Sleep Deprivation

On our recent adventure into Essex and Suffolk, we loved this village sign for Tollesbury depicting the horse-powered ploughman (2 horses.... deux cheveaux?) but also, top right, a "stackie" barge. Stackies were Thames sailing barges employed in the agricultural sector, bringing hay for horses up to London (all horse-drawn transport in those days, of course) and bringing back the horses' waste products for spreading on the fields.

Most farms near the sea or near to the many creeks and inlets of Essex and Suffolk would have had wharves or "hards" (hard standing at low tide) from which to load barges and unload the horse muck from London. London bound the hold of the barge would be loaded with something heavy like mangolds, but then an entire haystack would be built on the decks, stacked half way up the main mast. The Mate would then have to sit on top and shout instructions to the skipper down at the back about where to steer, as he couldn't see round the hay stack.

For Dad another weekend of weekend cover at work, and another dose of sleep deprivation, not only covering the emergencies across both days, but also in from 0100 to 0800 to nurse-maid a computer outage while some electrical work goes on. Just have to catch up on sleep afterwards, Dad.

Deefski

Night Shift

Poor old Dad has to work a night shift. EDF Energy, who supply Dad's work with electrons, need to service the substation, so all the power's going to be off from 0200 to 0600 and Dad has to go in to nurse the computer systems safely to sleep, and then gently wake them all up again when the work is done. So we have to see him off at "last out" and then look after Mum in case she gets burgled in her sleep, till Dad gets home at 07:30.

Dad then sleeps through till midday (as do we, all in a heap) and then gets involved in allotment judging round the town, and a bit of harvesting on his own plot, broad beans and artichokes. It's all go, here, I tell you!

Deefski

Here to serve

Winter's suddenly seriously here, with proper frosts and North Winds. This unfortunately coincides with Mum's car's heater deciding to stop working, so her car is frozen inside as well as out today and she's scrabbling around (getting nice and warm) trying to defrost the car, and then trying to get into the 2CV. She did, though, find time to take this rather good pic of a rose in the back garden.

Dad gets in stores of coal and logs. We already have a stock of old newspapers, and a good supply of old house-structure wood for kindling after the Panini brothers had done their stuff.

Dad feels like he's "here to serve" today, racing between various sites for work and then at lunchtime it's works Christmas Dinner in the canteen, and the Managers traditionally serve the colleagues at these do's. So Dad and his fellow Managers get a taste of "waitering" dressed in obligatory silly hats, setting out festive settings and scurrying between tables and food-prep areas with trays of food, plates, glasses of (soft) drinks while three sittings of guys and gals get processed through between about half 11 and 2pm. He takes his hat off to anyone who has done this for a living.

Tonight, more "servitude", representing the views of the allotments tennants as the local Town Council starts to negotiate taking back control of allotment running from the wider Borough Council. We await with interest what that will bring.

Deefski