my photos

jam ...

My poll for April was to get some idea of your favourite jam, the results are in and there is a tie between apricot and raspberry both receiving 25 votes each. Apricot would have got my vote, so apricot wins! Strawberry came in third with 17 votes and other received 12 votes. Of course there are many fruity flavours of jam, but I couldn't include them all in the list!

I am a lover of packaging and I have always bought Hartleys jam for the shape of the jar! You don't get so much for your money but who cares. The flavour I have just finished is gooseberry which is a definite favourite of mine, I have a jar of pineapple on the go, and an unopened jar of damson.

I am not a great lover of strawberry or raspberry jam, but both are nice used in a Victoria Sandwich, along with buttercream.



This is how I eat my jam, on two slices of toast every morning! I really like it on brown thick sliced sunflower seed loaf, both Sainsburys and Somerfield do a good one.

once a chore, always a chore ...

I like this vintage photo, a man ironing! I know some do, but I've never seen one!

The results of my poll are in, and a big thank you to the record number of people who left a vote, wow 51 in total!

It is official, 78% of you said, you do not like ironing, which includes me. More surprisingly though, 21% of you, have said you like ironing! If the poll hadn't finished before the 1st of April, I would have thought you were all having me on, as an April fool!

See 7 ironing mistakes and how to avoid them. I am sure all of you who love ironing will know these golden rules already?

Talking of loving ironing, my mum did, she would have great pleasure in doing so. I couldn't ever understand it, and I would always joke about taking mine round to her place, and she would always say to do so, of course I never did. I am sure she never ever wanted her ironing pile to come to an end, she would even resort to ironing socks and pants, have you ever heard of such a thing!

my photo

we love 'em, good old fish 'n chips ...

An icon of England, and of our close neighbours who go to make up the United Kingdom, our nations favourite takeaway fish and chips is the winner of the Jan/Feb poll receiving 35% of the overall vote. Quite hard to believe in this age of deep-fat frying often being regarded as a less than healthy option! Also there is the issue of dwindling stocks of cod and haddock off our shores too.

Thanks to everyone who voted, including those from overseas who may have made this choice. All along it has been a very close three-horse race and at the winning post Indian came in second receiving 33%, Chinese third with 26%, and fourth American kfc and mcdonalds with 4%.

'The nation's favoured takeaway dish since the late Victorian era, fish and chips has only lately been challenged for supremacy by Indian food. Notwithstanding that, it is what sustained working communities in towns and inner cities, providing filling and nutritious sustenance to those who had to endure long working days. Even in wartime, although supplies might be scarce, fish and chips were never subject to ration.'

my photo

you all love tea ...

From the results of my November poll, tea has been voted the number one drink amongst many of you receiving 65% of the vote. Coffee came in second with 30% of the vote. Drinking neither received 5% of the vote, who was it who justs drinks warm water out there, was it you?

How do you take yours? With tea leaves or bags in a teapot, or just a bag in a mug or in a cup with a saucer, with milk and sugar, without sugar, just with milk, with sugar and lemon, just lemon, or do you drink just plain tea, so many questions? And do you put the milk in first or last? There are many ways to drink tea and many places to drink it, from the humble old greasy spoon to the plush old Ritz!



It looks as though he enjoys a nice cup of tea! I wonder if this photo was taken in a Lyons Tea shop? Within these quaint establishments customers listened to live music, and were served by waitresses dressed as air hostesses called ‘nippies’.

The tea shop tradition began in 1864 when the female manager of the Aerated Bread Company started to serve food and drink to her customers, favouring her most loyal patrons with tea. The idea rapidly spread throughout Britain like wildfire. This was partly because tea shops provided a place where unchaperoned women could meet friends and socialise without damaging their reputations. How coy?



Click on this link to take you to Yorkshire Tea to read the benefits that the good old English cuppa can bring to your health.