Sunday, 24 March 2024

 

24th March 2024

 

Dear All,

This was the last week of the U3A term so after swimming Monday it was week 10 of Just vegetating – Chinese Vegetables and Salads. Kate didn’t stick to the script and produced: summer salad, vegan beetroot chocolate cakes and Sweet potato gratin with coconut and chilli. 

The class had been excellent this year with plenty of questions, good attendance and finally generous in their comments and donation of £210 for CEEM.

In the afternoon I managed to book flights to Moldova, this time direct to Chisinau from Luton, 2nd May to 9th May. Two of us this time, Geoff Pake a retired Willingham farmer and myself. All we have to do now is make sure the firemen’s uniforms and seed arrive before we do.

French History week 10 covered 1919 to 1945, Depression, Defeat, Collaboration, Resistance & Liberation. Squabbles with Germany after World War 1, then World War 11 which they were not ready for, the split country with the Vichy Zone, D Day etc. Again, it is a surprise that so many people survived!

 


 Lille 1918 – 220 Coal Mines destroyed

 

From the family Zoom Tuesday evening we learnt that Ben is on his travels again this time a long weekend in Luxembourg, also that Albert was to dance in Brighton Pavilion with his school.

 


Strictly come Brighton!

 

We cut the cricket square a couple of times on Wednesday yielding several barrow loads of grass. After I planted cabbage, cauliflowers and calabrese in the fruit cage as that was the only dry piece of land and dug trenches to fill with compost for Runner beans. In the evening it was Over Garden Club and I spoke on Potatoes. To work in with this the committee had purchased some seed potatoes for a competition as well as previously planned begonia corms.

Thursday’s walk started at Wrestlingworth near Potton and circled via Hook’s Mill and Tadlow. It was completely dry overhead and much less mud than recently. There were plenty of spring flowers on show mainly blackthorn, daffodils and violets. Oil seed crops were beginning to colour up.

 

 


Hook’s Water Mill

 

 


Hook’s Windmill

 


 

Well, there was some mud!

 


 

Wrestlingworth church

 

Friday’s Biography subject was Ibn Battutah an Islamic traveller, explorer and scholar. Over a period of thirty years from 1325 to 1354, Ibn Battuta visited most of North Africa, the Middle East, East Africa, Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, China, the Iberian Peninsula, and West Africa, totalling around 117,000 km (73,000 mi).

 


 

Ibn Battutah’s travels

After the class had an end of term lunch at the Maypole pub.

Kate and I managed to plant potatoes here and at the allotment on Saturday and I scarified the lawn which yielded a barrowful of moss and thatch.

I watched Over 4 v 1 Witchford in the afternoon.

 

Regards

 

Mike & Kate

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