Knitting, rowing, beekeeping, walking, photography, computers (tinkering, running websites for other people), reading. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with activities, and lately I've not done as much photography as I'd like. But I really enjoy everything I do - I have a great bunch of friends with overlapping interests.
Growing up we had a coal fire in the sitting room and a coal range in the kitchen. The range was a wet-back, so it heated water as well. Lovely and cosy in the winter but sweltering in the summer. We had a special coal shed. The coalman would carry big sacks of coal in on his shoulder and empty them into the bin. Coal on one side, firewood and kindling on the other. Mum had the knack of setting the flues just so at night to bank the fire, so that in the morning it just needed a couple of sticks of kindling on the embers to get it going again.
The range was a bastard to cook on. The spot directly over the firebox was hottest. If you needed it even hotter you could lift a cover off - it had a second ring outside that for bigger pans. Moving along from the hot spot towards the chimney were cooler sections. For the lowest heat you moved the pan to the back. There was so much shuffling around! And don't get me started on the oven. And the constant film of soot, the gusts of ash when you shovelled in coal from the scuttle. Gross. I love my induction hob and electric oven.
A ship that size takes a loooong time to stop. There are no brakes. It has momentum and will keep moving forward, even without propulsion, even with the engine in full astern mode.
Absolutely. My sister had brain cancer. The symptom that sent her to a doctor was "absence seizures", where she would sit quietly, apparently awake, but unable to respond to anyone speaking to her. She said it was a very strange feeling, being aware but not really "there". She died six months after diagnosis.
When I still worked my favourite lunch was ramen. I had square plastic clip-top boxes, perfect shape for ramen blocks. Pop in the ramen, sprinkle with the seasoning packet (or seasonings of your choice) and top with whatever veg you have to hand. Sugarsnap peas, baby corn, spring onion (scallions), zucchini, greens, shredded carrot, bell pepper. If you have cooked chicken, add a slice of that. Clip the lid back on.
At lunchtime, open the box, add boiling water to cover the ramen, close the box again and wait for three minutes or so for the ramen to cook. I guess access to boiling water might be tricky in the US - in the UK our staff canteen had a boiling water dispenser for tea-making.
Ooooh ok, in that context I can see what the issue is. That is such a heads-up for me in terms of making assumptions based on my own privilege, and I apologise for doing that here. I'm very lucky to be able to discuss politics without fear. I wish you all the best.
Agreed. My 2011 Toyota Auris hybrid is still chuntering along with minimal issues. A friend got a new car recently and its electronic horrorshow puts me right off giving up my dumb old car.
English lavender is a bit sturdier than French lavender, I've found. It does better at surviving a harsh winter. Mine did so well my neighbours complained about it encroaching on their footpath and I had to hack it back.
Such a weird concept - you don't trust someone who has a wide variety of friends? I have several very different hobbies/activities, so naturally there's little overlap in my friend groups. Most of my friends are like this - for example one belongs to three choirs and I don't know any of those friends. Or her kayaking friends, or her work friends. I'm giggling thinking how baffled she'd be if I started questioning her "loyalty". Even my very closest friends have other friend groups I'm not part of. So what?
And if you still want to buy them they cost a stupid amount (I just checked - £15 in Tesco for 20 B&H!), plus there's a huge illustrated message on the packet about illness and death. I can't fathom why anyone still smokes.
"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. ... But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."
Matthew 6:5-6
My siblings and I often marvel that we survived growing up in the 1950s and 60s. DDT, leaded petrol, lead paint, asbestos fake snow, most adults smoking like chimneys, coal fires.... My brother recently got through a type of leukaemia linked to the glue he used to make model planes.
On the other hand, plastic was rare back then. Containers were metal, glass, wood, ceramic. Shopping was carried in string bags or wicker baskets. The butcher wrapped meat in paper, lined with a sheet of waxed paper if it was bleeding. When plastic arrived big style it was cool, convenient, modern. In the 70s everyone had Tupperware - argh, those parties...
This was all in New Zealand btw, something of a conservative backwater. The Australian time zone joke ran: "If it's 7pm in Sydney, it's 1956 in Auckland."
I've eaten a lot of Tony's chocolate, and one day I was strolling around Amsterdam on Street View and noticed a whole shop devoted to it. Wow! And I thought, huh, in Holland they call it ChocoLONELY, not ChocoLONEY.
Fast forward and there I was, scouring UK grocery sites and discovering the horrible truth: it had always been lonely. Why? WHY, TONY? What are you trying to say?
Knitting, rowing, beekeeping, walking, photography, computers (tinkering, running websites for other people), reading. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with activities, and lately I've not done as much photography as I'd like. But I really enjoy everything I do - I have a great bunch of friends with overlapping interests.