Looking back…

 

A 2019 visit to Aldeburgh and yet another picture of the stunning Scallop Shell sculpture on the beach.

I’m endlessly fascinated by the interaction of the light with the metal - it somehow never looks the same from one visit to the next, the but golden late afternoon light is hard to beat. Another curious thing about the sculpture is that even on a hot summer day it still feels cool to the touch. 

 Visits to Aldeburgh then to follow a fairly traditional pattern - they usually happen after a visit to RSPB Minsmere, and generally include a bit of a walk, followed by fish & chips. If we are there in time then there might be an ice cream too! 

Robyn

September reading…

The month began of course in the Hebrides and with the end of Elly Griffiths  A Room Full of Bones. Like the others of hers I have read I enjoyed this, although perhaps the storyline felt a little too contrived even for a series involving a Druid,  the character of Bob in particular felt rather far-fetched although the subject matter - that of UK museums etc holding on to items which should probably have been returned to their ancestral homes - was thought provoking. That one ended up heading home with us as MrEH was still reading it when we left. 

A very unusual hardback read for me next - I’m not a fan of a hardback, finding them unwieldy and uncomfortable to handle, but I was willing to make an exception for Lee Child - The Affair, a Reacher series book which as far as we could recall when we spotted it on a supermarket charity bookshelf in Stirling, we didn’t already have. A spectacularly wet and windy Sunday saw us spend much of the day reading, and indeed I demolished over half of the book in that one day, finishing the remainder the day after. Usual Reacher fare of course - although this one perhaps even slightly more far fetched than usual - but as always extremely readable and entertaining. This one will head home with us and join the others. 

Charity book shelves on the way up provided rich pickings for us on the Reacher front - as well as this we also found two others we didn’t think we already had, so our plan of only taking home books we were currently reading appeared to have been scuppered early on! 

On to another book I took with me specifically to read while away -  Molly Green- The Wartime Librarian’s Secret. Quite the culture shock going from Reacher to this, I confess! The story here was a decent enough one, albeit a fairly classic boy-meets-girl tale, but some minor errors which should really have been sorted out in the editing process let it down rather. The ending too felt rather rushed - the death of a main character generally merits more than a brief mention in a letter, for a start! It was interesting to read the authors notes regarding the setting and certain aspects of the book, but ultimately I won’t be seeking out anymore of Ms Green’s work. Left behind in a book exchange on Uist. 

Back to a favourite author - TV’s Fern Britton adores Cornwall, knows it well, and this shows in her novels which are at least mainly set in the county. I picked up Daughters Of Cornwall from a book exchange in the first few days of our arrival in Uist, and it ended up waiting until the end of the trip to get started. I tore through it though- a fascinating story of three women, Mother, Daughter and Granddaughter - and how through various circumstances their lives mirror one another. This one was finished at our hotel where we broke the journey on our way back, and will be passed on to Mum who also enjoys Britton’s writing. 

As you will be aware by the time you see this, I then found myself needing to select another book - or books - that I could take away and not have to worry about bringing home - this time for my trip to Lundy with pals. Thankfully one of the features of the Marisco Tavern on the island is plentifully filled bookshelves - you take a book to read and leave another behind - with limited mobile signals lots of reading tends to get done - along with various silly games, and jigsaws - and so it works well to have a good supply of books available. Initially I selected Linwood Barclay and Find You First - an author who while I enjoy reading is not one we keep, they are excellent thrillers (this one being no exception) but don’t necessarily lend themselves to being read again particularly soon. Tech millionaire Miles on discovering he has a terminal illness sets out to track down his offspring from a fertility clinic donation he made in his youth - a simple enough concept but one which quickly turns quite dark. A good read but somewhat spoiled by a very implausible ending, for me. Left behind on Lundy. 

The second book I took with me to Lundy was Anita Burgh - Clare’s War. I thought from the title I’d read this one before but the first few pages told me that was wrong. Burgh’s books are usually a good read, and a foggy day on Lundy saw me tear through the first half of this tale set in wartime France, by which time I was hooked enough to read the rest the following day! If I had to make any criticism of the book it would be that the ending was slightly telegraphed, but it really didn’t spoil my enjoyment at all. A great read from a solid author- left on the Tavern bookshelves for someone else to enjoy. 

Time to move on to a book that L had  finished - we tend to swap books between us while here, before raiding the Tavern bookshelves when there is nothing else that appeals. L absolutely devoured Harriet Tyce - Blood Orange, going through it from start to finish in one day, so I was expecting good things. I wasn’t disappointed - a main character who becomes more likeable as the story goes on, cleverly interwoven stories with parallels between the characters, and a huge twist in the tail which neither of us saw coming.  Couldn’t recommend this one enough - and our copy was immediately passed to S to read! 

Time for a raid of the Tavern bookshelves then - and a distinct change of genre as L recommended Spider Woman - the autobiography of Lady Hale. I wouldn’t describe myself as a regular autobiography reader but every now and again one does grab me, and this one certainly did. Hale has an engaging way of writing, and a wonderfully descriptive turn of phrase, and she has also lead a very interesting life! I thoroughly enjoyed this, and it was no chore to shoehorn in time to read the final few pages before leaving so it could be returned to the Tavern shelves. 

Final Lundy book was another that L had read and enjoyed - How to kill your family by Bella Mackie. I started this one on our final day, reading the first few chapters in the pub while we waited for the boat, and a good few more on my journey home. Oddly enough I did only have someone in the adjacent seat on the train for a single stop while reading this - maybe the title was offputting?! This is a cleverly written book with a seriously dark, twisted main character - likeable is certainly not a word that could be applied to Grace, but she is definitely fascinating! This one carries forward to October. 

A couple of late additions to the “To Be Read” shelf via a little book exchange box I pass near to work - the Rankin is one I haven’t read, and the Pullman is the first in the His Dark Materials trilogy - the third in the series is already awaiting reading.

With 9 books during the month, this is certainly the most I've read in a month for a very long while - and the amount of downtime facilitated that of course. It's also a very eclectic mix isn't it, and one where my reading choices were very influenced by circumstances of course! 

Robyn

Frugal Friday...

 

Kettle Cottage - North Uist

After a busy few months, we've agreed that it is very much time to get our eyes back on the financial ball. While we're not careless with money - we've spent too many years ensuring that our income works hard for us for that - nonetheless it would be fair to say that the past little while HAS been spendy - albeit mostly planned and budgeted, and the unplanned bits were necessary and have been covered by our emergency fund of course - the reason we have it! Even budgeted spends can start to feel a bit much when they all come one after another though and we definitely need to feel that we have a level of financial control back again!

Starting point has been the allocation of funds from a couple of maturing regular saver accounts - and the replenishment of our short term emergency fund. We had also borrowed some money from our Christmas budget pot to pay the deposit for next year's Lundy trip, and that too was replaced. The long term pot had of course covered the costs of our beautiful new front steps, and the balance of the regular saver money  was returned to the ISA where that money came from, leaving us all squared away there too. 

The Old Light - Lundy

We discussed what to do relating to Regular Saver accounts, and have opted to re-open one where the interest rate is still of a level to make it worthwhile - that will be funded from monthly income going forwards. The other one which ended has not had a new one opened as the provider no longer offers the same product or anything similar at a sensible interest rate. Another - in Mr EH's name - matures next month and that will go straight into a holding account to fund a couple of new Regular Savers that will be on the go then. 

Homegrown produce is enabling lower shopping bills at the moment - but of course that will begin to tail off shortly. That said, we won't be needing to purchase garlic, tinned tomatoes or pesto for the near future! The aim with the food account is now to build up a healthy surplus in there ready to cover the extra food costs that come along with Christmas, and we've made a good start there with £50 left over from the September budget, even after taking £100 of the month's budget towards holiday food spending!

White Tailed Eagle - Ronay

On a personal level, another focus has been ensuring that money is claimed back where it is due to us. MrEH is able to reclaim the costs of his newspaper subscription for the copies he didn't get while we were in the Hebrides, and my Delay Repay claim for the late train on the way back from Lundy has also been made. That won't amount to very much - probably £6.25, although I may be fortunate and get paid at the higher level, but it is still money I am entitled to have, so I wasn't planning on missing out!  I will now be setting my sights on replenishing the money in my own short-term savings that I "robbed" when I bought my new camera - I like to have a basic emergency fund of £1000 sitting there and at the moment it is several zeroes short of that level, so the majority of any surplus from my personal funds will be diverted there for the foreseeable. 

Joint account surplus will revert to being sent across to a combination of the "end of month" mortgage overpayment which usually takes the form of clearing down to the next £100 level to leave a tidy figure for end of month, and we will probably send anything spare after that to the Stocks & Shares ISA which forms part of our very long-term financial planning! The drill there is that any money sent to it is there for the long haul, so is sent and effectively forgotten about. More than likely an odd £50 here and there will head into Premium Bonds too, although we're never likely to win the million, we do pick up enough wins here and there - particularly when the holding size is larger - to make them worthwhile. 

Beach Huts - Eastbourne 

We've also been focusing back on the small financial habits - bank accounts which have renewable bonuses have had those bonuses renewed - it makes sense to keep them as up to date as possible to get the maximum benefit should they be discontinued! Checking the banking most days to check everything is in order. We'll be returning to meal planning and shopping from a list, and of course load-shifting our electric use to the most cost effective times on our Octopus Agile tariff - although those seem to be few and far between at the moment! With the costs of fuel for the cars escalating hugely we have been careful to shop around there - with a petrol station near to my work proving to be a good bet at anything up to 10p a litre cheaper than close to home.  In the interest of saving fuel, I’m using a free trial of a supermarket delivery pass to cut down on the cost of getting shopping - and yes, a reminder has been set to cancel it before the end of the trial! Although those are all seemingly small things, over time they do mount up and are relatively low effort to help us keep on an even financial keel, 

Robyn

September in the garden…

 

Well this has been an odd month. We were away for the first couple of weeks of course - but a fortuitous change in the weather combined with our irrigation system ensured that my lovely Mum didn’t have to do anywhere near as much watering as we (and she!) had feared. She did prove to be an excellent tomato harvester though! 

Ahhh…tomatoes! One of the tubs in this picture was harvested by Mum, and there was still enough ripened on our return to fill the other two!  An awful lot split and spoiled too - which unfortunately is what happens when the weather is as erratic as we have seen this year. 

Another little glut was courgettes - they were only producing slowly before we left, we suspect partly due to the very hot dry conditions. As soon as though conditions changed it seems that  the plants ramped it up a gear! As much as these are tasty, I think we will be inclined to go back for traditional shape ones once these seeds are finished as the flat fruits are far less easy to chop up into sensibly sized pieces.

Another effect of the change in the weather is that all of a sudden we are seeing fruit ripening without end rot on our remaining few Roma (San Marzano) tomato plants. We had taken the decision to thin these plants out hugely as we simply weren’t getting the fruit to ripen no matter how much we tried to keep the watering consistent - it just wasn’t possible in the drought we were experiencing, and we reached the conclusion that it wasn’t worth the time and water trying to keep them all going. 

The runner beans too are suddenly producing - the beans just don’t seem to set in very hot, dry weather. 

The Tromboncino squash we left at quite a small size was enormous by the time we got back- after leaving it on the plant to cure we finally harvested this one at the very end of the month - that will hopefully store for a few months to give us a boost of fresh homegrown produce in the early winter. 

Just under a week after getting back from the Hebrides I headed off again to Lundy, leaving MrEH looking after the garden of course.  He was also in charge of of rather a lot of vegetable roasting at that stage too - the courgette, squash and tomatoes have mostly been being prepped into sauces or just cut into pieces, roasted and then frozen - we should be well set up for some tasty meals from the freezer running into the winter. He also made a massive batch of ragu using home grown toms and courgettes as well- freezer 2 is now switched on and in good use, and we’re looking forward to a good supply of home grown food!

First thing I noticed when we got back was these lovely bright pink Asters - we must have sown them earlier in the year and forgotten about them! At a time of year where there is less colour and prettiness than the summer provided they're a lovely splash of joy!

We have the promise of more courgettes - not sure this is a good thing though as we already have 4 in the fridge, and they’re a size! The tomatoes are still producing like crazy too - another two big trays were roasted off the day after I got back from Lundy, plus another large tray of mixed mostly home grown veg. There are still two big boxes in the fridge as well! I think the next batch of these I want to process will be turned into sauce - or even passata if I can be bothered to sieve them.

Maybe the most exciting news at the end of the month was that our pointed peppers have started to change colour. We haven’t done well with peppers and chillies this year sadly - the plants started well but the majority then simply didn’t thrive, and I have a suspicion that as much as they are hot weather plants they didn't enjoy the hot and dry conditions this year. We will enjoy our small harvest, and try again next year! 

It looks like there will be a garden post for October at least as there is still plenty going on - although no doubt it will also see us beginning to clear things back for the winter too. 

Robyn

More September excitement...

 

The fun just kept on coming in September, from spending the first half of the month in Scotland, to my lovely week on Lundy, and then on Monday after I got back from that trip I hopped on the tube after work to go to the Roundhouse at Camden to see Queen drummer Roger Taylor playing a solo gig! 

Those who know me will be aware that I'm a huge Queen fan, and that I've seen Roger play many times in the past, right back to 1992 with his original solo band The Cross, through his "Happiness" & "Electric Fire" tours in the mid 90's and more recently of course as part of "Queen and Adam Lambert". I love his music, he has an amazing voice, and even at the grand age of 77 he still puts on an amazing show!

I joined what was already a fairly lengthy queue on Chalk Farm Road not long after 6pm, and the first excitement was seeing a lovely pal from years ago, Brenda - I think we were both quite impressed that we recognised one another instantly - it must be around 20 years since we've last seen each other! She confirmed that the rest of the gang from back in the day would be there too, which was great to hear! 

Finally the queue began to move into the venue - credit to the door staff for keeping things moving, and by shortly after 7pm I was in! A quick size-up of the spread of the crowd and I decided to head for the right hand side. To my surprise I was able to grab a space right at the front albeit off to one side, and given my lack of height that seemed like quite a win! At this stage rumours were circulating that Brian May was in attendance - this sort of rumour often does the rounds but on this occasion there did seem to be some substance to it, and a few minutes into the gig a chap behind me spotted that Mr May was indeed on the balcony just above us, with various members of Roger’s family too.

The setlist featured the usual mix of older solo material and Queen stuff alongside songs from Roger’s new album. A version of Queen’s “Rock it (Prime Jive)” featured drummer Tyler Warren on vocals while Roger took a brief break, and band member Tina Keys joined Roger on vocals for “Surrender”  and “Under Pressure”. The first of the night’s special guests were the Ndlovu Youth Choir from South Africa - they also feature on the new album and performed several tracks alongside Roger plus doing the most beautiful version of Bohemian Rhapsody - partly sung in Zulu! Roger also took to his drum kit while the choir did their thing on one of the album tracks too - always a treat! 

With the end of the show looming fast, I don’t think too many in the audience were massively surprised when Roger introduced Brian to the stage - and the cheer that went up practically lifted the roof off! We Will Rock You got everyone clapping and stamping along, and then Radio Ga Ga wrapped things up with Rog & Bri encouraging us all in the appropriate clapping on the chorus! 

Final treat for the night was catching up with Brenda (again), Allison, Helen and others on the way out - an absolute joy as the years rolled back as we exchanged hugs and excited shrieks of how brilliant the gig had been! 

Photos from this were obviously limited to what I could get on my phone so not great quality but they’ll do me as great reminders of such a fabulous evening!

Robyn. 

And home…

 

And so the last day of a wonderful week dawned - and a beautiful dawn it was as we already saw in the Big Skies post. This is a slightly different shot though - taken when I first realised that the lights in the Black Shed had not been turned on to spoil it! The electricity in Lundy is switched off overnight most of the time, so often the lights there get left on and come back on when the power does! 

First task on departure day is always to get cases packed and ready to go - those then go outside your property ready for collection by quad bike and trailer ready to be taken to the jetty ready to load on to the boat. After that it’s the self catering accommodation basics - a quick tidy round, any crockery and pots and pans replaced where we found them, and then time for a last cup of tea before at 10am we leave and head for the Tavern to set up base camp for the day.

Not too many people doing the same on this occasion, so we were able to grab our favourite table. That then means people can come and go as they wish during the day, always leaving someone at the table to look after the bags travelling as “hand luggage”. S is generally quite happy to sit and read, and M also sat tight for the morning, B does his own thing but was also about for much of the day, leaving L and I to head out for last walks - I opted for the east side path again, with glorious views, and somewhere I could keep an eye on the boat’s progress across too! (It’s always nice to know when the day trippers will be arriving!)

Along to the Quarry then, with a drop down to the bottom path at that stage…

 

…you can just see it in the shot above. More fantastic views of course - I’d forgotten quite how stunning the views from that path are, one to add to the list for our next visit! 

Eventually the path naturally curves back up to the top of the island - I elected to walk back towards the village on the main track for a while before cutting across to the middle and up to the Old Light, no time to go up to the top on this occasion, but just past and back to the Tavern. 

Couldn’t resist stopping for a few minutes to watch the lovely Lundy Ponies heading across the field though! 

Final day lunch is cheesy chips in my world - it’s practically the law, and the Tavern kitchen does excellent ones! Then time for a bit more sitting/chatting/reading before it’s time to settle the Tavern tabs from the week - mine came in pretty much where I was expecting which was good, with an additional spend in the shop that I paid as I went along. All within budget which I was very pleased about, and all paid on the cashback credit card for a few pennies back too! 

The final walk down to the jetty then, this time to board the M S Oldenburg (fondly known as the “Old and Buggered”) for the trip back. Thankfully as the pictures show- on far calmer seas than the way out! 

Unusually the crane was still up when we arrived - meaning more was to be loaded. Usually this is all done ahead of the arrival of passengers to line up ahead of boarding so clearly there was a last minute item to go aboard - sure enough the tractor trundled carefully down with a wooden crate slung from the forks - this turned out to contain a seal pup which had been abandoned by Mum and needed to be taken to the mainland. Crate and pup - wrapped in cooling wet towels - were carefully craned aboard and then we were able to board too. 

Annoyingly we had to wait for a couple of folk who thought “3.30pm at the jetty” didn’t apply to them, but once they’d rocked up at 3.55pm we were off into the Bristol Channel, making 14 knots much of the way - the crew were keen to get back - and we were still back at the other side a good 30 minutes ahead of expected arrival! We disembarked and S & L headed off up the hill to collect the cars, with M & me in charge of collecting the luggage once offloaded - first off was the seal though - quickly transferred to a crate for onward transport to medical attention..

 

Poor little thing, I do hope it can be nursed back to health. 

With luggage collected and loaded into the cars, and goodbyes said and hugs exchanged with S & B, it was time to hit the road to Tiverton Parkway where I was being dropped off - more hugs with M & L this time before they jumped  back in the car for their onward journey to Cheshire and I settled down with a pasty, a cuppa and my book to wait for my train. 

Once on the train was when things got eventful. Late running of 5 minutes at Tiverton extended as we went along, and even the 10 minutes scheduled stop at Bristol was unable to let us make up the time. A further unscheduled stop at Reading left us running very nearly half an hour behind and in spite of some high speed running between there and Ealing we still arrived at Paddington 29 minutes late.

In the meantime I had also realised that the Central Line - integral to the last bit of my journey- was suspended! The late running train would have left me reliant on the night tube anyway, and lovely MrEH was always going to be collecting me from as close to home as I could get, but in the event he told me to take the Elizabeth line to Stratford as planned and he would collect me from there - a good call otherwise my 2am arrival home would have been even later! 

A very long day and a slightly stressful journey, but still I think far better all round than the alternative late night drive back on my own. Cheaper too probably - particularly with the sharp increase in the price of diesel again recently. My Delay Repay claim will be going in for the delayed arrival too! 

Robyn

Big skies…

There are many parallels between Lundy and the Hebrides - the beautiful scenery, the availability of absolute silence broken only by bird song, but perhaps most of all the big expanses of sky - no tall buildings to break the skyline beyond a church! 

Whether it is a heavily cloudy day or an almost unbroken blue sky, it makes for a stunning canvas for the landscape to sit below…

It also makes for the possibility of wonderful sunrises and sunsets too - like the sun peeping through a gap in the clouds the other morning…

…or the incredible red and orange glow lighting up the sky last night, our final night on the island…

It isn’t any hardship being up early on the final morning when the sky looks like this, either… 

That said, I still didn’t want to leave! 

Robyn