Isaiah 2:4 - on a Thursday!

Last week I had a very grand day indeed. It took place  on a weekday when I had the opportunity to visit Goodrich and stay with mum and dad. Boris dog was along too, as his mummy was in London for the day - too long to be left on his own.  I was already pencilled in for sitting duties but in a magic coming together, I combined my hound duties with this:

Hosted by a farm in Goodrich, this was the epic and exciting 2016 ploughing match of the Llanwarne Agricultural Improvement Society and their Ploughing Society! It was on a Thursday in mid September and the day totally lucked out to be more like July. Entry was £4 and worth every penny.

I loved it!

I thought I knew what the match would entail but there was so much more than I had anticipated.

The programme was full of interesting detail about all the different ploughing styles to be judged. At the most basic, each ploughman (or woman) has five hours to plough the allotted strip as slowly or as quickly as desired. No help is allowed beyond setting out the three copping sticks.  The results are judged on neatness and agricultural merit. There were horse-drawn classes and classes for tractors pre-1974 and pre-1959.

Attendees came from all over the UK - it's a really tight little scene and everyone knows everyone else. I watched the current UK champion and a chap who had been champion a hatful of times. Horses, ploughs, tractors old and new, harvesters, threshers, old tools and all manner of interesting stuff and people.  A very fine Summer day, and I found out all about Oat Seed Furrows which are very specific indeed.

Pictures and videos are below:

Busfest 2016. It's a VW thing...

This weekend was Busfest 2016, an event dedicated to all things VW. Now, this is not normally my scene, although in fairness it is by no means at all far from it! I attended with Jemma and we went along because the event was at The Three Counties Showground, 35 minutes from Ma and Pa and the scene of previous contented attendances. 

It was worth our while going because friends of Jemma’s were there all weekend and they came about 500 miles from way north of Aberdeen. Thus it was local enough for us to go that short Herefordshire hop and meet up! 

Jemma’s friends Sonia and Mick came along in Brian, the red chap pictured here and named after (for his slight ponderousness) Brian the Snail of Magic Roundabout fame. They very much are into the scene…Brian is an ex-command vehicle who worked as  a mobile command-scene unit in Germany in the 1980s. He rolled off the line in December 1984.

We met Brian, I met Sonia and Mick for the first time, and together we saw loads and loads and loads of VW stuff, including spare parts, wheels, sprockets, carpets, interiors, seats, services and fully restored VW campers with asking prices north of £70,000! Oh, and a Great Dane or two. It was a right caper and a really happy scene with everyone keen to help a fellow VW spod,  and all attendees open and welcoming to those not of the scene. I would not go every year but I am very glad I went along at all.

Here are some pictures of the day and a video of Brian doing his thing! It is illegal to motor along the Queen’s highway with Blues if you are not a bone fide emergency vehicle so Brian has motorway socks for his blue lights (truly!)

Fine journeys with Pa! Blog post 1300.

This weekend I spent delightful time in Herefordshire. I still refer to this out loud as 'home' even though I have lived in BS5 for more than a happy decade. I think my brother does so too.

Part of the weekend routine fell into the pleasant habit of a run to the recycling centre in Ross on Wye (referred to by all as 'the tip' in the 1980s and 1990s but now branded as a more attractive activity). This time we were taking grass cuttings, bush trimmings and glass bottles and jars to recycle (diligently separated by Pa) . I told Pa I was happy to go on my own and leave him to a breakfast egg but of course, I am only 44 so he would come along, telling mother he would 'supervise'. Wise choice, I think.

After our work emptying this and that, we were held by the team on the ground because this top smart recycling was taking place on a big scale. I could have  nipped out just before the operation began but I think Pa wanted to watch (well, of course Pa knew that was true of me....)

A Post about Herbs, Part II.

Turmeric is  bright and yellow and staining and ever present in the BS5 box of herbs and spices. I love cooking with it in all sorts of things, but most often for dhal, Bombay potatoes and anything that even has a hint of becoming a curry!

It is a bit of a worldwide spice and is present in nearly all Iranian  khoresh dishes, many Moroccan dishes and tons of vegetarian dishes all over South East Asia. The Americans pronounce it 'Choomeric' and probably think it grows in Kansas. Anyhow, I enjoy having it in the larder and what with it being so colourful, I decided on a radical move from the packet to its very own Kilner Jar. 

This particular jar housed home-made piccalilli in previous days, though the piccalilli is gone (and missed) and the jar washed and cleansed right through. It is on display all bright and yellow.

So here it is - a second on-the-trot all action herbs and spices video!

A post about herbs, Part I.

My brother is growing herbs in a climate significantly warmer than that experienced in BS5.

He is growing mint indoors and he grows tomatoes and other bits and pieces outdoors. All his plants are watered on a regualr basis, but if the  mint is particularly thirsty, the transformation in the hour following the watering really is a sight to see. Here for the delight of all readers is an off topic time lapse movie.

Alas no stacking, packing, sawing, burning, painting, chopping, prepping, marinating or bird feeding this time, but instead....I give you Blog BS5 guest-appearance capillary action!

The Dorset County Show.

This weekend was a family and friends get-together based around the Dorset County Show. We made a weekend of it!

As August rolled into September and 'back to school' approached, the atmosphere at the show-ground was a last summer weekend of carefree larks. Our beach walk was rain soaked and bracing. Our journeys were on slow, easy roads.

Into the car on Saturday morning with Jemma and Boris-dog: one quick errand dropping off a guest hound and then onwards to the slow roads to Dorset. I drove, Jemma navigated, Boris snoozed.  We headed to friends of Jemma's at Long Bredy. From there, we added extra hounds and headed out in the sheeting rain to Burton Bradstock to meet Ma and Pa for a beach walk and tea and cake at The Hive Cafe. The rain was such that Ma and Pa and my super Aunt volunteered to secure a table at the cafe and wait for us - we returned soaked right through but feeling (or trying to feel) magnanimous about our walk, and to a welcome slice of cake.

Sunday show day! Seven people and one hound all met up for the day. I love a country / county show. All the right ingredients are there: tractors, combine harvesters, dogs, cows, sheep, giant vegetables, food stalls, pork pies, baking competitions and general larks. It was  a fabulous summer catch up as you can see below. I was tempted by the £433, 000 combine - a steal of a price because it was an ex-demonstrator.

Happy family days.

Further Sweetmart larks. Akash saving.

It's another post about an entertaining trip to The Sweetmart!

Of late I have eaten a good deal more rice and dhal (lentils) and for a couple of top ups, I purchased in small quantities, but now that these are staples in my repertoire, I have moved to economy-of-scale purchasing. Today it was rice! 

Decent Basmati rice in the supermarket is about £4.50 per KG at top-up rates, but in bulk at the Sweetmart, it is a satisfying £1 a go. I did a bit of research yesterday as the larger bags are not individually priced, but there was loads of useful PoS, and of course the ever friendly and chatty team. Here it is - rice for, oh, I am not sure, about a year's worth of cooking! I have checked out the shelf life, and for rice it is indefinite. 

I also purchased these grand plum tomatoes which just made their way into my breakfast bacon sandwich. 

The approach of autumn cooking.

September started today and I was there to see it at about 02.00 this morning, watching Donald Trump speak in Arizona against progress and American humility. That is not the point of this post though.

It is sunny as I write and an Indian summer seems to be holding out. I hope it holds out for this weekend's Dorset County show! Whilst the sunshine remains, I have, over the last couple of days made soup and various warming meals with cubed roast potatoes and rosemary, and celery, celeriac and crunchy vegetable sides. Dahl has been frequent and so too peppery chilli con carne. 

I like the onset of winter eating - soups, things roasted, gravy, stocks and casseroles, all with plenty of fresh vegetables and gentle, easy preparation. Here's some images of recent autumnal beginnings. Bring on the roast lamb in a few days' time.

All change on the road to BS5

Brexit means Brexit said the Primeminister in July. Would that put everything on hold for the UK economy and BS5's small contribution towards it?

Now I do not have access to the current PM so instead, I had a cup of tea this week with my local Estate Agent Jon who sold this house to me back in the day. He happened to be walking past as I was perched on the wall cleaning my shoes and in one of those easy catch-up moments, I invited him in for a cup of tea after he had finished valuing number 57.

The valuing task is one that has increased enormously these last six months; there was but a pause of a week for the Brexit result to sink in (Bristol as a whole voted remain) and then the forest of For Sale signs kept on with its incessant march along my road. The valuation numbers are not of themselves super-massive (in a city-wide context) but they have more than doubled during my tenure, and most of that growth in just the last year.

Six houses of the ten I can view from my front wall have turned over this year alone - about £1.2 million pounds' worth right there. There have been six more at the other end of the road. Incoming neighbours are all about the age I was when I bought this house and they still move here because it is more affordable than other city zones but the game is just £100, 000 more expensive if you are playing it today.

There is a telling sign of the gentrification of my road: a decade ago, folks putting stuff out at the front of the house (very BS5) disposed of generationally used twin tubs - today they still put stuff out but this barely used flatscreen TV, seen only this morning, tells you all about the change.

On it goes.