Home Alone

Paul is in Washington playing bridge for the next week or so.

I am now settling into my routine.

Dogs have been walked.

Dogs have been fed.

Cardbox has been cleared.

Yesterday was a first. I actually got picked as the lucky respondent to a freecycle offer. Assorted Kilner jars. They are actually Le Parfait 'super' jars and I need to get some new seals, which I have found are available from a few sites on the net. And the very large one is broken in as much as the metal clip is missing from the lid but I will find a way of using it. Maybe try to grow and pickle onions next year. All in all I am very pleased with them.

I swapped a jar of alpine strawberry and a jar of wild gooseberry jam (in photo) for Margaret's redcurrants yesterday, which she then helped me pick whilst we had a good natter. They need processing today. Maybe freeze some rather than use them all for jelly.

And I'm waiting for the rain to stop (hopefully this afternoon) as the raspberries up the road need picking sooner rather than later.

I don't know if it is just the very strange weather we have had this year but everything seems to need harvesting at the same time this year and I am failing to keep up with it all.

Mourning the Loss of Something I Never Had

It is not often that something gets offered on freecycle that I want, but on Wednesday it did. A large metal garden bench needing some tlc. I didn't think I stood a chance as it was a couple of hours after the timestamp of the offer but I thought I would give it a go. This was only the second time I have responded to an offer - the first was for a dandelion remover and I never heard back...

When I got up in the morning I found that our email provider was having problems but Paul went to the website and there was a reply - it was mine if I wanted it. Oh happy days.

I phoned the given number to organise collection. No, this was not Alan and he was not offering anything on freecycle. I got Paul to email back to let him know that there was a problem with the phone number given. I heard nothing back.

In the evening I received an email saying that as he had not heard back from me he was offering it to someone else. I immediately replied but no joy. Irrational depression sets in.

Today there was a 'taken subject to collection' message :(

I am consoling myself with the fact that it was probably a rusty load of junk...