Operation Hall - Update

For those of you who have been following "Operation Hall". The photos above tell a story, we have reached the end of the plastering faze. Dean and Roger did a cracking job, and all in less than a week.

Next stage is the painting and decorating. Given what has happened at home over the last month we have decided to get it right and done properly. Enter Rob and his brother. Painters and decorators that come highly recommended. Certainly, Rob appeared to know his stuff when he came to give the quote. We were very happy with Dean and Roger and they are the ones that put us in touch with Rob. Hopefully, this time next week I will be publishing pictures of the completed job. They are starting on Tuesday and reckon on four days, possibly an extra half day depending on how things go.

As you can see from the photos the plaster has to dry out before we go into painting mode.

An update on Val. Things are coming along fine. She actually said on Thursday that she feels normal for the first time in a long time. The wobbles were not entering her head and she was getting on with the day.

She has actually discovered the kitchen and uses for it other than smoking room. Her sister Silv has been popping over with recipes and showing Val how to cook!!!! It's great for me, I come home and have a meal ready when I get back from taking Holly out! Not used to this but long may it continue.

Bit of a hiccup on the footie front. WBA trounced the Greens and the traitor boy scored for the tractor boys.

Time for our riving reporters. As usual in date of receipt order. HR first.

"Hiya ; I remembered Berusia Mönchengladbach too ; but like you I didn`t quite know how to spell it !

I also remembered Hawkwind later in the weekend. Ace !!

Just wanted to call you to task on the editing : it jumped from saying Val looks ace to my thoughts on how wonderful Joke is. Except there was no mention of Joke so it seems embarrassingly close to my comments on Val !

Am just gearing up for the end of March when we have our first Living History event at Fort Nelson Portsmouth. The boss posted promotions on the forum (which will be awarded then) and yours truly will go up a notch to the first rung on the ladder (like SAC) except they call it Yefrehtor (like the German-Gefreiter). I am more chuffed at this than any other I have ever had. It means when we do soldiering bits at public shows I will get a section called Suvorov, Nevski, Red Banner or similar; and like any section it will take teamwork and dedication to do things properly. Except all are volunteers of various ages and backgrounds , so a real "learning opportunity" for me too !!

This year one of the guys (Nick Coffin ! who sounds just like the late John Peel) has arranged a training programme and personal record book, so the whole unit will become more streamlined and professional (Nick actually works for what was Flight Refuelling at Bournemouth airport). We will be learning more about Soviet weapons & tactics and refining our drill ,which if done properly looks very smart (no raising the knee or "driving the foot 6" into the ground". The arms are swung across the body and looks ace.I am trying to read a training manual for the rifle which is written in Cyrillic. It is slow but interesting. A foresight is called a "Moozhka" and a rifle a "Veentovka". I love it ! Must dash . need sleep . Be good and love to all ."

Having a go at the Editor huh!! For those of you that didn't get to see HR's email - I suppose that's everyone really except me of course. He was writing about the love of his life. I thought it was not really meant for the whole world to read so I cut it out. Just didn't do a very good job of it!!! I keep telling him to put "start here" and "end here" to make my life easier. To make it really easy do a Podga and put it in the comments!! And talking about Podga -

"Suffolk Sojourn 38/137.Onwards and Upwards - Val is confounding the Medics and all who surround her - brilliant and comforting news - that's my gal - I knew it would be a minor glitch. We were all with you - and now all is back to normal'ish, roll on the spring sunshine.

The footie looks interesting, with Pilgrims 1 point above Tractor Boys, and excellent that you took Alice from the Palace to the Burnley game. You 2 obviously made the difference - and a resounding result. Ipswich were unlucky at Stoke, but I'll say no more.

The plot thickens as the Play-Offs beckon closer and closer. Utd, of course charge on. Leon's Gooners slipped up, but understandable after Edourdo's frightful injury.

Are you still out there Leon?

The last two weeks here at Chez Podga have been a nightmare - with the electrics tripping off intermittently - only whilst the heating was on. Initial investigations eventually found a 3inch screw thru' part of the kitchen boiler wiring - but insulated by the rawplug. (The house is only 4 years old). The builders rep eventually arrived to inspect and with a shamed face admit liability (and pay gas/electric engineer charges).

Finally sorted as the Rugby was on (Sat aft) - or so we thought.

That evening it went again - No Power. Electrician back at 2000 - now sourced to airing cupboard - water valve leakage onto electrics. Plumber in at 0900 Sunday to fit new valve, and electrician at 1900 to wire up. Finally sorted last nite. Phew!

Luckily it got milder over here as we were well out of our comfort zone and had to cancel the weekend guest from London.(That's enough hardship for now - Ed - Oi that's my job - the real Ed). Blue Skies! Podga"

And we thought living in a house 108 years old gave problems! Glad to see it is all sorted. Houses - they don't make 'em like they used to!!!

A little giggle this afternoon. With all the work in the hall we decided to go wireless with the front door bell. Up to bulk to get one today. Home to fix. Got it all set up and "ding dong" it went. About five minutes after testing it all over the house (the mobile bit) I was happy and wondered to the kitchen.

"Ding dong", our first visitor with the new bell, wondered up and it went "Ding dong" as I passed the fixed donger. At this point I could see through the door and noticed there was no-one there. Into Val to have a moan about the bloody bell going off on it's own. Out to the front door and pressed it a couple of times - all seemed well, just a temporary hiccup. Walking back to the kitchen "Ding dong" went the bell. Turned around and no one there. Out the door again to have another look only to hear talking from next door. Two guys wondering why their doorbell had suddenly started to ring all by itself. I poked my head around the door to see them in deep conversation trying to work out why, after a few years, their doorbell suddenly developed a mind of it's own.

You are ahead of me know so I will keep it short. Needless to say they had the same wireless doorbell as the one we had just installed!!! Operating on the same frequency!! A quick twist of frequency control (I say quick but I had to dismantle first!). All is now well.

It is also getting a little late. Oh by the way, got another e-mail from HR in which he said that he felt he had to criticise the wonderful editor of this blog as people might have thought he was slimy the way he came across last time. Do we think he was slimy???? Watch out for the Swan water!!

Bought a table "fussball" yesterday, so guess what Al and I will be doing tomorrow. I beat her 9 - 4 in our first quick game last night!!