Talking of the end of lent, new life, old stories, resurrections and stuff that makes you doubt...
I feel overwhelmed by this week… maybe it’s the impending excitement of Lambourn Open Day, Saturday drinks, and the Lockinge Old Berks Point-to-Point. Maybe it’s the idea that I might actually get to church on Sunday and have a prayer for lost chums.
It couldn’t possibly be the news… could it? This week I have been struck, bewildered, ghasted, bemused, OMGd by:
There are now at least three films and TV series in production where the most powerful man in the world is actually a deep-cover Russian Agent, who is so corrupt, venal and blackmailable that he is now in place running the country. How preposterous. That would sort of imply that the only political figure, country, and economy to have benefited from every move Trump has made is Putin, Russia, and Russia. Stupid.
Thousands of people can watch or take part in a riot and looting in Clapham, indeed film it and place the films like so many bloodied scalps hung on their Instagram totem pole. Hundreds of police are seemingly incapable of doing anything, either on the grounds of Health and Safety or because …. and yet bizarrely many still think the rioting, mass looting, and terrorising of ordinary people in the street, is unconnected to the use of the mobile phone and was not a flash mob organised via social media on anarchic political grounds.
Trading and owning Bitcoin might have made hundreds of jeunesse multi-zillionaires by trading Ethereum and Bitcoin from their bedrooms before flying out to Dubai for a bar of chocolate, but they should be warned. That nice, safe, unbreakable crypto-wallet is apparently much closer to being hacked than they might think. Google’s Quantum AI team released a whitepaper challenging previous security assumptions. They have found that breaking the encryption of Bitcoin and Ethereum requires far less power than expected—roughly 1,400 high-quality qubits rather than millions —and that this capability will be here by 2029! The vulnerability exists on the blockchain, specifically affecting wallets where public keys are visible (including 6.9 million BTC in older or “Taproot” enabled wallets). The discovery was prompted by the Taproot upgrade, which inadvertently made public keys more visible. Google is urging the industry to accelerate its transition to post-quantum cryptography to prevent future theft. Yeah, I do care… really!
To keep the Strait of Hormuz open, apparently, we have to rejoin the EU. To make our Navy viable, we have to rejoin the EU??
The Department for the Eradication of Farming and Rural Activities has now introduced a universal recycling standard to end the “postcode lottery,” ensuring that every council collects the same materials, or not. Households will now use up to four separate bins for food/garden waste, paper/card, dry recyclables (glass, metal, plastic), and general rubbish. Misusing your bins can result in a fixed penalty fine of up to £400. The government has flagged 37 specific items that are prohibited from standard recycling bins.
The colour of the bins may still vary by area! But these are NOT TO BE PUT IN A BIN
Glass: No Pyrex, mirrors, light bulbs, window glass, or drinking glasses.
Metal: No cutlery, pots/pans, kettles, irons, or foil pouches (like pet food).
Plastic: No “compostable/biodegradable” plastics, toys, garden furniture, or polystyrene.
Paper/Card: No padded envelopes, nappies, wet wipes, or used tissue/toilet paper.
Food/Garden: No tea bags, coffee grounds, animal bedding, or large tree branches.
What you should do if you have any of these - your morning tea bag, for example - is to make an appointment to take them to your local tips (HWRCs) together with proof of address and ID cards. Inevitably, this will lead to more roadside dumping.
Fly-tipping is such an innocuous phrase - but its impact is devastating. Varieties of political numbskulls have watched as Councils shut recycling centres, environmentalists castigated landfill sites, greens spoke about managing waste, and 500+ people who called themselves representatives of the people passed legislation making it increasingly difficult to move rubbish, and the result…..? Read THIS GUARDIAN report, which seemed very clear.
We have all been told and are worryingly aware of the huge issues with microplastics and the contamination crisis we’re all facing as the deadly specks infiltrate every aspect of the natural world, from the furthest, deepest, coldest, remotest regions up in the sky to the innermost workings of our own gut flora and fauna… bollocks. It might, in fact, all be coming from the scientists’ rubber gloves, who are doing the measuring! Early days and perhaps too soon for a big deep breath of plastic, but hey, it’s less scary than it was two minutes ago.
Talking of public Health and being scared - do you remember Covid? Well, the NHS has issued a new warning about the new variant in town, nicknamed Cicada, also known as BA. 32 (sounds like a cancelled flight you missed). Luckily (?) it turns out the symptoms are the same… phew, thank heavens for the NHS newsflow! No need to do anything other than the normal.
Delicious supper last minute last night - very rough and ready
MIDDLE EASTERN BURGERS IN PITTA
500gm 5% decent beef mince
Big handful (30 gms?) of fresh flat-leaf parsley or coriander, finely chopped
30 gms onion, very finely minced
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon salt (more or less to taste)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper (more or less to taste)
1 slice of white bread soaked in olive oil and torn up.
You could use one of the Barts or similar spice mixes, such as Baharat or Zaatar, instead of the dried spice ingredients above. Slightly easier…
Everything in a big mixing bowl. Scrunch up properly - get your hands in.
Form into about 6-8 flattish sausage shapes or 4 burger-shaped patties and either grill or fry
Pittas in toaster - take out when still soft and hot.
Put meat into a pitta with sliced tomato, lettuce, cucumber, green peppers, and lemon juice. Season.
I actually had mine with home-made coleslaw. (grate carrot, very thinly slice white cabbage, thinly sliced red onion, salt, pepper, lemon juice, jarred mayonnaise 50/50 with Greek yoghurt; use hands to mix)