Last of the fine days

 

With an eye to the weather forecast, we thought we’d go and take a look on Tuesday, from a safe distance, at some of the cruise ships berthed at Tilbury.  Only one at a riverside mooring, the much-renamed Columbus, last operated by the now bankrupt CMV.  Its stablemate (sorry - bad analogy) Astor is also berthed in the port, together with Gaga’s latest along with many others.  Our future cruise plans are now in serious doubt.  The next one is scheduled for next July, and I suppose someone may have pulled a rabbit out of the pharmaceutical hat by then.  Though one has to say that Gravesend is not exactly the jewel in Kent’s crown, the promenade is pleasant enough a place to sit on a wall and eat an egg and cress sandwich from M&S.

I’ve picked best part of a kilo of tomatoes today, and two modest portions of passata are cooling down for the freezer.  Our home-grown spuds are now a fond memory, but we’ve had gardener Ben round to estimate for some raised veggie beds, so we may have a more varied and longer lasting crop next year, if we’re spared.  The runner beans continue to crop well, so with luck we’ll be picking for a week or two longer.

Indian summer days out

At Martyn’s suggestion yesterday, we cut some sandwiches and took ourselves out for a spot of sea air, motoring down to the coast at the Birling Gap, part way along the line of chalk cliffs between Seaford and Eastbourne in East Sussex.  The drive took a bit longer than expected, since soon after leaving town we got caught up behind a tractor and trailer.  The driver sportingly pulled over into a lay-by to let the tail get past and press on to the next set of roadworks.  Of which there were many.  We got slightly lost in the outskirts of Eastbourne, so got a small bonus of a tour via the Long Man of Wilmington which (whom?) I hadn't seen before.  On reading up when I got home, I find that he is almost certainly not of prehistoric origins, But dates at the earliest from the 16th century, And quite possibly from C18, depending which story you read.  Neither is

he carved into the chalk, since the soil thereabouts is too deep.  The white outline at one time consisted of whitewashed yellow bricks, which have subsequently been replaced by breeze blocks painted white.  Striking all the same.

We were astonished to see how many cars were parked at the Birling Gap.  Fortunately, as a life National Trust member, I get to park free of charge close to the stairs by flashing my membership card at the machine.  There were a lot of people on the beach and in the water, including several exuberant dogs!  We didn’t hang around too long, since the beach was so busy.  We’d no trouble keeping our distance while we had our lunch, but I was a bit anxious about using the stairs to and from the beach since there was no hope or maintaining the recommended two metres distance.  We slapped on masks,  unlike anyone else we saw, since we each have plenty of reasons to try to avoid infection.

Although I no longer send people to clink, I retain the letters after the name, so can be asked to authenticate signatures on declarations not involving oaths.  I had four to deal with yesterday evening in a pleasant rural environment.  But when one punter drove in with his mobile phone clamped to his ear, he got the benefit of a beakish dressing down.  Old habits die hard.

Today our outing was somewhat more mundane.  When I was changing bed linen this morning I could see that it was time for some new pillows.  We took ourselves off to a well-known big shed just outside the county town, and I foolishly remarked en route that we were out of town within twelve minutes compared with the usual 25-30 when I was doing the journey first thing in the morning for days at the hobby.  We had a long wait at a four-way traffic light where they are tinkering with a roundabout, and had two or three other waits at roadworks on the way.  So, one way and another, in the past two days we’ve seen enough traffic lights to last us a lifetime.

Anyway, at said big shed we quickly found what we were after, and had paid and left within five minutes. Sad, the rewards of life in retirement: I feel modestly pleased at having got two lots of bedding washed and dried, the new lot out on the line and well on the way, and two pillows in the washing machine (they’ll do for spares).  Stand by for further balls-achingly boring bulletins of elderly domesticity.

Autumn already

 

A consolation of approaching autumn is the emergence of some old favourites, like this cyclamen, which colleague Jane invited me to plunder from her garden before she moved - gosh! - ten years ago.  So that’s as long as we’ve had the motor mower, which she didn’t need in her new garden.  It’s therefore entitled to be on its last legs: like its owner, the engine is in good shape, but the bodywork is rotting away.  It’s still working, however, and saves a whole lot of effort compared with the old electric job.  But I’m researching rechargeable battery machines

Tomorrow being shopping day, I was rather scratching around this evening for supper ingredients. So it was a mug of pasta into lots of boiling water, a packet of smoked lardons sweated over a medium-low flame, followed by half an onion finely chopped and a clove of garlic, the remaining half of a red pepper, the last mushroom and a handful of our tomatoes, halved and de-seeded.  Salt, pepper and basil, plus a good dollop of crème fraîche, and freshly grated Parmesan.  Bob: uncle; Fanny: aunt.

I can’t begin to describe my feelings about our political masters either side of the pond.  All I’d say is that HMG is thrashing around like a rudderless dinghy in a gale, and N°45 is advocating voting felony to his supporters, while doing all he can to undermine the voting system itself.  The times are depressing enough as it is without the increasing threats to democracy.

Closer to home, the third visit from the wasp man seems to have done the trick.  I sent him up into the garage loft this time, and he admitted that the latest nasty materials are less effective than the old stuff, to which he has reverted.