Thank you Michele and Mo. It was mount Everest. I was very shy before I started driving, I got a lot of nasty comments from the men, and often came home in tears. But I treated every day as a fresh new start, you can't change what happened yesterday, and I just got on with it, and learnt their langu...

Hi Anna Haven't had time to go back yet, but I will, 12 hour shifts on this job are normal, Tuesday was nearly 15 hours!!!I got an early finish today but I had to go to the hospital to get my hearing aid repaired, so it looks like Saturday. You have all convinced me I should be cheeky and ask for a ...

This subject was also on You and Yours, radio 4 today. They said that farmers were reluctant to lay out loads of money to convert their barns etc, into free range facilities, because they thought people would give up trying to find free range and wouldn't care what they ate, and go back to the cheap...

www.ilona.me.uk

Hi Morph Your recipes sound tasty, lots of ideas there. I like to make things up according to whatever I have in at the time. I eat chickpeas straight out of the tin! I am hooked on the toasted sesame seed oil, in stir fries, stews, on everything, get it from T***o. 97p Yes, wild garlic is in abunda...

I love beetroot, especially the homegrown and cooked yourself variety.
Somebody else said that chick peas make humous, I didn't know that.
Todays sandwiches were, mashed adzuki beans, chopped spring onions, wild garlic leaves, and prawns, sprinkle of olive oil. Lovely.
Ilona

I'm going to try even harder to get stuff for nothing. I have now started rooting through the bin of the chinese takeaway in our village, because they get their mushrooms delivered in plastic trays, and they are the perfect size for carrying 25 plastic drinks cups (free) with my seedlings in. Mind y...

Richard, you make me laugh. What I should have done was taken the 5 bags of clothes there, and asked for a swap, but I didn't know where the back door was of the Cancer Shop, so I took them to the Hospice shop because I could park outside their front door. Missed out there. Anna, that was a bit mean...

[color=darkblue][color=darkblue]I was browsing through the books in a charity shop yesterday and came across one which made me smile. A readers digest book called, How To Pay Less For Just About Anything. It was priced at £2.00. I wondered if I should ask the lady if I could have it for £1.00, an...

Having to do my pack up every day now, I am getting a bit bored with the same old cheese sandwiches. Sandwich fillers from the supermarket are far too expensive so I have come up with a few ideas of my own. Take half a tin of chick peas, rinse the salt off and drain. Mash them up in a bowl, a fork i...

Oh Anna, you are making me so jealous, I can't look for my bargains now that I am at work !!!

Hi Anna Sue did get planning permission to stay there. She writes a column for the Yorkshire Post. If you go back to the link I gave you, and put in Sue Woodcock in the search on the top right hand of the page, it will come up with other articles about her. I wrote to her 3 times but she didn't repl...

There is a woman in North Yorkshire living a similar lifestyle. Sue Woodcock a former police woman from Hampshire. I have written to her a couple of times and rang her to ask if I can come and visit, but she says she is always busy. m This is the link to the Yorkshire Post, not sure if I have copied...

Help. I seem to have this fatal attraction for every cat in the neighbourhood, maybe because I often leave the back door open for my two to wander in and out. There's little Garcia from down the road, he knows the sound of my car and comes running when I come home. He dashes in and leaps onto the ki...

I decided to keep my eye on the chickens and make regular head counts. It was 12 a few weeks ago, now they are down to 9, plus cockerall. I have been taking them sprout tops, they love them and now come when I call. Just lately they have all been running loose because the side of the enclosure has b...