Middle of the night - of course. Big Boys have Gone Out. Or at least, are sat in the front hall contemplating the cat flap, which passes for the same thing.
I'm glad that I set off early as I got to the Hospital exactly on time, having been relieved to find that the A438 at Letton had been opened again, having been closed still the evening before. There was standing water but only a few inches deep and passable. Lots of water still on saturated fields.
I wasn't looking forward to the Scan as it said about dyes involved and a canula in the arm. A little old lady went in before me and I could hear the Doctor's raised voice (was she hard of hearing?) saying, this next bit isn't very pleasant, and when she came out she had a canula in the front of her elbow. Fortunately, when it came to it, they didn't with me (perhaps because I had written on their form that I had allergic asthma?) or perhaps because it was just a general check such as Tam has had due to ongoing UTI's in the past. Anyway, I was glad to be out and on my way and drove straight to Doughty's, the patchwork shop, for some retail therapy. I did actually HAVE to go there for some more off white fabric for Gabby's quilt border. I had to buy 2 metres to get the length I needed, so there will be plenty left over for other projects. Of course, I looked in the remaindered fat 1/4 bins and chose a handful of patterns which spoke to me, and half a metre of a neutral fabric and design to make cushion covers for Christmas gifts for local friends. I lingered at the Liberty corner for a while (£17 a metre, but SUCH pretty patterns). They had a little smocked dress hanging up which someone had made, and the pattern beside it. Oh, JUST the thing for Rosie. I have never done smocking (but always wanted to). I looked at it carefully - lined bodice, gathered skirt. Hmmm, I could do that - it didn't look too difficult. So perhaps . . . .
Then I went to Curry's to pick someone's brains about tv aerials, but the lad I picked on was about as much use as a chocolate teapot. The girls are here today so they can look at my Amazon Black Friday choice and tell me if it's worth spending a bit more to get what I need - e.g. a fully functioning tv. It is my one form of entertainment, so I may as well have it Working Properly.
I nearly didn't stop at Dunelm, but thought what the heck, and bought some Crackers (there's me pushing the boat out, I NEVER buy Crackers as I think they are a shoddy waste of money) and a couple of gifts. We are having a frugal Christmas but these wouldn't break the bank.
Finally, on to Breinton Farm Shop for apples, where I spent £9 on four BIG bags of apples - Russets and Ashmead's Kernel, my favourites. I was chatting to the lady there about the flooding and she was saying that there were fields under water now which have just been sold and earmarked for new housing. How stupid is that? Hereford floods badly at the best of times and to actively build new houses on the floodplain seems plain stupid to me.
One nice extra was being able to watch the Firework Display on the Showground for the first night of the Winter Fair there. Lots of farmers with their livestock and Gareth Wyn Jones down on a jolly and interviewing folk. I follow him on Facebook - he is a powerful voice for farming and farmers and I have to say, it is scary looking into the future and what this abysmal Government have planned for Wales - no wonder they have slapped inheritance tax on farms again - all part of the great no-holds-barred "rewilding" project as apparently we no longer need farmers to grow food, nor worry about Food Security if there is another world war (looking quite possible too). How does that blardy well work then? No wonder they've been pushing the plastic food of veganism down our throats and declaring "food" can be Laboratory Grown. One word - Blackrock. Keith used to be my political filter - now I get it first hand and it's scary.
Photos later - I have uploaded them from the camera, and now they have disappeared. I give up . . .
I feel for the poor chap, knee deep or higher in muddy water in his front garden, standing next to the For Sale sign. What a non advertisement, poor chap.
ReplyDeleteGlad you got in and out as you did, and retail therapy sounds like just the ticket. I have a toddlers traditional hand smocked dress in white Swiss batiste dotted with pink floral sprigs that I made fifty years ago for my OWLS in Dom Sci. I had always hoped to have a wee girl to wear it on summer Sundays to church, but it was not to be.
The fabric is like wool - which is so good to stroke. Instead, I look at the patterns and colours and it makes me feel good. There WILL be time to use it all up, honest! I just have to live until I'm 100!
DeleteOh sweetheart, that is heartbreaking, making a little frock and dreaming of your little girl wearing it. Sometimes we just never meet the right person, at the right time. (((HUGS)))
No flooding, fabric, apples and fireworks - a successful day all round so very good to hear.
ReplyDeleteIgnore the news!
It's had a toll on me today though and I am so glad the girls have come over, as I was at a very low ebb. We had a Greggs lunch (I actually managed to EAT. I like their Tuna crunch baguette - apologies to anti-Greggs folk but I am beyond cooking anything right now.) I have been nibbling and hardly able to eat a half-portion meal at teatimes for the past 3 weeks.
DeleteIndian takeaway for tea - Tam's birthday treat meal. Wine later - I will try and manage a glass of that too. Am virtually teetotal these days, which is a positive. I have removed my prop.
Fabrics do speak to one don't they !
ReplyDeleteGlad you survived the trip ok.
Yes - I had to take myself by the scruff of the neck and walk away from the Liberty shelves though!
DeleteThe drive was doable but it's hit me hard today, all that concentration.
We are long time vegans and support farmers but then we are vegans that don't eat plastic food either or the ultra processed foods eaten by many . May I say that I admire greatly how you are coping with your loss and hope that things are happier for you in the year to come.
ReplyDeleteHello Jessica. I am a bit anti-vegan as my best friend had a severe scoliosis which was not helped when she decided to become a vegan. Then she developed Osteoporosis and her bones began to crumble. Then she was in such agony, and ended up in A&E and it was found she had stage 4 cancer, which spread to her spine. At the very end she ate a little egg and cheese and her bones put on new bone growth, but basically she starved to death and you may think I shouldn't put down veganism on the strength of this, but believe me I don't think it's right for some people. Well done for avoiding the ultra-processed pretend food.
DeleteThe loneliness of living alone is the worst. Some days are better than others. Today is crap, believe me, and without the girls here I would be sobbing all day long. I seem to have lost all confidence in life, which made yesterday a bigger deal than it should have been as I "talked it up". I have things to look forward to but at the moment the best one is what is overwhelming me totally.
I popped into the ‘posh’ farm shop yesterday. I call it that because it sells meat and dairy and at this time of year lots of fancy Christmas goods - including locally grown Nordman Fir trees which had a £100 ticket for a 2m tree - not on my Christmas list I am happy to say. Anyway from the farm shop I bought diced venison to casserole, a round of Baron Bigod, a bunch of locally grown watercress and eight fresh young leeks which smelt as if they had just been pulled from the ground, a loaf of Donker Rye sourdough made just outside Petworth and raw milk and local butter from the farm which owns the farm shop. I spent £28. I wouldn’t worry about the farmers. They get more money from the government for rewilding than they get for growing ‘food’ for our greedy supermarkets. I understand your concerns about food security though, but if the UK had to adopt rationing again as we did during WWII it would probably have a wondrous effect on the nation’s health and save the NHS a few billion pounds a year too. I asked my hedge man what he thought about about the inheritance tax on farmers (£850 for three men each doing eight hours work). His family came to the South Downs in the 1920s from Exmoor where they had been farming for generations and he says it’s not a problem for their small farms which are spread between multiple generations. My best friend’s in-laws farm in Broadchalke and again not a problem because the farm has already been spilt between the generations and they all focus on different activities. I don’t know any Welsh farmers although my mother’s grandparents were Shropshire farmers. In fact the farms kicking up a fuss around here are the huge institution-owned farms who are very shady in terms of ownership and their practices. This is my experience and maybe a lot of what you may read and see is stirred up by those agent provocateurs who will do anything to disrupt. No more politicking from me. But it is good to read you are on the mend and feeling like sewing, although patchwork cushions for Christmas presents sounds like a challenge. Perhaps dial it down to tiny patchwork lavender cushions. I’ve made these for presents for friends over the years using up my scraps, backed with old linen and filled with sheeps’ wool and my dried lavender and a hanging loop of grosgrain ribbon. They are very sweet as I use the tiniest scraps and hand stitch them and finished they measure about 3 by 5 inches. I got the Sky man round this summer and we now have the TV delivered through a neat box and wifi. All S’s sports, broadband and all the apps is £70/month. I am guessing you need good wifi for this though. Our TV is now nine years old and measures 32 inches and everyone says I should buy a new bigger one, but what would I do with the existing TV which works perfectly. If it was just me I probably wouldn’t bother with a TV as I much prefer listening to the radio while I read or sew or knit or cook or do housework and I don’t know how anyone can bear to watch YouTube with all those advertisements or do you pay so you don’t have to? S has just entered the land of the living so I will away to make more tea and wish you a happy and healthy day. Sarah x
ReplyDeleteThere was a woodyard near to where I grew up. It was right next to a canal and flooded badly every Winter. All the wood was up out of the way seasoning on big metal racks, so it wasn't a problem. A few years ago it was bought out and houses built all over it, much to the amazement of the locals. Madness!
ReplyDeleteCouncils don't seem to care - it's the poor people who buy the houses who suffer.
DeleteMy photo finding is in such a muddle, it's a bit hit and miss if I find what I am looking for. I am finding it easier to search my blog, locate the photo I want, right click on it, drop down box and click on copy photo, then paste it into a new blog post.
ReplyDeleteI had to get Tam to help me with mine today. Where had I saved the latest ones to? Dunno - I just press save! Hope you can get sorted soon. I had to wait to be rescued :)
DeleteThat sounds like quite a day! A fabric shop--who could resist!
ReplyDeleteI wonder how much of the food in Kroger or Wal Mart is even produced in this country? Several years ago there was an uproar as the local WM had been purchasing watermelons from an Amish grower. Seems it was suddenly deemed unhealthy because they cultivated with HORSES and [heaven forbid] there might have been horse poop in the field. When I buy a 2 1/2 dozen flat of eggs at the Mennonite store they are clean--I've seen one of the women carefully washing the eggs as delivered before placing them in the cardboard trays. I'll take my chances with that while wondering how produce and such is commercially 'sanitized.'
In Britain supermarkets have to mark the country of origin so you can choose not to buy Chinese. What on earth is wrong with buying Amish produce? What the hell do people imagine goes on the stuff brought in from abroad? Human sewage in some cases!
DeleteEggs have to be pre-washed in this country before being offered for sale. Stick with what you know is my advice!
It sounds like a good day for achieving everything that you needed to achieve, it 's good to have a day like that every now and then isn't it.
ReplyDeleteThey are building houses on some of our floodplains too, the massive drainage pipes they are putting in are all well and good, but apart from the huge 'pond' they have dug on the edge of the new estate where is all the water going to go to now!! As for fields left to actually grow food in ... it's something we talk about every time we drive along the A6 now that it's edged with new housing estates.
I wore me out though. I am shattered today (and was awake in the night again).
DeleteReally, there should be a ban on building on flood plains - what is wrong with all the brownfield sites? And who wants to live beside the A6?!
Oh how fun to learn smocking, I always dreamed of making little Liberty print smocked dresses for a daughter [horrors, mom, noooo] or grandchild. It will be so fun and result so lovely, love in every stitch.
ReplyDelete