Sharp crocuses were promised and violá. A very dull day again though and they weren't open yet, but they are the same two, honest.Quite chilly but nowhere near as wet. We had lots of things to do round and about and while we were in Eastwood I bought a new coat from Sanders. A very reliable old-fahsioned firm, and I wanted something not heavy, big pockets for notebooks, compact camera, mobile phone, gloves etc., and they found me just precisely the right thing. I tried loads on but this one we both liked. Y said, "It looks as if you've had it years". I have this effect on clothing - I could have walked out of the shop wearing it and no-one would have been even slightly suspicious. Except for the cardboard labels which festooned, that is.
In Boots I showed the Pharmacist my 'wicklow' or whatever they are called and she prescribed me some Magnesium Sulphate Ointment which I gingerly rubbed on around 1pm and already (at 8.30pm) it seems to have eased the pain considerably.
Then we went to Heanor because Y wanted a fairly large storage box and we found an ideal one in In-Store in faux-suede. It is so realistic I'm half convinced it IS suede. But, at the price, it couldn't be. I also bought a black canvas type shoulder bag for my camera stuff, slightly larger than the one I have been using. Lots of zipped pockets and internal compartments etc. The price, amazingly, was £3. And Y has been using a similar one from the same shop to take her essentials on the train to London. She loves it and pronounces it 'robust'. Who needs a Billingham camera bag at £75 minimum. Anyway it would look like a camera-bag and I'd prolly get it nicked.
Then we did routine Lidl and Morrisons and, as always, seemed to end up with a car-full.Picture 2 is some daffodils which are going to be at least a month early. The year John was born, as 28th March approached, it was a toss-up whether he arrived before a daffodil in the border opened. They arrived on the same day.
I had decided to make a beef-stew and as we had veggie shopped I had a frugal use-up of odds and ends. Some swede (turnip to us northerners) a celery stick, a leek, an onion, a carrot, some potato to thicken it. Plus some fresh button mushrooms. As I had run out of beef-ctock cubes I used chicken. It didn't seem to matter. Plus a bay leaf and some fresh thyme. And Y made some dumplings - due to my 'wicklow' I couldn't roll dumplings with one hand! Accompanied by fresh broccoli and some fresh Charlotte potatoes. And, even though I say it myself, twas delicious.
The Culture Show was so boring we switched it off after 15 minutes. They had some weird art-critic reviewing the Gilbert and George exhibition and we just wished it had been Andrew Graham Dixon whose opinions we rate. We prefer Verity Sharpe to the current presenter who, as Bungus perceptively pointed out, never seems to listen to the answers the people she interviews give her. The architecture chap hasn't been on for weeks. If it doesn't improve I think we shall stop watching it.
I'd had problems downloading some firmware update for my Nikon D80 but a friendly expert on the Amateur Photography forum soon sorted me out. I don't know where I would be without my forums.
....Catch you tomorrow.
Nice sharp crocuses; nearly cut myself.
ReplyDeleteAs a student of Latin (failed School Cert) I always thought it was ‘croci’, but it must be Greek (it is to me anyway) like octopuses.
Just a dull, misty sort of day here.
Pleased to learn that I shall be able to recognise you in your new coat. I hope you will retain the labels – festooning suits you. And please continue to carry your old bag as well as the new one and promise me you will learn Japanese.
You’ll have to get a protective ‘fingerstall’ (one word, apparently, no hyphen). Strange name, I always think.
Too late!!! But I’ll tell you anyway.
Netto have loads of faux suede things in all the time (I haven’t studied them closely but they look perfectly OK at a glance and are remarkably cheap).
Although I was raised to call Swedes ‘turnips’ I changed as soon as I found that turnips are a different size and colour – to me it helps if different things have different names. What would I do if people referred to ‘lamb’ as ‘beef’? And my personal view is that ‘new’ or ‘salad’ potatoes are inappropriate with stews. I think they need mash (preferably with a more than equal amount of swede mashed in with it, which for me is the only way to eat swede apart from having it roasted with other roots).
Now I quite enjoyed the ‘alternative’ Gilbert and George bit of the Culture Show (Mark Kermode was particularly tedious this week) and I cannot treat Andrew Graham Dixon with any respect after his misuse of ‘fascinate’; would you look up to him if he asked you to ‘borrow him a quid’?
I like the Geordie lass even if she does get a remote look in her eyes every so often (I think I would if I had to listen to some of the claptrap she is saddled with).
But I’ll carry on watching it if there is nothing else much on (mind you, I taped Primeval this week having heard some good reports, eg, ‘Look Out Dr Who’. But I would have called it ‘Primevil’).
I too used to call them 'Wicklows' until I found that the correct term is 'whitlow'as can be seen here
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/health/ask_the_doctor/whitlow.shtml
Whatever I know how painful they can be.