The Year Round Nigel Slater discussion thread part 6

[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 on Mumsnet 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

N.B. The Christmas Chronicles thread proper will start in late October, ready for the book beginning on 1st November (seems a long way off, but will be here before we know it!)

@piscofrisco one in Bath one in Edinburgh! Handy. We live in Chester. When my younger sister was looking at universities my parents told her she could go anywhere she liked as long as it was between Surrey (home) and Edinburgh (where I was) but I am much more indulgent and honestly I don’t think they ever visited us both in one trip anyway.
Cranford is an excellent shout. I’m having surgery in a couple of weeks and was planning to watch Schitts Creek (lovely re-watch) and Rivals while I recover but will need some more suggestions too. Although mum and dad have just decided they are going to come and mind me a bit and I don’t think rivals will be their cup of tea so perhaps we head straight to Cranford instead 🤣
@frozendaisy I think chemistry in a quill is a great idea! I did chemistry myself and it was always more legible if I used my proper fountain pen instead of a leaky bic. Perhaps they can fool themselves it is alchemy thus more fun

@Celiathebanshee
Another easy to watch series is the Moonflower murder series with the amazing Lesley Manville. I think there are 2 series on iplayer.
If you loved Little House on the Prairie in the 70s as I did, Netflix has done a remake which I really enjoyed.

Wow I love that embroidery @Bimblesalong it really is something else. Your sewing and knitting is like witchcraft to me. ✨️

One or two of my dahlias have been stunning. I have had around 20 blooms on one of them and it just keeps giving. The rest have all been meh. I am only buying two varieties next year.

Also loving the 'more Nigel than Nigel' lol @frozendaisy

DD plans to go to uni in our city as moving away is too scary a thought (it's just really not an option) so I am more than happy with that as I can't do 10 hour journeys in the car. Ours is a Russell Group uni so it's not like she will be slumming it or settling for second best (Assuming we get that far of course!)

I need to get my ass into gear and actually get something done today. I've been having a leisurely breakfast at the Premier Inn as it is closed to non residents from tomorrow, but I actually have a million things to do.

Our school has OFSTED in today and tomorrow. The head of year rang me last night to ask for my support. I told her that the parent questionnaire was already done and then DD jumped on the phone to tell her how amazing she is and made her cry (in a good way) DD took a good luck card in this morning for the Head saying she hoped he and his team get the recognition they so thoroughly deserve. Bless her.

Scarecrow Festival on Saturday at the next village to ours which is really beautiful. We love it, but it is busy and it is hard work. The older residents are total and utter snobs and very much speak to us like we are the poor relations / village idiots. DD is now getting to an age where she finds it hard to keep her gob shut... One of them rang me yeaterday and said "now listen dear, I want you to do a bee chat at the church next month" I explained that Dad was in poor health and it was just me and I was frazzled. She wouldn't listen and kept waffling about me getting 'one of my other staff' to do it or find her another willing beekeeper (nobody will, everyone is busy and most run a mile!). Quite frankly my patience has now worn out with doing free events for folk who aren't always that grateful.

Right. Candles.

I'll not type out what the full response that came to mind was @RainbowZebraWarrior but let's just say it started with "tell her to...." 😉

Incredible work @Bimblesalong, that's beautiful.

Had a day of training and full team meetings at work, which has actually been mostly quite fun. Popped out for a walk round the park and found my first conker of the year (obviously it had to come home in my pocket).

Had a sort of Ploughman's for tea and then a long bath. Feeling quite cosy!

All the talk of where to go for uni made me smile. Many years ago, when making my choice of location,my main aim was to find somewhere my mother didn't know anybody. She was the kind of person who seemed to know everyone so it was quite tricky. I just knew if I went somewhere she knew someone she would send them round to check I was ok and would make me go to tea with them or something. I quite fancied Edinburgh until it emerged that she knew a former Catholic nun living there. Put me right off! Eventually I settled on Lancaster. I had been there about a fortnight when there was a knock on my bedroom door in halls. It was one of the cleaners who said "now you don't know me, but I know your mum ...."

That woman was plain rude @RainbowZebraWarrior . I am happy to tell her to do one on your behalf!

I thought I'd show you my latest paintings. It's of Church Steps in Minehead and I'm rather proud of it!

can none of your ‘staff’ be spared @rainbowzebrawarrior?😂 People like that are so odd sometimes…. No is a complete sentence, if a hard one to use in these circumstances. (If it were me I would probably end up going, doing the talk and dressing like a bee all day or some such)
That’s very lovely of your DD.

Your painting is very good @confusedmeanderings.Well done you! That’s very funny re the cleaner. We (secretly) wanted DD2 to go to Bristol because some of our best friends live there. We envisaged going to see her and seeing them at the same time every 6 weeks or so and what a great time we would have. In reality I made it to Bristol twice (dd came home more often) and both times they were away with work so that plan was thwarted. We are hopefully seeing them in early October- In London 😂.

Im going to try and go to work today-I can’t have any more time off , though tbh I think I could probably do another day in bed to try and really shake this bloody thing. It’s chucking it down with rain which is great, but not what I needed exactly. Not sure who I’ve got today but I’m hoping it’s a sedate co farmer and not a very lively one.

Have a nice Thursday

Thank you for confirming what I probably already knew. This woman is a nightmare. I think she thinks we are part of a large cooperative of beekeepers. Or that we are a massive 'company' Hehe. Yes, all my staff eh? I was going to relent and do it (I am too stupid for my own good sometimes) but DD and Dad - and actually particularly my Mum - would kill me! Very very achy and tired atm.

DD was given 5 house points for kindness yesterday from the deputy head (who also confirmed she has also made her cry) The head was seen clutching the card all day and showing it to everyone yesterday, and today DD is to sit with the Inspector to tell him her complete turnaround story. Hopefully she will play a blinder!

Bless you @piscofrisco take it easy my love. It isnt raining here yet, but it's very very dark and cold!

I shall be hurrying back from the school run to continue candle making in my warm kitchen. No beach for the next couple of days. I did find somw nice stuff yesterday including a vulcanite bottle stopper in a rock pool. Always interesting finding bottle stoppers and thinking about their past lives.

Amazing painting @Confusedmeanderings you are very talented. That's also a brilliant story hehe.

Ooh a ploughman's @martha79 what a good idea. I just bought some cornish cruncher from M&S, I have home grown tomatoes still and home made chutney. As well as my favourite honey and spelt crackers.

And @Comtesse my lovely. I haven't forgotten about you. Your parcel is being posted today. Sorry it's taken so long

Lovely painting @Confusedmeanderings!

Definitely tell that woman where to go @RainbowZebraWarrior. She'll be a nightmare forever if you don't! And your DD is lovely, the card was very thoughtful. Hope she makes the inspectors cry nice tears.

Last to days before my holiday. My head is full of new things and my CEO is a dinosaur (he PRINTS emails...) but I think I will enjoy the job.

The sunrise this morning was gorgeous. I was at the gym at 6am and the unit it's in has a big roller door so our coach raised the door so we could all workout and watch the sunrise. So lovely and I increased my deadlift weight which was quite gratifying.

Hello again @RainbowZebraWarrior it's meeeeee 🇩🇰😁 have missed you all and this lovely thread but I just have to be so careful on MN (was only on here for 5 minutes yesterday and still ended up in AIBU fighting full on rage, heh). Hoping I can manage to be disciplined and STAY ON THE CHRISTMAS TOPIC ONLY!!

Sending positivity and good vibes to everyone who needs it. 💐

Helllllooooo! I had a feeling you would find your way over here today after the Poncetastic thread yesterday. Definitely stay away from AIBU. Tis not good for the blood pressure.

Lovely to have you here as always.

Lovely picture, @Confusedmeanderings.

I thought I'd see much more of my Bristol aunts and cousins when dd2 went there - plus I thought, given the dodgy accommodation situation there, aunts with spare rooms might well save the day. In the event though there was no problem with finding accommodation and I saw no more of the relatives than I ever did. It was great that the city was near enough for day tripping.

We have no 'local' uni unfortunately, which is why dd1 has ended up doing OU - but we are tentatively exploring a postgraduate year somewhere in day tripping distance. Signing up for open days...it would mean a lot to her to try her hand at semi independent living, but nerveracking as there's no guarantee it would work out.

Was going to be VVNigel and make an apple pie with the apples from green volunteering at weekend, can you just feel the NigelOozing

Got distracted - now sorting out sheds whilst it’s dry and warm hoping to get garden more or less winter wrapped where need be by end of next week!

Wow! That's ahead of the curve! We started taking the padding pool down yesterday (as well as starting to winter-proof the bees - haven't either put in the insulation nor strapped them down to survive high winds. Not sure when I'll do the former and the latter feels like an end of October job to me). I'm going to reseed (what is left of the lawn) this weekend, and hopefully order bare root plants if any of my clients pay me.

You are so right about that woman.

Hehe. That reminds me of my old Director who used to get his PA to print all his emails. Mind, this was 20 years ago and we thought it was really old fashioned back then.

I got as much done as possible this morning as I was on standby for the school. Apparently the Inspector told the head he didn't need to meet any parents as he has enough comments feom the parent questionnaires. The head said "Get Rainbow in here regardless" Haha! So I have just been in to sit with the lead Inspector and tell our success story.

@RainbowZebraWarrioryour DD is ace and I’d love to work her Headteacher they sound so inspiring and great.

interesting day here. Got to leave home late and have a much needed lie in as I’ve had a week of really intense dreams and not waking well
rested. The reason for the lie in was because I had to get maggots for a practical and the shop didn’t open till later but was pointless going to work first.

this evening was supposed to dog agaility but it was postponed later which make everything run later this evening. And it’s spitting and standing in a wet field is not filling me with joy.

I had a boss who also printed everything. Including web pages & emails. “Just in case the internet went down” and we needed something really random

What a wonderful thing for your dd to do @RainbowZebraWarrior and they deserve the praise. Totally agree with all re the rude woman.

another back at choir here. Belshazzar’s Feast of all things. not the greatest thing to sightread!

I reread the thread and by the time I reach the text box, I’ve forgotten the detail of everything I want to say to people. So, I’m not missing out on cheering or commiserating, I just can’t remember when it comes to writing it down!

I wish I could hold a tune. I would Imagine being in a choir is very joyful.
It ended up being a lovely day at work yesterday, warm sun and a light breeze. Unfortunately I felt like the walking dead by 11am. Back again today but I’m just knackered. Post viral fatigue I suppose. Feeling very anxious, fed up and low. Which I assume is also post viral fatigue because it’s not like me at all.

anyway will shake myself and get myself to work. Things could be a lot worse of course, especially when you consider the date. 25 years ago I was working in a nursing home and could see the horror unfolding on the ever on TV in the corner. I think of the families that have lost people and how it must have altered the course of their lives so irrevocably. I wish the world had moved on more than it has in terms of war and just the way people hate each other. I suppose that’s why we must continue to try and find the beauty in small things, as we do here.

I hope you all have lovely days.

Morning all and happy friday.

You do sound low @piscofrisco and probably still actually ill as you only had a couple of days rest so there's not been much time to actually shift the virus never mind any post viral fatigue. Bless you. I hope yoi aren't up to your eyeballs in anything this weekend.

Yes, I also remember 25 years ago like it was yesterday. To date, I do not think I have ever witnessed anything like that horror. Thank God. Thinking of all the poor people who were affected that day.

Just realised that I have not ordered paper carrier bags for our Scarecrow Festival tomorrow. Thank goodness for same day delivery on Amazon.

Take care and go safely all.

Hello hello, happy Friday. Beautiful sunny morning here. I did have the heating on briefly yesterday though - I didn't help that I had something like 8 hours on Zoom/ Teams and barely moved all day. Lots of houseworky bits to do today but I will also try to get out for some fresh air.

Take it as gently as you can @piscofrisco - post viral fatigue is there to tell you to slow down!

That's quite a start to term at choir @Bimblesalong. I'm missing singing but have said I'm definitely not going back to any of my choirs any time soon (just left the WhatsApp groups which was a bit sad but they were making me feel left out). I've finished the 'Breathe' course with ENO and am now doing their weekly drop-in sessions, which are a nice mix of breathing exercises and singing lullabies - it's really not the same as in-person though.

Good luck with the festival tomorrow @RainbowZebraWarrior. It sounds like your school has done an excellent job in telling its story, I hope the inspectors appreciate it.

In an old job, I once had to go through the old storage room and shred lots of ancient paperwork. They had a policy of printing every email, then printing it again every time there was a reply, and filing all of these print-outs...

25 years ago I was on my first ever beach holiday in Gran Canaria. We'd been on the beach and wandered up to get a drink - all the beachside bars were silent with everyone just staring at the TVs and it took us ages to work out what was going on. Our apartment had a coin-operated TV and we kept feeding all our change into it to find out what was happening, whilst frantically texting to find out where friends were who'd been in the USA that summer. I'm with you @piscofrisco - we repeatedly see the result of hate and yet it continues. But yes, so do the small beauties in the world.

Thanks @martha79 The Head came to see DD and I this morning to thank us for our input. He said he felt they got what they deserved bearing in mind the incredibly hard work that's been put in. Obviously it won't be made public for a while, but I am assuming / hoping it has been rated Exceptional. 🤞

(The school was in special measures when he took it over in 2019. Last OFSTED in 2022 was Good)

Good news for the school @RainbowZebraWarrior

Take it easy @piscofrisco

Our DD was born two days after 9/11. One of our antenatal group lost a brother in one of the towers. Their son was born on the day and so they had obviously not been keeping up with news and family. When they phoned parents to say that their son had arrived safely they were told that his uncle was uncontactable, presumably at work in one of the towers. Such a bittersweet day for them. DH at the time was working for a major pension provider as a unit pricing actuary and uis team worked into the night valuing and revaluing the company as the value of shares and other assets changed by the minute. I kept the newspapers from DD's birthdate but I have never given them to her.

I had just moved into our house and taken annual leave to settle in and decorate, and was painting the kitchen with the radio on, so was listening from the first breaking news story when we all still thought it was a tragic accident.

H was a plane flying to San Francisco
He landed in a very different airport atmosphere than when he took off. He was also sporting dark facial hair at the time and understandably got stopped through customs/security.

He then shaved for years before flying.

It changed the world.

First visit when we went to NY with teens was to Ground Zero to pay respects and for them to get a feeling that you can’t really understand NY/America without at least acknowledging 9/11.
The footprints of the towers are not that big.

Each name has a small hole in which a white rose is placed on their birthday, each morning this happens, you can see scattered roses birthdays people never reached.