Cheering Myself Up!
I’ve just cooked myself two sausage, bacon and bean pies; one for tonight and one for the freezer.
Two Sausage Pies
This always cheers me up, but it would be so much nicer to cook one for me and one for an attractive, intelligent lady!
I’ve always done something practical, when I was feeling down at Christmas. I can remember at about 17, I painted the wheels of my car, a fetching shade of blue! And then, when I was developing software, I’d always fix a tremendous number of bugs at every holiday.
The trouble with programmers today, is that they don’t have that level of dedication.
An Advantage Of Clapham Junction Station
One of the advantages of changing at Clapham Junction station is the bridge with lots of kiosks. I bought this excellent fresh lemonade for £1.90 at Knot Pretzels.
An Advantage Of Clapham Junction Station
We need more kiosks with lemonade ready-to-go.
A Street For Coeliacs In Nottingham
On Saturday, the fourteen of December, I went Nottingham to see Ipswich play.
As I often do in the city, I had a meal in French Living in King Street, as they know their gluten-free well.
They have now expanded to include a creperie that does gluten-free and King Street, where they are, now has two chain restaurants, which are safe for coeliacs.
So if you want gluten-free food in Nottingham, head to King Street.
I took the tram up the hill from the station. and then it was a short walk.
It will be interesting to see if other restaurants opening in the area, will also do gluten-free offerings.
Can This Christmas Get Any Worse?
Yesterday’s lunch with my son and his friends went well, but I had to come home, as I wasn’t feeling well! Nothing serious and I suspect it was just the effect of the cold dry weather, affecting my gut. I don’t think I ate any gluten, but it was as if I had. So it was alone and back to watching old Two Ronnies and Morecambe and Wise on BBC2.
To make matters worse, when I returned home, I did find that I’d left a window open, when I went out. The house had a temperature of eighteen. At least, the open window only let the cold in.
At least, I was able to use the air conditioning to take the chill off of the temperature. But of course, the humidifier I’d hired in to get the humidity up had failed. Although, I’m doubtful it was ever working properly.
Why does she hate me so much? You can understand, why I feel that religion and God, herself, is so much rubbish.
I went to bed at about ten last night, as bed was the one warm place in the house. The temperature was about 20 °C with a humidity somewhere in the low thirties.
I slept well as I always do and decided to get up at five, as I was fully awake. I thought there might be some good news on the cricket and with the air-conditioning on, I might get the temperature up to twenty-three or so.
But of course, the news from Melbourne was its usual load of old rubbish.
And then the letter R on my e-mail computer packed up. Try typing anything sensible without that letter. It could have been worse, as the E might have failed. So now, I’m using my other computer, which is not as easy for my one-handed typing. It also doesn’t run my preferred Windows Vista.
At six-thirty, I decided to have a hot bath. That was good, but the bathroom is stone cold, as the heating isn’t really working.
In an hour or so, I’m going to get my paper and see if I can find a nice warm cafe. Sadly, there isn’t a hotel near me with a restaurant I can trust. Carluccio’s don’t open until eleven.
At least though, I’ve got plenty of porridge and some bacon, eggs and beans for a fry-up. I’d love to have some sausages, but they’re all in my freezer. But would they freeze out before next weekend, if I got them out now? The nearest supplier is one of two Sainsbury stores, which open at ten. I’ll need to go to one, as I’m virtually out of gluten-free bread.
I still intend to get to Doncaster, and as I write this, I haven’t got a lift. I did think there’d be someone in the area going north with a space, so I didn’t make alternative provisions. This would have been to book a place on the coach from Newmarket. I can get there by taking a train to Stansted and then using a taxi. But it is now too late to book the coach.
So if I do go, it’ll be a 113 bus to Apex Corner and then hitching up the A1.
I’m really looking forward to tomorrow and the return to some degree of normality.
Next winter, I’ll book myself into a five-star hotel on Christmas Eve. Then when it all goes pear-shaped, I’ll at least ruin the Christmas of a lot of other people.
You Don’t Say No to Suffolk
I don’t drink much spirit, but I do like the odd glass of whisky. So I was pleased that the new Adnams whisky is now available.
I first read about the availability of the whisky in this article in The Times. The article tells how it is illegal for spirit and beer to be made on the same site, due to a law dating from the 1700s.
What Adnams did is outlined in this paragraph from the article.
Although the law had never been repealed, Mr Adnams tested its validity by submitting an application to HM Revenue & Customs. “We got a reply in only three months saying yes,” he said.
No-one in his right mind, ever says no to an obviously sensible suggestion from supposedly sleepy Suffolk.
I’m looking forward to getting a bottle!
It may be a novelty to most of the world, but when I started drinking Adnams bitter, they only had thirteen pubs and supplied a few clubs in the local area.
The Scots will not be quaking in their boots yet, but then Watneys thought they could crush this then tiny brewery from Southwold, by buying many of East Anglian’s breweries, including all in Norfolk. Red doors are still associated with bad beer and service all over East Anglia.
Is Putting Chilli Flakes Into A Shepherd’s Pie A Good Idea?
I made a pair of shepherd’s pies tonight; one for the stomach and one for the weekend. It’ll probably be Saturday after the football or Sunday evening, when the second one gets eaten.
As an experiment I modified the recipe, by adding a few chilli flakes.
Perhaps, it wasn’t for the purists, but it did impart an interesting flavour.
Bland it wasn’t!
Next time though, and there’ll be a next time, I’ll use a few less.
Cafe Breizh In Paris
I found Cafe Breizh last time I was in Paris, by searching for “gluten free creperie”. But I couldn’t find it physically.
So this time, as I crossed Paris to get the Eurostar, I just had to visit.
I was not disappointed after a bowl of cider and two gluten-free buckwheat crepes.
It’s a wonderful excuse to go to Paris for the day.
Le Petit Commerce, Bordeaux
The hotel recommended this restaurant for my supper.
Any time I’m in Bordeaux, all other places where I eat will be judged against this restaurant.
It would also have been a place that C would have adored. Like me, she loved to eat fish and that was the bulk of the menu.
So in some ways it was fitting that I ate there six years and a day after she died.
A Strange Bottle Of Evian Water
I bought this bottle of Evian at Biarritz station.
Note that is says Live Young on one side and something in Dutch on the other.
Strange for a product made in France and sold on a French station.
An Early Start From Biarritz
I had intended to leave Biarritz at about mid-morning to travel to Bordeaux, but then I hadn’t planned for the French rail unions, who decided the twelfth would be a good day for a strike.
I found out in the afternoon, when I went to the SNCF Boutique in the centre of Biarritz to get a ticket. There were just two trains on the Thursday; one at seven in the morning and one at six in the evening. Much, as I had enjoyed Biarritz, I wanted to get to Bordeaux at a sensible time.
So it had to be the 07:13 train. But this meant that I had to leave the hotel at six without any breakfast.
I would have to have my sumptuous meal later!
The station was surprisingly warm at about fourteen degrees.
But I certainly didn’t have a warm feeling towards the French rail unions. I had planned to buy myself a sumptuous supper last night to mark six years since the death of my wife, C. But instead, I just had a reasonable steak in the hotel.
So my plans had been totally ruined.
The Anonymous Widower 