Christmas Cake

I woke up about 5 o’clock this morning with a sore neck. I couldn’t think why though – what had I been doing? Then I remembered. I’d made Christmas cake yesterday.

Because of my advancing dotage, I could not remember the last time I’d baked a Christmas cake (I used to make them all the time). Furthermore, I’d forgotten that I had a recipe for a perfectly straightforward and acceptable fruit cake – so easy, as it only has four ingredients (see my other blog).

Nevertheless, I set about searching for an easy recipe and came up with this from the BBC: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/you-it-christmas-cake

You’ll see that Step 3 suggests that the butter, sugar and vanilla are ‘beaten’ until light and fluffy. Well, I’m too old for all that beating malarkey so I got my trusty (rusty in parts) Kenwood Major (Model #A907D) down out of the attic, so it could do all the hard work. I knew it was well used when I took possession of in in the late 80’s, but according to the Kenwood site, it could have been built in the late 70’s. So, I let it acclimatise overnight before starting work on the cake.

Everything weighed out and ready (butter softened as required), I set about beating the sugar and butter in the ‘Major’. I then left the room to pick up some mail and when I returned the kitchen was full of smoke and there was a ‘Major’ meltdown. It was unplugged as quickly as it could be (… the precious butter-sugar-vanilla mix rescued) and thrown out the back door as rapidly as possible. Luckily the extractor fan did a brilliant job of clearing the smoke and it wasn’t long therefore, before I was faced with the prospect of ‘beating’ the sugar and butter ‘until light and fluffy’.

That’s hard work I’ll tell you! 

But two paracetamols and another couple of hours sleep made it all worthwhile. I can’t wait for my first slice of cake, with a nice piece of cheese and (possibly) a brandy.

Alison – eulogy.

Sharon and I, like many other friends and colleagues, were devastated to hear of Alison Lone’s death last week.

Another dear friend has passed on. And one so young too.

Alison and I first met and became colleagues when I joined NIACE’s e-Guides team (one of several ICT/e-learning-trainers who came along to represent work-based learning and to join the existing, successful, adult learning team) many years ago. We were both already established in different parts the then nascent e-Learning world.

We soon became fast friends and worked together on a number of projects both private and national. Alison had a wonderful sense of humour and every job we did together was a delight.

Over the years we travelled to India together on several occasions (representing City and Guilds) and had a great time there, both working with the wonderful trainees and when time allowed, with exploring the huge city of Bangalore.

And laughing – lots of laughing.

She always talked fondly of the people we met there and would have gone back like a shot, knowing that she would be welcomed with open arms.

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Crossing the road over there in India can be so dangerous that Alison and I once attached ourselves to two old ladies who were themselves crossing a very busy road. Without drawing breath or looking around, these two old dears simply stepped into the stream of traffic (still chatting to each other) and we just jumped in behind them, laughing all the time. The traffic simply gave way and drove around the obstruction we were causing.

There are SO MANY stories from our three visits to India together. Too many for here. Maybe over a drink some time? With friends that knew her? With other friends who accompanied her to India too?

Alison and her partner Andy also visited our apartment in Spain several times, usually to celebrate Andy’s birthday in December, and they enjoyed the area so much that they eventually bought our apartment, when we decided to move to a slightly bigger one. The last time I saw Alison was there, in their apartment in Spain, earlier this year.

We spoke on the phone a couple of weeks ago and agreed that there were some inadequacies in the way her illness was being dealt with but it’s not for me to detail the shortcomings of the NHS around Stourbridge. Yet someone should!

Last week, Alison had gone into hospital on Monday, after an eleven hour wait for an ambulance, and she then steadily declined over the week.

She will be missed by all who knew her.

“Such a lovely human being and can never forget our days with you two during our training” … “Never once was she strict or stern with us during our training but still always made us all perform with ease at the end. She will be missed by us all.”

Swarnambigai Mohan

“Om Shanthi”

Sreelatha

“May God give strength to her family to overcome this loss!”

Sarala

“May the soul rest in peace.”

Kavya

“Very sad news, we missed a great person. May her soul rest in peace”

Madhu

Covid-19 (’22)

Well, I have it. Now. (updated Day #4 – WE have it now)

It’s well over two years now since our ‘Dick’ of a Prime Minister said that

• A) “everyone should stop non-essential contact and travel” and later
• B) that the UK can “turn the tide of coronavirus in 12 weeks” (via this link). FFS!

During the first eight months Covid-19 unofficially claimed my dad (link) and ‘officially’ claimed my mum (link).

The UK Government eventually took two months from when the World Health Organisation declared a ‘Public Health Emergency of International Concern’ to lock the country down.

During those two years, the Government’s political strategist Dominic Cummings broke the law by driving to Durham and then to Barnard Castle, to test his eyesight!  The staff and residents of Number 10 Downing Street held a variety of parties during 2020 and 2021, while the rest of us were ‘locked-down’ and restricted from seeing the rest of our families.

• https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59952395
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59577129

None of that seems to have affected the government, except for several by-election losses that they can afford (They currently have a working majority of 73 seats)

Final restrictions were lifted in March 2022. Too early in my mind, but hey ho!
(In Spain, they still have to wear masks on public transport!)

So anyway, I have finally succumbed to whatever the current variety of Covid is. (Link)

It started a tickly cough, a headache and a runny nose when I woke yesterday (a summer cold?). However, because it was Chester’s 4^th Birthday and they were coming around for lunch, I took a Covid test as a precaution. Well, I am led to believe that the NHS-provided antigen tests are not fool-proof and that they have often given false-negative results, but, their record for positive tests is exemplary. Mine didn’t take long to jump up to two bars and stay there.

I have the plague.

As the day went by I became very tired and my joints began to ache, so I took myself off to bed and dosed myself with paracetamol and ibuprofen. I slept fairly well on Sunday night but the headache and cough had become worse by morning. The cough continues to get worse as the day goes by. I’m still tired, but my joints have stopped hurting (which could be because I’m still in bed, or thanks to the ibuprofen). Nevertheless, had I not had the test I would have just put these two days (so far) down to serious man-flu.

Hopefully, this will quickly pass quickly and I will luckily have had the milder version, rather than the early 2020 version which no one was prepared for and which many, sadly, died from.

Cartoon Credit: https://www.boredpanda.com/comics-coronavirus-tips-jubes-comic-blog-julie-liu/
Screenshot image: via The Poke.
Man Flu image credit: https://www.pinterest.com.au/quinto2016/_saved/
Toon clips – link on image.

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Addendum

Well, day 3 wasn’t pleasant and it certainly wasn’t man-flu. It was also the day that Sharon tested positive and gradually went downhill as the day went by.

I had a thumping headache all day and my ribs became quite sore with all of the deep chest coughing I was doing. I still felt tired, so I tried staying in bed but the bang, bang, bang inside my head was far from relaxing. I eventually got up after lunch (I still have an appetite) and as the weather looked good, I spent the afternoon mowing the lawn and trimming the hedge. Whilst the various pains were there, they faded into the background. The headache seemed to recede as we watched T.V. but came back big-time as we went to bed.

Day 4 has started with the same bang, bang, bang inside my head, but the coughing doesn’t seem to be as deeply seated – it’s still painful but not as much as yesterday. Hopefully the corner has been turned for me. Sharon, on the other hand is more poorly than yesterday. She doesn’t have the same headache, or depth of cough, but she’s tired and listless.

Addendum #2

Sharon’s illness didn’t last as long as mine and she tested negative some days before me. My own negative test was on the tenth day. Luckily, as we had planned to travel to Wales on the Wednesday.

Airbnb’s

We had been fairly lucky with Airbnb’s until our return from Savannah. Until then we had fairly reasonable accommodations. E.g. See my holiday post – Columbia.

The place we stayed in on Oliver Street, Chattanooga, was ok. It slept the four of us in two en-suite rooms and the only real complaint was that one of those rooms was downstairs and I think, a little dark.

The main accommodation Sharon and I shared on Jefferson Avenue, Knoxville was ok. We did mention the lack of lightness in the kitchen to the owners, but apparently there was a dimmer switch we hadn’t seen. I think that this was probably one of the better looked after Airbnb’s.

The flat we shared in Savannah was large and airy, with several free streaming services available for use on the large wall mounted T.V. Our bedroom was tight, but comfortable whereas Gail and Derrick’s room was large and airy – but had a weird bath/shower set-up. Therefore, we all used the family shower, which let the flat down as this needed some updating. No outside pics, sorry.

Greenville saw us in a big industrially designed apartment with no outside view. It had windows that allowed daylight in, but these were at the top of the wall, just under the ceiling and at a height of about 15’00”. Sitting in the well-designed sitting room was like sitting over the wing of a Jumbo Jet, or in the engine room of an ocean liner – not only was the sound of the A/C (or something) loud, but it shook the building too. It made me feel seasick and I had to move over to the dining table (in a part of the room that didn’t feel to be shaking). The beds and showers were fine (very good in fact) and the kitchen was probably ok, but we had no time to use it. Nevertheless, staying more than one night would have been difficult.

The final Airbnb of our trip to America was a big disappointment.

Also on Jefferson Avenue, it had looked to be one of the best on the website but the minute we entered the grounds, we could tell that all was not well. The property may well have been a sort-of ‘grannie flat’ at one time, as it is built onto a separate property which actually faces the main road. The gutters are filled with weeds and small trees, and the exterior is in need of good coat of paint.

Our rooms were behind and under that property. We had understood that the owners lived in that property, but they didn’t, it was rented from them. We knew that we would not be able to use the laundry (which was a real disadvantage at this stage of our trip), but thought that that was because it was shared with the property above. It was not, it was a room inside our own accommodation and it simply held the washed and dried bedding from one guest to another (the dryer was on when we arrived @ 5:00pm and we eventually had to turn it off to stop it beeping. It was never emptied). Perhaps the cleaners simply forgot?

The chairs in the sitting room were threadbare and dirty. Sharon refused to sit on them.

The beds had old, but seemingly clean bedding on them. One bed was far too soft and the other was far too hard. Fair enough, people have different likes, but I thought the soft bed would be best as it was bigger than the other. However, once Sharon got in by my side, it squeaked and creaked like it needed oiling (who oils a bed?), so she slept each of the four nights on the hard bed, but put the quilt under her, rather than over.

The bathroom was adequate and mostly clean, but the extractor fan was dangerously dirty.

I guess that the owners either don’t care, as long as the money keeps coming in (we paid $637 for those 4 nights) or, they simply have very low standards. A really poor show.

Disgraceful

I’ve waiting to see what the police finally decided to do about ‘Partygate’ before commenting.

Johnson and Sunak fined for breaching Covid-19 rules.

Guardian pic: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/apr/12/boris-johnson-and-rishi-sunak-fined-for-breaking-covid-lockdown-laws

However, now that we know (what I hope is …) the worst, I can unreservedly say that I am appalled at the actions of our leaders. During Covid, I, like many thousands of others were prevented from seeing our loved ones due to the lawful restrictions imposed. I missed my mother’s last eight months on this earth and my dad’s final four months as he became more mentally incapacitated by Covid and old age.

None of us could legally meet friends or relatives unless they were in the same bubble. There was a little stretching of those rules during each summer, but parties such as those that took place in various government establishments were a ‘no-no’.

Disgraceful.

Ireland – Dublin

I HAVE PUBLISHED THIS TO THE WRONG ADDRESS. 
SEE https://dsugdenholidays.wordpress.com/ FOR OTHER BLOGS IN THIS SERIES

We left the cottage about 10:00am on Tuesday morning. Sharon and I were dropped off at the railway station, from where we would travel, by train to Dublin. The others would continue on by car and meet us there.  We’d decided to do it this way as the journey would be much more comfortable for all concerned.

Our tickets were €19.99 each – which I thought was a bargain for a journey took around two and a half hours. The weather was atrocious. Nevertheless, the rain had stopped when we arrived and we easily found the tram stop outside Dublin Hueston station and eventually made our way, via said tram, and short walk, to our hotel on O’Connell Street. We met the others there and then set off walking along the riverside to The Carlton Hotel on Macken Street, where Gail and Jaime were to have their antigen tests prior to travelling back to the USA. Randox, with whom they had their bookings had a facility there. However, having eventually found the hotel, there was a sign outside saying that Randox had moved to the Maldron Hotel on Pearse Street, which meant more walking, and now it was raining again.

Once all of that was finished we stopped in Sapori di Pizza, a small café on Pearse Street for a light (but very delicious) snack, prior to splitting up and continuing our late afternoon stroll. Sharon, Jaime and I walked on to Temple Bar in what was now pretty annoying rain and after stopping in a few places to shelter, we headed back over the river via the Ha’penny Bridge. Dodging in an out of shops, we eventually made it to Madigans, the pub next door to our hotel. Despite warnings that drinks in Dublin would be very expensive, we paid less than €10 for 1pt. Guinness, 1pt Island’s Edge and ½ local lager, which seems ok (£8.50 ish).

The others joined us for another round before walking around the corner to Brannigan’s for a ‘snack’. The snacks were not small, but we shared. Once we got back to the hotel Jaime, Derrick and I went to the bar for a final drink and then we were all early to bed as we had to be up early for our various flights. And that was that – a lovely first visit to Ireland.

Reasons to be cheerful (not)

The fast transmissibility of the Omicron variant of Corona Virus has started to make life more and more uncertain for populations all over Europe. Governments across the continent have responded heavily to the threat of its quicker spread. Although first signs are that it is a milder form, it passes from host to host much more quickly than previous strains and would now appear to have replaced the Delta Variant as the most dominant.

Because of that uncertainty, our friends have returned to the UK from Spain a little early, not wishing to be caught out by whatever reaction the Spanish Government make over the coming days and weeks. The local Andalusian Junta have already decreed that anyone wanting to ‘enter’ any form of hospitality venue, has to show their Covid pass. For us, this has meant showing our NHS App, which details our state of vaccination.

Just today, the Spanish Government have reintroduced the necessity of wearing a facemask at all times when out of the home. The exceptions to this are if you are out in the countryside or on the beach, provided that a 1.5 metre distance can be kept from others.

We feel (rightly or wrongly) that one possible next move will be to forbid movement between Provinces (e.g. we would be prevented from leaving Malaga Province), but maybe not until after Three-Kings which is celebrated on the evening of 5^th January every year. A step up from that would be for the Province (Andalucia) to prevent movement between its Municipalities (e.g. we would not be able to leave Fuengirola to go to Mijas or Benalmádena). But, that would be going right back to the early days when deaths were increasing and hospitals were overflowing. Hopefully, that is not going to be the case just now.

The practical effect of all these changes is that airlines may cancel flights that they have currently listed, thereby making it harder for anyone to fly (home in our case). We can only wait and see, and hope that we can still complete everything we came here for.

Flims

It’s been quite a while since Sharon and I visited the cinema. I think that the last great film we saw there was Sceptre, featuring Daniel Craig in his 4th appearance as James Bond. We loved the opening scenes of ‘Day of the Dead’ in Mexico City, they really set up the film.

We also enjoyed the opening (or very early) scenes from Les Miserables …. and ….

…. Pirates of the Caribbean.

Nevertheless, we have been to the cinema twice this week. Our first visit, on Monday was to see the newly released film version of Dune, Frank Herbert’s classic 60’s Sci-Fi tome. I’d devoured the book (more than once) way back in the 70’s/80’s but had been disappointed with the only other film version of the book – released in 1984. Featuring Sting, I found David Lynch’s Dune massively underwhelming.

However, close attention to Facebook posts by Ben (and the comments that followed) made me interested in seeing this new version. Sharon was up for it too, so off we popped. In preparation (knowing that the film only covered the first two parts of the first book), I’d quickly re-read parts one and two of the book and have since completed part three. It all makes much more sense now – all these years on. Cracking film, we can’t wait for part two.

Which is not what we felt about the James Bond film No Time To Die, which was dire. Dire might be a little strong but it had none of the pazzazz of Spectre or Skyfall, and a very weak storyline. AND, whereas for Dune, we had the cinema (almost) to ourselves, we had to suffer at least another dozen people in the auditorium with us! Tschhh!!! – Meercat Movie goers.

Title is meant to say flims.

Daylight Saving

I had my Coronavirus (Covid-19) ‘booster’ jab yesterday.

Mainly because I understand that whilst the science behind it is not yet perfect, the vaccine will hopefully help to protect me from contracting a serious form of this virus. After all, I have had a ‘flu-jab’ every year, without a problem.

Along with wearing my mask in crowded places, shops and similar public spaces and regularly sanitising my hands – I feel that I am doing my best for me, for my family and for the public at large.

But at what cost!  My arm hurt so much last night that I felt at times like gnawing it off.

This morning it is still sore, but has been helped by the extra (luxurious) hour in bed that we are allowed every October when the mornings brighten up a little (but for only a short while).

Why, in this day and age do we still move our clocks backwards and forwards??? The Scots must hate it.

https://www.westerntelegraph.co.uk/news/19684128.clocks-go-back-2021-change-clocks-uk/

https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/weather/2021/02/24/why-daylight-saving-time-

Safe Keeping

When my dad started ‘clearing out’ after my mum had gone into a care home, I managed to rescue the safe we had bought for him some years ago. He never used it and I thought that I might.

However, the timing was not quite right as we very soon moved (or had moved) into an apartment, where there really was no room for it. It couldn’t be fastened down anywhere anyhow as we had underfloor heating. So, I put it in our newly built hut.

It wasn’t fastened down in the hut either and took up space, so I decided to put some of my earlier year’s accounts in it – rather than anything that I might seriously miss if the door wouldn’t open one day. I checked that the door-code worked fairly regularly for a while but then, over a couple of winters – I didn’t – and the batteries failed. To open the door now, I needed to find the ‘emergency’ key.

When dad eventually went into the care home himself, we had cleared out his house and had found more keys than any man should own. We had found use for those we could and threw the rest away. None of them appeared to be one that might open a safe. So, for the last year at least I have wondered just ‘how’ I will open the safe and retrieve my old account records.

Well finally today, I have managed that.

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I took a hammer and chisel to the back seam (well done Yale – that’ll sort us safe crackers) and peeled back the rear of the safe. How good did I feel!!!

Guess where the key was ……