18 October: Ten Things of Thankful

Ten things for which I give thanks this week…

1 – I am grateful that there is almost always a parking space just outside the gates of where I work my 2.5 days. There is a parking bay, occupied at night by residents of the adjacent houses and there is usually just one space beneath a tree which sports a lot of berries – currently ripe and so the birds feeding there leave little offerings on my car bonnet and roof (for which I am not so grateful lol).

2 – The tree mentioned above continues to unfold Autumn colours – not in a uniform way, but branchlet by branchlet – it is the same with many trees this year and I feel I am being shown something about Autumn that I haven’t seen before…

3 – I received this novel micro watercolour kit from my partner by way of a thank you for all the things I do for her for which she is grateful and I in turn for this…

4 – I have been involved for the last ten years, with the building of a mosque in Bradford, the city I work in. When I first started on the project, I was between jobs, and it gave me both income and a chance to keep my hand in with AutoCAD (computer draughtsmanship) and led to me working at an Architect’s office as the oldest person there, but in the office junior post lol. Now the mosque is nearing completion with the roof being put on the minaret tower which means the lift can finally be installed within the tower. The project has taken time because the money is raised from the community a little at a time, so the work progresses in fits and starts… I am not religious yet this is not the first sacred space I have been involved with as a designer ( I did work in Catholic churches when I lived in Ireland) and over the years, the ongoing role as project draughtsman to the mosque, has provided a little supplementary income, a chance to learn about Moslem culture, some enjoyable design opportunities and a number of friends. Within a year, my task there will come to a close and at 70, I feel this is a fitting time for me…

5 – Another project that requires my AutoCAD skills, amongst others, is coming to fruition at my 2.5 Day Job at the gelato (and pudiing and cake) factory. We are installing a new gelato production plant, bought from a factory closing down in Eastern Europe some ten years ago and awaiting the space to be reassembled. The oldest brother in the family firm is the prime mover in this and he has been thoroughly enjoying himself assembling it all, drilling walls for pipework to pass through. My job is now to draw out the system with a view to writing and illustrating the SOP’s (Standard Operating Procedures) which we will have to teach the workers who will opreate it. What makes it complicated is the CIP system in which successive flushes of Acid, Alkali and Hot and Cold water must be used to clean the entire system between batches. Below is just a small part of the task…

6 – My post-holiday cold version 2 is slowly abating…

7 – We had a lovely visit to my youngest but one grandson and his girlfriend in their new flat in Sheffield (home of steel, cutlery and scalpel blades).

8 – The roofers return on Monday to repair a few slates and coping stones above the work they did last week on the extension fascias, soffits and gutters…

9 – Managed to think of things I am grateful for

10 – It is a grey day, but it is not raining, or blowing and I see the reservoir above the town has largely refilled after the Summer drought…

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