Why Has This Art Not Been Sold?
My Internet trawl on the Royal Bank of UK Taxpayers has found this tasty morsel in the Scottish Daily Record web site. Here’s the first paragraph.
Fred the Shred’s stunning corporate art collection is still still under wraps at taxpayer-owned bank despite promises to make it more accessible to the public.
As selling this has no implications for the profitability of the rump of the bank or employment issues, it is a disgrace that it hasn’t been sold or at least displayed in public.
Have Just A Few Products Taken The Terror Out Of Gluten Free Cooking?
When I first came across a coeliac in 1972, who was a friend’s young son, life was very difficult for his mother. When C looked after the child, whilst his mother was working, the list he came with, was a short list of what he could eat!
When I was diagnosed in the early years of this century, things were a little better, but gluten-free bread was made from processed cardboard and gluten-free pasta had a special glue, that stuck it to the side of the saucepan.
Since C died in 2006, I’ve been responsible for my own cooking and in that time, I’ve relied heavily on the Dinner Tonight recipes of Lindsey Bareham in The Times. Over the years, I have a feeling that her recipes have got more coeliac-friendly, or at least friendlier to me, as I find more to try out. But then today, The Times has six quick weekend recipes, five of which are gluten-free except for the bread.
I do tend to ignore some recipes, like those involving pastry, as I don’t have a rolling-pin and feel that pastry might be too much for my left hand.
But now there are just a few products, that if you have in the cupboard or fridge, are all you need to create gluten-free meals, that those who eat gluten find acceptable. Obviously, you’ll need the same fish, meat, fruit and vegetables, as everybody else.
Gluten Free Bread
Genius is my favourite, but there are others, that other people prefer. As I write this, I’ve just had two pieces of Genius toast with Benecol and some Tiptree marmalade. When I was first diagnosed, I would have almost killed for some nice toast.
I once had a gluten-free crostini in a top drawer Italian restaurant in Den Haag and it was sublime, as the flavour was just right for all the garlic. Carluccio’s gluten-free crostinis are pretty good too!
What I would like is some really nice gluten-free crusty bread. But I suspect, I could find that at Romeo’s Gl;uten Free Bakery when it eventually opens.
Gluten Free Pasta
This was rubbish, when I first tasted it, but now I have a jar full of Carluccio’s excellent gluten free pasta on my worktop. I rarely eat pasta out, even in Carluccio’s, as I can cook it quickly at home if I want it.
I suspect as with the bread, others will prefer other brands of pasta, but they are all so much better than ten years ago.
Gluten Free Flour
Lots of recipes like the odd spoonful of flour. I use Dove’s Farm plain flour and haven’t found anywhere, where it hasn’t worked.
Gluten Free Sausages
I’ve always liked my sausages and when I lived near Newmarket, I got a liking to Musks gluten-free ones.
Now I live in London, they are difficult to find, so I usually use those from the Black Farmer or a specialist butcher.
I always have a six-pack of Black Farmers ready for action in the freezer!
Baked Beans
Most good tins of baked beans are gluten-free and as my dietician told me to have a small tin once a week to keep my cholesterol at the right level, I always have a tin in the cupboard.
Other Products
I also have a selection of not specifically gluten-free products, like Rachel’s yoghurt with honey, Waitrose ham hock, eggs, bacon, onions, butter, smoked salmon and a wide range of spices, so I can make a selection of appetising meals, whilst I’m watching the television.
I haven’t cooked a ready meal in six months.
Something New And Very Green In The Laundry
I’ve read about a company called Xeros in The Times today. Their washing machines use 80% less water, 50% less energy and 50% less detergent.
The technology has been spun (?) out of Leeds University and uses special beads to clean the washing. They’re also talking about a washing machine with no programmes ( i.e. a man button!)
They’re not available for domestic use! Yet!
But if all machines in the UK were this efficient, then the water saved would fill twenty million swimming pools!
Sometimes It Pays To Have A Clearout
The Times was moving its picture archive and found some previously unseen pictures of Roger Bannister running the first four-minute mile on the 6th May, 1954.
One picture shows Christopher Brasher, Roger Bannister and Christopher Chataway in line during the race. It could become an iconic picture!
Osborne Says Redevelop Euston Before HS2
There is an article in the Standard, where George Osborne says priority should be given to the redevelopment of Euston station, before HS2 is constructed.
I use the station several times a year and compared to Kings Cross, Liverpool Street, Paddington, Waterloo, Marylebone and St. Pancras, it is totally inadequate. It is even worse at the moment, than London Bridge, which is currently a building site.
What makes it so bad, is the lack of connection to the Circle line and the endless dingy walks from the other Tube lines to the station. There is no disabled access to the Underground.
There is a lot of scope to do this rebuilding right. These factors should be considered.
- The effect of the Croxley Rail Link to Watford Junction, which should be completed in 2017.
- Any development at Watford Junction, that could ease pressure on Euston.
- Could Willesden Junction be used to take passengers off the West Coast Main Line?
- Should an Old Oak Common station be built?
Properly planned, rebuilding of Euston,. adds a whole new dimension to HS2. It even questions whether HS2 terminates at Euston!
Could George Osborne’s view on Euston station be coloured, by his own personal experience and those of his constituents?
It doesn’t matter to me, as redeveloping Euston station is good sense, for all sorts of reasons!
Why Is It Public Projects Tend To Be Late?
I read in The Times today that the new headquarters building of the European Central Bank is three years late and €500 million over budget.
It’s only similar to Portcullis House, Philharmonie de Paris, the Jubilee Line Extension and innumerable cancelled government computer systems.
At least though in recent years, we seem to be getting our project management better, even if the Eurozone will have to pay the bill for the new ECB headquarters.
Did The Cleaner Get It Right?
Or perhaps he or she knows more about modern art that I do.
The story is reported in full here on the BBC. It’s not the first time cleaners have got confused according to the article. It even happened at the Tate Britain.
Surely, if art is good, it should appear to all tastes. Even cleaners with little education on the minimum wage!
Lighting The Way Affordably
I have dabbled in the past with photoluminescence and C and myself were once enchanted by the starry ceilings of the Hotel Windsor in Nice, but up to now most of the applications have been small.
So I commend Hammersmith and Fulham Council’s plans to use the phenomenon to light up the path in William Parnell Park, as is reported here in the Evening Standard.
There are lots of places, where the proiperty of photoluminesence can be successfully used, although safety applications as detailed here predominate.
We may giggle at the idea now, but in a few years time, this type of lighting, will be used all over the place.
If you’d like to put stars on a child’s bedroom or something similar, there is this UK manufacturer in Bury.
Do I Feel Sorry For President Putin?
You spent all this money on bringing the Winter Olympic Games to Sochi, so you can laud it over the world and especially when your beloved Russia, win the gold medal in your favourite sport; ice hockey.
But then your team gets knocked out in the quarter finals by the Finns.
I think we should all remember that the Russians don’t have a good record against the Finns in the winter.
I used to play real tennis with a Finn. He was very proud of the part his father had played in halting the Russians. He still had the white cotton ski suit his father had worn, stuffed with straw for warmth. This sentence from the Wikipedia article describes the Finnish resistance.
The Finns used effective guerrilla tactics, taking special advantage of superior skiing skills and snow-white layered clothing and executing many surprise ambushes and raids. By the end of December, the Soviets decided to retreat and transfer resources to more critical fronts.
I suspect there was a lot of celebration in Finland after the ice hockey victory.
The Anonymous Widower 