Hobby-horses, birds and books

The OM & I have been battling with technology, as yesterday, we set up the new digital recorder. The division of labour is that he deals with the hardware, and I deal with all the menus, etc., so when nothing appeared on the screen, yesterday, I got all the flak. Then his husbandship got on the phone to our neighbour who's usually ahead of us on this game, and also the Son&H, but neither had any immediate remedy - other than possibly getting an additional aerial. The OM then did a lot of grumbling about not having wanted it in the first place, and didn't know why we'd got it, before exiting the house to play different games with the old technology that lives in his shed. I, in the meantime, looked at everything we'd done, and pushed in a scart lead another 3 or 4mm or quarter of an inch, and switched everything on again, and magically the TV started hunting for programmes to install. Don't tell me I have to start dealing with the behind the screen stuff as well as front of house.

Having just come in from a trip to the bank, buffeted by the wind and chilled by the .. well er, chill, I have been asking myself rhetorically, is this any better than the snow of yestermonth? And why, since the temperature is 7ºC outside, do I still want to put the heating on? Just to remind you this is what it was like the day it snowed in late December, and below are the walks to and from our house to the main road, not long after.

However, today, I was able to ponder on a couple of hobby horses, as I trotted smartly along. One, I was able to share with the assistant in the chemist's shop, when she sold me short-dated aspirin. I told her I was unconcerned about the date, and I was pleased that she agreed that such medicines past their use-by date are unlikely to harm you, they merely may not be quite so effective. The Son&H, some time back, refused anti-histamines, that were past their date. Since the alternative was nothing at all, he would have lost nothing by taking them. Moving onto another tack, I confided that female members of the next generation down, are quite likely to throw out my food when they visit, due to the dates on them - or even, in the case of veg., because they were from an earlier meal. If I want to hold on to some left over spuds for a meal for the OM and myself, I have to speedily hide them. These modern women are ruthless. I mentioned that I believe there is to be a policy change, in that foods may have a 'use by' date on them, but not 'best by'. Foods with 'best buy' may merely not taste so good. That's really not a good reason to chuck out huge amounts of food. Things like ketchup, in any case, don't taste any different to me, well after their best-by date, and you can always add them into a casserole. Hotels and restaurants regularly use up leftovers from the previous day for enriching soups, or simply creating a different dish from them, and I frequently try to do the same.

My other hobby horse was alerted on looking in the jewellery and china shop, and spotting some china figurines of the Meercat - the one in those ads about insurance. Who would have thought this creature would become so popular? What really riled me was seeing a book in some best seller list about - would you believe - the Meercat. It was either just before or just after Alan Sugar's autobiography. Incredible. And to think the public could read any of my books instead.

So while we're on that topic, good news: I now have a cover from Untreed Reads and I hear that my short story, Maggies Plot (no apostrophe) will be published during January. The cover design is one that covers several short stories from the publisher's stable. Untreed Reads, although not welcoming full-length works, apart from submissions from their usual authors, are putting a heavy emphasis in 2011 on short stories and novellas. They would also like to see a lot more Spanish-language titles, so contact them if you have something to submit.


Maggies Plot has some elements of my own garden contained in it, and echoes of my own feelings towards the wild life around me. So it's not a great leap to tell you of my little robin friend, who has visited about twice a day during this cold period. He alights on the window sill and looks through the kitchen window, when I'm there, or sometimes arrives, as I throw out bird food on to the patio. He flies down, as soon as the food touches the ground, and then, because I usually say, 'Just a minute, robin, I'll get you some cheese,' he waits. When I reappear and throw out the portion of cheese, he dives for it, and takes it into the shelter of the hedge. Occasionally, if I'm short of cheese, I spread some wholemeal bread with chicken fat, and throw out small pieces. (I don't suppose he realises it's come from a near relative.) This is a photo taken some other time of a robin on our patio, which may or may not be this year's visitor.