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2009年06月の記事
全30件 (30件中 1-30件目)
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Soggy bread
It has been quite some time since I ate ‘ordinary’ packeted and sliced white bread from the supermarket. We normally eat some kind of speciality bread, so it was a bit of a shock when I tried to tuck into a slice of white the other day; I couldn’t chew it enough to swallow it, it just seemed to go like some soggy lump in my mouth. Rather horrible. But at least I now know why we spend a little more and eat decent bread. Though to be fair to this sliced white stuff, it’s not too bad toasted.So this seems an opportune moment to post a photo of a Robert Welch designed Old Hall stainless steel toastrack from the 1960’s. Very elegant for such a mundane piece. This design was quite revolutionary for its time.I very rarely watch the TV nowadays, the radio is so much more interesting and immediate. I am thinking about buying a digital radio. What does DAB mean?The cabbage we picked yesterday was very nice; we had it for dinner this evening.jelly ……….soya ………broad ……..Yesterday’s was ‘half’
2009年06月30日
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A bewildering array of milk bottles
Open our fridge door and you will immediately be taken by the number of milk bottles there are on the various shelves and in the door racks. As you will know if you are a regular reader, Junko makes yoghurt, and so this is the reason, but at the moment there seem to more assorted shapes, sizes and colours than normal. It’s often hard to distinguish between what is milk, what is half made yoghurt, and what is the yoghurt we are presently consuming. I counted the milk like plastic bottles earlier today; there are ten!It has been very hot today, hot and humid, though I have to say that I have not suffered much. It hasn’t been this hot for three years, so the weather people tell us.The daily inspection of the cabbages, cauliflowers and young purple sprouting plants continues to turn up the odd caterpillar and cluster of eggs. We picked a cabbage today and Junko did something with it, to be eaten tomorrow. Our first of the season.I like all nuts, but almonds are my favourite. A Robert Welch kitchen towel holder. ………… penny………… term………… heartedYesterday’s was ‘bed’.
2009年06月29日
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Husbands are sometimes useful
Junko has got pierced ears and she usually wears some kind of earrings. This afternoon she came to me and asked me to remove the clip from her ear lobe because it had swelled up and got infected and she couldn’t pull it out. A nasty little job as her ear was very red and tender. She’s been soaking it in some disinfectant or similar, bandaged up. Let’s hope it’s better soon.The different kinds of spaghetti are very confusing. Of course I know what ‘spirali’, ‘spaghetti’, ‘lasagne’, ‘macaroni’ and ‘ravioli’ are, but then there are all kinds of other ones, tens of different ones are on sale at the supermarkets. Ones which look like shells, turtles, pies and butterflies amongst others. I think the pasta is exactly the same in all of them, except ‘linguini’ which is mixed with spinach, it’s the shapes that confuse me. What kind is it that Junko makes? It’s flat, like linguini but without the spinach (though she has made it with spinach as well). Pasta made from 100% semolina and eggs, is the only way to go. No ordinary flour and no water. Absolutely delish, with just fried garlic, olive oil and a bit of basil. I can eat bowlfuls of the stuff!Bruce Springsteen has just performed at the Glastonbury music festival, in front of a hundred and thirty thousand fans. I saw a thirty second clip of him and his band playing ‘Born to Run’ it really made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up! This is a half hour video of him playing last night, including Born to Run (it’s the last track)http://www.bbc.co.uk/glastonbury/2009/artists/brucespringsteen/index.shtml#empI was very much struck by what a celebratory and unifying experience the whole thing was. ……… room………..pan………. bugYesterday’s was ‘black’.
2009年06月28日
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Rhubarb stocks replenished
We went over to Bill’s a couple of days ago for a surprise lunch. He rang us at eleven and asked if we wanted to come over. Of course we said yes. We had poached chicken and salad from the garden, finished off with ice cream and strawberries and raspberries, picked in front of our very eyes. So much for Bill always eating sausages! And what a fantastic garden Bill and Pam have made in their patch. It really is lovely, and so relaxing. Nice and quiet, and with a deep blue sky. I wonder if the sky is always that colour there? It was good to spend some time with Bill, he has been so busy lately. We left around four o’clock; taking some much needed stalks of rhubarb.Atsuko has never heard of the Shakespeare Sausage.Rain on a rose leaf.It’s not a great time on TV or radio at the moment. It’s either Wimbledon or a tribute to Michael Jackson. Of course I am extremely sad that Michael Jackson has died, however I am a bit fed up with all the coverage of it. ……… eye……….pudding………..berryYesterday’s was ‘house’
2009年06月27日
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Tomatoes
I expect you think that this photo is of a panful of the famous ‘Shakespeare Sausages’, but I am afraid it isn’t. These are some vegetarian sausages that we had for dinner the other night. The search for the ‘Shakespeare’ continues, but in the meantime we enjoyed these, which had as their main ingredients: tofu, wholewheat flour, hydrolysed vegetable protein and that sort of thing. Healthier than what is offered by the Shakespeare, but perhaps not as tasty, though I have to say that they were not bad at all. I think more a question of texture than taste.Apparently there are three hundred and fifty different varieties of tomato being grown in this country at the moment. Some weird and wonderful shapes and patterns they are too. But most of us know only a handful of varieties. These ‘unknown’ tomatoes are the varieties that were grown years ago before tomato growing became so commercialised and the fruits became perfectly round with smooth skins and no taste! But the old varieties, apparently, have much more flavour, are more disease resistant and do better than their modern counterparts when grown under organic conditions. Interesting. Tomatoes, by the way, were brought to Britain (I believe) more than four hundred years ago, at the same time as the potato. They originate in South America. Shakespeare probably thought they were poisonous as that was the fashion at the time, and they were only grown as decoration! (much the same as runner beans, which at the same time were mainly grown for their flowers).We had 5mm of rain today, and the butts are now up to 100% once more.Junko and Atsuko enjoyed Julius Caesar at the theatre. ………… wife………… work………… mateYesterday’s was ‘day’
2009年06月26日
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Spring onions
These are two spring onions that my sister grew in her garden and gave us. Nice, aren’t they?How high should potatoes grow? Ours, currently, are about a metre high. I expect they will grow quite a bit more, though. The weather has been really good recently, a warm sun and cool breeze. Pretty well perfect, actually.I have been gathering together the parts for the homemade rain diverter. I haven’t got everything yet, but we are getting there.Junko has gone to the theatre with her friend Atsuko. ‘Julius Caesar’ is the play they are watching. ………. light………. dream……….. breakYesterday’s was ‘telephone’
2009年06月25日
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Teapot happiness
We went to the bootsale at the weekend. Didn’t buy much, but saw something interesting. Junko spotted a teapot exactly the same as ours, the one that I bought a few weeks ago for twenty pence. She asked how much it was and the chap who was selling it said £1. When Junko looked inside she saw that it was missing its container for the leaves. Of course she didn’t want to buy it in the first place, and was merely finding out how much it was, so she thanked the seller and went on her way. We walked past the stall some time later on and saw that it had been sold, so we were happy that somebody would buy an inferior item for more money than we paid for ours, making the teapot we bought a good buy and boosting my confidence!After finishing a good browse at the bootsale we went to my sister’s for a cup of tea. We told her the teapot story and she said that she much admired our teapot as well, and that, if we saw another (complete) one, would we get it for her. So I was doubly happy! This is the teapot in question. I have posted this picture before, but just in case you didn’t spot it the first time, here it is again.As I am disappointed with the performance of the rain diverter that I recently installed, I have decided to make my own one. This is the unsatisfactory proprietary one. OK, perhaps mine won’t work very well either, but at least I will have had a go at improving it.………. call………. directory……….. boxYesterday’s was ‘hot’.
2009年06月24日
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Balsamic vinegar
I wonder what the difference between ordinary vinegar and balsamic vinegar. The latter is certainly very popular these days, particularly in cooking programmes. It does taste better, but then it should, it’s about four times as expensive as the ordinary variety!Stephan tells me that much stainless steel nowadays is not actually stainless steel any more, it has been cut with ordinary steel to make it cheaper. You can tell which is 100% stainless with a magnet, as if it is the real thing then the magnet won’t stick. And of course, if it isn’t the real thing it will tarnish. I shall have to check my cutlery! Remember the ‘copper’ coins which I discovered were made of steel? Who can you trust nowadays?By way of a change from our daily breakfast of homemade hummus, we bought a pot of the readymade variety from the deli counter at the local supermarket. How disappointing it was, nothing like as nice as ours. But I suppose that’s good in a way; it’s nice to know that we make it well.The first flowers have appeared on the runner beans. Let’s hope this is a sign of a bumper crop.The Wimbledon tennis championships started yesterday. The tournament is always associated with strawberries, so here is a photo of some that Seiko gave us a few days ago.……... dog……... headed……… rodYesterday’s was ‘sun’
2009年06月23日
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Three food facts
One third of the money spent in British supermarkets is spent at one store, Tesco.In the past year British people have been eating ten per cent more bread.The average British household throws away four hundred pounds worth of food per year.Remember these poisonous seedlings that Junko planted. Well, they might be poisonous to humans, but the slugs love them! Junko lost three out of twelve on the first night alone! Now they are protected nightly by plastic flower pots. And we have snail hunts once more.Chris tells me that his pansies have been a failure this year. That’s a pity.This very large flower was on our courgette plant yesterday. And under it is a nice juicy baby courgette, which I hope will mature into being the first of many this year. It’s a spectacular flower, isn’t it?……… light……… day……… beamYesterday’s was ‘back’
2009年06月22日
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A lot of cherries
There are a lot of cherries on our little cherry tree, more, I think than usual. Of course they aren’t ripe yet. It’s a pity, though, that when they are nice and juicy and red, that they aren’t sweet at all. But doubtless, with a bit of sugar, they will cook up nicely to go with the yoghurt for lunch. And those that we don’t have, which will probably be most of them, the birds will enjoy.One of the many topics Chris and I mulled over in our long conversation the other day was the Shakespeare Sausage. Chris is from the north of England, where there have a large variety of sausages, but not the Shakespeare!More than five million uncooked potatoes are thrown away every day in the UK. …….. ache.…… wards……. breakingYesterday’s was ‘tri’
2009年06月21日
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The longest day
I never know exactly which is the longest day, today or tomorrow, anyway, it’s close to it. Winter will be upon us soon!My sister gave Junko some seeds the other day. Quite large ones. They germinated very quickly and these are they. Now, Junko had planted a decorative aubergine in the front garden a few days ago, but something, I guess a snail, ate it completely. My sister told us that these plants were poisonous, so I hope that if a snail tries to eat one of them it will get a bad case of stomach ache at the very least.I went to the bootsale this morning, but didn’t buy a thing. Not a thing. This is unusual, but not as unusual as it used to be. Why? Have I got everything I want or is it that, with the recession hitting, there are just not so many desirable things on offer?Seiko brought us round some strawberries from her allotment. Very nice, so thank you Seiko. Sadly, she brought no news of the Shakespeare Sausage. ……….. angle………. pod……….. cycleYesterday’s was ‘hair’Apparently a third of the food we buy is discarded. And this doesn’t include peelings and bones.
2009年06月20日
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The red devil
We call this dustpan the ‘red devil’. Why? The ‘red’ part I understand, but not the ‘devil’.Seven million slices of bread are thrown away each day in this country. Amazing. How is such information collected?One of Junko’s cucumber plants has been savaged by a snail. It’s dead now, the cucumber not the snail. I telephoned my friend Chris in Hartlepool today. He is well and enjoying his garden, but, as he gets older, he says that he doesn’t feel that summers are as warm as they used to be. Oh dear. I thought they were supposed to be hotter than they were!………. brush…….... cut………. line fractureYesterday’s was ‘pea’
2009年06月19日
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Bean tunnel
I got the pieces of plastic pipe out from behind the garden shed the other day, and made the bean tunnel. Some runner beans are nearing the tops of their sticks, so it is time to train them over the top. This is how the tunnel looked a few days ago.We had a few minutes of very heavy rain the other day. It served no purpose at all, and flattened one of the courgette plants as well as knocking the potatoes over. Time flies like an arrowFruit flies like a banana……….. nuts……….. shooter……….. brainedYesterday’s was ‘air’1.2 million uncooked sausages are thrown away each day in this country, simply because people have left them unused in the fridge and are worried about cooking them a day after their sell by date. That's a lot of sausages. The population is around sixty million, by the way.
2009年06月18日
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The Organic Sausage Bar
I was in town the other day, and chanced upon this stall in the Farmer’s Market. The Organic Sausage Bar, now there is a name to conjure with. Surely they would know all about the Shakespeare Sausage! I may even be able to buy on ready cooked with onions and sauce, methinks. But no, I asked, sadly they had never heard of it. The mystery deepens.I notice that they also sell organic candy floss!………. port………. craft………. borneYesterday’s word was ‘butter’.I never did discover how to coddle an egg!There are a number of greenfly on the runner beans. I have squashed as many as I can find. Apparently 2009 is a bumper year for greenfly, I wonder why?
2009年06月17日
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Green top or blue top?
The different kinds of milk are marked with a different coloured cap. Skimmed milk has a red cap, semi skimmed is marked in green, full milk has a nice blue top and Jersey milk, the really good stuff, proudly sports a gold cap. We use skimmed milk for tea, blue topped milk for coffee and for making yoghurt with and gold topped for occasionally boosting the strength of the yoghurt. At any one time there are a number of different milk bottles in the fridge. Half made yoghurt, complete yoghurt and ordinary drinking milk. Yoghurt, whether half made or finished always comes with a blue top. So it was with some surprise that, when I made myself a cup of tea this morning, I poured the ‘milk’ from a green topped bottle into a cup of tea, I discovered that I had got myself a cup of yoghurt tea. Now, I wonder who mixed the lids up?Some of Junko’s small flower pots.………… fly………… beans………… milkYesterday’s was ‘match’.
2009年06月16日
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Former glory
Junko likes the new kettle, but I am yet to be convinced. I find it difficult to remove the whistle in order to pour, without scalding my fingers on the steam. It’s a knack, I guess. I understand why Junko likes it, though, it does look much smarter than our old one, which presently is lying upside down on the lawn ready to be taken to the dump. I think I might just hide it away in case I never master the new whistle/spout.1000 litres of water, delivered to the tap by our water company, including the removal of waste water etc, costs two pounds.Did I mention that Bill was a sausage expert? He surely knows the ‘Shakespeare Sausage’.The runner beans are going up their sticks nicely. They climb anticlockwise. I wonder if they go round the same way in Australia? Aspi isn’t there any more so I can’t ask him, that’s a pity.For every pound that you save by not buying water or biodiesel, it’s actually closer to one pound twenty pence because you don’t have to go out to earn the money and then be taxed on it.………… box…………. stickfootball ………Yesterday’s was ‘paper’
2009年06月15日
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Hacksaw
I cleared out the garden shed at six o’clock this morning. I found Junko’s bicycle basket and another wicker shopping basket which Junko is going to use for a plant display. I thought I might find my lost hacksaw, but no such luck. It really is a bit of a mystery where that has got to.Still no news about Bill, it’s a bit of a mystery where he has got to, too.I am very familiar with the smell of cooked strawberries. I wonder what a cooking Shakespeare Sausage smells like?We are using the ‘new’ kettle. It has a very violent whistle! I researched this kettle on the internet, just to see how much it would cost new, and was surprised to find that its full price if £60, though you can usually buy it for thirty, plus five pounds postage. So, fifty pence was a good deal, was it not?Junko enjoys going to this garden centre.news ……..toilet ……..blotting ……Yesterday’s answer was ‘silver’.
2009年06月14日
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The Cuckoo
There is a little rhyme about the cuckoo that we all seem to learn as children. It goes like this:“The cuckoo comes in April,it sings its song in May.In the middle of June it changes its tune,and then it flies away.”I am sure you know the distinctive call that this bird makes: ‘cuck oo’. Actually, as birds go, it is a rather nasty one (not as nasty as a magpie, though), as it doesn’t build a nest at all. The female finds a nest of another kind of bird, with eggs in it, and lays an egg of her own there. This egg then hatches (it tends to do so faster than the eggs already laid in the nest) and once hatched the chick immediately pushes the other eggs (or chicks) out of the nest, leaving the parent birds but one chick to raise, thus increasing its chances of survival immensely. Often, by the time it leaves the nest, this cuckoo chick is many times the size of its ‘parents’. I haven’t heard a cuckoo at all this year, which is both unusual and rather worrying. Apparently, cuckoos are becoming more and more difficult to find, a bit like the Shakespeare Sausage!And talking of things airborne, this balloon drifted over our house the other day.………….. medal………….. surferEvery cloud has a ………… lining.Yesterday’s word was ‘sea’.
2009年06月13日
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Strawberry smell
Junko bought some rain damaged strawberries the other day, cheap. She has boiled them up with some sugar and they will do very nicely with the homemade yoghurt and mueseli for lunch. The made a fantastic smell in the kitchen while she was cooking them up. I prefer cooked strawberries to raw ones. This is unusual, I think.Having had problems with my ears and eyes, it’s good to know that my nose is still OK.Seiko rang today; she has been unable to find any information about the ‘Shakespeare Sausage’. That’s a bit disappointing.Junko is keen to get some fennel growing, but she is having real trouble with it. I don’t know why, but the seedlings just keep on falling over and rotting off. It’s very disappointing for her.…………. food…………. shore…………..gullYesterday’s word was ‘book’
2009年06月12日
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Welsh Onions
Still no phone call from Seiko about the Shakespeare Sausage.And the famous Seiko gave Junko these Welsh onions when we saw her the other day. They are very useful, as you can, with care, harvest them continually. Each plant that you see in the picture will divide naturally, and within a year or so it will have become a clump of ten or twenty. Once you have a stock you can dig up a clump, use it as spring onions and just save one or two to plant again to make into another clump. Very clever.Junko and I have discovered both eggs and caterpillars on the cauliflower plants. No damage done yet, though, as we have squashed the caterpillars when they were tiny, and the eggs when they were just that.I believe that every time you go to the toilet in this country it costs about two pence in water.………. case………. mark………. a table………. tokenYesterday’s answer was ‘horse’
2009年06月11日
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Third gear
In much of Stratford the speed limit has been lowered from 40 mph to 30 mph. It’s very difficult to keep your speed down to 30mph at the best of times, and when you have been used to driving along the same road at a speed twenty five per cent faster, it is nigh on impossible. I am sure that there are masses of speed cameras in Stratford, and I really don’t want to get caught out, so I have developed a technique to combat the temptation to speed away from roundabout and junctions. I drive in third gear. This way the sound of the engine makes it seem that I am going faster than I really am. I sometimes forget, though.I learned today that if you can prove to the company that supplies your water that you use the water from your roof on the garden, depending on how much you use, you can get a reduction in the amount of your bill. Interesting.As with all sausages, you have to raise the temperature of a Shakespeare Sausage to at least 180 degrees to make sure that it is properly cooked.This is the kettle, the ‘Judge’, that we bought recently.My ear is still excellent, and I am enjoying my new glasses.The recent heavy rains have abated, and the garden is beginning to recover.…………. shoe…………. radish…………. and cartYesterday’s answer is ‘double’
2009年06月10日
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Lost in the system
You remember that I had my eyes tested recently, and bought two pairs of glasses, one normal and one for sunny days. More than a week ago I went to have these glasses fitted, but came home with only one pair as there was a defect in the lens on the dark pair. I was expecting the optician to call me back when the defect had been corrected, but I heard nothing. So I decided to call in at the shop. I explained the situation and was surprised to hear that apparently I had already received both pairs of glasses. I said I hadn’t, they said I had. We went on a bit like this and then the assistant rather reluctantly agreed to check more. After a few minutes a senior person came along. I explained the situation once more (I find that at times like this, the more people I tell the story to and the more time I have to tell it, the more I become irritated, and it was no different this time). She looked at my notes and explained that I had already received the glasses. I asked them to find the person who had fitted them, which they did. Luckily she remembered me and verified my story. So then they all went in search of the missing pair of glasses. I went off shopping, a little irritated, but when I went back to the shop they had found them. Of course it was me who was wrong all the time, you know. It’s not only banks you have to check their every move. Why is it all so bad nowadays? Nobody cares.No phone call from Seiko about the Shakespeare Sausage.I bought this pulley the other day, for twenty pence. I had some idea that I could use it for raising and lowering one of Junko’s hanging baskets, but I am not sure it will do the job.………….. bed………….. decker…………. or quitsYesterday’s answer was ‘happy’.
2009年06月09日
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Art?
One of the silliest things that we as Stratford residents have had to pay for over the past few years (at least I think we paid for it), was a piece of ‘interactive’ art. It lasted for a week. And this is what happened: on a small island in the middle of the river near the tramway bridge, the artist constructed a wooden garden shed. Beside the shed he placed a deckchair, and beside the deckchair he carefully set down an alarm clock and a drinking glass. The ‘work’ started at nine a.m. on a Monday morning. Every five minutes the alarm clock would ring and the artist would get up from his deckchair, fill the glass with river water and empty it into the shed through a small hole in the roof. Things continued in exactly the same fashion throughout the day until five in the evening. The whole process was repeated the next day, and indeed until five o’clock on the following Friday evening, when it was declared that the shed was full of water and the ‘work’ completed. Amazing. I wish he had filled the water butts in our garden rather than a garden shed!These warm days we have lunch (as well as breakfast and dinner) on the patio. Darjeeling tea and yoghurt.Seiko is a good investigator. We are expecting a phone call from her soon, saying that she has found a ‘Shakespeare Sausage’.……………Birthday……………Christmas……………go-luckyThe answer to yesterday’s little puzzle was ‘head’.
2009年06月08日
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Another judge
Junko has bought another kettle at the bootsale. It’s got a whistle on it, and really she really only bought it for its whistle, because the whistle on ours isn’t as good as it used to be. But, having got this kettle home, we decided that it was rather better than we had first thought. There was a lot of lime scale inside, so I put some vinegar in it and eventually managed to clear it all away. These are some flakes to show how thick it was. Amazing.This diary entry is called ‘Another Judge’ because ‘Judge’ is the brand of kettle, and it’s ‘another Judge’ because we had a Judge kettle before, but gave it to Stephan for his cooker. Judges are very good kettles, in fact.While we were at Seiko’s allotment yesterday, I asked her if she had ever eaten a ‘Shakespeare Sausage’. She said that she hadn’t. She was keen to try one, though.About the rainwater harvesting system. I couldn’t get the new system, with the flexible hose, to work properly; in fact it wouldn’t work at all. I checked that the fitting on the downpipe was working properly, which involved removing the whole thing, up the ladder in the pouring rain. It was working correctly and I hadn’t installed it upside down, which I thought might be a possibility. I got soaked, but that is the problem with dealing with this thing, you can only check it when it rains! I couldn’t think of much else that might be wrong, so I telephoned Stephan, who is a plumber, and he told me that I probably had an air lock, caused by an ‘inverted U’ in the pipe. I went out in the pouring rain and pulled almost the whole length of the hose (30 metres) through the very wet wisteria and put it along the ground. There had indeed been an inverted U up there in the branches. Anyway, once I had got the kinks out I went up the back of the garden, sheltered under the eaves of the shed and waited for the rainwater to start to flow into the butt. It did a few minutes later. I was well pleased. Junko’s garden could be well set for the summer now.The answer to yesterday’s little puzzle was ‘rain’. Very appropriate!And here is another one.…………. ache…………..line…………..strong
2009年06月07日
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How to coddle an egg
This is an ‘egg coddler’. It’s actually made by a famous porcelain manufacturing company, Worcester. But it isn’t just a decoration; it is a useful kitchen item. You can coddle an egg in it. Exactly how you do that I am not sure, and what a coddled egg tastes like is also a mystery (a bit like the taste of a ‘Shakespeare Sausage’. We bought this coddler the other day, as a bit of an interest. I shall try and find out how you use it, and report the findings here.Junko’s friend, Seiko, has got an allotment in Bidford, one of the villages close to Stratford. It’s huge. Really enormous and far too big for her to manage. Nevertheless she makes a really worthy attempt at keeping it up. We picked some strawberries, which we have subsequently eaten. They were very nice, and so was the time we spent with Seiko. Thank you very much.It has rained a lot, so my efforts to install the rain diverter on the downpipe the other day were worth it. But things haven’t actually gone all that well with the water collection, but there is no space here to tell the story, perhaps tomorrow. What an absolutely horrible and dreary, rainy and cold, miserable and dark Saturday! At least there is water going into the water butts. Actually, this is what makes life OK. You look forward to the sun and the warmth for one reason, but you look forward to the rain for another reason. If you do lots of things there is nearly always something that is going right!The answer to yesterday’s little puzzle was ‘half’.Here’s another one.………… drop………... coat………... gauge
2009年06月06日
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Saying ‘Sorry’
Bankers can bankrupt their bank and walk away with millions in pension and other rights. Politicians by the hundreds can make false tax claims, claim for highly dubious expenses and actually dodge paying tax. But it’s fine for them to do it, all that they do is say ‘Sorry I made a mistake, I’ll pay it back’ and everything seems to be OK. If a normal person makes a ‘mistake’ like this they are chased by the taxman, fined or even imprisoned. As for the bankers, they just laugh all the way from the bank. ‘Sorry’ has no meaning at all.When you grow tomatoes or other plants which need support, in a growbag, how do you stop them from falling over? You can’t stick bamboo canes into the compost it’s just not deep enough. You can use a wall to tie supports to, but if there is no suitable wall then you are in trouble. I overcame the problem with this frame, using two bits of wood on the base, and three canes. The base has holes drilled in it for the canes, which hold themselves up because they are under tension. I was pleased with it. Even Junko thought it was quite clever. (It would look nicer with clean canes and string tying them together, though!)I got the idea from this tomato support that I saw in the garden centre where the buckets were. This one costs nine pounds ninety nine pence, and that doesn’t include the tray at the bottom, the bag, or the canes. Just the three bits of metal.And here’s a little language game.Add a word in front of these three words to make another word.Here is an example:…………… ball…………… pump…………… soldierThe answer is foot, making football, foot pump and foot soldierSo, have a go at this one.………….. penny………….. moon………….. heartedAnswer, if you need it, tomorrow.
2009年06月05日
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Avalanches and French bottles
Bill has been mountaineering with some people in the Pyrenees, between France and Spain. He came back a few days ago, and apparently has some good stories to tell about avalanches and French bottles. If they are as good as the story he tells about the time he cleared next door’s blocked toilet they will be worth listening to! Great fun, I hope.These buckets are on sale at the local garden centre, for £11.75. Unbelievably expensive, don’t you think?And these are two buckets that Junko bought for a pound the other day. Much better, don’t you agree? They’ve got a bit of character about them.I went for a short walk with mother this morning. We were out for about an hour. Amongst the many topics discussed during our meander along The Greenway, was the merit of the famous ‘Shakespeare Sausage’. From the sound of its ingredients: venison and Cotswold cheese, it may not be all that healthy, although eaten in moderation, as with everything else, it is probably fine. At the rate I am going, though, it will never make me ill because I am seriously beginning to doubt if I will ever find one to eat!
2009年06月04日
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My new glasses
A couple of weeks ago I had my eyes tested and ordered two new pairs of glasses. A few days ago I went to have them fitted. That was fine. Until I looked through the lenses in one of the pairs. There was something funny on it. When I took these glasses off I could see an imperfection in the tinting. It really should have been obvious when the glasses were manufactured, but it is yet another case of somebody just not being careful enough with what they are doing. So, I have to go back again.I was not amused by this as I had already had to wait in a queue of thirty people in the post office. Now that most post offices have been closed down and there are only a few in the centre of the towns, they have become so incredibly busy that you really do not want to go there unless you absolutely have to. We need rain. With the hot weather over the past week we really have emptied the butts fast, and especially so as the plants need more water at this time of the year as it’s their growing season. I have fitted up the rainwater harvesting system to collect water from the back of the house.This fitting allows the water from the back part of the house to flow directly into a butt at the back of the garden, thirty metres away from the downpipe. I’ve had the fitting for years but haven’t got round to using it. I told my brother in law of the this way of harvesting water some years ago, and he uses the same thing successfully to fill up his garden pond. So I hope ours works well.
2009年06月03日
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Tall poppy syndrome
It is a very curious thing that here in Britain, and elsewhere I am sure, the press builds a person up mightily, wishes them well and encourages their success. And then, if that person actually becomes successful, the very same newspapers then spend the rest of their days finding fault with the person that they were instrumental in uplifting to the dizzy heights of stardom. This happens with politicians, sportsmen and entertainers and, in my opinion, it is a very nasty element in our national being.Junko bought a Zantedeschia lily yesterday. In the form of a tuber, or perhaps it is a rhizome; anyway, it is just the root part. The packet shows a spectacular flower, so it will be interesting to see what it comes to.A nice fork, with three tines. It dates from the 1960’s, I think. Made by Viners in Sheffield, England.Still no news of the Shakespeare Sausage.The first butterfly eggs have appeared on the cabbages and cauliflowers. Small clusters of white eggs, not the yellow ones we saw at the end of last summer. Junko and I crushed all that we could find, about ten clusters. At least they won’t be turning into caterpillars.It has been another cloudless and very hot day.
2009年06月02日
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Cutlery, the end of the line?
Remember that I wrote a diary entry a few weeks ago about Viners cutlery, and how, since 1970, the production of it had moved from Sheffield in England, to ‘Empire’, to Singapore, to Hong Kong and then to Korea. Today I found a Viners knife, which was made in China. How the power of industrial nations fades. I find it very interesting that something as simple as a spoon can mirror the changes in the modern world. I wonder if things will turn full circle and one day in the future this country will once again make something?I can’t find the few pieces of Viners cutlery that I have which have got their origin stamped on them. I will locate them one day, though.I have been thinking of buying a bean bag.I looked at the town clock the other day. Somebody has stolen the hands!!I have bought a rather nice paper knife. It was ten pence.It has been another hot and very sunny day. Tomorrow is forecast to be the same.Bill’s favourite breakfast is sausage and beans. Over the years he has eaten a veritable host of varieties of the much maligned sausage. If ever there was a man who could locate me a Stratford Sausage, then it is Bill.
2009年06月01日
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