Community Shopping and Cooking

Yesterday, Friday, was a rather strange day. It started with me discovering feathers in the yard, logically I guessed that it was one of the neighbourhood cats. My own cat just does not go out at night, and only goes out when I am about. Further, she is quite timid (she had been abused when she was young and it took me a couple of years to gain her trust) and becomes distressed if she can not see me or her way back in. Also she can not catch anything and the birds mock her for this.

However, I did notice that some of the feathers were on the wall and it looked as though they came from two different birds. The ones on the ground were a starlings, the ones on the wall were from a Collared Dove. Had their been two different predators?

Even if there was a predator the birds were not stopping their feeding, and every time I looked out there was at least one bird in the yard. As someone wanted to talk to me, face to face, I was tied to the house. He did not make it in the morning, when I called him he complained that I would not give him my mobile number, yet he could have called on the land line. Personally I prefer to keep my mobile free for emergencies. In the past I have been disturbed by or had wildlife disturbed by the having one. While they are very useful, I prefer to keep the number for only people that really need to know it.

So being tied to the house for the afternoon as well, I decided to do some more cooking and filming. With my mind clear about what I want to do with the new food blog and the food videos, I set out cooking the subject for the next video. As much of this one is slow cooking, I was able to get on with other things as well. In the morning I had spotted the window cleaner so for the first time in weeks the back windows had been cleaned, so when he came to collect payment, I was cooking and upon opening the door he commented on the great cooking aroma. As it was just Onion Soup, that amused me.

I had just completed the next stage, the soup just needed to cook through when my appointment arrived. Now I have to say that this man, who used to work for the gutter press, is not a friend, but I respect his abilities as a researcher. Well to be honest it is better called digging in the cesspools of life. But from experience I knew he could be a bit acerbic.

The issue he had been digging into was the web site where I had found the illegal image. I now know that beyond the police telling to remove that image, they did not and have not investigated the site or the British businessmen that own and run the site. As well as other important details, there was little that really surprised me about what he told me, it shocked me but not surprise me. Had I not been doing something productive and creative, I really do think I could have fallen into a depressive state.

Anyway, I had things to do and I got on with them and went into the village to collect my magazines. As I walked back I saw a near neighbour who told me they thought they had seen a hawk by my place with a pigeon in its talon's. As I questioned him, it became clear that it was likely to have been a Sparrow hawk and the pigeon was a collared dove. I must have missed seeing it by moments that very morning.

With that news and the discovery that the BBC Springwatch returns on Monday, and I was feeling quite buoyant again. As I turned the corner to reach my home, I was greeted with the sight of a Red Kite just feet off the roof tops. It is good round here.

I had wanted to pop into Newcastle, but that would have to wait for Saturday now and I settled down for the evening. While I was enjoying the soup that was the starter of my evening meal, there was a knock at the door. It was one of my neighbours who's partner had seen a young fox coming out of my yard. He leaves for work early in the morning on his motorbike and was just about to start it when he saw the young fox with a bird, a starling he thought, in its jaws. So it looks as though I was wrongly blaming the local cats, sorry cats!

We went looking for where the fox may have come from and did find where the path was, but could not follow. Last year there was a family of foxes that I saw regularly in the night, so it is possible that the same vixen has cubs again. I will have to keep my eyes open and who knows what I may see.

Then this morning I got up early and kept a lookout for the foxes. I did not see any but I had put out some cat food near the path the foxes were using and when I returned to look, it had gone. I could have been a cat, or even the magpies that had taken it, but it will be worth taking the camera and holding vigil. While walking back home, I encountered another neighbour who was complaining about the local children causing problems. While I listened, I really could not see what he had to complain about, as all the children were doing was playing. From what he was saying, he was making it sound as though the kids were causing great problems, but having just walked around the area looking for signs of the foxes, I had not seen any damage by the children at all. I did find it amusing to be told that I was not observant enough to see the kids causing problems.

Perhaps it was because of this that I noticed the four young lads using the fence and the recycling bins as a climbing frame. I watched as I waited for the bus but while they perhaps should not have been climbing over them, they were not causing any problems for anyone. There are times when people seem to just want to stop children from being children. Had they been mischievous or vandalising something or putting themselves or others at risk then I would have been prepared to intervene myself, but to them the recycling bins were a castle they were storming or pirate ship they were sailing.

Even when the bus arrived I was thinking on this and I really think that the problem is that far to many people are selfish and just are unwilling to accept other peoples needs especially if they impinge upon their lives. While I can be an old crusty and cantankerous with some people, with me that arises from their bad behaviour. And on the bus there was an example of this when three young lads (about twelve or thirteen) got on and put their feet on the seats. I asked them to get their feet of the seats, while they reluctantly complied, they kept on staring at me. When one put his feet back up onto the seats, I just needed to look at him and he put his feet on the floor again. Personally most children just need firm guidance and not demonising.

When I got off a man of a similar age to me who had heard me chastise these lads stopped me and told me that I was brave as there was no knowing what they could have done. I told him that he has been reading to many tabloid headlines and what was the worst they could do, but give me some cheek?

In Newcastle it was quite busy, probably as a result of the bank holiday weekend. It was rather amusing as there were a number of Hen and Stag groups in the city. Because of all the bars and night clubs Newcastle has become a destination for these Hen and Stag parties but it was rather surprising to see five distinct groups doing their respective pub crawls at midday.

I went and got some cash from the ATM and off on my cheese and coffee indulgence mission. While I can not get into Newcastle every week, when I do I will make a bee line for the cheese shop in the Granger Market as well as the coffee store there. It was funny as I was nearly undercharged on my cheese. I made the woman who served me check the total again and I was right she was undercharging me by two pounds. As I walked away I overheard someone say; “Well he is not an MP” That brought a grin to my chops. The politicos have created a country that is united, we all hate the rotten lot of them.

I went to the vendors of fine Coffee, but the poor young woman who was serving was on her own and there was a small queue I was happy to wait, but there was one young chap that was getting vocally upset at being kept waiting. I felt like saying something, to him, but I think I would have been rude and I decided to go and do other shopping and come back. I suspect that as it was lunch time the other member of staff that would have been selling freshly ground coffee was off having her tea. As I did my other shopping I reflected that while I can understand that people live busy lives, there is no reason for folks to be rude to the people trying to serve them.

I could see that a queue remained so I decided to have a cup of coffee. I was tempted to have something for lunch but when I saw the prices and what was being served, well I thought I would just have a coffee. While the prices at this place were not excessive for the city centre, the quality of the food being served looked below the standard I would have expected. The coffee was a filter coffee but tasted a rather cheap brand. So that's one place I will avoid in the future. Its a shame as the lay out and the staff were great and friendly, just let down by the food and drink. As that is the primary reason for visiting a café, well they were not advertising themselves very well.

This Café had an interesting serving system, you pay for your order and you get a numbered ticket. The waitresses then call out the number. Except that people being English and reserved meant that she would have to call several times. I was nearly finished when the couple on the table next to me were served their order. Had I been served food like that at the price charged I would have refused to pay. It was not the service that was bad but the food, greasy spoon food at upmarket prices.

Then as I was finishing my coffee I noticed a couple of the women from one of the hen parties walking through. Short skirts, fishnet tights, and tee shirts that carried x rated slogans.

Now having already mentioned the order numbering system, it does not take much of a leap of imagination for you to guess the next order that came out. As the young waitress was probably only sixteen or so, it made her blush and the two hens made merriment out of that.

I returned once again to get my ground coffee. There was still a queue, but I waited and was served. I felt sorry for the young woman serving as she was clearly stressed, and I reassured her that I was in no hurry. That calmed her down. I don't know why she was on her own, but she was clearly doing her best, but some other customers clearly did not think so. Its a good job I don't work in retail as the rude customers would get service with a sneer.

It may be because its the city, or that the planets are lined up in an inauspicious way, but there really did seem to be a degree of impatientness and aggression in the air today. While personally I felt like I was a walking version of the little book of calm. Even down by the bus stops outside Central Station, people seemed to be rather agitated. Was I missing something? There was one pair of women that were jumping from one stop to another all because they were desperate to get to the Metro Centre, a shopping centre. What purchase could be so important that it was worth giving yourself a heart attack over?

When my bus arrived, I nearly missed it as it was going to sail past. I did remind the driver that it is a compulsory stop, but he said it was not. The traffic is so busy that it is not always possible to see the numbers of the buses until they are nearly at the stop. Also I know a retired driver who lives in the village and I often talk to about wildlife sightings and he has told me that places like transport interchanges are compulsory stops. The driver then started to unpeel my layer of calm by driving to fast. While on the Redheugh Bridge I could see that he was not slowing for the roundabout junction at the end of the bridge. As the oncoming traffic is partly obscured by the flyover feed to the bridge, I braced myself for a hard braking. I was glad that I did, as it came when a car with the right of way, appeared at the junction at the end of the bridge. While he then drove with more care following that, I heard mutterings from other passengers about his driving, so it was not my imagination.

When the bus reached High Spen, there was change of Drivers, so he was ending his shift and was rushing to end it. What was interesting was just after the new driver got on an Inspector boarded the bus. A passenger near the front reported the poor driving, and the inspector then asked where people got on and several others were able to confirm the incident. Now, it is rather unusual for there to be an inspector at all, so I am wondering if this was the first time there has been poor driving.

The common factor in the string of incidents is peoples selfishness The neighbour who was disgruntled by children playing was being selfish, they wanted the street to themselves, through to the bus driver that was in a hurry to end his shift. I know that I am no angel, but I do try and treat people with respect. While it can be amusing to observe people interacting, if only there was a bit more respect for other people I am sure that many of the problems that we seem to have will just disappear.