Smoking In Kings Cross Square
As an experienced police officer said, when I visited earlier in the day, you have to give people somewhere to smoke, until the habit dies out.
One of the East Coast crew, I talked to, said that there should be an area for non-smokers.
But perhaps the most amazing comment I heard, was from a man, who actually asked one of the cleaners in the square, would she mind if he smoked.
I don’t know whether he did, but he had asked the question in a very sheepish manner.
So does an efficient cleaning team, waiting to pounce on a dog end, make smokers feel guilty?
I think it will be very difficult to predict if smoking is allowed in the square in say five years time.
Londoners Still Love The Hackney Eight
I was coming home from the Angel last night, when one of the Hackney Eight showed its distinctive shape coming from the direction of Saddlers Wells.
As it approached the stop, prospective passengers walked past the 56 that many of them, like me, could have taken and waited for a few seconds for the New Bus for London to arrive.
Why don’t Transport for London do the right thing and convert route 38 to the new buses?
But then us plebs in Hackney don’t count for much, as BT have shown by their non-delivery of fibre-optic broadband.
If the 38 went to Archway in Islington, it would have been converted by now!
Bondage In Trumpington
I like this story from the BBC, as it has all of the threads that make up an ideal story for the tabloids or a steamy novel.
Trumpington is a picturesque village with an interesting history. They even had a bed burial and Chaucer based the Reeve’s Tail there. Now srely a bed burial is rather kinky!
I even went to a reception there, after two members of C’s chambers had tied the knot.
A Comeback for Europe’s Wildlife
This report on the BBC is to be welcomed.
As I found in Sweden, bears, wolves, beavers and moose are all thriving.
The trouble comes, when animals like urban foxes and badgers become a menace because they are too numerous.
We need to make sure we manage the consequences properly.
Portuguese Pork
This is one of Lindsey Bareham’s recipes that I did last night. It’s here on The Times web site.
I cooked half quantities to give me enough for a good supper.
I started by taking a pork fillet, which Waitrose had cut in half. Each half was about 200 g.
Pork, Cumin And Lemon
I cut it into small pieces and then sprinkled it was half a teaspoon of cumin. I also put some lemon juice over it and mixed it up. I then chopped up a medium onion and softened it in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, stirring every now and again. It took about ten minutes.
Cooking The Onion
I used my new Le Creuset shallow casserole and after cooking this dish, I wish I’d bought one earlier.
I then put two peeled garlic cloves and a small red chilli without the seeds and filament into my Little Chopper.
Chopping The Garlic And Chilli
This was then added to the casserole.
Onion, Garlic And Chilli
It was cooked for another five minutes, keeping it stirred.
I took a 400 g tin of chickpeas ans trained and rinsed them thoroughly. For this quantity of pork, I would only need half, but there didn’t seem to be any small tins of chickpeas.
I now turned up the heat slightly and added the pork stirring it constantly.
Cooking The Pork
After the pork had cooked, I added the chickpeas, half a chicken stock cube, 120 ml of boiling water and the remains of the cumin and lemon juice from the bowel.
Final Cooking
After simmering for perhaps 5 minutes, it was seasoned well and some finely chopped coriander was stirred in before serving.
Portuguese Pork
It was good and pretty spicy.
The MacDonald Gill Exhibition In Ealing
I was going to Ealing to see the Macdonald Gill exhibition. There’s more about the exhibition and an example, here on the BBC
The MacDonald Gill Exhibition In Ealing
It was very much worth visiting. I seem to remember one of his maps, prints or posters somewhere in my past.
Perhaps, it was in an Underground station or my father had one in his print works. He had the machines to print large posters and I wonder if before the Second World War, he’d actually been asked to print some.
I’ll never know, as his print works is long gone.
Labour Promises To Turn The Lights Out
Ed Milliban’s promise yesterday on energy prices is the sort of vote-grabbing bribe. that is typical of third-rate politicians. Judging by the response from the energy companies, If Red Ed gets power we’ll all be in for a hard time. It’s all here on the BBC. Even Britain’s worst Prime Minister of recent years; Gordon Brown, wouldn’t have issued such a cheap promise.
I think that this pledge could have serious effects.
Suppose you were in charge of planning at a large energy company. Would you be prepared to invest in an expensive new power station in the UK, until after the election of 2015?, I suspect that other countries with more certain energy policies and prices, would be a better place for the investment!
So the lights might go out, even if Labour doesn’t win the election!
I’ve just listened to the start of the phone-in on Radio 5.
They’ve started appealing for anyone in favour of Red Ed’s idea.
Voyager Has Boldly Gone
In the past week or so, the Voyager-1 space probe has left the solar system. The story is reported here on the BBC.
The probe is expected to still be transmitting data back to earth until possibly 2025.
Who said that 1960s technology wasn’t any good and thoroughly unreliable?
How Will A Plastic Bag Tax Affect This?
I bought a heavy and expensive casserole at John Lewis today.
How Will A Plastic Bag Tax Affect This?
To get it home, the assistant skilfully wrapped it in three plastic carrier bags.
The packing worked and I got it home safely on a train and a bus.
Will the plastic bag tax make this sort of use of plastic bags rather frowned on?
Crushed Walnuts Everyone?
Around the corner from me is a walnut tree.
Crushed Walnuts Everyone?
It looks like there has been a good crop this year, but most have been crushed or eaten.
The Anonymous Widower 