Extension Part 13

While I was away the grey-water drain was dug. I was warned to be careful walking up the path on Monday night...

The piping was then laid on gravel and Craig from building controls came round on Tuesday to check the joints were air tight.

Today the trench has been refilled, so we now have a soil path through the lawn above the pipes.

I spent a lot of time yesterday playing with my Geoff Hamilton 3D Garden Designer coming up with something that fits in with the requirements of lowering the ground level at the back of the house but raising it up at the wall at the back. So, steps at the corner of the house/wall to a large raised vegetable patch with a retaining wall, with a small bed in front of it. Another raised bed along the side wall between us and Margarets, which also does not have very deep foundations. A little more fiddling today when I realised I had not got the sunroom in quite the right position. Alan was quite impressed when I handed over the plan at lunchtime.

This morning the sunroom has been filled with cement, which was then 'polished' this afternoon.

Mark will be back tomorrow to lay another couple of layers of bricks and then the joiners will take over.

BMSC 2008

I got to Allan's at just gone nine on the Friday and we got on the road proper about half an hour later after stopping for a get-well card for one of Allan's neighbours and then for petrol, and a diversion towards Morrison's when Allan was on auto-pilot. We tried a new route - A1, M62, a change of plan around Manchester via M56 before the last stretch on the M6 arriving about six hours later.

I spent the evening clearing my cardbox and then had a couple of drinks in the bar before getting a reasonably early night. Breakfast, followed by more studying and watching the Olympics in my room the following morning before ambling across to the playing area for the main event.

I beat Barry Grossman, who is one of my bogey players, in game 1. I was pleased to spot FURtHEs(T) on a blocked board.

I then came unstuck against Sandie Simonis in game 2.

Phil Appleby in game 3 and I opened with the only bonus from AADNPT?. Phil later blocked my bonus from ADENOSY plus a floating P, but there was still an N available to bonus around. The board was getting blocked when Phil played in ZENAId(A)S in the only available slot to get right back in the game. A neatly slotted H(E)MES for 51 sealed my victory.

I lost a low-scoring battle against Martin Harrison in game 4.

Game 5 against Peter Thomas, who opened with QAT, and I was pleased to spot one of the two possible 7s from ABIILR?. Peter decided on his second move to forgo the easy 7s in favour of NORM(AL)ISE. I bonused again on move 3 with UNEDI(B)LE and I should have bonused again on move 5 but played a phony, getting it right on move 6 from AAILNST. A late bonus of (S)ORBITEs from Peter and we were into an endgame. EGNRRTW and I could play out in 2 with WR(I)T and REN(I)G to win.

Game 6 v David Webb. I changed on my opening rack of no vowels, keeping RS and picked IOSST. David opened with ZEE and I spent a lot of time deciding what to play, eventually opting for OS rather than SOS. RETINAE from David, IR(I)SATES from me as a 4x, following it with EXO(50), VIOLA(T)ER (76) and Qu(I)N (66) which was enough to secure the win.

End of day 1, and 4-2.

A dream game against Ross Mackenzie, who has beaten me more than his fair share of times in the past. I opened with TUTENAG and got three other bonuses in the game (REMA(R)KED, CONGEES and REtAILS after Ross made an opening on a very blocked board).

Game 9 v Paul Allan. Paul spent over 5 minutes on his opening move before exchanging one tile. I had been staring at DIIOOPP and plonked down PIOPIO. Paul held for about 3 minutes before challenging. Another wait and then he just dumped an O. Maybe a new record there of only playing one tile after 10 minutes off the clock. I now had 6 consonants but dumped H(O)LM. Paul bonused with (P)INDAREE. ABODE parallel from me to restricted the 9x. WIZ from Paul for 70, but I hit back with GElATIN parallel to ABODE for 90 to retake the lead. tARTARS from Paul on move 7 from j1d, and I had LORRIES for 65 open up a second 9x but opted for S(NEE)RIER instead for 72 and remove potential disaster from the K. It was now nip-and-tuck to the finishing line. I had mis-tracked somewhere and was I little surprised when Paul played (A)XMEN, thinking the 2 unseen vowels were A and O. However, a quick check and HFF were definitely unseen and nowhere for Paul to play all 3, which was all I needed to ensure victory on countback.

Game 10 v Nick Deller. A new smart Nick Deller in shirt and tie, with fashion statement trainers :) I hit first with a bonus on move 2 (PROETTE). Nick retook the lead on move 4 with UBIE(T)iEs for 82. I could only balance with UTU, but hit back with WOOLIER the following move. Consecutive moves of (C)ZARINA (57), AMNIOTE (65) and FLESH (51) was more than enough to counter Nick's IND(O)RSEE and block a 64-point QI play, letting him have 38 instead.

And then the wheels fell off. I lost the next 5 games without really doing anything wrong. I felt I was especially unlucky against Paloma when playing the Q making an opening onto the triple for a 5 letter word ending in I to be immediately hit with gHAZI for 89!

I took my revenge out on Steve Perry in the following game. He helped out with trying (U)RGENTEr...

And then on Graham Bonham, starting with AMItIES (AtIMIES is the only other bonus) and then ASS(I)EGED for 102. Another two bonuses later in the game to record my biggest win of the tourney, 526-304.

Terry Kirk next and another 500+ score, but Terry had not been slouching either. Even though I bonused on moves 1, 3 and 5 Terry had also bonused on moves 3 and 7. There was a danger spot for a 70+ Z play and I was very relieved when Terry, after a lot of soul-searching, played the Z elsewhere. A late ALIEN(A)TE from me killed the game, his bonus at the end just reducing the spread.

The last round was meant to be king-of-the-hill, but other than the top players was not. I pointed out that all the players on 10 wins were still in the running for the prizes and therefore should also be paired accordingly but this did not happen.

Game 18 v Richard Kennedy. I had got away with a phony (MANCHILD) in a previous meeting and it was still playing on his mind. I pulled out a lead at the start, bonusing on moves 3 and 5 to his bonus on move 4, and maintained this lead throughout the mid game. Nearing the end Richard made an opening which I hit with TWINERS to give myself enough daylight to withstand his bonus near the end.

So, 11-7 and 6th place. Tourney rating 186 and no change to my overall rating.

Allan won his playoff match against Ed to claim the title 20 years on from his last win, and making it four in total.

Thanks to all who worked tirelessly to make the tournament such a success.

I am off tomorrow to Laura's in Sunderland to play my BEST quarterfinal against Stewart Holden. Details will no doubt follow.

Cardbox 9

A major milestone was reached in my zyzzyva cardbox studying today - the number of alphagrams in cardbox 9 (10805) now exceeds cardbox 8 (10798). There are a mere 7686 in total in boxes 0-7.

A new area of study, prompted by Gerry, has been 4-vowel six letter words. I am doing these as straight recall study. I have almost got them under control. As is typical in my first game since doing these I averaged a mere single vowel per rack against Allan in our current best of 25 match and was slaughtered. I did get my revenge in the next three games. Score currently 11-4 in my favour :)

I am also revising (yet again) all the fours before the British Matchplay Scrabble Championship (BMSC) this coming weekend. Better get back to it...

Butterflies and Bees

There had been a scarcity of butterflies this year but this afternoon my garden was filled with them.

The red admirals were very camera shy (I will keep trying) but the peacock butterflies were quite happy to pose for me. Research says that peacock butterflies lay their eggs on nettles so I shouldn't be surprised that there are so many around here...
















They were having to share the buddleias with the bees.

Extension Part 12

Due to popular demand - well, one comment on my last posting here is the latest on the extension.

There was a rain delay on getting the steel frame completed - apparently welding in torrential rain is not a good idea. They were back once the weather improved. One day with lots of measuring and adjustments of the uprights to ensure they were exactly the correct/same height, and then the cross-bars were completed the following day.

Alan was on holiday most of last week, but Mark was here starting on the brick work of the sun room, building it up to what will be floor level.

Coming soon...
The drains should be dug.
The joiner should be coming.

Malaysia Here I Come

I dropped Gerry, Charlotte and Charlie off at the National Express pick up point yesterday morning. They were all quite happy just vegging out most of the time they were here, which is just as well with the weather. Having the Olympics to watch was a plus.

We did go into Edinburgh on Monday - were expecting more going on in the way of street performers as the festival/fringe now on but were disappointed. There was a Cambodian (we think) dance troupe that I found more interesting than my visitors...

We spent a couple of hours walking around and avoiding the showers - a couple of dives into M&S. Charlotte bought a skirt and I am now a hoodie. I am only one size bigger than Charlotte (I wish) - her skirt was a 12 (age)...

I have been waiting to hear what was happening re the UK team for the Causeway Challenge in December. The cut-off date for the ratings qualification was the end of July and I was in 7th place of the qualifiers (five to go) but no invites had been sent to anyone. I sent out an email yesterday to find out what was happening and that set the ball rolling. I found out in the afternoon that I was in the team - there are great advantages to not working...

I had been looking at having a few days in Singapore before the tourney if I made the team to get over the jetlag. However, the costs of hotels in Singapore looked very expensive, and Paul put his foot down at my suggestion of a few nights at Raffles. The tourney itself is in Johor Bahru, just over the causeway from Singapore but doesn't look like a holiday destination.

Gerry suggested that I could fly to Bangkok and stay with him, and then fly on from there with team Thailand. So I have now booked my flight - woohoo :)

Summer Is Here

It rained all day yesterday.
It rained throughout the night.
It is still raining today.
It looks as if it will never stop...

I ventured out to photograph the river, but its true extent was not visible from the garden. The above photo was taken from the bedroom window.
We have our very own water splash at the bottom of the drive.

The builders came yesterday morning and then went away again. I don't blame them.
Surprisingly they are here at the moment, battering away at the new doorway by the sound of it.
The work on the steel frame is at a standstill.

Extension Part 11

Last Monday man with digger arrived and proceeded to create a large moat.

A couple of days later the moat was filled with concrete rather than water.

Today I got back from the dog walk to find Alan and A.N.Other (Mark) waiting for the steel frame to arrive - should have been here first thing. Anyway, it turned up not long after. So today we have had five people here, measuring, erecting steel structure and clearing more of the new doorway. They (or at least some of them) should be back bright and early tomorrow...

Departures and Arrivals

The bats departed the day before Paul got back from the States. Bliss - the first good night's sleep for a couple of weeks. Unfortunately Paul had picked up an air-conditioning cold which meant the bat's chirring was replaced by Paul's snoring.

Penny has returned from her European grand tour. It was strange not having her popping in and not being able to reciprocate on trips into Duns. But we have made up for it since. A couple of visits from her IT consultant (Paul) to try to sort out her laptop/internet connection that was playing up, and she came for lunch on Sunday. I had an appeal in the evening for redcurrants as Jean had cancelled their planned PYO trip the following day due to a lack thereof. I was a little surprised to find Margaret's bush still well stocked and we took a pound around yesterday - seems like a good deal as we will be getting half of them back in a chocolate cake at the weekend :)

I went gooseberry picking again yesterday afternoon - this time in the hedgerows. Two pounds of red gooseberries - I was a little late with these as many were very ripe and falling off the bush as I was picking and I was having to be careful to avoid wasps. Another pound and a quarter of largish green ones, very small 'white' ones and reddish ones which became a pound after topping/tailing and discarding the scabbier ones. All now squeezed into the freezer.

We are expecting visitors for a long weekend. Gerry and his two kids are over again from Bangkok and should be arriving in Berwick on the overnight coach at 6.30 a.m. on Friday. Paul has volunteered me to fetch them...

Frog A La Peche

Our current freezer cannot cope with the summer fruit crops. I found room for two pound bags of gooseberries but still had four pounds left. I gave a pound to Jean and she has put the remainder in her freezer for me. Roll on getting the utility room finished...

I made the mistake of mentioning that Gordon Ramsay had made a gooseberry and elderflower crumble on The f word a couple of weeks back. 'Oh good' said Jean, 'You can make it and bring it to our barbecue on Wednesday'.

Tuesday was alpine strawberry sorbet day. I used the Joy of Baking recipe - I refuse to call it Jamie Oliver's recipe. I struggled with getting our food processor out of the cupboard and then all the bits from the box. Aha I thought - there is a blender attachment. I piled in a load of strawberries and turned it on. The bottom half a centimetre of strawberries got blitzed but that was about all. I scraped it out into the main bowl and started again, this time with a lot greater success. Made the sugar syrup, mixed it all together and put bowl in the freezer. Back out in the evening into the food processor and re-blitzed. Back into bowl and freezer over night. I repeated the process in the morning and put resulting gloop into a proper freezer container. A very messy process - strawberry puree seems to have a life of its own - but a lot easier than the previous recipe. Haven't tried it yet, and still got strawberries coming out of my ears...

Wednesday - Gooseberry crumble day. I really would have liked to have a practice run before having to present it to Jean - she would have no qualms in telling me if it was not up to scratch...

I wasn't sure how this would work out. For a start he was using fresh gooseberries whilst I had defrosted the two pounds from my freezer. His crumble topping was using equal quantities of flour, butter and sugar. My trusted recipe used 2/1/1 so I compromised - even so it felt like too much butter as I was rubbing it in. He had added hazelnuts to the topping - I didn't have any but I did have a good supply of walnuts...

I was doubling up on quantities from his recipe and decided straight away I was going to have to prepare the gooseberries in two batches - it just would not all fit in the pan. So, preheat a frying pan and heat sugar and orange zest. I have never done this before. I think the first batch I hadn't heated the pan enough and it took an age for the sugar to melt. And then when I added the gooseberries, fresh orange juice and elderflower cordial it formed big lumps. However, when I turned the heat right up it did seem to melt back into the mixture. I was a lot better at this on the second batch. I put all the fruit and syrupy mixture into my new large pie dish.

So we headed over to Jean's, with me balancing the pie dish on my lap, and the crumble in a bowl on the floor of the car. It was all assembled at Jean's. I wasn't sure how long it needed to be cooked for as Gordon Ramsay had divided his into separate small individual dishes. In the end it took about half an hour, as opposed to 10-12 minutes on his recipe - I guess my crumble topping was a lot thicker than his. Luckily it was a success, and the dish was scraped clean...

Today has been raspberry jam day. Morrisons was out of jam sugar yet again when we went shopping yesterday so I bought some pectin and normal sugar. As we headed home it started to rain and did not stop for the rest of the day. This morning was the same until about 11 a.m. when it stopped and the sun broke through. When Paul got back from Duns I went straight out to the wild raspberry stand. An hour and a half and three pounds picked. I could easily have picked as much again. Just over five pounds of jam made after lunch. I think the jam pan can be put away now until the brambles are ready - I am also running out of room in the 'jam cupboard'.

There are only so many things you can do with wild raspberries and alpine strawberries. But maybe I should be more adventurous - there appears to be an abundant supply of toads around at the moment...

We Are Not A Garden Centre...

Part of my daily routine is to check the weather forecast on the BBC website. I don't know why. It is rarely correct and even the 24-hour forecast disagrees with the daily summary, which always seems to take the most pessimistic view possible. It has certainly been a lot hotter than they predicted.

So on Sunday afternoon I had the roof down on the car on the way to Jean's for our postponed trip to the fuchsia nursery. A friend of Jean's had told her she had been disappointed on her visit but we weren't. There was a small tea shop, some tables out the front with fuchsias and a few other plants and in the back a much larger selection of, surprise surprise, fuchsias. The proprietor was quite helpful - Jean is not backward in coming forward and had collared him. We both bought one and then continued on to Edrom nursery.

Edrom nursery used to be in Edrom but is now located on the road out of Coldingham to Coldingham moor. I had my first (of usually half a dozen) cars stopping on Saturday when I was gardening to ask me where it was...

We were like kids in a sweet shop. I stopped myself going too mad as I do not intend to plant up LB7 until next year. I am guessing that many of the problems in the long bank are due to it being planted before the nettles/ground elder were eradicated.

We had both been adding plants to our baskets and were 'just going to have a quick walk around the greenhouse on the other side of the road' when an elderly lady came out the gate and crossed the road towards us. It was not open to the public - so is presumably where they propagate the plants. Just as well as we already had more than we had planned. I ended up buying three different varieties of pulmonaria (the ones I brought up with me seem to absolutely thrive here), an allium (hopefully actually about five in the pot - I will find out at some point) and another dwarf rhododendron. Jean bought a lot more. I will certainly be back next year - for plant lovers it as an absolute dream of a nursery.

We followed her in to the wooden hut to pay. I noticed the gold medal from this year's Gardener's World Live. We got chatting and she has given us both one of the mail order catalogues, where I see they won Best in Show at Harrogate last year. Whilst we were paying a car pulled in with some tourists who asked if it was a garden centre as they wanted to buy a heather. You could hear the disdain in the voice when she replied that 'No it was not' and that the garden centre at East Ord would sell that kind of thing.

I spent yesterday going back over the section of LB7 that I had 'cleared'. The dogs were very well behaved in my absence despite me being late for all their appointments.

So I have now lined the edge with large cobble stones gleaned from the building site, dug over the area with a fork, removing a lot more nettle roots, and started putting in stepping stones at strategic places. (Jean had mentioned some fancy foot-shaped ones at the Kelso show but one thing I do not need to spend money on here is stones). The slate I have been digging out is being pushed back in to make small planting areas and will hopefully keep the bank fairly stable.

I have various splinters in my fingers but only a couple are sore when I knock them, and I seem to have insect bites of varying degrees of itchiness in a variety of places :(

Words of Interest - CHARIDEE

This little gem appears to have been gained in the switch from Chambers to Collins. I should not really have needed to check...

CHARIDEE: charity as pronounced in a mid-Atlantic accent

It is the start of a very slippery slope if we start getting words that are just based on how they are pronounced in certain cases. However, I must admit that I can hear this one ringing loud and clear in my head, and I am cringing as I think of it.

Long Bank 7 - Work In Progress

MIL phoned yesterday for a chat and to see how I was coping without Number One Son. She asked if I had been out gardening. Nope - It's Too Hot - and humid and the flies are driving us mad. But I felt guilty about my lack of toil and decided to do half an hour or so after lunch.

I started at LB6. I got the bigger weeds out and the cosmetic job of picking the visible ground elder out. Then I started clearing the dead leaves from the red hot pokers. Then I could get to some of the nettles and rosebay willlow herb. I really needed to attack it from both sides...

So I started to clear the 'virgin' new bank (will be LB7) that was the weed patch in front of the ex-cowshed. I had sprayed this area several times in May with Round-Up and it had done its job. Enthusiasm for this new task temporarily overtook common sense and before I knew it it was time to take the dogs out.

I was going to stop for the day but it is like an addiction...

I took stock and collected a load more rubbish sacks. The whole area is about ten metres long and varies in width from about three metres down to one at the far end. I decided to start in earnest at the far end - as I measure progress in how many paces have been cleared this is a quicker win scenario. First clear the surface debris - the desiccated weeds and moss, that Round-Up obviously doesn't kill. Then clear the stones, rubble and bits of slate embedded in the bank. Next clear the new weeds that were hiding underneath the old dead ones. Lastly dig out the nettle and cow-parsley roots where found. I stopped around 6 p.m. - hot and 'glowing' as the saying goes.

It is not as humid today and the flies appear to have taken a short break. I have done another hour or so this morning. Five rubbish sacks filled so far...

Jamie Oliver - Plagiarist?

I decided to Google for easier strawberry sorbet recipes. One that doesn't involve whipping up egg whites and gelatine.

So I had read through half a dozen when I got Jamie Oliver's blog. This sounds familiar I thought. I double checked. Word for word the same as the first one I read on the Joy of Baking website...

Extension Part 10

I plucked up the courage to phone Alan yesterday. He told me he would be around today to tidy up ready for a digger arriving on Monday to start on the foundations on the sun room.

He was true to his word. The outline of the sun-room has been re-established and the building materials that were sitting on it have been cleared out of the way.

I have now asked him approximately how long does he think it will take to get it all done. He has said a couple of months. Foundations will be dug on Monday. Steel frame should arrive on Wednesday. Then timber frame should go in and work should be pretty much continuous from then on. The reason for all the delays (no-one had been here for a month) has been the weather and this is the main holiday period. There has only been him and one other working for the last couple of months, trying to keep everyone (or no-one) happy.

I asked if Paul had mentioned the changes we want for the patio and walls. Not specifically but he gave me a brochure to look at to choose materials for the walls and paving. Anyway, I have spent the last hour or so on the website for the brochure noting down the prices of the different materials that I like...

Camera On-Line

It was time to load some software after the raspberry jam was made. But which?

I got the disk out of the box and the booklet that came with it. Four applications to choose from. I couldn't decide. In the end I downloaded two of them just to get an idea of their look and feel. PhotoFunViewer will do almost everything I need. ArcSoft for when I start getting adventurous - the Panorama Maker could be fun. On first glance PFV looks easiest to use - at least it has a fairly comprehensive help function.

I was a little concerned when I first tried to download my test photographs using PFV - it was quite slow compared to my old software. I reread the help for both the camera and software - all was as should be and I tried again. Bingo!

I think the problem on first use was that it was trying to display all the folders I currently had in my Pictures directory - and there are a lot. Now I have successfully downloaded for the first time it has created a PFStudio folder, and now just loads that folder up on startup...

Not perfect photo of poppy in the high bank but my favourite of the test photographs (using zoom and auto Intelligence/macro) - the wind was blowing it around a lot so top not quite in shot. More practice needed...

And the Latest Flavour Is...

So, after picking 9 lbs of gooseberries yesterday it was jam making day today. But not gooseberry...

The dog walk this morning took me past the wild raspberry stands I have been keeping an eye on, and after two days of sunshine, lollipops and rainbows there now appeared to be enough ripened to make it worth a trip to pick them. I was not wrong. I filled two punnets from just the first stand despite eating quite of few of the squishier ones. I think wild raspberries are the best tasting fruit in the world. I decided to leave the other patch for the birds, at least until the next time I think it may be worth the effort - which may be sooner than I expected.

Two pounds when I weighed my booty. Into the jam pan this afternoon, gooseberries ousted.

Words cannot express how good it tastes... definitely the best one yet.

My New Toy

My camera turned up early - yesterday afternoon. Luckily I was in.

Fought my way in to the rather large UPS box to retrieve much smaller camera box.

Checked all the bits it said I should have were there.

Attached camera strap.

Attached lens cap.

Set battery charging - 2 hours to fully charge.

Downloaded PDF user guide. Started reading. Decided there was no way I was going to work my way through the 173 pages, so just looked at the basics to get started.

Loaded charged battery and memory card.

Switched it on.

Set clock and time.

Took a photo of Jen to check date/time working.

Switched it off.

Made some more strawberry jam...

Took it over to Jean's this morning after she invited me over for coffee to try out the 'scenery' mode on the views from her back garden across the rolling Berwickshire countryside. Also tested out the macro function on her roses and clematises - really pleased with this.

After picking my gooseberries (a mega nine pounds this year) spent the rest of the afternoon skimming the manual and trying to work out what all the buttons and menu options are. Gave up again. I think I need to be more organised - determine the things I will want to do and get confident with those before blowing my mind with all the stuff it can do but I will probably never use.

Still need to download the software so no photos on the blog yet. Maybe tomorrow.

Talking of manana, still no sign of the builders...

Cows Found and Other Things

The cows have been found. They had made it all the way to a field in West Blanerne.

Redcurrant jelly has been made. It was almost a disaster. I was not convinced after pouring the first couple of ladlefuls that it had actually reached the setting point - normally the last few drops of the ladle go all gloopy but this didn't appear to be the case. I decided to pour it back into the pan and boil it up for another couple of minutes. The plan went awry when I dropped the jar into the pan. Panic. Took it off the heat, and with a spoon uprighted the jar so I could then pull it out with the aid of a tea towel. Anyway, I eventually ended up with about five pounds. Still not convinced yet that it will set, but signs are hopeful as the dregs in the jam pan have. Everything has been washed up ready for another batch of strawberries this evening as this is proving popular not only at home but with Margaret. Anne and Janet have also both been given a jar.

Sheila (solicitor) from up the road has photocopied and certified that I am who my driving licence says I am. Hopefully I can now open my savings account.

Camera is on its way. I can track the UPS shipment. It started in Los Angeles. Then went to Long Beach CA, Louiseville KY, Philadelphia PA, East Midlands Airport for the weekend, and arrived in Edinburgh this morning. Should make the one hour journey to here sometime tomorrow.

But still no sign of the builders...

Runaway Cows

It was the Edrom route for the dog walk today. As we headed off on the short-cut across our building site I noticed a big cowpat a pace in from the edge of the lawn. This may explain me being woken up at around 3 a.m. by the dogs barking...

Another one just before the road.

And two more on the road/verge on the other side.

No more were spotted on the walk.

The full quota of cows (three) were still happily munching away in Margaret's closest field.

When we got back and the dogs were fed and watered I wandered around to Margaret's with two punnets to pick some of her redcurrants. She was not in. Aha - probably out looking for cows again. She seems to have been very unlucky this year with escapees. So I just got down to the picking.

A while later Ian drove up with Margaret in the car. Shortly afterwards Ian went back past in his car, followed by Margaret in hers. About ten minutes later they were both back and I could hear them by the gate to the track to the river.

I had filled both the punnets by now so went to find out what was happening. My powers of detection had been right. I told them I had seen no evidence of them on the road to Edrom. Luckily I could also see no evidence of them on our lawn...