Bodgeit, Dodgeit & Scarper

This week: Autumnal flowers; Working in the Polytunnel: Bodgeit, dodgeit and Scarper;

Well, I have made it through the week to another Saturday afternoon.

At the moment we have 10/10ths cloud cover and the forecast is for localised thunderstorms this afternoon. I was watching one this morning over Zadar and Svete Rock, as it moved south east.

There is now a small storm building over Kaštel, to the west of Split. Though I suspect it will peter out long before it reaches Dol. By tea time, when I’m about to put the blog “to bed” the storm has moved across to Brač. If it continues on its current course and speed, we may catch it around sunset.

We have had enough rain for the time being.

The weather is still warm and I have my study window open with just the slightest movement of air coming in. The only sounds are some crows, a distant cockeral and a Robin giving an alarm call. No doubt one of my felines is nearby.

And speaking of felines, this week I was asked about some foundling kittens….

Earlier in the week I finished the latest issue of the Police History magazine which I edit and it was published on Friday. So now it is time to start thinking about the next one…

My car was due for its annual mechanical inspection, so early in the week I gave it a good autumn clean.

After washing, the car then received a coat of Turtlewax polish and I checked the oil, screenwash and lights.

On Tuesday I went to my local insurance office to pay for the next year, a total of €243 for fully comprehensive cover with roadside assistance.

At 7am on Wednesday I was at the local test centre in Vrbanj ready for when they opened.

The tests include a rolling road for brakes, exhaust emissions, oil and brake fluid consistency, steering geometry and an inspection of the underneath from a pit, then all the lights, horn and screen wash.

The car passed with no advisories. As it should of course, because it was serviced at the main dealers just a few months ago.

So I am legal again for another year.

There are still quite a number of visitors on the island. At this time of year, after schools have gone back, it tends to be the older visitors.

On Friday afternoon when I went to the Post Office in Stari Grad, I saw a VW camper with Principality of Andorra plates. Some people travel a long way just to get to the sea side!

 

Autumnal flowers

Walking through the Citrus orchard this week, the scent from the Lemon’s blossom is almost overpowering. Think of orange blossom, but stronger.

Most citrus are unique because they will have flowers, developing fruit and ripening fruit all on the same tree, at the same time.

Depending on the variety, citrus can flower at any time of the year, and at the moment it is my Lemons.

Also in the garden, my Buddleja have come back to life.

In the summer my three varieties really suffered with the heat and I thought I had perhaps lost one, if not two of the northern European types.

The rain and sun has reinvigorated them and they are in flower again. The flower racemes are not as long as the ones in the spring, but they seem to have survived.

The local Mediterranean equivalent is the Lantana which has colourful but unscented flowers. My Kerria Japonica has also responded to the rain and is covered in golden yellow balls.

I have been out along the local donkey tracks this week, looking for Autumn Crocus.

Usually there are several patches, but as yet, there are none showing.

The only wildflowers to be seen are white Daisies and some yellow Crown Daisies, glowing in the sunshine.I

Working in the Polytunnel

I continue to keep an eye on the development of my Fava/Broad beans, both in the garden and the polytunnel.

The seeds I planted outside have almost caught up with the ones in the polytunnel. However both inside and outside, the weeds continue to grow.

It was not a long job this week to remove the grass and weedlings which have sprouted round where I planted the beans.

The bean shoots are still a little too small for me to hoe between, so I pulled all the greenery out by hand.

Weeding in other areas, I found that there are two Banana Pups which have sprouted from the base of my oldest Banana.

I have a problem with these Banana plants because although I bought them as “Dwarf Cavendish” varieties, they are anything but dwarf.

The have reached over three metres tall and are pushing the polycarbonateroofing out of place.

As soon as the “pups” grow a little larger, I will sever them from the parent plant, pot them up individually and will then plant them outside next spring.

Outside, where weeds are growing just as fast, I also spent time removing some of the perennial weeds from around the shrubbery.

Because it is still 25°C during the day, coupled with warm sunshine and lots of moisture, this all results in explosive growth of weeds which have lain dormant throughout the summer.

I am  desperately trying to get ahead of them all this autumn.

Bodgeit, dodgeit and Scarper

Slowly but surely I am finishing the big Konoba.

Working out a way to fix book shelves, albeit not the ones I had earmarked for the room, has spurred me on to finish the room.

I have an old “Charge room” clock which once graced the wall in the Gordon Street Police station. It’s not the prettiest of items, but as a locally made time piece, in a robust wooden case, it is a piece of history.

The clock was made by B. Cooke & Sons of Hull. Barnard Cooke was an optician and clockmaker who set up in business in 1867.

It has no winding key and has never run in the more than 40 years since I was given it.

I opened the clock and removed the mechanism from the case. The first thing I noticed was that the mechanism and the face were loose.

The clock mechanism was fixed with old brass screws to the case, however the face had three cross head screws fixing it to the back board.

That struck me as strange because cross head screws only became popular in the UK in the 1970’s and 80’s and I would age the clock as from the 1930’s.

There are two types of cross head screws designated in the ISO standards as PH for the Phillips design and PZ for Pozidrive. Phillips is a plain cross, whereas pozzidrive have stars in the corner of each cross arm.

The screwdrivers needed are different. You didn’t know that cross head screwdrivers are colour coded, orange for PH and green for PZ?

Now you know why some cross head screwdriver easily fit a screw you are trying to undo and some don’t and why screwdrivers sometimes “jump” out of the screw head!

PH drivers tend to fit both types of screw, whilst PZ drivers only fit PZ crews.

I have both types, so easily undid the PZ screws. They were not brass and were showing signs of corrosion.

At this point I should say that I have zero training in clock repairs, but have some knowledge about how horological pieces work.

The face was really loose and I could see that only one of three pins was in place to hold it to the mechanism.

The square winder socket had been rounded and looked as though someone has tried a small hex socket to wind it – and failed. The clock has been dismantled before, then put back, unrepaired.

Trying the winder with pliers, it was tight and I guessed correctly, that it was fully, completely wound. I slowly released the main spring.
It has been left in this state for years and ever since I have had it. This alone will not have done the mechanism any good.

The balance wheel, pallet and escape wheel would all move, but nothing else. The rest of the movement was jammed solid.

To get this time piece working, it will involve a complete strip down. I suspect bearings are dry and any lubrication that there was has solidified.

At the moment I don’t have “time”, so after properly securing the face to the movement, I put everything back in the case for another day.

 I do hate the proponents of that well known British establishment of unprofessionals, known as “Bodgeit, Dodgeit & Scarper”…… NCG

 

PS. It’s now raining heavily!