and today i have mostly been...

[Welly]

Excellent! no I can't remember that little story, that's great though how your relationship developed in that way - I think they're the best ones and born out of friendship.

[steve_earwig]

And for those of you watching on black & white sets

[Welly]

Breaking News:

Ex-pat grows enormous Tomato shocker

[Bailes1992]

Breaking News:

Ex-pat grows enormous satanic vegetable

Edited for accuracy

I despite tomatos

[steve_earwig]

I despite tomatos

You what despite tomatoes?

I suspect the main reason you, er, despite tomatoes (unless you're actually allergic to them) is you've never had a good 'un. The toms you buy in the supermarket are rubbish, tomatoes bruise easily and don't last long when ripe so store bought toms are picked while they're still green and artificially ripened wiv kemikals, so on the outside they look ripe but inside they're definitely not. A pwoppa tomato should be FLESHY, RED & SWEET all the way through and the insides should absolutely not look like wallpaper paste and taste like pus. [/rabid]

Breaking News:

Ex-pat grows enormous Tomato shocker

I suspect there's been bigger, I've not really been paying attention. I could do with them being a bit smaller TBH, as these monsters have a habit of breaking the plants.

[Welly]

I eat tomatoes with something because I know they're good for you but yes the shite we get here in the UK is enough to put you off them.

It's only really when you travel to Spain or similar that you get to flavour the real tomatoes

Best I can do here is attempt to buy the 'exclusive' range of 'vine' tomatoes in packets. Even these have probably been grown under artificial lighting 24hrs/day. In a Factory. In Swindon.

Honestly the food here in the UK is bloody shocking, getting decent quality Chicken and Beef is very difficult.

[Welly]

Our Norwegian Forrester Cat has been missing since that very hot day last Weds

It's bizarre because it's just like someone has taken him away, keep expecting to see him and keep looking out for him but nothing

[Doggy]

Fingers crossed, I hope he turns up.

[steve_earwig]

Oh, sorry to hear that, I know just how that feels. Hopefully he's just shut in someone's shed or garage (worth asking about?) rather than stolen.

Archie was missing over a bank holiday weekend, I suspect he was in next door's garage, first work day and there he was. Obama went and we never saw him again, we imagine he found somewhere better (although I'm pretty sure the idiot neighbours did something to him )

[Welly]

Daughter_Welly has put a message on the community Farcebook page and had quite a few responses from people willing to check around etc.

She also went around pinning laminated 'missing cat' notices around the community.......one snooty old %$&? said she was 'damaging' the tree with drawing pins another 'paper' notice had been visibly torn up and thrown around and a third laminated one physically cut away from its fixings

Daughter replaced them all and I went around last night with my industrial stapler and stapled the f*ck out of them, nice help* from the locals eh

[steve_earwig]

Still nothing? Ah crap, sorry bud. We can only hope he's found somewhere with better grub. Yeah, some people are right helpful

Oddly enough we'd been missing Pickle all day today, I've been up and down the road looking in gutters, behind bushes, in bins etc. starting to get that sinking feeling but t'wife just announced she'd appeared as if by magic under the coffee table No pocket money for you this week young lady!


A Pickle asleep, yesterday.

Meanwhile, remember those chillis I planted?

I tried a tiny slice when they were still green and couldn't feel my tongue for half an hour, so lord knows what they're like now I've no idea what to do with them (I'm not even supposed to eat anything hot) but apparently t'wife's cousin wants to dry them and turn them into some sort of condiment. Well ok, just have a fire extinguisher handy.

There are lots more

[Welly]

No sign of the cat now so we're now at the stage of getting used to him not being around

I've got a chilli plant growing right now and I've also re-potted it twice into quite a sizable pot and a large plant with loads of green chilli's dangling from it along with coriander these chilli's seem quite fool-proof to grow. When does the 'red stage' occur?

[steve_earwig]

That's a sod never knowing what happened to him, just like our Obama, for a long time I was checking any black cat I saw but I guess he's gone by now whatever happened to him. My dad said years ago he had a much admired ginger vanish, almost certainly pinched he reckons.

I've no idea about chillis, this is the first time I ever grew any. I was told to put lime in the soil as they're quite hard to get going (que?) I also have a couple in pots (ran out of room in t'garden), both have green peppers so I'm starting to wonder if they need full sun to ripen.

[Welly]

Funny* you should say that about Cat theft - someone else lost a 'precious' breed of Cat in our area recently; like the Cat was scooped up and gone.

Is there really that sort of low life Oxygen thieves that would pinch someone's cat [/shakes head]

Green Chilli's - my Sister reckons if you leave a Green Chilli it'll ripen and turn Red? I don't know, I just think you'll get a squishy Green unusable Chilli.

[steve_earwig]

Of course there are people who would stoop that low, some would do it only just so you no longer had the cat. Although I reckon you should picture some little old lady who lives a few streets away who's been feeding him tasty treats for a while and now he's decided to move in there permanent like. Cats do that, the traitors.

Ripen chillis in the sun maybe, or leave them in a bag with a banana - it's how you can ripen a tomato (same gas they used to ripen the ones you buy in the supermarket, and you know how good* they are...) Tell you what, pick one, cut a small slice and try it, and report back once you've regained the ability to talk They're probably good enough as they are.