Jet Harris

In the early 60's Cliff Richard and The Shadows were the biggest thing in UK pop music; along with The Beatles. Cliff was seen as a watered-down version of Elvis.

It was the archetypal pop group; singer, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass, and drums. Jet (in the middle below) played bass guitar.

I got to know Jet Harris in about 1965. We met in 'The Baker and Oven' Pub opposite my flat in Marylebone. He fancied the barmaid, a folk singer called Shirley Bland; the ex-wife of Jimmie Macgregor. Everyone fancied Shirley; including me. Sadly Shirley didn't fancy either of US.

By this time Jet had been sacked from The Shadows, and he had become a rather sad figure. He was still good company, but he seemed to have temporarily lost his purpose in life. I believe he became an alcoholic, violent, and bankrupt (none I which I experienced).

We were good friends for a while. I later moved to a different area of London (Fulham), and I don't know what happened to Jet. He continued to work; often with ex-Shadows drummer Tony Meehan, but he mostly appeared as a 'special guest' with other bands, somewhat relying on his past fame.

A few years later, when I was at college, I booked Shirley to do a one-man-show. Not a lot of people turned up to hear her, so we spent a while reminiscing in a Pub', and talking about Jet instead.

Jet was a nice man. Short, and nervous; but a lot of fun. He died back in 2011.

 

Men Behaving Badly - Barbeque

It's BBQ season down here. Yesterday evening I could smell charcoal and grilling meats everywhere. It was 20 C, and it felt like mid-Summer.

I know I've posted this video before, but it always makes me laugh out loud. I'm sure you'll enjoy it too.

Salad Days.

You can tell the temperature's rising because salads appear at lunchtime on the Cro table.

The substantial vegetable soups will be put on hold for a while, and out comes the Paté, simple salad, and even some Garlic bread. It really does feel as if Summer is on it's way.

It's only 17 C today, but it feels like 25 C.

 

Here we go again.

 

I'm looking forward to a week where I can report bad behaviour from Tories, Liberals, Greens, or Farage's bunch; but for the moment it's only the Socialists who provide anything news-worthy, and even that isn't very exciting.

British Birmingham MP (yes, British) Tahir Ali, has been campaigning to build a new airport in Kashmir. WHAT? It seems that many of his Pakistani Birmingham constituents have to travel for many hours to get to their nearest airport before returning to Birmingham from their Pakistani homes. Ali has already been in trouble over his silly Kashmir airport nonsense, so I won't make it any worse for him; but shouldn't he be looking after British affairs, not Pakistani ones? Birmingham certainly needs his help; at present it's buried under 17,000 tons of stinking household rubbish, and huge rats are running wild. Apparently the stench is becoming all invasive. 

It's good to know that everything's going well in the People's Socialist Republic of Birmingham (an outpost of Pakistan).

This one's a classic. After the disgraceful expenses claim by Tory MP  Peter Viggers, back in 2009, for a 'Duck Island and Duck House', we now have another crazy expenses claim from fragrant Socialist MP Taiwo Owatemi for £900 for her doggy-woggy Cockapoo 'Bella'. Her charming second-home landlord has imposed an extra £900 'dog-rent' for Bella, and Owatemi wanted us taxpayers to fork-out. Is that really what MP's 'expenses' are for? Shame on her!

The one thing you can say about the Albanians is that they are very good 'businessmen'.

This TikTok advert (above) claims to get illegal immigrants across the channel in a rubber boat, with 100% safety 'Guaranteed'. They also talk of luxury hotels with flatscreen TV's. All that, and plenty of free spending money from our government; all for the price of just £3,000 (3 mij paund). 

I almost feel like trying it myself. I could pretend not to speak English, and live in relative luxury until they discovered who I was. A Channel cruise, a stay in a luxury hotel, free food and spending money; it sounds perfect, and all for £3,000. A bloody bargain!

And finally, of course the big news of the week is once again; His Majesty, Donald Tr*mp. His genius idea of imposing tariffs all around the world has caused international ill-feeling, markets to crash, and reciprocal threats from almost everywhere. Did he think through his policy properly? I imagine not!

Price comparisons.

Normally I wouldn't bother to read about supermarket price comparisons, but for some reason I did with this one when it appeared on my news feed.

I'm not someone who buys things because they're 'cheap'. I buy because I need things, and I want reasonable quality. The price usually doesn't concern me; unless it's a lump of Beef or a case of Pécharmant. 

Firstly I should say that other than at Christmas I would never spend £130-150 on my weekly shop. Usually it's around £60-80 (including wine).

I was pretty certain that Aldi would be cheaper than Sainsbury's, but do I care? No, not really!

I have visited Aldi, and their vegetables were both very cheap and very good, but certain other things were a little dodgy! A simple tin of Sardines in Olive oil was horrible, and some cheap red wine was undrinkable. Even cheap wine should be drinkable!!!

At least at Sainsbury's I know that the quality will always be good, and if that costs me a few £'s more each week, then so be it. I do buy at Waitrose too, but only a few 'luxuries' (Pork pies).

Price comparisons are all very well, but if it's not exactly the same product, it means nothing. For example, you can't compare Heinz Ketchup with Aldi's own brand.

I don't look at prices when I shop. I know what I want, and I buy regardless. Nor do I grab things from the shelves that aren't on my list. I'm a very strict shopper in that respect.

No, I shan't be swapping Sainsbury's for Aldi, but this doesn't mean that if I come across an Aldi that I won't buy some of their vegs.

 

NOT a Cornish Pasty

Me and pastry don't really mix. It's something I usually leave to Lady M to play with.

However, I noticed recently that some Puff Pastry I'd bought was getting near to (or past) it's use-by-date, so I decided to do something with it; I thought I'd attempt a Pasty. No, this isn't a Cornish Pasty; it's very much a Brighton Pasty.

I diced some Potato, sliced an Onion, chopped some German smoked Sausage, and grated some Cheese. I mixed it all together, seasoned it with salt and plenty of freshly ground black Pepper, and filled the rather large sheet of pastry forming it into what I thought looked like a giant pasty.

I gave it almost an hour in the oven at about 180 C, and we divided it between ourselves for lunch.

It wasn't like any Pasty I've tasted before, but we both agreed that it was very good. Maybe next time I will use some Beef, or at worst some Bacon, but for what it was (using just what was hanging around) it was excellent.

Verdict. The chopped smoked Sausage wasn't as good as I'd hoped, but otherwise it was delicious. I'd give myself 8/10.

I shall certainly do it again.

 

Vinted

I don't know what you think about buying second-hand clothes, but I, personally, had never considered it an option.

I've fancied buying myself an England Rugby shirt for years, but never found the exact one I wanted. So I decided to look on 'Vinted'; and there it was, in my size, the colour I wanted (dark navy), and a top quality shirt too.

New they cost about £45, mine cost £10. It's as good as new, it arrived clean and recently washed, and it fitted me perfectly. Maybe I was just lucky.

I don't think I shall make a habit of buying like this, but I really didn't have much to lose. I could always have returned it too.

The shirt is from a top quality maker, so I was reasonably sure it would be what I wanted; and it was!

I think I had a BARGAIN!

 

Poor Billy.

I don't think it's anything to overly worry about, but Billy does occasionally give us some concern.

Yesterday morning I was sitting in front of my laptop, at about 5.30 am, when Billy came over to me and rested his head against my knee. Usually he stays on Lady M's sofa until we head-off on our first walk of the day at around 7.30 am.

He looked a bit soulful, and I thought he was trying to tell me something. Naturally I stroked him for a while, then suddenly he collapsed into a seizure, and twitched and stiffened on the floor. I continued to stroke him until he recovered about a minute, or less, later. Afterwards he seemed fine, but a little quieter than usual.

It's happened a couple of times before, on both occasions whilst out walking. Having looked on the net about such things his ailment seems to be described as a 'Petit mal' in terms of seizures.

I'm not too worried about him, and I certainly don't want to give him medication. He's had about five seizures in his six years, so I can't really describe them as regular. However, if they started to become either weekly or daily I would take him to the Vet'.

For the moment we'll keep an eye on him, and keep our fingers crossed. He doesn't seemed affected by them in any way.

 

Tr*mp shoves fellow leader

There is one person's name on most people's lips at the moment, butz not necessarily for the best reasons. I suppose if there's one major criticism I have of Tr*mp, this short video from about 7 years ago (below) illustrates it perfectly. Pompous and arrogant.

I have no idea if his policies are good for the long term future of the USA; I hope, for their sakes, they are. They certainly aren't for international relations; especially with Europe. Markets are crashing globally.

Of course an important world leader has to be seen; and, seen to be in control. What he/she should not be is arrogant and pushy. Nor should he be seen to constantly support the 'baddies'. He should not be seen to support aggressors over those who defend themselves against aggression; nor should he be aggressive. Britain gave the US its two most important attributes; the English language and Democracy. What on earth happened?

It is always better to be on good terms with friendly foreign countries and not to insult them; it's called 'diplomacy'. Keep the 'goodies' on your side, and don't alienate them. Did no-one tell Tr*mp that?

Countries such as the USA, the UK, France, Germany, etc, should be promoting peace around the world, not using blackmail to clinch peace deals. It's fair enough to punish those who misbehave (The Houthis are a good example; as are Hamas and Hezbollah), but otherwise we should be peacemakers and benefactors.

In the video, Tr*mp shows himself to be totally arrogant and pushy. Neither are good qualities for a world leader. He might have shown some humility had he stayed in the background, and allowed others to usher him forwards. Could someone have a wee word with him!