Jigsaw 19, Series 3, Report No.1

In the event, the jigsaw reported about a year ago did not spark off a new round of jigsawing. However, I am now hard at work on this year's version. To be surprised, once again, at how much time jigsaws can soak up. Hard to stop once you get going.

This year, I reverted to what I think is my usual pattern of doing the edge first, getting stuck with one edge piece missing. It resisted serious search, although I did stop short of searching the carpet and nearby gaps under furniture. And then, some jigsaw hours later, it turned up in plain sight when I was looking for something else. Click to enlarge and it can be seen a little below the lower right hand corner.

I often find, by the time I have finished a jigsaw, that I have tuned into what I call its palette, by which I mean that I can quite often place a piece on roughly the right place on the board on the basis of the colour mix, a mix which one can take in at a glance and which one can often pick out of the heap at a glance. Speeds things up greatly. Perhaps I had not got to that point, as the piece in question certainly qualifies in that department.

Noting in passing, that the jigsaw is being done on what started life, with my parents, probably in the 1950s, as a card table, at that time and until fairly recently covered in green felt. A nicely made thing, with cunningly hinged legs. A time when I imagine that people played card games in foursomes at home more than they do now. I dare say such tables were once common and I come across cheap versions from time to time. And, as it happens, a neighbour has one which is more or less identical to this one, I think complete with green felt.

Out to find that the pothole on West Hill has now been repaired, complete with a new drain cover. First noticed back in December at reference 1. And there was at least one inspection visit before the action visit. Very water board. Water could be seen about a metre down, so perhaps that is where the storm drain is.

On the grounds that Waitrose did not do me very well on tomatoes last time I tried, I opted for M&S on this occasion. Round tomatoes from Morocco, Santina cherries from Chile and IFG Sweet Celebration red grapes from Peru. A variety from International Fruit Genetics, so neither the grape nor the conglomerate noticed the other day at reference 3. But their website is not available, ruled by Edge to be unsafe, perhaps because they have failed to renew some security certificate. Equally unsafe whether I use Bing or Google, which I suppose is what one should expect. The grapes, however, were fine, just as good as the Allison. Gone by close of play.

Cherries not so clever. Their skins were slightly pitted and dull, to me the sign of having been in store too long. Eatable, but not good. Then, even though cooking bad cherries does not usually improve things, I thought I would give it a go, simmering them for five minutes or so in a little sugar and water. Not good at all at that point, but then, for some reason, I thought to add most of the juice of a small lemon - which greatly improved the cherries. 

Another cherry from the Summerland people in British Columbia with a strong puff at reference 4, snipped above. Perhaps a site to be wary of.

In any event, perhaps it is time to lay off the cherries for a bit.

Report on the tomatoes in due course.

In the meantime, I wonder whether leaving the EU has meant that we source more fruit and vegetables from outside Europe. I certainly seem to be noticing more such. I don't suppose that Gemini would be much help here, declining to answer on the grounds that it is a political matter, which he does not do.

PS: pleased to see that, following the vote in the Commons last year, the assisted dying bill is on the move in committee. I also see that one Danny Kruger, MP - the son of a prominent supporter of the bill - Prue Leith - looks to be set to do his best to get the bill watered down as much as he possibly can. An old Etonian Christian in a safe Conservative seat, who goes in for what he calls Christian values, does not much like masks or lockdowns and who appears to be on the right of his party. Kruger as in South Africa. See reference 5.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/01/jigsaw-18-series-3.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/12/pot-hole.html.

Reference 3: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/01/pork-soup.html.

Reference 4: https://www.cherries.global/cherryvarieties.html.

Reference 5: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Kruger.

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