I’m starting to feel like Alistair Cooke, making an announcement to the world wide web on a weekly basis. Last Saturday was marred by the loss of two angora goats and the pervading fear that there would be more losses.
As it is we seem to have stabilised this week and apart from a scare with Bluebell, the rest seem fine. Evie is still down but with some work, we’re hopeful we will get her back on her feet again.
Much of this week has yet again been spent on the house – I know I’m at risk of becoming boring, however I’m going to share anyway. The box room was finished last weekend and looks so much larger. We’ve put a single bed in there and you can actually imagine it as a child’s room; an impression hopefully helped by the addition of 3 winnie the pooh pictures to the wall. They’re prints of Shepherds originals and slightly sophisticated. Kate and I are turning into stylists with the blatant aim of making Mineral House more attractive to anyone who may want to buy it.
In the next fortnight I’m going to put up our house sign that Kate’s mum made for us in earthenware, admittedly some months ago. I wanted to take it with us until Kate pointed out that it said Mineral House. Suppose this might be the best place for it.
With mention of Kate, it brings us onto the news that the devil will find work for idle hands to do.
Now Kate has always considered me to be belligerent and litigious. This is a view that I’ve generally felt to be unfairly deserved. I do feel inclined to stand up for my rights with big business, and if, I feel I have had bad service, complain to strongly.
However, when met with particularly good service, I’m equally inclined to write an email of thanks and praise.
So it was that on Thursday I found myself sat on an armchair in front of the fire. I’d just finished painting another bedroom and had sat down to relax as Kate surfed the web. As I absently picked up a jar of Co-op sweet pickle, Kate suddenly announced that they’d think twice before they did that again.
I wondered what.
Apparently they’d been putting a picture of a swede on the label but there was no swede in the pickle. So in an effort to strike a blow for the little man, Kate had emailed MR CO-OP and admonished him.
So it was with a mixture of mirth and regret that I read the ingredients of the pickle and discovered that swede formed 11% of the pickle – in fact it was the 3rd largest ingredient. I’m not sure how Kate overlooked that. Guess she must have been busy that day.
I’m glad she said she’d written the email in a jocular fashion, gently deriding the Co-op for their mistake. I’m particularly glad as Kate has a habit of writing these sorts of things in my name using my email address. I think I may know why she wasn’t too embarrassed by her mistake.
Talking of embarrasment, Kate kindly crocheted me a jerkin – I think that’s how it’s spelt. I feel a bit bad aboput suggesting she keep it for herself, but as we’re moving to a country with a strong sense of machismo, I think having me prancing around in this particular item might have lost me credibilty.
We’ve not yet decided which of you will be receiving it for christmas. Good luck everyone.