Making Good Use

Not So Good Friday

Yesterday was just one of those days that really gets on your pip.  There was nothing major amiss just a few really irritating, niggly little things.  The main one being that Mum and I had put in a joint home delivery order with Ocado.  The delivery slot was between 3.00 - 4.00 pm and as the order was pretty substantial I'd gone up to Mum's to give her a hand sorting it out and putting it all away, and to bring my shopping back to mine.  At 3.30 pm we had a phone call from someone at Ocado saying that there was a problem with one of the lorries plus a lot of delays on the M4 and the delivery wouldn't be with us before 6.00 pm.  We were not happy but there wasn't much we could do about it so I headed on home with the intention of coming back for the revised delivery time.

Cue, a whole lot of confusion, different delivery times (one was guaranteed to be with us at 6.19 pm - which seemed ludicrously punctual to my mind), various conflicting phone calls, a wasted trip to the corner shop for me to buy milk to make a white sauce, another walk up to my Mum's (and that walk involves a pretty vertical portion of hill) and - eventually - the order arrived at 7.10 pm, more than three hours after the latest delivery time specified.  By this time neither Mum nor I had had our evening meals, we were hungry, annoyed and totally frustrated by such rubbish service from Ocado.  In the end I demanded to speak to a supervisor and had to haggle with her to get a £25 refund on the order.  They had originally been offering either £15 refund or vouchers but as that was not even 10% of the order total, I wasn't being fobbed off with that.  By the time I'd eventually got them up to £25 refund - plus by then the order had finally arrived - I'd pretty much lost the will to live.

I had to pull an extremely heavy shopping trolley back to my house in the pitch dark - though, thankfully, coming home is all downhill - and then start cooking my evening meal.  I eventually finished my meal just before 9.00 pm.  Believe me, I was not happy.

To add to all that, P told me on Thursday that he was using the Easter break to take a trip to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.  Now, I don't blame him one little bit as the flight is only 2 1/2 hours from Hong Kong and he has been working flat out since the beginning of December so totally deserves a break.  BUT, there are only two places I'd be interested in visiting in the Far East, one is Japan, and the other is Vietnam.  I don't know what it is about Vietnam that intrigues me so much but I'm guessing that the continual mention of the country on the news when I was a child in the late '60's / early 70's may have a lot to do with it.  Plus, I remember seeing a 'Top Gear' special in Vietnam and it looked a spectacularly beautiful country.   I am soooooo jealous that he's getting to go somewhere I'd love to visit.  Plus, and this was the final straw, he was complaining that the temperature in Ho Chi Minh City would be 30 degrees and he thought that might be a bit too hot.  TOO HOT - he has no idea how thoroughly fed-up we all are in the UK with this never-ending, bone-chilling cold!!  

Anyway, apologies for this whiney self-indulgent post - and here's hoping that the rest of the Easter holiday is a lot better than the (not so) Good Friday was!!

I've Had Enough Now

Gawd, when will this evil winter ever end?  I have seriously had enough of sub-zero temperatures now to last a lifetime.  I'm no fan of winter at the best of times but this one has been sooooo long and unpleasant.  Bearing in mind that we had no summer last year either, it feels like it has been winter for the past 18 months.

I know we're very lucky here in the south west as we don't have any snow and our electrickery supply hasn't been lost - and, believe me, I am counting my blessings with regards to that.  But with with the wind-chill factor it is -4 today and that northerly wind is raw.  I swear I can smell  polar bears on it!! I had to wait on a bus stop yesterday morning and despite being wrapped up like Nanook of the North is was soddin' freezing.  This particular part of east Bristol is very high up and the wind was just savage.  My Dad always claimed it was a top coat colder in this area and he was totally right.  On the way back I had to run for the bus (not a pretty sight with my dodgy hip) but at least I was spared a bone-chilling wait, plus I was nicely warmed (and puffed) from my unexpected sprint to the bus stop.  I must have been half-way home before I stopped huffing and puffing.

I cannot wait for some warmer weather to arrive.  I've got a large box of summer clothes just waiting to be put in the wardrobe and I am hearitly sick of every piece of winter clothing now - they've all been on rotation for waaaaay too long.  Still, I really shouldn't complain, this winter would have been a whole lot worse if P and I had still been stuck in that ice-box of a house in Essex.  At least this new house is toasty and warm with super efficient insulation, full double-glazing and very effective central heating.  Yes, things could have been so much worse, and Spring will arrive eventually - won't it?

I Can Resist All But a Scottie

I went to another table top sale yesterday morning (they do seem to be mighty popular here in east Bristol - I think I only ever went to one the whole time I lived in Essex) and though it was not brilliant - I only came away with a couple of items - there was a lovely lady selling the sweetest Scottie Dog stuffies (amongst many other handmade pretties.) 

He's beautifully made from an embroidered vintage table cloth and some really soft vintage candlewick.  He's quite a big chap - over a foot tall - and for all that lovely vintagey / Scottie Dog goodness he only cost £3.50. 

I've got quite a collection of Scottie Dog bits and pieces which I really want to get out and onto some shelving asap (at the mo they're still sitting in a box in the garage.)  Once that happens he'll look lovely with the rest of my collection, until then he's propped up on my dressing table and brightening up the bedroom no end.

Crikey, That Looks Better

There's quite a lot of garden on our new house - granted, most of it at the side and front which doesn't make it very private (though we have thoughts of perhaps building an extension to the side one day) - all of which is down to grass, edged with large shrubs.  Said large shrubs were in a somewhat sad and shaggy state and some of them were choked with brambles too.  It didn't make for a good first impression of the house.

Four hours hard work by a local gardener and it's all looking a lot neater and less shaggy.  I would have like to have tackled it myself but it was too big a job for me and my lone pair of secateurs to cope with.  Even though I could have used Dad's old hedge trimmer, I still felt it was too much for me to tackle on my own, especially as the front garden is on somewhat of a perilous slope - just to add to the fun!!  All the waste was bundled up and taken away too and I was well pleased with the end result.

Back garden - which I stupidly forgot to take a 'before' photo of.

So pleased in fact that it prompted me to go round litter-picking the various cans, bottles, takeaway containers and crips packets that were now a lot more noticeable at the edge of the garden.  I even came over all housewifely and washed down the front door (it was just a leetle bit grubby!!) despite the fact that by that time it was pouring with rain. 

A Lovely Surprise

Well, Saturday was not quite the runaway success that we'd all been hoping for.  I did have a few sales but it wasn't really worth all the hardwork and effort.  Never mind, nihil desperandum and all that jazz, I'm now thinking I may start a Folksy shop to see if I can sell some of my sewn and knitted items that way.  One really lovely surprise on Saturday was when Caroline called in to say 'hello' as she and her husband had been staying in a hotel in the area.  It was so nice to meet someone that I've known for ages online but had never actually met.  Thank you so much for calling in, Caroline, it was a real pleasure to meet you and Ashley.

The afternoon session was particularly quiet so I took myself off to the High Street in Keynsham in order to check out the charity shops.  It's only a shortish High Street but there are quite a few charity shops and I managed to find myself a rather nice dip-dyed Evans summer top (though at the moment - with a wind-chill factor of -7 degrees -  it feels like it'll never be warm enough to wear summer tops ever again.)

Plus, in the same charity shop, this beautiful brand-new Peter Hahn cardigan made from pure Tasmanian wool.  The colour is a lovely pale raspberry pink and it fits like a dream.  I paid £4.95 (it had been reduced from £8.00.)  I've checked out the prices these cardis go for new and we're talking around the £100 mark.  So, excellent bargain find there, then.

Like the Proverbial Blue A*sed Fly

I have been incredibly busy these past couple of weeks getting ready for The Travelling Flea this Saturday.  Twenty or so years ago Mum and I used to do a fortnightly flea-type market at The Hope Centre in Hotwells, Bristol and at the time I was working full-time, Mum was working part-time and yet every two weeks we'd set off at silly o'clock on a Saturday morning, sell from 8.00 am to 2.00 pm and then often take in a jumble sale (or two) on the way home.  I have on idea how we did it but it never seemed to be an arduous task!!

Fast forward twenty plus years and I have put in hours and hours of knitting, sewing, packing, sorting and pricing all manner of hand made and vintage items ready for Saturday - it's turned out to be an awful lot of work (or maybe it's just that I'm a lot older and can't keep up the pace so easily, ahem!!)

Anyhoo, if anyone is in the Bristol / Bath area and fancies a mooch around a flea market this weekend (indoors, thank goodness, as the weather forecast for Saturday looks dicey - to say the least) then head on over to The Fear Institute, High Street, Keynsham, nr Bristol between 11.00 am and 4.00 pm.  Entrance is free and there will be 30-plus stallholders selling all manner of hand made and vintage goodies. 

I'll be there with my Mum, sister and nephew (we're seeing it as a family day out).  We've got some lovely items for sale including vintage china and pictures, kitchenalia, vintage sewing patterns, hand knitted dishcloths and facecloths, upcycled pillowcase totes, hand made cards and fabric coasters.  If anyone is a size 12 - 14 my sister will be selling some gorgeous pre-loved clothes - mostly Monsoon, Jigsaw and Hobbs - at really good prices.  We're all keeping everything crossed that it turns out to be a busy day with plenty of customers - otherwise I'll have wasted an awful lot of time for nowt!! 

Uber Cheap and Very Tasty

I've often claimed that left to my own devices I'd become a vegetarian.  I think I was always half joking when I made that claim but, oddly enough, since P has been out in Hong Kong and I've just been cooking for myself it's kinda, sorta happened.  Without even realising it, I'm now down to eating meat once or at the most twice a week.  This week I did have some chicken one evening, the rest of the week it's been vegetarian all the way - mainly involving quorn as I cooked up a large batch last weekend and had quorn lasagne twice and then two lots of quorn shepherds pie.  It was rather tasty but quorn is not the cheapest veggie option there is, plus I have to be careful not to eat too much of it as it can disagree with me if I have a quorn overload.

Tonight's meal was lentil loaf from a Rose Elliot recipe, which has been slightly adapted by me.  To one tin of lentils add 3oz of breadcrumbs (I had two wholemeal crusts to use up which was handy), two finely chopped and cooked onions, some fresh parsley (a pot of which had miraculously survived not only the move from Essex but also the freezing weather this winter), a teaspoon of mixed dried herbs, two teaspoons of Marmite and juice of half a lemon.  Mix all the ingredients together and cook at gas mark 4 for approx. 45 minutes.  I cover my loaf with foil to stop the top getting too crispy.   Rose Elliot's original recipe adds pineapple rings on top of the loaf but I never really enjoyed that variation of it so now I just have it au naturel!! 

I'm guessing the ingredients for this cost approx. 60p, maybe 70p.  Served with carrots, cauliflower and broccoli and topped with a white sauce this little lot will do me two evening meals with probably enough lentil loaf left over to have cold for lunch one day next week - it's very nice cold with a dash of sweet chilli sauce on the side.  Uber cheap wholesome food which is very tasty and nicely filling on a chilly evening.

 

One Day ....

.... it'll be warm enough to wear summery tops again.  It seems impossible at the moment - what with the sub-zero temperatures, snow flurries and icy wind-chill - but, fingers crossed, one day it will be considerably warmer and I'll get to wear these rather tasty summer tops I found in a charity shop yesterday.  Somebody - who is the same size as me - had obviously been having a wardrobe clear-out and I was delighted to be able to boost my summer top collection as a result.

A lovely silky, floaty cream top with a print of

goldfish - or maybe with their frilly tails they're guppies (not entirely sure which if that's correct.)

An Evans top with a vibrant feather print.  Not entirely sure about this one as square necklines don't entirely suit me but once it's washed I'll try it on and see what I think.  If I'm not convinced it's for me, I'll try it on ebay.

And a plain but useful long-sleeved navy top (I know, it looks grey in the photo).  I don't have many summer-weight long-sleeved tops so this should prove useful in the spring.

They all came from the same rail in the same charity shop and cost £3.95 each, add to that a pair of black straight-leg Evans jeans I also bought in another charity shop - for £4.00 - and I spent a massive £15.85 on clothes for me.  I don't spend that sort of money in one go very often - but then I don't very often find so many nice items in my size these days either.  Goodness knows how much that little lot would have cost me new - I suspect the jeans alone would have been £25 and the Evans top a similar price!!

 

Evening Sun

With the slowly-but-surely lengthening days, I've discovered that the hills and fields we can see in the distance from the front bedroom window really catches the evening sun.

 

This is the view looking straight out of the window.  There are a couple of large white houses hidden away in fields and trees in the distance and, despite having grown up in this area, I have absolutely no idea where they are - they look to be lovely sizeable properties and must really benefit from the evening sunshine.

This is the view if you look to the right.  The hills in the distance are the start of the Cotswolds - though I could wish that enormous tree in the foreground didn't interrupt my view quite so much.

And this is the view to the left - which is especially for Maureen as just to the right of the central TV aerial is the spire of Mangotsfield church hidden amongst the trees with the evening sun just catching it.  Hope you can make it out, Maureen.

It is a view and a half from this house and it really makes up for living on such a precipitous hill.  It is even wonderful at night as you can see the headlights of cars flashing and sparkling in the distance as they wend their way along country roads.

Little Things

I haven't had much success with thrifting these last couple of weeks - though I did find a rather nice pure linen Ann Harvey dress, never worn, and in my size, for a meagre £4.50 recently.  I bought it with the idea of selling it on ebay in the spring but, having tried it on, I think I'll keep hold of it.  Sadly, scores like that are getting more and more difficult to find as charity shops (at least round here) seem to be filled with George, Tu, Primark and M&Co cheap and nasty cast offs - often ludicrously over-priced and well worn.

A small trip to Redfield (a suburb of Bristol) with my Mum yesterday did result in me finding this lovely stripy pure wool scarf which is in great condition and was handmade in Nepal.  It was languishing in a basket of various scarves and hats and something about it just shouted 'quality' to me and, more importantly, not made in nasty manmade fibres and produced in a Far Eastern sweat shop.  For only 50p I was delighted with it, especially the bright colours and its luxuriant fringes.

The other useful find was a set of three Champneys body butters for £2.00.  I'm going through body butter like a maniac this winter.  I think it may have something to do with finally living in a really warm centrally heated house - though we do have industrial-sized humidifiers on the radiators which I religiously keep filled with water.  Having spent a few days at Champneys two years ago, I know their products are fabulous quality and by no means cheap - so this was another bargain I was delighted to find.  How's your thrifting going these days?