On the basis that a watched kettle takes twice as long to boil i thought perhaps my definate need for a bath would probably have a detrimental effect on the pipes thawing....as in they wouldn't.
So, the sun shining and the ground crispy and crunchy, wrapped up warm I persuaded Mr.H to accompany me on a walk.
Some negotiation took place as to exactly where we would walk and the merits and disadvantages.
I was suprised to hear Mr.H advocating a rather steep hill climb over a flat walk along the valley floor in the sunshine until i realised the true motivation....beer.
Good beer in a freezing cold pub served by a landlady, best described as ancient won over a third rate pint of insipid something in a warm pub served by a slightly less aged landlady.
Huffing and puffing and many a rest...I mean stop to admire the view and we finally reached the top.
Thursday, 8 January 2009
A bit of a chill
There's been a bit of a nip in the air of late. Subzero temperatures for about a fortnight here on top of our mountain.
We haven't experienced this sort of weather for about 12 years and were we prepared? Not as well as we thought!
Yesterday the water supply froze but in all fairness we had made sure we had 5 gallons of water in the house.
It has been quite interesting to see childrens reaction to this cold snap. Yes a little dissapointment that it hasn't snowed but the water pools on the common have frozen and have been a constant draw for sliding and slipping....so far no broken bones and being small pools the risk of drowning is minimal.
Some of the kids have been busy trying to thaw out frozen lumps of ice on top of the heat outlet for the boiler and one daft child actually tried to make his own skating rink by leaving the outside hose on over night.
Leaving doors open as a past time has gone out of favour and swanning around the house in shorts and a t shirt has been looked on without sympathy as has the phrase "I'm cold".
Get a jumper on, socks and shoes have been the buzz words of the week.
I'm loath to say this but the aga has behaved beautifully and we have had warming soups and a sumptuous twelth night duck. It's also helped dry out wood and is a wonderful source of comfort when waiting for the kettle to boil.
This morning there was still no water and some blank faces when told to wash their face and hands. How?
Taking a jug of water to the washbasin didn't seem a logical answer to the kids.
It's amused me no end to see modern children struggle with concepts of cold and no water.
Personally i'm old enough to remember Jack Frost painting the inside of the windows with wonderful patterns nevermind the outside.
We haven't experienced this sort of weather for about 12 years and were we prepared? Not as well as we thought!
Yesterday the water supply froze but in all fairness we had made sure we had 5 gallons of water in the house.
It has been quite interesting to see childrens reaction to this cold snap. Yes a little dissapointment that it hasn't snowed but the water pools on the common have frozen and have been a constant draw for sliding and slipping....so far no broken bones and being small pools the risk of drowning is minimal.
Some of the kids have been busy trying to thaw out frozen lumps of ice on top of the heat outlet for the boiler and one daft child actually tried to make his own skating rink by leaving the outside hose on over night.
Leaving doors open as a past time has gone out of favour and swanning around the house in shorts and a t shirt has been looked on without sympathy as has the phrase "I'm cold".
Get a jumper on, socks and shoes have been the buzz words of the week.
I'm loath to say this but the aga has behaved beautifully and we have had warming soups and a sumptuous twelth night duck. It's also helped dry out wood and is a wonderful source of comfort when waiting for the kettle to boil.
This morning there was still no water and some blank faces when told to wash their face and hands. How?
Taking a jug of water to the washbasin didn't seem a logical answer to the kids.
It's amused me no end to see modern children struggle with concepts of cold and no water.
Personally i'm old enough to remember Jack Frost painting the inside of the windows with wonderful patterns nevermind the outside.
Tuesday, 30 December 2008
We are survivors!
I went to my mother's today. She's in her late 90's and is a lot less mobile than she used to be, and has decided that she'd like to start recording what her life was like when she was younger. When we were looking through some of her papers, we came across something she'd already written and was quite pleased with, and I'd like to share that with you:
"We are survivors!
This is an article for those born before 1940.
We we're born before television, before penicillin, polio shots, frozen-foods, xerox, contact lenses, videos, fridges and the pill. We lived before radar, credit cards, split atoms, laser beams, and ballpoint pens, before dishwashers, tumble dryers, electric blankets, air conditioners, drip dry clothes, and before man walked on the moon. We got married first then lived together {How quaint can you be?} We thought 'fast food' was eaten in lent, 'A Big Mac' wan an over sized raincoat and crumpet we had for tea. We existed before house husbands, computer dating, dual careers. When a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins, and sheltered accommodation was where you waited for a bus.
We were before day centres, group homes, and disposable nappies. We'd never heard of FM radio, tape decks, electric type writers, artificial hearts, word processors, yogurt, or young men wearing earrings. For us, "time sharing" meant togetherness. A chip was a piece of wood or fried potato, "Hardware" meant nuts and bolts. and "software" wasn't a word.
Before 1948, 'Made in Japan' meant junk, the term "Making out" referred to how you did in your exams, a "stud" was something that fastened a collar to a shirt, and "going all the way" meant staying on a double decker bus all the way to the depot.
Pizza's, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of. In our day, cigarette smoking was fashionable, grass was mown, coke was kept in the coal house, a joint was a piece of meat you ate on Sunday's, and a pot was something you cooked in. Rock music was grandmother's lullaby, Elderado was an ice cream, a gay person was the life and soul of the party and nothing more, and aids just meant beauty treatment or help for someone in trouble.
We, who were born before 1940, must be a hardy bunch, when you think of the ways in which the world has changed and the adjustments we have had to make. No wonder we're so confused and there is a generation gap!
But by the grace of god, we have survived - Hallelujah!"
"We are survivors!
This is an article for those born before 1940.
We we're born before television, before penicillin, polio shots, frozen-foods, xerox, contact lenses, videos, fridges and the pill. We lived before radar, credit cards, split atoms, laser beams, and ballpoint pens, before dishwashers, tumble dryers, electric blankets, air conditioners, drip dry clothes, and before man walked on the moon. We got married first then lived together {How quaint can you be?} We thought 'fast food' was eaten in lent, 'A Big Mac' wan an over sized raincoat and crumpet we had for tea. We existed before house husbands, computer dating, dual careers. When a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins, and sheltered accommodation was where you waited for a bus.
We were before day centres, group homes, and disposable nappies. We'd never heard of FM radio, tape decks, electric type writers, artificial hearts, word processors, yogurt, or young men wearing earrings. For us, "time sharing" meant togetherness. A chip was a piece of wood or fried potato, "Hardware" meant nuts and bolts. and "software" wasn't a word.
Before 1948, 'Made in Japan' meant junk, the term "Making out" referred to how you did in your exams, a "stud" was something that fastened a collar to a shirt, and "going all the way" meant staying on a double decker bus all the way to the depot.
Pizza's, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of. In our day, cigarette smoking was fashionable, grass was mown, coke was kept in the coal house, a joint was a piece of meat you ate on Sunday's, and a pot was something you cooked in. Rock music was grandmother's lullaby, Elderado was an ice cream, a gay person was the life and soul of the party and nothing more, and aids just meant beauty treatment or help for someone in trouble.
We, who were born before 1940, must be a hardy bunch, when you think of the ways in which the world has changed and the adjustments we have had to make. No wonder we're so confused and there is a generation gap!
But by the grace of god, we have survived - Hallelujah!"
Friday, 28 November 2008
Credit crunch
The credit crunch....sounds like a cereal.
Snap,Crackle and pop...and your money , job, pension, saving, house, local shop has gone.
So here i post a little credit wonder.
Yesterday, Kingsmill bread was £1.39 per loaf in Tesc....but i had been to Bookers and bought it on a short life for .49p per loaf less £3.61 for ten. Which in the end meant i bought ten loaves of bread for less than it cost me for one in Tesc.
FANDABIDOSY!
Mr Wilkes wanted to sell me a very small bath for just over £250 and said if i waited till after Xmas i could get it for 20% off. If i wanted it now i would have to go to a bathroom specialist and it would cost me a considerable ammount more.
So... i went to B and Q and got one and the panels and delivery for £158
Power of the net....catch the deals and reel them in!
However i did go to Ikea on Monday...and wanting to offer a good example i made a note of what i wanted to buy and tunnel vision bought it and only it. Mr H was most amused and tried to tempt me with many a likely buy.
Auction today and i'm sad to say i was a little distracted.
However i bought a new sofa for the kids to fight over to watch the telly for the princely sum of a £1.
6 games and a deluxe corkscrew for £3.
We have had tremendous fun with the board games all evening (no child has even wanted to press the start button on a computer or game boy never mind fight over them)and Mr H has practised using his new corkscrew..DELUXE!.....Xmas presi sorted
then!
It's about time i got him back for the tile cutter!
The bathroom floor looks great...just needs the bathroom door putting back.
Snap,Crackle and pop...and your money , job, pension, saving, house, local shop has gone.
So here i post a little credit wonder.
Yesterday, Kingsmill bread was £1.39 per loaf in Tesc....but i had been to Bookers and bought it on a short life for .49p per loaf less £3.61 for ten. Which in the end meant i bought ten loaves of bread for less than it cost me for one in Tesc.
FANDABIDOSY!
Mr Wilkes wanted to sell me a very small bath for just over £250 and said if i waited till after Xmas i could get it for 20% off. If i wanted it now i would have to go to a bathroom specialist and it would cost me a considerable ammount more.
So... i went to B and Q and got one and the panels and delivery for £158
Power of the net....catch the deals and reel them in!
However i did go to Ikea on Monday...and wanting to offer a good example i made a note of what i wanted to buy and tunnel vision bought it and only it. Mr H was most amused and tried to tempt me with many a likely buy.
Auction today and i'm sad to say i was a little distracted.
However i bought a new sofa for the kids to fight over to watch the telly for the princely sum of a £1.
6 games and a deluxe corkscrew for £3.
We have had tremendous fun with the board games all evening (no child has even wanted to press the start button on a computer or game boy never mind fight over them)and Mr H has practised using his new corkscrew..DELUXE!.....Xmas presi sorted
then!
It's about time i got him back for the tile cutter!
The bathroom floor looks great...just needs the bathroom door putting back.
Life,Love and Loss
I havn't written on here for some time. In fact i've been very busy being depressed, a little 'issed off ansd tearfull.
Living with mr H can do that.......only kidding!
Seriously, it's been a sad month.
We can all relate to being young, headstrong and invincible....personally, in secret that's me.
In reality, we are often vulnerable, inexperienced or at the mercy of others.
A young 19 year old, step brother to my eldest children, has died in a car crash.
Young, headstrong, invincible, vulnerable and much loved, a beautiful young boy.
There were many, too many, to see him off to his afterlife...they made a long procession behind the herse to the grave side and after packed the small evangelical church. A short life celebrated and a future moarned, lost. The weeping strong and pungeant, wracked with thoughts of what iff's.
Baby P, so frought with terror. A short life.
There was also an inquest for a young person scolded in a bath.
Loss, such terrible inexplicable loss.
Blame.
This is something which often consummes us but which more often offers no solace.
To blame , extricates, places accountability in the hope that in future things will change. We are human and to ere is human....and loss is often hard to bear.
My mother is quite old, well, compared with me fairly old.....and she wants to die in her own house.
She also wants to make sure we all know, as in all my brothers and sisters .....and she also wants to be the very centre of our universes.
Wants and needs.....so hard to reconcile.
She lives 120 miles away and when i make an arrangement to visit she is always going somewhere else.
She is 98 and busy busy busy and i am glad.
No actually I'm ~issed off because my brothers and sisters say I'm a crap daughter and my mother has better things to do than see me.
Actaually she was a great mum and was there when she was needed by me and i know i have been there when she has needed me....and i will be.
Living with mr H can do that.......only kidding!
Seriously, it's been a sad month.
We can all relate to being young, headstrong and invincible....personally, in secret that's me.
In reality, we are often vulnerable, inexperienced or at the mercy of others.
A young 19 year old, step brother to my eldest children, has died in a car crash.
Young, headstrong, invincible, vulnerable and much loved, a beautiful young boy.
There were many, too many, to see him off to his afterlife...they made a long procession behind the herse to the grave side and after packed the small evangelical church. A short life celebrated and a future moarned, lost. The weeping strong and pungeant, wracked with thoughts of what iff's.
Baby P, so frought with terror. A short life.
There was also an inquest for a young person scolded in a bath.
Loss, such terrible inexplicable loss.
Blame.
This is something which often consummes us but which more often offers no solace.
To blame , extricates, places accountability in the hope that in future things will change. We are human and to ere is human....and loss is often hard to bear.
My mother is quite old, well, compared with me fairly old.....and she wants to die in her own house.
She also wants to make sure we all know, as in all my brothers and sisters .....and she also wants to be the very centre of our universes.
Wants and needs.....so hard to reconcile.
She lives 120 miles away and when i make an arrangement to visit she is always going somewhere else.
She is 98 and busy busy busy and i am glad.
No actually I'm ~issed off because my brothers and sisters say I'm a crap daughter and my mother has better things to do than see me.
Actaually she was a great mum and was there when she was needed by me and i know i have been there when she has needed me....and i will be.
Thursday, 30 October 2008
The lengths Mr. H will go to .......
The lengths mr H will go to to get me to write on this blog are quite incredible.
The bread rolls i made today were admittedly very hard, as in rock like, even I had to saw through one with the circular saw.
Mr H on the other hand would prefer to ham it up with the green godess hearth kit...Hammer and chisel!
He failed to mention i had prepared and cooked a fantastic indian supper or that the same bread dough had made super duper pizzas which he had guzzled down without the aid of hammer, tongs, chisels or even a jack hammer....infact he had not even had to find a sharp knife.
Three casseroles in the freezer, all because we want to go to France and be alone together....Be afraid, very afraid Mr H!
The bread rolls i made today were admittedly very hard, as in rock like, even I had to saw through one with the circular saw.
Mr H on the other hand would prefer to ham it up with the green godess hearth kit...Hammer and chisel!
He failed to mention i had prepared and cooked a fantastic indian supper or that the same bread dough had made super duper pizzas which he had guzzled down without the aid of hammer, tongs, chisels or even a jack hammer....infact he had not even had to find a sharp knife.
Three casseroles in the freezer, all because we want to go to France and be alone together....Be afraid, very afraid Mr H!
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
i've had enough
I've had it all. Today has been a pretty horrible day.
Definitely not moving, my mother is giving everyone the run around and there's loads of questions about where the money has gone. I can see a mega family bust up on the horizon.
I've forgotten the grandchildrens birthdays.
I want to run away!
Now I've been forced into baby sitting out of pure guilt.
I wonder if i would have all this shit if i had tithed.
I really really want to run away.......and the worst of it is i know there are lots of people out there having an even worse day.
The optimist in me says it will be a better day tomorrow.....like hell!
Definitely not moving, my mother is giving everyone the run around and there's loads of questions about where the money has gone. I can see a mega family bust up on the horizon.
I've forgotten the grandchildrens birthdays.
I want to run away!
Now I've been forced into baby sitting out of pure guilt.
I wonder if i would have all this shit if i had tithed.
I really really want to run away.......and the worst of it is i know there are lots of people out there having an even worse day.
The optimist in me says it will be a better day tomorrow.....like hell!
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