Ed Vogue's World

I'm not really sure what I think of Zoo's and Wildlife Parks. I realise that nowadays, in the 21st Century, they do a huge amount of good. Their customers entrance fees not only go to looking after the animals under their own care but also go towards funding ecological and conservation projects around the world. http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/iimages/iimages1210/iimages121001031/15864479-illustration-of-a-zoo-and-the-animals-in-a-beautiful-nature.jpg The visitors that come through the Zoo's doors are a captive audience, excuse the pun, and are to some extent educated by the information that surrounds the animals enclosures relating to their peril that some of the endangered species face in the wild and the precarious nature of their existence. What long lasting effect this has on these people I believe I questionable. They may understand but does this mean anything tangible in response to the poachers in Africa, or the destruction of habitats in rain-forests a...

My Dad once explained the airport to me. He told me that the airport was all about conditioning people. Getting the general public used to the claustrophobia of sitting on an aeroplane in an enclosed space with minimal leg room. http://www.airport-int.com/upload/image_files/news/3009_faa_considers_restricting_flights_at_jfk_airport_SXP_20__20Depatures_20board__20delays_resized.jpg Every time I fly on a plane I remember his explanation. It's pretty straight forward really. As a passenger you enter the departures check in area from the outside world. This is a huge concourse with lots of check in desks and queues but it is still quite a spacious area. Following a trip through the security; where I always seem to get frisked. This happening again to me today. It was my shoes that set the alarm off today so I removed them and then came the obligatory frisk, today even under my waistband, saucy. After the security area passengers are shepherded into the more cramp depart...

Easter Sunday is nearly here and the ritual of buying and giving Easter Eggs will be upon us all too soon. I love an Easter Egg. Even the cheapest chocolate tastes better when it is packaged up as an egg. The trouble with them is that they are just so yummy. You also eat quite a lot of chocolate with out really thinking about it. The shells look so thin and before you know it you have eaten the entire thing and started on the bag of chocolate buttons. http://www.2irina.com/eggs/images/chocolate-egg.jpg When you have kids the amount of eggs that builds up is quite unbelievable. The packaging needs its own recycle bin. And if rationed they would never be eaten before the use by date. This year the plan must be just to stuff them down all in one to get them gone, to get them eaten. The kids will then need to do about three months exercise to ensure that they burn off all those calories that they have put on. Of course the smart thing to do is to buy the Easter Eggs on E...

The hot cross bun is of course a spiced fruit bread bun that is traditionally eaten on Good Friday. It is adorned with a white cross made from a flour paste that symbolises the crucifixion of Christ. This humble bun has an immense amount of superstition surrounding it. Hot cross buns are hung in kitchens to protect the kitchen from fire and to ensure that all the bakes turn out well. If taken on a sea voyage the hot cross bun is thought to protect the ocean vessel from shipwreck. It is also believed that these simple bread buns if made and served on Good Friday will not spoil or go mouldy. Other ideas suggest that hot cross buns have medicinal properties and should be given to the sick. It is also good luck to kiss the cross before eating it. During the times of Elizabeth I the consumption of hot cross buns was prohibited apart from at burials, Christmas and Good Friday, if an individual was caught snacking at other times the goods were removed from them and given to the poor....

Washing clothes is one of those chores that we just have to grin and bear. Its ok. You chuck everything in the machine add a tablet or some powder, turn to 40 degrees, select non fast coloureds and then off it goes for 100 minutes or so and Roberts' your fathers brother. http://boulevardcleaners.com/files/2010/06/dry-cleaning.jpg But then there are those clothes that you can't wash yourself. The clothes that are labelled dry clean only. I don't own many if these clothes, just some suits, waistcoats and my silk ties. Just as well, the cost of dry cleaning is getting quite extortionate. I'm not really sure why it is so expensive. Dry cleaning does not use water as a solvent. Instead it uses an organic solvent. In past times this used to be petroleum spirit. Nowadays a chemical solvent called perchloroethylene is used. The clothes are washed in this chemical and then the solvent is recovered from the clothes by some form of extractor to allow it to be use...

I've owned my car for just over a year. I was forced to buy it when my previous car broke down on me and the cost of the repair, for a new engine management system, meant that the car was only worth scrap price. My new car, although fairly modest was a step up. It came with a few gadgets that have proven to be very useful. The first is the heating system. She warms up really quickly. This has been a real bonus over the winter and continues to be as this biting easterly wind prevails. Secondly, and also really helpful in the cold is the heated windscreen. I now wouldn't want to buy a car without it. The immediate effect that it has on the melting of the covering of ice on a frosty day has been a godsend; no scraping required. http://www.wellhome.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/empty.jpg One of the things that my car has, which of course I realise is standard on most cars, is the digital readout. This allows me to scroll through a series of readouts. These i...

It's frustrating when you have set aside time to do a job. You have then done that job well and then due to no fault of your own you get to do the whole job again. This seems to happen from time to time. I like to be able to tick off a particular task; make a dent in my to do list. I mentally make a list in the morning in my car on the way to work. When I arrive I like to start getting those jobs done. Usually after being there for a few minutes I find that a number of new tasks have arrived on my list, but no matter that is the nature of my job. http://www.trainingforwarriors.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/job_target_image11.jpg   However just recently I have found that I keep on having to do the same thing again. It's not a quick job, its one that takes a number of hours. I have to do it again this week. Here's hoping that this week is the last time. Posted with Blogsy

In a continuation from my blog last night I can scientifically conclude that there is no point revising for a quiz night. I had a good time trying to answer some quite bizarre questions but interesting questions. Chucked into the middle of this was a construction round involving spaghetti and marshmallows and fast moving low flying creme eggs, all quite bizarre. http://www.anh-usa.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/wrong.jpg Sadly though my last minute revision of the weeks news events was not much help and I can also confirm that being middle aged now means that I am more likely to be able to identify news readers and septuagenarian actors than teenage 'pop stars'. At fact brought home to me when I failed to have even heard of the pop band on an album my daughter received for her birthday. What I did discover...it appears I know quite a lot about cheese.   Posted with Blogsy

Surely being a member of the winning team on at an amateur quiz night is one of those simple pleasures that must be on everyone's bucket list. I have been in a few quiz nights at my local pub but even with the addition of alcohol in my veins that top prize has always eluded me. http://www.eatyourcareer.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/quiz.gif Tonight I have another chance to win that prize. To be a member of the winning team. The thought has gone through my mind that maybe I should be prepping in some way to answer the questions effectively. Should I be listening to the BBC news, perhaps reading all the weeks papers. Maybe even reading the encyclopaedia before bed. To be honest I haven't done any of this. Who knows what might arise, I have no specialist topic. You can't revise for a test on the knowledge of everything. The first and most pressing problem is a team name. The team name is all important. It should be a name that is witty, but not boastful. Cl...

Ce soir, j'ai décidé que je vais écrire mon blog en français. Le comédien Eddie Izzard a maintes fois pris son spectacle standup en tournée en France et a réalisé l'acte entier en français. http://community.mis.temple.edu/akamugisha/files/2012/03/learn-french.jpg Contrairement à l'homme croix drôle s'habiller Je ne peux pas parler français donc je vous écris aujourd'hui en utilisant le site Internet fourni par Google Traduction. Comme je ne suis pas bon français, je n'ai aucune idée si cette traduction est en fait rien de bon. La chose merveilleuse au sujet du Royaume-Uni est maintenant la diversité des cultures que vous pouvez trouver partout. En rentrant chez moi aujourd'hui, j'ai vu les restes d'un choc entre deux voitures. L'une des voitures impliquées est une mini avec des plaques françaises. Marcher dans les allées du supermarché et mon audition est soumis à une multitude de langues différentes que chaque culture se réunissent pour...

I was very lucky today to have lunch with a lovely little lad, the baby son of one of my work colleagues. He was dressed in a little blue jumper to keep him warm in the cold and was fascinated by what was going on around him, being particularly interested in the seagulls flying around in the sky outside. He has an adorable little giggle and seems particularly partial to tickles under the arm. He was also trying out his strong little legs continually jumping up and down on my lap with his pointy toes. A fantastic little man. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwsUntPRAHlvLFq5mBVCsqjVznR-kmZ6fCAV_BTStJ0nk1ov8xbF5SDO9ogC4Hf396JJKC_wcnhadpXcMrZKZNc3DDzrqhpRuHVTpAgeAsPlvPrnd9E8v6fIxNrClmX0Mx7ncZcDFKl-w/s1600/baby-milk-bottle1.jpg It made me wonder what thoughts actually go through the mind of a 6 month old. What are they actually aware of at that age. What desires do they have? Was life simple when we were that age or was it just as complicated as it ...

The title of today's entry is the headline on the BBC News app. It doesn't make for promising reading. George, Mr Osborne, to us brandished his big red briefcase outside 11 Downing Street today before travelling down the road to parliament to disseminate its contents to the fairly uninterested British Public. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpEPu5bO6dC7WqIKwsnfF9qD4UPERaXdHcw6TeC6_RLA0gxYPigHaPRZqXV26Iq2rZyFhxO3BmgWtQQvN6U7POeq-1JaJ29D1lAnKUoUXaupLCQSCgZHagjwAq3_CHylrePotwA8mo0ta_/s1600/budget-clip-art(3).jpg   Why would it be interested really? The targets the government set themselves have slipped quite dramatically. Growth forecasts for this year have been halved. The national debt is still rising almost 85% of GDP and won't start decreasing until 2018. It seems the best news is that a 6p beer tax that was planned for the Autumn won't happen. What a load of rubbish this really is. How is this good news? It's a large...

Ten years ago tomorrow the sun was shining and I had my shorts on. We were heading to the maternity ward of our local hospital to meet our first born. The radio was on in the delivery room and it was stuck on the news. I went to turn it over but the news was on every channel.   The reason? The reason was that the second Gulf War began on 20th March 2003.   This will be remembered in the news tomorrow. Old war footage will be used to remind us of his day in history that ultimately led to the fall of Saddam Hussain.   I will always remember this as the day my beautiful daughter was born. Posted with Blogsy

Do you remember those school discos? The school hall, plastic glasses of squash and cheap crisps, like the ones you used to get on trips to France to accompany the stale cheese baguette sandwich.   Having two children at primary school I would like to confirm that they are very much alive and kicking and to be honest nothing much has changed. http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/4ed77112bf05e1938556eec5fe99110a/936692.jpg   The younger kids still run around after each other with the boys chasing across the dance floor. The cool kids hang by the back door where they can chill in the cooling breeze. The girls giggle together and talk of fancying the boys. Everyone dances to the birdie song or the primary school equivalent; Bob the Builder. The room was hot and the kids were sweaty and it had that slight aroma of mouldy feet. Just outside the dance floor were two young lads. One asked the other why he was outside. He replied that he was tired. The oth...

The clocks go forward next weekend which means one less hour in bed but it should also herald the start of spring. Nearly ten years ago my daughter was born and I was wearing a t-shirt and shorts it was so warm. In the days that followed her birth we were scared that she was going to overheat. The nursery room was well over the recommended temperature and she was sleeping in just a thin baby-gro with the window open. The difference ten years makes... This week Jersey had its worst weather since the 70's which may well have devastated the crop of Jersey Royal potatoes. In snowed today in Lincolnshire covering everything in a layer of white. Moreover there was so much snow in the South of England that people had to sleep in their cars or abandon them at the end of the road. Where is spring?   Posted with Blogsy

The clocks go forward next weekend which means one less hour in bed but it should also herald the start of spring. Nearly ten years ago my daughter was born and I was wearing a t-shirt and shorts it was so warm. In the days that followed her birth we were scared that she was going to overheat. The nursery room was well over the recommended temperature and she was sleeping in just a thin baby-gro with the window open. The difference ten years makes... This week Jersey had its worst weather since the 70's which may well have devastated the crop of Jersey Royal potatoes. In snowed today in Lincolnshire covering everything in a layer of white. Moreover there was so much snow in the South of England that people had to sleep in their cars or abandon them at the end of the road. Where is spring?   Posted with Blogsy

In these austere times, as politicians are keen to say, it is refreshing to see that the British public will put their hands in their pockets to support people across the world who are less fortunate than ourselves. Tonight is of course Comic Relief, or Red Nose Day. The night that Lenny Henry makes it back on to our TV screens along side other comedians. The night which provides BBC Newsreaders a chance to dance and sing and reveal that they actually have legs underneath that news desk. http://blog.bennettsdrivingschools.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/red-nose-day.png It is usually a roller coaster of a night. Skits and sketches, Peter Kay and a special episode of Doctor Who interspersed by heart felt pleas regarding starving, abused and terminally ill children. It really is quite compelling. Time to reach for the credit card, if only to say goodbye to Lenny Henry. Posted with Blogsy

This evening was the first time I have ever painted my nails, well I might have done it before but I can't really ever remember doing it. The nail painting is for Comic Relief to go with my 80's costume which I feel overly excited about truth be told. Unfortunately an important meeting tomorrow prevents me donning my outfit from the outset but it should still get enough of an outing. http://www.deviantart.com/download/43092963/Nail_varnish_by_slinkymalinkee.jpg Truth be told I have always wanted an excuse to paint my nails. I think that painted nails provides a way for a person to express their individuality, and in my profession perhaps they don't really go with the suit and tie? God, its hard, really hard. I thought painting your own nails would be quite an easy job. But now I know why nail bars are as popular as they are. How long does this stuff take to dry. I certainly underestimated the recommended drying time and smudged it all. Stupid stuff. I'm...

My mum used to stop me watching Grange Hill. For some reason she thought that it was a little subversive. Maybe she thought that I might become a bit of a school drop out like Tucker or indeed a heroin addict like Zammo, or maybe I might eat too much chocolate and end up fat like that fat kid, Roland was it? http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/47/GHTITLES78-87.jpg When you look back at Grange Hill I try to think if it was realistic, did it really represent the British comprehensives of the early eighties?   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_JI83qg3Bo It always seemed that the students of Grange Hill were either running around the streets on some cross country run, whilst Mr Baxter stood watching and shouting, or they were hanging out in be playground. I don't recall much learning going on. I remember when I first found out that up in North East London there is actually a place called Grange Hill, its on the tube map. I always wanted to go when I was a ki...

115 men all under the age of 80 are now locked inside the Sistine Chapel undertaking one of the most important ceremonies of the Catholic Church. They are of course the Cardinal-Electors who at about 3.30 this afternoon entered the chapel and with the shout 'Extra omnes' meaning everyone out and with that the chapel doors were closed and locked. All 115 cardinals will now remain locked away until the new Pope is voted in with a majority of two thirds plus one. Four votes a day will take place until this majority is reached. After each vote smoke is released to the crowd outside to keep them informed. Black smoke means that no consensus has been reached. White smoke means that the new pope has been elected. I'm not a catholic but I think this is all quite exciting. I wonder what really happens behind those closed doors. Is it all about the cardinals doing deals, forming alliances to elect their favourite? What would it feel like to be one of the favourites? Would ...

Blimey o' Riley its cold, really cold. It's that windchill factor that the weathermen keep talking about. Today was about 0 degrees C but with the wind chill factor it 'felt like' -6 degrees. Today that wind really is bitter and it is the wind that really makes the difference. The body is at a temperature of 37 degrees and usually, well always in the UK, the temperature is below that. This means that the human body will lose heat to the environment wherever there is exposed skin. Heat is lost in three ways, conduction, convection and radiation. As the heat is lost it warms up a layer of air above the skin. If this air remains in place it acts as a insulating blanket making it harder for more heat to be lost. http://xc7.xanga.com/c8f89be5680a0189785432/b13039054.gif However, when a wind is blowing this warmed up air is being continually removed thus maintaining a large temperature gradient allowing heat to be lost more rapidly. This makes the homeostat...

The Government really are missing a trick. They are struggling to get Britain's economy moving, with the worry that maybe the country is looking to fall back into recession again. As the political parties are starting their spring conferences they are all putting forward their own ideas about how to get the economy moving. I have yet to hear anything that might actually work. http://todaynewz.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/happy-mothers-day.jpg I have an idea. It's not that radical but I think it might just work. Today of course is Mothers Day. This day must provide a boost to the economy. The card shop was full of children and their fathers buying for their Mum; as was the chocolate shop and the jewellery shop. Today, flowers would have been delivered across the country to many households and over the last few days cards would have been sent by post and packages delivered by various delivery firms. Every family restaurant would have been packed to the rafter...

What's 1000 kcal a portion between friends? Comfort food was on the menu today. There is nothing like a bit of comfort food when the weather is turning less spring like and the weekend is being disrupted once again by work. The question is when you feel the need for comfort food what do you choose? Well today my son chose. For a few weeks he has been mentioning in a not so subtle way the recipe pictured on the cover of. Food magazine. A 1000 kcal a portion macaroni cheese recipe. Today was the perfect day for making it. It was full of carbs and fat. 2 pints of milk, 450g of pasta, 330g of cheese, 100g of butter. It was topped with crispy croutons and pancetta. Delicious and just what was needed. It made the day a little better. Slightly scarily the same energy intake I will consume in total on Tuesday and Thursday of next week.   Posted with Blogsy

Eight years ago I was very lucky to spend ten days in Russia with a remarkable group of people. We spent time in both St Petersburg and Moscow discovering Art and the political history as well as some very dapper goats! http://www.burdosclassroom.org/worldhistorywiki/images/b/b7/Wp.jpg Before I visited this amazing country I had not really understood the revolution that occurred that changed the country so fundamentally, the effects still being felt today. On this day in history the Russian Revolution started in St Petersburg, then called Petrograd. The Russian people frustrated by the leadership of the czarist regime and the large number of casualties sustained in World War 1. Additionally the economy remained stagnant mainly due to the cost of the war effort. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/43/Lenin_CL.jpg/210px-Lenin_CL.jpg So on March 8th 1917 the hungry people took to the streets demanding bread. An estimated 90,000 workers on strike clashed ...

I just watched an advert for the new series of Masterchef to be broadcast over the next few months. The format of the show since its rebrand has been quite successful and is much more fast paced and involving than the old days with Loyd Grossman. http://www.auditionsfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/masterchef-1.pn g However, I wonder if it has now run its course (or maybe three courses) and this series bite prove to be one mouthful too much. It is the sort of show that you have to really engage in if you want to follow 'the journey' of these amateur cooks as they transform themselves through the 'toughest tests yet' into chefs. They will have to cook outside the box, cook in difficult situations, make tough choices and eventually cook at the highest standards for the most celebrated chefs in the country. The judges will have tough choices and won't be able to make a call as it is so close but eventually they will and a winner will be chosen. One ch...