It was a funny week. I was only at work for three days and I really, really wanted all of them to be Wednesday, for some reason.  This worked quite well on Wednesday.  Less well on Thursday and Friday! Plus, I was trying to get things wound up at work so they would tick over while I was away for three and a half weeks, and get ready to go to Australia for three weeks, and get the house ready to be abandoned and the garden ready to be neglected.  Although the garden is quite used to being neglected!

Gareth came and took away the car.

And we got a letter from the guttering people to say there was a discrepancy between what their salesman had quoted and what the surveyor thought the cost was likely to be and they were therefore cancelling the contract.  I have a feeling that they might have been legally bound by it, given that a contract had been signed and we had paid a deposit, but I wasn't going to argue.  As long as I get my deposit back, I can't be fussed with taking it to a tribunal. If it comes to it, we can get a local bloke in to do the front guttering and we can probably do the back ourselves.  Actually, we could probably do the lot ourselves (The Builder doing the buildering, and me holding the ladder) but if someone is going to fall off a tall, tall ladder while tackling the front guttering, I would rather it was someone else!! (Although I would, of course, prefer it if no one did!).

And now it's time to go!  See you in Australia!

Easter Feasting

We had a magnificent Easter Feast this year.  We had home made fish cakes on Good Friday, and fish pie on Saturday.  On Sunday I made souvlaki for dinner, with tabouleh and lettuce and tomato, and garlic sauce and toasted pita bread.  It was sumptuously delicious. I had forgotten quite how much I like tabouleh.  I must make it more often

But mostly, our feast was on Monday.  I made some more scotch eggs and some prawn cakes (like fish cakes only with prawns instead of fish) for the entree.  We had a truly lovely piece of lamb from Farmer Jayne roasted with Shetland Black roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes, sprouting broccoli from the garden and sweet potatoes, and a vegetable and white wine gravy.

And for dessert we had ice cream sundaes, with choc-mint ice cream (made with fresh mint), baileys ice cream and vanilla ice cream, topped with a chocolate and raspberry sauce, crushed nuts (no crushed nuts on mine!!) and tiny, tiny sugared Easter eggs.  Now if I could only find the recipe for the chocolate sauce again.  Although - I think I have a print out of it somewhere  It was dead easy - just cocoa, sugar and water, to which I added some de-seeded raspberry jam and a healthy dollop of cream. I just can't remember the quantities for the sauce.

Easter

We have had a very jolly Easter weekend. There was considerable feasting.

The guttering man came on Friday and stayed for an hour.  He was civilised, washed and brushed, tidy, polite - and seemed to know what he was talking about.  We have paid a deposit for new guttering and downpipes to come later in the summer. (The guttering at the front of the house goes very slightly uphill towards the downpipe which, I'm sure you will agree, is not entirely effective!)

We went on Saturday to help Freyja shift things from her old flat to her new place and to start the cleaning up process, for Mark has now moved out and the flat is being given up. Mark has moved into a castle!!!! (Well, into a flat inside a 19th century version of a castle).

Tabitha, Gareth and Ginger Rich came by on Sunday afternoon and stayed over. Although Rich had to leave early on Monday morning and thus missed out on our Easter Feast on the Monday

Bea and Steve joined us for lunch on Monday.  Taffa and Gaz stayed for lunch too. Then Bea and Steve took them back into Sheffield to catch their coach back.  It's weird, really.  You can buy "fun fares" on the coach to and from Cambridge for not very much money, but only from Sheffield, not from Chesterfield.  You can get *off* in Chesterfield, but not on.  So they had to go 15 miles into Sheffield, to get on a coach which brought them along that very same 15 miles back to Chesterfield.

Then I had Tuesday off, because the University was closed.  We had lunch in The Nettle and left overs from Monday for dinner. And I did almost nothing.  I did manage to wash about half the dishes from Monday and that was pretty much it.  Which is something of a worry because we're back helping Freyja this evening, then we're leaving for London on Saturday afternoon, and the house looks like a bomb has gone off in it and the ironing has not been done and I had quite a lot of organisational plans for Tuesday none of which materialised :-S

But we did eat well.  And drink well.

Someone seems to have called a general election.  The news last evening talked of nothing else.  Actually, that's not true.  They allowed around three minutes for a discussion of actual news.  I can only be grateful that I am about to leave the country. By the time we come back, the election will be all but upon us.  In the meantime, I shall watch the food programs on telly and avoid the news programs.  Not quite sure what I can do about Radio 4 in the mornings, though.

Mostly, we seemed to spend the weekend playing Angry Birds on my iPhone.  Not that Gareth is obsessed at all, oh, no no no no no

Outlet shopping

It is not very often that I have cause to be grateful for the existence of outlet shopping centres, but just such an occasion occurred at the weekend.  We had been enjoying steak and chips in The Swan on Saturday evening.  I enjoyed mine so much that I succeeded in tipping half a pot of peppercorn sauce all over me.  We wiped me down with paper napkins but nevertheless, my clothes still looked on Sunday morning as though I had had a particularly unfortunate accident.  And, of course, I did not have a change of clothes with me because my trousers and shirt had been clean on as we left home on Saturday lunchtime!

We were off to Jeanette and Matthew's place for lunch.  The intention had been to take The Builder's mother with us as well but, alas, she had a tummy upset and was indisposed.  As we trundled towards Whiteley it crossed my mind that just around the corner from Jeanette and Matthew's house there was a rather large outlet shopping centre.  I nipped into a clothes shop, emerged with a pair of trousers and a shirt, ducked into the ladies and got changed into nice, unpeppercorn sauced clothes.  I might also have accidentally gone into Past Times.  And maybe into Whittards.  We now have nice new kitchen plates and a new nightshirt each

We had a lovely lunch and a nice visit. It was good to see everyone, although a bit disappointing that Gwen couldn't join us

And then I had a rather nice week. I had Monday off, just because.  Then on Tuesday and Wednesday I was at a conference in Nottingham.  And tomorrow is Good Friday, and we get a five day weekend.  I think I can probably manage one day in the office!

Oh - and Farley now has his nice new collar.  They had them on sale in our local Sainsbury's too.

A man is coming to talk to us tomorrow morning about guttering.  I very devoutly hope that he does not plan to stay for four hours.  I don't think I could stand four hours talking about gutters and downpipes!!

First harvest for 2010

And very tasty it was too :-)

The allotment

A little while back, the Under Gardener was up on the allotment where there was also a man with a small plough.  Not very much money changed hands, and the Under Gardener had arranged for the man to brush-cut, plough and rotavate the bottom half of the allotment.  We've only ever cultivated one bed at the bottom, right down the back near the jungle. The rest has been untouched for years.

A few days later, the man returned, and within the space of an hour or so, the bottom part of the allotment looked like a well-tended small field.  Even the jungle had been chopped down - though not cultivated.  A project for another year, I think.

So now the Under Gardener is digging and manuring, and creating proper garden beds ready for planting later in the spring.  The visit to Australia in April will be lots of fun - but I do now understand Margaret and Jack's agitation that they should return to the UK form their December/January visits to Melbourne in time to get the seeds planted!  But I think I might set some seeds going before we leave and hope that the cat sitters remember to water them.

In the meantime, the Under Gardener has planted a bed full of onions and shallots.  I think we might get more onion sets and plant up a second bed.  The beds on the allotment are considerably bigger than the ones in the kitchen garden - but you can't have too many onions.  We have already run out of last season's.  I wonder if it would be excessive to buy a third freezer just for onions?

Reverting to last weekend ...

... and ignoring irrelevant distractions such as oiks in cars with horns ...

We went to Cambridge, as you may remember, to take Joan out to lunch on the Sunday.  We had intended to dash down and back on the Sunday, but Tabitha convinced us that it would be an even better plan for us to head down later on Saturday afternoon to play with her.  She had taken a few days off work and was looking for something to amuse her.

So we did.  And immediately took her back to her place of work to lay in Supplies for Saturday evening.  I had a fancy for Aussie burgers, so we raided all the various shelves with the Doings for Burgers.  While we were there, I grabbed a pretty collar for small dogs for Farley.  I realise that Farley is largely immobile and probably doesn't actually require a collar.  But I can't see why being a toy dog should disbar you from collarness, and this was quite a pretty one.

Back to the house we ambled, and passed the evening in convivial burger munching and wine quaffing and telly watching.

I got up on Sunday morning and was pottering around.  I wonder where that pretty little collar went.  I can't see it anywhere, and the bags are empty and folded up, ready to put back in the car.  I shall have a thorough search in the kitchen.  It may have got caught up with the various ingredients for the burgers, or in amongst the packaging, or somewhere. But no.  Right then.  I shall clear up the dining table and sort things out.  It may be there.  No.  Hmm.  Maybe I put it in my basket, or (for some weird reason) in my computer bag.  Nope.  That there collar is nowhere to be seen.  Odd!

Find that Taffa is now awake and chatting on Skype.  No, she hasn't seen it either.  And no, she definitely is not wearing it around her neck!!!!!

Give up pondering the whereabouts of the collar and go to ponder the question of breakfast instead. And to admire the beautiful morning which the weather dogs have seen fit to bestow upon us.

Was happily assembling the wherewithal for egg, bacon and tomato sandwiches, when The Builder came downstairs.  I mentioned to him, in passing, the mystery of the missing dog collar.  He looked worried.  No, no.  It's OK.  It's only a dog collar - it's bound to be around somewhere. It'll turn up. Eventually.  He looked even more worried.  Had I checked the receipt to make sure I had paid for it?

Well no.  I never check supermarket receipts unless the total looks wrong in some way.  Why would I have done it this time?  He looked even more worried (if such a thing were possible).  I began to get suspicious.  What did he know about the whereabouts of the collar?

AHA!!!!!  It seems that he had unpacked the shopping basket at the checkout and put everything on the roller thingy.  Suddenly, there caught his eye - a dog collar, caught up on the packaging for something else.  He assumed it had been left by a previous customer, although the one immediately in front denied all knowledge of it.  Despite the fact that I had, some days earlier, mentioned the possibility of getting Farley a nice collar, he didn't think to ask me about it.  And I wasn't paying attention.  I was listening to a story that Taffa was telling me.  And so it was that he handed the collar to the checkout assistant, telling her it wasn't ours - and the pretty little dog collar was sent back to the shelves!!!!!!!

It's no wonder I couldn't find it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And for those of you who have enquired - Joan wasn't too bad on Sunday, thank you.  She is in fair health and fair spirits.  She is a bit forgetful, but is managing reasonably well with the aid of a calendar and a daily "to do" list.  I think Penny and Jeremy keep her up to speed as well.  Mind you, I managed to confuse her mightily by telling her (when I rang on Sunday morning to confirm that she was still coming with us) that Taffa and Gaz would be going on their bicycles and not in the car.  I meant that they would be going directly to the pub. She understood me to mean that they would be cycling out to her place (which they have done in the past) and then coming with us in the car.  And had been thinking about where the bicycles could safely be stored. Plus she had put out water glasses for them because it was quite a warm morning (by comparison to recent temperatures) and they would be hot and thirsty when they got there!  Must remember to be more precise in my comments next time!!!

Am looking forward to the next few weekends.  This one coming, I have three days off (no particular reason for having Monday off - I just fancied it). Then I am at a conference on Tuesday and Wednesday in Nottingham.  I thought I might come into the office on Thursday to see if any of the missing people have come back (though mostly they are on holiday so probably won't have). Then it's Easter and SHU gets five days off. Then I am at work for three days - and then I get a weekend that lasts for TWENTY SIX days.  I am very excited about that weekend!

Releasing my inner Australian

You will, I hope, allow that it is extremely unusual for me to swear at complete strangers.  Rare, indeed, for me to make rude finger gestures.  But I did on Sunday afternoon!

We had taken Joan to The Plough in Fen Ditton for lunch.  Tabitha and Gareth joined us. They came on their bicycles.  The Plough is extremely popular. Deservedly so - they do lovely food and are not hugely expensive (£90 for 5; two courses each, plenty of booze).  So you need to book well in advance.  I rang as they opened last Monday and only had the choice of 12 or 5.  If you want a table at 1, you need to book a long time in advance!

Anyway. We got there, enjoyed a lovely lunch, had a good natter and a lovely time. Then, when it was time to go home, The Builder went to collect the car, and I escorted Joan to the door.  Taffa and Gaz went to inspect the facilities to make sure they were in adequate condition.

The car park has suffered sadly over the winter and is full of potholes.  There are some quite dandy potholes just by the ramp down from the door.  Now we clearly didn't want to drop Joan into a deep pothole full of muddy water.  She's only little - we might never get her out.  So The Builder had to stop so that the exit from the car park was blocked.  But really - how long does it take to get an elderly lady into the back of a car?  A minute?  Perhaps two?

A car pulled up and waited patiently for us to get Joan in and secure.  Another car came roaring up.  Couldn't go anywhere.  We, and the other car, were in the way. He leaned on his horn.  The Builder remonstrated.  The driver yelled that he wasn't tooting at us but at the car in front of him.  But he couldn't go anywhere cos we were in the way..  The driver yelled some more.  I made a rude gesture that I very seldom use, except in jest.  The driver retaliated by leaning on his horn some more.  And I am afraid that I suddenly got very, very tired of people who get impatient when you are manifestly doing something which is not going to take long, such as putting elderly, disabled people, or infants, or anything, into a car, and lean on their horns. And my inner Australian was abruptly and unexpectedly released. As we went to pull away I thanked the patient driver for waiting.  And told the impatient driver that, in my opinion, he was a f***wit. 

Tabitha tells me that this very driver, his female companion and two teenage persons had gone into The Plough as we were leaving, walked past the queues of people waiting for the next sitting and simply sat down at the table we had just left. When they were asked if they had a reservation, for the pub was fully booked until 6:00, they said no, but surely that didn't matter. They were hungry, there first and had sat down.  I suspect they were quite rude to the staff person for they were invited to leave. I don't think they were having a very good day.

Tabitha also tells me that as they drove past her and Gareth, waiting to ride away on their bikes (and Tabitha and Gareth had had nothing to do with any of this, other than observing) the teenagers in the back made rather rude gestures at them.  Nice!

I must confess that I did rather hope that the driver might have the tiniest of tiny strokes.  Not sufficient to seriously inconvenience him.  Just enough so that he found it hard to get in and out of cars and that people would have to wait for him.  And I hope they toot and toot and toot and toot. 

Although using your horn for such purposes is, in the UK, not strictly legal.

I suppose I should be rather ashamed of yelling and swearing at strangers.  But I'm not, not really.  People should be more patient. It's hard enough being elderly, little and disabled without people tooting their horns at you!

It's a very long time since I have used the fwit word.  A long, long time.  I'm not sure quite where it came from on Sunday.  But I think I might revive it.  It's a very satisfying word to use at someone who is indeed a fwit

Windows

In the end, the window fitters weren't all that troublesome.

They lobbed in at about 20 to 8 (fortunately we were up and dressed - or I was at least - if not absolutely ready for them quite so early).

They methodically removed windows and put new units in. The bathroom window was in and virtually functional by 5 past 8.

They were finished, done and gone before 1.

And Marlo hated them!  The Builder had covered the lounge chairs with the lounge curtains.  Marlo took refuge hidden under the curtains.  Until the window fitters advanced into the lounge room, whereupon he took refuge down in the cellar, emerging after it had all gone quiet, and absolutely covered in dust.

Might almost be time to clean the cellar!

In the meantime, it had become clear to me that I had vastly underestimated the level of chaos that having new windows put in would create.  I had, of course, realised that the window sills would need to be cleared, things would need to be shifted away from the windows, the kitchen benches would need to be cleared.  I had arranged to go in to work a little late to assist The Builder with this.  But as I realised that almost all the contents of the kitchen benches were now on the dining room table, that we had moved lots of furniture that hadn't been shifted since we moved in almost four years ago (dust, grime - the dead mouse was something of a surprise), that the house was in considerable disarray - it became all too clear that sorting it all out was going to take the rest of the day, and then some.

I rang and pleaded to have the day off.  Permission was granted.

So as the window fitters finished in the bathroom, kitchen and our bedroom, The Builder and I moved in with buckets. mops, dusters, cloths, Henry.  And we now have sparklingly shiny rooms.  The lounge and dining room are marked for Saturday, but shouldn't take all that long.  The spare room will have to wait until Easter, largely because I want to sort the cupboards out as well.

So - a result all around.  Clean, shiny rooms, removal of the dead mouse, dust and grime banished.  And lovely new windows.  They open.  They close. Then they can be opened again.  And they close again.  And we can see through them. And they let light in, and keep wind and rain out.  They're Lovely!

Beginning the 2010 planting