September 29th 2007
Archive for September, 2007
September 28th 2007
Onions
The onion harvest is over but the onion-picking machine is not perfect. There must be hundreds of thousands of onions still left
lying on this field (and many more fields that we passed by that day). So instead of leaving them to rot, they are absolutely free
for the picking! Onions cost 1£ a kilo in supermarkets so why buy if you can just go scouting for them in the fields.
You must hurry though because anytime now, the tractors will be coming to cultivate the land for another planting season!
The same onions from that field now hanging on SIL’s outbuilding. Still many more of them hanging everywhere…enough to last her for a year!
I have some in my cupboard, too!
September 27th 2007
A beautiful mind
To talk about David, SIL’s best friend, requires a book written separately about him. Kind of Huckleberry Finn playing second fiddle to Tom
Sawyer who is the real star but Huck has as much story to tell as Tom himself.
To cut a long story short, David has walking disability. The nerves on his limbs are deteriorating very rapidly.
The bad news: this illness is progressive. While he is still struggling to walk with a cane, very soon he will be sitting on a
wheelchair. And being progressive, it will eventually affect his arms. A brother already died young because of the same ‘deteriorating-nerve’ syndrome.
Only, instead of the limbs, it struck the heart muscles. Another brother already sits on a wheelchair. The same syndrome again.
Why is that? One day, when they were only little boys playing in the field, some chemical spraying of crops took place. It’s a very
sensitive subject so I will not delve on that story but just to give you a quick background.
David is a real fighter. He has a very adorable personality. Everyone likes him because of his delightful sense of humour.
He is very good with his hands too. A master craftsman, he carves stones and gets commisioned to create commemorative artwork for
parks and museums. He excels in his field that he was taken on to teach the craft at a reputable college in Cambridge. And he is only
too willing to pass on his knowledge.
But here’s the thing, he wouldn’t accept a salary for doing that. He is a very simple person and to have an income recorded in the books
will just complicate his life like filling in tax forms and all those paperwork. His students include farmers, professionals, vineyard
owners who are seriously keen on learning from him but wouldn’t accept free classes from someone as noble as David.
Then one day, gifts started coming. Baskets of vegetables from someone else’s farm (with a note saying he-can-pick-vegetables-anytime)
and boxes of the most expensive red wine from a South African vineyard were arriving at his doorstep.
An ideal set up. Living simply, doing what one enjoys doing and getting the best out of life - with zero stress. Certainly, there’s the
obvious stress of his deteriorating physical condition but David tries to live his life one day at a time. SIL bakes him the most delicious
cakes as he has a sweet tooth and he does some home improvement projects like transforming her rundown fireplace into a
magnificent work of art carved in marble and fitted with ancient trappings giving it the period feel!
SIL and David also love to travel. They have been to Iceland to investigate on some stones which he would be using for his future projects.
They’ve done some hill climbing last Christmas around our home in the mountains. I am simply lost for words about him!
David’s workshop which he built out of recycled materials: leftovers from construction sites and used doors and windows from second-hand shops
The big plastic bin on the left which he found in the scrapyard now serves as rainwater collector.
The smoker, so-called because this is where he smokes fish like salmon and trout for picknicking in the garden
(or indoors if the weather is not bright)
The inside of the smoker…a grill to lay the fish and enough space for the smoldering fire.
He mixes oak shavings into the burning wood to add flavor and color to the fish.
September 27th 2007
Mollydancing
It’s an English folkdance typical of Suffolk and other East Anglian counties like Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex and Kent.
The traditional nature of the dance depicts the time of winter when all the fields are too frozen to grow vegetables and the poor farmers
have nothing to eat so they go around the village asking for alms.Today, they perform the dance probably to celebrate the end of summer which officially ended last week, the 21st of September.How lucky could we get! At exactly the same place where we had our lunch, the molly dancers were also there, eating. so we had a
chance to follow them where they performed their dance - at the village square. They actually went dancing around the pubs in the old town that day by way of tradition.
September 27th 2007
Sunday roast
Sunday roast
The pub where we had our Sunday roast
This whole plate of roast lamb costs £5.95, cheap in pub standards: a large piece of meat, yorkshire pudding, chips, boiled potatoes, gravy, vegetables on the side. Notice the sachets of sauce.
The counter where they take your order, and sit for a beer if you like
That green man is a member of the Molly-dancing troupe
September 26th 2007
A Green Sunday with SIL
September 26th 2007
Oktoberfest 2007
News from Munich:
Paris banned from the Festival
For promoting a brand of wine in a can in last year’s Oktoberfest, Paris Hilton was banished from this year’s festivities.
Accused to have betrayed the original and popular spirit of the festival, the organizers now prohibit everyone coming to do a promotion.
The festivities, which began Saturday, will see six million liters of beer pouring in sixteen days, according to first estimates.
Some six million visitors are expected on this 174th edition of the festival where Munich counts 1.2 million inhabitants. Tens of thousands of enthusiasts, most of them in Bavarian traditional costumes, already rushed this weekend between the open park and the 14 beer tents where beer is served. Foreigners cannot always judge how much they are able to drink and it is necessary for us sometimes to send them outside to take the air, explains Marie, 36 years old, a waitress.
(Le Matin Bleu 23 September 2007)
Oktoberfest numbers
6.9 millions liters of beer drank in 2006
878 meters of urinals
964 toilets (btw, they are spotlessly clean!)
243 tons of foodwaste
12 000 persons hired for the festival
Observation: the ‘ekkk’ part of the experience is when you get out of the park venue at around 11pm, you will see around you men collapsing on the road, lying next to their vomit… !!!
September 25th 2007
Woes on England
One of the richest countries in the world and it takes one week before an engineer could come to connect our telephone line.
Before that, it took me three days standing on public payphones, and you get charged by the minute if you use a private phone waiting for a human voice to speak on the other line. If not a busy line, they would subject you to recorded ads like, “Do you want to get cash out of your phone bill?
Before that, it took me three days standing on public payphones, and you get charged by the minute if you use a private phone waiting for a human voice to speak on the other line. If not a busy line, they would subject you to recorded ads like, “Do you want to get cash out of your phone bill?
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The saga of the never-been-connected telephone.
The telephone company from hell…errr.. excuse me, I am still penning up a good title for my next story about the telephone application I did a month ago, but cancelled before my rendezvous with an engineer who was supposed to connect the line, and now getting billed even without any telephone unit installed in the apartment.
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Most of the streets and parks in the city centre are filthy, it’s like, the contents of rubbish bins dumped and scattered all over.
Could be the lack of discipline or there are not enough street cleaners which leads one to think that street cleaning bills are not covered by council tax which each UK resident pays.
We live in the city centre of Leicester and we have long accepted the fact that this city is a dump! We could have looked for a house in the countryside but city living has its benefits, like, everything we need is just a walk away. But there is a price to pay! The chicken bones, McDonalds styrofoam boxes, beer cans and broken beer bottles we saw the first day we arrived are still there! I wonder whose responsibility it is to clean them.
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Going to French flea markets is free but in England you have to pay for an entrance fee.
We went to such market near Leicester and how shock we were when the man-at-the-entrace charged us 50pence to enter.!
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There is a gothic church just few steps to our apartment. The supposed-to-be sacred cemetery grounds surrounding the church are littered with rubbish coming from gangs and yobs who use the premises as their hangout. The church has long been abandoned but the gothic architecture is glorious that anybody in his right mind would cry seeing those graffiti and broken beer bottles now defacing it. Sadly, nobody seems to care, except the yobs who need a little privacy like everybody else.
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UK Big Brother
Ooopppsss…. too late!
Seen at a mall’s ladies’ restroom. I wonder what else they ban in the men’s…???
September 23rd 2007
Colmar
Fact: It was under Germany not only once but twice, hence the Germanic influence in architecture and food.
We are all aware that the Statue of Liberty was a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States to commemorate the alliance between the two countries during the American Revolution (1775-1783).
Now let us look at the birthtown of the sculptor, Auguste Bartholdi(1834-1904).
l
Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, creator of the Statue of Liberty
Colmar is an Alsatian town in northeast France 20-minute ride south from Strasbourg, .
It was in April 2005 on our way back home from H’s assignment in the UK that we, on impulse, took the exit to Colmar. Never did we realize that we would be blown away by the charm of the town. It’s no doubt one of the most beautiful places we’ve ever seen….
Did you know….The interesting twist about the Statue of Liberty is this:
the designer of the statue had a very different idea in mind for it!Frederic Auguste Bartholdi originally conceived of a new “Wonder of the World”, based on the ancient statue called the Colossus of Rhodes. This giant bronze statue was situated at the harbor entrance on the Greek island of Rhodes. It was, unfortunately, destroyed when an earthquake toppled it.
Bartholdi’s statue, a lady holding a lamp, was intended to be located at the then newly completed Suez Canal in Egypt, lighting the way to Asia! His proposal was turned down, and hence, ‘Plan B’ was implemented. The statue would then be destined to become what she is known as today!
So, Lady Liberty is not anything close to what she was originally intended to be!……About.com
September 19th 2007
Melton Mowbray
Melton Mowbray
Parking is a big rip-off!!
Ye olde pork pie shoppe selling traditional Melton pork pies
The interior of the pub. Never had the chance to dine there as it was fully booked at the time.
The pub in full view, with the 13th century St Mary’s church in the background
The Melton Mowbray Town Estate
Melton Mowbray is home to a rare example of early town government. The Town Estate was founded at the time of the
reformation, in 1549, when two townsfolk sold gold sequestered
from the church and bought land to be held in trust for all
inhabitants. The Town Estate provided early forms of education,
the first street lighting, and today owns and operates the town’s
parks and sportsgrounds, and the town’s market….Wikipedia
Playing cricket, a very English game
Flea market/car boot sale is held at the Cattle market every Sunday. Cattle market, so named because this is where they auction off cattles
Photodiary - January 2012
Roses for Valentine
A Valentine’s Day Photoshoot in Paris
Love messages for Valentine’s Day - French style
What winter caps to wear…when in Paris
Pre-Valentine Photowalking in Paris
Theme: Snow
To the Museum: Victoria and Albert
Theme: The London Tube
London Walk: From Exhibition Road to Kensington Gardens to Knightbridge
