Bits and Bobs

A new lady at the allotments has taken over a plot. Our year at the allotments runs October to October so we have time to tame a previously unoccupied plot before spring arrives, I assume. Her plot has a medlar tree on it and she doesn't know what to do with them (yet!). So my friend and I each fell heir to a bagful. I have never made anything with medlars before so I made medlar jelly because it is another thing to put in my Christmas hampers. All adults are having a Christmas hamper this year so I need lots of things to put in them. Medlars are not high in pectin so I put in a couple of pounds of apples in order to guarantee a set. It is very nice and my husband was pleased when there was a little drop over that would not fit in the jars. He very kindly offered to use it up for me.... : )

I now have three members of my family in isolation. Two of my grandchildren have been sent home from school to isolate for two weeks because somebody in each of their school years has gone down with Covid. In fact, in their school, there are 5 classes in rather than the 21 there should be... And my daughter's school has had one member of the senior management team go down with Covid so all the staff have been sent home to isolate so therefore the school has had to be closed. Fun times.

I went to Lidl to do my shopping and got a scratch card for £1 off my shopping. Exciting! Only £1 but it was free and will be used against a Christmas treat for us : ) Also, I was sent a £2 coupon for Comfort fabric softener. Comfort is one of the few I can use without coming out in a rash. I don't use fabric conditioner very often and a bottle normally lasts me about a year or perhaps longer. The coupon had to be used at Sainsburys and they had their large bottles at £3 so it cost me £1 with the coupon. I was happy to pay £1 for my next year's supply : )

I joined Olio a few weeks ago to see where that would go. Olio connects people with food to spare with people who would like to use it. Some of the members in my area obviously work for a supermarket or some sort of food shop as they list umpteen heads of broccoli or whatever. However I am finding that the cost of petrol far outstrips the value of the item to be collected. So I have not collected very much from Olio yet. I did get a bag (unopened) of gluten free bread flour for my gluten free granddaughter and also 4 x litres of UHT semiskimmed milk. I still think Olio is a good idea because it stops food going to landfill.