Beer – #9 in a series – Badger Blandford Flyer

So it's Back to Dorset then for  a revisit for me, but first time here.

This is a beer that you'd find in some ways similar to the  Boundary road Grizzly beer that I enjoy and comes in a six pack, but it's slightly up a notch from that, and deserves a bit more credit and stands on it's own. It does say on the bottle "A bite of Ginger" and it does come with that!

In a 500ML bottle (tha's near a pint as dammit) and at 5.2 I could easily get myself into a bit of trouble drinking this. It's gingery (of course) refreshingly like lemonade and a bit toffyish. (you think I made that up, I looked at the label, and it's true)

I've been saving this for a sunny evening, like the one that Auckland has dished itself up tonight, and I'm pleased I did, a very summery experience and one that'll make another appearance on my next visit to those nice people at the Wine Circle in Huapai 





a solid 9 arbitrary stars out of 10 arbitrary stars on some arbitrary scale of things. Get some you'll be pleased you did.

Related articles

• Beer - #6 in a series - Fursty Ferret (pdubyah.com)

Like a blog, photo's are a bit personal too

I'm not so good at pictures, but I'm not that good at writing either so why should that be stopping me right :-).

I often look at pictures and think they're brave or daring, and for that reason, and because I have an almost compulsive fascination  with straight lines and order, most of my pictures are people free. I have a lot of pictures, some of which I like, some I keep because not keeping them doesn't seem to be an option, and a few, very few are worth sharing.

But on reflection, these are some pictures from yesterday that  I decided I like enough and well this is all about me isn't it, so here goes.

Oh yeah I cropped, colored, straightened, and did some terrible things with the original pictures not like a boss but like a ham-fisted oaf, but I got what I wanted.

[gallery link="file" order="DESC" orderby="rand"]

Beer – #8 in a series – Oh no its a Cyder!

A dry Cider, the Aspall premier Cru Suffolk Cyder offers on the label an interesting miss mash of languages then.

Its a very earthy, as you'd expect, apple cider, 500mls (pint) of 7% drinkability.

As part of the Cider revolution this isn't doing so badly. the bottle is an interesting shape, which makes for interesting storage in the fridge - and that's all I have to say about that, aside from the fact they have a TradeMark on the design.

8 arbitrary stars out of 10 arbitrary stars on this one, mostly because I wasn't quite expecting how dry it would be, and that's my fault.  But it is tasty and with the right preparation of the palate (i.e. don't drink sweet sider before hand) it's actually very nice.

Seeking work - Job Application #1- the one with stock market tips and a recipe

This arrived in the in-box today, unsolicited email looking for employment, as they do now and again. This one stood out though as it contains Stock Market tips, and a recipe!

Hello,
I would like to social network with you and your company.
I'm currently unemployed, and I'm a CMS website designer & an  SEO specialist ; I would like to ask if you or your company have  any projects that I can work on? Graphic works?

Besides being a website designer, I occasionally study the stock market. Recently, I contacted my stock broker and bought shares in Thrive World Wide, Inc. for less than $1 a share. stock symbol: TWWI

The reason why I bought "TWWI" shares is because I believe that they have a competitive edge in the market. As of this writing, Groupon and "TWWI" are one of the only two companies that I know of that have their shares traded in the stock market. These are the only two companies that focus all of their efforts in their daily deal sites. Google also offers Google deals but don't really focus all of their efforts in Google deal site.

I think Google focus more in the search engine. Not to mention, Groupon & Google stock prices are very expensive for me.

I find the stock "TWWI" to be more special then Groupon because they have video ads that show off their advertisers' deals. This will make the consumers more attracted to buying the deal from "TWWI" That's about all my stock market thoughts for those daily deal sites.

Besides glancing over at the stock market, I also play tennis, but not golf because I believe its an elderly's sport. I'm only 29 years old. (not trying to offend my elders here)

In my spare time I also cook, my favorite dish is the terikayi glazed salmon. That's a piece of salmon marinated in soysauce, terikayi sauce, salt, pepper, and 1 small slice of freshly squeezed lemon juice. Then, placed in the oven to cook it for under 5 minutes.

I did not send you a résumé because most people do not like to receive attachments in their email, this is my job seeking introduction letter (résumé cover letter).

Please Let me know if you would like to receive my résumé.

If you own another website, I can also work on it for you.
Sincerely yours,

Frowning week: Farms / Dotcom / Unions / Breakfast TV

I can't get along with the media this week, or the bits of it that have caught my eye and attention, It might be the back to work blues, it might be that I'm sitting in an office and the sun and blue sky are outside being annoying. However these are the things that this week, in particular, made me frown, for either reason of Faux Outrage or otherwise.

• Crafar Farms, a NZ$200 million bid to buy them by a Chinese Company that sees them lease them back to Landcorp. It's not that big of a deal. The amount of land is paltry in comparison to similar overseas land investments in New Zealand sanctioned by both the Labour and National governments, past and present.

Image by Szymon Stoma via Flickr

Dont get me wrong on this, Allowing the sale to any foreign entity based on "well they did it, we're going to do it" isn't exactly a way to run a country. Their bid however, and we're an open country, is the highest bid and apparently a good price.  Jingoism and Xenophobia are two words that come to mind.  This is an emotional play by the opposition parties to gather doom clouds over the recently elected and current government, it's not about ownership of farms. The current government by not engaging in any words on this is not making itself any friends, and it's position looks stubborn and appears contrary to "the will of the people" who are the people that are the opposition party, not the real people. OF course asked a question like "Should a chinese person buy our land" is always going to be a NO!, and this is what joe public has in their mind now, it's not going to end well.

• Kim Dotcom. A foreign national resident in New Zealand (as am I, I'd like to point out). Founder/Owner of a hosting site Megaupload.com he's had charges of  alleged piracy and allowing piracy of material to the tune of some US$500million.

He's a bit of a wide-boy and would, in my opinion, do a runner, or make it as hard as possible to be found if he chose. Not sure what the ongoing faux outrage is with this. I am impressed with the media's use of close cropped head shots that appear to highlight mr.Dotcom's chubbyness. But this is a side-show to an underlying problem where law has not kept up with technology, sharing the latest TV show, or Film from the US that may not get to NZ for 3 months or more - what outcome does the producer hope to get, people want it now, the same producers have avalanched us with reality tv shows in real-time for ages, and suddenly they're not in control.

• Ports of Auckland. An Employer who want to drag's it's work ethic into the modern era.

Image via Wikipedia

My understanding is that an employed worker has a shift/roster, and  is available to work. My understanding also is that should a ship dock half way though that time slot the worker can continue to work through untill the ship is unloaded and that counts as overtime, even if for the first portion of that roster there is no work available - so time for free. What it seems the ports want to do is normalise a working schedule, based on modern technology that says "A bot will arrive at this time and you are required to work for x hours as part of your roster. It's not decided the day before, shipping companies know pretty much to the hour where their fleets are. The unions are against this for many reasons, mostly to do with self empowerment and grandiose self importance.

• BreakfastTV, we've rebelled against the machine and have taken flight to TV3, where there appears to be News being covered in a newsy kind of way, and not 30 second segments of recycled quick cut clips of tabloid headlines and pet stories. TVOne has really shot itself int he foot with a new set, atrocious front people and a format that really is brain-dead.

Related articles

• A closer look at Kim Dotcom, the larger-than-life founder of Megaupload (geek.com)

Thursday

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

That awkward day between Wednesday and Dress-in-the-dark-day, and to celebrate I added some bloglovin'. Who knows.

The Phoenix - Late of Wellington - at home but not a home.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption]

The Wellington Phoenix have no soul, history, connection, or anything that binds them to or with Wellington & Wellingtonians at any level.

That's a pretty brave statement huh. Well I think it's true (And well I did make that statement on Twitter recently)

The club as it exists does not have a history that pre-dates 19 March 2007. Even it's name was decided by competition and public vote.

Barely 3 years in , late in 2011 financial strife meant that the Phoenix "Franchise" has to be bailed out by a bunch of businessmen keen to make sure that the club stayed in Wellington, thereby fluffing their own egos' and so they could trumpet financial benefit to the region.

There is no history for the club, no "real" support for the club and one of the owners is imploring people to show up in numbers in excess of 10,00 each week to support a team transplanted / invented in Wellington. They can't rely on fair-weather supporters, that's not how it works. If you can only rely on 6-7,000 people each home match then that's not going to be a sustainable business model, hectoring Wellingtonians to become life-long paying supporters for a team that has a roller-coaster performance standard, in a frankly second or third tier level of skill competition. And if your fanbase is one that decides that they are busy that day with something else, that it's inconvenient, or they're not sure who's playing and when that's not a fan base, that's a potential audience not a fanbase.

New Zealanders have been brought up on a diet of success, we love it, and I'm referring to Rugby in particular, but also Sailing where we punch above our weight, and we're quick to remind ourselves about Racehorses. We not big on backing a losing team for the long haul.

Having a team and then telling everyone that they are the real deal isn't going to work. It might, but it's not working right now. The sad state of the media means that they'll need to supplant a rugby players groin story for anything like a positive coverage or game week mention.

For the Wellington Phoenix then it's a long hard road ahead, that has not one guarantee of success. The A-League has it's own problems with scheduling, financial viability and quality of players. You can put lipstick on a pig, but at the end of the day it's still a pig. There is no rivalry, no cross town game, no player that jumps from one team to another, it's a club without its own ground (it shares Wellington Stadium with other football codes), and no "Kop end" or similar that weaves its way into local lexicon, unless you think something like "Bay 11" counts.

It just isn't like any other football club I know of, if you're English or you follow football you'll have a club you support, mine is Crystal Palace, and has been since the late '70's. It's not about winning, it's about the tribalism of the support pack, the supporters, the wanting to beat the other local team (in my case say Wimbledon, or Charlton, or Millwall). And I know that anywhere in the world I can bump into a Crystal Palace Supporter and get a high five and a quick chant, it's like that. I couldn't change from Crystal Palace to any other team, and yet with the Phoenix I'm expected to have changed from the Football Kingz, to the Wellington Phoenix as if nothing had happened, and to show some deep gratitude and loyalty.

Don't get me wrong if I was called out and asked to declare my support then it's be the Phoenix all the way, despite them being half a country away. My country is better than the other country anytime, and it's not about the winning it's about country.

And this opinion piece on Stuff is worth a read - "Phoenix crowd plea will fall on deaf ears"

The Wellington Phoenix, at home but not a home.

Beer – #7 in a series – 3 Monts

I've never had a beer that I had to use a corkscrew to open. A 750ml giant of a bottle it was too.

and 8.5% toe curler the 3 Months beer is from The Brasserie de Saint Sylvestre which is a brewery in the Nord-Pas de Calais region of northeast France.

The interwebtubes says Brewing in the town of Saint-Sylvestre-Cappel dates back to at least 1600, although the troubled history of Flanders has interrupted business several times in history

 



It's a typical european beer, full of flavor and taste, crisp and way to easy to drink. To the point that I'd quaffed it without any second thought or consideration as to the alcohol content or the swift onset of slurry words, and drunken promises.

At first this beer tastes just like a nice full lager, with that clean flavor. Very mild fruitiness, and some hops in the back. As it warms It changes to a more spicy, peppery alcohol, as well as a more complex, nuttier malt heavier darker beer type. Most intriguing and entertaining.

I'd be up for more of this if I can find some, a bit on the expensive side at around $16 a 750ml bottle but if you're looking to impress yourself, or your friends this would be the go!

Again thank you to the nice people at the Wine Circle in Huapai who take my beer tokens in exchange for much goodness and joy

Trying Teen Times – Part the Seventh - Getting your life back

Sunday, 11am. We're mooching about the house with no plans, nothing left undone and no children in the house. Eldest is off for the weekend, as he has been for many months now, with his girlfriend. Youngest is working at her part-time job that she has had since before christmas.

Sunday 11am. We're mooching about the house with no plans, nothing left undone and no children in the house. We were going to go for a beachfront walk today, or the park, or both, we're so exciting, and today it's raining. So that's put the lid on that one.

Sunday 11am. Second coffee of the day for the Wife. Such is the day that it's still yesterdays newspaper that is being read.

Since out children have grown up and become very independent, particularly since they both have cars and their own circles of friends we've had to adjust to doing what we want to do, and when we want to do. We've rediscovered the joys of moping about town and having a coffee and croissant as our whim takes us, we've even had weekend breaks away without them.

But I can see where the stress of not having children around would take a toll on relationships, as much as having them when they are younger does. I can even understand why many marriages end in divorce at this stage of the relationship, if you don't have other things that bind you together and you're living your life vicariously though your children then it's all of a sudden a screeching halt on the day.

We're fortunate that we both have discussed this and we've both made a real effort to make an effort to do things together, we've seen this coming from afar, and I know that I talk to my colleagues and peers about what's happening and the empty nest syndrome.

It's liberating and refreshing of course, but it is hard work, and a lot of things we still need to do, and to rediscover. I'm sure there are many friends we've not met and many things left undone.

Now if only I can persuade my wife that I don't need a hobby of any sort and that I'm perfectly happy doing what I'm doing. And of course this means doing stuff like taking more pictures, reading and doing what she expects, but I'm pretty good at that sometimes.

Oh and not getting another cat, that would be a bit of a win. I'm sure we don't want to become crazy pet people who substitute dogs or cats for kids and tie themselves with a badge of courage for doing so, you know the type "I can't because of the dog..."

Related articles

• Empty nest syndrome anyone???? (dorazsays.wordpress.com)

Beer – #6 in a series – Fursty Ferret

I had some of this. Badger's Fursty Ferret It comes in hand pint-sized bottle, so it's just like being in a pub when you're drinking it from a sleeve (As opposed a handle, you see what I did there with a term for a pint glass flash eh!) , it's enjoyable but it's not quite at my personal mark. I looked at the label and the interwebtubes, it says this;



Fursty Ferret has a sweet nutty palate, hoppy aroma and a hint of Seville oranges, give this tawny amber ale its distinctive personality. Recommended with smooth and creamy West Country Cheddar or indulgent pork pies and mustard.

Well what can I tell you it's on the lower end of taste scale, for me,  but it is a pretty beer and no effort to enjoy.

It's an accompaniment beer, not something to hunker down with for a long evening.

So for me it 7 arbitrary stars out of 10 arbitrary stars.

Thanks to the fine people at the Wine Circle Huapai for being my main men.

Megaupload - Faux Outrage

I might be seeing this wrong.

If it was Bernard Madoff, Sir Allan Stanford, Nick Leeson, Ken Lay, Bernie Ebbers, Dennis Kozlowski & it was a $500 million alleged financial fraud, & they were arrested in NZ you'd probably be thinking "good job" and be in general support.

I think the thing is there are two issues:

1. The fact that Kim Dotcom has been arrested or held at the behest of the FBI in New Zealand. This seems to be counter to most people's expectations of a fair and free existence, and seem to trample on our sovereignty and right to police our own country. A sort of  "How dare they!"

The NZ ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has this handy document on Extradition. "The Act does not require a foreign country to have a treaty to request extradition from New Zealand"

or

1. That most of the tech-savvy may have at one time or another used the services facilitated by Megaupload, or one of the many other similar services, such as PirateBay, LimeWire, Rapidshare, and that we don't collectively see this as a 'theft" or "fraud" issue.

Megauplaod upload exists to facilitate the movement of large files in a direct download model between users, on an often anonymous basis. Someone uploads a file and then others can pick and choose to download that file - in total- as they choose, or not.

To drag someone back to the USA to face a media storm and circus seems a little odd. But then financial fraud and crime needs to be dealt with in a far more seveer manner than most other crimes.

Bit of a pigs ear then, the "authorities" could have closed down the business, and frozen assets under various RICO and money laundering / income from crime statutes I imagine without the drama of extradition and display, which in the end would result in one man in jail for a few years for being a visionary, albeit a bit of a dodgy one.

Related articles

• Feds Shut Down File-Sharing Website Megaupload.com, Seven People Charged (circleid.com)


• Pop Artists Support Megaupload; Universal Censors (entertainment.slashdot.org)

How not to do Social Media - the RT This! Lady

Like I'm an expert at it. But there are some things that just prickle, and this is one of them. I'd like to think that I'm pretty inoffensive and mild, which is possibly untrue, but I would prefer a live and let live existence to a confrontation and bad blood.  At the risk of being called out as mean-spirited or cowardly then, this is what is under my skin with this.

A while back I stumbled upon a particular and peculiar twitter user that caught my eye for the appalling way they 'do' Social Media Marketing. She's the RT This!! lady

Just about every tweet ends with the missing "RT This!!!" or similar, sometimes a "please" sometimes not. You have to click to belive it

These are people who market themselves as "the experts" in Social Media Marketing, they have this tandem account they use for that and it makes me frown with angst about who is overseeing this nonsense.

Well no-one since it's their own company and they are the directors, but I mean to which body are they responsible to? It's all well and dandy to know how to fiddle Google into a page ranking, and know the tricks of SEO / SEA and LSO but that doesn't make you a viable company, or an expert in the nuance of Social Interaction for sales purposes. And the website has many what I would call unsubstantiated claims about the effectiveness or comparable value they offer.

I'm not so flash on Grammar and spelling but it's cringingly bad when you're opening sentences uses "gotta"- twice

"“WHERE SHOULD YOU START?”, it can be daunting, you’ve gotta learn this and you’ve gotta learn that, whats the best direction to take?, well, we are the best direction to take, we know business owners are busy so we can take the hard work out of building a true and visible online presence for your business"

and this gem

"websites and all of your Social Media Marketing accounts, set them up, get them working for you and then hand you the reigns when you’re ready" (they mean, I think reins)

and this

"Sales all over the world, Alaska, Canada, USA, Japan, Australia, Columbia, Niue, to name a few" so State of America, Country, America all over, country, country, State of America, country" and then they mention Florida too!

It's just staggeringly bad, and I wish I had the balls to send them a message to tell them just how bad I think it is. But I'll be a coward and just blog my disdain. After all they are the people with their "finger on the pulse of Social Media Marketing" and perhaps it's me that doesn't get it.

I hope it isn't.

Trying Teen Times – the grown up one – Part the Sixth – A New Car

Well we found a car, a very low mileage two owner Mazda Astina 1994 - which makes it only slightly younger that the #Boychild, and so we brought it.  It comes as standard including the steel wheels, factory stereo and an aerial that goes up and down when you put the radio on - it even has a cassette tape  player!

It's not that we didn't want to but as I may have mentioned it was about continued independence and freedom. I can almost hear the sighs and see the eye-rolling exasperation from some of you :- "How spoilt and unnecessary is that?" you may be thinking (about the car not the sighs and eyes).

We're not proud, we are definitely not rich, and this puts us even further away from any goal of savings we might have. It's not about those things, it's about family and it's about getting on. We're lucky to be able to, as I'm sure many of you are not as lucky, or fortunate.

It's insured against crashing into someone else and from being stolen, as are all the cars we variously own, and is good to go. How mad is insurance pricing though? 3rd Party, Fire and Theft $80 per Quarter, or Fully Comp at $80 per month. It's a car not the crown jewels, he hasn't been in an accident in three years, may that continue.

I don't know if it's as economical, sadly #Boychild isn't in the least bit connected with the finer nuances of ownership of cars, such as, oh, checking the water in the washer bottle, or the fuel mileage he can expect from a litre of go-juice



I'll feel better about him travelling to and fro in this one over the last one he had/has which really was, in the local parlance "a bomb" and is for sale to someone who might wish to buy it - really cheap.

 

Related articles

• Trying Teen Times - the grown up one - Part the Fifth - Cars (pdubyah.com)

Beer – #5 in a series - 8 Wired Saison Sauvin

The 8 Wired Brewery "Saison Sauvin"



A cheeky little 7% ABV  beer this one.

Reading from the interwebtubes website, and the label it clearly says  "this is not a beer meant to be drunk by the gallon".

If you're a fan of the Pale Ale taste then you'll enjoy this, and although I'm not generally a fan of that style of beer this one is a little bit special and very tasty, and I'd give a gallon a crack.

In a 500ml (that's just about a pint) this is a very pleasing drink, long enough to taste and enjoy.

On the arbitrary Pdubya-o-meter this one rates, for me 9 arbitrary stars out of 10 arbitrary stars.

Once again thank you to the nice guys at The Wine Circle in Huapai (and on twitter  )-  for having such a fine selection and choice.

Cheers!

Related articles

• Seven new Triangle craft breweries on the horizon (newsobserver.com)


• Pale Ale (roaldsmeetsbeerinbelgium.wordpress.com)

Under the Auckland Harbour Bridge #2

[gallery link="file" order="DESC" orderby="rand"]

I took some pictures on a short walk-about under the harbor bridge and area around, these are some of those

Beer – #4 in a series – Cider!

I had cider in the fridge, it called to me, and I answered

What's there to say about Magners Cider except that it's really Bulmers cider by any other name. Like most ciders it has a flat under taste, but it's not unpleasant

8 arbitrary stars out of 10 arbitrary stars

Trying Teen Times – the grown up one – Part the Fifth - Cars

A couple of years ago #Boychild wanted a car, and we made him save his hard-earned cash for one. It was only a 'bomb', and was never going to last the distance. To be honest we paid half the cost and insisted that he have at least 3rd party insurance, and undertake a defensive driving course.

As an aside you get no discount whatsoever for doing a defensive driving course, which seems wrong. He's had one accident where he bumped into someone and we settled for cash.

We've had to buy tires, and a battery, and some rust work fixed up a bit, oh and he's had the brakes fixed.

Owning a boat would be cheaper!

Today it died. It appears to my un-mechanical eye that the head gasket has failed and that'll be terminal, since the cost of fixing that would be more than the car costs, or owes us. Madness.

The difficult part of this as a parent is that #Boychild is currently in-between gigs, i.e. he's unemployed at this present moment in time (and that's a whole other story). And he does have some of a social life, friends he visits and a long time girlfriend who lives way way over the other side of town.

Public transport is a bit of a joke and would add multiple hours of travel time onto a simple journey. Sure he can walk locally and get the bus where he knows he has to be where he has to be, but the trauma of going to self-reliant to public transport is a big ask.

The dilemma then, as a parent, is that we need to encourage said #Boychild his independence, and to encourage him to fly the nest and venture on his own two feet. Not having his own self-reliance and looking for a job is a bit of a handicap.

So once again I find my laser-eye surgery slipping further from my grasp as we (MrsPdubyah and me) are sort of resigned to furnishing a replacement set of wheels.

It just never ends.

Under the Auckland Harbour Bridge #1

I was as about as underneath the Auckland harbour bridge as you could be  today and I saw this. It was beyond a fence line.

[caption id="attachment_1031" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The Plaque to Shanlee Maree Haggerty[/caption]

Curiosity and all that I googled the name with no results. It's an unusual name, and I would have thought that there might have been something. But then it goes to show that you have to have been on the internet somewhere to be on the internet somewhere. I wonder why there is a monument at that place, something that is so permanent and a reminder. Their quiet place, their reflective place, I don't know. Well I do know that I found a reminder to them, and that's got to make you wonder, just a bit.

So Shanley Maree Haggerty, whoever you were clearly you mean something to someone given that the garland of flowers was present, and you'll have to trust me that you have to know where this is to know where it is, it's not a place that many Auckland people would even consider there being access too, let alone a park.

My curiosity about the undersides of the Harbour bridge let me to seek out access, I wasn't expecting to find this nor the memorial that I found either, it's not a welcoming place, it's shaded, noisy from traffic, and there are not a lot of redeeming features, no beach, no access to the shore line, just the undersides of a steel girder bridge. But it is wonderful.

[caption id="attachment_9012" align="aligncenter" width="200"] A monument to the 3 who died in construction on the bridge[/caption]

 

11th January Update :

I’ve had someone let me know that they think that Shanley Haggerty was someone who died during the construction of the clip-on lanes. Which could be right, but seems a little odd considering that the monument to the other construction workers isn’t close and is somewhat grander

There is some conflicting history about the number of deaths widely reported as 3 but sometimes as 4. The monument lists just the three names. None of the documents that I’ve skim read (to be fair) mention any names of the dead workers. And they are all mentioned as “men”, and although I don’t think Shanley Maree Haggarty is a man’s name it could be that Maree is a family name that has some significance.

24th January Update :

Google eventually coughs up a bit of information as:

Shanley Maree McGowan –
Birth: 7 Aug 1967 in Auckland.
Death: 29 May 1993 in Auckland Harbour Bridge.
Burial: Body Not Recovered
Sex: F.
Father:  is not listed
Mother:  is not listed
She was a Teacher who Married  on the 27th Oct 1990 in Our Lady Of The Mount, Titirangi to Malcolm James Haggerty.

And now I’m saddened even more, because I know why there is a reminder, but more because it's not a way to end a life.

Beer - #3 in a series - The Cornish Wheat Beer

Today it's Skinner'a Cornish Blonde. Skinners, a brewery in Truro, Cornwall. Of course I get mine from the wonderful peeps at The wine Circle in Huapai out in the wilds, one of the 156 beers they have available.



A Cornish Wheat Beer, unlike any other wheat beer I've ever had. I'm used to a more 'lemony' citrus taste from wheat beer, this was a bit tart and flat. The label indicates that it has a superb citrus finish, I've just started it so perhaps that comes nearer the end, because it seems to be missing in action in this bottle.

Had a quick shifty on the interwebtubes and discovered that this is "Suitable for Vegetarians Not Gluten Free" - and I have no idea what to make of that.

Comes complete with a comedy label and a promise to donate to a surfing organisation in the uk, it might appeal to the quirky types, but then again as a beer aimed at surfers I might be being a little precious about the gravitas of the label.

Slightly disappointed with the taste like I said, but it does have the lovely cloudy wheat beer look, even if it doesn't have the taste to back it up.

7 arbitrary stars out of 10 arbitrary stars for this one.

Cupcakes

I brought some today. A tad on the expensive side with 4 of them costing me $18.50. Yes that's $4.75 each. Just the cupcake. That or they are really good value, since frankly cupcake pricing is something that would generally elude me, so my pricing comment made only in comparison to things I know cost under $5 and may not actually be a true reflection of the worth or value. I think.

They're made locally, by the Delish Cupcake Company And they had a choice of about 8 flavors today. I walked out with Chocolate, Nutella, Lime and strawberry.

[caption id="attachment_1013" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="From the website"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1017" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="This is one of the purchased items, just the same as the ones on their website, except made today."][/caption]

So far for a company that's a couple of years old they're still open, which in itself is something, given that it's not the best of times, hey perhaps frippery and discretionary extends to cupcakes - it would seem so, and from the variety that they offer it seems that they are still being wonderfully creative.

The owner/creators both have full-time day jobs, and they spend evenings and weekends confecting their products.

The shop is clean, cozy, welcoming and just a little off the beaten track. I would imagine that the delivery business is flourishing.

I've worked alongside small business entrepreneurs and owners, but I can't see how this venture could ever be anything other than a boutique operation, I don't see how this particular craft and style can't scale, unless you forego somethings like quality assurance. And their operation seems depend on them sub-letting ovens and prep-rooms, and that can't be a long term strategy.

It took me a while to visit Delicious Cupcakes, and I've yet to eat the products. Will I revisit? well the proof will be in the pudding so to speak, but it would only be for very special occasions.

The Gentleman's Fishing Club

What you need, and all you need  is;

1. A Seahorse KonTiki unit, complete with the electric winch.


2. Some bait


3. A beach


4. A couple of hours


5. Optional Beverage

The idea of one of these pieces of kit is that you launch them from the beach, and they tow your long-line and associated hooks and bait, out into the wide blue yonder.

Cunningly the motor is timer driven so you can set it to chug away for 30 minutes and then it stops, until you winch it in again, with attached fish, if you're in luck.

It's been unusual for us to come home empty-handed, although occasionally we have. Sometimes you lose a hook.

It's all very gentle and orderly and effortless, apart from a bit of lifting and bit of lugging on the sand.

The nice thing is that when you go to retrieve your line you can always sit there with a glass of wine, gin and tonic or a beer or two, since the winch is doing all the work and can take half an hour or so.

BUT.....

the problem this year was that on the recovery the torpedo managed to snag itself on something and became marooned. This occasioned the conniption and much angst as the FIL got himself into a tizzy. Lucky we have access to a Zodiac and was able to launch a rescue mission to retrieve it. I got wet and cold on that day, and so that  goes towards my summer swim in the ocean count.

Oh and that was one of the few fish-less days.

There are now 3 of these things on the beach, one of them comes equipped with a GPS unit, so you can launch it and it will go where you send it, which is a bit fancy, half the challenge is pinging the thing straight into waves and taking into account the tide, wind and current. Each to their own (he says sarcastically) "They're not true Gentleman Fishers"

The Other Bucket List

The list of things that you never want to do. the things you would avoid at all costs. Mine is different to yours of course, I hope. The   list is be about things that I have no personal interest in participating in as "things" They hold no allure, fascination or attraction to me, no challenge or reward appears offered for achieving participation. Call me a curmudgeon. There is a real bucket list of course. I'll start on that next when I figure out what it is that I don't want to do.

1. Scuba Diving.


2. One of those one hour trial lesson in a light aircraft.


3. Bungy Jumping - possibly the lamest of all the adventure / thrill activities.


4. Get a tattoo.


5. Manicure / Pedicure / Massage.


6. Swim with sharks - possibly the 2nd lamest of all the adventure / thrill activities.


7. Tandem parachutes - I've done single jump  and it's much much scarier.


8. Camping holiday.


9. Have a "hot lap" in a Ferrari or Lamborghini or pretty much any car really - going fast as a passenger - *gosh*.


10. Hot Air Ballooning


11. Own a restaurant that I had to work in - what kind of madness is a 7 day a weeks 14 hour a day job?


12. Own a pub that I had to work in. - what kind of madness is a 7 day a weeks 14 hour a day job?


13. Take a holiday on a Cruise Liner - gak!!


14. Skiing


15. Appear on a TV game show as a contestant

At the beach: some things ever change

It is nice to have something's that never change.

If it were me

If it were me I would ban the way cafe's wrap the cutlery in a paper serviette, tightly, that it is a mission to unwrap, and pretty obvious something was wet when it was done. That is all.