garymoore

Sherry

This is a glass of Sherry, in a whisky glass.

We have no Sherry glasses. This is because I’ve not tasted Sherry since the age of nine. Yes, nine.

I’ve had asthma as long as I can remember and, when I was a kid, medication was pretty much non-existant. My own treatment mostly consisted of tranquelisers, with the aim of preventing me from exerting myself, thus triggering an attack. There were some pills in the event of an asthma attack, but they were ineffective.

Now this is weird, since inhalers were available. Che Guevara used French inhalers, which I assume we’re something like the current mainstream reliever. Of course, these weren’t readily available in Bolivia, resulting in the inevitable attack, delay and capture (the rest is history).

In the UK, I can’t say why Ventolin (I’ll use the brand name) also wasn’t available in the UK all those years ago. Maybe the drug was accessible then, but it was never offered to me. Or maybe it wasn’t available on the NHS.

Anyway, my parents heard that Sherry was beneficial for asthma sufferers. We’re not talking about keeping kids quiet by getting them drunk; rather, a small glass each evening to relax the patient.

My first glass of Sherry would have been at the age of eight. It tasted vile and it took a lot of encouragement to make me drink it. However, after a few weeks, it began to taste nice.

A few weeks ago, I bought a bottle from Tesco. It was labeled Jerez Xeres, so I knew that meant it didn’t contain fish (or other animal) bits. It sat in the wine rack since.

For some reason, I decided to try some this evening (why would it work? .

And it was (is) truly disgusting. I think I’ll stick with my inhaler.

Cab floor II

Since my Wickes delivery (cement) arrived early, I made a start on masking-off the cab ready to paint. It was good to see that the rust treatment has turned black, so it maybe just needs cleaning up a little more before priming.

After masking most of the cab, I gave the seat mounts a coat of primer, since the runners on the driver’s side had been in a bit of a mess (there aren’t actually runners as such on the passenger side.

They look a lot better after just the one coat.

I should probably say that the seatbelt are going to be replaced, so I didn’t bother removing them right now.

Cab floor

Well after several delays (there are always better things to do), I made a start on the van’s cab floor today. The seats were really easy to take out, so I was pretty optimistic as to getting the floor cleaned-up quickly.

But then I took the rubber flooring up. It actually came up easily, but the old 1970s double-sided adhesive tape was firmly stuck and a real pain to remove from the floor.

This picture’s from around the halfway point in tape removal and sanding.

There was quite a bit of rust, as I’d expected, but it was limited to the surface. The blue/black areas below show the rust treatment starting to work.

To be honest, though, after removing the kick boards, the van’s really in decent shape for its age.

The paintwork in the picture is all original and virtually rust free, a good thing since this is the front of the van.

We knew that the van had spent most of its life in Florida, which has undoubtedly contributed to its preservation. However, a find under the driver’s seat shows that the van had made at least one lengthy trip before moving to the UK; to Wyoming.

I also learned that seat belt design had remained unchanged since the bay window Type 2 was introduced in the late 60s.

I’ve a cement delivery tomorrow, so a coat of primer should follow on Thursday.

Barbecue II

Well, the heaps of stone and rubble in the garden have been reduced from three to just one – achieved by relocating much of the stone to the old barbecue area.

Unfortunately, the garden does now look something of a mess.

Bird house

While recently in Stamford, we bought a new bird box.

Barbecue

For some reason, shortly after moving into this house, I built a barbecue in the garden. I think it was used twice.

It’s now a new (third) pile of rocks in the garden.

Which will soon be relocated to the new hole in the garden.

Peterborough beer festival

After being home a few days, I’m catching-up with things. Last Friday, which already feels like a lifetime ago, we visited this year’s beer festival in Peterborough. It’s allegedly the second largest in the country and entry is free for CAMRA members. Fortunately, my beloved and I are members.

Unfortunately, we’d left our membership cards at home. We’d not actually realised that we’d be in Peterborough during the beer festival. I was made aware on my arrival from London, where I bumped into my beloved’s niece (who asked whether we were there for the festival).

Luckily, a very nice man escorted us through the CAMRA members’ entrance at minimal cost. Well, we really are members. It’d been some time since we’d been to this festival and it seemed larger than on that last occasion. There was certainly a huge range of beer and it was great to see many labelled as unfined or hazy. Usually, I find four or five fishless beers at a beer festival, but there were so many on this occasion that I was only able to work my way through a small proportion of fish-free beer. I’d definitely recommend checking this beer festival out.

My beloved’s old flat was even (sort of) visible from the beer festival.

Newark

Right, a few years ago, I was stuck in Newark because I had a booked train and work stuff ended early.

So, I used my time wisely, after my non-booked train brought me to Newark. I found some nice bars.

My second visit to Newark was a few years later, just a few weeks ago. We stopped off in the van on our way back from Peterborough. When we found the Castle Barge.

And we’ve found ourselves here again today, meeting up with some of my second in command’s family.

We had a drink earlier in the Old Post Office, a nice old post office, although I took no pictures.

We did have a quick drink in the hotel bar beforehand.

There were some other decent bars. For example …

And …

And then …

We had to find food, before a nightcap in the hotel.

Other nice bars may have been involved.

St Alban

I used to spend a lot of time in St Albans, a whole lifetime ago.

We’re staying there tonight and I’ve spent much of today retracing my children’s steps as infants. And one time after a trip to Munich in the early 00s.

While my children have little recollection, other than a crowding geese incident, we often frequented places such as ….