Just Humans Being...

Firstly, I'm going to have a rant about Chelsea Tractors, otherwise known as posh four-wheeled drive vehicles. Farmers use them - predominantly Land Rovers. They aren't green, but they serve a function. They drive over fields and tow trailers full of turnips. Now the Chelsea Tractors are not entirely dissimilar.They drive past fields, and are driven by turnips. The farmer often has his son/brother/sheepdog in there with him. That's a good thing. Shared occupancy equals greener credentials. The driver of the Chelsea  (Hummer, Shogun, BMW oil guzzler or whatever) is a loner. Usually named Ursula or Peter (never Pete). The only time Ursula shares Chelsea is for the 3 minutes it takes to deliver little Jocasta and Jonty from the gravel driveway and Farrow and Ball painted gates of her country retreat to the primary school. I've seen this. "OOH!" I hear you cry -"Simon, you live in an affluent area, why the nasty swiping tone of voice?" Well readers, it

I don't know why, but we're feeling quite disinterested in this year's festivities... We are really struggling to motivate ourselves to look for gifts & write the mountain of cards that we send every year & if it wasn't for the kids - we probably wouldn't celebrate at all! It's not a case of "Bah Humbug", it's more to do with being opposed to the commercialism that takes over this time of year. We have talked for years about the paper & packaging that is just a complete waste of resources & looking at alternatives to Christmas cards, so now as I blog - Sime is writing cards for the final time, complete with messages for folks to send us their email addresses, so next year we can send our own e-card instead... We have never spent lots on gifts & in fact, we usually buy from charity shops for the kids. We also do a "Secret Santa" with our friends & the rule is that it should either be home-made or second-hand &

Our Uncle Bill Scragg talks about leaving his home in Stoke-on-Trent for the first time & "going on the continent" - we took him on our road trip to Germany back in September! No doubt he'll join us again when we travel to the south of France in January!!! Check out all his videos on:  http://www.youtube.com/user/BillScragg?feature=mhum#p/u/5/WumTG6MAE0Q

We started out on our journey from Cornwall early in the morning, it usually takes us about 6 hours to get up to Stoke-on-Trent, where our folks live. There is one main road which cuts through Bodmin Moor & Devon before joining the motorway to head north. Unfortunately, there was black ice up near the Jamaica Inn, which had caused several accidents that morning, so the police closed both carriageways... We decided to detour & take the small lanes through the moorland villages & so our journey out of Cornwall doubled in time, as we met with more treacherous icy conditions. Although it was a bit hairy at times, it was a beautiful morning & at least we got to see sights like this - If you can't make it out, it's a natural tree root feature that has been decorated with white wellington boots! Several hours later, we were nearing our destination & got our first glimpse of snow on the fields by the motorway, just outside of Birmingham.  The delightful view from

We're having major internet access issues at the moment, so are going mobile for a while in order to snatch WiFi  where and whenever we can. Our ISP has been less than helpful, and we are considering a move elsewhere. We hope to be back soon with more tales both adventurous and humourous, so watch this space.

Britain continues to freeze and that's just perfect as we Brits obsess and discuss  the weather continually. It matters not whether the weather is mild with an incoming band of high pressure or floods and ice storms are raging - it all makes for some inconsequential  banter down the pub/launderette/dentist.You know the conversations..." Ooh Elsie, my joints are all stiff again! " , "It's the damp Margaret, I was only saying to Derek last week how damp it's getting. we didn't have damp when I was a girl, it's since them carbon footprints were invented".  You can hear crap like this everywhere in the British Isles all the time. It's great! I say garbage like this continually. We all do. I don't know an Isobar from a Kelvin, but it doesn't matter, it's all in the triviality, the sheer time -wasting joy of it all. What an uplifting thing it is to discover that this part of December is the coldest since records began in 64AD. I made th

Everywhere in the UK seems to have had some snow just lately, except our little peninsula. It has been really cold though! Only 2 weeks ago we had some serious flooding in the area.  Mevagissey, which is just a couple of miles down the road, was hit really bad... Sime took these a few hours after the flood water had peaked. It's going to take a long time for homes & businesses to recover again, but everyone involved seems to be strong & determined to get back on their feet! It seems strange that just a few days after the floods, we were plunged into freezing temperatures - weather that we really are not used to around here & our house, although we have heating, has been the coldest we have known in the 5 years we have lived here (the price we pay for living in such an old draughty farmhouse)! Anyway, a good way to keep warm is to keep busy & so we've spent lots of time over the last few days making & baking... My rustic 'no knead' loaves...