September 23, 2007

• There must be something wrong

  I am stewing apples and blackberries for pudding.  See:

  

  And the smell is glorious, partly because of the ground cloves, and the cinnamon stick, and the wine in there.  Yum.  Mum's blackberry and apple (or apple and blackberry, depending on how much apple there was to eat.  With two trees in the garden, it always seemed like an excessive amount of stewed apple) never involved spices.  I think this might be rather nice....

  I appear to have come all over domesticated, which is probably a reaction to my stumping the length of Oxford Street today looking for papery items for a 'beautiful paper' swop that I signed up to, and then forgot about.  This didn't do much for my temper, it is all my own fault that I am late, and I feel deeply guilty.  I was not impressed to discover quite how expensive Notecards and so forth are at Symthson's either.  The cheapest item in the concession at Selfridges is a silk covered address book-let.  It's about the size of a credit card, and costs fifteen English pounds.  A set of Notelets practically requires a second mortgage!  I gazed longingly at the display, and then departed elsewhere for paper that is both beautiful and reasonably priced, and (this is necessary when one is shipping overseas), not of American Origin.  Selfridges is a home-from home for Americans.  Apart from Marshmallow Fluff, one can acquire Kraft Macaroni Cheese in a box, Instant Corn Grits (yuck), Blueberry sauce in a Squeeeeezy bottle, quantities of American Magazines and stationery, and Oreos.  I am still aspiring to a Smythson diary, one day, in many years time.  Possibly when I have increased my property empire and have a second mortgage anyhow.

  Anyhow, I have to Get On.  There is

  • Brownie Accounts
  • Guide Accounts
  • Guide Admin (again - this time I need to write envelopes for the letters I failed to give out on Friday night)
  • Guider Admin (someone needs to circulate the dates from the County Meeting)
  • Make list of what's needed for Friday night for Guides
  • Sort out transport from Airport to Station in Mumbai  need to book train ticket, and I think I need to wait about three more days before the system will let me.  Can get taxi voucher at airport.
  • Copy photo CDs from Jack Petchey awards
  • Work out which photos need enlarging from Jack Petchey Awards, and prepare for enlargements at Boots.
  • Email photo of Brownie with painted Tile to Guiding Magazine in yet another doomed attempt to get one of my photos into print (I promise, on my honour as a Guide, that once I've got a photo into print, I shall never again email a photo of a Brownie to Guiding Magazine).
  • Package up items for Swop (I am very pleased with what I did achieve!)
  • Packages up tiles to send to USA
  • Tidy up the sitting room a little
  • Mend Jo's necklace.
  • Knit
  • Communicate plans for Friday's Brownie meeting to the rest of the ladies.

  I'd be further ahead with all this but for the fact that the Brownie cupboard in my bedroom required a bit of reaassembly this morning.  Too much stuff in the cupboard results in the back of the cupboard popping out.  Mending it meant emptying it, and moving it.  Emptying and moving the cupboard resulted in a massive sorting session, much disposal of bits of paper and decisions to shift old Christmas Cards to the cupboard at Brownies, and some very needed cleaning behind the cupboard, as the top of the skirting board was thick with dust, and even my unhouseproud self couldn't live in the knowledge that it was there.  Inspired by this, I then hoovered the bedroom and actually used the crevice tool to get into the narrow bits.

  Having read Roald Dahl's biography, I'm now reading James and the Giant Peach for the first time.  I missed it when I was six.  I am not sure why.  Possibly because Mum thought it was too easy for me.  Roald Dahl was Not a Nice Character, but one would have to be somewhat twisted to write books like that for children.  James' parents are killed by a rampaging rhinocerous in the first paragraph.  Must have been on Camden High Street...Perhaps we need a plaque to commemorate this.

  Which reminds me.  I saw Boris Johnson pontificating in a square while I was on my way to Brownies on Friday night (in a taxi, because I was running unbelievably late, and the amount of clutter I had to take with me was seriously heavy).  I wonder what he was up to.

  xxx

  • 12:30 pm
  • 6 Comments