philmayfield

I'm hoping for a Range Rover towing a trailer! Its just arrived and its a lady in a Mercedes van! 2 posh young ladies actually!

We're awaiting an imminent food delivery from Waitrose. We normally use Morrisons but Waitrose had a slot so we're giving them a try. I've washed the cars, mowed the front lawn and tidied the borders and we're sitting here in our best clothes ready to accept the delivery!

I like mushrooms but you've got to be able to identify them correctly. The self proclaimed mushroom expert on our lane was carried off in the back of an ambulance!

Iris recognition is the way. All irises have complex patterns but are unique and stable and can be scanned and recognised from a distance

I’ll eat anything except eggs, boiled, fried or omeletted. I just don’t fancy them. Give me a plate of snails, frog’s legs or a Big Mac meal and I’m happy.

Yes, that’s the stuff I remember. Put me off Spanish wine for life but the selections you get from the specialist suppliers over here are usually very good and I do like to try new varieties. The French wine I used to enjoy was Pommard. I think it’s pretty expensive now. A friend of my fathers was Lou Orme, the MD of Ormes of Bakewell. They had a splendid grocer’s and wine merchants in the centre of the town, opposite the Rutland Arms. They imported mainly from France and had their own bottle labels. Pommard was a regular in the cases he used to get at very preferential prices. I didn’t really

Having inferred yesterday that Spanish wines can be indifferent, I opened a bottle yesterday from my latest Virgin assortment and was most impressed with a Tempranillo. Las Campanitas. Rich, full bodied and fruity- an excellent accompaniment to my steak and kidney pie!

I’ve started buying from Virgin wines when Laithwaites deliveries became haphazard. Both have some excellent selections. I like to take pot luck and try various red and white assortments. It’s always interesting opening a new bottle. There is a local merchant in Southwell who would deliver for free. ‘Mr and Mrs Fine Wines’ but I’ve yet to give them a try.

It's funny how French wine has gone out of fashion. The quality depended on the weather of the year and became overpriced. Other countries with more stable weather conditions managed to achieve consistency of quality although their wineries were often started by the French on their own rootstock. There are still some very good Italian wines; try Villa Antinori if you can find it. Spanish wine used to be real gut rot stuff but has much improved. The Germans have some very good whites but tend to keep the best for themselves!

In my extensive experience Italian cuisine is the best in Europe. It’s only the ‘pretend’ Italian in this country which is not so good. When Alex and Brenda had restaurants in Notts their cooking was the genuine article. So sorry they moved!

See what I mean!

Not in Italy perhaps but over here .........

You’ve not missed anything. All supermarket pizzas are rubbish. You may get a decent one if you go into a dedicated pizzeria but quite frankly it’s junk food. I await the comments from the dedicated pizzerati!

Wishing you the very best Col!

I think a pizza in a box is known as a Portaloo.

It’s all to do with Pythagorus.

If you make a big enough pile you can hide behind it!

What a note of good cheer to brighten our morning.

I am indeed BK. I've reached that 'I don't give a stuff age!'

I enjoy offending the pc brigade. At my age you can say pretty well what you like and people just think ‘poor old fool’. I also act the doddering old person when out shopping and people come to my assistance so I just stand there and let them assist even though I’m more than capable of doing it myself!

Basically you wouldn't go anywhere if you closely examined their political system. At least Turkey is not currently on the covid 'hit list' but who knows what lies in store?

We may have found ways of treating CV but the covid patients are taking up a lot of hospital bed spaces whilst others are dying from more severe but treatable ailments. The waiting lists are getting longer.

There are many unpleasant diseases that you don’t necessarily die from but it’s preferable not to suffer it in the first place. If you don’t die it’s possible to pass it on to some susceptible person who may. Cases are increasing so some people are taking a cavalier attitude to the situation.

Your right! I’ve been there (ferry across the Mersey) and would have seen that.

The lighthouse at Hunstanton is on top of the cliffs.