I know some of you out there that play cricket play a bit of guitar as well. Have a look at this (Even if you don't play guitar) watch it from the start and try and imagine how fast this bloke is going to playing this guitar at the end of the clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THXCi3H3NzM&feature=related
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Illicit Mowing
Strewth what a hullabaloo! If anyone has followed this blog over the last 2 years you might have read about the incident over at Great Berry Open Space. A quick synopsis -
The field is a council field and when the football season had finished we started to practice over on the field. But it is just a field and it's used by footballers so there's loads of ruts and damage to the surface and we found that when you were trying to bowl the ball at 90m.p.h it was dangerous because of the uneveness of the grass surface. People were ending up having a ball in the face so we had to come up with a solution. I noticed that in between the two pitches there was a bit of no-mans land and it was much flatter and smack bang in the middle of the field. The only thing was - the grass was too long. What to do? My solution was to get a mower and mow it - so okay it looks a bit nuts some bloke in the middle of a public field mowing it with a tiny little qualcast panther mower, but other than that our cricket team had no-where to go and that would have been the end of that. Besides, I'm sure that when people like Christopher Columbus set out on his journeys and Leonardo Davinci told people there'd be helicopters in the future people sniggered at them and look how fun we're all having off the back of their nutcase endeavours, who knows one of these boys in 15 -20 years time might be lifting the Ashes in Australia? So I'm not fussed what people think.
Note* prior to starting the mowing I checked all the byelaws regarding the use of council fields and no-where is there anything that says you cannot use a lawnmower to cut the grass. An electric or petrol mower would be a different issue. Damaging trees and pulling up plants is obviously vandalism but mowing daisies, buttercups, dandelions and an inch or two off a patch of grass that constitutes 2 or 3% of the field doesn't seem to be a breach of the byelaws?
But then the inevitable happened - I was busted! The council turned up and caught me red handed, but instead of kicking me where the sun doesn't shine as suggested by someone else on a green-keepers website, the council blokes were really positive about what I was doing and supported my actions. Now these blokes weren't labourers, one of them was the area manager for the bourough. They went as far as right there and then ringing the green-keeper of the nearby cricket pitch to see if he could get a roller onto our field and get it really flat, but they couldn't get it over without having to commission a flatbed truck. So what they then did is arrange that we could use the cricket pitch free of charge for the rest of the summer on Sunday mornings if it wasn't being used by anyone else.
So with the support of the council once a fortnight I'd mow the grass with my Qualcast Panther and we'd have a practice in relatively safe and even grass. Then one evening I noticed that there was a bloke watching me cut the grass at the nearby pub that over-looked the field and he looked agitated and animated while using the phone and watching me. Eventually he came over and basically told me I couldn't mow the grass anymore because he was in the residents association and they paid money to play football on the field and that if I had any issues about this I should ring Mr X at the council and he'd put me straight. I pointed out that Mr Y at the council had sanctioned my mowing and I'd contact his Mr X in my own time and find out why he was contradicting my Mr Y? But more importantly if his Mr X was a council employee why was he getting drunk, abusive and intimidating cronies to do his work for him?
I didn't appreciate this drunk blokes threatening behaviour and decided to bypass all the Mr X and Mr Y's and go straight to the most senior person I could find. I emailed local MP's and different NGO's with agenda's around widening participation in sport and the encouragement of sport as well as the Director of Parks and Gardens (Mr A). It took a few weeks and while all this happened we stopped practicing on the field and as a consequence the momentum and enthusisasm waned and our team disintegrated.
It turned out that the Cronie's Mr X was in fact my Mr Y and that Mr Y knew nothing of the Football yobs feelings regarding me mowing their football pitch. In fact Mr Y took offence of the Football yobs use of his position to intimidate me and also the inference that the field was under the control of the football/residents association. On Mr A's instruction Mr Y had a meeting with the residents association and the football club and reviewed their use of the field and then found that the verbal agreement that they had with regards the use of the field and the payments to use the field were not being upheld. This then kicked into place a new formal contract that made it very clear that we or anyone else could use the field for cricket out of season.
Finally I received a call from the most senior person Mr A at the council and he said that we'd no longer have any aggro off of the football bloke and his residents association. He then went on to say that we could play cricket on the field anytime we liked once the football season was over. I asked whether we could mark a boundary out and play a proper game and he said as often and whenever you like. Nothing was said about the mowing of the grass - it wasn't mentioned.
At the time this was all happening as well as trying to get support from local MP's, NGO's and the council I posted a synopsis of the situation on a Green Keepers website asking how they'd feel if someone took to mowing a patch of grass on one their field 66' x 9' once a fortnight and the reaction was unbelievable - they went absolutely ballistic. They would be livid and their main argument was that it was a massive health and safety issue and that if anyone was to get hurt I'd end up in prison and/or get sued. But the weird thing was my council sanctioned and supported my actions and thought that what I was doing was good? Again the green-keepers website were incredulous "If the chiefs at the council new what you were doing...... " But they did! The last call had been from the Director of Parks and Gardens?
Now I can see that there might be a health and safety issue if I was using a electric mower and that maybe if there were people crowding around as I was mowing within range of a stone being kicked up by the blades someone might get seriously hurt. But it's a 12" blade manual mower with no-one within 400 yards of what I'm doing and it's all over and done with within 10-15 minutes. No-one comes near me because they probably think I'm either a council employee or I'm from the local mental institute or they simply hate cricket and have no reason to come and have a chat while I'm mowing. Besides this is England when do English people ever approach strangers and start talking? It is never going to happen is it - so where on earth are the H&S issues the Green-keeper blokes are getting so wound up about?
Another point; Surely if you were a council employee and your remit was to look after the field and the safety of the people using it would you not be more concerned about the blokes that ride up and down the pathways on 400cc Quadbikes or scrambling bikes that then get onto the field and race up and down like Steve McQueen at up to 50mph doing jumps over what were Golf bunkers whilst being chased by Rottweiller and Pit Bull dogs off their leads? Or gangs of kids smashing windows of the changing facilities and toilets, pushing over site screens and smashing them up, or stealing carp out of the lakes to eat, rather than get really wound up by a bloke that cuts another 2" off your grass after you've cut it with your tractor mower? A bloke you never see and no-one else ever sees because he's so discreet?
One of the blokes as mentioned earlier said that if he caught me he'd stick his boot where the sun doesn't shine. Well - let's look at this point on the field that I was cutting this summer. Imagine the scene...... It's dusk 9pm and for ten minutes I'm on the field with my mower preparing for the next knock about with my sons and the cricket kids off the estate. Then I notice that there's a van and bloke with big boots un-doing the lock on the gate trying to come in and he doesn't look to happy. For a second I think - ooh crap has my 12" manual mower just kicked up a stone or chip from the wicket and flown 150 feet over or through the trees and embeded itself in someones eye? Probably not but I can see I'm not wanted and I'll start packing up. Now Percy Park-keeper has 2 options now -
1. He comes into the field and shouts "Hold on mate" and gets on the phone to the local constabulary.
"Is that the police"?
"Yes this is desk sargeant Plod - can I help sir".
"Yeah - I'm down the road at x and there's a bloke here vandalising our field can you send a car out and nick him"?
"What exactly is he doing sir and can you describe him"?
"He's mowing a piece of grass 66' x 9' in the middle of our field - he looks about 40 + years old - going grey".
"But what is he doing sir"?
"He's mowing the grass"?
"No sir the vandalism - what is he doing"?
"Yeah - he's cutting the grass - that's the vandalism..... I normally cut it and leave it 4" and this blokes cutting it about 1/2".
"Right sir let me get this straight - there's a man with a mower mowing a small section of your field and he's cutting it shorter than you want - is that it"?
"Yes - he's vandalising the field".
"So okay sir - I've a list here of jobs our chaps have got to attend in the next 2 hours. There's a car crash on the A2, there's a domestic issue in Acacia drive where a man is reporting a woman is being beaten up, there's a burglarly in Chard Hill, over at the night clubs there's been a fight, we've got a missing child, we've got reports of children on the railway line throwing stones at the trains........ shall I go on sir? We'll get a car out to you as soon as possible, I wouldn't think it'll be there this side of midnight though and that's if nothing else turns up in between".
Scenario 2
1. He comes into the field and shouts "Hold on mate" walks over to me and kicks me up the bum "What the **** are you doing you **** this is my field you ******* ****-taker, get your ******** mower off this field and never come back again".
"Whoa - slow down, I'm going, but I'm just going to make a phone call". Guess who I call? Yes the police but I want to report an assualt. Being realistic though I wouldn't expect the police to turn up anyway, but as I walk out of the field making the call I'd then go round to the entrance and take the blokes vehicle registration number and get a good description of him. I'd then write to his employees once I'd got and incident report number and let them know that their staff are of the type that assault people for no good cause and do my damndest to get the bloke sacked.
Admittedly there might be a counter claim on the basis of tresspass and possibly vandalism which I really think is stretching it a bit. In the meantime I'd photograph the vandalism and how soon without a trace it naturally disappears with no-ones input. I'd also photograph all of the fencing and all the (Non existent) attempst that the owners make to state clearly that no-one is supposed to tresspass on the field. There are loads of holes in the fence and the gate is never locked.
Tresspass laws in the UK are notoriously weak, you can access someones house go inside and sit in their living room, turn on the tele and refuse to leave when asked to and not commit any serious crime. The people's house in which you've tresspassed run a massive risk of falling foul of the law if they resort to violence in any way in the process of trying to eject you from their house. Even taking your arm and man-handling out of the house or off the field could easily fall foul of assault if the action ended in bruising.
So even though the Green-keepers are really wound up by my mowing, they really do need to get a sense of perspective. I can only assume that they live in little villages where nothing else happens and that they read the Daily Mail?
added later.....
Oh yeah, I've been on the field numerous times when the police have been over-head hovering in their helicopter and up there they'd be able to see what I'm doing very clearly, but strangely they never seem to have seen fit to send a squad car over and ask me what I'm doing?
The field is a council field and when the football season had finished we started to practice over on the field. But it is just a field and it's used by footballers so there's loads of ruts and damage to the surface and we found that when you were trying to bowl the ball at 90m.p.h it was dangerous because of the uneveness of the grass surface. People were ending up having a ball in the face so we had to come up with a solution. I noticed that in between the two pitches there was a bit of no-mans land and it was much flatter and smack bang in the middle of the field. The only thing was - the grass was too long. What to do? My solution was to get a mower and mow it - so okay it looks a bit nuts some bloke in the middle of a public field mowing it with a tiny little qualcast panther mower, but other than that our cricket team had no-where to go and that would have been the end of that. Besides, I'm sure that when people like Christopher Columbus set out on his journeys and Leonardo Davinci told people there'd be helicopters in the future people sniggered at them and look how fun we're all having off the back of their nutcase endeavours, who knows one of these boys in 15 -20 years time might be lifting the Ashes in Australia? So I'm not fussed what people think.
Note* prior to starting the mowing I checked all the byelaws regarding the use of council fields and no-where is there anything that says you cannot use a lawnmower to cut the grass. An electric or petrol mower would be a different issue. Damaging trees and pulling up plants is obviously vandalism but mowing daisies, buttercups, dandelions and an inch or two off a patch of grass that constitutes 2 or 3% of the field doesn't seem to be a breach of the byelaws?
But then the inevitable happened - I was busted! The council turned up and caught me red handed, but instead of kicking me where the sun doesn't shine as suggested by someone else on a green-keepers website, the council blokes were really positive about what I was doing and supported my actions. Now these blokes weren't labourers, one of them was the area manager for the bourough. They went as far as right there and then ringing the green-keeper of the nearby cricket pitch to see if he could get a roller onto our field and get it really flat, but they couldn't get it over without having to commission a flatbed truck. So what they then did is arrange that we could use the cricket pitch free of charge for the rest of the summer on Sunday mornings if it wasn't being used by anyone else.
So with the support of the council once a fortnight I'd mow the grass with my Qualcast Panther and we'd have a practice in relatively safe and even grass. Then one evening I noticed that there was a bloke watching me cut the grass at the nearby pub that over-looked the field and he looked agitated and animated while using the phone and watching me. Eventually he came over and basically told me I couldn't mow the grass anymore because he was in the residents association and they paid money to play football on the field and that if I had any issues about this I should ring Mr X at the council and he'd put me straight. I pointed out that Mr Y at the council had sanctioned my mowing and I'd contact his Mr X in my own time and find out why he was contradicting my Mr Y? But more importantly if his Mr X was a council employee why was he getting drunk, abusive and intimidating cronies to do his work for him?
I didn't appreciate this drunk blokes threatening behaviour and decided to bypass all the Mr X and Mr Y's and go straight to the most senior person I could find. I emailed local MP's and different NGO's with agenda's around widening participation in sport and the encouragement of sport as well as the Director of Parks and Gardens (Mr A). It took a few weeks and while all this happened we stopped practicing on the field and as a consequence the momentum and enthusisasm waned and our team disintegrated.
It turned out that the Cronie's Mr X was in fact my Mr Y and that Mr Y knew nothing of the Football yobs feelings regarding me mowing their football pitch. In fact Mr Y took offence of the Football yobs use of his position to intimidate me and also the inference that the field was under the control of the football/residents association. On Mr A's instruction Mr Y had a meeting with the residents association and the football club and reviewed their use of the field and then found that the verbal agreement that they had with regards the use of the field and the payments to use the field were not being upheld. This then kicked into place a new formal contract that made it very clear that we or anyone else could use the field for cricket out of season.
Finally I received a call from the most senior person Mr A at the council and he said that we'd no longer have any aggro off of the football bloke and his residents association. He then went on to say that we could play cricket on the field anytime we liked once the football season was over. I asked whether we could mark a boundary out and play a proper game and he said as often and whenever you like. Nothing was said about the mowing of the grass - it wasn't mentioned.
At the time this was all happening as well as trying to get support from local MP's, NGO's and the council I posted a synopsis of the situation on a Green Keepers website asking how they'd feel if someone took to mowing a patch of grass on one their field 66' x 9' once a fortnight and the reaction was unbelievable - they went absolutely ballistic. They would be livid and their main argument was that it was a massive health and safety issue and that if anyone was to get hurt I'd end up in prison and/or get sued. But the weird thing was my council sanctioned and supported my actions and thought that what I was doing was good? Again the green-keepers website were incredulous "If the chiefs at the council new what you were doing...... " But they did! The last call had been from the Director of Parks and Gardens?
Now I can see that there might be a health and safety issue if I was using a electric mower and that maybe if there were people crowding around as I was mowing within range of a stone being kicked up by the blades someone might get seriously hurt. But it's a 12" blade manual mower with no-one within 400 yards of what I'm doing and it's all over and done with within 10-15 minutes. No-one comes near me because they probably think I'm either a council employee or I'm from the local mental institute or they simply hate cricket and have no reason to come and have a chat while I'm mowing. Besides this is England when do English people ever approach strangers and start talking? It is never going to happen is it - so where on earth are the H&S issues the Green-keeper blokes are getting so wound up about?
Another point; Surely if you were a council employee and your remit was to look after the field and the safety of the people using it would you not be more concerned about the blokes that ride up and down the pathways on 400cc Quadbikes or scrambling bikes that then get onto the field and race up and down like Steve McQueen at up to 50mph doing jumps over what were Golf bunkers whilst being chased by Rottweiller and Pit Bull dogs off their leads? Or gangs of kids smashing windows of the changing facilities and toilets, pushing over site screens and smashing them up, or stealing carp out of the lakes to eat, rather than get really wound up by a bloke that cuts another 2" off your grass after you've cut it with your tractor mower? A bloke you never see and no-one else ever sees because he's so discreet?
One of the blokes as mentioned earlier said that if he caught me he'd stick his boot where the sun doesn't shine. Well - let's look at this point on the field that I was cutting this summer. Imagine the scene...... It's dusk 9pm and for ten minutes I'm on the field with my mower preparing for the next knock about with my sons and the cricket kids off the estate. Then I notice that there's a van and bloke with big boots un-doing the lock on the gate trying to come in and he doesn't look to happy. For a second I think - ooh crap has my 12" manual mower just kicked up a stone or chip from the wicket and flown 150 feet over or through the trees and embeded itself in someones eye? Probably not but I can see I'm not wanted and I'll start packing up. Now Percy Park-keeper has 2 options now -
1. He comes into the field and shouts "Hold on mate" and gets on the phone to the local constabulary.
"Is that the police"?
"Yes this is desk sargeant Plod - can I help sir".
"Yeah - I'm down the road at x and there's a bloke here vandalising our field can you send a car out and nick him"?
"What exactly is he doing sir and can you describe him"?
"He's mowing a piece of grass 66' x 9' in the middle of our field - he looks about 40 + years old - going grey".
"But what is he doing sir"?
"He's mowing the grass"?
"No sir the vandalism - what is he doing"?
"Yeah - he's cutting the grass - that's the vandalism..... I normally cut it and leave it 4" and this blokes cutting it about 1/2".
"Right sir let me get this straight - there's a man with a mower mowing a small section of your field and he's cutting it shorter than you want - is that it"?
"Yes - he's vandalising the field".
"So okay sir - I've a list here of jobs our chaps have got to attend in the next 2 hours. There's a car crash on the A2, there's a domestic issue in Acacia drive where a man is reporting a woman is being beaten up, there's a burglarly in Chard Hill, over at the night clubs there's been a fight, we've got a missing child, we've got reports of children on the railway line throwing stones at the trains........ shall I go on sir? We'll get a car out to you as soon as possible, I wouldn't think it'll be there this side of midnight though and that's if nothing else turns up in between".
Scenario 2
1. He comes into the field and shouts "Hold on mate" walks over to me and kicks me up the bum "What the **** are you doing you **** this is my field you ******* ****-taker, get your ******** mower off this field and never come back again".
"Whoa - slow down, I'm going, but I'm just going to make a phone call". Guess who I call? Yes the police but I want to report an assualt. Being realistic though I wouldn't expect the police to turn up anyway, but as I walk out of the field making the call I'd then go round to the entrance and take the blokes vehicle registration number and get a good description of him. I'd then write to his employees once I'd got and incident report number and let them know that their staff are of the type that assault people for no good cause and do my damndest to get the bloke sacked.
Admittedly there might be a counter claim on the basis of tresspass and possibly vandalism which I really think is stretching it a bit. In the meantime I'd photograph the vandalism and how soon without a trace it naturally disappears with no-ones input. I'd also photograph all of the fencing and all the (Non existent) attempst that the owners make to state clearly that no-one is supposed to tresspass on the field. There are loads of holes in the fence and the gate is never locked.
Tresspass laws in the UK are notoriously weak, you can access someones house go inside and sit in their living room, turn on the tele and refuse to leave when asked to and not commit any serious crime. The people's house in which you've tresspassed run a massive risk of falling foul of the law if they resort to violence in any way in the process of trying to eject you from their house. Even taking your arm and man-handling out of the house or off the field could easily fall foul of assault if the action ended in bruising.
So even though the Green-keepers are really wound up by my mowing, they really do need to get a sense of perspective. I can only assume that they live in little villages where nothing else happens and that they read the Daily Mail?
added later.....
Oh yeah, I've been on the field numerous times when the police have been over-head hovering in their helicopter and up there they'd be able to see what I'm doing very clearly, but strangely they never seem to have seen fit to send a squad car over and ask me what I'm doing?
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Ransome Ajax mower part v
No cricket today, the game had been cancelled yesterday and then guess what happens - there's no rain at all today and it's been pretty sunny albeit windy. Been over to the wicket to how it's recovering from it's very close cut and to repair some of the scuff from the footballers yesterday. The practice wicket is fast disappearing into the rest of the grass and the only difference that'll be obvious soon will be that it just looks a lot more lush than the rest of the grass around it.
I didn't get it together today to sort out the roller and thinking about it I don't think I'd roll it now anyway, I'd leave it now till the back end of the winter - perhaps March. The only thing I might do now is get some weedkiller and kill the weeds which I've identified as being Plantain which is an interesting plant. The leaves are a good substitute for Doc leaves in the event that you get stung by nettles, but they're also good for insect bites too which is useful to know because the field is over-run with Midges in the summer to the point where it's uncomfortable to be there at times. The plant may also have anti-biotic properties see http://www.dgsgardening.btinternet.co.uk/plantain.htm The stuff to get rid of it though is relatively cheap but nasty and you spray it direct onto the plant and it works better when the leaves are in full growth, the larger and flatter the leaves the better the weed killer works, so that's another reason to hold off or stop the mowing in order that I can kill these weeds off ready for next season. It wasn't as expensive as I'd imagined either at about £3.50 to do the job.
Later in the afternoon I went over to the field and had a bit of a bowl and did okay, reverted to bowling flippers and wrong uns. I tried a few Leg Breaks but they just come out as straight balls or wrong uns. The flippers all went really well I manage to get them down the off side 95% of the time and they were all turning away from the bat like a leg break and then when I wanted to I'd bowl a googly and that then turned really well into the stumps. Wish I could bowl like that in a game! Maybe next year?
With the wicket in the middle being a bit short (For the kids) I was still gagging to see whether the grass cuttings bucket would work in practice so after my bowling session I went back after with the mower and extended the wicket by a couple of yards at one and yes it worked perfectly and again I was so impressed with this mower - the efficiency of the cut and the closeness of the cut is absolutely amazing I can't wait till next year when I'll be able to cut it this short all summer and get it really up to scratch. I was even looking at the grass parrallel the wicket at the moment with a view to having two wickets side by side so that one can recover whilst the other is being used - that's definitely a possibilty. What I now need to do as a part of the de-commissioning of the wicket is somehow mark it so that I can keep an eye on it over the winter and repair any big bits of damage as they happen and obviously be able to return to the exact spot next year and mow it knowing full well that it will be free of plantain and relatively flat.
I didn't get it together today to sort out the roller and thinking about it I don't think I'd roll it now anyway, I'd leave it now till the back end of the winter - perhaps March. The only thing I might do now is get some weedkiller and kill the weeds which I've identified as being Plantain which is an interesting plant. The leaves are a good substitute for Doc leaves in the event that you get stung by nettles, but they're also good for insect bites too which is useful to know because the field is over-run with Midges in the summer to the point where it's uncomfortable to be there at times. The plant may also have anti-biotic properties see http://www.dgsgardening.btinternet.co.uk/plantain.htm The stuff to get rid of it though is relatively cheap but nasty and you spray it direct onto the plant and it works better when the leaves are in full growth, the larger and flatter the leaves the better the weed killer works, so that's another reason to hold off or stop the mowing in order that I can kill these weeds off ready for next season. It wasn't as expensive as I'd imagined either at about £3.50 to do the job.
Later in the afternoon I went over to the field and had a bit of a bowl and did okay, reverted to bowling flippers and wrong uns. I tried a few Leg Breaks but they just come out as straight balls or wrong uns. The flippers all went really well I manage to get them down the off side 95% of the time and they were all turning away from the bat like a leg break and then when I wanted to I'd bowl a googly and that then turned really well into the stumps. Wish I could bowl like that in a game! Maybe next year?
With the wicket in the middle being a bit short (For the kids) I was still gagging to see whether the grass cuttings bucket would work in practice so after my bowling session I went back after with the mower and extended the wicket by a couple of yards at one and yes it worked perfectly and again I was so impressed with this mower - the efficiency of the cut and the closeness of the cut is absolutely amazing I can't wait till next year when I'll be able to cut it this short all summer and get it really up to scratch. I was even looking at the grass parrallel the wicket at the moment with a view to having two wickets side by side so that one can recover whilst the other is being used - that's definitely a possibilty. What I now need to do as a part of the de-commissioning of the wicket is somehow mark it so that I can keep an eye on it over the winter and repair any big bits of damage as they happen and obviously be able to return to the exact spot next year and mow it knowing full well that it will be free of plantain and relatively flat.
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Ransomes Ajax lawn mower Part IV
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Gutted! Was looking forward to using my Ransomes Ajax lawn mower today and was pleased to wake up to a sunny day with no rain and a blustery wind. The rest of the country it seems is under 3' of water. Later I went over to see what the situation was at the field e.g. was there anyone over there using it and sure enough their they were - Football Players. Gutted! I had a look and it did seem that they were up either end of the field in the goal areas rather than in the middle of the pitch, so it looked okay. They were over there till gone one so were there for about 4 hours. Once they had gone I had a look with the intention that I could go and cut the wicket again and maintain it later. At this point it was still dry and sunny.
When I had a look the wicket was a mess - stud marks all over it. Looking at the state of it, it looks like I'd better leave it now to grow a bit and recover and perhaps call it a day with mowing it so short for cricket because it's obvious that if I keep cutting it and they do play football on it, the damage may be so bad that it'll be difficult to repair next summer?
The thing is this morning I adpated the mower so that I could use the grass box from my qualcast panther and was looking forward to testing it out. It's a bit of a bodge (See images) but it should work, but then just as I was going to go and test it and mow the wicket it rained, so that was that plan ruined. Later the rain stopped and it dried out again in the meantime I'd been over there and done some repairs and planted some grass seed where the foxes had dug up the stump holes. While I was doing that again I looked at the wicket and decided that I reckon it should be left for at least a week before I cut it again. But I might be tempted to mow the practice wicket just see how good the grass collecting bucket works.
Friday, September 05, 2008
Ransomes Ajax lawnmower continued
Ransomes Ajax lawnmower continued.....
I'm so impressed with this mower and the fact that the grass is now so short I can see how good or bad the wicket actually is and it isn't too bad, that I'm now going to neglect the old practice wicket that's in the corner of the field and has been for 3 summers now and work exclusively on maintaining and improving the wicket in the middle of the field.
Just recently with the change in my bowling action - the inclusion of the step over/follow through the speed at which I bowl has increased and the balls have been disappearing into the corner of the field in amongst the bushes and getting lost. So if I develop the wicket in the middle of the field I can do as I used to at Great Berry Open Space e.g. throw 35 balls up one end and the throw em all back again ad infinitum and never lose them.
So what I'll be doing is extending the length of the wicket along with the width so that it's full size. I'll fill the stump holes that have been dug up by the bloody foxes, I'll look to see if I can score some weed killer from somewhere cheap and fill any dips and holes in the wicket. I may even look at cutting a second wicket beside the current one so that one can be used while the other one can be rested and repaired?
What with the current rain and the fact that the ground is become wet and sodden I'm also inclined to try and get the roller from my mates house tomorrow with a view to rolling the wicket at least once before the winter sets in proper. I'm also thinking again about how I can make a bigger roller out of concrete and keep in on the field.
I'm so impressed with this mower and the fact that the grass is now so short I can see how good or bad the wicket actually is and it isn't too bad, that I'm now going to neglect the old practice wicket that's in the corner of the field and has been for 3 summers now and work exclusively on maintaining and improving the wicket in the middle of the field.
Just recently with the change in my bowling action - the inclusion of the step over/follow through the speed at which I bowl has increased and the balls have been disappearing into the corner of the field in amongst the bushes and getting lost. So if I develop the wicket in the middle of the field I can do as I used to at Great Berry Open Space e.g. throw 35 balls up one end and the throw em all back again ad infinitum and never lose them.
So what I'll be doing is extending the length of the wicket along with the width so that it's full size. I'll fill the stump holes that have been dug up by the bloody foxes, I'll look to see if I can score some weed killer from somewhere cheap and fill any dips and holes in the wicket. I may even look at cutting a second wicket beside the current one so that one can be used while the other one can be rested and repaired?
What with the current rain and the fact that the ground is become wet and sodden I'm also inclined to try and get the roller from my mates house tomorrow with a view to rolling the wicket at least once before the winter sets in proper. I'm also thinking again about how I can make a bigger roller out of concrete and keep in on the field.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Ransomes Ajax lawnmower look at the cut on that!
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And here's the latest shots with the wicket cut at 5mm. I'm now tempted to go back and do it again at 2mm!
Later.....
Ben, Joe and I went over to the Valence Way wicket and had a bit of a knock about. The green keeper had been over during the day and he's mowed the outfield a bit and I think you can see this in the image. They've put the goal posts up but haven't painted any white lines as yet. Last year very little football was played on the field and I'm hoping that it'll be a similar situation this year and that the wicket wont get that mangled. Actually as I'm now cutting it so short I've got more of an idea of how uneven the grass is and it's not that bad. It now seeems that the lumpiness was due to the nature of the grass and the way it grows in clumps when left. The more you cut it the more even it becomes and the growth is obviously a lot more regular. Cutting this short has also meant that the weeds have been obliterated and it just goes from strength to strength. I also noticed that I was right in my assumption that a low cut like this also highlights any surface uneveness because the mower scrape of the grass to leave exposed and scraped mud patches that I'm able to faltten out. So it's looking very good. It also plays better, Ben who you can see bowling here bowled a lot better as his balls maintained a straight line on pitching the ground and my own Gippers worked well as well - I pitched 2 right on the edge of the wicket that then went round the back of Joes legs and hit his stumps! I wish I could do that in real cricket situations!
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Wickets and Mowers continued..........
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So here they are images of the wicket and the practice track in the corner of the field. These were taken this evening prior to any further mowing. But there's definitely more mowing to be had....
I cut the lawn in the backyard this evening which is tiny - probably as big as your living room maybe even smaller? I then thought I'd give it a going over with the mower with the blades as short as I'd set them last night. But I had another look at how low they were and decided that there was no way that a rough old field would be flat enough for a 2mm cut so I raised the blade to 5mm and gave it a go. Strewth 5mm is short! So short that it cuts all the grass off and leaves only mud and was a bit radical for our backyard. Having said that though it'll be interesting to see how the grass grows back? Anecdotally I've always been told that the more you cut the grass and the shorter you cut it the thicker it grows, as the roots produce more shoots to get more blades of grass up there to take in the sun and sustain the grass.
I'm now just waiting for the last of the boxers to depart from the gym/changing rooms at the field and as soon as they've gone I'll be over there in the dark giving the wicket a 5mm cut!
So....... an hour later with a 5mm cut set I re-cut the wicket in the middle of the field and from what I could see in the very dim light was that it was very commendable. The amount of additional grass that was being sprayed out of the front of the mower was substantail, so it's obviously cut a lot more off. It'll be interesting tomorrow morning to walk across the field and see how short and good it looks! If it's not raining I'll take the camera and shoot some pic's as I go past.
The local boys are up for game tomorrow night so when they stick the stumps in I'll shoot some pictures and it'll give a better sense of perspective (if it doesn't rain).
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Ransomes Ajax cylinder push mower
That's the name of my new mower or rather my 2nd hand mower have a look - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ransomes-Ajax-Cylinder-push-lawn-mower_W0QQitemZ130251326048QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item130251326048&_trkparms=72%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
I did take some images on the way home tonight, but having cut the wicket in the dark it didn't look that clever - the edges were a bit wobbly. So tonight Ben, Joe and I went over and had a quick game, Joe bowled well and Ben batted okay, he needs to be a bit more confident about being hit by the ball, but he did seem to be listening to what I was saying about getting his head in line with the ball. The thing is no-one bowls at him hard, but he flinches if it goes anywhere near him. Maybe next year being a bit older he may toughen up a bit?
After our practice which wasn't disturbed by any of the other boys we decided we'd get the new mower out and tidy up the edges and finish off the work from last night - they both seemed to appreciate that the grass was exceedingly short and were quite thrilled at the prospect that they'd be able to have a go. So we ended up giving the wicket the final touches and making it look perfect, so I'll post the pictures at a later stage when I've got some good shots of it. All I need to do now is figure out how to make a grass bucket for it and maybe even lower the blades further.
On the theme of cutting lawns and cricket obsessiveness have a look at this.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02b_xMIi3vg
I did take some images on the way home tonight, but having cut the wicket in the dark it didn't look that clever - the edges were a bit wobbly. So tonight Ben, Joe and I went over and had a quick game, Joe bowled well and Ben batted okay, he needs to be a bit more confident about being hit by the ball, but he did seem to be listening to what I was saying about getting his head in line with the ball. The thing is no-one bowls at him hard, but he flinches if it goes anywhere near him. Maybe next year being a bit older he may toughen up a bit?
After our practice which wasn't disturbed by any of the other boys we decided we'd get the new mower out and tidy up the edges and finish off the work from last night - they both seemed to appreciate that the grass was exceedingly short and were quite thrilled at the prospect that they'd be able to have a go. So we ended up giving the wicket the final touches and making it look perfect, so I'll post the pictures at a later stage when I've got some good shots of it. All I need to do now is figure out how to make a grass bucket for it and maybe even lower the blades further.
On the theme of cutting lawns and cricket obsessiveness have a look at this.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02b_xMIi3vg
And now I'm getting really carried away - this'll be grounds for divorce if I keep this up!
And it just gets better! Not content with looking at this mower more closely over the next few days, at 11.30pm I went down stairs got a cup of tea on, put a 2007 world cup video on (Sth Africa v Netherlands where Herschel Gibbs hits 6 x 6's) went out into the garage and brought the mower into the kitchen along with a bunch of spanners and started to look at whether the cut level could be lowered? Here's a few clues - this mower in some form or another has been around since the 1930's and only went out of production in the 1970's (The MK IV) having had 250,000 of them made. Who has gardens with bowling/golf green type grass?
1. Old blokes
2. People who buy mowers in B&Q's
3. Obese people
4. Chav's
Look at the list which of these people have that type of grass and which of these people would have a 40 year old mower in their shed? Yep you guessed it - the old bloke. How does he get his grass cut so short (I always wondered this myself)? Now I think I know - he's got a Ransomes Ajax mower.
Having un-bolted the front roller sliders (You can see them clearly in the photo's) it was a case of adjusting the sliders so that the blades were lowered. I could see that it was having an affect, but it wasn't until I'd done the bolt up and got down on the floor with a torch to see how much clearance there was from the carpet tiles to the blades. 2mm - yes 2mm maybe 2.5 at a push! That is incredibly low, so low it may not work me thinks. My Qualcast Panda mower gives a cut of 12mm and I've been happy with that so far - but this mower gives a 2mm cut! But I reckon the wicket wont actually be flat enough to use it at this setting - but who knows until I try it? I can't wait!
Check out my other blog here - this is all about Leg-spin bowling and nothing else. Double click on the image below.
Check out my other blog here - this is all about Leg-spin bowling and nothing else. Double click on the image below.
Valence Way wicket
Woke up as predicted to pouring rain, took a detour past the wicket to have a look at it in the light and it looks good. I had the camera but what with the rain I didn't bother to do any pictures and the forecast for the weather is that later today it'll clear, so hopefully I'll get some shots this evening either on the way through going home or later.
Because the mower has no bucket to collect the grass all of the cuttings are on the surface so they either need to be brushed off using a broom or I could use the other mower and go over it with that and see if that picks up most of the cuttings. But the good thing is - it is a very close cut and I'm fairly certain that it can be adjusted to cut even shorter and the wicket looks fairly flat. Lets hope the weather eases up over the next 4-6 weeks and we get some use out of it? Both my boys are back at school today and what with being stuck in school all day they may be a little bit more up for playing cricket?
Because the mower has no bucket to collect the grass all of the cuttings are on the surface so they either need to be brushed off using a broom or I could use the other mower and go over it with that and see if that picks up most of the cuttings. But the good thing is - it is a very close cut and I'm fairly certain that it can be adjusted to cut even shorter and the wicket looks fairly flat. Lets hope the weather eases up over the next 4-6 weeks and we get some use out of it? Both my boys are back at school today and what with being stuck in school all day they may be a little bit more up for playing cricket?
Monday, September 01, 2008
New Mower
Cor blimey! No wonder people used to be fit and healthy back in the day..... I went round my Father in Laws and picked up my new mower this evening and just carrying it from his house to the car I realised it was a bit of a lump of a machine what with having a weighted roller on the back. Then as dusk came down I went over to the field in the gloom with it to have a mow and try it out and again the walk across the road over to field impressed on me how heavy the thing was, so much so that when I realised the boxing club blokes were still there rather than carry the bloody thing back home I stashed it in the woods.
Eventually they went home around about 9pm and I was able to do the mowing in the dark. I had to get it done as there was loads of cloud cover and it looks like rain due soon and what with it not raining today it looked as though tonight might be the only window of opportunity. In the dim light offered by the street lights across the way I was able to locate where the wicket was and got down to the mowing and right from the word go it was impressive. Even in the dark I could see that it was cutting absolutely stacks of grass and that it was very short, if it had a bucket to catch the grass I'd imagine it would been filled several times over it looked that efficient and then by the time it was all done man did it look short! Even in the dim light the contrast between the wicket grass and the outfield was marked and underfoot it felt like carpet it was that short!
Enthused by the efficiency I went over and cut my bowling practice wicket which is a lot bigger full length and about 6 or 7 feet wide, so quite a bit of grass and as I made the move from one wicket to the other I could feel the beginnings of the rain, so the grass was now beginning to pick up some moisture and needless to say would become difficult to cut, so I had to crack on a bit with it and this is where it started to feel a bit heavy and cumbersome and I began to sweat and have to work a bit. Making me realise - no wonder hover mowers and electric mowers became the vogue back in the late 60's and early 70's and no wonder your Dad and your Grandad back then were fit geezers what with all that manual mowing lark every 3 nights in the summer! But what a beautiful cut it gives you - the work is worth the look of the cut. Even in the dark I could see that I was producing lovely lines and I can't wait till tomorrow and see how short it really is. So much so I'll be taking my camera into work just so that I can take some pictures on the way in!
All I need to do now is either make a grass bucket or get one from somewhere and I'll be in lawn-mowing heaven. If I give it a few more days so that the dead grass blows away or is absorbed into the earth and then cut it again and next time collect the cuttings somehow. I'm such a saddo obsessive!
Eventually they went home around about 9pm and I was able to do the mowing in the dark. I had to get it done as there was loads of cloud cover and it looks like rain due soon and what with it not raining today it looked as though tonight might be the only window of opportunity. In the dim light offered by the street lights across the way I was able to locate where the wicket was and got down to the mowing and right from the word go it was impressive. Even in the dark I could see that it was cutting absolutely stacks of grass and that it was very short, if it had a bucket to catch the grass I'd imagine it would been filled several times over it looked that efficient and then by the time it was all done man did it look short! Even in the dim light the contrast between the wicket grass and the outfield was marked and underfoot it felt like carpet it was that short!
Enthused by the efficiency I went over and cut my bowling practice wicket which is a lot bigger full length and about 6 or 7 feet wide, so quite a bit of grass and as I made the move from one wicket to the other I could feel the beginnings of the rain, so the grass was now beginning to pick up some moisture and needless to say would become difficult to cut, so I had to crack on a bit with it and this is where it started to feel a bit heavy and cumbersome and I began to sweat and have to work a bit. Making me realise - no wonder hover mowers and electric mowers became the vogue back in the late 60's and early 70's and no wonder your Dad and your Grandad back then were fit geezers what with all that manual mowing lark every 3 nights in the summer! But what a beautiful cut it gives you - the work is worth the look of the cut. Even in the dark I could see that I was producing lovely lines and I can't wait till tomorrow and see how short it really is. So much so I'll be taking my camera into work just so that I can take some pictures on the way in!
All I need to do now is either make a grass bucket or get one from somewhere and I'll be in lawn-mowing heaven. If I give it a few more days so that the dead grass blows away or is absorbed into the earth and then cut it again and next time collect the cuttings somehow. I'm such a saddo obsessive!
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