The weather has been lulling us into a false sense of security over the last few days, persuading us that Spring had arrived, even drying up some of the huge mud puddles on the footpaths where I run. So in the small hours of this morning the rain returned with a vengeance. By the time I went out and about it had reduced to the imminent possibility of drizzle but the damage had been done. The puddles were back with a vengeance and the footpaths through the woods were slippery with mud. What’s more, the temperature had dropped from a balmy 9°-12° to a more wintry 3°. Weather is a fickle friend!
I wrote the other day about US military commanders encouraging their troops to enter the fray because it was God’s will, and the End of Days was at hand. Here is Ben Jennings’ cartoon take on the matter.
Now, Phil and I are rather fanatical grammar correctors. We have been known to correct the grammar of news reporters, calling out in unison the grammatically correct version of what the television reporter had just said - I and me confusion is a particular bugbear. Here’s a grammar fanatic cartoon which made me smile.
Mind you, our insistence on correct grammar doesn’t mean that we believe our daughter should teach the subjunctive mood to Year Six pupils in her school. If I were writing the curriculum I’d miss that out as English is not a Latin language. (See what I did there?) Neither do I think this statement, which a friend of mine says us from the Home Office, is strictly necessary:
“From next year, migrants wishing to stay in the UK permanently will need to speak, listen, read and write in English to an A-level equivalent standard.
It is right that those who wish to build a life here work hard, contribute and are able to play a full part in British life.”
A lot of native Anglo-Saxons don’t “speak, listen, read and write in English to an A-level equivalent standard”. Have the people who write these things ever listened to people on buses or read comments on social media?
That’s enough of that.
Granddaughter Number Two was very excited when they opened a branch of Tim Hortons in the centre of Manchester.
For those who, like me, had never heard of Tim Horton’s, here’s a bit of information : “Tim Hortons Inc., known colloquially as Tim's, Timmies or Timmy's, is a Canadian multinational coffeehouse and restaurant chain with headquarters in Toronto; it serves coffee, donuts, sandwiches, breakfast egg muffins and other fast-food items. It is Canada's largest quick-service restaurant chain, with 6,043 restaurants in 14 countries.
Granddaughter Number Two, as well as her siblings and her mother for that matter, were delighted to be able to buy a range of different sorts of donuts: a rather overrated dessert product in my opinion. Chacun à son gout!
Time was donuts were called doughnuts and came in one form: vaguely round, filled with (usually) raspberry jam and coated with sugar. And they had to be eaten as freshly made as possible. For a while when I was in sixth form, freshly made doughnuts were available to buy at morning break. That’s the only time I have regularly eaten doughnuts.
My daughter and her offspring are not the only ones a little obsessed (not seriously obsessed in their case, I hasten to add) with sugary offerings. According to this article there is a positive boom in luxury bakeries, producing pastries at crazy prices. For example, “At Copains, a Parisian favourite that opened its first UK branch in central London late last year, a large babka (about the same size as a supermarket chocolate twist) will set you back £12.50, while an eclair costs £11.90. In Harrods’ food hall, a stuffed, savoury croissant topped with gold leaf is £12. At Cedric Grolet, located inside the luxury Berkeley hotel, a hazelnut cookie will leave you £25 out of pocket. Yes, the age of the £10-plus pastry has arrived.”
And to think that my Italian friend protests about the price of coffee in the UK.
But according to this article “bakery tourism” is a big thing, with “bakery pilgrims” travelling across the country, or indeed across the world, to visit bakeries they have heard about through social media.
This is a strange form of madness. I say this as the person who makes birthday cakes whenever there is a family birthday and who looks out for recipes for new and exotic desserts! Hey! Ho!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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