Time for a catch up

The loaf was very good and there was only enough left for toast for LJ the next morning.



Michael had his first round of golf on a full course on Friday and I give myself about six months before he's giving me shots. Despite the biting wind it was great fun and, hopefully, the start of a regular event.



I am on target to have my weight start with a 13 by the time we hit the Lake District for more training on the way to the Three Peaks Challenge. That means half a pound so it's down to pretty much down to touching distance ounces Only three months to go before the challenge - not much time at all really.

Can you smell it?

I've just baked a loaf and it smells gorgeous. Can I wait until LJ gets home from Scouts before getting stuck in?

Stephen Fry and the Gutenberg Press

The BBC iPlayer is a marvellous thing and has allowed me to watch Stephen Fry telling the story of Gutenberg's press which I missed when it was first broadcast on Monday. I know there are other ways of getting to see it through a range of sources, more or less legal and moral, but the iPlayer is easy to use and does as much as I need.

The programme follows the model of providing a history lesson while a bunch of eccentric experts attempt to recreate the subject using traditional techniques. The press that is, not Stephen Fry. This, in itself, is interesting enough but the best thing about the programme, and the element that is Stephen Fry at his best, is the reminder of the transformational impact the press and the introduction of movable type printing had on European civilisation. All that and some wonderful camera work, particularly in Strasbourg.

Time for a cup of tea before I start painting the utility room.

A good day

Last Friday I met with some of my friends from work to mark my leaving with a few cold drinks. After 32 years at the same place my head has been in a bit of a whirl with all the things going on and I was right to leave it for a couple of weeks before meeting up to celebrate. Everybody was very kind and wished me well for the future and I can think of worse things to do on a Friday afternoon than sitting in the sunshine with good friends and good beer.

Jif and the also rans

It all started so well as you can see from the picture. We look a perfect example of confident athleticism and I had the comedy trousers on to celebrate the first event of the spring. Unfortunately they are sturdy, woollen and unforgiving so by the end of the day the inside of my thighs were redder than Max Mosley's cheeks (his face I mean - behave!).


Well that's my excuse taken care of but what Patrick and Craig were up to is anyone's guess. Is Craig finding it so tough giving up the ciggies that he has to put both morning and afternoon drives on the 17th by the bonfire to get a quick fix of smoke?

That left Jif to salvage some pride for the team and his well deserved third place was all the more creditable as he spent most of the round waiting for the rest of us to return, cursing and moss covered, to the fairways.

The final comment on the golf has to be Craig's splendid Eagle on the 16th in the afternoon. No fluke: the shot was imagined, planned and executed to perfection.

Tea anyone?

After a very pleasant long weekend in Yorkshire I suppose I need to get used to my new routine which I plan to be a lack of routine as much as possible.

It helps to avoid a pattern to the day when the car gets a puncture, LJ forgets a dental appointment and I need to get a lump on my knee sorted out. It turns out to be a wart. How very reassuring and disappointing at the same time

I am writing this while drinking white tea I found at Imperial Teas in Lincoln and it's gorgeous. I bought it as an experiment and I got to the end of Tuesday before I had my first coffee of the week. That's a bit of an event for me and not something I had consciously attempted or expected from my tea upgrade but the tea is so good I forgot to make coffee and didn't miss it. I've been using the standard, supermarket green teas and other herbal teas in tea bag form for a few months now and I am very impressed with the improved quality of my new find which is in loose form.

I'm quite particular about the type of coffee I drink and I've a feeling I'm about to develop into a tea snob. In a non-routine way of course.

Let's hope it's an omen

The weather yesterday was perfect. A glorious day and I ate a leek and bacon tart sitting in the sunshine on a bench at Southwold before walking along the beach to the harbour. I bought some sea bass fillets and watched a lark rising from the marshes until it was out of sight and only it's song remained. Back home to prepare my first tarte au citron before a trip to the Village Inn where Soupy had arranged for a bottle of Champagne to be waiting for us.

I think I'm going to like life after Aviva.