Snippets [catching up]

• We moved the bed [couldn't fit the base up the stairs, so have reverted to "student days" (although I'm not sure current students do that?), and are sleeping on a mattress on the floor] upstairs.  It made such a huge difference to our comfort levels last winter - we turned the bedroom downstairs into a "snug", and were able to conserve heat [NEVER going to live in a house with the stairs leading directly off the sitting room again; all the heat ends up on the landing!], and thus stay warm.  [Also, we didn't have to listen to the machines in the kitchen working their magic; why do people like open plan so much?].  It's the first time I have 'lived' and slept on different floors since moving out of a hostel when I was a student (well) over twenty years ago; I like it!
• Had an amusing interlude when we visited mum and Click at Miche's just before Christmas: she really didn't recognise the two strangers she thought were looking for the neighbours' house!  Even adding her spectacles didn't improve matters, and my voice calling out "hi, mum" was going unheeded.  As she always assures me she doesn't lie-in, we were expecting her to be up and about at gone 8am, especially with a pair of dogs who believe they might die of starvation if they are seconds late for one of their meals...  When she'd woken up a bit, she twigged who we were, but we thought we were going to have to go off and find a café for breakfast [she had offered to cook breakfast when we arrived, so we weren't presuming]...!
• Then vs. now: when we first met, "showering together to save time" didn't; now it does.  Should I be sad?
• I want a "Cinders"!!!  I read that the Queen has her shoes handmade [nice, but I can cope with shoe-shop shoes] and that she has a lady to wear them in for her - now that I do want!  I live mostly in mules [and socks, if I need to walk any distance (further than the post box about a hundred yards away); thick socks if I need to wear winter boots/wellies], as I now seem to blister as soon as looking at my feet.  I'm fine if we do plodding around a few shops [but not always], but otherwise it's blister-prevention that matters more to me than style [I think I've mentioned my love of Crocs; I dread the day they finally go bust because they are so out of fashion].  A wearer-inner wouldn't guarantee my feet would cope, but I'm sure it would help!  :-)

Saturday Letters to The Telegraph

Motoring Section; Letter to Honest John:

Inside track
Here's a reminder for motorway drivers.  I will be driving my motorhome from Lancashire to Folkestone on May 12.  I hope you will be as good as in previous years, when you have emptied lane one to allow me and my wife a stress-free journey.  It's quite touching how you all crowd into the outer lanes just to let us through and you can be sure that we feel a little embarrassed when we pass so many of you on the inside.  Anyway, thanks in advance and don't forget the date.

DC, Rossendale

Honest John replies:
I'm sure they will keep the nearside lane clear for you, just as they do for me on Sundays.

Letters to the Editor:

Sir - My wife recently bought a vacuum cleaner.  An instruction (Letters, May 1) on it advises: "Do not put in dishwasher."
Michael Porter, Devizes, Wiltshire

I saw the wren...

...on the lawn, just looking for seeds (grubs; whatever it is they eat?), and I didn't recognise him/her straight away; I am so used to them 'squaring up for a fight' - tail up, head up, harsh, metallic cry.

Of course, it's probably not understanding the language that makes them appear so pugnacious - I can still remember seeing Italians in Italy, and thinking they were angry [loud voices; arms waving; smaller-than-comfortable personal space (from the English perspective)], but now I understand they were just being... Italian.  So I guess the wren is just being a wren when I think they are being aggressive?

A good reminder that not everyone's world view is the same as my own, and it doesn't make either of us "right" or "wrong", just different.

Christmas cake photos

Herding together some of the ingredients The mix, ready to go in the cake tin Making the top look pretty! The oven working its magic Fresh out of the oven, just waiting to be "fed" calvados

I forgot to say:

All credit (or at least the huge majority of it) goes to David this year; he's gone from recipient of my secret efforts, to willing aider-and-abetter (last year's incident of going to buy a new cake tin because the other one is 'lost in France' [rather than scrapping the idea of making a cake], and trying to find a dried fruit supplier even half as good as Julian Graves) to Head Cook and Bottle Washer.

[OK, no bottles were washed during the making of this cake, so perhaps not that, but you know what I mean!]

The post-surgery shoulder-crapness has lessened, but still persists enough that I couldn't cope with even the idea of mixing the cake, let alone the hours it actually took.  Actually I'm feeling hugely fortunate at the moment: my aunt has had her shoulder problems diagnosed as polymyalgia rheumatica, and she's on steroids...

And that's not the worst of it - she's currently in hospital, recovering from a blood clot and a minor heart attack, and the doctors are fairly sure that she had another minor heart attack about three weeks ago.  It makes me very unhappy to have to write that her visit to A&E, another visit to a local hospital and two visits to her doctor failed to notice that.  At least now she is receiving the care she should be.

So, here's wishing you a speedy recovery Click, and hoping all your ailments respond quickly to treatment!

Delicious Christmassy smells...

The cake has been in the oven for three and three-quarter hours, so I am in the final countdown of trying to determine whether it's cooked enough (or not) yet.  Because it's a fairly liquidy mix, I find it harder to check whether it's done.

On the upside, because it is very moist, I suspect it tolerates over-cooking better than most!

Search agent

We've been looking for a house (so far unfruitfully) for long enough that we've "given in"...

Last Friday we met with Claire and Paul and have signed up with them, finally sending all the bumf to them yesterday.  This morning I received an email from Claire saying they are starting the search for us today.

Please keep your fingers crossed for us that they will be successful on our behalf!