The Builder came home early from work on Monday feeling poorly sick. He was all grey and gloomy and felt horrible. He even completely ignored the digestive biscuits I had made on Monday morning (this is seriously abnormal behaviour!!).
I went to work at Psalter Lane, came home at about half nine to find him looking much less grey but still not altogether in peak condition. Poured wine down his throat, and off to bed we went.
He woke up on Tuesday feeling ever so much better. So much so, that we went out for lunch. So much so that he chowed into a plate full of steak pie with chips and carrots and peas and stuff. And Gravy. All the gravy that came in a little jug with his pie. Every last drop. Now fair’s fair. It was his gravy. But he didn’t leave a drop, not a single drop for me to have with my chips. Not a drop. I love gravy on my chips :-( Had to have tomato sauce instead :-(
Back in July, I went with Lindsey and Ian into huckleberry Willow, a gift shop across from the Twisty Spire. It’s the sort of shop that seems to go on for ever. It’s the sort of shop I don’t go into all that often, for entering it tends to come expensive! Right at the back, they sell furniture. Amongst the bits and pieces was a beautiful, square oak table, extending when necessary to seat 6. It was gorgeous. A week or so later, I took The Builder in to admire it. He too thought it was beautiful, but we didn’t happen to have a spare small mortgage lying about so we left it. But if you’re going to take all of YOUR gravy and pour it all over YOUR chips and pie and leave absolutely none of it for poor Frannie’s chips - you must expect to pay!!!!! We went in to Huckleberry Willow to admire the table. And it HAD GORN!!!!!!!!! But it had been replaced by a bigger one, for a small mortgage plus £50. He has now bought it for me – er, I mean for the dining room. It’s coming tomorrow.
Now we just need some chairs! We do have chairs, but they emphatically will not go with a beautiful oak table. Ideally oak chairs would be best, though they are very expensive. Pine would do! And a dresser. I need a dresser. There is a built in one in the kitchen, but it is full. (What do you mean, I clearly have too much china?)
Now I want to decorate the dining room to make it beautiful enough for the table!
Victoria Harbour, Docklands, Spring 2026
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Mick, The Builder’s father, klopsed on Friday. In his chair. Kerplunk!
Gwen had to call a 999 ambulance. And they spent ages trying to revive him. And succeeded. And then he klopsed again! So they took him in their ambulance to the hospital – which fortunately is only about 5 minutes from where they live. I don’t know if there were sirens.
Gwen rang The Builder at about lunchtime. He rang me. I made arrangements to be covered, if need be, on the Saturday. But we were going down on Saturday evening anyway and Gwen said there was no pressing need to go earlier. So we hung fire and trundled down on Saturday evening as planned, staying in the Bridge Farm B&B where we usually stay.
We had a fair run down on Saturday evening, stopping at a motorway services with an M&S Simply Food, where we bought the makings of a picnic. We got to Bridge Farm at about 9, smuggled in our picnic, and passed a pleasant couple of hours eating chicken and salad and drinking wine. Then to bed, nice and early.
And even then we slept late! Norma brought us a tea tray at 7:30 – and I was pretty much asleep until she knocked on the door! Usually we are the first down to breakfast. On Sunday we were the last (she only has three bedrooms). It was still a lovely breakfast, even if it was a bit later!
We had decided to drop into Salisbury before doing anything else. However, Waitrose doesn’t open until 10 on a Sunday and we were much too early. So we went for a drive along a little road which runs through Coombe Bisset, Stratford Tony, Bishopstone, Alvediston and on to Berwick St John, where we stayed with Lindsey and Ian in the summer. Was a lovely drive. There were lots of birds, many sheep, some strange cows which looked a lot like saddleback pigs with curly, fluffy hair, and two pigs. Really enjoyed my Sunday morning drive! Then we headed to Waitrose, rushed in, rushed out to avoid a compulsory 2 minute silence at 11:00 (It was Remembrance Sunday *and* the 11/11. I don’t mind observing a two minute silence – but I won’t be told by a supermarket, no matter how up-market, that I *have* to). Then we went back to Bridge Farm to the shop, where we did observe the silence. Then we mooched on to Gwen and Mick’s place.
The intention had been that we would come down and take them out for Sunday lunch at the Yew Tree, which is a nice little pub in the next village along. The doubt had been that Gwen was off to the hospital last Wednesday for a cataract operation and she didn’t know how she would feel. Mick, of course, had avoided going out with us by collapsing. Gwen decided that lunch out was better than cooking it for herself, so we ambled off – only to find that the Yew Tree had just ONE table left that was unbooked. I grabbed it very hastily! We had wonderful roast beef. The Builder and Gwen had apple crumble. I had another glass of wine. Then, given that it was too early to go hospital visiting, we went back along the road from Coombe Bisset to Berwick St John to show the strange cows to Gwen. She didn’t know what they were either.
Driving back to Salisbury along the main road, we were buzzed by a buzzard!!!!! Huge great big enormous thing, flew down at an angle, missing the windscreen by millimetres. How it didn’t hit us is a mystery. I can tell you, though – I have no wish at all to be in a car with a smashed windscreen and a trapped, very pissed off buzzard!!!!!!! The grand total of birds of prey was 1 kestrel, hovering over a field, one sparrow hawk sitting regally on a fence post and one buzzard that was trying to dedd us. Oh, and a heron, stood autocratically in a small river. But that, of course, is not a bird of prey. Unless you are a fish!
We got to the hospital, got to the ward – and found that Mick had escaped! The ward was full of grey, sickly, little men, looking very poorly. Mick came back in a wheelchair. Did he look grey and sickly and poorly and little? Did he heck! He looked all sparkly and shiny and cheerful! A fraud he is. A fraud! I think he just fancied a bit of a holiday on the NHS surrounded by pretty nurses! It seems he had been hypoglycaemic. They did manage to fix that but nobody is entirely sure why he became hypo in the first place, and they can’t stabilise his blood sugar levels. They are still all over the place. But while he is in the hospital they can keep it more or less under control, which I suppose is why he looks quite perky. I think he is getting a bit fed up of being held captive though. And I’m sure Gwen is getting tired with all the hospital visiting. He didn't know what the striped cows were either, based on our description. But I do! Thanks to Google Images, I have discovered that they are Belted Galloways. (http://www.belties.com/ It was the black ones we saw)
And so home, via Barb’s for afternoon tea (tea and scones – very civilised on a Sunday afternoon!) and to drop a few things off. We had a good run home, given that we left Salisbury at 5pm on a Sunday afternoon. And found Marlo lying along the back of the armchair in the dining room, exactly where The Builder had left him on Saturday afternoon. The only evidence that we have that he had moved at all (and it is purely circumstantial) was the presence of a dead mouse on the kitchen floor, which had not been there when The Builder left!
Gwen had to call a 999 ambulance. And they spent ages trying to revive him. And succeeded. And then he klopsed again! So they took him in their ambulance to the hospital – which fortunately is only about 5 minutes from where they live. I don’t know if there were sirens.
Gwen rang The Builder at about lunchtime. He rang me. I made arrangements to be covered, if need be, on the Saturday. But we were going down on Saturday evening anyway and Gwen said there was no pressing need to go earlier. So we hung fire and trundled down on Saturday evening as planned, staying in the Bridge Farm B&B where we usually stay.
We had a fair run down on Saturday evening, stopping at a motorway services with an M&S Simply Food, where we bought the makings of a picnic. We got to Bridge Farm at about 9, smuggled in our picnic, and passed a pleasant couple of hours eating chicken and salad and drinking wine. Then to bed, nice and early.
And even then we slept late! Norma brought us a tea tray at 7:30 – and I was pretty much asleep until she knocked on the door! Usually we are the first down to breakfast. On Sunday we were the last (she only has three bedrooms). It was still a lovely breakfast, even if it was a bit later!
We had decided to drop into Salisbury before doing anything else. However, Waitrose doesn’t open until 10 on a Sunday and we were much too early. So we went for a drive along a little road which runs through Coombe Bisset, Stratford Tony, Bishopstone, Alvediston and on to Berwick St John, where we stayed with Lindsey and Ian in the summer. Was a lovely drive. There were lots of birds, many sheep, some strange cows which looked a lot like saddleback pigs with curly, fluffy hair, and two pigs. Really enjoyed my Sunday morning drive! Then we headed to Waitrose, rushed in, rushed out to avoid a compulsory 2 minute silence at 11:00 (It was Remembrance Sunday *and* the 11/11. I don’t mind observing a two minute silence – but I won’t be told by a supermarket, no matter how up-market, that I *have* to). Then we went back to Bridge Farm to the shop, where we did observe the silence. Then we mooched on to Gwen and Mick’s place.
The intention had been that we would come down and take them out for Sunday lunch at the Yew Tree, which is a nice little pub in the next village along. The doubt had been that Gwen was off to the hospital last Wednesday for a cataract operation and she didn’t know how she would feel. Mick, of course, had avoided going out with us by collapsing. Gwen decided that lunch out was better than cooking it for herself, so we ambled off – only to find that the Yew Tree had just ONE table left that was unbooked. I grabbed it very hastily! We had wonderful roast beef. The Builder and Gwen had apple crumble. I had another glass of wine. Then, given that it was too early to go hospital visiting, we went back along the road from Coombe Bisset to Berwick St John to show the strange cows to Gwen. She didn’t know what they were either.
Driving back to Salisbury along the main road, we were buzzed by a buzzard!!!!! Huge great big enormous thing, flew down at an angle, missing the windscreen by millimetres. How it didn’t hit us is a mystery. I can tell you, though – I have no wish at all to be in a car with a smashed windscreen and a trapped, very pissed off buzzard!!!!!!! The grand total of birds of prey was 1 kestrel, hovering over a field, one sparrow hawk sitting regally on a fence post and one buzzard that was trying to dedd us. Oh, and a heron, stood autocratically in a small river. But that, of course, is not a bird of prey. Unless you are a fish!
We got to the hospital, got to the ward – and found that Mick had escaped! The ward was full of grey, sickly, little men, looking very poorly. Mick came back in a wheelchair. Did he look grey and sickly and poorly and little? Did he heck! He looked all sparkly and shiny and cheerful! A fraud he is. A fraud! I think he just fancied a bit of a holiday on the NHS surrounded by pretty nurses! It seems he had been hypoglycaemic. They did manage to fix that but nobody is entirely sure why he became hypo in the first place, and they can’t stabilise his blood sugar levels. They are still all over the place. But while he is in the hospital they can keep it more or less under control, which I suppose is why he looks quite perky. I think he is getting a bit fed up of being held captive though. And I’m sure Gwen is getting tired with all the hospital visiting. He didn't know what the striped cows were either, based on our description. But I do! Thanks to Google Images, I have discovered that they are Belted Galloways. (http://www.belties.com/ It was the black ones we saw)
And so home, via Barb’s for afternoon tea (tea and scones – very civilised on a Sunday afternoon!) and to drop a few things off. We had a good run home, given that we left Salisbury at 5pm on a Sunday afternoon. And found Marlo lying along the back of the armchair in the dining room, exactly where The Builder had left him on Saturday afternoon. The only evidence that we have that he had moved at all (and it is purely circumstantial) was the presence of a dead mouse on the kitchen floor, which had not been there when The Builder left!
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Update on my MP4 player
They did lose it again, you know! The Builder and I called in on our way into Sheffield this morning. I presented my card. The man hunted. (At least there was more than one man this time). He hunted some more. He looked puzzled. Another man was hunting for another parcel for someone else. He was looking puzzled too. The man came back and asked me what I was expecting. I told him, and explained that I had called on Wednesday, the package was missing, then someone had rung the following day to say they had found it. Ooo, said the man. I wonder if he set it aside somewhere. Ambled off. And came back not only with my MP4 player, but with my birthday diary from Tony and Stella. I had wondered why the collection card had ticked both that the packae needed to be signed for and that it was too big to fit through the letter box. It was because there were TWO packets :-)
Friday, November 09, 2007
The Royal Mail has lost my MP4 player :-(
I've been trying to learn a little Japanese so that I can talk to Kaori, other Japanese friends of Austin's and any stray passing shop people, train people and, well, Japanese people that we may run across when we're visiting him next April. I've borrowed a language kit from the language collection at work and been beavering away, learning how to say "hello" and "it's a nice day" and "I would like a pizza and some orange juice" (very useful that last one, in Japan!).
The Builder has been working this week in Dronfield. He leaves at around 6:30, which is much too early for me, even for a lift to the Dronfield station - I'd have to wait about an hour for the train; not all the Chesterfield to Sheffield trains stop in Dronfield. So I've been going in on the bus and the train and coming home on the train and The Builder meets me there and we then head wherever it is we’re going (usually home, sometimes to Sainsbury, occasionally out). Excellent time for learning Japanese, waiting for trains, travelling on trains, hanging about on bus stops. So I put one of the CDs from the kit on my MP3 player. And that was OK, but it’s very fiddly on my cheap little device to listen to the same thing over and over again. A new, less cheap device was called for. One with buttons and things. So I hopped onto eBay and found a nice little MP4 player. Not an iPod, so not £140+, but a Samsung, so only £30. Nice one.
It was posted off to me, and on Saturday when I got home from a hard day in the Salt Mines, I mean Adsetts Centre, I found a card telling me that a registered package was awaiting me at the Sorting Office in Chesterfield.
Yesterday I went to collect it. The man looked in the relevant box. Nothing. He looked in a cupboard. Zilch. He hunted out the back. Nada. He looked in the box again. Did I actually get the card on Saturday? I sure did. He hunted all over all over again. In the meantime, a queue was forming behind me. A long queue. An increasingly fractious queue, muttering about Royal Mail cuts and lack of parking and few staff and stuff. The man came back. “I can’t find it,” said he. An entirely redundant comment. It had been obvious for some time that he couldn’t find it! He has photocopied my delivery card and taken my number and is planning to ask our local postie what he’s done with it. I hope it’s the right postie he asks – we have a couple who deliver in Tupton.
So no Japanese learning for me for now. And it’s Thursday again, which means that Midland Mainline are on strike again and who knows what chaos there may be on the trains. Would have been a fantastic chance to listen to a few odd words.
Marlo is a very odd cat. We had bonfire celebrations all weekend. Bonfire night was actually Monday but there were parties and fireworks and things on each night of the weekend, plus on Friday. I had Marlo shut inside, catflap locked. He was not impressed. Not impressed at all. He batted at it, pushed at it, miaowed at it, threw himself at it. I resisted letting him out for the fireworks were loud and bangy. Then I realised that when he wasn’t trying to escape, he was sat in the window watching them. I gave up and let him out. And he spent several happy hours on each evening sat outside on the “lawn”, patio or table, watching the bonfires and the fireworks. That cat has no fear! Except for of window cleaners, ladders, long squeegee thingies and chammy cloths. But not, oddly enough, of pails of dirty water. Strange beastie.
A couple of weeks ago, they had a lovely Toast & Marmalade casserole on eBay. It was Blue Toast, of which there are not many pieces and it is now a discontinued line. I have never seen this casserole anywhere. I knew the collectors would be out in force. I collect Toast & Marmalade china, both the standard black and the blue variety, but I am not properly a collector. I won’t pay silly prices for things, and I do use them once I have acquired them. No sitting about in locked cabinets at my place! The collectors did indeed come out to play and the dish went for just under £90 (plus £10 or so postage and packaging). Needless to say, I didn’t buy it! However, something went wrong and it was re-listed. I have been watching it, idly. I stopped watching idly when I realised last evening that it had 12 hours to go and was still sat at £50 with the reserve not met. I watched it with interest. Today, when it had 20 minutes to go I put a bid on it, expecting to be knocked out the way by collectors rushing to acquire it. They must all have been at work in places where access to the Internet is not quite as ready as it is here, for my bid of £56 not only reached the reserve – but was the top bid. Hooray!! I might make my Christmas seafood bisque in it in celebration (I use my Toast & Marmalade stuff but not for everyday. Christmas is not Everyday!)
So I am a happy Frannie. £56 plus a tenner is much more reasonable than £90 plus a tenner.
Oooh. And even more happy. The Chesterfield Sorting Office has just rung to say that they’ve found my parcel!!!!! HOORAY!!!!! I said I would go and collect it on Monday, but there might be time if we leave a few minutes early to pick it up on Saturday. They are open after 7, and I don’t need to be at Psalter Lane until 09:45. Excellent. I hope they don’t loose it again :-S I had to buy an iron after they lost it the first time! Can’t afford to keep buying new household appliances every time I go to visit the Sorting Office
I've been trying to learn a little Japanese so that I can talk to Kaori, other Japanese friends of Austin's and any stray passing shop people, train people and, well, Japanese people that we may run across when we're visiting him next April. I've borrowed a language kit from the language collection at work and been beavering away, learning how to say "hello" and "it's a nice day" and "I would like a pizza and some orange juice" (very useful that last one, in Japan!).
The Builder has been working this week in Dronfield. He leaves at around 6:30, which is much too early for me, even for a lift to the Dronfield station - I'd have to wait about an hour for the train; not all the Chesterfield to Sheffield trains stop in Dronfield. So I've been going in on the bus and the train and coming home on the train and The Builder meets me there and we then head wherever it is we’re going (usually home, sometimes to Sainsbury, occasionally out). Excellent time for learning Japanese, waiting for trains, travelling on trains, hanging about on bus stops. So I put one of the CDs from the kit on my MP3 player. And that was OK, but it’s very fiddly on my cheap little device to listen to the same thing over and over again. A new, less cheap device was called for. One with buttons and things. So I hopped onto eBay and found a nice little MP4 player. Not an iPod, so not £140+, but a Samsung, so only £30. Nice one.
It was posted off to me, and on Saturday when I got home from a hard day in the Salt Mines, I mean Adsetts Centre, I found a card telling me that a registered package was awaiting me at the Sorting Office in Chesterfield.
Yesterday I went to collect it. The man looked in the relevant box. Nothing. He looked in a cupboard. Zilch. He hunted out the back. Nada. He looked in the box again. Did I actually get the card on Saturday? I sure did. He hunted all over all over again. In the meantime, a queue was forming behind me. A long queue. An increasingly fractious queue, muttering about Royal Mail cuts and lack of parking and few staff and stuff. The man came back. “I can’t find it,” said he. An entirely redundant comment. It had been obvious for some time that he couldn’t find it! He has photocopied my delivery card and taken my number and is planning to ask our local postie what he’s done with it. I hope it’s the right postie he asks – we have a couple who deliver in Tupton.
So no Japanese learning for me for now. And it’s Thursday again, which means that Midland Mainline are on strike again and who knows what chaos there may be on the trains. Would have been a fantastic chance to listen to a few odd words.
Marlo is a very odd cat. We had bonfire celebrations all weekend. Bonfire night was actually Monday but there were parties and fireworks and things on each night of the weekend, plus on Friday. I had Marlo shut inside, catflap locked. He was not impressed. Not impressed at all. He batted at it, pushed at it, miaowed at it, threw himself at it. I resisted letting him out for the fireworks were loud and bangy. Then I realised that when he wasn’t trying to escape, he was sat in the window watching them. I gave up and let him out. And he spent several happy hours on each evening sat outside on the “lawn”, patio or table, watching the bonfires and the fireworks. That cat has no fear! Except for of window cleaners, ladders, long squeegee thingies and chammy cloths. But not, oddly enough, of pails of dirty water. Strange beastie.
A couple of weeks ago, they had a lovely Toast & Marmalade casserole on eBay. It was Blue Toast, of which there are not many pieces and it is now a discontinued line. I have never seen this casserole anywhere. I knew the collectors would be out in force. I collect Toast & Marmalade china, both the standard black and the blue variety, but I am not properly a collector. I won’t pay silly prices for things, and I do use them once I have acquired them. No sitting about in locked cabinets at my place! The collectors did indeed come out to play and the dish went for just under £90 (plus £10 or so postage and packaging). Needless to say, I didn’t buy it! However, something went wrong and it was re-listed. I have been watching it, idly. I stopped watching idly when I realised last evening that it had 12 hours to go and was still sat at £50 with the reserve not met. I watched it with interest. Today, when it had 20 minutes to go I put a bid on it, expecting to be knocked out the way by collectors rushing to acquire it. They must all have been at work in places where access to the Internet is not quite as ready as it is here, for my bid of £56 not only reached the reserve – but was the top bid. Hooray!! I might make my Christmas seafood bisque in it in celebration (I use my Toast & Marmalade stuff but not for everyday. Christmas is not Everyday!)
So I am a happy Frannie. £56 plus a tenner is much more reasonable than £90 plus a tenner.
Oooh. And even more happy. The Chesterfield Sorting Office has just rung to say that they’ve found my parcel!!!!! HOORAY!!!!! I said I would go and collect it on Monday, but there might be time if we leave a few minutes early to pick it up on Saturday. They are open after 7, and I don’t need to be at Psalter Lane until 09:45. Excellent. I hope they don’t loose it again :-S I had to buy an iron after they lost it the first time! Can’t afford to keep buying new household appliances every time I go to visit the Sorting Office
Monday, November 05, 2007
Goodness me, but it was a palaver getting home on Thursday evening. Midland Mainline trains are on strike on Thursdays at the moment, I don’t really know why. So. I thought I’d catch the central train which goes about 15 minutes later than my usual Midland train. I don’t usually catch it because it’s the Liverpool to Norwich train, used as a commuter train given the time it runs, and it is usually very crowded.
Freyja dropped into the library just as I was leaving with some very overdue books she had out on my card. We legged it down to the station, where she hived off to go to the Spar for supplies, and I legged it to the platform (I am always running late for trains!) ¾ only to find that the train was delayed by 15 minutes. So no need to hasten Freyja on her way. Tried listening to my Japanese CD, but the platform announcements were too distracting. #The train got later. And later. When it eventually did arrive, it was only two carriages long. And full. There were more than two carriages worth of people on the platform :-S And, of course, not everyone who was already on the train, got off. We squished on (there would have been more room if they had taken off the snack trolley, which couldn’t move anyway!). But even so, the train pulled away with people waiting forlornly to board, their noses pressed up to the door. I fear there was nearly a riot (I was on the train at this point), both on and off the train. The Central trains often do only have two carriages, but that particular one often has three. And they must have known that the Midland Mainline trains are on strike on Thursdays and that that particular train would be over-subscribed! It’s enough to drive you back to the car! (Except that where I would park the car is an interesting question. All the places I used to park it are residents’ parking only now. I’d have to park outside Freyja’s place and take the bus. Or walk).
Uncle John has come back from the Van Hospital. His operations appear to have been successful. He seems happy enough. He got back at lunchtime today, ready, I hope, to take The Builder for a hard day’s buildering in Dronfield tomorrow, and was lolling about in the driveway when I was leaving for work. Thus making it hard for me to leave, but I managed to squeeze out. I have been working both days this weekend. Gathering money for Jersey, Christmas, Japan, Melbourne, Japan. Though I don’t suppose one weekend’s worth of overtime will actually cover all of that, lucrative though it is. More Saturdays are in the pipeline. Happily, only one Sunday. I know they pay well, but I doooo like Sundays off.
Nearly time to go home. There are lots of fireworks outside. Bonfire night is actually tomorrow, but most people are having their celebrations yesterday and today.
Austin has a new friend. Her name is Kaori (which I think is pronounced something like Kah-oh-li, but all run together). I had a very, very brief typed Skype with her last evening, via Austin. It had to be brief – for a start off it was something like quarter to 2 in the morning in Nagoya. Secondly, I only know about 20 words in Japanese, most of which are mutually exclusive in a conversation – Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, for example!
Freyja dropped into the library just as I was leaving with some very overdue books she had out on my card. We legged it down to the station, where she hived off to go to the Spar for supplies, and I legged it to the platform (I am always running late for trains!) ¾ only to find that the train was delayed by 15 minutes. So no need to hasten Freyja on her way. Tried listening to my Japanese CD, but the platform announcements were too distracting. #The train got later. And later. When it eventually did arrive, it was only two carriages long. And full. There were more than two carriages worth of people on the platform :-S And, of course, not everyone who was already on the train, got off. We squished on (there would have been more room if they had taken off the snack trolley, which couldn’t move anyway!). But even so, the train pulled away with people waiting forlornly to board, their noses pressed up to the door. I fear there was nearly a riot (I was on the train at this point), both on and off the train. The Central trains often do only have two carriages, but that particular one often has three. And they must have known that the Midland Mainline trains are on strike on Thursdays and that that particular train would be over-subscribed! It’s enough to drive you back to the car! (Except that where I would park the car is an interesting question. All the places I used to park it are residents’ parking only now. I’d have to park outside Freyja’s place and take the bus. Or walk).
Uncle John has come back from the Van Hospital. His operations appear to have been successful. He seems happy enough. He got back at lunchtime today, ready, I hope, to take The Builder for a hard day’s buildering in Dronfield tomorrow, and was lolling about in the driveway when I was leaving for work. Thus making it hard for me to leave, but I managed to squeeze out. I have been working both days this weekend. Gathering money for Jersey, Christmas, Japan, Melbourne, Japan. Though I don’t suppose one weekend’s worth of overtime will actually cover all of that, lucrative though it is. More Saturdays are in the pipeline. Happily, only one Sunday. I know they pay well, but I doooo like Sundays off.
Nearly time to go home. There are lots of fireworks outside. Bonfire night is actually tomorrow, but most people are having their celebrations yesterday and today.
Austin has a new friend. Her name is Kaori (which I think is pronounced something like Kah-oh-li, but all run together). I had a very, very brief typed Skype with her last evening, via Austin. It had to be brief – for a start off it was something like quarter to 2 in the morning in Nagoya. Secondly, I only know about 20 words in Japanese, most of which are mutually exclusive in a conversation – Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, for example!
Friday, November 02, 2007
In defiance of the health warnings .....
The Builder threw a brick at the cat and bonked him on the head!!!!!
He's been re-doing the front yard (this should really be on the garden blog!). So far he's taken out the "rockery" by the back gate which was filled with ivy and now he's concreted over the hole.
Yesterday he turned his attention to the front wall.
You can (just) get the car or the van into the "driveway" but I find it difficult (you have to drive up over the kerb and I can't reverse it over with such a tiny space allowance. Then, when trying to reverse out, I can't see the front step or even the wall particularly well). I realise we can't move the telegraph pole which really makes the space narrow, but we decided that it would be easier to manipulate the vehicles in if we took away the step and cut the wall back. So this is what The Builder was doing yesterday. Supervised by Marlo.
Marlo then disappeared, as Marlo is wont to do.
A bit later, as The Builder was chopping back the wall, a man walked past with a rottie on a string.
Suddenly - there was a kerfuffle. The rottie shot into next door's drive, barking and growling and making like a Hound of Hell. Marlo shot from where he had been lying in the sunshine next to Debbie's car (so unseen by The Builder) and right into the path of the brick that The Builder was lobbing in the direction of his rubble pile. Bounced on his bonce, it did. So there's poor Marlo, spitting and snarling and stunned, all fluffed up and agitated. And there's the rottie on the end of his piece of string, all snarly and growly and hunting for the Evil Kat to Kill. And two men all bewildered and a-bovered, trying to sooth their animals.
Fortunately, neither animal came to any harm, so that's ok.
Tabitha tried to dedd her bunnies, too. Came outside yesterday morning, to find their hutch had toppled off its leggies and collapsed onto its wire front, trapping the bunnies it what was, to all intents and purposes, a dark, enclosed box. She was heading off to London for a meeting so couldn't do much, though I think she did pick the hutch up so they could at least see out! I think they have now forgiven her for just setting the hutch upright and legging it to the station!
It's nice having a freezer full of stews and casseroles and soups. We had lasagne for dinner last night (in defiance of that World Cancer Scaring Body that wants the whole world to be stick thin and eat lettuce leaves) made with beef and mushroom stew that we liberated from the freezer a few hours in advance. Took no effort to make! Oh - and we washed it down with liberal quantities of white wine. At least, I did. The Builder went to sleep, exhausted after his cat bonce bonking exercise and stayed asleep for most of the evening.
The World Cancer Scaring Body has caused a right kerfuffle. Mostly people are scoffing. At the WCSB and their silly conclusions and recommendations, as well as at their food. It was oh so, oh so tempting to get the wherewithal for a fry up ready for tonight! Instead, I restrained myself and took some low fat, low salt chicken, ginger and spring onion sausages out of the freezer. There will likely be liberal quantities of white wine with the sausages too. And cheesy mashed potato. Made with butter! And gravy. I may yet take the bacon out of the freezer!
Actually, I know three people who have had unpleasant breast cancer episodes in the last two or three years. They are each of them stick thin, take loads of exercise, drink little or no alcohol and are vegetarians. Sigh. No hope for me, then!
I have a lovely new, pink, stripy cardigan. I look remarkably like Bagpuss. It's very cheering. (The pink, stripy cardie; not looking like Bagpuss, though there's nothing wrong with that either.) A colleague gave it to me because someone had given it to her, she didn't much care for it and thought it was the sort of thing that I was likely to wear. She was right!
He's been re-doing the front yard (this should really be on the garden blog!). So far he's taken out the "rockery" by the back gate which was filled with ivy and now he's concreted over the hole.
Yesterday he turned his attention to the front wall.
You can (just) get the car or the van into the "driveway" but I find it difficult (you have to drive up over the kerb and I can't reverse it over with such a tiny space allowance. Then, when trying to reverse out, I can't see the front step or even the wall particularly well). I realise we can't move the telegraph pole which really makes the space narrow, but we decided that it would be easier to manipulate the vehicles in if we took away the step and cut the wall back. So this is what The Builder was doing yesterday. Supervised by Marlo.
Marlo then disappeared, as Marlo is wont to do.
A bit later, as The Builder was chopping back the wall, a man walked past with a rottie on a string.
Suddenly - there was a kerfuffle. The rottie shot into next door's drive, barking and growling and making like a Hound of Hell. Marlo shot from where he had been lying in the sunshine next to Debbie's car (so unseen by The Builder) and right into the path of the brick that The Builder was lobbing in the direction of his rubble pile. Bounced on his bonce, it did. So there's poor Marlo, spitting and snarling and stunned, all fluffed up and agitated. And there's the rottie on the end of his piece of string, all snarly and growly and hunting for the Evil Kat to Kill. And two men all bewildered and a-bovered, trying to sooth their animals.
Fortunately, neither animal came to any harm, so that's ok.
Tabitha tried to dedd her bunnies, too. Came outside yesterday morning, to find their hutch had toppled off its leggies and collapsed onto its wire front, trapping the bunnies it what was, to all intents and purposes, a dark, enclosed box. She was heading off to London for a meeting so couldn't do much, though I think she did pick the hutch up so they could at least see out! I think they have now forgiven her for just setting the hutch upright and legging it to the station!
It's nice having a freezer full of stews and casseroles and soups. We had lasagne for dinner last night (in defiance of that World Cancer Scaring Body that wants the whole world to be stick thin and eat lettuce leaves) made with beef and mushroom stew that we liberated from the freezer a few hours in advance. Took no effort to make! Oh - and we washed it down with liberal quantities of white wine. At least, I did. The Builder went to sleep, exhausted after his cat bonce bonking exercise and stayed asleep for most of the evening.
The World Cancer Scaring Body has caused a right kerfuffle. Mostly people are scoffing. At the WCSB and their silly conclusions and recommendations, as well as at their food. It was oh so, oh so tempting to get the wherewithal for a fry up ready for tonight! Instead, I restrained myself and took some low fat, low salt chicken, ginger and spring onion sausages out of the freezer. There will likely be liberal quantities of white wine with the sausages too. And cheesy mashed potato. Made with butter! And gravy. I may yet take the bacon out of the freezer!
Actually, I know three people who have had unpleasant breast cancer episodes in the last two or three years. They are each of them stick thin, take loads of exercise, drink little or no alcohol and are vegetarians. Sigh. No hope for me, then!
I have a lovely new, pink, stripy cardigan. I look remarkably like Bagpuss. It's very cheering. (The pink, stripy cardie; not looking like Bagpuss, though there's nothing wrong with that either.) A colleague gave it to me because someone had given it to her, she didn't much care for it and thought it was the sort of thing that I was likely to wear. She was right!
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Well, if you will buy a 5 year old van for the huge price of £2000 you expect to have to put some money up to get it back into fine fettle. And the van has been at the van hospital now for over a week, being restored to full and excellent health. It was previously a post office van, so I assume it was quite well looked after by the Royal Mail. The immediately previous owner, though, who has only had it a few months, according to the owner’s log book, seems to have given it a bit of a whacking. The heating wotsits were broken, which is why it wasn’t starting in the morning. They’ve been replaced, and it starts now. It had cloth rags tied around its oil pipes, either to prevent it being obvious that it had an oil leak or (being charitable, here) to minimise the impact of the oil leaks. I assume this has been fixed. It’s been for an interim MOT and has one or two little bits that need adjustment. All in the pipeline. The big problem, however, is that it smelled remarkably like that canal boat the Builder and I were on last spring. All fuel-ly. It was also going through diesel like nobody’s business. It therefore came as no surprise to me, at least, to discover that there was a problem with the fuel injector thingy. The bigger problem is trying to get it fixed. Nick the Mechanic has been having trouble getting it off. And it looks as though a new injector unit is called for. Still, better to get it organised now, get everything fixed, and trundle along for a long time with a happy, healthy van. (It still feels like a happy van to me).
I’ve had a long weekend off. I worked a silly number of hours Monday to Thursday last week so arranged to have Friday off in lieu, and this afternoon off as well (I’m at Psalter Lane at the moment, wrapped up in one of my cosy winter cardies – but still a bit on the chilly side. Might go and close all the windows in a bit. If that doesn’t help I might have to put my little heater on). It was a weekend of food and drink and shopping and markets and pottering. My kind of weekend, then!
The weekend also happened to coincide with the Chesterfield Market Festival. Nice! So we ambled in to Chesterfield on Friday, looking for a tax accountant for The Builder (which we failed to find), some market action, which we did find, and a general rummage around. We bought some new table lamps in one of the gift shops (a lot of the gift and craft type shops had tables with marked down stuff outside their windows). I had intended to put them in our bedroom, replacing the green ones The Builder brought with him and which don’t really go. When we got home I propped them in the dining room while I thought about other things. They looked so well in there, they’ve taken up permanent residence on the window sills. I’m going to need new, new ones for the bedroom! We poked around in the Chesterfield Department Store and bought some more blue towels for the bathroom. I bought some yellow, orange and red peppers in the market. I took a few steps into the Post Office, saw the queues and left again. We pottered around some more, then hopped back in the car and headed into Sheffield, so The Builder could visit Labour Ready and pick up his holiday pay (he, lucky boy, has been on leave this last week, while I have been slaving over hot classrooms!!). We had intended to have lunch somewhere, but by the time I thought about it properly, it was so close to dinner time it hardly seemed worth it. Poor, starving Frannie! Poor, knackered Frannie. I was in bed good and early, and asleep almost immediately. Didn’t stay asleep, alas. Woke up several times overnight. Not a restful sleep.
Saturday kind of felt like Sunday. We did lots of Sunday things. We went to Chatsworth for supplies – and acquired loads of stewing steak and braising steak and things for making autumn and winter casseroles and soups. We decided not to head into Bakewell for lunch but instead went to the Devonshire Arms in Beeley, a little hamlet on the way home. We usually go there for Sunday lunch but decided that a Saturday lunch would be pleasant. And it would have been. The Builder’s food was lovely. I’m sure my broccoli soup was lovely. Alas, it had so much salt in it that all I could taste was salt. And for some reason, my mussels in white wine, bacon and pea soup had also been quite heavily seasoned with salt. I’m not sure why you would think something with mussels and bacon needed extra salt; in my mind it emphatically didn’t. Wasn’t nice :-( I really must remember when we go out, to ask which are the lightly, even better un – salted dishes.
The clocks went back on Sunday morning, early. I was in bed even earlier on Saturday evening. Woke up at midnight (BST). And at 2 and, apparently irrevocably, at 3. At 4 (still BST – hadn’t changed the clocks yet) I despatched The Builder down for a Nice Cup of Tea. Twice! And then I finally did go back to sleep, waking with a definite sleep hangover at around quarter to 8 (GMT). So much for my extra hour in bed. I was still knackered!!!! Still – it was a nice, restful day in the end. It rained! Hasn’t rained for ages, at least, not properly. I had all but stopped taking rain into account when making plans for any given day. Meant we couldn’t do any of our garden things. So I cooked. I made a huge pot of braised steak and a smaller pot of steak and ale casserole and some beef stock and some pea, ham and potato soup and lots of lovely things to feed to the freezer. We had gin/vodka and tonic with our lunch and wine with our roast pork dinner and listened to Rutter and Shostakovich and Delius, and watched Songs of Praise on the telly – and watched The Coal House, which seems to be another series of those programs they do from time to time when people go and live as if they were in the second world war or in an Edwardian or Victorian house. This is a 1920s coal mining cottage terrace. Quite enjoyed it. Didn’t go to bed particularly early, but that’s because I dozed off in my chair! A really rather nice Sunday. I do like Sundays. She says – again!
And another quiet, peaceful morning today. You could get used to them! We ambled back into Chesterfield late-ish in the morning and had lunch in the Rutland Arms next to the church. I like the Rutland. It’s plain and inexpensive and good value, and I like the building. I had a chicken BLT which had no added salt (!!) and which was crammed full of bacon and chicken (and lettuce and tomato!). The chips were crispy. I could only eat half of it! We’ve visited the allotment and made Spring Garden plans and generally had a good day. The Builder isn’t really on holiday this week – the agency didn’t have any sensible work for him. So he told them he would take this week off as well – he has plenty to be doing at home. He’s taken out the bed by the back gate which was filled with ivy and a droopy tree. The earth has been wheel-barrowed down to the back fence. The ivy and tree thingy are in the recycling bin. He’s started concreting in the resultant elephant trap. There are lots of garden things he could be doing – assuming the weather stays dry.
The really exciting thing we did over the weekend, however, was to book our trip to Japan and Australia next April! We went to STA travel in Sheffield on Friday afternoon and they sorted it for us. I had intended to go to Japan for a week, then Australia for 10 or so days and then come home. It had crossed my mind that Austin can’t take time off during the week, and I wasn’t sure quite what we would do for all that time on our own. Then I thought – we could go for two weekends, there and back. And lo – it was do-able. Very exciting indeed. We leave Manchester on April 3rd and are back on April 23rd (I think), with just over a week in Melbourne in the middle.
I have just started listening to a Learn Japanese tape. So far I can say, with confidence, Good afternoon. I fear that the application for this might be a tad limited!! Can’t even confidently say good morning or good evening!
I seem to have all but finished my Christmas shopping. I am a bit worried. October hasn’t even finished yet and I’ve only got a couple of presents yet to get, and a few bits and pieces. I’ve done the Big food items and have even started planning my menus and things. Not my normal behaviour at all. It isn’t mid December is it?
I’ve had a long weekend off. I worked a silly number of hours Monday to Thursday last week so arranged to have Friday off in lieu, and this afternoon off as well (I’m at Psalter Lane at the moment, wrapped up in one of my cosy winter cardies – but still a bit on the chilly side. Might go and close all the windows in a bit. If that doesn’t help I might have to put my little heater on). It was a weekend of food and drink and shopping and markets and pottering. My kind of weekend, then!
The weekend also happened to coincide with the Chesterfield Market Festival. Nice! So we ambled in to Chesterfield on Friday, looking for a tax accountant for The Builder (which we failed to find), some market action, which we did find, and a general rummage around. We bought some new table lamps in one of the gift shops (a lot of the gift and craft type shops had tables with marked down stuff outside their windows). I had intended to put them in our bedroom, replacing the green ones The Builder brought with him and which don’t really go. When we got home I propped them in the dining room while I thought about other things. They looked so well in there, they’ve taken up permanent residence on the window sills. I’m going to need new, new ones for the bedroom! We poked around in the Chesterfield Department Store and bought some more blue towels for the bathroom. I bought some yellow, orange and red peppers in the market. I took a few steps into the Post Office, saw the queues and left again. We pottered around some more, then hopped back in the car and headed into Sheffield, so The Builder could visit Labour Ready and pick up his holiday pay (he, lucky boy, has been on leave this last week, while I have been slaving over hot classrooms!!). We had intended to have lunch somewhere, but by the time I thought about it properly, it was so close to dinner time it hardly seemed worth it. Poor, starving Frannie! Poor, knackered Frannie. I was in bed good and early, and asleep almost immediately. Didn’t stay asleep, alas. Woke up several times overnight. Not a restful sleep.
Saturday kind of felt like Sunday. We did lots of Sunday things. We went to Chatsworth for supplies – and acquired loads of stewing steak and braising steak and things for making autumn and winter casseroles and soups. We decided not to head into Bakewell for lunch but instead went to the Devonshire Arms in Beeley, a little hamlet on the way home. We usually go there for Sunday lunch but decided that a Saturday lunch would be pleasant. And it would have been. The Builder’s food was lovely. I’m sure my broccoli soup was lovely. Alas, it had so much salt in it that all I could taste was salt. And for some reason, my mussels in white wine, bacon and pea soup had also been quite heavily seasoned with salt. I’m not sure why you would think something with mussels and bacon needed extra salt; in my mind it emphatically didn’t. Wasn’t nice :-( I really must remember when we go out, to ask which are the lightly, even better un – salted dishes.
The clocks went back on Sunday morning, early. I was in bed even earlier on Saturday evening. Woke up at midnight (BST). And at 2 and, apparently irrevocably, at 3. At 4 (still BST – hadn’t changed the clocks yet) I despatched The Builder down for a Nice Cup of Tea. Twice! And then I finally did go back to sleep, waking with a definite sleep hangover at around quarter to 8 (GMT). So much for my extra hour in bed. I was still knackered!!!! Still – it was a nice, restful day in the end. It rained! Hasn’t rained for ages, at least, not properly. I had all but stopped taking rain into account when making plans for any given day. Meant we couldn’t do any of our garden things. So I cooked. I made a huge pot of braised steak and a smaller pot of steak and ale casserole and some beef stock and some pea, ham and potato soup and lots of lovely things to feed to the freezer. We had gin/vodka and tonic with our lunch and wine with our roast pork dinner and listened to Rutter and Shostakovich and Delius, and watched Songs of Praise on the telly – and watched The Coal House, which seems to be another series of those programs they do from time to time when people go and live as if they were in the second world war or in an Edwardian or Victorian house. This is a 1920s coal mining cottage terrace. Quite enjoyed it. Didn’t go to bed particularly early, but that’s because I dozed off in my chair! A really rather nice Sunday. I do like Sundays. She says – again!
And another quiet, peaceful morning today. You could get used to them! We ambled back into Chesterfield late-ish in the morning and had lunch in the Rutland Arms next to the church. I like the Rutland. It’s plain and inexpensive and good value, and I like the building. I had a chicken BLT which had no added salt (!!) and which was crammed full of bacon and chicken (and lettuce and tomato!). The chips were crispy. I could only eat half of it! We’ve visited the allotment and made Spring Garden plans and generally had a good day. The Builder isn’t really on holiday this week – the agency didn’t have any sensible work for him. So he told them he would take this week off as well – he has plenty to be doing at home. He’s taken out the bed by the back gate which was filled with ivy and a droopy tree. The earth has been wheel-barrowed down to the back fence. The ivy and tree thingy are in the recycling bin. He’s started concreting in the resultant elephant trap. There are lots of garden things he could be doing – assuming the weather stays dry.
The really exciting thing we did over the weekend, however, was to book our trip to Japan and Australia next April! We went to STA travel in Sheffield on Friday afternoon and they sorted it for us. I had intended to go to Japan for a week, then Australia for 10 or so days and then come home. It had crossed my mind that Austin can’t take time off during the week, and I wasn’t sure quite what we would do for all that time on our own. Then I thought – we could go for two weekends, there and back. And lo – it was do-able. Very exciting indeed. We leave Manchester on April 3rd and are back on April 23rd (I think), with just over a week in Melbourne in the middle.
I have just started listening to a Learn Japanese tape. So far I can say, with confidence, Good afternoon. I fear that the application for this might be a tad limited!! Can’t even confidently say good morning or good evening!
I seem to have all but finished my Christmas shopping. I am a bit worried. October hasn’t even finished yet and I’ve only got a couple of presents yet to get, and a few bits and pieces. I’ve done the Big food items and have even started planning my menus and things. Not my normal behaviour at all. It isn’t mid December is it?
Monday, October 22, 2007
We’ve had quite a few frosts these last few days. There’s a thermometer on the same pole as the garden clock and it’s been showing -1 when we’ve got up. The sun has come out nice and warmly later in the morning, but it does mean that the zucchinis and the runner beans are taking a bit of a hammering.
So I’ve pulled the zucchini and sort of weeded the bed it was in. The top bit had already been weeded and has autumn planting broad beans in it. I’ll hoe the rest of it and sow some more, though I could do with another packet.
The Builder has pulled the runner beans. I have a basket full of them, some of which have the most beautiful bean seeds in them. Pink and speckled and shiny. He’s kept back 24 of the prettiest of them, for sowing next spring. I’m gradually sorting them out into big beans and little beans ready for winter casseroles. (On a related note, I’ve also sorted out the veg freezer so that things are more or less together and I have some hope of finding things!)
The cabbages and broccoli are doing ok. We’re eating the cabbages and the bright green calabresi; some of the plants are producing sprouting bits now as well. We’re also beginning to get some carrot thinnings. Was a lovely veg collection last evening: little carrots, little zucchini (the last from the plants) and little florets of broccoli. Went very well with the roast beef, roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings.
The Builder has turned his attention to the front of the house. The little “rockery” by the back gate, which had been filled with ivy and a tree which flowered for about a week every spring but otherwise was unremarkable, has now gone, to open up a bit of space around the gate (which will eventually be the door into the porch). He’s intending to cut back the wall in front of the house by a bit and to remove the front rockery. A much larger undertaking than the back one!!
There are still squillions of little fish in the pond, along with the 6 big ones. I wonder how many of them will survive the winter. I wonder what sort of a winter we’ll have. I seem to recall it being milder than this last October (a quick squizz of the Meanderings blog for last October suggests that it was milder and damper and greyer but I wasn’t really keeping a weather report).
I’ve been very impressed with this season’s produce from the garden, the orchard and the allotment. It was the first year for all of them, it hasn’t been particularly good weather for growing food – and the vegetable freezer is full to capacity and we continue to eat from the greenhouses and from the veg garden. True, only brassicas from the veg plots, but I’m not sneezing at cabbages and broccoli.
And here’s looking towards next season.
So I’ve pulled the zucchini and sort of weeded the bed it was in. The top bit had already been weeded and has autumn planting broad beans in it. I’ll hoe the rest of it and sow some more, though I could do with another packet.
The Builder has pulled the runner beans. I have a basket full of them, some of which have the most beautiful bean seeds in them. Pink and speckled and shiny. He’s kept back 24 of the prettiest of them, for sowing next spring. I’m gradually sorting them out into big beans and little beans ready for winter casseroles. (On a related note, I’ve also sorted out the veg freezer so that things are more or less together and I have some hope of finding things!)
The cabbages and broccoli are doing ok. We’re eating the cabbages and the bright green calabresi; some of the plants are producing sprouting bits now as well. We’re also beginning to get some carrot thinnings. Was a lovely veg collection last evening: little carrots, little zucchini (the last from the plants) and little florets of broccoli. Went very well with the roast beef, roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings.
The Builder has turned his attention to the front of the house. The little “rockery” by the back gate, which had been filled with ivy and a tree which flowered for about a week every spring but otherwise was unremarkable, has now gone, to open up a bit of space around the gate (which will eventually be the door into the porch). He’s intending to cut back the wall in front of the house by a bit and to remove the front rockery. A much larger undertaking than the back one!!
There are still squillions of little fish in the pond, along with the 6 big ones. I wonder how many of them will survive the winter. I wonder what sort of a winter we’ll have. I seem to recall it being milder than this last October (a quick squizz of the Meanderings blog for last October suggests that it was milder and damper and greyer but I wasn’t really keeping a weather report).
I’ve been very impressed with this season’s produce from the garden, the orchard and the allotment. It was the first year for all of them, it hasn’t been particularly good weather for growing food – and the vegetable freezer is full to capacity and we continue to eat from the greenhouses and from the veg garden. True, only brassicas from the veg plots, but I’m not sneezing at cabbages and broccoli.
And here’s looking towards next season.
Autumnal meanderings
For the first time this season, we've had to clear the ice from the van before we could leave for work on Thursday and Friday. We've put a round thermometer on the same post as the garden clock and it's been -1d for the last few mornings, misty or foggy, clearing to beautiful days with glorious sunshine. Once you get over the freezing starts to the day!
The van fits, just, in our driveway! Its letters are UCJ and it seems to think that its name is Uncle John. This surely can't be right. Does anybody have any better idea what its name might be? It seems to be fitting in quite well, though I think it might have a slight fuel leak. It smells remarkably like a Broads Boat when The Builder starts it in the morning. It is also proving a bit recalcitrant to get up and move. I can fully empathise with this; so am I. But its job is to get up and move in the mornings. Mine doesn't start until at least an hour later!!! It’s going to Nick the Mechanic for a thorough going over tomorrow.
I had breakfast with Freyja on Thursday morning in Alfie and Bella's, a sandwich shop across from the main entrance to the University. Ordinarily, they do fantastic food. On Thursday, however, it seemed as though we were waiting for ever for our breakfast. It was beginning to get to the point where we were wondering if Freyja would actually have time to eat her breakfast before she had to leave for work. I can usually be a bit flexible about my starting and finishing times. Freyja cannot. Anyway, the girl came panting up to the upstairs dining area with a tray of food and apologised for the delay. She was, it seemed, the only person in. No one else had turned up yet. I looked at my plate, where I was expecting to find toast, poached eggs and some mushrooms. Hmmm. The poached egg was in bits, a lot like scrambled poached eggs. It was virtually inedible. The mushrooms weren’t cooked. The toast was nice, though. I might have sent it back, except that Freyja would then have run out of time – and I’m not sure the replacement would have been nay better. The poor girl had clearly done her best. But she might have been better, if she didn’t know how to poach an egg, to tell me that they were off the menu that morning. I’d have cheerfully had something else. Something that I could eat!
It was quite a chaotic day at work, as well. By about half past nine I was seriously considering the possibility of going home, going back to bed and starting again. Or not!
Otherwise, it’s been quite a good week. I’ve had some lovely teaching sessions where the students have been keen and interested. I had Monday morning off to allow for an evening duty at Psalter Lane. I had Wednesday off until 5, when I was on in the Adsetts Centre until 9. We’ve had some pleasantly relaxed evenings. I’ve also taken delivery of 24 bottles of mixed European dry white wines, which certainly enhance the relaxation process.
Yesterday was designated (earlier in the week, mainly by Freyja) as Sleeping Day. I can’t say we slept all day, but I turned off the radio so it didn’t come on at 5:30. The alarm never rings at weekends anyway. We did wake at 5:30 but turned over and went back to sleep. Woke again around half seven and The Builder didn’t make the morning tea until 8:00. I realise this isn’t late for most people, but if you’ve taken up with a builder … We ambled about and did domestic things, then went to the Post Office to post a parcel on behalf of Freyja. Then we took ourselves across country, along lanes we haven’t previously travelled, to Chatsworth to buy some beef. On Friday evening I had asked The Builder what he would have for Saturday dinner if he could have anything in the world. Roast beef and Yorkshire pud was his response. ‘Twas the one thing I didn’t have available for roasting in the freezer! We bought the Christmas beef while we were there. Will have to make sure we don’t eat it in a moment of inattention between now and then!
We would have had lunch in the restaurant, but the queues were even longer than they were last Saturday. Back into Bakewell, then, for mushroom soup in the Peacock and a womble around the town. And so home for a little light gardening and a potter about. Was all very pleasant. And clearly highly exhausting. I went to sleep in front of the telly at around 5:30 and didn’t wake up again until 7 or so! We did have out roast beef and Yorkshire pud, just a bit later than I had intended. There’s lots more for tonight. I’m going to heat it all up and have it with onion and mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts. But it really was a sleeping day. Should have more of them.
Had a lovely morning this morning. It was once again cold and frosty and just below zero when we got up. We pottered inside, heating on, eating fruit toast and drinking tea, until the frost lifted. Then we went for a walk around the wetlands walk, which we haven’t done since we went with Lindsey and Ian. There were loads of people out there, walking their dogs, ambling about in family groups, power walking. It’s lovely to see people out there enjoying it. The Hebridean sheep and the highland cows seem to have gone, though. Wonder where they went. Then we got home and it was, alas, time for me to get organised and come to work. Was a glorious morning. Such a waste of the afternoon to be sat in the Office at Psalter Lane, waiting in case the new Customer Service Advisers (!!!) come across questions they can’t answer. Still. Think of the money. I am being remarkably well paid to sit here as a “duty adviser”.
The Builder has finished his job in Sheffield. He had announced his intention to have this coming week off and had been given to understand that there would be work for him on the BT site when he came back. On Friday at 4pm, the boss told the whole lot of them that there was no work with him now until possibly in December. The agency reckons they can probably have all of them in remunerative employment well before then. Like tomorrow! (Apart from The Builder who is not available until the Monday after.) A bit poor, I reckon, to give them all to understand that there was no more work right up until the very last minute. Not so bad for The Builder who has a pension and other odd sources of income. But the boys run a bit tight for cash and the agency would have been actively looking for them, had they but known.
The van fits, just, in our driveway! Its letters are UCJ and it seems to think that its name is Uncle John. This surely can't be right. Does anybody have any better idea what its name might be? It seems to be fitting in quite well, though I think it might have a slight fuel leak. It smells remarkably like a Broads Boat when The Builder starts it in the morning. It is also proving a bit recalcitrant to get up and move. I can fully empathise with this; so am I. But its job is to get up and move in the mornings. Mine doesn't start until at least an hour later!!! It’s going to Nick the Mechanic for a thorough going over tomorrow.
I had breakfast with Freyja on Thursday morning in Alfie and Bella's, a sandwich shop across from the main entrance to the University. Ordinarily, they do fantastic food. On Thursday, however, it seemed as though we were waiting for ever for our breakfast. It was beginning to get to the point where we were wondering if Freyja would actually have time to eat her breakfast before she had to leave for work. I can usually be a bit flexible about my starting and finishing times. Freyja cannot. Anyway, the girl came panting up to the upstairs dining area with a tray of food and apologised for the delay. She was, it seemed, the only person in. No one else had turned up yet. I looked at my plate, where I was expecting to find toast, poached eggs and some mushrooms. Hmmm. The poached egg was in bits, a lot like scrambled poached eggs. It was virtually inedible. The mushrooms weren’t cooked. The toast was nice, though. I might have sent it back, except that Freyja would then have run out of time – and I’m not sure the replacement would have been nay better. The poor girl had clearly done her best. But she might have been better, if she didn’t know how to poach an egg, to tell me that they were off the menu that morning. I’d have cheerfully had something else. Something that I could eat!
It was quite a chaotic day at work, as well. By about half past nine I was seriously considering the possibility of going home, going back to bed and starting again. Or not!
Otherwise, it’s been quite a good week. I’ve had some lovely teaching sessions where the students have been keen and interested. I had Monday morning off to allow for an evening duty at Psalter Lane. I had Wednesday off until 5, when I was on in the Adsetts Centre until 9. We’ve had some pleasantly relaxed evenings. I’ve also taken delivery of 24 bottles of mixed European dry white wines, which certainly enhance the relaxation process.
Yesterday was designated (earlier in the week, mainly by Freyja) as Sleeping Day. I can’t say we slept all day, but I turned off the radio so it didn’t come on at 5:30. The alarm never rings at weekends anyway. We did wake at 5:30 but turned over and went back to sleep. Woke again around half seven and The Builder didn’t make the morning tea until 8:00. I realise this isn’t late for most people, but if you’ve taken up with a builder … We ambled about and did domestic things, then went to the Post Office to post a parcel on behalf of Freyja. Then we took ourselves across country, along lanes we haven’t previously travelled, to Chatsworth to buy some beef. On Friday evening I had asked The Builder what he would have for Saturday dinner if he could have anything in the world. Roast beef and Yorkshire pud was his response. ‘Twas the one thing I didn’t have available for roasting in the freezer! We bought the Christmas beef while we were there. Will have to make sure we don’t eat it in a moment of inattention between now and then!
We would have had lunch in the restaurant, but the queues were even longer than they were last Saturday. Back into Bakewell, then, for mushroom soup in the Peacock and a womble around the town. And so home for a little light gardening and a potter about. Was all very pleasant. And clearly highly exhausting. I went to sleep in front of the telly at around 5:30 and didn’t wake up again until 7 or so! We did have out roast beef and Yorkshire pud, just a bit later than I had intended. There’s lots more for tonight. I’m going to heat it all up and have it with onion and mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts. But it really was a sleeping day. Should have more of them.
Had a lovely morning this morning. It was once again cold and frosty and just below zero when we got up. We pottered inside, heating on, eating fruit toast and drinking tea, until the frost lifted. Then we went for a walk around the wetlands walk, which we haven’t done since we went with Lindsey and Ian. There were loads of people out there, walking their dogs, ambling about in family groups, power walking. It’s lovely to see people out there enjoying it. The Hebridean sheep and the highland cows seem to have gone, though. Wonder where they went. Then we got home and it was, alas, time for me to get organised and come to work. Was a glorious morning. Such a waste of the afternoon to be sat in the Office at Psalter Lane, waiting in case the new Customer Service Advisers (!!!) come across questions they can’t answer. Still. Think of the money. I am being remarkably well paid to sit here as a “duty adviser”.
The Builder has finished his job in Sheffield. He had announced his intention to have this coming week off and had been given to understand that there would be work for him on the BT site when he came back. On Friday at 4pm, the boss told the whole lot of them that there was no work with him now until possibly in December. The agency reckons they can probably have all of them in remunerative employment well before then. Like tomorrow! (Apart from The Builder who is not available until the Monday after.) A bit poor, I reckon, to give them all to understand that there was no more work right up until the very last minute. Not so bad for The Builder who has a pension and other odd sources of income. But the boys run a bit tight for cash and the agency would have been actively looking for them, had they but known.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Autumn report
Things are coming on well in the garden. The cabbages and broccoli are growing nicely (and tasting nicely too). We've almost come to the end of the runner beans and the zucchini, but are still getting some. I've started putting the empty beds, and empty bits of beds in use, to bed for the winter. I've weeded them and covered them with manure and or ash from the volcano, then topped that with grass clippings. On Monday I planted autumn planting peas and broad beans in two of the beds and top dressed with ash. We'll have to see if we can beat the slugs, frost and snow this year!!
Oh - the corn has started to fruit. Too late, of course, but it did finally get there. If nothing else, I can make corn stock with it!!!
Things are in a moderate level of disarray on the allotment. The top beds desperately need weeding. There are leeks and tiny onions in there and you can't see them for thistles!! The potato beds aren't so bad. I've weeded the bottom one by the greenhouses and today planted white and red onion sets and some garlic for the spring. The tomatoes are producing prolifically! I came home with yet more today. There's now a huge pot of "ratatouille" waiting to go into the freezer. It's got tomatoes, onions, garlic, zucchini and wong bok (instead of aubergine!) and smells wonderful.
We are considering getting another couple of greenhouses for the allotment, plus a small tool shed. When The Builder has time, he’s going to start putting new beds in, starting at the bottom (I think) and working up towards the greenhouses.
The flower garden is looking very smart. I’ve weeded both the centre beds and they’re looking very cheerful. Last winter, inspired by a friend’s tales of wandering about in her garden the previous summer and eating wild strawberries for breakfast, I moved a few plants I found in the lawn into the first bed. A nice edging, I thought. Well, the most ardent evil dictator in human history could lessons in world domination from those strawberries. They’ve colonised that entire bed, made serious inroads into the brick path and even started to straggle into the next bed!!! I’ve hacked them back but I am seriously wondering whether this really was a terribly good plan. Didn’t even get any tiny strawberries (though I got loads on the real plants in the orchard). I’ve just bought some seeds for “black” hollyhocks, cornflowers, sunflowers and sweet peas. I’m pondering whether to dig out the wild strawberries and replace them with the “black” seeds. Apart from the sweet peas, which I might grow along the fence! That would give me (more or less and not absolutely) a black and purple bed which would be quite cute.
I now need to weed (urgently!) the original flowerbed along the wall. We are intending to take down the two rockery beds out the front and I want to rescue some of the plants in the bed by the front wall. Then we’re going to shorten the length of the wall outside the actual house by a bit. With both beds gone and the wall shortened, we should be able to get the new van onto the concrete and off the road. Mind you, the power pole in the middle of the new gap will still be a problem, but I don’t imagine the power people are going to shift it for our convenience!!
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