Category: News

Good morning to you all and especially “good morning” to one of our recipients who had apparently not discovered that the Befouled Weakly News is now an exclusively on-line publication. Our subscription department received an enquiry during the week. It wasn’t a complaint, per se, but a query as to what had happened to the News? Had it gone out of business? Had the editor simply downed tools or been sacked for gross incompetence? Had the authorities finally raided the premises and thrown the editor into the clink for subversion and sedition? It turns out that they had missed the announcement in January and, since there have been no e-mail reminders in recent weeks, they imagined that we had simply vanished. Wishful thinking, I guess. Continue reading “27 March 2011”

So, Spring arrived yesterday and glorious it was too. After a frosty start, it was bright, clear and pleasantly warm – 12 degrees Celsius (just under 54 degrees in old money). The sun shone, the birds sang, tiny flying insects buzzed (where do they all come from in such a short period of time) and the neighbourhood was deafened by the sound of dozens of lawn mowers.

Naturally, at the first sign of decent weather, Ms Playchute decided that yesterday was the day to drain the pond and attack the garden. So, she spent most of the daylight hours toiling away and I offered token physical support (but a huge quantity of moral support). In spite of my better judgement, I did mow the lawn at her request (I think there must be a European directive against indulging in such activities so early in year but when one’s sweetheart makes a request…). Continue reading “20 March 2011”

Must be quick this morning – we are awaiting the arrival of John and Cilla Jelliffe who are in the UK for a short visit along with Sam and Emma. The last time they visited the UK they failed to contact us so we chastised them roundly when we saw them last. John e-mailed a couple of weeks ago so it seems they have learned their lesson.

Continue reading “13 March 2011”

We’re back and I have to confess that we had a splendid time last weekend in Devon helping to celebrate our friend Dave Walton’s 60th birthday. The accommodation was superb, the company very sociable and, as I might have mentioned last time, we continued our training for the British Eating and Drinking Team for the 2012 Olympics.

On the Saturday, as I mentioned, we all trekked up Sharp Tor and waddled our way across Ugborough Moor, a modest distance of about three miles each way. We were very fortunate in that the weather stayed fine and sunny all day but, after torrential rain on Friday night, the moor was a quagmire and a howling wind was driving the next storm in from the northwest. So, as we trudged across the moorland, we sank to our ankles in the peaty bog all the while being blown backwards as we struggled against the headwind. Whatever footpaths there were had become cascading rivers so we spent much of our time navigating up the incline in a zigzag fashion hopping from one bit of gorse to another. About half way up the Tor our path did intersect with a gravel path which, in comparison to the animal trails we were following, was a veritable walkers’ motorway and the rest of the climb was conducted using cruise control and auto-pilot. We all felt as if we had burned sufficient calories to justify the extraordinarily excellent meal at a Chinese/Japanese/Indian restaurant in the nearby little town of Kingsbridge which was outstanding in both quality and quantity.
Continue reading “6 March 2011”

I forgot to mention that we are away this weekend. We are, as we “speak” in beautiful downtown West Charleton, Devon assisting Dave Walton in the celebrations of his 60th birthday (which was on Friday). We are staying in a lovely house hired for the occasion along with three other couples, Dave and Sue and their two girls, Ellen and Zoe.

I am sure you will be surprised to learn that we have been having a wonderful time and that we may have eaten (and perhaps imbibed) more than one generally ought to. However, it is a special occasion and it’s been a splendid weekend. I will hope to be able to provide a few photographs next weekend but just to reassure you, it’s not been all eating and drinking – yesterday we scampered up a “tor” (or, in other words, a hill) on Dartmoor which was a suitably challenging endeavour in between all the eating, drinking and general carousing. We are planning to call in on Penny’s brother, Alfred, on the way home this afternoon whom we’ve not seen for a number of years.
Continue reading “27 February 2011”

It never rains but it pours.

For some time we’ve been dealing with an annoying quirk of our hot water system. Intermittently, when we turn the hot water on it runs hot for about a minute and then starts to run stone cold. It runs hot just about long enough for you to get soaped up all over and then, just as you are about to rinse off, the water turns absolutely frigid. Because it’s an intermittent fault naturally it’s been quite difficult to diagnose. We had one plumber out just after Christmas who replaced the hot water thermostat which seemed to cure the problem – for about twelve hours. Since then we’ve shivered just about every day while waiting for the plumber to have a spare slot in his busy diary to come and try another solution. Continue reading “20 February 2011”

Well, I guess Spring must indeed be just around the corner to judge by the snowdrops showing themselves. These were on our walk at Chipping Warden yesterday but they are all over our area; the clump in our front garden has also emerged from its winter slumbers. What I would like to know: how do they decide when it’s time to get up? I am guessing it is temperature related and the brief bit of research I’ve done would seem to bear this out. Last year there were several reports about their delayed arrival because of the very cold temperatures and deep, penetrating frosts in January. Having said that, the weather this winter was every bit as cold although, I guess, perhaps it’s been a bit more pleasant (temperature wise) over the past couple of weeks and the ground is certainly no longer frozen. But how do they tell the difference between conditions now and conditions back in November, say? Answers on the back of a postcard (or, indeed, using the Comment feature). Continue reading “13 February 2011”

What a difference a week can make. Last weekend we were shivering in Arctic-like freezing conditions; “If our eyes we’d close, then the lashes froze, till sometimes we couldn’t see.” This week, Spring has arrived.

Well, perhaps I exaggerate to some extent but yesterday, Saturday, the temperature got up to 13 degrees Celsius (55.4 degrees Fahrenheit) and, at least in terms of the temperature, it was tolerably comfortable. Mind you, it was overcast and blowing a gale – branches of large trees and the occasional small child flew past the window at regular intervals – but one could almost be forgiven for believing that Punxsutawney Phil had indeed predicted an early Spring. Earlier in the week we even witnessed swarms of small insects making their way in the world for the first time. The birds, I suspect, were delighted to have fresh meat on the menu but I don’t imagine it will last long. The next cold spell is forecast for next week.

Continue reading “6 February 2011”

Good morning to you all from a frigidly frigid Byfield. Interestingly, the weather people tell me that it’s not as cold as it was in the few weeks before Christmas but it certainly seems mighty cold to me! Why do we put up with it?

I’m sure most of you will have heard the excellent news from our friend and neighbour Pete Taylor that the scribblings he compiled on his journey around the US watching a baseball game in every major league stadium and a minor league baseball game in every state without a major league team are to be published in the spring or summer. The book, entitled “Brit at the Ballpark: An Englishman’s Baseball Tour of all 50 States” is described on the publisher’s web site as: Continue reading “30 January 2011”

Good morning on a bright, brisk morning – not quite so Arctically frigid as it has been the last couple of days, just damp and muddy. Another busy week filled, this time, with a couple of birthday celebrations. Continue reading “23 January 2011”