This morning we were off to the great shopping extravaganza that goes by the name of The Fort. Before we went I started today’s bread of which more later.
We were out to get a new duvet. One for the spare bedroom. We had taken a few of them away to the skips some weeks ago. This one would replace them. I let Scamp do the choosing because she had a better idea of what she wanted. It was quickly chosen and I volunteered to wait in the queue to pay for it while she went to peruse what was available for the woman about town these days. It’s just so strange to be able to go in to an actual shop and touch things again, rather than page through a listing on a computer screen seeing things in 2D but not being able to imagine what they really look like.
I dumped the duvet in the car and went for a browse in Waterstones. I saw a few books by authors I like, but have missed on shelves in stores that have been boarded up for six months or more. I felt like I’d been marooned on a desert island since some time last year. I didn’t buy anything, but added a few names to my wish lists. We were both window shopping today, I think.
I did buy something in Boots, eventually. I needed a new cutter for my electric razor. I found it without any problem, but when I went to pay it was a different story. After I scanned the offending article and placed it in what I thought was the out tray the computer voice told me to place it in the correct area. So which one is the correct area? Neither of them were marked IN or OUT. I assumed the wrong tray, but without any hint from the machine how was I to know? When I tried to pay I was told to wait for an assistant. The bloke behind me was the assistant and he told me he had to sign me off because the thing I’d bought was a “restricted item”. I asked him why and he told me it was because it was a razor. I tried to complain that it was an electric razor, but to no avail. “Resistance is Useless” as Douglas Adams’ Vogon Captain said! He then took the razor head away to remove the security tag. I told him to be careful he didn’t cut himself but all I got was a blank look. Now he might have been smiling behind the mask, but I don’t think he’d been on the “Smile at the customer” course yet. Boots used to be a good place, now the machines are against you and the assistant don’t assist with a smile.
Back home for lunch. We’d intended going to Costa, but the queue was far too long. Heavens, there was even a queue for Starbucks and they don’t even sell coffee, they sell Starbucks and you probably don’t want to know what’s in that. After lunch Scamp went to post another birthday card. I stayed home and struggled with another hard Sudoku after that, the rain came on. That gave me the incentive to finish this month’s bread which was Challah. It was lovely tasting bread, but oh what a faff to make. Dough was made from flour, yeast, sugar, salt, vegetable oil, two eggs, milk and water. Try kneading that for ten minutes. It’s a tough job being a baker. Anyway, the hard part was still to come. The dough had to be cut into six equal parts and each part was to be rolled out until it was 45cm long. It felt as if it was made of rubber. As soon as I’d stretched it and rolled it out, it shrank back to about half its size. Then the six sausages had to be plaited into a loaf. Mine looked ok, as long as you didn’t look too carefully. I allowed it to rise, then baked it after a final wash with beaten egg. It looked and tasted lovely when it came out he oven. I was impressed.
Went over to St Mo’s to unwind and see if there was anything interesting. PoD finally went to a dandelion trio. One bald one with all the ‘parachutes’ blown away. One with the ‘Dandelion Clock’ still intact and one bright yellow flower still to go through the metamorphosis. A picture of a neat little hoverfly, the first one I’ve captured this year almost made it, but not quite.
Sketch of the day was a pile of dishes which was what the prompt asked for. I was quite pleased with the result.
Tomorrow we have no plans, although the weather looks wet.