UK General Election 2017

      The General Election, oh yes, that old thing, I suppose I must try and advise you that this election has got nothing to do with Brexit, Post Brexit, Hard Brexit, the state of the Labour or Liberal or whoever might challenge, But in reality it's quite simply because, 30 Conservatives were about to be charged for fiddling their electoral expenses and those elected would be banned from sitting in the house. Which, in turn, would prevent Mrs May from having a parliamentary majority, which in itself would have meant a change of Government and not a General Election. This is because when the government of the day cannot command a majority in the house, then the Queen must then call upon the leader of the opposition to try and form a Government. You could therefore truthfully say this general election is nothing more than a contemptuous effort to save those from the stench of guilt and corruption. 

Easter

Happy Easter To You.

Pass the Smoked Mackerel Eric.

      Time to eat yourself slim, by the North-Person method, or the Scandinavian/Viking Diet. Mind you, those enormous meat eating sessions, need to be kept discreetly to one side. Of course you can always rely upon dishes prepared with Lamb and their should be a fair amount of Game, available.
      You know, such people living up a fjord, close to the sea, will naturally have lots of fish and a good variety of north water fish in their diets, such as Mackerel, Herring, Trout and Salmon, to name but a few.
      It's all about foods sourced locally and seasonally, a good balance of Protein, Carbohydrate and Fats, with Barley, Berries and Oats, with Poultry, Fish and Game, Cabbage, Kale and Root Vegetables.
      As a sampler you could try say a omelette cooked with bacon, or some smoked mackerel with a Scandinavian cheese, (the Vikings have a long tradition of cheese making) with a hunk of rye bread.      

Monkey Puzzle

      I've been toying with the idea of planting a Monkey Puzzle Tree, for a number of years now and it probably came about due to some local controversy regarding the felling of a full-grown specimen at a large country pile, where the tree was blocking the supposed view. Now I'm not saying these trees are a local phenomenon, by any means, but you do, or at least I have, started noticing them everywhere in my local neighbourhood and not just in the grounds of larger private houses, They seem to keep cropping up, just about anywhere and in various stages of their development. The only real matter to consider when planting such a tree is they are a long term prospect and will come to dominate their patch of ground, reaching heights of up to 50m.
      Araucaria araucana or Monkey Puzzle, so named because it would be a problem for a monkey to climb such a tree, as a slow rate of growth and can live for a thousand years.
      Perhaps I've bothered my friends a little too much with my talk of the trees that finally a couple gave me a tree, carefully cultivated at a local garden centre and I will now seek a suitable space where I can hopefully see it grow by at least a few inches!

John, George, Paul and Rin...err Jimmie!

      Careful, he really is a Beatle and at the height of their fame, When the Beatles needed a little "Help," a replacement stand-in for Ringo, who was ill at the start of their first world tour, they needed someone in a hurry and George Martin thought he knew the man to fill the breech.
      It was the summer of 1964 and Beatle's were on the verge of going on tour and Ringo was deemed to be too ill to travel. George Martin knew of a capable drummer who he'd seen playing around various clubs in Soho and doing session work and decided to give him a chance and managed to get the young Jimmie Nicol to the Abbey Road Studios and with the rest of the band, ran through a few of their well-known tracks. This was June 3 and the beginning of a fortnight which would transform Nicol into a worldwide music star. 
      The first stages of the tour were Denmark, Holland, Hong Kong and Australia, where they were welcomed by ten's of thousands of fanatical fans, relentless press, wild parties TV and Radio Shows. And in that time he played ten sold-out concerts and was given the celebrity as the Fifth Beatle.
      But fame can be a fickle friend and at the end of the fortnight, Ringo joined the tour to take his rightful place as the drummer and Jimmie Nicol found himself on a London bound plane, back to an uncomfortable reality. It was 15 June and his time was up, he was given a first class ticket, a gold watch and £500 in wages. Home to a tumultuous reception and feted by the press, he found himself being rushed into a record deal, in an attempt to capitalize upon his recent stardom, got himself a group, bought a Jaguar and immediately disappeared. Within a year his marriage had ended, his new bands discs had flopped and he was declared bankrupt with debts of £40 000. There followed some years living in Mexico and a second marriage, also ending in divorce, his present location is seemingly unknown.
      At least now, Nicol may taste the heights of stardom once again as a Hollywood film is being prepared about his life.

Been keeping me up at nights...

      Been keeping me up at nights, actually finished it in early 2016 but this, that and not a few complications Bury-My-Heart-Waterhead-Bay-ebook/dp/B06XG5387F/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1489335471&sr=1-3&keywords=kirk+w+smith

Old Sticks of Furnature

      Recently visited a house and contents sale in the deepest and the darkest, English Lake District, where I came upon three choice items, a Queen Anne Chest, a Victorian Card Table and a Lowboy, probably George lll Let me say I've got a great and particular fascination for Lowboys and any good chest of the right periods and the card table, well I'm looking out for one of a reasonably good quality.

      Of course you've always got to take a careful look at these things before you part with your cash and regrettably, the Lowboy, had been "got at" as they say and not in a very good way. Some items do need restoration, but preferably with great care and by someone whom knows what they're doing. The card table, also had a lot of faults, if you looked closely. And the chest, well this was pretty good, apart from the smallest of faults. I managed to purchase the chest with something of a struggle, but there always something good about having the readies, ready, as it is!