Yesterday I took the decision that I would bake the first of this years Christmas cakes this morning, the auspices were good and I had nothing else of consequence to do. Fate, baggage that she is deemed it should be otherwise by inflicting upon ,me a catalogue of unrelated but time consuming events which caused sufficient disturbance to mess up my day. It all began last night.
My son,still unwell was up until very late, trying, silly so and so to keep awake in order to get back to work today, he failed and fell asleep worn out with the pain from his swollen face , he did however manage to keep me awake until past two in the morning. I awake again at four in acute agony from an arthritis flare up in my neck which is now so bad that I cannot turn my head at all. On my way to the bathroom to find the topical pain relief spray my left hip gave way and I fell catching my shoulder on the corner of the bath and as I franticly grasped at a shelf to stop myself falling twisted my shoulder and damaged the muscles in my back.
Thankfully by then both Pa, who had also stayed up late and my son were both fast asleep, I went back to bed, took a large dose of pain killers and tried to sleep myself. This proved impossible until about five a.m when I drifted in to a sleep much disturbed by strange dreams which are a side effect of the medication. I woke at seven thirty and spent twenty minutes attempting to get out of bed which I eventually managed only after much travail.
No one else was stirring, I made myself a coffee and watched the news, all grim as usual. I decided to leave my son to have his sleep out and took Pa a coffee at eight, he opened his eyes and smiled, a gesture which I mistakenly assumed meant that he was conscious ...not so.
I tried again half and our later and kept on trying until my temper finally gave way and I raised a yell that should have awakened the dead.....but not Pa!
My son however did wake up and was concerned to find his poor mama in such a state, we consoled each other with a hot drink and finally at ten forty five Pa regained consciousness.
By the time he was dressed and the porridge made and eaten it was twelve thirty.......so much for making a Christmas cake in the morning.
I packed Pa off to the shops, tucked my son up in bed collected all the necessary ingredients and away I went. The only time I do a Delia and way everything out is when I make a Christmas cake, failure to do this usually results in some vital ingredient being forgotten. This is a fiddling and time consuming business and crippled as I was it took ages, the recipe is an old one and the list of ingredients seemed endless.
I managed to put the cake together, God knoweth how and had it in the oven by one thirty, this meant that dinner would be late but what the hell I was determined. The recipe required my almost constant attendance as the temperature needed to be reduced gradually over a long period , having never baked a cake of this sort in my new oven the whole procedure gave my the jim-jams! Things were going well and at four I poured myself a G&T and spent an hour re arranging the cupboard where the preserves are stored, this activity did nothing to help the pain in my neck and shoulder.
Dinner was to be Cottage Pie as it would be soft enough for my son to eat without trouble
and I peeled the potatoes along with carrots ,parsnips and swede then made cooked off the minced beef and onion, glancing at the clock I saw that the cake would need pt be checked on fifteen minutes, it was at this point that the telephone rang.
I answered the phone very much against my better judgement and only because I knew it was the secretary of our committee and I had already missed a call from her. She had news....lots of news....bad news!!!! Our chairman had announced his resignation, some might say that he has not really been with us for some time, all the same it was a shock.
This means a bloody reshuffle and I dread the chaos that this could cause. Our secretary, who has been doing the chairman’s job for ages is every bit as busy as myself and has family commitments which tie her as well as a full time job.
Then there was the meeting with our MP to discuss the call went on and on and suddenly with an anguished yell I remembered my cake and fled to the oven chucking my mobile phone in to the laundry basket...............Saints be praised.. the cake was not burned ,even so it would have been better had it not been left in the oven for half an hour too long.
I retrieved our secretary from the laundry basket and we agreed to meet tomorrow to discuss our problems at leisure.
Our evening meal went to table much later that I had intended and by the time I had cooked it I could barely stand, leaving Pa to do the dishes.....rash fool that I am ….I sat down at my desk to write this blog. My little cat is snuggled up on my desk and is sound asleep. I feel as if someone had stuck my head upon a brush tail and cannot move my neck at all.
Still I did get the Christmas cake made...I did bugger all else but that is one I can cross off the list, Tomorrow I have a breakfast guest, as well as our secretary in the afternoon, tomorrow can jolly well take care of itself, I am off to bed.
Oh yes, should anyone want ancient recipe for this time consuming cake please let me know and I will post it on a future blog.
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