October Tuesday

Yesterday, I went to the Elephant & Castle Tesco, picked up several items, but when I arrived at the queue, realised that they only had two cashiers at the four or five pay points. They are obviously trying to force people to use the automatic payment booths. These are quite difficult to use, and rude assistants lose their tempers with old people like me when we try. I lost patience after about 15 minutes wait at the checkout and just dumped my basket on the floor and walked out. I am becoming rather crabby on this diet, I notice.

I almost had a similar experience at Peacocks when I purchased some tights. The assistants were all messing around with the stock and there was no one on the till. However after loud complaints from me and another customer, someone reluctantly turned up to serve us, very, very slowly. I give up. Must stick to online purchasing.

Long chat with Nibby who assures me that some cats are genetically biters, and some aren't, which might explain Kook's habits to some extent, but the very nasty bite on my head was nasty, and beyond tolerable. He has only nipped my leg and arm once or twice a day since, and very lightly, fortunately.

Today, many returns of the theatre tickets landed in the office. I have two or three takers, but there will still be quite a few remaining. Oh well.

My latest soup consists of slicing a couple of inches of Chorizo del Pueblo from Sainsbury's into very fine discs, frying up with a couple of finely chopped onions, adding garlic, then about a pint of water, then three or four large finely chopped carrots and even more chopped celery. At this point I simmer it, having seasoned with pepper, celery salt, 1 tsp smoked paprika, a stock cube and anything else I fancy. This time it was two bay leaves, some basil, dried fines herbes. When virtually cooked I add a small tin of canellini beans and a couple of tablespoons of tomato puree. Less clever was my decision to put in two of my Spanish peppers, a string of which was drying in the kitchen. One would have been more than adequate. Anyway, if left to get cold after the first generous bowlful, the fat on top (from the chorizo) can be removed, but it is still very good and lasts for a couple of days. I am taking the precaution of refrigerating it at night. I have worked out that three to four generous bowls full are about 2-250 calories each.