As promised - the Liquidamber. Uploaded without any trouble. Probably before the USA takes to the net and clogs things up. But it isn't just me, there has been loads of blog and press coverage of google's 'blogger' problems and both planned and unplanned 'outages' as they call them.David's birthday and when I rang at 7.50am he had already set off, so I left a 'happy birthday' on his mobile. The stew was even better today. They always seem to be and I've never understood why. Maybe it's been mentioned before but the Dickensian street-cry which ends "..........seven days in the pot" springs to mind. I suppose that, if brought to boiling point each day, it might be tummy-upset proof, but I doubt it.
After lunch, it was over to Mansfield for the National Trust committee meeting. Apparently it was a success because, as I am not the committee member, I sat in Conny's lounge with my laptop and tried to make sense of Roger's tutorial last night. Some of it was OK but I still have problems with a lot. It isn't a simple programme !
Busy telly night. Strictly Come Dancing for half an hour and then Tim Marlow on Velasquez. I'll try not to impose more art-reproductions on you though. Although I can't promise - because tomorrow is our Holbein to Hockney class.
The Picture is Mark Ramprekash and his partner Karen. He being the celebrity and she being the professional dancer. He is, of course, an excellent cricketer and seems to have translated his natural poise and timing etc. to the dance floor. As a cricketer he has lightning fast reactions and I remember seeing him take the most incredible catch I have ever seen. He must be favourite to win. There are so many strong contenders though that I wouldn't put money on it.When we were in the super-market we collected a gem. As well as milk and potatoes we decided to buy some packs of assorted kids' sweets with which to fend off the trick-and-treaters. It seems cheaper than giving them money. The lady in front of us at the check-out obviously had the same idea and she and Y chatted about it. The lady said that her mum would never have anything to do with Halloween rating it "as bad as talking to Protestants".
Catch you tomorrow..................
… and, as I have mentioned before, the rhyme (street cry?) is not about stew, but:
ReplyDelete“Pease pud’n hot / Pease pud’n cold / Pease pud’n in the pot / Nine days old.”.
But certainly stews do taste better reheated the day after. In my view the flavour is also improved if they have just ‘caught’ (as my mother would have said) ie, very slightly burnt at the bottom and edges. She was rather good at ‘catching’ things, my mother, usually by nipping out to peg a bit of washing and getting ‘caught’ herself in conversation with a neighbour. I shall never forget the taste of burnt boiled potatoes and burnt custard – both so foul as to be absolutley inedible!
Oh no! Not you addicted to Strictly Come Dancing as well? Absolute rubbish; truly terrible! And from someone who dares to criticize the genuine search for real talent that is ‘The X Factor’! And surely Ramprakash, having failed in his several attempts to establish himself as a genuine Test class batsman, must have retired from the game by now? How have the not-quite-mighty fallen!
But did you watch either or both of the 2 excellent programmes on Channels ITV1 and BBC1 at 9 pm on Monday night, namely
1) ‘Mysterious Creatures’ with Timothy Spall, Brenda Blethyn and Rebekah Staton. Based on a true story, very well done, very disturbing, very distressing, very depressing and I cannot personally see that it will have done much good apart from showing that some people have a much harder time of it than others and how difficult it is to help them (although there may be other countries, possibly Scandinavian, where such things are handled better). To me it indicated that having a severely but non-specifically mentally disturbed child is like having an ‘ordinary’ child (esp in the teenage years) but far, far, unbelievably worse.
2) An hour long ‘special’ update of ‘The Royle Family’ which was absolutely superb – marvellous ‘natural’ script (no, Henry Normal was not a co-writer this time) faultless acting (and/or casting) and excellent character development as appropriate (ie, some had changed significantly, others had not budged an inch). It was also very amusing, very touching, and believable, being only slightly exaggerated (we have Manchester friends who themselves and their relatives could be cousins of these characters).
I like the supermarket Catholic take on Hallowe’en (am I right in thinking that ‘Catholic’ and ‘catholic’ are antonymous. And if I am right, isn’t it strange?).
One hears of people having awful problems with Hallowe’en but we have only ever been ‘bothered’ by our own children and grandchildren (and their friends) and the children of neighbours. Last year, after the event, I bought myself a mask from Netto at a knockdown price. I looked it out last night, ready to appear from behind the curtains and scare the bejasus out of anyone who knocked at the front door – but nobody did! And Sandra didn’t even flinch when I ‘booed’ her!
Jessica always celebrates it bigtime (with the willing connivance of her mother and grandmother). There are bats and spiders and witchy things all over their house and a party – they had eyeballs in custard and jelly-monsters in (what else?) jelly. I didn’t go. Not scary enough maybe? Or, perhaps, having learned from experience, they decided not to invite me.
Talking of fearful things, are you as horrified as I am to hear the news that allowable house borrowing has gone up to 5 times annual (joint) earnings? I thought it was pushing it in the early 60s when I managed to borrow a maximum £3,000, which represented 3 times my salary (wife’s earnings not considered). Considering possible interest rate rises, how can any ‘normal’ person possibly afford to buy even a modest house now? Policemen will need another Miners’ Strike and firemen will have to live in tents!