The Befouled Weakly News
31 May 2009 Last Sunday was just about as nice a day as it is possible to enjoy in the UK. Clear, deep blue skies with just a whisp of the occasional cloud, bright, bright sunshine with temperatures in the high 60s. Some of us might have liked it a bit warmer but for the most part it was quite acceptable. Ms Playchute joined me on a twenty mile bike ride, Molly and I strode across the fields taking photographs of the oil seed rape against the sky and we barbequed another of Sandy’s salmon with pesto which we shared, along with a number of bottles of red wine, with Pete and Sal from next door. Splendid, splendid day.
The rest of the week has not quite lived up to Sunday’s standard but on Thursday, Pen’s birthday, it began to improve and this weekend has been glorious, once again. I can just about handle it when the weather is gloriously fine at the weekend even if it does get somewhat less than perfect during those pesky work days. Monday was a Bank Holiday in the UK so we gathered Pen’s folks and went across to Nick and Lucy’s for a BBQ. Although the weather wasn’t brilliant, the rain held off and we enjoyed a splendid meal in the garden. Lucy later wrote on her Facebook page how she was “nervous about her presentation tomorrow, but has had a lovely afternoon with Nick's amazing family.” to which I naturally replied, “So, when did they get there then – clearly some time after we left.” The MPs expenses saga just keeps going. On Wednesday we had the revelation that a Conservative MP (of some considerable independent wealth, it must be said) was caught out claiming £20,000 for the renovation of the “servant’s” quarters of (one of) his second homes. He then cheated the taxman out of £40,000 by failing to pay capital gains tax on the sale of the property by claiming to the Inland Revenue that it was, in fact, his principal home, not a second home as he had claimed when submitting his expenses to the government. Poor chap is going to have to repay all £60,000. I was going to say that, “You couldn’t make it up!” but clearly you could! Penelope’s birthday came and passed very successfully on Thursday – many thanks for the many cards and good wishes. My goodness, though, she does have interesting tastes – her birthday presents? A five metre portable scaffolding tower and a 210 litre water butt. Wow! It doesn’t get much more exciting than that. Having said that, it does, in fact, get much more exciting than that. Late on Wednesday afternoon a courier arrived with a significantly-sized parcel addressed to one Nicholas Stragnell. Initially, Penelope assumed that it had been some surprise that I had ordered for her but I patiently explained that I had ordered her water butt so she wasn’t getting anything else from me! A descriptive photo on the outside of the parcel gave the game away – it was a fantastic free-standing hammock courtesy of Nick and Lucy which we had great enjoyment erecting on Thursday when Nick came over.
Another in our series of snippets from the internet designed to keep you in extraordinarily good health – this from the BBC site earlier in the week:
There you go – a steady diet of red wine and cocoa and you’re all set! Love to you all, Greg A C-130 "Hercules" cargo plane, an Air Force workhorse since 1954, was flying over the Persian Gulf on a mission when a cocky pilot in an F-16 "Fighting Falcon" fighter flew up next to him. The fighter jock got on the radio and told the C-130 pilot, "Watch this!" and promptly went into a barrel roll followed by a steep climb. He then finished with a sonic boom as he broke the sound barrier. The F-16 pilot asked the C-130 pilot what he thought of that. The C-130 pilot said, "That was impressive, but watch this!" The C-130 droned along for about 5 minutes, and then the C-130 pilot came back on the radio and said, "What did you think of that?" Puzzled, the F-16 pilot asked, "I didn't see anything. What the hell did you do?" The C-130 pilot chuckled, "I stood up, stretched my legs, went to the back, took a leak, then got a cup of coffee and a sweet roll." I think we’ve probably had this one before but hey, that’s never stopped us in the past. An Amish boy and his father were in a shopping mall. They were amazed by almost everything they saw, but especially by two shiny silver walls that could move apart and slide back together again. The boy asked, "What is this, Father?" The father (never having seen an elevator) responded, "Son, I have never seen anything like this in my life. I don't know what it is." While the boy and his father were watching in amazement, a fat old lady in a wheelchair rolled her way up to the moving walls and pressed a button. The walls opened, and the lady rolled between them into a small chamber. The walls closed, and the boy and his father watched the small circular numbers above the walls light up sequentially. They continued to watch until the last number was reached; then the numbers began to light in reverse order. Finally the walls opened again, and a gorgeous 24-year-old blonde stepped out. The father, not taking his eyes off the young woman, said quietly to his son . . . "Go get your mother." We were helping customers when the store optometrist walked by and flirted with a co-worker. Of course, we all had to stop what we were doing to tease her. But she quickly dismissed the notion of a budding romance. "Can you imagine making love with an optometrist?" she asked. "It would always be, 'Better like this...or like this?'"
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Previous studies have also shown these chemicals, which can protect against a range of diseases and reduce the effects of ageing, are found in cocoa.