the accidental smallholder :: diary archives

Wanda's parcel

I've had the funniest morning. You may recall a previous post about how much my horse and his chum, Johnny, like Marmite sandwiches. Well, Wanda, who comments regularly on the diary, told me that she hadn't experienced Marmite. I therefore undertook to send Wanda a jar of the lovely brown, sticky stuff.

I duly purchased the Marmite, but decided that it was a rather sparse gift from Scotland so I put together a wee Scottish hamper (and I do mean wee - it was all accommodated in a biscuit box) of Scottish delicacies, guaranteed to rot the teeth and widen the girth. As I put the last things in this morning, I thought it might be interesting to enclose a copy of each of out two local rags. So I bought two copies of the "Alloa Advertiser" and two copies of the "Wee County News", put one set in the box and wrapped the parcel up with the last of the brown paper and miles of parcel tape, and left one set on the kitchen table to read later.

Before going to the Post Office, I made a cup of tea and decided to skim through the local rags - "Alloa Advertiser" first, the "WCN" next, only to discover that I had two "Advertisers"- which meant, of course, that Wanda had two "WCN" in her box. So I unpacked the box very carefully, swapped the newspapers round, rewrapped the parcel and headed off to the Post Office.

When I got to the Post Office, the lady behind the counter asked me to put the parcel on the scales. "Oh", she said, sadly, "it weighs more than 2kg" and explained that being over 2kg made it expensive to send. "What's in it?" she asked. "Marmite", I replied. "Oh," she said. "Could you take a jar out and I'll rewrap it for you? It's only 70g over." So I unwrapped the box, removed something weighing 95g (not the Marmite) and the lady in the Post Office produced a roll of parcel tape and sealed up the parcel again. Finally, it was consigned to the mail box.

So, enjoy, Wanda. And remember to clean your teeth!

Strawberry madness

I'm away in London at the moment, and since I was out somewhere nice for lunch I've just grabbed a sandwich from Marks and Spencer for my supper. (As an aside having access to M&S is a luxury, since Alloa doesn't have one and isn't likely to for some time. Their food is quite expensive, but it is pretty darned tasty.)

Anyway, they had strawberries at half price so I bought a punnet, half for after my sarnie and half for breakfast tomorrow. I didn't check where they were produced, totally assuming that they'd be British.

Well, I'm back at my hotel tucking into them only to discover they are from the USA! And were air-freighted!

I'm absolutely staggered by this - M&S used to have a reputation for supporting British producers in all aspects of their business - and here we are in July, when most British strawberry growers will be approaching peak production, and M&S are flying fruit thousands of miles across the Atlantic. I despair. It's not even as if they taste that good...

Mixed up cheeps

Due to our impending holidays and poultry accommodation shortage, we decided to put the little cheeps in with the big cheeps. We moved them two nights ago and this morning, I was all ready to despatch Dan on a poultry house search, so that I could take my four "babies" away from those evil big cheeps. I can't say that I have every felt much for our hens but I have become rather attached to the four little cheeps - they are quite tame. Dan reminded me this morning that I'll probably be eating at least some of them.

The little cheeps are obviously feeling a little intimidated by their larger half-siblings and do over react a bit when a big cheep comes close - by hiding under the feeder, for example. However, I spent a wee bit time this morning watching them all and there doesn't seem to be any systematic bullying - a big cheep will have a peck at a wee cheep if it comes close but they aren't being kept away from food and water and the big cheeps don't go looking for them.

I'll keep an eye on them - but I haven't ruled out sending Dan on a house hunting expedition just yet.

Cassius and his medication

There are all sorts of urban myths and jokes about how difficult it is to get cats to take medication. Our Cassius hasn't read any of these. Although he can be "difficult" - he had a pop at me the other day when I went to make the bed on which he was resting and caught Dan a beauty when he tried to rescue his watch from the cat's paws, when it comes to taking pills, Cassius is a gem.

To be fair, he has had to take a lot of pills over the six years he's been here. And the cream helps!

Flaming July

Well, July has started well, weatherwise.

Claire came over today, so we took Smokey out on his long reins. Before we left, Claire put her gaiters on over her jeans because last week, we came back along a very puddley track. When we left, it was very hot and sunny. We'd been out about 20 minutes when the heavens opened. Naturally we pressed on, not being candy floss and, therefore, not liable to melting.

By the time we got back, the only bit of Claire that wasn't wet was the bits under her gaiters. Which proves they work, but wasn't quite what she had in mind!