The stage is set.

The Lord Chamberlain's Men will give three performances of Shakespeare's 'As You Like It' in our nearby park.

The sets are small, yet practical. The acting always good. And if my online Meteo page is correct, the weather should be perfect for an outdoor production.

The LCM are a travelling troupe, and they perform all over. Below was taken from a recent production of Macbeth in Holland.

 

Unfortunately we are unable to attend, but we shall be there in spirit. 'As You Like It' is an apt play for today's woke UK. As you know, the 'gender-fluid' Rosalind first dresses as a boy, then changes back to a girl before marrying the handsome Orlando at the end.

Break a leg boys and girls.

Prices

I must admit that I haven't really noticed, but I'm reliably informed that everything is going to get much more expensive, and in many cases already has.

Maybe I have subconsciously shopped slightly more wisely than usual, but I've easily been able to stick to my sub £100 weekly spending on food and wine.

Being the cook of the house (which I enjoy) I am able to keep tight reins on my spending, and stick to meals that are both reasonably priced and tasty. I don't buy pre-prepared meals, or takeaways, and I cook from scratch every day.

As long as food continues to be available, and we are not obliged to drink from ditches or eat our pets, I for one shall now be reducing my spending, eating veggie more often, and trying to economise. There is great pleasure in producing really good tasty meals for little money; I recommend it to everyone. 

 

Capellini alla Checca

The older I get, the less I like heavy sauces of any sort. I much prefer a plain steak with just a simple salad, a dry curry to one drowning in sauce, and with Pasta I far prefer the simplest of flavourings to a dish swimming in a gallon of liquid tomato.

This Pasta dish is a classic example. Very few ingredients, an amazingly simple process, and a maximum of flavour. If you're a Pasta fan and you don't follow this recipe; I shall want to know why!

Personally I would use Spaghetti rather than Capellini.

Poem in an unknown language, from December 2014

To be read aloud!

Trendla trendla yarna hoo

Somtery ayrabel larding too.

Pemanbello ansenfellow trandly-ing

Mantargo lullingberry tinage fing.

Manso manso tuttelmust fardo

Wizzing trizzing diddledum lardo.

Armay frindig ootoom atch

Sandog Trattleditch tiddledin snatch.

© Cro Magnon Dec' 2014

Above the Crypts.

                                        

In the 'Rest Garden' where I take Billy for his walks, there is a row of Crypts, above which is a raised 'fly-over' pathway.

I rarely take this little path that is in fact the roof of the row of Crypts underneath, but yesterday morning I was lured by the amazing perfume from the red and yellow Roses that grow beneath the tall, South facing, flint wall. The Red ones were magnificent, but the yellow ones even better.

The path is quite short and contains a couple of benches, for if one is looking for solitude away from all the exercising dogs on the grassy area below.

I suspect that this is its best season. I was quite surprised to see how beautiful it is. Everything that flowers was in flower, and it was stunning. Here (below) you can see the row of pinnacles that feature in the first photo. 

The benches do attract a few overnight sleepers, but I haven't seen any for a while. When I was there yesterday, I was totally alone. Lovely.

Billy was never too keen on going up the steps, but he seems fine about it now. I expect he simply preferred to stay on the grass to play with his chums.

The garden is tended by a group of local volunteers. I may offer my services this Autumn.

 

Online Weather.

This (below) is my online weather forecast page; you might possibly use the same service, or at least something very similar.

It tells me just about everything I need to know about the day's weather, as well as plenty of stuff I really don't need to know.

It tells me about the UV index, the hours of Sunrise and Sunset, the Dew point, Barometer readings, and all sorts of other things. 

But from my personal point of view, it misses-out on possibly the most important piece of advice; and that is WHAT TO WEAR.

Ever since I can remember I have been completely useless at equating clothing with weather. On hot days I will be sweltering under several layers of ice-breaking South pole insulated coats, and on cold days I venture out in shorts and T shirt. I simply get it wrong. Occasionally I ask advice from 'she who knows everything', but my question is usually greeted by some flippant comment about going outdoors to look for myself.

What I really need is this....

5C, light rain.... Raincoat, hat, umbrella, gloves, scarf, wet weather shoes.

32C, sunny.... Shorts, T shirt, espadrilles. 

Surely this wouldn't be too hard for them to set-up.

 

Things; in no particular order.

Firstly I had a very pleasant surprise yesterday. I received a really lovely card from the mother of the girl who's bag I found a couple of days ago. Wasn't that nice of her; and totally unexpected.

At long last we've had some reasonably serious rain. We also had two nights of gentle thunder and lightning, and everything is looking refreshed. 

It is actually raining as I write, so I've donned my new Barbour and dinky matching rain hat, and ventured out down to Boots for my prescription. I'm pleased to say that the new Barbour was put to task, and is extremely efficient, which is more than I can say for Boots. If you are a shareholder of the USA Co that is buying Boots; sell now.

My oldest (Kimbo) is in Venice. He's having fun touring around Italy, it's his favourite country and he loves the food. He deserves a break; he works too hard.

Yesterday I picked-up my car from the 'garage'. They put a new clutch in for me, which took about four times as long as promised.

My mechanic in France, the wonderful Monsieur B, is one of those old fashioned types who seems to live in a permanent mess, but knows exactly where everything is. His workshop is about twice the size of the one below, but he never has more than two cars in it at any time.

What you can't see in the photo of my garage, below, was another four cars round to the left that were literally stuffed-in nose to tail, and being worked on. He was working on EIGHT cars. This guy seriously requires bigger premises.

                             

Anyway, all is now done. The Compact Royce no longer makes clanking noises in first and reverse, and changing gear has become an altogether different experience.

The garage boss previously owned a home in France, and wanted to tell me all about it. I think of myself as a reasonably good listener, but I have my limits. He went on and on and on and on.......

Our heating engineer has just been to make sure our boiler is up to scratch. He says it is.

It's been an extremely busy couple of days.