Windy - wet with the odd cold sunny day. It’s November in Innellan
We have been busy dressing our ground floor bedroom in preparation for our first guests this year. The last time we let our rooms out with Airbnb was when we were in the other house, along the road. Felt it was time to earn a few bob, but more importantly it give me the opportunity to chat with people. No cruising for nearly two years has left me hungry for human contact. Especially as our longed for escape to the Caribbean on the QM2 this November was cancelled at the last minute. Check out our listing on Airbnb
Have been test cooking various pastries for breakfast. Good excuse for a sugar rush. Check out these two recipes, the Nadia adaption on a soda bread recipe is amazingly good. Chocolate and caramel soda bread and breakfast pastries, both saved on my Pininterest site, a useful tool to store recipes.
Managed to get into Glasgow before the Cop26 circus arrived. Took a friend who had been staying with us for a tour of the main sites. 30000 steps and 12.5 miles. From the Cathedral and the Acropolis in the East to Kelvingrove Museum and the Botanical gardens in the West. Exhausting day, but in a good way.
Stayed over with the intention of celebrating Judith’s birthday, with lunch at Cote Brasserie. Unfortunately, gales that disrupted the ferry service scuppered that. We had to dash back early to ensure we weren’t stranded.
The foot passenger ferry had been cancelled due to storm force winds, but we were eventually taken over to the car ferry terminal, crossing just prior to that being cancelled.
Back to COP26 which is taking up the airways 24/7. Despite pledges made at the climate summit we are still nowhere near to limiting global temperatures. It seems we are heading for 2.4C of warming. Some countries have announced voluntary agreements, but l am not convinced enough countries will commit to phasing out fossil fuels, especially if you listen to Australia’s language on the subject. The mining community are defiant on the future of Coal.
It’s not all gloom and doom, there are lots of agreements coming out. Morrisons is hoping a seaweed diet for cows will reduce methane in the atmosphere. But we all can help by reducing the amount of meat we consume ourselves. Judith and l are eating less meat, without any withdraw symptoms or longing. In fact, we tend to only eat red meat on special occasions. We then go to town, a juicy rib of beef with all the trimmings, or a ribeye steak, cafe de Paris butter melting on top, served with thick cut chips. Delicious.
Or another favourite, a good burger.
Some photos just jump off the page. You can smell and taste this burger.
Sauté sliced onions in duck fat,Fry bacon, Season chopped farm beef with salt and pepper. Moulding to round. Fridge for an hour, Heat griddle. Place beef on griddle. Smash to 1/4 of an inch cook add cheddar flip set aside.
Pan fry brioche bread seasoned with mayo salt and pepper until golden on both sides. Pan fry egg, Assemble burger, brioche-burger-brioche-easy over egg-onions-sliced jalapeños-chopped kale.
Enjoy.
But after that meat fest of recipes, a must try vegetarian. A dish that everyone loves. Mac and cheese. But this one, once again from Nigella is the best l have ever tasted. It’s creamy, full of flavour, and every mouthful is a gem. So much so that you keep going back for seconds.
Sweet potato Mac & Cheese. Truly wonderful, so rich and creamy without being sickly with the pasta retaining its bite. Substituted mozzarella for the feta cheese. Real comfort food for a cold wet day.
On the healthy eating trip, just down loaded onto kindle books, the 800 calorie fast diet book, well worth looking at, some interesting dishes and daily menus.
We are hoping to get to travel with our friends on the Ghan and The Indian Pacific whilst in Australia. The trains are a bit like the famous Orient Express in Europe, but more up to date with toilets in the cabins. A must for someone who is up a few times in the night due to my prostate.
Both routes work a bit like an all inclusive cruise on wheels. You often travel while you sleep, giving you time during the day, when the train is in station refuelling or taking on provisions, to explore your surroundings.
But the planning will have to wait until the return leg is booked.
As the age thing kicks in and travel insurance prices increase exponentially it’s worthwhile to understand what’s available and how the companies determine if you are a risk or not. It’s amazing how your efforts can be scuppered for being the wrong age or living in the wrong place. The which guide have some answers and advise.
Interesting to find out why they called this oil WD-40. But do we believe Richard Cole’s. Sounds like an April Fool to me. But then again, it is November.
Confirmation - It is true. WD-40 stands for Water Displacement, 40th formula. That's the name straight out of the lab book used by the chemist who developed the product.
The Pencil was built in 1912, to commemorate the Battle of Largs 1263, when the Scots defeated King Haco of Norway's troops on the shore at Largs.
Just too windy and rough to get out in the Kayak. Plus at this time of year you need specialist gear, mainly a dry suite, and at £600 a pop, it’s not high on my list of priorities. Well not until l am totally sure kayaking is going to be a regular must do.
So it’s five weeks of training in the Dunoon pool. Learning the rescue techniques, underwater escapes and finally the roll.
First night and the instructor gave us his safety talk. Explained how difficult it was in getting in and out of a kayak in a pool, it’s so unstable. Especially this type, you only have to breath in the wrong direction and you capsize.
Gave us a briefing, explained that if we get into trouble and you can’t get out, thump twice on the hull whilst submerged and fighting for breath.
Instructors would immediately come to our assistance. But if it’s serious, everyone will need to vacate the pool whilst it is sorted.
inspired us with great confidence, especially when he explained where the defibrillator was stored.
Glorious sun breaking through, climbing up behind the hills in Renfrewshire.
A glorious weekend of Rugby. Feet up, can of Brewdog in hand. Total inactivity whilst watching high octane activity on the field.
Scotland were doing so well against South Africa but failed in the second half. Ran out of steam. England did well against Australia, but the most exciting game was Ireland against the All blacks. Absolutely superb game.
Bute ferry crossing the Clyde with the late afternoon sun making it sparkle.
We have both had our booster jab at long last. Tried to download the tracking app which proves you have been vaccinated.
After well over 100 attempts it still doesn’t work. No wonder the app only receives 2 out of 5 for operational ability.
Meanwhile good news up in Scotland, Glasgow has the lowest rate of Covid in Scotland with virtually no cases. Nevertheless the SNP warned that fresh restrictions can’t be ruled out to curb the spread over Christmas.
Meanwhile frontline health workers in England need to be vaccinated by April, Singapore will stop covering medical costs for those who decline to be vaccinated. And in Austria, any person refusing to take the vaccine has to self isolate. Interesting to see how various nations are attempting the spread of covid.
This weekend it has been predominantly dry, so out in the garden, preparing for winter.
Headed out to the local stables and collected well rotted horse manure, topping the front beds, allowing the frosts and worms to do their work over the next few months.
Then a couple of trips down to the beach to collect seaweed to put on top of the vegetable raised beds and also to mix with the compost. Adds plenty of good stuff to the mix.
Whilst on the subject of compost, read a humorous article in the Times magazine about being environmentally aware in your own life. A lot of green thoughtful suggestions that could be easily replicated in all our own lives. But the underlying message is quite obvious. The changes are for us as individuals. If you make it personal, you take ownership. Need to think - Save for ME.ME,ME
I for one enjoy composting waste materials, it saves destroying peat bogs, but more importantly it gives me a good quality growing medium for free. Did you know the average family sends 1.9kilo of compostable waste to landfill daily. Over half a ton per year. That’s 14 million tons in Britain alone.
Inexpensive wormers will even take discarded cooked food and turn it into food for your plants.
Other efforts that are easily put into operation.
It’s a no brainier to switch to reusable cotton buds, face wipes and bottom wipes. The latter safeguarding you from the supermarket shortage on toilet paper. Personally, l prefer the Indian method of using a hose with a shower attachment. A poor mans automatic bum washing machine.
One final move
Remembrance Sunday.
Spend ten minutes watching bbc news, or scrolling through social media , and it would be easy to think the world was going down the tubes. But surprisingly enough, if you look hard and stay positive you can find quite a bit of Good news these days.
In fact l get the feeling that people are becoming kinder and more thoughtful.
It’s great to see.
In Glasgow the restaurant company Six By Nico have announced an opening date for their new, charitable restaurant. All profits from Beat 6, which will make its home on Whitehill Street, will go directly towards the Beatson Cancer Charity.
This weekend, deaf strictly dancing star, Rose Ayling-Ellis performed part of the dance in silence, void of music. Giving everyone the opportunity to experience the world of a death person. The response from the public was fantastic. Empathy throughout the nation. The appreciation of what a death person lives with on a daily basis.
Every day huge amounts of food are thrown away as supermarkets offload produce that has passed its best-before date; restaurants, cafés and bakeries dispose of uneaten meals and foods for similar reasons. Now an app called Too Good to Go is reducing this waste. Users can see which outlets in their neighbourhood have surplus food available that day, which they can then pick up at closing time. The app helps households on restricted budgets, providing an estimated 100,000 meals a day, and also plays a part in mitigating climate change.
Then we had the weatherman.
The generosity of people who contributed to the amazing amount raised for children in need was amazing.
BBC weather presenter, Owain Wyn Evans, has raised more than three-million pounds by completing a 24-hour 'drumathon'.
He finished off his epic set with Britney Spears's hit track, Baby One More Time.
Watch as Owain is joined by fifty drummers to play the BBC theme tune.
The BBC's Children in Need has announced an impressive grand total for 2021's telethon.
The three-hour live special on BBC One concluded late Friday (November 19) with the big announcement that £39,389,048 had been raised directly from the TV appeal.
It’s that special time again, and Judith has started in earnest, bedecking the house with all manner of Christmas decorations.
Christmas movies are being watched everyday as she packs the Christmas presents and start making cards for our family.
Fortunately Amazon have done an early Christmas delivery, so all the presents are already obtained. So no last minute pressures. Other than the odd confectionery or fruit based gift.
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