Shaken not stirred

At 11.45 am today I was still in my nightie. But I had ordered some Christmas presents and been distracted by Christmas jumpers.

Last night we all gathered at Ask restaurant in Swansea's night life street to celebrate GrandDaughter1's 16th birthday. Not actually until tomorrow when we'll have cake. She wouldn't let us sing happy birthday in the restaurant but agreed her uncle could sing it when we walked back to the cars.

We all sang along - and a group of revellers joined in and insisted on singing it again.

I plus GrandDaughter1 and GrandSon2 all enjoyed a pineapple martini (non-alcoholic) but it does nothing to quench a thirst, barely three mouthfuls.

Meanwhile in Italy Younger Son and family have had their first real snow day. 

Now I'm getting myself ready for the Wales All Blacks game this afternoon. Some new youngsters have been called up. Apparently they have lots of promise which instils in me this tiny little glimmer of hope. Which is nonsensical. We're going to be thrashed. But there might just be promising signs?

Porridge please

It seems our theorist friend, when visiting a community church-led cafe, has been told not discuss such things or he will be banned. But they have also banned others of our guests. Zac's is famously the last place in Swansea to ban anyone - and it has to be a really major offence for that.

Yesterday, ah yesterday. It was a long day. It began at 6.40 am when I woke up, for the fifth time that night, to check if it was time for the alarm to go off yet. It was set for 6.45 so I switched it off and got up, showered and went out. 

Yesterday was the Grand Re-opening of Zac's. Meaning we opened.

Another charity, the Wallich, uses Zac's building to serve breakfast and has been doing so, via the hatch, since lockdown, but they only offer hot drinks and slices of toast. Yesterday we welcomed people into our building again, and it was wonderful. 

(At this point I would post photos but my computer has stopped working - I'm using Husband's after some time playing with tablets, phones, and passwords to enable me to get in, and I'm limited in what I can do. At least without spending another hour and more tears of frustration.)

Claire, our cook, offered porridge with banana and syrup, and/or toast with scrambled eggs, baked beans or just butter. The Wallich team was still in attendance but were able to give their full attention to the rough sleepers who came in, while Sarah, another volunteer, and I took orders and served the drinks.

We had about ten guests, which was great for the first morning.

I was able to give one young man a warmer coat and he was so unbelievably grateful for it and the food. 

(Husband is a genius! He has fixed my computer, again, so I'm back on it, although it did insist on me doing more identifying checks to make sure it's me. I think I will spend the afternoon lying in a darkened room with a damp flannel on my face.)

The eggs were much nicer than they look in my photo.

Then it was off to Rough Edges for another clearance day. The shop looks almost reasonable now - at least you can walk down the aisles and around it safely - so next week we'll be starting on the Back Room. Those two words should be written in a horror film font.

This time my photo makes it look better than it is!

I would love to one day see it divided into a small repair area and a larger sitting relaxing area for the men who call in just for company. But that will depend on us getting a manager. A voluntary manager as we can't afford to pay anyone! And, of course, clearing everything out of it . . .

There is a log burner in the shop but the door was always open so it never really warmed up and yesterday was our coldest day so far this winter. By the time I got home I was chilled to the bone.

Then I went to Daughter's to childmind briefly as they attended a parents' evening, and then came home. 

Went to bed early.

Elvis in the chip shop

Apparently Princess Diana is alive and living in a monastery in France. I can't imagine what the monks think of that. Her friends stole her away because they didn't trust the Royal Family. 

One of our regulars in bible study told us that because he read it on the internet. He's a character, you might say. He's intelligent, and well read, but has all sorts of . . . um . . . let's say unusual beliefs, most of which he gets from a female prophet on the internet.

But he comes regularly to Zac's and everyone smiles and nods and sometimes, like last night, I'll say, "We'll have to agree to disagree on that." And he's not bothered. 

How did my study on peacemaking go? Well, at the end, two of the most vocal - we just need the Holy Spirit in us - almost came to blows because one was getting in the other's way. So they obviously took on board my every word. Hey ho.

My pizza was exceptionally good though.

This morning I went for a walk with Daughter and Louie. It was cold and windy but beautiful. I say 'walk'; it's more like a route march. Daughter does walk very quickly. A shock especially after my slow strolls with Husband.

Nothing stops Louie going in the sea.

Out with Henry

Thanks to your comments I've removed references to Kissinger in my study and replaced him with Mo Mowlam. Much more inspiring.

I used my new knife today for the first time - my birthday really is over - and it's sharp! I must have got too used to my old knives as I cut myself twice in five minutes this afternoon! Fortunately my nail not my flesh.

And these words are music to my ears: "Sorry, there won't be an exercise class next week."

I don't really hate it - I wouldn't go if I did - but it's nice to have a good excuse.

Life continues to be quite busy but I think, after this week, maybe, it'll ease off. (Who am I fooling? There may just be a brief respite, we'll see.)

Pizza for dinner tonight and here's the tomato sauce bubbling away nicely.

Made with tomatoes from the garden. Still!

Pants, pants, pants

Into Zac's this morning for a little more sorting before we officially re-open after refurbishment - and fully open the first time since lockdown.

Then home and out for a walk with Elder Son and Theo. Cue cute puppy photos.

Now preparing bible study for tomorrow evening on "Blessed are the peacemakers." Been doing some research on the Vietnam war just so I can mention Kissinger, as he's about the only peacemaker I can think of offhand.

A discussion - in writing group of all places - about the relative merits or otherwise of Israel and Palestine brought to the fore the huge gap between me (Palestine) and another writer (Israel). We changed the subject before it got too heated because we were never going to agree. How much worse must it be for those actually living there to consider any sort of compromise or settlement?

* * * * *

How lovely. I've just received an email from someone from a group asking what's on Zac's Christmas wish list. I said pants, pants, pants! So helpful when people ask what we want before donating.

Busy, busy

So my birthday week has finally ended! Having begun a week ago yesterday with a family tea party it ended in Slice on Friday night. Well, sort of ended. Husband cooked last night and there's enough for today too, so I'm counting this as still my birthday.

On my birthday, Wednesday, Husband cooked dinner for me. We had a 'posh' egg sandwich for starters. He said, "I tried to think what you liked but didn't get very often." And very yummy it was. Eggy on - not focaccia - the other one.

Then we had pie and chips! Again, posh pie, crab and prawn.

All very delicious.

Oh, I haven't shown you what Husband got me for my birthday. He presented it with the words, "Remember you didn't give me any clue as to what you might want!"

Two knives, a knife sharpener, a bottle of rose pesticide, and Maltesers. Romantic or what?

I did need a new knife as my favourite one was falling apart.

Thursday I was up at Rough Edges, our charity shop, again, trying to sort out what's worth keeping and what's not. We've barely made a dent in the shop while the back room is the sort of place you would run out of screaming if you were of lesser mettle. This shelf gives you a good idea.

Friday, what did I do? The morning is a blank but I had my hair done in the afternoon. Is there any place better than a hairdresser's mirror to bring you down to earth? While you're having your hair coloured or cut I mean, not at the end. There should be some damage limitation at the end.

Then it was off to Slice in the evening. Here's the taster menu we had:

I won't bore you/make you jealous with photos of all the food.

Saturday, a sort of frustrating day. One of the regular volunteers at RE is always going on about how much things are worth on ebay, so I messaged him and asked him if he'd like to come along and take some things and sell them for us. It transpired that a) we'd have to find a laptop for him to do that, and b) we'd have to show him how.

I was very restrained and didn't say what I felt like saying at that point so the conversation dragged on through the day.

And then it was the rugby. England beat the All Blacks so Husband was very happy. Wales beat Japan by one point in the last minute. On one hand, it wasn't an encouraging or inspiring game. On the other hand, it was a win, the first at home for many of the current team. Next week Wales play the All Blacks, the week after it's the world champions, South Africa. I'm anticipating three figure scores against us. Might just bury my head in the sand for a bit.

A wet Wednesday in November

. . . is not a good day for a birthday.

The weather forecast was grim so we'd planned to visit a 'stately' home - we don't really have stately homes in Wales, just big fancy houses - but discovered it only opens at weekends in winter. Every other option involved being outdoors so we dithered and dithered until time was passing and Husband suggested a walk around the cliffs in our wet-weather gear. 

It wasn't that wet as it turned out.

The cliff walk we did begins and ends at Fortes Ice Cream Parlour and I had my heart set on a North pole there at the end of the walk. But, of course, we discovered that Fortes closes on Wednesdays in winter.

So I had to make do with a salted caramel and shortbread sundae in Verdi's.

Now Husband is starting preparing our meal for this evening. He tells me it's something he's not made before and that requires some cooking and then cooling before more cooking. I'll report back later. But now I think I'll go and start on my birthday jigsaw while singing, "73 today, 73 today, I've got the key of the door . . ."