THEY CAME...

.... they looked and, I would imagine, pretty much dismissed it.

What a pair of stuck up snobs.

She made a huge point of saying she would be throwing our range out if they moved in because she only ever cooks on an Aga and then went into great detail anout how it's remote controlled and how it has holiday settings...blah blah blah.

Then we got the, ' we've only been on the market since Saturday, but already people from London want it...' Yak yak yak.

Wouldn't want someone like that to live here anyway.

WAITING...

... for people to come and view the house.

Not holding out any hope though, because they still have a large property to sell in Seahouses, and I can't see that happening any time soon.

Sadly, it's a grey and miserable day, so the house isn't looking it's best!

Never mind eh!!

WATCHING LAST NIGHT'S MATCH...

...  and still expecting Man City to win!

#NoFaith

WOW!

Really did not see that result coming!

SUCH A BUSY DAY!!

So it's about 6.20 and I'm just about ready to stop faffing about with cakes stuff. I've been working on the architecture graduation cake, that includes a couple of the Dubai burjes, Paul Smith stripes, Rennie Mackintosh roses and the student herself of course. Quite a challenge!

Not looking forward to this evening so much as NUFC are playing Man City and its on the telly. I suspect it won't be an easy watch. But then, is it ever?

Going out with James and Claire tomorrow evening, IF we can actually get someone at Marabini's to answer the phone so we can make a booking! We've been trying for ages now and nobody's bothering to pick up the phone. Grrrrrrr!!!!!

OIL TANK SORTED!

At last and after one or two logistical incidents we have a thoroughly clean oil tank and 900 litres of fresh oil thank you very much Pearts!

AND AS PREDICTED...

... the oil tanker has arrived and the tank still hasn't been cleaned out!!

How predictable is this?

SO, THIS AFTERNOON...

...we are expecting to have our oil tank and all the piping leading to the boiler, drained, cleaned and dried, and then we should receive an oil delivery otherwise we will have no heating this evening.

We have double checked with all the agencies involved and they have also co-ordinated their planning, so...

...what's the betting something is going to go wrong?

IT'S ONLY 4PM,

And it's dark enough to need all the lights on.

It's been a nothing sort of a day really, just lots of bitty jobs to do.

Kevin has completely messed us about and, unlike every other week, doesn't want a delivery until Wednesday, which means we're hanging about, changing plans, being inconvenienced again and just getting generally annoyed at his thoughtlessness.

I really wanted to go to Yorkshire to see the family for a day, but the week's beginning to fill up without me knowing whether or not we'll manage it. The oil tank is supposed to be cleaned out tomorrow and we have a delivery to do, then we have Kevin to sort on Wednesday, people viewing the house on Friday, Helen will be up here for the weekend and we've got the match anyway, which only seems to leave Thursday free at the moment...

CLOCKS HAVE GONE BACK...

... Oh how I hate this time of the year.

I find it truly depressing.

I think it's even worse now because of my eye condition that means I find it difficult to see well in gloomy light.

And it really IS gloomy out there today. And, in a few minutes we're setting off to go to the Quayside to meet up with a friend who's visiting the area with a group from the Eden Project. Clearly we won't be sitting outside forum coffee!!

At the same time were taking Centurion's massive delivery of quiche and cakes. Hopefully this little lot will see them through the week!!

Had a fab evening with James and Claire yesterday, with good Indian food and a chance just to lounge around watching Strictly, it was pretty much the perfect evening.

PHEW!

Just sitting down for a couple of minutes after a whole day of quiche baking. It's been a veritable quiche marathon actually and I am now thankful to be able to take the weight off my feet for a while. ( mind you, as soon as I typed that the timer on the oven went, so I'd better get up and see how the last batch is doing!

FEELING A BIT BETTER TODAY!

I had a long talk with James last night and that seems to have helped me see things more positively.

I honestly don't know what came over me yesterday, but I just felt as though I was never going to stop the tears and yet I didn't know what I was crying about!

Need to keep an eye on it I suppose.

Been steadily busy today. Shopping, hairdressers and making a start on Centurion's order for Monday. Have also made three Christmas cakes using Nigella's 'on the hob' method! What a cinch! Just hope they taste good because I never want to go back to the old way of doing it!

FEELING...

... Overwhelmingly fed up and tearful today. For no good reason.

I seem to have been on the verge of tears all the time.

It's not so bad when I'm occupied, although even then I'm finding myself with tears starting and without any apparent trigger.

There are times when I just feel pointless. That's what I feel like - pointless.

What is the point?

BOILER MAN'S BEEN...

... drained a whole load more gunk out of the fuel pipes, got it fired up and running, left for his next job and it packed up again probably before he'd even got out of the village.

So he's on his way back.

Pearts, the Oil company that is responsible for the mess we are in,  have admitted its their fault and have said they will sort it, but have still to let us know when that is likely to be, despite two phonecalls from Charles to each of which they claimed they would return his call immediately. Needless to say, we are still waiting. And the repair ills are mounting!

Susan Rutherford is also on her way now for coffee and a bit of a catch up.

I cannot begin to tell you how fed up I am with the whole boiler/oil tank saga and, as soon as Susan has left, I am going out!

AND JUST A WEEK...

... after the boiler was last repaired, it's broken down again.

I cannot begin to tell you how fed up I am.

It was perfectly obvious yesterday that it was struggling.

We're supposed to be having the tank cleaned out, but the guy who's dealing with it is on holiday, and now we're having to deal with a bitterly cold house again.

Sick!

HAVE MADE A START...

... ON THE MINCE PIES!!

Just letting Claire know really. I know she loves a good mince pie!!

FENHAM!!

We've driven round and round Fenham and have pretty much decided that this is where we want to concentrate our house search - once we are in a position to do so obviously!!

There are areas of Fenham that we are not keen on, but a lot of it is fabulous and we have already managed to narrow it down to a few streets that would be firm favourites when it comes to buying.


We took the girls with us (they get so excited about going out in the car and then as soon as we're on the move they fall asleep and don't really wake up until we get home again!) and drove around for about three hours. We also checked out some areas of Kenton, but the front runner is certainly Fenham at the moment!!

SOMEHOW...

... The passenger side wing mirror on the MX5 has fallen off!

I took it into Morpeth today, parked outside Morrisons and then moved it and parked on the street. When I got back I didn't  notice anything amiss, but just before I got to the A697 I heard an odd noise and looked across to find it dangling by a thread.

Charles says something's hit it, possibly a bird, but it must have gone with a heck of a whack to snap it off and I honestly didn't hear or notice anything.

I think it's more than like likely that someone knocked it while it was parked up in Morpeth.

Anyway, it looks a right mess, held together with tape, until I can get it sorted out properly.

I'm annoyed though, because someone knows they've done this!!

BETTER GET UP!

It's gone 9.00 and I'm still lying in bed. I should be getting up and organised as I've got a quiche and pie baking marathon to tackle today, but I'm quite content to stay here just a little longer.

Might just close my eyes again for a few minutes and then I really will get up.

MATCH DAY!

Oh hooray!

Just to make it interesting, let's predict the timing of Leicester's first goal.

I'm going with 19 minutes, although that might be overly optimistic.

NOT A LOT...

... to report today.

Hair done, shopping sorted, baking and Chritpstmas cake designs well underway.

Have to say I've had a horrid feeling of dread all day. It took a while to work out why, but then I remembered we've got a match tomorrow? Oh joy.

WOKE UP TO...

... find Charles rummaging around in the boiler housing! Apparently we now have an oil leak from the boiler. It's on and running, but leaking, so not a brilliant situation.

On another boiler related note, the team of cleaners are coming out to check the tank etc so that we can finally be rid of the contamination problem. They should be here soon.

Actually, I've had such a busy and productive morning in the kitchen I think I'll just go out for a bit of a break and hopefully all the boiler stuff will be sorted when I get back!!

GOT AN EMAIL...

... From the couple who viewed the house and seemed so keen.

They REALLY WANT IT! However, they still have to sell theirs in Burford. But they. Ade it clear that they have talked about our house non-stop since they first viewed it and are seeing themselves living here before too long.

Great news, so long as they find a buyer.

What we might do is have a look at what's on offer around Newcastle, so we have a clear picture of what we can get for our money!!

HAVENT HEARD A THING...

... after yesterday's return visit by our potential buyers, despite getting a text from Charles while I was out shopping saying that they would definitely be  along an offer of the asking price yesterday afternoon! I think he was being a little over-optimistic, but then this is the man who always thinks Newcastle are going to win...

Currently we're waiting for the boiler man to return with a new pump. Second one this year. Something of a record apparently. And, at last, someone from Peart's Oil will be coming to look at the tank tomorrow to check for contamination and, hopefully, to make some sort of offer of compensation. (Remember that years ago their driver filled our tank with diesel and our boiler guy is convinced that the gloop that's trying to work it's way through our system is the result of the tank not being thoroughly cleaned at the time.)

I'm still furious that neither the boiler guy nor Charles, took me seriously when I told them that the boiler would be packing up imminently. If they had listened to me we could have avoided this situation and had it fixed on Saturday when he came round and tried to say it was fine. At least he had the decency to look extremely sheepish when he walked in yesterday and he did manage to admit that I was right!

So, annoyingly, I'm now sitting, twiddling my thumbs, and just WAITING. and that is absolutely not something that I'm good at!!!!

THE COUPLE...

... who came to look round on Friday...

... HAVE BEEN BACK FOR A SECOND LOOK TODAY!!

Still keeping fingers and toes crossed!!

SO, AFTER ALL THE EXCITEMENT...

... of the house viewings last week, we haven't heard a single thing from the estate agent. Very disappointing and something to be chased up tomorrow I think.

Lovely day today. Quite a busy morning to be fair with a couple of cakes being picked up and an I Eder to finish off for Kevin, but we've spent a lovely couple of hours in Bar Luga with James and Claire, joined by Christina for a while as well. Had a little wander round the shops, but Morpeth hasn't really decided what it wants to do on a Sunday, so half of the shops hadn't opened, including the Chantry which is where we really wanted to go.

Back home now and just about to give in to a Sunday afternoon snooze!

HAVE HAD A LOVELY TIME...

...with Christina in town, just shopping and having coffee and lunch. Real Mum and daughter stuff. I enjoyed it so much and I think she did too

Saw James and Claire, just briefly, but hope to catch up with them tomorrow and next week. Thank you for letting me park the RAV at your house.

Back home now, just catching up with all the jobs that should have been done earlier, but have somehow been forgotten or just ignored. Hmmmm!

Now for a lovely relaxed evening, starting with Strictly...

OK, I GOT THAT WRONG!!!!!

They DID turn up!

About 15 minutes late, but as soon as they got in they LOVED it and planned out where all their furniture was going. We even discussed where his octagonal greenhouse is going!

Her name is ROSEmary LILY which she saw as an omen once she met the girls. They come from a village  near Burford in Oxfordshire, a place we know really well.

She loved it so much, she cried! She even said, 'This is MY house!'

Maybe she's just bonkers!!

Sadly, they have to sell their house, but it's just gone on the market, so who knows?

Fingers crossed again!

ALREADY...

...10 minutes late.

I'm guessing this will be a no show.

But this time, nobody has even bothered to tell us that.

Fed up!

JUST OVER AN HOUR...

... to go before we are supposed to have a viewing.

So far, Pattinsons haven't called to say they have cancelled.

So, fingers (and toes) crossed then.

SUCH A BUSY DAY!!

But...

... I'm pretty pleased with the end result. Two cakes completed since the end of Bake Off yesterday. I started one at about 11.00 last night, finished it in the small hours, then completed the second one during the day, just taking a couple of hours out to go to SAKs.

Probably the most complicated cake I've done in a while, but I'm reasonably happy with the outcome and very pleased to have finally got all the sugarpaste decorations onto a cake and off our dining table!

Now I need to start thinking about Christmas cakes!! Oh joy!

TOTALLY KNACKERED,

Haven't stopped all day, until about half an hour ago when I felt so faint I thought it was time to eat, but then couldn't actually face what I made myself!

BUT, I have hopefully got to the point where I should have a lovely,  creative day tomorrow!

and, I really hope I manage to stay awake for the Bake Off final in about twenty minutes. CANT WAIT!

TAKE IT BACK!!

What I said earlier about the lack of viewings, or the spurious potential purchasers!

We actually have a viewing this afternoon. Arranged with one hour's notice, so not really long enough to back out. Typically though, the kitchen was a total mess when we got the call, as I have so much baking going on today, but we've had a quick tidy round and I think it looks presentable enough!!

Andif what they say about the smell of home baking is right - we should do really well!!

ALSO...

... We did a massive delivery to Centurion yesterday and I woke up to find another huge order from them that they want by Friday.

Who's eating all the cakes?

I'm really going to struggle this week as I'm already pretty busy with birthday cakes for this weekend. Typical!

WE HAVE...

... someone coming to look at our house on Friday. I only mention it because Pattinsons have arrange two previous viewings (Yes! As many as that!) and on both occasions they've rung either that day before or a couple of hours before scheduled visit, t o say that the prospective purchaser has pulled out.

The viewing is scheduled for 11.30.

So, to make it a little more bearable, I'm predicting the call will come on Friday morning 10.00 and Charles reckons it'll be Thursday late afternoon.

Will let you know who the winner is in the fullness of time!

OKAY, OKAY, OKAY!!!

Requests for Christmas cakes are coming in now, so I suppose I need to start thinking about designs for this year's collection.

I've got a pretty full-on week this week, so it maybe the end of the week before I get ideas sorted and publicised.

Bear with me for must a bit longer, please!!

GOING OUT...

.. In a while to meet up with Helen and James and Claire. I think we're just going out in Gosforth,but it'll be nice to see Helen for a bit of a catch up as we hardly seem to see each other these days.

I've got most of the deliveries ready for tomorrow, so should be able to have a relaxed afternoon when we get back. Can feel an afternoon nap coming on!

SWANSEA V NEWCASTLE

Kicks off in  quarter of an hour.

The SSN pundits have had an absolute blast at the expense of  NUFC.

They can't see how we're getting out of this mess, and neither can I, but somehow it seems so much worse when you hear other people saying it.

Sick of it all now and actually font care about this afternoon. No pre-match nerves at all, because I am genuinely not bothered.

ALAN HENNING

What an absolute tragedy.

The news last night was, I suppose, expected, but nevertheless was shocking and horrifically sickening.

I cannot begin to imagine what he went through and what his family have gone through and will continue to go through. I could weep for them.

He was carrying out an act of humanity and this is the result.

Rest in Peace.

BRRRRRRR!!!!

How cold has it gone today?

Got the heating turned up high and the old cardie on.

It's already nearly dark and its only 6.30.

Oh I hate this time of year.

I'm not one of these who likes the cold weather because we can get our fab new winter wardrobe out. I'm past that stage. Just want to be warm and I don't like it at all.

I find it really depressing and sad in a way.

Or maybe it's just the thought of another NUFC loss tomorrow that's making me feel this way!

POON

Slightly surreal setting - used to be a cinema I think - and it does feel a bit cavernous. Not sure what the acoustics will be like if the place is ever full, but it was pretty empty when we went this evening and felt a little bit echo-y, if that makes sense. The food was fine but nothing special. Good old-fashioned Chinese. Plenty of it and tasty enough, but nothing special. Service was great though.

Would I go back?

Probably not. There are better Chinese restaurants close by.

However, it was really lovely to sit down to eat with the family. It's been a while since we did that, and for all that the conversation had its truly bizarre moments, it was lovely to relax and just be able to laugh about stuff!

I'VE JUST BEEN ASKED...

... To recreate a quiche that someone from Centurion had on holiday. All I've got to go on is a photo and that it contains feta cheese, sweet potato, roasted peppers, courgette and something else that I've forgotten already - and pastry.

Other than that there's no helpful recipe, nor can I find one on t'internet that contains all the ingredients.

Haven't  got a clue where to start and think it's a little unfair that I'm expected to recreate someone's delicious holiday memory without a tad more help.

HOW DOES THIS WORK?

if I'm in the kitchen baking or cooking something delicious, Charles will pop through to have a little nose around...

... Today, however, I left a pan of sugar on the heat for about twenty minutes. I didn't mean to, obviously. I just took a bag of rubbish to the bin and got talking to the man who lives across the road.

Big Mistake.

By the time I turned back to the house, I could smell the burning from halfway down the drive and had to literally battle my way through the smoke to get to the, by now, cremated, pan.

At no time did Charles move from his chair. Even when there was smoke billowing out of the kitchen he didn't move and, more importantly...

... Why did none of our three fire alarms go off.

Time to get the batteries replaced I think!