Year Round Nigel Slater discussion thread - Part 4

[RainbowZebraWarrior]

Hello all and welcome to this lovely space for our continued chats.

A bit of background for anyone not familiar with this topic:

The Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles readalong usually takes place here between November and February each year - the Christmas Chronicles being a book written by Nigel Slater full of winter recipes and anecdotes - It has been running for a few years, and the contributors collectively decided it would be nice to have it running all year round.

So here it is. It is a place to appreciate all things Nigel-esque. Think seasonal food and recipes, enjoyment of nature, gardening, appreciation of the weather, and sharing of news and small moments of joy. It's a calm, cosy space for gentle chat and merriment so pull up a chair, grab a drink and relax.

A very hearty welcome to friends new and old!

Did she resist Gazza's sweet talk? 😂

I had a nice breakfast in the garden and picked some salad for lunch, and herbs for tea. Back indoors now for a quiet day as I've got a day out planned tomorrow.

@petitpasta
We saw the same beast of a plant recently. It’s very prickly.
We also have no idea what it is!

+1 for well done for RZW’s daughter and for RZW for pushing to get her there. It won’t have been easy for either of you
and another +1 for wow Nigel’s garden is looking grand. I have to say mine is also looking quite lovely this week - a couple of days of warmth has woken everything up. All but one of the sodding dahlias has finally sprouted and the sweet peas have stopped lolling about looking pathetic. I think if I have a rummage we might even have the first broad beans ready to pick - my favourites.
I’m going to try to connect the new gas cylinder (Purchased last August but then not used) to the barbecue this afternoon, and also to set up the automatic irrigation timer, so wish me luck with those. I believe DH has some crucial football that must be watched 🤦‍♀️
PS I also want to know if she resisted Gazza’s charms

😁Yes, don't keep us hanging @RainbowZebraWarrior , tell us how your Gazza encounter played out!
You always have an anecdote or something to say about every topic, I feel you need to be on the stage for 'an evening with' type event or at the very least a podcast! We'd be your groupies!

Feeling a tiny bit smug as got up and did 8000 steps pretty much the minute I woke, have now done my weekly Pilates class and am now having a pot of tea in a farm shop type cafe whilst waiting for my nail appointment. All this means I won't feel guilty for plonking my bottom on chair in the garden for them rest of the afternoon.

Have a great weekend all.

Haha. Re: Gazza, we used to frequent the same nightclubs as teens. We were chatting one night and he said "have I ever told you my best chat up line?" so I took it that he wasn't actually using the line on me so to speak 🤔 But my answer would have been no anyway as he was always way too hyper for me - and I fancied his friend instead - Not the infamous Jimmy Five Bellies I hasten to add 😅

I need to catch up....

Mando and Grogu was Stupendous. Utterly Brilliant. Eveything you want from a Star Wars movie and more!! DD is now a convert. She's spent years humouring my obsession, but now she actually Gets It. 🌟 (I want a grogu emoji!)

There is a mando line in the film that I love sp much, I am going to record it and use it on a loop as my phone ringtone. DD seems to think this is fair enough. I expected eye rolls

Grogu merch and some new Mandalorian lego had also been purchased from Smyths on the way home.

Must hang washing out and strim the grass, then I will catch up properly.

LOLing at 'An Evening With' @marmiteandcheeseoncrumpetspls Yes, DD loves it when I regale her with tales from my interesting past! I'm pretty boring now, mind.

Seems like lots of nice sunshine is being enjoyed and farm shops / cafés visited. I still need to do the other lawn then go and prop up my sweet peas, beans and cosmos as they are still at the lolling around stage @Celiathebanshee Ice lollies have been made with watermelon, apple and orange juice and slices of lime!

That plant is mad @petitpasta . I've never seen anything like it!

@leporello Our village schools were utterly crqp for DD. I think everyone thought I had lost it when I went to tribunal to send her to the school she's in now. It's in an area renowned for it's poverty. My instinct and research paid off, though. She says that when she is successful in her field, she will shout it's praises from the rooftops. It's a real bloody shame that education is still so much of a lottery though.

@RipplePlease that's amazing what your DS1 has achieved. Thanks for sharing. DD is predicted highest grades, so I hope she gets what she needs as she wants to stay at home and go to Newcastle uni. Hopefully, she will start to gain some independence bit by bit in the coming years. I'll send you a PM with my phone number and your friend can contact me to arrange a nice chat sometime.

Here's some photos of the Main Men today. I always sneak a couple of pics to use as screensavers for my phone.

I know why mumnetters hate the sun. Matey next door has had every power tool imaginable out this morning. It’s a lot.

do any have any of you lovely lot know about Norwich? going there for a wedding next week and will have a day wanting to explore the city. All suggestions welcome. The Søstrene greene is already on the to do list.

I am jumping in after months of not reading this thread. My ipad was not playing ball and it was so slow to load Mumsnet I ended up dipping into threads on my phone without logging in.
It is lovely here today in Shropshire. I have done some weeding this morning . I was joined by a Great Tit singing its heart out. In fact I didnt recognise the song and had to use my bird identification app. Since then I have paused in my ironing after lunch to have a cup of tea and a couple of squares of 85% chocolate. I sense a relaxing weekend ahead.

Norwich is gorgeous! The Castle museum has recently reopened after a megabucks refit. I heard an episode of Front Row about it and it sounds like they have achieved quite a lot with the refit.

If you like art the Sainsbury centre at the University of East Anglia is wonderful- although it's out of the city.

@petitpastaamazing thank you! Will check out the castle museum for sure. It’s an evening wedding on Friday so going up on Thursday and so basically have most of Friday to leisurely entertain myself in Norwich.

I had a couple of days in Norwich for a conference once, a million years ago, and it has been in my wish list of places to go back to ever since. I was quite taken with it (but it’s a pain to get to from here so it is still on that list!)
My keen-on-birds DH tells me that the great tit makes the most different songs and sounds of any of our birds, @IlovetoKnitandRead - he says, if you hear a bird and don’t know what it is, probably great tit is a good guess

Lovely to hear from you @IlovetoKnitandRead

I have planted up some wigwams with sweet peas and sugar snap peas. The cosmos has also had to be tied into a wigwam affair as its so tall. I may have to chop it back a bit as it is still rather long and floppy. Should have bought longer canes!

Thinking back to the late 80s nightclub I used to frequent, it had telephones on all the tables and numbers to call for each table. So if you fancied the look of someone, you could ring them. Of course, you couldn't actually hear them because of the music so it was a useless gimmick. Also thinking back to Paul, he actually took out a 10p piece amd nodded over to the public telephone box in the corner. I used that phone to ring for a taxi every Saturday night. Madness really, as again you couldn't hear what was being said at the other end, so you just had to hope they had heard you shouting "taxi for Rainbow to my house ASAP please"

There was also the 'sister' nightclub which was a floating club (an old cruise ship on the Tyne) It had a revolbing dancefloor, which was fun to get on and off when you were tipsy!

Good times.

@Celiathebansheethat’s why I’ve never been wanted to but it’s pretty much the most awkward place to get to for us. So the wedding is the perfect excuse to visit

I think your plant is an echium @petitpasta.

First salad from the garden this year 🙌🙌 (I’m going to add avocado but I didn’t grow that so I took the picture first)

Another well done to your DD @RainbowZebraWarrior it's inspiring to hear how well she is doing.
Beautiful day here. Spent the morning sat in the garden catching up with a good friend while DD pottered about playing, then we went out for a lovely tapas lunch with my parents. Temperatures just right for me today but I think the rest of the weekend is going to be a scorcher so probably won't be doing much!
Half term for us next week and we have some nice playdates planned and a morning at forest school. Hopefully fit in a trip to our local outdoor pool as well - the first of the year 😊
Have a good weekend everyone x

Hello you lovely lot, I have just had a massive catch up on the thread. I posted a while back that I was behind because of my new job and it's a bit startling to realise that I'm already 2 months in. Loving it though.

Congratulations and celebrations for the various birthdays, achievements and good news, and gentle virtual hugs to anyone having a tough time.

I bought myself some peonies as a treat yesterday but no point sharing a picture yet as they currently just look like brussel sprouts.

That's a lovely salad @Celiathebanshee - I have broad bean envy! I had the first of my summer spinach in a salad today and the lettuce is definitely at its peak (if it survives the heat).

Watched this really sweet little film this evening - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15339456/ - and had a new sketchbook delivered so started a bit of doodling in that. A few years ago I did the 100 days creative challenge and drew every day, and was amazed by how much better I got (who knew, practice works? 😂). So thought I might have a go at a bit of drawing every day again.

Well the bee keeping course was amazing! It was at the bee keepers house which was an old converted barn. The garden was by far the most lovely I have ever been in, Mostly wildflowers and fruit trees with mown paths meandering throughout. I wish I could have taken a picture but I had my suit on! The man had 30 hives and we got to Inspect them and do some maintenance, then back to their lovely farm housey kitchen for tea and cake and very informative slides. It was so weird,but enjoyable, to be standing in a cloud of bees without fear of being stung. Such a great day. Very hot in the suit though.
Bees are miraculous aren’t they? So clever and dedicated to their jobs. Amazing creatures.

Came home, planted up all my bedding plants then went to town for a few drinks by the river and a pizza on the town meadows with the DSS’s , DH and DD2.
So all in all a gem of a day.

up early now for pilates and going to try and for a lake swim in Rutland water later as it’s set to be 30 degrees. I feel the parking might be murderous however.

You could have been Mrs Gazza at RZW! My WAG story is that I once went on a date with Alan Smith (the younger one) who played for Leeds. He was absolutely horrible actually and I was saddened but not surprised when he later got accused of attacking a man in Leeds town centre. Grim. I also snogged Carlton Palmer once. He kept saying ‘the walls have ears’ which I later learned was because he had a fiance. Also grim but a funnier story. After those two forays I decided WAG life was not for me 😂.

Lovely sunny days had by everyone yesterday it seems :)
And Happy Sundays to you all today

Morning all. Slightly chilly / misty here but sure it will burn off soon.

Good to hear from you @noodlezoodle and pleased the job is going well. Hope your Brussels sprouts burst forth very soon!

Ooh I like that 100 day idea @martha79 and I feel the need to do it. I've been lying in bed watching YouTube painting tutorials. I need to actually get off my butt and just do some painting. Starting the 100 days creative challenge on 1st June might be nice as it would take me all through summer.

Pleased you enjoyed the beekeeping @piscofrisco Bees are indeed magical! Gawd, I would not have wished to be Mrs Gazza. He's a bleeding nightmare! He hired one of the farm cottages a few years ago where my Dads bees are - thinking he would be anonymous - of course someone tipped the press off and The Sun camped out and took photos of him doing coke in the lounge. Daft git didn't even close the curtains! Carlton Palmer, eh? There's a blast from the past!

Right. Up, tea, market, NT garden, antique pine shop then famous local italian ice cream parlour.

Happy sunday to you all.

Well he was playing for Sheffield Wednesday at the time or I wouldn’t have bothered. He had very big…..ears.

Morning all,

@martha79the 100 days challenge sounds good, MIL gifted me a sketchbook last Christmas, it’s only a small one and I’ve got a few pages left to do. I am by no means an artist at all but I’ve been following some sketch tutorials lately and they have been okay for a complete novice! Maybe I should try it to see how I improve.

Currently sat outside, and I have been joined by all the DCats which is lovely. I’ve got a friend coming around later on, she is bringing me her sewing machine for me to have a play on.

So a slightly more chilled day than yesterday, me and DP cleared the garage - but he can’t get his car doors open with his car in. At least the garage is nice and tidy, we even managed a tip run and there are 2 bags in my boot destined for the charity shop.

We ended the night at a friend’s, they have a hot tub and we got pizza which was lovely.

Morning all

Glad you enjoyed the beekeeping @piscofrisco - the few times I did it are some of my happiest memories. They really are incredible.

🤣 at the footballer chat. No footballers here. There was an actor once who isn't particularly famous but did come to a very grizzly end in one of the films he was in, which was honestly well-deserved 🤣

Love the idea of a few of us painting/ drawing - I keep thinking of how much I did it as a kid, drawing was just a regular thing you did for fun, and it seems a shame to have stopped it.

Exciting news - I have been to the outdoor swimming pool and it was glorious! Mainly bobbed about in the shallow end, with a bit of walk/ swimming as far as I could go with my feet touching the bottom. Back to mine for a cuppa in the garden, and now friend has gone home and I'm heading for a nap.

Carlton Palmer, that’s a name from the past. He was in my Fantasy League team back in the 90s when we did it at work from The Sun, we were all obsessed with it and had newspaper clippings all over the lab. I saw Gazza in a pub in London once, then right at the end of his playing career when he was with Burnley, he was on the bench at one of our matches, he came out to warm up and the crowd went crazy.

I’ve been failing to keep up with the thread. glad you had a lovely birthday week @RainbowZebraWarrior thank you for the recommendation of The Christophers, we have two free Vue tickets needing using up this week so we are going to go and see that. A huge well done to DD (and you for being behind her, I’ve been through the whole EHCP / school nightmare thing too. Good news about your Dad too.

Very hot here, nice when you can sit out in the shade and do nothing but I had planned a lot of planting out at the allotment this weekend (we only had our last frost 10 days ago hard to believe now) and it is just too hot, there’s no shade up there at all, so I have been going up in the evenings and getting bitten by midgies, not ideal.