Another wet week – who could have imagined that there was this much water in the skies? We did have some sunshine on Tuesday but it didn’t last long, just long enough for folks to wander outside and scratch their heads in bewilderment at this strange atmospheric phenomenon. One of our lovely neighbours said the rain was supposed to continue for another month. You cannot be serious.
We achieved a major milestone on Monday & Tuesday this week – we finally had our kitchen pendant lights adjusted so that they now hang in the appropriate position! Many (some) of you will know that, when we had the kitchen extension built, we were left with an unsatisfactory arrangement of our kitchen pendant lights. The kitchen has a very high ceiling and the builders couldn’t quite work out how best to hang the lights. So, when we were away (I think we might have been in the States), they provided a “temporary” solution. This involved hanging a plank of wood from the ceiling and attaching the lights to it. When we got home we were somewhat disappointed – now only did the plank of wood not look overly attractive, the pendants were hanging about six feet above the kitchen work surface, not the 30 to 36 inches recommended.
No worries, it’s only temporary. But somehow, temporary morphed into permanent. Covid arrived and our builders vanished into the mist, fortunately having finished everything else. As the years have sprinted past, we’ve encountered numerous tradespeople, all of whom promised that they could find a solution, never to be seen or heard from again.
Six years later and we had occasion to contact a local electrician to solve another problem for us. The window sill in Penny’s workroom was a rat’s nest of tangled cables, power leads, routers, boosters, telephone, etc. In short, it was a mess which, quite understandably, Penny wanted sorted. The local electrician arrived and we agreed on a plan which would tidy everything away. We also decided to take advantage of his time here to arrange for power out to the garage and to power the pump in Penelope’s Pond. While he was here, we mentioned the kitchen pendant lights. He looked at the problem and came up with a very satisfactory solution in about thirty seconds.
So, Monday and Tuesday two of his lads were here and did a magnificent job. They were very diligent workers, very friendly with a splendid work ethic – nothing was too much trouble and we are more than happy with the finished result.
It only took six years.
I had a message from my friend Julie in Australia that she was getting an intimidating security alert when she tried to access the Moreton Pinkney Picayune. Penny had the same message and I suspect one or two of the rest of you have seen it as well.
I can only apologise and say that it’s down to not having an SSL certificate. Given that they can cost £30 per month I can’t say that it’s worth it for me – I’m not selling you anything so won’t be stealing your credit card details nor your mother’s maiden name, the name of your first pet nor bank account details and pin.
I will look into it and see if I can find a “free” certificate but until then you’ll just have to ignore the warnings about the MPP being an insecure site. (Interestingly, Julie tells me that the amusements don’t prompt the same warning). If any of my techologically-talented sons or anyone else has a solution, let me know.
This is what you might encounter:
In the first photo your temptation, naturally, is to click the large Close Page button. Just underneath that you’ll see an Advanced link. Clicking that takes you to the second photo which definitely wants you to close the page!! The option to “Proceed to moretonpinkneypicayune.co.uk (unsafe)” is where you need to go. Go on, you know you want to!
NB – these are the prompts which Chrome threw up when I checked. If you use a different browser, you may get different prompts. Who knows?
Whilst investigating that little issue, I happened to stumble across my site statistics for last week’s post. The Picayune had, allegedly, 554 views from 514 different visitors. WTF? There are fewer than 20 of you gullible folk who have subscribed to this nonsense and there may be a handful of others who read it semi-regularly. I cannot imagine what these bots are finding of such interest here – perhaps it’s the Amusements? And, the stats page told me that this was 60% down on the previous week! WTF x 2!
Clearly, this is nonsense!
Sadly, I neglected to highlight an upcoming birthday in last week’s Picayune – Juju turned four on Thursday. We had planned to go across and have a little celebration with her but sadly she awoke with a roaring temperature. So, those plans are on hold for the time being.
Happy Birthday Juju!
And finally, I discovered this little gem somewhere – sorry, I can’t remember where.
Roland the Farter (known in contemporary records as Roland le Fartere, Roulandus le Fartere, Rollandus le Pettus, or Roland le Petour) was a medieval flatulist who lived in 12th-century England. He was given Hemingstone manor in Suffolk and 30 acres (12 hectares) of land in return for his services as a jester for King Henry II. Each year, he was obliged to perform “saltum, siffletum, pettum” (a jump, a whistle, and a fart all done at once) for the king’s court at Christmas.
Who knew such an occupation existed? This is a job for which I am eminently qualified. And I would not need to consume an overly legume-laden diet. I can perform any time you like whilst eating an ice cream cone. So, where do I apply?
Meanwhile, keep breathing, keep happy, keep smiling, keep exercising, be good, be careful, and keep safe. And, be gentle to wasps and bees – we need all the pollinators we can get. And, hold your loved ones close.
Lots of love to you all,
Greg
Have been getting the alerts for a few months – did e-mail to advise a while ago – both for MPP and Amusements. Today, only for the latter.