Hanging Baskets

Each year I make a couple of hanging baskets, and this year has to be my best attempt yet. The two are both identical, and each contains two scarlet cascading begonia's.

No.5

Colchester

I travelled down to Colchester to work today, because they were short staffed, and when I got there, they said we'll put you in No.5.
Well that gave my mates a great laugh when I told them, and I didn't see a pair of white stilettos all day, maybe I wasn't far enough into Essex.

No.5

Lotto

I was out of routine on Saturday, down to not having to work and a large amount of Lager in the Moreton Hall Pub on Friday night.
At about 11pm I realized that I hadn't bought my Lotto ticket for that nights draw. I do the same numbers for both Wednesday and Saturdays draws.
So I put on Teletext to look for the result. . . . .

I saved myself £2

Phew

No.5

Lance Armstrong

I think this guy is the greatest sportspersons ever to compete at the highest level in their game. Having won his seventh Tour de France in 2005, after beating cancer, came out of retirement at 37 to ride again in this years Tour, coming a creditable 3rd overall, and making it onto the podium in Paris today.

Lance now plans to ride for Team Radioshack, in next years race.

Respect.

No.5

Friday 10th July

Got picked up at 08:30 by my Bro' and we headed down to Bury St.Edmunds railway station, to catch the train to Cambridge at 08:55. Having got into Cambridge at about 09:40, we took a leisurely stroll towards the high street. Passing the "Regal" Wetherspoon's pub, with the doors open, we decide to go in for the 1st Beer of the day, at 10:00 After one in there, we left and a couple of doors down See's us stood outside a bar called "All Bar One" and my Bro' liking the continental Beers they sell in there, See's us ordering a 2nd. Left there and wandered through what was the Lion Yard (I have no idea if the name has changed) down to the Archor Pub.

Outside of which you can watch people hiring Punts. I so hoped to see someone fall in, but unfortunately nobody did.
Feeling Hungry my Bro' suggested a Noodle bar around the corner he knew of called Dojo. A bit like Zen, in Bury St.Edmunds.

In here I ordered, for a side dish, six New Zealand Mussels marinated in Chinese spices, and as a main dish, seared Duck strips with seasonal veg with Ho Yo Min tossed in a sate sauce with wok fried noodles. My brother had the same main dish but with a side dish of mini spring rolls.
This we washed down with a bottle of Marcel Hubert dry red wine, between us. Total bill £33.60 without the tip. Well worth the money.

Heading back towards Cambridge station we called in another pub, which was offering a deal on wine on a black...oops.. chalkboard outside. Unfortunately upon ordering said red wine, we were to be told they had run out, so 2 beers were ordered instead, before catching the return train to Bury.

No.5

Breakfast

I am the self titled "worst chef in the world" but I try, and a few things go OK.
Inspired by TV cookery programs such as River Cottage, Something for the weekend, F-word, and Saturday Kitchen, I decided, in an intoxicated mood, after having all 5 of my 5 a day, to buy a Mackerel to have for breakfast, while in Asda last night.
With no clue on the best way to cook it, or what to have with it, I searched on Google for a recipe, and found this very simple one.

• Heat frying pan, with no oil, on medium/high
• Place Mackerel skin side down, and put lid on pan, cook for 1 minute
• Squeeze fresh lemon over Mackerel, replace lid, and cook for another 1-2 minutes
• Serve with a couple of slices of buttered brown bread

The importance of a lid on the pan is to keep in, as best you can, the smell of fish that will end up filling the whole house. The use of the lemon does 3 things

1. adds to the flavour of the Mackerel
2. helps stop the Mackerel sticking to the pan
3. neutralises some of the smell

Done !

I decided to eat this alfresco to further reduce smell in the house, with a lot of interest from my Cat.

No.5

My Day, Today.

Got up at 7am, and after ablutions, I made a sandwich of wholemeal bread which I mayonnaised, added peppered ham, mustard, cucumber and tomato. To take to work.
Switched on the TV and sat and watched Breakfast news whilst eating a bowl of fruit 'n' fibre. This is the only time of day, approx 1 hour, I get the TV remote control. I always have to mute the sound though, if Lorraine Kelly comes on, what an awful sounding voice she has, always on about a kilt or something, I have no clue.
Cycled to work on my bike, which allows me to leave the house much later on a school day, listening to The Style Council, on my Walkman phone. I love anything by Paul Weller.
Got set up for the day at work and the morning went quite quickly. Come lunchtime and I popped out for a pint down "The Grapes" with the lunchtime regulars, before returning to eat my sarnies.
Hit the wall about 2:30pm when the hops in the beer took effect, and started to wonder if the customers had no homes to go to.
5:30pm, shut that door ! No work till Monday ! Biked home, listening to The Style Council, again, changed my clothes and headed to the Moreton Hall pub, and a catch up with my mates on their week, and mine !
About 8pm, and the soon to be ex-Mrs, calls me and arranges to pick me up and go to Asda to get some groceries. 10pm and I'm almost locked in the Asda customer toilet, as the beer wants out, and have to get the lift down because the staircase is shut off.
10:30pm I'm cooking a stir-fry with chicken and hoi sin sauce. Nice !

No.5

Rolling Stones-Beast of burden

Only Mick could get away with those trousers and dancing like that. Keith and Ronnie are so freakin cool.

Two Years On

Two years on and I'm still blogging occasionally. Now and again I think about giving up and shutting it down, then something else comes along to mention.
Today I had my fingerprints taken by the police, in connection with the forged Euro's I impounded, that I blogged about recently.
The Police have an idea who it was and they wanted a copy of my "dabs" to see if they could find the culprits on the notes.

No.5

Joke

A Man walks into the Post Office with a Girocheque, and he's trying to sign it.
Man "This pen doesn't work"
Counter clerk " nor do you !"

No.5

Take a Walk

Today, my brother and I walked to Thurston from the Moreton Hall area of Bury St.Edmunds, and back again, after two drinks in the Fox and Hounds.
On Friday, at work, a black gentleman came to me wanting to cash 1450 euros in 50 euro notes into sterling, worth £1167. Straight away the feel of the paper wasn't right and the colour was a bit off (talc powdery). So I told the gentleman I needed to go and scan the notes. This is what we call the "walk away test" and see if the customer leaves. Well he didn't so I had to go back and speak again. Beside me was a genuine electronic note scanner so i fed the notes in one by one and each one registered as a dude. He made out as if he'd been given them as payment and had no idea they were fake. By this time another man in the queue had joined him (without waiting to be served) and no doubt he had a pocket full of fake notes as well, and was waiting to see if his mate was successful. Anyway I told him I was keeping the notes, and we passed them on to the Police, who told us that they had been successful in cashing some at a bank in town.

No.5

It wasn't a Wednesday either

I served an elderly gentleman at work today, and after we'd finished he moved away and I started to serve another lady. The elderly gentleman then came back again searching for his walking stick. "Its hooked over your arm !" the lady told him.

No.5

Ok, so I was bored

A lady I know, came in the pub the other day, and I manipulated her keyrings.

Just don't go taking her clubcard points !

No.5

I love Bury St.Edmunds

We don't have hard hitting headlines about MP's expenses and worldwide flu epidemics, in our local newspaper. We have 2for1 cream tea's. I love Bury St.Edmunds - Priceless !

No.5

Bressingham - Dad's Army Day

Today, I went with by brother, sister-in-law and nephew, to Bressingham near Diss. It was a "Dad's Army day" related to the TV series, with some of the surviving cast members arriving on an old London routemaster style bus. The cast members sitting and signing autographs.

Right beside the the autograph signing table, was the entrance into the exhibition centre, which my father had been invited to display a selection of his wartime wirelesses (seen below) dating from the late 1930's to the early 1940's. Also pictured are the accumilators that wirelesses of this period were powered by.

While we were there, we took a ride on one of the steam engines that runs around the grounds of Bressingham. A ride on the merry go round horses, and I took my nephew round in the dodgem cars, and I have to say, a bit of skillful driving on my part, to only get rammed once.

Now the guy pictured below was wandering around all day, with an official looking clipboard, looking important and like he was organising events. But his suit was just wrong, with his trousers tucked into his socks, NO !

No.5

Local MP

I met up with two friends at 11am yesterday and we walked into town for breakfast in the North End Cafe in St.Andrews street. After we'd eaten we called into William Hill betting shop to place a bet, on the Millwall v Leeds match, before going to watch it in the Queens head pub.

Once in the Queens head we were joined by four more friends to see the game with us. One friend being a Millwall supporter we were following them and they won 1-0. Another friends son was playing in a charity football match at Bury Town football ground, in Ram meadow car park, and we made our way down there to see a bit of that game.

There was a £2 entry fee to see a Bury Saturday league XI playing against a Bury Sunday league XI, and my friends son was in the Saturday league side. In the Sunday league side was also somebody I knew, and I also knew some other spectators, and our local MP David Ruffley was there giving his support (Beige Suit).

The game ended in a not very exciting 0-0 draw.

No.5

The Old Joanna

Today, a Piano was positioned in the doorway of what was the Woolwich building society, or the Market cross for those older readers, in Bury St.Edmunds.

A guy sat across the road taking photographs of anyone who stopped to plink on the keys. Occasionally he would join them and show them a few notes.

I think this may have been part of the summer arts festival St.Edmundsbury put on in the town.

No.5

The Counterfeit Stones

Yesterday afternoon my Brother, Sisiter-in-law and I went to Felixstowe to see the Counterfeit Stones at the Spa Pavilion.

After a couple of pints in the Buregate Pub (you can see one of the ferries leaving Harwich in picture above) and some time in the amusements, we headed along the seafront to The Alex (or Alex's cafe).

The Alex is just in the picture on the left hand side (along with the Spa Pavilion in the centre) and there I had DingleyDell sausages, mash and onion gravy for dinner.

The 7.30pm start time approaching, and we are cutting it fine. An usher shows us to our seats (in the front row !) and we are literally the last to arrive in a full theatre. Just in time as the pre-show video starts to play.

The band come on, led by Nick Dagger, and dressed to look like their respective Rolling Stones band member, starting in the line up with Bill Hyman, until he later left.

In this video clip (apologies for the crackling) you can make out me singing along to the song.

No.5

Cashew No.5

Cashew No.5 please. I had a good laugh with the same four guys I went out with on 30th of May last year, and blogged on the 31st.

We met up at our local, then got a taxi to the Dog and Partridge in crown street. Mr P. you are a good transport organiser.

A couple of other friends met up with us at the D+P before we called in the Queens Head, then on to the Kings Arms.

After the Kings Arms I had a Texican burger, at £4.39 each !, before 1 last beer in town in the Grapes. It didn't look quite like the picture below, but was tasty.

Tomorrow, I'm going to see the Counterfeit Rolling Stones, at the Felixstowe Spa Pavilion with my Brother and Sister-in-law, and hopefully get some pictures of it, from the front row !

No.5

So...

...my bet nearly came up at 1-3, if Richard Wright hadn't saved the penalty Cardiff were awarded, I'd have been £66 better off. Never mind, hopefully thats the Keano! affect already. Great scoreline 0-3 away.

No.5