Sunday, March 02, 2008
Bean progress
Fifth row of broad beans now in and only modest signs of digging in the fourth row. Soon be onto the onion sets.
Taken delivery of the first load of horse manure, at some cost to the verges, these last being rather wet and so slippery on the day. Manure of various ages, the rotational arrangements at the stable in question being a bit hit and miss. Chunks of hay mixed with manure which must have been there for some years judgeing by the size of the roots in it. Most of the manure has gone to feed the pampas grass next to where it was dumped. Big old things pampas grasses, and they must suck something out of the ground - but no idea whether manure is the thing.
Now the pround owners of a fine new Excelsior Plus water purifier. Large handsome thing from Germany, with the styling, for some reason, reminding me of a car. Bit big really for the dining table. And because it was German, there were rather pedantic instructions about how to fill it - but maybe the pedantry was the consequence of cheap translation. Maybe that sort of thing gets done by one of those help desks in Bangalore when the lines are quiet. Maybe the thing is actually made in China despite the ownership and Germanic name (Brita) of the maker. So now we have green tea without scum. Great improvement.
On the same expedition (to Exeter) on which the water purifier was bought, we also bought some tea in one of those speciality tea and coffee shops in the fine new shopping centre - which I rather liked. Much better than the Sutton or Kingston equivalents - much easier on the large white pipes which seem to be the dominant motif in both places. The tea shop took itself very seriously and it was explained to me that I should not make the tea with boiling water, rather I should let it go off the boil a bit lest the heat extract all kinds of noxious flavours from the tea leaves. Furthermore, I should throw away the first infusion, thus flushing away more noxious flavours, but drink the second, third and fourth. And they were not in the least impressed by my observation that real tea drinkers add salt. In any event, I shall see how I like (organic) Sencha in due course. I also have a reward card. Those wishing to avail themselves of this outfit should visit http://www.ringtonsstores.co.uk.
The new guardian duck is still guarding the pond OK, erect on the concrete emplacement which used to be the home of the stone tortoise and was originally installed to stop a fox gnawed hole in the pond liner. It is not particularly heavy but the foxes do not seem to be taking any interest in it. Odd.
Taken delivery of the first load of horse manure, at some cost to the verges, these last being rather wet and so slippery on the day. Manure of various ages, the rotational arrangements at the stable in question being a bit hit and miss. Chunks of hay mixed with manure which must have been there for some years judgeing by the size of the roots in it. Most of the manure has gone to feed the pampas grass next to where it was dumped. Big old things pampas grasses, and they must suck something out of the ground - but no idea whether manure is the thing.
Now the pround owners of a fine new Excelsior Plus water purifier. Large handsome thing from Germany, with the styling, for some reason, reminding me of a car. Bit big really for the dining table. And because it was German, there were rather pedantic instructions about how to fill it - but maybe the pedantry was the consequence of cheap translation. Maybe that sort of thing gets done by one of those help desks in Bangalore when the lines are quiet. Maybe the thing is actually made in China despite the ownership and Germanic name (Brita) of the maker. So now we have green tea without scum. Great improvement.
On the same expedition (to Exeter) on which the water purifier was bought, we also bought some tea in one of those speciality tea and coffee shops in the fine new shopping centre - which I rather liked. Much better than the Sutton or Kingston equivalents - much easier on the large white pipes which seem to be the dominant motif in both places. The tea shop took itself very seriously and it was explained to me that I should not make the tea with boiling water, rather I should let it go off the boil a bit lest the heat extract all kinds of noxious flavours from the tea leaves. Furthermore, I should throw away the first infusion, thus flushing away more noxious flavours, but drink the second, third and fourth. And they were not in the least impressed by my observation that real tea drinkers add salt. In any event, I shall see how I like (organic) Sencha in due course. I also have a reward card. Those wishing to avail themselves of this outfit should visit http://www.ringtonsstores.co.uk.
The new guardian duck is still guarding the pond OK, erect on the concrete emplacement which used to be the home of the stone tortoise and was originally installed to stop a fox gnawed hole in the pond liner. It is not particularly heavy but the foxes do not seem to be taking any interest in it. Odd.
# posted by Jim @ 12:38 AM 
