We haven't worn masks for a couple of years.
Coincidentally today we just chucked packets of out-of-date covid tests.
We tried a variety of masks most of which were poor quality and relatively expensive, but you bought what was available during the crisis.
For efficient protection we ended up buying these:
Are the National Archives at war or a charity?
Citizen archivist 
Personally I think a National Archive ought to be offering properly paid & pensioned temporary/part time jobs; and looking for employees interested in a career.
Of course it's a choice people will make. Who will these free workers be do you think? Bored older retirees?
Seems like they want free labour.
I've read manuscripts of pretty much all ages and it becomes pretty easy to strip away the flourishes of copperplate, even in documents 400 years old.
What is difficult, or rather I should say, takes time to become familiar, is the person's writing.
My father wrote in cursive using all the less familiar capital letter forms, but in a sloping, quite tall and very narrow style that is simply difficult to read.
Could be very interesting archive work as you really never know what the next document might contain. Imagine finding an unknown Whittier poem, or correspondence of a famous musician with their musical ideas.
Darlington, stunning, mad, beautiful, impractical!
Made me smile as it's something of a contrast to the town of the same name down the road from us...
until I realised it must have been named because of the railway connection.
According to one website, CA allows camels, zebras, bison, spiders, most lizards, most birds including ostriches(!) as pets.
Thats basically the start of a list of animals I wouldn't want in my house
Just remembered my sister gave us some coffee syrups for christmas. The vanilla and white chocolate look tempting.
Kettle and cafetiere are all is needed as long as you buy decent beans. We get ours from TKMax
Seems they are regarded as an invasive species that could affect the indigenous fauna.
Bit like our rabbits and grey squirrels.
I was brought up liking hedgehogs as they're good for the garden, but told they're prone to be flea ridden.
The idea of keeping such a wild, spikey animal as a pet (and microchipped like a dog) is rather strange to me.
This is quite interesting.
Ours are carnivores, eating millipedes, centipedes, beetles and help farmers by eating pests. They curl up in piles of leaves and also burrow to sleep.
I'm going to search now...
Crop damage? Are we talking about the same animal !
They eat beetles and worms and it's hard to imagine them decimating a crop of wheat any more than a harvest mouse.
Very nice indeed.
That C#minor Chopin is a particular favourite.
We see hedgehogs in the garden late evening, and even in winter(occasionally) in daylight at the edges of fields, when food must be scarcer and they are normally hibernating.
They appear sweet little things, children are always fascinated by them.
Our government plans 1.5million new houses in the next 5years; given the size of the UK this build will inevitably affect a lot of our wildlife.
Happy New Year
My younger daughter just said with a tinge of sadness
"Ah well, another year over"
Anyone else been watching CNN on the hour to see the New Year displays?
Doha had interesting whirlwind drone formations.
Sydney harbour always provides a superb setting, probably my favouriteso far.
We also have buttered toast for breakfast... usually with honey, though I'm fond of Bon Mamon bitter orange marmelade.
Also I've been mixing myself a healthier version of tuna sweetcorn melt for toast. Using:
tin of mackerel
avocado
egg
sweetcorn/mustard/herbs
with a much smaller amount of coarse grated cheese to bind and brown.
FWIW, porridge mix (jumbo oats mixed with Flahahans seeded oats) add water and microwave for 2-3 minutes.
Then I add berries, usually blue/rasp/blackberries. And a small unripe banana. And/or craisons, walnuts, satsumas.
More useful might be the breakfast of a diabetic neice
4eggs, 3 slices of quality salami, cream cheese and half a grapefruit
I enjoy getting my proper camera out, and creating a photo rather than just snapping away with a phone camera.
Not older film cameras though, too much waiting for development.
None of those, but probably the oldest place Ive eaten in is The George.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_George_Inn,_Southwark
Could have been an Inn on the site way back in the 13th century.
Merry Christmas to all
Andy
