Tuesday 21st January, 2014                   2000

I had a bit of a lazy day yesterday - actually most of my days are lazy if I am honest - and all I did was go to the local supermarket with the dog and then the sweet pork place for an ale.

They often offer me the odd free mandarin/banana or a handful of sunflower seeds but I always refuse. They also, because often I turn up when the place is dead and they are about to eat their own lunch, usually invite me to join them for food. I also refuse even though having given them a copy of the dvd on this occasion I could have justified it. They did in fact have a large dish of chicken drumsticks which looked inviting but I had my mind on pasties.

Anyway, I got told to leave. Not nastily and I was given plenty of time to finish my drink. The thing was they were closing up after they had eaten (they turned four customers away) for their holiday which as far as I can tell will be three weeks until Valentines Day. I am running out of watering holes now but at least the one near the fish shop will be open even on new years day - in fact I have been there twice today. The landscape there has changed since I last went, all the stubble has been burnt and for some strange reason the small trees and bushes at the side of the dirt tracks have disappeared and not just the foliage but the lot, trunks and all. It looks really odd.

Anyway yesterday was my first shot at pastry making. Not a disaster but a definite “could do much better”! In my desire not to make it too wet I managed to make it too dry and as a result it wouldn’t roll out very thinly. I knocked the pasty idea on the head and instead tried making a pie - a pigs ear of one admittedly but a pie nonetheless. The pork mince I had bought two days before smelt a bit ripe and I was dubious but being a firm believer in the fact that cooking long and hot enough will kill any problems I persevered. It came out a bit crusty on top and not cooked enough on the bottom, more to do with my mini oven than anything else I think, and I had some with some gravy last night for dinner. It was perfectly edible and I suffered no side effects but it just didn’t appeal to me greatly. The remaining three-quarters of it were taken earlier this evening to the new mum with the three pups and I am sure she will scoff the lot, food will be in short supply now the place is all but deserted.

At lunchtime I went to town to get medicines and a bit of shopping followed by a pizza at the Lotus Branch. The bus was bliss outbound with just three of us aboard but coming back I was lucky to get a perch on the rear “bench” which I exchanged for a seat once we got to the train station. At least I sat.

Today was unseasonably mild and one on which I could have benefited from sunglasses, however this evening just before I started this blog entry I took Pepsi out to the fish place again and whilst it was fine just standing having a bottle, on the ride back the temperature had dropped sufficiently to make my ears sting. And I was ever so pleased when I got back, plugged my bike in and found the extension still worked. That may sound strange but when you consider it is two extensions plugged into each other and the only thing stopping the rain is a load of carrier bags tied around the joint (water poured out of the sockets when I took it from the old place) then perhaps you will understand.

Tomorrow afternoon I am being picked up and taken to the barbecue being thrown by the kids school I played Santa for recently. I have no idea where it will be but I can guarantee it will be like no barbecue in the west - I wonder if I will actually eat anything or I will be on a liquid diet! The very thought of it now has me envisaging T-bone steaks, fat bangers, beef burgers etc and if I knew exactly what the arrangements were I could have bought a French stick downtown and taken my own Taobao sausages and my HP sauce!

First though I must press a pair of trousers in the morning.