Chemicals, Food and Hygiene

There was a time when among friends and talking about food or cooking that I would say; “One day I will make someone a great Husband” While said rather tongue in cheek, it is rather ironic that my better half now says that she always said that she; “Would always find a boy friend who could cook”

Now I tell you folks this as there are moments when my better half is less than practical and needs reminding and guiding to ensure she gets to appointments. Thus I was up earlier than I would have normally planed so that I could call her to keep her on track. As she had a train to catch and an appointment to meet.

Therefore, I was sitting in the living room when I noticed that in the Chestnut Tree was a single bird. It is one of the trees that the Jackdaws gather in before going off to roost. But the size looked wrong. I picked up the binoculars and saw it was a sparrow hawk. I did not have the camera to hand as it was upstairs in my office. I had dashed up to get it, and the bird was still there. But the camera kept on focusing on the window glass. I saw it lift its body and stretch its wings and gracefully, slowly and powerful take flight. What a delight.

Another reason for me needing to to be up early was that I needed to get some shopping from the village shop. On Friday I had not been able to do the shopping I needed as I had builders turning up. They were supposed to have been here at between eight and half past. Well, it was quarter past eleven before they turned up. Well I don't call them Bodgit and Legit for nothing. I would not care but it was to benefit my neighbour as they have damp penetrating and the work was to stop this. I was left feeling like a ref at a sporting event as both the builders and my neighbours seemed to be unhappy. Seconds out, round two. Well after an exchange of telephone calls, both the builders and my neighbours seemed to be reasonably content.

Even though I moved all my herb plants out of the way, well out of the way, I will not be able to use use them as they got covered in a waterproof sealant that was sprayed on the wall. The builders really did not have any regard for their own safety or the safety of others as this sealant was applied with them not using any safety equipment. I just shut my back door and left them to it, but I could see clouds of this chemical getting blown everywhere. That's how I knew that my herbs would not be safe to eat. It was just before this happened (the spraying) that my better half had arrived. Even with the doors and windows closed, she suffered a coughing fit from the smell of the chemical on the air. I am just glad that I had had the good sense not to try to cook, or leave any food out as it too may have been contaminated.

It is often the defence of the chemical industry and the users of the chemicals that they are safe when used correctly. While this may well be true, the reality is that people often don't use them correctly or safely. While the people may know the safety requirements, they see these as a burden and as such an extra cost in time and money. Thus, as in this example, the chemical gets dispersed into the atmosphere and spreads. Also as the wind was rather breezy, the sealant spray was blown away from the area that it was being applied to. I am just glad that I have high walls around the yard as this contained most of it.

The operator did not even wear a mask nor goggles so must have breathed in a mass of the chemical as from my place or relative safety I could see he was enveloped in the cloud of spray. When he was finished, I even joked with him that at least his glasses were now waterproof as he cleaned the film of the chemical off them.

Well at least that is nearly finished now as all that the builders need to do now is return and finish the painting.

The following day I still needed to get some shopping done, and after having sent my better half off to complete her work, as she calls it, of shopping and then going to look after a relative with alzheimer's. I refer you to my comments regarding her practical and organisational ability and well...

As I still had to finish cleaning the kitchen following the builders visit, and the previous nights cooking, I was rather surprised to hear that finally the landlords agent had finally organised the gas safety check. It was only six months late. I think that the threat of prosecution by the local authority may have had an effect there. Therefore, I had to stay at home until the gas fitter turned up. Well it was gone four in the afternoon before he did. Therefore, I missed the opportunity to get the shopping on Saturday too.

However, while I was waiting there was a knock on the door. In previous weeks there had been a couple of men that had been knocking on the doors selling fish. Previously, I had not had the cash available, but today I did have some. Therefore I was interested to see what they had and the prices. But when I asked to see the fish, more to see what they had than for any other reason, I was told that was not possible for health and safety reasons. Well as I know more than a bit about health and hygiene, I knew that was bull, but I persisted and asked if they had a price list, or a list of some sort at least? No list, nothing with any indication of who they were, no business name or trading address, as required by law. Therefore I was rather annoyed that they had wasted my time. It was likely that the fish was just sitting in packets or bags on the back seat of a car. No refrigeration, none of the hygiene requirements fulfilled.

While often the local authorities who have to police these matters are rather over zealous at times regarding food hygiene, there are times when you can see there are reasons why the regulations need to be enforced. While I admire the enterprise of brining fish to the villages, this pair were take great lengths to prevent people, customers and potential customers from finding out who they were and where they were from. Also while I had concerns about how they were storing and transporting the fish, how long had it been away from the chiller and in ambient temperatures? My main concern was were they being truthful about where the fish was from.

Had I been the seller, I would be doing all I could to reassure a potential customer and to provide some kind of product list so that at least that customer could order, stock and catch permitting, that you could get definite sales.

Well, had there not been so many question marks, they could have had a regular customer, especially if what they were claiming regarding the sustainability was accurate, but they lost that when they failed to do or say anything that reassured me. The last thing I wanted to do was end up with making myself, or my better half, ill through eating fish (or any food) where I don't know where it has come from.

Therefore, it was not until this morning that I could get out to get the shopping I needed. As I desperately needed food for the cat and litter for her too, I had to get the shopping this morning no matter what. Therefore when I saw the Sparrow Hawk this morning I really did want to see if I could follow, film and or photograph the bird but I just could not. However as I headed for the village store, I went past a location where I know that a pair of Jackdaw's have nested previously. I had been keeping a look out for when they returned, and today I saw one of the birds flying out of the nest with debris in its beak. He, as the behaviour was more typical of the male, was cleaning out the nest in preparation for the breeding season.

Well perhaps the two sightings are a sign that I need to be building my nest here. Now the builders are all but done, I can start doing the spring cleaning.