What if there wasn't a loo to run to?

Thank you to Attila, Sadie and Dc for comments yesterday. For some reason I couldn't leave a reply to Dc - don't know why but the computer won't let me - very strange.

Today has all been about visitors.
First it was getting some cooking and baking done ready for friends coming to see us tomorrow, then several caravanners came to the door for various things, then our elderly friend from the village stopped in for a coffee and just as he was getting up to go some other friends from the Suffolk Smallholders Society called in to find out how Him Outside was getting on. So we ended up having 3 cups of coffee before lunch time and running to the loo for the rest of the day!!

Which links up with the other thing I wanted to blog about today -

The other day Dc at Frugal in Norfolk mentioned the charity Water Aid
find out about them here and by one of those strange co-incidences, what should be in the post this morning but a copy of their newsletter  - Oasis.

 Dc was choosing to give a donation to them this month  and they are one of the charities I support with a small standing order each month. Like Dc I'm writing about this not to appear as a Goody Two Shoes but because they are one of the most worthwhile charities to give to ( In my opinion).
My late mum always said Charity begins at home and was never keen to donate to anything, yet on the other hand she always used to say there is always somebody worse off than yourself. So I'm not sure why she was a bit funny about giving. ( Maybe growing up in Wartime in a family of 6 children with a father who was often ill has something to do with it)
 I've got this feeling that what goes around comes around - is that what they say? - well something like that. So I think if anyone can spare a few quid a month( and with Water Aid even £2 a month can make a difference ) then we should try to help women ( it's almost always women) to be able to give clean water to their children. It's not just water, imagine having to walk for half a mile to find somewhere private to squat to go to the loo and dealing with menstruation with no water to wash with. We don't realise just how lucky we are to turn on the tap and know fresh water is there straight away and to have a loo to run to after three cups of coffee!
Easy access to clean water and hygienic latrines means mothers don't have to spend half their day fetching water, and finding somewhere to go to the loo, that gives them time to grow food for their families and to sell.  Children don't get ill, which means they can go to school. There they get an education which can move them out of poverty. All because of a tap and a latrine in their village.
Brilliant!
Water Aid are starting a big campaign to try to bring clean water to everyone by 2030, it would be better if it was even sooner.

Apologies for going on a bit.
I'll be back to normal(?) tomorrow!
PS You would NEVER believe how many empty shop-bought fancy water bottles I find in the campsite bin. OUR TAP WATER IS EXCELLENT QUALITY WHY ARE YOU BUYING BOTTLED?!!

Odds and Ends

How are some people able to buy 4 pints of milk for £1? I've read this on a couple of blogs lately. Around here CO-OP and Tesco have just both put their semi skimmed up by 10p to £1.39. Waitrose are the only other shop locally, I expect they are the same. I know some people have swapped to powdered but too many years of Scout Camps with horrible powdered milk - with lumps- has somewhat put me off, although I expect it is better quality nowadays.

We had even more stuff out on the stall-at-the-gate this morning as the runner beans have finally got going. They were covered in flowers which set then seemed to go slow. I was only able to give them a good watering two or three times over the last couple of weeks but with rain a day or so ago and another good downpour last night they are now  growing quickly.

Sara at Afrugalwife has been blogging about ways of cutting  laundry costs, this made me look at at my laundry costs over the last year. (I know there are only 2 of us , so with Sara's two tots a lot more washing would be done! and she has done really well.) My laundry costs - not counting electric - for the last 15 months have been about £22 ! I bought an Ecover Non-Bio Bag in a Box 5L laundry liquid. This is decanted into an old 5L container and then again into a smaller bottle as needed. I have a plastic thing once used to fill an iron with water and into this I put about 2 Tablespoons of the liquid and then top up with hot water and add about a tablespoonful of Washing Soda Crystals (99p kg). This goes into the machine. I don't use fabric softener and keep a bar of Vanish soap in the cupboard for stains. I guess we do about 4 or 5 loads of washing a week. Bath Towels are hung over the banister at the top of the stairs to dry after one use and only put in the wash after the second or even third use. When we go out and are forced to wear 'good clothes',  I change out of them the minute I come in the door and then hang them up at the end of the rail to wear again. Old work clothes are worn until they are dirty. I don't think we smell!! We do have a tumble dryer as we rescued it from my Dad's house after he died, but it is out in the shed and doesn't get used much. Clothes are dried outside whenever possible, over the airer above the Rayburn to finish them off  in winter. We have the advantage of living in the dryest part of the country so I can usually guarantee enough dry days in a week to get the washing at least partly dry outside. To save electric on days when I know the washing will dry outside, I turn the spin speed down. All washing is done at 40 degrees with an occasional hot wash to help clean the washing machine( We use Ecover as it is better for the septic tank and also because we  LOATHE the smell of both the cheap and the posh soap powders.)

It was bread baking day today. I'm very puzzled at the price of bread flour which seems to be going up and down at random. Allinsons was still £1 last time we went to Aldi so I stocked up with 4 bags and Tesco own brand was also £1 after going up and then down again. If I didn't have to cut costs I would buy Marriages flour from the CO-OP as they are an Essex Company using wheat from East Anglia. They do a lovely Malted Grain flour which, many years ago when there were 5 of us at home, I would buy by the sackful from a wholefood warehouse in Norwich.

GRRRRRRR - another cancellation for the campsite today from a family who were due to be here all next week. I suppose I should be used to it after all these years.But I still hate doing the crossing out in the bookings diary.

I'm now going to have another look at the Approved Foods site. Everyone keeps raving about their bargain buys yet every time I look I can't seem to find anything I would normally buy and is a bargain really a bargain if it is something that would normally not be bought?

Blue sky thinking

Here was my view for an hour this afternoon as I 'forced' myself to do nothing.

I saw swallows and swifts, herring gulls and goldfinches,dragonflies and butterflies, a kestrel and a buzzard. Way up higher I saw metal boxes full of people flying off to foreign parts. Silly fools!

Coming under the heading of things we never buy this is what we had for dinner last night

First of the french beans - so delicious.

A message for all those who are getting themselves into a tizzy, worrying about what they should and shouldn't eat, what they should and shouldn't do, what other people will think, LIFE'S TOO SHORT

Don't Worry- Be Happy!

Nosing into other peoples shopping trolleys!

The supermarket car park was half empty so I thought it would be a quick dash round and out, but there were so few checkouts open I got stuck behind someone with a HUGE trolley full. Now I like looking in other peoples trolleys and as the person on the checkout behind me also had a massive load of stuff I was able to be really nosy. They both had tons of things that I never buy. Dishwasher tablets- No, we don't have a dishwasher, Gi-normous boxes of highly advertised smelly washing powder - No, I use tiny amounts of Ecover liquid plus a spoonful of old fashioned washing soda. Fabric Softener - No, have never bothered with this - working on the principle that if you never do something you won't miss it. Large quantities of famous brands of sugary coated breakfast cereals - No, Him Outside has muesli that is packed by a regional wholesaler and sold in a simple package in the Co-op. Packet mixes for making cakes - No, I start from scratch and the only time I tried one of these it was artificially  nasty. Loads of packet of biscuits- No ( well mostly no, occasionally we buy a packet and then regret it) mostly I make from scratch. Ready Made jellies in little plastic pots - No- I bet the plastic pots cost more than the filling. Pre-grated cheese - No, I don't understand that at all.
I could go on all day but that would be really boring!

Watching the weather forecast it looks as if the whole country is bathed in warm sunshine with temps. up to 22. But over here on the East coast yes, we have sunshine but the wind is still very, very cold. All the blossom has been blown off the quince and apple trees and the wind is drying out  the soil so that we have had to start watering which seems crazy after the wet spring. What this weather is really good for is getting the washing beautifully dry in no time at all.

There is one job here that Him Outside didn't get around to doing when we sorted out the front drive and turning space last autumn and  we were wondering how on earth we would do it now that heavy lifting and strenuous jobs are out of the question. For 8 months we have had no path along the back of the house. He took up all the odd bits of concrete path and then was so busy with front drive, new campsite showers, poly tunnel and garden that the path didn't get done and for 8 months we have been walking through rubble and mud or doing a detour all round by the poly tunnels to get up to the washing line, workshop, chicken shed, freezer sheds etc etc. But there is light at the end of the tunnel as he asked some of the guys that he used to work with on bridge maintenance, and hopefully at least some of the work will be done over the next couple of months. This is how it has looked since October .The slabs laid on chippings were "temporary" to take us around the rubbley bit. Keep your fingers crossed that they won't be needed too much longer.