Something To Stitch

 I wanted to get back to a hobby that I'd not done for a long time and have been looking on ebay for a tapestry to stitch.

Eventually this came up. It said " Has been opened but not started" and looked as if it had all the wool still included. It's just the sort of picture that I might have bought to stitch years ago but are now a bit out of fashion.

It's finished size is 12 inches by 18 inches which seemed a size that I would be able to find a picture frame for.

My small stitching frame has those twisty clips to fix but the big frame is very old and the tapestry has to be attached by stitching it to a canvas strip at the top and bottom, which isn't the easiest thing to do. Eventually got it onto the frame.

Now I need to sort the wools.

But in the meantime I'd started on the small X stitch Christmas tree decorations and had all those 15 library books to read, so the wool tapestry has been put on hold for now. 

This tapestry to stitch is one would have been apt for this year, with the Bayeux Tapestry (which isn't a tapestry and probably not stitched in Bayeux) being here in this country for a while.........but not at £86!

The Other September Car-Boot Finds.

  For a Christmas present £1 - My Essex friend likes traditional ways of doing things, including using proper handkerchiefs.

Pack of 6 suet blocks for the birds £2

2 Christmas Bags, 50p each for Granddaughters who will probably get a bag full of crafting bits.

A pack of 5 new flannels £2 - they were wrapped and tied with a ribbon but I forgot to photograph

Exciting..........a new loo brush! and a bag of heavy duty rubbish bags - £1 each.

50p each for two shower scrubby things - do they have a proper name? Don't think I saved much money for these.

And something from a charity shop that will be part of YGDs birthday present. £2.50 for a pretty photo frame.

All useful without breaking the bank.

Charity Shop or New?

 I've always bought clothes from charity shops whenever I can but I looked at a secondhand winter tunic top in the Barnardos Charity shop it was £8. I looked at a new tunic top in Asda and it was £12. I didn't buy either, I can manage with those I have for another year.

I looked at used tee-shirts in charity shops in the summer and they were often £6.

For the grand total of £5 I bought three new from the car boot sale. They are ex Original Factory Shop - a company that closed down last year. They'd been sold in their shops for £8 each. Someone had bought-up a lot of their stock.

Choosing what's best to do (planet or purse?) used to be easy - now not so much .

Another Good Story...........

  ................from this author.

Rachel Hore's books are always so well researched. This is her latest and is the fictional account based on two real women who showed courage and resilience in World War II.

This is the story of one of the secret organisations working in occupied France. Much has been written about the French Resistance , working directly against the Nazis but another organisation - The Alliance- secretly gathered valuable  information using agents all around the country and passed this to MI6 in England.

Details from the Fantastic Fiction website............

In Occupied France

Marie-Louise, a headstrong, single woman with two young children, is recruited into a secret intelligence network. She must collect privileged information about German military activities to help the Allies liberate her country. Her skill and daring will propel her to the top of the organization - and along a path of hidden passion and extreme danger.

Deep in the English countryside

Sarah, a Sussex wife and mother, looks after evacuees and keeps the home fires burning while her husband is away on secret war work. When she’s suddenly plucked from this life of humdrum duty to run a safe house for foreign agents, she is forced to make sacrifices that threaten her health, her family and her personal happiness.

As Marie-Louise and Sarah’s lives collide, the danger mounts in this exciting and moving story about the resilience of the human spirit.

The real life women were Marie-Madeline Meric - who published her own memoir in 1968 Noah's Ark and Barbara Bertram wrote French Resistance in Sussex. Her son Jerome later wrote a book about his mother and father's war work The Secret of Bignor Manor.

Rachel Hore says in her Authors note

"In my novel I have simplified historical events and the large cast of characters for dramatic reasons and to avoid writing a multi-volume work!"

and the book really does race through the 6 years of war but as she says it was the best way to do it or the book would have been huge. 

I've enjoyed many of this authors books and this is another really good read.

Saturday Round-up. Wordy With No Photos!

Is the blog reading list updating hitch resolved? - on Wednesday it seemed to be........and on Thursday...........yes and Friday...........still OK - this looks very hopeful but where have some of the regular bloggers gone? especially Janice at Jabblog, who  used to post almost everyday. It's worrying.

**********************************

Hearing the story unfold about the men arrested near an RAF airbase used by the USAF was very odd if you'd been watching the recent series of the drama Trigger Point on TV a couple of weeks ago. The story there was bombers supposedly being from Iran - but actually they weren't. They were just trying to start a world war. Their bomb was nuclear  (thank God just fiction). 

There seems more to the story of the men here in Fairford, Gloucestershire. A 999 phone call from one of the men to the police(?) very odd.  No explosives found - just petrol (which they would have needed if they were stealing quad bikes - which is the more usual reason that men in balaclavas and white vans are sneaking round the countryside) And they were released on bail - which terrorists surely would NOT have been. Politicians from other countries chipped in with their tuppence worth - could have done without hearing from them......... Then someone in London arrested. I guess we will find out eventually.

What I want to know is............ have they stepped up security on the two bases used by the USAF in Suffolk? One has the huge KC135 Stratotankers used to refuel  USAF planes. Not a mention has been made of them.....as far as I've heard.

*********************

The grass was cut again, it's amazing that even without much rain it's growing like crazy. I'm waiting for a heavy rainfall to see how well the gutter clearing has worked, but there was only a light drizzle, that didn't last on Wednesday. I also finished clearing out the greenhouse bringing in the last few tomatoes to finish ripening indoors. Have to say that pulling grow bags out of the greenhouse and tipping out onto the veg beds is much easier than hauling out big pots.

*********************

I'm now reading the 2nd Louise Penny Chief Inspector Gamache series and wondering why I've never got into them before. Just like the Donna Leon Brunetti series that I didn't try until a few years ago but then loved and read them all (and I've just discovered that there is another due in 2027 after a 3 year gap - she's 84 now so no wonder she's slowing down!) Maybe years ago I was put off by crime fiction set in other countries and now I'm more adventurous?  Anyway, I went onto the library website to reserve the 3rd and 4th and found that for many of the early books in the series - from the early 2,000s - the library has just one copy or none and the more recently published have very long waiting lists. Then I hopped over to amazon and discovered I could buy a huge set of the first 15 for less than £2.50 each. As I'd not bought hardly any books from anywhere recently I went mad and ordered - these will be my Christmas present - instead of my usual Chocolate liqueurs- and will be for the just-in-case emergency/winter book store! 

**********************

To watch or not to watch - that is the question. Strictly Come Dancing - yes I'll watch as it's good for Saturday Night glitter from now until Christmas. I know nothing about most of the celebs so have no favourites. I'll just watch for the skill of the professional dancers, choreographers and band  and the brilliant people who do the costumes and sets.

The much hyped Celebrity Traitors. The jury's out. I did watch part one just to see who was on it, some people I've never heard of but lots of well known comedians. Maybe it's for half-watching -with reading at the same time.

The only thing in the diary for the weekend is too far away, given the huge increase in diesel prices, so I won't be going far.

 Hope you all have a good weekend, I'll be back Monday.

Oven Gloves

 Filling regular blog posts means sometimes they are very boring! and this one comes with a warning as this is the first of three posts about car-boot sale finds.........sorry.

I found a pair of brand new heavy duty oven gloves at the Sunday boot sale for £2. They looked just like the ones I like to use that come from the Lakeland company but the packaging wasn't  the usual  Lakeland labelling, although that little tag looked vaguely familiar.

I couldn't remember if I had a spare  in the cupboard already - they are something I've found at boot sales before, but at £2 I knew they were a good money saver. When I got home I put my glasses on and found a tiny note on the back saying they were made for Lakeland.

They'll last ages because they are good quality and are now £9.99 new. 

On the Lakeland website there are all sorts of oven gloves, some like mittens, one for each hand, some shaped like a glove puppet with an opening 'mouth', some made of silicon, and some coloured to match your kitchen. They range in price from £7.99 to £14.99. Or on Amazon there are over 1,000 different sorts listed! 

What sort of oven gloves do you prefer, or do you just grab a handy tea-towel? 

October Days

 Here are the October events from my little Almanac book and the way the months rush by it'll soon be Halloween, and of course the shops have been full of Halloween things for weeks already. 

Looking back at previous October 1st posts and I've already written about so many weather sayings. There were several HERE in the October 1st post from 2024.

So instead I looked in the Illustrated Country Year book by Celia Lewis and found these lovely Thrush illustrations in the October section.

And in the Miranda Mills Country Commonplace Book I found a poem by Robert Bridges

North Wind in October

In the golden glade the chestnuts are fallen all;

From the seared boughs of the oak the acorns fall:

The beech scatters her ruddy fire;

The lime hath stripped to the cold,

And standeth naked above her yellow attire:

The larch thinneth her spire

To lay the ways of the wood with cloth of gold.

Out of the golden-green and white

Of the brake the fir-trees stand upright

In the forest of flame, and wave aloft

To the blue of heaven their blue-green tuftings soft

But swiftly in shuddering gloom the splendours fail,

As the harrying North-wind beareth

A cloud of skirmishing hail

The grieved woodland to smite:

In a hurricane through the trees he teareth,

Raking the bough and the leaves rending,

And whistleth to the descending

Blows of his icy flail.

Gold and snow he mixeth in spite,

And whirleth afar; as away on his winnowing flight

He passeth, and all again for awhile is bright.

Robert Bridges (1844 -1930)

(Photo from internet thanks to Biały Ług, Kędzierzyn-Koźle, Poland)

September Financials Ins and Outs and Penny Savers

 Just the usual income of State Pension and Suffolk County Council Spouses pension and some interest from savings (and if the Labour party abandon the triple lock for pension increases, they'll be losing an awful lot of votes - I don't think they'll dare do it)

Above all the usual expenses there were just two known extras in September.................. DiL's Birthday and Amazon Prime. The unknown extras were for the repair place for sorting the car tyres, some camping gas cylinders and a wind-up/re-chargeable lantern..........just-in-case.

The usual regular monthly outgoings were  for Council Tax, charity, phones and broadband, monthly electric bill and diesel that came to £390. I topped up with diesel twice, didn't really need to but I found the Co-op garage in Stowupland was several pence cheaper than my local one. Everywhere is now creeping to £2 a litre. I wonder whose fault this is??!

Personal spending was low, only exercise group and a haircut, the Elvis dcuk and chocolate rabbits.

Other spending were mostly small things, except for getting the gutters cleaned....... there hasn't been a good rain since to see what  difference it's made. Food spending already mentioned. Organised YGDs birthday pressie ready for October. Then I got sunflower hearts and suet blocks for the birds and stocked up with paracetamol and ibuprofen for bad weather. Small spends for kitchen bits and washing soda crystals. The window cleaner came - thankfully, as the gutter clearing had made a mess of some windows and then someone told me I had a brake light out so it was back to the repair place where Ashley soon got a new bulb in for just £5. Also found a few useful things from car-boot sales which will be blog posts later.

image from google freepik

A few penny-savers

• Beetroot from BiL's garden
• Eating apples from my small trees
• Last of the tomatoes from greenhouse
• Peppers from greenhouse into freezer
• Gift of pears from friend
• Last of the courgettes from garden
• Bread loaves from bread machine
• Only doing one or two lots of washing each week
• Only use dishwasher every other day
• Lots of days not going out so not spending
• Free postage at Lakeland so I sent for a pack of their good quality freezer bags.
• Reading library books for free - no books bought.
• Make sure to always get the in town parking fee refunded by spending £5 in Asda
• Made up a tin of pre-prepared oranges to make 6 jars of marmalade.

Looking at October and there are more birthdays that need presents ....... YGS and Son as well as cards to nephew and great nephew. 

September 29th - Michaelmas

 Today is the Feast of St Michael and All Angels or Michaelmas, a Quarter Day when farm rents were due, annual employment terms ended, local courts were held and children would finally go back to school after helping with the  harvests. In some places it was called Pack Rag Day because the poorest farm labourers would be packing their few possessions to move to a new job.

 From my book Cattern Cakes and Lace by Barbara Deer and Julia Jones

In one of my books it says that Michaelmas day is the last day that blackberries should be picked. It is said that when St Michael threw Lucifer, the devil, from heaven, he fell from the skies and landed in a blackberry bush making the fruit useless. 

BUT in another book this story is given for October 10th, this difference will be due to the change of calendar when 12 days were lost. In reality it probably depends on the weather and how damp it's been to make the blackberries mouldy.

This year the blackberries here were poor due to the drought and heat of summer and have been finished for several weeks already.

There are several other posts for Michaelmas HERE

The September Food Shopping Photos...............

 ...............for food shopping photo fans and  to fill a blog post again.

First shop on the 2nd was a quick pop into Aldi for a few basics.

Mini pears were on the 'Special 6' offers at 69p; 2 peanuts £1.18; 400g extra strong cheddar £2.45; penne pasta 41p; 4 pints milk £1.65; 2 ground coffee  @ £2.59 = £5.18 (still no decaf); 2 x dried prunes  @ £2.79 =£5.58.

Total £17.14 + half a dozen eggs from a car boot sale £1.50. = £18.64

I'm not a fan of Lidl, they are the wrong side of the town and always seem in a muddle, with long check-out queues but I tried them for decaf ground coffee - they had plenty, same price as Aldi who haven't had decaf for weeks, so I got 2 = £5.18. I noticed they also had plenty of wholemeal bread flour and the wholegrain crackers that Aldi haven't had for weeks. So now I know what to do about Aldi's missing items!......Turn left at the traffic lights instead of right and go home the other way via Lidl.

£18.64 + £5.18 = £23.82

Then a big '4 supermarket shopping trip'.

I've never been to all 4 supermarkets in Stowmarket on the same day before but  decided to do just that three weeks ago, due to Lidl having nectarines on the special 6 fruit/veg offers and Tesco being the only supermarket that had the canned meat I was putting in the cupboard for the zombie apocalypse - or just bad weather! 

It took an age - won't do that again.

£37.75 spent

£18.64 + £5.18 + £37.75 = £61.57

 I forgot to take photo of a quick pop into Tesco when I was over by the coast, when I got a few things to see me through the week around getting the car tyres fixed. Spent £8.29.

£61.57 + £8.29 = £69.86

Then finally after tyres were sorted I had to go into town so went to Aldi (still lots of gaps including   de-caff coffee, tins of sardines, tins of salmon, multi grain biscuits, mini cheese bake biscuits) and Asda(to spend £5 to get £1 parking fee back) which together turned into a big spend because I didn't want to go shopping again....ever! .................well not really ever, but sometimes it feels that would be a good idea.

2 bags of pears, head of calabrese, mini cucs, tin mackerel fillets, 6 eggs, extra mature cheddar, feta, mayo, bacon bits, 4 pints milk, peanuts and cashews, cheese and onion rolls, 'hola' hoops and tortilla chip snacks, bread rolls, naan breads, tin fruit salad. 

Totaled £27.69. Making Septembers food spending £97.55.  

Although I must have missed something because in my accounts book food spending added up to just over £111. Oh well, still not too bad.

Saturday 26th

 The guys at the car repair place put new valves on two of my car tyres so I'm hopeful that will solve the problem and will stop the tyre pressure warning light coming on every few weeks.

Someone asked about the hand-held compressor that I can use for pumping up tyres at home. It' shaped like a electric drill and  has a re-chargeable battery or will also run off the car cigarette lighter thingy and  works well. For many many years we had a huge electric compressor - needed for the tractor and when miles from a garage forecourt  - but after the plug on it got bent and the gauge stopped working it went to BiL's for parts a few years back. It was also incredibly heavy and very LOUD which didn't matter at the smallholding but got the neighbours here all out at their doors wondering what was happening!

After more clearing there's not much left in the greenhouse now and I have enough chopped peppers in the freezer to last months. I'm hoping that BiL will get here soon to do the yew hedge, if not I need to make a start on the Buddleias while the garden waste bin is empty.. I'll probably need to cut the grass again too. It's amazing how quickly it's growing after the summer drought.

Other than going to a solicitors to update stuff to do with YD's house and my will, I've not been far at all this week, but hope to get to the car-boot sales this weekend. It will soon be the end of them for the year so best go while the weather is fine.

Have a good weekend, I'll be back Monday.

No Thank You

 The last time I checked comments in Spam this was the only one. 

Do you want to buy a Kidney or you want to sell your kidney? Are you seeking for an opportunity to sell your kidney for money due to financial break down and you don’t know what to do, then contact us today and we shall offer you good amount for your Kidney. My name is Mellisa Graham am a Nephrologist with Pyramid Medical Center. Our clinic is specialized in Simple Nephrectomy and we also deal with a mutually agreed compensation with a living and corresponding donor. If you are interested please don’t hesitate to contact us via email.

As I've only got one I really don't want to sell it! 

And I question "Simple Nephrectomy"? It's a major operation for goodness sake!

The comments page is one place on blogger that has got better because there was a time when many, many comments went to spam even if they weren't and even if they'd once been published with no problem previously.

But the reading list hitch is still ongoing. Some blogs seem to be updating on my reading list in the sidebar - others aren't and I notice my blog isn't updating on other people's reading lists.

Good thing blogging isn't a life and death situation!

St Mary's Church, Gosbeck

This small 14th Century  church is a mile from the actual village of Gosbeck on a back road into Ipswich. I've been past the church many times but never turned off to the village itself. The church has it's own small car park and meadow.

The Gardemau Charities are historic trusts founded in the 18th century by the Reverend Baltazar Gardemau, a former vicar of Coddenham, and his wife.

The outside probably hasn't changed much since the C14. While inside was restored by the Victorians as usual.

When you step into the church via the south door in the tower, you step into a part of the church sectioned off by wooden and glass screens and curtains. It's quite unusual.

The font is in the screened off part. Not sure why it looks askew as I'm sure it wasn't. The design is typical.

Looking through the nave to the altar.

Below is the view from the alter back through the nave showing the screened entrance room. I think this is used as a vestry and baptistry because the church doesn't have one anywhere else. 

The most colourful thing in the church is this reredos behind the altar. (apologies this is an awful photo)

The crucifixion in the centre, with  the raising of Lazarus on one side and the raising of Jairus's daughter on the other.

A panel from the old rood screen is fixed to the wall

The stained glass dates from the late Victorian restoration

Better photos and more information on Simon Knotts Suffolk Churches website.

Nothing much to write about at the moment so I'll be back in a few days

Going Nowhere

 I'm having problems with one of my car tyres, it keeps losing pressure. I seemed to be pumping up with my hand held compressor far too often. So the car will be taken to my friends at the repair place on Wednesday to see if they can find a very slow puncture or valve leak and as there was plenty to do at home I decided not to risk the extra miles by going to car boot sales and jumble sale.

I started in the garden with filling the garden waste bin ready for it being emptied today. Cutting the grass and things in the greenhouse are finishing plus I cleared some of the flag iris that have spread like mad under the Magnolia.

I'd been leaving the bin empty as I thought BiL was going to come and cut the horrible Yew hedge but he'd not realised how many weeks had gone since I asked him. He was away at Stock Car racing for 5 days but hopefully he'll get here when he comes back.

Then I had 'fun' with paperwork as I was looking for something and had to wade through a pile of this years gumpf  - so lots of shredding done and sorting of things into different folders. Information to keep longer and things that can go into the recycling bin. It's a job I really dislike and it usually gets left until year end - or January. But getting rid of some now will make the January 2027 sort out so much easier. The instructions leaflet for our new recycling bins says you can now put paper shreds in the card/paper bin but only if its 'wrapped in paper'. What a messy business that was - bits everywhere.

A bit of stitching 

and reading

 were done too and I watched the Strictly Launch Show, which was what they called the first of the 2026 season. It was OK except for Josh Widdicombe who I do like as a comedian but his awful laugh kept intruding. Hopefully someone will have mentioned it to him and  it will be less annoying next week when the live programmes begin or maybe it's just me being picky.

Saturday 19th

Forgot this photo was on the phone - only 19 days late!

On Monday when  the post about Being Prepared was published I cooked up some beetroot that I'd collected from BiL's garden but a few hours later when I put the hob (electric induction) on for my meal it flashed up an error sign. I thought I was going to have to get the picnic stove in from the garage - even without power cut and apocalypse situation!

The hob instructions, once I'd found them, suggested turning the hob off and on - but the switch is behind drawers under the hob which involved a torch and a broom handle to reach it. Thankfully it worked and I was able to cook my meal. Which proves having a torch handy and gas picnic stove available might be a Good Idea in more than just a weather, cyber attack or zombie apocalypse crisis! 

BTW,  I'm still waiting for a commenter to explain why Monday's post was irresponsible advice!

AND can't imagine why a blogger thinks it's OK to copy a comment off my blog and dismiss it with hilarity on hers - bit rude I thought, then someone told me I was rude for saying it was rude to pinch a comment without attributing it! All jolly good fun!.

Anyway, on the sensible, non stirring-up-mischief side of life, what else has happened this week...... I've been doing some cross stitch, starting the Christmas tree decorations I mentioned and had a good week on the NYT wordle website as I got a 20 badge for getting the Spangram first on Strands and got wordle in two tries on Thursday. Didn't manage a Connections puzzle all week - hardly ever get a win on that game. And of course I got started on one of the library books.

Strictly Come Dancing starts tonight - I've not looked to see who's on it this year and it's all change for presenters so will be interesting to see how that goes. This week I've been watching the updated version of Magnum PI - the thing Tom Selleck did years ago with big moustache and very short shorts. The Chelsea Detective is back for a 4th series on U and Drama and Blue Lights back on the BBC at the end of the month.

I'm hoping to get to a rare Jumble Sale today unless BiL can come to cut the yew hedge, in which case I will be here clearing up all the bits.

Have a good weekend and I'll be back Monday

The September Library Book Photo

 A good collection brought home from the mobile library this time, they are all books I had reserved online. Good job I took two bags up the road with me.

Lots of crime fiction - no surprise there then!.

I have no idea how I'm going to get through this lot in 4 weeks - think it's very unlikely that I will.

Better get reading.

4 weeks ago I brought home this lot below. I read most but took some back unread and still have a couple here. Those I read get a mention on the Books Read 2026 page.

The Horse Chestnut Tree in Mid September

This months photo of the tree that is on the playing field beside the village hall where we have our Keep Moving group and  I was surprised to see how much the, thankfully harmless, disease that affects Horse Chestnut trees had increased since last month.. I think the rain spreads the spores and of course Autumn is progressing too so all leaves are gradually turning.

The conkers are hanging on

Horse Chestnut trees were first raised in Northern Europe by a botanist Charles de l'Ecluse from seeds brought from Constantinople in 1576.

There was just the one on the ground which I picked up to bring home to start my winter collection for deterring spiders.

You can see the link to why the similar trees and  their seed in the US are called  Buckeye.

The other mid-month photos are HERE

St Ninians Day

 Folklore says that  St Ninians Day is the day that the first eating apples are ready. Now there are cultivars that are ready earlier and my lovely Falstaff apples are really good but  another week or two will improve them even more.

4th Century Manuscript at Edinburgh University Library

 Ninian was the son of a Cumbrian chief who travelled to Rome after becoming a Christian. In 394AD Ninian was made a bishop by Pope Siricius. But he didn't forget his fellow Britons who didn't know the gospel and decided to return home. 

He built a stone church at Whithorn - now in Dumfries and Galloway region of Scotland which became know as the White House which he dedicated to St Martin of Tours. This is thought to be the oldest Christian foundation in Scotland dating from 397.

Sometime in the early 2,000s we had a holiday around some of the Scottish coast and spent several days at Garlieston not far from Whithorn and visited the remains of the Priory and museum. I wish I had photos but either I didn't have a camera or lost a whole photo album from those years in one of the house moves.

Chocolate Rabbits

 You just never know what you are going to find at a car boot sale and last weekend I found 3 chocolate rabbits. Actually I could have had more but decided that maybe 3 were enough.

Someone had a whole tray full and selling them for 3 for £1. They are only just out of BBE date and being Lindt are sure to be good .

My plan is to eat the chocolate (of course) and use the ribbon and bell on some Christmas decorations that I just have to first stitch!

I made a few of these years ago and still have a couple that go on my Christmas tree most years.

Better get stitching.

(I went off chocolate in the heatwave of 2022 and hadn't eaten much until recently getting hooked on Maltesers! which I count as supporting local industry as the malt for Maltesers is prepared at Muntons maltings in Stowmarket!.)

Should We Prepare for this Winter's El Nino and Possible Cyber Attacks?

 After last nights Apocalypse programme on Channel 4 (which was just an hour of 20 and 30 year olds arguing) set in an abandoned town in the US which is now used by the military for training,  I'm jumping on the bandwagon!.........

Seems there is a Weather Event about to happen and Russia are planning a cyber attack in Suffolk!

"An El Nino event could disrupt UK weather, laying bare the vulnerabilities flagged by the Climate Change Committee's new report"

There is a factory in Suffolk producing drones for Ukraine which could be attacked by Russia. With a  small airfield in Suffolk being used to train the drone operators. We also have two USAF air bases and a Nuclear Power station. Any could have a cyber attack or an attack on the electric supply. (Although if there was a problem at Sizewell B then we probably wouldn't need anything stored at all!)

 I'm not panicking but can see no harm in being prepared for problems - it's better to have things in the cupboard and not need them than the other way round.

In Son and DiL's village they are actually having a special meeting on the 5th of October

People’s Emergency Briefing, St Mary’s Church

I've not heard about my village being briefed yet.

Anyway, I doubt it's possible to plan for long term problems or a zombie apocalypse! but it feels good to have a few just-in-case items.

I decided to order some more gas cartridges for my small picnic stove. I've used this three or four times since living here when electric has been off for a few hours. It doesn't happen often since a local transformer was upgraded but having a way to heat water for a coffee or a hot water bottle is comforting.

 There are batteries for torch and a radio in the cupboard and I also have a very old wind-up/solar power radio (it doesn't run long either way now but still works a bit). For light I have candles and a lantern that is rechargeable from the mains. I found a camping light that can be recharged by winding and also has a built in solar panel and can also charge a phone and have ordered that also.

In the garage I have a good stock of wood for the wood-burner - logs and kindling, firelighters and matches and BiL will save me some newspapers for fire lighting too.

In the medicine cupboard I always have a supply of paracetamol and ibuprofen, antiseptic and antihistamine creams and plasters and  reorder prescription meds from the pharmacy at the village health centre in good time.

I try and keep the car at least half full of diesel - which is a couple of hundred miles, enough to get out and about to family or shops for several weeks.

There's one thing that went from the shelves early in covid that I've never understood - loo rolls. I'm still getting a box full once a year from the Who Gives a Crap company so no shortage here. 

Then there's food and water as per instructions to have a supply - just in case. There is new government advice due later this month.................

The initiative is intended as a practical, "common sense" approach to enhance household self-sufficiency, which in turn frees up emergency resources for the country’s most vulnerable populations. [1]

What to stock: Households will be encouraged to keep a three-day supply of bottled water and non-perishable tinned foods (such as tinned meat, fruits, and vegetables) that do not require cooking, alongside emergency tools like manual tin openers and torches. [1]
When it launches: While initial reports leaked around August 25–28, the formal guidance and an official "Prepare" website are expected to be heavily publicised later in autumn, with some frameworks pointing to mid-September 2026. [1, 2, 3, 4]
The reasons: The policy update comes in response to heightened risks from hostile state cyber-attacks on infrastructure, severe summer heatwaves causing agricultural droughts, and potential disruptions to power or water grids. [1, 2]
The "War Book": Alongside the public advice, the government is updating its classified crisis blueprint—traditionally known as the "war book"—to prepare civilian and military infrastructure for external threats. [1]

Officials and supermarket bodies have heavily emphasized that this is a long-term preparedness measure and not a call for immediate panic buying

 Years of living miles from a shop means I never let cupboards get low on food and I have a 5 litre bottle of water in the freezer which works like a giant ice pack if the electric goes off (two or three 4 pint  bottles of milk too and they do the same) and a couple of small bottles of water in the cupboard and keep my filter jug in the fridge full. Plus the water butts outside have refilled with recent rain. I don't think there's anyway to have an indefinite water supply unless you happen to have a well or your own supply of spring water. But some of the things suggested to stock for food shortage just wouldn't appeal at all - like baked beans. If I was stressed/depressed without much heat and light they would be way down my list.

One of the frugal you-tube ladies talked about spending £100 on her pre-autumn prepper pantry. She has a supply of  oats and dried milk to last a year, peanut butter that she doesn't like much, jars of fish paste (yuck) and enough canned lentils to last until 2029!

 I don't have the enthusiasm for  stocking up that much so decided to get in just a few items that can be heated in one saucepan on the picnic stove to make a filling meal.

In the end I only got 3 cans to keep in the cupboard. That'll do for now. These are the sort of tins that we used to take camping when feeding 5 and cooking on two gas rings - they were cheap back  then, definitely aren't now. 

I was going to buy some canned vegetables until I discovered the 3 cans of carrots in the cupboard were best before 2022 so maybe I'd better eat those first before buying more!

According to the Labels list there's a post like this back in 2023, in Covid Strange Times too (2020) and back in 2018 when we had storms and power cuts- seems I've been preparing for years and nothing too drastic has happened...................... yet!

    

What's Happened This Week...............

...................not a lot.

But I like bullet points!

• I got a quote from a local company to clean out the gutters after a downpour a couple of weeks ago sent water cascading everywhere. They will be round Monday. A chunk of money that will be worth it. 
• The rain has turned the grass green again and needing cutting - haven't needed to do that many times since spring.
• Also got a local bloke to do a quote for sorting out the patio. Getting rid of the old uneven slabs that have weeds between everywhere and replacing with new and then using the old slabs to make a proper path down the side of the bungalow. It will involve a mini digger etc etc. Sounds as if it might be expensive, haven't heard yet - I think he might not want the job!
• Managed a bit more of the usual Autumn garden clearing, now have a heap of stuff waiting to go in the bin but hopefully BiL will be round to cut the horrible Yew hedge at the front soon so I'm keeping the garden waste bin empty until he's been.
• One of my Keep Moving Group friends brought some pears from her tree along and I came home with a few and made a delicious pear crumble, I like this more than an apple crumble.
• After saying, on the blog post about the darning book, that I'd not had to do much mending lately I discovered the seams on a pleat on my shorts/skirt were pulling apart, didn't need the darning mushroom - just a few stitches to make sure they last yet another summer.
• Colin would have loved the recent cricket test matches, he used to listen to Test Match Special on the radio. I've been watching the 1 hour highlights on 5 and England bowlers have been doing really well. I always 'tell' him at the end how much he would have enjoyed the matches.
• Also on 5 - but on their catch up channel I've watched season 6 - the final season from 2022 - of the US drama Bull which has been released to us here a while after the other five series. I'm glad it had a good proper ending rather than just stopping.

There is a new addition to my bookshelves.

EGD made it at Brownie Camp in the summer holidays and gave it to me. Mrs Tiggywinkle with a teasle for her head.

Hope you have a good weekend, I will be back Monday.