General Chat

Yes no surprise as you say Ann. What a mess it all is.

Still very grey and very, very wet. It’s just falling out of the sky at the moment.

:-D :-D :-D Well done Mel :-D :-D :-D

I have spent half the morning chopping stuff for a red cabbage casserole. I use a Delia recipe that suits our taste and I use my huge casserole and make about 12 good helpings and freeze them in portions of 2 helpings. We probably only have it once a month so that’ll keep us going for 6 months. It only needs a couple of minutes reheating in the microwave. I did think of doing it in the slow cooker but it does need a stir from time to time and you shouldn’t keep lifting the lid on the slow cooker.

Ann, the auto setting is for cooking rather than just heating up. The book says:

The slow cooker will automatically begin cooking in high temperature mode until the cooker reaches a temperature of 96-97 degrees C. At this point the cooker will switch to low setting. Temperature will be maintained and if necessary high temperature will be reselected depending on changes in ambient temperature etc.

It’s supposed to be more economical than having it on high all the time.

Inevitable wasn't it? Just really not up to the part of the job that meant taking on all the bitchiness. How can anyone do their job in the face of all that I wonder?
the soup is very nice, enough for tomorrow as well and the veg would have been thrown out otherwise, basic taste was carrot as there was more of that but the leeks are in the background as well, it was very smooth and nice and thick.

I love fish fingers in buns/sandwiches.

Suns been out here which I did'nt expect. Popped down the post van with a parcel.

15 degrees here and still sunny at the mo.

BIL has the mower going hooray now I can use the big trailer when I cut stuff down. I hav'nt asked him about the pond yet..... but he's not the BIL that knows about ponds.


I wrote this this morning beforeI went to the post van and did'nt post it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of course as you rightly say AnnG, using a smart plug would likely mean it would be on a timer. Mel's OH was a whizz with setting things up on Alexa so may even have had voice control on the smart plug. It's good you have got it all working again Mel and it must be a weight off your mind.

We had a job to get to the restaurant today! First, one road was closed due to some sort of maintenance so we had to follow a diversion for a few miles, then the road ahead was closed off with a police car and policeman standing in the rain!! To top it off OH noticed there was only 99 miles before the fuel tank was empty and the figure seemed to be dropping faster than the miles we were doing. We had a nice chat with Sharon when we got there but there was only one other customer so still not much trade and they still haven't put the carvery back on. We both had a brioche bun with fish fingers, side salad and coleslaw, but there was plenty and it was very filling. We called at the first garage we saw on the way back to fill the car up and it did seem empty so it wasn't the guage. OH was ok driving, so will drive himself tomorrow which will save me taking then fetching him.

That's a good way to use up the veg AnnG and will be nice being as it's a bit chilly today.

I see Liz Truss has resigned.........no surprise there!

surely Mel if the smart plug was in it would only have worked at the times set for the plug so a good move to remove it. I have done the same here as I have not a clue how to access any instructions given by T.

well done for getting it all sorted. On to the next job now. No sun here all morning although it is beginning to look a bit brighter and I think the rain may have stopped. Just making some soup for lunch got rid of some tired veg.

OOOOOOOoooooo I have the pump working and the scimmer. I don't know what I did but I tried some more switches for the scimmer and got that working I was so pleased with myself I turned around and the big filter was working. Pleased as punch now!!!! :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

BIL has the mower working and is cutting the top field AND the suns still shining and its warm out there. There's been the dragon fly around the ponds too.

Chuffed to bits. I must admit I took the smart plug out which the scimmer was plugged into and just plugged the plug in the socket and knocked the leccy out so had to come in and put that back on but it was worth it. HOORAY...... :-D

Morning All,

Raining here and only 13 degrees, a right miserable morning!

AnnG the one on display was red, but I think it may come in other colours too......I will check as there's nothing else red in my kitchen.

Vera that was useful about the settings on your slow cooker, particularly the auto setting. Is that one just for heating up and keeping warm?

Better go as we are going out for lunch, just a jacket potato I think, and OH is ready to go.

Antique even Vera? :-D

Ann I had a senior moment with mine, it is white, my previous one was red but that had a heavy china type container and couldn't be used on the hob to brown. This one is much better and yes it is M Richards.
Still pouring with rain here.

Just thought I'd check on google. I don't think my slow cooker is made any more. You can tell how old it is - ebay have several used ones and they are advertised as Vintage. They seem to be going for about £40 but none of them have the auto setting like mine. I'd better take care not to damage mine as I clearly won't be able to replace it with one the same.

Good morning Mel, AnnG and all

What a murky, grey, wet day it is. It'll be another day of no gardening. The computer is telling me the rain is going to stop in 114 minutes - how can it be so exact?

I hope BIL can get your mower sorted and help with the pond equipment Mel. For goodness sake be careful yourself. Our old pond was only 5 feet deep and I wouldn't have wanted to try and climb out of that.

I've had my slow cooker so long that I can't even remember when and where we got it. I don't think we bought it so it was probably a present from my brother who was the only rellie likely to buy us something like that. Mine has a low, high and auto switch and I mostly use the auto. That starts on high and when it has reached the correct temperature it switches itself to low but that should be enough to keep it at the higher temperature. If the temperature does drop for any reason it switches itself back to high.

I haven't got any plans for today. I might do a bit of cooking if I can get in the mood. Enjoy whatever you're doing today. Might BBL

good morning mel and all. asleep by 1045last night, woke for the loo at 0515, laid awake for about an hour then woks at 0818 so had a good night's sleep. Nothing planned for today but plenty to do, not going anywhere which is probably just as well as it is 15 degrees and raining.

Morning all,

Another dull and dismal day, a day where you have to have the lights on to see where your going. Its 12 degrees and pc says mostly cloudy.

BIL coming today to hopefully mend the mower and put a new belt on it as he managed to shred the other one.

Better get washed before he arrives.

O vera what a day you and I had had but your account of the goings on made me laugh and I needed that today.

BIL rang this evening and he is coming tomorrow to try and fix the mower and has new parts for it so he will help me with the pond too I hope. If he can get the pump out of the pond other BIL will give me advice to see if the impella is the trouble. I shall alos so Iif I can't find out when oh bouhgt htis pump as I know it was this year and it should have a 24 month thingy on it. So I may not be around tomorrow much during the day but will pop in in the morning to say hi.

Going to bed now as BIL is coming early whatever that means.

Very funny Vera :-D
You certainly brought your AGM to life. I was imagining the cast from Acorn Antiques LOL :-D :-D

Oh Vera what a time you have had! I did chuckle at the patting heads and rubbing tummies and would love to have been a fly on the wall and seen the look on everyone's faces. When you were saying who wasn't attending my first thought was whether the meeting was quorate as I'm always hearing OH say it about his meetings at the schools. It's surprising how many don't understand about it. Then your birthday girl's do at your place made me laugh too when she wished you happy birthday. You have to see the funny side of these things and laugh it off lightly and it sounded as if she really enjoyed herself, even if she soon forgot.

I think I would be too stressed trying to maintain the equipment for the Koi Mel, especially when things stopped working. Koi are very sensitive about the water quality aren't they. If the pond is that deep it might be an idea to make a way to climb out just in case you did fall in some time.

Thanks for the feedback on your slow cooker AnnG. it's much appreciated and yes it is a red one so sounds just the same. I think if I stick to wooden or plastic implements the non stick might be ok for a long time then. I want it mostly to slow cook stews, soups, rice pudding etc. so I can freeze extra portions. I have the pressure cooker which is quite quick, but is much heavier and you can't go out and leave it like you can a slow cooker. I think for me it will be more useful than a soup maker as well as I have a liquidiser to reduce a soup down. I do my baked pots in the microwave as well, but even a slow cooker would be much cheaper if you normally did them in the oven. Martin Lewis on tv last night said it would cost 3p to do a baked pot in a microwave 34p in a normal oven. I was amazed at the tiny tabletop grill/ovens you can buy now that would be big enough for 2 people. Unless you have a family or do baking and can fill an oven like Vera does, it isn't worth using a wasteful big oven if you can manage without. Our microwave doubles as a convection oven and I cook things like chops in it and even a small chicken.

Best leave the pump to BiL Mel you don’t want to go for a swim!

Vera I did enjoy that. Well the AGM you could not make it up could you. Fancy the retiring chair not turning up, that is bad manners. And the raffle! That was hilarious.
Thanks for the chuckles and I am so pleased the tea party went well. :-)

Part 2 of the saga

Now it was time for the AGM. Only 2 of the committee of 5 were there. Have you heard of an AGM where the committee don’t attend? The chairman was resigning so she had gone off on a last minute holiday when she should at least have run the meeting, given her report, stepped down and handed over to whoever was elected in her place. She hadn’t even prepared a report for someone to read out for her. The treasurer was on holiday but had at least prepared some accounts and left them with someone and the third member (who had the key to our cupboard) just didn’t bother. That left one poor girl trying to run the AGM, take minutes, read her own secretary’s report, answer questions on the treasurer’s accounts and so on and so on. The upshot eventually was a new chairman was elected, the existing treasurer and the two committee members who were in attendance were re-elected. The one who didn’t come and seldom attends meetings anyway is off the committee as she hadn’t indicated that she was willing to be re-elected.

I think the new Chairman will shake things up a bit and will be better organized. Someone told her that I had run the club for many years before she joined so she has already asked me if we had a quorum at the AGM (yes, we did) and do we have a proper Constitution (yes we do, I wrote it when I needed it to set up a better banking system for the Club).

The evening was nearly over but there was one more silly incident to come. When we go in we pay a £2 entrance fee and that includes a drink and biscuit and a raffle ticket. When we came to draw the raffle a couple of numbers were drawn out and no-one seemed to have them. Then we noticed that while we all had 1 ticket, one man had several (it turned out to be 16). We are not sure why he suddenly took all these off the table, as he is an old member and knows we pick up 1 ticket. The person organizing the raffle noticed there were none on the table so put out some more and someone else trying to be helpful thought these were the counterfoils so folded them all up and put them in a pot ready to be drawn out. So the numbers being drawn bore no relationship to the raffle tickets we all had. At that point I went back to the kitchen to wipe down the surfaces and close up so I don’t know how they got out of that one.

The whole evening was a complete farce. If you were watching it on stage you’d have laughed like a drain. Life’s just one big adventure here.

On to yesterday which, thankfully, was a great day. I tidied the lounge and cleaned the downstairs toilets and OH moved chairs and tables around for me. Then friend M arrived with the things she had got with the money we had all contributed which were a huge, triple layer chocolate cake and candles that spelt out Happy Birthday, a kg box of milk, dark and white chocolates and a really beautiful flower arrangement. We arranged them all on a trolley in a cool room so we just had to light the candles and wheel the trolley in. I got out all the best Royal Doulton china and some pretty serviettes and set out a plate of fancy biscuits, a plate of plainer ones, some cheesy ones and some crisps as nibbles.

Everyone arrived about 2 and friend J collected the birthday girl and got her to mine about 2.15. I went to meet her as the car drove up and she wished me a happy birthday and gave me a hug. I had to tell her it was her birthday we were celebrating but she didn’t believe me until later. Everything went extremely well and there was lots of chat and laughter with the first cuppa and nibbles, then M and I went out and wheeled in the trolley and our 90 year old shed a few tears when she realized it really was for her. I made fresh drinks and M cut the cake and everyone had a huge slice. We also had a small vanilla cream sponge for any non-chocolate eaters.

No-one left till 5.30. The birthday girl kept forgetting she had said goodbye to me and must have come back 4 or 5 times to give me a hug and thank me and each time she had another little cry. In the end I had to say “You are getting chilly and J is waiting to drive you home so you must get in the car now.” Then J noticed that she hadn’t got her glasses on. Our lovely lady declared that she didn’t wear glasses but she does and we thought she had them on when she arrived. So back indoors I go and hunt the kitchen and the lounge, no glasses. Then I remembered she had put a small bag in the back of J.’s car. Sure enough, inside the bag were a pair of slippers and inside a slipper were her glasses.

She left smiling and waving and looking very happy. We know that she probably has forgotten her tea here already but I hope the happy feeling will stay with her for a while.

Well, I told you I would bore you rigid didn’t I? It’s time I stopped typing and started sorting out tonight’s dinner.

Pond pump still not working I think I will have to see if I can get the pump out the pond to check the impeller but I think I will leave that till BIL is here on Saturday. He has a better chance of lifting it out of the pond than I have and I don't want to fall in the pond as its about 7 foot deep. and if I go in I shan't be able to get out and can't take my phone with me to ring anyone.

I shall be glad to go to bed tonight and hope tomorrow brings a better day with it.

Vera you did make me laugh at your meeting but at least you had soemthing to wet your whistle in the end be it no sugar for those who take it. :-S

I am looking forward to the sequel Vera/ At least it gave me a laugh as I am sure you had with fellow members eventually. when things go wrong they often go really wrong.

Just back from the U3a main meeting. That was a really good talk he must have talked for about 40 minutes about the exhibits in Nature in Art and it was so interesting. He didn't have a note. Made me want to go back and have another look at the exhibits so maybe next year I will. although it is not cheap to go in.

At tea break I seemed to have a long chat to everyone afterwards well, not everyone well over a hundred there but spoke to a lot of people. brain buzzing now but a good feeling. Then when we got home sat chatting to Barbara for ages in the car. Wouldn't think I spent yesterday with her. There is always something to chat about.

We crossed with our posts Island, I see you answered my question before I asked it. Pleased the pain is getting less spiteful.