I used to work in Barking, and apparently the fields round there were ideal tomato growing country when they were first introduced to the UK. I guess the fields are all housing estate now.
I like tomatoes, but I'm not an enthusiast like my husband who eats quite a few a day. I've never been able to grow any that tasted better than those from a shop either, though I'm sure it is possible.
Today is my research day and I really need to get some more writing done on my end of year submission. But I also have a stack of marking for work so I might try and mark a couple of essays first. I’m still summoning up the energy though after a poor night’s sleep.
Veg box delivery brought us some nice chicken and lemon soup so I think that will be our lunch.
Shipmates near Cambridge (UK) may know of the Museum of Technology on Riverside (it has a tall octagonal brick chimney). This was the steam powered pumping station dealing with the city's sewage. It is said that the resident engineer grew magnificent tomatoes, aided by copious quantities of sewage sludge!
I used to work in Barking, and apparently the fields round there were ideal tomato growing country when they were first introduced to the UK. I guess the fields are all housing estate now.
I like tomatoes, but I'm not an enthusiast like my husband who eats quite a few a day. I've never been able to grow any that tasted better than those from a shop either, though I'm sure it is possible.
The fields around Barking are definitely all built over now, having recently worked from bases in Barking and Romford and Custom House, just round the corner from the Excel Centre that was turned into the Nightingale Hospital. And from there across London and around, from Hampton to Haverhill, High Barnet to Merton.
Returning to the growing theme, I have a pot to grown tomatoes on the windowsill, together with chillies, herbs, strawberries and the already growing pepper plant.
Re sewage and vegetables...my late Nanna, who lived in an auncient farm cottage with only a thunderbox for a loo (let the reader understand), grew the biggest Cabbages in the world...
The house would actually have made a wonderful film set for an adaptation of one of Thomas Hardy's short stories!
S It is said that the resident engineer grew magnificent tomatoes, aided by copious quantities of sewage sludge!
I suspect he also had an endless supply of tomato seedlings, lightly passaged through the human body... if you want to see healthy tomato plants, look at any sewage treatment plant!
Is human sewage waste still used officially as fertiliser?
A local-ish farm used to have, in its yard, large piles of a greyish material (rather the consistency of the sort of salt they use on icy roads), which I was informed was, in fact, reconstituted poo...
My dad used to grow Gardeners' Delight and Golden Sunrise tomatoes in the greenhouse in Orkney, and it was a real treat when he triumphantly brought in the first, tiny tomato of the season - usually in mid-August - and offered it to me.
Commercially grown tomatoes will never be quite the same, but I still like them, especially in a salad with avocados and goat's cheese or Mozzarella.
If I ever get my own place, and it has asuitable windowsill, I might be tempted to try growing my own, although I didn't inherit the green-fingers gene!
In other news, it's a nice, mostly sunny day, and Domestic Goddess Piglet has exercised the Wash Ing, and even hung it out to dry.
Time for an Amble, I think (cue thunderstorm ...).
We lived in a part of West London where, in the mid-1800s, there had been market gardens. I understand that the carts used to go into town bearing the produce and came out bearing "fertiliser" ... The soil was still pretty good, for London.
Is human sewage waste still used officially as fertiliser?
In the UK there is something called the "safe sludge matrix", honestly! Untreated sludges cannot be used on food crops; "conventionally treated" sludges can only be used on combinable food crops, animal feed crops and harvested grass & forage; "enhanced treated" sludges can be used on fruit, salads and vegetables. In all cases there are minimum time intervals between application and harvest. (If I sound a bit nerdy it's because I used to work in the flour milling industry with involvement in sourcing wheat).
Shipmates near Cambridge (UK) may know of the Museum of Technology on Riverside (it has a tall octagonal brick chimney). This was the steam powered pumping station dealing with the city's sewage. It is said that the resident engineer grew magnificent tomatoes, aided by copious quantities of sewage sludge!
I know it very well; it is next to my church. Lovely old building (I’m rather fond of old industrial buildings).
I think the stuff I referred to was therefore probably 'conventionally treated sludge', as the farm concerned was mostly given over to sheep...AFAIK, they didn't grow fruit etc.
Shipmates near Cambridge (UK) may know of the Museum of Technology on Riverside (it has a tall octagonal brick chimney). This was the steam powered pumping station dealing with the city's sewage. It is said that the resident engineer grew magnificent tomatoes, aided by copious quantities of sewage sludge!
I know it very well; it is next to my church. Lovely old building (I’m rather fond of old industrial buildings).
Used to live over the river in Chesterton until we moved to the south west 20 years ago
I have in my garden a bramble sourced originally from a bag of treated material from the Long Reach Sewage Plant down by the Thames. I was able to transplant it from where it popped up where a previous neighbour who worked there had applied fertiliser to our communal garden. It grows ferociously, but the fruit is large, juicy and much, much more tasty than the stuff in supermarkets. It can be eaten off the bush without ever setting your teeth on edge, which happens when out wild blackberrying. It can be eaten with sugar and cream, like strawberries or raspberries. The seeds are a bit big, which I think some people find a problem, but I don't mind it.
We expected tomatoes, but they never came up.
We also had a brief (suitably distanced) visit from my nephew, his partner and the kids, bearing gifts of muffins, which was nice (as were the muffins).
The building works are finished! Final snagging completed on Monday and today it was just clearing up outside and a visit from the Building Inspector who signed it all off. Somehow my fantastic builder and his crew of craftsmen have managed to get it all done three weeks early and under budget. The only thing missing is the sheila maid which won't be arriving until the 18th.
We've yet to decide whether we stay in our own rooms or whether we have a bedroom swap around, but for the moment we're just enjoying the AGA (much appreciated these cooler evenings), a utility room in which you could swing a whole litter of cats, and the corner of the house that always felt draughty is now warm.
First task this morning is compiling a list of all the fantastic craftsmen and women, plus sundry others, who made it all happen so we can have a really good party - probably an "open house" in the garden so we can observe the social distancing rules.
The UG is now able to drive the 4x4 so is earning his keep running errands. The next door farmer also has his eye on him for a spot of work - I suspect something the average doctoral student won't be familiar with
Excellent news, @TheOrganist - and well done to your builders - health to enjoy your new surroundings!
It's another glorious day here - is Spring in Edinburgh always like this, or have I just been lucky? Now I think about it, the only other time I've been in Edinburgh in May was for a family wedding 45 years ago - and as I recall, it was a lovely day too.
Spring in Edinburgh is probably good at any time, however dour and dreich the weather might be!
A lovely day here, too, though we still have a constant East Wind to temper the warmth of the Sun Shine...
FISH for lunch (sardines, with Baked SPUD).
It's good to hear from @TheOrganist of such a happy outcome to Major Building Works. Full marks to all those responsible, and I hope their reputation, and skills, earn them yet more gainful employment in the future!
The build sounds fabulous.
I’ve done some admin this morning, went on a short walk then planted some clematis plugs. alas, now I need to go and do my marking.
Zoom prayer group meet up this evening.
It's another glorious day here - is Spring in Edinburgh always like this, or have I just been lucky? Now I think about it, the only other time I've been in Edinburgh in May was for a family wedding 45 years ago - and as I recall, it was a lovely day too.
Not infrequently actually. However the corollary is that it can be the best weather you see all summer.
Congratulations @TheOrganist! I have been following your (Aga? -) saga since the beginning and am glad to hear it has reached such a happy conclusion. And well done to your team of craftsmen! I wish you much enjoyment of it.
Nenlet1 dips her chips in mayonnaise. Both things are Outrage. The only appropriate accompaniment to chips is vinegar.
Depends what kind of chips. Chip-shop chips are completely different from oven chips, which are different again from the spindly things that McDonalds and similar establishments sell.
Chip-shop chips are best, IMO, with just salt, but are also good with vinegar. Spindly fries can't tolerate being soused in vinegar, because they go too soggy. They need a dipping sauce rather than having something covering the mass of fries. Oven chips are a bit more robust than the spindly fries, but still don't want to be soggy. Again, dipping in a sauce is OK.
(My preference when it comes to bottled sauces is HP sauce. Ketchup is sweet and bland; mayonnaise is just nasty.)
Thank you all. The job was something we'd wanted to do for nearly 20 years but we were stymied by various things, most destructively a Heritage Conservation Officer who, if he had his way, would have us all living in thatched huts with beaten earth floors and a central hearth. He retired 2 years ago and his replacement, who's a star, has been inundated with people like us who just want to make our homes liveable while preserving the character that caused them to be listed in the first place.
A lovely bright day here and I’m just off for a walk.
Again, it should be my research day but I still have a backlog of marking to catch up with due to my own illness and my students difficult situations (health care workers). But I reckon another week and I will be able to give my doctorate my full attention.
Good luck, Heavenlyannie - but don't overdo it! Your Ph.D can wait; your health and well-being can't.
Today I have ambled; sent an e-mail to the Job Centre to ask if I can be registered as a jobseeker; and spent over half an hour waiting in a telephonic queue to speak to a human at the Royal Bank, who are faffing about with my application for a bank account.
The issue seems to be proof of my address, which for their purposes ought to be a utility bill or a council tax bill with my name on it, but as it isn't my house, that's not going to happen. I didn't need that when I had an account with them thirty-mumble years ago (I was still living at home): surely they must get applications from people who don't live in their own houses?
Oh well - I suggested another possible document, which I've uploaded, but I'm not holding my breath ...
Piglet, can you use a mobile phone bill as proof of address? Or letters to and from the DWP? That's what the young people living at home I worked with often used (didn't work when their parents were paying their bill, but ....)
I don't know if it works in the UK but here when you are living with someone for free, you can get them to write a letter on honour stating that their house is your permanent address. Can your sister provide anything like that for you?
If nothing equivalent exists I guess it's an example of the French being extremely pragmatic - many people stay with a friend or family member while they're getting settled and the document really is a the person giving their word of honour.
Essays marked, then I cooked chicken casserole with dumplings and my husband made us (himself, me and eldest) espresso martinis! Which I drank while listening to cheesy 1970s pop. It feels like a Friday, possibly because of the bank holiday tomorrow.
Eldest now wants to play a board game, probably Colt Express.
I’m feeling much better today, far more like my usual self. I wouldn’t go so far as saying normal
When I was arranging for my belongings to be shipped from Canada*, I had to fill in a form for HMRC, who wanted something similar, and accepted a letter from S. saying that I'd be living with her. No-one from the bank has suggested such a thing; they even suggested I get S. to change the utility bill into my name for a month - not going to happen!
* not that they've got here yet - I don't even know if they've left Canada.
You sure you want to go with that bank? Wouldn't touch them myself.... All is not what it was with banks in Scotland (or England) when you were last on these shores.
True, alas, though it's only fair to say that I have always been well-served by the bank with whom I have dealt for the best part of 40 years.
Others will not have been so fortunate!
@Piglet, I will not name the bank, but PM me if you want to know. Caveat emptor applies, of course...
There may however be geographic considerations.... When I moved to Scotland, I found that Glasgow is not well-endowed with branches of the (big) bank with whom I'd been for some 20+ years previously. So if I needed to go into a branch, it meant a trek into the City centre on a Saturday morning. I switched to another bank which had branches much nearer to home in the West End, and I could drop in at lunchtime, or leave work early to get there...
It seems to be the case that many High Street banks have lopped off numerous smaller branches in recent years.
My bank's local branch - outside which I could park, with my Disabled Driver's Blue Badge - went some time ago, and the nearest branch is that next to the town centre shopping precinct. Parking is available, but not close by, and often full at busy times of day, so I now bank online.
I do appreciate that many people are not too happy with online banking (or any other online financial transactions), but for those of us with limited mobility, it's a godsend - especially for shopping at my good friend Mr E Bay's Magic Emporium!
Mobile phone bill sent to you at S's address. So few bills come through on paper these days and that is one for me, I am quite sure I used that a couple of times.
When our big bank closed its nearby branch some years ago we switched to the Co-op. No nearby branches, but almost everything could be done at the Post Office.
There are no banks in this here town.
There were three when we moved here, just over four years ago. I've not been too bothered, as there are branches of most of the well known ones in the town I like to shop in, and loads in the nearby city, and both just a free bus-ride away.
Only now buses are a problem....
Mobile phone bill won't work - until I can get to a Mobile Phone Emporium, I'm stuck with the ancient and extremely basic pay-as-you-go mobile that I bought to use when on holiday in the UK from Canada, so I don't get bills!
HMRC have written to me here confirming my NI number (it's what the bloke at the bank suggested), but the bank are saying no because the thing from HMRC doesn't have a date on it (it does say "02/2020", but that doesn't seem specific enough).
We're about to go outside and raise a glass with the neighbours to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day; it feels a bit weird, all of us sitting on our own lawns in a mark of solidarity. The folk next door have put up some balloons, and apparently the idea is that we're supposed to listen to Churchill's speech and some Vera Lynn songs, but TBH it doesn't seem quite right to be celebrating in the middle of a pandemic.
Don't get me wrong - I have absolutely no problem with marking the anniversary, and toasting the memory of those who fought in the war, but the Vera Lynn stuff doesn't really float my boat.
Oh well - it's an excuse for a glass of Prosecco ...
Unfortunately, it looks as if it might rain - for the first time in I don't know how long!
We have spent a lot of the day cleaning the courtyard, which was covered in Moss and Ivy and very dirty. The pots were mostly waterlogged and mossy too. I rescued myriad snails, which will be transported to a place far from here ( for snails) from the rims of the pots. I'm knackered now but very happy with how it looks. As we were working, the Mayor, a flag bearer, and two supporters went by, with a wreath, to go to the war memorial. Mr D and I paused, as they passed.
Comments
I like tomatoes, but I'm not an enthusiast like my husband who eats quite a few a day. I've never been able to grow any that tasted better than those from a shop either, though I'm sure it is possible.
They need a lot of sun. The tomatoes you can buy in the market in foie gras land in the summer are a thing of great beauty.
Veg box delivery brought us some nice chicken and lemon soup so I think that will be our lunch.
The fields around Barking are definitely all built over now, having recently worked from bases in Barking and Romford and Custom House, just round the corner from the Excel Centre that was turned into the Nightingale Hospital. And from there across London and around, from Hampton to Haverhill, High Barnet to Merton.
Returning to the growing theme, I have a pot to grown tomatoes on the windowsill, together with chillies, herbs, strawberries and the already growing pepper plant.
The house would actually have made a wonderful film set for an adaptation of one of Thomas Hardy's short stories!
I suspect he also had an endless supply of tomato seedlings, lightly passaged through the human body... if you want to see healthy tomato plants, look at any sewage treatment plant!
AG
A local-ish farm used to have, in its yard, large piles of a greyish material (rather the consistency of the sort of salt they use on icy roads), which I was informed was, in fact, reconstituted poo...
Commercially grown tomatoes will never be quite the same, but I still like them, especially in a salad with avocados and goat's cheese or Mozzarella.
If I ever get my own place, and it has asuitable windowsill, I might be tempted to try growing my own, although I didn't inherit the green-fingers gene!
In other news, it's a nice, mostly sunny day, and Domestic Goddess Piglet has exercised the Wash Ing, and even hung it out to dry.
Time for an Amble, I think (cue thunderstorm ...).
May your Amble be Storm-free...
In the UK there is something called the "safe sludge matrix", honestly! Untreated sludges cannot be used on food crops; "conventionally treated" sludges can only be used on combinable food crops, animal feed crops and harvested grass & forage; "enhanced treated" sludges can be used on fruit, salads and vegetables. In all cases there are minimum time intervals between application and harvest. (If I sound a bit nerdy it's because I used to work in the flour milling industry with involvement in sourcing wheat).
I think the stuff I referred to was therefore probably 'conventionally treated sludge', as the farm concerned was mostly given over to sheep...AFAIK, they didn't grow fruit etc.
Used to live over the river in Chesterton until we moved to the south west 20 years ago
We expected tomatoes, but they never came up.
We also had a brief (suitably distanced) visit from my nephew, his partner and the kids, bearing gifts of muffins, which was nice (as were the muffins).
We've yet to decide whether we stay in our own rooms or whether we have a bedroom swap around, but for the moment we're just enjoying the AGA (much appreciated these cooler evenings), a utility room in which you could swing a whole litter of cats, and the corner of the house that always felt draughty is now warm.
Treble gins all round
Enjoy your "new" home
First task this morning is compiling a list of all the fantastic craftsmen and women, plus sundry others, who made it all happen so we can have a really good party - probably an "open house" in the garden so we can observe the social distancing rules.
The UG is now able to drive the 4x4 so is earning his keep running errands. The next door farmer also has his eye on him for a spot of work - I suspect something the average doctoral student won't be familiar with
It's another glorious day here - is Spring in Edinburgh always like this, or have I just been lucky? Now I think about it, the only other time I've been in Edinburgh in May was for a family wedding 45 years ago - and as I recall, it was a lovely day too.
A lovely day here, too, though we still have a constant East Wind to temper the warmth of the Sun Shine...
FISH for lunch (sardines, with Baked SPUD).
It's good to hear from @TheOrganist of such a happy outcome to Major Building Works. Full marks to all those responsible, and I hope their reputation, and skills, earn them yet more gainful employment in the future!
I’ve done some admin this morning, went on a short walk then planted some clematis plugs. alas, now I need to go and do my marking.
Zoom prayer group meet up this evening.
Not infrequently actually. However the corollary is that it can be the best weather you see all summer.
Depends what kind of chips. Chip-shop chips are completely different from oven chips, which are different again from the spindly things that McDonalds and similar establishments sell.
Chip-shop chips are best, IMO, with just salt, but are also good with vinegar. Spindly fries can't tolerate being soused in vinegar, because they go too soggy. They need a dipping sauce rather than having something covering the mass of fries. Oven chips are a bit more robust than the spindly fries, but still don't want to be soggy. Again, dipping in a sauce is OK.
(My preference when it comes to bottled sauces is HP sauce. Ketchup is sweet and bland; mayonnaise is just nasty.)
Again, it should be my research day but I still have a backlog of marking to catch up with due to my own illness and my students difficult situations (health care workers). But I reckon another week and I will be able to give my doctorate my full attention.
Today I have ambled; sent an e-mail to the Job Centre to ask if I can be registered as a jobseeker; and spent over half an hour waiting in a telephonic queue to speak to a human at the Royal Bank, who are faffing about with my application for a bank account.
The issue seems to be proof of my address, which for their purposes ought to be a utility bill or a council tax bill with my name on it, but as it isn't my house, that's not going to happen. I didn't need that when I had an account with them thirty-mumble years ago (I was still living at home): surely they must get applications from people who don't live in their own houses?
Oh well - I suggested another possible document, which I've uploaded, but I'm not holding my breath ...
If nothing equivalent exists I guess it's an example of the French being extremely pragmatic - many people stay with a friend or family member while they're getting settled and the document really is a the person giving their word of honour.
Eldest now wants to play a board game, probably Colt Express.
I’m feeling much better today, far more like my usual self. I wouldn’t go so far as saying normal
* not that they've got here yet - I don't even know if they've left Canada.
Others will not have been so fortunate!
@Piglet, I will not name the bank, but PM me if you want to know. Caveat emptor applies, of course...
There may however be geographic considerations.... When I moved to Scotland, I found that Glasgow is not well-endowed with branches of the (big) bank with whom I'd been for some 20+ years previously. So if I needed to go into a branch, it meant a trek into the City centre on a Saturday morning. I switched to another bank which had branches much nearer to home in the West End, and I could drop in at lunchtime, or leave work early to get there...
My bank's local branch - outside which I could park, with my Disabled Driver's Blue Badge - went some time ago, and the nearest branch is that next to the town centre shopping precinct. Parking is available, but not close by, and often full at busy times of day, so I now bank online.
I do appreciate that many people are not too happy with online banking (or any other online financial transactions), but for those of us with limited mobility, it's a godsend - especially for shopping at my good friend Mr E Bay's Magic Emporium!
Mobile phone bill sent to you at S's address. So few bills come through on paper these days and that is one for me, I am quite sure I used that a couple of times.
Still, I've heard good reports of the Co-Op Bank, whatever.
There were three when we moved here, just over four years ago. I've not been too bothered, as there are branches of most of the well known ones in the town I like to shop in, and loads in the nearby city, and both just a free bus-ride away.
Only now buses are a problem....
HMRC have written to me here confirming my NI number (it's what the bloke at the bank suggested), but the bank are saying no because the thing from HMRC doesn't have a date on it (it does say "02/2020", but that doesn't seem specific enough).
We're about to go outside and raise a glass with the neighbours to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day; it feels a bit weird, all of us sitting on our own lawns in a mark of solidarity. The folk next door have put up some balloons, and apparently the idea is that we're supposed to listen to Churchill's speech and some Vera Lynn songs, but TBH it doesn't seem quite right to be celebrating in the middle of a pandemic.
Don't get me wrong - I have absolutely no problem with marking the anniversary, and toasting the memory of those who fought in the war, but the Vera Lynn stuff doesn't really float my boat.
Oh well - it's an excuse for a glass of Prosecco ...
Unfortunately, it looks as if it might rain - for the first time in I don't know how long!