First Impressions.

The Pig and Whistle was like any other old English pub, full of dark stained wood, hazy lighting and chintz. A thick bank of cigarette smoke hovered over the regulars’ heads, mostly men, their surprised faces momentarily raised from their pints as two young women walked in with a cold blast of air from the outside.

With full wine glasses in hand and slightly tipsy from the alcohol already consumed, Charlotte and Anne stood propping up the bar giggling like children.

Harry had seen Charlotte first. He had seen her as she walked into the crowded pub, young looking and with a worried expression on her face that she never seemed to shift. Her hair was brown and fell in straight strands down her back, but it was her eyes that struck him the most, beautiful dark eyes that when you looked closer were of light grey. He had been sitting at a table with friends, gaily drinking and laughing at some joke or other, he couldn’t remember what about now. Then he noticed Charlotte and her friend, her unremarkable looking friend, all the more unremarkable for she was standing next to Charlotte! Harry had always mocked people for saying that love at first sight existed, more ‘lust at first sight,’ he thought. He couldn’t see how with one look a person could be totally smitten by another, and then it happened…

In just one look!

Charlotte had raised her eyes from her glass for a brief second; just to take in the room they were in, when her look met that of Harry’s sitting across the room. It seemed that their eyes locked for a moment, both gazing at each other, eyes widening trying to capture the other person. Feeling at first, surprise at being caught looking and then stricken by wonder at why the other was still holding their gaze. Charlotte broke eye contact first, her eyes had relayed something to her brain and then to her heart that made it quicken and hammer against her ribs like it was a wild animal panicking to get out! Harry felt the same, but being bold, he held his gaze transfixed on Charlotte, his eyes dilated with interest. Did he notice her blush when she lowered her eyes? When she shyly raised her eyes towards Harry a second time, it was Harry’s turn to lower his gaze in a nonchalant manner, and so the game continued until Harry couldn’t take any more of this childish teasing.

Anne hadn’t been naïve to the sly looks her friend had been shooting towards the corner of the room, she was interested as to who could have had such a profound effect on Charlotte. She lowered her head looking to seek her confidence when the tone of a man came from behind her, asking if he could buy them both a drink. The two girls stood in shock, this had never happened to them before! The man’s dialect was rich and seductive, unlike the common tongues they could hear all around the pub. He spoke very like a gentleman should; though to Charlotte he looked nothing like one. None of the man’s clothes seemed to correspond with each other; it looked like he had just grabbed the first things he found in the wardrobe and threw them on saying, ‘this’ll do.’ His mop of brown hair was as disjointed as his fashion, his fringe hung down over his forehead and his curls caressed the nape of his neck. To Anne he looked like an artist while Charlotte didn’t know whether she should be jealous of his hair or be attracted to him! ‘I’m Harry!’ he smiled down towards Charlotte, a perfect wide toothy smile that she reflected back.

‘His smile,’ she thought ‘was perfect!’

Harry on the other hand was more appreciative of Charlotte though he was astonished at how small she was in stature. From behind to a casual glance she looked very like a child, however on closer inspection, her womanly curves and ample breasts betrayed her mature figure. She wore a long black dress, ‘quite Goth like’ he thought though her dress sense was infinitely better than his own! He noticed her skin was pale like porcelain and he wondered whether ‘if I touch her, would she break?’ To Harry she resembled a fine English figurine, the ones your grandmother has behind glass cabinets, all standing prettily carrying parasols and with red lips that are set in a pout ready to be kissed. Harry was overwhelmed with a feeling that he wanted to kiss Charlotte more than anything else!

Christine Lucas 2013.

Quorn Madras…made the Christine way!

Today David and I both had a day off work. After getting David’s car from the mechanic all bandaged up and fixed (for now!), we headed out to my two favourite shops, Dunelm and B&M. I got a lovely set of egg blue curtains for the bedroom, a change from the teal ones from Dunelm at £30.

Come the afternoon, David worked on his aviary for the finches and I cooked up a mess in the kitchen. The house smells of Indian spices now.

I thought with having a day off, that I should do some more cooking. At least then I know that David is eating a proper meal! He can be so fussy!

So I decided to make a Vegetarian Madras taken from a recipe I saw in an Asda magazine. The recipe was much simpler to the one recipe I have also tried.

The ingredients were as follows. Serves 4 (though I halved everything as it was only for two.)

• 1 large onion
• 75g of Asda Madras Curry Paste
• 1 clove of garlic
• Handful (per person) of Quorn chicken style pieces
• 390g of Asda Italian chopped tomatoes
• 100ml of water (reduced if for two people)
• Rice for the amount of people served.
• 200g of frozen peas
• Naan bread (to serve)

Method:

• I fried the onion and the garlic in some sunflower oil.
• Once golden added the curry paste and cooked for a couple of minutes.
• I then added the Quorn chicken style pieces and cooked for 5 minutes
• Add the water and tomatoes to the pan and simmer for 25 minutes.
• While the sauce is cooking, put on the rice and cook for 15 minutes
• After the rice is cooked add the peas
• Put the naan bread in the oven for 6 minutes.
• Serve with your favourite beverage and radio station.
• Share with the important people in your life 🙂

The result was a curry that was not too spicy but warm enough to make the nose run! lol I was amazed that even David enjoyed the meal. He even cleared his plate! 🙂

Lazy Sunday.

It’s been a day of doing absolutely nothing!

Struck by the monthly blues and feeling sorry for myself 😦 I surfaced from my bedroom around 5pm.

David spent all day at his brother’s dismantling a bathroom while I was home alone feeling gloomy and morose. At least I was warm and kept out of the violent wind that howled angrily outside.

The only up side of today was that my Hellebore, which I planted in the Summer has two flowers on it! Its grown, as have a few other plants in the garden. I didn’t even know that plants grew of a winter?!

One for Sorrow…

Well the news on David’s car just kept getting better and better!!

Thursday evening, David faced a garage bill of over £1000!! It was not only something to do with the car’s exhaust but the flange that joins both parts of the exhaust together???? Meaning having to replace the whole exhaust system!! My advice never buy a Fiat!

I had had a really nice day on Thursday at work with my student Rachel, revising for her exam on Friday. However coming home to David’s news and a letter from the University of Liverpool saying the course I had enrolled on to become Excel proficient was cancelled, really ‘ground my gears!’ (Line from Family Guy!) How am I to get ahead in the workplace when I can’t even get on an academic course is beyond me? The only good thing is that they are refunding me… Looks likely I’ll be teaching myself!

*sigh*

I only need one more bad thing to happen and that makes three!!

Friday, however was a much better day. David took the car from Quick Fit (why he took it there I don’t know!) and took it to the mechanic he usually goes to (though on Thursday he thought that he was closed!).

The car will remain at the garage over the weekend as the mechanic tries to bring it back to life!

Shopping was a funny affair on Saturday, as David for years has been saying we should walk to the shops as the supermarket is just down the road! However I think he now realises that lugging loads of bags back home is another matter. Burning biceps and cut fingers from where the plastic bags have dug into the skin is no fun!

This weekend was the RSPB’s ‘Big Garden Watch’ 2014. I went into mum’s house next door (as she still has all the feeders) and sat for an hour and counted the birds. Before my count there were lots of Starlings visiting the fat balls, but when I sat for the hour not a single Starling came. All I saw was 9 Goldfinches, 12 Pigeons and 2 Blue Tits. Very sparse this year!

To cheer myself up after all the upset over the car. I decided to cook a salmon teriyaki and vegetable rice for dinner on Saturday. (Thanks to my student Rachel for making me think of this recipe!) I was surprised at how easy it was to make. Boil the rice and then add vegetables, marinate the salmon with the teriyaki sauce and cook for 20 minutes! Voilà! 🙂

That B****y Car!!!

First it was the clutch that made David miss my birthday last year!

And now, after seeing him off for work. I get a text five minutes later saying. ‘Car sounds like a rally car, think I may take it into the garage to be checked.’ Think? There is nothing to think about! When something doesn’t feel or sound right on a car get it checked straight away! I hate cars, we rely on them so heavily that when they break down they do it spectacularly!!

I hope whatever is wrong with the car is not too serious and can be fixed and that it’s not too expensive! That is all we need a broken car and household bills mounting up! We have only been in the house a month! 

Fingers and toes are well and truly crossed!!

Curry Night at No. 49!

Friday, we had guests around for our first curry night in our home.

David had invited his brother Gary, his wife Bilgen, sister Leanne and cousin Keith.

Snowy my 5′ penguin and I were nervous yet excited for our guests to arrive. 

I had my usual vegetable Dupiaza with naan from Saffron, swilled down with a glass of Yellowwood Chenin Blanc from South Africa.

 

All seemed to enjoy the night and it was nice to see the table surrounded with people and laughter.

We’ve survived!

Well it’s been a week of living independently in the new house… and I can safely say we have survived!!

I thought that living with David I may lose my identity but I have been able to do my exercises when I want too, (at last we have a gym!) and last night I even left him to his new TV and went to my bedroom to listen to Hans Zimmer soundtracks and relax before bed.

Yesterday David spent several hours in the loft trying to lay boards on the beams so we could store some ‘not so often used’ items.Today after shopping and trying to sift through the mountain of cuddly toys I own. We managed to store some of my belongings in the loft space.

Looking at my old bedroom, I still have a lot of stuff to either dispose of or store… it is quite amazing how much one accumulates in over 37 years of life!

This evening, I embarked on tackling the electric oven and hob! I have only known cooking with gas so facing an electric stove was daunting! I had two pans on the go, one for rice and the other for a vegetable chilli. All week I had been itching to make a meal. I even wanted to make a fresh loaf of bread, but David doesn’t like bread!

I was like a child in the kitchen, everything was new! I was excited at using my new sieve, then I opened my packet of wooden spoons and even using my new granite chopping board was a thrill, (I really must get out more!).

I think it will take me a while to get used to the electric hob, especially after the previous inhabitants had scoured away the markings from the settings. We had to leave it to guess work at what heat setting the hob was on. At one moment I was faced with a pan of simmering rice and then I lifted the lid and the water was still…the rice would take ages to cook in a luke warm pan!

Luckily I had started preparing early, so after an hour the chilli was cooked and the rice was fluffy. I was even cooking a serving for mum so I had three meals to make. On separate plates I placed some doritos and sour cream dip. I then warmed up some tortillas and shared the chilli and rice between us.

When David came to the dining room, my stereo, in it’s new home was switched on to Classic FM and the table was laden with food and drink. 🙂

Now afterwards, sitting with a filled tummy and a glass of wine coursing through my veins. I write this blog with the sounds of war coming from David’s ‘Battlefield 4’ echoing around the living room and the two finches Chocolate and Romeo chirruping in their cage.

It’s been a long day, in fact it’s been a long week. I am feeling tired so I am signing off for the night…

Christine x

Happy New Year!!!

In 2013 I was energetically typing a narrative about two young lovers who meet 15 years after their initial break up. Most of the novel was about their relationship before things turned sour and the instant attraction they had for one other.

In this scene, Harry at a wedding reception reminisces about Charlotte’s and his first New Year together…

‘Come, dance with me?’ Charlotte asked waving a tumbler of spirits in her hand as church bells rang out over London marking the beginning of a new year and the voices of people in the street below sang ‘Auld Lang Syne’. The bang and flash of fireworks going off from the park opposite Harry’s flat illuminated Charlotte as she held her arms out to Harry, saying that she hoped that the new year would be ‘their year.’ Charlotte had pulled back the blinds from the windows so that she could see how others brought in the New Year while she stood in her black negligee that clung to her curves. She was looking at Harry with expectant eyes. ‘Happy New Year, my darling,’ she mouthed as Harry swept her up in his arms and held her tightly, whispering into Charlotte’s ear.

‘My only wish for the new year would be that we continue to remain as happy as we are now.’

‘We have so much to be thankful for,’ she continued, wiping tears away from her eyes. ‘We have found each other!’

‘You have no need to cry, Lottie,’ Harry said, kissing her salt wet eyes and then her mouth passionately. ‘I am so overwhelmed by you. I can’t begin to explain how I feel! ’ The radio blared out the bells of Parliament’s Big Ben through the airwaves and then the sound of the 90’s streamed through the speakers of the stereo. Charlotte sang badly to Kylie Minogue