Sunday, 21 January 2018

A wet cold day



What a dreadful day it was yesterday, it rained all bloody day long; weather that we've not known for years. In fact I only ventured outdoors for half an hour in the early morning to take Bok for a walk. The rest of the day I stayed INDOORS.

In frustration, I stoked-up George our wood-fired cooker, Lady Magnon made a 'Narna Cake, and Polly put kettle on t'boil. Eeee, it were a right good day fer staying indoers. Later I roasted a Chicken, wi taters, one of them foreign yella pepper thingies, some Squash, an' some greens; it were grand. Sorry, the weather's suddenly made me go all northern.


When weather is that bad, I like to revert to older methods; maybe even light our way with candles; it is comforting. With a good fire raging in the stove, there's no point using the electric kettle. Luckily for us such ways are done not through necessity, but simply because we enjoy it. Of course in a case of emergency we live in the knowledge that we are perfectly equipped; I wouldn't want to be one of those who rely entirely on electricity.

I hope this wretched weather isn't going to last.



61 comments:

  1. I'm sorry your weather has been so bad, and I know how you hate winter, but your home sounds so cozy and comfortable!

    What is a Narnia cake? Does it have anything to do with the C.S. Lewis books? :)

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  2. The wood burning stove looks lovely. No oven on ours.

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    1. It's very temperamental. Getting the oven temperature right is almost impossible. I always end-up getting it far too hot, then leaving the oven door slightly open for the actual cooking. We get there in the end!

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  3. Better in Devon though wouldn't call it sunny. I snuck out to see the seal colony on the Breakwater yesterday and avoided being rained on. You have reminded me that I have candles and it still gets dark early. I should light them! x

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    1. It's still raining here, and I now have to take Bok out for his morning 'walk'. I shall cover myself in plastic and rubber (Oooh Matron), and hope that I don't drown.

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  4. I was just about to google Nama cake! Looks like we're going to have one of those rainy days again but not like yours. 9.30 and the rain hasn't started yet.
    I'll have a loaf of sourdough in our stove later on but like your oven the temperature dpends on the fire underneath. I always get it too hot. I'm an expert at burnt offerings.

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    1. Lady M's banana cake was a bit burned around the edges; but very nice.

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  5. Your beutiful photos make me want to give up our sunny day her (15c,9.30), and get some real cold weather .

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    1. We could swap; I'm desperate for some warm sunshine.

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  6. Ghastly yesterday, wasn't it? Going to the market was a thoroughly damp and miserable affair. I made ginger and sultana muffins, which were nice but didn't improve the weather. Going outside to fetch firewood in this weather is a big downside to the wood stove. We can only keep a couple of days worth max inside.

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    1. Sounds exactly like here. Two days wood indoors is usually plenty, but with both the cooker and the stove going full pelt, it soon goes. I shall have to soon brave the weather again to fetch more.

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  7. It were rainin' 'ere too. Thankfully 'twer'nt brass monkey weather. More like weather fer t'ducks today, so-called wintry showers, a bit of ev'rythin' chuckin' down. It's reset grand up north tha' knows! Pat'll tell yer I'll bet!

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    1. Aay 'up. Still rainin' ere tha' knows. Best go down pit int dry.

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  9. I was also about to google "nana cake" when it suddenly dawned on me that it was probably not some homely granny's fruit cake but the even more homely and wonderful .........banana cake!
    (Got it typo free this time I think!)

    21 January 2018 at 09:47

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    1. Sorry, I seem to have caused unnecessary confusion.

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  10. It tipped with rain all day here in Hythe. It meant my Derek Jarman garden had to wait. It’s dry this morning and the sea is dead flat calm. Rain is forecast for this afternoon so we will work this morning moving the pebbles a neighbour has kindly given us. Then off to the pub to slake the thirst.

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    1. Off to the Pub for a pint sounds perfect. My Sunday favourite was always a pint of Guinness.

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  11. Wretched weather here too Cro. Now I live in the town I am afraid I rely totally on electricity (and gas too of course) and \I do not like it. I intend to do something about it over the Summer.

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    1. We also have Gas bottles which make us very independent. Strikes or power cuts don't normally affect us.

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  13. I am very familiar with Geordie speak, and sorry, you are only pretending. Proper Geordie is as incomprehensible as broad Scottish. We'll leave Lancashire accents out of this crack.

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  14. Got absolutely soaked this morning with Rick. I don't like the fact we rely on gas and electricity in the UK. That chicken looks wonderful - I'm drooling.

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    1. The roast Chicken was delicious; much better than cooked by gas.

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  15. That's my accent!😂(But I don't work down t'pit)

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  16. Oh Cro, I'm sorry you're having horrible weather, I know how much you hate it! But even if you have to stay indoors all day I see you have enough to do to keep you out of mischief! Weather here: sunny and warm.
    I think you've started something new here; the "Narna cake"
    Greetings Maria x

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    1. It really is horrible here. I'm so used to it raining at night, that having days on end of rain is awful.

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  17. Thas a rummin cos that was raining in Norfolk yesterday too.

    Thas Norfolk dialect for you.

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    1. I like the sound of the Norfolk dialect; it's very slow and relaxing.

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  18. We went to London yesterday along with the rest of the world and his wife. There is something about a rainy day in London I rather like and no guilt about spending the day looking at art (Modigliani and Cezanne's portraits mainly) and having a nice lunch. We carried umbrellas and rode on steamed-up buses and eavesdropped on a Mozart rehearsal at St Martins in the Fields. (We're going to be further west than Firle, looking south to Bignor hill.)

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    1. A wonderful place to live; pure Bloomsbury country. I know it well. When I lived in London the only times I went round the BIG stores was when it was raining. Almost as much fun as the V & A.

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  19. Its started snowing here...but we're glad to see a Scottish Winter doing what it is supposed to!

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  20. May be you will be surprised or not. I love winter , the colder the better and I love rain for a very special reason:the way how the soil smells when it rains. Your home looks very cosy , old house have their very own character, I have no fire place, but I love when it starts to get dark at 4h30 pm, candle light , the house full of family members and friends and a tasty "pot au feu" for dinner.

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    1. I like 25 C for my daytimes, any rain at night, and just a few electric storms in the summer. You can have my winter!

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  21. The weather is like that here.wet, cold, and miserable

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  22. When you keep complaining, as you do, whilst offsetting your hardship against the comforts of home fires and Lady M's offerings, I sometimes wonder how you'd sound and survive finding yourself in the cold comfort of no more than the shelter underneath a bridge.

    U

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    1. Do I honestly sound like the sort of person who'd live under a bridge? Not on your nelly!

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    3. Oh Jean, what did you say? I missed it!

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    4. My dear Cro, I agree. You don't "sound like the sort of person who'd live under a bridge". Not even by choice. Most people I know don't. Yet, and let that not rattle you unduly, we all are but one or two logs to our fire away from being forced to do so. And remember, as they say in the motherland and, probably, in the Bible too: "Pride comes before the fall." Trust me. What's the other saying, loosely translated? "Never shalt you make a bigger hole in the ground than when falling from a great height." It's what I call the "ouch2 factor.

      Yours truly,
      Ursula

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    5. Let me assure you Ursula, even if I was down to my last two centimes, you wouldn't know it. I would wear my best suit, and go out and earn another two centimes; by nightfall I would have enough for a good hotel. I'm that sort of person. No pride; no fall!

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  23. It sounds like you made the best of the dreadful weather, the wood fires burning must smell heavenly. I do like your Northern accent, that gave me a laugh! xx

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    1. My northern accent may continue; just like the awful weather.

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  24. Yes - freezing rain here too. It is all over Northern Europe, I think.

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    1. Whatever happened to Global Warming?

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    2. an unfortunate misnomer...climate change isn't so catchy..although the Globe is warming,it doesn't mean we all get hotter

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  25. Nothing worse than winter rain. We are expecting freezing rain overnight just in time for the Monday commute. I would rather have plain snow. The roast chicken looked very good.

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    1. It's hardly stopped all day again today. Dreadful.

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  26. I haven't lived in France as long as you have Cro, but in 15 years, I think this has been the wettest season EVER! We are feeding our sheep each day, and what a chore - wading through any of the three gates involves squelching very slowly: any speed means losing a wellie shoe, only to be pushed and shoved by the ladies, bored, hungry and wet. When will the weather change?

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    1. Hardly ever have I had to walk the dog in the rain. Usually there is a break in the weather for an hour or so, so that one can get out to do the necessary, but over the past couple of days not even that!

      I fear we may have another week of it. Roll on summer.

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  27. Well, you made it through in fine fashion. looks like you're ready for whatever happens!

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