Well, lesson for the day: corned beef. YOU, oh knowledgeable Reader, may well already know this, but we had not a clue. For our lunch today we picked up a large slab of raw beef that was labelled 'corned beef' , and reckoned it was just the longish sausage shape to cook nicely and evenly on the barby. As indeed it did. We were a bit mystified at the 'corned' label as it obviously wasn't in a can and was obviously a large chunk of virgin beef. Well we duly cooked it, and were quite surprised by the result - all very nice, but very strangely fatless and more like gammon than anything else. Kind of strange dense texture, not stringed as beef normally is. And just now I find on Wiki that Corned in the States (and presumably in Australia) means salt cured - just as gammon is, I guess. The stuff in tins we get in the UK is salt beef, minced, and tinned in jelly. The cut of meat today is very nice but not beef as we know it, I think it's inclinations are much more sandwich-way bent. Also by-the-by, I learn that 'pastrami' is not a sausage as I had thought but in fact the said salt or corned beef in a spice mix and smoked. So there we are. Corned beef.
Usual round of Beach, work, Beach today - no change there. Went nowhere further than 100 yards from the door (OK perhaps it's just a little further than that but not much), and generally had a lovely Sunday. Today we re-made Dr Crunch and this time I'd made sure to have a camera standing by to take a snap - I'll try and upload one. He actually survived for quite a while today, probably all of about 30 minutes - but I watched from a distance the process of his destruction. It always seems to be the same and says something interesting about child/human psychology, I think. The kids will always approach cautiously, and there will always be more than one. They will initially remark on it and touch it or take a tentative poke. Then they'll make the initial move - it'll either be pouring water on it or putting extra sand on or scooping a little bit away, one way or another. Inevitably this will lead to collapse in some part, and the result of poking will at some point be more emphatic than they anticipated. At this point they'll start pushing at the sand wholesale with their hands, and moving the structure with shoulder-strength - and then rapidly on this (this is the final stage) they'll get up and jump all over it, crosswise and then head-to-tail. Once they've 'conquered' the crocodile in this way they immediately loose interest and move on. I've watched different children do this in exactly the same order three times now, it's quite uncanny. Totally different ages, sexes, group sizes, and social classes - they all do the same thing. Crocodile dynamics.
For the evening beach time the Littles pretty much monopolised the Mr and cautiously removed him each time I attempted to approach. There was kite-flying (the plastic-bag one the Littles had made on Australia day), there was jumping in and chucking in, there was some swimming, and there was sand-house building. I fell asleep on the towels. Then we went home. For evening relaxation the Littles and Ian played the very strange little cake-building game that they had started up with yesterday on the new computer. So there we are.
Can't believe the W&W went out TWICE in one day - I mean, even for retirement indulgence, it's starting to seem excessive. Seething jealousy speaking here, of course. Sounds lovely. Hope Gianmarco has a good time skiing, that sounds lovely too. They certainly do get around, that family.
Anyway, lots of love to all, V xxxx
Usual round of Beach, work, Beach today - no change there. Went nowhere further than 100 yards from the door (OK perhaps it's just a little further than that but not much), and generally had a lovely Sunday. Today we re-made Dr Crunch and this time I'd made sure to have a camera standing by to take a snap - I'll try and upload one. He actually survived for quite a while today, probably all of about 30 minutes - but I watched from a distance the process of his destruction. It always seems to be the same and says something interesting about child/human psychology, I think. The kids will always approach cautiously, and there will always be more than one. They will initially remark on it and touch it or take a tentative poke. Then they'll make the initial move - it'll either be pouring water on it or putting extra sand on or scooping a little bit away, one way or another. Inevitably this will lead to collapse in some part, and the result of poking will at some point be more emphatic than they anticipated. At this point they'll start pushing at the sand wholesale with their hands, and moving the structure with shoulder-strength - and then rapidly on this (this is the final stage) they'll get up and jump all over it, crosswise and then head-to-tail. Once they've 'conquered' the crocodile in this way they immediately loose interest and move on. I've watched different children do this in exactly the same order three times now, it's quite uncanny. Totally different ages, sexes, group sizes, and social classes - they all do the same thing. Crocodile dynamics.
For the evening beach time the Littles pretty much monopolised the Mr and cautiously removed him each time I attempted to approach. There was kite-flying (the plastic-bag one the Littles had made on Australia day), there was jumping in and chucking in, there was some swimming, and there was sand-house building. I fell asleep on the towels. Then we went home. For evening relaxation the Littles and Ian played the very strange little cake-building game that they had started up with yesterday on the new computer. So there we are.
Can't believe the W&W went out TWICE in one day - I mean, even for retirement indulgence, it's starting to seem excessive. Seething jealousy speaking here, of course. Sounds lovely. Hope Gianmarco has a good time skiing, that sounds lovely too. They certainly do get around, that family.
Anyway, lots of love to all, V xxxx
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