Ice Cream Anyone?

It's Sunday; best day of the week for ice cream. Cheers!

Starving?

This is the sight that met me this morning; you'd think we didn't feed him. Monty is slowly eating his way through my lovely Kurdish carpet.

At the rate he's going, I estimate that he'll have completely consumed it by winter 2014. Is there something one can spray onto carpets that will stop dogs doing this? Alum maybe?

Any advice warmly accepted.

AD or CE?

Most political correctness really makes me puke.

All my life, 'years' have been classified as either BC or AD; now for some bizarre reason the PC brigade think it must be changed to BCE (before common era), and CE (common era).

I'm no God botherer, but can someone PLEASE explain to me, when in the near future we are all obliged to refer to 10 BCE  and 10 CE , what will be the dividing point? If, as I presume, the dividing line will continue to be the attributed date for the birth of Christ, then everything stays the same. So why on earth pretend to change the unchanging?

May I suggest an even more (Muslim friendly) politically correct version. How about for 'BC', BCEBCMMETM (before common era, before Christ, and much much earlier than Mohammed), and for 'AD', CEADHMBM (common era, anno domini, and half a millennium before Mohammed). Failing that, why not call next year 'YEAR ONE'; forget the whole stupid bloody PC nonsense, and start from bloody scratch!

p.s. I've just heard that they're now trying to do away with GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) as well...... is nothing bloody sacred. I'm bloody furious!

© Cro Magnon MMX1 (AD). 12.52 pm (GMT).

Listen to Micawber!

'Annual income £20; annual expenditure £19. 19. 6p, result happiness. Annual income £20; annual expenditure £20. 0. 6p, result misery'.

Micawber was right, and Cameron is now trying to encourage a new 21st Century version of Micawberism.. But why was this crazy 'spend now, pay later' culture ever encouraged in the first place. People have to borrow, but to encourage borrowing for flighty unnecessary whims was irresponsible, if not criminal.

Those old ideals of 'keeping up with the Jones's' or 'one-up-manship' are hopefully gone forever. And good riddance!

Cauchemare. Albtraum. Pesadilla. Incubo. Hunllef (Welsh).

I don't often have real nightmares, in fact throughout my life I've had unbelievably few.

About 20/25 years ago I had one about 'the death sentence'. A man was about to be hanged for some horrendous murders, and it was MY duty to 'string him up'. I remember waking and being suddenly radically anti hanging (I'm now back on the fence).

My last nightmare, which must have been over 10 years ago, was probably the most frightening; it concerned my dying before having grandchildren, and the horror lasted for ages. This came as a quite a shock, because the question of grandchildren had never really been a major personal issue. There must be something very powerful going on in one's inner psyche to have had such a devastating effect.

Thank goodness it didn't come true (see above for 'one' bit of proof).

The Temporary Kitchen.

The Magnon's kitchen has temporarily moved into a corner of my studio, where pots-n-pans now sit side-by-side with tubes of colour and bottles of turps.

We've already been kitchenless for about a month, and (providing I believe them) this will continue for a maximum of one more week.

You'd almost be forgiven for thinking we were having a de-luxe, gargantuan, kitchen fitted; but no, just a small, hand-built, simple job that involves nothing out of the ordinary. We are, however, insisting on quality so it's all hand made in 'ivory' painted solid oak.

I'm not one of those cooks who demands an all mod cons, state of the art, kitchen. As a relaxed cook, I can discretely rustle-up a decent job with just one gas ring and a few simple ingredients.

Anyway, the stuff has now arrived (that's about half of it, above). Our new little kitchen will soon be here and our frustrations forgotten.

Lady Magnon's mostly looking forward to a fully operational oven thermostat for cake making etc, and I just want another working hob, a usable sink, and a chopping block. No doubt we'll both get what we want.

It's bloody chaos. Keep watching.

In Eggsecution of Duty.

Not so long ago I wondered if they'd ever lay; now they've been eggsonerated, and are laying 3 a day.

The boss, Edwina, lays the big white eggs on the left above, many of which are double yolkers (like the one on eggstreme left).

The 2 Richards eggshibit more delicate ways, and lay smaller, and slightly pinkish, eggs (right).

All three have turned out to be eggsemplary hens, and now eggescute their duties in an eggscellent fashion.

Well done my beauties; you are an eggsample to hens everywhere!