100DaysToOffload

Bread

With the obligatory meta-posting that goes with blogs I'd like to say I can't believe that so far I've made it to day 16.

Anyhow down to business. There were all the jokey comments and recipes posted at the start of lockdown for people keeping a sourdough culture but I've been backing bread at home for years. When they first become popular (maybe 25 years ago?) someone bought me a breadmaker as a gift. I loved it and used it regularly until it died about 10 years later. Then after that I did have a sourdough culture but worked out pretty soon that essentially I'm quite a lazy baker. That and my wife not being able to resist eating all the bread as soon as it is out of oven (which OBVIOUSLY made it my fault she put on weight) soon put an end to that. What changed it for me was the no-knead recipe that was published about 6 years ago in the New York Times. Bread-making where you do pretty much nothing and still get an amazing loaf? Yes please, sign me up! Since then I've had bursts of regularly baking versus periods of only occasionally. Recently however my go-to for bread recipes is Trine Hahnemann's Scandinavian Baking.

book cover

It also introduced me to using fresh yeast when baking. Fresh yeast is odd and squidgy and smells like a brewery. First of all I could only source it in poncy health shops where it cost a fortune then I discovered it was available in all the local Polski skleps (Polish grocery shops) at about half the price. Result. So whilst I've not seen any yeast or flour in a supermarket since the end of March I've been going to the Polish shop and picking yeast up regularly. The local independent bakery sells flour on a Friday so I've been down to stock up.

Reason I'm waffling all this? Today I made 2 rustic* baguettes we used for sandwiches at lunchtime and I was really proud of them. (*Rustic as they were quite misshapen and lumpy but still tasty.). I didn't even think about getting a photo until they all gone, sorry.

This is one of my 100 Days to Offload posts. It is a blogging challenge started by Kev Quirk. Check https://100daystooffload.com for tasty recipes and see if they fancy cooking up a blog yourself.

Following On

#100DaysToOffload – Day 15

The book I'm currently reading is “Following On” by Emma John. It's about the author's obsession with the English cricket team in the 90's (when the English cricket team were arguably one of the worst national sides in the world).

book cover

It's a mix of a memoir with her interviewing some of the cricketeers from the team to ask their recollections. So far it is very enjoyable and light-hearted with lots of self-depreciation.

To be honest it is making me miss cricket a lot. Whilst I'm not a big fan of Test cricket or county cricket I do enjoy 1 day matches and love T20. That all started when I broke my ankle in 3 places a few years ago and pretty much was confined to the sofa for 3 months whilst waiting for it to heal up. I discovered Indian Premier League cricket which was just the entertainment I needed. Whilst cricket traditionalists think of T20 as “fizzy keg” cricket it does it for me. Last summer I had a season pass for all the Sussex Cricket Club T20 games as their ground is only a 15 minute walk from my house and I had already booked 2 tickets for this summer. Actually I had wanted to get a season pass again but they all sold out in before my January payday came and I could afford it! Oh well. Like the football cricket isn't currently cancelled and is instead postponed so maybe I'll still get to go.

This is one of my 100 Days to Offload posts. It is a blogging challenge started by Kev Quirk. Check https://100daystooffload.com for more info. Or don't. See if I care.

I Hate Printers

#100DaysToOffload – Day 14

When I did desktop support there were 2 types of jobs I always hated: PDAs and printers. Thankfully PDAs went out of fashion a decade ago but printers are still with us. I moved out of desktop support a while ago and now my work has an external contract for the printing service (they run the print server, accounting software and maintain the devices) so largely it is all out of my life.

Until a few years ago we'd never had a printer at home and either Mrs Luke or myself would just take advantage of the printers at work. We never took the advantage too much but if we needed boarding passes or tickets to something printed we'd just do it through our office printer with no harm done. However once our eldest started senior school she would need to print things off for homework several times a week and often would leave it to the last minute. This would cause all sorts of bother and anguish as we usually couldn't print it until we were back in the office. So to create domestic bliss we bought a printer. Just a cheapo HP from Currys for £29. What I liked most about this was the HP Instant Ink. Yes yes I know it is like DRM for ink cartridges but this is something I am more than happy to trade off on if it means we pay £1.99 a month and get new cartridges posted to us automatically when we needed them. This printer worked fine for 3 years and I had actually softened my stance on printers thinking modern ones were not that bad at all really. Then disaster struck and our cheapo printer died! The rollers and motor seemed knackered probably from all the extra usage it had had over the past 2 months. Now that everyone is working at home budget printers are pretty much sold out everywhere or twice the price they were in February but got another HP delivered a the weekend.

HP have done the thing of “simplifying” the software so much it is actually hard to do anything, like turning off direct wifi printing or setting security, but after a while of fighting it we will have domestic harmony again.

I hate printers.

I am taking in the 100 Days to Offload blogging challenge set by Kev Quirk, so there. https://100daystooffload.com if you fancy printing off the challenge to read later.

The Beauty of Maps

#100DaysToOffload – Day 13

As a child I used to love looking through our Reader's Digest Illustrated Atlas of the World. Found it fascinating looking at all the different countries and cities. As an adult I very much enjoyed reading Prisoners of Geography Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need To Know About Global Politics, by Tim Marshall and was gutted to miss out on a talk by Tim Marshall at the British Library at the start of the year as it was on the same day as my daughter's birthday. She still moans about how my son & I went to watch football on the afternoon of her birthday once so I'm not risking that again! So the short BBC series The Beauty of Maps has been right up my street. There's only 4 episodes so you can watch them all in a evening if you wanted and it covers the both the history of map making and also the stories behind the maps. Very much recommend it for some lockdown viewing (whilst we still have lockdown left).

As an aside I do feel a bit sad my kids only experience maps on phone or tablet screens. We do have a couple of atlases but they've literally never shown any interest in them.

Now this is a story all about how My life got flipped turned upside down And I'd like to take a minute just sit right there I'll tell you how I started doing https://100daystooffload.com

Ozymandias

#100DaysToOffload – Day 12

Early on into lockdown I got an email from my stepdad asking me to join a 'poetry exchange' (you can tell it was started by an older person as otherwise it would be a WhatsApp message or Facebook post!). It's one of those chain/pass-along emails but entirely harmless. Here's the text (with email addresses removed):

Dear Friends

I invite you to join a collective, constructive, and hopefully uplifting, exchange. It’s a one-time thing and we hope you will participate. We have picked those we think would be willing and would make it fun.

Please send a poem to the person whose name is in position 1 below (even if you don’t know them) with the email subject “Poem Exchange”. It should be a favourite text/verse/meditation that has affected you in difficult times. Or not. Don’t agonise over it.

After you’ve sent the short poem/verse/quote etc to the person in position 1, and only that person, copy this letter into a new email. Move my name to position 1 and put your name in position 2. Only my name and your name should show in the new email. Send it to 20-ish friends BCC (blind copy).

Seldom does anyone drop out because we all need new pleasures. The turnaround is fast, as there are only two names on the list, and you only have to do it once.

Stay safe and well and pass it on even if like me your favourite poem dates from the age 11/12.

As it seemed a pleasant thing to do I joined in and sent it on and also sent my favourite poem which is Percy Shelley's Ozymandias.

I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed: And on the pedestal these words appear: 'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!' Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.

The only other poem I considered with the opening monologue from the film Trainspotting written by screenwriter John Hodge. Most people can remember the opening part but probably don't recall the last few sentences which are really grim.

Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pishing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourself.

Choose your future.

Choose life.

As for the poetry exchange I think I got maybe 5 sent to me and I had sent it to about 12 people I think. Trouble is I don't actually have that many friend's email addresses as it is all phone numbers or social media profiles. None of the ones I received were particularly memorable but I did enjoy reading them all.

Now this is a story all about how My life got flipped turned upside down And I'd like to take a minute just sit right there I'll tell you how I started doing https://100daystooffload.com

Bin raider

#100DaysToOffload – Day 11

When I was little we were quite hard up. My whole school career I qualified for free dinners. My mum however was very resourceful and frugal and would often take things others had thrown out. She was forever diving into skips or getting me to carry some item home. Trips to the dump would end up with her bringing more home than we took in the first place. As a kid it would embarrass me immensely and I'd be going “please don't Mum”. Naturally she didn't listen a word I said.

Fast forward to my adulthood and I myself do this all the time. Started when I moved to Brighton 20 years ago as there is quite a neighbourly culture of leaving decent quality unwanted items outside with a “please take” note on. We had a hand-me-down sofa for out first flat and when we finally replaced it we put it outside. Over the next few years I saw that sofa left outside various properties on the surrounding streets at least twice.

Where we live now there are communal bins at the end of the road and they are a goldmine! There was a bag that caught my eye as it looked out of place in placed in a bin so I picked it up and it contained various bits and bobs. Looked like someone had moved out and left some stuff behind so someone had chucked it. Amongst the stuff were various designer bandanas/scarves, a digital camera and an ipod! The ipod was old and not working but I googled the model and it turned out there was an Apple recall for that exact model which was finishing that week. I sent it off and Apple sent me a brand new ipod in return. Result! That went straight onto eBay though usually I only get bits I can use myself and don't go looking for items to sell.

Another time I was passing some small business units and could see workmen chucking loads of stuff out. Seems a company had gone bust or not paid their rent so were being cleared out. That got me 3 laptops that were about a year old each.

There's at least a dozen things in our kitchen that I've squirrelled away (that's what my wife calls it, probably as it sounds more pleasant than bin raiding) and various others around the house. Got a beautiful late 60's/early 70's pottery plant pot on my window sill that I found. Whilst everyone is on lockdown they're all sorting out their cupboards and drawers so there is plenty to be found at the moment. This week alone I've got a hanging plant basket (needed one for some mint plants), some fake battery powered candles (bit odd but mrs Luke has some already and really likes them – which totally surprised me as I thought she'd think they were naff) and these beauties:

lovely pair

It's so easy to visualise the adverts for these in the back of the Sunday supplements. The one with the floating disembodied head is particularly surreal. (For reference I like them ironically, the naffness is the charm.)

100 Days to offload is a blogging challenge started by Kevin Quirk. Check out https://100daystooffload.com to see if you are tempted to join in yourself.

No candlestick makers

#100DaysToOffload – Day 10

When lockdown started and lots of people went panic buying there were lots of images of bare supermarket shelves in the media. I know from personal experience most supermarkets first sold out of lots of tins and dried goods then when those stocks were getting back to the shelves lots of fresh goods sold out. Still now there is no flour on supermarket shelves and if there is it all sells out straight away again.

However throughout this most of the cornershops/convenience stores have had stocks of everything that was sold out in the big stores and pretty much all of them were just selling at the regular price too. In the first week of lockdown I had a banging headache and needed some paracetamol. Sold out in all the big shops I went to, go to local corner shop and he had a full shelf! My son nearly lives on pasta with pesto. It's easily his favourite dish but all the supermarkets were stripped bare of pasta before lockdown was announced. No problem as the cornershop down the road had loads of stocks of 4 different types of pasta at bargain prices. You get the picture.

Since lockdown we've had the local grocer doing us a weekly delivery, the local butchers doing deliveries, the local fishmongers too and lastly the local bakery. Sadly we've not needed any candles so no candlestick makers as yet.

Coming out of this I'm determined to shop local a bit more and rely on supermarkets less.

100 Days to offload is a blogging challenge started by Kevin Quirk. Check out https://100daystooffload.com to see if you are tempted to join in yourself.

Yesterday's post today

#100DaysToOffload – Day 9 (and a half)

Oops! Not quite sure how it happened but I forgot to post yesterday. It wasn't I didn't have anything to say or it felt hard work, I just forgot. This brings me round to a Mastodon exchange I had with Basil: what percentage of posts early on in a blog are meta posts talking about the blog itself or posting on the blog? Got to be quite high! And now I've joined that percentage myself.

So how did I miss posting? Did work though not much was happening I was present and online most of the day ready for it. Usually my prescriptions are taken care of through an online pharmacy service that requests the repeat prescription from the Dr's surgery electronically and posts me the medication. Every now and then the Dr's want to check if I still need it and this was one of those times. So how is a Dr's consultation done during lockdown? I called to book an appointment and was told I'd get a call back. Which I did half an hour later. Had a brief chat with the Dr and was told the repeat prescription was fine. But the Dr was worried if it went to the online service I wouldn't get it until middle of next week as it is a bank holiday today so instead sent it electronically to my nearest pharmacy (which they even identified from my postcode). After waiting a couple of hours I stroll along in the sun to collect it and on the way bump into a neighbour so stop and have a 10 minute chat. The pharmacy is only a 5 minute walk away but round the corner there is an acquaintance I know from football (they are a fellow BHAFC season ticket holder) so I end up having a 10 minute chat about the Premier League plans to resume the season (never going to happen!). Finally get to my destination to find it shut for lunch 5 minutes earlier!

100 Days to offload is a blogging challenge started by Kevin Quirk. Check out https://100daystooffload.com to see if you are tempted to join in yourself. No-one even reads this bit apart from AndyC so hi Andy

Lockdown Panic Buys

#100DaysToOffload – Day 8

Towards the end of March when it was obvious lockdown was going to be imposed on the nation Mrs Luke got in a fluster and made some panic purchases. It wasn't toilet roll or pasta but instead it was a ton of sand and 4m x 4m of fake grass. (You weren't expecting that were you??)

Reason being our son is sporty, so sporty that he is a goalkeeper at the local Premier League team academy, but we have a tiny backyard. It is small and north facing and quite depressing really. As it hadn't had any direct sunlight since about the end of September last year it was looking pretty neglected. Here it is:

grotty yard in all its glory

So how were we going to keep him active and training in that? We've also got a daughter but she'd not as active or as sporty as him but obviously would be good for her to keep moving too.

Thing is my mrs didn't actually tell me about this until they arrived. I'm thinking “bloody hell how are going to shift a ton of sand from the front garden to the back?” when it all arrives.

here's what a ton of sand looks like

This was during the first week of lockdown. We make a plan and work out who will do what when. The mrs Luke gets poorly and has coronavirus symptoms. Persistent dry cough and feels like crap. Has a high temperature for a few days but thankfully no fever. As I'm asthmatic she self-isolates in the bedroom for a week and I sleep downstairs. While she is ill I just get on with it. First off there was something like 75 small paving slabs to lift up and stack up in the front garden. That took 3 days of bursts here and there after work or at lunchtime. (I then took them all up to my folks' allotment, was a great bit of exercise that!)

Once cleared and weeded it was a case of shifting the sand a trug full at a time. That took 2 days or bursts here and there.

ton of sand spread over the backyard

By this time Mrs Luke is back in action and helps with the spreading out of the sand and the laying of the fake grass.

Then voila! It was all done:

completed yard

This was a project I was wasn't keen for especially as it was a surprise and I was going to have to do the bulk of the humping and shifting but I'm really pleased with how it has gone. We've been out there pretty much every day it has been sunny, partly as from the end of April it actually gets direct sunlight, and have eaten outside a few times. Must importantly our son has been able to carry on with his goalie training by facetime.

Connected

#100DaysToOffload – Day 7

Pretty sure this will be a common feature of blogs from people doing the 100 days to offload that aren't regular bloggers but I'm amazed I've done a week of it. Huzzah! Surprised myself I've stuck with it.

Whilst lockdown is on everyone has been at pains to ensure we're all staying in touch. Houseparty, WhatsApp groups or video calls, Facetime, Zoom, etc etc. It's wearing me out! I'm not anti-social by any means but I'm also not out 3 nights a week seeing friends. Maybe 3 or 4 times a month. Usually I only speak to my cousins at birthdays, Christmas, weddings, funerals, or christenings. Now we're all chatting away in a massive group chat. Ended up doing a weekly Zoom with my wife's family and also a Friday night quiz with a massive extended group of my family. My step-dad's nephew's daughter's boyfriend participates as well as my cousin's – from the other side of my family- girlfriend's brother's girlfriend just to give you an idea of just how extended it is. Obviously it is all good and making bonds and all that but goodness me is it tiring sometimes. Occasionally all I want is to just sit on the sofa and read a book.

On my last trip to a supermarket I bought 24 2nd class stamps which I've been using to send notes and cards to friends and family. My own way of staying connected but without the need to be present.

100 Days to offload is a blogging challenge started by Kevin Quirk. Check out https://100daystooffload.com and see if you're tempted to join the Scientologists yourself. No-one even reads this bit I bet.