After a breakfast of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes with slices of banana and a pint mug of tea, I went upstairs for my daily shower then donned some shorts and a blue T-shirt I bought in Croatia before the pesky pandemic arrived.
I grabbed my car keys and ordered Clint to take me to Burbage Bridge.
"Steady on the brakes!" he advised following Tuesday's costly garage work on that particular feature of his anatomy.
It was another warm spring day with the golden orb shining from a milky blue sky. I plodded a four mile circuit around The Burbage Valley, Higger Tor and Carl Wark and then got back home for 1pm. I made Shirley and I cheese salad sandwiches for lunch.
She ferried me to my friend Mike's house for 2pm and there I met up with Mick and Danny for beers and conversation. We hadn't met like this in five months but the session was legal following very recent changes in England's coronavirus regulations.
I was home for five where Frances was sitting happily with Princess Phoebe having her nappy changed by her ever-willing grandma. It was time for me to set to work on our evening meal.
I prepared fried chicken, fresh green beans, roasted tomatoes and some good quality pasta in red pesto sauce. It was almost ready when Stewart arrived from work. For dessert we had brownie slices with vegan ice cream.
After what we in Yorkshire confusingly call tea and not dinner like most people, it was time to watch football on the television - a World Cup qualifying game between England and Poland which we managed to win by two goals to one. Up The English!
Next of all I edited the photographs I took while walking this morning before sitting down to write this blogpost. Three of those pictures accompany this blogpost.
As I say, today was a good day.
I am coming for that rock of millstone grit.
ReplyDeleteIt will win the Turner Prize.
I can get an art student to fake the shimmering blue water.
I shall call it *In A Burbling Burbage Brook*.
Background music: The theme to Desert Island Discs.
The Sleepy Lagoon (YouTube).
Thanks for the idea, Yorky.
I'll buy ye a half pint of Scrumpy as my thanks.
Haggerty
Sleepy Lagoon from The Ray Anthony Show (1957).
DeleteYouTube.
Before the Age of Romance died.
If I could climb inside your head, it would be like being in The British Library at Euston.
DeleteHaggerty's head is like the planet Solaris in the novel by Stanislaw Lem.
DeleteThere is rational activity of a kind on Solaris, but it is beyond the reach of rational inquiry.
Better not to dabble or you may find that your life in Sheffield took place on Solaris all along. Solaris has no beginning and no end.
Hamel(d)
Solaris is actually a seedy tanning studio just off London Road - run by a lass from Cambodia. I understand she has cold hands and is a bit mean with the olive oil.
DeleteYama Sushi is a popular eating spot on Sheffield's London Road.
DeleteThis Cambodian masseuse is a figment of your figmentation.
Did I no warn ye, laddie? Dinna meddle wi the Dark Powers !
Hamel(d)
Carl Wark is a natural rock formation. I wasn't sure by looking at it. It seems you had a very full and satisfying day.
ReplyDeleteYes it is but at the opposite end there's a manmade embankment faced with large stone blocks. It is believed that it was used as a hill fort in The Iron Age but its history remains mysterious and uncertain.
DeleteIt sounds like a very good day to me, too. And the photos are great, as always! Over here, we are still not allowed to meet with more than one other household, and a maximum of five people of those two households. To see our parents, my sister and I have to take turns instead of visiting them together.
ReplyDeleteIt has been as warm as summer here yesterday, at 24 Celsius in my area and 27 in O.K.'s. For my after work walk, I wore short sleeves and a pair of denim shorts for the first time this year! That first time always puts me in an almost festive mood.
It is still rather cold in the mornings, and we're in for a roller coaster temperature-wise over the Easter weekend and next week.
I would be tempted to bend the rules ever so slightly with regard to visiting your parents. Rules and laws are fine when they appear logical. However, you don't want to attract fines.
DeleteIn the rural NZ F grew up in, the evening meal is also 'tea'. Dinner is eaten in the middle of the day. We lived by the Breakfast-like-a-king, lunch-like-a-prince and dine-(or take tea) -like-a-pauper rule.
ReplyDeleteHow splendid that New Zealanders also used the term "tea" for the evening meal. I guess that the meal rule you quoted was most appropriate for farming families.
DeleteLove the Hereford cattle photos.
ReplyDeleteThey were taking a break from their endless grazing.
DeleteA good day indeed, YP., and an ideal way to check that Clint's brakes are in working order (or that you got your money's worth!).
ReplyDeleteAn excellent walk in delightful spring weather. The resting cattle are beautifully camouflaged in the bracken - were they waiting for some unsuspecting soul to come along and then jump out and say "Moo"!
Good though your walk was, the highlight of your day must have been to find Princess Phoebe and her Mum waiting for you when you arrived home.
The highlight was discovering I had won £5.5 million on the National Lottery.
DeleteI love the reflections in your last photo YP. Very serene and relaxing.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason that rock grabbed my attention as soon as I saw it.
DeleteDo you make your own red pesto sauce? Mine always comes out green.
ReplyDeleteI bought it in a jar by Felippe Berio. Makes a nice change from basil pesto.
DeleteHiggar Tor has a some of the hardest and gnarliest crack climbs of their era - many of them first ascended by Don Whillans, and still formidable achievements to climb in style today Three of the most famous are The Rasp, The File and The Flute of Hope. Great names for a fantastic spot - the leaning block nagged me for years before we eventually climbed them - great times.
ReplyDeleteI know the block you mean at the south west corner of Higger Tor.
DeleteWhat in the world is cheese salad?
ReplyDeleteAlso- what is red pesto made of?
Your culinarily curious friend would like to know.
Red Pesto Sauce - sometimes called Tomato Pesto Sauce:-
Delete85g/3oz pine nuts or walnuts
250g/9oz roasted red peppers from a jar (weighed after draining well), roughly chopped
8 sun-dried tomatoes from a jar, drained
1 large garlic clove, quartered
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
20 basil leaves, plus extra to serve
50g/1¾oz Parmesan (or similar vegetarian hard cheese), finely grated, plus extra to serve
squeeze of lemon juice (or a drop of red wine vinegar)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
However, I cheated by using a jar by Filippo Berio!
A cheese salad sandwich is salad leaves, sliced tomato, sliced cucumber, a dollop of mayonnaise and grated cheddar cheese - all inside two slices of buttered granary bread.
Is Carl related to Kirsty?
ReplyDeleteNo - John Wark, the former Scotland footballer.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteA meeting with friends and time with little Phoebe. Plus the lottery winnings which should be carefully set aside for clint's next MOT.
ReplyDeleteClint's next trip to the garage should not cost anything like £5.5 million. That's about $7.7 million.
DeleteYou won the lottery? You should have lead with that. Just saying.
ReplyDeletePhotos, a lovely walk and a baby girl, does it get any better than that? I think not.
No I did not win the lottery Lily. April Fool!
DeleteI know. I was yanking your chain:)
DeleteWOOF! WOOF! WOOOOOOOOOOOF!
DeleteI would love to read about your method of cooking fried chicken! I didn't know that was a "thing" in England.
ReplyDeleteI put some plain flour in a bowl then I season it with salt and pepper and herbs. Then I make a mixture of cooking oil - olive oil, rapeseed oil, a knob of butter and perhaps a little sesame oil. I get my chicken breasts and make sure they are fully floured - every crevice and split. Then I fry the chicken till its golden - both sides. It's important to use good judgement when assessing the cooking time. You do not want the chicken either underdone or overdone. The flour coating tends to keep it moist.
Delete