Tuesday, January 01, 2008

New Year's Day - Trimmings down

Gerald the chaffinch often sits on this trellis and glowers at the tit-feeder and then tries manfully to alight thereon and never quite manages it. Chaffinches are by nature ground feeders but, if we all lived long enough, they might evolve so as to be able to cope with modern structures.

Terribly dull for photography but I must tell you the answer to the 'where was the robin?' question. I feel I have an apology to make because those straight edges in the eye, were not as I thought buildings at all. Reg tells me that the Robin was somewhere on the walkway near the concrete figures on the form . And the lines might have been the tall yew hedges. Sorry to have set you adrift in a leaky boat so to speak. As so often my imagination proved too vivid for my own good. I hope competitors will forgive me!

I thought it my duty to recover from the Radiogandy archives a snap of the concrete bench in question.

Apparently the EPS walkers seemed sheltered from the gale reported by Bungus who lives in the vicinity and enjoyed their healthy walk.

Y has taken the trimmings and the cards down today. We can never work out when twelfth night is anyway so New Years Day seems appropriate. My day has been spent sorting yesterday's pictures out. Picasa WebAlbums came into it's own and I was able to send a link to 40 or so pictures to family who might like them and are free to edit, improve etc., at will. The speed they uploaded (maybe 5 minutes) surprised me and googlemail sent them in a jiff. Also, I have spent ages trying to sort my printer problem. It's on the verge of being right but I can't seem to stop it printing stuff I tried to print before Xmas. The ink supply is right, the heads are clear, the windows offered at different stages seem in order. But....................... bogger it! I shall consult friends.

Comments........Thank you Bungus. We had double agg and chips for lunch, with a slice of ham; gourmets that we are. Also I seem to have resurrected a long lost love of tomato ketchup. As we still don't have a microwave, I had cold Xmas pud and ice cream for second course. Are there no depths ....................................?

I note the arrival of an AnonymousRob comment, posting an entry to the Robin quiz. Sorry Rob, the lines have closed but you won't be charged for this call. Your city night out sounds great. And I shall be pleased to use the fireworks pic tomorrow. Microwaves must differ a lot because 2 minutes on our now defunct one, would have rendered the plates too hot to hold. 1min 30sec was our setting for 2 plates. Custard about 3mins 20secs depending on quantity.

If anyone is eating, I suggest they stop, before reading the next paragraph.

Y does porridge but I have never really liked it since an unfortunate incident during National Service. I was on cookhouse fatigues when an airman (after a heavy night on the Carlsburg) was sick into an enormous vat of porridge he was stirring for the breakfast of 400 souls. The Sergeant cook-in-charge instructed "continue stirring" and half an hour later it was served for the men's breakfast.

When we saw 'The Queen' in cinema we thought it great, and Helen Mirren fully deserved all those awards. As you say HM attracted our sympathy, Tony Blair was sensitively portrayed and the Campbell character was suitably dislikeable.

Quotation for the Day........This I like. Fuller was a fount of wisdom.

"Some have been thought brave because they were afraid to run away"


All being well I plan to turn up tomorrow for WalkonWednesday and even if I don't walk far, Y is looking forward to an amble with the chaps and a breath of fresh air. As is customary I shall take my flask of coffee and mess about. I shall seek advice on my Printer. Sleep tight. Hope you have all had an auspicious start to 2008.


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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sandra often takes down the decorations at (or before) New Year but kept them up this time as we were having guests (see below). One year we had a very successful 13th Night Party and they stayed up until then on that occasion.

I like tomato ketchuo but have very strict rules about what it goes with. Eg: it is good with fish & chips, and egg & chips but not if you have peas as well; it does not go with bacon or sausage or cheese.
Friends for late lunch/early dinner today. Starter of prawns and excellent smoked salmon (Tesco’s Finest) with bb&b. My choice for main course and I went for ham again. Rather smaller than the Xmas one but big enough for a few more days. It was rather cruel of me, I suppose, because although it was one of the options offered (leg of pork the other) Sandra, a fish-eating vegetarian for the past 15 years or so, still salivates over ham (and ham only).
We had the roast ham hot, accompanied by leeks in white sauce, roast root veg, broad beans & carrots, ‘Potatoes Ana’, Cunberland sauce and cider gravy. For pud Sandra had made a raspberry and blueberry Pavlova and candied fruits soaked in Marsala with rum ice cream. Very successful.

I am sorry that you chose to publish the porridge episode because Sandra does it most mornings for my breakfast. I shall try and expunge your revelation from my mind.
But this seems an appropriate time to relate a wartime school dinner experience. We had been served rice pudding as sweet and one pupil found a maggot in his. He pointed it out to the master on duty.
“Eat it up boy,” was the response, “It is only pre-digested rice in a skin.”

I wonder what sort of egg AnonRob gets when he stabs and micros it? more scrambled than poached I would have thought. I only use the micro to time my poached egg which I cook (never more than one at a time) on the hob in a pan of traditional water and vinegar.
Sandra also does porridge in the micro but when I've tried it it explodes out of the dish so I do that in a saucepan too.
We bought a friend a slow cooker for Xmas. The attached booklet has a recipe for porridge. It takes 3 hours!

Following the blogmeister’s example I bought a book from our charity shop yesterday. It cost me a pound but it is very thick. ‘Brewer’s Rogues, Villains Eccentrics’ (sic).
The nearest I could find to Marsden was ‘Marks, Howard’ and to Renshaw, ‘rent boys’. Is somebody trying to push me in a direction I have no desire to go? Not my idea of a happy new year!
I am particularly taken by the following description:
‘a gnarled little fellow, with one blind eye like a grape, with a coffin-shaped forehead, in character a squirming package of malice, jealousy and pawkiness who did not disdain to eke out his undoubted attainments with all the tricks of an advanced quackery.’
That is William Benbow’s view of Dr Robert Knox (of body-snatching notoriety – B & H charged him £7.10s a corpse).