Monday, July 27th 2020 – The Great House Extension Project (Day 6) So, the tree is now gone, Rob, the Structural Engineer, has drawn up the necessary plans for dealing with the remnants (the roots mostly) and Mal the builder has been back for another look at the site now it no longer has a…
Home 2020 – The Great House Extension Project (Days 4 & 5)
Thursday/Friday, July 23rd/24th 2020 – The Great House Extension Project (Days 4 & 5) On Thursday nothing much happened, but on Friday the offending tree went. If I’d left it to Jim (the architect) the gods only know how long we’d have had to wait. I didn’t, because the best man for the job is…
Home 2020 – The Great House Extension Project (Day 3)
Wednesday, July 22nd 2020 – The Great House Extension Project (Day 3) Jim, the architect turned up unexpectedly today and spent some time staring at the tree. He is still of the opinion that the tree could just go and no one will turn a hair. Later on two separate tree surgeons turned up to…
Home 2020 – The Great House Extension Project (Day 2)
Tuesday, July 21st 2020 – The Great House Extension Project (Day 2) No building whatsoever today, and no contact from anyone apart from a brief communication from the architect saying he thought we could “just cut the tree down and worry about it later” and saying that he had asked Rob, our Structural Engineer, to…
Home 2020 – The Great House Extension Project (Day 1)
Monday, July 20th 2020 – The Great House Extension Project (Day 1) Getting building work done is always stressful for the householder, no matter what level of disruption you’re expecting. A couple of years back we started to plan to extend our current house to give ourselves a decent amount of space in the lounge/dining…
Food 2020 – Recipes (Victoria Sponge)
Saturday, 18th July 2020 – Recipes (Victoria Sponge) Cakes are another bete noire of mine, never quite coming out the way I hope. In a fit of optimism, I decided I’d have one more go at what is really quite a basic thing, the Victoria sponge. This has long defeated me, coming out either so…
Food 2020 – Recipes (Traditional Portuguese Duck Rice)
June 2020 – Recipes (Traditional Portuguese Duck Rice) I have long had a fascination with duck rice, having first eaten it in Macau many years ago. Since then I have been trying very hard to recreate it. It’s taken forever to find a recipe that looked even vaguely plausible, with the ones I’ve tried in…
Food 2020 – Recipes (Elderflower Vodka, Elderflower Cordial, Elderflower Fritters)
June 2020 – Recipes (Elderflower Vodka, Elderflower Cordial, Elderflower Fritters) It’s been quite a year for watching the wildflowers around these parts, and with elder (Sambucus nigra, otherwise known as elder, boortree, boontree, borewood, and even dog tree) growing rife along the streamside park that edges our property, and all around the perimeter of the…
Food 2020 – Recipes (Kanelsnurrer a la Meyer’s Bakery)
Saturday 20th June, 2020 – Kanelsnurrer (Cinnamon Swirls) a la Meyer’s Bakery If you’re Danish (or an enthusiastic foodie with an eye on the Nordic food scene) youll have heard of Claus Meyer, the other man who founded Noma, the one many people haven’t heard of, among other things, and who now has a small…
Travel 2020 – Towcester to Hulcote
May 2020 – Towcester to Hulcote, Northamptonshire Sunday mornings since the lockdown began have taken on a pattern of their own, with breakfast at around 10, usually a poached or boiled egg, with toast while we listed to the radio, followed by grabbing a camera, and a raincoat and heading out for a walk. There…
Smtfhw's Travels 
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