Today I've mostly bin...

[giraffe]

...up to Durham and back. Eight hours driving with a half hour stop to load the car and a half hour stop for lunch. I was on the road at 6.30 am and now I am struggling to keep my eyes open. I'm going to have a cup of tea and then off to bed.

[LAT]

They then all settled in the day room with someone on look out while they all tucked in!

Good for them! Hope they enjoyed it.

And sleep well giraffe! You deserve it.

[Bunnylump]

Love it, Eirian! Mind you, I don't blame them, hospital food is truly dreadful. When I was in (a long time ago) for a couple of months, once I was allowed to eat anything, it got to the stage where my friends took pity on me and started taking it in turns to bring me in real food!

[Bunnylump]

Mmm, just popped into PB.com and it's looking very intriguing!!

[gill216]

Letterbox alert.

[gill216]

Trying to work out what to do/where to go on Saturday. Its Oh's 65th but its also the start of the Tour de France and he's a keen cyclist. Do we walk into town to see the grand depart? Do we walk to the top of our estate and watch them pass and then get in the car and take the back roads ( those that the tourist observers won't know) and catch it up again in Otley? Or do we watch only one portion and head off to the caravan and have a joint party in the clubhouse with another friend who is 40 on the same day? Or do we wait until early Sunday to head off to Withernsea and have a different party with different friends in the Sunday lunchtime pub?

All I know is I need to start cooking but I dont know where!

[Bunnylump]

Quite a dilemma! If it was me, I'd probably suggest watching the race depart, then going and finding a nice pub to cook the lunch for me!

[gill216]

Writing that lot down helped. I'm going to cook and freeze. Then let OH decide what he wants to do. It's his birthday. If we go to the coast and the food defrosts on the way then so what? It's going to be eaten within 24 hours anyway and i have a fridge. I will enlist the help of my friend to make sarnies on the day and fill the vol au vents. What I need now is quick fix on the day things to make. Over to the cookery thread.

[gill216]

Watch your fingers everyone! Eirian was first and I'm second. Don't be number 3.

Took a good attempt at taking 2 finger ends off by the knuckles with my mezzaluna. Been loking for it for weeks. I found it by accident. Claret everywhere.

Looking on the positive side. No dishes for me for the next week or so. Like Eirian I'm typing one handed.

[Bunnylump]

Ouch. Hope you mend soon.

And there is the reason that I WON'T buy one of those. An accident waiting to happen...especially when things are always falling out of my jammed cupboards. I broke a toe once when a jar of Marmite fell out of the cupboard!

[LAT]

Oh dear Gill, that sounds nasty. Hope you haven't done any permanent damage and that it heals quickly.

[gill216]

Making one handed sandwiches for the house full of cyclists who decided that yes, it would be a good idea to stay here tonight. Free b&b, Footie on the tele. Beers out of the fridge. No parking or travel problems to get to see the grand depart. Should have kept my mouth shut and not told them it was a 40 min walk into town from ours and it was passing our estate.! Guess at £140 to camp in Harewood, my free offer was a good deal!!!

[LAT]

You know you love it really Gill. You're a born hostess.
So exciting having the Tour so close though.

[gill216]

Yes, I missed my vocation. Time again and I would go into catering. |But then again, I only discovered it once I had time on my hands.

And again yes, we are so lucky to be so close to a once in a lifetime event.


Just not looking forward to the cooked brekkies in the morning. They want to be out of here by around 9.30.

Edit: Guess I'm at the bottom of the list for the shower too. So I'll serve up breakfast and stink!

[eirian]

that sounds... err... hectic! And what were you thinking, offering cooked breakfast? Maybe you can light the bbq and just hand them food to cook themselves (you'll notice I said bbq, so you don't have to risk your kitchen)

You just don't realise how much you use a finger till it's out of action, do you? It was my ring finger that was bandaged and I'm just today able to type with it again, although it's still sensitive. Hope yours' heal up quickly.

Just remember to tell all the cyclists exactly what's up with the fingers and make them squirm (I loved telling people at work how the skin was all flapping about, just to see them turn green )

[giraffe]

My friend from Thirsk is getting the train to Harrogate tomorrow to see the race. Good job it was last weekend I had to go north.

[LAT]

... in London. We met up with K to go round the Matisse exhibition at Tate Modern. Then after lunch we walked along the riverside towards Tower Bridge spotting 10 wonderful benches along the way, decorated to celebrate various books and writers. They were lovely and we saw a cross-section from Shakespeare to Paddington to War Horse. I'm hoping to take a day off soon and look for more of them in the City and Bloomsbury.

http://www.booksabouttown.org.uk/

If any of the snaps I took are any good I may put one or two up here later. Having walked from Waterloo, round the exhibition, along to Tower Bridge and back to Waterloo again, I am too tired at the moment!

[chazzie]

Oh thanks for that LAT - I'm going to be in London next week - and I will make a point of trying to spot any of these benches.... and if I fail - given I'm there for work - I've still got August and Sept to try to see them!!

[Bunnylump]

They look SO cool!

[Scurra]

Yes, I found about the benches yesterday and plan to go hunting for some too.