LIDL satellite kit goes live

part of my tool kit
I took great care not to drop anything the seven floors down

four holes done at last

4 bolts to be screwed home
if there is a gale the dish must be taken in

compass was provided and I got the SATELLITE FINDER meter from MAPLIN in Solihull after reading some help pages on the web and taking the advice that a TV is too slow to indicate signal strengh for ease of adjustment.


the black lead goes to the signal strengh meter

menus to be learned


success Astra 1B
and I really like german TV which I saw in Denmark as a neighbour
this is a preset collection of 200 channels

Alles Nick
but why the T-shirt in english?

kids TV
guess who was on CNN dangeous, but as boring as Bush or the IRA or the NAZI party

news in Arabic
Aljazeera - Qatari tv station Qatar based satellite television station. Independent arabic satellite news channel with updated news and different views

France TV5 still on the BIG BLUE hold your breath

arte the wonderful franco-german arts channel

EURO NEWS sent without commentary
I love it

german text tv ARD works too but their clocks are one hour ahead of ours - so at 4:10 am to 4:30 my cult programme
Die Schönsten Bahnstrecken Deutschlands is on
Karoe to Liebnwalde

but FreeView has the sharpest image

evening light LIDL satellite kit - Google Search

The ASTRA Satellite System is the leading Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite system in Europe, delivering services to some 107 million Direct-to-Home and cable households. The ASTRA satellite fleet currently comprises 13 satellites, transmitting in excess of 1600 analogue and digital television and radio channels as well as multimedia and Internet services. ASTRA's two prime orbital positions for DTH services are 19.2° East and 28.2° East. Professional services such as Direct-to cable (DTC), Satellite Newsgathering (SNG) and Occasional Use are offered from the orbital position of 23.5° East.

The Astra 1KR craft launched to 3.4E for testing, before moving to 19.2°E, where it will replace Astra 1B, which is effectively decommissioned and Astra 1C, which is elderly and running beneath full capacity

on thursday in Brum

in the Bull Ring England football shirts are 70% off

After this I bought some more masonry drills in the covered market - the Wilkinson ones were not up to it
and I stocked up with fruit and vegetables. in th eioen airt one.

I spent more than an hour helping my favourite market trader, COL, "3 cucumbers for £1"
he was getting a bit shirty with some of the dumber customers
so I cooled the situation down by explaining what was going on "he is going home and selling out"

i really enjoyrd beign out of doors people watching in the agora
I was rewarded with ice cream and a bunch of tomatoes

It was good for me to stand up for an hour on my wonky knees
I really enjoy the internatial culture, I heard lithuanian and polish spoken, as well as the usual locals from three continents

But I forget to take any more snaps
no exercise means my weight is rising - up to 165 kilos again.
today is my first day without pain killers . . .

shopping LIDL and WILKINSON

on last Saturday 24 June 2006

discussing the new Rail Link to Glasgow Airport

Westminster is closed so we get Scotland or Wales on Saturdays

inside the new Scottish parliament building in Edinburgh
Saturday morning TV whilst I do my email

the bus driver said that he has driven this route for 5 years at the same time and knows everyone.

Group House is deterioating with broken windows and one open


cable tv junction here

wild daisies taking over

taxi sir? 0121 786 1000 and 0121 789 73333



the works gates but only the ABBA taxi / hire car dispatchers office is active

traffic lights control system is under the pavement

traffic at the Mackadown

all gone - the BSA Machine Tools offices I blogged before
I picked up a job sheet from 1947 so another industrial archive has been lost.

these Birmingham flats are opposite and behind LIDL

recycling on LIDL car park














and this front door too this flag is the one I can see from my flat in the background.
I am going upstairsto empty my trolley of the italian vinegar and olive oils, tinned fish and 14 litres low fat milk I just got at LIDL

this much bashed bus stop is still intact on Bosworth Drive

with a new bus arrivals indicator Bluebell Drive is past the shops

past Argos to the new Wilkinson
I want to put up my LIDL satellite dish

and I bought some masonry drills

10 checkouts at Wilkinson hardware super store

another kind of jeweller's shop

I like the other rose climbing up the elderbery tree

home in time for World cup on TV

red card

good morning england

or blogging from my pillow in Merton House


when I opened my eyes today I saw things with many happy associations bathed in sunlight.
from bottom left corner clockwise:-
leather brief case used by my bank clerk father
computer tool kit
on a dinner trolley fron 1935 (orignally bright orange)
on top diary and spectacles
a corner of a 1935 chest of drawers from my mother's bedside
the Panasonic tv made in Wales is paid for at last
free view box unplugged
satellite tuner unplogged
Sony six speaker surround sound system (when turned on BBC Beethoven string quarter opus 16 number 2)
center speaker
book on SURREALISM bought as a present but never sent
box of music CDs
some dvd film (seldom time to play them)
big envelopes to be reused
empty box to send a present to some one
orange bowl is part of the wet and dry vacuum cleaner (never used)
a pilke of directoris and catalogues
books of philosophy (mostly Wittgenstein and Bertend Russell)
and fiction - coiled cable for networking to spare bedroom
un-assembled shoe rack from IKEA circa 2002
blue satchel for carrying french CPAP machine
lotion for old dry skin on forhead and hands
ansd danish "cow udder ointment" for the same
kitchen roll from LIDL (very good wet strengh)
one of three occaisional tables from about 1980
as a mat I have an old METRO newspaper and a map of Europa


I use office clocks because of my eyes
I am very short sighted, myopia, astigmatism and presbyopis
5.58 am and I have been meditating for one hour
best on awakening with an empty stomach






at my head the antique (10 to 15 years old) french CP 90 machine is still turned on (yellow pressure gauge)

the red spirit thermometer mounted on boxwood was used by my mother to check the temperature of my childhood bedroom
all windows open for sleeping even in cold weather
a coal fire was only lit if I was ill in bed
60 degrees fahrenheit is the "Best heat"
Calculator for Converting Degrees Fahrenheit to Centigrade (Celsius)
Temperature in Degrees Centigrade 15.6
but we used to wear wooly underwear and seaters and socks

the striped bolster is from my granny's home iin USK - old in 1953
the orange metal shelves were the cheapest possible from Shirley B and Q in1999
the mahogany chair was my paternal grandfather 's
the cardboard is a screen to guard my head against the early morning sunligt if I should have slept to 7 or 8:00 am

pillow panorama
computer and old tv still under dust covers
my mother's wardrobe from 1935 . . . . as above
so childhood memories of going into my mother early in the morning
not of my father because I slept in my high sided cream painted cot until about 1942 or 1943
which was placed downstairs at 230 Widney Lane when the blitz began

and standing up by my bed before I open the windows fully to enjoy the fresh air,
and air the bed and bed clothes
looking north of east the camera angle controls the exposure and apparent mistiness

Bosworth Drive Chelmsley Wood

running my bath the sunlight only reaches the bathroom at this time of day and year,
the laundry box is from about 1935 and was originally white, but the bridge is IKEA vintage 2000 and reglued, red towell a present from Denmark

clothes rail from LIDL
with an old sheet as a dust cover

my washing machine runs in the night on half price electricity from about 2:00 am to 4:00 am so I have hung up the damp towels before bathing and blogging

now 7:50 am and time post this and to water the tomatoes and have breakfast

on the radio SIBELIUS FINLANDIA is music in ALL CAPS

CBSO