Icelandic Meltdown

Sorry not to have written. I've been really busy with the new teaching term, and things have been going so well at the allotment, that I've really not had anything to write about! But today that has all changed, as I've just been noted that my esteemed Council has been putting all my hard earned Council Tax into Icelandic banks. Gordon Bennett! Things had already been hotting up in that department, as only two weeks ago I applied for a renewed Resident Parking Permit plus two Visitor Parking Permits (for H). When the letter arrived the Visitor Permits were nowhere to be seen. This meant dashing off another letter, of course. Anyway, I'd just received a letter from the Head of Customer Relations apologising for the oversight and enclosing my permits, when I heard the appalling news about the whereabouts of my Council Tax! Frankly, it has been a taxing week on all fronts. On Monday, Roland Garros went missing, only to return at 5.30 am (yes, I was waiting up for him, and yes, teaching the next day was rather difficult.) Then, yesterday I went to pick up two parcels at the Royal Mail and the git behind the counter almost refused to give them to me because I had not brought the square of cardboard with me that had been shoved through the door. I was then very surprised to find that the parcels were not the garlic and daffodil bulbs I was dressed to plant (perhaps this was why the Royal Mail employee treated me with so little respect?) , but a couple of QVC purchases I was trying to hide from H. So, I went up to allotment anyway and tried on my new trousers and jewelry. Well, we all need something to cheer us up in these difficult times...

Jellied Brain

You might like to know that I now have 9 friends on Facebook. However, their Superfriends application has just informed me I have zero popularity and am classified as a "wallflower". There's still work to be done then...One other exciting revelation today. I got my "Everything You Need for Teaching Psychology" catalogue from Uniview (http://www.uniview.co.uk/). Whoever would have thought one needed 1) Jellied Brain Sweets 2) A Thinking Cap (revealing one's head as uncovered brain tissue), and 3) sets of S-t-r-e-t-c-h Your Students exercises, to teach the subject. And I only have the textbook! I had wanted to order a model brain, but found that theirs were much too expensive. A pity really, if I had spent over £75 I could have had a free Obsessive Compulsive Disorder poster! I thought it was about time I gave you a recipe or two to help you understand just how wonderful having an allotment can be. Here's my farmer's wife winter casserole recipe: Get a medium sized casserole dish. Put one or two pork chops in the bottom. Add any seasonal veg from your allotment. This may be: garlic, onion, carrots, and cauliflower heads. Place a few leaves of sage and one bay leaf (also from the allotment) on top of the veg. Chop up and core an apple (either from the allotment, or brought at Apple Day...). Put this on top of veg. Add about a cup full of water and salt/pepper to taste. Put in oven at Gas Mark 2. Cook for 2 hours. Oh heck, I'll have to go now. I just realised I forgot to put the apple in.

An Apple A Day...

I expect you' ve been wondering what I've been doing. On Friday I went to the allotment as usual. Getting there was a bit traumatic as I discovered I couldn't turn my windscreen wipers off. To make matters worse I was just demonstrating the problem to the clients when I accidently sprayed one of them copiously with windscreen cleaner fluid (My, that stuff travels!). Anyway I finally managed to find the 'off' position and we got down to planting our Autumn broad beans (very important to plant broad beans in the Autums so that they ripen before the blackfly come out---Aquadulce is the best sort). We also got in some fine pink garlic (much milder than the white varieties) and onion sets. I don't want to say anything more about onion sets as they are tedious. If it was up to me we wouldn't plant onion sets...Anyway the next day I discovered I couldn't turn my battery operated toothbrush off. Spooky! My much toothpaste-soiled Husband and I then argued about what we would do with the day. I suggested Swaffham, as the newspaper said they were celebrating Apple Day at the eco-tech centre there. When we got there the whole place was closed, so we spent the afternoon in Swaffham. An experience not to be missed if you want to pick up some cheap agricultural implements (but not worth it otherwise!). I mustn't be too rude as I picked up a really lovely bay tree for the allotment for under £5.00. I then realised that I hadn't mentioned Apple Day to any of you, and I'd completely forgotten about Blog Action Day---a day when all of us with Blogs were supposed to unite and write something environmental. I can't remember if I did or not....Oh blast! I finally got to the Apple Day at our Botanic Gardens. The queues just to taste a bloody apple had to be seen to be believed! I could barely get near the things, and ended up taking photos of the lovely Autumn colours instead. I've included one for you to look at.