Willow Farm features in ILFORD RECORDER

Two photo-stories in this week's ILFORD RECORDER - the first on the piglets born at Willow Farm and the second with Marmite the Dog washing Mo the Donkey's ears! Willow Farm is off Billet Road in Aldborough Hatch - part of the green belt threatened with development with some 1,000 homes by Redbridge Council. The Aldborough Hatch Defence Association is fighting this - which will come as no surprise, I guess!

Ready for Christmas!

I have spent a happy morning giving the porch at 37 its Autumn clean in readiness for Christmas. This task is done twice a year. Sometimes in between too! The pink in the main shot is from a pair of trainers in next door’s porch! They have a shoe rack. I have plants. The conkers were collected last weekend in the churchyard. Sadly, there is no-one who wants to play with me these days so I just put them there to enjoy. The plants in the foreground came from one pot bought in the summer at B & Q. I divided the first pot into two and today made six in all! Snd I have little shoots from the runners to pot up in  the greenhouse! The African Violets suffered in the heat - so I have doctored them. One is in the bathroom and the other two are on the far right - in the shade.  I thought you would like to now this!

Why Christmas you may ask? Good question Batman! Well, there has to be space for the lights and foliage for them to rest upon.

Whilst I am talking about Christmas, you may (or may not) be amused to know that I have ordered two Christmas present from the Kleeneze Man and one from Bakker. Good idea to get ahead, I say. Must print out my list and annotate with the purchases - must not forget what is for who!

Now of to the greenhouse. Heather met me at B & Q last evening and helped me bring home potting compost which I will now trundfle down the garden in the bucket barrow (bought in Homebase and invaluable in the garden when you need to move compost!).

How about this!

Now here's something different! For some years, following introduction from Ruth, we have grown Eucomis - Pineapple Plants too you Arbuthnot! The first shot shows two fruits cut from plants in the garden this weekend - the plants were falling over and the bulbs will soon be dried off for the winter.The second shot shows a plant in flower - very small, in fact about 2 inches high! I bought the bulb at Columbia Road Flower Market on Sunday 14th August (and took it to St. Paul's Cathedral for the service on the way home!). The man on the stall said that if I planted it now it would flower this year - which it has done! I thought I would keep it for next year - but the man said plant it so I did! I wonder - will it grow big next year? Any thoughts?

Mother has Quintuplets

Mother has Quintuplets!

A mother at Little Heath has given birth to Quintuplets but this has not made the national news as the mother is Pansy, the Sheep Pig and the Quintuplets are piglets. Born on Willow Farm, the proper name for Sheep Pigs is Mangalica, a Hungarian breed of domestic pig. It was developed in the mid -19th century by crossbreeding Hungarian breeds from Szalonta and Bakony with the Serbian Šumadija breed. The Mangalica pig grows a thick, wooly coat similar to that of a sheep.

Nearby Mo the Donkey had his ears washed by Marmite the black dog.

A day in London

I decided to have a day out today. Off to the Docklands Railway! The second shot here always make me sad. It is of the old Bryant and May factory when the Matchbox Girls worked in Victorian days - many died from sulphur poisoning. Today it is luxury flats. At Borough Market I met Peter Hopkins and his charming wife. Peter has his photographs of Valentines Park published in the ILFORD RECORDER - he made a comment about the paper not being the same unless I have a letter or photograph in there! Nice chap - good to meet him at last - there is a shot of them here. I bought some cheese at the Alsop and Walker stall - the posh man on the right made a lot of fuss trying different cheeses but did not buy! I have bought cheese at this stall before. I bought the one on the left - most have some for supper! I also bought a pork and stilton meat pie and some crunch bread - and I had a two sausage baguette with onions for lunch in the market! I enjoyed the singer- and have his card. I must send him a photograph. Wish he had sung The Streets of London - should have asked him!

The Grandfather Clock is chiming again!

I sent this email to my friend Janet this morning:

Following your visit yesterday afternoon with Connie-The-Clock-Doctor, our Grandfather Clock is alive and well again and chiming like there was no tomorrow! I can’t tell you how relieved I am to see the second hand moving purposefully, whilst the minute hand chugs around and the hour hand waits majestically for its moment of glory when it touches twelve and the chimes sounds out (well, only one at one ‘o’clock but after that the correct number).

Looking closely at the face this morning in the clear light of day, I can see that the two big hands stand out from the face. No longer do they argue with each other like two spoilt children fighting over the last sweet in the bowl, nor do they rub against each other as you might have done when the cry went up in the War (1939-45 in case you are wondering) that there were sticky buns at the Co-op and you were sent to join the queue.

That Lady is a Genius! Let there be no doubt about that. After an hour or so and two cups of tea, Connie-The-Clock-Doctor had Grandfather working like the old days. It has been silent for some months and that was just not right!

Please pass my felicitations and my sincere thanks to Connie. Wonderful. Just wonderful!

You will see that I am copying this to my three children, the eldest of whom will inherit the Grandfather in due time, when the Big Clock In Heaven strikes and my Number is Up. The said Clock is believed to be about 200 years old - made in Suffolk in the early 19th Century and a family heirloom owned by Yvonne’s Father, Ted Friend, Millwright and Estate Carpenter, Aldringham, Suffolk. Heather gets the jewellery (what’s left of it anyway) and the Waterford Glass Collection (purchased and received as gifts in the 1970s and 1980s when these things were affordable - just) and Richard will ship off to Norway ITV Artist Priscilla’s artist’s impression of Charlie Kray in the Dock and me on the Bench at Redbridge Magistrates’ Court in 1996 (which will increase in value as the years go by as sure as eggs are eggs).

But back to the Clock. Connie said that it needs oiling every five years but not to use UB40 which would seize up the works never to go again! I do not recall every oiling the clock with anything, so would you please pass my sincere thanks to Connie and ask her if she would please be good enough to call at some time to do the oiling. And I will have another cup of tea standing by - no sugar but just a dash of milk like the builders have!

I missed the chime at seven writing this upstairs in the office, but I will stand by at eight! It could bring tears to the eyes, I should warn you!

Regards

Ron

Hooray for the corned beef tin!

There is something oddly satisfying about opening a tin of corned beef. The little key on the side awaits. Turn the key slowly and behold, the tin is stripped clean. A sharp shake and the corned beef plops out. Stunning!

What other tins work like this, I ask myself? Some require the tin-opener; others have small pull tabs. I find the latter frustrating in the extreme. I need to place a knife under the tab to lift it, and then a spoon handle to pull the tab across.

My tin-opener is, I believe, a family heirloom. It works well on some days, but like most families it has its off days.

But the corned beef tin – that is a masterpiece in a league of its own.

I thought you would wish to know this!