I don’t have long because the soup maker is on and the timer is running. I don’t have long and it’s difficult to type with my fingers crossed. (I haven’t used the soup maker for around seven years – doesn’t time fly – and I’m not sure that I have done it right. However, the die is cast and we will just have to see what it turns out like. Tomatoes, water, onions, red peppers, celery, garlic, cumin and chilli. What could possibly go wrong?
I was in trouble earlier this afternoon, as I went to visit the shop and Julia was expecting me back at twelve. I don’t know why, I only mentioned it vaguely in passing. It was an aspiration in my mind that became written in stone in hers. That seems to happen a lot these days. What do I say? Three men in a shop, several customers passing by, talk of coins, and the time just flies by.
Edward Lear Stamps (1988)
Ooops, I have to go now, the soup maker is bleeping at me. No, it’s stopped, so I will finish this before serving soup. I didn’t include lentils because I wasn’t sure they would cook properly in 21 minutes. I will have to look it up, or experiment. The trouble is that you have to make at least a litre at a time, which is a lot of soup. It’s three cans Or about two pints. It’s easier, despite my attachment to the weights and measures of my youth just to go with the flow. I drink beer from bottles these days so a pint means nothing to me, and the soup maker is marked in litres so that’s whay I use now. Except for milk. I still do that in pints too. and fuel. Sold in litres, converted to pints in my head, at which point I sigh heavily and remember the days I could fill the tank of a Ford Escort for £4. Of course, I forget that I only earned £15 a week after tax. Times change but the ramblings of old men plough a familiar furrow. I remember once saying that if I ever started talking about prices of today relative to the prices of my youth I would like to be put down.
A first class stamp is now £1.35. You could have a night out for that when I was young. Three pints of bitter, a packet of cigarettes nd some chips on the way home. I was a simple soul . . .
Stamps, stamps, stamps…
The Edward Lear stamps are delightful 😊. I hope the soup worked out.
I happened to be in Leeds market today and got a sinkful (now how many litres is that?) of peppers, so it’s going to be a very peppery weekend, methinks!
Ah, the actual way we measure things compared to the supposed standard ways ate many and various. I have never bought things by a sinkful, but it sounds like a couple of bucketfuls. 🙂
Happy peppering!
Thank you, Simon. Still ploughing on with the peppers 😊
I’ve been using them in soup a lot. Unfortunately there’s only so much soup I can eat. Or drink. Not sure which, but I know four days a week is enough.
You wrote, “Times change but the ramblings of old men plough a familiar furrow. I remember once saying that if I ever started talking about prices of today relative to the prices of my youth I would like to be put down.” Every generation goes through its recollections and ramblings.
There is something inevitable about my drift into being my dad. 🙂
Another article on things developing here you might find interesting.
https://www.thelundreport.org/content/uneven-playing-field-pushes-independent-docs-corporate-medicine-oregon-panel-says
Worrying times for many people. having grown up with state provided health care I am amazed that one of the world’s greatest nations can allow this to happen to its peopel.
That is a very good question, indeed.
It is, as is much of America, a mystery to me.
I really like the collection of stamps you put on your parcels
It was one of the more fun aspects of the job. 🙂
If your soup maker is like mine, lentils go very well. I agree that you do have to make too much though.
I’m the same. But I do think the prices you quote are very high compared to what we have here.
It’s difficult comparing prices from country to country. When I have watched programmes about Australia it always seems like food and housing is more expensive in Australia, which tends to wipe out the advantage of your higher wages.
The soup sounds really good. Lentils next time?
Yes – Tootlepedal says they work Ok in his soup maker so I will go ahead and try it. I like lentils in soup – Julia isn’t keen, so they have to be right.
Have you ever used red lentils? They are more creamy than the green or brown lentils and have a milder taste.
I generally use the red ones as they are easier to work with. All for an easy life. 🙂