WrAnTz

Poo Sticks – Updated

No, not the children’s game immortalised in the Winnie The Pooh stories.

I am referring to the game played by adults of a certain age. The NHS initiates this game. As part of their Bowel Screening Programme they send a package through the post requesting a sample of your poo. You then return it to them and they analyse it.

I’ve played this game with them for several years. Presumably, I was winning because I never heard back from them. No news is good news, right!

That continued until late last year when I was invited to a telephone consultation.

They had discovered some traces of “non visible blood.” The net of that hour long conversation was their decision to offer me a colonoscopy. I say offer because it was left open for me to decline the procedure.

What sort of cretin would I have to be to decline ?

You are 73 years old. Your body is wearing out. When the professionals are concerned enough to contact you, it’s only polite to accept.

And so an appointment was made for a colonoscopy and a package duly arrived in the post. Said package contained several pages of information about the procedure. It also included a blow by blow script for the preceding seven days and three sachets of Picolax.

It seems, understandably, that before a colonoscopy the medics like you to clear your tubes. So, for seven days I had to follow a “low residue/low fibre diet”. That is to say I had to cut out all foods containing fibres which are hard to digest. This helps reduce the amount of undigested food passing into my large bowel.

Adhering to this diet presents extra challenges when preparing meals. Those bad boy fibres are really sneaky, popping up when you least expect them. Also many of them are contained in favourite five a day fruits and vegetables.

For example you can eat potatoes but not the skins. You can eat pretty much any root vegetable, like carrot, swede, and turnip. Just make sure they are peeled and well cooked. They should be soft enough to mash. No peas, beans, citrus fruit or berries etc. and no seeds or grains. Even onions are a no-no. The list is endless.

Over the last few days I have become a nervous food prepper/eater. I was preparing some bell peppers for dinner only to find that they are not allowed. Similarly, on Sunday I was holding a glass of red wine when I decided to consult Dr. Google. Nope, red wine is not allowed, in fact turns out I should be avoiding alcohol in general.

Yes, you can make tasty meals acceptable for a low residue diet. However, they lack texture. They are also missing key ingredients to take the flavour to the max.

And so, here I am, having completed the low residue diet. Looking forward to my colonoscopy tomorrow. To be honest I am actually looking forward to eating real food tomorrow night. Just one more hurdle to cross, well two actually.

Hurdle number one is that today, 24 hours before my procedure, I am not allowed to eat anything. I can only consume clear liquids. These include water, squash, coke, lemonade, black tea/coffee, clear soup, marmite/bovril/oxo mixed into weak drinks with hot water. By this time tomorrow I will so hungry you may find me gnawing on a table leg

Hurdle number two, you may remember that earlier I mentioned Picolax. Picolax is a laxative and I have to consume three doses. The first was at 08:30 this morning. The next dose is scheduled for 12:30 and the last to be taken at 18:30.

Having read the instructions the only thing at the forefront of my mind is “Make sure you are close to a toilet”

Oh well, I suppose it’s all for the best.

Stay tuned.

Today, January 15th, was colonoscopy day.

Happy Returns

https://app.portsmouth.co.uk/story/full_page_image/2nd-january-2025-page-17_4f1407dd/content.html

A warm tale for the new year.

Perhaps, only in England …

Unexpected Picnic Guests: A Pheasant Encounter

There we were, minding our own business, enjoying a sunny picnic in the grounds of Blenheim Palace. When this fellow came mooching along, hoping for a tasty morsel.

What, do you suppose, had caught his eye ? Was it the pork pie with its jelly and crispy crust? Or was it the egg mayonnaise and watercress sandwiches. Perhaps, when all’s said and done, it was strong cheddar cheese and tangy chutney.

Either way, he was out of luck with me around. I don’t share my food with party crashers.

Appeal For Information

https://www.hampshire.police.uk/news/hampshire/news/appeals/2024/november/appeal-for-information-after-burglaries-in-waterlooville/?sfnsn=scwspmo

What Major Historical Events Do I Remember

What major historical events do you remember?

These are not in date order, just the order that I remembered them

The fall of the Berlin Wall 1989
Assassination of President J F Kennedy 1963
Aberfan 1966
Vietnam War, US withdrawal 1973
The fall of the Twin Towers 2011
The Iranian Embassy Siege, London 1980
First man on the moon 1969
The Falklands War 1982
Suppression of The Prague Spring / Russian Tanks 1968
Russo-Ukraine War – Annexation of Crimea 2014 & Invasion of Ukraine 2022

There are so many more events that have occurred during my brief time on Planet Earth.

Too many to list here.

A Bit Of A Pickle

Yes, as the post title suggests. I have got myself into a bit of a pickle.

Well, perhaps I should say I’ve worked myself into a bit of a pickling frenzy.

Recently, I have found myself with more veggies than I can utilise and unwilling to waste them, I have been looking for alternative uses.

Watching MasterChef I had often wondered about the pickles that contestants rustle up in such a short space of time.

After a bit of Googling, I have determined that what they are actually preparing are “quick or fridge pickles.” They are quick to prepare but are intended to be used fairly quickly.

These “quick” pickles can be eaten almost immediately but benefit from a period of marination. This can be a few hours or several days.

After marination, once opened, they will typically be good to eat for a couple of weeks, provided they are kept refrigerated.

To preserve fruit and veg for extended time periods one has to resort to “canning”. Currently I am not exploring that option.

My first attempt at quick pickling was with radishes. I made two jars just a fortnight ago, and the first jar has already gone.

They are yummy and very moreish, in my opinion.

Like Dill Pickles, of which I am a big fan, they are great to add to salads, sandwiches, burgers, or as a side on a plate of cold cuts. Giving a crunchy, zingy bonus to a meal.

Now, the Pickled Chilli’s are something of an unknown quantity.

With carrots, beetroot, and the cavolo Nero I have a point of reference. I know what they taste like so I can extrapolate the likely effect of the pickling.

These Chilli’s will present me with the veggie equivalent of Russian Roulette.

There are three varieties mixed together in these jars. Two are red peppers (Mirasol or Cayenne ???), which are from plants given to me. The third, round, and plum coloured (Chocolate Habanero ???) were donated by a friend. So I have no idea of the heat.

This will be an exciting experiment.

To be honest the whole pickling process is an experiment and the veggies keep presenting themselves for testing. I already have Cucumbers, Courgettes and Onions lined up, also Cauliflower and roasted bell peppers.

Further out on the horizon I am considering Sauerkraut and Kimchi but the process is a bit more involved. Also, I am the only person in my sphere of friends and family that actually like either so it does seem to be somewhat indulgent to make this just for me.

We shall see.

Let Down Again

https://app.portsmouth.co.uk/full_page_image/11th-october-2024-page-4_4f0207dc/content.html

A few years ago this site was the home of Marconi Underwater Systems. The site was closed, and the Marconi buildings and surrounds became derelict. The site has remained an eyesore for many years.

Around 2012 I, as a member of the Waterlooville Residents Forum, attended a presentation on behalf of a potential developer. At that time, per the presentation, the plans were to build a 60 bed hotel and restaurant. They also planned a car showroom and a drive thru restaurant. The developer went to great pains. He assured us that the drive thru was not going to be another McDonald’s.

Outline Application APP/12/00652 was submitted 4th October 2012. The recommendation was that permission be granted for this application. Since that time, the Marconi (BAE) buildings were demolished but the site remained undeveloped.

Until that is, along came Lidl and, yep, McDonald’s. But the remainder of the site remained untouched.

And now the council appear to have given the go ahead for a new KFC, Aldi, and Costa.

It’s not as if our little town doesn’t lack for coffee shops and cafe’s. As for fast food drive thru’s, we are surrounded. Nor are we short of Aldi stores, we actually have seven within a ten mile radius. Costa Coffee is even more pervasive with ten in a four mile radius.

There is a significant amount of residential construction in and around Waterlooville. With all the new residents I would agree that there is a need for eateries. But I would argue that there is a greater need for entertainment centres. Waterlooville residents frequently call for a cinema complex / bowling alley. Sadly nobody hears the call

And so, the construction of these three businesses leaves me disappointed. I feel that we, the residents of Waterlooville, have been let down again.

Last Knockings

This is pretty much the last knocking of our tomato crops this year. There are just a few green tomatoes yet to ripen.

We have had a good crop this year, but sad to say, it could have been better. We sort of screwed up.

We have two pyramid planters, but we, by mistake, planted bush/trailing varieties in one.

Oh well, lesson learnt. Overall, we are pleased, and the flavour of homegrown fruit and veg is always superior.

These varieties are all very sweet, but the little orange ones are sooper sweet.

Goodwood Revival – Test Day

They talk about Glorious Goodwood, but when they say that typically it’s the horse racing that they mean.

However, yesterday could equaly be described as Glorious Goodwood. The sun was shining, we were at the Goodwood Motor Racing Circuit as spectators for one of the Revival Weekend Test Days. We were surrounded by the sounds of hundreds, probably thousands, of horsepower. And instead of the smell of horse sweat and manure the smell of tyre smoke and racing fuel permeated the air.

Jon, my son-in-law, and I were here for the day. We really had no idea what to expect as this is not a public event. The Test Days are open, free of charge, to Goodwood Road Racing Club members. Much of the circuit is a construction site as the preparations proceed for the Revival weekend.

There were cars on the track but no schedule of events. No racing per se but tell that to a racing driver who is trying wring every last ounce of performance out of his car.

So, we arrived on circuit at around 09:45 and as there were cars already out on track we headed via the tunnel to the pit lane area where we could get an overview of the track.

We were just in time for the end of a session as we could see the red flag out and cars were being directed into the paddock area.

As we could see that cars were queuing in the pit lane for the next session we went for a closer look.

The beauty of days like these test days is that you can get up close with the cars, the drivers and their support teams.

Also, behind the pit lane area are the paddocks where the cars are prepared before heading out onto the track. This are will be filled to capacity over the revival weekend but for our visit there were only a few cars in residence.

From the paddock we headed across to the other side of the track to get a different perspective on the action.

By way of a change we were treated to a few open wheeled racers.

As this was only a test day we had been prewarned that there could be interruptions to proceedings, that certain areas of the circuit may be out of bounds due to construction activities.

And so it was that the track was shut down while a crane was brought out to lift some framework for one of the stands. Though this didn’t stop all activity as the next two pictures show. The lead car, with the hatch open, had a video film camerman sitting in the back, filming the following cars.

Once the cranework was completed the track was reopened and we were back to the action.

These remaining photos were taken from either opposite to the pit exit or from above the pit lane buildings.

Memorial To Mike Hawthorn and Lofty England

Well I hope I didn’t bore you to death with this post and all my snaps. If you got this far, thanks for sticking with me.

The thing that always amazes me is that the owners of these cars, worth millions of pounds, allow them to be raced. And believe me the drivers don’t hold back.

Mediterranean Chutney

Pretty much every year, Gerry and I make a couple of batches of Mediterranean Chutney.

Today, earlier than usual, I started our first batch of the year, which will make 6 to 8 Kilner jars of this delicious gloop.

This chutney goes down so well that I will have to do at least another batch to cope with the freebies that will be handed out to friends and family.

This spicy chutney made with tomatoes, courgettes, aubergines, onions, and peppers is good to eat with cheese, steak, chicken, well just about everything.

And so we have eight and half jars of chutney. Unfortunately, there is a huge question mark over the quality of this batch.

Just after adding the sugar and vinegar for the final hour of cooking, we were subjected to a power outage. I had the jars in the electric oven to sterilise. The power was off for around 45 minutes, which meant that I had to restart the sterilising. During this time, the chutney caught on the bottom of the pan. I’m hoping that the flavour of the chutney has not been spoiled.

Time will tell. All being well, the chutney will be ready to eat in a couple of months.

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