Saturday, 29 January 2022

Last Saturday of January

Mostly days this week were a bit grey and chilly except for Thursday when the sun shone for much of the day. As I was suffering with tired-itus it seemed wisest to stay at home and hibernate again. I missed the Over 60's Club meeting but there's another one next month! So books were read, blog posts were drafted and TV was watched.

That makes for a  random odds and ends post about nothing much .

A new police drama with Martin Freeman (he seems to be everywhere) started on Monday night - I watched some of it but  a policeman having a breakdown was something I could do without so I won't watch anymore. The new Sunday night bomb-disposal police thing was a much better watch although the bomb at the end was a shock and.... spoiler alert........ killing off one of the main actors in the first episode seems a bit odd.

On Tuesday I thought I saw my cousin on Bargain Hunt. He lives in Ipswich and the programme was from Newmarket and he does sell stuff at Antique Fairs, it probably wasn't him though. I'll have to ask him at the next funeral we meet at!

Wednesday and the grass felt dry enough just to run over it quickly with my battery mower, which because it had been standing in the shed for months, had lost a lot of charge so I didn't quite get finished. Grass cutting in January wouldn't have been a thing years ago. Grass grows at any temperature over 6℃ and there have been many days around that and above.
I got the job finished front and back on Thursday when there was a breath of wind to dry the grass again.
 
Another TV programme I've been watching is Brokenwood which is New Zealand's answer to Midsummer Murders but with humour and better scenery! It's on UKTV Play. The earlier series were on TV over the past years but I hadn't seen the most recent.

The  reading  has been a couple of books from my shelves ready for a blog post next week and this, 
 which is one of those books that made me cross because the language used - for a Victorian lady - was just So wrong! Oddly the book by this author that I read in December, which was set in the London Blitz was much better.

Another job done was to varnish my clay plant labels so they are ready for use when spring and my gardening mojo returns. And finally my £10 reward evoucher came from The Office of National Statistics for doing the survey, I chose Asda and the printer co-operated to print it out.

By yesterday I was feeling fully recovered from tired-itus and beginning to think I could quite get into the habit of being lazy if I stayed at home any longer! So I'd better plan a trip out today - a church visit and charity shops I think.
 

This week I've been grateful for

  • Not needing to do anything urgent
  • Food in so I didn't have to go out
  • Grass cutting done
Have a good weekend
Back Monday
Sue

36 comments:

  1. I quite enjoyed Brokenwood. It feels like "Midsomer Oz" Not sure about Trigger Point yet. And yes, inappropriate language in a "period" book irritates me too.

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    1. The ways that people are murdered in Brokenwood are as strange as Midsomer - I think I have some Midsomer to catch up on sometime

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  2. Aren't we lucky that we can take time out when it's needed.
    Have a lovely day - a church visit and some gentle charity shopping sounds just the ticket!
    xx

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    1. I was glad not to have to be up early and no responsibilities

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  3. I have developed a Bad Habit (as it's dull January) of sewing after breakfast - when - logically - I could be doing a bit of housework or some of the jobs on my list of Fings to Do. Yesterday I started on the little Minnie Mouse "New Baby" x-stitch for a project for a friend so don't feel quite so guilty.

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    1. One thing I'm missing is sun in the living room in the mornings.It's a dull room until the afternoon, doesn't inspire me to do much

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  4. I agree with you on the Martin Freeman drama, we could not get into it and gave up after ten minutes or so. We enjoyed the bomb disposal one and will be following that.
    Glad to hear you are listening to your body and resting when needed.

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    1. I think I managed just over half an hour and then thought NO don't need this!

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  5. I remember my first husband having a book called 'The Power of Positive Thinking' Sue. You certainly don't need to read it - in fact I think you could write an up to date version with no trouble at all!

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    1. I could be negative but it would be pretty pointless and wouldn't make me feel better!

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  6. I had to go out on three consecutive days this week, only to things like the hairdresser, dentist and such like, but, I felt like it was such an effort! Retirement brings benefits such as not having to leave the house at a certain time, getting dressed in proper clothes (not leggings and a baggy top) and eating at odd times!

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    1. Retirement for me is not having to be up so early and no worrying about other people and animals

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  7. I get it about the language. I once read a book that was absolutely brilliant, really enjoyed it, set in an alternate sort of Late Victorian London. And the thing I remember most is that the main character served biscuits with sausage gravy for breakfast. They got almost everything else perfect which meant that it jarred even more.

    Hope you have a relaxing weekend.

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    1. Biscuits with sausage gravy sounds very strange!

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    2. Don't the Americans have a different kind of biscuit to us that they eat for breakfast?

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    3. We do. It is an unsweetened quickbread (meaning that it is not a yeast roll but baking powder raised.)

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    4. Our biscuits are very much like scones, but don't contain any sugar. They are usually cut out with a round cutter. They are wonderful with anything in a cream sauce or gravy. What you call biscuits, we call cookies.

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  8. January is a hard month to get through without wanting to hibernate. Hidden Assets is brilliant on bbc iplayer as it was originally BBC4.

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    1. Best to just accept January is for hibernation and hope February is better. I shall look up Hidden Assets

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  9. Language, clothes, jewellery, furniture, in fact anything not in period stands out for me too and the book or film lacks belief.

    Enjoy your trip to the next church and good luck with the charity shops.

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    1. This book didn't have much period detail at all really but it was the modern words used that seemed wrong

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  10. The blahs hit me too this time of year. Sounds like you have found some things to fill your time.

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  11. I think everyone has the blahs. The fact that I now have a cold AND the blahs makes this end to January drearier still. At least you are not freezing. I don't want to move from the fire.

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    1. February will hopefully less blah! I t might be colder here than January but at least it's lighter

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  12. We pay for Britbox and Acorn tv so we get Broken Wood one of my favorites
    Glad you are feeling better. No grass showing here to much snow on the grown and more coming in today.
    Cathy

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    1. There is nearly always something to watch here and Winter Olympics soon

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  13. Can't even see the grass here. It's covered in snow! So no worrying about cutting the grass. It does mean shovelling snow, raking snow off the roof, making sure ice doesn't build up on the pavement or near the walkways around the house.lol.

    I really like Brokenwood. It's one I put on and watch not to have to think too much.

    Hope you have a great weekend!

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  14. Cutting the grass sounds much easier than shoveling snow and getting it off the roof!

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  15. I can almost imagine a mowed lawn in January!

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    1. We are having a very mild winter - I can't imagine snow- but there is always February

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  16. After me mentioning the other day about the library going to ebooks and audio for so many authors I was surprised to see they had oodles of Jim Eldridge’s books in print versions…large and regular. So I could borrow the series you mentioned today (Museum mysteries) as well as the one from December (Hotel Mysteries). Might be time for me to start a new series 😊

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    1. He is a new to me author so I've only read the two so far, I'll keep going, they are easy reading.
      Hope you enjoy them

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  17. Re TV, did you see this: Film following a project spearheaded by the Prince of Wales, who has commissioned seven leading artists to paint seven survivors of the Holocaust. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0013xhz Thoroughly recommend it, beautiful and very moving.

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  18. I love the Brownwood Mysteries - it's about my level at the moment - just can't deal with anything too grim or heavy.
    I've just finished reading "A Green and Pleasant Land" and I believe it was you that recommended it so "thank you" - I really enjoyed it.
    It has been bitterly cold here - Minus 30C with the windchill yesterday so I stayed in and cooked a ton of stuff for the week ahead. We got nearly 2 feet of snow last week and there's another snowstorm due in on Thursday - I think I am done with Winter already. We won't see any signs of Spring for about another 6 weeks - just lots of white around here.

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  19. I gave up on The Responder after one a third episodes too, it was just too grim and not that strong a story in my opinion. Some of the best tv shows have killed off a main character when you really don't expect it, remember Spooks and the killing of Lisa Faulkner who had been billed for weeks in the run up to it as the main star. She was killed by being pushed face first into a chip shop deep fat fryer. Now that was a shocker!!

    It's brilliant that you were able to cut your grass, but it's so wrong isn't it for it to be able to grow in January.

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