Mar
31
2010
2

March books

Beneath the Cassock: The Real-Life Vicar of Dibley by Joy Carroll is a really nice read. Joy Carroll was part of the inspiration behind the character of the Vicar of Dibley as played by Dawn French. It was a good read, partly because Joy seems to be very engaging and there were some real laugh out loud moments. I could see how she would be a fab vicar. It was also an interesting read because it covered some of the conflict around women vicars and the impact this had on the women serving in the church. A good read!

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The Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall-Smith is the next in line of the Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. As with all the book in the series it is not so much the story which makes it special, but the characters int he story. The one thing to say about this book is that with a little help from her friends Mma Ramotswe gets her man – she finally marries him. A lovely read!

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Iris: A Memoir of Iris Murdoch by John Bayley is a really lovely book. Irish Murdoch was a wonderful writer who sadly had Alzheimer’s disease and died in 1999. Her husband John Bayley was wonderfully devoted and pretty much idolised Iris. The tenderness with which he describes caring for her when her health declined was very moving. A very sad book but it was an absolutely lovely read and I would recommend it.

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A Wedding in December by Anita Shreve is an ok read. A group of friends from school all gather at an inn in Masachusetts to celebrate the wedding of one their former schoolmates who sadly has cancer. Each character has their own particular story to tell following their time at school, but they are all linked through the death of of of their friends. During the weekend the truth about this death comes out. It was an ok book but a little bit slow. Not one I would bother reading again.

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Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags: ,
Mar
27
2010
4

The Final Countdown

Well, it’s all very exciting. This time next week I will be a Mrs!

The Mister and I are currently in a guest house in the airport. We fly back to Guernsey tomorrow and I think Mum has a vast schedule of things for us to do next week. She could rival a General for military planning! In fact all my family have been fabulous, from my sister, to my aunts and my Mum. Can’t wait to get home now!!!

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Mar
21
2010
0

Sunday Afternoon Chilling

Well after yesterday’s excitement I am feeling positively knackered. So this afternoon this is mainly what I have been doing… curled up on the sofa with The Mister snoozing. At one point was asleep with my head resting on his lap when Delilah decided we weren’t paying her enough attention so she joined us in a group snuggle. Cute!

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Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags:
Mar
20
2010
8

I have had an absolutely fabulous day! My cousin Chloe and I, along with my friend Anne went to Harrogate. We went to Betty’s Tearoom in Harrogate where we had an amazing (if somewhat expensive!) afternoon tea with champagne. It was delicious, although I thought the sandwiches were rather mediocre, but the cakes were fabulous! I was even given a couple of chocolate hearts by the waitress after Anne told her we were there for my mini-hen-do. Betty’s is wonderful. Beautiful surroundings and fantastic food. You do have to queue to get in though as they don’t take bookings!

After eating yummy food we went to Harrogate Spa where we spent a couple of hours in the rather wonderful spa baths enjoying the heat and the plunge pool as well as the steam room. The baths were renovated a few years ago and they are lovely. They were quite busy today but it wasn’t too bad. We felt very relaxed after a couple of hours in there and now Chloe and I are sitting on my sofa watching a DVD and having eaten lots of pizza! The Mister on the other hand of getting drunk at Leeds Beer Festival for his stag-do. I dread to think what state he might be in by now!

Pics of the day!….

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Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags:
Mar
19
2010
9

Gache Melee

As we have people coming to stay this weekend I decided to do a little bit of baking and I made a Gache Melee (not quite sure how to do the little circumflexy things!)

Gache melee (pronounced gosh may-la) is a Guernsey dish and it is basically apple suet cake. It is truly delicious and can be eaten hot with ice-cream or cold on it’s own. I love it, even though it isn’t exactly healthy! So, here’s the recipe… not all that accurate though but these are the instructions I got from Mum several years ago!

5oz self-raising flour
2oz suet
3oz sugar
1lb cooking apples
1 egg
a bit of nutmeg (a teaspoon or so I guess!)
a bit of milk
a pinch of salt (although I forgot to put this in this time!)

Chop up the apples into smallish pieces and put into a bowl.
Whisk the egg. Add egg, suet, sugar, flour, salt and nutmeg to the apples.
Add a little milk and mix together. I am not sure how much milk I put in… just enough to bind it all together but not enough so it is soggy!

Put in a moderate oven for 1 – 1 1/2 hours.

Serve up and eat! I have to admit that these aren’t exactly magnificent photographs… but why waste time taking pics when you want to eat it!! Yummy!! I have to admit that I usually make double quantities because otherwise it is just not enough!

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Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags: ,
Mar
17
2010
9

Hurray!

I got the job!! I thought I had done an OK interview but I wasn’t sure whether I would get it or not. They originally told me that they would let me know today but the decision was made by 4ish yesterday so they phoned me then. Not sure when I am going to start as they have to take up references and get the CRB check done but at least I can go off on honeymoon knowing that I have something to come back to.

*Big happy dance!!*

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags: ,
Mar
15
2010
5

A couple of prayer requests please

Things are all going well but I do have a couple of requests!

I have a job interview tomorrow for a full-time drug worker position in the homelessness team in the city centre. Looks like it would be right up my street and it would be so nice to get a job sorted for when I return from honeymoon. So prayers for a good interview would be fab.

Also, my flat still has not sold due to the complete incompetence of the council where I used to live. They had coloured in the wrong building on the plans and unfortunately the other people’s eagle-eyed solicitor happened to pick it up! The flat has been sold several times with this error in place but no-one has actually noticed! So now the council has passed this issue from department to department and now someone has to go out and redraw up the plans etc. This problem has already delayed the sale by a couple of weeks and looks like it will delay it by a bit longer. Originally I wanted to have it sold by the end of this month before the wedding but unless a miracle happens it doesn’t look like this is going to happen!

*sigh* – it was all meant to be so straight-forward!

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags:
Mar
09
2010
1

Harrogate Spa…. yum!!!!

I have had an utterly fabulous day. I went to Harrogate, indulged in a little shopping and a spot of lunch and then went to Harrogate Spa. On this occasion I didn’t actually go into the spa bit but went and had three treatments.

I started off with a body scrub and then I was wrapped up in what felt like a bit of plastic sheeting and covered with a few towels. It was the most peculiar feeling. Half way through I wondered if this was what being in a body bag would feel like! It wasn’t entirely unpleasant though, despite the plastic making me sweat and it feeling a bit itchy. However, once I had been in the shower and washed everything off my skin felt fantastic! After that I had a marvellous back, neck and shoulder massage followed by a Vitamin C facial. This last treatment was amazing, although the sensations of different textures on my face such as cold, smooth cleansers, rough flannels, a stick face mask and soft oils was strange, especially when you can’t see what is coming next!

I think I must have had 3 or 4 naps throughout the treatments and it was just lovely to be pampered for a change. I am going back to the Turkish Spa bit in a couple of weeks with Anne and Chloe for a mini hen-do. So will report back on what that was like then!

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags: ,
Mar
02
2010
7

I am still here!

Nope, I haven’t disappeared off the face of the planet, but being unemployed is surprisingly busy! I have been making presents, cleaning the house, cooking and going out to play. Oh I should also add that I have a job interview on 16 March. I would appreciate prayers for this as it could be perfect for me, and would mean that I could start after we return from our honeymoon 🙂

P1020965The weekend before last The Mister and I went over the Manchester. We briefly popped into the museum because Paul wanted to see the giant Ron Mueck statues which were o display. In the evening we went to see Jonatha Brooke and her band play. Despite it being a really small audience it was a fantastic gig, even though the venue was absolutely freezing. Obviously they were relying on lost of body heat to generate warmth! After the gig we popped to see our friends Andy & Norman at their restaurant Ning. If you ever are in Manchester and want to eat fantastic Malysian food I recommend you go and visit them!

P1020972Last weekend The Mister and I took a drive up to Stockton-on-Tees to see Tom and Anne and their brood of children. The main reason for going to visit was for the thanksgiving sergice of their youngest son Mark and as they have asked me to be godmother we thought we should go. Rather conveniently it also tied in with the local beer festival and as Tom’s parents were visiting we were all able to go out and play!

So that just about brings up to date all the exciting news 🙂 We have settled well into the house and today I went for an absolutely gorgeous walk through the woods. With scenery like this who could fail to love this part of the world!!

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Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized |

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