What a sight.

The penultimate weekend of the 2018 season and we were visited by 16 fabulous old cars.
Most of them were Riley models.
It was a pretty cold day which included rain and hail and they didn’t look like the sort of vehicles to have heated seats.

The owners came for bacon rolls and coffee ahead of a car treasure hunt around the local roads. They were due back by 2.30. Late arrivals incurred penalty points.
Most of them arrived after the deadline. Some long after.
They all looked pretty cold...

Today was brighter and sunnier. There was a wedding in the church and just before the ceremony a group of well dressed guests came for sustenance and to use the loo.
I had quite a shock when I saw a man relieving himself.
Did he perhaps not notice that our toilets actually have doors?

Shocking

Alf arrived this week with roses. It’s his last visit of the season, he says, and wanted to bring me something. Alf is in his late eighties and drinks black americanos without sugar. Last year his wife Margaret died. He talks about her every time he visits. He once told me she had a little glass bell next to her bed. “She’d ring it when she was ready for me”, he said with a twinkle in his eye.
I put the flowers in a vase on the counter, tell him how pretty they are and ask him what colour he would call them?
He thinks for a moment.
“Shocking pink,” he says with a firm nod, “Margaret had some underwear that colour”.
And there’s the twinkle again.

End of the season. Ish.

This is a quiet week.
Autumn rain and winds do not help us and we’re in that awful period of wasting food.
We try to eat it ourselves at lunchtime but sometimes there’s just too much.
Anyone who’s working is offered bread or scones or even cake to take home.
George is taking quiche to work.
We regularly cancel milk and cream orders and are working through our last ice cream delivery of the season. Slowly.

Storm in a teacup

Home early after a day of rain. The Court closed at around 3.30 because of the threat of high winds. It made me even more thankful that we’ve decided to close for the winter months.
A quiet day (though not as quiet as feared) meant we were able to prepare for tomorrow’s 70th birthday lunch, make red onion marmalade and tiffin, cook a ham, make soup and rearrange the gift display.

Forgiven

A bright, warm, sunny and hot autumn day.
The hottest October day in years according to the news.
We were particularly busy with people who like quiche.
And with people who wanted to sit in the garden.
And with people who chose to comment on what I looked like.
Two separate individuals told me I looked hot. Not the good hot. The warm hot.
In other words my red cheeks were even rosier than usual.
Then one lady told me she liked my dress, then added: “it looks very forgiving”.
So very nearly a compliment.

Needs must

Celeriac and Quince make a wonderful soup.
More will be made tomorrow.
When we mention the quince an eyebrow is usually raised which means I have to tell them about our glut.
We had roast chicken on Sunday which usually involves pushing an onion or a lemon into the cavity. This week it was a quince.