Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Resting in peace
The remains of the turkey failed to rest in peace. The last half pint of soup, resting next to the boiler chimney (yes, our house is ancient enough for the gas boiler to be permitted by OIC gas safety to use a chimney), started to ferment and was bubbling gently when found. We resisted the temptation to pursue the home brew angle.
Allotment continues with the start of this year's runner bean trench. About two and a half feet wide and one foot deep (that is to say taking the trench down to the subsoil) then fill with compost and back fill. The compost comes from the two year old, Eastern half of the outdoor pallet contained compost heap. Did the Western half last year. The outer few inches are more or less hay but inside most of the compost looks remarkably like earth - some of it clayey even. Some livestock but nothing like as much as in the house compost heap - which of gets a lot more kitchen waste - including meat, fish and fat which the heap trusties do not approve of - and is more enclosed and more damp. Maybe a lot more earth gets in with the weeds than one thinks.
Planted two and a half strawberry plants, courtesy of the Cambridge crew. The half plant being a runner which is trying hard to root. Maybe now that I have covered it up, it will. My first venture into soft fruit since acquiring an allotment.
Picked up the Pakenham book again. On which topic I was interested to read in the LRB that during the first world war, other things being equal, an Irishman in the English army had a four times higher chance of being executed for cowardice. I wonder how I could check such an assertion? That said, 300 or so in four years stikes me as an amazingly low number given the what was going on. LRB goes on to say that the French and Italians executed rather more and the Germans a lot less.
And picked up from the Galbraith book on Iraq the interesting fact that despite all the ballyhoo about African yellowcake before the event (which I believe turned out to be based on faulty or sloppy intelligence), no-one bothered after the fall of Iraq to secure the legitimate supplies of the stuff already known to have been there, several tons of which having now gone missing. Along with substantial quantities of other things that one would rather did not fall into the wrong hands. What a mess.
Last interesting fact, from Thomas on Cortes, launches a question. Hernan Cortes managed to grab Mexico with a suprisingly small number of men. William the Conquerer grabbed England with a small number of men - although granted proportionally rather more. So what did William do right that he got to keep England, whereas Hernan got kicked out by the civil servants and retired, albeit reasonably rich, to Seville?
Allotment continues with the start of this year's runner bean trench. About two and a half feet wide and one foot deep (that is to say taking the trench down to the subsoil) then fill with compost and back fill. The compost comes from the two year old, Eastern half of the outdoor pallet contained compost heap. Did the Western half last year. The outer few inches are more or less hay but inside most of the compost looks remarkably like earth - some of it clayey even. Some livestock but nothing like as much as in the house compost heap - which of gets a lot more kitchen waste - including meat, fish and fat which the heap trusties do not approve of - and is more enclosed and more damp. Maybe a lot more earth gets in with the weeds than one thinks.
Planted two and a half strawberry plants, courtesy of the Cambridge crew. The half plant being a runner which is trying hard to root. Maybe now that I have covered it up, it will. My first venture into soft fruit since acquiring an allotment.
Picked up the Pakenham book again. On which topic I was interested to read in the LRB that during the first world war, other things being equal, an Irishman in the English army had a four times higher chance of being executed for cowardice. I wonder how I could check such an assertion? That said, 300 or so in four years stikes me as an amazingly low number given the what was going on. LRB goes on to say that the French and Italians executed rather more and the Germans a lot less.
And picked up from the Galbraith book on Iraq the interesting fact that despite all the ballyhoo about African yellowcake before the event (which I believe turned out to be based on faulty or sloppy intelligence), no-one bothered after the fall of Iraq to secure the legitimate supplies of the stuff already known to have been there, several tons of which having now gone missing. Along with substantial quantities of other things that one would rather did not fall into the wrong hands. What a mess.
Last interesting fact, from Thomas on Cortes, launches a question. Hernan Cortes managed to grab Mexico with a suprisingly small number of men. William the Conquerer grabbed England with a small number of men - although granted proportionally rather more. So what did William do right that he got to keep England, whereas Hernan got kicked out by the civil servants and retired, albeit reasonably rich, to Seville?
# posted by Jim @ 9:30 AM 
