As regards the house in the Faroes, it may well be that the owners had had to leave in a hurry, but that there was some legal question over who should be looking after it.
As an entirely random tangent, the Faroes have been suffering from a shortage of eligible women, and have taken to importing people from, I think, Malaysia and Thailand to fill the gap, which must be an almighty culture and climate shock.
I'm on my work laptop so you'll excuse me not googling "Thai brides" to find where I saw it...
As regards the house in the Faroes, it may well be that the owners had had to leave in a hurry, but that there was some legal question over who should be looking after it.
As an entirely random tangent, the Faroes have been suffering from a shortage of eligible women, and have taken to importing people from, I think, Malaysia and Thailand to fill the gap, which must be an almighty culture and climate shock.
I'm on my work laptop so you'll excuse me not googling "Thai brides" to find where I saw it...
I suppose any country a long way from home is going to be something of a culture and climate shock, but today's Magic Electric Interweb - with its Necromantic Engines (like Zoom and Skype) - does make it all a bit easier to keep in touch with one's origins.
Gosh, though. If your body is used to the tropics and equal day and night, that's going to be a huge physical shift. Nice that the first couple met when the husband was out there working, rather than meeting online, and that he thought about the situation.
I found loads of photos of the outside of the farmhouse "Dúvugarður Museum" but not enough of inside. With the Singer sewing machine, for example.
A nice visit to St Fagan's Museum today. Very quiet, most areas open and several craftspeople (clogmaker, weaver and blacksmith) at work, although we only visited one.
Only downside was the catering: although one cafe was open, the selection on offer was very limited. We hadn't brought a picnic on the strength of being able to get something at the Museum. I've written to them with a Helpful Suggestion. (The coffee was excellent though).
Still 24 degrees here.
Yoga class this morning - so good to be back in person. This afternoon I've been doing a few bits of admin and beginning to design a poster for a conference.
Not sure what to cook, possibly Indian. I have some leftover chapattis and I might cut them up into triangles and bake or air fry them to make Indian style nachos!
Change of plan: I remembered I had broccoli and green beans i the fridge, so I did them with pasta, sage and crème fraîche. And no - I didn't have the energy to make rolls; much as I love making bread, the process just takes too long to be feasible on a work night if I have to cook supper as well.
We're having a very hot few days - 31° today. Fortunately rouge heights stays fairly cool on account of not having any nearby buildings reflecting heat at us, and being close enough to the river that we get a breeze. Too hot in the afternoon to go very far though.
We had a random day off work today to visit the spectacular cliffs at Southerndown, thinking we would enjoy the sunshine on a quieter day. It didn’t quite work as planned. Firstly, a very heavy sea mist arrived just before we did and almost entirely obscured the view for the rest of the day, though it was still beautifully sunny a couple of miles inland. Secondly, a large area was closed off for filming and there were vans everywhere.
I did ask what they were filming, but the security staff weren’t allowed to say - just that it was “a film”, so presumably not Casualty or Doctor Who, which are mostly filmed in South Wales. (So are parts of Sherlock, and His Dark Materials, and Torchwood, and probably a few other things I’ve forgotten.)
We're having a very hot few days - 31° today. [...]
Continental WesShire is also under the influence of said hot spell, although it's been 'only' 28°C, but will rise. Ghastly. But we're promised a few thunderstorms at the end of the week, and if they're less energetic and slightly less watery than the last ones, I'm all for it. Nighttimes of 13 or 14°C, though gradually rising too, make the days more bearable; it does cool down quite a bit. It helps!
Marking for school still continues, but I'm progressing. Which helps the overall well-being too - although it's been a rather headachy day, which can happen at the start of a heatwave(-ette).
For a light snack before bedtime, eventually, I'm having some sourdough dark bread and a slice or two of the cheesy French delicacy, Fol Epi. It would go nicely with a glass of wine, but I'll open a bottle another day, I think.
Another quite routine and unexciting day here. I need to do some admin, speak to my supervisor late morning then crack on with designing a conference poster. Sometimes the thought pops into my head of ‘why am I doing this research, I could just take the summer off as usual!’.
I'm having an annoying day. The intention was to go down to London, see my mum and get my hair cut one last time by my hair cut by my lovely London hairdresser. Then the train I was on got stuck behind another that had broken down for an hour, and realising that I'd never get across London in time I bailed out at Peterborough and came home. While I was doing that the internet was in theory being connected at our new house. That was the theory, but it doesn't work! I've an engineer coming out tomorrow, but it means I won't be able to join my zoom book group tonight, Frustration all round.
I'm having an annoying day. The intention was to go down to London, see my mum and get my hair cut one last time by my hair cut by my lovely London hairdresser. Then the train I was on got stuck behind another that had broken down for an hour, and realising that I'd never get across London in time I bailed out at Peterborough and came home. While I was doing that the internet was in theory being connected at our new house. That was the theory, but it doesn't work! I've an engineer coming out tomorrow, but it means I won't be able to join my zoom book group tonight, Frustration all round.
How frustrating indeed! Presumably you're using a phone to maintain contact with the Magic Electrical Interweb?
And might you be able to reclaim at least part of your train fare?
Fairly routinely ordinary day here too: dropped in to M&S on the way home to get some Italian-style SAUSAGES, paella for the manufacture of, and realised when I got home that one packet (they were on a 2-for-£-something-or-other offer) was Toulouse-style. No matter; I used one of each in the paella, and parcelled them up for the freezer in batches of one of each.
The paella came out quite well, although I'd made another purchasing goof with the rice: I accidentally bought a big bag of "easy-cook" Basmati rice the other day, and didn't notice until I'd tipped it into the rice canister. I'm not sure what makes it "easy-cook", but it seemed to me that it doesn't absorb liquid quite as well as proper rice.
I really ought to take what passes for my brain to the supermarket with me ...
Irish soul food for dinner - bacon, spuds and cabbage.
We have an Meal Out planned for tomorrow - not only the restaurant booked, but a slot at a nearby pub for the pre-prandial pint. I miss the ol' just rolling up and squeezing in. But it's a popular place, known for it's real ales - and also a former vicarage.
I fancy a trip to the pub, we went a few weeks ago for Sunday lunch but I fancy just a casual trip for a beer one evening.
Meeting with supervisor went well but I couldn’t face the poster designing (I am not a visual learner and find this sort of thing time consuming and soul-destroying) but I did get some other work done and redeemed myself by doing some housework instead.
Too hot to cook so we had houmous, falafels and salad, with chapattis for the hungry men of the house.
I have the internet! I was very impressed with the service. Not only did the engineer turn up early, but he actually knew what he was doing and fixed the fault in a professional manner. It feels like regaining my hearing or something.
Other things got better too, in that my book group have re-arranged the meeting for Monday and I found a hairdressing for half the price in my new town. I don't think she has quite the flair of my London hairdresser but she did a good job and I've booked in for another cut in six weeks time.
I'm going to have a lazy day catching up on admin to do with the move and hoping the mystery parcel arriving this afternoon is the compost bin I ordered a couple of weeks ago.
Hurrah! As of tomorrow, facemasks are no longer compulsory outdoors except in very crowded places. I might even wear lipstick 💋💋💋. They still have to be worn inside.
Another very hot day here, which occasioned an extended nap this afternoon. We're due a storm later, which should cool things down a little. A crab salad this evening - apparently the crab is from Devon.
It was warm enough by my reckoning in Embra today (17°), but I managed to get (albeit warmly) rained on both on the way to the station in the morning and on the way home. The morning commute wasn't improved by the bus taking a detour - instead of going straight along Princes Street, we trundled up past Jenners, stopping at every traffic light, along George Street and back down Frederick Street - something to do with trams, apparently. Very scenic and all that, but not when it's making you late for work.
They say it's for today only; I hope they're not telling porkies.
Supper was the other half of the paella, followed by some oatcakes and CHEESE.
Internet problems locally this morning so little work done. I then walked to Grantchester to meet a colleague for coffee in the Orchard late morning and we ended up chatting to nearly 4pm. Consequently no work was done this afternoon either! Temperature up to 28 today apparently.
Needed to use some sausages up for tea so we had a fry up of sausage, egg, beans, mushrooms and toast. Husband is not home yet so I’m wondering if he has gone down the pub. I hope he gets home before the thunderstorm.
We not only had a couple of enjoyable pints in a blissfully TV and Muzak free pub, but friends hove up by coincidence to the same restaurant so we had an even more agreeable evening with company.
Even a 20 minute wait for the bus home wasn't that bad, on a fine summer evening, the sky still light and pretty sunset clouds over the Methodist Hall in Tollcross.
Nice to see what formidable things others are doing!
I woke up to (well, not literally, but as a manner of speaking) the sounds of the little local council truck with the water tank watering the flowers next to the house.
A few days ago, it was the sound of excited chattering of many school classes taking the train or bus for a day's outing. That's only been possibly now for a few meagre weeks or days in Continental WesShire, and everyone's really happy to be out and about (with some restrictions) again!
Like LVER and a multitude, here we've got Piglet's indeed pleasant Embra temperatures of 17° already before 7am, and now, just past 8am, it is already nearly 19°C, humidity is 85%. While the latter will fall, the former will rise to over 31°C, or so we're being warned. Ach well. It's a multiple shower-day again, apparently.
Thank God for the washing machine - multiple clothes need to be cleansed, ... or so it transpires. Sartorial freshness promptly ensues!
@Piglet 17 in Embra and 17 here in our valley, but with a wind chill so feels like 9. At least the sun was out. A Scottish summer and an Australian winter.
Lots of rain overnight but, disappointingly, the thunder and lightening missed us.
Need to work on my poster and presentation today then I have a 3 hour end of module meeting this evening.
Just finishing my latte then I’ll go for a walk in the rain.
@Piglet 17 in Embra and 17 here in our valley, but with a wind chill so feels like 9. At least the sun was out. A Scottish summer and an Australian winter.
17 with a cold wind in Sunny Sinny so good for the washing if nothing else. Rain forecast for the next week🙀
I don't think we had thunderstorms here, but I wouldn't have heard if we did. We certainly had rain, which is a good thing as the water butt in our new garden is empty.
I'm off to chat to the manager of the charity bookshop here this morning. I'm transferring from my branch where we lived before so it will be interesting to see how this shop does things.
Tipping it down here now, and most of the night. Glad I paid attention and got out for a decent walk yesterday and the day before, checking geocaches and delivering Guide activity stuff.
I am truly evil. The Guide activity was making a playdough with flour, cream of tartar, turmeric and washing up liquid, and then, with the resultant dough, making say, something that can be found in the sea, with a point awarded for any object not duplicated, a bit like the House of Games game,. I looked at the activity, thought that looks fun, would work on Zoom and added benefit, I don't get to clean up afterwards. So I delivered the dry ingredients and all our active girls appeared to play this. Two of the parents had paid attention and sent their daughters outside to make their doughs, the rest ... did not. I did write on the envelope what was in the package, and what else was needed, I would have been warned. (The flour was in resealable bags, so if they wanted to keep their dough, they could reseal it into that bag.)
Fairly routinely ordinary day here too: dropped in to M&S on the way home to get some Italian-style SAUSAGES, paella for the manufacture of, and realised when I got home that one packet (they were on a 2-for-£-something-or-other offer) was Toulouse-style. No matter; I used one of each in the paella, and parcelled them up for the freezer in batches of one of each.
Sausages in paella? Do you pre-cook them? I find the paella I do is usually a bit bland, but adding chorizo (Nenlet1's recipe) mades it too oily.
Mr Nen and I had a day out in Wells yesterday; it was hot. Today is overcast and we've had some light rain but it's still pretty muggy.
If I add chorizo to anything I remove any other oil in the recipe, start by sweating down the chorizo to draw out the fat and use that fat to cook anything else needing frying. (And sausages too, when I think about it.)
Nenya , I love Wells. Did you go in the Bishop’s Palace gardens? Admission charges have gone up immensely, but the ticket is for a year. We have decided to try and go every month so as to get full value!
We go on a Saturday and usually come back with pies and cakes from the market and cards from the wonderful card shop. As Darllenwr says, it’s a long way to go for cards, but Wells is a very special place.
I love Wells too - pre-Covid I was travelling there once a fortnight for a course at the Old Deanery. I'd never been there before the course and there was a definite feeling of, "Where has this place been all my life?" As part of that course I had a quiet day in the Bishop's Palace and got to see the gardens for free. Yesterday Mr Nen and I just walked round the edge of the moat. Wells is a special place for me in a number of ways.
On the quiet day of the course, the group arrived at the drawbridge over the moat in time to see the swans ringing the bell to be fed. Where is the card shop you mention?
On my very first visit there, I found St Cuthbert's church first and before I saw the sign I had a split second of wondering whether that was, in fact, the (very tiny!) cathedral. Then I found Cathedral Green and was bowled over by it all. That feeling has never quite left me.
St Cuthbert's is an impressive church in its own right, but the Cathedral is something else...
A hot, humid, and very wet day here. Last night's Thunderystrum was a bit of a disappointment - lots of Rain, but only 3 Rumbles, and 2 Flashes. Alas, more Painting Of The Ark will have to wait a while, as we have Rain forecast for pretty well every day for the next week or so. Summer is temporarily over.
Big sad sigh. Guess who thought it would be funny to flush his underwear down the toilet this morning? I can see the funny side, just, and you can laugh a little bit, but not too loud please. I have just paid an eye-watering amount to the plumber to get it fixed
Captain Pyjamas seems to have got the 'I wonder what will happen if I do x' stage. Annoying he experimented with your plumbing.
The weather here isn't nearly as wet as I thought it might be. I spent a couple of hours getting to know the other volunteers at the charity bookshop. One lives down my road so someone to wave to when he's out with his dog.
This afternoon I'm catching up on various things I couldn't do when we didn't have broadband, but I must admit I'm feeling rather too lazy to do anything very serious.
The poster is designed, though I now need to get my husband to edit it and make it look attractive (I'm not a visual learner and hate doing this sort of thing). I will soon be going into a 3 hour meeting/training...
No, but it's the sort of thing he would have been capable of at the same age. I know where Captain P inherited his love of mischief, and 'taint from me...
Son of a friend - What happens if I pour a glass of milk into the back of the TV? (The old cathode ray sort). Answer: the rest of your childhood passes without television.
Not that his parents were being punitive, but they were a bit hard up.
Comments
How do you get the Cats to sit still whilst you paint them? I'm sure the white Dog will do what s/he's told.
As an entirely random tangent, the Faroes have been suffering from a shortage of eligible women, and have taken to importing people from, I think, Malaysia and Thailand to fill the gap, which must be an almighty culture and climate shock.
I'm on my work laptop so you'll excuse me not googling "Thai brides" to find where I saw it...
It was perhaps on the BBC website...
https://bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-39703486
https://theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/13/queen-hosts-joe-biden-for-tea-at-windsor-castle
HMQ and the Bidens appear to have hit it off together very well, despite the *diminutive monarch* being rather more petite than her guests.
All rather reminiscent of the visit of the Obamas, when both Barack and Michelle simply towered over HMQ...
That's the one!
I suppose any country a long way from home is going to be something of a culture and climate shock, but today's Magic Electric Interweb - with its Necromantic Engines (like Zoom and Skype) - does make it all a bit easier to keep in touch with one's origins.
I found loads of photos of the outside of the farmhouse "Dúvugarður Museum" but not enough of inside. With the Singer sewing machine, for example.
Only downside was the catering: although one cafe was open, the selection on offer was very limited. We hadn't brought a picnic on the strength of being able to get something at the Museum. I've written to them with a Helpful Suggestion. (The coffee was excellent though).
A trundle on the train followed by an amble along the High Street, then some sort of prawn/tomato concoction for supper.
If I can muster up the energy, I'll make a batch of rolls to be accompanied by CHEESE for subsequent lunches.
Yoga class this morning - so good to be back in person. This afternoon I've been doing a few bits of admin and beginning to design a poster for a conference.
Not sure what to cook, possibly Indian. I have some leftover chapattis and I might cut them up into triangles and bake or air fry them to make Indian style nachos!
Maybe next weekend.
I did ask what they were filming, but the security staff weren’t allowed to say - just that it was “a film”, so presumably not Casualty or Doctor Who, which are mostly filmed in South Wales. (So are parts of Sherlock, and His Dark Materials, and Torchwood, and probably a few other things I’ve forgotten.)
Continental WesShire is also under the influence of said hot spell, although it's been 'only' 28°C, but will rise. Ghastly. But we're promised a few thunderstorms at the end of the week, and if they're less energetic and slightly less watery than the last ones, I'm all for it. Nighttimes of 13 or 14°C, though gradually rising too, make the days more bearable; it does cool down quite a bit. It helps!
Marking for school still continues, but I'm progressing. Which helps the overall well-being too - although it's been a rather headachy day, which can happen at the start of a heatwave(-ette).
For a light snack before bedtime, eventually, I'm having some sourdough dark bread and a slice or two of the cheesy French delicacy, Fol Epi. It would go nicely with a glass of wine, but I'll open a bottle another day, I think.
Another quite routine and unexciting day here. I need to do some admin, speak to my supervisor late morning then crack on with designing a conference poster. Sometimes the thought pops into my head of ‘why am I doing this research, I could just take the summer off as usual!’.
How frustrating indeed! Presumably you're using a phone to maintain contact with the Magic Electrical Interweb?
And might you be able to reclaim at least part of your train fare?
The paella came out quite well, although I'd made another purchasing goof with the rice: I accidentally bought a big bag of "easy-cook" Basmati rice the other day, and didn't notice until I'd tipped it into the rice canister. I'm not sure what makes it "easy-cook", but it seemed to me that it doesn't absorb liquid quite as well as proper rice.
I really ought to take what passes for my brain to the supermarket with me ...
We have an Meal Out planned for tomorrow - not only the restaurant booked, but a slot at a nearby pub for the pre-prandial pint. I miss the ol' just rolling up and squeezing in. But it's a popular place, known for it's real ales - and also a former vicarage.
Meeting with supervisor went well but I couldn’t face the poster designing (I am not a visual learner and find this sort of thing time consuming and soul-destroying) but I did get some other work done and redeemed myself by doing some housework instead.
Too hot to cook so we had houmous, falafels and salad, with chapattis for the hungry men of the house.
Other things got better too, in that my book group have re-arranged the meeting for Monday and I found a hairdressing for half the price in my new town. I don't think she has quite the flair of my London hairdresser but she did a good job and I've booked in for another cut in six weeks time.
I'm going to have a lazy day catching up on admin to do with the move and hoping the mystery parcel arriving this afternoon is the compost bin I ordered a couple of weeks ago.
Another very hot day here, which occasioned an extended nap this afternoon. We're due a storm later, which should cool things down a little. A crab salad this evening - apparently the crab is from Devon.
They say it's for today only; I hope they're not telling porkies.
Supper was the other half of the paella, followed by some oatcakes and CHEESE.
Needed to use some sausages up for tea so we had a fry up of sausage, egg, beans, mushrooms and toast. Husband is not home yet so I’m wondering if he has gone down the pub. I hope he gets home before the thunderstorm.
Even a 20 minute wait for the bus home wasn't that bad, on a fine summer evening, the sky still light and pretty sunset clouds over the Methodist Hall in Tollcross.
I woke up to (well, not literally, but as a manner of speaking) the sounds of the little local council truck with the water tank watering the flowers next to the house.
A few days ago, it was the sound of excited chattering of many school classes taking the train or bus for a day's outing. That's only been possibly now for a few meagre weeks or days in Continental WesShire, and everyone's really happy to be out and about (with some restrictions) again!
Like LVER and a multitude, here we've got Piglet's indeed pleasant Embra temperatures of 17° already before 7am, and now, just past 8am, it is already nearly 19°C, humidity is 85%. While the latter will fall, the former will rise to over 31°C, or so we're being warned. Ach well. It's a multiple shower-day again, apparently.
Thank God for the washing machine - multiple clothes need to be cleansed, ... or so it transpires. Sartorial freshness promptly ensues!
Need to work on my poster and presentation today then I have a 3 hour end of module meeting this evening.
Just finishing my latte then I’ll go for a walk in the rain.
I'm off to chat to the manager of the charity bookshop here this morning. I'm transferring from my branch where we lived before so it will be interesting to see how this shop does things.
I am truly evil. The Guide activity was making a playdough with flour, cream of tartar, turmeric and washing up liquid, and then, with the resultant dough, making say, something that can be found in the sea, with a point awarded for any object not duplicated, a bit like the House of Games game,. I looked at the activity, thought that looks fun, would work on Zoom and added benefit, I don't get to clean up afterwards. So I delivered the dry ingredients and all our active girls appeared to play this. Two of the parents had paid attention and sent their daughters outside to make their doughs, the rest ... did not. I did write on the envelope what was in the package, and what else was needed, I would have been warned. (The flour was in resealable bags, so if they wanted to keep their dough, they could reseal it into that bag.)
It’s 22° and cloudy here. 22% chance of rain at mid-day which would suit me as the tubs need a watering.
I did my fish pond filter yesterday and replaced a third of the water, they look much better for it. 🙂
Mr Nen and I had a day out in Wells yesterday; it was hot. Today is overcast and we've had some light rain but it's still pretty muggy.
We go on a Saturday and usually come back with pies and cakes from the market and cards from the wonderful card shop. As Darllenwr says, it’s a long way to go for cards, but Wells is a very special place.
On the quiet day of the course, the group arrived at the drawbridge over the moat in time to see the swans ringing the bell to be fed. Where is the card shop you mention?
On my very first visit there, I found St Cuthbert's church first and before I saw the sign I had a split second of wondering whether that was, in fact, the (very tiny!) cathedral. Then I found Cathedral Green and was bowled over by it all. That feeling has never quite left me.
A hot, humid, and very wet day here. Last night's Thunderystrum was a bit of a disappointment - lots of Rain, but only 3 Rumbles, and 2 Flashes. Alas, more Painting Of The Ark will have to wait a while, as we have Rain forecast for pretty well every day for the next week or so. Summer is temporarily over.
What to have for lunch? Ah, I know - BEER...
The weather here isn't nearly as wet as I thought it might be. I spent a couple of hours getting to know the other volunteers at the charity bookshop. One lives down my road so someone to wave to when he's out with his dog.
This afternoon I'm catching up on various things I couldn't do when we didn't have broadband, but I must admit I'm feeling rather too lazy to do anything very serious.
No, but it's the sort of thing he would have been capable of at the same age. I know where Captain P inherited his love of mischief, and 'taint from me...
Not that his parents were being punitive, but they were a bit hard up.