A few weeks ago I was returning late from delivering beer around the county and as I walked down the lane a fox was caught in the light of my torch. It was about 4 yards away, pretty much the closest I’ve ever been to such a creature.
I looked at it, it looked at me. For a few seconds there was an impasse, and then with an expression on its muzzle that spoke volumes* it casually turned tail and sauntered off.
A few days later a very similar looking animal lay dead by our bins at the end of the lane. It might have been shot or poisoned, but it certainly wasn’t hunted down by people wearing silly traditional costumes and riding horses. I feel sure I would have noticed.
Phew. Christmas Eve has arrived and I managed the last delivery at round about 3pm today. I’d like to thank everyone for their orders through our home delivery service over the last few months, and for everyone’s support over the last year.
We’ll be running a skeleton service for deliveries from the 27th although I’ll personally be away in Norway from the 28th and back on the 4th when I expect to be making some interesting announcements about new beers and St. Cuthman’s various wheelbarrows.
Enter MANDELSON, a manipulator, by yacht
MANDELSON: I come. Forgive the occasional snigger.
GORDON: O Mandelson I know that you can do it.
You made the once-great Blair, and stabbed me in
The back. No more of that. O save me, Mandy!
Wash the blood of the deposèd Blair
From these my tainted hands. And if you save me
You shall no longer Prince of Darkness be
But Lord President, First Secretary,
And whatever title takes your fancy.
Just save me, Mandy!
Not unexpectedly, I and my family are snowed in at the end of a rough country lane. Not to worry though – we’ve got food and fuel and I’ve had a hectic time of it recently. Taking an enforced break has given me a chance to see what else is going internationally (apart from Copenhagen of course).
Hmm. Looks like Greece is going up in flames again. Even the BBC has noticed. Things have been simmering there since the shooting by police of a 15 year old in Thessalonika last year. It’s strikes mostly at the moment caused by cuts in public services, but I suspect the riot is never far away from anyone’s mind.
‘Couldn’t happen here’ I said to my wife. She disagreed, ‘I give it six months’ she said, and pointed out this article in the Norwegian equivalent of the financial times:
My Norwegian isn’t really up to articles at this level but Google Translate will give you the gist of it:
Rating agency Fitch ‘downgrading of Greece from A-to BBB + at the beginning of December, new stock market fall after Dubai’s debt problems had previously been a shock in the markets.
- UK government finances are almost as bad as Greece. The probability is high that budsjettinnstramningene in the economy will not get a clear majority. If this occurs it is likely that Britain is unable to service its debt after budget negotiations in May, “said Chief Economist Øystein Dørum the DnB Nor Markets to TDN Finans Thursday.
That lovely word ‘budsjettinnstramningene’ translates as ‘budget cuts’ by the way.
Well who cares what the Norwegians think ? We should. Unlike us they are actually still solvent.
Until a few days ago I thought that the most likely course of events was that quantitative easing would cause significant inflation, and government debt would be paid back in a devalued currency, a sort of mini default (it happened last time in the 70’s). Then I read this article in the Daily Telegraph that points out that most of the UK’s debt is now index linked. The government is not going to get much help on the debt from inflation, but we are going to have to deal with inflation in any case as so far around £200 billion funny money has been pumped into the system.
The snow has pretty much halted our home delivery service today but I expect things to go back to normal on Saturday. In the meanwhile, I’m staying inside in the warm and carrying on reading the international press.
Back in November the Mail reported that the Met Office said it would be a mild winter. They also said there was a 50% chance of that.
With temperatures dropping to -6C yesterday and snow expected tomorrow I now realize that of course a 50% chance of a mild winter must mean that there’s a 50% chance of a hard winter.
December was a busy month last year, and as expected has been more than busy this year too. We’ve completed several markets, dealt with a significant equipment breakdown, brewed, bottled the last of our St Cuthman’s, and completed all our legal obligations to date. Lots of home deliveries have gone out the door and I’ve been far too busy to write here or even respond to commentary elsewhere. Sorry – December you know.
I’m expecting this state of affairs to continue more or less until Christmas, at which point I’m off to Norway for a few days. In the meanwhile UK’s situation continues to deteriorate – and nothing much is done about it. I was particularly struck by this post.
Despite my best intentions I find I’m once again writing about the climate. There have been several developments in the last few days which I’ve been personally following, however I completely missed the possible link made at EUReferendum between the closing of the steel plant at Redcar and EU imposed emissions trading scheme.
Redcar employs (employed?) 1700 people and as I recall, represents the area’s major source of employment; by any reckoning its closure is a tragedy for the locals.
But as EUReferendum says, Redcar’s closure is a bit of a mystery because:
Earlier this year, Corus – part of the Tata Group Europe – disclosed that its UK steel inventory was “close to exhaustion” and analysts are expecting improved earnings from second-half trading as production is increased to meet a rebound in demand.
So why is it closing ? CorusGroup says it can save £600 million, but as EUReferendum points out…
With redundancy and decommissions costs, very little of that can actually come from the process of closing down the Redcar plant. But, with a capacity of 3,000,000 tons of steel, closure of the plant will deliver further “savings” over 6 million tons of carbon dioxide, worth an additional £80 million per annum at current rates but around £200 million at expected market levels.
This sort of thing is representative of the most likely impact of decisions at Copenhagen, decisions taken there must necessarily lead to higher tax and higher unemployment, and if CO2 is responsible for the end of the world it would certainly be a proportionate outcome. Being unemployed is certainly better than baking to death.
But the science behind Copenhagen is looking weaker by the day. More data shenanigans have turned up in Australia, and the three main temperature series that have lead us to our current state of affairs are certainly looking like they need re-examination.
My Dad is possibly the hardest man in the world to buy Christmas and Birthday presents for. Largely because there’s nothing he needs – if he decides he does need something he simply goes out and gets it. Simple, direct and infuriating if you happen to be racking your brains for something suitable that is not socks.
In the belief that I’m not the only one suffering from this problem I put together some Christmas hampers suitable for Dads, Granddads, Uncles, and anyone else of a blokish frame of mind who drinks beer. Ours consist of:
Any four of our 500ml beers
Chilli Biltong
A packet of decent nuts.
Some chocolate money
A jar of fruit chutney that just happens to fit into the one little remaining space
A handy wicker basket (of course)
£25.00 delivered locally.
The chutney is there because basically I couldn’t think of anything else.
We sold a bunch of these at the Steyning Market and there will be more available at the late night shopping event in Steyning this coming Wednesday (until 9pm). You can order them there or alternatively call the Home Delivery Service.
01273 467527