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Post by paperman on Apr 16, 2023 13:08:32 GMT
Good afternoon each on what here is a gorgeous sunny day, a cooling breeze but still 14 degrees.
As I had feared the blind repair/replacement was a much longer job than the YouTube video had shown but the job is done on the first one, which actually was the only broken one and by the time it was finished on Friday afternoon I was ‘bushed’. Anyway Claris is now back at the farm.
We have a busy week ahead, we have a funeral to go to on Thursday down in Kent and as it is a morning and the M25 is somewhat unreliable we intend going down on Wednesday afternoon and stopping over, in fact we have been asked back to the house after the wake for a cup of tea etc. so I have also booked to stop over on Thursday evening too and travel back home on Friday. Then on Saturday we are off for 3 nights over the border in Claris to Loddon (Norfolk) for our annual shake-down trip to make sure everything is working OK.
Then we start thinking about our likely travel plans and trips for the next few months. Cornwall has been a staple trip for us for family reasons but we are not too sure where the family will be as there is talk of postings, so for the moment that is on hold. The way places are filling up down there it may even be that we will not find a pitche anyway especially as our usual place by Marazion has now closed. There also seems to be quite a lot of cashing-in as fees seem to have gone up by maybe 50% in some places.
Last night, from the freezer, we had the second seafood lasagne that I made a few days back with some fresh local asparagus that I pan fried in garlic & butter.
Tonight we are having roast chicken with the usual roast vegetables.
This afternoon we are going for a walk.
That’s it, please take care xx
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Post by irist on Apr 16, 2023 16:44:48 GMT
Afternoon folks. Lucky you having the sun today, Chris. We can't complain as it was gloriously sunny here all day yesterday. However, today we're back with a grey, overcast sky and much lower temperature. Still, that's the Cornish climate for you. At least it's been dry so I've been out in the garden this afternoon pulling up more weeds from my flower borders. We have the final dumpy bag of soil arriving tomorrow afternoon so I gave that a going over too. Hopefully, the delivery driver will be able to swing the bag over the first raised bed and empty half the contents on to it and quickly swing the rest over into the last bed.
Re the blind repair, doesn't it always happen that what we consider to be simple jobs always take much longer than we estimate to complete? I was planning to get the ride on mower out after my weeding stint but my joints were creaking and aching so that's my task for tomorrow depending on the weather.
Shame about the costs of bringing Claris down this way, Chris. Did you watch the Simon Reeves follow up programme about the divide in the haves and have nots in Cornwall? His findings are poignant, accurate and food for thought.
An update on the parking fine. Daughter and SiL were talking to one of the staff (he had worked with in the past) at the supermarket. Apparently lots of people have been caught out and the manager has handed out vouchers as a good will gesture to some. I've been told to take proof of my visit and the payment receipt and I may be lucky! We'll wait and see.
Hope all is well with you, Val.
Well our son will be Zoom calling us shortly so I'm off now. Have a good evening.
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Post by brightspark on Apr 17, 2023 15:51:12 GMT
Afternoon !
Weather-wise here - quite a dull day, no movement at all, and no sunshine.
Iris, we have the soil arriving Wednesday morning for our raised beds, then we can think about what we would like to plant, etc. Tomorrow, we are booked for our booster jabs; and later in the afternoon, OH is taking in a car for an MOT, this is a car that only comes out if the weather is suitable, and tomorrow it is predicted for no rain. Let's hope it stays that way! Thank you for asking - yes, I'm okay. Oh, and let's hope you'll be lucky with the Aldi situation. Having your home address tells them that you're not a tourist!
Chris, we noticed the hike in prices down in Cornwall, too. It is now looking a lot cheaper to go to Spain, etc, than holiday in the UK. They may be pricing themselves out of the tourism, who knows? Good job on Claris, at least the repair is now done. Not a pleasant trip planned this week, funerals seem to be more often at our age - but enjoy the rest of the trip if you can.
Over the weekend, I saw a recipe which suggested that making sponge cakes can be made differently. Essentially, using softened butter, add to flour and using an electric mixer, beat together until the texture of the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, then add the sugar and egg(s). So I thought I'd try this, and using just a one-egg mixture, and a small 6" tin, I tried it. It hardly rose at all. I had some freshly-made lemon curd in the fridge, so I sliced it in half and smothered it in lemon curd (to disguise it !! ) but I shan't be making it again in that way - it was quite 'pudding-y'. Not recommended.
I still have plenty of chicken, so I think I shall make a roast this evening - heating the meat in a flavourful gravy, served with the roastie veggies.
Have to make a cake today - now the cake tin is empty ... !
Have a good afternoon and evening, x
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Post by paperman on Apr 18, 2023 8:28:30 GMT
Good morning each, I hope this finds you well. The sun didn’t last long Iris, yesterday we were back to grey as we are this morning too and at 7 degrees there is a nip in the air right now.
Because it had been sunny on Sunday we decided that we would have a cold chicken salad last night, not wholly appropriate as it turned out.
Today, Tuesday, cleaning lady from 10:00am, so I will be doing the usual and escaping.
There is Tai Chi over in Westleton this afternoon but ‘A’ has banned me as long I continue with this trench cough so I will probably take my car into town and have it valeted as we are going to my friends funeral down in Kent tomorrow. It is a bit of a joke really, I retired some 14 years ago and have only got one suit, which seems to shrink whilst it is in the wardrobe and I refuse to buy another as it will only be rarely worn and this one really ought to go to the charity shop, there’s nothing wrong with it except it has shrunk (no comments please about me probably putting on weight)!!! So I have decided to wear black trousers, white shirt and black tie with my dark green gilet. ‘A’ is horrified but I am sure Mike (my friend of some 50 years or more standing) wouldn’t be bothered; he’d probably be amazed at how many of us are going to be there.
At the moment I do not know what we are eating tonight but there are bits of salad left over from last night that I will probably have for lunch.
Regarding booster jabs, we have heard from the doctors that they will be doing them at the surgery and will call us in for them, meantime please do not call them for an appointment for it.
So, that’s it for now, and looking out my window the sun may be breaking through, the temperature has shot up to 9 degrees, I’ll try not to get excited. Please take care xx
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Post by brightspark on Apr 18, 2023 8:28:48 GMT
Morning!
Bright and sunny with a good breeze this morning - certainly lifts the spirits with the sunshine.
The crab apple trees have their blossom just opening - such a beautiful tree when in full blossom. The pear (Conference) is in full blossom, and if we have enough bees around, it looks like it will be a prolific year for the fruit. The Fiesta and Bramley apple blossom seems to be appearing a bit more slowly, but hopefully will be in full show soon. Finally the gooseberries have the tiny ball-bearing-size fruits just appearing. Isn't spring such a wonderful time of year?
Off to get our boosters this morning, so an earlier start to the day!
Have a great day, x
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Post by brightspark on Apr 18, 2023 17:22:56 GMT
Chris, I hadn't noticed earlier that you had posted at the same time as I did, so apologies. However, regarding the booster jabs, our surgery invited OH but not me, and our last few jabs have been 'ordered' online. There is a pharmacy that we book into - it isn't our surgery, in fact a twenty minute drive away, but we have found it quite convenient especially when our surgery seems to have a problem with marrying up husband and wife to save two visits. On each occasion, only OH has been invited ( ). Bizarre. As it is registered on the system, the surgery is notified.
Regarding your funeral outfit, it is a strange thing that we old'uns seem to think we have to dress suitably/respectfully. When we attended my nephew's funeral, we were the only ones in 'smart' attire. The rest were in jeans, and colourful jumpers, even his brother had a black polo shirt with black jeans. I reckon your friend Mike would probably smile at your worries of whether the clothes are 'suitable'.
Travel safely tomorrow, Chris. Hope you're okay, Iris.
Have a good evening both, x
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Post by paperman on Apr 19, 2023 10:29:34 GMT
Good morning each, I hope this finds you well. 11 degrees and sunny but still somewhat ‘crisp’ in the shade.
We will be leaving shortly but I thought just to do a quick post.
We had cod cheeks and rice last night; ‘A’ spices it up with various things, very tasty.
Tonight we’ll be eating at the hotel so don’t have to think too much about that and ditto on Thursday evening, back home Friday and on Sunday off over the border in Claris for a couple of nights, our shake-down trip. Saturday will be busy getting it set up.
So, take care each xx
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Post by irist on Apr 19, 2023 19:11:21 GMT
Evening folks. Just a quick catch up. As usual I've been busy. The soil arrived as expected on Monday and the chap managed to do as I requested ie dropping half in one raised bed and then topping up the second one. I was only left to rake over the beds and now we're all set to plant up when the weather is suitable. We've had a few failures with the seeds we've sown but I think it's due to the very changeable temperatures. Hopefully we can catch up over the next few weeks. Yesterday I did some cooking before we went off to our Carers' Club for a very entertaining afternoon with tea and cake provided (OH isn't really deprived of his sweet fix ) Today I've had my hair cut and picked up some bits of grocery shopping. This afternoon I had to take OH's denture for repair in Truro. Again I whizzed around and picked up 5 cards for upcoming family birthdays plus some odd bits I can't get locally. Tomorrow I will go to Aldi and see how I fare with my quest to get some reparation for my parking fine!
Hope you've arrived safely, Chris. We watched our friend's funeral at lunchtime yesterday via a live stream so we had no worries about what we should wear. In general terms I think now dress for most occasions is a lot more casual than in our younger days. I remember when we all had our "Sunday best" and always dressed smartly to "go out" anywhere a bit special. OH quite often remonstrates with our son who frequently doesn't shave for several days and wears jeans into his office which seems to be acceptable. How things change!
OH has an appointment at our surgery this Saturday morning for his Covid jab. I haven't been invited but my birthday falls without the parameters so it's understandable.
As you say, Val, it's lovely to see all the blossom on the trees. My favourite "find" in the last week has been tiny violet flowers poking their heads out of the hedges and verges. So delicate, fragrant and spirit-lifting.
Well off to make a coffee and put my feet up. Bye for now.
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Post by brightspark on Apr 20, 2023 10:19:45 GMT
Morning folks,
A bit later - I was distracted!
Decided to wash some towels as it is forecast to be sunshine all day, and with a good breeze, so should be good to dry (hopefully).
I haven't made any cakes this week, I haven't been in the mood, , but today I am going to make a very large Bakewell tart, and also some Eccles to put in the freezer.
Chris, I hope all goes well today in Kent, and safe travel back home tomorrow.
Ooh, Iris, I hope that you get satisfaction from Aldi - as I mentioned, having your address confirms that you are not a tourist, so I hope that they see sense. We had some soil delivered yesterday too, Iris, for our raised beds. We had an obstacle though. One of our neighbours has a car that he races, and he also has a guy from Swindon who works on his car occasionally. Yesterday the guy arrived to take away the little racing car to work on it, but unfortunately he parked his own car jutting out in the parking area impeding our shared driveway. This meant that when the lorry arrived to deliver our soil, he couldn't manoevre the articulated vehicle into the driveway, so it was a wheelbarrow job to get it to us*. (Our driveway is of gravel, and the lorry's little vehicle couldn't work on gravel either!) *In fact we have 'planted' solid posts along the front of out house - just in case - and the lorry actually hit one of them.
We have a paved pathway in the garden leading to the side door of our garage, and some little violets have appeared along the very small gap between the path and the wall of the garage, and they spread - now they are all along the gap which is a pretty sight.
Yesterday morning, I felt very much under-par, which we have decided was due to the booster jab. Interestingly this has happened every time, yet OH doesn't seem to suffer in the same way. Though the Moderna jab did affect him, he was a bit spaced-out. This one is specially designed for the over 75's, VidPrevtyn, and I discovered contains shark oil (!), as it assists the body in immunity and processing the vaccine, apparently. The boosters for the other age groups do not have animal components at all. The booster we had is made by Sanofi and GSK (Glaxo Smith Kline).
OH has just made coffee, so have a good day both, x
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Post by paperman on Apr 21, 2023 15:56:56 GMT
Good afternoon each, briefly, we got back home around 2:00pm having been for morning coffee down near Orpington to a couple of friends before leaving to come home. It was an unusually good journey, especially for a Friday, with only a minimal hold-up coming through the Dartford Tunnel.
When we left it was sheeting rain but as we travelled that moderated and here it is a lovely sunny afternoon pushing 12 degrees.
The funeral was amazing actually, with about 300 people some of whom had flown in for the event. Mike would have been amazed too and I know it is probably not quite the thing to say but as they go this was a ‘happy’ funeral of a friend and business colleague who will be much missed and of whom many of us have stories and anecdotes.
Back to normality, it being Friday we are having f & c (alv) and we need to start thinking about what we are going to load onto Claris for Sunday.
I hope this finds you well, please take care xx
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Post by irist on Apr 21, 2023 18:01:20 GMT
Evening folks. I had a good day yesterday - the Aldi manager told me I should not have paid the fine but spoken to him first! He would have cancelled the fine for me. How was I to know this? Anyway, as a gesture of goodwill, he refunded £40 from my shopping bill. Success. But things went downhill later in the day - when I collected the post from our box lo and behold I had a second Parking Eye fine. I'm sure you can picture the steam coming out of my ears and imagine my blood pressure rising sharply! I immediately got the car back out and returned to Aldi ready to do battle. The manager had finished his shift but I spoke to a deputy. She told me that there had been a major problem with Parking Eye equipment in the store all over the Easter period and obviously this is still ongoing. The manager had been inundated with angry people coming into the store throughout the day complaining that they too had received parking fines. The upshot was that the deputy copied the fine notification and the manager will cancel the fine. I posted details on our village Facebook page and it turns out so many others have suffered the same fate, many paying up as I did. I wouldn't like to be in the store manager's shoes in the next few days. I feel sorry for any tourists who have received fines as any interaction with Parking Eye has to take place digitally - no phone contact is possible and no access to a refund from the local store.
Sorry you have been under par since having your jab, Val. Hope you'll soon feel much better. What a nuisance about the inconsiderate parking when your soil delivery arrived.
Glad you are back home from your trip, Chris. Happy packing for the next one!
This morning while I was ironing the dental surgery phoned to let me know OH's denture was ready for collection. I finished my task and set off for Truro. Whilst there I picked up a few essentials for granddaughter. Unfortunately Keira caught a very nasty sickness bug from nursery on Monday and has been really poorly. She's also passed it on to her mum and dad. When I returned home, I dropped the supplies off quickly and fled not wishing to catch it
Oh dear, the weekend weather forecast is on TV - colder with outbreaks of rain On which note I'll leave you to enjoy your evening.
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Post by brightspark on Apr 21, 2023 18:42:34 GMT
Evening all,
Iris, what a result from Aldi. Well done and also for putting it on your local Facebook to warn others. Knowing there was a problem, why didn't they do something about it - reminds me (not in the same league, of course) but of the Horizon computer issue with the Post Office - the suggestion is that they knew there was a problem yet allowed it to continue. Heads should roll for that awful injustice.
Hope you don't catch the bug Iris. It seems to take longer for our age group to recover from these bugs.
It was only in the morning after our booster that I felt unwell - I have to admit that I had a snooze after lunch, and in the afternoon the feeling had dissipated. So it didn't last long.
Chris, sounds like you had a good meet-up with former colleagues, and Mike must've been well-liked by the sound of the turn-out. Glad you made it home safe.
We're having fish'n'chips too - another of OH's CFC finds - chunky cod loins in breadcrumb from Waitrose, with chips (alv). Probably with some mushy peas - trying to use up some of my tins from the cupboard.
I went to quilting today with my friend/neighbour, and again there were plenty of ladies there, more than 20. We all had lots of chin-wagging! Nothing new there then. My Bakewell turned out well, and I managed to cut it into 24 portions; the Eccles OH said are delicious - he had one with his coffee while I was at the quilting group. I have frozen 18 of them, and shared the remaining six with my chauffeur (my friend and neighbour, who drives us to the group).
Have a good evening both, x
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Post by paperman on Apr 22, 2023 9:44:45 GMT
Good morning each, brightly grey and 11 degrees so not too cold especially as there is only a very light breeze.
Last night’s cod & chips was good and tonight I am cooking a mild korma style chicken curry. I have to confess that I am being very lazy and using a pre-prepared cook in sauce that was recommended by friends. I’ll add a few bits, as you do, as I go along and we’ll have wild rice with it and I’ll add some flat bread on the side. I am undecided as to making some onion bhaji to go with it too, I’ll brew on that.
Otherwise today we are trying to get organised for leaving tomorrow in Claris for a few days, luckily we are only just going over the border into Norfolk so we don’t need to leave until after lunch which means there should be plenty of time tomorrow morning to load up etc.
Val, interesting that you reacted to the jab, I am usually lucky and have little or no reaction although the first Covid jab we had, way back, I did react to quite badly. Hope all OK now.
That’s it for now, please take care xx
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Post by brightspark on Apr 22, 2023 15:19:31 GMT
Afternoon all,
Chris, the font you selected today reminds me of when I worked in London, and I used an ADLER typewriter, a very manual one, too. I went on a secretarial course from the Bank, although I had a typewriter (Brother) at home too.
Quite a lazy-ish day today - the current quilt I am working on is very large, and I am hand-quilting it. I admit that hand-quilting has a much nicer effect, imho, but is very, very time-consuming, so it seems I am sitting doing not-a-lot, but it needs to be done.
It is clouding over a little at the moment, but so far no rain, although the forecast suggested we will get some any time soon.
Not sure what to have for dinner this evening, but a curry sounds a good idea, Chris. Have a good trip to Norfolk, hope the weather is good to you both as well.
Iris, how's the family coping with the bug, getting better?
Have a good afternoon/evening, x
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Post by brightspark on Apr 26, 2023 10:22:48 GMT
Morning !
I shall break the spell of writer's cramp - although I have no real news today.
A dry morning - so far - and even a moment of sunshine, but still a bit chilly.
Chris, the chicken curry I made the other night went down very well, and OH really enjoyed it sufficiently enough to recommend it as a regular favourite, So, thanks for the inspiration!
OH did his regular six-monthly oil change on the car yesterday as we had a lovely sunshine-y day yesterday, making it a bit warmer to have to do this sort of job. (Laying on the ground to check everything)
Yesterday I made some more marmalade, but it was mostly grapefruit skin, so I added a batch of clementines to give it a bit more flavour. There was a fair bit of fruit/peel and I ended up making 10 full jars and a bit leftover (half a jar). So we're set up for a while.
We have a shopping delivery due today, and already they have sent me a list of substitutes (i enjoy Cadbury's Dairy Milk, yet they have substituted with Galaxy - hard to believe that Dairy Milk is unavailable !!).
A bit later: our Tesco delivery arrived early (!), so a little bit distracted!
I have just made some onion soup for lunch using some chicken stock.
Anyway, I shall get on with my hand-quilting, so have a good day all, x
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