Penguins did it!

Harri and the Herdies

2009-05-10T17:07:29Z

Herdy: Here, I brought you this.
Harri: It's a lamb, what am I going to do with a lamb?
Herdy: I'm just going to leave it here until later.
Harri: But I'm not a sheep, what am I going to do with a lamb?
Herdy: It'll be fine, I'll be back later.
Harri: But I'm not a sheep...

Lamb: Bah, bah, bah....
Harri: What? What do you want?
Lamb: Bah, you're not my mummy!
Harri: I know, it's not my fault, stop it with the bah-ing.
Lamb: Bah!

I like the Herdwicks, they're solid and dependable. They know they belong here. They know they were here before I was and will more than likely be here long after I've gone. They also don't mind if I have to wait while they lie down in the road. The Swaledales are more skittish, they know they don't belong here. They know the Herdies are the boss.

Ludicrous!

2009-02-25T17:37:06Z

Why on earth shouldn't I be allowed to buy perfectly legal, antique, kitchenware online?
Murderers have kitchens too!

23 February, 2009 | 12:06PM GMT

We’d like to update you on the changes to the policy on the sale of knives.

From 10th March 2009, all knives and swords except cutlery will be banned from sale on eBay.co.uk and eBay.ie. The definition of cutlery includes those implements which can be used for eating, including cutlery sets, individual pieces of cutlery and antique cutlery.

All other items, including knives used in the preparation of food will be banned, including (but not limited to);
# antique knives
# bread knives
# craft knives
# Stanley knives
# camping/ survival/ hunting knives
# diving knives
# kitchen knives
# Swiss Army knives and Leathermans
# all swords

Under the new policy buyers will be asked to enter credit card details if they attempt to bid on or buy any item of cutlery in the new cutlery category. These details will need to be provided again after six months if the buyer seeks to buy or bid again.

We will be able to determine if the buyer or bidder enters the details of a debit card, solo card or pre-paid card, the types of card most likely to be held by under-18s. If the details of any of these types of cards are entered, eBay will prevent the buyer or bidder from completing the transaction.

If the bidder or buyer enters valid credit card details they will then be given the option to pay using any approved method of payment.

We will be strict in the enforcement of these new policies and any seller who repeatedly attempts to break this policy will face strict sanctions, including possible suspension from the eBay site.

Regards,

The eBay Team

Washing Day

2008-05-13T11:55:00Z

Oh the joy of having three washing machines at your disposal when you get back from holiday.

Warnings of gales....

2008-04-30T13:42:15Z

Is it sad that I check the shipping forecast before I check the weather forecast?
For the interested the important information is: West or southwest 5 to 7, decreasing 4 or 5 later, moderate or rough, squally showers, good. Oh and it's going to rain all weekend.
l'd better go, I have a boat to catch....

"Yes! We Have No Bananas"

2008-03-29T09:49:00Z

I live on a small island yet most of the time it's not that different from living on the mainland. If the weather has been particularly inclement I sometimes wander into the supermarket to find it completely devoid of fresh produce. Often there are no bananas because the boat hasn't come in. If it's foggy the mail and papers don't arrive. The recent storms have meant that we were running very short on Hartmann's Solution (drips) at work last week. It was very windy last night. I should probably get my arse into gear and go to the Farmers' Market.

Chim-chimenea

2008-03-28T19:51:28Z

I saw a photo of Charlotte Green this afternoon.
How can someone with the voice of a sex-goddess look like a WI member?
I'm disillusioned. I blame Krishnan Guru-Murthy.

I also bought this chimenea. It's very pretty. Hopefully we'll get a summer this year so I can use it.

So skiing....

2008-03-17T15:09:53Z

....well where do I start? The skiing was great. By the end of the week I was coming down the blue runs with a minimum of falling over. The ski school at Arinsal is excellent. My group were really friendly and I ended up skiing with them most afternoons after classes. Our instructors were brothers who also own the Irish bar next door to our hotel. We went in most nights to watch the video footage of ourselves and demand our free shots when they'd gone double or quits with us during the day. The weather was fantastic. We had fresh snow the night we arrived but for most of the week we were skiing in Tshirts. The hotel was cosy and close to the bottom of the gondola. They didn't do much to vary to food though, even after we'd complained. It was a shame because the chef could probably cook if he set his mind to it, his steaks were delicious.

Unfortunately I ran out of time for snow penguins but a snowman did take me out half way down a green run if that counts and I did find a precious thing. So it was all going swimmingly until about Saturday when the infection in my tooth became really persistent. The three hour coach transfer through the mountains, two flights and a five hour wait at Gatwick were agonising. Thank goodness you can buy proper drugs over the counter in Andorra, it was almost unbearable rattling with painkillers and antibiotics, would have been much worse without. This morning I woke up looking like a chipmunk so I went to my dentist and he yanked the offending tooth out. It's a lot better now but I'm glad I don't have to be at work until Wednesday afternoon.

Near the top of the mountain.

Nursery slopes.

Arinsal, early evening.

Andorra

2008-03-11T15:38:41Z

Just a quick one. It´s a good job I know my way around LJ because it seems to be stuck in Spanish. I arrived safely in Andorra after a mammoth journey. Really I could have been the other side of the world in less time. There´s loads of snow. I´m really enjoying the skiing. The instructors are great, although it´s a bit more difficult than I had imagined. I´m a bit sick of chips, apparently that´s what they think English people want to eat here, but we´ve started a campaign to remedy that. It´s a shame because I´d be quite happy eating Spanish food all week, ho hum. The snow penguin is scheduled for Saturday. I´ll post properly with pictures when I get back.

Squee...

2008-03-07T09:24:14Z

....I go skiing tomorrow and there's fresh snow, yay!

My Kitchen Garden

2008-03-06T17:44:22Z

I've missed not having a garden over the last few years. The garden in my last place was nice enough but it was all lawns and formal borders that you couldn't really do much to. Here it is different. There are lots of little nooks and crannies and everyone just "has a go". In fact the gardeners have been banished. Allegedly they were very bad at telling what was weeds and what wasn't. I've been eying up a small abandoned looking plot since I moved in. I have designs on it for a kitchen garden or at least potato patch.

After consultation with my personal potato anorak I chose some varieties. I like fluffy potatoes, apparently these ones have a high dry matter content. Primarily I want lovely mash, maybe the odd roastie or baker. Sometimes I want salad potatoes. I'd originally chosen Edzell Blues, which have pretty purple skins; Pink Fir Apple, which are a really tasty salad potato; and some Yukon Gold, which apparently make the best chips. However, these would have had to be ordered on the internet and as I found a good range at the Garden Centre I decided to buy those instead. In the end I bought Edzell Blues, Ratte (salad potatoes) and some King Edwards.

I was pleasantly surprised when I started digging this afternoon. The unpromising looking, packed down soil was actually lovely, free draining and fertile looking. There are lots of worms and I dug some organic soil improver in for good measure. I bought some pressure treated timber (reduced in B&Q) and made it into a 3'x12' temporary raised bed to stop people trampling. So the potatoes are in and I have plans for beans, herbs, some salad veg and possibly shallots or garlic. I'm very pleased with myself.

The yellow stuff is just straw for mulching properties.

View from my new house....

2008-02-26T11:13:57Z

Kitchen Oracle

2008-02-24T09:18:44Z

My former housemates have bestowed the title of Kitchen Oracle on me, on account of my ability to turn up at the right moment and answer their cooking queries. I'm honoured but it is a little embarrassing when they call me it in front of patients. They're actually quite decent cooks, although they are sometimes too reliant on recipes. The main thing they lack is the confidence that comes from years of messing things up and doing them better next time, but at least they are trying. They're a breath of fresh air compared to the rest of my former housemates who think they are being adventurous when they buy their ready meals from Marks and Spencer instead of Iceland.

I have also left a legacy of attempting to shock and appall the non-cooking housemates with unusual cooking processes. I think they might have a tough act to follow on that count though. While I lived there I filleted whole rabbits, made fresh chicken liver pate (liver milkshake anyone?) sloe gin, quince paste, pork rillettes, a variety of fresh stock and chutney. I also dyed a woolen blanket green in the washing machine. I think I might try the home cured pastrami in a fire pit in the garden here though; the advice about the smoke alarms was probably sound.

Stolen...

2008-02-23T21:33:19Z

...from the News Quiz

"You: the guy throwing up on the Northern line at East Finchley on 9 Feb.
Me: the ginger girl whose jeans got in the way. Wish I could’ve told you how the remnants of
WKD Blue brought out the blue in your eyes. Drink? ANON"

Classy! One to add to the list of chat up lines methinks.
What kind of bloke drinks Blue WKD anyway?

Cost Effectiveness

2008-02-22T10:52:04Z

A colleague of mine told me she didn't think my knitting was cost effective. I think she may have missed the point. What price can you put on a lovingly crafted gift given to someone you know will appreciate it; or the joy of wearing something you have designed and made yourself? I will be continuing with my knitting despite it's lack of apparent cost effectiveness.

Posties, pubs and bin men...

2008-02-20T15:12:31Z

Posties in Guernsey are hard. They wear shorts and ride bicycles even in the winter. I couldn't help feeling that the photographer let them down with their calender this year though and I'm not sure why the one I nearly ran over this morning chose bicycle number 13.

The pub round the corner from my new house has had a make over. It's good. There are comfy sofas and wooden floors; somehow it seems bigger. I was very grateful that they are still serving exactly the same menu at exactly the same prices. It would have been easy for them to turn it into a trendy gastro-pub. Don't get me wrong; I like trendy gastro-pubs but Guernsey has plenty of those and sometimes what you really want is a homemade burger and curly fries or a good old fashioned roast. Good on them for looking after the regulars, that's what I say.

The first time I came home late from the pub and saw the bins being emptied I thought I was hallucinating. However, Guernsey bin men really do work through the night. I suppose it must be because the lanes are so narrow and busy here, they'd back up the whole island on bin day. Still it must pay well.

Moved

2008-02-16T20:01:46Z

It took me five car loads and ten hours but I have finally moved. You can incidentally move a double bed using a Nissan Micra but I takes two loads and you have to be short. I am too tired for words but I have a sea view, yay!

WOW !!!! What a ride!

2008-02-12T19:12:51Z

Life is not a journey to the grave
With the intention of
Arriving safely in a pretty
And well preserved body,
But rather to skid in broadside,
Thoroughly used up,
Totally worn out,
And loudly proclaiming,

WOW !!!! What a ride!
By Erma Bombeck

Shiny

2008-02-12T12:21:46Z

I've acquired a very lovely shiny thing this morning for the bargain price of £4.99.
Now I can have very, very thinly sliced things, which is good.

Fingers!

Muffins

2008-02-11T18:32:07Z

My general philosophy on gluten or wheat-free food is similar to my philosophy on vegetarian food. If I wouldn't feed it to someone who isn't gluten intolerant/vegetarian then I wouldn't feed it to anybody. Today I was very pleased to discover/adapt a recipe for savoury muffins that I'd be happy to feed to anyone.

Gruyere and Spring Onion Muffins

Ingredients
10oz Dove's Farm gluten free self-raising flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
2 large eggs
8 fl oz milk
1/2 tsp salt

4oz grated Gruyere cheese
4oz finely sliced spring onions
4 tbsp grated Parmesan

Sift the flour, bicarb, cream of tartar and salt well. Mix the milk and eggs in a jug. Roughly mix all of the ingredients together (lumps are good). Fill 12 muffin cases. Bake for about 20 minutes at gas mark 6 or 200 celsius.

Slumming World

2008-02-09T10:35:44Z

The diet where you can eat whatever you can find in bins. :)

Airports, Snow and Breakdown Trucks

2008-02-04T18:21:57Z

I survived the weekend and made it home, which is good....

This weekend started way back in October when I booked flights in order to get home for a decent price. Just after Christmas, Flybe phoned me to tell me that they had suspended flights to Manchester and were transferring me to Southampton. I eventually persuaded them to fly me to Birmingham, afterall there was no point flying to the UK for four days if they were going to abandon me on the south coast.

Glove_puppet picked me up from the airport on Friday morning. We managed a whistle stop tour of friends and family, in spite of the snow, before arriving back at hers for alcohol, real fires and good food. It was lovely to be in familiar places with familiar people, having not been home since October. Apparently I have adjusted to the pace of life here and I am now so laid back I can't be bothered to finish my sen........
....tences, and the Harri-tangents are worse than ever (Nicaragua!) *shrug*

My established luck with travelling continued on the way home, when we decided to break down on the BNNR. Fortunately the kindly breakdown truck driver delivered me to Birmingham Airport and despite Mr Bourdain eating my ticket, check-in being closed and security deciding to get up close and personal with me and my laundry, I made the flight and beat glove_puppet home (by three hours apparently). I'm glad I don't have to be back at work until Wednesday afternoon because I now have a stinking cold and a big pile of (equally stinking) washing.

Also, if anyone knows anything about Gracie Barra Jiu Jitsu I'd be interested to hear about it.

Watch Out!

2008-01-30T19:06:11Z

Was it bad of me to giggle when I heard this story on the radio?
Probably *shrug*

An Unusually Symmetrical Walk

2008-01-22T18:52:17Z

Went for a walk with a colleague/housemate after work this afternoon. We got out of the car at 14.00, found an appropriate turning round place (a tower) exactly 45 minutes later and arrived back at the car at 15.30, having only looked at the clock on those three occasions. I like symmetry :) Now I have a warming stew with chorizo, german sausage, italian speck and cannellini beans on the stove. January is nearly over. I'm in the UK a week on Friday. It's all good.

Exercise/Appetite Equation

2008-01-08T15:22:39Z

I did my best time ever for 1.5 miles this afternoon, 15 mins 45 secs. It doesn't sound much but when I started before Christmas it was taking over 18 minutes, so I'm chuffed. The outdoor running is obviously starting to do me some good. I swam a few lengths afterwards but this was more because I was craving a soak. I'm not moving until the end of January at the earliest now. Oh how I crave a nice long soak in the bath and the chance to use some of the delicious Lush products I got for Christmas.

I've also noticed that although I'm now back to my pre-Christmas weight, the more exercise I do the more revenous I seem to be. I'm trying to fill up with low fat and low GI snacks, but it's hard after the Christmas blow out. Ho hum, I guess it's just a matter of willpower.

Hello 2008....

2008-01-01T14:16:54Z

Guernsey is indeed stuck in some kind of time warp, although I'm not sure if it's one I'm at all unhappy with. Last night felt as though I'd walking into a Nick Berry mini series, but the food and the company was good so I enjoyed myself. It appears that someone else has my hangover because I have the hangover of someone who drunk a lot less than I did last night....

There's lots to say, lots of plans for 2008 but I'll to write about them when I'm slightly more inspired and slightly less at work....

....2008 will be featuring running though, lots of running.

Happy New Year to you all!