Here's an update of the combined portfolio as of the penultimate day of September (we're on holiday in sunnier climes at the minute, as from the thirtieth, and I knew there'd be no opportunity to refresh the spreadsheets on that last day of the month).
In late May and early June this year, we lost more than a dozen cucumber plants in the greenhouse because of late frosts. So I decided to buy a heater, which may hopefully take the chill off the air if it happens again next year, and I picked up this large old Valor 525-R paraffin heater on eBay for £20.
Here's an update of the combined portfolio as of the penultimate day of June (we were away on the thirtieth and I knew there'd be no opportunity to refresh the spreadsheets).
Older readers may recognise the title from a 1971 television advertisement for PG Tips tea, one of a series featuring chimpanzees. Although animals are still anthropomorphised more than ever on TV and cinema, it's usually done through animations and no doubt the use of live animals dressed in clothing and appearing in comic situations wouldn't be acceptable these days... Anyway, I thought I'd share a few pictures of our folding tandem, a wonderful piece of Italian engineering from the late 1960s.
Firstly, a little quiz. Take a look at this photo of these brand new light fittings I've bought, and the sealed boxes they came in, and see if you can identify what's wrong here....
can you see it ?
I only posted this photo because I thought it was so bleedin' obvious, and I just shook my head while muttering about the decline in educational standards, but then I showed it to a couple of other people. The first, like me, spotted it immediately but the second, after ten minutes of staring at it, still couldn't see anything wrong until it was pointed out to them.... Just in case, the answer's at the end of the post !
