'Dressing' a house to help it sell.....

[Geoffrey]

Don't forget the rest of us - the "normals".

50/50 (OK OK, 60/40) convenience food and "real food". Batch cook & freeze chilli/bolognase. Love my microwave! How on earth can anyone actually cook on a Aga? I like shop bought cakes - they were a treat when I was a kid. Sundays mean a roast, if the kids are out we might go to the local pub who does a mean roast beef with all the trimmings for less than a tenner.

I'll sew buttons on and turn up trousers but darn and patch? Er no - life's too short. The sewing machine does get a good dusting once a year though.

I did make one set of curtains (couldn't find ready mades that matched the room and couldn't afford to have them made) but the rest are BHS/Harveys.

Ikea stuff in the bedrooom/bathroom (cheap & well made). TV in most rooms (if you ask me, the cost of the licence is well worth it for the BBC in all its incarnations) and we like to watch it!

Garage full of tools, loads of jobs on the round tuit list.

Like I said - normal.

[Sam Nelson]

You moght have to get into that a bit more as a result of Mandelson's latest screw-up. No cheap Chinese trousers for you!

[Andy Hall]

Very easily and extremely well.

Cheap? Almost. Well made? Reasonable for the price, but no more.

[timegoesby]

If you warn them, the they must get off. If they don't get off, you the right to use force.

They can only enter via a court order. The same for even the police.

If you don't have a TV and these people pester you, be firm with them. You don't have to answer any questions or speak to them. They harrassed a friend of mine who never had a TV. They just didn't believe him. They wanted to look around all his rooms. He told them where to go. He then went to the Citizens Advice and played games with them once he knew the law. They can only enter a house on a court order, and then with the police to ensure no breach of the peace. The courts will only allow them into a house if they have evidence that a TV is there, usually by their scanners or seeing a TV through a window. If no evidence, the court usually will not issue a court order. Most should go out and get a proper job and something useful.

[Mary Fisher]

I only love people, notthings.

It's easy. And satisfying.

You can't have had well made non-shop ones if you prefer the latter. You've grown up!

That can be done at home - your wine will cost a lot less.

It's not needed often and takes less time than buying new things.

DUST? Now that IS a waste of life.

Quite.

You mean average -ordinary!

Mary

[timegoesby]

Are you having it off with this fellow? :-)

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You're writing more like Drivel by the minute. Did you both go to the same school?

[Geoffrey]

When I was a child my mother baked every day. She was (and actually still is) a great cook and still makes great cakes. I STILL like shop bought cake!

Of course it can be done at home, so what? I occasionally like to go to the pub and have someone else cook for me and do the clearing up afterwards. I rarely drink wine during the day,

I like to shop and I like new things. I do not like mending. As I said, life's too short to spend time doing stuff I hate.

Once a year I clean the house. Actually I quite enjoy it, it's a bit like a day out.

No, I mean normal. Like most people.

I'll lay odds there are a lot more folks like me than there are like you..

I made marmalade yesterday - in the microwave. Done in 20 mins, hardly any effort and tasted really good!

[Mary Fisher]

Everyone needs a hobby.

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

Don't let your mum hear you.

That's what wives are for.

I never drink wine during the day - except ocasionally champagne. But we don't eat our main meal during the day either.

I hate shopping. It's a waste of life. I can listen the the radio while mending, ironing etc.

You can come and do ours.

Average. Ordinary.

Boring.

I don't bet, coming from a bookmaking family. But you'd be right. That makes them ordinary.

Super. I make marmalade in such large amounts that no domestic microwave could accommodate it. But I start with whole oranges.

[timegoesby]

I read a lot of his posts when I Google for info. I do find his style appropriate for the likes of you, although I am no poet, so you can rest on that point.

[Matt]

So do we, but only ever with Seville Oranges and they are not in season till January.

[Geoffrey]

She likes them too.

That's what my husband says which is why I like to go to the pub.

Sunday dinner in the evening? You's posh!

Ick - no thanks.

So did I. Bargain bags of discounted oranges from Tesco whizzed through the food processor. So I had to do it in three batches but it was all done in an hour and the most time consuming bit was cutting the circles of greaseproof to fit in the jars.

I felt quite proud of myself although the general consensus among the family was that we have enough marmalade to last a year and it'll probably go off before then. Don't see why it should - I ran the jars through the dishwasher at the maximum setting so they were probably reasonably free of nasties.

I wonder if marmalade freezes.

I like the 21st century Mary, one day you should give it a try :)

[Huge]

They freeze perfectly well.

[Mary Fisher]

That was my (unwritten) point, only the cognoscenti would have known :-) Those who use pre-preared commercial canned pulp have no idea of real marmalade. I buy two boxes at a time from the wholesale market, last time I paid £4.

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

So why does she bother baking?

Every day, not just Sunday.

No, on second thoughts if you have to stop for a cooked meal at noon you wouldn't be fit for anything else afterwards.

How quaint! These days jars come with screw on caps. But see other post on real marmalade.

It's more a matter of having the right sugar/fruit/water ratio.

I've never done that and we've kept marmalades and jams over decades. If you do it properly it won't go mouldy. Keep practising.

C21st? Oh yes, that's the one with screw on caps for jars.

Mary

[Andy Hall]

That depends on what you eat.

Kilner rules OK......

>

[Mary Fisher]

And how much. No point in having a special meal if you have to think of your physical abilities afterwards.

And we always have wine with our main meal, I wouldn't deprive guests.

No, dear, jam jars. Kilner jars are for bottling fruit and veg, not for storing jam. It's a different process - and one I don't do.

Mary