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At last I’ve only got one red line on the LFT so able to get out and about again. Mary had a clear test before me so the additional booster dose may have played a part there thank goodness. She had to miss one hospital appointment but managed to get it rescheduled for next week along with a few others not yet undertaken so we’re not out of the woods yet but I do hope to come to the shed tomorrow morning and see what you have all been up to.
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My tidy office did not last long, started trying to refurbish a few instruments needing new batteries or computer upgrades and ran into the problem of getting specialised memory batteries which before cost about £5 now are above £10 if you can get them and at least 70% of the usual suppliers are awaiting stocks. According to them it is going to get worse because at present it is only a logistics issue but shortages of raw materials is also slowing down the manufacturing of more stock. Because I’m not still up to my normal speed I’ve also been catching up on my journal reading and it is interesting to see that a lot of UK companies supplying drilling equipment are now buying up small engineering companies in the Midlands in order to make parts to keep their customers running instead of importing from China so maybe we’ll get back a we bit of engineering capability again. However the downside is that there is a serious shortage of machinists and apprentices so many of the smaller companies who had a niche market are now loosing out on personnel to the companies needing skills for large volume production and are paying large salary increases.
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Stewart has been on the hunt for slabs and has sourced some for Jan to continue with his plan of work. Collecting them may be a project for next week so hopefully by then the roadworks outside the shed will be completed to make access easier.
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The container we are getting has been partially emptied but they are awaiting more skips before that can be completed. The transaction with Iceland has been completed but awaiting some additional equipment for the load to come up from the south so it will be a couple of weeks yet before delivery options are completed. I’m still optimistic that we can have our delivery paid for and will be talking to Iceland this weekend to see where we are with that. The problem is that if we cannot get a single lorry with a hiab to do the lift and then the same lorry to do the transportation to Immimgham it becomes more problematic to get a freebie. Currently it is difficult getting a haulier who will be prepared to accept time delays for delivery at the port which means that the most sensible option is to get the shipping companies own transport to come and collect. I can’t get an answer from them as to whether they have transport with a hiab which can do a top lift as the new way of lifting containers is to secure them at the base twistlocks so as to avoid the H&S issues of climbing a ladder. That’s great for putting onto a flatbed but not for positioning 10 metres away and down a slope. We may have to bite the bullet and get transport ourselves but we’re not there yet.
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Jim may have finished his cruise by now, don’t know if he had the good weather we had but we’ll hear in due course. Others are on their Hols, or are going or have just come back so keep us all informed of the goings on. My son has semnt me some photos of him and his wife Kayaking up at Portmahomack in flat calm and sunshine – soo envious, my boat is still in the garden up there!
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That’s all for this week, hope to see some of you tomorrow and have a further catch up.
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