Saturday 19 January 2019

Packing Christmas Away...


I got up early this morning to feed the cats - this was a relief because Charlie has taken to sleeping on our bed slap bang between John and I, lying the length of our bodies.  Charlie is a big lad at the best of times but his steroid medication has given him an even more insatiable appetite so he is piling on the pounds.  At times he feels like he weighs about 3 stone and as he snuggles deeper down into the feathers of the duvet he makes it impossible to move and if he has snuggled sufficiently deep snaffles most of it so that I have a chilly gap down my right hand side - not so bad for me and my hormonal temperatures but not so good for John who has to wedge a pillow down his left hand side to prevent drafts!!!   

So early doors the sun was shining brightly and there was lovely blue sky so I took the opportunity to tackle the washing which has been stacking up due to the inclement weather.  Even on a quick wash my machine takes for ever to complete its cycle so by the time the first load was finished and the second load put in the weather was taking a turn for the worse.  Let's just say my washing was up and down like whore's drawers yesterday and in the end we admitted defeat and the conservatory then resembled a Chinese Laundry and I bloomin' hate drying washing indoors not least because it bothers me the damage that the resulting condensation and damp could be doing.  On that subject the horrendous hail over the last couple of days has pitted the main outside house wall which is disappointing because John used some very expensive external paint last year and it seems to have bubbled for some reason and the hail has burst the bubbles.  We now have an extra and more urgent job to put on the to-do list once the weather improves.

I was so fed up because when the sun had been shining I had suggested to John that in return for accompanying me for some fresh air and fun walking along the beach at Argaka we could call into the Turtle Tavern and he could have a pint of real ale before seeing if Paps had some liver for the cats and he was more than happy to do that but the weather defeated us and there was nothing left for us to do but to take down the Christmas decorations.

This year we wanted to go through the decorations carefully and get rid of things we really wont be using or which are knackered and this entailed re-doing the Christmas Tree which had been somewhat hastily thrown up this year so that I would know exactly what was going on it next Christmas.  This kept me well occupied for several hours but was oh so satisfying because by the time the job was finished I had a bag of rubbish, a bag for the charity shop and our decorations now neatly packed away into two boxes instead of half a dozen.


I could tell that John was a little twitchy about what we would be eating tonight because our trip to Paps had been postponed and to be fair he had good reason as our cupboards are relatively bare but undaunted I scoured the cupboards and declared that we would be having 'pot-mess' that good old naval standby - recipe to follow...

Pussers Pot Mess
Mix all together in large saucepan or pot, season to taste. Cover. Heat very slowly on low heat, stirring occasionally, until festering. Eat piping hot, with crusty bread.
The ingredients of this dish are unlimited and to your own tastes. Best dished up in a mug, eaten with a spoon. For those of you who are now 'out of' the mess deck culture, soup plates will suffice!
Can be added to, at will, with further ingredients to establish a 24 hour stock pot. Ideal for outward bounders/campers. etc.
So what went into our pot-mess?

We had pork sausages cooked up with some rather sad rashers of bacon and some chopped ham which had been bought for sandwiches over Christmas but which never got eaten, some left over baked beans, a can of butter beans, some left over soup, a couple of wrinkly apples and equally wrinkly red pepper found lurking in the bowels of the fridge, half a chili, half an onion and a sweet potato, the scrapings of some ginger jam from a jar about to be recycled, the tail end of a carton of apple juice and plenty of black pepper.  Sounds gross but end result - abso-bloody-lutely DELICIOUS!!!! and as John is officially out of the mess deck culture we had it served in soup bowls!

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