April Fools Day 2017

Look what Darrell found on the internet ……..

……. only Invisibility Juice! I have to admit to being sceptical when it first arrived, but IT REALLY, REALLY WORKS!!!  How brilliant is that?

Most people would just think that this was a picture of three empty coffee mugs sat sitting on the table ……. but it’s really us behind the mugs, having just finished our morning coffee …… Darrell is on the left, I am on the right and Nigel is in the middle!

This is not just an unmade bed …… but, if you just squint a bit, it’s me having some peace and quiet, chilling and catching up with a podcast of Sunday’s Archers Omnibus which because we were very busy, I missed.And this …….. is us all watching tele, Nigel has the remote control and Darrell is proffering the TV chocolates!  This is almost as much fun as Christmas, although as we can’t see ourselves either, we have been doing quite a bit of bumping into each other.  Which explains this gratuitous picture of Darrell just getting into  the shower …….. oooooops!

We are not too sure how long the invisibility will last, but we vouch safe  that we won’t use our cloak of anonymity to any nefarious ends, Darrell’s prime find is just for our fun only, and what goes on in The Towers, stays in The Towers!  Happy Days!

Darrell Embraces His Inner Kelly Hoppen.

The project management for the renovations of Maison De La Lu is progressing well, however Lucy text Darrell to say, if he was up to it, she would pop up to Evesham so that she could take him to look at wallpaper.

Having only just recovered from their last series of expeditions back in The Homeland, towards said renovations, Darrell knew that his loins would need to be very well girded, so dosed himself up with his multivitamins and several energy drinks.

Darrell having done a bit of homework beforehand and told Lucy that black and white was tres a la mode and de rigueur this season ……..

….. as was anything of a metallic overtone perhaps with underlying black …….. and that florals were oh soooooooooo yesterday.

But Lucy wasn’t all that impressed, saying that there would be, categorically, no “signature” walls at Maison De La Lu, she too had been studying, especially Kelly Hoppen’s book Design Masterclass: How to Achieve the Home of Your Dreams …………… and if Kelly, Queen of Taupe, could make beige exciting, that was the way she wanted to go too!

At that Darrell, realised that the “pink sparkle” he had picked out might not be such a good suggestion, so didn’t even bring it to Lucy’s attention, from then on he concentrated solely on neutrals a la Hoppen and steered well clear of anything that was Laurence Llewelyn Bowen.

Who would have thought there were so many interesting and inspiring shades of beige? Now on track and tuned into Lucy’s decor proclivities, Darrell was truly focused.  After visiting five DIY emporiums and in between several coffees and cake stops to discuss the merits of all the various beiges they had seen and felt, the perfect linen effect paper was finally decided upon (after a return trip to the very first shop they had visited) and duly purchased …….. Well done Darrell, in the end it was all about the texture and the ambience that a good beige texture can create!

The Most Boring Film Ever Made?

Nigel hasn’t been very impressed by the film that has been showing at The Regal over the past few weeks, even if it is an Oscar winner …….

Who on earth would want go and see a film about fences he declared ……… unless unlimited free popcorn and fizzy drinks were thrown in possibly?

They may come in many different guises ……
……. but once you have seen one (or two), they are still boring!  What is he like?

A Post Especially For Dianne, Our Wonderful Friend In Orange Abundant and VERY Hot Florida

We know our friend Dianne loves everything British ……

…… so Nigel decided to give her a little treat today by showing her his favourite row of houses in Evesham.

The Towers is very beautiful, but it has to be said, is totally lacking in any historical quaintness whatsoever, we wouldn’t swop it now, but the houses in Rynal Street certainly have it in buckets and spades, well except for the bins, but it was bin day when Nigel went up to pose.

It was on our list of possible house locations when we were on our quest to find a new home  but unfortunately we missed out on one by a matter of weeks …….

…… however one bedroom may have been even a little too bijoux for us, and being in a row of listed houses, it would also bring certain responsibilities, so any proposed sympathetic improvements, such as a double glazed porch, stone cladding or a Juliet balcony would have come under rigorous scrutiny and inevitably turned down.  But you have to agree, they are very, very cute …… and a lot closer to Aldi than we are!

Crunchy Cheese?

I am always on the look out for something a bit different to tickle our taste buds at The Towers to broaden our comestible horizons, so when I saw “Crunchy Cheese” on the supermarket shelves, it would have been rude not to purchase a pack for our experimental delectation.As soon as Darrell and Nigel laid eyes on it, the words “crunchy cheese!” echoed quizzically throughout our portals. Many questions sprang to mind and were asked. Nigel was positive that crunchy should mean really crunchy, so biting into it would surely be like biting into a Crunchie Bar.

I was a little more dubious.

……. there was no audible crunch as I cut into it, it sliced just like normal cheese.

Nigel was very disappointed, it failed to crunch like an aforementioned Crunchie, muttering that questions should be asked in Parliament.

However, Darrell was a little more measured, the flavour, we all agreed, was very full bodied  and extra mature as described, and he said if he concentrated he could discern a very slight crunchy texture when he chewed, but couldn’t put his finger on exactly what it was …….

So while I was still musing, Darrell decided to Google said crunchy cheese ….. and all was revealed, as Mr D would no doubt be able to confirm, the tiny little bits we could now all feel in our mouths as we chewed were tyrosine, “amino acid clusters that form with age” and looking at the packet, our cheese was indeed 15 years old (but thankfully, with no signs of green).  Tyrosine clusters are signs of a well-aged cheese, so all was now crystal clear!

And how did we score on our Crunchy Cheese? Well, Nigel only gave it 2 out of 10, as he said that he had expected proper full-bodied and robust crunch, Darrell gave it 7, because he thought that  if we served it to someone who wasn’t as acknowledgeable as what we are, they might think we were giving them something that was a bit off …… I would give it 8 as it was very flavoursome, but wonder if it’s a bit too posh and mature for putting on cheese on toast?

Much Excitement–The Caravaners Are A Coming …..

Nigel came home from his afternoon meander in a very excited state yesterday, there were a few caravans and camper vans pitched up on field of the camp site across the river, “The  open season for camping and caravanning must be here  ” he mused …..…….. thinking about the tent that he had set his heart on for Christmas, and as of yet unused ……

After waiting for so long to use it, perhaps now was the time to give it an airing and gather all the other stuff he might need for his first adventure under canvas …….. under the Evesham stars!

Easy Like Sunday Morning …..

How our lives have changed so much in the past nine months………

…… there is no way Nigel could ever have imagined that Sunday mornings would start with a bacon sandwich on much seeded bread and a latte in Moo Moos on his way to collect the papers.

Before Evesham, a lifestyle like that only happened to people in Coronation Street and Eastenders, we are truly living the dream!

A Task Of Great Responsibility.

Last night Nigel and I stayed over at “The Family Tree”, so named by Iris after Stickman, her favourite story ……….

…… we had been tasked to feed Jups and their two tanks of fish, while they had a night away, it was a responsibility that we felt greatly despite having done it several times before, you should never be complacent about being in local parentasis for anyone else’s pets

Tom being a scientist of great forensicness had left us samples to demonstrate what a pinch of food should look like for each tank, which is why I decided to assume the roll of fish feeder, fearing that Nigel, though diligent, can sometimes be a little heavy handed, and I didn’t want to risk him adding “just one for the pot”.

I feed the prescribed amount and not a flake more and Nigel could enjoy the feeding frenzy that ensued.

In turn, I left the feeding of Jups entirely to Nigel, the smell of cat food not being my house sitting aroma of choice.

Tom The Scientist had left an assortment of pouches for Jups delectation, but there was no way Nigel was going to serve him the duck variety, due to our living almost as one with them at the Towers, Nigel remarking that it was too much like cannibalism by proxy for his liking!

I have to admire him thorough, I am afraid I really couldn’t have mashed up what he eventually chose to serve Jups ….. I’m afraid it’s a jelly thing…… in fact, I stayed upstairs for a while until the smell had dissipated a little …. what am I like?

However, we met all our responsibilities with aplomb, Jups was a little sulky with us but I think that was just him missing his family, and I don’t really think the fish were that bothered.

Us boys done good!

Open Wide Please Sir!

 Nigel has paid his first visit to our new Evesham dentist ……

….. we have been a little slow in finding said new dentist and as we have been here for almost nine months now, his six monthly check up was a little overdue.

He was a little nervous, so busied himself in the waiting room by studying all the leaflets, wondering if he should perhaps consider having some tooth whitening, like Hugh and almost everyone on the tele.

Anyway, Nigel’s new dentist was a very lovely lady, who was very gentle and put him at his ease. All the time she was looking at his teeth Nigel was listening for that all important word “occlusal”, which he knew meant a hole and therefore filling …….  thankfully, it was a word he didn’t hear!Nigel’s mouth got a free bill of health …… and Nigel got a free tube of toothpaste and another appointment in another six months,  Happy Days!

The Final Frontier ……. Ikea!

Again, it was an early breakfast and roll call by the car for Darrell and Nigel this morning. The plan was to navigate the aisles of Ikea with military precision, avoiding the shuffling hoards as far as possible, and if the going got tough, they would retreat to the restaurant to share a plate of reindeer balls, as Nigel likes to call them!   Nigel did ask Lucy if they ought to apply camouflage paint to their faces and consider commando crawling, but she gave him a look and told him not to be facetious!

However, it has to be said that Lucy’s forward planning paid off, all the furniture she had picked out as potential purchases from the catalogue were duly inspected and either highlighted in neon pink or vigorously crossed out on her rather long list. Nigel was limited to just one Ikea pencil and paper tape measure and there was no time, Lucy said, for any photo opportunities!!!

A few items of Ikea frou frou were purchased, once the furniture aisles had been safely traversed and the mood lightened. Darrell couldn’t resist an egg slicer so he could prepare a posh egg salad like what Hugh does, Nigel had set his heart on a Fjalla storage box for his treasures and Lu bought a set of obligatory Ikea scissors.  To be honest, it was a relief when everyone finally got through the tills, relatively untraumatised.

And then ,with all chilled and happy with their considered purchases …… it was time for the much anticipated and dreamed about Ikea hot dog avec une generous dollop of both Ikea ketchup and mustard ………

…… and unfathomable refills of coke …….. . bliss! 

Darrell’s and Nigel’s mission to help Lucy plan for the upcoming renovations of Maison De La Lu had gone well, and she was very appreciative of all Darrell’s de rigueur and innovative en trend insight.  Darrell and Nigel are now on their way home, and Lucy, ever the accountant, is going this evening putting together a very complex set of spreadsheets containing everything they had selected, to be added to her project management folder!

Happy Days.