Reassuring

When the news is so unremittingly depressing, a Macmillan coffee morning is a good reminder that there are good and generous people all around us.  We had good fun preparing it too.  On the savoury side, there were sausage rolls, a couple of pizzas and smoked salmon palmiers.  The sweet stuff (which went less well) included a Victoria sponge, blueberry muffins, apple and sultana filo parcels (apples from our tree), a couple of lots of biscuits and Martyn’s famous scones.  We bought the pastry and some of the jam, but by and large it was all from Pâtisserie Forges-l’Evêque.  We had over twenty guests: friends, neighbours and colleagues, so the atmosphere was quite festive. We were very lucky with the weather, so we had the doors open, and the party spilled out into the garden.  We sold quite a few packets of seeds, saved from flowers in the garden, at a pound a pinch.  We think some people who couldn’t come will have donated from their mobile phones, and I have a couple of promises of cash.  I banked £375 yesterday, so we may finish up with over £400.  Not bad, since our target was to beat last year’s £195.

I wasted a 40-mile round trip on the hobby yesterday.   Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we had a jobbing builder in to do some tidying up of brickwork on the back of the house: filling the holes left by the redundant overflow pipe and cooker hood vent.  Money well spent: the place looks far tidier now for it.

Today, the gas man cameth and installed the Hive equipment, which should correct the anomalous thermostat arrangements and allow us to control the heating remotely from our phones.  So we’ll be able to leave the place on frost protect when we’re away, and wind the wick up when we’re a couple of hours from home.  All clever stuff.