Tuesday 5 May 2009

Bad news, Good news...

Today I had a bad news good news scenario. The bad news - guy in a car park over the weekend spotted that my "car suspension's gone, duck" and that I need to get it seen to "as soon as". So I booked it into the garage first thing this morning, phoned into work to take a day off (flexi time is great when you have a crisis!) and went back home. "Bliss", I thought. The good news : a whole day to myself completely unplanned so I can do anything I like as long as its at home . I decided to sand and paint an appallingly scruffy chest of drawers which my father had had in his shed for years when I was growing up. Everyone who has seen it has advised me to take it to the tip but I wanted to see if I could make anything of it. So, it's now looking much better painted in Farrow and Ball's Lichen which I love.


By 9.40 the garage had phoned to say the car was ready so I could collect it. While very impressed at the speediness of the job (and less impressed at the cost) I felt strangely cheated of my day at home ! I felt I had to rush out to collect it and then get on with all the "running around" chores that needed to be done denying me of the day's sewing, gardening and other self indulgent treats I had promised myself, to make up for the fact that the price of this was going to hurt . I did manage to get to a couple of charity shops and spotted the book above which really said it all. "Time is of the essence". Isn't it just...

It's a cookery book published in 1961 with sections such as "4 cheap meals for 4 people which can be prepared cooked and served in ten minutes", and "3 more expensive meals for 4 people which can be prepared cooked and served in 10 minutes", and my favourite "An autumn menu, very English and traditionally held to appeal particularly to men"! I love the frantically whizzing hand whisk with the clock hands placed artistically over the front of it!

The book has fabulous lines in it such as "this section is designed to help someone who is working every day and who prefers to do all her housekeeping, thinking and shopping for the coming week on Saturday." What a brilliant idea - I shall henceforth do all my thinking on a Saturday and get it over and done with!

Its probably just as well that the book doesn't have photos in it - some of the ideas sound strange even to me as a child who grew up in the sixties - I'm glad I was never offered "Sandwiches thickly sprinkled with hundreds and thousands"!



Love Wend

4 comments:

  1. Great post.xx

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  2. Mmmm, thankfully I've never been offered sarnies with hundreds and thousands sprinkled over either. As for doing all you thinking on a Saturday I think that's the best idea of all. Get it over and done with and then close your brain off for the rest of the week!!!!
    Sue x

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  3. Hiya, Thanks for visiting my blog. You have some gorgeous 'finds' in your previous post. I am *swooning* at your Sanderson fabric!
    I used to have sandwiches with sprinkles as a kid. Buttered white bread covered in sprinkles and we called it Angel bread. We used to have sugar sandwiches too Eww! I also liked 'Chop' brown sauce sandwiches aswell X

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  4. Hi there, I am hosting a book swap over on my blog. It is a permanent feature, which will always be on my blog, it is not a one off, like the rose theme swap I'm hosting. I have listed a load of my books which I am willing to swap, take a look, there may be some you fancy. If you would like to list books which you no longer want, and are willing to swap, just contact me at rosehyacinth@hotmail.co.uk, or leave a comment on my blog, with your name, the name of your blog and the books you wish to swap, and I will type them up and post them on the swap page, so the more and more people who participate, the wider the range of books there will be to choose from, and remember, it will always be there on my blog.
    Take Care
    Love Melanie xxx

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