Sunday, 25th May 2014

No allotment for me today - I need to revise my socks off. My exam is in just over a week and I am SO unprepared! I always feel like that, but this year I have really brought it close to the wire. Still, that offers me plenty of opportunity to procrastinate and update the blog :)

We had a fantastic night last night, we had dinner out and then the theatre. That is the third night out we have had this month - I think Dan might be 'dated-out' for a while now!

The dinner was the Curry Leaf in Exeter and it was absolutely stunning. It had been recommended to me, or I would have walked straight past, but the food was incredible - the chef used to work in a Michelin Star kitchen, apparently!

It is South Indian cuisine so although the good old Tikka Masala is on the menu, they specialise in traditional South Indian food. We decided to be adventurous and tried something called a Dosa - I am so glad we did! It is a special pancake made with lentil flour and filled with potato curry - there are different versions so I ordered lamb. It comes with coconut chutney and a vegetable stew (I have now tried okra, box ticked). 

One of the best meals out I can remember and pretty reasonable - £30 for two people including starters,mains and drinks.

The theatre was also good, it was a Grand Guignol production by Exeter Alternative Theatre. They put these on a few times a year and we always try to go, as it is a really unusual evening out! It wasn't as good as some of their efforts but still a great night. Looking forward to their Halloween production - that's always the blockbuster!

Dan is beside himself with joy because the new library has now opened and so his happy Saturday routine can resume. He is also extremely excited because they are open on Sundays! Unfortunately I have about £40 worth of fines sitting on my account so I feel as though if I walk in there I will have a neon flashing sign above my head saying 'DEBT' so it looks like the sofa for me and my revision. Which I need to get back to. Ugh.

xxx

Sunday, May 18th 2014

What a lovely weekend we have had! The sun had his hat on again today and I am looking a little rosy-cheeked - I did remember sun cream this time though!

We went up to the plot and did some weeding and watering, not much else needs doing but both those jobs take up far more time than you would imagine! Dan planted some tomatoes outside - we cant see that anyone else has done this, they are more of a greenhouse crop, but we know it is possible and as we don't have a greenhouse our options are limited! Hopefully they will do well, there is nothing quite like a home-grown tomato.

There are quite a few potatoes coming through and most of the plants which had been slug victims a few weeks ago have got themselves back on track again (with the exception of the poor old turnips). The slug pellets have worked very well but do have a side-effect I hadn't thought of - all the plants are surrounded by creepy slug and snail graveyards! Its a dog-eat-dog world on the allotment, those snails should have picked on someone else's spinach!

Other than that, this is one of the most cheerful times of year at the allotment because lots of things are in flower, so it looks really pretty. Strawberry flowers are everywhere (they seem to have their own rules and just appear spontaneously where you weren't even aware there was a plant) and the chamomile is unstoppable. There are also some gorgeous irises which have popped up out of nowhere and make the whole place look really exotic.

Combined with Dan's marvellous strimming efforts, the whole place looks very smart.

The essay is almost finished as well, so a successful day all round!

In other news, Manaus the catfish is doing neon orange poos... any ideas?

xxx

Saturday, 17th May 2014

We went to see The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe last night and it was really good! It was a production by Exeter College so I was a bit dubious, not really sure what to expect. 

Considering the fact they are still kids really, and they must have quite a small budget, it was amazing!!! A really good night out and it was completely packed so it looks like it was a success for them. We are going to the theatre again next weekend - check us out, we are so fancy!

Got home and my house stank of petrol! The strimmer had leaked, thankfully on some hessian sack in the 'allotment corner', but the smell was horrid! I was quite relived it was petrol though, when we walked in the door we thought we had a gas leak on our hands.

Today I am meant to be writing my assignment but keep procrastinating (which as we all know is totally out of character...) and even ended up having a conversation with the neighbour, an activity usually avoided at all costs (including doing a lap of the road if I see one of them entering the hallway before I do, small talk is the WORST). It was nice to sit in the garden and chat though, and she is really nice. The cat has already bonded with her and spent the whole time I was talking to her rolling around on his back trying to persuade someone to rub his tummy. Any friend of Muddles is a friend of mine, I guess.

I was forced into the garden by an ENORMOUS wasp in the front room. Dan is not in the house and I knew I should have closed the window but it felt ridiculous to do that when it is 20 degrees C outside! But as predicted an evildoer flew in and then went and hid behind the sofa where I couldn't find it. And I have to sit on the sofa to do my assignment! I stood wild eyed in the middle of the room holding a cup in one hand and a shoe in the other for at least five minutes (not sure how this whole situation was going to play out, I couldn't decide on a weapon). Then I decided I would just go and sit in the park for four hours until Dan came home (yes, that is perfectly sensible). Just as I was finding a solution to my hair (straigteners being located exactly where the wasp had last been seen) it flew back onto the curtain so I was able to remove it with the cup (shoe was not needed after all). I was shaking so much afterwards and my pupils were like little dots, I had been so scared!! I had to go and sit in the garden with a cup of tea. 

Needless to say, the window is now FIRMLY closed and will remain that way until the wasps die off in the Autumn. I am still slightly paranoid that the wasp on the curtain was a different wasp to the one that flew behind the sofa, but I am going to have to try and put that out of my mind...

I guess now that has been resolved I really do have to do my assignment!!

xx

Wednesday, May 14th 2014

So, the driving test was a terrifying failure but at least I know what to expect now! I also know how much I still hate roundabouts. Signal, people!!!

I will not be defeated in this, either. More lessons to follow and a new test... on Friday the 13th!!! Eeek!!

In other news, the hotly anticipated before and after photos of the bath are now available for your viewing pleasure. I love this new bath so much, I have spent many hours 'Radox-ing' and reading in the bath. Showers are out of fashion in this house, it's all about the bubble bath! When we had a bath before the bubbles used to confuse the heck out of the cat (is it a surface?... no... ooh, its crackling! attack!... ugh!ugh! WET!!!), so I am looking forward to seeing that again :-)

So here they are... didnt realise how minging the old tiles were until I saw the new ones!

Before... look how short this is!! Blue dot on the bath enamel is the result of 'The Incident'

The culprit... ewww!

After...much better! Much longer, too!

Ahhh... BEAUTIFUL!!

So now it is on to some serious Uni cramming... I am so behind I dont want to think about it too much. I am sure there is room in my brain somewhere for more information...

xx

Saturday, 10th May 2014

I think I am finally getting it! I just need to work on my gear changes but I feel a lot more confident in the car now.

I had a bit of a meltdown last night, which Dan dealt with admirably, because I felt like I was never going to get the hang of this driving malarkey. I am still very skeptical that I will be ready to pass a driving test on Tuesday, but Andy says I am at a 'tipping point' and any moment now I will just drive around perfectly without needing any help. Maybe Monday will be the day!

I now have a day off tomorrow, which is a blessing and a curse - I really need the rest but I also could do with more lesson time! I think I will have to pretend O.U. doesn't exist though, I cant take any more information into my brain!

xx

Wednesday, 7th May 2014

I HATE roundabouts!!! Why does Exeter have to have so many!!!!

I can parallel park though :). Another exhausting day.

I have also found out about residents parking, and nearly fallen out with Dan as a result (he was right, unfortunately, so now I must eat humble pie). What a farce! The County Council website tells me there is nothing available for my address. When I call them I get messages saying 'it will take at least 5 minutes to answer your call' (spousal argument occurred at this point).

When I do get through they tell me the County Council deals with parking on the road, and the City Council deals with parking in car parks (ugh), so I must call the City Council. 

So I call the City Council and the switchboard man puts me through to the Council Tax lady (apparently she 'knows about' parking). When she gets to the phone she is cross with  me because she deals with Council Tax not parking (I am tempted to refer her back to the switchboard man at this point, but bite my tongue). 

Eventually I did get through to the parking lady who was very nice and reassured me that if there isn't space in the minuscule car park down the road, the permit is valid elsewhere. For over £100 a year, mind you!

Why did that have to be so hard!!??!!

However on the up side this means I am not so desperate to move house, as I will not spend half my evening waiting for Stage-By-Stage parents to remove their 4x4's from the car park, I can just park somewhere else. 

Dan is over the moon because it means he doesn't have to attend any viewings or have any more moving-house conversations for the foreseeable future.

How stressful! I have eaten loads of biscuits now!

Time for a Mohito :)

xx

Tuesday, 6th May

I am utterly knackered! The driving course started today and I was driving non-stop for four hours. I feel brain-dead and my knee is killing me!

I am quite pleased with how far I have come - I was driving around some pretty nasty roundabouts and I drove myself home - but it can be so bewildering. 

If I am in a position to pass a driving test in a week's time I will be astonished. We will have to see I guess!

I came home to a new bath though! The 'renovation' in the bathroom has made progress. Poor Dan has had to listen to tiles being chiseled off the wall for the last six hours. He is also cross with the upstairs neighbour - they have had their extractor fan on all day and it is really loud in our house because the plumber took ours out of the wall. I have just gone in there now and my best cushion has been surreptitiously stuffed in the hole! 

Now the plumber has gone and I have sent Dan off on a mission to get pasta and chocolate. I need fuel!!

xxx

Sunday, 4th May, 2014

Today's tale is one of destruction and misery. The Evil Slugs have eaten all our new plants! How depressing! All my spring onions, spinach, turnips and radishes have been mercilessly munched. And my Atomic Red carrots! Dan is very distressed because the same fate has befallen his courgettes, for the second year in a row. Our veggies are too tasty for their own good!

Poor Courgettes :-(

This does sum up allotmenteering, in a way. It has to be a labor of love or everyone would give up! It is not all sunny days and lush vegetation and butterflies and Peter Rabbit. It is cold and wet, it is muddy, it is exhausting and it is EXPENSIVE. And it is very often fruitless. But for some reason, we still love it! 

I am slightly reassured by grumblings from our neighbor Alan, a 40 year veteran gardener, that all his peas have been dug up and eaten by some (surprisingly savvy) mice. If it can happen to him, it can happen to anyone.

But anyway. We will not be deterred! I have now replanted all my spring onions, spinach and radishes. Unfortunately all of the Atomic Red carrot seeds have been used (although there are a couple of shoots left, so we might get one or two!). We have instead planted some super-cute Paris Market carrots:

They are ROUND CARROTS!!

So we are back on track, hopefully. One good thing that has come out of this is that Dan has now agreed to use slug pellets (we had been determined to grow completely organically, but this is now WAR!), so we have taken great pleasure in sprinkling them everywhere we can think of.

Round Two, Evil Slugs!!

There is good news on the plot, as well. Dan has now strimmed most of the grass so we no longer hold the shameful title of 'third most overgrown'. It looks great, actually, much bigger! There was some rhubarb ready to come out so I can make something nice and unhealthy with that :-D. Dan found a frog (we may be adults but that can still make our whole day). There are tons of strawberry flowers.And one of my best allotment moments so far - my first apple blossom!

Check out the photo! Love my new camera!

Equilibrium has been restored!

On Monday my driving course begins.... watch out, Exeter, here I come!!

xx