2010年12月の記事一覧 | Jeremy and Junko in Stratford - 楽天ブログ

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2010年12月の記事

全31件 (31件中 1-31件目)

1

Dark morning

It was very gloomy this morning, cold and cloudy. And the streetlight outside our house, which has been turning off earlier and earlier each day, even getting as early as five to eight, didn’t switch itself off until thirteen minutes past eight. It’s as if the days are getting shorter once more!This is the potato masher that Junko generally uses to mash pumpkin, potatoes and swede. (although, as I think I have said before, if you get the right potatoes you don’t need to use a masher to mash them just a fork will do. If your mashed potato is lumpy, then you are using the wrong kind of potatoes)The olive season is between September and December, that is when they are picked from the trees (in the northern hemisphere at least).Quiz 372“Fools rush in where ……… fear to tread.”a) wise menb) angelsc) clownsd) devilsYesterday’s was c)

2010年12月31日

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Remember the pumpkin?

At this time of year we regularly check the pumpkins that we have stored, particularly as it has been so cold. Once they start to go soft in the middle it doesn’t take long at all, only a few days, for the whole thing to go rotten. And so it was that during one of our regular inspections, we found this pumpkin to be soft where the stem joins the fruit. This photo was taken of it in the autumn, shortly after it was harvested. Because we knew it wouldn’t keep much longer, I cut it, peeled it and chopped it up along with a small onion. Junko then made the whole lot into chunky pumpkin soup. Delicious.And here is the result, lovely chunky pumpkin soup, fit to warm any soul on a cold winter’s day. It was made without a liquidiser and with just pumpkin, a very small onion (about the size of a golf ball) and seasoning (salt and pepper). No cream or coconut milk, only pumpkin. Junko just smashed the whole lot up with a potato masher. The result was so sweet that I couldn’t believe it hadn’t had sugar added to it. The whole of this pumpkin was made into soup, so there is quite some volume of it! Now we just need a rustic loaf of nice fresh granary bread.Quiz 372……………… was a famous detective in Victorian London.a) Inspector Morseb) Miss Marplec) Sherlock Holmesd) Hercule PoirotYesterday’s was a)

2010年12月30日

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Hummous

We bought some hummous from the supermarket, in a pot. Flavoured with caramelised onion. It wasn’t that cheap, but we thought we would try it as a change from our own variety. It was nothing like as good as what we make, I am pleased to say. It’s got brown sugar in it, and white sugar too! Hummous is not a pudding, it’s a savoury thing. Ugggh.I went over to mother’s house the other day, to do a few little things for her. Herewith is the list: · fix the router so she could connect to the internet· reset her electric chair, which had got stuck in ‘super recline’· clean the mouse, inside and out· replace a lightbulb· take the rubbish down to the bins· sort out the door problem into her storage cupboard· get the electric torch working· assemble a tall lamp which she had had for Christmas· gather a whole heap of CDs which had fallen behind the computer desk· download the new antivirus and its definitions· update Windows· clear out all of the junk which had accumulated in her email inboxAll achieved. A satisfactory morning.That cider we had the other night was too sweet for my taste. Junko didn’t like it much, either.Quiz 371“A watched ……… never boils.”a) potb) kettlec) saucepand) test tubeYesterday’s was b)

2010年12月29日

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A sign of spring

Right outside our house there is a streetlight. I am not sure if it really is a benefit to us, but it’s not a problem and means that the front of the house and the whole of the street is always well lit. The pole needs painting, though, currently it’s a rather unattractive two tone grey which is peeling to show a third shade of grey. Anyway, this light has got an automatic light sensitive timer on it, programmed to switch off and on when the day begins to turn to night, and vica-versa. As you know, these days we sit and have breakfast in our front room (and lunch and dinner and snacks) and so this streetlight has become something of an object of interest. Over the past week, as the lamp throws light onto our breakfast table, we have noticed when it turns off in the morning. A week or so ago, according to clock in my computer, the light switched itself off at six minutes past eight. This morning it went off at exactly eight o’clock. This is a good sign as it means that the days are getting longer and spring is around the corner. Usually we look for signs of spring in the garden, snowdrops in bloom, bulb leaves poking their heads above ground, robins singing and that sort of thing. Fancy a man made thing heralding the change of the seasons! A sign of the times.And now it’s time for a cider. Cider is usually made from cider apples, which are very bitter (you’d never eat one in a million years), but this particular cider is made from a particular kind of pear. 4.5% alcohol. Quite strong.There is still a quantity of ice floating on the pond in the front garden. The water butts are still frozen solid, though.A forgotten album: Ry Cooder ‘Borderline’ 1980.I have been practising the ‘sprinkler dance’. I’m not that good yet.Quiz 370If somebody has ‘cooked their goose’, …………..a) it must be Christmas Eveb) they have spoiled their reputation c) there are still a lot of things to be done, but a start has been made on the jobs in handd) they have finished their work for todayYesterday’s was c) New Year in Scotland is called Hogmanay.

2010年12月28日

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Chutney drums

We went to Leamington today, to get some Japanese rice and some chick peas. Well, we parked in a little side street close to the Indian shop where we were headed. Just as we got out of the car a chap walked out of some alleyway with these three chutney drums (see the photo below) and chucked them in a skip. As he walked past me on his return to the alley and presumably the Indian restaurant from whence he had come, I asked him if I could have the drums and he said ‘Sure’, so I got them out of the bin and put them in the back of the car. We got home quite some time later, in the afternoon, having done our shopping. As we were unloading the car an elderly gentleman passed by, and then stopped. ‘Those are good drums, a nice size, aren’t they.’ ‘Yes,’ I replied, lying. ‘I’ve just bought them for a pound each.’ ‘You got a bargain there,’ he said. So, having paid absolutely nothing for them, I felt really good. The drums aren’t going into landfill, they will be useful for us, and somebody boosted my self esteem by saying that I’d done well. Very satisfactory (my self esteem badly needs boosting these days). When you take the lids off, they still smell of sweet mango chutney, too.I drank that bottle of ‘Goliath Beer’ last night. It was good, but not as nice, in my opinion, as ‘Hobgoblin’, which is brewed by the same company. Still, it’s good to check out the whole range. (Mind you if I did that I’d be drinking for years!)All of the snow has gone, even the black stuff. That’s a relief, in a way. However the pavements are now covered with a kind of slimy layer of dirt. We need a good shower of rain to wash that away. Pity the poor river, though, all that salt and muck going into it. Great track: Mark Knopfler, ‘What it is’ (2000) Happy New YearNew Year Quiz 1. New Year in Scotland is called ……….a) Hobgoblinb) Hogwartsc) Hogmanyd) HogsterYesterday’s was c)

2010年12月27日

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Cake

Bill’s partner, Pam, is from Yorkshire. In Yorkshire, apparently, Christmas cake is different from the cake we have down here in Stratford. Well, the cake part is pretty much the same as a traditional English Christmas cake; a very heavy fruit cake made with all kinds of nuts and dried fruit and then laced with brandy. The English cake is then covered with a thick layer of marzipan, as is the Yorkshire version, but then we have the difference. While in the English version the layer of marzipan is then covered with a further layer of icing sugar, this layer is absent in the Yorkshire cake. Instead of icing sugar, the cake is served with Wensleydale cheese. How do I know this? Because when we visited Bill and Pam yesterday we had a slice of Pam’s home made Yorkshire Christmas cake. Very nice it was, too.We’ve got a bit of beer in ready for New Year. This is one of the bottles. It’s real ale called ‘Goliath’. I’ve never tried it before, so here’s hoping it’s good. 4% alcohol, fairly strong.Quiz 369“Once bitten, twice ………..”a) very angryb) as itchyc) shyd) eatenYesterday’s was b)

2010年12月26日

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All gone

I’m talking about the snow here, not the Christmas turkey. There is just a small amount of black icy muck left in the gutters, and a couple of patches of white snow in the front garden. Such has been the thaw. This thaw, however, hasn’t been enough to melt the ice in the pond or in the water butts which make up the water saving system. As far as I can see with these latter, they are frozen solid, never having had a chance to thaw out completely from the last big freeze which started at the end of November! Everybody will be glad to see the back of this snow, especially as the slush that we have had to tramp through has been particularly nasty over these last few days.England have retained the Ashes. This is wonderful news, and now means that I can listen to the last remaining match in the five match series without being ever fearful as to the result.We went over to see Bill and Pam this morning. Very pleasant. I shaved prior to the visit. They had escaped without any frozen pipes in the recent cold snap, but Pam said that she was stunned to find that three full bottles of milk which she had left on the back doorstep while they were out for the day had exploded. There were eighteen inches of snow, according to Bill, in Bromsgrove where they live. I can believe it, too, as I heard on the local TV news that the town had been particularly badly hit.This is some black pudding. It’s made from pigs’ blood. Junko likes it, I am not so keen!Quiz 368If somebody ‘throws the towel in’ ……….a) then they are just about to do the washingb) they have had enough and want to give upc) they are extremely strongd) there are lots more towels where that one came fromYesterday’s was c)

2010年12月25日

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Olives

We bought some expensive olives from Tesco, one of the big local supermarkets, the other day. But they were too salty. This is a great pity as I really like olives. In order to try and reduce their saltiness we have decided to wash them in ordinary water and then put them into some olive oil. Actually, when they preserve olives in the Middle East they do so in olive oil. But the cheap way to do it is to use salt water. And supermarkets are all for cheapness, are they not? It’s all so frustrating. Everything is done for cheapness nowadays, where has the idea of taste and quality gone? Supermarkets are just reducing our choice, every day, every week, every month. No taste or quality, just a cheap product.Anyway, this is the oil we are going to use to put the olives in. It’s a nice tin, isn’t it? And the good thing about using olive oil to preserve olives is that you can use the oil afterwards, not like the salt water, which you just have to throw away. When I am under stress I get a painful lower back.Quiz 367If something ‘isn’t cricket’, it’s ………a) soccerb) a kind of grasshopperc) not the right way to behaved) not a good ideaYesterday’s was b)

2010年12月24日

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A slight thaw

Ah, wonderful. We woke this morning to the sound of water dripping from the ends of the icicles round the house. And then the odd crash as one dropped to the ground. No doubt we will read the headline “Man hospitalised by falling icicle” in the next day or so. I hope it’s not me.I remember a Sherlock Holmes story where a man was mysteriously murdered. Holmes, after much of his usual investigation, found that the murder weapon was an icicle. Anyway, back to the thaw. Let’s hope that this snow goes completely before the new lot comes, but it will take quite a few days of warmer weather to get rid of it, I think. We were given this mushroom kit by one of mother’s friends, Audrey Welford. Interesting. It’s a bit cold for mushrooms at the moment I should think! However, I am sure that Junko will get some amusement from it later on in the year. I wonder if the cellar will be warm enough for them to flourish in?Quiz 366A ‘silver’ wedding anniversary is after ………… years.a) 20b) 25c) 30d) 50Yesterday’s was a)

2010年12月23日

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Freezing

Christmas day, yesterday, was freezing cold, as is today. Not even the daytime temperatures rise above zero, and haven’t for a week or more. The snow that fell last Saturday is still well and truly with us. It hasn’t melted at all. The view from the front window is pretty well exactly the same as it was a week ago, except that the road is free of snow and the so too are the roofs of the houses opposite. We went over to my sister’s house for Christmas lunch. There had been a hoar frost over where they live and the scenery was absolutely spectacular. Sparkling white, really sparkling under a clear dark blue sky. And the trees were just so delicate with their covering of frost. So we had lunch with my mother, sister, her husband and their daughter. Roast turkey with bacon, sausages and stuffing. Roast potatoes and parsnips. Bread sauce and gravy made from the giblets. Brussels sprouts from the garden along with broccoli and carrots. This was followed by home made Christmas pudding and trifle with custard and cream. Of course there was beer, wine and sherry along with tea and coffee and an afternoon brandy. Plus a few pretzels, chocolates and nuts etc. All in all an excellent time was had by whole assembled family. And then it was back home to battle against the elements. Oh dear, I am getting a bit tired of this weather, as is everyone else in the country. It has been the coldest December since records began in 1890.My sister gave me a CD for Christmas, Al Stewart’s 1976 classic album ‘Year of the cat’. Great. I haven’t heard it in its entirety for many years. Thank you very much Elizabeth. Classic cutlery by Robert Welch.Quiz 365“What the eye doesn’t see, the ………… doesn’t grieve over.”a) heartb) mindc) headd) bodyYesterday’s was a)

2010年12月22日

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Eve dinner

We had dinner on Christmas Eve in our front room, gazing through the window at the cars, pedestrians and snow.We had:sliced pork with apricot stuffingfour different kinds of hamfour different kinds of olivessun dried tomatoesroasted pepperssoused chilli peppersfeta cheesesome really delicious sliced cucumberhasletfarmhouse pate with mushroomsand two bottles of Hobgobiln beerJunko also had a large bowl of shrimps (I am allergic to shrimps so I didn’t have any)And then we finished off with a couple of slices of stollen loaf (which is a kind of German cake) and a couple of cups of Yorkshire tea. I have to say that later in the evening we each also had a large glass of Bailey’s Irish Cream.Very nice. We were nicely set up for the real Christmas dinner, which I will tell you about tomorrow.On Christmas morning we were sitting in the front room gazing out the window at the snow and the road. In the ten minutes before eight o’clock, only two cars passed by. I was surprised at how quiet it was. Not at all like a normal Saturday morning!After our feast of yesterday evening, and before the feast that is to be Christmas dinner, we just had coffee and stollen loaf for breakfst.Yesterday’s answers1. c) 2. d) 3. a) 4. b) 5. c) 6. False 7. d) 8. b) 9. b) 10. b)Quiz 364“……….. and tide wait for no man.”a) Timeb) Breakfastc) Pretty womend) Bank managers

2010年12月21日

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Ready for a good day

Merry Christmas. I hope you have woken up to find some nice presents in the stocking at the end of your bed, or under the Christmas tree! I gave Junko an electric blanket. She gave me a power surge plug. Not very romantic, but practical!It snowed a little on Christmas eve, but it’s not going to snow on Christmas day, but at least there is still plenty of snow actually on the ground for those folk who believe that Christmas is just not the same without snow. This is the first time for many, many years that there has been wintry weather during the festive season. Later on today we are going over to my sister’s house to have dinner with her, her husband and daughter. We are taking my mother so it should be a nice family occasion. Junko has just told me that we use eighty calories per hour when we are sleeping. So I think I shall have a biscuit, take an hour’s nap and wake up thinner in readiness for the turkey dinner! Here’s a nice photo of the river in Stratford the other day. The snow has fallen off the trees, but there is still just as much on the ground. Christmas Quiz Special Bumper Edition1. Which of these does Santa Claus say?a) Fi fi fo fumb) Abera cadaberac) Ho ho hod) Open sesame2. Christmas trees were first used at Christmas in which country?a) USAb) Englandc) Hollandd) Germany3. Who are Santa’s helpers?a) elvesb) gnomesc) goblinsd) hobbits4. What nationality is the scientist who defined all the different kinds of snow?a) Russianb) Japanesec) Britishd) Swedish5. Who sang the song “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas”?a) The Beatlesb) Elvis Presleyc) Bing Crosbyd) Bon Jovi6. True or FalseMince pies contain meat.7. Which wouldn’t you use in the snow?a) a sledgeb) a tobogganc) skisd) a parasol8. A hundred or so years ago in England, which was our preferred food for Christmas dinner?a) duckb) goosec) turkeyd) chicken9. Christmas pudding of often doused with …….. before it is set alight?a) lighter fuelb) brandyc) gind) Irish whiskey10. This part of the Christmas dinner has the following as ingredients: sage, onion, sausage meat and possibly chestnuts. What is it?a) a dumplingb) stuffingc) Yorkshire puddingd) suet puddingJunko did this quiz, she got eight correct. I was impressed with that.Yesterday’s was b)

2010年12月20日

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A useful present

My mother told us that she wanted a nice torch for Christmas. Now that’s a good present to get a mother, we thought. But finding a good torch, like the one she wanted was not as easy as we thought, but finally we located one, as below, with a rechargeable battery. It came in a nice box, just the right size to wrap up easily, so Junko used a sheet of paper, a bow, a tag and some nice Christmas tape to do a splendid job of the wrapping. Excellent, and all ready to deliver on Christmas day.Or so we thought. In the midst of the drama that was yesterday’s boiler problem, our torch had a bit of an accident. I dropped it and it works no more. Well, it fell off the little ledge I had wedged it onto so that I could see in where the tank is. Broken bulb and glass (plastic). No good any more at all. And I wasn’t going out in the snow to get a replacement. Solution? Use mother’s Christmas present! It’s a very good torch, which at least is good to know. But we can hardly give it to her as a present now, can we? And what a pity about the lovely wrapping that Junko had done.Here is the torch, unwrapped.It was a very cold night, but there was no more snow so the view from the front window looks pretty much the same as yesterday as there has been no significant thaw.Dare I mention it, but the boiler and the central heating system are still working. I need to touch wood, often.Quiz 363“America sneezes and Britain ………”a) says ‘Bless you’b) catches a coldc) runs off and looks for a paper handkerchiefd) gets blown awayYesterday’s was c)

2010年12月19日

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Here’s hoping this problem is solved

Oh dear oh dear. This morning we woke to find that the boiler had stopped working. No heating or hot water. A quick look in the small outside room which houses the boiler quickly told me why the thing had stopped working. The floor was covered with water and there was a very steady spurt of water from one of the pipes in the room as all of the radiators emptied themselves. As you know it has been cold and snowy here for the past week or even month. Was the cold weather responsible for freezing the pipe and causing the joint to part. I don’t know, but I am not convinced that it was. Anyway, I phoned Stephan, who is a plumber. Now, Stephan is up to his ears in emergency work at the moment, there are burst pipes and boiler seizures all over Stratford, so he hasn’t had a moment to himself for quite some time. Over the phone he advised me on how to effect the repair. Luckily I had a new ‘olive’ (see the photo below) in the cellar and was able to unscrew the joint and replace the olive, which seemed to stop the leak. Very satisfactory, but sadly not the end of the story. Having effected the repair I filled the heating system with water once more, being careful not to over pressurise it. Once it was full I switched the boiler on and, Hey Presto it started, only to stop almost immediately. Air in the system. I went round the radiators one by one, bleeding them of their air. But it made no difference, the air wasn’t in the radiators, it was trapped in an inverted ‘U’ close to the boiler itself. It wouldn’t shift and the boiler just kept on overheating and shutting down after a minute or so of operation, meaning that the radiators remained ice cold. Not good. But I persevered with switching radiators off and on and bleeding, switching the pump off and on, just basically trying everything to get the water flowing. I desperately didn’t want to have the house cold tonight, not my sake, or Junko’s, it’s just important to keep everything warm so the other pipes don’t freeze and burst. After four hours of running up and downstairs, into the loft and out into the snow I’d had enough. Junko and I were sitting in the front room, in our usual spot watching the world go by along Evesham Place, when I heard a nice little ‘chick, chick, chick’ from somewhere, Junko heard it too and thought it came from next door. I didn’t say what I thought it was because II was fearful that I might be wrong. But I wasn’t. I had thought it was the warm water finally making its way to the radiator in the front room and within a few minutes of that sound I could feel the radiator getting warm. What a relief. Junko and I are now as snug as two little bugs under a rug. Let’s hope we stay that way for a while, with no more central heating dramas. I’d be happy with that as a Christmas present.Thank you Stephan for your telephone assistance.This is the olive that I replaced.And this is what the snow looked like this afternoon. It’s been here for five days now. For snow to stay on the ground as long as this is very unusual in Stratford.We had some great home made soup today, courtesy of Junko’s cookpot. Potato and celery. I think the potatoes came from Seiko’s allotment, they were part of October’s harvest. The celery, I am pretty sure, came from Morrison’s supermarket. When I first knew Junko she hated celery, ah, those were the days.Quiz 362All of these answers are correct, but only one is a saying.“Never waste ………….”a) foodb) your moneyc) a crisisd) paperYesterday’s was b)

2010年12月18日

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Early morning disturbance

We were woken up early this morning, around two o’clock, by the sound of a helicopter hovering overhead. The sound went on for quite a few minutes, so many in fact that I had to get up and see what was happening. All I could see in the sky was a couple of bright lights not far away, I wonder what they were doing? Had somebody fallen in the river? Or was it a police helicopter searching for a burglar or car thief? Or just a person lost in the snow. I don’t suppose we shall ever know.You have seen this photo before. I bought this teapot several years ago and posted the photo at the time. A few days ago, in a charity shop, Junko and I found the sugar bowl and the milk jug which make up the set. Amazing. The teapot was twenty pence, the milk jug and sugar bowl were a pound. We were surprised to find these yesterday. Very nice.It is still very snowy, but it isn’t actually snowing any more. The temperature hasn’t risen above zero for about a week now.It’s the shortest day of the year today, and it was gloomy and cloudy to boot. Had the ground not been white with snow it would have been dark at four o’clock. Horrible. But it’s all downhill from here!Quiz 361“Beware of …….. bearing gifts.”a) Russiansb) Greeksc) Americansd) SpaniardsYesterday’s was c)

2010年12月17日

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Water panic

When we got up this morning there was no cold water in the kitchen. It has been colder than I can ever remember it for the past week, and is set to continue this way. We have never had water problems previously, which confirms that it is the coldest it has been for many, many years. But back to the actual water problem. There is a cold water supply pipe which runs along an outside wall of our scullery (nowadays called a ‘utility room’) and I judged that this was the problem. I set an electric convection heater close to it and luckily, within a few minutes, the water started flowing again. No bursts, I think. It is a severe warning, though, we must keep this area warmer in future, or at least until this very bitter weather has gone. It could easily have been that we were away for a few days and then we would have had a real disaster, a burst pipe and mains water pouring everywhere. As I said, we have been forewarned, which is very fortunate. We went shopping this afternoon. The pavements were very slippery.It’s eight thirty in the evening as I post this diary. It is snowing quite heavily. As I sit at the window, the road outside is beginning to get quite white, even though it is busy and has been heavily salted. What’s going on? We shouldn’t be having snow like this!I took this photo of the local church yesterday afternoon.Quiz 360James Bond’s secret service number is …….a) 7b) 57c) 007d) 407Yesterday’s was d)

2010年12月16日

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A dusting of snow!!!!

This was how things looked at just after eight o’clock this morning. Pretty cold and gloomy, eh? Just a light dusting of snow, thank goodness. The rest of the country seems to have been considerably colder than we have been in Stratford, and to have also had a lot more snow. Good luck to them.Watching the cars drive past later in the day I was quite amazed at the number of people who didn’t bother to clean the snow from the windows of their car before they set off on their journey. There were cars going past with no visibility at all through the back and side windows, and some had only a small patch of the windscreen clear. How dangerous is that! And it was quite noticeable that the main culprits were 4x4 owners, but what is new?I was also surprised at how few people keep their cars in a garage. About one in fifty that passed this morning were snow free, indicating that they had been kept indoors overnight. Most people who have a garage, have it full of things that they have bought at the bootsale and don’t know what to do with. That and lawnmowers and broken washing machines. And, of course, many people just don’t have a garage. I wanted my boots in case I had to go out in the snow, but they were out in the greenhouse. And the snow was too deep to get them! I believe that we have had about four inches, which is a lot for Stratford.It was supposed to be the busiest Saturday of the year yesterday, but because of the snow, at three o’clock yesterday afternoon there was scarcely anybody on the road outside our house, which means that the shops in town will have had an absolutely disastrous day. Oh dear.Actually, it wasn’t a dusting, it was a heavy fall of snow on a very cold day. We had about four inches of light powdery snow, not the usual kind of snow for this part of the world. We usually have wet snow, which doesn’t stay on the ground for more than a day, usually. This was the state of affairs in the early evening.Quiz 359A disagreeable person can be called a ……..a) peachb) plumc) pineappled) pruneYesterday’s was b)

2010年12月15日

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Sunset

I saw the sunset today, as Junko and I were having lunch! Unbelievable. True, we were having lunch rather late as we had been out for much of the day, and we are close to the shortest day, but even so it’s not good, is it? The sun dipped below the horizon to the side of the Shell filling station just along the road from our house at a little after 3:45. I can’t believe it.So, we had a late and rather unusual lunch: pumpkin soup. That’s all, no bread, no anything else. A whole large saucepanful of it. It was a bit of an emergency to eat it all up as Junko had made it a few days ago and thought that if it was left any longer it could go off. It was very nice. Three large bowls of it each, that’s what we had. And then Junko went off to the bedroom for a rest.If you don’t think that there is much in this saucepan, I can also tell you that this large bowl of soup had been taken out of it before I took the picture!It’s nine o’clock in the evening, and a gritting lorry has just passed by the window. It has been freezing for most of the day. The salt that they put down on the road makes everything horrible and black. And it doesn’t do your car much good, either. But at least it makes the roads safer.Quiz 358“Strawberry fields …….. “a) oh yeahb) for everc) and apple orchardsd) but the batsmen still go through for three runsYesterday’s was a)

2010年12月14日

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Under the tree

I mentioned yesterday that the Christmas hamper that mother sent us is now waiting for Christmas under the tree. It’s not lonely there as I have collected some Christmas drink there, to wit:two bottles of Bailey’s (one mint and one plain)two bottles of Hobgoblin beerone bottle of Spitfire alea bottle of Marston’s Pedigree beertwo bottles of Budweiser lagera bottle of Hienekin lagera bottle Stella lagerand a bottle of Magner’s ciderThere was some activity outside the front window just now. All the traffic was stopped to allow this huge lorry to navigate round a corner. It was rather like a dinosaur in the fact that it had two drivers (some dinosaurs had two brains, one in their head and one in their tail). One driver sat in the cab up front, and one was at the back controlling all those wheels you can see. Amazing. I wonder what it was doing in Stratford?Quiz 357This is a rhyme we learned in school.“As I was going to St Ives, I met a man with seven wives.Every wife had seven sacks,Every sack had seven cats.Every cat had seven kittens.Kittens, cats, sacks and wives, How many were there going to St Ives?”a) 1b) 49c) 967d) 1323Yesterday’s was a)

2010年12月13日

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Shopping

Because of the bad weather, my mother hasn’t been out food shopping for a couple of weeks. And because there is more bad weather forecast and also because Christmas and the New Year are fast approaching, she decided that she had better get herself a good stock of provisions just in case she didn’t feel like going shopping until the middle of January, what with all the people about and the holidays and all. What a nightmare. Nowhere to park. People everywhere, and all in a bad mood and a hurry. Huge queues at the checkouts. Long jams on the roads. Horrible. Why do people like shopping? At least it wasn’t snowing, but that is about the only positive thing I could say about the experience!Mother bought us this hamper for Christmas. Inside there is:a Christmas cakea chocolate coina small tin of salmona small Christmas puddinga jar of Christmas chutneya small tin of hama packet of shortbread biscuitsa box of nice teaa tine of thick winter vegetable soupa box of assorted chocolatesa jar of seasonal jamThe hamper arrived in the post. What a lovely present. It’s now sitting under the Christmas tree looking very festive. Actually, this photo is with it in its delivery box, if you take it out of the brown cardboard box it looks much nicer. We are going to see Bill tomorrow, to take the tap, his Christmas card and to just wish him and Pam a joyous festive season. I must remember to shave.Quiz 356“Christmas is coming, the …….. is getting fat,Please put a penny in the old man’s hat.”a) gooseb) chickenc) turkeyd) pigYesterday’s was c)

2010年12月12日

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Tap

Some time ago I bought a second hand water filter system and its associated tap, which plumbs into the cold water system. I’ve never installed it because I don’t have the need for it at the moment, it was something for the future. (I really did have a plan for it) The tap and its filter case came at a good price and I was pleased with it. Shortly after I got it I showed it all to Bill who was impressed. This afternoon he rang me up and asked me if I wanted to sell it to him. Bill’s been very good to me over the years, so I think I’ll just give it to him, rather than make him pay. Here it is, the tap and the filter, plus a few plastic pipes. Bill will have to buy a few joints to get it all to work, but a chap like him should make short work of fitting it properly. (I hope)Quiz 355“It’s the final straw that breaks ……….. back.”a) yourb) the horse’sc) the camel’sd) the donkey’sYesterday’s was d)

2010年12月11日

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Four speed flip-flop

It’s quite baffling, ‘two way sparkle’, ‘four speed flip-flop’, ‘random twinkle’, ‘freeze jerk’, ‘two way staggered flash’, ‘hanging turnout’ or ‘static’. Which of these settings should we have on the Christmas tree lights? The ‘four speed flip-flop’ is very frenetic and makes you feel quite dizzy after a second or two. The ‘freeze jerk’ is like being at a 1970’s disco. The ‘two way staggered flash’ just confuses your brain. And for some reason the ‘random twinkle’ is just plain unsatisfactory, and with ‘hanging turnout’ you are never quite sure if the whole thing is broken or not. Oh the dilemma as one is so spoiled having multiple options. Wasn’t life easier when there were no choice, or the choices were sensible? After suffering several migraine headaches, we both decided that the static setting, where the lights were just on all the time, was by far the most satisfactory. Is life getting better, or just more complicated? Here is Junko straightening out the Christmas tree. It’s a fake one, which we have had for years and years. Made in China, no doubt. It’s now set up in the front room with its lights a-blinking merrily.On a gloomy day it is very nearly dark at four o’clock in the afternoon. That’s a real killer. Dark, drizzly days = nightmare.Quiz 354“There’s many a true word spoken in ………….”a) the bedroomb) parliamentc) other people’s blogsd) jestYesterday’s was d)

2010年12月10日

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Wine

I have to admit that I am completely unable to tell a good wine from an average one. I can tell which ones are cheap because, well, they taste like vinegar, but aside from this I am no judge of wine at all. This is fine, though, as I don’t really like any wines at all. And they all give me a headache and make me very thirsty. On the other hand, I can tell which beers are good (in my opinion), and which ones I like. So at least I have some taste buds.Junko bought me this cheese for my birthday.There isn’t any ice on the pond in the front garden, but the ducks on the canal can still walk from one bank to the other. However, they say it’s going to be colder once more by the end of the week. Oh dear.Originally puddings were not sweet, they were meat and suet main dishes.Quiz 353How many yards are there in a mile?a) 1000b) 589c) 5280d) 1760Yesterday’s was false.

2010年12月09日

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Garden scene

This is the back garden as it was yesterday afternoon. Rather bleak looking, and cold, don’t you agree? Not the kind of day you want to be sitting out there in your shorts with a cold beer in your hand, is it?These days, if it is cloudy, it is pretty well dark at four o’clock in the afternoon. It’s awful.I burned my thumbs picking up a bowl of curry this lunchtime. Junko told me to put my hands in cold water for half an hour. I don’t know which was worse!Something else I haven’t eaten for years is ‘masala dosa’, which is a kind of fermented pancake made with ground rice and urad dal. It’s very common in the southern part of India. Quiz 352True or falseLardy cakes are good for you.Yesterday’s was a)

2010年12月08日

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Sitting room window

For the past couple of days Junko and I have spent some time in the sitting room at the front of our house. We’ve had breakfast there and chatted over the dining table, which is next to the radiator. It’s very nice sitting and watching the buses, cars and people go by. The road outside our house is a busy one and there is lots of activity throughout the day, but not so much as to make you feel that it’s too busy. How many buses each day? Maybe a hundred. Police and ambulance sirens? Maybe ten. Tourist coaches, perhaps twenty. Vans, up to a thousand, I should think, on a working day. Tractors, perhaps two. Large delivery trucks, fifty. Fire engines, one. Ambulances ten. Pedestrians, hundreds. Pedestrians carrying bags of Christmas presents, lots. Cyclists, a hundred or two. Motorbikes and scooters, a hundred. Strollers, twenty. Drunk teenagers, sixteen. Mobility scooters, ten. Of course I didn’t count everything, it’s merely an estimate.This was the view at ten past eight this morning, just before we had breakfast. You can see the computer screen, too, which shows you I was actually doing what I said I was doing! Quiz 351“A bird in the hand is worth ……. in the bush.”a) twob) threec) fourd) fivee) sixYesterday’s was b)

2010年12月07日

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Margarine

We had some margarine on hot toast the other day. It tasted like fish. It smelled like fish, too. Not very nice really, I wonder why it had such a taste?Mr & Mrs Yao left us some hot pads last year, they are very handy these cold days. Thank you to the Yao’s.It’s quite amazing, I can’t see a single Christmas tree in our street, as I look out of the front window. Is it too early? Or have people just tired of Christmas?The pond is still ice-free.Junko bought the wrong kind of coffee today, she bought a packet of filter coffee rather than percolator coffee. What is the difference, you might ask. Well, filter coffee is ground very fine, so fine in fact that it all disappears through the holes in the percolator cup and ends up completely mixed with the water. You have to drink a sort of thick brown sludge. Not very nice.This is, I think, a thing for crushing garlic. It stops you getting ‘garlic hand’, but it doesn’t work very well.Quiz 350How many years of bad luck do you get if you break a mirror?a) 3b) 7c) 13d) 17Yesterday’s was a)

2010年12月06日

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Pond

For the first time in about two weeks the pond in our front garden has got no ice on it. It’s amazing. This cold weather that we have had for the past two weeks should not come in November and December, this is January weather. What horrors do we have to expect in the new year, then?Junko has been doing the Christmas cards today. Well, some of them anyway. I just sign them, that’s easy!We should think about putting the Christmas tree up soon. I wonder where it is? If I can find it, it will be with all the other Christmas decorations, so it’s all or nothing.We had pumpking soup for breakfast. A new variety that Junko has found a recipe for, it has coconut milk in it instead of cream. Very nice. And she mashed the pumpkin whole, instead of peeling it and putting it through the liquidiser. This gives it a bit of texture, which is rather nice. The whole thing was excellent.This is a rather strangely shaped spoon, isn’t it?Quiz 349“Waste ……… want ………”a) notb) a lotc) energyd) paperYesterday’s was c)

2010年12月05日

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Headless high flyer

We thought it was a sandwich in a plastic bag. But then as we moved a little closer it looked to be a pigeon. Dead on the roof. Dead and rather dried out. With no head. I thought I had better remove it as it could get into the gutter and block everything up. So I got the ladder and the plastic garden rake and hooked it off. Once it was on the ground we could see that it was not only headless but that it had a ring on each leg. Was this a winter migrant from Russia, or a summer migrant from Africa? Before we disposed of the body we took the rings off and saw that one had a phone number on it. Later in the day we phoned the number and were surprised to find that the gentleman who answered the call was quite local. We explained the situation and he did tell us that he had seen a hawk chasing this particular bird, which he described as a ‘high flyer’, and which was one of his racing flock, a few days ago. He was sad to know that it was dead, but pleased to know what had happened to it. A life is a life, but I was relieved to know that this wasn’t some rare bird which had perished mid way through a migratory journey from one end of the earth to the other. Here are the rings that were on the ‘high flyer’. Not a good photo, out of focus, but I can’t take it again because I have lost the rings now.It’s pretty cold in England. Freezing, in fact.Quiz 348“Every cloud has a ………. lining.”a) leadb) bronzec) silverd) goldYesterday’s was b)

2010年12月04日

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Smelly feet

I have got an unfortunate pair of trainers. If they get at all wet they absolutely stink. It’s not my feet, or my socks, it’s definitely the trainers. They aren’t a cheap pair, either, which is disappointing, they are Adidas. They have got very spongy soles and are really nice and comfortable, so it’s a pity that I can’t wear them without smelling the house out. I can’t remember when I bought them, but reasonably recently. They don’t get a lot of use, though, which is why they have remained in good condition. Although they say they are Adidas, I wonder if they really are. Perhaps they are copies which use some cheap glue or material which reacts with my sweat? I believe that Atsuko had the operation on her eye a few days ago. Let’s hope it went well.They say that ‘Nicola’ potatoes are the best for you nutritionally. Quite why I can’t remember, but certainly, in my opinion, they have both the best flavour and the best texture of all the various kinds of potatoes that I have tried. And here is a packet of them, grown in Egypt and bought from Tesco, by me.Quiz 347“A trouble shared is a trouble ………..”a) solvedb) halvedc) indeedd) doubledYesterday’s was a)

2010年12月03日

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Locusts

There is a 25km long swarm of locusts somewhere on the eastern side of Australia, so Aspi tells me. Also Aspi tells me that there are bush fires. And terrible floods. Sounds pretty biblical!And just to remind us how close Christmas is, here is another spelling howler.I don’t think I will do number one of yesterday’s list, it might be a bit painful.Quiz 346“Two ……….. are better than one.”a) headsb) feetc) housesd) glasses of beer for dinnerYesterday’s was c)

2010年12月02日

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Questions

I have been wondering recently if I should ………..1. Have an ear pierced2. Buy a super deluxe digital camera3. Go on holiday with Junko to Japan4. Make some Christmas crackers for the Christmas dinner our family is going to have at my sister’s house5. Get a new laptop computer6. Buy Junko a flatscreen TV with a record facility in it so that she can record her favourite soap every weekday7. Have pumpkin soup for breakfast on Thursday8. Get a Wii or an Xbox Kinect (which would be dependent on whether we get a nice TV)9. Start painting or doing something artistic10. Get one of those toothbrushes which cleans your teeth with a jet of water This is a thing made of different kinds of English wood. I bought it for Mr Doi, Junko’s brother in law, he likes this kind of thing, I think.Quiz 345“Cut your ………… according to your cloth.”a) nailsb) trousersc) coatd) hairYesterday’s was c)

2010年12月01日

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