Month: June 2012

June 30, 2012
June 29, 2012
June 28, 2012
June 25, 2012
A while back I posted about the Sleepweaver, a new kind of cloth CPAP mask. I definitely found it interesting, but gave up using it for two reasons. Firstly, there is only one size, and I found it a little small, although that didn’t stop it working. Secondly, I prefer to have my CPAP hose go up and over my headboard, rather than down along my body and to the side. With the Sleepweaver, this wasn’t really possible.

However, I found it extremely comfortable, and wanted to see it developed, passing on my opinions to the UK sellers of the mask.

June 25, 2012
As those of you who know me will know, I hang out on a couple of BBQ forums. Generally speaking they are a source of good information, but there are two kinds of posters who I find frustating.

1) Someone who comes on asking for advice on buying a decent grill on a budget. They get lots of good suggestions, from a variety of knowledgeable posters, all which meet their budget. They then later post that they went to B&Q or Homebase and bought a piece of crap that you know isn’t going to make it through the summer. Why did they post asking for advice in the first time? I’m not sure.

June 25, 2012
June 24, 2012
The subject of a levy on disposable plastic carrier bags has come up again, in an attempt to reduce the number used. The Scottish Parliament is planning a consultation on the idea of a 5p tax per bag. Cameron would like to follow suit, but has been blocked by the treasury, who think it might be seen as an attack on the common people.

One idea that has been raised to balance the idea of a “carrier tax” is that all funds raised be given to charity.

June 23, 2012
June 23, 2012
Comedian Jimmy Carr has been in the news this week, due not so much to revelations that he benefited from a tax loophole that saw him pay 1% tax on earnings reported as 3 million a year; but more due to Prime Minister David Cameron targeting him, and him alone, for comment, saying his tax arrangements were “morally wrong”.

Now, I’m not defending Carr’s tax arrangements, but I feel it inappropriate for him to be singled out in this way by the leader of the government. I might be more in agreement with this, if the morally righteous Cameron hadn’t himself inherited a fortune made on off-shore savings, and if he had thought to comment on others who might deserve it a little more, such as businessman and government advisor Philip Green, whose own tax arrangements have saved him in excess of 250 million of personal and corporate tax.

June 22, 2012
I have just harvested the last of my broad beans. The plants were beginning to die off, and had attracted some kind of aphid. However, the beans themselves, once podded, were fine.

I now have a large bowl of beans – probably enough for a week’s worth of dinners, if I hadn’t already been eating them with almost every hot meal!

June 20, 2012
I have half a trough of garlic growing, and I have been impatient to see what it was doing beneath the soil. I have seen varying advice on when to harvest it – some books say wait until the leaves above ground are all brown, other resources say “plant on the shortest day and harvest on the longest”.

As the longest day is tomorrow, I decided to pull one up. I think it looks quite impressive.

I’m going to leave the rest in the earth until the leaves do all go brown, as I think our rainy summer may have made a bit of a difference.

I’ve been promising more photographs of the garden, so below the cut are some up-to-date ones.

June 17, 2012
Managed to do quite a bit in the garden today. The plan was to do it yesterday, and perhaps head over to see today, but Saturday got rained off.

Anyway, the garden is now looking a bit tidier. Several weeds had started in my gravel area, but they were easy to pull up, thanks to the area being membraned. I made a start on clearing my herb garden, and cleared out all of the nettles and weeds – the next task is to cut my marjoram right back, as it has taken over. It keeps doing this, so I am thinking of digging it up completely, and transplanting a small piece into a separate pot.