tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87234771195281901302024-02-02T12:30:59.090+00:00ME and meLiving in Fife with MERichard Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06600522000122688279noreply@blogger.comBlogger177125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8723477119528190130.post-10712375958761062752012-08-14T13:51:00.001+01:002012-08-14T13:51:21.147+01:00Coxless FourI didn't think I was going to enjoy the Olympics. The dire logo and the oddly disturbing mascots, Wenlock and Mandeville, inspired little confidence. Costs rose, and glaring examples of incompetence arose. Desultory football matches began to pop up in front of empty stadia.<br />
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Then there was that marvelous opening ceremony, and the mood changed. I was swept up int all, and spent a wonderful two weeks taking it all in on TV as I went through a particularly difficult spell with my M E. The BBC had really got its act together on the coverage. Their choices of personnel to front the coverage was a mixed bag, though. The male football-based section of the commentariat was frankly dire. Partial and ungracious, with Lineker making a point of deriding our German guests for a lack of early success, the male commentators on hockey, rowing and many other sports sounded old, tired, ill-informed. In contrast, the quartet of Claire Balding, Hazel Irvine, Jill Douglas and Denise Lewis played a blinder. Inclusive, welcoming, enthusiastic, the girls played a blinder.<br />
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Claire Balding is a sports fan, whether it's her first love of equestianism, or her new love of Rugby League, and she communicates it so well to the viewers. She's warm and wonderful. A star - if you listen to her you learn lots.<br />
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Jill Douglas loves her cycling, and I loved her interviews, be it with a tearful Victoria Pendleton, or a successful but slightly stunned Laura Trott. The GB cyclists clearly see her as part of the team, and her great relationship with these profoundly successful athletes gave us all an insight into how excellence is achieved.<br />
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Hazel Irvine has the cool rationality you'd expect of a St Andrews graduate, and is also a well-informed enthusiastic, and engaged presenter. Like Claire, she's obviously a fan, and a great communicator. All those conversations in the lulls in snooker matches obviously stand her in good stead.<br />
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Denise Lewis was a revelation to me. I knew her only as a dedicated and phenomenal athlete, whilst not having failed to note her beauty. During the games, however, she emerged as a thoughtful, intelligent and committed fan of her sport. Her support ranged from well-considered comments in discussions to energetic jumping up and down and shouting support to those performing on the track. I'd still give her the Gold Medal for most beautiful female athlete ever, but there's a lot more to this impressive, assertive and intelligent person than a pretty face.Richard Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06600522000122688279noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8723477119528190130.post-8188358020262395402011-12-15T22:53:00.001+00:002011-12-15T22:53:03.774+00:00Something to talk aboutTime has been passing in my ME way. Foggy days, blurry vision, lost threads of thought. Then, in the way of ME, a period of being relatively better appears, and it's time to think things through. Then, a nudge from an unlikely source, the Mark Wright chat prog on Channel 5. I'd never heard of this entertainment until he caused a furor in Scotland with what were seen as callous, if not border-line racist, comments about a murder in Lewis.<br />
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Mr Wright redeemed himself with a recent discussion of ME, in which he appeared to be genuinely shocked to learn how debilitating our condition is. Callers to the programme gave factual accounts of the devastation ME causes to lives, and both the programme's participants and the audience were clearly appalled by what they learned. <br />
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Here's a link: http://www.channel5.com/shows/the-wright-stuff/episodes/episode-239-15<br />
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It's well worth a look.<br />
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<br />Richard Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06600522000122688279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8723477119528190130.post-15082119332018370492011-08-01T09:36:00.006+01:002011-08-01T09:57:19.477+01:00Happy Yorkshire Day!Have a great day, Tykes everywhere!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.yorkshireridings.org/news/yorkshire-day.html">Yorkshire Day</a>Richard Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06600522000122688279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8723477119528190130.post-5001941274985064152011-07-14T22:04:00.007+01:002011-07-14T22:47:17.126+01:00Hens, Zen, Yorkshire Puddings and TraditionRegular readers will know that I think everyone who can should keep chickens. A world full of poultry keepers would be a less stressed, more caring, more insightful and more compassionate one. Hens teach responsibility, they reward care with their gifts of eggs, their lives are a demonstration of the virtues of societal living. Every visitor to my home is enchanted by my little flock, everyone feels the tug towards a way of a life that is more simple and comprehensible. The routine tasks of caring for the birds provide an opportunity to meditate. The weeds from the garden go to the hens. The hens consume them. I collect eggs, then take the litter from the hen run to use on my vegetable garden. Surplus vegetables go to the hens, more eggs, more nourishment for my garden comes from them. A circle is established, I have my place, the hens have theirs, the garden its. We live in sybiosis, in a circle - Zen symbol. Repititious simple work, deeply symbolic, highly productive is the key. Fulfillment comes from a basket of eggs, a bowl of home grown salad, a vase of freshly cut flowers, a healthy happy flock of hens, bright of eye, shiny-feathered, red-combed. Hens alone cannot be Zen, they are fully occupied in being hens. But we can participate in, observe and learn from the system that contains them and so become Zen ourselves.<br /><br />Those who keep hens become wise in the ways of egg-based cuisine. One of the nobler uses of an egg is what I call a batter pudding, but those not fortunate enough to be from Yorkshire call a Yorkhire pudding. Like all true Tykes, I learnt the art of creating this handy, delicious and nutritious food at my mother's knee. I realised with slight suprise today that YP making is the last thing I still do in Imperial Units, not metric, following the family tradition and recipe. 4 oz plain flour, 1/2 a UK pint of milk, a teaspoon of salt, a good big egg. Two tricks - make your batter at least an hour before you need it in the oven. Beat it up every 15 mins, keep it in the fridge. Result - no lumps. Secondly, you need your oven as hot as the deepest depths of Hell - turn it all the way up. Preheat your tin with oil in it until it is smoking, Pour the batter in, get it in the oven with the door shut ASAP, and reckon on 45 mins cooking time, though it might vary a little. The new silicon bakeware is great for YPs, but its's floppy, and potentially dangerous, so stand your silicon ware in/on a metal tray to make it stable.<br /><br />Eat your puds with roast meat and gravy, or whatever takes your fancy. They should be light and fluffy - keep practicing.Richard Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06600522000122688279noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8723477119528190130.post-16510936757852385962011-06-21T09:37:00.005+01:002011-06-21T09:57:43.450+01:00Going on the record with depression.I have a lot of respect for Marcus Trescothick, the one-time England international cricketer whose career was so affected by his depression.<br /><br />I have three chronic conditions. I am a Type 2 diabetic. However, with medication and no more attention to my way of life than any man my age should bear in mind, the condition is managed. I have ME, which is a damnable condition that has reduced the scope of my abilities to a frustratingly low level. However, with care, I can just about steer a course around it. Then there is depression. Being clinically depressed is indescribably awful. Dread, fear, suicidal imagery are constantly there, life loses all its joy and colour. It cripples and intimidates. It is the condition I have that genuinely frightens me, and I know I am more than a little obsessive about monitoring my moods.<br /><br />So, I'm in awe of Marcus Trescothick's ability to open up on the topic.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/jun/21/marcus-trescothick-interview?CMP=twt_gu">Here's</a> an article in the Guardian about him. Trescothick has written a <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Coming-Back-Me-Autobiography-Trescothick/dp/0007292481/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1308646198&sr=1-1">book</a> giving an account of his experience. I'm embarrassed to say I haven't read it yet, but I plan to put that right soon. It would seem to cumpulsory reading for anyone with, or with an interest in, clinical depression. Important stuff - this is an illness that kills and causes misery for far too many.Richard Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06600522000122688279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8723477119528190130.post-38361093619709123182011-06-02T09:53:00.025+01:002011-06-03T09:54:36.774+01:00Hobbies and People with ME - BrewingI started brewing my own beer in the 1970's. Like many others, I started with the kits then popular, producing a highly alcoholic, almost tasteless gassy liquid reminiscent of beer, rather than actually BEING beer.<br /><br />I went through the halfway house of adding some grain malt and real hops to the concoction, and was rewarded with results more closely resembling proper beer. However, the partial success of these endeavours led to an inevitable conclusion. Proper beer comes from proper ingredients - grain malt, good hops, quality yeast, and a small but well considered palette of other adjuncts. Much as in all other endeavours, rubbish in = rubbish out.<br /><br />Full grain brewing ia a craft, an art and a science, By comparison, wine making is simplicity itself. 'Collect fruit, crush fruit, add yeast, maybe sugar, wait, bottle.'<br /><br />In brewing, there are many more variables. The main ingredient is (usually) malted barley. Malting is the process of steeping barley grains in water, encouraging them to start sprouting into young plants. The maltster intervenes to stop this process just before the infant shoot emerges from the seed by heating the grains. By this point the starchy content of the grain is ready to be converted by enzymes produced in the grain into sugars to fuel the developing plant, and it it these sugars that provide the fermentable content of the beer later in the process. The grains of malt may be just heated enough to stop growth, and will be a pale colour almost indistinguisable for the original barley. At the other extreme, they might be roasted until almost black, when they will be used to provide the dark colour and bitter taste of a stout. There are many intermediate types also. Already the brewer is confronted with a huge range of decisions. What type or types of malt to use? In what amounts, and in what combinations. How strong is the beer to be? Is it to have a pronounced malty flavour or different characteristics? What colour is it to be? What strength is required?<br /><br />The malt is steeped in water at about 65 C, a temperature that facilitates the starch to sugar conversion. Altering the temperature alters the nature of the final beer made. Cooler mashing leaves more unfermentable elements, and so the beer will taste sweeter and fuller, but will contain less alcohol than a brew mashed at a higher temperature that will be more dry. 65 C provides a good balance. Again, more variables to consider in creating a style of beer, before we even consider the addition of sugars and/or unmalted grains in order to add different flavours and characteristics.<br /><br />Hops are the next usual ingredient to consider. They impart a bitter flavour, and have preservative properties. Furthermore, thare are hops selected for their aroma that are responsible for the summery, soporific scent of a hoppy beer. The brewer is selecting hops with two main objectives - balancing the sweet flavour of the malt with hop bitterness, and adding aroma. Often two or more types of hop are used in brew, a bittering hop added early to the boiling beer 'wort', and a hop for arome added later. Again, there are many choices and decisions to make here, and we all have our own ideas.<br /><br />Water is a key component. Hard waters suit lighter beers, softer water suits mild, porters and the like. Small amounts of salt will alter the mouth feel of the beer. I tend not to tinker too much as I am lucky to have a good quality supply of water for brewing, but again the brewer can alter the water to suit a purpose.<br /><br />Yeast, known 'Godisgood' to our forebears, is the magic elelment that binds everything together. Once you have prepared our solution of malt and hop products by steeping and boiling, you leave the results to cool and add the yeast to staret fermentation. You can use cheap dried yeasts, you can buy liquid yeast cultures of known provenance, you can scrounge a jarful from a friendly brewer. The last is often the best idea, a local yeast strain will suit local conditions. A favourite yeast strain can be carried forward from brew to brew, given a degree of care.<br /><br />Beer is a living, natural product when made this way. You're left with waste in the form of '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewer%27s_spent_grain">brewers spent grains</a>', loved by my chickens, and spent hops, that mulch a garden flower bed well. With anything like luck, you will also have a few gallons of beer of a quality that leaves any beer you have ever bought looking very ordinary indeed. Home brewed beer made from grain malt, given fresh ingredients, and attention to detail, cleanliness, etc, is the best beer you will ever drink. This is beyond debate. Additionally, you had the fun of making it, it provides food and amusement for your poultry and it stops your flower beds getting weedy. Furthermore, it will be the cheapest beer available anywhere. You can give the money you save to the cause of your choice, instead of giving it to the Government in the form of Excise Duty to waste on your behalf.<br /><br />The budding all-grain mash brewer needs three books to read. I've put links to Amazon UK in with the descriptions:<br /><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Big-Book-Brewing-David-Line/dp/1854862359/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307004505&sr=8-1">The Big Book of Brewing - David Lin</a>e<br /><br />This is the book that informed my early brewing days back in the 1970's. The sections on equipment are a little dated now, the variety of malts, hops, etc now available has grown mightily since the book was written, and mentions of Fahrenheit temperatures seem quaint to modern readers (Google is your friend for conversions to Celsius). However, on basics and technique, Mr Line remains spot on.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/CAMRAs-Complete-Brewing-Graham-Wheeler/dp/1852492848/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307008932&sr=8-1">CAMRA's Complete Home Brewing - Graham Wheeler</a><br /><br />Effectively the sucessor to David Line's book, published in the 1980's. Another very sound book, packed with information and recipes. Note that 3rd edition is due out in September 2011. This is probably the book to buy first. If you do everything the Wheeler way, you'll not go far wrong.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Radical-Brewing-Tales-World-Altering-Meditations/dp/0937381837/ref=pd_sim_b_5">Radical Brewing: Tales and World-Altering Meditations in a Glass - Randy Mosher</a><br /><br />Once you have made a few brews from the Gospels according to either Line or Wheeler, if not both, you might be looking to develop your style and craft as a brewer. Look no further than this book. It is not for the complete beginner, but it is a joy to read, bursting with ideas, inspiration and novelty. This should not be the first book on brewing you buy, but it might well be the second, and definitely should be the next you buy after Line and Wheeler.<br /><br />Recommended Supplier: <a href="http://www.brewuk.co.uk/store/">BrewUK.co.uk</a><br /><br />A useful forum <a href="http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/index.php">here</a>.Richard Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06600522000122688279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8723477119528190130.post-7532033300859884992011-05-30T20:16:00.000+01:002011-05-30T20:16:53.015+01:00I Want To Be Straight [Official Video]A work of genius....<br /><br /><br /><iframe width="425" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ohf52vAPszM?fs=1" frameborder="0" allowFullScreen=""></iframe>Richard Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06600522000122688279noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8723477119528190130.post-65824440052574155122011-05-30T19:12:00.007+01:002011-05-30T20:02:18.269+01:00Atomkraft? Nein, danke!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPNKCTmEj3EbbYpdOF7F5FquTomPsNTYp3V4_CqiSQVFAwCgaKMq2VJnMNWVW4bI5wyNm7kfIejy51biheSbe0rDPmTJ4UtOi5ZznHE8b42IXVRZPQLhS79ChDO2Np9NJHV4JtRDjDjHbj/s1600/atomkraft.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPNKCTmEj3EbbYpdOF7F5FquTomPsNTYp3V4_CqiSQVFAwCgaKMq2VJnMNWVW4bI5wyNm7kfIejy51biheSbe0rDPmTJ4UtOi5ZznHE8b42IXVRZPQLhS79ChDO2Np9NJHV4JtRDjDjHbj/s320/atomkraft.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612586476256994594" /></a><br /><br /><br />I spent six happy years in Germany, dividing my time between Duesseldorf, Frankfurt, rural Baden-Wuerttemburg and Heidelberg. Germany is a very rational country, a country of philosphers, musicians, poets and thinkers, as well as an inspiring capacity for design and manufacturing.<br /><br />These eminently sensible people erect wind turbines where-ever possible to generate electricity, and have just announced that from 2022, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13592208">no nuclear power will be generated in the Bundesrepublik.</a> Many in Britain would want to decry these decisions as deluded, but I think it's fair to say that the Germans have made a much better set of economic decisions than any other country in Europe in the last fifty years, and it's hard to dismiss a choice made by such a successful economy.<br /><br />Scotland has similar ambitions. Are we going to see a North - South split on energy policy? France and England continuing to use the 20th century nuclear solution, whilst Northern Europeans move onto renewables and the 21st century?Richard Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06600522000122688279noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8723477119528190130.post-65408934684288971722011-05-28T11:36:00.001+01:002011-05-28T11:37:07.883+01:00Whitey on the Moon - Gil Scott-Heron (RIP)<iframe width="425" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PtBy_ppG4hY?fs=1" frameborder="0" allowFullScreen=""></iframe>Richard Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06600522000122688279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8723477119528190130.post-9513711698916024172011-05-21T14:18:00.001+01:002011-05-21T14:19:12.167+01:00RaptureIf it's all over, just sit and listen to this - it's heavenly.<br /><br /><br /><iframe width="425" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/O8_eFRZP1uQ?fs=1" frameborder="0" allowFullScreen=""></iframe>Richard Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06600522000122688279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8723477119528190130.post-22694585724118994102011-05-17T19:50:00.015+01:002011-05-17T21:18:07.149+01:00New Doctor, Same Old DSS, Keeping SaneI think I'm impressed with my new GP practice. I get the sense that they have no great experience of ME, but they are positive and supportive. I've been having a bad time with mood swings lately, ands a visit to the practice resulted in an appointment for a psychological service for the chronically ill. A previous visit about a bad episode of eczema had me at a dermalogical clinic within 10 days, and has resolved the problem. So, three cheers for the Leven Health Centre.<br /><br />Meanwhile, I'm back on the Benefits treadmill. I've found a good source of support in the local <a href="http://www.cas.org.uk/">Citizen's Advice</a> service. Just thinking about the task of making a claim without help makes me feel ill, so I'm glad of the help. It's probably useful that I have crossed the 'I can do that' barrier - as so often these days I cannot.<br /><br />I potter about with my <a href="http://www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.com/">raised bed vegetable garden</a>, my <a href="http://www.firsttunnels.co.uk/">polytunnel</a>, and <a href="http://www.poultrychat.com/forum/">my chooks</a>. All this is doable in the 20-30 minute episodes of energy I can muster two or three times a day. The 'Battlestar Galactica" boxset has proved a great way to pass some of the bad times. Less often, I read, but the concentration is so shaky. <br /><br />To look forward to - ten eggs in the incubator - five should produce <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.eggincubators.co.uk/ekmps/shops/trevor/images/cream-legbar.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.eggincubators.co.uk/6-cream-legbar-hatching-eggs-276-p.asp&usg=__u53gE0HGAao6mfBG_CrIWzN5xx0=&h=225&w=300&sz=16&hl=en&start=0&sig2=wdoGhnYPEpEj9n3SHOtKtA&zoom=1&tbnid=SPe5Pv4zVBRa7M:&tbnh=137&http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.giftbnw=187&ei=78jSTaTmFYOj-gbP9qisCg&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dlegbar%2Begg%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3D2bQ%26sa%3DX%26rlz%3D1R1GGHP_en-GB___GB431%26biw%3D1333%26bih%3D563%26tbm%3Disch%26prmd%3Divns&itbs=1&iact=rc&page=1&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0&tx=63&ty=35">blue egg</a> laying <a href="http://www.cream-legbar.co.uk/">Cream Crested Legbars</a>, and the other five are <a http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifhref="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.highburyminiaturedonkeys.co.uk/images/marans4L.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.highburyminiaturedonkeys.co.uk/tn/pop35.htm&h=375&w=500&sz=142&tbnid=ihkKo1rbcGirCM:&tbnh=98&tbnw=130&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dwheaten%2Bmarans%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=wheaten+marans&usg=__dyHBs5HozE8AuctA_8Leq_tJqIY=&sa=X&ei=-MnSTYrXNYSHhQff1vmNCg&ved=0CDMQ9QEwBA">Wheaten French Marans</a> that lay sumptuous chocolate brown eggs <span style="font-style:italic;"><a href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://polloplayer.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/maranseggs.jpg&imgrefurl=http://polloplayer.wordpress.com/2010/01/page/2/&h=257&w=600&sz=16&tbnid=9x5oOhW-NAO_mM:&tbnh=58&tbnw=135&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dmarans%2Beggs%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=marans+eggs&usg=__qz5oqA6T_3JvJkowuuKAzu5Q0yA=&sa=X&ei=b8rSTb3oBsPAhAeHmuT2CQ&ved=0CDAQ9QEwAw">comme ca</a></span>. All this assumes that they aren't all cockerels, which produce only <a href="http://food.sify.com/search_results/chicken/">these.</a> Oh! and <a href="http://www.ehow.com/how_4800618_use-chicken-manure-garden-fertilizer.html">this</a> :)Richard Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06600522000122688279noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8723477119528190130.post-67433467652643844152011-05-05T16:02:00.000+01:002011-05-05T16:02:13.780+01:00Song for an ElectionPolitician by Cream<br /><br /><iframe width="425" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Q0o0l7ekKvk?fs=1" frameborder="0" allowFullScreen=""></iframe><br /><br />Hey now baby, get into my big black car<br />Hey now baby, get into my big black car<br />I wanna just show you what my politics are.<br />I'm a political man and I practice what I preach<br />I'm a political man and I practice what I preach<br />So don't deny me baby, not while you're in my reach.<br />I support the left, tho' I'm leanin', leanin' to the right<br />I support the left, tho' I'm leanin' to the right<br />But I'm just not there when it's coming to a fight.<br />Hey now baby, get into my big black car<br />Hey now baby, get into my big black car<br />I wanna just show you what my politics are.Richard Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06600522000122688279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8723477119528190130.post-12370160122575879012011-05-05T11:26:00.001+01:002011-05-05T11:42:36.182+01:00Relaunch and an ElectionI've neglected this blog for a while - I've been using the energy I could muster to get my vegetable garden organised, though energy has been in short supply. But today's a hopeful day. The recent spell of good weather has helped me feel better, the garden's growing, and things seem well.<br /><br />Today is Parliamentary election day in Scotland, and I'm very hopeful of a good progressive result. The tradtional British parties have offered little talent and less hope in their campaigns, and it seems this will benefit the positive and optimistic approach of the <a href="http://www2.snp.org/">SNP</a>. <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Saor_Alba">Saor Alba</a>.<br /><br />I'm going to go the whole hog and through in a touch of sentimentality. Here's Dougie with the alternative national anthem.<br /><br /><br /><iframe width="480" height="295" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wP8A9rtg0iI?fs=1" frameborder="0" allowFullScreen=""></iframe>Richard Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06600522000122688279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8723477119528190130.post-9083909092903336022011-05-02T12:41:00.002+01:002011-05-02T12:44:52.891+01:00Secret Weapon Deployed<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQVBz6ZPvYqJpZBkBmT4xFUNm8cuwA0300xRQu2ybxEWMzOP00YU949qwvOn7j7HZrTffEyDhzIj8XhtvQvkavCT81On0aDEPUR0oTkCmLXZAgDrA_LpFBb-FbxczNUHnDFdEHcOIXB9tL/s1600/Princess+Radar.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQVBz6ZPvYqJpZBkBmT4xFUNm8cuwA0300xRQu2ybxEWMzOP00YU949qwvOn7j7HZrTffEyDhzIj8XhtvQvkavCT81On0aDEPUR0oTkCmLXZAgDrA_LpFBb-FbxczNUHnDFdEHcOIXB9tL/s320/Princess+Radar.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5602083377745653506" /></a><br /><br />"Osama Bin Laden was finally located thanks to the radar device Princess Beatrice agreed to wear on her head."Richard Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06600522000122688279noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8723477119528190130.post-42687005306888000462011-03-16T14:03:00.000+00:002011-03-16T14:03:05.575+00:00Marvin Gaye "What's Going On / What's Happening Brother"<iframe width="425" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Y9KC7uhMY9s?fs=1" frameborder="0" allowFullScreen=""></iframe>Richard Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06600522000122688279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8723477119528190130.post-85923977522982059282010-12-21T00:05:00.003+00:002010-12-21T00:13:19.850+00:00Beyond a JokeI'm fed up with snow. It's been nearly a month now since the first fall here, and we are still blanketed in the stuff. At night , we are seeing double digit minus numbers on the thermometer. My stack of firewood is diminishing rapidly, and cutting it up is tiring me out.<br /><br />Bah! Humbug!Richard Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06600522000122688279noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8723477119528190130.post-40488435882473669792010-12-03T17:47:00.001+00:002010-12-03T17:47:56.403+00:00Merry Xmas<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/uPMDoKpgKGA?fs=1&hl=en_GB&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/uPMDoKpgKGA?fs=1&hl=en_GB&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>Richard Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06600522000122688279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8723477119528190130.post-11438842780809799602010-12-03T13:15:00.002+00:002010-12-03T13:18:14.458+00:00I CAN'T RESIST A GOOD PENGUIN JOKE...Shamelessly pinched from <a href="http://munguinsrepublic.blogspot.com/">Munguin's Republic</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A man was driving down the road with a car full of penguins. Penguins sticking out the windows, penguins coming out the sunroof, penguins everywhere.<br /><br />A bobby pulled him over and told him if he didn't want a ticket he'd better take those penguins straight to the zoo. The man promised he would and drove off.<br /><br />The next day, the same road, the same car, the same guy, the same polisman and the same penguins - only this time the penguins were all wearing sunglasses!<br /><br />The bobby pulled the guy over and said, "I thought I told you to take these penguins to the zoo!"<br /><br />"I did" said the guy, "today I'm taking them to the beach!"Richard Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06600522000122688279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8723477119528190130.post-17168984733579779202010-11-27T22:25:00.004+00:002010-11-28T06:50:30.015+00:00AntidoteThe world's probably going to hell in a handbasket and I don't know the way out of it all. But I do know if you listen to this Emmylou Harris concert, it will put the smile back on your face. This links to the first part of the show, but you can follow it on through five sections in total.<br /><br /><br /><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/S629VOXdQ78?fs=1&hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/S629VOXdQ78?fs=1&hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Richard Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06600522000122688279noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8723477119528190130.post-85217420169448544502010-11-23T23:06:00.001+00:002010-11-23T23:06:55.222+00:00Nations divided by a common tongue<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ok4-Y_xQhbE?fs=1&hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ok4-Y_xQhbE?fs=1&hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Richard Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06600522000122688279noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8723477119528190130.post-38317372107063888922010-11-17T12:55:00.006+00:002010-11-17T13:15:12.992+00:00Two Weddings and a FuneralI know of a young woman about to marry a serving member of the Royal Air force. Not Kate Middleton, but my daughter Nicola. Her fiance has just begun a four month long posting to the Falkland Islands, so he'll come back to a frenzy of preparations for a wedding in July.<br /><br />News of a wedding is always good - there's always a story of happiness and commitment there. I'm delighted about Nicola's situation, and I can't find it in me to be grumpy about the forthcoming royal nuptials. Yes, there will be a relentless tide of publicity, the shops will be full of souvenir tat, and the BBC will fawn and scrape obsequiously. Yes, the monarchy is a fossilised relic of an unjust and outdated model of society that belongs on the scrapheap. None of this will be the fault of the young people involved, and I wish them well. Like Nicola and her fiance Chris, they met in St Andrews, just six or seven miles away from where I sit now. There's a nice syncronicity to all of this that I am enjoying.<br /><br />It's just a month since my father's funeral, and it is good to be reminded that life is a regenerative process. I've been utterly flat and ill for the last month, having massively overdrawn my stamina and energy accounts during the time of my father's death, and I'll take my comfort from where I can find it.Richard Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06600522000122688279noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8723477119528190130.post-66513951504727561252010-10-31T20:11:00.001+00:002010-10-31T20:12:30.760+00:00Time for some BobThis sums things up. Thank you, Dr Z.<br /><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Be0H_AI1zys?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Be0H_AI1zys?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Richard Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06600522000122688279noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8723477119528190130.post-58719664845870754072010-10-31T12:10:00.012+00:002010-10-31T14:23:39.990+00:00Hasta la victoria siempreI'm feeling pretty fed up with politics at the moment. Paul O'Grady says it all about the UK governing coalition in the video below. I've just seen TV coverage of a delusional "Scottish" Labour conference that will only be remembered for Harriet Harman (Labour's UK equality spokesperson - you couldn't make this up!) and her highly unpleasant racist comparison of the Chief Secretatary to the Treasury to a "ginger rodent". Ian Gray - the leader of "Scottish" Labour - made a leaden speech and concluded it with his opinion that no-one can be a Scottish patriot unless they support a Unionist party.<br /><br />Whilst all this posturing and posing goes on, a total assault is being launched on the disadvantaged of Great Britain by the cabal of millionaires who govern this country in the coalition cabinet. In Parliament, the announcement of each succesive outrage was greeted with cheers and hilarity from the Government benches. Mreanwhile Harman can think of nothing better to do than to fling about childish remarks about hair colour. Gray seems to think everything is all the fault of the Scottish National Party, despite the shaky economic record of the last UK Labour Government...<br /><br />Hare are a couple of blogs worth following:<br /><br /><a href="http://diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspot.com/">http://diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspot.com/</a><br /><a href="http://thebrokenofbritain.blogspot.com/">http://thebrokenofbritain.blogspot.com/</a><br /><br />And here's Mr O'Grady.<br /><br /><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/tkqKbBVC09M?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tkqKbBVC09M?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>Richard Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06600522000122688279noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8723477119528190130.post-15186561098436506762010-10-07T10:53:00.007+01:002010-10-07T15:48:50.147+01:00Hard Times in Old EnglandI came back up to Scotland yesterday after a week with my father, who had been admitted to hospital with pneumonia. Unfortunately, it got the better of him early this morning, when he slipped away peacefully , 24 hours short of his 83rd birthday. My thanks go to the staff of Jupiter and Teal wards at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon, who did much to help him through his final illness.<br /><br />My Dad finally went <a href="http://wikilivres.info/wiki/Do_Not_Go_Gentle_into_that_Good_Night">gently into the good night</a>, but only after three decades of an encyclopedia of illnesses that he usually bore well, with only a few descents into grumpiness. He was a man of faith, and he would have breathed his last holding a little wooden cross given to him by the Vicar of Cricklade, the small Wiltshire town where he lived long and happily. We had all seen him recently, and his death will not be the cause of any self-reproach or "if onlies". He saw his grandchildren grow into happy adulthood, and was content. He avoided the living death of Alzheimer's and the dread and pain of a cancer. A life well lived as a soldier, a businessman, a volunteer, husband and father. A life well lived and well ended, we give thanks for it and share his hopes for what will come to be. I hope he was confident he could stand before his Maker without fear of rebuke.Richard Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06600522000122688279noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8723477119528190130.post-65372761507873214122010-09-30T12:09:00.002+01:002010-09-30T12:31:15.439+01:00Boats, Gin and OatcakesWe are just back from our week on <a href="http://www.jemima-d.org.uk/">Jemima D</a>. The boat feels so much nicer to use with her snug dry new top, and she performed flawlessly throughout the week, despite her elderly little engine being scheduled for a thorough overhaul and rebuild. Life on a narrowboat, watching the world go by at three miles per hour, with pauses to work through locks, is a great stress-buster.. We found a handy canal-side <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damson">damson</a> tree. We put Jemima's bow into the bank and filled a bucket with ripe fruits to take home for <a href="http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/two-recipes-wild-damson-gin-and-sloe-gin-37">damson gin</a> making.<br /><br />As nearly all of our boating was on the glorious <a href="http://www.cuct.org.uk/">Caldon Canal</a>, we were in North Staffordshire for the week - homeland of the scandously over-looked <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oatcake">Staffordshire Oatcake</a>. These divinely-inspired creations, rolled up with fillings such as bacon, cheese, eggs or balck pudding are the ideal boater's breakfast. Recipe <a href="http://www.fatbadgers.co.uk/Britain/recipe.htm">here</a>.<br /><br />Staffordshire is a lovely county, and I would urge UK "staycationers" to go and check out its waterways and scenery. There's lot more to the place than <a href="http://www.altontowers.com/">Alton Towers</a> and <a href="http://www.thepotteries.org/">The Potteries</a>.Richard Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06600522000122688279noreply@blogger.com5