Instant Sunshine
Instant Sunshine is not an easyJet flight to Spain or a new breakfast cereal, but a four-piece music and comedy group in the British tradition of Flanders and Swan. Read their own views on what they are on their web site.
C and I used to listen to them on the radio forty or so years ago.
I went to see them last night at the Rosemary Branch theatre just down the road. The show was worth at least three times the £10 it cost to get in.
If you can catch their stage show then do.
One thought they left me with, was that there is no rhyme for Islington.
Will No One Rid Me of this Terrible Builder?
Obviously, the title of this post is with apologies to King Henry II
I needed to have my daily lukewarm soak, this afternoon, and guess what, I was bitten again by some junk that Jerry had installed, that masquerade in the name of taps. There’s a video of them here, but it doesn’t show the cold top falling off, because obviously so many people have been fooled by it’s unusual direction.
Remembering M.R.D. Foot
M. R. D. Foot, who has recently died, was an historian, whose wartime exploits and subsequent researches led him to be a leading authority on the Special Operations Executive.
I seem to have come across him first, as he had written one of C’s books for her History and Politics course at Liverpool. But I remember him most for his book that he wrote in conjunction with Jimmy Langley, MI9: Escape and Evasion in 1939-1945. In there he relates how the first two British servicemen to make a Home Run from Germany were two Sikh sergeants in the Pioneer Corps.
It is a tale that has fascinated me and no-one seems to have any more knowledge than that one line in the book.
Hopefully, one day the tale will fully surface.
The Tube
I watched the first part of this documentary about the London Underground on BBC2 last night and it was fascinating.
The thing that impressed me most, was how a very multi-racial staff acted as a coherent team and stood up so well to the hassle they got.
I shall be watching next week.
Why Does Anybody Buy a Gas Cooker?
This house came with a complete set of appliances. Most have suffered at the hands of ten years of tenants, who looked after them as if they were their own and not the care you would if they were someone else’s.
The cooker didn’t suffer too much at the hands of the tenants, but judging by the fact that the microwave was in the garage and rather burnt, I would think the reason the cooker was OK wasn’t misuse, but no use!
But that doesn’t alter the fact that cooking anything as simple as bacon and eggs is very very difficult. Or it could be that I’ve cooked on a variety of AGAs for forty years and before that it was a sophisticated all-electric hob and oven!
So the next time a modern day Steptoe passes my door he gets it. And probably a double hernia as well, as it was obviously built by a company that knew weight could settle all problems. But not everywhere of course!
The cooker isn’t totally useless in that it can cook things that just need the electric oven or just one pot on a gas. so I can cook my fish pies or Moroccan Chicken Casseroles.
It’s just simple things like meat and two veg and of course bacon and eggs, that are difficult.
At least in the 1950s, you could always use them to kill the lamb before you ate it! Even that function has been removed on safety grounds.
How the Argentinians Could Solve the Falkland Islands Problem
The spat between Argentina and the UK over the Falkland Islands is a bit like a spat between two neighbours over a leylandi hedge that has got out of control, except that both sides think it more serious than a hedge. Although, my late wife was once involved in a boundary case and it was one of the nastiest she’d ever been involved in.
At the moment the Falkland Islands have one silly problem caused by the Argentinians; the lack of eggs and fresh vegetables. My mother and many women of her generation learned how to live without fresh eggs, but it was not easy. So the first thing the Argentinians should do is allow more ships carrying provisions to the islands.
Let’s face it, the whole southern part of South America is rather inhospitable. I once met an Argentinian scientist, who had been raised in Patagonia and he left for Buenos Aires as soon as he could. The only people who want to go there are people with an interest in the birds and animals, that aren’t bothered by three square meals a day, that you don’t have to hunt and constant 24-hour television.
Many of these tourists, who want to see wildlife are English-speaking, so passing them to the Falklands might not be a bad idea as building tourist accommodation in that environment is not easy.
But of course, Argentina would allow its construction companies to do the work.
There is the problem of the oil. I did think though that an agreement on how to split the profits had been signed some years ago.
But would the Falklands want the platform yards and oil refineries, with all their problems? I don’t think so, and I suspect Argentina has many suitable bays or other places to do the work. Fifty years ago, few of the experts on undersea oil production were Scots. Now there are a lot more, because of North Sea Oil. Who’s to say in fifty-years time, that a lot of these high-earning engineers won’t be from the Argentine?
So in some ways by working within the status quo, it might be better for the Argentinians.
I do sometimes wonder what would have happened to the Islands if the Argentinian junta had kept control thirty years ago.
The islands themselves might even be uninhabited, except for those animals and birds agile enough to avoid the mines.
An Art Gallery With Its Own Station
I went to the Whitechapel Art Gallery today to see some of the Government’s art collection. It is a charming modern gallery tucked away in the East End of London, hard by one of the entrances to Aldgate East station.
Note the roundel in the station paying an artistic tribute to the gallery.
The exhibition was worth seeing, but the gallery had lots of other things to see and an excellent cafe.
Rocks and Climate Change: How We Can Stop Pulling the Carbon Trigger
Today, I went to another lecture at the Geological Society of London, the title of which is the title of this post.
The entertaining lecture was given by Bryan Lovell, who is Senior Research Fellow in Earth Sciences at Cambridge University. He talked about how 55 million years ago a rapid global warming effect called the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum changed the world forever and led to the creation of the first apes. Some of the proof of this is believed to be the unusual puddingstone found in places like Hertfordshire, which was created at the time. As he said the rocks tell us what happens if you don’t control global warming and that the earth can cope with it, but animals can’t.
One point he then said was that the oil industry can store safely underground the carbon dioxide captured from a coal-fired power station at a reasonable price.
He then said that although the scientific case has been established beyond doubt and even Shell accepts there is man made global warning, but we haven’t convinced ourselves of the need to act. He said that now is the time to tell the story written in the rocks – in verse, in film and in song. He was at Harvard in the 1960s and no-one got anywhere about convincing the Americans about the wrongness of the Vietnam War, until Joan Baez got involved. We need another Joan. And unfortunately someone, who could have written and performed something eloquent; Dory Previn, died on Tuesday.
Topical Valentine Poems
We all know the poems that start Roses are red, violets are blue etc.
Richard Bacon on BBC Radio 5 Live proposed a topical one and listeners added a few more.
Roses are red, violets are blue, I’d like to be under permanent house arrest with you.
Roses are red, violets are blue, I think I’ll form a coalition with you.
Type Santorum into Google
This idea was broadcast on Fighting Talk this morning. You don’t get what you expect, but the result of a spat between Rick Santorum and someone who disagrees with his views.
It is a masterful illustration of how to use the power of Google.
If you have a nervous disposition, make sure you have a small glass of Scotland’s finest to hand.
The Anonymous Widower 