Today I shall be Mainly...

[Marilyn]

Did an hour of serious weeding today. Felt it about two hours later! We had been out for a drive and I moved to bounce out of the car as I usually do, to find I had stiffened up and limbs didn't respond to command.
all ok now. It a bit like rigor mortis and the stiffness wears off again after a few hours. I shall be back in the habit of weeding soon as there is more to do...

[Marilyn]

Have got a carpenter here today fitting two sets of double (glazed) doors...a set either end of our large lounge.
That will stop Febby feeling as if he is sat in a wind tunnel when he is feeling cold, though I have to say it is the most glorious sunny day today, so he won't be able to test it until the cooler weather creeps back later this week.
I have opted to paint the four doors myself, so that will keep me out of mischief for some time.
We have been planning these doors for about 2 years now and keeping our eyes out for old Art Deco type doors...but do you think we could find 4 genuine ones that matched? No. So we are going for new plain ones and will just have to imagine the Art Deco bit!

[Stanley]

Well done Trawden for managing to keep their show going!
Maz, why did Dave want art deco ?
Sue, funny how a different activity can catch you out isn't it.....
I shall be looking at my engine beds again......

[Marilyn]

It is me that has the fetish for Art Deco, Stanley.
I have always loved Art Deco. I envy Poirot his lovely apartment!

The first set of doors are in and I am thrilled with them.

[Stanley]

Morning Maz, I thought it might be you...... I favour 'Artisan' furnishing.....

[Stanley]

Moving quietly forward with the latest engine. I have got the relationship right now I think. What I have to do is convert this mock-up into a finished whole. It's proving to be a bigger problem that I thought!
Cooking for the next few days. Looking after myself and Jack. One thing I shall not be doing is feeling bored!

[Marilyn]

The carpenter finished the doors today. After he left I got the wretched stickers off, so they are ready for paint. I will just sort my gear out today and hopefully begin painting tomorrow, as we have had a return to Winter and the light is not good. I would prefer some sunlight to work in. It hasn't stopped raining all day...

[Sue]

It was a lovely day yesterday and due to be quite good today. It is a national holiday, the Feast of the Assumption. We shall go to a really big car boot sale. 180 stalls...an annual big event where previously we have bought some fabulous bargains.

[PanBiker]

We have walked down into town and secured the makings for dinner and tea. Nets have been chosen and we will be going rockpooling after lunch when the tide has dropped a bit, prize up to grabs for best creature.
Sun is shining and it is quite warm in the sun, a breeze of course.

[Wendyf]

Where are you Ian?

[Sue]

Just bought a large floor easel for my art room for 10 euros at a carboot sale. We had to drive back with the car roof down even though it wasn't sunny

[PanBiker]

Where are you Ian?

Newbiggin.

[plaques]

Newbiggin by the sea. Mrs P's people come from there. We have been going up there for over 60 years. 100's of pictures here's one from earlier this year.

P8020003A.jpg

.
Why bother to go to Spain?

[Tripps]

Looks very canny.

I was at RAF Boulmer up the coast, for a few years, and lived between there and Newcastle. I did quite bit of exploring, but for some reason never visited Newbiggin. Can't understand it.

Here's a site with some interesting old postcards. So much to spot in these cards.Newbiggin postcards

[plaques]

A lot of the Main St pubs have now gone but generally most of the buildings are still there. You can see the coal dross being washed up on the beach in the picture with the donkeys. It became one of my tasks to help collect the 'sea coal' and push it up to the colliery end (Woodhorn Rd) hung over an old bicycle cross bar. Bloody hard work that was!

[Stanley]

The last time I was in Newbiggin I saw one of the wildest North Sea storms ever. Maureen Thomas' family lived there. Her father Jack was a deputy in one of the pits that used to run out under the sea....
Some enormous deserted beaches up there. They used to have speed record attempts on them.

[plaques]

A view looking up to the West End. The big square building is Bertorelli's cafe still going strong and just out of sight the Coble pub. Now that's another story.

[PanBiker]

We went to the Woodhorn mining museum the other day which was the centre of three coastal pits. We had a demonstration of the winding engine, now electric but formerly steam. The two 880ft shafts are now rubble filled and capped with concrete. All three underground workings were linked and covered 14sq miles with the majority of seams under the seabed.
In the years since the pits closed the seabed at Newbiggin sank giving rise to higher tides which eroded the beaches and the coastal defences. This was fixed in 2008 with a new breakwater and the reinstatement of the beaches. 100,000 tonnes of sand was obtained from the seabed at Skegness and transported by ship to replace what had been washed away here at Newbiggin.

[Stanley]

Jack said that when it was stormy they could hear boulders and rocks being moved about on the sea bed. Hard Men!



Jack in 1979. He did over 50 years in the pit and when he retired they gave him what he called a 'sertistificate' which was nailed on the coal house door in the back yard...... He died a few months later, I liked him. I consider myself as having had a hard life but nothing to compare with him.
I shall be in the shed.....

[Wendyf]

Helping to lead our Walking Festival walk, fingers crossed that the forecast is right and it clears up. We need to see the view from the ring cairn site!

[Stanley]

It wasn't a bad day for it.... My day will be busy as it's butcher's day. I shall get in the shed for an hour but then Susan is visiting and we have an agenda, things are moving on the probate front and there are more complications.... Could be a sign of progress though, I hope so. Amazing how tax people and lawyers can make life difficult!



It's fiddly work in the shed at the moment. I'm making this crank pretty. Lots of hand work! More like making jewellery.....

[Sue]

I shall be cooking today. Tomorrow we have invited the families of the four other houses in the hamlet for AFTERNOON TEA English style. I think two households can't come but the invitations were all received enthusiastically. It's yet another opportunity to break a few barriers with the family who moved our boundary! They have accepted, which is nice as we did go to their housewarming party the week we came in July. It will be all sweet stuff not my favourite but what the French like and easier to make with what is available here. So it's scones with jam and what passes for thick cream over here, jam tarts with my own apricot jam, chocolate cake and a strawberry sponge gateau. We will top up with biscuits and the local cake Madeleines( bought not made as the recipe seems highly complicated)

It will be tea, coffee or beer and I know what most will want, lemonade and orangina for the kids.

One set of neighbours will be visiting parents, the other has visitors and although we said they could come too I am not sure they will. This leaves our good friend Roland and possibly his son and daughter in law and the neighbour next door but two ( having moved from next door but one) .

Hopefully we will be in the garden, if the rain holds off. Forecast dry but it has been wrong so often this summer, including yesterday when it rained nearly all day again despite it being only a 5 % chance of rain for a couple of hours and dry the rest of the time, I swear I can hear the grass grow. We never normally cut the grass in the summer here, not this year it's been done twice, between rain days. We have balls racquets, frisbee, boules, and other garden toys that we have for our grand children when they come. If we are inside it will be more difficult to keep the kids happy.

[Stanley]

You're certainly doing your bit to promote the Entente Cordiale Sue. Good on yer!

[Sue]

You're certainly doing your bit to promote the Entente Cordiale Sue. Good on yer!

Fast response Stanley!

[Stanley]

All part of the service but I'm going in the shed now to do fiddling things!