Whenever I'm in the US or the UK, whenver I hear someone speaking something other than English, I tend to inadvertently tune in. Then I end up purposely tuned in, trying to guess what they're speaking. Here in my corner of Essex I occasionally hear German speakers, actually more often than I hear American English speakers here.
In the late evenings I often stop by Tesco on my walks around. It's a great time to shop as the store is virtually empty and the late night markdowns are superb. I noticed a couple doing 'the circuit', which is a path through the store stopping at the various locations where marked down goods are located. I short circuited the path and worked backwards and we overlapped in the meat/cheese/dairy markdown corner.
I could hear them speaking softly next to me. He was reviewing the instructions on one of the packages with her, explaining the English text to her...in German.
My curiousity got the better of me so I had to ask in German where they were from, and we had a short conversation then. The husband asked, 'Oh are you from Germany?' But of course you'd think that, hearing my stellar accent. That, or he was playing the odds that Germany is the biggest exporter of German speakers. Could be either. ;-)
Today's quiz: Guess where the German speakers were from?
Possible clues:
1. I would estimate them to be around 60 years of age.
2. Everything in their basket was from a marked down section. They were buying ingredients so they obviously had full cooking facilities, so not tourists and on a budget.
3. It was around 20.30 in the evening. My corner of Essex has high flyers who commute daily to London for silly money as well as locals who work in trades in Essex, it's a big mixture who you'll see in Tesco at that hour.
4. Their spoken German wasn't terribly foreign to me.
Any questions? Or take a guess...
Monday, March 29, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
Slocombe the cat in the rooftop garden
Slocombe has her own special corner in the rooftop garden near the door, with two pots of grass at an appropriate cat height:
The grass had planted itself into a corner of a pot and she started to nibble on it, so I gave it a dedicated area and it has flourished. However, I have no idea how grass managed to plant itself, four flights up...but it makes SC happy, so ok, it is a productive member of the garden.
Not one to limit herself, she decided to investigate and give the 'volunteer' garlic greens a little taste as well:
The grass had planted itself into a corner of a pot and she started to nibble on it, so I gave it a dedicated area and it has flourished. However, I have no idea how grass managed to plant itself, four flights up...but it makes SC happy, so ok, it is a productive member of the garden.
Not one to limit herself, she decided to investigate and give the 'volunteer' garlic greens a little taste as well:
Thursday, March 18, 2010
The outside garden so far - strawberries!
The main reason I bought this flat in the UK is probably because of the roof terraces. When I lived in Cologne I had a beautiful ground floor flat with a fenced in back garden but being inside the courtyard it was too shaded and wet in rainy DE, nevermind the city rats which ate anything I managed to get growing.
In NRW the Balkon was great but I was maxed on space. Everything had to be planned and studied and even then there was only room for two people at one time due to my plant maximization. :-)
So here I am absolutely delighted at the amount of outside space I have. Even moreso, I've been surprised and pleased of the heat capture up here. Last year my top plants weren't the zucchini or cucumbers like in DE. Here, my top producer were the peppers, in particular the hot variety. I grew them on a whim and they thrived on the hot concrete stones next to the wall which absorbed the heat during the day. It may have well been Spain up here some days. ;-)
This year, I experimented with overwintering my strawberries from last year. In DE my Balkon was standalone and uncovered so the winter items took the brute of the cold and wet weather. The only thing which could withstand the winter was my lavender bush. Here, I took a chance on the strawberries which produced runners last year. I set them into any spare pots I could find and moved them into the sunniest sheltered corner.
Then I bit my nails when they got repeatedly covered in snow, that it would do in their fledgling roots in the tiny pots.
As I work from home, I make an effort to break away from the pc at least once during the day. Now that the weather has been warmer, i try to go out for 15 minutes around mid-day to take advantage of it. After a week I've been able to get the strawberries re-potted into their homes for this summer and to start some seeds under my makeshift mini-greenhouses (re-purposed plastic food containers).
I did lose a few small plants to the winter weather, but all of the strawberry plants here (excluding the ones in the red bag from last year) are my 'first years'. In total I have 10 baby strawberry plants and the three from last year who are already getting new leaves in this warmer weather. Don't they look simply divine?
In NRW the Balkon was great but I was maxed on space. Everything had to be planned and studied and even then there was only room for two people at one time due to my plant maximization. :-)
So here I am absolutely delighted at the amount of outside space I have. Even moreso, I've been surprised and pleased of the heat capture up here. Last year my top plants weren't the zucchini or cucumbers like in DE. Here, my top producer were the peppers, in particular the hot variety. I grew them on a whim and they thrived on the hot concrete stones next to the wall which absorbed the heat during the day. It may have well been Spain up here some days. ;-)
This year, I experimented with overwintering my strawberries from last year. In DE my Balkon was standalone and uncovered so the winter items took the brute of the cold and wet weather. The only thing which could withstand the winter was my lavender bush. Here, I took a chance on the strawberries which produced runners last year. I set them into any spare pots I could find and moved them into the sunniest sheltered corner.
Then I bit my nails when they got repeatedly covered in snow, that it would do in their fledgling roots in the tiny pots.
As I work from home, I make an effort to break away from the pc at least once during the day. Now that the weather has been warmer, i try to go out for 15 minutes around mid-day to take advantage of it. After a week I've been able to get the strawberries re-potted into their homes for this summer and to start some seeds under my makeshift mini-greenhouses (re-purposed plastic food containers).
I did lose a few small plants to the winter weather, but all of the strawberry plants here (excluding the ones in the red bag from last year) are my 'first years'. In total I have 10 baby strawberry plants and the three from last year who are already getting new leaves in this warmer weather. Don't they look simply divine?
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Spring cometh
Now that I've lived in the UK for a year and experienced the weather and a summer of gardening, I'm a little wiser this year of what I should plant where and when.
I am very lucky being on the top floor with unblocked sunlight that I think I'm getting the full brunt of spring a little bit earlier than people with houses, they still have a bit of a wet frost on the ground in the mornings.
Also, as I'm taking a trip to the US next month and need to have the second in commands doing occasional watering, I need to have things in a position of being as self-sufficient as possible, rather than saddling them with the extra care of seedlings...
On Saturday I started my first seeds for the inside kitchen windowsill:
And today, here are the first to action:
I didn't mark the containers, that's part of the fun for me. I have five containers out:
1. oregano
2. basil
3. hot peppers
4. lettuce mix
5. tomatoes
I've now devised little cardboard stilts in this container to keep the leaves away from the clingfilm as it does get rather warm in the sun. In the meantime I'm getting the outside area ready so that once they're a little larger and it's a little warmer for certain, I'll be able to plant these outside.
I am very lucky being on the top floor with unblocked sunlight that I think I'm getting the full brunt of spring a little bit earlier than people with houses, they still have a bit of a wet frost on the ground in the mornings.
Also, as I'm taking a trip to the US next month and need to have the second in commands doing occasional watering, I need to have things in a position of being as self-sufficient as possible, rather than saddling them with the extra care of seedlings...
On Saturday I started my first seeds for the inside kitchen windowsill:
And today, here are the first to action:
I didn't mark the containers, that's part of the fun for me. I have five containers out:
1. oregano
2. basil
3. hot peppers
4. lettuce mix
5. tomatoes
I've now devised little cardboard stilts in this container to keep the leaves away from the clingfilm as it does get rather warm in the sun. In the meantime I'm getting the outside area ready so that once they're a little larger and it's a little warmer for certain, I'll be able to plant these outside.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Another visitor
Winter here has been trundling along. I was recently back on the continent (not DE) for a work trip, but otherwise I'm trying to hold on for spring seedling plantings.
A few months back I mentioned that I occasionally host visitors via hospitality club. My corner of Essex is convenient to Stansted and all of the cheap Ryanair and Airberlin flights for people looking for a short hop on the way into London or to explore Essex.
Tomorrow I have a Brazilian arriving from Poland, for one night before returning to Poland. He has spent a few weeks in Poland and got one of those ultra cheap flights so he's coming to the UK for one night. He has never been to the UK so he's looking forward to a massive front of English. (I didn't mention to him that I speak 'American' English and Ian speaks 'British' English. This should be enough to blow his mind.)
In additon, under interests he's listed WW2 books. A Brazilian with WW2 interests, this promises to be interesting. I offer a couch and a vegetarian meal and he enthusiastically accepted both and looks forward to his first trip to England; this should be good fun.
A few months back I mentioned that I occasionally host visitors via hospitality club. My corner of Essex is convenient to Stansted and all of the cheap Ryanair and Airberlin flights for people looking for a short hop on the way into London or to explore Essex.
Tomorrow I have a Brazilian arriving from Poland, for one night before returning to Poland. He has spent a few weeks in Poland and got one of those ultra cheap flights so he's coming to the UK for one night. He has never been to the UK so he's looking forward to a massive front of English. (I didn't mention to him that I speak 'American' English and Ian speaks 'British' English. This should be enough to blow his mind.)
In additon, under interests he's listed WW2 books. A Brazilian with WW2 interests, this promises to be interesting. I offer a couch and a vegetarian meal and he enthusiastically accepted both and looks forward to his first trip to England; this should be good fun.
Thursday, March 04, 2010
More on my frugal grandparents
I mentioned my frugal Polish grandparents before. Last night on the way home from class I stopped in Tesco at the 11th hour just before they shut; it's the best time to get the markdown bargains. While wandering around the store a long forgotten memory outed itself, so I thought I'd share it with you.
As the youngest, I only remember my grandparents as retired. They came of retirement age when Social Security solvency issues weren't on the horizon and companies still provided pensions. Still, they planned carefully and grew vegetables all summer and shopped at the supermarket on senior citizen day to maximize their purchasing power.
In addition, there was a large regular flea market located nearby which was open on Mondays. It was a super place, open year round, mainly outdoors with a small indoor building for the antiques dealers and some food stalls. You could buy anything at this flea market which was casually known around town as 'The Sale'. You could get a table as a regular trader and sell new or used items, or you could get a special table for a week or two if you had a big house clean-out. In addition, there were regular weekly auctions.
Pretty much everything was sold as The Sale. Furniture, books (my first Nancy Drew books came from there), vegetables and flowers from the local Amish communities, clothing, sports items, old postcards, whatever. It was a fun mix of anything and everything.
On public holidays we had to get up and out of the house at the crack of dawn to be there before 7 AM as the parking lot would fill up with all the 'non-regulars'. Winter was an interesting time as well, as there were few buyers we had to go for the bargains, all bundled up at the crack of dawn. We would walk around for an hour or so, and then I would have french fries around 8 AM, my reward for the foolishness of the activities.
During the rest of the year, The Sale was frequented by people who didn't work--people on disability or mothers with small children, or the core community: senior citizens, particularly males, my grandfather included. Usually they'd show up and have a wander around the outside tables and then meet up for a coffee and talk. Many of them showed up with a list of things for buy for the ladies, particularly the vegetable bargains like crates of tomatos or peaches which could be had for a song. I think it was more for the camaraderie than anything else, that they got out of the house with a mission and a chance to meet and mingle without the women-folk.
Many of them would attend the auctions which were an interesting affair. There were a few actions running simultaneously, usually each area had a theme. One was furniture, another was glassware, another was books, another was random things, and on and on. During the busiest periods there would be quite a few, during off periods, perhaps they'd be down to one or two. The auctions started at 07.00 sharp, although things would be existing on the tables in advance with lot numbers, that you could examine the goods before they were up for buying. These were really casually affairs which took place next to the building, under the vast awning but still outdoors.
Then, you could flit between them based on the lot number, or you could try your luck at the random one. As the day went on they heated up, but around lunchtime sellers would start to pack up and go home and people would too. That was when the best bargains would come up however, because they had orders to move all of the goods. So if something didn't move it would get thrown into a box. Then, boxes would start to get combined (usually by like areas) and would start at 50 cents and go up from there. Sometimes you had no idea of what was in the box exactly, except that it was a box of books, for example.
I still remember a very good school friend, his German born mother would go to the auctions. One day she bid on a box of 'carrying things'--a suitcase, a few backpacks, some purses, etc. She ended up paying 1.50 for the lot. Later, she found over 2 USD in the various pockets of the items, so she made a profit on her purchase. This was what The Sale was all about.
Now that you have the background setting, here comes the real story:
My cousin and I were at our grandparents house, with Grandmom. Grandad had gone early to The Sale. He came home with a gleam in his eyes.
Grandad: You'll never guess what I got today!?!
Grandmom: It had better be seeds like I asked you to get.
Grandad: Yes, yes, I got those, but guess what I got at the auction? (Noticeably pleased with himself.)
(Grandmom already steeling herself for the worst. While she was frugal, she did not put up with clutter in 'her' house. He could store as much as he wanted in his basement lair, however.)
Grandmom: Yes?
Grandad: (whipping out a pair of burgandy colored trousers from behind his back) Look!
(They were boys knee-length trousers like here, called knickerbockers)
Grandmom: Stanley! What is heaven's name is the point of this?
Grandad: Aren't they great!?!
Grandmom: Stanley!!! Our parents left Poland for a reason. What are you possibly going to do with those as they certainly won't fit You, and I doubt your grandson would want to be seen wearing those!
(My cousin looks up now from where we were playing)
My cousin: Boys don't wear pink!
Grandad: They're burgandy. Or maroon. AND THEY WERE FREE! (Grandad beside himself with glee.) And I got over 40 pairs. Can you believe they were throwing them out, that no one would buy them at the auctions?
Grandmom: Yes, actually, I can imagine that no one would want to buy a World War 1 era pair of pants. And what are you going to do with those, exactly?
Grandad: Well....I was thinking....Father Cranky-pants was mentioning that we need to give to the Catholic Charities clothing drive for East Europe. (This was before the fall of Communism in Poland in 89.)
Sidenote: We had three Catholic priests at the time in our church: Father Cranky-pants predicted doomsday destruction for everyone. 'The new priest' was a nice guy who I think was brought in to stem the tide of departing Catholics due to Cranky-pants. And Father Brown was the retired priest who still lived with the others. They would bring him out when the others would go on vacation. He would forget where he was in the service so we would either sit through a repeat of sections of the mass, or an alter boy would direct him forward and we'd then miss parts.
Grandmom: Stan-ley!! The children don't need to be picking up that name from you!
My cousin: That's ok Grandmom, we already know this name.
Grandmom: (under her breath) Heaven help me.
Grandad: (knowing he had her hooked, now just to reel her in.) Since it's for the church, I throught that would be ok. Besides, they had just set them by the garbage bin. They would have gone to the dump. This is good material.
Grandmom: (examining it closely now, she was a seamstress in her career.) yes, this is quality cloth, even if the color is objectionable for a boy.
Grandad: And you know Poland, good quality clothing would be nice to have. If the style is a little off, they can tailor it or make it into something else.
Grandmom: grrrrr. Ok, but they do not come into this house, these moth-bitten clothes. They stay in the trunk of the car. And you need to sneak them into the donation box, I do not want to be associated with these shenanigans.
What I learned from such experiences with my grandparents, was to be generous when you found a bargain, especially when it required little effort from you to make a bigger positive impact to someone else. And to go after bargains with an intent, when you knew they would benefit someone else. And the other main point which always came up with this generation--something usable should never be send to the garbage! Ultimately, I think this was what won over my grandmother...
As the youngest, I only remember my grandparents as retired. They came of retirement age when Social Security solvency issues weren't on the horizon and companies still provided pensions. Still, they planned carefully and grew vegetables all summer and shopped at the supermarket on senior citizen day to maximize their purchasing power.
In addition, there was a large regular flea market located nearby which was open on Mondays. It was a super place, open year round, mainly outdoors with a small indoor building for the antiques dealers and some food stalls. You could buy anything at this flea market which was casually known around town as 'The Sale'. You could get a table as a regular trader and sell new or used items, or you could get a special table for a week or two if you had a big house clean-out. In addition, there were regular weekly auctions.
Pretty much everything was sold as The Sale. Furniture, books (my first Nancy Drew books came from there), vegetables and flowers from the local Amish communities, clothing, sports items, old postcards, whatever. It was a fun mix of anything and everything.
On public holidays we had to get up and out of the house at the crack of dawn to be there before 7 AM as the parking lot would fill up with all the 'non-regulars'. Winter was an interesting time as well, as there were few buyers we had to go for the bargains, all bundled up at the crack of dawn. We would walk around for an hour or so, and then I would have french fries around 8 AM, my reward for the foolishness of the activities.
During the rest of the year, The Sale was frequented by people who didn't work--people on disability or mothers with small children, or the core community: senior citizens, particularly males, my grandfather included. Usually they'd show up and have a wander around the outside tables and then meet up for a coffee and talk. Many of them showed up with a list of things for buy for the ladies, particularly the vegetable bargains like crates of tomatos or peaches which could be had for a song. I think it was more for the camaraderie than anything else, that they got out of the house with a mission and a chance to meet and mingle without the women-folk.
Many of them would attend the auctions which were an interesting affair. There were a few actions running simultaneously, usually each area had a theme. One was furniture, another was glassware, another was books, another was random things, and on and on. During the busiest periods there would be quite a few, during off periods, perhaps they'd be down to one or two. The auctions started at 07.00 sharp, although things would be existing on the tables in advance with lot numbers, that you could examine the goods before they were up for buying. These were really casually affairs which took place next to the building, under the vast awning but still outdoors.
Then, you could flit between them based on the lot number, or you could try your luck at the random one. As the day went on they heated up, but around lunchtime sellers would start to pack up and go home and people would too. That was when the best bargains would come up however, because they had orders to move all of the goods. So if something didn't move it would get thrown into a box. Then, boxes would start to get combined (usually by like areas) and would start at 50 cents and go up from there. Sometimes you had no idea of what was in the box exactly, except that it was a box of books, for example.
I still remember a very good school friend, his German born mother would go to the auctions. One day she bid on a box of 'carrying things'--a suitcase, a few backpacks, some purses, etc. She ended up paying 1.50 for the lot. Later, she found over 2 USD in the various pockets of the items, so she made a profit on her purchase. This was what The Sale was all about.
Now that you have the background setting, here comes the real story:
My cousin and I were at our grandparents house, with Grandmom. Grandad had gone early to The Sale. He came home with a gleam in his eyes.
Grandad: You'll never guess what I got today!?!
Grandmom: It had better be seeds like I asked you to get.
Grandad: Yes, yes, I got those, but guess what I got at the auction? (Noticeably pleased with himself.)
(Grandmom already steeling herself for the worst. While she was frugal, she did not put up with clutter in 'her' house. He could store as much as he wanted in his basement lair, however.)
Grandmom: Yes?
Grandad: (whipping out a pair of burgandy colored trousers from behind his back) Look!
(They were boys knee-length trousers like here, called knickerbockers)
Grandmom: Stanley! What is heaven's name is the point of this?
Grandad: Aren't they great!?!
Grandmom: Stanley!!! Our parents left Poland for a reason. What are you possibly going to do with those as they certainly won't fit You, and I doubt your grandson would want to be seen wearing those!
(My cousin looks up now from where we were playing)
My cousin: Boys don't wear pink!
Grandad: They're burgandy. Or maroon. AND THEY WERE FREE! (Grandad beside himself with glee.) And I got over 40 pairs. Can you believe they were throwing them out, that no one would buy them at the auctions?
Grandmom: Yes, actually, I can imagine that no one would want to buy a World War 1 era pair of pants. And what are you going to do with those, exactly?
Grandad: Well....I was thinking....Father Cranky-pants was mentioning that we need to give to the Catholic Charities clothing drive for East Europe. (This was before the fall of Communism in Poland in 89.)
Sidenote: We had three Catholic priests at the time in our church: Father Cranky-pants predicted doomsday destruction for everyone. 'The new priest' was a nice guy who I think was brought in to stem the tide of departing Catholics due to Cranky-pants. And Father Brown was the retired priest who still lived with the others. They would bring him out when the others would go on vacation. He would forget where he was in the service so we would either sit through a repeat of sections of the mass, or an alter boy would direct him forward and we'd then miss parts.
Grandmom: Stan-ley!! The children don't need to be picking up that name from you!
My cousin: That's ok Grandmom, we already know this name.
Grandmom: (under her breath) Heaven help me.
Grandad: (knowing he had her hooked, now just to reel her in.) Since it's for the church, I throught that would be ok. Besides, they had just set them by the garbage bin. They would have gone to the dump. This is good material.
Grandmom: (examining it closely now, she was a seamstress in her career.) yes, this is quality cloth, even if the color is objectionable for a boy.
Grandad: And you know Poland, good quality clothing would be nice to have. If the style is a little off, they can tailor it or make it into something else.
Grandmom: grrrrr. Ok, but they do not come into this house, these moth-bitten clothes. They stay in the trunk of the car. And you need to sneak them into the donation box, I do not want to be associated with these shenanigans.
What I learned from such experiences with my grandparents, was to be generous when you found a bargain, especially when it required little effort from you to make a bigger positive impact to someone else. And to go after bargains with an intent, when you knew they would benefit someone else. And the other main point which always came up with this generation--something usable should never be send to the garbage! Ultimately, I think this was what won over my grandmother...
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