A Seasonal Dish, but the 'Lazy Way'

For some bizarre reason I woke at 6 am on Sunday morning, rather than my usual 5 am. A whole hour of my life had gone by without my knowledge, or my permission.

I had gone to bed the previous night in the knowledge that I would have a Cepe Omelette for my breakfast, but a whole hour of relaxed gastronomy had been rudely taken from me.

                                        

 

After we left France on September 3rd, I'd heard (and had seen on Facebook) that there had been a bumper harvest of Cepes (Boletus Edulis) in the woods around our home. For the whole three months we were there this year we hadn't eaten a single wild mushroom; and it pained me!

As I think I'd mentioned previously, I'd feared that we wouldn't have mushrooms, and I'd bought several tins of Laguilhon 'Cepes preserved in oil' just in case. They are certainly the next best thing to fresh; but expensive. There was 'half a tin' in the fridge left-over from a meal the previous day.

However, as I'd had less time to indulge my fantasies, I took a short-cut, and rather than prepare an Omelette, I had 'Cepes with Fried Eggs' instead; something I had never done before.

So, let me tell you dear reader that my breakfast was just as good in its de-constructed state, as it would have been as an omelette. In fact I did think that when I open another tin, I will do the same again; I almost preferred it. This may sound like a Péché to all Frenchmen, but I can assure them that the spirit of gastronomy has not suffered by my laziness.

This (above) was the Cepe market in my nearby village a couple of weeks after we'd returned to Blighty. The anxious buyers are all behind the barriers, waiting for the bell to ring to signal the market open.

So, should we change the period of our stay to include September rather than June? It would mean less swimming, but more Cepes. We could even go mid-June, and stay until mid-September in the hope that we'd have a crop of Cepes before leaving. But then again there are the Chestnuts which start falling towards the end of September. It's all a gamble.

By the way, my 'Cepes with Fried Eggs' were totally delicious.

 

Public Artwork

 

I recently read an article about the UK's most disliked public statues and monuments.

Some were predictable, such as the comical black lady on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, others were more surprising. Many of the amateur incongruous-looking 'modern' sculptures were rightly given the thumbs down. But others were more puzzling.

Amongst the most disliked was Darlington's giant 'Brick Train' by Scottish Artist David Mach. 

Personally I like it. It represents a Mallard class locomotive with smoke billowing from its chimney. Built entirely of bricks, it is an imposing structure.

Why would anyone not like it, what's not to like?

Revolting French Youths

French 'children' are very easily upset. If something doesn't suit their mood, they'll take to the streets, and as usual they'll burn cars, smash windows, and throw lumps at the Gendarmes.

Extreme right-winger Marine le Pen says it's all the fault of uncontrolled immigration, whilst the extreme left-wing Mayor of St Denis in Paris, M Bally Bagayoko, said 'Violence can be legitimate'. It's all become rather 'political and racist'.

At the last count 2,000 high school pupils aged between 12 and 17 had been arrested, but there will be more. These people, mostly of North African origin, have been burning-down their schools, and even attacking their teachers; some teachers had petrol poured over them; others were punched and kicked. One female teacher even had a small 'flame thrower' aimed at her face.  This unpleasant bunch above are from Toulouse, but the riots are across the whole of France. More than 65 teachers have been injured.

I'm not quite sure exactly what they want, but it certainly has nothing to do with 'education' (otherwise they wouldn't be burning-down their own schools). They claim that money which should be going to upgrade their lawless sink-estate ghettos, is being spent elsewhere.  They want to bring normal society to a standstill, to occupy the streets, and to take control. They all hate 'French authority', and if this attitude isn't nipped in the bud very soon, it could quite possibly become another 1968 uprising.

I've mentioned a few times previously that my love-affair with France is waning. They are seeing many of the same problems that we see in the UK, in Germany, Sweden, and elsewhere. And unless something is done about it, it will only get worse.

I can remember a few years ago in France, driving around a roundabout that was swarming with nasty looking masked protesters. They held signs saying 'Hoot if you support us', so having seen the non-hooters being pelted with stones; I hooted. I had no idea what they were protesting about, but my windscreen survived.

 Ain't life grand!

OVERCROWDING!!!

 

Lock your garden sheds, tie down anything of value, hide the car keys, bolt both front and back doors of your home, don't use you mobile phone in public, and always look behind you to see if you're being followed.

Yes, it's come around very quickly. Labour's wonderful idea of letting dangerous criminals out of prison early is here; and 700 of the darlings were released yesterday.

The misguided thinking behind this move is to 'release prison space' for others. So, lets have a simple poll to see who agrees with them.

To cope with the UK's huge amount of criminals, should we....

A. Let our dangerous prisoners out early?

B. Build more prisons?

C. Use some of the space in all the unused prisons around the country (list below).

I know where I stand on this, but what do YOU think? I don't think there's any question that crime will increase with another 700 criminals on the streets; even the Minister in charge of Prisons has predicted that! So do we simply have to be prepared, keep a loaded gun by our beds, buy a Pit Bull, install CCTV and noisy alarms; or just accept that fact that there are far more criminals out on the streets, and just let them get on with it.

N.B. Just as a matter of interest, these (below) are just some of the empty prisons in the UK. OK, the cells may not have four-poster-beds, internet, and all-mod-cons, but with a few extra keys they would keep the criminals safely locked-up. 

Dartmoor isn't mentioned, but it recently held about the same number of  prisoners as have recently been released

HM Prison Ashwell B, Belle Vue Gaol, HM Prison Blundeston, Bocardo Prison,Buckingham Old Gaol, HM Prison Bullwood Hall, HM Prison Camp Hill, HM Prison Canterbury, Carlisle Citadel, Dalton Castle Cumbria, Derby Gaol, Devizes County House of Corrections, HM Prison Dorchester, Everton Lock-Up, HM Prison Finnamore Wood, HM Prison Gloucester, Halton Castle, Hexham Old Gaol, HM Prison Lancaster, HM Prison Northeye, HM Prison Oxford, etc, etc. 

Plus dozens of others that I can't be bothered to mention, but you can look them all up on 'Defunct prisons in the United Kingdom Prisons in England'

I despair (yet again)

 

I see that a new 'Rainbow Alliance' by the UK's three left-wing parties; Labour, Lib-Dems, and The Greens, are working together to undermine the ruling of the EHRC (Equality and Human Rights Commission), to erode the principle of single sex spaces, and to ignore the legitimate concerns of women.

It seems that it is now only the Tories who stand-up for women's rights in the UK.

This is yet another classic example of political parties totally ignoring the wishes of the electorate in favour of loud-mouthed minority pressure groups.

As a 'middle-of-the-road' thinker, I find the whole business of men dressing as women in order the gain access to women-only areas inherently wrong. I have nothing against men dressing as women; here in Brighton it's a part of every day life. We respect peoples differences probably more than any other UK town, but it is plainly obvious to the majority that biological men should not use women's loos or changing areas. Nor should they take part in women's sports.

However, there is a left wing plot afoot to change the EHRC's rulings, and pander to the highly vocal 'trans' lobby.

I might be in the minority here, but I see this as further erosion of the decency and high standards that I was raised with. Once we break-down the differences between male and female, we really haven't much more to destroy.

I'm not throwing in the towel quite yet, but if these people have their way, I shall raise my white flag and eat all the hats I can find.

Women of Britain (and the world); you have my support!

I'm rich.

I don't really believe in 'luck' as such, but I'm always prepared to change my mind.

So, imagine my 'luck' when I found this £Million Note lying on the ground in the twitten behind our garages.

This is the second one I've found; the first being back in April of 2025. 

Unfortunately (as with the first one) it tells me that if I've ever lied, stolen anything, lusted, or used god's name in vain (even once), I won't be allowed into heaven.

Well, I'm guilty of three of them (I don't steal), so I'm destined for what they call 'god's prison' (hell).

I have no idea who is behind this scam. They are obviously an evil bunch, giving us hope one minute, then laughing at us the next. Promising riches, then leaving us poor.

So, no £Million for me this time, but I'm always hopeful. That GENUINE £Million note must be lurking somewhere, and I'm still on the look-out.

 

The 'Triple Lock'

 

OAP's in the UK are about to be clobbered yet again. 

Previously they were protected by the 'Triple Lock'; a system that compared three lots of figures. 1: Inflation. 2: Average wage growth. And 3: a flat rate of 2.5%. The Old Age Pension payments always kept pace with the highest of these three figures. This will soon be abolished by the Socialists, and those who have PAID INTO the system all their lives will no doubt find themselves poorer, with the saved money going to pay BENEFITS to those who've mostly never paid a penny towards their hand-outs. 

The State Pension in the UK is £240 per week; £12,500 per annum.

To keep just one illegal immigrant in the UK costs an average of £53,000 per annum.

Only the Wokiest of left-wing Wokies would suggest that that was fair. And they will now take even more from the OAP's to pay for those who are in the country illegally, and have never paid a single penny into the system.

Of course not all Benefits Payments are made to Illegal Immigrants, there are only around 1.2 Million of them, and I doubt very much if all 1.2 Million of them cost the country £53.000 pa. 

It does seem very unfair to take away from those who have contributed, but no longer have a powerful voice. Labour has always been a 'Tax, and Spend' party, but they're now a 'Tax, Plunder, and Spend' party.

It'll only get worse. Next month we have The Budget. Hide your daughters!!!