A Strong Odour Pervades The Towers

Poor Darrell spent most of yesterday morning with tears streaming down his face and he had no one to blame except for himself …….

……. he gone into the Greengrocer’s to ask when they would be having their pickling onions in, and as it happened they had a few nets in already, which took him by surprise, but as the gentleman went on to tell him they’d definitely be going up in price in the coming weeks, Darrell decided to throw caution to the wind and purchase one said net, even though he’s never pickled so early on in the year before.

When Nigel and I heard of Darrell’s plans to get pickling tout suite, we beat a hasty retreat into town for a cheeky chai latte and slice of cake or two, well away from the pungent whiffs wafting through The Towers and Darrell’s constant sniffing.

Though we absolutely adore Darrell’s pickled onions, we have to admit we’re not so keen on the process.

We returned home, three carefully timed hours later, with a couple of Danish pastries and slice of Lemon Drizzle as a special “thank you” to Darrell for his formidable fortitude and endurance in providing us with our future comestible pleasures, to find him all bottled up ……

……. slightly sore of eye and in need of a fragrant shower in order to divest himself of the erm …. “bouquet” of his labours.  What a hero, where would we and more importantly our tummies be without him?

A New Local Venture That Leaves Nigel Wanting.

Nigel returned home from a glorious afternoon at the park with his beloved niece and nephew brimming with excitement, but exuding a certain air of disappointment once he’d finished bubbling and enthusing.

It seems that Evesham has now got dragon boats to hire on the river …… just how truly romantic is that?

Now, it’s not often that Uncle Nigel has to let his niece and nephew down and say no, but on this occassion he had to admit that though his heart, mind, soul and wallet were more than willing, said dragons are pedal powered and no matter how far he could try to stretch, his little legs would never, ever, reach the pedals ……..

…… so this was one pleasure he couldn’t share with them, unless they had a person of full length to go with them. Poor Nigel, it’s not often his diminutive size gets in the way of any sort of adventure or fun, but on this occassion he was anatomically beat. A mission, as Mr D will not doubt suggest, for TtS (Tom the Scientist/Daddy)! 

When we first moved to Evesham there were boat trips up and down the river, which we indeed availed ourselves of several times, until  the owner retired, but it looks as if the idea has now been resurrected, so, to make up for today’s disappointment Nigel has promised a trip on the good ship “Easy Tiger” in the near future to make up for his significant lack of leg, bless him!

https://www.bonkersactivities.co.uk/eveshamboathire

https://www.severnleisurecruises.co.uk/hamton-ferry

Cry FREEDOM …………

Look out world ……. we’re FREE, unfettered, unshackled, unrestricted and unrestrained with three untainted, negative results this morning! We’re unfectious, it was emotional and yes, there were tears.

Nigel was first to flee the nest …………. to feel the sun on his face, and take the hot summer air into his lungs, yelling “FREEDOM” so loud, as he left, that it startled all the birds, in all the surrounding trees, to take flight, resulting in something not unreminiscent of a scene from The Birds, what is he like?

We’re not sure where he’s gone or how long he’ll be, but before he left Darrell promised him a mahooosive celebratory pizza for his tea, with all his favourite toppings, pepperoni, bacon, bbq chicken, peppers, mushrooms, red onion, spinach, sausage, ham, pineapple, chorizo, spicy beef plus four cheeses all nestling on a bbq sauce and homemade base  ……….

………. he’ll be back!

Not Time Capsule Material Nigel …

Nigel is absolutely convinced that since Covid test result indicators are almost always thrown away once used, we should definitely keep ours, as goodness knows how much they will be worth in the future, as hard to find rarities of our social history, like old tram and bus tickets.

I think our robust and rigorous isolation is giving the little fella and his ever fertile imagination too much time to ponder, muse, wonder and wander. He needs to be part of the world again as soon as possible …….. especially for both Darrell and my sanities.

We Try Cadbury Mystery Bar 01

It has to be said that Kata, our lovely opposite neighbour, has noticed from day one that though virulent and therefore incarcerated, nothing had appeared to diminish our appetites (or sense of taste or smell for that matter),  judging from all our returned, licked clean plates and dishes from the “meals across the hallway” deliveries she’s been leaving us!  What are we like?

So, she decided that we really should put such a positive to good use and popped a Cadbury Mystery Bar 01 in our delivery box,  saying via text, “Nézze meg, mit gondol ebből, akkor fiú” or “See what you make of this Boyz”!

Well, it would have been rude not to, wouldn’t it?  or Nos, nem túl durva lett volna, nem?

There was nothing in the colour or texture of the filling …….

…….. or the smell that gave us any clues, it all boiled down purely to taste.

We were pretty certain that there was something of “the berry” lurking, but it wasn’t strawberry.

It seemed soooooooo familiar, evoking memories of the Christmases past  of my childhood, when there were always new things to try and then, it came to me, Raspberry Ruffle!  It tasted like raspberries (but without the coconut) …….. or, just, just, just perhaps, it was gooseberry, as in Gooseberry Cream of olden days Quality Street ???? 

In the end, after much debate, none heated, we finally opted for raspberry, with Darrell entering our answer in the competition online ……..

Unfortunately, there was no option to hedge our bets and have another cheeky go with gooseberry, so if anyone wants to chance their own bets on our said second answer, we’re more than happy to split the prize???  Anyway, it was a most pleasurable way to fill a penned up covid afternoon, so thank you Kata, you’re our hero!

Who You Gonna Call? ……. Dustbusters

Still positive!

I think we’ve all had enough now of being held hostage to infection. We’ve done our duty to the outgoing Boris and stayed at home, but we’re going a little stir crazy. There are only so many games of I spy you can play, drawers you can pull out and tidy and bags for the charity shop you can fill …….. and Darrell definitely has had too much time to contemplate and avail himself of the pleasures of online shopping!

It now seems, in an effort to try and cut back on our electricity bills in the coming months, The Tower floors shall henceforth be swept with a good old fashioned brush, with the extra exertion, in turn, helping to keep us warm due to the heating being off during day light hours.

Usage of our much beloved old Henry will be reserved for high days and holidays, or in the case of heavy shedding, accidental spillage (Nigel’s Coco-Pops or Rice Krispies for example), unpremeditated messy activity or over exuberance of a crumb type nature.

Instead, when a unedifying pile of our domestic detritus has been collected together with said brush, we’re then going to zap it with Darrell’s new, ultra, high tech toy …….

……..  to wit his Black and Decker Dustbuster!  What on earth is he like? 

He says full training will be given and a robust and non negotiable rota set up as soon as he can get his head round it ………

Roll on a set of negative results ………… and, to quote some book or other, “Finding Freedom”.

A Most Wonderous Pick Us Up

We’re still very much positive! 

Many thanks for all your very kind thoughts and good wishes during our time of infection and confinement, each and every message has meant soooooooo much and read and absorbed many times over. 

It goes without saying that it’s all been very emotional, we are now out of our pyjamas for most of the day and we seem to be “getting there”.  What are we like?

Our recovery was much hastened when we found a surprise package in our mailbox from our rellies back in the homeland …….

We could tell it was a very posh gift of distinction and a certain refinement just by looking at the box, the waxed pink paper wrappings and honeycombed protective layers ……

……. to reveal the most perfect bouquet carrying gingerbread man biscuit from Biscuiteers we have ever seen.  Needless to say there were tears!

We were truly overwhelmed ……. but then came the pithy question, do just stare at it in awe and wonder or do we …….. eat it?

It was indeed a thing of great beauty, but it was meant to be eaten …..

……. and would look sooooo rude if we let to go stale through sentimentality …..

…… so Nigel did us the honour of going first, not even waiting for a plate, starting at the bottom (feet and legs, not the literal bottom bits), with Darrell and I following suit with equal gusto, the bouquet shared equally between the three of us.  Let’s just say it did not disappoint, it was gingerbread perfection and not a single crumb left.  What a lovely, thoughtful gift, perfect for those of a covidly restricted type nature such as us. Thank you so much Aunty Sarah and Uncle Graeme,  we love you xxx

https://www.biscuiteers.com

Neighbours, Everyone Needs Good Neighbours …….

Three days into our self incarceration and still no major symptoms. Darrell has cooled down a bit, but he remains a stranger to a Malteser, they are just not calling to him at the moment  he says, which is a pretty good indication that he isn’t feeling himself.

Our much beloved neighbour across the hall, Kata, who we’ve been communicating with via text, is our lifeline to the outside world. With Darrell also not up to cooking at the moment, she has been leaving all our hot meals outside the front door, three times a day, like an extra attentive meals on wheels lady, which we then collect when she’s safely behind her own door.  It’s been almost too emotional to bare bear. She says she can’t have us wasting away especially as she’s never seen Darrell so limp before. 

She is also familiar, inside and out, with our rigorous five a day routine, so has replenished our fruit bowl several of times now, as she doesn’t want us to risk getting scurvy on top of Covid.

What is she like and more importantly where would we be without her?

Nil By Mouth…….

OMG …….. Darrell was complaining that he felt “hot”, hotter than even when we were in Greece and he seemed very tired, for no real reason, other than perhaps for being so hot. He also said he’d noticed his mood was decidedly lack lustre and he didn’t feel his usual buoyant self, post holiday blues perhaps?

Nigel joking suggested he do a Covid test as we had a pile of boxes, unused, languishing in the first aid drawer.

Well, you could have knocked us all over with a feather, especially after escaping it’s clutching for all this time,  but there was no mistaking the results, Darrell had Covid!

So then Nigel and I thought we ought to do a test too …….  suffice to say The Towers is unmistakably rampantly rife with said infection!

However, Nigel and I, as of yet, appear to be totally unsympathetic  asymmetrical monosyllabic asymptomatic, but we are still rigorously isolating to the letter and have put a red cross on our door to warn others of our situation  ……….

Can you believe it? 

Three strikes and we’re all out!