Never Quite Enough Time

Positives - I have my vegetable and herb seed order in. A friend I had coffee with today gave me the Lonely Planet ‘ Epic Road Trips of Europe’.    Ace!    That’s going to be many hours of fun planning! Negatives - I do not have my stamp collection (yeah really!!) all catalogued or my personal filing done (where does it all come from - surely most is all digitalised these days??). Though for the here and now looks like there will be more log splitting and stacking tomorrow!! Happy New Year.

  in this household at any rate.     It may be that log stacking is a blue job and therefore there is a rare kit management delegation for this particular task.     I get confused.     Still one load is split, transported and stacked at home. If we can get another 4 or 5 done then we may well have broken the back of the woodpile at the MiL’s.    I don’t fancy our chances.    One tomorrow, one Monday, both fully stacked at home is a definite possibility.    S is back at work Tuesday which will result in a significant slow down.    Am not keen on spending New Year’s Day log splitting, not least, as I am due in the office on Friday 2 January 2026 so wheels will be rolling by 6am.    We also have loose plans for friends coming round.    Still if I can get a slightly disordered pile under a tarpaulin at the MiL’s Tuesday and Wednesday then, hopefully, we can get them home and stacked over the weeke...

The big day arrived yesterday along with a lot of WhatsApp well wishes and a friend popping round.     My National Rail senior rail card is sitting in my rail card app.    Time will tell whether I save its £80 cost over the next three years or not.    I have a couple of friends who swear by their rail cards though they also both live in cities that have railway stations.    I do not and trips to London at peak times are not discounted.    Still it is the only obvious potential benefit I have found so far for this milestone and in the circumstances I regard it as something of a rite of passage.    The photo is truly awful but the balancing act on the sofa to get a selfie against the most obvious background may not have helped. We took stuff to the container and put excess cardboard in the greenhouse for later transformation into veg garden mulch.     The van was, therefore, cleared for log transportation about whi...

  It’s Christmas Eve and the neighbouring village Bah Humbug Society have hit the jackpot for festive fun with a ‘Community Speed Awareness Event’.     This seems to involve a load of people in hi vis blocking the pavement and scowling at anyone they consider is going too fast.     Not that anyone could go fast on that road this morning with parked cars all down one side, and a large number of lorries heading in each direction and pedestrians being forced into the road because the hi vis bods were blocking the pavement.       I keep reading that volunteering in retirement is something to aim for, a positive thing for both retiree and others.     I suspect, however, that whichever committee came up with that plan for Christmas Eve is not one I wish to be involved with and they really wouldn’t want me.     Perhaps something I am better suited to will come up.

Am heading home after the work Christmas lunch.    We closed the office at 12 noon and headed to a Lebanese restaurant.    Circa 4.30pm we headed to a pub.    My train from King’s Cross was booked at 8:03pm.    First class.    I have learnt from experience that this works well on such occasions.    Main line station concourses are not the best places to be just before Christmas  after a few drinks when everyone else has had a few drinks also.   The first class lounge, safety and rehydration is where it’s at.     It’s also where I am writing this from.     Lunch was excellent, a good time seems to have been and was still being had by all still standing when I left.    Unfortunately on board the train to Kings Cross the message came through that S was at A&E with his mother having been sent there by the GP surgery.    On the plus side he had taken her to A&E in Peterboroug...

Mince pies finally made.    Well batch one at any rate there are 2 rather large jars of unopened homemade mincemeat to go and quite a lot left in an opened one in the fridge.     Baking is not my forte, Bake Off would be my idea of hell and Hollywood head in hands might well be a more forthcoming feature than the famed handshake.     The mincemeat’s not bad though.     I would share the recipe but it was a River Cottage one which was followed more in spirit than anything else.     I had some Conference pears and Bramley Apples     from the garden, rather a lot of crystallised ginger, a mix of cranberries and raisins, no currants and walnuts replaced almonds.     My family lunch was held at the Boathouse at Farndon, near Newark which has proved convenient as a meeting point over the last few years when my sister, her husband and my niece to come down from the North West.    Distance wise it is definitely in o...

The house is lit up outside, we have ceiling height fully decorated trees in both the living and dining rooms alongside vases full of baubles and lights and foliage filled windowsills. All presents are wrapped, all cards written and most of both are delivered. The kitchen cupboards, fridge and freezers are full and we can certainly manage a few days without a visit to a grocery store. There is a plan for Christmas Day food - I’m cooking for us, my parents and the MiL at the MiL’s.    The AGA will need turning up or the roasties and Yorkshire pudding will be less than ideal.    That would not be for the first time, 5 people, 3 from Yorkshire and they have one from the warmer side of the Pennines cooking Yorkshires puddings.    Deserve all they get really, though the AGA will still get the blame! In short, and overlooking the jars of homemade mincemeat which seemed such a good idea at the time but remain untouched as yet, we appear to be ready for Christmas. ...