Mug Shots [1]

Back in Leicester,  the wall over the sofa was where we displayed a lot of family photos - all black and white ones. We took them down when we moved to Ferndown, and for 6 years they have been in a box. Now they are on the wall in the hall. It took ages and lots of calculations to work out the best arrangement. And I know that there are a few more old pictures I want to add to the display. I must find the box of old photos, and get some frames for them. The newest ones are already twenty years old - so it is about time we had a few new ones [including the guys and the grandchildren]  We've left space at either end for these. 

From my visits to NT properties, I realise that the upper classes display their family photographs in silver frames on top of the grand piano. I do not have space for a piano, or money for silver frames. IKEA 'Ribba' frames suit me fine, thank you! 

Seven Weeks!

Is it really that long since we left Ferndown? Cornerstones is slowly getting straight, and today we will actually go in person to the morning service at the chapel. We haven't done that for months. We already have such strong links with the people there, and the Pastor, Nick, came round and sat in the back garden for coffee and a chat with Bob. I do feel settled here, relaxed and happy.

But in the few weeks since we left Dorset, we have had so many messages about friends from the church going into hospital, there have been three bereavements, and a lot of sadness. It's hard not being able to be there to comfort friends, to give a hug, to pray with them [although we can pray for them, wherever we/they are] But I know that in God's time, these things shall pass...

Last Monday there was a heavy rainstorm, but the sun was still shining - I went to the front door, and could see this complete rainbow arching across the sky

Oh joy, that seekest me through pain
I cannot close my heart to thee
I trace the rainbow through the rain
And feel the promise is not vain, 
That morn shall tearless be.

Cook Clever, Waste Less...

... with Prue and Rupy

Did you watch this new money saving food show on Channel 4 last week? I must admit I have never heard of Dr Rupy Aujla, and I didn't know that Prue Leith was 'the Queen of Leftovers' either. But it was an interesting programme - and they certainly helped one family to seriously reduce their food budget and make better use of resources.

I managed a fair bit of thriftiness myself recently, here's the frugal lunch I served up on Wednesday.

• Home made bread
• Potato salad using leftover boiled potatoes
• Tomato salad garnished with home grown basil [a yellowe stickered pot which has been flourishing on the windowsill for some weeks now]
• Home made chutney [made with foraged windfalls, onions and courgettes from friends]
• Home made coleslaw. [I am especially pleased with the coleslaw - the main ingredients were a carrot, and the stalk from a cauliflower, grated in my Magimix - and then dressed with oil and lemon juice, and sprinkled with nigella seeds.]
• The cheese, ham and salami were inexpensive buys from Lidl. The tomatoes, and the contents of the fruit bowl at the back [hiding behind the loaf] came from a local outlet, which I visited for the first time on Wednesday.

My SIL Marion told me about CCWells recently - a family business who have run market stalls across East Anglia for 50+ years- and now they sell to the public from their Dereham warehouse. Fruit and veg are collected from Covent Garden 5 nights a week, and sold the next day. They also have lots of local Norfolk produce. I was very impressed with freshness and quality. I spent £12.79 - and checked out against Sainsburys prices when I got home- my basket would have cost £14.38 there. 

I was pleased to see paper not plastic bags for the loose items, and to discover that all waste cardboard packaging goes for recycling. Daily sales means minimal waste. Food which is not saleable goes for animal feed, or composting. Thanks Marion for this tip, I shall definitely be going back here. 

UPDATE following the comment from Anonymous below, I've discovered that the recipes from the programme are on the website of the sponsors, Hellmanns - check HERE

Clutching at Straws

In the times BC [before covid] I used to provide an alcohol-free cocktail bar, at parties, youth events and church functions, where people wanted something interesting to drink without booze.

It proved surprisingly popular, and over time I amassed drinks dispensers, 100 wine glasses, and bought umbrellas, cocktail sticks and coloured straws in bulk. But times have changed. Early last year I sold all the glasses on FB marketplace. To a local chap about to open a restaurant - I wonder how that turned out for him?

But all those straws - what to do with them? I stopped using them a while back [a bad example to set people] but could not bring myself to throw them straight in the bin. 

So I packed them in a moving box - then the week after week moved, wonderful Kezzie blogged about her "eco-moves"  And she provided the solution. Lorelai in Yorkshire recycles them into colourful jewellery - and would like people to send her any unwanted straws.

Pru Leith and Esme [Sewing Bee] would like these I think. So I emailed Lorelai and sent a photo of my collection. There were at least a couple of hundred, ranging from thick 'smoothie' straws through 'bendy' ones, to ultra slim shorter blue 'school milk' ones 

She said 'yes please' so then I spent a crazy hour threading the thin into the thick into the thickest, so they would take up less space in a parcel. I finally compacted them into an old cardboard envelope folder.

They've gone off to Lorelai now - I'm so pleased to have found a positive use. I had the most interesting discussion with the lady in the village post office too. Then I came and found one solitary straw which I must have dropped, underneath the dining table. That one has had to go into the bin. It was the last straw...

Happy Birthday Liz!

It is hard to take in that my daughters are so grown up, and Mums themselves. And in just a few weeks time, Liz will have a second child [so Rosie will be a Big Sister]

I struggled to find pictures of Liz- I think she is so often the one behind the camera - but here is one from Spring  2021 with Rosie. And one from Spring 1987 with me!

Have a wonderful birthday Liz - may the year ahead be full of great joy and unexpected blessings. We love you so much, and we are really proud of you. Thank you for being such a brilliant daughter. God bless you always

Japanese Jeanius

When I was killing time in Norwich last week, waiting for my car to be fixed, I went into Norwich City Library, situated in 'The Forum' just next to the market. I spent over an hour just sitting on the floor in the needlecraft section looking at the huge collection of books. I was particularly taken with a book about the Japanese craft of sashiko. 

This is a technique where a few layers of fabric are stitched together to create air pockets [thus making the garment warmer] and is also a decorative method of reinforcing or patching worn clothes. It dates back about 400 years- but fell into disfavour in the 20th century as people did not want to be reminded of the days of poverty.

But the craft has recently been revived in the West, using the traditional cream thread and indigo fabrics - but bizarrely, in Japan this is considered 'old fashioned' and they are using different coloured threads and fabrics.

Last week, Bob's 'work' jeans ripped at the back- right across the top of the thigh! I decided to use a form of the sashiko technique to mend and re-inforce the denim.

I know I have some denim somewhere in a box in the loft which could make a good patch - but instead I used a piece of heavyweight printed cotton which I found in the bedside drawer in the back bedroom. [no, I have no idea how or why it came to be there!]

I joined the slit then neatly hand-stitched a patch over the area, allowing plenty of fabric either side of the split. Then I set my machine to a decorative stitch and sewed all round the edge of the patch, Then I sewed back and forth with a sort of Florentine stitch. The jeans are mended, strong, and quite colourful now!

It's not as if Bob is going to be wearing them out in public, so the appearance isn't too important - and I got to try out another sewing technique.  

And it felt so good to get the machine out again!

Are You Sitting Comfortably?...

 ...then I'll begin

Once upon a time the prince and his lady bought a chateau in France  Bob and Angela bought a bungalow in Norfolk. For a dozen years it was their Holiday Home- and then it became their Forever Home. And the little things, which hadn't mattered too much during the holidays, needed fixing when they were an everyday annoyance [the sticky door lock, the horrid kitchen blind, the missing or ill fitting plinths** under the cupboards, the dodgy handbasin, the uncomfortable loo seat] The loo seat was high on the list for replacement [not at the bottom]

After research and discussion, a model was selected. Such seats apparently have top fixing or bottom fixing [or both, for added stability] This one has top and bottom fixings, plus a soft close feature. It was ordered. A message confirmed it would arrive Thursday between 4.30 and 7.30pm.

At 3.30 a van pulled up, and a cheery chappie brought a parcel. "My loo seat!" said I. "Very large box!" said Bob and opened it. It was not a loo seat, but a new power shower. At which point Bob checked the label - and found that it was addressed to someone else. Who lived in Rump Close! Can you believe it? Perhaps they'd taken our loo seat there? It was only a few streets away, so Bob took it round - nobody in, so he left a note. 

Later on the shower-person phoned and said he was home from work - Bob took the parcel round. Our seat arrived later in the evening. He unpacked the seat whilst I read the instructions. They'd clearly gone through Google Translate, or somesuch programme. We were laughing so much that it was a while before Bob managed to fix the seat [top and bottom] at his own convenience. I was chief teamaker-and-translator-of-instructions, and I was in hysterics

I feel I must share a few of the choicest lines with you, regarding components such as hing base & ruber cork

• See video insallation tutoria
• the explanations are as follows, please keep it in the eyeable place.
• do not let the child play the toilet cover
• wipe off smut
• the function of slow closing will fail off in the midway
• do not use eradicator
• WARNING! it may cause injuring body or damaging object if ignore this mark
• read carefully the relative notice [is that for the rest of the family?]

RELATIVE NOTICE

• Open and close the toilet seat cover tenderly [or else it may crack]
• Avoid sunlight and other lamp-house irradiate directly [or else it may turn colors]

We are treating our new seat Very Tenderly I can assure you!

[**some day my plinths will come]

This Is The Way We Saved The Tree!

 "Here we go round the mulberry bush" has been sung by countless children - and one particular mulberry tree was in the news at the weekend. In Bethnal Green is a large building- the old London Chest Hospital, which is adjacent to Victoria Park, and in a conservation area.

In the grounds of the hospital is a mulberry tree - believed to be the most ancient tree in East London, and planted in 1540 by the notorious Bishop Bonner [who once lived a few miles from here, In Dereham] 

In this engraving of the hospital from 1851, the tree can be seen on the left of the building 

This photo shows nurses dancing round the tree in the 1940s. The hospital closed in 2015 and services were transferred to the Barts Heart Centre.

The tree remained, supported by a prop, in the grounds. But along came developers with plans to demolish part of the listed building, and fell 27 of the 91 trees on the site [11 of which have TPOs] in order to build luxury housing.

The East End Preservation Society leapt into action, and started a campaign to save the tree. ["oh, it's all right" said developers CrestNicolson, "we will dig it up and replant it". Tree experts warned such action would probably kill the tree]

I blogged about this in January 2018. In February of this year, Dame Judi Dench joined the campaign. And I am delighted to report that on Friday May 21st, at the High Court, Sir Duncan Ouseley said the local council had unlawfully misinterpreted national planning policy - and that permission to redevelop the site and remove the tree has been denied. 

This is brilliant news - hats off to Geoffrey Juden and the EEPS, for running such a successful campaign with such a good outcome.

It seems  very sad criminal that Robert Jenrick didn't act more quickly to save the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, another irreplaceable part of our heritage. He actually said this week We should aspire to enhance the beauty of our local areas and pass on our heritage, enriched not diminished.

Praying For Peace

 Psalm 122 urges us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem with these words...Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May those who love you be secure. May there be peace within your walls, and security within your citadels.”For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, “Peace be within you." For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your prosperity.

Short Cut

March 2020 - about to visit Steph for her baby shower.  I had a haircut. I'd recently coloured my hair, and it was in good condition.

A few days later, I went down with covid119, then everything went into lockdown.

And my hair just grew...It got longer and longer, and harder to keep tidy. By February [bottom left] it was straggly, and my fringe was in my eyes. Bob trimmed it for me. When I applied for my bus pass, my hair was down to my shoulders 

By the time we moved, I was wearing it in a ponytail or a bun all the time. But it was straggly and untidy. The ends were messy, and the condition was not good. 

And the colour I'd applied in March had faded - and there was a lot of grey. Below my ears, it was faded brown, above it was more pepper and salt.

And then, on Tuesday, my car had to go into the Toyota garage in Norwich. It needed an MOT and service- plus a Toyota recall meant the rear window needed some work too.

I dropped it off at midday at the dealership by Norwich airport, then went into the city centre on the bus [with my pass!!] They said the car would be ready at 5. 

I got off the bus near the Castle, and saw there was a new hairdressers by the big British Heart Foundation shop. I went in aand asked "could you fit me in for a haircut this afternoon?" "I'm not busy, I can do it now!" he said. We discussed prices [cheaper than Dorset] and I sat down to have my hair shampooed and trimmed by Martial, a cheerful French guy. I discovered that Above the Fringe first opened in Norwich in 1986 - but in March moved to this new location. "How do you usually have your hair cut?" he asked. I showed him the picture on my blog profile. He set to work. 

I was pleased with his cutting, and he clearly knew what he was doing. And Bob was very surprised when I got home at 6 looking like this. 

It is nice to have an easy style again and not to have to tie it up each morning, I shall be going back there I think. 

And I am definitely 'embracing the grey' now.

I

MicroGreens

Back in February, Kezzie did a post about "regrowing vegetable ends" - a really good 'no waste' piece,showing how you can take the tops you have trimmed from your veg, or maybe the roots, and they will grow into something edible. Kezzie had spring onions, leeks, chard, beetroot, all very impressive [here]

I thought I'd have a go. Currently I have a carrot top on my windowsill. This had no leaves at all, when I put it in the saucer, but is sprouting a few brave little shoots. I wait to see what happens...

I loved collecting this red and white transferware when I was a student, but have got rid of almost all of it now.

Last week's cabbage stump surprised me - it began to grow baby brussels sprouts round the sides!

The largest leaf was as big as my little finger nail. I really hoped these would develop further, but the bottom began to go slimy and weird.

I picked off the sprouts and separated out the leaves. Only a few - but enough to add a green garnish to a pork chow mein I made for our meal the other evening.

I'm looking after a little Rose plant for Liz at the minute. All the original roses died and I deadheaded them - but it's produced another flower, and has a couple of buds too.

Maybe I should stick to houseplants and not worry too much about the garden just yet. 

Have you had success with growing 'veg ends' if so, which would you recommend?

Weather Vain

Weather- because I've just finished knitting my weather scarf. Vain - because I keep strolling past the new wardrobe mirror door and saying "I like this, I am really pleased with myself for knitting this..."  Below are all the technical details- if that's boring, you can just skip to the end with the pictures!

I began last April with nine balls of Millarorchy Tweed yarn from the wonderful Kate Davies Designs. 

I used a free online weather programme to note the maximum temperature each day in Ferndown. The idea was that my birthday was April 10th, 2020 and we were leaving Ferndown on April 12th 2021. This scarf would chart one year of my life, the last one spent living in Dorset. 

I'd looked at records of previous years and worked out a temperature scale - nine shades seemed adequate - and I was prepared to buy an extra ball or two of the 'mid-range' temperature shades. The scarf would be 33sts wide, and two rows for each day, in simple k1p1 rib. [which is the same back and front] The records I used for daily temperatures were on this site

The site showed that in the previous 5 years, temperatures were between 5° and 27° Celsius. I worked out a chart allocating the shades to temperature bands of around 3° Last April was surprisingly warm - and that continued- I ended up buying an extra ball for the times the daily maximum was 27° or above. Similarly in the winter [" oh, it never gets really cold here, snow is most unusual!" people had been telling me] it went down to  freezing. Another shade was purchased.

Maximum temperature was on August 8th 32°, minimum on January 7th at minus 1°. I logged the readings in a notebook, writing the shade colour alongside, and every Friday or Saturday evening I'd knit up a dozen rows or so. [easier than knitting two rows every day] I made a decision that I would carry yarn up the side of my work for one day [two rows] at most - I had a lot of ends to darn in, and I did that as I went along. At the end of the year [I did 365 days - April 10th 2020 to April 9th 2021] I finished it.

The scarf is 200cm long, and 12½ cm wide. I made one twist and joined with a three-needle-bind-off [here] to make a Möbius strip 'infinity scarf' 

So that means I can wind the scarf round my neck three times- and arrange it to show all the colours [useful at the neck of a jacket when it is very chilly] 

Or slightly looser in two loops so it hangs lower. And careful arrangement of those two loops can keep it to the blue wintry tones, or the more colourful spring/summer/autumnal hues. In the collage below the triangle arrangement starts with April top left, go clockwise round the Year. 

The ridged join means I can quickly locate April - we had a lovely warm spell and you can see the hot orange shade at the top right of the triangle[Beginning of August] Down the right hand side, Autumn was cooler. Lots of icy blue greys at the end of December, start of January [bottom of triangle] and the early months of 2021 were cold [left hand side] 

The yarn was great to work with, and the scarf is very comfortable to wear. Thank you Kate Davies Designs for the lovely yarn and excellent choice of shades. Thank you Liz and Steph who paid for the yarn as my 2020 birthday present.

The picture top right is all the leftover yarns. I am thinking about making a hat or beret and possibly some striped fingerless gloves. But not just yet!

top tip  - knit a tension square, first, to work out how many stitches you need for your desired width, and how long it will be if you do 1, 2 or 3 rows per day. Otherwise you may end up with a choker that is too short - or a really long scarf

Blogfriends At Blickling

There are some blogs I start reading, and then after a while they seem less relevant, so I stop following. There are others which somehow abruptly disappear from the Internet, leaving e wondering if the writer is OK, have their circumstances changed - did blogging become more difficult/less important for them?

But some blogs interest me from the moment I start reading them, and I'm always glad when the writer puts up a new post- and I am particularly impressed when people manage to keep two blogs going. I began following Jean's blog about her French adventures quite a while ago. And then I started following her cooking blog too.

I have greatly enjoyed my visits to France, and would love to go back again sometime. Jean's descriptions are beautifully evocative, her photographs really good. And the great thing about the cooking blog is that her recipes actually work - and they are not dependent on obscure ingredients. And I do appreciate  her honesty when things go a little awry, and she gives tips on managing disasters as well as sharing her culinary triumphs.

This time last year we were briefly in communication "off blog" by email about something - and so it was lovely this April to get a message wishing us well for our move- and saying that she'd be on holiday in Norfolk during May. If I was not too busy unpacking, could we perhaps get together? I thought that was a lovely idea, so we made plans.

We met up at Blickling Hall, the NT property quite close to Cornerstones [and not too far from her holiday cottage] on Monday morning.

Together with her husband, we had a stroll around the lovely gardens and then we sat inside the café for a cuppa!! Wow, when did that last happen? [I can recommend the date&walnut cake, by the way.]

It was great to meet this blogfriend actually in person at last - and I hope she enjoyed herself as much as I did. Somehow the conversation went really easily, I suppose we'd been reading each other's blogs for ages so didn't have to do all the introductory chit chat.

Now I am retired, I am hoping to get to meet more blogfriends whenever I can!

Here we are by one of the large urns in the garden. Jean's OH kindly took the photo. 

What a lovely way to spend a Monday morning - thank you both for such a superb time! 

There's Always A Catch...

Rosie asked me [very politely] if I would repair Baby Annabell's arm as it was about to fall off. The doll is 18 months old - but on inspection, I'm amazed the arms hadn't come off sooner. The construction is dreadful. "But where is her babygro?" I asked. Baffled expression "Dunno, Grandma" I couldn't just mend the arm - I had to return her properly clothed. And I was itching to do some stitching anyway.

I found a ball of wool in a wicker hamper labelled "Wool" and having measured the doll, knitted two rectangles and two trapeziums [trapezia?] and stitched them together. That was the jumper.

I knew there was a piece of cotton fabric printed with unicorns in the drawer by my bed [no, I don't know when I bought it, or why I stashed it there...]  Like many of the teddies they fix on the Repair Shop, this doll is designed to be in a sitting position. 

I cut a paper pattern [it took three attempts] which would make some trousers. But her body is just a floppy pillow shape - an elasticated waist wasn't going to keep these pants up. 

I needed some sort of braces. I decided to add a bib and make dungarees. 

I love dungarees. For all my adult life I've had some, they are practical workwear garments- with pockets for my pen, phone, keys and hanky. But where could I get doll sized clips or catches?

Answer: the old conference lanyards which I have used to tie things together for the move. They work perfectly, and are just the right scale. These recycled catches are exactly the thing to give the dungarees the perfect finish.

Annabell looks happy, and Rosie was pleased. I wore my dungarees on Saturday too. Rosie did not know the word dungarees. I explained it was a word which has come into our language from India. 

"I know about dung-beetles, Grandma, but not dung-garees" said Ro. "What do dung beetles do?" I asked  "They roll balls of poo across the ground. Dung means poo" she told me.

So now I'm wearing Grandma's Poo Trousers! There's always a catch...

Shine A Light On NF

Today is Neurofibromatosis Awareness Day - a worldwide event to inform more people about this dreadful condition. Longtime readers will have seen my posts about my friend Emily Owen - who suffers with NF2,[here, here, here] I have to admit I don't know anyone else with NF. But I was interested on Saturday to listen to an interview with Welsh actor Rakia Ayola [Dr Who, EastEnders and Holby City- and she's the Investigating Officer in the new series The Pact]

Rakie spoke of her daughter, who has NF1, and mentioned the importance of today. Together with the Child Tumor Foundation in the US, the charity Nerve Tumours UK, is encouraging people to illuminate buildings and landmarks in blue and green tonight to raise awareness. Rakie asked anyone listening to the interview who used social media to give a 'shout out' for NF Awareness today. Rakie, Emily and co - this is for you!

Walking, Baking, And Resting,

Saturday was busy but good. In the morning, we had a very wet walk round Scarning Meadows with the family. "Excuse me, what is your dog's name, please?" being Rosie's constant greeting to the people we met. I'd never heard of the shepsky cross-breed before. Over the stream, we saw a muntjac, a pheasant and a couple of cows - and in the stream, a water vole swimming along at speed. Rosie found half an eggshell - and loved clambering on the playground stuff with Dad and Grandad.

In the afternoon, to give Mum & Dad some space, we looked after Rosie, and she and I made cookies. She's never seen my big tin of cookie cutters before, and spent ages selecting which ones to use!

It was great fun weighing and mixing the ingredients - discussing the difference between ground cloves and whole ones- and the fact you don't call the other spice kinnamon with a hard 'C' sound. 

By the time she went home, we were both very tired- as last time, the second covid19 vaccination left us very drained and achey. 

Today will be less busy, as we seek to regain strength for the coming week.

Is Norfolk Full Of Chocolate Cake?

Liz sent me a 'flourless cake recipe' recently which I tried out- and was planning to post about it. Then DC over at Frugal In Norfolk just posted another, very similar one! The one from Liz is Nigella's Olive-Oil-Cake.[recipe HERE] - it's designed to be gluten and dairy free- and if you use 100g erythritol sweetener instead of sugar, it is suitable for diabetics too. [I used sugar]

I'd mentioned to Bob last week that we had a surfeit of ground almonds- I'd bought some for the cupboard here [intending to use them over Christmas] and then bought more in Dorset, which moved up here last month. This recipe seemed an ideal way to use up the older almonds [and feed us Older Almonds too!] It is cooked in a springform tin.

It was deliciously moist and squidgy - Nigella suggests serving it warm with soft fruits and a dollop of cream or ice cream as a dinner party dessert. She says it serves 8-12 slices. 

When it has cooled a little I dusted it with icing sugar, cut it into 10 and froze some of it, to make it last! Thus far we have enjoyed it with strawberries, plain yogurt, and vanilla ice cream - and we have 4 portions left in the freezer. Thank you Liz [and Nigella]

Senior Moments

The answer to one of my crossword clues this week was throve - that is, the past participle of thrive [ie to prosper or flourish] When I mentioned the word to Bob, he suggested that maybe members of Thrive who are retired should be in a subset called Throve. 

Thrive is the wonderful support group for spouses of Baptists involved in ministry and mission. I mentioned this to the group - and one member immediately responded 'but we want you to go on thriving, even in retirement, Angela' Which was a very kind reply, I thought. I hope to thrive in retirement!

But I am having a few 'senior moments'. I was concerned that I'd not received any pension payments. The gov.uk website didn't help, and telephoning involved being put on perpetual hold [without IKEA's happy Abba music - just an irritating little repetitive jingle] I needed to change my address with them - which was useful. During the pandemic, telephone calls are only acceptable for change of address, bereavement or something about UK pensioners living in the EU and Switzerland. So on Wednesday I rang, and carried the phone round with me for 30 minutes whilst I did household tasks [it was a free call] - I was pegging the washing when the jingle stopped and a cheery Welsh voice said I was through to the pension site, and speaking to Paul. 

He asked a few security questions- including my house number back in Kirby Muxloe. I had a complete mental block. Was it 9? I had to go and ask Bob [it was 11]. Paul was very patient and said I was clearly me, as I knew all my postcodes etc even if I'd forgotten my house number from 6 years ago. Then he changed my address on the database. He checked my records. Yes, 8th January 2021, my claim for a pension had gone through as my letter stated. It was all done online and automated...but when my first payment was due, the computer flagged up an error in my bank details. I'd mis-typed my sort code, so they couldn't make a payment. An email had been sent last week [not received] and also a proper letter "But of course, that has gone to Dorset, Mrs Almond" We agreed it would probably arrive eventually, via the redirection service! Anyway Paul has sorted everything out, corrected my error, and my pension will arrive in the correct bank account soon. I said I felt a bit daft - and said it was an easy mistake- and the problem was that everything else was fine, and for 4 months, they, and I, thought it was all sorted, it just stumbled at the last fence. He's too polite - it was definitely a dotty granny mistake

Here is my favourite OAP joke. Three old ladies are sitting on a bench. One says "Isn't it windy?" The next says "No, it's Thursday" and the third says "So am I, let's have a cup of tea!"

I am definitely the third one in the group...