A couple of disasters and a modest triumph

IT'S BEEN A weekend fraught, this, between the burnt turkey and the drains overflowing with blockage.

First the Christmas turkey. It's the first time we've tried roasting a bird as big as this in our new fan-assisted oven, and boy, did we get the timings wrong on this one!

What emerged from the cooking was something that was so dry as be virtually inedible.

Moreover, by some mental aberration we weighed out nearly double the amount of Brussels sprouts than we should have done, and somehow, too the gravy ended up so thick as to almost need cutting with a knife!

Of course, when I lifted the bird out of the roasting tray it fell to pieces, all in a heap - a real mess of meat, skin, bone and stuffing!

We ate as much of it as we could but neither My Good Lady nor I were exactly calling for second helpings - indeed a fair bit of it went out onto the bird table and there at least some starlings seemed to enjoy it.

The remainder of the turkey went into the freezer and it will no doubt in due course find its way into curries and quiches and the like.

Meanwhile, the drains have been overflowing for some time, and no amount of plunging with the mop or using chemical blockage remover seemed to have any effect.

So, today, we have to call in the professionals. They finally manage to lift the manhole cover and there we discover the problem - when we had the driveway re-cemented a couple of years ago a lot of debris found its way into the drain, partially obstructing the water course.

And of course all the gunk that gets flushed down into the drains simply built up and up until the inevitable overflow.

Oh, the lads got it cleared quickly enough, but it was just one more problem which we could have done without.

Still, it hasn't been a totally unrelieved weekend of gloom - in fact, my experimental cook session was a modest triumph, though I do say so myself. A simple enough dish - a pilau, a Greek rice thing, but given a lift by my using Morecambe Bay shirmps. Beautiful!

Somehow a small compensation for an otherwise stressful few days.