Saturday 28 December 2013

Politicians 'Learning lessons'...

Scrobs with mum and sister in Yalding - 1954.

Yalding has flooded since time immemorial! The River Medway takes no prisoners, and often the smaller Rivers Teise and Beult, do just as much damage along their banks, and Scrobs had first-hand experience of driving his car into a deep puddle on the Beult not far away, near Smarden in 2000, never to return (the car that was - it was a write-off)!

So politicians all decide to get in on the act, and make fools of themselves, when a lovely small Kent village gets clobbered yet again. The Prime Minister visits and utters the immortal words, so loved by people who know they will do damn all about the situation, "We are here to learn lessons"! The Leader of KCC also turns up a day later to try and explain why nobody answered the emergency phones over Christmas. Perhaps if there was a little more money around, like some wasted on obscene compensation payments paid to failed departing senior staff, he might have got a few people willing to come and help.

Rivers are a priority for The Environment Agency, and until they and the politicians and their 'consultants' stop 'learning', and actually do something about flood defences, river management, and development control in flood plains etc, I'm afraid this delightful village will get flooded again and again. My heart goes out to the good people there, as it did at Boscastle, Tewkesbury, Workington, Worcester, Bewdley and all the other places where rivers just revert to their natural state. Perhaps a few million kept back from foreign anti-flood projects might help.

But by the time something actually happens, hell will have frozen over, so perhaps that is what politicians are all hoping for.

Friday 20 December 2013

Wensleydale - the movie...



Wensleydale cheese has been awarded Protected Geographical Status, and quite rightly, as we love it!

Here's a lovely quote in the Daily Mail: -

David Hartley, managing director of The Wensleydale Creamery, said: 'Our heritage and provenance makes Yorkshire Wensleydale cheese taste truly unique and we're delighted this is now officially recognised.

'We'd like to thank everyone for their support for our application, including our dedicated staff at The Creamery, our local community and of course our loyal customers in the UK and around the globe.

'There could be no better early Christmas present for the whole team here and it is a great platform to propel us into 2014.


Step up Wallace and Gromit!

Friday 13 December 2013

Earning my corn...


I have successfully concluded negotiations with Mrs Scroblene in the matter of a favourite comestible, which has long been absent from the pantry.

The discussions concern that well known delicacy Salt Beef, and an order went in yesterday to our local butcher for a sizeable chunk of best local brisket. It is in the salting bucket as we speak, together with several similar orders for like-minded residents of this Parish. I am scouring the library and elsewhere for the perfect recipe to cook it, and will almost certainly use the slow cooker for a modest six or seven hours. This may have to be located in the shed, as Mrs Scroblene is not very partial to beef these days, and to be fair, the aromas from slow cookers can take over the total house in some cases, sometimes the entire village, and therefore, a couple of days before Christmas, I will hold a vigil in near freezing temperatures aided and abetted by some Belgian beer, and maybe a bottle of vodka and a hero packet of Doritos for the said period of time...