Big Adventures. With a Dragon

I suspect it must be a weakness for the obscure which drove me to name my little company notejuste. A pun in a kind of schoolboy French and also completely available as a domain name. How convenient.

So it’s come as no surprise that my latest venture has wandered into similar territory. From this week, I’m working with two partners to launch and maintain a kind of co-branding exercise to support our efforts (solo and joint) by providing a unified publishing house.

Advertisement

MOT Success

As the Blues sing, Keep Right On (to the end of the road). And in my car, the next thing is indicate, turn and carry on into the wide world. Against all expectation it passed its MOT with flying colours yesterday, and I couldn’t be more relieved.

I have an outstanding issue with the alternator to fix up, but I can always save up to get that done next month. The car is certified and back on the road!

Many thanks to Stan Reynolds Garage Ltd who nursed my car through the test and sorted out the brake balance valve problem which failed it last week. I was really impressed with their work and will be returning there in future. It’s a family firm on Mill St, just over the railway from The Butts and about ten minutes stroll from the town centre. Perfect.

 

Lights, Cambelt, Retest

Snatching satisfaction from the jaws of expense, I have tonight worked my way through the five items on the failure list from this morning’s MOT and fixed four of them myself. I have used WD40, a flat bladed screwdriver, more WD40, a 20p coin (retaining pegs on the fascia), a soldering iron, and lashings of WD40.

The offside fog lamp now works. The intermittent headlamp fault is no longer intermittent or faulty. The nearside brake light has a brand new soldered lead which looks horrible on the inside but at least lights the lamp effectively. And the windscreen washers finally live up to their name with enthusiasm.

A week of achievements

In the last ten days, I’ve had a run of extremely positive moments. Since this blog exists partly to document my ego, I thought I’d pull them together and see what they all looked like in order. It started on Saturday July 4th…

tl:dr I did lots of brilliant stuff. Aren’t I epic?

A great political lie, and I fell for it.

I’m not successful. Certainly not by the standards of modern politicians. I’m working for a living wage (and a bit more, if I’m honest) and providing for my family. My wife works and brings money in too, and we have a reasonably comfortable existence.

I’ve never used a food bank. I’ve never used a payday lender. I’m unbelievably relieved that it hasn’t gone that way. On the face of it, what David Cameron tells me matches my existence. I’m working hard, and I’m managing to get by. I’m a worker, not a shirker.

Blue skies over Greenbelt

We’re back from Greenbelt. The very same Greenbelt that was an utter washout last year was very dry this time. Here is the sky yesterday over Mainstage:

Numbers, numbers.

It’s my 200th post. I’m celebrating by geeking out with an idea I’ve had for a piece of music.

Gone in fifteen seconds

Earlier this week, I posted some lessons learned in the operation of a second hand pressure washer to clear my drain.

Today Severn Trent came out and completed what I could not manage by myself.

Shameless Promotion

I love the Blues. I love the feel, the sound and the raw emotion.

I also love playing the Blues, and last year I played with the Grey Goose Blues Band. It was immense fun and I was very sorry to have to knock my participation on the head.

However, I still try to keep up with their latest movements. They played at the Chuckery Festival in Walsall Arboretum, and they’ve played a couple of gigs at the White Lion that I’ve been able to get to.

Today, I discovered they’re on Bandcamp, advertising their 2012 album “Beat the Devil out of me” which you can buy and download. Go and have a listen on the site. There’s some magic in that music.

(You won’t find me listed in the credits. Recording finished on this before I joined. Can’t wait to hear their next offering.)

Blues in a Bandstand

I went to the Churckery Festival gig yesterday at the Walsall Arboretum Bandstand. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and was happy to be in a place where my boys could come along and listen too. We even saw half of the Grey Goose Blues Band set. Being able to name the members and say I’d played with them was very cool.