Strange but true

I'm sat here listening to Classic FM radio.  The announcer introduced a piece and said it was played by the philharmonic orchestra of such and such.
Which made me wonder what exactly philharmonic means, so I looked it up in the dictionary.
Philharmonic means devoted to music.
So then I thought to look up the dictionary definition of orchestra.
Orchestra means a large group of instrumental performers.
So two words sum up nine succinctly.

I sometimes do look up words in the dictionary.  It's amazing what you can find out.
Take for example a particularly annoying tendency of some people to pronounce the word liquorice as lickerish.  This particularly annoys me as lickerish is NOT an alternative pronunciation, it has a completely different meaning.  Go on look it up in a good dictionary, and you'll find it has nothing whatever to do with a black coloured sweet. And...every time you hear someone say it that way in the future you'll find it difficult to not smile.

Enjoy your dictionary, it's a treasure house just waiting to be discovered.

Mother's day treat planned

Earlier today I booked a canal cruise as a treat for Mum on Mother's Day.
I had been telling Mum about the cruises last year, as I have been on a couple of the fish and chip quiz cruises.  They are a good evening out. Although it appears that they no longer set off from The Canal Turn pub in Carnforth.
I did look at other cruises available and noticed that there was one on my birthday, so I might treat myself to that one later ion in the summer.  You do need a good day for the cruise though in order to enjoy the countryside that the canal goes through.
Mother's Day is only two and half weeks away, so I am looking forward to that.  I hope Mum enjoys it as much as I have enjoyed the past two that I've been on.

Have you ever?

I decided that instead of sitting home watching soaps...I would go down to see Mum.
It's a year since Dad left us..."The nights are still getting longer, Dad"
Driving back was seriously odd.....I drove up the A6 and only passed 5-6 other vehicles.
I drove through Lancaster, there was no one around!
Is this because of the high fuel prices?  or that combined with the fact most people don't have the disposable income they had ...what 5 years ago?

Pancakes

It was pancake day yesterday, and because Edwin is now away at uni I thought I'd either not bother, or buy some ready made ones.  Because, although I am confident with most stuff in the kitchen, I am absolutely useless at making pancakes.  All three of my children are good at making pancakes as a result. ROFL....well they had to learn how to make them, or do without
I opted for buying some ready made pancakes, and I really wish I hadn't bothered as while they might be pancakes, they are not the usual ones made in the UK. 
Pancakes are made with a batter, and could be made into Yorkshire puddings instead of pancakes.  But these ones didn't look like the ones made from standard batter, and when I looked at the list of ingredients, there's sugar in them.  I can tell you now, they certainly made my savoury filling taste odd. 
So...next time, I'll either make scotch pancakes, which I can make, or do without.

Horsemeat contamination

So, over the past few weeks the general public have found out that there has been horsemeat in certain pre-prepared food products...i.e. convenience foods.
I can see why a single person would pick up a frozen lasanga for one, rather than make it for themselves....BUT, if they went to the trouble, in my case, pleasure, of making their own bolognese sauce.  They could then make it into lasanga for one meal, spaghetti bolognese for another, and maybe add some herbs and spies to make it into chilli for another meal, and cottage pie for a fourth meal.  That is four decent meals from 450g of minced beef, which has to be minced beef or the supplier gets into trouble for selling things under false pretences. 
Similarly, you can quickly and easily make your own burgers. OK they might not be as firm and compact as commercial ones, but just what do they put in them to achieve the firmness?
As I've said before..part of my job is in the food room room at a local high school, and the burgers...when the pupils make their own, do have bits break off them during cooking, but only disintegrate if they are continually flipped.
The question is....Do you want to know what exactly is in your food, or do you want to survive on "convenience foods"?
I know which I would rather do.

fox attacks

Now, perhaps I am being just a bit obtuse here, but the fox attacks that take part inside people's houses....Why does no-one say how the foxes have gained access?  Is it warm weather and the foxes are wandering in through open doors and just exploring?   If not, just how do the foxes get into the houses?  It's not like they have opposable thumbs and a set of skeleton keys.
These foxes, I suspect are getting in through windows left open, or maybe cat flaps.  The window thing should not be a problem as in this day and age, when most people have UPVC windows...it is possible to lock your window in a vent position, which is not enough to let intruders of any kind in.  In fact UPVC windows can be locked in the vent position.
As for cat flaps...surely if you know there are urban foxes around, it would make sense to put in a cat flap with a collar sensor, so only the household cat could get in?
Just things that went through my mind when I read the article about the fox attacks.

Who choses where supermarkets are sited?

It does make me wonder.  In Morecambe, we have two Tescos, an Iceland, an Aldi, a Lidl, Co-op, Morrisons, a Sainsburys, an Asda and if we count anything this side of the river as Morecambe, a Booths, Spars, (don't know how many of those,) another Aldi and a large Asda. Not to mention places like Home Bargains and B & M bargains,we also have a busy market, and a fairly busy Sunday market
The newest of these is the Sainsburys, and it doesn't matter what time of day you go in, you can get round easily with no crowds and don't have very long to wait to checkout. I wonder who in their wisdom thought we needed a Sainsburys?  There is one in Lancaster, which is always very busy, but the one in Morecambe never is, they are only a couple of miles apart at the most.
Did the powers that be at Sainsburys get around a table and discuss this?  The more affluent people in the area tend to shop in the Lancaster shop, as they can combine it with a trip into the city. As soon as I knew what they were building I thought to myself that it would never be busy, and sure enough it never is.  Could it be that the prices are much higher than even Morrisons and the Co-op? Nah! why would that put people off. And if you want real quality stuff you would go to Booths, well, I would.
I don't expect an answer, but it puzzles me why when there is already a plenitude of supermarkets from cheap as chips places to high quality places, they went and built another one.