Soops Kitchen, a place of refuge, reflection and revelry.

Hi kitchen pals I’m just trying out the sliding texting for this post, it does seem to work, thank you fgt I’ll need a bit of practice though but it seems good. Sometimes if I’m really lazy I just press the little microphone icon on the iPhone and speak instead, that’s a very good shortcut too although no good for private conversations!
Not watched strictly yet, I’m saving that for when I get home
We’ve enjoyed a lovely day here, a walk this afternoon in a local country park, the weather was quite warm and I didn’t need my coat. I looked after the boys for a while whilst DD and sil went out for a drink and then they cooked a spicy chicken dish for dinner for us all. Sticky toffee pudding and ice cream for dessert finished us all off nicely!
The boys are tucked up in bed and I’vr come up to bed too
Hope everyone in the quiet corner is doing okay, take care all

A lot of chat on Strictly this evening with everyone speaking very quickly. Hopefully it will be better once the actual dancing starts!

3 presenters were too much. Losing grammar as well as my mind watching that programme!

I’m going to give a Strictly a go this season Charleygirl. I’ve never watched it before. You reinforce what I’ve heard - a lot of ‘padding’ goes into the programme so I plan iPlayer as I can fast forward through the boring bits and concentrate just on the actual dancing (not that I have knowledge at all about ballroom) and listen to the expert judges with their comments.

I kept flitting between Strictly and another programme. There was too much chit-chat for me. 3 presenters was too much. I will watch the beginning next week and then decide. At least I can have an early night and read my book using a magnifier.

Definitely colder here but I have been using a hwb for a few nights now. My coverless duvet is lovely in the morning but I will be going back to my old faithful fairly soon I think.

Still no rain here. My grass has been cut once this year, so I have at least saved money.

Redcar that’s the beauty of it! It’s actually SIMPLER once you get the hang of it 😁

I’m totally impressed.

I think it’s just us oldies who weren’t ’in the know’. But we are now! 🎉

P.s. to whoever …
I am thoroughly enjoying ‘Colin from Accounts’! Thank you muchly.

I’d not heard of that before fgt, it sounds a bit complicated. I have enough trouble with predictive text!

A fairly quiet day, I had a walk and met up with one of my dog walking friends. Then I changed the bedding but will wash it tomorrow when I have half price electricity.
Pottered in the garden, hoeing weeds and cutting dead twigs off some of the shrubs. The garden waste bin is full now and my back is tired!

I’ve just watched the launch show of Strictly - certainly very different this year and I have heard of very few of the celebrities as usual!

Enjoy the rest of the evening folks.

Coo that sounds tricky but it works!
Thank you FGT!

Googled it:

Sliding texting (also called swipe typing or glide typing) lets you type words by sliding your finger across the keyboard letters without lifting it.

How to Use Slide TypingForm a word: Touch the first letter of a word and drag your finger across the rest of the letters in order.

Add a space: Lift your finger when you finish a word; the phone adds a space automatically.

Double letters: Skip extra motions for double letters (like the "t" in "letter") by passing over the key just once.

Delete words: Swipe left across the backspace key to delete a whole word at once.

😁😁

Oh LLFL I do love your patchwork! It looks eclectic in style right up my street. I’m assuming some of the fabric has memories?

I’m just home listening to Classic FM after taking our Yorkshire Lass, the Boy Wonder and L’il Miss out for an Italian meal. It’s was such fun hanging out together and golly did we laugh! It was wonderful. Chatting, no phones just a happy family table. Mum & dad at Chester races. We swapped table selfies.

And before we left I was intrigued watching Yorkshire Lass messaging her husband, using one finger purposely and yet the text appearing so fast?

Turns out there’s such a thing called ‘sliding’ on Apple phones. Who knew? Not me anyway. It’s splendid - and the algorithms or AI just insert the words. Amazing! They say every day is a school day don’t they? 🤣

Hi all, pretty llfl so much patience.
Another day with a chilly wind, pruning, a finished courgette plant and a dead baby Christmas tree are now in the garden bin.
Bedding washed and dried, bought the i paper today for the first time, still lots to read and puzzles galore.
Not strictly fans here at all, so might find a film.
Have a decent evening all, particularly Grandmabatty 🥳🎂🍸, 🎼Happy Birthday to you…

Thank you Jax I’ve arrived safely at Dd1s after an easy enough journey. I’ve just come up to bed, the top floor of a 3 storey house, a bit different to our bungalow at home I’ll not be nipping down to the kitchen for a tea top up later
Both DGS have football matches tomorrow so it’s an early start for them but I’ll see them when they’re home
Well done on your bingo win redcar it’s always nice to have a bit extra to treat yourself
Take care and sleep well everyone

Hello kitchen people.

I had my hair cut today. My hairdresser is brilliant and cuts my hair beautifully. After that I did a smallish Waitrose shop.

Back home I worked on my enormous quilt for a couple of hours. It’s beginning to look more like bedding.

Sleep 💤 tight everyone.

Hello everyone. A chilly wind spoilt the sunny spells today, I had to wear a fleece when I went out and have a jumper on indoors this evening! Next week is supposed to be warmer again.
Bingo at lunchtime was good, lots of catching up on news with friends and I won some money! Lunch was good too. Did very little for the rest of the day, I found the noise in the village hall quite tiring - 35 mostly older people and a lot of them deaf, so speaking loudly - you can imagine the noise.

The gardener came this afternoon and did some weeding for me. He also planted a shrub that had been languishing in a small pot all the summer.

fgt the Fiery Mac n Cheese sounds interesting.

nannytopsy the Italian evening sounds tasty, roast Mediterranean veg are a favourite of mine. My Dad was in Italy during the war, he was an army cook and brought quite a few recipes back with him. We were eating pasta with beef ragu and lasagne back in the 1950s, when a lot of people hadn’t heard of them.

Enjoy what’s left of the evening folks.

‘Evening All’

I met friends for lunch in the Loungers Bar below so I’m just about to eat a ‘sides’ dish from M&S as my main. It’s called Fiery Mac n Cheese by Tom and it smells lovely.

Someone mentioned a programme called ‘Colin From Accounts’ this morning (*LLFL*?) so I’m going to Google where I can watch the series and settle down.

Hi all, hope brook is there, or nearly.
I was out doing a little pruning earlier, cold in the wind, warmer next week apparently.
Tesco delivered everything, MrJ at bowls, I’ll watch All Creatures whilst eating quiche and vegetables.
Have a gentle evening.

Good evening kitchen folk. NannyTopsy, a productive day for you.
I put the car in for a service this morning. Dd picked me up and dropped me off. I then tidied the house, hoovered, cleaned the kitchen and the bathroom. Then I cleared one of the shelves in the bookcase . I did a small ironing but havent yet cleaned the windows and mirrors. Dd picked me up again to collect the car which has been hoovered and washed. I have a fish pie in the oven while I'm watching tv. I enjoy American house renovation programmes so I'm binging on Fixer Upper! Have a good evening kitchen folk

Evening! It’s quiet in here so far. I went to the local auction this morning and got 10 lots of plants, all bargains. We are having Open Gardens next year and a plant stall. I have lots of replanting to do after the summer plus plants to propagate.
Tonight we are having a practice for a village fundraising Italian evening, where we shall taste the various recipes and decide which to use. We have made the veggie offering with roasted Mediterranean veggies. Of course, there will be plenty of wine too 🤣.
Hope everyone has had a good day?

grandmabatty that’s useful to know, thank you.

Redcar the lady in the post office explained it. Tesco atm is run by an actual bank, the post office is only a provider and not linked to a bank, so can't make bank decisions

Delicious scones carrotTop, I love cheese scones, especially with a generous helping of butter, which I’m not supposed to have because of my cholesterol!

I’m pleased you have been pain free today grandmabatty - long may it continue. A relief that you have managed to unblock your bank card, I wonder why it worked in Tesco and not the Post Office.

fgt comforting that the staff in your favourite wine bar know you and look after you. We still have some grammar schools here in Essex, none of them fee paying and competition for places is very fierce, especially as they take children from east London as well as Essex. Some of the comprehensive schools have a grammar stream for the brightest pupils too.

I put my vacuum cleaner together again and vacuumed the bedrooms and then did downstairs, it all looks better.

My friend cut some of my grass this afternoon, the part that is quite green and growing well. I think I’ll have to clear quite a lot of the dead grass and seed it again. I have a lot of grass seed, all of it several years old, but I’ll try planting it and buy new if necessary.

My lovely next door neighbours have gone on holiday today for two weeks and I’m feeling quite vulnerable. They are always very helpful when I have a problem in the house so I’m hoping for a trouble free fortnight in their absence!

Enjoy the rest of the evening folks.

Thank you Jax I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone there. I’m more or less ready for the journey tomorrow, it’s just me on my own as DH doesn’t come every time, he usually just visits a couple of times a year, for birthdays etc. My 3 children are his step children, he’s 3 sons of his own that he visits so it works out well both ways
Good news grandmabatty let’s hope that the pain has gone away for a while now
Oh dear nannytopsy I remember days like that, hope tomorrow is better
Hope everyone is doing ok, take care all

Thank you for the scones CarrotTop and I hope your week improves.
Safe journey to Cambridge brook it’s been a while.
Not a lot on here today, usual domesticity, we’ve just eaten a very tasty venison casserole.
I’ve also ordered a you know what present, some things you have to grab early!
Ludwig later, I’ll watch All Creatures tomorrow.
Enjoy your evening all.

Good evening kitchen folk. Fgt I have no idea about scan waiting times. However the pain is inconsistent. Today it hasn't been there at all. Fingers crossed that continues! Today I worked for an hour in the school library then tried to get my bank card unblocked. An unsuccessful first attempt at the post office but the assistant told me that the local tesco would work and it did! So I did a week's shop while I was there. Then home and did 2 washes and also cleared out the car, ready for it's service tomorrow. I wasn't too hungry so had poached eggs on toast and thoroughly enjoyed them. Shortly I will have a yoghurt. So a better day than I expected. I hope you all had a good day. Blossoming that good news about your brother. Brook safe journey tomorrow

People watching from I hear is most interesting! The train station is across the road and all the commuters disgorge onto the pavements and next door is a Tuition Centre (we still have the 11+ here in Trafford with 8 local grammar schools). I look at these junior school children clutching their folders and their hopeful parents … Competition is fierce as they are all non fee paying. One of the last bastions of how it used to be. A great loss to the rest of the UK but of course that is only my opinion.