Spring is Sprung. First Lawnmower Heard

 Sunday 28th FEBRUARY 2021 and what a scorcher!   A busy day too with two more top-corner cladding panels fitted - positively enjoyable work in weather like this, with something to show for it.

You can see that the gaps between panels are as yet slightly uneven, waiting for all the panels to be first-fitted so that proper spacing can be achieved.  The top picture shows the Rand patent 15mm horizontal spacers in action on the inside top corner.

Note the strong sunlight and shadows.  It was actually uncomfortably hot for too much cladding work so I had an hour in the sunshine on the Terminal 3 deck, doing the Sunday Telegraph crossword.

I was hunting round online for a sunshine picture and found this one from local farmer Tom Lord taken today:

Baaaaaaaaaah.

We're Getting There Cladding-wise

 When the rest of the country is stripping external cladding from high-rise buildings we are making great progress with installing it on our definitely low-rise extension.

It has proved to be quite a task on a DIY basis and over winter it ha=s been a matter of grabbing the few windows in the weather as they arise.  Ideal conditions are warm, dry and still - a pretty rare winter combination.  Short daylight hours add to the problem.

Well Spring seems to be springing quite nicely and we are most definitely on the last lap.  The focus recently has been on the south end of the extension and here is the picture this afternoon:

The corner panels are the trickiest by far.  The internal lower corner, left of centre fought me every inch of the way but there it is. nestling in the angle between those two large windows.   The upper external panel, nearest the camera, has been today's struggle. Note the two 15mm spacers between it and the corner panel below.  They are attached to vertical temporary timbers to enable placement at height and to keep the spacers in place whilst during wiggling and fixing.   The uneven horizontal gap will disappear at final fixing stage.

End panel E2 is going back to the manufacturers later this week for a minor while-you-wait modification.   The remaining two coping corner panels should be in place by Friday but already the  south end is looking very smart indeed.

I wondered if I had caught a UFO between the trees but be assured it's the moon.  The vertical bit between the cladding and the tower is a deliberate recess at the suggestion of the Conservation Officer to create a visual break between the two contrasting building styles.  Probably coloured black but suggestions welcome.

And here'a  bit of fun showing world steam speed record holder Mallard picking up water from water troughs.  The tender has filled and excess water is shooting out of the overflow port on the top,  The leading carriage is often First Class too.  I just hope that none of the windows were open.

Settle's Plague Stone

 The Settle - Giggleswick metropolis (I jest) suffered from the Plague in the late 1590s just like everywhere else.   It started in London, of course, in 1592 and got here by 1597.   We are lucky? enough to have evidence of it to this day:

It  is on the road between Settle and Giggleswick railway stations the main road beween the two places back in the day.   It is a C20th memorial plaque which sits above the plague stone itself:

The details of how it worked are explained in this lovely piece from the Settle Salem church - well worth a read -

Bubonic plague reached Europe from Asia during the 14^th Century, carried by the fleas of black rats aboard merchant ships.  The Black Death swept through Europe between 1346 and 1350, causing the deaths of countless thousands of people.  It is estimated that England may have lost as much as half its population.  In 1665 the Great Plague of London carried off at least 70,000 victims.  In the three hundred years between these dreadful events there were numerous other outbreaks of plague.  One of these started in London in 1592, lasting there until 1599 and spreading throughout the country, reaching the Yorkshire Dales in 1597.

Fearfully contagious and frequently fatal, efforts were made to contain these outbreaks wherever they occurred.  Quarantine areas were set up, often following existing boundaries.  Along these quarantine lines provisions could be left on designated stones, and payment made in the same way.

Some stones, like the one near Settle, had hollows in them which contained water or vinegar as a sort of disinfectant.  It is thought that this particular one – which can be found by the side of the road from Settle to Giggleswick station - had originally been a cross, erected in medieval times as a boundary marker; the cross was probably destroyed at the Reformation but the base remained.

Happily it has been many years since an outbreak of Bubonic plague occurred in England.  And yet in truth a far worse plague is still with us – indeed we are all born infected by it.  I am, of course, referring to the pollution of sin.

The prophet Isaiah puts it this way:

The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faints.  From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; they have not been closed or bound up, or soothed with ointment.

                                                                                               Isaiah 1:5-6

What a condition!  No wonder the Apostle Paul could write to the Christians in Rome, ‘There is none righteous, no, not one.’

Yet the Lord speaking through Isaiah has words of hope for us:

“Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

                                                                                                Isaiah 1:18

How can that be?  God cannot just forget about our sins; His holy justice demands that they be punished.  Isaiah gives us the answer, prophesying about the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ:

Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.  But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to His own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.- Isaiah 53:4-6

Our wounds, healed by His wounds!

So there we have it - the pollution of sin.

SETTLE - One of the Best Places to Live in England and Wales

 We are living in 'new normal' times.   No longer is 'going to the office or work' the given state of affairs for an increasing number of people.   Working from home is the new thing but the number one prerequisite is the availability of super-fast broadband.   That frees up a huge portion of the workforce to live where suits them and their pockets.

Estate agents Garringtons have published their 2021 list of the top places to live.

SETTLE COMES IN AT NUMBER 8 OVERALL!

Here is Garington's map:

clclick to enlarge

Bath comes out top but it costs a fortune to live there.  Settle, and a small number of other places falls into their hidden gems category of places where average house prices are below £350,000 - for now.  Don't tell everybody though!

Here's the list:

Rank	Town/city	County	Natural beauty	Architectural beauty	Quality of life	Family home cost*
1	Bath	Somerset	40	1	269	£650,000
2	Tenby	Pembrokeshire	78	32	50	£375,000
3	Bradford on Avon	Wiltshire	19	30	251	£520,000
4	Ilfracombe	Devon	65	69	66	£325,000
5	Canterbury	Kent	160	31	58	£480,000
6	Rye	East Sussex	1	68	205	£480,000
7	St Ives	Cornwall	47	45	202	£600,000
8	Settle	North Yorkshire	22	9	847	£340,000
9	Wilton	North Yorkshire	67	5	693	£430,000
10	Aldeburgh	Suffolk	23	33	511	£660,000
11	Faversham	Kent	209	24	134	£480,000
12	Langport	Somerset	573	16	31	£380,000
13	Hay-on-Wye	Powys	10	5	1087	£360,000
14	Lewes	East Sussex	98	8	634	£700,000
15	Lyme Regis	Dorset	57	71	240	£520,000

Two Really Good Buys

 Having been on this planet for more than three score years and ten and living, as do we all, in a fast moving age of technology, I have recently taken stock of two troublesome chores and my old fashioned approaches to them.

They are

1. Charging car and other batteries

and

2. cleaning fiddly things.

1. Car batteries.  I have two transformer/ rectifier-type battery chargers which have served me well enough but both have disadvantages.  They are big, heavy and unwieldy with their wires, plugs and clamps.   You worry that the battery is going to be overcharged if you forget about them.   Following battery under-use during COVID lock downs and the recent bitterly cold snap I worried that the Model T's battery especially (unused since 2019) may have had it.  Surely there were intelligent battery chargers around nowadays which would diagnose the battery's needs, deliver them, tell me so and then stand-by for action in some sort of sleep mode.  Well, there are.   Here's the one I bought but there are loads out there:

This was a middle-of the range charger of the modern type.  £50-ish -Amazon.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/CTEK-MXS-5-0-Reconditions-Motorcycle/dp/B00FC42HAA/ref=pd_rhf_se_p_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=0TJKWK86WPSHE1PTRSZ1

It is tiny, light and does the job.   First of all it sends pulses of higher voltage into the battery to shift any sulphur build-up on old plates, then is tests to see if charging is possible, then it gets on with charging, tests that the voltage is steady then puts on a green light to tell you all is charged up.  You can then either disconnect it or just leave it connected for ever.  It packs away into a sort of tiny duffle bag (remember those?)

It's first test was on Pat's Mazda MX5 which simply would not start after umpteen twice-a-week shopping trips to Booths supermarket.  This was bound to flatten the battery eventually.  One overnight charge and hey presto it started 'and has never run better' according to swmbo.

2.  Cleaning fiddly things.  Two specifics for me are spectacles and Braun shaver heads where hot water and old tooth-brushes were distinctly lacking in reaching nooks and crannies.  Answer - ultrasound.

This little thing is about the size of a small loaf of bread.  It is a cold water tank and a plastic basket inside.   It buzzes for about 1 1/2 minutes and shakes the water about and the dirt floats off.  The clear plastic lid enables you to see the magic happening which is absolutely fascinating to watch.  The blurb reckons that the cleaning is done  by microscopically tiny air bubbles forming on the surface of your item being cleaned.  Sure enough you can see a white cloudiness coming from the dirty bits from which full-blown air bubbles rise to the surface.  Not all the visible dirt floats off.  Most does though and the rest is certainly loosened.  A quick swish under a running tap does the trick.  You can repeat the cycle as often as you like and you can add a drop of washing-up liquid if it pleases you.

Cheap as chips too.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/600mL-Ultrasonic-Cleaner-Cleaning-Basket/dp/B011LG1P8M/ref=pd_rhf_ee_p_img_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=6QZNH7HNYTWYG56PBRA1

Bound to wonder what else is out there just waiting to be found.

Usual disclaimers.

Icicles in Tunnels

 It's still absolutely fffffreezing.   Nowhere are the results more spectacular than inside railway tunnels where icicles of amazing size develop in the still cold air.

By happy coincidence today a local photographer Tom Beresford was filming at the north end of Blea Moor tunnel when Network Rail's snow plough-cum-icicle buster came southbound and crept slowly into the tunnel.

Here are some of the amazing sights from inside Blea Moor and Stainforth tunnels:

Cladding on a Calm Day

 A calm ands warm day yesterday so got four more cladding panels in place.  That may be a record.  Almost there!

Two of the four latest panels are a couple of tricky coping top panels - those seen at the far left and right in this picture.  The other two are small but tricky panels below the windows on wall D & E.  That will mean very little to most Blog followers and is mainly for the comfort and reassurance of architect Stuart Green.  The big coping panel above the kitchen window is just perfect eh? Stuart.

Now we are all bracing ourselves for the Beast from the Baltic aren't we?

Pretty pictures time from Europe's best National Park (are we still allowed to use the E word?)

Arten Gill and Ribblehead viaducts:

A Brief Taste of Spring before more snow

 Funny old weather just now with a double-figures warm from coming up from the south to meet cold moist air from the north overnight.   Result said to be snow from 2300 hrs and through the night.  We shall find out in the morning.  Meantime today we have had little wind and glorious sunshine so it has been another cladding day here at Watery Towers.

Cladding panels which had been stored on the ground have been hoisted onto the roof for permanent fitting when the weather permits.   Things seem to b e fitting nicely when offered into place.  Millimetre accurate indeed.   Here are coping panels 36 and 37 in temporary double-check position:

The long horizontal bits will be tipped over the parapet and secured to the Terminal 2 walls leaving the shorter bits level with and secured to their parapet-top neighbours, already in place with a 15mm deliberate gap between.  

Here are other parapet and corner panels awaiting positioning and permanent fixing towards the south end of the roof:

Winter can now do its worst with little more lifting and shifting of cladding panels left to do.

Spending Time Indoors

 This lock-down thing is taking its mental toll on many and the sooner it is over, the better.  That said, I have been kept very busy and am doing outside jobs whenever the winter weather allows - and there are plenty of them.  I have made myself use the long and winding metal outside stairs to get up and down - slightly more useful that exercises in front of the TV.

Even so, there remains time for reflection which is no bad thing.  The other evening I was sitting in my favourite chair channel-hopping between two absorbing programmes on the TV using that most useful 'pre-ch' button.   It is amazing how you can watch two quite separate documentaries in alternating snatches and take in most of both.  Perhaps it's just me who can do that but I doubt it.

Trouble arises when the advertisement breaks coincide.  That's ideal if you've been waiting to have a pee but if not it's just you, your surroundings and reflections.

Anyway, that other evening I reflected on the scene below - a beautifully built stone wall.  Once the top part of the external east wall of an old railway water tower, now our new lounge wall:

Said favourite chair is right alongside what proves to be a satisfyingly tactile wall.   Forget the vertical black tube; it is not a drainpipe but the stem of an overhanging reading lamp above the chair.  Just admire the craftsmanship and accuracy involved in making and laying those stones to the satisfaction of a Bowler-hatted Victorian foreman with a ruler probably.  They have been exposed to 150 years of Beasts-from-the-East  They were high in the air on the blind side of the tower so unlikely ever to be seen and closely scrutinised.  Hats off to whoever you were.  You have my day by day admiration and respect.

In other news, here is a Facebook image from exactly three years ago showing the early train from Ribblehead to Leeds from FoSCL's Ribblehead viaduct camera.  

Sadly the camera, one of the most popular on the network, has camera COVID just now - it has water inside and must wait until lock-down is over for replacement and bench-attention: