Jen just washed the Parmesan.
Namesake part deux
Long-time Gruts readers might remember that, over six years ago, I wrote about some chap with the same name as me who was a George Michael impersonator.
Well, this afternoon, this other so-called Richard Carter googled himself, found my six-year-old post, and commented on it. Check out his Stars in Their Eyes YouTube video, which I have appended to his comment.
Recommended reading
The Guardian bookshop has a special offer on (for today only): Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Veg Every Day! for just £15. This is a real bargain, considering the book is currently a whopping £11.99 on Amazon.
But look at which other books the Guardian thinks you may [sic] also like, if you're the sort of person who is likely to buy a vegetarian cookbook:
(Serves you right.)
Strong winds blowing across the Trossachs
I love this weather:
(Photo: Stuart McMahon)
If the Germans are at all consistent, they will now, no doubt, be insisting that these monstrosities are banned.
Peer review
BBC: Peers 'should end Downton Abbey-style succession rules'
The House of Lords is being urged to end rules which deny most hereditary peerages to women.
Yes, that would bring hereditary peerages into the Twenty-First Century all right.
Daddy, I'm scared!
The Inexplicable World of Outa_Spaceman...: BigMetalTower Parts 01 02 03
'Come on, sweet Caroline…'
Yesterday evening, Carolyn told her eldest daughter that she is going to see Status Quo in concert this evening.
"Aren't they dead?" asked her daughter.
This was not intended as a joke.
Technical note
Thanks to a number of readers who emailed me to say that they were having problems accessing the Gruts website. Internet Explorer browser users were particularly badly hit. Yes, I know, serves them right—but, in this case, it looks as if it wasn't Internet Explorer's fault.
I believe I've fixed the problem. For the technically inclined amongst you, Keith, it looks as if it was down to a popular WordPress caching plugin which can end up writing to the .htaccess file. Totally uncoincidentally, I am sure, the plugin in question went through a major upgrade earlier today. I have now re-configured the plugin so that it doesn't write to the .htaccess file, and, touch-wood, normal disservice seems to have been restored.
Update 06-Dec-2011 18:45: Apparently, now the Gruts post permalinks aren't working properly. That'll be due to my 'fix'. I'm looking into it now. Fixed!
Prior art
Dues process
European Commission Press Release: Commission asks the United Kingdom to pay due amounts of customs duties to EU budget
Brussels, 24 November 2011 – Today the European Commission asked the UK to pay to the EU Budget the amounts due from the import of fresh garlic, in order to comply with the EU law on customs duties. If the UK fails to act within 2 months, the Commission may refer the case to the Court of Justice.Between 2005 and 2006, the UK customs authorities allowed imports of fresh garlic from the People's Republic of China under wrong authorising documents. They have erroneously stated that the goods imported were frozen garlic for which significantly lower import duties apply. The Commission considers that the UK authorities did not act with all due care when issuing the authorising documents and failed to collect the correct amount of duties. They are therefore held financially responsible for the loss of own resources (approximately £20 million) to the EU budget.
Wh…?
Bu…?
F… fu…!
For once, words utterly failurise me—on many levels.