Wednesday, 27 September 2017

The Wednesday Poem #30 - Pickled Onions and Cheddar Cheese

Pickled Onions and Cheddar Cheese,
So strong that they can burn your teeth,
Don't give me Roquefort, Gouda or Brie,
Forget the Branston and Piccalilli.

Wash it down with an IPA,
With Malt, hops and yeast, I pray,
Not cider, lager or Chardonnay,
Just proper beer to end my day.

Don't give me all your gastropubs,
with a plethora of fancy grubs,
Ladies dressed like well pruned shrubs,
Despising all us beery chubs.

Recall the days of flock and darts,
Jukebox, smoke and drunken tarts,
Stagger home in fits and starts,
Too drunk to cry for broken hearts.

I fear the day of pubs has gone,
Outdated like a mastodon,
Crumbling like the Parthenon,
Yes my friend, our day has gone.

---------
Copyright 2017 - Roger Tichborne

I felt it was high time I wrote a poem celebrating the pub culture of my teenage years. There are still decent traditional pubs in Central London. Landlords like Emily at the Chandos in Colindale and Senan at The Bohemia in Finchley do a great job reinventing the suburban pub. But the days of smoke, darts, flock wallpaper and a proper cheese ploughmans have gone forever. As part of the research for this, I googled IPA recipes. To my horror, most are American and most are sacreligiois to an old fart like me!








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Monday, 25 September 2017

Elstree Studios 90th Birthday Celebrations

Last night, I was honoured to attend a very special occasion. Normally, we stick to Barnet events, but we made an exception last night for two very good reasons.The first is that it's on the doorstep and the second was that my good lady's band, The BBC Elstree Concert Band were performing!

The event was the final night of celebrations for the 90th Birthday of Elstree studios. The event consisted of two halves. The first half had screenings of classic footage of '60's and '70's TV series made at Elstree. including The Saint, The Avengers and Jason King. A whole slate of celebs turned out, most notably Guest of Honour Diana Rigg, and some great film memorabila including Simon Templar's car!. Here are a selection of tweets which give a good flavour of the night.






The Q&A sessions were great. A good selection of anecdotes, not all of which are suitable for a family blog such as this! Dame Diana Rigg looked great. I was fascinated to learn that the reason that Patrick McNee's female sidekicks were so "macho" was not due to a forward looking, feminist agenda, it was just because they originally had a bloke lined up and they couldn't be bothered to rewrite the scripts!

There was also a tribute to Roger Moore. He was always my favourite Bond and he used to live at the top of my road. He also has a very cool Christian name and us Roger's do stick together! The footage from the Saint was great, as was the short, previously unseen interview footage. There were some  very affectionate anecdotes. It was pretty clear just how well liked Roger was.

The second half of the show, had the BBC Elstree band playing a selection of well known TV and Film theme tunes, including The Avengers, The Third Man and Superman. Paul Walsh OBE, a local film historian and campaigner MC'd this section of the show. Paul had been enjoying the hospitality and gave a very down to earth intro of the various tunes, recalling various incidents such as Christopher Reeve, as Superman, dangling in clear view from Shenley Road from a crane. One suspects that Superman IV was not Paul's favourite film from the Period. He spoke rather more affectionately about "Murder on the Orient Express" which had a stellar cast. He also observed that the On The Buses films had made huge profits on tiny budgets.

Paul also observed that back in the 1960's and 1970's TV companies were prepared to take risks when commissioning productions and spend money on decent musical scores as so well demonstrated by the great tunes the band belted out!

Elstree studios are a gem. It was the first time I'd actually been back there since my acting career finished in 1970, apart from once when I accompanied my Dad to drop off a car he'd resprayed for a production. As it was being used in a film, he'd put his best sprayer on it and instructed him to give it a Rolls Royce finish. I can't remember what the film was but we got free tickets and he was horrified to see that all the hard work resulted in 15 seconds on screen and then the car crashing and blowing up. I look forward to the 100 years celebration in 2027.

Hopefully there will be some great output between now and then. Great Britain has amazing creative industries. We need to protect and preserve them. It was an honour to share in there celebrations!
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Sunday, 24 September 2017

The Tweets of The Week in the London Borough of Barnet - 24/9/2017

What a lovely Sunday morning. I am sure you awoke wondering what lovely chesnuts we'd pick from the autumnal chestnut tree of Barnet tweets for your delictation! So without further ado, we'll crack on with our selection of the porkiest prime cuts from the Tweeters of Barnet. Don't forget to follow any who tickle your fancy!

1. Oh the lot of a Policeman/Policewoman isn not a happy one. Not exactly Moriarty, this chap.

2. John Keough enjoyed a rather tasty gig in Finchley on Friday night!

3. Can you help police solve an unsolved murder from 1972?

4. We know a lot of readers are interested in local history. This looks unmissable!

5. Sadly more fly tipping in Golders Green

6. The good, the bad and the ugly in Mill Hill. No, they are not remaking the film.

7. Great autumnal colours in Finchley

8. Barnet Rebel rather enjoyed his bat walk

9.I loved this tweet from one of our regulars!

10. The incredible Wilde Roses were in Mill Hill rehearsing for their forthcoming, sell out US Tour!

Thats all from the tweeters for this week!
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Saturday, 23 September 2017

The Satuday List #147 - Give me a break! 147 is a magical number


Image result for The Saturday List
 
I've been looking forward to this list for quite a long time! As a reformed Snooker-a-holic, 147 is a mythical and magical number. The highest possible break without refereeing errors or free shots. But are there nine other facts about the number 147 interesting enough to make a Saturday list? Well actually there are lots and lots IMHO! Of all the articles I write in the week, the list is my favourite to put together. I hope you enjoy this one as much as I have enjoyed putting it together.

1. 147 is the maximum possible break you can achieve in snooker.

Image result for Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius
 2. 147AD was a momentous year in the Roman Empire. Marcus Aurelius receives imperial powers from the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius and Festivals were hel to celebrate the 900th anniversary of the founding of Rome. Aurelius later became Emperor and was known as "The Last of the Five Good Emperors". He was a man of wisdom and is to me the most interesting of the roman Emperors, who back in 147AD were the rulers of our nation. Aurelius is a fascinating character.

His writings, known as "The Meditations" are profound and enlightening this is one of my favourite


"When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can't tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own—not of the same blood or birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine."

 147AD was a good year all round for Marcus Aurelius, as his eldest daughter Annia Aurelia Galeria Faustina was born.


3. On the biblical front,   Psalm 147 is perhaps my favorite Psalm. It contains the lines:

The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
He gathers the outcasts of Israel.
 He heals the brokenhearted
And binds up their wounds.

and

The Lord supports the afflicted;
He brings down the wicked to the ground. 

Maybe it's rather a shame that certain politicians and leaders seem to be rather unfamilair with this text.

4. In 147 BC, the Corlea Trackway in Ireland was completed. There is a rather British misunderstanding that Ireland was primitive and unsophisticated before we started to poke our noses into Irish affairs. Archaelogical evidence such as the Corlea Trackway rather contradicts this.

longwalk
The Long Walk
5. In 2000AD issue 147, "The Long Walk" is shown for the first time. This is the walk Judges take when they retire.

The distopian world of Judge Dredd seems to roll ever closer. In Dredds world, the last President of the USA was Robert L. Booth.   His rhetoric bears a striking similarity to a certain well known incumbent. The City is ringed by a Mile High Wall. Spy in the sky drone technology was predicted in the 1970's as were rigged voting machines. Interestingly, the two most successful Mayor's in Mega City one were Dave the Orang utang, Dave had the one quality which is totally lacking in most politicians in that he was completely honest. The other  PJ Maybe, a psychopathic killer who's partner was a sexbot (long before such things were available), who simply murdered everyone in his way to the top. Strangely having killed everyone in his way, Maybe turned out to be a rather good Mayor, as whilst he had no care for peoples personal wellbeing, he wanted to be loved by the people, therefore he did the job well and was uncorruptable.

6. Sergio Aguero, the Manchester City striker, scored his first 100 premiership goals in 147 games. Only Alan Shearer reached the figure in less games (perhaps my favourite 147 as a City fan!).

7. In May this year, the worlds oldest man, aged 147 died in Indonesia! Sadly his age could not be verified, therefore the Guinness book of records refused to recognise the record.

8. The parish Church of Friern Barnet, St John The Evangelist Church is no 147, Friern Barnet Road. Friern Barnet is a rather important site in the modern history of the London Borough of Barnet. When certain local politicians tell you that no libraaries have been closed in the Borough of Barnet, ask them about Friern Barnet Library. That was closed and only reopened after an occupation, national press coverage, a court case and the prospect of electoral losses for the ruling party. St Johns is a integral part of this rather amazing community.

9. Arkley is the fourth highest point in London, being 147 Metres above sea level!

10. If you think we are a bit OCD about lists and numbers check this out! have you heard of  "The Chain" -This site lists the records chosen for The Chain, a feature of BBC 6 Music’s fabulous Radcliffe & Maconie Show. The first record on The Chain was The Chain by Fleetwood Mac. And choice number 147 was a very fine choice indeed. Spanish Bombs by The Clash!

Have a great weekend! Here's a rather cool tune to get you in the groove!

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Friday, 22 September 2017

The Friday Joke - The big wedding


Image result for Wedding funnies
 

Jennifer's wedding day was fast approaching. Nothing could dampen her excitement - not even her parent's nasty divorce. Her mother had found the PERFECT dress to wear, and would be the best-dressed mother-of-the-bride ever!

A week later, Jennifer was horrified to learn that her father's new, young wife had bought the exact same dress as her mother! Jennifer asked her father's new young wife to exchange it, but she refused. "Absolutely not! I look like a million bucks in this dress, and I'm wearing it," she replied.
Jennifer told her mother who graciously said, "Never mind sweetheart.I'll get another dress. After all, it's your special day."
A few days later, they went shopping, and did find another gorgeous dress for her mother.
When they stopped for lunch, Jennifer asked her mother, "Aren't you going to return the other dress? You really don't have another occasion where you could wear it."
Her mother just smiled and replied, "Of course I do, dear... I'm wearing it to the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding."

Have a great weekend. We hope to see a few of our readers later tonight at The Bohemia for our gig!  Please help us support live music!
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Thursday, 21 September 2017

Capita computer cock-up blamed for Barnet Council's delayed accounts (Barnet Labour Press Release)



Barnet Council's accounts for 2016/17 have been delayed for months due to a change in computer systems which meant the Capita data systems did not match up with the audit format, councillors learned at an extraordinary meeting of the Audit Committee this week (19 Sep).

In the meeting, specially convened in order to scrutinise the final accounts for 2016/17, the problem was compared to the two systems speaking different languages. The accounts should have been finalised and signed-off before the summer.

The meeting also discussed a litany of errors and issues in the accounts highlighted by the auditors, including:

- material misstatements resulting in a reduction in Council net assets and reserves by £82.348 million, and of the Barnet Group by £89.295 million
- failure to collect £925,711 for energy costs from Comer Homes, who own the North London Business Park site that the Council is currently based at. The auditors' report says that "We have seen correspondence in 2015 suggesting this will be repaid at £50,000 per month but we have not seen any recovery to date. The case has been passed to HB Public Law".
- failure to invoice Re Ltd (Joint Venture company with Capita) for contract performance penalties totalling £4.6 million.

Capita run both finance and IT services for Barnet Council.

East Finchley Councillor and Audit Committee member, Arjun Mittra said:

"When we scrutinised the appointment of Capita we were told they were the best in the world in offering these types of IT systems, that they have clients all over the world and are experts. It turns out that's complete baloney and really they are quite rubbish."

On the failure to recoup money from Comer and Re Ltd, Woodhouse Councillor, Alan Schneiderman said:

"It is astonishing that this has gone on for two years. That is a lot of money that could be put to good use. I don't know why it seems so difficult to recoup the money. If the Council were as tough with Comer Homes and Capita as they are with residents when collecting Council Tax we would have the money back in no time. Why are they always weak to the strong but strong to the weak?"
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