Captains log 1529 28102009

This is a terrible, terrible place. The hallmarks of civilisation are few amongst its people. An eerie silence lingers.

Yes, we have no media.

Today we had a section of the exterior damp-proofed. It had come up as a potential issue on our survey and we’d knocked the price of the house down by most of what it was going to cost to fix, so we’d always known it was going to happen, and had scheduled it in for today. What we didn’t know was:
i) It was a three day job. Day one involved stripping the wall back to the original brick (thankfully in good condition), drilling holes in the wall, filling said wall with silicone, plastering over. Day two is assigned for painting and finishing the wall, and day three for any finishing touches. Good thing I’m OCD enough to need to do things in threes and had taken three days off work!
ii) It would commence at seven am. The drilling started at eight. Both my immediate neighbours have babies. I think they may hate me. I left them cakes from Outsider Tart as a peace offering. I don’t know if it will work.
iii) It would take out our entire media hub, so we are without Internet, Cable or Phone. It’s Trueblood Wednesday! This could not have come at a worst time. Thank God for on demand.

To make the most of the day I decided to have a Bistro le JamTam evening. I don’t think I’ve posted about this before but something the Hubs and I do once a week is have a sit down meal together, in as intimate a surrounding as we can muster in the house. We lay the table, put on some Buble or similar, and I make an effort with the meal. Tonight it’s skate, our current favourite fish. It would’ve been swordfish but apparently that’s endangered now, so my fishmonger delivered a lecture and sent me away with something he knew I’d like. I know the Hubs will be eating a lot of food in the next four days as I guinea pig (GP) him for the Halloween Housewarming, so thought I’d try to keep it simple. Tonight he’ll be having Halloween bread (basically pizzas in Halloween shapes. I don’t think they look like they’re meant to, so he gets to test) to warm up. I’ve made up a sauce as follows. I like it, lets hope he does over the skate, vegetables and some gnocchi:
1 part lemon juice
1 part olive oil
Garlic slivers, thin as possible
Chilli slivers, think as possible
Mint (shredded)
Oregano (I sprinkled dry)


**update** he loved it!