This is your stuff. You may love it even if others do not. Do not be pushed into getting rid of things you would prefer to keep.
Clothes
If you cannot close your wardrobe door and drawers this is time to say 'goodbye' to those ancient garments that you never wear because you are too fat and they are past it.
Throw away anything that has holes in or smells.
Better,clean stuff can go into those bags that charities put through your letter box or take them directly to a charity store.
Food
Stale biscuits, herbs and spices labelled pre 2018 and anything in the freezer or cupboards over 5 years old (and that is pushing it) must go.
Books
Keep them, when family and friends borrow them do not ask for their return.Do a little research on finding out what they are worth on Amazon.You might be surprised and make a little money selling them.
Photographs
Keep them. Buy a good quality photo album,label and date them .This will form the basis of a family history which is entertaining to bring out at family gatherings.
Personal Collections
These can be very decorative,they are your memories.There is no harm in a carefully arranged clutter. If your kids do not like it too bad. I have decided that I shall just die and they can order the skip.
There is an obsession with house cleaning at the moment influenced by the Netflix series based on Marie Kondo's The Life Changing Magic of Cleaning Up. I trained as a Home Economist back in the 1960s , a time when women were expected stay at home and devote their lives to house cleaning, cooking , bringing up baby and having a hot meal ready the minute your man walked through the door, all on a tight budget.There was about enough time for the occasional coffee morning or afternoon tea with a friend but the daily clean was a dominant occupation of many women's lives. For a long time my job as a home economics teacher was to train girls to carry on this tradition . Nothing wrong with the cooking part ,but constant cleaning, forget it.
My House Cleaning Check list- you should be able to do this in 2 hours.
No fit adult or child over 10 should expect another human being to flush away their poo from the loo , clean up their spittle and toothpaste from a washbasin or make their bed.
Nag kids and partners until they understand this.
After breakfast put on a load of laundry,garments only on a short programme.
Put the dishes from breakfast into the dishwasher or wash by hand.
Wipe kitchen surfaces.
Collect all trash in one large plastic bag and take out.
Collect all the towels from the bathroom(s).Spray and wipe bathroom surfaces ,clean toilets.
Put first load of laundry to dry and replace with towels or linen on a hot wash.
Dust main communal rooms if necessary and vacuum the floors.Open the windows while this is done.
Fold the dry laundry
Stop after 2 hours. Make your morning coffee, sit down , take a break and enjoy you clean home.
Additional weekly jobs
Mop the kitchen and bathroom floors.
Check the fridge for stale food and wipe clean.
Vacuum stairs and bedrooms.
Cleaning productsfor kitchen and bathroom floors
Buy cleaning products that are fit for purpose and a large supply of soft cloths.These are some of my favourites. This stuff is brilliant ,it cleans floors rapidly without the need for buckets and hot water.It is hard to find in supermarkets so I sent for the three pack as soon as I start to run out.
The bathroom
Flash bathroom cleaner is great for a daily swipe around the toilet,washbasin and bath.Finish the shower with a good dose the shower spray while it is still wet after you have used it and it will dry clean. I live in a very hard water area which causes deposits on taps and shower heads. Use Viakal once a week to clear these annoying deposits. Follow the instructions on the containers and only use the cleaners for the purpose for which they were intended.
The Kitchen
Use a degreaser like Dettol Power on kitchen surfaces, Flash for floor cleaning.
Communal room surfaces
Specialist surface cleaners for wood, leather and glass give the best results. I have tried many spot carpet cleaners and prefer Dr Beckmann with the brush attached.
A daily cleaning routine will help you keep on top of things and mean that on difficult days you can leave things until you have more time.A tidy house makes for a calmer family.
There were virtually no sweets or candy for civilians during WW 2 owing to the absence of sugar and the difficulty of importing cocoa beans.The troops deservingly seemed to have access to some of these things .When my father came home on leave from the army he would open his kit bag and share the stuff that he had saved up and we had all tiny amounts of Mars Bars and Fry's Chocolate Cream .Sweet rationing continued until well after the war. No wonder my age group still love these treats. I will remember them while I have an expensive trip to the dentist on Friday.
The loss of the fishing industry owing to enemy attacks on fishing boats and the mining of beaches meant an absence of the cheap but tasty and nutritious fish like herring and mackerel from the UK diet.
Desperate to replace this the government arranged for cans of a fish called Snoek to be imported from South Africa.
I remember being given this in a fish pie at the kindergarten that I attended and was thoroughly told off because I was unable to eat the vile smelling grey mush that made me retch.It had this effect on many people and remained on the shop shelves eventually being renamed and sold off for cat food.
By 1942 the war was seriously underway and supplies of the foods that were imported into the UK were interrupted by U boats and other attacks on merchant shipping.The BBC made this series some years ago showing the problems and how food rationing and the governent attempted to deal with it.
I think I might use this blog to record some memories of my early childhood. Born in 1941 most of these recollections will in some way reflect what was going on around me in World War 2 in England.
One of my earliest memories is of my father, his brothers and a French Canadian married to a cousin gathering at my grandmother's house when they all had a short leave.They had been serving in France and wanting to show off their French,they sang this song together with my father playing the piano.It still has the power to move me to tears.I can see them in uniform now ,of course I was too young to realise that they never knew if they would see any of us again.
The bananas in my fruit bowl are looking like this as the hot weather speeds up the ripening process.Time to turn them into this easy all in one loaf cake.
Banana Loaf Recipe
100g softened butter 175g caster sugar 2 large eggs 2 ripe bananas that have been mashed until smooth 225g self raising flour 1 level teaspoon baking powder 2 tablespoons milk
Method
Heat the oven to 180C,Fan160c,Gas4.Line a large (900g)loaf tin with a baking parchment liner
Put all the ingredients into a mixing bowl and beat well for about 2 minutes.Spoon the mixture into the loaf tin.Smooth the surface
Bake for about an hour until golden ,well risen and firm to touch
Cool in the tin for a few minutes then cool on a wire rack.
Butter thick slices if you like but butter is not really needed.
This summer I have had knee problems and have been thankful that I have a selection of Gabor shoes which are so comfortable to wear and support me when walking without looking orthopaedic.They are worth every penny. This is my latest style, the wedge heel gives me some height and the silver finish some summer glamour. They are avalable in a wide fitting,just perfect for me.
Books Grandma is Reading, TV programmes she is watching
Tangerine
Two young women with a shared history of going to the same college meet up in Tangiers .A convoluted story which dragged on with various unlikely characters added to hold it together. A silly story of jealousy, love and loss which I finished although I felt like giving up several times.Might be a good read if you are visiting Tangiers.
My Cousin Rachel -- Daphne du Maurier
Seeing the recent film has sent me back
to reread this book .A master story teller at work here with the
mysterious widow of wealthy landowner Ambrose arriving in Cornwall to stay with his nephew and heir, Philip.Is Rachel a truly heart broken widow or a
manupulative adventuress?A beautifully written book ,unable to put it
down.The film is good too with Rachel Weisz as Rachel.
Do not buy the abridged Kindle version, it is very poorly adapted.
The Couple Next Door--Shari Lapena
Although
on the best seller list I found this book rather tedious with the story going round
in circles.
A couple go to a dinner party next door and foolishly leave
their baby daughter alone,unattended in their own house.She disappears and what follows unravels the relationships between family members and their ambitions and secrets.An okay read for a journey
or on the beach.Silly ending
Anne With An E -Netflix
I loved this adaptation of Anne of Green Gables .A darker view is examined of the welfare of orphans put up for adoption or put out to work in Canada in the late 1800s.The photography is superb, especially the winter snow scenes .Geraldine James as Aunt Marilla is moving and dignified as she finds herself becoming attached to the orphan Anne .
The Handmaid's Tale -Margaret Atwood
This award winning book has been made into a 10 part TV series that is compulsory viewing.Offred ,played by Elizabeth Moss is the narrator in a state run by Gilead.This strict fundamentalist world has become infertile and the few fertile women available become the handmaidens of an elite whose high ranking men try to impregnate them.
Costumes copied from paintings by Vermeer add to the bleak washed out world of fear and repression that has references to the present world of Trump's America.
Since writing this review there as been a second series.Enjoyable but not as good as the original adaptation
