Over the past three weeks, the BBC has run a series called 'The Men Who Made us Fat', and the last one was how to choose what is healthier for us to eat.
One of the main thrusts of the last program was the labelling of food, and how it varies. So, knowing that food, fat and sugar can be hidden in our food, we tried to compare how healthy our cereals are. Jools has 'Kellog's 'Raisin Wheats' and I have a mix of Tesco's 'Bran Flakes' and 'Maple Crunch'. So, that should be straighforward, shouldn't it?
Only it wasn't; all three cereals had different servings size, 30, 40 and 50g, so some maths was needed to compare the calories contained in each servings. That two of the boxes were from the same supplier, Tesco, makes this ludicrous. They all could used the 'traffic light' system for labelling, but that would make it far too easy for the customer and we might stop buying unhealthy food.
In the meantime we carry on buying unhealthy food mostly in ignorance.
It seems that each Friday we have a stir-fry; they're healthy, no? well, all them vegetables, seafood and good stuff, some spices and herbs.... Like most people, we buy a stir-fry sauce to flavour it all. So, I look at the sachet and find each sachet contains enough sugar for 82% or a person's daily need. One tiny little sachet; that we usually have two in our stir fry means we are maxing our on our sugar on stir-fry sauce alone! Needless to say, most of the sauce went uneaten and next time I will either be making my own or buying something much more healthy.
Apart from that, I have been back on the cross-trainer for about three weeks now, and really enjoying it again now the initial pain in my muscles has gone. As the weather is not too hot as yet, even exercising in the house ins't too bad either. Today I am going to walk to dover, along the cliffs, as the Olympic Flame is due to come through the town this afternoon. I think I am looking forward to the walk more than the un-necessary razzmatazz and corporate sponsorship that is going to be shoved in our faces all day.
I am going just to take pictures, seeing fire does not make me look on in awe, even if I am from Norfolk.......
Wednesday, 18 July 2012
Monday, 16 July 2012
Monday 16th July 2012
After my earlier statement that I would not be watching Le Tour due to being ‘all sported out’ turned out to be something of a lie.
I didn’t mean it to be, but that’s how it turned out. And no small part in this is down to Mr Bradley Wiggins and the rest of Team Sky as they dominated the second week of Le Tour as it completed the stages in The Alps, headed down to Cap d’Agde and onto the Pyrenees. And Bradley is still leading the GC by over two minutes. And thanks to our ‘summer’ weather, I ended up watching the two weekend stages; on Saturday as from just before midday the rain began to fall and just got heavier and heavier.
Yes, another washed out weekend, pretty much, all thanks to the weather. As Saturday was forecasted to be swept away by torrents of rain, all I did on the morning was go into Dover to get a haircut. That done I headed back home, listened to the end of the Danny Baker show on the radio, and at the SAME TIME, made some bread rolls for lunch. So, in with the flour, salt, sugar, water and poppy seeds, mix up, knead, and left the dough to prove. As lunchtime was approaching, once an hour had passed, I made into four rolls and put them in the oven.
Much to my surprise, the rolls continued to grow, and so we had four, what could be described as small loaves for lunch. Anyway, I was pretty hungry by then, so after letting them cool a little, I cut them open, slapped some butter on and all was ready. Even being hungry, the rolls proved to beat both of us, and so we ate just one each and left the rest for a mid-afternoon snack.
Then I sat down on the sofa to watch the stage down to the Mediterranean. After a poor night’s sleep, I felt my eyelids drop, and soon both I and Scully on my lap were snoring loudly, whilst unseen, the cyclists headed south.
Outside the sky darkened and the rain began to fall; heavier and heavier. Thunder rolled around, and the clouds were so thick the TV signal could not get through and I was left watching a blue screen for a while. It has to be said, there are advantages in living at the top of a hill, as the rain hammered down, we knew that we wouldn’t get flooded out. However, out the back windows the rain so heavy, it was like thick fog and our view of the village was blocked out.
At least on Sunday the rain did stop, and after breakfast and another stint on the cross-trainer we headed out for a walk on a butterfly hunt. Any thought of going further than the copse with the pigs were dashed as the path through the fields was very muddy from the previous day’s rain. At first we saw few butterflies, but in time we could see Marbled Whites and Meadow Browns flittering about. We tried to snap them, and after a while got some shots, but both species seemed to be very flighty and settled rarely and flew off once we approached to get our shots. We got a few, as it turned out, and a couple of a Small Skipper that put in an appearance. Sadly, there were no sign of any Blues, which was a shame and surprising as the clearing was so full of them last year.
As more dark clouds rolled in, we headed back home for a lunch of pizza and beer, and then more cycling on TV. Wiggins kept his lead as the Tour meandered through the foothills, and the action was even more exciting as it appears tacks had been spread over the course and multiple punctures caused havoc with the Peloton. Whilst I lazed watching the cycling, Jools worked hard in the garden cutting the hedge back.
And that was your weekend; more rain and cycling, and British riders in the top two places on the GC. Strange days indeed.
I didn’t mean it to be, but that’s how it turned out. And no small part in this is down to Mr Bradley Wiggins and the rest of Team Sky as they dominated the second week of Le Tour as it completed the stages in The Alps, headed down to Cap d’Agde and onto the Pyrenees. And Bradley is still leading the GC by over two minutes. And thanks to our ‘summer’ weather, I ended up watching the two weekend stages; on Saturday as from just before midday the rain began to fall and just got heavier and heavier.
Yes, another washed out weekend, pretty much, all thanks to the weather. As Saturday was forecasted to be swept away by torrents of rain, all I did on the morning was go into Dover to get a haircut. That done I headed back home, listened to the end of the Danny Baker show on the radio, and at the SAME TIME, made some bread rolls for lunch. So, in with the flour, salt, sugar, water and poppy seeds, mix up, knead, and left the dough to prove. As lunchtime was approaching, once an hour had passed, I made into four rolls and put them in the oven.
Much to my surprise, the rolls continued to grow, and so we had four, what could be described as small loaves for lunch. Anyway, I was pretty hungry by then, so after letting them cool a little, I cut them open, slapped some butter on and all was ready. Even being hungry, the rolls proved to beat both of us, and so we ate just one each and left the rest for a mid-afternoon snack.
Then I sat down on the sofa to watch the stage down to the Mediterranean. After a poor night’s sleep, I felt my eyelids drop, and soon both I and Scully on my lap were snoring loudly, whilst unseen, the cyclists headed south.
Outside the sky darkened and the rain began to fall; heavier and heavier. Thunder rolled around, and the clouds were so thick the TV signal could not get through and I was left watching a blue screen for a while. It has to be said, there are advantages in living at the top of a hill, as the rain hammered down, we knew that we wouldn’t get flooded out. However, out the back windows the rain so heavy, it was like thick fog and our view of the village was blocked out.
At least on Sunday the rain did stop, and after breakfast and another stint on the cross-trainer we headed out for a walk on a butterfly hunt. Any thought of going further than the copse with the pigs were dashed as the path through the fields was very muddy from the previous day’s rain. At first we saw few butterflies, but in time we could see Marbled Whites and Meadow Browns flittering about. We tried to snap them, and after a while got some shots, but both species seemed to be very flighty and settled rarely and flew off once we approached to get our shots. We got a few, as it turned out, and a couple of a Small Skipper that put in an appearance. Sadly, there were no sign of any Blues, which was a shame and surprising as the clearing was so full of them last year.
As more dark clouds rolled in, we headed back home for a lunch of pizza and beer, and then more cycling on TV. Wiggins kept his lead as the Tour meandered through the foothills, and the action was even more exciting as it appears tacks had been spread over the course and multiple punctures caused havoc with the Peloton. Whilst I lazed watching the cycling, Jools worked hard in the garden cutting the hedge back.
And that was your weekend; more rain and cycling, and British riders in the top two places on the GC. Strange days indeed.
Friday, 13 July 2012
Friday 13th July 2012
And so Friday rolls round again.
Phew.
For some reason this week seems to have taken forever to roll round. Quite why this is, I don’t know. Anyway, needless to say, we’re ready for the weekend and so needing a rest after yet another work at the coalface.
In truth, not much has happened this week, other than the usual. The only change for me was on Wednesday when I headed to our site in Whitstable to do an internal audit. I had to leave home at six and pick up a couple of folks in Ramsgate before seven and then head along Thanet Way to Whitstable.
The office sits right at the end of one of the harbour arms, and so has very fine views along the coast and across the Swale to Sheppy and across the Thames estuary to Southend. The light was crystal clear, which comes after several days of rain, and individual buildings could be made out in Southend some miles away. But, I was here to work, and as the light changed and clouds rushed across the sky, I turned round to pay attention to the work of the day.
At lunchtime, I sat at the table in the canteen trying to ignore the selection of cream cakes in the fridge and really looking like I was enjoying the tin of grapefruit segments I was tucking into instead.
Once the work was finished, we got back in the car and headed back to Ramsgate. All around the sky was alive with vigorous cloud formations, and in a few places heavy rain could be seen to be falling. Oh, how I wish I could have stopped to snap the scene. Another day, maybe.
That night the rain hammered down again, and lightning flashed and thunder rattled the windows. I carried on watching the highlights of Le Tour.
Oh yes, Le Tour. As I write this, British riders are currently running first and second in the general classification. That may change when today’s stage end, over 220 km in the alps. Wiggins leads Chris Froome as they decimate the field and ever-increase their lead. Things could change very quickly of course, but it has been an incredible sight, seeing British riders to be so strong and have the tactics to win stage after stage.
Another little titbit of news is that our Paralympic tickets arrived, and so we have something to look forward to, and now just have to arrange train travel up to London on the two days we have the tickets for.
Phew.
For some reason this week seems to have taken forever to roll round. Quite why this is, I don’t know. Anyway, needless to say, we’re ready for the weekend and so needing a rest after yet another work at the coalface.
In truth, not much has happened this week, other than the usual. The only change for me was on Wednesday when I headed to our site in Whitstable to do an internal audit. I had to leave home at six and pick up a couple of folks in Ramsgate before seven and then head along Thanet Way to Whitstable.
The office sits right at the end of one of the harbour arms, and so has very fine views along the coast and across the Swale to Sheppy and across the Thames estuary to Southend. The light was crystal clear, which comes after several days of rain, and individual buildings could be made out in Southend some miles away. But, I was here to work, and as the light changed and clouds rushed across the sky, I turned round to pay attention to the work of the day.
At lunchtime, I sat at the table in the canteen trying to ignore the selection of cream cakes in the fridge and really looking like I was enjoying the tin of grapefruit segments I was tucking into instead.
Once the work was finished, we got back in the car and headed back to Ramsgate. All around the sky was alive with vigorous cloud formations, and in a few places heavy rain could be seen to be falling. Oh, how I wish I could have stopped to snap the scene. Another day, maybe.
That night the rain hammered down again, and lightning flashed and thunder rattled the windows. I carried on watching the highlights of Le Tour.
Oh yes, Le Tour. As I write this, British riders are currently running first and second in the general classification. That may change when today’s stage end, over 220 km in the alps. Wiggins leads Chris Froome as they decimate the field and ever-increase their lead. Things could change very quickly of course, but it has been an incredible sight, seeing British riders to be so strong and have the tactics to win stage after stage.
Another little titbit of news is that our Paralympic tickets arrived, and so we have something to look forward to, and now just have to arrange train travel up to London on the two days we have the tickets for.
Monday, 9 July 2012
In the end was The Word
I love music: that may not be a shock to those of you that know me, but it is true, I do love music. I have most of my old vinyl, CDs and tapes; including those old John Peel shows that I keep meaning to digitize.
And I love reading about music about as much as i love listening to music. and always have done.
My first plunge into the world of the music press was the October 13th edition of Record Mirror, it had a picture of Debbie Harry on the cover and a huge Blondie feature. But a whole weekly newspaper dedicated to music; can you imagine it? But it wasn't the only one, there was Sounds and Melody Maker and NME. More of NME later.
So, I got a copy of Record Mirror every week, poured over the charts and new releases. I was in music heaven each Thursday when I picked up the new copy. I did try Sounds, it was laddy but championed Oi through Gary Bushel's weekly column. And then there was wordy Melody Maker. I tried it, but I hadn't heard of half the bands they featured and so I went back to RM.
Until April 1982, when NME celebrated its 30th birthday and published a celebratory edition. I bought it and found so much to read, so until I joined the RAF I didn't buy another music paper.
Then at the end of the 80s, I found the glossys. Q magazine, with colour pictures, I bought a few copies, and in time the magazine joined the 80s and dropped the endless Beatles features and featured newer acts.
During my RAF years between 1980 and 2005 I bought Q and Empire every month, and loved them both. But then Q began to lose good journalists, and I read it less and less despite buying it every month.
By now the music papers were down to just the NME, and it really is a young persons paper, so I tried Select and the others.
And then, one long dark afternoon in Hammerfest I wandered into a shop and they had a copy of The Word, a British magazine I had seen but only bought once. On the boat I read it from cover to cover; it was funny, serious and was clearly written with passion. Q was cancelled and I look forward to the new copy dropping onto my doormat at the beginning of each month.
But this month, the last ever edition has just been published; another victim of the economic squeeze and so I will read every last word (ahem) and place it on the shelf for safe keeping. And won't buy another music magazine unless those who write for The Word move somewhere else.
So, 32 years of reading about music, filling up the corners of my head with useless information comes to an end.
I shall miss The Word very much indeed. And that is all I have to say about that......
And I love reading about music about as much as i love listening to music. and always have done.
My first plunge into the world of the music press was the October 13th edition of Record Mirror, it had a picture of Debbie Harry on the cover and a huge Blondie feature. But a whole weekly newspaper dedicated to music; can you imagine it? But it wasn't the only one, there was Sounds and Melody Maker and NME. More of NME later.
So, I got a copy of Record Mirror every week, poured over the charts and new releases. I was in music heaven each Thursday when I picked up the new copy. I did try Sounds, it was laddy but championed Oi through Gary Bushel's weekly column. And then there was wordy Melody Maker. I tried it, but I hadn't heard of half the bands they featured and so I went back to RM.
Until April 1982, when NME celebrated its 30th birthday and published a celebratory edition. I bought it and found so much to read, so until I joined the RAF I didn't buy another music paper.
Then at the end of the 80s, I found the glossys. Q magazine, with colour pictures, I bought a few copies, and in time the magazine joined the 80s and dropped the endless Beatles features and featured newer acts.
During my RAF years between 1980 and 2005 I bought Q and Empire every month, and loved them both. But then Q began to lose good journalists, and I read it less and less despite buying it every month.
By now the music papers were down to just the NME, and it really is a young persons paper, so I tried Select and the others.
And then, one long dark afternoon in Hammerfest I wandered into a shop and they had a copy of The Word, a British magazine I had seen but only bought once. On the boat I read it from cover to cover; it was funny, serious and was clearly written with passion. Q was cancelled and I look forward to the new copy dropping onto my doormat at the beginning of each month.
But this month, the last ever edition has just been published; another victim of the economic squeeze and so I will read every last word (ahem) and place it on the shelf for safe keeping. And won't buy another music magazine unless those who write for The Word move somewhere else.
So, 32 years of reading about music, filling up the corners of my head with useless information comes to an end.
I shall miss The Word very much indeed. And that is all I have to say about that......
Monday 9th July 2012
And so to the weekend….
The rain did not relent on Friday evening, so I sat and watched the highlights of Le Tour. Nothing that earth-shattering is it? As I cleaned my teeth just past ten, I noticed a yellow light out of the corner of my eye. Through the crack in the open window, I could see this light; maybe it was the light of a house on the other side of the valley.
Not, it was the light of the rising full moon. The clouds had cleared enough for the moon to be seen through the trees and hedgerow on the other side of the valley. We went to the window in the office to watch it rise. It may not sound much, but it was a wonderful thing to see. We have become used to marking the passing of the weeks by watching the phases of the moon, but this unending summer rain has hidden the moon for weeks on end, and so when we do see it, we find ourselves saying things like, the moon is nearly full again, or something similar to remark where the time goes.
It slips through our fingers like sand……
Saturday we were up with the larks again, to get ready to head to London for the day. We did think about not going as heavy showers were forecasted, but decided maybe we could dodge the raindrops. So we set out for the station to catch the train to St Pancras.
Our plan was to visit St Paul’s Cathedral and the new cable car that spans the Thames from the EXCEL Arena to the Dome; it promised to be a big day. Also, we hoped to see how the preparations for the Olympics are going; I had seen that flags had been hung all along Regent Street, so we thought we should head over before there before the shops opened and the pavements would be thronged.
So, we headed to the Underground to head to the West End. But, we could not help but notice the banners hung from every surface how fast food peddlers, McDonalds, are sponsoring the games. Quite what makes them a suitable sponsor for the games does escape me. But then there is the official soft drink (Cocoa Cola) and an official beer (Carlsberg, or is it Heineken?) none of which is full of the Olympic spirit, they just paid the most money. So, we see everywhere, how the Olympics should be enjoyed with a greasy burger or a pint of bland over-fizzy beer. I would rather we British taxpayers had paid a few million more and had to whole thing ad-free.
All on the underground were pasted up pink signs giving directions to all the main venues, which I guess is a good idea. We went along to Oxford Circus, and headed up back into the streets all under a leaden sky. Indeed, Regent Street is lined with dozens, maybe even a couple of hundred flags, from many nations; most flags I did not recognise, but it did look rather wonderful. At the top of Regent Street, we went up to look at Broadcasting House, the old home of BBC radio. I don’t think I had been there for some 30 years. As you would expect, I snapped it from all angles.
We walked down Regent Street, only for the heavens to open, so we dashed into a small greasy spoon on Little Portland Street. I had wonderful hot salt beef and pickled gherkin sandwiches, and Jools had a scrambled egg and salmon bagel. All rather wonderful.
Outside it had stopped raining, so we walked down to Piccadilly Circus, along to Leicester Square. More flags hung everywhere, but the square has been cleared of the old fair rides and a statue of William Shakespeare is now revealed in the centre. So, I snapped that too.
The rain began to fall again, so we dashed into another place for what turned out to be a third breakfast. Although I had a small glass of Italian dessert wine and almond biscuits to dunk; not a normal breakfast, I grant you, but nice enough.
We continued to walk up to St Paul’s, along Holborn to the Cathedral Yard, and in through the main door; only to discover that the entrance fee was £15 and that photography was not allowed. I tried to see how such a fee could be justified and failed, and should we accept to pay such a fee. We decided that they could do one or the other, not both. So, St Paul’s went unvisited and we headed to the nearest Underground station to head to the East End to the cable car.
We headed to Bank station, and then along various tubes and down stairs and escalators to the DLR station; a train was about to leave, so we jumped on and away we went, back into the broken sunshine and heading toward what was once London’s docklands. I thought that many people might be heading to the cable car, but at Queen’s Dock about a dozen people got out; so we followed them to the station and were confronted by confused tourists and staff who seemed even more confused.
I knew that we could use our Oyster cards, so after asking one of the staff who did know, we jumped the queues of the tourists getting their tickets, swiped our cards at the turnstiles and headed up to the boarding area. And after 5 minutes climbed into a car and swung out over the old dock and then up, up and away.
The views were spectacular, as you can imagine, we could see Canary Wharf, and across to the Olympic Park at Stratford, but central London was hidden by the curves in the river behind Canary Wharf. Even still, it was great, and the kilometre long ride I guess took about 10 minutes so soon we were descending into Greenwich beside the Millennium Dome soon enough. As there is very little else to do there, instead of walking to the Dome we got back on a car and headed back north of the river. As we crossed back over the Thames, heavy rain began to fall, so we made the decision to head back home.
We got a train direct to Stratford, and as we approached the end of the line I realised that if we were lucky we could catch a train to Dover almost straight away. We rushed off the train, up the steps and into the International Station, down onto the platform and within two minutes the train arrived. We got seats and so we zipping back to Dover at 140mph as we snoozed the journey away.
After a dinner of chorizo hash we sat down to listen to the Summer Concert from Vienna on the radio, which was wonderful.
And Sunday; and on the seventh day the heavens did open and the rain did fall. Well, for most of the day, although around lunchtime it did stop long enough for to get out into the garden to pull some weeds. And in the afternoon, myself and a couple of cats sat on the sofa and watched stage 8 of Le Tour. Outside the rain fell with increasing ferocity.
Lets hope that at some point the rain does stop and we can have a ‘proper’ summer. A plus point is that the hosepipe ban has been lifted. If I didn’t know better I would say they were taking the piss after three months of what seems like non-stop rain…
And so the exercise continues.
After various excuses and reasons for not doing any, the waistline expanded back to where it was back in January. So, back on the cross-trainer we climb. Phew.
Why did all those good intentions fall by the wayside? Why does anything happen I guess is the answer. Trips away with work, holiday in Germany, the European Championships and it goes on. Days stretch to weeks stretch to months. And all the good work goes to waste.
Waist.
Let’s be honest, most days its far easier to say ‘no’ or I’ll do it tomorrow. And of course tomorrow never comes.
And so here we are, in high summer, in the humid spare bedroom pumping lard once again. To be honest I was able to get back and do 20 minutes right away, then build it up to 25 and now 30. Mulder sits and watches from the spare bed and must wonder what those crazy humans are up to now. I do sometimes. But, like yesterday, it is a great way to start the day. Pump some lard for half an hour, have another cup of coffee and then the day is free for us to decide what to do with, even if it is to watch the raindrops running down the other side of the window.
If the sun does shine, we can go out for a walk as well, and enjoy the wonderful thing that is the English countryside in the summertime.
The other reason for putting the weight back on was falling back into the old habits with food too. Especially in Germany where we would have lunch and maybe a mid-afternoon cake and then beer or wine with meals. Back home I would bake buns or Limoncello and Grappa tart. All nice but to be eaten as additional food beside our normal meals.
So, this weekend, I resisted the impulse to bake another batch of saffron buns, and instead just have the coffee. And it worked for the most part.
So tonight, back home, get changed, pump some lard and then think about dinner. It makes sense and hopefully within a month I’ll be back where I was at the end of March, looking at old clothes that I could get into once again and think about putting in an extra notch on the belt.
One day at a time….
The rain did not relent on Friday evening, so I sat and watched the highlights of Le Tour. Nothing that earth-shattering is it? As I cleaned my teeth just past ten, I noticed a yellow light out of the corner of my eye. Through the crack in the open window, I could see this light; maybe it was the light of a house on the other side of the valley.
Not, it was the light of the rising full moon. The clouds had cleared enough for the moon to be seen through the trees and hedgerow on the other side of the valley. We went to the window in the office to watch it rise. It may not sound much, but it was a wonderful thing to see. We have become used to marking the passing of the weeks by watching the phases of the moon, but this unending summer rain has hidden the moon for weeks on end, and so when we do see it, we find ourselves saying things like, the moon is nearly full again, or something similar to remark where the time goes.
It slips through our fingers like sand……
Saturday we were up with the larks again, to get ready to head to London for the day. We did think about not going as heavy showers were forecasted, but decided maybe we could dodge the raindrops. So we set out for the station to catch the train to St Pancras.
Our plan was to visit St Paul’s Cathedral and the new cable car that spans the Thames from the EXCEL Arena to the Dome; it promised to be a big day. Also, we hoped to see how the preparations for the Olympics are going; I had seen that flags had been hung all along Regent Street, so we thought we should head over before there before the shops opened and the pavements would be thronged.
So, we headed to the Underground to head to the West End. But, we could not help but notice the banners hung from every surface how fast food peddlers, McDonalds, are sponsoring the games. Quite what makes them a suitable sponsor for the games does escape me. But then there is the official soft drink (Cocoa Cola) and an official beer (Carlsberg, or is it Heineken?) none of which is full of the Olympic spirit, they just paid the most money. So, we see everywhere, how the Olympics should be enjoyed with a greasy burger or a pint of bland over-fizzy beer. I would rather we British taxpayers had paid a few million more and had to whole thing ad-free.
All on the underground were pasted up pink signs giving directions to all the main venues, which I guess is a good idea. We went along to Oxford Circus, and headed up back into the streets all under a leaden sky. Indeed, Regent Street is lined with dozens, maybe even a couple of hundred flags, from many nations; most flags I did not recognise, but it did look rather wonderful. At the top of Regent Street, we went up to look at Broadcasting House, the old home of BBC radio. I don’t think I had been there for some 30 years. As you would expect, I snapped it from all angles.
We walked down Regent Street, only for the heavens to open, so we dashed into a small greasy spoon on Little Portland Street. I had wonderful hot salt beef and pickled gherkin sandwiches, and Jools had a scrambled egg and salmon bagel. All rather wonderful.
Outside it had stopped raining, so we walked down to Piccadilly Circus, along to Leicester Square. More flags hung everywhere, but the square has been cleared of the old fair rides and a statue of William Shakespeare is now revealed in the centre. So, I snapped that too.
The rain began to fall again, so we dashed into another place for what turned out to be a third breakfast. Although I had a small glass of Italian dessert wine and almond biscuits to dunk; not a normal breakfast, I grant you, but nice enough.
We continued to walk up to St Paul’s, along Holborn to the Cathedral Yard, and in through the main door; only to discover that the entrance fee was £15 and that photography was not allowed. I tried to see how such a fee could be justified and failed, and should we accept to pay such a fee. We decided that they could do one or the other, not both. So, St Paul’s went unvisited and we headed to the nearest Underground station to head to the East End to the cable car.
We headed to Bank station, and then along various tubes and down stairs and escalators to the DLR station; a train was about to leave, so we jumped on and away we went, back into the broken sunshine and heading toward what was once London’s docklands. I thought that many people might be heading to the cable car, but at Queen’s Dock about a dozen people got out; so we followed them to the station and were confronted by confused tourists and staff who seemed even more confused.
I knew that we could use our Oyster cards, so after asking one of the staff who did know, we jumped the queues of the tourists getting their tickets, swiped our cards at the turnstiles and headed up to the boarding area. And after 5 minutes climbed into a car and swung out over the old dock and then up, up and away.
The views were spectacular, as you can imagine, we could see Canary Wharf, and across to the Olympic Park at Stratford, but central London was hidden by the curves in the river behind Canary Wharf. Even still, it was great, and the kilometre long ride I guess took about 10 minutes so soon we were descending into Greenwich beside the Millennium Dome soon enough. As there is very little else to do there, instead of walking to the Dome we got back on a car and headed back north of the river. As we crossed back over the Thames, heavy rain began to fall, so we made the decision to head back home.
We got a train direct to Stratford, and as we approached the end of the line I realised that if we were lucky we could catch a train to Dover almost straight away. We rushed off the train, up the steps and into the International Station, down onto the platform and within two minutes the train arrived. We got seats and so we zipping back to Dover at 140mph as we snoozed the journey away.
After a dinner of chorizo hash we sat down to listen to the Summer Concert from Vienna on the radio, which was wonderful.
And Sunday; and on the seventh day the heavens did open and the rain did fall. Well, for most of the day, although around lunchtime it did stop long enough for to get out into the garden to pull some weeds. And in the afternoon, myself and a couple of cats sat on the sofa and watched stage 8 of Le Tour. Outside the rain fell with increasing ferocity.
Lets hope that at some point the rain does stop and we can have a ‘proper’ summer. A plus point is that the hosepipe ban has been lifted. If I didn’t know better I would say they were taking the piss after three months of what seems like non-stop rain…
And so the exercise continues.
After various excuses and reasons for not doing any, the waistline expanded back to where it was back in January. So, back on the cross-trainer we climb. Phew.
Why did all those good intentions fall by the wayside? Why does anything happen I guess is the answer. Trips away with work, holiday in Germany, the European Championships and it goes on. Days stretch to weeks stretch to months. And all the good work goes to waste.
Waist.
Let’s be honest, most days its far easier to say ‘no’ or I’ll do it tomorrow. And of course tomorrow never comes.
And so here we are, in high summer, in the humid spare bedroom pumping lard once again. To be honest I was able to get back and do 20 minutes right away, then build it up to 25 and now 30. Mulder sits and watches from the spare bed and must wonder what those crazy humans are up to now. I do sometimes. But, like yesterday, it is a great way to start the day. Pump some lard for half an hour, have another cup of coffee and then the day is free for us to decide what to do with, even if it is to watch the raindrops running down the other side of the window.
If the sun does shine, we can go out for a walk as well, and enjoy the wonderful thing that is the English countryside in the summertime.
The other reason for putting the weight back on was falling back into the old habits with food too. Especially in Germany where we would have lunch and maybe a mid-afternoon cake and then beer or wine with meals. Back home I would bake buns or Limoncello and Grappa tart. All nice but to be eaten as additional food beside our normal meals.
So, this weekend, I resisted the impulse to bake another batch of saffron buns, and instead just have the coffee. And it worked for the most part.
So tonight, back home, get changed, pump some lard and then think about dinner. It makes sense and hopefully within a month I’ll be back where I was at the end of March, looking at old clothes that I could get into once again and think about putting in an extra notch on the belt.
One day at a time….
Friday, 6 July 2012
Friday 6th July 2012
Or the year without a summer.
Another week and another week of rain and low temperatures. Or, mostly. Down here in Kent we have seen some sun, and the wind had dropped enough for it to be positively humid in the evening and we have even sat on the patio taking in the evening sun. Occasionally.
It has been unusually wet, exceptionally so at times and in some places. Records show that we have had three wettest April, May, Junes on record since records began in 1910. And the three month period has also been the wettest on record too. We have had unseasonal storms and strong winds, ruining some sensitive plants in our garden, once again the quinces are going to be a dead loss. On Wednesday morning the weather forecaster on Radio 4 stated that this unsettled weather was going to continue for a week, and probably the rest of the month. I am sceptical as sometimes getting the next day’s forecast is so wrong, how can they be so sure about what the weather is going to be like in four week’s time. According to the BBC website, this is because of the high temperatures in US are affecting the jet stream is now much further south than normal, thus generating low pressures. And this sort of weather pattern takes a long time to change, hence the forecast of no change for weeks.
We shall see.
And today, Friday, we have had steady rain for ten hours here in East Kent, but Wales and the Midlands are expecting three to four inches of rain today, coming after three months of rain means more flooding.
And so this week has rushed by, oddly at work I have been in a kind of limbo as we have had six months of work writing a contractual document for the next project; it had to be completed by last Friday. We did that and now wait for the feedback. So, for 5 days at least, we have been able to do other stuff.
Which is nice.
And of course we have had no football to watch. Although, the football season did begin on Wednesday, although you could be forgiven for missing that, as it was just the very preliminary rounds of the Champions and Europa Leagues. But, the new season is just round the corner, and most of the country says ‘already?’.
Anyway, the summer of sofa sports continues with the final few days of Wimbledon, and Andy Murray is in the final/fell once again at the semi-final stage *delete as appropriate. The Tour de France is heading into the mountains this weekend, I have watched two stages, and as ever I enjoyed the passing of the countryside slide past. And then the countdown to the opening of the Olympic Games goes into the final three weeks, and I hope to go down to when the touch passes through Dover on the 18th and maybe take a few photographs. We shall see.
Another week and another week of rain and low temperatures. Or, mostly. Down here in Kent we have seen some sun, and the wind had dropped enough for it to be positively humid in the evening and we have even sat on the patio taking in the evening sun. Occasionally.
It has been unusually wet, exceptionally so at times and in some places. Records show that we have had three wettest April, May, Junes on record since records began in 1910. And the three month period has also been the wettest on record too. We have had unseasonal storms and strong winds, ruining some sensitive plants in our garden, once again the quinces are going to be a dead loss. On Wednesday morning the weather forecaster on Radio 4 stated that this unsettled weather was going to continue for a week, and probably the rest of the month. I am sceptical as sometimes getting the next day’s forecast is so wrong, how can they be so sure about what the weather is going to be like in four week’s time. According to the BBC website, this is because of the high temperatures in US are affecting the jet stream is now much further south than normal, thus generating low pressures. And this sort of weather pattern takes a long time to change, hence the forecast of no change for weeks.
We shall see.
And today, Friday, we have had steady rain for ten hours here in East Kent, but Wales and the Midlands are expecting three to four inches of rain today, coming after three months of rain means more flooding.
And so this week has rushed by, oddly at work I have been in a kind of limbo as we have had six months of work writing a contractual document for the next project; it had to be completed by last Friday. We did that and now wait for the feedback. So, for 5 days at least, we have been able to do other stuff.
Which is nice.
And of course we have had no football to watch. Although, the football season did begin on Wednesday, although you could be forgiven for missing that, as it was just the very preliminary rounds of the Champions and Europa Leagues. But, the new season is just round the corner, and most of the country says ‘already?’.
Anyway, the summer of sofa sports continues with the final few days of Wimbledon, and Andy Murray is in the final/fell once again at the semi-final stage *delete as appropriate. The Tour de France is heading into the mountains this weekend, I have watched two stages, and as ever I enjoyed the passing of the countryside slide past. And then the countdown to the opening of the Olympic Games goes into the final three weeks, and I hope to go down to when the touch passes through Dover on the 18th and maybe take a few photographs. We shall see.
Monday, 2 July 2012
Monday 2nd July 2012
And another weekend speeds by like the last bus home on a wet Thursday night in Wakefield.
Phew, where did it go?
Well, in the end, the non-appearance of summer again meant that plans were changed and in the end, not much actually happened. An old friend of Jools’ came to stay, and so after the weekly bearpit of a run round Tesco to get the week’s shopping, it was back home to wait for Em to arrive and so we could eat. She arrived just before half eight, just we were ready to eat anyway. But, all was good; grilled maple syrup chicken with salad and fresh rustic bread; delicious.
Saturday and as ever, apparently, the wind began to blow and so more butterfly searching was pretty pointless. Jools and Em went for a walk to the cliffs and I stayed behind to mow the lawn. I did manage to find something to photograph as I disturbed a big moth from the hedge and managed to snap it before it hid again. At lunchtime, we headed to Deal for some shopping and to look around, as despite the wind, the sun shone brightly and it felt almost like summer.
Deal was packed, but we did manage to find a place to park, and I set off to the record shop to get a couple of recent releases. Only to find it closed. Stunned isn’t the word, I was shocked. I mean, I know I haven’t bought much music recently, but we have always tried to support the shop when we could, and I have not bought that much from Amazon recently either.
Oh well, I’ll make do with visiting the book shop to see if any interesting new local books had been published; and that was closed too! This really is getting beyond a joke. Deal is a nice town, full of small and independent shops, and has many visitors, so it should be able to support shops like these, but clearly that hasn’t happened. And I guess that with the economic squeeze tightens, more people will be shopping online to save money so killing more high streets up and down the country…..
And then I was being serenaded by three women dressed in oilskins and sou’westers.
Again.
The Deal Festival is on, and there were a few more odd sights to see, and a fair on the grass near the lifeboat station.
We called in at No Name Shop and bought a couple of nice looking unpasteurised cheeses and a loaf of wonderful bread before we walked to the seafront to have a walk down to the castle and back. We passed many others doing the same; and then we sat down on a bench to watch the world go by. The world seemed to be wearing flip-flops and updating their Facebook accounts on smartphones rather than looking at the fine vista of azure blue sea and shingle beach, and look, a castle just over there! No, just saw a dog in a hat, LOL, was much more interesting.
Oh, talking of Facebook, my account was permanently deleted last Monday, June 25th, and to be honest, after couple of days of missing it, it seems so ludicrous that I spent so much time and effort into it. I have replaced it with Twitter, at least on occasion. I don’t do that much, but have found a few interesting people to follow, and if you want to follow me, #jelltex is my Twitter account.
After sitting on the bench a while, we headed back to the car and then home for lunch of bread, cheese and wine.
And then chill for the rest of the afternoon, either sitting in the garden or messing around on the computer. I’ll leave you to guess who was knitting in the garden and who was editing photographs. Sometimes it is important to keep up a degree of mystery.
For dinner I cooked a crown of lamb stuffed with spiced fruits and almonds. It took a bit of messing round to prepare, but all in all, it was wonderful. I did sautéed potatoes and steamed vegetables to go with the lamb. And best open a good bottle of wine to go with the feast. Afterwards we all mucked in with the clearing and washing up so we could sit in the back garden to watch the end of the day.
Sunday morning, despite the BBC saying we would see lots of sunshine, the rain did fall. By lunchtime it was clear the plan to go to the steam fair in Preston would be cancelled; Em headed home and so Jools and I got the house to ourselves once again. I watched the first stage of Le Tour whilst catching up on my reading. I enjoy watching the landscape passing by as much as the cycling. No, I enjoy the passing countryside and urban landscapes much more than the cycling. Anyway, it passed the afternoon gently, and I caught up on my reading, just what am I going to do in the evenings now the European Championship has finished?
Oh yes, football.
It was the final of the Euros last night, and expectations were high for a great game. And in the end, we did get that, but a very one sided one, as Spain ran rings round Italy and romped to a 4-0 win, which was about right, although they could have scored many more had they put their mind to it. Italy, just looked tired and it was a game too far after their tricky games in the previous 7 days. Oh well, six weeks until the new season begins and the whole circus begins again…….
Phew, where did it go?
Well, in the end, the non-appearance of summer again meant that plans were changed and in the end, not much actually happened. An old friend of Jools’ came to stay, and so after the weekly bearpit of a run round Tesco to get the week’s shopping, it was back home to wait for Em to arrive and so we could eat. She arrived just before half eight, just we were ready to eat anyway. But, all was good; grilled maple syrup chicken with salad and fresh rustic bread; delicious.
Saturday and as ever, apparently, the wind began to blow and so more butterfly searching was pretty pointless. Jools and Em went for a walk to the cliffs and I stayed behind to mow the lawn. I did manage to find something to photograph as I disturbed a big moth from the hedge and managed to snap it before it hid again. At lunchtime, we headed to Deal for some shopping and to look around, as despite the wind, the sun shone brightly and it felt almost like summer.
Deal was packed, but we did manage to find a place to park, and I set off to the record shop to get a couple of recent releases. Only to find it closed. Stunned isn’t the word, I was shocked. I mean, I know I haven’t bought much music recently, but we have always tried to support the shop when we could, and I have not bought that much from Amazon recently either.
Oh well, I’ll make do with visiting the book shop to see if any interesting new local books had been published; and that was closed too! This really is getting beyond a joke. Deal is a nice town, full of small and independent shops, and has many visitors, so it should be able to support shops like these, but clearly that hasn’t happened. And I guess that with the economic squeeze tightens, more people will be shopping online to save money so killing more high streets up and down the country…..
And then I was being serenaded by three women dressed in oilskins and sou’westers.
Again.
The Deal Festival is on, and there were a few more odd sights to see, and a fair on the grass near the lifeboat station.
We called in at No Name Shop and bought a couple of nice looking unpasteurised cheeses and a loaf of wonderful bread before we walked to the seafront to have a walk down to the castle and back. We passed many others doing the same; and then we sat down on a bench to watch the world go by. The world seemed to be wearing flip-flops and updating their Facebook accounts on smartphones rather than looking at the fine vista of azure blue sea and shingle beach, and look, a castle just over there! No, just saw a dog in a hat, LOL, was much more interesting.
Oh, talking of Facebook, my account was permanently deleted last Monday, June 25th, and to be honest, after couple of days of missing it, it seems so ludicrous that I spent so much time and effort into it. I have replaced it with Twitter, at least on occasion. I don’t do that much, but have found a few interesting people to follow, and if you want to follow me, #jelltex is my Twitter account.
After sitting on the bench a while, we headed back to the car and then home for lunch of bread, cheese and wine.
And then chill for the rest of the afternoon, either sitting in the garden or messing around on the computer. I’ll leave you to guess who was knitting in the garden and who was editing photographs. Sometimes it is important to keep up a degree of mystery.
For dinner I cooked a crown of lamb stuffed with spiced fruits and almonds. It took a bit of messing round to prepare, but all in all, it was wonderful. I did sautéed potatoes and steamed vegetables to go with the lamb. And best open a good bottle of wine to go with the feast. Afterwards we all mucked in with the clearing and washing up so we could sit in the back garden to watch the end of the day.
Sunday morning, despite the BBC saying we would see lots of sunshine, the rain did fall. By lunchtime it was clear the plan to go to the steam fair in Preston would be cancelled; Em headed home and so Jools and I got the house to ourselves once again. I watched the first stage of Le Tour whilst catching up on my reading. I enjoy watching the landscape passing by as much as the cycling. No, I enjoy the passing countryside and urban landscapes much more than the cycling. Anyway, it passed the afternoon gently, and I caught up on my reading, just what am I going to do in the evenings now the European Championship has finished?
Oh yes, football.
It was the final of the Euros last night, and expectations were high for a great game. And in the end, we did get that, but a very one sided one, as Spain ran rings round Italy and romped to a 4-0 win, which was about right, although they could have scored many more had they put their mind to it. Italy, just looked tired and it was a game too far after their tricky games in the previous 7 days. Oh well, six weeks until the new season begins and the whole circus begins again…….
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