The Hodge Blog

Inevitably HMRC have taken until the 11th hour to appeal against the CVA at Poorsmouth. They have contested it on two counts. The first that the amount they were owed was doctored to make them irrelevant in the voting (less than 25%) and the other is that they would be unfairly prejudiced if the \XCVA was accepted. I have to say that while I am now a little fed up of this saga and just want us all to get on with football, I do have a problem with their supporters venting their anger at HMRC. It’s our money as a nation, we have been cheated out of it. They have used it to win trophies, buy expensive players, stay in the premier league, etc. That’s just not fair and they should be brought to book. Not only that, it’s a substantial sum of money not just a few pennies. They can make the argument that HMRC will be worse off through not accepting 20p in the pound, but there is no guarantee with there ‘true’ debt that they would get it anyhow and where do you draw the line? This will stop them adding players to their squad until the appeal is heard, probably around October.

After the ‘fudge’ from Apple last week saying that the iPhone 4 dropped call issue was caused by an incorrectly calculated signal algorithm, they are now going to have a press conference this evening (UK) to announce more about the issue. It appears that the way the phone is held, (e.g to the ear!) that interferes with the aerial and drops the call. They are expected to maybe provide rubber bumpers to all to try and get some insulation around the phone to cure it. Estimates say that if they had to do a recall it would cost over £1bn as they would have to recall all phones as they have always had this aerial design. Ah well, it Apple, it’s pretty, I suppose it doesn’t really matter if an iPhone can actually be used as a phone, does it?

Managed to get a few jobs done last night, although I was frustrated in my attempt to get the mat in it’s well. I need a piece of wood 1170mm x 865mm x 25mm and couldn’t find anything that would suit. That was frustrating as it took about an hour to get nowhere. Did manage to get the rest of the brambles from around the tree in the walled garden done and that should help to get the area cleared and mowed as I am hoping to get that done over the weekend.

Bumpy night last night with wind and rain which was more reminiscent of Autumn than mid summer. It has left the plot strewn with leaves, twigs and even a couple of pretty large branches. Need to get a ton of that burned at the weekend if we can find a gap in the weather.

Looking forward to the weekend although work will be a bit curtailed as Murray and Sally (and kids) are down for a visit.

As the BBA, it is my duty to announce the head of the family, Margaret’s Birthday today. Happy Birthday Mrs Blakeley.

On this day in history and last year…

Weather = It’s really not nice!

Mood meter = It’s the weekend…well almost!

Oh dear, this could be short today as we appear to have had a pretty stormy night and the power seems to have bumped off at some point, causing all the clocks in the house to reset. Can you see where this is going? Yes, slightly late after an over-sleep. I cannot remember the last time. Fortunately I am an early riser naturally, so rather than 6:15am it was 6:40am, so just 25 minutes, but that makes all the difference as there are jobs to do still, not least this. Anyhow, chickens are done, coffee made, breakfast here and I need to still catch the 7:34am to Portsmouth Harbour.

The road at the end of the lane has been pretty nicely re-surfaced, as they promised, although it took a day longer. I was tempted to ask if they had 600 square metres spare to do my part of the drive, but it never quite seemed the right time

Managed to get some more of the wood trim down last night but the route was not simple, we had to lay a sub base to the mat well trim and then glue the mat well trim to that. Without it the trim would have been dangerously floating with a possibility of the trim snapping if someone trod on it. So, tonight we hope to get the carpet underlay down and the doormat in. The door bar between the hall and dining room was cut but for some reason, after scraping out the excess adhesive from the expansion gap between, the ‘no more nails’ glue seemed not to want to adhere well to either the floor or the wood of the door bar. That will have to be a job for tonight along with the last bit in the living room in front of the grate.

Anyhow, gotta dash………

On this day in history and last year…

Weather = Not a great start to the day

Mood meter = Hate being late although the week has progressed toward the weekend quite nicely!

Got absolutely nothing done last night here as I was out last night and not back until nearly midnight.

Forgot to mention after the end of the World Cup, that the fantasy football at work went really well. the model worked great and was developed a little more as we used it and found a few bits to add. For one game I was knocked off the top, but pleased to advise that I ended at the top at the most important time…the end! Here is the table with most real names removed to protect the innocent (Strange ‘handles’ don’t you think?)

It appears that HMRC are going to appeal the CVA voted for in the Poorsmouth Football Club saga. I’m not sure where that will leave them and it certainly muddies the water as, until the challenge is heard in court, they will only be able to exit administration without the CVA, e.g. by purchase by a third party, which will give them a further points deduction. It does represent real problems though as at the start of a new season, it will delay the ability to lower the debt by writing off the 80p/£ under the CVA. This will continue to rack up interest for all parties invoking that, such as HMRC and continue to cost for the fees of the administrators. The transfer embargo will likely continue, meaning they can only sell players. The appeal will likely take around three months and it’s whether they can afford to trade during that time. If HMRC win the appeal, they will likely invoke a new winding up petition. I see grey days ahead.

Not much else going on, to be truthful, but here’s hoping I have a little more time to get stuff done this evening?

On this day in history and last year…

Weather = Not sure where this comes from. It’s dull and below 16 I’m sure!

Mood meter = We’re half way through

It’s a bit of a dank Tuesday here this morning as the weather changes a little from the glorious sunshine we seem to have had for ever. Monday is under the belt and we can now get the productive part of the week underway as the week’s launch meetings are behind us.

Seems World Cup Final referee, Howard Webb, is coming under criticism from both camps from the game. The Dutch saying he was over-officious and the Spanish side saying he should have been stricter with their opponents. I have to say, he couldn’t win and the players should have been taken off at half time and given a dressing down by their coaches. It was a dirty final with niggly fouls all game. I would say that he did pretty well, given what he faced and very few decisions would not have drawn a yellow card from any referee and maybe he could have given more but really didn’t want to leave the game with nine-a-side or anything silly. Just hope he doesn’t end up with the stigma of it going forward.

Nearly swerved the house last night, but at around eight o’clock I decided to have a trim of the walled garden’s fir tree which had very low branches left to grow. Not only have I trimmed them but got rid of most of the straggly shrubs and brambles around and below it. I’m guessing it was around ten o’clock by the time I was packed up and ready for the bath? Still tons of undergrowth to tame and I guess we will just need to chip away at it over the next few weeks and months. Need to steal myself also to get the last of the trim around the finished floor and start the tiling in the kitchen and breakfast room. Lastly we need to get the barge boards and ends of the fascias repaired and painted, the last of the gutter fitted and the veranda sorted. That will see the house done pretty well.

On this day in history and last year…

Weather = It’s still warm, but just a tad wetter

Mood meter = Not sure I’m right into the week

That was a swift weekend, or so it seemed. Didn’t seem to get much done either as we struggled to remove a huge laurel tree from the top of the walled garden in the quest to open up some of the long overgrown areas. We did however find a new bit of wall which seems in pretty good repair.

During	After

Nothing to do with it went simply as the blunt chain on the saw refused to sharpen and the new one I bought from work was shed and damaged the drive hooks making it unusable. The bow saw bought on Saturday managed to star in the show, although it did make the job a lot more physical and in the heat that was taxing.

Managed to get the TV down in the shed working too. Not really sure what I did. Armed with Steve’s signal meter, I climbed the shed to the roof and connected it up. It showed just one of the five lights as green and after sliding it up the pole it still only showed one. I though I would have a look another day but ran the tuner on the TV all the same and got a good picture on BBC. Thought I would run the set-top box tuner all the same to see if I could get a digital signal and got all 92 channels. Not sure if I’ll ever use it as it was really an idea to be able to watch the World Cup, but that coincidentally finished last night with a win for Spain in extra time.

Had a tiring weekend with Friday and Saturday being nights out on the town. Not sure I can physically still manage that, so opted to drink Coke all night on Saturday. Sunday certainly benefitted.

On this day in history and last year…

Weather = Not sure that’s right? It’s maybe right temperature but raining! Looks like summer is ended for a week maybe?

Mood meter = How is it Monday?

Not quite sure what happened to the morning this morning, but I’ve managed to get to this during my lunch break. You know, the usual, salad, fish, fruit…how lovely!

Anyhow, the weekend is nearly here and I sense it will be a pretty hectic one for me. We are going to attack the trees and bushes around the plot which of itself would be fine, but I am out late both Friday and Saturday and if that late, maybe not home at all, although I am thinking that won’t be both nights as I am now well into middle age!

Yesterday was Saints’ first anniversary of survival with our takeover happening on 8th. It’s been a fun time since and I am itching for this season to start as, if it is anywhere near as good as the period from Christmas to the end of last season, we will be up there for promotion. God bless you Markus!

On the footballing front, really pleased that English referee, Howard Webb has been given the World Cup Final. It is the first time that has happened since 1974 and Jack Taylor, so he must be buzzing and so should the rest of the footballing country. Of course, had we have progressed as a team, he would not have been able to, so for him “every cloud has a silver lining”.

Police still haven’t caught the North-East gunman Raoul Moat. It really is staggering that one person can give police such a run-around for so long. He appears to keep leaving titbits for them like mobile phones, tents and the like, but they still seem no nearer catching him and have certainly made a few blunders along the way.

Out at Thursday lunch club last night. We went to the Coriander Lounge in Southampton, an Indian Restaurant.  I have to say, the food and service were excellent and whilst at the upper-mid point of the cost scale, it was very good value for what we had and I think that was agreed by all?

On this day in history and last year…

Weather = It’s going to be hot, hot, hot…

Mood meter = It’s the weekend!

It’s a very similar start to the day as yesterday with virtually zero sun although we are promised to get it back as the day goes on and the temperatures are going to rise quite a bit.

Didn’t seem to get too much done last night at home, spending most of my time in the shed putting the hedge trimmer back together so we can get going again with wall ivy and other such stuff.

After doing a little more research, we have settled on looking at hiring a power scythe to clear swathes of the brambles and such from various areas of the plot.

Sat here from around 6:30am this morning, do the usual stuff, feeding chickens, doing a few emails, typing this and eating breakfast when, literally about 20ft outside the kitchen window on the raise path at the back of the house, Mr Fox decided to parade in full view and actually strutting. It seems ages since we’ve seen one as the baby rabbits I guess have been bountiful. As they grow I suspect they are a little too mobile for him to catch and that has probably made him a little braver? Of course I am now in fear for my chickens although he was quite a way from them. I managed to get out of the conservatory door and making a din sent him racing through the trees under the fence and out into the field. If I can convince him there is regular habitation here that may help keep the livestock alive! He can have as many rabbits as he wants, but chickens, that’s another story.

It’s a new experience for both World Cup finalists as Spain beat Germany and go on to play Holland on Sunday. Not sure that’s a perfect final but at least it’s all European.

On this day in history and last year… Today one year ago, Saints got taken over.

Weather = It’s overcast but dry

Mood meter = Where’s the weekend?

It’s a little darker than the last few mornings for sure. I’m not sure that a results of the days getting shorter, just the fact that the yellow round thing we have had for the last few weeks appears to be absent on this one. As I type this it makes the screen look almost glaringly bright and my early morning eyes feel a little like they have just emerged from a matinee performance at the cinema.

For so reason the week already seems like it’s dragging. My head telling me it should be at least Thursday but no, it’s only managed to creep to midweek and 7am at that! Just been down to sort the chickens and noticed that while the tree in their enclosure was pretty laden with cherries ripening on the weekend, it is now almost bare with discarded stones all around the base. I am suspecting a mix of squirrel, crow and magpie. Hope they enjoyed them! I enjoyed a few I picked from lower branches at the weekend. not sure it would even be possible to stop them doing that? Still, fingers crossed, I still seem to have cabbages and brussel sprout plants although the patch is now in desperate need of weeding.

After over a year, we, or should I say mainly Jo, have regained the entire area of the chicken enclosure from brambles. (Click to enlarge and you will also see the cleared tress and shed behind). You will remember we did the bulk of the work over a year ago, but left a small patch in the corner. Over the months that had started to encroach further and further in, so it is now gone and we reckon we could easily now, if we had housing, get 20 chickens in there and maybe a duck or two? This is driving us on to clear far more of the boundary of the house and over the next few weeks we may hire some kind of powered bramble eating machine as there are some areas of the plot that would grow by around 40ft if we got rid of all the undergrowth. We’re not trying to de-forest the place but there would be so much more light and space with some of the undergrowth removed, the bushes cut down to size, the self-seeded sycamore trees removed and the lower branches of trees cut off. Hopefully this could get done over the next few weeks? Patch by patch.

The Dutch moved on to the World Cup final and will see who they play later today when the second semi-final is played.

On This Day in history and last year…

Weather = Where did the sun go?

Mood meter = The week is going veeerrrryyyy slow.

Well, got Monday over and done with and the week is underway. Today sees the first of the World Cup semi-finals with the second tomorrow. It will seem pretty strange for the tournament to be over and with Wimbledon also finished, it looks like there will be a sport famine of a few weeks after Sunday. That should actually please Jo but me…can’t wait for the start of the new season for Saints. Still little moves on the transfer front for them but that is nothing unusual with the transfer window for attached players only opened in the last few days.

Forgot to to make a big announcement on Lindsay’s University degree. I’m not sure why although it may be that we are not going to her graduation until 20th July, but she got an overall 2:1 degree and a 1st for her dissertation so that’s a tremendous result for her and great reward for the work put in. Listening to the news this morning, it appears employers who are short of jobs for graduates are upping their minimum requirements to a 2:1, so that’s something she fits into too.

Managed to get some work done in the house last night and it was pretty pleasing, although I did run out of time. I have fitted the architrave to two doors and the small bits of skirting around the reveals. I am stalled on a few bits while I decide what to do as the floor slopes away a bit and leaves a gap. I’m thinking I will level the top of the skirting and fit a bit of scotia at the bottom as I will have to do that around the staircase anyhow.

Also managed to fix the garage lights which had a wire broken and they were certainly working last night.

I’ve discovered it is quite a trek to the bottom shed when you realise you need a tool or some fitting or another for the house. It is probably a five minute round-trip at least. What offsets that however is the fact you can find most things fairly quickly. That is apart from the gripfil so, I have not been able to stick down the door and mat well transitions which are cut but will need to wait for that.

On this day in history and last year…

Weather =

Mood meter = Need to get some traction under sales at work.

Been an action packed weekend and my back knows it. Started off Friday night by attending Simon’s 50th Birthday Party in Romsey. There were at least a ton of people I know, so it was a good night, although I had to catch a train from there so was limited to the last one out at 11pm. that, I suppose, was Ok though as this coming weekend is looking like being a couple of late ones with Sue’s Birthday which is always late and then Stuart looking like he is hitting the town on Saturday night. The latter will probably firm up when we have the monthly ‘lunch’ club on Thursday evening.

Decided we would look to trim as many low branches from trees as we could around the plot. There are so many to do it’s not even funny but, we have managed to get all the ones down around the bottom shed and behind the bottom walls done. It took forever, not just to cut the limbs down, which is not too bad, but chopping them up and burning them took all day on Sunday.

I amongst tree chopping, I managed to unsuccessfully fit both a dawn-to-dusk light to the garage pier and an aerial to the bottom shed. I think I must have a wiring issue on the lights and the aerial, well I sense the signal down there may just be too weak with the trees and all, so we will try and borrow a signal meter to see and then if that says it is too weak we will abandon that idea entirely I guess, or just go with the fact that the snowy picture I have is as good as it gets?

Finally planted some herbs in the back border and some sprout and Savoy cabbage plants I bought down the road now I appear to have excluded Mr Rabbit. Hope I have anyhow, as I love Brussels. Also have started to harvest a few things in reasonable quantities, radish, leaves, mange tout, peas and the first few new potatoes, although they could probably do with another week, also cannot stop pausing by the chicken enclosure to consume cherries from the tree!

It’s a public Holiday in the US today after their Independence Day celebrations yesterday, so it should be pretty quiet at work this afternoon. Hoping to get quite a bit done today as I have a meeting outside the office tomorrow morning which will mean a half day out of a tight week. Still, let’s get it started…

On this day in history and last year…

Weather =

Mood meter = after the weekend, quite glad to be going back!