My month - March 2019

I'm a little late with this one this month. We've been all over the place metaphorically speaking, well and physically as well. My mother in law passed away and we all had quite a difficult month or so, what with nipping down to visit plus feeling guilty that we were all up here. Anyway there were some nice moments. Master Humdrum and I stayed in a local hotel and spent two nights together on our own. We managed to have fun despite it being a really sad time. We watched a whole (rather inappropriate but what the heck) series on Netflix, plus reviewed the whole range of fast food eateries in the area. It was, in fact, quality time spent together which we rarely get these days. And I know his grandma would've liked that very much.



We Humdrums love our live music. We've decided, as it's our 25th year together, to attend 25 music gigs. This is number 5 so far. (For our own benefit as much as yours: 1 Shiiine Weekend, 2 Don Letts DJ set, 3 Fantastic Fug Band, 4 Barbudo EP launch). My review is here but in short, an energetic post-punk/ragga/reggae/dance hall fusion with lots of love! 

I used to like to garden from time to time but when we moved to our new house, the concrete back yard filled me with joy. Why, we have a huge common in front of our house so that's our garden. However my dad kindly surprised me by planting some daffs into our planters, which had held some random weeds I think previously. I bought lots of spring flowers to put into pots to sit on top of the tables of our Jack'n'Jill chairs, but the frost has stopped me from doing so yet. I plan to do that this Easter holidays. But this pic is a hyacinth (I think?) that my dad was given for Christmas, but we've kept up here to save the journey home. It has been languishing under the soil until now, when it has budded again. 

This is a sunny pic of my friend and me during our weekly dip. I've had to miss a few weeks in the last month or so, and as I've got a stinking cold at the moment, I won't be going in until it's well and truly over. At Easter it will be approaching our year anniversary. I remember how cold it was last year, and how painful our hands were, hence purchasing gloves.

There are two mentions of games here. This one is Killer Ludo. When we're with my parents, we always try to get in a game of Ludo. It's basically one of the only games my dad will play. He cheats like crazy, gets away with it more than we realise I fear and tries to invent new rules each time. We usually play for money and argue about how we are supposed to get our counters "home". Master Humdrum has started to try to cheat, but so far isn't as successful as his grandad. Let's be clear, there are no friends according to my dad in Ludo. He will take anyone off, even his beloved grandson. Master Humdrum will gang up on us with his nana to get what he wants, until that means beytraying his nana! It's always fun.

One of the things my lovely mum does when she stays here is cooking for us. When she stays here and we're away, we often come home to a casserole or a roast. She's been in the habit recently of stocking up our freezer with cottage pies; one for us, and one for Master Humdrum without onion! As long as I remember to take it out of the freezer the night before, it's amazing to come home from football training and just pop mum's home cooked meal in the oven. I think I've got one left...

Spring equals renewal and rebirth right? I decided to tidy up my wardrobe. I didn't dare post the before picture; you couldn't see the floor and the top and bottom sections overspilled every time you opened the door. I have filled three bags for charity and I feel much better on so many levels.

This is the second mention of games. I'm going to review this in detail so will just mention it here. We visited Dice the other day, a games pub/cafe/restaurant. We dragged a reluctant Master Humdrum away from his XBox. The waiters can recommend you different games (of which there are hundreds stacked around) as well as serve you food and drinks. It was packed in there and we even saw a 30th birthday party! We started off with a random game (name?) of strategy which was recommended. After only a few minutes, the boy started to smile and enjoy himself! Result! We played a quiz and a long game of Cluedo, before rounding off with reliable Uno. What a great afternoon.

I promise you it was my choice to spend Mothering Sunday in London watching Pompey at Wembley. We'd never seen them play at Wembley so it was rather exciting. We made a weekend of it, nipping up on the train on the Saturday for a spot of shopping with a delicious Greek meal after a walk through Holland Park. Sunday was just about getting to the stadium and the crazy build-up. We won, of course, and spent hours trying to get home on the train! 

My dad turned 73 this month and here's my Victoria sponge for him. I cut out a T and sifted icing sugar around it. Sadly this photo was taken the night before after I made the cake. The T was gone the next day so my dad never saw it! I also forgot the vanilla essence but I think I got away with it.

This year, we celebrated Shrove Tuesday with my parents. I do love a pancake. My first toss was rubbish, so I flipped after that with a fish slice. Master Humdrum's effort was better but he was more interested in eating them than cooking them. Here's my effort of lemon and sugar with a few bits of healthy fruit.

Posts when my parents visit usually seem to focus on food. So this one is obviously from when I went out with my mum for tea and cake! I do make sure we get to do something on our own each time she comes up.