I have a facebook account (with bare minimum information given) but I hardly ever use it. I'm sure there was a good reason for setting it up at the time but I can't remember what it was. Every time I log in, I get a load of emails from people I never heard of, wanting to be my friend. Is it curmudgeonly to find that slightly creepy, kind of like a stranger in the street asking if they can be my friend? I don't mind a good morning or passing the time of day or random chat, but generally I would expect to get to know someone at least a little bit before I would describe them as a friend. Maybe it means something different these days.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
I made a sort of stollen with brioche dough, fruit soaked in rum left over from the xmas cake, and used a Lidl marzipan rum and pineapple log coated in choc shoved in the middle. Seems to be OK. It's getting eaten as fast as I can make them. I don't dredge them in icing sugar. Have to make some calorie savings somewhere.
When we moved here 10 years ago, there was a bank in the village. And a post office. Both are no longer there, although the PO is now in the Spar shop so there is one, at least, albeit rather less welcoming. The banks in the two nearby towns have now also closed. The nearest one now is in Exeter, which is 45 minutes drive away. We do ours online.
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I love marzipan but only with natural ingredients. I have never tried stollen. There's a recipe in my bread maker booklet and I still have the Lidl ones unopened. Sounds like I might have a treat in store.
I was waiting for delivery from UPS of a xmas pressie for OH on Saturday. It was loaded onto their van 8am Saturday morning. Delivery time changed on Saturday evening after it was due to "by end of day" but still never arrived. Around midnight it was updated to say now due by end of day Tuesday. Today that has changed again to "delayed" with no date for delivery due to "shipping conditions" whatever that means.
@steephill When something similar happened to us it turned out that what they meant was that they'd broken the parcel. They did eventually deliver it when we were out and it looked as if it had been squashed by having something heavy dropped on it!
I'm fairly sure some Hermes drivers must be running parcel theft schemes this year. Our regular driver has disappeared, presumably isolating, but quite a number of parcels from large retailers have gone missing this year. It makes me wonder though what happens if Hermes refuses to pay out on insurance. Are they still charging the drivers for the loss or do they all just shrug their shoulders and trust that the stuff doesn't just end up on Ebay in a few weeks?
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
My wife was expecting a parcel from The Body Shop which never turned up. They investigated and Hermes said it was delivered. They even sent us a nice picture of part of a random house and driveway that clearly wasn't ours. No house number or parcel in the photo though. A replacement was sent out which also got 'lost' but this time no photo. In the end they just refunded her and told her she'd have to re-order. The third delivery turned up fine but the driver had been changed and there's been no sign of the previous one since.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
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“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”