The Posh Doorman Strikes Again...

Despite embarrassing myself, horribly, at last year's office Christmas party at the very grand Blenheim Palace - which you can read all about over here - I was allowed back again this year.

Photo source

Photo source

888,246

Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red is an installation by ceramic artist Paul Cummins at the Tower of London. Each of the 888,246 poppies planted in the Tower moat represents a British and Commonwealth soldier who died in World War I.

The public's support for the memorial has been unprecedented. Over 4 million people have gone to see the poppies, some queuing for hours in the rain... desperate to catch a glimpse before they are gradually dismantled after Remembrance Day. Some people find the experience very moving, overwhelming even. Others say it is too sentimental, that the artist has beautified the horrors of war by creating something that is an artwork, something pleasing to the eye.

I like to form my own opinion, and I was up well before dawn yesterday and on a train to London... thinking that by going early, I'd be ahead of the crowds, but tens of thousands of people had the same idea. The crowds were too great to get around the full moat, but I did manage to see most of the crimson carpet of poppies. 

I think it is a fitting tribute to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the First World War, and one that is very thoughtful. The humble poppy is synonymous with great loss of life in war, and to use them to create this remarkable memorial, truly inspired.  It is very sobering to see those 888,246 poppies and realise the scale of human sacrifice in all wars.

A Walk In The Peak District

After basking in unseasonable warm (for Spring), sunny weather for almost two weeks, our luck ran out last weekend for our long-planned meet-up with friends for some walking in the Peak District.

In case you're wondering, the Peak District National Park is found here...

Not to be confused with The Lake District, which is further north!

Wind, rain, hail and then sleet hammered us from all directions most of the way! I didn't bother even taking my camera with, but I did get a few quick shots using my phone...

A brief ray of light

It's lambing season!

Friendly donkey

Water, Water Everywhere!

The UK is experiencing the wettest winter in over 250 years. Since the autumn, these isles have been swamped by unprecedented amounts of rain, and successive storms off the Atlantic have pounded the coastline with tidal waves and hurricane force winds.

My sympathies lie with all those living along the Cornwall, Devon and Dorset coasts, Wales, Somerset and the Thames Valley. Forced to flee from the rising waters.... their homes, farms and businesses flooded, their lives turned upside down. And there is no end in sight. More storms are on their way, more rain, more destruction.

So far, we've been OK here in Bedfordshire, although flood warnings are in place and the River Great Ouse that snakes through the centre of Bedford town is getting worrying high, as these photos from last weekend show....

There's definitely enough water for water sports!

The swans and ducks don't mind too much!

Photos taken with my phone camera

It's A Boy!

Notes From Nat - The Special Summer Edition

Dear British Media

Yes! For the first time in about 5 years, we are actually in the grip of a full blown British summer... complete with days and days of sunshine and heat and blue skies and general feel good vibes all round. Understandably, you all want to get on the bandwagon with your optimistic headlines... "Heatwave to last all month!", and "It's going to be HOT through to mid August!" and "Winter is never coming back... ever!". But I do question from where your writers get their inspiration for the inevitable and endless "Tips for keeping cool in the raging heat" articles? Some of the advice I've read verges on the ridiculous.... from putting your pillow in the fridge (just how big is the average person's fridge to accommodate said pillow and do we really want a smelly night's sleep on a pillow imbibed with cheese and celery and whatever else actually belongs in the fridge?)... to licking our wrists like a bunch of monkeys!
Really?

............

Dear Neighbour

Thank you for choosing the hottest week in the history of people being very hot to get your driveway redone. The extreme level of noise made by the heady mix of a JCB, a pneumatic drill and two brick cutters has meant that the only way I can possibly work is with all the windows closed, and blinds and curtains drawn. Even then, this extreme measure was not enough to block out the slightly disconcerting sound of Builder Bloke #1 yelling: “Mate – another beer?” at Builder Bloke #2…..over the noise of the JCB that was being operated by Builder Bloke #2, just a bit too close to the side of my house for comfort! Nonetheless, on the bright side, I have in fact proven that not all the advice offered in those "Tips for keeping cool in the raging heat" articles is a crock of shite. One thing that does actually work is to keep exterior doors and windows closed throughout the hottest part of the day until night falls and it's cool enough to open the windows for the night....

Yours etc

Nat

Notes From Nat....

Dear Drunk-and-Misguided-But-Possibly-Well-Meaning-Bloke-Out-In-London-On-Saturday-Night

Thank you so much for coming out of your warm, cosy pub to stand on the freezing cold street, pint in hand, and yell encouraging words at us as we power walked past. We really appreciate your support but think you may have slightly missed the point of the whole exercise.... that being to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer charities. Thus, while it is fantastic that you felt strongly enough to shout "You go girls! All power to you... you are just as good as men and you have rights too!"... the sentiment may have been better placed a few decades earlier, when our mothers and grandmothers marched for Women's Equality. You did, however, bring a smile to the faces of the many fabulous men that were walking with us on Saturday night too...

.............

Dear Neighbourhood Cats

Contrary to popular belief, our revamped bird-feeding station has NOT been installed in the front garden as some sort of feline 'Fly-Through McDonald's'! Stop stalking those birds right now.... or I will have to break out the super-mega-pump-action water pistol!

............

Dear Twenty-something Neighbour

Thanks for reminding me that I am nearly 40. While I was thrilled to have a long weekend earlier this month to get the gardening done and paint the shed, you mooched round your back garden in your PJs, nursing the Mother of All Hangovers and relaying tales of your drunken night out on the town!

Spring... Where Are You?

What is it about a long, long, LONG winter that just makes me want to hibernate? I am now so over snow and ice and feeling cold in general! There are a few signs of spring about, but it seems we have a while to go yet....

Crisp blue skies and cherry blossom

Irises in my window box

Cute car spotted recently

Photos taken by me with my phone camera

Spring is the time of plans and projects. -Leo Tolstoy

No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow. -Proverb

Spring is nature’s way of saying, “Let’s party!” -Robin Williams

An optimist is the human personification of spring. -Susan J. Bissonette

Spring shows what God can do with a drab and dirty world. -Virgil A. Kraft

Food For Thought...

The past few days, the British media have been having a feeding frenzy.... if you'll pardon the expression... over Horse Gate.

Shock and horror! It's been revealed that certain processed meat products, mainly frozen burger patties and a particular cheap brand of ready-meal lasagna, are not in fact made from 100% pure ground beef. Nay! These foods have been found to contain up to 100%... er.. horse meat!

Naturally, the jokes have been racing around the social networks all week

Now this may not seem such a big issue to some nations of the world, who would happily tuck into a lean filet cheval  ... a bite-sized digest of said nations is provided over here. However, eating horse meat is unthinkable in a country largely obsessed with equine sports, where horses are akin to household pets or even family members. Indeed horses are heroes.... ever heard of Black Beauty or War Horse?

In a rather bad case of shutting the gates after the horse has bolted.... hence my nifty Horse Gate above.... all suspected 'contaminated' products have been withdrawn from supermarket shelves. But it is now thought that such shenanigans have been going on for years. It's obvious that the food industry needs a bit of reigning in...

At the risk of sounding like a smug, self-congratulating, health-obsessed food Nazi, I could say that this scenario presents reason # 3899 why it is always wisest to avoid processed and ready made food. Indeed, as I type this, I am indulging in some oh-so-wholesome, home-made sweet potato, bean and butter-nut soup. Nowadays, I prefer to make most of my meals from scratch, as I like to know exactly what I am putting into my body! However, back in the bad old days of Fat Nat, I was no stranger to the odd ready made meal... convenient, quick and often really quite tasty.

We are, to a large extent, a nation obsessed with food. It seems that every second TV programme is serving up culinary delights... flick through the remote buttons and you will find whole channels dedicated to the art of cooking and dining. There's 'Master Chef' (the home-grown variety and all the spin-offs from around the world), 'The Great British Bake-Off', 'Come Dine With Me', 'Dinner Date', 'Saturday Kitchen'... to name just a few. Not to mention the seemingly endless menu of Celeb Chefs.... the Jamies, the Nigellas, the Heston Blumenthals of this world, all showing us how to cook "pukka grub" a la Jamie (wicked!) while oozing sex appeal (in Nigella's case) or just appearing rather odd (enter Heston).

And the public lap it all up! Then go back to the buffet for seconds and thirds.... eat as much we like.

Perhaps that is our downfall. And perhaps that explains why a good portion of the remaining TV programmes involve either some sadistic sort of weight loss competition... or a particularly irritating Lifestyle Guru lecturing others about the perils of eating 25 Mars Bars a day washed down with a few dozen gallons of beer....'The Biggest Loser', 'Fat Families', 'Supersize Versus Superskinny', 'You Are What You Eat'.... all variations on a theme, each one less palatable than the first, although perhaps none so nauseating as the tasteless 'Man vs Food', a US TV import during which some horribly greedy bloke is challenged to consume disgustingly large quantities of typically unhealthy food, all in the name of Entertainment.

With over a quarter of the population of England considered  obese (source NHS National Obesity Observatory), the dieting industry is literally Big Business. And some of the biggest gainers from that business? Why, the advertising industry of course! Just like a good burger needs some tasty ketchup, or perhaps a bit of BBQ sauce between the patty and the bun, there must be something to fill the gaps in airtime between the daily servings of  '101 Way With Mystery Meats' and 'Hey You... Put Down That Box of Do-nuts!'

Weight Watchers have been running an extensive ad campaign recently... enlisting a whole smorgasbord of Sort-of Celebs waxing lyrical about their marvellous weight loss plan. Ironically, their advert is sometimes juxtaposed with those for super calorific chocolate oozing puddings (a la Marks and Sparks)... or... and this I find particularly hard to swallow.... charity appeals for donations to combat world hunger, complete with horrific images of skeletal, malnourished children in the Third World.

It kind of got me thinking...albeit very naively... that,

....  in an ideal world in which everyone bought and consumed just what they needed (don't get me started on the amount of food wastage that goes on!),

....a world that was free from greed and bureaucracy,

.... a world that had no corrupt dictators that commandeer Food Aid supplies for their own political gains, or global markets that manipulate food prices meaning food is sometimes destroyed rather than sold at a loss to the producers,

....not to mention the logistical nightmares of actually transporting food across the globe to those areas that cannot produce enough.....

There would most probably be enough food to feed every single person on this planet. And then some!

And no one would have to embarrass themselves on national TV to learn how to eat themselves healthy.

Source

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...
Imagine - John Lennon

..................
Note From Nat
This rather heavy post is not intended to offend anyone or lecture them on their lifestyle choices - I am as guilty as the next woman of over consumerism . It is merely a collection of my thoughts on things I have observed recently....