Chatback number 20

[Jay22]

Evening, well would you believe, it dried up this afternoon and the sun came out. Decided to go for a walk, started off with hat, scarf and multiple layers and ended up taking the layers off it was so warm. Kept the hat on though as the hair is not growing back well! Totally unexpected sunny, warm afternoon. Hope you all had a wonderful day!

[burnie]

Evening all, the local stream has burst it's banks and part of the lovely old bridge has been broken away by the flood water, it's been closed to traffic for a long time, I used to use it to go down to the water to go fishing, won't be doing that again I fear, a lot of roads are closed, good job we didn't want to go anywhere as we are on an island at the moment. I hope the houses on the low lying fields out side the village are ok, they have flooded in the past, luckily we are 80 feet above the water level.

[Nicos]

Mornin n'alln'all
just having my first brew of the day - I've left everything out so help yourselves

We now have no hot water as well as no central heating A warning light has come on the back up boiler.
Oh joy.
So it's Luke warm showers (brrrrr.....!) and boiling kettles for washing up for now. 'They' said the central heating part should have arrived by the end of last week so I'm hoping it'll be all sorted in the next couple of days. Will chase them up later.

Lots more sploshy stuff going on here too - doesn't sound good about your area Burnie.

Not sure what I'll be doing today. Hopefully I can get some clearing up done, but first things first....get the woodstove lit!

[mothhawk]

Morning all.

Hope it doesn't rain any more where you are Burnie, sounds miserable for your village. Miserable for you too, Nicos, to have no CH or hot water when the weather is so wet and cold. Thank goodness you have a woodburning stove. Hope no other grapes are flooded today.
Take care all.

[Snadger]

Morning all.
Its strange how the Central Heating boilers always wait until the weather gets colder before acting up isn't it Nicos? That's where a woodburner comes into its own, even though they can still have problems. Good as a back up though, Hope you get boiler sorted quickly Nicos.

Today I may eventually get summat done with my cucumber relish of some description, even if its only getting cukes chopped up and salted. Harvested a nice Butternut yesterday so will have to think of summat to do with that, although they are Winter squash so it can hang fire for a while.
Weather looks damp and horrible out, but what's new I hear you say.

TTFN and stay safe

[Snoop Puss]

Burnie, that sounds terrible. Hope you and your neighbours cope well. Sorry about the bridge. I hate it when landmarks like that disappear.

And yes, Nicos, most pork here is sold without the skin. Only thing you can get with skin is pork belly. Although, now I come to think of it, I've seen our butcher removing the skin off legs and the like. So I guess if the same happens where you are, they might leave it on for you if you order in advance. Me, I don't actually like crackling (yes, shock, horror), so I'm never bothered. Plus, following on from Peanut's thread, if I've got a largish joint (1.5 kilos or so), I do it in the pressure cooker.

Sorry to hear about your boiler. Our little range is still in the garage, so need to get that back in doors presto pronto (which apparently Italians never say, or so our Italian friend tells us).

Bit too much food and drink over the weekend. It's our wedding anniversary today and assorted festivities planned but I might have to put them on hold. I've definitely got what the French would call a crise de foie (liver crisis)!

Plenty of work as per. So better get a move on. Will catch you all later. Stay safe everyone and, Carrie, hope your recovery continues apace.

[burnie]

Morning all, rains stopped, I can see vehicles going up the hill, so they must have got the main road open again, we always get a mini landslide when the rains bad, the road is set in the side of the hill, not the best place for it really. There's a guy in the village who has a facebook page on the village, it was he who posted the pictures of the floods and the damaged bridge, can't see from his pictures if the out lying houses were hit. Forecast is for drier weather, but with big tides pushing the water back, the fields still look like lakes just now.

[Nicos]

...and the sploshy stuff continues!

The part should be with us by Thursday...
I did look inside the firebox when I lit the woodfire this morning...and yup -that has several broken firebricks inside. All in situ but it might be prudent to get some replacement ones on order now!

Think I might stick a rice pudding in the oven section...seems a waste not to use it

Poor farmers burnie - is it mostly grazing land? It kills off the grass if it's flooded for too long....yikes... just thought that maybe their winter crops are in there.. either almost ready for picking, or freshly sown?
Cant be easy having no idea what changes are going to happen.

Snoop ...hope you have a lovely day today -are you planning on doing anything spesh?

[burnie]

There's not a lot of flat land round here, so the flat bits that mostly under water are for crops, one field full of potatoes that have not been lifted, one that had barley has been ploughed, no idea if it has had any seeds sown, the crop rotation round here tends to be be tatties, barley and rape seed, with the odd crop of either carrots or swede/brussels.The hilly bits are grass for the cattle.

[Snoop Puss]

Snoop ...hope you have a lovely day today -are you planning on doing anything spesh?

It was supposed to be lunch with a friend, sparkling wine and a dessert wine. But I can't face another day of celebrations. We didn't think about this when we got married! Anyway, all put off till the weekend. Probably just as well as I do need to do some work.

[greenishfing]

Been shopping this morning to buy my husband's birthday present for tomorrow. Then went to the supermarket. I've managed to get everything to make the first fruitcake of the season. We usually start now and by the end of December we've gone through three (we do give big chunks away though even if my husband sulks about it). It can go in the oven tonight. Maybe I could stick a candle on top in the morning (I don't think 91 candles would fit).
I think we missed the worst of the bad weather here. Although the ground is soggy at least there's no standing water.

[Snoop Puss]

^Congrats to your husband, greenishfing. Maybe nine and one candles?

My grandmother used to make fruitcake for my birthdays. I was absolutely terrified of matches and hated having to light the candles. Plus, truth to tell, at that age I wasn't much of a one for fruitcake, especially with marzipan and hard icing. Don't ask me why but one year they must have taken pity on me: sponge cake with soft pink icing and no candles... Best birthday cake I ever had. And yes, I know this makes me sound like an ungrateful so-and-so. Still don't like lighting fires to this day and I have to do it, regularly.

[Bren In Pots]

A bit late but happy anniversary to you both Snoop

[bramble]

Good evening all.
So much going on here which I seem to have missed.
Burnie, looks like your area was hit really badly with all the rain.
We had it all day yesterday but no floods thankfully.

Nicos, sorry to hear you're lacking heating and hot water not the best time of the year to be without the heating.

Happy anniversary to you and Mr Snoop, hope you enjoyed your celebrations.

Many happy birthday wishes to Mr Greenishfing, hope he has a great day.

We had a bit of a sad weekend, our neighbour died unexpectedly and we attended his funeral today.

Hopefully it will be a better dsy tomorrow.
Take care and stay safe all.

[greenishfing]

Thanks for all the good wishes for 'im indoors. I hate almond paste and royal icing so I never "ruin" my cakes with it. As a child my sister took all the almond paste and icing and I took all the cake.