A View From Near The Greenhouse; A New Dawn…..Innit?

I thought I was under no illusion when I marked my “X” on my ballot paper back in July. Due to boundary changes I’ve ended up living in one of the safest constituencies in the country. Tim Farron is my MP, nothing I could do would change that, and, to give him his due, he has a reputation as a solid constituency representative. He received a 60% vote share and, even in a low turnout election, his majority was touching 13,000. I knew we’d get a Labour government and I knew it’d  be bad (more of which later), but I didn’t expect to be given the blame, by some conservative commentators, for voting in the way my conscience and my sense of grievance at Conservative policy dictated. They’re like Remainiacs, in that way, accusing people on “not knowing what they voted for”. I voted for policies that I thought best for the UK. If the party of government at the time had chosen similar policies to offer us, I may well have voted for it. I’d suggest I’m not alone in that regard.

I know, I know. I bang on about the success of my vine cutting almost to distraction, but I had an interesting conversation about it just the other day. We’ve planted (twice) a hazel grove in memory of Norm. This vine is simply another extension of his legacy, which hopefully, one day will be mine. It’s probably hubristic of me, but I’d like to think that one day my offspring (and theirs) will be able to enjoy a grape, or some of the juice thereof, and think of those that went before. Like a headstone, only edible.

I’m going to have a bit of a rethink about the number of tomato plants I put in, either that, or I’m going to need another freezer OR, I’m going to have to start selling them, but (if I do start to sell) then the question has to be; in what way? Someone suggested I put a table and an honesty box at the gate and rely on human nature, but given that eggs and cash have been stolen from the “egg station” on the corner, I’m not too sure. I could grow more cherry and smaller varieties and dry them before maybe talking to the local farm shop to see if they’d retail them for me. Currently I’m leaning towards growing less and cutting out the varieties that don’t seem to do so well. One to ponder, I think.

Although the leeks are yet to “fatten out” (the weather again) they’re growing very clean and they haven’t gone to seed at all. I’m putting this down to the fact that they’re now growing outside and nature, for better or worse, is taking its chosen course. The red potatoes, although very rough skinned (the wet ground hasn’t helped) don’t have any pest infection (so far) and the pink fir apple have proved to be a winner. I’ll continue to grow them as much for the comedy value as the flavour. All the “new” potatoes are now finished, although I have enough to put one more stitch in. I’ll maybe get around to it this week (if it ever stops raining) which should see them ready, if they grow and there’s no hard frost in the intervening period, by mid November.

Some of the sprouts and a couple of the kale seeds have germinated, with more signs that others are to follow. The ground’s ready, although I haven’t fertilised it yet, I wanted to wait and see if I had viable plants before doing so. Waste not, want not, as the saying goes. I doubt they’ll be ready for Christmas, which was the original plan before the pests took their toll, but if you don’t give it a go, you’ll never find out. Either way, they’ve got two choices.

Recollection fails me as to where I purchased the aubergine seeds, I may have mentioned it previously, but I can’t be bothered to go back and look, being the rough old veg grower that I am. My best guess is Caldbeck Seed Potato day, a longer shot would be Larch Cottage, but, to be honest, who really cares? Any road up, buy the seeds I did (mostly I believe because I thought they’d win the flower and veg trophy at the show) and, after an inordinately long and frustrating wait they began to produce fruit. They came a fortnight or so too late for their intended purpose and, not being the biggest fan, I found myself at something of a loss as to what to do with them. As good to look at as they are, I’ve never really been a fan of eating them “as is” and the Baba Ganoush, although being a fine idea, is something that needs making and eating on the same day (I will try it). The answer to this weighty conundrum? See below;

Brinjal pickle (Colin Cross version one). Toast some spices (mustard seed, coriander seed and fennel seed) dice 20 ounces of aubergine, a red onion, a bit of white onion (left over in the fridge) and half a red pepper. Finely chop a red chili, leaving some of the seed. Fry the onion and pepper (I used groundnut oil) together until softened, throw in half a dozen curry leaves & the chopped chili, a teaspoon of coarse salt and a good grind of black pepper. Stir it through, add 200 ml of vinegar (I used cider this time, but I may use malt next) and 3 ounces of soft brown sugar. Leave until until the sugar melts and add the aubergine. Cook slowly, until stick and the aubergine has softened, but no lost all its bite.

The finished article(s). I can’t testify to the taste, as yet but it certainly isn’t as sweet or sticky as some I’ve tasted (I did lick the spoon after I’d finished bottling it) but I think the chili heat’s about right, although I think I might dice the aubergine a little smaller. I’d considered frying it off, but it absorbs oil and I wanted to keep the oil content down (I can’t abide slimy food), consequently the pieces still retain a little “bite” although they may soften as the pickle matures. I’ll leave it for a month and report back, by which time a second small batch (revised version) will probably have been prepared. We’ll see how good it is, soon enough.

If you search “Labour Manifesto” on t’interwb, you’re greeted with a picture of a serious looking man, with his sleeves immaculately rolled half way up his forearms. It’s a look made famous by Tony Blair. “I’m real and I’m here to do a job” is what it’s saying. On the left hand side of the first page is a series of ethereal “soundbite” pledges. The kind of things you might hear in one of those “Blue Sky Thinking” meetings (I presume). There’s no mention, at least not at this point, about soaring knife crime (although there is a promise to “take back the streets”) and there’s certainly no mention of “irregular” (oh how we chuckle) immigration. Fast forward less than three months and stabbings are almost a daily occurrence, often with tragically fatal consequences, leaving families bereaved and devastated in equal measure. Ironically the streets don’t appear to be getting “taken back” (so far) although tickets to Taylor Swift concerts and The Olympic Games are gleefully being accepted (taken) by our new Labour elite. In this same short period, over six thousand undocumented people have arrived on our shores. Although numbers are hard to confirm (I apologise in advance if I’m offering up “misinformation) without delving deep into the governments own website, the estimate cost to the taxpayer is IRO £12k per annum, per person (knowing what we know about government, this may be an underestimate). That’s a cool £72million, on top of the billions already spent dealing (or not dealing) with this particular thorny issue. The “We’ll Smash The Gangs” (another puerile soundbite) continues to ring hollow to those people who put their trust in Labour to “do the right thing”.

What has been achieved, then, in this relatively short space of time? Very little of any real consequence, unless you consider vaping, taking your kids out of school for a holiday, stripping pensioners of a few quid (thereby saving the country from total economic meltdown) to pay them back for “Brexit” (by the way, both the PM and the Chancellor categorically stated, prior to the election, that the WFP would be “safe” if they achieved power), having a crafty fag in a beer garden, the setting up of the massive white elephant that is GB Energy (£billions down the pan), sending £millions Sudan for “Klimate Mitigation”, £billions of “loans” to Ukraine (arms manufacturers via the back door), paying off Trade Union backers and sucking up to The EU should be the governments top priorities.

Ministers and high ranking apparatchiks do the media rounds, telling us, continually and using identical phrases, that it isn’t their fault things are so bad, but we’ve heard all this before. There are sinister twists being introduced, partly, I would suggest, due to the size of majority. Not least is the broadening use of the slur “far-right” to describe anyone who even dare question this governments actions and policies. A free vote on the WFP has been rejected, because (again I’d suggest) many Labour MP’s outside the ruling Metropolitan elite clique are getting it in the neck from constituents and the seat of power mustn’t be challenged, even by those in the fold. By the time conference season is over and Parliament fully reconvenes, we’ll have had nine weeks of a government working to curtail our basic freedoms and spend our money without any real oversight or challenge. I hope very much that I’m wrong, but I can’t see any of this ending up being positive, in any way, shape or form for us “ordinary folk”.
 

© Colin Cross 2024