Saturday 30 August 2014

Acquaintances old & new



It’s our wedding anniversary today. Our 39th no less. If it stays dry we’re hoping to go off to the garden centre at Beetham, have a look at the various things we feel we need for our new garden, then eat out, possibly in Arnside.

We’re once more on the lookout for a good butcher. Our farming friend has decided that now so many Farmers’ Markets have closed down, it’s not economic to continue to sell direct to the public. Our source of good meat has died. We told him to let us know if he ever changes his mind. Meanwhile we’re back to trying elsewhere.

So yesterday we went to a different place. This butcher doesn’t sell meat by weight. You buy it in ready packed parcels. The weight you have to just guess. Fine if you’re looking for 2 steaks, for example – we got some fillet steak for a change – more awkward if you’re looking for a particular weight for a recipe. I don’t mind that the parcels are on the large side. I can always divide them into smaller bags before freezing or cooking, but I do want to know that the left over amount is something I can do something useful with. Maybe I will get used to it. We did try this place once before. We did enjoy the leg of lamb, even though it wasn’t quite up to the quality of the salt marsh lamb we had grown accustomed to from the Farmers’ Market. Anyhow we’re giving him another try. We’ll see.

I was out in the new garden earlier this morning, trying to keep on top of the rapidly appearing weeds. I was pleased to discover some old friends as I felt something cold land on my bare sandaled feet – at least one frog is still around. I dare say more will be there. It’s just they’re almost invisible with their greenish brown skin against the bark that’s covers the soil. They're always very welcome as they're such great pest controllers.

Friday 29 August 2014

The great car hunt



It’s an exhausting business, this car hunt.

We went for our second test drive of the week. This time it was the Peugeot. Unfortunately we weren’t able to see the model we wanted in an automatic, so we ended up testing a larger Peugeot 3008 with a 1.6l engine, then went for a drive in a Peugeot 2008 1.2l, the model we wanted, but in a manual. As a passenger I felt absolutely at home in the 2008. However, the Fox had difficulty in deciding as he was in the back seat.

The really exhausting part of the whole process is the getting in & out of all the different models trying the different seats & their heights. Some cars have seats that rise & lower for the driver but not for the passenger so that means two lots of seats for me to try. For the Fox there is also the business of picking up the wheelchair to put it in the boot to make sure there is enough room for it all with our usual clutter. Yesterday we got in and out of about 10 different cars – shattering. By the time we left I was diving for the painkillers.

As a result I was once more early to bed, before 10pm.

At the moment the Peugeot is winning. We’re still not convinced we’ve found the absolute winner. Next we thought we try the garage selling Renault, Hyundai & Dacia. If we don’t find anything more exciting there we’re thinking we’ll just settle for the Peugeot 2008.

Wednesday 27 August 2014

Changed times



It never ceases to amaze me how tastes change.

When I was young I was indifferent to foods like Shepherd’s Pie, yet I’m eagerly awaiting tonight’s pie. The Fox used to hate mashed potatoes, now it seems to have become one of his great pleasures.

The same can be said of fashions. Skirt lengths have gone from just below the knee (1950s) through the mini (1960s) & the maxi (1970s) & back again. I seem to be seeing a lot of full length daytime wear once more at the moment. With wearing knee braces, my one conclusion is that my days of mini wearing are well & truly over whatever fashion says.

I’m indulging in a bit of nostalgia at moment. I’m reading about Paris as we will be visiting there next month. It’s over 40 years since either of us visited Paris & I can’t help being struck by how things have changed, or at least my memory of things.

One of my disappointments was the Jardin des Tuilleries. When I visited in April 1969, it just seemed like a scrap area, nothing to rave about, but the pictures in the guidebook show something quite different. Admittedly, it is partly the date I visited. During the riots of 1968, trees were cut down all along the Champs Elysées, including those in the gardens,  the better to control the people, so the gardens had barely had chance to recover.

So many things didn’t even exist – the Pompidou Centre, the Glass Pyramid in the forecourt of the Louvre for example. Some remain, like the Eiffel Tower & Notre Dame.  Names have changed. For me the Arc de Triomphe will always be found in the Place Etoile, not the Place Charles de Gaulle. It even seems a more appropriate name as the various roads radiate out from the hub of the Arc.

I wonder how I will find the city this time.