Six months of family.

Hmmm. Six whole months (and more) of family. Fear not, it is not as bad as it may seem...

First off, a rerun of the previous year, posted here because, well, I love the music.

The family is ok too...

For xmas, we had Jon, Luke, Marta and Finley. Apologies for the duplicate use of Deep Purple...

And so we arrive at the start of this year.

Getting away to the Pyrenees has been fundamental to our mental health, clearly something in need of serious care.

As it is difficult for us to get there, each trip is special. Thus I am going to bore you with them all. Our first trip...

and then number two...

And then again with Lisa and Sienna. Hmmm, did I say we hardly ever get there? I guess it only feels like that...

We did, however, manage a day out at the zoo. I do have a fondness for animals...

We managed a trip over to Plague Island...

Finally, two videos about growing up...

Well, nearly finally. Here is a special bonus of when the two of us actually managed to get away for a couple of days BY OURSELVES!

It is also a good excuse to play a bit of Led Zeppelin...

And so the first six months draws to a close, and we ready ourselves for a much anticipated trip to our favourite part of the world: Tanzania. Get yourselves ready for some more videos.

In fact, with a certain amount of luck, you may soon get a taster. Watch this space...

Six Months Outside

 Six months hard labour. Six months in the field. Six months and now, finally, I can sit back and look at the fruits of all that labour. And then I'm going to bugger off...

This garden has become part of me and I part of it. Besides that, it can be a real shit...

And so, to celebrate those eons of toil, those battles against all that nature can throw at me, those litres of infused coffee... here, finally, at last, in one place, are all the stunning videos of our garden this year.

And a few less stunning videos mixed in to keep you amused.

First off: Two videos encapsulating the fight against the freezing hoards of hell...

Winter in Hyde Parc, parts one and two......

Then, in March, a major clean up, mass pruning verging on total genocide. This was seriously the low point in the gardening year, pruning, cutting, slashing, destroying. This is the end of all things. But even now, colour survives and eventually rules. Ooooh, I like happy endings... 

May enters stage right with what can only be described as a fundamentally stunning vista of colour and, well, erm, it's pretty good... Gardening meets God. 

Just as we thought things could not get better, May explodes into colour!!!...

...with flowers that you would not believe. Seriously, you will not believe your own yes. May produces the most amazing variety of colours and shapes. Sit back and just absorb this incredible beauty...

But there's more! Nature has decided to supersede even that. Breathe deeply, enter at your own risk...

Yes, there are flowers, yes there is colour, but beware, there be monsters...

...and that's just the first half of the year. There is more to come. Unless that bloody great asteroid hits...

Six Months in the Sidings

 We have spent many many of hours of hard labour on this strange project this year, so it seems only fair that we should inflict some of this pain upon you all. You know how much you all love it...

First off, a round up of how we got where we are. 

Why? is a question I prefer not to ask...

So, this year, the main area of work has been on the sidings. Originally meant to be just a parking area for our immense panoply of locomotives and wagons, it has grown into something almost outside of our control. 

This video shows the Scrap Yard, aka 'that bit that we didn't know what to do with'...

At the other end of the sidings is the Transfer Table. This is Thierry's 'Opus Magnum', his 'Raison d'Etre'. 

It's not actually finished yet, but here's a preview of this magnificent achievement...

Thus, albeit not yet finished (to the surprise of absolutely no-one) here is the sidings in all it's glory...

Just past the sidings is a French village. A French village with a difference. The difference being that it appears to have been recently invaded by aliens. This is not exactly a common event. I have not seen anything like it in our local village for a very long time. Not since last Thursday anyway...

And so, as time passes like a TGV on steroids, here is, finally, the entirety of our layout in an amazing breath-taking video. Please fasten your seatbelts and take all precautions necessary. Paper bags can be found in the pockets in-front of you.

The next six months? Well, that depends on so many things. The weather (heat waves drive me out of the garden into the climate controlled alternative universe of the Barn Station) , the spare time (yeah, right, maybe not so much), union strikes (so far they have not affected transport in the Barn Station, but you know the French...), Brexit (Well, that screws everyone yes?), Covid (that too) and, most credibly, further invasions by many-limbed aliens...