Rubber band ball update 4

The rubber band ball continues to grow. Got a friend collecting them now and she collected twenty bands on one walk the other day - shocking!

Big boots found in charity shops

I read a newspaper article last week suggesting that charity shops were getting too greedy and charging too much for their goods. I think this was based on charity shops in the heart of London as I have to say it hasn't been my experience on the whole in the north of England.

The first charity shop harvest of my year

I love charity shops. I am a little addicted but I am not prepared to pay silly money for second hand clothes (nor for first hand either for that matter). I guess charity shop managers have to strike a balance between raising as much money as possible and charging a market value for their area for old clothes and bric-a-brac.

Thinking about it I can't actually say with any conviction what I am prepared to pay. Am I willing to pay a quarter of what I think the original price was? I don't know. It's more a feeling in my water as to what I think is reasonable for a label or object. It would take a lot for me to pay over £10 for anything. It would have to be a second hand gem. I go into a charity shop with the anticipation that I just might find a bargain not to break the bank.

Mary Portas did a programme a year or two ago where she transformed a charity shop into a boutique charity shop and by doing so I think lost the plot a little. I don't want to go into a charity shop and smell damp and old clothes but neither do I want to go into one that is emulating a boutique or up-market goods shop. Charity shops are a breed on their own.

I think Oxfam has got it just right. I know some think they are expensive but I think they strike the right balance between raising the maximum money from the stock they have and charging reasonable rates, depending on the label.

I like the décor of the Oxfam shop. I recognise them still as charity shops which are clean but with a certain untidiness to the shelves, especially in the bric-a-brac sections. Their new goods such as cards and gifts are also in designated sections and are of good quality. I think some charity shops that sell their 'own label' products make the mistake of mixing them up with the second hand goods and quite frankly are of such tatty and cheap quality that I have to really examine to ascertain whether they are new or old.

I also don't really want really slick people behind the sales counter. I don't mind (as long as I am not in a rush) some volunteer who gets in a muddle with the till and has to call the manager. It's a bit of an escape from corporate customer care.

Anyway I just hope that the charity shops that I frequent don't get too big for their boots.

I thought that for my own amusement I would keep a record of my charity bargains for 2014. So here goes:

M & S Autograph top £3.99 (Barnardo's)
Boden child's pyjamas £2.99 (Oxfam)
Striped scarf £2.99 (Oxfam)

Something fishy

I rather like cooking. I am not a very instinctive cook. I can't really conjure up cordon bleu fare from just a handful of ingredients and no recipe. I really need some guidance and have come to the conclusion that the recipe books I love most are written by cooks that give me some leeway, that give me just a little wriggle room to improvise and make slight amendments. The writers who start me off and then let me roam the fridge and store cupboard are the best 'in my recipe books'.

One of my family's favourites is a coconut fish soup or chowder to which I can add whatever I like or have in the cupboard or freezer. The idea came from a Rachel Allen recipe which I have run with for quite a few years and to which I occasionally return to to set me back on the straight and narrow if I run too far from the tasty path.

The base is a stock of finely cut onions - actually who can or indeed has the patience to cut onions really finely? The base is a stock of onions whichever way you want to cut them (sometimes I don't even add the onions), garlic, a bit of ginger if you have it, a bit of lemon grass if you have it, a tin of coconut milk, some stock and then add whatever you have. We had it yesterday with prawns, scallops, spring onions, mangetout but you can add a tin of tuna or crabmeat or broccoli or green beans or pak choi. Add some noodles and a splash of fish sauce - actually it's just occurred to me that yesterday I forgot the noodles. Every time it's slightly different but every time fab. Then when it's in your bowl add a splash of sweet chilli sauce if you like. And on the table in less than 20 minutes.

New Wood

The Blakeleys have a new project for 2014. Well not specifically our project but one we are keen to help with. My brother has bought a wood. Not a piece of wood for the fire but a 7 acre forest wood with trees! We all went en famille yesterday to visit it. As we were walking through it my brother got the phone call to verify that it was his wood. Wow, your very own wood to play in.

The children are very excited and want to go every weekend. It's in North Yorkshire so it is a bit of a journey but one we are keen to make every so often. There is much to do like making a camping area, clearing bracken and dead wood, planting new trees, building dens, making swings, creating an archery area, oh the list is endless. I think we are all excited and a little in awe of the task ahead but we will go with the flow and see what 2014 brings. Fear not, I'll keep you up-to-date with all things wooden.

Wildlife spotted: buzzard, owl

What was in that box?

I have taken down the Christmas tree this morning and the rest of the festive decorations. I almost enjoy packing them away as much as I do unleashing them in the middle of December. Have you noticed that even when you think you've taken down all the baubles and you are about to lift the tree out into the garden you always find one solitary hiding bauble, secreted away in the branches? But it's a new year and a new start so away they go.

Not many casualties this year. My son managed to annihilate one bauble, target shooting with his newly acquired Nerf gun. I even managed to break one of my old glass tree decorations, knocking it with the vacuum cleaner (that will teach me to be clean and tidy) which I felt sad about as I had inherited it from my Auntie.

It's funny but I get a huge amount of pleasure from unwrapping each little glass sphere each year and realising again how lovely they are. I even love the old cardboard box they are stored in. This morning I carefully wrapped each bauble and popped it back in the box. It has on my Auntie's old address, handwritten in ink, from more than 40 years ago. You can tell how old it is as it doesn't have a postcode. And each year I wonder what she received through the post in that box, in an era before Amazon and internet shopping when getting a parcel through the post, delivered to your front door, must have been thrilling.

Aah well it only remains for me to hoover up the trail of pine needles shed by the departing Christmas tree.

Santa is missing

Think Father Christmas is down the chimney, leaving Rudolph and sleigh waiting patiently.

Christmas jumpers gone mad

Have you noticed jumpers of a certain kind are big this Christmas? I myself have resisted. It does make you wonder what starts a trend and makes everyone decide they need to buy a Christmas jumper? Is it something in the water?