Evening Picking In The Lap of Luxury

January has almost come to an end and such has been our state of flux, what with being in the midst of another meltdown and home schooling we have found ourselves rather remiss in not sharing some of the other Christmas presents (those not from Father Christmas) that we received this year ………

So today we present a gift that you will no doubt spot time and time again when we feature any post where we are sat sitting, of an evening, on the sofa, while watching the TV …….

…… to wit our tres en trend, vintage retro, fine porcelain, Royal Worcester, Evesham “bon bon” casserole dish from LuLu, we can’t tell you how thrilled, especially Darrell, we are with it.

Not only is it unbelievably posh, but it also features fruit and vegetables pertaining to our chosen town of habitation, Evesham.  How brilliant is that?

We can vouch for the asparagus, but especially the plums, apples and blackberries as we are totally surrounded by them when they are in season, however, we are not too sure about the olives, we’ve not heard of an olive grove in Evesham, but we think LuLu chose this particular dish as a nod to our beloved Greece, the spiritual home of the olive. How thoughtful is that?

So ……… bags of comestibles for our delectation, sweet or savoury are no longer permitted on the sofa during our televisual viewing, chosen treats must now to be decanted into our wonderful bowl, now known as The Evesham Treat Bowl ……. separately of course, never mixed, as the old saying goes …… according to Darrell “n’er cast your sweet whilst savoury be near, for the mix wilt bode ill, I fear my dear” ……. what is he like?  I think he just made that one up to be honest!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

I think most of you can imagine the rampant excitement that thronged through The Towers when Nigel lifted the blinds on Sunday morning to find that it had been snowing …….. AND during an I & B meltdown sleepover weekend to boot!

Needless to say, there was no doing with him. Two centimetres of the stuff may not sound a humongous amount, but it was enough to stop Tesco cancelling one or two home deliveries in the area, but thank goodness not ours!

As soon as breakfast was over it was wellies akimbo, a minimum of two jumpers worn under coats and socks worn for mittens, with said snow catching us unawares in the gloves stakes.

Carrots were then rapidly sought for noses and chopped for eyes and buttons as it was soon became apparent that there is a dearth of coal on our estate.

It has to be said that Nigel, Iris and Bertie’s snowmen were of a slightly miniscule type nature but none the less impressive.

After snowman building there followed a robust and merciless snowball  fight with Bertie the clear victor, judging from the state of Nigel, who claimed, as all good uncles would, that he had let Bertie win to encourage and help build his self confidence.

Down at the park, they found that the snowmen were bigger …….

……. and had Nigel half mooting the idea that if we didn’t have enough carrots later for Darrell’s Sunday lunch, he’d certainly know where to find some!

For the little fella, as well as I & B,  it was all too wonderful, romantic and fun for words ……….

…….. especially as this was the first time since moving to Evesham we’ve had the semblance of real snow, every time there’s been the tiniest of flurries before we’ve always been away.

Sadly, by the time Darrell had our glorious late Sunday roast on the table the snow had all but disappeared but fortunately there were still enough carrots to go around even after all the excitement of the morning, so Nigel didn’t actually have to go foraging in the park to find some!!!

Darrell’s Keen Eye ……….We Are So On Trend!

Our apologies if you are seeing this post for the second time ........ blame the scheduler!

Darrell has such a keen eye for “the detail” ……..

…… there we all were sat sitting chilling in front of the tele when on comes the commercial break …….

…… which had Darrell  jumping like  rocket from the sofa  leaving Nigel and I expecting him to ask if we fancied one or two Hob Nobs with our hot chocolate ……..

…… but no, it was the Dominoes pizza ad that had caused him to leap up in such an animated state of flux…….

…… and in particular,  the towel on one of the characters head ……..

OMG, it was part of set of towels we have in our master bathroom, sourced, with some difficulty after Darrell had seen them on Pinterest and decided we HAD to have them!

I have to admit, Darrell does have really good taste ……….

… but I am now dreading the Dominos Pizza ad being shown  ……

…… because there’s no doing with Darrell while it’s on, for all the excited pointing out of said towel …….. every single flipping time it’s on screen!  What is he like?

Our First Comestible Review of 2021–Taffel Ketchup Balls

Well, there can’t be many people who can resist the lure of  the odd Ketchup Ball, least of all us ……..

…… to be honest, these were left over from our Christmas comestibles of a snack type nature, we just never seemed to get around to trying them, so, what better time than this afternoon when we are all at a bit of a loose end.

The first thing that hit us as we opened the bag was the pungent waft of tomato/tomato ketchup, which, it has to be said was quite overpowering. 

The balls were pleasantly sized for singular insertion to ones mouth, possibly two if you are that way inclined, but three is probably a little overly ambitious.

They certainly tasted ketchupy, however none of us was very keen on the slightly powdery feeling they left in the mouth, or for that matter, their, strong, cloying, spicy aftertaste that lingered a little too long, which became unpleasant until Darrell’s Polos were passed round

Yes, they promised much when Darrell spotted them in the continental supermarket up Port Street, but I don’t think we will be making that considered purchase again, which is disappointing, as is our score on our world famous Richter Scale of Noms, which is, I am afraid, a lowly magnitude 4.5 out of 10.33333 reoccurring.

Nigel Declares This Footpath Open

A few people have been asking what’s been happening with Nigel’s beloved bridge renovations ……..

…… well, everyone packed up left just before Christmas without fanfare or ceremony, the first we knew was when we saw that the barricades had come down and the air was rendered almost silent, save for birds singing …….

…… and the swans feeling that it was safe enough  to return to their usual No. 1 snack stop.  Naturally Nigel felt very lost for a day or two …….

…… and then obviously anxious to see what had been done, but with the river side path reduced to quagmire following our recent slight flooding (with water reaching to the top of our bottom step leading down from The Towers) there was no way Darrell was going to allow a single smudge of mud to sully his precious wooden floors ……..

…….. so Nigel had to bide his time until he couldn’t wait any longer and I told him to sneak down for a quick peak while Darrell was out shopping for essentials and to hide his boots under a bush when he came back.

According to Nigel it all looks pretty OK.

We’ve got a sturdy new fence and pathway, and the fisherman have gained two new posh fishing platforms.

Nigel has already mooted the idea that when our wild water swimmers return when the weather is a little more clement, that they might even be able use said platforms as a launch pad diving board.

He also noticed that one platform has a gate leading to it that has been padlocked, which seemed a tad over the top, considering that you can very easily get to it by walking across what Nigel is now calling “the beach” ………

….. an area that has been widened and flattened along side the river.  To be honest it doesn’t look very beach like to me, but Nigel reckons that once everything start to green up again in the spring it will look much improved and be quite a pleasant spot for a picnic, skimming stones and even getting the crabbing nets out for Iris and Bertie. 

I guess the real test for all of the work will be when we next get, but hopefully not for a very long time, any major flooding to see if the island in the middle of the bridge stands up against the full force of the water.

……. but until then our new, improved public footpath and all those who walk upon her has been unofficially declared open by the little fella in the absence of any Evesham dignitaries of an important type nature, with the robust shaking up and liberal squirting of an already opened bottle of apple and blackcurrant Fruit Shoot left over from an I & B sleepover ………. what is he like?

Castle Grey School – It’s Been Emotional

I don’t think either Darrell or Nigel would describe their first week “proper” Home Schooling as in any way romantic …….

…….. it’s been a very steep learning curve, they returned to The Towers on Friday night totally exhausted, but, they both survived, (just about), proudly holding aloft two printed off certificates that I think at some stage we might need to frame.

During the week Nigel found that he is quite adept at Cosmic Yoga, giving both Iris and Bertie a supple run for their money …….

……. having found his inner flamingo, washing machine and hot air balloon …….

…… and his “happy baby” pose has to be seen to be believed, according to Darrell!

Darrell in turn has been managing the two Zoom sessions each per day  Iris and Bertie have to log into at their rigid designated times ………

Typical of  Darrell, he has created some quite wonderful, coloured in, timetables and rotas for us all to follow for as long as we are on call, which, at present, stands at around mid February according to Boris’s last announcement.

However, Darrell is determined that should we be selected for a random Ofsted inspection, our delivery of the National Curriculum will not be found wanting in any way, what is he like?

The highlight of their week was a little something from Bertie.  Unbeknownst to Darrell, Bertie had taken great notice in watching Iris and him working on the flags of the United Kingdom, the next day Bertie disappeared for a while ……….

…….. returning with this.  He had made Darrell and Nigel, in secret and all on his own, a Union Flag for them to wave, he said, when the Eurovision Song Contest, our televisual highlight of the year, was on, lets just say, it got emotional, very emotional, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house ………. and on that note, I think will leave it there as I too am beginning to feeling a little emotional at the thought myself!  Happy Days.