Random 'Stuff' on the First Saturday in July.

 Bit cooler earlier in the week so we managed to get through the  exercises at Keep Moving Group. I led some and thankfully another lady stepped in to lead the second half. I just get so hot - my internal temperature gauge is hay-wire!

About 5 months ago the neighbours behind me had scaffolding put up and some guys came along and took down the chimney and then put it back up again. They also took off some of the tiles in various places and replaced felt and batons underneath. They came back weeks later and took off the ridge tiles and then cemented them back on again, took off tiles in another place and then put them back. Then they vanished for months. This week in the heat they (or someone else) came back and took down the chimney and rebuilt it Again. With my living room windows open to keep cool I had a continuous background chat from up on the roof....it wasn't very entertaining but I was glad they didn't have a LOUD builders radio like last time.

It might not seem like it but I have done some housework in between the tennis watching. With windows open so much the window sills get really dusty and lots of flies come in leaving their mark on the windows. The window cleaner only does the outside so it's up to me to do inside.

Another week of hot weather is forecast for next week - no rain. Water butts were all empty again and I've filled up the biggest from the mains. I'm glad I've not grown so much in the greenhouse this year, watering cans seem to be getting heavier as I get older.

Finally.................What's happening at Wimbledon? Last man standing - Arthur Fery  plays this afternoon and the Dimitrov/Berrettini match should be good. Djokovic and Sinner are in the same half of the draw so will meet up in the semis next week? maybe? if they both win Sunday and their quarter finals. I'm so missing Alcaraz and Jack Draper!

I've looked to see what events are on over the weekend but seems to be mainly music festivals, so probably just car boot sales for me then. Oh, my library books finally got to Stowmarket library so I need to go and pick them up today or tomorrow. 

Have a good weekend I'll be back Monday.

(Happy 4th July to readers in the USA - some sort of celebration for 250 years I hear - hijacked or not?!)  

 

Saturday 27th June

Blog readers from countries that regularly have hot summers must be fed up with reading about our English 'heatwave'! So I'll apologise to them in advance - here are more words from the 'record breaking temperatures' of our unusual  week in June....................................

 It was a shock on Tuesday morning to find the water pressure was really low- down to a dribble - and then I found a text message from Essex and Suffolk Water saying there were problems in the area. That wasn't ideal to read on  what was expected to be a Very Hot day! Luckily when I make my evening coffee I always fill up the filter jug in the fridge so had plenty of water for drinking. Also still have water in water butts so used a watering can to fill the cistern for loo flushing - thankful for  a toilet with accessible cistern when the en-suite was changed.

The water was back to normal by midday for me and earlier in some places. The primary school was closed due to the water problems and the moans on the 'Next Door' website were ridiculous (People saying " they wouldn't have closed the schools in MY day" etc) but having children in school even for a few hours on a hot day without a water supply would have been a nightmare and there was no way of knowing when it would be normal again.

I went to the next village to see who turned up to the Over 60's Keep Moving Exercise group and most of those of us that did arrive decided it was too hot. There were a couple of the new people who reckoned it wasn't too hot but as they don't want to have any involvement with the running of the group they couldn't really complain! They've started their own group in their village anyway............... so can do what they like in the heat there!

The qualifying for Wimbledon (or possibly the Eastbourne tournament - as I'd been watching either/or depending who was playing) might have been affected by the heat too when their automatic line judge machine refused to work for several hours...........it wouldn't have happened if they'd still had human line judges! I do feel sorry for the poor ball girls/boys who have to stand there holding an umbrella over the players at the changeover breaks, it's about time someone invented a sunshade for their seats that could come up and cover them and then fold back down again while they were playing. 

It's been lovely to see Jack Draper back from injury and playing well at Eastbourne, he is the main "hope for the future!" Three British guys got through the Qualifiers for the Wimbledon main draw - well done to them. All together there are 21 Brits in the main draw, mostly qualifiers or given wildcards. Hopefully some will go further than the first round.

It all starts Monday.

Anyone else enjoy watching Countdown on Channel 4? The standard during this week of quarter, semis and final of this series was incredible. How the winner could get the conundrum in 3 seconds every time - I have no idea. 

Thursday was better with a nice breeze blowing through the bungalow with doors and windows open everywhere.  I got the few bits of ironing done and remembered ironing at the smallholding dressed only in underwear. I had the ironing board upstairs then and in a chalet bungalow upstairs was often unbearably hot. There's hardly any ironing now - I don't miss doing shirts.

Friday was the hottest day here for sure - even without a thermometer to tell me. The was no breeze and the air was just like a brick wall.

Wet tea-towels are my new keep cool accessory - draped over head and neck! I still have no fan - I did buy one a few years back when it was hot but it was so noisy and clunky I passed it to Son to sell at their yard sale. I'm sure fans just move the hot air around anyway.

There's a Sale Trail - garden/garage/yard sales in a nearby village today but doubt I'll go to look if it's still 30° +.

So that's the news from Mid-Suffolk-in-the-heat - with commiserations for people in New Zealand who are having a vicious winter.

Thanks for comments yesterday it was too hot to hold the lap top to reply!!

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

Random and Odd Stuff From Last Week

The cheapest nearest diesel was £1.86 a litre last Sunday,. Apparently this is £8.46 a gallon - good grief. (thats's $11.37). I'm so old I can remember when petrol was £1 a gallon - that was in the late 70's. Have to travel, so need fuel -  I'm keeping topped up.

Did anyone else watch the 2nd series of  'Capture' on TV over the last 6 Sundays? It ended last Sunday, I  have no idea what it was all about.😕

Started on the 10 minute journey to Keep Moving Group only to find after half a mile  that the way out of the village was suddenly 'Road Closed' - no warning = 3 point turn = back the way I'd come and  then several miles on small back lanes = all jolly good fun! Arrived 20 minutes later = only just in time.

Did you hear about this .....Supermarket Digital Labels? Instant price changes when demand is higher/lower- with electronic shelf edge labels-  Oh good grief. For instance strawberries and cream would cost more on a hot Summer Saturday and less on a wet Winter Monday. Thankfully no supermarkets here have plans to introduce these -Yet!

On Thursday morning my phone made an unusual bleepity bleep noise, when I looked it was wishing me Happy Birthday! It wasn't a message or a phone call - just Happy Birthday on the screen. How strange.  AI creeping in?

17 days of The World Snooker Championship starts on TV today, it will keep me company while I'm reading and half watching. There are 11 Chinese players in the starting 32 - that must be the most ever.

I see blogger is playing up again - sometimes not updating the "Blogs I Read" when a new blog is posted. 

Have a good weekend .

Into the Middle of February, Just Books and Shopping.

 And of course next day -the digger had to come back to fill in the grave.... 

................now the entrance is even muddier than yesterdays photo. The mourners and men with the coffin came in the top gate and walked down the shingle path avoiding the mud - thankfully. ( I don't stand watching funerals! but it's right opposite the bungalow so can hardly avoid seeing what's happening when I'm in the kitchen)

Such a grey gloomy week with lots of rain. I've not been far at all. The Winter Olympics on TV have kept me company - curling, skeleton, snowboard cross, ice dance and three books have been finished.....although one was a children's book and read very quickly. I even started to feel guilty that all I'd done was watch TV and read, with the odd bit of housework thrown in but then tried to think of other things I ought to be doing.......and there wasn't anything.

This below is by an author who usually writes under Natasha Solomons. I enjoyed 'The Song Collector' and 'The Novel in the Viola' by her several years ago. This is listed completely separately on the Fantastic Fiction website, a one-off under N.E. Solomons, a sometimes violent thriller set in the Balkans after the war there. Details here.

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As mentioned the other day I was out of carrots and eggs, for the good reason of Son doing a roast dinner here for us all last Sunday, so  shopping needed doing 4 days earlier than planned.

There was no point just getting two items so I did the weeks shop at Aldi with lots of bits that will last for several weeks and replacing things that had been used in the last couple of weeks.

Another one  for the 'food-shop-photo-fans!'

There's soft cheese and Blue Stilton (still no Shropshire Blue), tin of tomatoes, two decaf ground coffee - while they had it in stock as they often don't. Celery, kale, carrots and apples. A big tub of peanut butter (no salt, no sweetener - just peanuts, lasts me for months) 1 dozen free range eggs, 4 pints milk and a 600g pack of mini chicken breast fillets.- which I divided up into  5  portions before freezing. The UPF were stuffing mix and tortilla chips and a packet of figgy biscuits- they're there somewhere.

Then on my way home I called in at a village butchers for some lamb scrag/neck of lamb chops and they had some fresh cut,  ¾ Kg for £3 so I was able to divide into 2 separate portions before freezing. I'll be making a delicious lamb stew and dumplings twice (two meals each time) sometime in the next couple of months.

Total spend £30.92. Food spend so far this month £54.27

Out of curiosity at the end of the month I'm going to see what % of my purchases are fruit and veg and other basic simple foods - and how many are Ultra Processed Foods.

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There's a jumble sale today, I might go, if I don't run into flooded roads on the way .

Daffodils and Mud

Found something to post about..............

Like the snowdrop photos the other day, these daffodil buds, not too far from opening, are on the bank of the Churchyard. The few daffodils that survive in my garden are a long way behind.  

After weeks of rain the mini digger came to the churchyard to dig a new grave. Now the lower entrance to the burial ground looks like this. This is often the way mourners and the coffin bearers enter for the committal....oh dear.

Plough Monday

Plough Monday, the first Monday after Twelfth Night was the day the agricultural year started, but before they began  their hard work, the plough men and boys took the opportunity to have a bit of fun by dressing up, disguising their faces and processing around the village to perform a plough play and hopefully be given some money.  The plough was often blessed in the church on the Sunday before, so that day was named as Plough Sunday.

Turn out for plough Monday

Up, fellows now

Buckle the horses

And follow the plough. 

Photo of picture from my book 'The English Year' by Steve Roud. It's described as 'from George Walker's - The Costume of Yorkshire 1814'

The church in the village still celebrates Plough Sunday and in the past I've walked up the road to take a photo of the decorated plough, the Morris dancers and the procession around the village.

This was 2023

This year I didn't - it was freezing out there, no sun and rain threatened, not good for hanging around waiting.

The 12th of January is also the Old New Year's Day which many people carried on celebrating after the calendar changed in the 1752.

If on the 12th January the sun shine

It foreshadows much wind.

Country folk often went on using the old calendar for years so there was also 'old twelfth night' on the 17th, which means there is still time to get Christmas decor down or to Wassail the apple trees.

P is for Post-box

This photo of the post-box in the village was taken in October and I mentioned then how it was wrapped in plastic waiting for the 'automated system'. 

Thankfully it is now back in use and looks like this

There is still a slot for posting letters but now there is a way of posting parcels too, all using a QR code......there seems to be a QR code for everything nowadays! I have no idea how it works and if I want to post a parcel I shall go to our post office 100 yards up the road. Just hope this isn't a way of  getting rid of our village Post Office - which is in our village shop.

In youngest daughter's town near the Suffolk coast the Post Office was inside a hardware shop, which closed quite suddenly which left the whole town -extra busy due to  the building of Sizewell Nuclear Power Station - without a Post Office and anyway of  banking at all . Their Barclays bank shut earlier in the year. There are now 3 towns in the area without a single bank and just a couple of post offices to serve a population of over 20,000 people which will increase by a 1,000 more as the Sizewell building work continues.

I've no idea what businesses in the three towns do with nowhere to do their banking - yet another push to a cashless society.

Back Tomorrow

All Change in the Village

 The post box in the village has been wrapped in black plastic with this notice attached. Apparently we will get a super-duper post-box with solar power for an 'automated system', whatever that means! I'm sure most people just want somewhere to post their letters. Have to  hope this doesn't mean the end of the village post office - we are lucky to still have one.

This is the future of rubbish and recycling collection for us here in Mid Suffolk. 2 extra bins from next June. It's going to get jolly complicated! Every week, every other week or every three weeks. I shall need a list!

Back Soon

Fields Full of ?

 There are several fields not far from home growing a mystery crop this year.

It's very colourful with seed heads of red/purple, yellow and green.

 Is it a crop grown for Caribbean cookery? Seem to remember seeing crops like this on programmes about city allotments where people of all nationalities grow crops we don't often use here.

Must be grown for the seeds, there are plenty on each plant

Maybe it's Amaranth? or Quinoa?

The leaves are a bit like Fat Hen - a common weed here that was once eaten, so it's from that family.

Someone will know, but whatever it is, it's definitely not been grown around here before.

Back Soon

Saturday. Mid August.

The 4th heatwave of the year didn't seem to be as hot as predicted here in Mid Suffolk, although that might be because I didn't do anything much outside after about 10 in the morning!  I wondered what actually constituted a heatwave and found..........................

England has entered its fourth heatwave of the summer, with a number of places seeing temperatures higher than 30C on Tuesday. Areas in South West England, the South West Midlands, North West England and East Anglia met heatwave criteria, by having three consecutive days above a certain temperature.

Tuesday wasn't too hot early on and we managed to get through the exercises at the Keep Moving Group without melting too much and Wednesday there was a lot of cloud. On Thursday a bit of a breeze kept things comfortable indoors but on Friday things got hot, hot, and hotter.

One of these days I'll get a new outdoor thermometer and then I'll know exactly how hot it is.

Temperatures next week should be back to average for  August, many will be grateful.

 I've put 2½lb of the giant tomatoes into the freezer so far - that was just 5 tomatoes, there are  plenty more still to turn red, not quite as big as those first 5 but still a good size. The other things needed for my favourite chutney are red peppers, red chilli peppers, red onions and  red wine vinegar. I've got the vinegar and will buy the other things when I get around to making the chutney later in the year.

Some years I'm able to use my own peppers, but there are so few this year and some will be yellow anyway - when they eventually turn from green.

The climbing green beans have finished and I was going to pull them up but couldn't get them or the canes out of the rock solid ground. That job will have to wait until we get rain although  I did pull up the squash plants - they'd never done well and they had flowers that just hadn't set.

There's fireworks over the road in the churchyard tonight - the church have a Patronal Festival thing - something to do with The Assumption of Our Lady. They follow that with hot dogs/burgers and a specially brewed local beer! I've only ever seen the fireworks  once since being here as it was cancelled one year because it was so dry and another year because it poured with rain and last year I was away with the family.  Hope it's not too dry this year as I love a free fireworks  display!

Have a good weekend, not sure what I'm doing apart from standing on my doorstep at 8.45pm!.

Back Monday

Field Crops 2025

 I took a walk up the lane with the camera to see what crops were growing this year. No sugar beet this year but field beans on one side, barley on the other and further up the lane some very tall oil seed rape.

 

Field beans are an important part of many livestock feeds, being high in protein. 

Barley for malting and brewing or for animal feed. In some parts of the country it might be used for human consumption  but here we have one of the main maltings companies not far away and Green King Brewery too. Barley straw was the best for goat bedding. Wheat straw was tough and not so good.

Oil seed rape is grown for it's oil-rich seeds which are used for animal feed, bio-fuel or cooking oil.

The oil-seed rape seems extra tall, the flowers have finished and seed pods formed. The stalks after harvest might be baled and used as animal feed.  Other wise it seems a waste if only the seed pods are harvested, or maybe they'll be chopped and ploughed in.

Sometimes we had a bale of rape straw for our goats for a change but they preferred good hay.

It's no wonder really that some people say it would be better if we were all vegetarian, when so much land is used to produce food for animals that then in turn provide food for us. We could cut out the middle man  animal! The counter arguement is that lots of our land isn't suitable for crops anyway and it would be even more difficult to get anywhere close to national food self sufficiency and security if we were all vegetarian.

Back Soon

The Runners Run By

On Sunday I was just about to walk up to the post box to get a letter off when I discovered it was the Stowmarket Half Marathon. There were dozens of runners, running down the footpath and  heading past the bungalow just like last year. Last year they had horrible wet weather which was probably better for running than the lovely  sunshine of this year.

This year a few guys were dressed as colouring  crayons - long dress-like wear with pointy coloured hats. They looked a bit 'warm'. I was yet again surprised at the ages of some of the people - and all the different running styles.

It's organised by Stowmarket Striders running club but there were runners from all parts of Suffolk and on googling I discovered it costs the runner around £21 to enter if they are a running club member and up to £30 if not. There were around 270 runners who finished the race last year but there didn't seem as many going by this year.

As they go past my bungalow and up the lane they pass the 7 mile mark - so just over half way. Supposedly running is addictive - it's never been something I could do!

As I said last year - nothing much happens here so even a road race is exciting!

Back Soon

Sue

There and Going, Going, Gone

I'm always sad when I hear or see mature trees being cut down, but sometimes when they are very big and in among houses it's probably safer for everyone.

These were the huge Willow and Sycamore trees in the sunshine on Sunday morning. The Willow on the left is in the garden of the house over the back and the Sycamore is right in the corner of my next door neighbours garden.

Both neighbours came to tell me they'd got together to have the trees cut down, both trees getting too big for where they are. 

My first thought was 'Oh No' but actually I'll get a lot more sun light into the bungalow, greenhouse and garden and no more leaves to clear - the Sycamore dumps loads in my garden.

Abby next door said she hates having to have the Sycamore down but it's damaging their shed and cutting out all the light from their house and garden and is just way too big for the space between their house, the house behind them and my bungalow. This bit of the estate was built in 1983 and I guess both trees were planted back then with no thought on how big they would get in 40 years.

The willow was first to go.

Then they moved onto the Sycamore

The Sycamore has now gone completely but the willow still stands. I thought they were going to take it right down but perhaps not. It looks really odd but will sprout in spring.

I won't really notice the difference until summer, but now I'll get sun right through the afternoon and evening. I think the greenhouse plants will appreciate it. I might get fewer pigeons in the garden too as they won't be able to nest in the Sycamore every year.

Before and after

Back Soon

Sue

(and thank you for comments yesterday - I've replied to all now.)

More on Rubbish and Woods In November

Thank you everyone for comments about rubbish collection in various parts of this country and other countries. I just hope the council produce a handout with dates as it's going to get complicated with some weekly, some every other week and another collection just once in 3 weeks. 

I can imagine it all being far too complicated for some people to bother about and doubt very much that there will be a 58% drop in unrecyclable rubbish.

At the moment we only have two bins included in our council tax, collected in alternate weeks, for rubbish and recycling - but not glass - that has to be taken to a bottle bank in the village.

The waste food collection is probably the biggest change - but I'd rather use garden waste and food peelings in my compost bin. It would be quite good if we didn't have to pay the extra £62 a year for the garden waste bin which I use for stuff too big for my 'dalek' bin and most of the grass cuttings.

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 Most areas of woodland in Suffolk is privately owned and inaccessible, but since the millennium we have a bit of public woodland in the village, it's not very big but I'd not walked round for ages.  

It was one of the grey days last week, very little colour and no birds singing at all - no dog walkers either.

The way in

Some trees are bare

But the Sweet Chestnut still has many of it's leaves

These walls once surrounded a walled garden belonging to the house in the middle of the woods which  is still lived in.

The way out

Very few berries on the Hollies in the wood - hope I can find some in my usual holly gathering place

The Horse Chestnut in the village on the way to the woods is hanging onto many of it's leaves, quite often they get a disease early on which turns the leaves brown although it doesn't damage the tree.

Back Soon

Sue

Following A Tree 2024

 My walk up the lane to take photos of the Oaks happened right at the end of August, a beautiful sunny morning, blue skies all round. Things were starting to look Autumnal with acorns now a good size and the barley and  wheat all harvested.

Leaves were beginning to looks old, spotted with brown and some with mildew

In the hedgerow a few blackberries beginning to ripen and the red comes from the poisonous Woody Nightshade. Rose Hips are still mostly orange and very oddly I didn't notice any Hawthorn berries.

A few blackberries - my least favourite fruit so I leave them for the birds

Rose Hips

Pretty but Deadly!

The barley field is just stubble, probably to be ploughed later. Further up the lane the wheat field had been disc harrowed so maybe it's been sown straight in with something as there were bird scarer guns  set up on the other side of the field.

That green field in front of the houses, which is bigger than it looks in this photo,  will have houses  built on it very soon - a 'consultation' evening is being held for villagers to go and look at the plans. Complaints and comments won't make any difference as it's already been agreed by the Council!

Stubble field

The Sugar Beet field is looking well, several more months of growing still to come before it's harvested

I've never seen so many of these Robin's Pincushions on the Dog Roses before, there were so many. It must be a very good year for the gall wasp.

 "The Robin's pincushion is a red, round, hairy growth that can be seen on wild roses. It is caused by the larvae of a tiny gall wasp that feeds on the host plant, but causes little damage."

It really will be proper Autumn next time I go up the lane for photos

Back Soon

Sue

Following a Tree

 The end of May and time to take photos of the oak trees up the Quiet Lane for the Following a Tree 2024 posts

What a difference a month makes, this time in April the leaves were only just appearing, now they are all there, new green and lovely.

Was oak out before ash or vice versa? I think fractionally the oaks were first , but will the summer be a soak or a splash?  Jolly good question. I heard Monty Don at the Chelsea Flower Show, say twice that we are in for a very hot summer but I'll believe it when/if it's here, especially after the wash out of a Bank Holiday weekend we've just had.

What else is happening up the lane.

The field that had just been sown in April is now showing that it's sugar beet growing there.

Bet the farmer is glad he got the field drained, the water was running off after the huge downpours earlier in the week.

And on the other side of the road the Barley has ears

And dog roses are just appearing

Back Soon

Sue

The Early May Bank Holiday Weekend

For Star Wars fans........................ May the 4th be with you! - and if you aren't a fan then you'll wonder what the idiot woman is talking about!

I can't remember what Easter Bank Holiday was like weather wise without looking back on the blog, but it was probably cold and wet.

Hopefully  this Early May Bank Holiday weekend is good as there are several things happening in villages around that need dry weather to be successful. A bluebell wood open, a flower festival, a Tudor reconstruction day, car-boot sales (of course) and village yard sale. Not sure I shall get to all of them and after it poured with rain all day yesterday some might be a bit soggy underfoot.

Other than yesterdays wash out, this week has been a good week, much better than the week before when I felt a bit under the weather on a couple of days and missed the Over 60's meeting and wasn't able to look after the Grandchildren after school one day - very annoying.

The World Snooker Championship on TV has been interesting as so many of the top seeded players were knocked out, and only one - the 12th seed-  got to the semis. More importantly in the World of Sport is the chance this weekend for Ipswich Town Football Club to get automatic promotion to the Premier League - that means a lot for the Town in many ways. If they end up in the play-offs for the the chance to go up then I fear a match against our Norfolk rivals - Norwich City FC - in which Norwich will win, get promoted and be able to gloat for another year!

Thursday evening was eventful as a fire engine raced by the bungalow and then 30 minutes later two more with blue lights went through the village, then an ambulance went by one way and another a few minutes later going the other way. I wondered what on earth was happening. Heard later that the fire engines were for a fire in a commercial building  a few miles away but no idea what the ambulances were doing - don't think they were connected to the fire.

I've been grateful this week for.............

• Some good fine, sunny and warm days at last
• Being able to get the pots for the greenhouse plants filled and ready
• Planting out the two squash plants and getting them cat and bird proofed
• More leek plants found in the pet/garden shop in Diss, planted out and protected as above
• Getting the sweetcorn seeds sown in their peat pots in the greenhouse. 
• Lots of good reading
• Finding a church open to visit after finding one locked
• Getting a 'foot lady' to sort out a problem - no more info on that one - Ugh!
• Sorting more photos from their old albums into the new storage boxes.

Here's a favourite - me on my big trike aged about 4. I didn't have a two wheeled bike (and no such thing as stabilisers)  until quite late as there was nowhere to learn to ride it. Our house was right beside a busy A road and the back yard was a rough builders yard - as you can see in the photo.

I'm  shall return on Monday with some more old photos - you have been warned!

Have a good Bank Holiday Weekend for everyone here and a good ordinary weekend for those elsewhere.

Sue 

Running Race

 When you live in a village where nothing much happens, anything is interesting!

So seeing dozens of runners passing by on Sunday was kind of exciting - in a "phew, glad I'm not doing that" way.

Had to look up the who's and why's and found it was a half marathon running race over a new route, organised by a local running club  and according to their running vests there were people running from lots of different Suffolk clubs.

Lots of over 50's running as well as younger and the weather was awful. Not my choice of spending a Sunday. But what was worrying that two blue light ambulances also went by! might have had nothing to do with the runners but  I hope everyone was OK.

Back Tomorrow

Sue