Observations from a Hill

I read an amusing take on the Gentlemen's Club scene in this weekends FT. Pretty much all of which one could concur with. The underlying reasons for the institutions and such social groupings themselves make a lot of sense, given the tribal nature of the human race. Even the pathologically un-clubbable, such as myself - who refused point-blank to entertain the notion of joining any youth group that had a uniform and swore allegiance to anything whatsoever - find ways of group-forming. In my case it was 'The Lads', an umbrella term that encompassed a motley group of school-friends and their partners. Many years, nay decades, ago, my mate Pete [Powerful Pierre]'s dad used to work at the Birmingham & Midlands Institute on Margaret Street in the centre of Birmingham, which was, to me, a kind of cross between a seat of learning and a club. It had, and still has, a great library, and a programme of arts, music and science events throughout the calendar year, all of which ...

Just a diary post again, tonight, as I'm still knackered from yesterday's exertions, which precipitated - along with a sharp shaft of sunlight - a migraine which has left me with a day-long headache. It didn't stop us heading for The Bull at Biwmares for lunch, though, and one of the finest pints of Bass [blog posts passim] anywhere on the planet. It is also a very rare specimen of this surely endangered species, which, once extinct, will be gone forever, never to be revived. Please visit this place, and please, please ask for a pint of the wondrous nectar: but be sure to ask for it to be served without the heinous sparklet device, which produces a head on the beer. You will definitely appreciate the difference in both taste and your pocket.  Bass should appear almost flat when served, with just a spider's web of foam announcing it's alive and in good condition. It also ensures that you will get a full - legally so - pint of the product you're paying all that mo...

The day before last, I cooked a new-to-me Duck Vindaloo recipe, which I posted about that evening. I left it overnight to mature and because I'd got something else lined up to eat. I ate a portion last night with poppadums, chappatis (rice is more traditional with this dish, but I love chappati) and some nice sour pickles. I finished the reheated dish with lemon juice, fresh coriander and chaat masala. It was de-licious, and I'm having more for dinner tonight. That's all for now, as we're both knackered after spending several hours today cleaning the cottage for our first guests of the year, after the long winter shutdown. Talk later...

So, Thames Water's investors have thrown their toys out of the pram, and are refusing any further investment unless water prices are hiked into the stratosphere, despite their woeful performance, and caning an already over-pressed population in an area of these islands where already nothing is affordable except by the rich bastards who don't live there but own most of it. Of course, the vast majority of these 'investors' are not individuals at all, but hedge-funds and pension-funds, all playing a very high stakes game of chance. But this current show of corporate petulance shows them up for what they are: self-entitled [non-] businesspeople who simply imagine that the normal rules of business and society just don't apply to them, and that their acquisition of enormous profits out of wagering other people's money is their's by right, and bugger the economy and the rest of society in the process: an attitude that exemplifies our Government, comprised as it i...

Pictured, tonight's repast - at least for me, as Jane's already eaten - Duck Vindaloo. I decided at the last minute to try a version of the Goan delicacy new to me, as I'd bought a couple of duck breasts which I thought I might roast off with a few potatoes and serve with a gravy. But we'd only two potatoes left and Jane had some of her Thai Green Curry left over from last night to finish off. I'm not entirely sure about this one yet, as the amount of sauce is meant for a whole, jointed duck: also the amount of spice in it is fearsome. Still, the recipe came from a book by Madhur Jaffrey, so I don't think I need fear too much for the taste of the thing when finished. As to the after-effects that might ensue... Keep you posted.

Here's another of my rescued cameras, this time the one that belonged to Jane's uncle Mac [blog posts passim]. As can be seen, this one is a Chinon CE4 from the early 1980's, a brand that when I was a photographic salesman for Photomarkets in the late seventies, we were particularly scathing about, as our rival stores stocked them either by name or rebranded, as Dixons did [as Prinzflex]. We of course, had our our cheaper range of cameras, which we were also - privately - equally scathing about, the name of which escapes at the distance of time. I found this camera when were clearing Mac & Louie's house in Chester, after Louie died, a couple of years ago, and put it away with all my other 'to-do' camera projects. I was rooting about in a case of such stuff [for something else entirely] when I came across this one again. Looking at it with fresh eyes and less prejudice, I realised that it was a perfectly decent Japanese 35mm camera from that era, with the sam...

Just some random economic fragments from the news today. More than £760m extra defence spending announced by the government this week, [ over the next decade - to be frank £76m/year sounds a tad lame to me in today's money, given that UK MP's annual stationery allowances total nearly 10% of that sum], of which £200m will be 'government-funded'. Two things: from where is the other £560m+ coming, and at what cost(?) and given that this extra money is supposed to strengthen our nuclear deterrent capability, the figures floated for this 'investment' fall woefully short of any credibility whatsoever, given that a single Trident missile costs £17m, and that the annual cost of running the Trident programme is 6% of the total defence budget at £3 billion. All the while, they say this will create 40,000 jobs by 2030. If these salaries averaged out at £36,000 apiece [national UK average], that would equate to an annual wage bill of over £1.4 billion. And while we're ...