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As I said What a Day'!  When I moved from the house, I cut down so much that I should take, but when I arrived, I just had to put things where they would go, until I found time to work over it all.  So that was today. First of all, I was lying in bed, when a courier came bringing me two skirts and a pair of trousers, which of course I had to try on before breakfast.
Then I set to, and tried to tidy up my small cupboard which holds my blouses, cardigans, and summer jackets.  Took out the jackets and put them with another cupboard where I keep jackets and coats.
Finally sat down and had breakfast.
After that changed the filter in my water jug .
Then I went to our StoreRoom and tried to get rid of immense amount of stuff that my previous owners had left - or her family had, as she had died.  They had left masses of carpet, a  large player/radio etc, huge heavy tins of paint, and under stuff that goes under carpets.  Also masses of tiles that are the left overs from the shower room and kitchen. I found that I had managed to find room to put all my Christmas Tree balls, (far too many for my small room now) and have put them aside for the charity shop
I then had to organise these into bags. so that I put shopping bags in one bin, and paper in another.  We are lucky, in that we only have to take all these things across our rather large garden to large bins, so I managed to get most of it into a shopping trolly and tottered over.
By now it was lunchtime, but after lunch I set too and washed a pullover, and scarves  and I will take the pullover to the charity shop as well.
I have bought myself one of those bags that you can put under the bed, but I will be putting it in the store room - it is full of a huge crochet bedcover and all winter clothes.
The floor of the summer things cupboard was chaotic, with shoes, old handbags, and a lot of christmas things, so I tidied it up, puttng them into plastic boxes that I found behind my bed  luckily I had kept some in case I needed them.
Tea time, and Oh dear my back. Took two Ibuprofen with a cup of tea and biscuit.

Coming down the bank from the shops this morning I met old Billy. He lives in one of the row of Old Peoples’ Bungalows just along from my house and we often chat.

 Old Billy is in his late 80s possibly even 90s and had lived in this district all his life “man-and-boy.” He used to work in the pits down the bank from me and has a bad back to prove it! He has often described the work he did back in those bad-old-days.
As you know, the seem is the tunnel from which the coal is extracted & since the whole of the local Wylam, Prudhoe & Mickly pits [quite a number of them] were in the valley very near the river there was constant seepage of water into the pits.

He says how he would spend the whole of his shift working in a 24” seem.
He’d be in his back in about 4” of water with a tool like a minture one-handed pick axe.
Billy described how he would chisel away the coal seem infront of him and above his face and kick the louse coal back behind him to his mate [his ‘Buttie] who would shovel up the coal “Like taking the klinka out of a coak oven” he says,
and loading it into a wagon that waited parked behind him in the main tunnel.

He said how he’d wear “a bit ‘o rag” round his nose & mouth so as not to breat in too much of the coal dust. They’d do some times a 9hr shift of that, then walk back up the bank 1½ miles to home at nights. What a life!

Hmmmm - seems quiet around our quarter at the moment, doesn't it?
Well the only exuse I have for currently being a non-contributer is that I have [as I may have mentioned before] been entertaining my daughter & her 7month-old twins. Its a little demanding on my time you understand!

The only reson I have managed to slip this little missave in is that I am getting ready for a choir practice & therefore officially not avalable for twin-siiting.

I am planning another short story series for the near [I hope the near] future - but please don't hold your breath!

I hope it is as glorious an evening down south as it is across my beautiful Northumberland.
xxx

I have travelled in a few directions with choirs over the years.

After last night’s success in Anwick I remember an occasion when one of my previous choirs sang in a mining village in the Rhymney Valley.

It was a wild, blustery night & the village hall where we sang was up on a particularly precarious bit of the mountain.

We were being fed & watered after the concert by the ladies of the W.I.; we had heard enthusiastic thanks, the Baptist Minister had his prayer & we were doing the social bit, drinking tea & eating cakes when there was a power cut!

 

Everything fell silent; then the Rev, a lovely little no-nonsense man with a broad South Wales accent piped-up.

“Well I d’know there’s a surprise we have! I’m sure the Good Lord has a message in this for us. I recon… Yes, I think he’s probably tellin’ us to get our coats & go ‘ome. The washin’-up ‘ll be ‘ere for us in the mornin’ …Thank you gentlemen.”

 

As we gathered our music by torch-light I heard two ladies by the door say

“Washin’-up in the mornin’ Gladys?”

“Yes, I’ll be along – I don’ s’pec the ‘Oly Spirit will do it for us in the night!”

 

 

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I do sometimes give something to them,  but I have finally dug in my heels over one we have here.
It is those selling the magazine (which I can never remember what they are called).  First of all it was a man, who hardly got anything, and so he gave up and his little wife sits in all weathers, freezing or blazing hot, and sits there.  I used to give her something, but she is there now year by year, and I have finally stopped.  She told me that her husband is at home looking after the children.
I'm sure they decided that she brings in more money than he did, (she is very small, and lovely) and one begins to think that she would not sit there if she wasn't bringing a lot of money.
I feel embarrassed now and try to get in another door at Waitrose, and when I muttered this to one of the Waitrose women she said 'don't worry, your not alone'.

All change at Broomhill. Daughter & son-in-Law decided last night to take the twins down to the South to introduce them to his parents, & visit friends down there. It meant sudden bursts of activity - washing, hunting for stuff to take, packing etc. It was unexpected & Jean obviously didn’t feel it was being organised in the best way [!] but it is their plan - & I can’t wait! On the other tack, about midday Sunday Jean’s Cousin Pam came by on her way from Sky or Ulerpool or some such & called in on us with her dog Purdy. I’m definitely getting an idea about how an hotelier feels. Guests seem to change almost by the week. I would like some peace, just for a change! Jean, Pam & I took the twins out & walked them round the village, up the bank & round through Humbles Wood. A very pleasant 4 miles [even if it did rain once!] Today the ‘children’ & the twins departed South about 11am, leaving us to catch up on washing. It is a glorious day.

i just love mayonnaise. theres something about the smoothness, creaminess, and sweet sour flavour that sends my tastes buds rocking. the first intimation years ago that i could make this stuff myself sent me into a fuzzle. i could actually make this stuff?!!! goody.

i didnt realise how easy it was to make. theres so many ways of achieving it, with different flavours such as garlic for instance, that one can easily get out of control in quantities!!! i just love it. helmans i always reach for if i buy, which i do constantly, and now they have a lighter than light mayonnaise, which doesnt seem to impair the flavour any, i get that instead. anything to show im watching my waistline, while indulging in the naughtiest of naughties.

but i do find it wonderfully therapeutic to stand and idle my afternoon away with a nice large bowl and the accoutrements of the basics of mayonnaise to hand. i get my wooden spoon out, my large glass bowl and begin one dreamy summer afternoon. i put two eggs in the bowl along with cheats ready made mustard if i havent got the real mccoy. i sprinkle some vinegar from the pickled something or other, pepper and salt, [or s and p, as i hear it called on the american programmes] and then begin a little stir at the bottom of the bowl widening outwards to catch and break the eggs as i go. there they are at the bottom of the bowl, getting slushed into a nice yellow thick paste, and then when i feel certain they are thoroughly mixed, i drizzle a little oil on top. now it depends what sort of oil i fancy for the time. im always into that nice smoky dark green olive oil, but sometimes i want a lighter flavour. my mother used to call the dark olive oil axle grease, and i can well see why, its so strong.

so, having drizzled the oil over my little yellow river, i see it thickening and glistening under my constant beating. and my heart sighs for a taste. i dont stop there though, its important to not stop, to keep going and not let it split. if it does you have to begin all over again and that is that. mind you, having started again, you can then add tiny portions of the other egg mix to it gently, and carefully. it will work if you are careful, so as not to waste the other mix, but it makes so much more mayonnaise. so, hope anyone out there who does this is a real mayonnaise fan.

i have had my disasters and have had to throw the lot away, getting red in the face and continuing long after the splitting has happened, trying not to look. but generally speaking, theres absolutely nowt like a pot of home made mayonnaise on the table. you can use it in a marie rose sauce for prawns, and many other things like sluicing it with a little single cream, for a dressing. now, blue cheese and a dressing made of mayonnaise are quite nice together. only not to use virgin olive oil with a dressing methinks, it goes better with something lighter.

i like to put a slice of chinese lettuce on a plate, with a few slices of tomato and drizzle a happy amount of blue cheese dressing over the lot and there, on a plate, is a really tasty and nice starter. summer you got be coming in soon, i cant wait to start my mayonnaise fling again!!! there are plenty of recipes online to achieve blue cheese dressing. but basically, crumble something soft like st.augur if you are feeling expansive financially, or just danish blue if you are not, into a bowl. s and p, a little mixed herbs, or you could use your favourite green herbs, fresh from the pot or garden, chopped up infinitisimally small, and last but not least mayonnaise.

add sparingly at first, mix to a cream, then add just a touch of single cream,and you are away in the land of flavourtown. land of the gods, this blue cheese dressing, clouds of pale blue streaked over a slice of chinese lettuce, what more could a gal want to start a nice summer banquet.

of course, the next dish could be say, scampi and chips, with a wedge of lemon, an old fashioned standby, then you could have mayonnaise on the second plate as well. im not daft you know!!!  i dont, despite my yearnings for this particular sin, ever have it on my pudding.

oh well, i just have a feeling it is going to be nice today, and i have some spare eggs, so, i can guess what im having for tea today. i just have that dreamy state today that means a nice glass bowl and a wooden spoon.

so, im putting a notice on the door, DO NOT DISTURB until im finished. you gotta have your little wickednesses every now and again havent you? and maybe i might just share some if you come calling afterwards? like blue dressing? ttfn.

I went across to my father’s place to continue clearing the decks ready for a sale.

I felt slightly more optimistic about it this time, & made a good deal of head-way.

I cleared the whole of his wardrobes & the shelves above, ending with a number of sacks, full of clothes & belongings to be taken away.

 

On the drive back I listened to Jean’s narrative of events before son-in-Law, daughter & the twins actually went out in the morning.

It doesn’t sound as though my dear son-in-Law is adapting to responsible fatherhood THAT quickly! He’ll have to undergo an intensive program of training - or perhaps have a brain transplant before it improves noticeably.

[I don’t think his present cranial in-fill is up to handling what we like to call Reality too well.]

I do wonder how I managed to adapt to the task in my time. I too was working, at the time, but somehow I appeared to have managed, as was expected of me.

Of course as we so often point out to people, they do have twins – but then it just means they handle one each, instead of taking it in turns.

Life is tedious – but then it would seem parenthood still has its appeal among the young!

 

Last Thursday Doncaster 50plus Older People's Parliament held there 5th Annual General meeting, I have been elected on again for another 3 years.  It was nice to see Tony Ward Mayoral Candidate sitting in on our meeting.  I must stress he was the only Candidate that attended and I did send invites out to our current Mayor and another Candidate who were to busy to attend.
Had a good chat to Tony and in his manifesto if he is elected wants to work very closely with 50plus so that will be a bonus and also work for the older people in Doncaster.  This will be a bonus because our current Mayor who is a 50plus member is not interested in our organisation never attends events when I invite him, did not even attend our Older People's Information Day or our Carol Concert.