VILLAGE POLITICS........or THE VANITY OF A TIME SERVING LIBERAL!

I recently told you of a village controversy concerning the demolition of a row of perfectly good small houses available for rent to make way for a few very large ones to be sold for a fat profit., well the storm created by this action still rages.

This morning my letterbox was damaged when the Local Councillor and chief architect of the atrocity stuffed through it a large glossy pamphlet, which remunerated her recent “triumphs” and catalogued all the hard work she claims to have carried out on our behalf during the past month.

This epistle, known locally as” The Monthly Liar” is filled with photographs of our lady councillor as she flits about the borough like Batman doing good deeds(sic).

It is filled with glaring inaccuracies, overstatements and self aggrandising tales of the ladies deeds of daring do! She uses every local problem as a photo opportunity, rocks up, has her picture taken, promises to take action and then……...does nothing.

Irritated beyond measure I sent an e mail to her office asking them what it cost to publish this news letter and where the money to pay for it's publication came from.

I recently crossed swords with the lady in question and found her hectoring and evasive. Unable to answer most of my questions she blustered and prevaricated, but said nothing to the point.

The few comments she did make turned out, on investigation to be, shall we say, inaccurate?

Her tactic is to bully people into agreeing with her, she was most put out to find that it did not work with me and was obliged to retire worsted from the field.

I was particularly angry today as I discovered this morning that a young family of our acquaintance are being forced to leave the village as their tenancy of some years standing has been terminated and they have been unable to find affordable accommodation locally. This sad event is taking place at a time of year which makes their circumstances even more poignant.

Their little boy will have to go to a strange school and the family will lose a much needed support network of friends and relations and the mother will lose her part time job, it is tragic.

The contrast between our smug councillor and this sad little family was, I fear to much for my temper and I “Let rip” I do not regret a single word..

By the time Christmas comes they will have moved from their pretty little cottage in the village, to a dreary flat in a nearby town and I am not just angry, I am incandescent.

When the Housing association sold the land to a local builder they made a good deal of money, The Local Authority claim that this decision was not their responsibility, but the decision to build large expensive houses was. The entire affair has been suspect from start to finish!

As always it is the little people who suffer when politics goes rogue and even when everything is above board the amount of red tape makes dealing with the Local Authority almost impossible, as any attempt to communicate with them via their web site will prove.

It is time that Local Authorities in general and council officials in particular were made to understand that they are the servants of the rate payers, not their masters!

GOODBYE AND GOOD LUCK TO ALL

Here I am,back just once more ,after which “Avies Small World” will be no more for within a few short days I shall be leaving my old home for ever.

There is little left now of the lovely kitchen garden,the Damson tree is cut down,the strawberry patch is over grown and the bulldozers have laid waste to everything else. Only the old apple tree has survived the developers zeal and is heavy with ripening fruit .

A high fence has been put in place to separate us from the orchard and now I can only see it through a small window in my bedroom,truly,I prefer not to look.

My worsening health has kept me from even the smallest gardening task,so I had thought to watch my beloved Bee Garden become overgrown,but no, my sweet lovely and remarkably kind young neighbour has kept it looking wonderful,mowing the grass,edging the paths and battling with the weeds. Bless her dear heart,she is a new mum,works part time and yet still finds a little time to help me,I have no words to express my gratitude.

About a month ago a much needed knee replacement was cancelled because my health was not good enough to permit surgery, my disappointment was profound,I cried for about a week,,,,what a wuss!!!!

You see I really have very little to cry for,thanks entirely to my dear son .Soon he will be moving to a lovely country house in deepest rural Shropshire and to my everlasting joy and amazement he is insistent that Pa and I go with him.

He has found a beautiful home for us all,there is even a ready built tree house for Twiggy to compensate her for the one she lost when the Damson tree was felled.

Eleven days from now I shall be sitting in the garden of my new home and I can scarce believe my good fortune, It is as if a good fairy gave me three hundred wishes and honoured all of them.

I shall miss my small world, but it is a world which exists now only in my minds eye and in the many photographs taken over the years.

I shall miss my friends whose kindness to me during the past months has been far beyond the call f duty!

I shall make new friends ,and with the help of a gardener to do the heavy work I hope, by next Spring to be pottering about in my greenhouse sowing the seeds of a new kitchen garden.

I hope to enjoy using the wonderful range cooker in my new kitchen and I hope with all my heart to begin a new blog,a blog which like this one captures the days small triumphs and tragedies of an ordinary family.

It will be a true country blog filled with the changing seasons and the joys that go therewith.

All my happiness as a child stemmed from living in the countryside,now,at last Avie is going home.

GOOD OLD ENGLISH MUTTON

I have always maintained that Mutton was much more tasty than Lamb. Unless you are lucky enough to be able to access Salt Marsh Lamb or Lamb reared on the Welsh mountains Lamb is Lamb is Lamb

Mutton. The taste is richer the colour darker and the fat more mellow. Roasted or stewed it simply cannot be beaten on a clod winters night, served with Dauphin potatoes and a selection of root vegetables,not forgetting of course the most delectable gravy,it's a show stopper!

Recently we learned to our delight that a farm shop had opened in a nearby town and my son was dispatched to investigate. He returned with a pound of diced Mutton,a kilo chunk of wild boar and the news that the shop had an online presence, The meat was excellent and on Friday last we took delivery of a large box of goodies from the new butcher.

We had ordered two whole shoulders of Mutton,incidentally do not let any one try and persuade you that Mutton shoulder is full of fat,well reared Mutton is no more fatty than Lamb.

Next we unpacked another kilo piece of wild boar belly, 4 lovely medallions of free range organic pork escalopes, a 2 rib piece of Fore rib roast,two kilos of mutton dice and two dozen beautiful new laid eggs.

The Mutton shoulders were huge and cost...wait for it...£13.00 each. Over the weekend we roasted on of these joints and on the first night we ate it served as I mentioned earlier. The next night I heated some slices of the remaining meat in a dish of rich gravy and this served with mashed potatoes and peas proved every bit as popular. Tonight the remains of this delicious joint made a lovely dinner served with hot mashed potato, home made slaw, sliced beetroot and a salad of diced celery and shredded lettuce, a real winter salad and very good it was.

In all nine good sized servings were provided by the joint with the added bonus of 2 litres of good mutton stock ,made by boiling up the bones for an couple of hours. Add to this for several sumptuous meals for two adored cats and you can see that this kind of meat is far from extravagant.

All the meat in our box was organic and free range and the whole lot cost just £75.00!

A very ordinary piece of Lamb shoulder purchased from a supermarket will set you back around £ 19.00 or £20.00 pounds, will fill your drip tray with fat and is calculated to shrink by about a third. It will not have been hung sufficiently nor will you be able to determine what it has been given as feed. It is the fat content of many feeds used in factory production to make the animals grow faster which cause such havoc when eaten by we poor unsuspecting humans!!

It really is a no contest.

Do not rule out organic meat because of it,s price, try a farm shop, you might be surprised. Of course you have to pick and choose according to what is the best value week by week when you make your purchase as some cuts can be expensive.

I recently paid almost £30.00 for a piece of mutton much smaller than the one we had on the weekend so I know it can be expensive but search around on line ,and give your family a wonderful change from the ordinary.

Incidentally if you cook the meat fresh you may freeze any left over meat for another time.

A small amount. Finely chopped makes the best Cornish pasties ever, and of course you can mince some to make a real Shepherds pie. In this way the meat can be made to go even further if your budget is tight.

One more thing any last scraps of cooked mutton are terrific hashed with potato and onion and served with hot tomato sauce.

REASONS TO BE CHEERFULL

Finding myself rather more awake than I have been for some time,and able to sit at my desk I thought I would just pop in and have a gossip.

My good news is that I am to have my operation sometime in May,you may imagine my feelings as I await the day.

A stay in hospital will be necessary of course but hope that it will only be for a few days.

Having failed to convince my G.P. That a clash of medication has cause my recent illness,I have set about taking measures in to my own hands.

I have stopped taking several tablets altogether ,others I am taking in reduced doses, the result...so far.... has been encouraging.

The dreadful swelling in my legs has reduced considerably as have similar swellings in other areas,the sheer weight of which was preventing me from standing up for more that a few moments,and making walking almost impossible.

I feel so light ,and well I might for the weight loss has been quite marked, I am not so exhausted and much less sleepy. Taking a rest in the afternoon seems to be vital at the moment ,days when I do not I suffer for it the following day. For me, any improvement is cause for celebration and I hope my experiment continues to go well.

That's enough of the depressing stuff.

Has n,'t the weather bee glorious, the warm sunshine has brought out bumble bees and the cat Harry spent a merry morning casing them all over the front garden. A Brimstone moth, always an early flier disported itself among the ivy leaves in the afternoon sun.

In the shelter belt the Horse Chestnuts sticky buds have broken in to vivid green leaf and everywhere Hawthorn leaves are appearing, Try adding some to a green salad ,they are lovely and peppery. (Ransoms,) wild garlic abounds and is ,making a welcome addition to our soups ,stews and salads.

My son has practically taken over the kitchen, and a fine job he is making of feeding us all. A succession of fine breakfasts followed by delicious evening meals has flowed from his hands and I confess myself astonished at how much he knows.

Soups, stews, roasts and pies all freshly prepared and much appreciated by those who eat them.

Not having to worry about the cooking has contributed greatly to my peace of mind, making it much easier for me to get the rest which the doctor ordered.

In spite of all this he has managed to publish another book in the “Alamo” series which has been so well received by his readers that he is now in the top 100 sci- fi writers.

His new “Sword and sorcery” book has just come out in paperback and more will follow shortly.

Although I am very much in the state of having to take one day at a time I have hopes that I have turned a corner, buoyed up by the excitement of my sons success, and more important still, his happiness, and cared for so lovingly how can I help but improve.

I have much to be thankful for and believe me when I tell you that I can never be grateful enough for the good things which life has blessed my family and my home.

GOODBYE,FOR NOW.

These days I seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time either ill, or in pain, or both. I dislike giving a catalogue of my ailments and the assorted treatments as it is about as interesting as reading a medical catalogue...with the exception of course of the surgical appliance pages which I find fascinating.........how the hell does anyone manage to function while using the blessed things......?

Did you know that you have to be fitted for a truss, in exactly the way you would be fitted for a bespoke suit of clothes! I kid you not, I once knew a truss fitter, nice chap but inclined to be a trifle whimsical under the circumstances,I often felt.

Enough of this frippery! Finding the time and energy to write anything readable these days is well nigh impossible as I keep on falling asleep. I am still managing to cook family dinner...with a little help but sadly very little more.

The bulldozing of my beloved garden could not have come at a worse time as I was unable to

go out and lie in front of the machine. The beautiful damson tree with the first tips of white flower just beginning to show was hacked down mercilessly,and yes I was dreadfully upset, though seeing everything through a fog of pain may well have saved me from even worse distress.

Please forgive me if I neglect you for a time, shall pop in when ever I can over the next few months.

One piece of terrific news is that my son,who's books are still selling very well indeed has a double release coming up in a couple of weeks. The Adventures of the Battle Cruiser Alamo has found an appreciative and rapidly growing audience. Published by Amazon it is well worth a look if you love Sci Fi.

He also has a Sword and Sorcery novel “Swords of the Damned” out in a week or two.

Thank you all for reading about and for caring about Avies Small World, although it is now even smaller and even though Avie is sick, that lovely little world lives on in the birdsong, and the winter crocus that still star the ground in the the broken orchard.

What is left is still unbelievably sweet.

Frantic Purchasing...

Another tiring day, culminating in a catastrophic blender malfunction! Fortunately another has been purchased and is now on its way...

End of an Era

A very sad day today. The orchard – home of woodpeckers, thrushes, robins, owls and a family of foxes, source of fruits, jams, salads and soups, haven for butterflies and insects and the playing ground of no less than three cats on a regular basis...has been levelled. The trees are almost all gone, the crops destroyed. Very sad day.