tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80862038951791678022024-03-14T12:43:30.901+00:00the dorset flopRediscovering England after 30 years awayThe Return of the Native ... sort of.http://www.blogger.com/profile/09232917204933495222noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8086203895179167802.post-40682328038232721562011-07-14T22:03:00.000+01:002011-07-14T22:03:55.500+01:00ThanksTonight there is a full moon; outside the air is calm and the last blackbirds have gone to bed.<br />
<br />
The two dogs I have staying this week are sleeping - an elderly Lurcher of 14 and a German Pointer of 9, Penny and Smudge.<br />
<br />
Angus, my wee Scottish Terrier, has had all his last jabs and checks and tomorrow night will be on the eurotunnel back to England.<br />
<br />
My favourite Son and Heir (being the only S&H) is inconviently flying into Stansted tomorrow afternoon - and then having to make his way to Gatwick where GW will collect him.<br />
<br />
Tomorrow night I will have the Husband, the Boy, the Dog and the Two Visitors here.<br />
<br />
The Scot is smelly.The Return of the Native ... sort of.http://www.blogger.com/profile/09232917204933495222noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8086203895179167802.post-9560926283450844842011-06-29T10:58:00.000+01:002011-06-29T10:58:46.222+01:00Thinking of you!A message to my wee black Scottish bestest friend who is stuck in Brussels at the moment waiting for his Mum to get over to bring him home. Miss you, Angus!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivK6Bb1PnqzCMUqKc9-b4C11U3r_Qy56jG1tBYDYW5_gBlq4z3PY-Wa1cdinW9gFqhDdqQcqNrOYWoCbxnT18M8TQ8ahZUufJl63Eia2h-5x0Y9rk9WCdKHH7-CQtssXr7cqXrZcPHVQ2U/s1600/DSC03913.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivK6Bb1PnqzCMUqKc9-b4C11U3r_Qy56jG1tBYDYW5_gBlq4z3PY-Wa1cdinW9gFqhDdqQcqNrOYWoCbxnT18M8TQ8ahZUufJl63Eia2h-5x0Y9rk9WCdKHH7-CQtssXr7cqXrZcPHVQ2U/s320/DSC03913.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Taken in Brussels when Angus was in Sapper mode. He will have serious competition from the bantams though!The Return of the Native ... sort of.http://www.blogger.com/profile/09232917204933495222noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8086203895179167802.post-69871988045248989122011-06-23T16:45:00.000+01:002011-06-23T16:45:16.370+01:00I love the NHSNot much happens in this little village, so the sound of a siren is headlines. Either it is an ambulance coming to take someone to hospital or the police chasing someone through the twisty lanes as they drive 'the backway' home after drinking that extra pint.<br />
<br />
The siren this morning came straight here and it is a most pleasing noise. GW felt a tightening across the chest and constriction in his throat. <br />
<br />
- I think I'll drive to the A&E in Dorchester.<br />
- Mmmm ... I think not. I will call you an ambulance.<br />
- Let me think about it.<br />
- You have three minutes.<br />
(Three minutes later)<br />
- Perhaps you had better ring them.<br />
<br />
So ring I did and got a comforting and competent voice on the 'phone asking for details and then asking if it was possible to talk to GW. In the meantime the ambulance was on its way. In under 10 minutes it arrived, the crew jumped out, collected all their bags and within three minutes he was hooked up to the ECG machine, blood pressure and lots of other beepy machines. Half an hour later off he went to the hospital.<br />
<br />
They ran tests on him through the morning, he is now in a ward chatting to everyone (I'm sure they will discharge him just to get rid of the talking!), and he is waiting for more blood tests to be done this evening as apparently the enzymes peak at 6pm - don't ask me, I know nothing about it.<br />
<br />
He is staying in overnight as something did show up on the first lot of blood tests and they might even keep him in for a couple of days.<br />
<br />
I am delighted he is in hospital as that is where one needs to be and funnily enough I am not too worried - if he was feeling dodgy at home I would really be panicky. He has free local 'phone calls, he was studying the menu and wondering whether someone would bring him a wine list, so tomorrow I will either collect him or take in grapes!<br />
<br />
Thank you the NHS - you have been brilliant, caring, efficient and kind.The Return of the Native ... sort of.http://www.blogger.com/profile/09232917204933495222noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8086203895179167802.post-36659139591220912802011-06-12T19:21:00.001+01:002011-06-12T19:23:29.346+01:00Sunday readingI recently discovered <a href="http://parmaviolettea.blogspot.com/">Parma Violet Tea's blog</a> - sensational stuff. If you need to fill in a few hours this evening and want a laugh, do go and read it. You will have to go back a bit in order to follow the plot with the men who appear in her life, but it is worth every moment I think.The Return of the Native ... sort of.http://www.blogger.com/profile/09232917204933495222noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8086203895179167802.post-77623143858898523542011-06-11T10:29:00.001+01:002011-06-11T10:30:19.673+01:00If you don't know this ...<a href="http://youtu.be/HPyl2tOaKxM">http://youtu.be/HPyl2tOaKxM</a>The Return of the Native ... sort of.http://www.blogger.com/profile/09232917204933495222noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8086203895179167802.post-55828407557881722012011-06-09T15:03:00.001+01:002011-06-09T15:06:54.582+01:00Country LifeA knock at the door.<br />
<br />
'You missing any bantams?'<br />
'Yes, actually, the four of them - the fox got in whilst we were away and that was the end of my Girls'.<br />
'I've got one in my summer house if you'd like to come and collect her'.<br />
<br />
Rush down the lane and there in the summerhouse is my Darling Grace - after her miraculous escape she has now become Amazing Grace.<br />
<br />
We were away for a few days and the Meerkat Boy moved in to <strike>have a break from his father</strike> to look after the Girls ... he was sleeping in the spare room at the front of the house and the Girls are in the garden at the back of the house which our bedroom overlooks. So when the f***ing fox chewed its way through the wire, the Meerkat Boy slept on ... so George, Bessie and Felicity are now in bantam heaven. The Meerkat Boy was devastated - you look after someone's animals and they die ...<br />
<br />
Rang Mr. Bantam who told us that bantams/chickens get lonely and pine away if they are by themselves - or if we didn't want more Bantams the trick was to put a mirror in the garden and con Grace into thinking she wasn't alone. As Grace had proved herself to be a most smart Bantam, I didn't think she would be taken in by a mirror trick for too long, so three replacement Girls were purchased. They don't have names - I hate to say that we can't tell the difference between them and perhaps it would be tempting fate to give them names, so now it is just Grace and the Girls.<br />
<br />
We now have a fox trap in the garden - so far we have caught three magpies (possibly the same one) and yesterday three of the Girls strolled in and the door shut. No fox. After capturing the magpies, we rang round to see if any of the gamekeepers wanted one - apparently they are put in a Larson trap to attract other magpies and the gamekeepers then blast them to smithereens. Anyway no-one wanted one so we were advised to hit it over the head and be done with it. Both of us cringed at the idea so the magpies live to fly another day! Waiting for another rabbit to be delivered to use as bait - if not I will have to go and get some dog food.<br />
<br />
We have an allottment in the village about three minutes from the house - all planted and growing and this is definitely how I like gardening. I have been waiting for it to rain so that I can plant some things here at the house, but apart from a bit of drizzle we have had no rain for months. The one advantage is that we don't have to mow the lawn, as there is none left to mow.<br />
<br />
Tomorrow we are off to the Royal Cornwall Show to see what goodies are on offer in that far away place on the road to America, and probably go and stroke a few pigs as one does.<br />
<br />
My beloved wee Scottish gentleman in his black coat will be here within about 10 days, so I must go and make a Welcome Home banner.The Return of the Native ... sort of.http://www.blogger.com/profile/09232917204933495222noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8086203895179167802.post-36138646784501294922011-05-30T02:06:00.002+01:002011-05-30T02:06:26.468+01:00LifeI fell in love with you 20 years ago.<br />
Happy Birthday my darling Son.<br />
MumThe Return of the Native ... sort of.http://www.blogger.com/profile/09232917204933495222noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8086203895179167802.post-16150203260721058382011-04-08T14:37:00.002+01:002011-04-08T14:56:28.964+01:00The Girls are hereActually the Girls have been here for a month now but as usual the time passes and I don't put up a post.<br />
<br />
A quick google search for 'Bantams Dorset' lead us to the Mr. Bantam of the area - he has been raising Bantams for 15 years and has 3 or 4 varieties, which gallop around in his garden and dig their way to Australia. We could have had 'posh' show Bantams or ones that didn't quite make the grade. As neither GW or myself see ouselves as Bantam Fanciers or whatever they are called we plumped for the rejects - after all the eggs are the same.<br />
<br />
Mr. Bantam chose three Buff Pekins and a Buff Pekin x Wyandotte, all of whom looked perfect as far as we could see, and so off home we go, me with a cardboard box on my knees. GW had been building a run for them (lots of drawing up of plans, trips into Bridport to purchase things, and quite a lot of thinking) so when we got home, in they went along with food and water and we sat down to think of names.<br />
<br />
The first one was named Felicity as we got them on the Ste. Felicie (my children often named their pets after the Saints Day on which they arrived, and being half Frog ...); number 2 was named Grace as she is as courageous as Grace Darling; number 3 who is the Pekin x and totally neurotic and horribly bossy was named George after George in the Famous Five and number 4, bless her, is Bessie named after Billie Bunter's sister, as she is rather F.A.T. and tends to waddle.<br />
<br />
As George is such a bad influence, I decided to keep them in the pen for the first few days as I could see she would organise the Great Escape. There was much pacing and sulking. But it allowed us time to train them to the sound of food being rattled around in the tin which meant back to HQ. The first sortie was courageous Grace and chunky Bessie and deemed a success so the following day all four were let loose.<br />
<br />
I no longer have a worm, a bug, or a grub in the garden. We are now on the front line of the Somme battlefields. My vegetable patch is as cleansed as can be - fortunately nothing is yet planted. I have to go and buy 50 feet of chicken wire in order to ban them from that area as time is racing on and things need to go into the ground for human consumption later in the year. Fortunately the back garden is above the house so I can fence off access to the front of the house and the Great Escape - also when Angus arrives after his quarantine we will hopefully manage to keep Girls v. Scottish Terrier seperate ... in a running battle the Girls will not win!<br />
<br />
The Girls are each laying their egg a day and mighty fine eggs they are too - none of this supermarket rubbish. You have to use 2 Bantam's eggs to one chicken egg but they are rich, a deep yellow, full of taste and apparently lower in cholesterol than a hen's egg. And much less white, which suites me.<br />
<br />
At the moment they are shut in as a) they normally lay in the afternoon but if they can lay in a Secret Place somewhere in the garden they prefer it and b) George has been totally over the top this morning with Teach Yourself to Fly lessons into the hedge - much flapping of wings and irate shouting from one of the wrens.<br />
<br />
Are we attached to these small and charming beasties? Yes. Obsessed? Well almost. Does GW spend half his day talking to them in Bantam Speak? Yes. Are we sad? Definitely. I might even post a picture of them later.<br />
<br />
Have a good weekend all of you and I hope your weather is as good as it is here in fabulous West Dorset. GW is on his way home from Brussels and tomorrow I will get him to the garden centre and purchase chicken wire and plants, then the National. Sunday we may go racing, the last pub quiz before the summer season (don't want the holidaymakers spoiling our fun!) and then it is Pig Black Monday. Well actually it will be a Black Sunday for the pigs but on Monday we get together to chop the porkers into bits. Great discussions in the pub the other week as to who wanted a pig and I think that so far there will be 12 people wanting a pig each. Endless discussions on what one can do with bits of pig and I keep throwing a fly in the ointment as having been previously married to a Frog Chef whose motto was 'if it moves, eat it' and follower of the belief that everything in a pig is edible apart from the oink, I asked whether we would have the blood to make Black Pudding, why don't we get the trotters, ears and tail make for a great soup, I want to make saucisson and not sausages, cheeks of pig are wonderful - and I think I will soon be barred from the boozer!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIkQaThO5JNomkvfxsLr0eiTF8w9VkWkmPM3DK8n2Ga46F9qFA2JPpgp8h4l49v9f7UQ8Wx1VharSUVgmoVs8TDhJG_ky35kXkv_wT19HYMcmWMc3-bTCwxFF_Jk8skZ_899QM9l87aomS/s1600/DSC03849.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIkQaThO5JNomkvfxsLr0eiTF8w9VkWkmPM3DK8n2Ga46F9qFA2JPpgp8h4l49v9f7UQ8Wx1VharSUVgmoVs8TDhJG_ky35kXkv_wT19HYMcmWMc3-bTCwxFF_Jk8skZ_899QM9l87aomS/s320/DSC03849.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>The Return of the Native ... sort of.http://www.blogger.com/profile/09232917204933495222noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8086203895179167802.post-57116887221475518652011-03-05T11:05:00.000+00:002011-03-05T11:05:07.438+00:00If ever I get like my mother ...Just back after three weeks sorting out my Mum. A panic phone call from her saying that she hadn't eaten since Boxing Day (untrue) and that things were bad saw me on the early plane to Jersey the following morning.<br />
<br />
She seemed fine although her short-term memory is going and although she had been eating, she wasn't eating enough which of course messes up the brain. And as she can't remember the chaos surrounding her pills was undescribable - it seems that she would take A Pill at odd times of the day, not take the right ones and I even found the cats' worming tablets in the stash!<br />
<br />
So I knuckled down and shopped and cooked and drove her around for three weeks; after a week she was much better, her mind was clearer and she didn't pay her daily twice in one day and she was eating. I sorted out the pill confusion and after a visit from the doctor managed to get more efficient pills. Told her she must get a daily dose pill box, as did the doctor, and that was when the trouble started. She point blankly refused to use it saying that she prefers to take the pills directly from the box. Why?<br />
<br />
So just to annoy me she started 'forgetting' to take the pills I put out for her or hiding them. I made out a list of her pills so that I could remember what was what, and she threw it away. She cancelled her appointment for an endoscopy at the hospital without telling me and it was only when I rang the specialist that his secretary told me what she had done. So I rebooked it and actually got an appointment a week earlier than originally planned, so short-circuited that trick. The endoscopy was good, there is no cancer or anything else, just a slight inflammation. Mum got cross as the specialist said there was no reason to give her antibiotics. We get home and she comes down from her bedroom with 4 different types of anitbiotics and says 'Which one shall I take?'. Goodness knows where she had been hiding them. So we almost come to blows as I confiscate them.<br />
<br />
So a difficult three weeks with me getting her to eat again properly, driving her around, taking the cat to the vet (as she couldn't get antibiotics, the cat had a jab of them - don't ask!) and generally just jollying her along, getting her out and about and seeing her friends again and frankly just wishing I was at home in Dorset.<br />
<br />
And then one night towards the end of my stay I went up to bed and went to see if Mum was okay. Normally she is either reading or watching the television - that evening she was sitting there doing neither with the saddest expression on her face. She didn't see me and I went to bed thinking what a bitch I was complaining about her all the time.<br />
<br />
My grandmother was a very selfish and demanding woman and with Mum we used to joke and she would say 'If ever I get like my mother, have me put down!'. She is like her mother, I won't have her 'put down' but I fear for my future!The Return of the Native ... sort of.http://www.blogger.com/profile/09232917204933495222noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8086203895179167802.post-82808442837268448362011-02-02T17:00:00.000+00:002011-02-02T17:00:42.248+00:00The BB AffairLast Friday we go to have supper with a friend in Burton Bradstock. Round the table is a couple who live in Pucknowle (pronounced Punnel) which is the village between us and BB. The couple in question live up a no through road and are therefore virtually traffic free. Thursday night around 8pm they hear a car and so look out of the window to see who it is. A police car. Odd. Police car drives off but comes back twenty minutes later. Lady of the house rings local police station to ask why there is a police car lurking in her lane as she is not too keen to go out and investigate if there is a killer on the loose. After 5 minutes her call is transferred from Somerset and Avon to Dorchester police who tell her there is no need to worry. Fine. But as she was being told this, suddenly there were three police cars and a helicopter with search lights hovering over her house. Not so fine. And then suddenly they were gone as quickly as they appeared leaving the couple rather frightened and locking every door and window in the house!<br />
<br />
So back to supper on Friday night. Our chum, E, was awoken on Friday morning by the police asking if she had seen anything suspicious in BB on Thursday night. No, she replied. Off to work later she sees that the loos in BB are cordonned off and there is a forensic team at work. Murder, drugs, theft - everyone was avid for information. <br />
<br />
News here travels very very fast so all the surrounding villages knew that 'something funny' had happened in the loos in BB. There was Blood. Who had been killed? Polic cars, helicopter, forensics - it must been something Important. <br />
<br />
Blood samples sent off for analysis and on Saturday the results came through ... rabbit blood! Someone had been cleaning their game in the public loos. Don't blame them - gutting rabbits is a very smelly business!The Return of the Native ... sort of.http://www.blogger.com/profile/09232917204933495222noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8086203895179167802.post-60453106479388190452011-01-31T22:37:00.000+00:002011-01-31T22:37:38.177+00:00Well, well, wellI don't have the time to write much at the moment - suffice to say I won the curry cook off at the pub on Sunday! Well done me! Fought off 15 other contenders so I have won a Sunday lunch for two. I am so chuffed as I never win anything.<br />
<br />
During the week I will tell you about the mystery in the loos in Burton Bradstock which has rocked the community to its core! Heavens above, it is all happening here and the bush telegraph works faster than the internet ...The Return of the Native ... sort of.http://www.blogger.com/profile/09232917204933495222noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8086203895179167802.post-56168544928327105232011-01-22T12:57:00.000+00:002011-01-22T12:57:11.602+00:00Weekend WidowHow quiet it is at the cottage. GW left at 3.30 am on Friday to deliver English groceries to the suffering expat Brits in Brussels who order on line from us at <a href="http://theinternetgrocer.com/">http://theinternetgrocer.com</a>. The 'theme' of the deliveries this week was of course haggis and all things Scottish for those in Brussels who are celebrating Burns Night this coming week. I must admit that haggis and neeps are not my most favourite of food but then I am not Scottish so maybe it just isn't in my blood ... I don't even like whisky!<br />
<br />
The weather here is bright and sunny but the wind has moved into the north east so it is bitterly cold outside. I am itching to get started on the garden but in this weather there is not much I can do. As we only moved to the cottage at the end of September I dare not rush out and start digging the beds as I have no idea what is lurking under the surface. The snowdrops and daffodils are starting to show signs of life and there are some valiant primroses that have flowered throughout the Great Freeze but apart from that not much is happening. In the vegetable garden the kale and the spinach have come through the bad weather pretty well and the parsley is showing signs of new shoots. Unfortunately it is frizzy parsley which I find tasteless compared to the flat-leaved variety. So I will just hug the Aga and plan the garden in my head for the moment.<br />
<br />
You have until the 24th January to sign into <a href="http://worldbooknight.org/">http://worldbooknight.org</a> which I think is a great idea. Do go and have a look at the site. I have signed up but won't tell which book I've chosen although having been in the food business most of my life, there is an obvious choice!<br />
<br />
And talking of food - our local pub which as you now know is the centre of the village life here has come up with a great idea to pull the crowds during the winter. On the 30th January there will be a curry competition. The rules are simple - you provide, anonymously, a curry for 4 people. The pub provides rice, chutney and poppadums. If you don't enter the competiton then you pay £2 to be part of the judging team and get to taste all the curries on offer. The best curry wins a Sunday lunch for two at the pub (which are super). Although I am a good cook, curry is not on my repetoire. I admit to buying the ready to cook sauces and adding chicken and a few spices. However I made a vegetarian curry the other week which was lovely and I think that with some chicken added to the mix, I might be in with a chance.<br />
<br />
And finally, it's marmalade time again and I am so happy to be in England and able to source Seville oranges in large quantites. They are sitting in my larder waiting to be dealt with so after giving the cottage a well earned clean and lighting the fire in the sitting room as it is now getting seriously cold I shall brave the elements to find the jam jars in the garage and mess up the kitchen with sticky jam pans everywhere. If you want my marmalade recipe that I nicked from the Sunday Times last year here is the <a href="http://dragondays.wordpress.com/2010/02/13/toast-and-marmalade/">link</a>. It is so easy and the marmalade is perfect, even though I say it myself - but hurry as Seville orange time is coming to an end and I read today that all the major stores are running out of them - sales are up 30% on last year.The Return of the Native ... sort of.http://www.blogger.com/profile/09232917204933495222noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8086203895179167802.post-46306239017257086102011-01-05T12:08:00.000+00:002011-01-05T12:08:38.278+00:00A Jimmy Riddle anyone?Well at last December is out of the way. The village was effectively cut off from the Rest of the World for two weeks, the only access to civilisation was down the already dangerous lane to Burton Bradstock - add a couple of inches of ice and it really wasn't worth going out. Then of course Christmas arrived and it would appear that England stopped for two weeks - I have completely lost time of days of the week, dates, the month <strike>and when the rubbish is collected</strike>. I religiously put out my rubbish last week congratulating myself on being the first in the lane to do so and it didn't get collected. Obviously as newcomers there is some secret about rubbish collection to which we are not yet initiated. When inquiring if and when it would be collected there were shouts of 'Go and look at the website - all the collection days are published there' - so you see we may live in the middle of the most glorious nowhere but we are hi-tech down here!<br />
<br />
Anyhow, before the forced hiberation of December, GW and I went and visited the Piddle Brewery. People snigger at its name but the brewery is on the Piddle river in Piddlehinton, so it is very aptly named. This micro brewery was started in February 2008 by Rob and Paul and met with immediate success - so much so that in 2009 they won the much acclaimed Taste of Dorset award for the Best Drinks Supplier. I'm not a beer drinker myself but am assured by GW that it is good stuff. The sacrifices that we have to make to find good produce to put on <a href="http://www.theinternetgrocer.com/">http://www.theinternetgrocer.com</a>!<br />
<br />
If you follow this <a href="http://dorsetpiddlebrewery.co.uk/acatalog/Piddle_Galleries.html">link</a> you can see the video on how the beer is made <strike>and giggle at the names of their different beers</strike>! GW was given a beany so has been walking around in the cold weather with it and the slogan 'Piddle on my head' across his forehead - don't say we don't do class down here.<br />
<br />
After our welcoming visit to the brewery, it was magically lunchtime and our thoughts turned to yet more beer and food. Blandford Forum is just up the road from Piddlehinton, so off we set. GW didn't know Blandford and that day he knew it even less - thick fog, cold and grim. As we arrive in the town I see a Piddle pub, so the car is quickly parked and we stride rapidly and purposefully up the street to the <a href="http://www.thedolphinblandford.co.uk/">Dolphin</a>. A real pub, a good pub, a pub with a fire, a pub with friendly staff, a pub with locals, a pub with good honest food, and a Piddle pub. What more do you want on a dull and cold day in Blandford? I had what must have been the worlds' largest BLT sandwich and GW gobbled down a huge plate of homemade terrine, aided by Piddle. <br />
<br />
Whilst we sat there, I thought that probably my father and my brothers must have surely drunk in this pub, albeit before the days of the Piddle beer. They used to drink scrumpy until legless and the masters used to drive round picking them out of the ditches on their way back to school - not just my family I hasten to add, although I'm sure that when they left school the takings in the local pubs probably took a turn for the worse!<br />
<br />
So if you are down around Blandford, do go and have a drink and some food at the Dolphin and for my Belgian clients who can't enjoy the experience, we can bring some Piddle to your doorstep!The Return of the Native ... sort of.http://www.blogger.com/profile/09232917204933495222noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8086203895179167802.post-25821273076318519512010-12-24T15:41:00.000+00:002010-12-24T15:41:58.697+00:00HumbugStarted a post last week about the fabulous hand-dived scallops to be found in Lyme Bay and a wonderful micro-brewery called The Piddle - named after the river where the brewery is to be found; however the snow fell and the temperatures have remained firmly below zero, getting in and out of the village is virtually impossible and so we have slipped into hiberation/Christmas mode. GW has courageously got out the motor to slither to Bridport to do a bit of shopping while I do something with the turkey.<br />
<br />
The original plan was that my two children and one small grandson would come over for Christmas from Brussels so I ordered a small free range turkey locally. We have all been following the weather forecast constantly, together with all the problems that the snow/ice has caused in England with the result that one day they would be coming, the next they weren't; yesterday looked positive and GW was going to do a round trip today and collect them. The weather has gone downhill rapidly in Brussels where they have had a huge amount of snow and here is not much better so we decided to call the whole thing off and wait for the weather to improve.<br />
<br />
But I have a turkey! There is no way we are going to eat it in one go <strike>even with a greedy husband</strike>. And I am not a fan of turkey, and even less of a fan of leftover turkey. So I have just carried out major surgery, taking off the legs and the wings and tomorrow we will cook the crown traditionally. We then have the rest that we can do things with in a proper way, rather than eating rather recycled turkey that becomes drier by the day! So the giblets are stewing away quietly on the Aga ready for the gravy for tomorrow and I have put the carcasse in the oven to roast - a wonderful trick I learnt in the Perigord when I lived there years ago where the carcasse is left to go all crispy in the oven and then you rip off the bits of skin and meat with your fingers - lovely. All I have to do now is make some stuffing, roast potatoes and brussel sprouts and that is it! And cook the turkey crown of course.<br />
<br />
This evening we will slither down to the pub for a Christmas Eve drink and listen to some live music and then struggle home again - I think there is a carol concert in the church and midnight mass but heathens as we are, the pub will win.<br />
<br />
So a bit of a sad Christmas without my favourite children (and my dog) but at least we are all safe - the thought of all my loved ones on the road tonight would have been too worrying.<br />
<br />
I hope you all have a lovely Christmas and from freezing, darkest Dorset I send you all the very best of everything for the New Year.The Return of the Native ... sort of.http://www.blogger.com/profile/09232917204933495222noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8086203895179167802.post-83289104327152818642010-12-10T12:22:00.000+00:002010-12-10T12:22:38.836+00:00We are the champions!Yes, we won the pub quiz last Sunday night (<strike>we won't mention that there were only half the number of teams due to the weather</strike>). We each made enough to pay for our participation and the pie and peas served after the match, so we went home happy! Weatherwise the week has been atrocious with -7° at night and a north wind blowing relentlessly. The cottage is now classed as freezing. We have the craziest heating system in the county, relying on domestic fuel (for the Aga) wood and coal and a bit of electricity that heats the hot water at night - during the day the Aga takes over the hot water duties. We have worked out that if we want to be warm everywhere in the cottage we will have to rob a post office, so I am permanently in the kitchen with 'my' Aga while GW freezes quietly in <strike>his hell hole </strike>the dining room. The sitting room fire is burning up most of the woods in Dorset and seems to heat the crows sitting on the chimney pot rather than us. Today it is mild and the wind has at last dropped after two weeks of constant blowing but I fear this is most temporary.<br />
Only two weeks to go until Christmas and I have done ... nothing. Well, I have ordered a small turkey from someone down the road and that is all. I still don't know if my favourite children are coming over from Belgium for Christmas. Despite emails telling them to book tickets before they cost a squillion pounds I still have not heard. There is no point in phoning as their state of the art mobile phones are tuned to refusing calls from their mother <strike>but not from their friends</strike> and I know that they are on their laptops as they are permanently hooked up intraveniously to Facebook. I hope they will come but if they want to stay in Brussels for Christmas and not spend all their hard-earned salaries buying ridiculously overpriced air tickets then I quite understand. <strike>Just think of GW and I, my little treasures, huddled up to the Aga trying to eat 4kg of turkey</strike>!<br />
Oh, and if anyone is interested, for Christmas I would like a pair of mittens so that I can still use my laptop!<br />
Over the weekend I will try and do a post about the wonderful scallops we have sourced from Lyme Bay ... one of my most favourite shellfish!The Return of the Native ... sort of.http://www.blogger.com/profile/09232917204933495222noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8086203895179167802.post-41676749019306180432010-12-03T05:59:00.000+00:002010-12-03T05:59:39.693+00:00Serves me rightWell, the snow came so that was good. At least now we feel part of the general breakdown of the system ... obviously the ploughs and gritters haven't been through the village and yesterday the weekly rubbish collection which we all religiously put out was still there at the end of the day and there was no <strike>hate mail</strike> post either.<br />
<br />
Having stamped round in the snow a bit, checked that the birds had food and other various snowy jobs, by the afternoon the excitement had worn off, so I decided to tackle my Mac. Mid August as we were in the process of moving and when I needed access to important emails, my .mac account just disappeared. One minute it was there and the next - gone. I twiddled around a bit, but with about a week to go before moving out I didn't have the time to waste trying to sort out the problem, so moved everything to my gmail account and just hoped that all the important paperwork I needed ended up there.<br />
<br />
Yesterday in a moment of <strike>rare stupidity</strike> genius, I thought that if I put in the install disc and reinstalled the system, saving all the other stuff, I would eventually find my .mac account again. Press all the right buttons, the Mac whirs away and bingo ... nothing. Everything had gone. Totally everything. The Mac has been completely lobotomised. Oh yes, I have my mac email page back but all mails are through gmail but four years of work have disappeared totally, utterly and completely. And more importantly, four years of photos. Gutted. I am just hoping that somewhere inside my machine they are tucked away and that some brilliant person will be able to find them for me. The police seize computers and manage to extract information from them, so I am sure someone, somewhere will be able to rescue my 3500 photos ... at what price? But that will have to wait until 2011. Apart from that, there is a load of design/artwork that took me hours that has also disappeared in a puff of smoke, and tons of other stuff which I can't remember but will when I need it.<br />
<br />
And after all that messing around, any mail sent on my .mac address just gets thrown back in my face - I don't exist, address not recognised, error 20009987333, whatever ... so until the snow melts perhaps I will go to the geeky Apple site and see if there is help to be had.<br />
<br />
<strike>Stupidly</strike> courageously got the car out last night to drive to the pub as <strike>I had run out of cigarettes</strike> it's the only place where you get a mobile 'phone signal and catch up on the days excitement - who had/hadn't been to work, who had crashed their car, whose heating had broken down, usual sort of stuff. Funny how 4WD cars are regarded kindly when the weather is rough! Although down here at least half of the cars are 4WD, so no-one is rude about mine! I was slightly nervous as the roads through the village are in fact lanes with passing places and stone walls on either side seem to be de rigeur - not ideal on snowy, compacted driving surfaces. However the motor behaved well and we got there and back without transforming it into a Mini. GW has to go to town today as he has run out of heart pills (quite an important thing to have around when you need them) so we will see if we get there and back without transforming the car!The Return of the Native ... sort of.http://www.blogger.com/profile/09232917204933495222noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8086203895179167802.post-21081250641949901852010-11-30T08:27:00.000+00:002010-11-30T08:35:32.204+00:00Where is it?I love snow. You don't live high in the Swiss Alps as we did if you are allergic to the stuff. Okay, Dorset is not reknowned for metres of snow but it seems the whole country apart from us is covered in it. We had a dusting last week which is still here thanks to zero temperatures and that bitter northerly wind, but now I want to see evidence of why we are freezing. I am lucky in that I don't have to venture out the house to go to work and find that there are cars skidding everywhere or that the trains have been cancelled, so I can enjoy the snow. I still have all my Swiss gear but have yet to lay my hands on a decent pair of gloves or one of my silly hats so perhaps it is time to dig deeper into the removal boxes ...<br />
<br />
I'm not quite sure how we would get out of the village if we did have snow - I don't think snowploughs or gritters will be seen here. The lane into the village is extremely steep so no-one would get up or down that without reshaping their car - there is the lane that leads south from the village which is fairly flat so I suppose everyone uses that. How we get out of the drive is possibly another concern - it is very steep with stone walls on either side and at the best of times I have a foot either side of the car - if the motor goes into a slide ...<br />
<br />
The birds are looking rather hungry, so I am out making sure they have enough food - when I put it out there seems to be no-one around but within two minutes all my locals are there gobbling up food as fast as they can.<br />
<br />
So I will spend the rest of the day scrutinising the clouds, checking on the temperature and watching the weather forecast - perhaps I ought to go and do some shopping before we get snowed in! And of course buy some cat litter - not that we have a cat, but to keep in the car as it is great if you have tyres that are whizzing round and going nowhere.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggx5DaoY5F4y7g8AbQc7saO0VCCYqK_723b19q1E9NYanz0cznddoKKYtO7Jk8c4F7kHTHgVBJ-H8aK65nyaxp96pkxYQ2qhdchuO9gx_xqU7R_KEkCreaf7wB-S4sONpT-CABJUEYV4FR/s1600/DSC03394.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggx5DaoY5F4y7g8AbQc7saO0VCCYqK_723b19q1E9NYanz0cznddoKKYtO7Jk8c4F7kHTHgVBJ-H8aK65nyaxp96pkxYQ2qhdchuO9gx_xqU7R_KEkCreaf7wB-S4sONpT-CABJUEYV4FR/s320/DSC03394.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> Just a photo of Angus when we lived in Switzerland - like most dogs he loves snow. Throw him a stick and he just looks at you - throw him a snowball and he becomes demented!The Return of the Native ... sort of.http://www.blogger.com/profile/09232917204933495222noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8086203895179167802.post-47332467697003393002010-11-25T21:33:00.000+00:002010-11-25T21:33:06.824+00:00NYE MusicDown the pub the other night ... for New Year's Eve everyone has to choose three songs that they want to hear during the evening - these will be put on a CD and sold with the profits going to charity. Everyone managed to write down their songs in a twinkling of an eye - not me! My favourites? Popular? Susan Boyle? (no that is a joke). Not classic that's for sure, probably not jazz either, rather a few wrote down their football team's song ...<br />
<br />
Suggestions on a postcard please.<br />
<br />
<br />
It was a glorious albeit freezing day down here and whilst out shopping this afternoon I saw lorries full of salt - nothing going on the roads though. Perhaps they were off to Bodmin Moor. I have just found my electric blanket so it in on the bed, plugged in and it will be warmer than sitting here! Bonne nuit!The Return of the Native ... sort of.http://www.blogger.com/profile/09232917204933495222noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8086203895179167802.post-30669340675538122852010-11-24T05:57:00.000+00:002010-11-24T06:00:37.892+00:00ShameI feel slightly shameful plugging our on-line shopping site on my blog, but we all need business and other people do it, so why not. So I will just slip in the link <a href="http://www.theinternetgrocer.com/">here</a> and get it over with! I hope also that apart from just ordering goods from us, people will be able to get an insight into the suppliers here in Dorset and that the site will be a little more personal than the normal 'click and pay'. We have met all our suppliers personally and they are a great bunch of people who are dedicated to their job and work hard to distribute their products.<br />
<br />
During the Food Festival in October there is a very creative idea called <a href="http://www.screenbites.co.uk/">Screen Bites</a> - a mini Film Festival shown throughout the county at village halls. All the films shown are food related and before the film starts there are around a dozen local producers of food and drink who set up their stalls and offer samples of their goods. We went to the showing of 'Chocolat' starring Juliette Binoche, tried some truly great food and I actually enjoyed the film, although I seem to remember that it wasn't very well received when it first came out. I hate to admit that the evening the event was in our village, we missed it!<br />
<br />
Apart from our on-line grocery biz we also have another one (<a href="http://www.verybestplaces.com/">www.verybestplaces.com</a>) which is a directory of good places and people in Brussels and which we are also starting to develop here in Dorset. GW went to film an excellent fish shop in Bridport the other day and on the site he always puts up a little video which makes the page more interesting. He sent me the link which I will try and paste - how to fillet a plaice in less than 20 seconds! <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2kv6kMiAIM" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=I2kv6kMiAIM</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Although we don't sell fresh fish on-line (unfortunately) we also have a smokery in Bridport who sell wonderful smoked haddock, kippers and salmon amongst other things and we have a lot of expats in Brussels clamouring for kippers!<br />
<br />
<br />
Now plugging my sites is done and dusted, a little news from the village. GW came back from Brussels yesterday with a zillion removal boxes (still some more over there!) so our little cottage looks amazingly messy at the moment and we have friends coming to stay this weekend! I have a dismantled Ikea bed to install in the guest room but it would appear that the screws and Allen key are somewhere else so there are lots of nasty bits of fake wood propped against the wall. Ikea furniture is not meant to be dismantled - hateful stuff! While in Brussels he clipped the side of the van on one of those stupid metal bollards that towns love to install - I am sure there is a plot somewhere between the local councils, the bollard manufacturers, garages and insurance companies. A chum came to the house to help him unload the heaviest oak chest known to man and of course when we popped into the pub that evening GW was the butt of all the jokes!<br />
<br />
<br />
I am starting to get a dowager's hump from sitting at the computer all day, so after a few admin things that need to be done, I will start on the unpacking of the cases that I packed all those months ago and with a bit of luck I should find some winter clothes as I have been living in jeans and sweaters and wearing walking boots for the last two months ... thus saying, what else does one wear out in the sticks?The Return of the Native ... sort of.http://www.blogger.com/profile/09232917204933495222noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8086203895179167802.post-84920278157613642592010-11-21T10:44:00.000+00:002010-11-21T10:47:23.382+00:00Because I miss you ...This is for you, Angus!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US1gfk1ynP0">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US1gfk1ynP0</a>The Return of the Native ... sort of.http://www.blogger.com/profile/09232917204933495222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8086203895179167802.post-10178706662949178892010-11-21T07:31:00.000+00:002010-11-21T08:31:12.221+00:00Coming homeI never thought I would come back to England ... I left in 1977, married a Frog in 1978 and started a new life. I possibly became more French than the French and still tend to think in French. Having only been back here a couple of months, I find my English slightly stilted and old-fashioned, I use quite a bit of franglais and there are words that I learnt in France that I am incapable of translating into English without a dictionary. I have also noticed my spelling is quite bad at times - me who used to be able to write faultless English!<br />I moved to Brussels three years ago after having met GW and although I had 'instant' friends through him, living in a city is definitely not my idea of heaven. Although we lived in a lovely house near the University and had all the basic shops on our doorstep, there was always the hum of traffic, sirens, people shouting at 3am, street lights etc. and this is not for me. Although Brussels in mainly French speaking, if you go to the Flemish speaking areas, you do not speak to them in French (I cannot speak Flemish) but always English. The language problem in the country is causing an uncomfortable undercurrent in a country that is basically rudderless.<br /><br />I can remember saying to an English friend in Brussels last year that the idea of going back to England filled me with horror and I would never contemplate it - a year on and here we are! I know that we live in one of the most lovely and desirable areas of England but coming home has been a joy so far. I am aware of the terribly depressed areas of England with their knife culture, drug dealers and binge drinking (and know that this also happens down here to a lesser extent), but our reintroduction to England has been marvellous.<br /><br />Getting ourselves back into the system after having been away so long is quite complicated, but all the people we have dealt with so far have bent over backwards to help us - possibly we seem as though we have stepped out of a time machine or are starting to lose the plot, but the system works efficiently and things get done. After my dealings with the French civil servants (always out to lunch or on strike) and the Belgians (go away, you are bothering us) it would appear that here we are welcome!<br /><br />I am not a shopper; I don't feel the need to buy a new pair of shoes every week or fill my cottage with the latest gadgets, so I am rather amazed at the English necessity to shop all the time. People seem to buy and buy and you see them struggling from one shop to another laden down with bags seemingly desperate to spend everything they have in their purse (or don't have as the case may be). However I am falling in love with the English supermarkets! Aren't they wonderful? Such a choice! If you can't find something a query to a person stacking shelves sees you being lead to the product and then being asked if you need any more help, at the check out I am asked if I would like to be helped packing the bags (okay, my hair is white and I am wrinkly but I don't feel offended!) and then waiting until you are ready to leave before turning to the next customer.<br /><br />My supermarket experience in France was of oldies queueing for the supermarket to open, fighting to be first through the door, boring, unimaginative food, vegetables that had been in the cold room for a couple of weeks and when asking where something was, given vague directions which invariably were wrong. Belgium supermarkets? Don't make me laugh! Customer service? What is that? Get in, get your stuff, no-one to direct you and the check out ... right, let's push all this stuff through at break-neck speed, see if we can break her eggs by crushing them with a 3 litre cubitainer, give us your dosh and f*** off - oh, and whilst you are scrabbling frantically to bag up your purchases, let's see if we can send the next customers' stuff through so they can give you a dirty look as you are still there and if we can muddle up different purchases, even better ...<br /><br />Perhaps I shouldn't sing the praises of the British supermarket - they do get a bad press with their buying tactics, building in already over-subscribed towns - but like everyone I do use them. In my defense I do buy fruit, vegetables, meat and fish from our local town shops and the farmers in the area. Bridport still has 'real' shops and hasn't been overrun by the multinationals and although the main shopping areas seem to have a load of charity shops, there are still people proud of their trade and a clientèle who support them.<br /><br />Off to clear the garage as the last load of our removals arrives with GW this evening - hopefully including my winter clothes and kitchen things!The Return of the Native ... sort of.http://www.blogger.com/profile/09232917204933495222noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8086203895179167802.post-15676273511929973832010-11-20T20:24:00.000+00:002010-11-20T22:43:59.324+00:00An explanationWe have just moved from Brussels to West Dorset and it's not a 'flop' in the sense of 'not working', 'everything going wrong' (although things do go wrong ...). We arrived at the cottage on a Thursday and on the Sunday evening were down in the local which has a skittles alley. The guys were playing and we were given a demonstration of the Dorset Flop. This is only to be undertaken when you have been drinking all day as otherwise, if carried out sober you will possibly find yourself in Dorchester A&E with a broken nose. It is beyond my powers of literacy to explain the Flop, so if you want more information about Flopping and skittles in general, click <a href="http://www.tradegames.org.uk/games/Skittles.htm">http://www.tradgames.org.uk/games/Skittles.htm</a>. Well, don't actually as good old Blogger won't let me cut and paste. If I can't put in the link and you are fascinated by skittles, just google Dorset Skittles and see what comes up.<br /><br />(As I write it is quite late in the evening, very dark and there is a lot of shooting in the field above the cottage. Either someone is committing mass murder, slaughtering the herd of cows in the field or killing the rabbit population in the village. As long as it isn't the first two that's okay, especially as GW is away today in Brussels and I am home alone - I'm not afraid being by myself but shooting at 9 o'clock is slightly odd).<br /><br />We live in a lovely village about 5 miles east of Bridport - a village we drove through two years ago but hadn't remembered the name. It was only when we moved that I remembered pictures I had taken on that occasion! We are also about 4 miles from the sea on the Jurassic Coast and at the top of the road/lane with passing places that drops down into the village there are sea views to Lyme Regis.<br /><br />We don't have a village shop any more so all help and information is to be found in the pub - run by a lovely lady who works all hours that God sends to keep her pub busy. Basically one side of the room is the bar with an open fire and the other side is for food. Lots of themed nights (the other night was an Italian Night, recently there was a Thai Night) and she has also started a monthly pub quiz. A few weeks ago there was a sponsored bungee jump in the car park with money going to the Air Ambulance. GW did film that but hasn't got around to putting it onto youtube yet ... we are all waiting!<br /><br />There are some lovely houses in the village, either rather grand or very quaint with their thatched roofs - unfortunately it would appear that quite a number of them are second homes and from what I hear the 'weekenders' are not too well liked - more 'ignored' rather than 'disliked' perhaps.<br /><br />We run a small online grocery company (<a href="http://theinternetgrocer.com/">www.theinternetgrocer.com</a>) which basically ships English food into Brussels at a cheaper price than the few sad English ingredients found in supermarkets in Brussels. We suddenly found ourselves in Food Central here in Dorset so we have been busy starting up a section of wonderful local products to take into Belgium. Having been away from England for so long we didn't realise how popular food-wise Dorset had become but of course with Hugh FW here and the winner of Master Chef Mat Follas opening up his restaurant down the road in Beaminster and lots of terribly famous people having houses here, the county has become a food paradise. We arrived here just in time for the Dorset Food Festival so we spent a month travelling around Dorset gorging ourselves on local produce and meeting so many charming, enthusiastic and dedicated producers.<br /><br />I will try and add some photos later if allowed! The shooting has stopped so it's time for bed!The Return of the Native ... sort of.http://www.blogger.com/profile/09232917204933495222noreply@blogger.com0