Category Archives: personal

memes, music, personal

Ten Albums

A friend over on Facebook has been tasked with choosing ten albums that greatly influenced his taste in music; one a day for ten days; no explanation; no reviews; just album covers.

I’ve been meaning to do this myself for quite a while, so I thought I’d play along, but as always I’ll eviscerate the rules: I’m posting them all at once and here, rather than on Facebook.

So here are my ten albums – well no, actually some are just works (large or small) as there’s a large representation of classical as opposed to pop. They’re here all at once, in no particular order. Oh, and only one item per group or composer.

Monteverdi; 1610 Vespers
(John Eliot Gardner)
Byrd; Gradualia
(broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in 1970s)
Carl Orff; Carmina Burana
(André Previn)
Beatles; Abbey Road
Bach; Toccata & Fugue in D Minor
(Peter Hurford)
Pink Floyd; Dark Side of the Moon
Caravan; Land of Grey & Pink
Louis-Claude d’Aquin; Noël Étranger
(Noël VIII) (Michel Chapuis)
Yes; Close to the Edge
Handel; Messiah
(this is the score of the Prout edition we sang in the school choir)

I’m not nominating people to pick up the thread, but do join in if you wish.

memes, personal

Unblogged October

Sun 1 Good grief, we’re 3/4 of the way through the year! Although it’s quite warm, it’s getting dark and dreary – the dismals (ie. SAD) are beginning to get me. Arrggghhhh!!!!!
Mon 2 It’s time to think about Christmas cards. As some here will know for the last 20 years we’ve had our own cards printed, as large postcards, often using one of my photos. We’re investigating something different this year; if it works it’ll still be a postcard but of some collage. We’re experimenting.
And as I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, postcards work extremely well. Printed in bulk they’re cheaper than cards, they avoid all the faff of envelopes, and they hinder the writing of “family letters”.
Tue 3 A few days ago, when watering the plants on the study windowsill, I managed to water the scanner – rather more than I thought. In consequence it had some significant water ingress and despite mopping it out there was obviously water damage to the electrics as the scans didn’t properly. So buy a new scanner, which arrived today. It’s cheap and cheerful; not yet convinced about the quality of the scans, but it’ll do for a while.
Wed 4 N’s birthday. We went to dinner wih a long-time friend, and very pleasant it was – made better by it being our first social outing in in seems like forever.
Thu 5 Late abed last night, so had the luxury of a lie-in (well more like a good sleep-in) this morning. Consequently not much got done, except we did manage to audit the freezer – and just as well because the running log was 50% wrong!
Fri 6 How can the supermarket so comprehensively bugger up our delivery. 75% of what we ordered was just shown as unavailable. Of what we did get (ie. not a lot) we got milk which we hadn’t ordered, and double rations of two varieties of cat food. Central Customer Services didn’t know what had happened and had no reports of anything – but did help by creating a repeat order for tomorrow. Customer Services at the Fulfilment Centre rang me later on, but she still didn’t know what had happened and was demanding the warehouse find out – we both suspected a computer glitch. But everyone was duly apologetic and agreed it really shouldn’t have happened under any circumstances and we’d none of us seen anything like it before. Luckily, having worked so long in IT, I understand that these things can occasionally happen.
Sat 7 Fortunately today’s repeat supermarket delivery was fine, barring the expected odd couple of items unavailable. So a great cook-a-thon happened this afternoon – using all the old apples and tomatoes (not together), as well as making mincemeat & apple tart and a sausage and veg traybake for dinner.
Sun 8 At last the Jerusalem Artichokes have got a good display of small yellow sunflower-ish blooms. They’re only about 10cm across, but rather pretty. This isn’t surprising as they are very closely related to sunflowers; they’re all Helianthus spp.Jerusalem artichoke flowers
Mon 9 Having casseroled all the surplus tomatoes on Saturday, today they were turned into tomato & bean soup. Tomatoes pushed through the Mouli; onion & garlic sweated in butter; add the tomato, various seasonings & herbs, and a tin of blackeye beans. A substantial evening repast with some added grated cheddar and hunks of bread.
Tue 10 02:45. Fox barking out in the street. Can’t see it, but it sounds as if it’s a short way away. Actually I’m not sure there aren’t two – one in each direction. Probably territorial; it’s a bit early for fucking season.
Wed 11 Decided that my dermatology appointment scheduled for tomorrow would be a complete waste of time – it’s only a follow-up from January and there’s nothing worth looking at. So I cancelled it.
Thu 12 There’s something odd in the air round here at the moment. A couple of evenings ago one of the local pubs was burned out. It created absolute chaos at the time as it’s on a busy main road – and of course there was the usual crowd of sightseers. It’ll be interesting to see the conclusions of the fire investigation.
Then yesterday a family of beavers (2 adults, 3 kits) were released into an enclosure by the canal, about a mile away. Even the Mayor of London turned up! Said beavers are supposed to be re-engineering the water/marsh there, but I don’t see that there’s enough tree habitat for them. I hope I’m wrong, but I’ll give them 3-4 months before some thug has either culled them, or they have to be rehomed.
Fri 13 Our Christmas cards have arrived. They’ve turned out better than I expected. But you’ll have to wait to see them.
Sat 14 After a summer hiatus, another excellent literary society online talk, hosted by yours truly. We’re getting too good at this.
Sun 15 Why doesn’t it get any better? There’s always so much to do, and however hard you work you never seem to make any progress or reduce the length of the to do list. It’s almost always a case of you really need to do A urgently, but before you can do that you have to do B, and that needs C and D doing – but D can’t be completed until A is done! Arrggghhhh!
Mon 16 Oh bugger! Woke up this morning with a headache and dizziness – so much so that I was slightly queasy. That scuppered accompanying N to her hospital specialist appointment. Bloody labyrinthitis.
Tue 17 Rinse and repeat – although some of the soapiness has been washed out.
Wed 18 It’s raining. How unusual! The Rosie Cat has just come in and she’s sparkling in the light from tiny water droplets in her fur, almost as if the kids have sprinkled her with glitter. Really a rather fetching look!
Thu 19 Oh God! It’s crap IT month. First a dead scanner. Then a dead printer. And today my PC won’t start. No time to try to find out what’s happening, so I have to try to do everything from the laptop, plus the backups (on the server) which, of course, didn’t run last night. I don’t need this!
Fri 20 What a nightmare week. I feel completely shell-shocked. I’d like to say I’ll have a quiet weekend, but if nothing else I need to investigate what ails the PC. First I have to extract the tin box from its corner. Lucky I had the laptop pretty much ready to roll – although I keep having to drag files off the backup server and install odd bits of software, so everything is taking extra time. But we’re getting there.
Sat 21 Result! After lunch I bit the bullet and attached my wounded PC. It was refusing to boot; clearly not picking up the boot drive. Ensure everything inside is firmly plugged; and it has power OK. Swap the two drives to see if the cables are dead; or maybe the boot disk. Nope. Nothing. So I wonder if the power cable is dead; try plugging into a different socket on the power distribution. Yes! Everything works. So clearly one channel in the PC’s power supply has died; but (for now at least) the rest are OK. And we’re back in business! Job done in an hour, including recovering the updated files from my laptop. Phew!
Sun 22 After all that rain and gloom the second half of the night was clear – at least it was crystal clear at 06:30 with Saturn shining really brightly in the western sky. It was, however still overcast at midnight, so we missed the display of Orionid meteors.
Mon 23 What happened!? I actually managed to pick up a project rewriting web material for the literary society I’d not touched for over a year, and which should have been done ages ago. That was after I’d spent ages on IT support for the society.
Tue 24 Spent half the day looking at new laptops for N and maybe a new PC for me. More money! We’re having an expensive month. Luckily we have the money – but not for long at this rate.
Wed 25 Wasted so much of the day, again, looking at laptops and PCs. Nothing much usefully achieved other than the grocery order.
Thu 26 So finally I managed to get our new PCs on order. Laptop for N, and a new high-spec PC for me.
After this I discovered that somewhere in the IT chaos I’d lost the records for half a dozen new members from the literary society membership database. So that wasted a good hour putting it right.
Fri 27 Things are definitely weird round here. I’ve never been one for dreaming a lot; I could go weeks or even months without being aware of a good dream. But recently – say the last month – that I’ve been dreaming much more than usual. Well at least much more than I am normally aware of. And it seems to be mostly before waking in the morning rather than the middle of the night. I’m not one for recording dreams, trying to store them in memory, or trying lucid dreaming, so I don’t have much of a handle on what these recent dreams contain. I just have this vague memory that they’ve all involved some bizarre synthesis of school, university and my former work – pick any two, or even all three. I cannot explain why this is happening. There’s no obvious trigger: no change of medication; I get really good scores from my CPAP machine; I don’t watch horror movies or read horror stories; I don’t eat late at night. But there must be something triggering it. It’s very odd.
Sat 28 All children should be microchipped at birth. Discuss over dinner. Well we do it for our cats, dogs, horses etc., so why not our kids?
And the rest of us can get a catch-up chip with our flu jab or the like.
Sun 29 Evening meal: Roast chicken thighs with pork stuffing, with bubble-and-squeak du maison; followed by apple & mincemeat crumble & cream. And a bottle of very nice Greek white wine.
Mon 30 It’s no bloody wonder the counrty’s in a mess. You book the guys to come and take away a pile of rubbish. Yes, they say, we’ll be there between 13:00 and 16:00. Are they? Not a chance. It’s now 19:40 and pitch dark, and they’re now supposed to be here in the next 10 minutes. Ah, door bell; they arrived as I typed at 19:45. One lad; but very efficient; here and gone in 20 minutes. Job done, apart from some sweeping up to do in daylight. Phew!
Tue 31 Is it my back? Or my bowel? Or my bladder? I can’t work it out, but it’s bloody uncomfortable. I foresee another trip to the doctors. One is not amused.
amusements, memes, personal

Unblogged September

Thirty things what happened during the month but which I didn’t write about elsewhere.

Fri 1 At last. The insurance has decided they’re going to cough up for Boy’s expensive vet visits. Of course, that’s all except the £140 excess. I have to admit to being surprised: we changed insurers earlier this year from PetPlan (ouchily expensive) to John Lewis (acceptably cheaper) for apparently the same cover. I thought they’d look at Boy’s history and decide what he had was a pre-existing condition and not covered; but clearly not. Now we just need the money in the bank account.
Sat 2 The blue tits are back. I’ve not seen a (feathered) tit in weeks and weeks. But lunchtime today there was one pecking industriously at the peanut feeder outside the dining room window; and another flitting about.
Sun 3 ‘Twas the day to retrieve the wasp traps from season 2 of Big Wasp Survey. And we have … a null result. I do wonder if this season is actually too early; wasps are still around but still seem to be hunting prey rather than sugar. Suggested to Big Wasp Survey that we maybe need to run session 2 a couple of weeks later. So, in part as a test, I put out another 2 traps for this week, which will still count for the survey.
Mon 4 Why does mouthwash have to taste so vile?
Tue 5 Woke up with a cracking headache having had a bad night. Why always before a busy day? So rearranged this morning’s optician’s apointment for next week. Went back to bed for a couple of hours dozing and felt much better.
Wed 6 Bloody hell it’s hot. I’ve been sitting here all day, with the windows wide open, absolutely dripping wet – might as well have been in a sauna. Actually it’s not the heat that’s the problem, it’s the humidity making everything close and sticky. We need a good thunderstorm, but it doesn’t look like we’re going to get one.
Thu 7 Harvested the first of this year’s chilli crop. So far just one small red scotch bonnet from the one remaining of last year’s plants. But something over a dozen yellow ones. There are a few more coming – maybe another 10 – but I don’t think we’re going to have a bumper harvest this year. Not that this matters as we still have a large bag of last year’s chillies in the freezer.Chillies
Fri 8 44 years ago today it was a lovely bright, sunny, warm late summer day; just glorious as early September usually is … and just right for our wedding at St Peter’s, Acton Green. That day was so nice we both walked the 400m round the corner to church. Today we’re melting because for the fifth day in a row the temperature has topped 30°C. How did any of that happen? We still don’t know how we got here!
Sat 9 We’re melting – again! For the sixth day in a row the temperature has topped 30°C despite the fact that autumn must be here. The lovely Gleditsia tree outside our house has it’s first autumn coloured leaves. It’s always the first to change colour: to a glorious golden yellow. Within a week or two it will be completely golden. It’s amazing how it does so well as it is one of the last trees into leaf and the first to change in autumn. But well it does; it grows 30-50cm a year!
Sun 10 Another disappointing null result from the wasp traps this week. There are still wasps around, but I guess it is too hot for them to be winding down yet.
In fact it’s so hot one feels dopy in the head, incapable of movement and not needing much to eat. The seventh day of getting to 30°C, although it did cool a bit during the afternoon and there was a bit of drizzle.
Mon 11 What’s happened? What day is it? I’ve totally lost track. I’m completely in limbo. Turning into a zombie. Totally disengaged. Completely anaesthetised. Probably a combination of stress and depression.
Tue 12 This morning, Tilly cat decided it was time to keep the printer in its place. Who would ever think she was 10 earlier in the summer.Cat on printer
Wed 13 This morning happened my much delayed repeat eye test, with the head guy at my opticians. We’re both slightly puzzled but he could see some possible explanations for the aberration of the new left lens which is totally out of focus. After a very detailed test he’s tweaked my prescription, including reinstating the removed astigmatism correction, and is remaking the glasses (thankfully at their cost!). What I’d never realised before is the extent to which eyes can vary even during a test (as mine clearly were), and the possible slight variation of test results between different optometrists. The former must in part be due to the extent to which one’s eyes are watering etc.; and I guess the latter is partly down to the subjective way in which they do the tests and the dependence on the patient’s responses. Fingers crossed that it’s all OK this time.
Thu 14 Trip to the hospital for an audiology appointment this morning. In and out before my appointment time. Waiting outside afterwards to be picked up, I stopped to photograph a couple of pretty flowers.Hospital FlowersHospital girl
Fri 15 Feeling stressed. Too much happening. Not looking forward to tomorrow. Not my monkey but too much to go wrong.
Sat 16 Bugger. We both got up feeling Meh! N worse than me and queasy. Neither of us felt up to travelling, so sadly we had to miss the unveiling of the plaque to AP on his house in Chester Gate (report here). Not pleased. And continued to feel rubbish all day; if no better tomorrow we’ll have to test for the plague.
Sun 17 Rain! Right on cue at 13:30. And dear God it was dark – it could have been a December afternoon.
Mon 18 Thunder and lightening, not very frightening – to paraphrase Queen. Even though it was at 01:00. Again as predicted. But it was a fitting opening to a very crap Monday, although we did get our Covid jabs booked for later in the week.
Tue 19 In a few days over 6 months I’ve now passed 50 Postcrossing cards received as well as 50 sent and arrived – with another eight still travelling. In round numbers that’s two in and two out a week. The quality of the cards received and the messages on them is very variable, but that isn’t the point – it’s more about communication and enjoyment. Most cards have been to or from Germany, followed by the US – but only one sent and one received from the Southern Hemisphere (Indonesia and Australia respectively). Otherwise a spread across Europe, Asia (including China & Russia) and North America. So far complete blanks for Africa and South America. Here are cards 1-50 on our corkboard.Postcrossing cards 1 to 50
Wed 20 Off to see the wizard … well to get a Covid jab. Bookings opened on Monday and, having been tipped off by our neighbour over the road, we were able to book our jabs (and she hers) at the same time and the same pharmacy. So we all went together in the same minicab. The other two also had their flu jabs, but I declined as it always knocks me out for a day or two and I can’t afford that this week. All very efficient and quick (which is why we chose that pharmacy a couple of miles away); we were all 3 in and out in under 20 minutes. I subsequently booked my flu jab at the doctors for next week.
Thu 21 It’s an ill wind … The boiler man cometh. Oh no, the boiler man cometh not. Apparently he’s managed to hurt his head this morning so has had to cancel. Luckily all we need is the annual service. At least it took the pressure off the day.
Fri 22 Another small crop of chillies today. Two small red scotch bonnets, a couple of large yellow Jalapeno-like, and three slender hot lemon. Some will be used right soon; the others will go in the freezer. Only another 3 or 4 obviously on the way, but there may be some small ones; and also not a lot of flower now. Mind the plants screen about half the study window; they’re a good curtain!Chillies
Sat 23 It’s all right innit when the cat gets a 3 course meal and you only have 2 courses! All three cats had cod for their tea (an occasional treat) followed by some titbits of lamb from our roast. Tilly then had a third course of half a teaspoon of cream – she’s a grazer and eats only small amounts at a time, but wants a regular supply; the other two just eat. We had roast lamb with jacket potatoes and steamed mixed veg; followed by some nectarines.
Sun 24 I still do not understand why things are so knackering. Spent a good chunk of the day sitting at the desk doing mailing etc. for the literary society. And a couple of hours writing blog material, plus keeping an eye on the gardener, and trying to catch up on things which weren’t done during the week and should have been because more urgent stuff intervened. Exhausted by dinner time.
Mon 25 Collected my new glasses, and they’re fine. Everything is just that little bit sharper, and I’d adjusted to them even before I left the opticians. Result – at last.
Outside the opticians there’s this crazy 2 foot length of double yellow lines.Silly double yellow lines
Tue 26 Today in 1969 (when I was just about to go to university) saw the release of one of the great albums of all time: The Beatles, Abbey Road. The studios and “that zebra crossing” in Abbey Road, NW1 still draw crowds of tourists despite being nothing special.
Wed 27 Flu jab day. Lovely nurse at the doctors as efficient as ever. Why do they put a silly little round plasters over the injection site? There and back in under 30 minutes. I await the after effects.
Thu 28 Not a lot got done today ‘cos I felt “meh” and out of sorts yesterday afternoon and today; beginning to clear a bit by teatime. Probably the effect of the flu jab, which has otherwise just given me a slightly sore arm. Hopeful that with a decent night’s sleep I’ll be OK tomorrow.
Fri 29 Oh FFS! It’s the depression again! Unable to do anything useful, let alone think. It’s well past time for a new head and a new body.
Sat 30 Cometh the gardener, and it’s apple picking day. Just a dozen from the small Falstaff tree but nothing from Pinova – although we’ve already had a couple from each. So only a small crop, but worthwhile nonetheless.Apple crop
memes, personal

Unblogged August

Tue 1 Why do banks have to make internet banking so byzantine? Liberating a small amount today from a savings account into daylight, took two transfers (via an intermediate account), and I lost count of how many authorisations, texted security codes etc. Even then it will still take overnight to be rescued.
Wed 2 Boy Cat to the vet for repeat x-rays. Sounds like they’re clear. More ouch of the wallet though; hope the insurance coughs up.
Thu 3 Joyful annual trip to the opticians – they’re always a helpful and friendly bunch. Eyesight (mainly distance vision) has improved a bit, as it tends to with ageing – and improved enough that new glasses are advised, which I was going to do anyway. But yet more ouch of the wallet: almost £1000 for specs, and that’s after a 20% discount: good rimless frames are not cheap (there’s no room for any error as they have to be drilled) and neither are varifocals; Nikon have stopped the lenses I had in favour of their more expensive ones; and the various coatings have also been “improved” at a cost – all round that’s £300 more than last year. But blimey, £3 a day to be able to see!
Fri 4 Yet again, I’ve been convinced since lunchtime that it’s Saturday. Why I just cannot fathom.
Sat 5 Dear God! What a dismal day all round. Not very warm. Peeing with rain all day. Stygian darkness, so we have to have the lights on in the middle of the day in August! And we’re both feeling meh – in N’s case due to poor sleep; dunno why for me. Gawdelpus!
Sun 6 Today’s the day for putting out the wasp traps for week 1 of this year’s Big Wasp Survey (now in its 7th year). As usual I have 2 traps, one up near the house, the other by the pond. They’re made from the usual plastic water bottles and spiked with a bottle of Newcastle Brown divided between them – I never know what’s the best inducement to use.
Also today I finally managed to get a (not very brilliant) photo of a speckled wood in the garden.Speckled Wood
Mon 7 Comes the gardener, complaining about the lack of Piccadilly line trains on our branch. He did do some gardening, but also fixed the shower door and decreed the dishwasher beyond economic repair. Yet more money going out, this time for a new dishwasher.
Tue 8 Quoth N, on Sunday midday foresooth, “‘Ere there’s three geezers digging up the road outside”. And lo, they were. Electricity board navvies; ripping up a large chunk of the pavement; right outside our house. In the process they’ve chopped into some big roots of our street tree; hopefully it will recover. They appear to have made some major repair to a cable (happily not the one which feeds us). They went away leaving their hole and piles of dirt etc. exposed to the elements and yobbos, and surrounded by virulent green plastic hurdles. It’s all still there today, two days on. I’m contemplating opening a book on how long the hole stays there before it’s filled in. One is irredeemably reminded of Bernard Cribbins.Hole in the ground
Wed 9 An Alice Through the Looking-Glass day: having to run fast to stay in the same place and ever faster to get anywhere.
Thu 10 The hole is no more. Noisy truck and geezers filling it in at 07:30 this morning, and taking away the debris. 10 ton truck parked right in the middle of the road. All we need now is the paviers to put the paving slabs down. Mind the men have left several of their hurdles standing on our neighbour’s paved front – he’ll be wanting to charge them rent; he’s that sort of guy.
Fri 11 Yet again, according to my brain it’s Saturday.
Sat 12 What are these guys on? When ordered, new dishwasher scheduled for delivery today 07:00-17:00. Refined yesterday (as promised to a 2 hour slot: 07:00-09:00. Up at 06:00. Guys ring at 06:14 to say they’ll arrive in the next half hour! New machine installed & old taken away; job done by 06:50. Well we are only 3 miles from their warehouse!
Sun 13 It was really nice sitting in the sun, but out of the worse of the stiff breeze, this afternoon. Just sitting, accompanied by a sun-warmed cat or two.
Mon 14 10 o’clock on an August morning in London, and it’s so gloomy you (again) have to have lights on to be able to see what you’re doing. Mind it doesn’t help when half the study windows are swathed in chilli plants!
Tue 15 Good evening wood pigeon! And your point is?
Wed 16 Yet another of those days with too much to do and then more, even more urgent, piled on top. Consequently quite a bit didn’t get done.
Thu 17 A successful hunt of the 1921 census for relations of my godparents. Well why not? Godmother needed only few details and it seems daft to shell out £200 to look up 4 records, especially when I already have access. One pleased godmother.
PS. My godparents are both younger than me! Yes, really! Work that one out!
Fri 18 I seemed to spend all day in the kitchen. First up the supermarket delivery. Then we had loads of surplus tomatoes (I always buy too many) so they were turned into tomato sauce. A blitz clean. And then cook spaghetti bolognaise (using some of the tomato sauce), which went down well for dinner with a bottle of red (some bolognaise left to freeze). That was followed by summer fruit salad with ice cream and a blackberry sauce I did earlier in the week. We’re both now stuffed and knackered.
Sat 19 A morning spent asleep. An afternoon spent sending Postcrossing postcards.
Sun 20 Having made tomato sauce a couple of days ago, and having 2/3rd left … tonight it was turned into a hearty tomato soup, with 3 leftover small potatoes and a small piece of pork chop from last night plus some fried onion and some mushrooms. Hearty it certainly was, served with grated cheese, hunks of bread and a bottle of Rioja.
Mon 21 Hot baguettes and brie for tea reminded me of one of the things my father (when I would have been in my 20s) liked for tea: hot buttered crumpets, camembert and a couple of glasses of hock. It worked surprisingly well – as did G&T with fish & chips.
Tue 22 I do wish I understood why there are some days (weeks even) when I’m depressed and unable to bootstrap myself to do anything. Most of the last week has been like that; just going through the (minimal) motions. Really no clue why.
Wed 23 Damn. Go to collect my new glasses. I refuse them. Something has gone awry with them. The left lens is useless; everything is totally fuzzy – worse than my (weaker) right eye with no correction. It was like that time when you try on someone else’s glasses and everything is totally out of focus and misty. I know the prescription did change but not that much – I’d expect the usual short (hours?) adjustment period but not a totally fuzzy lens. And the lens is said to be what was ordered. Have to go back for a second eye test in a couple of weeks time. We’ll see what transpires.
Thu 24 Hot and sticky with yet more Windows updates.
Fri 25 Another day, another week, another … something.
Sat 26 Well that’s the first time in a long while we’ve had a decent thunderstorm. It really only lasted half an hour, although odd rumblings continued. But it did include 20 minutes of absolutely cascading rain – real waterfall stuff.
Sun 27 You see these triffids, poking their lighter green heads above the passionflower covering the archway? I can just walk under that archway.Jerusalem artichoke plantsWell they’re Jerusalem Artichoke plants. Here they are from the other side: one set in the middle, one at the left, and another leaning off the right edge.Jerusalem artichoke plantsAs you’ll see, they’re in a raised bed, so the plants are actually about 10 feet (3 meters) tall – maybe a bit more.
We stuck a handful of (past their best) tubers in the ground in the Spring; and they’ve grown like … well … triffids. They’ll die back in the winter and it’ll then be interesting to see what sort of crop we get from them.
When I was a kid we always had a few Jerusalem Artichoke plants; they grew in a small patch of poor soil and still got to six feet. These are in good soil, with regular watering, so no wonder they’ve taken off. And they’re still growing – by rights they should have sunflower-like flowers at the top, but no sign yet.
Mon 28 They say today was a Bank Holiday; essentially the last of the year. But no-one around here seemed to notice or care. It was just another Non-day.
Tue 29 This cat has definitely got the right idea.Boy Cat dozingApart from going out for about half an hour in the middle of the day, he’s been in this state all day. As I write it’s 19:40 and he hasn’t yet even bothered to stir himself to demand tea. Unlike the two girls who’ve taken it in turns all day to tell you they’re starving.
Wed 30 Well who knew that foxes like digestive biscuits? Last evening N put out a plate of remains for the fox: bones and scraps from our lamb chops and a few digestive biscuits we don’t like from a box of biscuits for cheese. She reported that, bar half a biscuit, the plate had been cleared within 2 hours. Now I can believe a cat or two may have salvaged the lamb scraps, but unlikely all the bones or the biscuits. But as I observed, a digestive biscuit isn’t that far removed from a dog biscuit – and I’ve certainly seen of people whose foxes like custard creams. Cheese puffs anyone?
Thu 31 I was watching the squirrels this lunchtime and being impressed by their industry. They were busying themselves burying acorns from our oak tree in a nice friable piece of soil. They were digging for Australia; disappearing up to their shoulders in the hole. Then very deftly, with lots of scrapes and patting down, filling in the hole. Each one took a matter of seconds from start to finish. Busy little tree-rats filling their larder of winter!
amusements, personal

Unblogged July

Sat 1 If you’re like me you find whole roast duck a bit of a pain to carve. So why not joint it before cooking? Remove the legs and wings; cut down the sides to remove the spine, and then cut the crown (breasts plus) down the middle. Roast as normal, but it doesn’t take as long. And you have ready portioned pieces.
Sun 2 No cooking needed today because cold duck salad with ciabatta rolls, and summer pudding. I made the latter on Friday and we started it last night; and there’s still a piece for breakfast tomorrow. God bless whoever invented summer pudding (it seems probably a Victorian).
Mon 3 Decadence: Eating the end of the summer pudding for breakfast; with cream of course.
Tue 4 Last night’s full moon: invisible as usual due to cloud cover. It was a supermoon – appearing extra large due to the moon being at perigee. Known variously as a Buck Moon or Hay Moon (other names also apply) depending on which pagan beliefs you follow. I prefer Hay Moon as it resonates with old farming practice: haymaking in July and grain harvest in August. Modern farming has however moved things by breeding earlier ripening corn, so grain harvest is often now over by mid-July.
Wed 5 Well at long last we got some rain overnight.
Thu 6 You open a can of beer and it goes everywhere. But it was all of a piece with the day. Bah! Humbug!
Fri 7 OK, so it’s expensive, but there’s currently an abundance of summer fruit in the supermarket; and I cannot refrain from partaking. Strawberries; raspberries; nectarines; peaches; gooseberries (two varieties: green and red); blackberries; blackcurrants; cherries. So lots of (alcoholic) fruit salad and delicacies like gooseberry & strawberry crumble. What’s not to like?
Sat 8 Today was what one of my Irish friends would call a nice soft day: warm, but grey, damp in the air, some intermittent light rain. Actually not at all unpleasant.
Sun 9 A good butterfly day; the Buddleia is paying its way. Over lunch we had Comma, Red Admiral, Large White and a small very bright brown/orange something which declined to sit down and be identified but was probably either Meadow Brown or Hedge Brown. Sadly only one of each, but better than nothing. What was interesting was that the red admiral alighted on my (bare) knee of a few seconds; and although it tickled a bit you could feel the extra pressure as it took off. It’s surprising that something that small exerts enough force taking off that one can (just) feel it.
Mon 10 Tea was rather redolent of the Feeding of the Five Thousand. But instead of five loaves and two fishes, we had five buns and twelve sausages; and only two of us. No, we didn’t eat all the sausages; half will be devoured cold tomorrow.
Tue 11 So they do exist! Finally today I saw two swifts in the distance; the first this year and they’re about to leave for Africa again. We had dozens when we came here; now we have effectively none; that’s habitat destruction in action.
And also this afternoon something flew like a bullet across the garden: from the calls before and after it was sparrowhawk.
Wed 12 A day of meetings. Just like being at work.
Thu 13 Morning phone call with dentist-ette. Senior guy thinks my crown should be redone as there’s a large gap; but has stitched her up with doing it, at no charge (as it is new). She and I know there’s little tooth left to fix the crown to; so any work may have undesired consequences. In my world it’s not broken, so don’t fix it. She reluctantly agreed. My risk as if it goes tits up, it’ll cost me. So I get Monday back, and she gets at least 90 minutes to see people who really need it and are paying.
Fri 14 Rain!
Sat 15 What a day!
(1) The Boy Cat is in hospital. The vets don’t know what’s wrong with him, so they’re keeping him in. Why is this always on a weekend or public holiday when you have to go to the 24 hour emergency vets 10 miles away?
(2) Later in the day I hosted an excellent literary society talk.
(3) And the wind has been blowing hard all day: at least force 6, gusting gale force 8.
Sun 16 More rain this evening, but much less wind.
Mon 17 Breezy, but a lovely day – and another excellent butterfly day. Sitting outside for an hour after lunch we had: three Red Admirals, a Peacock, a Comma, a Meadow Brown (I think), two Large Whites, a Hummingbird Hawkmoth, and at least one other I didn’t get to look at closely enough to identify. Plus what I think was a Blackcap singing in the bushes.
Tue 18 The Boy Cat is home. N fetched him this afternoon. He’s much better, but still a bit wobbly. From the x-rays they think there’s some area of problem on his lung; not clear if bacterial, viral or parasite. So he’s on loads of meds and if x-ray isn’t clear in a couple of weeks he has to have further scans. Already major ouch of the credit card so hoping the insurance coughs up.
Wed 19 Oh joy! Yet more meds for the Boy Cat.
Thu 20 Comes the gardener. He cut the hayfield so we now have something approaching a lawn again. And I harvested the couple of dozen stalks of wheat (and 2 or 3 of barley); it’s now hanging up to dry before being threshed.
Fri 21 The gardener when he was here yesterday lifted our potatoes. Nothing startling: we’d just stuck a handful of shooting spuds in a spare space and ignored them knowing anything we got was a bonus. Well we didn’t get a lot, but enough for a meal tonight and a few left to go in curry during the week. But how nice to have real fresh potatoes, with mud on them!
Sat 22 It’s that time of the month again … Last evening: a tiny sliver of crescent moon bright in the sky at sunset. Today: persistent fine rain all day.
Sun 23 Quite a reasonable photo of one of our foxes on the trail camera this week. It’s clearly still moulting, but otherwise looks in good condition – and as inquisitive as ever!Fox
Mon 24 Leftovers risotto for tea: a small piece of cooked steak, cooked peas & beans, cooked onion and tomato, some salad (mostly tomato), and some chicken stock. Essentially all it cost was the Arborio rice, a few flakes of Parmesan and some gas. A considerably more than acceptable free tea.
Tue 25 Boy Cat has his repeat X-rays booked for the middle of next week at our usual vets (the joys of a group practice). This prompted the senior vet to ring up to see how he was. Judging by the noise of altercation with the local alpha male 10 minutes earlier he’s fighting fit – I reckon he’s about 90%.
Wed 26 The weather people need some new, better quality, seaweed because, yet again, there was no rain. There was supposed to be rain for the last few days. Instead of which we’ve had a couple of really nice days with the buddleia awash with bees and butterflies – six red admirals at one time.
Update. No sooner had I written this that the rains came!
Thu 27 I do not understand. Yesterday we were both fine until after late lunch when No got back from the hospital. By mid-afternoon we were both feeling grumpy and out of sorts. Today I woke with a headache and feeling totally wrung out – just as if I’d had only 3 hours sleep; when actually I’d had about 7 hours. N it turned out felt much the same. And it persisted all day; sufficient that, having done nothing all day, I retired to bed early. Why I do not know; such are the mysteries of the cosmos.
Fri 28 Wonderful. You go to do a simple update (like type this entry) only to find that your site won’t load! And there are no clues; it’s guesswork to find the cause.
Sat 29 Something must have happened today, but whatever it was didn’t impinge on my consciousness.
Sun 30 Why is it that a perfectly working, good quality, biro suddenly decides to stop writing on a particular area of the piece of paper? It’ll write OK elsewhere on the page, but not here! And neither will any other biro. If the paper is coated, then it’s coated all over, so that can’t be the explanation. Sometimes it is on ordinary copier/printer paper (on which it works OK 99% of the time); sometimes on postcards or the like. The only logical explanation I can find is that there are tiny, invisible, grease marks (fingerprints?) on the surface.
Mon 31 One of the problems of getting old is that the medical stuff becomes relentless. Today I accompanied N to an appointment with her nephrologist. Last week N had a different appointment at a different hospital. Later this week we both go to the optician; then next week I have an audiology appointment. And that’s without the Boy Cat’s escapades; he has to go to the vet on Wednesday for his repeat x-rays. Rinse and repeat ad nauseam.
amusements, memes, personal

Unblogged June

[All images are clickable for a larger view]

Thu 1 Well that really was a bit of a slog. But we pretty much got there.
Fri 2 #000000;" />Last of the proceeds from the smokery. Smoked duck breast. In salad with lettuce, tomato, asparagus, pine nuts & croutons; served with a lemon & olive oil dressing. Followed by raspberries and cream. Washed down with a bottle of Falanghina. A passable Friday evening repast.Falanghina
Sat 3 Just watched a 10 minute film To Scale: TIME on YouTube demonstrating the age of the universe. And one has to wonder what really is the point, and why do we bother?
Sun 4 What a lovely day. And the gardener came. So the place looks a bit tidier, except for the deliberately unmown lawn which looks like what it is: a scruffy meadow. Pottering in and out and took a few photos.Yellow pond iris…Rose
Mon 5 Oooo … next door’s marmalade cat so nearly got that squirrel – despite looking heavily pregnant.
Tue 6 Mid-afternoon and the garden is awash with juvenile tits, some still being fed by parents. They were going everywhere; continually flitting hither and yon; and little clubs of then in a couple of places just hanging out. Half a dozen Blue Tits and as many Great Tits – and that’s just what I counted; there could well have been twice that. Plus a couple of sparrows joining in.
Wed 7 Somewhere in the house there are three cats. But I’ve no idea where as I’ve hardly seen anything of them all day. Rosie appeared for a share of our lunch – no change there. Tilly and Boy have put in the odd guest appearance but no more. Other days they’ll all three be in and around all day.
Thu 8 I blogged about the roses in our garden, but having walked round today I realised that we have both wheat and barley growing amongst the unmown lawn. Just a couple of ears of barley and a couple of dozen wheat, so not enough to make bread or beer. But they’ll not go to waste; if they don’t feed us they’ll feed the birds or mice. I guess they’re seed that got lost from the bird feeders last autumn.
Fri 9 So why are there feathers on the dining room rug? Which cat is the villain? They’re dark and small, so probably sparrow. But there’s no sign of a corpse.
Sat 10 It’s a wonderful hot sunny day, but sadly annoying on several counts. First I can’t sit outside because of my hayfever, even having had my usual antihistamine my eyes are streaming; guess that’s some part down to the unmown prairie called a lawn. There’s continual noise of someone, somewhere strimming or the like. And of course the neighbours are all sitting outside talking. One in particular never stops; never draws breath; it just the rivers of babble-on.
Sun 11 Bad light stopped play this afternoon, and despite much stomach rumbling in the gods, nobody thought to provide any rain.
Mon 12 Another hot and sticky day; lots of thunder in the afternoon and about 30 minutes light rain. And for once nothing in the schedule which had to be done – not that this stopped the day going tits up fairly early on.
Tue 13 A new book available from the literary society. So I spend all afternoon consolidating payments, packing and posting. It’s a thankless job, made worse when Royal Mail’s online postage system doesn’t work properly.
Wed 14 It’s uncomfortably hot, even for me. So I spend the day indoors without clothing (not unusual). Can’t sit outside as the pollen gets my hayfever going withing minutes – itchy, watering eyes mostly, despite daily antihistamine and regular eyedrops. Very annoying, especially as I’ve had hayfever since I was about 6 years old.
Thu 15 The gardener comes this morning. Oh! No, the gardener comes after lunch. I see … The gardener comes not; he’s tied up sorting some leaky plumbing for another customer. I wonder if Saturday will bring more luck?
Fri 16 Phew! What a day. Who would think that a trip to the hospital to get new hearing aids would be so tiring? OK, so it was a hot day; but audiology appointmnets aren’t invasive or threatening, they’re actually quite benign. It’s all the hassle around it that’s so draining: from middle of the night hypos, to early supermarket deliveries and getting taxis. But we won!
Sat 17 The gardener actually got here this afternoon and did some planting and tidying. At he same time we spent a nice few hours outside as well, doing some potting, fixing the watering system, and getting some sun (but not sunburn!). Sent the gardener away happy with a couple of chilli plants and some homegrown coleus.
Sun 18 Weatherman speak with forked tongue, again. Instead of thundery showers, we managed just 30 minutes desultory drizzle, which is no good at all for the garden.
Mon 19 A day marking time; no physical or mental go.
Tue 20 Today is Tuesday 20 June 2023, and that’s not something you can say every day.
Wed 21 Day 3. Hill. Jelly. Treacle. Toothpicks. Rinse and repeat. Why are washing machines so endlessly boring?
Thu 22 Last evening there was a lovely crescent moon (apparently 14% illuminated) and Venus in the western sky just after sunset (like my sketch below). More please!Moon & Venus
Fri 23 How is it that a friend you knew as a teenager when you were newly married is now celebrating their 60th? Even if I accept that I’m a geriatric, the friend in question certainly isn’t 60 already. Tempus fugit velociter.
Sat 24 Sad to be missing the friend’s 60th birthday bash – and her younger son’s 21st too – but N and I still don’t feel comfortable and safe in large indoor gatherings. And although it’s only been 28°C today, with the humidity thrown in, it is just too hot to get dressed up.
Sun 25 Shortly after 06:00 this morning our resident fox was still on the prowl. And right up by the trail camera so we got a good shot of the top half as he/she was so close. We’ve had this fox around all year, and I think it may be the only one we now have; at most we have two; whereas we did have at least three individuals (although they’re difficult to differentiate from poor night-time trail camera images). And boy are they a good disposal system: put out a plate of scraps (chicken carcass, cold baked potato, disliked digestive biscuits, lamb bones) and it all magically disappears during the night.Fox
Mon 26 I’ve been saying for some time that I’d revamp the Anthony Powell London tour I originally did as part of the 2011 conference. I started on the rewrite a couple of months ago and put it down, as one does. Today was the day to find all the ends and tuck them in. Several hours later and the tour notes are done, complete with street-by-street navigation. At 20 pages this version is twice the size of the previous one, and is definitely not a coach tour as it includes places you’d not want to try to get a 50 seater coach! The notes have been sent off to my friendly local black cabbie (who does lots of tours of London) for comment. It’ll be interesting to see what I’ve got wrong!
Tue 27 Technology. When it works it can be a real benefit and a time saver. When, all too frequently, it doesn’t work it’s a complete PITA and wastes so much time. Spent and unhappy afternoon fighting with Royal Mail’s on line system and, separately, the phone system. I think I won the former but definitely didn’t win the latter. Came away feeling totally smacked.
Wed 28 So in the end we did something we’ve not done since the before times and ordered in pizza.
Thu 29 Still at least I didn’t drown in the shower. Had I done so it would have been all of a piece with the rest of the day.
Fri 30 On a wonderfully damp evening I’ll leave you with something cheerful: the flowers on our recently acquired scented geraniums.Pink geranium flowers