Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Virus Free
April 3rd. 2007 7pm
Yes, I realise that the appearance of the blogs has been rather unpredictable but I'm plesased to say that since Kevin of Brecon has removed the virus and several thousand entries on the registry(whatever that means) and has put on a fresh Norton security, I am back and I hope, regular. There would have been entries over the last weekend too but the World Superbikes took me to Kegworth where the blogging began on July 1st. last year when I went there for the Moto GP. You will be interested to know that my weight has not changed since that time- neither more nor less, in spite of the abandonment of the diet which I will now resume. It is possible that with the longer evenings and the growing season's arrival, I will be less tempted by food in the house.
World Superbikes and Motor GP are really exciting and theatrical spectacles that are well worth seeing once at least in the flesh even if you are not a fan. You cannot appreciate the noise or the speed by watching them on television. Furthermore you can spend a nice day in your shorts in the sun and get a lot of exercise trying to find your car at the end of the day!
A few days at the allotment over Easter should see some fairly dramatic changes. There will be four rows of raspberries, early-, mid, and late-summer and an autumn crop that should give a supply throughout the second half of the year. The problem of course is that they really will need to be eaten with lashings of fresh cream. There will be two rows of early potatoes ( both types are already well chitted) and perhaps you can see another problem looming in that they will of course be irresistable and will almost certainly be eaten with butter. Seeds from Suttons for artichoke, sweetcorn, pak choi, okra and climbing French bean arrived last week and I plan to start sowing some of these in pots tonight whilst watching "Life on Mars" which is my favourite programme at the moment. I think there will have to be quite a lot more digging done to make room for everything. The raspberries and potatoes have already taken up a lot of the space that has already been prepared.
I haven't encountered much fictional food lately. There was inevitably some in "Death in the Truffle Wood" by Pierre Mangan but none worth mentioning in Paretsky's "Hard Time" or "Fire Sale". One doesn't expect food in Elmore Leonard or Robert Littell but " The Hot Kid " and "Legends" were both brilliant and foodless. There was no food in Ake Edwardson's "Never End" which was a fair but rather routine police procedural. No food in either Murakami's "Sputnik Sweetheart" or" The Tango Singer"( which I liked a lot). I became irritated by the former because of the lack of explanation at the end of the book as to why events had turned out as they had. I suspect the author got bored with his own book and decided just to bring it to an abrupt end rather like that Monty Python sketch where Chapman marches in dressed as an army officer shouting "Too silly ". "Let Me Eat Cake" by Paul Arnott was quite fun in a nostalgic sort of way but I could only consume it in very small portions as it was far too sweet.
I tried another Su Grafton("S is for Silence") but I have decided that Kinsey Millhone is just not a good enough detective for me to try any more. I'm now just beginning Kjersti Scheen' "Final Curtain" - another female private detective by a female author from Norway and after that I will be reading Dominique Manotti's "Rough Trade"so I will report later on the food situation but generally I'm not very optimistic about the Scandinavians or female detectives. I look forward to the next Camilleri and the next Padura.
Now that the computer is back in action I will be trying to fulfil the promise- or hope rather- that this will be the year of the book, so there may be less time for blogs or lists.
Yes, I realise that the appearance of the blogs has been rather unpredictable but I'm plesased to say that since Kevin of Brecon has removed the virus and several thousand entries on the registry(whatever that means) and has put on a fresh Norton security, I am back and I hope, regular. There would have been entries over the last weekend too but the World Superbikes took me to Kegworth where the blogging began on July 1st. last year when I went there for the Moto GP. You will be interested to know that my weight has not changed since that time- neither more nor less, in spite of the abandonment of the diet which I will now resume. It is possible that with the longer evenings and the growing season's arrival, I will be less tempted by food in the house.
World Superbikes and Motor GP are really exciting and theatrical spectacles that are well worth seeing once at least in the flesh even if you are not a fan. You cannot appreciate the noise or the speed by watching them on television. Furthermore you can spend a nice day in your shorts in the sun and get a lot of exercise trying to find your car at the end of the day!
A few days at the allotment over Easter should see some fairly dramatic changes. There will be four rows of raspberries, early-, mid, and late-summer and an autumn crop that should give a supply throughout the second half of the year. The problem of course is that they really will need to be eaten with lashings of fresh cream. There will be two rows of early potatoes ( both types are already well chitted) and perhaps you can see another problem looming in that they will of course be irresistable and will almost certainly be eaten with butter. Seeds from Suttons for artichoke, sweetcorn, pak choi, okra and climbing French bean arrived last week and I plan to start sowing some of these in pots tonight whilst watching "Life on Mars" which is my favourite programme at the moment. I think there will have to be quite a lot more digging done to make room for everything. The raspberries and potatoes have already taken up a lot of the space that has already been prepared.
I haven't encountered much fictional food lately. There was inevitably some in "Death in the Truffle Wood" by Pierre Mangan but none worth mentioning in Paretsky's "Hard Time" or "Fire Sale". One doesn't expect food in Elmore Leonard or Robert Littell but " The Hot Kid " and "Legends" were both brilliant and foodless. There was no food in Ake Edwardson's "Never End" which was a fair but rather routine police procedural. No food in either Murakami's "Sputnik Sweetheart" or" The Tango Singer"( which I liked a lot). I became irritated by the former because of the lack of explanation at the end of the book as to why events had turned out as they had. I suspect the author got bored with his own book and decided just to bring it to an abrupt end rather like that Monty Python sketch where Chapman marches in dressed as an army officer shouting "Too silly ". "Let Me Eat Cake" by Paul Arnott was quite fun in a nostalgic sort of way but I could only consume it in very small portions as it was far too sweet.
I tried another Su Grafton("S is for Silence") but I have decided that Kinsey Millhone is just not a good enough detective for me to try any more. I'm now just beginning Kjersti Scheen' "Final Curtain" - another female private detective by a female author from Norway and after that I will be reading Dominique Manotti's "Rough Trade"so I will report later on the food situation but generally I'm not very optimistic about the Scandinavians or female detectives. I look forward to the next Camilleri and the next Padura.
Now that the computer is back in action I will be trying to fulfil the promise- or hope rather- that this will be the year of the book, so there may be less time for blogs or lists.
# posted by Bob @ 11:01 am 
