Pension Basics

I previously have explained the basic concept of pension to my colleagues.  Now it is Sarah's turn.  How can people not know?

iPad Battery

The iPad's battery is really bad now, I am having to connect to a battery bank all the time.  How much longer can I tolorate this...

Budgens Challenge

We mustered the courage to do Budgens' Too Good to Go again.  It is a challenge, because their surprise bag is surprisingly large!

We got a lot of bread, a lot of cake this time.  As well as some meat and ready meal type things.  It was a good haul.

Push Bike

We had to move some waste, aka logs, up the street, instead of driving, I strapped it on the bike, like I used to do once upon a time.  It worked well, definitely will remember to use those wheel again.

Old English

Dutch is somewhere between English and German, and it is really obvious how the old Germanic and old English is still linger in them, and how new meanings development when they moved to the new world, very strange indeed.

Cupboard Reorganising

I had enough of the mess, so I reorganised the cupboard, putting th village store items at the bottom and the loose one on top, let see if it works better.

Spring Chopping

We made the decision to heavily cut a few things back, namely the Clematis and climbing rose. It's all an experiment, let see how they fare this year.

Overwatering

I think I have been too keen on watering the seedling, they only need to be moist.  Let hope they will sprout properly now.

Birthday Chocolate: Venchi Dark Gianduia Hazelnut bar

Another one of the chocolate bar we got from Paris.  Venchi is actually Italian.  This is like a flatten Ferrero Rocher, except, better.

Cycle to Movie

I have cycled to the Springs a few times, apparently this is the first time Sarah has done it.  I took the big bike and she has the geared folding bike.  It worked well, we can definitely do it again.

Lithops

I don't really get excited by plants.  We saw a plant show last year and learnt about lithops, pebble plant, so cute! 

So Sarah bought me one for my Birthday.  Let's hope it does well in my conservatory!

Birthday Chocolate: Cluizel Caramelize hazelnuts bar

One of the many bars of Cluizel we brought back from Paris.  This hazelnut bar is similar to the Lindt equivalent and cost twice as much.  

Nice, but I could just get the Lindt one next time.

Risk Assessment in Life II

But if you are a decision maker, decided you don't like the look of the carpet underneath everyone's feet, rather than moving everyone off slowly, just pull it under their feet, everyone will fall.

Look after the people live under your whim...

Risk Assessments in Life

Failure to plan is planning to fail.  Risk assessment and risk mitigation is an important part of planning.  It maybe stupidity, it maybe just negligent.

Having to face unanticipated risk and it's consequences is not fun, ever.

Always research on when you want to embark on is always prudent.

When you fail to plan at work, your work pay the price. When you fail to plan at life, you have to pay the price.

Spring Sprouting

I am glad to report the online seeds have sprouted.  So have the chives, radishes and sunflowers.

Old chilli pepper, old tomato and old carrots have not been too successful.

Peas Curry

We had to defrost a bag of peas, so we had a big peas curry... It is healthy at least.

Snaking

The drain snake is applicable to any other holes, such as the fridge drain hole.

Short Date

I got some "short dated" chocolate from the factory shop.  I only look at the dates later, it has another 5 months on it!  I should have bought more.

Curry Flavouring

We keep forgetting, the spices are flavour enhanced, so we still need to flavour it, which is the 5 tastes.

Invisible Lights Benefits

So some healthcare professionals are concern that all the new bulbs only deliver visible light, minimise invisible lights, which is seen as wastage, that we are missing out on the health benefits of these invisible lights, namely infrared.  And how they may affect sleep because of their longer wavelengths.

I think it is a little bit nonsense.  He did mention to go out and get some Sun is the best way to obtain the therapeutic benefits of these invisible lights.  Do that.

Used PV

After some research, it is possible to hook normal panels with some of these off grid inverters, new panels are obviously higher in efficiency.  I looked at some used panels, they are not cheaper/rating, and they are less efficient.  If those used panels are not free, I am not sure they are worth it.

How to Miss a Train

I missed the train this morning, the most traditional ways.  I first overslept, then I drove to the station, only to find it full, so I watch the train come and gone.

Elbows Up

Apparently it is not just basketballs do elbows up, ice hockey also. 

Moors Fire

I was up in Harrogate district and saw some moorland fire.  I was so concern that I called the fire department, and they assured me that I was seeing controlled burning.

When I went down the valley, the valley is covered in smoke...  Who says village life is healthier life?

Heck Sausage Rashers

I went to the Heck factory shop for lunch.  They ran out of sausages, or they are pushing their rashers, so I had a sausage rashers sarnie.  It was near closing time, so I think I get one more than normal.

They are pretty good.

Assorted Radishes

A lot of my radishes went to flower last year, I harvested the seeds.  Much to my delight, they are sprouting!  I cannot wait to see what happens next!

Chives in Event

I went to an event where they are planting, as a metaphor for growth.  They went on to talk about how resilience chives are, and I couldn't help but share how I have killed many chives before.  Let see if these ones grow...

Prolific Crocosmia

My crocosmia is so prolific, I decided to take drastic action, I dug out to large clumps, and gave them away.  I took top soil with it, so to make sure it will survive into their new home.  That also means I have to back fill them.

My bags of compost from last year are disappearing quick!

Green Chicken

The annoying owl turned into a deranged owl, and now turn into a green chicken.

Beef Sarnie

I have now come to a conclusion, hot beef sarnie is nice, but it is a "healthier" version of a steak slice, and twice the price...

Carrier Pigeon

How offgrid can we truly be?  Should we all start training our carrier pigeon?  Which is very hackable.

Online Seeds Shopping

We went to 3 stores to look for some climbing beans, and none of them sell them.  So we ended up looking for some seeds online.  We got some seeds online before, in particularly microgreen, and they worked well.  In contrary, we got seeds from shop before, and they weren't that good.  Let's see how these turn out.

Free Tea Pot

We were eating at a restaurant, and it has a sign saying, if we leave a review, we get a tea pot.  I did ask the server, and they said that is correct.  But we did not actually pursue it, we would never know what kind of teapot we would get, or the actually a teapot of something tea or something,

Planets Viewing

Venus is easy enough to see.  I think I saw Saturn before, my 60x scope is really inadequate for this purpose.  We think we also see Mars and Jupiter.

Energy Modelling

I was playing around with Heat Punk, which was pretty good.  Now I am onto non domestic and more complicated modelling, it is going to be fun...

Off Grid Installation

I had to do some research on off grid PV installation.  I have concluded it is best to adopt the caravan leisure systems. 

Commercial Char Siu

I made char siu for everyone.  Similar to last time I made teriyaki chicken, they were individual lump of meat and they were chopped after roasting before serving.  Maybe we could have serve it in lumps, for them to chop up at the table themselves...   

Birmingham Odyssey

We went to Birmingham to see the biker, we parked at the usual spot, rode the train into town.  Along the way, we got on the wrong platform, we had Japanese food.

One the way back, there was a massive delay.  We checked and we looked.  We went to one customer service counter to another.  We were told to go to Coventry.  I was not convinced, but we went.  The platform was full of people, we couldn't get on one, and waited for another.

We walked up and down the platform, talked to more characters along the way.  They tried to palm us off to Nuneaton, which I refused.  We waited.  And by some miracle, train announcement said the upcoming train is going to go where we needed to go!

We made sure we get off where we needed to get off.  We found food in my car, and we start the drive home, along the way, we went to get more food.

It was a long journey!

Croque Monsieur

Sarah made a Mary Berry Croque Monsieur.  It did croqued.  I still think it is too saucy.

Yorkshire Business Fair

I missed the last Yorkshire Business Fair, which was held in a venue a mile from me.  I finally got an opportunity to go.  It was a very generalist business fair.  There were a lot of freebies, but I refrained from getting too many!

Third Coat Lucky

The coat wrist tab has loose stitches, so I took it back again.  I like the coat, so I would rather get the same coat, rather than wait till they run out and I get credit, which I have to top up to get another coat.  

This time, instead of having a lucky dip in the rack, I looked at each one very closely.  Just when I thought I found a good one, it was missing one tooth on its zip.  The staff member had to get my two more to look at, and I settled on one of them. 

When I took it off in the car, I found a defect...  Albeit a small one...Let's hope this will last.

Annoying Green Owl

As it turns out, the green owl is bloody annoying!

French Sounds

So croque, croquette are all named because they are crunchy.  Are croquet and petanque too?!

Duolingo

We finally decided to look at Duolingo's offering.  It is all "free" but also tons of advert and paid options.  Let's see how long I can put up with the advertisement...

It is extremely gamifies.  In hindsight, maybe I should have done this for French.

Paris - Day Cinq

Our final day in Paris, we had a few more of the hotel hot chocolates, finished off the cruffin, and off we went.

We got Sarah some hot chocolate and a chocolate soup bowl.  I got some crisps.  We took the Metro to the station, and I got a palmier to go, and a box of palmito.

The train was slightly delayed, so we had loads of time sitting around, even though the immigration is a bit choatic.  We got a coffee from the Eurostar to have with the palmier, so good!  We got back to London before noon.

Paris - Day Quatre

Today was the big out of town experience, Versailles.  We walked to the big station Saint Lazare.  On the way there, we stopped at four boulangeries, shopped at two of them.  We got some sandwiches, and a kouign amann.  We took the train to Versailles, by the time we got off the train, one of the sandwiches was gone.

On our way to the palace, we stopped at another boulangerie, and actually bought a baguette aux graines.  I am not sure the French has the same definition of grains as the English... They were mostly seeds.

Versailles is massive!  We had the other sandwich then started queuing.  By the time we walked around the house, we already did 10,000 steps.  There were a lot and a lot of people!

We strolled down to the Trianon area, we were pretty knackered.  We finished walking around the Trianon area, had the kouign amann, which is a fat version of, and inferior to, a palmier...  By now we have done 20,000 steps!  We prepared for a long hike.  After seeing a few golf buggies having spare seats on them going back up, I thought, if I were hitchhiking, this is the time.  So I stuck my hand out, and an American father and son stopped and offered a lift, we were so grateful.  We got to see the bit we won't get to see otherwise, which was a much added bonus.

We were still knackered, we charged up with a coffee, and walked back.  We were going to try the other train station, but after some confusion, we walked back to the train station we came in from and went home.  

To make the most out of our apartment, we washed all our clothes, so we can come home with clean clothes.  We ate in the second time.  We got a French ready meal, Parmentier de Canard, and some mushrooms, which was very fresh.  

We topped up the dinner with a Too Good To Go from the posh bakery, a pesto focaccia bread, an olive bread stick and a cruffin.

Paris - Day Trois

I had a Too Good To Go chicken sandwich for breakfast.  The French sandwich bread was already fall apart...

We took the Metro to see Bastille Market, we got a Boskoop apple and a Braeburn apple, and the stallholder let us to have them for free.  Then I got a smoked chicken sausage, which I wished to be warm, but it wasn't.  We walked around Jardin De Plantes, ate my Too Good To Go ham, before hopping onto the Batobus.

We hopped off at the Louvre and hopped back on at Place de la Concorde.  The Batobus is the best photo spot for La Tour Eiffel!  The Boskoop apple was less crunchy than I prefer.

We hopped off at Notre Dame.  After days of trying, we still haven't managed to secure a ticket, so we just walked around it.  Then we also went up to the Latin Quarter, had a coffee and a crepe before hopping back onto the Batobus.  I was hoping there was time to go around and around, but that was not the case, so we got off at Hotel de Ville, and walked to dinner at Julien.

Because of the crepe, Sarah wiggled out of the snails.  We were there early, by Parisian standard.  I still find it strange that the French eat beef bourguignon with pasta... By the time we left, there was a queue at the door!

We were going to take the number 6 to see Eiffel at night, except that section was closed!  We only know about it when we walked all the way across the Montparnasse platforms!!!

Paris - Day Deux

The tiny cups are perfect for the coffee machine outside.  Their machines make drinks with UHT milk.  We had some coffee and some hot chocolate before headed to the posh bakery nearby.

We had a croissant and a pain au Chocolat.  They were nice.

Powered by pastry and hot chocolate, we walked up to Sacré-Cœur.  Had the first birdeyes' view of Paris. Also saw the first scammer.

We took the Metro to one of the Cluizel shop, stock up on my favourite chocolate.  Onto Lafayette for another Paris view.  On the way to a haberdashery, we were drawn into another chocolate shop, Puyodebat, picked up another bar of chocolate.

After much encouragement, Sarah finally asked the haberdashery shopkeepers on what she wanted.

We took another Metro journey to Marché Couvert des Enfants Rouges for lunch.  Sarah enjoyed her Lebanese food, I was not impressed with their pizza...

On our way to Pompidou Centre, we went into another chocolate shop Venchi, got another chocolate bar; and another haberdashery.

After walking around Pompidou we queue to go in, take in another Paris view.  We finally went home.  Not before we picked up a Too Good to Go, and we made hamburger, salmon, and Sarah got loads of yoghurt. There were so much food, we even gave the duck moose that we dare not to try and some yoghurt to the hotel staff.

Paris - Day Un

We arrived into Paris on an Eurostar in the evening. We were greeted by a whiff of ammonia outside the train station.

We walked up the hill to our apartment in Montmartre and went out for dinner, galette.  They drink their cider in a cup...  I had a chestnut crepe for dessert, it was on the the sweet side.

On the way back, we got some Tartiflette-flavoured crisps and milk, the British essentials.

We made our evening cups of teas, except their cups are all tiny!

St Pancras British Library

I still think St Pancras British Library is one of the best places for train travellers.  Free cloak rooms, free heating, free water, free toilet, convenient location!

Buckwheat Cookies

We made some reduced sugar buckwheat cookies.  They tasted fine, tasted very healthy!

Flour Sharing

There are reasons why we are all stuck with a cupboard full of old spices.  Same as flours.  We really shouldn't keep little used flours.

It is best to have a spice and flour sharing agreement!

Hot Paprika

We inherited this hot paprika from Rachel.  I had not had them before, surely they cannot be that hot.  They were.  Surely they are not actually paprika...

Crazy Hockey

We took the nephews to crazy golf.  It can be better described as crazy hockey.  At one point, it was similar to crazy ice hockey...

Tim Hortons Lunch

I had some "lunch" from Tim Hortons.  They are really not endearing themselves to me.  It is more expensive and not better...

London Daytrip

I had a day trip in London for work.  They shortened the train on the way down, so I stood the whole way, that wasn't good.  So exhausting, physically and mentally...

Real Panic

Real panic is when you lost your car key in the cinema...  It fell out of my trouser pocket, maybe I need to wear everything on a lanyard...

Disassembling Blender

I got my blender from freecycle, and I had it for nearly 10 years!  I only just worked out how to take it apart further!  Gave it a proper clean!

Warranty Replacement Coat

I got a new coat a few weeks ago, and some of the stitches are already loose.  It was lucky that I kept the receipt.  After talking to the customer service, I took the coat back.  Except the replacement I got actually had some factory error!  Another dud, not structural per se, just a bit of an eye sore.  I will give it a good breaking in the rest of the month, and I don't be shy in taking it back.

Power Ups

I got an email for free electricity, but noone else did.  I made the most out of it, baking, electric heating.  They better pay up....

Newcastle Metro

The Metro day ticket is a real bargain, I took 4 metro journey plus a ferry ride, all for less than £6.   When public transport works!

Missed Sewing

Just when I had all the loose ends sewn, I opened the drawer and saw my mismatched coloured trouser legs stitching...  They have to stay this way for another year...

FX Volatility

The tariff threats and central bank interest rate movements are really upsetting the foreign exchange market, OR it is the best time to make some bets!

Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans

The last time I got chocolate covered coffee beans, they were from a market for Christmas stocking fillers.  I finally came across them in a more reasonable location, Grape Tree, and they are quite nice and addictive!

Digital Cameras

After much convincing, Sarah finally threw out two very old digital cameras.  It is a shame, but if they have not been used for the last 10 years, I don't think they will be used ever.  Their accessories is equally outdated, the SD card with 240MB capacity and a tiny pouch are absolutely no use for anyone...

Cinema Recliners

We went to a cinema, and the standard seats now come with a motorised recliner!  It was fine watching the moving lying down, cannot complain.

Toy Vacuum

I bought a cordless stick vacuum.  Haylie and Sara were not sure it would last.  Eighteen months later, it had died.  I think it is the motor, but I cannot disassemble it to have a look, nevermind...

Whilst researching for the new one, there is a very cheap Dyson in Argos, if you read the details, it is literally a toy...

Ludicrous

I only started watching Pokémon.  It is absolutely more ludicrous than Dragonballs.

And we watched Detective Chinatown 1900, it was as ludicrous as we expected it to be.

City Centre Freebie II

Leeds Community Energy had an event on.  I went to have a look, but I didn't stay for the curly sandwich.  Catered event is often a food waste central, so I left before I have to witness the faux pas.

City Centre Freebie

This morning, I got a shot of juice.  To be exact, I was not anywhere near the stall, but since they were giving out the juice, I revered towards them and got one.  I actually won't drink stuff like this, but I know who would be the perfect prefect tester!

Banana Eating Instruction

I went to a health and wellness thing, they are now suggesting banana to be eaten in the evening, or only if you are in a process of a strenuous activities, ie not at breakfast, as it is high sugar, which will result in a sugar crash if you don't immediately burn it up.  You can see, even tennis player only eat a bite at a time.

Discount Con

So there was this restaurant, posted how January discount is available, not only within their menu, also in the nearby shop.  So I enquired about it when we sat down, apparently those were out of date, and there is no discount/deals.  What a con.  And adding insult to injury, they weren't that good either.

Curry Brunch Buffet

Our local Aagrah started going brunch buffet since end of November.  They had put on different discounts to get it going, the latest discount is 40% off, so we took advantage of it.

I had some breakfast, then had some lunch.  I think we probably break even on the cost.  It was going to be hard for me when most of the curry are lamb containing...  It would be nice if we know there would be change of curries if we were to go some other time. 

Sew Away

Whilst I had the sewing machine, I made the bike carrier, I found more and more sewing to be done.  We joined the curtains, fixed all the weird buckle straps, old pencil case, etc.  Hopefully I am sorted for the next few years.

Singer Sewing Machine

I borrowed a sewing machine for my little project.  It is a Singer, and I feel like I know it better than other brands.  I look at the manual, it listed out how to the stitching functions, some of them have very weird names: fagot, rampart, sand castle...

Meatless Supermarkets

The range of meats are disappearing quick in smaller supermarket, possibly because of the shoplifters.  Maybe I need to go to my local butcher afterall...

Currency Hedging

I don't normally pay too much attention on the currency market, until I have some upcoming trips I needed to plan for, suddenly I start hedging my currency.  I previously had concluded that there is no point to hedge the bet, as I don't have a crystal ball, on the other hand, one can easily get sucked into this easy betting...

Bicycle Brakes

If anything I remember from Leeds Bike Mill's workshop is that brakes should come on fairly quickly and get to fully shut position more than 1" from the end.  So I tightened all Rach's bikes' brake cables, that will do for now.

Thermal Imaging

I finally got hold of Eco-Friendly Garforth's thermal imaging camera.  Nothing abnormal in my house.  There are a few usual suspects, edge of the building, rim around loft hatch, dot and dab of the plasterboards, but, "there isn't much I can do"...

Mackerel

 

Mackerel has been the top fish in the UK for a long time.  Why aren't they going down in price?  Cod is much further down the list.  Maybe I should ask for haddock next times.

Go Ape Adventure

We normally go Go Ape challenge.  Tom was wanting to go on Go Ape challenge, but I convinced them to put him on Go Ape Adventure plus instead, and lucky they did.

At the same time, they put Alex on the Go Ape Adventure, which I also joined with a Moneysupermarket voucher, and lucky I did.  Alex did well on the course, but he is just a little small to reach the rope for the karabiner, especially in transition, so it was good that there were one of us in front of him and Rach behind.

The Adventure plus looked a lot of fun, but it was suitably challenging and suitably long for Tom, I think it is just perfect for him.  I think another few years before I think he is ready for Challenge.

Gym Resumes

I renewed the gym member with the new year's offer, just before the cold snap.  I haven't been back until now.  It is getting even harder to get into classes...

Holiday Planning

We usually do holiday planning in January.  The other year, we slightly regretted it because there were better deals to Isle of Man.

Anywho, Trip.com is quickly gaining ground on booking.com!  I heard Queenie and Haylie using Trip.com before, and now I am also using them.

Inheritance Tax III - IHT403

Anyone who has asset over the inheritance threshold should start filling out the IHT403 form.

Life is just one big admin job...

McDonald Wrap

After some weird breakfast, I had some weird lunch from McDonald.  I never believe they should ever sell wraps, this is extra weird, "katsu chicken wrap".  So very English.

Shoe Repair

We had a collective moan about modern rubber shoes, how quickly they fall apart.  I have just retired two pairs of old shoes into gardening department.  Maybe I need to start buying shoes that are of traditional construction, aka repairable.  On the other hand, the cobbler said if you like the upper, they could glue on the new sole, even if they are not traditional construction.  Maybe I should ask about the ones I like before I have to dispose them...

Cooking Temperature

After convincing Rach to roast the joint to medium, she aimed to do so.  When I carved it up, it was carve-able, unlike some other time.  It even has a bit of pink in the middle, much like medium well.  But by the time we serve, all the pink has also been cooked out in its residual heat.  Always aim lower...

New Bromtpon

After much encouragement, Haylie bought a used Brompton.  It does look neat. A good little bike, much better than other electric alternatives.

London Town

I went to London for a work do and stayed at my friend's to hang out.  It is fun in small doses... Detox to follow.

De-icing

We already shoveled the snow when they were soft. It still took a long time to defrost Sarah's car.

I am do grateful with my heated windscreens!

Bitter Cold

We haven't had some proper cold days for a few years.  It has been very cold indeed.  I think that is more bitter is having to turn the heating on the keep the house warm!

Snow Boots II

The snow boots are back in service!  They are much superior to the welly bobs in snow and icy condition...

Wool Coat

I have searched far and wide and concluded the range and availability of a long wool coat is fast diminishing.  Everything is polyester...

Snowy Sunday Yellow Label

We had some hard frosts in November and this is the first proper snow.  So much so, many events were cancelled.  All I can think of was the potential yellow label haul.  We went in the afternoon to see if my hunch was right.  It wasn't quite a big haul as I would like, but we did get a couple things we like.

Holme Moss in Snow

We know the cold snap was coming, so Sarah was worrying about us meeting up with friends in Holmfirth.  I gave them a heads up not to take Holme Moss, but they just followed the SatNav anyway, it resulted a very scenic drive for them, not recommended...

January Sale

We braved the Springs for January Sale.  There weren't any big price slashes, but we did find a few things we needed.  It was a good shopping trip.

Solar Rechargeable Devices

I had a look at one of my neighbour's solar rechargeable cat scarer.  The batteries were little 600mAh and they were down to 0.1V.  I swapped with some of mine, it worked a little but not a lot.

I recharged their little batteries and swapped it back.. The solar panel does seem to work, but it is recharging in a very low voltage...  No wonder the those batteries die in winter...

2024 Solar Review

Not a bad year consider the summer were less Sunny than previous year.

 

New Year Gif

Who says standing SMS is boring, when it comes with a full screen animation when you send Happy New Year!