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Resolutions for January 2020

Think it, Plan it, Do it
Stonge
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Re: Resolutions for January 2020

#277530

Postby Stonge » January 15th, 2020, 9:04 am

Well I attempted to watch Vera. Don't think I'll bother again. Blink and you've missed it and have to sit through several minutes of awful adverts for all sorts of unfortunate and unnecessary garbage.

I think there's more time on adverts during the two hours than there is actual Vera.

I remember a time when you watched a half hour comedy. Half way through, came the adverts and you got up and put the kettle on, brewed a cup and then sat down to enjoy the other half of the programme with your tea and maybe a digestive or two.

Would be totally ridiculous making tea during ads these days, you'd be high on caffeine and spend most of your time in the loo, have to drink about thirty cups of tea during Vera.

Wasn't much wonderful north eastern scenery to be seen either, could have been filmed in some awful place like Luton.

Had another go at opening the demon jar of marmalade. Been trying for a fortnight now. Back in Londonshire I have some sort of implement for opening modern jars but not here. Tried running hot water over it. Didn't help. I'll try again tomorrow. Marmite again today I suppose.

Tortoise1000
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Re: Resolutions for January 2020

#277631

Postby Tortoise1000 » January 15th, 2020, 2:46 pm

Sorry you are having marmalade trouble, Stonge. I hope you get into it eventually.

Day 14:

I had been pining for marmalade too, and fresh vegetables, and the weather was so dismal and depressing! I had to do something to get out of the house. So I went to Lidl to buy broccoli, marmalade and yoghurt. I came out with 3 packs of broccoli since it was on offer, marmalade, 2 pots of Greek yoghurt since I could not decide whether to get full fat or low fat, oranges, peppers, mushrooms, spring onions and sugar snap peas. Total cost £8.70. It’s great not buying much food, it’s easy to carry.

The Jack Monroe salmon pasta was good, I had it 2 days running. I have tried that recipe with fresh salmon in the past, but it doesn’t work so well as with the potted salmon paste . Lunch on Monday was sardines on toast. Yesterday and today it was a frittata inspired by this recipe
https://thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes/ro ... inaigrette
The red onion, rosemary and olives were a good combination.

A dentist appointment in the afternoon was a massive blow to the budget, at £200 :-( Can’t be helped. It is dentists' bills that account for a lot of this tax year’s overspend. I wish he would stop telling me about his holidays.

Free entertainment in the evening, a meeting of my Book Club at my house. We rotate the meetings at each other’s houses, with the host providing tea, coffee and and soft drinks and two other members each time bringing the food. The club was founded as an offshoot of a Slimming World group, so the refreshments tend to be rather good; home made and healthy. And no trouble for the host, who only has to light the fire and put the kettle on. We arranged it like this so it didn’t turn into a hostess-stressing cookery competition or a Prosecco drinking club.

Day 15:

My turn to buy the cups of tea after this morning’s walk, £3.60. That brings the total for discretionary spending (mostly entertainment) to £88.55, plus £8.70 food, £200 dentist and £252.53 holiday.

The weather has brightened up, thank goodness. And not only a morale booster, but also free electricity from the solar panels on the roof. I have put a chicken carcass that was in the freezer on to simmer in water on the hob to make stock.

T

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Re: Resolutions for January 2020

#277642

Postby UncleIan » January 15th, 2020, 3:30 pm

Stonge wrote:Had another go at opening the demon jar of marmalade. Been trying for a fortnight now. Back in Londonshire I have some sort of implement for opening modern jars but not here. Tried running hot water over it. Didn't help. I'll try again tomorrow. Marmite again today I suppose.


Have you tried opening it while wearing rubber washing up gloves?

Tortoise1000
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Re: Resolutions for January 2020

#278045

Postby Tortoise1000 » January 17th, 2020, 10:09 am

Day 15 continued:

I made Fridge Soup. The ingredients were: the chicken stock, the bits of chicken I was able to pick off the carcass after boiling it, an onion, a vegetable stock cube and black pepper; from the fridge 2 sticks of celery, the outside of a leek and some roasted butternut squash and red onion left over from Sunday lunch; from the freezer some carrots and parsnip I blanched earlier this month to preserve them and leftovers of passata, baked beans and red kidney beans. I thickened it with a lot of red lentils and added a can of tomatoes, making more a kind of pottage or dahl. It was so good I had two bowls of it for dinner.

Day 16:

More indoor weather. Visited a friend who has recently moved house in the afternoon, and two friends dropped in to see me in the morning. Took the former a house-warning present which I had already bought her in December, so no additional costs incurred. If you are wondering how I am managing for milk to make people cups of tea, I have a large stock of UHT almond milk in the pantry and a small stock of dairy milk in the freezer. I have enough teabags to last the month, and several bags of ground coffee. The coffee pods for the Nespresso machine are running low.

My freezer is not large, just the lower half of a built in fridge/freezer. I have been feeling somewhat taken aback to realise how much food there is stuffed into it. A fortnight of feeding two people, not exactly on prison rations, and there is still loads left. I feel slightly ashamed of it, although I can't think what harm it is. Is there anything wrong in stocking up on food?

It had occurred to me that with Brexit at the end of the month, there might be some panic buying and empty shelves just when I have run out of food myself. Its surprising what paranoid rumours run around even though the 31st should be a non-event logistically . But as things are going I don’t think I shall have anywhere near run out.

What I shall have done by the end of the month, and is a source of satisfaction, is used up a lot of lurking oddments. The saving money is an intangible that isn’t really necessary. The clutter reduction is absolutely tangible and an improvement.

The oddment I used up today was a single chicken breast. I used it to make Lemon Chicken with Olives:
https://www.taste.com.au/recipes/lemon- ... c15c2f1b72

Since I was short of chicken I added a can of butterbeans that I had marinated in lemon juice all day. That was successful, they took up the lemon flavour well. It could be the basis for a vegan version of this recipe, if one added some depth of flavour from other things to replace the richness of chicken.

Having used up the chicken breast, one meal’s worth, I now have 2 portions of Lemon Chicken with Olives left over so I have twice as many meals in stock as yesterday. This what happened last time; I ended up with a freezer full of home-made ready meals that was enough for another month.

My friend’s new house is on the roof of Aldi. They have built a little street up there, open to the sky, with a row of houses either side with patio gardens . It’s charming. And how convenient, to be on top of a food shop! I took the opportunity to pop in and see what their potatoes were like and bought 2.5kg £1.19. I could have done without them, but I want to use up some corned beef by making corned beef hash.

Food shopping cumulative total £9.89.

T

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Re: Resolutions for January 2020

#278159

Postby Gostevie » January 17th, 2020, 3:53 pm

Tortoise1000 wrote:Hallo Gostevie! Good to see you too. Do you have an FI date in mind? Or a figure you aim to save before you retire?

T

Since my initial intended FIRE date of June 2018 when I turned 55 came and went, I no longer have a specific one in mind. My current job is a ‘permanent’ one but when I get bored with it – or they get bored with me – and I leave it’s quite possible that I’ll see out the rest of my career doing short-term or temporary contracts with breaks in-between. There is usually quite a lot of that sort of thing available in my line of work (trusts and foundations fundraising for charities) and it appeals psychologically as there is always light at the end of the tunnel rather than it just seeming like an endless slog, which it does at the moment for example.

Still, you know what they say: “If you want to make God laugh, make a plan” – which I admit is hardly in keeping with the YTST ethos. :o

Gostevie

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Re: Resolutions for January 2020

#278287

Postby unperplex » January 17th, 2020, 11:17 pm

Dear Stonge,

Sorry to hear you are having trouble getting into a marmalade jar. You could try levering the lid up slightly with a round ended knife (maybe a butter knife). You should hear a hiss as the vacuum is ‘broken’. The lid should then unscrew ok. Best of luck.

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Re: Resolutions for January 2020

#278292

Postby Gostevie » January 17th, 2020, 11:37 pm

unperplex wrote:Dear Stonge,

Sorry to hear you are having trouble getting into a marmalade jar. You could try levering the lid up slightly with a round ended knife (maybe a butter knife). You should hear a hiss as the vacuum is ‘broken’. The lid should then unscrew ok. Best of luck.


Or even ask a neighbour. Given the 'filth' on television that you refer to, never mind that on social media, there must be an adolescent lad or two in your village who has very strong and well exercised wrists who can help in such frustrating stiff marmalade jar opening situations when it needs an extra hard tug to release the contents. :lol:

feder1
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Re: Resolutions for January 2020

#278303

Postby feder1 » January 18th, 2020, 5:52 am

How to get a jam jar lid off:

Stab the lid with a pointed knife to release the vacuum, then unscrew.

Simples!

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Re: Resolutions for January 2020

#278304

Postby Itsallaguess » January 18th, 2020, 5:59 am

Tortoise1000 wrote:
Day 15 continued:

I made Fridge Soup. The ingredients were: the chicken stock, the bits of chicken I was able to pick off the carcass after boiling it, an onion, a vegetable stock cube and black pepper; from the fridge 2 sticks of celery, the outside of a leek and some roasted butternut squash and red onion left over from Sunday lunch; from the freezer some carrots and parsnip I blanched earlier this month to preserve them and leftovers of passata, baked beans and red kidney beans. I thickened it with a lot of red lentils and added a can of tomatoes, making more a kind of pottage or dahl. It was so good I had two bowls of it for dinner.

Day 16:

More indoor weather. Visited a friend who has recently moved house in the afternoon, and two friends dropped in to see me in the morning. Took the former a house-warning present which I had already bought her in December, so no additional costs incurred. If you are wondering how I am managing for milk to make people cups of tea, I have a large stock of UHT almond milk in the pantry and a small stock of dairy milk in the freezer. I have enough teabags to last the month, and several bags of ground coffee. The coffee pods for the Nespresso machine are running low.


Hi T,

I've always loved your posts, all the way back to the Motley Fool where I used to really look forward to your regular updates that were written in a way that really dragged us into your daily, weekly, and monthly routines....

It's always niggled me a little that I couldn't put my finger on just what it is about your style of writing that I love so much T, but it's just come to me in an early morning slice of inspiration.

I've not read the book, but I was a massive, massive fan of the TV series when it was on, and it's now crystal clear to me that what we've been witnessing and reading over the years with your diaries, is a modern-day 'Lark Rise to Candleford', with all the great wit and pathos of that original classic.

Everything changes, and yet, somehow, everything stays the same.....

Suddenly it all makes perfect sense.

Please, never stop writing......

Itsallaguess

Tortoise1000
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Re: Resolutions for January 2020

#278409

Postby Tortoise1000 » January 18th, 2020, 6:02 pm

Itsallaguess, thank you so much! What kind words, I was touched to find them here. I love putting words together, but I do feel a bit guilty about cluttering the internet with these minutiae. I am happy to know that I have an appreciative readership of one :-)

Day 17

Walked up to the village to meet friends for coffee in the atrium cafe of the Methodist church, £1. Then went to the library which was free. What wonderful places libraries are! Erred slightly on the food shopping; there were nardacots on display outside the greencrocer’s and I could not resist them. £1.99. However I did well in M&S; went in for £2-worth of yoghurt, made a bee line for it and bought nothing else. Despite the seasonal blandishments on display everywhere about their Plant Kitchen. Plant Kitchen, indeed! I can cook plants myself. But how clever of the marketers to turn all those fussy children who would not eat their vegetables into trendy adults who eat plants.

Fridge soup again for lunch, and Lemon Chicken with Olives for dinner, even better than yesterday. The lemony butterbeans are excellent, I shall always include them in future. I suppose that is how cassoulet was invented, by thrifty cooks stretching a pork casserole with beans. I served it each time with a small amount of cooked rice I had in the freezer mixed with a lot of broccoli rice made with the Zyliss chopper from the stalks of all the broccoli I bought the other day. I unwrapped all three packs to get the stalks, gave the tops a refreshing shower under the cold tap and re-wrapped them. I am treating them kindly so they stay alive and well as long as possible.

It was the Yacht Club AGM in the evening, which cost nothing but the car mileage to get there. I suppose if I really wanted to save money I should have jogged the 6 miles there and 6 miles back in the dark. However, I didn’t. Stopped at Tesco for petrol, £36.10.

Totals to date:
Food £13.88
Car parking and petrol: £37.10
Appearance:£19
Entertainment £69.55
Dentist £200
Holiday £252.73

I agree with the good advice everyone has given about the marmalade jar. I would also suggest having another go with the hot water. Put it in the sink and pour a whole kettleful of boiling water on it and leave the cap to expand. Then dry it and try with rubber gloves on. I wonder if you will have opened it by the end of the month?

T

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Re: Resolutions for January 2020

#278430

Postby Stonge » January 18th, 2020, 9:01 pm

Thank you for all the tips about dealing with the demon marmalade jar. Out of sight, out of mind at the moment as we left it behind in Walmington.

Yesterday was eventful.

Got up and went downstairs to make breakfast, basically put the kettle on and bung some cereal in a bowl.

Checked my phone. Two missed calls from D next door at 3.30am! We were clearly in deep sleep and never heard the phone.

A couple of voice messages. The first one said 'Help, I've fallen down getting out of bed and can't get up again.'

Oh s**t!

The second one said 'Don't worry, I'm OK now, some people came and put me back to bed'.

So I phoned next door and D's wife answered. Apparently he slipped getting out of bed and when they phoned the ambulance they were told there would be a three hour wait. So they phoned us and when we didn't answer they phoned the neighbours the other side who fortunately picked up and went round to help. Just as they arrived, the paramedics also arrived. So they checked D out and put him back into bed. Fortunately no broken bones.

As we spoke, D was up and about having a shower.

Up until last year, he was always out every afternoon for his daily constitutional. It's sad when people can no longer do what they did easily a few years ago. We're all getting older.

We've been trying to sell our Londonshire property for three years. The latest chain has been lingering for 10 months and yesterday the agents phoned to say that contracts have been exchanged! Can't believe it. In total we've been trying to sell for three years.

Never again.

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Re: Resolutions for January 2020

#278440

Postby Gostevie » January 18th, 2020, 11:19 pm

Tortoise1000 wrote:I had in the freezer mixed with a lot of broccoli rice made with the Zyliss chopper from the stalks of all the broccoli I bought the other day.

T


How delightful! In the unlikely event that I ever become the lead guitarist in a heavy metal band, I am definitely going to adopt the stage name of Zyliss Chopper. 8-)

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Re: Resolutions for January 2020

#278724

Postby Tortoise1000 » January 20th, 2020, 12:03 pm

Congratulations on selling your house, Stonge! Is that the one you are in now? Does this mean you are moving to Walmington on Sea?

Days 18 & 19

I have made a useful discovery. The Panasonic 50% wholemeal bread recipe calls for 15g of butter. I have run out, so I tried it with 15g of vegetable oil. The bread was fine , just the same. So that saves trouble, not having to buy butter. I suppose the oil is cheaper, too.

Comfort food this weekend; corned beef hash using my Mum’s simple recipe. She would mash together corned beef and potatoes and arrange it in volcano-shaped heaps on the plates, with a crater at the top, then spoon baked beans on so they poured down the sides like lava. It’s very nice with a bit of Branston pickle.

I had run out of tinned baked beans so I had to make some. I used a recipe I have adapted from the internet which I have copied in below if anyone is interested. They are fairly similar to Heinz but thicker and better.

Sunday lunch at a friend’s house. I asked if I could take a pudding but she is on a diet and had made fruit salad and wanted only a pot of Greek yogurt. I went to M&S for that, plus got her some tulips and a tiny amount of chocolate, total £10.45. I also bought a bag of carrots, 70p. They might have been cheaper in Lidl but not if I bought 8 extra things while I was in there like I did last Tuesday.

T

Tortoise Baked Beans

Sauce ingredients:

1 large onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 tablespoon dried thyme
1/2 tablespoon dried sage
2 cloves
2 tablespoons Worcester sauce
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 cup sugar or sweetener
1.25kg fresh tomatoes, or 3 cans or boxes of tomatoes or passata

Salt to taste, or sprinkle it on just before serving.

Method:

Cook and liquidise. Makes 2 x 850 ml boxes, so one can be frozen.

Take 4 or 5 cans of beans, any sort. Heinz use haricot beans. I use red kidney beans, butter beans and chickpeas. Put them in a colander and rinse under the cold tap. Tip them into a slow cooker and cover with 1 box of sauce. Simmer for a few hours so the beans become very soft. Towards the end (this step is important), put the lid askew so some of the liquid evaporates and the sauce is rich and tasty.

You could use an equivalent quantity, may be 500g? of dried beans, cooked, but 5 cans is only £1.50 from Lidl.

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Re: Resolutions for January 2020

#278845

Postby Stonge » January 20th, 2020, 10:30 pm

Hi T

We've been trying to move to Walmington for three years. We've been renting a penthouse flat there for three years and spending about half our time there and half in our house in Londonshire.

But we may have sold our house, at last, so we'll be moving to Devon full time. Of course we'll still be frequent visitors to family and friends who mostly live in the Londonshire counties.

The Terminator (my wife) dragged me down to watch Vera again this week. It started. After 15 minutes there were five minutes of ads. Ten minutes of Vera and then five minutes of ads. It went on like this. In total during the two hours there were around 40 minutes of ads.

I can't understand how anyone who isn't comatose can sit through this.

The story was pretty dull but there was some nice scenery, some blue skies and sunshine.

I won't be watching any more episodes.

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Re: Resolutions for January 2020

#278964

Postby Tortoise1000 » January 21st, 2020, 2:07 pm

You have given Vera a very fair chance, Stonge. You deserve to be let off her from now on.

Day 20:

Booked two more cinema tickets. £13.50-worth of Clubcard vouchers plus £1 of real money. I don’t normally go to the cinema three times a month but I might as well do something with all these Clubcard vouchers. No point hoarding them for my heirs.

Nearly did the tax return. I did a lot of other things to avoid it in the morning. In the afternoon I got as far as tidying the desk and getting all the paperwork out . At the last moment I was saved by a friend phoning to invite herself for a cup of tea in an hour’s time. No point starting it with that in propect, what with all the complications of putting two cups on a tray and lighting the fire.

I turned the telly on until she arrived and saw the sad news that Beales has gone into administration. It will be a loss here. It is a keystone of the shopping centre. I could see it coming though; the shop has not looked prosperous of late. I remember writing about Woolworths going downhill, back on the Motley Fool in No Nonsense November 2008. Where will it end?

The High Street is not making money out of me and my not-shopping projects. I spent £670 on Christmas presents in December but only £80 of it was in local shops. Looking at this month there is no ‘stuff’, no department store clutter, at all. I have maintained myself and the car, and the fun things are all ephemeral:

Food £14.58
Car parking and petrol: £37.10
Appearance:£19
Entertainment £77.55
Gifts £10.45
Dentist £200
Holiday £252.73

Sardines on toast for lunch, and the last of the evergreen lettuce and tomatoes. How old were they? At least 3 weeks. Other half of the corned beef hash for dinner.

T

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Re: Resolutions for January 2020

#279090

Postby Tortoise1000 » January 22nd, 2020, 7:22 am

Day 21:

Six-monthly check up at the NHS dentist. I was chuffed to be given all zero scores for gum recession. They work on a backward scale, so zero is best. My teeth have been a trouble and expense all my life as I try to make them last as long as I. And I have realised that when people get very old they can’t cope with serious procedures. Already I found that that the implants I had last year were much more traumatic than the ones I had in my 30s. So I am working hard to keep things up to the mark. It’s cost about £10,000 over the last couple of years. What a sum, only to have teeth that look passable for my age :-( A delightfully small bill this time , however, only £22.70

No progress on the tax return. The dentist appointment was in the middle of the day and I got up late, so there wasn’t much time in the morning and then by the time I had got back and had lunch it was too late to start. That is my reasoning. The tax man keeps sending worried emails offering to help.

I did make progress on de-cluttering. The Age UK bag came through the door and I filled it with the heap that had assembled in the store room. What with eating down the food mountain as well, that space is noticeably clearer.

Not so the dining room still piled with TJ’s worldly goods. His car has developed a mysterious, serious ailment. Possibly related to the pothole incident? It is still at a garage being investigated. Things are not looking good for the plan to remove everything this weekend.

Tomato soup from the freezer for lunch, with homemade wholemeal bread and an apple. I defrosted some more salmon for dinner and made a stir fry with noodles to go with it. Using the vegetables I bought last Tuesday. There was no need to buy them last week, I could have bought them today. Even on a tiny budget I am over-shopping. This is an instructive experience.

T

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Re: Resolutions for January 2020

#279445

Postby Tortoise1000 » January 23rd, 2020, 2:56 pm

Day 22:

Another email from the tax man. But what could I do? I had to go for a walk in the morning and the cinema in the afternoon so there was no time left at all . He will have to wait for his share of my millions.

The film was Little Women. A good production. The restructured time sequencing worked, the attractive young heroines and heroes acted well and the costumes were superb. It was engaging, well-paced and bit of a tear-jerker here and there. However, there is no denying that it is a coming-of-age story about some girls who grew up and got married 100 years ago. I read it as a girl and I enjoyed seeing it come to life again like this. But the book never had the timeless wit and intelligence of Jane Austen, for example, who turned her domestic tales into social commentary of wide appeal. If you have a choice I’d say take a woman friend to see it, rather than a man, to be on the safe side. I did like the way there weren’t any violent or scary bits in it, though. I had to shut my eyes for parts of ‘1917’ and its always a nuisance having to do that while trying to keep track of the plot.

Did some unplanned shopping in Tesco because my friend wanted to pop in for a couple of things on the way. The food purchases were acceptable at £8.56: apples and oranges because I had none at all left; sugar and tomato ketchup for TJ at the weekend; Worcester sauce needed for a recipe; cooking cheese I am going to need that I keep a stock of grated in the freezer; passata which I find I already have a box of but was only 32p. The purchase of a non-slip bath mat, however, went awry. My friend bought one as well. She had already bought her other things and said ‘You pay for both and I’ll give you the £6’. So I did. Then she forgot! Most irksome. I could hardly say ‘Give me my £6 back, you are messing up my accounts’. :-) But she was messing up my accounts! I am trying to be accurate here. Luckily I worked out a solution. Unbeknownst to her, I made her a present of the bath mat and recorded it under ‘Gifts’.

You may wonder why I am splashing out on a non-slip bath mat in this thrifty month. Because the last one I bought, from Amazon, was absolutely treacherous. Super slippery when wet. £6 x 2 for a new one is a bargain if it saves a fall.

Speaking of accidents, the garage has given TJ a courtesy car. Good! The plan to move all his stuff this weekend is back on.

T

Totals to date:
Food £23.14
Household furnishings £6
Car parking and petrol: £37.10
Appearance:£19
Entertainment £79.62
Gifts £16.45
Dentist £222.70
Holiday £252.73

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Re: Resolutions for January 2020

#279449

Postby Stonge » January 23rd, 2020, 3:49 pm

Glad you enjoyed Little Women. The title says it all really though, definitely take a woman friend with you, not a man friend - or at least let him snooze peacefully throughout if you do.

TBH though I think people expect to be able to watch and enjoy too many dramas. I mean how many different plots can there actually be? Reminds me of when I used to drop in on book reading sites. Some people claimed to read a whole book every week. Never seemed to help with their spelling and grammar though, confusing words like 'effect' and 'affect', 'practice' and 'practise' etc. I'm probably one of the least pedantic individuals on the planet but even I got board with it. 8-)

Drove to the Post Office to send off a parcel. Came out, started the car, got a 'Navigation is not working properly' message. Later on it was working. Yesterday same thing happened again. Useless Ford QA, I suspect.

Imagine you're in your driverless car barrelling along the motorway in a car train with all the other drones, and suddenly a little message comes up 'Guidance system is not working properly'. Be a bit annoying.

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Re: Resolutions for January 2020

#279619

Postby Tortoise1000 » January 24th, 2020, 10:23 am

I’d love a driverless car, Stonge, to take me around when I get too old to drive. And to drop me at places and go off and park itself. They’d be brilliant. They could take the children to school, and do errands. Alas, I don’t think they will be that advanced in my lifetime.

.how many different plots can there actually be?


Have you seen ‘Knives Out’? That’s the other one I saw this month. The plot is that someone has been killed in a large country house containing assorted relatives and staff, several of them likely suspects. A private detective comes in to question them and finds out who did it. The End. I bet you haven’t come across that one before, have you?

Day 23:

Fishy soup for lunch. When I buy a whole fish I cut the head off and add it to a box in the freezer, and when the box is full I make stock. Its a good rich base for a soup. I worked out a recipe by googling and using a spreadsheet, like this:



I thickened it with red lentils as usual.

Fish stock is another leftover thing you can buy these days. £2.69, from Waitrose, for 500ml. As for soup, I saw some in M&S the other day that for 500ml was £2.50! To make it costs a tenth of that.

For dinner I experimented with the tin of jackfruit that was lurking in the larder. Made a barbecue sauce for it and served it with rice and broccoli. It certainly does look exactly like pulled pork. It is lighter and does not get stuck in your teeth. However it lacks flavour and is probably the same price when you compare the drained weight. I think the way I’d use it , if it was inexpensive, would be half and half with pork to lighten the dish. But beans are more nutritious and cheaper, and possibly more eco-friendly.

The net result of this cookery was that while I got rid of a tin of jackfruit and a box of fish stock I added to the freezer 5 portions of fish soup, 1 portion of jackfruit in BBQ sauce and a box of spare BBQ sauce. De-cluttering is a slow process. But the new things I made are nearer to being eaten.

The tax man badgered me by text today. Reluctantly I stopped procrastinating, completed the return and paid the bill. It wasn’t easy to pay; the system said I didn’t owe anything even though it had just calculated that I did. I battled with it for quite a while. Anyway I have given him as small a sum as possible, the paperwork is neatly archived and a file is ready to start collecting documents for 2020-21.

T

Totals to date:
Food £25.84
Household furnishings £6
Car parking and petrol: £37.10
Appearance:£19
Entertainment £79.62
Gifts £16.45
Dentist £222.70
Holiday £252.73

Tortoise1000
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Re: Resolutions for January 2020

#280222

Postby Tortoise1000 » January 27th, 2020, 8:53 am

Fantastic progress with Goal 6. TJ came home with the courtesy car on Friday and packed into it a surprising quantity of his worldly goods. There was just his bicycle to come back for, and a few other bags and boxes, so another trip some time would do it. He delighted me with a massive breakthrough on some clutter that has been nestling in a chest of drawers for a year. Each time I asked he said he was going to sell it. I knew that would never happen. I asked again yesterday ,expecting the same. He said I could bin it! :-) I shall not bin it of course, I shall find things a suitable home. But I have permission. He left home for ever after lunch on Saturday.

On Sunday he came back because he had forgotten something. I cooked us a fine lunch from the freezer, fillet steak, chips and roasted Mediterranean vegetables, and keenly helped him load the car again. What a bonus! Of course there are still things here, a toolbox , a bike stand, a spare wheel , something in the wardrobe, but overall this goal has been achieved much more than I expected.

T

Totals to date:
Food £31.48
Household furnishings £6
Car parking and petrol: £37.10
Appearance:£19
Entertainment £117.93
Gifts £68.10
Dentist £222.70
Holiday £344.73


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