this post is closed
Life outside Ambridge
Life outside Ambridge
Life outside Ambridge
Popular posts from this blog
Life in Ambridge
THIS POST IS CLOSED "longer off topic comments" - Episode 14 Life Outside Ambridge Have a seat and let's chat.
*** FROM PREVIOUS BLOG ***
ReplyDeleteLady R April 4, 2020 at 6:53 PM
Miriam the sun has been here all day in Hampshire, really gorgeous day sorry you missed out, better luck tomorrow🤞🏼
CBBC starting Monday @ 5.30pm “Mallory Towers” begins (memories memories- will give it a go probably on catch up) Second childhood and all that 🤣🤣
Miriam April 4, 2020 at 6:57 PM
Good Enid Blyton. 😁
After being "cast away" last Saturday- Life is wonderful, in my luxury item, the mobile home.
ReplyDeleteZoetrope has already booked her place, but there is still one spare bedroom.
I am getting a bit fed up, with only fish to eat, when I can catch it..🐟
Or whatever I chose.
DeleteMost seaweeds are edible and very nutritious, and with your cooking abilities I am sure you could prepare something nice.
DeleteLady R.
ReplyDeleteI much prefer the Famous Five.
I read those books as well Miriam 🤗
DeleteAnother book from my childhood, which made a lasting impression on me, is:-
ReplyDeleteThe Wierdstone of Brisingham
.
...correct spelling...
DeleteBrisingamen.
Such happy memories of reading 'Five Run Away Together' when I was about eight.
DeleteYour not the only ones going back to childhood.
ReplyDeleteI've just had a conversation with my three grandchildren as they were pausing the television when my daughter phoned me.
Apparently they are avidly watching something that they all used to watch when they were little.
They are now aged 19 - 16 - 14
Lan Jan - my choice for the Miserere would have been the Tallis Scholars.
Try that one as well when you have time.
I had two baby teeth out when I was about ten but that night had a lot of bleeding ( think the dentist was a bit of a butcher!) I had the holes plugged next day but during that wakeful night read a book called “Five Children and It” which transported me form the unpleasantness! Can’t remember who wrote it though. I loved Enid Blyton especially the Famous Five and memorably too the Just William books. Love to hear Martin Jarvis reading them now!
ReplyDeleteHave googled and it was by. E Nesbit who also wrote “ The Railway Children” It was written in 1902 but still appealed in 1958!!
DeleteAnd I believe the ‘It’ was the Psamyad (sp.?) or sand fairy who was very grumpy but could grant the children wishes. I loved E. Nesbit books, she was so inventive.
DeleteOh, and my favourite Blyton books were not the Famous Five series but The Adventure series e.g. The Valley Of Adventure’, The Castle of Adventure, etc etc.
DeletePhilip and Dinah, Jack and Lucy-Ann and Kiki the parrot. I especially loved it when, cast away on an island, they found a stack of hidden food in a cave and dined on tinned sardines and tinned pineapple. Sounded wonderful to me!
Yes, I liked those too and especially the parrot! Enid doesn’t get a good press nowadays but she does appeal like E Nesbit, certainly got both myself and Katy reading as children!
DeleteI don’t recall The Adventure series Archerphile (am I to assume that the children’s luxury item on their Desert Island was a tin opener) 🤣🤣🤣
DeleteOh no, resourceful Jack managed to prize the tins open with his Swiss Army knife!
DeleteWell that’s told me - durr 🙄🤣
DeleteMiriam 7:44, Alan Garner 👍👍
ReplyDelete*** DESERT ISLAND DISCS ***
ReplyDeleteAnd the next name out of the hat is.....KPNuts!
Ok just seen this, I will have to scrabble round a bit, some of my pieces may not have specific performers, is that ok?
ReplyDeleteThat is perfectly ok KP! Looking forward to them!
DeleteWell I think I’m there:
ReplyDelete1, Beethoven “Ode to Joy” a rousing, full blown version please. My father walked me down the aisle to this, and like Stasia I am proud of my mixed European heritage
2, Tom Lehrer “Irish Ballad” memories of family singing on long car journeys, fortunately no-one else had to listen, we weren’t the Von Trapps!
Continuing
ReplyDelete3, Mozart “Non piu and rain” from Marriage of Figaro. Almost impossible to choose a single Mozart but Figaro has to be the most perfect opera of them all
4, Hank Wangford “Cowboys stay on longer” I can’t listen to this without smiling and singing along (no-one to hear on the island) Many memories of nights with my biker friends in my late teens/early twenties.
5, Wagner “March of the Valkyrie” My Father hoped I might sing Brunhilde, I can’t sing but he passed on his love of Wagner ( despite his dodgy opinions)
6, Traditional “Greensleeves” any piano/ vocal arrangement. Something to soothe and relax me. My Mum used to hum this a lot.
7, Bruce Springsteen “Reason to believe”. I’ve been a fan of the Boss for many years, and took my daughter to see him a couple of years back, she was impressed by his energy.
8, Bizet “Overture” from Carmen, lots of good tunes in one piece to keep me humming all day.
Book, Complete P.G.Wodehouse, I want to be kept cheerful
Luxury, difficult to choose between chocolate, wine or bed. In the end chocolate won out.
If I had to save one piece it would be the Hank Wangford it just makes me smile and brings back memories of growing up.
Lots of music I had to leave out, but that is the nature of the exercise
KP. Thank you for indulging me on this Sunday morning, just.
ReplyDeleteMy feet were tapping to the Bizet and of course Tom Lehrer is wonderful, though terrible Irish ☘️ accent.
The Mozart Marriage of Figaro. I also toyed with this one because the best production I ever experienced was directed by Jonathan Miller At the ENO. Still lives in my memory.
I like many others had to learn Greensleeves at school.
Wagner I also like the Valkyrie but to listenI have to suspend my distaste for his anti Semitic views.
I really, really loved the Bruce Springsteen it’s not something I know. But I do now.
Chocolate! Yum, yum. I had to leave it off as I would loose self control and end up dead.
My apologies, the Woodhouse books I could only get beyond half of one book.
Thanks Gary for enabling us to have a small insight into the lives of our blogging companions.
Thanks KP! As always, will listen to the ones I don't know later this afternoon...
ReplyDeleteAnd speaking of chocolate KP, I have just polished off the remainder of that ginormous brownie I made the other day. Yumtastic!
ReplyDeleteBeen out for my exercise today - 5 mins drive from my home there is a riding school, and if you walk around it there is a beautiful path that follows the River Kelvin for miles & miles. Very few people know that it's there & long may that continue! The smell of masses of wild garlic is intoxicating...
I love the smell of garlic. My back garden is covered on one side with the wild variety.
DeleteThere is a walk between Staveley and Burneside in the south of the Lake District where the scent of wild garlic is just as you describe,Gary.
ReplyDeleteI quite like having a few clumps of it in the garden.
They are planted with the English bluebells but when they turn up elsewhere ,they are disposed of.
They are too invasive.
Buddy has taken to eating some wild garlic on his daily walk in the woods! Not too much now as he is kept on the lead!
ReplyDeleteBuddy & I are very, very similar...
DeleteBuddy had his first home haircuts today! Katy sent for all the gear including a table, clippers etc! He was very good and for a first attempt she did well. Not as good a final effect as at the professional groomers but more than adequate to keep him comfortable. Next on the table is Gypsy and then dread of all dreads, Dudley! He is bad enough having his harness on to go for a walk. He can get snappy and we have to hold him with oven gloves to get him rigged! Katy will have to do at least two groomings to recoup the cost of the gear so here’s hoping!
DeleteGary, Buddy was not keen on having his paws trimmed. Are you similar?!!😁
DeleteMaybe you should call Kate, Ev. She seems to have a way with feet ( or paws).😊😊😊
DeleteI have a garden full of some hybrid garlic.
ReplyDeleteNot much smell, and very pretty Bell like flowers, but SO invasive.
The 'root' is like a small white pea, when new as small as a pin head, when older can be the size of a large pea. And they get everywhere. The leaves, masses of them are strap like and proliferate in any crack available. It even grows in the concrete path.
It is my own personal nightmare.
Right now in Italy people would be out in the fields cutting the tender leaves we call dente di cane (dogs tooth) which grows wild. Chopped finely they are delicious in salads or steamed like spinach. It's apparently very good for high blood pressure.
ReplyDeleteIt's one of the things we look forward to at Easter time. This year
though...😦
Scam warning. I have just received an email telling me my TV licence is due and that I can renew it on line for £151.+. If you receive any such billing ignore it. It originated in Belgium. Delete immediately. I don’t even pay the the bill at one go, we do it by direct debit.👿
ReplyDeleteHow I hate these "scammers"!!
DeleteSadly some will be coerced in.
I am so loving reading, all the DID music, chosen by my "virtual friends" - if I may call you this.
ReplyDeleteAll choices have been so personal + very different.
It is a delight to learn the preferences of others.
PS No sun again today.😣 It has just been cloudy, with a very strong breeze.
Mowed lawns though.
Oh dear we stole the sun yet again today. However you were able to complete your task🤗
DeleteHow are your neighbours behaving at the moment- plenty of time to get cross with each other?
They are having their moments, but nowhere near as bad, as previously.
DeleteI think it comes down to, no "alcohol fuelled" late nights out!
Still, it is free entertainment..🤣🤣
I am so much more tolerant, than before.
DeleteIt is this strange situation, all we are now in.
I am still hopeful, their house sale, will actually happen in time 🤞🤞
I, thanks to this DID fun, have beeen introdiced to Tom Lehrer (a short time ago), who I did not know.
ReplyDeleteKPNuts - Thank- You.
The "Irish Ballad", is something new to me, and so enjoyable.
I have never read any PG Woodhouse.
DeleteHowever, I enjoy listening to Jeeves + Wooster, when these wonderful stories, are broadcast on R4 or R4ex.
Miriam, we have had plenty of sun on the island and it was quite warm. I planted three blueberry bushes which arrived in the post yesterday. Haven’t a clue on growing them but following instructions! Gypsy has kefir and blueberry mix for her colitis frozen into cubes. She has her pudding, one cube, every night! Hopefully we will be able to produce our own fruit. I’d like to make a syrup for ice cream so here’s hoping! Hope the sun reaches you soon, Miriam and maybe just as well it wasn’t too warm for your mowing.
ReplyDeleteLovely to hear your news Ev.
DeleteI love the ideas of growing blueberries.
I need to go on-line, to try + purchase plants for my window box, planters etc. now that there is no access to nurseries, garden centres etc.
How I am loving, Just a Minute, with the great late Nigel Parsons, which came on after TA.
ReplyDeleteTea is now late.
What a mistake!
DeleteNicholas Parsons obviously....
My excuse - still thinking about Nigel, on the "Life in Ambridge" page.
DeletePaul Merton as the next host of Just a Minute??
ReplyDeleteMiriam, I bought the plants from J. Parker together with a dozen Thrift plants and had 8 dwarf lavender plants free with the order. I also bought seeds from D T Brown and found prices very reasonable. Both delivered quite quickly in spite of the current situation.
ReplyDeleteI have a neighbour who has scant regard for other people's comfort.
ReplyDeleteHe has had a bonfire two days runnin, and we have had hot sunshine throughout both days.
He has a large garden most of it very open but one corner abutts three other gardens including mine. This is where he does all his activities.
The year before last he built a very substantial playhouse for his two children which they have rarely used. Yesterday he demolished it and has been burning the wood since.
I have today drafted a letter, which if I decide to write I will put through his letterbox.
It is polite but also explains how antisocial his bonfire is, and also mentions that although there are no specific laws a against bonfires there are guidelines such as
'In the evening' 'not on weekends or Bank holidays'.
I had done a wash in the machine and took it to the garden to hang out yesterday.
Of course I had to dry it inside, when there is sun and wind ! ! !
Today I hoped to garden but was not able to for the acrid smoke drifting from a metre away.
Instead I have been forced to stay inside.
I have at last started my ' living will ' on line.
Ev - can I just warn you that blueberry plants prefer an acid soil.
ReplyDeleteSo if your garden is on chalk, as ours is here in Hampshire, you will need to use an ericaceous compost as you would for rhododendrons or camellias.
You should also only water them with rain water, not tap water.
It’s the main reason that I haven’t tried them yet, though I love eating blueberries.
I logged into Parker’s website today to try & order some bedding and other plants but they say they have closed down for the time being due to the virus.
Such a shame. I shall try Thompson & Morgan instead tomorrow.
Can anyone recommend an online nursery who might be able to send a fig tree.
ReplyDeleteI did try to contact the one that GG recommended a few days ago, but couldn't proceed, though cannot remember why.
Garlic : the traditional Easter dish here is to eat kid /lamb with new season's green garlic, delish !
ReplyDeleteKPnuts : merci !
ReplyDelete1st pair of swallows arrived! Right-hand side of the barn.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry your neighbour is being so inconsiderate Mrs. P. Bonfires can also set off allergies in people who are sensitive to smoke. Maybe he could have donated the playhouse to some other children instead of destroying it? Today I saw a very nice looking dolls house dumped outside a house and I hope it goes to a child who will enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteDid anyone else listen to The Inner Lynda according to Carole Boyd on BBC Sounds? I found it very interesting.
Mrs P
ReplyDeleteYou could try www.primrose.co.uk/trees/fig for a fig tree
We bought our daughter one fir her birthday last year from www.pomonafruits.co.uk
They have several different varieties.
It depends on the size of tree and how much you want to spend. There is also a specialist tree nursery www.trees-online.co.uk but they tend to have bigger trees which are quite expensive.
Good luck
(Our daughter’s tree is thriving outside her front door. It had several tiny figs on last year but, as recommended, she removed the first years figs to allow the tree to establish. She hopes to actually eat this year’s crop!)
Archerfile, thank you for your info about blueberries. I have planted them in a raised beds which has clay soil as a base but compost at the top. However not ericaceous so fear not too acidic but looking forward will keep it in mind. I did know they need nitrogen and have previously grown beans there which I think put nitrogen back into the soil. Watered them in with rain water from but so that bit is OK! A bit of a learning curve but will try with them! Local soil must not be acidic as hydrangeas are generally pink. I noticed yesterday my Pieris Forest flame is in full glory with bright orange leaves. Unfortunately can’t see it from the house now as Katy’s chalet is in front of it,! Good view of the rhubarb though!
ReplyDeleteAm worried about Boris!
My Mum once grew a blueberry bush in Hampshire. Although I suspect the soil wasn't chalk - a third of the garden was taken up by mature rhododendrons.
DeleteMind you, it only ever grew one blueberry.
Ev. You have dangled a carrot that I can’t avoid and I’m desperately trying to, but am failing. However in the spirit of self control I shall keep my lips closed.💋👄
ReplyDeleteWell done, Stasia! Whatever, we don’t want bad news about our leaders! Wasn’t the Queen reassuring last night though? At least we have her!🌈
ReplyDeleteCareful now..... ;)
ReplyDeleteKP, I have never read any Wodehouse, but I do always listen to the repeats of Jeeves on the radio with either Martin Jarvis or Richard Briers & Sir Michael Hordern. Both versions are fantastic. I've heard the Blandings series a couple of times too.
ReplyDeleteAny specific chocolate? Or just "chocolate"? I don't think I've ever really met a chocolate that I didn't like.
I saw a programme on TV where they were taste testing British and US chocolate. Apparently US chocolate has a chemical in it which is also found in vomit! (Sorry if you're eating!) Indeed one woman said it smelt like sick. Then they accosted an American lady who immediately identified it as from 'back home.' She happily devoured it saying that she'd so missed American chocolate. Personally I'm not tempted!
DeleteAmerican "chocolate" is the worst in the entire world! Would still eat it in an emergency though...
Delete😲
DeleteIt’s what you get used to I guess! Cadbury’s doesn’t taste the same nowadays but as we now have Belgian chocolate and others from the continent maybe in contrast to these it never was as good? Certainly it has always been much more milky. Our chocolate apothecary in Ryde told us at TG about tempering chocolate so it has a definite snap when you break it. He reckoned Aldi and Lidl chocolate was very good in this way and we love the nutty chocolate from Aldi having a bar between us on a Friday whilst the dogs have special chews from Pets at Home. This is“ chocolate bone day” as they think they get chocolate too! With a chocolate bone day singalong they find it very exciting!
ReplyDeleteMy luxury chocolate would be either Hotel Chocolat assortments or Leonidas, a Belgian brand. Agree that Aldi & Lidl both supply good quality excellent value chocolate.
ReplyDeleteI think I read somewhere that in the US they use whey in chocolate production which gives it that distinctive tang. The only American chocolate I like is peanut butter cups.
Godiva 72% is keeping Mr and Mrs Seasider going at the moment - 2 squares a day with our after lunch Taylor’s coffee is the best part of the day🍫☕️😊
ReplyDeleteKaty brought her small coffee machine back from school with many coffee pods as one of her colleagues had donated a coffee filter maker and they had gone over to that as it can be batch made and kept warm - not for too long with that much demand! It means that we can have a daily latte and much more cheaply than going to a coffee shop!
ReplyDeleteOh yes “coffee pod” coffee ☕️ (and chocolate favourites Bendick , Lindor dark truffles or being good just 2 squares of Green & Blacks 75G 🤗
DeleteI was delighted to hear a Basingstoke teacher interviewed on Broadcasting House on Radio 4, Sunday morning.
ReplyDeleteShe is Head of Technology at The Costello School. (Not my daughter’s school) and is lucky enough to have a laser printer and cutter in her technology classroom and the training in how to design items for engineering. So she came up with a design for a full face mask to protect front-line and NHS staff against the virus. She had a lot of the correct plastic in stock so has been making these masks and distributing them to Basingstoke Hospital, St Michaels Hospice and care homes around the town.
She took the first few to the hospital where there were tested and found to be effective.
Now she, and her assistant, have been working flat out at the school and between them made 200 masks in two days.
I think this is a magnificent effort and wonder if it could be repeated in other schools throughout the country where they have the appropriate equipment.
That's fantastic, AP ! Resourceful teacher & so public spirited. It's very much needed, of course, but it's heartening to hear of people taking independent action like this.
DeleteFantastic Archerphile god bless her and her helper 😇
DeleteWell done them! We tried to do similar by downloading pre-existing designs - we have a 3D printer in the house but haven't used it in an age. Turns out it's broken!
DeleteLike many of you, loads of DID choices to catch up on, but just had a very uplifting time with 2 of yours, KPnuts - the Ode to Joy & the Wagner !
ReplyDeleteIt's our second anniversary on Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteI know! Think I shall do what Ruthy did last year and open up a THIRD blog so people can just sign a virtual card to ourselves, maybe leave a comment for the first time and generally congratulate ourselves on being wonderful!!!
DeleteIndeed Basia my late mum’s birthday so I always recall it because of that - a few bloggers due theirs too I think....🎂
DeleteI wonder how Ruthy is? Fortuitous that Gary met up with her on his visit to America otherwise we may not have been here at all 😱
I emailed Ruthy last week Your Ladyship, but as yet have no reply. Will try again later.
DeleteGary your Ladyship 🤣 sends her sincere thanks!
DeleteWhat a very heartwarming tale Archerphile. I shall have to listen 'again' as I missed BH this week.
ReplyDeleteMy sleeping late has reached a peak today. Out of bed at 1.45pm
Fortunately the sun is still with us.
And I've received with apologies, from daughter, an email with a request to pass on to the first name on a list of two, a poem to inspire in these difficult times.
Both she and I are very much against this type of thing but like she says, it seems mean in these shared troubled times, not to adhere to the request.
So agree with the stance taken by you & your daughter, Mrs P. Different times call for different behaviours, don't they. Sharing difficulties leading to sharing the good things ! Just like people's music choices here.
DeleteI've just been soaking up the sun on my balcony and listening to a blackbird singing in the tree opposite. Cheered me up.
ReplyDeleteWas doing similar Gianna, deliberately taking an age to water the garden & just enjoying the extreme peace and quiet with only the birds for company.
DeleteGosh, yes, same here. Paying even more attention in the garden, & from windows, to bird freedom, activity & song !
DeleteApril 8th 2018.
ReplyDeleteI had forgotten that date.
It is now 2 years on, and we are still here, having fun + enjoying so many chats.
Thanks Ruthy + GG 🍾🍾🥂
I will raise a glass at 7.00pm tomorrow - that is, if I can buy something suitable, on my weekly shopping trip in the morning.
The 8th is Wednesday Miriam, hard to know what day it is at the moment though 😉
DeleteWhat a wonderful teacher Archerphile. I hope she receives some sort of award for her brilliance.
ReplyDeleteRe chocolate, I love the dark sort. I will buy 100% form Hotel Chocolat. American chocolate is disgusting as is Cadbury’s milk stuff. I can’t eat anything below 70% cocoa.
I have a question for all here.
When this all over, what is the first thing you will rush out to do?
Good question !
DeleteI'd go to London to see the Artemisia exhibition 😀 or, if it isn't open by then, some other 'must see' that is showing.
I'd just go for a big wander and enjoy doing whatever pops into my head. It will be brilliant!
DeleteLunch, shopping & pub!! All in one day!!
DeleteBuy a birthday present for C and have my hair cut.
DeleteI’m beginning to resemble a shaggy grey Afghan hound.
Hi tail it down to any garden centre that’s open and buy stacks of compost, hundreds of plants and, most importantly, fish food for the fish in our pond! 🌸🌹🌼🌷🌻🥀🐟🐠
DeleteGo to Appley beach, walk with dogs and then have a full English at the beach cafe with fried bread!
DeleteAt Last, a much sunnier + warmer day. It's been a long time in appearing.
ReplyDeleteI am off for my weekly shop tomorrow. I need bread, milk + loads of veg. (as I eat a lot), plus I have other things I would like to buy eg. Salmon steaks, wine, cold meats for lunch sarnis..
I am actually anxious, about leaving home. This is such a wierd + strange feeling, as I was always out + about.
I am surprised how I have adapted.
Sorry, Miriam again..😣
ReplyDeleteI forgot - chocolate!
I don't have a sweet tooth and I much prefer savoury extras. The only chocolate I eat, has to be a minimum of 70% or more, dark chocolate. I do like the dark chocolate Kit-Kats though...
PS. My niece in OZ, hates the chocolate they can buy. It is made differently, so doesn't melt quickly..
DeleteI have been watching two male robins, both in my garden, at the same time, collecting worms etc.. l know that there is one nest in my beech hedge, but I thought robins were terratorial, so why are there two males, very close together?
ReplyDeletePlease tell me how you know they are both male?
DeleteI am interested in birdwatching but just identify a robin as 'a robin' after reading this on the RSPB website some years ago:
Robin Red Breast Bird Facts | Erithacus Rubecula - The RSPB
Males and females look identical, and young birds have no red breast and are spotted with golden brown. Robins sing nearly all year round and despite their cute appearance, they are aggressively territorial and are quick to drive away intruders.
So whenever I have had two sitting on my fence I have assumed they were a pair!
I know Chris Packham hates them with a vengeance!
Males have red breasts, females do not, but I am not "au faux" with birds.
DeleteI am now, far more interested, as it is so quiet and I am enjoying the many birds in my garden.
I have seen a Jay, Gold Finches, plus blue and great tits, wrens + the awful magpies + pigeons.
I am so enjoying seeing them.
Sorry Miriam, but both my RSPB Guide to British Birds AND the RSPB website state that both sexes of Robin look identical.
DeleteAccording to the RSPB, male and female robins are virtually indistinguishable. If you see two together a female is slightly larger than the male as it needs more body weight to form and carry eggs.
DeleteMiriam
DeletePlease read the information provided by the RSPB, (Which I have copied from their website)and who I suppose know what they are talking about.
Female robins have red breasts!
It is the young robins who do not, but are pale brown!
I just thought you has discovered another way to distinguish them, that even the professional birdwatchers have missed!
Well Stasia, if ever I am given any more Hotel Chocolate I will save them for you.
ReplyDeleteI was once given a box of them once and didn’t take to them at all.
Fancy names with tiny amounts of fancy ingredients and each chelate costing about £1
Daylight robbery.
Give me Cadbury’s Dairy Milk ,Sainsbury’s Dairy Milk or Lidl’s chocolate any time.
As for 70% of whatever it is in dark chocolate who gives two hoots?
I certainly don’t
Today I have been sent a box of Dark Chocolate and ginger thins
I love ginger
(Made in Lancashire for Booth’s )
It contains a minimum of 55% of cocoa solid.apparently
Will I miss the 15% that is supposed to be better for me?
Will I heck.
Just eat twice as much of the lower % stuff ; )
DeleteSorry,Hotel Chocolat!
ReplyDeleteMy favourite confectionary (for when not dieting) is sadly almost impossible to find these days - Maple Brazils. Whole Brazil nuts covered in a firm maple syrup flavoured Fondant. Used to be able to buy them by the quarter in our village sweet shop years ago. Now only available in fancy boxes by Charbonel & Walker, at around £10 for 8 or 9 sweets. Extortionate!
ReplyDeleteI love 80% single estate dark chocolate from Lidl if I’m feeling healthy. If I’m in binge mode it’s got to be Thornton’s continentals or Ferraro Roche. Love a bit of nutty chocolate.
ReplyDeleteAnything else and you can keep it.
I have just listened to -
ReplyDeleteVera Lynn - We'll Meet Again.
So inspiring...😀😀
I am missing meeting up with my many family members. They are so close, yet so far...
DeleteI need to learn much more about birds, but I am enjoying learning.
ReplyDeleteIt is never too late, too learn and thanks, everyone, for helping me to do so.
My favourite chocolate is Cadbury’s Dairy Milk and Fruit and Nut but it is not sold in Italy so it’s an extra special treat when I do have some. I like those round Lindt milk chocolate ones too.
ReplyDeleteI've just polished off the remains of my Cadbury's Dairy Milk 'Marvellous Creations' with Jelly Popping Candy. I was very good - the bar lasted at least two days : )
DeleteThe very first thing I will do when lockdown is lifted is go and hug my little grandsons.
ReplyDeleteI have spent much of the afternoon reading and finishing “The Beekeeper of Aleppo”
ReplyDeleteby Christy Lefteri.
Having read it I can only echo what Cecil Rhodes almost said “Remember if you have been born “a UK citizen “ (sic) ,you have won first prize in the lottery of life.
“
P tbY ,I will let you have any Ferrero Rocher chocolates I am given.
ReplyDeleteGenerous to a fault am I!
Hilary
ReplyDeleteMy two favourites are Cadbury's Dairy Milk (any sort basically) but not Milk Tray, Roses or Dairy Box since Kraft bought out the company and changed the recipe.
The other is Guylian Sea Shells. Youngest son has just handed (at the front door) to middle son a large Guylian Easter Egg and a Lindt Chocolate Bunny for me!.
I'm not keen on dark chocolate really. Much prefer milk.
One sweet snack, I do enjoy, just now + again, is - Tunocks Caramel Wafer Biscuits (even if it milk chocolate).
ReplyDeleteIt is more the biscuit + caramel, than the chocolate.
Me too Spicycushion but chocolate gingers are always dark chocolate unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteAt the moment I am sucking an “Uncle Joe’s mint ball.
ReplyDeleteMade in Wigan by Wm Santus .
Lovely .
Love them !! But then I do live in the same area.
DeleteI love dark chocolate mints - particulary Benedicts - the darker the chocolate + the stronger the happier I am.
Delete..meant the stronger the mint....
DeleteI love dark chocolate mints too Miriam! Mmmmmmm.....
DeleteMelting chocolate in a steamer and then dipping things like glace cherries and Brazil nuts in it to make our own chocolates is fun.
DeleteTo change the subject,sadly.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen that Boris Johnson is in Intensive Care.?
Watching the news right now Lanjan. Terrible news, and I am feeling so sorry for his partner. What an absolute nightmare scenario for both of them.
DeleteShe is pregnant too so hope the baby is alright.
DeleteAbsolutely.
DeleteBBC news filmed in an ICU it is showing right now and it is a very distressing sight and the hours the nurses and Dr’s are putting in are beyond belief and wearing all that special gear my admiration and thanks know no bounds. Bless them all 🙏🏼
DeleteWe're watching that too right now Lady R - distressing is the right word.
DeleteJust to say that every cloud has a silver lining --they say.
ReplyDeleteLast week I was supposed to see the consultant to see if this second course of drugs was having an effect and I think it was! The purple 'birthmark' patches were very faded, just a slightly darker tan colour than normal skin tone and the remaining tiny white blisters on my forearms, still around after 8 months, were like pimples.
I sent an email and Dr rang back . Very pleasant and encouraging but he obviously had not read my email. When I mentioned that GP told me to stop the immuno suppressant when I had pneumonia and chest infection he (Dr) immediately said that I must get a CV19 test done before I can have any more treatment!
That's impossible now as only NHS staff can get the tests done. Of course I understand NHS staff must have precedence. (One of my sisters is a carer and training to be a nurse as well.)
So since last week I have under-skin blisters/lumps coming up on hands and feet, which are exceedingly, unbearably, itchy! I seem to be back to Square 1 after nearly a year and who knows how long it will be before treatment can resume?
All I have now are antibiotics to make sure chest infections are gone (Oh and to get another chest xray in 5 weeks time) and antihistamine to help me get through the day and night! It didn't work last night and I woke up about four times wanting to scream!
HOWEVER
I reckon if I am not taking immuno suppressants then I won't have to stay indoors for 12 weeks after 'Lockdown' has finished! Yay!!!!
Oh Cushion! My heart goes out to you, but if you can maybe get out a lot sooner then thank the Lord for at least some good news. Big, big hugs....😘
DeleteGary has said it all for me Spicy. Thoughts will be with you and really hope you can have a better night soon 🥰
DeleteSpicycushion - I'm so sorry to read that your are back to square one. I hope you will be fully recovered soon.
ReplyDeleteMiriam 4.38
I love dark chocolate kit kats too. I usually freeze them and eat them straight from the freezer.
I have only recently discovered the caramel wafer biscuits, then the dark chocolate ones - yum!
*** DESERT ISLAND DISCS ***
ReplyDeleteAnd the next name out of the hat is........... Archerphile! Enjoy!
Ooo-er
DeleteTime to whittle down my 12 to just 8.
Hope to have them
Completed by tomorrow lunch time!
Mrs P. April 5 1.32pm could it be 3 cornered leek? We have a lot of that. The flower stalk has 3 sides to it, hence called 3 cornered leek. It is milder than wild garlic and all parts can be used in cooking.
ReplyDeleteSpicycushion you have had such a rotten time of it. Wish I could wave a magic wand for you.
Spicycushion ,you have already gone through so much.
ReplyDeleteYou deserve a change in fortune.
I do hope it comes soon.
OOOOH Janice, you could be right.
DeleteThe stalk does have a sort of triangle effect when cut.
I shall pick some tomorrow and examine.
Thank you so much for that suggestion and I will let you know.
And if you have them, perhaps they are in my daughters woods too. I will ask her when we next speak. She did say yesterday that the bluebells were just coming through and I saw the first bells here in the woods this afternoon.
It's odd because though they are rampant in my garden, I haven't seen them anywhere else here, so perhaps they were brought to this garden from elsewhere. There is someone locally who knew the long time owners of these two Cottages, and she would know if they ever used to visit Cornwall.
Oh Spiceycushion how can this be, after a year you seem to have returned to the beginning. I am so sorry for you. I wish I could give you a warm hug, but it would probably hurt you.
ReplyDeleteSurely you need to email the consultant again and get his opinion.
It is always very difficult when a consultant gives instructions which are then countermanded by another doctor.
I don't know the answer of course.
But your glee at being able to go out is joyful.
Chocolate
LanJan I despair, how can you not taste the difference in percentage of cocoa in chocolate.
I have only recently discovered the dark kitkats and liked them very much.
I really didn't like chocolate when a child. It was only when we started getting ' the real stuff' from Belgium and Germany, ( never did like the French variety) and latterly from Poland and elsewhere in Northern Europe that I began to enjoy it.
And like KP ? I think, i do like the American import of peanut butter cushions.
I also discovered a brilliant Dutch or Belgium chocolate liquor only available when on board ship. Does anyone else recall this or enjoy it.
Sainsbury's have recently introduced a new bar with nuts that seems to be halfway between milk and dark. The only milk chocolate I enjoy at all is a flake.
Sadly I do not have any chocolate left.
And I don't feel it right to ask others to buy it for me, so I shall have to continue to make my own ' quick ' chocolate fix.
Cream teaspoon of butter with sugar, add cocoa powder and continue creaming.
Refrigerate and steal from the fridge as required.
MrsP, don't hesitate to ask whoever is getting some groceries for you to get you some chocolate! It's a necessity, not a luxury.
DeleteBut if you REALLY don't want to ask someone, send me an email of your choco desires and I will HAPPILY have a box despatched to your door ASAP....
Chocolate is a vegetable - it's made of beans.
DeleteWe all need to eat plenty of fruit and veg to keep healthy.
So sorry to hear of the death of Honor Blackman
ReplyDeleteGreat character actress of our time.
( well those of us very senior)
Pussy Galore & Cathy Gale are iconic characters no matter what vintage you are.
DeleteSpicy - just seem that Gary has pulled my name out of his DID hat. So I hope my selection, which I shall publish tomorrow, might be able to cheer you up a bit. So very sorry to hear your latest news.
ReplyDeleteOf course you can ask a neighbour to get you some chocolate,Mrs P.
ReplyDeleteWhy ever not?
My step granddaughter offered to get us some groceries from Sainsbury’s and I have only asked her for “non essentials “like a bar of dairy milk chocolate for me and toffees for her grandfather.
We are spoilt rotten with the choice of chocolate nowadays.
Some of us remember having a slice of Mars bar (cost 4d) and hoping for an end bit when we were children
I remember the first whole bar of chocolate (a crunchy bar ) -4d again.-I was given by an aunt.
She gave 4of us a whole one each !
I couldn’t believe it.
Cheering myself up with the thought of EXTREMELY DARK Chocolate gingers, 🥰
ReplyDeleteThat bloody MrsP has got me craving a Flake! (Or three...)
DeleteIn the bath??!!
DeleteEVERY bath I take is EXACTLY like that old advert parsley. Every single last one. You know me too well....
Delete😘😘
DeleteSo very sorry to read your recent post, Spicy. Just when you were turning a corner, it beggars belief ! It's amazing that you can actually spot a silver lining in all this - think most of us would be hard pressed to do so, itching like mad all night....
ReplyDeleteAre you going to contact your GP again, because it sounds like you've been left in some kind of limbo.
Prayers for Boris Johnson.
ReplyDeleteChocolate: 85% dark Lindt, any dark chocolate and Cadburys. Love fruit and nut etc etc.
Well thank you all for permission to ask for c h o c o l e t e....... perhaps I will.
ReplyDeleteHey Gary, what you can do is find out about that chocolate liquor.
I remember having it first when I went to Amsterdam.
Then I tried to find it and discovered that it was only available retail when on board the ferry to Holland. When I went again some years later I'm pretty sure I bought a bottle.
Pretty sure, but not 100%
Your a whiz on these computer thingy's, have a go to indulge me.
By the way, I'm talking about short trips to Holland in the seventies and eighties.
Was it called "Vandermint" MrsP?
DeleteThe nearest garage to me is a 40 minute walk round trip! And anyway, I've already had my allotted outdoor exercise today... I will get some tomorrow when I get my neighbour's paper for her.
(I have been known to walk for miles to get chocolate & crisps to be honest with you. MILES!!)
And Gary, a quick walk to the nearest garage should enable you to get your flakefix !
ReplyDeleteLanJan - I still only really like the end bit of a mars bar, and the very thought of eating a whole bar makes me nauseous.
ReplyDeleteArcherphile- I had forgotten those maple Brazil's.
ReplyDeleteThey used to be my mums favourites, but that must have been at least fifty years ago.
I just adore the flavour of maple syrup and would douse my porridge, cereal, baked apples or anything else with it.......if only It wasn’t so bad for my diet! Just finished up the bottle Mr A bought back from Canada last year, can’t believe I managed to eke it out for so long. 😋
DeleteKP, see what you have started? I don't think there's been as much detailed discussion about a single subject since the blogs have been in existence!!
ReplyDeleteJust for a change from chocolate...
ReplyDeleteHave all our knitters and sewers seen this request for handcrafted hearts?:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-wiltshire-52165537/laura-kirby-deacon-says-the-hearts-will-help-those-who-lose-loved-ones
They're to be sent to families who have lost a loved one to Covid 19.
I've just made my first pair. I found a very easy pattern here: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hearts-28 . Took me about an hour per heart - if you're a speedy knitter it'll be even quicker.
I plan to make several pairs then contact the hospital. If they've already been inundated I shall see if my local hospital could use them instead.
Specially suitable for anyone who takes their knitting kit to Gary's desert island : )
Gary - Vandermint doesn't ring any bells. And I'm quite good at recognising something now forgotten but known in the past. Thanks anyway for trying.
ReplyDeleteI am very sorry to hear of your ongoing health problems, Spicy, and hope that you begin to feel better soon.
ReplyDeleteSome of us do seem to be quite passionate about chocolate! To my first love of Cadbury’s I always get some orange Club biscuits when I go to England as well as a savoury treat: Cheddars.
The blackbirds are numerous and delightfully musical now. We have magpies and pigeons, very few sparrows, just one or two white wagtails and I think ringnecked doves that nest in the fir tree in the garden.
Spicycushion, I’m really sorry to hear your news. Is it possible for your GP and Consultant to have a video conference to discuss the way forward? The suggestion that you have a Covid-19 test seemed a bit unrealistic under the circumstances, if impossible to obtain. WE DO NOT want you admitted to hospital just to be tested. I believe the patient has the best understanding of how their body is responding to treatment. Dr’s can then interpret and apply this to their body of knowledge and suggest other forms of treatment depending on the outcomes presented by the patient. Of course there can be difference of opinions which can be resolved through discussion.
ReplyDeleteManagement of symptoms is a process and should involve everyone.
I do admire your positivity. Big virtual hugs from me.
Spicy, so sorry to hear your news. I really hope the doctors can get you back on track as soon as possible. Take care.💐
ReplyDeleteMiriam. Have just heard that the NHS is desperate for Pharmacists to volunteer.
ReplyDeleteHave you thought about offering your expertise?