Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Dangerous food
November 22nd. 22.48
In one hour and twelve minutes the first test in Australia will be underway. The series last year was very special, really exciting and some of the matches were really very close and could easily have finished with a different result. Even non-cricket lovers could appreciate the contest.The English do care about the result but I like to think we can take defeat in sport in our stride; we are quite used to it. I think we accept it rather better than many sporting nations. One sporting event we really don't care about is the Olympics. Its no use pretending that we do. Who can remember the names of the Brits who won gold medals at the last bash except the ones who have become TV pundits? I am really sorry that London was awarded the 2012 Olympics. It will cost squillions to stage. It will cost millions to produce one or two gold medallists who will be forgotten within a couple of years. We don't care enough about winning. Most of the sports included in the games are not watchable ( beach volleyball, greco-roman wrestling, the marathon, shooting, archery, ping-pong etc. etc). Only the relatives or friends of the athletes go to most athletics meetings except for major championships, revealing a basic lack of interest in the sport. The games will take place in the wrong city. They will not be accessable to most of the population outside London. We are in for some of the most boring publicity in the press, on radio and television of all time. The few weeks before , during and after the Olympics will be a good time to leave the country.
I read that many allotments will be sacrificed to make way for the many Olympic facilities. I really do feel that the money that will be wasted on the whole venture which will make a few entrepreneurs very rich and will cost the tax payers a fortune should be used round the country to improve recreational facilities for the whole country.Furthermore, why are the costs already escalating? We always suspected that they would , but it doesn't give us a great confidence in the ability of the 'planners'.
An unlikely event ocurred yesterday. Woody, perhaps spurred on by guilt, went to the allotment. He forgot his keys to get into the site and his keys to to get into the shed to get his gardening clothes and spade, and his back was troubling him so he couldn't dig very deep, but he did turn up and stayed for a couple of hours. He forgot the garlic but thinks it will be planted later in the week! It was great to see him there and have a bit of banter.
Now , after an Olympic whinge, a list of writers to celebrate:-
31. James Thurber
32. S.J.Perelman
33. Damon Runyon
34. Peter de Vries
35. Joseph Heller
36. Philip Roth
37. E.L.Doctorow
38. Saul Bellow
39. John Updike
40. Ring Lardner
Cooking in the Aga is really fairly easy. You put things in and when you feel they should be ready, they usually are. But chestnuts are rather tricky and the top oven was splattered by an exploding chestnut tonight. I am experimenting with the timing as a few minutes too long in the oven renders them hard and dry and without enough holes punched in them, they obviously explode with a rather nice plopping sound but the mess is terrible.
One of the books in the latest delivery of possible gulp fiction has a comment written on the blurb that there is an 'Italian twist' to the story. I can't really imagine what a typically Italian twist might be- something like a Chinese burn maybe?
In one hour and twelve minutes the first test in Australia will be underway. The series last year was very special, really exciting and some of the matches were really very close and could easily have finished with a different result. Even non-cricket lovers could appreciate the contest.The English do care about the result but I like to think we can take defeat in sport in our stride; we are quite used to it. I think we accept it rather better than many sporting nations. One sporting event we really don't care about is the Olympics. Its no use pretending that we do. Who can remember the names of the Brits who won gold medals at the last bash except the ones who have become TV pundits? I am really sorry that London was awarded the 2012 Olympics. It will cost squillions to stage. It will cost millions to produce one or two gold medallists who will be forgotten within a couple of years. We don't care enough about winning. Most of the sports included in the games are not watchable ( beach volleyball, greco-roman wrestling, the marathon, shooting, archery, ping-pong etc. etc). Only the relatives or friends of the athletes go to most athletics meetings except for major championships, revealing a basic lack of interest in the sport. The games will take place in the wrong city. They will not be accessable to most of the population outside London. We are in for some of the most boring publicity in the press, on radio and television of all time. The few weeks before , during and after the Olympics will be a good time to leave the country.
I read that many allotments will be sacrificed to make way for the many Olympic facilities. I really do feel that the money that will be wasted on the whole venture which will make a few entrepreneurs very rich and will cost the tax payers a fortune should be used round the country to improve recreational facilities for the whole country.Furthermore, why are the costs already escalating? We always suspected that they would , but it doesn't give us a great confidence in the ability of the 'planners'.
An unlikely event ocurred yesterday. Woody, perhaps spurred on by guilt, went to the allotment. He forgot his keys to get into the site and his keys to to get into the shed to get his gardening clothes and spade, and his back was troubling him so he couldn't dig very deep, but he did turn up and stayed for a couple of hours. He forgot the garlic but thinks it will be planted later in the week! It was great to see him there and have a bit of banter.
Now , after an Olympic whinge, a list of writers to celebrate:-
31. James Thurber
32. S.J.Perelman
33. Damon Runyon
34. Peter de Vries
35. Joseph Heller
36. Philip Roth
37. E.L.Doctorow
38. Saul Bellow
39. John Updike
40. Ring Lardner
Cooking in the Aga is really fairly easy. You put things in and when you feel they should be ready, they usually are. But chestnuts are rather tricky and the top oven was splattered by an exploding chestnut tonight. I am experimenting with the timing as a few minutes too long in the oven renders them hard and dry and without enough holes punched in them, they obviously explode with a rather nice plopping sound but the mess is terrible.
One of the books in the latest delivery of possible gulp fiction has a comment written on the blurb that there is an 'Italian twist' to the story. I can't really imagine what a typically Italian twist might be- something like a Chinese burn maybe?
# posted by Bob @ 2:54 pm 
