Making Good Use

Alone Again, Naturally

After the most wonderful two weeks together poor old P has had to return to Hong Kong - he didn't want to go and I most certainly didn't want him to go  - but what can you do when that is the only job in his speciality he could find.  After more than two years unemployed, and having tried everywhere in the UK and Europe, it was Hong Kong or bust - so Hong Kong it was.  It's a bugger to be separated by so many thousands of miles but it is how it is and neither of us can change it at this point in time.

We managed to fit in a couple of days in Switzerland last week,  P wanted to catch up with his family whilst he was in Europe and as neither of us wanted to be separated for those couple of days I went along for the ride.  It was only really possible thanks to the thrice-weekly flights directly from Bristol to Zurich.  Not sure how long they'll keep going as both flights were pretty empty but maybe they do better business in the winter with people heading of for ski holidays.  We were both delighted that these flights exist as it made travelling over much much easier (and considerably cheaper) as we didn't have to travel up to Heathrow.

Switzerland was looking particularly beautiful at this time of year - though the English countryside is also looking pretty spectacular right now too.  I was surprised to see snow still on the peaks of the mountains but the Swiss, like the rest of Europe, have been cursed with a six-month-long, bitterly cold winter which has meant everything is at least a month late this summer.

The house feels very empty right now but no doubt I'll get used to being on my lonesome again, and poor old P will get used to living in an apartment the size of a shoebox.  Our house is not large by any means but P said he felt like he was living in a palace compared to his accommodation in HK.  Plus we do have a rather stupendous view which P enjoyed looking at for ages (no view in HK, just the sides of other skyscrapers) and, during the first week of his holiday at least, clear bright blue skies - another thing which is in short supply in HK apparently.

Unless I go out to visit him (and I'm really not sure I could hack such a long flight)  it'll be Christmas before I see P again.  Much as I normally loathe the festering season, this year I'll be wishing it to come round as quickly as possible.  Or, maybe, a miracle may happen and he'll find a job in either UK or northern Europe - hmm, don't think I'll hold my breath for that!!

Six Months is Too Long

Finally, after six incredibly loooong months, P is home for two weeks leave.  We're halfway through those two weeks but we've managed to pack in an awful lot during the past week (and have much more planned for the coming week too.)  We visited the beautiful Dyrham Park which is practically on our doorstep and which I had never been to before.  I can highly recommend it if you enjoy visiting National Trust properties - and it is very easily located just off the A46.  (Don't do what we did and drive for miles around country lanes assuming the entrance would be in the village of Dyrham!!  The passing scenery was rather lovely though.)

On Friday P, me and Mum went for a splendid day out at Upton Cheyney (a gorgeous village between Bristol and Bath.)  We went primarily to visit the farn shop but had a wander around the lanes there too.  We then went on to The Old Crown in Kelston for a splendiferous pub lunch which we ate sitting under an old apple tree in the pub garden.  We timed it beautifully because within minutes of leaving the heavens opened and it chucked it down with rain.  Didn't stop us having a quick stop in a garden centre en route though.

Yesterday P and I went to the most beautiful village, Queen Charlton, that I have ever seen.  They were having their summer fete and it was a lovely afternoon out.  The sun shone, there was a brass band playing on the village green, cream teas in the village hall and it was like stepping back in time 50 years - I could almost have expected to see Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple go swooping by on her bike.  Perfect.  P is really enjoying being able to see so much green space and blue sky and I'm really enjoying having P around again - even if it is only for two weeks.

Apologies once again for no photos but I still haven't fixed the Typepad problem - though yesterday I forgot to take my camera with me so that wouldn't have been much use either!!

Shopping Ad Nauseum

During the nine years I was living in Essex, Bristol garnered itself another mega shopping mall - Cabot Circus.  To build it a lot of the 1950's monstrosity that was Broadmead was demolished and this paen to consumerism rose from the ashes.  I suppose it's nice enough as shopping malls go - it certainly has some very high-end shops in it like Harvey Nicks as well as every High Street name you can shake a stick at.  It is light and airy and has a mega Showcase cinema and lots of restaurants on the top floor.  On Saturday (as part of my nephew's 10th birthday bash) I visited it for only the second time (well, there might have been a brief third occasion but I was only looking for a loo that time.)

We had a very nice meal in an Italian restaurant with nine or so 10 / 11-year-old boys who mostly behaved themselves very well, plus a couple of Mummys, me (the token auntie) and Mum - in her role as Grandma, of course.  The restaurant was fairly quiet with plenty of space to enjoy ourselves.  Outside, though, the story was entirely different.  It is a very, very long time since I have seen so many people all hell bent on such an astonishing display of consumerism.  People didn't just have one carrier bag of new items, they had whole armfuls.  There were groups, families, couples, singles - all trotting off across the weirdly-shaped bridge (famous for inducing feelings of dizzyness and fainting) back to the multi-storey mega-sized car park eager to store their mahoosive amounts of new purchases in the boots of their cars and then join the ginormous queue of traffic exiting the Circus.

I have to say the whole experience of so much shopping and spending by so many people left me feeling rather unsettled.  I know it's probably me who was the odd one out there on Saturday (though neither Mum nor my sister ever go near the shops in Cabot Circus either), and I do realise that we need to have people spending in order to get our stagnant economy moving again.  Plus, I know full well that if people didn't spend lavishly and buy new items then there would be very little to be found later in the second-hand market.  It really felt to me that these people, with their armfuls of carrier bags, were treating their whole shopping experience like some kind of religion - and if that is what makes them happy then good luck to them.  I'm sure most of those at Cabot Circus on Saturday wouldn't enjoy a grotty old charity shop or a good rummage round a jumble sale - it's horses for courses.   But retail shopping as an Olympic sport? - no thanks, not for me.

Mum's Birthday Present

It may be a tad unconventional, but what Mum really wanted for her 80th birthday present was a bit of a makeover to her front garden.  The bed in front of her living room window had become totally choked with brambles, a stupidly large buddleia and self-seeding aquilegias.  Add into the mix a couple of stunted old rose bushes and a large shrub which attracted all manner of slimey slugs and snails whenever it rained (and it certainly can rain in the West Country) and the time had come to get something done.  Cue one lovely young chap of a gardener, a delivery of pale plum-coloured shale and four or five hours hard work and ta dah!!

Mum's front garden has been transformed.  She is delighted with it all and it really does look so neat and tidy and should be easily low maintenance from here on in.  

A few pots have already been displayed and Mum is now talking about getting some lavender plants and a nice large pot to add to the mix.  I particularly like the display of pansies in Mum's old tin 'clothes washer'.    I'd like to do something similar with an old jam pan I've got - it would look very fetching outside my front door.  So it's a bit belated (almost three weeks belated) but Mum finally has her birthday pressie.

Just wanted to say thank you so much to everyone who left comments on the last post but one - I was very touched by your kind words.  I still haven't fully decided whether to carry on blogging or not, I'll see how I feel in a week or two.

Second-hand But New

A couple of weeks ago - when the weather seemed a lot more promising that it is now - I got my summer clothes out of their storage box.  When I'd hung them up in the wardrobe I realised that a) I didn't much like most of them and b) I didn't have half as many summer clothes as I'd imagined.  Well, luckily (!), the weather has been so miserable for the past week that I'm back wearing winter jumpers and long-sleeved T-shirts (oh, the joys of a British 'summer.)  Trouble is, I'm mightily fed up with all my warmer clothes too - having worn them pretty much continuously for the past eight months.

So, most serendipitously, this morning I found two never-been-worn-still-with-tags-attached tops which are warm enough for the weather at the moment but still fairly Spring-like in colour (I am hugely fed up with wearing 'winter' colours.)

Lilac coloured three-quarter sleeve T-shirt in a lovely long length.  Hadn't realised this one was brand-new with its original tags until I got it home.

M&S pure linen top, very nice quality.  Apologies for the 'frilly' effect to the sleeves but it's got one of those odd roll-up and button sleeve things going on - which I don't get on with so I unrolled the sleeves when I tried it on.  Both tops were £4.50 - which I initially thought was a bit expensive but, having realised they are both brand new, I now think were excellent bargains.  They both came from the same local hospice charity shop.

In case you were wondering why photos have suddenly reappeared - I took the opportunity of posting whilst being able to use Mum's camera and computer.  Normal photo-less service will, sadly, soon be resumed!!

Sweet Sixteen

I had a surprise visit from an old boyfriend over the Bank Holiday.  Well, I say it was a surprise but it wasn't really all that surprising as I am living in the same cul-de-sac where he grew up and where his parents still live.  I'd seen his parents around and they'd told him where I was living - which is a bit of surprise for all concerned (including me!!)  Anyway, although he now lives in London, his Dad is none too well so he was down to visit when he called in to see me.

We went out together for about a year when I was 16 and he was 17 and he was my first boyfriend.  We have met up again several times since then - the last time being well over 20 years ago as it was before I'd met P - and it is lovely that we seem to be able to pick up conversations and stories as if all the years in between have never happened.  Though when we compared ourselves to a photo he had on his phone of us in our 'youf' it was easy to see the toll the years have taken on us both.  He is now totally white haired and I have to hobble round with a walking stick. 

That photo has really brought home to me how soddin' old I'm getting - though as was pointed out, it was 37 years ago when we went out together so it's not surprising we've both changed a great deal.  I'd love to show the photo on here but Typepad is still refusing to allow me to put photos on the blog.  I really must do something about that ASAP or pack in blogging altogether - which I am thinking of doing, anyway.

It's a funny old world, ain't it?  I never in a million years thought I'd end up living just a few doors down from my ex-boyfriends family home.  Nor did I ever think when I was 16 that I'd become the wrinkled old bat hobbling round on a stick that I seem to have turned into.  Ah, to be sweet sixteen again and have all your life ahead of you.  I'm pretty sure it was Oscar Wilde who said 'youth is wasted on the young,' how bloody right he was!!

Hats Off to Hugh

Well, the River Cottage Canteen certainly didn't disappoint.  The food was superb, the staff friendly and knowledgeable and we all had one of the best meals we could ever remember eating.  If anyone is interested, our selection went as follows:  Mum and my nephew shared a South West fish board for starters, my sister and I had the onion bahjis and my brother-in-law had a pollack fish dish which doesn't appear on this week's sample menu.  For mains, my Mum and sister both had the chickpea and cauliflower curry (small quibble with that dish as Mum felt the chickpeas could have done with a slightly longer cooking time,) I had ham and eggs, my nephew had sourdough pizza (we sort of shared our mains between us and I can definitely say that the pizza was delish!!)  My brother-in-law had bangers and mash.  For pudding I had the chocolate pot (shouldn't be eating chocolate really but it was soooooo gorgeous - the nicest dessert I've had in many a long year,) Mum and my sister had yogurt pannacotta with rhubarb and hazlenut biscuit - which they declard was divine, my nephew had the chocolate brownie sundae (it looked superb,) and my brother-in-law had the Salcombe dairy ice cream.

The whole experience was first rate and we couldn't have had a better meal or a nicer time on Mum's special day.  River Cottage Canteen certainly isn't a budget option but for a special occasion - and they were certainly doing a roaring trade yesterday lunchtime - it would be hard to beat it.  We're not a family who like getting dressed up so the really relaxed and easy-going dress code was ideal for us, too.  I'm thinking maybe P and I can give it a whirl when he comes home for his two-week holiday, 'cos that'll certainly be a cause for celebration!!

It's a Big Day Tomorrow

Yup, tomorrow is a big day of celebration as my Mum reaches a 'significant' birthday milestone.  (I won't mention exactly how old she'll be but lets just say it's a pretty impressive 'round' birthday.)  As luck would have it, my nephew (Mum's most favourite little person in the whole wide world) has got the day off school tomorrow as his school is being used as a polling station.  We couldn't have ordered that better if we'd tried. 

To celebrate we're all going to try out Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's new Bristol restaurant for lunch.  It should be a really interesting experience and we're all looking forward to seeing what we think of the food and the place itself.  I know my nephew has been studying the menu in the window quite closely on his way past each day from school.  Ah, he's a boy after my own heart - he loves his food. 

The handmade Happy Birthday banner will be getting another airing at some point and we're hoping to take in a little light charity shop perusing after lunch as the Whiteladies Road / Cotham Hill area of Bristol are a mecca for charity shops.  Though the prices are a little high, there are some fabulously high-end items to be found.  My sister has got an amazing wardrobe these days and all of it thrifted from chazzas in that area.

There will also be some homemade ginger cake - courtesy of my sister who is a wonderful cake maker - and no doubt a rendition or two of 'Happy Birthday' to celebrate Mum's day.  She was so nearly born 'Queen of the May' (May 1st) and only missed that title by an hour or two, but she has got May as her middle name to celebrate her birthday month.

Happy Birthday for tomorrow, Mum, and here's to many more.

 

Interesting

There is a very interesting article on the BBC News website today, asking 'How Little Money Can a Person Live On?'  I certainly score a massive fail on the £12 per week to eat healthily part - though the article does concede that the actual cost would probably be double that if people are not confident in the kitchen or don't have the necessary equipment.  I am fairly confident in the kitchen and probably have all necessary equipment but I still can't manage to feed myself on only £12 per week.

Transport costs would also be impossible here in Bristol.  I see the article cites that a four-mile single trip can cost as much as £2.20 in the North East.  I've got news for them, a single trip that is no more than a mile costs £2.20 in Bristol!!  Yup, our bus fares here are shockingly expensive - much more so than for the same transport company (First) than they were in Essex.  There is a 'Fares Fair' campaign underway in Bristol to try and get the bus fares brought down to a more reasonable level.  We can only hope that the campaign succeeds.

I do much better with the clothing side of things as I don't think I spend the average of £4.80 per week on clothing - approx. £250 per year.  I can't remember that last time I bought anything new to wear (though did have some new knickers and socks for Christmas and two new bras for my birthday last year.)

I also don't spend anything like the £11.50 per week average on takeaways or restaurant meals and alcohol - though I did have to buy a bottle of red wine last week for cooking purposes (cheapest I could find was £3.99 from the corner shop.)

I don't have a pet (though Mum's cat Lily is a pretty good substitute), the car is off the road at the moment, and I only have a cheapo pay-as-you-go mobile phone which I bought five years ago for a tenner.  I still couldn't live on £53 per week and I pity the poor souls who have to.

Anyway, have a look at the article and see what you think?  Some of the statements really annoyed me - this one for example

'Conservative MP Alec Shelbrooke has called for a welfare cash card to ensure
that benefits are spent on "essential" items only - food, housing, transport,
clothing and energy.

They would be prohibited from spending the money on "luxury" goods such as
Sky TV, cigarettes and alcohol - items which "hard-working families" have to cut
back on when money is tight.'

But then a Tory, who's probably never had to worry about money in his life, would come out with a crass statement like that, wouldn't he?

It's That Time of Year Again

Yup, it's the time of year when the lawnmower has to come out of hibernation again.  I'd delegated tha task of grass cutting to P the last two summers, as the fruit trees in our old garden made cutting the grass tres difficile - to say the least!! (I understand that our ex-landlord, who has moved back into our old house, has cut all the fruit trees down - which seems a shame but they had got waaaaay out of control, and it'll certainly make the grass cutting much simpler.) 

Anyway, with no P to call on, and the grass getting longer by the day, I had no choice this morning but to do it myself.  We've had our electric lawnmower for a looooong time and it has got rather temperamental in its old age - you have to hold the cord just so or the blasted thing won't start up.  So, bearing this in mind, I started on the patch of grass nearest the garage (where said beastie is stored) thinking that at least I wouldn't have far to put it back should it start playing up.  No worries, it started up just fine.  What I had failed to realise though was just how long the grass had become.  It seemed like every 30 seconds or so I had to stop to empty the grass box (and, indeed, having only done two of the three 'lawns' (I use that term very loosely) that we have, I've now got an almost full green wheelie bin.) 

Another point that I failed to take into account was that being on a devilishly steep hill, our garden has rather a  lot of steps - and what fun they are to lug the mower up and down!! - plus, the front 'lawn' is on a rather perilous slope.  That, and the slightly worrying wisps of smoke and faint smell of burning emanating from the handle of the mower (thank goodness I was also using a circuit breaker!!), made cutting that particular patch of grass quite the adventure.

At this point - and having bust the metal button off my jeans whilst bending about emptying the grass box - I thought enough was enough and I put the lawnmower away.  I even had to go and have a quick lie-down I was that knackered.  I'm saving the joy of doing the grass in the back garden until tomorrow, and I'm really not looking forward to lugging the mower up all the steps there, I can tell you. 

One of the things I noticed about the house when I first came to view it was how long and shaggy the grass was - I'm beginning to understand why now!!