Re: Diary summary week ending 5th October 2025

[Viktoria]

Have tried to reply to two RootsChatters who have been very kind re my forthcoming pacemaker .
I have typed replies but they have come back to me !
No idea what I have messed up ,but thanks very much ladies ,well I am assuming they are both ladies !
I will try again later.

Viktoria.

[mare]

Well that was another week that was ... adjusted OK to clocks going forward last weekend. 

3 cities 3 different days, a couple of hours north and same south and other partway south. Annual dental visit old area Monday, all good and brief with xray and clean, took opportunity to catch up with a couple of previous neighbours. One has a new baby boy, so dropped in with a gift there, the other couple with twin girls born January have shifted again since last visit and girls are sitting up and taking more notice now, lovely  Also a brief visit heading south yesterday to see great nephew and wife and their 3 month old bonny wee boy, a baby week!

Daughter up north moved last weekend, mid school holidays, daughters worked as a great team over a few days to get it ship shape and set up for family while the 3 granddaughters had more daddy and other grandparent time  I did help a bit with clearing and cleaning of temporary dwelling they had between selling and buying again. Back up there next weekend for a little family party for miss 6 with a birthday coming week, other grandparents like to host those 

I think I would probably be the same TY with having to take on the less familiar tasks that husband would normally take care of, hopefully capable but still 'new'. I do get to open all the jars and bottles and caps these days, his arthritic fingers don't manage that now.

All the best Viktoria with your supportive contacts and procedure to come and of course be well all. With mingling at a few more group gatherings this past week a bit wary of those still hanging onto coughs, one in particular at table last night next to husband but fingers crossed we're all good, have kept up with jabs with the recommendations for being of 'a vulnerable age' 

Cheers all ... and as I said that as often do, I really don't want to remember that my glass of red wine sloshed onto the white carpet of neighbours across road Friday night  ... mortified I was and they were good about it but probably horrified!

[Viktoria]

Oooooer!
I believe salt - but  put on thickly straight away can help remove red wine stains .
Hopefully the neighbours are insured for accidents.

Not yet time to put our clocks back ,it will be darker earlier then - well the clocks will say so!

I must remember to plant the bulbs, I dried last year’s so hopefully they will be O.K.when I re -plant them.It is the right time now.
Thanks for the reminder.


Well , more photos of baby Lily, seems to be standing up now but not heard if she has started crawling .
It is quite important babies do, lots of reasons re things like hand/ eye co- ordination .
She is all smiles.My face aches as I look at them , as I smile back!

Son back and some very disappointing wild salmon for tea,from Tesco.
In my online order, lately the food has been very short dated ,a couple of days at the most and that is silly, some things I prefer not to freeze but with short dates I have to.

Quite cold here,son back today, his central heating - well the boiler - is down,he thinks it is an electrical fault so is trying to isolate that to see if the rest works .He sleeps here since I was in hospital at Christmas ,did so before but then in his house and came back in case I was ill in the night.

Well, Antiques Roadshow in a while,I like that programme .
Pots all washed and away ,s cup of tea and that is that until our evening de caf milky coffee with chocolate biscuits .

Look after yourselves ,Viktoria.

[BumbleB]

My apologies for this - BUT why do people insist on responding to the "best before date"?  In my opinion - if it looks OK and it smells OK, then just use it!!!  We throw away far too much edible food.

[Jebber]

I’m the same BumbleB. Most things you can easily tell if most things are safe to eat. I’m a little more careful with use by dates because they do have a genuine purpose, I still give them a couple of days leeway.  With eggs, as long as they don’t float they are perfectly okay. Living on my own and now finding cooking difficult  and with a small appetite,  I tend to have quite a lot of ready meals, if they don’t do a mini version I split a normal size meal for one into two halves, freezing one half for another day.

My food waste bin only goes out for collection occasionally, it usually consists of mainly egg shells, occasional banana skins  and the odd tea bag if I have had visitors who drink tea,  something I dislike I buy a lot of frozen fruit and vegetables,  so only have peelings  if I have stewed apple, then I do a big batch and freeze it in single portions.  When I was still fit and could cook and  garden,  as much as possible went on the compost heap. We were far less wasteful after the war when we still had rationing.

[Rena]

Cheers all ... and as I said that as often do, I really don't want to remember that my glass of red wine sloshed onto the white carpet of neighbours across road Friday night  ... mortified I was and they were good about it but probably horrified!

I can vouch for the fact that if you "tip" some white wine over the newly spilt red wine stain then the red wine stain disappears.

As with all spillages, blot with a dry cloth and wash as soon as possible.   As mentioned puting salt on a liquid will lift the liquid off the cloth but it has to be removed fairly quickly.

It's been cloudy of late and this week Phoebe, the sun, shone brightly and highlighted thick dust on places that I hadn't previously noticed.   For cleaning & dusting cloths I have a couple of packs of thin modern blue and white cloths.  I don't like them and  the cloths just aren't adequate for washing doors, etc.  - additionally I need to replace some old fashioned yellow dusters.   lol - the last time I felt an urge to do a full "spring" clean was when a baby was due :-) 

[mare]

Yes, have heard white wine or salt options, another neighbour along road who also has new white carpet ( ) swears by instant application of cold water on red wine spills and dab with dry cloth not rub, so I did that and got most of the splashes to disappear but one bad patch  Both immaculate homes. I phoned Sat morning to see how terrible it looked, she said not to worry but have seen steam carpet cleaner van there early this afternoon, so far ignoring my request to send me the account for that! I know he also vacuums the carpet like it is a bowling green and evenly, not haphazard!!

That was where my apologies went BB  ...but in regard to food, waste not want not is general for me, as was the case growing up and also before the guidelines of dates. Fresh is best of course and I buy what we need or can use but occasionally plans change and something needs to be used quickly before spoiling. Luckily we seem to have cast iron stomachs or something when ignoring the dates but also use the visual/smell option of course, waist line probably suffered a bit when children were small as I tended to eat what they had left rather than throw it out and some creativity with other leftovers as you do. Our grandchildren are still quite young but a bit wasteful with food at times, wanting something and leaving it ... we wouldn't dare starving children in Africa or something.  With more plentiful options and food choices now, and particularly with girls, not to make such a fuss on food fads and diets as long as they're getting enough nutrition overall...
It is reported here as well that the food waste is very high though, quoting percentage of waste each household on average, not us in that category or a few others I know which would make that percentage higher. However one family in particular we know always offers leftovers to guests when leaving after a meal as they say it won't be used and just thrown out, including good quality meat cuts and happier to buy lunches instead of taking something from home that is sitting in fridge ...

...all sorts ...

..new week ...

... dinner time prep here 

[Viktoria]

I do adhere to use by dates, food is processed very differently to the old well tried methods ,it is meant to not last as long ,more profit for the supermarkets!
Done properly preserved food will last a long time ,but intensive farming and artificial rearing methods are so very different from the old traditional ones .
A programme last week had people in Spain eating twelve year old Iberica ham —-twelve days could  perhaps cause fatalities if modern supermarket ham was eaten after the use by date .
How would you know ,if you were ill and vomiting,  how much of your essential medication you had lost- dangerous take another dose and dangerous to perhaps not have any at all left in your system.

So I do object to getting short dated food, I mean only two days after delivery , several things that if unless cooked in a day would be outdated .
I would look were I in a supermarket for long dates,anyone would.
I don’t want to be forced into cooking and freezing  a lot of food almost immediately after it us delivered .
I just don’t risk more illness, I have enough to contend with but I am aware the dates are to the supermarkets’ advantage.
Viktoria.

 

[louisa maud]

When I shop for fresh food I always check the dates, I think online shopping  the pickers don't have time to check dates, one  reason why I don't buy fresh in an online shop,  also I am becoming convinced  that frozen meat is never as tender as fresh bought meat, like most it isn't always convenient  to shop every day like our mother's did.
Over and out to the new week

LM