Rats living in riverbanks seems so intrinsically correct.
I note that brown rats, black rats, and water rats are all different animals. Water rats are in fact water voles.
The educational value of the Ship never fails to impress me. I am convinced think that about 80% of the posters are better informed than I am.
Which is contrast to certain other social media. There isn’t much axe grinding here.
The main road from the town was very busy after the match last night, and equally busy at pub closing time later.
I slept with the window open and was woken by a crash. The wind had blown a photo of my grandchildren and an ornament off the windowsill. Neither was broken. Later the wind blew one of my bins over, the one containing glass. Fortunately the contents remained inside so I did not have to pick up any pieces of glass.
A busy morning, changing the bed, washing, ironing, sorting finances and lots of preparation before I go away for a long weekend on the north Wales coast. The forecast is for much cooler weather than we have here today, so knowing what to wear is tricky, especially as a boat trip from Anglesey is included.
Church choir practice tonight, so I need to get everything done before that.
Rats living in riverbanks seems so intrinsically correct.
I note that brown rats, black rats, and water rats are all different animals. Water rats are in fact water voles.
So they are.
My Neighbour Rat is one of the brown variety, which enables him to blend into the mud of the river bed IYSWIM...
Another fine Sun-Shiny day in Arkland the Unclouded, and Tess Coe has been visited, because Thursday.
Yesterday, I managed to do a small amount of Paint Ing around the main access hatch of the Ark (the equivalent of the front door), and this afternoon I'll attempt to smarten up part of the adjacent deck - after Lunch, that is...
I've taken on board (!) the wisdom of the Buddhist monk, Ajahn Chah, who taught that if a job (no matter how small) has been done, it has been finished - no matter how much more might appear to need attention.
This approach enables me to take a much more positive view of the little I'm actually physically capable of doing, and, of course, can be applied to many tasks other than Paint Ing.
On Monday I noticed a small leak from the water meter outside our house, seeping across the pavement. I reported it to Welsh Water and was told that an inspector would be round to look at it "within 24 hours".
Well, 24 hours and 40 minutes elapsed until someone came on Tuesday morning. He diagnosed the problem and said that it would get fixed.
This morning a team has arrived to do the job. It's proving harder than anticipated; our water has been off for a couple of hours and the house now has a Large Hole (and pile of dirt) outside.
Still, I'm quite impressed by the speed of action.
On Monday I noticed a small leak from the water meter outside our house, seeping across the pavement. I reported it to Welsh Water and was told that an inspector would be round to look at it "within 24 hours".
Well, 24 hours and 40 minutes elapsed until someone came on Tuesday morning. He diagnosed the problem and said that it would get fixed.
This morning a team has arrived to do the job. It's proving harder than anticipated; our water has been off for a couple of hours and the house now has a Large Hole (and pile of dirt) outside.
Still, I'm quite impressed by the speed of action.
That's a lot better than the management company for my flats. On Easter Saturday, someone drove their car through our fence. Any repairs on the grounds are the responsibility of the company to whom each resident pays a substantial sum each year.
They said it would be fixed in 10 days. The Easter weekend was more than 10 weeks ago. It has not been fixed.
At lunchtime, I walked into town. Along the way, a rather pretty young girl walked past me. A chap on his bike noticed her and had his head quite literally turned.
About two or three seconds later he crashed into a nearby hedge. He was alright, but it was hard work on my part to stifle a laugh.
She paid him no heed.
I didn't know what the Tales of the Riverbank theme was called, but it was what I was expecting when I googled it. It was slightly before my time (it ran from 1960-63, and I was born in 62), but David and I had video tapes of the original in the 90s. It was a lovely programme, with Johnny Morris's wonderful narration.
Rather blustrous here today: just after I got home it was verging on Blowing A Hoolie. It's subsided a bit now, and shaping up for a nice sunset.
Today I accompanied Captain Pyjamas' class on a school trip. It being a Catholic school, we started out at the chapel of the magic superstition miraculous medal. I promise I was respectful to the beliefs of others while I was there but I have to admit that this is the sort of Catholic practice that I have a lot of difficulty with. Captain P was pretty nonplussed, I think. He gave his medal to my Mum when we got home, because he's a generous little chap and likes giving people presents. I doubt he'll think about it much more.
After that, the rest of the trip involved going to the park and playing outdoor games, which was more my thing. It wasn't particularly hot (25°) but I did manage to sunburn the back of my neck.
Today I accompanied Captain Pyjamas' class on a school trip. It being a Catholic school, we started out at the chapel of the magic superstition miraculous medal.
I've got one of those that a friend gave me. I may be a Catholic, but it's never been one of my favourite devotions.
I had a lovely afternoon with a group of artists from our town showing them round our beautiful Town Hall and talking about how we can encourage the arts in our area. Then this evening to a cheese and wine party in aid of our Town Hall museum. It was very nice and I caught up with a friend I don't see often enough. Within ten minutes we'd put the world to rights as you do.
I’ve also done some background reading for my next studies as my application for a Masters in Classical Studies was accepted last week. It is no longer necessary to know Greek and/or Latin for classical studies these days so it is far more accessible for working class students and it is also seen as more cross-faculty. As my usual history field is early modern I am doing preparatory reading. The course includes study of disability and Roman funerals so right up my street and I’m considering doing a dissertation on Roman funerals.
Can I ask how you engage with such study if you are unable to read the primary source material? Or do you learn Latin as part of the course?
Wrt rats in the communal garden, we are also right on the riverbank so rats (brown rats - there are also water voles but they don't stray from the river) are just an accepted inevitable part of the environment. There are also a couple of resident cats who make short work of any rats they come across, and said rat corpses are regarded as much worse than the live rats being in the garden - and in any case, as soon as people are walking around or making any noise in the garden any rats just slink off into a bush or into the water (they love to swim, which somehow surprised me). They don't have any interest in coming into the building, likely because cats and also they have plenty of wild food available.
I’ve also done some background reading for my next studies as my application for a Masters in Classical Studies was accepted last week. It is no longer necessary to know Greek and/or Latin for classical studies these days so it is far more accessible for working class students and it is also seen as more cross-faculty. As my usual history field is early modern I am doing preparatory reading. The course includes study of disability and Roman funerals so right up my street and I’m considering doing a dissertation on Roman funerals.
Can I ask how you engage with such study if you are unable to read the primary source material? Or do you learn Latin as part of the course?
I engage with the primary source material in translation for the taught part of the module. Classical studies is far more than linguistics, we also look at objects in many forms as well as archaeology, landscape and town planning; my dissertation will likely be on a Roman sarcophagus with no text but visually rich. To understand this I will need to know to know relevant texts of the period to have historical and cultural context but there is no reason for me to study them in Latin when someone far more linguistically expert than me has already translated them. Modern classical studies recognises that a multidisciplinary approach is necessary to investigate the past and I will be bringing my expertise as a lecturer in thanatology (death studies) to my dissertation.
A lack of specialist subject expertise is something I often see as a historian of health and social care; historians can misunderstand or misinterpret a scenario because they have never worked in a medical setting and their knowledge is purely theoretical. A simple example would be a book on the history of madness where the author seemed incredulous that early modern people might believe sex could cause madness. But I nursed someone in the 1980s with tertiary syphilis so know that untreated syphilis could cause personality changes and dementia. Sex can, indeed, cause madness. I have also become used to interpreting medical words and scenarios in social history lectures, as although I do not read Latin I know medical terminology and practice far better than the lecturers (I have been a nurse and health lecturer for 40 years).
Of course, the really positive thing that has changed in studying any historical period is the availability of online sources. For my history MA dissertation on early modern psychiatry I was able to read sources such as the patient consultation notes of a seventeenth century physician and book reviews of eighteenth century medical textbooks using online databases of scanned documents, and many original medical texts were available as scanned documents online or even in modern printed editions. This made studying for more accessible for a me as a disabled researcher.
I was up early this morning for a Business Club monthly breakfast meeting. I was there to promote the mayoralty in the town, and ended up on a table with a fellow councillor promoting something else and one of the creatives from yesterday's meeting.
This afternoon I was the special guest at a school's leaving do. It was all rather lovely, but by the time I came home I was exhausted.
Nothing on tomorrow other than popping into a garden party and drinks in our neighbours' garden.
There's Tennis, and it's not raining ? Is Outrage!!
No doubt others will recall the occasion, some years ago, when Wimbledon was subjected to torrential Rain. Play had to stop, and the situation was made even worse by Cliff Richard (who happened to be present) performing impromptu whilst they waited for the downpour to cease.
A warm and Sun-Shiny day in Arkland the Summery, and I did at last manage to finish another section of Paint Ing, waiting until about 7pm, when the heat was abating.
Mrs Sioni used to do stained glass and we have plenty of pieces around the house including some fairly small panels in the conservatory, stuck to the windows using plastic vacuum pads.
And it came to pass that yesterday there was a clattering and breaking from the conservatory, and yes a panel had fallen BUT it was unharmed! A cheap candlestick had taken one for the team, and the stained glass panel is perfect.
Says something for Mrs Sioni’s skills.
Very overcast here today and it feels quite cool, though it isn't actually that cold. So far today we've done some gardening and mooched into town to pick up some veg from the market and to have a general look round. I'm now off to a garden party, I promised I'd pop in to wish Happy Birthday to someone who is 101 this year. Then we've been invited round to our neighbours for a glass, or two or three later this afternoon.
A busy couple of days and I feel behind on a number of things.
Yesterday two friends came over for coffee and lunch and we went for a walk - one of them loves geocaching and we found several so she was pleased about that. We all had loads to talk about so were happy to mooch along and stop every so often to help her search; she appreciated this as often she goes with people who roll their eyes and say, "Stopping again?"
Interesting fact - non-geocachers are called "muggles". She signed the cache logs with her user name "plus two muggles" .
This morning Mr Nen and I went out for coffee and cake which was very nice indeed, and since we got back I've been in the garden. The stiff breeze made it really pleasant out there, and it wasn't until partway through the afternoon I remembered to put sun cream on.
We have six people from Town Where We Used To Live coming to lunch tomorrow and this has spurred Mr Nen into some tidying and putting some pictures up.
Full and breezy in West Lothian, with the odd spitter of rain. After choir practice I went and got my toes repainted (while sitting in their nice massaging chair), then home for brunch and snoozage.
Having had an amble along to the corner shop to get some red WINE, of which I had none, I will shortly cook a STEAK for supper, with veggies and potato salad.
As of yesterday, school is out for the summer. The parental units have returned to Blighty, and we are leaving for foie gras land on Tuesday. Consequently today was spent Clean Ing and Tidy Ing, and doing much laundry.
The weather is starting to heat up again, but at least the foie gras land house has air-conditioning.
Enjoy your holiday @la vie en rouge when it comes.
I had a very nice time at the garden party this afternoon. The gentleman who is 100 is amazing. He still looks after himself and looked very dapper.
We then spent the evening putting the worlds to rights with our lovely neighbours over rather a lot of wine.
I'm now off to bed.
As of yesterday, school is out for the summer. The parental units have returned to Blighty, and we are leaving for foie gras land on Tuesday. Consequently today was spent Clean Ing and Tidy Ing, and doing much laundry.
The weather is starting to heat up again, but at least the foie gras land house has air-conditioning.
I know all about Paris being as hot as heck, if not hell itself, but are school summer holidays generally so long?
This morning I took the first tram up the Great Orme. I was glad that I had put extra layers on as it was incredibly windy at the top.
Later I visited the Home Front museum, which brought back memories of my childhood. Although not quite a war baby, I recognised many of the artefacts from my parents’ home. Of course rationing of some items, including sweets, did not end until 1953/4.
No sun until this afternoon, but not cold, unless in the direct path of the strong winds. Better this afternoon.
Another excellent evening meal in the hotel, together with very attentive service from the staff, especially for a lady at my table who has certain allergies.
I like that bit of North Wales @Puzzler, glad you're having a good time.
The garden party yesterday afternoon raised £900.00 for the RAF Association (our town has very strong connections to the airforce) which was amazing, and I don't feel too hung over after all the wine yesterday which is also amazing.
This afternoon I'm off to a memorial service in Derbyshire. I'm dressing for all eventualities as we'll be outdoors.
Damp, verging on wet in West Lothian today: now waiting for the laundry to tumble (snoozage may well ensue), and then Evensong later, at which I'm presiding.
Supper will be something easy involving pasta and green things (and possibly prawns).
Hot again in Arkland the Overheated, with 92F forecast for tomorrow...
It might be less humid, though, in which case I'll try to get to Pilates on Tuesday (unless they cancel the session!). The studio - a modern cedarwood building - is well-equipped with blinds and large fans, so will be a comfortable environment. It's actually getting there in Hot Weather which reduces me to a Wet Rag.
Meanwhile, FISH CAKE n'CHIPS for a late Lunch, with some Salad as well, wot needs to be etten today.
SSE facing French doors/windows now liberally painted with greenhouse shading ready for more excessive sun-shiney hotness. Seems to be having the desired effect so far, keeping much of the heat out of the sitting room, while allowing more light in than we were getting with the curtains closed.
Doesn't look great from outside, so wouldn't do it at the front, although the foil blanket I have stuck inside my bedroom window isn't particularly stylish, either.
Don't care as long as I am cool enough to function. Hope it comes off as easily as it said on the bottle.
Elder Son is about to have some posh heat control film fitted to their patio doors. They already have it on their elder son's bedroom window (he has autism & becomes very distressed if he overheats). That has been very successful in the last couple of summers.
I'm enjoying my afternoon iced coffee and a peruse around the Ship. Then I will be reading my book.
Mr Boogs is having a snooze as he intends to watch the football in the early hours. I'm very glad to say that we have separate bedrooms so I we'll get my full seven hours! I don't have a TV in my bedroom, It's against my religion.
Yesterday we had a reunion with @Daffodil. They were on a bell ringing tour and our tower was the first on the list. We had a lovely long chat and catch up.
Lunch here today with our six friends went well. I always get anxious about amounts (Is there going to be enough?) and timing - someone had to leave early so it was important for lunch to be on time - but it all went well and everyone was very appreciative. It was the first time any of them had seen our new house.
Mr Nen is now catching up on the Grand Prix and he's been making noises about staying up to watch the match. I certainly won't be.
The event in Derbyshire was an example of the sort of military and civic service the British do so well. There was a lot of bling and some rather amazing uniforms. It also was good to reflect on the sacrifice of so many during the two world wars and recent conflicts. I don't understand why some politicians are keen to go back to solving conflicts by fighting. I'm so glad I went as it isn't the sort of thing I'll get the opportunity to do very often.
I now have nothing on till Tuesday morning, and I'm looking forward to being very lazy.
@sionisais France has always had long school days (8:30 am to 4:30 pm for primary school) and lots of holidays. The two months off in the summer are a bit of an anachronism, dating back to the days when people needed their teenagers around to work on the farm. There is some talk of shortening the school day and reducing the holidays, but in recent years it has been so hot in the summer that the buildings would require significant adaptation before it would be feasible.
We've had a very pleasant Sunday. Church this morning and then our friends invited us round to lunch. Malagasy food is tasty.
After Evensong (which went rather nicely), I had a change of plan re: supper, and had something that Tessie's calls Finest garlic & wild garlic* haddock Kyiv, which was absolutely delicious, served with garlic & lemon green beans** and potato salad. BF, if your Tessie's stocks it, I think you'd probably like it.
Three days of feasting on copious hotel breakfasts and three course evening meals come to an end tomorrow morning. Back to normal or, more likely, frugal eating to try to shed a few pounds. Tonight I opted for roast beef. Six choices of starter, 12 mains and about 16 desserts.
No church today. We went to Anglesey. An hour’s boat trip on the Menai Strait ostensibly to see puffins which were conspicuous by their absence, though plenty of other sea birds were occupying Puffin Island. Time in Beaumaris for lunch and the artisan market though not enough time to go round the castle, but I did that on a previous visit some years ago. Our final stop was at the station with the longest name where there is also a shopping outlet.
Tomorrow we are due to have a lunch stop in Nantwich on our way home.
Our Town Clerk has just sent an email out postponing next week's council meeting as it could clash with the semi-finals assuming England win their next match. If last week's clash was anything to go by, it's a good idea as at least half the council won't have their minds on the matter in hand while the match is on.
Today is the only day this week when I have nothing planned. I did manage to bag a place at Pilates at the last minute so I have been out of the house, but I'm now enjoying doing nothing much for the rest of the day.
Hot hot hot in Arkland the Hot - up to 92F this afternoon, so They say.
AFAIK Pilates is still on for tomorrow - the Torturer was off sick last week - so I think I'll make the attempt to get there for 12 noon, before it reaches 90F or whatever. The torture chamber studio is well-equipped with sun blinds and large fans...
...and I usually arrive early, so as to enjoy a quiet few minutes of sitting and composing myself prior to the session...
Lunch today is Italian - or possibly Italian/American - to wit, CHICKEN Parmigiana. Accompanied by Italian non-alcoholic BEER with Sicilian Lemon Juice.
Regarding the football, the BBC helpfully screened the whole match at 7am so Mr Nen got up and watched it then. He got very stressed during the course of it but was very happy with the outcome.
After a zoom this morning , we headed into Nearby Town for some business stuff that needed to be done and then explored the most excellent community centre and library, really good to know there's somewhere like that so nearby (a short car or bus journey). We indulged in a snack lunch there before returning to Casa Nen.
Chick frick for tea this evening - wrong day, I know, but it's the way the menus are falling this week. Having obtained some mint for one of yesterday's salad dishes we shall be enjoying a glass of Pimms On The Patio as an appetiser. (Wondering whether @Baptist Trainfan has purchased any Pimms yet?)
On school holidays - our son in law works in a private school and finished term after a long day of end-of-term-y things on Saturday. Round here there are a couple of teacher training days (cue loads of school children around in Nearby Town) but term doesn't finish until the week after next.
I have boarded the train to leave London and head home. There is no air con. This could be an uncomfortable hour. Still, could be worse. About this time last year, I had a similar journey, but was just in the first throes of a COVID-induced fever.
Still no idea what we shall have for dinner (we often eat late), but we did manage Pimms on the Patio x2. We looked after Grandson #8 most of the day and when his mum arrived we chatted until she said “Oh no, I should have picked up CoCo (their CockerPoo) half an hour ago!”
I haven’t seen so much modern baby paraphernalia gathered so quickly!
Comments
The educational value of the Ship never fails to impress me. I am convinced think that about 80% of the posters are better informed than I am.
Which is contrast to certain other social media. There isn’t much axe grinding here.
I slept with the window open and was woken by a crash. The wind had blown a photo of my grandchildren and an ornament off the windowsill. Neither was broken. Later the wind blew one of my bins over, the one containing glass. Fortunately the contents remained inside so I did not have to pick up any pieces of glass.
A busy morning, changing the bed, washing, ironing, sorting finances and lots of preparation before I go away for a long weekend on the north Wales coast. The forecast is for much cooler weather than we have here today, so knowing what to wear is tricky, especially as a boat trip from Anglesey is included.
Church choir practice tonight, so I need to get everything done before that.
So they are.
My Neighbour Rat is one of the brown variety, which enables him to blend into the mud of the river bed IYSWIM...
Another fine Sun-Shiny day in Arkland the Unclouded, and Tess Coe has been visited, because Thursday.
Yesterday, I managed to do a small amount of Paint Ing around the main access hatch of the Ark (the equivalent of the front door), and this afternoon I'll attempt to smarten up part of the adjacent deck - after Lunch, that is...
I've taken on board (!) the wisdom of the Buddhist monk, Ajahn Chah, who taught that if a job (no matter how small) has been done, it has been finished - no matter how much more might appear to need attention.
This approach enables me to take a much more positive view of the little I'm actually physically capable of doing, and, of course, can be applied to many tasks other than Paint Ing.
Well, 24 hours and 40 minutes elapsed until someone came on Tuesday morning. He diagnosed the problem and said that it would get fixed.
This morning a team has arrived to do the job. It's proving harder than anticipated; our water has been off for a couple of hours and the house now has a Large Hole (and pile of dirt) outside.
Still, I'm quite impressed by the speed of action.
That's a lot better than the management company for my flats. On Easter Saturday, someone drove their car through our fence. Any repairs on the grounds are the responsibility of the company to whom each resident pays a substantial sum each year.
They said it would be fixed in 10 days. The Easter weekend was more than 10 weeks ago. It has not been fixed.
Explain please?
In other news, the water leak has turned out to be bigger and less transigent than at first thought. Work is noisily ongoing.
About two or three seconds later he crashed into a nearby hedge. He was alright, but it was hard work on my part to stifle a laugh.
She paid him no heed.
I didn't know what the Tales of the Riverbank theme was called, but it was what I was expecting when I googled it. It was slightly before my time (it ran from 1960-63, and I was born in 62), but David and I had video tapes of the original in the 90s. It was a lovely programme, with Johnny Morris's wonderful narration.
Rather blustrous here today: just after I got home it was verging on Blowing A Hoolie. It's subsided a bit now, and shaping up for a nice sunset.
Supper was lemon-and-parsley salmon with salads.
After that, the rest of the trip involved going to the park and playing outdoor games, which was more my thing. It wasn't particularly hot (25°) but I did manage to sunburn the back of my neck.
I've got one of those that a friend gave me. I may be a Catholic, but it's never been one of my favourite devotions.
I had a lovely afternoon with a group of artists from our town showing them round our beautiful Town Hall and talking about how we can encourage the arts in our area. Then this evening to a cheese and wine party in aid of our Town Hall museum. It was very nice and I caught up with a friend I don't see often enough. Within ten minutes we'd put the world to rights as you do.
Can I ask how you engage with such study if you are unable to read the primary source material? Or do you learn Latin as part of the course?
A lack of specialist subject expertise is something I often see as a historian of health and social care; historians can misunderstand or misinterpret a scenario because they have never worked in a medical setting and their knowledge is purely theoretical. A simple example would be a book on the history of madness where the author seemed incredulous that early modern people might believe sex could cause madness. But I nursed someone in the 1980s with tertiary syphilis so know that untreated syphilis could cause personality changes and dementia. Sex can, indeed, cause madness. I have also become used to interpreting medical words and scenarios in social history lectures, as although I do not read Latin I know medical terminology and practice far better than the lecturers (I have been a nurse and health lecturer for 40 years).
Of course, the really positive thing that has changed in studying any historical period is the availability of online sources. For my history MA dissertation on early modern psychiatry I was able to read sources such as the patient consultation notes of a seventeenth century physician and book reviews of eighteenth century medical textbooks using online databases of scanned documents, and many original medical texts were available as scanned documents online or even in modern printed editions. This made studying for more accessible for a me as a disabled researcher.
I managed not to get rained on until I was coming back from the chippy (who were on excellent form - the fish was delicious).
* For some reason I took a few days to get into watching Wimbledon this year, but now that I have, I'm rather enjoying it.
This afternoon I was the special guest at a school's leaving do. It was all rather lovely, but by the time I came home I was exhausted.
Nothing on tomorrow other than popping into a garden party and drinks in our neighbours' garden.
No doubt others will recall the occasion, some years ago, when Wimbledon was subjected to torrential Rain. Play had to stop, and the situation was made even worse by Cliff Richard (who happened to be present) performing impromptu whilst they waited for the downpour to cease.
A warm and Sun-Shiny day in Arkland the Summery, and I did at last manage to finish another section of Paint Ing, waiting until about 7pm, when the heat was abating.
And it came to pass that yesterday there was a clattering and breaking from the conservatory, and yes a panel had fallen BUT it was unharmed! A cheap candlestick had taken one for the team, and the stained glass panel is perfect.
Says something for Mrs Sioni’s skills.
Each to their own!
Yesterday two friends came over for coffee and lunch and we went for a walk - one of them loves geocaching and we found several so she was pleased about that. We all had loads to talk about so were happy to mooch along and stop every so often to help her search; she appreciated this as often she goes with people who roll their eyes and say, "Stopping again?"
Interesting fact - non-geocachers are called "muggles". She signed the cache logs with her user name "plus two muggles"
This morning Mr Nen and I went out for coffee and cake which was very nice indeed, and since we got back I've been in the garden. The stiff breeze made it really pleasant out there, and it wasn't until partway through the afternoon I remembered to put sun cream on.
We have six people from Town Where We Used To Live coming to lunch tomorrow and this has spurred Mr Nen into some tidying and putting some pictures up.
Stir fry for tea because Saturday.
Having had an amble along to the corner shop to get some red WINE, of which I had none, I will shortly cook a STEAK for supper, with veggies and potato salad.
The weather is starting to heat up again, but at least the foie gras land house has air-conditioning.
I had a very nice time at the garden party this afternoon. The gentleman who is 100 is amazing. He still looks after himself and looked very dapper.
We then spent the evening putting the worlds to rights with our lovely neighbours over rather a lot of wine.
I'm now off to bed.
I know all about Paris being as hot as heck, if not hell itself, but are school summer holidays generally so long?
Later I visited the Home Front museum, which brought back memories of my childhood. Although not quite a war baby, I recognised many of the artefacts from my parents’ home. Of course rationing of some items, including sweets, did not end until 1953/4.
No sun until this afternoon, but not cold, unless in the direct path of the strong winds. Better this afternoon.
Another excellent evening meal in the hotel, together with very attentive service from the staff, especially for a lady at my table who has certain allergies.
The garden party yesterday afternoon raised £900.00 for the RAF Association (our town has very strong connections to the airforce) which was amazing, and I don't feel too hung over after all the wine yesterday which is also amazing.
This afternoon I'm off to a memorial service in Derbyshire. I'm dressing for all eventualities as we'll be outdoors.
Supper will be something easy involving pasta and green things (and possibly prawns).
It might be less humid, though, in which case I'll try to get to Pilates on Tuesday (unless they cancel the session!). The studio - a modern cedarwood building - is well-equipped with blinds and large fans, so will be a comfortable environment. It's actually getting there in Hot Weather which reduces me to a Wet Rag.
Meanwhile, FISH CAKE n'CHIPS for a late Lunch, with some Salad as well, wot needs to be etten today.
Doesn't look great from outside, so wouldn't do it at the front, although the foil blanket I have stuck inside my bedroom window isn't particularly stylish, either.
Don't care as long as I am cool enough to function. Hope it comes off as easily as it said on the bottle.
Elder Son is about to have some posh heat control film fitted to their patio doors. They already have it on their elder son's bedroom window (he has autism & becomes very distressed if he overheats). That has been very successful in the last couple of summers.
Mr Boogs is having a snooze as he intends to watch the football in the early hours. I'm very glad to say that we have separate bedrooms so I we'll get my full seven hours! I don't have a TV in my bedroom, It's against my religion.
Yesterday we had a reunion with @Daffodil. They were on a bell ringing tour and our tower was the first on the list. We had a lovely long chat and catch up.
Mr Nen is now catching up on the Grand Prix and he's been making noises about staying up to watch the match. I certainly won't be.
I have parties/gatherings here a few times a year but they are always 'bring and share'!
I now have nothing on till Tuesday morning, and I'm looking forward to being very lazy.
We've had a very pleasant Sunday. Church this morning and then our friends invited us round to lunch. Malagasy food is tasty.
After Evensong (which went rather nicely), I had a change of plan re: supper, and had something that Tessie's calls Finest garlic & wild garlic* haddock Kyiv, which was absolutely delicious, served with garlic & lemon green beans** and potato salad. BF, if your Tessie's stocks it, I think you'd probably like it.
* presumably the other garlic is tame? 😃
** there is no such thing as too much garlic
No church today. We went to Anglesey. An hour’s boat trip on the Menai Strait ostensibly to see puffins which were conspicuous by their absence, though plenty of other sea birds were occupying Puffin Island. Time in Beaumaris for lunch and the artisan market though not enough time to go round the castle, but I did that on a previous visit some years ago. Our final stop was at the station with the longest name where there is also a shopping outlet.
Tomorrow we are due to have a lunch stop in Nantwich on our way home.
🤔🤔🤔⚽🥅🏟️🏴🇲🇽
Today is the only day this week when I have nothing planned. I did manage to bag a place at Pilates at the last minute so I have been out of the house, but I'm now enjoying doing nothing much for the rest of the day.
AFAIK Pilates is still on for tomorrow - the Torturer was off sick last week - so I think I'll make the attempt to get there for 12 noon, before it reaches 90F or whatever. The torture chamber studio is well-equipped with sun blinds and large fans...
...and I usually arrive early, so as to enjoy a quiet few minutes of sitting and composing myself prior to the session...
Lunch today is Italian - or possibly Italian/American - to wit, CHICKEN Parmigiana. Accompanied by Italian non-alcoholic BEER with Sicilian Lemon Juice.
After a zoom this morning
Chick frick for tea this evening - wrong day, I know, but it's the way the menus are falling this week. Having obtained some mint for one of yesterday's salad dishes we shall be enjoying a glass of Pimms On The Patio as an appetiser. (Wondering whether @Baptist Trainfan has purchased any Pimms yet?)
On school holidays - our son in law works in a private school and finished term after a long day of end-of-term-y things on Saturday. Round here there are a couple of teacher training days (cue loads of school children around in Nearby Town) but term doesn't finish until the week after next.
I haven’t seen so much modern baby paraphernalia gathered so quickly!