What A Difference A Day Makes

Welcome To The World Of Wet
     I see we are back to the typical weather of our Great British Summer.  Remind me, when does global warming give us hot sunny days?  Fortunately for Conrad, the rain abated whilst he was waiting for a bus, elsewise it would have been possible to have sat in a canoe and gutter-paddled all the way into Manchester.
     And - hay pesto! - who does he espy as he makes his way to Waterstones?
     No!  Not Edward Snowden.
     NO!  Not Daniel Craig, either.  Look you're taking the "espy" too literally.  Whom did Conrad see?
     Anna Pavlou, workmate and occasional sidekick in these blogs.  She was staffing the "Mango Rays" stall, which is a bit large to be considered a "stall"*, so Conrad had a bit of a gab and a lemonade - which I would recommend, but you only have today and tomorrow to drink them, they'll be gone after that.

Mango Rays Manchester!  No mangoes!  Because of cloud, no rays either!

     If you are reading this, spare a thought for Anna - serving the public until 9 p.m. at least.  If you are venturing into Manchester, go buy some chilli at Mango Rays - Conrad has spoken!

Waterstones
     See?  The "wet" theme continues, explained Conrad, feeling clever with himself.
     Today was a venture to see if any more James Crumley works had turned up.  Who is - actually was - James Crumley?  An American author of modern crime fiction, which you can characterise not so much as "hard-boiled" as "made of granite".  It has been hard to find his stuff on the shelves recently, so I was glad to find a couple of reprints - except they're American imports, quite pricey, thus Conrad only bought one.
     A delve into the Red Cross charity shop in Royton struck gold - "Introduction To Civil Engineering Construction", the big orange book below.  Conrad, being constitutionally nosey, always wonders what functions that particular piece of plant has on that construction site - well now he has a big fat book that will tell him; and the best bit?  Only 50p!

"The Cruel Sea" - the theme of "wet" continues.  NB "With Our Backs To The Wall" is nothing to do with "Introduction to Civil Engineering Construction".  Just FYI

A View From A Hill
    No!  Not the M R James ghost story.  Good gracious, you're really springing to conclusions today, dear reader.  This continues the theme of "wet", so read on.
     No, this is a view from Conrad's hill: Tandle Hill.  You can see the rain hammering on the road outside the house.  Now, look beyond the central lamp-post.  Normally you can see Oldham Edge, but not today - there is so much rain in the air that all you see is grim grey deluge.  Fortunately, as mentioned above, this vertical river ceased temporarily when I went for the bus.

If this photo were a song, it would be "The Sound Of Soggy"

An Excursion Into Contemporary Politics
     Please excuse this dabbling in the sewage-y waters of modern political life, but there is an historical excuse, honest.
     You may have heard of the Newark by-election that recently took place.  For any overseas readers who are unaware of how British politics operates, this is an election in a singe, comparatively small area, known as a "seat", in order to elect a single Member of Parliament.  The Conservatives held the seat prior to the election and campaigned non-stop at a very high pitch every day, with a lot of commitment from both UKIP and Labour in terms of time and effort expended.

Newark, New York.  Close enough

     Thus, the waggish BBC Political Correspondent stated "Newark hasn't seen such a siege of parliamentarians since the Civil War", which Conrad thought was witty and amusing - yes, Newark was besieged in the English Civil War.
     Hopefully the punchline earns forgiveness, gentle reader.

Flapjack Attack
     After burning that batch on Thursday, Conrad is going to bake a batch that WONT be burned, damn right!  Trouble is, I've only got one recipe for it.  I did sneak a look at the ingredients list of the Tesco flapjack bites in the office on Friday morning, which is: Oats (40%); Partially-Inverted Refined Syrup; Sweetened Condensed Milk; sugar; butter; margarine (12%)

Ingredients are dull, so here's a jet-propelled shopping trolley.

     Now, ingredients are listed in order of greatest amount first, so I may be able to work out a set of ratios from this recipe to the one that toasted, especially if the "12%" refers to the combined butter and margarine.
     Checking internet recipes, Gas Mark 4 does seem to be the right temperature, but none of the recipes cooks for longer than 25 minutes, and most are 20 minutes long - so no wonder mine burnt -

The very opposite of "wet".  I know, I know, reaching a bit

     - yes I am obsessing about that failed batch but Conrad so rarely flubs his baking that his ego is suffering - suffering, I tell you!

Finally
     Edna, tired out and after a bit of quality time.  Pimp Daddy's blog, Edna!  Work that soulful face!

Seconds later, she ate the photographer

*  Unless you put it in uppercase.  "STALL".  Or emphasise size:  "TALL STALL", mayhap?
**  There is no double-asterisked entry today.  Sometimes I just like to keep you on your toes.