Swimming

 Does anyone swim regularly? Obviously it helps if you live close to a swimming pool but it is great exercise which works all the muscles with no impact.And it is a true year round activity.

All change or maybe not

 Well a bit of rain is helpful for the garden but it does need a lot more.

I am bored of reading about climate change. Yee gods, it is always changing. People like to quote experts - are these the same experts who forecast a mini ice age. Does anyone else totally ignore these cabals of experts, those who forecast anything from climate emergency, no there isn't and even if there was there is nothing mankind can do about it; to Covid and the huge numbers that will die from it, that hasn't happened either; to the predictions in the early 1970's that oil would run out by the year 2000, yet here we are twenty years on with more cars on the roads than ever.

Get a grip, climate change/emergency is a nudge technique by those with private jets who are laughing at the gullible minions.

Ice ice baby

 Another hot day can only mean one thing, time to de-ice the freezer. Even though it says frost free...

Another chore and it is a chore is descaling the kettle. The limescale in this area is a lot, when we go to London and the soft water there I always forget and use the same amount of shampoo which takes an age to wash out.

Is anyone else picking brambles - blackberries? There are plenty around but I think that they are early this year.

Let's go fly. . .

 Does anyone still fly a traditional kite? 

Apart from me.

I have loved flying kites since I was very young. I remember going out late one day with my parents and sisters by a beach and the wind was blowing from the car park out to sea. We had a box kite made of canvas. I flew it and the wind was pulling the line so strongly that it was beginning to drag me along so my Dad tied it to the handle of the car. I was later mildly chastised for letting too much line out as it took some time to wind in.

Pinny time

 Everyone must have a favourite cake. Whilst a Victoria sandwich cake is always welcome my favourite is a madeira cake with caraway seeds. I read somewhere that the amount of caraway seeds should just be enough to give the cake an aroma of caraway. Not for me, I have yet to eat a cake that has too many caraway seeds.

Another cake favourite is a chocolate cake made with oil instead of margerine or butter. Don't let the idea of vegetable oil put you off, the cake is very light and doesn't leave a claggy feeling in the mouth that some hard fats can.

I have never quite perfected a carrot cake but I do enjoy a well made one. Finally a lemon cake is always quickly eaten.

There is something so satisfying about making a cake, it is relatively quick and the results whilst the cake is still warm can be fantastic.

A toast to the sandwich maker

 After the last post story about a landline phone, more nostalgia now.

A sandwich toaster. Whoever though of buttering the outside of two slices of bread putting a filling inside and heating it up? But they must have had corned beef in mind.

We had a hankering for toasted corned beef sandwiches - with a bit of mayonnaise in the mix. A quick easy meal but oh so tasty. Plenty of mixed vegetables too surely means that it is a well balanced meal. Protein, vegetables, carbohydrates, fibre it must be approved by any decent dietician.

Phoney

 Does anyone else think that quality of almost everything is getting worse? It doesn't seem to matter whether it is a top price item in a product range or a budget buy, they all seem to go wrong . Perhaps it is because some products are getting more complicated.

We had a landline phone (anyone remember those?) which would display the number of the caller. Very handy when we were receiving silent calls. Not the most expensive nor the cheapest but a middle price by a well known manufacturer.

The first one didn't work at all but the second one did. For eight months before that too packed up.

So we had a bit of a day out to take the phone back and this time get a refund rather than a replacement.

Because of the limescale in the water in this area we don't buy an expensive iron or kettle. Those are definitely not worth paying too much for. Whilst not wanting to be part of the throwaway society some things have a limited shelf life.