FREDDY FROM YORKSHIRE

New computer/ New resolve

2008-01-06T22:28:00.000Z

New computer/ New resolve.

Can't promise anything, but the resolve to post is slowly coming back.

My old computer was so slow I couldn't be bothered switching it on. I would rather watch re-runs of "Have I got news for you" or the "South Bank Show" on TV than wait the 20 minutes or so before my 64mb RAM computer decided to wake up. That has all changed with my new 1GB RAM computer. I can actually watch videos on U-Tube, without the characters looking as if they are doing that robotic dance thing.

That's the computer part of the strapline, the hard part is the resolve. A lot of water has gone under the bridge since I last posted. Hell, I even had to Google Blogger in order to get a password reset. What I will promise is.....

slowly resolve to start posting again!

On my travels again

2007-02-14T21:40:00.000Z

Well I'm on my travels again. Tomorrow I'm up at the crack of dawn and driving down to HO in Nottingham for a 2 day course.

On my way I always call in at Tibtree services because they have a nice Costa's coffee shop there. I'm hooked on their Cappucino. £2.85p for a large one to go. Last time I was down there I got a Costa lotta coffee and placed it in my cup holder in the car. Trouble is, the cups are so large, the top sort of just wedges in and leaves it at an angle. Of course I forgot and went around a bend to get back onto the motorway and it toppled over. Capo all over the car floor. I ended up with a coffee smelling car for the next week until I managed to clean it.

Might get a medium one tomorrow.

Pet Names

2007-02-09T21:59:00.000Z

As I've stated in previous posts, my little lass makes me laugh at the things she says.
We were talking about names she calls members of the family. This is what she said-

" I call Mummy, 'Chef' because she cooks nice meals for me. I call Daddy 'Cushion' because he's nice and soft when I sit on his knee and I call my grown up sister 'Teddybear' because she's like a big teddybear when she's in her bed."

"You've missed out your brother, what do you call him?" I asked.

"A pain in the neck" she replied.

The Scowl

2007-02-07T22:21:00.000Z

I have to drive to Bradford everyday for my work, a total of about 12 miles, which doesn't sound much but 7 of those miles are on the busiest stretch of motorway in the North, junctions 24 to 27 of the M62. The other 5 miles are inner city driving. You very rarely get up to 40mph on the motorway, and although the speed limit on the city roads is 30mph, you'll only ever get that fast on Christmas Day at 3 am. Usual speed is between 0 and a terrifying 10mph.

So I laughed at a story I heard on the Terry Wogan show this morning, when I was crawling along the A6177 in Bradford at a dizzy 5 mph, trailing a skip-wagon. A guy in similar circumstances to me, travelling into work, same speed, different city, been doing the same route for years, noticed a white van at the side of the road in the distance. When he got closer, he saw that it was a Traffic Policeman pointing a radar gun at the oncoming vehicles. The speed limit on the road was 40mph, but the traffic was stopping and starting, and couldn't have got up 5mph never mind 40mph. When the guy got alongside the copper, he waved to him and gave him a big smile.

All he got back was a scowl!

Mustn't have had any customers that morning.

A Day in York

2007-02-02T22:26:00.000Z

Part of my job working in the photo-hub is to go and visit the stores that send me the photos to develop and today being such a nice sunny day I decided to go to York.

York is the capitol city of Yorkshire and goes way back to the Viking times and beyond, consequently it is also full of tourists. Mind you, even I like going to York. There are plenty of attractions to see, museums to visit, some of them free, also , if you like touristy type shops, your well catered for.

Today though I didn't have time for all that, I was on business. I parked the car up in the park and ride, paid my £2 and let somebody else negotiate the traffic in the city centre. In places like this you tend to get a lot of buskers, someone playing a guitar or violin or blowing a trumpet, but today, I kid you not, was the first time Iv'e seen a busker playing a grand piano on the pavement. True! He could really play it well, as well. He had quite a crowd around him, so I think he would have got a fair bit in the hat.

Probably needed it at the end of the day to pay for the removal van!

Swimming Lessons

2007-01-30T22:05:00.000Z

Last September we got a message from the school saying that my lad wasn't very confident in the pool when his class went swimming. They suggested extra lessons on a Saturday morning with me in the pool with him, to give him that confidence.
On the first lesson I soon sussed what the problem was. He could swim fine but he insisted on wearing floats on his arms stating that if he took them off he would drown.It took 3 months of Saturday mornings to wean him off those floats until one Saturday morning he swam a pool length un-aided. The class cheered and clapped him, the instructor congratulated him, I was proud of him, and to prove it wasn't a fluke , he swam another 2 lengths. The instructor thought he was showing off then.
The following Saturday, the instructor came up to me and told me that in his normal school swimming lessons he refused to swim without floats. He must have thought that because I was there, I would save him from drowning. It took him another month before he finally discarded the floats, with or without me.

His extra lessons finished before Christmas, but now the little lass is coming with me on Saturdays. She's so skinny that the armbands keep falling off.

I think she'll learn fast...or drown!

Ruminating

2007-01-28T21:53:00.000Z

After a nice bottle of Californian red and a chicken dinner with all the trimmings, plus chocolate sponge with choc sauce for afters, I began to ruminate on what has happened in my life for the last 7 months.
It was June of last year when I last posted to this blog, and not a lot before then either. I can't even begin to explain why I stopped blogging, especially when I really enjoyed posting and reading other peoples blogs. Was it posters block?-- I don't think so. There was a lot happening at that time to provide enough material. Was it lethargy?-- mmm possibly. I used to think, shall I post tonight. Then almost immediately I'd think--nahhh I'll post tomorrow night. I used to put a lot of energy into my work as a photo lab manager back then, that I would feel drained when I got home. It's only now, 10 months down the line, that I can understand why. After blood tests, my doctor diagnosed me as having an under-active Thyroid Gland. I think the medical term is myxadema or hypothyroidism. Anyway, the symptoms are reduced brain function, feeling tired all the time and weight gain. I ticked all the boxes there. Your thyroid gland produces hormones to kick start your metabolism, unfortunately my kick start had fallen off. I am taking tablets to control this and am now feeling 200% better and sharper than I have done in months. So hopefully it's business as usual. Hooray!

Anyway, going back to my ruminating, the last post was all about the bomb site. Well the builders went away £2000 better off, but the outside of the house looks brilliant. We get the odd few hundred pebbles showering us occasionally, when we have high winds, but you always get that after fresh pebble dash, don't you?

June turned out to be the hottest June on record in the UK and July wasn't to bad either, but by the time my holiday came around in August, the British winter started. I was off for the first 2 weeks in August and it chucked it down everyday, cold with it as well. I don't think the weather has improved much since.

Anyway, it's nice to be posting again. Lots more to come now that I feel "rejuvenated" (sic)

See you tomorrow or Tuesday (oops slipping)

Just One Of Those Things

2007-01-27T23:23:00.000Z

What with travelling to Bradford everyday, the computer being bust for 3 months, an under-active Thyroid Gland, being Dads Taxi, some good DVDs to watch and generally being knackered most evening, (probably because of the thyroid gland) I haven't done any postings for 7 months.

Hopefully that will all change now I'm on medication. (Thyroxine). I'm feeling a lot more energetic nowadays and with a bit of luck I might lose some weight as well.

Keep looking in, I'm planning a different look for the site and will be bringing you up to date with the news.

Bye for now

Bomb Site

2006-06-28T22:28:00.000+01:00

As the sun sets on Fred towers, I look out of the dust encrusted windows and survey the devastation outside. The window is framed by scaffolding, whose poles are jutting out of a two foot pile of rubble.

No, we have'nt had an earthquake or the RAF have not included us on their practise bomb runs.

Wev'e got the builders in!

Wer'e having the pebbledash on the house renewed. They've been at it 3 days now and it looks like Beirut out there. They have to take all the old stuff off the walls first and the noise and dust they create, makes me wish I'd not taken this week off.

I just keep telling myself that it will look nice when it's finished.

The Rugby Match

2006-05-14T22:38:00.000+01:00

I managed to get some free tickets to the Giants match against Salford Reds, which was played at the Galpharm Stadium today.

This came about because of a promotion the local football and Rugby teams were running in the primary schools in the area. If you have a child who is 7 yrs old, all you have to do is pay £10 and the 7 yr old gets 4 free tickets to a Huddersfield Town match and 4 for a Giants match as well as a replica shirt for the football and rugby team. Bargain!

We'd already been to the Town match versus Barnsley, were the little lass got presented with her shirts, and today it was the day of the rugby match.

The weather was overcast with a bit of a chill in the air, so the wife insisted that the lass wore a fleece and a waterproof mac over. She put her new shirt over the fleece and then the mac on. We'd hardly got through the turnstiles before the mac was off and she was strutting about showing her shirt off. I think she was a bit disappointed that nobody took any notice of her in it, but as the vast majority of the crowd were wearing the same I guess she just blended in.

She didn't understand a thing about Rugby but she was clapping and cheering as if she'd been going years. The Giants won 32-18. After the match she said to me, "Did we win Daddy?"

She was singing, "We are the champions", on the way home.

Hiya, It's me at last

2006-04-20T22:08:00.000+01:00

I can't believe it's such a long time since I posted, last Febuary and here it is, Easter gone already.

The junior school panto was staged the other week, Jack and the Beanstalk. My lad was in the choir, not a starring role I'm afraid, but he enjoyed it, as my wife and I did. The only downside was having to sit on those small chairs they have for anything like this. My backside was aching afterwards.

Wev'e got about half the allotment dug now and Iv'e managed to plant maincrop and early potatoes, 200+ onion sets and a row of early peas. I've got cabbage,cauliflower,sprouts, kohl rabi and celeriac germinating in cells in the greenhouse and about 30 tomato plants just about ready to go out. Of course I will have to wait till it warms up a bit yet. I can't believe it snowed here a week before Easter. The daffodils have just flowered this last week in our garden, a month later than last year.

I'll try and post a bit more regular, but for now I'll leave you with a photo from one of my last years walks. A picture of a very old bridge on Marsden Moor.

Surely must be round the corner.

Ta Ra

The Allotment

2006-02-12T22:04:00.000Z

Did I tell you that wev'e aquired an allotment site?

It's not far from where we live so there's not much humping of spades and things to get there. I've already started the potatoes chitting and planted my tomatoe and lettuce seeds indoors. When the weather picks up a bit and the ground drys out, myself and the wife and probably the two youngsters will be down there digging it over and getting some manure in the soil.

Come the summer, with a bit of luck we should be eating fresh home grown organic veggies.

Might be some left over to make into lovely veg juice. Yummy!

The things they say

2006-02-11T22:14:00.000Z

My little lass is getting to be a back seat driver and she's only just turned 7.

On the way home from the supermarket this morning, an emergency ambulance hove into view in my rear view mirror, sirens and blue lights going.

The little lass in the back pipes up, " There's a we waw coming up behind you Daddy so you'll have to pull in to the side and don't forget to put your tick tocks on."

I'll translate for you..

We waws are the sound emergency vehicles sirens make except fire engines which are ne naws and tick tock is the sound of my cars direction indicators.

She fair made me chuckle with her comment especially when she followed it up with, "Must be somebody hurt going to the hospital Dad."

The things they say.

PS.. We picked the girl who used to run a video shop, she starts on Monday.

Tum Te Tum

2006-02-03T22:02:00.000Z

Hey, can't a bloke have an holiday every so often.

Yes I'm alive and still kicking. I must admit that I've become a bit lethargic about posting on the blog. I sit down in front of the screen and can't think of anything to write about even though a lot is happening.

I think that no-one wants to know that it was the little lasses birthday bash last week at The Fun Factory and I spent a lot of time keeping two 7yr old girls from trying to kill each other whilst stopping a 7yr old lad from biting his mate on the bouncy castle. When the food came out the same lad wouldn't eat anything. Guess he'd had his fill of his friend.

Then there was the lad's birthday party down at the local bowling alley. The kids (9yr olds) started arguing over which bowling ball they were going to use, When that settled down I found that they had beaten my score! The shame of it.

The last 2 days have been traumatic at work. I have a vacant post for an operator in the lab and I've been interviewing 12 hopefuls for the job. Iv'e managed to shortlist it down to five.

A 20 yr old woman with some experience in the industry.
A 23 yr old woman with no experience in the industry but she was the manager of a video shop and is very keen.
A 56 yr old man originally from Barbados with a wicked sense of humour.
A 35 yr old asian man who is a bit quiet but has a very good cv and would work very hard.
A 50 yr old mum who wants to get back into a job after bringing up a family.

If you want to pick your favourite leave a comment. I'll tell you who gets the job next week after I've sat down with my assistant manager and decided.

Cheerio.

Update- 2/ The Christmas Files.

2005-12-25T21:40:00.000Z

It all stared last night, you know, Christmas Eve.

The night when I wished that the kids would get to sleep pretty slick. All the warnings that Santa wouldn't bring any presents must have fell on deaf ears.

You see , I had a bike to build from scratch for the lads main present, wich had sat in the garage for 3 weeks, in its cardboard box, no chance of getting in there, unless suspicion was aroused.

So, I was hoping for a an early narcosis for my lad, especially since I had done the 6.30 am run to the supermarket, for my perishables. After a hard week in the Kabin, I was ready for a bit of an early night, before the 5.30 bounce on the bed, Christmas Morning.

Sadly, I have to say now, the early night, did not transpire. The lad, did not get to sleep till 11.55 pm. He went to bed at 8.30pm but did not fall asleep till nearly Christmas Day.

So, his bike, was built, in the early hours of this morning.

Never mind, I thought, he's not going to get up too early in the morn, I can still get a few hours kip.

5.30am.

Awakened by lad.

Merry Christmas from one knackered Fred.

Want an update?

2005-12-18T21:36:00.000Z

I thought Id better update my hardcore, avid readers of Freddy, ( there's only 3 of you, and you know who you are).

Well, leading on from my previous post, the little girl is nit free now, but boy, what a job that was to get rid of the little critters. There was an endemic at the school, and for a while all the girls were going in with their hair up in bands. All over now, but shortly after that, half the school went down with the 48hr sickness bug. I tell you, it's not safe going to school anymore, you pick up more germs than in the hospital. She came home with a cold last week and has kindly passed it on to me and the wife.

I've been in the new job for 3 weeks now and wished I'd done it years ago. I'm in charge of a photo-lab which is situated in one of the companies distribution centres. I have 4 staff and they are a great bunch. I really relish the fact that I am the boss and don't work in a store anymore.

All the Christmas decorations are up in the Fred house, most of the presents are wrapped and hidden from prying eyes. The kids finished school on Friday after the nativity play. I took some photos of the little girl in her costume but when I transferred it to Picasa the system crashed, after I'd wiped my card clean. Well pissed off I was. The wife thought I'd done it on purpose, so I was in the doghouse for a while.

The kids are at fever pitch at the moment, and can't wait for Santa to come down the chimney. I've started eating mince pies, and can't seem to stop, but I 'm still juicing the veggies, so hopefully it will balance itself out.

It's pretty cold around these parts at the moment so I'll leave you with a nice photo to remind you of warmer times. Jody will like this one.

This is a picture of a local landmark which everybody around here calls Castle Hill but it was built to commemorate Queen Victoria's golden jubilee.

The Nit Invasion

2005-11-22T21:18:00.000Z

We received a communication fron the school the other evening saying that it's that time of year again and head lice are having a grand time.

Tell me about it.

The little lass had them the other week and no sooner had we got them cleared up, she's gone and got them again. They certainly are having a grand time.

Well, it's my last day at work tomorrow before I start my new job. I've got to go to a conference Thurs/Fri and then I start on Monday. I must admit that it is going to be strange not working in a store environment but mostly I'll miss the people I've been working with all these years. Wev'e had a lot of laughs over the years.

The one thing I'm looking forward to this year is Christmas. Working in a store, Christmas starts early. Decorations were up early October. All the Christmas merchandise was on the shelves around the same time. Even festive songs are being played over the tannoy. By the time Christmas actually came along, I was all Christmas'ed out. Starting the new job, I can blot it out till nearer the time.

It's forecast snow around these parts for Friday. I can just see me stuck on the M1 in a blizzard trying to get home from the conference.

The tunnel under the Pennines

2005-11-17T23:25:00.000Z

Standedge canal tunnel. I haven't done a picture for a while(or a post) This tunnel links Yorkshire with Lancashire.

Halloween Pumpkin

2005-11-02T22:37:00.000Z

It was the night before Halloween and the kids were excited about making a pumpkin lantern. They had wanted to do it earlier, but we insisted that they do their homework first. Iv'e never seen their work done so fast and it was soon time to get the pumpkin ready.

I sliced the lid off and they were in there like whippets getting all the seeds and gungy bits out. What a mess! I had to finish the difficult bits and then started to cut out the eyes, nose and mouth. The little lass was so close I nearly cut her nose off. I put a tea-light in the middle and lit it. The lantern looked really effective, glowing eerily in the dark.

I heard sobbing in the background and turned around to discover the little lass crying her eyes out.

"What's the matter, sweetheart." I said to her.

"I'm scccared." she replied.

Aaaah. Bless her.

The 18 year escape plan

2005-10-22T22:27:00.000+01:00

When I first started working in my current job 18 years ago, I thought at the time that I would only do it for 2 or 3 years and then go onto something different. I beavered away at it and when I paused for breath, 5 years had gone by. So for the next 6 years I started applying for jobs, none of which I got.
The rejection letters piled up and I resigned myself to the fact that I was getting too old for the job market and I would probably retire from the current job in 13 years time.
Then, last month, I got a phone call out of the blue from one of the photo managers at Head Office. My current company was setting up some photolabs to process film from stores that don't have an on-site processing facility, they needed a manager to run it and would I be interested in applying.
After much deliberation I sent my cv off. I didn't think for one minute I'd get the job after my past experiences but at least it was a day out and a free lunch as well.
My worst fears were confirmed when I saw the calibre of the candidates at the selection day. Oh well, give it my best shot, I thought, and make sure I'm first in line for the buffet.
The selection day was at the end of September and I hadn't heard anything since, which made me feel even more that I hadn't got the job, so imagine my surprise when the same manager phoned me up on Thursday offering me the post. I start the new job on 14th November. It had taken so long because, with 14 labs going in they were still interviewing up until Wednesday.
Apparently I had shone through and beaten off some stiff competition. I must admit that I thought I was destined to stay in my current job for a long time yet so I really am chuffed to get this.
I have sent my plan to the store escape commitee and they have approved it.

All I need now is to dig the tunnel.

"Last of the Summer Wine"- town

2005-10-16T21:31:00.000+01:00

On the 3rd Sunday of the month, a local town- Holmfirth- holds a farmers market. Farmers markets are very popular because the farmers and local producers can sell their produce direct to the public, without using the middle-men. The public like them because they can get cheap, mainly organic produce which tastes ten times better than what you get in the supermarkets.
The Holmfirth market is a well established one with about 40 stalls selling anything from veggies to Venison steaks.
The gang and myself went out there today and came home with loads of veg, free range eggs, homemade bread, some jars of pickles and some parkin, ( a Yorkshire cake made from treacle and ginger.)
Holmfirth itself was made popular because of the long running tv series, "Last of the Summer Wine." The BBC used the town and surrounding area to shoot most of the scenes. Click on the links to learn more about the town and tv series.

And by the way, I got some lovely carrots to juice.

To Stoodley Pike and back

2005-10-06T22:34:00.000+01:00

We parked the car at Withens Clough resevoir and took the old packhorse route from Cragg Vale to Mankinholes en-route to Stoodley Pike.
This is a picture of the Te Deum stone which is at the top of the track before you descend into Mankinholes. Apparently, if anyone died in Cragg Vale, they had to be buried in Mankinholes and the shortest route was over this hill. The undertakers used to rest the coffin on the Te Deum stone, so they could have a breather.
This was our objective for today. Stoodley Pike monument has stood on the top of this hill for over 150 years. The Pennine Way, one of the National Trails, goes past this place before dipping down into Hebden Bridge.
I took this of Withens Clough Reservoir as we were descending down to the car park. The sun gives it an eery effect as it glints of the water.
And a picture of the gang, glad to have found the car again!

Hello Again

2005-10-04T22:02:00.000+01:00

Well, Autumn is upon us in this neck of the woods, the trees are shedding their leaves, the nights are drawing in, there's a definite chill in the air, our squirrel is hiding the peanuts we put out for it and it's also hidden some acorns we brought back from one of our walks. I hope it finds them again because I don't particularly want Oak trees growing in the back garden. The frogs have vanished from the wildlife ponds, probably to hibernate. You can't see a Swallow anymore, all gone south. The remaining tomatoes in the greenhouse aren't ripening fast enough to keep up with demand but had a bumper crop of plums which has been made into jam, and the silly season has started already, a month before bonfire night.

And I've finally posted on the blog!

Jody who lives in Iowa and maintains one of my favourite blog reads, wonders if I've over-juiced (previous post) because I've not posted for a while. Although I'm still juicing and enjoying every last drop of the scummy, yummy liquid gold ( 30lbs lost now and still going down), I've not posted because...erm, I can't actually think of a reason why I shouldn't have done. I could use the excuse that I've been busy doing other things but I haven't, or because I've been too lethargic, but with all the veggy juice flowing through my veins, I really can't use that excuse either. Let's put it down to me not realising how much time had passed since my last post, heh.

My lad has joined the local Cub Scout Pack and the little lass is jealous as anything because she can't join the Brownies until she's 7 in January. To add to her misery, she has had to start wearing spectacles to correct her eyesight. Must be hereditary, because I started wearing them when I was 9. Poor lamb.

This week I'm on a Union Reps course in Leeds a year after I started doing the job.

And for breakfast I drank 2 carrots, quarter of cucumber, 2 celery sticks, 1 apple and a courgette.

Lipsmackin, thirst quenching, green coloured, scum forming.. veggies.

Juicing

2005-09-15T22:04:00.000+01:00

I was listening to Radio 2 whilst in my car about 6 weeks ago and Stuart Maconie was interviewing a guy called Jason Vale, the UK's Juice master. He was talking about juicing fruit and vegetables and the benefits you get from drinking them everyday.

This got me thinking. I was very overweight by at least 4 stone, I felt tired most of the time and I generally felt like a turd warmed up all of the time. I would go to work and get a headache by mid-morning and after lunch I would feel lethargic to the point of nearly falling asleep. On getting home all I'd want to do was flop in front of TV or the computer.

So I looked up his web-site and from that moment on I've changed my whole life-style. I now drink at least 2 vegetable juices a day. I've stopped eating junk food including bread, pasta, biscuits, processed foods of any kind, red meat, dairy products, the list goes on. I've replaced them with whole foods like nuts, friut, oily fish(salmon, sardines, tuna etc). I eat rye bread and wholemeal pitta, brown rice and porridge flavoured with organic honey. I've started parking the car further from work and walking in. I do a bit more exercise on a rebounder and an exercise bike and the last few Sunday's have been going on 7 to 8 mile walks in the country and loving it.

And the benefits...
I feel wonderful and full of energy all of the time. I get out of bed in the morning without groaning and moaning. I don't fall asleep in the afternoons anymore. 2 months ago I would'nt have dreamed of walking 2 miles never mind 7. I'm actually planning a 15 mile hike across the moors. Unheard of before. My skin feels marvellous not like old paper. I don't get headaches anymore. My joints don't creak like they used to. I feel as if I can take on any challenge not hide from it. But the major benefit thats happened since I started juicing 5 weeks ago...

..I've lost 24lbs and 3 inches off my waistline.

If this strikes a chord with you, check out Jason Vales web-site here.

The First One

2005-09-14T21:34:00.000+01:00

The little lass has viewed her older brother with increasing envy over the last two years.

"That's another one," he would say to her. "That makes three now."

"Aw, it's not fair," she would cry. "When is it ever going to happen to me?"

We would explain to her that it most certainly would happen to her, but she had to remember that she was two years younger than her brother, and eventually it would happen. She would just have to be patient and wait awhile.

"But Susan in my class is two months younger than me and she's had her second one." she moaned.

Yet again we had to explain that everybody was different and it would really, really happen to her.

Well the other day it did happen to her. She came rushing in from playing in the garden.

"It's happened," she said jumping up and down with excitement. "My very first one."

Lets hope the tooth fairy comes to visit her.