Seeds and weeds.

 We are still sowing some flower seeds and repotting others. The tomato plants are growing well too. Although it has been sunny and they have been watered regularly, the sunflowers are not as big as I would have imagined.

A real disappointment has been the green bean seeds, all grown in the same soil, in the same tray with good conditions and only one out of twenty four has grown.

Elect diesel

 Have you been seduced by electric cars? 

They seem to me nothing more than another item for those who like to show how much money they have rather than those who think they are saving the planet.

The cost and energy used to make these cars is colossal. With them being made in China they are surely using coal fired power stations to make them.

We went on an all electric double decker bus recently. They look very clean and modern but riding on the top deck was a queasy experience. The buses weigh fifteen tons empty and so the suspension has to cope with quite a lot to start with. Apparently they cost £250,000.

Have you noticed that some people get on a bus and immediately open a window letting a gale blow at the people behind, never themselves. (

The electric buses windows are locked as they have air conditioning (as most buses do) but why have small windows that can be opened anyway?

Playtime

A washing up bowl half filled with water, some junk modelling and tinfoil to keep the cardboard boats dry, what more does any little chap need?

It is so fascinating to watch children discovering the world and how things work.

What are your earliest memories of making things? For example do you remember making a 'tank' with a wooden cotton bobbin, matchsticks and an elastic band?

Play well

Do you have the opportunity to put Lego together? It seems wrong to write do you play with Lego as the modern kits are quite amazing and there is such a huge variety.

It has certainly changed from the early days when the emphasis seemed to be on creating miniature houses and similar. The variety of colours shapes and kits is staggering. Whilst the kits are fantastic, the pick'n'mix in a Lego shop is fun in itself. I saw a young couple ardently putting pieces together before putting them in the box, thereby maximising the number of pieces. They were there a long while.

Hey aye

 Have you got your head around AI yet? It does seem to be everywhere. Can we be sure what we see or read or hear is real or computer generated.

I started listening to an audio book but it was immediately obvious that it was not a real person reading it, though the voice may have been synthesised from a real voice. What gave it away was the phrasing. I persisted for a few minutes to see if it would improve but it didn't and was very irritating and unnatural.

If you haven't seen Count Arthur Strong - Doctor Two, please look for it and the part where he delivers his lines in Doctor Who - "it's outside my..." and you will get an understanding of the AI phrasing of the story.

But who knows where AI will get to? Does AI know?

Shingled out

 There is a lot of chicken pox going around the local schoolchildren at the moment, on top of which I had a second shingles jab.

My goodness the next day I had a bad reaction and felt quite poorly and for a couple of days after. I can only imagine that if I had got shingles proper, I would have got it very badly so despite all the bad press about vaccines I am grateful that I should now be protected.

All this time on from the COVID lockdowns etc and the world does seem to have gone downhill very rapidly in so many ways. If it is part of a masterplan, it needs to be scrapped but it is probably too late.

Triple and more, glazing

 I thought that I would try a different technique with acrylic paints. Firstly I painted the scene that I wanted then set about overpainting with thinned down paint layers on top. 

It's the first time that I have tried this method. I am unsure if it makes a real and improved difference, perhaps I am being too impatient before putting the next layer on. 

I think that I will paint another scene and do half glazed and leave the other half. I suspect that it would be more effective with oil paints.