Matt’s pocket cartoon on the front page of today’s Daily Telegraph is another excellent one …
British Sandwich Week
Also timed to coincide with National Mills Weekend and National Real Bread Maker Week is British Sandwich Week which runs from 12 to 19 May.
We have become a nation of sandwich eaters, and why not because they can be a wholesome, filling and nutritious fast food. Since (allegedly) invented by 4th Earl of Sandwich the eponymous snack has blossomed from the original beef between two pieces of bread into an endless range of varieties.
As part of this year’s fun there will be an attempt on the World Record for the largest number of people simultaneously making a sandwich in the same place.
So why not celebrate the great British sandwich as well as raising a toast to the 4th Earl.
There is more information about sandwiches and British Sandwich Week over at www.lovesarnies.com.
Word: Petrichor
Petrichor
The sweet smell of rain on earth.
The pleasant, distinctive smell that frequently accompanies the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather in certain regions. Also applied to an oily substance obtained from the ground in which this smell was concentrated.
The term was coined in 1964 by two Australian researchers, Bear and Thomas, for an article in the journal Nature. In the article, the authors describe how the smell derives from an oil exuded by certain plants during dry periods, whereupon it is absorbed by clay-based soils and rocks. During rain, the oil is released into the air along with another compound, geosmin, producing the distinctive scent. In a follow-up paper, Bear and Thomas showed that the oil retards seed germination and early plant growth.
Petrichor was concocted from the Greek petros (stone) plus ichor (the fluid that flows in the veins of the gods in Greek mythology).
National Real Bread Maker Week
11 to 17 May is Real Bread Maker Week which is Britain’s biggest annual celebration of Real Bread and its makers and is timed to coincide with National Mills Weekend.
The aim of Real Bread Maker Week is to encourage people to get baking Real Bread or buying it from independent bakeries to support their local communities.
In addition this year they are raising money to provide opportunities to help people who, for one reason or another, have a tougher time than most of us enjoy the social, therapeutic and employment opportunities Real Bread making offers.
More information can be found at www.sustainweb.org/realbread/national_real_breadmaker_week/.
There is nothing better than the smell of freshly baked bread to get your taste buds tingling!
National Mills Weekend
National Mills Weekend is Saturday 11 & Sunday 12 May.
National Mills Weekend is the annual festival of our milling heritage and provides a fantastic opportunity to visit mills, of all types, many of which are not usually open to the public.
Until the advent of the steam engine, wind and watermills provided the only source of power for many different processes — from making flour, paper, cloth to hammering metal and extracting oil. You can explore mills that produced, or still produce, these products — some restored to working order, some derelict, some still working commercially.
As usual there is more information on the National Mills Weekend website at www.nationalmillsweekend.co.uk.
Weekly Photograph
Suitably for a Bank Holiday weekend this week we have a photograph of the English seaside. This is a montage of shots taken almost 5 years ago (eeekkkkk!!!) of Lowestoft South Beach, looking south towards Kirkley from near the Central Pier. As you can see it was a miserable day, with heavy, squally showers blown onshore by a stiff breeze. Typical of England really!
Click the image for larger views on Flickr
Lowestoft Seafront
6 September 2008
Quote: Direction
Don’t look back, you’re not going that way.
C(r)ock o'China
That was the headline in yesterday’s Daily Telegraph.
It seems that China’s official mouthpiece, the People’s Daily, is erecting a brand new HQ building. And as you’ll see from the photo even the least imaginative couldn’t fail to recognise the resemblance to a massive hard prick.
[Cue: Frankie Howerd]
It appears that this is all too much for the Chinese censors who have been working overtime to try to stop people sniggering to the rest of the world and viewing pictures online. I would really have thought that China should be proud of its erection!
Me-meme
My friend Katy has challenged us to to do a personal meme. I take up the challenge as it will make me think about who/what I am. So the questions are:
1. If you could change one thing in your life what would it be?
2. If you could repeat any age which one would it be?
3. What really scares you?
4. If you could be someone else for a day who would you be?
Now this isn’t going to be easy! But let me try …
1. If you could change one thing in your life what would it be?
The trouble is that there are so many things I would like to be different. Would I banish my depression or my excess weight? — both of which are attractive ideas. Or would I plump for £2M in the bank to see me really comfortable for the rest of my days? — equally attractive. Or would I choose to live in a pleasanter environment (though where we are could be a whole lot worse).
Maybe I’ll just plump for having three wishes, then I could have all of the above and more!
2. If you could repeat any age which one would it be?
Oh almost certainly 1972-1976, my post-grad and post-doc years. But only so long as I could do them with the knowledge I have now! They were fun years, and probably my most formative years. I would love to be able to do my doctorate again; I could do it so much better! And similarly with the year I was a post-doc, which I largely buggered up, but which I could do so much better. I could have achieved so much more than I did in those years while still having the fun I did.
3. What really scares you?
Apart from the obvious like dying, being seriously ill and generally becoming decrepit, probably the thing which worries me most (“scare” is maybe a bit OTT) it is running out of money as we get older.
4. If you could be someone else for a day who would you be?
Can I be the Fairy Queen with a magic wand to change both the way the country is run and instill common sense into those who run it? Or maybe I should just be dictator for the day and achieve much the same effect?
But then I’d also like to be a girlie for the day, to know what it really is like from the other side; yes, both the good bits and the bad bits, though this might need more than a day. While I have no great desire to know what periods or brooding a sprog are like I feel I should know. And of course I’d love to know what good sex is like for girlies.
Or then again, in much the same vein as Katy, maybe I could just be me but without the depression, obesity, diabetes, etc. Yes, maybe I’d settle for that.
OK, so I’m not going to nominate people to do this — it’s too hard and too invidious — so if anyone wants to join in either post in the comments or on your blog with a comment to let me know.
You May have Missed …
Our not-very-regular round-up of items I spotted and you may have missed. As usual in no special order, except we’ll start with the historical …
Henry VIII’s warship the Mary Rose sank in The Solent in 1545 and was recovered some 30 years ago. Ever since then archaeologists have been discovering more and more about the wreck. Now they are suggesting that the Mary Rose may have had armour-piercing cannonballs, some three-centuries earlier than they were thought to have been invented.
Archaeologists have also uncovered a 4400-year-old female skeleton near Windsor. What’s unusual is the large number of high-class, including gold, artefacts suggesting that Windsor may have been a royal hideout for 3000 years longer than we thought.
Meanwhile in Egypt archaeologists are working to uncover the sunken remains of the ancient lost city of Heracleion, near the head of the Nile Delta. They’ve been at it for some years already but reckon they may have 200 years work yet to do!
Back at home and much nearer our time, zoologists have been investigating the (stuffed) remains of a lynx shot dead in England in about 1903. Yes, there have been (maybe still are) large wild cats loose in the UK as it seems this one is a Canadian Lynx which had lived for around 10 years in captivity before escaping and being shot soon afterwards.
Many people erroneously believe that Oliver Cromwell made it illegal to eat Mince Pies on Christmas Day. This is one of many myths about what ancient laws allow or forbid in England. Recently the Law Commission published a list of some of these.
Brad Warner is an American zen teacher and punk rocker who generally talks sense. Here he muses on the recent Boston bombings and his reaction to them.
In a similar vein here’s a thoughtful op-ed piece from the Daily Telegraph on the rights of the state to snoop on its citizens.
Apparently some female in Australia is getting hot under the collar because she keeps having her pussy shaved.
Boys, are you worried about your declining sperm count? If so, wear a skirt. Apparently kilts, especially worn Scots-style (ie. with nothing underneath) are good for the balls, because they’re then kept at the temperature Nature intended. (And there are lots of other benefits too!) Even easier: just wear nothing.
On the other side of the sex divide, Prof. Alice Roberts is being rightfully indignant about the commercialisation of NHS maternity services and wards.
And the BBC has reported about medics who are trying to get a better understanding the details of how the womb and childbirth work. I must say it all sounds like trying to medicalise something which is better left to Nature — but then what do I know?
Finally a disturbing report about how the 18th and 19th centuries thought about the dangers of masturbation for women. Lads if you think the Victorians had a downer on your habits, it’s nothing to what they thought about their girlies prospects! It makes cross-dressing look positively tame!