Only this weekend is going to be a little different, as we have some painting to do. I say some, we have a whole bathroom to paint with at least two, if not three coats. But it really feels like, well, if we’re not on the final straight, we might be running round the bend and can see the final straight from here. In the last two days, the floorboards were put back down, the wastepipe for the new shower fitted, and yesterday, Mike came round and plastered covered over the damage where we removed the tiles from the shower and bath and the undersea scenes.
The plaster will take maybe three days to dry, and then we can paint and get the tiling done, and at that point it will begin to look like a bathroom again. The WC and basin can be fitted and once the tile grouting has set, the shower frame and door can be fitted and then it is just the flooring, which will be done next Friday, if all goes to plan, anyway.
So, apart from the bathroom not much has happened. We visited the in laws last night so we could have a shower. Such is the pain of not having a bathroom. And it was Tony’s 71st birthday so we stopped and had a chat before it was time to head back home and relax. We watched Dredd in 2D on TV, much better in twod to be honest, but a good film and a fine adaptation of the comic strip, and so much better than the Stalone version.
And then it was time to head to bed in order so we could get up at dawn so we could get to the office again. Oh well.
On last night’s Danny Baker show, they were talking about R&B records, which span from Robert Johnson through to soul, Stax, Mowtown and Atlantic to disco, hip hop and to everything inbetween. I had none of the 13 records mentioned on there either. So, more stuff including Stevie Wonder, Issac Hayes, Aretha et al to add to the list. Sigh. I have no time.
It all began a week or so ago, when packs of economy burgers were said to contain up to 25% (I think) horsemeat. The packs in question were of packs of eight 2oz burgers for £1 to £1.40. That’s a pound for a pound of ‘meat’. I say that as economy burgers don’t have to be 100% meat. It’s something like 65%, but even still if a pack say ‘beefburgers’ then one has the legal expectation for said burgers to contain beef.
During the last week, some Helal meat was said to contain ‘traces’ of pork, which whilst does not create health problems I would think brings into doubt how assured meat deliveries can be.
Then last night it was announced that Findus Lasagne contained up to 100% horse meat. At least it wasn’t more than 100%.
Now none of this is good, although as far as we can tell none of these, and others, caused any health risks.
It does bring into question as to what consumers really want from their shopping baskets; quality or value? When it is possible to buy a prepared fresh chicken for three quid, or you can buy and adult’s pair of jeans for under a fiver. Now you can’t buy the material for a pair of jeans for less than a fiver, but Tesco (other supermarkets are available) can get them made, sent round the world, put on hangers and sold to us for just a fiver. Clearly, someone, somewhere is not getting paid what we might call a living wage. How can a chicken, a 3 pound chicken cost just £3, they hatch the eggs, grow the chicks into chickens, slaughter, eviscerate, chill, distribute and sell them all for three of your English pounds. Now, I have worked in a chicken factory and can tell you why it costs so little for a chicken. Killing two or three birds a second means an economy of scale, or sometimes they just feed the birds the ground up remains of their parents as food. I mean, what could possibly go wrong with that?
We don’t actually buy meat from supermarkets any more, as the quality of the meat itself wasn’t very good. Tough and very thin steaks, poorly butchered cuts and just not very nice. We don’t eat as much meat as we used to, but when we do, we go to our local country butcher. From next week I will be buying our fruit and vegetables from a farm shop on the way home rather than give Tesco more of our money. I can’t gripe about them whilst still using them, can I?
If you pay bottom dollar prices you will get bottom dollar quality. It can be no surprise that horsemeat, or other meats are entering the British foodchain can it? If you’re paying a pound for a pound of meat, then someone, somewhere is either working for less than minimum wage or cutting corners is it? And for Findus not wanting to give interviews on the radio this morning; surely they owe their customers and explanation and an apology at least, no?
In the next week, all products containing processed meat is to be tested for DNA from other animal species. One wonders what they will find. The only way you can be certain about what goes into your food is to make the food yourselves; making chilli or curry is so easy. Even a pie isn’t beyond most of us. And homemade lasagne; you could do that too.
For the record, I have eaten horsemeat on a few occasions, and it hasn’t done me any harm. Most of Europe eat it in some form or another, so it is only our sensibilities that are shocked by the fact that it’s there in our food. That the manufacturers have mislabelled the packs as contain beef and nothing but beef is going to be a legal matter which is going to make lawyers even richer, I’m sure.
If we actually stopped and thought why food is so cheap now, and how that can be, then maybe we will see the value of food and only buy what we will eat, not because it’s on a BOGOF offer that caught our eye.
Think before you buy before you eat. And then you will eat less and healthier.
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