Putting Up A Tent Dans Le Jardin ...... It Was Emotional

When you find a brand new, two man tent in the Salvation Army shop in Evesham for just £8, it would have been rude not to, especially with the school holidays now upon us.

I've Got A Lovely Box Of ..........

 Now that's what ........

...... we would call .......

..... a very substantial box of most mahoosive watermelons ......

...... but, unfortunately a tad too big for the diminutive, but ever willing Eric to pick up and bring home on his way back from the school run. Any much considered purchase would have to be of a highly organised and well regimented group effort of a rolling type nature me thinks!  

I'll Name That Tune In .......

 More street music as casually stumbled upon by Eric on his many travels ........

....... this time from the main throughfare of Birmingham city centre.  We've kept it short, as it's 20 seconds you'll never see again ...... answers, as to the name of the tune, on a postcard, addressed to The Towers please! 

"Our" Bridge Has New Railings ........

Following on from last weeks latest bridge development, we now have an update as relayed by the watchful and ever vigilant Sir Eric.

At first a row of stabilized, red, rather battered and bent, barriers was put up along the ledge between the road and the footpath  .......

..... which had the little fella proclaiming that they offered very little protection to man, beast or hedgehog .....

..... when considering the size of the heavily laden lorries that thunder beneath and betwixt, as if there's no tomorrow, particularly first thing in the morning.

However, a couple of days later there was a further erection, this time, following a very thorough inspection by Eric, (to be honest, I surprised he didn't get his clipboard out)  .......

...... which he deemed to be a far more robust affair than the previous incumbent  .......

 ...... painted a bright, bright yellow, that the aforementioned lorries surely could not miss .......

...... thus offering, once again, safe passage to all pedestrians, cyclists and the odd horse/rider combo, happy days all round! 

Who Ever Knew There Was Such A Thing .......

As you may or may not know, the ever fragrant Alice is very partial to the odd mini Calippo when the weather gets hot, to help her keep cool and sufficiently hydrated.........

......  especially as a lady of such gentility and decorum, she would be absolutely mortified to find herself flush of face and sweaty of brow or top lip. 

However, Darrell, bless him, had been worrying that her delicate little hands might be in danger of getting frostbitten, taking in her frequent trips to the freezer drawer of late .......

...... so he's bought her a little present from Temu to save her beautiful, petite, digits .......

........ in the guise of, wait for it, a insulated lolly holder ......

Needless to say, Alice was absolutely thrilled with her gift, she can now suck and slurp whenever the whim or soaring temperature takes her, in a totally refined and ladylike manner, without the fear of any harm befalling her fingers. 

Who, knew there were such things?

Oh Dear ......

There's not a lot been happening under "our" bridge for quite a while now with, thankfully, the goings on with Friends of Hedgehog in abatement, however, there has been a development of another kind as spotted by Eric yesterday afternoon .....

..... and, to be honest, none of us were the least bit surprised ........

 ..... considering the size of the heavily laden lorries that pass under it each day .....

........ it really was an accident waiting to happen.

It seems that one of said lorries has totally demolished the newly painted railings beneath, that protect us pedestrians, as it leads, apart from the scrapyard to a public bridleway and footpath!  Zut alors et quelle horreur as they would say in la belle France.

Questions may need to be asked in Parliament if it's a slow political debate sort day.

As and when there are any further developments, you, naturally, will be the very first to know!

Eric Just Died And Went To Heaven

The ever fragrant one nipped up to town this morning and discovered there was a bit of an event on .......

..... which included several stalls she had never seen before ...... 

...... including a very wonderful purveyor of doughnuts, the likes of which she had never seen before. So despite her very trim waist and after much perusal and mind changing, she threw caution to the wind and availed herself of the biggest pistachio doughnut ever!  At £3 a pop it had to be a very, very considered purchase. 

And then it was back home ........

..... to halve the calories with Eric, said doughnut being almost as big as him!

And, how did it taste?  Did it live up to its promise and expectation? OMG, Eric declared, after demolishing his half lovingly, it was as if he died and gone to heaven on a plate, it was just toooooooooooooooooo incrediblefor words .......

....... what is he like, if not best friends with Alice forever after that!

Unfortunately Alice, in her flustered excitement, didn't catch the name of the stall itself, but as and when we find out, you and our stomachs will be the first to know! 

We Try M & S The Big Daddy Pistachio ........

OMG, look what we managed to get our little mits on in our quest to find the best budget Dubai Chocolate, only the M & S Big Daddy version (£8.50 - 280g, so pushing Darrell's household spreadsheet to the max, truth be told). 

We thought there might be a scramble in the aisles if we went in store in person, so we took a gamble and ordered it from Ocado, no substitutions or anything, we got the real deal!  

Let's just say the box was filled from end to end, no disappointingly small bar within as we have often found with some other confectionary products.  

However, the bar itself wasn't wrapped in cellophane or foil which surprised us, we were straight into it.

I don't think the size disappointed, especially as this was (we hoped) an extra special and tres indulgent treat.

Our Ocado gentleman must have stored it in the chiller section of his van as it was quite hard to cut into, but once we gave it time to rest and reach room temperature, oh wow......

...... can you believe it?  But how, did I hear you ask, did it taste?

Absolutely, flipping lovely, but we think it was the gooey, soft caramel that did it for us!  We had to account for this being M & S's version of Dubai chocolate, so it's not an exact copy, hence the caramel!  Although it doesn't have any kataifi in it, there is still a crunch (not sure what that is), but we have to say, we much preferred the small pistachio pieces much better instead.  The pistachio creme was as expected, if a little firmer in texture, to counter act the soft caramel perhaps? There is also a hint of saltiness which was a pleasant and acceptable surprise.  

Soooooooo, how shall we put it? M & S dun gud, Big Daddy is certainly a very inspired and unusual confection.  We liked it, we liked it a lot and we shall certainly indulge again as a treat of a luxurious type nature, to be eaten, very slowly and quietly savoured.  We are also now wondering if M & S do a soft caramel bar of some sort, as it was really the caramel that truly pulled it all together.

It's going to be hard to top this one, so we are going to relax our search for the next Dubai Chocolate for a while, as we think prices after this might get a bit silly.  Instead, Darrell fancies getting his hands on some of the also trending pistachio spread, if he does, rest assured, you'll all be the first to know!

  

Sour Power Bakery Finally Opens

Heaven help us all now that the new bakery on the corner of the road, 10 minutes from The Towers, has opened!

There was a queue outside from the moment they opened at ten o'clock until they sold out at one o'clock

Fortunately, Darrell was able to join said queue while there was still something left to buy!

It took him about ten minutes to get inside .......

...... where the excitement was both electrifyingly tangible and palpable ......

..... despite there being very little left! Things for the owners had gone very well, very well indeed.

As Darrell got to the front his heart sank as there was only a couple of loaves left on the shelves, but then ..... someone went into the back and bought the last few out and his little heart pounded again ..... having secured a large cheese and onion sourdough loaf!  The shop isn't going anywhere, so he reasoned that there would be more than enough cakes etc. for us to work our way through in the coming days, months, years and for that reason he also picked up a loyalty card, with 50% off our tenth loaf!

And his prize? Well, it was absolutely wonderful, but didn't last long once it was sliced and simply spread with best salty butter .......

...... with us all too engaged in the nomming to even consider the taking of anymore pictures! What are we like, if not incredibly full and satiated!

The bakery is open from Wednesday to Saturday, so between Sunday and Wednesday morning you can bet we'll all be working off those calories to start all over again!

Sleeping Beauty

With such an abundance of beautiful, pink roses (and their accompanying petals) currently adorning Les Towers ......... 

........ Eric, bless him, decided to give the ever fragrant Alice a perfumed treat as she woke up from her slumbers this morning.

He said he thought it was something all ladies would like to experience at least once in their lives, judging by the one or two slushy films he had seen.

So, as he found more than enough fallen petals at his disposal this morning, he decided he would make one of those dreams come true for Alice, in a totally romantic type way, but without any amorous intentions, as that, obviously, could potentially, completely ruin the equilibrium of The Towers. This was a purely platonic gesture for a lovely friend.

Lets just say it was naturally greeted by Alice in the true loving spirit it was meant, but nevertheless was still an emotional, fragrant awakening!  What on earth is that Eric like?