5 OS pleasures in your day today - part 3

ampersand

1.  Preview 177 out on time, with🦚🏉Club's Super Saturday already super-saturated!  Still downpouring intensely, as it has been for 34hrs solid now.  Today we have 3 big matches and an all-day fun day of all-age activities had been planned......hmmm.

2.  44-6, ABs imperious against Los Pumas in semi-final, in 2nd gear throughout.  & is still so pleased and delighted to be watching these gratis on phone/itv4!  Toulon edged their prep. match v Stade Français too and in a couple of hours, &'s Magpies face Taranaki in the biiiig Bunnings final.🤞

3.  2 sweet pea stalks still in bloom, background to a butterfly fluttering behind dripping vine leaves in late afternoon, but no time to fetch mob. for pic.  

4. Enjoyed carrots and broccoli mid-afternoon, 😁.

5. So pleased to read of your son's progress, Topsy.  Hadn't realised he was out of Addenbrookes already.  Good, good - steady does it.
#
Ooh, just realised night meds not yet taken - too much World Cup 🏆🏉 distraction 😁. 
Thinking of all affected by Storm Babet, continuing over the coming days.
Just heard the closing reading of this, on R4 all week:
"Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad by Daniel Finkelstein review – a family in peril | History books | The Guardian"
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jun/04/hitler-stalin-mum-and-dad-by-daniel-finkelstein-review-a-family-in-peril
 Especially noted the quote from Clive James' "Cultural Amnesia" in the review - true, true, true and more than enough near-parallels with our perilous world right now.  

topsyturphy

Pleasures for Friday 

1. I am very lucky that doggy enjoys a lie in too.
2. A wet but not soaking doggy walk.
3. Home cooked breakfast - even did fried bread for ds2.
4. Managed to go shopping when it was not raining, took my lovely neighbour too.
5. Listed some more items for sale.
And an extra 1

managed to get some short term care for Ds2 when I’m at work to make food for Ds2.

Ampersand - it’s better he is home it saves me a 2 hour journey each day.

LaineyT

Glad to hear all are keeping safe.

For yesterday,

Like others torrential rain, was due in fenny market town for facial from niece, half minded to cancel but decided to go, took it easy and gave plenty of time. Was so glad that I hadn’t cancelled as two clients before me had and DN had been sitting around for hour & half. Lovely spoiling facial and DN says that collagen supplement is making a real difference to my skin.

Big bowl of chicken soup for lunch whilst having catch up with beloved.

Over to yard, had planned one route then changed mind at last minute and went another, fortuitous as friend had tried original and had to turn back. The horses had been kept in and girlie pleased to see her Mum, or perhaps it was the apple in my pocket! Gave groom and generally cosseted but only stayed for an hour, another steady drive home.

Glad to home for a cuppa.

We had half thought about eating at local pub but couldn’t face going out again so spuds popped in oven and enjoyed with defrosted Bolognese.

mhagster

Bedtime! 

Lovely walk with my dog boy first thing. Just us and the birds.

First day of course for new to me career.
Loved it. I have homework but I’ll do it in the morning.
Parcel from DD1
Went out for late lunch/early tea with DD2.
Hello doggy . Hasn’t it been a nice quiet day. 

Bed! Watched Strictly. 

Highdays

Hello.

Some pretty rough weather and lots of flooding and roads closed in our neck of the woods as the storm finally caught up with us. Very grateful that we live on top of a hill!

Some pleasures:|

1) Made it home safely yesterday from a shopping trip with son's partner. Bit hairy though as we live 10 minutes away but our attempts to get home took five hours. No problems getting there but in the couple of hours we were shopping and having lunch the weather took a definite turn for the worse and lots of water coming down from the hills caused the flood barriers to be closed and therefore the traffic was gridlocked. People had also tried to get through the water and got stuck and there were accidents caused by impatient drivers who couldn't get anywhere so decided they would play bumper cars. We sat in it for about an hour and a half and moved one car space in that time so decided to park up and get the tram and collect the car later. Battled through the rain to the tram stop only to learn that the track was flooded so back we went to the shopping centre to sit it out with a meal and a cocktail. Hubby and son were very frustrated that they couldn't get to us to help but by 7.15pm we joined the rest of the traffic and made it home in half an hour. Phew!

2) Son's partner did a sterling job of driving in appalling conditions, very calm and capable.

3) Not ideal circumstances but we both agreed it was lovely to spend a lot of time together and got to know each other a lot better. She said she feels very blessed to have been made to feel so welcome into our family. Awww!!!

4) Saved a lot of money today as went to two car dealerships, both of which had been evacuated due to flood warnings so no cars anywhere to be seen! Gave up and came home.

5) Dry and no wind here now and a reasonable forecast for tomorrow. So sorry for all struggling with the aftermath of the storms.

Hope everyone has managed to stay safe and dry. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

LaineyT

For yesterday,

A decent nights sleep, have gotten into the habit of using a temple salve at night and fingers crossed so far it seems to be working.

Three C’s of coffee, croissants and cricket, first two were lovely, third not so, why oh why do we keep putting our opponents in to bat first and then our bowling attack isn’t up to the job!

Over to see my horse, she was waiting by the gate for me ready to come in. Oh the joys of livery at a yard with a hot wash, her legs and feet cleaned of all mud within a matter of minutes. Sorted through my big box and tidied it.

Drizzly rain all afternoon but big floods of day before mostly disappeared so not a bad drive home. Saw a buzzard sitting on gate post.

Treat of a Chinese takeaway, just because.

VJsmum

Hello all

Glad everyone coped while Babet did her thang

Pleasures for yesterday
1. went logging - a train trip up the line; faffing about collecting and delivering logs but we're now stocked up again for a while
2. getting paper off the chimney breast.  Luckily i like a challenge as it was VERY stubborn
3. watched the rugby and SA winning made up a little for Wales losing
4. effandcee for tea 
5. eaten with friends in their 'indoor/outdoor(ish)' lounge area 

have a good rest of day all.

ampersand

1. https://www.facebook.com/groups/odd.things.around.cambridge/permalink/10161698571009887/?ref=share

2.  Climate change deniers need to see &'s strawberries, still flowering and fruiting -

Ditto pear blossom - pic taken an hour ago, won't upload yet.  Laters.🙂

3.  Still enjoying both by-election results.🌹🌹

4.  A 1-point home win for our🦚🏉1st XV yesterday.🌟💥✨ We'll take it - a point is enough!😁  Many kind msgs from Peacock HQ throughout the day.😃.  Further, & now knows she plays the 'bokke for next Saturday's 🏉 World 🏆.

5.  Overnight slow cooker casserole smells superb.  Little liquor taste confirms-😋.  Added more h-g toms+herbs last night.  Dinner should be good.😃
#
Happy rest of weekend to all.

DigForVictory

Trailing ampersand again. Non sum dignus. A mad mix of RL & JOTAJOTI (scout jamboree on internet & airwaves)

ampersand - whilst revering & cherishing you, please do not play silly waggons & risk needing extra NHS care. Too much world cup? Take The Pills, please. Irrationality is not good. Climate change deniers should see the mango & citrus plantation on my office windowsill. (Just hope they survive the winter.) Very glad Peacock comms keep flowing.

mhagster - very glad to see you upright & coping with puppy. Everything with 4 pegs. "First day ... Loved it" - Excellent!

Frith - a dishwasher?! (Still have not got one myself.) A mosque run - awed at all you are learning.

topsyturphy - atta girl getting stuff to have a blow. Getting help with the cooking - excellent news.

Happycas - canny way to keep DH cautious in the garden. Go on, let rip with the railcard!

LaineyT - you mean "the cheque that is in the post" is real and has arrived with you?! Babet really messing navigation. Love the three Cs. 

VJsmum - hurrah for voting & fingers crossed laundry drying. Logging using a railway? 

Purple kitten - hurrah new flooring, even if um also bathroom.

DundeeDoll - a finishing up supper sounds lovely.

Highdays - sometimes rotten weather helps you see virtues that might be unnoticed, hurrah calm & capable partner of son!

OS Pleasures recently

I should congratulate someone on the five a day idea. Youngest has just dished up peas, sweetcorn, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower and plum tomatoes alongside a lump of chicken. OK his views on vegetarianism are straight from his father, but he regards my current eating habits as being on doctor’s orders & is cooperative whilst hoping I get well soon.

Indulging in crime fiction: Brokenwood, Father Brown, Marjorie Allingham. All cracking escapist stuff.

Youngest has found a chickpea & spinach curry recipe that is seriously toothsome. I must conceal this talent from my family lest he be required to cook vegetarian, as the aim is to fatten mum up, not my sisters.

Oh the delight of reading in bed, snugly wrapped in a wool duvet. Snug & slightly smug (those eco credentials, as well as warm toes).

I’ve been using a Christmas wreath hook to hold my workbag on the back of the office door & my sons loathe it as it makes shutting the door ticklish. One proposes to fit a proper brass dressing gown hook! (I shall then restore the wreath hook to the decorations box.) [Eventually.]

The very last Allingham novel was finished by her husband. He absolutely does her justice - Cargo of Eagles is a cracking story!

Lovely bloke from estates going round turning radiators on. (Many turned off, which just shows some of our ladies run hot.)

As an experiment, turned the heating on for an hour. Migod! The heat! Turned off quickly before I shed three jumpers.

I say, Youngest has invented a variant on bean stew which is utterly delicious. The Tuscan bean stew idea went awry when we lacked “the right beans” (he does like to follow a recipe.)

QI & the military tandem. Two bolted together with a Maxim gun between - trust the military to take a good idea and let rip… Rigged for railway lines & capable of light ambulance duties also. (Truly, only the military.)

It is hot water bottle season. One sister flatly refuses to put the heating on til November (regardless of the weather) but as my toes turn pink & draw blood from the rest of me, all of me is more ready to fall asleep.

Today has included a first aid shout that I was support not lead for (love teamwork!), a fire drill (I had my car keys in a pocket but left my personal phone - d’oh!) and a “can you do this in the next hour” data lift. Evidence again that teamwork is more interesting!

Also that our security folks are Wonderful human beings. The old first aid room has gone & the new ‘recovery room’ lacks blankets. Security colleague fretted & offered the blanket from his car - a thick velour dressing gown & a fleece blanket of primary coloured dinosaurs. All who saw it perked up, apart from the casualty. I made sure all borrowed things were returned with thanks.

One colleague, feeling the cold, put the heating on. Another suffering, observed (from under several layers) that he’s awaiting the boiler installation. New colleague appalled - heating on before November?! (Apparently a hot water bottle is only righteous if made along with a cup of tea. I think he may fit in rather well, given time.)

New ambition of Youngest to be “more nebbish”. As in polite he reckons. Me I think Yiddish is rather more specific, and derogatory, but I recall insults better than exotic compliments.

Bought water in cans in the hope it can take subzero better than plastic bottles. All wildly eco friendly but dehydration leaves me feeling like I’m about to faint, which isn’t the article.

Cor, a couple of hay rolls escaped into the road & we have a jcb & 2 cop cars clearing the road. Remarkable what speeds done road users deem appropriate to pass police cars, lights twinkling!

Just realised a breakfast of scrambled egg for protein & taking statins for cholesterol somewhat at odds with each other. Dash, my simple hot meal gone for a burton.

Rapping at my window, investigated, turned out to be a blue tit under the impression he could get in amongst the green leaves of the lemon seedlings. I was charmed!

I say. Biden “we are all human beings” - that’s going to make negotiations fascinating, as some people will struggle with that.

Yeay family tree climbing & I am facing charmed by West Yorkshire Non-Conformist Records. (Oh gods, more schoolmasters.)

Some days you’re up so late it makes sense to thrash out the report right then. Means tomorrow I can sleep in (leave!) with a much clearer conscience, & have less to sort on Monday.

The house is unusually busy this morning - one son & pal is off camping & kayaking on Loch Lomond for a week so bags for life & drybags are being lugged around, the other has been rousted out of bed (with a cup of tea - I’m not utterly inhumane) for his flu jab.

Youngest is jabbed but a bit peeved with me - ordinarily we plan our weekly shop better & with brother heading off up the motorway he has no-one to grouch to.

Discovery of the day - cannellini beans are also called white kidney beans - dived back to world food aisle & saved 10 pence a tin. (Haricots called Navy beans in US [as yes, cheap food for official matelots]. Truly divided by a common language!)

My bank gives me a “freebie” Good Housekeeping subscription, which mum much enjoys reading. (My sons have the grace not to laugh at me.) Now I get a free online bonus subscription & am pondering which, when I realise I can get them all free through the library! Splendid, I shall gift the awkward decision to a retiring colleague as he may love Runners World or he may find Cosmopolitan hilarious and baffling. 

The rain it raineth. I stay home under a fleece with a good book! There are herb cuttings in a germination pod - what they reckon to the cold & dark I suspect I can guess, but they may still obligingly root. Hope is a delightful thing.

Reading up on Lily of the valley, apparently it Likes the shade & wet. Perhaps I should pot them & put them straight into the garden. Just there’s a toothsome fragile inch that might get eaten & there go my hopes….

Intrigued by “monsters of music” (the weather does horrible things to tv signal locally but radio fine) & will make a point of listening to them on Alma whom I only know from Tom Lehrer… (Fascinating. Interesting how much weight is given to parents, both of Alma, & of Maria Kallas.)

Contemplating mirepoix & thinking of all the effort for the glorious but subtle flavour. 

A wren! An absolutely tiny brown feathered opinion, hopping from point to point inspecting! Ping pong ball of attitude, hope & caution alas far too canny for me to get a photo. I might stand & gawp, but move & she flittered.

The scout online jamboree is an ongoing source of joy and education. The totem animal is to be chosen by the scout but his troop select the adjective (so we were taught by "sneaky ant", in translation).

The recent Korean jamboree was discussed - one leader had been in charge of buses with a yellow jacket & lightsabre. This did lead the conversation somewhat astray and newcomers to the board were (reasonably) somewhat bewildered. I’m not sure the explanations quite helped. 

The Rugby saw the leaders chat board dwindle to heads popping in briefly but with the match thoroughly won, scouting resumed with brio.

As we are promised sunshine tomorrow, I snuggle under a duvet & thank Youngest & the saints for the hot water bottle. Warm feet do wonders for the feeling of well-being!

Hurrah Google & Durga Ashtami. I enjoy learning new things.

Health Strength Love & Courage to all as have need & may you stay warm dry & not suffering in this thoroughly variable weather.

PaulieHerts

Evening all 😊
Not too many pleasures as I have a really bad chest infection ☹️. The coughing is so violent and it really hurts my ribs.  Started as a slight sore throat, developed into a full blown cold and by yesterday morning I felt so bad I rang 111 and got an out of hours gp appointment, who prescribed antibiotics. Never used this service before but worked well.
So laid up and wiped out, still with a wracking cough 🤞 for some sleep tonight.
Good thing is although OH is coughing he is still functioning and able to shop, fetch etc.  luckily I made an extra cottage pie last weekend so we have had some food.
OHs sister popped in with some flowers 🌺 which was nice.
best wishes to anyone else with lurgies, flooding or other problems.
Night all 💤