With winter approaching, people tend to spend more time indoors which increases the likelihood of picking up coughs, colds and flu. Home remedies such as using lemon in hot water with honey springs to mind. And I'm sure we are all aware of drinking peppermint tea to settle an upset tummy, or adding ...

The other day I didn't feel up to chopping and peeling veg or standing over the cooker. Normally I have stuff in the freezer or tinned stuff which I can pop in the oven (or air fryer these days) or microwave but I really fancied a chilli con carne. I had bought a can of chilli con carne a few months...

With the rising cost of living, a lot of people are turning to cheaper alternatives which unfortunately I had been doing long before prices started going up. The downside is that those shelves are now becoming regularly empty - I used to get the frozen battered fish portions which was nearly a £1 c...

Autumn seems to be well on its way now so getting salad foods in are not on the top of my shopping, but I had noticed something this summer which I found unusual to be "in short supply". I am a bit fussy when it comes to some salad veg (I don't like raw onion / spring onion, ready cooked beetroot in...

I noticed there was a news report about loyalty cards which I had already sussed out some time ago. I first spotted it in Tesco last year - I had popped in for a couple of things and noticed that the price of foods were much more expensive than elsewhere but with the loyalty card, they were about th...

BBC news Summary - Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pushed back the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars in the UK from 2030 to 2035 - Sunak says he still expects that by 2030 "the vast majority" of cars will be electric, because of improving technology - He also says there will be "far more...

I always enjoy watching the various "Back in Time" tv series because it gives an insight of what it was like during the period selected (what it looked like inside the house, food they ate, employment, what was happening at the time and how it impacted the families, and so on) I think this series wa...

Will you leave it to do its own thing now, or try to manage it again? that's a good question - the fish had survived (and grown to about 4") in total neglect (no water filtration, aeration, algae control, water analysis / water top up except for rain, or feeding) If I intervene now, will that upset...

Well, despite feeling positive earlier in the year, I'm afraid my gardening efforts never materialised. The few plants that I had bought in spring (some French marigolds, basil, a gooseberry bush) died and the seeds were never sown (though now might be an idea for some of those wild flowers and gras...

I am envious of all your fruit picking. I would not be too envious, I checked our blackberries today, five plants, two years old and ......... only one blackberry. A very nice one but I felt the plant were mocking me as I stood looking at it! are the blackberries under netting? A lot could have bee...

I have to confess that I only used one watering can dedicated for weed killer use (it was a red plastic one which made it more distinctive than the other green ones) but think if it was thoroughly rinsed out, it might be okay (perhaps target a plant / weed to test it first to give yourself reassuran...

Sounds like the line up for the 2023 Strictly Come Dancing is coming along. More details on the Radio Times : The following stars have been confirmed for the Strictly Come Dancing 2023 cast: Amanda Abbington Angela Rippon Layton Williams Krishnan Guru-Murthy Eddie Kadi Angela Scanlon Zara McDermott ...

Another environmental disaster waiting to happen is deep sea mining. Most mining has been on land (and we all know how destructive that has been to the landscape / toxic by-products of refining) With promoting electric vehicles to replace carbon emitting fuels, many of the precious metals needed for...

I buy most spices, herbs and mixes from the supermarket as I'm not quite ready to try mixing up my own blends yet. However, even the bigger supermarkets don't sell everything that are available (even ones they used to sell) but after I had visited the Schwartz herbs & spices website to check if the...

Watched the last episode of the Earth series last night (episodes can be downloaded from BBC iPlayer but I used the "tv catch up" on my Sky box) As expected, this was about human activity and how it has affected the Earth since the hunter-gatherer turned to farming. Interestingly, Chris Packham expl...