Life isn't always fun ...

In the last few weeks I've lost a dear friend, sold a guitar and realised that I'm being bullied at work.
Ain't life grand?

Food

A few weeks ago my favourite restaurant rang to say they'd got me a hare. I butchered it and we had the hind legs that weekend, Tonight we had:
Scallops with black pudding and pea purée (Truly fabulous),
Hare & Venison casserole with celeriac & potato mash,
cheese
orange & lemon curd pudding.

Suitable booze accompanied this!

More snow ...

I've really had enough of it!

The Proofs are Here!

Some of you will know that I've written a research methods book with my colleague, Liz Ross. well, the proofs arrived yesterday!
Now all we have to do is read and correct them! What fun!
There are some interesting things about this process though. We hadn't actually seen the layout before (the publishers kept it sort-of secret) and we didn't know what size the pages were (285 x 215 mm), and we didn't really know how big the book was (485 pages), so it's been a voyage of discovery (Also discovering the bits that got left out!).
Well, that's what I'm doing for the next few days...

Tony Buckland

It was Tony's funeral today at Cheltenham. About 60 people, maybe 12 from the folk club. A Quaker-style event, so no service but some individual eulogies. Some songs too, 'The Ballad of George Fox' (led by Gordon, but lots joining in) then 'Poor Old Horse' sung by Mick Ryan on CD, 'The Joy of Living' by MacColl on CD. Then the CD player refused to recognise the disk with 'The Good Old Way' on it, so we (the Folk Club) sang it. It's hard to find joy in a funeral, but this came close.

Tony, my friend: requiescat in pace.

Here's another fine mess ...

Education, education, education!

Yeah, right: The future for UK universities?

A sh*tty day ...,

So, I'm at my mother-in-law's for a duty visit and become aware that the sewer manhole on the grass verge (part of the public highway) is leaking gallons of sewage onto her land (actually, into the tunnel that runs under the house).

She phones Severn Trent who, basically, deny that A) there's a manhole there and B) if there is that there could be a problem because C) the local pumping station is fine ... [we point out that it is impossible for 1 house to produce this volume of sewage and that (at 84) mother-in-law has little use for sanitary products, but they don't listen].

Eventually, I play the 'doctor card' and say that it's a health hazard: whereupon they decide they'll deal with it. The guy who arrives isn't surprised that there's a problem since the local pumping station isn't working properly...

Then the journey home (usually 90 minutes) takes 4 hours ...

Loves Restaurant

Relatively new in Birmingham and just a little isolated from Brindley place.

Very good food and service in pleasant surroundings (to be hypercritical: the tables are too small for the cutlery and plates, and there's not a lot of space between them).

Highlight: The coddled egg starter (with braised lamb shoulder, butternut squash and wild mushrooms).

Lowlight: I wasn't that happy with the glass of Tour de Biot 2004 I had (a wine that usually gets good reviews but, after all is only Bordeaux AOC): strident and unripe, I thought. My next choice (a Fitou) was not available.

Better than the current incarnation of Edmund's, though: we'll be going again.