This year, I’ve been working towards eating less but better quality meat. Last month I ordered the introductory box from Dorset Meats.
It came in an insulated box and was in really good condition and the meat is really good, I haven’t tried the sausages or the minced beef yet but Ma and I ate the beef joint and the pork chops, I’ve made lamb stew and had a steak, all of it was really good.
I’m going to order the meat for Christmas and Ma’s birthday next week too. I was really impressed.
Happy Monday!
I’m feeling November-ish. It’s dark and dull and the weather is terrible and I’ve not done any of the things that we’d planned to do at the plot. So peak November.
Yesterday would have been my Grandad’s 106th birthday, at this time of year I often post pictures of Grandad as a younger man but this is Grandad at about 80. It’s such a Grandad expression. Grandad was the bringer of fruit, when he was alive, we always had an overflowing fruit bowl and we had to put the throw on the chair because he loved sitting in it and his brycreem had destroyed the original cream upholstery the chairs came with, which is why I had them re-upholstered in red.
So one remembered birthday and next Sunday, it’s the turn of the eldest nephew.
This week, I shall be mostly sending out Christmas boxes and trying to be cosy!
Happy Friday! People, I’ve had a week. I know that it’s darker nights and the boredom of being at home all the time (which I kind of like but not when I have to work!). But I have reached the stage of ‘stick a fork in me, I’m done!’
I will talk about the mouse visitor I had this week later. I just can’t right now. I just need to finish today strong and have a good weekend. I’d also really like my desk chair to arrive, but we can’t have everything at once (I’m told!).
But overall, I feel like 2020 is trying, Joe Biden is President Elect, there is a vaccine, Dominic Cummings no longer works at Number 10! Small steps.
Anyway here are this week’s links…
Boris Johnson has to stop playing games and agree a deal with Europe
Mary Trump on the end of Uncle Donald: all he has now is breaking things
Trump Won’t Accept Defeat. Ever.
Mike Pompeo: ‘There Will Be a Smooth Transition to a Second Trump Administration’. This is scary…
Inheritance, not work, has become the main route to middle-class home ownership. I was banging on about this in the bloody 90’s…
UK increasingly reliant on fruit and veg from climate-hit countries – study
It’s official: allotments are good for you – and for your mental health. File under, things I already knew!
Happy Monday!
I feel like last week was both really quick AND 100 years long. It needed pancakes!
Obviously a non narcissist President Elect, is not going to solve all the world’s ills and the UK still has Johnson and his cabinet of idiots in (when the Times is pointing out Tory nepotism and incompetence, it’s bad), but it feels like it could be better and in this hellscape of a year, I’m calling that good!
This week is going to be heavily work focussed, we have a ton to do before we can relax for Christmas and we have about six weeks until Christmas and we are sprinting for the finish.
So work, sleep, exercise. That’s all that’s happening this week.
Finally in case you missed any posts last week:
Yesterday, Jo told me that her friend Ned, the author of A Cheesemonger’s History of the British Isles has a YouTube channel.
I met Ned a couple of times and he’s that perfect combination of knowledge and enthusiasm for his subject. Watching Ned taking about cheese is very soothing in this imperfect world. If you haven’t bought the book, you really should because it’s excellent.
So go and watch and subscribe to Ned’s channel and learn about cheese. For my family who have no cheese manners, there is a video on how to cut cheese.
Happy. Friday! It’s been quite the week, I feel we could have improved relations with the US if we’d sent our election officials and counters from Newcastle and Sunderland South (for those that don’t know, they are the two constituencies that declare first!). But last night Trump went over a line of decency. We’ll get to that later but I’ll start with local stuff first!
Here are this week’s links…
Lord of misrule. Rory Stewart with a beautiful article on Boris Johnson and why he’s ruining public life…
Perhaps it is envy. Johnson is after all the most accomplished liar in public life – perhaps the best liar ever to serve as prime minister. Some of this may have been a natural talent – but a lifetime of practice and study has allowed him to uncover new possibilities which go well beyond all the classifications of dishonesty attempted by classical theorists like St Augustine. He has mastered the use of error, omission, exaggeration, diminution, equivocation and flat denial. He has perfected casuistry, circumlocution, false equivalence and false analogy. He is equally adept at the ironic jest, the fib and the grand lie; the weasel word and the half-truth; the hyperbolic lie, the obvious lie, and the bullshit lie – which may inadvertently be true. And because he has been so famous for this skill for so long, he can use his reputation to ascend to new levels of playful paradox. Thus he could say to me “Rory, don’t believe anything I am about to say, but I would like you to be in my cabinet” – and still have me laugh in admiration.
Opinion: Alastair Campbell What Johnson and Corbyn have in common. I always felt that the New Labour project was flawed on the issues that mattered (housing, making work actually pay) and it’s solutions were sticking plasters (PPI and Working Tax credit). That’s before we deal with the disaster that was Iraq. All that to say, that I’m constantly surprised to find myself agreeing with Alastair Campbell, and here is another example…
Liverpool is tired, angry and ready for a fight with Boris Johnson. I missed this, but why doesn’t the rest of the country feel this way?
There are other things going on in the world and indeed other elections…
Ivory Coast president wins third term after opposition boycotts ‘sham’ election
Stephen Colbert nails the damage that Trump is doing to his country. The USA is really leaning in to it’s dark side.
Trump’s deep narcissism acted as a distorted mirror for millions of voters
Captain Hindsights always insist that whatever just happened in an election was both totally foreseeable and proves their theory. But this election is not proving any theory, other than that the US electoral system is, yet again, not fit for purpose, when a candidate can win millions more votes and still not necessarily win.
The future of the Senate majority could hinge on two Georgia runoffs
Trump’s desperate White House rant was everything people feared about his presidency in a nutshell
Today’s funny is Ted Lasso…
This is actually called Squash and Sweet Potato Chipotle Stew with Cheese Dumplings but that is very long and it was very hot. Chilli hot not temperature hot, my wimpy English tastebuds, found it delicious but so very hot (and I only used 3 teaspoons not the stated 3 tablespoons of chipotle paste!) Ma was with me for this one and instantly started calling it ‘hot stew’ and so that is now its name.
I did make some changes, I did not use chilli black beans, I used plain black beans and chickpeas, which is what I use for chilli usually. I used 3 teaspoons of chipotle paste but actually I would half that next time! I served it with kale and I ended up adding yoghurt to my serving to cool it down.
But as a wholesome, filling veggie dinner, this is a good one and even better this was pretty much homegrown and store cupboard for me.
I should note that Ma liked it enough to make it at home the week after and used 2 teaspoons of chipotle paste and said it was still too hot. We are English and we apparently can’t handle the heat of it but we still really liked it, with yogurt!
So every time I left the house last weekend, I got rained on. Fortunately for me, Ma decided that we’d start early so we did get two of the compost bins on the plot. We couldn’t assemble them because someone (who wasn’t me, lost the screws she insisted that she take for safekeeping!). Then the heavens opened.
There was wood chip, so the next morning, Ma left early and I went to the plot to do a little light weeding and some re-upping of the paths, I was doing alright and then the heavens opened.
So we are in lockdown from tomorrow and Ma hasn’t really decided if she’s comfortable travelling over on public transport, so I’m planning on being a man down and not being able to work on the plot before or after work.
So next week, I’m going to plant shallot and onion sets, and then work on weeding paths and if there’s woodchip, carrying on with the paths. I have a loose list of moving the gooseberries, ripping out the summer raspberries and, when they arrive, sowing broad beans.
Honestly, I think that’s a pretty good November list. If it ever stops raining, I’ll paint the shed!
2020 has been a horrible year. November is my least favourite month in the year and to add to the suck, this November I’ll be in lockdown. So I’m bringing back the November Thankful/Happy habit. Every week, I will list the little things that made me happy/thankful/grateful or just lightened a dark day.
Before I start, I need to point out that this is not about making anyone else in a different situation feel worse. I do this because it helps me. Studies have shown that this kind of practice can help with mental resilience, but it isn’t going to cure severe depression. If you feel that you’re slipping into that, make an appointment with a GP or a therapist. Get help now. Yes, this along with exercise, yoga, mediation, diet and maybe even having a hot bath every day, can all help but so can anti depressants and therapy. They all work together. You know what else helps? Knowing that your job and housing are secure and you can feed your children.
All that to say that nothing that’s happening this year is good and you’re allowed to find this difficult wherever you fall on the spectrum of circumstances and you’re allowed to ask for help. That’s not weakness, that’s strength and it’s healthy. Depression is not dealt with just by thinking happy thoughts and doing yoga!
That said things that have made me happy in the last two days:
1st – Slippers
I bought some slippers, my feet are now warm and cosy. This my friends is what three years away from 50 looks like!
2nd – Christmas Elf
It’s been an interesting year work wise, one of the things I never thought I’d do as part of my job is make team Christmas boxes, but here we are. It’s been a really lovely distraction to know that I’m organising something fun. And I got to trial ornament making!
Bonus October happy from last week.
The little nephew and his many halloween costume changes
The joy of perfect yorkshire puddings (I still have it!)
What can you find to make you feel a tiny bit better in this hellscape of a year?
