Wednesday, 11-03-26

Morning, all!  We have sunshine.  So lovely and cheering.

Thanks to everyone for being so understanding about my somewhat unnecessary stock up on Monday - these price rises are hitting us hard, some more than others, and it's a big cause of the current feelings of unrest everywhere. I think.  Everyone is worried.

Having said that, I got an email from my electricity provider saying the price cap is dropping.  Such a shame it goes up in the colder months and down in the brighter, warmer months when usage is less anyway - imagine slightly cynical tone of voice here!
Still - every little helps!

Chris and I got our walk to Groove and back again and now I look forward to our chat on Thursday.  Apart from that, it was just another day.

No, it wasn't - that sourdough that looked so promising decided to just die -  Lindsey's loaf dough, not Bubbles.  I gave it over 24 hours for it's last prove and zilch.  So I baked it anyway and it was heavy and stodgy, like bread pudding.  For once, I had to chuck them  and I rarely do that!

That's life!

Today is another stay at home until personal training and, to be honest, that's in doubt as my back is playing me up at the moment.  I'll see how the day goes.

Have a lovely day, take care, enjoy the sunshine if you have it and I'll see you tomorrow.  xx

Tuesday, 10-03-26

Good morning, everyone.  How are you all.  It's still dull out here although we did have a very small amount of hazy sunshine and I even put some washing out - too optimistic really but one has to try!

I hadn't been able make Lindsey's loaf over the weekend.  I was out all day Saturday and on Sunday Bubbles the starter was a bit sluggish and needed a bit of TLC.
So yesterday late afternoon, I started, timing it so I could leave it on its cold ferment overnight.  It worked well and now I have a lively dough shaped and in tins for the proofing.  I might be able to bake before Groove or I may have to pop it in the fridge and finish it afterwards.  We will see.  But the slightly warmer weather is having a noticeably positive effect on the dough and, as this current one is more white than wholemeal, there might be some bigger bubbles.  We will see.

Prices are rising alarmingly - have you seen petrol recently? - so I decided to top up and I think I might be doing that for the near future.  Does that make me good, bad or sensible, I wonder?
Then I went to Morrisons and did a bit of stocking up there too.  I needed some meat - chicken and mince - and they had some sides of salmon not too expensive (although £2 more than the last time they had some) and I got some shelf stable stuff too.

What with all that, circuits and general housework, I was tired by the evening!  

I've noticed my joints are getting very 'clicky' recently.  I've always had clicky ankles but it's all a lot more noticeable and more widespread.  I looked it up and, cutting a long story short, I've started tasking some collagen.  I've never been much for taking supplements but this seems a sensible way to go and it will be easy to judge if it is helping much.  Do any of you take collagen - what's your experience.  Has it helped.

I've also cut out caffeine to a considerable degree, even changing my Wonky Pods subscription to decaf.  That could be why I have slept so much better recently, couldn't it?

On to today.  Tuesday is Groove-day and I am hoping we can walk there and back.  I need to blow the cobwebs away.  Once home there might be bread to bake and there's certainly washing to do, ironing and various other chores.  The bathroom needs a good old sort out too.   There's plenty to do today!

Have a really good day, everyone.  Stay warm and as relaxed and chilled as possible!  xx

A trip to Cambridge.

On Saturday, March 7th, I went on a Broomfield Coach trip to Cambridge.  I've been there before but stayed on the outskirts as I was on a willow weaving course over two day and before then not for decades.  It's really not that far away, less than an hour in the car, but even so . . . I just haven't.  SO I was really looking forward to this trip.

Rather than bombard you with loads of history stuff, I will post links that you can follow up, if you're interested.

It wasn't the nicest day - very dull and a bit chilly, but it didn't rain so no complaints and it certainly didn't deter the visitors - us and thousands of others!

The bus dropped us off behind The Backs - a really pretty part of several universities and we should have been able to cut through onto King's Parade but it was blocked in preparation for the Cambridge Half Marathon on Sunday.
I'm quite pleased because I might have missed this if I'd cut through (I don't know, it's possible).

The very famous and attractive Mathematical Bridge, supposedly designed by Sir Isaac Newton (it wasn't, that is a myth)

https://history.queens.cam.ac.uk/college/mathematical-bridge

Even on a dull day, it was very attractive.

I had booked a ticket to go into Kings for twelve o'clock so first I stopped off here:

A very attractive little cafe where I intended to have a coffee but also fell for some avocado on toast which was so delicious.

Once satisfied and with a visit to the loo before leaving, I wandered up and down, finding things to tick off my list.

Here's the Corpus Clock, a modern and intriguing timepiece that one could just walk past without really noticing.

Here's a link to a YouTube video about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARes4M5OLxU

I walked past Great St Mary's on the way to look round the market.  You can climb the stairs to the top for some wonderful views but I didn't.  Maybe it's on the list for next time.  

https://www.cam.ac.uk/public-engagement/news/spotlight-on-great-st-marys-church

The market was . . . OK.  Not as proper-market as the St Albans one was, more touristy, I think, with loads of street food stalls which all looked and smelled pretty delicious!

This was right in the centre and the stall to the back-left was where I later bought a Cypriot chicken and lamb wrap, which I thoroughly enjoyed while sitting on one of the fountain steps.

The market goes right back to the Middle Ages and here's a YouTube video about it.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OF4mAs2l2U

One thing I really loved was how you can glance down a side alley and go from modern to historical in twenty paces!

Just look at those chimneys!

When it was time, I walked into the King's College grounds.  I took so many photos but, fear not, I will pick and choose carefully.

History of the College.

History of the Chapel

The chapel is a reverse Tardis - it seems so much bigger on the outside but when you walk in, apart from the height which is most impressive, it feels smaller and almost intimate.

A poor photo of the absolutely amazing fan vaulted ceiling.

Evidence of the Tudor dynasty is everywhere you look.  Tudor roses, the Beaufort portcullis (Henry VII's mother was Margaret Beaufort, the don't-know-how-many-great granddaughter of John of Gaunt and his mistress, then wife, Katherine Swynford, one of my favourite ladies of history) and coats of arms galore!

R A - Regina Anna - or Anne Boleyn, carved during the brief time she was queen and lucky to still be there.  Most were defaced/removed shortly after her death.  A really good bit of dating evidence!

There's also just one memory of Kathryn Howard's brief reign too - in a stained glass window, I believe but I couldn't see it.

Where the world famous choir sits - one side of it anyway!

There's a number of side chapels, all of which are interesting.  This particular one memorialises those from the College that dies in both World Wars - in the photo is the wall for WW1.

From the looks on people's faces, we were all finding it a very sombre place as we teeter on the brink of a third world war . . .

Another bit of Anne Boleyn.  H A - Henry Anne

View from the bridge over a wild flower meadow towards the chapel.  

No, I didn't!

I loved this little market - lots of hand crafted stuff, not cheap but not shockingly costly either.  This was where I bought some nice earrings and a little coffee mug.

So many lovely old dwellings.

And my final destination, the Round Church.  Absolutely lovely, not the least bit fancy, built around 1130 and only one of four round churches still in use in England.  Another is Little Maplestead, here in Essex.  Must look it up as I go pretty much past it on the way to Center Parcs.

https://roundchurchcambridge.org/

The columns and arches

It was an active church until the congregation grew too large, proving very popular with students

There's a lovely 'social' area to one side.

Standing in the middle of the round bit with the church history of Cambridge displayed around the outside.  It was very interesting.

These stone faces were added by renovators in the 1840s.  Some were the stonemasons' faces but, somehow, I think someone was playing a joke with this one.

That's all I had time for - I had to walk back to the coach with so many things still on my list.  I hope they do another trip next year - I'd love to go again.

Coming up - Stratford Upon Avon this next Saturday!

Monday, 09-03-26

Morning, everyone. 
No, this isn't the Cambridge post, really sorry.  I this, that and the other yesterday but was just too tired to settle to it in the end.  I'll get it done today and post it later!

Have a lovely day, everyone.  Back later.  xx

Sunday, 08-03-26

Good morning, all.  It's a damp and dull start to the day again after some beautiful days last week.  Come on Spring.
Mind you, to be fair, I prefer to count the start of spring from the astronomical date rather the the meteorological one so that's not until March 20th.

Google tells me that "Astronomical seasons are dictated by Earth's orbiting position around the sun. Meteorological seasons are dictated by the Earth's temperatures, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information." so, perhaps, the meteorological one is more accurate but less flexible and, given that global temperatures are changing, perhaps that should change too?

Anyway - it's a bit chilly and raining!!  We got lucky yesterday, I think.  It wasn't warm but it was dry in Cambridge.  It was also very, very crowded - I should have expected it but I was surprised just how many groups of students, tourists, UK and from overseas there were.  So many languages in the air!

It was a lovely day.  I have to upload and sort out the photos I took and I will do that today and, probably, post it tomorrow morning.  Suffice it to say we had good journeys both ways and I came back with the mandatory fridge magnets - I have quite a lot now and I need to tidy them up on my fridge door.

Today is a day at home (thankfully).  I need to start Lindsey's loaf and I must do a quick tidy up as downstairs is more than a bit of a mess.  It's all surface mess really, shouldn't take long.

Then I can get on with some crochet  I took a look at my supply of yarn scraps - you know, those little balls that are too small to do much with apart from  few rounds of a granny square - and started joining them all together into one big ball with that magic know one of you lovely people told me about.  I've started a top down granny cluster jumper, a pattern I have used several times but it's a quick make, no seams and, in this case, I've already done the joins.  It's jolly useful to pull over a think jumper or a T shirt for a bit of extra warmth and I'm often wearing the ones I have already made so, yes, a good use of my scraps, I would say.
It will be a right ragbag of colour but that's OK, I don't have to wear it when I go out if I don't want to!  And the scraps are pretty much gone.  Yay!

Time to tackle that kitchen!  Wish me luck and have a good day, whatever you have in the diary.  xx

Friday, 06-03-26: update!

Morning, everyone.  I'm a bit pushed for time so will just post this and do it properly later on.  Back asap!

Phew, home again and have a bit of time before Alex arrives.
Sorry about that, everyone. 

Right - yesterday. 
Lovely chat with Chris followed by a shop where I stuck very much to my list.

I got an email from Broomfield coaches asking for a payment for a trip in May - the Poppy Factory and then a river cruise.  Lovely!

I found some YouTube videos of walking tours round Cambridge - not that I'm doing one but it gives me a familiarity with the streets and where things are.  I do like to be prepared for these trips - I think I get so much more out of them with a bit of background understanding.

And now it is Friday.  I'm just back from Slimming World and, as already mentioned, Alex is round for some cooking.  Today he's making gardener's pie (veggie version of cottage pie) for him and Beth to have this evening.

And then the rest of the day is chilling, reading (I am really enjoying the Eleanor book - it's one you have to concentrate on, no skim reading here.  I always take my Kindle with me on the coach so I can get more read tomorrow too) and getting my bag ready for tomorrow.  I have a coach bag which stays on the coach with charger battery pack, water, spare socks, hankies, car keys, etc, and a handbag that goes with me.
Then all I will need is nice weather.  :-)  

Have a lovely day, everyone.  There may or may not be a post tomorrow; it depends what time I wake up.  Back Sunday anyway, for sure.
Stay safe and warm.  xx

Thursday, 05-03-26

Morning, everyone.  

It was a funny old day, weather wise, yesterday.  Misty and dull all day and then, come the evening, definitely foggy rather than misty.  It was the same this morning but now it looks as if the sun will come out and the mist is rapidly disappearing.   Long may that continue.

In my sitting down times, I have been getting on with my concentric circles blanket.  It's not a huge one, just a lap blanket really, and it's used up some of my stash of small balls of yarn as well as some of the larger amounts.

Here's a link to the original, Colour Study:  Squares with Concentric Circles by Wassily Kandinsky, which was the inspiration for arguably the best art project I did withy my year ones.  I covered it several times in my many years teaching Y1 and have very happy memories for how much we all enjoyed it.

And here's my blanket - missing a border at the moment.  I think it needs a solid border and, Alison, I'm thinking of doing half trebles - what do you think?  I have loads of black so that won't be a problem!

I think I will probably donate this when it is finished.

Back to yesterday and I got my sound issue sorted - well, I didn't, my super clever friend (taught his boys in Y1) used a programme to take over my laptop from his computer and have a look around.  At first he did just what I did and that was OK but eventually he found the problem and now I can be heard again.  And I know what to do should it ever happen again.

Many thanks, Eddie - you are a star (yet again).

I did a bit of Cambridge 'research' and have booked a ticket for entry to Kings College grounds and chapel.  There's loads of other lovely things on my list so I will just have to see how it all goes on Saturday, how the timing works out.  The coach should get there at ten so I want to get my bearings, have a coffee, visit the market and look and the Corpus Clock and then it will be time to go into Kings.  And then I will just see how it all goes.  I'd like to visit the Round Church and look in one of the many museums (not sure which yet) and there's some nice shops scattered around.  And there's something old and interesting around pretty much every corner, isn't there?  I certainly won't be short of things to do and let's just hope the weather is pleasant - dry at least.

After personal training (as always, really good), I smartened myself up a little bit and Julia picked me up for our girls' meal out together!  We used to go to a local pub but it changed hands and went downhill so now we go cross town a bit to the Harvester which we all like and which really isn't too expensive as these things go.

Before Christmas, I couldn't go, in January Beth couldn't go but this time we all made it and it was a really lovely evening.  We've fixed out next date for early May now,

Driving home was a bit hairy in the fog but it's a familiar route so all was well.  Thanks, Jules!

Today, as usual on Thursday, starts with a Chris and me chat at mine this week.  Then I'm going to do my small weekly shop.  And in the evening it's our Slim Win chat!  SO a really nice day