Dead of Night.

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I was reading that there is an old tradition,

that tonight is the night for burning your nuts!

It’s true!

The tradition of burning nuts on Hallow E’en goes back to those far off Celtic days when nuts and bones were thrown into the fires to produce loud bangs, thus frightening off evil spirits.

I don’t think I’ll bother, there are enough loud bangs around here already from fireworks without me adding to it. Besides it would frighten the cats.

Talking of cats - I wonder where they are?

Heavens, who’s this outside - and who’s that with him?

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Whilst I dig out my flash -

here’s an old postcard I had lined up for today.

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Ah, so it was Hazel out there in the dark with her ‘toyboy’!

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I don’t know his name or where he comes from. He just comes round twice a day on the scrounge. In through the flap as ‘bold as brass’ and polishes off the leftovers - the cats that is, not mine! Hazel doesn’t seem to mind but Wesley will see him off.

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Nice clock....but you can always tell an artist

who knows nothing about clocks!

The pendulum should be pivoted from a point

near the number XII.

I’m not really into all this Hallow E’en stuff.

Too commercialised if you ask me.

However, the traditional fare sounds interesting.

“Serve warming mugs of apple, turnip or pumpkin soup, devil’s food cake decorated with a spider’s web of icing, pumpkin pie, gingerbread men, baked apples, currant buns (soul cakes), devils-on-horseback (prunes wrapped in bacon)

and wash it all down with a large mug of ‘Lamb’s Wool’."

You can find out about Lamb’s Wool from this post last year.

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"Little Old Ladies"

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I have quite a number of old songs about..

"Little Old Ladies",

but not 'sight nor sound' of old gentlemen

of any dimensions!

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I guess it's because you ladies (the stronger sex?)

outlive us men (the weaker sex?) by many years.

So how many of us are going to freeze to death this winter?

From the news....

BRITISH OLD AGED PENSIONER Weekly Pension Allowance £100.

Spouse (wife) Allowance £52.

Additional weekly hardship allowance - NIL...

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS / REFUGEES LIVING IN BRITAIN

Weekly Pension Allowance £250. Spouse Allowance £225.

Additional Hardship Allowance £100?

"I hope you have read the foregoing and that you will forward it to all your contacts so that we can lobby for a decent old aged pension. After all, the average pensioner has paid taxes and contributed to the growth of this country for the last 40 to 60 years. Sad isn't it?

According to information given out by our parliament we are "broke" and can't help our own Senior citizens, Troops or Homeless. In the last month we have provided aid to Haiti , Chile , Turkey , Greece , Pakistan .

Our pensioners are living on a 'fixed income' and the vast majority receive no extra aid or get any breaks while our Government and religious organizations pour hundreds of millions of pounds and tons of food to foreign countries ."

I find it strange that there is so much cross-party support for increasing overseas aid. Apparently we are committed because we promised to spend 0.7% of GDP in line with the Millennium Goals we signed up to.

So, our government keeps promises made to foreigners but rats on its own people. Amazing!

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Last week the BBC actually mentioned the fact that India receives hundreds of millions in British handouts whilst still have the luxury of engaging in its own space programme.

Over the years the Indians are probably £billions better off and thousands of our pensioners will have frozen to death because they can't afford to keep warm in winter.

It wouldn't surprise me if a few in government and at the BBC might be not be too unhappy with this result.

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And lastly, have you noticed how Boy George

has lowered the Winter Fuel allowance to pensioners by £50?

(£250 to £200)

Is there anyone in the country

who has experienced a drop in their bills for gas and electric?

No. Thought not!

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News from the Workshop Part 3

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I have been asked by family members,

how the clock repairs are coming on.

I had a bit of a rest last week,

but I am now back 'on track'.

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Fitting the new side doors was quite a challenge.

The doors 'lay on' the surface in order to cover any gaps.

This meant raising the hinge pivot point

up to the surface of the door.

I cut off a small section with a razor saw,

and glued it to the case sides.

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Fitted new hinges.

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And there you are!

The colour match isn't brilliant, but...

It may do, (or not).

The whole case could be rubbed down and re-polished.

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Little door catches for the side doors...

and

A nice little catch for the bottom door.

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This is an 'olde catch' from another case.

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And so "I rest my case" m'Lad"

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"Missing Persons"

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Somebody missed me.

Or should I say missed my blog.

Thanks.

You see I've been sooooooo tired lately.

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Since I got landed with this mighty bruise,

I haven't been able to lie on that side at night.

Every time I rolled over onto my left side....

......I woke up!

I haven't had a good nights sleep for over a week now.

But I've been busy.

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Picked a load of grapes, tidied up the garden,

cleared out dead tomatoes from the greenhouse

and finished off the clock case.

Meanwhile....

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Wesley has been howling for some steak mince

and

Hazel has been lounging in the

low Autumn sun.

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I still have loads to do in the garden,

but do you know.....

.....the roses are are on a second flowering.

I had to leave this beauty.....

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"The Last Rose of Summer."

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"Winkles and Watercress"

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“Sunday’s a day for an up-river splash.”

This is the fist line of an old song sung by Hetty King called -

“Down Beside the Riverside.”

I just love the words to these old songs. I have searched for the lyrics on the web, but with no success. I have a recording, but not the time, to write them all out.

She sings of ‘naughty goings on’ and of taking a picnic with -

“Winkles and watercress, custard and cake.“

There was a time, years ago, when I would go to Uxbridge on a Saturday for a bit of shopping and a rake around the old bookshops and the market.

In this old market was a fishmonger called Joe Forbes, and in addition to wet fish, he sold whelks, jellied eels and winkles. A pint of winkles was always bought for Sunday teatime the following day. Excellent with watercress and brown crusty bread.

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For those not ‘in the know’, winkles are a small snail like shellfish, which feeds on seaweed on British coasts. On removal from rock or weed place in clean water for about 12 hours to allow grit, sand and salt to be removed, then place them in boiling water for about 10 minutes. The meat can then be removed from the shell using a pin; the whole creature inside is edible except for a small plate like structure at the front of the shell opening.

Of course, the ones from Joe had already been soaked and boiled, although in some places you can still buy them fresh.

But back to my song.

As you know, I have been having a go at getting some sound on my blog. Not only organ music, but also a few sounds from my old record collection. I have bought a vinyl to CD converter and have made a start at transferring songs to my PC.

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Rather than just play a tune, I have been making up slide-shows using a few of the hundreds of photos I have taken over the years.

Because blogger limits the playing time to about a minute, I have had to have a go at uploading to YouTube.

Yes, last night I finally got my first attempt, up and running.

A teeny, weeny bit fast I thought, but

it has to keep in time with music - and fill 2min 56sec.

See what you think…..and listen to the words as you go.

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If you enjoyed it?.......I may get a few 'Thumbs up'?

You can view a better quality picture here

on YouTube.

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Bluebells and Blue-bums!

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As I'm a bit 'layed up' so to speak,

I though this a good time to read up on adding a bit of music to the blog.

I've had a little dabble today with uploading videos with sound.

So, firstly I apologise to all those blogging at work.

Sorry - but these will let everyone know that you are not

Word Processing,

Spread-sheeting,

or Databasing!

First of all blogger only gives you 10Meg to play with,

so I planned a slide-show of some still photos,

arranged to fit a three minute organ tune.

You can see and hear my first attempt here.

Picking the bluebells in the merry month of May,

When suddenly I saw him coming down my way,

He was a handsome laddie and he looked so good,

I promised that I'd meet him in the Bluebell wood.

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Sore Hands, Knees and Boomps-A-Daisy

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Are any of you wondering,

why this blogger has not posted for several days?

No, I thought not.

I have had lots of odd jobs to clear up,

to say nothing of the garden.

However, I did manage to get to Thame Market on Tuesday.

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Bought all the usual bits and pieces.

Stayed dry but a bit nippy.

Bought some 'sarnies' in Waitrose,

and went off to

Ilmer for a picnic.

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Now you see that lump of wood by the car.

They had several such lumps placed along the grass edge

to prevent cars parking on the grass.

Well on Tuesday I failed to see one such lump...

and yes, you've guessed.

I went arse over tit....not on the nice soft turf.

Oh no!

It was the bl**dy hard tarmac for me!

Luckily, nothing was broken but I have the most

enormous bruise well below the waist-line.

I thought I had better not show you.

Well, not here at least.

For those curious, and of a strong disposition,

I posted a picture at the end of an old post

on "Boomps-A-Daisy".

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Two overnight 'Movie Stars!'

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Recently both Foody and Angus were asking after my Old Pussy.

so

As I've been meaning to try my hand at getting

videos up onto my blog,

I thought this might be an opportunity to

"Kill Two Birds with One Stone" as we say.

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I do hope this works!

It's taken about 20 minutes to load and

Heaven knows where blogger has put it?

The file was only 39 Meg - so much for this super broadband at speeds up to 8Mb/s.

I do hope it has not gobbled up all my free storage at Picasa?

If this works,

I may have a go at filming myself topless

trying a bit of Pole Dancing!

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And for those who like our feline friends,

there is an excellent post here today

by Kate in Australia.

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A still from the sequence to show how it was before 'Blogger'

lowered the resolution.

Still, I don't have to pay to post up videos,

so I mustn't complain too much.

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"Up a bit, up a bit more, ahhhhhh!"

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“Where’s your Monkey?”

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This blog is called the ‘Organ Grinder’s Monkey‘,

and do you know what -

this organ grinder doesn’t have a monkey,

or even a chimp.

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Some time back I did a post on how organ grinders and monkeys got together - here.

I suppose I shall have to get one some day as most people do enquire as to “Where’s your Monkey?”

The trouble is a lot of these stuffed toys look a bit silly and I haven’t really seen one that I fancied sitting on top of the organ, until…..

until…..this last weekend.

Playing his organ

on my right hand side was another ‘Bernard’.

Bernard Pilgrim.

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He said “You need a monkey” and plonked this Furry Chimp on the top of my organ.

Now once this chimp started moving and making noises, I noticed that people were stopping and not only listening to the music, but were fascinated by the monkey and so we all got into conversation. (ignoring the monkey’s contribution)

It was a ”must have one of those” situations for me.

So yesterday, I went off to Argos and bought one!

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I don’t have a video camera,

so you will have to pop over to YouTube and take a peek.

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Kids will just love this......

......and I saw many 'grown up' kids enjoying it too.

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"Brass Monkey-Organ Weather"

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What a strange weekend it was, weather-wise!

They forecast a warm day on Saturday,

followed by cooler Sunday with a cold east wind.

What we ended up with, at Milton Keynes, was a cold east wind on Saturday,

and not a single glimpse of the sun!

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Under the Oak Tree.

The cold weather certainly kept the public away, but with some 'forty odd' organs there, it was actually a very sociable 'get-together'. A lot of 'grinders' turned up with their caravans and made it a two-day do. Those with vans managed to sit out of the wind and probably cook themselves a hot meal. No such comfort for Dennis and I as we sat on the tail-gate of the Renault and shivered. At one stage, I had to lend Dennis a pair of gloves I kept in the car!

Twenty-two degrees C, they forecast -

it felt more like twelve!

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Dennis took his video camera this year,

and is seen here recording Derek Stevenson,

the BOGA president with his Raffin organ.

My pitch was just to the left in this picture,

so my organ and I were in good company.

Now what have we here?

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The famous "B&Q" Organ.

Now don't laugh please, but this organ is made from items bought in B&Q (DIY/hardware store).

The front, back and sides are made from 'kitchen cupboard' doors, and a lot of the tubing comes from the plumbing dept.

But it does sound good. The pipes on the front are very well made.

It was built by Malcolm Cureton, who being a real good sport, doesn't mind it being referred to as "The B&Q Organ".

At one 'do' some time back, when Malcolm was not around, some jokers opened the door on the back and put pots and saucepans inside!

Malcolm took the joke well. As I said - "a real good sport".

Now in the Museum itself, we have quite the opposite in quality.

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Probably, a Polyphon?.

(Forgive me - I didn't make a 'note' of it.)

Last year I took lots of pictures inside the Museum (see here),

so I'll not repeat them again.

The old farmhouse here has been kept

as it was all those years ago,

with the old kitchen range -

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There was a fire kept in and a lady, in period costume,

was cooking toast on the old 'toasting fork in front of the fire.

This was then buttered, cut into 'fingers' and handed round.

Of course, the children were fascinated as

they had never seen the way we did things years ago.

And this is the laundry.

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But, back outside, more were arriving and setting up.

This below was a very impressive display.

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And this next fellow had built a small vehicle to tow his organ.

Whether or not it was licenced for the road, I know not.

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It is always difficult for me to choose from the loads of photos I take, which are the most suitable and interesting to put up on the blog, as I expect not everyone is interested in organs and their music.

Like this chap.

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Not everyone there appreciated the organ music!

If you missed last years piccies, they are here.

And here.

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Not exactly Regatta Weather.

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It was not the nicest of days to go to Henley-on-Thames,

but once I had made my plans I stuck with them.

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This is Henley Bridge which features in the painting I did on my Organ front.

The painting however showed blue skies and Edwardian boating parties.

Yesterday was grey and dreary.

Stayed dry though.

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One minute it looked like rain and the next it brightened up a bit.

A lot of boats were moored up, rows and rows in fact.

I didn't know they could stay there all Winter.

I bet it cost them a 'pretty penny' to have a mooring here.

This one below is one of the few remaining Thames 'Steamers'.

Of course, they now, are no longer 'steam' having been converted to diesel.

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Having been here many, many times

it is becoming more difficult to find new things to photograph.

I spotted this unusual weather-vane that I hadn't noticed before.

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Which fitted in nicely with the next picture,

except that there was only one swan.

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Again looking for something unusual,

I noticed this duck with a little 'bobble hat'.

I had never seen a crested duck before - a crested grebe, yes.

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I did wonder if it was just a few loose feathers from a fight, but no,

as a chap standing next to me told me there were several more

like this,down nearer the Bridge.

Perhaps this is a pair?

And the male gets to wear the 'crown'.

And last.....but by no means least.

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A lovely Slipper Launch offered for sale.

Just what I wanted.

Price?

Fifteen Thousands Pounds.

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News from the Workshop Part 2

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I bet this bit won't get 44 comments!

Well, never mind, but I did promise Adrian

I would post up a weekly 'progress report'

on the clock.

This is what I have been up to instead of blogging!

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As you can see,

the wooden dial surround was split right across at the hinge side.

Probably someone using over-size screws.

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In order to close this gap up,

I first had to remove some very old 'iron' nails.

Of course, having been in the wood for some 150 years,

they had rusted and had broken off.

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By careful levering with steel strips,

one half of the 'peg rail' came free.

The crack was then glued and clamped up.

To prevent it coming apart when the hinge screws were tightened,

I inserted a hardwood 'dovetail key' (cherry actually).

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There! How about that?

Rub a bit of polish or wax in there and you won't see it.

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This front frame is not glued or screwed to the clock box,

but is is held in place by four wooden pegs; two each side.

As it only came with three, and two of those were broken,

I set about turning up four new ones.

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In the lathe.

I don't have a proper wood-working lathe,

so I have to use the Myford. (really for metal-working)

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The old and the new.

This shows the positions on one side of the clock.

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If you pull these out when the clock is on the wall......

the front drops off !!!!

That's probably why some of these are known as

"Drop Dial" clocks !!!

(only joking)

This one I'm working on is an "English Dial" clock.

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