Coffee before I go home

A few last pictures from a day out at Countryside Lincs on Sunday. This show was mostly aimed at children and families. It was lovely for me to see so many smiling faces. Plenty of catering vans dishing up all kinds of cuisine. The queues to get food and ice cream were never ending. I took a pack up. Lots of games for the kiddywinks to play. Cookery demonstrations. Wood carving demonstration. BMX show. Pony riding. Mini beasts for the children to see close up. Take an Alpaca for a walk. And I wandered around talking to people. Lovely relaxed atmosphere. 

Sorry, not able to film at the show. Too windy, and people don't like a camera pointing at them. 

Wednesday afternoon . I've been to Coffee Morning, now I am going outside in the sunshine. The garden is looking lovely because I spent most of yesterday tidying it up.  

Toodle pip.   ilona

Mean machines.

I made a bee line for these machines as soon as I entered the Showground on Sunday. I love getting up close with such monsters. I've got a brand new combine harvester. Remember the Wurzels 

Here's one for sale, and that's without the front attachment rakes. Only £450,000,00. Plus VAT

Description

New Holland CR9.90 Combine Harvester, 12500 Litre Tank. Standard Spec Including, 28.5 inch Flex Tracks with 620/70R26 Tyres, Intellisense, Intellisteer, Yield & Moisture, 5.9m Unload Tube - unloading off the swath, Straw Chopper with Optispread, Chaff Spreader. 35ft VariFeed header complete with two hydraulic side knives, rape backsheet, four-wheel steering header trailer. BRAND NEW pre-registered 2025 plate.

 

What's going on under the bonnet. Stand underneath it and look up. 

The side skirts lift up on both sides for maintenance purposes. 

Standing next to the Combine was this pea harvesting machine. The young man returned to his table so I asked him some questions. He works for his father, who has the contract to operate two pea machines. The machines themselves are owned by whoever is buying the peas. Tesco and Sainsbury's to name two of them. They work flat out during harvesting, moving from job to job, and working late into the night. These are driven on the road just as they are, by two designated and qualified drivers. Please be patient if you get stuck behind one. They are on a tight schedule and need to get to the next job. 

I've got a few more photo's from Sunday. I'll post them as soon as I have time.

Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona

New tin hat

I did a couple of hours litter picking yesterday, in a quiet dead end road on the edge of an Industrial Estate. There is plenty of litter to go at there. No traffic, just a couple of dog walkers. Look what I found, a stainless steel bowl. 

Yipeeeee, a new tin hat. 😎😂😍

Another red bag added to the stash. I see someone else has put their little collection of three smaller bags with mine. People are catching on. If the Council stick to their routine, these should all be gone later today. 

It's a sunny start this morning. I need to do some tidying around the garden. 

Catch ya later. Toodle pip.   ilona

Mixing art with nature

Flowers are always a big part of Countryside Shows. The County Shows always have masses of artistic creations using what nature provides for us, plus a few other bits and bobs. I took a few photo's yesterday at the Lincolnshire Showground. 

I don't know how they would transport something this big to the show. Perhaps they come a day early and assemble it onsite. 

A small but simple stunning creation. 

Look closely at the bottom of this creation. It's almost as if it has been dug up out of the ground and placed on a board. 

Who would have thought that you could come up with an idea for just coloured pencils. Clever. 

This colour combination works really well here. 

It's amazing what can be achieved with just a few simple bits and pieces. 

There was a competition going on which intrigued me. One lady explained what it was all about. Each competitor gets a list of objects. They are all working with the same list. It is time sensitive so they have to think quickly, and finish their masterpiece in two hours. It was interesting to see the different ideas they played about with. One lady was struggling and was getting left behind. Others romped ahead as the ideas came quickly. 

In previous years the tables were set all in one long line. This year they are set singly so no peeping what your neighbours are doing. 

Plenty more photo's to come from my day out at Lincoln Showground.

Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona

I suffered.

 The year is 1950. Your doctor lights a cigarette and tells you smoking is fine. He read it in a study. He is telling the truth about having read it. He does not know, or is not saying, that the study was funded by the tobacco industry.

The years I suffered as a child living with parents who both smoked. Aunts and uncles who smoked.

I remember Auntie visiting and she needed to use both hands for something. Mum told me to hold Aunties lit cigarette for her. I refused because I hated the smell so much. I was forced to and held it at arms length. I got into trouble for that. 

My brother and sister both smoked. My sister visited my house with her friend one day. I went into the kitchen to make drinks. When I went back into the living room they had both lit a cigarette. I muttered a complaint and opened a window. I asked, do you have to? My sister laid into me, she said I should allow them to smoke because they were my guests. 

I spent a lot of time outdoors. Had to leave a room, gasping for fresh air. The idea of dragging filthy muck into my lungs was, and still is, abhorrent to me. I feel the same revulsion for vaping. How ridiculous is that stupid habit. 

Catch ya later. Toodle pip.   ilona

Nice one xxxxxxxxxx

 

The race is on. 

Toodle pip.  ilona

😻🙋😜

The Countryside Show

We were blessed with good weather today. Crowds flocked to Lincolnshire Showground for the Countryside Show. I had a great day out.

There is plenty of free parking, the field was filling up fast when I got there. I was lucky. There were long queues to enter the Showground at the prepaid tickets gate. Everyone held their mobile phones in their hand waiting to be scanned. You can see them queuing the other side of the fence. I avoided the queues by walking straight in through the pay on the day gate. Handed over £15, senior citizens rates, and given a programme. 

There was a massive combine harvester. Much bigger than the one I had a go on almost two years ago.

As usual I took photos. I'll post some tomorrow. 

Now to bed. 

Toodle pip.   ilona

Be proud.

Sunday and it's sunny. 

Thought for the day.

Comment on a faceboook page - - - - - - - 

An early one this morning off the A34 Stafford. I've been asking the Council to sort this for many years and it never happened so sorted myself at 6am on Sunday.

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Lesson learnt. Don't ask anyone to do it for you. Do it yourself. Be proud of your achievements.

Have a great day. Toodle pip. ilona

Don't give up.

When everyone is against you. When nothing is going right. You just keep on keeping on. 

Believe in yourself and everything will come right in the end. 

Too many people are giving up. 

Have a good weekend.

Toodle pip.   ilona

Another book cover finished.

At last, the new book cover is finished. It's been a long time coming. I keep getting distracted. Have been going out a lot more now we are getting some sunny days. 

The measurements are not perfect, I prefer a tighter fit. This is a bit wrinkly. Maybe I should have ironed it more while I was stitching. 

The inside is very plain. I had to add a piece of fabric at each end to make pockets for the book cover to fit into. 

These two pictures are from the first book cover I made. The book is called ILONA. Here is the blog post I wrote about it. 

New book cover video.

The weather has gone back to wind and rain, after a nice day yesterday. I went to the Arts Centre in town today, to have a catch up chat with Nikki. Then a quick one bag litter pick on the way home. Got caught in the rain again. 

Have a good weekend. 

Toodle pip.   ilona

Just one more prick

 This article is pants. 😫😩😵

Quotes. . . . 

She found that lack of confidence in the vaccines was a global issue, driven by the spread of false information online and the vaccines' quick development.

Writing in her report, Hallet said: "The vaccination programme was an extraordinary feat. Effective vaccines were developed, produced and delivered to the majority of the population in record time.

She also addressed the small number of people who suffered harm as a result of having the vaccine, saying: "This was a small minority compared to the overall scale of the vaccination programme, but of no less importance to the individuals affected and their families." Although comparatively rare, there were cases of people suffering serious injury or death as a result of vaccination.

Baroness Hallet said: "We cannot know when, but there will be another pandemic. My recommendations, taken as a whole, should mean that the UK is better prepared for that pandemic.

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See, they are planning it.

I had a text message this morning inviting me for the Spring Covid Booster jabbbby. This is not about concerns for my health, it's about getting as much money in from Big Pharma. You can decide what you want to do, but I won't be joining in.

Toodle pip.   ilona

Unloved bins for sale.

 All over North Lincolnshire there are redundant bins waiting to be picked up. The Council have a new recycling system and issued us with larger red bins. They now need to come back and collect the old ones. It's been four weeks since we got the replacement new bins. Perhaps they are too busy collecting all the red litter bags that are appearing everywhere. 😁😎😆

The residents of this street in Scunthorpe are fed up of seeing them blown about by the wind, so they have laid them to rest in a communal green space. What a good idea. I don't know what the plan is for them once they have been collected, but most of them still have a lot of life in them. I hope they are selling them on to recover some of the cost of the new ones. 

I suggest put them in a container and ship them to a country that can make use of them. There must be hundreds of ways to recycle the whole bin. Convert them back to the raw materials, grind them up, and add it to tarmac when they fill pot holes. 👍👍👍

Have a nice day. Toodle pip.   ilona

Two days of tackling grot spots

I went to Aldi yesterday, needed to get some food in. On my way there I stopped off to do some picking. There is still a lot to do on the Industrial Estate. 

I filled one bag and got half way through the second when I had to take shelter in my car. The sky went black and the heavens opened. Oh dear, I got a drenching. 

It rained a second time but I managed to fill it. The two bags were deposited next to the two from the day before.

I was off to town again today, and look what I came across. Fast food takeaway wrappings. I wish they would ban these places. Had to stop and pick it up. 

I decided to have a go at a grot spot I found ages ago. There is a steep slope on the other side of the hedge, and a lot of brambles to get stuck in. I clambered around and chucked a lot of it over the fence and onto the footpath. Two red sacks filled and 54 glass bottles bagged up . There is still a lot left, but that's enough for now. 

There is a bench halfway up the slope. A nice place with a view, to have a rest. 

I was going to add my pickings today to the four bags I did over the last two days. But I found the Council truck had been and collected them. So I've started a new pile. 

I might have a day off tomorrow. I need a rest. 

Now I am tired. Toodle pip.   ilona