Thursday, July 01, 2010
Trying day
Something has either happened to my taste buds or to the blue cap whole milk from Mr. S.. Tea in bed tasted bad this morning. I accused the BH of having used soya milk instead of blue cap; horror of horrors. A crime which she denied. Then, this evening, I make my own tea with a newly thawed one pint plastic bottle of blue cap and it tastes just the same. I notice that this newly thawed bottle claims to be less than 4% fat - as if this was something to be proud of. Having taken on some cargo, I am not sure that the last bottle didn't say 5%. But then, why should it matter? Tea is made up of hot water plus chemicals dissolved out of tea bags. If I then add milk which is cold water plus some other chemicals, why should it matter what the concentration of those chemicals is? I can always add a bit more. OK, so the brew gets a bit colder, but that should only mean that one gets at the cuppa a bit faster than one might otherwise.
But the fact remains that the cuppa in the hand reminds me of the cuppa fortified with green cap milk - less than 2% active ingredients. And it does not taste too good at all. A fact that can probably be denied by infusion of SC & lemonade.
Before the tea problem kicked in, I had been paying a visit to Garrett Lane. Where I find that the first segment heading east from Earlsfield station is fairly healthy, but that the second segment is not. Lots of shops and restaurants to let, not least the establishment called 'Kazans' which we had happily visited on at least two occasions in the last year or so. Maybe we are in a period of transition where the older shops, doing things like selling beef on the bone, paint and nails, die out while the newer shops catering to the tastes of the bright young things of whom Earlsfield seems to be full are sprouting up and taking their chance in the commercial jungle. But there is a bit of friction here. Some of the shops get to be empty some of the time while this all sorts itself out.
Further east still, I came across a screw shop, the owner of which had decided that old-speak screws which tapered were out and that new-speak screws which did not taper and which could be driven into softwood without having to bother to drill a hole, were in. As a result of which I acquire 200 steel countersunk 1.5 inch No. 6 for £1 and 200 steel countersunk 2.0 inch No. 10 for £2. OK so they are not proper GKN screws, but at least they are steel coloured. Not those silvery, aluminium coloured jobs you get in car booters. On reflection, I should have taken some 1.0 inch screws - a size of which I use quite a lot of and the last consignment of which seem to have some kind of star head for which I do not have a screwdriver. Not a very good bargain at all.
Plus, I am not at all sure about these thin self tapping screws. They give quite a good fix in the vertical direction but I am not at all sure about lateral thrust. I think that one of these thin screws is going to wobble in the hole in a way that a fat screw would not. Just think of the short fat screws traditionally used to fix doors to door frames.
Having got a screw result, adjourned to the Polish grocery where, inter alia, they sold a lot of loose sausage, including kabanos which they assured did not include cheese, unlike some of the kabanos sold by Waitrose. They turned out to be very dry, tasting of fish somehow. Rather good, so I shall go there again.
The visit closed with re-entry to the suburban world at Earlsfield Station. Now it might be true, as observed on 29 June, that one can have a fag on the platform without being troubled. But you certainly could not walk past the station today with anything more noxious in your pockets as there was a considerable police presence there, complete with two sniffer dogs, a presence which was present, to my knowledge, for at least three hours. At least the two dog handlers had bothered to put a uniform of sorts on. Sadly, the two chaps whom they had seen fit to stop were rather sullen looking young black men. Well, OK, maybe they are more likely to be carrying said noxious substances, but it does not create a very good impression. When are we going to see the light? I am told the Portuguese have and I shall have to find out how they are getting on.
# posted by Jim @ 12:27 PM 
