99p restaurant chain expands

Back in May, I wrote about the 99p restaurant that opened in Cheltenham and it has not only survived, they've opened another branch up in the Strand area of the High Street. Every few weeks, I'm in town and get a serious attack of the munchies so I've taken to popping into this place and having a reasonable and generous pizza slice for 99p

Incense Cedar

Joni Mitchell once sang about 'putting all the trees in a tree museum and charging everyone a dollar and a half just to see them' but at Westonbirt Arboretum they charge 9 quid and I pop back there every now and again to marvel at the autumn colours and to relive some of my gardening roots. For it was here I first saw a blue spruce, a larch and an Acer Palmatum - and I was inspired to plant specimens in the garden of the house where I was brought up. The Acer is still going strong 36 years later - I drive by it occasionally.

The other notable tree, Calocedrus decurrens, I've not planted yet and don't know why it isn't seen more in parks and gardens. In its native California it grows big and wide but in the UK climate it goes for tall and very thin which means you get a lot of impact without taking up space and blocking the sun.

More information
Wikipedia
RHS

Prisoner Votes

This is either funny, crazy, hypocritical or just good politics depending on your point of view.

You could argue that continuing to deny all prisoners voting rights is a great bit of justice and will bring home to criminals the perils of breaking the law. Unfortunately, the policy has been ruled unlawful by Europe and continuing to apply it is itself illegal. Which sends a rather curious message to offenders.

On the other hand, the policy is said to be enormously popular with voters - and "standing up to Europe" even more so.

There's also a crazy idea that society should attempt to rehabilitate offenders. Allowing all of them a (postal) vote would be a cheap and easy way of sending a message that we're serious about it.

Honeybourne Line Art

The council turned an old railway line into a path and it's attracted some "art" both official and unofficial. Click pictures to see larger versions.

Don't buy a Kindle!

When I wrote suggesting that bookshops use DRM to  license books rather than selling them I little realised the implications for the book lover. Amazon has been doing this via their Kindle device for some time and recently decided that one of their customers in Norway was perpetrating some sort of fraud. So they broke into her house and cleared her bookshelves - well not literally - they threw a switch somewhere and rendered all her Kindle purchases unusable. In fact they've (electronically) banned her from using a Kindle for life. (Full story)

Related:  Mr Depot Censor, Minister of Repression and Censorship in the Republic of Unsavouria today announced an ambitious project to give away millions of Kindles to citizens. "We will also recycle all book and bookshelves in the country to produce electricity," he continued, "under the guidance of the Party, we have improved access to information and reduced CO2 at a stroke"

After the Cheltenham Literature Festival

Coombe Hill footwear

After my recent visit to Coombe Hill I decided to pop back because I'd spotted ideal weather for photography and to check the footwear issue. This time, I took standard wellies and got all the away along the boardwalk through the osiers to reach the Grundon Hide (see below).  Mind you, if there was another 4" of water, it would have been difficult to keep my socks dry.

Now, the hide might have seemed like a good idea when they built it, but yer modern wildfowl has Internet access, uses Google Maps and likes its privacy. As a result the birds know about the hide and were keeping a good few hundred yards away from it

As sunset approached, I went over to the South side of the canal and got some pictures - click for bigger versions.

Coombe Hill (Le Canal en Octobre)

The hamlet of Coombe Hill between Tewkesbury and Gloucestershire must once have had a somewhat over-zealous marketing person. The "hill" is about 30m above sea level and only 21m above the canal leading to the River Severn. Still, it attracted the attentions of the geologists and they determined that it was made of Rhaetic Limestone. I'd long been aware of the canal - seen it on maps and noticed it where it met the road but there was a huge middle part I'd never explored so I thought I'd give it a go.

The builders started in 1796 and it was open for business for 80 years conveying coal to Cheltenham until the lock connecting it to the River Severn was damaged and it wasn't worth repairing. In the 1950s it got a "Site of Special Scientific Interest" badge and was bought by the local wildlife trust in 1999. This was because the canal was still wet and the area around it flooded most years which is good for birds and other wildlife. Actually, it didn't flood as well as it used to because the land had been "improved" for agriculture so part of the plan has been to ruin the drainage. I wonder if in 100 years time, they'll reinstate the drainage to recreate a "traditional improved agricultural landscape" or perhaps there will be a desperate need to grow food?

Anyway, the result is it's wet. This picture show the start of an official circular walk around the Northern Meadows. There was an alternative walk to a hide along a boardwalk but...

So, some learning points:

• Good walking boots are needed for the towpath
• Almost any excursions will need wellington boots unless there's been a prolonged drought
• When I've tried again with wellies, I might report that waders are needed, or even SCUBA gear!

Still, some of the wildlife can be seen from or in the canal itself

 

Can't actually see the wildlife here but there are nice clouds

Did I mention it was wet? You need waders or binoculars to read this information board

Found this sign near where the canal enters the Severn. Elvers are a juvenile form of the common eel and considered a delicacy by some

So why the subtitle on this post?. I was halfway along when I recalled the name of a popular French traditional dance tune "Le Canal en Octobre" and there I was on a canal in October. The title of the tune was misheard as "le Cannard..." by somebody and in some circles, it's called "The Duck"

Some interesting links:

•  Wikipedia on the canal 
•  Coombe Hill Canal and Meadows (Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust) 
•  BirdForum page

Camp Food: Fried Rice

I remember my first ever visit to a Chinese Restaurant very many years ago. It was in South Kensington near the Underground - if fact the toilet window of the "The Rice Bowl" looked out over a mass of railway tacks - but I digress - I particularly remember enjoying the Chicken Fried Rice. It's very easy to make (anything) Fried Rice even with one pan on a camp site.

The trick is to use something like these - packets of ready cooked rice. Yes, they're designed for use in a microwave but don't worry. Tips:

• Usually on sale for about £1 although supermarket "own brand" products can be less
• There's lots of varieties but fairly plain flavours work well
• Don't confuse with "savoury rice" that is a mixture of uncooked rice and flavourings - if it takes more than 3 minutes with or without a microwave you don't want it.

When I cook this at home, I often throw in some frozen peas at the same time as the rice

OK, so what you do is fry some some vegetables such as diced onion, peppers, courgettes, etc in a little oil and add some meat/fish/chicken if you're a carnivore. The "meat" can be pre-cooked or raw but make sure you cook it thoroughly. Then open a packet of the rice mentioned above, throw it in and stir for 4-5 minutes. Serve!

If you really want to, you can cook your own rice from scratch using the traditional boiling water technique. And for the gardeners, you can even get seed and grow your own rice these days but I'm digressing again....

Camp Food: Risotto

I was in Lidl recently and I came across a pile of these for 99p each. I almost cried! The nostalgia - I first bought one of them back in around 1970 and thought they'd faded away like Corona soft drinks and Spangles but no...

Not that Vesta Beef Risotto was particularly nice - it contains mainly dried meat, vegetables and rice but it has its good points:

• It weighed in at 124g which was pretty handy for cycling and/or camping trips
• It could be stored for ages
• It only uses one pan
• When you're hungry, it tastes pretty good
• It inspired me to try my own risotto from better ingredients - see below

 Now, I don't have a standard risotto recipe to offer you - more a basic idea with some clues and tips. It's basically rice cooked in some sort of sauce with vegetables and possibly meat or fish.

• The "official" plan is to fry the uncooked rice for a couple of minutes in a little butter but that step isn't essential. Then add water, the rest of your ingredients and simmer until it starts to dry up  in 15-20 minutes.
• I usually fry the meat, tomatoes, courgettes, peppers, onions etc. first and chuck the rice in afterwards

Here's some ideas about the ingredients:

• If you are in a hurry or you haven't got much gas left, use Basmati rice - it cooks in about 10 minutes rather than 15-20
• Consider using wholegrain, wild or any of the other fancy sorts of rice you can get nowadays
• Tomato puree helps make the sauce taste better
• Drained tinned tuna works in place of meat
• Almost any vegetable works as an ingredient

Cooking tips:

• Don't add too much water. 
• You can always add some more later if it dries up too soon
• If you have added too much, you boil it away
• Consider cooking the meat separately and serving it on top of a vegetable risotto

Thick Skin

I bumped into an acquaintance recently. I had an idea she was some sort of student but it seems she's now working as a fundraiser. “Oh no, not a chugger?” I ask and she denies it. She doesn't stand in the street with a clipboard accosting shoppers and trying to get them to sign up for a monthly direct debit – no, she turns up on your doorstep and does roughly the same thing.

Anyway, I asked if she enjoyed it and she said yes. How does she cope with the rejections? Well, she quite likes being told to b*gg*r off because it's short and she gets to move on to someone more receptive. She also tells me it's best for people if they do actually answer the door because otherwise she'll keep going back again and again.

I told her I had a “No cold callers” sign and she said they were instructed to ignore those! If challenged, her riposte is that it's not a “cold call” because she has a very warm heart! I told her that my sign also bans charity fundraisers. She had an answer to that, (of course she did) – it seems that her organisation is not actually a charity – it's one of those lobbying groups. (She did mention the name but I won't repeat it)

As someone who has spent most of my life volunteering/working for charities, it was interesting hearing from one of these fundraisers when “off duty”. She's young and visually attractive in a fairly wholesome sort of way but it's clear she's determined to raise funds regardless of how many people it annoys. A charity I used to be involved with had some trouble with "street fundraisers". Head Office decided they were a good idea and sent some along to our local High St. We took umbrage so HQ said they'd stop it but we wouldn't get any money from the efforts of chuggers in other towns. Since we were in fact a net contributor to national funds, we said we'd put up with that!

It is of course the stock in trade of some campaigning organisations to act in an annoying way to get their point across and they claim that their cause is so important, it's justified. Reminds me of some missionaries - they are not just trying to save the whales, or human lives - they want to save your immortal soul!

However, I am mean-spirited enough to decide to never ever support her organisation - or any other with annoying sales techniques.