Why British Bloggers Stay Indoors

Mad Dogs and Englishmen may go out in the midday sun, but British Bloggers stay indoors in winter.  I'll explain why.

 Right now I'm seeing lots of brave American, Canadian and Scandinavian bloggers out there in the crisp snow, photoshooting for the cause.  They may be freezing their designer socks off but they are dry and their hair tends not to be whipping around their cheeks in some kind of crazed combover.

Whereas we British Bloggers mostly stay indoors.  

We are putting together posts as best we can, with indoor shots, beauty posts, recipes and post reprises.  Yes, our temperatures are warmer, much warmer, relatively speaking.  But we have been coping for months with back to back storms, gales, torrential rains.  And we haven't been getting outdoors much.

On the occasional dry day we dash out there.  Outdoors.

We do what we can on the rain-sodden grass.



We dress up semi-snuggly, here in jeggings and my now-inseparable brown suede waistcoat mate.

The cashmere merino jumper is from Woolovers and has a useful multi-way neckline.  It's so simple, you just button up or down, depending on how snug you want to be.  Clever, huh?

Yes the latest round of storms are over bar the clearing of the smaller rocks and vraic (seaweed) debris brought over the sea walls.  The big rocks have been cleared away to make the roads passable.

The sea defences (simple planks of wood!) have been taken down.

And fortunately TP's car wasn't damaged by flying rocks, though it would have taken a bit of a beating if it hadn't been parked snugly at home during the storms.  Pity anyone who left theirs in the coastal car parks.

Whilst the storms are raging, maybe it's best we stay indoors.  And take scary selfies!

For as soon as we leave our shelter, THIS happens!

There is no place to hide

I thought I was pretty sheltered here.

But it appears that I wasn't.

Oh BTW, I'm pretty excited to tell you about my new accessory, shown here.  A takeaway coffee cup.

I've seen so many ladies on Pinterest accessorising with these babes and I had mug envy.  So I accepted a mug at the Waitrose checkout and instead of filling it with free coffee, I took it home for future use.  And the time was today.  I feel like I'm bang on trend now!

But I did get a froffycoffee in a proper cup.

The golf course is closed.   Still.  Goes without saying, really.  So on would-be golfday Monday we met up with fellow players in the golf club.  It was cosy indoors.  Think I'm starting to prefer this to actual golf!

But outside, it blew.

It blew my waistcoat inside out!

Think you're getting the picture now.  For we British Bloggers, it can be very difficult to find a day when the weather is better than this.  So these photos are as good as outdoor photos get.

Forlorn, I go home, all hope of getting even one decent shot now long gone.

Not even Mad Dogs and British Bloggers go out for photoshoots on our mostly windy midwinter days.

And that is why British Bloggers say indoors.

And why British Cats don't even bother to get out of bed!

A la perchoine.

Storm Eleanor

Hi there, beautiful people.  Just thought I'd pop up on your screens with a quickie to left you know what's going on around these parts.

Storms.  Rain.  Hailstorms.  That's what's occurring around here.

We've been battered by storms and deluges coming in off the Atlantic for what seems like weeks now.  I'm finding myself with just the occasional short window of weather good enough to walk around the 'hood before some more of the stuff comes back and hits me.

Our latest storm was Storm Eleanor.  She hit us on the night of 2/3 January with 50-75 mph winds. 

She was relentless through the night.  She huffed and puffed and shook my little house.  I could feel my little house shudder and its granite walls are 12 inches thick! 

Here's what it looked like on the morning of 3 January in my 'hood.

It shook up the sea on the west coast, where I live.

The heavy seas breached the sea walls and coastal roads became flooded.

As the tide subsided and the storm eased,  the occasional car braved the roads.

But there were no pedestrians to be seen.  The water was above wellie-height.

A coastal restaurant car park, flooded.  No cars left here overnight, fortunately.

Many houses were flooded along the coastal area.

(Photos from the Guernsey Press FB)

Eleanor was a particularly noisy storm.  She blew without pause all through the night, battering the house and the windows, augmented occasionally by rainy squalls and intense hailstorms. Sleep was sparse. There is a fair amount of flooded fields inland too.

So whilst the storms choose GB as a favoured destination, our little islands fresh food takes another hit.  This time I give you the fruit shelves.

We felt sorry for the fruit that's left.  Why don't the vultures want those two coconuts sitting huddled together on the top shelf?  Or the solitary melons left in their boxes?  Heartbreaking sights indeed.

We're hoping the storms will abate soon.

The cargo boats will get through.

The field opposite the house will dry up and the ponies will be able to get out grazing again.

I'll get some washing out on the line without fear of it blowing into Mr Neighbour's garden.

And I'll get out walking again.

Another storm is on it's way, but not forecast to be as bad as Eleanor, which was one of our worst storms in recent years, apparently. 

 But it's alright, Storm Eleanor ...

I'm alright where I am.

A la perchoine.



Cousin Carol's Cheeseless Cheesecake

What is happening to the weather?  Look outside my turret window!

As I type, snow is falling.  Again!  
We're having a cold snap. It's pretty much the end of April. 
The Weather Man just isn't getting the memos. It. Is. Spring.

So what does a pensioner do on days like this?
She bakes!  Or rather, she non-bakes.  For this tasty treat requires no baking.

Some don't like cheese.  Like my Bro.  With this recipe, cheese-haters can have their cheesecake and eat it too - without the cheese.

Do you fancy making yummy "cheesecake"?  Here's what you do.

Cousin Carol's Cheeseless Cheesecake

How about that for an alliteration?!!

For the base:
Crush 1.5 packs of biscuits.  Cousin Carol uses Foxes butter crunch but you could use ginger or chocolate biscuits.  Mix in with 2-3 oz. of melted butter.  Spread on the base of a springform cake tin.

 For the topping:
1 tin condensed milk
1 pot of extra thick cream.  Not double cream, it needs to be the extra thick variety as stated on the label and the ratio needs to be about 50/50 so use a tub of similar size to the tin of milk.
The juice of 3 lemons*
Garnish with fruit (and cream), if desired**. 

Lightly whisk the cream and milk together, then add the lemon juice - the lemon juice thickens the mixture.
Chill for a few hours before serving.

Variation: use a 2 to 1 mix of ordinary double cream and creme fraiche instead of the thicker cream, substitute lime for lemon juice,mix lime zest with the topping and a little finely sliced rind for decoration. 
Cut the empty lime shell halves in fours, place on a zipper plastic bag in the freezer for your G and Ts :o).

*you can grate/zest the lemon rind, store it in an airtight container and use later. Or sliced scruffily for your G+T :-).

**Oops, you caught me out!

A few raspberries leapt onto the plate.  And a dollop of cream too. I'd better add those to the recipe!

And on a snowy Spring day (surely that's tantamount to an oxymoron!), why not light a candle to accompany this little plate of naughtiness and 

enjoy some "hygge", some cosiness.

Velbekomme!

BTW, I've not posted OOTDs for a few days.  I've been keeping warm in thick layers!  And I'm busy trying to source the perfect casual jacket for Spring (if ever that comes).  So, plenty of time to hunt around, then ...

Have you come across a super-versatile lightweight jacket, that goes with just about everything?  If so, please let me know!

A la perchoine.

 



What I Did in the Holidays

I got creative with cardboard boxes!

Half-term coincided with some Amazon deliveries = cardboard boxes = creativity.

Immediately the boxes were emptied, we got going with making a garage complete with ramp from one box (no good photos, unfortunately) and a decorated basket for carrying small collectibles with the other.  We made up some of our own characters to decorate the sides.   Creativity and fun inspired by Amazon and its sturdy boxes.

Here's our decorated collectibles basket:

Don't you just love younger people's infectious enthusiasm, imagination and sometimes outside-the-box (see what I did there?!) ideas? 
Thank you, Little People, for letting me join your world!

And we met this little fella when out walking, a dear little Shetland Pony (sorry about bad pic)

Our fun continued with a birthday meal for GS, complete with Storm Trooper birthday cake. 

I would absolutely LOVE to share with you a photo of his ST cake,
but technology has frustratingly failed me .

So instead, you get what I wore!

Woolovers charcoal cashmere-merino polo neck; Dorothy Perkins denim skirt, v.old;

Gabor brown Anna knee boots.

3/4 camel coat from Dorothy Perkins,
the faithful Next print scarf draped over the shoulders, granny-style!

I remember the challenge as a child, returning from school holidays and having to write that dreaded essay, What I Did in the Holidays.  The challenge for me was how to fill a page with "I went to the beach"!

Now, what did you do in the holidays? 

A la perchoine.

ps. As I've been typing this, 60 mph winds, hailstorms and thunder and lightening have been pounding down on my turret.  Fortunately, the former has moved the others swiftly away.