Pre-cooked Sausages

Every now and then I have a desire for sausages - usually sausages and beans. When I have these pangs I look for some really lovely sausages; the 'Butcher's Choice' type of sausage. I actually found some in the Stornoway Co-op that I really liked but I've forgotten what they were. Anyway there isn't a Stornoway Co-op in Napier so when a few days ago I decided that cauliflower cheese and sausage would be enjoyable, I decided on some sausages which looked rather tempting. They were passable although the description of 'super savoury' was not quite as I would have described them. What I did notice was that they were 'pre-cooked'.

Now I know that some people don't have problems with statements on Amazon and in the shops that things can be pre-ordered. I do. Despite the attempts of proselytisers I still think that something can be ordered or not ordered. I do not think that something can be pre-ordered.

Anyway, as usual, I digress. What I did notice on the packet of sausages was that they were pre-cooked. What, I asked myself, were they cooked before? However that was not the crowning glory in the realms of linguistic or instructional absurdity. Why, if they were pre-cooked (whatever that actually means) did it say on the packet 'Cook thoroughly before eating'?

Wet, Wet, Wet

No. It has nothing to do with a pop group or rock band (whatever Wet, Wet, Wet is). I had decided that this weekend would be a good time to give an update on the landscaping around the Cottage. However I hadn't imagined that the rain would have been so persistent. In fact it's the first real rain I've experienced since I arrived (I have seen the odd showerlet before but that's all).

Anyway, undeterred, I have photographed the front of the Cottage and the Paddock all of which have been seeded and (although it's not immediately obvious) had hundreds of plants planted. It will be interesting to see what it looks like in another couple of weeks.

Brain-farts

I know that my friend Steve, my nephew Richard and possibly my nephew-in-law-to-be (can you have a nephew-in-law?) will know the origin of the heading which is very apt for me today.

Playing a game (Croquet of course and for the information of those who know nothing about Croquet, in Singles each player uses two balls) the blue ball lay in front of the hoop with black a couple of feet away and red and yellow behind the hoop. Somehow I managed to have a brain-fart at that moment and in a blind flash of misguided inspiration stop-shotted blue with my black so that blue ended at the other end of the lawn out of contention. The look on my opponent's face made me think something was not altogether as it should have been. The fact that she wasn't going after the ball alerted me even further to some possible calamity. There is something quite horrible in the realisation that your own ball (blue was my ball!) which was lying in a position to run the hoop was now the full length of the lawn away.

That was not, however, to be my last brain-fart of the day. When I arrived home I had to make a cheesecake to take as a plate to Croquet. Having remembered to put more butter in the base to make it less crumbly I made the cheese mixture. As I whisked it it seemed rather stiff and un-yielding compared with usual but I put that down to the fact that I'd used a different Philadelphia Cream Cheese. After I spooned it onto the base and put it in the fridge I had the terrible realisation that I hadn't put the 8 oz of caster sugar into it. Fortunately the base had hardened sufficiently to allow the mixture to be taken off and re-made.

The rest of the evening passed without further incident.

More Croquet in the Rain

As I said in yesterday's posting Croquet is a game played in any weather when the Lawns are playable. Thursday was touch and go. Yesterday was just miserable. Today (Saturday - this happened today, is being written today and will be posted today!) was quite unbelievable. I woke to constant heavy rain and a pretty sodden area round the cottage (of which more in another posting). What would the Lawns be like? When I arrived at the Club it was obvious that two lawns were unplayable. However the Tournament Manager decreed that play would take place on the other four - we would just have to get wet and miserable and enjoy ourselves!

That was until the lawn my opponent and I were playing became flooded. We ended the game playing a hoop with a good centimetre of lying water. What fun.

We start again at 0800 tomorrow - weather permitting!

The pictures are of the Lawns as we came off them.

So it's not always sunny in Hawkes Bay!

The Problem of Time

Well it's not exactly time itself that is my problem (except for the fact that there never seems to be enough of it) it's the fact that when I do things, when I write emails and Blog postings and when I send emails and post the postings themselves an all occur at times which can be separated by 24 or 36 hours.

Yesterday (Friday 7th) I posted something I wrote on Thursday evening after having played the Doubles in the N Z Croquet Nationals. In the postings I referred to today (which was true when I wrote the posting on Thursday evening). However at the start of the third paragraph I decided to clarify when 'today' was and managed to say that 'today' was Wednesday. It doesn't really matter but it is an indication of the fact that my mind a) is always trying to be in different time-zones at the same time when writing, b) is always conscious of the fact that something may not be sent or posted for ages after it's written and c) has just lost the plot.

Croquet in the Rain

Well I never thought I'd see the day when I'd spend from 0800 until 1830 on a Croquet lawn (or several of them to be exact) in rain which varied between a-tad-less-than-heavy to torrential in wind which varied between Lewis light and almost-gale in temperatures which varied between mild and cold.

Today that is exactly what I did and walked about 5.5k in the process. In fact, until today, I'd never played Croquet in the rain. If it had been a Club day it wouldn't have mattered because only a few die-hards would have turned up. But Tournament Croquet is a game played regardless of the weather until (as happened at Te Mata 15k away where the other half of the Nationals were being played) the lawns flood or become unplayable.

Today (Wednesday) was Doubles and Joyce (my partner for the day) and I had to battle it out to the bitter end. We won three of our six best-of-nineteen games (games are usually best of thirteen). Obviously we didn't win but where we ended up in the rankings I have no idea. Despite the weather we did have a cracking time and all but one of the games were very close. I have to say that most of that was due to me having a partner who played exceptionally well whilst my play varied, like the weather, starting from a base of woefully inadequate. A lesson to people timid of 'big' Tournaments (my partner not I) - never be afraid to play. You may play the game of your life and if you don't then wotthehellarchiewotthehell.

A Sobering Experience

I was at Petanque today (played passably and had a thoroughly good time).

There is a Netherlander and a Frenchman in the Club amongst those of many and varied Countries of origin. There is a generally a lot of French banter but today there was also some German to which I replied. I was asked how I knew German and mentioned that I had spent many Octobers in Berlin.

The Frenchman said that he'd been born in Berlin.

And now for the sobering bits. I was asked if I'd been involved in Berlin when the war ended! Not when the wall came down or anything like that but WW2.

It had been assumed that I was the age of the Frenchman - assumed by him and by me as it happens. The differences in our understandings of each other's appearance is that I thought he was 63 (my age) and he thought I was 74 (his age).

I feel rather deflated. I think I shall have to apply for one of the TV programme that seeks to get you looking younger (or less ancient anyway).

Bummer.

Spirit of Napier

Most days at one time or another whether I am cycling along the Marine Parade foot/cycle path or driving along Marine Parade I see the Spirit of Napier.

This monument, which is said to represent the rise of Napier from the ashes after the earthquake, was erected in 1971 on the Gilray Reserve at the South end of the Parade. It was sculpted by Frank Szirmay and funded by a bequest by Dr Thomas Gilray.

The Gilray Reserve was developed in honour of the said Doctor who died in 1971 after having begun practice in Napier in 1911 and been Superintendent of the Napier Hospital in 1921-22.

Phone. Progress?

Well the chap from the electricity provider came yesterday as promised and we now have orange lines right down the drive showing where the electricity cable is. For the most part it goes right down the centre of the drive but. of course, it has to cut across the verge where it meets the junction boxes at the side of the road. As the telephone cable has to be a minimum of 30cm from the electricity line (50 cm for comfort) it's going to be hand digging and rather tricky in places. It is not helped by the fact that the ground is so hard Martin bent his spade trying to get it into the ground. I'm not sure that a pick-axe round electricity cables is a good idea either. Ah well.

My Bedroom