Thursday, December 03, 2020

Into December

As it is Friday here are five things from this week

 The Calendar has turned to the last month of the year.

The four weeks of national lockdown ended on the 2nd December and we are now in tier three, so there are still many restrictions. Just as we could possibly go a little further afield than a nearby walk, although of course still within the city, the gas company who have been working in the area have reached our corner and will dig up the road outside our house, we will have walkways to get beyond the garden gate on foot but the car will have to stay put for a few more days.  The heating will have to be turned off for a while too, I hope it won't be for too long.

We received our first Christmas Card (hand delivered) on 29th November, so it's now time to think about Christmas cards and letters.  I started yesterday by writing the envelopes.  Today I will write the greetings inside the cards and put them in the envelopes then split them into three piles, local to be hand delivered, those than can be sealed with just a personal note on the card and lastly those that I will send with a longer letter which will probably be written over the weekend.  Of course the moment it is needed the printer has decided it has had enough and won't work, so  the letters will have to be hand written. 
 
Above a photo of an old postbox in Buxton taken in 2018.

 We have huge problems with post at the moment. Letters and cards are takng over a week to reach us.  We still haven't received a small parcel a friend told us they had sent over a week ago.  From comments on our local neighbourhood forum people seem to think that the explanation is staffing levels as postal workers are either off sick or self isolating as other family members are ill or have symptoms. They do work hard and have done through this year especially in difficult circumstances.

Christmas baking has been done over the last few weeks.  The cake first, then the pudding and lastly mincemeat made with the vegetarian suet we had bought for the Christmas pudding before we changed our minds and used another recipe with Spelt flour.  We used this recipe (halved) - here.

We've been stocking up on tea and coffee.  We are still using loose leaf tea to avoid tea bags.  I have English Breakfast tea in the morning and a combination of Earl Grey and Assam tea at lunchtime and in the afternoon.  Paul drinks fruit teas and one he purchased recently had a seasonal ring to it.  Partridge in a Pear Tree.  It has lots of lovely seasonal ingredients - pears, apples, rosehips, cinamon, cloves and figs but thankfully no partridge.
 
There haven't been many visitors to the garden lately.  The wet weather has put them off.  No foxes or badgers for over a week.  We are hoping that all the road works and heavy machinery haven't stopped them getting to us although it is the time of year when foxes do move around a bit more looking for mates. Up until last week the older fox we had treated for mange was visting at lunchtime for a few dog biscuits but he's not been seen for ages.  Several local cats, grey squirrels, collard doves, magpies, goldfinches, chaffinches plus great tits and blue tits make up the rest of the visitors.
 
It's going to be colder this weekend so stay safe and warm.

24 comments:

  1. Hope the gas engineers don't take too long on the work Rosie - it all sounds pretty horrendous. Especially hope you won't be without the car or heating for too long. Hope postal situation improves for you too. I must admit I have been doing my Christmas present shopping online for about 6 weeks now to get ahead of myself. Just waiting for a few more to be delivered.

    Your Christmas baking looks good. I've made the Christmas cake and yesterday made the Christmas Pudding and have baked a few other cake and savoury items to freeze. Just the mincemeat and mince pies to go.

    I thought I'd write my Cmas cards this afternoon too - we have even put up the Christmas Tree and never normally do that this early!

    Do hope your badgers and foxes return soon. Love the old postbox - my daughter mentioned recently there is an old one not far from my mum's old house which is listed so I must go and get a photo one day soon.

    Stay safe and well and keep warm :)

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    1. Thank you RR, the Cadent engineers were supposed to be in front of us at the end of this week but are still a few houses away and no one working today, so it will probably be early next week now. We've halved recipes for everything this year as there are only the two of us. I've ordeed a few things from the RSPB, Bodyshop and Seasalt on their 3 for 2 offers and they will have to do as small gifts later next year as we won't see anyone before Christmas now. Still no post so it's quite worrying about sending cards too. Oh yes, you must go and photograph the post box if you can:) Stay safe.

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  2. How typical that you have to have the heating off just when it's a few degrees colder, let's hope the works go without a hitch and you're back to being cosy again. We had to post our parcel to our daughter in Australia in October as the last one we sent at birthday time took about 5 weeks with all the quarantine arrangements along the way, it's lovely to get some cards already, I always enjoy getting letters and I expect everyone will have something to say this year! You made me laugh about the partridge, the tea does sound rather good though. Have a good weekend. 🎅

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    1. Thank you, yes just our luck that the weather has gone colder before the engineers get to our side of the Crescent. I love receiving letters I have cousins who write wonderful letters and a couple of childhood friends I still hear from too usually news of grandchildren and holidays - this year will be so different,I just hope they are all well:)

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  3. It is great to see you blogging again Rosie. The tiers don't really affect me as I have hardly been outside the house other than a trip to Sainsbury's local once every couple of weeks. We are meant to be putting up the Christmas tree this weekend and maybe it will uplift my mood. Good reminder about the Christmas cards. I should really get on with writing some! Hope you have a lovely weekend staying cosy inside. There isn't much to go out for just now is there? :)

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    1. Thank you Simone. I'm enjoying being back. It has been a hard year hasn't it? I've not wanted to go very far really although we did risk the sculpture park in the summer as a late birthday treat. I hope that putting up and decorating the tree helps to lift your spirits this weekend:)

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  4. Hope the road works finish quickly and you don’t have too much disruption especially with your heating. My cards have just been sent as we have a cheaper postal scheme that only lasts until December 4th so I sat up last night to finish them. Have a lovely weekend. B x

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    1. Thank you, the engineers were supposed to be in front of us yesterday but they are sill a few houses away so it will probably be next week now. Your cheaper postal scheme sounds a good idea. Hope you have a good weekend:)

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    1. They are, we love them visiting the garden:)

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  6. I read that you treated a fox for mange, just wondered if you use the stuff that we do from Derbyshire Fox Site. we put drops on some sandwiches and it works wonders.
    Briony
    x

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    1. Yes, the mange treatment came from Chesterfield from someone who works for or is a volunteer for the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust. We put the treatment on jam sandwiches or a small iced bun cut into chunks and it does seem to help:)

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  7. I cannot believe they have waited till this time of year to do work that turns off the gas in colder months. How thoughtless. Your baking looks good & we don't indulge too much in the heavier Xmas goodies as it's just too hot here. As for the post, it must be out of wack everywhere. Your parcel back in September took 2 weeks from here & poor Louise is still waiting for hers posted beginning of November & I'm way behind on cards this year. Can't get my act together. Love the animal photos & look forward to seeing what comes & goes in your winter months. Thanks for the lovely post, take care, stay warm & hugs from down under.

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    1. Thanks Susan, yes it does seem bizarre doesn't it when they've had all summer but they are working across the whole city so it's taken some time. We've halved all recipies this year as there is just the two of us - last year I made a bigger pudding and we froze half and had it with custard at Easter! I hope Louise receives her parcel soon what a lovely Christmas present it will be too. I posted something to you a couple of weeks ago - just a small parcel so look out for it. Take care:)

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  8. There seems to have been a lot of road works happening in our area over the last few months, but not in our crescent. I hope the disruption doesn't last long for you. The weather here has been rather wild and I see the birds huddled in the trees. We're so glad that the central heating system is working after we had the engineers come several times to fix a problem after having the gas boiler serviced. It's good to get your news from your blog post. I hope your eye condition is improving. Take care and have a good weekend.

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    1. Thank you Linda, there does seem to have been a lot of road works this year, pot hole filling, utilities to new builds and Cadent all over renewing gas pipes, plus major work on a roundabout into the city centre. It has been so wet here recently too. Birds are still visiting, squirrels too. I'm getting more used to my eyes being how they are somedays are better than others but I don't stress about it so much now. Have a lovely weekend:)

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  9. Well, Rosie, back in the saddle and drawing the audience in. You are a star!

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    1. Thank you Robert, not so sparkly today but it will be lovely to 'see' you and chat later this afternoon:)

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  10. I can't imagine that partridge would taste very good in a tea, so just as well they left it out! Your Christmas baking will have made your house smell delicious. I hope the repairs don't inconvenience you for too much longer.

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    1. Thank you Lorrie, no indeed the tea would be quite feathery:) They still haven't got to our bit yet so we are still waiting for them to start digging up the road:)

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  11. I hope your heating isn't off for long too with the temperatures having dropped. We are tier 3 too so nothing really changed on the 2nd! Our local post office has had 18 out of 30 staff off over the past few weeks, 10 with Covid, 1 in intensive care and the rest self-isolating, it's hitting the posties hard at the moment :(

    The cake looks delicious and the teas sound lovely! :)

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    1. Thank you Pam, they are taking such a long time to get to our bit of the road so we are in limbo for a while. Yes, tier three is just the same as full lock down for us as we don't go shopping other than food. The posties have been wonderful throughout the pandemic, I hope they get some recognition or reward. I'm still worried about the lost parcel though:)

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  12. Amazingly, mail service here does not seem to have been greatly affected, and as far as we can tell everything is coming through on time. The bills we still receive by mail certainly are! But here is the biggest surprise, and you may get a chuckle out of this. A friend in the UK sent me two books. He had planned to use airmail but the cost was astronomical and he opted for surface mail, quite understandably. The books were in my mail box three days after they were sent! Go figure!

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    1. Thank you David, it seems to be a problem here just with Royal Mail all other deliveries seem to be fine as I see the various vans buzzing around the area. I'm glad you received your books so quickly, that's wonderful, I hope you enjoy reading them. Of course nothing stops the bills arriving:)

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