Helen

The purge continues. Present-me wants to know why past-me kept so much stuff. In fairness to past-me, there were times when she was stressed and working long hours. She also hated parting with stuff, especially anything of sentimental value. You then need to take into account the fact that I have over 50 year's worth of notes and bits of stories that "I might write some day," and you can see the problem. So over the past few days, I've been going through the heaps of old folders and files which contain notes about WIPs and potential WIPs. I'm chucking a lot away, but some I'll keep until the relevant novel is complete.

I've also taken some photos for the Memory Lane folder on the computer and then chucked the actual items away. I do not need the basic embroidery stitch sampler I made when I was about 7 or 8 years old.

I have booked a slot at the recycling centre for tomorrow morning. I'm taking: the cardboard packaging from the Kallax unit; the glass shelves from the old fridge (which somehow got left behind when the delivery chaps took the old fridge-freezer for recycling); the old Singer sewing machine that no longer works and is too heavy for the new dining table; plus an assortment of dead light bulbs and batteries. I've also got a couple of bags of clothes to take to the charity shop, but that will probably be Friday.

We have made a new resolution. We will go out for walks even if it's raining. By "raining" I don't mean torrential rain lashing down, I mean drizzle. This new resolution has been made in the expectation that we're going to have a warmish wet autumn and winter. If we don't walk in the rain, we won't get to walk at all.

So... Last Monday, despite the fine drizzle, we went for a walk round some local lanes. It was the Bank Holiday, so we wanted to avoid places that might be swamped with tourists. The total walk was about 4½ miles.

Pausing for breath as we climbed the long hill, I looked back. Normally there would be a view of hills in the distance.



( More here... )

A solitary rowan tree.



( Carry on here... )

34/52 for the group 2026 Weekly Alphabet Challenge

This week's theme was: H is for Hairdo

I was stumped for a subject at first. I don't have a "hairdo", I just have unruly hair. But last Wednesday I went to our County Show. There were lots of things to see, including this girl and her pony who have had special hairdos for the competition.



I've been rather slow to post about the morning I spent at the show. I've now processed the photos and will post more tomorrow.

In other news...

It suddenly occurred to me that there are possibly a couple of formal events I will want to attend in the near future. Investigating my wardrobe revealed that I can't put together an ensemble that could even remotely be described as "smart". I therefore ordered a couple of new pairs of trousers today. While I was rummaging in the wardrobe, I pulled out several items of clothing that can go to the charity shop.

While I was in the mood to order things, I've plucked up the courage to order another Kallax storage unit. This time for my study. It will replace the stack of Really Useful Boxes^[TM] that are currently in here. It will look smarter as well as giving me more storage that's easier to access.

33/52 for the group 2026 Weekly Alphabet Challenge

This week's theme was: G is for Gelato

Having googled, I see that there is a subtle difference between ice cream and gelato. However, for the purposes of this challenge, I'm taking them as synonymous.

This giant cone outside the baker's shop indicates that it's also a cafe that serves ice cream.



In other news...

It took me half an hour this morning to do a journey that should have taken less than 20 minutes.

First I discovered that someone had parked in our parking area in such a way that my car was pretty much blocked in. I knocked and rang the doorbell of number 2 (who I'm pretty sure were the culprits), but there was no answer. I therefore very gingerly managed to squeeze the car out without bumping anything. I popped into the Eurospar, the more expensive supermarket to pick up M's newspaper, then tried to drive up to her house.

Turning up the very steep and narrow road that leads up the hill, I saw there was a lorry delivering scaffolding. It was parked blocking the road. Seeing that there were cars wanting to come both up and down, the lorry then reversed back down, meaning I and the van behind me had to reverse. Once the lorry had reversed into a side road, I was still stuck as by now more and more cars were coming down and the road is basically single track with a couple of passing places.

Then someone stepped out into the road, stopping the traffic, so someone could reverse out of a driveway. They then reversed down the road to a point where they could turn round, thus holding up traffic in both directions. By this time the cars coming down had passed the only place they could pull in, so I had to wait until they were all gone before finally starting up the hill. Even so I had to pull over into a space on the left to allow yet another car pass on its way downhill.

I don't know where all the traffic had come from. It's a road that doesn't really lead anywhere, apart from the houses at the top and the water purification works. Thankfully, by the time I'd seen M, had a cup of tea and done the crossword, the traffic had gone and the return journey was without incident.

When I reached home, the car was still in the middle of the parking area, but two young women were about to get into it. I'd pulled into the kerb and, for a moment, contemplated getting out and telling them to be more considerate, but I didn't have the mental energy, so just waited for them to back out and then I could reverse into my parking space.

I will be so glad when the kids go back to school and most of the tourists disappear. There are just too many cars in and around town at the moment.

32/52 for the group 2026 Weekly Alphabet Challenge

This week's theme was: F is for Flakes

I've gone for the obvious. In the summer I often eat a Weetabix with Cornflakes on top for breakfast.

I nearly left it too late to pick the blackberries in the back garden. Some of them are past their best, but I went out after lunch and spent an hour or more gathering plenty for my needs. I've filled two big plastic containers, which are now in the freezer. I'll make jam in due course, but I just wanted to get them picked and frozen today.

And my hands are still tingling. There were some nettles that I didn't notice amongst the brambles.

30/52 for the group 2026 Weekly Alphabet Challenge

This week's theme was: D is for Dazzle

I was rather late taking this photo because the week got taken up with ordering a new fridge freezer and tidying up the kitchen ready for it to be delivered.

Of course when you want sun, there isn't any. I'm grateful for the return to normal Welsh summer temperatures, but the water wasn't as sparkly as I hoped. Never mind.



There were only two of us at Quaker meeting yesterday morning. One member has had to go to live with her daughter in the south of England temporarily because her water supply dried up. (She gets her water from a small stream.) The other member's son died unexpectedly last week, so she's still getting over the shock. He was only 38, but had had health problems, including epilepsy. Fortunately her family is very close and supportive, so they are comforting one another.

On the phone the day before, SS and I had talked about going for a walk if no unexpected visitors showed up, but in the end we just sat in the quiet meeting room and chatted for an hour. It was very pleasant and it was nice to get to know one another a little better. There usually isn't time for deep conversations after a normal meeting.

This morning I screwed up all my determination and went to the Currys' website to choose a new fridge freezer. G kept saying, "Have you found one?" and got offended when I was a bit snappish when I replied that, "No, I was still looking." There were 512 different models available and I have a tendency to end up in choice paralysis when faced with too many options.

It took quite a time, a cup of tea and two squares of dark chocolate before I finally settled on a Bosch, about the same size as the one we have. It came down in the end to a choice between a Hotpoint (same make as the current one) and the Bosch. The deciding factor was people saying in the reviews that the wine rack in the Hotpoint fridge meant wasted space. We don't store wine for more than a day or two and only one bottle at a time, so a wine rack is not something we need.

I've arranged delivery for Thursday and the delivery people will set it up, make sure it's level, and take away the old fridge freezer and all the packaging. That costs extra, but I wouldn't want to try to get the fridge freezer into the back of the car. It probably wouldn't fit, even with the back seats folded down. Paying for the council to collect is more expensive than Curry's charge.

Next job is to clean and tidy the kitchen, ready for its arrival...

Tomorrow I will be ordering a new fridge freezer. The freezer had been icing up at the bottom, so today I pulled out the freezer drawers and used a hot blunt knife to remove the build up of ice. As I did so I noticed a warm spot on the side of the freezer part.

Googling revealed that it must be the compressor running hot. Googling "how long does a fridge freezer last" suggested 10-15 years. Searching my LJ archive to find out when we bought the current fridge freezer revealed that it's 14 years old. So not worth spending money on any servicing or repairs then.

Tomorrow I will be selecting and ordering a new fridge freezer.

The refill in one of my Parker biros ran out last week. Today I finally got around to ordering a replacement. There's an office supply company that we've used for decades and I looked on there first. One black refill would have cost £6.59 with delivery cost of £5.95 then VAT was added to make a total of £15.05. Looking at the amount in horror, I went to see if Amazon could beat it -- and of course they could.

On Amazon two refills cost £5.99 (including VAT and postage). And this is why, though I know that in many ways Amazon are evil, I still use them.

Buy locally, you might say. Well, I used to, but the woman who ran the newsagents shop which sold useful stationary, including pen refills, died and no one wanted to take it over. I would therefore have a 1 hour drive to the nearest Big Place that would be guaranteed to have a shop which would sell Parker refills.