Category Archives: memes

amusements, memes, personal

Unblogged April

Sat 1 It’s literary society subs time, so I spent half the day wrangling renewal payments. But why is it that to do job A, you first have to do H, and to finish that do T, and that means also first doing Q. By which time you’ve lost the thread of where you’d got to with A. It does my head, even when I’m running at full power, which is like never!
Sun 2 Isn’t it great when you have a good day! I think I managed everything I set out to do, barring a couple of odd jobs. And wedged in a couple of things I’d not planned to do. With luck that’ll have freed me up some time tomorrow.
Mon 3 A lovely sunny day which encouraged me to have a short while in the garden; mostly to feed the fish and fettle their filter. The hellebore now has about half a dozen flowers on it; there are little clumps of celandines and violets popping up and flowering everywhere; and a lot of things are beginning to wake up.celandines
Tue 4 It isn’t full moon for another two days – it looks so full this evening that I’m surprised we have to wait that long. But then I’m not a connoisseur of celestial moons, full or otherwise. Calliope on the other hand …
Wed 5 Had a phone call this afternoon from one of our GP’s patient group members who doesn’t do online (by his own admission he’s not bright, severely dyslexic and over 80 – so why should he). I mail him our monthly newsletter and he calls me occasionally to keep in touch. He’s a lovely guy who always remains cheerful, but once you get him on the phone you can be there all day. Today I needed to be patient and listen as he obviously needed to talk. He’s been unwell and in and out of hospital over the month or so; and fighting with the District Nurses (lack of) organisation. Against that he had nothing but praise for the hospital medical staff and our GPs.
Thu 6 It’s a long time since I facilitated (and took part in) a project definition workshop/kick-off meeting. But with a big project on the horizon for the literary society I got everyone to agree this was necessary. Having done the homework we achieved a lot in just over an hour. Now we need another meeting to properly define the requirements.
Fri 7 ‘Tis the day when for some totally inexplicable reason the western world celebrates the murder 2000-ish years ago of a little known Galilean prophet by a paranoid, fascist Roman Provincial authority. Beats the living daylights out of my brain. Still we get a holiday out of it.
Sat 8 An afternoon spent in the kitchen resulted in a large Pork Pie with proper hot water pastry; a mixed fruit galette (use up some fruit from the freezer!); and then for dinner pan-friend hot smoked scallops, with pan-fried asparagus and mushrooms, baguette, and champagne.pork pie slice
Sun 9 Another lovely sunny day, before several days of predicted biblical rain. So we spent half an hour in the garden, much of it just sitting, when we were joined by the Rosie cat (the other two were sleeping hard on our bed!). It was surprisingly quiet apart from the occasional passing metal bird.rosie catrosie cat
Mon 10 Well that was a British Standard Bank Holiday: peeing with rain and windy, but with a bit of sun too late in the day to do any good.
Tue 11 You never know what you’ve got until you look. Somehow we’d built up a surfeit of tomatoes. Rather than let them go to waste we decided to make tomato soup. Having cooked down the tomatoes etc. it needed sieving to get the skins out. This turned out to be a tedious job, which would be better done with a centrifuge – which we don’t have. Do we really not have such an attachment for the (hardly ever used) food processor? Well there’s this centrifugal juicer. Will it work? Yes, sort of. It wasn’t brilliant or ideal, but better than the alternative slog. So we found a use for something we didn’t know we had, because we decided to excavate the back of the cupboard in desperation.
Wed 12 Went for my annual diabetic eye screening this afternoon – the appointment which got screwed up a couple of weeks ago. Yet again I got away with not having to have my eyes dilated, which is a definite result: less invasive for me, saves time for the tester, and saves the NHS the cost of the drug. But in terms of Covid, people really have given up; of the about 40 people I saw while waiting (patients & staff; majority over 60) I think at most five were wearing masks. Afterwards I sat outside at the bus stop (sans mask, avec fresh air & drizzle) while my minicab arrived, whereupon I masked up again.
Thu 13 Why is it that people who use Apple machines never seem to know how to make them work properly with things like Zoom? But then why can’t a large percentage of the population not get to grips with any computing? Answer: because they’re frightened of it. Many years ago (like late 80s/early 90s) at work (remember large IT company) one big location actually ran courses for IT illiterates (viz non-techies like secretaries & admin people) called “Computing for the Terrified”. Given the ubiquity of computing now, at least 50% of the whole population could do with that training.
Fri 14 Yes, they’re extremely annoying, but I can’t properly function without them these days.
Sat 15 Well I suppose it happened, but today has been a completely nothing day, despite a literary society online talk.
Sun 16 The gardener decided not to come today. Which is a pity because it was a nice day. At last the pond fish are out and feeding eagerly. And there are all sorts wild flowers springing up in the lawn – which means it won’t be cut until July; treat it like a hayfield.
Mon 17 It’s beginning to feel like Spring is here. Our small ornamental crab apple has been in flower for a week. The Ballerina crab apple is suddenly full of bright pink flowers. The young eating apples are just beginning to look like flowering. Suddenly today the silver birch catkins are beginning to open. The buds on the oak tree are just beginning to break. In the last two days we’ve had a couple of queen wasps find their way into the study, and out the fanlight again. We need a lot more of this!
Tue 18 So today I finally got to go to audiology at the local hospital for a hearing test – well I’ve had my current hearing aids for 5 years and I think my hearing has deteriorated further in that time. But there’s no test as there’s too much wax in my ears. So soften the wax and go back in two weeks to have my ears vacuum cleaned; and then a test, we hope. It’s so seldom easy, and it’s a continual round of appointments. Yep, it’s called getting old!
Wed 19 At last! The gardener cometh. Having been given some instruction as to what we want doing (or rather not doing) he spent a few hours tidying up, eating our lunch and cake, and having a good moan about the state of the world.
Thu 20 Not just a good day, an excellent day. Lovely and sunny morning and early afternoon, but with a chilly northerly wind. Just after lunch, the first Holly Blue; and then the first Brimstone Butterfly ♀ which latter was fluttering around the Alder Buckthorn, despite it not yet being in leaf. So far so good, but then a first for me: a Hairy Footed Flower Bee (Anthophora plumipes) ♀ (all black) feeding on the newly opened lilac. Also a queen wasp or two around, quite a few small (probably solitary) bees, and lots of flies of various types. Which all bodes well for having the apples pollinated.
Fri 21 Squirrels! Not one, not two, but four squirrels in the garden at lunchtime. No wonder the peanuts get emptied so fast from the bird feeders. But I like seeing them, and their acrobatics – as do the cats!
Sat 22 Australian comedian Barry Humphries has died at the age of 89. The creator of the uncomfortable charicatures Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson he was extremely knowledgeable about literature and art, especially dadaism. He was an expert on the artist Charles Conder, an interest he shared with author Anthony Powell, whose work he also enjoyed. On several occasions we tried to get him to talk to the literary society, but he was elusive, especially as he always seemed to be touring.
Sun 23 Today yet another stupid foot race through the streets of London. I wonder how many runners it’s managed to kill this year? [As at 26/04: only one that I’ve seen mentioned.]
Mon 24 Flame red and yellow tulips!bright red and yellow parrot tulips
Tue 25 The gardener cometh, so nothing much got done. Just having him here is so disruptive; somehow one can never settle to doing anything which requires concentration. Which is quite mad really, because the Rosie Cat does any supervising required.
Wed 26 I really must pot on some seedlings that are growing on the study windowsill. A few small chilli seedlings don’t seem to be growing much, but the lemons (from pips) and coleus are growing well. And the endive is going to need harvesting as a small portion of micro-greens. No sign of my lottery mix cacti yet though.
Thu 27 A day of buggering around doing odd jobs, which is just as well as I slept badly. N’s study chair has finally given up after 30+ years, and mine (much younger) is aiming to join it, so spent some time looking for replacements. And a phone call with my GP to follow up on the vascular appointment of over a month ago; we agreed on conservative management – ie. do nothing for now.
Fri 28 Well, no, today was actually Friday. At least that’s what they’re trying to convince me.
Sat 29 So we had to bite the bullet and order new office chairs for both of us – but they’re horribly expensive. To make up for it we also ordered a large bouquet of flowers for next week. Well it’s only money!
Sun 30 I was awake just before 04:00. Coming from outside there were 3 or 4 barks. Clearly not dog but fox. By the time I’d exited my warm bed and looked out the window there was, naturally, no sign of anything. However here’s a trail camera image from about 3 hours later of one of our local foxes investigating about 5 metres from the back door.fox width=
memes, science

Ten Things: April

This year our Ten Things column each month is concentrating on science and scientists.

Where a group is described as “great” or “important” this is not intended to imply these necessarily the greatest or most important, but only that they are up there amongst the top flight.

Earth Science Discoveries

  1. Internal structure of Earth
  2. Continental Drift
  3. Seafloor Spreading
  4. Plate Tectonics
  5. Troposphere and Stratosphere
  6. Magnetic Field Reversal
  7. Dating using radioactivity
  8. Seismology
  9. Super volcanos
  10. The Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary marking the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs
amusements, memes, personal

Unblogged March

Some stuff what I didn’t blog about this last month.

Wed 1 Why are there days like today, when everything conspires to be at least an irritant, if not downright obstructive. Neither of us slept well, or enough; I was awoken at 06:30 by Queen Cat trampling on my stomach, a 10lb weight in each of her hobnail boots. It was all downhill from there; nothing was straightforward; everything fought back. And to top it all it was bloody cold. Anyone would have thought it was Monday 13th!
Thu 2 The gardener cometh. Ah, no, the gardener cometh not. Silly bugger has a stomach upset. When shall we see him again? Well the next two weeks look cold and wet, maybe even snow, so little prospect of sensible gardening for a while.
Fri 3 It’s Saturday again. Oh, no! It’s only Friday. Why does my brain always do this? Every week! Yesterday it was Friday; today is Saturday; tomorrow will probably be Sunday; and oh God, then we get Sunday again! Why? It does my head in.
Sat 4 Yes, as predicted today was Sunday – at least according to my addled brain. It’s all very confusing and disorientating. Worse when you have a sinus infection and would rather be hiding under the duvet than having to attack a weekend of work which has to be done.
Sun 5 This one should be N’s really as she saw it. In the bucket for the compost heap which lives outside the back door, there was some discarded damaged avocados. Early this morning N saw the squirrel sitting on the fence panels, by the house, munching away at one, and dropping the pieces of skin everywhere. Apparently when a cat appeared the squirrel was quite unable to carry away its booty. Luckily N got a photo.squirrel with avocado
Mon 6 So now we know how things get moved around the garden. Last night N put out some bits for the fox on a lightweight orange plastic plate on the upper lawn. Lunchtime today along come our pair of magpies, prospecting. Swiftly followed by one of the local crows – the one with a few white feathers. Said crow went prospecting around the plate, poked its beak underneath, lifted it up at a 30deg angle, and then picked it up in its beak. I thought it was going to make off with the plate, but in the event it moved the plate only a few inches. By this time crow had arrived and the magpies left. Two crows proceeded to spend 15-20 minutes ferreting around, obviously finding tasty morsels, and drinking from the birdbath.
Tue 7 Oh how the critters amuse one. We’ve a new, young, ginger cat on the block. At lunchtime he was in our garden and was seen dashing full speed across the garden in pursuit of a squirrel. Needless to say the squirrel was too fast and was 8 feet and more up the oak tree in a trice. But cat was going so fast and couldn’t stop before he too ended up 4 feet up the truck of the tree, clinging on for dear life with all four feet splayed, but still wondering how to get up the tree after said squirrel. Real life cartoon stuff!
Wed 8 Snow. It must have snowed gently somewhere between about 04:00 and 08:00, and it was still trying when I woke up. Mind, there wasn’t much, not really even a proper covering. However the cats were not impressed and more than one declined to go out. It tried more snow on and off all morning before giving in to light but steady rain; by the lunchtime all the snow had disappeared. I can’ find the records online (they must be there) but snow in London in March must be fairly unusual.
Thu 9 Most of the afternoon spent reading the papers for the CRP meeting next week. And how refreshing to look at something which isn’t a collection of massive high-rise blocks. Almost anything which is residential in London, let alone this borough, is predicated on building as high as you can get away with. The problem is that if the borough doesn’t approve the plans, an appeal to the Mayor of London will just overturn the decision. It’s madness: high rise is an environmental disaster; the higher you build the proportionally more environmentally damaging materials you have to use and the more energy you use pumping water etc. to the top of the building. And that’s before you even think about safety, the fact that people don’t like tower blocks, and that many are scared to live in them. But we can’t get developers to see that.
Fri 10 So the UK economy grew 0.3% in January. Well guys I hate to tell you this but 0.3% of naff all is still naff all.
Sat 11 The weather for most of the day was not inclement. So after lunch I actually got to sow (indoors) all the seeds I’d been putting off: hot lemon chillies, endive, coleus and some mystery mix of flowering cacti. I also cut back (fairly hard) the existing chilli plants – I can’t remember if this will be their third or fourth year but it’ll be interesting to see what they produce.
Sun 12 Americans drive me up the wall at times. Yesterday I sent out subscription reminders for the literary society. Within hours I had payments, via our online shop, from 8 American members; all paying for “5 years for the price of 4”. 50% of them got it wrong and paid the UK rate rather than the Overseas subscription rate – and that’s a significant difference. Gah!
Mon 13 Following up on yesterday’s Americans, and to be fair to them, once I pointed out the error of their ways they all paid up like lambs within 12 hours. After which it was time for a haircut. Oh the excitement!
Tue 14 Why is it that developers presenting to a meeting have to waste half their presenting time with a sales pitch, so they then don’t have time to explain properly what they’re trying to do. And why can they not explain things simply: A,B, C; and not waffle for 5 minutes and confuse people. It’s bad presenting and unprofessional. Tailor your presentation to your audience! They could have got a lot more out of that meeting.
Wed 15 A five star night. Awake at 03:30 and looking out of the bedroom window I can see five stars. That’s unusual because of the disgusting light pollution from the urbanopolis. The normal is two.
Thu 16 Hospital trip again today. Now if all senior consultants were like this one, the world would be a much better place. Head man of the area specialist vascular centre: an urbane, considerate and thoughtful Swede. I was treated to a very polite and measured version of “I don’t know what they’re all worrying about; there’s no real problem, but do come back if it recurs”. The NHS needs more such.
Fri 17 Yes! Early English asparagus is in the shops. I spotted that the supermarket were offering it. So of course I put three bunches on this week’s order, and much to my surprise it appeared. It is very early; it must be polytunnel grown as the season doesn’t really start until St George’s Day and then lasts only 6-8 weeks. Anyway I cooked the first bunch with tonight’s prawns & pasta. What a delight! We shall make the most of English asparagus while it’s available as I won’t buy the imported stuff year round. (You can’t totally avoid buying stuff that’s shipped round the globe, but we do try to avoid it where possible; hence not buying non-European wine.)
Sat 18 I’m getting into my stride now with Postcrossing. It’s quite interesting. In the last 6 weeks I’ve sent 7 cards, of which 4 have arrived. And the one to Vladivostok has arrived faster than the one to the US mid-west (which is still somewhere in the postal system). So 7 sent (Germany twice, USA, Russia, Czech Republic, Spain, Finland) of which 3 are still travelling; and 3 received (from USA, Germany, France). It’s random, but I’m still slightly surprised not to have been allocated one to SE Asia or South America yet — but who knows what’s up next.
Sun 19 You take a trip round the garden after lunch and take a handful of photos of the small daffodils near the pond. Not one is in focus as they’re waving about so much in the breeze. But the sturdy hellebore is rock solid, and rather pretty.rainbow
Mon 20 We used to have a lot of feral pigeons, but they seem to have disappeared over the winter. Instead we now seem to have more woodpigeons. There is a pair who always nest in one of the Christmas trees at the bottom of the garden. And this year there’s another pair at the front. The latter came along this morning prospecting our pittosporum tree for a nest (predecessors have nested there before); but they were quickly followed by a third. There then ensued a squabble about who was going to have it off with who. Exeunt omnes.
Tue 21 Bastards! Had to ditch my diabetic eye screening appointment at the last minute – because I couldn’t get here. Why? Because the taxi company were being inept and untruthful; and the car was over 25 minutes late, leaving me right up the Khyber. Luckily the screening appointments people are efficient and understanding and we’ve rearranged for 3 weeks time. As a result I got a free afternoon in which to do bugger all; so I started on the weekly supermarket order.
Wed 22 So inflation went up to an annual 10.4% in February after falling for 3 months. How do I not find this surprising? Everything is getting more expensive by the month. And food inflation is said to be 18.2%. From my perspective this is very conservative; I’d say food inflation is more like 30-40% judging by the way our weekly supermarket shop has jumped in price – and that’s when the commodities you want (eg. salad) are available. Two examples: in under two years Vinegar has gone up from £1 to £1.45; and Ginger Nut biscuits from £1 to £1.50.
Thu 23 Despite the rain, Spring is here. We’re past the equinox. The forsythia is in flower; as is the delicate small cherry in the front garden. Next door’s ash tree is just beginning to open its flower buds. And the apple trees are just beginning to move. There’s lots to be done in the garden, but it is so wet and we’re promised rain every day until at least the end of the month. Mind you we need the rain for the water supply.
Fri 24 It’s been raining most of the afternoon, but with little bits of sun. Towards sundown we had a decent rainbow – actually a double, but the second was very faint – followed by some strange peachy coloured light. Rainbows are so hard to photograph well.rainbow
Sat 25 Another really good lunchtime literary society social call with almost 20 of us from New England (where it was 8AM), through us here in London (at 12 noon) to Japan (where it was 9PM). We talked for about 90 minutes covering a range of topics from biographies to society events and conferences. These calls are always good because it gives members from across the globe a chance to meet and chat which they would otherwise not have, and for new members to get to know us and find that we really aren’t a scary bunch who know it all and shoot newbies down in flames.
Sun 26 Tilly, aka. Queen Cat, has been walking back and forth across my desk most of the day, as if on elastic. She jumps up to my left walks straight across – albeit taking care to avoid my keyboard. She sits, or stands, to my right wanting a small amount of attention. She’ll then walk back across to my left and just lie down, regardless of what’s there.rainbowIt’s lovely to have her presence, but it does get a bit wearing: the continual back and forth; lying on what you’re trying to work on; generally hampering; and not to mention the occasional wet muddy paws. But if you stop her, or remove her, she mutters plaintively at you.
Mon 27 Spent the day tearing my hair out over literary society stuff. Trying to reconcile my part of the accounts and get our money out of PayPal took almost all morning, instead of the 5 minutes it should take. Why? Because of PayPal’s Byzantine and thieving system.
Then mailing out a new publication: the Chairman has just given away (literally) almost 20% of the print run, which he didn’t allow for when he set the RRP. Every time I looked at my email he wanted another sent out. Oh, and he managed to give me at least one non-existent address. God save me from bankers and lawyers!
Tue 28 We finally bit the bullet and changed the cats’ insurance. I looked at it last year and N didn’t want to change, but this year we both agree. PetPlan have been good over the years, but they are ever more expensive. Tilly is now almost 10, so one expects her cover to be going up steeply. But Boy Cat is even more expensive to insure, as although only five he’s male; even (though neutered) male cats still carry this expectation of being reckless thugs and wanderers. Moving the insurance to John Lewis has literally halved our monthly premium for what looks to be essentially the same cover. And yes, we wouldn’t be without the insurance; it doesn’t get used a lot (touch wood, our cats have always been pretty healthy) but veterinary care is so expensive – on a par with private human healthcare.
Wed 29 So what happened today? Not a lot really. I seem to have spent the day fiddling about to no great effect. Despite sleeping well for the last couple of nights – and having some odd dreams – I blame the depression which seems worse this week.
Thu 30 Arrggghhhh! What day is it? What week is it? Does it even exist? Or is it all a really tedious dream?
Fri 31 So a pretty dismal end to a pretty dismal month. According to the Weather People (they’re a slightly saner version of Village People, aren’t they?) we (in London) have had the wettest March since 1981, with around twice the average March rainfall. Consequently we’ve had half the average March sunshine, although it seems temperatures have been around average. There are still a few hours of the month left and as I write this it’s still raining, so we’ll have to see what the final figures are when they’re released next week. Don’t hold your breath, but it looks as if we might get a few nice days next week – and we could do with some warm sunshine! As they say in these parts: “Onward and buggeration!”
amusements, memes, ramblings, topographical

Things What I Done in London

Last week London blogger Diamond Geezer posted a list of 100 Things I have Done in London. Given that he spends his life out and about in London it is naturally an eclectic and interesting list.

Despite being essentially a Londoner, I can’t compete with DG. However I thought it would be interesting to see what I have done within the bounds of Greater London. And there are some unusual things.

First of all I share just these five things with DG (I’m surprised it is quite so few):

  1. Voted for an MP who actually won
  2. Done jury service
  3. Been underground to watch Mail Rail while it was actually operational – and in my case long before it was branded Mail Rail
  4. Bought my first top shelf magazine
  5. Endured a pandemic

Then I can add:

  1. Been through the red channel at Heathrow
  2. Had lunch with a Herald, and paid the bill
  3. Had tea tête-à-tête with an Earl
  4. Been in A&E at Barts Hospital
  5. Had lunch at the Mermaid Theatre (aged 11) – and was served a whole trout as a starter
  6. Been aboard RRS Discovery (which carried Scott & Shackleton on their first journey to the Antarctic) and the Cutty Sark
  7. Travelled from Charing Cross to Greenwich and back by boat
  8. Travelled down the Thames (and back) from Tower Pier by paddle steamer
  9. Seen Shakespeare performed at the Globe Theatre
  10. Caught the last train home
  11. Caught the first train in from home
  12. Been to the old Billingsgate Market before dawn
  13. Been to a Buckingham Palace Garden Party
  14. Been to exhibition openings/private views at V&A and the V&A Museum of Childhood
  15. Been to an exhibition opening at the Wallace Collection with Simon Russell Beale
  16. Sung in a choir in St Pauls Cathedral
  17. Been to a play reading at the College of Arms
  18. Run conferences at the Wallace Collection and Naval & Military Club (the In & Out)
  19. Been on a tour of the Houses of Parliament
  20. Dined at five London clubs: Garrick, In & Out, Reform, Oxford & Cambridge, Travellers
  21. Had Sunday Lunch at the Ritz
  22. Eaten prunes & custard in a Lyons Corner House (aged about 4)
  23. Been part of a group who formed a literary society, which is now a registered charity
  24. Been to the Chelsea Flower Show (twice; first aged 8)
  25. Rescued several cats
  26. Caught a train to or from every major London rail terminus (of all the London termini I think I’m probably missing only Blackfriars and Cannon Street)
  27. Been “back stage” at Wallace Collection, V&A Museum of Childhood, College of Arms
  28. Been shown round the research labs at the Royal Institution by the then Director, Prof. Sir George (later Lord) Porter
  29. Had sex in a Bayswater hotel
  30. Been to a Christmas Lecture at the Royal Institution
  31. Travelled the old North London Line to/from Broad Street
  32. Had (and used) a BL Readers Ticket, when they were hard to get and gave admission to the iconic BM Reading Room
  33. Drunk a pint in the Pavilion at Lord’s
  34. Been to a Test Match at Lord’s – several times including the one when Bob Taylor was allowed out of retirement to keep wicket as 12th man against New Zealand on 25 July 1986
  35. Played cricket against the Bank of England
  36. Written computer code for Lloyds Register of Shipping, OCL and Thompson Travel
  37. Met Ian Rankin, having arranged for him to speak at a conference
  38. Got married
  39. Been the guide on a coach tour of London
  40. Been in the audience at a conference to hear Prince Charles speak

And I’ve no doubt N will be along and remind me of curiosities I’ve forgotten.

memes, science

Ten Things: March

This year our Ten Things column each month is concentrating on science and scientists.

Where a group is described as “great” or “important” this is not intended to imply these necessarily the greatest or most important, but only that they are up there amongst the top flight.

Great Physicists

  1. Isaac Newton
  2. Richard Feynman
  3. Galileo Galilei
  4. Archimedes
  5. Johannes Kepler
  6. Werner Heisenberg
  7. Lise Meitner
  8. Louis de Broglie
  9. James Clark Maxwell
  10. Wolfgang Pauli
memes, science

Ten Things: February

This year our Ten Things column each month is concentrating on science and scientists.

Where a group is described as “great” or “important” this is not intended to imply these necessarily the greatest or most important, but only that they are up there amongst the top flight.

Dangerous Elements

  1. Fluorine
  2. Polonium
  3. Plutonium
  4. Arsenic
  5. Mercury
  6. Francium
  7. Beryllium
  8. Chromium
  9. Caesium
  10. Strontium
amusements, memes, personal

Unblogged January

Sun 1 The dawning of the new year celebrated with the usual bottle of Champagne and too little sleep. And later with a very nice, large, piece of roast beef and a bottle of Brouilly.
Mon 2 One of my Christmas presents was a bottle of our local Ealing Gin. It’s a hand-crafted, small batch, London Dry Gin, distilled in the Borough of Ealing. As a London Gin it is juniper led, although the other botanicals come through well, but not too strongly. The lovely bottle design is inspired by the iconic Art Deco buildings (especially the Hoover Building) scattered across the borough. This could well become another favourite.
Tue 3 For the first time in ages we had a crow in the garden. They often sit right at the top of the silver birch, riding the wind apparently just for the fun of it. But we don’t normally see them down on the lawn, as this one was today – I suspect they feel it’s too enclosed to get airborne easily in any direction. Anyway this one spent some minutes obviously hunting out little treats, probably buried by the squirrels.
Wed 4 So, another deadly exciting day on which nothing happened. The most notable thing was that I slept well from about 01:00 to 09:00, with a short awakeness at 04:00. This meant that I was at least half awake when I got up. Result!
Thu 5 Spent a joyous afternoon at the dentist. I got a small filling, but N got a whole new crown – in one visit. This used not to be possible, but our dentist now has some very whizzy tools. First they can scan your mouth in 3D to get the shape for the crown – no longer do we have to suffer impressions. Secondly they have a fancy machine which will cut the crown from a ceramic blank using the aforementioned scans; this takes about 10 minutes (plus a few minutes setup). As the machine is in the waiting area, I was able to watch N’s new crown being created; it was very impressive.
Fri 6 So there we have it. Another pay day. And another month where the current account might just manage to survive intact. Supermarket prices seem to have gone through the roof; I’d say that the estimate of annual food inflation running at 13.3% in December is a gross under estimate; it certainly feels more like 30% than 13% – I can certainly point at things where it is definitely over 50% in the last year.
Sat 7 Culinary experiment for dessert this evening which didn’t quite work (at least for me). Fresh pineapple cut into small pieces, with a good handful of broken walnuts and the same amount of chopped candied peel, tossed with a couple of tots of Malibu. Dress with some flaked dark chocolate at the last minute. It was OK, but not superb. I think it would work better with flaked almonds and Amaretto (or Amandine) in place of walnuts & Malibu; add a little colour by way of 3-4 chopped glace cherries or quartered strawberries; and serve with some double cream. While pineapple and Malibu (coconut) works well, the Amaretto would be sweeter and fuller flavoured. And the red colour would (psychologically) enhance the flavour as well.
Sun 8 Despite the grey, wet, miserable day we undertook the first salad of the year: pan-fried duck, with a mixed salad and hot steamed potatoes. Washed down with a bottle of 2019 Tavel rosé. Eaten a bit late while watching Digging for Britain.
Mon 9 How is it that every hospital in this country looks alike inside: dingy, grubby, ill-used; poorly signed, poorly lit and poorly ventilated – although at least now the price of energy has rocketed they’re no longer so over-heated. All the waiting areas are plastered with strange, dog-eared prohibitions & posters Blu-Taked to the walls, not even straight; and they have a miscellaneous assortment of chairs which have seen better days. I had an appointment at Ealing Hospital this morning and I have to say it is one of the worst examples of the genre I’ve seen; Hillington is little better. At least Hammersmith and St Mary’s do try with their waiting areas. It all comes down to three things: underfunding, no-one looking, and no-one being empowered to do anything.
Tue 10 What’s happening? What day is it? Feeling really “Meh!”, despite lots of sleep. Down and miserable. This awful grey, wet, cold weather doesn’t help. What’s to be done – except hibernate?
Wed 11 A beautiful bright sunny, blue sky morning to complete my 72nd circuit of our local star. Just a shame it had clouded over by lunchtime and the start of my 73rd circuit. Completed by a bottle of champagne with dinner.
Thu 12 We’ve had so much rain recently that we’ve had standing water in the garden again today. Lake Constance manifests down near the pond, and this despite the ground level having been raised 2-3 inches over the last few years. It drains away fairly quickly once the rain stops, so it’s obviously groundwater flowing off down hill (to the south). We suspect there’s an old field ditch across the garden which was filled in with rubble when the houses were built, so there is still water flow (I can find it by dowsing) which is now impeded. It’s no danger as the water is only ever an inch deep, and anyway the house is actually 2-3 feet higher.
Fri 13 Three green parrakeets queueing up for food.
Sat 14 Awoke convinced that it was Sunday and to the realisation it must have been peeing with rain again all night because Lake Constance has returned to the garden, and much increased in size. It doesn’t though stop the squirrels running about. One does zoomies round the lawn, dashing to and fro, and in circles, at supersonic speed. Heaven knows what it’s on!
Sun 15 My it was bitter outside today. I went out to unload the pictures from the trail camera, and change the batteries. This took well under 5 minutes, and I was frozen – though I admit I was wearing only a t-shirt and slobbing legs which is usually OK. It took a good 30 minutes and a sweater to thaw me out. And they reckon it’s going to get markedly colder in the next few days.
Mon 16 While N went halfway round London this morning for a haircut, I managed to kill off all the bits of work which I had expected to take all day. The result was that I spent the afternoon buggering around to little effect.
Tue 17 Really good Zoom meeting of the doctors’ patient group this morning, with a few more faces that usual. We had the Office Manager deputising for the Practice Manager; she was very helpful as well as being incredibly patient with one ranty member. But dear God, writing the minutes takes longer than the meeting – not only do you waste time reformatting the document but you have to think carefully about how to word things!
Wed 18 Yet another interesting Anthony Powell Society talk this evening on Powell’s last novel The Fisher King. Good that these talks are now a regular feature and getting 40-50 attendees every time, mostly from Society members. And I enjoy hosting them.
Thu 19 Today happened, I think. There doesn’t seem a lot more to say about it. It’s still cold, with a very heavy frost last night, so we both slept late in our warm bed.
Fri 20 A light dinner of vegetable crumble, followed by apricots in Amaretto. Nice bottle of Rioja with the former. With the latter we opened a bottle of Chambord Black Raspberry liqueur N was given for Christmas. And wow! It was out of this world! Not heavy and syrupy, but light and about the strength of sherry. Just sweet enough; lots of raspberry flavour, with chocolate, vanilla, and just a hint of almond. One of those things which has to be savoured in small doses – or over ice cream.
Sat 21 Spring must be on the way, if yet still distant. I noticed the catkins on the silver birch are just beginning to grow. They’re still small, but definitely on the move.
Sun 22 We’ve now had a week of very heavy frosts. Every morning the roofs, and even the road surface, have been covered in white. At least this morning is bright and sunny – and lovely and warm in the sun. And … Oooo … the Boy Cat so nearly got that squirrel.
Mon 23 Oh bugger. Woke up at 03:00 with vertigo/labyrinthitis (again). Definitely very unstable by 08:00 so had to cancel the dentist – fortunately only to sort the crown I’ve lost (again). By mid-morning everything was literally spinning; not just waving about a bit. Spent the day under the duvet.
Tue 24 Feeling a bit more stable; reasonably OK if I keep still. But feeling smacked on the head. It’s a bit like when you were spun round at children’s party games, just that it doesn’t clear in a couple of minutes.
Wed 25 Gorgeous golden crescent moon lying on it’s back in the evening sky yesterday. Then before dawn the freezing fog descended – outside and in the head. It lasted all day too. Really dismal.
Thu 26 Still feeling smacked on the head from the vertigo, although so, so much better. Still failing to get anything useful done though, and so much to catch up on. I could do with whatever our squirrels are on: we still have one that does zoomies round the lawn, for no apparent reason, while the others go sedately about their foraging.
Fri 27 These cats really do have the right idea. Boy Cat has been in this state effectively all day.To the extent that late this afternoon I had to ask N if he’d actually surfaced enough to have had breakfast! Mind you, he pretty quickly woke up when he smelled his Friday night fish supper cooking.
PS. That’s 6kg of cat!
Sat 28 At last I’m beginning to feel like I might be getting rid of the dregs of this vertigo/labyrinthitis. Definitely feeling better as the day wears on: struggling until lunchtime and then improving through to bedtime. Good food helps. This evening: pork steaks in olive ciabatta followed by strawberries & cream. Washed down with a very pleasant 2016 Wine Society Claret and after a drop of Chambord Black Raspberry liqueur.
Sun 29 OK so we didn’t put the lights out until almost 01:00 last night – which is not unusual. I quickly descended into deep sleep, and awoke shortly after 05:00 for no more than 15 minutes. And the next thing I know? It’s gone 11:00. I must be reverting to being a teenager! (I wish!)
Mon 30 What a lovely sunny day to lift the spirits. So I finally got round to doing a job I’ve been putting off for two weeks. Then I celebrated by cutting my hair. Such decadence!
Tue 31 Hi, ho! It’s off to the dentist to see about the crown I lost 10 days ago. And no, I don’t have the crown; I wasn’t aware of losing it!
Gulp! Anyway young lady dentist says I get a new ceramic crown, not gold. (She also say, any more trouble with this tooth and we take it out.) Three advantages for the ceramic crown: (a) they can make them on the premises, so quicker, (b) they can bond the crown on, rather than just glue it on, and (c) its cheaper – because not gold. An hour later the prep work is done and my mouth scanned; as I leave the tooth fairy is designing the crown on her CAD/CAM system. I return in two days to have the result of the incantations fitted.