Monday Miscellany: Missing for most of July

Posted on August 5, 2024 by nicdempsey

Happy Monday and August!

I know I’ve been missing in action for most of July and large part of the year. You know what? That’s ok, I’m not doing this for the views – I started this blog back when I lived at my uncle’s in Fulham and it pulled me out of a hole. I’m never going to be an influencer because I have too many things I’m interested in, I’m no good at teaching and I’m the queen of ‘can’t be arsed’. So I’m not going to stress too much!

Life has felt busy this year, my life is currently full of shoulds and musts and while I am grateful for most of the shoulds and musts (because money, a place to live and people that I love are really good things to have) I’m contrary and I’m not enjoying it. If I ever wonder why I’m single and childless, this essentially is the essence of it, I don’t like to commit!

All that being said, July has been a trickier month than I expected. There was good stuff, a new government, an allotment open day (and a gold award for the plot), a work day in Southampton, lots of work godchildren back from Uni, a beer festival, a walk and lunch with Christelle and the dogs, the Euro finals (I finally bought a TV license so I could watch England play badly and then lose. I know we deserved to lose but it wasn’t fun) COVID from the newly returned godchildren (which included the worse non migraine headache I’ve had in forever). Working from home is great, it really reduces sick leave, because you can go and sleep when you need to and then send documents out at 10:12pm. I didn’t really rest because I’m in that place, there is no rest, there is retirement or death, I’ll rest then!

Finally on the last weekend of the month, Ma had another fall, a really bad one and she knocked herself out. we both got to add a ride in an ambulance to the list of things we’ve not done before and 9 hours in A&E later, via some stitches and a CT scan, we went home. I have been expressive in my love for the NHS but the problem with a service that is grossly underfunded, is that it’s focus is on crisis, not prevention. Ma’s balance has become a huge problem, but because she doesn’t break anything, they just send her home. I’m about to become a very squeaky wheel to get her a referral to the falls clinic and to get some investigation of why her balance has become so terrible over the last couple of months.

So I’m hopeful that August will be better, but we’ll see. This week, is actually my birthday week and I do have some plans. I’m going to spend a day with Sue at either Kew Gardens or Cliveden, dinner with Jo and the Chelsea Physic Garden with Christelle. I do want to spend some time on the plot but I’m also going to the doctors with Ma so she can get her stitches removed. Before that, this morning I need to do a small amount of work for reasons I won’t talk about (but it wasn’t me!) and then holiday!

Have a good week!

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Allotment Adventures: Pretty flowers, weeds everywhere

Posted on June 26, 2024 by nicdempsey

I’m short of temple and words this week, here are some allotment photos!

This bed has chives, the beans that survived slugmageddon, three tumbling Tom tomatoes, pansies and some marigolds.
Blackcurrant sage, cola bottle plant, lavender that will need to move soon and there’s some Corsican mint and chamomile lawn in there too
Brassicas all in, cauliflower, two beds of cabbage, brussel sprouts, purple sprouting broccoli and calebrese.
Strawberries, enough to eat but not enough to use

The first raspberry
Jasmine
Tomatoes didn’t like going outside but it’s plant Sparta, they live or they die
Some of the tomatoes are doing the right thing
Daisies that I did not plant or plan..
Plenty more work to do!
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Friday Links: Election Fever…

Posted on June 14, 2024 by nicdempsey

Happy Friday!

I’m really beginning to worry about the lack of thinking capacity and callousness of voters. Who are the people who think that Nigel Farage would make a good MP? Actually, I know some of them and it would be easy to classify them as ‘hard of thinking’, the truth is more that they don’t want to think too hard. They want certainty about the world and their place in it. They want it to be easy. That’s why it’s easier to blame immigrants and people who don’t want to work or spend all their money on avocado toast, than the system for why things are harder than maybe they were for their parents. It’s about a lack of rigour and honesty from the ‘mainstream’ politicians about what it would actually take to sort out the mess. Finally, it’s about the Press and the people that own it, promoting easy solutions rather than decency. However, the Farage is the worse sort of charlatan who can dish it and lie about it and can’t take it. It’s obvious by now. I really hope the voters of Clacton are bright enough and care enough to see it and not vote for him.

Don’t underestimate Faragism this election. He’s a virus infecting UK politics

When even Surrey’s middle classes are this angry with the Tories, you know it’s all gone wrong for Sunak

‘Solidarity over hatred’: the small band of Israelis stopping settlers obstructing aid trucks. I know it’s a drop in the ocean but I think it’s really important to highlight this. The sides are so polarised and I keep hearing that I can’t ‘both sides’ this conflict. I absolutely can and I will. So I blame both Hamas AND the Israeli government and the Western governments (including my own) that allow this to continue. However, it’s important to remember not all Palestinians are Hamas and not all Israelis support their government’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank.

Bowel disease breakthrough as researchers make ‘holy grail’ discovery

England’s Euro 2024 squad: Grealish and Maguire miss out on final 26. I don’t have a TV so I don’t get to watch England games as often as I’d like (that’s changing for this tournament, I’ve got a TV license so I can watch the games on my laptop!), I remember actually seeing Maguire in an England game and I could not fathom why he got picked. So that injury kept him out is probably no bad thing. I do feel for Grealish but as he said, he wasn’t in good form. Do I think we’ll win the Euros. Probably not, England play a lot better than they did but they just aren’t convincing. The best teams, generally but not exclusively, have a flow that I’m not convinced England have managed for a good long time. However, I also have to concede that I’m English, I never think the team is good enough. I am considering

Revealed: repairing Israel’s destruction of Gaza will come at huge climate cost.

‘We sold everything off, even the semen flasks’: the film about the farming couple who struck gold by rewilding

The big story of the 21st century’: is this the most shocking documentary of the year? This stuff keeps me up at night…

The period that almost killed me: ‘My mam was told, if you take her home, she won’t last the night’. This is horrendous, my bleeding is continuous but not heavy and I’m completely done with it. But what I notice is that until she said she wanted to have a baby, no-one wanted to help and I do wonder if this is why women going through peri-menopause and menopause have such a hard time accessing treatment because they aren’t having babies and therefore are viewed as surplus to requirements and somehow not deserving of treatment. It’s something I notice as I enter my ‘crone’ era…

‘Playing Russian roulette with your health’: my encounter with LA’s raw-milk, powdered-meat smoothie. I would not eat/drink a £18 smoothie, let alone one with powdered liver in it but I am currently drinking raw milk. Why? Because I’ve noticed that unhomogenized milk is kinder to my stomach and a friend suggested that raw milk might help too, so I thought I’d try.  So far so good!

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Friday Links: Election

Posted on May 24, 2024 by nicdempsey

Happy Friday!

So it seems we are to have a General Election on 4th July. Bonus points to the protesters, who realising he was calling an election, played ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ through Rishi Sunak’s speech! I picked the photo to highlight this post before the election was called but I stand by it.

Here’s to 6 weeks of chaos…

Jeremy Hunt and Mel Stride warn against benefits ‘lifestyle choice’ I spent a while living on benefits while unemployed and you have be in a bad way for it to be a lifestyle choice. I’ve talked about this before. I wasn’t ill, when I was unemployed, but it wasn’t a good time for my mental health either. When I was unemployed, I had help, from friends and family, both financial and emotionally (thanks Ma) and it still was awful. I do remember the advisor at the Job Centre, telling me I should look for work that paid less and I pointed out that I couldn’t afford that because I was entitled to no top ups and on £25k, I wouldn’t be able to pay my rent. What kind of alternatives are people facing where ‘choosing’ to be long term sick is preferable to work? Because my health has been pretty good over the last 6 years and I know what has made the difference. A work culture that appreciates my work and cares about my health, physical and mental. And demonstrates that by paying well and having decent benefits. This means I have money to afford my rent and the rest of my life, to save a bit. I have healthcare via work that can provide therapy, that pays 10% of my salary into a pension fund without the need for any contribution from me. All of this allows me to live and plan. It’s not much and it’s not rocket science. How bad does life have to be that benefits and vitriol from the overfed ministers of this government seem like a decent alternative. Jeremy Hunt and Mel Stride lack imagination and sympathy and are trying to disguise the government’s failure over more than a decade to do anything other than line their own pockets by scapegoating vunerable people. Don’t let them.

JCB built and supplied equipment to Russia months after saying exports had stopped. Does this surprise me, nope. Aren’t the owners of JCB the guys who hosted Boris Johnson’s last wedding? Maybe (as he’s such a supporter of Ukraine) he should have a word with them? Or maybe the Tories should send their donations back until JCB undergo an audit? I wouldn’t hold my breath…

I went a week without ultra-processed foods. Here’s what I learned

On the Problem of Rooting for the Women to Fix This. One of the reasons I would like the abortion law in the UK to change is because to have an abortion here, you need the consent of two doctors. That’s pretty easy to get but it would be pretty easy to change. The US though, is on the way to Handmaid’s Tale territory, it’s frightening…

‘Everything’s just … on hold’: the Netherlands’ next-level housing crisis

Emma Barnett on the Today programme review – so chilled John Humphrys will choke on his cornflakes. I’m trying to reserve judgement, I’m not generally keen on Emma Barnett we shall see.

The shocking stupidity of the smart meter system I refuse to get one until the energy companies agree to take on replacing faulty meters fitted by a previous energy company.

How rental ‘libraries of things’ have become the new way to save money

Super Gran actor Gudrun Ure dies aged 98. Read the books, watched the TV programme and now have theme tune (makes so much sense now I know that Billy Connolly wrote it) going through my head, ‘She’s a serious granny (supergran), a mysterious granny (supergran), ‘she does things that you never saw your granny do, is there nothing that she canae do’…….. 

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Allotment Adventures: Compost

Posted on May 22, 2024 by nicdempsey

Last week the compost arrived and I spent Monday afternoon working on the plot.

I’m not even halfway done but I planted new strawberries and topped up the planters, I also fed them. Other than watering and feeding them, that’s me done with strawberries for summer. If there are runners, I’ll pot them up but my plan is not buy anymore strawberry plants until 2026!

I also weeded, topped up and covered some of the empty beds at the front, there was some epic weeding and planting around the pavers that the blueberries and strawberries are on. My usual favourite herbs, lemon curd thyme and camomile lawn…

My plan is to extend the compost around the pavers out a bit and plant some flowers and other herb out there, but towards the back (by the mint bed and the rosemary) there a bed of ranunculus. I’m going to move that bed once they are done and make that a ‘perennial’ bed, I have a perennial kale coming and I’ll plant walking onions, the perennial leeks and whatever else I can think of over there too, if anyone has any suggestions! It’ll take a while to construct but it’s not like I don’t have lots of other things to sort out first…

This week is also the week that the tomatoes arrived. My plugs came from Brookside Nurseries and they look great but the stars of the plot are the plants that Sharon brought round on Saturday! Including some Black Russians. She’s my hero!

I’m back in London on Thursday and my plan is to spend some good time on the plot over Friday to Monday. The most important thing is plants in the ground. Tomatoes, courgettes, brassicas, aubergines and peppers. I have some winter squash that can go in too.

There’s a bunch of things that need sowing (more winter squash, cukes, kale and beetroot) so by the end of the weekend the plot should look very productive.

Other things to do are sort out the front and sides of the front of the plot and all the weeding, I also need to fix a raised bed. So there is plenty to do! My passion projects for the weekend are the flower beds, so we’ll see how it goes….

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Amble by the Sea

Posted on May 21, 2024 by nicdempsey

Monday was my hit of Vitamin Sea!

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Monday Miscellany: A Warm Week

Posted on May 13, 2024 by nicdempsey

Happy Monday!

In the last week, the UK has just had summer! It’s been pretty warm and I have done absolutely nothing but work and sleep and feel tired.

This week, is my last week before a holiday, so it’s work packing, planting, and hauling compost which arrives tomorrow. On Wednesday, I’ve been strong armed (ok not strong armed, my boss asked me nicely!) to being part of the Quilter Quiz Team, team name to be determined!).

On Friday, we have the team volunteer day, a thirteen mile walk. I’m going to put the just giving link here, in case anyone is interested. Phil is the reason this month marks my 6 year work anniversary, it was his idea that I might do well in IA! He and Matt were good people and I know the people that knew them really well miss them. I’m still not sure I’ll make the entire 13 miles without my piriformis twanging but I’ll do my best.

There will be more allotment work on Saturday and then I’m headed north!

It’s going to be busy, have a good week.

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Home Cooking: Bread

Posted on May 9, 2024 by nicdempsey

Last year, I got into a ruinously expensive Gail’s bread habit, their seeded sourdough is lovely. I decided that I had to get back into the bread baking habit, I started with this recipe from BBC Good Food. It was good and made amazing toast. There has been a lot of noise about UPF recently, Ma read Ultra Processed People and gave up buying bread and mayonnaise. Mum can cook, but it’s not something she enjoys, I do enjoy it so I started baking an extra loaf for Mum..

The joy of cooking something often is that that you start to get a feel for it and for me, that’s when I start to change how I do it to better suit my cooking style and taste.

First, I put all three of the seeds into the dough, I added pumpkin seeds, I increased the seeds from one tablespoon of each to three. I’ve been reading about the health benefits of flaxseed and chia seeds (fibre, omega-3, helpfulness in reducing blood pressure and cholesterol) and I’ve been grinding them together and adding them to baked goods and on my yoghurt, so three tablespoons of that went into my dough, I replaced the water with the whey leftover from straining my yoghurt. I made it in a loaf tin because it’s an easier shape than a bloomer. One thing that I didn’t change was to swap from white to wholemeal flour. Since lockdown, I’ve been buying bread and plain flour in 16kg bags and I didn’t think that I would use the wholemeal before it went rancid.

Other things worth noting about my bread making style is that I’m really lazy, I don’t really knead my dough, I use the kitchen aid to bring it altogether and knock it about a bit and then transfer it to my instant pot on that yoghurt setting for the first rise. (This is a tip I got from Sarah’s blog Sustainable Cooks and it makes everything better. The dough rises faster and better, it just makes the bread nicer).

You can make bread, without the equipment, you’d need to give the bread some kneading and more time to rise. You don’t need all the seeds either, you could just use 9 tablespoons of mixed seeds and if you’re not someone with whey leftover from yoghurt making use water instead. Bread is pretty flexible. I do it this way and it makes a decent everyday loaf of bread and still makes great toast.

In a bowl, rub 46g butter into 500g white bread flour and 7g of instant yeast (I use the kitchen aid to do this).

Add the 3 tablespoons each of pumpkin, sunflower, sesame and, poppy seeds, 3 tablespoons ground linseed/chia seed mix, and 1 teaspoon of sea salt and stir through.

Using the dough hook gradually add 350 ml of whey (or water) until it comes together as a dough.

Transfer the dough to an instant pot on the yoghurt setting and leave until it’s doubled in size (usually a couple of hours).

Take the dough out and transfer to a 3 lb loaf tin (I use these ones), leave to rise until it the dough is above the top of the tin (about 45 minutes to an hour).

Bake on 200C for 35 minutes. The bread should sound hollow when you tap it. Leave to cool before you start slicing into it!

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Veg Box

Posted on May 7, 2024 by nicdempsey

Before the building work last year, I used to have a fortnightly delivery from Oddbox, I had a fruit box and a large veg box. I cancelled it and intended to pick it up again when I got back into the flat. I never got around to it because I didn’t really need it in the summer. At the top of my street there is a little greengrocers, Parade Fruiterers, where I usually buy my Christmas trees. It’s a great little shop, well used by Northfields locals and they have just fought off a plan to knock down the little parade of shops and build flats. They do a local veg box delivery.

For £20 a box, James delivers (unless he’s in Australia!) on the day you specify via Instagram for me that’s usually a Friday. It’s a lovely box, you always get apples, bananas, oranges or satsumas or clementines, onions, carrots a cucumber, a pepper, lettuce, potatoes and tomatoes and then three other fruits and three other veg. Last Friday it was kiwis, grapefruit and strawberries for the fruit and mushrooms, French beans and broccoli. The quality of the veg is excellent, it is not always locally grown

I’ve spoken a little bit about how the choices you make when you try to live more ethically are not always straightforward. I want to eat locally produced food, I want to be as environmentally friendly as I can and I also want to support local businesses. I don’t want to spend a fortune on doing so. This time I’ve come down on supporting a local business. It’s a balance, but in this case it’s a delicious fruit and vegetable filled balance

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Monday Miscellany: May Day Bank Holiday One

Posted on May 6, 2024 by nicdempsey

Happy Monday!

I love Bank Holidays in part because I think a four day working week should be the future of work, in May we get two of them which makes me happy.

This May, I also have time off work because we’re going to Newcastle just before the next one. Yes again. Look I’m a creature of habit, I like that part of the world, I’m going with Ma because we like the same things. I was listening to A Point of View, yesterday on Radio 4 and was perplexed when Megan Nolan, said that Washington DC wasn’t fun because it had too many museums and not enough fun. I loved DC in part because it had so many museums, what’s not fun about museum? A couple of days in the North East, looking at old buildings, the sea and some art is perfect, if I can shoe horn some bookshops and gardening, it will be heaven on earth.

And I need a break because while things have improved, I am still feeling that I’m in the words of one of my lovely colleagues ‘running a flat’. It’s only May but it feels like it’s been an exhausting year.

Before I get to the holiday, I need to do some allotment things, tidy my house, be in a work quiz, try and do that 13 mile walk again (actually that’s the last work thing I do before my holiday!) and generally be a grown up. Which is always harder than I think!

So there was nothing particularly amazing about last week, I was tired and crampy (more peri menopause drama), work was work, the local elections happened (London mostly rejected Susan Hall’s racist framing of London of a hive of knife crime and muggings – although there are 800k or so of them I’m worried about!), Championship Football finished (to much joy amongst the non-Chelsea supporting members of the family QPR won their last two games and finished eighteenth – not the best performance over a season but they are at least staying in the same league). Chelsea beat West Ham yesterday (5-0) and are 7th in the Premiership, gunning for European football next season.

There is such privilege in an ordinary week of life. I think one of the reasons that 2024 so far has felt so exhausting is the knowledge of how many people in the country and the world are experiencing so much horror. I was struck this week by the rising numbers of visible homeless people, if there is are so many people on the streets, that must mean that the numbers of people sofa surfing and living in hostels and b&b’s is rising. Things are awful for a lot of people in this country and worse in Sudan, Ukraine and Palestine. It’s hard to be energised when everything feels hopeless. So I’m going to celebrate my quite ordinary week of nothing much happening.

This week is more of the same. I’m going to the plot today, to weed my little socks off and bring the garden waste bin home. I’ve got enough work at work to be going on with, and the weekend brings an allotment work morning and Grace.

Have a good week!

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