Smorgasbord Blogger Daily – Friday February 21st 2020 – #ChaiandChat Ritu Bhathal, #Oxford Bit About Britain, #Composting Brigid Gallagher

The first post is the regular Chai and a Chat from earlier in the week, with poet and author Ritu Bhathal, who somehow manages to fit in being a full time primary teacher. Anyway here is a quick sip of Chai and then you can head over to find out about the varying class numbers in the final week before the half term and all the other events during the week..

Chai And A Chat #71 #ChaiAndAChat

Happy Monday to you all! Boy, am I glad it’s this particular Monday… Finally, half term break is here! Right, where’s that Chai?

• If we were sipping chai together I’d repeat the comment above. Boy, am I glad that it is half term! The exhaustion has fully kicked in. I have been falling asleep far too early every night, dragging myself out of bed in the mornings, and the knees… yup, the pains are back. Actually, typing this, I can feel a twinge in my little finger too… Here’s hoping a break from school will help me out a bit.
• If we were sipping chai together I’d sigh and say, it won’t be much of a break, but I’ll go into that later!
• If we were sipping chai together I’d tell you that the week at school has been the usual craziness, but muted. Why? Because there has been some crazy virus that hit our Reception classes, and instead of 29 children, I have had a varying number, the most being 23, the least 18, all week! There was tonsillitus, sickness bugs, extreme high temperatures, headaches, coughs… what to do? As long as they didn’t give it to us, and use the break to get properly better! But as I said, it has been very quiet. We have had a lot of quality time with the children that were in, so that was lovely, but I do miss seeing their smiling faces!

Head over to enjoy the rest of the post: Chai and a Chat with Ritu Bhathal

Ritu Bhathal, Buy: Amazon UK – and : Amazon US- Blog: Ritu Bhathal WordPress – Follow Ritu: Goodreads

If you have never been to Oxford … then Mike Biles of A Bit About Britain, gives us a guided tour of all that this ancient city has to offer… I can highly recommend as a place to explore and this post brought back happy memories.

I’m not easily given to hyperbole; I’ve told you that a million times. But it is genuinely hard to think of a British town that can be quite so achingly beautiful as Oxford. Perhaps I should qualify that by saying that I refer to the few square miles of the city centre where, quite frankly, there’s something wonderful round each corner. You can lose yourself, simply wandering in and out of colleges, pubs and the odd museum or two, soaking up the atmosphere, architecture and history. If you’re a movie or TV buff, you can hunt down film locations to your heart’s content, not least those familiar to fans of Morse, Lewis or Potter. Those of a literary bent can immerse themselves in scholarly shrines associated with the likes of Tolkien, CS Lewis, Lewis Carroll, Oscar Wilde, Philip Pullman – and so on. You could go punting and sip Pimm’s. Or go to the pub; did we mention pubs?

Head over to enjoy this grand tour of this beautiful city, take your walking shoes: Bit about Britain – Walking round Oxford

Mike Biles, Buy: Amazon UK – And : Amazon US – Follow Mike on : Goodreads – Website: A Bit About Britain

Now for you keen gardeners… something that is close to our hearts too… composting courtesy of the expert in all things garden.. Brigid Gallagher.

Composting: How to Save Money and Help the Environment

Creating your own compost is a terrific way to save money and help the environment.
Saving Money and Helping the Environment

Composting provides a host of benefits for both you and our planet including:

• Reduction of household waste which in turn saves you money on waste collection
• Reduction of fuel on transportation of household waste to landfill sites
• Reduction of greenhouse gases from rotting food in landfill sites
• Compost improves soil health by increasing nutrients, which improves plant health and growth
• It also encourages the production of beneficial bacteria and fungi
• And helps soil retain moisture…

The Science Behind Composting

Compost is created over time, when waste high in nitrogen (Green Waste) is combined with waste high in carbon (Brown Waste), in an environment that provides both oxygen and water:

Green Waste + Brown Waste + Oxygen (O2) + Water (H2O) + Time = Compost

N.B. It is best to add equal measures of brown and green waste, and to give your mix a gentle turning on a regular basis to encourage air flow.

Head over to read the rest of this informative post: How to Save Money and help the Environment Brigid Gallagher

Brigid P. Gallagher, BUY: Amazon UK – and:  Amazon US – Follow Brigid on : Goodreads –  Blog: Watching the Daisies

Thanks for dropping by and I hope you will head over to enjoy these posts in full.. thanks Sally.