Marty

Happy Monday, all! Another wet day here in the northwest of Ireland, so I won't be doing a lot of work in the garden. The week's not promised all that good, either, although I'm hopeful thing's will at least be a bit better than the weekend was. The good news is that quite a number of pandemic restrictions are being lifted today, including inter-county travel, the partial reopening of non-essential retail (click-and-collect from today, full reopening from next Monday), reopening of museums, art galleries, and other cultural attractions, and libraries will be allowed to lend books again. Most importantly, as far as I am concerned, hairdressers and barbers reopen from today, by appointment only. I'm going to pop into my local barbers later and hopefully book an appointment for a day or two's time. [EDIT: to add] Just made an appointment to be sheared at 3pm. It's just after 1pm now, so I'll have a bite to eat, then have a shower and wash my mop, so the barber doesn't have to do that for me. I also have a Zoom meeting starting at 3:30...

Sounds.... interesting! I hope whoever's marking it is impressed with it.

We all miss Gary. But I'm certain he'll be back. And hopefully with a new serial for us all to enjoy.

I'm off to bed, gang! I'll leave you with this latest offering from The Marsh Family...

Thanks, Albert. But who or what was nice? Little old me? Or maybe you meant Abdullah? I think Annie or Emma have a photo of myself and Abdullah huddled very closely together on that mountain top. Don't get too excited though - I was just acting as a windbreak for him and his lighter as he was trying to light one of his camel cigarettes.

So, I mentioned last night about my trip to Morocco nine years ago this month. Here's a photo of me stood on the summit of Mount Toubkal exactly nine years ago today. Left to right: myself, our guide Abdullah, Annie and Emma. I was a bit worried before the climb started, as I had suffered a bout of altitude sickness the previous evening in the the Toubkal Mountain Refuge, which was approximately 3,200 metres (10,498 ft) above sea level, and we were to climb approximately another thousand metres (3,300 ft) to reach the summit at 4,167 metres (13,671 ft). Oddly enough, I had no problems at all during the ascent itself.

Today was wet and windy, so I sowed no seeds. I did, however, thin out and pot on some flower seedlings. I also noticed that the row of early carrot seeds I sowed about three weeks ago are germinating nicely. Another few weeks and they'll need thinning out. A few of the beet seeds I sowed a row of around the same time are starting to emerge, as are a few of the broad beans, but I still see no sign of any of the parsnip seeds I sowed emerging. Every one of the row of onion sets I planted now have a green shoot above ground, and the row of winter onions I planted last October/November are doing well. They should be starting to swell in the next month, to give me onions over the summer months. I used the second last of last year's onions in a stew I have cooking, along with two of last year's potatoes. I only have five potatoes left from last year, three medium sized ones and two quite large. Anoher week or so and I'll be needing to buy potatoes again.

Greetings, young Albert!

Great minds...

Sweet dreams, Albert!

Nine years ago this week, I travelled to Morocco for an adventure holiday, trekking in the Atlas Mountains, to culminate in the ascent of Toubkal Mountain which. at 4,167 metres (13,671 ft), is the highest peak in the Atlas Mountains and also the whole of North Africa. This was my first ever venture outside of western Europe, and also my first ever high altitude trek. Here's a photograph taken by our native guide, Abdullah, of myself and my fellow Irish adventurers, Emma and Annie. This was taken on the day before our ascent of Toubkal itself, and we are standing at the highest point of the Aguelzim Pass, at approximately 3,600 metres (11811 ft) above sea level. At that time, that was the highest I had ever climbed in my life. This gave us our first view of Mount Toubkal, which we were to ascend the next day. The snow behind us prevented us from continuing on the mule track, so we had to climb another hundred meters or so to the top of the mountain to get past the snow, and regain the track. We then descended to the Toubkal Mountain Refuge, at approximately 3,200 metres (10,498 ft), to spend the night.

It's always good when the results of tests like these suggest that things are probably not as bad as was initially suspected. I know I sometimes jokingly say that I will live forever, but even I realise that I am not really immortal, as are none of us. What I really mean when I say that I intend to live forever, is that I just don't plan to die any time soon. And one of the nice things nowadays is the advances that have been made in medical science during my lifetime. I will continue to get regular check ups with my GP and consult with him should I feel things aren't right. If anything starts to go wrong, I want to know about it as soon as possible. That way, hopefully it won't be too late to be treated. Knowledge is power. I hope all goes well for your dad, bro. Give him my best wishes.

It certainly is awesome!

I actually bought loo roll in the week for the first time in well over twelve months. Only because there were around 30 rolls already in this house when I bought it.

I've got a line of coke to help me get through my Zoom session...

Hey, bro. Might be a bit quiet for a few hours. Hosting a two hour Zoom session starting in 40 minutes.

I hope you've still got a store of toilet paper, then. I've heard they're difficult to get hold of in the shops again.

Greetings, young Albert!

I'm well aware of that.

I thought Bucket was a speedo guy...

Fingers crossed.

Whilst kittens, puppies, babies, and young children can be cute... Cute is just not a word that should be used to describe grown ups.

So have you assimilated him into your herd...?

Happy Friday, all! Weather still unseasonably cool, but I did manage to get my seed potatoes planted yesterday. Off to meet up with my social bubble for the usual Friday takeaway lunch. Cod willing, I'm hoping that in the not to distant future the restaurants will be open again for sit down dining.