12^th March 2017

Dear All,

This week’s excitement was breaking down on the M25 Wednesday night returning from Hove. We had only been on the M25 a few miles when the car started to judder and lose power. Kate was driving and managed to get into the inside lane and we saw a sign for “Emergency Telephone” which was useful as there was no hard shoulder on this stretch and the M25 is not much fun especially in the dark. We are in an “Assist” scheme and were promised help within an hour – 2 hours later a breakdown truck arrived and the Polish gentleman in charge said “it’s too complicated and dangerous to do anything here, do you want to go to a garage or home?” We opted for home arriving just after midnight. The car still isn’t fixed as our local garage ran a diagnostic scan which indicated “electronic fault in injector circuit” which they couldn’t fix so the car had to be picked up again and taken to the main dealer in Cambridge, who are so busy that they cannot look at it until Wednesday. Any way it could be worse and if your life is slipping by too quickly I can recommend 2 hours standing by the M25 in the dark to slow time down!

Wednesday had started wet in Hove but once it stopped raining we walked Albert to Brighton in his push chair as this usually ensures he nods off. He is now walking confidently and consequently very proud of himself. Highlight of the day for him was stomping through puddles in his wellies! Amélie lost her first tooth this week so was excited by a visit from the tooth fairy.

On the Phone!

Grandma in Charge?

Gappy!

On Monday we had a load of turf delivered to cover the area of lawn Kate had dug up pre op. to try and eradicated the rampant bamboo. Adrian helped lay the turf and as our contact had over ordered, Kate and I ended up digging up another three strips of lawn to use up the new turves.

Men at Work

Before the 3 extra strips

I was speaking at the Garden Club at Willingham on Monday night and then “Just Vegetating” on Tuesday while developing a cold – which of course developed into “Man Flu!”. Generously I have now passed it on to Kate who is less than grateful.

The topic this week was “Minor Vegetables part 2” including Artichokes, seakale, sweet potatoes etc and the recipes were: Celeriac and cheddar cheese soda bread, Celeriac, chicory, orange and cashew nut salad and Roasted fennel and pine nut polpette.

We didn’t walk this Thursday due to the excitement of getting back late and trying to sort out the car but I caught up in the garden planting shallots, onions, broad beans and peas and pricking out the remaining tomatoes.

On Friday I biked to the guided bus which was awkward as I was taking the projector into “Biographies” for someone to borrow. The subject this week was “Julia-Margret Cameron” who was given a camera for Christmas in 1864 and within two years had an exhibition at the V & A museum. Photography in those days was of course a complex chemical experiment to develop the glass slides so was a formidable undertaking.

Yesterday Mervyn turned up first thing and has lent us their old Peugeot until ours is fixed which is very kind of him. I then assembled a new cold frame and put together a presentation on “Beethoven” for a lady to deliver in “Biographies” next week. This involved scanning 30 photographs – so she owes me!

In the afternoon Dave Harrower and I travelled to Chatteris for another nail biting top of the table clash won by Hardwick!

Ben is off to America again next week; this trip includes Boston, a 20 mile race and the Niagara Falls.

Love

Mike & Kate