Vagueness and the Aftermath - A sporadic diary

[RED-DOG]

 I use the  BBC  news app. It's quite good but I wondered if there was anything better out there, so I Googled, 'Best news app'  and it came back with lists like, 'The10 best news apps'.

How does that work then?

[Tal]

Have you been to Brum recently?

The demolition of the old library and Paradise Forum is quite a sight.

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/watch-brutal-end-central-library-10693783

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-35092981

This is quite a common sight around the area:

Click to see full-size image.

[RED-DOG]

I usually have to go to Birmingham about once a month but as it happens I haven't been for ages.

I understand that we have to progress and the things we are lamenting now are the things that replaced the things our Grandfathers lamented, but all the same, it's sad when iconic old buildings go, especially if they were part of your life.

I really miss the cooling towers at Tinsley.

[MANTIS01]

How's the history reading going...?

[RED-DOG]

Sigh....

Will Americans ever understand why we call them spoilers?




Aircraft Investigation.

Episode title- Breakup Over Texas.

TV listing info- An aircraft breaks up in mid air and plummets to the ground killing everyone on board. The cause? A maintenance error.

[simonnatur]

Didn't know where else to put this, but wanted to share it with your eclectic readership. I started my Friday poker session unusually early yesterday, early enough in fact to enjoy the rush hour tube. I did though get to enjoy this gem thanks to poems on the underground:

The Railway Children

When we climbed the slopes of the cutting
We were eye-level with the white cups
Of the telegraph poles and the sizzling wires.

Like a lovely freehand they curved for miles
East and miles west beyond us, sagging
Under their burden of swallows.

We were small and thought we knew nothing
Worth knowing. We thought words travelled the wires
In the shiny pouches of raindrops,

Each one seeded full with the light
Of the sky, the gleam of the lines, and ourselves
So infinitesimally scaled

We could stream through the eye of a needle.

Seamus Heaney (b. 1939)

[RED-DOG]

Didn't know where else to put this, but wanted to share it with your eclectic readership. I started my Friday poker session unusually early yesterday, early enough in fact to enjoy the rush hour tube. I did though get to enjoy this gem thanks to poems on the underground:

The Railway Children

When we climbed the slopes of the cutting
We were eye-level with the white cups
Of the telegraph poles and the sizzling wires.

Like a lovely freehand they curved for miles
East and miles west beyond us, sagging
Under their burden of swallows.

We were small and thought we knew nothing
Worth knowing. We thought words travelled the wires
In the shiny pouches of raindrops,

Each one seeded full with the light
Of the sky, the gleam of the lines, and ourselves
So infinitesimally scaled

We could stream through the eye of a needle.

Seamus Heaney (b. 1939)

I love it when something, anything, moves a person to the point where they need to share it.

[RED-DOG]

Poppy investigates.


A shallow brook runs past our place. Usually it's no more than about a foot deep but if there is prolonged rainfall on the hills upstream, it can rise and fall dramatically in the space of a few hours.

When it happens overnight, you wouldn't even know about it unless you are an experienced woodsman like me and were able to spot the subtle signs.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[RED-DOG]

 I like something sweet after a meal, usually a couple of biscuits or a Mr Crippling size cake, but I'm watching my figure and they are sooo naughty and unsatisfying, not to mention small. You don't get much bang for your calorific buck. 

Mrs red suggested that I would be better off with a boiled sweet, so I tried it and she was right, boiled sweets last for ages.

Well... they do if you can resist crunching them, unfortunately, I can't, so I started a search for something uncrunchable and, after a lot of research I found Asda butter mintoes.






They cost a pound a bag but you get two bags for £1.50. They last for ages and steadfastly defy any attempt at crunching. They do however have one failing. If you leave them in the car overnight they get cold and when you pop one into your mouth it warms up too quickly and it shatters.

Bummer! Back to the drawing board.


Three weeks of dedicated testing later and enter the new contender.

Tesco butter mintoes.




The same price as Asda butter mintoes but slightly larger and just a fraction softer. Actually, softer isn't the correct term, they are not soft in any sense of the word, but they are more malleable, ergo no cold to hot transition shattering.

Perfect!

Try them yourself if you don't believe me. 

[Karabiner]

Asda own-brand licorice allsorts are very good too imo, also two for £1.50.

However my latest epiphany is Branston baked beans. I wanted to try HP beans as I'd heard that they were good but there weren't any so I tried a tin of Branston's instead whilst I was in experimental mood and I like them way better than Heinz - a lovely rich tomato sauce is the clincher.

[RED-DOG]

Asda own-brand licorice allsorts are very good too imo, also two for £1.50.

However my latest epiphany is Branston baked beans. I wanted to try HP beans as I'd heard that they were good but there weren't any so I tried a tin of Branston's instead whilst I was in experimental mood and I like them way better than Heinz - a lovely rich tomato sauce is the clincher.

Inspired by the possibility of monumental savings from the likes of Lidl and Aldi, we have given up on a lifetime of brand loyalty and started experimenting.

Our latest discovery.

Scotts Old Fashioned Oats. (£2+ a pop)




Have been replaced by...







Just as good. (I'm sure they all come from the same factory) 99p at Lidl.

[tikay]

How many KCals in those mintoe things, Tom?

[RED-DOG]

How many KCals in those mintoe things, Tom?

109 per 3 sweets, or 36.3333333333 KCals each.

One sweet takes about 10 mins to consume, which is about equivalent to two packets of Jaffa Cakes.

[tikay]

That's pretty good Tom, but I think I'll stick to a couple of Ryvitas with low fat Philly & sliced toms on top. Delish.

[RED-DOG]

That's pretty good Tom, but I think I'll stick to a couple of Ryvitas with low fat Philly & sliced toms on top. Delish.

Oh I like that too, but of course we have Lidl crispbread.

Click to see full-size image.