Some Like It Hot!

Saturday. 6.10 a.m. The title is from one of my all-time favourite films, 'Some Like It Hot', starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe.  It really can't be bettered and must never, under any circumstances, be remade. 

Another warm and sunny morning. The temperature, as recorded by my digital thermometer, reads 72ºF. This is about as low as it's been in quite some time.

We are being warned that the temperature is going to reach somewhere in the region of 104ºF on Monday and Tuesday. There is a red warning in place by the weather forecasters, which is the first time this has been issued in Britain. But do we really need to be warned? Can't we make our own minds up? It smacks of infantilization. This never ever happened years ago, particularly during the heatwave of the summer of 1976. The government has called a 'national emergency.' Crazy. Just going somewhat over the top.

2.50 p.m. We had another men's breakfast this morning. We met in Morrison's store in Westcroft. Richard, who is the leader of the group (whether he likes being called that is another matter.), but he has covid, so he didn't appear. This group is now officially meeting in the community room in Morrison's, but none of the staff seemed to know, even though it was clearly written on the whiteboard outside the room. Not really a problem. We all ordered our food and then it was bought in as it was ready by staff. When we finished at around 10 o'clock, a group of us then went to the Oaktree Centre to assist with the construction of a tent, or to be more precise, a 'gala' tent. It was/is made up of a series of metal tubes which lock together. A bit of an enigma until you begin to put it together, following a printed manual. Once the sections are connected one to the other, there are bolts that screw the various sections together and are then tightened with an Allen key. We only constructed the roof section and once this was assembled it was moved into the open courtyard space where it would be completed tomorrow. This is for an outdoor service tomorrow and is part of the summer festival.

The temperature currently reads 79ºF on my digital thermometer.

On the way home, I went into Sainsbury's to buy some food for the picnic at church tomorrow. As I don't have a working oven at the moment, I bought salad stuff, a sun hat (a rather natty trilby, by the way!) and some spray sunblock, which I find easier to put on rather than greasy sun lotion which I hate. When I got home I decided I needed a cool box for carrying food to the picnic and went on the Argos website and ordered one and immediately went to their shop in Grafton Gate to collect it. I was also hoping they might have some of those freeze blocks you can get which you put in your freezer, and they freeze and are used to cool your picnic items in your cool box. But they had sold out, not surprising because of the hot weather. I then went round to Morrison's, which is behind the Argos store and asked a member of staff, and she said they didn't have any, but I could have a load of industrial cool blocks they used to keep stock cool. I was taken into a storage area, not normally accessible to customers, and a young man gave me a pack full of these cooling blocks without me having to pay! 

Some Like It Hot

This blog post's title refers to one of my all-time favourite films, the 1959 comedy starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and the fabulous Marilyn Monroe, 'Some Like It Hot.' (Actually referring to jazz and not the weather.) The Curtis and Lemmon are out of work instrumentalists, Joe and Jerry,  in 1920's Chicago who accidentally witness the Valentine's Day massacre and have to dress up as women in an attempt to outwit the mob. Joe becomes Josephine and Jerry becomes Daphne,. They join an all-girl band and go on tour with them and on the train, they have to travel on to one of their gigs in Florida,  where they meet Sugar Kane Kowalczyk, played by Monroe in one of her most iconic roles. If you want a film that will make you laugh, then this beats a lot of modern comedy. It is in monochrome, so don't be disappointed in that, but it really doesn't matter, as it's fast-paced, funny, and downright crazy.

I was out with Alfie at 5.45 a.m. as we were ready, not bothered in the slightest that it was that early. As I write this (9.00a.m.) It's sunny and warm and likely to get warmer as the week progresses, according to the weather forecast on BBC Breakfast earlier.

I've been making fruit scones! They are currently baking in the oven and have about 3 minutes before they come out of the oven (should be saltanaley rather than currently. Sorry about the pun, but I just couldn't resist.) I have been using the equipment I have purchased on Amazon and in Dunelm, the digital scales, mixing bowl, rolling pin, and so on. It all seemed to go well, and as ever, using Delia Smith's recipe.

2 Minutes later. I have removed the scones from the oven. I'm a bit disappointed that they have come out no bigger than when they went in. Just a bit tiddly. I did follow Delia's recipe quite carefully and she said to use a 5 cm cutter, which I did. I was expecting them to rise a bit more than they did and come out somewhat larger. Oh well, as only the first time I've made them in quite a while, not really bad. As they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

I have a saving account with Metro bank. The only way I can access it is either by visiting a branch or through their app or website. I had been attempting to reset the password but with no success. You are allowed a few attempts and then, if you attempt too many times, I think it's probably six, you are prevented from attempting further, probably to prevent scammers or hackers to pinch your cash. As a last resort, I decided to visit their branch down Chaffron Way, next to Waitrose. I also had a pile of 5p pieces which had been collected in a glass jar which had been steadily increasing to such a point I decided it needed cashing in at the bank. It was around £10 so I could deposit it in the Metro account, but then I wasn't certain if they would accept 5ps. I suppose it would take some time to count, but I had already done that.

It turned out that the bank has a machine which will count your change. All you do is tip your coinage into the hopper and after a while, once all the coins have worked through the machine, it gives you the total and then you put in your bank account number and date of birth and it gets deposited in your account. Ingenious, and certainly did the trick. 

I then had help from a member of the bank staff to reset my online account, and required me to come up with a new password and security number, and hey presto! It worked! Problem solved and it means I can keep an eye on the balance and it makes life simpler if you use the online facility rather than having to go into a bank branch.