Almost-rounders; Grazing

Sunday’s community rounders event, intended to be a follow-up to July’s Big Lunch, turned out a spectacular flop when only four of us turned up. My long-standing antipathy to ball games meant that I attended more to show community spirit than because of any actual enthusiasm for playing rounders, so shame on my neighbours … Fiona, the organiser, was understandably a bit peeved but Ruth and I were discreetly delighted and went home instead for an early-evening drink on the patio, which is officially almost the same as exercising.

Ruth had even taken the rounders bat she keeps in the bedroom wardrobe (I’ve not as yet quite figured out its intended purpose – challenging intruders to a ball game?) - it would have been its maiden voyage, had it got as far as actually striking a ball.

Other than that had a quiet weekend doing household chores and baking a fig and ginger parkin, in true homebody fashion. Ruth has started painting the garage white, in an effort to achieve a bit more of a Mediterranean look - it looks good although unfortunately it has meant trimming back some of our neighbour Nicki's very pretty grapevine, which has trained itself attractively along one wall and across to our garage roof.

Today I have enjoyed having ‘nature delivered’ to my desk, in the form of a ‘graze box’ from www.graze.com. Graze make up a box of healthy snacks for you, based on the likes and dislikes you enter on their website, and based on the type of box you’ve chosen. I chose the ‘grazeenergy’ box, designed to help ward off that mid-afternoon slump, but there’s also e.g. a ‘grazewellbeing’ and a ‘grazepreworkout’ option. It’s delivered in a cute flat cardboard box. Today's box contained pieces of fresh pineapple, Korean chilli rice crackers and black pepper cashews. All, obviously, a clever marketing ploy, but for a fruit-phobe such as myself it may have some merits.