The Lurker

I used to do wordle until they decided to require a login to access stats so I have stopped. I started with “route” every day and eventually came in 1st guess. I then switched to “orate” but that didn’t come in.

I thought that you were going to say you found you were related to Jacob Rees-Mogg. That would have been embarrassing.

Mrs Lurker watches the Virgin River series, set in California but filmed around Vancouver. I am pretty certain I spotted the suspension bridge over Lynn Canyon in one episode.

Not sure what all this turning down of black pudding is...a fine ingredient for a full English! Salt in foods - I don't put salt on any food - not even chips; they just need a good dose of malt vinegar.# When cooking I put salt in the water I cook rice with and occasionally for pasta as well - depends whether I am feeling influenced by Gennaro Contaldo or not. Nothing else I can think of unless I am trying a new recipe - I try to follow it properly the first time and then adjust to our tastes if necessary. I don't avoid salt deliberately but some things I do find far too salty for my taste - Mrs Lurker likes a salt and black pepper tiger stick from Morisons but they are too much for me. but I am partial to salumi and the Spanish equivalents....and crisps!

I wouldn't; I like to think I am better than them.

That’s good; Kent are doing pretty well at Old Trafford. They could do with a win!

Well done Lando! Let’s hope the change in form continues for the season.

Yes, one came up our road earlier and stopped outside the house of our large neighbours- whom we rather snidely refer to as the Slobs. they must have been out as the ice cream van moved off quite quickly. ION it was obvious here that no-one thought that Sadiq Khan was going to be re-elected- so obvious that the anti ULEZ brigade and brought down a camera overnight outside a local school. At least this time they did not blow it up and get the road closed off - morons!

How long did a ton of coal last for domestic use? Say a 2 up 2 down or a 3 bed semi. As you can tell, I have never lived in a coal fired house, although my Grandma had a coal fire in her flat

that's my "commuting to school" experience a few years later, a couple of stops up the line - almost unremitting blue/grey CEPs and BEPs and VEPs. At least Tonbridge had the Hastings units

The company I work for supplied the rum for the daily tot from 1784 until its abolition in 1970. https://www.edfman.com/royal-navy-rum-contract/

We have used Ocado since Mrs Lurker was pregnant with Younger Lurker - and he’s 15. We’ve not had any real problems- a couple of times where the substitution didn’t meet our desires and once where we fit a bag of someone else’s shopping in addition to our own. In all those years they have only once not been able to make their one hour slot and they rang to let us know so we could reschedule

Possibly some Denisovan DNA too but that is more often found in populations from Oceania and the Far East. Amazingly they have found a fossil that has DNA evidence that the interbreeding was one or at most two generations back.

Interestingly Ricciardo also hit Piastri in the same incident, damaging his diffuser - before Stroll hit him.

mainly prosaic sightings of robins and starlings, crows and magpies on my walk back through College Farm and Foots Cray Meadows, along with mallards, coots, moorhens in the river and lake. I did see a couple of Tufted Ducks, a first for me, and a swan earlier in the week, and a woodpecker staying low, its head just poking out of the long grass. Lots of song from other birds that stayed hidden. and parakeets!

Oh well, rain in the sprint shootout put out any fires...and gave us a bit of twist. Sky were just bigging uo Hamilton's lap when Norris' was reinstated!

I for one knew nothing of water meadows (as opposed to flood plains and flood meadows) even though I suspect I lived opposite one in Northampton (although the narrow header stream was also used for mills - the area I lived in was a crazy derivation of something like the "south mill on the river"). The wikipedia page is quite interesting, as is this historic England pamphlet: https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/conserving-historic-water-meadows/heag176-conserving-water-meadows/ and this one too but you have to download it: https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/iha-water-meadows/heag237-water-meadows/ I was also looking to see if the meadows along the Cray had their origins as water meadows but I think Capability Brown and numerous paper mills long ago covered any traces.

I got hailed on when walking home after dropping the car off for Mrs Lurker to use on the afternoon school run. I didn't see but think I heard the skylarks so maybe they will manage to nest in among the sheep and cows. at least there is now less risk of a dog disturbing them. Speaking of cars, mine is "Portimao blue". It's surprisingly good at hiding the dirt. It too has a lane change control that actually steers you back into the lane if you have not indicated. This is irritating if you have to move around an obstacle on a normal road (like a parked car), or a bus stop, where indicating might be confused with wanting to turn right. I could turn it off but have chosen not to. Thus it is a BMW that has working indicators....

There’s one who hovers near the small wine section in our local Waitrose. He shuffles nearer if you pick up a bottle to read the back label.

Or has the Awl detected too much forbidden info and decided that Enough is Enough?

Which reminds me I must go to the one area in this part of the Boring Borough where I have seen and heard skylarks. It was on a farm which had been used for gravel extraction in the 70’s but which had been left as scrubland since. However last year the farmer fenced off his land apart from the footpath through the middle and now has cattle on one side and sheep on the other. I fear the skylarks may not stay long there this year.

One positive for Jamie Oliver recipes is that they tend to work; not all TV chef recipes do - the Hairy Bikers ones need more adaptation. And if you’re not too worried about total authenticity but want something tasty, then they’re handy . Better still, a lot are freely available online from his website so no need to buy his books!

Not quite our garden but one of the local parks - the Glades, Lamorbey. I think this is an Egyptian Goose and chicks this morning

this looks a good idea. https://www.urban-transport-magazine.com/en/south-africa-the-franschhoek-wine-tram/ When global warming has taken hold, will we have winetram lines through the wine country of the Kentish weald (miraculously re-utilising the track bed of the Hawkhurst branch)? OK so the latter part of that is very unlikely....

Best wishes to Dave Hunt