Paul Brownjohn @Paulos_the_fog@social.cleverlibre.org
Retired software engineer & woodworker.
Anglo-francophone.
Detest tories. Subscribe to green, leftish radical politics but not to any particular political party!.
Love the EU and all it stands for, moreover, I spent the last 10 years of my career working at an EU agency.
Enthusiastic photographer, especially wildlife and most especially butterflies.
Slightly knowledgeable gardener.
Atheist; loathe almost all religions and pity the people deluded enough to follow them. I make exceptions for Buddhism as it isn't really a religion in the strictest sense of the word as it doesn't postulate the existence of any god, and Jainism which is the epitome of peace.
For anyone who is interested, my header photo is of the most stupendous sunset I have ever seen. On the right is the waterfront of Vientiane, the capital of Laos, on the left is Thailand and in the middle, acting as the border between the two countries is the mighty Mekong river.
Joined Nov 2022
That is a terrifyingly statistic!
This is taking anti-vax cuntery too damned far!
There's quite a few of them over here in Luxembourg, where they are considered to be vermin, sadly. This is because they have a habit of exploring the engine compartments of cars and chewing through all the rubber hoses and electrical wiring.
They are regular visitors to our garden although I have never seen one but they tend to mark their territory with faeces and always in the same place, in our case, on the front door step!
Yes - the 'standard' moden where I live in Luxembourg is the "Fritzbox" allegedly a high quality German designed and manufactured range of modems. The only problem is that they have a tendency to crap out the moment the guarantee expires!
We have now gone through three or four of the damned things @100 €uros a pop!
In Luxembourg we are lucky. Unlike the UK where the entire country stops dead for anything up to 14 days at Christmas, in Luxembourg, Christmas Day and St Stephens day (boxing day) are public holidays and that's it!
If you want to go shopping, eat out or go drinking or do anything much at all after about 4pm on Christmas eve, I don't rate your chances too highly as the evening of Christmas eve is when the big celebration happens here, and indeed in most countries in mainland Europe. Shops all shut at around 4pm or 5pm on Christmas Eve and everyone goes to family to get drunk!
Christmas day is for Alka-Seltzer and recovery from the massive hangover that most people acquire!
There is no time of the year when you would not get service for an urgent problem within 48 hours.
@langdale_lass@mas.to
Yes, I think that might be them!
Not of any culinary or hallucinogenic interest, if I recall!
I still remember the first time myself and my then French girlfriend visited her parents in Châtillion-Coligny and I tasted her mother's cooking! The first course was scallops cooked in white wine with mushrooms, shallots and browned under the grill. My tastebuds couldn't believe how good it was. Her mother asked me what I thought of it and I said the first thing that came into my head which was "C'est un orgasme gastronomique!". Her parents laughed so much, I thought they were going to choke to death - after that I could do no wrong!
Mastering the Art of French cooking is brilliant because it takes you step by step through every process in detail without assuming you know anything! It's the first cook book I ever owned back when I couldn't boil an egg successfully!
Funnily enough, that's pretty much what I pay for a GP appointment here in Luxembourg. The difference is that I send the receipted bill to the equivalent of the NHS over here (the CNS) and they then refund most of that £50 directly into my bank account! Nett, it actually costs me about £5 to see my GP over here! BUT and it is a big 'BUT' I can normally get an appointment within a day or two of ringing up the practice and if it's urgent I will always be seen the same day!
Sauce Soubise - onions and stuff innit?
I made that once many, many years ago. Escoffier gives it as onions and rice as a base rather than a white roux and some stock and a load of cream, whereas "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" uses flour to thicken and a fair dollop of cream as well.
Never heard of making a bechamel with all cream????
PS - I'm also a massive fan of French cooking and indeed I used to live there, first in Orléans in the mid 70s then later in Normandy in 89/90
@hollybrigstocke @BackFromTheDud
Sadly, there are loads of countries where corruption is rife. In Thailand 1000s are killed every year because the Police there are more interested in collecting bribes than enforcing the law. The have the world's most deadly roads mostly due to the fact that the laws requiring riders of two wheeled vehicles to wear helmets and to refrain from carrying more than two people are very widely disregarded with tragic consequences. When there's a family of five (two adults and 3 kids) on a Vespa style scooter, none of whom are wearing a helmet and there is an accident; the carnage can be imagined! Likewise when there is a pickup truck with 15 or 20 people in the back and it flips over...
@langdale_lass@mas.to
We had 100s or 1000s even of these chaps pop up in the garden but I have no idea what they are. They appear to be growing on the wood of a buried lime tree stump.
The problem for me is that Starmer was a strong believer in EU membership and FoM. The fact that the backroom Trots at Labour party HQ have been able to spin him round like a bloody top, now makes me think that he has zero principles and is just total worthless scum like the tories!
How can anyone believe in a man who flip-flops like that.
I think a confirmatory referendum on the final deal would indeed have seen it cancelled.
However, if the TV is to be believed, when people in the north east are interviewed they seem still to be terribly keen on Brexit - bloody morons!
@langdale_lass@mas.to
Lovely shot!
I maintain that since the Cameron days, it has been pretty safe to believe the diametric opposite of anything any tory says. If you do that, you will be right fa, FAR more often than you will be wrong - this is just an example!
Just remind me which of the many recent British tory PMs said there was no risk of blackouts this coming winter?
The reality is that nothing short of rejoining the CU and SM will really do any good. The EU (for whom I used to work) will not (I trust) even entain that unless Britain is prepared to accept free movement of labour and of capital. Spineless Kier Starmer is not prepared to stand up to the brainless, racist bigots in the 'red wall' constituencies and there dare not even mention FoM as a possibility. Sadly, he seems not understand that there is now a huge body of people who support rejoining the CU and SM even if it means allowing FoM again.
Over 4000 doctors from EU countries who used to work for the NHS have packed their bags and moved back to the EU. Countless 100s of 1000s of nurses, care home staff and hospitality industry workers of EU origin have done the same.
Brexit is a catastrophe and the sooner politicians acknowledge it the better. Idiots like starmer do nothing to help Britain in its hour of need. We need leaders not straws in the wind!
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
Nice thing about Mastodon: It's one of the extremely rare web pages I visit where my ad blocker doesn't need to do anything.
Retired software engineer & woodworker.
Anglo-francophone.
Detest tories. Subscribe to green, leftish radical politics but not to any particular political party!.
Love the EU and all it stands for, moreover, I spent the last 10 years of my career working at an EU agency.
Enthusiastic photographer, especially wildlife and most especially butterflies.
Slightly knowledgeable gardener.
Atheist; loathe almost all religions and pity the people deluded enough to follow them. I make exceptions for Buddhism as it isn't really a religion in the strictest sense of the word as it doesn't postulate the existence of any god, and Jainism which is the epitome of peace.
For anyone who is interested, my header photo is of the most stupendous sunset I have ever seen. On the right is the waterfront of Vientiane, the capital of Laos, on the left is Thailand and in the middle, acting as the border between the two countries is the mighty Mekong river.
Joined Nov 2022
