A Cause For Complaint In The Scottish Capital
I was checking a Carluccio’s restaurant for lunch today in London and not that they now have two in Scotland; Glasgow and Aberdeen.
I wonder if they’ve had any complaints signed Disgusted in Morningside.
It Was Another Win Last Night For Ipswich Town
Last night, I went to see Ipswich Town play there home match against Yeovil. They won 2-1, although they made a bit of heavy weather of it.
Still a win is a win and they’re now up to 11th in the Championship.
A question that will go in an Ipswich pub quiz has turned up this season and we mused it over at half time..
With Christophe Berra‘s goal against Birmingham a few weeks ago, who was the previous Scot to score for the team?
I thought it could be John Wark, but searching showed that it was Alex Mathie. Last night, someone said it was Tommy Miller, but although he scored a lot for Ipswich, he never got into a Scottish team and was not born north of the border.
How you frame the question could give a range of answers.
But it has been a long time coming.
How Many Good Paintings Have Gone In Skips?
This story about how Robin Darvell found a painting by John Constable in a job lot in an auction, is in The Telegraph.
The painting, bought at an auction in Canterbury ten years ago, has remained in a drawer ever since after the canny buyer spotted a faint signature on the corner.
It has now been revealed as a Constable painting, believed to have been completed near to his home in Suffolk, after being examined by experts on television programme Treasure Detectives.
It now looks like it’s worth about £250,000.
On my wall I have a painting by Arthur Perigal. He wasn’t in Constable’s class, but he is a well-known Scottish artist.
Villa Albani by Arthur Perigal
The painting of the Villa Albani, nearly went in the skip when I moved back to London, as it was in a broken frame and just thrown in the loft. It is signed Arthur Perigal RSA and dated 1872.
It’s not worth a lot, but then it would be worth nothing, if it was in the skip.
How my mother-in-law acquired the painting, can’t be determined now. But she did work for his son, Walter, who was the local doctor in New Barnet. The doctor was an amateur painter and she was given some of his paintings, when she left his employment. Or that’s the story C told. But knowing C’s father, I suspect he got them for perhaps doing a favour for the doctor.
Anybody, who knows the truth, died many years ago.
When Was The Last Time A Scot Scored For Ipswich?
Ipswich drew one each with Birmingham yesterday.
Yet again, Town lost points from bad luck, as it was a deflected shot that beat Dean Gerken.
Ipswich’s goal was scored by Christophe Berra, who is a Scottish international.
So who was the last Scot who scored for Ipswich? I think it was probably John Wark or Alex Mathie. Checking the records, it would appear that Alex Mathie scored some in the early 1998-99 season.
How Much Beer Was Drunk In Trafalgar Square Yesterday?
Accordiung to this report on the BBC web site, Westminster’s team of cleaners, picked up about two tonnes of empty beer cans in Trafalgar Square yesterday.
if we assume that a can weighs about 20 grams, that means about 100,000 cans of beer were drunk in the square yesterday. Reportedly 25,000 Scots came down to see the match.
But at least little untoward happened!
The same story was reported in The Scotsman and a reader added this comment.
If we can organize this maybe we can handle being independent. Put a deposit on beer cans and the homeless will benefit.
Although, their estimate of the number of cans was a lot lower.
The Germans who came for the Champion League Final didn’t seem to drink much at all.
Does Jam Count As One Of Your Five-A-Day?
Apparently, according to this article in the Daily Mail, one in five Scots do!
but then I admit, that I do like Dundee lamb chops. But then they are gluten-free!
Should We have Built It In The First Place?
One of the dramatic news stories on BBC television this morning, is the blowing up of the tower of Inverkip power station chimney in Scotland. Out of curiosity, I looked up the power station on Wikipedia and found an article, which showed how building the station seems to have been an enormous waste of money. Here’s what they say on the use of the power station.
It was to be Scotland’s first oil-fired power station. However, the soaring price of oil as a result of the 1973 oil crisis meant that by the time construction was completed generation was uneconomical. It was never utilised commercially, with 1200 MW kept in reserve and the remaining capacity being used to satisfy peak demand. It was only used at peak capacity during the miners’ strike of 1984-85, when low coal supplies prompted operation. Generation ceased in January 1988 and although the plant was retained as a strategic reserve, it was never used as such. The plant was finally mothballed in the late 1990s, but was kept fully operational until 2006 when it was decommissioned.
No wonder our electricity bills are so expensive, with gold-plated elephants like this to support.
I suppose, at least a lot of people got a cheap thrill when they saw the chimney blown up.
If Ed Miliband Can’t Run The Labour Party, How Could He Run The Country?
After reading stories like this one about candidate selection in Falkirk, the question in the title of this post has to be asked.
Especually after he has had to call in the Police, to sort the mess out.
The Scottish Currency Question
If I could have ten pence for every politician, who’s put forward his view on the question of what currency Scotland has if they vote for independence, i wouldn’t be just a rich man, but a very rich man.
Surely, the amount of energy expended by politicians, would power a reasonably-sized city like Glasgow.
All of these politicians are flying in the face of the new reality, which is starting to sweep the world. Just read this article on the web site; SmallBusiness.co.uk about the future of banking. Here’s the first paragraph.
I was recently invited onto Evan Davis’ BBC radio and TV show ‘The Bottom Line’ for a discussion on alternative finance. Alongside me was Zopa founder Giles Andrews, the founder of Zopa – a UK peer-to-peer lending platform, and Michael Joseph, the former CEO of Safaricom, which set up M-Pesa, a mobile payment system, in Kenya.
It is the last bit that is the most significant. It also says this about banking and particularly M-Pesa.
The day-to-day of banking is changing world-wide and banks are not the ones driving the innovation. For instance, by some measures, Starbucks is among the 200 largest banks by deposits in the US, having $3 billion on their in-store card in 2012. Both Google and Amazon are also talking about providing finance to users of their marketplaces. At the other end of the economic spectrum, 31 per cent of Kenyan GDP now flows through M-Pesa, which is so simple it can be operated on a very modest Nokia phone and has no physical bank branch presence.
So does it matter about whether an individual or a company has their bank account in pounds, dollars, euros, thistles or beans? It only matters to the individual concerned. As someone living in and spending most of his money in the UK, I would probably keep my account in pounds! Although switching to euros, should be just a choice on the account.
Unfortunately, this transparent and convenient system would be unacceptable to the banks, as they make so much money on currency conversion.
I do wonder, if my new-found liking for cash, may be a personal reaction to the greed of the banks. If I pay by cash in Carluccio’s, I can leave a tip easily. It also seems to get good service, as the staff in many restaurants know me and have the gluten-free menu ready immediately I walk in. It’s also faster to settle up and there is nothing worse than waiting to get away, whilst a dim waitress struggles with a credit card terminal.
So to me, in a few years time, the Scottish currency question will be irrelevant to most people and companies in Scotland. They will pay their taxes in whatever currency the Scottish government uses or is forced to use and keep their bank account in whatever is convenient for their lifestyle or business.
So let’s get going on research to capture all that hot air being spoken to generate lots of electricity.
Otters Will Be Otters
This story from the Metro, shows how we should co-operate a bit more, where wildlife are concerned. Here’s the first few paragraphs.
When Brian Dodson set up a carp fishery from scratch he had no idea the business would be quickly ruined – by otters.
The 60-year-old discovered the carnivores had eaten his entire £250,000 stock after a river haven for the animals was built nearby.
He is now seeking £2.5million from the Environment Agency, which he claims failed to tell him about the scheme and prevented him building protective fencing.
Surely there should have been a middle way.
But then as the story says otters are carnivores and will get their food no matter what. There was a story a couple of years ago, where otters were taking koi carp out of a pond in a suburban garden in Birmingham. No-one knew that there were otters in the nearby canal.
I’m reminded of the tale I heard when I shared the driver’s cab in a High Speed Diesel Train from Edinburgh to Inverness.
The owner of an hotel close to the line, built a lake, which he stocked with fish for his guests. But just down the road was Loch Garten, where ospreys have made a home. And as ospreys are wont to do, they found the hotel lake and decided it was a good place for dinner.
The hotel owner cut back on his fishing, but apparently, he now promotes the lake as a place to watch ospreys feed.
The Anonymous Widower 