Extracting the urine

One of the ways of attacking the lunacy that is sometimes foisted upon us by the Powers That Be, is to take the Mickey.   I am minded of Pastafarianism, a religion that (as I understand it) pays homage to the Flying Spaghetti Monster.   The last I heard anything about it, they had demanded and been granted the right to wear a colander on their head for their passport photos, in the name of their religion, and of religious equality.

Today, to my delight, I read in the Ouest France, a french newspaper, of a 60-year-old former male argentinian worker in the tax office in that country .  (S)he has taken advantage of the law that says a person can identify as being of either gender, apparently without the need for surgical intervention or much other justification, and can insist on being treated as being of their chosen gender.

Sergio has become Sergia, and (s)he has just retired at 60 instead of the 65 that is the normal retirement age for men.  (S)he also apparently lives with a younger lady (relationship unspecified; it could be his daughter for all I know)

Broad beans

As a kid, I was fed broad beans that my Dad grew.  At the start of the season, harvested immature, they were OK, being small and tender.  As the crop continued over the Summer and Autumn, it was hard to keep up and eat them all, so they matured and became tough.   The skins were especially unpleasant.   I planted broad beans last year, and had no difficulty eating the beans when they were still small tender, largely because there weren't that many.

This Spring is being pretty miserable, weather-wise.  It's drizzling today, and cool.  My veg patch soil is at 5°C and Accuweather tell me that I can expect to wait another three or four weeks before the average day/night temperature exceeds 10°C, which is the soil temperature needed by broad beans to germinate.

I planted some broad beans this morning, anyway.  I put them under perspex cloches in the hope that this will warm the soil a bit.  I get impatient.

Maintenance

I have finally finished all four bays in the new compost heap.  There is a little pile of compost left at the far end to be disposed of, but the rest of the old stuff is spread around the garden where I hope it will do useful things for plants.

The new greenhouse is starting to fill up with plant trays.  I've not planted anything really frost-sensitive yet.  We are expecting  -5°C in the next few days; I will need to see how well that is kept at bay first.  Which reminds me, does anyone know a good way of stopping lettuce from bolting to seed?

Meanwhile, we empty the septic tanks.

The greenhouse

One of the things that has been lacking in my garden is a greenhouse.  There is a conservatory attached to the house, but if I use it as a greenhouse, it gets a bit messy, and since it has a covered roof, the light isn't ideal.   Especially in Springtime, the window ledge is covered in seed trays and Dahlia cuttings.  Water gets everywhere.

Leclerc, a supermarket chain, were advertising a 3x2 metre greenhouse for 55 euro (A bit less than 50 quid), so I bought one.  At that price, it's hard to resist.

We put it up this morning.  It's made of a reinforced plastic stretched over a metal frame held together by plastic joints.  It is stabilised, and held in place during high winds, by guy ropes, one at each corner.  We placed it on an old tarpaulin to give it a base, and put some spare plastic tables inside, to make a workbench.  The little object on the bench on the right is a max and min thermometer, I will use it to see how well the greenhouse keeps the frost off during the next few weeks.

I might even try growing some aubergines or hot chillis, once the seed trays are dealt with.

Vinho verde

When your wine has stopped fermenting, you have to rack it off into another demijohn to get it off the yeast.  Dead yeast decays and will give a strange flavour to the wine if you don't. 

So I did, and at the same time I topped it up with a little water that had been boiled in the kettle, and added a little sugar.  The wine promptly turned a green colour, rather like pea soup.

However it did eventually clear into a pale yellow pee-colour, and this I then transferred to bottles, where, according to the instructions, you  have to leave it for a year before drinking it.  I have to admit that I tried a bit.  I hope that ageing improves it.

Walking in the hotel gardens

It takes a lot of effort to keep a garden in good condition, and I was particularly impressed by the gardens around our hotel.  They are well-kept, and well-integrated into the general landscaping of the place.  Judging by the number of chairs spread around, I think it would be a lot more crowded in the hight season, perhaps a bit less peaceful to stroll around.

So before we say farewell to Madeira, let's just note that there's a lot more to see.  We didn't see any of the North coast, nor did we walk along any of the little irrigation canals that carry water from the North to the South.  There are more cable cars that offer great views, and plenty of other restaurants to try.  There are good surfing locations too, for warmer weather.  There are guide books to the trails and paths of various degrees of difficulty that lead to places of interest and viewpoints up in the mountains.  Plenty to come back for.

Toboggan ride

The toboggans are of a wicker construction, built on wooden runners beneath.  They are pushed and steered (and for a brief stretch, pulled) by fit guys dressed in traditional white, with straw boaters, and in February, blue tops against the 17°C cold.

They are very much a tradition, of little practical use today, but the tourists keep it alive, and the locals seem to be happy with this.