[clootie dumplings] monkey shoulder and panelled windows

This is going to take some imagination. The pub we went to today is not here - this is a Goathland pub instead but it illustrates the atmosphere. The shindig with thirty people was nice and the food great but it was only when guests were leaving this 16th century pub and I was sitting alone in a comfy armchair in one of the small, low-ceilinged rooms with the old panelled windows before me that I realized how much I missed this culture.

Over the windows were cloth ruffles, for want of the correct term and many old-fashioned and even twee things plus an open fire crackling to the left. What there most certainly was was peace and through the windows, the darkness outside gradually descended. How I love the northern winter when the sun, such as it is, goes down about four o'clock in late December.

Near the door of the inn was a framed poem and I might have known it would be the Desiderata:

As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story. [B]e at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be.

For those whose past years have been spent in these isles, experiences such as today's are par for the course. But for someone coming back from a long sojourn "out there", there was really something quite special, not only in the day's doings but in the banter and topics people were chatting about, from Clootie Dumplings to Monkey Shoulder whisky.

By the way, my beer was Marston's Smooth and it was in fine form, from a newish barrel and hand-drawn pump. The head was foaming.

It was almost like coming home.

[try these blogs] sunday diversion

Frank Picini

Try these:

The Far Queue
Damon Lord
The training assessment blog
Charon QC

Angus Dei
Letters from a Tory
Chessalee

This will be an ongoing post throughout Sunday. Expect additions.

[christmas banned] here we go again

Oh yes - as sure as night follow's day, the Esteemed Leadership has not let an opportunity pass to use the crisis for their own ends. This time it is banning Christmas in Croatia:

"For that goal we forbid buying of Christmas and New Year's gifts as well as organising of Christmas and New Year's receptions," said Mr Sanader. "I believe that with the proposed measures ... we can avoid a deeper crisis within the next year," he added.

For what goal, again? Why, for the goal of overcoming the economic downturn. Right, right. So, having induced a financial panic for which the taxpayer has bailed out the guilty, the government's solution is then to ban all Christmas parties.

Now it will be admitted, no doubt, that Christmas parties don't have a lot to do with the Christian spirit of the holiday anyway and to be free of them, many will give a prayer of thanks but that's not the point.

The point is that Mr. Sanader has killed three birds with one stone:

1. Wiped out the hated festival of worshipping the birth of the saviour of the world; 2. Wrecked one of the few pleasantries that still remained for people coming into a very cold winter period; 3. Saved a lot of money which can now be used to waste somewhere else.

Will Mr. Sanader also turn off the heating in his own home and will he and his family eat dog food and rice huddled beneath their bedding and pretend that that is living?

[newest releases] not to be missed

Coming soon: The Phoenix and the GOP

Due out - November, 2008:

Kalms, Lord, Musical Chancellors, Tory Free Press

Whimsical variation of the old game of musical chairs.

Allan, Alex, Not so much a Coma, Just Gratefully Dead, JIC Ltd

Amazing recovery of a man given up for dead.

Featherstone, Lynne, Baby PMQ and the Question of Integrity, Choona Ryness Ltd

Comedy hour and the scoring of points by Britain’s greatest PM.

Obama BH, Book Deals, Student Loans and Cocaine, Renegade Publishers, Kenya

Obama – the missing years.

Walker, Heather, Bush’s Barney Bites Boston Celtic’s Brightest Babe, Jon Decker Press

Gog and Magog had nothing on these two.

Windsor, C. P. A. G., George, Albert, Bertie and LBA60, Royal Mews Press

Thoughts on regal names and the dilemma of faith

Palin, S. L. H., Geography 101, Gravina Island Press

New schools text on countries, continents and what you can see from your window.

[black friday] start of the christmas season

Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving in the United States, where it is the beginning of the traditional Christmas shopping season.

Americans and knowledgeable folk from other countries can yawn and skip this post - it's for those who don't know of this day. Wiki continues:

Retailers often decorate for the Christmas season weeks beforehand. Many retailers open very early (typically 5 am or even earlier) and offer doorbuster deals and loss leaders to draw people to their stores. Although Black Friday, as the first shopping day after Thanksgiving, has served as the unofficial beginning of the Christmas season at least since the start of the modern Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1924, the term "Black Friday" has been traced back only to the 1960s.

It's a bit of a controversial name, with retailers objecting to the negative connotations but with others suggesting it is when they finally come "into the black" for the year, i.e. make a profit. Some suggest it is black becasue of the huge traffic jams and general congestion around shopping centres. Ads like this appear all over the U.S.A. and people can pre-order.

Either way, though it is not always the most lucrative of the year's shopping days, it is one of the most important. Perhaps some Americans can fill us in on this day - what it means to them.

[britain] easy on my mind

Fabulous autumn day in the woods today and in the words of John Buchan's Richard Hannay:

"I could not contrive to feel careworn."

The colours, from light green through the browns to orange and the canopy of branches were soft on the eyes and the smell of the forest was something else. Everyone walking past was acknowledging everyone else with a nod and the nastiness of the past week just dropped away. Squirrels hopped about and ate nuts between their paws and birds called.

I'm going to run posts on the best of Canada, the U.S., Australia and Russia at some point but today is "the best of Britain". Britain has a few things going for it, despite the recession, despite the ASBOs, despite this government and their USSR mentality, despite lots of things.

Here are some:

1. There is a sense of history. Even woods have a history to them, an ancient name and you can imagine hunters in there 700 years ago, the deer and so on. The castles and historic buildings, the mews and the like go without saying.

2. There are such restrictive planning laws over here and yet that cuts both ways. Local councils preserve the look of an area and for people already living there, there is a strong element of conservation in place. Building tends to be upwards rather than of the sprawling ribbon variety and whilst that creates a boxed-in, huddled together village effect, it allows much woodland and field to remain intact, along with wildlife.



3. The colours are so rich and vibrant. Australia has its dusky hues, very nice too, Sicily has its light, rocky, sandstone feel but here it is closer to primary colours.

4. There is a climate of eccentricity here which spills into, say, the motoring field. I know people in the States who do up old Buick 56s and so on but there is a different feel this side of the pond. Here there's a ready acceptance of Healey replicas, frog-eyed Sprites, Cobras and Caterhams and train spotting is a recognized pasttime. It allows someone to breathe, this atmosphere.

5. Climate - there are four seasons, sometimes in one day and today's cool dampness, with a bit of a breeze, was quite soothing. Nothing gets too extreme.

As I said, I'll extol the virtues of the other countries in subsequent posts but today I'm just looking at Britain. I couldn't imagine anything lovelier than to have a little place near the woods, themselves near water somewhere, working online from home and doing a bit of dinghy sailing and rambling in my spare time.

If only. Maybe it will be possible one day.