One single plant has produced around £100 worth of redcurrants this year. I was somewhat amazed to find a few more the other day at the tail end of September. Tasted amazing. Thoroughly recommend a redcurrant plant for 2016.
Redcurrants from surrey
Redcurrants from surrey
Redcurrants from surrey
Redcurrants from surrey
Redcurrants from surrey
Written by the 14 year old and made me laugh.
One of the things that really annoys me is when people walk very, very slowly in front of you. Sometimes these people realize that there is in fact, somebody behind them and obligingly let you go past but most of the time they remain completely unaware, even if you do politely ask them if you could “just get through.” Apparently, this category of people tends to be both ignorant of your polite pleas and also surprisingly very slow indeed. As well as this, these people often seem to appear right when you are in a hurry, in airports for example. You have just gone through the whole rigmarole of trying to find your boarding cards, had your bag checked by security because there was some dangerous hand cream that was over 100mls and not in the plastic bag provided, and finally you settle down on the hard plastic seats before you realize that the departure screen for your flight is reading LAST CALL and you rush off to your gate which is not where the signposts state it is, and just as you are hurrying through those corridors, you are stopped by the people in front as they are walking as slow as is humanly possible. Possibly even slower than that in fact. Unfortunately for the fast walker type of people, the slower people not only can always be located directly in front of you, but also have the tendency to walk in large clumps of slow walking people. The only way out of this situation is to push through and apologize profusely, and hope that no other person has the misfortune to be stuck behind these people at any time that day.
Just a various eclectic mix of food photos taken in various locations. Nothing special. Just enjoy and be hungry.
Coconut Tart
Sliders and Beef Wellingtons
An unusual finding while walking around a swimming pool in Southern Spain. At first I thought it was leaves and twigs in an odd pattern but then when I picked it up realised that it was a fossilised dead bird, totally preserved and totally dried out. I have a number of photos and will post a few more later this week but one to keep you going.
Fossilised Dead Bird
View from Bedroom window. Sheets or large underwear?
This post I have to admit is a little unfair as being there for 2 days spent most of it underground in a conference room, cut off from the world seemingly. Awful telephone reception and little better wifi connection ( which at least was free). And then when one factors in a 12 hour sleep, to recover from missing a night, you can agree that my views of Milan are not exactly complete.
On balance I was not enthused about the city. The trip from Linate airport to the hotel did not inspire me and neither did the driving ability of the taxi driver, who gave a decent rendition of having ADHD. Those who are not familiar with ADHD just need to understand that the key symptoms of impulsive behaviours and/or inattention are not ideal qualities in a taxi driver in a busy city centre. The first learning was that pedestrians who step onto a crossing should consider a few things. Making a will would be obligatory and consideration to not crossing would also be a good judgement to make.
The streets were not full of colourful fashionistas nor shops and the restaurants did not make me want to jump out of the taxi. The same process was repeated on the return journey. The positives? Well certainly not the costs. Lets talk cocktails, not that I was offered any. In Spain where I was sunday night, a Pina Colada would cost 3.50 euros, and in the hotel here 11.50. The fact that they were advertising their drinks and prices in the elevator suggests they considered these prices reasonable.
On a positive note the food was good. A large lunch buffet and a meal of Salmon in breadcrumbs with aubergine that got me thinking it might make a good dinner party dish.
Rooms are always small in Italian hotels but this one really was. The view from the bedroom window was not exotic but did make my mind question whether what was hanging out was sheets or rather large underwear.
So I make my biased and unfair decision that Milan is off my holiday destination list. But lets give it a second chance as I am returning on friday and hopefully may see a little more. I may even take my camera.
Batalha monastery is in Batalha around 130 kms from Lisbon along a nice toll autoroute. In fact it is really the only major thing in Batalha. There is a nice hotel Villa Batalha and some nice restaurants, but without the monastery there is little to entice visitors. You cannot miss the monastery as it towers over the town and is a great landmark to find your way around.
The building took over 100 years to build starting in 1336 and represented the commemoration of a battle. An earthquake in 1775 did some damage and pillaging Napoleonic soldiers did rather more in 1811 but the restoration began in 1840 and was added to UNESCO world heritage sites in 1983. To view all the various segments takes around 2 hours and some degree of internal sat-nav. The Portuguese are not recognised for their signage skills and the first difficulty one has is finding the way in. The second one is to work out that although entrance to the main Nave is free, to get into all the interesting parts costs a mere 6 euros, but no-one actually tells you this. The ticket desk is in fact just that, a desk in the corner. The interior is beautiful. There are many tombs and chapels and there is little point me detailing these as Wikipaedia does a wonderful job. I will only focus on the curious architecture around the monastery. Roads seem unfinished. Piles of sand seem randomly deposited on the road blocking the way for example to the only hotel in the town. The town has great sports complexes, football grounds, swimming pools and even an athletic track. What seemed missing was people. The place other than a few dozen tourists was empty. Cafes and restaurants all with nice smelling foods were essentially empty. Maybe the rain did not help. This is a place worth visiting. A night in the Hotel Villa Batalha. A dinner in a restaurant . A 2 hour visit to the monastery and maybe some coffee and people watching in the squares. I like this place. Even the graffiti is worth looking at.
Woman Sleeping outside a shop. Presumably not dead
Batalha Monastery
Batalha Monastery
Piles of random sand in random roads in Batalha
Batalha Monastery
Soldiers in Batalha Monastery
Batalha Monastery
Batalha Monastery Soldier
Batalha Monastery
Batalha Monastery
Batalha Tree
Batalha Monastery
Batalha Monastery
Batalha Monastery
Portugal is not a country that UK folks travel widely to. Maybe a trip to the Algarve or a cruising stop in Lisbon. After a short trip there I must report that this is a great country to visit and remarkably cheap. Arriving at Lisbon airport one is greeted by a slightly run down airport that is undergoing some sort of renovation but this is not Terminal 5. The facilities are a little jaded. Drving out of the airport one is in an industrial hinterland where some familiar and some unfamiliar names can be seen. But it is when one gets 30 kms outside Lisbon that the scenery becomes green and old castles can start to be seen. There are mainly toll roads so driving 130 kms from Lisbon to Batalha will cost around 9 euros. The Portuegese in fact have invented the technology that allows a little electronic tag on the car windscreen that means that queueing at toll booths can be a thing of the past. The striking observations are what a hilly and mountainous country Portugal is. Just all up and down. Everywhere. The people are friendly but not all speak English. Some understand a lot but cannot speak much, but most smile a lot. Most things seem cheap. Around £1 buys you a bottle of water in a hotel room that would be double that in UK. Generally everywhere is more relaxed. On arrival at the hotel there is no interrogation about credit card etc, in fact no-one asked. Another quaint difference is that food is often served lukewarm rather than hot. Scrambled eggs and bacon at breakfast were if I were kind warm. I only got to stay in one hotel Villa Batalha hotel in Batalha. An incredibly good hotel, friendly, comfortable and with nice chairs and furniture all around, so no need to sit in a reception area such as is the norm in UK. The most striking observation however is that there are so few people around, now to put this into context this was 130 kms from Lisbon. But few cars, few people, little noise, nice looking sports facilities and so on. A place that is well worth coming, however one night in Batalha would be enough. Finally back at Lisbon airport, the airport lounges are distinctly not UK. A moany sort of woman asked for some healthy food, the stern girl said “you can have an apple”, and meant it! A woman in Batalha was either dead or sleeping soundly outside presumably her souvenir shop, now that something we do not see in Primark or Costa!
Batalha
Sometimes travelling for work has its pleasures and this is one such occasion. A routine British Airways flight was turned into a great experience by being upgraded to first class. Nice service and nice staff. Worth paying for? Definitely not. Save your money for your hotel room in Dubai. This hotel The Park Hyatt is superb. every little thing is special. The free coffee machine in the room, the two Danish Pastries left for an early morning arrival, the staff showing me how various things work in the room ( like the coffee machine). The balcony overlooks the marina and at sunset looks gorgeous. Not quite a Cayman Islands sunset but not too shabby either.
The Immigration process was not too bad either. Decent numbers of officials, quick entry and then quick exit from the airport. Terminal 5 please take notice. Busy enough but not too chaotic, so all in all a great first impression. Some unusual birds pecking away on the lawn next the marina, bizarre colourings, have no idea what they are. Now wishing that I had brought my cameras…….
But work to do, an ADHD talk to write. 
Arriving back at Terminal 5 Heathrow on a tuesday afternoon at around 4.30pm it took around an hour to get through border control. There are many genuine reasons as to why that might be the case. A sudden flux of planes all arriving unexpectedly, complex cases to evaluate. I have some sympathy. But on this occasion I had none. The delay was caused by incompetence, stupidity and in all possibility deliberately wanting passengers to queue.
The queue to go through the EU passport section was longer than the other sections and even the Iris recognition queue extended back to the back of the room.
So having queued I arrived towards the front desks and what did I observe. Firstly, there were 3 desks, all manned for the purpose of dealing with those folks who get rejected by the Iris recognition scheme. This does happen. However I would estimate that the three border control officers saw maybe between them 10 passengers in this hour. They made no effort to call over the people waiting in the queue.
At the front of the queue there were 2 border control officers dealing with the whole queue, together with a trainee just looking on……..There were at least 5 empty stations. So in total they could have had 10 officers dealing with the queue but decided to have 2. Why? Who plans these debacles? Why can they not change things when they see a huge queue? Simple question but can I have an answer please? Terminal 5 Border control is a poorly run organisation and on tuesday this week had zero regard for passengers and zero leadership amongst its staff to put things right.
Although I have been to Stockholm a few times I have never truly appreciated what a pleasant city it is. This time snowbound, everything looked cute but everything worked. Trains and planes and cars were all on time, taxi drivers spoke eloquently and engaged passengers in meaningful conversation. The people all looked young. Maybe the old ones get locked away in some sinister plot. As one arrives at Arlanda Airport, they really do play ABBA music to welcome you and photos of famous people like ABBA and Roxette adorn the walls of the luggage reclaim area. T
There is a price to pay and that is literally true. This city is expensive and is best visited when someone is paying the bill. A Croque Monseiour would cost you over 12£. Coffee usually is around 4-5£. Hotels are pleasant places where receptionists are helpful and smile. They are also warm. One of main complaints this last winter has been arriving at Marriott hotels to find that the room heating has been switched off for seemingly the last millennium. On my arrival it happily gets turned on but then takes the length of my stay to warm the room up.
The characters in Stockholm also are straight from the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I could have cast that film many times just by sitting in a cafe and looking around. Lastly the food. It is good. The restaurants have a kind of laid back attitude where service is good but not to the point of being obsequious. Tables have gingham cloth covers and serve you pretty much what you want. I had Meatballs. I could have had massive Steaks. This is a place to come back to, but please someone invite me and pay my bills while I am there. The street names are right out of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo like Sodermalm.
chris1957
Arcticterntalk.org 
