Awful weather - typical Brits talk

twopenny

Cheese and chorizo scones are sensational too. Had them at a fete once bought the ingredients but never got around to trying to make them.

Love the photo Poppy, it's like a watercolour. Perhaps that sould be a new hobbly?

That's amazing Dusty. Did the flowers survive? I've found that they will sometimes, it tends to be cold winds that do for plants more than ice.

Which reminds me, the winter flowers in my garden have succumed to the bitter wind. White is now shriveled beige and the yellow just shrivelled  

I don't think these are emotional support chickens. More the cause of the emotional problems! My friend trying to put her daughters chickens in. They popped out as soon as they were put in. It was hillarious

Dustyevsky

The iris flowers didn't survive, but they're tough old things nonetheless. 

Your friend appears to be placing far too many chickens in a small run, so no wonder they're trying to escape! We have a similar house/run, but 6 birds would be the maximum we'd put into it,if fully grown.

pink_poppy

Did you end up having a romantic candlelit dinner, Dusty??   

Finland is somewhere I would love to go. And Norway. And Iceland.

Your frosty iris photo is beautiful

Mmm, cheese and chorizo scones sound extremely nice, twopenny, I might have to look into that one. I have a whole chorizo in the fridge, so could potentially make them today. I also need to make more soup because it's another freezing cold day.

OT - same as yesterday - sunny and bitterly cold. Fingers crossed it's the hot chocolate being delivered today and not the book...   

Dustyevsky

pink_poppy said:

Did you end up having a romantic candlelit dinner, Dusty??

Err...no. We shared a salmon Wellington with the two 'lodgers.' It's amazing value at £4.49, and nice enough teamed with new potatoes, spinach, broccoli, and a few garlic mushrooms.
https://uk-gd.openfoodfacts.org/product/4056489072065/salmon-wellington-with-creamy-prawn-white-wine-sauce-lidl

I might be having a 'romantic' lunch this week in a coastal fish & chippy, though. I really know how to live it up!

OT: It didn't feel so cold here when I released the chickens at 08.00, despite the drunks saying it was 6c and feeling like 3c. A north east wind now, so fixing those posts yesterday was just in time.

wort

Pp you wouldn’t think you took that photo from a moving car. It’s lovely. Fleecy thermals are my go to starting in autumn through to summer when it’s thin thermal time😂 my M n S ones are going strong many years after purchase. I hope the hot choc turns up today, lots of talk of warming drinks reminds me to try the white mulled wine from M n S ,I like the red so see no reason not to give it a whirl. Though gingerbread one sounds good too.
I was out for a meal last night , a family birthday, then today I’m out with old work friends for Xmas lunch meet up. Thursday is a meal with all my female relations ,and I finish the week Sat with drinks and take away with a couple of my sisters. Next week will be a detox and a mad run up to Xmas at work.
The talk of onesies reminds me of when they first came out and dgson was small he loved his, I said I couldn’t wear one as I didn’t want to get cold taking it off to go to the loo, he said you just get your wi!!y out grandma😂
Yesterday was a sunny start turning bitterly cold in the afternoon. Today looks similar and the washer is on.

Working_Mum

Hello everyone,
We survived the storm at the weekend - I was lulled into a false sense of security as at 8am it was calm and bright whilst I  swept the last of the leaves from my lawn followed by a little bit of tidying and putting things away. It didn't stay that way for long though! No massive trees have fallen over close to me but I noticed a few mid sized ones had fallen when I walked down by the river last night.

You're onto something PP and 2P soup and scones are sold at a local artisan market - I will buy one for my lunch as a treat whenever I'm in town. I adore scones of any persuasion 

No sunrise pics for me today as it was dark when I walked the dog - I am counting down the days until the days crawl towards the light - a week on Saturday and the shift starts to happen!! I'm hoping the wave gods will be with us that day and a Solstice swim will be possible.

On my peruse around my garden on Saturday morning I noticed that my sweet peas are still in bloom (just) and some of my bulbs have broken through the soil already. I'll have to keep an eye on them to see what will happen next. Worrying though as I thought this time of year everything was meant to be sleeping. I had a mooch and noted a few plants that I'm going to lop in the New Year - I've a few hazels which could do with a cut and also a spindly  laburnum and massive buddleia!  Never done it before (well I took the buddleia to the ground in January and it grew like topsy!) so will need to prep properly beforehand. I'm hoping the Fat fella will deliver me some proper gardening tools this year!

I hope the hot chocolate arrives soon and is a delicious as you guys want it to be. I can't have chocolate now as it makes me ill but I really miss it so much.

Anyway I'll sign off OT - it is dull, still but blooming freezing here today 8' according to my app but "feels like zero" - so I've got my new acquired (via Freecycle) stone hot water bottle keeping my feet all toasty whilst I beaver away!. 

WM

Farway

Dull, dry & very cold.

pink_poppy said:

I'm sure Farway and I will like the hot chocolate, twopenny   I've had an email today to say something is being delivered tomorrow, so fingers crossed it's the hot choc. It's either that or a Bob Mortimer book. Did you go for the 250g hot chocolate, Farway?? That's the one I've ordered.

Yep, the 250g, on its way to the delivery station, so they say. 

Actually, this may be an accidental Good Idea because the well known purple one has been withdrawn, mould found, allegedly. So we may be slurping liquid gold.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/health/concern-cadbury-sweeps-hot-chocolate-34267908

I won't be in a Christmas thermal boiler suit though, tempting as it sounds, especially with my children having POA they would presume I'd finally gone completely daft & have me locked way

Dustyevsky said:

 Now I'll have to ID all the broken posts and mark them. There could easily be 70+, so banging new ones in by hand would be out of my league!

Apparently, I'm so ancient, I qualify as one of their priority customers these days.  

 Dogs need emotional support chickens too, but I get your concern. I mean, why not let them have lamb toys to chew as well, and make it more realistic!

Did you see the bit about a post driver who went through the gas main? Luckily he survived OK, fines all round. Link at bottom.

I'm also on the old codgers list, my main reasoning was if water goes off there is no way I could carry water from a standpipe / lorry

I thought Postie Leg was the preferred dog chew toy?

Gardening spot, local council is back with subsidised fruit trees . This year, I'm getting another desert apple & Red Filbert. Two year, bare roots, collect Feb 22nd, £12.50 each, includes support post & tie. Apple variety TBD on collection.

I'll see if DD wants them, if not there will be space at volunteer spot once Oak tree removed

Hitting gas main

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHxdkutT570

pink_poppy

A world without chocolate doesn't bear thinking about, W_M

I've had daffodils poking through in November before. It won't (unless I've missed some) be happening again because I've reluctantly dug all the bulbs up as part of the garden renovation and haven't replanted them yet.

I'm wearing the Lidl thermal top today, wort and it's not bad for the price. My only gripe is the sleeves aren't quite long enough (I don't think I have arms like an orangutan). I've been thinking about buying the Turtle Doves wrist warmers anyway, so that would probably help.

I've never heard of white mulled wine - do you still warm it up?? I think that's part of the appeal of mulled wine - the warmth and the smell I wasn't sure about buying the gingerbread one yesterday, but I like gingerbread (mmm, pass the Lebkuchen) and I like mulled wine, so I decided to risk it for the sake of £3.79    

I like the sound of that salmon wellington, Dusty - is it from the chilled or frozen aisle?? I got a free bag of their frozen beef dripping chips on the Lidl Plus app and they taste like chip shop chips. I don't normally buy frozen chips, but as they were free I thought I'd try them.

Amazon delivery should be here by 3pm - I'm waiting with bated breath - I'm going to be so disappointed if it's the book    

Just refreshed and saw your post, Farway. I didn't know it was a mould issue with the purple hot choc, I just knew it had been recalled. Bleurgh, I used to drink it every day, sometimes twice a day if I was being greedy.

Dustyevsky

Farway said:

Dull, dry & very cold.

Did you see the bit about a post driver who went through the gas main? Luckily he survived OK, fines all round. Link at bottom.

I'm also on the old codgers list, my main reasoning was if water goes off there is no way I could carry water from a standpipe / lorry

I thought Postie Leg was the preferred dog chew toy?

I can confirm the dull and cold. Shoulda worn one of my real boiler suits, but I hate being constricted, especially when using a chainsaw, when it's already easy to trip over the stuff you're stripping away. Instead, I wore my Lidl 'workman's trousers' which are great until you bend over. They have no bum in them at all, so if you're not careful, they fall down when you stand up again.

Obviously designed for slim, athletic EU sorts, not British bottoms. Back in the wardrobe with those!

But I digress....The task today was cutting up the larger tree that fell in the willow grove, and also two more, still being held up by another tree. I'll have some pictures later. Basically, it's just winter '25/6 firewood.

No, I hadn't seen that scary gas main clip, but recall how we almost punctured the village water main that runs through our land. The experienced guys who were fencing the mini-wood in 2013 used a steel probe and hit 'something plastic' at about 0.5m. At that point, the penny dropped! We put the gatepost about 0.5m away from there, but I can't now remember which side!

I don't recall applying to go on the doddery old farts list for leccy, but given my aged status, why should I?

Maybe more sheep than posties get savaged now, though my friend was when we did the Christmas rounds in the school holidays. His Dad was a solicitor too, but I think it was just regarded as a normal hazard of the job in those days. I hated the silent dogs that tried to take your fingers off at the letterbox, so employed the two-handed, delivery: one to open the flap, the other to fire them through the gap at speed.

All this talk of chocolate! I'd join in, if only I had a bum that fitted Lidl's trousers.   Not a believer in total abstention in anything, I allow myself one Lidl plain chocolate butter biscuit after lunch every day. They're made so you can detach and eat quite a lot of the chocolate before needing to consume the biscuit itself. Small things!

https://world.openfoodfacts.org/product/20026554/dark-chocolate-butter-biscuits-sondey

twopenny

Lebkuchen I buy in bulk at Christmas to see me through

I just love it to bits!

I bought some Morrisons mulled wine last year (normally against my principles to buy readymade) but they serve it at the swimming pool - yes they really do - in a warming barrel and that's what they use. It's very good.

Just tried to secure the wind vane which like most things was just whipped out of the sodden earth.

Too bitterly cold to be out even with layers on. 7c but feels like a minus and sooo dark again. It's twilight all day and I don't like it.

 I've been to the library where it's warm and bright doing the family tree. Seems over the centuaries there's a few fell into jail or the asylum though thankfully not for long.

I did find that not only on one side being farmers there were gardeners too. So no wonder I like to be outside with plants

Good news on the M&S thermals Wort because I'm now surgically attached to them