I went to spout off. I love spouting off, and I realised yesterday that I seriously miss it. When I worked I used to spout off all the time - and one of the great things about being a CEO is that when you do spout off people feel obliged to listen. Eeeeh, them w'e days.
I was in Inverness for a consultation the Scottish Government is running about their proposed climate change adaptation strategy. Thrill a minute stuff.
The workshop only lasted the morning so I spent the afternoon wandering around Inverness, mainly charity shops, and feeling aghast. You have to realise - I've not been to a place as big as Inverness for about a year. It all felt very odd.
The rest of the time I was in search of material to use to make a wind break to protect the fruit trees. I found some stuff in Homebase - but at over £3 per square metre I baulked. I found some at Highland Industrial Supplies but they wouldn't sell me any less than 50m rolls so again I declined (and bought a fishing rod instead - "Fathers Day" I told myself). Then today I read Jo's blog and so now I'm captivated by the idea of using scaffolding netting - I suspect it might not be cheaper than garden netting - even though I think gardeners are taken for a ride over the cost of most things - but it will be better quality and should be strong enough for all kinds of other uses I can't possibly imagine.
I knew it was time to head home when the sun came out (the whole day in Inverness was steady heavy rain) - and it was very pleasant pootling up the A9 in the evening sun with a string of cars behind me (I obstinately stuck to a steady 60mph - it must have been sooooo frustrating for all the traffic behind me who obviously had to get somewhere really really urgently).
I stopped off in Lairg for something to eat (fish supper! - another treat). I've mentioned before about the economy up here being very poor. There are countless examples of people and traders being incredibly frugal and eeking out every penny's worth - but the chippy in Lairg takes the biscuit*. Once the (as it turned out - very good) fish had been cooked to order I was offered salt and vinegar - I eagerly accepted. Swish swish with the salt pot, and then - not splodge splodge with the vinegar as you'd expect - but phussst phussst. The fish supper was gently misted with vinegar using one of these.** Now you might think this might be in homage to Heston Blumenthal or something - but in a place whose best selling item is probably deep fried frozen pizza I doubt it. It's about saving money. I must keep visiting that shop - cos eventually they'll think of a way of limiting the amount of salt they give out - can't wait.
*Can a chippy take the biscuit? Should they take the batter? or the deep fried pizza?
** I struggled to find a piccy of one of these - and this piccy comes from a strange blog - if you can be bothered to look.
3 comments:
Oh I wish Scottish chippies would find a way of limiting the salt they apply... maybe it's my southern wussishness, but if you have to brush off each chip before you can eat it, it's too much.
I'll be interested to see where you manage to buy scaffolding net from! It's great stuff but I've never been able to get my hands on any. I guess building suppliers may sell it but I've had no luck.
Have a look on Ebay under debris netting, some sellers sell it by the metre, but I think it works out more economical to buy it in bulk if you're going to use a large amount.
I was lucky and had some given, but I've heard of other people asking on building sites when they see scaffolding netting being used and they have been given some for free. It sure beats paying for it.
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