Mixed Border

Today’s windy conditions were too much for the vertical cloche-type unit that my wife painstakingly filled at the weekend with seed trays meticulously labelled with their contents, so over it went, the contents of six trays, and the same number of plant pots, tipped out into a homogenous heap on what had been the front panel of the plastic cover; I shovelled the stuff back into the empty containers as best I could but what ended up in which is a mystery that will only be revealed if and when they survive and put forth blooms in what will now have to be a mixed border.

Pounds Off

Counting calories may only be shaving pounds off my weight but it is certainly knocking them off my shopping bill; today I exited the supermarket with just the one large carrier bag as the stocks of cheese, biscuits, cake, bagels, butter, and jam needed no replenishment and even milk required just the one carton.

Book Stop

My favoured route into Darlington now involves parking the car at a convenient supermarket car park and getting the bus for the ten minute trip in, saving on the search for and expense of parking in town; a bonus is that the return bus stop is literally outside the front door of Waterstones so time spent waiting for the bus can be spent perusing books rather than avoiding eye contact with other would-be passengers.

Red Lights, Green Lights

Today saw the last of my Tuesday minibus shuttle runs, with an extra shuttle too to take my wife to work first thing, which meant I had to pass through the traffic light controlled road works outside the village a total of eight times; I wondered how my luck would pan out and it looked good at one stage when green was four one up, only to be pulled back to parity by full time.

Dinner Delivery

The meals on wheels service was needed again today as my wife shot off to school without her lunch bag; when she saw the school secretary walking through the hall with it to complete the delivery she was about to comment on how like hers it was until she realised it was in fact one and the same.

Mothering Son Day

It being Mothers’ Day the undergraduate was home for the afternoon and evening, and though his mother got the cards and presents, he got all the fuss and attention, and possibly left with more than he brought, his bag packed with a selection of DVDs off the shelf, left over cheesecake, homemade chocolate buns and a lump of mature cheddar.

Open House

The good weather continuing enabled the first mow of the back lawn – not by me as I slumbered unaware in bed, only up in time to trim the edges and move some garden furniture out of store and into place; this latter enabled the summer house to be readied for use and declared open for the season.

X75 to Barney

With a glorious spring day in prospect I gave the bus pass an outing on the X75 to Barnard Castle, the half hour ride through pleasant South Durham countryside enabling a couple of hours perusing the quirky shops for some low level retail therapy (cakes from the Moody Baker and a book from Oxfam), some lunch at Penny’s Tea Rooms (bacon & brie panini), and a half hour sat in the sunshine on the green by the castle walls; the journey back was less relaxing as the planned bus was immobilised with a smoking back wheel and the next one hit chucking out time at Hummersknott School as we entered Darlington, but all in all a good day out.

High Risk Cookery

My last experimental recipe that included black pudding was not hailed as a success, indeed the sausage and black pudding frittata has been roundly pilloried since, but not disheartened I went back down that route today and produced a smoked mackerel and black pudding kedgeree; it seemed pretty good to me and though the chef received no compliments it was all eaten up so I guess at least the jury is still out on this one.

Lost and Found

A week or so ago my wife finally completed a tapestry that seemed to have been the best part of a year in production, but on Saturday when she wanted to show it to a fellow crafter it was nowhere to be seen, and had defied all attempts to locate it since; my mission today was to search the house from top to bottom and unearth it, which I did, from down the back of “my” sofa – which of course made the disappearance my fault, eradicating any credit due me for finding it.

Number Twenty 2

With our wives driving into Darlington for their craft club tonight, a friend and I hitched a lift to enable a worthwhile visit to the Number Twenty 2 pub in the town centre, one of three operated by the Village Brewer group that strips pubs back to its essentials – good beer, comfortable seating and no piped music or clattering and beeping gambling machines – ideal for a convivial chat over a pint or two and clearly appreciated by the decent sized clientele in there; I sampled a couple of their own brews, White Boar which is light, clear as a bell and tasty, suitable to drink all night (my friend did) and Old Raby Ale which is dark, smooth and full-bodied.

Herbless Rack

Last autumn we bought a herb planter recycled from an old pallet that we thought would look good hung on the repaired garden wall; it has taken me six months to get round to fixing it up but I finally managed it today and was quite pleased with the result, obviously it would look better with some herbs actually in it, but one thing at a time.

Pie Problems

The Wynyard Farmers’ Market gives an opportunity to procure pies of distinction but places one with the dilemma of whether to go for the Piejacker’s Moroccan Lamb or the Moody Baker’s Wolf variety, which problem I solved by buying one of each (tea today and lunch tomorrow); the other problem with pies - how to ensure, when warming them up, the inside is as hot as the outside – I solved by judicious use of the meat thermometer.

Flat Pack Back Again

Before Christmas I spent a couple of evenings helping a friend to erect two huge flat pack wardrobes, a good job done and dusted we thought, but due to tragic circumstances since then one of these now needed to be moved to another room; it came to bits quicker than we built it and went back together just as nature (or Ikea) intended.

Cold Comforts

Still bravely enduring my cold and needing to stay home to receive a delivery of heating oil, I made myself comfortable with the heating on (with more oil on the way it seemed less extravagant) and indulged myself in the completely pointless but enjoyable exercise of doing a jigsaw, or at least starting it.

Cold Nose

As an extra wedding anniversary present my wife has given me the cold she acquired from school (an occupational hazard) so today was spent mainly mopping my nose.

Plates of China

The twentieth wedding anniversary is designated as ‘china’ but as we have an abundance of the stuff my wife and I took an alternative interpretation and bought each other a meal at the Chinese Buffet at Feethams in Darlington where we filled our china plates (repeatedly) with tasty Chinese food from the ever-present chicken and sweetcorn soup to the delicate and colourful jellied desserts.

Wedgie

Setting off in convoy on our return journey to school I noticed under the minibus in front something not quite right, as instead of daylight between the offside rear double wheel was a revolving foreign body, which to the driver felt like a puncture; we both stopped to investigate and found she had driven over half a brick and managed to get it stuck between the two tyres, wedged tight enough to defy attempts to pull it out and prompt thoughts of either whacking it with a tyre iron or deflating one of the tyres, until eventually brute force (mine, unusually enough) won out and we could get on our way.

Holi Sticks

I am not unused to sourcing and preparing materials for use in my wife’s primary school class, but today was a new one as I stripped the bark off a few small windfall branches so that they could be brightly painted as part of their celebration of the Hindu spring festival of Holi; at least I got the end of the job that did not involve being covered in poster paint.

Garden Tidied

The weather was deemed (by my wife, the arbiter of such things) fit for gardening, so we began the post-winter tidy up of the garden; or rather she tidied the garden while I cleared gutters and broke up a pallet, with my tidying up coming later – tidying up the debris left in her tidying up wake.

The Morgue

I ticked off another Northern League ground today with a visit to the Daren Persson Stadium at North Shields, in itself nothing special but worth sharing due to its nickname of “The Morgue”, which relates to the eponymous ground sponsor’s profession as an independent funeral director; mind you it’s not inappropriate as most visiting teams see their pre-match hopes die as the top of the table Robins have a very impressive home record.

Six Nations

Back to sporting theatre today and though the Rugby Union Six Nations season has gone unremarked to date, it has not been unremarkable with close games (apart from those involving Italy) and unpredictable results (ditto), such that tonight’s televised match was between twice defeated Wales and once defeated Ireland – both virtually out of contention; nevertheless it was a match of full on commitment and shuddering collisions that ended with Ireland also twice defeated, though Wales’ 22 – 9 winning score was flattered by a late poached try as Ireland risked all to save the game.

NT Live

I visited the ARC in Stockton tonight to see the live streaming of Hedda Gabler from the National Theatre’s Lyttleton stage in London, which proved to be an enjoyable experience that had a genuine feel of the theatre about it, the atmosphere helped by the streamed view and sound of the audience filling up the auditorium ahead of the start; as for the production, I was impressed by the set, lighting and performances but the play itself I found less enjoyable with most of the characters being quite an unpleasant bunch who probably deserved what they got.

Sporting Theatre

A couple of tasty sporting clashes on TV this evening with Judd Trump beating Ronnie O’Sullivan in the snooker and then the Champion’s League highlights, which lived up to their name as Barcelona made an incredible comeback from the 4-0 first leg defeat, beating PSG by 6-1, with their last three goals coming after the 87^th minute.

Counting Calories

My expanding stomach is becoming a concern so yesterday began a four week experiment in calorie counting (timed to commence after a rash of birthday and other planned meals out) which I found easier to do than expected, with the food labelling clear and concise, useful websites on the internet, and of course my ability to count for England; however today’s count was not helped (or was helped too much) by a couple of regular events – coffee and cake in my driving break and a couple of pints at the pub quiz.

Drawing the Line

The lack of attendance by my Wednesday learners led to me effectively giving in my notice on the job today, drawing a metaphorical line under an interesting but largely frustrating couple of years working with excluded pupils, in which I have signally failed to make any impact on their blighted lives; more encouraging is the supplementary private work I do with year six pupils where I know the preparation done today – geometry, so drawing real lines, angles and polygons – will be actually used and be useful.

Birthday Gifts

It is characteristic of my wife that she spent a significant portion of her birthday tending to the sick (her father with a gouty leg up on the sofa) and the hungry (her son in need of a parmo), not to mention trying to source a present for a friend with a sad anniversary due; however she did get to sit down long enough to open presents both at home and on our errands of mercy.

Off Day

Standing a few yards from the team benches at a non-league football match gives an insight into the often foul-mouthed interaction between managers and players (and officials too, though there the language is moderated to the simply abusive) and at today’s game at Bishop Auckland an on-going altercation between the Ryhope manager and goalkeeper came to an abrupt end when the keeper told his boss to f*** off – the apoplectic manager’s response was to haul him off via the substitute board and replace him with the clearly startled reserve keeper on the bench (who fortunately had consumed no pies); the recalcitrant number one was not even allowed into the dug-out, instead sent like a naughty schoolboy to the changing rooms, with even his place on the team bus home seemingly in doubt.

No Longer the Bored

The now long retired management team had its AGM (Annual Geriatric Meeting) today, with lunch at the Derry in Longnewton and though while working our board meetings were often tedious, our social reconvening is more convivial and, given the variety of holidays, outings, events and activities reported on, can in no way be termed a meeting of the bored.

Shopping Video

Today I went shopping twice, to the same shop, and both times I filled my basket with the same items from the same list, the only difference between visits was that the second time I took some money with me - fortunately on the first visit I discovered my lack of means before getting to the till, so all I had to do was retrace my steps, replacing all the items back on the shelves, before wheeling my empty trolley back out to the car park; the experience was akin to watching a video on TV, then on rewind, then again in fast forward, as on my return I sped round in double time.

Atlas at Last

My public hankering for an old atlas paid dividends today with the arrival of a 1972 edition of the Philip’s Modern School Atlas, procured on E-bay by my sister; all the old favourites are there in Europe and Africa, while in the Americas, British Honduras remains (not yet Belize) having not yet gone the way of British Guiana (already Guyana).