make do and mend for tougher times

Mrs_Chip

Hi Ginny! Yes we are doing ok. We work three nights a week at our local camp site. Not sure that we are making much, but just enough I think. It is hard work, three nights plus the prep in the daytime is knackering - don't know that we would do if we had to work more nights! We have hopefully also got a booking for a corporate in September on Tenby beach, serving 100 people - that should be fun!

We had clean the fish fryer out today so we could swap it with the chip fryer - fish fryer keeps going off at high temp (safety cut out) in the middle of service and then wont re-light which makes for a very interesting evening when you are busy! Luckily chips cook at a lower temp so swapping should solve the prob - unless the other one does it too :mad:. We will see as we are working again tonight.

Apart for the temperature, it is like November here - someone has lit their fire and the smoke is hanging over the harbour - can't believe next weekend is August Bank holiday!

Malfiore

Housewife 49 is also on youtube - in parts though, so you would have to watch 10 mins at a time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXuHy9czVHY&feature=relmfu

I think I'm going to do another load and risk it on the line and then hang it up indoors; it should dry more quickly then and not stink!!

Not sure what to do about the last load though :think:

Mrs_Chip

Shelly - Does this help?

fuddle

Thanks for all the Nella info. I have reserved Nella Last's War from my library. I can't find the TV progs and was tempted to go to youtube but I think I'll read the books first.

My scones were really good. I was thrilled with them. Unfortunately the cakes are not at all nice but hey, you win some and you loose some.

Going to sit and read 'the chicks with sticks' knitting book with a cuppa then start to pack.

mcculloch29

Popperwell wrote: »

Do you think our's is small so the B.A. is better? I tried the Spennymoor one(and the ASDA there)but my auntie happened to go into the B.A. branches of both these stores with me in tow and they seemed better, more choice! Still seem to be suggesting November for the opening though:(

Then again when money is tight, though the addition of Aldi's will be welcome, my shop will be reduced and I'll have to go careful...:)

They may surprise us and open early...

They may, but the staff still have to be trained, which is happening at the B.A. store. Oh, my daughter is in for a fun time.... I hope Aldi have chosen well!

The B.A. store is bigger, for sure, but ours would appear to be the same size as the Peterlee store. That one is right next to the bus station at Peterlee incidentally, there is a flight of steps, but you can walk round and down ramps to avoid this.
I used to use it quite a lot when I taught in Peterlee/Seaham. If you can face an hour's bus ride from N.A. to Peterlee on the 21 (bus stop is behind Wilko's, up from the taxi rank, and on Central Ave outside T*sco's) it may be worth your while.
There is a bus that goes past the Aldi in B.A. but you would need to get off the 5A at Cabin Gate I think. Bit of a rigmarole. I've never bothered, but friends of mine have done it in the past. It isn't particularly pedestrian friendly around there.
Before my son started ferrying me around, I used to also use the Lidl at the Arnison Centre, but again, that one has a set of steps between the store and the bus stop. It's a long walk round. Also, you had to be there mid morning at the latest to get halfway decent fresh fruit & veg, they sold out so quickly.

fuddle

Is that near p'lee job centre Mccollach? Always been scared to get the bus there because I don't know where to get off at. I didn't know there was an Aldi actually I thought yours would be the nearest to me.

mcculloch29

It's not too far from the job centre in Peterlee at all, if I remember correctly, that was just behind the town centre.
I used to work in Lee House - top floor - that's the clock - tower building in P'lee town centre. We could see the job centre from one of our windows.
You get off the bus in the bus station at Peterlee, it's not like NA or Darlo, it actually has a bus station! The precinct in P'lee is great - Home Bargains, B&M Bargains, Select and a good cheap fruit shop, plus a Poundworld & Wilkos too. About the only thing it hasn't got is a Savers; that shut down.

prepareathome

ginnyknit wrote: »

One worrying thing, the Housing assoc are coming on Thirsday to discuss fencing the gardens :j:j:j no more bl**dy hedges to drive me mad. OH obviously can't trim them(neighbour insists on his side being really high as he owns the house) I get the shakes for some reason and Ds is always at work. the worrying bit is wether they will actually agree to putting a drive on the front garden so if and when OH needs the wheelchair to get in and out I won't have to negotiate a grass verge, pavement and gate He did e mail them and state our case and got a favourable reply, after having rent off us for 25 years I think they have had enough of our money to warrant it.

Oh well off to put my feet up and watch rubbish on tv. Its pickling down here but humid, am expecting thunder any min. x

Not caught up yet.

HA have a duty to ensure their tenants can safely get about in front and back as I was actually told by mine about 2 years ago when I asked if they could do anything with my back garden. There is a very small patio then steps up to a very short(30ft approx) but very steep (when you stand on patio back of garden is above your head) area what was basically mud as over the years everything that had grown had just gone south and I couldn't get up there any more, not even to my green house which is on a slight flattish area near the top on the right.

Surveyor who came out explained about helping disabled and then said nothing would make him walk up there and he had thick boots on as it was so bad - it was raining that day so was even worse and he agree a path and some work was needed and with in a month I had a path that goes up to greenhouse with a flagged area beside it for table and chairs.

Greenhouse he was amazed hadn't moved until I showed him what I had done. Its only a plastic one and everyone said they blow away but I then and now cannot afford a glass one so I got pallets to make a floor then putting full sides upwards as the floor underneath I filled it with big concrete pieces and then lots of small stones, basically filled underneath with it. Its over the years flattened the ground there even more, when I first put it down it was still on a bit of a slope. I had to replace greenhouse this year after 6 years it was falling down but just attached the new one to the pallets as did old one with rope.

Having that path with fencing along the side means no matter what weather is doing I can now get up to greenhouse any time. The soil is all held in place at bottom by flagstones on edge which I check carefully as if they went my back garden would come down in a heartbeat and smother the house.

I have planted my fruit bushes below the greenhouse so they hopefully should hold that soil in place now oh and they flattened a small area on the left for me to I could put in a rotary washing line as when CH was put in they took off the big vent that stuck out of wall(shaped like two flower pots joined together by tops)where my washing line used to tie up and left me no where to tie one.

He also told me if I wanted a driveway put in front garden that could be done - at moment car is packed on wide pavement across the road. I left that for the moment but they are supposed to be coming out and doing all the fencing, paths, drives etc as part of improvement programme next year so hoping to get a drive put in then as nowadays it can take me 10 mins or more to get across road to car, hubby for some reason will not nip across and then bring car to gate, he says road to busy for that, but we have to when its filled with shopping and so he sits and fumes in the car until road is clear enough for me to cross - in other words totally empty as I walk so slowly and sometimes leg gives and even with crutch I still fall down sometimes, so I want no cars bearing down on me. So I don't argue with him he just has to wait and fume but his choice:rotfl:


Fuddle I have ordered one of those tee-shirt sets, love the idea of tee-shirt with 'What Would Nella Do? on it.

Pimms all this talk of Pimms has brought back long ago memories of me about 3 as I think I was still only child cannot remember brother in them, at my grandmas for afternoon summer get-to-gether of family and friends and I can see the bottles of Pimms in grandmas kitchen and the jugs of it on tables on the lawn with my parents and everyone else drinking out of tall glasses with fresh mint I had helped pick from the herb bed. Me the only girl as I was first girl to be born into dads family in about 5 generations and the boys showing me worms and pulling my curls. I had totally forgotten that till now. My dad still had all his hair then not gone bald on top. I remember mum and dad always had a bottle of pimms in the drinks cabinet. Not had it for years and years........

Right back to catching up

Hugs and Lovexxx

Pooky

It's alternating between thick sea mist, spitting big heavy splodges of rain for about twenty seconds and stickyly humid here....strange.

Dug the brewing buckets out of the garage earlier and have pressure washed them, will get them sterilised in the morning. Going to make a batch of rice and raisin and a batch of apricot (dried apricots were on offer on AF last time I ordered). Normally when DH does rice and raisin he blitzes the rice up but of course that releases a lot of starch as it ferments and we need to add amylaise to clear it down, if we don't blitz the rice first, does it still have the starch issue??

Need to pop to Wi1k0s for some air locks tomorrow, can't find ours anywhere. What's the betting they'll turn up as soon as I get home?

GreyQueen

bluebag wrote: »

Don't know if you've used a hexi stove before, but they are good for boiling a cup or two of water. Good enough for a cup of tea or soup. Cooking on it is a bit more difficult as it can take a while and the flame is not controllable. A thin pan works best and a windsheild concentrates the flame better and improves heating time.

The hexi tablets makes the bottom of your pans black with soot, although rubbing a little neat washing up liquid on the base of the pan helps it wash off easily.
Now't in life is simple is it ?

Thanks for that, hun. It's part of SHTF preps so I shall learn how to use it then keep it ready for emergencies. I always love it when people who've walked the walk share their experiences, it's such a help.

mardatha wrote: »

GQ - I smirk. I have 35 boxes of teabags . ;)

There's always someone showing off, eh? I managed to home all the boxes in the cupboard, which surprised me no end. They're BB at Dec 2013 and Jan 2014 so have stored them in rotation and will aim to keep stocked up. Tea is about all that keeps me civilised, most days.

Evie74 wrote: »

:jI want one!!:j

Evie xx

I want one too and I can't even remember why I grabbed this on my multiquote button...oh dearie me, the heat is a trifling 30 degrees and I think the humidity is about 100% here.

We had a brief rainstorm about an hour ago and the pavements are already dry. Totally agree about the humidity being debilitating; I can handle the dry heat in Greece so much better. Well, beer helps. Did you know I can speak Greek? Ena Mythos, parakalo.I can also say I'm knackered in Greek but can't remember how to spell it.:rotfl:Gives you an idea about what my holidays used to be like, eh? Those big bottles of Mythos beer go down very nicely indeed.

Today I laid in bed to the heinous hour of 9 am, went to the recycling bank and pottered in the c.s. (one book in) and rearranged one of my kitchen cupboards. I have moved 5 tubes of tommie puree from the underbed larder cache into the ready-cupboard and have discussed with my ever-loving and long-suffering mother about her making me another underbed trolley.

She's the carpenter in our family with her very own workshop shed and a lot of scary buzzy saws, drills and lathes.

Well, gotta keep those tins a-rolling, rolling. Good job I have a valance on my bed or all kinds of weirdness would be on view. Not to mention the tinned tomatoes, which I feel a bit guilty about since Kidkat is down to her last one.

Well, it's few miles to Aldi and I can't face biking over there for a Pimm-a-like but will arrange to get one from somewhere else. At the moment I have Adam's Ale or tea, and that will have to suffice.

Hope the sunshine finds the Welsh contigent soon, and that a breeze finds the rest of us. I slept without bedcovers last night and the mozzies had a field day with my feet; looks like I've come down with a highly-selective plague.............:rotfl:

ETA, I remembered; Nella t shirts! We could also do with one I saw about 30 years ago; The Cost of Living is Killing Me!