The debonair Basil Marigold's

I plan to make my brine tomorrow. This is the first stage of my pickled onions experiment. I believe this process, once the onions are submerged will last for 4 days.

...I love being married, it is very nice. There is though a darker side to it, which is never mentioned prior to marriage. It is the subversion of your gadget head, especially important from a male perspective, as although I am not suggesting women cannot be geeky tech heads, this is not true, some females I know are very much into this delightful area. It is inherently a male dominated fetish. For example, my previous post about my new phone, the rather sexy, Samsung Omnia, proves I like gadgets. Now, with being married I am being pushed towards looking more at household gadgets. They just arent as sexy, but they can be quite nice. I spent 2 hours of my life, which I will never get back looking last night at Irons. Ours has died. I bought one from amazon, here it is. I rather liked it, it was %50 off, so a real baragin to boot. Yet, the truth is, there are, and I know I spent 2 hours looking, some pretty sexy Irons out there, they are the household equivalents of sexy Italian supercar

There is perhaps no finer food than the humble pickled, "Allium cepa". And with the time of Christmas approaching, this is the pinnacle of the Onion's life. To any discerning 'foodie' the pickled onion is the Boxing day classic. In the last week I bought myself a large jar of Pickled onions from the shops, as a little trial run for the boxing day onion. Now I have to say that I was hugely disappointed in them. They were perhaps the most tasteless, uncrunchy pickled onions I have tasted. My disappointment was made worse was because it was a good onion selling company and I will name and shame. That company was called HAYWARDS, purveyors of, usually, very good Pickled Onions, but no, this jar, my jar, was awful! So Haywards, you have lost yourself a customer, because I now plan to make my own Pickled Onions! Yes, I have scoured the internet to discover the secret to pickling and I plan to create my own pickled onions. It is too important to tolerate poor pickled oni

I spent a rather enjoyable evening meal opposite a pretty attractive female tonight. This is good in many ways. It proves that I still have the remarkable power to attract women that I possessed as a six month baby. I was a pretty gorgeous baby, I have to say, I have the photo to prove it. Anyway, Chatting to this vision of loveliness the conversation went to christmas music and I did mention my top three and I thought I'd drop them here too. Number 1. (Now, although, as the good lady pointed out, this isn't a christmas song. It was in fact a christmas number 1 in 1979/80, and thereofore qualifies as a christmas song. animation by the genius, that is, Gerald Scarfe. Number 2. Always I think of Christmas when I hear this song. Number 3. Still a classic.

Number 1. Do not lose the To Do Notepad. Oh my mind is going. Where is it!?

Leader of the British BNP. An extremist party of the right, who believe in governance through discrimination on Colour, Race and religion. Stands up and declares that England is for the English and we need to reclaim our country, practices what he preaches...by Living in Wales, a country whose history, whose very culture is not english, but celt. The leader of the BNP is, essentially, an immigrant. And speaking of all things hideous and BNP. I even recieved a letter from them explaining to me how I am letting down my residents by not being concerned by the huge amount of 'on white racism' Now being lectured in written form (as all councillors were, as they mailed the letter and racism report to us all, I believe), by the BNP reporting on racism, is to my mind a little like the Nazi party mailing out their leaflet on why the weimer republic is not being inclusive with differing faiths. We are not going to solve the ills of society by being led by a government that deliberately

Number 1. 5ft 7in Wife's medium sized running T-shirt. Oh Yes, I arrive at Gym with a gym bag, having packed just before. I needed a gym shirt so I opened my drawer and took out one of my many Grey T shirts, I have at least 5, and just tossed it in and merrily skipped to the gym. Got all clothes out and then, at this point, I take out the grey shirt and see on the back the Mansfield Chad logo. Now, almost immediately I know I don't have a grey shirt with this on, though my wife does, from one of the mansfield Half Marathons she ran. I am now in the position whereby I need two tshirts, one for the gym and one to wear home and have just the one I am wearing, XL and a grey one, M. I took the only Option I had, which meant training in the T-shirt I had worn all day, which was fine, I wasn't going to smell any cleaner, so hey-ho. It was after my shower that I realised that I really couldn't bear to walk home wearing my sweaty T shirt, so I bit the bullet and poured myself i

As part of my other life I attend quite a few conferences, ranging from almost home made efforts to some in fairly plush venues. Last week we had a half day consultation event. Now I am going to post a photo of the venue room we used as the main base for the day. Now you decide, was it a conference or a wedding, I was attending. My vote was for wedding venue!

In the words of David Bowie. Now I have a friend who does a fashion blog, Rosiepop I don't, but I am and have been known as a rather fashionable man myself, some would say, debonair in that sense. I honestly believe my taste is okay, within the limits of spending. I particularly like charity shop bargains. It must be said that since I got married I have been embargoed from actually being able to go out and buy clothes on my own, without my wife being present as this would lead to me buying what she loosely describes as unfashionable or horrible grot clothing. So due to a mis-communication in a mobile conversation, I actually thought the rules had been relaxed so I was therefore okay to go and buy 2 £3 shirts from a samaritans shop, down the road. So off I merrily went clutching my money intent on the shirts that I had eyed up (see fashion term, there. With the exchange complete I awaited the return of my wife too admire my rather astute and pretty sexy new shirts, which I may not

Since the Late 70's to the mid 80's there was a style of music that swept the world. That music was called, 'Synthesiser'. It became the dominating sound, and there where some exponents who became megastars, some, in fact, still are. Below is a selection of some of my favourite tracks and Artists. I have to say that my 2 personal favourites are Jean Michel Jarre, and Vangelis (Full Name: Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou). From about the age of 11 ish I bcame a huge fan of this kind of music it was at secondary school that I bought my first Jean Michel Jarre Tape, Revolutions. It changed my life. Soon I was introduced to the work of Vangelis, perhaps most famous for Chariots of fire, which I have not included as it's more a piano piece than Synth. My favourite album, released by Vangelis was the 1992, Conquest of Paradise 1492, when a rash of columbus films were released to tie in with the 500th Anniversary of his discovery (No one accepted the Viking theory back th

Tony's synthesiser treat..............

I nerdishly have a great love of cheesy Euro pop. I mainly keep this under control as I've not heard any great stuff of late but in the early ninties, euro pop was at its height in power and style, here's a little taster of what you may have come across/ Yello, the race. Almost my earliest introduction to the wonderful world of europop and to a certain extent began my love of synthesiser music of the mid 80's as there was a synth version on a synthesiser album I had, but this is the original, showing that most europeans do almost look like comedy french policemen, or very scary men who would now be on some form of register. scorpions, winds of change Truly, great political oratory wrapped up in a gem of a track. I love this song, still do. I am particularly drawn in by the initial whistling. I don't want to under sell this song but it ended 80 years of communism in the east of europe, now that is impact. 2 Unlimited, No limits I do remember having a crush on the girl s

I think I mentiond a Cruise/conference I went on. There were a couple of you tube videos and this was one of them. You can continue to get dressed in your normal, boring way. Or, you could try it with a little bit more razzmatazz

...because I present two pieces of Music, which I am particularly fond of that, arguably, have become more associated with a TV programme than the actual original artists. The first is a truly classic piece by Fleetwood mac (the plastic version, not the proper FM who were led by Peter Green!) It is a great song, but for those who are interested fast forward and listen from 3.10secs and tell me, that although you may not recognise the name or band, you know the sound. and the second one, I have to say is perhaps, one of my all time favourite Instrumental Tracks, played by the Eagles and called Journey to the sourcerer; For those who do not almost instantly recognise the association then they really haven't lived, literarilly! Indeed, the majestic theme tune to the Hitch Hikers guide to the Galaxy! was in fact taken from the 1975 eagles album, one of these nights. And if you haven't ever heard it, go and enter a new world of proper american rock. It's great.

wants me to apologise for the last post. I am blowing a raspberry at that idea. I thought it was hilarious! and it's MY blog!

As I made my wife a beautiful pair of rolls for a little snackeroona on Saturday afternoon. I took the nice rolls on a nice plate and led them into the frontroom and gave the plate to my lovely wife, who proceeded to ask why one gammon roll was pink and the other was brown. It was at this point that I felt I had a duty, nay a requirement to educate and That the brown gammon roll was in fact a beef roll. Which does explain that variation in colour, i felt.

...Which, oftenly, can be mildly amusing or scary depending on where you are travelling. Heading back from Manchester and a conference put on by the Health and Safety Executive, hence I was surrounded by a huge amount of health and safety officers, which did make me ponder what the collective noun for H&S officers would be...I quite liked the idea of 'a risk assessment' of H&S officers, or a ' a clipboard' of H&S officers. I think I preferred my first description. Yet, after an interesting day at conference I began the epic journey, and there is no underestimation here, home. It involved three trains and the first one from Manchester to Sheffield I found myself sat on my own behind the table seats, where 2 young, female, university students (In theory therefore, sharp and knowledgeable) were sat, so I couldn't not hear most of their conversion, and they really had some good ones. The first I will relate here; Girl 1: Where is the Dutch from? I know of th

Of which I plead guilty to both, having had a great bushy beard many years ago and am a huge fan of Real Ale. The music, if this is your life, has to be English Folk music! It's great, it's for anoraks, it's English History and is traced back hundreds of years. America is rightly pround of its blues tradition stretching back in history, the Irish also have adistinct folk sound, and so do we!. Yet we english seem ashamed of our folk scene, It isn't trendy and seems the preserve of Weirdos, hippies, guardian readers and real ale drinkers (Arrggghh...Good job I am not weird otherwise I'd tick all 4). Yet we are producing some fine folk musicians, who are bringing English Folk to the masses and making it popular, well, they get some tracks played on BBC radio 2. Here's a couple. The great thing about Seth Lakeman is that he comes from Gods own County of Devon, Dartmoor in fact and as, any fule no, those born and raised in south Devon turn out with some form of uniqu

You could have, until today counted the number of Olympians I have met on one hand. The number being 0. But today, I met my first ever Olympian, in fact a double Gold Medal winning Olympian, no less. Dame Kelly Holmes, in fact. Winner of the 800 & 1500 meters at the 2004 Athens Games. Not just an Olympian, but an actual Gold Medalist winning Athlete. And to be honest, It was great fun and I did feel a little star struck as I am sure she did too, meeting me. She cannot be more than about 5ft 7in and looks to weigh about 8stone, very petit, but has the look, obviously, of being supremely fit. Now, just having a quick chat with her makes you realise just how great she must be at motivating people to achieve. She is so down to earth and friendly, but ultimately a great role model I would say, from my impressions, as to why you can, through total dedication achieve whatever goal you set yourself. And if you do aim and work hard you can get one of these... ...a real solid Gold Medal. Whi