Now, would you like the good news or the bad news first? Don’t worry, it’s about me not you. Okay, I’ll start with the bad news. Last evening I lost a filling from one of my front teeth. The good news is that I have my regular check-up at the dentist at 8.00am tomorrow, so I am hopeful that the embarrassing chip in the front of the offending tooth will once again be hidden. There is a lesson to be learned here children, because the cause of my discomfort was as a result of me biting my thumb nail! However, it was a lesson that I hadn’t learned myself, because that was how the damage was done originally – what a donkey! The daft thing is that I am not a ‘bite down to the quick’ kid of guy, I just trim them up with my gnashers. I remember when we were children my sister was a ‘down to the quick’ nail biter, and she had to have nasty bitter stuff painted on her nails to put her off….it didn’t work.
Well we endured yet another week of disruptive and unpleasant weather. On Tuesday the savage wind wreaked a trail of destruction, felling trees, flattening fences, and no doubt relocating garden trampolines. At one point I thought that our chimney was going to crash through the roof, and it’s a big ole boi! Our loft hatches were skittering up and down as depicted in poltergeist movies, and at 6.15 the power failed and we were plunged into darkness. I had the foresight to light the woodburner before the lights went out all over Ashen, so we did at least have some heat, and candles were lit and placed in strategic locations. The electricity supply was restored at 1.30am. Prior to the big wind there was rain, and after it there was more rain, and then on Thursday night there was even more rain. This resulted in the river bursting its banks again, making for another another difficult and stressful delivery round on Friday morning. Away from the Stour Valley it wasn’t too bad, except for in the usual spots like Langham and Rattlesden. Later in the day the level of the Stour rose even more, and in the lane at the bottom of our hill there were several dead cars, whose owners thought that the risk was worth taking. Only this morning had the river retreated enough for recovery vehicles to gain access to tow them away. The week ahead is forecast to be mostly dry and cold, with the stiff breeze coming in from the north easterly direction, so you will need your thick vest on. It might give the ground a chance to dry out a bit – fingers crossed.
My week was not enhanced by a bout of food poisoning – but I won’t go into the details.
I have an apology to make. It was remiss of me not to thank you last week for your Christmas cards and gifts, you were very generous and I love you all for demonstrating your appreciation for what I do.
This week the supply chain has pretty much recovered to normal, so there is greater choice in the shop. There are cauliflowers from a large organic farm near Ipswich, leeks, red kale, squash, mushrooms, all of the root crops (or lots of them) and various potatoes including bakers. It being January I am pleased to inform you that it is the marmalade making season so there will be Seville oranges for you to slave over a hot stove with. The smell in the kitchen is lovely, and who doesn’t love a rolling boil, but it’s a sticky old job. There are regular oranges, Clementines, lemons and limes – a veritable plethora of citrus fruit. Cox Royale apples are on the shelves again.
I will make my return to Wyken and the farmers’ market on Saturday, so order collections from there are an option. Having a bonus Saturday off yesterday was a treat, and resulted in a busy day of domestic chores, including the taking down of the Christmas decorations and their storage in the loft above the chattering hatch. While I was up there I had a tidy up, and made sure that all of the water pipes had lagging on them, just in case we have a big freeze.
It’s time for a dig into the archive, courtesy of the Foxearth Historical Society, from this day in 1869