Jazzy D's Soul Notes

Well folks, I don’t know how your two days of Xmas went but mine was quiet and yet enjoyable. I was going to have a curry on the day itself but yesterday Annie who lives above me came to the rescue and cooked a delicious Xmas Day roast with all the trimmings. Chicken, beef, and lamb were all part of it along with Brussel sprouts, broccoli, carrots, roasted potatoes, and Yorkshire pudding. I was stuffed by the end of it. All washed down with an Italian merlot vino.







I had a couple of CDs from my b and sister-in-law plus a malt whisky from Phil.

Today I made myself a delicious mushroom carbonara pasta dish washed down with a top-quality Cabernet Sauvignon wine.





Plus cider before and after the main meal, LOL!!

So far a much better than soaked-filled Saturday. It was a soggy sodden saturnine day that was scurrilously sanitizing my enjoyment of being in Canterbury and yes the alliteration was deliberate.

Today it is blue skies and white fluffy clouds as I write, and hope it stays that way.

Just had lunch which was a delicious roast chicken dinner with tatties, peas, and carrots with stuffing and a portion of a chicken and mushroom slice pastie.

Listening to music as well, from all my recent finds, and those that came in the post

Drinking a fine strong still cider as well. I bought three bottles of it!

Cheers!

I must admit that the humidity today got to me until the thunder in the afternoon when it cooled off slightly. Another hot day - 29C - but the humidity made it heavy. Tomorrow it will be 27C so it will not be as drenching.

Meanwhile, in the common room, somebody had left a Cd rack with a number of Cds which I learned was from the guy at flat 15 who passed away recently. His family put a notice upon the common room door to say that the CDs and rack were free to take. There were only two CDs that interested me - a Byrds compilation and a compilation of tracks by Traffic and another of Sam Cooke recordings. The rack is a spinner and holds up to 80 CD's!



And yes, I have almost filled it up.

The CDs were stacked on top of each other which made getting a CD near the bottom of the stack cumbersome. Now all I have to do is spin to the right one.

Lunch was a delicious cottage pie washed down with a couple of ciders.

All the reports from Monday are now completed.

And now back to the music. Mahler time!

Arrived back from my excursuions at just after two in the afternoon. Glad I did. Since three it hs been raining heavily.

My lunch was a very large Cornish pastie with peas and mash tatties. Washed don with very cider with an 8.7% ABV kick!

The reports are done, so now it is musical relaxation.

Another relaxing day. I went to the local shops to get some food items late mining and gad my usual pizza followed by some salmon and tomato and rice pasta dish. Both filled me up. Washed down with some scrumpy cider.





A nice blowout.

I was in the community lounge and watched a film on TV - a classic with Robin Williams from 1999. and in my opinion, his best - The Bicentennial Man - based on a novella by Isaac Asimov, and is the story of a robot who becomes virtually human, falls in love and decided to die with his human female partner when he turns 200. It has a sad ending that made the old tear ducts well up.



Oh and that binge-watch was Dr. Who in the Eccleston period.

I found my tasting notes for the cider festival at Spoons that finished last week. I shall list the ones i have tried in order of counties they come from.

Cornwall

Cornish Orchards Farmhouse Cider 4.8 % ABV -  fruity mellow and light

Devon

Sandford Orchards Pear Shaped 7.5 % ABV - bright crisp perry and full strength!

Somerset

Orchard Pig Maverick  4.0 % ABV - very tasty ginger and chill cider that slips down easy

Orchard Pig The Hog Father  7.4 % ABV - a real palate cleanser from this strong 'un.

Sheppy's Farmhouse Cider 6.0 % ABV - a traditional cider of fine quality

Shepton Mallet Cider Mill Somerset Tree Shaker 7.0 % ABV - a medium dry fruity cider.

Hampshire

Mr. Whitehead's Beetroot Cider 4.0 % ABV - strange combination but what a flavour with a red purple feel.

Mr. Whitehead's Boxing Dog 7.5 % ABV  - a strong cider of distinction.

Suffolk

Waddlegoose Lane Woodpsrite 3.8 % ABV - clean tasting cider with a toffee apple flavour yet light.

Leicestershire

The Bottle Kicking Cider Company Cross Farm Perry 5.0 % ABV - slightly cloudy delicious cider,

East Lothian Scotland

Thirsty Cross Cider Whisky Cask 6.9 % ABV  - whisky cask aged cider infused with honey and oak and so yummy.

County Antrim, Ireland

DJ's Juice And Cider Tempted? Summer Sweet Cider 5.4 % ABV -  full bodied and sweet.


And there you have. Who needs foreign ciders when you can have these great British ones.

Another busy day that started off in Sittingbourne with a visit to a Dreams store, and then a stint at the Office. Followed that with a trip to Tunbridge Wells to do another cider festival visit at the Guinea Butt. Had a pint of Thatchers Heritage cider.



Then did a few visits inside the shopping mall before returning home.

However, once again, I had little time left to visit that old bookshop, so will have to do it on my next visit to the town

Sunday in general was a wet horrible day.

First of all, my sleep was interrupted by somebody next door,or perhaps the door after that, using a saw or doing some sanding down of timber,at the unearthly time of 7 am. in the morning. Then i heard more bloody sawing of wood later on at around 9pm. so eventually i got up somewhat annoyed.. GC was the first to leave, i then showered and went out towards Brighton.

First port of call was the Evening Star pub. This was about 1 pm i arrived.

Had two drinks, an American beer on the hand pump, called Brooklyn Blast, a heavy wight ale coming in at 9 % ABV and only sold in  half pint glasses or 1/3 pint glasses.





I followed it with the yummy Thatchers Medium cider (6.0 % ABV), a cloudy cider that is a stronger version than the one that the Dover Castle Inn sells, and only £3.20 whereas the 5% version which Shit n' Scream supply Phil's pub is £3.50 a pint.



I had a good chat with Nigel. We were talking about music, and was reading the Observer, and we were discussing how long Bruce Springsteen had his Telecaster guitar, and also talking about Hendrix and why most modern music sucks against the classic rock of yore.

The Evening Star is in Surrey Street , and not far from the rail station, and opposite the pub is two interesting retail shops for those who like adult toys and anything to do with sex. Taboo is the red coloured building next to the Grocer & Grain, and further along is the older shop of the two, The Private Shop.





Afterwards, i walked down Queens Road to meet Lorna at the expense Starbucks in Western Road. We shared a large cappuccino and had a bit of a chat. She no longer lives with Mary-Ann and has found a room in Hove and living with a Muslim family.It is costing her £320 a month, and is a fair chunk from her wages. She said she was brassic, well i know how she feels sometimes, so i gave her a ten pound note. She looks a bit thin and gaunt and it hurts me that we had to split on economic ground.

Rents in general are too high, and most landlords do not care as long as they get the money. Over the years where we could have increased social housing, both types of government,whether Tory or Labour, have ignored the social problems of the housing problem, and consequently we have too many greedy people making it miserable for those who cannot buy a house or prefer to rent at a reasonable cost as a smaller proportion of their income. Subjects like these make my socialist blood boil at the unfairness and injustice of the system. Beat down Babylon.

After our amiable chinwag i walked down to the Northern Lights to get some dates sorted for my next gigs. Ina wasn't available, so I decided to have my free meal.

It was a very tasty smoked haddock and mozzarella fish cake with new potatoes,samphir, and dill sauce. Lovely delicious food.



Washed down with Einstok White Beer from Iceland.

Arrived back in Seaford, after getting soaked, watched a bit of television, the extremely funny animated cartoon, "Madagascar" , then went upstairs to read the newspaper, and within minutes fell asleep, and much needed it was.
.

The warm weather has come with a bit of a vengeance but at least we can say it feels like summer.

Been to Newnham Court just outside of Maidstone to do a visit. Bought a book at Cotswold Outdoors , “Pub Walks In Kent” (Power Publications) as my proof i did the visit.

Earlier i was in Faversham and picked up a hardback book i reserved at the Faversham Society shop for two quid -

“Peter The Great” by Lindsay Hughes (Yale Univ. Press)

When i got back from Sittingbourne and after dinner, a salad, we were out in the garden having a pint of cider and talking to the neighbours.Felix made a fuss of us and even went in the house to have a sneaky feed.

Tomorrow i will finish off this month’s charity shop visits in Herne Bay and Birchington on Sea. The sea breeze should make the day a bit cooler than it has been today inland.

Yesterday evening cousin and i was up at the Dover Castle to celebrate Pitsy's birthday. Food was laid on as well. The new Thatchers Heritage cider was on draft  (4.9 % ABV), and very quaffable cider it is too, I do not remember what time we got back nor do i need to know.

Today was mostly quietly reading a book or listening to some downloads, except for some occasional groaning sounds (i dare not call it singing) from cousin whilst playing a Jack White CD and then some Elvis Costello on DVD.

Cousin went to bed early , just after ten, and i shall retire soon.