The new week beckons, and as I’ve booked a holiday I have nothing to do but collect my camera from work and host a visit from the electricity board, who have to bring the earthing of the house up to modern standards.
It’s been OK since 1928 but British Gas won’t tackle fitting the new boiler until it is done. As with all work of this type I expect they will look for more faults and give me a lecture on the age of the system. Pardon me for the gloomy nature of my expectations, but I have a wealth of experience to back it up.
I’m also waiting for a builder to contact me. The wait is a worry as it suggests a cavalier attitude to punctuality and customer care. However, all the decent tradesmen we used to use have retired so we have to find a new one.
Three hours later…
Laundry is done. The shopping is done. I have delivered a lecture on economy to myself – though only after spending Β£6.40 on stuff we didn’t need. It’s time to write the rest of the post as the bacon and black pudding cooks. I’m doing it in the oven with some other stuff for later.
But first, noticing an absence of post from last night I had to find it and publish it. I seem to have prepared everything then failed to post it. Another Senior Moment in a growing line of them.
That was pretty much the theme of last night’s conversation, with four of the nine present being sixty plus and one teetering on the brink of it, the conversation was mainly about health, holidays and memory (or lack thereof). I didn’t actually catch all of it as my hearing is also going.
Three hours after that…
Lunch has been consumed. Jessica Fletcher has brought the killers to justice in her home state of Maine – the most dangerous place in the Union, if TV is to be believed – and the beef stew is bubbling gently on the hob.
I’ve prepared the Mediterranean veg for tonight’s fish cakes, but that is as far as I’ve reached in my culinary plans. I did have plans for a vegetable curry too, but so far I’ve failed on that. The idea of a cup of tea by a warming gas fire is far more attractive.
And with that brief snapshot of life in the Midlands, I will drift off with my cup of tea and see if my wife has any birthday chocolate left.

Donna Nook – the seals are back!
Seal Report for last week – 362 bulls, 1,254 cows and 872 pups. That’s quite a lot of seals. I’m planning on getting the cameras sorted and heading off for the coast at the end of next week, though this depends on the rain to a certain extent. Not so much the rain itself as we are used to that, but the floods might be a problem. There are still active flood warnings in effect for Lincolnshire, and high tides are contributing to the problem.
No comments box on the last post. I am pleased the meal went well.
I’m having trouble with various bits and pieces malfunctioning. And I’m having trouble with WordPress too!
Yes.
You will remember the saga of our electricity supplier British Gas and the smart meter. I received a letter today informing me that the meter is being compulsorily upgraded so I can access it with my mobile phone. I do not use my mobile for the internet. I would be grateful for your expert knowledge on how to respond.
We kept telling them we wouldn’t be there on the day they suggested. It held them off for 18 months but they eventually made us do it. The meter isn’t accessible by phone, and I don’t know why you would want it to be. The new thermostat that comes with the new boiler is accessible by mobile phone, but at least that is slightly useful. To be honest, Derrick, I don’t know how we ever made it out of the 1960s, with just coal fires and wearing extra clothes.
π especially the winter of ’63
The snow in my grandparent’s back garden was over my head. that year. Of course, I was much shorter when I was five. π
π When I was 5 in 1947 I stepped into my grandparents’ back garden and disappeared.
π π π
Hope there are no floods!
Same here!
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Ah, the seals! Looking forward to cute photos…. should you remember your camera π
It was only the card I forgot! π
Oh, I see π
By the way, I think there is a problem with comments on your blog at the moment. Your post on Juliaβs birthday had no box, so I commented on a post that was linked.
I’ll check it out – Derrick has also mentioned it. π
Hope you get it sorted.
A comprehensive post with a neat alliterative title. I give my seal of approval (and hope to see pictures of the seal soon).
I will make a decision in a few days after checking the weather and charging the batteries on the big camera.