Forgot the start date

Just realised I've forgotten to mark the 3rd anniversary of this blog.
I started it early April 2013 as a diary of our self-sufficient life on a 5 acre Suffolk Smallholding.
We had lived there since 1992 and for most of that time Col worked as a bridge inspector/supervisor for the County Council and I stayed home, milked goats, watched sheep, fed chickens, collected eggs, looked after the campsite and grew and sold fruit and veg. We had already cut down on animals before 2013 because of bureaucracy and lack of time. The most goats we had at one time after spring kidding was 8 and one year after lambing we had 14 sheep!  In March 2012 we decided we could earn enough from the smallholding and campsite and Col left full time work. We added a shower to the campsite and increased our growing-to-sell so that with a few days a month council work  and a day a week odd-jobbing we lived quite comfortably for a year and a half.
Then came Cols heart problems which made us cut down the workload and decide a move might be a good idea, followed by the Non Hodgkins diagnosis - when to live nearer the hospital became essential.

So here we are in town and the blog is completely different to when I started, luckily blog friends and relatives are still reading - thank you everyone.

People keep asking us if we miss the smallholding - well yes..............and no. We've not really had a chance to miss it properly yet and I certainly don't miss all the wood hauling, ash clearing, kindling chopping and fire-lighting/tending that I had to do, mostly by myself, all through this last winter. And I definitely don't miss the DUST! if you've not heated your house entirely with wood and coal you really don't know the meaning of the word!
I quite like the anonymity of town and the proximity of shops and all the other things we need. It's good to be able to walk everywhere and I can go out walking early morning without getting strange looks - which is what happened when I walked on the roads near the smallholding at 7am!

Anyway, enough looking backwards.

My sister and brother-in-law are finally moving back into Suffolk next Tuesday - May 3rd . They've had even more hassles in their chain than we did (their first date was mid March!) and if they hadn't exchanged by this weekend the owners of the house they are buying were going to take it off the market, thank heavens it all got sorted in time. I had completely forgotten that my sister could knit, she's not done much for a while, but she brought over a couple of little jumpers she'd made for our eldest's "bump" and has already started something for our youngest's. Then I remembered amongst my craft stuff I had a tube of buttons for babies. I bought them years ago from a car boot sale thinking they would do for card making but  the Post Office introduced the 'letter thickness thing', so they have been in a drawer ever since. Some are shaped like flowers, teddies or ducks and others have little pictures on, now my sister is all set for cardigan making and I'll  find some wool for her from charity shops too -should keep her busy - after they've unpacked and planted up their garden!

I'm just awaiting delivery of a wardrobe and hoping they'll be able to get it in the house and Col is up at hospital having a couple of bags of rejuvenating blood. We should be out for a meal with all our children and their OH's on Sunday.

Back after the weekend
Hope you all have a good one.
Sue





 

New Favourite Pasta sauce

When we decided to move into town we knew we wouldn't be able to grow much food this year but I thought I could take advantage of the cheap veg offers in Aldi and Asda. The first week I shopped at Asda they had a selection of things for 39p(I think) but next time that offer had disappeared.There's been no sign of their wonky veg boxes either. Aldi's weekly offer is 6 different things for 59p each but if you look at their other veg some is less than 59p anyway. No help at all. But across the road from Aldi is a old fashioned greengrocers and they have a board out the front with special offers at 29p each!
Which brings me onto my title, because with the board announcing Aubergines for 29p I had to make this


Aubergine and Tomato Pasta Sauce.( 3 Large portions or 4 normal)
1 Aubergine chunked
1 Onion - chopped
1 tin of plum tomatoes
Good squirt of Tomato Puree
2 teaspoons brown sugar
A little hot water
Black Pepper

Soften the onion in a little sunflower/rapeseed/olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the aubergine and cook and stir for a few minutes. Add the tinned tomatoes, squirt the tomato puree into the empty can add third/half a tin of hot water, swish around and add to the pan. Sprinkle the brown sugar and mix in, cover and turn down the heat and leave to cook for about 15 - 20 minutes stirring regularly. Add the ground black pepper and serve with pasta (preferably tagliatelle).You could grate a little strong cheese over the top for extra calories and have some crusty bread or my Tomato and Herb rolls to mop up the juices.

Col's taste-buds and appetite haven't been too bad after this last chemo session ( So Far!) and he really enjoyed this. What he is suffering with is a really awful cold and cough and I've had it too but not quite so bad and everywhere you go around about there seems to be people coughing. He was up at hospital today for the regular blood test and review and most of the results were OK but the doctor doubled his antibiotic dose which he has to take for a week starting 5 days after chemo. He is going back for another blood test on Thursday and a blood infusion on Friday.
We both need to get well by the weekend as our eldest and husband are in Suffolk - their first visit since before Christmas. I have a nice bag of pressies for "bump" and after seeing the jumble sale treasures on my post the other day she said she thought "bump" was going to enjoy visiting Nana Sue and Grandad Colin.
I also want it to warm up a bit as our son had the idea that we might all go and visit the family beach hut and it's been so B***** cold yesterday and today that the idea doesn't seem very appealing!


Big Suffolk welcome to 2 new followers - Jennifer and Judy, hope you enjoy reading.
Thanks to everyone for comments last time

Back Soon
Sue

Nana Sue (to be) went.....................

.......................to a jumble sale.

She walked down the road and round the corner and paid 20p to get into the Scout hall.
Then she spent £6 and came home with all these treasures

And Grandad Colin (to be) said "where the heck are we going to put them? we've only got a teeny bungalow".
But it was OK because most will be given away to the two mums (to be). Except for that brilliant Fisher Price bouncer chair, with a kicky/fiddly play thing attached and that lovely wooden caterpillar and the books which will have to stay here for small visitors (and the one grown up chick lit book).

 What bargains!

Back Soon
Sue

PS. The beach hut was a bit more than £6! but a lot less than Southwold or the South Coast and I can't think of a better way for us to spend time while Col is getting better. The sound of the sea is very restorative I reckon and what a brilliant place it will be for our future grandchildren.

The view from a shed

I just bought a shed

   Not any old shed

    But a wooden shed by the sea

   Otherwise known as a Beach Hut

I am very

Here is the view

It was a bit chilly today

Back when I've warmed up

Sue

Into the second half of April

Something no-one told me about in this Coping with Non Hodgkin Lymphoma thing is how weird it is to live with someone who is eating all the time. Col was  packing in as many calories as he could for the last 10 days because he knows that after chemo cycle 5 he will feel really ill again. He has lost over a stone in weight since January so he's trying not to lose more. He's been eating big meals and grazing in between.
Anyway, he was called in for the 5th cycle on Monday night, they were planning to give blood transfusions Tuesday but decided he didn't need any, then today they inserted a filter thingy into a vein (the thought makes me feel quite peculiar!) to prevent any movement of blood clots into the lungs(or worse), they will get on with chemo tomorrow and let him out Friday. This 5th lot is the short dose but with the nastier side effects.

Just finished this book, another mentioned somewhere (?) on a blog. The first 3/4 of the book was well written, but when the author gets towards the end, the story breaks in a gallop and gets a bit silly.

 

 This is what Amazon says about this debut novel

London, 1940. Winston Churchill has just been sworn in, war rages across the Channel, and the threat of a Blitz looms larger by the day. But none of this deters Maggie Hope. She graduated at the top of her college class and possesses all the skills of the finest minds in British intelligence, but her gender qualifies her only to be the newest typist at No. 10 Downing Street. Her indefatigable spirit and remarkable gifts for code-breaking, though, rival those of even the highest men in government, and Maggie finds that working for the prime minister affords her a level of clearance she could never have imagined-and opportunities she will not let pass. In troubled, deadly times, with air-raid sirens sending multitudes underground, access to the War Rooms also exposes Maggie to the machinations of a menacing faction determined to do whatever it takes to change the course of history.
Ensnared in a web of spies, murder, and intrigue, Maggie must work quickly to balance her duty to King and Country with her chances for survival. And when she unravels a mystery that points toward her own family's hidden secrets, she'll discover that her quick wits are all that stand between an assassin's murderous plan and Churchill himself.
In this thrilling debut, Susan Elia MacNeal blends meticulous research on the era, psychological insight into Winston Churchill, and the creation of a riveting main character, Maggie Hope, into a beautifully crafted mystery.

There are now 5 books featuring this character, with the 6th due later this year. Decided it was worth another go so I've ordered the 2nd from the library.

This morning after I'd huffed and puffed and shifted my paper storage drawers into the bedroom from the garage, I made a few cards for up-coming birthdays. I've had the paper flowers and leaves for years so it's good to see them used.

After lunch I went in to see Col and take him some more books. I've found I am the most hopeless hospital visitor because after 5 minutes in the ward I start yawning and after an hour I'm keen to get home again. I guess after nearly 37 years of marriage Col knows what I'm like and he never wants me to visit more than once a day - Thank heavens! ( I know that sounds awful- but I am nothing but honest!).
When I got home I was able to spend an hour sitting in the shed/summerhouse, out of the wind but in the sun, it's lovely to soak up a bit of warmth especially as the weather lady said we would be back to really cold weather by the weekend.

The latest Persephone Biannually arrived yesterday. I love to find out what out-of-print books they are planning to republish and was interested to read about one of the October books which is "Long Live Great Bardfield: The autobiography of Tirzah Garwood". I know absolutely nothing about this lady except it says she was married to the artist Eric Ravilious, but Great Bardfield is the next village to Finchingfield in Essex, where our friends live, so just for that reason I shall add it to my wish list.
One of the books our son gave me for my birthday was The Persephone Book of Short Stories, another to add to my Persephone collection -  wonder which box they are in?

Many thanks for the Happy Birthday wishes, although I said I groan about another birthday I don't really feel any older and I'm sure I'm still 25 inside!

Back Soon
Sue

Poor Old Woman

I was another year older on Saturday  *Groan*.

Eldest daughter jazzed up last years wedding photo and shared all round Facebook! Dear Child! She said Mum doesn't do Facebook so won't see it but of course I saw it on Col's Facebook page. I've tried to make this pic much smaller but it won't let me - damn.

I don't often look at my Facebook page but came across someone I hadn't seen since before we moved to Knodishall in 1992. He is the Dad of some children (friends of our eldest 2) I looked after as a childminder - after school and school holidays. But I knew him from way back when I was about 14 or 15. I was very keen on him but he couldn't stand me(Story of my life!). He is perhaps a year or two older than me but now looks MUCH older!
He He He!


For my birthday youngest daughter gave us a garden voucher as she didn't get Col anything for his birthday in March. Eldest daughter also gave me a garden voucher. So I'm thinking a fruit tree or two.Son gave me books from my wish list ( good old Amazon). Friends came up to see us and the teeny bungalow, we'd not seen them since December so there was plenty to chat about. To celebrate my 61st birthday on Saturday and friend A's 51st birthday on Friday we went out to a carvery. A good plate full of veg and some lovely tender pork and beef. The desserts looked SO delicious but we were all full up and anyway I had the chocolate cake waiting at home - which was actually pretty good for a shop cake.

You know all the hassles we had with changes to moving dates? Well my sister and brother-in-law have been surviving through exactly the same experience in their efforts to move back to Suffolk after a few years in Norfolk. They found a buyer for their house very quickly and found somewhere to buy where the owners were going abroad - so no onward chain, but the dates kept changing, from late March to early April, then the 15th April but still no exchange. They kept getting promised progress but nothing actually happening.Eventually they found that a solicitor working for the buyers at the bottom of the chain was very slow. He was an internet solicitor so no office to go into for anyone to find out what was happening, I guess probably cheaper for the people using him but I think I preferred to have a "real" person in a real office to visit and nag!

Col broke a filling early last week and rather than try and find a dentist locally he rang his dentist back in Saxmundham, explained that he needed to be fitted in quickly due to going back into hospital for chemo and went on Friday afternoon, when he said he was on ESA they did it for free - good news- although I'm not sure he should have qualified - we will see.
More good news- remember the small fridge with an ice box that came with the house, well we sold it on eBay for £42. We agreed to keep it here until the buyer can collect in a couple of weeks.

Thank you all for the birthday wishes.
Back Soon
Sue

It's all very well................................

......................................living just 10 minutes walk away from an Aldi, BUT the housekeeping money is zooming out of the purse much faster than it ever has before!

I even bought myself a birthday cake!! I've never done that before. Tut.Tut.

 Must get back in baking mode ASAP........ what with fancy food and charity shop baby stuff, I shall bankrupt us in no time!

Back Very Soon
Sue

Missing.................

or to be more accurate ..............in a box somewhere in the shed

My large cream metal colander
A chopping board
A pile of new tea-towels and  new oven glove
Stainless steel meat carving plate with spikes
and lots of other things that I haven't missed.............yet.


 I've just finished the latest Tracy Chevalier - The Edge of the Orchard. I've read most of her books and I like the way they take a real person from history and weave a story around them. The real person in this book is Johnny 'Appleseed' Chapman who took apple trees and seeds all round the States.
This is the summary from the library website.

What happens when you can't run any further from your past? Ohio, 1838. James and Sadie Goodenough have settled in the Black Swamp, planting apple trees to claim the land as their own. Life is harsh in the swamp, and as fever picks off their children, husband and wife take solace in separate comforts. James patiently grows his sweet-tasting 'eaters' while Sadie gets drunk on applejack made fresh from 'spitters'. Their fighting takes its toll on all of the Goodenoughs - a battle that will resonate over the years and across America. Fifteen years later their youngest son, Robert, is drifting through Goldrush California. Haunted by the broken family he fled years earlier, memories stick to him where mud once did. When he finds steady work for a plant collector, peace seems finally to be within reach. But the past is never really past.

My rating - A Good Book

I've just heard on the news that we have to limit our intake of Dolmio pasta sauces to once a week, that should be simple here as they are something I never buy. A Pasta sauce made from a tin of tomatoes, a chopped onion, some tomato puree, a little brown sugar and some seasonings must be one of the easiest things to make. Vary it by adding in some chopped veg - aubergine for instance-  make a big batch and pop in the freezer.
Simple.

Oh Goody, the countdown to the EU referendum starts today. Odd really as I seem to have heard quite a lot about it already! Are you like me.............the more I'm told what I ought to do the less likely I am to do it.

Thanks for all the comments

Back Soon
Sue

A bit of food growing at last.............on a very small scale.

First of all welcome to  Becky and Meggie, new followers in the pictures on the right and thank you for comments left after my last post - especially the ones from John Gray ( I think!)

With the gardening stuff unloaded on Sunday I was keen to get started doing something outside but we lost half of the fine sunny Monday taking the trailer back to our friends barn, where it can stay indefinitely or until Col is well enough for us to decide what adventures we will have next.
Cutting the grass was the first job but of course the mower hadn't been used for months so wouldn't start. Luckily just 5 minutes away we have a car parts place so Col was able to buy a can of Easy Start and get the mower going. It still wouldn't start with the key ignition which will be a problem as there is no way I can pull-start it.
Then I fitted the compost bin together and started trimming some of a huge Buddleia which had lots of dead bits over-hanging a mystery shrub in a big tub. My first thought was Camellia which would have been good. After looking again I think it's just a Rhododendron so a good thing it's in a barrel as they can be very invasive.
The only useful shrub in the garden is a large Rosemary, and the rest of the borders have various large shrubs, lots of perennials, bulbs, primula and too many grape-hyacinths, which have taken over - as they do. Col's brother is coming over later in the year to take out a huge Leylandii, a large vicious Pyracantha and a dead Cotoneaster. He'll bring a trailer to take everything away as I don't think a bonfire here would be much appreciated!
In a narrow border between the bungalow and the fence is a long row of half dead geraniums. I like the perennial sort that grow into clumps with small flowers but that's not what these are so I think they'll come out and be replaced by............ something. If the sun gets high enough to come over the top of the bungalow I could have some grow bags here with  veg in although it might be a bit of a wind tunnel.
We had a lot of rain overnight Monday/Tuesday. The sun came out early Tuesday afternoon and I tried a bit of weeding but everywhere was much too wet, it seems we have heavy clay soil just like we left behind at the smallholding so it's not going to be easy to make veg beds from the grass lawn, that will have to wait until Col is fit and well again.
Time is ticking by for food production  so this morning I went to B& Q to see what plants they had and came home with some cut and come again lettuce and mixed salad plants, 3 tomato plants, 2 courgette plants and a couple of grow bags. Total cost £12 (including my 10% off because I've joined the over 60s club). I noticed Asda had some special square, deep grow-bags that said they were ideal for one tomato plant but they were £3 each so instead I'm going to cut the top out of one grow-bag and the top and bottom out of the other and put that on top to make deep enough compost for 3 tomatoes at a cost of £4. It is really weird buying grow-bags and plants after all the years of being self-sufficient and growing everything from seed. Maybe next year I'll get organised to do things from seed again. Have we got room for a greenhouse? ( Or more to the point - do we want to stay here long enough to make a greenhouse worthwhile?)

Three tomato plants and 2 courgettes are being kept warm under this fleece

This is  a good place to sit out of the wind and in the sun, just room to squeeze in with all the boxes, chairs and the big dining table.

It's really good to get a few things growing.

Back in a day or 3
Sue

Thursday to Sunday ( my titles are getting boring!)

Many thanks for all the comments on the last post, all the info about ultrasounds was very interesting. I've been searching my memory and maybe I did have a scan for our youngest in '87. Certainly didn't know the sex of any of them until they arrived although I somehow guessed right each time.

The cat flap has been fitted, Polly wasn't impressed because after two weeks without one  she now prefers to have someone open the door for her! I shoved  her in and out several times and she eventually realised she was now free to come and go just like at the smallholding.

Colin came home from hospital on Thursday evening, and with more antibiotic tablets to take for a week his 5th chemo cycle will be postponed for a few days. They gave him some different high calorie/ protein supplements to try but, just like the previous types, they are revolting. He says he'll stick to peanut biscuits and fish butties! He is going in almost everyday for blood tests -they need his platelet levels to increase  so that he can start having the clexane injections again ( they are for a blood clot on his lung - not sure I've even mentioned that but it was something they eventually found whilst trying to sort out the breathlessness) Apologies for all the health details, sometimes this blog seems to be turning into a medical encyclopedia and it's still hard to believe he was never ill until he was 56.

The larder fridge has been delivered, very prompt service and the extra shelf is very welcome. I emailed The Ipswich Furniture project and Age Concern who both collect but neither could come for the old fridge for several weeks so on Friday Col, who has more patience than me for sorting out stuff, decided to put it on ebay after all. No idea if anyone will want it.

Saturday afternoon we went back to Knodishall to fetch the trailer full of our garden and workshop stuff  from our friends barn.
It was quite a load

 On Sunday our son and future daughter in law came over to help us unload and get as much as possible stowed in the garage. This means I have 4 large pots, three bags of compost, a water butt,the lawnmower and my garden tools here and I'll be able to start weeding and growing veg - on a very small scale - at last.
Then we treated them to lunch and went somewhere we've never been before............PizzaHut! Blimey, it's not cheap is it? but it is just up the road, was decent enough but we probably won't bother again.

There were a few things Col decided we didn't need here ( thank heavens!) and they've stayed on the trailer to take back as soon as we can.


I've read the book that my friend Mary-in-Bath suggested after I did the review of  "The trouble with goats and sheep".   "Spies" by Michael Frayn is also a world seen through the eyes of a child growing up. This is the blurb from Fantastic Fiction.....

In the quiet cul-de-sac where Keith and Stephen live there is very little evidence of the Second World War. But the two friends suspect that the inhabitants of the Close are not what they seem. As Keith authoritatively informs the trusting Stephen, the whole district is riddled with secret passages and underground laboratories. Then one day Keith announces an even more disconcerting discovery: the Germans have infiltrated his own family, and the children find themselves engulfed in mysteries far deeper and more painful than they had bargained for.

It was very short and easy to read.

Visitors have just arrived
So Back Soon
Sue

Home alone, good TV and other stuff

I am still home alone (unless you count Polly the cat- and she's not very talkative) because Col is still stuck on the oncology ward. They gave him antibiotics and then a different sort, they've given him platelets but the levels are only creeping up slowly. He might come out tomorrow, I hope so. Then he should be due for the 5th chemo cycle next week but this may be delayed. The doctors have explained about stem cell treatment which he will have after the 6th chemo session, it requires 4 WEEKS in hospital, most of it in a single room to avoid infection. Oh my goodness, he will be institutionalised!!  not to mention bored stiff.

This is the photo of Col that our son posted on his Facebook page the other day when he took a giant Haddock sandwich into hospital for Cols teatime treat. M and R had popped down to Felixstowe and Col had put in a request for decent food. I'm not sure this counts as Good but he needs all the calories he can get at the moment and there's no chance of that with hospital food.

Now to the good TV programmes - We watched most of The Farming Life which finished last week. It was a series of 12 programmes describing a year on 5 farms in various parts of Scotland. The hard work in harsh conditions was something I wouldn't want to do that's for sure. I enjoyed seeing some of the farmers showing their animals at auctions and agricultural shows which I never wanted to do when we kept goats and sheep (not that we ever had anything worth showing anyway!).
On Sunday evenings I've been watching Paul O'Grady getting involved in the work of the Salvation Army. I'm not keen on him but I am interested in what the sally army do. An aunt and uncle were uniformed members all the way through their lives and my cousins  and their families are now. My Gran went to a Salvation Army over 60s group when she was alive and her funeral was at the Stowmarket Citidal.
On Monday Night there was a fascinating programme about The Vikings and their journeys across the world all those years ago.

And all the other stuff - a  larder fridge has been ordered, I shall ring up one of the charities that collect, and donate the old fridge to them along with an armchair from the shed. I know I ought to be selling them on ebay but at the moment I just can't be doing with the hassle.
On Tuesday I had time to go on a tour of the Ipswich charity shops to look for some baby clothes for the 2 bumps, but there were so few around. Some charities don't have any at all but there is a jumble sale at the local Scout group on the 21st and luckily they are not from us and I must try to get to some boot sales.
 As her OH is working away in Manchester this week our youngest asked me to go with her for the first scan of her bump this afternoon. Mini bump was turning somersaults! We were both glad to see only one baby (my dad was a twin so you never know) and the heartbeat was fine so that's good news.
When did ultrasound scanning start? I can't remember if I had scans for any of our three in 1980, 81 or 87? Anyone know?

Back in a while
Sue

Into April...........random notes from my diary

I                                               




 I wish I could remember who mentioned this book on their blog, but thanks to whoever it was I've just hugely enjoyed this first novel by a new Author.

Here's what it says on Amazon
"England,1976.
Mrs Creasy is missing and The Avenue is alive with whispers. As the summer shimmers endlessly on, ten-year-olds Grace and Tilly decide to take matters into their own hands.
And as the cul-de-sac starts giving up its secrets, the amateur detectives will find much more than they imagined…"
Behind each door on The Avenue is another secret, most have been hidden for  nearly10 years and some secrets are not pleasant.
A really good read, a kind of mystery but also about being ten years old during that long hot summer. 

We've been here for nearly two weeks and everything was jogging along until Cols latest blood tests which showed very low platelets then he started to run a temperature so he is back in hospital for a few days until they can sort things out.  So I'm getting plenty of practice driving through the traffic of Ipswich. After all the years of country living without endless roundabouts,traffic lights and busy junctions, I'm now getting moaned at for being in the wrong gear/lane and Col says I'm ruining the gear box on the Tucson which was already a bit dodgy. He had been thinking about changing to a Ford Kuga when the house sale money is sorted until his brother told him about a friend who had to use You-Tube to find the oil filter which then took three hours to change due to being hidden away and under other bits.............. so maybe not a Kuga after all.

We rang a local company to get a cat flap fitted in the bottom half of the double glazed kitchen door. We are going to have the glass replaced by a plastic coated metal panel instead of glass, it won't make any difference to light in the kitchen and it's a bit cheaper. When the man came to measure up Col recognised him as someone who had stayed on the campsite, the son-in-law of one of the regulars  - Isn't it funny what a small world we live in!

I've cycled to Asda a couple of times, it's easy- peasy as there is a cycle path up beside the main road and a proper push button crossing because it's part of one of the national cycle routes. I measured it on Mapometer website and it's just a fraction over a mile, so not really energetic but every little helps. I'm now planning my route to the nearest car boot sale!

We've filled in the forms to register at the local doctors which is literally just round the corner and walking back on Thursday I got soaked by a hailstorm which was preceded by three big claps of thunder and followed by rain - strange weather. The forecast is for a bit warmer for the weekend, I hope they are right because there is some tidying to do in the garden so I bought new secateurs as all our gardening stuff is still on the trailer in a barn at a friends. Col is not sure when we can fetch it - depends on how he feels next weekend and who we can get to help. Thanks to our son calling in on Thursday afternoon we've now cleared a bit of space in the garage for workshop stuff and the gardening bits we need. I still think Col is being over optimistic about what we have room for.

Which reminds me of the most annoying thing here........... The Fridge, it's bad enough having an under counter fridge after my old tall one - but it's ridiculously tiny and stupidly it has an ice box - which isn't needed because we have a small freezer in the kitchen and the chest freezer in the garage, 6 steps from the back door. We bought the fridge with the house but it's driving me nuts, so I think I shall fork out for a larder fridge, without icebox so an extra shelf to use.

That's it for now, thanks for comments on the last post
Back soon
Sue