Two Things

1. I know why it hasn't stopped raining for weeks - I bought a new pair of shorts for our holiday. I rarely get my legs out and this is the first new pair I've bought in about five years. Sods law says I'll not get a chance to wear them this summer. (As I type the patio is flooded and at least 1 cabbage and 2 lettuces have got waterlogged and rotted - but thank God we haven't been flooded like other parts of the country).
2. I'm stuck. Tonight is my turn to cook. The wife has cooked all week and quite rightly, can't be bothered tonight. I thought this would be the case but didn't think ahead and so have nothing planned. After making a couple of suggestions that didn't go down too well my only option was to get a take away. "Sounds good" sounded good to me but I then promised to put some thought and some effort into doing something delicious on Sunday (we are out tomorrow). I have less than 48 hours to come up with an idea and then shop. Help!!! (i.e. feel free to let me know your favourite recipe)!

Doctor Who?

This post was going to be about the weather but once I got started I just couldn't stop. Actually I forced myself to stop because I could go on for hours on this topic

More often than not I get frustrated during my drive home from work but today I was early enough to be ahead of most of the traffic. The potential was there for a relaxing half hour. It wasn't to be. Gillian McKeith (note the deliberate omission of her 'title') was on the radio advertising her latest TV programme. I may have ranted about the woman before on here but today saw me waiting at traffic lights in the middle of a city centre landmark yelling my head off at the radio and almost missing the green light.

She's not just irritating. She's frightening. And not in the way she would like to be! Some of the garbage she comes out with, dressed up as science, is just plain wrong. For example, today she was talking about how important a healthy, nutritionally balanced diet is. Now that makes perfect sense and I would never argue with that. But she followed up by saying that, as part of that diet, tea (ordinary black tea) should be ditched in favour of the likes of nettle tea because it contains various essential vitamins. So tell me please, if I am eating a balanced diet why should my delicious morning cuppas, which provide me with a good dose of antioxidants along with a splash of calcium and various other goodies found in milk, need to be replaced with crap that tastes like dish-water which provides nothing more than my balanced diet does.

And does a balanced diet really mean not eating protein and carbohydrates at the same time? As for smoothies for breakfast, why? The types of fruit she recommends for her smoothies are far too expensive, just eat a balanced diet! As for quick and easy (3 mins to make according to the 'good doctor'), by the time you've prepared the fruit, blended it and washed up I've had my tea and (wholemeal) toast and am half way to work.

It's crap. Everything she says is crap. And I have been known to stand beside her products in the supermarket and tell the wife, and anyone else within earshot, just how crap her over priced products are. Even the recipes she was talking about today contain various beans I have never heard of. I despair that people spend money on these sorts of products. Head round to the fresh fruit and veg aisle - it's cheaper, healthier and you won't be lining her pockets!

Home and Away

I've not been completely lost, life has been storming ahead and I've been running behind. Apart from a holiday. The wife and I decided to escape to the other end of the country (via a short visit to my mum conveniently situated half way down - 420 miles might not seem like a long journey to some but here it is literally from the north east to the south west corner of the country. The journey was made that much more enjoyable by the compilation CD's the wife had put together beforehand). So here is Cornwall in pictures:

Tintagel and the remains of the castle which, according to legend was the home of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Or his birthplace. Or something like that. History/mythology never was my strong point and I was too busy looking at the ocean to take notes.



The harbour in the lovely little village of Boscastle - site of the huge floods in 2004. The shops on the main street had markers showing the height of the water and it reached the ceiling on the ground floor and whole buildings were destroyed. Work was still ongoing on deepening the river bed and this photo was taken two days before the town flooded again. Fortunately this time the water only reached 3ft and the town returned to business and usual the following day.



New York, straight on, 3000 miles.



At the end of the scariest lane I have ever driven down we were rewarded with views like this. The photo doesn't do it justice, the sea was so blue. After a stroll in the sunshine we had a bargain lunch in the hotel perched on the headland and just as we were leaving the rain started. I stopped the car and jumped out to snap this, getting soaked in the process:
This picture doesn't do it justice either, it was stunning, even in the rain.

It was a great week and just what the two of us needed. It's the first holiday with just the two of us for four years and although it rained a bit (the risk you take holidaying in England) we also managed to dump the coats and get some sun.

Good Neighbours

Our house is on a corner plot, at the entrance to a small cul de sac. Since the old guy who lives at the other end told the wife that the grass needed cutting a few weeks ago I've been trying to keep on top of it. Just as I was finishing the front lawn another old guy who lives a few doors up stopped and introduced himself (he seems to pride himself on knowing all the goings on in the road but can't be too good at it as he didn't realise we had bought the place and thought I was cutting the grass for the old lady). I was hot and sweaty and the wife was waiting for me to finish so that we could go shopping. Having been grilled for my details (husband, job, birth place etc) I think I was only half way through his life story when the wife came to see what was takinging me so long. Hours we were there for. So long in fact that my nose got sunburnt.

Apparently he knows Bill Gates but I wasn't really listening to closely. The woman in the house across the road was in her bedroom trying on different clothes. With the curtains open. And three of us stood in front of her. Next time I'm cutting the grass it'll be head down and mow.

One Year

I can't believe that it's a whole year since we moved into this house. Looking at the old photos, the inside is barely recognisable (apart from the bathroom and the upstairs; and there are still bits falling off the roof - but they'll get done eventually). However, the biggest transformation has been in the back garden. The flower beds are kind of bare, but we're in the process of getting rid of all the overgrown stuff and putting some sensible plants that we like (like the little osteospermum with pretty flowers that close up when they get cold - so cute!).

Back in March the veggie plot was a load of stones covering some very, very compacted mud. And now it looks like this:



What can't be seen in the picture is the tomatoes, cucumber and peppers in the Greenhouse (Mark II). There is also a couple of large bins of potatoes behind the greenhouse and a small patch with some spinach and rocket in. Any available space will be filled with more of the same and any unlabelled pockets are radishes, which are taking over the world. Those pots along side the greenhouse are our herb collection.

It all makes dinner time so exciting!

The Wife's Life

I've been working from home again today (although I did actually do some work today) and The Wife was doing her tax return. Since she is self employed and also in the last year has started renting out property it sounded as though it was getting a little heated. The upshot is, that the tax man owes her and it looks as though he will do next year as well. She is quite comfortable with this.

In celebration I took her to the walk-in clinic this afternoon. 25 days ago when the wife was working in the garden she'went over on her ankle' and it is still bruised and swollen (being the dutiful partner I am, at the time I tried for days to get her to have it seen but she can be a little bit stubborn). Anyway, they don't think it's broken but as it's over 2 weeks since the accident they can't x-ray it. (They said that if it was broken it would probably be more painful, it's probably a sprain). I don't think she told the nurse that her gardening boots have two inch heals!

Homeward Bound

As I type, the wife is heading home and I can't wait until she gets here (I'm 'working at home' so that I can tidy the place up welcome her home). She often tells me that I have a bit of an obsessive personality and that has been evident this week without her. Not checking taps are off or doors are locked multiple times, but watching videos. There has been nothing on the TV so I dug out my Bad Girls collection and started at the very beginning. By bed time last night I only had two episodes of series 2 left. And, because I remembered what happened at the end of the series, I stayed up and watched them. 23 episodes in three days (evenings only, I'm not quite sad enough not to find better things to fill my days with). I had forgotten just how good a programme it was back in the early days, before it got a bit too far fetched.

Anyway, back to reality. I just wish my wife would sometimes drive a little bit faster!

It's Oh So Quiet

The wife has gone away for a few days with her daughter and granddaughter leaving me and the dog home alone. All the dog has done for the last 24 hours is sit by the front door pining (and I'm feel like he looks - lonely). Apart from when I went to bed last night and then he sat at the foot of the bed looking at me as if to say "no, you can't go to sleep, the boss isn't here. What are you doing? Go and get her!"
It's the first time in our six year history that the wife has gone and left me at home and the place seems very, very quiet without her. I also don't really see the point in cooking just for one - why waste all that electricity on putting the oven/hob on for just myself when the takeaway down the road have theirs on anyway!

Dunched

Last week I got stuck in traffic on my way to work so got there too late to get parked in my usual little car park on campus. The only option was the large, council run car park near by (which costs twice as much per hour and where the ticket machines always reject at least half the coins I try to feed it). It being the first time I'd parked my new, bigger car in a proper car park I walked around it ensuring that I was within the white lines and checked the time on the ticket before heading into work. On getting back to the car later that day I spotted one of these:

Along side this was a scrap of paper onto which someone had scribbled the words "you were dunched by a Picasso" followed by a registration number. Slowly, it dawned on me that something had happened to my shiny new car and on walking round to the passenger side discovered exactly what. The door and front wing are no longer quite so shiny and are slightly bent and twisted. Since some kind person (I'm guessing not the driver involved) left the reg number I contacted the local police. One week later I'm still waiting to hear if they contacted the other driver and what he (I'm assuming it's a he, it makes me feel better) had to say and if he/his insurance company will pay for the repairs. Now I know it's not a serious incident, but it should be easy to sort - they have to speak to just one person and by doing so could save me a few hundred quid in repair bills.

As for the £30 parking fine, I've appealed (assuming that the jolt of the collision caused the ticket to slide down the dash and out of view) and all I have to do now is send them the ticket to prove that there were 20 mins between the penalty notice being issued and the ticket expiring. Oh and I've also lost the cost of the theatre ticket for the show I missed while I was waiting for the police. Did I mention that one week on I (and my insurance company) am still waiting to hear back from the police.

One week after getting the car, this has, quite literally, taken the shine off it.

Eurovision

We don't get out much and perhaps that explains why we are actually looking forward to the Eurovision Song Contest. It looks like it's going to actually be fun - Eurovision is not supposed to take itself seriously. I don't hold out much hope for Scooch but it's not the winning that's important, it's the being camp that counts.

Free Kicks

I have just realised that the football season finished last weekend (the Black Cats being promoted to the premiership as champions = one happy Wife = one happy blogger)! This means that where by 3pm each Saturday afternoon for the last however many months we have had to be near a radio, I now have at least a few weeks of weekends where I have the Wife all to myself. I'm now racking my brains trying to think of something fun to spend a cold, wet Saturday afternoon doing!

"Am I Bovvered"

The other afternoon I got a phone call at work from the Wife saying that the dog had escaped. He followed her into the front garden and jumped the wall without her noticing and it was about two hours before she realised. By then we both thought that he would have been squashed - although the roads around here are fairly quiet it's not far to a couple of major routes in and out of the city. After phoning around various vets and the police station there had been no reports so there was still hope he would a) come home or b) be found. So while the Wife waited I went for a drive around. The trouble is that there are so many side streets and back lanes in the area that at the time it felt like an impossible task. After checking around the old house I decided to head home the long way and by chance spotted him out of the corner of my eye, trotting down the middle of a side street. When I reached him he just looked at me as if to say "what are you doing here?" and then proceeded to jump all over my shiney new car as I drove him home. As soon as he walked through the door he was after his dinner then slept for the rest of the evening. I'm amazed that he survived five hours out there (indeed as I picked him up a woman told me that he had just narrowly avoided being run over) and I don't think he would have made it home on his own. He of course must have found it to be just one big adventure and is oblivious to the trouble he caused. At the time I was saying that if he does make it home alive I would quite happily murder him but he really is a big part of the family.

Introducing...

Dr Me!

The graduation ceremony was held the other day making it official. I managed not to fall down the steps or trip over the gown and the only daft hat was for the official photograph (which will not make it onto this blog, for two reasons: 1) to retain some degree of anonymity and 2) it hanging in my mothers living room will be embarrassment enough)! Needless to say my mum enjoyed it more than I did and the highlight for my brother was getting drunk with the wife that evening. As for me, it marks the end of my 20 years of education (although I hope that I will never stop learning). And two fingers to my sixth form biology teacher who told my parents not to expect me to get any A-levels!

Vroom

Time flies when you're having fun!

So much of the time I was spending on the computer is now spent in the garden and various other projects have been keeping us busy. Including new cars. Back in February I decided it was time to get rid of my old one as things were starting to go wrong but (as with the tale of the houses last year) it takes me a while to make decisions. In the mean time the wife decided her car also needed replacing and it was her deciding to change and finding a car within a week that spurned me on. So last night I picked up my shiny new car and this morning we collected the wifes sparkly new bubble. The only problem is that a couple of days ago the wife tripped in the garden and can barely walk let alone drive so not only did I have the ordeal of driving my own new car but I had to drive hers home as well (and for that reason I cancelled my BP check at the doctors this morning)!

My old car (which was my first and therefore has a special place in my heart) was just about the smallest you can get so I'm freaking out a bit about parking the Astra - I have been known to get into spaces then have to wait for the other cars to go before retriving it. But, I can fit more than just a wee bag in the back which will save much effort squeezing and squashing the weekly shop. Although I doubt that the wife will stop reminding me to mind the eggs!

And on that note, normal blogging service has resumed.

All Go

My life seems to have been taken over, mostly by little people but it looks like I finally have a moment to relax. It would seem that all of the grandkids would like to move in (and made a pretty good attempt to over the Easter weekend). Someone decided it would be a good idea to have a BBQ on Sunday so Saturday was spent shopping and preparing all sorts of yummys. Come Sunday the weather forecast was good, the sun was shining and the wife and I had a great couple of hours in the kitchen. Then they all arrived and things started to degenerate - apart from the easter egg hunt we arranged for the 6 kids, which was just chaos. When they decided it was too cold outside I stopped enjoying myself and started to regret going for a beige carpet (of course it was too cold - who has a BBQ in north east England in April?). The only way to get through it was to sit it out outside and stay warm beside the BBQ (safe in the knowledge that babywipes get just about anything off the carpet).



Monday we went to the races. The wife and I have only been once before and that time we made a profit. This time we just about broke even, which I guess makes for a cheap day out. The six year old came with us (her mum was going to come as well but couldn't afford it) and we let her pick a horse in each race to put a pound on. After the first three races she had won nothing and was starting to get bored (the wife and I on the other hand had winners and placed horses in every race). But, in race four Dead Mans Dante did good and the grandkid was back in the black (the same horse also gave me my best result of the day). When it came to choosing a horse for the fifth race she didn't even need to look at the parade ring before deciding to put the pound back in her pocket and was happy enough just to cheer on the horses that her nan and myself had picked. We worry about her taking after her mother - spend, spend, spend being her motto - but after the day at the races I'm not so worried.

Smiles

I'm ill. I'm lying in bed, dozing and listening to the wife entertain two of the grandkids (the 4 and the 3 year old). She's wonderful, listening to her making them laugh it is making me smile. Laughter truly is the best medicine.

Filth

The tenants have moved out of the other place. They were two guys, both just split from their wives and having seen the state the place was left in, I can see why they are now single! They claimed to have cleaned the place but it took me 3 - yes, three - hours to clean the bathroom. How it could get in that state in 6 months is beyond me, I've never seen so much slime in my life. I would post pictures but I wouldn't want to put anyone of their breakfast/lunch/dinner. Fortunately they had cats so I just kept telling myself that it was the cat hairs that got everywhere. And I'm blaming them for the smell on the bathroom floor!

Mark 2

Previously on Contentedly Discontent:
The original greenhouse survived the summer but as the year came to a close it fell victim to the weather.

The latest (and ideally last) installment:

So last weekend Greenhouse Mark 2 was constructed. Complete with three bags of B&Q's finest quick set cement, every single nut, bolt and clip included in the box as well as a few salvaged from Mk 1. Of course this weekend was blowing a gale resulting in one sleepless night. But, apart from an emergency replacement of a few clips whilst still in pyjamas on Sunday morning, it seems to have withstood the weather this time.

While I was constructing, the wife was harvesting stuff planted in the autumn (in pots rather than the greenhouse for obvious reasons)


The first carrot - I think that the shape makes it obvious that this is an organic carrot (the suits in Europe wouldn't approve of). It was delicious. I didn't manage to snap the first leek before it went into tonights dinner.


Throughout construction, I was being watched by two cuties - the wife won't let me post her picture here but Freddie didn't object:

Do I look Stupid?

I'm looking for a new car. Having sat inside a few there is one model that I'm keen on and so let the sales guy take me into the showroom to talk numbers. All I wanted to know was how much money I need to find. Having got out of me that I prefer the 3 door over the 5 door version (they just look funkier and the back seats don't get much action anyway), and that silver (or blue) would be my fave colour he went away to tap on a computer then came back and said he had found the ONLY car matching that description and that because it's the only one and they were going to do me a great deal I should hand over the deposit straight away. Oh and after taking a measly sum off for part-ex it was only just a few hundred over my budget. I umm'd and ahh'd a bit and sensing he was loosing he was replaced by the sales manager followed by the finance manager all telling my I was mad for not taking it. They even managed to convince The Wife - and it's a bloody good salesman who can do that! I eventually left, to much shaking of heads - it was the ONLY 3 door, silver Focus in the country and I was walking away.

Imagine my surprise then when I checked the dealers website and found page after page of 3 door, silver Foci! Imaging my greater surpise on seeing the very one that they had been trying to sell me was £1000 cheaper on the website than the 'fantastic' deal they had been offering.

Only one at a rock bottom price indeed. Pah! They have my number, now I'm just hoping that they call me.

House Hunting (Again)

The other day we went to view a house - almost a year to the day since we agreed to buy our current home. But we're not looking to move. For years we have been talking about investing in property (blame Sarah Beeny) so this is nothing new, we tried to buy a place four years ago but missed out by just a few quid (the same house sold recently for over twice the original price, having been renovated and rented out).

The agents details for the latest house said it needed a "full scheme of modernisation". We came out saying it needed pulling down and rebuiling. In one room I felt like I was about to go through the floor and the walls didn't look much healthier. We've seen a few renovation jobs but that was in the worst state I've ever seen. And some poor old person had been living in it until relatively recently by the looks of it. I think for the moment we are going to stick to decorating the guest bedroom here and worry about my retirement fund later!
(Yes it is all about making money. With the wife being so much nearer to retirement than I am, I'm looking for an alternative income so that we can then enjoy retirement together).