Snow Hill

The Ninja Foodi Multicooker came yesterday, croissant done in 8 minutes this morning, roast chicken on the go for this evening, very quiet whilst in pressure cooker mode, no rattling like the old Prestige ones.

Yep less leaves on trees today than there were yesterday it’s as if council road sweeper had never been.

First proper visit to shopping centre since February 2021 when I went for an eye test, a few new shops, but equally a lot of empty units, the biggest of them being the old Debenhams store. I went into Waterstones to get birthday present for grandson, that hasn’t changed, still one of my favourite places to wander around though. Also noticed the free parking for 30 mins has gone now charged for up to 1 hour even if you had only been there 20 mins. As I left had a torrential downpour fortunately got back to car in time, roads going back home were awash with running water and puddles, as leaches was down blocking the drains. Our street was as bad even after road sweeper came yesterday, the overnight wind had undone all their good work.

Precisely, PNR records are anonymised after 6 months and deleted after 5 years, so if you have no stamps in your passport how will they know whether you have traveled there or not. I can’t see that someone who as been for 2 week all inclusive break with TUI to Cuba some years ago is going to be of any threat to the US.

Changed ours on out Renault keycards a number of times over the years, takes around 2 mins max, the receptionist on the Service Desk showed us how to do it a few years ago. When I switch to Toyota in December I will need to learn a new way of battery changing. 😬

You need to allow 3 hours before departure to go through check in, security etc https://www.heathrow.com/departures/checking-in

Our heating comes on at 7am goes off at 9, last year it was 6.30am, this morning when I got up at 7.30 temperature had reached 20 C so it had gone off. The house is quite good at retaining heat in the cooler weather with our external insulation, rarely drops below 15C in the winter. We have some lightweight fleeces we can wear in the house, plus fleece blankets it gets really cold. We are still using the summer duvet, whether we swap to the winter one depends on the outside temp, we haven’t needed it for the last 2 years and long range forecasts are saying we are in for a mild winter.

Problems with the oven over the last week, seems the touch control panel is faulty, Bosch engineer is coming out on Monday to look at it, suspect will need a new panel, fortunately covered by warranty. Bosch did say that if panel has gone it could take anything up to 2 weeks to get a new one from Germany if they don’t have one in stock. So could be without oven for 2 or more weeks. So today finally took the plunge and ordered. Ninja Foodi 9 in 1 Multicooker, it air fry’s, roasts, stems etc, was on offer at £30 off on Amazon, plus I used £50 of my Topcashback money in form of an enhanced Amazon voucher to bring price down to £150, sells at £230 on Ninja website, will be here tomorrow.

We have same with Tesco usually released either at 6am or midnight during October/early November. We usually get most of shopping done before the Christmas rush, only the more perishable goods we leave until then. We get our chicken/Turkey & piece of beef from local farm shop, as it raised locally.

When I added the Squirrel baffle to ours it was more to stop the rats climbing the pole, I thought it was a squirrel eating the food, but my trail cam showed 3 rats climbing up it. The baffle put an end to that and the pest officer dealt with the rats which were holed up in next doors wood shed.

I asked the practice nurse on Monday when I went for annual blood tests about flu jab and Covid she said this year would recommend a gap of a week between the 2.

In some countries they are, but not all EU countries currently record electronically the entering & exiting of the country, that is due to change late next year with the introduction of the EU’s Entrance and Exit System which will require biometric data such as fingerprints and facial scans. Currently Cruise passengers are not having passports stamped as they are usually ashore for less than 12 hours, this might change next year. This system will only apply to those travellers from 3rd countries, if you have an EU passport it won’t apply. https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/policies/schengen-borders-and-visa/smart-borders/entry-exit-system_en

I was there Christmas of 2004, we did the cable car to the gardens with the intention of doing the toboggan down, but there was an accident whilst we were in the gardens and the tobogganing was shutdown for the day.

I had my annual blood tests & BP check this morning, I got a text msg on Saturday to remind me. Got there at 8:55 & sat down for approx 30 secs, just enough time to turn sound off on mobile, before I was called in. New practice took bloods, then BP, advised me I was due for shingles vaccine and that they expect to get flu vaccine in this week so I should expect a call. With Covid Booster, Flu and Shingles jabs I will be leaking like a sieve. 😅

Our current fixed rate deal ends on 4 October, so based on predicted annual usage we expect a monthly payment £205, the fixed rate was £120 pm, but we are almost £400 in credit. We are below the average household in gas & electricity use despite being home most of the time. The investment we made in improving energy efficiency of our old property is paying off, we had external insulation installed in 2015, using a 95% government grant, the loft is fully insulated and part boarded with the stuff on top adding to insulation, windows are double glazed. All the light bulbs are now LED, apart from the ones in the fridge & oven, we replaced our old external doors with more thermally efficient composite ones, plus we replaced our 17 year old combi boiler in May with a new more efficient boiler, so hopefully gas usage will reduce. Our energy supplier has said over last 12 months our energy usage for gas has gone down by 22% and 18% for electricity, we are now into the 13 month of having a smart meter, which makes me wonder how accurate were the old meters were.

Our surgery has been excellent throughout apart from a few weeks in the summer when a number of the staff went down with the thing that can’t be mentioned. I have my annual Blood Test appointment on Monday with practice phlebotomist which was arranged after practice pharmacist called me, then a week of self administered BP readings.

My wife cuts my hair, has done for last 3 years since local barber closed.

Sorry to hear that some selfish individuals are abusing NHS staff & volunteers, I don’t know why but this type of abuse appears to have increased over the last few years. I volunteer at a heritage site and we have received abuse from visitors who ignore notices not to climb on walls etc and get told not to by a volunteer. I am due to have my 2nd booster tomorrow, although I have a start of a cold I think so may postpone once I can find out whether or not it’s OK to have the jab with a cold.

Just heard from our friends they are safe and back in Halifax after last part of their holiday was curtailed due to Fiona, was somewhat scary though when it hit,

A friend of mine is on holiday in Nova Scotia with his partner, they were in Baddeck on Friday which is at southern end of Cape Breton, he had been posting about his travels on that Site that can’t be mentioned, no posts since Friday. We are hoping they are both OK. 🤞

Our Postie and delivery is excellent, never had a problem with tracked mail, a hell of a lot better than the likes of Evri, Yodel, DHL who seem to practice the “knock and run method” of delivery, never wait to see if anyone is in, the security cameras catch them out every time, some around here have had items stolen from the door step as a result by opportunistic thieves who the police think were following the delivery van.

These video doorbells are catching a lot of delivery people out, saying they pressed it when they clearly didn’t.

We only intended to watch the Westminster bit, but as it has rained most of the day here finished up watching the whole broadcast.The BBC Events team put on an outstanding piece of broadcasting just set at the right tone, the stunning spectacle of of the event came across as history in the making. A few of this afternoon’s studio guests I could have done without, but they gave use the moments to make a cuppa etc, so didn’t miss anything important. As for the music, I don’t know what it is, but the sound of the bagpipes gives an event like this an added poignancy. Next big event the King’s Coronation, probably early summer 2023 I would think.

Also depends on: - Phones Firmware - Version of Operating System - whether provided by network provided

Not all phones are compatible with WiFi calling.