Chaos reigns at Mizen Towers at the moment. On Tuesday the fitter begins removing our current kitchen units before putting in new ones, so by tomorrow evening the room needs to be empty. We had the current cupboards built 30 years ago, so you can just imagine the crap that is being unearthed in the deepest recesses of some of them. It raises the question, “do we really need that?”, let’s face it, we’ve done without it for decades, and there is always the complaint “I don’t have enough cupboard space” – no, because we hang on to too much old toot! Now don’t get me wrong I am by no means minimalist by nature, in different parts of the house I have held on to a fair few items of ‘sentimental value’ too, in fact I am accused of having a whole room full of such things, though in fairness the contents of ‘the little room’ do not all belong to me. Anyway, we have got a large skip on the driveway, and it is my job to fill it with a aforementioned toot, as well as the soon to be replaced kitchen units. Oh and it’s not only the kitchen fitter we have to contend with, there will be the electrician, plumber and floor layer….thank goodness it’s only every 30 years!
We have been warned that the job should take no more than 2 weeks to complete, but in the meantime we will largely be cooking and eating outdoors. Well when I say outdoors what |I really mean is that I am setting up a temporary basic kitchen in the ‘Wendy House’ (otherwise known as the summerhouse – basically a small shed), adjacent to which I have erected a gazebo to function as our dining room. The tent-like structure is green, so Jennifer refers to the whole arrangement as the Scout camp. If the weather is kind it will be absolutely fine, and as a last resort we can always take our plate of Bully beef and baked beans into the sitting room (piled high with boxes containing the contents of the kitchen) and eat it on our laps, but we are not very good at that, much preferring to be civilised and sit at a table. This time next week I will provide a progress report – on the kitchen, and on outdoor living.
It’s going to be a short working week, because tomorrow I will be on the big clearance, and on Wednesday I am at my old school friend Paul’s funeral in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire. As is quite normal on these occasions there will be a mix of emotions; intense sadness for the loss of someone that I shared such good times with, but also sharing anecdotes with rarely seen friends dating back 50 years. Finding the right words for Paul’s wife Judy, his son Jake and daughter Faye will be difficult. I must remember to take a handkerchief, being the sensitive soul I am.
There was a shower yesterday, and another this morning, but barely enough to dampen the ground. A couple of hours or more of proper rain would be really good for the garden. The courgettes, chard and beans in particular would benefit from a freshen up. Having said that, I will be picking French beans this week as well as runners. I will be cutting a limited quantity of broccoli too. Discovery apples will be picked again, the red peppers will mostly be the long pointed ones, beetroot will be loose rather than bunched, and I am offering the larger tomatoes in 1kg bags with a price incentive. Potatoes will be red ‘Alouette’ and ‘Charlotte’ salad potatoes. If you want to get spicy there is a choice of chilli peppers – the ‘Portugal’ type has a nice balance of sweetness and heat. Because of only having a camp kitchen I will not be making any pesto for a couple of weeks.
I suppose that I had better get back to packing up the pots and pans, the mountain of boxes is growing steadily in the sitting room….it’s about the scale of Ben Nevis at the moment but tomorrow it will be Mont Blanc, so there’s some way to go.
Bank Holiday tomorrow, I always feel that autumn is very close once it is behind us. The dews are heavier, the days are shorter, early morning mists, and a bit of a nip in the air. It’s a lovely time of the year, the season of mellow fruitfulness – apples, plums, pears, blackberries and all of the hedgerow fruit, so much to look forward to.
That’s all to come, until then have a great week.
Phil