Rick's b.log - entry 2008/11/09

Yogourt weaving

At least the machine that whacks the lids on didn't get jammed. That's a hell of a mess to clean up!

Party political nonsense

A brief note for foreign readers: the current ruling party of Scotland is the SNP, or the Scottish National Party (cf. Alex Salmond). Their eventual aim is a devolution of Scotland so that it can run its affairs rather than being mostly ruled by the English (Holyrood (the Scottish parliament) has some powers, but most things must pass through Westminster, the British parliament); however they have taken the smart approach of deferring a referendum on indpendence until they can prove themselves as a good and viable party and not simply riding on some 'trendy' wave. This greatly disturbs Labour (the current ruling party of the British) and we have had some hysterical knee-jerks moments of utter madness from them, especially in the guise of Wendy Alexander who clamoured for a referendum right now (in direct opposition to her own party line!), and Labour will waste no time in slagging off the SNP whenever it can and making grandiose statements such as those shown above.
Why? Because they are frightened. The SNP have not cocked up like they were 'supposed to', in fact if anything all of the opposition cock-ups exemplify why the SNP are in power. The party appears to be leading well despite having one arm tied, and - now we get to the crux of the matter - what effect would it mean to have Scotland devolve?

We can ignore the hue and cry over the North Sea oil running out "in about three years", for Scotland has more resources than just an oil-field and that's probably just a lie to scare people, for the ending of the north sea oil reserves will have quite a dramatic impact, you'd have thought now would be when the oil rigs would be starting to be decommissioned as alternative sources are brought on-line. This does not appear to be happening. In fact, industrial action at a refinery earlier in the year caused a knock-on effect that went all the way to the South East.
And talking of the South East, the greatest density of population in possibly the most arid part of the country, well, Scotland has lots of water. Large amounts of which are pumped 'down south' to the land of water meters, broken pipes, and hosepipe bans...
On a more personal note, however, it would be interesting to see how much of the current political system would remain intact if Scotland devolved. The British (the English Daily Mail readers in particular) would scream en masse if they were led by a bunch of Germans or French or Lithuanians. Well, if Scotland breaks away, a lot of the current incumbents will be equally 'foreign'. For a start, Gordon Brown will be out of a job. I don't suppose Holyrood would want him, and as a Scot he would be 'foreign' to the English. So you could wonder how much of this noise is a sense of self-preservation?

Furthmore, The United Kingdom will cease to exist. Wales is not a kingdom, it is a principality. Northern Ireland is not a kingdom, it is just a bit stolen from the Irish a long long time ago (the clue is in the name...). The only kingdoms are those of Scotland and of England, with the only active royalty being based in London (Buckingham/Windsor) with sojourns to Balmoral in Scotland. I'm not sure what will happen to Scotland's kingdom status, if the current royal family will continue representing both (like the Queen remains "head of state" for a number of ex-colony countries); however this is of little actual concern. What matters is that the title "United Kingdom" will be consigned to the history books.
There are many other complications to deal with too. I, for example, was born in Scotland but spent much of my life in the south of England. Would I remain with a 'UK' (English) passport or take a Scottish one? Would I even have a choice? Does this mean border controls? Will Scotland move to the Eurozone? About the only thing that is certain is the Scottish people will tell Westminster exactly where they can stick their stupid nuclear missiles...

Mind-games

Well, as I was walking back from feeding the cats, through the marshy field and soaking wet grass (it rained and stormed appropriately dramatically last night), I could see the telephone poles lighting up. I ran as fast as I could (which isn't terribly fast) past the front of the house, around the pond, up the driveway to our boundary. Then I hid behind the tree where the cat was shot. The vehicle, moving very slowly, was a 4 wheel drive. It stopped at the boundary, where we have a "no entry" sign, and attempted an appalling hash of a three point turn. He came into the field and right up beside the tree. At which point he looked towards a figure in black (and navy blue, same difference in the dark) with a switched-off LED lamp on my head. I waved. He was startled, the rolled-up cigarette falling from his mouth. As he bent down to pick it up, I slid behind the tree. There was much grinding of gears and he left considerably faster than he arrived. I shall sit back and await tales of ghost stories. But, yay! I hope he has an uneasy night tonight...

Soba noodles

They cook like spaghetti but they are firmer and have a rougher texture. I don't think they would be suited to a typical tomato-based pasta sauce, however if you make up some and toss them in a light soy and then throw in half a jar of Suzi Wan sweet and sour... you've a nice simple meal. Here you can see me enjoying exactly this while on my break at work. It's just the thing for when you've done four and a half hours of work and there's another four hours to go...

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