Low Profile

We have added a low profile link to the site now, and recommend you have a look. If you can't find the link follow http://www.we-are-low-profile.co.uk/index.html

Culture week 2

Continuing the blog from earlier in the week on the joys of Culture Week...

Yesterday, we went to the Pl:ay festival in Plymouth which was a set of live art exhibitions and video installations, connected to the city's college of art and design. The picture above is of an artist called Jenny Hunt, who displayed a video called 'Another Brick in the Wall'. This video was of her protesting against (stupid) government legislation that stops people from protesting in parliament square. So she rode round and around parliament square on a bike singing cliched protest songs like war and road to nowhere and do they know it's christmas until the police stopped her.

Also cool were Low Profile. They are a local live art group who are excellent and we will put a link to their site on the blog soon. They did a one hour performance called 'show for you' about how we behave when we're on our best behaviour and trying to impress people with a first impression. It was lovely.

Today, we did a double bill of movies. The Simpsons movie and Transformers. Both were very enjoyable. Back to work tommorow.

Culture Week

Alex is working this week, but i am not, and so I am gallivanting around Plymouth doing lots of cultural things like watch opera dvds, visit places Ive never been before, watch the new Simpsons movie and read the new harry potter to alex before the end of the week. We're around 430 pages in.

Here's a photo of plymouth that i took from the top of mount edgecombe where I went yesterday.

I wanted to take some more pictures today when I went to Tavistock for a lunchtime music recital, but you can't take pictures of Tavistock in the rain. And you can't buy cheese from the cheese shop either when your wife is off blue cheeses. Still the music was good.

Things I have learnt so far.

1) I prefer italian opera to mozart, but I prefer cosi fan tutti to the magic flute, which is rubbish.

2) In legend, Cornwall is named after Corineus. A trojan hard man who was a follower of Brutus, allegedly the first king of Britain, back in the 12th Century BC. Known for his amazing fighting abilities, Corineus proved this best by fighting a 12 foot giant called Gogmagog in Totnes, and then carrying him to the sea and chucking him over a cliff.

3) It's possible for men to sing alto, but it's also pretty weird.

4) The house at mount edgecumbe was bombed out in the second world war, and rebuilt by the Earl of Edgecumbe in a georgian style, for no other reason than he thought it would be nice.

5) There is an amazing amount of stuff to do in the Plymouth area if you look for it.

Brought a travel system

We brought a travel system yesterday. Which was quite a surprise because we weren't meaning to. But we got a bargain that looks a lot like the picture here. The maker is Hauck. Which sounds painful but hopefully isn't.

We walked into the baby section of derrys department store yesterday and had an 'oh my goodness we're having a baby' moment. Walked around stunned for 15 minutes looking at blankets. Anyway, we bought this and then talked to my little sister on the phone for 20 minutes to make sure we had done the right thing.

Ginger Beer

I've started making my own ginger beer on occasions. It's tasty and fun. I'm using the following recipe that I got from the guardian a month ago.

Make your own ginger beer - Vincent Reid

When my kids have commercially produced carbonated soft drinks, I worry about their teeth. Though my concern is based on sugar levels, there are a host of other ingredients on the label with doubtful-sounding names.

There is one way to ensure you know exactly what goes into your offspring: you can make your own fizzy drink.

In order to make a wonderful ginger beer, free from colouring and additives, you will need a funnel and a clean two-litre plastic bottle with a lid. First, add one cup of sugar to the bottle. Then, according to taste, finely grate 1½ to 2 tablespoons of root ginger and put this into the bottle. Juice a lemon and pour this into the bottle. Now, add ¼ teaspoon of baking yeast and enough water to ¾ fill the bottle. Shake the bottle vigorously until the sugar is dissolved and the ingredients are clearly well combined. Now fill the bottle with water but leave a 4cm gap at the top. If you do not do this, the bottle might explode once the yeast does its work. Finally, seal the bottle tightly and put it somewhere warm for 24-48 hours.

You can test the bottle to see if the fermentation process has occurred by squeezing it. If it is rock hard, then you are finished. Place the bottle in the fridge for a few hours, which will stop the yeast from acting. This also stops a ginger beer fountain when you open the bottle. Bubbles can disturb the sediment upon opening, so it is best to use a tea strainer in order to avoid bits of ginger in your drink.

Yeast is a live ingredient that consumes sugars. In the process it produces carbon dioxide - the bubbles in soft drinks. It is what makes bread rise and creates the alcohol in most alcoholic beverages. There is a trace amount of alcohol in this ginger beer, anywhere from 0.2% to 0.4% in total. But, best of all, it tastes better than anything you can buy in the supermarket.

I might add to these recommendations that it costs something like a third of the price of a bottle of fentimans.

Keith Olbermann of MSNBC news

In the words of Leo McGarry, 'Watch This!' Pompous, possibly overlong, not in the best impartial traditions of the BBC, but strangely marvelous and american

Danny Boy

I'm my own grandpa

Funny funny song.