Not Only a Black Friday

Hope this is the only understatement I make for a long, long time.  Earlier on in the week, the possibility of a terrorist attack on the New York transit system was announced.  At the time of writing this no such attack has happened and we can only pray that it never does.

So imagine my surprise when I turned on the TV on Thursday afternoon and saw the President of the region of Madrid, Esperanza Aguirre, speaking outside her office wearing what looked like white pop socks and sandals.  She had been in one of the hotels that were attacked on Wednesday in Mumbai - not that I knew she'd gone to India.  It was a harrying experience she told of how she and her contingency escaped from the hotel.  She had been wearing a pair of espadrilles at the time of the attack and she lost one and kicked off the other one so that she could run.  All the while she was running, she said she realized she was stepping in blood.  The white pop socks were the socks given on flights, but I have no idea where she got the sandals from.  Of course, she was criticised by the opposing party for having fled India before everybody else got out of India safely, but isn't that one of the things that the embassy is supposed to take care of?  Besides, a couple of years ago, Esperanza (Hope, in English) suffered a helicopter accident that everyone watched live in horror.  She only broke the heels off her shoes, but she went directly to her office and to work in her broken shoes whereas the head of her party who suffered a broken finger was off for two or three days. Anyway, she says she's not travelling by ship.  I'd suggest she take care in choosing her shoes if she does - preferably rubber boots.

We're always criticising gatherings such as pilgrimages where people, usually women and children, are trampled to death and wonder why people put themselves in such danger when they know that there's a possibility of something tragic happening.  Crowds make me nervous, especially after hearing that a person was knocked down and killed in a Wal-Mart so that someone could buy a 50-inch plasma TV for $400.  I can't express in words how disgusting I find it that someone is murdered for a lousy $400.  I know that justice will be served in the end, but if the people who participated in this atrocity have even a little bit of decency in them they'll come forward.  I have nothing else to say about something which for me is incomprehensible - only that if we value material things more than human life, this is the end for us.

Post Secret was even black today - no funny secrets.  I was visitor number 197,657,500.  Hope everyone has a great week even if you don't possess a 50-inch plasma TV.

Conspiracies and Mysterious Stench

I know many of you remember what happened yesterday, the internet tells me, 45 years ago - the assassination of President Kennedy.  I recall that day perfectly.  I was at school, of course, in English class.  We were drilling some irregular verbs (who would have thought that 45 years later I'd still be doing the same), and we were laughing because our teacher had just said 'he shit' instead of 'he, she, it'.  There was a knock at the door and the principal (headmaster) came in to tell us that the President had just been shot.  The rest of the day was a blur although I do remember that we weren't let out early.  However, I doubt that we studied anything else that day.  The next day was my birthday.  When we were little that was the only time we had cake in our house.  I'm sure I was happy to have cake, but it was a sad time for all of us.  If adults have difficulty understanding these senseless acts, children understand even less.  It's funny really how years later you remember exactly how you felt on a particular occasion. And what about those delicious smells that you remember so well that come back to tantalize you?

This past week I joined a new old group on Multiply called 'Conspiracy Theories'.  I initially joined to help get the group started a second time under a different moderator.  The old Conspiracy Theories group had, according to rumour, a very bad reputation and, for one reason or another, all its members had disappeared (maybe in a spaceship?).  So far I'm pleased with the way it's going as I've seen some interesting videos, which I wouldn't probably have seen otherwise.  If this kind of stuff is your cup of tea, come over and join us.  I'm always up for a good conspiracy theory.  I have one of my own.  The other day I picked up my handbag to remove it from the table where I'd parked it when I came in.Gosh, was that thing heavy, and it's not that big and I swear I didn't have that much in it.  My theory is that there's a hidden magnet or magnets or even E.T.'s inside which attract weight especially when the bag is picked up or carried for a distance.

For over a week I'd been complaining about an awful stench near my building.  On Friday it was unbearable and I asked one of my neighbours if she'd noticed the smell.  She said she hadn't, but when she opened the door to the street she agreed that yes there was something definitely rotten somewhere.  I thought it was coming from the next street because my dog and I pass this street every day on our way back from the park, and that's where I began smelling it.  Well, at about 2 p.m.  I looked out the window and saw these men in white suits and wearing masks (the sanitation department) going into the building across the street.  I'm sure I've commented before that it's usually quiet in my neighbourhood unless there's a wedding celebration on a Friday or Saturday night.  Part of the building is used for banquets.  Apparently the owner had closed the building to go on holiday and had unplugged the fridges leaving food inside them.  I don't know how many bins for organic waste were taken out.  When I returned from my classes in the evening, they were still inside - disinfecting?  How stupid can one be to go off and leave food to rot? Most people if they switch off their fridge empty it out first.  Thank goodness the stench is gone, but for over a week I had imagined all sorts of things.

Last Sunday was a day of rest for Post Secrets.  Today, more than any other day, I'm convinced that anyone who reads them won't come away feeling indifferent.  I was visitor 196,051,272.

I have other things to write but I'd better cut this short as I've got other things to do.  Today is my birthday though I'm not celebrating it until next week.  I was thinking about opening my guestbook to HTML.  I've decided not to for several reasons, which I won't go into now.  I suppose if anyone wants to send me a graphic, they can do so here on this blog or I'm going to put it on the calendar.  I'll try to get around to everyone's page to wish those who celebrate Thanksgiving a very happy and safe one.

Camping for Housing

                                                 
In this order they are: the Colón Towers, better known as Los Enchufes; El Mirador de Sanchinarro; El Pocero Bueno

Here's one of my few and far between 'cultural' blogs.  The other day I was reading about the 10 ugliest buildings or monuments in the world and, to my delight or disgust, saw that the Colón Towers (Colón = Columbus) was down at number 6.  Here they're called the 'Enchufes' or 'Plugs' because of that green construction on top which resembles a plug.  Although these aren't the tallest buildings in Madrid, they're tall and are included in the list of skyscrapers.  I'm sure I've already mentioned that buildings in my area are only permitted to go up to five storeys.

Next stop is a building which is part of a new urbanisation in Madrid, which until recently didn't have any type of amenity.  The people who live there had to go outside the neighbourhood to do their shopping, banking, etc..  Our answer to Harrod's got in there quick.though.  Anyway, I think this building was designed by Dutch architects.  I couldn't find a photo of the finished building that I could use unless it would be the Google map one.  This one was taken in 2004 while it was being built.  You can see though that it's constructed with different materials and colours and fortunately the finished product looks better.This building is called the Mirador (lookout) of Sanchinarro because of that big hole in the middle of the building.  When the building was first opened, the public was permitted to go up to this lookout.  Apparently it has a good view of the mountains.  However, people started going there and having picnics and even beer parties, so the Association of Neighbours decided to close it off.  It's a block of flats (apartment building) and therefore not a public building.  The only thing I would like about this building would be the view.  It certainly goes against the norms which are that blocks of flats must be homogeneous. They can't have different architectural designs or materials or windows or anything else that makes one part of the building different from another part.

The last stop is to visit this man.  His name is José Moreno I think though he's called el 'Pocero Bueno' ( a' pocero' is a person that digs for example, wells and sewers).  He's a constructor and has already built a block of flats in which the flats had three or four bedrooms for between 80,000 and 90,000 € (euros).Sorry I don't know the exchange rate at the moment but believe me that is cheap for a flat in Madrid. So when he announced that he was going to build 1,200 more for young people between the ages of 18-35 and people who are divorced (with papers to show they're divorced), you can imagine the excitement and people camping out in the cold for over a week to make sure they get one of those 1,200 flats.  One person who was interviewed on TV was a grandfather who was there on behalf of his grandson.  He must love him very much( or perhaps can't wait to get rid of him) to spend countless hours in the cold.  El Pocero Bueno does this to show that yes housing can be built cheaply and still offer profits to the constructor.  The only catch to this modern-day Robin Hood story is he doesn't have the land to build on - yet. Hope that soon becomes a reality too just to spite all those pessimists out there.

Happy week all.

Tidings of Comfort and Annoy

I'm going to try and be brief today, because as I've consistently demonstrated, with the acception of one week when I participated in an 'Appreciation Week', I don't post something every day. I usually save up anything that I have to say for Sunday, which is the day my beloved Post Secret usually has new secrets and the day that I sometimes have a bit more time.

The annoy part is annoyance at myself because I forgot my brother James' s birthday on the 30th of last month. I can only take comfort in the fact that he probably doesn't remember when mine is either, and also none of my sisters on here posted his birthday. So happy late birthday to a brother who growing up was more often than not a big annoyance to his older, and sometimes younger, siblings. Well, that's out of the way anyway. Oh, but I forgot to mention how envious I always was of his lovely, long dark eyelashes. Anyway, on to comfort in two parts.

Most of us nowadays attempt to be green and respectful of our environment. In being green and recycling as much as possible, we also save ourselves money, and everyone knows saving money with today's prices is a trick that even the great Houdini would probably fail at . In our hemisphere winter is fast approaching. Our government has announced something like a 35% increase in the electricity bills for the first quarter of 2009 - that's with the unemployment rate in Spain at nearly 12%. Now there's not much I can do about unemployment, especially if the government isn't doing that much, but I can try to be as frugal as possible. I never leave the heating on at night. As a matter of fact, I don't like having it on. However, I'm never cold because I sleep under a down feather comforter/duvet. The following is a description of these quilts that I found on Deals Direct.com (and it's true though they're describing the material used in them): "Duck down is the soft under coat feathers without the quill shaft.  Being light and fluffy, it is superior in keeping warmth in while at the same time has a breathable quality so you wont have that sweatiness that you would get with polyester. Durable, warm and comfortable". In other words, I recommend sleeping under one of these, which uses your own body heat, rather than several blankets or even an electric one, which can be dangerous. We called one of my sisters 'Smokey the Bear' because she used to burn the blankets and we even changed the words to the song about Smokey to "She can burn a blanket before you count to ten..."

So much for being brief, but I can't not say anything about Post Secret, and yes I controlled myself and copied only one. Post Secret was censored on MySpace. There are several theories as to why, but I would imagine the most logical reason would be a question of bandwidth. On the Post Secret page I was visitor 192,543,473. Hope everybody has a warm week, and tell me how true is this quote that I've read this morning?

"People want the front of the bus, the back of the church and the centre of attention."
 

Friday Five - Kitchen Gadgets

This is my first attempt at participation in this sort of thing, but this is one subject I know a lot about.  As a matter of fact, I'm a gadget freak just like the famous cartoon character Inspector Gadget.  Now to decide on which 5 to list.  Even though some of them I may not use every day, they're some of my favourites. 


1.  Any idea what that gadget is in the photo?  It's one of my few non-electrical handy tools.  In Spain most tinned foods don't require a tin opener.  About the only food that I buy in tins which doesn't have the ring pulls is Campbell's Soup. However, the ring pulls can be dangerous.You'll know if you've ever cut yourself trying to open a tin. So the purpose of this strange-looking artifact is to help you open your tin of whatever safely and without the ring breaking off.  By the way, I got it from Avon which I no longer buy as my Avon lady has retired.

2.  My electric tin opener for when I have to open a tin of Campbell's soup to put in a casserole that I'm making.  Oh, I know it's not useful if the electricity goes out three or four times like it did yesterday, but I fear tin as I once stupidly decided to mash down the rubbish with bare hands and got cut.  Please note that this happened before we started recycling.

3.  My electric knife.  Now this is something that I don't use every day either, but it's one of my most useful.  Not too long ago, I made a loaf of banana nut bread and used my knife to make perfect slices with very few crumbs much to the disgust of my dog.  They're great for carving meats too, even frozen foods.

4.  My omelette pans.  I could eat Spanish omelette three times a day I think - that's an omelette with eggs, potatoes and onions fried in olive oil (please).  When it comes to flipping it over, people use a plate or a lid.  I usually end up with runny eggs on the counter or the floor.  With my omelette pans that fit together, flipping is a cinch.

5.  This is one of the most convenient I think if you have electricity and not a lot of time - the slow cooker.  At the moment I don't have one, but my birthday is coming up soon and it's on my wish list.  With the prices of food, it's certainly worth having because you can buy 'tougher' meats and they come out delicious.  Well, I think everything made in a crock pot comes out delicious.  The last time I was in the US my sister made soup beans in hers.

Brenda's Favourite Banana Bread

Description:
Instead of putting on the heating yesterday, I decided to do some baking. Besides I had some overly-ripe bananas. I tried to convert this recipe to the metric system for those of us who use it.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter or margarine (100 g)
3/4 cup sugar (175 g)
3 mashed bananas, or 4 if they are small
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour (350 g)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped (100 g or less. I usually put about half that)


Directions:
Preheat oven to 300º F ( I preheat my oven to 160º C)
Cream butter and sugar. Add bananas, eggs and dry ingredients. Mix well. Fold in nuts. Pour into a greased and lightly-floured loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour to 1 1/4 hour.
I cut into slices with an electric knife while the loaf is still warm. If you use a normal knife, I suggest a serrated one.

Mea Culpa

While I'm confessing, or will be, let me say that this Maxine was pinched from Donna's page.  She has some other great ones too - all directed at the elections and politicians.  I also took a couple more for a rainy day.

Rain is the subject of my confession.  Last Sunday because we had an extra hour for the weekend I decided to wash my dirty windows.  It's not like when you wash the dishes that you expect to see them dirty again soon afterwards.  When I wash the windows, I expect them to stay clean for longer than they did, which was less than 24 hours.  The rain started and the wind helped paint dirty spots all over my windows again.  So until I can be guaranteed good weather (ha, ha), they'll stay spotted.  After all, I only need to see if it's raining out.  The day that it didn't stop raining - Tuesday - I finally went to pick up my new residency card, the card that I had to cancel my holiday plans for and I can't blame the rain on that.

As I'm posting one of Donna's Maxine graphics with this, I didn't save any of today's secrets.  I know I have a strange sense of humour, but I laughed so much that my stomach hurt about the Richard Simmons postcard.  If you have a minute, go look at this one on Post Secret.  I'm still chuckling because I can still see it in my head.  I think I'd better forget it though before I go out to the street.  There were other really weird secrets this week.  I was visitor 190,984,857.

Even though this is election week and a serious matter, I hope everybody can find something funny to laugh about.  Have a good week.

Another Use For Window Cleaners Like Windex

With all this rain we've been having I decided not to waste my time washing the dirty windows this weekend. While surfing the net, I came upon this bit of information:

I haven't checked ' snopes.com' to see if this actually works, but they say

If you ever get the sudden urge to run around naked, you should drink some Windex first.

It'll keep you from streaking.