OH — MY — GOD. Week 57 of the experiment has been just the most truly awful week. I’ve spent effectively the whole week with the most dreadful UTI. 7 days on and I’m getting better but I’m certainly not there yet. This week has been the lowest in terms of depression/mood since records began in September 2010 — and that includes the time of the complications following my colonoscopy. Bastard!

So that’s why this week’s report is late — I ran out of “go” yesterday.

Nevertheless I have managed to find a few things that cheered me pathetic soul during the week …

1. Le Truc Vert. On Monday, Noreen and I both had early afternoon meetings in central London. We trundled off mid-morning and had lunch at Le Truc Vert in North Audley Street, just a few yards from the US Embassy. This is Mayfair, so we’re not talking the “cheapskate” end of the market, although Le Truc Vert isn’t outrageously expensive either. We indulged ourselves with some mouthwatering steak and a glass of red wine before parting for our respective meetings. Le Truc Vert promises to become a firm favourite.

   [It is about this point when the week started to go to hell in a handcart. And no it wasn’t the bistro; the signs were there before that.]

2. Fog. On Tuesday night it was thick with fog. No, not a pea-souper. Almost no-one under the age of 65 has seen a proper London pea-souper; the last big one was I think in 1952. Even the thick, dirty fogs of my childhood in outer London, when you could see only about 3 feet, were pretty tame. No, this was just good, old-fashioned, clean white fog. And it was freezing. Visibility here was probably down to about 100 yards. I like fog; I always have; even those nasty dirty ones of my childhood. It’s disorientating; mysterious; ethereal.
3. Rime on Trees. On Wednesday morning the freezing fog had left the trees covered in rime. Beautiful filigree white lace in an ethereal mist. Our silver birch tree looked gorgeous; real picture-book stuff that we hardly ever see in London.
4. Beans on Toast at Midnight. This is the sort of daft thing that happens when you’re ill. Very late, like gone 1130, on Thursday evening, having eaten almost nothing for two days, I needed beans on toast. Why beans on toast I have no clue! Now Noreen is a great believer in eating what you fancy, when you fancy it, at such times. So she trotted off and brought me beans on toast. So there I am, at a few minutes to midnight, sitting in bed, eating beans on toast. And at times like this such things are stunning by how good they are.
5. Noreen. Generally during the experiment I have refrained naming Noreen amongst my five selections, despite that she deserves it every week! But this week she really has been magnificent. She’s mopped up all the things which needed doing urgently and which I couldn’t do, as well as providing me food when I needed it and company. She organised all the Christmas cards (luckily I had already printed address labels) just leaving me a pile I needed to scribble in. And she has wrapped and posted all the parcels. I just could not have done any of that this week. I’m not sure Noreen appreciates just how much I appreciate what she does, and her input to the “partnership”. Somehow words never seem to say it quite right!

Well week 56 of the great experiment (in which I’m documenting five things which have made me happy of for which I’m grateful during the week) has been another busy one. In fact things have been sufficiently hectic that we’re at risk of getting all behind with Christmas preparations — cards have yet to be written! Nevertheless here’s this week’s selection …

1. Small Potted Christmas Trees. Again this year Waitrose are selling small (30-45 cm) pot grown Christmas trees. And they’re ready decorated with some Chrstmassy shapes and a little string of battery driven lights. This is how I like real Christmas trees: small and growing. Needless to say we bought one to adorn the dining table (lights and decs from last year’s tree added). And after Christmas it will go in the garden, probably in a tub for a few years, to eventually be planted out somewhere.
2. Monday Lie-in. Despite the business we were able to have Monday with on alarm clocks ringing. In consequence I slept late and well, and actually felt refreshed for it.
3. Frosty, Sunny Mornings. Again, as it should be at this time of year, several mornings this week have been cold and frosty, but also bright and sunny. Which I find most refreshing.
4. Sun-Roast Cat. It was one day early in the week that Harry the Cat was sitting in the sunshine on the windowsill by my desk before coming ad insisting on lying on my desk. He was well roasted in the sun, and happy and purry.

   

5. Handel’s Messiah. Last evening we went with our friends Sue & Ziggy to a performance of Handel’s Messiah given by the Ealing Abbey School Choir. Messiah is quite a big ask for a school choir as it needs a lot of dynamic range and attack, which often comes only with maturity (due purely to lung and chest capacity). But the chior, the soloists and the orchestra were all excellent. A most enjoyable evening.

Well this hasn’t been one of the best weeks. Having started off with this filthy cold, it was mid-week before any semblance of humanity returned, and even that was a bit sketchy, so no real change there. Added to which it has been another manically busy week. But it has ended well, so hopefully things are on the up!

And it is week 55 of the great experiment in which I’m documenting five things which have made me happy of for which I’m grateful this week. The hope is that doing this will have an effect on my mood and depression. It’ll be interesting to see where we end up!

Anyway this week’s selection is …

1. Fish & Chips. Monday was miserable. I still had the cold, although it was receding. And it was cold and grey. Noreen asked me what I wanted for lunch. Semi-jokingly I said fish & chips. This was deemed a great idea. So Noreen trotted round to the chip shop, returning with massive pieces of fish and mountains of chips. What a tremendous treat. We’ve not had real chip shop fish & chips for literally years. They were wonderful; greasy; just as I remember them; and totally different from what you generally get in a pub. Horribly unhealthy but what a great way to start the week!
2. Winter Lights. Last Sunday (25 November) was the feast of Christ the King, celebrated by some Christian sects on the last Sunday of the liturgical year, ie. the Sunday before Advent. We have made for ourselves a tradition that we put up the first of our Christmas lights (think of them as Winter lights) on Christ the King and they stay up to Candlemas (2 February). Every culture has some form of mid-winter fire or light festival: to see off the darkness and hasten the return of the sun in Spring. Our lights are a reflection of this and light us through the darkest days of the year — a month (roughly) either side of the Solstice. I love having the lights up, even in the bedroom (neither of us need total darkness to sleep); they really do seem to make a difference.
3. Cold, Sunny Mornings. Winter arrived this week. The last several mornings have been very cold, clear, bright and frosty. This is how it should be, and how I fondly remember Winter mornings as a kid. I’m sure they weren’t all like this, but I do find the cold and the sunshine invigorating. Bring on the Alpine weather!
4. Annual Anthony Powell Lecture. One reason the week has been so busy, but ended so well, is that we’ve had two Anthony Powell Society events this week. First on Friday evening there was the annual lecture, which is held in collaboration with The Wallace Collection. This year’s lecturer was writer AN Wilson. He talked about Powell’s narrative techniques and interest in things military. He was very interesting and is an excellent speaker. And the lecture was a sell-out for the third or fourth year in a row.
5. Anthony Powell Birthday Lunch. The following day, on Saturday we had our annual (informal) Anthony Powell Birthday Lunch. His birthday isn’t actually until 21 December but we always have the lunch on the first Saturday in December to keep it away from Christmas festivities. This year was especially opportune as the day of the lunch, 1 December, was also the Powells’ wedding anniversary. About 20 of us had an exceptionally convivial time at the Queen’s Head & Artichoke, where everyone drank more than usual which did screw up the finances — but what the hell, it is a celebration and it’s almost Christmas!

Well the week started off OK but it has ended crappily as I awoke on Friday morning with a filthy head-cold. Friday was a struggle, Saturday was a no-go area and today I’m feeling about back to where I was on Friday; so hopefully I’ll be a lot better tomorrow after a decent night’s sleep.

So anyway, this is week 54 (so we should finish the first weekend of the new year) of the experiment documenting five things which have made me happy of for which I’m grateful this week.

1. Sausages. We’ve had two absolutely delicious sets of sausages this week. The first were Park and Black Pudding from Waitrose. The second are the stars, from our favourite butchers, Hiltons in Pinner: they make their own called Pinner Royal. These are award-winning sausages and maybe the best I’ve ever tasted. They’re succulent, densely meaty and very tasty — partly as they contain some pimento and partly because Hiltons use good meat. Hiltons are good because they specialise in organic, free-range and humanely reared meat, so you get something that looks, feels and tastes like proper meat rather than a piece of soggy pink plastic.
2. Sinex Nasal Spray. I dislike using nasal spray as I know they can wreck nasal membranes. But very occasionally it is necessary, as it was last night in order to be able to breathe and get a decent night’s sleep.
3. Wednesday’s Sunset. We were coming back from Pinner at sunset on Wednesday, and the sunset was absolutely stunning. Lots of dark peachy-orangey cloud above a bright azure blue sky. I did photograph it, but they really don’t do it justice; the blue just didn’t come through.

   

4. Osteopathy. Wednesday’s trip to Pinner was partly for hypnotherapy and osteopathy. On Tuesday I managed to hurt my right wrist (no, not like that!). I’ve done it before and it was hugely painful for a long time, so I knew I needed to get Chris to treat it ASAP. It seems that, as before, I had misaligned one of the small wrist bones — quite commonly done, apparently, pushing open doors. Chris gave it a waggley-twist and wrench. As he was doing the waggley-twist there was this grindy-grindy noise and feeling, followed by a snap putting it back. Now I know some people don’t like this and can’t stand cracking knuckles. But I don’t mind; indeed I quite like that connection with what my body’s doing.
5. Nice People. Noreen and I have spent two mornings this week at our doctor’s (guess where the head-cold came from?) talking to patients in the hope of getting some interested in joining the Patient Participation Group. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how nice people are. Very very few have said a flat “no, don’t want to know” and the vast majority have at least taken a flyer away and said I’ll read it and consider. What pleased me even more is that many of those most interested are the under-30s, both male and female, and of all ethnic backgrounds; also a good few young mums. We’ve met some interesting people and a few pretty girls; not many pretty boys though.

Week 53 and we get to the hardest part of the experiment: not just keeping focus and motivation for the last few weeks but also surviving winter. The greyness has really caught up with me in the last 2-3 weeks. Anyway here is this week’s pick of five things which have made me happy of for which I’m grateful this week.

1. Golden Leaves. Yes we still have lots of rich golden leaves on the trees — although fewer today after a very cold night — and they’ve looked just glorious in the winter …
   
2. Sunshine. Yes, sorry I have to repeat myself, especially at this time of year, as I really do appreciate every drop of sunshine we get. Not only do I suffer from SAD but I hate dull, grey, damp days. I’d much rather have bright, cold alpine weather.
3. Nice Scrabble Words. Scrabble, even played against oneself during sleepless nights, is pretty good at keeping the mind active. And being competitive I always want to beat my own best score. I enjoy being able to play unusual, fun or interesting words too. Like GNEISS or DJINN. Neither scored outrageously high but when I played DJINN a few days ago it resulted in a series of four very high scoring moves.
4. Wine Deliveries. The wine rack is overflowing. Because we thsi week we had three wine deliveris. What do you mean “Why?”? Because (a) the wine rack was almost empty, (b) it’s approaching Christmas and (c) because it’s time for …
5. Beaujolais Nouveau. No I’m not someone who is sniffy about Beaujoias Nouveau. Partly because we’ve found Nick Dobson Wines who ship wine from a couple of very small producers who create good wines, even in challenging years like this one.

   Vincent Lacondemine, Beaujolais Villages Nouveau. Light, bright, cool, refreshing berry fruits; ruby red, obviously young but oh so drinkable. If anything it’s even smoother than last year’s despite the awful summer. How did I manage to stop at just one bottle? If that’s what the nouveau is like the vintage should be excellent!

   Phillipe Deschamps, Beaujolais Nouveau. Initially much smoother on the palate than the Lacondemine, but not as characterful, thinner with more low molecular weight esters (amyl acetate comes through). Very drinkable, but so far I prefer the Vincent Lacondemine.

   I drink this stuff because I actually like it. We don’t all like to drink heavy, robust red wine all the time. And isn’t all part of enjoying the year’s rich cycle — along with the SAD.

Through the haze of whatever lurgy is trying its best to sink me at the moment here’s my contributions for week 52 of my experiment in documenting five things each week which have made me happy of for which I’m grateful.

1. Autumn Colours. Although the leaves are beginning to fall quite quickly now we’ve had a frost or two, there’s still some glorious autumn colour around (and a surprising amount of green too) — which looks wonderful on a nice sunny day like today. These photos were taken earlier today in our garden.



2. Baked Ham & Red Cabbage. Earlier in the week we had a baked gammon joint. And delightfully flavoursome, tender and succulent it was too! |To accompany it there was red cabbage: sliced and braised with some onion and cooking apple and then simmered slowly with a glass or two of red wine. Add pepper, caraway seeds, garlic to taste. A most excellent winter warmer veg.
3. Wasps. Yep we’ve still got our wasps around. Not so many now it is colder, but still the odd few in the house, with more in the attic. They’re mostly a mix of queens and workers, although I’ve seen at least one drone this week.
4. Rump Steak. Also earlier in the week we had a couple of really juicy and tender pieces of rump steak, courtesy of Waitrose. They have to have been some of the best pieces of steak I’ve ever had, they were just so tender.



5. Squirrels. And finally our resident squirrel, we discovered this afternoon, actually is resident — it has build it’s nest in the ivy at the top of our hawthorn tree. While in the garden we saw it running through the trees and Noreen spotted it sitting in its drey, a pair of ears and a beady eye poking over the edge! I like squirrels, despite that they are only tree rats, and I feel honoured to have one nesting in the garden.

So here we are at week 51 of my experiment in documenting five things each week which have made me happy of for which I’m grateful. It’s been a busy week, not helped by the fact that I was knocked out last weekend and the beginning of the week by my annual ‘flu jab.

Anyway, just for Sue, here’s this week totally non-foodie selection.

1. Golden Leaves. Many of the trees are still green, but there are also a lot of wonderful golden-yellow autumnal colours as well.
2. Clear Dental Check-up. We had our twice yearly dental check-ups this week. And we both got away with nothing needing doing — though we had to run the gauntlet of the hygienist as well.

   

3. Vintage Cars. Yesterday was our quarterly Anthony Powell Society London pub meet (always enjoyable) and one of the nice things about going into central London this day is that there are often vintage cars driving around getting ready for the London to Brighton run the following day. Although there weren’t many around yesterday I did see the one above receiving some attention near Lancaster Gate, having just been pushed out of the traffic. I managed a quick squint at the engine as we passed, and the cylinder block was tiny — little more than half the size of a shoebox.
4. Sunshine. When we see it, as we did a couple of times this week, I always feel much better.
5. Top Hat. I bought a top hat this week. You know, the way one does. It isn’t really for wearing but more to provide a fun hat to be passed round at AP Soc. gatherings.

Week 50 of the experiment, and just ten weeks to go documenting five things each week which have made me happy of for which I’m grateful. This week we have … Oh God, it’s going to be a foodie week again!

1. Pickled Onions. I don’t eat pickled onions for months at a stretch, and then I decide I want them, which is what happened this week. Why I don’t eat them all the time I don’t know, ‘cos I always really enjoy them. Unless you’re going to the fiddler of doing your own (which I used to) then Garner’s are the best available by a long way.
2. Lime & Chilli Prawns. This was the last thing I did before collapsing with the after-effects of the ‘flu jab. King prawns, with the juice and zest of a couple of limes, a chilli, some onion, garlic, tomato and mushroom; sautéed and served with pasta, à la mode d’ici.
3. Queen Wasps. Just as blogged earlier in the week. And I can confirm they are indeed Vespula vulgaris as I suspected.
4. Chillies. The chilli crop is nearing the end; there are just a handful left to ripen and the flowers have almost ceased. Even the prolific tiny red Explosive Ember are petering out. But earlier this week I picked a magnificent collection of about 10 each of the large yellow Scotch Bonnet Yellow Mushroom and Hot Lemon.
5. Thicker Duvet. It’s got noticeably colder this week — and you know it’s cold when I say it is because I’m normally a warm mortal. Although I’m not sure we really need it yet it is nice to snuggle under the heavier weight duvet. The cats like it too!