Thursday 21 January 2016

Reasons to be grateful

It's been a tough few days. Last Saturday I was struck by an emotional steamroller when someone I loved and respected insulted me and S, my spouse. I apportion no blame, telling myself that they may not have realized the devastating effect of their words. I'll simply say that I've now grown a little older, a little wiser and probably a little less trusting of others.  

A friend of mine, whose very real problems dwarf mine to the point of insignificance, has set herself the challenge of finding something every day for which to be grateful.  The result (so far) has been two of the most positive posts that it's been my privilege to read. The subjects have been wonderfully varied, from a sunrise to an Eccles Cake, and from friends to pussy cats. So, rather than dwell on the recent past, I wish to record that I'm feeling very grateful indeed for the area in which I live. 

It was a misty, cold day on which S and I took the slippy, slidey, muddy path from a car park in Wyndcliff Wood to the Eagle's Nest, high above the River Wye. Despite lingering mist, the view is truly spectacular, with the meandering River Wye in the foreground, Chepstow beyond the far band of trees and the two Severn Bridges in the background.  (To see all but the first, you'll probably have to click the photo to enlarge it.) We have vowed to return in the Spring, walk on through Tintern and probably feast at the Brockweir Inn. Lovely!

Every season is special, here in the Forest of Dean. Winter brings its own charms as new vistas appear between the bare trees, yet the ground is still carpeted with the golden leaves of Autumn. Add some winter sunshine and the scene is rarely less than magnificent.

There's a forest path that I've often passed on an old railway track near Upper Lydbrook. Here it is, branching away to the left from the main path. One of my history books tell me that it marks the course of the Severn & Wye Tramroad, which pre-dated the railway by some 60 years. 

Local history fascinates me. My old homeland of Cornwall is steeped in history, from ancient barrows and stone circles to 19th Century tin mines and railway tracks.  The Forest of Dean is no less enthralling and I'm grateful for every minute of every hour spent trampling down bracken and circumnavigating deep mud to locate some relic of the Industrial Revolution.

On earlier walks I've traced this tramway past Lydbrook, almost to its terminus at Bishopswood, on the road to Ross-on-Wye. This time I decided to explore a little way in the opposite direction and was quickly rewarded with this lovely woodland scene - but only briefly. Just out of sight in this picture is a rough track that that I followed, descending steeply to Upper Lydbrook.

This is another place to which I will return, to discover where the tramway path takes me.

Finally, to prove that I don't have to stray from my home for reasons to be grateful, here's the morning view from my kitchen window, one week ago. Brewing coffee and preparing my bowl of muesli could hardly be more rewarding.






Saturday 9 January 2016

Alcohol Limits

Angie's stock of red wine
The latest guidelines on healthy drinking have certainly given me something to ponder. In short, it appears that there is no safe limit, so consuming any number of alcoholic drinks will increase my risk of dying from an alcohol-related condition.

Prof Sir David Spiegelhalter has defined drinking 14 units week as 'low risk'; that is, it gives me less than a 1% chance of dying from an alcohol-related condition. That 14 unit level is unchanged from the old guidelines for women, but I confess to drinking in excess of this over many years.  I don't care for spirits, except the occasional dram of Single Malt, and don't much care for beer either, but I do like a nice glass of Sauvignon Blanc or a smooth Italian Puglia. Here's a typical week's drinking for me:

Monday to Thursday: one medium-sized glass of wine each day, total 8 units
Friday: no alcohol
Saturday: one medium-sized glass at lunchtime and half a bottle with my evening meal, total 6½ units
Sunday: half a bottle of wine, total 4½ units
Weekly total: 19 units.

I also have a few rules about alcoholic drinks that I strictly impose upon myself:
• never with spicy food (a waste of good wine as the taste gets lost on me)
• never alone
• never when I'm upset
• never to quench my thirst

So what do my drinking habits look like when set against other risks?  I have The Guardian to thank for this helpful bar graph, which appeared in yesterday's edition:



The increased risks don't look huge at the dark blue and yellow levels, but they are significant. However, there are other lifestyle choices that could have a greater impact.  The same edition of The Guardian reported that:

“An hour of TV watching a day, or a bacon sandwich a couple of times a week, 
is more dangerous to your long-term health." 

More dangerous still is being overweight, and sadly my weight has been creeping up again over the past few months — not to an obese level, but worryingly close to it. So I've re-activated my Noom smartphone app to log my exercise, and set a calorie limit to knock off 1½lb a week.  I think I'll also try cutting out wine for one more day a week.  Yes, that will definitely help.

I wonder what the next health scare — real or contrived — will be. Curried Eggs again?

Saturday 2 January 2016

An annual fond do

Several years ago (I can't remember how many) Aunt Sarah came to see in the New Year with us, and a Family Tradition was born. To celebrate the passing of the old year we laid on a Fondue meal — not your simple melted cheese and bread variety, but rather our own table-laden mouthwatering, waistline-redefining interpretation of Fondue Bourguignonne. And every New Year's Eve since then, the feast has been repeated, either at our home or Sarah's.

If you fancy one of your own, you'll need about 5oz per person of cubed rump steak (my vegetarian friends can doubtless substitute tofu), hard-boiled eggs, salad leaves, cucumber, salad dips, pasta, celery, beetroot, bread, coleslaw and anything else that takes your fancy — Morrison's salad bar will leave you spoiled for choice.  Oh, and is helps to have a fondue pot and some little forks.  I'm told that a small saucepan, balanced securely over a meths burner, also works fine, though I'd want to check that my house insurance was paid up before trying that one.  Warm some olive oil, pour it into the pot, light the burner... and away you go.


Next, skewer a piece of steak or tofu onto a fork and pop it in the hot oil. Then, as it sizzles and cooks to your personal satisfaction, load your plate with salad and maybe have a slurp or eight of fine wine. Be warned, though... those who lose their meat in the pot may be asked to host the next fondue meal. However, knocking someone else's meat of their fork as you retrieve yours is considered very bad form indeed!

All this may seem a somewhat complicated way to feast but, in a way, that's the point. Unless you contrive to cook several cubes of meat at once, the meal takes a long, long time — time to reminisce about the passing year, anticipate the new one and simply while away the remaining hours as midnight approaches.