…it doesn’t really matter about the rain…

It’s not my birthday for another two days, but due to failing yetanotherdrivingtest today, Chris thought I needed cheering up…

He got me two little baby girl hamsters… Roborovski dwarf ones. They look something like this…
though I’ll put up a ‘real’ picture of them once they’re settled in a bit.

Any ideas for names? :)

I have finally been converted to cleaning with vinegar!

Despite using other green / simple cleaning methods, like reusable cloths, bicarb etc, I’d held off on the vinegar because frankly, the smell makes me gag. However, some reading has reassured me that it’s not *that* bad, and last night I tried it to clean the loo. Dumped in about half of a 50p-ish bottle, left overnight, light scrub round with loo brush, and the limescale is gone! Brilliant. Now I can stop using Domestos-kills-everything-including-you. :)

On Tuesday (06/05/2008) my sister had another baby boy, named Billy, by c-section. He was very (6 weeks) early, like his brother, but seems to be healthy. My mum hasn’t seen him yet as due to hospital infections etc only the parents are allowed in the room ‘o’ babies. I’m going down to Brighton on the 22nd, hopefully he’ll be out by then.

On Wednesday, we had an attempted fraud at work. As I was the cashier who dealt with the guy, I got to stay almost an hour late to give the police a statement. Bah.

On Friday, some numbskull asked for a receipt at the paying in machine. The receipt was then left lying around for anyone to find - it included the persons name, account number, address, signature, and the fact that they’d paid in a 5k cheque. No wonder we have so much fraud.

On the bright side, however, I’m off work for the next 15 days, it’s hot and sunny, and the plants are doing fantastically. The peas have all burst into flower, as have the strawberries, and the tomatoes are developing their first trusses so need putting in their final pots ASAP. Despite not having a greenhouse, heated propagator etc, I’ve managed to get EVERYTHING to germinate this year - including chillies, peppers, squash, cucumbers and melons. The challenge will be to actually grow them… and to find space!

I’ve just started planning my time off as I don’t want to waste it doing nothing.

Sun 11th - Plant out sunflowers, cut grass edging bed, mow? plant more peas?
Mon 12th - Various errands to run in town
Tues 13th - Driving lesson
Wed 14th - Driving Exam
Thurs 15th
Fri 16th - My birthday! Kethry arrives, out for dinner
Sat 17th - with keth, out somewhere, possibly the seaside, possibly Lincoln
Sun 18th - as above
Mon 19th - keth goes home :(
Tues 20th
Wed 21st
Thurs 22nd - Travel to Brighton
Mon 23rd - Back from Brighton

I’ve been offered a new allotment, which I have yet to even look at. So tomorrow I think I’ll head down there to check it out, and then up to the council office (which is in a rather out of the way place and only open mon-fri, 9-5. Handy for those of us who have full time jobs) to sign for it. At the moment, I don’t really have any enthusiasm for it .. the thought of starting over now it’s hot and things should have already been planted is horrible. I don’t know. I might end up covering the lot in plastic and just planting spuds or something this year, and gradually working bits over.

I was going to write a proper post today, but frankly I can’t be bothered. The sun has been shining and I’ve been in the garden most of the day pottering about, and washing the car.

Carrots planted (pot/bed)
Onions planted (pot/temporary trays)
3rd lot of successional peas showing
Salad leaves, spinach, radish etc showing
Tomatoes, aubergines and peppers going mad indoors.
Strawberries planted up in troughs.

It feels like summer might be finally arriving?

I have to give my lottie up :( The previous occupant hadn’t given it up, and it’s his shed, and he’s creating hell over it. The council have offered me what they say is the only other plot - they now have a waiting list - but I think it’s full of weeds :( I’ve asked them to rotavate and it depends if they can get the machine up the narrow side path the new one is on. Sigh. Not happy. I have to go tomorrow with Chris and empty my stuff out of the shed :(

However, a couple of positives to prove I’m not letting it get me down:

~ I’ve just been offered some large pots on freecycle (collecting tomorrow). Hopefully theyll be suitable for my needs :)

~ My plants indoors are doing extremely well - the first lot of tomatoes have now gone into their final large pots before going out in may. I have far far more tomatoes and peppers than I can ever use - excess will be going to Chris’ mum and on freecycle. The peas outside are doing ok, if a little slug-bitten. I have tons of strawberry plants.. and the ones I thinned out at the allotment are looking really healthy but don’t know if previous occupant will want them back. I also sowed some salad bits in the bed the other day - radishes, mixed salad leaves, spinach, spring onions, rocket and spinach beet. Probably far too much of them too but I like baby leaves so have to use more ‘plants’ to make the same amount of grub!

~ We are FINALLY managing to get the quantity of landfill-rubbish we produce down - collection day has snuck up on me (we have alternate weekly collections of plastic/card/compostables and waste/glass/tins/paper) and we’ve only filled about 1/3-1/2 of the bin! :)

I took over my plot at the beginning of march - signed a contract until the end of the year ie april. I turned up today to do some more digging and bumped into my neighbours, who asked if I’ve spoken to the council this week. It turns out that the previous owner turned up last week and asked who had been on his lottie… he never officially gave it up! So it seems the council have let the same plot twice! I’m pretty sure it must be the council that have rung my phone 5 times this week during working hours on a withheld number and not once left an answerphone message.. I’ve not received any post from them either.

I am absolutely LIVID. It’s not the previous guy’s fault… though he did leave it with stuff rotting in the ground and the shed waist high in rubbish, cobwebs etc as well as tools. I now have to try and get in touch with a council department that’s open 9-5 (handy for those of us with jobs) and don’t tend to bother picking the phone up. I can’t believe that I’ve probably just poured all that effort down the drain.

I seem to have confused a couple of labels when I was planting herbs - I noticed today that my ‘opal basil’ was in fact green. And smells of licorice/aniseed. Which makes it thai basil.

So the question is, what the hell is the one next to it, which I labelled as thai basil? I’ve tried sniffing it, and I really can’t figure out if I’m smelling slight lemon or slight mint or just general herby-ness. From what I can remember planting I’m *sure* it must be a type of mint or basil, but I planted several basils (lemon/lime, thai etc). Anybody got any idea?

Rosemary, Basil, Oregano

I’ll be making a few photo posts tonight and tomorrow, with photos of my veg plants at their current stage of development. For my own records, I’m splitting the posts up, I’ve also taken the photos with a ruler as reference and plant tags visible. When I get round to it, I hope to make an in depth record of my growing on a seperate page, as it’s so helpful down the line (why I can’t remember to do this in written form, but I can on a blog, I don’t know!)

Sub Arctic Tomato

Nice healthy plants, about 10-12cm tall with plenty of leaves, not leggy.

Tomatillo, Sweet Mini Red Peppers

Jalapeno, Bolivian Rainbow, Meek and Mild Chillies

Mini Bambino and Caliope Aubergines

… was failed :(

So far I’m on:

Test 1 - 12 ‘minors’, 2 serious faults (hesitation at roundabouts, inappropriate speed)
Test 2 - 6 minors, 3 serious (ran over kerb during reverse round corner, signalled incorrectly, poor road position at one point)
Test 3 - 3 minors, 2 serious (left it too late to change lanes, thought I was on a 40 mph road when it was actually 30).

I’m actually getting really fu**ing fed up with this. I can drive absolutely fine, but nerves get me in the test.

The speed thing annoyed me today as I had come off a 60mph road, over a roundabout, and onto the 30mph road … there was one sign indicating the limit change on the edge of the roundabout, which I didn’t notice as I was concentrating on the cars rather than signs. I was looking everywhere trying to find a limit sign on the road, there weren’t any, and from memory I thought it was a 40mph road (certainly looked like it should have been)… it wasn’t.

The lane thing.. fair enough. There was a truck parked on the road which I move out around, and left it too late to move over into the left lane.

The examiner was the same one as last time, but thankfully a lot nicer - he seemed really apologetic at the end and said apart from the two faults above I was absolutely fine. So annoying!

It has to be said, I do agree with driving tests being difficult (however annoying it is as a learner). It’s just amazingly frustrating considering the amount of idiots on the road - yesterday some bloke TEXTING on his mobile almost ploughed right into our car - today another idiot on her mobile phone decided to take 2 junctions, both times sitting her car squarely over 2 lanes, thus blocking all the traffic behind her that wanted to go left when the left light went green. In a test you’re expected to ‘believe’ other users signals (ie if they’re signalling to turn off before they get to you, you should go), yet today I almost ploughed into yet another idiot because he decided not to bother signalling that he was going right at a mini roundabout until after he had gone round halfway, and I had thought he was going straight ahead - ie turning into the road I was coming out of.

… sigh. Try Try and Try Again.