Although I use McBark's scales as the official measure, I have lost another 2 lbs according to my scales.
My reward was a smoked salmon sandwich for lunch and I've made some sugar free orange jelly for later.
Not sure what to have at teatime, either half a pizza or salmon en croute. Choices, choices.
I know, you will be saying, how can he afford smoked salmon, the unemployed slapper... Well, at £ 2.45 for 200 grams (just over 7 ounces in old money), the Norwegian stuff I got from Lidl yesterday is 50 pence cheaper than a pint of Kronenbourg 1664.
I've not had smoked salmon since Christmas and I fancied having smoked salmon and scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast this coming weekend. I've just sampled the salmon, but as it is farmed and can be a bit slimy, I popped a slice under the grill for about30 seconds, just to take the rawness off it (it also brings out the flavour, because you are warming the natural oils). Had that on a small piece of wholemeal bread, well twist my nipples and send me to Venus !
Whenever I taste the stuff, it takes me back to a fun couple of days I spent in Brussels with PMG, his sister Peggy and his cousin Margaret who lived there, working for the EEC (making a mint).
We walked through this arcade where there was a tiny cafe with tables in the thorofare. I had smoked salmon and scrambled eggs on toast for lunch and it was delicious. Later we went back to Margaret's amazingly luxurious flat and drank white port (you don't see that around much). In fact we spent the rest of our time there eating and drinking at one establishment or other. I really liked Brussels, a really cool city.
One slice of the smoky ambrosia and I am back there.
This is a vault Dalek, with a modified claw arm for operating machinery.
The BBC Dr. Who website has leaked that Mickey Smith and Jackie Tyler return in this week's final episode (these were characters which were disposed of when Rose Tyler left the series), a great pity.
Note, the final episode is 65 minutes long, more bang for your buck ! 6:40 pm on Saturday night BBC 1.
Just got a call off Wally the Welder who's down in Cornwall on his hols. He's under pain of death not to return without pictures of soxers on holiday, so he called me to confirm he's got some.
He's going to be quaffing wine with OBC on the boat on Thursday so he tells me (nice work if you can get it).
He's walked the dogs on the beach and is now on a two and a half mile walk into Padstow (via several pubs). what a fit little welder he is. Mind you, a walk like that is OK on the way there, but when you're nice and mellowed after a few pints, I bet it's a bit of a struggle home.
Much excitement this morning amongst myself and "the lads" (pictured), when I finally managed to get the parcel fom the post office and unpack the latest Dalek arrival.
Now there's a bit of a story to this, because a few weeks ago, when Mr. Chalk was visiting a pal in Leamington, he saw a Dalek cookie jar in a supermarket and it was only a tenner. I said "I want one" but he said it was a bit big to carry home on the bus. Then, he found what we believed to be the same thing on Play.com at the same price and postage free.
When I unpacked him this morning, I was amazed at the quality and finish of the item (it's an official BBC product) and is ceramic not plastic as I expected for the price. Charlie Chalk assures me that the ones in Leamington are plastic, which makes me wonder if Play.com made a mistake, as I've seen these things at three times the price.
The picture doesn't do him justice, but the lads have made him very welcome. As Dr. Who merchandise goes, some of the things I've seen are pretty cheesy, but whilst I can't compare the cookie jar to the radio controlled lads, because it doesn't talk or motor round the lounge, it has to be at the to end of the quality scale, well worth the money.
Unlike the grill spears (see previous post), today's arrival from E Bay was a big surprise.
You see, I paid 49p for a Dalek notepad and got a really cool Dalek pen (with a Dalek on the clip) into the bargain, which as I said to Mr. Chalk, if you saw it in a shop on its own, you'd happily pay 99p for
As I reported on Saturday, I picked up some interesting and unusual "bargains" in the German supermarket Lidl. One being as pictured, what I thought to be prawns on skewers with a Provencal marinade.
I took one out of the freezer on Sunday afternoon and microwaved it. Bit into one of the prawns to find it had a consistency I was not used to and something sort of dropped out of it as I bit into it. A sort of tentacle.
This isn't a prawn I thought spitting it out and off I went to the freezer to read the small print. It was Cuttlefish (I found in the small print in English). On the front of the box as you can see, it says grillspiesse, which I reckon is grill spears and Provencal which anywhere means Provencal ! I suppose if I'd have looked carefully, I could have seen that the front grill spear in the picture was somewhat different to the one at the back.
Won't be buying those again.
So, I walked down into town at 7am this morning to claim a parcel from the post office. There's an office which opens at 7 for those who have to collect mail and stuff from their pervy little box numbers.
The man looked at the card I presented and my ID and said "Not this office mate, that's Parcel Force, nothing to do with us".
He assures me that my parcel is waiting in the actual post office building which doesn't open until 9.
Of course, that's just his guess, because the number on the card is not a local number, it's connected to a call centre in Bongo Bongo land. Something tells me I'm going to be on for a wild goose chase on this one.
Look who's on holiday !
