We always knew that we were going to have a bit of a different routine today as we had to planned to go to Droitwich later in the morning. The day was always smattering with rain and so it proved all day long with the weather alternating between a slight drizzle and longer bouts of more prolonged downpour. We had got a little itinerary mapped out for us when we got to Droitwich but we beset with roadworks, temporary traffic lights and all kind of traffic hold-ups. This was not a massive surprise as the Waitrose crew who were due to deliver between 9.00 and 10.00 this morning were a good 20 minutes late because they, too, had been diverted all over the place until they could actually reach us. So by the time I had put all of the shopping away, we had a slightly delayed start but still collected our newspapers in the car. Then we made it (in fits and starts) to Droitwich where the first point of call was our favourite coffee shop. There are several coffee shops in Droitwich but this one has a slightly Wetherspoonish feel to it (books round the walls etc) which we quite like. We ordered a couple of cappuccinos and one toasted teacake as well as muffin – when the teacake was delivered to us it was enormously which I mean about 5″-6″ in width. Nonetheless, we tucked into with masses of butter (and jam for Meg) and the taste of the cinnamon really came through which I always think of as the mark of a good teacake. Then we progressed to make our pilgrimage to our local ‘Wilko‘ hardware store and whilst Meg was buying some cosmetic items, I busied myself in the gardening and stationary sections. We were a bit short of time but I finished off buying a big box of gardening lime (which you do not see that often these days) and I bought several packets of seeds (half price) of the kind that you can sow either indoors or outdoors in early August i.e. some rocket, mixed lettuce and coriander. I will get these going in the next day or so all being well as I have the appropriate seed trays and some plastic covers. I also bought a small plastic storage box (but one which, at a distance, you might confuse with a basket weave) because I have a particular purpose in mind for it.I intend to keep this filled with topsoil so that I always have just enough on hand top fill a medium size flower pot. The storage box was some 12″ x 7″ x 5″ which translates through to about 6 litres worth of content. When I got home, I rather wished that I purchased another of them (although I think I have seen something similar in Bromsgrove) and in this I intended to keep some garden compost, the idea being that I always have a bit if both topsoil and compost on hand (i.e. stored in my mini-greenhouse in Mog’s Den) whenever I feel the urge to do a quick bit of potting. As necessity is the mother of invention, I looked around in our garage for a small cardboard box of about the same dimensions but it needed a bit of reconfiguring so that it opened the way I wanted. I got the various ‘leaves’ of the box stuck together with sellotape but reinforced it all with some strong Gorilla-type tape. I also reinforced the bottom with some spare cardboard and found a bit of adhesive vinyl floor/decorating tile which I used as a sound base. (Incidentally, Poundland sells quite a decent supply of black and white squares of these tiles and they came for about 4-5 in a £1 bundle so I try to always have some in stock)
Now it was on to our ‘lunch’ date, in the Olde Worlde cafe I mentioned yesterday.When the beef dinner arrived it was enormous – about as big as the most laden Christmas meal you could imagine. We had about 5-6 slices of what I think was silverside to which was added 3-4 some large roasted potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, carrots, broccoli and cauliflower complete with an onion gravy. Needless to say, we couldn’t quite finish a meal as large as this but the very kind proprietor gave us a ‘doggy bag’ so we could take the bits of beef home to eat later. All of this for about £8.50! I popped into Waitrose to buy some ‘All-Bran’ and was amazed to see that the original Kellogs price was £3.00 a packet but Waitrose sold their alternative for £1.80. When we got home, we just collapsed in front of the TV in order too passively follow the Olympics (although skateboarding is not really our ‘cup of tea’) I did ensure that our large seed planting tray that we bring into use when we are sowing seeds into seed trays on our outside table was cleaned up and pressed into service as a rainwater collector ( to go into our new 6-litre watering can which Wilko were selling for £2.00 and which I could not resist!)
© Mike Hart [2021]