It seems that being thrifty is a fashionable thing at the moment. The newspapers and television seem to be telling us more and more about how people are "making do" with what they have rather than buying new. Last year there were articles in the news about sewing machine sales going up due to people wanting to be more green. Now, as unemployment rises, people are instead using their sewing machines to repair what clothes they already own and make it last longer. When I first started this blog, I wrote of being keen to learn some of the skills that my ... read more
Pictures, not words
Looking back over the last few week's worth of posts I notice that they all seem to be a bit heavy on the words. In contrast here are a couple of things in my flat that are currently making me smile whenever I look at them. ... read more
Gran’s ginger biscuits
One of the strongest memories from childhood is being given home made ginger biscuits whenever we went to visit my Gran. There was always a supply in the biscuit barrel in her sideboard and my sister and I loved them. Gran's now in her nineties and arthritis in her hands prevents her from baking as much as she would like. Whenever I smell anything with ginger in I am taken back to sitting in her back room and munching a biscuit with a glass of squash. Tomorrow is the WWA AGM and I offered to sort out refreshments. Biscuits was the obvious thing to make and it seemed a while since I'd ... read more
Britain by train
This week I seem to have been sending most of my time on trains, or in meetings. Out of the five working days this week I have only been in London for one, and am again elsewhere tomorrow. I often have meetings away from my main office, but not normally so many in a week. Being constantly on the go is very tiring in itself and hence I decided to travel everywhere by train this week, rather than driving as I often do (mainly as to save time admittedly). As well as the obvious carbon benefit over driving I do find that there are many other advantages and disadvantages compared to just ... read more
Remember that there’s more to life…
... than the day job. I've had a difficult couple of days at work and it can be all too easy to let this sort of thing get me down. This time I"m trying to fight back though and rise above everything that's going on. The weather here in the UK seems to have turned in the last 24 hours. As I left my office (far too late) this evening the wind blew my umbrella inside out and broke one of the struts. Back in St Albans walking home from the station I had no option but to brave the elements. It felt fantastic though. It was still reasonably warm, but with a fresh edge to the ... read more
Man Alive – Dave Hill
When returning some other books to the book sharing shelf at work I picked up a copy of Dave Hill's Man Alive, mainly being attracted by the cover design. I thought it may be a bit like some of the John O'Farrell books that I've enjoyed before. Not quite though.Derek Hawker does something to do with designing shopping centres. He seems to be having a mid-life crisis. His wife, Denise, has gone to China for a year to visit pandas and teach English. Son Matthew is in Australia and keeps trying to psycho-analysis his Dad over e-mail. Daughter Charlotte is a student ... read more
A walk in the woods
Inspired by this article on the local paper's website, Mr C and I went to explore Heartwood Forest on Sunday afternoon. Back in 2008 I remember being woken up one morning by the radio news telling us that St Albans was going to be home to the Woodland Trust's new forest. At the time exact details were a bit sketchy, but the site is all now agreed, and purchased I believe, and access has been made for the public.The plan is for them to create a 840 acre wood near Sandridge, on the outskirts of St Albans. There are already about 45 acres of ancient woodland in the land that ... read more
Garden planning
It's been a week of form filling, building societies and Mr C's birthday! The house is still progressing with solicitors involved and lots of paperwork being generated. This also means that we're starting to spend money, so fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong from here. Mr C and I have been to visit a couple of building societies about mortgages. We're waiting for one final piece of information from one and then we should be able to decide once and for all as to which we are going with. They will then need to get the survey done - fingers crossed that it won't ... read more
Exit Music – Ian Rankin
After reading Dead Souls I felt that I had to pick Exit Music up from the bookcase and read it straight away. This book is Rebus' last outing and covers his last few days as a Police officer before retirement.Rebus being Rebus means that things are of course not at all straightforward. He was planning a few quiet days in the office whilst trying to get Siobhan to help him tie up a few loose ends. Things did not go according to plan though when a dissident Russian was found dead. As Rebus and his old team start looking into it further it becomes apparent that it may ... read more
Mary Poppins’ strike-me-pink raspberry jam cakes
After quite a tough day at work I decided to do some baking on Monday evening whilst Mr C worked late. I've been reading Jane Brocket's Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer for quite a few months now, but haven't actually tried that many recipes from it.Mr C's a big raspberry jam fan and hence the recipe for Mary Poppins' strike-me-pink raspberry jam cakes seemed like an obvious choice. The recipe makes them sound quite simple to make - a soft dough, make into twelve balls and then shape each ball as if you're making a crude clay pot (like at school pottery ... read more