You guessed it!

Yep another busy day today.
In fact I was so busy that I didn't even find time to take even one picture!!
So also a picture less day too.
I am off to a football club meeting in a minute so may not have time to add anything to this later either.
Never mind the weekend is nearly here, but another big job tomorrow with a lounge bedroom and hallway to do for my mate Scot.
So that will be most of the day then!
With any luck I'll have a bit of time to take some pics tomorrow.
Cheers for now.

Carpets and Kite Surfers

We all left the house this morning to go to school in the sunshine with a gale blowing.
Not normally a problem but today the boys were in fancy dress for today is world book day and they could go as characters from books.
Brandon went as a black goose, he looked good when we left the house but his webbed feet didn't do too well with the walk down the school path due to the high winds.
It was fair to say that he wasn't impressed.
The other 2 boys managed to keep the fancy dress in one piece Mike going as "Ben 10" and our youngest going as Harry and his bucket full of dinosaurs....however he wasn't too keen on dinosaurs so substituted them for penguins instead, his favourite creature!
After school drop off I went straight to the quay to see what the boat had brought.

I am very pleased to say that there was a small mountain of carpets that should keep me very busy for at least a week and there more to come on the next boat leaving tomorrow afternoon.
Ideal, now I can finally get cracking and start ticking off some jobs at last.
My job list was getting bigger and bigger but should ease a bit now!
First job this morning was a front room in non slip vinyl.
The floor was quite rough so I really had to give it some attention before fitting.
I had it fitted before lunch though and went to take a few pics on the way home as it was looking lovely with the tide in and bright sunshine and blue skies,lovely!
After lunch I just needed to stick down the vinyl and it didn't take long.
When the job was done I went to the quay to take away all of my carpets.While on the quay I spotted a rock pipit very close searching for scraps to eat.
I then delivered them to Beachfield House B&B where I am renewing all of the bedroom carpets.
Should have it all done by the end of Monday even though its a big one.
I managed to get one room nearly done today and it was one of the bigger rooms so some good progress made there today.
I knocked off just after 5 and headed home for tea, as I left I could see a couple of kite surfers at Porthmellon, so headed around the corner to see if I could get some pics.
They were just about to stop, One guy was walking up the beach as I was walking down the waters edge.
On closer inspection I could see that it was my mate Peter Hicks still out on the water, as he got close to me he shouted that the wind was really dropping off and he was going to pack in, but not before I caught him in a couple of "poses"!
If you see a kite surfer over here and he is doing lots of jumps then it is most likely Peter, he has been at it for the longest over here and looks very much at ease with the whole thing.
I held his kite very briefly today and man there is some pull in it.
You must need to be so careful!
So then I headed home for tea and I've not been out since!
Tomorrow brings a whole heap of work but I feel like I have a bit more control over the situation now!

Busy busy again!

No end to work at the moment, with a big consignment coming in tonight on the Gry with any luck!
The past 2 days have been all vinyl in bathrooms of different shapes and sizes.
I have done 5 and also a kitchen all in non slip vinyl.
The method of fitting vinyl means that it needs to be stuck down all over to ensure it doesn't stretch or move or even curl at the edges, also in bathrooms I normally put down some clear Silicone around the edge to make sure that no water gets underneath the vinyl and to prevent any flood troubles.
The upshot of all the sticking down is that I use my hands to push the non slip vinyl onto the floor all over to make sure there are no bubbles or air underneath.
Now I have sore fingertips from all of the friction!
More vinyl to do tomorrow as well so may well get some gloves!!
Its good to be busy but really I am too busy now and suffocating in the workload as I seems to be running out of time to do all the jobs.
I'm sure it will all get done,but I'm going to have to work really hard and may not find the time to update so much!
Last night was pool night and we took on the Sons of the Desert or SODS from the Old Town Inn.
We played them already this season and they won 6-3, last night was no different despite having the home advantage they still beat us.
Apparently we are 3rd in the "league" just behind the SODS and miles behind the leaders who I think are the Bishop "A". team.
We don't take it too seriously so are not too bothered about the league position...that said its always nice to win!!
The weather of the past couple of days has taken a wintry feel with frequent rain yesterday and heavy hail in the night, with today bringing more heavy showers with a mix of rain,sleet and hail thrown in depending where you might be on the island!
I am pleased to report the Maxi the guinea pig is doing well after her cyst removal and you would hardly know that she had a huge lump on her back, bless her.
I have a couple of pics to put on in a bit from a very grey yesterday and a bit better today!
I am seriously running out of hard drive space on my laptop and am looking for an external hard drive to ease the burden!
Any recommendations gratefully received!
So that's all I have time for today, I'll get some pics up later on if I get time!

Monday,Monday....

Another Monday is upon us and it heralds the start of my busiest month of the year.
So far none of my carpets for my biggest jobs have turned up, but they should all start arriving this week.
With the lack of carpets to fit I didn't exactly rush off to work this morning,its fair to say that I don't like Mondays anyway on the best of weeks.
Today however was a beautiful day and the walk to school provided the best view of the day across Old Town beach with the tide high it was looking lovely.
At school I bumped into Heike the vet and mentioned that one or our guinea pigs has a nasty lump on her back and that it looked like a big cyst.
She made an appointment for me there and then at the school and by 10a.m I took poor Maxi around.
She had a sebaceous cyst that had got really quite big,
we had noticed it before we went away but had really got very large by the time we got home and was still growing and now starting to looks sore.
The removal of the cyst was a fairly straight forward task and she was soon back home and looking happier.
She looks happy tonight too which is good!
After that it was still very lovely weather wise so I hung out another 2 loads of washing.
I have to say that its not as if the weather hasn't been fit to hang out washing, but in our garden it really need to be a nice breeze combined with bright sunshine and also have the time in the day to hang it all out.
Usually we just hang it on airers inside and around the place.
Its been good to get some air through the clothes and they look better for it..
I then had a call to attend to which I duly did and even started a small job, only to find that I needed some gripper that won't be here until tomorrow morning so went home for lunch.
As it was so good we ate outside in the sunshine, after lunch in the garden it was evident that the garden could do with some attention so having no immediate jobs to do we set about tidying and re securing the roses away from little hands.
I had fixed the gate and mowed the lawn yesterday, and after today's efforts it looking really quite neat,shame that its going to rain for the next couple of days.
I thought that I should try and get some work done so headed off to Westford House B&B to continue with their en suite bathrooms.
I had received some new Cd's through the post before I had left home, so I happily sang to myself for the rest of the afternoon.
I managed to get 3 fitted and decided that would be enough, so then popped to the Co-op for a few bits and bobs for tea.
So then home for tea and by now it was starting to cloud over a sign that the weather is on the change.
Well it was good while it lasted and has given me a real taste for spring and summer.
It won't be long before I have the boat in and am off to other islands and beaches.
I can't wait, just got to get through this busy March and I'll be happy!

Aaah Sunday!
The day started well with a good lie in, didn't get up until about 9ish and then on opening the curtains it revealed a beautiful sunny day.
So after breakfast it was outside to hang out the washing,first time this year outside!
With a cool dry north westerly and the warm sun it was perfect drying weather, good job because there was 2 loads to peg out!
With that job done we all headed up to the Garrison to watch the footie match and have a kick about.
We headed down to the harbour after the match and saw a new boat in the harbour.
It is a taster of the new medical launch that is owned by James Terry.
This boat is not his, but has the same hull.
James' boat has been custom built for the job and look to be a winner.
From what I hear she should be here in a few weeks all being well.
After a quick lunch all of the boys were happy playing different games and not as keen as me to go out again for a walk somewhere.
Wifey found me some jobs in the garden that needed doing so after letting the guinea pigs have a run about in the long grass I set about mowing the lawn and fixing the back gate that someone had broken.
Looked as if it had been kicked in or rather out!
With those jobs done it was late afternoon, so I got the washing in and did my bit for tea by peeling some spuds!
It was now a lovely evening with not a cloud in the sky.
After tea at around 6.30 it was still pretty light outside, a great sign that spring is on the way, and now my thoughts are turning to preparing the boat for the new season.
I hope to have her in first week in April with any luck.
So that was my day, another busy day awaits tomorrow but I think I am getting a grip of it now and have a plan to get it all done.
I am planning a week off in April at the end of term to have a bit of a break and maybe do some fishing and boating and stuff!
Looking forward to it!

Just too busy this week

Its been a busy week with lots going on.
Plenty of work and calls to sort out and I haven't had much time to get on here to update,sorry.
I will get some pics off my camera today and get some on here later on today.
Its been a funny old week being the first week after the holiday it was always going to be manic on the work front and it sure lived up to my expectations, only most of the carpets that should be here didn't turn up which made choosing which jobs to do first a whole lot simpler!
Friday I went up to St Martins for the day to do a couple of jobs and a measure.
It went ok, the first job was a lounge carpet in a holiday cottage at Signal Row.
I needed to put down grippers and underlay before fitting the carpet.
When done it was time for the carpet, when I had unrolled it it was 4 inches short, which left a dilemma of what to do.
I could join it or turn it around and put in a metal doorstrip or do the right thing and offer to replace it..
Obviously I offered to replace it as it appeared to be my fault for not measuring correctly in the first place...I must have misread the tape measure.
Its the first time I have done this in my 17 years of carpet fitting.
So I have a nice carpet for sale if anyone is interested!
Then I went on to do a measure up at Churchtown Farm.
Followed swiftly by down to middle town to do a kitchen vinyl.
I was well looked after at this job and keep happy with an endless supply of tea and a huge wedge of yummy sponge cake.
Its a hard life I know!
It wasn't long before it was time to catch the boat home and off I went.
I came home and sorted out the last few bits of work for the week and did a couple of orders, and then went for a stroll down to my old house where I grew up.
It was great to go home I haven't been down there for a few years and it was good to see some of the things I recall from my childhood still present, like the rope swings in the pine trees and a daffodil garden that I planted with my sisters when I was very small!
I have some pics of the views from here and I think they are some of the best on the islands, but then it was what I saw every day for years so maybe that it is the memories of the views rather than the view itself that i so good!
Any how I have one last carpet to fit for my good friend Sam, so I'd better get going!
I'll get some pics up later today.....

A couple of days and a Helicopter.

Well Tuesday was something of a blur, particularly as I sit here trying to recall what I actually did!
First thing was my second son Brandons birthday, so we were awake early for the inevitable present and card openings and then off to email Radio Scilly for a birthday announcement (Thanks Keri!)
It was off to school for the boys, not always ideal on a birthday but they were happy as they were having their favourite cheesy pasta for school dinner today.
I went off and did some work, but to be fair not much got done due to another load of phone calls to make and receive and also my head was still not really back into the swing of it all!
Fortunately I finished the vinyl that I needed to do and a couple of other small jobs and finished in time for the birthday cake and tea after school!
We had the family around and when they left we had a quick bit of tea and got the boys off to bed and then I was out to play pool.
It was a good night with our team taking on the Porthcressa Team playing at the Scillonian Club.
We won 8-1 and I did win my singles and doubles matches!
So that was Tuesday...weather wise a calm day with sunny spells, I got a couple of pics down at the harbour to remind myself of the lovely start that it was!

WEDNESDAY.
So the day started more or less the same only today it was an email for the outlaws wedding anniversary instead of a birthday!
I went off to work full of enthusiasm only to realise that I had nothing booked in to do!
So I thought that it was probably time to get myself organised and went back home to sort out lots of jobs and book in what I could with customers.
This took most of the morning as I seem to be chock a block with work!
Finally I escaped out to Westford House where I am doing all of their en suite bathrooms in new non slip vinyl.
A fiddly job that I have to admit have been putting off just a little as there are 7 pieces to fit and bathroom vinyl is not my fave job!
I managed to get 2 done today before it was time for footie practise with the primary children.
Our pitch is still very boggy in places, so we marked a smaller area than normal in order to maintain the grass as best as we could.
It was the first footy I have done in ages and I really enjoyed it.
I think all the kids did too..
So then it was home for a nice bit of tea and then settled down to watch Liverpool take on Real Madrid.
Having been converted into a Liverpool fan by my eldest son it was good to see them come away 1-0 winners on the night with an away goal to take into the second leg.
A good day on the whole and I feel so much better in myself having sorted out just how I might be able to get my mountain of work done!
Oh by the way...on the way home for lunch I spotted a helicopter in up at the airport, being a grey old day it seemed a good photo opportunity.
I got there just as they appeared to be preparing to leave, I got my pics and was just about to go when they fired up the engines...I went back to see them fly away and decided to video clip them leaving and I am so glad I did.
The heli lifted just a couple of metres from the ground, appeared to give me a bow and then left the airstrip hovering very low before turning down the entire runway and following it right to the end before lifting sharply to 1000 feet or so in a matter of seconds.
Very impressive.
I'm sure the pilot did it just for show, I like to think that he did it just for me!!
The video is going now up onto you tube and should appear on the sidebar here soon!
I think the helicopter was a royal navy lynx. Must have been from RNAS Culdrose.... or maybe a nearby ship....







By the way if you click on the image it opens a bigger photo that you can see much more detail, this is the same on all of my pictures on the blog,here and Scillywebcam,images can be used for your own personal use or if published elsewhere please credit me, George Kershaw with the picture and let me know where you have used it.
Cheers George.

First day back to work, Harbertonford

Today was the back to reality day.
After a relaxing Sunday and a fantastic holiday,it was a struggle getting my head around the mountain of work that needs to be done.
It seems I have told everyone to give me a call when I get back from my holiday and sure enough I think they all did today..
So i spent allot of time on the phone today.
I did manage to complete my first job which was a hall and lounge carpet/
The job went well and was nice to get back to work despite the idea of it!
There was no one in the house, so I was able to get my phones mp3 player going and I had a good sing along with myself as I worked.
Its fair to say today was a busy day although I kind of eased myself into it rather than going head first,flat out!
It seems that the jobs are arranging themselves with some people being in more need than others to get their carpets done.
Obviously holiday lets and b&b's get the priority with domestic jobs having to wait for a few days or for a space in the schedule to get done.
I think it will all work out ok, but I won't be taking on any more work now unless it can be done in April or after Easter.
I didn't manage to take any pics of Scilly today, so I have put on some pics from my holiday starting with the flight ot Newquay from here and Geevor and St Ives.
Then snow at South Brent,Harbertonford bridge and church.
Also a pic of our hire car a Jeep Patriot which is a SUV with a 2litre VW TDI engine that was actually really good.
And I just had to put up a pic of the Proven wind turbine that I spotted outside the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth for my mate Paul up on Raasay who has a much better model on his croft.
I shall post more pics from my holiday as I sort them out but probably as a separate holiday post more for my own record as much as for any one else's pleasure, although I'm sure someone out there will like to look at the pics!

Slapton Sands and Hallsands

A foggy and quite eerie day actually really suited the trip to Hallsands that is a hamlet that was washed away by a storm on 1917 due to the removal of 650,000 tons of shingle to create Devonport Docks.See below sign for more deatils...

Well hello there.
I am back from my holiday and I can tell you that it was excellent!
I can highly recommend a holiday in the South Hams down in rural South Devon.
We were based at a place called Higher Poulston Farm which is near Halwell Devon,but was nearer to a small village called Harbertonford.
A quiet spot that used to be a working farm since the 10th century but now has all of its farm building converted into holiday cottages.
They are done out to a fairly high standard and the farm has most activities available.
So we spent lots of time playing tennis,pool,bowling,football,swimming,golf and trampolining.
When we got tired of all those games we went out to the nearby places to go.
Such as Dartmoor,Slapton Sands,Torquay,Paignton,Totnes,Newton Abbot,Exeter,Plymouth,Teignmouth,Dawlish..
With these places within a short drive we visited Paignton Zoo,The national marine aquarium,Living Coasts,Holiday on Ice at Westpoint, and various other days out to nearby beauty spots and villages.
We spotted loads of places that we want to go back and see more of, so it looks as though we will try the same holiday again next year at a similar time.
I will put a few well chosen holiday snaps on here later on tonight.
We had good weather, arriving just as the snow was just stopping falling but the roads were clear and everything was white and only had a couple of day of rain in the while 2 weeks.
So a really good trip for us!
Its really good to be home and I have 1 more day off until I have to hit work pretty hard to try and catch up, lots to sort out and messages to catch up on plus 300 odd emails to trawl through!!
So when its all done I shall attempt to locate my finest pics of the holiday!
Its good to be back!!

Just too busy!

Sorry for the total lack of updates but I was really busy yesterday and will again today and tomorrow.
I am away for 2 weeks tomorrow and I'm not too sure when I shall do the next update..
Sorry again.
Cheers George.

No snow today!

Well I guess the day after the snow was never going to be much fun...but I think I could have done without having a south east gale and rain as a replacement!
Today started dry, but a late start meant a quick drive to school as we had no milk for breakfast again!
I am definitely a breakfast kind of guy, don't even bother trying to get any sense out of me until I have had my Frosties!! :-))
So after the school drop off I went back home as it was dustbin day and time to clear out our guinea pig hutch.
We have 3 guinea pigs and what great pets they are!
We have had 2 of them since they were just a couple of weeks old,and they were both girls and both had babies.
We kept one of the babies and gave the other 3 away as they would have been overcrowded.
And we thought at least 2 of the others were boys!
So with that done it was time for work and I headed off up to finish of yesterday stair carpet.
I had done that by lunchtime and had time to pick up the youngest little one from nursery too.
After lunch I had a large lounge carpet to do, again it was straight forward and I had a clear room, so was done in just over an hour or so..
Then I went to pick up the boys from school,take my dad up to the health centre, pick up my sister from her house and take her to the airport.
And then pick up my sisters in laws and take them for a special St Marys tour.
I'm getting the hang of these tours and I am now rattling off the facts while showing the sights to any willing passenger!
With them safely dropped home, I went back up to the health centre to collect my dad and take him home, bless him he was waiting for ages!
I went home,thought about what to have for tea...took wifey to a meeting and then back home to make and have tea.
Then back to pick up wifey and then sort out what we need to pack for our hols!
I am ready to go away now, and have had plenty of driving practise today!!
I like to drive and will be doing about 150 miles on the first day on the mainland.
Not much you might think, but when there is only 9 miles of road in total on my whole island it puts it into perspective!
So today was a bit of a blur and I really think the islands look quite boring on this cold,wet and windy day!
I didn't take one picture, because it just looked so uninspiring after the snow of the past two days!
I had time to reflect about the snow of which the majority of people really hate for some reason...
And I guess it is because of the damned inconvenience of it, if you need to go somewhere and the snow is not letting you.
Probably anyone that has prolonged snow to deal with must get fed up with it quite soon.
But for me it will always be magic!
And the reason is because of the way it makes the islands look and how it never ever lasts long enough for you to do all off the things that you wanted to do!
I hope it snows again sometime, when I can be more prepared and then maybe we could go sledging like I did when I was a child!
But I do understand those who don't like the snow because of all the associated problems that come with it.
I have seen one van today that looks as though they had a bit of trouble in the snow, he has lost a whole drivers side wing! Ouch!
I guess I was lucky during my driving in the snow....
I'm going to get some pics of my guinea pigs now as a blog without pics just looks to boring!!
I shall add another couple of pics of the snow too just for good measure!!

Tuesday 3rd February MORE SNOW!!

Well if yesterdays excitement wasn't enough, yesterday evening the snow started again!
At first it seemed to be just a shower, but again it was cold enough to stick straight away.
We got the boys off to bed and looked out to see lots and lots of snow falling and it didn't stop.
It snowed on and off all evening, sometimes small powdery snow and sometimes huge slow falling tranquil flakes.
It was like a scene from a movie!
I can't remember a time when we have had such a snowfall.
Certainly last time we had decent snow in 1987 it was blizzard like conditions that you really want to go outside in.
Back then apparently we had 23cm!
Last night we were close to 10cm (4inches) in places..
I had 3 and half inches on my car roof.
I went on a photo frenzy and I have taken at least 500 pics and might be sometime sorting them out.
I have a few beauties!!!
So after playing about in the snow and pushing a huge ball of snow from Old Town Cafe right back home to my garden, I finally got in around midnight
The temp was around zero, and the forecast was for the wind to change direction to the west which would bring warmer weather.
I knew there wouldn't be so much snow in the morning, so we set our alarms for 6.30 and hoped for the best.
When the alarm went off the whole house came alive!
A couple of us had a quick breakfast and then it was off out in the snow.
It was certainly starting to thaw already but the sheer quantity that fell meant that it was going to take a long time to go all together and there was a good 2 inches lying everywhere on the ground.
We went down the Old Town beach again...I must have been down there at least 10 times in the first 48 hours to see the snow!
There is something really quite magical about seeing snow on palm trees and certainly on a beach that you never see snow on!
It was great to look at.
We had done a snowman based on that big ball of snow I collected last night.
We had had a snowball fight.
The only thing now was sledging!
On looking around to see what we could use, not much came to hand...
We thought that the little ones toy boat might be ok, so put it in the back of the car and headed for the nearest hill!
Which was on the road the leads up to the airport..
Cars had already been up there and it looked ok, so we had a go on the hill up there.
It was quite tough going, all the boys had a turn and the youngest one was the fastest with Michael just clearing all the snow as I pushed him down the slope....we needed a bigger gradient!
Nearest place we thought off easily accessible was Carreg dhu gardens, at the top of the garden on the path that goes down the hill.
Sure enough Brandon was first and went down a treat.
They all then followed, it was brilliant!
We could of done with more space, but there wasn't time to go anywhere else as today we decided the boys would be going to school.
Now I have never before driven in snow and seeing how I might be faced with it again this weekend when I go away, I thought that I had better get some practise.
I also wanted to take some pics elsewhere on the island.
So I took the boys home to get ready for school and took a drive up to the golf course as yesterday it looked great in the snow.
The drive up Telegraph road was easier than I thought it might be, it was made easier because several cars had already made the journey.
As I turned off Telegraph road I was into fresh snow and the first car to go down the road...lovely!
I had fun taking it easy down the road.
Fortunately my car has new tyres and anti lock brakes and I'm sure that it helped lots!
I didn't have any trouble and got to the golf club and took my pics.
Then went home because it was time for school.
The boys were waiting for me, but it was getting late, so we drove the short distance to school through the slush that had quickly changed from white snow.
There was still plenty of snow about and kids were having great fun with snowball fights galore.
Great scenes..
I really needed to do more work today than yesterdays poor efforts and I had taken lots of pics.
So headed off to make a start, I was very easily distracted all the way when driving, seeing views and scenes that looked fantastic.
Some very hard to capture,so I didn't really try!
I got to work and today I had to do a landing and stairs.
I also had lots of calls to do,phone calls and measures.
So a busy day really.
By lunchtime we had had another couple of snowy,sleety,light hail showers, but the sun was out and the temp rising and on the drive home for lunch there was hardly any snow left on the roads and the thaw was evident everywhere.
Quite a surprising amount of water dripping off roofs and running down the roads.
After lunch I finished off the job and did a few more calls and orders.
By the time school pick up had arrived the only snow left was in the odd hedgerow and a few fields that hadn't seen direct sun,also a few roofs in Old Town too.
I went back to work and worked until 5.30.
Then home for tea and puts the boys to bed, before getting ready to go out and indeed going out to play pool.
We took on the Bishop team tonight and at one stage the score was 6-1 but somehow ended up 6-3 to us, after a late come back!
As always a good evening out and here I am typing away again!
I really must have a look at all those pics, but I have so many I really don't know where to start!!