Saturday, 21-03-26

Morning, all.  Welcome to Saturday!  BBC weather tells me it is going to be another really lovely day; isn't that nice?

Yesterday was one of those days when everything went according to plan - or, rather, to my Little List.  No rush, no hassle, everything got done and the food was really nice.  I've posted these on t'other blog so apologies if you see them twice.

Nibbly stuff for starters.  The hummus was a cookidoo recipe for Thermione which I adapted only slightly and the crispbread was just my own bread, thin sliced and dried in the air fryer.  

Shocking light, heavily Paint Shopped to lighten but you get the idea.  The lasagne was great and at one point I feared there would be no leftovers but there's just enough go feed me today.

It was midnight before I got to bed and I woke at five as usual but at least I slept very soundly and that is a relief.  :-)

Today, apart from unloading the dishwasher and doing a little bit more kitchen tidying, the house is clean and tidy, the meals are all prepped and I have a walk with friends scheduled for mid morning.

I've fed Bubbles for Lindsey's loaves this week so I can get that started too - as it gets warmer, the dough is more responsive and the whole process quicker.

It's going to be a nice, restful day!  Enjoy the sunshine and have a great day, everyone.  xx

Friday, 20-03-26

Good morning, everyone!  Thank you so much for your very kind and understanding comments yesterday.  I feel I've made a mountain out of a molehill really but it's not something that happens all that often (thankfully).  I think I was more shaken than I realised - I had another rough night last night but, apart from a slight hip twinge (foot on pedal???), that's the worst of it now.  I will be able to have a rest this afternoon, maybe out in the garden if the sun shines.  Wouldn't that be nice?

Yesterday was a pottering sort of day really.  In the afternoon I went round to Beth's with her loaves and we had a chat.  She came home later than me because she went to her friends - she set out just after she got my message saying I was home.
Poor Beth - by then the traffic had really built up as the M25 was still closed.  She usually gets off the M11 at Bishop's Stortford as she, unlike me, is not a wuss with complicated roundabout systems but the traffic was backing up along the M11 so she decided to go on to Harlow too.  It was a lot worse by then than it was for me so she had a very slow last part of the journey too but all's well that ends well.

(Just to add, the Bishop's Stortford junction used to be so easy and Stansted such a happy, friendly little airport until 'They' decided to make it London's third airport - we always went that way to see our friends in Mildenhall and on to Elveden Center Parcs when my two were young)

On to today!

I've pulled out of SW as I'm not feeling great but as long as I take things gently, I will be fine.  Dave and Anna are coming round this evening so I have a menu (that sounds posher than it really is) and a Little List.

I'm doing:

Hummus, olives, sourdough crispbreads and carrot dippers
Lasagne, salad, coleslaw and garlic bread

Grapes and pineapple with coffee.

See - not posh.  I have made the hummus, the crispbreads, the red sauce and pasta for the lasagne, some mini rolls for the garlic bread and the rest takes no time at all

Dave and Anna bring the drinks.

So - my little list is . . .

Sort out kitchen

Chill

Clean and dust downstairs (won't take long)
Chill

Ironing - there's not much and I can always hide it in the cupboard if I want!!!

Chill

Make cheese sauce (good old Thermione) and construct lasagne, make salads, get food onto serving plates, etc, set table . . .

And chill.

See - easy peasy!

Happy Friday, everyone.  xx

Wednesday and Thursday, 18/19-03-26 Long post alert!!

Morning, everyone!  Yesterday was quite eventful in a smallish-scale way but let's do Tuesday first.

Tuesday morning, Beth and I had a stroll around the main road through Thrapston and in the afternoon I strolled around Islip while Beth visited a friend.
A bit of info first:
Thrapston

Islip

The two villages are right next to each other, joined by a bridge across the Nene which separates the two.  There's a pub at either side of the bridge and we were staying in the Islip end one, the Woolpack Inn.
I took a few photos.

A pretty but ordinary (from the front) looking cottage on the Islip side . . .  

. . . but from the bridge - wow.
What a home - with a pool and mooring, complete with boats.  Two of them!

Such a lovely view.

 

St James's, Thrapston.  A pretty looking church but there seemed to be something on so we didn't go in.

The town sign.

And, to the side of a lovely little library, a mosaic - not in the best nick but very colourful.

On to Islip.

A horse . . .

. . . another church, St Nicholas' . . . 

(inside)

. . . and plenty of very attractive old houses.

On to yesterday, Wednesday.    Not the best day I have ever had.

After packing and loading the car and having breakfast, I waved goodbye to Beth who was spending the morning with a friend (who she saw Tuesday afternoon and with whom we both had dinner).

I started up the car: bells jingled and lights flashed.  Check your tyre pressure, they ordered, and reset the whotsit thingybobbydoo!

I had meant to check tyre pressure before driving on Monday but forgot so I got out my pressure gauge thing and - the lever that fastened the thingy to the tyre broke off.  Drat.
Fortunately, I have another one, not so swish but it does the job fine, so used that, found the tyres were perfectly OK, washed my hands and set off.
To be fair, apart from me feeling very tense and stressed (which is typical for me), the journey was fine and the Harlow junction was very, very much more manageable than the Stansted/Bishops Stortford one.

I was on the A414, heading happily for home, slowed and then stopped at a roundabout - and got hit by a car pulling a trolley with another car on it.
Ho hum!
(I may possibly have said something quite a bit ruder than ho hum)

Went round the roundabout and pulled in and a hugely embarrassed and apologetic young man got out.  He thought I would go, not stop (there was a car with right of way entering the roundabout, by the way), and by the time he clocked that I had stopped, with his towing load he couldn't brake in time.  100% his fault.

Now is the point at which I need to say that it really was just a 'gentle' bump, not a crash, even if it sounded pretty loud at the time.  I didn't even stall my car.  I was pretty shaken up and so was he but it was OK.  I have a light cover that needs replacing and he has a few scratches on his front but it could have been so, so much worse, the damage being more related to wear and tear on my nerves (and his).
We exchanged details, of course, although it's far from being something that will involve insurances, and made sure we were both OK.  I actually got a text from him later in the evening, checking that I was OK and apologising again. I think he was far more upset than I was.

Anyway, after that bit of unwanted excitement, I set off again and promptly hit (not literally) a long, long queue of traffic.
The 414 is narrow, just one lane each way and, usually, not that busy.  However, as luck would have it, there had been some sort of mishap on the M25, the motorway was closed for a while, and everything was diverting along the A414 instead.    I bet those workmen digging in the road wondered what was going on!  In fact, my bumper basher should have been on the M25, poor chap!
So that very last little bit that should have taken about fifteen minutes or so, actually took over an hour.

Not a journey I will remember with all that much pleasure really.

And just to cap it all, Matt arrived to deal with the dripping tap and found that he had been sent the wrong part!  I had to laugh - it was either laugh or cry by that point.

On the plus side, I got two loads of washing and a baking of bread done as a way of settling myself down.  And I had a message from Diane saying that the One Traveller Christmas trips were now online and she's booked the Christmas in London one that we said we'd like to go on.  I will book mine today!

I've not slept all that well so today is going to be 100% relaxation and general pottering.  I ordered a replacement tyre pressure machine which should come today and I want to make the component parts of a lasagne as Dave and Anna are coming to dinner tomorrow.

Phew . . .

Have a lovely Thursday, everyone!  Take care and enjoy the sunshine if you're getting it.  xx

Tuesday, 17-03-26

Morning, everyone.  So here I am in the village of Islip, staying at the Woolpack Inn for a couple of nights.

The journey was quite stressful, mostly because I really don't like driving among huge lorries, etc.  I have to admit, most of the stress was self inflicted and next time I would know what to expect in terms of roads, junctions, etc.    There was a road closure but it was home end and I know exactly how to get round it so no worries and, going home, Beth said the Harlow junction was so much easier than the Stansted one so I'll go further down to Harlow on the way home.  I do like a simple left turn!

Anyway, this is a lovely place to stay.

This is part of the accommodation.  The rooms are rows of little own-front-door things (mine is the middle door in the photo), converted from stables, I believe, and recently done up so they are warm, comfortable but not huge. 

 The bed is though; one of those beds that can be separated to make two singles.

The shower/toilet room and also very nice.  Clean, neat, not posh but good quality and with plenty of good hot water.  I had a lovely shower this morning!

I arrived, Beth was already here and we had a good chat over a hot drink before separating to chill, unpack, etc.

I make no apology for this.  It was absolutely delicious!

Both Beth and I 'know' someone who lives round here which whom we have both virtually cheated (later edit - chatted, not cheated.  Ooops!!!) for a long time.  She was an OU student when I was and we had things in common.

Anyway, she came over from her home and we had dinner together and it was the loveliest time.  We laughed, talked, caught up, shared stuff and - well, it was one of the nicest evenings I have had in a very long while.

One of the horses in the field at the back saying 'good morning'.

After a lovely night's sleep, I woke early and the sun is shining.

No apologies for breakfast either - it was so good!

A really pleasant dining room . . .

. . . and fresh flowers on every table.

Today, Beth and I want to have a wander over the bridge and into Islip/Thrapston before we part company, she to go to her friends while I drive down to Rushden Lakes, a retail shopping park.
Later on, she will be back to collect me and go back to her friends for an evening take away.

And then, tomorrow, it is home again.  I probably won't post tomorrow morning but might post later, depending on how the journey went.  :-)  As Beth said, going home always seems easier - and she is right, it does.

Have a lovely Tuesday, everyone.  Take care and see you again soon.  xx

Monday, 16-03-26

Morning.  Welcome to the second half of March.  Sorry this is a bit late - I was expecting a visit from the water board and they/he arrived nice and early.  He's gone now and life resumes.

I've heard about the council tax and car insurance for this coming year.  The council text hasn't gone up that much but the car insurance - ouch!  I remind myself that it actually went down last year and while the car is older, so am I!  Ho hum, I'm very grateful that I can absorb this with minimal pain.

It was lovely and sunny yesterday morning but but later afternoon it was pouring again.  Ho hum!  It's Sunny again this morning and a bit cold too but what's a jumper for, eh?  I'm wearing the multicoloured jumper I was making over a polo neck and it's nice and cosy.

I'm also packed and ready for my little jolly with Beth and most disinclined to start any housework so I'm just going to take things nice and easy before I set off.

I think my Stratford trip will have to wait - I might get it done later or tomorrow and I will definitely have photos of where I'm staying.

Have a lovely day, everyone, and I do hope the sun is shining for you too.   Bye.  xx

Sunday, 15-03-26

 Hi, everyone!  What a gloriously sunny morning here in mid-Essex.  We've had a frost though - isn't it just typical that as the new growth gets going, we have one of the few frosts of the last few months?

It was frosty yesterday too.  I was so glad I checked early because the car needed scraping and I needed to be at the pick up to catch the coach.
It was a really lovely time at Stratford-upon-Avon but I will write about that separately.  Quite a long time in the coach - three hours each way with a 'comfort' stop off.  It was nice to stretch my legs and back!

Now it is Sunday.  I have Beth and Alex's bread rising nicely and a mushroom soup prepping in my second Thermione bowl (the dough is in the first).
While I'm thinking of it, Vorwerk doesn't make a specific dough hook (yet, anyway) but there is one that is compatible and I'm thinking of getting it.  There is a knead function and it works fine for yeasted bread which is a more robust dough, but it would be good to have one that folds rather than cutting for my sourdough.  It's not very expensive so  . . . yes.

Today I need to pack for tomorrow - or start packing anyway.  It won't take long, it is only for two nights.  I've worked out my route.  It is just off the A14 so very straightforward from here, the worst bit being getting on the M11 from the A120 - it's the Stansted roundabout and it is fiendish!  I've got a work around though!
After that it is just three roads.  Even I would find it difficult to get lost!

Well, the soup is smelling - er - soupy so I will leave you with just one photos from yesterday.  More to follow.
Bye xxx

Saturday, 14-03-26

Hello again, everyone.  Welcome to the weekend and, I hope, slightly better weather.  It's forecast to be sunny but not too warm today which sounds perfect for a trip out.

Yesterday was a low-key busy day:  pretty much everything got done and the loaves worked out fine this time.  I took them round to Lindsey's still warm and the car smelled amazing.  I decided I didn't need to get anything from Morrisons after looking around at home - one doesn't NEED sucky sweets, after all.

Slimming World was fun.  It was a taster session and I took some fresh pineapple.  Morning tasters are harder than evening ones - no-one really fancies meatballs, say, or a casserole at half past nine.  There was a lot of fresh fruit so that was perfect.

I'm up bright and early today having dusted off the alarm.  I hate the sound it makes but it is perfect for a deffie like me;  it's very penetrating and there's a shake-awake pad linked that goes under my pillow.  I defy anyone not to wake with all that going on.

The bags are ready, dinner this evening is out of the freezer, I have fruit to eat on the coach - all ready, in fact.  I have my camera and a spare battery, because last week I needed one and didn't have one with me.

Fingers crossed for a nice day ahead.

See you tomorrow!  xx