June arrives, and so does the rain. And a lot more.
Description
Have you ever tried to hold a wriggling fish in your hands? If you have, you will know how tricky this is; they invariably get away, leaving you with slimy fingers. The same is true of trying to grasp reality; our own perception shapes its meaning, and perceptions can vary constantly, altering this reality and leaving us with those sticky fingers. Do you believe we can catch and hold on to that fish, identify and understand our reality? Let’s go fishing…
Nicola Sturgeon to launch fresh Scottish independence campaign
Scene setter paper for Independence
The first paper on the new independence push - entitled 'Wealthier, Happier, Fairer: Why Not Scotland?' - will be a "scene setter" which will compare Scotland and the UK to other European countries and set out why the government believes the country would be better off if it were independent.
Pity she doesn’t resolve the lingering problems of high levels of drug abuse.
More than 1,300 people died of drug misuse in Scotland last year, with Scotland seeing a record number of deaths for the seventh year in a row.
Then there is the stink of corruption from the fiasco surrounding the building of new ferries for the islands. The cost so far is £240m, two-and-a-half times the original budget, and it’s the tax payers who are footing the bill. Not to mention the failing health and education system.
She would be better devoting her time on resolving these problems than that of trying to become the first Queen of Scotland. Then again, she seems to be Teflon coated, and could well achieve her obsession.
SNP 'amateurs' slated over fears jinxed CalMac ferry engines will NOT work after years of ship building chaos
Chargrilled summer salad - just the ticket for these hot sunny days. We will try it once the summer arrives.
4tbs Rapeseed oil
¾ tsp salt
1¼ tsp ground cumin
1½ tsp ground coriander
¾ tsp chilli powder
2 tbsp lemon juice
First, make the dressing. Put 4 tablespoons of oil into a small bowl, add the salt, cumin, coriander, chilli powder and lemon juice, and set aside.
2 courgettes
300g Tenderstem broccoli
2 red onions
2 corn cobs, dehusked
Cut the courgettes lengthways into 0.5cm-thick slices. Trim the broccoli, and break bigger branches into individual stems. Peel and cut the onions into eighths. (If griddling, separate the onions into ‘petals’.) Put a griddle pan on a high flame. Brush the vegetables all over with oil, and dunk the broccoli in oil, so the florets are coated. When the pan is very hot, lay in the courgettes in a single layer and grill for 2 minutes on each side, until pleasingly striped, then transfer to a platter.
Grill the onions for 5 minutes, until soft and blackened, then place on top of the courgettes. Grill the broccoli for 1½ to 3 minutes: you want to cook the stems without burning the florets, so use tongs to press the stems down, adding a splash of water to create some steam. Once tender, place on top of the onions.
Using tongs, hold each cob over a medium flame on the hob for about 5 minutes, rotating every 30 seconds or so, when the kernels start to blister and char. When the corn is cool enough to handle, stand it up in a bowl and cut down the length of the cob, close to the core, to shuck the kernels. Scatter these on top of the salad, whisk the dressing with a fork, pour over the top and gently toss to coat. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Burger bun recipe
It’s from the fabulous baker brothers cook book.
The one l made was the cheese and onion seed bap
Put dry yeast
300ml tepid water
500g strong white
10g salt
50g lard
15g onion seed
20g sugar
50g grated cheese
Stir dry yeast into water
Add salt into flour, mix and then add water and yeast, the lard, onion seed and sugar and mix in the mixer with a dough hook. Just when it resembles a raggedy dough, incorporate the cheese.
Knead for ten minutes in the mixer. Cover and leave for30/60 minutes until it doubles in size.
Now the easy bit.
Remove from the bowl, place on a floured work surface. Roll out to 2.5 cm thick. Cut out with. 40mm round cutter.
Place on a baking tray, dust with Flor , cover and allow to rise for an hour.
Bake at 230 for 10 minutes.
Alternative plain rolls.
Put dry yeast
300 ml water
500g strong flour
10g salt
50g lard
20g sugar.
Method just the same.
Enjoy.
By the way, l put an inspection lamp in the oven whilst it’s off, and that provides enough heat to prove the dough.
Interesting to note that the median salary for a train driver is £59,000, compared with £31,000 for a nurse and £21,000 for a care worker.
It doesn’t help matters when you read about top executives being given massive pay increases. The chief executive of Birmingham Airport has been given a 49% pay rise, Nick Barton's annual wage has risen from £399,000 to £595,000, and Heathrow's chief executive has received an annual salary increase of 85% to almost £1.5m a year, and the boss at Manchester Airport Group had a pay rise of 25% to £2.5m.
And now BT employers union boss Dave Ward said he can't promise if 999 calls will be affected by the forthcoming industrial action.
It seems that we are heading back to the 70s with a winter of discontent. If you remember, between November 1978 and February 1979 widespread strikes by the private and public sector crippled the country. Trade Unions brought the U.K. to its knees. Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan and his Labour Party government had been imposing pay limits to control inflation.
Sounds familiar.
Organised by Mull Car Club, the Dunoon Presents Argyll Rally is a closed-road asphalt stage event, bringing some of the best rally drivers in the UK to the region to tackle some of the finest roads in Scotland. Glorious sunshine.
Weekend of music at Glastonbury. Not physically attending but from the comfort of our own home, in front of the box watching catchup. Never really fancied going, too many people, too much mud (normally). And do l want to queue for hours to go to the loo. Especially with my prostate problem. The only music festival l attended was when l was 19 and working in the summer break on the isle of white. Went to their first top liner musical festival, featuring the band and Bob Dylan. Cost me £2 for the day ticket. Lot of money in those days. Especially when you consider my weekly wage for working 3 shifts a day, seven days a week, no days off was £10.
Got there at 8pm and Dylan eventually arrived around midnight. Got back to the lodgings around 4am and had to be up to serve breakfast at 7am. The days of youthful carefree exuberance.
Watching the various bbc playbacks was entertaining, although l didn’t recognise hardly any of the hundreds of musicians. Showing my age. Was able to keep zapping forward until we found something we liked. Must say, those were few and far between. Rap, heavy metal and reggie are not my favourite. Enjoyed Billie Eilish, her show was the total package. All encompassing. Entertaining.
The crowd loved her. Everyone seemed to know every word of every song. Was that the case when we were young. Would imagine it was.
Then we had the gospel singer, Gabriel’s, followed by years & years , elbow and Celeste with star shaped hair style. And we still haven’t managed to watch the epic grandad, Paul McCartney. We have that pleasure to come.
RRR
A Bollywood film
This clip makes me smile, it also makes me want to go and see the film.
Click the link below to watch a clip on Twitter. It’s infectious.
https://twitter.com/michaelwarbur17/status/1536400953091444736?s=21&t=Fk2tPPZk_Wyx_OMl_wvPVA
https://twitter.com/rainmaker1973/status/1539674369672232961?s=11&t=JQKem-aYmaMwhX12ZY3b-w
Laser weed killing, far more environmentally friendly. With the added benefit of not contributing to Putin’s war on Ukraine. Russia being one of the largest exporters of fertiliser.
Carbon Robotics' Autonomous Weeder can kill over 100,000 weeds/hour using 8 simultaneously operating laser modules that deliver quick zaps on emerging weeds.
On a test track in Luxembourg, a Tesla Model 3 is twisting through tight corners, accelerating rapidly, and doing emergency stops. Standard stuff. What's remarkable, though, is the car is sitting on four airless tyres - made by Goodyear, the US manufacturer.
Special plastic spokes, support a thin, reinforced rubber tread. The spokes flex and contort as the car goes through its paces.
Heavy battery weight means airless structures are particularly suited to electric vehicles. "You can carry more load with a more compliant feel than in an air tyre," Mr Rachita says.
On the other hand, airless tyres have a greater contact patch with the road, increasing the drag. This rolling resistance uses more energy to drive the tyres forward - with implications for battery life and range.
And then there's noise - the hum of rubber-on-road.
One of the most obvious ways people waste stuff is by chucking it in the bin when it's still usable. So to start, if you've an almost-finished item, here's how to eke out every last bit:
1. Tubes of toothpaste, tomato puree and more
Believe it or not, you can actually buy special toothpaste squeezers .But Forumites reckon a perfectly good MoneySaving alternative is to use a bulldog clip (or clothes peg) to help squeeze the tube.
Alternatively, use a jar or tin to roll along the tube and push the contents to the end, or if you have a wallpaper seam roller or one of these bag clips lying around, MoneySavers say they can be the perfect tool for squeezing the last of the toothpaste out. Of course, you can simply cut the tube open.
2. Jam or honey
If you've got some old jam or honey that's crystallised, put the jar in warm water, or in the oven for few minutes (to save energy, you can do this as the oven's cooling after cooking). It'll warm up and liquify the dregs.
3. Cooking sauce, tinned tomatoes etc
Add a bit of water, swish around to get the last bits out, then add the lot to your cooking.
4. Salad dressing
Add a little vinegar to the bottle – the liquid will help loosen the rest of the dressing, and as dressing often has vinegar in it anyway, it's nicer than simply watering it down.
5. Consider getting a special 'jar scraper'
You may already own a spatula, which can be handy for tasks such as scraping cake mixture from bowls. But MoneySavers say you can also buy special small versions, designed to help you get the last scrapings from a jar.
6. Nail polish
Adding a drop of nail varnish remover can help refresh old bottles of polish – it works by thinning out nail varnish which has dried up.
7. Moisturiser
Even when you think the tube or bottle is empty, cut the end off and you'll likely find a lot of product left inside. If there's enough for more than one day, simply slide the end back onto the tube to avoid it drying out.
8. Foundation and mascara
Place the (sealed) container in warm water for a few seconds – it'll loosen it up.
9. Lipstick
Use a lip brush to get the last of the stick out, once it's gone below the rim.
Once you've started cutting out waste, you'll find there are plenty of other simple things you can do. Try the following in the bathroom or kitchen:
10. Save old toothbrushes
To clean taps and in between tiles.
11. Put the plug in the bath while showering
Then scoop out the water for houseplants or your garden.
12. Use bath/shower water to flush the toilet
While this could save you money if you're on a water meter, one MoneySaver says they do it mainly for environmental reasons. You can either pour water directly into the toilet bowl (the pressure of the water should push everything through) or pour it into the cistern to use when you flush.
13. Fill a watering can while waiting for tap water to heat up
Some MoneySavers also save used water from boiling eggs, for example.
14. Reuse kitchen sponges in the bathroom
When a kitchen sponge has got a bit grotty, and you want to throw it out, instead reuse it as a bathroom-cleaning sponge. You can pop it in the washing machine first.
15. Wash and reuse 'disposable' sandwich bags
They can often be reused for much longer than you'd think.
16. Put a dish of cold water in the oven (while it's cooling after cooking) to use for the washing up
One MoneySaver reports that this often means the water's warmed up nicely, just in time for when you want to wash up after dinner.
17. Save plastic bread bags to use instead of buying sandwich bags
Empty bread bags can't always be recycled at home (you can usually recycle them at larger stores of major supermarkets), but they can be reused at home in place of sandwich bags.
18. Use newspaper to line your kitchen compost bin
It's compostable and can be used instead of buying special compostable bags.
19. Cut the fingers off holey rubber gloves and stick 'em on top of garden canes
You can buy special 'cane toppers' to prevent eye-related accidents when you're out in the garden. But one MoneySaver recommends using the fingers from old rubber gloves instead as they're brightly coloured. Others suggest gluing milk bottle tops to the canes.
20. Wash and reuse plastic/foil containers (for example, takeaway boxes, ice cream tubs)
Use them instead of buying new tupperware – for lunchboxes, freezing extra meals and so on.
21. Put 'disposable' kitchen cloths and sponges in the washing machine
Rather than throwing them out – they can often be refreshed and used again.
22. Cut dishwasher tablets in half
Numerous Forumites say they do this, though you might want to check you're happy with the results (in other words your dishes are clean enough) before you start doing it regularly.
23. Cut up face wipes, kitchen towels and washing up sponges
Forumites cut these into half (or quarters) and say they still do the job just fine, as well as making each pack last longer.
24. Flatten new loo rolls slightly
Stopping it from rolling so quickly can help prevent kids (and some adults...) from pulling off more toilet paper than needed.
25. Reuse the water from your hot water bottle
You could use it to water plants, though one MoneySaver says they reheat and reuse the water. Of course, you should always follow safety advice (it's generally recommended you don't store your bottle with water inside, as this can cause the rubber to perish more quickly).
26. Use old cereal bags to separate food that's going in the freezer (such as burgers)
Forumites say the waxy bag inside cereal boxes can be great for separating items in the freezer.
27. Use the water from cooking veg to make your instant gravy
If you're cooking a Sunday roast, or similar, MoneySavers say you can save water (and make a tastier gravy) by using the leftover water from boiling your veg to dissolve instant gravy granules, instead of boiling extra water for the job.
28. Empty and reuse hoover bags
Many Forumites admit to doing this, and say bags can be reused a number of times before they start to fall apart.
29. Save the vinegar from pickled onions and gherkins for chips & more
Some Forumites pour it into an old vinegar bottle to make it easier to serve.
30. Make breadcrumbs out of stale bread
Tear the bread into pieces and then pop it into a food processor and pulse. If you don't have a processor, you could use a rolling pin to smash the stale bread into crumbs. The breadcrumbs can be stored in the freezer.
31. Use empty tissue boxes as drawer dividers (or 'plastic bag dispensers')
Cut the top off, and empty tissue boxes can be used to create compartments in your drawers – handy for organising ties, socks, underwear and so on. Alternatively, one Forumite suggests leaving the top on and putting plastic bags inside – you can then pull each bag out of the hole in the box when you need it.
32. Use a wind-up lantern instead of a candle to create 'mood lighting' for your bath
You can save on electricity (and candles) if you turn off the lights and use a wind-up lamp in the bathroom when you want to create a relaxing atmosphere. Forumites say it's a handy tip if you already own one of these lamps, for example, for power-cuts or camping.
33. Decant cheap own-brands into containers (or branded packaging)
This is a handy trick, whether you want to fool fussy family members who say they prefer branded products (but can't really tell the difference) or you're just trying to impress guests. It works with everything from shampoo to cornflakes. Obviously be extra careful of any allergies or intolerances though.
Other general household hacks
Here are a few more miscellaneous waste-and-money-savers:
34. Homemade firelighters
Empty the fluff from your tumble dryer, put it inside old toilet rolls and use them as firelighters for wood burners, BBQ and so on.
35. Use old socks or cut-up clothes as dusters
Just give them a wash first. One Forumite's father uses his old underpants for cleaning the inside of the car.
36. Cut buttons off old clothes before you throw (or recycle) them
If you're having a clear out, and your old clothes aren't in good enough nick to donate or sell, it can be worth removing the buttons before you get rid. You can keep them as spares in case you lose buttons from clothes you still wear.
37. Reuse envelopes you get in the post for shopping lists
Also good for notes and to-do lists.
38. Open gifts carefully and reuse wrapping paper
Do it right and they'll never know. MSE Rhiannon's been using the same wrapping paper for years.
39. Use wallpaper as wrapping paper
If you have some left over, Forumites say this can be a handy way to use it up. One MoneySaver says they even buy it specifically for this purpose, as it can work out cheaper.
40. Save the ribbons that come on some clothes, blankets and more to use on gifts
Many clothes come with hanging loops, which people often cut off and discard. But if you're into fancy gift-wrapping, simply save the ribbons for tying around presents. The same goes for other items, such as blankets or pyjama sets, which often have ribbons tied around them for display purposes.
41. Reuse nice gift tags
MSE Kelvin recommends simply removing the string/ribbon (if there is one) and gluing the written side to some thick white paper. You can then cut around it, and write a new message. To reattach a ribbon, you can push a pen through the blocked hole and re-thread it.
42. Turn old Christmas cards into gift tags
MoneySavers also suggest using old Christmas cards as gift tags – simply cut a suitable piece of card from the picture side, and write your message on the blank side.
43. Use junk mail/old paper as scrap paper
Perfect for shopping lists and more.
44. Use old candle wax to create a 'wax melt' or (carefully) melt it down to create a new candle
The simplest option if you have leftover scented candle wax (and an oil burner or 'wax melt warmer'), is to place the leftover wax on top of the warmer with an unscented tealight below. Alternatively, you could buy new wicks and create a whole new candle. Forumites recommend carefully melting down the leftover candle wax in a glass bowl (or empty tin) over hot water. You can use anything from fairy cake trays to old teacups as a mould.
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