Missing Bear

Bonfire night has just passed and it's the second one where bear wasn't home to set off fireworks. It was such a big deal in our family. We didn't get a lot of fireworks, and we certainly didn't spend a lot on them, but there was that moment when the men in our family - father, DH and then, when he was old enough, bear, let off the fireworks in our tiny front garden. We'd been doing this since he was tiny, and now we're not. I'm still glad that he's away at university and living his life, and I wouldn't change a thing. I'm just taking a moment. 

I'm still getting caught up in the whole 'preparedness' stuff. I ordered two extremely inexpensive solar powered power banks from Temu over a year ago. Today I finally dug them out. I'd planned to have them for the car, and I think that I should keep to that, to encourage adventures. However I thought that I may as well charge them and, as the weather was so grey and awful, I charged them from the mains. 

I have no idea how good they are or how much charge they hold and for how long, but I tested them and they could charge my phone, and I guess every little helps. I had to ask DH to help me find out how to turn the lights on, as I couldn't figure it out for love nor money. 

DH pointed out patiently that the instructions were on the box and I just needed to hold the button down. He also pointed out that the symbol for the carabiner on the box, labelled hanger, was actually a picture of a noose. 

We both thought it was hilarious. I can't complain too much. I can't imagine doing too much better if I was translating into a second language, but seeing the noose hanging there just made me and DH laugh. I would add, I'm absolutely not leaving them plugged in unless I'm around - I've heard far too many horror stories.

I'm also feeling fairly good about food, as I cooked some Quorn chunks in a jar of lemon chicken sauce, both of which could do with being used up, and I had some with the rice that was getting near its 'use by' date, and I've got a big bowl of that lemon chicken in the fridge for at least two more meals. I adore lemon chicken, but bear and DH aren't so keen, and I tend not to bother too much for myself. For once, though, I went for it, with loads of extra veggies from the prepared stock in my freezer. It's a definite win, which I needed after the writing stuff.

Writing stuff - I want to write new stuff, but I've been bogged down all year sorting out old stuff. Just when I thought that I was getting somewhere, the crazy juice hit again. I wanted to try uploading a book to BookVault, a company that prints paperbacks. I've been looking for somewhere non-Amazon since Draft2Digital got peculiar. They seem plausible, and so I picked out Out of the London Mist and started skimming over the text to make sure it was all in order. 

It wasn't. It is utterly not in order. I am ashamed, and someone bought a copy last month and I have no way of finding out who they are and apologising to them. I need to sort out soooo much. I suspect some of the text got scrambled between Three Furies passing the rights back to me and me uploading it again to Amazon. 

So as well as converting the blog posts to books, I need to pull the books already on Amazon, double check for typos, especially the older stuff, and amend the notes at the end. Apprenticeship of Ghosts and Cats in the Bible should be fine, though I'll double check, and I'm fairly sure that most of the White Hart stuff is okay, but I'd need to pull them all anyway to add the new contact details now that I've stopped posting on Wordpress. 

To be honest, when I realised that I'd need at least two passes to check the text, I nearly threw my laptop out of the window. I'll probaby have a writing blog post with an update next week, when I have a better idea of what's going on. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Still Catching Up

 I couldn't face taking a pic. The box is still downstairs in the kitchen and I currently have horrific cramps in my leg, so I'm not going up and down. I'm uncomfortably aware that practically anyone reading this could do a better job of the pic drawing freehand, but I really can't. 

As for what it depicts, I was in the kitchen when I heard the most awful banging, ending in a thud. When I got to the door, it turns out that an Evri driver had chucked a large parcel marked 'Fragile' down the cement steps towards the kitchen door. I don't know whether the huge dent in the box is from then or earlier in the jouney, but I cannot express how unimpressed I am. Fortunately, it contains a flexi plastic trug. It's huge, and ideal for reconsituting the coir brick compost I have ready for the roses that will be arriving any day now - hopefully with a different driver - and stuff in the garden in general. It is also unaffected by being thrown down concrete steps, which is just as well.

I've been depressing myself by clearing out cupboards. As I said, I'm wanting to stock up early with the Christmas goodies because I'm unnecessarily worried by all the doom and gloom stuff going on. I saw a reference that a UK supermarket had been slightly affected by the hackers, which doesn't help. Kirsten commented that she doesn't have anything attached to the internet, but that apparently there are showers that can use an app, and I am genuinely baffled. Internet access can be disrupted for all sorts of reasons like roadworks and weather, and why would anyone want to fiddle around on their phone when they can just turn a dial? I don't think any of our appliances can be connected to the WiFi, partly because I can't imagine paying out however much it costs to get a fridge that you can use your phone on, and partly because I can't see the point. To be honest, to me it's just one more thing to go wrong.

I can see the point from a supermarket's position. If you are a Big Man (or Woman) In Charge of Cold Stuff, and you work for Tesco, you have a lot of cold stuff going on. It makes sense that there are systems that monitor the fridges and freezers in stores and in warehouses to protect the Cold Stuff from getting too warm. It also makes sense that those systems beam all their info across the internet onto the desk of the Big Man (or Woman) In Charge of Cold Stuff, or more likely, their secretary, to keep a good overall eye on things and work out whether the engineers servicing Cold Stuff Storage need to go to Durham or Devon and how long they can last before being replaced. And it makes it easy for a hacker to threaten to heat all those Cold Stuff Storage units to 50C unless the supermarket pays up. And Christmas would be the absolute best time for extortion if a hacker was able to get in and ready to make threats. So I want to get in early, and that meant clearing out the cupboards.

I have a lot less pasta than I thought, and a lot more rice. In fact, there are 2kg that I need to use up by the end of December, and I'm really the only person eating it. At least there's only a few potatoes left. I managed to fill a couple of bin bags, which sounds bad, but they weren't very full, just heavy, and I didn't want to risk the bin bag splitting. It could have been a lot worse, but there was some tinned potatoes that I really like and didn't get to, and a couple of tins of tomatoes. I got rid of old pasta, rice and dried beans, even though the pasta and beans would probably be okay even if technically past the 'Best Before' date. I've made some mental notes about what needs using up, and I may get bear to make physical notes when he gets home from university. 

This is a poor quality, random pic I took in a supermarket because I couldn't face either carrying on with a huge wall of text or using Canva. Anyway I woke up with cramp at 5.40am, which was fortunate, as Tesco released their delivery slots for Christmas to those who have the Delivery Saver. I got in nice and early and nailed a slot on the 23rd and also one just before bear's birthday. 

I'm still working on the whole idea of it being sort of a New Year, and I need to get back to the lists tomorrow as while I remembered to take the meter reading, I have a parcel that I've been meaning to send for over a week and I need to get myself together. But I have cupboards that make more sense, and an idea of what sort of things need stocking (and a smashed full bottle of soy sauce that got in some unexpected places and a surprising number of traumatised spiders). It could all be worse. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Finally Planning for Christmas

I'm late planning for Christmas this year. Now I'm giving bear money instead of a gazillion tiny packages filled with erasers, fancy rulers, novelty notebooks, fidget toys, and a tower of inexpensive books, there isn't much to plan for. 

Tesco release their Christmas slots tomorrow, opening at 6am, and, yes, I will be getting up at daft o'clock to press 'book slot' for Christmas, hopefully for 23rd December. But I've been thinking, which is never a good thing.

There's been a cyber attack on some European stores which affected freezers. You can read it here on the BBC. I also have an uneasy feeling about how the weather is going to play out over the next few months, though that's probably more about reading too many shock-tactic articles than are good for me. Regardless, I'm getting the food in early. There's a risk that I'll want to indulge in the goodies, but my next delivery will include frozen sprouts and I'll have no problem whatsoever saving those for the big day. I'll be adding the fancy pickles and sauces that I normally get in for Christmas, the bits that will last or can be stashed in the freezer, and a few of the extra bits and bobs. 

I'm very lucky to be able to do this without worrying, as I save my Tesco Clubcard vouchers up to pay for Christmas, and I have a decent stash. I've also got some points saved at Morrisons which will probably cover a chunk of that order as well. Regardless, this is one year, more than ever, that I'm not leaving the Christmas grocery shopping to the last minute. 

Writing stuff - It's been a funny few weeks for me, and I've got a lot of bits of paper scattered around. I've decided that 1st of November was the start of a New Year for me, at least for writing, and you can find the details here. I've decided that I'm going to have fun. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Thawing

I wasn't really cold cold, but I'm so glad to have radiators back. 

The very nice man turned up at 7.30am. He had told me 8am and I was still in the middle of my breakfast when he knocked. I hadn't cleared access to a cupboard and thought that I'd be able to do that while he got started, but apparently he needed to start there. I would have been further in front, but I had a two hour call with my brother last night immediately followed by a call with bear for an hour and a half. 

I was so flattened that I decided to abandon the writing - especially since half the doors and windows in the house were open for various reasons and I write in a room that was in the way for most of the comings and goings, so I retreated out of the way. 

As I was clearing access to the cupboard, I found some yarn. I don't know if you remember the fluffy short blanket that I was wearing like a deep scarf, but I caught the edge and the cast on edge sort of unravelled. 

I apologise for the poor quality of the pic. I should have unravelled it and reknitted the thing. I couldn't face it. Besides, the yarn is lovely and warm and snuggly, and definitely could be worse to knit with, but any loose strands tangle like they're possessed. I threw it out. Today I regretted it because I found more of the yarn and together it would have made a lovely, large blanket. Instead I started another stole type type thing and got quite a bit knitted.

The poor lad didn't leave til 7.30pm as there was a problem sorting out some of the pipes. And he's back tomorrow at allegedly 8am. 

I am so tired, gently warming up as I feel like I'm thawing (even though it wasn't really that cold) and feeling particularly limp. I hope to catch up properly tomorrow.

Hugs and good health to all. 

Maybe Not Overcomplicated

I've worried about doing a gazillion things, and got nothing done. I've been puttering around with some writing stuff, sorting out bits and pieces and getting distracted. I am also missing the radiators. I'm not cold cold. I'm just not warm, and I don't like it. I used to suffer when I was a kid before central heating. I remember my hands going the most gruesome grey when it got cold as my circulation is pathetic and I feel the cold. 

One thing that's been preying on my mind is the continuing supply of potatoes in my kitchen. I maybe have gone through a tenth or less of the large bag that I shouldn't have bought. I've leafed through the cookbook and mentally checked through all sorts of ideas. Then I decided to forget all the fancy ideas and I boiled a pan of potatoes, just plain. 

I'd got a pack of cooking bacon from Morrisons. It's £1 and there's 500g (just over 1lb) of potentially good bacon in there. It's all the odds and ends and trimmings and it can be a bargain, depending on the pack. It's the only thing that I remembered to take a pic

It wasn't too fatty, and it was mainly smoked bacon, which I prefer, but nothing is guaranteed in these packs. I trimmed the fat from enough bacon to make two good portions and I think that I used maybe a quarter of the pack. I plan to trim what's left, cut into small pieces good for stews/stir fries/casseroles/omelettes/pasta etc and freeze in small portions. The stuff I did today made two ample portions fried up with green peppers, onions and mushrooms. I think it may have accidentally made it relatively healthy, as there was a generous veggie to meat ratio, even if the meat was seriously processed, and while I'd trimmed off most of the fat from the bacon, what was left was enough to allow the rest to cook and I didn't add any extra oil. I ate with plain boiled potatoes and I very much enjoyed it. 

I was born in the 1960s, when food was a lot simpler. I'm not saying that it's better, but sometimes it's nice to have food that reminds you of childhood. I always enjoyed plain boiled potatoes much more than mashed, and it was nice to have some on my plate. There are so many ways of cooking potatoes and I felt that I ought to be doing 'fancy' food with them. I was looking at roasting them with rosemary, or slicing them up with garlic and casseroling them, or making one of the versions of rosti, when all the time I'm very happy with eating them plain. 

Of course, I cooked a double batch and I'll be frying up the leftovers tomorrow to have with the leftover bacon, onions, peppers, and mushrooms, with perhaps some peas added as I believe that if you reheat a dish then you should add a little something that's fresh.

There's nothing wrong with dicing potatoes, stirring them in oil and garlic granules with perhaps some herbs, then cooking in an oven/microwave/airfryer. They taste amazing, and I've already had a portion or two like that. But it's like the central heating. When I was a kid, things were much plainer, and we did fine. I sometimes talk about it with bear, and I swear that he doesn't believe me, but I was the first person in my circles to eat a bell pepper when I was a kid. Nobody bothered with garlic or chillies and heaven help you if you looked for cumin and tumeric instead of generic curry powder. Now bell peppers are a staple and grown in gardens up and down the country. 

The pack of cooking bacon, with all the trimmings from whatever bacon was being sliced that day, reminds me of the trimmings that you used to be able to get at the cold meat counter at the butcher, or later, Morrisons used to have a little tub in the cooler next to the fancy sliced meat, and it was the same - trimmings. Bits of various types of ham that had been cut to thick or had been the wrong size or bits of the ends that were so much cheaper and fine for a sauce or to add a little zing to a beef or chicken casserole. There used to be the same sort of thing for cheese as well, and mother used to bring a bag of cheese scraps from Chester market to indulge the cats. These weren't just any cheese scraps, by the way. They were the offcuts from the stalls that sold cheese from the local farms and it was the good stuff - great for sauces or toppings. 

I sort of miss those days as I will be prettying up the potatoes with all sorts until I finish them, but I've decided to remind myself that it's okay to have plain boiled potatoes if I feel like it. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

I Drove Again!

I drove the new car for the second time, and I was so nervous the whole journey. It's annoying, because there was like a cold knot in my chest for the entire time, which there didn't need to be. Regardless, I went out late because I'm still getting used to the clutch, and there are junctions and roundabouts around here where you need to move out with speed when you get the chance, because there aren't many chances during normal traffic. And while I was slow away from some traffic lights, I was fine and I'm getting the hang of it.

Tesco is wonderfully empty around 9.30pm. This was just as well as the new car is a lot bigger than Red and more than fills a parking bay. 

I resisted buying their yarn. There wasn't much and it seemed overpriced for the quality.

Still, I bought several rather nice candles (I'll have to get pics) and some gluten free cereal as a treat, and spent over £60. The candles are an extravagance, but one that we would have indulged in anyway as both DH and I love candles. And I now have a coupon for 8p per litre off petrol, which is lucky as the petrol warning light came on as I approached our house. 

I'm not sure that I'm comfortable with the car yet, but I'm sure that I'll get there. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

It Absolutely Could be Worse

This may come across as a little scattered as I feel like my brain is about to fall out of my ears. I need to get back to lists and I need to stick to them. 

The war against the slugs continues. We keep our cutlery in containers on our dining room table as I currently have two drawers that work in the kitchen and both are full. The kitchen was elderly when we moved in 1994, and the counters are still admirably solid, but the drawers and doors are shaky at best. I can't see it being upgraded any time soon, so I'm working around it. As I don't feel confident that the slugs would stay away from the cutlery, I got some expensive (to me) wooden containers and added some copper slug tape. In the unlikely event of a slug heading that way, the tape should keep them in their place.

It's not a thing of great beauty, but it's not awful either and I've always been a sucker for copper. After posting this, I need to go down and put down more traps as I've been forgetting all day.

As for the boiler, it needs replacing. A nice man came around and prodded it, confident that all he would have to do would be repressure the system. That didn't work. He prodded around and fiddled with the thermostat, which also didn't work. Then he called his boss and started investigating a little closer. It was just like being on holiday as almost the same thing happened to the boiler there. In the end, it was diagnosed as the electronics had failed, partly because of a load of sticky stuff that had oozed onto the circuit board. The nice man asked whether something had been glued.

I remember that last year, when other nice plumbers serviced the boiler, something broke off and they glued it back on. Apparently the glue didn't stay in the break and it may have melted a little over the hot summer. It's gunked up the circuit board and there's not much the current nice plumbers can do. It was sort of embarrassing as the nice man was trying to look up the codes for the non-functioning screen and our model was too elderly for him to find anything. 

So we are paying £3000 for a new boiler. I paid the deposit today. That sum includes system flushes and all sorts, will take a full day, and is happening at the end of next week. Until then, I shouldn't complain. We have hot water, electric heaters, and lots of blankets. I still want my radiators.

It's kind of funny, because I didn't grow up with central heating. I remember getting dressed under the bedclothes in winter when I was a kid, and I certainly didn't have the luxury of electric fan heaters everywhere. I shouldn't be complaining so much. I still want my radiators!

While the nice man was prodding at the boiler, he was leaning across the washing machine. This wouldn't be a problem, as the machine turns itself off automatically quite soon after every load. However I'd just finished washing some clothes and I think the nice man leaned on buttons in a complicated way as after he left, I went to put a load of DH's clothes in, and we couldn't get the washer to work. Honestly, I was terrified that we would immediately have another huge bill. After trying turning it on and off again, switching it off at the mains and back on again, and swearing, DH found the solution online. We pressed the right things in the right order and the washing started. For a moment, though, I could see money evaporating from the kitchen. 

This boiler was installed February 2010, and I remember a lot of what was involved. I have nine days to make sure that there's plenty of access to the kitchen radiator and the cupboard in my room which used to hold the old immersion heater. That should be plenty of time. Stuff has been shoved into places and piled up which makes it harder for the nice plumbers. This is a great excuse for a clear out - a really big, empty-everything-out, clear out. And I'll need to get used to the car because I'll be driving to charity shops and the tip. There's no way that I'll manage more than a small clear out by next Thursday - but it could be the start of a bigger one. 

Mind you, I've a lot of writing to do, and I want to do a clearance of the garden and plant some bulbs before the cold sets in...

I'm going to have to use a lot of lists.

For those in the UK and who are older, I found this video thought provoking. I've been meaning to look into setting up alerts for a while, and I'll have to talk with DH about it. It's not nearly as alarming as the headline makes it seem, but it makes some useful points. I need to add it to a list. 

Hugs and good health to all.