19th June
You might have gathered that Ariadne is a little indisposed on account of her recent visit to the NHH. Therefore she has left it up to me (Spencer ) to write the column this week. She said that I was only to do it if I felt that I had enough time after having to do my Job of National Importance, whilst at the same time, managing the Manor estate on my own for a few days. But do you know? I am finding it all a bit of a doddle! I don’t know what all the fuss is about. I called in at Tesco Express on my way home from work and picked up four of their excellent microwave ready meals (and a 4 pack of bottled ale). So that was evening meals sorted. The only slight problem I have had over the last few days is finding the instruction booklet for the washing machine, and I have solved that problem by a little ingenious “thinking outside the box”. After a few discrete enquiries, I have established that you can take your shirt to Morrisons and they will wash and iron them for you ! This gets over the other small problem that I was facing in discovering exactly where Ariadne hides the iron and the ironing board. So here I am with my feet up in front of the TV and it is only 7.30pm. I can’t understand why Ariadne never seems to sit down till 10pm and is always exhausted. She is obviously not as well organised as me.
You will be relieved to hear (as I was of course) that she is expected to be out of hospital just in time to attend the Village Show tent at the Carnival on Saturday. I expect that i will have to give her a hand to carry the numerous plants that she is hoping to sell. She can usually put up a marquee all on her own, but I have offered to help her out this year.
Ariadne did ask if I would be so good as to mention the wine and beer section in this year’s show, as she felt that it was a subject that I could talk about with some authority (if only from the tasting angle). This year I am quite excited as, for the first time, there will be a class for Ginger Beer. Marcus and I might have a go. All the Beer classes (Bitter or Lager) must be in 1 pint plain brown or green bottles, and should be labelled and sealed with screwstopped, crown or plastic closures.
This year (also for the very first time), I shall be entering a bottle of my very own red wine, from the grape vines growing on the Manor. It is promising to be a classy little number, as you might expect, with just a hint of rhubarb.....and just in case you are already thinking about the 2010 show, there will be another new class for Mead.
More from Ariadne next week!