Snow thoughts

Why isn't it spelt (or spelled) snough?

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It was pretty deep stuff, but still some people like whizzing around it in their 4WD trucks pulling people out of the snow.
Thoug some people complain that we don't know how to cope with snow, but seriously, it only happens for a few days each year and for many people it's simply another 'bank' holiday.
The news organisations certainly enjoy it. It enables them to run their "paralysed Britain" stories.
I must say, it's pretty awful for passengers to be stuck on trains or aeroplanes for hours not going anywhere. What I find most awful is that companies such as Southeastern (see the story and the response) don't move heaven and earth to provide hot drinks and food for their customers. If you worked for them you'd surely be phoning everyone you knew to get a four-wheel drive to call by the nearest takeaway...wouldn't you? Go on, use my credit card you'd say. Think of the positive publicity you'd get. Think of the kudos. Has no-one got any idea of how extraordinary circumstances require and extraordinary response?

A happy thing...

...happened on Tonbridge High Street last Saturday...

He is nothing like a dame!

 

They say it's going to hurt ("Oh no it won't!").  Meanwhile the future Baronet Osborne of Ballentaylor and is said to be worth about £4m (including 15% of Osborne & Little - so that's his first pension sorted out).

I think he also gets £131,000pa. Do you think he's worried about having to cut back a bit?

I know it's dodgy photo-shopping, but this just looks right somehow..

Genius...because it's true, and funny

Feed a family of four for £100 a month?

Well these guys seem to think it's possible. You might want to pick your way through the menus, for example you might wonder at 'Brazil and Seed Butter'. I'd try it...
The whole thing looks quite well worked out and makes mention of the importance of avoiding waste.
The recent BBC show on the subject was shocking not for the celebrity chef angle but the sheer scale of waste and how much the presumed taste of consumers is taken as an excuse to destroy perfectly good food. You can read about the Love Food Hate Waste campaign here.

Cuts...feels like we're on the brink

The budget has made me wonder if the Tories really understand the economy. Or, for that matter whether anyone (especially me) does.
There is no doubt that, ideologically, it's easier for them to cut Government and public sector spending. So when George Osborne says he had no choice he's just plain wrong.
There are always choices about what to cut expenditure and where to increase income. An increase in the top rate of tax and even another tax band would have been seen as fair and would have affected fewer people. By definition, the people paying such tax are fewer in number than those below the threshold.
So, the only conclusion you can draw is that it wasn't 'politically desirable'.
The other mistake is to believe that cuts in public expenditure are somehoe free. There will be job losses and an increase in unemployment. There will be an increase in benefit claims. Do these figures stack up?
And if unemployment ends up costing more than the preceding savings - how would this Chancellor balance the books? More cuts?

Incidentally, am I the only one who thinks Osbourne looks like he should be a pantomime dame? When he speaks he also reminded me of someone else and I couldn't quite think who...
I think it may be Piers Fletcher-Dervish, the hapless Tory MP sidekick of Rik Mayall's Alan B'stard.  Time for Marks and Gran to return?

What next?

Are we ready to challenge the political system?
Here's asuggested graphc for t-shirts, banners and more.
The anti-party colour is black.

What the heck happened? And the test of real 'interests'.

Actually I'm not going to go on about the result, though it's certainly a shock and 'oh' kind of turn up for the books.
But I have to say, the really annoying thiing is the (so called) markets' reaction.
I'd venture to say that whatever the results, markets would have been slightly down. Not because there was any news to react to but because the big speculators had already taken positions that it was in their interests for the markets to decline.
It's notable that someone's "fat fingers" also wiped billions off stock for a few minutes (making one speculator a cool £350,000 in a matter of seconds) before the correction was made.
It also annoys me that 'business leaders' continually say a) "What business needs is stability" to which they now add b)"and a clear way out of this financial black hole". See RBS example.
Well...
a) They had that for a number of years with TB and GB - I didn't see them dancing for joy then or rushing to defend Labour now
b) They continually ask for the Government to show the way out of the debt crisis, but don't offer any help - and in fact squeal when it's said they may have to accept keeping less profit.
We now see clearly how in thrall we are to banks, bond and gilt traders and business interests. It's the problem of the commons writ large - private profit and public loss.
I'm now going off to sob quietly.

My capacity for thought

 

Maybe it's the election or maybe it's technology overload.

Wild food - guaranteed to make your mouth water

I had to share this because two days later I can still (sort of) taste the risotto with wild garlic I made after a walk in the Kent countryside - not far from Ightham Mote. It's was also the day I blogged about the School of Artisan Food so I was enthused!
The garlic starts off with a beautiful soft scent (especially in the sunshine) but then intensifies in the cooking without ever becoming acrid.

It's quite simple - if you know how to make a risotto that is. So here's my first attempt at a recipe (not including a recipe leaflet I once wrote for the Dutch Meat Marketing Board)

Wild garlic risotto (serves 2)
You will need -

• Approx 75g butter (plus a bit)
• About 125g of arborio rice
• 1 glass of white vermouth
• 1 litre of stock - vegetable or chicken
• A big handful of wild garlic leaves
• Parmesan cheese

Melt the butter in a biggish solid pan over a medium heat. When it's all melted add the rice and keep stirring until the rice appears to have absorbed some of the butter. It may 'foam' and will appear sticky.
Add the glass of vermouth and keep stirring. Again wait until it starts to appear thicker.
Add a big slosh of stock and stir.
In another pan melt a little more butter. Chop up the stalks of the garlic leaves and place in this pan to soften then take off the heat.
Keep going with the rice, stirring and adding stock. Each time wait until the stock is more or less absorbed before adding more stock.

Test a bit of the rice now and then until it is soft to eat.
At this stage, put the garlic pan back on the heat and chop up the leafy parts of the garlic (roughly, nice big peices) and stir them through the butter to wilt.
When the risotto is ready add the softened garlic to the rice and stir in. Taste and add a twist of pepper, maybe some salt if required.
Serve with parmesan shavings on top. According to the Times you could add pancetta...but it really doesn't need anything.

My mouth is already watering.

Could this be the beginning of a minor revolution?

And, of course, you can buy the t-shirt....

A history of everything...

Bravo to Jamie Bell (aka DispleasedEskimo on Youtube) who apparently got full marks for this in his Art AS level - and well-deserved I'd say...and you can even buy the t-shirt.

Plus ca change...

Can't be absolutely sure this is the right thing, but it seems that separating pleasewalkonthegrass from my own blog is a good step forward.
We've closed the website (such as it was) and now have anything to do with research and so on  a Wordpress hosted blog with links to other parts of the empire from there - which should be easier to update.
So this is just me and my stuff. Maybe some writing, paintings, photos.
Incidentally, many thanks to all those who sponsored me in the half-marathon - over £500 raised for Demelza House.
We'll see how we go, but I can't help thinking that having two blogs to update might just end in disaster...

Ah...Charlie Brooker

Another great episode, precisely skewering the 24 hour news outfall in which so-called reporters collude to make us believe something has happened, and that we (or indeed anyone) cares.

[Contains strong language...and quite a lot of truth]

Customer service!

OK. Fair's fair. I was pretty dismissive about Woolworth's customer service. Then they went bust.
So, here's the thing. When I see good service, I really ought to blog it.
My phone (a Samsung with touch screen, that was always a bit irritating) broke. This was the second time. I emailed Vodafone and they didn't reply.
So, I emailed again and then found, to my embarrassment, that they'd sent me an acknowledgment email. Later that day I got a full reply which may have been standard, but was really well written.
I took my phone down to the Vodafone shop where I was surprised to find they employ grown-ups!
They bundled up my phone to send off for repair (they checked my account and knew it was under warranty) and when I tentatively asked about borrowing a phone...they said yes.
So that day, and the next, and the next, I got text messages on my (borrowed) phone to say that my old phone had been send off, that it was being assessed, that it was on it's way back and, finally, that it was ready to be picked up.
So, on Friday I went to pick up the phone.
Problem. It was "moisture damage" and that's not covered by the warranty.
Well, the thing is, my contract isn't up until September which means they couldn't offer me an upgrade until July. But then the staff in the shop suggested I used their (free) in-store phone to call Vodafone and see what 'head office' could do.
They couldn't do anything. But the very nice man outlined the options - I could 'buy out' the rest of my contract. And he had some good suggestions about the kind of phone that might work (Blackberry, better than an iPhone!).
He also gave me another number to call (long story this, eh?).
The chaps in the shop gave me a phone to use. Well, the upshot was that they did (after a bit of 'consulting the manager' which salesmen know well) offer to allow me to upgrade immediately.
SO on Tuesday I take delivery of a new phone. The Nokia E63 which should do everything I need.
And what's more, they're giving me more minutes, unlimited texts and saving me a few quid a month.
Oh, I had to pay for the phone. "Two nine nine" said the girl on the phone...
Silence form my end.
"That's £2.99" she said.
I'll let you know if the euphoria lasts.

Cream :: Blog

Cream :: Blog

Thanks to Tom for his invaluable contribution to our media course at Greenwich. And he's said nice things about the students too!

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An appeal

Please click on the link to the right.
You can support me running 13+ miles in February for Demelza House Childrens Hospice.
I can't think of a reason not to.
Thanks
Phil