Westerly, rain later; moderate or good: the British thread 2023
Piglet
All Saints Host, Circus Host
in All Saints
Happy new year, British Shippies, and anyone else who fancies a nice cup of tea! 
Comments
As is usual, I retired to bed rather than staying up for midnight, and given the weather I had hoped for a PEACEFUL New Year, but no, someone nearby insisted on releasing various explosives well past 12:20
In keeping with the habit on this thread of talking about FOOD, I've just had a very simple, but utterly delicious supper: CHEESE (a mild French Brie, and a tasty, but not too strong Davidstow Cheddar from the Cornish cheese box I got from my s-i-l and b-i-l for Christmas), Cornish chutney, nuts and fruit, a few grapes and a few* slices of freshly-baked baguette. Washed down with a nice glass of WINE, obviously.
The only effort expended was to lay it out attractively on a cheeseboard, with the bread slices in a nice little wooden tray and the nuts in a bowl, but it was an absolute pleasure.
* well, quite a lot, actually ...
It's nice to start getting back to normal.
We had curry this evening as well; I opened a bottle of bubbles while I was cooking and we moved seamlessly to the remains of last night's red as the meal progressed.
The thread title describes today's weather - I set out for a walk and it was so dry and mild that I went further than I'd intended to. Then (later) it started to rain. If I'd kept to my original plan I'd have got home in the dry.
I believe it's forecast to be bright and cold tomorrow, which will be nice for Mr Nen as he's heading out for the day with friends on a Hearty Walk which involves Walking Poles, Walking Boots and Taking A Packed Lunch. I'm not going
Happy New Year, everyone.
It’s clear(ish) today with some sunshine. We are doing our Warm Space this afternoon even 'tho it’s a bank holiday.
Good was that Mr RoS emptied the canned-foods cupboard for me, then washed it out while I sorted the cans into date order. He then fetched in all the 2023 cans from the garage.
I acquired a food-stashing habit during the Brexit shenanigans, and there seems to have been a fresh reason to continue it popping up at regular intervals ever since. Hence the can shuffling, which has become a New Year ritual, although not previously involving Mr RoS.
Bad was that I b******d my back, and it took 5hours in a nest of hot water bottles and heat-bags before I could stand up straight. Mobile today, but moving very slowly and carefully as it will take very little for it to happen again.
We had a police officer ring our doorbell yesterday evening. Someone just along the road had had their car vandalised at lunchtime, and the police were looking for witnesses. As our bedrooms are at the front of the bungalow, and the sitting room and kitchen at the back we don't see or hear much from the road. That layout is quite common round here, and most of us old folk would have been having lunch when it happened.
Today we are having a day trip to York to return the boys and their mountains of stuff, especially The Younger who wants to take his electric guitar and amp alongside his new record player. Not sure where he will fit them in as he already has a keyboard and stand in his cramped uni room.
Thanks for the reminder, I don't have a lot of cans, but I do have lots of spices. The last few years I try to sort them out and chuck away the really ancient ones. I do miss my shallow spice cupboard from my last house. There I had everything in alphabetical order, a librarian's dream.
Hope the York trip goes well @Heavenlyannie . I've never been there but have heard it's a lovely city.
Mr Nen is out on a long walk and I'm planning a short one soon as it's bright and sunny at the moment. I've got lots to get on with at home but I'm trying to do at least a walk every day for exercise and if I leave it until after lunch I'll be even less inclined.
I'm sorting things out a bit upstairs: my little study is crammed with books and we were given some more at the weekend (which we were glad to have; they relate to the course we're doing) so we've decided to put some of the ones we both use on the shelves in Nenlet2's room. This involves a certain amount of tidying and dusting. I also need to tidy my desk.
Our Christmas decorations will be coming down in the next day or so - I was planning on doing it today but now Mr Nen is out so it will probably be tomorrow morning. (I did it on my own one year and it was utterly miserable.) I always have mixed feelings: it's nice to have the house back to normal but it looks very plain and bare for a few days until I get used to it again.
I'm having a lovely afternoon at my niece's, with lots of cuddlage. ❤️
I have nine things on my to-do list today and have achieved five of them.One of the things was a walk, which was very lovely in the sunshine and I'm glad I went when I did as it's much colder now. I had a phone call after lunch which has rather put me behind. That does sound lovely.
🐐
@Baptist Trainfan, I hope you got CHEESE in Cheddar!
Love Stanton Drew, only 8 miles from us. The third largest stone circle in England and, unlike Stonehenge & Avebury you usually get to explore it with no, or very few, other people around. Did you find time to pop into the Druids Arms, complete with standing stones in the beer garden!
On the plus side, I did manage to achieve top of the Diamond League in Duolingo on New Year's Day and I'm trying to look on this as hopefully being indicative of a year when I surprise myself by achieving things I'd thought were beyond my reach.
I'm sort of feeling the way you are about strikes (and prices, Tories, Brexit etc), but at least once I start my new job the transport strikes won't have such an impact on me!
After a delightful, if somewhat noisy*, afternoon, I decided to cut my losses and get an Uber taxi back home rather than take the chance of missing a bus and having to wait for two hours - 17 quid well spent, I think.
* my nephew arrived with his two wee boys (Archie, who'll be four in March, and Ronnie, 18 months), so it was, shall we say, lively.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jan/02/walrus-swims-north-to-northumberland-after-yorkshire-recuperation
I only hope he's an English walrus, and that the Border Force people aren't after him for entering Our Sacred Seas illegally.
* the Border Force, not the walrus
At least it was sunny - that low, dazzling winter sun which nevertheless makes the bare trees glow copper and bronze.
Called on a friend and collected some items to sew - despite age (80) and infirmity (wheelchair user) she intends going to the Venice Carnivale, in gorgeous Renaissance costume.
I had similar thoughts about the walrus, and then I got an earworm.
Sorry about that - I don't reckon it was one of their best ...
We stopped and looked at the stones, but decided it was a bit early for lunch.
I thought it was sweet that Scarborough cancelled their New Year fireworks so as not to upset him.
👏
So did I. Mind you, it's probably wise to keep in the good books of a Walrus - a fully-grown male can weigh a metric tonne...
This New Year I have decided to do some regular meditation, in the hope of avoiding a repeat of last year’s major depressive episode. I started using the Calm app just after Christmas and am doing daily meditation and relaxation. I am also eating healthier, with lower carb intake, and restricting alcohol to weekends and occasions. No strict diet, just focusing on improving my health generally.
Husband was out planting trees this morning as part of a project local Quakers are doing. Rather him than me, though I applaud the idea.
Pouring down here.
I still took the dogs as they don’t mind the rain at all. I wore waterproof everything plus an umbrella. Tatze, the Lab, is waterproof too - a quick shake and she’s dry again. Ted, the Cavapoo, isn’t. He loves the hose ‘tho so mud is easily removed. He also enjoys a towelling down.
☔️
Here in the civilised north, I'm not back to work until tomorrow, so am still sitting up in bed messing about on the interweb.
I shall eventually get up, move the Wise Men a few more feet towards their destination and contemplate cooking something for lunch/supper - probably pasta with smoked salmon and broccoli in a creamy sauce.
When I looked out earlier it appeared cold and dry, but Accu Weather says it's going to rain on and off for the rest of the day. It also says it's 7°, which for January is Quite Mild.
Taking down the tree can wait until the weekend, and the candle-bridges will stay up until Candlemas.
First Pilates session of 2023 today, so now feeling a little sore about the Legs. Never mind - there are LAMB STEAKS for lunch, with POTATOES, in accordance with the Torturer's recommendation to eat protein and carbohydrates...
Me too. Dry white wine, dry gin, dry cider …
I hope your new job goes well @Sandemaniac .
I have some aspirations for this year in terms of health, fitness and weight loss and I have so far kept to one of them - a daily walk. I meant to start all the others on 1 January, but it was New Year's Day. Then I planned to start yesterday but it was a Bank Holiday and it would have been unkind to Mr Nen to expect him to drink red wine and eat chocolates all on his own yesterday evening.
I got a bit wet while out today and by the look of things there will also be Rain Later, but I met a friend for lunch and, as an added bonus, our other friend unexpectedly joined us as well (she'd told us she was away). A hearty time was had by all, catching up with Christmas and New Year news.
As it's my last day before going back to w*rk, I'm having a total couch-potato day: I just threw on a few clothes and had some TOAST with lemon curd for breakfast lunch whatever, and have ventured no further than the wheelie bin (at least I now have a pleasingly empty kitchen bin). The Wise Men have reached the bookshelf beside the dining table ...
Would someone care to remind me occasionally that Fox's half-covered CHOCOLATE-chip cookies are a Very Bad Idea? They're absolutely wicked.
@Sarasa - hope your mum's beginning to recover.