Yawn Yawn Wakey Wakey 2025

Morning all.
@Goldenlily26 ,your jar situation reminded me of the time we decided to chuck out some spare stair carpet which had been hanging about in the garage rafters for years. You can almost it, can’t you, that within three weeks after disposal, I proceeded to empty a can of white paint all over one step.( when painting the stairs) Carpet doctor couldn’t get it out so the hunt began all over again for the same carpet. It’s always the same when things get thrown away.In hindsight it’s laughable but at the time it was grrrrrr.

 

Morning. Autumn is upon us. A change of bedding will be required at the van, along with fleeces and coats for the dogs.
Hang on, I hear you say
Spaniels don't need coats.
But 3 wet dogs in a caravan? Oh yes they do!
We were on the phone to hub's sister who lives in your neck of the woods @Ladybird4 and she was describing the lightning.
Probably nothing will get done outside tomorrow, but I will clear the greenhouse and start assembling the new raised bed for the strawberries.
I also want to make Dower house chutney.
I forsee a busy week.

 

It seems autumn is just teasing us at the mo as the heavy rain and strong winds they forecast have disappeared to leave us cool and grey in the low 20s and maybe a dribble here and there but we have 30C forecast for Friday. As ever, we'll see.

Our dogs had raincoats for Belgium @Penny_Forthem tho Bonzo Lab hated his but absolutely loved a cold shower form the hosepipe and then a good rub down with the doggy towels to get him dry. Rasta, being a woolly bear, always osmosed muck and mud up her legs so also had to have the shower and rub down which she enjoyed but hated the footbath part to get her toes and pads clean.

I've had to look up Dowerhouse chutney. Sounds delish ut other than mango chutney and lime pickle with curries we rarely eat chutney. I've probably still got damson chutney in the cupboard so will have to have a sort out when OH isn't looking and I can bin stuff. I like making jam but we rarely eat that either.

Good luck with that letter @lizzie27 and well done for braving the students.

Hope all coffee mornings and celebrations go well.

Happy Sunday everyone.

 

Hello all, my, you are all so busy with your chutneys etc. I used to make fig chutney but sadly had to get rid of the tree as it was huge and the roots had grown into the drainaige pipes and broken them.
@Busy-Lizzie you can still get a covid jab in France, no problem, just go on Doctolib and take make a RDV at the pharmacy, I had one in June.
OH is pressing on with the tile laying now that the weather seems to have settled again, due to be high twenties at the end of the week.
Plenty of Swallows flying about getting ready for their long journey, also the Pied Fly catchers are here on their migration journey, my excuse for watching them is my bad shoulder!

 

Good afternoon to you all!!

Lovely day finally here with 27°C. Overcast and cool on my bike/run with Fizz this morning (much to our delight)!! Gone is that oppressing heat. The nights are still fairly humid.

My friend who lives in Montpellier was a dog handler with the French Air Force @Penny_Forthem Fizz adores him - must be that authoritative gait!! I could murder a decent meat pie bought from the home bakery. They don't do them here ...nor doughnuts with a bit of jam and cream in the middle!!

The French seem to be aware that Covid is still around and testing and tests are available. @AuntyRach Before any medical manipulation such as x-rays, scans etc. we are asked if we've had or been contact with Covid recently. I guess the vaccination is still available @Busy-Lizzie along with the flu' jab. Some people wear masks still.

I watched the last night at the Proms too as I was babysitting. Loved it!! I just didn't appreciate it when Bill Bailey started typing on a manual typewriter straight onto the roller (without putting paper in). Yes, I trained on an Imperial and had strong little fingers for the a and l. We learnt touch typing, sometimes to the music of Teddy Bear's Picnic. I did the Pitman's Shorthand Typing Course and passed Trade Certificates Exam 1 and 2. When I arrived in London at the end of 1971, it was electric typewriters - like IBM electric or the golfball. I adapted - as you do.

We still have swallows here too @floralies The storks flew over a couple of weeks back - quite low - maybe they were cranes but it was a silent flight. The cold is coming!!

I wish you all a pleasant Sunday.

 

The weather puts me in mind of
'The rain set early in tonight
The sullen wind was soon awake'
etc.
A cheerful poem!
I think the heating will be going on when we get home.

 

Thank you @floralies, about the Covid jab. I think I will go to the pharmacy and ask them.

@Obelix-Vendée we have 28° forecast for Friday. It's 21° now and has been raining most of the day. We don't eat much chutney either and OH has lime pickle and I have mango chutney with our curries.

OH has lit the wood burner in the sitting room. Feels cosy in there.

 

Afternoon all, it's chucking it down outside and feels damp and horrid so I'm sitting here in a jumper and fleece. Heating kicked in for a little while this morning - it's on automatic when the temps drop to a certain level - I do love toasty warm bath towels in the mornings!

I did manage an hour outside just before lunch, washing down a big blue plant pot which was spattered by the builders' cement mixer parked next to it. Hadn't appreciated just how messy it could be. Then I spread more blue slate chippings in a messy little area they'd left by the shed so that now looks much tidier.

I've laid a line of pears on the front windowsill to hopefully ripen - any ideas on what I could do if they remain hard please? I don't want to make either chutney or jam. Can you stew them?

Sympathies with your shoulder @floralies , mine tries to niggle every now and then.

Snap @Tui34, I also did the Pitman's Shorthand and Typing course but earlier than you in the 1960's. I have very small hands and my little fingers weren't strong enough so I was very pleased when electric typewriters came in. I was even more pleased when my boss got me a super duper one with a one line screen so you could see if you had any mistakes and correct them before it printed - bliss as I was fast but not very accurate!

Can't bear the smell of wet dog I'm afraid.

 

It's been damp here most of the day, alternating between dribble and downpour. Minstrel not impressed and no gardening for me either. I've had a pottering day making a creamy courgette soup for lunch tomorrow and a big pot of bolognese to batch freeze and then admin for tomorrow's AGM and sign ups and finally finishing my frock.

Now to prep tonight's dinner - roast, spatchcocked chicken, parsnips, carrots, greens and then a chocolate fondant. We like pud on Sundays. I also need to make a big cake for tomorrow.

Never learned to type properly but did learn to drive a word processor when it became clear that that was the fastest way to get my stuff typed up cos the big bosses bagged the secretaries and typists. Still only use 3 fingers and 2 thumbs but am not slow. OH's mum taugt him to type in his teens so late 60s - she thought it as important as knowing how to cook and to iron his shirts - and he still bashes the keyboard as tho it's a manual.

 

We were blown home, having packed the car in horizontal rain. The heating was put on as soon as we got in.
We are having dolmenico steak (I had never heard of it, so had a good explanation from the farm shop butcher) with mushroom stroganoff and local potatoes.
Been on the case of the missing jam jars and requested refund if not here by Tuesday. Then pounced on a sale + discount waterproof from Mountain Warehouse.
I didn't ever learn to type. But I have been on courses for most computer programmes; advanced excel, database etc.
I didn't learn to cook, either. It was a highly academic school. However, whilst I remember nothing from the Iliad, I have since learnt to cook, meaning that my stomach is more important than the Trojan wars.

 

It was dry when we woke up, but by the time OH and his brother had been fed and sent out for a few hours, my plan to head out into the garden was stymied by rain. I did some tidying of my worktop in the utility room, covered in jars for cuttings and various dead looking things in pots. OH phoned to say they were in the farm shop in case I wanted anything, so he brought me back a bunch of rosemary, and a tube of Littlepod vanilla paste, expensive but wonderful, ethically produced and will last me for a couple of years. We had roasted pork tenderloin with rosemary, plus all the usual potatoes, stuffing and Yorkshire puddings. Had to drag OH to the table during half time, he was glued to the women’s rugby match - always loves it when England win!
It is still drizzling outside, looks like I won’t be filling the green bins by Wednesday morning at this rate. Very annoying.
I do love to hear about everyone’s dogs and cats. Maybe when son’s dog no longer requires her holiday visits ( 15 years old, and a hater of all other animals) we could think about having another pet.

 

@Penny_Forthem I did 2 years at an all girls grammar school in Manchester where sewing and cooking were deemed essential skills. I hated it. Then moved to a mixed one in Cheshire and asked if I could do woodwork and metalwork. No, pupils bright enough to be in the Latin or German stream did not do practical skills.

I've taught myself since - cooking, sewing, gardening, DIY.

 

That made me laugh, @Obelix-Vendée. My grammar school also streamed some girls into the Latin classes, which meant that I couldn’t do domestic science. I was always very envious of the annual display of the fabulous Christmas cakes produced in the cookery room. However, I did teach myself to make and ice cakes, and turned out very ornate wedding cakes for my brothers and both my children, plus christening cakes for the children and grandchildren.
I don’t think I’d have been motivated to learn Latin by choice! I really didn’t enjoy it, but I was rather miffed when my daughter started learning it, and I found out that they no longer had to translate English in Latin, just the other way round.

 

Latin at the girls' school was fun @Ergates but the tecaher at the lixed school was an aging Scot who thought wars and the Iliad were fascinating so I went from top to almost bottom of the class. On the other hand, I still remember ut and the ablative and ut and the subjunctive and that has helped a great deal with my French.

 

Oh dear @Goldenlily26. The story about the little cat made me feel so sad