Not all that bad.

I went to see the doctor as planned and the news wasn't bad thank god he said my blood test showed low in sodium a form of salt in the blood and i was to be retested in 2 weeks time

Good news or bad! " FINDING OUT"

Got a letter from the Doctors asking me to make an appointment as soon as poss, so i have for 5:50 to night, fingers crossed !!

Getting it sorted

Getting used to the phone after 2 weeks of playing around with it
but cant get used to the on screen keyboard to type-its to small, in all its far to complicated

Not that smart

 

 Bit the bullet and bought a smart phone-its a Samsung  Galaxy Y, and its smart, smarter than me? Its good for e:mails, facebook, u-tube, e-books, music, radio, photos, ect, and it even came  with £10 air time inc in the price of the phone. Bought from amazon £74.99, ordered sat night, arrived tues lunch time.

Just got to get the hang of it now ?????

BLEAK FUTURE PLOTTING

I have Hardly been to the allotment since the break in and the rotivator stolen not got the same interest in the plot now. I cant dig with the state of my legs, so what will happen next spring at planting time i don't know  yet.

Maybe i will give it up, but i have been on since 1979 that's 33 years-a long time, and have made many friends down there..Albert, Kevin, Roy, Helen & Rebbecca  to name a few, plus countless hours of work and fun-i would miss all of that-how would i pas my time ?. Its been a bolt hole for me, a place to go when feeling stressed out with things-a place to relax and reflect on things.
 

 

So its don't give in, carry on you will " get there in the end ",  you all ways do.

e:mail from a friend

Hi Peter

how's it going? After i saw you i went to the plot and while i was on the plot digging up weeds someone came on my plot and stole my bag. I didn't hear or see them at all - and i was only a few feet away - how awful. My camera was in my bag - so i'm gutted about it.

I wondered when you left the allotment - did you put the chain on and lock it up? When i arrived the chain was over the gate but not locked so i presumed someone was already on the site. Also, who else did you see around the plot - anyone?

I only saw Kevin for a chat and then i saw Andy the site rep - but not another soul. And they didn't see anyone either.

Anyway i called the police and they logged it but it's unlikely i'll see any of my stuff again. So, on your travels if you see a black rucksack in the bushes or in a bin, please try and check it for me. My purse went too. My camera is a Leica - nice little camera. I'm gutted.

So - if you go to the plot - really take care of your stuff - there is a thief about who is very sly.

I'm going to go down later to continue to look to see if they dumped my flask and stuff, but i don't hold up much hope.

Take care when you're down there

becs

Confession.

I have a confession to make. In my blog in November 2011 i said
Helen and Rebecca have taken my bench from my allotment and burnt it.
this was true, but i should have said that i gave them permission to do this

sorry.
   

Winter is on its way

click on a foto-for a larger view.

 

Broadgate  October 22nd  2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9th October

Winter Work.

Went dowd to the allotment sat to find robert had strimmed it all down from end to end, just needs a spraying of weed killer and then  let the winter do its work

New Scooter !!

It came this morning at 8:30 am my new scooter -its bright red with black tyres and black trim, I have to put it on charge for 24 hours, and charge it for 12 hours each night after use-it looks really modern and cant wait till weds day to take it out for a trip-i will post some pics of it later in the week. My old one was 2 years old with bald tyres and a strange tapping sound coming from the back  end? it was on its last legs.

Robbery time.

This is the clock that stopped at the time of the robbery.

Robbers !!

On the 22 nd July 2012 my shed on the allotment was broken in to and my rotorvater was stolen, the time was 2:;20 am, i know this to be correct as my electric clock stopped when they forced the shed open-the battery fell out, stopping the clock.

A second rotorvator and shredder and 2 strimmers where all so stolen.

They went in every cabin on the alloments looking for petrol driven tools.
My cabin is now unlocked as there is nothig now worth stealing

July 14th Presedents Day

Had a change`from the sat afternoon visit to the allotment, went to the Presidents Day at the Empire Services Club for a change-met a load of old friends i  had not seen for years, and all so got free meal thrown in -may start visiting the clubhouse the odd afternoon, they have free WI-FI so i can take my net book with me.

12 July 2012

Smallest video cam TEST FILM

The smallest camcorder in the world !!

you can buy it from  AMAZ.ON  price £10.67  p & p free

and its worth every penny, and it takes up to a 16GB SD micro  card which are also dirt cheap at AMAZON.COM. An amazing bit of high tec for the price

July Skys

AMBER " ALERT "

The north of England is on amber flood alert !! and having an Ailoment so close to the river ribble is making me worried that the river may burst its banks-i hope not, as this could spell the end of my plotting days.

The last time this happened was at the start of 1990 the end of January.
the force of the water ripped  up the road  between the river side and  the allotments
what a mess!-and what a faceing-i felt like just walking away.
As for the plots, fences washed away, cabins floating off,  doors and roofs ripped off, greenhouses smashed, but some people enjoyed it all -how-by sailing there boats on the sports field-and i meen full size boats not models, you could just see the tops of the goal posts, and even a full size Salmon was found on Leyland rd- i think that went in the freezer. that's how deep it was.

Plans for 2013 [ i hope ]

Well it looks like the garlic could be ready to harvest-a job for weekend if weather permits. Winter onions are still on the small size, so will wait a few more weeks before i harvest the crop.

Bought another 1 ltr of glyphosate weed killer from amazon, and at £16.98 inc p&p so pretty cheap, it does the same job as round up, witch is now £41.00 a ltr-a saving of £24.00.

Next year i am trying a different method of planting it out, under black plastic sheet with one hole in the sheet for each  bulb, this will keep down the weeds and keep the soil warmer-at least that's the plan

" Thing can only get better "

I was reading this blog to day, and realised it was nearly a year ago since i started it-July the 15 th 2011 to be exact, its only 5 weeks away-time fly by. The allotment is not in good shape at the moment much to my sorrow-the weeds are growing like mad with all the rain we have had, so fare summer has been cr@p !! and not a lot growing, spuds are a disaster

weeds

weeds and plenty of them !!

50% frosted and rotted off, but the onion are doing o/k-the leeks are like blades of grass and not yet planted out, over all i am pi**ed off with the results........ROLL ON 2013...as Tony Blare said  " Things can only get better "

please pardon the swearing but that's how i feel at this moment

Total " BLACK OUT "

Hello been off line for a week so no blog updates, but its all fixed now-so back  on line at last.The problem was a transmitter mast had gone down in the area so total black out of the web for a week. My I S P gave me £5 off my next bill for loss of service-so that made me happy.

I went to the allotment on weds,  the weeds are taking over !!-i was not  very happy

Back in action

The signs of summer

Rebecca would love this.

Not been able to get to the plot the last few days due to road works on the ribble bridge-its not safe on my mobility scooter with all the heavy traffic around-but i made it to day.

so i planted a few cobra climbing french beans around the wig wam and i have 3 trays of peas in the cold frame ready to plant out later this coming week. I all so noticed my first planting of broad beans are now in flower.

Things still to plant out.

more broad beans planted to day.

Broad beans ready to plant out after growing in the cold frame.

Allotment 99

After 3 years of being empty plot 99 has been taken !!

The video shows there progress after 1 day-stmming down  5 foot high weeds to ground level

i will be following there progress with interest in the months to come. The weather so far this spring has been bloody  crap.crap

 My potatoes are looking aw full, just small tops showing hear and there-stunted by the frosts, and the chilling wind taking away what bit of  heat there is  i have never seen it so bad in the 33 years i have been plotting.Haveing said all that the  winter and summer onions and garlic are doing fine and so are the broadbeans, so its not all bad news,

Not a lot growing?

Wed 9th may

Potatoes frosted tops

peas and beans in cold frame

killing the weeds

At last !!

At last after 8 weeks a spud shows its head

Broad beans are well on the way

And so is the garlic

The bridge a bit of history

The old Penwotham Bridge built in 1759  is the 2 nd bridge built on this spot-the earlyer one was made of wood and fell down or got washed a way by the river . In the 1800 hundreds the site of the Preston Race Course ran along the allotments over the A59 round the old church down valley road past the grandstands

A SHORT HISTORY

Bridge over River Ribble (now a footbridge). 1759. Sandstone.
Five unequal segmental arches, rising towards the centre;
V-shaped cutwaters continued to the parapets to form refuges
on both sides of the deck; spandrels of red sandstone;
parapets with moulded tops, splayed at north end, and that on
the east side linked to matching wall which turns at
right-angles along north side of approach ramp from west.
History: replaced first bridge on this site (built 1755,
collapsed 1756), and until early C20 was lowest bridge over
River Ribble, intermittently maintained by tolls. The southern
half of the bridge is in Penwortham CP, South Ribble District
(q.v.).

A visit from an old friend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl9ELx-akAshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j0hd-J9nC8

Peas on the cheap side

Had a trip to the allotment on Sunday to plant peas.

I have planted this type of pea seed for many years with great success

smaller pods that contain 5 or 6 peas-and a good germination of seeds too !

and cheap  at 49p a box that contains 250 grams of dried peas.

Why spend £1.70 a pkt

Rhubarb, Wig wam and Broad beans.

rhubarb

wig-wam

sowing more broad beans

state of play so far

Broad beans

Planted broadbeans to day, 1 x 15 ft row.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j0hd-J9nC8

" Summer Color "

below     Sweet Peas ready for planting out. 

Planted sweetpeas to add a splash of color to the allotment- the bees will love it, allso sown a tray of mixed color sunflowers

The end is here at last.

road surface machine ready to go to work.

You can see the old cobbles from years ago that where left under the tarmac

years ago this was the road surface usad to cover

 the full lenth of Broadgate, Strand rd and Fisherdate

every stone " Sets " as they where called in the day " layed by hand "

At last the roadworks at the junction of broad gate and fisher gate hill are showing a sign of coming to an end-after 2 years of work on the water tunnels under the river ribble