The press seem to be adopting Governments negotiating tactic, i.e. agree with us or it is your fault negotiations break down. I suspect a deal will be done, albeit with provisos to be sorted out. However also of great concern is the fact that we are leaving the customs union. Red tape will abound with queues at ports. And cost of red tape and form filling will be paid by consumers.
COVID – STATS. 5 DEC
One month after start of lockdown. Figures coming down but look at Wales to see what happens when lockdown is relaxed!
| 27.09 | 7.10 | 23.10 | 27.10 | 5.11 | 12.11 | 19.11 | 26.11 | 5.12 | |
| North Somerset | 31 | 53 | 79 | 123 | 177 | 243 | 304 | 209 | 142 |
| Cornwall | 20 | 31 | 29 | 45 | 47 | 65 | 90 | 59 | 25 |
| Bristol | 46 | 143 | 228 | 328 | 350 | 428 | 480 | 325 | 168 |
| Chelmsford | 41 | 63 | 68 | 102 | 91 | 94 | 150 | 115 | 109 |
| Exeter | 283 | 341 | 175 | 154 | 128 | 146 | 168 | 132 | 102 |
| Braintree | 42 | 58 | 60 | 50 | 58 | 94 | 109 | 115 | 104 |
| Plymouth | 30 | 64 | 116 | 136 | 150 | 180 | 225 | 130 | 63 |
| IoW | 10 | 17 | 24 | 30 | 41 | 78 | 78 | 59 | 29 |
| Liverpool | 516 | 660 | 568 | 487 | 330 | 545 | 276 | 158 | 97 |
| Manchester | 458 | 483 | 466 | 415 | 372 | 250 | 175 | ||
| Sunderland | 274 | 281 | 297 | 314 | 309 | 379 | 412 | 286 | 161 |
| Newcastle | 445 | 456 | 298 | 294 | 284 | 376 | 449 | 320 | 156 |
| Swansea | 397 | 279 | 231 | 240 | 368 | ||||
| Cardiff | 301 | 221 | 156 | 172 | 247 | ||||
| Glasgow | 286 | 316 | 275 | 216 | 147 | ||||
| Aberdeen | 41 | 36 | 58 | 61 | 61 | ||||
| Belfast | 317 | 226 | 213 | 158 | 109 | ||||
| Newry | 199 | 140 | 118 | 106 | 113 |
Experiment – loaf
Apricot and cheese loaf/rolls? I have found a couple of recipes and will adapt them. Basically my usual bread loaf recipe and add chopped apricots and grated cheese before second prove. 175C for one hour. (seems a bit long so I will check after 45 mins).
Rye loaf – looking for recipes.
LA NINA
Last post on this was 22 October. We are having a cold spell, but the fires in California may also be related to the drier than normal weather. Expect higher than normal rainfall and floods in NW USA and Great Lakes region. La Nina explained. Australia largely wetter and Japan colder.
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CHILDISH AND PATHETIC
Education minister Williamson chirrups about British scientists being the best in the world, and we got the vaccine out first. Look you moron it is not a race! We did not do it because of Brexit Door Matt Hancock. Britain is to cut emissions faster and further than others. I wonder what other cock ups are going to be revealed whilst they feed false positive press releases to the tory press.
SPACE NEWS
A map of the Milky Way has been produced by scientists at Cambridge using data from the ESA Gaia satellite over the last 7 years. It maps nearly 2 billion stars. Read article
COOKIE UPDATE
Off to a flyer this morning. Cookies made by 6.25am together with dough for bread rolls later. Cookie very well received at shop, chocolate, walnuts, raisins, and coconut blossom sugar as well as oo flour, butter and oats – a substantive meal in every bite!
QUIZ TIME
TOWN CENTRES
Interesting times. Debenhams and Arcadia are the latest to go. So High Streets will be changing. Weston-super-Mare High Street has nothing to offer me, and parking is a nightmare, difficult and costly. And has nothing to offer – chain stores, phone shops, charity shops, betting shops, tattoo parlours, etc. Apart from Boots, Waterstones and Smith’s there are no shops worth a look.
My ideal High Street would have craft shops and individual outlets, some cafes with own baked produce. But being realistic – the town centre is, as the name says, the centre of the urban development. So it needs great communication networks. I personally think we will move from large buses to smaller people carriers powered by batteries (8-10 people), which are very frequent, or summoned on demand?
So let me think – getting to the town centre; I can park outside the city and get a quick regular service into it. Why should I go there? Hmmmmn. I have not been to a town centre this year so I am probably not the right person to ask. But I would go to Wells or Glastonbury type centre for bespoke presents. Maybe town centres need to be seen as centres for young people?
COVID STATS
Not the full set, but interesting change – Bristol has dropped dramatically, is this a testing thing (it should not be as the figures are for a week), but they are down from 325 to 187 in a week, and North Somerset only down 209 – 173 (national average is 129). Does Bristol figure reflect pubs and restaurants, or home mixing? Or schools? Or scotch eggs!