Visit to Marsworth Canal and Reservoir

Today was the first time in 5 months I could get away for a couple of hours from my caring duties to visit the canal at Marsworth. The weather was perfect for the picture postcard photos with thunderstorms brewing interspersed with spells of sunshine. I had my small Canon Power Shot A700 camera in my pocket which I find invaluable for taking snaps.

 http://www.cameras.co.uk/camera-reviews/canon-powershot-a700.cfm 

 Walking back from the car park along the canal towpath towards the Bluebell Tea Rooms I saw a narrowboat in lock 39 with a gentleman sitting on the other side of the canal drawing which I thought would make a nice photo. Here it is...

The narrowboat is owned by the Hillingdon Narrowboats Association ( HNA )

Which is an excellent organisation providing boating experiences for the community details of which can be found here..

.http://www.hna.org.uk/

After all the rain we have been having I thought I would have a look at the reservoir to see if it had filled up after the drought..

Safe to say it is now replenished and plenty more to come looking at that sky.

By now time was getting on and those storm clouds were getting nearer by the second but I had to get at least one more picture of a narrowboat so here is NB Widgeon about to get dumped on by a downpour.

 By the time the storm arrived I was back in the car and on the way home through rivers of water running down the roads.

Hopefully that is the first of my hours out from caring a week, next week I think it will be the dog walking depending on the weather of course.

A Dog,Kitten and a Fox sleeping together.

I thought I would share this picture with you I found on the internet.

My Stained Glass Window

Many years ago I had an interest in stained glass and went to night school to learn how to make windows and general stained glass pieces. Pictures can never do justice to the vibrant colour which glass gives as you can never get the right position for the light to shine in the right direction for it to show it's vibrant colour to the best advantage. Anyway this is the very first attempt I had at making a window.

I mounted it in one of our front window frames and was in place for many years before the double glazing was fitted, this brought to an end my idea of supplying windows as the public found it was too expensive to have a triple glass construction with a stained glass inner.

I found it in the back of the shed and thought I would share it with you.

The white cross is the only thing you see at night when a car headlamp shines on it and looks spectacular.

Looking back at the design I would have done a few things differently but for a first attempt I was pleased with it.

It may come in handy to have this skill when I eventually get a narrowboat. 

Video of a Fox Cub Stealing the Birds Food

I thought I would post this video taken on my camera of a fox cub outside on my window ledge stealing the blackbirds food.
 A pity the tennis was on TV as a back ground sound track.

http://twitpic.com/a1zp27

Preventing Condensation on a Solid Brick Wall

After a number of years black mould has started to form in the corner of the bedroom ceiling,while not being too bad at the moment I thought it best to decorate and at the same time try and insulate the outer facing solid wall.

Showing mould in the corner of the room.

Showing the same corner with picture added for scale.

After reading a few articles on insulation I decided to use this 2mm thick Polystyrene Veneer under the wall paper.

View showing the end of the roll clearly showing the 2mm thickness.

When purchasing this make sure the ends are not damaged or you will have a gap when matching the lengths. 

After removing the old wallpaper and sizing the wall (this helps in hanging the wallpaper as it allows you to slide the paper into position easier) I mixed up the wallpaper adhesive and applied it to the wall not the polystyrene then cut and fixed the polystyrene into position.

Showing the 2mm polystyrene on the wall.

This shows the amount of thickness taken up on the skirting board which is not much.

After allowing it all to dry for at least 72 hours I applied the wallpaper onto the veneer.

Then it all went wrong.

The veneer started to come away from the wall in certain areas as the wallpaper dried.

This shows one position on a corner where the veneer is not stuck to the wall.

There was only one thing for it and that was to take the whole lot off and what a mess it made.

In the end I mixed Thermilate to the paint when painting the ceiling and the paintable wallpaper. http://www.thermilate.com/

I know this works as I applied it to a bay window ceiling and it stopped the condensation from forming.

My conclusions are that you have to mix up a very strong adhesive to stick the polystyrene to the wall.

Do not allow any gaps between the polystyrene and the skirting board otherwise the wallpaper will curl away as it has nothing to stick to.

If you take my hints above I am sure the polystyrene veneer would work as it did feel warm to the touch before I took it all off again.

Just as an update on using the polystyrene as a backing. I have used this on the wall below our bay windows and it has stuck perfectly. I mixed up a very thick paste and applied it to the wall then offered up the polystyrene to this.The lesson learned is to make up a good thick paste so that it is a very strong adhesive.

The Queens Diamond Jubilee Inspection of Chelsea Pensioners

My Favourite Picture

If only they had  time for a chat, what tales would unfold.

See here for details on the Chelsea Pensioners...
http://www.chelsea-pensioners.co.uk/

Accident in a Hospital Ward

After many years of being a carer for my old mum she had to be re-admitted to hospital as she had become weak due to her condition. I thought it was safe to leave her in the capable hands of the nursing staff at the hospital which I won't name at present but apparently I was wrong.

This is the notice above her bed in hospital.

Note the first aim..

TO INCREASE PATIENT SAFETY

Well I think they failed on that one don't you as this is the result of their failure.

Mum fell out of the hospital bed at 3:15am

Note! she was already blind in the left eye due to diabetes.

 Bruising to her left elbow

Bruising to the centre of her left hand

Report written at the time of the accident by the nurse.

I don't think there is any excuse for allowing this to happen especially knowing that a person is frail and liable to be a danger to themselves. 

Could it be to the lack of staff at night in this economic climate; I don't know but I'm thankful she was not badly hurt.