Pancakes

Last tuesday was Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day to give it its more popular name. Pancake Day is the only day of the year when it is legal to eat pancakes in Britain. Eating pancakes on any day other than Shrove Tuesday is punishable by death. I missed it...now I have to wait another year before I can eat a pancake.

Shrove Tuesday is the last day before the start of Lent. Pancakes were just an easy and tasty way of using up eggs and flour before fasting began. I was listening to the excellent Danny Baker on BBC London last week who mentioned that his mother would only ever make pancakes on pancake day and it was just the same in my house. We very rarely saw a pancake on any day other than pancake day! I wasn't too fussed as I don't like them anyway!

Pancake Day is followed by Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday was so called because ashes were put on repentant adherents foreheads. The ashes were usually collected from the Palm crosses that had been burnt on the prvevious years Palm Sunday.

It's a lucky coincidence that this weeks Band That You've Never Heard Of...post is from an album called Ash Wednesday.

Some of this post is true.

This Weeks Band You've Never Heard Of....Elvis Perkins (not a band)

This Weeks Band You've Never Heard Of....The Decemberists

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This year, I will be gardening for the very first time. I would like the garden to be as natural as possible and I think it would be nice to encourage wildlife to spend some time amongst the flora which will, hopefully, grow in the rich and fertile soil of this part of Flanders.

All winter I have been putting bread out for the birds. We get the usual suspects here: Blackbirds, Blue Tits, the odd Magpie, a couple of Wood Pigeons (more acceptable than their city living cousins) and a Wren.

Over the past few weeks I have noticed a worrying trend in my garden. The birds are becoming obese. Not, a bit chubby... obese. Two blackbirds, in particular, have developed a waddle. They have to take run ups to take off. I don't think they have anything to fear from next doors cat, because I suspect that he has been eating the bread I put out as well.

The other worrying trend has been that the avian grape vine appears to have been busy. Yesterday morning, a flock of Starlings descended from the sky and helped themselves to a free meal. It was like scene from an Alfred Hitchcock movie. When they left, there was nothing left. Even the grass had been eaten...

They are back today, sitting on the fence...waiting...abusing the two fat Blackbirds. Calling them names...

Snow

Sorry about the lack of postings over the past few months, but we, as a family decided to hibernate this winter.

December:

"Yippee, it's been snowing!"

January:

"Oh...snow..."

Febuary:

"ARRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!"

It's beyond a joke! Really, enoughs enough!

Snow, I hate you...go away!

A man knocked on the door yesterday wanting to talk about global warming...I punched him.

I grew up in the north of London, suffice to say, years would pass without a single flake of of snow falling anywhere near me. We were so starved of snow as children that I can remember one year, on a particulary windy April day, the trees surrounding the play ground of my school shed all of the white blossom that they held on their branches and one loud mouth kid shouted out "It"s snowing!" And for a few seconds we all thought that it was indeed snowing, a hundred or so children went crazy, throwing their caps in the air along with their satchels. Some of the bigger kids even threw some of the smaller kids! Unhappily though, our joy was short lived.

This winter has been remarkable. For one thing, we in the western parts of Europe are not so used to the truly cold winters we used to have-those of us who expierenced the winter of 1962/63 would scoof at our puny winter this year. The other thing of course, is that we have been told for over a decade that the world is getting warmer. I'm no expert on climate change, but I can remember clearly that so called experts, people that had studied the climate and the history of weather patterns were saying that we as a planet, were heading towards another ice age. This was about thirty years ago, I guess. Time flies, doesn't it? One minute you think that Kajagoogoo are the bees knees, the next you are watching Lady Gaga with a mixture of fear and incomprehension. What happened to the ice age? A quick search on Google will lead you to newspaper articles telling us that a) Britain will be in the grip of an ice age before the end of the century and b) Britain's climate will soon be conducive to growing wine grapes to match the best of our European neighbours.

Don't you just love experts?

All I know is, it's bloody freezing out there. It's been snowing all day and I felt like Dr Zhivago this morning during my walk to the shops.

New Post

What's this? A new post? Well...yes and no. I put up a Josh Rouse video because me and the missus are going to see him in March and no one that I tell will have the slightest idea who Josh Rouse is.

Me: We are going to see Josh Rouse in March

Them: ?

Me: Josh Rouse, you know...Nashville, 1972...

Them: (silence)

Me: Hey, why don't you look on my blog? There's a video on there and also a preview of this conversation we are having right now!

Josh Rouse