I received some lovely presents, some known about, many unknown. Items for journaling, some more gorgeous Japanese snips, gardening gloves, bee wax wraps, soaps and a few sweets.
I am entitled to my state pension, but so far, not a peep regarding when they will start to pay it. They are supposed to be in touch within 14 days of my birthday, does that include 14 days afterwards? I know it could be up to a month before my first payment. Anyone any ideas!
Onwards and upwards? It is so difficult trying to make a dress for DGD when it all has to be done via FaceTime. However, we are getting closer I think:
I decided to make some Elderflower Cordial this year. Haven't made any for quite a while:
It is crystal clear but looks slightly cloudy on the picture as I removed it from the fridge and it decided to mist up on the outside of the bottles. Just one or two tablespoons in water of your choice to make a refreshing drink. One version of the recipe can be found here, but I use 2 lemons rather than 2 oranges.
Having found some baby board books, and purchased some Brusho paint pigments, I tried them. The plastic coating on the pages was lightly sanded down before a coat of white gesso was applied. Once dried I sprinkled on some of the powders and used clear gesso to spread them over the surface. Once that was dried, I coated it with pva glue and sprinkled on a bit extra plus white speckles. It is darker than I wanted but hey ho, such are these trials.
Apparently the BBC lost full broadcasting rights to the Olympics in 2015. These are now with Discovery + and Eurosport. The BBC can’t broadcast more that two Olympic sports at a time, hence why no multiple red buttons. Now we know.
Many viewers are angry as they aren’t seeing much rowing, gymnastics and no tennis. So I feel glad we signed up for streaming so we can at least see some sports we love.
Poor Andy has had to pull out defending his singles title due to a thigh strain, giving it up so he and Joe can concentrate on the doubles. Well done young man.
Liam Broady, a late replacement for Dan I think, has won his first match.
Still no storms or meaningful rain so far, just that fine floating drizzle occasionally. Might have to give in and water if nothing happens. It is cool so that is a bonus as the humid weather wipes me out.
After nearly 3 hours of frustration and stress, we could view Olympic tennis matches. According to the Eurosport Player web site, signing up gives you access to both it and Eurosport on Amazon. We are Amazon members so signed up via them, just one month for £6.99.
Nope, we could only access limited sport on the player but none of the premium tennis matches. In the end we went on the Eurosport web site, paid another monthly subscription and could finally access what we wanted. I have a feeling we made that mistake last time, must remember.
Eventually we settled to watch Andy and Joe play their doubles match. It was very good. Andy moved and served well. As it happens he has a tough first round singles draw unlike Djokovic (yet again), who had an easy draw against someone ranked 139. He is so jammy.
No storms here yet. It is quite windy and warm but not hot. I do hope we get rain though as the front garden is in need of it.
The pansies I planted last Autumn are still going strong even but with slightly smaller flowers:
Well done Andy and Joe on winning your first doubles match. Good luck with the rest of them.
I was reading an interesting article the other day about the 50,000 shortfall of lorry drivers, see here.
Once upon a time, a lorry would delivery what had been ordered even if the lorry wasn't full. Now apparently, they haven't got the drivers to do that so only full lorries can be dispatched.
This is fine for most of the major supermarkets (but not all and not always) but not for Lidl. Apparently they are being inflexible and still demanding their orders whether the lorry is full or not. The drivers association has said that can't be done and they are starting to service other places first.
Such shortages were very evident in Lidl today. No fresh baked goods, many, many empty spaces in fresh, fridge and frozen produce. No one stocking the shelves as clearly no lorry had turned up.
As usual, after Lidl we went to Morrison's. Quite a few empty spaces on shelves there and quite a few of their 3 for 2 berries were due to finish today and many were mouldy.
Forgot yoghurt so on the way home, popped into Sainsburys. There shelves were much better but still had gaps.
This is just the tip of the iceberg folks. If you haven't started to buy and store one or two extra things each week, you may find, that one day, they won't be there.
Yesterday may have been 'Freedom Day', but in every place we visited today, everyone was still wearing masks except for one customer and a couple of staff. Put that in your pipe and smoke it Boris!
Well, I have trialled the style of mixed media I saw and wanted to have a go at, but don't like it at all. I much prefer what I am doing so that is where I will go. These are the best two of my attempts. Both dulled down after the application of transparent gesso (which also left streaks), it also leaves a matte appearance, but to me, it just ruined them:
An hour was spent in the garden first thing, a big trug of weeds up and dead heading finished flowers. Containers watered and feeding done where required.
The blind along the patio is out but it is a bit windy so may have to be retracted slightly. We have an old duvet that attaches to it and a washing line to give us extra shade if we need to do this.
I have tried to type a post on my main computer but it’s playing silly beggars. Just letting you know. Back tomorrow hopefully.
Carry on wearing a mask? For now I will. An example today reinforced my opinion. I was posting a letter near a shop, a van was parked outside. As I walked past it, an elderly chap stuck his head near the open window and coughed non stop, very forcibly. I thought he would make himself sick doing so. My head was within 3’ of his but I had already put my mask on thank goodness.
Once home I gave the mask and my face a very good wash. You just don’t know do you!
I will carry on wearing it in shops or close quarters if too near other people. I currently have no need to use public transport but if I did, would wear one. We still don’t feel comfortable eating inside but have tried to do so, especially if it isn’t too busy.
It seems masks and social distancing are to go, a very big mistake in my opinion but there you go. It feels a political and financial gut decision rather than based on medical need. Whitty and Valance didn’t seem impressed at all.
The NHS may not be overwhelmed by Covid but to all intents and purposes it is. Things are nowhere near back to normal, it seems impossible to get appointments and operations anytime soon. We need to be ready for others to invade our personal space once more. We always have hand gel available and will keep it close by still.
What about you, will you carry on wearing masks, social distancing and hand washing?
We paid a visit to more charity shops today. Although there wasn’t much to find, I noted that most books were between 25p and £1:50. Eventually finding 2 quite small books, I left DB to pay whilst I went to the next one.
You can imagine my shock when he said he nearly didn’t buy them as they wanted £7. SEVEN POUNDS!!! They weren’t in good condition which was why I wanted them.
Absolutely disgusting and they have lost any future trade from us.
One of the shops from yesterday were only charging £1 for 4 books, of any size.
