Living in The Now

I like this poem even if it comes from an advert. See the add on YouTube from the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIEuXitG-Vo

The words to the Magners Ad poem




"Now is a good time"

When yesterday's gone and tomorrow is near,
Why look for a thing when it's already here.
And tell me you never once asked yourself how
Some people end up in the middle of the now.
Now is the beat of the feet on the floor,
Now is the then we were all waiting for.
It's the strike of the luck.
It's the go with the flow.
It's the sharing the luck with the people we know.
See, a wise fool once said,
Kinda out of the blue,
That life is a dream
That's already come true.
It's less of the what and the where and the how,
It's more of the you and the me and the now.

(Composed specially for a television ad campaign on behalf of Magners Original Irish cider 2013)

Cameron's problem encapsulated by Montegomerie

Tim Montgomerie (former editor of the conservative home website) in this mornings Times sums up what the Tory base thinks Cameron has done. This coalition Government has faced a very very difficult economic climate but Cameron has also not been Mr Perfect when it comes to dealing with his base support hence the further collapse in Tory membership. Going into coalition was also the best thing ever for UKIP but still I reckon below is a decent stab at how the base feel:

"Spend most of your time as Tory leader ignoring the issue that matters most to your activist members: Europe. Launch your bid to be leader by promising to introduce a tax allowance for married couples and then, once you’ve won power, fail to deliver that pledge at four successive Budgets. Tell parents that they can set up any school they want as long as it’s not the one they most want, a grammar school.

Stop Gordon Brown holding a honeymoon election in 2007 by promising to abolish inheritance tax but then put it up in office. Spend the general election campaign talking about an issue that no one understands — the Big Society — and don’t talk about immigration, an issue that three-quarters of voters do care about. Subsidise expensive renewable energies at a time when families are struggling to pay their electricity bills.

Form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats even though 80 per cent of your members want you to lead a minority government. Promise not to reorganise the NHS, then reorganise it anyway. Oppose press regulation but then embrace it. Keep pledging to tackle European human rights laws but do nothing when Abu Qatada proves again and again that Britain is run by inventive lawyers rather than democratically-drafted laws.

Insist that you want to reach out to northern and poorer parts of Britain but stuff your Downing Street operation with southern chums who attended the same elite private schools as you. And, just for good measure, insult people who normally vote for your party as clowns, fruitcakes and closet racists."

Read the rest of the article behind the Times pay wall
here.

Celebrate St. George's Day

Today, 23rd April, is St. George's Day. He is the English Patron Saint.

"Cry God for Harry, England and St George!" - William Shakespeare



Saint George (c. 275/281 – 23 April 303 AD) was actually a Greek who became an officer in the Roman army. His father was the Greek Gerondios from Cappadocia Asia Minor and his mother was from the city Lydda. Lydda was a Greek city in Palestine from the times of the conquest of Alexander the Great (333 BC). Saint George became an officer in the Roman army in the Guard of Diocletian. He is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography, Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic (Western and Eastern Rites), Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox churches. He is immortalized in the tale of Saint George and the Dragon and is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. His memorial is celebrated on 23 April, and he is regarded as one of the most prominent military saints. So says Wikipedia.



"There is a forgotten, nay almost forbidden word, which means more to me than any other. That word is England." - Sir Winston Churchill

Saturday Kitchen - Pancetta-wrapped salmon

A pretty simple dish that's perfect for week nights and is actually very tasty.




Ingredients

1) 200g small new potatoes , sliced
2) 3 sprigs tarragon , leaves chopped
3) zest 1 lemon
4) knob of butter
5) 2 x 170g skinless salmon fillets
6) 4 slices pancetta or prosciutto

Method:

Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Boil the potatoes for 5 mins. Drain and tip into a bowl - they will be slightly underdone. Toss with the tarragon, lemon zest, butter and seasoning to taste. Pile in the centre of a foil-lined baking tray.

Season salmon with black pepper and wrap the pancetta or prosciutto around the fillets. Place on top of the potatoes and roast for 15-20 mins, or until the fish flakes easily and the pancetta or prosciutto is golden. Serve with steamed green beans.

Make it different Dill or basil both work well with salmon and pancetta, instead of tarragon.

See here for details.

Fact Friday -

1) 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321.

2) The phrase “rule of thumb” is derived from and old English law which stated that you couldn’t beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.

3) Stewardesses is the longest word typed with only the left hand.

4) Marilyn Monroe had six toes on one foot.

5) Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

6) Right handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left handed people do.

7) The sentence “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” uses every letter in the alphabet.

8) A rhinoceros horn is made of compacted hair.

9) It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

10) On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament Building is an American flag.

11) All of the clocks in the movie Pulp Fiction are stuck on 4:20.



12) Winston Churchill was born in a ladies’ room during a dance.

13) The youngest pope was 11 years old.

14) The world’s youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.