Now that everyone has had a few days of word battles and opinions being bandied about left, right and centre, tearing shreds off each other, ( and all participants are guilty ). Seems time that maybe everyone put all their bickering aside, and maybe agree to disagree.

Does anyone agree?

I awoke this morning to a beautiful new, bright, crisp day and an epiphany (for want of a better word ). Does it matter that much to you all ? - and I have been as guilty as anyone, both for and against, in the heated scrabble of words, but now it seems that everyone is still bickering just for the sake of it - and shows our base human nature, and the drive of instincts that we should control. We are no better than animals in a zoo fighting over the last scrap of meat thrown in, rather than a group of intelligent human beings that claim to appreciate the power of the word.

A student of mine from Iran wrote a lovely poem in 'farsi', and then translated it to English.

The weather in England
is changeable,
seasonal,
unpredictable.
Spring.
summer,
autumn,
when the leaves fall.
But the most beautiful
season of all,
is the winter
when the warm snow falls.

Well, it's lovely here right now and I'm getting stuck into another day of Chutney making with stuff from the allotment. I have vowed to bow out of the shenannegins, bruised and misunderstood, and cherish the essential simplicity of good things.

I've been accused of being a nut. Me?
I love nothing more than my chut...ney
Except maybe the wife
and my kids...and my life
and the odd fag down in my hut.
Me.

: )

Jx

Well...up North...it's still raining Chats and Blogs...

I think I must have found a liitle spot of sunlit enlightenment in the northwest. :-) What's it like everywhere else?

Oh, Darren, absolutely hilarious! Is it original?

Chutney for me today too - Mango and Lime, after finding some mangoes on offer. Yesterday was savoury Elderberry Jelly infused with Thyme (to accompany pork, venison etc) - I have a surfeit of Elderberries in my hedge at present, and a Spicy Red Tomato Chutney after a glut of tomatoes from the greenhouse. Last week was Tomato Ketchup and Runner Bean Chutney. That's probably me done - until the new crop of Seville Oranges arrives sometime in mid-January.

Following the culinary theme, I managed to get hold of some reasonably priced clams yesterday, so treated myself to a lovely "Spaghetti alle Vongole." Delicious!

Regards,
A.E.

As for the weather, here in North Devon it's cloudy and a little dull (a bit like me) but reasonably warm.

That's pretty near a poem for me...

Chutney for me today too -
Mango and Lime.
After finding some mangoes
on offer.
Yesterday was savoury Elderberry.
Jelly infused with Thyme
(to accompany pork, venison etc) -

I have a surfeit of Elderberries in my hedge at present,
and a Spicy Red Tomato Chutney.
After a glut of tomatoes from the greenhouse.
Last week was Tomato Ketchup
and Runner Bean Chutney.
That's probably me done -
until the new crop of Seville Oranges arrives,
Sometime in mid-January.

Following the culinary theme,
I managed to get hold of some
reasonably priced clams yesterday, so...
treated myself to a lovely "Spaghetti alle Vongole.
" Delicious!:"

Jx

Well, now you put it like that . . . I guess . . .

All yours John!