I’ve just had lunch with Freyja. She came to tell me all about the excitements of her birthday weekend in London, where she stayed in Toooooooting (Toot Toot) with Mark in what sounds to have been almost an apartment in a set of boarding houses. They went to what sounds like an X-rated muppet show on the Friday night and then spent Saturday and Sunday at the Empire magazine Film Convention. They saw lots of snippets of yet-to-be released films and met film stars 9one of whom engaged in conversation with them) and they won prizes and saw a couple of full length films – and Freyja won an IPod Nano. But she won’t give it to me.

They seem to have had a good time. It was, I gather, a magnificent Birthday Weekend.

I would probably have enjoyed the X-rated muppet show! And probably staying in Tooting.

Freyja has been lying to Facebook. Or Facebook is lying to me. It sent me an alert on Saturday to say that her birthday was approaching and that she would be turning 23. This is clearly not the case. Everyone knows that Freyja is 15. Although Freyja suggests that both Facebook and I are wrong and that she is really 17. In either case, she is much too young to be going to X-rated muppet shows!!!

I have broken my liquidiser jug:-( I dropped it on top of the mixing bowl when I was cleaning up on Sunday and it’s got a big crack in it. This is unfortunate. I can still use it for making breadcrumbs but not for blending soups and sauces and things. :-( Fortunately, Kenwood has a spare parts facility. A new liquidising jug is on its way, though it won’t come for about a fortnight. It is being accompanied by a dough hook :-)

The Builder’s ear is getting better. He no longer snarls and kicks and bites and scratches when I put the drops in his ear. He just can’t hear properly.

It’s less than a week till Ian arrives. This means that The Wedding is looming large on the horizon. I had better find my Wedding Picnic menu and start thinking about it. I have to make a million party pies, party sausage rolls, party pasties and party quiches. Amongst other things.

In a burst of enthusiasm about sausage making, I ordered from Amazon a book called: Great sausage recipes and meat curing Seemed a good combination. I’ve been tempted by the idea of trying ham-making too, lately. While I was at it, I ordered a DK book about bread which I’ve had out from the Chesterfield Library and which needs to go back soon. The fat, hardback sausage book arrived rather too tightly cling-wrapped and had started to buckle. Then it and the bread book had been put in a box that was toooooo small, which had been put in a larger box which was bound with lashings of sellotape. I’ve never had such a bizarrely packaged delivery from Amazon before. It was falling apart even as it got to me. The bread book, being a paperback, didn’t fare too badly. But the sausage book was all bent and buckled and looked rather sad. You certainly couldn’t have given it as a present to anybody. Also, it was American and not really what I had been looking for. Plus, all the recipes contain proprietary mixes which you can’t source here and which I don’t want to use anyway. I sent them a grumpy email, complaining about the packaging. Which I wouldn’t have done if I had been happy with the book. As Freyja pointed out – I can still read it. Had it not been buckled, though, I would have sent it back as a straight return. Or given it to someone.

Amazon responded with a friendly email saying they were very sorry about the packaging and they didn’t really know what to do now because ordinarily they would have sent a replacement copy but they rather fancied that I didn’t want one. Would I like to return the damaged book and have a refund, or to keep it at a discount. I was rather impressed! It’s going back. Such a difference from the responses I got from eBay when I sent them a gently worded complaint! I shall buy a different sausage book from them, having first checked that it is not American.