I don't like complaining, but on checking through my Plusnet account, I found that I had not been compensated for the lengthy outage in October, so yesterday I made phoning them a priority, to chase this payment up. I spoke to a very helpful girl, who put me on hold (with the most ghastly background music) whilst she spoke to someone about it, and was finally told I'd be having £78.08 credited to my account. So, nearly three months of broadband free. Follow up emails and confirmation of £75 (that'll do) compensation came in due course. So that's a positive. Now need to try and get BT to cough up the payment for the cheque that got put in a drawer here and forgotten - it was a repayment for phone and broadband at Ynyswen. Twice the have told me it will be sorted, and nothing happened. So, Monday I shall get onto them again. All incoming monies gratefully received.
Neighbour's friend came up for a chat again yesterday, and helpfully went up the taller stepladder and put some of the masking tape up in the guest bedroom. He's popping back this morning to finish it off for me, but told me I was NOT to go on the top step of the ladder to paint when I was on my own, as said steps felt a bit wobbly. I will make sure I only do the top bits when Tam is here. She's coming over on Sunday so if I do all the top bits whilst she's here, I should be ok to do the lower walls with the shorter ladder.
I made a couple of Apple Gingerbread cakes yesterday, and froze one. Knowing I was to have a visitor gave me a sense of purpose. That is something rather lacking since I have been on my own. Meals are a bit haphazard - no trying out new recipes - and I fall back on meals I know off by heart how to make, and usually have some for the night and portions for the freezer. But having a reason to bake is always good and I love to bake. The door to the top freezer got pushed open the other night and so I had a pack of 4 pieces of Plaice in breadcrumb to be eaten as they had thawed totally (other stuff ok). I managed to eat plaice two nights running before I couldn't face a third and the Carrion Crows benefitted! I'll be back late from the Wassailing today so will have to get something I made earlier out to thaw. Cajun Dirty Rice perhaps.
I'll do the Wassailing post tomorrow. Meanwhile, I have a Hot Date with a vacuum cleaner . . .
I have never been Wassailing, but it sounds like fun.
ReplyDeleteI've been on my own for seven years now, coming up to eight. I cook what I always did except for one not two. And occasionally do experiments. It takes time to change but eventually it just evolves. Have fun tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteA hot date with a vacuum cleaner!!! That made me laugh. I love that picture of your 'old' kitchen. It is a cheerful color, and the stove is wonderful. We don't have such things here...at least not at a price that this old woman can afford.
ReplyDeleteI just love your kitchen photo, it makes me feel all warm and comfortable. I've done the ironing from the bed wash yesterday and we've been to Matlock as I wanted M&S foodhall. Iris has her tea one day a week with us and she likes their Chicken Tikka pies. She has one to herself and we share one! Very grey and overcast here and COLD. Sheva managed 5 minutes outside this morning and is now spread out on the spare room bed. Xx
ReplyDeleteI had such a hard time learning to cook for two once again after our sons left home. I still cook way too much of certain items. Cooking for one would completely set me back on my heels.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Your old kitchen is so lovely. I hope you pick flowers from the garden for your present kitchen. I’ve been picking winter flowering jasmine - the yellow is so cheery - and arranging them with yellow and gold euonymus (not my favourite, but an inherited shrub in the meadow bed and cheerful at this time of year), hazel catkins and bleached out but still fluffy Pennisetum. I was weeding in the parterre carefully yesterday as the anemones are coming through. The Iris here are looking especially forlorn after the cold but I pulled off the brown leaves and they are such stalwarts I know they will recover. With a large garden tunnel vision becomes ever more important so here’s my list of what was looking good yesterday to encourage me. The emerging snowdrops under the rusty beech hedges. The fat flower buds on the Helleborus orientalis - I cut off every leaf just before Christmas and gave them a good mulch. The lichen encrusted lilacs with delicatec shell pink cyclamen coum starting to flower underneath. Hamamelis Jelena also starting to open in the woodland edge - she has coppery pink flowers. The tactile furry buds on magnolia Stellata. The green manure making a cushiony eiderdown of green over the veg plot keeping weeds down and protecting the soil. It was cold and dank and grey yesterday but I felt so much better for being outside in the garden. S had a bad day yesterday. A knife slipped when he was cutting cheese at lunchtime and he cut his finger badly so I had to sort that out. I butterflied it with narrow micropore, covered it with gauze secured with more micropore and put a padded finger protector over it and made him sit down and watch sport all afternoon. In the evening he mis-judged the sofa and fell on the floor. I pulled out an easy quick supper of fresh pasta hats with a red pesto - I whizzed up sundried tomatoes with some of their oil, a fingernail of chilli, toasted pine nuts, a clove of garlic and parmesan and it was delicious and hit the spot. I got S up to bath and bed early last night and brought my spinning wheel downstairs and spun Devon Zwarbtles in front of the fire while watching Tiny Islands on Channel 4 catchup and then I watched the news (depressing) and went to bath (thoroughly cleaned the bathroom before hopping in the bath) and bed to read. I slept from midnight until 8am and thank my stars that I am a good sleeper. I hear S stirring so I will bring him into the marital bed and give him tea and Dove’s Digestive biscuit and hope he’s better today. I have a second batch of marmalade to make today with a kilo of Seville oranges. I made eight jars on Wednesday with the first lot of oranges and have been rustling up more jars since!
ReplyDeleteHope your day goes well BB. Sarah x