What are you all up to
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Creative night last night, Xmas present for sister. Needs to age now, lose the shiny look.....
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Thank you ABM. It took a good few hours, House in uproar, wire everywhere. It has to be drawn out and twisted with a drill. Think sort of rope making, I started in kitchen then ended up in the hallway, only for drill to pack in, battery drained. Had to yell for help at that stage, otherwise is all coils up and tangles. The dog decided he needed to be involved as well😂
Hoping to do another tonight, a present for.......ME🤗
Ages since I have made anything, but we aren’t buying much this year, so making it is. Sis is making me some bolster cushions, and other things. Mum enjoys all the creativity, she is after all responsible for teaching us most things😁
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Ahh but the Grinch is way more pretty than Ned🤣🤣
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Anybody get stressed about Christmas Dinner? Read this from a not so far away Sheffield butcher. I’ve pinched this, but its fab!!
Some adjustments have been made to try and avoid offending any of CT’s sensitive souls.
Patterson’s Butchers SheffieldJust in case anyone is stressing about Christmas Day..!
Here's my top tips:-Christmas Dinner...
I have concluded that the inevitable stress of Christmas dinner is created by adverts, supermarkets and TV chefs...
It's a Sunday dinner for goodness sake!!!
The only difference is that you are allowed to open a bottle of wine before you open the kitchen curtains.We do it quite happily 51 weeks of the year but can we the consumers be trusted to manage by ourselves on one day of the year...apparently not!
Here goes...1. Turkey... It's a big fecking chicken that's all, 20 minutes per lb plus 20 minutes at 180 degrees - jobs a good un! Get yourselves a meat thermometer £3, locally poke it in the offending bird if it says 75 degrees or over its cooked!
2. Stuffing - regardless of what Jamie Oliver says you do NOT need 2lbs of shoulder of pork, onions breadcrumbs, pine nuts and a sh1t load of fresh herbs to make stuffing...( no fecking wonder he's bankrupt if thats what he spends to make stuffing!)
What you need is Paxo and a kettle!! If you wanna liven it up squeeze 3 sausages out of their skins and mix that in with your Paxo before cooking.
3. Gravy - Jamie Oliver is copping for this one as well....
Bisto Jamie... All you need is Bisto!
I (nor anyone else I know) has got time on Christmas Eve to fiddle about roasting chicken wings and vegetables, adding stock and flour, cooking it for another half hour, mashing it all up with a potato masher and then straining the whole sorry mess to make gravy.
4. Vegetables...Never mind faffing round shredding sprouts and frying them with bacon and chestnuts to make them more palatable... If you don't like them don't buy and cook the fecking things!! If your family only eats frozen peas then that's good enough!
5. Roast potatoes... Yes I par boil mine then roast them in goose fat but Aunt Bessie also does the same
6. Trimmings /Christmas pudding and the like.... Aldi or Lidl!
(oh and while we're on the subject of pudding- if birds custard is what your family likes on the wretched thing then that's fine - you do not need brandy butter /rum sauce etc. or anything else that costs a fecking fortune and takes 2 hours to make!)
7. Family....
Children. Feed the little blighters first separately, if they only want turkey with tomato sauce - fine leave em to it, it doesn't matter. Once they are fed send them off to play with their Christmas presents so that YOU can enjoy your dinner in Peace!
Adults... Anyone that can manage to get their sorry arse to your dinner table is also capable of helping to serve up/ sort the kids out/ clear the table /wash up /dry up etc.
And Finally.....
NO ONE.... And I mean no one APART FROM THE COOK IS ALLOWED TO GET PI$$ED AND FALL ASLEEP BEFORE THE WASHING UP IS DONE!!!
Rant overMerry Christmas!
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I beg to differ😁 He rocks a mean Lady Chatterley's Lover does our Sean, mind he tends to look a bit the worse for wear nowadays, sort of been around a bit😂
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Lovely cold day forecast so we decided to treat Mother-in-Law and took her for a walk along the Conwy estuary, parking at RSPB reserve centre and walking to the Marina at Deganwy. She was glad of the change of scenery. Even managed to keep a socially distanced puddle away from Mrs WN.
We enjoyed it but just got back to the car in time before the rain came.It's important to break the monotony up every now and then. She was beginning to get a bit testy about doing the same walks around the village area.
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Like the way you caught the rainbow. Good social distancing too.
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Well here we are in tier 3. It was inevitable really with the rise in cases because of all the Covid idiots who think they can all do just as they please because it is their 'human right'
. It won't affect us too much as we haven't been going anywhere much anyway. On a positive note it does mean that we can now meet our son, who lives just over the border in Lincs and has been in tier 3 since the beginning of the month, for a walk now. I feel so sorry for all those whose businesses and livelihoods are going to be so badly affected.I have discovered that a nice park about 15 minutes walk from us has a refreshment kiosk selling take away coffee and snacks so I have used it to meet up with friends a couple of times to exchange presents/cards and have a socially distanced coffee and chat.
Did my last Cathedral tour for a while last Saturday (they are now all cancelled for the foreseeable future of course). I had just started taking a really nice couple on their tour when the organist decided he needed to practise - really loudly
. It was quite a challenge but we managed and the couple were very good about it. Sadly I think it will be some months now before the tours can resume again.Gosh ABM what a fright. What a good job you knew what to do and were able to rectify your blood sugar right away. I am glad you are feeling better.
Lovely photos WN. It must have given your MIL a lift to get a change of scenery. I am with her about the hair appointment. The first thing I did when the last lock down was announced was to ring our hairdresser!
TDA good news that your Mum has an appointment for her Covid vaccine. Has she had it done yet and if so how did it go? Some areas seem to be far more organised than others. Sorry to hear that your elderly neighbour hasn't been able to take up the offer of an appointment brue. Surely they must realised that quite a lot of people in the eligible age group are going to have problems getting there. When OH made his appt at our local hospital last week he was asked if he needed transport.
Glad you are having a good trip nellie. I hope you haven't been affected by any change in tiers. I suppose that poor old Ferry Meadows is going to have to shut again. It has only been open for a couple of weeks since the last lock down.
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Shopping day today, Aldi first then Tesco 2 big bags from Aldi 1 bag from Tesco, guess which was the more expensive
We are looking for new dinning room chairs, the ones we have are starting to get worn in places. The table is still perfect so don't want to replace that. Its solid light oak so looks good as it ages. Found a place locally (we usually go to Dundee but can't just now) that had some nice chairs, they looked just what we needed so bought 4 and took them home only to find they are a couple of shades darker than the table
hard to tell in the shops lights. Back to the shop with them, they have lots but nothing that would be the same as the table, might have to go for material seats instead of wood and material. 
A dry today as in no rain, everywhere still very wet though nothing drying out not even the pavements. More rain forecast for tomorrow, if we have much more we will need an ark not a caravan
We are still staying in tier 3 for at least another week, suits me fine other than we can't go away but that's not even a problem just now given the weather and how bad things are all over.
Sorry to hear some of you have moved up a tier, I think its going to get worse in the new year.
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Very disappointing for you Millie. Today our area of Somerset is top of the Covid list in the SW, we are still below many areas but we can't seem to get the numbers down.
I hope those going into tier 3 will see the rise being stemmed.0 -
It's hard news for you to take, Millie and it will be for our friends who we met originally when they lived in Perranporth and who now live in Werrington. She is now very incapacitated and he spends all his time caring for her. They had made plans to go to their local restaurant for Christmas Day lunch - they booked it a year ago! But hopefully the new restrictions will have the desired effect and Peterborough will be back in Tier 2 before too long.
Thankfully, things seem to be going in the right direction in Wiltshire with our latest stats down to 67 per 100000. But I don't think anyone is being complacent.
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Have to say how sad I am feeling for all of you lot with Christmas arrangements shot to Covid 19 and back. It is hardly going to affect yours truly, 'cos he ( I ) will be taking a very careful view of the world and that will be mainly though the half drawn blinds and just making the phone do all the visiting. I can get away with it since the whole family knows that the Grinch was nothing but a poor copy of ABM !!
Please, please take care of yourselves when the Christmas Lock-together comes
P.S. Wonder what the odds are on Essential Christmas Day Maintenance
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I am not sure the tier 3 restrictions will have the desired effect. According to the leader of our City Council the spike has been caused by a huge rise in infections in our secondary schools. They asked the government for permission to close them a week ago but it was refused ☹. I also think that instead of closing the hospitality venues they should close the shops. Personally I havent been into the city centre for months but I hear that since the end of the last lockdown the shops have been heaving. So sorry to hear that your friends in Werrington have had their Christmas plans cancelled moulesy. How desperately disappointing for them. I dont feel very optimistic about the next few months. Also today is the anniverdary of the death of our little daughter 46 years ago so not a good day for us.
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So sorry to hear that your area has moved up a tier, millie, and what a day for you to receive the news, It must be very hard for you both and my thoughts go out to you. We're still in 2 and are going to another Tier 2 area, but will head home once Xmas has been and gone. There'll be very little mixing for us both and It will be outside in the fresh air only.
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Kind thoughts for you Millie, it must be very difficult.
Double standards indeed around schools. Eton closed a few days ago, without much of a murmur.☹️
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Thats interesting (?) news TDA. Presumably Eton and other fee paying schools, are not subject to government regulations? Thanks for your good wishes. Why do I think it will get easier as the years go by?
Thanks to you as well nellie. I hope you both have a good Christmas. You are in the best and safest place.
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Having connected up my new MPPT controller the other day, yesterday I finally screwed it to the bulkhead. One plus was that the existing data cable was compatible with the new meter that came with it. Saved a lot of tricky threading. Not quite the same for the battery temperature sensor which involved an element of dismantling and hole drilling. Only job left now is to fabricate a new clamping arrangement to keep the lithium battery stationary.
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Thanks for your kind thoughts everyone. Much apprecisted. Today is another day.
I am meeting up with a very good, long standing friend for a takeaway coffee, exchange of cards and a chat. Warm clothes and brollies at the ready! I havent seen her since before the last lockdown so it will be good to see her. OH needs to go to Specsavers ss he has broken his glasses - again.0 -
