Walking back to happiness

Things have been a little stressful of late. Poor Father-in-law WithaY is now back in hospital, and we are trying to establish what happens next. There is no easy answer.

Still, at least we know he is safe and warm and clean and fed, which is good.

Other news: There was a fire alarm at work yesterday, which was interesting. The alarm went off and the Disembodied Tannoy Voice told us all to remain at our desks until told what to do. From where I sit, I could see hordes of people leaving the building, and hordes of firemen coming in. Not a comforting sight.

After several repetitions of the DTV telling us to stay put, the announcement was cut short abruptly in the middle and we were told to evacuate the building immediately, without panic, and no running. So we did, and went and stood out in the shopping centre for 45 minutes. Luckily we had all had the sense to put our coats on.

Indeed, I had packed my rucksack and was ready to go home if the fire raged too far out of control.

Disappointingly, the fire turned out to be a false alarm and we were allowed* back in.

As part of my ongoing attempts to improve my health generally, I walked from Waterloo to Victoria yesterday morning. It was a glorious day, my train was already almost 20 minutes late (signalling problems) so I thought I'd enjoy some winter sunshine and stroll to Westminster, then get the Tube from there. By the time I got to Westminster Tube, I thought I might as well carry on and walk the rest of the way. So I did. Yay me.

It was so refreshing that I thought I'd do the same walk in reverse at home time. I got as far as Westminster Abbey where my right knee clicked painfully, and has been hurting like billy-o ever since.

Managed to walk all the way, but was limping by the time I got to the train, and then was crammed into a seat with insufficient legroom** which didn't help. At least I had a seat. Some poor buggers had to stand all the way from Waterloo to Basingstoke. Which is a long way.

Made cupcakes*** this afternoon as a mate of Mr WithaY was calling in. It was quite nice, taking a late lunch and making cakes. Made me feel like I ought to live in the 1950s.

Right. Time for my guitar lesson now. Haven't practiced much this last two weeks, so will be in the naughty corner I think.


*Forced by our keen management

**ie: all of them

***and very nice they were too. With butter icing and sprinkles on.

Culinary disappointment

Bloody hell it's cold. And I don't think it's because I have recently come back from the warmer end of Europe.

There was a Scout camp in the meadow behind the house over the weekend. Poor little sods. I don't think it stopped raining once all weekend.

I have been having a few culinary disasters of late. I was in a real bakey mood on Sunday so decided to make a cake, and, at Mr WithaY's request, it was to be a fruit cake.

I found a recipe I'd not used before and set to, mixing and so on. All went well, it baked for the required two and a half hours, and looked magnificent when it came out of the oven.

Sadly, however, when we tried a slice with a cup of tea later on, it was unbearably sweet. Most disappointing.

I also made some more cupcakes, with a cream cheese topping recipe I found in the Saturday Telegraph*. This was very runny, and when I put it on the cakes it didn't seem to set properly, making them a bit hazardous to eat. And it was very sweet as well, so if I make it again I will cut down on ther sugar in it.

Another thing I decided to make on Monday was grapefruit curd. I have made lemon curd very successfully over the years, and we had some accidental grapefruits** sitting there, so I decided to make up a batch before we went out. Instead of taking the recipe's 20 minutes to set, it took and hour and a half. I was not pleased.

So. All rather disheartening. Never mind.


*It seems cupcakes are achingly fashionable. Once again I am a barometer of popular culture.

**I thought they were oranges.

Blimey

Another week gone - life is starting to flash by. Probably just my age.

It's been an odd week too, I have been out of the office for much of it, either in Bath or Bristol, so it has felt a bit disjointed. And the weather has been incredible - warm, sunny, gentle breezes, perfect. Even the journeys on the train were relatively enjoyable.

Went into the office on Friday which was all a bit depressing - most of our colleagues have now moved to the Bristol office so the place was all but deserted, with huge packing boxes everywhere. We move to the other end of the building next Friday so this week we need to get all our stuff packed as well.

Whilst doing the day job. Arse. I bet we have no working phones by about Thursday. And then I get moved onto the new improved IT system at the end of the month. We have been advised to save everything we possibly can onto CD because the migration so far has had mixed success.

This worries me.

Big achievement this week - I have learned how to make cupcakes. I found a recipe on Nigella's website, and it works brilliantly:

4oz self-raising flour
4oz sugar
4 oz butter
2 eggs
vanilla essence
milk to make it the right consistency (a few tablespoons, add it slowly)

Mix everything together, adding the milk at the end, carefully put the mix into 12 baking cases, place in oven, make icing, wait.

Bake in the oven at Gas mark 6 for 15-20 minutes, allow to cool a little, add icing and decorations. Makes 12.

They are really nice.

Other news: Mr WithaY has finally got his Landrover back from Barry the Fish, and it seems to be working properly. Long may that continue.

So, we are a 2-car family again. Shame diesel is now costing us £1.23 a litre so we can't afford to go anywhere any more.

I still miss Badgerdaddy. *sigh* Still, nice that people are chipping in on this blog, thanks to all who have done so.

I'll try to be a bit less crap and slow to post this week. Sozz.