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My daughter called round today for a couple of hours. We spent half of that time discussing cleaning products. If anyone had predicted that scenario five years ago, both of us would have said they were crazy.

I have decided to write a actual blog for a change.

Today I spent a nice sunny afternoon with the music wound up in the music room with the door open. This evening, I decided to rearrange the music room as the sun was getting at the right angle in the sky to shine in through the window in the door and into my eyes when I am sat down. I never had to move any of the heavy equipment too much though so it wasn't too hard.

Now rolling a joint, sitting back and relaxing with more loud music

Being a bitter woman, does that automatically make you right about everything? I will admit, I did do a little bit of city driving by changing into the left lane while a vehicle was still behind me in that lane but as I put my blinker on and started moving over, the lady behind me started to speed up and that did not stop me from moving over. It ended with both of us beeping our horns at each other (she beeped first...for the record). I think that is the first time I honked my horn while actually driving and moving in a car...done it a couple times if people fell asleep at the stop light.

I have one more story about bitterness...but I will not bore you.

May happiness be your destiny.

That's fairly recent, the whole hugging thing, when I was younger (and mammoths roamed the earth, I know, I know) you offered your hand and the stranger or acquaintance shook it and jolly good show what what. Now I'm introduced to a stranger or meet an acquaintance and somewhat to my alarm they close in for kisses (praises be I am in Spain, 2 kisses, and not France, 3 or more) or a hug. What? I barely know you! Even men meeting men do the half-hug / backslap thing here, and it was becoming increasingly common in Scotland before I left. Is it international now? I need a teddybear to handle my social hugs for me.



Don't get me wrong, I love real hugging. I would change my profile to say 'I could hug you so hard all your broken bits will join up forever' except that I get enough odd mail as it is already. but here's the other odd thing - the hug, it seems, is only for acquaintances now. When you know each other better, see each other often - no more hugging. Now that's just wrong. Them's the people I WANT to hug and cuddle and pat and scrunch just because I am so very pleased to see them, or when we are parting to tide me over to the next time I see them.

Well I guess you are asking what is so dissapointing. Let me tell you. At the moment I'm in Tobago. It's a lovely island. We anchored on Saturday and went sightseeing on Sunday. It was hot so I was wearing a new summer dress with my bikini underneath.
As I was walking along the main street a car beeped. I was on the pathway so didnt think it was for me. Again someone beeped and then someone flashed lights. The drivers were looking at me. Surprised I started to check my dress. Was I showing something I shouldnt. Well no all seemed it place. Maybe the dress was too see through. Well the beeping didn't stop . So there I was thinking how wonderful this dress must look on me that I was recieving all this attention.
I decided I wanted to see Store Bay before taking the yacht there and I asked a lady how I could get there. She pointed out I just had to stand on the path and a car would stop and take me. I asked what car? She said they go along honking and you just flag them down.
It was then when I realized it wasnt that I was looking good. It was just the cars asking me if I wanted a lift.

Here in Denmark, we aren't big on luxury. For us, luxury is anything good! It can be sleeping in or getting a meal for free.

But, we do have luxurious hotels. Not Dubai-levels of luxury, but more of an old school kind of luxury. One such luxurious hotel is called d'Angleterre. It is one of the first deluxe hotels in the world, and it is located on Kongens Nytorv, in the heart of Copenhagen. The location is opposite Charlottenborg, the Royal Opera and Nyhavn. While its history dates back to 1755, a fire damaged it beyond repair. The current building was finished in 1795. From 1872 to 1875, the building was significantly extended and refurbished by the architects, Vilhelm Dahlerup and Georg E.W. Møller. The hotel has long been considered the most prestigious and elegant hotel in the city. Its name is French and means the "England Hotel".

The Hotel d'Angleterre re-opened in May 2013 following extensive restorations. The new d'Angleterre has 30 rooms and 60 suites. It also has a 1-star Michelin restaurant, "Marchal", led by executive chef, Andreas Bagh, a cocktail and champagne bar as well as a spa and health club.

Noteable guests, who have stayed in the hotel, are as follows: AC/DC, H.C. Andersen, Morten Andersen, Cecilia Bartoli, David Beckham, Dogukan Nas, Karen Blixen, Bono, Victor Borge, Mariah Carey, José Carreras, Helena Christensen, Sir Winston Churchill, John Cleese, Bill Clinton, Michael Davitt, Cameron Diaz, Walt Disney, Barbara Hendricks, Alfred Hitchcock, Whitney Houston, Henrik Ibsen, Julio Iglesias, Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, Jon Bon Jovi, Juan Carlos I of Spain, Grace Kelly, Diana Krall, Madonna, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Brigitte Nielsen, Connie Nielsen, Ozzy Osbourne, David Rockefeller, Rolling Stones, Claudia Schiffer, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Justin Timberlake, U2, Lars Ulrich, Robbie Williams, Oprah Winfrey and Angus Young.

Condé Nast Traveler has included the Hotel D'Angleterre on its Gold List 2015 of the best hotels in the world.

The most expensive room is $2586 - per night! They also have a champagne bar, with champagne from 42 different houses. Price for that: Well.. You have to buy a bottle, since there is no menu as such. The cheapest bottle will set you back $115, while the most expensive one is an eye watering $7400.

The website for the hotel is:

But the thing I am doing, is attending one of their Sunday brunches. It's $96, and it is quite possibly the most lavish thing ever - it even includes oysters, caviar and a glass of champagne. If you want an extra glass of champagne, you're gonna have to pay $18 - per glass.

So I am just gonna stick with the brunch only. One glass of champagne on a Sunday afternoon is plenty!

In case you are wondering how it looks, have a look at this picture here:

I usually do some online research before buying any products. That said, if I search for products that are available in store now, the search engine should actually show products that are... IN STORE NOW!
Not always the case, and many retailers rely on huge inventories that are shipped from remote warehouses and not all from one location. That's what I'm trying to avoid.

Many folks have become addicted to Amazon and their free delivery. I don't want to wait for many of the items I purchase. Give me something to touch and feel before I get out my debit card!

The memory foam mattress topper I wanted was not available in the local places I was shopping at and had to be ordered in. Three days shipped to my door. It was a little softer than I expected, but too much trouble to send back, wait for credit and order another.

Give me 'Brick & Mortar' before you give me debit!

It has been awhile since I blogged. No big changes in my social life. No earh shattering news pertaining to me.

I am pleased that the new, privately funded, heavy lift rocket went up successfully the other day. I am amused the CEO of the company donated his personal car (a Tesla Roadster) to the experiment. Right now the rocket is orbiting Earth. Some time in April before May the rocket will fire an engine and begin a trajectory that will place it in a very wide orbit around Mars. The CEO speculates the rocket and his car will, if not someday retrieved or in a collision with something, orbit for the next billion years. .

I am unsure of the appropriate law on this. Space law is supposedly based on admiralty law, but every day new wrinkles, such as an unattended car in space ,emerge. My question is, by launching his car into space, has the man effectively abandoned it? Or does the fact it sits garaged in a space ship give it the legal protection of sitting in a garage? Is the rocket itself effectively abandoned, or do ownership rights still apply off the Earth? What about a decade from now. a century? If 400 years from now your grand kids encounter the rocket while joy riding in their own space ship, board the uninhabited ship and take the car, is that stealing, or is that just salvage? How long does a rocket (or a new car) have to be up there before 'salvage rights' law applies?

About a month ago I bought a Forney 140 MP 3-in-one welding machine. It does Mig, Tig and stick. It is small and runs on house current, so 1/4" thickness is pushing the performance envelope, but I have done that with it. I haven't had the chance to try the Tig function yet but as soon as a new nozzle arrives I will. I got a few small tanks of C25 gas (a CO2 and Argon mixture) but am thinking of also getting some pure Argon to expand the capabilities of the machine.

My big news this week is that I finally gave in and purchased a power feed for my Sieg X2 mini mill (video below). I have been using the mill to whittle out a new fore stock for an old (ancient - 1875 manufacture) Martini Henry carbine and an enormous amount of turning the mill's hand wheel to move the slide back and forth as the stock took shape was required. After a few hours of that I was online looking for a better way. It turns out a company called Little Machine Shop has just recently introduced a power feed for the X axis slide of the X2. I got it installed and it works perfectly. Best of all it can move the slide a lot faster than my manually turning the wheel can, which translates into increased productivity.



<For those who know about mills and DROs, yes, they now make a DRO add on kit for the X2 too and I am looking at that, but it isn't cheap ($$$), so I may have to wait.>

Beyond that, nothing much new with me.