T is for tension, Take That and TT!

It seems ages since I was last here TWITTERING on but we are without internet access in our village and have been for the past few days. It is affecting those of us who use BT Broadband - AOL, Virgin users are not affected so I am using a local cafe's internet facility to catch up here, and more importantly to see what everybody else has been up to.
I can tell you, there has certainly been Tension in the household - the BT problem occurred as we were making our very first sale on Ebay!!! However, I was pleased to see the Aga go to a new home in Hull. A lady had wanted an Aga for years and being the good chap he was, her husband had the winning big on ours. Last night (Monday) he drove up from Hull, together with a trailer to take our beloved Aga to it new home. Yes I was emotional, yes I cried but felt reassured that it would be looked after in the new home. It has been part of our family for 20 years, in fact we bought it during the very first months of moving to our current home so the kitchen seems very strange without it.

I am sure the picture of an Aga is somewhat rose-tinted against the harsh reality of seeing one dismantled, lying in various piles around the kitchen, not to mention the dust and soot. It was all nicely cleaned and hoovered ready for the collection, nearly at the cost of a vacuum cleaner I can tell you! The Aga is packed with an insulating material which looks like grit - certainly of the same size and consistency - but there was tons of the stuff packed around the internal workings - which, to cut a story short managed to escape from the cleaner and distribute themselves around the kitchen - the dust cloud was like something from a science fiction movie and it didn't help my sore throat! Why a sore throat......well on Saturday I had been singing along at the TAKE THAT concert in Sunderland! It was TERRIFIC I can tell you, we had the TIME of our lives.

I think I have just recovered - in TIME to prepare for our annual TRIP over to the Isle of Man TT on Saturday. The arrangements are all made, ferry and hotel booked, Elsie, Freida and Ella booked into their various places of luxury accommodation and neighbours looking after hens.
We are away for 8 days and I am sure we will have a fun time! It will be a good break from the work we have been doing - and indeed on our return the work will resume - talking of resuming work - I guess it is time for me to return home and chisel away at more TILES! The joy of DIY eh?
Watch this space - not sure when I will be back - but as TAKE THAT said - when I am back, I hope I will be Back for Good! lol!
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J - just when you thought all was sorted!

ABC Wednesday is here again

Like many people out there we are concerned about the rising costs of heating our home. Our central heating is oil fuelled. The tank holds 1,000 litres of heating oil - when we first had the oil tank installed it cost £200 for 1,000 litres. This winter we have been paying £300+ for 500 litres. We have gone back to the drawing board and decided NOT to replace the Aga I repeat NOT to replace the Aga. It only heats one radiator - a Rayburn will heat up to 10 radiators and is multi-fuelled. It will run on coal, peat and wood. Whilst when burning wood on it the heat will not be as intense as it would be if we used coal, nevertheless we have a good source of wood and logs in the village.
As Jon is chief heating engineer we went to visit a chap who was selling his Rayburn in order to have a good discussion about the general running and maintenance of such a beast. Jon's eyes lit up at the sight of the various controls - thermostats, knobs, dials, levers, you name it, the Rayburn has it with bells on. Jon liked the idea of managing the efficiency with a twiddle of a few knobs.
The Rayburn is slightly smaller than the Aga but this will not present any problems. Now colour - I am fancying a pistachio/green/aqua one - will fit in nicely with my colour scheme.
If the nice weather continues we may have a period of time where we will let our Aga go out and be dismantled but no hurry just yet. We still have lots to do. Our Aga will be recycled and will be sold on to somebody else probably in part exchange for the refurbished one we will buy. Costs are cheaper than the Aga and should allow us to save considerably on our fuel bills!

Watch this space!

Quick update!

There's a lot of pipe work and electric stuff going on at the moment - the doorway going into the snug had to have a major wire running up it, so this.......

became this!

And just look at my curtains - aren't they wonderful? My neighbour and I have been working away over the past couple of days! These are in the main lounge and will be packed away when we start in there - but we hung them to judge length etc. I am well pleased.

 

Back to more sorting now, the house is upside down but it is to be expected! It is very cold outside so I am quite happy to potter and sort here in the kitchen where the Aga is nice and warm. Jon is draining various radiators/tanks etc etc so the rest of the house is cold!

Watch this space!

About turn!

We are keeping our Aga!
Just getting it tarted up a bit! We had a lengthy discussion last night and decided it had become part of the family. We KNOW the current model - we KNOW how much heat it gives out - were we to replace it with one which did not generate as much heat our plan to knock a door into the snug and share the heat would not work. Also - we would be in trouble if we had a powercut - as we do form time to time. Jon is going to strip it down and recondition the barrell - the main fuel source and this will increase it's efficiency. When the Aga salesman came round he said "They don't make them like this anymore!" and the words kept coming back to me. It was a lot of money and whilst we could afford it we both felt this was not how we normally do things. We only replace something if it breaks or is beyond repair - so there you have it!
The kitchen makeover will now commence - watch this space!

Three things.....big one, expensive one and a small one.

Big one -We have started on the journey of the big DIY adventure (?) here in the Nesbitt household. Yesterday we e-mailed the Planning Department informing them of our idea to change a window for french doors at the front of our house - where we get the sun on an evening. Looking up our drive the window you can see is the one in question, the front kitchen wondow. I had a chat with the voice on the end of the phone, I have her name and direct contact number. This will form part of the building work and this needs to be done first. The other building work involves knocking a doorway from the kitchen to the snug and replacing the kitchen patio door with a door and window - more worktop space under the window.

Expensive one - we have ordered our Aga - it is a brand spanking new one , electric with AIMS fitted. We spent a good time discussing, comparing, deliberating and in the end we went for this option - yes it is cream. We were pleased (as one can be when having ones eyeballs taken out) with the deal we made. Our Aga will return to the big Aga factory in Shropshire where it will be recycled but will come out more stronger and efficient - a bit like a Dr Who moment - I forget what the correct term is - but I know you will understand. To be perfectly honest (am I anything but?) Agas are expensive - we know that but when it came down to it £1,500 was the difference - lots of factors came into the equation but it all boils down to the fact that we got a good price for ours, we bought our new one local (Malton) it has a 5 year warranty! It will be delivered in the summer - I am sure I will let you know when!

Small one - yet very important - I am altering my beloved curtains this weekend and fitting (with the help of my neighbour Anne) these little things - eyelets. I removed the curtain tape from the curtains last night and bought the necessary tape and fittings today. This is my weekend project.! I have never been any good at hanging curtains - so this should be an eye-opener!

Watch this space!

Weekend wandering!

We were out on Aga business today. We thought we had it all sorted really.......we would trade in our current Aga for a reconditioned electric one! Then...................I was doodling about on the laptop and I came across an Aga dealer offering a brand new one at a competative price - so competative it was cheaper than a reconditioned one! We decided to have a drive to Catterick and have a close look at a reconditioned one.
Whilst we were out that way we popped in to see Pat and The Farmer for a coffee! What a lovely day we had. Jon and the Farmer were having a deep discussion about Agas - at one point Jon was on the floor with his head practically inside the Aga! Pat and I were enthusing about the joys of chicken keeping (see Pat's chickens above)

I have the feeling we will we popping in again! Pat and the farmer live so near to a popular biking road we use often and it always nice to know a place where we can stop and warm up!
Yes a great weekend!

Change of plan!

Yesterday we had a drive over to our local Aga Dealer, in Malton, and had a long look at the colours. The cornflower blue has been replaced by a powder blue which didn't do anything for either of us. Navy blue was a possiblility and would have fitted in with the house colour - ie we live in an ex-police house which has navy blue garage doors and guttering, but we felt it was too dark for the kitchen. I was keen on a black one but again too dark. In the end we decided to stay with cream!

The curtains which I am using for the theme throughout the downstairs of the house have a cream background so I will use this as an inspiration for the kitchen cour scheme - so duck egg blue could still feature.

The Aga will be replaced once the weather improves and our current Aga isn't in use. This will be part exchanged, refurbished and sold on by the dealer. The new Aga will be much more efficient as it will have an electronic timer. The Aga Intelligent Management System (AIMS)


The Aga Intelligent Management System (AIMS) is a sophisticated program, which allows you to adjust the output of your Aga to suit your way of life using a remote-control handset. In short, it means that your Aga can sleep when you sleep and only operate at normal power when you need it.

The AIMS program offers you:

· Ultimate flexibility
· Day/Month/Year selection
· Two pre-set active periods each day
· Holiday mode
· Override feature


What can AIMS do for you?

Using the pre-set mode, your 13-amp electric Aga will:
· Cook breakfast in the morning at normal temperature
· Drop to a low temperature during the day
· Return to normal temperature to cook dinner
· Enter slumber mode at the end of the day

Should you go on holiday, the system can also program your Aga to:
· Remain on the lowest energy setting or switch off
· Automatically restart in time for your arrival home

In addition, the holiday mode allows for full day/month/year selection to allow for longer holidays and any program setting. Any program setting can also be easily overridden by the simple pressing of a button on the Aga itself.


I currently have a seperate electric cooker which I use in the summer, but this will be sold as the AIMS system will allow the Aga to be used instead!

Am getting excited now!

Wedgewood Blue - Revamp update!

After much discussion it looks as though we are going for one of these - trading in our solid fuel Aga for a wedgewood blue electric model. We have done the necessary calculations re fuel availability, costing etc and  have taken into consideration both of our initial thoughts - I wnated to keep an Aga - Jon wanted to get away from the dusty dirty atmosphere we have with the solid fuel.

We have measured up the big lounge and as I sit here, Jon is drawing up a model of the room ready for DIY project number 1! I am excited!

A is for Aga!

Our Kitchen

This is our Aga - we bought it second hand 20 years ago and as far as we know we think it's about 54 years old. It is solid fuel (amthrocite) and we have it on in the cold months - which let's face it is most of the year Generally speaking Jon usually lights it around the end of Septemmber/beginning of October and we keep it going (well Jon does) until warm Spring days. As you look at it - the bottom left door is the door which is opened when the ash pan is taken out. The top right door is the hot oven and the bottom right door is the warm oven. The lids on top shield the hotplates - the left one is the hot one and the right one is the simmering one. The black square box behind the hotplates is the entrance from the flu to the chimney, this means any smells go straight up the chimney - burning food and all! If I put something in the oven I have to use a timer so I don't forget about it!

Needless to say, especially when there is a bit of a wind up, the kitchen is warm, very warm and being the frugal person I am, I like to make the most of it. I ALWAYS wash something after teatime knowing if I hang it on the airer it will all be dry in the morning, so indeed when this is the case I go into Widow Twanky mode and wash everything in sight!

I also like to make the most of the ovens and have something slow cooking all the time, or at least most of the time. In a few days I have cooked enough meals to keep us going for a month!

Over the next few months we are re-modelling parts of our house and the kitchen is one of these parts. I look forward to sharing our progress and thoughts - with lots of pictures!

This is Round 8 of ABC Wednesday and this time I am using our home as a theme and look forward to sharing various possessions, keepsakes and favourite objects over the next few weeks!

All Change!

“To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring.”

George Santayana

Having read recent comments it made me realise how fortunate we are to have the beach on our doorstep. I guess sometimes I take this for granted and only visit a couple of times a week, excuses ranging from it being too cold, too wet, jobs to do, etc. etc. you know how it goes! Yesterday I was reading somewhere of somebody who longed for the beach and really enjoys visits there as they feel really charged up and energised by such a visit. It really gave me a wake up call and I figured that I should embrace each daily walk and venture down on the beach come rain or shine. There are people who may not have access to a beach - so they can share my visits! That said - this morning the wind was howling and the rain was threatening to fall, so I wrapped up well and Freida and I drove to the beach. It only took us 5 minutes to get there and we had a great time.

I felt it appropriate to post the photographs in black and white as it just seemed to capture the mood on the beach. The sea was anything but calm, as it had been earlier in the week.

The weather forecast is not good for the North East coast and I now feel it appropriate to assume the next few weeks and months are going to continue to get colder and wetter - if any sunshine or clear days happen to come along that will be an added bonus, I am certainly not expecting as such......so there are jobs to be done - the garden needs putting to bed, there are apples needed picking and chutneying, various tidying up, leaves constantly sweeping and I think we may have to light the Aga soon! Yes, changes are happening and in keeping I have changed the appearance of my blog - much more appropriate don't you think?

Aga Time!

Our Kitchen!

Today we lit the Aga, a sure sign that summer has well and truly passed and time to accept that Autumn is here. Although the sun is shining there is a definate nip in the air and night times are particularly cold.

We went out on the motorbike today, initially to Whitby for lunch we both commented how cooler everything seemed to be and given the choice of riding over to pickering or returning home to light the Aga, we chose the second!

And so........there are jobs to be done as we get ready to prepare the garden for it's annual sleep!

This is my list.....
2 apple trees need harvesting so the chutney recipes will be coming out! We are planning a wonderful pie & peas evening for when our friends Dorothy and Keith visit in December, so as they are both fans of my chutneys I will make sure they are not disappointed. I also plan to pickle some onions and make some picallilli! Mmmmmmmmmmmm hungry all ready!

The henhouse although adequate right now needs to be replaced by an improved warmer one, so the shed next to the henhouse needs sorting. The broken windows need replacing and some additional bits and bobs need dealing with.

The hen's enclosure needs further securing as I have noticed Little Eva has found a way out a couple of times!

We have some wooden floorboards left over from the stable demolition which need chopping up into sticks for firewood.

Ofcourse one major change will be the clothes I wear. Good warm practical stuff is required for the coming months and my faithful boots will be once again strutting their stuff!

This will keep me busy as well as the other activities which make up our everyday life here in the Nesbitt household. Wilma needs her daily extensive walk too!