THE DARK CLOUDS GATHER

I have been watching with both interest and concern the unfolding events in Greece. It seems to me that which ever way the cookie crumbles there is trouble in store. While I appreciate the problems that would be caused if Greece went bankrupt I fail to see the sense in throwing good money after bad. Perhaps I am being simplistic but if Greece already has debts which it cannot service no good can come of lending them even more money in order that they can pay us back an instalment on the debt they already owe.

Since it seems almost certain that Spain and Portugal will follow the same route where and when do we draw the line. What I find appalling is the inevitability of the whole scenario, the idea that countries can share a currency on equal terms when there economies are so diverse borders on insanity in my opinion; but what do I know, I have no specialist knowledge in financial matters, just a degree in common sense.

For nations such as France and Germany to tie their respective economies to these poorer less stable ones seems rather like tying ones life raft to the sinking ship of jumping out of an aeroplane tied to a boulder, there can be only one result. The world economy is in a dreadful state and no nation is immune from the catastrophe that is sure to come sooner or later. It is built upon a system which has failed in the past and as the earth's resources dwindle things can only get worse.

What we should be doing is paying less attention to profit and loss and concerning ourselves with survival, not financial survival but our survival as a species. Prices will continue to rise as both fuel and food become scarce, this is already happening in some parts of the world and the state of the global economy will not mean very much when these things run out altogether, and it is upon these commodities that our economies are built. I short we are pinning all our hopes upon a house of cards and there can be only one end.

While governments joky for position in the pecking order for purchasing food and fuel from the countries that still possess them the cost of these things rises higher and higher. Now it will not matter who has what if no one can afford to buy it. What will happen if the price of food and fuel continue to rise as they have in the past couple of years, how many of us will be able to afford even a rudimentary standard of living. The countries which still possess oil run the risk of being invaded by others desperate for supplies, if you have any doubt about this you have only to look at what is already happening in the Middle East.

The consequence of attempting to maintain the worlds crumbling economies in the face of earth's dwindling resources is to awful to contemplate. It is time for the governments and the people of all nations to bite the bullet and admitted to themselves and each other that thing must change,drastically and soon. It is in every ones hands to stem the tide by taking less and giving more.

This week I have been sickened to watch an event staged close to my home extolling the virtue of expensive cars. Thee tickets this Salon Prive event cost up to £250 and most of the cars are gas guzzlingmonstrositiess both ancient and modern. He people who are attending this event are not the type to worry about having enough to eat or being able to heat theeir homes in winter, in fact they probably belong to the bunch who got us in to this mess in the first place.

Now I don't know about you but I object to being told to tighten my belt while having to watch such a display of atrocious ostentation, I like millions of others have to live on a small fixed income and I am finding it hard to keep going in the face of rising food and fuel costs.
I should be even more angry however if I was one of the millions of people who are starving to death and having to watch their children die of want.

I have sited this one event but you and I know that it is by no means an isolated occurrence. It is all very fine for those in privileged positions to talk about everyone tightening their belts to save the country from bancrupcy, it is a pity that they do not pracctice what they preach.

Large companies and corporations, banks and to a degree even governments have for years convinced the general public that they cannot live without the latest this or that in order to make more money for themselves for make no mistake they are rich because we made them rich. Governments are culpable as they too have ,in order to look successful allowed massive borrowing to fuel the rampant consumerism with is killing our planet and crippling our finances.

People feel pressured into making purchases in order to feel successful, when are they going to realise that “Life style”is not something you can buy.
“My sofa is so last year” you hear it all the time. So off they go to the shops with their credit cards to purchase the new sofa, car or kitchen appliance, they may feel good for a while but for how long.

Speaking for myself I would not be at all comfortable in a smart house full of new furniture and a new car in the drive if I had to worry every month when the bills arrive. The tragedy is that this behaviour has been encouraged in every way by those in authority to the pint where even our children fell pressured in to plaguing their parents for this or that in order to fell they are the equal, or more to the point the superior of their fellows and once they are on the slippery slope it is almost impossible to get off again.

A man goes out to work to earn a living for his family but ||I wonder how many e=realise that they are made slaves by the aspirational world in which they are forced to compete. The trend in recent years to treat the purchase of a house as an investment rather that the purchase of a home in which to live happily and bring up afamily is a sorry symptom of this pernocious disease. Aspiration has become a dirty word and is responsible for much discontent. No one, no matter how pro is immune from this pressure,even a woman shopping for her families food with little money to spare can be conned in to making the small purchase of some new make-up of hair care item when she is bombarded with advertisments telling her that she will be more attractive when wearing the product. Weather it is a new sports car of a bottle of shampoo the trick is exactly the same and it sucks!

The only way to win as some one once said is not to play. It is becoming obvious even to those in charge that things cannot go on as they are. What they are doing now is making sure that when the excrement hits the fan they will be all right and damn you Jack!

There is no easy way out of the mess we are in and apportioning blame helps no one, so why are they trying to blame us? Things are bad and what ever we do now they are bound to get worse for quite a long time . It is well past time when our government and indeed governments all over the world stopped trying to stem the haemorrhage with a stoking plaster and face the truth, because weather they like it or not the good time are over and will probably never return.

We have a young generation of people all over the world who have no hope and that is dangerous,when people have nothing to lose they do desperate thing ans who can blame them.
Our children cannot afford to buy a home, they can not afford to have families, what price “Life style” for them and their future.

This is not a lecture, it is a plea for common sense from every one before it is too late and I suspect that it is a hopeless one, yet think of this, what future is there for any of us unless we change and unless we make those who run things change first of all? It is up to all of us , if we want to survive to make this happen after all to have a little less is better than to have nothing at all.

TWIGGY AT LARGE

Yesterday evening just before darkness fell I was of disturbed by an ear splitting shriek from the garden followed by a low whining sound, the racket continued accompanied by much scuffling and in the end my curiosity got the better of me and I got out of bed, went to the window and looked out over the rapidly darkening garden.

There in front of me on the lawn was Twiggy, back arched and with her tail doing a passable imitation of a Christmas tree. She hissed, fizzed and spat like a firework, she was quite a sight.
The cause of all this fury was cowering amongst the tall herbaceous plants, it was a large fox, quivering with fear and whimpering so pathetically that I ordered the cat to stop bullying the poor creature forthwith.

Dark as it was I could not make out at first which of our foxes it was that Twiggy had taken exception to, usually she does not mind there comings and goings at all, unless of course they choose to sit in any of her favourite roosting places in which case they need to look out. Pa had only fed the foxes a few moments earlier and Twiggy would normally watch them eat with all the interest of a student on nature. So what on earth was wrong this time?

On the path between the two animals was a chunk of meat, I knew that the cat would not be interested in the food as the meat which we had for dinner was cooked with a good deal of garlic which she hates. No they were not fighting over that. All the time twiggy kept up her caterwauling and the fox , not knowing what to do remained glue to the spot, Twiggy in a temper can be intimidating to say the least. I was totally baffled and was about to go dawn stair to sort them out when around the corner came another fox, our own tame male fox and all at once he pounced upon Twiggies adversary , rolled him over a couple of times and for a while all was fur and teeth.

By now I realised what had caused the trouble, with the extra light from the living room window I could now see that the other fox was not one of ours, It must have smelled the food and come in to the garden to grab a snack and met the terrible Twiggy.
With the interloper chased away our handsome dog fox took the piece of meat and jumped the fence in to the orchard where the other food had been placed, soon our vixen and her cubs were eating their evening meal and as usual Twiggy sat on the fence watching with interest.

If ever you hear people telling stories of cats being eaten by foxes don't you believe it. I think these stories may have begun when a fox was observed either carrying off of eating a cat killed on the road by a car. Twiggy strolled in to the house a few minutes later as if nothing had happened.

Tonight she is pretending to be a cute little kitty, after last night I know better!

THE TROUBLE WITH PA'S EARS

We waved Pa off this morning as he headed for his Doctors appointment,happy that when he returned he would at last be able to hear properly. I was a little concerned for him because I know he hates having his ears syringed, yet hoping for the best. About an hour after his departure he called to tell me that the wax in his ears was so compacted that the Doctor could not get it out and would have to apply some oil in the hope that by next week it would have softened up sufficiently to be removed. Disappointed we retrieved the megaphone from the dustbin, gargled with Port wine and prepared to yell our sympathy for his plight on his return.

I had several abortive attempts to do a little gardening but the weather was against me, three times I reached the bottom of the orchard and tree times it began to rain the moment I arrived there. Three time I waited for a while under the shelter of the old apple tree and three time I ended up having to
give up and walk back up the path through the deluge and arrive in the kitchen soaking wet. By one thirty there were three wet shirts hanging on the airer and I called quits and retired to the kitchen to bake a fatless sponge for tea. The oven is still playing to fool but with a good deal of care I managed to retrieve it from the oven only slightly scorched this time.
FATLESS SPONGE CAKE
4 eggs
4oz plain flour
4 oz caster sugar
a pinch of salt

Grease and line 2 x8” sandwich tins. Crack the 4 eggs into a bowl add the sugar and salt and beat until very frothy and very pale in colour. Sieve the flour and fold in to the mixture with care. Divide to mixture between the two tins and bake in a pre heated oven 200oC for twenty minutes.
Turn out on to wire racks until cool.
I sandwiched my cake with the few fresh strawberries which I managed to pick between the showers and of course some fresh whipped cream, but is is equally good spread with jam and sprinkled with a little caster sugar.

I have heard it said that fatless sponges are difficult to make when in fact they are one of the easiest, have a go and see what you think..

My son asked for his favourite pork dish for dinner and as he manfully chewed his way through last nights steak(not his favourite meat) I happily agreed. This dish requires a lot of sage and at the moment ours is plentiful and at its best. I served the pork with new potatoes for a change but with the usual dips and garlic sauce.

Pa now has a new DVD player and is happily watching films about British Railways. We had planned to install my sons old machine which he no longer uses, however the remote control was not working well and as Pa cannot move about much we got him a new one. This machine five star rated on Amazon cost only eighteen pounds more that a new universal remote control for the old machine so it was as my son said a no brainer!

The dishes are done, the kitchen is clean and tidy and it has at last stopped raining, this is annoying as I am now far to tired to do any gardening and besides at this time of night after a warm rainy day the garden is the haunt of certain vicious mosquitoes. These little horrors have feasted themselves upon my person all to often, I do not choose to give them another opportunity as I have only just ceased to itch after their last onslaught. Tomorrow will be soon enough for Twiggy and I to venture forth again.
We must be up early tomorrow as Pa has yet another medical appointment, this time with his haematologist.....oh well, variety is the spice of life, or so they say!

A FAMILY SOLSTICE DAY AT AVIES

When I consider how very tired we all were last night I am amazed that we were all awake and out of bed very early indeed. My son and I were both wide awake before four in the morning on this Solstice day. We had a coffee together and having decided to leave Pa to rest a little longer and so at eight thirty we woke Pa with a hot drink . I know that Fathers Day was on Sunday but as my son was at work we decided to have it today instead including a special dinner a double celebration for us.

We breakfasted on blueberry muffins well stuffed with fruit and after washing up my son and O went to the supermarket to buy lots and lots of flour. I wonder if you have noticed how difficult it is lately to buy Granary flour, Kamut and quite a few other types of flour that until recently were readily available. I must confess that I am becoming quite concerned as I make all our bread ,cakes and biscuits and I do so with good quality flour and not the bog standard rubbish with seems to be all that is available at the moment. Today I purchased a storage bin and filled it with a good supply of wholemeal and seeded flour, all I could buy as once again there was no granary four to be had.

Bread is still a staple food with us and the idea of trying to eat shop bought bread is appalling. Cheap flour makes poor bread which does not keep well and therefore it is a false economy to by the stuff.
I suppose that you might say that I am hoarding and yet having seen the way people behaved when clean water was scarce a few years ago and being disabled I would say that it would be a fair wager that I should be at the back of the queue if push came to shove. I have a;ways kept a good stock offff rice, pasta, bulgar wheat, cous cous and other staplin-casease of emergencies and I have been glad to have these suplies on many occasionss. Some years ago in a severe winter we kept everyone down our lane supplied with candles, something else I always keep plenty of .

Pa had his special dinner, steak, roast potatoes and salad followed by a hugePavlova well stuffed with strawberries aand raspberries from the garden. I enjoy cooking nice things for Pa and it is good to see him eat with a good appetite as all to often these days he does not eat enough. I take any opportunity to fill him up with cream, butter and his favourite Stilton cheese, any thing to keep his weight up. He is lucky in that he has been told to eat lots of dairy produce, I wish I was so fortunate.

All in all it has been a lovely day ,Pa is cheerful and now has a small television and a DVD player, he the television but like me he loves to watch films and any thing to do with railways. He used to watch these on his old computer which died of old age a few weeks ago. Now he can watch Dads Army in style. He seems very happy tonight and bright and cheerful , tomorrow he is getting his ears syringed as he has been rather deaf of late, this will we hope mean that the radio is not quite so loud and for myself I must say that not having to repeat everything three times will be wonderful. I am sure that Pa will find life much easier when he can hear properly, I was totally deaf for several months some years ago and I found life very difficult indeed.

It has been a happy day for all of us and to see Pa enjoying himself makes me the happiest of all .Our neighbour came round for an hour this evening and we sat drinking tea and laughing until our sides ached. Now the day is over and we are all sleepy, I must go out to the garden to light the candles to celebrate the longest day, and for once it has been a beautiful midsummers day.

Good night, and good fortune to all on this special day, may strength,wisdom, happiness and a quiet mind be yours,always.

A SMALL VICTORY FOR THE LITTLE MAN

Do you remember my telling you about our problems with the new owners of the house across the road. They had without planning permission built a large wooden stable block within a couple of feet of our neighbours kitchen window. Today victory is ours and they have begun to tear it down, with a very bad grace I might add. These people are incredibly wealthy and believed that they could do as they pleased without let or hindrance, now they know better. Score one for the peasants!

My son starts his week off today which is just as well. I do not think that I have ever seen him angrier than he has been this week, a break will, I hope restore his usual calm otherwise I fear some one may be lucky to get away with just an mouth full of course abuse. Provoke a patient man at your peril!

After a breakfast of poached eggs on toast I escaped to the garden, first to mow and edge that grass paths in the flower garden and then to strim out the pathways in the vegetable garden. This is a job which I have been attempting to do for over a fortnight and finally today I got the job done., and not before time as the grass was so long that it twizzled around the strimmer head and made much trouble. Every where looks better for the attention and I am pleased to have finished before that rains came again. I understand that the forecast for the week is abysmal.

We were interested to watch lots of classic cars arriving today for a rally of some sort, there is a beautiful vintage Morgan, a type of three wheeled sports car. I have always said that I would by one if I ever won the lottery, actually I would buy a traction engine because they have so many uses and besides I love steam driven machines. Incidentally if any one knows the whereabouts of a Showman's Engine called “The Pride of the North would they please let me know where she is. I saw her last at the Chelford Steam Rally in Cheshire about Thirty years ago, she is black, shiny and stunningly beautiful. I fell in love with her in 1976 and have adored her ever since, she is a living c
breathing creature who throbs with power and life, as to can see I am besotted!

This afternoon I planted some Nicotiana scented lime, these plants have a glorious scent and I plant them for the moths as their fragrance is strong in the evening, these with the evening primroses will I hope bring a good many species in to the garden. Speaking of insects, today I managed to photograph a rather lovely beetle, iridescent green, quite small but very striking among the yellow flowers. Now that the lavender is in flower the garden is full of bees of all species, butterflies and a host of assorted bugs, this state of affairs is not at all to the liking of our cat Twiggy who has been wary of things that buzz since she sat upon a wasp. Such an accident is no laughing matter I did the same thing myself a few years ago and sitting down was most inconvenient for several days afterwards!

My son's new Television arrived this afternoon and he has spent a happy time trying it our with his Play station,I hope this will occupy his mind this week and distract his thoughts from certain matters which have been making him cross of late.

And now we are all going to have an early night, my son is in the bath now and he will soon be fast asleep, Pa and I will not be far behind and then it will be up to Twiggy to decide upon who's bed she will sleep tonight. Once she curls up all will be peaceful, I hope. I happen to know that she let loose a mouse in the living room this afternoon. I have kept this information strictly to my self as I have no intention of spending the evening big game hunting while the cat snoozes in an armchair. With a little luck she will catch the poor creature before morning, of better still it may escape through the window..I shall live in hope.

FIRST OF THE YEAR

Today I picked my very first tomato of the year, it was a tiny sweet plum tomato and I ate it at once still warm from the green house. I knew a gardener who always made a wish each time he ate the first of anything he grew each year,he was a brilliant gardener and today I honoured him by making my wish on the first tiny but perfect tomato of the season.

I had breakfast early with my son this morning, tea and toast which we ate in my room while we chatted. Later we woke Pa with a cup of tea and gave him his fathers day gifts and cards. Pa likes casual cloths and they are practical as he has to wear his brace over his trousers so my son and I brought him a super track suit with a gillet and in the same two colours as his brace. When he tried them on the brace looked more like a fashion statement than a walking aid and he loved the outfit at once.
We also gave him a large photograph of Twiggy complete with a lovely frame and it is now hanging above his desk.

After my son had gone to bed I made breakfast for Pa and then hared off to the shops to pick up the thing I should have brought yesterday and hurried home before the heavens opened again...I made it in the nick of time. Pa and I had tea and biscuits until the shower was over and them he went out to feed the birds and I headed for the garden to pick fruit, water the green house and tie up the tomatoes which are growing like weeds. The sunflowers also needed tying in and as I tackled the job I noticed that the first scarlet flowers had appeared upon the runner beans, how glad we shall be when they are ready to pick as we all love them and tend to gorge when they are available.

I picked a big salad for dinner which tonight was a selection of cooked meats and cheeses. Pa is having his Fathers Day meal on Tuesday when we are able to take our time and enjoyed it , tonight my son has to work, the last shift for this week and next week he will be at home. Twiggy has noticed her photograph and spent quite a time regarding it with a critical air, she looked so cute that I took another picture which unfortunately did not come out well.

I baked this morning and the five fresh loaves have been stored away an I shall not need to bake bread again for a few days. We had a crusty bloomer loaf with our dinner and for a treat we had some Ossau Irate cheese served with cherry conserve, I can not tell you how good these two things taste together, we all tucked in and enjoyed ourselves. The sun has come out and the dark clouds which have hung about all day are breaking at last. I love summer evenings,I always have. When I was a child living in the north of England my friends and I always began a game of hide and seek as the light began to fade, it was much more fun to poke about in the old barns and the woods near by as dusk began to fall, Twilight lasts much longer in the north and the sun sets seem to go on for ever, blue crimson and gold shot through with deep purple and the far hozizon dark and mysterious against the glow of the setting sun.

I think that far horizon is one of the things that I miss the most now that I live in a city, you cannot see in to the distance for all the buildings. One morning a few years ago I had spent the night curled up on a chair in the intensive care unit at Charring Cross hospital. As it happened that gardener I mentioned earlier was dying and I had stayed over night because he had no relatives close at hand.
Worn out and miserable I wandered down the hospital corridors looking for a place to charge my mobile phone, and arrived at the porters lodge just before sun rise on a chilly October morning. The porters took me in and asked the reason for my early arrival at hospital, when I told the my story they were very kind and I was so tired and unhappy that I burst in to tears.

Some time later after toast and coffee some how the conversation turned to the subject of fine views and I said that there were none in cities. One of the porters took me in the service lift to the roof of the hospital and we arrived there just as dawn was breaking over London. It was breathtakingly beautiful, in the distance the gilded weather veins and finniols on the fine old buildings in the heart of the city shone and sparkled as the sun touched them. I stood speechless with wonder as the city came to life and for a short time I forgot my heartbreak and tiredness in the wonder of all that was unfolding that morning just for me it seemed.

That friendly porter who's name I never knew will have my grateful thanks for ever, he change my view, as it were of city scape's and more importantly, now when I think back to those dreadful days when my friend fought for his life and finally lost his battle, I remember too the deathless glory of that morning, and treasure it as a parting gift from my friend.

DUE TO CIRCUMSTANCES BEYOND MY CONTROL TONIGHT'S ORIGINAL BLOG DID NOT PASS THE CENSOR SO I AM AFRAID THAT YOU WILL HAVE TO MAKE DO WITH TRIVIA!

My son arrived home this morning more tire that I have ever seen him after a night at work,I am worried about him but he says that he is fine so that as they say is that.

It has been an odd sort of day, Pa went to the pharmacy to pick up our prescriptions, on his arrival at the shop he realised that he had forgotten to take the prescriptions with him. Back he came to collect them and then he set off again. I needed to go out myself today bit by the time Pa had finished footling about it began to rain heavily and within a few minutes a thunder storm broke complete with lightning and large hail stones.

While I had been waiting for Pa to return from the village the second time I had picked a pound of raspberries, a pound and a half of strawberries and half a pound of Logan and Tay berries. Since I was now unable to go to the shops I decided to mixed these newly picked fruits with some of our frozen wine berries and some bilberries to make a mixed berry jam. Just over an hours work produced eight jars of rich red jam which glowed like ruby port when light shone through it.
I was quite satisfied with the afternoons work, the more I can squirrel away for winter the happier I am and these home made jams make handy gifts at Christmas I find.

During a short lull in the storm I popped out to the garden centre to buy a hazel Trellis for my small winter jasmine. I grew this plant from a tiny cutting about two years ago and last autumn I planted it under the front window. Now it is large enough to need support and I hope that soon we shall see its lovely yellow flowers peeping over the window sill during the long winter months.

Twiggy has become a trifle morose on account of the continuing wet weather, this morning I discovered her roosting inside a long cloche to the detriment of the plants which the cloche was there to protect, poor old puss. It took a prolonged fuss and a tasty treat of two to restore her temper, she is now sleeping in an enormous armchair and very cute she looks .

During a lull in the work today I found myself musing about the now outlawed custom of duelling,I do think it a pity that we are no longer allowed to take vengeance upon those who provoke our wrath or damage our family honour by this quaint challenge. I have a couple of candidates in mind tonight and I am a bloody good shot. Do not ask any questions but left to me it would be pistols at dawn for these twerps and I guarantee that by breakfast time we would be to quote Mark Twain “an idiot short!” Perhaps even two. Such were the charming thoughts which occupied my moments of rest today!
I spent quite a time composing my blog for tonight knowing all the while that it could not be published , it was rather controversial, a pity really as it was rather good and the language was quite picturesque.

Dinner tonight was gammon with eggs chips and a home made tomato sauce, the recipe of which I learned from my father who was an excellent cook.
Here is Twiggy come for another cuddle and so I had better oblige, good night every one and good luck to all who may need it.