“Polly put the kettle on, we'll all have tea”

We have a very confusing little mystery and in the absence of Hercule Poirot, Robbie has been investigating. Just after Christmas I noticed that my tea had a funny taste, at first I thought it was just my imagination but then Robbie noticed that his coffee tasted a bit odd too. He insisted that the problem could be traced back to his mishap on Boxing Day when a bottle of vanilla essence launched itself out of the cupboard and spilled on to the worktop. He thought that some of the vanilla essence must have gone into the kettle, it seemed a bit of a long shot, but it could have been the cause of the trouble. After a couple of days I made a close inspection of the inside of the kettle and found that it was a bit greasy. I gave it a good clean and rinsed it about twenty times before drying it with a paper towel, but I didn't have a chance to test it before I went to work. 

When I got home from work Robbie made me a cup of tea and to my dismay it still had a horrible taste. More detective work followed which led to us replacing the kettle in case there was something wrong with the other kettle. The first cup of tea seemed a bit better but then things went down hill and the nasty taste was back. I tasted the water from the cold tap and it seemed fine, but the water in the kettle had a horrible taste so the mystery deepened. 

We had almost given up hope, but earlier this evening Robbie showed me the jug that he uses to fill the kettle. I always fill the kettle straight from the tap, but Robbie is a creature of routine and he insists that the correct way to do it is to use a jug. Unfortunately the jug that he uses is the old plastic measuring jug that I use to make gravy etc. It always gets washed up but I think it must be the jug that is tainting the water, I will replace it when I go shopping, but from now on Robbie will use a glass jug to fill the kettle. We have had two decent cups of tea since replacing the jug so we have our fingers firmly crossed. I hope we have solved the problem

Raindrops keep falling on my head ......

I am so fed up with all this rain, I am thinking of changing my name to Noah! Even when it is not raining heavily it seems to be constantly damp and miserable. We have floods in various places, two caravan parks at Billing and Cogenhoe and some other properties have been evacuated. Sheep and cattle have had to be evacuated from flooded fields and in the park the lake has flooded and paths and benches are hidden under water.The ducks and water birds seem to be enjoying their newly enlarged lake, but for the rest of us the conditions are depressing. So why when we have more water than we no what to do with, do we still have someone from the government saying that we will be getting our water from standpipes in the street if we have another dry winter? It is all very well for the water companies to say it is the wrong kind of rain and telling us that it just runs away. Rain is rain, too much of it causes floods and creates havoc. Of course water soaks away gradually, but it us up to the water companies to collect it and store it, heaven knows we pay them enough!

This photo was taken yesterday looking towards Weston Mill from near Bedford Rd in Northampton. On the left is the River Nene, on the right is the flood storage area (usually you can walk on this land). That is a lot of water! 

It is exactly 14 years since we had another very wet April, apparently we had 3.5 x the average rainfall for that month and according to news reports a whole months worth of rain fell in one day in April. On the night of 9th April there were terrible floods in the town and there was no advance warning. 2500 homes were flooded and 2 lives were lost. There had been no serious flooding in the town since 1939. The reasons for the 1998 flood were complex, but building on the flood plain certainly played a part. Since then a lot of work has been done to protect the vulnerable areas of the town. Without that additional protection Billing and possibly other parts of our town would have suffered serious flooding again this year. It does seem that 'the powers that be' have got their act together in respect of flood protection. Now we need the water companies to do the same in terms of water storage. It is a nonsense that we are up to are eyes in water yet we still have a hosepipe ban!

Paddling

I had big plans for Friday, I don't go to work on a Friday so it feels like 'my day'. I always look forward to Fridays but almost every week something happens to spoil it, but this week I really shouldn't have bothered to get out of bed.

Sam was grumpy as he got ready for school (which is nothing unusual) but we managed to leave the house on time. We had only got as far as the drive when Sam 'split his difference' and had to go dashing back into the house in search of more school trousers. Thankfully it didn't take him long to change and he got to school in good time. That is the third pair of trousers he has written off in the same way this year! I don't know how he does it, the trousers are not too small and I haven't noticed Sam waving his legs around like Kenny Everett so I guess it will remain one of life's unsolved mysteries. Oh well at least M&S have a 3 for the price of 2 offer on school uniform.

When I got home after dropping Sam off, I walked in to find that the washing machine pipe had come out and it had flooded the kitchen. I felt like running away. I spent the next couple of hours paddling as I mopped up the water and tried to sort out everything that had got wet. It was like fighting a loosing battle, I thought I would never get back to normal. The water had even got into one of the kitchen cupboards, I had to take a break before dealing with that, but I was still scrubbing late into the evening - it would have been easier to go to work!

The Sights You See ...................

Now I know why they say that you should be careful what you wish for. I am fairly used to sharing the house with assorted teenagers (and a 36 year old who closely identifies with his inner child!) so I am used to challenging behaviour of one kind or another. I have been wishing that a certain 14 year old would grow out of his aversion water, and that our daily battles about having a shower would be a thing of the past. My wish came true! He has discovered the joys of soap in a big way. Every time I go into the bathroom it looks as if there has just been a tidal wave, there are so many lotions and potions around the bath that it it takes me ages to move everything before I clean the bath. He uses so much shampoo, shower gel, deodorant, aftershave and assorted smelly stuff that breathing apparatus is required before entering the bathroom, but there is something even worse than all that. He balances a great big mirror behind the taps at the edge of the bath! The last thing I want is to sit and look at myself when I am in the bath, and when Robbie is in the shower - no I will not go on, some images are just shouldn't be imagined. I keep removing the mirror and it keeps mysteriously reappearing. I almost find myself longing for the old days!

Chaos on the Coventry Corridor

This morning I decided to have a nice relaxing bath. The bathroom is about the only place in the house that I can have a few minutes peace, and even then it is not guaranteed. The bath water was lovely and warm and I lay back in the bath with my eyes closed listening to the radio and enjoying the luxury of the moment. Suddenly I became aware of a presence looming over me, he stood there hands on hips with indignation etched on his face. His lips were moving but I was getting no sound (bliss!) there was water in my ears but as I moved my head my hearing returned in time to hear the 'headline' Chaos on the Coventry Corridor. Robbie was pleased that he hadn't been at work today because there had been delays and confusion on the line. He told me in detail about each delay and the reasons for it, but I will spare you the detail. I have (mostly) enjoyed having Robbie at home and I will miss him when he goes back, but it will be nice to have a bit of peace!