A dram of Glen Serotonin please barman.

Starting a new job in early December has lead to a somewhat marked drop-off in my contributions to the blog. The increased hours may play some part but the greater portion of the blame (if it can be called such) is the glacial connection speed of the internet at my new place of work. This obviously makes it quite tiresome to read the online newspapers, other blogs before even considering logging on and composing a blog entry. All in my lunch break of course.
My hat is raised and doffed in the direction (northwards I think though I can't think why) of berenike from this delightful but somewhat esoteric blog who seems to be keeping an eye out for my occasional posts. Perhaps it is the Internet equivalent of a neighbour knocking on the door of a neighbour who they haven't seen for a while and are beginning to wonder if it really is the drains that are causing *that* obnoxious odour.
Now that I am on holidays of sorts, I am looking forward to establishing the ingredients for a recipe I received a week or so ago from a Polish acquaintance. This was a recipe of his mother's for pickled mushrooms and the mushroom ingredients are all listed by their botanical Latin names which while not immediately useful, is still much more promising than their Polish names. In between times I shall be at the fino sherry and Marcona almonds whilst reading "From the Holy Mountain" by William Dalrymple. Before anyone should fret about my succumbing to an epicurean excess, I declare my black cocker spaniel an excellent antidote to such dangers.

Bypass the woolly halfwits

Today's announcement that the preferred route for the Aberdeen bypass (or to give it it's full title, the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route - cue sing-song chorus of "ooohhh, Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route" a la "Chewin' the Fat") doesn't seem to have gone down well with the Party that the Electorate forgot. The usual crass, glib & unthinking response from their spokesperson shows just how deeply ingrained the anti-road/car dogma is within it's thinking. Despite Aberdeen's terrible air quality on the main routes through the town (that is misleading, it implies that there are routes around the town), the Green Party along with their equally luddite pals at the Friends of the Earth are obviously happy to see this situation remain rather than face up to the idea of building a bypass. Given the growth of Aberdeen over the past 30-40 years and the resolute failure of any cohesive transport plan, the introduction of the bypass is about the only viable option open to government to alleviate the clogged streets of Aberdeen.
I was also glad to see that the treasured Camphill Community will remain largely unaffected by the proposed route. It would have been a genuine tragedy to see such a place lose out purely on the basis of choosing the "cheapest" route.