Alexa, play The Food Programme on Tune In

What can one single dish can tell you about America's history? One particular bowl of soup gives us an insight about the future of cultures that convene around it. Gumbo is eaten by nearly everyone in New Orleans, but its past speaks of the deep inequalities in American history that still resonate to this day. The BBC's Dan Saladino looks into the origins of this dish and discovers influences from Native Americans, slaves from West Africa, settlers from Nova Scotia, and European immigrants from Spain, France and Italy. Dan tries to track down the perfect recipe for one of Louisiana's most famous dishes, and discover how the politics of which food belongs to whom, is still at play, hundreds of years later.

Normal service is resumed.

Planning application 17/P0390

Demolition of the Pavilions at Merton Abbey Mills and building of a five story office block with ground floor retail units.

I need to keep an eye on this. It may rob me of Garfield's Ting 'n Ting. A prospect that makes me shudder.

It will also rid me of the view from the office of the block of flats behind, though I can live with that.

We'll also lose quite a bit of parking, which won't be good.

Comments Until 04-03-2017

You're going out a youngster but you've got to come back a star!

Sweeney Todd in New York: How Rachel Edwards Brought Her Show To Town

It's a long way from South London's urban, multicultural melting pot district, Tooting, to New York, but the demon barber once traversed the globe, so should we be surprised? Probably, says Gary Naylor, who tracks the production's unlikely journey here.

See Icons passim. Once my hip injury heals sufficiently, I am going to kick myself for missing Sweeney Todd up the road at Harrington's pie shop in 2014.

My hat's on the side of my head

Wales are top of the six nations, and I am on the mend. All together now:

Yesterday I was so blue
Bluer than the deep blue sea
Now I'm singing
Whistling a tune
All the livelong day
If you want to know just why
I can truthfully say;

I've got a feeling I've found her
It was something she said
She's got me walkin' on
The tip of my toes and my hat's
On the side of my head.

All my troubles are mended 
Cause she's my needle and thread 
She's got me walkin' on the 
Tip of my toes and my hat's 
On the side of my head. 

same old same old

I'm still bad today.

England were bad yesterday as well. Very lucky to nick the game against France I thought.

Spira, spera.

A one-eyed man is much more incomplete than a blind man, for he knows what it is that's lacking.

I went to bed at nine last night and rose at noon today.

When it takes as long as it took me to get your clothes on it is difficult to decide to divest yourself of them and jump into the shower.

Here I am then, lame, stale in gear I've had on for three days, and sporting a damp crotch from icing my injury.

On reflection I think I'll stay in.

achingly hip

My right hip is much worse today. It took me about half an hour to put my pants and socks on. I will not describe lowering myself onto the WC in deference to your sensibilities.

Getting in and out of the car was interesting as well. In my imagination I was Chuck Yeager sealing the hatch the X1 with the end of a broom handle rather than abandoning the test flight due to fractured ribs.

I have self-diagnosed a strain on the psoas around the tendon that connects it to the top of the femur, and self-prescribed Rest, Ice and Elevation.

I've cancelled my Cardiff trip, and I think I'll quit the office soon. If you happen to be passing the house and look into the front window as you go by, the unpleasant sight awaiting you will be me lying on the couch and holding a pack of frozen vegetables against the side of my groin. There is no need to read anything more into it than that.

I will probably be watching The Right Stuff.

Burmese Python Shocked At Amount Of Stress Man Holding In His Neck

HOMESTEAD, FL—Marveling at the amount of tension his prey seemed to be carrying around with him, a 12-foot-long Burmese python was reportedly shocked Wednesday at how much stress a local man was holding in his gradually constricting neck. “Geez, it’s like one huge knot in there,” said the 300-pound reptile, also noting as it coiled itself with increasing force around the man’s torso that his shoulders were “like rocks—just giant lumps of tightness.” “He must be having a tough time at work or something. This can’t be healthy. Seriously, this is the kind of stress that gives you a heart attack at age 40.” At press time, the python expressed relief that the man seemed to have very abruptly become completely relaxed.

I went to my 400th yoga class this morning and suffered throughout with the same tight hips that I had when I started in September 2009 (Icons passim).

I sometimes wonder why I bother, even though I think the actual damage was done yesterday with Ido Portal deep squats.

strange times make strange bedfellows

One of the reasons (Icons passim) that I voted to leave the EU was that I believed "that the ECB's position over the terms for a Greek bailout made it a proxy for a German extortion racket."

From the FT yesterday:

Trump’s top trade adviser accuses Germany of currency exploitation

Berlin is using a ‘grossly undervalued’ euro to gain advantage over trading partners, says Navarro.

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard elaborates in the Torygraph this morning; Trump is right: Germany is running an illegal currency racket.

As a matter of strict objective fact, Donald Trump’s trade guru is correct. Germany is the planet’s ultimate currency manipulator.

The implicit Deutsche Mark is indeed “grossly undervalued” The warped mechanism of monetary union allows Germany to lock in a permanent ‘beggar-thy-neighbour’ trade advantage over Southern Europe, inflicting mass unemployment on the victim countries and blighting their futures.

Looks like I'll be eating alone in the bien pensant canteen at lunchtime again.

What do you mean you don't like jazz?

FAO Frankie and Sophie; the only La La Land bluffer's guide you'll ever need.

Cradle to the Stage

Broadcasting legend Danny Baker has announced that he will be going on tour for the first time ever in his illustrious and varied career. ‘Cradle To The Stage’ will begin in Leeds at the City Varieties on 1 February 2017, as part of a 36 date tour across the UK, culminating at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire on 1 April.

The Shepherd's bush Empire it will be then. April Fools' day or Friday March 31.

Update: Too Late. Sold Out.

Sorabol

On the afternoon of Saturday February 11th, we will be dining at Sorabol, a Korean restaurant on New Malden, before heading to the Charles Holden for the England Wales game.

Some sort of set dinner will probably be the best bet as we are new to this sort of dining.

having or showing a great lack of intelligence or common sense

My professional advice from the British Gas Homecare man today is that my house has been so cold all month because the boiler was turned down too low. Possibly I should have been able to figure that out myself.

whimsy aplenty

SW19 Colliers Wood Actually from ashley@ashleyreuben.com on Vimeo.

Hat tip, Frankie

Roll on the final

Rutlish beat Glyn school 19-17 in a thunderous county cup semi final yesterday. I don't think I have ever seen Ben as thrilled as he was when he kicked the ball out of play in the last move of the game to secure the win. Jonnie H got 9 of the 19 points with a try and two conversions.

Bring on the final. I am very pleased for the boys as this is the last hurrah for a cohort that will be split into different sixth form colleges next year.

I had to cadge a lift from Ollie as the AA didn't arrive in time for me to drive to the game. I am waiting for them at home again this morning.

Should have just stayed in bed

Whatever happens will be for the worse, and therefore it is in our interest that as little should happen as possible.
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury

The car wouldn't start this morning and I have walked to the office. Ben still feels rough but will "push through and play" in the semi final today. If it goes ahead that is, there is a pitch inspection due this morning. If it is on, how will I get there? I will have to go home and hope AA Home Start can get me on the road by this afternoon.

In an ideal world the whole day would have been postponed.

Pay Attention 007

I am assembling action camera kit for the Bomber's half term skiing holiday. The SD card required the most pencil chewing. 32GB will give 240 mins on 1080p30 or 320 mins on 720p60. I would have thought 720p60 would be the way forward. 30p is far too slow a frame rate for mobile video. Youtube will also handle 720/60p far better as it doesn't have to convert the fields to its native format. A professional videographer who shoots in 720p a lot says "I can assure you that unless you are replaying on something bigger than a 50" screen you will not see any difference in resolution."

Five hours and twenty minutes a day ought to be enough footage I would have thought.

A clicking tock

The Bomber is off school, shivering and coughing, hardly able to speak.

The Schools County Cup semi final is on Wednesday.

Oh dear.

Pottersville

I got a call asking if I was OK after failing to post yesterday and the day before.

I am alive. I was just too busy on Friday and too lazy on Saturday.

I will back-fill and make sure it doesn't happen again.

Concerning today

“Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits…”