AS: Tea and biscuits and GIN, the British thread

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  • But hopefully your local Bees are enjoying them...
    :grin:

    IJ
  • PriscillaPriscilla Shipmate
    OK God, enough is enough. Yes, it's nice to have sunshine, but this is Britain, after all, and we really could do with some rain.
    Local ponds are drying up, and our local common has sprouted bathtubs for the farmers to fill with water for their sheep and cattle. A friend who farms locally was saying that her sheep have no grass as it's so dry, and she will have to put hay out. She's also having to put water out for her animals - not good when you are on a water meter.
  • No real sign of a let-up yet, though isolated incidents of Rumblement and Flashism are forecast for Tuesday and Thursday.

    I'll believe it when I see it.

    IJ
  • This heat is infernal. Could someone just tell Satan to shut the damned door?
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    I got a fair few raspberries from the garden - enough for two helpings au naturel plus a coulis for a peach melba. It reminded me that no shop sells anything approaching in flavour stuff that was still growing a couple of hours ago.
  • MMMMMM Shipmate
    I wish my raspberries were flourishing, fineline. Mine are producing only tiny wizened little fruits and looking very withered. I'm putting as much clean dirty water on them as I can, if you see what I mean, but it's just about keeping them alive.

    MMM
  • My plum trees are suffering in the heat. One in particular seems to have decided to restrict nutrients to one side only (not that getting fullest sun either) so the leaves on one side have turned brown and the fruit is turning into prunes on the bough.

    The runner beans, OTOH, are thriving on regular supplies of bathing water :smile:
  • ThomasinaThomasina Shipmate
    Down the end of our garden, which is particularly dry, the ferns are dying, the shrubs are dying, a particularly lovely cotoneaster is dying, but the b****y Ground Elder is flourishing like nobody's business. :(
  • we've had rain over the weekend - evidence of it happening overnight when getting up in the morning, and yesterday it rained: not heavy enough to properly refresh the garden, but enough to not be able to hang the washing out.
  • JapesJapes Shipmate
    It's rained heavily enough here to encourage the weeds... but not enough for anything else which is looking mightily pathetic.
  • Baptist TrainfanBaptist Trainfan Shipmate
    edited July 2018
    It has gone very grey today, but these are clearly The Wrong Kind Of Clouds. The washing is still outside.

    It is cooler, though - for now.
  • Gath fachGath fach Shipmate
    Grey here too but still hot and muggy
  • PriscillaPriscilla Shipmate
    Why is it that the weeds flourish whatever the weather?
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited July 2018
    Perhaps it's Nature's way of ensuring survival of the fittest? Though it always seems to me virtually miraculous, the way parched grass recovers (or would, perhaps, If The Rains Ever Come Again).

    The 'lawn' at Our Place has not needed mowing for a couple of weeks, though it's a bit straggly round the edge against the north wall of the church, which is slightly shaded.

    However, numerous manifestations of a lovely little yellow flower on a long stem (as usual, I haven't a clue what it's called) are flourishing, and actually look quite attractive, as they add a vertical dimension to the otherwise flat desert lawn.

    I tend to look on gardens/plants etc. as a sort of living sculpture, IYSWIM, so I like to see things growing upsy-downsy, sideways, through each other etc. - in this kind of weather, perhaps it's best to just let Nature get on with it, and go with the flow!

    IJ
  • I guess hawkweeds, including the mousebit hawkweed?
  • O, well done - yes, I think that's it!

    Pretty little things, no?
    :sunglasses:

    IJ
  • finelinefineline Kerygmania Host, 8th Day Host
    MMM wrote: »
    I wish my raspberries were flourishing, fineline. Mine are producing only tiny wizened little fruits and looking very withered. I'm putting as much clean dirty water on them as I can, if you see what I mean, but it's just about keeping them alive.

    MMM

    Mine have stopped now, and it is the blackberries growing now. But for a while the raspberries were growing enough for me to pick a cupful of them each day. It was lovely. Now the few raspberries left are like you describe, tiny and wizened, so I am not picking them. The blackberries are huge though. Early too - they don’t normally come so early,

    In other news, I bought some half-price little pots of lavender today from Homebase, because I love the smell of lavender and would like some in my garden, They are quite dried out, but I have given them lots of water. I will keep them in their pots for a while and then find somewhere to plant them.

  • Our raspberries are all done now, which is a shame. We were getting a handful every day for a while, it was glorious. The tomatoes I think will not make it to fruition - just too dry.
    Child C and I went PYOing yesterday and got loads of blackcurrants, which I’ve cooked with some sugar and apples, and just eaten a huge pile of, with custard. Possibly rather more than one should eat, having just remembered that I have yoga later.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    I've just looked at the weather forecast for the rest of the week, and wish that I hadn't - it's going to be v. v. hot and humid tomorrow and Wednesday, with only the slightest bit of let up (with rain) on Thursday. We cut the grass yesterday evening - it was still horribly hot, but I'm glad we did, as it p*ssed with rain for about half an hour later on, which would have made it awkward to do today - and it was even hotter today.

    ION we sang at the funeral this morning of a very elderly (97) military gentleman, and the reminiscences took half an hour. There were three - the first was commendably short; the second took longer than it probably should have because the speaker (the deceased's adult grandson) kept breaking down; and the third was some military boffin who probably just liked the sound of his own voice and never used one word when five would do ...

    Mind you, the music was good. D. played Nimrod beforehand in deference to the gentleman's military background, but the people doing the eulogies mentioned that he'd been a keen hunter, so it was doubly appropriate.

  • I’m so glad not to have to go outside at the moment - by keeping the front and back windows open, and following the shade indoors as the day progresses, it’s quite pleasant. Although yesterday I decided to head off to the Big City where the hour on a hot bus was rewarded by air conditioned shops - bliss. Today I’m being treated to a trip for seaside and the breezes (hopefully) there. And only 8 days (not that I’m counting!) until I can lose the hot foam boot for good (it’s lovely to be able to take it off when I’m sitting down) and be able to drive to the allotment to see what soft fruit has been left by hungry birds.
    I’m trying to make the most of this heatwave because as soon as the real rain comes it’ll be easy to forget what sunshine and warmth is like.
  • Here in South Welshland it is grey and distinctly cooler this morning. We have had a slight drizzlification but not enough to count for anything - I think it's trying to taunt us with false hope.
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Circus Host, 8th Day Host
    Fineline - good news is that lavender doesn't need a lot of water. We have a humongous patch of it in our garden in the South West. Supposedly it repels mosquitoes, although the little buggers down there are like Spitfires and to be honest nothing repels them... they don't so much bite as harpoon :fearful:
  • Lavender also attracts bees big time - which is good news.
  • finelinefineline Kerygmania Host, 8th Day Host
    I am hoping my lavender will become humungous once I plant it - like my blackberry plant and sage plant, which were tiny at first, and then grew. And the raspberry plant, which I didn’t even put there, but it just appeared one year, like a gift from God. I do wonder if it was secretly planted by a friend of mine who visited once, who knows how much I like raspberries.
  • Ah - feral raspberries!
  • sionisaissionisais Shipmate
    Returned from a tiring weekend in a leafy suburb of Eastern England.

    Elder Daughter is marrying a British Asian guy (his description) and on Sunday we had the Islamic marriage ceremony in their home. Short'n'sweet, all done including light snack and drinks in under the hour.

    The wedding feast however is another matter. About eighty guests for a proper banquet and as top table guests we got the treats! Very good it was too. ending with The Biiggest CAKE I have seen. Yesterday Mrs Sioni and Daughter finished off the invitations for the civil ceremony in December and we got home at about 1 am.

    We are knackered and we still have to do a lot of unpacking/arranging in our new place.
  • Lavender also attracts bees big time - which is good news.

    Indeed it does, which is why last year we planted several lavenders in the front garden at church (a much larger and older lavender - absolutely smothered with Bees in season - was forcibly removed whilst I was off sick in 2016).
    :rage:

    There was no need for its destruction, but the former churchwarden responsible rather adheres to the bare earth theory of gardening (I suspect she uses napalm as weed-killer at home...).

    She Has Been Admonished.
    :naughty:

    The said new lavenders are happily flourishing away, despite the absence of Rain. A hardy, useful, and beautiful plant.

    IJ
  • SarasaSarasa Shipmate
    Just back from North Wales where it was warm, sunny in places and even a bit wet in places too. Now back in the devil's cauldron that is South West London. I wish I'd stayed north.
  • Sarasa wrote: »
    Just back from North Wales where it was warm, sunny in places and even a bit wet in places too. Now back in the devil's cauldron that is South West London. I wish I'd stayed north.

    No, that wasn't exactly wet - that was Welshland's speciality, Liquid Sunshine!
    :wink:

    IJ
  • I think you'll find that they have the same thing in Haggisland too!
  • And (dare I say it) in Shamrockland, as well!

    IJ
  • So yesterday morning Mr. S was putting his cereal bowl into the dishwasher when he dropped it. He caught it, but only AFTER it had broken, thus cutting not one but BOTH of his thumbs just on the joint. Cue much blood and gore (I am NOT GOOD at blood, Mr. S does all the first aid round here :blush: ) broken china all around. By lunchtime when I went to check the dressings both thumbs were still bleeding, so I persuaded him down to the Minor Injuries Unit. While we were actually queuing to be checked in I had a call from SiL - nursery wanted him to take The Intrepid Grandson to the doctor with suspected chicken pox :scream:

    Thank heavens the Dowager was released from hospital yesterday!

    The fact that TIG was a little ratbag all afternoon may not have been caused by chickenpox, merely lack of sleep. Here's hoping, because otherwise nursery can't take him and guess who'll be wielding the calamine lotion?

    Mrs. S, lying down in a darkened room
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Goodness, you are having an eventful time!

    Nothing but more heat here - and not much chance of respite either: nothing below 26° in the 7-day forecast, and humidity making it feel much hotter. It's all very well staying in the air-conditioned château, but I really would like to go ambling, and in this heat it would just turn me into a pool of perspiration. :sweat:
  • Ha! A measly 26C? We're expected to get up to 33C+ by Friday, upon which evening Thundery Strums are prophesied to assail us.

    Mind you, last night was really, really humid, and I was unable to get to sleep for hours. I must have done so eventually, as I suddenly became conscious again at 3am, feeling much better, and with a nice breeze floating in through the Palace window. Bliss!

    IJ
  • I have today taken the electric blanket off the bed.

    I predict snow by the weekend ...
  • I have today taken the electric blanket off the bed.

    I predict snow by the weekend ...

    But you have not revealed to us whether the electric blanket has recently been switched on or not....

    And yes, doubtless there will be sn*w falling at the weekend.

    Somewhere in the Southern hemisphere, perhaps?
    :grin:

    IJ

  • Baptist TrainfanBaptist Trainfan Shipmate
    edited July 2018
    Let me see ... my wife went to London for a few days around June 17th. I was cold one night and indeed did switch on said blanket for a bit. Seems unthinkable now!
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited July 2018
    Good grief! But, in your defence, that was back in winter-time.....and, indeed, IIRC, there were one or two cool grey days here round about then.

    Meanwhile, the stack of coal bags adjacent to the Palace anticipates the Arctic Conditions and Big Freeze awaiting us later on.

    We Shall Pay For This Heatwave - You Mark My Words.
    :sweat_smile:

    IJ
  • SarasaSarasa Shipmate
    @The Intrepid Mrs S Hope Mr S's thumbs are healing and the grandson isn't too poorly with chicken pox if that's what he has.
    Hot and sticky here, but I have everything crossed the storms promised for Friday arrive.
  • While we were actually queuing to be checked in I had a call from SiL - nursery wanted him to take The Intrepid Grandson to the doctor with suspected chicken pox :scream:

    The fact that TIG was a little ratbag all afternoon may not have been caused by chickenpox, merely lack of sleep. Here's hoping, because otherwise nursery can't take him and guess who'll be wielding the calamine lotion?

    Mrs. S, lying down in a darkened room

    Anti-histamines revolutionise the experience - if you use Piriton syrup, it also makes them really quite sleepy. Both of my nieces got through chicken pox with nary a scratch as a result.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Currently 29°, feeling like 36 here; just back from a trip round a (mercifully air-conditioned) Costco. Thunder and rain seem to feature in tomorrow's forecast, with a high of just 23° - I can't believe I wrote that ...

    I've chucked the (very lightweight) blanket off my side of the bed and have been sleeping with just a sheet over my hips and my feet sticking out - we usually turn of the air-con and open the windows at night, because D. doesn't like the draught from the cooler - and it does seem to make a bit of a difference to how comfortable (or otherwise) I feel when I wake up.

    A few days of low-20s C. with as little humidity as possible wouldn't go amiss, but the respite seems to be only for tomorrow. :sweat:
  • sionisais wrote: »
    Returned from a tiring weekend in a leafy suburb of Eastern England.

    Elder Daughter is marrying a British Asian guy (his description) and on Sunday we had the Islamic marriage ceremony in their home. Short'n'sweet, all done including light snack and drinks in under the hour.

    The wedding feast however is another matter. About eighty guests for a proper banquet and as top table guests we got the treats! Very good it was too. ending with The Biiggest CAKE I have seen. Yesterday Mrs Sioni and Daughter finished off the invitations for the civil ceremony in December and we got home at about 1 am.

    We are knackered and we still have to do a lot of unpacking/arranging in our new place.

    That sounds entirely glorious, sionisais. Hope you’re less knackered now.

    Re: chicken pox stories, all 3 of my children had it over the course of about 3 weeks, a couple of years ago. It basically wiped out the whole of February, and I didn’t sleep much at all for about 3 weeks. Child C who was 3, was basically ok, children A and B were much older (12 & 10) and were pretty poorly, esp Child A. The daft thing was, I’d said to myself that if she hadn’t caught it by age 13, I was going to pay for the vaccine!

    I hope TIG is ok, and if it is the pesky pox, it’s a fairly painless experience.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    My younger sibling brought home chickenpox from primary school one Christmas hols. Elder sib and I went down with it in January. Mother caught it and was very ill. You could have chalked a red cross on the door for all the external support we had. Survived (obviously) but remember going downstairs to get water and only managing to get back to bed by placing the jug a couple of steps ahead at a time and then crawling up to it.
  • SarasaSarasa Shipmate
    I think chicken pox is one of those things that is worse if you are older. One of my friends nearly ended up in hospital with it just at the time his wife was due to give birth to their second child. My son had it when he was three and was very grumpy before the spots came out, but fine afterwards.
  • Well, he was back at nursery today, so presumably not the pox this time - it's bound to happen at a far more inconvenient time! His mother caught it for her third Christmas and was a very spotty fairy in the lovely outfit the Dowager had made her *sighs nostalgically* Thanks for the tips about Piriton - he has that for his eczema occasionally, so it will be to hand *phew*

    Mr. S's thumbs are improving enough for him to hoover and mop the floors while I was out at Pilates :smirk:

    Mrs. S, waiting for the third thing
  • Polly PlummerPolly Plummer Shipmate Posts: 44
    I got chickenpox when I was in hospital having my tonsils out and they had to move the other kids out and fumigate the ward. I was so proud!
  • bassobasso Shipmate
    Chickenpox was a pretty normal experience in my family when I was a kid. Measles, OTOH ... I'm the eldest of four, and the first three of us all acquired our cases at the same time, just as my mother was ready to deliver our baby brother. I remember being taken into San Francisco (we lived across the bridge in Marin County) where Martin was born. We stood on the sidewalk outside the hospital and across the street. My mother held up our new family member in the window to show him to us. I don't suppose my father had been able to see his new son either. I don't remember how long it was before they came home. At the time it was just one of those mysteries of life.
  • Lily PadLily Pad Shipmate
    We never hear much about chickenpox anymore as everyone is vaccinated from an early age. I had it for six long weeks but remember little but the horror of looking at myself. When I was born, my dad left my five year old brother to play on the grass by the edge of the parking lot while he went up to see my mother and me. Apparently, I was held up in the window and my dad and brother waved. Back in the day, children were not allowed in lots of places. :)
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    I think my sister and brother were taken to a chicken pox party, the idea being that all the children around their age would get it at once. I got it too, but I was a baby and have no recollection of it at all. When D. got it, the doctor told his mum to make sure his sister got it too; he had it fairly mildly, but she was really ill.

    The childhood illness I remember most vividly was mumps, which I got one Christmas, missing all the parties, concerts and carol services, and feeling horribly unwell, with my face blown up like a hamster. I truly wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.
  • MooMoo Kerygmania Host
    I had chicken pox when I was ten months old. My mother told me that the entire diaper area was one big pox.
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