One Week into October and More Expense

First week of October gone already.

Job Done......................
I got the paint out for the downstairs bathroom, didn't have to buy any - just  used what was left from doing my bedroom, it only took a couple of hours and looks tons better. I had to stick the skirting board on with gorilla glue and do lots of filling as there were gaps where either the wall or the skirting board weren't straight. Then painted skirting and door frame  and by the end of Monday that was another room finished. I'm pleased with what's been done here regarding bath and shower rooms, everything is much more sensible now.

Grrrrrrrr........twice..............
I wasted nearly 45 minutes of my life traveling 8 miles further on than the village with the swimming pool so as to visit a church, only to find it was locked, with a phone number to ring but as I wanted to get to the pool on time for the over 50's hour I couldn't stop to ring. Huntingfield church ....outside view only

 One of the villages I went through on the way home had a speed-camera  van half hidden in a gateway, I should have been going 30mph,  might have been going 34mph - Oh Dear. That might mean a fine and speed awareness course! Then I thought "Oh well - something else to write about on the blog!!" And if I do get a fine and have to do a course Col would have been livid as he was always moaning at me for letting my speed creep up over 30 through villages, just because  he spent 40+ years driving round Suffolk and never got caught for speeding once!

Yum................................
Monday night was the Birthday meal for big WI. (99 years) It was at a pub in Big WI village. I'd chosen a chicken something followed by Eton mess. I remembered why I don't like going out for meals with a huge group (over 30 of us)- too much sitting and waiting. Service was sooooooo  slow. Some people had starters so the rest of us had to wait even longer. There is a new chef at this pub apparently and the meal was all fancy.  What they call presentation I call faffing about! I'm not sure what the round potato thing was, sort of a cross between mash and roast. Presented with a few pea shoots and a piece of  chicken breast with something stuffed in it, then cut in half and stood on end. (can you tell I wasn't impressed? Although I will admit the chicken was very tender).
The Eton mess was delicious ........see empty plate!

 My back was very painful from 2½ hours very upright on a hard chair so I didn't stay for the coffee and  entertainment which was I think was two old blokes doing sea shanties! ( or something similar)

Going, going, gone..........................................
More things went out of the house this week - a small selection of my clothes that haven't been worn for about 5 years - most came from charity shops in the first place so have now gone back plus yet another bag of books that I've tried on ziffit several times but they've not wanted them. Also another small box that ziffit did want - just £9 worth but better than nothing. From the workshop two old wire brushes and a couple more random small bits went into the bin.
I also turned some more 3D decoupage sheets into birthday cards.

Grass....................
Thursday was a beautiful day, dry and warm so I got both mowers out and did everywhere - hopefully for the last time this year.

And the Expense?
Well, we knew some of the infrastructure here was a bid odd and Col said a few times that he thought the hot water system wasn't right and too complicated, and when it was repaired last year we were told that it was a set up that isn't used anymore. So when the pressure of hot water out of the taps got slower and slower over the last couple of months I knew something needed mending. In theory the company who did the shower and bath stuff ought to have been able to do the water but they didn't seem very keen and I wasn't keen on them doing more here anyway. So I rang the company who did solar thermal at the smallholding but they've stopped doing anything to do with thermal systems. But I did get a phone number of another specialised heating and plumbing company and the man came and looked and tutted - as they do - and told me the bad news which I was expecting. I need a whole new simpler hot water tank without the strange system which they no longer use which involves a coil thingy which is full of lime scale.
 The quote arrived...................not cheap, but it has to be done.


I keep forgetting to say welcome to  new followers, number 422 and 423, hope you enjoy reading.

Have a lovely weekend everyone, weather forecast a bit iffy here

Apologies for not replying to any comments yesterday - ran out of time. I'll catch up with myself sometime!

 Back Monday
 Sue

Shelland Church

A very small church in an extremely small village.

Shelland, with only 10 houses,  is not far from Stowmarket but feels like the middle of nowhere except that nowadays the main A14 is only a couple of miles away and you can  hear the traffic on the concrete road surface.
The church was built as a private church in 1767, on the site of an older building. It was  privately owned until 1936 and the land it stands on is still privately owned.
The church may be small but it is unusual as it has a barrel organ instead of a usual organ, the only one in a church in regular use and dating from 1801. It plays 36 different tunes and is activated by a person turning a crank handle.
It is painted inside in pale pastel colours and  it is also only one of 6 churches in the country dedicated to King Charles the Martyr. ( Charles I)

It was lovely to see the Harvest Festival fruit and flowers (and jars of jam) still around the church after their  Harvest service a couple of Sundays earlier.

The high sided box pews,

with their doors to get in date from 1767 and the vicar wouldn't have been able to see who was in the church

 Unless he climbed up into the triple-decker pulpit!

According to the Suffolk churches book the alter rail has closely packed balusters to prevent dogs getting into the sanctuary. Who knew?

The font is octagonal made of limestone, covered with carvings of leaves and dating from the C14 is the only thing saved from the original medieval church.
With a population of just 39 at the 2001 census I doubt many children have been christened there recently. 

Ancient Yew trees make an arch over the path into the church yard

A curious little church.

Back Tomorrow
Sue

Suffolk Words

In that very short recorded bit I posted the other week about staying here someone said they could hear my Suffolk accent. There used to be lots of people with broad Suffolk accents and using the dialect but now it's disappearing .
I've been clearing out more books and found this little book among some other Suffolk books.

Thought I'd test you out with some Suffolk words and dialect from the book that I've actually heard used. I'm not sure these are only used in Suffolk, they could be common country words.
Work these out..............

Airy Wiggle                                                         Fourses
Backus                                                                  Goose-gog
Bag-up                                                                 On the drag
Biggety                                                                Phoebe
Bor                                                                       A push
Carr                                                                      Rile
Chaites                                                                 Slivva                                                                
Crome                                                                  Tilt
Ewe ( not a female sheep!)                                  Ul
                                                                              Watering




Airy Wiggle is an Ear-wig
Backus is the scullery built on at the back of a house
Bag-up is a cow,sheep or goat just before calving or kidding - when the udder is filling up with milk
Biggety - bit of a show off. A Biggety-B****r was someone who thought he was better than others!
Bor - Used as a greeting between male friends " How you gettin' on bor?"
Carr - small wood or copse near water
Chaites - left over food
Crome is a garden tool with prongs at right angles to the handle
Ewe - owed " I ewe him a fiver"
Fourses - like elevenses but around 4o'clock in the afternoon, needed during harvest and haymaking when long hours were worked out in the fields
Goose-gog is a gooseberry
On the drag is running late for something
Phoebe is the sun
A push is a boil
Rile means annoying.
A slivva is a splinter of wood in your finger
A Tilt is a tarpaulin
Ul is Suffolk for  'you will' or I will
Watering  is where a steam is shallow enough for a road to go through it.

Are they Suffolk words or used everywhere? I have no idea!

If you watched Antiques Road Trip on Tuesday afternoon you would have seen the two antique experts motoring around the bit of Suffolk where we lived  for so many years. Phillip Serrell was at the Long Shop Museum in Leiston and the man there was demonstrating the use of a stirrup pump and said you put it in a pail. Mr Serrell said " hang on, that's what we call a bucket isn't it?" We always had a spade and pail for the beach when I was little, never a bucket. So is pail a Suffolk word too?

Back Tomorrow
Sue