The Even Bigger Firkle 2021 With Added Boat...hopefully!

[Timbo]

Firkling 2021 has got under way with a team engineering effort!

Cars, I've been driving for thirty eight years and know knack all about engines. I'be been driving boats even longer and still know knack all about them. Tractors? Well, tractors I've been driving for over forty years and although I know knack all about their engines I can fit side plates and front and rear hydraulic linkages very quickly. Today I helped Daddy and Arlo, with some help from Toby finish putting together Arlo's JCB that he got for Christmas.

Daddy had done most of the work already and was just in the final process of putting on the stickers. But something looked wrong with the bucket. A metal bar capped with two plastic ends protruded through the body of the JCB. The function seemed to be to stop the bucket flipping all the way back into the cab.

While Daddy put on the stickers, Arlo checked to see if there was 'anything he could mend' underneath. 

Toby kept drawing my attention back to the bucket.

I checked the instructions. They were as clear as mud. I took off my coat and started firkling. There seemed to be two lever controls either side of the bucket arms that should latch onto the bar. Assembling the pen last year gave me the solution. I used the bucket arms to press the plastic caps further onto the iron bar...and everything now works properly. Arlo soon got the hang of scooping things up and tipping them out onto the dog, who just sat there and let him!

There followed a not so quick game of 'Don't Step In It!'. This game was one of Ellie's discoveries and involves moulding 'dog poo' from Play Doh and laying a trail along a plastic mat. Players take it in turns to don a blindfold, and removing their shoes and socks attempt to traverse a path along the mat, the number of steps and dog poo's dictated by spinning a dial, without stepping in the poo. Not for the squeamish but incredibly anarchic fun for toddlers, eight year olds and grandma's. The game ended when Toby contributed some 'sound and smell effects' to the proceedings. As it had started to snow we all adjourned to the garden to play in the snow and for Toby to start his own game of 'Don't Step In It'. Fortunately Timbo always carries plenty of 'baggies' in his pocket.

Back indoors and after a hot cup of tea, I started planning with Daddy to look at a more permanent solution to providing electric power to my workshop and organizing a better solution to dust collection and control!

[YnysMon]

That game sounds like fun. I’m looking for games that 7 people (adults, but we welcome silly) can play once lockdown lifting allows us to finally take our cottage holiday (originally planned for May 2020) with family. An awful lot of games are designed for a max of 6 people. It would be a shame to leave someone out.
We have the Mysterium board game lined up. It’s a bit like a much more convoluted Cluedo with resident ghost giving you hints via picture cards. I need a bit more practice at that one though...it’s quite difficult, especially if your ghost (aka Harry) gives misleading clues. Somehow it was a lot easier when our other son Alec played the ghost. 

[BroadAmbition]

Spoons - two players with two assistants.  Proper funny and doesn't take too long either

Griff

[YnysMon]

Thanks Griff,I hadn’t heard of that one. Great to have a suggestion that just uses standard pack of cards too. 

[BroadAmbition]

The game of spoons I'm on about does not require any playing cards.  Just two desert / soup spoons, one for each player.  The third person (Assistant) needs a serving spoon and that's it

Griff

[JanetAnne]

39 minutes ago, BroadAmbition said:

The game of spoons I'm on about does not require any playing cards.  Just two desert / soup spoons, one for each player.  The third person (Assistant) needs a serving spoon and that's it

Griff

I hope this involves a big bowl of trifle? 

[floydraser]

4 hours ago, Timbo said:

I checked the instructions.

You did what? 

No wonder it took so long to figure out! 

[Polly]

‘Sorry’ is a current and long-term favourite in our family, though it is for 4. 
we have a Downtown Abbey game for 8 and that is more fun than it sounds. 🙂

[YnysMon]

Sorry Griff. Having not heard of Spoons I Googled it. Sounds like there’s a more involved version which uses playing cards and spoons. Still sounds like fun though. 

[Timbo]

12 hours ago, YnysMon said:

I’m looking for games that 7 people (adults, but we welcome silly) can play

Archaeologists spend a lot of time under canvas in the middle of nowhere...when there are no pubs, of course. Consequently there's a lot of sitting around, drinking, and playing board games to be done. Games with over six participants tend to get unwieldy and very long. You also end up with loads of bits missing, from the game and from each other as tempers flare. We usually ended up splitting into 'schools' for games of Uckers (RN version of Ludo no WAFU rules please) as more often than not 'Our Man in Wherever you happen to be in whatever far flung corner of the world' would be RN. We would also play 'Shut The Box' and plots of variants of domino. However, being beardy weirdy types, more often than not Runequest (A better version of Dungeons & Dragons) would be the game we would all fall back on. We never used rule books, figures, scenery or any of the accoutrements of geekdom. Your character was kept in your head, we all kept track of the various games we were playing with archaeologists around the world and an impromptu game would begin whenever we met up. All that was required was a set of dice, an imagination and a good story teller. My character? Big Les Wade the Barbarian.

It's 9:34 am and already we are having fun and games. Yesterday's snow quickly melted in the overnight rain which then froze hard as temperatures dropped to below freezing before midnight. The result is the streets uphill turned into a luge. Toby decided to 'leg it' up the road at 3:45 am. In my attempt to stop him I went full length wearing nowt but my dressing gown. He made another attempt to escape at 8:30 am, this time even his four dog feet couldn't get a grip and he slid sideways off the pavement and into the road. Fortunately, I had him on the lead this time and managed to stop him sliding down the road. Unfortunately, I fell again this time landing slap on my backside. Ooh the pain!

Back inside and I am now chuckling at the antics of the driver who has managed to get his car wedged sideways across the road after hitting six parked cars in the process. Thanks to Lincolnshire County Council the streets are now blocked with ice preventing any car that is not a 4x4 getting to the exit up hill and the young driver blocking the exit downhill. 

Time to try and take Toby for his morning jaunt in the woods. Now then, in my archaeology kit I'm fairly sure I have a pair of ice grippers for over my walking boots!

[SteveO]

Games have been essential for maintaining morale this winter.  Cribbage is my favourite card game, we also have a Dutch shuffleboard set, which lives on the dining room table from Christmas until we get fed up with it.  Our favourite family game is Telestrations- a drawing game which is a bit like Chinese whispers. Anyone can play who can hold a pencil and the youngsters interpretations of the target that has to be drawn are often hilarious. 

[grounded]

Our favourite game (even out of lockdown) is Quiddler. It is a card game for 2 to 8 players. Each card has a letter (some have 2 letters) and a score. There are 8 rounds starting with 3 cards per player and ending with 10. The object is to make words and score high. Great fun and excellent for extending vocabularies. 

Our planned holiday of 3 weeks on Swan Rapture at the end of June is beginning to look a tad shaky. 

We really do feel for you folk up there. Hope the vaccine(s) work

Chris

[addicted]

When I was growing up my parents were avid party throwers and our house was  full of people most Saturday nights. There were lots of games played for multiple people that usually ended up in a riot of some sort. I recall  one occasion when,  somehow a dining chair was reduced to matchwood  One  game that I remember is that a pudding basin was filled with flour and compressed  then inverted rather like a sandpie.  On top was placed a man's signet ring and everybody present took turns to slice a little of the flour off with a knife. Whoever dislodged the ring was obliged to pick it out of the flour with their teeth. Of course their face was firmly pushed into the flour by everyone else.

 

Carole

[Timbo]

Fun and games this morning when the alarm company rings Ellie to inform her of a break in at the store. Marvellous!

Two days previously we'd had the thieves at home trying to break into the shed, failing and vandalizing my neighbours car when they left empty handed. The night before last Ellie rang me at 2 am to wake me up to tell me that I'd left a window open, I hadn't. Of course I couldn't get back to sleep and was beyond grumpy in the morning as a consequence.
"Unless it's a booty call don't ring me in the early hours this time!" I'd instructed as I went to bed last night.

So 3:30 am and my phone rings.
"Hello?" I answer.
"Don't get your hopes up...shops been broken into!"

3:40 I arrive at the store with Ellie having collected Jodie the assistant manageress on my way down. As I drive down the back street behind the store I notice a section of tree branch around four inches in diameter and three feet long lying in the road in front of a house that has had it's window smashed in. Driving round to the store and I was ready for the window smashed there too. What I was not ready for was the number of kids between twelve and fifteen years old out and about on bikes and scooters riding around the shopping centre car park at 3:40 am in the middle of a lock down.

While the police are called I park up and take video footage of the kids all decked out in their balaclavas and hoodies. There's a strong whiff of expensive perfume wafting from them as they ride past. 4:04 am the kids suddenly melt away up various side streets as thirty seconds later the police car arrives. While the policewoman does the brave bit and checks the store her policeman partner tries to give the chat to Ellie and Jodie, but they are not remotely interested in being his audience as they are busy ringing head office, ringing glaziers to secure the store and preparing to make an inventory etc. 
"In my experience it will be a hammer they used." said PC Jap to the world at large.
"Hammers usually have ash or beech handles not silver birch." I said going all Poirot on him and pointing to the bits of bark left in the holes.

He mooches inside and plonks about gearing himself up. Meanwhile the policewoman has already conducted a thorough search of the building and is getting down to the paperwork. She looks at her colleague, who has now found his torch and deployed his baton, and gives him a 'look'. He stands looking bewildered for a moment before scrabbling under his vest to find his face mask and put it on.  

As a mere bystander I do the obvious and important and nip to McDonalds to fetch the girls cups of tea and breakfast before heading home. I've let Toby out for a constitutional, shared my double sausage and egg McMuffin with him and I'm now off back to bed! 

[BroadAmbition]

Chuffin eck, there's never a dull moment at your gaff is there now?

Good news that the patented Timbo shed security measures did the trick though

Griff

[Timbo]

Here we go again! An early night was needed as both Ellie and I were shattered. I read the forum while I made myself a drink. No sooner had I pressed 'submit' on a post on 'weirs' than my phone rang. It was Ellie and the store had been broken into for the second time in less than 24 hours. It was 10:20 pm. I scraped the ice off the car and put on my coat, Ellie  joined me in the car and once again we set off to pick up Jodie. 

This time things were a bit different. The criminals had been caught in the act by the police. Two guys had been spotted by the CCTV operator who rang the cops. This time they kicked in the very expensive plate glass door. One of them had sliced himself in the process. Police picked them up as they tried to make their escape. A win for the boys in blue and the quick thinking CCTV operator. Video footage, a nice footprint in the plate glass, blood at the scene, on their clothes and on the stolen goods in their possession.



 

[BroadAmbition]

Result

Lets hope the scum that is injured, the injury is very painful, takes ages to heal and leaves a permanent scar he can show off to the other inmates

Lets also hope you can now get an undisturbed evening

Griff

[ranworthbreeze]

2 hours ago, Timbo said:

Here we go again! An early night was needed as both Ellie and I were shattered. I read the forum while I made myself a drink. No sooner had I pressed 'submit' on a post on 'weirs' than my phone rang. It was Ellie and the store had been broken into for the second time in less than 24 hours. It was 10:20 pm. I scraped the ice off the car and put on my coat, Ellie  joined me in the car and once again we set off to pick up Jodie. 

This time things were a bit different. The criminals had been caught in the act by the police. Two guys had been spotted by the CCTV operator who rang the cops. This time they kicked in the very expensive plate glass door. One of them had sliced himself in the process. Police picked them up as they tried to make their escape. A win for the boys in blue and the quick thinking CCTV operator. Video footage, a nice footprint in the plate glass, blood at the scene, on their clothes and on the stolen goods in their possession.



 

Hi Tim a good result but a great pity that you were called out again late at night, lets hope the culprits get more than a ticking off, because of the DNA it may clear up other crimes and add time to their sentence.

Regards

Alan

 

[addicted]

Let's hope the pond life gets more than a slap on the wrist.  It seems to me these days that magistrates are far too lenient and some of the sentences are not commensurate with the offence.

 

Carole

[Timbo]

It's getting to the end of an anxious few months. Two weeks before Christmas our grandson Arlo had to attend hospital to get a lump on his jawline checked out. After a trip to casualty and then a full ten hours of testing the following day he was referred to oncology at the Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham.  A PET scan on Christmas Eve then a visit to the specialist the first week of January and he was scheduled for surgery last Thursday. Prior to his surgery, Arlo had to go into quarantine for a week and he has also had to quarantine for a week after for Covid related reasons. Consequently, we have had to do the same to be on the safe side. The good news is that the little lads surgery went without a hitch and he was back at home by the evening. For his second week of quarantine, Arlo has been at home with his Mummy while his sister Gracie has been staying with us. We still have the anxious wait to find out exactly what had caused Arlo's lump.

To complicate matters further, Grandma has developed shingles and I've never had chickenpox. Fortunately our living arrangements mean that I can isolate from Grandma and we can all stay in our little bubbles. Having your other half live next door can be a wonderous thing. There's no celebrity baking, dancing and singing on ice in the jungle dressed as a sausage on TV in my house! Advances in technology, in other words Ellie discovered WhatsApp in the first lockdown,  mean that I now get instructions in text instead of shouted over the fence.  The walkie-talkies the neighbours bought us are now redundant at home and are down on the boat. Other than the means by which my instructions arrive, not much has changed really. The day is based around Gracie logging on to do her school work and driving to deliver the essentials to keep our bubbles operating. My meals are still dependent upon climate. No matter what the meal is, even salad, if its raining by the time I've brought it back to my house...its soup!

All of this has meant that firkling opportunities have been virtually nil. Virtually nil. 'Virtually', that's the important bit. I have made some small but important progress in the realms of computing. To aid Gracie in her schoolwork, I needed to clean my workstation PC and get the printer working. Now that I have access to the printer, 3Ds Max, Maya and my early iteration of SketchUp adapted with all the bells and whistles before the architects took it over and ruined it, I've been doing a spot of digital firkling,  designing new projects and printing out the plans and patterns!

But, right at the moment its snowing! Great big flakes to add to the couple of inches we've had over night! I see snow men in my future!

[ranworthbreeze]

Snow for us and no doubt Griff, 3 to 4 inches on the Sheffield hills in the early hours this morning. 

[BroadAmbition]

Snow? - enough to get plenty of idiots stranded 

Griff

[unclemike]

34 minutes ago, BroadAmbition said:

Snow? - enough to get plenty of idiots stranded 

Griff

having now been driving over 50 yrs and done approx. 1  million miles all over this island never yet been stuck in snow even when working in the peak district, treat the snow with repect and its not difficult.

now getting stuck in mud is a different matter

[FairTmiddlin]

42 minutes ago, BroadAmbition said:

Snow? - enough to get plenty of idiots stranded 

Griff

So! How are you getting home? 

[ranworthbreeze]

1 hour ago, chameleon said:

having now been driving over 50 yrs and done approx. 1  million miles all over this island never yet been stuck in snow even when working in the peak district, treat the snow with repect and its not difficult.

now getting stuck in mud is a different matter

I have always got home, the Peak District was one of my routes. chains, wheel grips and then winter tyres have always helped.