Swirling and gathering momentum
while almost gracefully hugging
easterly coastlines.
Come on Irene,
whipping up a storm in a tea cup!
Closed subways and enforced hunkering down
with C cells and go bags,
filled baths and flashlights.
The city that never sleeps never started.
Darkened skies and theatreland,
broken branches and travel plans.
Over-reaction over there?
All agog, over here.
around the US…
Stop 1
Stop 2
Stop 3
Stop 4
Probably because I have gone back to work, I have been in real pain this week as my feet have been very very sore to walk on – the torn ligaments and fused bones joining together in excruciating agony. So, enough is enough. I’ve kept my legs up for hours, bought a very expensive pair of fitflop trainers – in a gadgy bronze colour but needs must – and today signed up to a health club with a swimming pool so that I can exercise by swimming lengths which is non-weight bearing so should help me to get flexibility back.
The August riots in the UK threw into sharp relief the divisions in British society. 11 days ago, Mark Duggan was shot in an attempt to arrest him. this sparked off a peaceful demonstration which later gave way to less peaceful protest. Middle England was shocked by the 24/7 images on satellite television of a chaos of fires, an orgy of looting and a complete lack of police intervention. The “youth of today” have been vilified and David Cameron’s sharp elbowed middle classes are baying for blood. Conservatives are using these events to plough on with plans for a big society where there is “non-military” service for citizens at 16. Boris Johnstone has used the riots as proof that police numbers should not be cut. David Sharkey has used the riots to say that white chavs are becoming black gangstas. Coordinated mayhem supported by social networks like BBM.
And yet, and yet – when we examine just who is to blame for the riots and who is ending up in court some of those arrested to not fit the “teenage gangsta” mould.
Chelsea Ives, an Olympics ambassador, is presumably a high achieving sports girl. Pretty, lots of positive PR in the press previously. So why would this sort of person take part in riots and looting?
Alexis Bailey, a 31 year old primary school mentor – employed to encourage young males to think that learning is important – charged with looting.
Laura Johnstone, a grammar school girl who lives a privileged existence, is held to account for looting.
Father of three Daniel Anderson, 25, was jailed after two stolen guitars, an amplifier, flatscreen TV and hair clippers that were taken from a Croydon shop were found at his flat.
Joshua Donald, 26, Adam King, 23, and a 17-year-old, who cannot be named because of his age, appeared in Birmingham for a preliminary hearing charged with the murder of three men who were mowed down by a car while defending their local area.
Reece Donovan, 21, of Cross Road, Chadwell Heath, Romford, east London, is accused of robbing Asyraf Haziq in Barking on Monday. Mr Haziq, 20, who had been in Britain for one month, had his jaw broken in the initial attack and was robbed as he sat on the ground bleeding. This was particularly shocking when shown on tv because the whole idea of attacking someone when they are injured is so foreign to most people in this country where fair play, queuing and a stiff upper lip are considered British.
So where has it all gone wrong?
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2011/08/society-young-heard-riots
School’s back…
Fortuitously, the two shows I wanted to see this year were on back to back at the Pleasance Beyond.
http://www.edinburghfestivals.co.uk/venues/pleasance-courtyard-beyond
NewsRevue is a comedy musical sketch show with items from the news over the past 12 months put to well known musical numbers. This year there were sketches about Chilean miners, Pippa Middleton’s bum and David Cameron and Nick Clegg’s relationship. A very witty hour.
http://edinburghfestival.list.co.uk/event/228609-newsrevue/
This show was followed by Shappi Khorsandi‘s routine about growing up in the UK after leaving Iran. Although most of her work is autobiographical, it came across as fresh and somehow true. I do hope however that the bit about sending a letter to Ayatollah Khomeni was made up. Go see her.
A sample of her work from 2010.
Tonight Benny Gallagher, ably supported by Bob Wood, performed at the HAC in Irvine Ayrshire. The set opened with Bob who, apart from a disconcerting need to re-tune his guitar after every number, performed well all night both on his own and as the harmonizing accompaniment to Gallagher. Benny Gallagher seemed at home returning to his geographical roots in Ayrshire. The numbers performed ranged from older Gallagher and Lyle classics like “Heart On My Sleeve” and “Breakaway”, McGuinness Flint’s “When I’m Dead and Gone” to a completely new track with a Robert Burns theme. It is obvious that Benny enjoys performing in front of his audience and that his voice is holding up well even after all these years on the road. Apparently he will be reuniting with Lyle in March next year for a series of gigs. Well worth a listen.
200g dried chickpeas
1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
6 tbsp tahini
Juice of 1 lemon, or more to taste
3 cloves garlic, crushed, or according to taste
Pinch of cumin
Salt, to taste
Olive oil, to top
Sweet chili dip in centre (optional)
Paprika or za’tar, to top (optional)
1. Put the chickpeas in a bowl and cover with twice the volume of cold water. Stir in 1 tsp of bicarbonate of soda and leave to soak for 24 hours.
2. Drain the chickpeas, rinse well and put in a large pan. Cover with cold water and add the rest of the bicarb. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer gently until they’re tender – they need to be easy to mash which will take between 1 and 4 hours depending on your chickpeas. Add more hot water if they seem to be boiling dry.
3. Leave them to cool in the water, and then drain well, reserving the cooking liquid, and setting aside a spoonful of chickpeas as a garnish. Mix the tahini with half the lemon juice and half the crushed garlic then stir in just enough cooled cooking liquid to make a loose paste. Add this, and the chickpeas, to a food processor and whizz to make a purée.
4. Add the cumin and a generous pinch of salt, then gradually tip in enough cooking water to give a soft paste – it should just hold its shape, but not be dry. Taste, and add more lemon juice, garlic or salt according to taste.
5. Tip into a bowl, and when ready to serve, drizzle with olive oil, garnish with the reserved chickpeas and sprinkle with paprika or za’tar if using.
Serve with flat breads, salad, cucumber yogurt and mint dip and tomato and cucumber chunks or slices.
(If in a hurry, use tinned chickpeas and miss out steps 1 and 2.)
“Yup?” you text in that oft repeated midnight joke
meaning I should phone my magic number
again.
Where the magic lies in snatched conversations
between annoying Northern disconnects
remains illusive.
“Tip” you wrote this weekend
as clumsy, drunken fingers
hit any
damn
key
they could find, as if we were so
simpatico that I wouldn’t mind
being woken up by a mysterious message
signifying nothing.
A new kitchen Several weeks ago I signed on the dotted line to get a new kitchen installed. As I moved into this house over 20 years ago it was certainly overdue. Cabinet shelves were dodgy to say the least and the constant doing of dishes had led the cupboard doors under the sink to take on a warped appearance. What these kitchen companies do when presenting you with the “bargain” cost is they deliberately leave out the new electric panel you will need for the cooker if you haven’t rewired lately and the removal of your old kitchen tiles. In my case, I had winged so much about the additional cost of the electric panel that they didn’t charge for the additional piping work which would be necessary for moving the washing machine over to make the kitchen fit in a more logical way. The pre-fit weekend was taken up by my daughter’s boyfriend removing my tiling as a favour to me. Much as I hate being beholden, I’d have hated to have done it myself even more. The plasterwork always comes away from the wall, no matter how careful you are with the removal of tiles, so the wall will need filled in various places after the kitchen is finished before final decoration begins. I spent the day before things began properly, emptying cupboards and drawers of decades of detritus - bank statements, old passports, mismatched plates etc. Numerous black bin bags later the kitchen was clear and my legs and arms were aching. I left the men to it on the first day. I knew the mess would just upset me and it was best to get out of their way. I left at 8 and came back at 4 to find the chaos in the living room was pretty much as I had left it with some of the new cabinets in place but still nowhere to walk between lounge and kitchen unless I breathed in. There were some new cabinets in place on the walls and the cold/hot water pipes had been put in the wrong way round which meant no hot water shower so it was back the drawing board for them. Oddly the young chap is the one with all the expertise and the older man, his uncle, does as he is told. Perhaps he is at his “second career” stage of life. Day 2 The men arrived an hour after they said they would and again I left them to it. I told them about the leak I'd spotted at midnight last night. There's more done than yesterday certainly with various cabinets in place but I still don't have any running water - at least from the tap.
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