EH - Essex > Hebrides...the next step of the adventure?

savingholmes

Sorry I forgot about your breadmaker. It sounds like it is right on target. Ouch at it just being left on the doorstep though

EssexHebridean

*Waves at SH & Cheery*  REALLY looking forward to trying out the new breadmaker on some different types of bread now - but must also be mindful about the fact that we're trying to eat our way through the freezers, NOT fill them up with bread! MrEH will be making dough for rolls on Thursday morning so we'll see how that gets on. I'd be extremely surprised if there wasn't a loaf made over the weekend, too!  Sadly we're very used to things being just dumped outside by Hermeez SH - it's far from the first time. It's that or with smaller items they just don't bother even trying and take them straight to a local collection point - so irritating! 

NSD's now 1/18 - yesterday was successful. Things I must factor in though include that I need to book accommodation for a trip to Edinburgh for a pal's birthday (another one!) in January, and I don't want to leave that until too late and risk prices increasing. As I think it will need a deposit on booking, but not the full amount, I can probably do that in the next few days. Also needing booking is a couple of nights in Manchester in February but I need to check the dates on that one - that will probably need trains booked as well and needs to be given some thought both in practicality AND MrEH's holiday terms - and whether either of us feel happy about boking to travel on what will probably be quite crowded trains- not certain about that bit at the moment. 

Prolific now just over £6 paid, OnePoll now at 2215 points.

Our heating is ON - albeit only in a small way to start with. Walked in the door last night to a 17.5C temperature so the hallway storage heater is now on - in fact it got used on its "boost" setting for an hour last night to take the chill off too - and the oil filled rad was on in the front room yesterday evening. It was also on overnight as it turned out as MrEH completely forgot about it - hey-ho, at least it was warmer in there this morning and it confirmed that it is really pretty economical to run overnight too, so that's useful intel for the future. Cost reading this morning was at £1.11 for overnight use - that included the water heater almost from a cold tank too so not bad at all. 

We had our first light frost of the winter locally this morning too - MrEH will be rescuing any remaining courgettes today.

Jobs to note for the weekend:
- Remaining  "front" balcony deck tiles need to be lifted to dry, then popped away in the garage.
- Courgette plants can be removed before they get fully frosted and go slimy!
- ditto beans probably - in which case the obelisk they grow up can also be removed to the garage for the winter
- Re-plant the bird feeder pole which is gracefully leaning over more and more....and more... 
- front room needs a tidy as there is an accumulation of odds and ends around the storage heater at the moment that just need sending back to their homes. 

I'll probably need to put a load of washing in this evening - that will most likely be MrEH's rugby training kit and my fitness stuff. DW will also need to go through if MrEH didn't set it overnight. Tea tonight will be from the meal plan and I will go to the gym after work - usual Tuesday routine basically! 

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, frost, already? Eek! Not noticed one here yet, I think we've been too beset with heavy mists 🙄

Pah to having to put the heating on. Ours is currently on. Although with the thermostat set to 15 degrees so it's not doing much 😂 got a poorly chicken in the living room though, so keeping the chill off her and the electrician 🙄

Get what you mean with the breadmaker. Tempting to just make tasty bread every single day, but that doesn't always fit with one's health goals 😂

savingholmes

Well done on the gym - that's tomorrow for me. I did take the dog out for an hour today to the local park. It was stunning.

EssexHebridean

I saw your photo on your diary SH - it looked glorious! 

Proper full on frost this morning AND had to scrape the windscreen - boo to that! Did remember my full finger gloves though so my hands were rather more comfortable than yesterday on the bike. My brain wasn't though - encountered more utter kn0bw1t drivers this morning just in a couple of miles than I have on ALL my other cycle commutes I think! Idiots, the lot of them! 

Right - where are we at then:
- Prolific now at £7.61 paid / £4.67 pending - will check for anything doable at lunchtime
- OnePoll now at 2305 points so that's heading the right way.
- NSD's 2/18 - and aiming for another one today! 

Storage heater turned up a degree this morning but the times also adjusted a little to take account of MrEH now being in London tomorrow as well as today. He's also got to go to Brighton tomorrow to see a client but that will be on expenses and claimed back. The decision on the heater was as much as anything because at the moment it's almost just stopping things getting colder but NOT warming things up any - so we'll tweak it up over a few days, get the temperature to the right level, and then it will probably go back down again. The oil filled rad will come into play in the front room this evening I suspect, although having the oven on later to bake tatties will help too. I've been putting the microwave heat bags into the bed the last couple of nights too - toasty feet! 

Gym last night was good - I've decided that I can make things easier on my midweek visit by repeating the pattern I followed on a Friday/saturday - so I'll mix things up at weekends, but just copy that on a Tuesday. Saves time on noting each thing as I've done it, and means I can pack more into a shorter space of time available too. Longer term my intention is to be able to switch to two weekday visits closer to the office, then either a Friday or Saturday visit at my "home" gym. 

I had a little nose at the electricity monitor before we left this morning - overnight use 87p but that included the heater, the dehumidifier, a load through the washing machine and the immersion heater too so that's pretty decent. won't need the WM tonight (I've finally caught up - hurrah for me!) and will probably leave the dehumidifer off as well - I need to remember to run that during the day in the bedroom for a few hours on Friday though - at some stage I want to give it a full 24 hour run somewhere as well as that's when it's most effective. 

Veg box contents this week will be: Potatoes, Onions, Aubergine, Peppers, Tomatoes, Lettuce*, Kale, Cauliflower, Fennel. The lettuce is a bit of a PITA to be honest - I might try opting out (think I'm in time) and see what we get instead. I'll guess at Spinach, Sprouts or beetroot - but we'll see, there's a few others things that could sneak in! I'm going to chance that the tatties might be slightly more sensibly sized than last time's HUGE ones too.  I have a couple of peppers in the fridge still that need using too - might actually roast those while the tatties are in tonight - possibly along with some more of that squash, those can then be frozen for future use. Also need to remember to get ratatouille and black pudding slices out of the freezer for tomorrow. 

Sorry - rambling, thinking-out-loud kinda post again! It does keep me on track though! 

Cheery_Daff

Good planning and electricity use! Can't believe you're colder down there than we are 😮 Brrrrr. Pah to incompetent drivers as well. Always frightening on a bike I find. Glad it's not putting you off!

EssexHebridean

We seem to have been colder than most of the country last night from what others are saying Cheery! Ludicrous - I expect those of you holding the "out in the sticks" flag to get frost at least a week before it arrives with us!  Do you want your weather back?! 

Actually feeling a bit anxious about cycling back to the car in the dark tonight now - which is annoying and entirely down to the idiots from this morning really. Will have a think about the best route to use to keep away from as much traffic as possible! Realistically this morning was just one of those flukes I think - several with an "I'm not letting a cyclist past" attitude, a few others just not thinking before they acted but that's reasonably standard. It was just the first time I'd come across drivers being deliberately obstructive. 

Had a Prolific survey from last night approved, and there is a bonus to come on that one too I believe. £9.76 paid...quite tempted to bend my own rules and cash out when it gets to over £10....! 

fannyadams

EssexHebridean said:

We seem to have been colder than most of the country last night from what others are saying Cheery! Ludicrous - I expect those of you holding the "out in the sticks" flag to get frost at least a week before it arrives with us!  Do you want your weather back?! 

Actually feeling a bit anxious about cycling back to the car in the dark tonight now - which is annoying and entirely down to the idiots from this morning really. Will have a think about the best route to use to keep away from as much traffic as possible! Realistically this morning was just one of those flukes I think - several with an "I'm not letting a cyclist past" attitude, a few others just not thinking before they acted but that's reasonably standard. It was just the first time I'd come across drivers being deliberately obstructive. 

That type of driver are the reason why I run cameras whenever I am on two wheels (in the 40+ years I've been riding I've only recently (last couple of years) been using cameras when I ride. Although, I've had one in the car for about 5 years.
My local police force as as useful as a chocolate fireguard with regards to operation snap (submitting footage of close passes on vulnerable road users) but (morbidly) at least my loved ones and the coroner would know what really happened!
You can also get something called a 'pass pixi' to let drivers know you are running cameras and that they are going to be held to account!
It's so frustrating that you have to divert your usual route to avoid idiot car drivers. I would recommend Komoot as an alternative route finder, there's often better/nicer/less traffic-y routes you can find on there. Or see if there's a National Cycle Route you can use as they're often a quietway or might even be away from the traffic altogether. Hope you're OK on your ride back, it's perfectly acceptable to take to the path if you feel threatened by drivers.

EssexHebridean

Aww thanks for taking the time to reply on that FA - some really useful information too - much appreciated! Near home I can easily keep mostly off-road, we have a great network of cycle paths around my home town. In the area of London where I work they do a lot of talking about encouraging  cycling but pay rather less practical attention to making it easier and safer. There are a handful of actual cycle tracks separated from roads, and a fair number of “dotted line segregated” ones but also a lot of roads where in fairness there’s simply not room to put that sort of thing in - but there IS still room to give a cyclist space - it’s the people who choose not to who are the problem. I do occasionally use pavements if I absolutely have to - but on the way from where we park to my office and back pavements are mostly too busy and narrow - having used them regularly as a pedestrian I know what a problem cyclists on them too cause! Add in the issue of the roads being in a poor state of repair, (and being on a folding bike that can make it practically impossible to take a hand off the handlebars for long enough to signal due to the risk of hitting a bump/pothole as of course with no suspension at all you really get bounced around) and it’s certainly “interesting” for cycling! 

The ride back to the car this evening was made unpleasant by the rain, but far less problematic where vehicles were concerned thank goodness - I didn’t divert much in the end but chose a route which uses quiet back roads and segregated paths for the first bit, the busier roads (but no real choice about it) after that, and the biggest issue was my glasses steaming up when I stopped at traffic lights! 😂 That could also be my standard route now for the dark evenings I think - I’ve even created some Strava segments on it! 😜

We now have a meal plan for next week:
M either Aubergine Parmigiana OR Moussaka - to be decided
 - with veg.
T Couscous with roast veg and leftover from Sunday’s lamb
W fennel, kale & squash risotto
T Lamb chops with mash & veg
F Mac & cauli bake with black pudding chunks
S Hot dogs and wedges
S Beef stew. Most likely with dumplings. 

Also want to look out a recipe for banana bread or banana muffins for over the weekend  to use up the two frozen bananas from the freezer. 

savingholmes

Glad you were safe. 

Meal plans sound tasty