I agree @Bishops Finger , this weather makes me miserable. As well as the garden starting to flood we now have a lake in the field behind the house where there wasn't one before, so I'm getting slightly concerned about what might happen next.
Well, in a sense, living on a houseboat, I'm not too concerned about flooding per se - but I do appreciate that, for those in houses close to water, the Times are indeed Worrying.
All I have to do is to time my Expotitions ashore during the hours when the shore is actually accessible, that is, one or two hours on either side of a high tide, and to try to ensure that the car is out of reach of the water!
There have been a few occasions on which I've had to cancel or alter appointments, on account of being unable to get to Dry Land...but this is happening more and more often, with so many strong winds, and the closing of the Thames Barrier without warning - which has occurred twice in the past few weeks...we get the water London doesn't want...
Another storm expected for the weekend. The river's already burst its banks, and part of the park is already flooded to the extent that someone actually went down it in a canoe today filming what he saw. We don't need any more.
The visual image of seeing a tree crash onto my washing line and then be flipped back nearly 180 degrees by the wind and taking the fence with it is one I won't forget in a hurry.
But there we go. On to the next. Time, I think, for a slice of apple pie. I made a deep dish one with dried mixed fruit, cinnamon, cloves and brown sugar and it is nice.
SOUP & SANWIDGE shortly - Pea & Ham, and CHEESE...
My Old Mum used to make a nice APPLE PIE, although it didn't include Cinnamon or Cloves IIRC, which it should have done - but she wasn't fond of those Furrin Spicey Things...
Ooh that apple pie sounds nice, @Ariel. I was never that keen on cloves after my mum gave me one to suck when I was about four and had a toothache, but I'm now coming round to them. It sounds very scary about the tree, glad it was only the fence and not a chunk of your house. The winds don't seem too bad here for once, and it seems to have stopped raining. The forecast seems to be relatively dry for the next week or so, so hopefully the waters will start to recede (again) soon.
I understand that rivers overflow and that the ground is waterlogged and that there is Too Much Rain, but the flooding of the main road for no good reason other than lack of maintenance of the gulleys, ditches and sewers is Unacceptable.
I had a surprise visit from the very Granddaughter I thought I had said goodbye to for two months until she gets back from Thailand. She brought me soup and a cottage pie made by my son-in-law. I asked how she got here as her car is off the road until she returns. She had insured it for one day in order to complete various errands!
Half of the cottage pie has been eaten and the rest is in the freezer ready for a “rainy day”.
I think I see what BF means about the psychological effects of the weather: when I was reading the earlier posts about flooded gardens, power cuts and blown-over trees, I couldn't help feeling a bit strange that the weather in the "soft South" was being so much worse than it is here.
Don't the Weather Laws dictate that Scottish weather always ought to be a few degrees beastlier than English?
Actually, I'm almost scared to put that thought into words for fear of tempting fate ...
Don't the Weather Laws dictate that Scottish weather always ought to be a few degrees beastlier than English?
The Scottish weather ought to be more dreich. I don't think it's necessarily more beastly.
Also, the difference between west and east is more pronounced than north and south. Manchester and Bristol get more rain than Edinburgh.
Don't the Weather Laws dictate that Scottish weather always ought to be a few degrees beastlier than English?
The Scottish weather ought to be more dreich. I don't think it's necessarily more beastly.
Also, the difference between west and east is more pronounced than north and south. Manchester and Bristol get more rain than Edinburgh.
Noting that Edinburgh is to the West of both Bristol and Manchester.
Yes. But it’s not so much absolute east or west as relative to the rest of the land. East is in a relative rain shadow from the predominantly rain bearing south westerly weather.
At last! Six months after I started chasing it, and six weeks after it was absolutely promised to be in my estate account within 72 hours, PayPal have finally refunded the amount held in my late husband’s account.
I only just managed to get home from Hereford yesterday - there was some doubt whether any later buses would be able to run. The road through the Golden Valley was more like "See Herefordshire By Canal!"
Tried moving the fallen tree, but it needs cutting up before I can do that, so about to go and see if I can treat myself to a New Year present of a small chainsaw. No excuse now that a tree has come down in my garden. I might even be able to have a go at the other trees which are long overdue pruning.
You certainly acquire a few extra skills as a householder, don't you.
Weather is better here today, even the occasional burst of blue sky.
Went for a quick walk today before starting back at work. I’ve ploughed through the student emails from over the holiday, done some admin and sent a draft tutorial (on lifestyle choices and influences on health) to a co-tutor for discussion.
Alas, this afternoon I will have to do some marking (on equality and a good death).
I thought I would do my usual cycle route to work as long as the nature reserve wasn't too flooded but I couldn't even get that far because the road was doing a canal impression. So I had to turn round and share my journey with cars and stuff.
In the last storm some tiles fell off the neighbours' house on to our driveway. Fortunately Mrs Rogue was ferrying oldest Rogueling and his wife to the station so the car was not hit. She texted said Rogueling to say thank you.
Tried moving the fallen tree, but it needs cutting up before I can do that, so about to go and see if I can treat myself to a New Year present of a small chainsaw. No excuse now that a tree has come down in my garden. I might even be able to have a go at the other trees which are long overdue pruning.
You certainly acquire a few extra skills as a householder, don't you.
Have fun!
Get the safety trousers to go with them. My brother has a wood and does a lot of chainsawing and strongly advises them in case of slips.
While in favour of Girls Can Do Anything, I have a friend who does urban lumberjacking and the use and upkeep of the chainsaw is not that straightforward.
What about an ad on local social media, saying Free Firewood to anyone prepared to saw it up and take it away?
I used to have a Chainsaw, for the sawing-up of Driftwood, but found it fairly challenging to just hold, let alone use...
There are some small battery-powered cutting/sawing/pruning tools available (adverts crop up on YouTube now and then) which may well be easier and safer to use. It might be worth checking Mr E Bay's Emporium, or that of The Big River.
Hefty steel-toe-capped Boots are recommended wear, too.
🥾🥾
I think I'd be getting someone in to sort out the tree @ariel, doing it yourself seems too eek making.
It's been raining on and off here and garden is a bit flooded but not too badly seeing the state of our river which is well over its banks. I bumped into a neighbour who had loads of problems before Christmas when we had our last floods and he's fine. He seems to think me putting my councillor's hat on and contacting everyone I could think of to flag up the problems we were having made a difference as we got the drains cleared out for a start.
We've had another lazyish day though we did go into town to post a couple of birthday cards and do the plastic recycling. Followed by taking the car to the dump to get rid of various other bits and pieces.
I had indeed been thinking of a small rechargeable cutting saw, not the huge macho type which I know I couldn't wield safely. However, B&Q is completely sold out of anything in that line, so it's back to the loppers and handsaw until such time as next door's landlord gets in touch. That may be my weekend sorted out.
Point about the Trousers of Strength and Boots of Protection noted, though I think with a device on a much smaller scale I should be all right. The one I had in mind didn't look much more fearsome than my shrub shear's longer blade.
Yes, I think that's the sort of thing I've seen advertised on YouTube.
Trousers of Strength and Boots of Protection might still be a Good Idea, as even small bits of Tree are often a good deal heavier than one might suppose...I know whereof I speak...
Apollo Gees - that second sentence sounds awfully like mansplaining...which is not something I would normally dare to do...
Mind you, I found out the hard way how vicious Trees can be when a branch fell off a Pine Tree in the grounds of Our Place. The branch was (I suppose) about 10 feet long, and maybe 6 inches in girth, but Mr D and I found it almost impossible to shift. We cut it up in situ, using Mr D's petrol driven Chainsaw (I was much fitter and stronger in those days), but even then the pieces seemed very heavy and spiky - I have no idea what make of Tree it was.
Anyway, we said to Father F**kwit and the Churchwarden *Behold! The Tree is rotten, and needs to be cut down completely!* Nothing was done, so (inevitably) a few weeks later the entire Tree fell down, damaging several telephone wires, and writing off one parked Car, and a Van next to it...at which point the Professionals were called in...
I am waiting for the shopping to be delivered. They have informed me that they have substituted a prawn sandwich for a large vegetable samosa ??? I will decline it.
I am waiting for the shopping to be delivered. They have informed me that they have substituted a prawn sandwich for a large vegetable samosa ??? I will decline it.
No similarity there. But a large vegetable samosa sounds Very Tasty …
I've been out for a short walk while it wasn't raining and am now doing domestics. We have a friend of Mr Nen's coming to tea, rather last minute, but it's roast chicken and easily stretched by doing extra vegetables and stuffing so it'll be fine.
I've got the Post Christmas Blues and it's hard to get motivated to do anything. There are a lot of things I told myself I wouldn't do, or worry about, or think about, until after Christmas. Now it is after Christmas, and it all seems a bit overwhelming. I guess one day at a time (Sweet Jesus ) is the way forward. Also to put a bottle of white in the fridge to help the roast chicken down.
I'd take a vegetable samosa over a prawn sandwich any day of the week @Telford, but it must be annoying if you fancied one and got the other.
I hope you feel more sparkly soon @nenya.
It rained a lot this afternoon which was a bugger as the garden is now more flooded but not too bad yet.
Apollo Gees - that second sentence sounds awfully like mansplaining...which is not something I would normally dare to do...
Not in the slightest. I'm off to Argos tomorrow if I get the chance, to get one of these. The tree is a ceanothes which didn't survive the Great Deluges of 2023 and is fairly soft wood. I think this should do the job, and should also work on the buddleia which is my other tree. It's corded, but I wanted something made by a manufacturer I'd heard of at a price I liked.
On a vaguely related note, Wilkos is functioning online so you can still get their products. Having just spent 2 hours visiting every possible physical outlet in town in search of universal water filter cartridges and finding none, this is great news as far as I'm concerned.
Back to old clothes and porridge for me today; having woken briefly around an hour before the alarm, and dozed off again, I was actually woken by said alarm, and was all in a flap because I'd been having one of those silly, panicky dreams (in this case that I was in a cookery competition à la Masterchef, and had arrived without any of my ingredients or equipment, and no transport to go back to get them).
This was not conducive to a Good Start to the Year. Also, whatever malady it is that's been making me feel not quite myself is still there, and I've felt rather tired and out of sorts all day. I got everything done that I needed to, but when I got home I sat down on the sofa and flaked out for an hour or so. I'm still living on leftovers: I've just polished off a good chunk of the smoked salmon pâté with a load of little crackers, and shall have a Lem-sip before going to bed (which I plan to do considerably earlier than usual).
I bought a pack of LFTs in Boots; if I feel any worse tomorrow I'll use one.
Uncaged the Scotch Bonnet and used it in chilli con carne - served in the house style in a nest of tortilla chips topped with cheese and finished under a hot grill. Mr F did very well considering he can only eat on one side due to a broken tooth. The good news is he can have it seen to at the hospital tomorrow. The bad news is the appointment is 9 am, and his chemo doesn't start until 3 pm, so he needs to bring a book... (coming home in the interval would be another £40 in taxis).
Sorry you're still under the weather @Piglet . Mr Nen and his friend have headed for the pub and I'm getting dozy in front of the computer so I think the best thing to do is to crawl into bed with my book.
While in favour of Girls Can Do Anything, I have a friend who does urban lumberjacking and the use and upkeep of the chainsaw is not that straightforward.
What about an ad on local social media, saying Free Firewood to anyone prepared to saw it up and take it away?
If it's not all that large a diameter branch, you'd do alright with a sawzall and a coarse-toothed bit. That's probably "reciprocating saw" in official words, but sawzall is one of those brands like Hoover that has acquired generic use.
A quiet and still relatively mild day here (9C), but Dire Prophesies are being made about incoming Snow, Ice, and other Awfulnesses...
Neighbour T is busily drumming up business for the Arkland Coal Co-Operative, and has so far managed to order another metric tonne (100 x 10kg bags of the green E-Coal), of which I may well be buying 50 or 60 bags. The more we order, the less we pay per bag.
Meanwhile, Neighbour S tells me that the 55mph gale the other day caused his fairly light Ark (it's an old Norfolk Broads motor cruiser) to jump about just as he was quaffing some BEER. Caught in mid-quaff, the BEER missed his mouth, and soaked the front of his pullover...O! the joys of living on a tidal river!
Less disastrous, it seems, was the fact that several items of glassware fell from a shelf onto his wood-burning stove - the clearing-up had to wait until the remaining BEER had been safely disposed of...
Our garden is more flooded today, but not as bad (yet) as it was last time. Town is worse. Pizza Express looks like it won't be able to open for a day or two and the river is well over its banks. My neighbour reckons it will get worse before it gets better as the water from upstream hasn't made its way through our town yet.
At least it hasn't rained today and I had a very pleasant morning catching up on housework and an afternoon at the charity bookshop. Now for a slobby rest of the day.
Turned out Mr F's dental appt was 11, not 9, then he had call from cancer ward to say white blood cell count too low, come back next week, so home for the afternoon after all.
Meanwhile I'd gone to friend to bring back some sewing I'd been doing for her (several instructional videos in, I am now Buttonhole Queen on the Bernina). Found her and another friend working on their costumes for the Venice Carnivale, as you do.
It’s Mr Boog’s band practice night tonight so I’m going out with a new friend (she is my age and lives just down the road, we go swimming on Friday afternoons) for tea. I’ll probably have fish ‘n chips.
Sad old person that I am, I was delighted to receive a year's supply of Wilko's water filter cartridges this afternoon - not a prize, just online shopping.
Next door's landlord is arranging for someone to come round and quote for the repairs to the storm-flattened fence. Glad they're on it. I haven't had a chance to get to Argos and get the electric saw yet.
Treated myself to a Chinese takeaway, duck in plum sauce with pineapple, and got home in time as it's now raining again. The flooded park looks fairly normal now but you can still see the glint of water in the grass.
Our county has declared a state of emergency due to the flooding. It's the highest since 2000 apparently, and some people have also had power cuts. Hopefully things will start to improve from tomorrow.
Glad you've got someone sorting out the fence @Ariel.
Today's dinner was a couscous salad with Marks and Spencer's vegan feta cheese, which wasn't at all bad. Vegan cheese not being one of those things that really work, unlike vegan yoghurt for instance.
Chick Frick for tea. I know, on a Thursday - Is Outrage.
Heading out shortly for a meditation group I'm always glad I've gone to but at this time of year is hard to get motivated to going to as it involves a (short) car journey and on a dark wet evening I'd much rather stay in my warm cosy house.
I did manage to get where I wanted to in the dry today, and I believe tomorrow is meant to be much better weather-wise.
So sorry to hear of all shipmates affected by flooding .
As I was feeling considerably better today - thanks for asking, Nen! - (still have a bit of a sore throat if I stop to think about it, but no longer feeling giddy and out of sorts), I ambled over to Tessie's at lunchtime and got in a few Ingredients, which in turn seemed to bring back something of my cooking mojo, which has been decidedly absent of late.
I found a Nigel Slater recipe for pasta with tomatoes and chickpeas, livened it up a bit with a little packet of chopped pancetta and had half of it for supper. It was dead easy, and really rather good - I think I'll do it again.
I think it was meant to be vegetarian (at first I'd thought it was a "Veganuary" thing, but you add cream at the end), but I'd make a rubbish vegetarian, and an even more rubbish vegan.
Eta: is it really bad that I derive simple but profound pleasure from finally having got round to replacing the kitchen bin-bag, having put it off for several days? Perhaps that's subliminally why I haven't been cooking - nowhere to put the scraps ...
Comments
All I have to do is to time my Expotitions ashore during the hours when the shore is actually accessible, that is, one or two hours on either side of a high tide, and to try to ensure that the car is out of reach of the water!
There have been a few occasions on which I've had to cancel or alter appointments, on account of being unable to get to Dry Land...but this is happening more and more often, with so many strong winds, and the closing of the Thames Barrier without warning - which has occurred twice in the past few weeks...we get the water London doesn't want...
The visual image of seeing a tree crash onto my washing line and then be flipped back nearly 180 degrees by the wind and taking the fence with it is one I won't forget in a hurry.
But there we go. On to the next. Time, I think, for a slice of apple pie. I made a deep dish one with dried mixed fruit, cinnamon, cloves and brown sugar and it is nice.
SOUP & SANWIDGE shortly - Pea & Ham, and CHEESE...
My Old Mum used to make a nice APPLE PIE, although it didn't include Cinnamon or Cloves IIRC, which it should have done - but she wasn't fond of those Furrin Spicey Things...
I hear that some chap called Ut-napishtim is enquiring about cheap timber...
Marduk, have mercy!
I had a surprise visit from the very Granddaughter I thought I had said goodbye to for two months until she gets back from Thailand. She brought me soup and a cottage pie made by my son-in-law. I asked how she got here as her car is off the road until she returns. She had insured it for one day in order to complete various errands!
Half of the cottage pie has been eaten and the rest is in the freezer ready for a “rainy day”.
☔
Don't the Weather Laws dictate that Scottish weather always ought to be a few degrees beastlier than English?
Actually, I'm almost scared to put that thought into words for fear of tempting fate ...
Also, the difference between west and east is more pronounced than north and south. Manchester and Bristol get more rain than Edinburgh.
Noting that Edinburgh is to the West of both Bristol and Manchester.
You certainly acquire a few extra skills as a householder, don't you.
Went for a quick walk today before starting back at work. I’ve ploughed through the student emails from over the holiday, done some admin and sent a draft tutorial (on lifestyle choices and influences on health) to a co-tutor for discussion.
Alas, this afternoon I will have to do some marking (on equality and a good death).
In the last storm some tiles fell off the neighbours' house on to our driveway. Fortunately Mrs Rogue was ferrying oldest Rogueling and his wife to the station so the car was not hit. She texted said Rogueling to say thank you.
Have fun!
Get the safety trousers to go with them. My brother has a wood and does a lot of chainsawing and strongly advises them in case of slips.
What about an ad on local social media, saying Free Firewood to anyone prepared to saw it up and take it away?
There are some small battery-powered cutting/sawing/pruning tools available (adverts crop up on YouTube now and then) which may well be easier and safer to use. It might be worth checking Mr E Bay's Emporium, or that of The Big River.
Hefty steel-toe-capped Boots are recommended wear, too.
🥾🥾
It's been raining on and off here and garden is a bit flooded but not too badly seeing the state of our river which is well over its banks. I bumped into a neighbour who had loads of problems before Christmas when we had our last floods and he's fine. He seems to think me putting my councillor's hat on and contacting everyone I could think of to flag up the problems we were having made a difference as we got the drains cleared out for a start.
We've had another lazyish day though we did go into town to post a couple of birthday cards and do the plastic recycling. Followed by taking the car to the dump to get rid of various other bits and pieces.
Point about the Trousers of Strength and Boots of Protection noted, though I think with a device on a much smaller scale I should be all right. The one I had in mind didn't look much more fearsome than my shrub shear's longer blade.
Trousers of Strength and Boots of Protection might still be a Good Idea, as even small bits of Tree are often a good deal heavier than one might suppose...I know whereof I speak...
Apollo Gees - that second sentence sounds awfully like mansplaining...which is not something I would normally dare to do...
Mind you, I found out the hard way how vicious Trees can be when a branch fell off a Pine Tree in the grounds of Our Place. The branch was (I suppose) about 10 feet long, and maybe 6 inches in girth, but Mr D and I found it almost impossible to shift. We cut it up in situ, using Mr D's petrol driven Chainsaw (I was much fitter and stronger in those days), but even then the pieces seemed very heavy and spiky - I have no idea what make of Tree it was.
Anyway, we said to Father F**kwit and the Churchwarden *Behold! The Tree is rotten, and needs to be cut down completely!* Nothing was done, so (inevitably) a few weeks later the entire Tree fell down, damaging several telephone wires, and writing off one parked Car, and a Van next to it...at which point the Professionals were called in...
No similarity there. But a large vegetable samosa sounds Very Tasty …
I've got the Post Christmas Blues and it's hard to get motivated to do anything. There are a lot of things I told myself I wouldn't do, or worry about, or think about, until after Christmas. Now it is after Christmas, and it all seems a bit overwhelming. I guess one day at a time (Sweet Jesus ) is the way forward. Also to put a bottle of white in the fridge to help the roast chicken down.
I hope you feel more sparkly soon @nenya.
It rained a lot this afternoon which was a bugger as the garden is now more flooded but not too bad yet.
Not in the slightest. I'm off to Argos tomorrow if I get the chance, to get one of these. The tree is a ceanothes which didn't survive the Great Deluges of 2023 and is fairly soft wood. I think this should do the job, and should also work on the buddleia which is my other tree. It's corded, but I wanted something made by a manufacturer I'd heard of at a price I liked.
On a vaguely related note, Wilkos is functioning online so you can still get their products. Having just spent 2 hours visiting every possible physical outlet in town in search of universal water filter cartridges and finding none, this is great news as far as I'm concerned.
This was not conducive to a Good Start to the Year. Also, whatever malady it is that's been making me feel not quite myself is still there, and I've felt rather tired and out of sorts all day. I got everything done that I needed to, but when I got home I sat down on the sofa and flaked out for an hour or so. I'm still living on leftovers: I've just polished off a good chunk of the smoked salmon pâté with a load of little crackers, and shall have a Lem-sip before going to bed (which I plan to do considerably earlier than usual).
I bought a pack of LFTs in Boots; if I feel any worse tomorrow I'll use one.
Hope things go well for Mr F tomorrow, @Firenze .
If it's not all that large a diameter branch, you'd do alright with a sawzall and a coarse-toothed bit. That's probably "reciprocating saw" in official words, but sawzall is one of those brands like Hoover that has acquired generic use.
Neighbour T is busily drumming up business for the Arkland Coal Co-Operative, and has so far managed to order another metric tonne (100 x 10kg bags of the green E-Coal), of which I may well be buying 50 or 60 bags. The more we order, the less we pay per bag.
Meanwhile, Neighbour S tells me that the 55mph gale the other day caused his fairly light Ark (it's an old Norfolk Broads motor cruiser) to jump about just as he was quaffing some BEER. Caught in mid-quaff, the BEER missed his mouth, and soaked the front of his pullover...O! the joys of living on a tidal river!
Less disastrous, it seems, was the fact that several items of glassware fell from a shelf onto his wood-burning stove - the clearing-up had to wait until the remaining BEER had been safely disposed of...
At least it hasn't rained today and I had a very pleasant morning catching up on housework and an afternoon at the charity bookshop. Now for a slobby rest of the day.
🙏 for all those for whom this is really getting dangerous AGAIN...
Thursday is, in theory, my self-appointed day off but I did some marking as I have to do it at some point anyway. The joys of flexible working, eh.
Meanwhile I'd gone to friend to bring back some sewing I'd been doing for her (several instructional videos in, I am now Buttonhole Queen on the Bernina). Found her and another friend working on their costumes for the Venice Carnivale, as you do.
Pasta Carbonara for dinner.
😊
Next door's landlord is arranging for someone to come round and quote for the repairs to the storm-flattened fence. Glad they're on it. I haven't had a chance to get to Argos and get the electric saw yet.
Treated myself to a Chinese takeaway, duck in plum sauce with pineapple, and got home in time as it's now raining again. The flooded park looks fairly normal now but you can still see the glint of water in the grass.
Glad you've got someone sorting out the fence @Ariel.
Today's dinner was a couscous salad with Marks and Spencer's vegan feta cheese, which wasn't at all bad. Vegan cheese not being one of those things that really work, unlike vegan yoghurt for instance.
Heading out shortly for a meditation group I'm always glad I've gone to but at this time of year is hard to get motivated to going to as it involves a (short) car journey and on a dark wet evening I'd much rather stay in my warm cosy house.
I did manage to get where I wanted to in the dry today, and I believe tomorrow is meant to be much better weather-wise.
So sorry to hear of all shipmates affected by flooding
Wondering how @Piglet is feeling today?
I found a Nigel Slater recipe for pasta with tomatoes and chickpeas, livened it up a bit with a little packet of chopped pancetta and had half of it for supper. It was dead easy, and really rather good - I think I'll do it again.
I think it was meant to be vegetarian (at first I'd thought it was a "Veganuary" thing, but you add cream at the end), but I'd make a rubbish vegetarian, and an even more rubbish vegan.
Eta: is it really bad that I derive simple but profound pleasure from finally having got round to replacing the kitchen bin-bag, having put it off for several days? Perhaps that's subliminally why I haven't been cooking - nowhere to put the scraps ...