‘Tis the season of goodwill….except….

 
 
 
 

…it is also the season of the “shoot”. A friend of our employer pitched up earlier in the week with several brace of pheasant. A “brace” is a Mr & Mrs Pheasant…..”hang them for a few days before you pluck them, Sir M is looking forward to them next time he comes”…….We duly “hung” and promptly forgot about them, I had recall in the middle of the night and so this morning dealt to them….that was a bit of learning curve, also a bit messy! Shot wounds and all that – I don’t know how they do it! Anyway, these “braces” of birds are sitting in a miserable pile in the fridge - I think they are much nicer strutting around the fields…..anyway ‘life as a servant’ prevails and I think their messiness will have to be nicely disguised as a “game pie”!!!
We went to the Cheltenham Races last weekend, which is a bit of a fixture at this time of the year. You share picnic in the boot of the car with the dogs and then study the horses “form” as they are paraded around before they are taken out to race. They all look so lovely and very capable……however, the ones we bet on are still running.
Parts of England are snow bound at the moment, we are hoping for a “white Christmas”, but I think that is a bit of a dream, it’s freezing cold, but so far just a few teasing flakes. Lovely walking weather.
The hole in the ground is having a temporary cover put over it, the size of the “Super Top”, locals are freaking, not realizing that come May, the whole site will look like a meadow, it’s astonishing. We fantasize that it’s a stadium for a Rolling Stones New Year Concert! Christmas is a bit of a lonely affair this year as we are manor bound, we shall make the best of it….drink mulled wine to your health and wish you were here………

Life as a servant.............

 
 
 
 

……..get’s a bit surreal from time to time – well most of the time actually! When our employer was in residence over summer, he thought that we needed more parking space for guests etc and because he thought more cars parking would spoil the look of the place, decided that it should go underground…consequently we have a HUGE hole in the meadow and a building project of industrial proportions going on around us. When it is finished it will be invisible.
Last weekend two of our employer’s family came for a “country weekend” with their friends. We had been given a brief by the parents, who was coming, what rooms to prepare, what meals were being eaten ‘out’ and what sort of meals they would like when they were eating “in”….. ……..everything changed, of course….guest numbers went up and down and rooms that had been deemed suitable by the parents were discarded by the ‘young hosts’. Meals that the parents had thought were going to be eaten ‘out’ were of course eaten ‘in’ and meal numbers fluctuated between 8-10. A traditional Thanksgiving Dinner was requested for 8pm on the Saturday night…at 7.30pm I was asked to put it on hold for 30mins as another young friend was flying in by helicopter (as you do!)……..Two hours later said young guest arrived and the meal was served! (Rod and the resident young-uns having guided the heli into a paddock with their torches, in the dark and freezing cold).
Uber-rich kids are pretty much the same as kids everywhere except they have bigger toys and people to pick up after them……they were very polite and well mannered and hoovered up cookies at an alarming rate as well as large quantities of Daddy’s Moet!!
The photos are a bit random, because I’m having “issues” with storage – the HOLE, the Manor kitchen, a fav sunset and one that I took from my hairdresser’s window in Soho – “make my day”!!!!!
Christmas is looming and we are feeling a bit bereft….wish you were here xxxxxxxxxx