Category Archives: personal

Culinary Adventures #112: Living Like the Gentry

10 August 2024 Keith

N often comments that our Victorian (and earlier) ancestors, who were all ordinary working people like fishermen and labourers, would look at us and say we live like the gentry. This is probably true when you consider both their monetary means and the variety of foods available.

We’ve been married 45 years next month, and we have always made sure to eat well. Not so well in the early years when money was more of an issue – but never predicated on the supply of fast food and ready meals. Now when we have more means, let’s be honest and say that yes we do eat well, even when the food is utilitarian. When Covid hit 4½ years ago and we were all under house arrest, we agreed that we should continue to eat as well as we could. Not just because food is essential for life, but because, for us, it is one of life’s pleasures and can provide some relief from the mundane. [I wonder why they’re the size they are? – Ed] Eating interestingly is not so easy now due to N’s medical situation, but we continue to do our best with good and varied ingredients.

All this was brought home to me last evening, having created, eaten and thoroughly enjoyed our evening meal. What was so special? Well I did prawns in a cream & tomato sauce with lemon & chilli; followed by alcoholic summer fruit salad & cream. As N said, and I had to agree, it really was restaurant quality.

This is how it went …

Prawns in Cream & Tomato Sauce with Lemon & Chilli

Serves: 2 generously
Preparation: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes

You will want:

130g dried pasta (of your choice)
250g frozen prawns
4-5 soft tomatoes, chopped
an onion, chopped (actually I used a couple of round salad onions & some spring onions)
4 cloves garlic, chopped small or crushed
Juice and zest of 2 lemons (1 will do if it is large & juicy)
a small chilli, chopped fine, seeds removed (I used a freshly picked hot lemon yellow chilli)
a big bunch of parsley, stems removed, roughly chopped
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp thick double cream
Black pepper
Olive oil

And this is what you do:

Have everything prepared and ready, and get the pasta on to cook.
While the pasta cooks, sauté the onion, garlic & chilli in a some olive oil until translucent (about 5 minutes).
Add the chopped tomatoes and cook until they’re beginning to break down.
Now add the prawns and once they’ve thawed and are cooking add the lemon and parsley, with a good grind of black pepper. Continue cooking until all is hot and the juice is beginning to reduce.
Add the tomato paste and stir to combine.
Drain the pasta and add it to the prawn mix, stirring to combine.
Finally remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cream.
Serve immediately in warmed pasta dishes, with some grated parmesan and a glass or several of good white wine.

We followed this with …

Alcoholic Summer Fruit Salad

I prepared this before starting on the prawns & pasta, so it had some time to chill.

Serves: 2 generously
Preparation: 10 minutes + chilling

You will want:
At least 3 different summer fruits. Choose from strawberries, raspberries, cherries, blackberries, blackcurrants, plums, peaches, nectarines, apricots, greengages, gooseberries – depending on your fancy and what’s available.

I used:

2 nectarines
small punnet of raspberries
5 Victoria plums
1 tsp sugar
25-50ml peach schnapps (or other liqueur of your choice)
thick double cream, to serve

And this is what I did:

Stone the nectarines and plums, cut into slices and place in a bowl.
Add the raspberries.
Sprinkle the sugar over the fruit, followed by the peach schnapps.
Mix, cover and place in the fridge until needed.
Serve with thick double cream.

Sorry, no photos as we enjoyed it too much!

amusements, memes, personal

Unblogged July

31 July 2024 Keith

Being miscellaneous things from the past month.

Monday 1
Why do these things always happen late at night? Last evening at 11 N says we have no hot water. It was fine in late morning as we both had showers. I check: it’s the same low pressure error that we had last December. But can I remember exactly how to fix it? I’m certainly not confident. Spend 45 minutes hunting for my notes from that previous time – to no avail; they’re not in any of the places they should be. Very annoying; have to leave it to the morning. So this morning I message our boiler guy, who reassures me I had remembered correctly. Problem then fixed in about 2 minutes. Now I’ve made some notes; they’re stored in at least 4 places, and I’ve given N a copy. Also fixed boiler man to come next week to do a service.

Tuesday 2
I do just love days like today. I spent the whole afternoon checking that I have all the paperwork and information needed to complete our tax returns. Despite my careful housekeeping during the year there were inevitably gaps in what I needed. This entailed logging on to internet banking for everywhere we have money – and of course ending up having to double check every bank account. This isn’t just soul-destroying work, it’s so laborious when every institution needs 3-4-5 different codes before they’ll actually log you in. I’m knackered! Still, with luck I should be able to complete the actual tax returns quite quickly now. When I can make myself do it!

Wednesday 3
Another day at the coalface. So anything could have happened, and probably did. Of course, as it’s Wimbledon, it’s been wet on and off most of the day – and not very warm.

Thursday 4
So today is General Election day. Everyone, including the pollsters, seems to be predicting a landslide for Labour. I think it’s going to be a lot closer than that and, as I’ve said before, we could still have a minority Tory government, or even a small Tory majority. Sure there will be a lot of tactical voting, but if all the Reform and Tory voters the polls say are there decide to unite it’s going to be a close call. I think Joe Public will chicken out when he gets to vote and decide to go with the Devil he knows, who he thinks is going to put money in his pocket and not raise taxes. I hope, for everyone’s sake, that I’m wrong and I have a pleasant surprise. We’ll see, although all may not be clear until Saturday.
(For the record I’ve not seen the news today and this is written at about 19:40. I also live in what should be a safe Labour seat.)

Friday 5
OK, so I was wrong. Labour have a huge majority. The LibDems and the Greens have done well, but so, unfortunately, have Reform. It’s interesting that 4 of Reform’s 5 seats are in the less thinking areas around the east coast, especially Essex. It’s just a shame that the LibDems couldn’t relegate the Tories to be third party in Westminster. As for the Tory big-hitters who are left in Parliament, I don’t fancy any of them as Leader; I wouldn’t trust any of them, and many even less than that; what a choice of the bad, the ugly and the dangerous! It’s going to be interesting to see what happens now. The Labour government now have 5 years to turn things round; I wonder how much of it I’ll live to see?

Saturday 6
I know I say this every week, but what day is it? I’m totally thrown these days. It’s partly down to being retired, although I should be used to that by now. But N’s hospital days aren’t helping; it seems unnatural to be going to the hospital on a Saturday, as well as Tuesday and Thursday. It throws the weekend out of sync, which is in part down to the fact that we end up having a light, quick Saturday evening meal. We always used to cook something more special on Friday, Saturday, Sunday but the Saturday has now gone by the board. And I’ve not adjusted.

Sunday 7
Having talked yesterday about weekend food being disrupted, we did today revert to our usual good Sunday evening meal – we gave up cooking Sunday lunch many, many years ago in favour of eating in the evening (as we also do at Christmas). Anyway this week I’d bought a small piece of beef topside with no intention of roasting something so pathetic. This morning I cut it into slices and marinaded it in some lemon, brandy, olive oil and Worcs sauce with garlic and ginger. This evening I pan fried it for us to enjoy between bread with individual bowls of salad. This was followed by mixed fruit crumble (we had lots of fruit to use) and cream. All washed down with a non-celebratory bottle of Champagne. Verily it was a substantial repast.

Monday 8
Comes the gardener. I didn’t think he was going to get a lot done as it was forecast wet from lunchtime, but it stayed dry all day, and a lot was achieved keeping everything in order.
However comes not the man to service the boiler. Not entirely unusual, but a bloody nuisance. A courtesy call would have been helpful. What is it with plumbers etc.?

Tuesday 9
Yet another dismal day, in so many ways: definitely feeling like I need a new body and a new head, and – surprise, surprise – it’s been raining on and off all day. In fact it was raining so hard at one point this afternoon that I couldn’t see the hill which is no more than a mile away as the crow flies. It doesn’t help that I’ve not slept very well the last couple of nights: not lying awake but just not restful either. So I was quite grateful to have my morning meeting postponed until next week.

Wednesday 10
Finally N managed to get the Boy Cat to the vet for his dental, which had been outstanding since April. Poor little bugger had 8 extractions (on top of the 2 he’d had previously) and a load of stiches, and is going to be sore for a few days. He’s becoming a toothless senior cat at the not advanced age of 7. One doubts, however, that the lack of teeth will stop him guzzling dried food – does he not crunch it because his teeth hurt, or are his teeth bad because he doesn’t crunch dried food? But blimey, the dent in the credit card. Let’s hope the insurance pays up!

Thursday 11
Boy Cat seems to be recovering OK, although he’s still a bit dopey. But then he managed to tuck away a bowl of tinned tuna this morning and a bowl of fresh cooked cod this evening – it’s called a light diet! But all three cats are getting fed up with being kept in; we think they’ll have to be allowed their freedom again tomorrow.

Friday 12
It feels like it’s been a successful week, for once. Several meaty chunks of literary society work completed during the week, somewhat against the odds as I wasn’t looking forward to doing them. Boy Cat’s dental done, thanks to N, and a claim form sent off to the vets for them to complete their bit. And today I filed both our tax returns in under 1½ hours total. That was made possible by (a) spending a couple of hours last week ensuring I had all the information to hand, and (b) a good, easy to use, software package to pull it together and then file it online. Overall a result, so a small glass of sherry might be had while I cook Friday evening dinner.

Saturday 13
Why does everyone care so much about this godforsaken football match tomorrow? OK so England are in the Euro final. So what? Will it matter in 5 years (weeks?) time? Win or lose the country is going to be unbearable for the next week, at least; and I’ve no doubt there’ll be a few bars trashed tomorrow night, more if we lose. Actually I hope we do lose because the great unwashed supporters need to understand that we’re not God-given champions but a set of overpaid prima donnas. They all think it matters. It doesn’t. It’s a game, which like all the others has been ruined by money. (Which is why I now have no patience with cricket, which I used to love.)

Sunday 14
The melon experiment [see Culinary Adventures #111] concludes. I had another couple of slices following lunch, and again I have a sore throat, although not as bad as previously. I also gave N a piece (less than ¼ slice) and she later reported a slightly sore throat and slight queasiness. So it does look as if we are both, at least to some extent, intolerant of melon, although it clearly isn’t a full on allergy.

Monday 15
So we lost the football last night. What a surprise and what a shame – NOT. I’ve not been following the football, but it sounds as if England have been dull and lucky to scrape through each round. On the other hand, it seems that Southgate has been a decent manager: quiet, thoughtful and has got the most out of a set of less than effective players. Can England get further? From what little I’ve seen not without a completely new set of more dynamic players; but no need to change the manager.

Tuesday 16
Teatime this afternoon and I could hear some gentle but persistent rain. Looking up, the sun was shining. A rainbow? Yes. An absolute stunner, although I could see less than half as it disappeared behand our oak tree. Clear, wide and bright against a very dark cloud. So clear you could easily see off into the far red on the outside and into the far violet on the inside*, which is unusually clear. I managed to get a few quick snapshots with my little point-and-shoot camera on a sunset setting.*** I won’t say infra-red and ultra-violet as we can’t see them, but that’s what it felt like.
** It pays to always have a camera readily at arm’s reach; you never know what you’ll suddenly see. It also pays to know your camera settings.

Wednesday 17
Boy Cat went back to the vet for his post-op check-up, and got a clean bill of health. Which is more than our credit card did, as the insurance has declined to pay for his dental work on the basis that he’s had previous dental work before we changed to policy to the new provider, so it counts as a pre-existing condition. Such is the way insurance works, as I know well as my father worked in insurance and always said it amounted to gambling against the insurance company. Still at least we can afford it, and we’d do it for ourselves.

Thursday 18
Most of the day taken up with a long and difficult meeting with GP’s Practice Manager, and then documenting it. Lots of survey results, and recent data, which isn’t all good reading, so we were trying to get to see what we (the patient group) can do to help the Practice turn this round. Not easy; there are no easy answers; all GPs are under the same pressures – which was emphasised by a BBC News report this afternoon on the same issues being faced by a larger practice at the other end of the country!

Friday 19
A day for doing nothing except melting in as few clothes as possible. It was scorching hot. RAF Northolt (5km West) recorded 31°C, Heathrow Airport (10km SW) 30.6°C, and a weather station in Hatch End (7km NNW) 31.5°C. So we likely topped 30°C. Definitely the hottest day of the year but some way to go to get to 2022’s approx. 40°C which really was unreal. Cool showers required.

Saturday 20
Blimey it was hot and sticky last night. Despite having the fan on most of the night I was perpetually wet, so with nasty wet bedding. Gah! Thankfully much cooler today, as forecast, but still quite humid and sticky across the middle of the day. I had all the study windows open which was very pleasant, with the merest of breeze – and we had a shower of rain this afternoon. Otherwise a noteworthy day for being completely unnoteworthy!

Sunday 21
A day of odds & sods. Potting up my germinated date stones (7 of 11 have germinated). Unload images from the trail camera, which I didn’t do last week as it was raining heavily. Stocktake/audit the contents of the wine rack, only to discover we have a lot less wine than I thought, but a lot more spirits. And then cook dinner: salmon en croute, with broad beans, sugarsnap peas, and a green herb & cream sauce (this latter needs to be improved), followed by nectarine tarts & cream, with a bottle of Crémant de Bourgogne. Of course the cats helped with the salmon and the cream!

Monday 22
Cometh the gardener to cut the hay meadow of a lawn. This upset the cats as they now have nowhere to hide on the savannah! It’s surprising how much better, and bigger, everything looks with a cut lawn. It’s a bit brown where it’s been long, but a solid night’s rain and it’ll soon green up.

Tuesday 23
Well that’s the biannual (maybe triannual) wine order done. As usual Champagne** (just 6 bottles) from Majestic; they always have pretty decent Champagne at reasonable prices. Some Crémant on this week’s supermarket order; again they do a good one at a sensible price. And another 3 dozen of various from the Wine Society. It’s only money; and it’s something we enjoy at a weekend. The next order will probably be in the run up to Christmas, unless we run out of Champagne first!

** In the words of Hester Browne “Always keep a bottle of Champagne in the fridge for special occasions. Sometimes, the special occasion is that you’ve got a bottle of Champagne in the fridge.”

Wednesday 24
Sitting outside late this afternoon over tea and cake and there were two red kites circling overhead. They appeared to be a pair as one was that bit smaller, so probably a male (unless a juvenile); and they were doing acrobatic close flying manoeuvres. They’re big birds: a passing gull (probably black-headed gull) was not impressed but soon backed off as the kites were noticeably bigger. They eventually drifted off towards the west. It would be interesting to know if they’re nesting anywhere close.

Thursday 25
Last thing yesterday N came in from the garden bearing a feather. A Ring-Neck Parakeet feather – and that after I had commented earlier in the day that I was surprised never to have found one. Unexpectedly it was mostly dark grey but with green along the leading edge and tip. Checking, it is obviously a primary (wing feather), probably P1 as it was about 13cm. Out of curiosity I checked it under UV light, and the quill is very slightly fluorescent. I managed to photograph it under normal light but couldn’t also get a good shot with my little UV torch.

Friday 26
Today was the day the supermarket delivery system tipped me over the edge. The “warehouse” (sorry, fulfilment centre) which supplies the deliveries holds a much smaller range than even a medium size store. This is a retrograde step as deliveries used to be fulfilled from the nearest large store. There are items I can get via UberEats (yeuch!) quick delivery from our nearest (medium size) store, but which the fulfilment centre doesn’t carry. This seems daft in the extreme. And the fulfilment centre range seems to be dwindling, with products just disappearing. All this has been annoying me for a long time. But recently the fulfilment centre, and the UberEats delivery, have done some stupid things. This culminated in both Customer Services and the Executive Office getting a very stroppy (but polite) email. What I didn’t say, but could have done, is that the whole offering is predicated on ready meals and barbeque fodder, all of which is over-processed rubbish. I don’t expect anything much to happen as a result, but if they aren’t told nothing will change. We’ll see what management bollox they come up with!

Saturday 27
The Ring-Neck Parakeets have been squawking non-stop all day! N says they’ve half emptied the large seed feeder in under 24 hours. One, this evening, was flying around right by the study window; almost as if it was trying to land on the open casement window. There was a loud “bonk” so I think it flew hard into next door’s bedroom window; it fluttered off into the ornamental crab apple tree and sat there looing dazed for a few minutes.

Sunday 28
More natural history … Late last evening I found a small parasitic wasp which had self-immolated in my bedtime mug of tea. The poor thing must have thought it has a nice piece of wood to sit on, but instead found itself instantly cooked. Anyway I rescued it, but CPR was not effective. I kept the corpse to photograph today.When you look at them, these things are rather splendid (for all their gruesome lifestyle). The engineering is incredible, considering it had a wingspan of about 12mm. It’s even more incredible when you see a tiny, tiny gnat – how can legs that thin be constructed (with exoskeleton, muscle and nerves) let alone work?

Monday 29
Blimey, it’s been hot again today, although with weather stations locally recording only 29°C, not quite as hot as the 30° of a couple of weeks ago. But it must have been even more humid; it was unbearably sticky this afternoon, to the extent that I was bathed is sweat – horrid! I sat outside for 10 minutes after lunch and had to give up and come indoors as it was just too hot. Even now, in mid-evening, it hasn’t cooled a lot. Tomorrow is forecast to be about the same; then it gets gradually cooler with some rain and likely thunderstorms. We need something to clear the air.
In other news we took delivery of our Wine Society order at 08:10 this morning. The wine rack now looks a lot healthier!

Tuesday 30
Another blisteringly hot day, about 2°C hotter than yesterday, so probably the hottest day of the year so far. It left me feeling completely knocked out. Even lying in the bedroom in front of the fan didn’t help much; and I must have drunk at least 3 litres of water during the afternoon. It’s no wonder I have a headache.

Wednesday 31
Late last night a rather pretty yellow/brown moth in the bedroom – probably a Yellow Shell (Camptogramma bilineata bilineata). Wingspan about 25-30mm. I photographed it with my phone, so not a brilliant picture. yellow & brown moth It didn’t want to be caught and put out the window, so as the windows were open I left it sitting on the ceiling and it had disappeared by this morning.

amusements, personal

Unblogged June

30 June 2024 Keith

Being some of the things I did in June that I didn’t write about …

Saturday 1
So I was thinking what a dull and dismal day it was for the beginning of June – and it was. But then when we were eating this evening there’s a jay on the peanut feeder just a couple of meters from the dining room window. He was having a good tuck in too, and extracting large pieces of nut which disappeared whole. From the plumage it was almost certainly a juvenile, probably only passing through looking for its own hang-out. Although it may well be the one I saw a couple of days ago, salvaging some peanuts from the ground under the rambler roses. We don’t see jays going through the garden very often – maybe once a year – so good to have seen this chappie.

Sunday 2
There I was this morning sitting at the dining table doing some heraldry research, and I realised the jay was outside on the nut feeder again. When suddenly down swooped the magpie, driving the jay away. The gardener later reported that there were fledgling blue tits in the trees, and the parents were also seen scolding the jay. Meanwhile the jay has emptied the nut feeder!

Monday 3
As we have for the last couple of years, we’re leaving most of the lawn to grow unmown until at least some time in July. It does look a bit scruffy, but we are gradually getting a few wildflowers back; this year we have a nice small patch of buttercups. And of course the cats love the savannah: they can melt into the long grass and sit watching and waiting for anything that happens into their jaws – luckily this is mostly hapless insects.

Tuesday 4
We still have the jay around. Seen this evening attacking the nuts in the feeder up by the house, and just 2 metres from the dining room window. Of course it flew off as soon as I stood up and got a camera!

Wednesday 5
A good afternoon round at the doctor’s. I ran a “clinic” for anyone wanting help with online access to NHS health apps etc. Only 2-3 customers, but I was glad to help them. N and I also took charge of the waiting area noticeboards again – which the patient group had managed until Covid arrived. Hard work getting them rearranged but they ended looking much tidier and more welcomingly useful. We also met one of the new receptionists, who seemed polite, cheerful and helpful to everyone.

Thursday 6
I came in at lunchtime and looked out into the garden and thought: “What is that on our odd potato plant in the border?” On my way to feed the fish in the pond I took a look. It was a head of flowers. Now I know potatoes do flower, and they’re related to tomatoes and nightshade, so the flowers are similar. My past experience of potato flowers is that they are small and like white tomato flowers. But not these! They’re a rather fetching shade of pale lavender, and huge: probably 4cm or so across. And they’re rather pretty.

Friday 7
We still have our jay around, which I find quite remarkable. I know we have quite a few trees, including an oak, and there are some others around, but I wouldn’t have thought enough to make good territory for a jay. But then it is clearly a juvenile and there’s the attraction of fast food from out bird feeders. The magpies aren’t too impressed though.

Saturday 8
Something must be wrong. I actually made some time this afternoon to do some work on my family history, for the first time in months. Not that I made any progress, but still.

Sunday 9
Blasted tomcats. Well if next door will always have unneutered females it’s to be expected. Sadly. The current local alpha male is a lean, mean, spotted and striped, dark tabby – with nuts that look large enough to be used as ping-pong balls. He’s clearly at the top of his game because we get only the odd glimpse of any other tomcat. He’s persistent; in and out of our garden many times a day; and intrudes through our cat door to mop up any food our cats haven’t finished. He’s even been known to shelter from the rain in ours; and isn’t afraid of going upstairs either! He’ll get caught out, get scared witless, and be cured sooner or later – they always do! The sad thing is that if one could remove his appendages he’d probably be a nice cat; but for now he’s a pestilence. Why can people not get their cats neutered?

Monday 10
So this is June. Really? It is definitely on the cool side for June, and intermittently very windy. We’ve not yet managed to sit outside this summer with a coffee, let alone sit out into the evening over a bottle of wine, which was our habit some years ago. And it doesn’t look as if it’s going to improve this side of the General Election. Bah! Humbug!

Tuesday 11
Blimey! Rewriting, and checking, website code is absolutely knackering. A lot of the time you can do only a couple of hours without getting a completely addled brain. I’ve spent a lot of yesterday and today (on and off) doing little except checking and correcting the formatting of a new, very large and somewhat complex set of webpages – only 50 pages! That’s after days of work to check over the content. All(!) I have to do now is run the whole lot through a spellchecker. And then, barring any further errors, I can send them off to the developers to be added to our system.

Wednesday 12
An interesting cabaret at lunchtime. Arrives the jay (not seen for a few days); it bounces from the rose onto the small apple tree near the house and starts attacking the nuts in the bird feeder. It’s beak is extracting large chunks of nut which are going down whole. After a few minutes the magpie appears, and moves the jay on. Being slightly larger the magpie is definitely dominant. Magpie sits in apple tree and thinks about getting at the nuts – well if that jay can do it, so can I. It has a go, like the jay from a handy twig as a perch, but it isn’t that much better at it than the useless pigeons. Meanwhile a second magpie has appeared to sit on the fence. Magpie 1 departs. Jay reappears, via the rose, and resumes it’s assault on the nuts. Rinse and repeat. By the third round the magpie (not sure which it was) has definitely refined its technique and is being more successful than the jay at extracting large pieces of nut. Apart from the interplay between the young jay and (more dominant) magpie(s), what was interesting was that we’ve never before seen a magpie on a bird feeder!

Thursday 13
Why did I sleep so badly last night? It took me ages to get to sleep. Then I woke up just before 4 and was awake for at least an hour. So when the alarm went off at 8.30 I struggled to wake up.

Friday 14
About 20:15 this evening, while we’re finishing dinner, arrives the local fox (well one of them; we currently have at least two). I think the dog fox. He trots up the garden, stopping midway to stare intently at something in mid-air. He came right up to the house, bold as brass, stopping at one point to look at the cat door (from about a metre away). He then went to investigate one of the apple tree tubs – the one with the bird feeder hanging in the tree. Whatever he found to eat, there was a lot of it as it occupied him for a good 10 minutes. Although N said there was a small amount of fruit there (basically just a few grapes) this would not have occupied him for more than a couple of minutes. So either he’d cached something there, or some passing squirrel had tipped half the contents of the nut basket out. The latter is not that unlikely as the local squirrels, jay, etc. have emptied it completely in two days!

Saturday 15
So you go down the garden to feed the pond fish, and there are little tweety birds everywhere – along with the ubiquitous parakeets. Totally unable to see what they are: it’s just lots of generic tweeting (so possibly young ones) and of course they’re hidden in the depths of the boscage. They’re so uncooperative, these birds.

Sunday 16
The sweet sound of children’s voices! The evening has been raucous with the local brats screaming at the top of their lungs; the parakeets doing the same; and some thoughtful neighbour running a petrol mower. There’s an excuse for the parakeets: they’re wild. Mind you the children probably are too – I certainly wouldn’t have been allowed to make that much noise as a kid. And why do you need a petrol mower for a lawn 5x10m maximum which you could cut with scissors – or a borrowed goat?

Monday 17
Another of those days when you’re feeling like you didn’t sleep well (actually I probably didn’t) and someone stole all your elastic bands. So everything is an effort, mentally and physically. What a good job there’s nothing on and I can spend the day clearing up odd jobs.

Tuesday 18
On the way back from the hospital at lunchtime we’re just round the corner from home … Walking along was a young woman. OK, so what? She was tall-ish and very slim; wearing dark legs and a dark blue top. This was set off with a low crowned black straw hat with a brim about a metre wide – well it was certainly enormous! But the pièce de résistance: walking nicely at heel was a milk chocolate coloured standard poodle, beautifully clipped right down to it’s pom-pom boots! One of those occasions when you need your camera in hand and primed because you had at most 5 seconds to grab the shot.

Wednesday 19
It’s surprising how quiet it is without my hearing aids. My hearing appears to still be deteriorating so I could well be stone deaf within 10 years, if I survive that long. The problem is that you can’t properly hear the things you need to. And what you can hear is different because you’ve lost the high frequencies — so most birdsong is out, except for the lower tones like wood pigeons.

Thursday 20
A very quick trip to the hospital today to collect my repaired hearing aids. I spent more time waiting to be picked up afterwards than I did in the hospital (which was about 15 minutes, and I didn’t rush!). And more time in the taxi going and coming that actually at the hospital. Still I sat outside in the sun while waiting which was very pleasant.
Oh, and true to form, I now think it’s Friday!

Friday 21
What a lovely day. At last we get wall-to-wall sunshine and it’s hot. Too nice to be doing anything, so I mostly didn’t.

Saturday 22
The usual interesting quarterly literary society social call this afternoon. Mostly the usual suspects including attendees from Ireland, USA and Japan. A lot of discussion about the English class system, and the mobility between classes, which usually baffles the Americans.

Sunday 23
I’m not generally a fan of the small plume moths. They always seem dull and uninteresting. But the one which was sitting on our bathroom tiles this morning was, I thought, unusually large (wingspan 25-28mm) and quite prettily marked, even if in shades of beige. Probably the Common Plume, Emmelina monodactyla, which are quite variable.Note the spurs on the legs! This evening I made sure it went back outside to live another day.

Monday 24
So now I’m fed up with this ear infection. I’ve no idea what it is but is seems to be something swollen and sore in my ear canal – and it isn’t wax. I can’t hear anything in my left ear, and it is too sore to wear my hearing aids. At least it isn’t my usual vertigo. I’m hoping it’ll go away and I won’t need to bother the doctors. It’s the more miserable because the weather is hot (at last!) and very humid.

Tuesday 25
Much as I like being warm, and I’m naturally warm, I don’t like this humidity. It’s really draining. So much so that I spent a large part of the afternoon reclining on the bed in front of the fan with all the windows open – so I managed to accomplish very little.

Oh and let’s count the last few days according to my brain:
Thursday was Friday
Friday was Saturday
Saturday was Sunday
Sunday was no day at all
Monday was Sunday
Today? Well who knows?
Yes, I know, I’m going mad!

Wednesday 26
micro moth Meanwhile today I tried to photograph this tiny little insect on the bathroom wall – why do these things always sit where they’re almost inaccessible? It’s about 5mm in size and we often see them indoors. I’m not at all clear whether it’s a micro-moth or a fly; I suspect the former from the wing markings and that this one has feathery antennae redolent of a male moth. Anyway, here’s a very poor photograph; I shall try again sometime when I have more “go” and my proper camera gear to hand.

Thursday 27
Phew! It’s a bit cooler today, which is rather pleasant, but there’s a stiff breeze. In fact the breeze was so strong that I had to shut some of the windows to stop thee through draught. But it has been nice and sunny all day. I’m still struggling with this ear and it’s annoying me; it’s still sore and slightly inflamed, and I can’t wear a hearing aid in that ear. So I’ve got a call out to the doctors. I suspect it’s an abscess and will need some antibiotics. Very annoying!

Friday 28
We’re doomed; doomed I tell you. It’s the end of June and high summer. The buddleia is in full flower, but there’s not an insect in sight. Not a butterfly. Not a bee. Not a wasp. Not even a mouldy fly. The buddleia should be buzzing with insects. The only wildlife I’ve seen today are three woodpigeons. Gawdelpus!

Saturday 29
We have a fan in the bedroom, with a remote control. Last evening the remote was playing up. So I took a look today and the batteries were so corroded I was surprised it worked at all. Mind you we’ve had the fan for some years and they’re likely the original (cheap) batteries. I cleaned it up and put in new batteries. Nothing; it will not work. Check batteries; try another pair; ensure IR receiver on the fan is clean. Still nothing. Take the remote apart; clean it some more; and in the process snap a silly little wire right at a point where I can’t resolder it. Bugger! Unusually eBay doesn’t come up with a replacement; nor does anyone else. At least the fan still works, we’ll just have to get out of bed to turn it on/off. I can’t justify a new fan just for a broken remote – which has now been stripped down for recycling.

Sunday 30
It’s the end of june, so we’re halfway through the year. Well, no, actually we’re not. Count the days: the first 6 months of the year have 181 days (182 in a leap year), and the second 6 months have 184 days. So given that this is a leap year, today is day 182 and there remain 184 days. That means tomorrow, 1 July, is day 183 and there are 183 days remaining, so midnight on night of 1/2 July is halfway through the year. And in a normal year it would be midday on 2 July.

personal, photography

Monthly Self-Portrait, June

11 June 2024 Keith

Something relatively mundane for this month’s self-portrait: a selfie headshot. I think it’s probably better than my current one.

Selfie Headshot
[Click the image for a larger view]

amusements, memes, personal

Unblogged May

31 May 2024 Keith 1 Comment

Being things I didn’t otherwise write about this month.

Wed 1	What miserable May Day. It should be sunny and warm, as befits the bonfires of Beltane welcoming the return of the sun. Instead of which it was somewhat chilly, dull and threatening rain all day. And it looks pretty wet for at least the next week. At this rate we’re in for a long, cold, wet summer. Gawdelpus!
Thu 2	There are times when the cats drive you demented. Because N was at the hospital this evening, I was left to feed said animals. I go downstairs to feed them (and me!) a bit before 19:00. Rosie soon appears, which was not a surprise. I feed her a treat of very unposh chicken catfood; she eats heartily through 3/4 of her food and goes out. The other two are absent, despite having been called three times. Ten minutes later Tilly appears. I feed her the usual small portion; she condescends to lick the gravy off the food, as is her usual way, and goes out. While I’m eating my food Tilly comes back and has two goes, five minutes apart, at polishing Rosie’s bowl. By now Rosie has probably finished off Tilly’s food. As I write (about 20:30) Boy Cat is still dozing on the cushion behind my right shoulder; he’s not moved, so hasn’t been fed. We’ll get starving kitten mode in about an hour’s time.
Fri 3	So you think you’re going to have a quiet day, and everything conspires to ensure you have a continual succession of stupidities to unravel.
Sat 4	What a lovely bright, sunny Spring day with barely a breathe of breeze. It wasn’t unpleasant in the garden even at teatime, although the ground is still absolutely sodden.
Sun 5	My phalaenopsis orchids haven’t done so well this year. I’m down to four plants. One hasn’t shown any sign of flowering and the miniature one has two flowers which are trying to hide in the pot. The other two have just three flowers.They’re some years old now and they’ve not been getting as much attention, water and feed with everything else going on. I’ll have to see if I can rejuvenate them over the summer.
Mon 6	Bank holiday Monday, and it’s as dismal as Monday can be. Nothing going on and its been raining most of the day. Even the cats have been lying low all day. I ended up doing literary society work all afternoon as the web developers and the Secretary were working and emailing me. But I did manage to get my haircut in between it all.
Tue 7	Don’t you just love hospitals. N had an appointment this morning with her consultant, although it was admittedly only an “in case needed”. Can they cancel it in good time? Nooooo! They call just after 08:30 this morning to cancel it. Fortunately we’d not left home, although we had got up at crack of sparrows to be ready in time and booked a taxi. The up side was that I got a clear day to get things done, including the monthly household finances which took forever!
Wed 8	What a lovely sunny, warm Spring day – as was yesterday. It’s so warm we’ve had all the windows open all day, and even sat out in the sun for a while after lunch. And that was good because we spotted the first swift of the year. Only one, but it’s good that we have any at all now; 40 years ago the sky was full of them.
Thu 9	Another lovely warm sunny Spring day. And it brings the smelly barbeque-wallahs out. Barbeques (known locally as crematoriums) are bad enough on their own, but why do these people have to use noxious firelighters or the like to start them? Were they never Boy Scouts? No sooner does that stop, than some neighbour starts up a petrol mower – like you need a petrol mower for a garden this size! – followed by a hedge trimmer.
Fri 10	A couple of days ago I clocked up my 150th Postcrossing card received. Here are numbers 101-150 up on the corkboard before I file them and start the board again.I’m averaging a card every three days, so at this rate I should get to 200 before Christmas.
Sat 11	After nearly 45 years of marriage it still turns up surprises. Apparently N may be offered afternoon sessions at the hospital, rather than the current three evenings a week. This would actually be more convenient. But what surprised me most was her comment that what she misses is eating together every evening, and she fells this is especially important. While I agree, I hadn’t realised quite how important it has become.
Sun 12	Three or four days ago we had an odd rose in flower. By today we have a garden full of roses; suddenly they are almost all in flower. From one lone dog rose climbing the silver birch we have a tree full of small single wild roses, and a rambler smothered in apricot blooms.
Mon 13	Monday is always hard – and even harder when it follows a Sunday.
Tue 14	Something must have happened today, but if it did it completely passed me by. Spent the day with brain in jelly.
Wed 15	Comes the gardener for the second time in a week, after a hiatus of about a month – due to a combination of N’s situation and the wet weather. Lots done, including a soap wash of one of the apple trees to get rid of the woolly aphid. Six hours later and the tree is already looking 300% better.
Thu 16	There’s this first portrait of the King. And it has stirred controversy, as portraits of the monarch always seem to. Some like it; many don’t with comments like “how good that he’s covered in the blood of the slaves/soldiers”, or “why is he battling through menstrual blood?”. Perversely I do like it; it’s shocking at first, but as a portrait it is pretty accurate and it does seem to capture the man – a man of many parts. Yes the red shocks initially, but for me it works and it’s better than the usual dull portraiture.
Fri 17	How’s this for stupid? We order supermarket groceries online every week and they’re fulfilled from a fulfilment centre down the road. The range is restricted compared with what’s in the stores, which is very annoying. I can also order from the same supermarket a small top-up order for immediate delivery by UberEats from the nearest store. Understandably this range is also restricted compared with what I could get by going to the store. But there are things I can buy via UberEats that I can’t get via an online order. Like today I was able to get via UberEats: English asparagus, a common-or-garden pickle, and a small cucumber, none of which the fulfilment centre stock.
Sat 18	This morning we had a really good meeting of the doctors’ patient group. A good turnout of 9 patients, plus the Practice Manager. Everyone was friendly, positive and contributed. And N gave an informal talk about her recent medical experiences, which was well received. Meetings like this do restore one’s faith in humanity a bit.
Sun 19	Just after lunch N refilled the bird feeders. For the rest of the afternoon the garden has been ringing with the squawks of the parakeets. Their chatter is continual, even if there is only one! It’s basically just contact calls – after all they are only budgerigars on steroids! I love having them around, but they are noisy!
Mon 20	The garden is absolutely awash with roses – and not all are even in flower yet! I wondered aloud to N how many thousand (and yes, I mean thousand) rose flowers we had. These photos are just a tiny fraction of the total, especially as the silver birch has not only the Buff Beauty but is a shower of dog rose right to the top.
Tue 21	What a dismal day. Definitely feeling slow and dopey today. And it’s been raining steadily since late morning.
Wed 22	OK, so we get a General Election on 4 July. Prepare then for six weeks of disinformation and misinformation (ie. lies and make-believe) from all sides. Trust none of them – remember they’re politicians and they’re fighting for their seat on the gravy train! As for the prediction of a Labour landslide? Personally I doubt it. Despite what the polls say, Joe Public will chicken out. He and she will vote for whoever they think is going to put money in their pocket, get rid of immigrants, and claw back our sovereignty: and that may well not be Labour. There will also be a lot of tactical voting. Given that Labour are currently about 10-1 on to have an overall majority, I reckon 11-2 against for a hung parliament, or the same odds for a Tory majority, are good bets. My best guess? A Conservative overall majority of 6 seats. It’ll be interesting – if you can stomach it. I’m not sure I can.
Thu 23	While we’re eating our evening meal, the Marmalade cat from next door appeared having caught a wood pigeon – still fluttering desperately to get away. But no luck, she sat gripping it firmly by the throat until dead. She then proceeded to eat it over the course of at least 45 minutes. One of the local alpha males happened along and thought he was going to get a share: not a chance, he was soon disabused and gave up. She was last seen still manfully chomping away at her pigeon. It’ll be interesting to see how much is left in the morning; my betting is that unless she takes the remains away they’ll be removed by the foxes.
Fri 24	An interesting day. (1) It started off with the supermarket delivery refusing my credit card overnight. It was a new card, activated yesterday, because there was some (small) amount of fraud on the old one. I made the payment payment with another card after almost 30 minutes on the phone on hold. Turns out the block on the card was only released at the start of office hours this morning. Why am I expected to guess this! (2) As predicted, all that’s left of the pigeon from yesterday is some scattered feathers. I might find out when I look at the trail camera what happened. (3) While we were checking off the grocery delivery N looked at the kitchen floor and exclaimed “Why is there a small dead mouse down there?” Sure enough a small dead mouse was indeed trying to hide under the sink. (4) As usual by mid-afternoon I was convinced it was Saturday.
Sat 25	Another nice sunny day spent working. One day I’ll actually manage to see something of the summer.
Sun 26	Unloading this week’s photos from the trail camera, I found a couple of nice shots of one of our foxes. The resolution isn’t brilliant as they were in poor daylight, but said fox looks to be in good condition.Just look at the cheeky curiosity on that face. You can see why it’s often said that foxes are dogs running on cat software! Oh and there were no good shots to indicate the final removal of the pigeon.
Mon 27	I know I didn’t put my hearing aids in today, but it has been unusually quiet, especially for a bank holiday. I can only think the neighbours know something I don’t. But then it was supposed to rain all day, but it hasn’t; it’s been intermittently sunny, although quite windy. I don’t remember this amount of wind when I was young and playing cricket – I would have noticed, because not being a top rank bowler I would have been bowling into the wind all the time. It has definitely got a lot windier in recent years. Someone must have put the gods on a diet of beans.
Tue 28	After months and months and months of delays and postponements, I finally managed to rearrange our dental check-ups and hygienist appointments. To my amazement we were offered appointments on 1 July, which is only 5 weeks away. So often we have to wait 3 months!
Wed 29	Had some really good Barnsley Lamb Chops this evening. Really juicy, flavourful and tender. They’ve been languishing in the depths of the freezer for ages and we decided the time had come to exhume them. The freezing will have helped with the tenderness – as well as the fact that I made sure not to overcook them.
Thu 30	Amazingly we have a large white Amaryllis with two large flowers – they’re the size of a tea plate. It’s an old bulb that has been kept going on the windowsill, with the occasional drop of water. It throws up the odd few leaves, but we never expect it to flower. And suddenly, there it is in full bloom!
Fri 31	Today has definitely been one of pushing jelly uphill trough treacle. Just about everything seems to have been an irritation, or worse. Well it’s a new month, and a weekend, tomorrow, so onwards and upward. I hope!

medical, personal, photography

Monthly Self-Portrait, May

11 May 2024 Keith

We’re staying with the medical for this month’s self-portrait. As long-time readers will know I have Obstructive Sleep Apnoea, which means I can stop breathing when asleep. To counteract this, I have a CPAP machine which pumps air into my airway overnight to keep the airways open. It isn’t invasive, just a nuisance, and it does cramp one’s style somewhat. As you’ll appreciate from the image, us users are sometimes colloquially termed “hoover heads”. This is my usual sleeping attire!

CPAP mask in use — Hoover Head
[Click the image for a larger view]

personal, thoughts

I’m a Hypocrite

14 April 2024 Keith

Yes, you read that headline correctly. I’m a hypocrite. Most of us are over something.

Recently, unable to sleep, I started thinking about what it is that makes me a hypocrite. And I found two instances.

Meat. I eat meat – although I also enjoy veggie food. But mostly I eat meat, and fish. I’d struggle to be entirely veggie despite seeing it as more ethical and environmental choice. So yes, I eat flesh … but I let someone else do the dirty work of rearing and killing it for me. Because I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t emotionally bring myself to kill some other sentient creature. And physically I couldn’t manage to handle a large animal. Keeping fish, I have on a few occasions had to euthanise one of them to save it from a lingering death – and I hated it; I had to do it but with a heavy heart and feeling squeamish; and the larger the fish, the more horrible it was. So I couldn’t do it to a mammal.

I can butcher meat that’s already dead without any problems. I have no problem jointing or spatchcocking a whole turkey or chicken; or filleting fish. And when younger (about 17, in the late 1960s) when I worked in a supermarket, I was taught to bone a side of bacon. We had the bacon delivered as half a pig, ready cured and without head, trotters, entrails etc. I had no problem with this. It’s a disembodied entity.

So I wouldn’t be able to despatch a warm-blooded creature – but I’m happy to let someone else do the deed for me, and eat the results. Which is inconsistent and hypocritical.

Shaving & Hair. This case is not so horrid; just somewhat stupid. I shave the hair off my face. When I was working I used to do this every day with an electric shaver. Now I’m retired I shave maybe twice a week with a wet razor. Why do I do this? Well, really for two reasons.

First, I find more than a handful of days beard uncomfortably itchy and scratchy. I’ve never managed to grow my beard for more than about 10 days before it becomes intolerable. Except that for some years in my late-20s/early-30s I had a moustache.

Secondly, in general I don’t like beards. Too many look scruffy, or affected. I don’t think they’re a good look. But I would never deny anyone’s right to have a beard if they wish.

But here’s the hypocrisy. What’s with the Barbie look? I can’t get the fashion for females to shave/wax their pubes. Why would you want your 20/30/40/50/++ year-old self to look pre-pubescent; who are you trying to kid? It’s not a good look, even before one thinks about the shaving rash, the ingrown hairs and the stubble. Pubic hair likely has a purpose, so why remove it? By all means tidy it up or trim it a bit, but there is no imperative to remove it. (Incidentally all this applies just as much to, for example, armpits. And yes, guys it applies to you too!) But then it’s your body, your choice.

So, no, I don’t like denuded pubes, but I prefer denuded faces. If that isn’t hypocritical, it’s at least inconsistent. But if either is what you want to do, then you have every right to. Just do it because that’s what you like or are comfortable with, not because it’s the fashion or you think society, or a partner, expects it.

Whatever you do, do it for you! And remember: those that mind don’t matter; and those that matter don’t mind.

I’m sure there are other places where I’m inconsistent or hypocritical. What about you?

medical, personal, photography

Monthly Self-Portrait, April

11 April 2024 Keith

So what to do for this month’s self-portrait, especially as I have this damned filthy cold back again? Oh well, lets have something some may consider TMI – although it’s nothing you couldn’t safely see in the gym changing room.

As long-time readers may remember, I’ve said on a number of occasions that I have a secondary nipple. This is apparently not that unusual – I bet some of you have too. It’s on the right side of my abdomen, a bit above the level of the navel. The corresponding place on the left side has just a slightly denser area of hair.

Anyway this is what it looks like, fairly close up. On the left is the actual vestigial nipple. On the right, a mole. (I’ve always had the mole; it’s nothing to worry about). Keep in mind that the area in the photograph is about 4cm wide.

Close-up view of a secondary nipple — Left: secondary nipple. Right: a small mole. Image 4cm wide.
[Click the image for a larger view]

freedom of speech, nudism, personal, thoughts

Some Thoughts on Social Nudity (Again!)

5 April 2024 Keith

A while back, over on Medium and on Quora James Grigg posited the question:

Why do men seem more comfortable with nudity?

As well he might; there is historically a greater preponderance of “single men” in the nudist movement. But why?

Grigg is an artist and photographer who does a lot of nude positive work, photographing ordinary people, including himself, in the nude in ordinary poses. So in some ways he is in a good position to judge. In other ways, because he’s male, he isn’t (and neither am I!).

His basic thesis is that women tend to avoid social nudity because

Slut shaming and rape culture are not conducive to women being able to be naked … comfortably.

This is based on the misplaced but widespread belief that nudity and sex are interchangeable, and that

Women … are expected to gatekeep sex from men who apparently … have no control over their … desires or actions.

There’s also the question of objectifying the female body, such that perfectly ordinary bodies are not seen as adequate. All of which basically says to me: lads you need to grow up.

While I wouldn’t disagree this is a significant element of the problem, I think there are other factors at play although perhaps not as predominant. Let’s turn the arguments somewhat on their head and look at the male side of the question. I see a further three possible reasons why men are more comfortable with social nudity, but they’re big generalisations.

First there is the macho need to show off, to be top lad, and attract a mate – the biological need to be the alpha male. This is not necessarily about shagging any eligible nubile (attractive though that might be!); it’s more about male pecking order. This makes nudity below the waist acceptable, even essential, for bragging and showing off; and above the waist neutral or irrelevant as there’s nothing much to show off. Females are the opposite: it is (mostly) OK to be bare above the waist (bragging rights or showing off, again, maybe?) but there’s no imperative for nudity below the waist – again because there is nothing very visible to show off (although the fashion for removing pubic hair does change that).

The second factor – which goes along with this – is all about physical comfort, and not having all your appendages constrained within clothing. Hence, simplistically, females are more likely to be physically comfortable bare chested, and not having their tits clad in armour. Conversely males are more comfortable with their dangly bits free to air – especially as ventilation also mitigates against the annoyances of jock itch etc.; something of which many blokes appear unaware.

I also suspect there is another, subconscious, factor at play. As a very big generalisation, guys tend to experience spontaneous desire: they’re always up for it even from a cold start. Contrarywise females mostly have responsive desire: they need warming up, enticing, encouraging, before they become actively aroused and eager. Yes, that is a generalisation, and there are many who don’t conform to this model, but it could be another factor playing into the “alpha male culture”.

I’ll accept that most guys and girls probably don’t actively think very much about any of this – it’s mostly subconscious. Basically therefore, while I don’t disagree with James Grigg’s thesis, I think the situation may well be more complex than he makes out – although, given our social conditioning, much of the time the reasoning will be entirely subconscious.

Getting this levelled out – as we should if we’re going to have a really well balanced society – will take time, and a willingness on everyone’s part to adjust and to grow up. Much as we’d like it to, it won’t happen overnight. Which just amplifies my oft repeated belief in respecting one another and treating everyone the same. We’re all people. No-one is better (or worse) than anyone else. And, give or take, we all know what’s under each other’s t-shirt and jeans. So, really, there shouldn’t be a problem with nudity, should there!