pumpkinstrokemarrow

But getting on and off the trains rather more intimidating, especially when there is maybe a 50cm gap between the platform edge and the carriage edge. Just as well that there are large yellow grab rails just inside the doors, these rails coming with the last refurbishment, replacing something which was rather less crock friendly. Getting off slightly more challenging than getting on. Maybe the expensive sounding contraptions which raise and lower buses so that there is virtually no step at all are worth their while after all. Next challenge a tube train.

Home Broadband up and running again after a service break of something under 48 hours. The Help desk was unable to fix the problem remotely but was able to send an engineer round the following day, that is today, Saturday. Engineer turned up in the middle of the agreed half day slot. Put some test equipment on the line and went off somewhere. Came back, removed test equipment, went off somewhere else. After a decent interval he phones to say that has fixed something, which is encouraging. One feels more confident if he actually does something to get the service back, rather than it just springing into life spontaneously. Service has now been back for a couple of hours.

Had the top rib mentioned above today. Weighed in at 7 pounds and decided to give it 3 hours at 170C, which I now know is equivalent to the relatively low gas mark 3. An issue as I always time my meat roasting using our trusty Radiation cook book - 'Radiation', presumably, being the name of some long lost line in gas cookers. I think my Mum had one. Oven opened just the once to insert parsnips. Meat left to rest in oven for 10 minutes after shut down. Good stuff, with just a whiff of pink in the interior and I propose to have some in sandwiches later - but I think if I ever manage to get the cut again I might go for 4 hours at 160C. A more chewy cut than fore rib so cool and long rather than hot and short indicated. Parsnips were about 2 inches across and 6 inches long. Cut in half length wise, coated in dripping by tossing them around the frying pan for a few minutes, before giving them the last hour of the meat. Spot on; the secret here being to roast big lumps rather than small lumps. Mashed potato with butter in the usual way. Pointy cabbage from Spain via Waitrose. Decent enough, but a bit feeble compared with the pointy cabbage which grows in England a bit later in the year. I suspect this Spanish stuff of having been forced in a poly-tunnel and being a bit feeble in consequence.

For afters, finished off the last of the wind-fall cooking apples donated by various neighbours. Preparation and removal of grot a bit of a pain, but apples themselves fine. Boiled for a few minutes in water which had previously been sugared and brought to the boil.

In between whiles, been having a thought experiment about airport security checks. Suppose 90% of the population is normal. That is to say that the outer corners of the eyes and the tip of the nose make an isosceles right triangle, sloping back from the nose up to the eyes, with the right angle at the nose. Suppose also that in the case of the other 10% of the population, the same three points make an equilateral triangle. Over the years this other 10% have had to put up with a lot of ragging and worse about their equilateral triangles.

Unfortunately, at any one time, about 1 in 10,000,000 of the equilaterals has an internal tumour which will spontaneously explode when it reaches 10,000 feet. The propensity to have such a tumour can be reduced by smoking, which seems to interfere with the various sub-atomic processes involved. There have been just three recorded cases of an exploding tumour in an isosceles.

We now turn our minds to how this might work in a world with much air travel. The tumours are very fast growing and only show up on a full body scan - the sort involving a surgical gown, radio activity and about 10 minutes a pop - shortly before they become dangerous. Most people prefer to go through the procedure in a single sex environment. This means that checks up-front are not going to work and we are going to have a lot of expense and delay at airports. But there is hope. One can buy a scanner which can reliably distinguish an equilateral from an isosceles. Can be used to screen a long queue of people without anyone in the queue having to do anything. Quick, cheap and effective. So now we can segregate the equilaterals from the isosceleses (?). Isosceleses report for check-in ten minutes before take off. After and full and fair consultation conducted by the electoral reform society, it is decided that we can neglect the risk of an exploding isosceles. Then equilaterals have a choice. They can either check into an equilaterals only flight - including staff (all volunteers), or they can check in 250 minutes before take off and queue up for the full body scan. Unfortunately the equilaterals cried foul. Geometrical discrimination. Take the matter to the European Commission for Geometric Rights (ECGR). ECGR responded well within the time allowed in their service agreement, blocking any further air travel until they have had time to rule on this ticklish matter, including the business of the single sex environment.