Living in the UK again

Today has been a busy day. But before that, the latest cake, another carrot cake. Very slightly over baked but otherwise good. A few friends have had a slice and liked it. I have two friends coming over Friday, I have promised them the  Norwegian rhubarb cake for when they visit, a few carrot pieces for the dog.  One of the three Elephant Garlic I planted ages ago is growing rampant, the other two slightly less so. But it’s hopefully going to produce a big bulb later this year.  After the gym, it was off to walk the two dogs, I often take out Mondays. As we had more rain and time was tight, I decided against Henley. We went to Dinton Pastures, where we park at a nearby pub the  Wheelwright Arms  where I did take my friend Neville when he was alive. We are known quite well there, we often sit outside as it’s better for us and the regulars inside. But first we do a walk around Dinton, which is a series of gravel pits, now full of water, the gravel was used for the...

An earlier start today, but the destination the same. Well sort of, this time Central London. As I waited for my train, this time a  GWR train, I realised my Bakerloo journey wasn’t going to happen, as the line  was closed. As with the Underground, there are always other possibilities. On the train, I with the help of my friends, that I was  to meet, decided to jump on the Elizabeth line from Paddington, to Tottenham Court Road, then the Northern line to Waterloo. It would give me a chance to see the new Elizabeth line stations, famed for their vast cathedral interiors. I have to say the signage from the side of Paddington I arrived at for the Elizabeth line, was non existent, but I soon found my way in. The inside of these new stations is vast.  I was soon at my destination and had a bit of time before we met up in  Brewdog Waterloo  and I spotted on the map an official graffiti site, nearby, called the graffiti tunnel. I am not super keen on graffiti, but...

Today, I went to the London Underground Depot Museum  . It’s the overflow store room, for the museum in Covent Garden. I learnt about it by watching all the Secrets of the London Underground series. The Depot itself is not open much, it’s used for all sorts of other things, that preclude it being open as a regular museum probably. I used the latest tube service, that is the Elizabeth Line to get to Ealing Broadway, and then the District line to reach Acton Town  where the Depot is, a short walk away, from the tube station. It’s like a big warehouse, and a lot of the stuff they have isn’t actually on display, but hidden in boxes or stored in special cabinets, for example maps, drawings and other stuff.  Originally the early tube tunnels were created by the cut and cover method. They would dig a huge trench, usually where a road was, brick up the sides put a top on and put back the earth and then the road. Later on the deeper tunnels were cut out of the London clay by hand....

The wall by the allotment has a grassy bank along its side. Years ago this used to be a crop of nettles and weeds. But over a couple of years myself and another guy cleared it and grassed it over. There are a few clumps of bluebells by the wall, which I think look really good. Meanwhile on the plot, I have erected my French bean canes, when it finally warms up, we will plant the plants from my neighbours greenhouse. The donated water butt is setup, it just needs filling when I am there one day. The beetroot is showing itself, no sign of the spring onions yet.  In the front garden, where we have the pond, recently  starlings have been going in and having a bath in it. Unfortunately I have not managed to get a photo or video of them doing so. They have also been feasting on the Mahonia berries which are now ripe and purple in colour ( also in the front garden) When the berries are all eaten, the Mahonia needs a trim. I met Monty the St Bernard dog who lives near here the other d...

 It’s been a wonderful day. First there was a visit to volunteer at the TRHA store, where I normally do gardening and help out with odd things, but today as we have a pallet order arriving, we had to move the contents of several pallets. On these pallets half the bags have been sold and the rest had to  moved into the compost shed, to make room for the new arrivals. As several of our volunteers were away, I ended up moving a lot of bags, probably in the order of eighty on my own, with the aid of a barrow. A guy up there, he used to grow huge onions, special seeds from Italy, but when his wife got sick, he had to care for her. Unfortunately she is now in a care home, but he has taken to growing them again. They can get up to four and a half pounds each. Last week he said he would give me some seedlings, which he brought this week. These are now in the micro allotment. I also bought bags of manure, which are now forked into the space where the courgette, squash and beans will be...

 I took my ninety year old neighbour to the micro allotment. The other side of the brick wall  that divides the plots from the churchyard is where memorial stones are where ashes of passed people are including her husband. He had a plot next to my original one. My plot is worked by someone else now. We walked past these and headed further in, to see the fruits of my labour. We chatted about other things we will  grow, including things she is bringing on in her husbands greenhouse. We worked out which orientation the French beans will be, and watering. Turns out the folks at the plot we met, have a water butt they can let us have. It must be sad for her to go up there, as her husbands plot doesn’t look like it used to. I remember clearing the far end for him years ago.  At the committee meeting of the. TRHA we were treated by hail crashing into the sky lights of the ladies extension, who was hosting the meeting. I took the remains of the marbled cake that I made the o...

First a tale from a recent dog sit. A new dog for me, a very friendly miniature schnauzer. We got on well, we did a couple of walks together before the sit. She is very friendly but doesn’t go on marathon long walks. The funny story is I unpacked my things on the kitchen table and then could not find my reading glasses. I looked everywhere, no sign of them! Anyway later on the dog came into the living room with my glasses in her mouth. She does steal things I was told, knowing she will be rewarded for their safe return! The tv remotes are out of reach, and she has claimed one of my sandals. It’s funny because she often sniffs my lower left leg, not my right. ( that’s the leg that broke) Meanwhile her owners have a lovely house, and were very generous with giving me the run of the supplies in the house. The first day it tipped down first thing, but it dried out enough to encourage the dog to come out later on. I then went to the gym and when I came back I spotted a book by Kate Atkinson...

Today I finished the first stage of digging my plot over. Thankfully the remainder was only partially covered with carpet. To maximise the space I have available, I need to finish the furthest part by the compost bins and the side bit by the fence, I am not sure how useful and easy it will be to dig that over, but it might make a suitable home for a courgette plant or two. The soil is quite good, a few  bindweed roots but not too many. I had my T shirt off as it was quite warm. You can see a couple of tree roots, that I need to cut out with my loppers. My first effort at the marble cake tasted ok, but I think I did not mix the two colours enough so it ended up being two segments of vanilla and two of chocolate! I have some more chocolate chips so I will have another go, it’s quite quick to make. Tomorrow I am going to the TRHA store to help there, and in the afternoon taking a friend and her dog, who I know well out for a walk. He is getting old and a bit reluctant to walk, so we a...

 I am sure we all remember the comedy series  The Good Life . I never aspired to their lofty sustainable lifestyle, even with my full sized allotment. But today I went back to the site of where my plot was and broke up soil that’s not been used for years. Before I left for a Greece,  this patch of ground was relieved of its bumper crop of brambles, not an easy job, and then it was covered with weed control fabric. The space is not large, but is part of my friends plot, and he doesn’t need the space. So when he offered it to me, I took up the challenge. Unfortunately there were trees nearby and these had been cut down but their roots are still in the soil. But it did not take long to realise that someone, with good intentions had laid an old carpet on the ground, and after several years, it’s now about six inches below the surface. So it’s a devil to get rid of it, with that amount of soil on top of it. After a couple of hours work, I had cleared a fair sized area, set sha...

I have bought what is called a Bundt tin. It’s for making those ring style cakes. There are loads of designs, but the cannot  be lined with bread proof paper to ease getting your cake out of the tin. I read up on how best to do this,  the best way is to make sure you cover every crevice of the tin with butter or margarine, then shake flour on top of it. This did the trick beautifully. The cake shrinks a bit in cooling, and after a bit of icing on top it was ready. It’s a nice ginger cake recipe, wonderfully moist. It will last a lot longer now…. I went to the local History Society monthly meeting where we had a talk on Windsor. Of course the castle dominates the visual appearance of the place. But after the UK broke with Rome, the pilgrims stopped coming to be relieved of their sins and all the businesses that relied on those people arriving, lost out and the town went into decline. The link to the royal family, the castle was also left unused and became a ruin. It was a reall...

On Tuesday the family met the Ukrainian liaison officer and he sorted out the problem with the pre payment meter, so they were good to go. They packed up their last belongings and left Wednesday. I cleaned the house on the Thursday, and went over rooms I had ignored that  were accumulating frightening amounts of dust. Everything is back where it was, the car back in the garage. I do miss them, and I really appreciate how my lodger helped me be able to stay safely in this house when my friend from Sifnos went back there. But having the whole family here, added a different dimension, it was more difficult. But they are in their new place, I will go and visit them.  I made a second Simnel cake, this time I baked it just right, and it was very good. I gave quite a lot to friends around here, and they all enjoyed it too. There is one last piece to go to the Cosy Nook owners for them to try. There has been lots of discussions about how many balls should be on the top, whether you co...

Good month, as they say in Greek. When I was down the horticultural store Sunday someone brought in their  Simnel cake  and as I spent over an hour tidying the garden I enjoyed two slices. The garden is looking much better now, there is still plenty to do, I want to sow sunflowers along the border by the chain link fence, as I did several years ago. Amazingly only a few got damaged by vandals. Today, I made my own cake, I haven’t tasted it yet, I want to share it out to everyone I know here.  One problem I do have with my leg, is it sometimes aches and this stops me dropping off to sleep. This doesn’t happen every night, but it did last night. So I had to have a nap today, and I felt like I needed it. I had made a Lemon Drizzle cake as well and a lentil carbonara as the wife is still on her dairy, meat free diet. There is a lot of it, unfortunately the daughter does not like vegetables, so there will be plenty to freeze.  It’s got all the regular bolognaise ingredien...