End of May Financials - Just One Day Late.

At the moment (and a lot of people in some political parties would love to stop this but they daren't try for fear of losing all pensioners votes) State Pension goes up in April because..............

"Pension increases in the UK are generally calculated based on inflation, specifically the September-to-September Consumer Price Index (CPI). This increase is applied annually in April to maintain the purchasing power of the pension, with state pensions using a "triple lock" of the highest of inflation, earnings, or 2.5%."

 My first new payment was in May, the pension increase means my state pension is now around £11,560 each year (£12,548 is the full amount. I get less because I paid reduced NI for some years). Tax free allowance is £12,570 which means almost all my Suffolk County Council Spouses pension and almost  all interest on savings will be taxed at 20%. I get an SCC pension because Colin worked for SCC for 30+ years and then died and they kindly give me a % of what he would have got. My total income puts me in between the 'minimum' and the 'moderate' for one person according  to Retirement Living Standards  and probably in a much better position than many but much 'poorer' than we would have been had Col lived. The only discount there is on anything for being alone is 25% off Council Tax. 

To be in the 'comfortable' standard a single person  needs an income in retirement of £43,900!!! Ha!!

 May spending...........

The known extra spending for May was for two birthdays and car breakdown insurance. Regular outgoings were all the usual............Food of course, Council tax, diesel for the car- just once , monthly electric bill, charity donations, broadband and phones.

Not a lot spent for things in the house - kitchen roll and foil . Garden spending was a squash plant, sweetcorn plants and two replacement courgette plants, a scoop from a car-boot sale and growbags [and I got an extra one for Son and family and gave them my spare tomato plants so they could grow their own this year]. 

Someone asked about growbags .These are they!. Much easier for me to use now - I used to buy compost and fill big pots but compost bags are heavy and emptying the pots at the end of the season wasn't easy.. The grow bags say they'll hold four plants but that would be too many in my opinion. I've put two in each and sunk a flower pot in between for watering into. 

Other purchases in May included postage stamps, greetings cards from art sale and car-boots and Aldi had their wild bird food in middle aisle with three suet blocks for £2.59 - but I shouldn't have bothered because the starlings moved in en-masse and ate one in a day. 

(R.S.P.B now say to stop feeding birds through the summer because of the harm done to greenfinches through mouldy food but I'm leaving the starling proof sunflower hearts feeder - regularly cleaned -  for the blue tits and the Niger seed - in their special feeder for the goldfinches. Son said R.S.P.B Minsmere are now only selling suet balls and blocks, everything else put away until Autumn)

And here's why I'm keeping this feeder .............baby bluetits shouting for food atop the feeding station. Mum/Dad get the sunflower hearts and feed tiny bits to the babies.

Personal spending included a hair cut - now heading towards £20 a time, Keep Moving group, a Puzzler book, the scrapbook from the car-boot sale and second-hand books from various places. I bought both dry skin moisturising cream and suntan lotion.

Total spending wasn't too bad when added up - a lot less than income - which is always the best way to be.

Small savings during May

image from google freepik

• Lots of Batch cooking to stock the freezer
• Dishwasher only used every other day
• No alcohol etc 
• No food out or takeaways and no coffees out either- unusual - not sure why but  see the 😇!
• No make up etc bought
• No clothes/shoes needed
• No flowers bought
• Reading Library books for free
• Bread loaves made in the bread-machine 50/50 white wholemeal
• No newspapers or magazines bought except for the Puzzler
• Tumble dryer not needed all month
• Random food savings from boot sale finds - 4 cup-a-soups 50p, tin corned beef 50p, 40 tea bags 50p
• Birthday cards for the future found at boot sales
• Saved £30.99 by not taking a months subs to watch the French Open tennis - and as everyone British is out plus some of the other names I like to watch - it was a good saving.
• Saved a total of about £50 by not going to the Mid Suffolk Light Railway 1940's day - it was too hot and ditto the Suffolk Show.
• Took a load of all-sorts to car boot sale yesterday and came home with £61.

Looking ahead to June which used to be  one of the months with only one known extra - the garden waste bin fee. But then last year there was suddenly £20 to pay for car tax after the goalposts were moved - it fell into the 'No Car Tax' bracket when we bought it in 2017. But this year June also has a dentist visit - on Wednesday - fear is building!

Back Soon

The May Library Book Photo

First of all must say Thank You to all who clicked the follower button and pushed that annoying flickering gif right out of sight! Hope no one else does one for a follower profile picture.

Nine books collected from the Mobile Library this week and I still have three here from last time.

 From left to right 'Thoughtlands:Walking Through Writers' Suffolk' not sure how interesting this will be - I'll see. Two old crime books by Ann Cleeves from before her Vera and Shetland days. Then there is a recent  BLCC by a different author - Leo Bruce -  'Death on the Gallows Tree'. Then, after reading a Rumer Godden book last month, I reserved another 'Breakfast With the Nikolides'. A Jim Eldridge book in a different series to those already read -'Shadows of the Dead' from 2017. Then a book by Anne Perry published posthumously and finished by another author - Victoria Zackheim -   'Death Times Seven'. Another non fiction book is 'Deep Country' by Neil Ansell which I read many years ago but decided to re-read after reading his latest book last month. Finally on the right is the latest  book by Rachel Hore which turns out to be one of those Quick Reads of just 100 pages. Her new full length book - 'The French Spymistress'  is out in July so that's been reserved.

Last visit at the end of April I brought home these below and read seven with three still here. Unsurprisingly that fat non fiction book about the English Civil war which I didn't remembering ordering went back un-read. Those I did read are on the 'Books Read 2026'. 

Actually spotted 'Elizabeth and Her German Garden' at a boot sale last weekend [didn't buy it!] - rarely see any of these Vintage Classics in charity shops etc. I scan shelves for them and for the Grey Persephone and Dark Green Virago Modern Classics but not many about.

Back Soon 

Second Hand Book Sale at Sibton Church

 I have no idea where a very small village finds so many books for a three day sale every year but it's always good to go and have a look.

But I looked and looked through hundreds of books and came away with just two, spending £2.50.

Marjorie Fleming by Oriel Malet, Persephone number 17 to add to my Persephone collection and a little book about Suffolk Churches. It's got all the details that are on Simon Knott's  Suffolk Churches Index but in a much shorter form. I'm going to highlight the churches already visited and then keep it in the car - it will be handy to have for reference when out and about.

The little church book has no publication date and some of the information about churches already visited seemed out of date so I looked online and found it was published in 1998, and there's a copy on Amazon for £48. I entered the ISBN into the 'We Buy Books' website and they are offering 50p for it. Not a lot of difference then! I can't begin (be bothered) to work out what  % mark up that is.

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Out of curiosity I added my blog to the 'Blogs I Read' list just to see how it updates there, some days seem better than others for updates, everyone is finding the same  - I blame it on the weather...................I always blame things on the weather!  But it won't stop me writing blog posts.

 And talking about things on the side bar .....I need 13 people to click the follower button just so that annoying moving gif thing that someone used as their profile thingy would move out of sight - it's very annoying.

*4.40 in the afternoon and just editing in to say Thank you - the annoying flickering gif has been pushed out of sight. Welcome to all the new followers. *

Back Tomorrow

Just In Case...............

................I was short of ideas for blog posts in May and knowing how many people love shopping pictures,  I grabbed the camera each time I'd  unpacked everything onto the worktop.

This was the big first May shop, everything from Aldi except for the large bag of sugar which came from Asda as they have Silver Spoon which is British and a bigger bag.

 

Celery 75p, Salad leaves 65p, 2 x 6 apples @ £1.19 = £2.38, 3 x peanuts at 59p =£1.77, tin fruit cocktail 89p,6 Cheese and Onion Rolls £1.75, Multigrain crackers 89p, Mayo 89p, 1.5Kg wholemeal bread flour 99p, 100% peanut butter £3.99, Shropshire Blue cheese £2.79, Tub Clotted cream £1.99,Tin Pink salmon £1.45, Tin Sardines in Sunflower oil 49p, 2 x Butter @ £1.99 = £3.98,  2 packets ground coffee - 1 decaf one other @ £2.59 = £5.18. 2Kg Granulated Sugar £2.15. Finally.... Frozen food was 2 x sweet potato fries @ £2.15 each = £4.30,Petit Pois Peas £1.09.  Essential Range oven bake Fish in Batter - Pack of 4 £1.99. Meat Free Veggie Burgers Pack of 4 £1.39.

Total spend £41.75

Comments...............The clotted cream was for my Bank Holiday treat of home made scones, compost jelly and clotted cream.The tin of  salmon ready for making a batch of salmon/broccoli/ pasta bake. The milk and butter also went into the freezer for later. The Essential range Fish is almost as good as the more expensive pack and smaller portions which is good.

Swapping UPF laden Pringles for peanuts for a savoury snack  isn't necessarily good for my health as I seem to have become quite addicted to peanuts! although  it is cheaper and not an UPF of course. 

Next shop was to Diss for Aldi but also for Morrisons as I needed to stock up on the Chinese party bits that I have with stir-fried vegetables, which Aldi don't stock and I'd eaten the last of the batch made Quorn spag bol sauce from the freezer so wanted Quorn mince and Linda McCartney Mozzerella burgers.

I ended up spending a few £ extra as Morrisons had clearance packs of their mixed frozen Indian Party bits so I got a couple of those too to go with my batch made Quorn korma curries. I also fancied a change from my usual stir-fries and bought a chicken chilli thing from the chilled shelves which was enough for two so I ate it for my main meal and second meal too.

From Left to Right ......Head of calabrese (which supermarkets insist on calling broccoli - No it isn't!) 79p; 6 Mini apples on offer 59p; Pears£1.49; Carrots 500g 44p; 4 nectarines £1.79; Mixed nuts £1.75; Dried prunes £2.79;  4 Pints Milk £1.65; Leeks £1.39; Tin essential range peach slices 45p; 400g Extra Mature Cheddar £2.49; Then the Frozen things at the far right ............. 500g Quorn Mince £2.95; Pack 4 Linda McCartney Mozzerella Burgers £3.50; Pack mini spring rolls £1.50; 2 x Indian Party Mix Selection @ £2 each(reduced from £3) = £4; Pack mini Prawn toasts £2;  From the chilled counter Sweet Chilli Chicken £5.50. 

I detoured on my way home to call in for the farm gate eggs - 6 eggs £1.25 and while I was there I went into the Co-op to see what they had reduced and found a pack of stir fry veg to go with my chilli chicken..... reduced to £1.71 but it rang up as 71p so an extra bargain. Enough for two meals again. A nice change from my regular carrot/onion/pepper stir fry........... it had mange tout, broccoli spears, onion, green beans and pakchoi.

Comments........... The head of calabrese was to go with last week's tin of salmon to make a batch of salmon/broccoli/pasta bake.

 It's good to have a change - but the sweet chilli chicken wasn't anything very special so I wouldn't bother with it again. 

Total Spend £37.03

Third shop of the month, stocking up on a few things where I was down to just one in the cupboard.

Mainly Aldi again and a couple of things from Asda, just over £5 to get my £1 parking fee back. The Asda car park doesn't belong to Asda and is in town and I needed to go into town this time rather than just the out of town Aldi.

From left to right ..Salad 95p; Red Pepper 70p; 3 x peanuts at 59p = £1.77; Penne pasta 500g 41p; Mozzerella 69p; Extra Mature Cheddar 400g £2.49; 2x Fig Roll Biscuits @ 59p = £1.18; Tin Fruit Cocktail 89p; 1.5Kg Wholemeal Bread Flour 99p; 4 Pints milk £1.65; Drinking Chocolate £1.90;  Tub Skimmed Milk Powder £3.45.

Total £17.07

Comments..............I'm getting through more milk as I take some for the Keep Moving Group (I do get my money back from the kitty). The pepper was  for adding in when making a big batch of Quorn spag bol sauce - I made 10 portions. The mozzerella is cut in half and put in the freezer for topping home made pizzas.

And Finally for end of May Bank Holiday weekend and the rest of the month everything from Aldi.

2 x Mini apples @ 6 for 59p = £1.18; 2 x 4 Nectarines @ £1.79 = £3.58; Celery 75p; Cauliflower £1.19; Peanuts 2@59p = £1.18; Clotted Cream £1.99; Mini Roule cheese £1.49.

Total Spend £12.25

Finally wasn't quite finally! as I bought half a dozen eggs from the local farm gate for £1.25, then the cup-a-soups and tea bags from the boot sale for 50p each and then a random tin of corned beef for 50p too - more house clearance.

Total food shop in May  £110.35 but there are  20+ meals now in the freezer and the cupboards look healthy so June should be back to the usual £ 80-90ish for me at home and maybe plus a meal out.

Back Tomorrow

Busy, Busy, Busy Boot Sale

 Last Saturday's car-boot sale was huge and extremely busy.I found a few useful bits which came from the boxes of four different house-clearance people.

The bundle of cards which  include three 'Sister' Happy Birthday cards [I only have one sister and there was one in my card box already, so very well stocked now!], more than a dozen charity Christmas cards and two packs of postcards for my scrapbook were £2.50 and all from one seller.

From another box I found the large book on the right which has colour plates of decorative tiles through history for 50p, it was bought for cutting up for my scrapbook but it seems too good to cut up so now I don't know what to do with it.......back to a boot-sale or to a charity shop.

The Charles III Coronation commemorative tin was also 50p, I didn't buy it for the tin but because it had 40 tea-bags sealed inside. Now the tea bags are in my tin and the Charles tin is in a box ready for when I sell at a boot-sale.

 I'm not a big soup eater but the pack of 4 cup-a-soups was 50p and they've got a very long date so will do for winter.

Luckily early Saturday morning wasn't too hot - after that the temperatures here - like most of the country - just went up and up until records for May highs were broken.

Back Tomorrow

Churches That Are Locked

Three churches that I've found locked recently. I've linked them to Simon Knott's Suffolk Churches website as he was lucky at visiting several years ago.

The first is Hunston ,in the small lanes north of the busy A14 between Stowmarket and Bury St Edmunds

The church is still in use for one service a month but otherwise locked. 

 Simon Knott was able to get into this small thatched church below which is at Harleston not far from Stowmarket, in 2019, but now it's kept locked except for the occasional service.

Finally, Thwaite, a church not far from my village  that isn't used at all but still stands looking sad and neglected. Simon Knott found a keyholder in 2011 and the back story but nothing has been done since.

These faces - headstops - are in the porch, the only bit open to see.

This small building stands closer to the road, it was once used as a Parish Room for the villagers but now boarded up and unused. 

 

Back Soon

Books To Read in The Sunshine

 Thought I'd share another page from the Miranda Mills Commonplace Book as today is going to be a hot sunny day here in Mid Suffolk.

Thank you to whoever it was who mentioned that she explains more about the books she has included on her youtube channel. Interesting to watch as long as you can get past her 'adoring' everything! and can avoid the envy of the bookshelves behind her in her vlogs!

I've read five out of the six in Mirandas list although Emma was read about 50 years ago. A Month in the Country is on my shelves to be read again sometime and The Greengage Summer was  re-read last year when I read books with the seasons in their titles. The Serviceberry is a very samll book borrowed from the library just last month but for some reason I only skimmed through it - I need to borrow it again to find out why. The Light Years was read maybe 15 years ago and while writing this I came across details of Louisa Young [Niece of Elizabeth Jane Howard] who has written the sixth book of the Cazalet Chronicles which will be published in September [The Light Years is the first] and I'm wondering if  now I should re-read all five before number six.

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Once again it's Too Many Books, not enough time!

Back Tomorrow

It's Saturday Again

 Have I done anything really interesting this week?

No.

I finished a small  book - On This Holy Island by Oliver Smith, he visited places of pilgrimage past and present.

and found book another in a charity shop in town (50p). Colkirk Tales by Alfred Absolon....love the cover.

but otherwise it's been too much TV (still watching Bull) and tackling a 16 x16 Sudoku in a Puzzle book.

Of course there was the usual house work, washing, shopping and Exercise Group. I've put so many batch made meals in the freezer over the month that I've run out of boxes so no more will be made for a while. I now have a choice of Quorn Korma Curry, Nut Roast, Pizza topping and bases, Quorn Spag Bol sauce and Pasta/broccoli/ salmon bake for whenever. 

At least I got some gardening done with planting out two courgettes and the squash plant   (I think danger of frosts really has gone) and putting two cucumbers, one pepper and one aubergine into grow bags in the greenhouse. Plus the Climbing French beans out to the garden.  There will be 4 tomato plants in the other grow bags and more peppers in pots next but they are still a bit small.

The roses in the garden are all flowering so I brought a few in

We are in for a heatwave, with record breaking May temperatures forecast over the next few days - a sunny Bank Holiday weekend will be nice. Bank Hol weekends come around quickly with  Easter, Early May and Late May all happening with a few weeks...........then we have to wait to late August for another one.................which is probably a good thing as  I made scones  for my Bank Holiday treat again!

There are a couple of things I want to go to over the weekend but decided it would be a bit too hot to stand outside selling at a car boot sale, so my boxes of 'stuff' remain in my bedroom.

Have a lovely weekend - don't forget the sunscreen!

Those Who Died Too Soon

In history thousands of well known people have died much sooner than their 'Three Score Years and ten'. There are long lists online.

Apart from Colin who was only 61, here are a couple of others  that I missed when they died. 

The first was Richard Beckinsale. The actor who starred alongside Ronnie Barker in the comedy Porridge and at the same time was  in Rising Damp with Leonard Rossiter and Don Warrington who of course is still going strong in Death in Paradise.

He died in 1979 aged just 31.

 Paul Hunter, who was a talented  snooker player he died in 2006 aged just 27. He would have won more titles for sure.

And what other incredible music would Freddie Mercury (45) and Amy Winehouse (27) have gone on to give us if they were still around.

People often say they know where they were when they heard that famous people died (JFK and John Lennon are often mentioned) but the only person I can say that about is Princess Diana in 1997. I came downstairs to make a cuppa early on the Sunday morning and youngest daughter had the TV on - that was when there were childrens programmes on early mornings at weekends. She said " Princess Diana has died" and I said "are you sure - she's much too young, maybe you mean Princess Alice or one of the others". Of course I soon found YD was right and then we had the weeks and weeks of news and mourning which all got a bit too much.

Back Soon

Apples From Blossom

I took these photos about 4 weeks ago when the young apple trees in the garden were covered with blossom and I thought how wonderful it would be if all the blossom turned into apples.

 

Somewhere in one of my books is an old saying about not  being able to count the apple crop very soon in the year but I've searched and can't find it.............It's a bit like chickens, eggs and hatching. 

There must have been lots of pollinators because this years flowers to fruit percentage is good and  the Falstaff - above- is looking hopeful for a good crop, so much so that I'm going to need to do some thinning out and there's the 'June Drop' too which is the way the tree copes with dry weather and too many fruit.

I looked in labels and found the Apple Blossom Fairy  from Cicily Mary Barkers books hasn't been on the blog before although 36 others have appeared. She painted 168 in total so there is a way to go.

When i googled to find out how many Flower Fairies there are, up popped an ad from Oxfam Shops Online where they have for sale a 1950s copy of three of her books together in one volume. They want £140 for it!!

I know charities need the money and charge the same as on line sellers but £140 for a book donated to them seems a bit excessive. If no one is willing to pay that much what will they do with the book?

Back Soon

May 20th World Bee Day

 Today is World Bee Day 

World Bee Day is celebrated on 20th May each year, marking the birthday of Anton Janša, a pioneer of modern beekeeping. The event is designated by the United Nations to raise global awareness of the importance of bees and all pollinators.

There are now lots of websites about bees, spotting, identifying and recording. This was one website that popped up........... The Bumblebee Conservation Trust

This information sheet I've had around for ages and now it's stuck in a scrapbook to keep

This photo below is from May 2024 when the Ceanothus (Californian Lilac) was buzzing with all sorts of bees, this year the flowers are just as blue and beautiful but with the colder spring and chilly wind there are very few bees about.

I picked up this leaflet about spotting Yellow Legged or  Asian Hornets from somewhere last year, thankfully not established in this country yet, although they are spreading. They are predators of honey bees and other pollinators and were first spotted in the UK in 2016. Thank goodness for monitoring and eradication but still 120 sightings were recorded up to summer of last year. All sightings must be reported . This is a link HERE

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Two Books and a Scoop.........

 .....were my car boot sale finds on Saturday.

Unusual to find two books at a boot sale that look interesting.

I dithered over the 'Back of Beyond' as the man was insistent on wanting £2 -  hate paying that much! I wasn't 100% sure that I'd not read it but knew there was an interesting, old  book about trees by this author on my shelves and thought that on Amazon for 'Back of Beyond' it would be more than £2 for sure. 

Thank goodness it wasn't listed in my book of books read and would be between £5 and £22 on Amazon so £2 was OK after all.

The other book was in a house clearance box so just 50p and is also about someone who bought an old cottage but this one is in Australia - that's a bit different.

The 50p scoop is for the greenhouse for compost - had one just like this but it split last year, which I only remembered after spending ages looking for it a few weeks ago.

Back Tomorrow

Signed Out and The Horse Chestnut Tree

 Very odd things happening with google here - it kept signing me out of the blog over the weekend. I managed to sign back  in twice after a lot of faff with passwords etc and having to get  number codes sent to my phone. It didn't last long as I was signed out again on Sunday!  I tried to find out why but the answers were a bit vague. Eventually I got back in again long enough to write this and   I think my comments on other blogs may have popped up as anonymous, so apologies for that.

  It was not just google who didn't know who I was  but also outlook (hotmail), BBC iplayer, Facebook Groups and  Wordle although I would have lost my streak anyway - the word was BYLAW. I only got the A!

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The Horse Chestnut I'm following through the year has changed so much in the month since mid April .

It's looking lovely with the white flower 'candles' and the leaves fully open but fresh  still Spring green.

And who knew all the ways the bark is/was used............

Horse chestnut bark (Aesculus hippocastanum) is a traditional herbal ingredient, rich in aescin and tannins, used to support circulatory health, specifically targeting vein health, reducing leg heaviness, and treating vascular issues. Primarily prepared as a decoction or tea, the bark is used for its astringent properties and can be used in topical preparations.

I'll not be trying it!

I'm scheduling this post for Monday morning and will see what happens, will I be signed in or not - that is the question. 

Back soon..................... I hope

Saturday 16th

 Halfway through May.

I'm an idiot.......... you'd think I'd been growing stuff long enough to know not to plant things out before late May so why did I put the 2 courgette plants out in the garden in early May? Without covering them.

Monday morning there were two very frost damaged plants sadly drooping and turning black. It was cloudy Sunday night and I wasn't expecting temps to drop so low..........but they obviously did. Thank goodness there are plenty of courgette plants for sale at car-boots. On Monday night and the rest of the week I made sure to put fleece over the tomato, cucumber and other mini plants and seedlings in the greenhouse, the forecast was for more chilly nights. Two new courgette plants will be coddled in the greenhouse until 'all danger of frost is past'. Daytimes this week have been cold too with a N.E wind, not very nice after the warm weather. 

The gumpf with all the information about the new Recycling system starting in June arrived in the post this week. A more detailed look at what can go in which bins and a calendar so we know which week is which bin. 

At the moment I have a basket in the under-the-sink cupboard for all the dry recycling which can just be tipped straight into the bin, but now paper and card need separating from cans and plastics so either I stand outside sorting or I find somewhere in the kitchen for the different things.

I know this is a government initiative but I can't help thinking that some people won't be able to manage to sort or remember the correct days and will worry about the dire warnings that bins won't be emptied due to  putting 'the wrong thing in the bins'  and more stuff will end up in the general rubbish bin and landfill than there is at the moment.

I've had a week of  restocking the freezer with batch made meals after realising that there were just 5 boxes of Quorn korma curry and 3 boxes of pizza topping left- don't like getting that low on choice.

 I started with 8 boxes of salmon, brocolli,sweetcorn and pasta bakes while the bread machine made two more pizza bases but before finishing  off the pasta bakes I had to turn a bag of bits of crusts into dried breadcrumbs for the cheese/crumb topping.

(Note to self - if you keep adding bits of crust to a bag in the freezer you do actually need to dry them and turn them into crumbs before the morning you want to use them)

Next up was two nut loaves using the recipe on the recipe page and I remembered to use the jar of cranberry sauce that was still in the fridge - after being unopened at Christmas.

I squashed the mix down in the tins a bit more and gave it a bit longer in the oven than last time so it all held together rather than falling apart. I cut into 8 chunky  pieces as they turned out to be not very deep for slices.

Finally several servings of Bolognese sauce using Quorn mince, cans of tomatoes, onion and a red pepper will be made today or tomorrow. 

There's nothing in my diary for anything happening to visit this weekend except for a small craft/plant fair in the village. 

Have a good weekend - I shall be back Monday.

What is/was/will be on TV?

 I was looking to see where on TV I can watch the French Open Tennis which starts next week and discovered that Jack Draper is out through injury and so is Carlos Alcaraz. So no big Sinner/Alcaraz final then. 

It's on  TNT Sports and £30.99 for the month again. Last year I decided to afford it by not going to the big Suffolk Show or the 1940s weekend at the Middy Railway. I'm undecided this year - £30.99 for a month goes against the grain..............but I do love tennis.

 Although no Suffolk Show for me this year either - it's just too big, exhausting and expensive (£33 pre paid for concessions or £40 on the day - £48 for other adults - Good Grief!! ). Much as I enjoyed going and watching the show jumping and everything else  a few years ago.

But I think I will go to the Middy Heritage Railway 1940s thing over late May Bank Hol weekend as I want to see the new extra quarter mile of track which takes the railway to within one field of where I used to live.

After watching several sessions of the 17 days of the World Snooker Championships on TV which finished on the early May Bank Holiday Monday I discovered the Seniors Snooker Championship was on from last Wednesday to last Sunday. Good to see 24 of  the 'oldies' - actually they only need be over 40 - so still young. Then they were plugging a snooker tournament called the 900 which started on Pluto TV on Tuesday. It has a very different format to proper snooker, had to google it to see how it works- not a fan.

In between all the sport I've been watching episodes of Bull. This has just appeared on the 5 catch-up channel arriving from the US and starring Michael Weatherly who was in NCIS when I watched that back in 2022. This is the precis if you haven't seen it..........

 Dr Jason Bull, a psychologist and a trial science expert, heads a consulting firm that helps its clients choose the right jurors and aids them in deciding the best argument that can win the case.

Makes a change from police/special agent things. Looks as if it had six series from 2017 to 2022, so it's taken a while to get to watch for free here. What I like about US dramas is that they make so many in a series - here we're lucky to have six! 

Then of course there is the World Cup Football which starts on the 11th June and finishes 19th July - I'm not much of an international football fan so when it overlaps with Wimbledon (29th June to 12th July) The tennis will come first. 

We seem to have crept around to the Eurovison Song Contest this year (tomorrow night) and I'd not even heard what the UK entry was. So I looked on line..............Oh Good Grief! What a weird one.

 Lots of Countries are boycotting the Eurovison this year after Isreal were allowed to enter. 

So much for trying not to let politics into what was meant to be a song contest .........now it's just a weird music/fancy dress show!

I shall probably half  watch.

Maybe I watch too much TV, but it's good company in a very quiet home alone.

Going back a couple of days - thank you to everyone for comments on the post about SS Nevasa. It was good to hear from other people who'd heard of these Educational Cruises. Not common knowledge!

Roots

 It took a while but the basil cuttings finally produced some roots.

I've put them into compost in pots in the greenhouse now - 7 had roots good enough - hopefully they'll get going to make decent plants. Fingers crossed.

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The Strange Things Found ............

...........at Car Boot Sales.

A group of us from Stowmarket Grammar School  went on an Educational School Cruise on board the SS Nevasa in October 1969  but I  have nothing left to remind me of it - and very few memories .

So spotting this among the house clearance stuff at last Saturdays car-boot sale was a Huge surprise. 

It's a  scrapbook by Sally-Ann Rogers, a Bury St Edmunds Silver Jubilee pupil (a girls Secondary Modern school that amalgameted with the boys school in 1971 and no longer exists) who went on an educational cruise on the SS Nevasa in 1966.

She had kept a lot of the brochures they must have been given - I don't think we had any of these.

I kept my log book - like Sally's below for many years but don't have it now.

Her cruise was two weeks and they went to different places to our cruise (except for Gibralter). She even received letters from her mother and a friend sent to the ship and they did lessons everyday too. I don't think we did and certainly no one sent letters to the ship. From what I can see there were also other adult independent passengers on the cruise apart from the various school groups and their teachers, that's something I don't think happened on our cruise.

I'd not thought about my 1969 cruise for ages - I have no photos. My dad was into slides for photography and so any photos I took were made into slides and I don't remember seeing them. I do remember my camera going wrong somewhere so maybe I didn't get any photos at all.

I googled SS Nevasa to see what I could find online  and discovered a facebook group HERE just in case you are curious!  By the time of our cruise there were just two ships doing Educational Cruises - The Nevassa and the SS Uganda.

I spent £2 on the scrapbook and it's been interesting looking at all the pages and finding things online about the ships and the cruises.

You just never know what's lurking in boxes at boot sales!

Another Look at the Work of Local Artists

 It was the small Art Exhibition in a nearby village at the weekend. I called in to look on my way to Son and DiL's house where I'd been invited for a Sunday roast - very good it was too. Hadn't seen the Grandchildren for a couple of weeks so it was good hear that 6 year old MGS had started Beavers after all - a few weeks ago he was adamant that he Wasn't Going! And YGD has started Brownies, she used to go to Rainbows until they ran out of leaders but wouldn't start Brownies when she was 7 for reasons only known to a 7 year old, so it's good to hear that a year later she's now at Brownies.

Anyway..............the art Exhibition was smaller than some years and I only took a few photos.

Some interesting pottery

Local Artist Reg Siger always has paintings in exhibitions and had 10 on show this time 

including 'Derelict Cottage' . 

And this below is Gipping Church (one of the first I visited in 2018)

 Acrylics by Susan Baldry ( I think as I missed the label)

I thought this was interesting - an etching by Hilary Evans

Three Pen, Ink and Watercolour paintings by Linda Seager

Apologies to the artist - but I didn't like these at all - even though I can see they are very good

I took a few other photos but there was a bit too much reflection on them.

Purchased a couple of greetings cards - Southwold Beach by Diana Kearsley and this fun one by Les French, a guy who paints imagined pictures of how things might have been years ago in places round about and puts them on local Facebook pages where he often adds in people and animates them. 

This is his idea of how Haughley Castle would have looked when built . All that's left is the mound (Motte)- and the moat .

Next Art Exhibition is probably in Debenham Church in June - I'd better check on the date.

Thank you for yesterday.

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