Priceless Paintings from W7

Good afternoon, Sir, I say, addressing the proprietor of M. S. Rayat & Sons, Tools and Hardware (and a million of related things), right here in the heart of W7.

The spring in my door handle is broken, I continue, would you have any replacement springs?

No, he replies, you must buy the whole pair of handles.

All right. A pair of handles then, please. I am not too fussed about the design as long as they are near enough.

He looks at me. He looks at the handle that I brought, and sais it might just be your lucky day.

Voila! He produces a brand new pair of mock-Edwardian door handles in an exact match to mine. £7, with screws, spindle, and all.

This gentlemen has only ever failed me once, in many inquiries. If you are in the area and require a tool, piece of hardware, ironmongery, or anything remotely like any of these, or something that you cannot even guess what it is and where it might be sold, please see your local business and my friend Mr. Rayat. It could be your lucky day.

The chain stores might have pretty young girls at the tills, but they won’t know what you mean, when you come in and describe an item by saying I don’t know what it is called but it is shaped like so (gesturing) and about that long (indicating), but must have a little hook at the end.

Or, if you ask for an exact replacement of a pair of mock-Edwardian door handles, as it happens. Fabulous.

Thoughts hanwell

It’s time to review our various subscriptions and cancel those regulars that mostly end up being thrown away unread. Done – two got cancelled.

In their place, we took on a subscription to The Independent. Arrives every day before 7am (actually, between 3 and 4am by the looks of it), and promotes the sitting down and taking a break proper, with coffee and newspaper, instead of having breakfast or lunch over email, sandwich in one and computer mouse in the other hand.

This is the plan.

There were start-up difficulties, though. Although every courier service operating in this country has managed to find our house, the milkman, the post man, the gas meter reading man, and many others, the newspaper delivery man does not.

Not on day one anyways, so I phone. Apologies and credit for the missing paper offered and accepted. Promises made for the next day.

No paper on day two. Apologies, and promises for the next day.

No paper on day three. Apologies, and a different person at their end, who sorts it out.

Apparently, they have been delivering to the wrong house in the right street. I am not quite sure how my delivery instructions could have been misread (or the house number), but what bugs me most is that someone in my street received an unexpected newspaper for three consecutive days, with my full name and address on an A4-sized label, and hasn’t bothered to forward it to me, or to phone or email the distribution company (contact details also on the same label).

What’s that? Rude? Dishonest? Anti-social? I am not sure what word to chose, but I hate it.

Day four and following: sit-down breakfast and lunch, with coffee and newspaper. Nice!

Thoughts hanwell, human, society

Home-made bread. Lots of bread in various shapes, types and sizes:

BBQ Lamb, salad and and fresh sourdough bread,

Seafood spaghetti, steamed in a paper bag (a Jamie Oliver recipe. The fuss with the paper bag makes for a brilliant presentation, but doesn’t contribute otherwise),

Tomato soup, served in freshly baked bread bowls, rosemary rump steaks with potato wedges, fruit salad (the steaks were sub-standard unfortunately, but I find the bread bowls compensate),

Steak Tartare with cheese and sausage filled fresh sourdough bread sticks,

Sage and apple pork roast, served with mushroomed rice (just in case you’ve got some very organic Bramley apples that need to be used up before it’s too late).

Food and Drink cooking, food, recipe

There are some memories or situations that give you a pretty large lump in the throat. I told you about one of mine just a short while ago.

Last week, I watched the BBC’s report on the Girl Guides, commemorating the organization’s 100th birthday. Very nice not only to get a glimpse into Girl Guiding past and present, but also see and hear many ex-Guides recall their memories. Often personalities known from politics, showbiz or television, they all shared the same shiny eyes when recalling “how it was at the Brownies,” the guides, or the rangers. I am pretty sure a good many had to struggle with the very same lump, too.

Most heartbreaking to see the interview of a lady (whose name I forgot), who became part of the Guides International Service and was sent to Bergen-Belsen after its liberation, to help with care of the sick and weak.

Through this piece on the Girl Guides, combined with Ian Hislop’s enthusiastic feature about the Boy Scout movement some while ago (Ian Hislop’s Scouting for Boys), I can’t help but feel a little proud of having been part of it all. Judging by the lump in my throat, I still am.

Thoughts friends, scouts

I went through a small number of experiments with paintings of a very depressed mood. All but one ended up unfinished and abandoned, but they might have helped me out of a painter’s block (chiefly caused by focussing on too many other things, so it’s more painter’s neglect than block), and a somewhat depressed spirit. (The surviving one is still work in progress, by the way.)

Here’s one that I started, enjoyed, and completed during last week. You might find it depressing to see a foul weather scene being painted during some of the finest days the 2009 summer had to offer, but honestly, a clear blue sky doesn’t offer much excitement, in painting terms.

Click here, or the tiny detail shown here, to see the complete picture. I should add that my camera struggles to resolve the subtle nuances in colour and tone of an oil painting, and often struggles to focus well. You should come around and take a look at the real thing.

In Defiance.
Oil on canvas, 24×36” (60x90cm).
August 2009

Painting nature, oil painting, paint;painting

I am taking a break from work this weak, and a break from blogging.

Don’t run, don’t shout, don’t fight. Lights out at 10. Behave yourselves while I am gone.

See you next week.

Thoughts ooto

I am a student again!

After uni, which I finished many moons ago, I studied various subjects with varied success: life, women, painting, cooking and myself come to mind. I have now registered for studying mathematics.

Sounds impressive, huh?

Sounds impressive, but is not. I have just registered for the most basic course in mathematics at the Open University. The course should be easy enough, but since I need to remind myself on some fundamentals, and always wanted to do “maths proper” and from ground up, this is the start that I chose.

It will also allow me to see if and how this fits in with the rest of my life. If it works, I’ll move to the next level. For now, I am sitting back and looking forward to the many student discounts…

Thoughts life, Open University;

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I suppose we all have gotten used to Email spam, and with reasonably modern filters in place, few should be bothered by too many offers of adult products, pills, cheap loans or a seven-digit figure inheritance waiting in Nigeria.

There’s blog spam, too. Thankfully, tools like Akismet filter it well, but I admit being pretty upset about this whole business.

Blog spam works by commenting on a blog post. The author would make any comment on anything. The comment itself, and the author’s details, would contain links to sites selling the unwanted products or services. So, while I am happy to ignore those links, I can’t help but reading some of these comments when checking the spam queue. Every time I do so, and every time, I want to shout insult at the author:

“Splendid article. Will definitely copy it to my blog. Thanks.”   I sure hope not, you idiot.

“Gerry, a very interesting post thanks for writing it!”  Can you even read? And who’s Gerry?

“How much money will a team get if they win the Premiership?”  Yeah right. Obviously very relevant to this blog.

“Are you a professional journalist? You write very well.”  At least I don’t insult people with irrelevant comments and unwanted hyperlinks. OK, partially guilty on my own site.

“Interesting and informative. But will you write about this one more?” Not until you learn the difference between one and once.

And so it goes on. I know. I should just be happy that Akismet filters most and ignore them, but somehow, these guys really wind me up. I mean, how low can a person sink?

Thoughts, Web/Tech Spam;

This week, I’ve been mostly eating…

A lazy lemon chicken with sage tagliatelle (always nice even though I made it too lemony and had run out of Marsalla),

A Black Forest Gateaux (my first – and it worked out really very nice),

Pub food in The King’s Arms, Ealing, which has recently changed owner and character – not for the better, I’m afraid! The food was average at best. Been there, tried it. Tick!

Pancakes with spicy minced beef and mushroom filling (a childhood favourite, reborn since it is such a pleasure making pancakes with my new pan and oven. Once my extractor vent is changed, it’ll be just perfect.)

Ratatouille – also a childhood summer favourite.

Food and Drink cooking, food, recipe

I must warn you. Based on my own experience: Don’t get started unless you’re prepared to deal with the consequences.

It’s always humble beginnings at first. Let’s have the front garden tree taken out. Oh, and  wall and pavement rebuilt. A bicycle shed built in the front garden, a new patio and shed built in the back garden. A rabbit rage for the recyclables. A rear extension and new kitchen built, new furniture for the lounge. Install railway sleepers as splash guards.

Next, I shall be installing four additional railway sleepers in the garden instead of decking, and built the frames for our new raised beds.

The latest addition to the “to do” list is the construction of a greenhouse. Global warming come or go, we need a more short-term solution.

A lot of timber is being delivered today.

It’s all my own fault, I know. I suggested a trip to Wisley Gardens myself. Disastrously motivating.

Thoughts, home gardening, home

Following a campaign started by a local resident, the town elders have decided that the western part of Ealing needs a skate park, and have made plans to build it not far from us. Apparently, £200,000 are now set aside and consultation is open for a new skate park in Elthorne Park (http://www.westealingskatepark.net/).

You won’t be surprised to hear that those who are against everything (the “Hanwell Community Forum” in this case) also oppose this plan, with a series of the usual arguments. It’s too loud. It’s too remote. It’s too close.

Basically means to say “Yeah, skate park, right, well, if it cannot be avoided… but not in my front garden.”

On the upside, their leaflet doesn’t issue a blanket accusation of expected antisocial or criminal behaviour. Better than similar previous campaigns (by different groups).

I am not sure if a steel and concrete structure is the best possible way to provide young people with a means to bond, relax, grow-up, find purpose in life, but it sure is better than hanging out at the bus stop and smashing a phone booth for fun.

I suggest opponents of this plan should immediately remind themselves they were once young and might have children themselves, or grand-children soon. It’s hard enough growing up in the big city, nobody needs to be repeatedly told that he or she is unwanted on top of it.

Current Affairs, Thoughts Ealing, Ealing council, hanwell, london

In Educating Rita, the famous exam question is Suggest how you would resolve the staging difficulties inherent in a production of Ibsen’s Peer Gynt. (script)

I notice they have now turned Audrey Niffenegger’s brilliant novel The Time Traveler’s Wife into a movie. I can’t help wondering how they resolve the staging difficulties inherent in this book.

A good reason to watch the movie, and an even better reason to read the book again.

Books, Thoughts Books, movie

A 45 minute cycle trip after work, followed by an express-picnic in the park, followed by a bit of culture. Oh, and another 45’ cycle ride back home.

I have to admit that I didn’t like the music much, but the assembly of percussion instruments used in Mahler’s 6th Symphony alone was worth the trip. Ingo Insterburg would have been jealous of their collection of cow bells and bang-on wooden boxes. (Wuchtig, aber markig (forceful but pithy) is Mahler’s description of the first movement.)

Always nice to see the Albert Hall sold out. Mahler always attracts lots of people, or maybe it was the much-hailed Scottish bassoonist Karen Geoghegan, who played Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto in B flat major (KV 191) to much applause.

Not my favourite Proms concert, but a nice way to spend an evening nevertheless.

Thoughts Albert Hall, life, music

This week, I’ve been mostly eating fish and seafood, by the looks of it:

Smoked Haddock on a bed of lentils, with freshly baked sourdough bread, and (here ends the healthy aspect of this meal) followed by a fresh pear Tarte Tatin. Nice try, but pears are just too sweet; the tarte needs the sharpness of the apple.

Egg tagliatelle with smoked salmon strips and chard (in lieu of Cavolo negro). Always a nice quicky; I just hope they don’t discover that smoked salmon is even worse for you than anything else. I seem to get through a lot these days.

A fruity Singaporean seafood laksa with egg noodles, and the unavoidable stains on my T-shirt afterwards.

Marinated herring (for starters) and a Lemon Sole (which was nice but too buttery) at Loch Fyne, Twickenham.

Food and Drink cooking, food, recipe

In the 2008/09 financial year, Ealing Council has spent less than what they have rightfully earned (through direct and indirect taxes), so they came up with the clever plan:

All eligible households will automatically receive a £50 cash refund in December.

This was announced in the council’s monthly pamphlet for August 2009 [pdf – see page 5]

A popular move for sure, especially in light of future elections. When the time comes, I am sure we’ll hear all about it over and over again.

I call it proof of failure. Failure by neglect:

First, there is a minor failure in that they fail to explain which households are eligible for a payback, which ones aren’t, and why. A good example of transparent government and accounting.

Second, they decide to spend the cost of the administrative overhead for the populist payback scheme, rather than opting for holding back the surplus riches, and asking for smaller council tax contributions next year. Surely this would have been a more cost-efficient way to deal with a surplus?

Third, and most worrying: They must think they have done a perfect job all around the borough, and nothing else needs doing, so that they simply don’t know what to do with the money. There’s a gazillion small and big jobs around the borough, and all they can come up with is a refund? That’s like throwing hands in the air. Jesus. Lord. Almighty.

Although I didn’t vote for the current council (as you probably guessed), they are charged by everyone to spend the tax money wisely and for the better common good of everyone in the borough.

Apparently, they can’t be bothered to do what they were elected to do. I hope most people will see through this expensive populist move and can’t be bothered voting for them again.

Current Affairs, Thoughts Ealing, Ealing council, london