All posts by Keith

I’m a controversialist and catalyst, quietly enabling others to develop by providing different ideas and views of the world. Born in London in the early 1950s and initially trained as a research chemist I retired as a senior project manager after 35 years in the IT industry. Retirement is about community give-back and finding some equilibrium. Founder and Honorary Secretary of the Anthony Powell Society. Chairman of my GP's patient group.
photography

Weekly Photograph

There’s no story to this week’s picture except that Noreen has ancestors who come from Chipping Norton. Coincidentally I have ancestors from just a handful of miles away at Churchill and Kingham.
This is the 17th century gateway to the almshouses, complete with wonky gate (which looks to be of the same sort of date as the stonework!). And as you can see the almhouses and gateway are on a really wicked hill down from the town to the church.

Click the image for larger views on Flickr
Almshouse Gateway
Almshouse Gateway
September 2011, Chipping Norton

food+drink

Herring

Another really nice evening meal; as always made up as I went along. We had Baked Herrings, vegetables pizzaiola and jacket potatoes with a bottle of really lovely Austrian hock. Apart from the wine, it was really super cheap meal too.
The potatoes were new season, small main crop Charlotte** — about the size of two hens eggs. Allow two per person. Bake on a baking sheet in the top of the oven at about 180C for an hour.


The herrings^^ we bought fresh this morning. They were really plump and meaty. They were done in a foil parcel in the oven with half a chopped onion, some chopped garlic and chopped fresh ginger and a good sprig of parsley. Add a couple of knobs of butter and if you wish a drizzle of white wine or lemon juice; salt & pepper. Cook for about 30-40 minutes.
Vegetables pizzaiola is dead easy too and a good way to use up left-over veg. I used some leftover roast carrots and some broad beans. Sweat half a finely chopped onion and some chopped garlic in some olive oil until the onion is going translucent. Add a small tin of chopped tomatoes, a good dash of Worcs. sauce, a good pinch of dried herbs, a tiny amount of salt and some pepper. Bring to the boil and add the vegetables. Cook for 10-15 minutes to reduce the tomato sauce and ensure the veg is really well heated through. If it is still a bit slack, or bland, add a squeeze of tomato purée.
Job done. Very easy. Quite cheap. And very tasty.
— oo O oo —

** Yes, potato varieties do matter. They aren’t all the same and it isn’t even as simple as “reds” and “whites” as it was in my childhood. We like Charlotte, which are a waxy variety; Estima are horrible and Maris anything are bland and boring. Try different varieties and see which you like. You will be surprised how different the varieties are.
boat

^^ What do you mean you’ve never eaten herrings? What not even a kipper? They were once the staple of the country: until we over-fished them. They are now plentiful again and not expensive. Herring are good clean fish because, unlike mackerel, they are not scavengers but feed on plankton, krill, etc.; and being oily fish they are good for you too. What is herring like? Try a cross between trout and mackerel. Or perhaps a slightly less pungent and oily sardine (to which they are related). Properly cooked they really do melt in the mouth.

medical, personal

Aren't You Dead Yet?

Yes, that is a serious question!
Average life expectancy has roughly doubled in the last 150 years. Whereas life expectancy at birth 150 years ago was around 35-40 years it is now around 80 years. (See Why are you not dead yet? which is an interesting read.) Well OK they’re figures for the US, but the UK and rest of the developed world isn’t much different. According to Wikipedia medieval life expectancy in the UK was 30 years, and was still only 31 years in the early 20th century. Indeed (according to World Bank data, via Google Public Data) UK life expectancy has risen 10 years in the last 50!


Forget airplanes, cars, nuclear weapons and the internet. This increase in life expectancy is probably the most important difference between our modern world and life 150 years ago.
Before the advent of modern medicine — and a lot of that has happened since World War 2 — infant and child mortality was incredibly high. And many of those who survived into adulthood were killed by accidents or disease which would be easily vanquished today. Just as an example, one of Noreen’s relatives about 100 years ago died in his mid-30s of erysipelas (St Anthony’s Fire), a bacterial skin infection which today would be quickly cured by antibiotics.
Remember that just because your direct ancestors lived into their 50s, 60s or even 80s, there were many children who died before puberty and hence are no-one’s direct ancestors. In the 19th century families of 10 or 12 children, with only one or two reaching adulthood, are not uncommon. And it was a lucky family which didn’t lose a single child even well into the 20th century.
In fact there is a good chance that you — yes, you reading this! — are already on your second or third life. And that is almost certainly down to either modern medicine or modern safety (think things like seat belts and air-bags).
In my late 20s I had appendicitis. It grumbled for a year or more until the medics decided what it was and removed the offending organ before it blew up. Without that medical intervention I would likely have died of peritonitis within a year or two. Noreen has similar stories — blood poisoning from an infected toe injury; a shattered left elbow (which would have been at least disabling). And we have both been extremely lucky with our health!
We all forget how common such diseases and injuries are and how much we have come to take for granted that they can be fixed. We also forget all those illnesses (smallpox, polio, whooping cough (aka. pertussis), measles) which we never or seldom see because of vaccination.
So tell me, please, why are you not dead yet? Without modern medicine what would have killed you? I’m curious to know.

environment, history

Heritage Open Days

Starting tomorrow there are four days of Heritage Open Days (so that’s Thursday 12 through Sunday 15 September).
Heritage Open Days celebrates England’s fantastic architecture and culture by offering free access to places that are usually closed to the public or normally charge for admission.
Every year on four days in September, buildings of every age, style and function throw open their doors. It is a once-a-year chance to discover architectural treasures and enjoy a wide range of tours, events and activities that bring local history and culture to life.


And that’s everywhere from Lanhydrock in Cornwall (above) to Berwick Town Hall via Sudbury Hall in Derbyshire.
There are maps, searchable lists and lots more information on the Heritage Open Days website at www.heritageopendays.org.uk.

memes, personal

Silly Age Meme

OK so Katyboo tagged me on Facebook in one of these silly memes. Well I did sort of invite it really, so it’s all self-inflicted — no change there then!
The meme is about what you were doing at some randomly assigned age …
Age I was given: 44
Where I lived: Greenford, West London
What I drove: Nothing; I don’t drive
What I did: Worked for IBM UK; Project Manager for deployment of laptops to all IBM employees in the UK
Who had my heart: The Norn who must be obeyed
Age now: 62
Where I live: Greenford, West London
What I drive: Nothing; I still don’t drive and may not now be allowed to even if I wanted to (which I don’t)
What I do: Retired; Hon. Secretary of Anthony Powell Society; Chairman of my doctors’ Patient Group; active member of HealthWatch Ealing
Who has my heart: The same Norn who must be obeyed
If you want to play this silly game, leave a comment and I’ll give you an age.

links, medical, natural history, science

Most Likely You Missed …

Another round-up of links to items you may well have missed …
As a chemist there are some compounds which you really do not want to work with. Meet the Mercury Azides. Non-scientists ignore the technical bits and just enjoy the spectacle!


On the occurrence of snarks and boojums in research.
Here’s a quick summary of the 20 big questions in science. So what happened to “How does photosynthesis actually work?”; I don’t think we properly understand this yet either.
It seems that becoming a boy, in utero, is far more haphazard and tenuous than we thought. A great explanation by Ed Yong.
An here’s another look at the weird world of our lost bones: the os penis and os clitoridis.
Not for the easily frightened … a look at the oceans’ most frightening and disturbing predator: the ferocious 10-Foot Bobbit Worm. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Botanical anthropology … the Bee Orchid as seen by XKCD.

It’s late summer. Which means everyone gets panicky about wasps. But is Britain really being threatened by plagues of wasps? Basically, no!
Oh FFS … Now the health Nazis have their claws into smoothies and fruit juices as being a health risk. Well I don’t like smoothies anyway.
Next up here’s a piece on five diseases we have consigned to the past, thankfully! Well maybe, not!
Life as we know it would not exist if it were not for one simple fungus: yeast. And it isn’t so simple, either.
At last we leave science and medicine behind …
Here are nine questions about Syria you were too embarrassed to ask. Sorry but they are rather US-centric.
So in a deal with Nestlé Google is to call Android 4.4 KitKat. So if they stick to the “treat” theme for their codenames, anyone want to suggest answers for Q, X and Z?
And finally, omnishambles is among the new words added to the OED. What is the world coming to? Oh, of course, an omnishambles!

words

Word: Varmint

Varmint
1. Vermin. An animal of a noxious or objectionable kind.
  
2. An objectionable or troublesome person; a mischievous boy or child.
3. Knowing, clever, cunning.
Also, 4. A sporting amateur with the knowledge or skill of a professional.


The OED gives the derivation for meanings 1 & 2 as a variant of vermin with excrescent. Although the first recorded use is in 1539 the word is said to be rare before about 1825. There is apparently no obvious connection between the word as used in meanings 1 & 2 and that of meanings 3 & 4, which I find hard to believe.

food+drink

Autumn Rabbit

1 Comment

We were at Eton College yesterday, and given lunch in the Masters’ Common Room (no not as flash as it sounds; it is normal catering fare, albeit the upper end). The upshot was that we didn’t need a big meal last night, so our planned dinner was delayed to today.
Back on Saturday we went to Norwich to see my aged mother and, as we often do, stopped at Elveden Estate Shop on the way home, which I’ve written about before (see for instance here). And wow, did we get some bargains!
First of all we snaffled a couple of gammon hocks. Yes, they’re cheap (under £4 each), but these were huge and there is a surprising amount of tasty meat on them if you’re prepared to do a bit of work.
Noreen then spotted a couple of ends of sausages. So we got three wild boar and three venison (large) sausages basically at half price because it was the end of the day.
We then grabbed the last pack of wild rabbit. A whole, jointed wild rabbit for about £3 has to be worth having. And this is what we ate tonight.
Add to that we bought a bunch of fresh “rainbow” carrots, three plate-sized field mushrooms, some local apples and some huge vine tomatoes.

Anyway this is really about the rabbit.
And before we go any further, no rabbits aren’t cute and cuddly. They can be a real pest and anyway the rabbit is only Nature’s way of turning grass into fox food.
So I give you a recipe I invented some years ago but haven’t done for a while …
Autumn Rabbit
There isn’t a lot of meat on a wild rabbit so one rabbit will feed two greedy or three normal people.  So adjust the following as needed. Yes you can use farmed rabbit, but it doesn’t have the same game-y flavour.
You will need:
a butchered and jointed wild rabbit
a large onion, roughly chopped
cloves of garlic (to taste)
2 windfall apples, trimmed and roughly chopped
2 good handfuls of fresh wild blackberries
half wine glass of gin or calvados
some fresh sage leaves
olive oil
knob of butter
salt & pepper
This is what you do:
Wash the rabbit and blackberries
Prepare the onion, garlic and apples and put in a large cast iron casserole with some olive oil and the butter.
Sweat/fry this for a few minutes, until the onion is beginning to go translucent.
Now add the rabbit pieces and brown them on both sides.
Throw in the blackberries, gin and sage leaves; season with pepper and a little salt and allow the casserole to come to a boil.
Put the lid on the casserole and transfer to the oven at about 170C (with fan) for about an hour.
You will now have a casserole of purple rabbit which you can serve with roasted rainbow carrots, jacket potatoes and a robust red wine.
It couldn’t be a lot simpler or very much tastier!
Oh yes, and those sausages were cooked on Sunday evening in an Italian-style tomato sauce and served with linguine on a plate-sized, grilled, field mushroom. And wow was that good too!

history, photography

Weekly Photograph

This week’s photograph is an interesting piece of ecclesiastical architecture in Saint Augustine, Brookland, Kent.
This looks to be a decorated window on which a Tudor form has been superimposed, apparently as part of a chantry chapel. It is a real challenge to photograph as the sill is above head height, there is a big built-in cupboard in front of it, plus two disused box pews (used for storage of things like cleaning mops!). The only way you can get square-on is to invade one of the (raised) disused box pews. It’s a pity the glass is so dirty as the colours of the trees through the window were lovely and would themselves have made a good shot.

Click the image for larger views in Flickr

Tudor Window
Tudor Window
July 2009; Saint Augustine, Brookland