2011年01月の記事一覧 | Jeremy and Junko in Stratford - 楽天ブログ

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2011年01月の記事

全31件 (31件中 1-31件目)

1

Beer no more

Well, we’ve had enough of beer, and so now it’s onto cider. Though I prefer beer, and cider is a summer drink really, it’s nice for a change. Actually, I usually find cider a bit too sweet, so when I saw this bottle, I know that it’s a plastic bottle and all that, going cheaply on special offer, I thought I’d try it. Not bad at all, though I think beer is more warming. And there is another problem with cider, it’s so easy to drink that one can very quickly drink too much, especially if you are thirsty, like I usually am. And this particular brand of cider is quite strong, 5.3% alcohol. I am sure you are amazed that real cider has alcohol in it, as you are used to the Japanese version of the drink, which is just a soft drink. But here in England we have so many different kinds of cider, all of them highly alcoholic. Somebody is going mad. Recently there was the case of the telephone handset in the dishwasher. Now there has been the ham sandwich in the washing machine!It was very windy overnight, but at least that means it wasn’t cold. In fact it is rather warm today. When I drink cider I get very hot ears. That’s another strange thing. Quiz 403“Hell hath no fury like a …………. spurned.”a) childb) womanc) mand) squirrelYesterday’s was c)

2011年01月31日

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Eye

I bought this eye a few days ago. It kind of spins round in a liquid and also slides across a flat and smooth table which isn’t quite level, with the top always uppermost, if you see what I mean. It’s quite fun. I thought I’d put it under Junko’s pillow and wait for a few days until she finds it, that might be interesting!I’d like to watch the news at six o’clock in the evening, but I hate the program which is on immediately before it. This means that I don’t turn the television on until I am sure that I don’t see any of the hateful programme, which in turn often means that I either miss the headlines or miss the programme altogether.Stephan and Jacob drove past in their van this afternoon. They tooted and I just about had time to turn and see them. No doubt they were off to repair a leaky toilet or shower somewhere nearby. Thanks for tooting lads!Quiz 402A ‘road hog’ is ………a) an animal like a hedgehog, but which lives in the roadb) good for roasting at a pig roasting partyc) a person who drives selfishlyd) a very long curveYesterday’s was c)

2011年01月30日

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The days are getting longer

The street light outside our front window went out a seven thirty one this morning, so that’s a big improvement on not so long ago when it was going out at around eight o’clock. I wonder what time it goes on in the evening? I never see it switch on.I forgot to mention the next number in the quiz from a few days ago. It’s 312211.This is our knife sharpener. We did have a good one once, but it disappeared along with two of our knives and Olaf. I’ve just sharpened a kitchen knife with it. It’s a debatable point whether sharp knives or blunt ones are more dangerous. If they are sharp you can cut yourself easily, but if they are blunt to have to work hard to cut things up and so therefore are more likely to cut things at an awkward angle and with more force, and thus slip and cut yourself. I don’t know which is best, sharp or not so sharp. What do you think? A road sweeper with a vast number of flashing lights has just passed by, sweeping the gutters out. I really wonder if this is more cost effective than two or three people sweeping the roads?A disaster this morning, we have no full cream milk for our coffee, we’ve had to use semi-skimmed and it tastes nowhere near as nice.Quiz 401“What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the ……….”a) puddingb) Christmas dinnerc) ganderd) banter

2011年01月29日

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Hopscotch

The label on the packet said ‘Hard goats’ cheese’. It was cheese and it was definitely made from goats’ milk, but there is now way that it could be said to be hard. Parmesan cheese is hard, but this was really rather rubbery, like Edam. Nice flavour though, just a pity about the texture. And I specially bought it because it was supposed to hard!I have found the missing piece from the jigsaw I did the other week. That’s good. Now I have to find the jigsaw to put the piece with it!We bought this bag of Basmati rice, ten kilos of it, in the summer. I’ve forgotten how much it was at the time, but it was cheap, and, with the price of rice having gone up since we bought it, it’s even cheaper. It got opened today and I made this rice dish, which consists of just fried onions and garlic, a bit of salt, half a small teaspoon of turmeric, and the rice. Delicious and so simple.Oh dear, I forgot to take a photo of the dish I made with that rice. It’s a popular one with us, so there is another time. And we do have a lot of rice!Quiz 400‘Crocodile tears’ …………..a) are a kind of diamondb) are false tearsc) are often shed at weddingsd) can be used instead of cherries when you make a Christmas cakeYesterday’s was c)

2011年01月28日

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Trains

We are not great train lovers in this country, well, we like the old steam ones and all that, but as for travelling on them we do not have a good record. In fact the amount of train track that exists now is almost exactly half of what it was a hundred years ago. That’s dreadful, isn’t it? Most track disappeared in the early 1960’s and Stratford lost its through line in 1975. But I read today that the highest annual number of rail passengers since 1928 had been recorded in 2010. The low point for passenger figures was in the early 1980’s, so let’s hope we are on the up from here on in.Now, here is question. If you had only one sock, which foot would you put it on?More activity outside: a learner driver has just stalled the car at the junction and is blocking the whole road. Imagine the panic inside there as the passenger tries desperately to stop the lurching. It’s not a driving school car.Ah, perhaps you don’t know, but in Britain we learn on the roads, not in some special area as is the case in Japan. It’s a silly situation, but even if you have never driven a car before, if you have a passenger who has passed his or her test sitting beside you, you can be released into London’s rush hour traffic. Madness, or not?Another of Bill’s secrets is out, he likes cowboy films!These are our serviette rings. From the 1960’s. We don’t use them every day, though.Did I just see Stephan drive past the window, in his white van with two large grey sewer pipes lashed to the top? Maybe. Quiz 398What would you not expect to have in summer?a) sleetb) cold beerc) strawberriesd) sweaty armpitsYesterday’s answer was “A fool and his money are easily parted.”

2011年01月27日

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The flaming potato test

Have you heard of this test before? It’s a test which enables you to see if your microwave is safe, apparently. You stick a few medium-sized nails into a largish potato and then put the suitably skewered spud into the microwave for a while (how long for I don’t know). If, after the appointed time for the test, the potato doesn’t burst into flames, then the microwave is safe to use. I wouldn’t dare try it, so don’t you! As they say on the TV ‘Don’t try this at home!’Now here is a question. Why did I put the handset to the landline phone into the dishwasher yesterday evening? I found it this morning. It had been washed. I’ve never seen it look quite so clean, but sadly it doesn’t work any more. Well, have you thought of an answer to the question? I need a good reason otherwise I will be very cross with myself.There are eight seagulls flying around outside the window, and diving at the pavement. It’s common for the garden and pavement to be badly littered on a Sunday morning, after a late Saturday night. There might be a Styrofoam box with the remains of a fish and chip supper in it, or perhaps half a kebab, some fried rice (although this is unlikely nowadays as I don’t think there is a Chinese restaurant in Stratford any more), or even a samosa or two. Whatever it is, these gulls are fighting noisily over it. Ah, they’ve all gone now, whatever it was has been picked over and it’s on to the next one!Olives preserved in olive oil. Nice with freshly-made hummous. Quiz 397Rearrange these words to make a saying.his easily and parted fool are money A Yesterday’s was b), c) and d)A blacksmith wouldn’t use an axe.

2011年01月26日

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Junko’s HWB

Here it is, Junko’s hot water bottle! Much used on these cold nights.A fire engine has just gone haring past the window, siren blazing and lights a-flashing. There was more drama as well this morning; an ambulance with its blue light going madly all over the vehicle, pulled up outside the house opposite, blocking the traffic. Two paramedics hopped out with a couple of very large medical bags containing oxygen cylinders and all sorts of stuff. They didn’t seem to be in all that much of a hurry, so obviously the situation was not terribly urgent. Half an hour later they came back out of the house, deposited their equipment back in the ambulance and went on their way to another case. It’s quite amazing what goes on, and we don’t see much of the action as we usually stay at the back of the house. Now we’ve got double glazing and a radiator under the window, so it’s nice and cosy, and it feels even warmer when you see all the folk go by with their gloves, hats, boots, scarves and warm coats. Some look really cold!And I’ve just seen a Routemaster bus go by!!!!!!!! What is going on? These are the iconic red London double decker buses (they aren’t used any more) which ran the streets in the capital from the 1950’s to 2005. They have an open platform at the back, and a conductor. The Routemaster is a really classic vehicle, and this one was full of people, clearly out for the day in vintage style. This is a picture of one, from Wikipedia.Routemaster busAnother fire engine, this time it wasn’t rushing by, perhaps it was the same one just going back to where it had come from.Quiz 396Which of these items would you expect a blacksmith to use?a) an axeb) a forgec) an anvild) a hammerYesterday’s was c)

2011年01月25日

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Better weather

Well, we had a bit of sunshine today, so it was out for a walk to get that much needed vitamin D. But it was pretty chilly out there on the old railway line. And by three o’clock it was freezing, literally. I told you that Bill is dyslexic, didn’t I? Well, if I didn’t, then you have just learned that he is. I was talking to him on the phone this morning and he was telling me his struggles driving. I had never thought of this, but he is always getting lost because he can’t read the road signs. And a sat nav is no good because he can’t spell his destination! He usually goes only where he knows.The typical British 20-year-old drinks nine pints of beer or five glasses of wine a week.This is a jar opener, we gave it to mother the other day, to see if she can open some of those tricky tops with it. Maybe she will, maybe she won’t, but at least we’ve tried it.Quiz 395Which of these wouldn’t you sit on?a) a sofab) a setteec) an anthilld) a chaise loungeYesterday’s was c)

2011年01月24日

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More glove misery

My mother has now lost her gloves! She is as upset as I am, if not more so, as her gloves were really nice ones (not that mine weren’t) and were a gift from her best friend. What’s going on here?Should I have a bottle of beer this evening? Is it getting to be a bad habit? It has been another miserable and extremely grey day. Windy, too. It wasn’t particularly cold, but made colder by the wind. It seems as if it’s been weeks since we last saw the sun!I am still mourning the loss of my gloves. Eight black London taxis went by the window on the back of a lorry this morning, in the opposite direction to those that passed yesterday! I wonder if they were the same ones? Perhaps they had been to a party or something, or were staying overnight at a friend’s house.We got this coconut the other day, for something. It’s rather small, though. Quiz 394What is the difference between a canal and a river?a) canals have locksb) narrowboats use canalsc) canals are manmaded) rivers are much deeperYesterday’s was c)

2011年01月23日

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Dental clinic

I took mother to the dental clinic today. It rained while we were getting into the car at her house. It rained when we were walking through the car park at the hospital. It rained when we were on our way back to the car from the clinic, and then it rained as we were getting out of the car back at her place. And yet it didn’t rain at all any other time during the day!I am still in mourning for my lovely lost gloves.Eight London taxis, on the back of a car transporter, have just passed the window!I got this little vintage bottle opener from somewhere the other day. So I had to have a bottle of beer this evening. I mean, what’s the point of having a bottle opener if you never open a bottle with it?Quiz 393Which is not a cheese?a) cheddarb) stiltonc) wedgewoodd) parmesanYesterday’s was b)

2011年01月22日

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More lost gloves

Oh dear, oh dear. My lovely thick blue ski gloves. They’ve gone now. I’ve looked everywhere for them, carefully tracing the route I took when I last wore them. I’ve been everywhere. And I have at last decided that I threw them in the rubbish with something of mother’s, and now they are gone forever. What a pity. I’m devastated.I have always wondered how walnuts are shelled commercially. I mean, have you tried to crack one for yourself? And not get all the insides broken and the shell all over the floor? It can be done, there is no doubt, but it ain’t easy! This is one I bought earlier, and ate later.I have just seen a lady and gentleman cycle past the house on a tandem. The were both wearing black trousers and bright blue tops. They had black boots on, black gloves and helmets which were the same matching blue and black. Quite striking. They weren’t cycling that fast, but too fast for me to take a photograph of.Quiz 392Which is the odd word out?a) lootb) twinklec) treasured) bountye) bootyYesterday’s was f)

2011年01月21日

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Lost and found

I’ve found my gloves, but lost my scarf!And as for the weather. It’s not wonderful today, grey and rather windy. But it’s not horribly cold, which is a blessing. I have to attend to mother’s computer this afternoon. I’ve got to move it into her bedroom and install a wireless network adapter in it, if I can find this network card, that is. I’ve started to do it once already, and then something happened. Now the card isn’t where I thought it was, I hope it’s somewhere over with mother’s computer bits and pieces.If you make something for somebody, food or a drink of some kind, and then give it to them even if you don’t like it yourself, can you believe them if they say it is ‘delicious’? I wouldn’t, not necessarily anyway, they are possibly just being polite.A vintage bottle opener for all these bottles of ‘real ale’.Quiz 391Which is the odd word out?a) loneb) solec) solitaryd) singlee) solof) loopg) oneYesterday’s was a)

2011年01月20日

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Grey skies again

Not a sign of the blue today, just grey. But at least it was warmer than yesterday, and it didn’t rain at all, even though it was forecast. No frost last night, either. So, all in all, I suppose we mustn’t grumble.I am just sampling the bottle of beer I showed you a photo of yesterday. Not bad, but not my favourite, by any means. Just one bottle, I think.One of mother’s friends passed this jigsaw onto us. I did it the other day. It’s got four hundred and ninety nine piece. It should have five hundred, but one is missing. It’s quite complicated, the boat section, lots of ropes, wires, chain, nets, wicker baskets etc. Quite fun to do, though. Quiz 390If you ‘spend a penny’, you …………a) go to the toiletb) know you should have spent morec) are borrowing some moneyd) are making a wishYesterday’s was b)

2011年01月19日

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Another miserable day

A cold night and a grey cloudy day. Not nice. But, hey, it’s winter, this is the sort of weather you get around this time of year. Once again, it’s nice that it isn’t frrrreezing cold.Here’s another bottle of real ale that we bought the other day. It’s not a variety I have seen before. It’s always good to try something new, isn’t it?Junko has got a friend who lives a few miles from Stratford, in a small town called Bidford. Her name is Seiko and she is great fun. Seiko’s definition of being rich: Being able to buy three packets of runner bean seeds, and being nice and warm in winter.Quiz 389In Cockney Rhyming Slang, ‘pen and ink’ meansa) thinkb) stinkc) blinkd) drinkYesterday’s was c)

2011年01月18日

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Two near misses

Well, they weren’t exactly near misses, more ‘nearly near misses’. Yesterday evening I decided to walk to Morrison’s, one of the nearby supermarkets. Just to get some full milk for our breakfast coffee. I’d bought the milk and was on my way home when the incidents occurred. The first was on the zebra crossing near the roundabout just by the supermarket. Cars are supposed to stop for pedestrians on zebra crossings, and I was half way across this one. But a small red car just drove straight through. Now, had I not had the foresight to think that this particular car wasn’t going to stop I would have stepped onto the crossing in front of it, and been flattened. Having escaped this I then continued walking and got to the pedestrian crossing on top of the bridge. This crossing has lights on it. I pressed the button and waited for the pedestrian light to go green. As it went green I looked down the road and saw a car approaching at fairly high speed. ‘That’s not going to stop on the red,’ I though to myself, so I waited on the pavement. And I was right, this car went flying across the lights without apparently noticing them at all. Had I been talking on my phone, or otherwise not paying full attention, I might have stepped onto the road when the light turned to green for me, and then once again I would have been flattened. For two very similar incidents to happen in the space of a couple of minutes is rather worrying, no? On the rest of my walk home I was super careful. They say that things happen in threes, I hope not, I might not be so lucky the third time.The streetlight went out at 7:45 this morning. We are moving in the right direction.We saw Atsuko and Andy the other day. Apparently, Atsuko has been making hummous in Japan. She reports that she found it difficult to buy chick peas over there, is that true?We got this thing for mother the other day. Quiz 388A person who ‘knows his onions’ ….a) often has windb) has probably got an allotmentc) is an expert on somethingd) doesn’t know anything about fishingYesterday’s was c)

2011年01月17日

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Misty morning

Well, it was a misty morning, and a misty afternoon, too. At around ten o’clock it looked as if the sun might break through the clouds, but it stayed as just a white globe somewhere up in the sky and never got the power to do anything positive. It was cold, too, so the ground and trees had hoar frost on them. It would have been rather beautiful had I been in the mood for it. However, because the ground was frozen it did mean that we could go for a walk along the riverside. The path, which is usually muddy at this time of year, was frozen. So we didn’t get our boots wet. That was a positive. We climbed quite high on the riverbank, along the old footpath, and encountered this fallen tree. We were wrapped up pretty warm, I had to pairs of socks and a pair of knee warmers on, as well as big thick soled boots. A woolly hat, scarf and of course gloves and a thick coat. Going against the slight breeze my face was pretty cold! But it was lovely and warm when we got back home. We walked for about an hour and a half, all told. That’s good exercise, isn’t it?A very smart lady has just walked past our house. accompanied by an equally smart greyhound. Both the dog and its owner were wearing neat coats. Greyhounds are so skinny, they must really feel the cold.Quiz 387“Don’t try to teach your grandmother to …………..”a) play the fiddleb) cry crocodile tearsc) suck eggsd) use Windows VistaYesterday’s was c)

2011年01月16日

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The wrong spinach

I made a spinach curry the other evening. It was all right in terms of flavour, but the spinach was wrong. I used frozen leaf spinach instead of the pureed variety. I didn’t notice until I had already put it into the pan. Oh well, I shall have to be more careful next time.The streetlight outside the front room window went out at 7.47 this morning. There was a frost last night, the first one we have had for a week or so. Junko’s friend Leticia has been hard at work in her kitchen. A recent creation has been a batch of asparagus and courgette wine. I hope it doesn’t taste like it sounds.I took mother’s car to the garage today, to have its annual safety check. It passed. that’s good.We saw Atsuko and Andy this morning. They are painting a narrowboat on the canal in Stratford. It must be cold work. Atsuko had a yellow nose, but it was more to do with the colour paint she was using rather than the cold weather, than goodness.Some of Junko’s spaghetti, with garlic and roast pepper. Nice.Quiz 386Complete the simileAs daft as a ……….a) batb) beetlec) brushd) bananaYesterday’s was c)

2011年01月15日

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A delicate operation

First I tried tweezers in the daylight, by the window. Next it was the tip of a pair of scissors. After failing with the scissors I used a toothpick, but that was no use either. Finally I had to resort to a needle and a torch. You see, Junko has been trying to phone her friend in Bidford, but the battery in her phone is flat, and has been so for some time. Why? Ah, that is the question. She often plugs the charger in and attaches it to the phone, but only a minute amount of charge actually seems to get into the battery, rendering the phone almost totally useless. So I decided to try and find out what was going on. On very close inspection it seemed to me that there was something stuck in the slot where the charger plugs in. It’s only a cheap phone so this slot is uncovered while the phone is in her pocket. As a result it appears that over the year that Junko has had this phone it has gradually filled with pocket fluff and dust which has been compacted over time by pushing the charging plug ever-tighter into the phone slot. So, how to get this muck out? Nothing would go into the slot, which has a large collection of contacts right in the centre of it it, except the needle. It was a fiddly business, but after a few minutes of gently picking away (doing my best not to bend the contacts) I had a small heap of debris (rather like what I got out of the vacuum cleaner the other day) on the table, and now the charger plug goes much deeper into the slot. The result is that the phone charges fully and Junko can contact her friend. Another one of life’s small triumphs.This is good beer. Another real ale, and excellent value at ninety nine pence per bottle (on special offer). 4%.Quiz 385If somebody is ‘eating their heart out’ about something, they ……a) are very ambitiousb) are extremely hungryc) are jealousd) don’t know what to doYesterday’s was b)

2011年01月14日

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Window seat

For the past couple of days we have had our breakfast in the breakfast room, rather than by the window in the front room, watching the world go by. I have rather missed the activity along the street outside. I wonder why we have changed our habit? One does these things from time to time, without really knowing why! The recent spell of super-mild weather seems to be over and we are back to rather more average temperatures, which means that it is sort of eight or nine degrees during the day. It’s OK, at least it isn’t the freezing conditions we had to endure during December and the early part of January.I took the strawberry plants out of the greenhouse a couple of mornings ago. They, unlike the geraniums, have survived the extremely cold weather. It was raining, so I thought they’d like a bit of a drink. I cut the dead leaves off to stop them going mouldy and the plants now look OK, don’t they? Let’s hope we get a few fruit from them in the summer.Quiz 384“A ………….. never changes its spots.”a) ladybirdb) leopardc) diced) polka dot bikiniYesterday’s was a)

2011年01月13日

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Soup

Junko has been cutting up some more pumpkins which we have stored in the greenhouse. They are starting to go soft, but it’s not bad that we have kept them since the end of September, is it? We still have a nice big one left, which is showing no signs of going rotten. There is a smell of pumpkin soup in the kitchen now!One of these pumpkins, which had gone mouldy on the outside, had no seeds in it. That’s strange. We threw it away, but the others were fine.Junko has just given me instructions on which clothes and other bits and pieces she wants saved if the house floods! I wouldn’t say that our house is on a mountain, and it’s not that far from the river, but if it does flood then half of England will be under water. Still, I suppose there is sense in making oneself ready for every eventuality.Quiz 383If somebody is the “cat’s whiskers” they ………a) are excellentb) are tiredc) have let the cat out of the bagd) don’t like hot foodYesterday’s was a)

2011年01月12日

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Waiter, there’s something in my soup!

Well, it wasn’t soup, and I wasn’t talking to a waiter, but I hope you get the idea. We were at home and it was dinner time. Yoghurt, muesli, nuts and fruit from the freezer. It’s not unusual to find something interesting in the way of a nut or a plum stone at the bottom of the bowl, but this was much larger. It must have slipped into the yoghurt before Junko added the muesli and nuts etc. Fancy finding an earring mixed up with your dinner. Junko has got lots of half pairs of earrings, now I know why. Oddly enough, this is one that she had lost during the summer, so it must have been boiled and then frozen along with the cherries! Luckily it’s quite a large one, I should have hated to have swallowed a small diamond stud.And there was something in the vacuum cleaner as well. Something blocking the tubes up. So here it is, I cleaned it out and all is working well once more. But I hate the dust on my hands. Actually the mess would look a lot worse if I hadn’t cleaned it out on a patterned carpet!I woke up extremely early this morning. Five o’clock. I couldn’t get back to sleep so I got up. It wasn’t cold at all. I took the torch and looked at the temperature in the greenhouse, it was twelve degrees at just after five thirty. It was windy, too, but the wind was coming from the south and so wasn’t its usual biting self. Long may this mild weather last!Quiz 382If ‘the cat is out of the bag’ ……….a) the secret has been discoveredb) there will be a fight soonc) you have forgotten to do somethingd) it’s time to sow your seeds in the springYesterday’s was c)

2011年01月11日

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Gas

And it isn’t only town gas that has been causing me a problem recently (see the entry for a couple of days ago). From Seiko’s allotment Junko has brought some artichoke roots. She saw on the TV that you can eat these, and Seiko saw the same programme, so the two of them decided to try. Well, they dug some roots up and Junko prepared and cooked them the other day. She baked them with pumpkin, aubergine, swede and then dressed them with potatoes, olive oil and tomatoes. This is the root in more detail. You have to peel it before you eat it. The texture is good and the flavour is there, too. But you would have to be rather careful as to how much you eat! Gas.Here’s what the roots look like when they are peeled.What is the difference between beer, ale and lager? I don’t know, I am asking you.The weather is still very mild. I went out into the greenhouse yesterday evening and looked at the thermometer there, it was fifteen degrees. Amazing.Quiz 382A ‘baker’s dozen’ is …………..a) elevenb) twelvec) thirteend) fourteenYesterday’s was d)

2011年01月10日

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Mild weather

These past few days have been really warm, for the time of year. Ten or twelve degrees, apparently. And they seem even warmer because they have come after such a long spell of freezing days and nights. Long may it last.Junko says that I am turning into an alcoholic! This is rather an extreme judgement, in my opinion. In the past year I have averaged one bottle of beer a month. But just to show you that I do drink occasionally, here is another bottle of real ale. Again it’s a kind I have never tried before so once again hope that it’s good. 4.2% alcohol.Apparently, fifteen years ago, I suggested that my mother didn’t throw away the cardboard box in which her new kettle had come, just in case she needed to return the kettle to the shop. This is why it is still in her store room. Quiz 381Which is the odd word out?a) uncleb) grandsonc) nephewd) daughterYesterday’s was b)

2011年01月09日

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Something from the winter

With all this cold and miserable weather around, I find that I have got a split lip. That’s a nuisance.We had these sprouts for lunch yesterday. They came from the garden. We should have eaten them with our Christmas dinner, at least that was the plan when we put the little plants in the garden in the summer of 2010. However there was so much snow in the garden around Christmas time that it was impossible to pick them. So we are eating them up now. They taste excellent, not at all bitter, and that is because they have had a lot of frost on them. Many years ago this vegetable was a winter staple, being one of the few things you could get out of the garden in the middle of winter. Nowadays, though, you can buy them any time of the year, which is a pity really. And this is why they don’t taste so good, they must be picked after a spell of cold weather.I am still having a miserable time. One major problem which I thought had been sorted out has just resurfaced. It is all to do with gas. We had two large vans turn up this morning and people with pipes and gauges got out and started poking around in the cellar. They changed something and then were gone as quickly as they had come. So, they fixed that, but whatever they did has made no difference, as far as I can see. Dear oh dear, I am getting tired of it all.Our friend Janice and her family have lost their house and almost everything in it in the Great Brisbane flood. The managed to save a few personal things before the flood waters rose so high that they couldn’t escape. Quiz 380Which is the odd word out?a) shabbyb) wittyc) tattyd) scruffyYesterday’s was b)

2011年01月08日

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Junko’s orchid

Junko was given this orchid in a pot for her birthday, which is in July. As I write, it is still in excellent condition, with only one petal having fallen off. I have just cleaned the leaves, there was quite a coating of dust on them. The problem with it is that it doesn’t get enough light in winter. Nothing does, we are all short of vitamin D.On another gloomy morning the streetlight at the front of our house went out at 7.59. What a dark and miserable morning it looks to be. And more rain is forecast for the rest of the day. It’s very windy, but at least it’s not cold. What you need in this weather is footwear with nice thick soles, to keep your feet warm. A middle aged lady in a pink hat has just walked by, at least I thought it was a hat, but on looking again it was her hair! Short, spiky light pink. Quiz 379If something is ‘spick and span’ ……….a) be very careful with it, it might breakb) it’s neat and tidyc) you should put it in the freezer before it meltsd) it is usually worn to a weddingYesterday’s was d)

2011年01月07日

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Cheesed off

I am not that happy at the moment. Lots of things are going wrong and I’m finding it hard not to let my spirit get broken. I won’t bother you with my troubles, but I am struggling. It’s not been a good start to the new year.At least the weather isn’t as horrible as it was. Actually it’s still not that pleasant, but at least it isn’t quite so cold as it has been. I never thought I would look upon a cloudy, damp, drizzly, grey day as being OK. It’s quite amazing how your perceptions change. I drank a large glass of Bailey’s Irish Cream last night, that made me feel a bit better, for a while at least.I found this thing in the kitchen drawer the other day. I thought it was a honey dripper, but it isn’t. Honey drippers are made of wood. They have a similar twirly bit at one end, but the other end is just a small knob to hold the tool with. What this actually is I have no idea.Quiz 378“A stitch in time saves …………”a) your baconb) facec) a dimed) nineYesterday’s was c)

2011年01月06日

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Chunky hummous

This is an interesting little observation on food, or at least I think so. We are talking about hummous here (or houmous depending on who you ask how to spell it). Now, hummous is a Mediterranean rural food, made from simple ingredients (chick peas, sesame seed paste, garlic and olive oil) which are boiled and then blended. Fifty years agol, because making hummous was quite a time consuming process, a housewife was judged a good maker of hummous by how smooth the paste was. Lumpy hummous = lazy housewife, you know the kind of thing. Then along came the food processor and everybody could make smooth hummous at the flick of a switch. So who is the good housewife now? A possible answer is the housewife who makes hummous by hand and consequently there are a few lumps in it indicating that no processor has been used and the product has been made with love and care instead of by a machine. So the circle has turned fully. In the shops, ‘chunky’ hummous is more expensive than smooth (of course in this case it’s just smooth hummous with a few bits added), trying to give the impression of ‘hand made’ quality. And of course it’s not just with hummous. Juices come with pieces in them now, so do quality soups, pates, sausages and others I am sure. Odd how things change around, isn’t it? It’s the same as blemished fruit being seen as being from a chemical free orchard and misshaped eggs being free range. A good restaurant now has to have lumpy soup to prove that it hasn’t come out of a tin or a packet! So not everything is bad. Real cakes are somewhat heavy, as is real bread. Hopefully perfection in the appearance of food, at the expense of flavour and texture, is a thing of the past.Ten per cent of people in this country are dyslexic. Quiz 377King Henry VIII had ……………. wives.a) twob) fourc) sixd) eightYesterday’s was c)

2011年01月05日

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Shoelace problems

I am having a lot of trouble with my shoelaces at the moment, they keep on coming undone. It’s very annoying when the pavements are wet and slushy because the loose ends flick up and make my trousers dirty.Junko has recently cleaned our laminate kitchen floor with something that she bought on offer from the ‘Pound’ shop. It’s done a very good job, I believe, and now as you walk across the floor it squeaks. Is it ‘squeaky clean’, or does it just squeak?What is the difference between a cesspit and septic tank?This is a plate warmer, designed by Robert Welch. It’s the sort of thing that is useful on these cold winter days. Hot food put onto cold plates is not so good, is it?Quiz 376Which is the odd word out?a) whiskyb) ciderc) lemonaded) ginYesterday’s was b)

2011年01月04日

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Fame at last

It’s a long story, but here it is, if you can understand it. Bill’s partner’s daughter is married to somebody who is currently in the news quite a lot. The other day I looked at my phone and saw that I had a text message from Bill. He had also sent the same message to this famous person, according to the screen. Ah to be mentioned in the same breath as a celebrity, how notable. We went out to Danielle’s for tea the other day, she gave us this small cake as a present, saying something like it was made where she was born (this isn’t quite the story, but there was something significant about it)Three questions for you to think about.Where does the hot water come from in your house, and how is it heated?Where does the water from the toilet go?Where does the water from the roof go?Quiz 375…………….. have gone through the roof recently.a) Burglarsb) Food pricesc) My aunt and her daughterd) Six cases of swine fluYesterday’s was d)

2011年01月03日

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Deliveries

Since the country has got back to work after the long Christmas and New Year holidays, there has been a very large number of delivery vans dropping parcels off at houses along our street. These must be present and things like that which were ordered over the internet for Christmas delivery. They are weeks late because the weather was just dreadful in the week running up to Christmas that the goods just couldn’t be delivered in time. It’s a pity that so many people missed their Christmas presents, but the weather was just so extreme. And more snow is forecast for tonight. This time it’s just a few centimetres and the forecasters promise us that it won’t stay long. England are about to win The Ashes. That is excellent. I have waited much of my life for this to happen.Junko and I took down the Christmas tree and all its decorations this morning. The front room looks really empty without all the Christmas stuff. Oh well, it’s all packed away and put in its boxes, which we put in the loft, until next year. The salad we had for lunch today.Quiz 374A kind of ‘help yourself’ meal is called a ………a) baffleb) buffoonc) buffd) buffetYesterday’s was a)

2011年01月02日

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Frost casualty

In the recent extremely cold weather anything with water in it has been a problem. All over the nation water pipes have burst, thermometers have broken and water butts frozen. Sadly we left a couple of galvanised watering cans out in the garden. They were full of water which froze. Of course the ice was larger then the inside of the can and so it pushed the sides of the can out. One seam in each can has come under severe pressure and now both cans have got holes in them. Oh dear. I wonder if is possible to solder galvanised steel? I’d like to keep these cans as they are both old and therefore strong and attractive.It is very strange to look out of the front window while having breakfast and see seagulls flocking there in the road. It’s rubbish day, so I suppose that they are scavenging for bits from the bins. But seagulls in Stratford doesn’t’ seem quite right, after all Stratford is about the furthest you can get from the sea in Britain!Quiz 373If something is ‘a turn up for the books’, ………..a) it’s a nice surpriseb) there is a bookshop giving old books away freec) the economy is no longer in recessiond) it’s a souvenir gift from the seasideYesterday’s was b)

2011年01月01日

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山蔭神社

(2024-11-09 09:10:21)
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(2024-11-09 09:10:08)
ディズニーリゾート大好っき！

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