Sounds like a successful day @Piglet . I hope you're enjoying a nice glass of WINE this evening.
I did indeed, along with a mushroom and red pepper risotto.
@Sarasa - it's full time - 8:30-4:30 Monday - Friday. It's going to be a bit of a culture shock - I haven't worked full time since 2003! But more hours = more money ...
@Boogie - your grand-daughter is, as they say in Northern Ireland, a wee dote!
The 8.30 start, while a bit brutal, is probably a good thing commute-wise, since it will get you through Princes St before it gets really busy.
Back in the day, I needed to be in work by 7am, since we had a contractual obligation to have certain content on the web by 8. Then I could go get breakfast in the canteen.
@Piglet sounds like you had a very productive day.
My bathroom is now a shower room: last year I did a somersault in a friend's bath and landed on my head (I actually saw stars) so decided it was Time. I'd been dithering for ages, deciding I'd get it done when I'm an Old Lady. Turns out I am. So I have a corner shower, 90cm, the largest I could fit in the space and it's lovely! All white fittings, so I went wild with jungle wallpaper which has so many colours in the design that all my old towels match very well.
Some of us used to start work at 7am having sometimes worked a late shift til 10pm the night before ...
Now that really is Outrage!
I think @Firenze has a point - assuming the whole of Edinburgh doesn't go down the Disgustingly Early Start route. Whatever happened to good old 9 to 5? I was rather alarmed on the train coming home to see a notice saying, "Please avoid travelling at peak times". Sorry, that's not going to happen.
It could have been worse - the place actually opens at 8, but my boss asked me if I'd prefer to start at 8:30 and finish at 4:30. By the time I start the job, it'll probably be still dark at 8:30 and dark again by 4:30 - not that that's a problem to a hyperborealian like me!
On a general ward you need more staff on the morning shift than the afternoon shift as you are busier in the day time (you overlap in the afternoon). So nurses would work 3-4 morning shifts and 1-2 afternoon shifts a week. This meant sometimes working a late shift before a morning shift. In theory we finished at 9pm but in reality it was often 10pm. It causes a lot of sleep disturbance as there is little chance to wind down; I was always anxious that I had missed something handing over to the night staff.
When I was a student nurse, the night shifts were 7 days on and 7 days off - and they were almost 11 hours long. By the 7th night you were useless and possibly dangerous.
I got up early today and will go for a walk shortly. I have a heavy day of marking ahead but at midday I am phoning my study buddy (who happens to teach the same course I am marking) which will give me a pleasant break. Church zoom bible study this evening.
My son works in the theatre industry. (Well, not much at the moment, sadly ...). His hours can be very erratic. Worst is when he's on tour: on Saturdays the staff have to be in at around 1pm for the matinee, then do the evening performance followed by the "get out" and lorry loading which, depending on the size of the production, may take them up till 1am or later. A few hours of sleep, then its on the road to the next venue, usually with a "get in" on Monday morning.
When I was a teacher I arrived at work at 7:30am and arrived home at five, with a couple of hours evening marking ahead. Saturdays were for preparation. I was usually able to take Sundays off, but not always.
That reminds me - it’s marvellous to be retired! 😇
That reminds me - it’s marvellous to be retired! 😇
Isn’t it just. At one point my lovely team was in India and our customer was in Texas. Most of the time that was fine, but every 3 months, for 6 weeks, my team would start work by 5am our time and the customer would want a meeting at around 7 or 8pm our time. Which was tough enough going for me, and I put my foot down at the customer’s request for the presence of a representative from the India team. I do not miss any of that at all.
When I was a teacher I arrived at work at 7:30am and arrived home at five, with a couple of hours evening marking ahead. Saturdays were for preparation. I was usually able to take Sundays off, but not always.
That reminds me - it’s marvellous to be retired! 😇
My wife was the same, but tried to take Saturdays off. Sundays, once she'd been to church, were for work.
Here is another person Not feeling nostalgic for those benighted Early shifts.
I do recall agreeing to take on a stint of earlies in A/E (emergency /casualty for non UK) ....
.....before discovering to my horror that A/E earlies started at 6.30am , so an earlier handover had to be factored in as well!
If it were not for the very real prospect of extra money in my bank account, those shifts would not have been completed. As it was, it took another couple of months to recover from the experience and I refused Point Blank to oblige the management any more.
I have no idea how Anyone manages a lifetime of that sorta stuff.
Respect
I used sometimes to work (NHS ambulance) three night shifts at weekends - 7pm to 7am, finishing at 7am (if we were lucky) on Monday, by which time I was slightly tired. Next shift after that started at 8am on Tuesday, so there was some margin for recovery!
A member of my church has just been told that the place where he works will close next year and he will be redeployed elsewhere in the organisation. This means that he will have to work in the evenings (either 12 noon-8pm or 2-10pm) or else at weekends. He has said that, as he wants to preserve the weekends for church and family visits, he will have to take the evening option. This is inconvenient for him and will have an effect on his church commitments; but how will it work for folk who are juggling family responsibitities and the like? The Union is being consulted but so far has not proved helpful.
I do recall agreeing to take on a stint of earlies in A/E (emergency /casualty for non UK) ....
.....before discovering to my horror that A/E earlies started at 6.30am , so an earlier handover had to be factored in as well!
[channelling Monty Python] You were lucky to start at 06:30....
We produce a short-lived radiopharmaceutical, so have to clean down the isolators, produce the radiation, synthesise the product & perform QC & release product. All by 09:00 for the first patient injections. Our technologist staff work 04:30-12:00. Fortunately these days I don't have to cover for them so often (I start at 06:30). There is little to be said for the 04:30 start, but finishing at 14:30 does at least mean I see daylight in winter, which is a plus.
When I was a teacher I arrived at work at 7:30am ...
Crikey - I reckon if the teachers st my old school had arrived that early, they'd have been met with locked doors and the building in darkness.
It's a glorious if rather cool day here; laundry has been done and is in the dryer, and in a wee while my bridesmaid's coming round with her wee dog and we're going for a walk by the loch followed by coffee.
There will be much chatter: we're still catching up on 20 years of missed contact.
This morning I took Captain Pyjamas to the speech therapist (most chuffed that we have this regular excuse for an outing), and this afternoon I spoke to the lady from the training course, who continues to be very nice and encouraging.
I am now engaged in making the gourmet meal at which I excel: CHEESEBURGER. The dough for brioche rolls is rising next to the hot water pipe, and the CHIPS have been fried for the first time and are now resting. Other essential elements: put the pickles under the patty, not on top, and melt the cheese a bit by putting the lid on the pan for one minute at the end of cooking. Tomatoes are out of season, but I feel they have to be included. I need to fry a bit of red onion, as well (disagrees with me raw). I have been known to make my own barbecue sauce, but we already have a bottle of ready-made in the fridge so it seems a bit superfluous (even if mine is nicer).
I have lost all track of time. When I was in the Post Office this morning I spotted a fine selection of half-price traybakes, reduced because their sell-by date was 20 Nov. Under the impression that 20 Nov was still several days away, I stocked up. The North East household is now having to consume copious quantities of peppermint slice and malteser slice.
The North East household is now having to consume copious quantities of peppermint slice and malteser slice.
You say that as though it's a bad thing. I'm planning for the first course of my meal this evening to be with la vie and then heading over to yours for coffee and traybake.
Failing that, I'll be cooking salmon and roast veg here.
Even though I'm a vegetarian/vegan I like the sound of your cheeseburgers @la vie en rouge.
When I worked I got there about 7.30 as I opened the school library to keen and eager pupils at 8.00. I much prefer doing that and leaving at 4.00 than starting and finishing later. My son is an industrial chemist and normally starts at 7.00ish. Some days he has to be in earlier to do stuff with chemicals that involves wearing full Hazchem gear before everyone else arrives. It does mean he gets the afternoon off. I phoned him early one evening after one of those shifts and had a very confused young man on the phone who didn't know what the time was as I'd woken him up from an afternoon snooze.
....The dough for brioche rolls is rising next to the hot water pipe, ....
Over the last 2 days I followed a recipe for brioche and the outcome isn't what I expected. I suspect I need to find another recipe - the one I used (Paul Hollywood's) said the dough needed or rest somewhere cold for at least 5 hours or overnight, and then rise for at least 2 hours. The outcome is yummy (tangerine and chocolate) but looking nothing like the picture in the book.
Lasr weekend I had to make a loaf in the machine, as we had run out. It came out with one end totally doughy and unrisen, the other with some bubbles, but not right. And I have been told how much it was liked. I have no idea how to repeat it, and don't want to. when I checked it during kneading, it was too dry, so I added a little milk. Otherwise it was normal. The yeast has been in a tin since being bought at the beginning of the year.
I used to get to school by 7.55am, partly to miss the traffic, mostly to do photocopying and admin before the others arrived. I rarely left before 5.30. Meal, then marking and preparation until 11pm most nights. Choir on Thursday. Chores on Saturday. Church then school work on Sunday.
On another note, I have not had fish and chips or a burger since early March. I think it is time I did.
Had a lovely walk and coffee/chat with A. and her dog, and as we parted company, she suggested we meet up again later to do some Christmas shopping: some of the shops in the High Street were staying open late this evening before being forced to close tomorrow evening.
It was a most excellent idea; there's a nice little toy shop across the road from the château, and I now have pressies for all the kids, and am feeling suitably smug.
My SIL has six brothers and sisters and they all have children. So, as the eldest, she made a strict rule of no presents after 18 years old, including all adults.
Which is fine for her, but my family is tiny so I love buying for my brother and nieces. I simply break the rule every year - so she’s given up reminding me of the ‘no presents’ rule. I always give her something homemade so she doesn’t need to feel guilty about getting us nothing.
I am the youngest of 8 and have loads of nieces and nephews, and great nieces and nephews, so we also have that rule.
I’ve been for a quick walk and am about to start my Zoom yoga class. This afternoon I need to finish the last few essays from this weeks marking and then I am free!
There are loads of arguments in my husbands family as we do the no presents after eighteen rule, but one of his sisters feels her children are being slighted. The children themselves, both working, don't mind.
Linlithgow sounds lovely @piglet. Nothing like a proper toyshop. I loved browsing them for presents when our son and nieces and nephews were small. Trouble is I'd always find things I'd like to play with.
I’ve just added it up, and 4 of my siblings have 10 children between them (ranging from about age 10 to 44). Those nieces and nephews have at least 10 children between them as well (I’m not in contact with all of them so there may be more) and some of those children are in their twenties.
At this rate I may soon have great great nieces and nephews and I’m only in my 50s!
(My second sister had a baby when she was 17, and her daughter had a baby at 21, so my sister was a grandmother at 38).
Nothing like a proper toyshop. I loved browsing them for presents when our son and nieces and nephews were small. Trouble is I'd always find things I'd like to play with.
The problem for us is that our excellent local toyshop and our lovely grandson are not proximate, and any gifts for him have to be carried on the train!
No toyshops here, and no chance of going shopping either. I have 4 great granddaughters, and one step GGD, the oldest is nearly 12, tokens or money are easiest there. The others are still babies, two I haven't even seen yet due to Covid. Step GGD, really must stop calling her a step GGD, is nearly 7, but I don't know an awful lot about her, except she is a good reader, and tremendously athletic. Token I think. Two babies, in one family are swamped with everything a baby could want, the other isn't. But I have to be seen to be fair. I am still racking my brains.
Captain Pyjamas is my parents' only grandchild.* Consequently my mum wants to buy All. The. Toys. I suggested she could get him some wellies for Christmas, because he's outgrown his and all little kids love wellies. Yes, says Grandma, but I'll have to get him some toys as well. I've heard that being spoiled rotten is less of a problem when your grandparents do it
* Which is not going to change. My brother and sister-in-law are childless by choice, and while I theoretically would have quite liked two, in practice another pregnancy would be at very high risk of complications up to and including death so I've decided to quit while I'm ahead.
... being spoiled rotten is less of a problem when your grandparents do it ...
Isn't spoiling rotten the entire point of grandparents?
My family here isn't all that big: brother & s-i-l; sister; four grown-up nieces and nephews with partners; and four littlies (ages 2 months up to 8 years). The nieces and nephews and their partners will get joint "useful" pressies (like things for the house, nice tableware, that sort of thing) plus homemade foodie things if I'm organised enough (loaves, jars of red pepper jelly, pots of pâté). I've also got David's sister and b-i-l; I always used to send them Wine Society things, but I'm not sure whether I'm even still a member, as the membership was in David's name. I've probably inherited it (it's actually a share in the company and you can leave it in your will), but it's a while since I heard anything from them. I'd probably be better sending them something from Am*z*n, much as I'd rather not.
It's a grey day here, verging on damp, but pleasant enough for a trip out to Sainsbury's to stock up on this and that, and also a trot across the road to the butcher's, where I got a LAMB SHANK! It's almost indecent how happy this makes me, after how hard they were to come by in Canada. The slow-cooker will be deployed either tomorrow or Sunday.
Shun Amazon! Go to bookshop.org. I've already bought a cookbook, which came from a shop in London, and a couple of rare 'tec reprints which came from a shop I actually know, in St Boswells. Delivery was pretty prompt, and you have the warm glow of supporting independent booksellers. Plus there are some interesting local titles - such as this.
The only small children I need to buy for have been bought small binoculars.
Indian takeaway tonight, as it was Diwali in the week I also took the opportunity to buy some spicy Indian cocktails to accompany it and a box of Indian sweets!
I miss not having children to buy Christmas presents for so I'll buy something to go under the City Mission Christmas tree. Maybe something for a teenager as they get left out amongst the teddies and toys for little ones.
While I was shopping last night I bought a new face mask in a place that's part carpet shop, part gift shop. It's rather cute, with hedgehogs on it, but more to the point, it's really comfortable, and I'm regretting buying only one. Obviously, I didn't know it was going to be comfortable, so I didn't want to risk buying more, but I expect the shop'll be closed now for the duration.
You could try emailing the shop to see if you could order over the phone/PayPal to be posted out?
If you like the style you might try looking for a similar handmade one on Etsy (check that you are looking at UK sellers not US) or the British version Folksy. I use Folksy all the time for handmade presents. Sellers have reviews so you can check out the quality.
I couldn’t sleep last night, presumably due to a mix of exhaustion of a few weeks busy workload (bipolar disorder is a nightmare for insomnia when your brain starts going into overload) and overeating late last night. But I have a free day today with no work or study. It doesn’t look like rain so I might wrap up warm and potter in the garden.
A walk first though.
I did that very thing, got a reply straight away saying the owner would be in the shop until 2 o'clock, ambled down the street (it's in the next block to the château), and am now in possession of five more - another with hedgehogs* and one each with tropical birds, dragonflies, bumblebees and a red one with stars (well, it is nearly Christmas).
There's a lady on an Orkney Facebook page selling masks with puffins on them - I'm very tempted to get one of those too!
* it was the nearest thing they had to piggies
It looks as if I went out at just the right time - it was lovely when I was out, but it's clouded over and has started to is p*ssing with rain now.
Having bought some smoked haddock yesterday (another thing you couldn't get for love or money in Canada), I think I'll make kedgeree for supper.
PS Happy birthday Anuka! I can't believe she's a year already!
For burgers I come over all English (I have to now and again) and use a decent sliced Cheddar. I found a "spicy barbecue" one which worked a treat. Wine was a very nice Morgon.
(ETA the Perfect Cheeseburger™ is a subject in which I have invested rather considerable energy )
I've just ordered 10 of the puffin masks, most of which will be added to the Christmas pressies of my female friends and relations.
Lol! All your masks sound lovely and I am now rather jealous, especially of the puffins. I wear some identical handmade ditsy floral ones but I’m now feeling they are unexciting and I may have to make some more. I’m especially tempted by some Christmas ones, perhaps as gifts!
Having bought some smoked haddock yesterday (another thing you couldn't get for love or money in Canada), I think I'll make kedgeree for supper.
Mmm, kedgeree. I might add that to the list of meals for next week. Haven't made it for years.
Your facemasks sound lovely, Piglet. They're a good Christmas present idea too.
I hope Anuka and her family have a lovely day!
We're having stir fry for tea, the usual Saturday evening meal chez Nen, with a bottle of the red wine sans sulphites which seemed to suit Mr Nen last time we had it but of course it's important to keep trialling it.
Comments
I did indeed, along with a mushroom and red pepper risotto.
@Sarasa - it's full time - 8:30-4:30 Monday - Friday. It's going to be a bit of a culture shock - I haven't worked full time since 2003! But more hours = more money ...
@Boogie - your grand-daughter is, as they say in Northern Ireland, a wee dote!
Back in the day, I needed to be in work by 7am, since we had a contractual obligation to have certain content on the web by 8. Then I could go get breakfast in the canteen.
Is Outrage (and is Middle of Night...)!
My bathroom is now a shower room: last year I did a somersault in a friend's bath and landed on my head (I actually saw stars) so decided it was Time. I'd been dithering for ages, deciding I'd get it done when I'm an Old Lady. Turns out I am. So I have a corner shower, 90cm, the largest I could fit in the space and it's lovely! All white fittings, so I went wild with jungle wallpaper which has so many colours in the design that all my old towels match very well.
Some of us used to start work at 7am having sometimes worked a late shift til 10pm the night before.
A fairly constructive day today, ending in a meeting at 6pm. We had macaroni cheese for tea, followed by the remains of my rainbow cake.
Now that really is Outrage!
I think @Firenze has a point - assuming the whole of Edinburgh doesn't go down the Disgustingly Early Start route. Whatever happened to good old 9 to 5? I was rather alarmed on the train coming home to see a notice saying, "Please avoid travelling at peak times". Sorry, that's not going to happen.
It could have been worse - the place actually opens at 8, but my boss asked me if I'd prefer to start at 8:30 and finish at 4:30. By the time I start the job, it'll probably be still dark at 8:30 and dark again by 4:30 - not that that's a problem to a hyperborealian like me!
When I was a student nurse, the night shifts were 7 days on and 7 days off - and they were almost 11 hours long. By the 7th night you were useless and possibly dangerous.
I got up early today and will go for a walk shortly. I have a heavy day of marking ahead but at midday I am phoning my study buddy (who happens to teach the same course I am marking) which will give me a pleasant break. Church zoom bible study this evening.
That reminds me - it’s marvellous to be retired! 😇
I do recall agreeing to take on a stint of earlies in A/E (emergency /casualty for non UK) ....
.....before discovering to my horror that A/E earlies started at 6.30am , so an earlier handover had to be factored in as well!
If it were not for the very real prospect of extra money in my bank account, those shifts would not have been completed. As it was, it took another couple of months to recover from the experience and I refused Point Blank to oblige the management any more.
I have no idea how Anyone manages a lifetime of that sorta stuff.
Respect
[channelling Monty Python] You were lucky to start at 06:30....
We produce a short-lived radiopharmaceutical, so have to clean down the isolators, produce the radiation, synthesise the product & perform QC & release product. All by 09:00 for the first patient injections. Our technologist staff work 04:30-12:00. Fortunately these days I don't have to cover for them so often (I start at 06:30). There is little to be said for the 04:30 start, but finishing at 14:30 does at least mean I see daylight in winter, which is a plus.
Crikey - I reckon if the teachers st my old school had arrived that early, they'd have been met with locked doors and the building in darkness.
It's a glorious if rather cool day here; laundry has been done and is in the dryer, and in a wee while my bridesmaid's coming round with her wee dog and we're going for a walk by the loch followed by coffee.
There will be much chatter: we're still catching up on 20 years of missed contact.
I am now engaged in making the gourmet meal at which I excel: CHEESEBURGER. The dough for brioche rolls is rising next to the hot water pipe, and the CHIPS have been fried for the first time and are now resting. Other essential elements: put the pickles under the patty, not on top, and melt the cheese a bit by putting the lid on the pan for one minute at the end of cooking. Tomatoes are out of season, but I feel they have to be included. I need to fry a bit of red onion, as well (disagrees with me raw). I have been known to make my own barbecue sauce, but we already have a bottle of ready-made in the fridge so it seems a bit superfluous (even if mine is nicer).
I have lost all track of time. When I was in the Post Office this morning I spotted a fine selection of half-price traybakes, reduced because their sell-by date was 20 Nov. Under the impression that 20 Nov was still several days away, I stocked up. The North East household is now having to consume copious quantities of peppermint slice and malteser slice.
Failing that, I'll be cooking salmon and roast veg here.
When I worked I got there about 7.30 as I opened the school library to keen and eager pupils at 8.00. I much prefer doing that and leaving at 4.00 than starting and finishing later. My son is an industrial chemist and normally starts at 7.00ish. Some days he has to be in earlier to do stuff with chemicals that involves wearing full Hazchem gear before everyone else arrives. It does mean he gets the afternoon off. I phoned him early one evening after one of those shifts and had a very confused young man on the phone who didn't know what the time was as I'd woken him up from an afternoon snooze.
Fish n chips here, with processed peas, broad beans ..... and carrots from the garden!
I have been marking online since 9am and have just finished. I’ve no idea what we are having for tea as I haven’t bothered to look yet.
On another note, I have not had fish and chips or a burger since early March. I think it is time I did.
It was a most excellent idea; there's a nice little toy shop across the road from the château, and I now have pressies for all the kids, and am feeling suitably smug.
I don’t have any more small children to buy for. The teenagers prefer money or vouchers.
Which is fine for her, but my family is tiny so I love buying for my brother and nieces. I simply break the rule every year - so she’s given up reminding me of the ‘no presents’ rule. I always give her something homemade so she doesn’t need to feel guilty about getting us nothing.
🙂
I’ve been for a quick walk and am about to start my Zoom yoga class. This afternoon I need to finish the last few essays from this weeks marking and then I am free!
Linlithgow sounds lovely @piglet. Nothing like a proper toyshop. I loved browsing them for presents when our son and nieces and nephews were small. Trouble is I'd always find things I'd like to play with.
At this rate I may soon have great great nieces and nephews and I’m only in my 50s!
(My second sister had a baby when she was 17, and her daughter had a baby at 21, so my sister was a grandmother at 38).
* Which is not going to change. My brother and sister-in-law are childless by choice, and while I theoretically would have quite liked two, in practice another pregnancy would be at very high risk of complications up to and including death so I've decided to quit while I'm ahead.
Isn't spoiling rotten the entire point of grandparents?
My family here isn't all that big: brother & s-i-l; sister; four grown-up nieces and nephews with partners; and four littlies (ages 2 months up to 8 years). The nieces and nephews and their partners will get joint "useful" pressies (like things for the house, nice tableware, that sort of thing) plus homemade foodie things if I'm organised enough (loaves, jars of red pepper jelly, pots of pâté). I've also got David's sister and b-i-l; I always used to send them Wine Society things, but I'm not sure whether I'm even still a member, as the membership was in David's name. I've probably inherited it (it's actually a share in the company and you can leave it in your will), but it's a while since I heard anything from them. I'd probably be better sending them something from Am*z*n, much as I'd rather not.
It's a grey day here, verging on damp, but pleasant enough for a trip out to Sainsbury's to stock up on this and that, and also a trot across the road to the butcher's, where I got a LAMB SHANK! It's almost indecent how happy this makes me, after how hard they were to come by in Canada. The slow-cooker will be deployed either tomorrow or Sunday.
Indian takeaway tonight, as it was Diwali in the week I also took the opportunity to buy some spicy Indian cocktails to accompany it and a box of Indian sweets!
If you like the style you might try looking for a similar handmade one on Etsy (check that you are looking at UK sellers not US) or the British version Folksy. I use Folksy all the time for handmade presents. Sellers have reviews so you can check out the quality.
I couldn’t sleep last night, presumably due to a mix of exhaustion of a few weeks busy workload (bipolar disorder is a nightmare for insomnia when your brain starts going into overload) and overeating late last night. But I have a free day today with no work or study. It doesn’t look like rain so I might wrap up warm and potter in the garden.
A walk first though.
I’m going to be making my Granddaughter’s birthday card - she’s one year old tomorrow!
I did that very thing, got a reply straight away saying the owner would be in the shop until 2 o'clock, ambled down the street (it's in the next block to the château), and am now in possession of five more - another with hedgehogs* and one each with tropical birds, dragonflies, bumblebees and a red one with stars (well, it is nearly Christmas).
There's a lady on an Orkney Facebook page selling masks with puffins on them - I'm very tempted to get one of those too!
* it was the nearest thing they had to piggies
It looks as if I went out at just the right time - it was lovely when I was out, but it's clouded over and has started to is p*ssing with rain now.
Having bought some smoked haddock yesterday (another thing you couldn't get for love or money in Canada), I think I'll make kedgeree for supper.
PS Happy birthday Anuka!
(ETA the Perfect Cheeseburger™ is a subject in which I have invested rather considerable energy
I shall do the same as @Piglet snd include one with each Christmas present.
I found some lovely soft elastic for the ear bits.
Your facemasks sound lovely, Piglet. They're a good Christmas present idea too.
I hope Anuka and her family have a lovely day!
We're having stir fry for tea, the usual Saturday evening meal chez Nen, with a bottle of the red wine sans sulphites which seemed to suit Mr Nen last time we had it but of course it's important to keep trialling it.