pumpkinstrokemarrow

Reminded on opening the oven door of the blast of heat you get from a hot oven. Without glasses on I dare say one could do serious damage. Do oven masters in commercial kitchens have to wear protective head gear?

We thought about cooking the two legs in a joined up fashion, as they had not been separated at the time of arrival at the butcher. But we decided that this would complicate carving without adding anything to the appearance of the thing. Entire sheep one thing, back end of sheep quite another. We also decided to remove the hip bones.

I noted with interest the suggestion from our esteemed secretary of state for Her Majesty's transport in yesterday's DT that the better off amongst us should leave our freedom passes at home and pay our bus fares like other folk, thus reducing the bill - more than £1b I think - for this concession. A suggestion which fell on deaf ears in my household. I have also been peddling my voluntary donation scheme of June 15 in various places, also on deaf ears. But all this reminded me of a scheme which I recall being told about in school 50 years ago, to the effect that rather than bothering to send a cheque to the Bank of England, addressed to the Consolidated Fund, you simply burn a bank note. I imagine, then as now, that the transaction charge associated with a cheque is more than the cost of printing the bank note, so burning, leaving aside any possible global warming consequences, is the better deal. As an experiment, I tried burning a bank note this morning. Didn't quite have the buzz that sending a cheque to the Bank of England (with the possibility of pompous reply on fancy notepaper) would have had, confirming the old wisdom that private charity is more virtuous than public charity.

I remain puzzled that the idea of voluntary donation falls on deaf ears, even among people fairly happy to pay their share. Or fairly happy to give substantial sums to charity. They don't mind suffering whatever the government thrusts upon them but they are jolly well not going to volunteer.

I close with my understanding of the cuts equation. Item 1, Great Britain as a whole is gobbling up a lot more than it is growing. The deficit being made up by selling off great chunks of said place. Item 2, the government part of Great Britain is spending (on us) a lot more than it is collecting in tax. The deficit is made up by borrowing, with the lenders (mostly overseas) getting a bit restive. Item 3, the distribution of wealth in Great Britain has become very unhealthy with a small number of people at the top of the heap having a great deal of money. Items 1 and 2 mean that we are in for a burst of austerity. A reduction in living standards, a reduction in wealth or both. Item 3 means that we should take some care to be fair about these reductions. People at the bottom of the heap need to see some pain at the top of the heap if they are to contribute without great squawkings and squeakings.