Nine years

Posted on July 4, 2018 by nicdempsey

Nine years ago, I moved into this flat, it’s nice to live in one place, I’m very lucky that I’ve been able to do it.

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Allotment Adventures: Open Day and Baby Vegetables

Posted on July 3, 2018 by nicdempsey

This weekend I discovered an ant’s nest in one of my potato bags and probably the source of the bites that caused last week’s swollen hand. We took the potatoes and showered the ants with boiling water. Look I’m all for live and let live but without any rain, ants get out of control and that equals more blackfly.The week was all about watering and picking peas before the pigeons killed them. The weekend was mostly about the Open Day, it was a good day, but busy and so very, very hot. I took one photo but I sold lots of plants and bought a few!Before we opened to the general public Ma and I did some work. I watered and fed and picked salad and beetroot. Ma picked raspberries and peas and cleared the pea bed. Then we tackled the overgrown chard bed.We covered it in more compost and netted it to stop the foxes digging and next week I’ll plant leeks there. Ma and I harvested the anya potatoes, I’d had some in the week t0o. We didn’t get loads about 1.25kg but they were good and I’m happy enough with them.

We aren’t getting loads but things are catching up after the late spring, we have baby french beansBaby cucumbersBaby tomatoesBaby courgettes (one on each plant)Baby crookneck squashI’ve had two blueberriesAnd the winter squash is starting to expandThe cucamelons that I resowed are growingThe three sisters bed (which I know is too small!) is flourishingBut let’s talk about the plants I bought yesterday.9 lavender plants, two summer savory, a mint plant, a carnation, a verbena bonariensis, and a dianthus. My plan for the flowers is the top of the plot, the lavender is going to go along the sides of the plot, bees love lavender and bonariensis and I want to encourage them as much as I can. I didn’t buy another rhubarb crown, please admire my restraint!

It’s going to be hot for a while, I’m watering every other day but I’m giving them more water, the squash, tomatoes, cucumbers and summer squash are getting a can more of water and I’m considering watering every day if this weather continues…

This year on the plot is really the year that Ma and I have been more relaxed about self seeding plants, the poppies have always done their thing but the amaranth is everywhere this year. And then there are the nasturtiums, I didn’t sow any this year but some have come up, which I don’t mind and this one is flowering away despite the pigeons devouring the leaves.

The work list for next week is as follows. Sow chard, plant leeks, plant out my new plants, feed and weed. Maybe at the weekend, there will be a courgette or two!

 

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Monday Miscellany

Posted on July 2, 2018 by nicdempsey

Today is the middle of the year, we’ve had 182 days and we have 182 day to go! So given that we are halfway through the year, how’s 2018 going for you?

Last weekend was busy, I got to work from home on Friday, which was fantastic because I could wake up at 7:30, which is normally went I am halfway down the street and ready to start the commute! I mostly prefer working in the office because it helps me switch into work mode but working from home is great when you have just one thing to do because you can do it without distractions and get the laundry done!

One of the things that I hate is having dirty fingernails, there was this whole thing about me being a little girl with dirty fingernails, because I did not like it. The problem is that I come back from the plot with filthy hands and scrubbing will only take you so far!

We are in the middle of a heatwave, look I know that other countries are hotter more often but we are a rainy, grey island and our lives and houses and offices are not designed for this kind of heat. We don’t have air con, our houses are about retaining heat and we just are built for this. I know other countries cope better but how would they cope with fog, and rain and grey. That’s the test.  

So at the moment, we are expected this weather and no rain for the next two weeks at least, NI has a hosepipe ban and we are being asked to think about water conservation. Which means that I need to water every other day this week. So tonight, Wednesday and Friday are watering days and everything will have to fit around that.

So this week, is all about work and watering and sleep and trying not to melt…

What are your plans for the week?

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Sunday Music: Sunny Afternoon

Posted on July 1, 2018 by nicdempsey

I heard this the other day and it just reminds me of summer, it that typically twisted Kinks way. It reminds me of summer because it was music that my parents agreed on so was often played on the rare occasions we were all in the car together (very rare after Ma learnt to drive)

So Sunny Afternoon

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Monthly Goals: June/July 2018

Posted on June 30, 2018 by nicdempsey

How are we at the end of June already? It’s been a pretty good month, I got through the first month at work, I’m still feeling that I don’t know anything but when I break it down, I know quite a lot. I need to learn more about what we do and all of it needs some structure but learning and imposing process are things that I’m good at so I just need to keep at it and I’ll get it! Mostly because of the plot, June to September are busy times of year, I need to be at the plot at least three times a week and one of those times need to be at least 4-5 hours. Which cuts into my down time quite a bit and then there is dealing with the produce and trying to keep on top of housework and work and life generally.

This month has felt busier because you do forget how much energy learning takes and how settled I was in the last job, my new role feels like more of a stretch and so to feel better, I need to be more in control. Control is a big thing for me!

So this is how June went….

Mind and Body

Overall, I’m feeling pretty good

  • 10,000 steps a day.
  • Vitamins every day.
  • Feet and Hands.
  • Golden hour – I’ve been struggling a little bit with this but I’ve managed it more than I haven’t, but only just, so partial success
  • Therapy – Well, I’m doing it and it’s as helpful as it always is. The lovely thing about having the same therapist for years, is that it’s easy to track progress and see change. The first year I did this properly was just after I moved back to Ealing. It was so hard and I was really reluctant to stop. Now, I can see the conclusion to this period of therapy coming, because therapy has given me the tools to get out of my way and deal with my life and my reaction to it. Conclusion is a while away, we’re still going for August, I have some things to work through but it’s good.
  • Good things journal everyday – this has been really good, it’s a nice stop at the end of each day and reflect on the good things that have been in it. Overall, I’m feeling more aware of how good my life is!

Budget & Spending

  • Get through the month without financial explosion. – done and it continues, I need to get my head around money coming in and spending, but I’m on my way.

House Beautiful

  • Stick to the housework rota – I have hoovered once this month but the house is more or less under control!

Allotment  (still the longest list!)

  • plant out remaining squash
  • sow more carrots and radishes and spring onions
  • sow chard, kale, pak choi and cauliflower – not done at all maybe today!
  • sow more salad
  • keep on top of the watering and weeding

The allotment is looking really good, I’m still minus a courgette but I can live with that!

So onto July Goals

July is a quieter month, tomorrow is the allotment Open Day,  I’ll be on the plant stall, Ma is on the cake stall, if you’re nearby, we’d love to see you, the site looks amazing! But I don’t have a lot else in the diary. Work, plot, home, reading is pretty much my plan. So a total repeat of June because it’ll be busy enough. The things I really want to concentrate on are picking up things that I’ve dropped in the rush of the new job. Cooking and food prep, blogging, exercise.

Easy stuff.

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Friday Links

Posted on June 29, 2018 by nicdempsey

Happy Friday!

I don’t know what the week has been like where you are but it’s been hot here, this week I walked to M&S to buy some trousers for work and came out with new pj’s and a nightdress. That basically sums up my week.

My plans for the weekend are all about the allotment, working on it, the open day and generally grinding it out and with any luck…haslet.

This week posts from me were the usual miscellany, a recap of reading in May and an update on the plot.

And here are this week’s links:

From Heathrow to Brexit, showmen have taken over politics

The problem with extreme male body transformations

Who rules the world? Narcissists. Let’s stop giving them all the breaks. This

Social media drips with wrongheaded opinion masquerading as violent certainty. The buzziest television programme of the day, Love Island, is essentially just a petri dish of obnoxious self-adoration. Untalented colleagues get promoted above you because they are unafraid to gelatinously network. The world’s sole remaining superpower, for crying out loud, is run by a man who looks like the cartoon you’d draw for a monkey to make it understand the basic concept of narcissism. It’s everywhere. We’re drowning in it.

Going it alone: why I chose single motherhood. Because I made the opposite choice, I’m fascinated by people who do this.

Are women’s breasts getting bigger – or is it just our bras? It’s weird, I’ve been using bravissimo for years, and I now own an M&S bra in my size. This is the London bubble, I guess!

The Science Isn’t Settled on Chronic Lyme. I think this is worth a read, I’m sitting on the fence on this one, but I know a couple of very sane people who have a diagnosis of chronic lyme and whether it’s lyme or something else, it isn’t in their heads.

Chronicler of London gentrification priced out of Shoreditch. This is pretty much peak London. I love my city but it needs two things, price protection and stronger provincial cities….

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Allotment Adventures – Heating up

Posted on June 27, 2018 by nicdempsey

It was a hot week and I was on my own. I had a lot of stuff to do in the house and as the forecast for this week was very hot, I didn’t go to work. I went to water and pick. Much to my relief the pumpkin plant is still alive, look at the one at the bottom getting confident and growing big. Also doing well is Ma’s love lies bleeding at the end of the bed…The raspberries are amazing at the moment, and take ages to pick

Everything is doing well and the next couple of weeks of predicted warm weather will be great for giving everything a boost, if not for the amount of watering I’m going to need to do. We have full size beetroot now…Coming out was the most amazing sky I have ever seen….Which almost but not quite made up for the 10 bites and massively swollen hand (allergic reaction) I came back from the plot with!

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Monday Miscellany

Posted on June 25, 2018 by nicdempsey

Morning All!

I feel that I didn’t stop this weekend, of course I did but it just feels like I was doing something, planning to do something or stopping doing something so I could go to bed. But on Saturday night, there was an amazing sky!Every couple of years, I have a year where I seem to be either very tasty to bugs or very allergic to the bugs that do bite me. This year seems to be one of those years. I have a ten bites right now and my right hand (three bites) got incredibly swollen on Sunday and itchy and sore. More anti-histamines…That’s my fist, can you see all four knuckles? Exactly, it’s not normal…

Sarah and Fred and I went for our walk this Sunday and found Sharon from Allotment Life at the market at Brentford. It looked amazing and I wish I’d been together enough to take a photo of her beautiful flowers!

I did however take a photo of Fred finally conked out after our walk.This week is going to be hot. So my life is going to be work, water, home, sleep. That’s it, I don’t expect to have a life other than that, therefore, I’ve actually got my act together and done some food prep which is good. This week, I want to try going to work on the district line because it has air-conditioned trains but I have no major goals for this week, other than to keep on top of the watering and get through a big week at work!

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Friday Links

Posted on June 22, 2018 by nicdempsey

Happy Friday!

 

Russia Is Just One Tournament Cancellation Away From Being Crowned World Cup Champions

Russia enjoyed an emphatic curtain-raising at the 2018 World Cup, beating Saudi Arabia 5-0 in Moscow. The home squad faced little resistance from their opponents, who approached the match with all the verve and incisiveness of 11 men simultaneously recovering from cataract operations

John Barnes on racism, football and Russia. John Barnes: ‘I would never advise a young black player to walk off’

Cites Same Bible Passage Used to Justify Slavery to Defend Immigrant Family Separations.  I’ve seen lots of other things about how this in a misinterpretation of the passage but this week I’ve been reading about Waterloo and there’s a quote from General Blucher about a defecting French general. The general defected on June 15 and ran to the Prussians, he was accepted but Blucher wouldn’t talk to him and when asked why said “Hundsfort bleibt Hundsfort” which basically translates as ‘once a dog’s vagina, always a dog’s vagina’. Sessions knew who Trump was and Trump showed the world who he was. Anyone who can believe or work for Trump’s agenda, needs a whole lot more Jesus in their life. You know the Jesus who hated hypocrites and loved sinners….

Universal credit savaged by public spending watchdog

Great Exhibition of the North: best days out in the north-east. I’m not going until after this has finished but Newcastle is lovely and I heartily endorse Alnwick (esp Barter Books), Low Newton and Dunstanburgh, Druridge Bay, Howick Hall, Tynemouth and Durham! Roll on September!

‘Call me Mr President’: Emmanuel Macron scolds teenager. It’s very Macron, the formality of the French and respect for the office.

From overnight oats to boiled eggs – is meal prep taking the joy out of eating? Not for me, because I only really eat the same thing for weekday breakfasts and lunches but my views on the joy of planning are well known!

How They Defend the Indefensible

Donald Trump’s child cruelty shocks us, but it shouldn’t surprise us

Japan and Senegal fans tidy up after themselves at World Cup

The surge in hay fever is rooted in our modern lifestyles. Interesting, my hayfever is ok, I take a one a day tablet and am fine, I think it’s the allotment but my asthma is much worse right now, which is something to do with air pollution.

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Early mornings

Posted on June 21, 2018 by nicdempsey

The new job requires early mornings. We hotdesk and the commute is a bit longer than the last one. So at the absolute outside ie to be in the office at 9am, I need to be out of the house at 7:30am, as a general rule I’m out of the house between 7.15 and 7:25 and am usually in the office somewhere between 8:30 and 8:45. Which works. 

It’s easy right now because it’s summer, it’s not going to be any where near as nice come January!!

Today, the longest day of the year, requires me to be up at 5am for a trip to Hampshire. It’s 6:37 and I’m at the station waiting for the train. Yes I am early, I’m paranoid about missing trains and I I don’t have his maths skills but my grandfather’s blood runs through my veins and he was actually early for his own funeral, such was the power of his timekeeping!!

On the plus side at least it’s sunny!

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