This one is for you Amalee!

Too many moons ago I set a competition. The prize (!) was a blog post of the winner's choice. Amalee won, and asked for photos of my fridge.....

I know.

I haven't a clue why either.

However, as Amalee is my most loyal follower I have felt twinges of guilt over the ensuing months (two and a half years actually)as my food chilling equipment has remained un-photographed.

The wait is now over.

The reduced photos are below. Click on the links marked [Expand this photo] below to be taken to my Flickr pages, where annotated boxes will explain the contents of my fridge....

The fridge door (outside view)



[Expand this photo]

The main compartment



[Expand this photo]

The door (inside view)



[Expand this photo]

Have Fun!!

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Just Do It

Sometimes after an extended break the best thing to do is just get on with doing Something.

So here goes.......

It has been quite a while since I introduced Tigger and Fluffy to you all. They have grown in size and character. Over the last few months they have shared their interest in Nature with us.

They have brought us many frogs and toads (all bar one alive and well); they have brought a robin, sundry blackbirds, and on one occasion a fully grown and very-much-alive wood pigeon through the catflap!


Fluffy is a bit of an entomologist. When we hear him meowing after coming through the flap at night he usually has a moth or two to display, dropped at our feet proudly. Lime Tree hawk moths are his current favourite.

Here is Fluffy in our garden, taken at the end of April...



Tigger is pictured below, taken a couple of months ago...



Sometimes they will even sit still long enough to get both of them in the same picture. Sometimes when they are awake too!



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Flower Power - Greek Style

We are back from Samos. I never did get to send any more posts from Greece - the internet connection was decidedly patchy!

We landed at Heathrow two days before the Icelandic volcano stopped all air traffic. Can't win 'em all!

Flowers were all around us on our walks. The countryside of England must have looked like this not so long ago, before agriculture became monoculture and "weeds" were banned...





On one walk we were kindly invited to look round a greenhouse where orchids were being grown for sale.

This is Angela checking out the fragrance...





They weren't the only orchids on the island though. This is a monkey orchid. I haven't identified the insect yet.

Some Recent photos

The previous post was somewhat concerned with death.

Now at Easter the focus is on resurrection.

Very few places on Earth take Easter as seriously as in Greece, and Angela and I are luck enough to be in Samos, a beautiful verdant island in the North-Eastern Aegean.

We are on a walking holiday.

I'll be posting a few photos over the next week....

Here are some to start with...

The poppies are already in bloom in the hedges and fields...



And the churches are all looking their best. This is the newly renovated church in Paleocastro, above Vathy in Samos..




This was the view from our walk today. Absolutely stunning.




Happy Easter to All...

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A blog about death.

I know the header of this blog says it is about “Life, I guess”. But it is only death that really gives life meaning. To define something as dead we really mean “not Living.”

We all know that death is all around us. Some of us live in much closer proximity to it. Think of almost anywhere in Africa… Some of us live close to start with then suddenly get closer; Haiti anyone? Bangladesh every other year?

Watching my kittens growing into young cats I admire their poise, their balance; the speed with which those razor sharp claws fly to catch a ball thrown - all practice for bringing about sudden (hopefully) death to small creatures…

I have seen death amongst humans. I used to work as a Warden in sheltered housing for “older people” [“elderly” is apparently a value judgement too far]. Death is rarely dignified. People just stop—in mid-step, mid-poo or whilst reaching into that corner of the cupboard where the last cob-web stays unreachable.

The saddest corpse I ever saw lay on his back in the middle of London’s City Road. Safe in motorbike leathers and helmet, invincible until Newton took his life, “every action has an equal but opposite reaction”, motorbike stopped, rider carrying on at 120 miles per hour until the tarmac deformed under the impact of his helmeted head. He lay, a policeman cradling his head and neck, waiting hopelessly for the ambulance to come; knowing death had arrived. The bike still, steaming, 80 yards away…

Why am I pondering so much on the end of life? It may be because (God Willing) I will be 50 myself in December.

I think not. I have learned that death is, essentially, random. A clot here, a dodgy cell-division there. Who knows?

But the randomness of life-threatening situations is not unbeatable. Age will take all of us lucky enough to make it; but some accidents, both physical and medical will be survivable, with the right, timely response.

In 2001, on the 21st January, my wife went upstairs for a shower. She came back down shortly after, complaining of a headache. I could see that she was not just in pain, but agony. I rang 999 and within 90 minutes she was having a CAT scan at the Whittington Hospital. She was diagnosed with a sub-arachnoid haemorrhage. For three long days she was stabilized and kept alive by the medical team. She was transferred to the National Hospital in Russell Square in an ambulance that never went faster than walking pace.

Thankfully she was operated on. She made a full recovery. Most people who have those bleeds die or have permanent loss of brain function.

My point? Death is random, but sometimes we can work against the odds. Sometimes lives can be saved….

The Whittington Hospital is in danger of having its Accident and Emergency unit closed down. Angela might well have died without the timely intervention she received.

To join your name onto the on-line petition to save the Whittington A&E, go to

http://www.savethewhittington.org.uk/petition/index.php

Keep up with the news at

http://www.savethewhittington.org.uk/

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MMX - So soon?

Anyone holding their breath for Phantom posts in 2009 would be in dire need of medical assistance by now. I apologise. Three posts in one year is not poor, it is disgraceful. Mea culpa.

Things are a little different here at Phantom Towers. Angela's mum died in December 2008 after a long illness. My mum died in November just gone, so Christmas was a little bit strange this year. The Guardian published a nice piece in their Other Lives slot, click here to see it.

Just over a year ago, our dear visiting cats Tigger and Bernard moved house. They are residing with their "owner" in a large house in Ealing with a huge garden for them to explore. By all accounts they are loving the place and are very well.

Tigger and Bernard's departures left a pair of huge cat-shaped holes in our lives. We waited a few months before getting cats of our own. Their were three young foxes in our back gardens all of last spring and summer and we didn't want any confrontations.

At the end of August last year we saw an advert online, and two days later we had two adorable kittens in residence.

The Phantom is proud to introduce Tigger



And his brother Fluffy



The photo's above were taken on their first day with us. Their first photo shoot was a bit tiring, as Fluffy demonstrated...



Another first during last year was the first two walks I led for the Hampstead Ramblers. You can find blog entries here and here. I have been busy keeping the HR blog going, and at present I have a slight backlog of posts to be written; more distractions!

I have also joined the Marylebone Birdwatching Society, a group of Hampstead-centred birders, many of whom are also Ramblers. So far I have avoided being co-opted onto any committees, and I am absolutely not going to set up another blog!

I have had the opportunity to write this post thanks to the snow in London closing my college two hours early. I hope my reader Amalee is enjoying the snow too. I still owe you a blog post! Hello to Welsh Dog too.

More Soon!!

Somerset in the Spring

I'm sitting in the sunshine of a glorious spring afternoon. Spread out before me are the Somerset Levels, Weston-Super-Mare in the distance. Angela and I have just come back from a glorious walk over chalk downland and through iron-age and Roman hill forts.

The damper, shadier lanes in this part of Somerset are lined with carpets of wild garlic, some stretching back eight to ten feet deep from the path. I picked a handful of the youngest, tenderest shoots this morning, and popped them into a bag. At the lunch stop they provided a delicate garlicky undernote in our cheese sandwiches.

Finely chopped, and added to cream cheese or a soft young goats cheese they would make a veritable challenger to Garlic Boursin.

Our organic veg box comes from Devon, an area richly endowed with the moist bosky lanes that wild garlic, or Ransoms, adore. Riverford sent all of their customers a gift a couple of weeks ago, a large bag full of the leaves. Unlike "normal" garlic, it is the leaves that are of use, deeply green, straplike, reminiscent in shape, (though not in perfume), of Lily-of-the-Valley.

When the bag came I added some to sandwiches like today. Others delicately perfumed a salad of home-grown japanese salad leaves.

I used the majority of the leaves (it was a big bag) in a stir-fry of chicken, par-cooking the chicken first, then removing it from the wok, stir frying some spring onions, then adding the wild garlic leaves to the pan to wilt with a splash of chicken stock and some rice wine. I returned the chicken to the wok to finish off, and added some pre-toasted cashew nuts for extra crunch. A handful of beansprouts and the dish was finished. The garlic had reduced down and was sticky and richly savoury, yet didn't dominate.

If you happen to be out and about in the next few days, keep a look out. Wild Garlic is free, it's seasonal, and most of all, it's delicious!

EDIT: Good Friday, April 10th. I realised a post like this needed a photo. I took one yesterday:




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I am Honoured.

It is a small world. The Blogosphere is even smaller.

I noticed an article on Slow Blogging a few months ago. I intended to blog about it then. I didnt. I figured it would be in keeping with the Slow ethos to let it wait for a while...

I finally got back into blogging and after one post I have been given an award. My fellow blogger Amalee Issa has awarded me this sparkling prize...



Amalee has passed this on to me for services rendered. In particular, for introducing her (via Russell Davies' blog, Egg Bacon Chips and Beans) to greasy spoon cafe breakfasts. My pleasure.

Anyone checking out the Slow Blogging article should read all the way down. They will find a photo of none other than Mr Davies himself. He has created a slow alternative to Twitter, Dawdler. I think Amalee should send him a postcard!

Happy New Year!!!

Ok, Ok. I know I didn't wish anyone Merry Christmas either. Sorry.

My new job has kept me busier than I could have imagined. Added to that, I have got involved with the local branch of the Ramblers' Association. It seemed natural to start up a blog about that, so I did.

The blog is called "Rambling On..." and can be found here.

For my sins, I have just been nominated as the group Secretary, so I guess I will just end up even more distracted!

At least I have got back in the metaphorical saddle of Phantom bloggery after falling off last November.

I am still cooking, and under-gardener to Angela. It's Chinese New year soon, and I will make a resolution to post at least once a week over in this corner of cyberspace.

More soon. (and Amalee- I haven't forgotten I owe you a post...)

Hampstead Rambling in the Snow

Angela and I are off work this week, as it is half-term here in London.
Half-terms come around every few months, but it was 1937 when it last snowed in London in October.

We put on our walking boots and walked a circular trip around Hampstead Heath via Kenwood, the Old Bull and Bush, West Heath, the Vale of Health and Parliament Hill, finishing with lunch in the Italian Cafe at Parli Hill.

It was amazing how few people we encountered.


The sun sent halos of light through the autumn sky


You could see that in snow, shadows are actually blue


And it seemed almost as if we had come upon the spirit of the Heath itself, energy writhing in tree form


All in all, a stunning day.

Be Prepared!

The old Boy Scout motto is always worth heeding when it comes to planning for a day's hillwalking.

Torrential rain and viscious winds struck in the Lake District today, with rivers in the Buttermere area bursting their banks after the heavy rains of the last few days.

It is precisely this area that Angela and I were walking in only two months ago. It is an area of great beauty, but when the weather turns it becomes hazardous in the extreme. Hundreds of people were competing in the Original Mountain Marathon (OMM) when the weather broke. Conditions have been so bad organisers have been forced to cancel the event.



Luckily the OMM is an event for runners in pairs, and competitors have to camp out overnight, so all those caught on the hills should be suitably equipped.

We remember the steep descent down Scarth Gap to Gatesgarth Farm. Even in good conditions it requires care and concentration. I hate to imagine what coming down in a gale and torrential rain must be like.

During our stay we had an evening with a member of Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Team. He gave us a slide show and explained the work his team of unpaid volunters did. I'm glad to say that our party gave generously when the collection tin went out. Those volunteers have been busy today, and will no doubt still be on the hills tomorrow mopping-up those who were benighted.

If You Want Something Done...

Ask a busy man...

Over the last few months Angela and I have attended a gardening course and a basic botany course. We have joined the Ramblers Association, and I am currently working with the local group the Hampstead Ramblers, to launch a blog attached to their website.

On top of this, I have started doing a GCSE Mathematics course, tutorials for which are clashing with the second gardening course we are currently doing.

Last Friday I had a job interview at my college, and on Monday I was told that I had got the job. So from the first of November I can effectively call myself a Librarian. I will be choosing and ordering books, liaising with teaching staff, cataloguing, managing a subject area collection and putting information up on the online Virtual Learning Environment.

Before I start learning how to do all of this, I have just over two weeks to tie up all the loose ends in my old job. So many things to try and pass on....

I would have written this on Monday evening but overnight a. the power transformer to the wireless router burnt out and b. the hard drive in my main PC died.

All this is a roundabout way of explaining why things have been quiet around here recently. Let's see if busy people really can do more....

Hassness, or Heaven?

As usual, "a couple of days" has turned into three weeks. It is a mark of how great a time we had in the Lakes that we are still enjoying the memories.

The light dappling on Buttermere...



The contours of Ullswater...



A Himalayan Balsam in the sunlight...



But there are things you can't capture with a camera. Things like the way strangers become companions; the way a strange room rapidly feels like home. The comforting knowledge that there will be home made cake waiting for you when you get back from your walk.

We booked our walking holiday with Rambler's Holidays. You can find a review of Mickey and Paula's hospitality here.



If you ever get a chance to stay at Hassness, take it.

Hello, Hello, It's Good to Be Back!

After 50 odd miles of walking Angela and I are back, glowing with health and with only the occasional twinge in our calf muscles.

I will post some more about our stay, with relevant links, in a couple of days.

But as a taster, this was the view....



Buttermere from our bedroom window...

The rest of the photos are on my Flickr Photostream.

Walkies!!!

Apologies for the paucity of posts recently. Things aren't going to get better in the next few days. My wife and I are off to the Lake District for a walking holiday, though if the rain that is forecast arrives, we may be swimming most of the time.

I leave you with this piece of stencil art we found near the Thames a few days ago...



How NOT to walk..., concept by John Cleese, Artwork by Diva.

A Bit of a Ramble

As regular readers will know, we are off to the Lakes in a couple of weeks. We have been doing some walks at the weekend to get a bit of distance under our belts.

We have met Isambard Kingdom Brunel



And an Inquisitive Paddington Bear...



We have been obstructed by Nettle-Infested Kissing Gates



And Prickly Railway Staff who shove Customer Service leaflets under blinds when you complain about them...



Seen Vistas Watery...



And Timelessly English...



We have seen posters outside toilets to raise our hackles...



And to raise a Chuckle...



We have seen nature, improved by the cast-off spray of an aerosol paint can...



And in the unimprovable beauty of a Peacock butterfly on a waterside head of Teasel...




It might be exercise, but by God it's enjoyable!

A Long Weekend

All the staff at my college were given this Friday off; a thank-you from the Principal and the Board of Governors for our "Outstanding" OFSTED inspection of a few weeks ago.Given an unexpected day off, a Phantom will often head for the challenges of The Great Outdoors.

I've been trying to lose a bit of weight and get a little fitter over the last few months. In only four weeks my wife and I will be going on a walking holiday in the Lake District, so any energy spent now can only be in a good cause...

Friday morning found me pitching up in the wilds of



This is yours truly trying to find the new Wembley Stadium.... It's around somewhere..



I managed to cover about 14 miles on Friday, overcoming guideposts knocked down



Bridges so narrow they had pedestrian-controlled traffic lights



And sometimes I just had to ignore all the warning signs and just keep ahead anyway...



I walked along some beautiful winding paths...



And scenes that had an almost Japanese-style beauty...



Today, my wife and I took another stroll, following the New River around Finsbury Park and round to Clissold Park. We finished by wandering through Gillespie Park Nature Reserve. Monet would have been happy gazing at the water lillies...



Just when I thought it was safe to relax and hang up the old Phantom Cape and Undies, our neighbour's kitten got stuck 15 foot up a tree at the end of our garden...



With a little help from some children in the adjacent garden we rescued the little bundle of fluff. Angela took it back to it's grateful owners.

A happy ending to a great weekend. What more could a Phantom want?

And The Rain....

It Raineth!!
I was hoping to entertain and amuse my loyal readers with many a digital snap of Hampton Court Flower Show. As the legal Eagle and her Beau can attest (and affirm too probably), HCFS can be the most relaxed, sprawling and enjoyable excuse for an Horticultural Picnic one can imagine.

It can also resemble the last push for the Somme.

When my wife and I arrived it had been raining all night.The arrival of daylight did nothing to change this. It didn't rain constantly, it poured constantly.

Sadly, after a while it became more of an endurance test than an enjoyable day.

We brought back a Dahlia, a beautiful Fuchsia hanging basket, and half a ton of mud. Thank heavens we were wearing our new waterproof walking boots...

I only took one photograph....


This is the garden designed by Richard, the chap behind the Guerrilla Gardening website. We met and had a chat, and I got him to sign a copy of his book. There is a fascinating account of how this garden came about here. All the plants in this garden are reclaimed or unwanted, and at the end of the show they will all be going to good homes.

I'm off to clean the mud off our boots!!

Just Desserts

You've heard of death by chocolate....
now prepare for Mortality by Meringue! But what a way to go....

Last Saturday found us both in the nest of the Legal Eagle and her Beau.
A delicious sherried chicken took care of the protein intake, but the Eagle is famous for her puds.This meal had one which approached perfection in its simplicity...

First take a Snowdon-sized mountain of fresh summer fruits



Then produce a veritable home made Mount Fuji of meringues, light, crunchy and irresistibly chewy in the middle...



Serve in good sized bowls, with cream or ice-cream (or Both!)



After dinner and its badinage, there was nothing else to do but indulge in a little light bondage bandage. Mrs P had an exam coming up and needed some willing victims for First Aid practice.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Sadly this is the only photo I managed to take that wasn't too blurred by the laughter-shake.

We leave you with



"Beau Brummel, or Pudsey's Revenge"...