Thursday, 28 July 2011

That's Organic Peanuts!

‘That’s peanuts’, we say when we’re talking about piffling amounts, drops in the ocean. Or we say ‘that’s peanuts’ if we are confirming the presence of peanuts. Or we’re making a distinction between them and chickpeas, which look a bit like peanuts (though, really, we shouldn’t because chickpeas resemble more the hazelnut). (CLICK ON 'Read more' LINK, BELOW)

Monday, 25 July 2011

Hosepipe and Horse-pipe Bans

In rain-lashed Britain we are only two minutes away from experiencing either a drought or a flood. If you look out of your window and it’s a downpour, you can assume the hosepipe ban on watering your garden is temporarily on hold – there’s enough to go round. Maybe even enough for a flood. If it’s drizzling, the drought threat level escalates from amber to red. We’re edging into the territory of a watering can ban. If it’s sunny, something like a sponge ban. (CLICK ON 'Read more' LINK, BELOW)


Friday, 22 July 2011

The Heat Wave Toll in Greenland


When Greenland suffers a heat wave the mercury shoots up slightly to 10 degrees Centigrade. You wake up, you look out your window, the surf is thawing. It’s the hot topic on the radio. ‘Wrap up less, Nuuk (the capital of Greenland), it’s going to be a heat wave,' the DJs coo, cranking up the cliched Martha and the Vandellas (click to play, below).



You pull on your shorts, your shades, call the boss, croak down the line that you think you’re coming down with something, won’t be able to make it in. Off down the beach. The promise of sun, sand, sex and walruses. (CLICK ON 'Read more' LINK, BELOW)

Monday, 18 July 2011

Forget Memorials

Any visitor to the Princess Diana Memorial Playground will be amazed by its creator’s  insensitivity. Among the attractions is a tunnel. But it’s by no means the only gaffe made by children’s theme park designers. The JF Kennedy Children’s Memorial Playground includes a grassy knoll; the Mussolini Children’s Memorial Playground a lamppost to hang from.

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Friday, 15 July 2011

Cheesy Choices

Choosing the right cheese is a real minefield. Though the comparison does falter a little. For instance, relatively few people have been maimed as a consequence of choosing the wrong cheese.
Cheese-and-wine parties can make or break you in middle-class society. But you don’t need to be a connoisseur to know which cheese goes with which wine. Those Dairylea triangles are quite clearly a fitting match for a tepid Thunderbird.
It’s time for cheese to break out of its conservative tradition. Quattro Formaggi, the four-cheeses pizza could be more inclusive and welcome the addition of a guest cheese to form the ‘Cinque Formaggi’. Or former soft metal chick Suzi Quattro (see video below) allowed to pick which four cheeses she would like to blend on a pizza crust. Technically, it would still be a Quattro Formaggi but more celebrity endorsed.

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