Mawddach Dreams http://www.bill-hyde.com/blah-zone/ About Gilbert Hyde and family en-us Nucleus CMS v3.22 © Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.bill-hyde.com/blah-zone//nucleus/nucleus2.gif Mawddach Dreams http://www.bill-hyde.com/blah-zone/ Yellow Rose of..................Harborne http://www.bill-hyde.com/blah-zone/index.php?itemid=47
The yellow/white climbing rose my Dad planted nearly 40 years ago (obtained fron Cyril Marsh the then gardener/caretaker of the Blue Coat Scool in Somerset Road) has this year produced its best ever "crop" of flowers.

Here are some photos takend over the last 4 weeks showing the flowers and next doors cat - who it seems just has to get in on the act when I take my camera into my garden!
Beautiful yellow/white roseRoses with resident (sic) cat
Roses with resident (sic) cat.
She (the cat) thinks she is the star...not the roses!
She (the cat) thinks she is the star...not the roses!.
"Cat-less" view from the house
Cat-less" view from the house.
Blooming everywhere garden
Blooming everywhere garden.
And to think my Dad once said "you will never make a gardener..you can't tell a rose from a weed"
And to think my Dad once said "you will never make a gardener..you can't tell a rose from a weed".
I like to think he is up there someplace now saying "son...you really did do good!"
I like to think he is up there someplace now saying "son...you really did do good!"]]> Gardening http://www.bill-hyde.com/blah-zone/index.php?itemid=47 Sun, 22 Jun 2008 08:50:53 +0100 Strange Day.... http://www.bill-hyde.com/blah-zone/index.php?itemid=46
This is strange because as a kid I remember going to Harborne Carnival, that was held in what at that time was called Harborne's Park - Queens Park in Court Oak Road.

And then again in 1991, Harborne Village Social Club resurrected Harborne Carnival and had a proccession that was formed up outside the Blue Coat School in Somerset Road and progressed round into High Street by the Green Man then all along the High Street into Court Oak Road and finally into Queens Park.

But what really makes today strange is that just where my best pal's front garden once stood, on the site now occupied by the Nationwide building society/bank there is a large fairground machine.

In years gone by I have got up early and walked along the High St taking photos of the fairground equipment before the Carnival starts. Click here to see photos I took in 2004 and 2006 of the fair.

But today it doesn't feel right doing that......as my pal's Mom died on Friday and even though right to the end she lived up to her name, Joy, I don't feel enough joy in me to make that trip.

So I will stay home, tend my garden, look after my own Mom, listen to the noises from the Carnival (as usual) and think of the many, many happy days spent in childhood around Bishopstone and in the company of Joy Hipkiss R.I.P.
]]> Thoughts and Confusion http://www.bill-hyde.com/blah-zone/index.php?itemid=46 Sun, 22 Jun 2008 08:46:22 +0100 The you will never believe this series: Part Duece http://www.bill-hyde.com/blah-zone/index.php?itemid=45
The lamp post at the top of our road, the one that had been there for at least 40 years was no more!

Some ijjit, probably intoxicated on half of shandy and a whiff of the barmaids apron had not just knocked it down. Nope they had destroyed it.

There was smashed cast iron and glass everywhere but worse than that....there were sparking live wires sticking up. How do I know they were live? It was raining - produced lovely sparks.

Luckily a Traffic Enforcement Officer (thats what it said on his back) was reporting it to the council on his radio. A little bit later the council smashed lamp gang turned up and gathered all the bits up and scurried off in their truck. They were soon followed by the electricity peoples, who managed to dig a hole big enough to hold a battleship, in which they repaired the cables, put barriers round the hole.....and left!

So now we have no light and an unlit hole. Maybe we will be lucky and the drunk who caused all this will fall in!!

One final thought - its painfully obvious the street CCTV camera doesn't work, the one installed with money raised by public subscription. The lamp in question is directly opposite the CCTV pole/camera so they should have seen the incident and taken action.

Oh well, it is a shame the drunk didn't impact his vehicle with the CCTV structure - I would at least be able to see where I am going at night!!! ]]> Thoughts and Confusion http://www.bill-hyde.com/blah-zone/index.php?itemid=45 Fri, 6 Jun 2008 10:57:42 +0100 Bloomin' Marvellous http://www.bill-hyde.com/blah-zone/index.php?itemid=44 Beautiful "free" rose - variety 'Schoolgirl' - 06 June 2008


Well look at it now!!!! Amazing what a bit of TLC and liberally sprinklings with "Gro-More" can do!
Free rose plant 06 June 2008
The variety is 'Schoolgirl' and it is a bush rose, possibly called a patio rose by some. Very sharp thorns, dark green leaves.

]]> Gardening http://www.bill-hyde.com/blah-zone/index.php?itemid=44 Fri, 6 Jun 2008 09:00:16 +0100 I do not believe it! http://www.bill-hyde.com/blah-zone/index.php?itemid=42
Seems no matter how obvious signs are, some people are too stupid to obey them.......one wonders how they ever passed their driving tests.
Never occurred to question why all the other cars are pointing the other way.....jeez!]]> Thoughts and Confusion http://www.bill-hyde.com/blah-zone/index.php?itemid=42 Tue, 13 May 2008 09:59:34 +0100 Bluebells under threat? Luckily I have some.... http://www.bill-hyde.com/blah-zone/index.php?itemid=41 Bristih National History Museum, in London, that the native British Bluebell is under threat from its tendancy to breed with the Spanish Bluebell and produce a flourishing hybrid.

I have some Bluebells in my garden.According to the Natural History Museums website, my Bluebells are of the native species (YIPPEE!!) and should be protected.
Native Bluebells in my garden

Well, I do have to be honest - they are protected by being in the garden and they get watered when the rose gets watered and they get "Gro-More'd" when the rose gets it but other than that, I don't do much to them.
Wider view of my Bluebelsl

Each year, if I am lucky, they appear in early May and brighten that small area of the garden - then they are gone. Hopefully mine won't get assaulted by the Spanish invaders and will stay native.

More about British Native Bluebells]]> Gardening http://www.bill-hyde.com/blah-zone/index.php?itemid=41 Mon, 12 May 2008 16:27:29 +0100 Letters From Wales - 1970 http://www.bill-hyde.com/blah-zone/index.php?itemid=40
In 1970, I was 17 and into my first year at work and Mom and Dad were back to taking split holidays (away from each other) because of the shop.

Luckily some of the letters they wrote to each other have survived and a reproduced here along with some explanations shown in brackets and italics. The grammar and spelling are copied directly from the letters.

15th June 1970


(From Dad to Mom. From Harborne to Sea View Guest House, Friog, Faribourne, Merioneth, North Wales).
Monday
Just a few lines to let you know I got back O.K. (By the mid 1960's Dad had taken to driving Mom and me to Wales on the Sunday afternoon and returning back to Harborne ready to open the shop on the Monday morning. It was only subsequently that I realised this was a direct result of the Beeching Report and subsequent destruction of the British Railway system by the Labour Governments Lord Beeching – not much changes!)

A good trip back, left you at 6.40 and was back home at 9.40, I called at the house first to have a wash before I went to the club. (Although by this time we still had the shop, we actually lived in North Road Harborne. The club was The Harborne Club and Institute located in Serpentine Road.)

Bill was off to work at his usual time and when I got home last night he was washing his plate etc, a good start.

Lovely morning again here and I hope it is the same with you, forecast sounds alright for the next few days.

It looks as if it will be a bit quiet in the house for you (the stay at the guest house) but that doesn't matter too much as long as the weather stays good and you are able to get out and enjoy it.

Things are as usual here, so there is no more news, so I will close and once again, have a nice holiday.

END

18th June 1970


(From Dad to Mom. From Harborne to Sea View Guest House, Friog, Faribourne, Merioneth, North Wales).
Thursday
Glad to get your letter this morning and to hear you are O.K.

A pity the weather has changed for you, although it is not too bad if it keeps fine during the day.

Tuesday was cold here when I down from the shop. Bill had the fire on and it was wanted.

Yesterday was a bit warmer, we did see the sun once or twice but it started to rain at 7.30 and p.d down. I had to wear a coat when I went to the Club, and it was emptying down at 7 this morning although it is fine now, the sun is out and quite warm. (Dad always walked to his Club until he was well into his late 70's, then it was bus up and a lift from a friend or a cab from a private hire firm down).

When Mrs Marsh came in on Monday she wanted to know where Fairbourne was, as Cyril said it couldn't be in Wales. I told here she should see the Signposts, she would know it was Wales then. (Cyril Marsh was both a friend of my Dad's and a regular customer of the shop , he was the school caretaker at the Blue Coat School in Somerset Road Harborne and he and Mrs Marsh lived in the lodge by the main gateway. Cyril was an excellent gardener and kept honey bees).

I asked her if she would like to come for the trip next Sunday, and she said she would if the folks from Cheltenham don't come over.

Apparently she doesn't hear about that until Fridays but I suppose Jack could find another cup of tea if she does come, as it will be too late to let you know. (Jack Moody an ex-pat Brummie owned Sea View Guest House and provided Dad with a Sunday high tea when he arrived in Wales to either deliver or collect Mom or Mom and me. Although we had, by this time, the phone fitted at home neither Dad nor Mom ever considered using it at that time).

Bill is getting off to work O.K. And cooking the grub, it is all ready when I get down from the shop and he is doing it well.

I had the milk pinched on Monday. Mrs Edwards said it was on the step, but she didn't know you were away or she would have took it in, but she is doing that for me now. (Harold Edwards and his family lived next door in North Road. Harold nag my Dad had known each other for nearly all their lives).

Interested to hear about the house without roof, they must be opportunists if they hope to “flog” that.

The week is going quick and it will soon be Sunday again, I hope to arrive about 5pm, it depends how quick I can get away and if I do bring Mrs Marsh ask Jack if can lay another tea on.

END



]]> Letters from.... http://www.bill-hyde.com/blah-zone/index.php?itemid=40 Sat, 3 May 2008 15:46:50 +0100 The Shop, The Home and The Holidays http://www.bill-hyde.com/blah-zone/index.php?itemid=39

The Shop


The business traded as E.W Hyde and Son and was originally established by my paternal grandfather Ephraim Hyde after the First World War. The shop property was leased from the Vickers family who owned and ran a bakery business from a site located between Grays Road and Nursery Road and bordered by High Street.

The Home


When I was born, in 1953 my Mom and Dad were living above the shop (it was a three-storey building). They had moved in to the shop after their marriage and granddad Hyde had bought and moved to house in Quinton Road, Harborne.

Because we did literally live over the shop and because the nature of the business meant that the shop was open from very early in the morning to around 7pm except on Sundays when we closed at 1pm, holidays etc. were extremely limited and difficult to have as a family.

The Holidays


Dad owned a car and every Sunday afternoon, from Easter till the middle or end of September, meant a trip out to the countryside, with a picnic tea. No matter what the weather was like in Harborne at 1pm we still made the journey out, often repeating the mantra “it will be better when we get there”!

These trips out were to such places as Breedon Down, the Malvern Hills, Usk, the Clee Hills, Ombersley by the River Severn, Gloucester, Portishead and Clevedon, the Forest of Dean or Wyre Forest if time was short. Before Easter and after September, trips out included more local places such as the Lickey or Clent Hills, Canon Hill Park for the Tulip Festival and Sutton Park.

My own summer holidays were somewhat strange too – mostly I holidayed with my Mom until I was around 12 – Dad stayed back in Harborne and ran the shop. Mom and me would go and stay with distant relatives or people who became friends of Mom when she was in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force during World War Two.

I remember trips to Kew Gardens and central London because we were staying with a long-term friend in Hounslow. I also have vague memories of a short break in Brighton, probably because we also went there from Hounslow.

During my junior school years, we had coach or railway-based short-stays (3-5 days) in Somerset, Devon and Dorset. The secondary problem with holidays was that Mom never managed to learn to drive and therefore all trips were limited to where we could go by public transport or shank's pony (walking).

Wales


When he was small Dad had been taken to a place called Fairbourne, near Barmouth in Wales and he stayed in a three-storey B&B close to the mainline and miniature railway stations. I remember him telling me stories of that first, magical, holiday. Of his wonderment of seeing and hearing trains travelling over the big bridge to Barmouth. Of the steam trains climbing the embankment and travelling around the cliffs and of the wide, safe beach.

In 1960, it was agreed that both Mom and me should have a 14-day “proper” holiday and it was to Fairbourne that Dad looked for suitable accommodation because he knew that once we were put on the Great Western Railway Cambrian Express (steam-hauled) train at Snow Hill Station Birmingham, we would not need to get off until we arrived in Fairbourne. So started a long association with the Cambrian Coast and North Wales.

More to Come....


I will expand on life at the shop and all these holiday and day-trips in other articles, having now “set the scene”.

]]> Gilbert's Life http://www.bill-hyde.com/blah-zone/index.php?itemid=39 Sat, 3 May 2008 11:42:04 +0100 More 'Molly' Adventures http://www.bill-hyde.com/blah-zone/index.php?itemid=38
So armed with my camera I stepped out into my yard, to find Molly the next door neighbours cat in residence on my rose trestle.

Molly the next door neighbours cat in residence
So, of course, I took her picture.
And, for no other reason than that she was sat there, I took another study of her.
Molly taking notice of the cam - does she know she is a Internet star?
And this time Molly took some notice of me and the camera - at least her ears were pricked up!

So pushing my luck, I moved and called her name, wanting her to look over her shoulder at me but I had really pushed my luck too far - the shot was made but she flinched at just the wrong time because the flash was fired, so I ended up with a study of a leaf with a partially hidden cat.
Partially hidden cat and flourishing climbing rose plant

It was at this point, disturbed by the flash that Molly made a dash for it and is seen here making her escape along the top of my...ooops sorry "her" fence!
Molly escaping along the fence

And, of course, in all this excitement I forgot to take all the photos I had orginally set out to take - so here is one of the three pots I bought last November - all are still flourishing, as if by magic.
Planted flower pot with still flourishing Spring bedding plants behind ]]> Gardening http://www.bill-hyde.com/blah-zone/index.php?itemid=38 Thu, 1 May 2008 00:03:14 +0100 Service? Yessir!!! http://www.bill-hyde.com/blah-zone/index.php?itemid=37
Everything was great until 3 weeks ago when the the monitor started to grey/black out. Accepting that it was 2 years or so old and that I had lost the original receipt, I returned to Computaccount and bought a new, replacement Monitor. While there I spoke about the old one and was amazed to find that it was still under warranty and could, probably, be fixed! All I had to do was ring the suppliers who would organise the repair and of course provide proof of purchase.

Amazingly the kind people at Computaccount found their copy of the original receipt and photocopied it for me - now that is good service, but it gets better!

I rang the number given to me, for the company AMW (it was their Monitor that was faulty). They gave me a Repair Number and told me to either fax or email the proof of purchase. I scanned and emailed it and had a call back from them the same day (Monday of last week).

I was asked to pack my monitor up securely and it would be collected the following Wednesday - exactly a week ago. The collection took place as predicted (at no cost what so ever to me).

Monday this week I had a call from AMW telling the Monitor was fixed and could they deliver it back to me, so we agreed they could do so today, Wednesday.

At 10 past 9 this morning the Monitor was duely returned to me (amazingly by the very same delivery guy who had picked it up!).

So to sum up - Computaccount were absolutely fantastic and will get my service again (try them for pc repairs and equipment 0121 428 1111); AMW arranged and completed the repair and arranged the pick-up and return to me....at absolutely no additional cost to me.

Now that's what I do call service!

Oh and the Monitor now works perfectly.]]> Internet Stuff http://www.bill-hyde.com/blah-zone/index.php?itemid=37 Wed, 30 Apr 2008 23:13:47 +0100