There’s Nothing Like a Good Screw
Or to be fair a hexagonal headed brass bolt.
A Quality Brass Bolt and a Crap Steel One
I’m replacing all the bolts in the staircase with proper brass ones. Note the the steel ones were put in oversized and then just shortened with a hacksaw. But I’ve bought the brass ones the right size!
I think it’s getting to look how the architect intended it to.
But why wasn’t it done properly in the first place?
Suffolk Rules, KO or My First Pint in Ten Years
I said that the Draft House had something better and this is it.
St. Peter's G-Free Beer
And guess what, it’s brewed by St. Peter’s in Suffolk. Will the county of my conception ever leave me alone? But to drink a real pint, even if it was from a bottle, in ten years is something special.
I was even able to have some superb mackerel pate with home-made oatcakes.
Mackerel Pate and Oatcakes
The pub even has free wi-fi and an extensive menu, so if you are looking for somewhere to escape the hustle of London Bridge, whilst waiting for a partner or friend, the Draft House might fit the bill. Some would argue the walk from London Bridge is too far, but then you have to pay for a drink, with a small amount of exercise.
In Search of Daura
According to the Internet there is a Spanish gluten-free beer called Estrella Damm Daura, but finding it has proved somewhat difficult, as the site is a bit dodgy and the contact form doesn’t work. So as the Internet also said that it was available at a pub called The Draft House by Tower Bridge, I decided that today I’d go and search.
So I took the reliable 141 bus to London Bridge and walked along the river.
HMS Belfast and Tower Bridge
Finally I found the pub on the approach to Tower Bridge.
The Draft House, Tower Bridge Road
They do stock the Daura, but I found something more to my taste.
Fixing the Stairs
I’ve found that the solution to my staircase is to replace the nuts with dombed brass ones like these.
Brass Dombed Nuts and Washers
They look much better and as they cost a couple of pounds each, you get a much better cosmetic effect for not too much effort. If you need anything like this I can recommend Clerkenwell Screws in the Clerkenwell Road.
I also bought this screwdriver there.
King Dick Super 2000 One for Six Screwdriver
It fits all six types of Phillips and Pozidrive screw, so now you only need one screwdriver for cross head screws. At just £8.99, this King Dick Super 2000 One for Six is very much a bargain.
The World’s Most Stupid Hotel Owners
The ruling against hotel owners in Cornwall reported here on the BBC, probably says that some people shouldn’t open certain businesses for their own financial health. I’ve listened to what they have said and they would like to ban any unmarried couples from sharing a room in their hotel. So it’s not just gays, but from what they have said, they wouldn’t allow me, as a widow to share a bed with one of either sex.
Surely, in times of austerity, you want all of the business you can get.
Now here’s an idea! There are a lot of widows out there living as couples. Why not book a night in the hotel? When they say you can’t sleep together, you can supplement your earnings with a little bit of legal chicanery. There are also plenty of lawyers out there who would do it on a no-win no-fee basis.
A House In France
Yet another of my friends have said they are going to buy a house in France. I could be rude about the idea, but I won’t be. On the other hand, I have been there and done it and it never works out how you think it would.
When we bought Les Ondes, we saw it as an investment, a place to stay on holiday and also a place to move to, if we ended up with an extreme left-wing socialist government.
So what happened? In those days getting to the South of France by the airlines was expensive and difficult, but I did have my Cessna 340 and I could fly easily to Cannes and get a hire car to the house.
- The low-cost airlines came along and opened up lots of other places to visit for weekends and longer.
- Small repairs and the builders proved difficult, and things that take a few hours here, took a few weeks there.
- We got burgled a couple of times and had three hire-cars stolen.
- Our children always had other things to do and didn’t want to come.
- We got more involved in horse racing in the UK and this took up more of our time.
- Something you wanted was always in the other house, so you had to have two of everything.
- We missed the theatre and the cinema and started spending virtually every Saturday in London.
So circumstances change and the ideals of the first few holidays quickly disappear.
We sold the house, when we moved to Newmarket to open the stud and then there was another set of problems; the French taxation system, which meant we didn’t get some of the money for ten years.
I’m glad that we sold the house in France, as now after my stroke and C’s death, it would be yet another millstone around my neck and a worry on my mind.
To me now, properties are for two things; living in and for renting out. I have a few of the latter and they give me some income, that if I wanted to, I could use to travel the world. But at the moment, I’m enjoying doing up my new house and travelling all over the UK by train. I’m actually now starting to plan an adventure and it might be somewhere like the Amalfi Coast by train, where I’ll stay somewhere warm for a week or so. There is also Berlin, where I want to see the new museum. But I’ll wait for warmer weather for that.
So although it’s a nice idea on paper, a house in France, is a money pit, that restricts you in your enjoyment in life, by tying you to one place.
Incidentally, I know lots of people with second houses. The ones who use it most have a beach hut on the North Norfolk coast.
So take the money you would spend, invest it wisely and use the returns to rent some other fool’s house when you want a long stay in the sun.
The Anonymous Widower 