At week 48 we’re now 80% of the way through my 60 week experiment documenting each week five things which have made me happy of for which I’m grateful.

Yet again it’s been a busy week, but a week crammed full of good things, so here are my top five picks fro the week …

1. Lunch with Friends. All this really isn’t good for my waistline or my blood sugar levels. Twice this week we’re had lunch with friends. First on Monday we had one of our 3-ish times a year get-togethers with a few former colleagues. Then on Thursday we were in Norwich (again) to see my mother whose birthday was on Friday and we again had a superb gastro-pub lunch with a friend. All most enjoyable.
2. Smoked Chicken. I think it must have been Wednesday evening we had smoked chicken breasts with salad. The Rannock Smoked Chicken comes from Waitrose. Surprisingly isn’t any more expensive than the regular stuff, but a whole lot nicer. In fact it’s so good we always keep a couple in the fridge.
3. Online Shop. At last, after weeks of work an d endless head-scratching, I managed top get the Anthony Powell Society online shop up and live. It’s been a lot of work, not because it is inherently difficult but there was a lot of it and there was a coding bug I just could not find — but which I did find on the third minute read-through of the code. And it is already proving it value with a number of unexpected orders flowing in.

   

4. Sunday Lie-in. With such a busy week we’ve had a number of early starts and I haven’t been sleeping well. How lovely then to not only sleep pretty well last night but also sleep late. I know I came to a couple of times in the night (that’s normal for me) but I didn’t even begin to surface properly until almost 9 this morning, and didn’t manage a vertical position until 10. All done naturally, without alarms etc., so I felt rested and relaxed (so relaxed I’ve done nothing much today).
5. Roast Beef. One of the two major things I’ve done today is our roast beef dinner. A melt-in-the-mouth double rib of beef, nicely rare (actually a bit too rare for Noreen — sorry!) with jacket potatoes, and steamed cabbage, broad beans and fennel. Roasting beef never was one of my strong suits, but hopefully I now have it sorted, although I still can’t be bothered with the faff of doing Yorkshire puddings.

Well her we are at week 47 in my experiment documenting each week five things which have made me happy of for which I’m grateful.

And what a week! I’ve not had time to turn round this week and the next two don’t look any better; I’m feeling seriously stressed and lacking “me time”. But it serves me right for volunteering!

So anyway, to my five things. This week I give you …

1. Family Reunions. On Monday I met up with my father’s three half-sisters. The eldest I have met once before when I was 10 and she was 18. The younger two (both within a year of my age) I had never met. My grandfather’s illicit liaison, which started during the war, ended up splitting the family as my father was always seen by his brother & sister to be on grandfather’s side against grandmother, and grandmother wouldn’t give grandfather a divorce. Frankly my father was trying to be fair to everyone (even if somewhat heavy-handedly) and give his half-sisters a chance in life, especially the younger two who ended up in Barnado’s — after all their predicament wasn’t their fault. Anyway, yet again I’ve managed to put a broken piece of the family back together. My half-aunts were overjoyed as they thought their father’s side of the family was lost to them forever. We spent a great afternoon with them and a couple of my half-cousins, sitting in a London pub just catching up of family things. And here’s the photo to prove it …

   

2. Norwich. It was Noreen’s birthday on Thursday and she chose to spend the day in Norwich. Fine by me as we both love Norwich. We took one of our friends and spent the day revisiting old haunts, and discovering one or two new ones. Then on the way home we dropped in to see my mother briefly. Yes, it was a good day, and even almost dry! Photos on Flickr when I get some time!
3. PayPal. One of the things I’m doing for the literary society is building a decent online shop. And in the process we are trying to move our credit card merchant facility away from the current provider (who are charging us too much) to PayPal. After much to-ing and fro-ing PayPal finally accepted us this week! Now I just have to get the shop pages to work properly!
4. Pork & Apple. See here.
5. Sunshine. After a dismal start to the week we’ve had several sunny days and i even managed to spend an afternoon in the garden — actually repotting houseplants. Lovely crisp sunny autumn days!

Welcome to week 46 in my experiment documenting each week five things which have made me happy of for which I’m grateful. Why is it that some weeks I really struggle to find anything much which has stood out from the crowd, and other weeks it seems everything has been special. I do try to keep a quick memory jogger of special things as the week goes along; some weeks I get to Friday and already have a list of 12 items; but in weeks like this one by Friday I have just one thing on the list. I guess it’s called “life”, which is probably why I don’t understand it! Anyway here’s some sort of list for this week.

1. Apples. As befits this time of year this has been an apple week. I love apples when they are crisp and crunchy and juicy — but they have to be fresh and in season.
   First of all at the beginning of the week one of our friends brought us a big bag of Bramley cooking apples (below left) from a tree in one of his friends’ gardens. It seems that near us Bramleys are about the only apples that have produced any sort of crop this year; our tree has produced about half a dozen small scabby specimens due to the appalling weather in the Spring.
   Secondly our weekly Waitrose trip turned up some English apples varieties. We indulged in some Blenheim Orange (below right) — sharp, tart, almost cooking apples — and some large under-ripe Cox’s — juicy, sharp but slightly sweet, just as they should be; I can’t abide all this over-ripe pappy stuff!.

2. Haircut. Remember how when you were a kid you hated having to go for a haircut? Well certainly all the young lads I’ve ever known have hated the barber. Earlier in the week I went for a (several weeks overdue) haircut. I quite enjoy seeing Mr Clive, my barber; he’s a cheerful sort, it is good to set the world to rights and you occasionally get interesting snippets of local gossip.
3. £10 off at Waitrose. For some reason best known to themselves Waitrose have sent me a couple of vouchers for £10 off my shopping (as long as I spend £100; easy on a weekly shop). One for use now and another for later in October. I don’t mind if I do! Thank you!
4. Mince Pies. ‘Tis the season of impending Christmas and there are now mince pies in the supermarkets. They seem to be cropping early this year. I will likely have eaten a regiment’s worth of them by the time we get to New Year!
5. Chillies. My chillies continue. We’ve already had a good crop of the yellow “Hot Lemon” and the tiny red “Explosive Ember” (which I leave to dry and use as crushed chilli through the winter). And this week we have the first two ripe Scotch Bonnet type, a variety called “Yellow Mushroom” — stingingly hot in curry! And there are more of all yet to ripen, although the supply of flowers is drying up now it’s got a bit cooler. Next year I think I might grow just the “Hot Lemon”; they’re definitely the favourites; the Scotch Bonnets never do hugely well (they prefer more heat and light than even my study windowsill can provide) and I don’t need more small chillies as we have a goodly supply of dried chilli in the cupboard.

Week 45 (just 15 to go) in my experiment documenting each week five things which have made me happy of for which I’m grateful — and it’s been another strange week where I’ve totally lost all notion of what day it is. Anyway here’s my choice for the week.

1. Eton. On Monday I had to go to a meeting at Eton College. I always enjoy going to Eton, it is such a civilised place even if one does feel somewhat out of one’s depth. The school itself rambles across a large area, which isn’t surprising as it has to house, teach and entertain over 1200 boys. It includes some wonderful architecture — the old College buildings; the early 16th century Lupton’s Tower and the 15th century chapel are just a delight. What’s also nice is that the town still has something approaching an old-fashioned high street of small shops (many in late Regency properties) although sadly they are now more tourist orientated than domestic. One thing I noticed on this visit was that the whole place was adorned with huge hanging baskets of red, white and blue flowers; the white was a petunia (actually blushed with mauve) which had a delightful scent of jasmine. Somehow Eton always seems so much more friendly and inviting than Harrow.

   

2. Sunshine. Yes we actually saw the sun a few times this week! Yesterday (Saturday) was so glorious, even if not hugely warm, it was a shame not to be out in the garden.
3. Beef Curry. Just for Sue I have to include something about food; and we’ve had so much good food this week. Should I mention Friday’s pan-fried lamb with whisky? Or yesterday’s most excellent sausages with linguine in a spicy tomato sauce? No I think I shall mention Tuesday’s beef curry. Yummy beef having been marinaded all day in curry spices, garlic, ginger, lemon juice and gin; cooked with spinach and served with Noreen’s very lemony rice.
4. Orchids. My orchids just go on and on. The first ones in flower have now finished and the later ones are following on behind. But on Friday I succumbed to another: a pretty pale yellow slightly blushed with pink, very like the one on the right — a colour-way I’ve not seen before. And I have two (one mine; one my mother’s) which are already growing flowing spikes again. These plants are mad!
5. Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. We are especially enjoying Italian wines at the moment; the reds especially seem much richer and fuller than the French, and I think one is getting much better quality wine for the same money. We first had this Montepulciano at one of our local Italian restaurants and subsequently found it being sold by Majestic Wine. It is a lovely soft but full-bodied red, just right for accompanying those sausages and pasta. Indeed one could sit and drink it all evening.