Cambridge (again), an eBay sale (Yay!), a temperamental toilet and (a slight rant re) paper/computer work (not so Yay!)

 S’s ski boot has been duly stretched so we went to Cambridge to collect it.   I can’t say I was needed on this trip but there was paperwork to do at home and since paperwork is very much my Monday to Friday I wasn’t keen.

Having questioned eBay’s selling platform capabilities last week I have sold another item, no not the red coat that now has 48 views and 7 watchers and still hasn’t sold despite being at the really quite low (I am a little biased) price of £11.00.  For the year so far I am now at the grand total of £81.00 in my eBay account and three things we do not need are out of the house. 

Obviously both the pros and cons of going to Cambridge include the fact it has a John Lewis (I’m sure it used to be called Peter Sayle but we move on).  Our best ever non stick frying pan is no longer non stick and since I have/had £81 burning a hole in my pocket I have a new frying pan.  

It may, of course, just be me but sometimes I wonder about questions I am asked these days in certain situations.  Yesterday it was “Do you want a bag” to which the answer was “Yes Please, I don’t have one with me”.  “Our bags are £0.30p”.  What are they expecting?  They have been told I don’t have a bag with me, do they really expect I am going to walk through Cambridge holding a frying pan?  I’ld get some rather odd looks, at best, and arrested at worst.  A bag is necessary here.  At this particular point it may be worth noting that I did not know how much the frying pan I was.  The assistant (sorry, Partner, it is John Lewis) most likely did but the price tag for this one was missing from the shelf.  Other price tags were present so I did have a ball park figure in mind and if I was prepared to pay that, the bag price was unlikely to be an issue but still it appears this was a conversation they considered had to be engaged in.  Suffice to say I now have 0.70p left from my £81.00.  It was definitely harder to come by than to spend. 

Anyway a new non stick surface meant Sunday morning pancakes.  The sourdough starter discard American style kind (as opposed to shrove Tuesday lemon and sugar variety).  My sourdough starter is called Albus (he’s a little bit magical!).  Recipe at the end of the post.

We had lunch at The Copper Kettle and bagged a table with a great view of Kings College Chapel (as per photo) I had one of the specials - mixed kebab.  S ordered from the main lunch menu - yogurt kebab.  Menu and cafe/restaurant name perhaps not wholly aligned but a second Saturday lunch out in a row that was very pleasant.   

Despite the distractions of eBay and Cambridge I have had to bite the bullet and deal with some paperwork.  In an ideal world mine would have been all brought up to date between Christmas and New Year, however, we had the log splitter as a distraction then and I did not get everything I wanted to do done, never do!  I did assist on one passport application and two over 70 driving licence renewals none of which were in the plan but all are now back and everyone is happy so that is, at least, something.  

On Sunday I did some decluttering re our filing.  There is a bin bag full already and 

I still have some to go at.  The most pressing thing, however, was some scanning for my parents to send to insurers.  They offered to get photocopies and send them but according to their insurers the post is not reliable!   Having been pressed as to whether she could do what was being asked Mum apparently said no but she thought her daughter might be able to.  At the outset, I had believed (as had mum) that what was required was scanning and emailing.  Simple enough!  Closer examination showed otherwise.  Scanning and uploading to a portal and seemingly other data input required.  Seriously, they expect someone 80+ can do this?  Surely the post has to be more reliable?  Suffice to say Mum has been set up with genius scan on her phone (absolute life saver during the pandemic, can’t thank the colleague who recommended it to me enough, use it to date and would recommend it to anyone - the freebie option  I use is a bit basic and there are data limit issues but it does a job).  Somehow, however, I suspect my mum will not be using it.  Suffice to say I scanned and sent pdfs to me to deal with later on her behalf and then settled to a nice cup of tea and a natter.

Whilst I was drinking tea S was dealing with the toilet that had decided it didn’t always need to flush on demand.   For reasons that may be mentioned in another post the go slow flush toilet is currently winning.  We do not expect this to remain the case!

 Shortly prior to this S and I had popped round to the MiL’s.  Put her recycling out, watered some houseplants, had a chat, I gratefully accepted a gift of some rather nice fluffy sheepskin slippers she had purchased 2 sizes too large for her (she has a bit of an issue right now re feet but they still didn’t fit).  They are, however, just my size and my three year old John Lewis pair (similar ie identical design) are starting to look a bit tired.   She must be gutted, it is an ill wind and all that but……….  they are lovely and we have cold floors!  Obviously this put me in a positive frame of mind to deal with her tech issues.  This is slightly unusual as in a number of respects she is way ahead of me    ie online shopping.  I can but look on in awe!  I have always thought she had to be one of M&S’s best customers.  This weekend, however, they did not appear to be looking upon her with a kindly eye.  She was struggling.  Something had needed to be returned.  They used to send a label.  No more.  There were instructions about a QR code to download.  Download where, to where, where do they go?  She ended up photographing the QR code, printing the photo and one of her neighbours (aged somewhere in their 80s) took the printed photo to the Post Office who sorted it all out (course they did, for all the organisation beating recently, those behind the counter know exactly how to deal with bemused, dazed 80 somethings - or this 60 year old come to that!).  Where the downloads go/can be found and a brief explanation as to the possibility of getting the item collected was given though, personally, I might just have gone/may just go with the route she did (probably without the neighbour’s involvement but I’m a little more mobile).  

Days like this make me think/worry that maybe I should not be in a hurry to retire (would that I could!).  Leaving aside the financials, the day to day involves, at the very least, a drip of update on the IT front.  It is moving so fast right now, especially with AI, how could I possibly keep the most basic level of day to day know how to function in a world where every organisation expects customers to understand their systems when purchasing from their product line?

…..and so to pancakes

190g plain flour

24g sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

240g of sourdough discarded 

2 eggs

240ml milk

Approx 3 tbsp of melted unsalted butter/oil plus more to fry.

If you only have salted butter use that but you might want to reduce or omit the salt.

Mix together then put a small ladle full into a frying pan of heated melted butter/oil, turn when bubbly on top until golden on both sides.

Serve with maple syrup, honey, berries or other fruit.  Homemade strawberry jam (esp with big fruit chunks) might work here though possibly not the healthiest option.