I am making plum and apple chutney today and the whole place is full of that spicy vinegary smell. I really enjoy doing it as you don`t have to worry about whether it will set like marmalade and you can put anything in it like ginger, cloves, cinnamon, just a bit of this, a bit of that. I find it is very useful to give as at Christmas if you are suddenly handed a beautifully wrapped present you were not expecting.. I am lucky as kind villagers constantly give me bags of apples, or there are boxes of windfalls left outside houses.with a note saying` help yourself`.
I have seen two good films in the last week: Selma which was about Martin Luther King, and Suffragette, Both were about injustice and inequality and both showed such courageous people. There was actual news film which made them even more poignant.
Going to the doctor`s in Ditchling is a really sociable experience I find. The waiting room is packed with familiar faces, the dog walking fraternity, and other oldies from the village. We have such interesting conversations about our various aches and pains and treatments, and we almost reluctant to go in to the Dr when our names are called. Also they have installed a Do-It-Yourself blood pressure machine. You poke your arm into a dark hole and a ticket comes out the other end. We all enjoy doing that very much.