Life, the Universe and Everything

Ray told me a funny joke the other day. I laughed so much I fell off my chair. As he fancies himself as a bit of a Health and Safety expert, he was suitably embarrassed :-)

Q: What do chickens and visually impaired people have in common? A: Fear of boy scouts who insist on helping them cross the road. They don't want to cross the road but modern scouts know better and anyway have a target to meet for "being helpful".

I've read a few reviews of "How to Train Your Dragon" that have picked up on some of the "messages" in the film. None of them noticed an alarming messages that makes this "PG" film entirely unsuitable for children . The heroine hits the hero - but wait, she kisses him afterwards so that's Ok. Then there was "Fantastic Mr. Fox" where Mrs Fox hits Mr Fox and draws blood. It's just "PG" as well. So, the message (young) girls is that it's OK to hit your man. Can you imagine the uproar if a film promoted men hitting women? Actually, there are such films but they tend to be called "horror", rated 18 and it isn't the hero hitting the woman.

I've been growing this for years. Or more accurately, of the dozen or so thymes I've tried, this is the one that's survived and flourished.  Useful in the kitchen - does what it says on the tin - you can tell it's thyme but it's also got a Caraway taste. Unlike some of the other fancy thymes, it's got some wallop and the flavour is still there when you get the chicken out of the oven. To be fair, if you incinerate your chicken rather than gently roast it that won't apply. The botanists amongst you will of course know that it isn't a cultivar of Thymus Vulgaris but a separate species, Thymus herba-barona. For the gardener/cook who wants to try it, you won't find it in every Garden Centre but it's not rare either. The garden designers will want to know that forms evergreen mounds of grey-green leaves with light mauve flowers in summer.

Went dancing in Durham. It's a dance festival run by, and mainly for  students but they let anyone in. On the first night, later on, they had what they called a "Disco Ceilidh". The idea was that you dance what some would call "English Country Dances" to modern pop. It's not quite as bad as it sounds although the music doesn't fit the dances particularly well. After watching this for a while I had an idea. I grabbed Ruth - who is never knowingly conventional - and we jived - right in the centre of the room while several hundred people did some Sicilian circle dance around us. Magic! I like Durham. The town has lots of old and interesting bits - including a number of pedestrian bridges crossing the river and up on into the town. However, it's not a "tourist trap" it feels like a town that's got more important if mundane things to get on with, - like working, making excellent chips and drinking! So, Saturday tea time was spent in the bac...

Had a go at this "winter sun" malarkey and went to Malta. It was sunny and unlike Birmingham Airport, it didn't have the "wrong sort of snow". It was a partly escorted tour and while the other half of the group were having their turn down an archaeological hole in the ground, the local guide casually pointed out what he called a "Band Club". The official story is that the Band Club provides a band to accompany a saint's statue in procession on the saint's day. So they erect a large building with glass case to store the statue in. And while they're at it, they build a bar. So, for the other 364 days of the year when there's no procession, they smoke, drink and don't let women in. It's a bit like a Morris side in the UK. Top picture is taken in Nadur, Gozo while one with some of the many small dogs is from Paola in the mainland. The inside of this one is quite ornate Actually, there's a lot of small dogs in Malta which is ...

As I approached the dance place last night, I met one of the other blokes. He said that given the ice and snow, he expected a shortage of women. I thought he was probably right. We were both wrong. Sure, overall dancer numbers were way down but there were more women than men. Thinking about it, I realised I'd made this false assumption about women's attitude to difficult travel conditions before. However, when I look at other activities such as getting in to work, the image of men being bold risk-takers stacks up pretty well. So, is it possible that some women make a special effort to go dancing when the weather is dreadful and risky? And why? Here are a few ideas: Women who dance are special and are less worried about risk than average? Women expect fewer other women to turn up and want to go where they think they are unlikely to be wallflowers? Men expect fewer other women to turn up and don't want to go where they think they are going to have to compete for par...