Thursday, December 07, 2006
Back in Epsom
Off for a bit of culture in town - the Seafarer. Keywords: kitchen sink, drink, drunks and Dublin. But good. Followed by the singing of Happy Birthday to a mortuary assistant in the Duke of Sussex. To the taste of London Pride.
On the train I was pleased not to be a regular any more. Oddly there were no irritating announcements about how I could change at Clapham Junction to go to Wembley or Cirencester. Or that if I suspected it I should report it. Coincidentally, I had read something in the paper about how irritating someone else found all this tannoy claptrap. So I am not alone. Maybe SouthWest Trains will do something about it.
Have now Christened (c or C?) the new stew pan with lentil soup. Pound of orange lentils, four large carrots. Simmer for an hour or so. Add onions and bacon (preferably from a pig rather than Sainsbury) fried in butter and black pepper and away you go. The deeper pan had the advantage that it didn't boil over - something lentils are prone to, in the same way as milk - and when they were boiling up something in the lid made a just audible whistling noise so one could do something about it.
Second bucket of concrete since retiring. Discovered that the garage was leaking and that maybe the cause was water running off the back garden into a channel along the back of it, where it puddled. Have now filled the channel with concrete, a bit awkwardly given that a shed ran next to the channel. Lucky with the rain which started then stopped. We will see how we do in the morning.
When we will also run the car over the fine new drain cover for the first time. Supposed to reach 60% of final strength in the 7 days that it has had. Also found out - rather late in the day - that the new drain cover is not the same size as the old. They have taken the opportunity to fiddle with the dimensions a bit - although not in the interests of making it roundly metric - not that it was roundly imperial before. Maybe a wheeze to keep man hole restorers in work.
On the train I was pleased not to be a regular any more. Oddly there were no irritating announcements about how I could change at Clapham Junction to go to Wembley or Cirencester. Or that if I suspected it I should report it. Coincidentally, I had read something in the paper about how irritating someone else found all this tannoy claptrap. So I am not alone. Maybe SouthWest Trains will do something about it.
Have now Christened (c or C?) the new stew pan with lentil soup. Pound of orange lentils, four large carrots. Simmer for an hour or so. Add onions and bacon (preferably from a pig rather than Sainsbury) fried in butter and black pepper and away you go. The deeper pan had the advantage that it didn't boil over - something lentils are prone to, in the same way as milk - and when they were boiling up something in the lid made a just audible whistling noise so one could do something about it.
Second bucket of concrete since retiring. Discovered that the garage was leaking and that maybe the cause was water running off the back garden into a channel along the back of it, where it puddled. Have now filled the channel with concrete, a bit awkwardly given that a shed ran next to the channel. Lucky with the rain which started then stopped. We will see how we do in the morning.
When we will also run the car over the fine new drain cover for the first time. Supposed to reach 60% of final strength in the 7 days that it has had. Also found out - rather late in the day - that the new drain cover is not the same size as the old. They have taken the opportunity to fiddle with the dimensions a bit - although not in the interests of making it roundly metric - not that it was roundly imperial before. Maybe a wheeze to keep man hole restorers in work.
# posted by Jim @ 7:47 AM 
