Marty

First batch of mince pies taken out of the oven.

Sorry. Was my attempt at a fishy pun nothing but a pile of carp?

You okay there, ma fée?

And no red herrings, either, please.

Preferably freshly caught. But I don't mind if it's been frozen.

Let's just say that, being a total atheist, I don't have a god to pray to...

Cod protect me from my friends! Also just kidding, bro.

Hmmm... He looks like he may be just a wee bit too young for me...

Greetings, young Drew!

2010, ten years ago, was the last really bad spell of winter weather here in the northwest of Ireland. Heavy snow fell more than a week before Christmas, and didn't thaw until into the new year. That was really unusual for this part of Ireland (although something similar had happened the previous Christmas), as we are normally protected from really cold weather by the warm Gulf Stream (from the Gulf of Mexico) that passes down the Atlantic off the west coast of Ireland. Below is a photo that I took outside the gate of my smallholding on 21st December 2010. The temperature at the time was -8°C/18°F). It was getting down to as low as at least -16°C/3°F overnight at the time. What appears to be snow on the left of the picture behind the hedge is actually freezing fog in a valley. Those temperatures may not seem all that low to those of you that live in other climes, but they felt extremely cold here in Ireland. Both years (winters of 2009/2010 and 2010/2011) I was actually confined to my smallholding for over a week, as it was impossible to get out.

I'm reminded of a few lines from the poem A Migrating Dialogue by Leonard Cohen, that appeared in his 1964 anthology "Flowers For Hitler"... I believe with a perfect faith in the Second World War. I am convinced that it happened. I am not so sure about the First World War. The Spanish Civil War-maybe. I believe in gold teeth. I believe in Churchill. Don't tell me we dropped fire into cribs. I think you are exaggerating. The Treaty of Westphalia has faded like a lipstick smudge on the Blarney Stone. Napoleon was a sexy brute. Hiroshima was Made in Japan out of paper. I think we should let sleeping ashes lie. I believe with a perfect faith in all the history I remember, but it's getting harder and harder to remember much history.

Greetings, young Drew! (Have to admit, I was a slowpoke as well. )

Hey, bro! And I'm glad you could feel it. Because it was certainly sent with feeling!

Everyone please...

Greetings, young Albert!

Page 1,987... That was the year I finally settled in Ireland. I had bought the smallholding in 1986, after having first looked at it when I had brought my dad over for a visit to his relatives, and his birthplace, shortly before he died from cancer. He knew he was dying, and had asked me to bring him home for one last time. I was in the process of selling my house in England at the time. Unfortunately, Sterling dropped quite sharply against the Irish pound (or punt) in between me agreeing a price for the smallholding and completing the sale of my house. That meant that, although I had enough punts to buy the smallholding from the profit I got from the sale of my house when it was converted from Sterling, I didn't have enough left over to pay off another loan I was still repaying in England. That necessitated me staying in England for a while to earn the money to pay off that loan. I finally moved to Ireland towards the end of July 1987, a few days after my dad had been buried in his adopted town, close to Manchester.

Some of my family and friends don't like marzipan, either. But it's only a thin layer on the outside of the cake, which can be very easily peeled off.

Not all all! They are rich fruit cakes which, provided they are stored in a reasonably airtight container, would keep for at least three months. Indeed it would probably still be safe to eat a year or more after it has been made: Does fruit cake last forever? Extract: Fruit cakes and Christmas puddings can last a long time because the sugar acts as a preservatives, and alcohol kills bacteria and prevents mould 'All of these dried and candied ingredients have what we call "low water activity" - meaning they have very little moisture available,' said Dr Ben Chapman, a food safety researcher at North Carolina State University, U.S. 'Low water activity is important because many microorganisms, including foodborne illness-causing bacteria, need moisture in order to reproduce. 'In practical terms, this makes most fruitcakes extremely shelf stable, so they would be safe to eat for a long time – a really long time,' he said. Source: Daily Mail: Does-fruit-cake-forever?

And I'm just about to finally put the marzipan (almond paste) on the two Christmas cakes I baked six weeks or so back. (I planned doing that a few evenings back, but ran out of time.)

His real name is Tom Roberts, from London. Here's an article about him in the Daily Mail published last May: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8284235/Man-poem-coronavirus-good-thing-hindsight-explains-Morning.html (Some of the comments about him call him "sweet" and "adorable" - and I can't say I disagree.)

Erm...

I was thinking the same thing myself, bro.

Fingers crossed we're still on page 1984 when I post this.... I've just remembered that 1984 was the year I bought a holiday home in Ireland (an old rundown farm cottage) close to where I now live. I used it for a few years before selling it (for the same price) when I bought the smallholding I lived on for more than 25 years. It was the sale of that smallholding that enabled me to buy the new, old place I now live in.

That reminds me of a piece I read in The Guardian on Thursday about how a murmuration of starlings was found to be responsible for recent intermittent power outages in a Scottish village.... Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/17/starlings-aerial-antics-behind-mystery-of-scots-power-outages

Here's another piece from him: