Magazine style - all inclusive

[alp]

Christmas is lovely until you have to finish the big turkey or in my case, ducks! We had had 2 ducks in the past 4 days. So yesterday was a left over day! How dreary it felt. It rained from the get go yesterday, but stopped about 11am. Was googling at cars and I am still no wiser as newer cars are too dear and private sellers ask for quite a bit and some cars are really old.

Tomorrow, we will go round to do some test drive. Soaked nearly all my house plants and gave them a weak feed. Nothing done in the garden. Watched African Queen, again!

 

[Perki]

Well xmas is over and done with not that it makes much difference to me it just another day like the rest. Santa doesn't bring me gifts like he used to do

I have done a bit in the garden over the week its not rained as much up here as down south , planted out my wallflowers and some forget me nots , Also plonked in the Digitalis F Gigantea and I didn't chop any bulbs up

Quite a bit of post this morning seeds catalogues / greenhouses and my seeds I ordered on Monday I think have arrived , mostly bedding plants other annuals I will start sowing some seeds at the beginning of January , but first I need to clean out my little pots / trays I use for seedling. Going to order the more unusual seeds from Plant world seeds and I need to get my hands on some Petunia Red velour seeds possible from dobbies , I have saved last years plants so I may get some cutting off them.

 

[alp]

Thought you said you didn't want any presents, Perki .. Yes, we've got all your usual rainfall. Some of the photos are just terrifying - car submerged totally showing only the roof! I feel so sorry for people trapped in a flooded house with sewage floating around and furniture wet. Very, very sad!

Sunshine for a very short period of time and I repotted all my hoyas. I forgot they need orchid compost and so had to remove the bit I did earlier. Any way, Glad that they rooted so readily, but they have never once smiled at me .. no flowers! Tons of boring leaves, angry air roots staring at me!

Tomorrow, we'll need to look for a car. Getting dark already. Winter is just so miserable. Sat watching TV and kept feeling cold. I prefer my storage heater, pumping out so much warm air. Here, the thermostat at 21.5c and I was freezing. Working out in the garden has one major benefit : come in the living room and I feel warm. Friend's only way to keep his heating bill down.

I need to do some sowing, but I am not looking forward to have pots and trays everywhere. I spent nearly £5.40 buying another pot of galanthus. Whilst out in the garden, saw 2 with buds on the ground. Very strange as I thought they were buried deep. Soon, I will be photographing snowdrops. Can't wait.

I think I'm going to order some dahlias from Peter N and replace some with some from Wilko. Tomorrow plants bargain hunting.. I'm already suffering from serious withdrawal symptom.

 

[Perki]

I've stopped buying dahlias from PNyssen I didn't think they were upto scratch but if you want a certain one its hard to avoid PN unless I just got a bad bunch. I am after one called Waltzing Matilda. I like buying them in person I'll take them all of the variety of the rack and pick the largest tuber . The shortest day has passed so hopefully in a few weeks time we might notice a difference .

 

[alp]

I want this one

Some peachy pompon and perhaps spider woman again. I will join the Chelmsford Dahlia society to see if can find anything exciting. Teesbrooke Audry is on my radar, again!

I do the same in Wilko. Ask my son to hold on to some potential bigger tubers and then ask for his opinion .. on which one is bigger. Very pleased that I count the number of buds in my snowdrops as there are now 7 to 8 buds. They are reducing the number of bulbs and some are not throwing up flowers. So I count and look for white and bulging bits inside the leaves. Very pleased with this buy, but they had only 2 types. The others might be a bit late. 4pm and it's so dark.. I hope my Manhattan Island comes good. Bought it very late and I should have dug it up early. Normally, I don't bother, but this year has been so wet!

 

[alp]

Woke up very early. Had no idea that it was only 4am.

Looks look a neat day and a neat dry week to come. The weather is wreaking havoc in Australia .. practically like an oven over there with fires raging whilst we are being flooded and so is the continent. I live along a gentle rising gradient, so apart from garden being flooded every time it rains seriously, which is rare, I'm generally fine. 15c in Scotland! Amazing! Who would have thought!?

Will go to the allotment to hunt for some flowering plants and might share some photos here!

 

[alp]

It was a roller coaster day. Saw online a White Fiesta 1.25 66 or 16 reg with 17K mileage. Phoned ahead to see if it's available. It was. It was reduced from £8999 to £8000. I asked if there was any movement on that figure. It's a hell of a lot of money. The man said no. Within 5 minutes, another man phoned and said £7800 and asked me if I would like to read out my bank card for a deposit as it would go very soon. I said no, but would go there later.

Went to another dealership for a 3rd time and his asking price for a 2015 reg was £8600. He said he might make it £8000. He said he couldn't match the first white one I saw online.

Went to see the first white one and phoned in advance so as not to make a wasted journey. And yes! The car was still there. Took us 45 minutes plus to get there. A man came out with a test drive number plate and said, "The car was sold 2 minutes ago!" Well, my smiley face dropped. Then he said he was joking! A huge sign of relief as it was a long journey. He told me that the car would have 1 year warranty and another one from Ford as it is still under warranty. We had a test drive and I asked to see the service history book. 2016 5 miles, 2017 another service history and then later 2019 another stamp. That meant 2018 service history was not there. Son found out that the back windows were not electric! I asked you 2016 reg Ford cars with no electric windows?! I then realised that all these Ford Zetec were cheap and they just didn't have electric windows at the back. Son didn't like it and of course, I sent him to break the bad news. Son told me someone bought it for £8K over the phone. Well, the man might be joking again.

We went to a big dealership down south and I asked to see Fiesta 1.25 manual around £7.800 mark. The young girl pointed out to a £7300 price tag. 66 reg and 30k miles 5dr and is a maroon redI asked if she could do £7000. She said it would be difficult and then she came back with a printed form and told me that I could pay £5K for deposit and then 36 x £161.63 monthly instalments. I told her no. I'd rather just pay for £7k and go home with the car. Then the manager came along and said the instalments would enable us to enjoy any repairs, and something called GAP insurance. I refused to understand the malarkey. Then son googled the term which said it was always used by pushy salespersons ... It was a good google! LOL!

Any way, I added up that if I bought this gap insurance and benefit package, I would be effectively paying £3K more than £7K. This gap insurance would pay out the difference if the car was a write off (I wonder if this was inside the 3 years' window?? I never asked as I refused to buy this nonsense!) I explained to the girl that shops always encouraged customers to buy extended warranty as soon as they bought an electrical item. I would never do it as the item should have come with first year free warranty.2nd year, I might consider it. Any way, it's a used car and she said it came with a 3 months' warranty. We were on the point of leaving and the manager quickly came out and said he was not pressurising us to buy the package, but had to tell us just in case.... I asked if the girl would like a deposit so that the car wouldn't be sold until we could go back on Tuesday. We couldn't test drive the car as the door lock was having trouble. One door finally opened and we couldn't open anything else. The girl didn't understand how desperate I was for the car. Then on the way back, the manager phoned me and asked for £2, then a pause £350 for deposit. I told him that he initially said 2. In the end, £250 for deposit which was OK. I was fed up with looking at all these impossible figures and greedy hire and purchase plans. I now realise that a lot of people are running their lovely cars on loans .. Debts everywhere! If I paid £3K more, I effectively would pay for the gap insurance MYSELF! Also, with all these plans, there are always small prints which benefit the dealership .. parts not included ... all those tricks which require a lawyer to decipher the real BENEFITS! Call me cynical!

My allotment had to take a back seat! Might go there it today.

Enjoy a lovely dry day! Seems to be for the whole of UK! Marvellous!

 

[alp]

Googled what grey tits were .. Ooops! Not a bird in sight but tons of exposed heaving b ... whilst I meant this.. Long tail tits - birds!

 

[Zenj]

Morning all a nice dry pleasant day ,alp the joys of car hunting ,lost count of the different cars I have had over the years,some of them company cars ,the last one I bought which I have now is a Ford Focus diesel 53mpg I get,I have been very pleased with it a nice drive and fords have a good gearbox,it’s not too small and not big the other half does not like driving large cars.

 

[alp]

Your better half can drive a Focus! Good for her. I just can't drive any car. Too small and had to push the seat very near the steering wheel, by that time my visual field is limited! LOL! Son would not let me go near the car! I was so taken with Mazda 2 but it was very small and if there's anything wrong, it costs an arm and a leg! Difficult to find parts.

A very pleasant day indeed! Went to the allotment and saw quite a few people. Dug up some hellebores so that I can enjoy them. As it is, I have to go there to enjoy them. So pleased that the car hunting is more or less finished.

 

[alp]

Very mild today - 17.9c in the living room. Read that Alan T attacked people for buying out of season fruits and vegs and paved front garden while gobbling down 250g of blueberries which cost me 75p! Yummy and delicious. Quite right that people should not pave their front yards as when it rains heavily, small puddles are everywhere. Someone pointed out that some people's livelihood depends on us buying fruits. It's like being vegan is now trendy. I told my friends whose family are more or less all vegans that her children might suffer from lack of certain vitamins and minerals. That probably enraged her! She said they would be alright. But how about her grandchildren? I asked. In the papers, a lot of farmers keeping livestock are also worried about their livelihood because of veganism. For me, life is boring without meat. I was enjoying my sirloin yesterday. The creamy flavour was out of this world. Son said there was no greater pleasure than eating meats! LOL! Finally, we got some organic flour from Waitrose as parking was eased because of the festive season in this borough. We parked the car on the road and got our flour. Felt so much better having them and they make nice bread.

Nothing much in the allotment. Only thing looking good was the achillea. At home this double blotched hellebore is just about the only flower smiling, and even that was a sorry one.

Now you know why gcs are selling hellebores with captivating photos and when you see them flower the following year, the flowers look a bit funny!

Enjoy another lovely dry day!

 

[Perki]

I don't envy you alp looking for a new car , I remember when I got the bike years ago now you look and look and I still got a Lemon ( the bike ) I call it a lemon cause it were nothing but problems except for the past 3 years . Its frustrating when you bought something and you think you've been ripped off, I suppose its the same for most things really.

I not a big meat eater myself ( very fussy eater ) I could live without it but I do like a bacon butty or a sausauge roll from gregs now and again. I mad on dairy though love cheese etc.

Went out the other for one of my mates 30th birthdays even though its his birthday today , none seems to bother otherwise with it being so close to new year eve . I found a new found love pf Strawberry & lime cider it didn't even give me a hangover

Washed my pots today so I can start sowing some seeds when I am ready , I may have to adjust my seed sowing dates for some. Need to clean the plant labels next I normally just use a rubber but I can't be bothered do you think if I leave them in a tub of bleach it will clean them ? Its been quite a nice day today but it started raining about an hour ago .

 

[alp]

Had a bit of tummy upset and woke up to broad day light - er, no; but much brighter as I woke up at 10 to 8! A record!

Did someone say a heat blob for yesterday! Fog blob envelopped my whole area with very low visibility! Apart from that, it was glorious at this time of the year. I planted several hellebores. You remember my Fritillaria Persica? It was dug up by Mr Fox, I replanted it and put a bird cage over it. No, it was out and so I put in inside the middle of a big pot and it has tulips and irises for companion. I planted a hellebore root inside its place. 3 times, Mr Fox did the deed! even though I had a brick to stop it valiant effort. No, I have to replant it.

Didn't know you had had such a lot of hassle with your bike, Perki! Think it looks handsome and an objet de désire on the avatar! Our previous car was making a racket, deafening noise like a perpetual tinnitus before it broke down. Now we can't get the car today as it's not ready and today, we have to cure my withdrawal symptoms. Got to go to all sorts of places to see what is on offer. Last time we went, dahlia bulbs are out in full force in my fav gc. Need to return the courtesy car by Saturday!

I love Chedder and parmesan Reggio - I nearly wanted to help the waitress to grating the cheese in a certain restaurant, but their parmesan never tasted that strong. Love it with pizzas and spaghettis. The nutty flavour is driving me nut! LOL! Bacon: I'm a bit gross here as I love the crispy fat of bacon. Someone said dry cure is cleaner as it doesn't have the slimy grime, but they dry cured version doesn't have enough fat and is a bit DRY! Love bacon fat. As I get older, I do think vegs and fruits are really good for health. The benefits are manifested nearly instantly.

Most of my pots are washed. Labels are now everywhere all over the lawn. Every time I bought a new hellebore, I said to myself, now be careful with the label! Tie it to the plant. Tied it I did, but they are invariably errant testaments to their displaced owners, lying on the border, walkway .. some even had a broken green serrated tie attached to it. Cheap green serrated tie with a slot in hole! Never buy them as they break in no time! Wilko, can you hear me?

Cider, especially Apple ciders are said to be good for you. Cider vinegar is said to be very good as well.

I'm in 2 minds about this Ford. I so miss the roomy Nissan Note which helped us to ferry single bed mattress, horse manure, gate ..This one is soooo small! The horse manure is what irks me most. People would laugh thinking that horse manure is the last thing to want to put in their newish 2nd handed car! it is what it is - I love my horse manure! LOL! This can open a floodgate of tears!

 

[Zenj]

A very cold day heavy frost first thing but nice and bright later ,went for a walk along Blyth beach this afternoon loads of people out walking, Thornton’s e mailed me a sale on there chocolates was very tempted but didn’t give in ,but today they sent me an extra 25% off sale items they got me and I placed a order.

 

[alp]

Oh, dear! The temptation of a discount! I can't blame you. I also went out scavenging, but we were too late. The dream of having a big piece of lamb, duck all vanished. Heard that Sainsburys was reducing chocolate on 26th and of course, we never saw any of my fav. Just as well, tons of stuff over the Christmas was laced with sugar, so sweet that it's repulsive.

Went out plant bargain hunting. Got 4 x pyracanthas at £2. Some galanthus £5 each x 3. One Josephine £3 clematis and another one Group 3 like a blue bell. 1 dwarf conifer and 1 Juniper £1 each. The best is that tulips, daffs reduced to 50p.

Bought some promise - a diseased plant £5 reduced - bought it because it is yellow

It is now 3 plants. Whether they flower or not remains to be seen.