Way back last November I had a problem with the fan in my en-suite shower room. It had an intermittent short, and was turning itself on and off at random. My regular electrician was able to come out at short notice, diagnose the fault and disconnect the unit from the mains. Water had got into […]
I was back at Eastnor Pottery today for another session throwing pots on the wheel. Today I decided to have a go at making myself a gravy boat, which turned out to be trickier than I had anticipated. The classic shape for a gravy boat is of course oval, but the whole point of throwing […]
It’s not got above freezing for several days. My garden and drive face almost due North, and the thin covering of snow that fell overnight on Friday hasn’t melted – in fact, it’s frozen solid. At least I can tell that the insulation in my loft is doing its job, as my roof is still […]
Well, as expected it did snow last night. Not in Malvern itself, particularly. That was largely clear. However, there was a very clear snow line half way up the Hills, and I was well above it. My drive wasn’t too bad. The worst bit was the steep slope directly off the road. That had about […]
It’s snowing for the first time this winter. Not particularly hard, yet, but the forecast is for an accumulation of 5cm or more overnight. Considering it logically, that’s not a particularly big deal. The main road will be gritted overnight and ploughed if necessary, and I’ve put salt down on the steep slope onto the […]
A few months ago I went on a glass fusing and slumping course in London. I finally picked up the resulting glassware when I visited my parents on the way back from my Christmas holiday. I was very pleased indeed with the results – all the pieces had come out much better than I had […]
I’ve had comments that it’s difficult to tell from my last few posts whether I had a good holiday, or a really crap one. Well, I think the overall balance is “Good on the whole”. I enjoyed myself and certainly shan’t be writing a long letter of “constructive criticism” to the holiday company – though […]
Just outside the town of Kyrenia is rather spectacular mountain range, called the “Five Finger Mountains” after the mountain pictured above, which from some angles looks remarkably like a palm and upraised fingers. I’m sure I can count more than five finger-like outcrops though! The range shelters a number of small abandoned Greek Orthodox churches […]
On Boxing Day we were taken on a mini-bus tour of the Karpas Peninsular, the “pan-handle” in the north-east of Cyprus. We were heading for the old Greek Orthodox monastery of Apostolos Andreas right at the very far tip of the peninsular. But when we got there after a three-hour drive through admittedly beautiful and […]
