Tony_S

I assume the change of order acknowledgments don’t go to her phone!

Morning all. It is raining here. We have venture out across the estuarial waters to Canvey today. Bit of an exaggeration really , it is a fairly short bridge over the creek. The clinic shares a car park with a Sainsbury but I don’t think I will be sent off to do any shopping. TONY

I wasn’t at all offended. As it turns out advice on protective headwear may be very useful. We have had port visits on cruises cancelled due to rough sea conditions. Iceland could be rough land instead.

We won’t be venturing too far. I took Aditi for her shingles vaccine today. It didn’t take long, they don’t have to interrogate you to see if you can have the more expensive version now, everyone gets it. She gets to be taken to Canvey for another medical examination tomorrow. I will drive so we don’t have to look for a parking space. She is off out in the afternoon for a hair cut. My chauffeur skills will not be required. Then I think it will be my turn (it usually is) to be designated driver when we meet some friends at a restaurant in Benfleet on Wednesday. We tried to find a pub for the meal but they all have events on this week which wouldn’t make it easy to chat. Then “at home “ until we go and see MiL at the weekend. Tony

We drove north in glorious sunshine. There was still snow about when we went but the sky was so clear. When we drove south a week later it was snowing heavily, poor visibility, windy, not at all nice. I am glad we stopped for photos on the way north.

We have had a subtly different situation with Aditi’s Mum. She has carefully kept envelopes and bags and thrown the contents away, most recently all the batteries, spare parts and instructions for her new hearing aids.

I really should try harder to do things that probably do need doing. Best excuse at the moment is waiting until the weather is warmer or drier. Considering how mild and dry this area usually is, not a really good excuse. Aditi and I want to start walking more again . One would think that as we are both retired we would have loads of time for going out, but something crops up, medical appointments, deliveries, Aditi having to sort out French group IT problems. And of course, both feeling up to going for a walk at the same time. Our Christmas planning is minimal this year. Cards have been dispatched or delivered. Presents dispatched to nephews and nieces have been sent (the one to Switzerland has probably gone via another strand of the multiverse) . We usually see most of Aditi’s UK based family at this time of year. At one time everyone came to us on the basis that as they were all Hindus or Jewish it was up to me to do Yule. Then it changed to going to Enfield on Boxing Day. This year there will be some sort of get together in Enfield on December 30th. We don’t decorate the house or put up a tree anymore. It was something Matthew and I did for years, as he got bigger I gave him the task of lugging the tree bits down the stairs as I chucked them out of the loft. Matthew was always home for Christmas except for when he had a year in Canada. We aren’t miserable about Christmas, I just don’t feel like doing the festive decorating. If someone with young children came to us for Christmas I probably would make an effort. We will have a traditional Christmas lunch. I have been assured our food delivery is booked for the day before Christmas Eve, which I think is a very brave decision made by Aditi. The turkey is arriving on the Friday , which of course is now later this week! We will visit MiL on the Saturday (post food delivery) or Christmas Eve. Tony

When I was at an infant school in Somerset the school kitchens only served the food. It arrived in big containers, that had come from Bristol I believe. Mince stew and potatoes featured a few times a week.

I assumed your experience wasn’t in the UK which is why I commented on why the UK system can cause problems because some people don’t understand how it is wired. On European systems with individual breakers if someone says it is off and it isn’t, they probably don’t like you.

Taken in November. A couple of days before the arrival of Storm Debi. Tony

Quite a few people,have discovered on UK lighting circuits that turning the light off at the wall switch doesn’t isolate the ceiling rose from the electrical supply.

For slightly more complex tasks there are videos of all kinds of “how to fix it” for many household devices on YouTube.. I watch them and then decide if I wish to proceed.

You have a lot of luggage there!

I probably was attempting to be slightly amusing about Aditi’s choice of clothing for holidays but I am always happy to learn something from following comments. When we went to:the Canary Islands, Aditi was really excited to see all the volcanic features she had taught about years before when she was a geography lecturer. Tony

While rummaging in the freezer the sausages I found are 400g packs with 6 sausages. Despite the brand name they aren’t actually produced by the Duke of Cornwall.

I must have more stuff to store, I got two 64 litre boxes from B&M on Canvey a week ago. Still haven’t put anything in them though. I can’t summon up the enthusiasm to,go out to the garage and tidy up.

I would often repair things by replacing worn brushes. Perhaps all those Triang train motors I replaced them in as a child prepared me for restoring household appliances. We did fall for the advertising claims and get a Dyson Animal but it couldn’t cope with our animal. The reduction in effectiveness after a while irritating wasn’t as bad as some of the plastic bits breaking. Lots of duct tape and resin putty was used. We replaced it when something else on it broke. I was taking it to the recycling centre when a neighbour asked if he could take it to his daughter in Wales and try and use its parts for her Dyson. Apparently the hybrid still works.

Hoover used to have a hovering vacuum cleaner called the Constellation. We had various vacuum cleaners over the years but one thing we have learned is that the indoor ones for carpets should not be used for clearing up DIY waste like sawdust or plaster. We have a Vax that looks like a Henry for that sort of thing.

After driving across Europe, I could probably cope with unloading the car and eating a light meal but nothing more strenuous.

The cunning plan that Derails have of adding a mini pack of biscuits to parcels has worked well. Aditi rather liked the ginger nuts and wondered if I had any more. I said unfortunately my batch of pre orders was now complete. Tony

I hadn’t noticed but will be monitoring our sausage purchases from now on. After a week of “full Yorkshire breakfasts” Aditi decided as a change from grilled pork products she would try the “Yorkshire vegetarian breakfast” as she was intrigued by the offer of a vegetarian sausage. It was sausage shaped but was more like a spring roll.

Hopefully the Cunard line will continue to value customers making return bookings. I also don’t think they would like to get dents in their new ship.

That sort of thing. I have just looked and it appears to be “perforated Windsor tan and ebony .

There have been a couple of lost walrus reported recently. There was one travelling around the British Isles, I think it boarded a few moored craft as well. Wally has eventually found his way home to Iceland. The other one, Freya, after appearing in Norway was killed.

I coped with yesterday’s T20 cricket from Grenada. The four hour time difference doesn’t make it end too late. Tony