A Saturday Morning Routine
There are two radio programmes, I like to listen to on Saturday morning; Danny Baker and the unsporting quiz, Fighting Talk, as they appeal to my unusual sense of humour.
The trouble is that if I’m going to football, as I am today, it doesn’t really leave much time for me to get to the shops, as I have to leave by about midday to get the train.
So this morning, I got to the Angel, by bus at just after 8:30. I actually took a seventy-free, as if you sit at the back and get out of the rearmost door, it’s much easier to walk to the four shops, Carluccio’s and the physio, that I visit at the Angel.
Today, it was just Boots for some rat poison, Marks and Spencer for some gluten-free sarnies for the train and a beef Stroganoff for tonight and Waitrose for two large carriers of heavy stuff like alcohol and Coke. I went to Waitrose first and found that if I shopped immediately, could get it delivered before the start of Fighting Talk at 11:00. I think I rather caught them on the hop, but hopefully it’ll come on time. But I do have two hours of total float in my critical path, so if they come by one I’m OK.
The only problem, was that Marks didn’t have the gluten-free sandwiches, but then I’ll pass three of their shops that stock them on the way to Liverpool Street. If they don’t have any, then I shall complain. If there aren’t any, it’s probably because they are too good and all those food fadists on a gluten-free kick have snaffled them!
I was back home listening to Danny Baker by ten o’clock.
It sounds like I’ll be repeating this on Saturdays in the future.
The routine could be even better, if Carluccio’s opened at 8:00 for breakfast on Saturday, as they do in the week.
Update at 11:20 – Waitrose have just delivered, so I have plenty of time to catch the train to Ipswich, after scouring Marks for some gluten-free sandwiches.
Thinking about this post. When C and I lived near Newmarket we would go shopping early, often visit one of our horses in traing and then we’d generally be back home around eleven.
I suppose, I’m only repeating what we did together by myself. In some ways, it was easier in Suffolk, as Waitrose opened earlier. But then I had to carry the shopping from the car to the hall. Here, that is all done by the van driver from Waitrose.
Who said manners and service are dead.
Gluten Freedom For Coeliac Travellers in the UK
When I went to Plymouth, I bought a gluten-free ham salad from Marks and Spencer in Paddington station, to sustain me on the journey.
It was excellent.
Today, I had an egg salad sandwich from their shop in Moorgate. It was equally good.
They’ve even got a list on their web site of all their stores that stock the gluten-free sandwiches.
Travelling just got a whole lot easier for coeliacs in the UK.
The Coffee Obstacle Race
The worst and in some way the best part of the journey to Plymouth was getting down the train to buy a coffee. Obviously, on such a crowded train, you couldn’t have run a trolley, unless it was attached to the roof.
I had to travel through about six coaches to get to the buffet and to say it was made very difficult because of the junk in the aisle wouldn’t be too much of an understatement. Why is it that people load enormous cases, even a full size surf board and car seats, that would fit Cyril Smith, into the vestibules and aisles of a train? Strangely sitting though imperiously in this chaos was a pug, who politely got out of the way as I passed.
The buffet was quiet too and I bought my coffee with the sort of speed you’d expect from a typical Starbucks in mid-morning.
And then there was the walk back. I should probably have stayed in the buffet and drunk it there, but I do like a challenge. It actually wasn’t much of one, as of course, I’d got one of those excellent two-handled small paper carrier bags to carry my coffee. Why can’t other shops and kiosks use them more?
So although I indicated it was the worst part of the journey in some ways, it was also one of the best given the circumstances. The ride of an IC125 is so level and flat, that it made a difficult task easy. It would have been impossible in a Pendolino.
I did make a mistake and that was not to bring a stirrer. So I gave it a quick stir with my pen.
Three Hours on a Train
I wanted to see Ipswich play the first match of the season at Bristol yesterday and instead of going just for the say, went to see a friend in Plymouth on Friday.
I arrived at a very crowded Paddington in mid-morning for the 11:06 to Plymouth. It was crowded, with the usual wheeled cases being trailed everywhere. Do these selfish people realise that their mobile obstacles are a nuisance to anyone with limited movement or vision? I’m alright now and to prove a point, I had everything I needed in my new Samsonite bag.
I was carrying my gluten-free sandwiches and a bottle of wine for my friends, from Marks and Spencer in a carrier bag, but as I’d arrived with plenty of time, I walked straight on to the Standard Class Quiet Coach nto the window seat I’d booked. My two bags and coat spent most of the journey on the overhead coat rack. I only needed to disturb my companion once to get my lunch down and for another to get a coffee and take a toilet break. I should say that I was surrounded by a family of about six, all of whom spent most of the time reading and playing on a laptop. Their mother was dispensing a real picnic, with lots of parma ham, salad and fruit. Surely, they were showing how you use a Quiet Car!
In fact, the whole car was mostly quiet with not even a crying baby and there were some small toddlers there. The only problem was that some had blocked the aisle with heavy luggage. Those going to Plymouth seemed to have used the Baggage Car as the staff had asked them to.
I made one mistake on the journey. Although, I was sitting by the left hand window, I forgot to get my camera out to take shots of the train as it sped along the Exeter to Plymouth line between Exeter and Newton Abbot.
At Plymouth, I got ff the train pretty fresh, which is more than could be said as I got off my flight to Athens on easyJet.
Both journeys are about the same time, but give me the train anytime. Especially in a forty-year-old, but newly refurbished IC125.
El Reconcillo, Seville
C and I ate here twice, including once with my son and one his friends.
Rick Stein certainly has taste to recommend it on his BBC show.
Perhaps, I’ll go again. But it will have to be with a very special lady! It is not a restaurant to eat in by yourself.
The Dragons Can’t Cook!
Or is it most likely won’t?
I watched them last night, when they rejected a lady who had developed a product called a Gloven.
It’s exactly what I need, to get round the problems of my gammy left hand, which responds badly to hot and cold.
I have a feeling that this is a product that will be a success, as it has so many niches, that haven’t been identified yet!
How To Do Food At An Event
If I’d wanted I could have pre-ordered a Gordon Ramsey-styled picnic box, but as I’m a coeliac, it didn’t say if they were gluten-free or not, so I opted to buy at the event. This is the chicken kebab I had, which was certified by the chef who was cooking it as gluten-free.
Gluten-Free Chicken Kebab at Zoo Lates
It was delicious and the salad was fresh and not of the limp variety you tend to get in many places. They also gave me a discount because I didn’t want the pitta bread.
But it was only one of many varieties of fast food and drink, including Aspall Cyder on offer. There was for example this Korean stall.
Korean Fast Food at Zoo Lates
And even this splendidly politically incorrect one.
Buffalo and Ostrich at Zoo Lates
Sadly, there was no Cambodian for me. This is the only completely gluten-free cuisine in the world.
The food on offer did show how fast food should be done. You would have had to be very picky not to have found something you could have eaten.
Let’s hope the Olympics follow the lead set at the Zoo. But I bet they’ll produce the sort of stuff I can’t eat, like they do at Wembley Stadium.
It’s a Zoo Jim, But Not As We Know It
I’m not really struck on zoos, as I much prefer to see animals in the wild. But last night I had a most unusual night out at London Zoo. It was one of their Zoo Lates.
Other than the usual attractions, there was a twisted cabaret, lots of good food, bands and you could talk to the keepers about the animals. There were no children, except for a few baby animals and it wasn’t crowded but for one totally acceptable exception. Even the queues for the toilets were within reason.
Here’s a few general pictures.
It was certainly a good night out. I shall go again.
Rainbow Cauliflowers
When I first heard this story I thought it was April 1st, 2012 and had been to sleep for a few months because of the hay fever.
But it’s true and it’s all down to clever traditional plant breeding rather than genetic engineering. But then we’ve been doing that for centuries.
The article also explains why carrots are orange.
Until the 17th century most carrots eaten Europe were white, yellow or purple. The orange pigment was added by Dutch plant breeders looking for a way to celebrate Holland’s royal family.
So blame the Dutch.
Oops! It was Murder, but it Smelled Phenomenal!
That was a quote from this story from Australia, where a container of expensive wine was dropped.
It all goes to show that their fork-lift truck drivers are like their cricketers!
They drop everything!
The Anonymous Widower 