 A cooling simple supper 20 June 2025 (Friday) We're up early again, in fact Richard was up about 4:30, opening windows to let the cooler air of the morning in. However, the cooler air is only cool compared to yesterday's daytime temperature and how the rest of the day will be, so it's still pretty warm. The good thing is, there’s a bit of a breeze today so that’s helping with the temperature feel at least. There's an amber warning for heat, which means that there's a threat to life, particularly for those with underlying health conditions. The reality is, human-induced climate warming is here to stay; it's not going to go away. As long as the world carries on burning fossil fuels at the rate that we are, we’ll continue missing all the revised targets that we’ve been missing since the Paris Treaty years and years ago (2015). Also, people will still keep on having more and more kids which is adding to the population, which in turn adds to the draws on the natural resources of this planet, which are all finite. Hey, ho… rant over… Richard’s trying another recipe for lunch today, and it's another salad, this time made with red quinoa - a seed rather than a grain, though still classed as a grain by many. Now quinoa is something that we both rather like, though in the past we’ve found that it tends to overcook pretty swiftly; one moment it's just under done and needs a little more time… the next second it's glooping at the base of the pan as a thick unwelcome slush. Anyway, Richard's got his way now of cooking it al dente, which gives the salad a nice crunch and texture. Of course, he's done a video of it and that will be up next Tuesday and I'll link to it here when it is. There's been work today and also work work, with various challenges on the work work front; it seems that as we get closer to Midsummer Revels on Sunday, the overwhelm for some is increasing. I have to say, I'll be glad when Sunday is over, as we then have a little respite over the next couple of months with only small Head, Heart & Health sessions going on at the Great Green Barn and gardens, and no major events or shows. Despite the overcast nature of the day, it’s again pretty hot and one of my fellow plotters is still away so I’m watering her plot. She's asked me to keep an eye on her beans and her tomatoes, and a cucumber, and a few other things, though in reality with the heat that we're having and the sun blazing down her whole plot needs a really good water, so I'm backwards and forwards with my watering can about 20 times… and then I need to water my own plot too! I have to say that with the heat, I'm not really feeling in the mood of getting on and doing work and would much rather just grab a pint at the pub and sit on the plot and enjoy the heat. However, if I don't actually get on and do things then things just don't get done, so I got on with tomatoes. We've got a bit of a busy weekend next weekend, so I decided to film this and then I'll refer back to it in next week's A Week at the Plot. Basically though, the first thing that I did was give the bed a little weed of any perennial weeds that are coming through, which in the case of this bed is always mainly bindweed, then cinquefoil. I then looked at any side shoots that were pretty large, and took them off and put them into a glass jar which had some water in it. I'll look at them more closely tomorrow, though with some beds empty and with the brassicas being mullered by pigeons at the moment I think it might be sensible to root some of the side shoots to put into a bed for a later crop of tomatoes. I then got on and took all of the remaining smaller side shoots off, using my fingers, though in doing that I noticed that a few of the plants had already split into two growing tips, and as both tips are pretty established I let them be.
I'm still pondering on how to stake the tomatoes this year. I'd love to do a frame and string them up; I think it’s the best way to stake tomatoes, though it seems quite a few of these tomatoes aren’t going to reach a great height so I pondered whether that’s just overkill. The other option is to put a bamboo cane next to each of the plants and then tie each tomato into the cane. As I was mulling this, a fellow plotter came along with a pint of Amstel from The Fox, and I looked at it lovingly. We had a chat and as we talked about our growing year and the heat of the moment, we also discussed staking of tomatoes, and I sort of made up my mind there and then that I'm going to initially put a bamboo cane in and tie them in. Also, with the heat that we have at the moment, I didn't fancy building a huge frame which would take me half a day under this glaring sun. If needs must at a later date, I’ll build the frame.
Once my fellow plotter had moved on to walk to his own plot, I got on with removing the lower leaves of the tomatoes - doing this with a knife as I find any wound heels more swiftly. Just with side shoots taking energy from the main growing stem, having too many lower leaves on a tomato means that that tomato needs to take up more water to feed that leaf. By taking the lower leaves off, and the unnecessary side shoots (if it's indeterminate, do NOT take too many off if it's a bushing variety), the plant can hopefully put all its energy into growing taller and producing fruit. With the sun beating down, I decided that staking of the tomatoes would wait for another day, though I was pleased that I’d at least got this tomato cares job started. Back at home, I found an old birthday card in the bowl on the coffee table of our middle room and wafted myself with it. Apart from also getting a big drink of Vimto, it was the only thing to do at that moment to cool myself down a little. Richard had had a nap whilst I'd been at the plot, and woke up to get ready to do his live at 6pm, which all went fine. Supper was made up of leftover salads, a quick homemade coleslaw and cottage cheese, and then it was time for some TV and bed. Weather: Hot at 30°, though more overcast and a breeze so feels JUST a little cooler than yesterday. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, yogurt, and banana Lunch: Quinoa & Cucumber Salad with Halloumi Supper: Leftover Bulgur Wheat Summer Salad & Quinoa & Cucumber Salad, homemade coleslaw, and cottage cheese with two Ryvita rye crispbreads
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 Scaffold netting acting as a shade cloth 19 June 2025 (Thursday)
Up around 6.30am, tea and then to my desk… fans are on, churning the warm air around, though at least that breath of air is a little cooling. Richard’s doing another cookery video today, this time a Bulgur Wheat Summer Salad, which we have for lunch and it’s lovely. Otherwise, it was a nondescript day - work, work work, plot watering… BUT this morning when I was down early I’d noticed our cucumbers in the greenhouse were very pale; it was too sunny in there for them or/and they’d been feeling the heat, and I needed to do something about it… That something turned out to be using some old scaffold netting as a shade cloth, doubling it up on one side where much of the blazing late morning and afternoon sun comes in through the glass, just millimetres from the vine leaves of the cucumbers. I got on with the job, just in time remembering to film it for a segment of A Week at the Plot - certainly it dropped the heat, maybe by about 1°, much as tree-lined streets benefit from the leaf canopies above. Whether the cucumbers will rejoice and rebound, I’ll have to wait and see. I did give them a really good drink and light feed, so fingers crossed. The rest of the day remained trouble-free, until around 6pm… when a close friend and nearby neighbour was feeling the heat, though not weather-wise… she needed our help. She’d been storing sundry possessions of a guy who’d been evicted from his neighbouring bedsit several months ago. He’d been rehomed some time ago, and been asked by our friend to collect his stuff from her shed where it was stored, but he hadn’t… Despite many requests, the non-collection went on and on and in the end he was given a definite timeline, which he didn’t comply with, several times… Anyway, to cut a long story short, tonight he was to finally collect his stuff, though our friend was scared so needed moral and physical support. We went over, and offered both. In the end, all was OK… the vehicle he’d organised turned up and we loaded it up, so by the time he arrived the job was done, and we were sitting in her enclosed garden. The guy just got in the van and left. Now, I applaud our friend for offering help to another in a time of their distress, though it is not something we would have done in this instance, and had suggested she should not either. We’ve been in these situations before, and there are some people who’ve had our help only for us to be let down, stressed to the hilt, and out of pocket… We try to do good by people, but also know we can’t be good samaritans to everyone, as often nowadays good intentions backfire. Sad, but true. I’m a great believer in being kind, being considerate, and being thoughtful, though I’m also a great believer in being cautious too - sometimes, a person's hour of need is of their own making, and whilst we can give emotional support to an extent, the help they really need is professional, and making better decisions when and where they can. Anyway, an hour or so later with a glass or two of wine drunk, we were back home - a cup of tea, some TV, then bed and half a chapter of my book. Weather: Hot, with bright sunshine all day. Temperatures reached a peak of 32.2C (89.9F) at Kew Gardens and Heathrow Airport - so guess similar here. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, yogurt, and banana Lunch: Bulgur Wheat Summer Salad Supper: Quorn Chick’n & Bac'n Lattice, lettuce, leftover Bulgur Wheat Summer Salad  18 June 2025 (Wednesday)
Hot from the off… and that’s despite being up rather early! After a quick cuppa, I was down to the plot to water. It’s going to be another hot one, even hotter than yesterday, around 29°, and as I wasn’t around to water yesterday, I wanted to get down there early and give all a decent water as soon as possible. After about twenty watering cans of life-giving aqua, I walked back home, hugging the trees of the streets to benefit from their shade. A few challenges this morning at my desk with work work, and I also wanted to get up to date with this blog too, which by the end of day will have had an upload for Monday and also for yesterday. I didn’t write anything yesterday, though I accept there will be days when other things take priority and I have to adjust and just let it be. Richard’s trying looking at a flatbread recipe, and we try it as a snackette for an amuse bouche for lunch… and it certainly amuses snackette wise! He also decided to use the leftover spaghetti of last night's Sun-dried Tomato Pesto supper added to a tin of minestrone soup to make the rest of lunch, and that goes down well. Off to the plot in the afternoon for another water of various things on my plot and also on a nearby plotter who’s away on a school trip until Friday. I give much of her plot a really good water, though I’ll have to do the same tomorrow too! The heat is definitely building… and the weekend looks rather hot! Back at home I get on with a little work and a lot of work work, and the heat is high… maybe this is Hot Desking! Oh, and a Morrisons delivery arrived - lots of canned beans, some rosé wine, Ryvita rye crispbreads, some vegan hotdogs in a tin, frozen items, and a few other things. We have a quick supper, then watch some more The Power of Parker, then bed and my book. Weather: Hot from the off, very sunny and reaching 29°. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, yogurt, and banana Lunch: Minestrone soup (tin) added to last night's leftover Sun-dried Tomato Pesto Pasta spaghetti, plus some water and bouillon. Supper: Egg mayonnaise, lettuce, radish, cucumber, tomato, olives and Ryvita crispbread  The Dell area of the land of the Great Green Barn 17 June 2025 (Tuesday) I had a pretty decent night's sleep, and was up before the alarm went off at 6 o'clock this morning. It was going to be a Vanessa day so I generally set an alarm for these days, otherwise we only ever set the alarm if we’ve something that we NEED to be up really early for. The day is already warm, and on the way to hot, and by the time I've had a cup of tea, a little wash, and had my bowl of cereal, it was time to get in the car and get down to Shamley Green. Richard waved me off at the front door, as he normally does. My first stop was at the local garage. We had more than a sixth of a tank but less than a third of a tank. Now, Richard never likes to get too low on fuel, and much prefers to keep the tank full… “Just in case”. In this rather bizarre world that we seem to be now living in, “Just in case” seems to be a good reason for doing things, so I filled up Fenella, and then went on my way. Now the journey to Vanessa, particularly on a weekday, can take anything from an hour and a half to two and a half hours, and I had no idea that today was going to be one of those longer journeys. Oddly, for once, it wasn't actually the M25 that took up most of my time, though there were quite a few speed restrictions along it, but thankfully everyone seemed to be driving pretty sensibly and the flow kept on moving so I wasn't really delayed on the M25. The M3 and the A3 also were both pretty OK, so neither caused any time issues either. The issues this morning were leaving my area to get to the M3, then getting off the A3 and going my usual routhew through Guildford; satnav was redirecting me as there’d been an accident, so further down the A3 I went, and found myself going down towards Farnham and then round to Godalming to actually get to Shamley Green. So yes, it turned out to be one of those two and a half hour drives, well, almost two and a half hours… And the sunwas beating down on Fenella, so it was sticky and hot... When I got to my destination, I parked up, and then went to find Vanessa. She's moved from one barn that she used to live in into another barn, and also often goes for a walk with her cat around her property first thing. Or she’s at her desk in her office, which has also moved barns recently, or might be over at the shop doing things, or speaking to the various carpenters or workmen that might be on site. Today it took me a good 10 to 12 minutes to actually find her; she was at the shop sorting out cardboard. The thing is, with our main suppliers, we have an arrangement that at delivery they take back any of our packaging from previous deliveries that they can recycle. However, any cardboard needs to be flattened, any containers need to be stacked and contained, and any plastics need to be in a box and clearly shown to be just plastics. Also, what we can't do is put the packaging of one supplier to be taken away by another supplier. This means that as we have three main suppliers, each supplier’s packaging needs to be contained within a separate pile or area . With Suma delivering today, we had to ensure that there was only Suma packaging to be collected at the point of delivery. Additionally, Vanessa had also agreed to meet Debbie of Debbie's Jams to get our latest order, and the meeting point was about 20 or 30 minutes away from where the shop is. She was also keen for me to go with her, though someone would have to wait for the Suma delivery. Fortunately, Suma turned up really pretty swiftly within the time it had specified, and we were able to take in the delivery, give back the packaging and then get on our way for the Debbie's Jams collection. The rest of the day was very much as is normal, and there was also an Afternoon Tea in the Great Green Barn which I helped Vanessa set the tables for and get ready for. She and another helper did the main serving of the afternoon teas, which allowed me time to get to her desk and to the For Earth’s Sake shop to do some additional work that I needed to do. I did take a few minutes out to have some quiet time in the Dell, which was delightfully sun-drenched with lovely cooling dapled shade too; I decided to take some footage of the Dell and environs in which I work, as several people have asked in comments on A Week at the Plot. Vanessa was going off to see Derren Brown in Woking, so with her picnic packed and Vanessa ready to go, I left around 5:15 and it took me until 7 o'clock to get home. I really had to take a round about route too as again I was being diverted by my Google navigation system; quite a bit due to congestion, roadworks, and an accident.
I got home knowing Richard had made some Sun-dried Tomato Pesto as I’d seen a post about it on Facebook. He'd also done a video of him making it, so I will link to it. He cooked some wholewheat spaghetti and was soon spooning some into my bowl with some salad, and some grated cheese; we sat down and watched some TV whilst eating our supper. I have to say, the pesto had a really fabulous umami taste to it, in fact it was quite a taste sensation and there's definitely some left that can be frozen and then defrosted at short notice to bring about a really swift and tasty meal again. We watched the last episode of the current series 6 of Canal Boat Diaries, and as when a series that I've enjoyed comes to an end there's a little bit of sadness, in some ways almost a tiny bit of bereavement that that show is over. Hopefully, it will be recommissioned and Robbie Cumming will be able to show us his future journeys as he’s done for the last six series. We started watching something else, I can't actually remember what it was, and then with Richard dosing on the sofa I decided to finish an episode of Endeavour that I was halfway through. It was then time for bed, and a few pages of Louise Penny’s How the Light Gets In before lights out. Weather: Hot, reaching about 28° Breakfast: Bran Sticks, yogurt, and banana Lunch: Veggie Breakfast from a garden centre Supper: Richard’s Sun-dried Tomato Pesto with wholewheat spaghetti, cucumber and tomato - plus some grated cheese  A beautiful cornflower 16 June 2025 (Monday)
We had a lighter blanket overnight, though I think the time of having blankets on the bed may be coming to an end for a few months. It was to be a pretty normal Monday today, with both work and work work... though first, a quick trip to Lidl! Our local Lidl closed for refurbishment a week ago, and I've managed to scrape through on fresh food items (ie, vegetables, fruit, yogurt etc) until today as I did a 'big shop' the Friday before it closed. But now, wants (rather than needs...) prevail and BOTH of us are up early and off in Fenella before 7am to the new Lidl that opened just over a week ago in Brentford.. for some reason, I'm a little excited! It's bigger, and brighter than our local one was... though all our old favourites are there, so it's just getting used to the layout, which is remarkably similar to how our local store was... maybe this is how they all are now. Anyway, we get our shop done and then it's back home... me to my desk, and Richard's going to do a shopping haul video - which is not a turn on for us, though others love them which is grand!! Anyway, back to my morning... It was mainly spent at my desk doing stuff for For Earth’s Sake and the Great Green Barn. We’ve Midsummer Revels coming up on Sunday and there's quite a bit that needs organising for that still. I'm down with Vanessa tomorrow, so there are various things that I’ll leave until then. With the weather being dry, and looking as though it's going to remain dry for quite some time I was down this afternoon watering, and also feeding all that needed to be fed. It's mainly the squash, cucumbers and tomatoes, though maybe every other week I give everything else vegetable-wise that we’ve got growing a little boost too, and I'm also beginning to give some feed to the flowers we've got - I’m sure they’ll appreciate it! And on flowers, I did spy this little cornflower, which despite its size is big and bold and one of my old favourites; never grown by me before, though hopefully will self-seed and become prolific. Of course, it had a little feed, and I’m sure with grateful thanks will throw up further blooms soon. Someone asked what feed I use. Well, I use an organic general fertiliser with added seaweed. I bought it two years or so ago as quite a big chunky 10 litres, and I'm almost all the way through it now. I also make my own nettle fertiliser and comfrey fertiliser, and I sometimes combine the two. I find that these two home-brewed ones are good for general feeding throughout the year, though comfrey feed is particularly good to encourage flowers and fruits, whilst nettle feed promotes general growth and is good for leafy greens, such as brassicas, chard, spinach etc. After a light supper, as lunch was quite big, it was time for a bit of TV, and then to bed… and a chapter or two of my book. Weather: Warm… and getting warmer. Sunny in the main. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, yogurt, and banana Lunch: Lentil soup (tinned and thinned a little), hummus, crackers, cucumber, radish and tomato Supper: Cream cheese, a rice cake, tomato, radish, cucumber and olives  15 June 2025 (Sunday)
A bit of a funny Sunday as we’d yet to record Sunday Chat, which we did late morning, though before that Richard fancied a cooked breakfast - he pulled out almost all the stops and did an absolute banger of one! The sausages were Lidl’s Vemondo Cumberland Veggie ones, and there was also grilled tomatoes, pitta, scrambled eggs and baked beans - If we’d had mushrooms, they would have been on the plate too! It was bloody delish, and set us up for the day! I finished editing A Week at the Plot, after breakfast, then we recorded Sunday Chat quite late in the morning. After having a big breakfast, there was little need for lunch other than a mid-afternoon snack, so after a little house-keeping at my desk I went to the plot to water and do a few jobs. A relatively relaxing afternoon, including for me a bath, and then Richard decided he’d make his Quick Soya Burgers for supper, and I said we had two baps we could use for them, and I made a salad. We watched an intriguing programme on how organs (the instrument kind!) are being lost throughout the UK - with them either being saved (and most going to France) or just dumped… Organ Stops: Saving the King of Instruments, it’s well worth a watch. Then we dived into Happy Families, though Richard fell asleep halfway through episode 5 so I pressed Stop, and we’ll pick up on it tomorrow. Instead, I watched half an episode of Endeavour, which I’m again working my way through… it must be about the sixth time! Undoubtedly there will be a seventh time… and an eighth… and a ninth… Weather: Cooler than yesterday by about 6°, though still warm in the sun. Breakfast: Richard’s Cooked Veggie Breakfast Lunch: Rice cake, yeast extract and peanut butter Supper: Quick Soya Burger in a Bap, lettuce and mixed salad of olives, cucumber, red onion and tomato  Thrown together Pasta Salad 14 June 2025 (Saturday) Up pretty early again, and I was soon preparing for the Work Social that we had at our allotment site this morning. I'm still managing and overseeing and planning much of the site work that goes on that needs to be carried out each year by our tenants to ensure the whole site remains well maintained. There's four or five plotters who do regular jobs as we go through the year; one prunes all the roses on communal areas, another manages much of the work of the riverbank which goes alongside the River Brent, and he also manages the wildlife area, which is actually a plot that he was allowed to turn into a wildlife area because it wasn't particularly good for growing. Over the years, the amount of wildlife that has benefited from the area is significant. There are a few other people who have mowing duties, using the communal mower that's kept locked away in our power tool shed. There's also another plotter who brings his own mower to the site as he lives very close, and mows the communal paths. So all in all, there's quite a decent small but committed team of people who manage things across the site on a regular basis. However, there are other jobs that need to be planned and managed and done. Like today, where a number of sycamore have self-seeded in the hedge line alongside the front fence area, that area needed to be weeded, or at least have all the sycamore saplings pulled out. Also, we had quite a few plants from the Gate Sale which are wild plants, and some Calendula and Hollyhocks which can happily sit in this area. I had my main list of tasks that needed to be done, and as I mention in A Week at the Plot, after many years of doing this I know the plotters who generally come to a number of Work Socials a year, and the type of work that they like doing. Some like weeding and planting things, some like more manual work, some like just tidying things around, there are a few that like to chat a lot and don't get a huge amount done, though we do call it a Work Social so I guess that's all fine too. There was some work to do in the orchard area, the front of which has had a shallow ditch running across it for several years. This year we started in-filling with spare woodchip, and we'll continue to do this until the area is the same level as the orchard. Over time, the woodchip will break down and the grass will grow through it. We also need to cut back in certain areas of the orchard, particularly brambles which could just take over, and we certainly don't want them in this area. I was down by 9:30, and walked around the site and checked through the jobs on my list. It's fair to say that at first I was a bit anxious as people hadn’t turned up by ten, or even by ten past, though very shortly after who was some clinking at the main gate and people began to arrive, and we had a pretty decent turnout and got all the jobs done on my priority list. I always have a secondary list, and it's fair to say that we got none of these jobs done, but they can wait for another day. We also have some tenants who let me know that they won't be able to be at the Work Social, though are happy to have a job tasked to them which they'll get on with in their own time in the next week or so. All in all, it was another successful Work Social and the last of this tenancy calendar year. Our tenancy year runs from October to September, and the next scheduled Work Social is on the morning of our Bonfire Social in November. There are likely to be a few tasks that need to be done in the meantime, and if any arise I'll call upon a few people to do them or help me do them; these could be like taking down a tree that has become dangerous or is overhanging an area and likely to cause an issue at some point.
After lunch, I went back to the plot for a few hours; Richard had decided that he was too tired to do Sunday Chat, so that will have to wait until tomorrow. At the plot I did the final segment of A Week at the Plot, and while wandering around I noticed that our Rocquencourt beans, which are a yellow French bean, had germinated. There were no Borlotti showing yet nor any yellow flat french beans, but still I was really pleased to see that the Rocquencourt had, as they are an absolute favourite of ours. Now I just need to hope that not too many slugs decide to munch on them before they get away! There's quite a few grasses that need to be cut back by the poly tunnel, and this I might do tomorrow, if we get Sunday Chat done earlyish in the morning. It’ll take a couple of hours, so I think I’ll get that all done, or at least mostly done. Back at home, I downloaded the content from my phone to our computer to start editing today's segment. I'll finish it off tomorrow For supper, I wanted something a little bit lighter, though bizarrely I also fancied pasta again, despite us having had spaghetti over the past couple of days. I decided to make a Pasta Salad. Pasta Salad We had some fusilli, which is a pasta that seems to overcook relatively swiftly in our opinion. I decided to use this as the base of our salad because it works quite well in this guise. I cooked it al dente, really keeping an eye to make sure it didn't overcook. Once cooked, using a slotted strainer I lifted the pasta from the boiling water and put it into a separate bowl. Into the water in which the pasta had cooked I put about 150 grams or frozen peas, and with the heat off just let them cook along for about five minutes. I ran cold water over the fusilli and then left it in a sieve to really drain as much as possible, for about 10 minutes… the last thing one wants is a lot of water on pasta when you're going to make a pasta salad! Into another bowl I put about two tablespoons of mayonnaise, a little bit of freshly cracked black pepper, and some Braggs Liquid Aminos and gave this mixture a stir. Once the pasta had drained well, I added it to the bowl and gave everything a really good stir. I then used the slotted spoon to take the peas out of the water, let them cool a bit and drain, and then added them in too. After I'd given everything a really good stir, I covered the bowl and popped it in the fridge. A few hours later, when we were ready for supper, I cut up a large ripe tomato, de-seeded an 8-inch long chunk of cucumber and cut it into quarters and then the quarters into half inch chunks, chopped up half a small red onion relatively fine, and tore up a good 10 or 12 basil leaves from our windowsill plants. I added this all to the bowl as I went, and stirred this all together. I then decided that I wanted to add some butter beans which I drained from a can, making sure again that as much liquid was drained away as possible. I'd picked some lettuce at the plot, so I washed and span it and tore it up into two serving bowls, then placed the pasta salad on top, and then topped that off with some wild rocket that I'd also picked at the plot. It was a rather lovely dish, surprisingly light yet surprisingly filling too. Our evening of TV was a real mix of old hits from Top of the Pops, a few episodes of The Power of Parker, and a few episodes of Ben Elton’s Happy Families which we found on YouTube; it's a really brilliant comedy series that we both loved when it came out sometime in the 80s. In bed at the usual time, around 10:15, and after a few chapters of Louise Penny's How the Light Gets In it was time for lights out. Weather: Morning’s sunny yet still a bit overcast. Afternoon is blazing sun with a few clouds and feeling hot, though also definitely cooler than yesterday. About 22°. Breakfast: Lidl Rye Toast, Flora ProActiv Buttery, yeast extract and peanut butter Lunch: Richard plain omelette, baked beans (tin) and toasted Lidl Rye Supper: Pasta Salad (see method above)  13 June 2025 (Friday)
Up early, and up first for a change - I wanted to get to Lidl early, the new one in Brentford which opened a week ago. Our local one, which is just a five minute walk away closed on Sunday until sometime in November; Lidl have acquired the similar-sized shop next door so it will.open up the whole space and double in size. However, once I was up I checked the fridge, and two cupboards, and the main freezer and decided that a shop can wait until after the weekend… I can get some tomatoes and pitta up the road as usual and make do until Monday, so I got on with other stuff. Early at my desk, I picked up on a few of the issues of For Earth’s Sake from yesterday, and spotted another that I needed to do some research on; I needed to find out who to go to to resolve the issue… and found the teacher and school that needed to be contacted. It was about borrowing their Maypole and Splat-the-Rat for our Midsummer Revels… in nine days time… without which there would be fewer revels! I then read a message from Vanessa… one of the longest serving members of staff in the shop is moving on, so the day she usually works is now a day that needs to be covered by another. It’s a real shame, though I hope the right move for the ex-staff member, who I’ll contact later to wish her well. The broadband was still not working in the shop, so I still couldn't see any sales data, nor make any price changes to the till or add any new stock items, of which we’ve two this week. I had by now had a reply and amends from Vanessa to the letter I drafted on Wednesday re the damage to the festoon lighting; having read it I decided to not make some of the amends and just get the letter off, via email, to the delivery company. A few hours later, a positive response… they’d send their electrician to sort it, and he’d have a look at the damage this afternoon, to decide what needed doing. Result! I hate these bitty days of struggle and stress, albeit minor struggles and stress, as in “there's no blood”, a saying my mum used in times of stress… “Is there blood? If not, there's time to sort it all out”. It feels like there's been quite a lot of stressful episodes this week, no blood, just stress. I’ll be glad once June has gone as we’ll be in a programming phase for the Great Green Barn for a few months, finalising something for September, Christmas and through to May or June next year. Vanessa and I are seeing a few shows in July, so that will feed in to our decisions. Rain and thunderstorms had been forecast, and we waited and waited, though hour by hour the storm was shifting and getting later and later in the day. So, I decided to go down, in the heat that I hadn't expected, and water virtually everything outside, and scatter chicken manure pellets too! If rain comes it will moisten the pellets to start the process of adding goodness to the soil. As I'm watering, I notice the Santolina, or Spanish Lavender is just about to open into thousands of gorgeous yellow buttons... lovely. By the time I got home, and despite wearing a hat, I was hot. It definitely felt like 27° and very humid, especially at the plot where, as I say, I had watered. I get a text from Vanessa… the festoon is up and the broadband should be working… and it was! Yay!! Richard did his Live at 6pm as planned, which was the usual fun, and then supper - pasta again for ease. Friday night’s currently Top of the Pops reruns night, and then we finished off with an episode of The Power of Parker, which we’re both getting in to… I’d seen it in schedules and idents a few times, and with series two arriving on the Beeb I thought we’d try the first episode of the first series… and now we’ve done four episodes! Weather: Sunny from the off, and warm - getting to pretty hot at 28°. The Met Office announces it’s got to 29.4° somewhere in Essex, and this is the hottest day of the year so far… no surprises there! Breakfast: Bran Sticks, yogurt, and banana Lunch: Hummus, pitta, tomatoes, carrot batons, radish, cucumber Supper: Puttanesca Sauce with wholewheat spaghetti, and a salad of olives, tomato, cucumber and basil  Lady of Shallot 12 June 2025 (Thursday) Up early and after making a flask of tea and some crackers with marmite and thin slivers of cheddar, we were off to Kew Gardens to see the roses. We had a lovely time, and had a really good look at the roses. Whilst Richard wandered taking loads of photos, I took a few photos of ones I really liked, keeping their names to add to each photo later. Lady of Shallot is an absolute fave, as it has been for ages, as is Dame Judi Dench; both were introduced by David Austin Roses in 2009, though I had thought the Lady of Shallot a much older rose… I must be thinking of another. I also did a segment for A Week at the Plot and talked briefly about how to prune roses, and why bees (and other pollinators1) like some rose types better than others. Back at home, there were a few issues ongoing with For Earth’s Sake - it just seems to be one of those weeks… We’d been forecast rain, and had felt a drop or two at Kew, though in the end none was coming so down to the plot I went to water, and I decided to do some pot tidying - which I guess was also a little plot tidying, though it does need a HUGE amount more - maybe at the weekend!
Weather: Sunny start, then dull and cloudy by 9.30am, and feeling much more humid by around 10.30am. The sun then came out early afternoon, and it was feeling a tad warm, though no thunderstorms… Breakfast: Bran Sticks, yogurt, and sultanas Lunch: Egg Mayonnaise, rice crackers cucumber, tomato and radish Supper: Wholewheat spaghetti with broad bean, pesto, garlic, basil and a little cream cheese  11 June 2025 (Wednesday)
Richard wakes especially early, and in doing so wakes me… and we’re both up straight away. You see, we both have silent anxiety today. We’re having tree work done in the garden, and despite knowing we’ve the best local tree surgeons doing it, we’re still both anxious - for numerous little reasons. I remember dad getting anxious about things, and I’d say to him “Dad, don’t worry. It’ll all be fine”, though whether it was getting to the airport on time, finding the right parking space, or wondering whether he had the right cash on him for any eventuality, he’d get anxious. Mum less so, though as the years progressed, the anxiety did too, coming in troughs and waves, and we’d look on slightly humorously with words of support and simply think to ourselves, “Chill…!” Now, decades on, I think anxiety is something I just live with, in fact that we just live with; not each day, though anything that steps even slightly across the bounds of my comfort zone brings about some level of anxiety. Tree work means Fenella needs to be moved out of the drive the day before to hold space for the big truck to park… though Richard doesn’t like Fenella on the road, especially overnight in case she is damaged…though needs must. Then a work area needs to be cleared, which I was stressing about and thought I’d do after coming back from the plot yesterday, though Richard had already done it. Then, of course, the individual minutiae of… Will the work be done well? Will the guys / gals turn up on time? Will they be nice, and considerate? How much mess will there be? Will the job be done properly? Will there be any damage to any of our neighbours’ property? What if one of them falls? The list sort of goes on… and on… Anxiety level… 6.5 out of 10 and rising… Then, I hear the truck outside… The guys turned up well in time, scoped the full job that’s on their docket (it was already quoted on and photos taken), determined what needed to be done and in what order… and they got on with it. Within two hours, the work was done, everything was fine, they’d chipped everything, cleaned up on the road, put everything (sort of…) into their truck, been thanked, said goodbye, and gone on their way to their next job… though a pair of shoes was left on the patio, and taken into safekeeping in the house until collected a few hours later - we certainly didn’t want a fox walking off with them! Now, we have a great view from the top office, we look out on the backs of sundry houses and rooftops, and interestingly a lot of curtain twitching went on when the work began In fact, it was more blinds opening and curtains being drawn wide, just to see what was going on… I guess not a surprise, as we would’ve done the same, though interesting nonetheless - two of our direct neighbours at the back I spied for the first time ever! Anxiety level… reducing to normal… miniscule! Though I still don’t think the broadband’s working at For Earth’s Sake, as I’ve nothing showing live on the till. Then I get a call from Vanessa, and my anxiety increases as she’s had an unfortunate call with the Operations Manager of the delivery company that damaged the festoon lighting on Monday - so would I write an email for her to send… I do, though it comes from me rather than Vanessa, adding some distance… fingers crossed. Oh, and indeed, the broadband is NOT working; it seems the cabling was damaged on Monday when the festoon lighting came down… Work work and work for the rest of the morning and through to mid-afternoon. Richard did his final edits to his weekly vlog to upload and put live - including footage from this morning’s tree work. In the afternoon I’m at the plot watering, and anxiety levels decline to negligible... and then home for a simple supper, then TV; tonight it’s Glow Up and The Power of Parker… Weather: Warmer, though overcast with a cooling breeze. The sun tries to break through, though the clouds persist. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, yogurt, and sultanas Lunch: Cottage Cheese, yeast extract, lettuce, tomato, cucumber and radish, and a rice cake Supper: Quorn Garlic & Herb Fillets, homemade oven chips. Lettuce, salad of red onion, tomato, cucumber, olives and radish |
Paul SavidentFollowing on from A Guernsey Gardener in London, I've decided to try and write a regular blog, and we'll see how it AND 2025 go! Archives
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