We’ve been away at our other home and, whilst I could have blogged on my iPad, it doesn’t feel the same to me. I’m evidently getting fussy in my old age.
We had a really good time and enjoyed the break. LT goes down there frequently, the last few times I haven’t joined him for one reason and another, so it was three months since we went together. We had various items to buy and things to do, I did a whole lot of dusting and hoovering, we washed and ironed, very domesticated. And I have bought a whole kilo of red chillies at the Exotic Supermarket to make more pickle – the two jars I made with our surplus jalapeño peppers have been eaten already and it’s so delicious that we long for more.
The journey down was fine, though there was a major hold-up on the other carriageway on the motorway and we were sorry for those people who, at the end, were bowling along happily, not knowing they were going to be stuck in a jam for an hour or so in a few minutes. But the way back was even better, we took 2 hours and 40 minutes door to door, which is a time that probably can’t be bettered. Not legally anyway.
The leak in the kitchen hasn’t been entirely cured – as suspected, the drinking water tap that bypasses the rest of the system (which otherwise goes through the water softener) is also leaking. LT turned off the cold water supply but unfortunately it’s the other side of that tap so it didn’t help. Lovely Roses has been mopping up daily – it’s a drip not a flood. But the cold water supply tap ceased to function when LT turned it back on again, so now we have no cold water and presumably the hot water tank isn’t filling up either, so we can’t use it all up. I hadn’t quite appreciated that everywhere was cut off and nor had Tim so when I went for a bath, I put on the hot tap as usual, undressed, went to turn on the cold … at least in the kitchen there’s a dribble from the cold tap but nothing upstairs and the four inches of water in the bath was too hot to sit in. I know, darlings, because I tried and I had to get out again, squeaking a bit. Luckily, I noticed the hot water bottle that I’d put in Gus’s bed hadn’t been emptied and that couple of pints was just enough to make the bathwater bearable.
So LT went and filled buckets and watering cans from the outside tap and we’ve got jugfuls from the annexe, because Roses is unaffected (of course, we couldn’t have cut her supply off!), so we can flush the loos and clean our teeth and cook. And our good friend who is a heating engineer and plumber is coming in the morning to put things right. DV.
My friend Jan had a silly fall back some six months ago – needing to get out of bed in the middle of the night, she couldn’t find the lamp switch, got up and felt her way to the loo but stumbled and fell on the way back. She fell against her bed and broke her upper arm and she’s still in a nursing home. But she’s hoping to go home soon, finally. So I’ve bought her a lamp that is activated by touch, so that should relieve her worry about needing to put on the light again. Falling is potentially the worst thing that can happen when you’re getting on in years, I’m hardly of an age to worry and yet I do, rather, probably because of my clumsy awkwardness with my hip. I am grateful every single day that I’m so well recovered.
The greenhouse seedlings are doing fine and the radishes in the garden are up. So much coming into leaf and blossom, it makes me happy.
The chickens have been laying well in our absence and we had a lot of eggs when we got back. So I made brownies – terribly decadent, but irresistible – and we had egg curry for dinner. A very nice recipe actually, quite simple and quick to cook and the sauce would work well for a number of things. One to bear in mind.