I love sea salt which I use in my cooking all the time. I love samphire which I serve with fish dishes. However, I don’t like them together in a shower gel!
I got a bottle of Original Source shower gel as a Christmas present. It was extra special as it came from an old parishioner. I am very mindful that pensioners live on a shoe string budget. I also know that they are not obliged to give me a Christmas present.
Anyway, the shower gel contained sea salt and samphire. Unfortunately it is an odd combination and doesn’t produce the best of smells. It smells a bit like “perspiration in a distance”. I wish the producers had thrown in some mint to create that fresh smell that one usually gets in a shower gel. However, I am determined to keep using it until I reach the last drop because it cost someone something!
For some people, January had been a long and draggy month. I didn’t find that at all but one thing I noticed was that there wasn’t much traffic on my blog. Before I go any further, I must quickly add that I don’t get too much traffic. I would hate for you to mistake me for a popular and most sought after blogger🤣🤣🤣 . I was comparing my blog to December 2022 when I was getting noticed a lot. However in January, I only got a fraction of visitors.
I also noticed that most of the bloggers that I follow have been fairly quiet with either no new blog posts or they have completely “disappeared” from the scene. I wonder why?
Yes, they have! The breakfast croissants that I prepare for the Mhinisteir when he has super busy mornings have shrunk in size. Why is that a big deal? It is a big deal because the price of the croissants have gone up while they have shrunk in size.
I buy these croissants from the online supermarket, Ocado. For several weeks now, I have been observing that once baked the croissants come out slightly smaller than usual. Initially I thought that my eyes were playing tricks but now I have concrete evidence that the croissants have indeed shrunk in size. Am I going to stop buying them? Absolutely not! According to the Mhinisteir they are the best he has tried so far so they are staying.
One of the things in my “To Do List” for January was to fix an appointment with the dentist for a general checkup and clean.
After procrastinating for a few days, I decided to grab the bull by the horn and phoned them on the second week of January. I was told that the earliest appointment available is in July 2023! I decided to go for it and even had to pay a deposit. I hasten to add that this is a private dentist and according to them, they too are struggling with staff issues. The Mhinisteir was aghast when he heard that I had to wait for such a long time but I am left with no choice. I too am not happy with the situation as I would like to be able to see the dentist when I want to but then that’s how it is with most things these days…..
That was the first question that I was asked when I stepped into church one Sunday in January. The person at the door and I both burst out laughing. I declined one but I saw that some of the parishioners were clinging on to one. Why? It is because that is how cold all of our rural churches are! There is heating but you don’t feel the heat because the churches are just too big to heat up. In the winter months, it is almost always warmer outside than it is in the church! I pity the Mhinisteir because on top of being so cold, he also breathes in all the cold air which does him no good. These cold churches are definitely an occupational hazard
One day last week, as I was listening to “farming today” on Radio 4, I heard the words pigs and lemsip in the same sentence. At this point I must add that I was drifting in and out of sleep. For those of of my dear readers who are not familiar with lemsip, it is a popular cold and flu remedy powder that is dissolved in a mug of hot water and consumed. I am not a fan of them!
Anyway, back to the pigs and lemsip. I was very interested to know why lemsip was being given to pigs and so decided to fight off my doziness and listened intently. I got very excited when the words pigs and lemsip were mentioned once again but just that this time it wasn’t pigs and lemsip. It was PIGS AND LANDSCAPE! Boy, was I disappointed?!!
On Wednesday, I learnt from the Times of London that the ABC is due to go off galivanting (again!). This time to South Sudan. It wasn’t very long ago that he was in Australia hugging cute Koala bears. Upon learning of his impending trip, I commented to the Mhinisteir that I have never heard of the ABC touring dioceses around the country – We certainly haven’t seen him this way! He appears to spend more time abroad than at home!
It has only been a month since Christmas but it feels like a distant memory.
The Mhinisteir had a “quiet” period workwise between Christmas and New Year but since the start of the year new problems have been coming out of the woodwork. I say new problems but they are really old ones disguised as ssomething brand new which is what infuriates me. I quite enjoyed the quiet period when I got the “old” Mhinisteir to myself.
There have been a lot of changes on the diocesan front which also makes his work difficult. The turnover has been quite phenomenal. Whenever someone new comes in, they have got a thousand and one ideas which they think will solve ALL the problems. No wonder they say new broom sweeps clean!
There are also other changes happening in the background which I’m afraid is not one for the blog. Maybe I might be able to touch on that some day.
In the meantime, I just have to remain supportive towards all that the Mhinisteir does which I confess is not always easy because I would definitely not be as patient as he is!!!!!
This is not the content I had in mind when I logged in this morning but when I saw a notification to say that I had published my 1000th post yesterday I decided to deviate!
I must confess that I was pretty embarrassed to receive that notification. Why? It felt like I am someone who have plenty to say because in real life I am the complete opposite!
After much reflection, I have decided that this is something to be proud of. My blog is about five and half years old so 1000 posts in that amount of time is not a lot. I do enjoy writing and so here is to another 1000 posts!!!!!
Since last May, I have picked up a new habit – to have a cup of tea first thing in the morning. I never used to drink tea until I became a vicar’s wife and that is only if we were visiting someone. I don’t drink coffee as it is too strong for my stomach. In case you are wondering what I drank in the morning…. it was just a cup of hot water!
Anyway, my new habit caused a desire in me to own a Teasmade. Teasmade is a machine that makes tea automatically. It used to be very popular in the olden days. It is roughly the size of a toaster and it is meant for the bedside table allowing one to have tea in bed first thing in the morning without having to leave one’s warm bed especially on cold winter months. Some of my older readers may know all about Teasmade. After much research, I placed an order for one with the monetary gift that I got for my birthday from my family. The Teasmade arrived last Wednesday, just two days after I had placed my order! I was delighted!
We had our first cup of tea the next day and it was bliss. It is very therapeutic listening to the water boil.. As Teasmade also comes with an alarm, we decided to set the alarm for the following morning. The next day, we had yet another cup of lovely tea courtesy of teasmade. I like the fact that the tea gets made first before the alarm goes off! We decided to set the alarm slightly earlier for Sunday but the tea wasn’t ready when we got up and the alarm hadn’t gone off either! Upon investigation, I discovered that I had set the alarm for half seven instead of seven! Thankfully there is a button that allows us to have a cuppa when we want it which is what we did.
I was initially very reluctant to purchase a Teasmade as I didn’t want to buy something which we would only use until the novelty wore off. However I am pleased to say that after using it every day, it has been an excellent purchase and I can see us using it for a very long time. I am also very pleased that we can use tea leaves which is my preferred option. Oh by the way, a netizen assumed that Teasmade has the ability to magically turn water into tea without the need for teabags/leaves!!!!!!
Secret Diary Of A Church of England Vicar's Wife 