Our Phili-Pam

Awww, what a lovely photo. Hello Pam. Thanks for sharing it with us Philip.

Lovely to see you Philip, be sure to give Pam our sincere wishes and virtual hugs.

Hi there Pam, Its lovely to see you again. Love and Hugs to you. Les and Gilly.

Thank you so much Gilly & Les, What a fabulous technology for us to stay in contact.

For an hour after midnight we didn't have water. Severn Trent doing maintenance, but all ok by 2am. Honest honest & honest. I could hear a voice downstairs at 1. Pam was singing, no joke. So I made us both a drink, which is how I discovered the water issue. A quick look at the Severn Trent website showed it up. Pam has so little energy, but the happiest disposition imaginable. Each 24 hours for us, for Pam is two days & nights. She's asleep now, after her huge dinner of two whole Jersey potatoes with half a tub of butter. Ok, a bit exaggerated there, but she needs the butter. As daft as it sounds, Pam is so happy. It's not put on, which rubs off onto me. Her frustration is me having to do everything, but it doesn't hurt me, the first time in my life, hey!

Good news about Pam. If she can sing in this weather what is she going to be like when summer finally comes? You may get a full aria.

Hi all, I'm preparing a very lovely Sunday dinner. Well it was the last time we had it. It's a Morrison's chunky battered cod fillet. Oven on max, as this goes in. In about half an hour, I will lift the cod out & remove its foil, spread the chips evenly out & turning them, then place the unwrapped cod on top for another fifteen minutes or so. Fish & chips. Now I don't pretend that this is as good as a deep fried option, but I tell you, it's very scrummy.

Some more dribble from Grogley Maltings. During the seventies, mostly because of my musical accompaniment ability, I was involved with a sketch based on the characters, Hinge & Bracket, called Lock & Stock. The pianist, a lady, although it was a drag act, was a lady, but was poorly for a performance, so I became Lock. I had helped with the scripting, the village name was a corruption of Grogely Halt, a railway station out in the middle of nowhere, not far from Padstow. Mum always said that I was good at acting the goat! Well, it's as good as Stackton Tressel. I'm all that's left now as Stock passed away over twenty years ago. We had a regular booking at a Stratford hotel in the seventies. EGG & CHEESE ON TOAST You see how quickly I get to the point on my posts! Prepare toast first. One medium egg per person. Break into a high sided jug. Whisk as doing scrambled egg. Add grated cheese, pepper (salt if to taste, I don't add salt). Whisk until well mixed. Set microwave to max. Put jug on turntable for six seconds, remove & whisk. Repeat until the mix is fluffy. Put onto the warm buttered toast. Now eat. Well that's the end of Grogley jottings for today. Last one out turn the lights off please. Pam needs iron & high energy easily digestible grub, so that's what has turned up. She likes my plain scrambled egg with butter done the same way.

I must get my head seen to Philip. I'd read the first bit about the Hinge and Bracket tribute act and you wrote 'Break into' my brain leaps in with 'song', 'piano'? You wrote 'high sided' my brain 'lorry'? You wrote 'jug' at which my brain started working out how you'd break into a high sided jug. Drill? Small explosives? A hammer? Woh! Ohhhhh. Break the egg into the high sided jug. Duh! I promise not to operate dangerous machinery today. Iron - pomegranate juice is supposed to be good for that. Sometimes when I'm dehydrated and run down, I dissolve orange vitamin jellies into orange jelly. Tasty and vitamin rich!

Hi all, Some more dribble from Grogley Maltings. I have just seen a photo of holiday traffic queuing along possibly the then newly constructed Honiton Bypass. My dad had a new Sceptre, I remember the hit song "Hello Muddah" on the wireless, released in 1963, but remained a big radio hit at holiday times. Say 1966. My ears were still wet then. I had just passed my driving test. Doesn't time fly! Like yesterday. Saying it like that, life isn't so long hey! I was a bit more enthusiastic about motoring then, even with the traffic queuing. I had lost interest in railways, which by then were running out of puffs. There was another short section of dual carriageway, it might be that. The only connection with Coventry is me & at least five of the cars in the picture. If anyone can identify the location or the year, that would be great. I can make out a series Five minx that looks 1965, also a Cortina that might be a 1964. Can our experts help. My mum, along with an Aunt, had businesses interests in Cornwall, so trips often once a month, not just summer.

What a poser, Philip. Just a wild guess - Porlock Hill, on our way to Plymouth, August bank holiday on a Sat. morning. Utter nightmare, in our BSA Scout, sitting and watching the steam pour out from under the bonnet. Great times, many laughs and waves (late 50's). I did say a wild guess.

Hi Dreamtime, I've just been looking at the Grogley Maltings care home menu. A choice of... Sweet & sour chicken Corned beef hash Jersey spuds with butter Chopped salad with a variety of meats & fish Battered cod & chips It's good at this care home. Just one snag! I have to do it. Pam has chosen Jersey spuds with butter, or should I say butter with Jersey spuds.

Any more room for another one Philip? I rather like your choices on your menu. A coincidence or what? I had battered cod 'n' chips with a side salad yesterday for lunch, just a little way down the coast, Scarborough Beach. My son is here at long last for a long weekend as it's my birthday tomorrow and we sat outside under cover (it was very mild) and it was pouring down with that lovely wet stuff. No kidding, I think all who sat out there cheered all at once. A fabulous day - the rain, fish 'n' chips, a bottle of red and my No.1 son. I suppose some Jersey spuds would have topped it off, with the butter on of course. It was lovely to smell the rain at last. We are off this afternoon for fresh scones, jam and fresh cream but back to the grindstone for me. It will be the usual Sunday roast dinner this evening. Hope you are enjoying your weekend too.

I'm introducing you to some of our weather team.

The second weather expert from the left needs to get more sleep at night Either that or stop the liquid lunches at the local pub. They're doing a cracking job predicting the weather.