I did a THING!

Photo and tattoo by Adam Silas.

For pretty much as long as I can remember, I have hankered after getting a tattoo, while simultaneously assuming it was never going to happen because I was worried about how painful it would be, AND completely undecided about what on earth I would get. Obviously it isn’t the sort of decision to take unless you are very invested in the design, and of course there is also that idea that a tattoo has to be terribly meaningful as well, very deep…

A few months back, instagram decided that I needed to see posts about tattoos. You know the way it does this- you like one random post on a subject, and insta decides that must be the new thing you need to see EVERYTHING about! One of the posts that popped up was from an artist called Adam Silas - also known as The Goosefather because the majority of his work is what can best be described as comedy geese. I clicked through to his profile, spent several minutes laughing uproariously,and then announced to MrEH that I may just have decided to get a tattoo! 

Oddly enough after all the shenanigans around actually making the decision to do it, the idea for the design came together really quickly. As you know I have been a Queen fan for pretty much as long as I can remember, with my favourite band member always having been drummer Roger Taylor. Once I’d decided that I loved the idea of a silly goose, the obvious next step was a silly queen video in the shape of “I’m going slightly mad”. When I messaged Adam to ask if it might be something he was interested in tattooing, he was immediately enthusiastic - he is a Queen fan himself and also happens to love that video, so he immediately got the vibe I was after. 

Outline completed, next step colour!

On Friday I headed into London to Queens Park where the studio Adam works in is situated.  From the moment he greeted me I was set at ease- although oddly enough I really wasn’t nervous beforehand, I think making the decision to do it was the biggest thing for me although I would be fibbing if I didn’t say that the trust involved in not seeing the design until I arrived wasn’t a bit challenging. The feeling that we were on the same wavelength over it was borne out though and there were no changes to make to Adam’s original design at all.

Having filled in some paperwork, and gone through what I could expect from the process Adam set to work. I was pleasantly surprised how little discomfort there was - it felt scratchy, with the occasional sharper feeling where nerves are closer to the surface, but certainly nothing that was any sort of problem - a definite relief! The time passed surprisingly quickly - there was lots of chatting, periodic breaks for a stretch, and around three and a half hours later I had my very own Slightly Mad goose!

I am honestly delighted with it - it is just so cute, and makes me smile every single time I catch sight of it, and you can’t ask for much more than that. I can also now vouch for the fact that what people say about a first tattoo not being the last is very probably going to be true in my case as I’m already thinking about ideas for more!

Robyn.

A productive Sunday…

 

I may have mentioned before that we are on a quite clever electricity tariff called Agile - it is one of the smart tariffs offered by Octopus, and for us it manages to save us a lot of money.

Having spent 20 years in the flat on an economy 7 tariff with its lower rates overnight and higher rates during the day, a smart tariff was a pretty logical choice - load shifting is already in our skill-set so we may as well make use of that. As a general rule it means avoiding electric use between 4pm and 7pm, and prioritising things like doing the washing at weekends when rates are often lower. Sometimes though, weather conditions can mean we either get super-cheap prices, or better still, we get paid to use electricity- which is absolutely a win. Today was just one of those occasions with storms Austen & Boelo having battered the UK this weekend, and prices were negative from midnight all the way through to 2.30pm today! 

We started by using electric, rather than gas, for our heating. No sense in running the boiler at a cost when we could be paid to use the electric underfloor heating in the kitchen and bathroom, and our two trusty oil filled radiators. Those last were set up on smart plugs to ensure that they turned off at the right time too, along with the dehumidifier which also ran all day. Before I trundled off to bed last night I also loaded up the slow cooker with some meaty lamb bones, plenty of veg, stock and some split peas and pearl barley to make a sort of scotch broth style stew. That fed us at lunchtime with jacket potatoes and will be repeated in the week at some stage. A load of washing ran during the night, and I put that on to tumble dry first thing when I got up - that was then followed through the machine by another three loads of washing during the day too- those were line-dried thanks to a nice sunny and breezy day. 

More cooking - I got a pan of dahl on the go as soon as I got up - we had a couple of sweet potatoes to use up so I added those to a pan with some finely chopped onion that I had softened in a little ghee, a can of coconut milk and a cup of red lentils, plus some curry spices. That was all simmered until everything was cooked and the sweet potato was breaking down, then a couple of teaspoons of garam masala stirred in - three tubs of delicious dahl for the freezer. Meanwhile MrEH played his part too with two batches of lunchtime rolls being made, and a big pan of autumn chutney to use up the final green tomatoes and some of our home grown squash too. Finally on the kitchen front I roasted the chicken portions that will form the basis of some of our meals through the week, plus a pan of mixed veg that needed using up - that will likely be turned into a pasta sauce.

In addition we also ran the underfloor heating in the office - even though we weren’t going to be out there it is a good opportunity to give the building a warm through and be paid to do so - and any other devices that needed charging were filled up too, plus the dishwasher ran through to keep on top of the dirty dishes from the cooking.

We ended the day with meals for the freezer, a warm house, an empty laundry basket, rolls for our lunches for the week, and a row of jars of delicious chutney - oh, and £2 in credit against our electric costs for the month too - and of course none of the stuff we did through the day today cost us a penny either! What a bargain - and what a productive day! 

Robyn. 

Frugal Friday...

 

As those who read my monthly reading posts will know, I am a fan of a Jack Reacher book, and Reacher has a phrase about "hope for the best and prepare for the worst" which could easily be a sub-heading for this post! 

There has been plenty in the  news about the expected poor weather this winter combining with the knock-on effects of the summer's drought conditions and the increasing cost of transport, with some news sources suggesting that shortages on the shop shelves could be an issue. While I wouldn't encourage anyone to stockpile in a way that leaves them with more than they can possibly consume, and results in shortages for others (as we saw during the Covid19 pandemic), a degree of common sense in having sufficient stocks laid in where possible to ensure that if things do all grind to a dramatic halt, we don't have any immediate cause for panic is logical. Living as we do in an urban area with a choice of shops within walking distance, I don't imagine we are likely to be severely hit with any shortages, but it is nice to think that we have good supplies in to make our lives easier should any occur. If you are in a more rural location though, you may want to ramp things up a little more. 

Right now our freezers are well stocked with home grown produce of course, but the freezer isn't really the ideal place to have emergency food supplies because if the brown smelly stuff really does hit the spinny cooling device, then power cuts are of course a possibility, and while most modern freezers will survive a good few hours with almost no drop in internal temperature, that only applies if the door isn't opened! Tinned and packet goods are without question our friends here, and have the added advantage of lasting a really long while without degrading too. Tinned beans and lentils are wonderfully versatile in that they can be eaten cold directly from the can, or heated up, and will take the part of either a protein or a vegetable. the packets of microwave-heatable rice and grains also fall under that useful heading, although those are mostly nicer reheated, they can almost always be eaten straight from the packet and combined with a couple of tins of different pulses and perhaps a simple dressing, you have a tasty bean salad to hand. Assuming that the power remains on, these sorts of ingredients become even more versatile as well - some mince from the freezer, some frozen veg, a tin of tomatoes and another of beans, plus some herbs and spices and served with rice or pasta you have a hearty and warming dinner.

We're changing plans on our re-purchasing of toilet rolls - so often the first thing to disappear from the shelves in any form of crisis. Until now we have always bought the new pack when we have reached the point of having 2/3 rolls left - now we will purchase a new pack as soon as the "in stock" one is opened, ensuring that we always have a couple of months, rather than a couple of weeks, supply. I've always tended to follow that pattern with washing liquid, and we'll be doing the same with other household goods now also. For those who have periods, ensuring a decent supply of sanitary towels and/or tampons in stock is a good plan - there were supply chain issues with some brands of those during Covid so if you are a fan of particular brands this is even more important. If you are able to then switching to a menstrual cup or period pants can be a great and sustainable option, but these don't suit everyone, and they do require an outlay at the beginning.

Small habits can make a difference to the way that creating a storecupboard can feel to your pocket. I'm trying to add a few items to each shop that are intended for setting aside rather than for using immediately. When I need to pop in to a supermarket because I have used their carpark, I'm picking up three or four small items - tins or packets - that will go into stores to build resilience. Keeping an eye out for special offers on things we use routinely is something we do anyway, but I'm keeping a bit of a closer eye at the moment and pouncing on any unmissable deals. 

Remember also, a "storecupboard" doesn't have to be a walk-in pantry with shelves filled with beautifully labelled jars - over the years ours has been a cupboard in the spare room, the hallway cupboard, and now a spare kitchen cupboard (top picture) with backup from one of the pullout units (above) and a wardrobe upstairs. My big bag of rice sits in the cupboard under the stairs! You do ideally want to ensure that the space you choose isn't subject to extremes of temperature as that will shorten the lifespan of the items within it. "In store" cleaning materials might be able to live at the back of the cupboard under your kitchen sink, and a spare pack of toilet rolls in the  back of a wardrobe. For packet goods a drawer under a rarely used spare bed might be perfect. It's a myth that you need masses of spare space though! 

Robyn

HOW long?

 

I have just realised that January 2027 will see me having occupied this little corner of the internet for a whopping 20 years! It seems astonishing that is even possible - I can actually remember making that very first post too, and wondering how long I would keep up with being a blogger - turns out that to some extent or another the answer is "a really long while"! 

I'd love to say that in that time I have been someone who had routinely blogged every few days, but of course that is far from the case. There have been years within that where I have only put up a handful of posts, but there have also been others where I've been active on here far more - with 2020 perhaps unsurprisingly being the standout year for that with a long run of daily posts during the first lockdown, and a total of 177 for the year. 2012 and 2013 were also good blogging years. 

I've never really set any sort of target for any frequency of posts. There are folk out there doing "A photo a day" blogs and I applaud them for that - although I have my suspicions that sometimes those don't feature a photo taken that day or even the day before at all, but are simply batch-readied and scheduled for upload. Still lots of work, though! Others have blogged for years most days - and again, that's so impressive, when life gets busy all too often it also gets interesting, but that tends to be when I find the first thing to get pushed aside is this little space! I've always tended towards more of a "when I feel like it" approach - because the quickest way for me to go entirely off doing something is to feel that I "have to" and particularly from the photography perspective I certainly don't want picking up the camera to feel like a chore! 

Where would I like it to go from here then? To be honest I quite like the randomness of it - although I'm well aware that more consistency would see better stats, I've only ever written it for myself, never for anyone else, so I'm not wildly motivated by that side of things. I love that people do read it, but I'd write it just the same - more than anything else it's fascinating to look back and see what was in my head at a certain point in 2010, or 2017, or whenever. I'm more and more driven to write about experiences as well - trips away, days out, the life changing events of the Covid pandemic... Similarly I could define it more - a Frugal blog, or a photography blog, or whatever - but again that steps away from the randomness aspect, and I've never wanted it to be curtailed by having to fit within a category. It started out around photography, certainly, and I do generally try to get a photo or more into each post, but sometimes that just doesn't happen, and that's fine. 

So I'll stick around and keep doing much the same thing I should think - for some context, when I started the blog I was 35, we were living in the flat with our lovely HRH The Cat of course, and had begun to discover a more frugal way of life. Overpaying the mortgage hadn't quite happened. Since then we have paid that original mortgage off completely, enjoyed 7 mortgage free years during which we refurbished the bathroom, kitchen and hallway of the flat, and then decided to move to a house, which of course meant taking on a whole new mortgage to be attacked! I've gone from most of my photography being speedway-based, to not attending speedway at all, and now my main focus is aviation. The one factor that still plays a huge part in our lives unchanged is our trips to the Hebrides - and long may that continue. 

The photos in this post are a random selection of favourites from the time I've been blogging. 

Robyn

No Planes, several Trains, and not an Automobile in sight!

As you will know if you have read the last entry on the blog, we just spent a weekend over on the lovely Isle of Wight, and by a fortuitous piece of timing the weekend we selected happened to coincide with the Isle of Wight Steam Railway's Autumn beer festival - yes, I promise you that this WAS just by chance, as unlikely as that seems! That in turn sparked a conversation around public transport, and we started wondering quite how many forms of transport it would be possible to use over one weekend on a not-particularly-massive island... 

Of course we needed to get across there first, and we quickly realised that we could start with a great transport mode in the form of the Hovercraft. I'm not certain that either of us had even realised that there was still a hovercraft service running, but once we did you'd best believe we RAN to book it! Unfortunately the day we went over the weather was badly affecting the service, leading to it being throttled back to around half of its top speed - but it was still great fun, and we look forward to doing it again at a faster pace! The plan had been to then use the Island Line train to get ourselves and the rucksack to Sandown to drop the bag at our hotel, but due to the late running Hovercraft from Southsea we quickly realised that a change of plan was sensible so we activated our excellent value 48 hour bus tickets (£19.80 each) and our second mode of transport was the good old local bus. We then stuck with buses for the remainder of Friday as they suited our planned route. 

Island Line train interior 

On Saturday morning we began by heading uphill to Sandown Station to catch an Island Line train. These were the motivation for our original wish to visit the island, as the trains are old London Underground stock - indeed until a few years ago they were the beautiful old 1938 stock, and I do regret not getting there a bit sooner so we could ride those! Now though it is ex District Line stock that I remember being excitingly shiny and new in London in the late 1970's - now they are refurbished and  excitingly shiny and new on the Isle of Wight instead! Trains run around every 40 minutes and go from Ryde Pier Head in the north, to Shanklin in the south. For our first journey we went the couple of stops down to Shanklin for an explore there - down the hill to the Chine, then back up again via the Cliff Lift which saved a LOT of uphill walking! Back to the station then to ride the full length of the line up to Ryde. I shall count the Shanks's Pony used to walk back along the pier to the Esplanade at this stage as well, as mode 5! 

It was then time to revert to the bus to travel along to East Cowes, before walking round the corner to transport mode 6 - the Cowes Floating Bridge - a chain ferry! These are always good fun, and generally like this one a very cheap option too - it cost us £1.50 each and would have been less than that had we not decided to keep our options open about maybe going back across on it - instead we discovered that a rapid walk through the town of West Cowes would get us onto a bus to Wootton Station for the Steam Train to Havenstreet and the beer festival! 

Beers (and millionaires shortbread!) enjoyed, we jumped on another steam train to link with the Island Line at Smallbrook Junction (the only station in the UK which can only be reached by train, apparently - indeed the Island Line only stops there on days when the steam railway is operating) to head back to Shanklin, and then another bus to Ventnor for a lovely wander as the light faded. Final transport for the day was the bus back through to Sandown. 

As soon as we knew about the Vintage Bus event we were determined that Sunday would be our day to enjoy a few of those, so we were pleased that our intended first thing ride through to Shanklin for the walk back to Sandown took the form of a 1956 Open Top bus! Breezy it was, and a little chilly, but with excellent views (and a timely warning about low hanging branches from the conductor!) there really was no better way to travel! Having walked along the seafront back to the hotel, and collected our bag, we then plodded up the hill again to connect with the bus back to Ryde - this time a 1989 former Stagecoach Hampshire option. The Vintage buses were free to ride, and were stopping at the regular stops on their routes to pick up passengers, as our bus passes had by then expired this proved to be an excellent way to travel for our final few hours - although we did buy the event programme as much as anything in order to make a donation to the event. 

Open top bus through Ryde

A Guernsey Bus - just for our good friend Nick! 

Final couple of hours wandering around Ryde then, before a last hop on the Island Line up to the Pier Head (as much as anything else because we could, rather than because we needed to!) and then one final mode of transport in the shape of the Wightlink Fast-Cat Catamaran back to Portsmouth - a great way of getting back across quicker than the traditional ferry.

So - 9 different modes of transport in one weekend trip doesn't feel bad - we had hoped for a couple more, I was keen to do the Chairlift at Alum Bay, and we were both up for a boat trip from there round to Yarmouth, but due to the extremely windy weather neither were operating - so that's something for the future. Whether there would have been any more we could have squeezed in I'm not too sure, something to investigate for our next visit!

Robyn

Final island of the year?

 

Paddling pool - Ventnor

Our hectic couple of months drew to a close with a trip across the Solent to the Isle of Wight at the weekend. We’ve been talking about going for literally years - but had always been deterred by the cost of the ferries over when looking at taking the car. More recently though we watched a Vlog from a YouTuber we like - Steve Marsh - where they just went over for a day trip and explored a bit using public transport, and for the first time we realised how doable the island was in that way - we researched a bit more and then promptly booked a weekend there! 

We opted for travelling down to Portsmouth on Thursday night after work - I hopped on the tube to Waterloo to meet MrEH, then it was the train down before dropping our bag off at the very conveniently situated Premier Inn and then a bit of a pub crawl organised by our good pal Graham with a couple of other friends as well. Lovely to see people, and to be introduced to some new pubs with some really tasty beer. After breakfast the following morning we made the short walk to Southsea for the Hovercraft to get across to Ryde. We had chosen the Hovercraft for its ability to get us across in 10 minutes, which was slightly scuppered by the poor weather conditions meaning a trip across at well below normal speed and a late departure to boot! Even allowing for that though it still felt like a really exciting and different way to travel - we'll absolutely be doing it again!

The Needles from Alum Bay

The local buses on the Island are excellent, and the 48 hour tickets we bought for just under £20 each proved to be great value as they let us ride any of the local bus services. We quite rapidly realised that almost wherever you go means routing via Newport, but that wasn't a problem, and having dropped our bag off at the hotel for the next two nights (in Sandown, right on the seafront) we headed off across to Alum Bay and the Needles - somewhere I have seen many times from the mainland but never of course from the island side! Not the greatest of weather conditions unfortunately with strong blustery winds, and we didn't linger there long before getting a connection back to Yarmouth and finding a pub! When we came out and headed along for a walk up the pier (£1 donations requested towards the upkeep) the weather turned even worse, and having got soaked we rapidly decided that the bus back to the hotel was the best option! Events took a slightly bizarre but very welcome turn after that, when the chap in the seat in front on the bus suddenly turned round and addressed us both by name...turned out that it was a friend from over 20 years back who we literally hadn't seen since 2003! Really lovely to catch up, and we ended up spending the evening in the pub with him too, catching up on all the news! He also let us know that there was an event running over the weekend called "Wightrider" organised by the Isle of Wight Bus & Coach museum, and involving somewhere around 70 vintage buses running round the island for passengers to use free of charge, which seemed like an added bonus!

Saturday however was designated as a "train day" with first the Island Line with its refurbished underground trains, and then the Isle of wight steam railway. First stop was Shanklin which we were both utterly charmed by - we did a quick circular walk involving the main high street, down the steps by the Chine, then back up again on the Cliff lift before returning to the station - and then through to Ryde for the best hot chocolate I have ever tasted at The Chocolate Apothecary…

…formerly a chemist's shop, and still with its internal fitments remaining, a really  beautiful environment and we were delighted to sit in and enjoy our drinks and the ambience. A loop up to East Cowes, across to West Cowes via the "floating bridge", and then back to Wootton Station at one end of the Isle of Wight Steam Railway and a Steam Train ride on to Havenstreet for the Beer Festival. A small but good selection of well kept beers, although we weren't there for long we thoroughly enjoyed what we had. Back onto the train through to Smallbrook Junction, changing there to the Island line back to Shanklin, and a bus on to Ventnor to enjoy another quick beer and another short circular walk as the light faded, before heading back to Sandown and back to the pub of the night before - no food served there but they were happy for us to take in a takeaway and even supplied plates and forks. 

Looking towards Sandown

Sunday was our last day on the island, and we knew having the bag with us for part of the day was going to complicate things a bit, so we made the most of our time by leaving it at the hotel for the morning. We were able to catch one of the Vintage Buses down to Shanklin, and enjoyed a bit more wandering there before walking back along the coast to Sandown to collect the bag. Unfortunately there had been a big fire in the town overnight (in a derelict building) meaning that buses were all disrupted - fortunately on both occasions helpful locals let us know and confirmed where we needed to go instead of the usual stops! Another vintage bus ride through to the Museum itself at Ryde, and we were able to buy a programme - we felt that the £10 was well spent to support the event allowing for how much we had enjoyed seeing and riding on the various buses! Our last few hours were spent exploring Ryde a bit more - a delicious ice cream sundae from a kiosk on the seafront, MrEH had another hot chocolate although that was too rich for me after the ice cream - I had tea instead, and we even tracked down one of the buses that looked like it could have taken us all the way home...! 

1951 AEC Regal in Greenline livery

A truly enjoyable weekend. Carefully budgeted - we consciously booked the budget hotel chain where MrEH is a shareholder in order to make the most of the free breakfast we get there, meaning we could fill up on our first meal of the day each day and not need lunch. I confess I had my doubts about MrEH's actual inclination to skip lunch when it came to it, but allowing for snacks in various places - cake, hot chocolate and ice cream - it actually worked as planned to my surprise! The tickets for the boat on the way back were partly paid for with Tesco clubcard vouchers, we bought the 48 hour bus tickets, and bought Island Line Rover tickets for Saturday which gave us unlimited travel on those trains for £7 each. the Vintage buses on Sunday meant that we didn't incur extra fares for the final day after the bus tickets had expired, although as mentioned we did buy the event programme. 

Looking across Shanklin Chine towards Ventnor

We’re already firmly set on making a return trip, and if it is possible we may well try to make it the same weekend next year, but with a couple of extra days added ideally to give additional time for more exploring. The island isn’t huge, but nevertheless we were never going to be able to do more than scratch the surface in the time we had. The bus event was a real bonus and if we do that again we will aim to make far better use of those over the two days. 

Robyn

Airshows 2026....DONE!

 

The first weekend in October saw my final two airshows of the season - Duxford on the Saturday with their "Flying Finale" and Shuttleworth's "Race Day" show the following day. I enjoy both these shows - Duxford often offers a final chance to see the RAF Red Arrows and Typhoon Display with this year being no exception, and Shuttleworth also always seem to pull out the stops for their shows, so it is nice to have that as a "last show of the season". 

There were four of us for Duxford - Adam, Mark W and me, plus my pal Tim who had come all the way down from Yorkshire for the show. The Reds also had a tent and the pilots were attending the show on the ground in the morning so I bumped into a number of pals around the tent, including several people who had been at our incredible Waddington visit a couple of weeks ago. Caz and I grabbed a chance for a selfie with outgoing Red 1 Jon Bond…

...and I also had a nice chat with Reds PR Manager Andy - having not seen him all season it was funny to see him twice in just over a fortnight! Lovely to see the boys one last time for the season too. 

As well as a nice Reds display, we also had the usual Duxford massed warbirds, a Typhoon display where he found an astonishing amount of vapour in the air, and plenty of other assorted WW2 era aircraft including the not that often seen P-40 Warhawk and the Hawker Nimrod Mk 1. Not the longest of displays, but still good viewing, although as always with Duxford it is a shame that everything displays quite so far away from the crowdline, and they let themselves down by allowing the car park to turn into a free-for-all on exit too, Tim and I were a full hour getting out, and believe it or not, that is actually good going! 

Shuttleworth the following day was a stark contrast in that there was relatively little need for the longer end of my 100-500mm lens, everything flies far closer to the crowd, with stunning topside passes. (They also manage to deal with their car park emptying rather better too - a far more palatable 15 minutes and that got me all the way to the main road, which must be around 1.5 miles from the car park rather than Duxford's few hundred yards!)  I was with Mark W and Richard for this one, but again bumped into other pals while there too.

Highlights for me were a first display for a while by the collection's Percival Mew Gull - recently out of deep maintenance - and  the lovely three-ship formation involving the P-51 Mustang with the Grumman Bearcat and Hawker Fury, three aircraft which turned out to be surprisingly well matched. The light and conditions throughout the day were lovely, with the golden light of late afternoon being particularly spectacular.

Icing on the cake was the wind being light enough at the end of the day for some really special aircraft to display. The English Electric Wren is a favourite of all regular Shuttleworth attendees - it seems to get into the air as much via the will of the crowd as by the usual methods, and it is the only aircraft I've ever seen display that gets a hearty cheer simply for leaving the ground! The Bristol Box Kite is actually a replica of the 1910 original - this one was built in the 1960s for the film "Those magnificent Men in their Flying Machines". These only fly when there is pretty much NO wind, so seeing them is always a treat! 

And now that will be that for shows until 2027. Soon enough we can turn attention towards Red Arrows winter training, which is always enjoyable although I never seem to get up there as much as I would ideally like. In spring next year the BBMF workups will start too - always a highlight - and Typhoon as well, although they tend to rarely do practises on a Friday now which is a shame as of course that's the day I can easily do. Until then though it's an opportunity to save up for tickets, and process the masses of pictures from this season I still  haven't got to! 

Robyn