This will have to be a real quickie tonight as it is heading up to 11pm and I need to be in bed ready for our last daycare session of the week tomorrow. Freddie stayed on until almost 7pm tonight as my daughter had an internet event to attend for the uni where she works as Environmental Co-ordinator so we agreed to hang on to him and get him into his pyjamas in case he fell asleep in the car on the way home.
We had our usual walk but I was disappointed that it was too windy to go far; a bitter wind too. We went down more snickets, but this time ones we knew very well. I took a quick snap so I can explain that a snicket is a narrow passageway – often between houses or a short cut to a main road.
This one can be tricky to navigate the pushchair through and is a dry day snicket as it has a very puddle dense track in wet weather. Below is the same snicket from the other side and runs through someones little bit of garden at the side where they keep their log store.
We also have many back to back and terraced houses in this area and they have ginnels or passageways to allow people round to the back of the house. These are positioned every four maybe five houses and sometimes gated. One of the houses on either side of the ginnel will have a larger bedroom that would run over the top of passage – they were the luckier houses – any extra room in a terraced house was always welcome.
Apologies to everyone who had never heard of the term snicket (and probably ginnel) I had not realised that these terms are mainly used in the north and most likely in Yorkshire, sometimes Lancashire.
Other than that in and amongst playing I made some mushroom soup for tomorrow with the pack in the fridge that was almost composting and then made a cauliflower and broccoli bake for tea with cheese sauce and parmesan, breadcrumb and flaked almond sprinkled on top – and finally dotted with a few halved cherry tomatoes and browned under the grill. We had a few oven chips to go with it rather than baked potato wedges to save time. This was a bit of a win tonight as it was exactly as I had planned on the menu sheet. That is two nights running gone to plan so far.
Tomorrow we have the person who comes to do the ONS Covid survey test – the vouchers we get will go towards the new washer which reminds me I must have a look at the washers that DH has shortlisted so we can get one on order on Thursday. I still have bedding to iron which was the last of the washing before the machine decided it had had enough – but at least we will be able to change the bed on Friday.
Not even a hint of decluttering today, or knitting – but I did have a good play with Freddie and the duplo farmyard and tomorrow is water play day if we can fit it in. My favourite.
Night everyone (or good morning for those early nighters).
where the journey takes me 2 
such a sweet post. thank you ever so much for sharing your world.
LikeLike
Ginnels!? Autocorrect doesn’t recognise it either.
I like both terms. Don’t apologise for introducing we readers to new words. I love learning about language and words and regional variations of English.
Snickets remains one of my new favs. I told people at work about it. And think I will adopt it.
Just remembered I have a colleague who is from Yorkshire. I will have to work out how to drop it into the conversation. I’ll let you know if she picks up that she hasn’t heard the word for years.
LikeLike
I think our dunny lanes are like your ginnels. Back lanes between houses to give access for the dunny man in the times before sewage. http://www.warrenfahey.com.au/the-dunny-a-history/
LikeLike
The Golfer says in Colchester (where he grew up) …..and maybe all of Essex….. they are called a Folly.
You certainly are having a busy time at the moment aren’t you. Bet it doesn’t take long for you to drop off to sleep😊
LikeLike
We call them twitterns down south, hope you have a wonderful day with Freddie,take care margaret
LikeLike
Hi I love exploring ginnels / snickets in new to me places. You never know quite what you’ll find or end up! At the moment we’re walking nearby canal towpaths lots of interesting places tucked just off them. Washing machine choice is nightmare why they have so many programmes I don’t know I only ever use about 3! Enjoy your water play and several days recuperation.😴 vivian
LikeLike
We had a gate to a tenfoot at the end of our garden when I was a child. I think we called it that because that is how wide it was. It was really an access road to garages behind houses, but also led out to a road, at the top of which some friends lived, so was a good short cut. I suppose snicket maybe is a Yorkshire word, I guess its one you never think about, until someone questions the use of the word.
LikeLike
Nearest word comparison I can think of in the US for snickets and ginnels would be side and back alleys. But would not be surprised to find that there are many specific regional terms for such places across the country.
LikeLike
They are definitely snickets up here in the Dales – and usually interesting too.
LikeLike
Hello Viv 🙂 We have ginnels and I can also remember my nanna telling us to go down the ‘backins’ to the shop – the cobbled back alley between two rows of terraced houses. Those are long days looking after Freddie, but I bet your daughter is really grateful. It used to take me a couple of days to recover from having Sienna and that was only one day a week. xx
LikeLike
Lovely to hear you again Suzanne – I tried to leave a comment on your blog but it is telling me it is for team members only and there is no follow button to press. However, I was just saying welcome back. x
LikeLike
The only team member is me at the moment lol. Things are busy here with Mum etc. so I’d rather leave it switched off than not reply to people. xx
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah, so that’s what a snicket is. Thank you for clearing that up for me. As an American the only time I’ve heard the word is from the Lemony Snicket books (which I have not read). Great photos which I really enjoyed seeing too.
LikeLike