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After a long day yesterday I’ve lots to do at my desk,.. so mainly a desk day.
I got to the plot late afternoon to start putting into my head where things would be grown this year. Weather: Grey, damp and mild’ish - a typical winter’s day. Breakfast: Leftover Brown Rice, Peas, Egg and Soy Sauce Lunch: Leftover Vegetable Curry with Lidl Lentil Soup, Bread & Butter Supper: Cauliflower Cheese (Richard’s), homemade chips and peas - DELICIOUS!!!
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Not a great night’s sleep and up early as I need to get in the car… a day at Vanessa today.
Weather: Definitely milder, though not much sun - at least it’s not COLD! Breakfast: Bran Sticks, Yogurt, Banana Lunch: Tomato & Black Bean Soup and toast Supper: A Vegetable Curry with bulgur wheat - made by Richard. I heard five bongs, though dozed until I heard six before getting up. It will likely be mainly a desk day today, preparing for a visit to Vanessa this week and also getting leaflets designed and off to the printers - and an A4 poster.
Weather: Slightly milder this morning, at least not sub zero! Much sun later in the day making it feel even milder than it is. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, Yogurt, Grapes Lunch: Leftover soup from yesterday, hummus, pitta, sliced cucumber and carrot batons. Supper: Squash, Mixed Bean and Coconut Curry with brown rice - Richard did not like… A quiet day. Last section of AWATP recorded, during which the connector between my phone and tripod sheared away… and will need replacing. The afternoon I read, finishing The Malice of Waves by Mark Douglas-Home; I will read his others.
Weather: Another cold start to the day with Alexa saying it's -4°, though the main thing is that there's really, really thick fog. It quickly dissipates, and there’s a golden light trying to break through and burn it away more quickly, though the clouds are strong and the grey blanket descends once again. Breakfast: Porridge with sliced banana and some Bran Sticks Lunch: Lidl Lentil Soup, red lentils, miso, yesterday’s leftover Spiced Squash & Lentil Soup and chopped up Sweet Potato, plus cheese and coleslaw sandwiches. Supper: Broad Bean Omelette, baked potato (last of Jeremy’s) and leftover coleslaw bulked out. I was pleased that despite her really cold start to the day, the sun was out Richard suggested going for a walk… the first we've had in quite a few weeks. In reality, I think Richard just realised that the frost that was lying frozen across much of everything would make fabulous photos in the glorious sunshine.
We went down the Grand Union Canal towards Brentford, stopping up the metal bridge that goes over two thirds of the way down, then walked back. Richard was taking photos all the way, though I mainly kept my phone in my pocket until I saw reflections underneath the M4 which I thought would work really well for the end of A Week at the Plot. I also took a still photo rather than just video, though that will have to wait for another day, unless you're a member of Planet Vegetaria in which case you may have seen it there. The rest of the day was uneventful, working in various guides, and relaxing in even more. Weather: Coldest start to the day of this winter so far -5°. Very heavy frost and the blades of our palm trees, the Cordyline Australis, look decidedly fabulous! Despite the cold, the sun is out all day, and utterly glorious. Breakfast: Porridge with some Bran Sticks (Bananas still too underripe) Lunch: Spiced Squash & Lentil Soup (freezer), Lidl wraps with Crushed Chickpea Salad Supper: Linda McCartney Mozzarella Burger, Lidl German Rye slice and homemade Red Cabbage Coleslaw  10 January 2025
I thought we’d get out for a walk, despite the bitter cold, though Richard’s not in the mood… and has other things to do. It turns out “other things to do” includes taking photos of the sunrise and lightening sky by flinging open windows of our office at the top of the house whilst I’m working at my desk - and the room gets cold rather swiftly! I get on with work work during the morning, and after lunch, and catching up on Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, it’s time to get to the allotments… and on getting to the plot I see even our cardoons are looking rather cold and stiff. We’ve a Work Social tomorrow morning and I need to get the flasks for boiling water so that we have lots to make warming drinks, as the morning will be cold. One of the tasks is tidying the communal sheds, though to be fair there relatively OK for this time of year. I also have a walk to the areas of the site that we’ll be working, checking the areas to make sure the work can be done and is also safe to do… and it’s on doing this that I really feel and hear the crunch beneath my boots. On walking the circular path, it’s clear the ground's frozen and, despite it being mid-afternoon ice is still standing in areas where we need to work on trees and shrubs. I decide it’s best to postpone for a week, when the weather is due to be much milder. You see, the tree work we need to do and the pruning of shrubs and roses is not best done in such frosty weather, and with it being forecast to be around -4° first thing, tomorrow’s weather isn't ideal! Also, another of the tasks is the liquid treatment of our communal wooden furniture, and the application instructions say it won’t take below 10° so this is another job that can’t be done. On lifting the tin and swirling it I can feel the treatment’s more of an icy slush than an appliable liquid… so postponed the Work Social is. Weather: It’s feeling colder, and is. Frost remained much of the morning, and on our brick path at the front all day; Fenella (our car) shields the path from the sun. Crisp still at 3.30pm at the plot… with water butts solid for several inches. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, Yogurt, Mixed Fruit & Nuts (new bananas are too green!) Lunch: Minestrone Soup (tinned) mixed with last night's leftover pasta. Supper: Lidl Veggie Sausages (discounted), Lidl German Rye slice, Baked Beans and Chips (frozen) - time to start emptying the freezers for cleaning. Another desk morning… and then to the plot mid-afternoon.
The sun was still out, and I started on weeding the bed by the greenhouse and giving it a light forking over… but some areas of it were still frozen and I gave up having got three quarters of the bed done… the rest will have to wait for another day. A bonus for me today… Richard said he’ll do supper!! Yay!!!! Weather: Cold. Despite early sunshine the heavy frost stayed for quite a while. It really began feeling colder late in the afternoon and was -1° by bedtime, and likely to get colder overnight… Breakfast: Bran Sticks, Yogurt, Banana Lunch: Mushroom Soup with the leftover Egg Fried Rice from last night, plus a half teaspoon of bouillon. Supper: Baked pasta using a Loyd Grossman sauce and leftover falafel and sauce from a few days ago. Richard constructed it and topped it with a little cheese sauce - delicious, though could have been a little hotter. All crockery needs to be warmed up at the moment or the food goes cold quickly. Desk morning and early afternoon, sorting our mailings for For Earth’s Sake, and for my own sake too! A lovely cuppa with a neighbour and her twin sister before the sister flies off to her distant home tomorrow.
Richard’s finished his work work for the week, so other work will commence. Weather: Cold. Heavy frost to start the day that vanished within a few hours. Just above 0°during the day, and will definitely be below 0° this evening. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, Yogurt, Banana Lunch: Vegetable Soup (tinned) bulked out with softened red lentils and a blush of Marigold bouillon. Quorn Chicken Slices in Sandwiches, with cucumber. Supper: Egg Fried Rice, using yesterday leftover brown rice  7 January 2025
A frosty start to the morning, albeit slightly milder than I’d expected having seen the sub 0° forecast, yet certainly a more frustrating start too… as the plug sockets in our bedroom had stopped working. In all honesty, we’ve needed an electrician for a number of jobs about the house for some years. One significant job that needs doing is our cooker hood needs changing, as it’s not worked properly in years! The thing is this type of work being needed and done brings about much anxiety for us both. You see, sorting things like this are so far out of our comfort zone, and we don’t have our own little black book with the names of all the trusty tradesmen a house of this age needs. And, of all the professionals around, who can you trust? However, I guess now is the time to get the ball rolling on these jobs, as the sockets absolutely need to be sorted. Two options, one electrician who’s worked for a neighbour and one suggestion from our road’s WhatsApp group - and I’ve gone for the latter as the person recommended lives in our road. A quick call to him got his voicemail, and then a return call within minutes, which obviously bode well. He said he was working locally all day, though would pop over after his day’s work was done, at about 5pm, and have a look - if it was something simple he’d sort it, or if it needed more work we could discuss options. With this call, my anxiety was receding… for the time-being at least! The day wore on… hours of desk work first thing, a conference calI, lunch, a WhatsApp video call, a visit to the allotment, and the making of a pot of tea. It’s now mid evening, and coincidentally we have no electricity whatsoever, and I’m totally anxiety free! Our new-found friendly near neighbour electrician arrived as promised around 5.20pm, texting thirty minutes beforehand (again, as promised) to give us a better idea of when he’d arrive. Now, despite me not knowing him, I do now know where he lives, and over the years he and I have nodded at each other in passing, the way many neighbours who know their distant neighbours do… or is it just men who do this? This afternoon, after almost two decades of nodding, we finally met as he came through our front door to save the day, like a knight in shining armour, bedroom socket-wise at least! After testing and unscrewing faceplates, our issue was found to be a wire that had worked itself loose over the years. It turned out to be a relatively simple task to resolve, for a professional electrician that is! Whilst this sparky knight got our sockets working, we chatted, laughed, listened and learnt. It turned out neighbour’s rates were the currency of the day, and many thanks were also given. He’ll be back to do a few more jobs at some point, and all with far less anxiety for us than we initially had today. BUT, that wasn’t the end of the power shenanigans for the day, as not an hour later we had a power outage; a sheer coincidence and nothing to do with how our day had been saved. Fortunately, I had cooked rice in the Instant Pot and heated through defrosted falafel from the freezer by poaching them in a homemade tomato sauce. I also had a small saucepan of carrots, sliced and cooked through. At 18:35, all the lights went out, and all the sockets too… and the street light outside our house. However, looking out I noticed some neighbours had lights on still, and some street lights shone still too… but, a power outage it was. On checking the Scottish & Southern Electricity Network Power Track Map, I saw it was very localised, and for inexplicable reasons only affecting one in three homes… the downside was we were one of those one in three and it could take up to six hours to fix! So, as I write this, we’re two and a half hours into the power outage, and we’re cosy, have eaten a nutritious warm supper, are surrounded by candles and have fleeces and blankets draped over us. Despite the challenges of the day, I’m thankful for our situation, knowing many, many others have it far, far, far worse. Weather: Sunny… though the cold is really developing. It will definitely be sub 0° tonight. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, Yogurt, Banana Lunch: Minestrone Soup (tinned) and leftover leftovers of Sunday. Quorn Chicken Slices in Sandwiches, with cucumber and radish. Supper: Falafel (homemade, though from the freezer), reheated in a tomato sauce, served with boiled till soft carrots on brown rice. Epiphany… which I think is the day the Magi arrived to offer up their gifts to a newborn… well, in some organised religions anyway.
More importantly, it’s the day after Twelfth Night, and there should be no Christmas decorations up still in any house… as we walk back from having supper down the road with a friend and her sisters, we note some are in for bad luck this year! Weather: No snow, though glorious sunshine late morning to sunset instead. Mild, though getting much colder by the end of day. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, Yogurt, Banana Lunch: Spiced Squash & Lentil Soup (freezer), Pitta, Microwave Mixed Veg (Frozen) Omelette, Cucumber & Radish Supper: Veggie Bolognese & Tricolore Pasta at friend, salad and grated cheese. Pastel de Nata - no bean so not King for the Day |
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