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The new addition soon settled in and began to rule the roost...
Quickly stealing the role as workshop manager...
In January I still did those demonstration things...the country not having been locked down yet. Worryingly the 1st case was recorded in an area I'd demonstrated in only a week prior... covid would deny me a considerable portion of earnings from demos...but I didn't miss the prep
I finally installed a shavings burner in the workshop. Not only does it mean my fuel is effectively free, but it also serves as a coffee maker...and I'm warm in the workshop for the first time
#LittleLegs likes to sit by by the burner doing impressions of Eric Morecambe impersonating Jimmy Durante...
In February I finalised my TerminatorCoffee
blend...
blend...
In keeping with the new isolationism sweeping the world I built a border (partition and door) and imposed strict controls for passing through it...
I was still able to go to work as I work alone, but the lack of actual work meant I had to time to attend to other things...like making replacement parts to repair tools...this was a win...
As it meant I didn't have to fork out for a new ratchet drive...
On a walk I discovered a pissed sign...
Walks were briefly stopped when the workshop was hit with an outbreak of corona...
Spending every day alone in the workshop was relieved with music played as loud as possible...and as ever @vocjam and @PaulHeatonSolo played a large part in this...
A brief moment of respite was found at @YOSushi with the unsurpassable curry chicken ramen. Sadly covid closed it and when it re-opened it was off the menu!! And just as it was about to return they were closed again...
Back at the workshop some people still didn't get the message about covid...I needed to take action...
Comfort came in workshop food...
Somebody else was more than settled by now, and had learned to manipulate in order to get just about anything...
covid continued to cause havoc...and even the workshop assistant took a stand...
As spring moved to summer some things brought a smile...
And others, like the cancellation of a weekend demonstrating at the Irish seminar, removed the smile...
New restrictions dictated a new regime for shopping...incredible to think that a few months earlier would have had you arrested for entering the shop like this...
With no real purpose things continued to be made...but the one big selling event I would do in the year was also cancelled...so...
Walking local paths was often a relief. Sometimes it was just fucking weird...
And little things became more and more important...
Summer began and the cats enjoyed the new catio I built them in lockdown... #LittleLegs just loved the sun and wouldn't seek shade...
Things continued to get made...
Always under the watchful gaze of the workshop manager...
I bought a 1950s Tyne fibreglass canoe and restored it...
Lockdown began to get to the dogs just as was with everybody else...
Going for a walk one day bumped into a group of escaped goats waiting to be rescued...
The only #BritishHighStreetBunting shot I managed this year was in Southwold...where I decided it wasn't worth going to again...
Although I did manage to find some gatepost plums...
And manged to socially distanced-order some fish & chips by a most unsavoury method...won't be doing that again...
I thought my boots might be due a polish but couldn't be arsed...
And still things get made...
While the quiet of lockdown and restrictions was good for the wildlife, the dogs took to long cosy naps to cope...
And still things got made...
As the season slipped into autumn insults and worsening weather did nothing to improve things...
And *still* things got made...
But there was always comfort to be found...
Harvest and autumn brought change only to the scenery as the restrictions continued...
And things still get made...at this rate I'll soon become buried in them...
Things were getting worse. Considered polishing my boots again. Nah, fuck it...
A relaxation of restrictions finally allowed a little tool therapy when I found this glorious thing...had intended to fettle and sell...but seriously...no...
Continued to make a largely pointless mess in the workshop...
Things were so grim that people began to see fun in the weirdest of things...
And the things got made...
Unlike the crappy year, some crappy looking things produced some (hopefully) not crappy things...
But things were still weird out there...some of the incentives to get people back in shops were, frankly, staggering...
And yet still things got weirder...
As Christmas approached I decided to relent and allow the tree up early (not on the 24th) and even made a nativity for home...this covid thing was clearly doing something horrible to my brain...
But the year hadn't finished with us yet...floods...and more concerns over banks...
And it got so cold that larvae began hatching and juvenile fridges were seen swimming along the Waveney river...
So it's been a uselessly productive year in many senses...just useless in even more. But as ever there were books along the way...lots and lots of books...
But books, and dogs, were the only real constant...
And I can only post those that remain on the album list...so many aren't here...
And on and on...
And so it will end...with cheese, and wine, and a book...
And you can stick your fucking childish Big Ben Bongs right up your arse @BorisJohnson Your party, your lies, and your absolute wilful fuckwitery have done nothing to make this year anything other than an awful.
And you can stick your fucking childish Big Ben Bongs right up your arse @BorisJohnson Your party, your lies, and your absolute wilful fuckwitery have done nothing to make this year anything other than an awful.
You are the nation's anus* horribilis
*the spelling is absolutely correct...
*the spelling is absolutely correct...
So...despite not believing there's a cat in hell's chance of it being so...I wish you all a very Happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year. Twitter friends have been a blessing throughout this awful year. You've made me laugh, scream, bought work when I needed it, and been A1. xx
