Our Phili-Pam

Hi all Our old kitchen has served us well since 1973. That is all it amounts to now. We are upside down at present, as the dining room is being re-floored at the same time.

I hope that train services through Hall Brooks are not affected by these works

Hi both Pam and I are living out of one room downstairs, the railway and music room is full of boxes, but last night before bye-byes, we had a shunt in the goods yard. We have kept the railway room door sealed whilst plasterwork and the like is on-going. My music stuff needs protecting too.

Hi both, I know that my vision is suspect a lot of the time, but when I say shunt, I mean shunting the coal trucks. When I say living out of one room I mean literately that. Our lounge resembles "Stoke Salvage" front yard at present. We are still managing to keep the work team fed and watered. These days, kitchen and dining rooms are the engines of modern living. Normal service should return next week, but I am slightly disturbed, as Pam is so appreciating the work-team's standards of work, that there are now more jobs being lined up.

Hi all Men at work. Me, being or trying to be a non-risk taker, am so happy with the competence of the crew that are doing the work here. A team of three, each who have their own skills, but are very versatile across the board working with each other. Pam and I have, for forty years, relied on one builder, who is now retired, so are forced into the open market for anything that needs doing or attention. We wanted this job doing ages ago, but we believe that patience has paid off with this team, as said previously, Pam had already a programme list of jobs stretching far ahead. Good honest work teams don't grow on trees.

Hi all Getting there.

Looking good Philip.

Yes, thank you Mickw The last time that we had major internal stuff done to the kitchen was when we had the existing kitchen extended in 1973. We are chuffed to bits with the team, who were clean working, punctual and did exactly what was on the original plan. The only negative encounter was extra time spent levelling concrete floors, using levelling mix. We are not a commercial advertising website, but if anyone wants a contact name I will be only too glad to oblige by private email.

Hi all My Pam is continuing her exhaustive testing of her new cooker. Of course it will need a lot more testing. Next Tuesday will be the next big test day.

Hi all, Pam did not have enough pastry to complete everything that she had planned, so instead of Coventry God Cakes, she made two Holbrooks Slices. They were very nice, filled with the same mix as Coventry God Cakes.

Hi all What is very current for today is the service of remembrance for our Coventry Legend, Jimmy Hill, having been held in our cathedral. I am now of the age where hardly a day goes by without learning about the sad loss of someone that I have known about for huge chunks of my lifetime. I am not posting this in a morbid attitude, more a wakeup to reality. So much of our forum discussions abound around folk or stuff that are no longer around. Clive Dunn, Jones in Dad's Army, had a record hit with "Grandad", no.1 in the UK in 1971. At that time, I was in my mid twenties, had a two year old son, so the only funny thing in the song was "Grandads" for me, not "motor cars". Grumpy grandads, now I am one and have been for over eighteen years. In the news today is a report that folk aged seventy now are in generally a better state of health & fitness than fifty year olds of thirty years ago. That is of little comfort to the close friends and relatives of folk who I have played at funerals for. Something that really does give me cheer are the friends and members of our forum who have become friends. Some so warm and close. Clive Dunn really did find motor cars funny things in real life, just as so many of us on our forum now find electronic components funny things. In the fifties, my dad did nearly all of the decorating and maintenance in our home and did it well. The only practical thing that I do in our home is the railway and music. I don't pretend to understand the electronics of either of them either.

Hi all Home, sweet home. The Pleco on the left is ten inches long, the one to the right is 12 inches. They are both eighteen years old. The amaryllis was a Christmas gift, which is now 33 inches tall. The leaves are loosely tied to the stem, but the plant is supporting itself. We have had to constantly turn it so as to try to keep the stem growing straight.

Hi Philip Lovely flowers. What on earth is that reptilian looking beast in your tank?

Hi Norman, It's Pleco or Plecostomus. They go well in a community tank, as they only eat algae. They keep the glass clean. I wish there was a cold water version. I would stick them on our outside windows. Save a fortune on window cleaning. Another picture, showing them both from last evening.

Are they also known as sucker fish, Philip? As I recall we had something similar in our aquarium back in the day and that's what they called them back then.