David's mum's garden in Colchester has lots of roses - a previous owner had planted a rose bush for every year of her late husband's life - and one of them regularly attacked me whenever I got out of the car; one of the flower beds is right beside the driveway and the rose always managed to catch itself on my coat.
After a lovely respite of a few days, dreichness seems to have returned to Embra, accompanied by rain, so amblage may have to be postponed. I'll have to get my exercise by Hoover Ing or Iron Ing.
We garden veganly, and certainly it hasn't held anything back. We went for a walk today and bumped into a friend I've only seen virtually since March which was nice. We then went to a coffee shop she recommended, which was enjoyable, though the flapjack was rather filling.
Amblage did happen in the end - it stopped raining long enough for a little stroll down the road and back.
And I did some Hoover Ing and Dust Ing (although by the time I'd done that I couldn't be bothered with Iron Ing.
Oh well, tomorrow's another day ...
S. got some stuff from Root to Market yesterday, which I'm contemplating putting in the oven for supper, but I probably ought to phone her first and find out if she actually wants it - I don't want to have it all cooked and find she doesn't.
Spent the day emailing new students and sorting out forum activities and trying to get organised for the new term which starts on Saturday. Just did my third working evening in a row, with meetings Monday and Tuesday and a training session tonight. I’m also teaching Saturday morning so I think I might have to start claiming for unsocial hours!
Tea was a beef and mushroom curry and rice, followed by a half of beer (Black Isle ‘goldfinch’).
This morning I’m meeting a colleague for coffee in Grantchester. This is the first time in 13 years of working for the OU that I have met a colleague for coffee! Obviously I’ve had coffee with many colleagues over the years, in between teaching sessions, at meetings, conferences and training days. But the nature of distance teaching is that we don’t often see each other. So this is very novel. I don’t know her either, we only discovered we were both in Cambridge in a Teams meeting on Monday.
We are at the airport drinking coffee. It’s not quite the ghost town it was last time we flew to Frankfurt, but it is very quiet. They have consolidated all the terminals into one.
Can’t wait to see our little Enkelin - and her parents, of course!
This morning I’m meeting a colleague for coffee in Grantchester. This is the first time in 13 years of working for the OU that I have met a colleague for coffee! Obviously I’ve had coffee with many colleagues over the years, in between teaching sessions, at meetings, conferences and training days. But the nature of distance teaching is that we don’t often see each other. So this is very novel. I don’t know her either, we only discovered we were both in Cambridge in a Teams meeting on Monday.
Hope you enjoy it. I love meeting new people. But she’s not really ‘new’ is she? Maybe more like meeting a shipmate?
Having read the weather forecast for the next few days, and knowing that no-one is imminently going to run out of clothes, I now have a washing line full of baby things, as even though I expect to be waiting at least a week to use them, it was one of the jobs I really needed to tick off the getting ready list.
I am about to make a big batch of ragu for the freezer, having made minestrone soup for lunch to use up some veg.
Turns out the Orchard is closed due to sickness so we had coffee in the pub.
She is actually ‘new’ in the sense that I have never had a conversation with her, met her or taught with her, even online, though I have seen messages in the forum and group emails. It turns out we have a lot in common, she even used to go to my church. We will meet up monthly.
That's nice, HA - I love the idea of being able to meet up with friends, but in The Current Situation it's not easy!
It's still a nice day here (11° and partly sunny), so I ambled before it changes its mind; I thought we're being offered rain for later, but looking at the Met Office site, it looks as if it might stay nice until Saturday.
Supper may well be the Root to Market stuff; when S. came in last night after doing Granny duty she'd been out for lunch, so wasn't hungry enough to justify it, so I made myself a risotto with mushrooms and cooked chicken that needed using up.
We are at the airport drinking coffee. It’s not quite the ghost town it was last time we flew to Frankfurt, but it is very quiet. They have consolidated all the terminals into one.
Can’t wait to see our little Enkelin - and her parents, of course!
We are at the airport drinking coffee. It’s not quite the ghost town it was last time we flew to Frankfurt, but it is very quiet. They have consolidated all the terminals into one.
Can’t wait to see our little Enkelin - and her parents, of course!
That's lovely! How long are you staying for?
We are here until the 12th. Just about to have Pizza with the Little Family. 🍕
It’s sunny but chilly here - a good breeze, so my washing should get dry.
I’ve dug out my old sewing machine which hasn’t seen the light for day for 30 years! I’m finding it very relaxing. I’m just making masks and doggy bandanas at the moment, but my wish is to make ‘memory bears’. I have a couple of jackets which belonged to my Dad which I want to turn into a teddy. I used to make teddies out of teddy skin all those years ago. 🙂
That's un fat lot de bon if it's pissing with rain and blowing a hoolie ...
I'm going out with several of the family tonight to celebrate S's birthday - the restaurant is within staggering distance, but I think my niece is picking us up, as she'll be driving anyway.
I'm looking forward to it - their food's really good. I don't know if they're one of the ones who've extended Eat Out to Help Out, but all the better if they have!
Still not a bad day here, so amblage has happened, although it looks as if it's clouding over a bit now, and we're being promised unmitigated rain for tomorrow.
Ha! We had Unmitigated Rain™overnight and this morning (courtesy of Storm Alex, I think), but the Sky is not at present leaking.
The deck of the Ark, however, is leaking - an annoying little Drip coming through a rather neat adjustable brass ventilator, and landing on the carpet (O! how civilised, I hear you exclaim!) in the saloon.
Try as I might, I've been unable to stop this leak, even with Duck Tape, waterproof paint, Plastic Padding filler, and so on. I think some serious Grind Ing (to remove the offending ventilator) and Weld Ing (to plate over the hole) is required.
Wet here most of the day.
Husband has taken youngest son with him to visit his parents for dinner. I am at home resting as I’ve been in meetings every evening this week and am teaching tomorrow morning.
For dinner I decided to have porridge with cream
Haven’t had a meat pudding for ages. When I was a child I used to go to my Nan’s for Saturday dinner and we often had mince meat pudding (I am the joint youngest of 8 children, my parents used to regularly farm us three youngest out. I had my Sunday bath at my nan’s too).
My husband makes lovely suet pudding, of both savoury and sweet variety.
My Old Mum used to sometimes do a wonderful Kate-and-Sidney Pud for Sunday lunch in winter, and she was a dab hand at an Apple-and-Sultana Pud, too.
I used to come home from Children's Church at about 11am on a Sunday, to find the house full of steam from the great Boiling Of Pudding...in a Cloth, of course.
I had egg sandwiches for tea last night, odd as that may sound. I'd made mayonnaise (for the first time) last week and my dear lady wife had turned her nose up so it needs eating up. Homemade wholemeal bread, egg mayo with salt, black pepper and smoked paprika. Very tasty.
The rain that was falling on y'all yesterday has moved north. Definitely an indoor day, watching other people get wet - on the links by Gullane. It's the 3rd day of the Scottish Open: yesterday they were playing in beautiful autumnal sunshine, the waters of the Forth calm and glittering, the hills of Fife blue in the distance. Today will be Proper Golfing Weather.
It has piddled down here for almost a week, with a short hiatus on Wednesday. Yesterday, when I teach in a school was very wet. So the kids were hyper. I found it interesting that when it would definitely have been "wet play" in England, here the kids were turfed out to brave the rain, or stand, damply shivering, under the courtyard shelter. At least, I was slightly less knackered than on my first week...
First 7-11 Youth Club at church last night (first since March). Limited numbers, controlled activities and careful cleaning afterwards - but we all had a good time and the kids were pretty good considering they'd been cooped up indoors all day. Great to be back.
The rain that was falling on y'all yesterday has moved north. Definitely an indoor day, watching other people get wet - on the links by Gullane. It's the 3rd day of the Scottish Open: yesterday they were playing in beautiful autumnal sunshine, the waters of the Forth calm and glittering, the hills of Fife blue in the distance. Today will be Proper Golfing Weather.
Watching from Australia where it has been a sunny 30deg C spring day and cheering on the young Australian Lucas Herbert who leads the field as I write.
Spent the morning teaching online (an introduction to theories of health and resilience), then I thought I might as well catch up on my work emails while I was logged in. Husband made peri peri chicken, corn on the cob and wild rice for lunch.
I might go for a walk now as it has finally stopped raining.
The rain and dreichity appear to have set in for the duration, so I think it's going to be a vegging out on the sofa sort of day, possibly with a crossword or three thrown in for good measure (and to keep the porcine brain-cells exercised).
We'd contemplated arranging to meet No. 1 Nephew and Archie for lunch or coffee, but Archie's a bit snufflous, so it's been put off, possibly to tomorrow (Archie's mum, who's a nurse, is working this weekend, so it would just be the two of them).
Not sure what the plan is for supper - possibly the goulash from Root to Market*, with red cabbage and mashed potatoes.
* I thought it was happening a while ago, but S. is a bit OCD about sell-by dates, and decides what she wants based on what's nearest to its date.
You've still got Mild and Sunny in BF-land? A Facebook friend in (I think) Berkshire posted pictures of the stream in her garden overflowing this morning, and others further up the country have mentioned rather moist conditions.
Well, Kent was Very Damp yesterday and overnight, but it brightened up around midday today, and is not too bad at the moment - temperature about 14C, with light winds.
Ha! But more Rain is forecast for early tomorrow morning, albeit possibly only for a few hours - hopefully it'll be clear by Church Time, so as to encourage the Faithful to actually turn up...
They will doubtless be letting groundwater down the river over the next few days - if the tide comes in looking like cold Tea, that's a sure sign that water from upstream is being mixed with it!
Good! We'd love to reintroduce ours, but the Hall is being maintained as a safe bubble for the weekday pre-school Nursery...
So is ours, hence the exhaustive santising and cleaning regime when we'd finished. (The Playgroup, although run by paid staff and inspected by the relevant authorities, is still under the aegis of the church - i.e. it's not a "hire" or a lease by an outside organisation).
Ours is run by an outside firm (well, a lady and her three daughters!), but a decision was made some time ago to preserve the Hall for their sole use during term-time.
I guess we could have our (monthly) Yoof Club/Family Service at half-term, but the couple who ran it have, in effect, left the church at least for the time being. Just at the moment, there are no obvious successors who haven't got enough to do already IYSWIM!
Still, it may be possible. I'll mention it to FatherInCharge.
We had a pleasant morning babysitting our lovely, cheeky Enkelin. Then a walk followed by a lovely evening with friends, eating cheese and drinking wine.
Now we are in a burger bar. Mr Boogs looking at sport on his phone and me on the Ship.
It’s good to be here in Heidelberg. Lockdown in Manchester seems far away just now.
Must be lovely to see the baby.
Do you not have to quarantine when you arrive in Germany from high risk parts of the UK? I thought they had imposed restrictions on some areas?
Comments
After a lovely respite of a few days, dreichness seems to have returned to Embra, accompanied by rain, so amblage may have to be postponed. I'll have to get my exercise by Hoover Ing or Iron Ing.
@Boogie - do you happen to know the name of your evergreen honeysuckle?
I’m sorry, I don’t. I bought it as a baby and it’s a huge giant now!
It’s a lot like this one - https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/10471/Lonicera-henryi/Details
And I did some Hoover Ing and Dust Ing (although by the time I'd done that I couldn't be bothered with Iron Ing.
Oh well, tomorrow's another day ...
S. got some stuff from Root to Market yesterday, which I'm contemplating putting in the oven for supper, but I probably ought to phone her first and find out if she actually wants it - I don't want to have it all cooked and find she doesn't.
Tea was a beef and mushroom curry and rice, followed by a half of beer (Black Isle ‘goldfinch’).
Can’t wait to see our little Enkelin - and her parents, of course!
Hope you enjoy it. I love meeting new people. But she’s not really ‘new’ is she? Maybe more like meeting a shipmate?
I am about to make a big batch of ragu for the freezer, having made minestrone soup for lunch to use up some veg.
She is actually ‘new’ in the sense that I have never had a conversation with her, met her or taught with her, even online, though I have seen messages in the forum and group emails. It turns out we have a lot in common, she even used to go to my church. We will meet up monthly.
It's still a nice day here (11° and partly sunny), so I ambled before it changes its mind; I thought we're being offered rain for later, but looking at the Met Office site, it looks as if it might stay nice until Saturday.
Supper may well be the Root to Market stuff; when S. came in last night after doing Granny duty she'd been out for lunch, so wasn't hungry enough to justify it, so I made myself a risotto with mushrooms and cooked chicken that needed using up.
That's lovely! How long are you staying for?
We are here until the 12th. Just about to have Pizza with the Little Family. 🍕
Thanks!
Enjoy yourself. The UK will still be here ( n some form) when you get back
Maybe I'll go and do that Iron Ing ...
The deck of the Ark, however, is leaking - an annoying little Drip coming through a rather neat adjustable brass ventilator, and landing on the carpet (O! how civilised, I hear you exclaim!) in the saloon.
Try as I might, I've been unable to stop this leak, even with Duck Tape, waterproof paint, Plastic Padding filler, and so on. I think some serious Grind Ing (to remove the offending ventilator) and Weld Ing (to plate over the hole) is required.
When the weather is dry.
Probably sometime about June next year...
Husband has taken youngest son with him to visit his parents for dinner. I am at home resting as I’ve been in meetings every evening this week and am teaching tomorrow morning.
For dinner I decided to have porridge with cream
I had MEAT PUDDING for tea, which is similarly comforting...
Meanwhile, it raineth continually, and is forecast to do so without intermission until lunch-time tomorrow. Fortunately, I have PIE.
The Drip doth also continue.
My husband makes lovely suet pudding, of both savoury and sweet variety.
I used to come home from Children's Church at about 11am on a Sunday, to find the house full of steam from the great Boiling Of Pudding...in a Cloth, of course.
Great fun was had
I decided it would be called the Piece of Cod which Passeth All Understanding.
I'll see myself out.
O we had central heating.
My Old Dad would stand in the middle of the room smoking a fag. Each time he took a drag, and the end glowed, we'd hold our hands out towards it...
Piglet! Hold the door open for me, please...
I'll have a pint then, please.
Actually, even without them that sounds rather nice.
🙄 🥚
Watching from Australia where it has been a sunny 30deg C spring day and cheering on the young Australian Lucas Herbert who leads the field as I write.
I might go for a walk now as it has finally stopped raining.
We'd contemplated arranging to meet No. 1 Nephew and Archie for lunch or coffee, but Archie's a bit snufflous, so it's been put off, possibly to tomorrow (Archie's mum, who's a nurse, is working this weekend, so it would just be the two of them).
Not sure what the plan is for supper - possibly the goulash from Root to Market*, with red cabbage and mashed potatoes.
* I thought it was happening a while ago, but S. is a bit OCD about sell-by dates, and decides what she wants based on what's nearest to its date.
PIE and ROAST SPUDS for a late lunch here, on a pleasantly mild and (slightly) sunny afternoon.
We shall Pay For It Tomorrow, You Mark My Words.
Ha! But more Rain is forecast for early tomorrow morning, albeit possibly only for a few hours - hopefully it'll be clear by Church Time, so as to encourage the Faithful to actually turn up...
They will doubtless be letting groundwater down the river over the next few days - if the tide comes in looking like cold Tea, that's a sure sign that water from upstream is being mixed with it!
I guess we could have our (monthly) Yoof Club/Family Service at half-term, but the couple who ran it have, in effect, left the church at least for the time being. Just at the moment, there are no obvious successors who haven't got enough to do already IYSWIM!
Still, it may be possible. I'll mention it to FatherInCharge.
Now we are in a burger bar. Mr Boogs looking at sport on his phone and me on the Ship.
It’s good to be here in Heidelberg. Lockdown in Manchester seems far away just now.
Do you not have to quarantine when you arrive in Germany from high risk parts of the UK? I thought they had imposed restrictions on some areas?