Two Thousand and Great – Week 48

Dear all,

I’ve had to make a small change to my weekly calendar, Tuesday is no longer a swimming night but bell ringing. My second lesson went quite well, I’m starting to build up a bond with my bell and slowly but surely gaining a bit more control of it. The bell I use is called Michael (I was told the reason why once but I can’t remember.)

It’s the second heaviest bell in the tower and weighs 9 cwt 1 qr and 10 lbs which equates to 474.5 kilos. 

Tuesday’s lesson started slightly differently to the week before, the bells were not up when I arrived which meant that I was tasked with getting the bell upside down and staying there. This meant I had to combine everything I had learnt the week before. I started with the down stroke trying to get some momentum into the bell slowly feeding out the rope as the bell swang higher and higher, as the rope lengthened I had to start applying pressure on the back stroke as well, this meant I was now combining the skills for the first time – properly bell ringing for the first time.

There is a surprising amount to remember how far to stand from the rope, how to pull your arms, where to catch so as not to end up pulled off the floor or end up with rope and carpet burns over your hands. Everyone has been very patient with me and are always offering me tips, they are a really nice bunch of people.

Through the night I was given the chance to ring a few more times, I am slowly but surely getting more of a feel for the bell. The group make it look very easy, they have almost total control over the bells and are able to change the speeds and stop the bells at will, I have been told that this week I will get the chance to join in with a round, I’m learning so much so quickly, to get an idea of what the group look like in the tower there’s a video here: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=aEwxnEoZsK8 The man with the beard is called Tony and he leads the group (he’s also ringing Michael on this occasion).

As part of my homework I was given a few copies of The Ringing World to look through, it was like having my own round of Have I Got News For You’s missing word round – http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2143628&id=660945790#/photo.php?pid=2143629&id=660945790 I’m understanding about 5 out of 10 words at the moment when watching the group this might help to flesh some of the rest out.

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Homemade bread day was a bit different – I had a plan to try and and make some speciality bread that I had often seen in Carluccios. Basically they make a thin strip of bread which has one side covered in pesto, this is then rolled up into a snail shape left to rise and then baked.

The result is a great bread with gorgeous pesto running through it. My plan was to make a slightly more pizza type bread dough than normal bread mix and to try and make my own version. (to make a pizza type dough you add a little olive oil to a standard bread mix)

I prepared the dough and allowed it to rise a little, I then beat it back and tried tried to flatten the sections of dough to allow me a chance to roll flat. In a small bowl I had mixed some red pesto with finely chopped sundried tomatoes which I then spooned onto each bread strip and rolled the dough before placing onto a baking sheet.

The bread didn’t flatten particularly well so I tried a few different styles, whether making a doughnut style roll or a croissant type and then baked them for about 15 minutes in the oven. The rolls tasted great, but didn’t really have Carluccios’ presentation. I will try to make them again as I really like them and when I get it right it will be added to the cookbook.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=85279&id=660945790

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I had intended to celebrate false confessions day on Friday, but, in the end I didn’t (or did I?) – no I didn’t. I ended up at a friends film screening which was good fun, before heading home, I’d had the day in my mind for a while, but didn’t get the chance to confess to anything. At one point I found myself talking to people only in film titles (I have no idea why) but couldn’t find a way to confess to anything major. that said every cloud has a silver lining – As a fall back I’ve found this – Make Your Own Head Day on Friday – papier mache here I come! – http://holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/November/makeyourownhead.htm

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This week to my relief I found out that the school friend who had kind of mentioned she would consider letting me deliver her baby had got on with it all without my assistance. A little premature, Ronny is thankfully no longer hooked up to machines and appears to be happy healthy and getting stronger.

Congrats Nikki, I guess this is one of my challenges I am happy to fail.

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I was set a challenge earlier in the year which involved fishing – In the ’summer’ months this was lovely as an afternoon beside a lake allows you to get your thoughts in order and properly relax. As the car came to pick me up before 7am on Sunday in the dark with snow falling this didn’t seem such a good idea.

I have had a good stab at trying to catch decent sized coarse fish this year landing a few nice carp, roach and perch, but hadn’t caught much in the way of predator fish (the Zander which I caught in the summer hardly counts as it was so small) the main lake in Bury Hill does hold some lovely large pike and generously sized Zander. 

Arriving as the snow started to get heavier we made our way down the bank to a spot recommended by the assistant in the lake’s shop. One of the regular pike fishermen usually sets up in this place.

The snow was settling as we cast our rods into the water and then it began to warm up, this would usually be lovely but snow gets warmer it become rain and this isn’t anywhere near as much fun. 

Cold and damp, my fishing partner and I were contemplating giving up by about 1 o’clock when something fateful happened. He had a bite, his rod bent double for a few seconds and then nothing… this action though reaffirmed our belief that freezing ourselves in order to catch a fish was a good idea.

I befriended a robin* by feeding it some bread and maggots, but still the lack of action continued. Looking across the lake nobody was having any luck, people were packing up and leaving all over the place when I heard a little noise as my bobbin started to slowly drop down a few inches. There was definitely something playing with my line but would it go so far as to take the bait?

The quickest answer to this is no – after 6 and a half hours of freezing conditions we gave up, nobody had managed to catch anything on our lake and with hands like iceblocks we headed home. Personally I blame the cold snap which hit on Thursday, the water is usually good for pike at this time, once the weather has calmed down a bit we’ll be back. I need to catch a few more decent fish to pass that challenge.

* http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2143628&id=660945790
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I know this strange day isn’t on my calendar but I am going to celebrate it as an extra one as I believe in the concept – despite the fact that the Government keeps dropping interest rates (and now VAT) to try and boost consumer spending to get the economy back in order. Buy Nothing Day – www.buynothingday.co.uk/ Seems a fine idea. Take a look at the website – our culture of consumption needs to be looked at and initiatives like this can raise awareness.

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A few things to look forward to this week, Sunday sees my transformation into Father Christmas as I have to dye my beard and hair white. I’m going to try and give blood one morning this week, if only to get good pics for the blog of needles and the like.

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I accepted a new challenge today which isn’t going to be easy. Realising I have to lose some weight still to achieve one of my challenges, I’m no longer allowed to have any carbonated soft drinks until January 1st 2009. As someone who doesn’t drink teas and coffees etc, this effectively reduces my options to milk, beer, neat spirits the odd fruit juice and water. It’s a lot less to give up than things like NO-vember but it’ll still be tough for me. 

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One final thing, I hope someone can help me out.

As you might know one of my best friends lives out in Spain teaching English to the locals – one of his students has come to London to perfect her cockney rhyming slang and have everything she’s learned about English and Grammar totally confused by Londoners. She’s looking for a job and I said I would try to help her out.

Young girl (28) with basic – to good levels of English is looking for anything really – based North London she has retail and bar experience – if anyone knows of anything that might suit her please let me know ASAP.

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Rob – Soon to be Santa