How to fix a leaky kitchen sink trap.

Our kitchen sink is in desperate need of replacement, but as I don't want to replace it just yet, when it became apparent that the trap at the bottom of the sink had rusted through, another solution was needed. I borrowed some Kitchen and Bathroom Silicon from my Father-in-law, and found an empty orange juice bottle. I then cut a suitable portion of plastic from the bottle to form a patch and provide some rigidity. I dried the leaky trap and then smothered the area and patch with silicone. I wiggled the patch into place and there it has stayed. No leaks, no expense – my kind of repair.

Alien plant-life discovered

I was picnicking in Bushy Park awhile back when I came across what could only be described as some very strange Stalagmites. The woody protrusions were like nothing I have seen before.

Perhaps they are the roots of a tree or the remains of a heavily pruned bush... or perhaps our world is being slowly and covertly overtaken by a strange alien root monster that is pushing it's legs throughout our world...

Check your gardens, be on your guard. These things could eat the triffids for dinner and have you for afters. Ahh.

* UPDATE* – Apparently these are the roots of an unusual Conifer plant – the Bald Cypress or Swamp Cypress (Taxodium distichum) – which has roots projecting above ground and are for the plant to breath.

Shopping online with Tesco

So there I was, in my lunch break at work, doing my monthly Big Shop at Tesco's website. And I came across this 'deal' below...

Quick everyone, rush to buy two soups for the price of three! Bargain.

Mr Grasshead

Ladies and Gentlemen, let me introduce... Mr Grasshead. [Crowd applauds]

He was given to me by my company [Wow, gasp the crowd].

No, I'm afraid I wasn't singled out for this extraordinary privilege – everyone got one. [Ohhh] I'm not entirely sure why they gave all the staff these grass heads – I think it had something to do with Earth Day... [Er?] Indeed.

Mr Grasshead was born about 3 weeks ago and I gave him his first haircut yesterday. And as he was looking particularly dashing this afternoon, I thought now would be a good time to introduce you to him. Say, 'Hi', he doesn't bite.

I'm sure he'll continue to grow into a fine lad – I'll keep you updated. [Hurrah, cry the crowd].

Chessington World of Adventures

To celebrate our youngest daughter's birthday we decided to take them to Chessington World of adventures. There were two cunning things about this.

1. As we are local, we got free tickets
2. We went in term time

The first is an obvious boon; the second the icing on the cake.

I took a day off, Claire wasn't working and the kids weren't at school. I'm not a fan of parks with rides etc, but I have to admit it was a brilliant day out. There was hardly anybody there. We had no queues for any of the rides; walking past the 'Only 30 minutes to wait from here' signs and jumping straight on. Usually you have to wait so long for a ride and then it's all over in minutes, but we could stay on the rides if we wanted, take as many goes and generally have a great time. And as our youngest daughter was just over the critical 0.9m high she was able to go on most of the rides, and they were tame enough so that even I enjoyed them. Brilliant fun, definitely the way to visit the only thing Chessington is famous for.

The new Daleks.

The new Daleks; I don't like them. Not because they are scary, menacing or are going to give me nightmares (they may, but not because they are scary), but because they look like cheap, shiny, plastic toys. The old style Dalek looked rugged, military and dirty – like they knew what it was to be in a war. Their appearance was functional, basic and  slightly unsettling (see far right of pic). But these new ones? Their multi-coloured, badly proportioned new looks make them unbelievable; I mean who designed them? They have moved from the iconic to the laughable. I know this is a nerdy post, but somethings have to be said. It's a very sad day for the Daleks.

It's alive!

I had the rather boring job of taking some wilting daffodils down to our compost bin the other day. But when I opened the lid I was quite taken aback. An audible busy buzz of activity hit my eardrums, as countless little creatures went about their business of eating and living. You could almost see the compost crawling and wriggling with life, and upon closer inspection I could in fact see some of the multitude of very excited critters in full feasting mode.

I felt privileged to have seen and heard this little snapshot into the mechanics of our living ecosystem. I'm not a particular fan of bugs, wood-lice, slugs and worms, but they're out there, billions of them right now, all working away recycling the our waste into something useable and of worth. Our world and the one who made it never ceases to amaze me – He's brilliant.