What Preps are you doing this week? Part 12

[Frnc]

Reverted to the flask method for cooking the pasta. Couldn't bear the idea of having the gas on, adding extra heat to the house. I'm not sure exactly how many minutes it had, but it was perfect. So I think I'll go back to that and try to nail down the amount of time needed. It was around 13 or 14 minutes I think.

Sauce was fine. No cooking on the hob for that either. Mixed it cold earlier, put some in the fridge, some in the freezer, and microwaved a portion. Amount was about right. I made 5 portions from one 200g tube of puree and one 400g tin of chopped tomatoes, plus mixed herbs, onion granules, garlic granules, salt, pepper and mushrooms.

[Yorkshire Andy]

Power cuts all over the place. I've had two flickers - but fortunately came back on, although there's a huge cluster about quarter of a mile away. Looks like there's a significant power outage going on across the North East and Yorkshire though. Naturally, I came back from Aldi with all my shopping two hours ago and the fridge is full.

Full fridge is good big thermal mass less air space the longer it'll stay cool

[Medusa]

We planned to get rid of another part of pallet city this weekend, just 2 more piles to go. Then we saw the forecast and decided against it. On tuesday husband stabbed the palm of his hand with his Stanley knife at work, he said that he cleaned it, but by the time he got home from work on Wednesday night the top of his hand and his fingers were red, swollen and hot. I sent him straight off to urgent care who diagnosed a nasty infection and prescribed antibiotics, unfortunately, the late night chemist was shut and so were all of the other chemists less than 2 hours away. I phoned urgent care who said all of the chemists were closed and to collect the medication this morning, when I asked if this was safe they just said to bring him back if he felt unwell or things got worse, shocking really. He has taken antibiotics today but his hand isnt looking great and he had a slight temp earlier. Keeping an eye on him tonight and will whisk him back to A & E if things deteriorate overnight as I have concerns about sepsis. Apart from this I need to cut more rhubarb to freeze and make crumbles from and make dill pickles from the cucumbers. One of the PIR lanterns in the bathroom has developed a fault and is flashing like a rave, not great at a 3am bathroom visit so needs replacing. We have these in various places in the house running off rechargeable batteries which must have saved us a fortune in lighting over the years.

[pseudonym]

Power cuts all over the place. I've had two flickers - but fortunately came back on, although there's a huge cluster about quarter of a mile away. Looks like there's a significant power outage going on across the North East and Yorkshire though. Naturally, I came back from Aldi with all my shopping two hours ago and the fridge is full.

Full fridge is good big thermal mass less air space the longer it'll stay cool

Both my fridge and freezer have any space filled with pop bottles filled with water,

[Frnc]

I always have 3 bike bottles full of water in the fridge, one for bike rides and two for evacuation, but when it's hot I'll drink from them.

Dug out one of my heatwave vests. Cotton t-shirts are too hot for me in this weather, and they can get sweaty and don't dry. These vests are called All We Do is Just Cool and are polyester. They claim to be wicking and they are definitely fast drying. I have yellow Just Cool t-shirts for cycling. The vests are only £5.99 on ebay, but they are good quality. There are loads of different sellers selling them. You can also get long sleeved ones. You can't iron them, but they don't need it. Actually the only thing I've ironed in the last few years was a shirt one time.

[Frnc]

Yesterday my room *only* got to 29°, same as outside. But this morning it's 27.6° already, even though outside it got down to 12° earlier, and my window was open. So I think today, my room's going to go over 30°. I think it's cumulative. I have the back door open, and there is cool air coming in. I've opened the front door a bit now as well, still cool at the moment outside. But it's heating up rapidly. Fortunately it should cool down next week.

[Yorkshire Andy]

Gray and cool here time to go fix the car before the sun gets up

[Frnc]

28 outside. 29.2 in my room. I shut the back door, because it's hotter out there than in the kitchen. Back door faces SSW, so it's getting the full blast. One of my bamboos has curled up a bit, even though it's been watered, and it's sort of in the shade.

I just remembered my cooling towel. You can use any cloth really. Just wet it and wrap it round your head, neck, wrists or ankles. It's long enough to go round both ankles, which is where I have it now. Another trick is to stick your wrists under the cold tap for a few minutes.

Fan is on 12/12. Normally I only have it on about 3. Bit noisy at 12 but the house music is louder!

[Yorkshire Andy]

Cars done new aux belt and idler pully bugger of a job as it's a stretch belt needed a special tool borrowed one off my mechanic mate in return for a tub of new potatoes off the allotment

[Frnc]

Bought new sun tan cream. Last one was 2 years old. You are only supposed to have them open for a year. I'll stretch it to the end of next summer, which means I can buy a new one in 2027. It was reduced from about £9.50 to about £6.50 in Saisburys. Ambre Solaire 24 hr factor 50. No, I won't be sunbathing, it's mainly for bike rides. Made a note in my Expiry Date spreadsheet.

Forgot to tilt the south facing kitchen blinds up. Doh!