A Veteran Cactus

Once again my Christmas Cactus is living up its name, covered in bright pink flowers. I've had it for so long that I can'tremeber how I came by it. I think I may have inherited it from mother, in which case I've had it for nearly thirty years.

An Unexpected Surprise

The phrase in the title was voiced by a television announcer recently. I find it entertaining to invent circumstances in which vacuous forms of words might have some meaning. In this case we need to start from 'expected surprise'. People, especially children on the eve of their birthdays, often expect to receive a present, the precise nature of which they do not know in advance. One of my friends was quite surprised to receive a belly button brush as a birthday present. What surprised him was not the receipt of a present, but the nature of the present. The donor of the present was known to act strangely, so a surprise of some sort was not unexpected, though the belly button brush was.

Thus an unexpected surprise would be like being given a belly button brush when it is not one's birthday. I can't remember what event inspired the televison person into paradox, but I'm sure I'd have remembered had it involved a belly button brush.

Very Late Tomatoes

A while ago I thought I'd eaten the last of this year's homegrown tomatoes, but today I noticed that a couple of fruit I'd kept just in case they might confound my pessimism by ripening had actually ripened, so I ate them, just six days before Christmas day!!

My Neglected Cheque Book

I recently wrote a cheque to be enclosed in a Christmas card, and noticed that the last time I wrote a check it was to the same person, for enclosure in last year's Christmas card. At one time I got through a checque book in a few months. Now it seems likely that the present book will last for the rest of my life!

Persistent Blooms

Last month I boasted about the unseasoable profusion of flowers in the garden. After a fairly sharp frost last night there are fewer flowers now, but still far more than usual at this tine of year. The fuchsia still retains all its leaves and most of its flowers, and the campnula and Mexican daisy seem unaffected. A cyclamen is just coming into flower and the winter jasmine is splendid.

Home Grown Tomatoes

I'm still eating tomatoes grown by myself in the garden, and haven't needed to buy any tomatoes since early August. The plants expired a while ago but I've been eating fruit that I gathered unripe before disposing of the plants. I think this may be the first time my crop has lasted into December, though very few fruit are left now.

Revive Convalesent Homes

In the 1950's one of my aunts had an operation. When she no longer needed full medical attention she moved to a convalescent home where patients completed their recovery supervised by nurses. When I hear about hospial beds occupied by patients who no longer need hospital care but have nowhere else to go I wonder why convalescent homes are not revived.

A Cook's Nostalgia

Among the minor irritants of modern life is the occasional need to free joints of meat from the snare of elasticated string

In bygone days joints were secured by metal skewers. It was very easy to pull them out and, once removed, they could be retained, making handy tools that could be poked into otherwise inaccessible places. For a while the skewers were replaced by ordinary string, less easily removed than a skewer but still fairly manageable, but today's elasticated string poses greater challenges. It resists the carving knife, and when attacked with scissors de-elasticates itself, showering the neighbourhood with gravy droplets.

I mourn the passing of metal skewers!

A Redundant Institution.

Today I received four magazines, all delivered by Royal Mail. Three of them should have arrived at least three days ago. Most of the material that used to be sent by post can now be sent by email. Magazines can often be read over the Internet, and several companies will deliver any material objects that resist digitisation.

Perhaps we no longer need a post office

Frustrated by Almost Impenetrable Wrappings.

Many goods are sold, either completely encased in plastic, or in some combination of cardboard and plastic. In either case I need scissors to get at the goods, and even so equipped I ofen have quite a struggle.

In my fury I often wish that company directors were required to give public demonstrations of their recommended technique for penetrating those frustrating wrappings.

Pears Rehabiitated

Pears are very frustrating fruit, changing from inedible hardness to repulsive mushiness so quickly that one usually misses the intermediate state of delicious edibility. Sainsbury's offers 'ripe and ready' pears nestling coyly in protective wrapping. I had long been suspicious of those, but one day gave in to temptation and was very pleasantly surprised. I don't know what magic they invoke but the recommended pears are indeed delicious, and remain in that state for several days. The simple pleasure of eating a ripe pear has been restored to me.

A Floriferous November

Even in this, the last week of November, there is still an abundance of flowers in the garden. As well as the Winter Jasmine which usually flowers around this time of year, Fuchsias and Mexican daisies are covered in flowers, and blue campanulas and zonal pelargoniums still provide a modest display.

An Honest Interest Rate

Discussion of interest rates almost always concerns the supposed impact on a variety of economic factors, but I've never heard such a discussion mention the importance of repaying our debts.

When prices are rising, as they usually are, the value of money is falling, so to repay a debt requires the payment of more money than was originally borrowed. Interest charged for a loan should include some payment for the convenience of having the loan. Full compensation to the lender would also require something to compensate for the income tax often charged on interest. There is therefore a case for interest rates being substantially higher than the rate of inflation. In practice they are almost always considerably lower.

Silent Friends

There are some old friends I haven't heard from for several years. I'm not sure how to react. They may of course be dead. On the other hand they may just be disinclined to keep in touch. In case that is so I'm reluctant to bother them with frequent messages, as that would be rather like stalking.

I've decided to continue to send my annual letter at the end of the year, but not to send any other communication unless I hear from them first. I recommend that policy to others.

Another Non-word from the BBC

On tonight's news a reporter said that a new King of the Zulus had been 'coronated'. In case any readers of this blog are not native speakers of English I point out that the relevant verb is to crown,so the King was crowned. The process of crowning is called a coronation

Busy

I have been neglecting my web site for the last couple of years, but am now trying to bring it up to date. So far there has been little change to the pages on the site, though I have corrected a misdirection that sent people to an out of date version of the Index page However several pages are being extensively revised off line, so there should be more to see in a few weeks time. Meanwhile the principal symptom of my activity may be less activity in this blog. For that I apologise

Conflicting Freedoms

We usually commend both freedom of thought and freedom of speech, without realising they often conflict.

Thought is usually most effectively conducted in silence. Speech, on the other hand cannot be silent and commands the attention of anyone in hearing range, whether they are interested or not. Those speaking to someone else usually expect the one addressed to respond with a comment on the same subject, without considering the possibility that that individual might at the time have been thinking about something quite different and prefer that the train of thought be allowed to proceed without interruption.

When demonstrators repeatedly shout slogans of just a few words that seems to me a sort of assault on the minds of anyone else in hearing, makibg it very hard for anyone nearby to follow any significant train of thought.

Jabbed yet again

This time it was for flue. I'm not quite sure when I started having flue jabs, but suspect it may have been in 2003. Once I started I haven't missed a year, suggesting that the last jab may have been my 20th. When the total gets to 25 it will be a bit like a silver wedding. Shall I have a party?

In Praise of Clothes

As we debate the cost of fuel and fear death by hypothermia, I recall my youth when people usually had just one room heated by a coal fire. In the Winter we lived almost exclusively in one room, the back room dowstairs, chosen because the fire there also heated the hot water tank. It contained a dining table and chairs, and a couple of easy chairs for the parents. I used the dining room table for my homework and often lay on the floor when reading. The front room contained a settee and two matching arm chairs. That room was used mainly in the Summer though on special occasions when we were entertainingg a second fire would be lit there.

We survived because we wore lots of clothes. Indoors I used to wear a vest, a shirt and a jacket. In cold weather I also wore a pullover. Nowadays many people wear just a a short sleeved shirt or t-shirt on their upper halves.

At school the classroom was heated by a coke stove with a leaky chimney so there was always a sulphurous odour in the room. In cold weather we were sometimes told to wear our overcoats in the classroom. I remember overhearing a conversation between two members of staff. Apparently the legal minimum temperature for a classroom was 60 degrees Fahrenweit - about 15 C - but on the day in question it was only 43 F - about 6 C - that was one of the days we wore our overcoats!!

Misleading Plurals and Neuter Pronouns

It has become customary to use 'they', 'them', and 'their' to refer to singular subjects when one is relucatnat or unable to refer the subject to a particular gender. That irritates me. Having graduated in Logic and taught Mathematics, I consider the distinction between singular and plural extremely important - much more important that the distinction between male, female and non-binary.

We need neuter pronouns. We already have 'it' and 'its' but they are usually assumed to refer to inanimate subjects. I suggest 'e' 'em' and 'es' for the naminative, accusative, and genetive of the neuter third persoanl pronoun. The personal pronouns can now be declined as:

he him his

she her hers

e em es

they them their