CitroJim's AX, C3 Picasso, Cycling and Running Tales

[vince]

Sid is back in town

Still jealous Jim ....so many Citroens to choose from...it must be great that. I saw a great dyane "cote d'azur" yesterday following me in the nissan on the way back from a customer visit.....i pulled over and let it past then followed it for a while until it went in a different direction. It was very clean and no signs of rust anywhere on it. Seriously cool car

Ive said it before and ill say it again....its a pity i dont live further down south....it would be nice to pop round every now and again and have a mess around with the cars. Im on my own round here

Im going to re join the CCC next month if i can and try to find other Citroen enthusiasts round here....there are probably loads just round the corner

[CitroJim]

You could always move Vince But yes, I know what you mean... Hopefully, rejoining the CCC will bring forth some good results.

Yesterday, Team WFA descended upon my garden and went through it like a tornado. The old rotten pergola has gone, along with all the rubbish and much rampant vegetation.

The garden looks so much better and so much more spacious now. Excellent I cannot thank the members of team WFA enough for their hard work All I need now is some planting advice.

Toward the end of the day, after one tip run, there was still a massive pile of rubbish to go, including a big water butt amongst other things....

I bet Chris570 a free reseal of his V6 XM camboxes he could not load all the remaining rubbish into the back of his Xantia Estate and take it to the tip all in one go. Such is his keenness not to do his camboxes himself he managed it and how he did I still can't work out even though technically he lost the bet as he neglected to take one broken watering can...

I do feel a bit responsible for his camboxes as I let him have a tube of the special sealant to do the job and I didn't realise until I had cause to use the stuff for something else - a leaking toilet cistern - that it has a best before date and goes off. In the case of the tube I let him have the best before date was way off Sorry Chris

Yes, the bloody toilet cistern sprang a leak on Thursday evening/night and soaked the bathroom carpet and floorboards something terribly. Just what I really didn't need after a long, hard and very difficult week that had left me feeling quite ill. Emergency plumbers around there are a cruel joke - in fact any plumbers at all are - so I had no option but to visit B and Q, get every bit I thought I needed and sort it. Pulling up in B and Q car park in the XM I was approached by a gentlemen who stated he saw me come in and was amazed to see an XM, declaring he hadn't seen one for years and years and years. He was delighted to see it and we enjoyed a long chat about them. He, it transpired, was long retired from the motor trade.

Back home with all the innards for a cistern I set to work and just replaced the lot wholesale, ballvalve, syphon and all seals. It was then I realised I needed some sealant, cracked open a tube of V6 cambox sealant - if it's good enough for an ES9 then I'm sure it's good enough for a bog - and discovered just how far past it's best before date it was...

Touch-wood it's done the job on the cistern and it remains mercifully leak-free Good, because I really can do without aggro like that

[Hell Razor5543]

One plant you might want are nasturtiums. They look good, they grow almost anywhere, and they are edible. They can hide many gardening sins (well, during the summer months, anyway). OK, the annuals will die off, but you will get a large number of seeds to use the following year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropaeolum" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.herbalgardens.com/archives/a ... tiums.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[CitroJim]

Nasturtiums are a great idea James. As I recall they grow like weeds and are a tough as old boots. Edible though? never knew that? How?

Speaking of edible, any other edible stuff that's easy, grows like a weed and is tough and tolerant will be entertained. I can't be doing with anything fussy or difficult or something that needs lots of attention. I've already got those - they're called Citroens...

Speaking of edible, I broke off a nice stick of rhubarb yesterday and thought it rude not to pull another couple of sticks and knock up a quick rhubarb crumble. First fresh rhubarb of the year - delicious

That's one plant that's definitely not going anywhere I love rhubarb.

[myglaren]

The Nasturtium flowers are edible Jim. I find that Nasturtiums attract a lot of cabbage white butterflies and the leaves get covered in caterpillars.

A nice alternative to Nasties is the Morning Glory (shurrup Malc).

Sowed some a couple of weeks ago but they aren't doing well.



Makes a good song too

[addo]

Not a big fan of nasturtiums, but agree they have their place. Aren't the seeds what gets called capers? I like making crumbles, but prefer apple or apricot filling.

You can put slight obnoxious things in terracotta or concrete pots double lined with weedmat and standing on concrete slabs. Examples - bamboo, nettles, blackberry, buxus japonica. Seaside daisies might be worth a try, as they seem quite durable; also for colder climates you can probably chop a crepe myrtle into a small bush. Is it too cold for herbs in the paving cracks and edges (parsley, fennel and oregano do well here in this regard; very Continental)?

[CitroJim]

Not a big fan of nasturtiums, but agree they have their place. Aren't the seeds what gets called capers?

I love capers

I find that Nasturtiums attract a lot of cabbage white butterflies and the leaves get covered in caterpillars.

That's just too much of a caper for me Steve so that's them well out... Caterpillars I'm not a fan of... I guess nasties are a member of the cabbage family then?

A nice alternative to Nasties is the Morning Glory (shurrup Malc).

Ahh, so what named what I wonder? Or rather, what came first? I as following seeing this statement in the article on them:

Most morning glory flowers perk up and harden during the early morning and are often fully erect, thus their name.

Stop sniggering Malcolm

[Hell Razor5543]

I forgot about the caterpillars, but now myglaren mentioned it I remembered. However, once they find out about them the birds will do what they can to reduce the caterpillars to reasonable numbers.

[CitroJim]

We have no birds around here James and you know why Every house bar practically none for miles around has at least one bloody cat...

The only birds that dare to venture here are the ones that are cat-proof and they don't eat little caterpillars....

[Hell Razor5543]

Well, I knew about Fluffball (by the way, where are the pictures everybody is demanding?) but I didn't know about the population level of cats in your area.

[myglaren]

How about Sweet Peas Jim.
Pretty, nice-smelly, prolific and kids can grow them.

[CitroJim]

More cats than people I reckon James. Cats and people are out-numbered by only one thing: dogs...

Every day there's an almost constant procession of the wretched things being walked towards the play area ready for them to bespoil it I can look out of my kitchen window virtually any time I like and can almost guarantee to see a dog being walked towards it's toilet. It quite frankly amazes me. As much as I intrinsically like dogs, I'd never have one as they seem like just too much aggro. All that walking, toileting and so on... far too much trouble...

One couple who walk everything from something the size of a mouse up to the size of a horse I can set my watch (if I wore one) by they are that precise in the timing of their dog walking activities. I see them every morning when I set off for work and they always give me the look as if to say 'Why do you dare reverse your car out into the road into the path of my dogs?' as if the road is there for their sole use and not for cars to traverse

Either that or they lie in wait for me just to annoy me

[CitroJim]

How about Sweet Peas Jim.
Pretty, nice-smelly, prolific and kids can grow them.

That's more like it Steve. I do rather like them...

Kinds might be able to grow them but that does not mean I can you know. All I seem to grow well is weeds... I'm no gardener at all...

[addo]

Well then, grow some weed; take it to the local hospice but make sure you give it to catering.

[CitroJim]

Well then, grow some weed; take it to the local hospice but make sure you give it to catering.

I hear it can be a useful and interesting ingredient in cakes and I bake a lot of cakes....