Cute, even if I say so myself!

So this is what they look like - pretty nasty stuff this blight:

All six plants (Marmande, Pixie, Sungold, Olivade, Red Alert and Sweet Million) are all now showing signs of this stuff… Anyway, all is not lost as I’ve turned all the fruit that doesn’t look like it’s going to ripen (before the plants succumb to the blight) into Green Tomato Chutney:

450g of apples (grated)
2 onions peeled and grated
1.5kg green tomatoes (thinly sliced)
225g sultanas
225g sugar
2tsp salt
450ml malt vinegar
4 small pieces of ginger
Half teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tsp mustard powder

Shove it all in a pan, bring slowly to the boil and leave for a couple of hours. Remove the ginger before you put it all in some sterilised jars. Leave it to mature for a couple of months. Voila.. some chutney for the autumn and a house that smells like a vinegar factory.

There are more pictures here!

I think we are ready - well certainly in practical terms we are: the baby’s room has been re-decorated to remove the barbie pink colour (although our bedroom in Bridgnorth was the same colour come to think of it and we didn’t feel the need to shield our eys from it (well maybe I did!!)), the carpet has been replaced with a Brintons special (would a baby notice I wonder??), Juliet’s family hierloom cot is in place, the fangled CB-like baby monitor is out of its box and working (great if you need to call down for a cup of tea!) and the cupboards are stuffed full of passed on baby clothes from my sister Jo.

And then there is the 18-in-one pushchair, cum-car-seat, cum-pram, cum-trap-your-bloody-fingers-in-the-moving-parts wheeled buggy contraption thing from Juliet’s sister. And very generously lent and very gratefully received it is too. I admit that out of curiosity I had a quick look at the price tag for something equivalent brand new on the internet and moved on to something less shocking very quickly. I know for certain that despite having a modicum of intelligence (some would argue otherwise), I will never be able to learn how to use this buggy to its full extent… It is both a wonderous and frightening bit of kit…!

We are ready in practical terms, but are we (read “I” here) ready in emotional terms? We are both desperate to meet this baby that has been kicking around in Juliet’s abdomen for so long now, but on the other hand, that’s when it all starts for real - the being parents thing. Not to mention having to change nappies!

So watch this space as they say, it’s about to get rapidly filled by a baby.

You may be concerned to hear that I have decided to inflict my green cycling lycra on the poor unsuspecting inhabitants of Shropshire and Mid-Wales by purchasing a new bike! This bike, would you believe it, is only the second one I have owned since the age of 11 (some 20 years ago now!). I recently took the painful decision (although probably a very safe decision considering the age of the bike and how likely it is to fall apart whilst riding it) to retire my old, slightly battered, but oh so trustworthy and much-loved Muddy Fox Courier:

My parents bought me this bike in 1987, way back when massive cow horn handle bars were in fashion the FIRST time around. I remember my first ride on it (trying desperately not to fall off) and my last (in late 2005 - hoping desperately that nothing important (like the frame) would break). It had huge brake levers, massive cantilever brakes, a Sugino crankset with a monstrous 48 tooth chainring (try not to laugh), a SunTour cassette/derailleur system, 2 inch alloy rims and a chrome-moly frame that weighed about 3 tonnes. I rode it pretty much non-stop through mud, cow muck and one time for 350 miles across France. I even rode it in Spain on holiday once. Goodness knows how many miles it has clocked up during its life, but I can safely say that my parents made one of the wisest investments (and it probably was a princely sum in those days) they could ever have done in buying this bike. For example, original items that it still has are: frame, both rims, front cranks, 48 tooth chain ring, front derailleur, saddle and saddle post, cantilever brakes and levers and incredibly, some of the cable covers - a testament to both Muddy Fox of the day and to my parent’s choice of bicycle!

But, all good things come to an end as they say, and I’ve finally decided to move on to something different - a road bike! As I will freely admit, I know nothing about road bikes (or even mountain bikes come to think of it as they seem to have moved on light-years in the last 20 years), so I decided to see if I could find the cheapest but most reasonably equipped (for a beginner) road bike. The fruit of my search is the oh so well-known Barracuda Azzuri:

So far (after two 20 mile rides) I’m very pleased with it. It arrived in a massive box, but has hardly needed much tweaking, save for some bolt tightening and some adjustment of the rear index shift system that was all to pot. The difference in speed between the two bikes is incredible - probably due to the difference in tyre widths and tyre knobbly-ness, but I have to say that the saddle is bl**dy uncomfortable.

Anyway, if you have the misfortune enough to see a blur (well more like a sedate passing) of green lycra, then you’ll know it’s me.

P.S For those that might be worried, the Muddy Fox isn’t going to bicycle heaven, but will, at some stage, get a nice clean up and refurb.

“BRITAIN is on full alert for blizzards to dump up to seven inches of snow and plunge much of the country into chaos.

The potential danger to life is so severe that the Government body which oversees control of emergencies such as major outbreaks of disease is monitoring the threat.

The Met Office yesterday forecast that snow and temperatures as low as minus 10C will sweep across the country from Cardigan Bay in the west to East Anglia, affecting millions of homes.

The transport system is likely to be brought to a halt as experts predicted it will be the most severe weather since the devastating January storms which killed 21 people – and it is set to be the heaviest snowfall London has seen in years.”

If your sides haven’t split with laughter and you want to read the end of this article you can find it in all its glory here.

So what did happen you might ask? Well, for us, today brought about 4cm (if you are optimistic) of snow on and off throughout the day, with drifts to 6cm in some places! At one point during the day, it was so bad I thought I might have to call the emergency services because the temperature had plummeted to 14C in the hallway! I even had to put on another jumper because I felt slightly chilly.

Here are some pictures from home to prove how bad it was:

In the end (as you may have guessed) I was quite disappointed (that’s an understatement) about the small amount of snow we had here. I think having grown up in the eighties and early nineties when heavy-ish falls of snow were more common (yes I know, not quite like the winters of 1947 and 1962/63) and days off school were spent sledging with poly bags on the Batchcott Hills, I was kind of hoping for similar - plus hysterical newspaper articles like the one above do nothing to stop me dreaming of 29ft drifts and snow for months on end.

Anyway, what did fall was wonderful and gave me that spark of excitement in the morning when I drew the curtains back… it also made me want to get out in it before it all melted - and that I did and it felt great!

P.S. For anyone (like me) who can’t remember what real snow looks like, see the photos here.

The baby is due mid to end of May and so far all is going well. We’re (or maybe that should be I’m) a bit overwhelmed and daunted at the same time, but I guess that’s what it feels like to have all the responsibility that goes with becoming parents. Me, a father??? - I’m barely able to look after myself, but as everyone keeps saying, it’ll come naturally.

So for the interested among you, here are three pictures from our 12 week scan - admittedly it looks a bit indistinct, but it is a baby I assure you!

Work has currently stopped for the Winter, and the picture below shows current progress - the old cafe has completely gone:

The image below shows what it used to look like:

There is also a blog being written to archive the demolition work, together with some really interesting photos: http://blog.snowdonia-active.com/

Enjoy!

P.S Happy Birthday Dad!

Anyway, the news is that we have now moved into our new house! Phase 2 took place on the weekend of the 9th/10th November - bit of a nailbiting lead up though due to the mortgage company really dragging their feet to get us the correct paperwork through. Once again we rounded up some kind (foolish) souls to help us (thanks James and James), and a hire van with a tail lift and removed all our stuff from the wonderful barn-in-the-middle-of-nowhere and took it to the new house.

So far so good! We’ve just about unpacked - although as we have been unpacking I keep thinking to myself that was it really necessary to bring that box with all those things I never use and now that it’s gone straight in the loft, we could probably do without it! We’ve had a coal fire in the authentic 1920’s hearth (worked a treat) and the Christmas tree is up! I’ve put together some photos below. Click to enlarge them.