40yr Service at Work

 

So this Wednesday, 13th September, marked my 40yr service at work - wow!

25yr spent in Software and the last 15yr in Planning.

Here's a closeup of moi as a fresh faced 18yr old, part of the 1983 HND in Computer Studies intake along with a group of apprentices and YTS peeps. How times flies eh?

My team pushed the boat out quite spectacularly with flowers, a card and two gifts both personalised by our talented Jane and both wonderful keepsakes of what is quite an achievement. The company will pay me £500 for the privilege in next month's pay "packet".

Having come close I think to potential redundancy on a couple of occasions I feel proud to have stayed the distance, in years to come service such as mine will be less likely as people change jobs more often and start working later in life.

Time to start counting down to retirement me thinks ;-)

Halloween Wreath

 

Chuffed with my Halloween Wreath from The Works which Julia persuaded me to buy on our latest shopping trip. I'm not a one for arty crafty stuff, I leave that to her, but I thought why not and for £3 it wasn't going to break the bank!

Set up my gardening table in the shade of the garage doorway on a stupidly hot Saturday and sat painting all the requisite pieces, having to dig back into the memory banks to remember how to mix various colours from the base paints they gave you.

After lunch I glued everything onto the ring, note that sadly they didn't supply glue which seems like an oversight, but I had some wood glue in the kitchen cupboard so no problemo for me.

And here's the final result - pretty chuffed with it, not least because everything stayed glued on after I picked it up! Gave it a couple of coats of clear acrylic and it's ready for the Halloween porch dressing.

Revamped Fuchsia Area

 

Having decided to bin off the fuchsia in the yard area due to what I believe to be fuchsia gall mite attacking it, Dad helped me to get rid of the remainder of the root, and gave me some spare chippings to put down along with the triangle of slab and pebbles.

Over Elm Court I bought a T-Rex skull and a couple of ladybugs and here it is, a much nicer space to look at than some manky plant which is being eaten by bugs too bloody small to see and not much in the way of bug killer available yet to see them off.

Also replanted this years pinks in the front garden having binned off one of the old fuchsias round there for the same reason.

Salvaged a small section which will hopefully be OK along with the new fuchsia but only time will tell. Sadly this disease seems somewhat prolific once it gets hold and many of the bug killers on the market right now simply don't touch it.

Also had a second wind on the double petunias and my Godetias are flowering :-)

Happy 7th Wedding Anniversary!

 

So today marks Julia and James's 7th wedding anniversary and this image is one from their official photographer.

The month of May marked 17yr of them being together as a couple too, so they've beaten her Dad and me, not that it would have been difficult. 

Hoping they have spent an enjoyable day together although James alluded to them having had a rough night so might have been lots of sleep and an evening meal out.

However you guys spent it - here's to many more happy years together.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MR & MRS BAILEY !!!

More Gardening @ Chez Bailey

 

Another Sunday spent doing the garden makeover, we have finally got the soil raked, sifted and moved around ready for the turf to go down. We moved the cherry tree to a better, more balanced part of the garden leaving more space around it and the roses it was originally bunched up with.

Steps have been concreted in position, the gaps filled with stones from the soil and most of the wall block holes have also been filled with stones sifted from the soil. Meaning that filling them with cement is almost certainly no longer necessary unless James has any left over from any other jobs before the tops go on. Slabs needed for the steps but already they provide a much easier route down to the bottom area of the garden than we'd been used to using. 

The bottom area will be a project for another year, turning it into an outdoor dining area. In the interim the dross will be moved into a skip which will accompany the bathroom makeover and all the weeds sprayed with some strong weedkiller to send them packing over the winter months at least.

All in all we've worked hard to get it to the position it's in now but wow, when you look at what we've achieved I think we can all pat ourselves collectively on the back and say it's a job well done!