Your not going to believe this, but I'm not well. Or to be more precise, "The Emma's" given me the lurgey! Not only am I not feeling very good, but that's also put pay to this weekends adventures, and more importantly, left me actually feeling my age. The most annoying thing (apart from it all being "the Emma's" fault, is I'm never not well. In fact I can't remember the last time when I didn't feel well. I'll grant you I have the odd day when I don't feel 100%, but feeling like I do today, never. I've not had a day off work, sick, since 2016, and then it was works fault for pulling my wisdom teeth out, and even then I was only off for one day, and before that, well I've no idea, maybe 2001? Anyhow, the pesky one was away at the Goodwood Festival of speed last weekend whilst I was trying to run a stupid distance and when she came back she had a stinking cold. Not wanting to catch it I've been avoiding here all week, not that that's a bad thing, but it was to no avail and Friday afternoon the lurgey got me. I had planned on doing a 300km Audax on Saturday, with an early start from home, and I even managed to get as far as getting up for a brew at Audax O'Clock (03:30) hoping that I'd be OK, but slunk back to bed half an hour later feeling sorry for myself and shelved all those plans. Never one to sit around feeling sorry for myself though, I've still been pottering around, starting with a bit of Baking Saturday morning in an attempt to use up some allotment raspberries. That's the only problem with the allotment, it's all or nothing and the summer fruit is going full guns at the minute. I've had more strawberries than I can count in my morning cereals for the last month or so, and still made a few jars of jam which will go a treat in my porridge through the winter months, transporting me effortlessly back to those heady summer months. What to do with half a punnet of raspberries though? Well, chuck in a couple of scabby bananas and what have we got? Yep, Banana, Raspberry bread! While I'm on the subject of fruit and cooking, I've knocked up a couple of batches of jam in the last couple of weeks too. Firstly 4 jars of Strawberry, then 2 jars of Strawberry and Raspberry which I'm not too sure about, I think the Raspberries overpower the Strawberries but like most things if you don't try you don't know, and lastly 5 jars of Raspberry and Loganberry. While I'm dragging up random pictures, how about these. Everything on the allotments finally got going and the Sweet Peas are in full bloom. I must confess that I've got a real soft spot for Sweet Peas and whilst they don't last long, the scent and colours are amazing. Just that small bunch is almost overpowering, with just the most amazing perfume and another real smell of summer as far as I'm concerned. In fact, it wouldn't be summer without Sweet Peas, Petunias and Nicotiana's adding their sweet perfume and colours to a summer evening! A few hours on the allotment over the weekend has got everything ship shape there too. I will say that everything is very dry, and despite it seemingly managing to rain most Saturdays, I don't think that we've actually had that much rain this year? Rain or not though, the greenhouse is looking good with the first trusses of Tomatoes setting and we've already had a couple of Cucumbers, with plenty more to follow. The Parsnips and Beetroot which I sowed in late April are starting to get established after a slow start, and I've just sowed another row of Beetroot and Carrot's which will hopefully keep us going into the autumn and beyond. The French and Runner beans are up to the top of the canes and in full flower and it won't be long before we're tucking into the Courgettes. We've been making the most of the Peas and Broad Beans too, in fact Pea and Bean Risotto is another favourite of mine. You just can't beat the taste of a freshly picked and podded Pea, although I've no idea how they get the peas out of the pods commercially as it a right fiddly task. Yes, things are certainly looking good on the allotment front. In other news, being stuck at home with the sun shining I got the paintbrushes out and slapped a coat of wood preservative on the log store that I made at the start of last year (18 months, that's not bad going) and even if I do say so myself it looks pretty good. Unfortunately that made the sheds look shabby, so whilst I had the stuff out, they got a quick going over too. Have I ever mentioned that I hate painting? Well in case I haven't, I do, and it's even worse when your not feeling brilliant! I'm sure you'll agree that it was worth a couple of hours of suffering though. Fingers crossed, by next weekend I'll be fully recovered and back to top form (I need to be as I've got a big weekend planned) and I'll have something better to talk about. But until then, the sun's still shining so I might as well make use of being at home and go and wash the van. At least then when I do get back out, I'll look presentable!
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Paul PerrattOld enough to know better, young enough to still feel invincible, stupid enough to keep on trying the same thing again and again. Cyclist, Gardener, Runner, Hiker, Cook, Woodworker, Engineer, Jack of all trades and master of none, Anti social old git and all round miserable bugger. Archives
March 2024
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