Happy Mothers' Day and other reasons to celebrate

 Dear Marmite

My garden

It's official!! Spring is here. Now we are passed the 21st March I am determined to get back to my cold shower regime until 21st September. Part of this has been forced upon me as my boiler started leaking really badly and Mr Very Expensive Plumber has said it needs a new part so that I can once again have heating and hot water. The valve that interchanges between hot water and heating has perished and that whole unit needs changing. Roll on next Monday!

My oven had also stopped working. I ummed and ahhed whether to get someone to look at it or to just get a new one. It was part of the original kitchen so it is well over twenty years old. The seal round the door had broken so I did my research and decided a Samsung one offered the most energy efficient option. It has one oven that can be heated as half an oven or a whole oven. For one person the half oven option seemed a good idea. 

I went down to Currys to get professional advice on ovens in general but the assistant was worse than useless. I asked if she could find me someone who could give me good advice. She walked off and was last seen across the floor laughing with two other assistants. I wonder what Currys pay her to do? 

I went to John Lewis but they don't stock the oven I was interested in, so annoyingly, it had to be Currys. I ordered it on line and now it is fitted. It works brilliantly. It heats up almost instantly and times how long it is working for once it hits the right temperature. Things could be looking up culinary-wise. The only down side is that my oven fits the gap but in a different way to the old one. So until I find a carpenter, I have a gap between the oven and the worktop. 

After my trip to Scotland, I found I have a mass of bites across my tummy. They run in lines so I reckon I got bed bug bites from staying with my darling son. This was my only Mothers' Day gift and I have to say it is an enduring one. My voice is still croaky but my cold sores seem to have abated so things can only get better. Roll on my holday!!!

Now it is Spring, I am keenly looking at my garden to see what has survived the drought of last summer and the wickedly low temperatures over winter. Most of what I planted last year seems to have died but I am proud to say my bulbs have come up in abundance. I have bought a little shed to keep stuff in. I manually screwed in about 5 screws before I realised I need an electric screwdriver. My nextdoor neighbour came to the rescue and we put it together in about an hour! 

So now I am off to the pool on my bike for quick dip. This is a pleasant jaunt down the canal on the tow path. Now the weather is warming up there are so many more boats around again. What is more, I can feel that summer is just round the corner! Yay!

Ramadan Kareem, Marms... 

Love You

XXX