Is it Allowed.................?

....................Starting to think about Christmas is what I'm talking about. Is it allowed in September?

 Every year for several years now I've put together a collection of items - some home made and some bought - for my Sister and for Colin's sister and their husbands. If I'm to do the same for 2021 it really needs thinking about now.

I started by searching on here for what I did for last years Christmas Hamper gifts but there's hardly a mention except for the plant labels I made from the self-hardening clay. Thank goodness there was a list in my Christmas book. There's one hitch for this year- no fresh produce from home to use so even more ingenuity and ideas will needed.

 

I'm not sure what I'll use to pack things in although I still have several new jute bags but I've used bags before and the sisters do online shopping so probably don't even need shopping bags.

 

Now it's just a case of stopping thinking and to actually get on with doing! 

 

Then last Sunday at the car-boot sale I spotted these.

 They were on the stall of a lady who sells decoupaged bottles and boxes every week, she said she hadn't had time to decoupage these (thank goodness I thought!) so was selling them off cheap (£2.50 each) before winter. ....I had a brainwave....one each for the hampers and one for me.

So I've made a start.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

More About Postboxes

 Back in August I wrote a post about Post-Boxes after finding a book of postcard that I'd forgotten about.

 

I said I could feel a new hobby starting so of course it needed a book!

 It's one of the small Shire books and quite concise with lots of photos. The chapter headings are Victorian pillar boxes, Twentieth-century pillar boxes, Wall letter boxes, Ludlow letter boxes, Lamp letter boxes and Miscellaneous letter boxes.

 

 I'm starting with some photos that were already on my blog from my journeys around my old village.

This one below is in the village and built into what was the village Post Office. Long since closed. It is a Wall letter box and dates from the time of George 5th. Wall letter boxes predate  Lamp Letter boxes The first ones had no hood over the aperture but they were changed when the rain got in.

 

This one below is at the end of the lane where I lived. From the book I now know this is a Lamp Letter box  so called because they were originally made to fix to the new lamp posts that had started to appear as public gas lighting was introduced in C19. They are the most common type in country areas where the amount of post is small. The first Lamp letter box was made in 1896  and this one below comes from the reign of George V. It has the words LETTERS ONLY over the slot. . It had a much needed coat of paint in 2019.

 

The one below in another part of my old village is also called a Lamp Letter-box even though it's just on a pole.  These were modernised after WWII with bigger slots than the one above and the word POST OFFICE instead. It's much more modern with EIIR as the cypher.

 

That's my first look at Post/Letter boxes ...........I will be back with more............you've been warned!

Back Tomorrow

Sue

 

Still on the Same Subject as Yesterday

 Thank you to everyone for comments yesterday. So much more rubbish going into bins now than 60 years ago and even more than  back in the days when a  dustbin was literally only for dust and ash.

And a message for Viv commenting as Country Cottage. As you are only two miles away you've probably worked out where I am so call in if you go by and say hello!

 

More about Zero Waste Week and using less plastic.

Last week I remembered to go and look at the Choose Refills van when it visited the village. They've been in business from early spring and stop by the playing field once a month. I've been meaning to visit since moving here.

I picked up a price list and bought a wooden dish-washing brush - which has replaceable heads.
 

 

I'm already getting loo rolls wrapped in paper delivered, no waste Smol dishwasher tablets also come through the post in a cardboard pack. I use Washing Soda + Ecover laundry liquid for clothes and Ecover washing up liquid when not using the dishwasher. I use knitted dish cloths and bicarb and white vinegar for cleaning.

The van has started doing some food things now too but not things I use although I'll probably get white vinegar from them as long as it's food grade.

I've written about other "planet friendly" things in posts labelled Small steps to a smaller footprint but I reckon not flying anywhere is the easiest thing I do on the list of Good Ideas to Save the Planet!

 

Day one challenge for Zero Waste Week was to share the information ✔ Done by blogging about it.

 

Back Tomorrow 

Sue