I'm currently hobbling about after playing tennis two days in a row which has taken its toll on my weak ankle. I don't think my right ankle has ever fully recovered from the ligament damage I sustained years ago whilst playing cricket.
But back to the subject of tea and I need some advice here following a disagreement with the other threequarters who caught me committing what I believe to be a hanging offence.
Yesterday she caught me putting the milk on the teabag before the boiling water.
"That's not how you make tea," she twittered.
"You put the boiling water in first and then the milk unless you are making it in a teapot and then you can put the milk in first."
Is there anyone out there in bloggette land that puts the milk into the cup first or do you all use a teapot and brew the tea in that? Incidentally in Yorkshire in the county of tea, they mash it rather than brew it. I find it all very confusing.
Same goes for coffee. The other threequarters threatens to have me deported to the nether regions if I pour boiling water on the coffee granules/ powder. She reckons she can taste the difference between coffee with boiling water and coffee with water that has just cooled down a tad. I of course think this is nonsense and there's no difference. Nearly all instant coffee is rubbish anyway. The only reason we drink it is for convenience. Where do you stand on all this?
I seem to be stuck in drink mode at the moment with all this talk about whiskey, coffee and tea, so let's have a change of subject. But not before I vent my spleen a bit more about fussy people. A few years ago I was serving some food to some elderly folk at the Methodist church. I was waitering as a volunteer. I got to a rather posh lady who stated at what I was about to put down in front of her
"We always have our food on the pink plates, " she said with a withering look that should have sent me straight to the colonies.
"Well as today's such a special day we are allowing you to have the blue ones" I replied. Take a table of eight people.
"Whose for coffee? I might ask.
Someone will want it black, someone will want it milky, some will want it with the merest trace of milk, some will want it strong and some will want it weak. It's pretty impossible to remember who wants what.
If I'm asked how I want my coffee I always reply: "As it comes."
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The September edition of Hethersett Herald is almost ready to go. I have a couple more things to write from the weekend and then the final editorial checks to make.
This one is a much slimmer edition. Being August there is nowhere near the same amount of news about as usual, but I'm sure that will change once the holiday season is over.
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Here on this perfect day, feed animals at the zoo, warbled Lou Reed if warbling is the right way to describe somebody with a rather dull monotone voice that could be effective nevertheless.
So what is a perfect day? I'm not sure there is such a thing as there's always outside influences that will stop your day being peachy. I prefer to talk about very enjoyable days and I have one coming up in early September that would be some people's nightmare. I will let you decide. So that's three things I want your opinion on today - 1/ putting milk in tea before water 2/ putting boiling water on coffee and 3/ whether you would love or hate the scenario I'm about to describe.
My goodness I hear you say, you really do live a rock n roll life.
The day I'm looking forward to involves taking the grandchildren to Great Yarmouth (yes really).
We will set off early morning and drive the much prettier back road avoiding the main A 47 known as the Acle Straight. The quieter back road will take us through the village of Filby where they have found a way of making everyone stick to the speed limit.
It's a long village. I reckon it's the best part of a mile and that mile is a colourful explosion of flowers and blooms. Flowers are simply everywhere. It's an incredible display and I really do mean incredible. Well worth a drive out in summer even if you have nowhere else to go. People drive very slowly through the village for obvious reasons.
By going down this country road, we miss out the main route into Yarmouth which will be heavy with traffic. We go via Caister On Sea and turn left to go past Yarmouth Racecourse and onto the seafront.
As you know I hate paying to park my car. At the top end (or bottom end depending on how you view things), you can park on the roadside for free. It's quite a walk to the main drag but there's another reason for parking there. It's a very pleasant walk through the regenerated Victorian gardens and waterway where there are a couple of refreshment cafes where we will have an early lunch.
Then it will be a few rides on Joyland including the famous Snails which five generations of the Steward family have enjoyed. This is a very slow ride but the snails are iconic, having been there for well over 60 years. Apparently a mile further along at the Pleasure Beach, the wooden roller coaster isn't far short of its 100th birthday. I can't remember whether I've been on this but imagine I must have at sometime.
My grandmother, my parents, myself, my children and my grandchildren have all been on the iconic snails.
Once finished with Joyland we will spend the best part of two hours on the pirate crazy golf course. Then it's off to the Hippodrome Circus for their afternoon show. This year they have the wall of death motorcyclists again. The last time we saw them, Poppy started screaming at the noise and the smell and we all had to come out midway through the show. She was very young and we have assurances from her that she will be ok this time. She also assures us that she is no longer afraid of people dressed up in costume. This fear came from the day she was playfully chased by Darth Vader.
Then it will be an ice cream and home, returning via Filby for another look at the floral displays. So come on - the perfect day or your worst nightmare? Do let me know.
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Is the bottom falling out of the cruise industry. We have received another five brochures over the past two days. Tomorrow I'll discuss this along with a complaint about it costing almost as much to take a bag on a flight as it does to actually fly, why paying over £200 to park your car is seen as a perk.
Then there's a very intelligent and interesting article I read over the weekend from Norfolk chef Richard Hughes on why restaurant prices are rising so fast.
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I must finish today with congratulations to Hethersett and Tas Valley Cricket Club for avoiding relegation in style with a nine wicket win over Cromer in a match where they had to beat the weather as well.
We knew a win would make us safe and we skittled Cromer out for 109. It would have been a lot less had their opener not scored a half century.
Scoring 110 to win was never going to be a problem despite losing our first wicket at seven. But we had to hit out as the sunshine gave was to rain clouds. We reached the target about a minute before the rain started!
I took a team photo and some action shots for your delectation (unless you don't like cricket and then you would have stopped reading quite some time ago).