Milk & cookies to nibble while I'm watching an episode of Ally McBeal

It's wet and 'orrible outside, so I'm out for a Peroni or two in a Harold Wilson-style raincoat. Cheers!

Remarkable: I've been retired for nine years, but Saturday still feels like Saturday 😊. Anyhoo, here's the view looking north out of the window of my #Leeds flat a few minutes ago. Happy weekend everybody!

Admiring the newly-planted flora outside 212 bar, #Leeds

Chefs' Superfluous Preposition Watch, May 14th. "We shred the Romaine Lettuce down ..." (Chef preparing a Caesar Salad)

My tea: roasted chicken breast fillet with a home-made chunky Stilton, Onion and Parsley sauce, served on a bed of Conchiglie Pasta, washed down with a bottle of Old Speckled Hen ale. Sauce: Stilton Onions Butter Plain flour Fresh parsley Black Pepper

Barbecue in the sunshine at Bridge End Social, Leeds. Superb! 😋

Thank god it's Thursday! #retired 🌞

Throwback Thursday #TBT. TUC May Day rally & speeches in Leeds, April 2023. @vickyblake.bsky.social @richardburgon.bsky.social @cllrasgharkhan.bsky.social @tuc.org.uk

Prepping my breakfast: Cumberland Sausages Smoked Back Bacon Tomato (for grilling) Heinz Baked Beans (salt and Chipotle Chilli Flakes added during heating) Oyster Mushrooms Shitake Mushrooms Duck Eggs Black Pudding Bread (to be fried) Tomato Ketchup

Lots of passenger jet activity over my Leeds flat this afternoon. A Jet2 Boeing 737 on its way from Leeds Bradford Airport to Budapest.

A dish of home-made raita to go with this evening's fabulous home-made chicken curry and equally fabulous home-made pilau rice. Nom! 😊

Well that's a new one on me - a horizontal rainbow (2:30pm BST today, looking roughly north-east from Brewery Wharf, Leeds, UK)

My early evening meal: home-made Leek & Potato Soup

A few too many Peronis last night. Still, this'll sort me out.

Quote of the week from the Sky News presenter just now: "Does D'Artagnan have living ancestors?"

Really good photo shoot this afternoon with a photogenic young lady who did an excellent "serene" look.

*Assess "In the mili-durry we call it a PBSM - a pretty basic spelling mistake"

Aaah - we're getting to that time of year where retailers remind us that ex sounds like eggs - just in case we'd forgotten.

Amongst all the rowdiness, laughter and jollity in a bar last night, I managed - eventually - to get a decent portrait photo of the guy who's emigrating soon.

Just seen a Facebook post from one friend to another, "Remembering all the holidays in grease". Reminds me of the time a colleague was arranging a departmental evening out to go and see "... the musical Greece".

First attempt at Italian-Style Meatballs. Just resting, then they'll be portioned-up, cooled, a few refrigerated, a few frozen. Then I'll be making an Italian-style tomato sauce to go with them tomorrow 😊

Having a go at making Italian-style Meatballs this afternoon. Never tried this before. So far so good.

"You cannot underline how important this is." TV News commentator I shall add this to my collection, along with "You're pushing at a closed door", "The proof is in the pudding", "anti-ballistic missiles" and "It's a two-horse argument".

First lunch on the balcony this year! (Home-made Chilli Con Carne with plain white rice and crème fraîche)

Setting off to 212 bar, #Leeds, shortly, for a Peroni or two.

Out for a few drinks with the neighbours last night, so in need of a goodly breakfast: Fried Pork Sausages and Scrambled Eggs (eggs, butter, creme fraiche, parsley, salt, pepper) on lightly-toasted buttered Pain De Campagne with grilled Vittoria Cherry Tomatoes on the vine.

Rustled-up a late breakfast / early dinner for myself. “New Bacon-ings Burger” (recipe from the Bob's Burgers Burger Book). A classic all-beef patty with lettuce, cheddar cheese, onion, tomato and bacon, served with bacony-y fries.

Throwback Thursday #TBT. #Leeds #University staff and students protesting about pensions in February 2018. @ucu.org.uk @vickyblake.bsky.social @leedsucu.bsky.social

A kite near my #Leeds flat a few minutes ago.

A fine rainbow over #Leeds just now.

The view from Brewery Wharf, #Leeds, a few minutes ago. Not a cloud in the sky!

The sausage butty after the too much Peroni the night before

Intended rustling-up a Full English Breakfast this morning, but then decided I wanted something lighter. So ... Poached Eggs and Smashed Avocado (Avocado, Fried Garlic, Fried Chillis, Salt, Pepper, Lime Juice, Olive Oil) on Buttered, Lightly-toasted Seeded Sourdough Bread.

When I was about 7, my mother told me that frail, elderly relatives Jack and Freda sent their laundry away for laundering because they had neither the energy nor the appliances to do it themselves. Last night I dreamed about it. That tiny detail had sat in my brain, unrecalled, for 60 years.

I'd love to live in the land of recipe-writers, where "two egg yolks" can suddenly appear out of nowhere 🤔

Made a quick calculation in my head of the health benefit of going for my usual brisk walk, compared with the health benefit of not being out in the 2°C brisk easterly wind. I'll put the kettle on again, then.

My TV snacks for this evening: Buttered Ritz Crackers with Brunswick Ham, Cheddar Cheese, Dijon Mustard, Thousand Island Dressing, Mango Chutney, King Prawns, Vittoria Cherry Vine Tomatoes, Black Olives and a glass of Neck Oil Session IPA.

Throwback Thursday #TBT. Opening of the David Oluwale footbridge in #Leeds on January 26th 2023. @leedstours.bsky.social

Throwback Thursday #TBT. Catherine, Princess of Wales, visits Kirkgate Market, #Leeds, on 31st January 2023. @leedstours.bsky.social

My lunch: home-made Chicken Stroganoff with home-made Lemon Rice.

A cold, misty start to the day in #Leeds

My Burns Night breakfast. Sadly there's no neeps or tatties. And the haggis is actually beefburgers that I found at the back of the freezer. Ah well - happy Burns Night!

Called into a department store this afternoon for a sensible suit - for no other reason than I haven't got a sensible suit. While I was there I thought I'd get a nice cashmere jumper to go with it. But - ye gods - all I need now is a pipe and I'll be my own grandad!

Home-cooked Cottage Pie for lunch 😋

Nom de plume! Very happy with the way my 2 batches of Cottage Pie have turned out 😋

Rowan Atkinson famously has a problem saying "Bob", and I find the word "retrograde" a bit of a challenge for some reason. But - ye gods - hearing news commentators trying to say "retaliatory" this morning ...

Snack preparation ahead of tonight's televisual feast ... Jacob's Cream Crackers Lurpak Salted Butter Prosciutto Crudo Napoli Salami Milano Salami Vittoria Cherry Vine Tomatoes Saint Agur Blue Veined Full Fat Soft Cheese Celery Sticks Caramelised Onion Chutney Basil Pesto

Starting this morning with a (very) messy breakfast butty. I may need a shower after this ... or possibly sand-blasting.

Looking forward to the Grand Depart next year. I didn't get many photos from the 2014 event in #Leeds, though I was happy with this one of the gendarmerie on their way down Woodhouse Lane towards the city centre. #TourdeFrance