philmayfield

It’s probably the old wartime airfield at Sandtoff. I flew into there many years ago. They did a good Yorkshire fry up!

Ah Garlic coffee! We had a subsidiary company in Dublin and one of the directors claimed that his cousin, who worked at the Shelbourne hotel, was the inventor. I thought it was a load of Blarney! Back in the day the Riverside flats were the upmarket place to live. Now they look like a concrete prison block.

We used to go to the Chateau regularly. One night I paused my meal to play the drums as a member of the group hadn’t turned up. I’m not a trained drummer but can turn my hand to most things in an emergency!

Letterbox size?

Back in their heyday Pork Farms’ pies were as good as Dickinson and Morris’s although the latter claim to be the originator of the Melton pork pie. Nowadays pies bought from the supermarkets have the similar mass produced aura about them and you have to seek out the smaller makers to get a ‘proper’ pie. Jack Bailey at Upper Broughton was my favourite but he closed a few years ago. It’s an interesting quest to find the perfect pie. Now the pork pie season is upon us I shall pursue my investigations further.

Not secret consignments of Pork Farms pies I hope.

I thought it was going to be a jelly-filled pork pie.

That’s what posh people call it Rog.

I had my car washed by the Albanians in Newark last week. The best part is being leathered dry by the two ladies. I always leave a generous tip!

The original reason for the jelly in a pork pie was to preserve the meat and keep it moist. Eating it is optional. You can, if you desire, eat the paper in which it’s wrapped!

See, no accounting for taste, I don’t like the jelly!

There’s a market every Monday in Bakewell Rog. It was excellent last time we visited but that would be over 5 years ago. Bakewell’s a nice town to visit in any case but I was talking on Saturday to someone who lives there who said it’s become very ‘touristy’. There used to be ample parking on the water meadows, just a short walk from the town centre.

My favourite pork pies now are from Mike Malony of Tuxford. I used to get them from Gonalston Farm Shop but since that burned down it means a 40 mile round trip. That’s a long way just for a pork pie!

We used to regularly go to Melton market on a Tuesday but haven’t been for some years. Back then it was thriving and interesting place to walk round. We always came back with a Stilton cheese and a pie from the Olde Pie Shoppe. A farmer friend used to help at the sheep auction on market day.

That’s the hymn which raises the questions to which all of the answers are ‘No!’

Yes, I’ve just been re-reading that book. It mentions quite a few people I once knew, now no longer with us. With the possible closure of the airfield to build a massive housing estate there’s a Facebook section filled with the opinions of the objectors.’Save Nottingham City (Tollerton) Airfield)’. I think it’s inevitable that the development will go ahead. When I look online at ‘Flight Radar’ the usage of the airfield is very low and my old alma mater, the Sherwood Flying Club, has an outdated website and isn’t the buzzing place it used to be. I suppose the cost of private flying is out of re

The politics thread puts me off. Maybe others as well?

I've heard they're around but its the first one I've ever seen.

Not a peacock but I did look out of the bedroom window early one morning last week and saw a muntjac deer cavorting around the meadow.

Many years ago the occupants of East Hall in our village had a peacock. It used to trespass into the garden of West Hall (a semi detached hall would you believe!) The peacock, Oscar, used to eat the young vegetables in West Hall’s veg garden. The owner of West Hall consulted his solicitors as to the action he could take but was told, under the Wild Birds’ Act there was nothing he could do about it. He did however manage to secretly capture it and release it some miles away!

My wife’s just returned from the village WI’s annual meeting with a silver cup. Apparently she won the competition for the most points in the monthly competitions. Smart arse!

They’re deep in the back of the shed somewhere. I’ve got to root them out. I bought them when I stopped working in a factory and became a full time rustic. I also bought six sheep, a Landrover Defender, a heated propagating frame, a pair of green wellies and a flat cap. I sometimes chew on a piece of straw as well.

If it had hit Radford Road you wouldn’t have noticed!

I’ve used Toro mulching mowers for the past six years, both a ride on and a walk behind. They chop grass and leaves into a fine mulch so I don’t have to collect the cuttings and drive back and forth to the compost heap. The mulch feeds the lawns and I must say they’ve never looked better. I cut about an acre and a half so I have a wealth of grass cutting experience! I’ve cut the grass six times this year already.

We have two 8’x12’ greenhouses. In one we grow 14 tomato plants, usually Shirley. In the other we grow 4 Beefstake tomatoes, 4 cucumbers and a mixture of peppers and aubergines. Both greenhouses are now cleared out, cleaned and ready to go. I lit my three year old bonfire on Saturday which had become massive. About 20’ by 10’. It was a spectacular blaze! My veg garden had grown over since my hip problem and it’s getting a bit too late to rotovate it now. I might hire a deturfer, shift the grass and rotovate it ready for next year. We can buy fresh, locally grown vegetables from the shop in the