Kate is in Kent, and Beth is in Spain. I’m alone this morning, with just a cooked breakfast, a mug of tea, and the Chinese F1 qualifying to watch.

Andrew is coming around for lunch. I’ve got dough rising at the moment, so we’ll have fresh bread. We’ll be having a ploughman’s; double gloucester is today’s cheese of choice, and beetroot pickle to go with it.

I was going to write something about the March for the Alternative, but I think Dizzy sums up my thinking:

“Today a small minority of people, many of whom pay little tax, will converge on London to demand more money earned by those not present be spent on them, with added call for more money we don’t have to be borrowed and spent on them.”

So instead I’ll look forward to a weekend of sport. Currently watching the F1 qualifying, recorded earlier this morning. Now in HD! And no Jonathan Legard! Gosh, how Auntie Beeb spoils us.

And looking forward to the Boat Race this afternoon. Kate grew up in Mortlake, near the end of the race, so I suppose it was her local sporting event. Watching the coverage gives a view of London that is very different from what we see in TV dramas, or from arriving by train at Kings X. Following the river gives us a slice of history and of the natural world through a very urban environment.

After a morning spent sorting and scanning paperwork in preparation for this quarter’s VAT return, I enjoyed the Grand Prix at Spa. What a pretty circuit, with its hills and forests. And what an exciting race. I think rain should be compulsory for F1 — the races are so much more fun when the weather is unpredictable.

We had a picnic lunch in front of the television, with Belgian wheat beer accompanying our bread and cheese, and Belgian buns to follow. (Not sure that Belgian buns are Belgian in anything but name, but the taste is good!) Some Belgian sea-shell chocolates came later, and Beth ate most of them.

Next up is Monza in a fortnight. We’ll have no problem finding Italian food and drink to go along with the race.

Beth and I had a good swim at the Fairmont before tea. She is getting very confident and independent in the water. My parents will be visiting us next Sunday, so they’ll be able to join us for our weekly swim.

When we have a Grand Prix to watch, we try to eat food that matches the location. For the F1 in Turkey we had falafel and kebabs. Today’s race is in Montreal. What Canadian delicacies should we be dining on?

After a little research, my initial suggestion was poutine, but that plan was scuppered by a lack of availability of curd cheese, and everybody else turned their noses up at it. Further research revealed that all that Canadians eat is Kraft Dinner, so that will do for us this evening. All washed down with Canada Dry.

Oh, and waffles and maple syrup for pud.

Made bread yesterday. White bread this week; makes a change from the wholemeal I’ve been making recently.

I thought this week’s Dr Who was a little disappointing. The cast and setting were good, but the story was trite, the characters were weakly drawn, and it really shouldn’t have been a two-parter.

Swimming this morning: no fire alarm this week, and there was hot water in the showers, so we’ll count it as a success.

We had Turkish-style food for lunch today, to go along with the Turkish F1. (Well, Turkish food in as much as it matched our idea of what Turkish food might be like, without us doing anything like research.) My homemade houmous was amusingly garlicky. Maybe it will be mellower tomorrow. Kate made some vegetable kebabs and some falafal. The race was pretty exciting too, with some good overtaking.

Andrew made pies for our tea tonight. He found some pastie-makers that he’d never used, so we folded fillings into puff pastry: cheesy vegetables in half of them, and potato and pea curry in the others. It worked rather well. Pies are good.

Then back home to watch Lewis and to eat chelsea buns, hot from the oven. For a change I sprinkled sugar crystals on top, rather than the sugar syrup that I’ve used previously. It worked pretty well, and was a bit more like the chelsea buns I remember from bakers as I grew up in Nottingham.

An entertaining F1 this morning. Lots of overtaking, drama in the pit lane, and rain. Oh yes, F1 is truly at its best when the rain falls.

After lunch, Beth, Andrew, and I watched yesterdays Doctor Who. There are disparate opinions being expressed online about this episode. I liked it a lot. The setting and characters were excellent, and the I thought the story worked quite well. Beth loved the multi-coloured Daleks.

Kate is off at Costco in Aberdeen today. Kate and Jill do an occasional shopping run there; Beth and I weren’t allowed to go as they need every bit of space in the car for purchases. I wonder what we’ll end up with this time? We still have several packs of haloumi in the fridge, leftover from the multipack that Kate bought months ago.

It is good to see that LJ is now supporting Google Analytics. Mind you, it doesn’t appear to be working, but I’m sure it will get sorted out soon.

I made some wholemeal bread yesterday. I’m trying to get into the habit of making bread every Saturday. Four 1lb loaves; one is on the go in the bread bin, the other three are in the freezer for later this week. Kate thought the bread was a little salty; I followed the recipe in the Kenwood cookbook, but I’ll try halving the salt next week.

It was bright and sunny first thing this morning. Beth helped me to dig over the vegetable patch, ready to plant some seeds later this week. It feels like we’re out of the frost season.

Now we’re settled down in front of the F1, with potatoes baking in the oven, and veggie haggis to go with them. Not long till lunch.

Looking forward to Polly coming to visit later this week; her annual trip to St Andrews for Stanza.