29th August 2021

 

Dear All,

A fairly busy week for elderly retired folks this time! On Monday there was veg harvesting with sweet corn coming on main stream and beans, cucumbers, tomatoes and courgettes still cropping well. Adrian Hart called in at midday and was unusually persuaded to stay for lunch. We booked a visit to Highgrove for the end of our Cotswolds walking holiday in October – just to keep an eye of HRH and count the dog ends in the garden! In the evening we had an Appraisal meeting with our pastor David Smith, but as he is doing well it was not as painful as these sessions at work were sometimes.

On Tuesday we made a rare visit to Cambridge on the guided bus to buy maps for our planned visit to the Scottish borders and for new walking boots for me. My current pair have cracked along the toe line and although a temporary fix with tile sealant is working at present, I guess it will not last! In the evening I watched Foxton 1 v 2 West Wratting with Dave Harrower.

I was sorting cricket wickets by myself on Wednesday morning as my colleague John is on holiday in France. This involved mowing the whole seven strips with one machine and close cropping the strip for Saturday with the Lloyds machine. By the time you have rolled the wickets, painted the creases and marked the boundary it takes all morning by yourself.

At lunchtime I met up with 4 of our walking friends for lunch at the George & Dragon at Elsworth. It was very busy, another sign of returning normality? In the evening I watched Over 0 v 1 Isleham.

Kate and I were leading the Thursday walk beginning in Over. We met at the Community Centre but drove to the RSPB car park to shorten the walk round Willinghan Fen, the gravel workings, the new Information Centre, Earith and back along the Rothschild Way and Ouse Fen RSPB. We spotted Roe deer on three occasions and the Red Arrows gave us a free display.

 

Gathering under threatening skies

 

 

Roe Deer

 

 

Rothschild Way

 

 

Red Arrows with accompanying flock

 

 

Red Arrows trails

 

On Friday I accompanied Kate to Tesco’s at Bar Hill then sowed Spring Cabbage and more lettuce. Later I had a couple of pessimistic emails from ex RHS Panel members about current veg trials at Wisley and Bridgewater. Neither site is good this year so I am not missing very much. Vegetables do not seem to be very high up RHS’s list of priorities.

In the evening I caught the second half of Over Res 2 v 1 Milton I the final of a pre- season  Ken Garner memorial tournament, so counting last Saturday only 4 matches in 7 days!

The CN feature this week was “Luxury” and I had a photo of Ceausescu’ Palace in Bucharest.

 

 

Ceausescu’s Palace

With love

Mike & Kate

 

22nd August 2021

 

Dear All,

Mary-Ann, Andy, Amḗlie and Albert left after lunch on Monday and had a better journey home. Esther and Emma joined us for Sunday lunch and Monday morning there was a return visit to Willingham playground. Kate and I then spent several happy hours emptying the paddling pool with watering cans so as not to waste the water.

 

 

Kate with attendants

 

 

Willingham Playpark

 

I had an abortive trip to Ely on Wednesday night to watch Over football team. The website said 6.15pm KO but when we got there it was 7.45pm under floodlights. As we had arrived early, we did not fancy cooling our heels for 2 hours so bailed out. Over won 3 v 1 but lost for the first time yesterday 2 v 1 to Foxton.

We missed our usual Thursday walk as we were invited to the Community Centre to join Norman and Rosemary Foster’s 60^th Wedding Anniversary. There was a good meal and a few speeches and poems and guests were invited to take a photo of themselves as a child. I was charged with photographing the guests and it all seemed to go quite well.

 

 

Norman & Rosemary

 

 

Gathering at the Community Centre

 

In the evening I was back at the Community Centre helping Glynis and others collect entries for the Over Produce Show. This used to be run by the British Legion but as their members grew older, they have handed it over to the Garden Club. It needs a deal of organisation, collecting entries, writing show cards, inviting judges, collecting cups, setting up the room etc. Last year the show was cancelled due to Covid and there was some uncertainty about this year but it was decided to go ahead and although entries were down by about 10% it seemed to go well. I could tell you that I won three cups – but I won’t! I was most pleased at winning the bread class.

 

 

Entries

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two photos in the CN this week, the Thursday theme was “Light” and I entered a shot from Portugal over the Bay of Biscay. They also picked out and older photo of Quilotoa, Ecuador for the centrefold yesterday.

 

 

Sunlight over the Bay of Biscay

 

 

Quilotoa, Ecuador

 

 

With love

Mike & Kate

 

15^th August 2021

 

Dear All,

Mary-Ann, Andy, Amḗlie and Albert arrived on Friday after a long and traffic filled journey of more than 6 hours. First task was to fill the new paddling pool which took quite a long time but was completed just before our water supply was cut off because of a burst pipe in the village. The pool seems to have been a success.

 

 

Yesterday we had an outing to Wimpole Hall where they have spent a good deal of money constructing new extensive car parks some distance from the hall and even further from the farm, we concentrated on the farm and gardens. The farm was a little disappointing maybe because of lockdown but the gardens were good.

 

 

Wimpole Barn

 

 

Oxford Sandy & Black Pigs

 

Wimpole walled Garden

 

We expect Esther and Emma to join us for lunch today. Ben meanwhile has returned from Ireland where he suffered several punctures and was at the Test Match yesterday.

We had a second trip to St Ives on Monday to collect the framed photo of Edward the retiring Over Show man. It was market day and moderately busy. In the evening I had my first babysitting session for some time for Grace 6 and Arthur 4. Arthur cried for about 15 minutes – but it seemed longer – “He always does that when Mum does out” according to Grace.

Over began their football season on Tuesday night with an exciting 4 v 3 victory at Witchford and continued with a last gasp 1 v 0 result against March Res yesterday so are temporarily top of the league!

We had a surprise visit from Steve and Jane Bridgeman on Wednesday afternoon. Jane used to live opposite and both of our daughters were bridesmaids at their wedding. They now live in Littlehampton but are planning to pack everything up and volunteering in Zambia for a year. They have five children who are scattered round the globe, one in South Africa, one in Japan and another in the USA.

Our walk on Thursday began at Hardwick and took in Caldecote, Bourn and Toft. It was pleasant without being spectacular, A few combines were beginning to rumble and it stayed dry,

 

The Blue Lion, Hardwick

 

 

 

 

Bourn

 

 

Near Toft

I picked a 424gram tomato this week and the first aubergine. Most outdoor tomatoes as well as potatoes locally have been hit by blight.

 

 

Country Taste (424g) & Sungold (13g)

 

Aubergine, Bonica

 

The Cambridge News theme this week was “Water” and my contribution was the Niagara Falls.

 

 

Niagara falls

With love

Mike & Kate

 

 

8^th August 2021

 

Dear All,

Ben paid us a flying visit this week cycling up from Streatham on Monday in a new record time of 5 hours 55 minutes and returning on Wednesday in a slightly longer time of 8.5 hours due to a pannier malfunction and efforts to remedy it en route. He then left home at 3 am Thursday to fly to Cork to cycle round Southern Ireland. He has hired a bike which is not as good as his own and already had a puncture and encountered some challenging weather.

 

 

Time Traveller

 

While Ben was here, we had lunch at the Willingham Book Warren – a café set up in rooms lined with mostly second-hand books. It has an interesting atmosphere but sadly may be closing shortly.

 

The Book Warren

 

John Bell rang this week as I had sent him photos from the cousin’s reunion. He seems mentally alert but still falls asleep at the drop of a hat. His main topic of conversation was a new lawn mower which predictably was not up to scratch!

Our Thursday walk this week started at Babraham and took in Little and Great Abington, Hildersham and the old Roman Road from Wandlebury. The Roman Road now has a traffic ban and consequently was overgrown and resembled a flower meadow which was quite nice.

 

 

Little Abington

 

Orobanche, Broom rape

 

 

The Roman Road

In the evening we had a Village Produce Show Committee meeting as the Show is planned for the 21^st August. Normally we would have held 4 or 5 meetings by now which is complete overkill so the pandemic has yielded a few advantages! I was delegated to arrange a framed photo of the retiring British Legion member who used to present the cups, so on Friday Kate and I took a trip to St Ives to arrange the framing, visit the bank and buy a few things we didn’t know we needed!

Veg distribution has continued this week as beans, tomatoes, cues and courgettes are still flourishing.

News from Hove is promising on the house move front as the vendors of the house they have made an offer for have found somewhere else. Hopefully Mary-Ann, Andy and family are coming up next Friday. This is Amḗlie’s latest portrait.

 

 

With love

Mike & Kate

 

 

1^st August 2021

 

Dear All,

An exciting trip to the “Big Smoke” this week for the first time in recent memory for a cousin’s reunion at Harrow. Eight gather – combined age about 650 years and enough health problems to fill a medium sized medical dictionary! We had a “bring & share” lunch and a trip to the park and it seemed to go well. It was certainly good to see everyone after so long.

 

 

The Olympic Mixed Triathlon team!

 

Bread this week was a plaited loaf which was very photogenic so I am including it even though some have tried a few slices.

 

Plaited loaf

On Wednesday evening we had a visit to a Cofarm site in Cambridge. We set out in a downpour which lasted through Willingham and Cottenham but it was dry when we reached Cambridge. The Cofarm was set up on land owned by a church in Cherry Hinton to supply local charities with free fruit and veg. It is managed by two guys who work part time with the aid of several volunteers and has only been going for 18 months but they have done a remarkable job supplying 5 tons of produce last year and more this. The whole site is 7.5 acres and so far, 2 acres have been fenced and cropped the rest is a wild flower meadow. I have promised them the seed that I could not get to Moldova last year.

 

 

Cofarm Produce

 

On Thursday our walk was reasonably local starting at Horningsea, crossing Quy fen to Quy Water, Anglesey Abbey then back across the Fen via the Coprolite Pits. Being close to Cambridge there was a large turnout.

 

 

Setting out – Quy Fen

 

 

Quy Water

 

 

Coprolite Pit

We managed to prepare the cricket wicket between showers on Friday but the match on Saturday only reached half way, Over having dismissed Little Downham for 87 before there was another deluge.

It has been another good week for fruit and vegetable harvesting with large quantities of Runner and French beans as well as cues and tomatoes and the first marrow. We dug the maincrop potatoes yesterday as blight was starting to appear.

 

 

Rooster & Picasso

 

 

Yesterday’s Harvest

The Cambridge News theme this week was “Pairs” and my contribution was a pair of Brussels sprouts!

 

 

Pair of Sprouts

With love

Mike & Kate