Author Archives: nicdempsey

About nicdempsey

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Monday Miscellany: Not cooking with gas

Posted on May 20, 2019 by nicdempsey

Happy Monday! Today I am working from home because on Friday, Cadent who are currently replacing the gas mains, cut off my gas supply and didn’t get around to replacing the main, or connecting my house to the main. They … Continue reading →

Posted in How I Live | Tagged 20 May 2019, How I Live, may, miscellany, Monday Miscellany | Leave a comment

Friday Links: May ends in June

Posted on May 17, 2019 by nicdempsey

Happy Friday! Well May is going to stop being the Prime Minister in June and Boris Johnson has announced that he’s going to run for the leadership of the Tory Party. Folks, you know your country is completely fucked when … Continue reading →

Posted in Links | Leave a comment

Allotment Adventures: Pests

Posted on May 15, 2019 by nicdempsey

This week in allotment adventures the broad beans have blackfly. I can cope with having to cover all the beds because otherwise the foxes dig them up, I can more or less handle the foxes trying to treat my raised … Continue reading →

Posted in allotment | Tagged allotment adventures, ants, beetroot, blackfly, broad beans, carrots, chard, english lavender, french beans, gooseberries, may, peas, potatoes, rain, salad, spring, sweet peas, tasklist, the state of the plot | 1 Comment

Friday Links: English Football

Posted on May 10, 2019 by nicdempsey

Happy Friday! So the big news of the week is that both the European trophy finals will be all English. The Champions League Final is Liverpool vs. Tottenham (Ma had such high hopes of Ajax) and the Europa final is … Continue reading →

Posted in Links | Tagged eating alone, ecotourism, Gardening, Israel-Palestine, knotweed, male loneliness, Palestine, Rachel Held Evans, relegation blues, South Africa, southend and ancient burial sites, supermarket substitutions, Tech and the art of being clean, the Faroe Islands | Leave a comment

Allotment Adventures: Three years later and it’s looking pretty good…

Posted on May 8, 2019 by nicdempsey

The joy of a bank holiday is that we got two trips to the plot this weekend. Apparently, it’s been the coldest May bank holiday on record and I can believe it, it’s hard to imagine that Easter was the … Continue reading →

Posted in allotment | Tagged allotment adventures, autumn raspberries, beetroot, blueberries, broad beans, burgess buttercup, butternut squash, carrots, compost, courgettes, crookneck squash, flowers, garlic, georgia candy roaster, gooseberries, grow some food, grow your own, grow your own food, herbs, kale, kitchen garden, leeks, lemon verbena, may, May 2019, Northfields Allotments, oregano, plums, rhubarb, rosemary, sage, salad leaves, sowing, spring, spring onions, summer raspberries, sweetpeas, thyme, tomatoes, uchiki kuri, weeding, winter squash | 1 Comment

What I’ve Read – March and April 2019

Posted on May 7, 2019 by nicdempsey

I feel way behind on reading this year, I’ve read 42 books, some long, some novella length and at a shade over 10 a month, it’s about usual. Last month I also started to cull the TBR list on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Reading in 2019 | Tagged books, Chronicles of St Mary’s 10 – Jodi Taylor, Citizen Clem - John Bew, Flirting with the Frenemy – Pippa Grant, Hope for the Best, Letters of a Woman Homesteader – Elinore Pruitt Stewart, My Best Friends Mardi Gras Wedding - Erin Nicholas, One Work Kill - Mark Lawrence, Reading 2019, The Chase – Elle Kennedy, The Lady Always Wins - Courtney Milan, The Mermaid’s Sister – Carrie Anne Noble, The Shadow Warrior – Ann Aguirre, The Warrior Heir – Cinda Williams Chima, Turtles All the Way Down - John Green, What I've Read, What I've Read - 2019, What I've Read - April 2019, What I've Read - March 2019, Whiskey Secrets - Carrie Ann Ryan | Leave a comment

Monday Miscellany: The no-good, very bad Monday

Posted on May 6, 2019 by nicdempsey

What is it about the first week back at work after a holiday that makes it so very tiring? This week I have been mostly exhausted, for no apparent reason! Last Monday was not a good day, because I started … Continue reading →

Posted in How I Live | Tagged How I Live, May 2019, miscellany, Monday 6 May 2019, Monday Miscellany | Leave a comment

Sunday Music: You Better You Bet

Posted on May 5, 2019 by nicdempsey

This was on the radio last night. The Greatest Hits of The Who was one of Ma’s car tapes and I have strong memories of singing all the words while sitting in Ma’s first brand new car (a Renault 5 … Continue reading →

Posted in Music | Tagged sunday music, The Who, You Better You Bet | Leave a comment

Recommendations: 19 Crimes Red Wine

Posted on May 4, 2019 by nicdempsey

I’m not a wine snob. As a general rule, if it’s white I don’t like it to be too sweet and I don’t like oaky wine, if it’s fizz I’d prefer a cremant over prosecco, with red I generally pick … Continue reading →

Posted in Booze, Shopping, Things I Like | Tagged 19 Crimes, drinking, red wine, Things I Like, wine | 1 Comment

Friday Links: I give confidential security briefings. You leak.

Posted on May 3, 2019 by nicdempsey

Happy Friday! There is a link in here about pandas, so I’m going to share something that never fails to make me smile Here are this week’s links Prawn to be wild: cocaine found in all shrimp tested in rural … Continue reading →

Posted in Links | Tagged babies first words, pandas, plastic bags | Leave a comment