2011年02月の記事一覧 | Jeremy and Junko in Stratford - 楽天ブログ

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2011年02月の記事

全28件 (28件中 1-28件目)

1

Concert

My sister and I went to a rock concert in Leamington the other day. Peter Frampton and his band were playing. They played for nearly three hours. Great fun. And we didn’t have to sit down. This is my ticket.Some kind of vintage car, in pre-restored condition, on a low trailer being towed by a 4x4 has just gone by. That car looked as if it had just come out of a chicken shed! I wonder how many years of loving devotion it will take to get it back to its original condition? Many, many, I should think. And not only will it be costly in time, I should think whoever does the restoration will need a large pocketful of cash, too.I had that banana beer. Not bad, you could definitely taste the bananas. An interesting flavour, shall we say.I saw the Queen today. I was walking across town and there were hundreds of policemen and barriers and flashing lights. I waited a few minutes by a barrier and then the cavalcade drove slowly by, the Queen smiling and giving her usual wave. And the great thing is that the sun was shining. Ah well, it’s something nice to remember.Oh dear, I am sneezing again.I may go to the bootsale tomorrow. It will be the first of the season.Quiz 440Which one of these coins is still in use in England? a) shillingb) half crownc) farthingd) five pence piecee) sixpencef) sovereigng) groath) guineai) threepenny bitj) florinYesterday’s was b)

2011年02月28日

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It’s my fault

Every day I look out of the front window at the pond in our little garden. It should be full, what with all the rain we have had, but it isn’t, and I know why. The water level is a couple of inches below where it might be had I not stuck a garden fork through the liner sometime towards the back end of last summer. I repaired it at the time, along with the split in the liner (which is not my fault), but the cold winter has rendered these repairs ineffective. I believe you can get some rubbery stuff, rather like a puncture repair outfit for a bike tyre, for repairing pond liners, and I really ought to get some and get myself outside and effect the repairs. But I think I’ll leave it for a while, it’s far too cold now to do anything like this.I walked across town this morning. There were a lot of policemen and council workers down by the river, in the theatre gardens and by the theatre itself. Of course, the Queen is coming tomorrow. It will be chaos for a few hours, but for now the place is just being checked for bombs and tarted up generally. In a change from the usual procedure, real turf is being laid to cover the mud that passes for grass in the gardens by the theatre. What normally happens, I believe, is to cover the whole area with that green stuff that you get in the fruit and vegetable shops. But the Queen is no idiot, obviously she can spot a fake a mile off. I wonder if Prince Charles noticed that the flowers had been painted for his visit a few years ago? I expect so. Another hearse went by a few minutes ago; fortunately this one was empty. And now a lorry which is bringing day-old pansy plants from Holland has just passed, heading, I guess, to one of the local nurseries.I have cashed in my beer vouchers, and this is one bottle I bought. Think I might try it tonight.Quiz 439The following ingredients make what?1 kilo cooking apples90 grams of Sugar150 grams of Flour70 grams of Buttera) apple pieb) apple crumblec) apple tartd) ciderYesterday’s was b)

2011年02月27日

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Beer Vouchers

As you can see from the photo, the beer vouchers have arrived. I had one bottle of bad beer, now I’m going to have two bottles of good stuff.Oh dear, a hearse has just gone by. A chap has just walked past, along the pavement. As he passed he flicked a cigarette end into our garden. After he’d done it he looked up and saw me glaring at him. He just smiled and walked on. What can you do?I read today that ten per cent of British people are permanently overdrawn on their current bank account. Incredible. I mean, it’s not just that are sometimes in the red, they are ALWAYS so. The streetlight went on at 5:47 this evening. It’s getting later!Quiz 438If you win something very easily, you are said to have won ……..a) hands upb) hands downc) hands offd) hand in gloveYesterday’s was c)

2011年02月26日

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It’s a big world, even in little Stratford

Now here’s a funny thing. When you have a full tank of petrol in the car, do you feel richer and more like going out for a drive? I do, even though I have just spent a fortune on putting that petrol in the tank! It’s quite amazing how quickly we forget this particular piece of financial pain!The weather has generally been cold, damp and gloomy for ages. Not much blue sky at all. Consequently everybody’s mood is less than the best. And I am no exception. I just wish the spring would come. On the other hand, I believe that we have had no snow so far this calendar year. After all the trauma we had in December, this is quite a positive thing. A 1950’s American pickup truck has just whizzed past the window, painted in bright red, an unusual sight. The pickup was closely followed by a small flatbed with caged sides carrying a load of scrap metal: broken washing machines, steel fence posts, rusty lawn mowers, bottomless galvanised buckets, twisted steel shelving units, bent aluminium saucepans and stripped down bicycle frames, you know the kind of thing. An interesting contrast. The red pickup was lovingly cared for and is clearly going to be looked after for many years to come, even though it is old. The scrap metal, which is probably much less old, has not stood the test of time and will be turned back into something which is perhaps a little better. Ooh, now a huge scrap lorry has just passed by. This is the sort that is carrying high grade scrap metal for processing at a local recycling plant. It might be full of pcb’s from mobile phones and other electrical equipment, or perhaps other things which contain rare earth metals. What a world passes our window!Still no sign of my voucher for the beer. I think if it goes on much longer I will ring up and enquire!This is another kind of bradawl.Quiz 437In which of the following bands would you find a trombone?a) a gastric bandb) a bollinger bandc) a brass bandd) an elastic bandYesterday’s was c)

2011年02月25日

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A visit from Bill

Bill paid an unexpected visit today. Luckily, very luckily, I had shaved. He was impressed by the progress I have made on the cellar cupboard. He was looking for a music stand for one of his partner’s children. And it just so happened that I had one. It was in the cellar, or at least I thought it was. Having cleared most of the cellar out in the past two weeks I was pretty sure where it wasn’t. There were just a few places it could be. But could we find it? Of course not. I was beginning to think I had taken it to the recycle shop but I tried one last box, full of paintbrushes and other decorating stuff, and there it was. Lucky. I have discovered how to attach Junko’s phone to the computer and thus send text messages without having to fiddle around on the keypad. Having learned to type properly years ago I find it unbelievably frustrating using the phone itself. And so slow. I’m not sure how many words a minute I can type, but I guess it has to be over fifty. (I have just timed myself, out of interest, and this preceding paragraph took me a minute – and I was nervous because of the pressure!)A large lorry, loaded with canned lager has just passed by. Fosters. What a pity it didn’t stop outside our house just to drop off a few crates! Instead of that, then I’ll have to have this.Quiz 436If you ‘bring home the bacon’ you probably are ……….a) the soccer player who scores the winning goalb) a housewifec) a salarymand) a butcherYesterday’s was a)

2011年02月24日

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Deer

We went to my sister’s the other day and while we were there, into her garden came a small visitor. A munjack deer. These deer are common in the UK, but are not native to this country, a number escaped from the zoo at a large stately home forty or fifty years ago, I believe, and have flourished ever since. To my mind they look out of proportion, their legs are too thin and their head is too small for such a bulky body. Oh well, I suppose they have a certain charm. They eat my sister’s vegetables, though, which is a problem.I wonder why so many horseboxes are going past the window this morning? Is there a hunt on nearby? Or perhaps it is Stratford races. It was bootsale day today, but I didn’t go. Even though the weather was quite reasonable I just didn’t have the interest or enthusiasm to go. I wonder why not?The cellar cupboard is progressing quite well. It is going to look good, I think. It is certainly going to be useful.Quiz 435If something has ‘given up the ghost’ it has ………….a) finally stopped workingb) been to a funeralc) started a new lifed) appeared on TVYesterday’s was c)

2011年02月23日

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More container lorries

Now I have started to notice container lorries, there seem to be quite a few of them. Full sized and half sized ones, too. And I actually saw one with a name on it, in Chinese. I wonder where they are all going to, or coming from locally?These are the ‘pairs of things’ I can think of quickly.scissors, pliers, swimming trunks, gloves, boots, shoes, trousers, stockings, tights, slippers, shears, socks, glasses, pants, knickers, shorts, hands, eyes, jeans, handlebars, tweezers, ear-rings, ears. There are, of course, many more but we are going into the realms of native speaker levels of English then.The day was bright initially, but then clouded over and rained. By the evening it had turned cold and windy, but the rain had stopped.It has been an international rugby day today. England has just beaten France, which is always a nice feeling.My sister has had a bit of an accident and has broken a bone in her right hand. As she is a chiropodist and needs nimble fingers I wonder if she will be able to go to work next week?I took this photo a while ago and forgot to post it. It looks pleasant, doesn't it? Ah, how the camera lies! It was cold when I took it.Quiz 434‘Elbow grease’ is another term for …………a) beeswax and turpentineb) cheesec) hard workd) a prison sentenceYesterday’s was a) Quiz 434‘Elbow grease’ is another term for …………a) beeswax and turpentineb) cheesec) hard workd) a prison sentenceYesterday’s was a)

2011年02月22日

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Container lorries

Today I have seen two container lorries pass the window. One with a full sized container on board, the other with a half one. We don’t see many go buy, which is lucky because they are rather uninteresting things, being just bare boxes really, mind you, if you use your imagination you can wonder where they are going or coming from. My guess is that they mostly coming from China, full, and going back to China empty!The Queen of England, Elizabeth II is coming to Stratford on March 4th, to open the refurbished theatre. That will be exciting. I don’t think she will go past our house, but it seems that the roads around here will be closed for at least some of the day, for we are, you see, only a short distance from the theatre, ten minutes on foot, I should think. It’s a big event this opening of the theatre, and will definitely be on TV.The streetlight went out at ten to seven this morning! Amazing.My cold has almost gone. I sneezed only about half a dozen times yesterday, and just once, so far, today. I have started work on the cupboard in the cellar.No sign yet of the voucher for my replacement bottle of beer.How many items can you list which are ‘pairs’? For example: trousers (10 good, 15 very good, 20 excellent, 25 almost as good as me!)This is a bradawl. Quiz 434A marathon is ……………. kma) 42b) 44c) 46d) 48Yesterday’s was b)

2011年02月21日

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Battery top up

Currently I am charging a small army of phones (four), an electric drill and my camera. I don’t suppose this is excessive by some peoples’ standards as they might have a music player or two, plus an iPad and something else for sure, but to me it seems a lot. The sad thing about it is that we seem to need these things.A truck and trailer has just passed the window, loaded with huge bales of hay. Fodder for sheep or cows, no doubt. These days, being rather cold and wet, the grass doesn’t grow much in the fields. Though it will pick up again soon. Our lawn is definitely thicker than it was, so I imagine this is the same with the fields. The problem in the fields at the moment is that they are rather wet and the animals can very easily churn the whole thing up into a muddy mess. My voucher from the beer company didn’t arrive in the post this morning, it’s a bit early yet, I suppose. But here is another bottle of some kind of real ale. I hope there are no problems with this one!The weather is a little milder than it has been, but we still are not seeing much of the sun.Quiz 433When Beethoven was alive, pianos only had …………. keys.a) 63b) 73c) 78d) 85Yesterday’s was b)

2011年02月20日

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Och Aye the Noo

It’s a Scottish saying which everybody knows, especially those who aren’t Scottish. But what does it mean?I am planning on building a cupboard in the cellar. It’s going to be here. Bill gave me the doors the other day. Not an easy job, though.Actually, this picture is quite an interesting one, and this is why. When this house was built in 1900, the method of heating which was almost universal in England, was the coal fire. Dirty, smell and extremely inefficient things, coal fires were the sole method of heating in most houses until the rise of central heating in the 1960’s. There was a fireplace in each room of the house, including the bedrooms. The range in the kitchen was coal fired, too. So, where did all the coal come from? Well, of course it was delivered from the road in front of the house. Getting into the house was a simple matter; there was a manhole in the path leading to the front door which led directly to the cellar. The coal was delivered in hundredweight sacks, which the coalman just emptied down the hole. The significance of this photo is that the chute where the coal came down into the cellar is still visible, top left. How dusty it must have been with tons of coal being poured down there. And then the maid, for this house would have had a maid, would be up bright and early to clear the ashes from the previous night’s fires and then remake these same fires with coal brought from the cellar and kindling wood which no doubt was kept somewhere in the garden. What a job that must have been, for a girl who was probably in her mid teens. Anyway, there’s the story and the evidence. Until just a few years ago the manhole cover in our next door neighbour’s path was still visible, but it was covered by paving when they had a new path put down. There was a nice cast iron lid, I wonder where that went?Unbelieveable. I was sitting in the front room, waiting for my friend Chris to arrive, when the streetlight went on. Five forty two. It’s really racing ahead these days, we shall hardly recognise the place soon, what with all this daylight!Quiz 422There are ………….. keys on a standard piano.a) 77b) 88c) 102d) 112Yesterday’s was c)

2011年02月19日

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Noisy boot

My right boot wheezes when I walk. Only sometimes, it’s rather odd.It is a good thing that carpentry was not my chosen profession. I’d have never been any good. My ears are the wrong shape. Whenever I put a pencil behind my ear for safe keeping it falls out within ten seconds. Or perhaps my ears are the right shape and the problem lies with the pencil, but I think this is clutching at straws.This is a list of things I am currently looking for:An Imperia raviolampA spinning metal catch made of brassA set of nice circlip pliers, internal and externalA holder for an inch and a quarter dieA pair of adjustable aluminium handlebarsA square bradawlA replacement for my glideball eyeballTwo five sixteenth BSF nuts A sack truck with pneumatic tyresStephan has just located one of the things I have been looking for for years, a round cover for the boiler flue, which goes on the wall. It’s a bit difficult to describe, but I guess that one day you will see a photo of it. By the way, thank you very much to Stephan for finding it.It’s a miserable grey day, but it is, at least, a little warmer than it has been over the past week.I think this thing is called a gimlet. A sandwich delivery van has just gone past the window. I wonder where it plies its wares? Would it have a contract, or just hope to pick up business on the fly?Quiz 421“Neither a ……………. nor a lender be.”a) debtorb) creditorc) borrowerd) saverYesterday’s was b)

2011年02月18日

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Product recall

Remember the bottle of beer I posted the photo of a couple of days ago? This one.Well, I was reading the BBC website this morning and I noticed a news item about pieces of glass having got into some bottles of beer somewhere along the production line. As I read further down the article I was very surprised to see that the beer in question was the very same one that I had posted a photo of a few days ago. I don’t believe that it is a major problem, but I rang the number that the company had issued anyway, gave them the batch number and the date and time of manufacture, which was printed on the bottle, and the place of purchase (which I wasn’t sure of as, if you remember, this bottle was a gift from Atsuko) and they said that they would send me a voucher to get myself another bottle or two of the same stuff, and that I was to throw the current bottle away because mine was one indeed one of the affected bottles. No manufacturing process is perfect and these problems do happen from time to time so it’s good to know that companies are on the ball when it comes to dealing with them. I wonder when the vouchers will turn up?A tree surgeon’s truck and trailer has just gone past the window. I suppose the truck contains all the lopping equipment. The trailer was a large, lightweight thing with a shredder attached to it, obviously to turn the smaller branches into chippings which will then be taken back to base in the trailer, packed into bags and subsequently sold to gardeners as mulch. I think if there were a world championship for sneezing I’d win it at the moment. The postman’s van has just pulled up outside next door’s house. The lady who lives there recently admitted to Junko that she was an internet shopaholic. I don’t think it’s that bad, but she does have a couple of deliveries a week, brought by various different couriers. This is possibly the first time I have seen a Royal Mail van, though. Oh, there was a delivery for one of the houses opposite, too. That’s unusual.It rained for most of the day. Very miserable and misty, too.Bill says this is an ammunition box.Quiz 420In the game of cricket, there are ………….. players on each side.a) 9b) 11c) 13d) 15Yesterday’s was b)

2011年02月17日

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Dish

This is our satellite dish with its eight feeds. I connected all this about five years ago. Actually, thinking about it, it could well be longer ago than that. So we have satellite TV in all our rooms, including the cellar. Anyway, it was a good job done then, and it has served us very well ever since I did it.It is with great sadness that I report that the glideball eyeball has broken. Something has come loose inside the eyeball itself and it now rattles when it rolls. It doesn’t flash properly any more either, as I noted a few days ago, and the gyroscope has lost its balance, meaning that the eye no longer looks directly up at you. What a pity, but it was fun while it lasted.My cold is no better today, I am afraid to say. I spluttered and sneezed all through the night and woke with a headache. Oh well, there is always tomorrow. We are only a month away from the spring equinox. It sounds good, but there is still a long way to go before winter is no longer with us.And talking of time, it seems that as a nation we may change the clocks one day, to get an extra hour of daylight. Extra to the extra hour we already have in summer, I believe. This plan has been talked about for years, but has never come to anything. Perhaps this time.Quiz 419The current Queen of England is Elizabeth ……a) Ib) IIc) IIId) IVYesterday’s was c)

2011年02月16日

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Another beer

Atsuko gave this to bottle of beer to us the other day. I’ve never drunk this kind before, it is once again one of those special rather nice ones. I hope it’s good.I read today in the local newspaper that our local Tesco is going to expand yet again. Tesco is a huge supermarket chain, the biggest in the UK with over two thousand stores. It’s the fourth biggest supermarkt in the world. And it already has a huge store in Stratford. Do we want an even bigger version of the same thing? Whether we want it or not is not relevant, we will get it anyway.It has been raining since early morning. Not pleasant, but the good thing about the rain in winter is that it does mean that it isn’t cold. This year I have learned that I don’t like cold weather, I don’t like it at all. Mind you, I have always known that I don’t like it, I just tend to forget that I do every year. If you live in a cold climate you need to be properly prepared for it by living in a small well-insulated house, not in a great rambling thing like ours. You need to have lots of the correct kind of clothing and a government which understands winter. So, this is why a rainy day is preferable to a cold one. I can cope with the rain.I’ve got a cold. My nose is running and I am sneezing mightily. I feel better than I did yesterday, though.Quiz 418“People in glass houses shouldn’t …………”a) get undressed without first closing the curtainsb) need to buy tomatoes at the supermarketc) throw stonesd) watch TV in the eveningsYesterday’s was d)

2011年02月15日

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More about the eyeball

I don’t know what has happened to it, but it seems only to flash red now and so isn’t nearly so spectacular. Oh dear, so close yet so far. I hope I haven’t broken it, but I suspect I have.There has been nothing particularly noteworthy in the road outside the house today, just the usual fire engines, ambulances, police cars and a horse and cart! It reminded me of the days of the rag and bone man. (not that I actually remember those days, but the idea was there)I don’t know exactly what time the streetlight went out this morning, but it was not on at fourteen minutes past seven.This is a vintage bottle opener that I found in the cellar while I was clearing out. When I say ‘found’ it doesn’t actually mean that I had never seen it before, I just hadn’t remembered that I had got it. But having seen it again I remember that I have had it for years.I have not been at all well today; my throat is sore, I’ve been sneezing, my head hurts, I’ve got sticky eyes and a runny nose. On top of all of this I feel cold. I hope I feel better tomorrow. I felt this coming on yesterday evening as I suddenly started sweating. I shall have a hot bath and go to be early, I think.Quiz 417Which of the following words means to ‘flatten’?a) squeakb) squealc) squirmd) squashYesterday’s was c)

2011年02月14日

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Glideball Eyeball

I researched that eyeball on the internet, to see how to make it flash. It just needs a smart tap on the floor and away it goes for a few seconds. It’s great fun, but I still can’t get the hang of how to make it flash every time. It flashes green, red and blue in all kinds of flash patterns. Nice. Of course it really needs video to get the effect, but I post this photo just to prove that I did indeed get it working.And talking of flashing lights, a pavement sweeper with a vast number of orange lights which flash in time with the peeping noise the machine makes as it moves along, sweeping the pavements partially clean. They are the only things that keep the dog muck in check. Dog muck, chewing gum, Styrofoam boxes and cigarette butts. What is our world coming to? Is this machine an improvement on the old barrow and broom? I do wonder.Did anybody do that crossword?Quiz 416If you are ‘keeping mum’, ………a) you look after your motherb) your mother has been dead in the back room for ten years but you haven’t told anybody because you are collecting her pensionc) you are silent about somethingd) it’s hard work, but it’s your dutyYesterday’s was c)

2011年02月13日

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Roof activity

One of the houses across the road from ours is having some new TV aerials installed. This is because very shortly, next month perhaps, we will be completely digital in Stratford. No analogue signal at all. This has been planned for years but it seems to have taken some people by surprise despite the TV and newspaper adverts alerting everyone to what needs to be done. I installed a satellite system in our house more than five years ago because I knew that change was afoot. Our dish has eight feeds coming from it, leading to eight digiboxes in eight rooms. Luckily we don’t need a rooftop aerial like most people do. I’d hate to be up the ladder like this chap! All those aerials you can see on the chimney are the old ones. They were still there after he had finished. I wonder why he didn’t take them down?It rained all day yesterday, but today has been nice, but a bit cold. Here is a crossword I made, if you are interested.Crossword OneQuiz 415Where would you usually find an icicle?a) on the end of your noseb) underneath a rock in the seac) hanging from the eaves of housed) in the frozen food section at the local supermarketYesterday’s was c) There are twenty seven countries in the EU at the moment.

2011年02月12日

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Flashing eyeball

Remember that eyeball I posted a picture of the other day? It’s rather an interesting thing, so I took it to my sister’s house on Sunday. I got it out of my pocket and put it on the table, and it rolled away. So I put it in a saucer. My sister picked it up a few minutes later and looked at it with interest. Then she put it on the table. It rolled away like the last time, but then it started flashing madly. Blue, green, red all of a daze. I was most surprised, I’ve had it for weeks and rolled it all over the place but I’d never seen it flash like that before. But we couldn’t get it to flash again, whatever we did, it was most curious, and we couldn’t stop laughing about it. I wonder what makes it flash? It’s quite a puzzle.And so here is another bottle of real ale. This one is made locally in a micro-brewery just a few miles from Stratford. It’s supposed to be very good, we shall see. I understand completely why a day is the length it is, it’s the time the earth takes to rotate. But why do we have to have twenty four hours in it? Couldn’t we have ten hours in the day? And each hour made up of a hundred longer minutes made up of a hundred longer seconds? Aren’t we supposed to work in things decimal? Who decided that there would be twenty four hours in a day etc etc?Quiz 414Currently there are ………….. countries in the European Union (EU).a) 16b) 23c) 27d) 31Yesterday’s was c)

2011年02月11日

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Eight minutes past seven!

Goodness me, the streetlight went out at 7:08 this morning. Unbelieveable. There was a cloudless sky, but still that was a big leap forward. Soon the light will be going out before we are in the front room having breakfast, but that will surely mean that the weather will be warmer, thank heavens.Even though it was a clear day with a deep blue sky, my ears were cold while I was out walking. It’s the first time for a good while that I haven’t worn a woolly hat which covers my ears, and I really did notice the difference. Mind you, I wore a hat with a peak because the low sun irritates me, so you can’t have everything! Update on the weather: at five o’clock in the evening it was hailing! Just got the washing in before it got wet.Update on the streetlamp. It came on at five o’clock, because the skies darkened so much with the hailstorm. Then it went off at five past five as the clouds passed. Mmm, that beer I posted a photo of the other day was quite good, not wonderful, but not bad at all.Atsuko made this quiche. It was really good. Sorry about the baked beans, but quiches tend to be rather dry, so you need some sauce with it. Baked beans or tomato ketchup, I don’t know which is worse.Quiz 413A ‘rubberneck’ is …………….a) a kind of funnel for filling wine bottlesb) an Australian turtlec) a kind of person who always turns up at a road accidentd) the thing that you put on a dog to stop it scratching its ears with its hind legYesterday’s was d)

2011年02月10日

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Valentine potato

Here it is. From the garden last autumn. We dug up this potato and I managed to keep the photo of it until the appropriate day. I bet any boyfriend or girlfriend would love to receive something as romantic as this!!I made the rice and onion dish again yesterday. In the bowl where the garlic is there was a rather sad looking chilli pepper. ‘It’s going off,’ I thought to myself. ‘So I might as well use it.’ I chopped it up and added it to the frying onions and garlic. It was only then that I thought to taste it. My goodness was it hot! My lips were stinging for hours afterwards. And I put it all in the mix!! Oh well, it’s just a case of being careful when eating it. You don’t often get them that strong, the last one I used was pathetic, which is why I didn’t bother to check this one. I wonder where it came from?One of those stretch limousines has just gone past the window. This one seemed about twenty metres long. It was cream coloured, I think, though it was a bit difficult to tell as it’s dark, certainly the windows were all blacked out, then they always are in this kind of vehicle. What goes on inside there? The streetlights are yellow so it might just have looked cream. It was based on a ‘Hummer’ I believe, you know those gigantic 4x4 vehicles that they use a lot in America, you rarely see them in England, thank god. I wonder where that was going? Oh, it’s just gone back past the window, in the other direction. It really is a huge thing. How does it get round corners?It has rained most of the day. I never thought I’d say that I was pleased to see rain like this, but I can tell you, I’d rather have this rain and these cloudy skies than the freezing weather we had a few weeks ago.Quiz 412If something is ‘an old wives’ tale’, ……….a) it’s a story about a retirement homeb) there is an element of truth in itc) it’s a kind of traditional medicined) don’t believe itYesterday’s was c)

2011年02月09日

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More beer

This is another kind of good beer. It was very difficult to take a decent photo of it; everywhere was either to shiny or too dark. Anyway, it’s better to drink it than to take a picture of it!I sent an email to a friend of ours in Cairo at the beginnings of the trouble there. I have just had a reply, as the internet has been down for a long time, and am pleased to say that he and his family are safe and happy. That’s good.There seems to be more dog muck around on the pavements of Stratford than usual. I wonder why that is?A black and white vintage car, from the 1920’s I would say, has just gone past the window. Lots of ribbons on it, flying in the wind. I wasn’t quick enough to get a photo of it. Somebody is getting married with great pomp and ceremony it seems. Good luck to them. Ah, that reminds me, I must charge the camera battery.Does anybody like crosswords?Quiz 411“If the ………….. fits, wear it.”a) shoeb) shirtc) capd) coatYesterday’s was b)

2011年02月08日

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Tap trauma

You remember the tap I gave Bill some time ago. He was going to fit it, along with its water filter system, in their kitchen. Pam was all for it at the time, but now she has changed her mind and has decided that the current one is fine. Oh dear. How could you not love this tap? Especially if you have someone, Bill, to install it for you.I have just seen a nice ‘Greengrocer’s S’ go past the window. A van with ‘Tile’s for you’ proudly emblazoned on its side.The bad news about my Microsoft Office disk is that Outlook won’t install in Windows Vista. And Outlook is what I wanted. Oh dear oh dear. It’s the trickery of the modern world.The police have been round lifting the drain covers and looking in the drains with little mirrors. Searching for bombs, I expect. This must mean that Prince Charles or the Prime Minister is coming to the theatre tonight.Quiz 410“Never ………. on anything that talks.”a) sitb) betc) treadd) put your hat Yesterday’s was c)

2011年02月07日

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About the ‘egg’

Ah, I forgot to tell you about the ‘egg’ that I found in the garden the other day. It is in fact a weathered avocado pip. This is the second time I have been confused by something from an avocado. Remember the old skin I thought was a dead terrapin?An elderly gentleman with a large felt hat, a fur-lined suede greatcoat, a long grey beard and a most beautiful walking cane with a silver top has just ambled slowly past the front window. He looks like he could be some kind of Shakespearean scholar.Good news, I have found my Microsoft Office disc.The streetlight went out at twenty three minutes past seven this morning.There you go again. Every time I listen to Peter Gabriel’s 1994 live album ‘Secret World’ I am stunned. Quiz 409If you have ‘the Midas touch’ you ………..a) should visit the doctor soonb) can make cakes wellc) find it easy to make moneyd) needn’t worry, it only lasts for a few daysYesterday’s was a)

2011年02月06日

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Not one, not two, but three!

As I mentioned a few days ago I have been clearing up the cellar. It really is looking a lot better. Not much has been thrown away, things have just been reorganised. I am pleased to say that I have found quite a number of things that I had ‘lost’. I also decided to resolve the vacuum cleaner issue. Once upon a time we had a lot of working vacuums, all of the same model, Dyson DC 01. I had repaired most of them and had got them for very little money. But one by one they had ceased working once more. As we had a lot I just put them down in the cellar and expected them to have a bit of attention later. Well, it was much later! There were five machines down there. Two were hopeless cases, the motors have burned out, but the other three just didn’t work. That’s actually hopeful. I researched a bit on the internet and decided that I may have found the problem. I attacked the first one and effected the fix, switched it on and the cellar was immediately filled with clouds of dust! It worked. Then the same procedure for the second. Again success. And the third? I couldn’t be third time lucky as well, could I? But indeed I was. Amazing. In all I took about an hour fixing them. But, you know, it was a very simple problem, just caused by bad design really. Anyway, I feel quite pleased with myself. Here’s one of the fixed machines, with the two hopeless cases in the background.As I was having my breakfast this morning, I noticed that the sets of pedestrian traffic lights which are about fifty or sixty metres down the road from our house, are not working. And it isn’t that they are just stuck, there are no green lights, no amber lights and no red ones either. On both sets. No doubt we will soon see a vast horde of traffic light workmen descend on the area in six various sized van all with different coloured flashing lights ablaze. They will create traffic chaos with their vans, excavate a major section of the road, leave enormous numbers of barriers up overnight and then return for five minutes to finish the job the next morning. Either that or one chap with a screwdriver will come in a small van, open a cover, fiddle with something for a second and then all will spark into life. My betting is on the first scenario, though.It’s all very well tidying up the cellar, but you don’t find everything that you have lost! I can’t find my disc for Microsoft Office. That’s a bit of a blow as I want to install ‘Outlook’. I think it was my fault, about the rubbery rolls. I don’t think I had them on ‘defrost’, I might have cooked them! I did a similar defrost today, which was fine. The Jaguar E type is fifty years old today. That is amazing. It certainly is a fantastic looking car.Quiz 408“Practice makes ………….”a) perfectb) cakes taste deliciousc) a hard job easierd) you tiredYesterday’s was b)

2011年02月05日

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Rubbery rolls

I put a couple of frozen bread rolls in the microwave to defrost them for breakfast, as they not been taken out of the freezer the night before. Sadly I put the defrost timer on for too long, a minute, and the result was a pair of rather bouncy and almost inedible rolls. They didn’t taste quite as bad as they looked though, when they had been toasted. However, a lesson has been learned!The strong wind blew our big water butt over yesterday. I heard on the radio today that the average power drill gets used for twelve minutes in its life. Actually, I am surprised that it’s as long as that!The wind has gone today, though it’s forecast to return shortly and give us a blowy weekend. The grey skies have been replaced with deep blue ones, which means that we had a bit of a frost last night. Just a degree below freezing, I should think. The roofs on the houses opposite had a tinge of white to them and there was condensation on our bedroom window, which is always a sign of a cold night. But there is no ice on the pond in the front garden. This is how the cellar looks now. Lots of boxes, I know, but their content is under control.I am meeting Bill for lunch tomorrow, in the Ewe and Lamb pub (or perhaps it is the Lamb and Ewe), near Bromsgrove. So I mustn’t forget to shave.It was a lovely day today, blue skies from dawn to dusk. Sunset is getting later and it was still quite light at five thirty this evening. Quiz 407“Patience …………..”a) is a girl’s best friendb) Grasshopperc) is a must when you are fishingd) will get you there in the endYesterday’s was c)

2011年02月04日

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A cunning plan

My friend Chris, who as I mentioned yesterday is coming down to Stratford to stay for a few days, is a reasonably strong person, strong enough anyway. I thought I might ask him to help me to take a few of the larger items out of the cellar and take them to the dump. A good idea? A good opportunity anyway.I am deliberately watching the street lamp in the street outside. It is now seven twenty seven in the morning (a cloudy and very windy one I should add) and I am expecting the light to turn itself off automatically in a few minutes. Ah, there it goes, seven thirty four. Each morning it’s a little earlier, and every minute gained is a small step in the right direction.Although the weather over the past few days has been extremely mild, the strong wind has made it seem rather colder. Going out into the garden this morning I was taken aback to see this egg. It’s very early in the season for that kind of thing, I thought, and anyway why would a bird lay it jus there in the corner of the vegetable patch? Of course closer inspection revealed that it wasn’t actually an egg. I will leave you to figure out what it was.The sun came out for a few minutes today, this is the first time we have seen it for four of five days, at least. Quiz 406If somebody is ‘on their hobby horse’, ……………a) they enjoy ridingb) they spend too much time doing their hobbyc) they love talking about their pet like or disliked) it’s time to get out of their way and let them do what they want to doYesterday’s was a)

2011年02月03日

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Cellar clearance

I have begun, once again, to clear out the cellar. The boxes that are down there have never really recovered since the gas men came to change the meter and I had to move everything. As usual, and this is an annual thing, there are too many boxes and too much stuff generally. But I have made a start. There isn’t much to throw away, which is good really, it just needs tidying up and sorting out once more. I ought to dispose of some things, though, really. I am pleased to report that I have found a toolbox which I had forgotten I had got. I last used it in the summer, I can tell by the tools that are in it. I had wondered where one or two of my favourites had gone!It has been very windy for the past few days.My friend Chris, who lives far away in the north east of England, is coming to stay for three days shortly. That will be nice.This is a pan of basmati rice with onions, garlic, salt and turmeric. In real life it was a bit yellower than this, and there were more bits of garlic and onion, too. It doesn’t look great, but my word it tastes nice.Quiz 405When the “glass is half full”, is it the same as when the “glass is half empty”?a) yesb) noYesterday’s was a)

2011年02月02日

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Happy

Remember that I was distraught that I had lost my gloves? I had looked everywhere, been up to the car showroom where I thought I might have left them, looked in the rubbish at home and finally decided that I had thrown them in the skip at mother’s house along with some rubbish that I had taken out of her car. Well, today I had to take mother to the hospital for a blood test. We went in her car and as she was feeling a little more fragile than usual she decided that she would use her walker, as below, instead of her stick to get from the car to the outpatients’ clinic. If you remember we bought this walker for mother a couple of weeks’ ago and since then she has kept it in the back of the car for convenience. (She has a four-wheeled one for use when she just walks about close to home, it won’t go in the car so easily, which is why we bought the three wheeled one) We got to the hospital and I got the walker out of the boot of the car and opened it up. Imagine my amazement when there, inside the shopping bag attached to it, were my gloves! I just can’t imagine how I had left them there, but you know, with mother, I am often slightly on edge about things, so I must have been distracted at the time. Anyway, I am really pleased. You see, these gloves actually fit me well. I’ve got small hands and little fingers and most gloves are just much too big, but these are perfect.Quiz 404If you have ‘pulled the chain’ you ……….a) have flushed the toiletb) have bought something at the supermarketc) have caught a fishd) are going to have some good luck soonYesterday’s was b)

2011年02月01日

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