What bemused you today?

[ABERS]

Strange how different people view things in different ways. I'm fiercely English and I can trace my English roots back to 1765, but I have a Scottish surname, and where my 1765 ancestors came from is a mystery, they just suddenly appear in the local parish records at that date. Am I a seventh generation Scot? Is it something in my genes that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up when I hear a pipe and drum band in full flow?

I'm a bit confused however because the same thing happens when I listen to the theme tune from Zorba the Greek!

[Reinardina]

Of course you don't have to become Dutch if you don't want to. I'm not becoming English for the same reason: proud to be Dutch, in my case. Added advantage for a woman is, that as a Dutch citizen, I remain myself, ie keep my own (maiden) name for official purposes, like passport etc. In England I am officially Mrs Husbands Name, my old self has totally disappeared.

Please don't take this as a personal attack, I'm Scottish by birth, I'm very proud of my Scot's heritage (as you could see by my recent uploads). But I'm a proud Canadian now. I took my Cdn citizenship the very first moment I could, as a legal adult. I don't understand why people immigrate to other countries and then retain their citizenship.

And I can't abide people in Canada who identify themselves as, Italian, or Croatian etc. who were born here (Canada) and likely never set foot outside of the country.

I enjoy annoying my children by pointing out to them that I'm Canadian by choice, unlike them. At the same time I am extremely proud of the fact my kids can trace their Canadian ancestry back to United Empire Loyalists (people who fled the U.S. after the revolution). My kids can trace their ancestry in the colonies back to the 1700's.

Sorry for the rant, nothing personal. 

No offence taken!

With Holland and England near neighbours, and my very regular visits to the Netherlands, I have felt at home in both countries.
I did not consciously 'emigrate' from the Netherlands, for the reasons people normally apply for emi/immigration: I simply followed my brand new husband to his place of birth/work etc.
Hope I haven't opened a large can of worms now!

Alan, I have no connections to Scotland whatsoever, but I love pipe and drumbands. Always have done, while everyone I ever knew hates the sound!

[Beaux Reflets]

Is it something in my genes that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up when I hear a pipe and drum band in full flow?

I'm a bit confused however because the same thing happens when I listen to the theme tune from Zorba the Greek!

With my ancestors, I concider myself a European on account of the English, Irish, French mix in genes -    oops well it looks like a guiness and 

[greypoint]

odd is'nt it. As far as I can trace back I'm English and English folk music always seems like my real music [yes it does exist!] - but I really get that same feeling when I hear the pipes.    Perhaps it's imagining how the enemy must have felt on a still quiet morning before a battle when the Scots army began to play 

[michaelb104]

I'm very English but have Scottish roots and I believe I'm even allowed to wear one of the tartans (not sure which one, must ask my dad) but the pipes just don't do it for me.....

My dad has traced our ancestors back to 1736(ish) and our families slow movement from the north down the country to now the youngest generation living in Portsmouth, if the family keeps moving south with each generation it will be France here we come!! 

[Hinfrance]

I'm very English but have Scottish roots and I believe I'm even allowed to wear one of the tartans (not sure which one, must ask my dad) but the pipes just don't do it for me.....

My dad has traced our ancestors back to 1736(ish) and our families slow movement from the north down the country to now the youngest generation living in Portsmouth, if the family keeps moving south with each generation it will be France here we come!! 

Then North Africa . .  eventually you'll circumnavigate the Greenwich Meridian and end up back where you started. 

[ABERS]

Noticed in the supermarket on Friday that they were selling Ostrich eggs! Beautifully packaged and priced at somewhere about £25 each! Has anyone tried one of these.

I estimate you would need at least 2 loaves to provide enough soldiers for a decent 1 hour egg.

[Graham]

Noticed in the supermarket on Friday that they were selling Ostrich eggs! Beautifully packaged and priced at somewhere about £25 each! Has anyone tried one of these.

I estimate you would need at least 2 loaves to provide enough soldiers for a decent 1 hour egg.

Apparently they take from 50 mins to an hour to soft boil, I would imagine that by the time the centre is soft boiled, the outside would be like rubber!
      I would whisk it for omlettes given the opportunity. I do have an empty shell from a local (ish) ostrich farm for decoration and looking at it, if you had to crack
it, you'd be advised to go to the garage rather than the kitchen!
      Waitrose presumably?
                      Graham.

[ABERS]

           Waitrose presumably?
                      Graham.

Where else is there!

[Beaux Reflets]

Noticed in the supermarket on Friday that they were selling Ostrich eggs! Beautifully packaged and priced at somewhere about £25 each! Has anyone tried one of these.

I estimate you would need at least 2 loaves to provide enough soldiers for a decent 1 hour egg.

Expensive dish; A fine masonary drill, plenty of puff and the meal will probably satisfy the expended energy in preparation.     

[spinner]

I was playing around with my iPad camera yesterday, took some self portraits of me enjoy a nice glass of Glenfiddich. Anyway, I emailed them to some friends and family and got a report back they were upside down. Have done a Google (DuckDuckGo actually) and discovered the question, "why?" posted several times. I hit the 6th web site before someone actually answered the question, one post has been unanswered for over 4 mths. 6 web sites before someone actually answered the question in detail. One response was, oh try a 3rd party app. Not sure what would annoy me most, not getting an answer or getting an answer that had very little to do with my question.

[Oldboy]

I was playing around with my iPad camera yesterday, took some self portraits of me enjoy a nice glass of Glenfiddich.

My favorite tipple of choice. 

[ABERS]

Those nice marketing people from Sony!
Got home to find an invite to the launch of their new A77 and NEX7 at their offices at Weybridge. Not being too far from my home I thought it would be a good way to spend half a day, so I clicked to order a ticket, only to find that they were £150 each.

[Hinfrance]

Sounds like a bargain Alan, you probably get canapés and everything.

My bemusement today was the discovery that our kitchen scales have been under reading by anything up to 20% - they're not consistent, but that seems to be the average.

This goes a long towards explaining many recent baking disasters including heavy bread, flat cakes and soggy gypsy tart, to name but three.

Further bemusement ensued when I suggest to SWMBO that perhaps we ought to buy some new scales; alas, it appears that if the aforementioned SWMBO has spent the morning shopping for new shoes then a request for €10 for a tool that we use nearly every day is apparently beyond the pale.

But I'm working on it . . .

[hevans]

My bemusement today was the discovery that our kitchen scales have been under reading by anything up to 20% - they're not consistent, but that seems to be the average.

This goes a long towards explaining many recent baking disasters including heavy bread, flat cakes and soggy gypsy tart, to name but three.

Further bemusement ensued when I suggest to SWMBO that perhaps we ought to buy some new scales; alas, it appears that if the aforementioned SWMBO has spent the morning shopping for new shoes then a request for €10 for a tool that we use nearly every day is apparently beyond the pale.

But I'm working on it . . .

Sounds like you need to weigh your various options.