Ye Plague-Ridden Kingdom of Kent is also in Tier 3, but with just about everything open (apart from pubs, restaurants, and cafes), I can't see it making much difference.
I doubt if we'll be able to have our planned Christmas mini-Bazaar in church, though (it was a daft idea in the first place, given the need for social distancing etc.).
That's any idea of seeing my parents at Christmas off then. They are in Kent, so we are all now Tier 3.
We would also have had the interesting choice of them staying in a Premier Inn up here, or the multiple breaks required to drive down to them with a young baby.
Having just read the explanation of the English tiers in the Grauniad, I don’t feel as if I'm any the wiser; they seem rather woolly to me. Even in your Tier 3 there seem to be no restrictions on things like hairdressers or non-essential shops (in our top tier they're closed) and unlike here, there doesn’t seem to be any restriction on moving from areas in one tier to areas in another.
I was speaking to my brother earlier (he's in Edinburgh, which is our Tier 3, and I'm in West Lothian, Tier 4), and he reminded me that it would actually be illegal for him to visit me or vice versa.
We are being given a reprieve for Christmas though, so I think I'm going to be spending that weekend with him and his wife, which'll be nice.
Having just read the explanation of the English tiers in the Grauniad, I don’t feel as if I'm any the wiser; they seem rather woolly to me. Even in your Tier 3 there seem to be no restrictions on things like hairdressers or non-essential shops (in our top tier they're closed) and unlike here, there doesn’t seem to be any restriction on moving from areas in one tier to areas in another.
Yes, I agree.
Don't forget, though, that our English *woolliness* is WORLD-BEATING!
(Not sure about the moving from one Tier to another BTW - our borders are to be firmly closed AFAICT.)
Don't forget, though, that our English *woolliness* is WORLD-BEATING!
Hmm, I don't know - there are plenty of sheep in The Land Of Song.
Not sure about the moving from one Tier to another BTW - our borders are to be firmly closed AFAICT.
I'm seriously worried that, with Bristol being in Tier 3, Somerset Christmas shoppers will come (illegally) pouring into Cardiff where the city centre has already been Far Too Busy For Comfort.
That's what I meant about moving from one tier to another: here - for now anyway - that would be actually illegal (as opposed to just Advised Against and Frowned Upon).
I really must stir my stumps and go for a little amble - when your flat's the size of a fag-packet, hoovering it* doesn't really count as exercise as it only takes about 10 minutes to do the whole place ...
* The new hoover seems to work very nicely, so I might forgive them the silly amounts of packaging (see TICTH thread).
That's any idea of seeing my parents at Christmas off then. They are in Kent, so we are all now Tier 3.
My understanding is that rules for everyone are relaxed at Christmas - a maximum of three households bubbling together for five days - and the stricter tiers now are to drive numbers down as far as possible before then so that the subsequent inevitable increase of cases is not as bad as it could be.
Mr Nen and I have been for a walk in the sunshine and I'm now enjoying a cup of tea and some online time.
I started work early as I had a workshop on student retention at 9am and need to do some admin and emails first thing before.
I have since spent the whole day re-writing my literature review chapter (barring an hour long walk after lunch). Several more days work to go. It makes me want to cry! lol.
Just had a doorstep visit from my daughter to deliver some eggs( ie provide Essential Supplies). She runs a rural holiday let, totally self contained, and in Tier 3 she is upset that she cannot let it except under very specific circumstances. It makes no sense that people cannot self isolate in it, or just have a change of scene, yet they can go to supermarkets, hairdressers, church.......
But she can access government grants, rather than work to earn money and pay taxes. Does not make sense.
She runs a rural holiday let, totally self contained, and in Tier 3 she is upset that she cannot let it except under very specific circumstances. It makes no sense that people cannot self isolate in it, or just have a change of scene, yet they can go to supermarkets, hairdressers, church.......
Absolutely. It does not help a business to keep going!
I’m in Trafford, and it’s fair to say we’re peeved. There are 45 areas of England with higher rates of plague than us but are in tier 2. It’s not fair really. It’s apparently not payback for Andy Burnham and his anorak, but it very much feels like it.
In other news, this ship wedding (by no means the first of latest!) is 15 years old today. I looked at the ship photo in our wedding album and it’s easier to call people by their actual real names than ship monikers. That’s the evidence that the ship makes long lasting relationships, both friendly and romantic!
Don't forget, though, that our English *woolliness* is WORLD-BEATING!
Hmm, I don't know - there are plenty of sheep in The Land Of Song.
Not sure about the moving from one Tier to another BTW - our borders are to be firmly closed AFAICT.
I'm seriously worried that, with Bristol being in Tier 3, Somerset Christmas shoppers will come (illegally) pouring into Cardiff where the city centre has already been Far Too Busy For Comfort.
Depends whence they come - Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire have the Black Spot, but other parts of Somerset and Gloucestershire are free to spend their English pounds in our Welsh shops!
I've just discovered some rather lovely cheese (which I had sort of forgotten about) in the back of my fridge: it's an Amber Mist Mature Cheddar with Whisky, from the Snowdonia Cheese Company!
Veeeery nice indeed!
Just ordered some for Mr S at Christmas!
...only to discover it in the fridge at our local butchers!
My friends came to take Tatze a walk through the park this morning. She was very glad to see them!
I have kept my steps up to 6000 yesterday which isn’t bad as I was only walking round the house and garden! Today I shall try for 10, 000.
I had my zoom Pilates followed by a very long bath, now it’s time for zoom with my friends - so I seem to be keeping busy. I have a jigsaw and a papier-mâché project in mind for this afternoon’s entertainment. We never watch the TV until 9pm as it seems wrong!
If I start watching TV at 9 o'clock, I invariably nod off and miss the end! Oh, the joys of being old! Luckily I can watch later things on all the catch up apps in a dull afternoon, which doesn't feel wrong at all!
My sister's just the same, Thomasina - she records everything so that she can watch when she wants (and whizz past the adverts). I've sat and watched her fall asleep during two or three reruns of Newsnight - she'll wake up when the end music comes on, curse herself for falling asleep, rewind and repeat ...
I'm just back from a moderately productive amble down to Tesco's; they had Wairau Cove NZ Sauvignon Blanc for £6 a bottle, which makes me a very happy piglet. I bought two bottles, so my arms may be a little longer than they were when I went out ...
In my excitement I forgot to buy carrots, but they'll have to wait.
I have been sitting doing my voluntary work online all morning followed by late lunch. Schools finish early on Friday so it is the wrong time to go out for some exercise. So I had better make the most of the last decent hour of daylight and do some houseworking exercise.
There's a time and a place for white - we have a bottle in the fridge for drinking with our curry later. But tomorrow evening's stir fry has to be accompanied by red.
I went for a very chilly walk with a friend - and we ended up walking quite a long way along roads with no pavements, which was no fun - and it was nice to see her but I'm glad to be tucked up for the evening. We have a Zoom at 6pm at which the consumption of alcohol is expected, nay, pretty much obligatory.
I generally prefer white to red, except when I'm eating red meat, chilli or game. For drinking on its own, definitely white - red can be a bit hangover-inducing.
Having said that, I remember an occasion when there was red and white on offer, and David took a glass of the white and whispered to me, "take the red!" I think the white was a particularly woody Chardonnay, and Not Very Nice.
I was going to make pancetta pasta for supper, and then I thought, it's Friday, and there is further research to be done at the chippy across the road, so I think it'll be fish and chips. With a glass of something white.
Tonight it's pasta and pesto night, except husband is making an experimental sauce involving crème fraiche and spinach instead. It will be accompanied by a glass or two of red, probably a chianti. @Boogie I like white wine to a degree, but six bottles when I wanted red?! I think I'd be sending the supermarket a stiff note.
How on earth can they send random bottles of wine! It is such a personal choice.
I had a lot of work to catch up with having studied for most of the last 2 days (I work a flexible 32 hour week but my study time is my own time and takes another 1-2 days a week). Now time for a takeaway but I’m not sure what I want yet.
Yes, foggy all day here.
We are having a Bedouin take away today. I fancy a glass of wine but I’m not sure we have any white, and red wine makes me unwell. Perhaps I should make friends with Boogie.
Going back a couple of days to the conversation on masks and foggy glasses this might be the solution. It appears to have a small closer fitting fold over the nose. If you scroll down to the bottom of the thread someone has posted a pattern for those more inclined to DIY.
I have a lovely new Wonder Woman mask, a birthday present, which doesn't have a nose clip. It may require judicial use of a sharp Stanley knife and a pipe cleaner.
Yes, foggy all day here.
We are having a Bedouin take away today. I fancy a glass of wine but I’m not sure we have any white, and red wine makes me unwell. Perhaps I should make friends with Boogie.
I've never heard of a Bedouin takeaway. Does it arrive with a caravan of camels, or on the back of a moped like everything else?
I did an online shop and it all arrived intact today.
Except for the WINE. Red had been substituted for white - six bottles! We’ll just have to get used to white wine, I hope it’s a decent one.
[tangent begins] - a grammatical thing: I was taught and around here it is the case that a thing substituted for another replaced it. So, in your example, red wine being substituted for white would mean that you had ordered white and got red instead. Is it different where you live?[tangent ends]
Dear God, this 'substitute' thing takes me back to the 1970ies - the song is as awful as I remember it (because very samey!), and the video, seen for the first time now, comes as a bit of a shock! - I had no idea who they were and what they looked like!
Our American breakfasts come in a taxi. I suppose it's mutually beneficial to the private hire company for custom and the burger place that does them as they handle their orders in advance and the usual websites for takeaway would want their cut.
It's turned out to be cider for me tonight, although flavoured as that's what the corner shop had.
It’s from a restaurant in Cambridge and much like any other North African food so quite Middle Eastern in style. We had lamb shank, meatballs, chicken in tahini, salad, olives, bread and some interesting chicken borek (filo parcels) which were flavoured with cinnamon and sugar. Unfortunately it arrived by pushbike not camel.
I once went on a camel ride in the Sahara (Tunisian bit) with some Bedouin tour guides.
I did an online shop and it all arrived intact today.
Except for the WINE. Red had been substituted for white - six bottles! We’ll just have to get used to white wine, I hope it’s a decent one.
[tangent begins] - a grammatical thing: I was taught and around here it is the case that a thing substituted for another replaced it. So, in your example, red wine being substituted for white would mean that you had ordered white and got red instead. Is it different where you live?[tangent ends]
substituted - added to or taking the place of something else.
I ordered red, they substituted it with white.
It has been decided that the white shall be used for making risotto, one a fortnight.
Surely in Boogie's case, white wine had been substituted FOR red? Or, red wine had been substituted BY white?
Couldn't you just have refused it? When Mr Sainsbury sent me salted butter for unsalted - but it was the same brand - I just told them I didn't want it and they took it away.
On another tangent, am I the only person to be annoyed when a recipe demands unsalted butter and then tells you to add salt? Same for self-raising flour rather than plain with baking powder <shakes head in disbelief>
... am I the only person to be annoyed when a recipe demands unsalted butter and then tells you to add salt?
I was a bit puzzled by that until a cook on a Canadian TV show explained that if you do it that way, you're in control of how much salt you add, which I suppose makes sense.
I don't like the taste of unsalted butter (these days I use Lurpak lightly salted), so I never have it in the house.
... am I the only person to be annoyed when a recipe demands unsalted butter and then tells you to add salt?
I was a bit puzzled by that until a cook on a Canadian TV show explained that if you do it that way, you're in control of how much salt you add, which I suppose makes sense.
I don't like the taste of unsalted butter (these days I use Lurpak lightly salted), so I never have it in the house.
I have unsalted for cooking and salted fot table use. Unsalted on toast or crumpets is a bit bland.
I don't really do enough baking to justify separate butter; I used to bake cakes because David liked them, but there doesn't seem any point just for me - I'd only eat them ...
I have, however, just ordered a food processor, so pâtés and other goodies may be on the cards for the family's Christmas presents.
I seem to remember that there is another point. Adding salt at churning stage makes the butter hold more whey, making it burn more when frying, and also changing its characteristics at other times, because more whey means more water. I think that's right anyway. As you say, the difference never bothered me that much.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, eh, Boogie?
It's a glorious day here, and I had a little amble by the loch en route to getting the carrots and milk I forgot about yesterday. I just went to the wee shop along the road, and they didn't have small milk cartons, so to avoid it going off before I can use it, I also got some drinking chocolate, which I'm rather partial to, as that'll help to use it up.
I think I'll go now and put some bread in to do its thing, and it'll be ready by about supper time.
Comments
I doubt if we'll be able to have our planned Christmas mini-Bazaar in church, though (it was a daft idea in the first place, given the need for social distancing etc.).
We would also have had the interesting choice of them staying in a Premier Inn up here, or the multiple breaks required to drive down to them with a young baby.
I was speaking to my brother earlier (he's in Edinburgh, which is our Tier 3, and I'm in West Lothian, Tier 4), and he reminded me that it would actually be illegal for him to visit me or vice versa.
We are being given a reprieve for Christmas though, so I think I'm going to be spending that weekend with him and his wife, which'll be nice.
Yes, I agree.
Don't forget, though, that our English *woolliness* is WORLD-BEATING!
(Not sure about the moving from one Tier to another BTW - our borders are to be firmly closed AFAICT.)
I'm seriously worried that, with Bristol being in Tier 3, Somerset Christmas shoppers will come (illegally) pouring into Cardiff where the city centre has already been Far Too Busy For Comfort.
I really must stir my stumps and go for a little amble - when your flat's the size of a fag-packet, hoovering it* doesn't really count as exercise as it only takes about 10 minutes to do the whole place ...
* The new hoover seems to work very nicely, so I might forgive them the silly amounts of packaging (see TICTH thread).
My understanding is that rules for everyone are relaxed at Christmas - a maximum of three households bubbling together for five days - and the stricter tiers now are to drive numbers down as far as possible before then so that the subsequent inevitable increase of cases is not as bad as it could be.
Mr Nen and I have been for a walk in the sunshine and I'm now enjoying a cup of tea and some online time.
I have since spent the whole day re-writing my literature review chapter (barring an hour long walk after lunch). Several more days work to go. It makes me want to cry! lol.
But she can access government grants, rather than work to earn money and pay taxes. Does not make sense.
Absolutely. It does not help a business to keep going!
I’m in Trafford, and it’s fair to say we’re peeved. There are 45 areas of England with higher rates of plague than us but are in tier 2. It’s not fair really. It’s apparently not payback for Andy Burnham and his anorak, but it very much feels like it.
In other news, this ship wedding (by no means the first of latest!) is 15 years old today. I looked at the ship photo in our wedding album and it’s easier to call people by their actual real names than ship monikers. That’s the evidence that the ship makes long lasting relationships, both friendly and romantic!
Jen
Depends whence they come - Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire have the Black Spot, but other parts of Somerset and Gloucestershire are free to spend their English pounds in our Welsh shops!
Ahem. First or latest
...only to discover it in the fridge at our local butchers!
My friends came to take Tatze a walk through the park this morning. She was very glad to see them!
I have kept my steps up to 6000 yesterday which isn’t bad as I was only walking round the house and garden! Today I shall try for 10, 000.
I had my zoom Pilates followed by a very long bath, now it’s time for zoom with my friends - so I seem to be keeping busy. I have a jigsaw and a papier-mâché project in mind for this afternoon’s entertainment. We never watch the TV until 9pm as it seems wrong!
I'm just back from a moderately productive amble down to Tesco's; they had Wairau Cove NZ Sauvignon Blanc for £6 a bottle, which makes me a very happy piglet. I bought two bottles, so my arms may be a little longer than they were when I went out ...
In my excitement I forgot to buy carrots, but they'll have to wait.
I'm sure they won't mind...
Except for the WINE. Red had been substituted for white - six bottles! We’ll just have to get used to white wine, I hope it’s a decent one.
What a ghastly mistake...there is NO WAY that white *wine* can serve as an adequate substitute for RED...
I went for a very chilly walk with a friend - and we ended up walking quite a long way along roads with no pavements, which was no fun - and it was nice to see her but I'm glad to be tucked up for the evening. We have a Zoom at 6pm at which the consumption of alcohol is expected, nay, pretty much obligatory.
Having said that, I remember an occasion when there was red and white on offer, and David took a glass of the white and whispered to me, "take the red!" I think the white was a particularly woody Chardonnay, and Not Very Nice.
I was going to make pancetta pasta for supper, and then I thought, it's Friday, and there is further research to be done at the chippy across the road, so I think it'll be fish and chips. With a glass of something white.
@Boogie I like white wine to a degree, but six bottles when I wanted red?! I think I'd be sending the supermarket a stiff note.
Tomorrow will exert myself the length of doing bavette, possibly with mushroom sauce. Sunday either sole or sea bass.
I had a lot of work to catch up with having studied for most of the last 2 days (I work a flexible 32 hour week but my study time is my own time and takes another 1-2 days a week). Now time for a takeaway but I’m not sure what I want yet.
We are having a Bedouin take away today. I fancy a glass of wine but I’m not sure we have any white, and red wine makes me unwell. Perhaps I should make friends with Boogie.
I have a lovely new Wonder Woman mask, a birthday present, which doesn't have a nose clip. It may require judicial use of a sharp Stanley knife and a pipe cleaner.
Ringers and alcohol? Surely not? Is outrage!
I've never heard of a Bedouin takeaway. Does it arrive with a caravan of camels, or on the back of a moped like everything else?
[tangent begins] - a grammatical thing: I was taught and around here it is the case that a thing substituted for another replaced it. So, in your example, red wine being substituted for white would mean that you had ordered white and got red instead. Is it different where you live?[tangent ends]
Last weekend's takeaway arrived in the hands of a yummy mummy driving an Audi TT.
We are obviously way more middle class than I thought...
It's turned out to be cider for me tonight, although flavoured as that's what the corner shop had.
I once went on a camel ride in the Sahara (Tunisian bit) with some Bedouin tour guides.
substituted - added to or taking the place of something else.
I ordered red, they substituted it with white.
It has been decided that the white shall be used for making risotto, one a fortnight.
Luckily we have some nice reds in reserve!
Couldn't you just have refused it? When Mr Sainsbury sent me salted butter for unsalted - but it was the same brand - I just told them I didn't want it and they took it away.
On another tangent, am I the only person to be annoyed when a recipe demands unsalted butter and then tells you to add salt? Same for self-raising flour rather than plain with baking powder <shakes head in disbelief>
I’ve been organising Tatze’s diary - she’s had so many offers of walkies I feel like her social secretary! 🙂
I don't like the taste of unsalted butter (these days I use Lurpak lightly salted), so I never have it in the house.
I have unsalted for cooking and salted fot table use. Unsalted on toast or crumpets is a bit bland.
I have, however, just ordered a food processor, so pâtés and other goodies may be on the cards for the family's Christmas presents.
Quarantine day three -
Tatze has gone for a long walk in the woods with my friend’s daughter and her son - I’m jealous!
Mr Boogs has a lot of orders to make for our cottage industry so that’s keeping him busy. My brother will post the parcels for us.
I have made soup, a lemon drizzle cake and a loaf of bread. After lunch I shall have to resort to clean-ing.
It's a glorious day here, and I had a little amble by the loch en route to getting the carrots and milk I forgot about yesterday. I just went to the wee shop along the road, and they didn't have small milk cartons, so to avoid it going off before I can use it, I also got some drinking chocolate, which I'm rather partial to, as that'll help to use it up.
I think I'll go now and put some bread in to do its thing, and it'll be ready by about supper time.