We have a very small galley kitchen. The extractor fan retracts into the extractor unit, but there is room for a very shallow cupboard at the front. That’s where I keep my spices. A bit of a pain as I have to get on a chair to reach the top shelf, but being a good librarian they are all in alphabetical order so I can see at a glance if I have what I need.
PS no feedback from the viewing @Pigwidgeon . I don’t really expect any till Monday. If we don’t get anywhere I’m thinking we may take it off the market till spring.
It’s currently very grey and rainy but I will soon brave it for a short walk.
Zoom church this morning as usual then this afternoon I will ice the research cake and write some spiel for the competition.
Sunny and 16° here. We will go pram pushing by the river soon.
Yesterday we had Anuka to ourselves all afternoon. Putting her jumper on to go out was hilarious - two people who haven’t dressed a baby for over 30 years and have both completely forgotten how! But we managed the nappy fine ‘tho that, too, was a two person operation. She already poos on the toilet, letting us know she needs one by squatting and pointing to her bum (TMI )
Cloudy and rainy here and 16 degrees - the wind seems to have died down. A good day to do some jobs. And I'm excited about getting some new pyjamas - I just love pyjamas!
Chilly nights and mornings, it was down to zero degree C this Sunday, daytime should be 13° max; the habitual autumnal mist and fog early on, with the sun breaking through now, which is rather nice.
For late breakfast, I'm trying some fried cheesy goodness (incorporating peppercorns!) with rye bread, borettana onions, celery salad with especially creamy French dressing, and a cuppa coffee or two.
May go for a walk later, but I also really need to do some cleaning and tidying and ironing, all of which unfortunately gets a bit neglected during a busy weekday schedule. As I think I may have said earlier, I have now got the 'Tudor Monastery Farm' and 'Full Steam Ahead' DVDs as well, and might be rewatching those, which is always a great pleasure, as everything with that crew, Ruth Goodman et al!
@Piglet Do you have a shallow drawer in which you could range your spices like this?
Sadly not - I'd love one! - but there are only three drawers in the kitchen, and they're full of cutlery, utensils, baking paper and drying-up cloths. I think with a bit of tweaking the top rack of the pull-out larder should do unless I find something better.
It doesn't seem to know what it's doing meteorologically today - one minute it's properly dreich, with threats of rain, and then the sky seems to clear a bit. I've been contemplating an amble by the loch, but I have no desire to get soggy!
I ended up having two little sets of shallow shelves made which are attached to the wall either side of the cooker. I can see all my spices and stock cubes at a glance.
I am something of a fan of open shelving - the same joiner made another two for over the corner with the coffee makers/grinder where the teas, coffees, cafetière, teapots and little Chinese tea sets live. And another two, angled to fit a sloping wall, on the other side of the sink, which is all jugs.
Thanks for the Celtic Advent explanation - I had no idea.
@Firenze - that wouldn't work in my kitchen - there really isn't space (and such as there is is occupied by power points). We had a little spice rack above the stove in the house in St. John's, but the stove had a raised bit with the controls on it that the shelf could sit on. The hob here is a built-in ceramic one (hurrah - so much easier to keep clean!), and there isn't enough space behind it for a spice rack.
In other news, I've just listened to Choral Evensong live-streamed from the Cathedral in the Isle of Man, where they were singing the responses David wrote for St. Martin's church in Belfast. I'd never heard the Manx choir before (their organist is a friend), and they did a lovely job. And I managed not to cry ...
Celtic (and orthodox) advent begins this evening. An excuse for increasing numbers of candles, and a lovely slow entry to the Christmas season.
Orthodox (New Calendar) Advent began today (rather than this evening) - 40 days fasting before the Feast.
Thank you for this tweak.
My spices have moved from a rack inside a wall cabinet (the door wouldn’t shut) to a drawer - at first they were on their sides so I could see the labels but they leaked (wonderfully scented drawer) so now they are upright with the spice name written on the lid, roughly in alphabetical order but each time I open the drawer they’re in a different place so I think they have parties when I’m not looking.
How about a Tali Tin (an Indian spice tin - like a biscuit tin holding a number of smaller tins with the spices in - a double seal to stop them escaping)? You could adapt it by using a tin that matches your kitchen.
I am now in possession of the traditional family Christmas pudding recipe. My only problem is where I'm going to get suet from. There are a few purveyors of British products on line, but so far I've only found the vegetarian version. Vegetarian suet is full of palm oil so I'd rather get the animal version if I can.
This is an ancient post so I’m sorry if you’ve already found a solution (or some suet), but I heard this and thought of you: if you can get hold of Trex (RSPO certified palm oil) freeze it for about 15 mins then grate it.
@Piglet - maybe, if you have an unoccupied door something like this? What drove me mad about keeping them in a huddle was that I could never immediately put my hand on the one I wanted.
Talking of spices, I have chicken bits lying around in ginger, garlic, soy, nam pla, lime juice and kecap manis. Roasted and served with egg-fried rice and shredded scallions I fancy.
Plus this week's Guardian food section has a recipe for what looks a very doable pasta with roasted squash and Gorgonzola.
But wall space. That's why I thought back of a door.
When I had a very small flat I made a hanging for the teensy hallway (couple of pieces of dowelling and scrap fabric) which held all manner of items - gloves, scarves, hats, carrier bags, small tools. I'm a continuing fan of those over-the-door sets of hooks.
The kitchen doesn't have a door. It's a little square room off the living room, and because the configuration of dishwasher, fridge and kitchen door was really awkward, I got the removal man to take the door off so there's just an opening.
My long-term plan may involve taking out or moving the wall that divides the kitchen from the living room and putting in a counter that could accommodate more cupboards, drawers or possibly the fridge, but that would eat into the dining-area space.
I liked the look of the wall rack in Boogie's link, although it's a bit pricey if you want more than half a dozen jars. I have a bit of wall space, although I'm going to use some of it for a rack for small utensils. David rigged one up in our last house from a cake-cooling rack, hung on a couple of cup-hooks on the wall and with S-hooks for hanging things - it worked a treat, and I brought the rack and hooks back with me.
I'll get there eventually - I'm only just in the place, and I'll need to experiment to find out what works and what doesn't but thank you all for the suggestions - keep them coming!
I ended up having two little sets of shallow shelves made which are attached to the wall either side of the cooker. I can see all my spices and stock cubes at a glance.
I am something of a fan of open shelving - the same joiner made another two for over the corner with the coffee makers/grinder where the teas, coffees, cafetière, teapots and little Chinese tea sets live. And another two, angled to fit a sloping wall, on the other side of the sink, which is all jugs.
Your set up in similar to mine. I have a tall set of shelves on one kitchen side which has rice, lentils etc at the bottom with spices, nuts and stock cubes above. By the kettle I have similar but shorter shelves under a cupboard with types of tea, hot chocolate, accessories. The coffee has it own shelf in a small cupboard as we buy big packets of Italian beans.
Tea was roast pork, stuffing, roast pots, parsnips, broccoli, gravy and bread sauce, courtesy of Mr Heavenly. I had a small glass of wine as well.
My last flat was titchy, and the kitchen was part of the living room - sort of set up. There was no cutlery draw so my cutlery lived quite happily in the oven - which I never used. In a previous flat - my cutlery lived in the fridge.
I believe every room has an optimal layout, it can just be a job to find it. The previous owner of Villa Firenze went for the then fashionable counter/divider between the kitchen and dining areas. It was only when we got rid of that (and idiocies like hanging wall cupboards next the windows) that the room could snap back to the well-proportioned space the 1920s builders had originally created.
Nevertheless, opening up the kitchen sounds as if it has potential. An old friend has a 19thC stone-built house in the Borders. The kitchen was actually quite large, but never felt that way. So she had the wall to the adjacent front room knocked through, so now has a nice long space incorporating cooking and dining, with windows at either end, so day-long sunlight (when available).
In 2005 (having endured for 25 years a kitchen installed by a builder who had renovated the house before putting it on the market), I went into John Lewis and said I wanted a new kitchen, but that it wouldn't be the kitchen of my dreams. They said "Oh, I'm sure we can provide you with a dream kitchen". When I replied "The room is 7'6" by 8'0" and has two doors which are not even opposite each other" the reply came "Oh, I see what you mean, madam". Well, it is at least an improvement on the previous one...
The worst kitchen I ever had was described as a 'breakfast kitchen' - I suppose there was room in it for you and a piece of toast, but that was all. It was tiny, and had not only a door from the dining end of the living room, and one to the garden, and one to the under-stairs cupboard, but also a vast gas boiler, free-standing on a slab of concrete (it would have heated a mansion, far more than was needed for a 3-bed estate house). We took the door off the cupboard and I made a roller blind for that space, to match the ones I'd done for the windows.
We spent the whole time we lived there trying to make the best use of such a tiny space - come to think of it, I spent the whole time mentally redesigning the entire house!
My first flat was hall, bedroom, living room and 4 cupboards. One contained a loo. Opposite, no. 2 was the shower. 3 was the boiler and some shelves. 4 was the kitchen - a sink and a cooker and standing room for one. No work surfaces, so I installed a board on hinges that could be lowered over the sink. The fridge was in the hall.
My grandmother lived in a farm cottage until about 1967. The *kitchen*, known by all as the Scullery, contained a shallow sink, a draining board adjacent (IIRC) and a small table (there may have been a cupboard, but the actual Larder was off the living-room, under the stairs).
There was one window, above the sink, and next to the back door (which led to the well - there was no running water) was the Coal Hole.
The floor was of beaten earth.
Cooking BTW was by means of a range, set into the original fireplace in the living-room (which had the luxury of a brick floor!).
When my husband's aunt was alive, she lived in a very old terraced cottage, and the scullery held the sink, deep, with draining board, table and very ancient gas cooker, plus the back door which led to outside WC . Coal was delivered via a small metal cover in the street outside, which led to the cellar. There was a range in the back living room. When she had to go into a home, I got the job of selling the house, and I remember the estate agent, a smartly dressed young man, and I, hunting all over the scullery for the stop cock to turn off the water.
We eventually found it under the very dirty gas cooker, at which point I came over all female and smiling, so he gallantly knelt down and felt round the cooker to turn said stop cock.
BF, your granny's place makes the new Château Piglet sound positively palatial! I've just checked the dimensions, and the kitchen is 7' x 7'7", so really not very big. Having said that, it is very ergonomic: if I'm standing at the stove or the counter, I don't actually have to move to open the fridge or turn the tap on at the sink!
I think I could add a foot or two (in the form of a counter/peninsula type thing) without too much shrinkage of the dining area, and as it would open up the space, it might end up making it feel bigger, even if it wasn't. And if I go down the gas combi-boiler route (which I fully intend to), I should be able to utilise the cupboard where the present hot and cold tanks are, as they wouldn't be needed, and that space could make a fairly decent walk-in larder.
@Firenze - your first flat sounds very similar to my sister and brother-in-law's - the shower was literally a cupboard in the hall, and the kitchen was a stove, sink and tiny bit of counter-space at one end of the living-room.
If I never have to cook on gas again, it'll be too soon; the only time I've lived with a gas stove was when I was staying at my sister's, and I really didn't take to it. While I'll be happy to have the convenience of gas central heating when I get it, I'm very happy to have a ceramic-top stove.
I had a nice little amble along the street earlier, and after a lunch of SOUP and bread, I'm now sitting with a cup of tea. Supper will be roasted salmon with veggies (potatoes, broccoli and carrots) and a sauce made with crème fraîche and mustard.
@Piglet The standard revamp of the tenement Single End was to turn the former coal hole (by the front door) into a shower and, very often to put the sink in window. Sometimes this kitchen bit would be open to the rest of the room, demarcated by a change from Lino to carpet perhaps. Or sometimes a windowed partition, rendering the living room nice and gloomy. Or do the cupboard thing like mine.
My mother remembered her home when it was an open fire and earthen floor. By the time I knew it there was a cast iron range and cement. Water was two enamel buckets fetched from the well a couple of fields away. There was a free-standing cupboard for foodstuffs, though things like potatoes would just be dug from the clamp.
My Nanna's cottage (like that of @Firenze's Mama) would have made a good fillum set for an adaptation of one of Mr Hardy's gloomy Wessex novels, though the cast-iron range might have been a bit too modern...
I recall as a child visiting my great-uncle in Westray, and his house was possibly one of the most primitive I'd ever seen: I suppose there must have been a lavatory of some sort somewhere, but I never used it (I always made sure I'd gone before I left wherever we were staying). However, the thing I most remember was the box-bed built into the wall of the living room, which I thought was very quaint.
Box-beds are very cosy, and typical of old Dutch houses (and barges! I have one on the Ark).
Nanna's toilet was the Traditional Thunderbox at the far end of the garden, complete with squares of newspaper dangling from a piece of string. Her cabbages were of vast size, and much admired locally (let the reader understand...).
When we were house hunting we spent so much time mentally renovating galley kitchens that we decided a big kitchen was our biggest priority, more so than the size of the lounge. Our kitchen is a spacious knocked through kitchen and dining room, our lounge is tiny.
Usual Monday morning here, I did my emails, forums and admin and then spent the afternoon catching up on module materials. In an hour I will be giving a 2 hour tutorial (with a co-tutor) to health students on the context of death.
Hopefully avoiding the adjacent stinging-nettles...though the dock leaves would be handy for Wiping Your Person, as well as for assuaging the sting of the nettles, should you be so unfortunate as to have a close encounter with them.
I think I've worked out the best route for getting to work. There are two train options, one which goes directly to Haymarket but needs two buses after that to get to Pennywell, the other (which Firenze suggested, and which I think I prefer) goes to Waverley, with a few stops on the way, but only needs one bus. I'll be buying season tickets for both bus and train eventually, but for the moment I don't want to fork out for any more fares than I have to.
I'm hoping that West Lothian doesn't get shunted into Tier 4 (as I read is being discussed); I assume that you're allowed to travel for work, but it would still be a pain.
My grandparent's farm had had water pumped up from a stream by a hydraulic ram, installed by a previous occupant, the employee of a larger local property originally including the farm. Unfortunately, he had had it installed at the same time as the ram for his employer, without permission and out of his employer's funds, so it was disconnected in anger. So my grandparents, and my mother as a child, had to get water out of a spring a little way across the field, which my grandfather cleared to be accessible.
When I visited the Faroes, we were taken to see an old farmhouse, in the state in which it had been left when the owners left it, with all the kitchen equipment, the treadle sewing machine, and my feeling was, "this is supposed to be historic, and example of primitive island life?" Since other cruise goers were older than me, I suspect I wasn't the only one.
I think having a few options for travel is good @piglet. Would your ticket enable you to jump on the Haymarket train if needed or are you locked into a particular route?
I would have thought the longer train journey and only one bus is far better than hanging around for two buses. And I see you'd have two routes to choose from, 27 and 37, although they go different ways to get there. And I think there are now escalators at Waverley!
Yesterday's plan was to deep clean the bathroom. I moved everything (scales / toiletries etc) onto the dining room table, removed the shelves from the bathroom cabinet and put them into the dishwasher and was all ready to start.
Then I did what was supposed to be a 5 min fact-check for an article and went down a research rabbit hole, emerging several hours later to the North East Man complaining plaintively about his missing toothbrush and toothpaste.
Today's plan is to deep clean the bathroom! But I still haven't resolved yesterday's puzzle.
I'm going to move the puzzle from my head onto this page, then clean!
Mrs X set up a successful business in 1923. This would have required a wodge of capital. Her three children, all in their early twenties, were on the cusp of successful lives. The 5 min fact-check was to identify Mrs X's late husband, who had, I assumed, left her the wodge of capital. Easy-peasy.
Except that it turned out that her husband had died in 1905, at which point the family were living in a tenement flat in a working-class area, and she was a young widow with three dependent children. Neither set of grandparents had money.
Where did the money come from? How did a young working class widow transform herself into a middle-aged middle class business woman???
How can I focus on scrubbing my grouting when this is all so interesting!
Remind me when your first day at the new job is, @Piglet ?
I've done my usual early Tuesday morning grocery run and spent the usual eye-watering amount. Mr Nen found that the sulphite-free red wine carried no ill effects so I've started stocking up on it and picking up one or two other things for the festive season. If we have my son and his boyfriend here for Christmas I will need to provide vegetarian options but there's no telling yet whether that will be possible.
Mr Nen put in a request for sausages this week so I expect I'll do them for tea, with mash and gravy and peas. Can't remember the last time we had that; I am not generally a fan of the sausage and probably need to find a Proper Butcher for supplies.
In other news I'm planning a walk with a friend at lunchtime and have a Zoomy meeting this afternoon and another this evening.
I think having a few options for travel is good @piglet. Would your ticket enable you to jump on the Haymarket train if needed or are you locked into a particular route?
It's the same train, Haymarket and Waverley being either end of Princes St. I'm sure @Piglet will the optimal route/time for travel. Edinburgh does have a good bus service compared to many other cities.
My grandparent's farm had had water pumped up from a stream by a hydraulic ram, installed by a previous occupant, the employee of a larger local property originally including the farm. Unfortunately, he had had it installed at the same time as the ram for his employer, without permission and out of his employer's funds, so it was disconnected in anger. So my grandparents, and my mother as a child, had to get water out of a spring a little way across the field, which my grandfather cleared to be accessible.
When I visited the Faroes, we were taken to see an old farmhouse, in the state in which it had been left when the owners left it, with all the kitchen equipment, the treadle sewing machine, and my feeling was, "this is supposed to be historic, and example of primitive island life?" Since other cruise goers were older than me, I suspect I wasn't the only one.
My mother grew up on a smallholding in South Africa. They had a windmill to pump water from the well. They threshed corn by hand. In the 1990s my uncle and aunt came to visit and we went to see the Medieval Manor at Dunham Massey. My uncle and my mum were all "Do you remember this?" "Do you remember that?" as they saw items from their childhood and yes they could hand flail wheat.
I have a pile of cloths at the ready. Then, every day - when I get out of the shower - I wipe down the whole bathroom. Starting with the shower , bath and sink. Then the floor then finishing with the toilet. The cloth then goes straight in the washing machine.
Five minutes a day and it becomes a routine - so not a ‘job’ at all.
Edinburgh does have a good bus service compared to many other cities.
It really does. We've been so impressed when we've been up for the Fringe on a number of occasions.
I follow @Boogie 's example with the bathroom cleaning, although I can't say I do the floor each time. The key is having the pile of cloths in the bathroom. If you have to get dry and dressed and then go hunting for cleaning materials the moment has passed.
Comments
PS no feedback from the viewing @Pigwidgeon . I don’t really expect any till Monday. If we don’t get anywhere I’m thinking we may take it off the market till spring.
Zoom church this morning as usual then this afternoon I will ice the research cake and write some spiel for the competition.
Only 10% Tannat, the rest 50% Cab Sauv and 40% Barbera. 2016 from Viñedo de los Vientos in Atlantida.
Quite fresh for its age, the fruit a sort of restrained plum, a complex palate overall.
Yesterday we had Anuka to ourselves all afternoon. Putting her jumper on to go out was hilarious - two people who haven’t dressed a baby for over 30 years and have both completely forgotten how! But we managed the nappy fine ‘tho that, too, was a two person operation. She already poos on the toilet, letting us know she needs one by squatting and pointing to her bum (TMI
For late breakfast, I'm trying some fried cheesy goodness (incorporating peppercorns!) with rye bread, borettana onions, celery salad with especially creamy French dressing, and a cuppa coffee or two.
May go for a walk later, but I also really need to do some cleaning and tidying and ironing, all of which unfortunately gets a bit neglected during a busy weekday schedule. As I think I may have said earlier, I have now got the 'Tudor Monastery Farm' and 'Full Steam Ahead' DVDs as well, and might be rewatching those, which is always a great pleasure, as everything with that crew, Ruth Goodman et al!
Have a lovely Sunday, all!
I’ve delved into my candle stash, ready to begin advent this evening. Before then I have far too much zooming.
Sadly not - I'd love one! - but there are only three drawers in the kitchen, and they're full of cutlery, utensils, baking paper and drying-up cloths. I think with a bit of tweaking the top rack of the pull-out larder should do unless I find something better.
It doesn't seem to know what it's doing meteorologically today - one minute it's properly dreich, with threats of rain, and then the sky seems to clear a bit. I've been contemplating an amble by the loch, but I have no desire to get soggy!
SOUP making will ensue anon.
Celtic (and orthodox) advent begins this evening. An excuse for increasing numbers of candles, and a lovely slow entry to the Christmas season.
I am something of a fan of open shelving - the same joiner made another two for over the corner with the coffee makers/grinder where the teas, coffees, cafetière, teapots and little Chinese tea sets live. And another two, angled to fit a sloping wall, on the other side of the sink, which is all jugs.
Orthodox (New Calendar) Advent began today (rather than this evening) - 40 days fasting before the Feast.
@Firenze - that wouldn't work in my kitchen - there really isn't space (and such as there is is occupied by power points). We had a little spice rack above the stove in the house in St. John's, but the stove had a raised bit with the controls on it that the shelf could sit on. The hob here is a built-in ceramic one (hurrah - so much easier to keep clean!), and there isn't enough space behind it for a spice rack.
In other news, I've just listened to Choral Evensong live-streamed from the Cathedral in the Isle of Man, where they were singing the responses David wrote for St. Martin's church in Belfast. I'd never heard the Manx choir before (their organist is a friend), and they did a lovely job. And I managed not to cry ...
My spices have moved from a rack inside a wall cabinet (the door wouldn’t shut) to a drawer - at first they were on their sides so I could see the labels but they leaked (wonderfully scented drawer) so now they are upright with the spice name written on the lid, roughly in alphabetical order but each time I open the drawer they’re in a different place so I think they have parties when I’m not looking.
How about a Tali Tin (an Indian spice tin - like a biscuit tin holding a number of smaller tins with the spices in - a double seal to stop them escaping)? You could adapt it by using a tin that matches your kitchen.
Talking of spices, I have chicken bits lying around in ginger, garlic, soy, nam pla, lime juice and kecap manis. Roasted and served with egg-fried rice and shredded scallions I fancy.
Plus this week's Guardian food section has a recipe for what looks a very doable pasta with roasted squash and Gorgonzola.
https://tinyurl.com/y67cf4xc
When I had a very small flat I made a hanging for the teensy hallway (couple of pieces of dowelling and scrap fabric) which held all manner of items - gloves, scarves, hats, carrier bags, small tools. I'm a continuing fan of those over-the-door sets of hooks.
My long-term plan may involve taking out or moving the wall that divides the kitchen from the living room and putting in a counter that could accommodate more cupboards, drawers or possibly the fridge, but that would eat into the dining-area space.
I liked the look of the wall rack in Boogie's link, although it's a bit pricey if you want more than half a dozen jars. I have a bit of wall space, although I'm going to use some of it for a rack for small utensils. David rigged one up in our last house from a cake-cooling rack, hung on a couple of cup-hooks on the wall and with S-hooks for hanging things - it worked a treat, and I brought the rack and hooks back with me.
I'll get there eventually - I'm only just in the place, and I'll need to experiment to find out what works and what doesn't but thank you all for the suggestions - keep them coming!
Tea was roast pork, stuffing, roast pots, parsnips, broccoli, gravy and bread sauce, courtesy of Mr Heavenly. I had a small glass of wine as well.
Nevertheless, opening up the kitchen sounds as if it has potential. An old friend has a 19thC stone-built house in the Borders. The kitchen was actually quite large, but never felt that way. So she had the wall to the adjacent front room knocked through, so now has a nice long space incorporating cooking and dining, with windows at either end, so day-long sunlight (when available).
We spent the whole time we lived there trying to make the best use of such a tiny space - come to think of it, I spent the whole time mentally redesigning the entire house!
My grandmother lived in a farm cottage until about 1967. The *kitchen*, known by all as the Scullery, contained a shallow sink, a draining board adjacent (IIRC) and a small table (there may have been a cupboard, but the actual Larder was off the living-room, under the stairs).
There was one window, above the sink, and next to the back door (which led to the well - there was no running water) was the Coal Hole.
The floor was of beaten earth.
Cooking BTW was by means of a range, set into the original fireplace in the living-room (which had the luxury of a brick floor!).
We eventually found it under the very dirty gas cooker, at which point I came over all female and smiling, so he gallantly knelt down and felt round the cooker to turn said stop cock.
I hoped his trousers came clean!
I think I could add a foot or two (in the form of a counter/peninsula type thing) without too much shrinkage of the dining area, and as it would open up the space, it might end up making it feel bigger, even if it wasn't. And if I go down the gas combi-boiler route (which I fully intend to), I should be able to utilise the cupboard where the present hot and cold tanks are, as they wouldn't be needed, and that space could make a fairly decent walk-in larder.
@Firenze - your first flat sounds very similar to my sister and brother-in-law's - the shower was literally a cupboard in the hall, and the kitchen was a stove, sink and tiny bit of counter-space at one end of the living-room.
If I never have to cook on gas again, it'll be too soon; the only time I've lived with a gas stove was when I was staying at my sister's, and I really didn't take to it. While I'll be happy to have the convenience of gas central heating when I get it, I'm very happy to have a ceramic-top stove.
I had a nice little amble along the street earlier, and after a lunch of SOUP and bread, I'm now sitting with a cup of tea. Supper will be roasted salmon with veggies (potatoes, broccoli and carrots) and a sauce made with crème fraîche and mustard.
My mother remembered her home when it was an open fire and earthen floor. By the time I knew it there was a cast iron range and cement. Water was two enamel buckets fetched from the well a couple of fields away. There was a free-standing cupboard for foodstuffs, though things like potatoes would just be dug from the clamp.
Nanna's toilet was the Traditional Thunderbox at the far end of the garden, complete with squares of newspaper dangling from a piece of string. Her cabbages were of vast size, and much admired locally (let the reader understand...).
Usual Monday morning here, I did my emails, forums and admin and then spent the afternoon catching up on module materials. In an hour I will be giving a 2 hour tutorial (with a co-tutor) to health students on the context of death.
I think I've worked out the best route for getting to work. There are two train options, one which goes directly to Haymarket but needs two buses after that to get to Pennywell, the other (which Firenze suggested, and which I think I prefer) goes to Waverley, with a few stops on the way, but only needs one bus. I'll be buying season tickets for both bus and train eventually, but for the moment I don't want to fork out for any more fares than I have to.
I'm hoping that West Lothian doesn't get shunted into Tier 4 (as I read is being discussed); I assume that you're allowed to travel for work, but it would still be a pain.
Nice and sunny and 18° here!
☀️
When I visited the Faroes, we were taken to see an old farmhouse, in the state in which it had been left when the owners left it, with all the kitchen equipment, the treadle sewing machine, and my feeling was, "this is supposed to be historic, and example of primitive island life?" Since other cruise goers were older than me, I suspect I wasn't the only one.
Then I did what was supposed to be a 5 min fact-check for an article and went down a research rabbit hole, emerging several hours later to the North East Man complaining plaintively about his missing toothbrush and toothpaste.
Today's plan is to deep clean the bathroom! But I still haven't resolved yesterday's puzzle.
I'm going to move the puzzle from my head onto this page, then clean!
Mrs X set up a successful business in 1923. This would have required a wodge of capital. Her three children, all in their early twenties, were on the cusp of successful lives. The 5 min fact-check was to identify Mrs X's late husband, who had, I assumed, left her the wodge of capital. Easy-peasy.
Except that it turned out that her husband had died in 1905, at which point the family were living in a tenement flat in a working-class area, and she was a young widow with three dependent children. Neither set of grandparents had money.
Where did the money come from? How did a young working class widow transform herself into a middle-aged middle class business woman???
How can I focus on scrubbing my grouting when this is all so interesting!
I've done my usual early Tuesday morning grocery run and spent the usual eye-watering amount. Mr Nen found that the sulphite-free red wine carried no ill effects so I've started stocking up on it and picking up one or two other things for the festive season. If we have my son and his boyfriend here for Christmas I will need to provide vegetarian options but there's no telling yet whether that will be possible.
Mr Nen put in a request for sausages this week so I expect I'll do them for tea, with mash and gravy and peas. Can't remember the last time we had that; I am not generally a fan of the sausage and probably need to find a Proper Butcher for supplies.
In other news I'm planning a walk with a friend at lunchtime and have a Zoomy meeting this afternoon and another this evening.
It's the same train, Haymarket and Waverley being either end of Princes St. I'm sure @Piglet will the optimal route/time for travel. Edinburgh does have a good bus service compared to many other cities.
My mother grew up on a smallholding in South Africa. They had a windmill to pump water from the well. They threshed corn by hand. In the 1990s my uncle and aunt came to visit and we went to see the Medieval Manor at Dunham Massey. My uncle and my mum were all "Do you remember this?" "Do you remember that?" as they saw items from their childhood and yes they could hand flail wheat.
I have a pile of cloths at the ready. Then, every day - when I get out of the shower - I wipe down the whole bathroom. Starting with the shower , bath and sink. Then the floor then finishing with the toilet. The cloth then goes straight in the washing machine.
Five minutes a day and it becomes a routine - so not a ‘job’ at all.
I follow @Boogie 's example with the bathroom cleaning, although I can't say I do the floor each time. The key is having the pile of cloths in the bathroom. If you have to get dry and dressed and then go hunting for cleaning materials the moment has passed.