Away From The Madding Crowd

middlewife

Thank you Humboldt. My garden is indeed a great teacher. Gone from praying for rain to rushing home and liberally sprinkling slug pellets everywhere, no wish for my courgettes, dahlias and beans and peppers to provide an all you can eat buffet!!!

Humboldt

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82019440#Comment_82019440

A warm welcome to you @middlewife. My friend who works in a tearoom supplies me with empty plastic bottles, which I cut into thick bands, and place over new plants. This provides some protection from slugs and snails until they grow bigger and stronger. I check on the plants in the evening, remove any pests and place them where I know the birds will easily find them. I guess everything has a purpose, and so I try to work in harmony where possible (whilst uttering a few expletives 🤬).

Yesterday's simple pleasure - a dynamic thunder storm and some much needed rain for the garden.

Humboldt

Hello and welcome.

Motivational quote of the week.

We learn of great things by little experiences – Bram Stoker.

Money saving.

Our monthly grocery budget for me and my DH is £300. Week 1 spend for June was £65.34.

Made full use of this week’s free electric from our provider.

June’s premium bond win was £0 (2026 total to date is £325).

Took advantage of several offers on Liz Earle (LE) skin care products at B0ot’s. 20% off, saving £10.80, over 60’s rewards collect 8 points per £1, earn £7.50 worth of Advant@ge card points when you spend over a specified amount on LE products, plus earn double points when buying selected LE products.

Bought myself a blouse and DH a pair of running shorts in the M+S 50% off sale. I also bought a pair of jeans and having used the £25 voucher that I won the other week, I only had to add £1 to their overall cost.

Conducted a review of our bank accounts:

Our fixed rate ISAs are due to mature. DH’s funds have been earmarked to help pay for a ‘new to us car’, and the interest will pay for his annual golf club membership. A new fixed rate ISA opened for him and the contents of his cash ISA will be transferred into it. The funds from my fixed rate ISA will be transferred to another fixed rate ISA, but the interest will be used as part payment for a holiday.

We both opened new online bonus savers accounts because they offer a higher interest rate than our current savings accounts. We then transferred funds from our holiday and birthday/Christmas accounts into these.

We also opened a new global money account. This is a fee-free multi-currency account, which provides us with the opportunity to purchase multiple currencies for holidays at competitive exchange rates (although I will still check how this compares with other providers first), and a debit card for spending abroad with no fees.

This week’s main menu.

Monday – Minestrone Soup (from one of my recipe scrap books), with a hunk of homemade seeded sourdough bread. Stock is homemade and from the freezer. Kale is from the garden. Fresh tomatoes were 50% off.

Tuesday – Spanish-style chicken bake (H@iry Dieter’s recipe). Chicken thighs are from the freezer. I freeze the thighs not used when I buy a pack and eventually have enough for a meal. Using up the last of the reduced price fresh tomatoes.

Wednesday – Meatloaf with spicy tomato sauce (H@iry Dieter’s recipe), roasted hasselback new potatoes, carrots and peas. 5% fat minced pork was reduced in price and frozen until required.

Thursday – Ping meal (as above) – cook once, eat twice – saves on time and energy costs.

Friday – Moroccan fish parcels (from one of my recipe scrap books). 3 decent sized frozen Basa fillets are currently £1.79 from Ald!’s.

Saturday – Basil pesto, whole-wheat spaghetti, with a squeeze of lemon, grated Italian cheese and fresh basil. Pesto is homemade and from the freezer.

Sunday – Sweet potatoes stuffed with spicy chickpeas (from one of my recipe scrap books), with onion bhajis, yogurt and mango chutney.

Healthier lifestyle.

Last week’s step count was 58,480.

Completed 2 free online workouts. Easing myself back into these after the knee issue, but it’s feels so good to be exercising again.

Completed 4 free online meditations.

Simple pleasures.

Adding homegrown chive flowers to our meals. Not only do they add a mild onion flavour, but they also look pretty.

Meadows filled with wild flowers.

A couple of meals eaten whilst sat outside in the garden this week.

Harvested our homegrown garlic. It is the first time that I have grown garlic and it's not been the best year for doing so, because of the prolonged wet winter. Not the largest of bulbs, but they do have an intense smell, which hopefully will mean that they will taste delicious.

Books read 12/26 – Dark Fortune – Theresa Tomlinson (library book).

A story of mourning, recovery, resourcefulness and community – at the time of the Whitby jet boom. I very much enjoy social history, and whilst researching my family history, I was directed to this authors books to gain an insight into the herring girls. Whilst this particular book did not focus on these ladies, it was still an interesting read.

If you haven’t heard of the herring girls, they were a migratory workforce of Scottish women who travelled along the east coast of Britain from the 1800’s to the mid-1900’s. They followed the seasonal herring migration, working on the docks to gut, salt, and pack the fish into barrels for export. The season lasted up to 8 months, starting in the northern ports, i.e. Wick and Lerwick, following the shoals south to places like Peterhead, North Shields, and all the way down to Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft. Although it was gruelling work in harsh conditions, it provided women with financial independence, the opportunity to travel, and as I have found out, sometimes resulted in some choosing to marry men outside their own community. I should add that not all these ladies were Scottish, others from the communities that they visited also joined this workforce. The industry fell into decline in the late 20th century due to overfishing, but their vital role is celebrated in maritime history.

Thank you for dropping by and taking the time to read my diary.

Yorkie1

I love that HD Spanish Chicken tray bake recipe! So easy and tasty 😁

Nebulous2

I was brought up close to a fishing community and have had the pleasure of talking to several people who followed the fleet and worked gutting fish. Some of the old photos are very powerful - showing the scale of the operation and the number of people involved.

While it was very hard work, for little reward, it certainly opened up opportunities to escape, even temporarily, from what were very restrictive and judgmental communities.

Boats became much larger, much more expensive, and much more efficient, so one boat and twelve men can now catch as much as several hundred boats and several thousand men did in the past. So much so that their time at sea is dramatically limited by law to prevent over-fishing.

Humboldt

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82027993#Comment_82027993

Morning @Yorkie1 thank you for popping by. I have the first two H@iry Dieter's recipe books and use them lots. The Spanish-style chicken bake is one of our favourite recipes and one which I can easily adapt e.g. this week I replaced the new potatoes with sweet potato and carrots.

Yesterday's simple pleasure - we noticed that blackbirds have built a nest in the jasmine on our fence.

Humboldt

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82028378#Comment_82028378

Hi @Nebulous2 thanks for taking the time to share. It is vital that this fascinating history is remembered. Since beginning to research my family history, I have uncovered so many interesting facts/stories that have been lost through the generations. It would seem that due to relatives travelling for work, I have family connections to places throughout the UK. Since retiring it has been lovely to be able to allocate time to undertake this research and it has become an absorbing, fascinating, and somewhat addictive hobby.

Today's simple pleasure - online workout completed.

Nebulous2

Hi @Humboldt the history of the herring fishery was one of real boom and bust. If you ever find yourself up in Scotland there are some small gems dedicated to keeping the history alive. The Scottish Fisheries museum at Anstruther being one of them.

This page gives some of the history of the boom, but the photos fascinate me more than the stories. Look at the sea of masts in the harbour on that page. Everyone of those masts represents a herring drifter with a crew of 12.

https://www.scotfishmuseum.org/the-herring-boom.php

That generation is all but gone, but I've spoken to a lot of them and heard a lot of stories.

The first job a boy of 14 got on a boat was cook. They would be away for up to 6 weeks at a time, and as well as helping with the nets he had to provide 12 men with 3 meals a day. They were almost all religious so didn't work on Sunday. They would be in a harbour far from home and another crew member would cook lunch on Sunday to let him have Sunday lunchtime off - with the expectation that he would go to church.

Can you imagine a 14 year old today cooking 20 meals a week for 12 people? While possibly having to deal with seasickness if he took some time to develop his sea legs.

Humboldt

Morning @Nebulous2 thank you so much for your informative post.

I was shocked to discover that in 1873, a distant relative signed up to become a ship's apprentice. He was 12 years old (the youngest on that particular page in the register) and was bound by a legal contract (indenture) to a ship's master or owner for 9 years. It is stated that the apprentices served as a form of maritime child labour, receiving food, but no wages, in exchange for learning the trade. They were placed at the very bottom of the crew hierarchy and expected to perform dangerous, physically demanding tasks, such as climbing rigging in all weather, as well as menial shipboard chores like cleaning and serving food to the officers. I am researching further to discover if his family paid a fee to the shipyards to have him trained as a future officer or shipwright (premium apprentice), or if he came from a working-class or destitute background and was placed by a charity to keep such boys off the streets. Whilst it is shocking to learn such facts, it also makes me feel proud and grateful for the efforts of my ancestors.

Today's simple pleasure - washing pegged out on the line and now drying in the breeze.

Humboldt

Hello and welcome.

This week’s motivational quote.

I don’t always know where I am going, but I always enjoy getting there – Prunella Scales.

Money saving.

Our monthly grocery budget for me and my DH is £300. Week 2 spend for June was £85.65. Total spend to date for June is £150.99.

This week’s grocery shop included a visit to Gr@pe Tree to stock up on nuts, chia, and other seeds to add to sourdough/breakfast, etc. Also stocked up on olive oil, taking advantage of an offer in S@insbury’s. 500ml bottle of Kary@tis Greek extra virgin olive oil for £4.80 (Nect@r price). I usually buy the Italian olive oil from Ald!, but it now costs £7.99 (an increase of £2 since January).

Whilst away for a few days we enjoyed an open top bus ride. The ticket offered us numerous discounts on various tourist sites and places to eat.

Freebies.

We have just bought a new to us car. We felt that we got a good deal, but at the last moment I asked them to include a set of new car mats and they agreed.

The open top bus ticket enabled us to enjoy a free glass of fizz at one of the tourist destinations that we visited.

This week’s main menu.

Monday – Wednesday – away overnight.

Thursday – a pizza for lunch prior to setting off home on the train.

Friday – Lasagne, with a mixed salad. I will use half fat cheddar cheese, and add a tin of green lentils to a small pack of 5% beef mince. Salad leaves, spring onions and chive flowers are from the garden.

Saturday – Ping meal (as above) – cook once, eat twice – saves on time and energy costs.

Sunday – BBQ - Chinese spiced belly pork, chicken thighs, vegetable kebabs, corn on the cob and homemade garlic flatbreads (Go0d F00d recipe). Belly pork was reduced in price and frozen until required. Chicken is from the freezer. When buying a pack of chicken thighs, I freeze any that are not required for meals that particular week. I will marinade the chicken in oil and Greek BBQ herbs (bought when on holiday).

Healthier lifestyle.

Last week’s step count was 41,078.

Completed 1 free online workout.

Completed 5 free online meditations.

Simple pleasures.

Swallows swooping over the meadow.

A UK city break with friends. Lots to see in a city that we had never visited before. Open top bus ride, local museum visit, and made the most of several tourist sites. Pleasantly surprised at how reasonable costs were.

When travelling to the city via train, we saw numerous fields of red poppies.

I listened to another R0sebud Podcast - Sam West: The Craft of Acting, Prunella Scales and Barge Holidays. Another interesting and thought-provoking podcast that I would highly recommend. When asked about how his mother (Prunella Scales) described working with John Cleese, he replied “she said working with him was like trying to keep a live machine gun pointing away from you” 😂

Springwatch highlighted the incredible migration of the swallow. The show featured a Kenyan birder, who grew up watching swallows in Kenya, but had never seen them nest until he got the opportunity to travel to the UK. The film showed him observing swallows soaring over the African savannah, before traveling thousands of miles to witness them breeding in a barn in the UK. An absolute joy to see the two very different aspects of these bird’s lives.

Thanks for popping by and taking the time to read my diary.