Changes are afoot

 

I am once again on the move.

For various reasons, I have decided to move again.

Problem 1: I need to downsize.

I have never worked in the UK, and therefore I am not eligible for a pension in this country. So I have to rely on my savings to see me through. So far, so good, but the sale of the house will free up some funds. I'll be moving to a smaller space so there will be extra funds left over.

In addition, the house I'm currently in is really too big. It's a family sized home, and I'm just here on my own.

Problem 2: My UK sized garage is really not big enough to use as a workshop.

Having just said the house is too big, why not just use the house as a workshop? Well, that's not really practical. It's alright for when cutting up cardboard or assembling kits and so-on, but not so much for chopping up large lengths of timber on a mitre saw or cutting steel with an angle grinder. That's not really stuff you want to be doing in the lounge.

What I really need is a separate space for these projects.

So I decided the best way to do this is to make use of a makerspace or hackspace instead.

Problem 3: I would like to be closer to the Peak District. I walk around that area with a group and I want to be closer than where I am now.

The area I want to move to is Chesterfield. I'm looking at flats in that area. Flats are considerably cheaper than a family home, therefore that would free up some funds. In addition, Chesterfield is close enough to Sheffield Hackspace so I can make use of that. 

I actually thought at one stage of moving to Sheffield itself. I could be within walking distance of Pimoroni, which would be a bonus. Except they don't have a shop front. At least deliveries will be quick.

Anyway, that's the plan.

Pointing out errant apostrophes - not a waste of time

This happened today. Me and some friends were on a pub crawl. On the third pub we visited were in the beer garden. There were a lot of young school teachers in there. Apparently it's breakup day today. Anyway, at one of the other tables there was  a sign that read "Reserved - teacher's only".

I thought that was amusing. Anyway, a group of teachers came and sat at the table, but the apostrophe went unnoticed. I thought it would be fun to point it out, so I said to one of them "As teachers, do you get a prize for pointing out the errant apostrophe?", at which point they noticed it.

They seemed quite impressed with this, and said that since I was the one who pointed it out, I win the prize. Then they gave me a piece of their cake.  🍰 👍 

Very nice it was, too. Chocolate with little smartie type things on top.

Going forward, I shall be pointing out more apostrophes.  😄 

Streamlining the workshop

 I decided my workshop needed a bit of streamlining.

You see, my workshop is very small. It's built in a garage. I'm in the UK, where the cars a quite small (well, they used to be...), and therefore the garages are also quite small. Today, most people use their garages for other things. Storage, a gym or in my case, a workshop.

So, trying to build a workshop in a UK garage can be a bit of a challenge. In a small workshop, it's a good idea to put things on castors. In that way, you can wheel the tool you want to use into the middle of the shop, and when you've finished with it, simply wheel it back out of the way.

I did try this out. Here's a previous attempt:

There are two things at work here: the fact that the trolley is on wheels, and also there are two tools on this trolley. That's a mitre saw up top, and hanging underneath is a thicknesser/planer. That whole section can rotate around so that the planer sits on top and the mitre saw hangs underneath:

Two tools in one. Unfortunately this setup didn't work for me. It took up way too much space, and I couldn't even use it for storage. Whilst there's a huge cavernous space underneath, you couldn't use it for storage as it had to be kept clear so that the two tools could rotate around. Also, the wheels (that's those orange feet things you see at the bottom) stuck out too far, and I kept catching my ankles on them.

But the worst thing about this thing was the floor. Being a garage, the concrete floor isn't that smooth; it's only designed to hold a car. So wheeling this thing around was a real pain. Being heavy, it was hard to move it about, and it would jitter and shudder as I tried to pull it across the floor, and at times I thought I was going to give myself a hernia.

So I got rid of it. I didn't really need a thicknesser, and the mitre saw now takes pride of place on its own workbench.

Sometime later, I bought this:

As you can probably see, it's on the floor. It has a stand with it, and my idea was to lift it up and put it on the stand when I want to use it. It's not that heavy, but not all that lightweight either. Unfortunately, since it lived under a table it was not that easy to get out, and I usually found myself trying cut things on my bandsaw instead.

So, I thought, maybe I should make a trolley for it, then I can just wheel it out when I want to use it. But that brings me back to the first problem. The floor's too rough and uneven. This brings the whole problem into clarity: I need a better floor.

So here it is:

Ignore the text on it. I guess I'm going to have to paint it.   🙄

Anyway, the upshot of that is, I can now put my table saw on a trolley, and wheel it around the workshop with ease. 

And here's the table saw, complete with trolley:

I'd call that a win.

Day trip to Whitby - Whitby Fish and Ships Festival

The Whitby Fish and Ships Festival took place on May 17-18, 2025, featuring live cookery demonstrations, local seafood, and family-friendly activities. It's a vibrant celebration of Whitby's rich fishing heritage, showcasing local seafood and maritime culture. 

I went there on a coach trip on May 17th.

The first thing I encountered there were the street performers. They were gathered around the area near the war memorial. I'm not sure what the actual theme was but it seemed to involve some sort of monsters and dragons. There's a Goth vibe happening in Whitby, inspired no doubt by the appearance in the town by none other than Count Dracula, according to Bram Stoker's novel.

Sitting on a bed of rusty nails is not something that immediately springs to mind when thinking of Whitby.

Of course, the other main attraction in Whitby is the abbey. Whitby Abbey was a 7th-century Christian monastery that later became a Benedictine abbey. It was destroyed by Henry VIII during the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century. All that remains are the ruins, but there is also an active church, St. Mary's, nearby.

Something that struck me was the number of graves around the church. There's hundreds of them.

I mean, there's generally graves in a churchyard, but I've never seen so many in one place.

Anyway, that was my day out at Whitby. I enjoyed some fish and chips, and of course a pint.

Sunday's walk: 10.5 mile GHB Ward walk from Longshaw

This walk is named after Bert Ward who was the founder of the Sheffield Clarion Ramblers in 1901 (which existed for 115 years) and became an activist for walkers' rights in the dark peak. He was given 'Ward's Piece' on Lose Hill by the Ramblers Association, and was involved with the purchase of Longshaw by the Trust - look him up online. The walk goes through his home village of Holmesfield.

The route is via White Edge Moor, Big Moor, Smeekley Wood, Holmesfield, Fanshaw Gate Lane and Moss Road. Mostly on tracks and moorland.

https://www.wikiloc.com/walking-trails/10-5-mile-ghb-ward-walk-from-longshaw-205111565

Next project - arch for a doorway

Under construction:

Endcaps:

In the doorway it'll look something like this:

 

Doors completed.