I skipped Church because no car = no church these days. It's too far to walk and Mr Boogs is up in the Northern Lands with the car.
So I spent the morning at a new friend's. It's unbelievable how much we have in common. We whiled away the morning chatting about gardens, poetry, art and photography. Plenty of coffee was also consumed. Delicious and made with condensed milk - naughty!
Thanks for the good wishes for the readings - after a slight stammer on the first one - Diblaim (DIB-la-eem?) - I was fine. Actually, I've just realised (and thank goodness Rev'd Rosie didn't point it out in front of everyone) I read the wrong chapter! What was on the service sheet was Hosea 2, 1-10 and what I had printed out and read was Hosea 1, 2-10. Me and my number dyslexia!
Then picked up a BACON SANDWICH for brunch, laundered and snoozed.
I've still got a load of salads in the fridge, so that'll be supper sorted.
I sneaked in to church to avoid F the meeter and greeter who likes me to do things. No use, he found me in my pew and asked me to do the introduction. That's pretty straightforward, no tricky names or punctuation. Someone then stared at me when it was time for the bidding prayers, she obviously assumed I was doing that too. I wasn't, the person that was was sitting at the back and didn't walk fast. It was a really nice Mass. Much as I like the input from the children's group it was a much quieter and more reflective service today.
This afternoon we went to the garden centre to pick up a plant for another gap we've identified and then to a supermarket to use their electric charger. They only have two and there was a queue so I dived in and got some bits and pieces we needed and then we drove to a petrol station that has lots, and most of them were empty.
I read somewhere of a C19th schoolteacher who taught her pupils to say "Nebuchadnezzar" confidently. If they came across a name they couldn't pronounce, rather than stumble, they substituted a confident Nebuchadnezzar. Her theory was that confidence was more important than accuracy.
A typical late July day in Arkland the Dismal - grey, cloudy, and with a cool northerly breeze. Please may we have Summer back? Pretty please?
LAMB CHOPS and Potato Salad have been eaten, but I still feel peckish, and will have to see about a CHEESE Sanwidge quite soon. Yesterday's struggles with circuit breakers left me feeling very flaky this morning, but restage and snoozage have helped. I've now finished removing the offending light fitting, making sure I turned the juice OFF beforehand...
My reading ( Colossians) went well at the 9.15 service. I nipped out of church before the end, drove home, picked up some food, walked to the Methodist church for 10.30. Long service, very full church, including the extension. Communion took forever, as despite the minister telling them to consume and walk on, nobody did. Methodist ‘tables’ will not be abandoned!
I noted how much some people have aged recently, but also noted the many young people, families with young children mainly from Hong Kong, who have settled here. The future leaders.
Lunch and presentations followed. Walked home, thought to check my trains and saw my connection from Grantham to Lincoln at 4.30 was cancelled. I quickly finished packing my rucksack and dashed out for the 2.15 bus to Nottingham instead. It was late ( because roadworks) and I feared it was cancelled. The next one would probably be too late. Rang daughter in a panic, but the bus came, and I caught my ( alternative) train, arriving an hour earlier than originally planned. Many problems on the East Coast main line, so some of the participants will be very late arriving. Those who are here spoke of a three hour wait at KingsCross, so my issues were minor. So glad I rechecked.
Sorry for the long saga.
Dinner in an hour but the bar will soon be open.
I think it was possibly in the Church Times many years ago that the advice was, when confronted with unpronounceable names, to substitute "the men from the East" and carry on!
As if I wasn’t already awake since 5.25, the bin lorry has just been, at 6.30am. Noisy enough in itself, bin men shouting, but to crown it all, loud automated announcement
“ Stand clear. Vehicle reversing”
in the poshest accent you can imagine.
Excellent meal last night. Lasagne or variants, garlic bread / jacket potato/ new potatoes, about 20 salads. Wine only £3.30 a glass. Choice of 12 delicious desserts.
Our previous house was on a main road with single glazed Victorian sash windows. All the lorries going to the council depot round the corner proudly announced that 'this vehicle is turning left.' So glad I live on a very quiet road now.
We're off to Milton Keynes today. Partly to see my husband's sister and husband and partly to see how our new car behaves on the motorway ahead of a holiday next month. Hopefully we'll be back in time for me to get to a council meeting tonight so I probably won't be around much today.
I was supposed to meet with a local colleague in the Grantchester Orchard for our annual meet and moan (essential when you work online all the time so can’t talk freely) but she had to cancel at the last minute. So I walked there anyway and had cake and coffee. They have a plague of wasps so I had to eat inside.
I’m now back home and picked up my work email. I have no work plans for today so will do some reading and then a bit of tidying.
Some Sun Shine today in Arkland the Warmer, which is nice. A productive morning - Tess Coe has been visited, and also the Arkland Office, where several minor admin matters have been satisfactorily dealt with.
I was pleased to see that the enormous and unmanageable Mattress Topper bought by me in a Fit of Madness (see previous TICTH posts) has gone from the Office, having been found a congenial home somewhere.
Lunch is to be GAMMON STEAKS and Potato Salad, after which some small Paint Ing jobs will hopefully be jobbed. I must remember to Take Things Easy today, as Pilates is back to its normal slot tomorrow.
Sunny morning on and off, so tackled the "lawn" - I put that in scare quotes in case you're imagining something made of grass. There is some, but more moss, self-heal, clover, creeping buttercup, waltzing Matilda...
Then, mad fool that I am, I decided to dig out the rampant sweet pea. Garden fork, secaturs, tree lopper, hori hori - and still didn't get to the bottom of it. Nothing short of dynamite would.
A quiet afternoon of recovery, remember to put out the bins at some point, chilli con carne for dinner. House style is Scotch Bonnet but no tomato, ladle over tortilla chips, douse with grated cheese and finish under the grill.
A pleasant, just very slightly cooler, day in West Lothian; 19°, or pretty close to Optimum Piglet Temperature™. Work was steady and rather joyous - two of my colleagues (who are married to each other) not only welcomed a new granddaughter at the weekend but also celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary.
As I hadn't got round to doing grocery (and more importantly, WINE) shopping at the weekend, I took the Trusty Trolley with me and pootled over to Tessie's at lunchtime to remedy the deficits.
There's a STEAK marinating for supper, which will have the company of mushrooms, lemony/garlicky greens and some potato salad.
Trip to Milton Keynes was excellent. Car was good, so much quieter than our old one, we charged up no problem on the way and had a lovely time when we got there. I didn't know there were some very pretty walks from their doorstep.
Meeting went well, though it is depressing you now need to spend a fortune on security if you want to hold an event.
Good day of singing, five hours of it, quite intensive. Free between 1 and 5. I caught a bus up to the cathedral then walked down to the art gallery ( steep hill, so hard on the knees) then back for a rest. Another good meal. Everyone is so friendly. Ready for a decent sleep tonight.
I've landed myself a few weeks temporary work (it's a pretty crap job, and I'm already reminded of why I hated working for a well-known dark blue university so much) - and the default announcement on LinkedIn is so bloody cheery that the entire world seems to be offering me congratulations. I'm really quite pissed off with all the cheerfulness, save it for when I actually land something worthwhile!
Congratulations/commiserations on the temporary job, Sandemaniac. May you soon find something better.
We moved to Cambridge when we got married and I had to take a nursing job I did not want a the local hospital (staff nurse on a ward when I had been a specialist ophthalmic nurse practitioner and university lecturer) as we were desperate for money and Mr Heavenly was still writing up his PhD. I lasted a week and when I handed my notice in the very nice manager told me mine was the most reluctant acceptance of a job she had ever heard. She then told me to join the nurse bank and she’d give me some regular staff nurse work in clinic instead. I did this for 3 years (and had a baby) but she eventually found the money for a part time clinical teaching post for me.
Mr Heavenly gets back from his business trip to Barcelona today. I have today marked as a study day so I will be putting the shopping away, going for a walk and then reading.
I hope that leads to better things for you @Sandemaniac even if it isn't great at the moment
I'm out this morning for coffee with my neighbour opposite, and this afternoon I have to look at the planning applications ahead of tomorrow's meeting. I usually enjoy the meetings but this time there is is one that has really divided the town and local councillors. Our decision won't be binding on District, but I can well see it upsetting people whichever way we go.
I hope that leads to better things for you @Sandemaniac even if it isn't great at the moment
Frustratingly, there's little likelihood of that. The university structure waves goodbye to anyone without a PhD wanting to do lab work at a level I reached in 2008. This is shit shovelling/admin - and I much prefer the former! Doing a full time admin job would have me on the roof with a projectile weapon before the week was put.
The only job my son could get in his field was shit shovelling admin. So he changed tack completely and became a nurse. He has been nursing for ten years and still absolutely loves it. You never have to sit still! 🙂
This is the story to which @Roseofsharon was referring. I hope the young man gets his garden tools back soon.
What a pain @Sandemaniac. Is it too late to think of a dramatic career switch?
My coffee date was nice. We went to a cafe I hadn't been in for a while. When I was last there it was newly opened and I wasn't sure if it would survive, but it seems to be doing well. Giving over 65s a discount might have something to do with it.
The only job my son could get in his field was shit shovelling admin. So he changed tack completely and became a nurse. He has been nursing for ten years and still absolutely loves it. You never have to sit still! 🙂
I took early retirement from a local government middle-management admin post (the voluntary redundancy package was so generous that I would have been a Fool to refuse it), and joined an NHS Ambulance Trust as a front-line worker instead. As @Boogie's son found, it was quite a refreshing change, and I never regretted not finding another admin job.
Quite apart from the actual work, just interacting with my colleagues was an education in itself.
Another grey, humid day in Arkland the Dull, but Pilates was relatively pain-free. Why, I managed to get my Knees to stay apart rather more than usual for some of the exercises, to my delight (and the Torturer's), which means AIUI that my hip flexors were behaving themselves.
Lunch is SALMON FILLETS n'Crispy Potato Flakes. There is BEER, too - a nice bottle of Czech Staropramen, my favourite.
[url="
What a pain @Sandemaniac. Is it too late to think of a dramatic career switch?
Given the decade remaining on the mortgage, which rules out anything requiring paying to retrain, and the number of times I've failed to come up with an alternative in the last 30 years, sadly it is far too late.
[url="
What a pain @Sandemaniac. Is it too late to think of a dramatic career switch?
Given the decade remaining on the mortgage, which rules out anything requiring paying to retrain, and the number of times I've failed to come up with an alternative in the last 30 years, sadly it is far too late.
O dear. I was lucky enough to be able to switch careers completely, but I do appreciate that this is not possible for many.
Small triumph: Mr F actually made it to the bus stop with the aid of his wheelie walker. He went and had his hair cut while I trotted to the Asian grocer and bought a box of mangoes - the yellow Alphonse ones that are in season now. Lunch and a mango later I'm waiting for a grocery delivery.
After which I would like to paint (ideally) but just as likely to fall asleep.
[url="
What a pain @Sandemaniac. Is it too late to think of a dramatic career switch?
Given the decade remaining on the mortgage, which rules out anything requiring paying to retrain, and the number of times I've failed to come up with an alternative in the last 30 years, sadly it is far too late.
Yes, my son was lucky to live in Germany where they paid him to train.
Small triumph: Mr F actually made it to the bus stop with the aid of his wheelie walker. He went and had his hair cut while I trotted to the Asian grocer and bought a box of mangoes - the yellow Alphonse ones that are in season now. Lunch and a mango later I'm waiting for a grocery delivery.
After which I would like to paint (ideally) but just as likely to fall asleep.
Cheese soufflé, I fancy tonight.
Well done Mr F - it is indeed the small triumphs which count (and which, hopefully, can add up IYSWIM).
[url="
What a pain @Sandemaniac. Is it too late to think of a dramatic career switch?
Given the decade remaining on the mortgage, which rules out anything requiring paying to retrain, and the number of times I've failed to come up with an alternative in the last 30 years, sadly it is far too late.
O dear. I was lucky enough to be able to switch careers completely, but I do appreciate that this is not possible for many.
These days it's almost impossible. Lip service is paid to "transferable skills" but every vacancy has 15 billion quadrillion applicants so you haven't got a snowball's chance in hell against people with actual demonstrable experience in whatever it is they're asking for.
When I quit nursing for good in about 2006, I had about a year where I was considering alternative careers (the OU having refused me a lecturing job the first time I applied). Because I was familiar with hospital environments I started looking at various random hospital job adverts such as laboratory assistants; I nearly applied to become a mortician’s assistant. Having chatted to one since, I almost wish I had followed it up.
Housework done and chicken and ham pie eaten for lunch. Mr Heavenly has let me know that he won’t get back until this evening so I will cook a light supper and save him some, probably ricotta and spinach ravioli.
[url="
What a pain @Sandemaniac. Is it too late to think of a dramatic career switch?
Given the decade remaining on the mortgage, which rules out anything requiring paying to retrain, and the number of times I've failed to come up with an alternative in the last 30 years, sadly it is far too late.
O dear. I was lucky enough to be able to switch careers completely, but I do appreciate that this is not possible for many.
These days it's almost impossible. Lip service is paid to "transferable skills" but every vacancy has 15 billion quadrillion applicants so you haven't got a snowball's chance in hell against people with actual demonstrable experience in whatever it is they're asking for.
Fair comment. I changed direction, so to speak, some 30 years ago...so I really was one of the lucky ones.
[url="
What a pain @Sandemaniac. Is it too late to think of a dramatic career switch?
Given the decade remaining on the mortgage, which rules out anything requiring paying to retrain, and the number of times I've failed to come up with an alternative in the last 30 years, sadly it is far too late.
O dear. I was lucky enough to be able to switch careers completely, but I do appreciate that this is not possible for many.
These days it's almost impossible. Lip service is paid to "transferable skills" but every vacancy has 15 billion quadrillion applicants so you haven't got a snowball's chance in hell against people with actual demonstrable experience in whatever it is they're asking for.
This. I've failed to get an interview for more then one role where I have literally ticked every box in the job description.
LinkedIn suggested two jobs to me last week. The first was writing medical case notes for AI to practice on (medical degree preferred but doctorate in history good enough) and the second was teaching Portuguese. I do not speak Portuguese, have never been to Portugal and have no idea why this was a suggestion.
The first is vaguely appealing, assuming I could write case notes on overlaying, phthisis, rickets, scrofula, diptheria, miasma and cholera, and suggest public health initiatives such as geraniums in window boxes, and not getting your servants to pin your bed curtains shut.
LinkedIn suggested two jobs to me last week. The first was writing medical case notes for AI to practice on (medical degree preferred but doctorate in history good enough) and the second was teaching Portuguese. I do not speak Portuguese, have never been to Portugal and have no idea why this was a suggestion.
The first is vaguely appealing, assuming I could write case notes on overlaying, phthisis, rickets, scrofula, diptheria, miasma and cholera, and suggest public health initiatives such as geraniums in window boxes, and not getting your servants to pin your bed curtains shut.
Proof, if proof were needed, that the world is sinking ever more swiftly into the Morass of Madness...
I really couldn't imagine a complete career change; all I'm trained for is secretarial/clerical/admin/typing, and I'm lucky that the job I have now seems to suit me very well - much better than when I last did an identical job* 40-odd years ago!
Another warm, pleasant day here; I sat outside eating my lunch and watching the world go by.
Supper was further salad. I'm almost wishing the weather would cool a little so that I actually feel like cooking something, even if it was just pasta with prawns or similar!
I have to be grateful that I have reached the stage of life where a modest pension means that I no longer need to peddle my mind and body for paid employment. No more dealing with those malevolent creatures* called human resources specialists - which sounds like workers in the supply side of cannibalism - whose only question is, "What have you done?" and not "What can you do?"
* OK - not all of them. Just the ones I encountered.
The geraniums did work, in theory, albeit in a limited way. The idea was that the occupants of slum tenements had to open the window to water said geraniums in the window box, letting in fresh air as they did so. (The window boxes and geraniums were supplied free of charge by one of the many charities of the time.)
They had windows ? Which could be opened ? Luxury!
Another rather dull day in Arkland the Grey, with a Thunderstorm forecast for tomorrow. I must hie me on deck, and do some Paint Ing which will be dry by the time the Storm hits...
What is this thing called chamber pot of which you speak?
Some Paint Ing has duly been done, and the access hatch to the main accommodation - the equivalent of a Front Door - is now a shiny, vibrant, and exciting shade of Red Oxide.
Lunch will have to be SCAMPI n'Potato Flakes, because use-by date, but I don't mind.
A walk this morning followed by the usual work emails.
I did some sewing this afternoon. Years ago I made myself an asymmetrical double layered linen dress; the top layer a lovely dark brown, chocolate and rust plaid, and the bottom layer plain dark brown. Whilst the dress looked stunning on Valerie, my mannequin, it looked awful on me. The pattern was too full and the bottom linen too heavy, so the dress was not drapey but bulky, and much like a marquee on short, plump me.
I rediscovered the dress during the move to my garden office/studio, and yesterday I set about decoupling the 2 layers, unpicking the neck and arm holes which joined them together. This morning I re-hemmed these on the plaid layer and I now have a lovely single layer asymmetrical dress which will look great over leggings in the autumn. I’m not sure what I will do with the dark brown layer, I might take my scissors to it tomorrow and completely re-style the skirt part.
Tea might be a shallot and goat cheese pie. The recipe (with the ingredients from the veg delivery company) says to make it as a tarte tatin but that seems rather messy for a savoury pie so I will probably do a galette instead.
Comments
So I spent the morning at a new friend's. It's unbelievable how much we have in common. We whiled away the morning chatting about gardens, poetry, art and photography. Plenty of coffee was also consumed. Delicious and made with condensed milk - naughty!
Then picked up a BACON SANDWICH for brunch, laundered and snoozed.
I've still got a load of salads in the fridge, so that'll be supper sorted.
This afternoon we went to the garden centre to pick up a plant for another gap we've identified and then to a supermarket to use their electric charger. They only have two and there was a queue so I dived in and got some bits and pieces we needed and then we drove to a petrol station that has lots, and most of them were empty.
LAMB CHOPS and Potato Salad have been eaten, but I still feel peckish, and will have to see about a CHEESE Sanwidge quite soon. Yesterday's struggles with circuit breakers left me feeling very flaky this morning, but restage and snoozage have helped. I've now finished removing the offending light fitting, making sure I turned the juice OFF beforehand...
I noted how much some people have aged recently, but also noted the many young people, families with young children mainly from Hong Kong, who have settled here. The future leaders.
Lunch and presentations followed. Walked home, thought to check my trains and saw my connection from Grantham to Lincoln at 4.30 was cancelled. I quickly finished packing my rucksack and dashed out for the 2.15 bus to Nottingham instead. It was late ( because roadworks) and I feared it was cancelled. The next one would probably be too late. Rang daughter in a panic, but the bus came, and I caught my ( alternative) train, arriving an hour earlier than originally planned. Many problems on the East Coast main line, so some of the participants will be very late arriving. Those who are here spoke of a three hour wait at KingsCross, so my issues were minor. So glad I rechecked.
Sorry for the long saga.
Dinner in an hour but the bar will soon be open.
Cut-my-own-throat Diblaim?
I honestly don't know - I'd never heard of him until a few days ago!
“ Stand clear. Vehicle reversing”
in the poshest accent you can imagine.
Excellent meal last night. Lasagne or variants, garlic bread / jacket potato/ new potatoes, about 20 salads. Wine only £3.30 a glass. Choice of 12 delicious desserts.
We're off to Milton Keynes today. Partly to see my husband's sister and husband and partly to see how our new car behaves on the motorway ahead of a holiday next month. Hopefully we'll be back in time for me to get to a council meeting tonight so I probably won't be around much today.
I’m now back home and picked up my work email. I have no work plans for today so will do some reading and then a bit of tidying.
I was pleased to see that the enormous and unmanageable Mattress Topper bought by me in a Fit of Madness (see previous TICTH posts) has gone from the Office, having been found a congenial home somewhere.
Lunch is to be GAMMON STEAKS and Potato Salad, after which some small Paint Ing jobs will hopefully be jobbed. I must remember to Take Things Easy today, as Pilates is back to its normal slot tomorrow.
Then, mad fool that I am, I decided to dig out the rampant sweet pea. Garden fork, secaturs, tree lopper, hori hori - and still didn't get to the bottom of it. Nothing short of dynamite would.
A quiet afternoon of recovery, remember to put out the bins at some point, chilli con carne for dinner. House style is Scotch Bonnet but no tomato, ladle over tortilla chips, douse with grated cheese and finish under the grill.
Meanwhile coffee, a biscuit, the Ship and two snoozy dogs.
As I hadn't got round to doing grocery (and more importantly, WINE) shopping at the weekend, I took the Trusty Trolley with me and pootled over to Tessie's at lunchtime to remedy the deficits.
There's a STEAK marinating for supper, which will have the company of mushrooms, lemony/garlicky greens and some potato salad.
Memo to self: BUY MORE GARLIC!!!
Meeting went well, though it is depressing you now need to spend a fortune on security if you want to hold an event.
Today I am Oscar and I live in a bin.
We moved to Cambridge when we got married and I had to take a nursing job I did not want a the local hospital (staff nurse on a ward when I had been a specialist ophthalmic nurse practitioner and university lecturer) as we were desperate for money and Mr Heavenly was still writing up his PhD. I lasted a week and when I handed my notice in the very nice manager told me mine was the most reluctant acceptance of a job she had ever heard. She then told me to join the nurse bank and she’d give me some regular staff nurse work in clinic instead. I did this for 3 years (and had a baby) but she eventually found the money for a part time clinical teaching post for me.
Mr Heavenly gets back from his business trip to Barcelona today. I have today marked as a study day so I will be putting the shopping away, going for a walk and then reading.
I'm out this morning for coffee with my neighbour opposite, and this afternoon I have to look at the planning applications ahead of tomorrow's meeting. I usually enjoy the meetings but this time there is is one that has really divided the town and local councillors. Our decision won't be binding on District, but I can well see it upsetting people whichever way we go.
Just come across that story. Good grief.
I didn't - link?
Frustratingly, there's little likelihood of that. The university structure waves goodbye to anyone without a PhD wanting to do lab work at a level I reached in 2008. This is shit shovelling/admin - and I much prefer the former! Doing a full time admin job would have me on the roof with a projectile weapon before the week was put.
The only job my son could get in his field was shit shovelling admin. So he changed tack completely and became a nurse. He has been nursing for ten years and still absolutely loves it. You never have to sit still! 🙂
What a pain @Sandemaniac. Is it too late to think of a dramatic career switch?
My coffee date was nice. We went to a cafe I hadn't been in for a while. When I was last there it was newly opened and I wasn't sure if it would survive, but it seems to be doing well. Giving over 65s a discount might have something to do with it.
I took early retirement from a local government middle-management admin post (the voluntary redundancy package was so generous that I would have been a Fool to refuse it), and joined an NHS Ambulance Trust as a front-line worker instead. As @Boogie's son found, it was quite a refreshing change, and I never regretted not finding another admin job.
Quite apart from the actual work, just interacting with my colleagues was an education in itself.
Another grey, humid day in Arkland the Dull, but Pilates was relatively pain-free. Why, I managed to get my Knees to stay apart rather more than usual for some of the exercises, to my delight (and the Torturer's), which means AIUI that my hip flexors were behaving themselves.
Lunch is SALMON FILLETS n'Crispy Potato Flakes. There is BEER, too - a nice bottle of Czech Staropramen, my favourite.
Given the decade remaining on the mortgage, which rules out anything requiring paying to retrain, and the number of times I've failed to come up with an alternative in the last 30 years, sadly it is far too late.
O dear. I was lucky enough to be able to switch careers completely, but I do appreciate that this is not possible for many.
After which I would like to paint (ideally) but just as likely to fall asleep.
Cheese soufflé, I fancy tonight.
Yes, my son was lucky to live in Germany where they paid him to train.
🙏 for you.
Well done Mr F - it is indeed the small triumphs which count (and which, hopefully, can add up IYSWIM).
These days it's almost impossible. Lip service is paid to "transferable skills" but every vacancy has 15 billion quadrillion applicants so you haven't got a snowball's chance in hell against people with actual demonstrable experience in whatever it is they're asking for.
Housework done and chicken and ham pie eaten for lunch. Mr Heavenly has let me know that he won’t get back until this evening so I will cook a light supper and save him some, probably ricotta and spinach ravioli.
Fair comment. I changed direction, so to speak, some 30 years ago...so I really was one of the lucky ones.
This. I've failed to get an interview for more then one role where I have literally ticked every box in the job description.
The first is vaguely appealing, assuming I could write case notes on overlaying, phthisis, rickets, scrofula, diptheria, miasma and cholera, and suggest public health initiatives such as geraniums in window boxes, and not getting your servants to pin your bed curtains shut.
Proof, if proof were needed, that the world is sinking ever more swiftly into the Morass of Madness...
Another warm, pleasant day here; I sat outside eating my lunch and watching the world go by.
Supper was further salad. I'm almost wishing the weather would cool a little so that I actually feel like cooking something, even if it was just pasta with prawns or similar!
* but with really rubbish equipment
* OK - not all of them. Just the ones I encountered.
The geraniums did work, in theory, albeit in a limited way. The idea was that the occupants of slum tenements had to open the window to water said geraniums in the window box, letting in fresh air as they did so. (The window boxes and geraniums were supplied free of charge by one of the many charities of the time.)
Another rather dull day in Arkland the Grey, with a Thunderstorm forecast for tomorrow. I must hie me on deck, and do some Paint Ing which will be dry by the time the Storm hits...
Sunny/cloudy/blowy day here. Probably go into the garden, as there are sacks of debris to bring to the bins (and plenty more where that came from).
Mr F on media standby (he's done Reuters already). Just as well he had a haircut yesterday.
Going to try out Guardian food mag recipe for real chicken piri piri later.
Some Paint Ing has duly been done, and the access hatch to the main accommodation - the equivalent of a Front Door - is now a shiny, vibrant, and exciting shade of Red Oxide.
Lunch will have to be SCAMPI n'Potato Flakes, because use-by date, but I don't mind.
I did some sewing this afternoon. Years ago I made myself an asymmetrical double layered linen dress; the top layer a lovely dark brown, chocolate and rust plaid, and the bottom layer plain dark brown. Whilst the dress looked stunning on Valerie, my mannequin, it looked awful on me. The pattern was too full and the bottom linen too heavy, so the dress was not drapey but bulky, and much like a marquee on short, plump me.
I rediscovered the dress during the move to my garden office/studio, and yesterday I set about decoupling the 2 layers, unpicking the neck and arm holes which joined them together. This morning I re-hemmed these on the plaid layer and I now have a lovely single layer asymmetrical dress which will look great over leggings in the autumn. I’m not sure what I will do with the dark brown layer, I might take my scissors to it tomorrow and completely re-style the skirt part.
Tea might be a shallot and goat cheese pie. The recipe (with the ingredients from the veg delivery company) says to make it as a tarte tatin but that seems rather messy for a savoury pie so I will probably do a galette instead.