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 ***
ReplyDeletecarolyn - May 4, 2020 at 11:20 AM
Gosh, OK
1) I Got you, Babe - Sonny & Cher. Turned me on back in the day - both romantic & sexy in a hippy, 60s sort of way...
2). The Times They are a changin' - Dylan. Well, they are, aren't they.
3). Where have all the flowers gone - has to be Joan Baez.
The next 2 might characterise me as a warmongering, jingoistic nationalist. I'm not, but 4) moves me & 5) stirs me on behalf of all beleaguered peoples :
4) .I vow to there, My Country. Got to be a choir, not a solo singer however good.
5) A Nation Once Again - The Dubliners. One of many rousing Irish rebel songs. They had suffered under England's yoke for centuries.
6). Orinoco Flow - Enya, lovely singer, lovely song.
7) Where'er You Walk - from 'Semele' - Handel. So gracious, graceful, civilized in the best sense, a welcome contrast to the rigours of life on the Isle.
8) .The Cold Song, from 'Arthur' - Purcell. Dramatic, powerful, & the chill would be an antidote to soaring temperatures...
I reckon some of these would give me an ear worm after a while, much as I love them, 8) would be too depressing & stark, so the favourite is the Handel, no.7.
Luxury : a goodly supply of Vodka & tonics. Has to be Ciroc, as it's nice on its own, if I run out of tonic ( bloody expensive, but manageable price at duty free !)
Book - all Anthony Trollope's Barsetshire novels in one HUGE volume. He wrote others of course, but these are arguably the best, & would be such a comfort. However, if that is perceived as a cheat, I'd have to plump for ''The Last Chronicle', as it's the longest.
I hope some of these are liked by some of you, at least, but there you go. Given lack of musical discernment/education, just went by gut reactions, & was surprised that more than 8 popped up in my mind. Anyway, plumped for these in the end.
Thanks carolyn! Hope you like the version of the Handel - there was so many to choose from. If not, let me know!
ReplyDeleteIt's fine, Gary - love the graphics, too - thanks.
DeleteYou're welcome!
DeleteI'm enjoying listening to Enya again Carolyn. Great selection!
ReplyDeleteDo enjoy all I've heard of her, Gianna, but this one above all, for some reason.
DeleteWe have had some good news today. Our builder has been allowed to go back to our new house. Hopefully it will be finished by July.
ReplyDeleteIs there much still needing done Gianna?
DeleteHave just listened Carolyn to the Semele, beautiful, and the Cold Song, completely new to me and a revelation.
ReplyDeleteI have been transfixed.
Thank you for introducing me to something entirely new.
Glad you liked those, Mrs P. The Cold Song transfixed me too around 21 yrs. ago, big life changes then, but it still thrills me (+ other Purcell - seem to remember it was you who chose Purcell for one of yours)
DeleteGG and AP from previous blog. Moorish screens - try 'Screen with Envy'. Cringesome title but amazing products.
ReplyDeleteSome of their stuff looks amazing Sarnia. Am seriously tempted. Thank you!
DeleteI've gone for 'Alhambra'.
DeleteProbably would be my choice too. That or "Souk". We have two small red Japanese style screens in a part of the back garden & I love them - should have bought more at the time....
DeleteCarolyn, the first three are classics for me and then Enya, I didn't know what the song was called.
ReplyDeleteNeither did I ! I just think of it as 'Sail away' but looked it up
DeleteJust listened to Where the wild roses grow, my goodness that is a chilling song and video, and he wrote it as a GIFT to Kylie Minogue, a woman he admired?! !
ReplyDeleteNow to recover by listening to Caroline's choices.
I thought it was gross. Almost romanticising murder! Sorry, Gary! Nick Cave does not appeal!😟
DeleteThank you Carolyn, interesting choices and I'll look up the few I don't know.
ReplyDeleteVERY few, I imagine, Anneveggie !
DeleteI just love "I got you Babe" Sonny + Cher.
ReplyDeleteIt brings back brilliant memories. I had a "best school friend", who had a much older sister, and so I recall so much music from this time.
I remember this so well, .. and to this day, I can still sing it, word for word.
Thank-you, Carolyn. 😁
I remember singing "Wher'er You Walk", in a school choir.
ReplyDeleteYet again, memories from a different time, are surfacing once more.
I am loving this.
I don't do memories. 'Onward and upward' is more my style.
ReplyDeleteSurely, it is possible to do both.
DeleteI am so looking forward to getting a normal life back again, which will be, as you say "onwards + upwards".
I am enjoying though, many memories, from an earlier time of my life.
It has to be, each to their own.
Take Care.
Nothing I would want to remember.
DeleteI’m so sorry to hear that, Sarnia. I found memories painful when Mike passed but 3 years on they often make me smile! Take care😊🥰
DeleteMr S's passing was among the least of them!
DeleteCarolyn, thank you for taking me down memory lane and the days of protest and demonstrations.
ReplyDeleteI have Dylan’s early music in the car, went off him when he went electric.
He of course had a relationship with J Baez who made Pete Seeger’s song part of the protest movement.
A Nation Once Again, I grew up singing this and still do if I have imbibed too many. I knew some of the Dubliners, in my early teens.
Did you go through my cds, I also have the Eyna and the Handel.
The Purcell certainly sent shivers down my spine, with chilly fear and despair.
The Holst (the Planets) the words of the first verse are not to my taste. Politically.
I am getting all sentimental, I like the past, it’s an interesting country to visit.
The times they are a changing. Certainly.
I read one Trollope a long time ago.
Cheers to the vodka, mines a whiskey please?
Trollope dominated my 12-15 yr old reading ! ( alongside other (19 novels. The (20 world was a disappointment after leaving school, took some adjusting to...)
DeleteGlad you could relate to some of those choices, Stasia.
Ev will you (and Katy) download THE app. My
ReplyDeleteIOW
sister & b-i- l are going to do so.
I AM ON CLOUD NINE! I HAVE JUST SPENT A BLISSFUL SUNNY HOUR OUTDOORS WITH MY SON AND FAMILY!! My dream came true after all!
ReplyDeleteWonderful...
DeleteDreams do come true, after all.
I am so pleased for you and your family.😁
Hurrah AND huzzah Hilary! Bet that lifted your spirits no end - fantastic stuff!
DeleteGianna , did you manage to see your family today as planned?
Thank you! 😀 I just had to share my joy with you all!
Delete🌈 👏🏻 🥰 👍 🤗 🌈
DeleteWe’re a bit sceptical about it as whatever happens it won’t show a true picture. Smartphones are not universal and even among users many won’t download. A young journalist from IOW radio asked about the large elderly population here who would be less likely to have a smartphone and rightly the reply was that many older people were computer savvy but in reality many here are over 80. We will watch with interest though and may download the ap. We actually don’t mingle with others at this time and even stay away from shops preferring food deliveries. We keep a distance from delivery people too!
ReplyDeleteOff to indulge in my evening meal - veg are in the steamer -
ReplyDeletecarrots, cauli, green beans, brocolli, and the 2nd portion of my smoked haddock lasagne with the mushroom sauce, is being twirled in the microwave.
All ready for 7.00pm and more Ambridge memories. .
DeleteI am sad, that I have just missed a tribute to Tim Brooke-Taylor, who sadly succumbed to Covid-19.
ReplyDeleteI will find it on Sounds - to listen.
Sarnia, I don't really like memories, the bad ones I'd like to forget, the good ones are sad or painful.
ReplyDeleteThere's a difference between overly dwelling on the past, & the spontaneous arising of past times, triggered by music ( other sounds, & smells, too)
DeleteHilary, I'm thrilled for you. My sister wants to start by seeing the grandchildren outdoors, there are a few private spaces where they can meet, especially if/when they go back to school.
ReplyDeleteThank you! 😊😊
DeleteA joyful hour, Hilary, so pleased for you. Here's to many more such !
DeleteSorry not to reply before Gary. The house had all the internal walks but now they have to put in the tubing and wires then flooring and tiles. My family arrived in time for dinner and brought a Chinese takeaway. It was perfect.
DeleteSounds perfect! ( Not the unfinished house part - that sounds like one of my worst nightmares! I hated it when we were getting the garden landscaped and there were workmen everywhere!)
DeleteWill you (and Hilary!) be able to see your families on a regular basis now?
Walls not walks.
ReplyDeleteDid make me think "how big is their house if it has walks in it!!!?.....😮
DeleteI will second that ,Carolyn.
ReplyDeleteOnly just caught up with your DIDs Carolyn.
ReplyDeleteBren very busy all day so no time for blogging.
But just wanted to say a huge thank you for Orinoco Flow - a track that has very special memories for me and was the musical background to very important time in our family’s lives.
All Enya is lovely but Orinoco Flow is just special
Hurrah Hilary & Gianna, 🤞🤞bon continuation..
ReplyDeleteThanks Carolyn, all Purcell is v special.
Can't accept Sony Bono though..
Memories are often difficult. But our past is what brings us to this point - onwards from here ❤️
ReplyDeleteMemories can be sad and hurt, funny and make us laugh, amazing and make us proud.
DeleteToday is tomorrow’s memory.
(For those of us who have had experience of Alzheimer’s realise how lucky 🤗 we are to be able to recall them at all)
Carolyn, thank you for your choices. Dylan, Joan Baez and Dubliners I have seen live, and Clannad, although not Enya who I like very much. Will listen again to the Purcell - loved the voice of the singer I found.
ReplyDeleteTo everyone who is experiencing joy or struggle today, sending you love 🌈🤗
I shall return the felicitations to you Seasider and to Hilary and Gianna and to all who who are managing in theses times, that ‘are a changing’.
DeleteFaceTime, ZoomTime, VideoTime, is a consolation but RealTime with the ones we love, holding, touching and hugging is the desired prize for all.
The ones we love are our Past, Present and Future.
I think we can see each with restrictions (face masks and distance) and there will be a review on the18th to see if the cases are still down. If so we can open up a bit more. We would like to go to our house in the hills but it's not possible at the moment.
ReplyDeleteIt’s funny how we don’t feel stressed on the surface but the subconscious is! I have rosacea, a form of acne which is worsened by stress. At the moment it’s breaking out like a teenager. I feel calm enough but it is obviously seething under the surface! Consciously I am missing mixing with people. The window cleaner came this morning and I handed him the payment through a nearly closed window with glass between us! Normally have a short chat! Strange times!
ReplyDeleteI agree totally with your observation Ev!
DeleteReally appreciated the nice comments about some of the music choices -thanks !
ReplyDelete( I have such a lot to catch up still...)
Also agree with you, Ev, as, unsurprisingly, there is underlying stress in the situation we are all living through, & it's better, healthier, to acknowledge that. It manifests physically, as in your example, less obviously in slight mood swings, & anxiety about set backs, the sort of everyday things that wouldn't normally affect one to that extent.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTotally see this, Autumnleaves - it is so much more overtly stressful for everyone who is working, at home, or out there in the community, & has worries about far off family members.( my son & his wife have had to wrestle with new online techniques plus complex arrangements in order to teach from home, & I know they are very stressed, though coping doggedly)
DeleteAdd to that, you have suffered a stricter lockdown, for considerably longer than we have in the UK.
Everything is relative.
Autumn leaves, re your earlier post: totally understandable. This is all tough to deal with. So many concerns and new skills to learn under difficult conditions and our normal coping strategies thrown up in the air. Some days are better than others. 🙏🌷
DeleteI have now caught up with the latest Desert Island Disc choices.
ReplyDeleteI am very ignorant.
I didn’t realise that Prokofiev wrote the music which introduced “The Apprentice”
(That programme won’t be on next year.
Mr LJ was pleased to hear that.)
I also enjoyed Madness.
I went to see them not that long ago.
A nice mix
Thanks Unders.
Also thank you Carolyn .
I know what you mean about “I vow to thee my Country”
I was on a tube train once when a group of young men started singing it.
Can’t remember why they did.
It was lovely .
Very moving.
You are so right about Enya’s voice too.
Joan Baez sang “Where have all the flowers gone” beautifully as well.
LanJan - I am very ignorant.......
ReplyDeleteNo LJ, you are not.
We are all ignorant about some things because we cannot be knowledgeable about all things , unless we are a polymath, and I doubt if any of us on here are that.
I am ignorant about numbers, which you know a great deal about, but then I am likely to know about 'other stuff ' that is a mystery to you.
You have said recently that you are not well educated musically, and I thought at the time, no LJ you know a great deal about fifties and early sixties pop songs and girl singers. What's more you can recall what you know. I remember a lot, most even, of those songs when you have mentioned them, but I would be hard pressed to recall them without your prompting.
Just saying !
MrsP
As Ev said at 10.35am, this morning, it is the simple human contact, which can make things far difficult. I really understand how this could still affect us more long-term.
ReplyDeleteMonday, yesterday, window cleaner arrived.
Today, my lawns were fed + weeded.
What was so sad, is that there was no meet up +the normal, general chit-chat. It was just sign language through the windows.
I pay them both, by transfer, via internet banking.
At least my weekly supermarket shop, went well today.
My weekly treat, was 4 lamb chops (British of course).
I have decided to buy something different, each week, to just treat myself, regardless of the cost, as does it really matter?
To me, it doesn't, at this time.
Quite right Miriam 😋
DeleteI wore a mask when I went to my son’s yesterday and had not intended to get close to any of the family but my little grandson who is one and a half, after looking at me for quite a while from a distance, slowly came up to me, leaned against me and then put his arms round my legs. I just couldn’t not pick him up and hug him. It was heaven. His brother who is five knew not to hug and instead eagerly showed us his quad driving skills and the ants that had been transporting their eggs and his two level wooden den in the corner of the garden with a rope to abseil down from. And he gave me two roses from the garden and of course I eventually had to hold him tight too. The police are not allowed into private houses naturally.
ReplyDeleteThis post, brings tears to my eyes, in such a good way.
DeleteHow lovely, for you, to see your family again.
I am sure that all your protection and procedures, will have been fine and effective.
This will so help us all, about what to expect next.
Thank-you, Hilary.
I have just made my plans, for the next few days.
ReplyDeleteThese are:-
Stay Safe,
Enjoy the garden,
Eat well,
Keep Calm,
and just Carry On.
We can get through this, and who knows, we might, just get a Hilary moment soon.
😊😊😊
Not forgetting the washing, ironing and household chores, which still need to be done 😣
DeleteThanks Mrs P.
ReplyDeleteYour welcome !
DeleteOur village Parish Council has decreed that there will be street parties held on Friday to celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE Day.
ReplyDeleteApparently everyone is commanded to sit out in their front gardens with tea + cake and suitable decorations and flags.
Now that is a bit difficult for us and our neighbours as we don’t actually have front gardens! Our cottages are built sideways on to the road. Our front doors open directly onto the road. Our gardens run parallel with the road behind tall trees.
So, how to comply with instructions?
Well, we are going to hold our party in the lay-by between the cottages, with traffic zooming past (and there has been a lot more of it this week!)
I still have 2 large Union Jack flags that my Mum bought to celebrate the Coronation in 1953, very thin and a bit grubby, but they will be flown, along with other red, white & blue decorations as we drink our tea and wave at the passing cars!
Mr A was just 10 months old on VE Day, I still had to wait 3 months to be born, but we are jolly well going to celebrate! 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
There's always a way.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy !
I would like to share a little excitement if I may.
ReplyDeleteTowards the end of my ' working ' life I was responsible for gaining permission for a new television production company to film a scene on part of our property in Camden Town. I had to negotiate between our Management Team and the production company over several weeks and be present at the filming to supervise and for compliance purposes.
I never did see the episode, though I did later watch the series when it became something of a national obsession.
I am slowly working my way through that first series on IPlayer and have just seen that episode .......of ....... Spooks !
That must have been satisfying MrsP,
DeleteOh wow MrsP! Jon and I loved Spooks when it was first broadcast. Because of Scouting commitments occasionally, or sometimes I couldn't or forgot to record and so missed some episodes, one Christmas I was bought the boxed set of dvds. When we saw the BBC were releasing it on iplayer we decided to watch all the series again.
ReplyDeleteWe are alternately watching it with 'W1A' and 'Twenty Twelve' which we find hilariously stupid! I love Hugh Bonneville's deadpan comedy!
If I'm feeling good I go downstairs to watch on the TV on iplayer if not so good Jon brings his 'office ' chair into the bedroom and we watch it on my laptop.
I have got up the past couple of days late afternoon but I do need a painkiller in the evening. It's strange that when my legs start hurting I sit there shivering whilst twitching when the wounds sort of sting.
We had an argument last night as I want to go to a garden centre to get some plants to put out next week but Jon says I mustn't go out! i said I can't bear a second summer without even a tidy garden (he does mow the lawn at the weekends) so today I'm going to see what plants I can buy online. Marshalls seed people sent me an email and they are selling tomato plants at the extortionate price of £9.99 for 3 plants.!
Just waiting for Jon to bring me my breakfast before he goes into work (in the adjoining bedroom!) 😁
Have a good day everyone.
Spicy - how I ache to get to a garden centre to but plants too - I fully understand your frustration.
DeleteBut can I just warn you not to try ordering from Thompson and Morgan, à well known company for online plant sales, whom I have used, to my cost, in the past.
They are currently advertising (with almost daily emails, in my case) lots of plant offers as they try to clear unsold bedding and other plants.
Their delivery times are weeks, the condition plants arrive in is usually virtually dead, and their customer service abdominal! There are reams of complaints on the Facebook page and I had to cancel my order after waiting since 1st March for plants that never arrived.
I don’t know about Marshalls, but if you are successful with them I’d love to know. 🌺🌸
Oh dear, my typing gets worse - “to buy” and “abominable” not abdominal” 😧
DeleteI got my blueberry plants, thrift and free lavender plants from Thompson’s. They arrived early in April within the time frame and so far are all good. Reading your experiences, AF, I think I must have been lucky. Maybe a lot depends on which plants you order. The thing is that you can choose your plants when you go to a nursery which is better but of course not advisable at the moment. I wish I could deliver some of my tomato plants to Spicy! £9.99 for three is just profiteering!
DeleteWe too have been relying on Thompson & Morgan - have had used them in the past & were always very happy with them. But this year they have let us down a bit. Quite a few dead plugs have arrived & they are now a week or two late with orders that we placed several months ago. But on the whole we are still content with them to be honest - they have responded to our emails & have already replaced some items. Can't imagine it's at all easy for them at the moment!
DeleteJon is quite right, Spicy! He sounds like a real treasure! So good that you have someone with you.😊
ReplyDeleteJust catching up with comments. Glad you enjoyed some of my tunes Lan Jan and thanks for yours Carolyn, I only knew one & that was Orinicho Flow.
ReplyDeleteThere is a pub on my road, it's up the hill a bit & near two blocks of retirement flats. My mum lives in one of them & she told me yesterday that the pub, to celebrate VE Day, are making vast amounts of shepherd's pie. At the top of our road is a school with a CCF department & the army kids are going to deliver shepherd’sn pie to all who put their name down from the two retirement flats. What a lovely thing to do.
Liked several of your music choices Carolyn, particularly the Handel.
ReplyDeleteAlso thank you to those who sometime back recommended watching The Detectorists and the Cosmos series. We have just finished the Detectorists and I loved the slow moving pace and gentle amusement, and have now begun watching the Cosmos and thought the way it has been filmed is great.
Cosmic Quest next!
DeleteRe plants.
ReplyDeleteOur local, very pricey Garden Centre was offering £100 of plants delivered for £50 .
However you couldn’t choose your plants.
If and when they open up soon I would like to go and buy some geraniums.
It is like M and S .
They have fruit and vegetable boxes .
(To my mind their fruit is better than any other Supermarket -though pricier(except for their avocados which are very reasonably priced.)
I was going to get one of each but then the fruit I wanted like blueberries and raspberries were not included and fruit I didn’t want apples and pears was .
Same with the vegetables.
Then the delivery charge was £4 or £5
Yes, that put me off M & S boxes too. With the farm shop I can choose but choice is limited. I think Morrison’s are getting their act together as I have a delivery on Monday ordered just over a week ago. It remains to be seen whether it is all there! In the best of times there is always something missing!
DeleteI was very pleased to have a Morrisons delivery yesterday but some things were missing including plain flour, and quite a few things were substituted. Apparently it is a computer that chooses the substitutions. It does its best I guess!
DeleteI think that garden centre charge is outrageous . I have ordered some strawberry plants including one I had not heard of before, a French one called Mara des Bois. The berry is apparently just a medium size but they are supposed to taste like wild strawberries.
DeleteI may have said this before but I did one order in February from a Tesco for £55 .
ReplyDeleteThey sent £8 worth of goods only
It was cat food- substitute -
The delivery charge was £4!
Expecting a Sainsburys order today.
Hope that will be better.
So many interesting posts today, which are so topical.
ReplyDeletea) What a wonderful person Jon is, Spicy.
b) Thank-you all, for the tip re Morgan + T and ordering.
c) VE Celebtrations - like Archerphile has said, some will find it difficult to see neighbours.
d) "Spooks" - I watched it originally, but after a certain episode, I couldn't.
Now, the longer post.
ReplyDeleteThis is expanded, so it can be skipped over.
My garden will stay as it is, as I will not be ordering on-line, nor being tempted to go to a garden centre. The garden won't be the same though, with no colour, but it is only this year.
As to supermarket deliveries:- have you looked at "click + collect". My younger Sis, who has health problems, has been doing this. She has to do drive 20 miles, there + back. This week, it was offered at a nearer store. She was delighted to find the orders, were transported from the big store. She got her entire shop, as ordered. She is in N.Norfolk
It is just another thought.
I really enjoyed the series on ITV recently - The Trouble with Maggie Cole - with Dawn French. It was very different from what I expected, in a very good way. It can be found via TV players.
VE Day, I plan to make myself an afternoon tea, for one, and enjoy it in the garden. I am planning, scones with jam (as sadly no cream) with a pot of Earl Grey Tea, whilst wearing my "Union Jack" trimmed straw hat (though a bit faded now).
This hat was first worn, watching a Solheim Cup Golf match, at The Greenbriar, West Virginia USA in 1994 and also at many Last Night of the Proms - outdoor events. 🇬🇧🇬🇧.
I am so very cross, with the partner of my eldest niece.
ReplyDeleteHe was stopped by the Police yesterday, whilst, supposedly going out shopping.
I do not care why - except he was driving a friends car.
This is why I am so very cross.
Why did he go to see a friend, to borrow and then drive his car, when he has 2 cars of his own parked on his driveway, plus another vintage one (+a camper van) stored elsewhere.
To me, it was so irresponsible, esp. as he is the father of 2 of the wonderful family children, of mine.
Rant Over.
It was easier to do it here, than with family.
Thank-you. Xxxx
I think his non-official "father-in-law", has had strong words, + rightly so.
DeleteThat’s like my sister in law shopping every day. Like you, Miriam, if you go to the shops go once a week to lessen risk. Some folk will not be told.
DeleteLooking at going back to school, Katy is glad she teaches in sixth form. The younger children are apt to ignore all advice but at 16 plus they are more aware and also classes are smaller so social distancing is easier. Walking the dogs today there were two cars next to each other in the car park obviously not from the same household and a large group of people with children were coming back to cars. Usually the few cars are well spaced out.
A younger niece of mine, is also a teacher, and has been working for 3 days a week for a while now. She is primary, and it is vunerable children and those of the wonderful key workers, she is teaching. Her hubbie works in a hospital, so their sons ( 3yrs + 9 months) are now back in nursery, when she is in school teaching.
DeleteIt is a worry, but all is well, as they are in rural Suffolk.
I have been lucky to get a Wednesday delivery from Sainsburys each week, for the past 3 weeks. They know we are over 70 so have us on a list of priority customers. I check for delivery slots on Fri, Sat and Sunday which is when they publish the slots for the following week.
ReplyDeleteLast week there were no eggs and various other things were missing, but this morning everything was delivered just as I had ordered.
The only thing I cannot get hold of, for love or money, is flour (of any description). But all in all I am very satisfied with Sainsburys service
If you have a farm shop near which delivers, check with them for flour. I even obtained gf flour from ours.
ReplyDeleteBread flour is available..but then there is no yeast, nor standard plain nor SR flour, from anywhere nearby.
DeleteI haven't made pastry, to make a quiche or a pie, for over 6 weeks now.
I miss my caramellised onion, gammon + apricot quiche.
I still get free range eggs easily.
Golly Miriam, I wish I loved cooking the way you do.
ReplyDeleteYour caramelised onion gammon and apricot quiche has made me salivate.
Have you ever thought of cooking for dinner parties or even just for those of us that don't cook.
You can send me one of those quiches any day you like.
Your first line Mrs P - I could not agree more!
DeleteI go out food shopping about every 5-6 days, main shop in Waitrose and sometimes Lidl as well. The most erratic supplies tend to be eggs & flour, Lidl generally being the more likely source for these.
ReplyDeleteTomorrow is our 'collect' from today's 'click'. As usual 1/2 skimmed milk unavailable, so full-fat will have to do, also no ketchup !! Bread delivery first thing. Thank goodness for our local épicerie for fresh stuff. Their attached restaurant is closed at the moment, they provide fresh fish plus prepared fish dishes on Fridays, open Fri am, no public 8th May celebrations allowed.
ReplyDelete*** DESERT ISLAND DISCS ***
ReplyDeleteThe next name out of the hat is........ Zoetrope! Enjoy!
Well, I’m down in the dumps. Should have been at the RHS Malvern Spring Garden Show today.
ReplyDeleteReward another visit to the allotment. Will plant parsnips and cabbages.
On return am looking forward to Zoetrope’ DID.
Hopefully the glorious sunny weather will cheer you up Stasia.
DeleteIt’s almost tropical down here in Hampshire today, the wisteria is in full bloom and competing with the Choysia to see which can produce the most glorious scent, my toms and cues are growing fast in the greenhouse and I’m a happy bunny.
Mind you, if any real bunnies appear I’ll not be so happy ! 😊 🐰🐰
I'm off to a nearby nursery to collect my fig tree this afternoon.
ReplyDeleteVery hot in the garden today.
Not complaining, but I cannot be in the sun for even two minutes now.
My vitiligo is now completely covering my head. Even hanging a little washing was too much.
I've just seen that I'm next for DID.
ReplyDeleteI'm having a late lunch break, working from home. Will put my choices on this evening or tomorrow 🤔😊
Thanks Zoetrope - no rush, enjoy that lunch!
DeleteI had rain, this afternoon!
ReplyDeleteSun has just come out, so perhaps, I will have, a lovely and sunny, evening, whilst cooking a pot of chilli.
Archerphile 12.28pm
ReplyDeleteThank you for that little boost.
You are very kind.
I do love the sun.
My cucumbers are waiting in the polytunnel as are the tomatoes, chillis, cauliflowers.
I do have a lot of stuff under cloches.
I do hope you had a good day?
May I ask Archerphile + others, who have a choysia?
ReplyDeleteMine is growing well, but the leaves are going brown + starting to drop off.
Any ideas?
Strangely we also have a beautiful golden Choysia ternata Sundance that has many branches that have gone completely brown and dry. We have pruned these out and there are now plenty of new shoots growing. It almost looked as if someone had watered it with weed killer! Our other choysias, the standard green type, seem fine. I don’t know what caused the leaf browning as we haven’t had any real frosts this winter.
DeleteI suggest you just prune out the affected branches and hope for new growth from the base of the plant.
Thanks. Mine is the golden one also.
DeleteI will get the hedge-trimmer on it - I don't do pruning. 😁
Miriam - I really would advise against using a hedge trimmer on a choysia. You could end up with something that looks like a shorn hedgehog! You just need to cut out the branches with dead leaves on, taking them back to a leaf joint, or if the whole branch looks dead, taking it right back to the main stem.
DeleteIf you shear it with a trimmer you’ll get lots of cut-in- half leaves which will look horrid. Just take out the dead branches (it’s not really pruning) and leave the decent ones with live leaves to regenerate.
Ok, here goes, in no particular order ...
ReplyDelete1) Bach Double Violin Concerto
I haven't listened to many versions, but I quite like one with Yehudi Menhuin.
2) Hallelujah
Has to be Leonard Cohen
3) Seven Seas of Rhye - Queen
I first saw Queen as a support band, this takes me back to when I first heard them.
4) Zadok the Priest - Handel
I just love the instrumental build up, turn it up full blast then hope I get the timing right to adjust the volume as the singing starts!
5) Lying Eyes - The Eagles
Memories of singing along in the car with my daughters
6) Hide in Your Shell - Supertramp
7) Nulla in Mundo Pax Sincera -Vivaldi
Again, I haven't listened to many versions, quite like the one by Kings Consort
8) Africa - Toto
I think I would save the Bach.
My book choice would be the complete works of Terry Pratchett
I love the humour in his writing , and the references to so many aspects of human life.
My luxury is an endless supply of paper, with writing and drawing materials.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletexx
DeleteExcellent selection Zoetrope, I haven’t listened to Supertramp for years, I used to really like them, something to accompany my baking for today’s afternoon tea; Victoria sponge, scones to go with the home-clotted cream and a soft white loaf for thin sandwiches...I’d better get up!
ReplyDeleteZoetrope, I like the Eagles and Supertramp, though not these particular songs. I hear rather too much Queen at the moment, though I did go to their concert because someone had spare tickets, so I rounded up three others in a hurry and we made our way to Wembley - they sang Imagine because it was the day John Lennon was killed.
ReplyDeleteThank you Zoetrope, another lovely mixed bag of classic and popular discs. I shall save listening until tomorrow, hopefully in the garden.
ReplyDeleteOur VE ‘street party’ is now going to be a ‘gate party’. My neighbour has chickened out of doing it in the lay by, which I think is a great pity as there will be no passing traffic to enjoy it too. 😢
I shall do my hair up in one of those typical wartime scarves tied like a turban and have a sweetheart-neck dress to wear. I wanted to make a Victoria Sandwich cake à la 1945 but have no flour, so it will just have to be fish-paste and Sandwich Spread sandwiches!
🇬🇧 🇫🇷 🇬🇧 HAPPY VE-75 CELEBRATIONS EVERYONE 🇬🇧 🇳🇱🇬🇧
Thanks Zoetrope!
ReplyDeleteListening to Seven Seas of Rye as I type this, LOVE Queen & am happy you have chosen one of their lesser known tracks - I agree with Basia that over the past few years we have almost reached saturation point when it comes to hearing their songs! Can you remember who they were supporting? Will definitely have a listen to Toto later. Know & like most of the others.
The Terry Pratchett books were handed round our family when I was growing up - My Dad, my sister & my brother devoured them & there was lots of impatient harrumphing to be heard if someone was thought to be reading a book too slowly for the other's liking!
If i remember correctly, Queen were support band to Mott the Hoople!!
ReplyDeleteZoetrope....nice selection of music. Not keen on the supertramp one, I prefer other songs of theirs. Even quite liked the violin concerto by the end of it.
ReplyDeleteQueen, now there was a band to see in concert. I went to see them twice in 86/87, can’t remember which. Including seeing them at Knebworth. Freddie was such a show man. Never seen anyone else with such stage presence. Seven seas of Rye would be in my Queen top 10 easily.
I listened repeatedly to that Supertramp track when I was going through a very stressful time at work which culminated in taking 5 months off sick. I found it to be both fitting to the way I was feeling, and eventually helping me to come out of it
DeleteLanjan, from the other blog. I was telling Katy about your Mum and her aunt in Glasgow and she put a possible other slant on it. There is a core minority in Glasgow who hate the English and it could have been that her aunt was protecting her if she had an English accent. When Katy was 16 she went up to Scotland to stay with my Auntie Nina in Stirling. When they went to Glasgow, in certain areas Nina told her not to open her mouth for fear of retribution. Also after the war, my Dad took Mum and older brother up to Glasgow to live. One day my brother was with my grandmother and someone left a dead rat on the doorstep because my mother was English. I know from experience that most Glaswegians are open and friendly people but there is this undertone of hatred from some. It is of course historic but you would think we have moved on from the Highland clearances etc! Of course, your great aunt could just have been a nasty woman but it is food for thought!
ReplyDeleteI’d never heard that Queen track before, a new one on me. Always have liked Queen. Like the Toto track too. I’ve got a new liking for Leonard Cohen after going to see a film about him at The Curzon in The Brunswick centre last year. I wasn’t looking forward to it but was persuaded by my husband who is a fan. It was a brilliant film called Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love. I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it if you are a fan, or even not, as I wasn’t.
ReplyDeleteThought I’d show you all a picture of this stunning shrub in full bloom in my garden. I can never remember the name of it. I’m not a gardener!
Gary, radio 4 are imitating your idea, a poorer version it seems. Nominate your most listened to disc during lockdown and why.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a gardener, but am trying as we have a long garden. Could the shrub be a caenothus? I think this is the season for that to flower?
ReplyDeleteI think it was in the mid 70s when I first saw Queen. It was pre Bohemian Rhapsody. I booked to see them when they next went to Birmingham, booked before B R was released, saw them while it was was at number 1.
Thinking about it now - it was early to mid 70s because the third time I saw them was at an open air concert on the day the drought broke in 1976
🌧️💦🌧️💦🌧️💦🌧️💦🌧️
That’s looks as if it spells what my Mum calls it Zoetrope!!!
Delete🤣💦
DeleteSaw Queen at the Winter Gardens, Cleethorpes, early 1974, early days, they did a UK wide tour. Amazing, we couldn't hear a thing when we came out! Always loved 7 seas of Rhye.
ReplyDeleteI hope all of you, are celebrating VE Day, 75years on, in whatever way is suitable for you.
ReplyDeleteI was amazed this morning, as the bin lorry was around emptying the recycle bins, so was noisy.
As 11.00am + the two minute silence was approaching, and about to begin, they were outside my house.
At 10.59am. the lorry turned off its engine, the refuse collectors (with social distancing) stood in the middle of the road, for the 2 minutes.
This was so lovely..🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
We watched the Churchill speech after the Red Arrows fly past and “Land of Hope and Glory” and followed it with a cream tea on the decking. We wore our Union Flag gear from British night on Fred Olsen and I have tied my scarf to the balustrade at the front. Jingoistic? Maybe but more pride in what our country did against all the odds!🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
ReplyDeleteWasn't The Red Arrows fly past, just wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI am in the garden wearing my Union Jack straw hat..not a nice sight 😁😁
Vintage 'planes have just recently flown over.
Probabely going to Hawarden (the air-strip at Broughton, where Aerospace has its factory).
Lovely to see..
My celebrations don't come until tomorrow.
DeletePray tell Sarnia!
DeleteEvery day is a school day on here - just Googled it & I had no idea that the Channel Islands were officially liberated on the 9th of May.
DeleteGot it in one, Gary! On VE day the Channel Islands were still under enemy occupation.
DeleteZeotrope - what have you done to me??
ReplyDeleteI just love Queen, and know all their music.
As for Supertramp - wind back to the '70's, at a college in Scotland with the Saturday night, student "bop".
A band, called Supertramp, sang a new song, called "Dreamer" live on stage, with an umbrella, as a prop.
To think, this was before it was recorded + then released.
Thank-you, for the memory.
Unders: 1.19
ReplyDeleteThat gorgeous blue shrub in your garden looks like a Ceanothus to me. Bit difficult to tell from such a small photo, but it is definitely Ceanothus blue! (Sometimes known as Californian Lilac)
I have one in my front garden and it is growing and spreading! That’s what I want though as the front garden is quite big and was put to pebbles before we arrived. No grass to cut but plenty of weeds so anything spreading out over them is very welcome! It is also gorgeous when in flower, such a lovely blue!
DeleteOur VE Day party with the neighbours was very enjoyable, through the gateway.
ReplyDeleteThey had lots of bunting, we had Union Jacks. I dressed up a bit 1940s, we had crab sandwiches, cheese scones and carrot cake (which Sainsburys had sent as a substitute for Victoria Sponge!). We served everything in old fashioned China, just like Fallon does in the cafe in Ambridge, and had a jolly good natter. A very welcome bit of light relief after all the recent gloom.
And, best of all, it was beautifully sunny and warm. ☀️
Thanks Ev1:17 pm.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure when my mother left Glasgow.
She was born there in 1913 .
I could look at the 1921 census and see where she was then.
My father wrote his childhood memories for me but my mother wouldn’t.
She ended her schooling in Buxton where my grandfather’s sister was in charge of a Nursing Home.
She loved it there as she wanted to become a nurse but as soon as she was old enough to leave school she had to go to Wolverhampton to live with her father and grandmother to earn some money.
She had no qualifications and worked in a shoe shop .
Her father thought she worked in an office!
The story had a happy ending.
The shoe shop was taken over by Manfield’s who transferred her to the Knightsbridge shop .
She met my dad and ..............
I had a conversation with my neighbour today as she was tending her front garden. She is a bit of a loner keeping herself to herself and I think might have had a rough time in the past but it was lovely to talk. I apologised for the dogs especially Dudley barking but she doesn’t mind being a dog lover herself. There are quite a few dogs round here so they are not the only ones who bark! Gypsy always does when demanding her food and being a Chinese princess will brook no opposition! Buddy isn’t too bad nowadays but he did have an indignant bark at a spider this evening. How dare it invade his territory ! Anyway, dogs aside we did have a nice chat. In normal times I am inclined to invite her in but I think she would refuse. We bought her a small Christmas present feeling she wouldn’t receive anything other than that but she was so embarrassed and nervous about it that I didn’t repeat it this year! All I can do is just be friendly when we meet by chance.
ReplyDeleteI am so pleased, that so many of you have had such a good day.
ReplyDeleteMe - mine has been awful - but tomorrow is another day..
...when I will feel more positive and up-beat.
DeleteToday, was just, one of those "bad" days.
It is hard to explain, why, this happens.
Onwards + Upwards.
You can often feel like this at holiday times when everything somehow falls flat. Onwards and upwards, Miriam!😊
DeleteI have seen so many wonderful photos of my family, with their, very contained, VE day celebrations. I should have been with some of them, or attendiing my local celebrations.
DeleteAll I have had today, were my neighbours shouting + screaming again, both in their house + garden.
It is preventing me, from enjoying sitting out and reading ,in my own garden, in a relaxed way. It is so awful to hear and it disturbs me.
I sympathise totally Miriam (even though I have Mr R beside me) I have had days on and off (this week even) when it is hard to explain the feelings that are lurking within.
DeleteI think I must be a vampire 🤣 as once the evening comes and progresses to darkness my body and mind virtually always calms 🙄
..in several different ways.
DeleteMiriam, I'm so sorry to hear that you've had such a rough day. I hope tomorrow will be a better day for you, that the sun will shine and you will be able to enjoy your garden 💕💐
ReplyDeleteMiriam, if you are feeling low and then you have to listen to your neighbours screaming at each other, you are entitled to be feeling even worse.
ReplyDeleteI do hope that tomorrow you will be able to enjoy your garden, and your book in peace and quiet.
Lots of people out with bunting and tables and chairs today, listening to Vera Lynn and being friendly at a distance.
I celebrated VE Day by telephoning my 97 year old cousin who was in Palestine 75 years ago. She remembered that it was a strange day and that they all just sat morosely and got drunk.
I suppose they all just wanted to be at home to celebrate with the rest of the country.
When I am an old lady and I do my 1st class train trip up to Scotland I am going to spend some time in a Glasgow Library trying to find out more about my ancestors and not spend an evening like tonight going round in circles checking the records on Ancestry UK and not finding my mother anywhere!
ReplyDeleteOf course I blame Ev for this !!!
😉🥴🙃😙🤭
DeleteZoetrope - thank you for the music. How I wish I'd gone to see Queen but never did. Used to love Supertramp and will look up this track. Zadok was on my list too - love it.
ReplyDeleteI loved the Queen's address tonight. Quite wonderful I thought.
God bless her!🇬🇧👏👏🇬🇧
DeleteHurrah. The BBC has noticed that it's Liberation Day!
ReplyDeleteAnd so they should!
ReplyDeleteHappy Liberation Day Sarnia! What will you do today to celebrate?
ReplyDeleteI have decorated my front gate with Guernsey flags and this afternoon I'm going to have my own personal street party on the front lawn!
DeleteLanjan We don't have access to the 1921 census until 2022. We have to wait 100 years for details to be made public.Tracing relatives after 1900 is much more difficult than the 1700s!
ReplyDeleteYou can get a rough idea of areas of residence from where the family's birth, marriages and deaths were registered but only a vague area.
You can get some details from the 1939 Register taken on the eve of WW2 but it is not a complete 'census' because anyone attached to any military was not included
Hey, Zoetrope ! Made a start on your music choices - loved the Bach, can see why you'd save that, so nourishing during all those lonely hours on the Isle...did enjoy Lying Eyes & Africa, new to me.
ReplyDelete(BTW, now wish I'd chosen writing materials as you did, maybe even drawing paper too - more stimulating than vodka, which of course is quite the reverse !)
Of course,Spicycushion,8:45 am ,how stupid of me not to think of that.
ReplyDeleteI think what fooled me (my excuse) was that information like when somebody died (In say the 1960s ) is shown .
There was me blaming Ev!
Hope she will forgive me.
It is good to know that my mother was not just a figure of my imagination.
😁
ReplyDeleteMeant figment not figure!
ReplyDeleteFigure suffices though
Hope your neighbours are quieter today, Miriam. If not make a louder noise! Seriously take care but if it does get worrying maybe in view of increased domestic violence awareness you could contact the police on 101 or online.
ReplyDeleteHappy Liberation Day, Sarnia 🇬🇬 🍰🎂🥂
ReplyDeleteMerci bien. I'm about to make my afternoon tea. Of course, I should celebrate with Guernsey Gache, but that's out of the question, so I have English tea-cake instead!
DeleteSarnia, we watched a film set in the Channel Islands the other night, had a strange name, something about a ’potato peel pie literary group’
DeleteAbout Nazi occupation during the war and a young reporter sent to investigate what had gone on, after the occupation ended.
I believe it was a popular book made into a film. Anyway it was very interesting but not sure how true to life it would have been. Very interested in reading the actual book now.
I was eager to see that film Archerphile as I spent a year in 1967 working for Barclays Bank in Guernsey. I was very disappointed to find out the film was actually filmed in Devon.
DeleteAh, yes, the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Do read the book, AP and I'm told you'll find very little comparison. I get fed up with films allegedly about the Island but filmed in Devon or the Isle of Man! I was warned that it had been turned into some sort of romantic comedy, so knowing that the location wasn't remotely like Guernsey and the characters would neither have looked nor sounded like Guernsey people, I didn't bother with it. Interestingly, several years ago a lady who joined the church where I play, turned out to have been three years below me at the same school. Unbelievably, although we are from different parts of the Island and not even distantly related, we are so alike in features, build and colouring we look as if we are of the same family!
DeleteJust finished listening to your choices,Zoetrope .
ReplyDeleteThank you .
Nice selection.
I particularly enjoyed listening to Leonard Cohen singing Hallelujah.
You can hear every word he is singing.
I also liked The Eagles.
I must have heard it before but can’t remember where or when-good title for another song!
That reminded me of a Johnnie Cash song of the late 1950s .
“Ballard of a teenage queen. “ which tells a story.
I still know all the words.
Does anyone else remember it?
Ha ! Forgot to say earlier, Zoetrope, really, really rate the Leonard Cohen Hallelujah, as did Lanjan above, for the same reason.
DeleteVery glad that it has appeared from you🙂. ( was on my 1st attempt at a list, forget why it had to go; not so easy to plump for 8, even if music experience pretty limited...)
Thank you Zoetrope.
ReplyDeleteI had a thing about Leonard Cohen’s songs and poems in the early seventies. Think I had a cloud of deadness frame of mind at the time. In love, out of love and they fed into those moments. Suzanne, “I often wanted her to take me down to the river”
So long Marianne, Sisters of Mercy etc. I eventually got rid of the music and the books of poetry.
I also love all of the music of Bach and Vivaldi and of course I had to listen to the Emma Kirkby version. I also choose her singing Bach.
I was not familiar with the other stuff, except for Queen.
Thanks again.
Not deadness.
DeleteDepression.
I think deadness is a good way of describing that state. Dead to joy etc.
DeleteHallelujah was on my long list too Carolyn as was Pachelbel’s Canon which was the first number one chosen by Gianna..
ReplyDeleteUnchained Melody could have made it too but probably by Al Hibler.
Mr 🍁🍁is a huge fan of Leonard Cohen.my favourite is Dance me to the end of love. He was a true artist.
ReplyDeleteI am reading Albert Camus’s The Plague.
ReplyDeleteI believe the government has used the book as a template for management of the current plague.
I recommend it as the book of the week.
That's bound to render us deflated & miserable, Stasia ! Not that I've read it but have read The Castle, which did my head in, so don"t anticipate anything upbeat....
Delete( Great writer, read echoes of the nightmarish confusion of The Castle in later novels by others, too; tell us The Plague be isn't as disturbing !!)
Archerphile 4.55pm , the book is lovely..
ReplyDeleteI haven’t seen the film.
Sadly the author died before completing the book and her niece finished it .
Well worth reading.
Yes, book far better & more moving than the film.
ReplyDeleteI think I feel moved to read it again.
ReplyDeleteThank you for all the recommendations about the book - I
ReplyDeleteMust admit we didn’t watch the film right to the end as Mr A found the romantic stuff tedious andnot to his taste - so I’m even more determined to read the original book now.
Street party for one: I sat on my front lawn with my tea tray, watching the two cheerful little flags fluttering on the front gate, picturing the view from the roof-top café at the largest department store on the island. On a clear, sunny day such as yesterday the huge harbour and castle lie immediately below, while the wider panorama ranges from Alderney 30 miles away on the horizon on the left, Herm and Jethou 3 miles outside the harbour, Sark a further 6 miles behind and to the right, all the way down to Jersey, 30 miles away on the far right. Behind all this the rugged coast of Normandy forms a backdrop along the horizon all the way from Alderney to disappear into the mist beyond Sark. But that's only on a good day!!
ReplyDeleteFellow-islanders dispersed around the area were all doing the same thing.
Carolyn.
ReplyDeleteCamus the book is written is both a narrative account of a plague in a small French prefecture in N Africa and a metaphorical/ existential tale of how humanity reacts when faced with the outbreak of a contagious disease. When people start dying in large numbers the inhabitants accuse the authorities of not acting quickly enough because they dithered and debated before acting. According to Camus, we are constantly living on the edge of the absurd because we humans believe at some point in our lives that we are immune to immortality. Theses things happen to other people not to us. If we recognised our own fragility we would end up in despair.
Essentially he says we need to love each other and work to ameliorate suffering and despair.
We should engage with the natural world and above all be a decent human being.
It’s all about love.
Peace be with you all.☮️❣️❣️
Thanks so much for that elucidation, Stasia. Truly, a novel for our times, well, any time really, but pointedly & painfully right now. Agree wholeheartedly with the conclusion, as you describe it. Must read this soon
Delete( think you meant 'immune to mortality', didn't you ?)
I stand corrected I see you have your red pen at ready.🤭. I also should have used the word responding end of third line.
DeleteI shouldn’t type first thing in the morning.
Thank you 👩🏫 teacher. 😀
There must be quite a number of us who, having spent a sizeable chunk of our lives watching the insidious, relentless progress of mortality at work, don't need Camus to explain that. Even members of the Potato Peel Pie society never came back from captivity.
DeleteSounds as if that is the starting point of the novel, the tendency of humanity choosing to be blind to mortality, not the conclusion.
DeleteAnother book for my list, too.
ReplyDeleteLa peste (it sounds more removed) is supposed to be the most widely read novel now. I'd read it many years ago but don't intend to reread. Yes, it deals with the world's approach to the notion of the absurd. I found out that Greece has only suffered 150 deaths, admittedly their population is roughly equivalent to London but toughened by the austerity they adopted very strict measures. The Portugese are also very disciplined and followed common sense.
ReplyDelete