Halloweens I have known

Most of my childhood was spent in Africa where we didn't celebrate Halloween at all. It was celebrated, though, in Ireland when we returned to visit the grandmothers, but really consisted only of a few party games for children, no dressing up in elaborate costumes, no pumpkins - we carved turnips instead, the big yellow turnips which I now know as swedes (with a small s all you sensitive Scandinavians), not the small white ones. I look back with great fondness to our grandmother and her sister who made considerable efforts to "educate" the little heathens in the traditions of our forebears.

The party games I recall seemed to revolve around apples:

• bobbing for apples - you had to try to catch apples floating in a bowl of water in your teeth, no hands allowed. My memory is that you end up getting wet.


• snap apples - again you had to catch an apple in your teeth but this time they were suspended on a string in a doorway. This time you end up with bruised lips.

We would have a special meal which included colcannon (mashed potatoes mixed with curly kale and spring onions) and barm brack (a fruit bread/cake), either or both of which could have a ring or a coin hidden inside.

During my teenage years in England, there seemed to be little celebration of Halloween, instead the emphasis was on Guy Fawke's Day on 5 November, about which more nearer the event.

France in theory disapproves of Halloween as being from another culture. Nevertheless it is creeping in, and the last two years we have had a few little children knocking on the door for treats. I know the family they come from and I suspect ours may be the only door they knock, so they'll be disappointed we aren't there this year. The big day in France is 1 November, a public holiday and a great family day, when everyone puts flowers, chrysanthemums, on family graves.

Barm brack recipe from my grandmother's recipe book (exactly as it is written)

1lb self raising flour
1lb mixed fruit
1 breakfast cup of warm strong tea
3/4 breakfast cup Demerara sugar
1 large egg
1 full teaspoon spice

Put sugar and fruit in a bowl, cover with tea and leave steeping overnight. Next day beat egg and add to tea and fruit, work in flour and lastly spice, beating well. Bake Reg 5, 1 and quarter hours. Cover after 20 minutes and remove cover 15 minutes before finished.

If you try it, enjoy it!

Updated to add that the Halloween header is courtesy of Gattina. Thanks very much Gattina.

Other Halloween celebrations in Sweden, Waterloo in Belgium, Barcelona

Autumn foliage

My intention was to go out yesterday and take some pictures of the autumn colours - again. I'm convinced they are better this year than usual. I know they are nothing compared with some parts of the world, but they are pleasing this autumn. So I was disappointed when I saw the mist in the morning.

Still, it burned off fairly rapidly and a lovely sunny morning followed.

I was afraid that the previous day's rain would have taken all the leaves off the trees.

Certainly, a lot had come down. byt there were plently left to admire on the trees.

All these were taken near my mother's house.

Free rice

From A Cup of Coffee

If you click on the logo above, you will be taken to the Free Rice vocabulary game (warning: highly addictive). For every word you get right, they will donate 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food program.

Free Rice is a sister site to Poverty.com, another ste worth a visit. The names and faces of people they show as recent deaths are not real, but it does bring home the numbers of people dying from AIDS, malaria, hunger and so on.

Although rice donation is a necessity for overcoming the immediate need to alleviate hunger, the ultimate aim has to be to enable local farmers to provide for the needs of their own communities, which is the purpose of the Africa Rice Centre in developing New Rice for Africa.

A song about poo

Please avert your eyes if you are offended by lavatorial humour.

This is a song about poo
I know the word is taboo
Don't make a hullabaloo
It's something all of us do
But if you don't have a loo
Then it's a problem for you
Which is why we have to do
This song about poo.

That is the first verse of one of the five songs written by Richard Stilgoe for Water Aid, all about water, sanitation and hygiene so that children can learn, have fun and raise money for WaterAid's projects. You can listen to the song here with RealPlayer. Quite a catchy tune.

My sons would have thought it most incredibly funny to sing a song about poo. One of them has since grown up, but I still have to live in hope for the second, probably in vain: his father still hasn't grown up.

Brave cat

Of all the places he could choose to sleep, why on those particular feet? His favourite place.

Maman

Via Des infos sur les femmes en France et dans le monde, Médecins Sans Frontières have produced a short, rather brutal video which is to be shown in cinemas.

How many times in our lives have we called out for 'maman', 'mummy', 'mom'? These days, across the world, mothers are calling us for help. You will be able to understand the video whether or not you speak French.

It is especially poignant for me at the moment.

The Grandmother Project

The Grandmother Project is a non-profit organisation set up to develop strategies which explicitly and actively involve grandmothers as active resource persons for their communities. In most non-western countries, older women play an important part in their communities and in bringing up families. Many development programmes focus on women of childbearing age regardless of the fact that young mothers will listen to their own mothers and their mothers-in-law.

The role of the elderly, and in particular grandmothers, has been changed in sub-Saharan Africa by the prevalence of AIDS. It is estimated that 40-60 percent of the estimated 13 million AIDS orphans live with their grandmothers who often struggle with little or no support. The 'Grandmothers to Grandmothers' campaign was launched to "twin" groups of grandparents in Canada and South Africa, to the benefit of both groups.

In Swaziland, where the average life expectancy has fallen to 31, the over 49s are taking on an increasingly vital role because they are largely free of HIV. In spite of this vital role, they often slip through the safety net of humanitarian organisations.

PhotoHunter: pink

I wouldn't say pink was one of my favourite colours, but you do find some lovely natural pinks in nature. The following are plants I saw when I was out on a walk recently.

But when I start looking at cultivated flowers the pinks look too bright and garish to my eye.

The last flower is a lily. I wish I hadn't noticed that. Lily the pink.

We'll drink a drink a drink
To Lily the pink, the pink, the pink
The saviour of the human race
For she invented medicinal compound
Most efficacious in every case.

A song popular in the late 60s which you can hear if you really must. I don't advise it: you'll never be able to forget it.

Just look what it's done to me!

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A sign of progress

The city of Paris has decided to take steps to reduce the number of advertising hoardings by more than half and introduce new rules for advertising during December.

• Hoardings must be smaller.
• They should not be visible less than 300m from historic monuments or 50m from school premises.
• Illuminated signs should be turned off between midnight and 7:00 am and excluded from roofs.
• There should be no small posters in shop windows.
• Advertising buses and trucks will be forbidden.

It all seems very sensible to me. Advertising professionals have already launched an appeal.

Teenage pregnancy and reporting

There have been a number of reports in the last few weeks with headlines ranging from "Teen mums shock" from the Ulster Herald to "UK has 'highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe' " from the Independent.

Unfortunately they largely miss the point. The original report that has prompted these articles is from Population Action International, and is the result of a worldwide survey of 130 countries to demonstrate that "Despite 20 years of campaigning to improve the reproductive health of women throughout the world, the risk of dying in pregnancy or childbirth shows the largest gap between the rich and poor of all development statistics. "

It doesn't compare the UK with the rest of western Europe because it doesn't include all of western Europe - Greece, Portugal, Austria are, amongst others, missing. I'm not suggesting that would necessarily change the position of the UK, I don't know the figures, but it is sloppy reporting.

What it does show is that the UK is in the enviable-to-some position of being among the 28 countries with the lowest reproductive risk, and among these are Cuba, China and Singapore from the developing world. All the rest are high income countries. In comparison with other places in the world "Motherhood is safe; skilled care at childbirth is universal and the risk of death from pregnancy or delivery is extremely low. Infant mortality is rare. Contraceptive use is high. Early marriage is rare. Abortion is unrestricted. Adolescent fertility and HIV prevalence are low."

At the opposite end of the scale, skilled care during pregnancy and childbirth is limited; infant and maternal mortality are high or very high; contraceptive use is generally low; there is very high unmet need for contraception; very early marriage is common; adolescent fertility is high; abortion policies are mostly restrictive; levels of HIV infection are moderate to high.

I'm not trying to say that we should be ignoring anything that could be improved in these countries, but we do need to look beyond our immediate horizons.

This narrowly focused reporting is along the lines of "Thousands die, no British people involved". (So that's all right then).

Four books

Late again - the story of my life. Or early, I suppose I could be early, depending on your point of view.

I've been tagged by Françoise of Des infos sur les femmes en France et dans le monde, in French, but the answers inevitably will be mainly in English because it's all about books.

Les 4 livres de mon enfance
Four childhood books

Difficult one. I used to read avidly, everything that had writing on it, but ones that I remember are:

• The Tale of Two Bad Mice - Beatrix Potter - and many others of her stories. I also enjoyed them again when reading to my sons.


• The Kon-Tiki Expedition - Thor Heyerdal. I thought this was the most exciting thing ever.


• The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett. I wrote a whole post about it here.


• Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome. Another exciting book. I suspect this would seem terribly dated now.

And I won't go into all the many Enid Blyton books.... I know they aren't considered good books but I don't believe they do any harm. I'm a firm believer in any reading being good reading.

Les 4 écrivains que je lirai et relirai encore
Four authors I will read again and again

• Jon McGregor. Since I read If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, I have vowed to follow him to the ends of the earth :) Whether or not he wants me there remains to be seen.
• Kazuo Ishiguro. Something like the Jonathan McGregor experience after Never Let Me Go.
• Fred Vargas. I enjoy the French atmosphere and the stories are good page turners.
• Ruth Rendell. Excellent psychological thrillers, often set in London. I went to a meeting where she was talking about the history of the crime novel and was fascinated, slightly to my surprise.

Les 4 auteurs que je ne lirai plus jamais
Four authors I will never read again

I do wonder how fair it is to make a judgement not to read an author again after only one book, but I frequently do.

• Victoria Hislop. You can read my reasons here.
• Katherine Neville. I read The Eight and found it, hmm, not good. It just did not engage my attention at all. I didn't finish it - that never happens!
• Douglas Kennedy. My impression was formed after reading "State of the Union". In one review I wrote I said, "I would particularly like to give Dan and Jeff each a good slap!" I have no idea why but I did decide not to read his books again.
• Nicholas Sparks. I read Message in a Bottle and thought it was much too far-fetched. I read The Notebook and thought that poor. So he got two readings, but now he's off the list.
  

Les 4 premiers livres de ma liste à lire
The first four books on my to-be-read list

• The Sparrow - Mary Doria Russell. Janeway told me it had influenced her. I read a review that said "This is a book about apartheid, about the cruelty of politics and about redemption. There are shades of Nadine Gordimer in The Sparrow, shades of Isaac Singer, but the book this reminds me of most is Jill Paton Walsh's novel Knowledge of Angels, a historical novel that wasn't." Hooked.


• On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan. I've had this waiting a while now.


• Amélie Nothomb - Mercure.


• John Banville - The Sea.

Les 4 livres que j'emporterai sur une île déserte
The four books I would take to a desert island

• The Complete Works of Shakespeare. Are several volumes allowed? I find I am increasingly enjoying Shakespeare now that I have finally got over the damage done at school when I was force fed so much of it (sorry Mrs Heyworth).


• Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen. Studied for my last English exam but unlike the Shakespeare experience, I loved it.


• The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver. A substantial book which I very much enjoyed and which I intend to re-read.


• Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert. In French, because I should.

Les dernières lignes d'un de mes livres préférés
The last lines of one of my favourite books.

This is tricky because I tend to give away my books once read, but I do have a copy of The Poisonwood Bible:

"Slide the weight from your shoulders and move forward. You are afraid you might forget, but you never will. You will forgive and remember. Think of the vine that curls from the small square plot that used to be my heart. That is the only marker you need. Move on. Walk forward into the night."

In turn then, and really only if you feel like doing it, I tag Tanabata of In Spring it is the Dawn, Elaine of Old Age is a Bitch, YTSL of Webs of Significance, Pablo of La solitude du coureur, là au fond. I will not be in the least offended if you don't.

Scary ......

..... the way your past can come back and bite you. Taken during Rag Week in the late 60s, yes, it does include me, and my future husband was there too. The costumes were "kindly" designed by an art student with an evil sense of humour.

I'm somewhat relieved to see that they did similar things even in 1936, though I grant you they looked less silly.

Tropical Legumes Project

Legumes are the third largest family of plants, and many species among them are very nutritious and/or improve the quality of soil. However they haven’t so far received a great deal of attention to increase yields and help smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa.

Soybeans

ICRISTAT, the International Crops Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics are conducting a research and development project to improve the productivity of legumes. This will be funded for three years by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and will act in partnership with the Program for African Seed Systems to ensure the availability of the seeds to African farmers.

Peanuts

Legumes are rich in protein and minerals and sometimes referred to as "poor man’s meat". They hold great promise for fighting hunger, increasing income and improving soil fertility.

Black eyed beans

The research is being carried out in 14 different countries in Africa, as well as in Asia.

Riverside walk

Another beautiful autumn day today, so I decided to go for a walk along the Itchen, the river that runs through Winchester (Hampshire, in the UK). I set out from Winchester Cathedral. Anyone as old as I am will remember the song I was humming to myself as I walked through the passage beside the cathedral, heading towards the river.

This was the first glimpse of the river which I could hear from behind the walls. It appeared and then disappeared underneath my feet.

I found it again as I neared the Abbey Mill.

A sleepy pair of ducks were on the bank, ignoring the children trying to feed them with bread.

This is the City Mill, a working medieval mill, just behind the City Bridge. Near here stood the Eastgate, one of the five city gates. The structure used to include a porter's lodge and the chapel of St Michael. The nuns of St Mary's Abbey maintained the gate and the bridge in return for the right to collect tolls on all passing goods. The gate was demolished in 1768.

The view downstream. The river was running very fast today, although not nearly as high as it can be. I have seen it covering the footpath at times.

In pre-historic times, the Itchen flowed in two main channels. Following the foundation of the Roman town in about 70AD, this new artificial channel was created. This both reduced the chance of flooding in the town centre and provided an eastern defensive moat. In the medieval times, the river was twice as wide as it is today.

It runs on towards Wharf Mill which is now made into apartments. There has been a mill on this site since the 12th century. Segrim's Mill took its name from Segrim's Fount which was diverted in1360 to provide extra power. The existing structure was built in 1885 at the head of the Itchen Navigation canal.

The river then heads out of the city towards St Cross, through the water meadows.

A popular place on a pleasant afternoon.

I think swans are the most beautiful of birds.

Look Mum, no hands!

The footpath then heads out further through the trees, where you have a channel on each side. Unfortunately in the picture they look rather like ditches.

At that point I decided to head back, past the playing fields of Winchester College.

In the distance, a view of St Catherine's Hill, where at the foot of the hill are the remains of three past methods of transport - a disused road, a disused railway line and a disused navigation canal.

I did take quite a number of shots of the cathedral and some of the old houses around, but I'll save those for another time.

PhotoHunter: practical

Here we have the most practical of things, an umbrella. But this is an especially practical umbrella.

Note the handle which opens out to reveal a wide leather strap which provides a seat when you are tired.

And the tip has a metal plate to stop it from sinking into the earth while you are resting on the seat.

What you do if you want to sit down while it is raining isn't in the instruction manual :)

"It is not for nothing, either, that the umbrella has become the very foremost badge of modern civilization--the Urim and Thummim of respectability. . . . ." ~ Robert Louis Stevenson in Philosophy of Umbrellas

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Combat electromagnetic pollution - with a facial spray?

Clarins have been stopped from advertising their spray, Expertise EP3, as a way of combating the aging effects of electromagnetic radiation. Italy, the UK, and now France have said that they must show proof that electromagnetic radiation will damage skin, cause it to age, and that the product will prevent the damage, if they want to continue to make such claims.

The ads, which caused the complaints, started by saying "If electromagnetic waves can penetrate walls, imagine what they can do to your skin " . The Advertising Standards Authority have found that their claims breached the clauses for substantiation, truthfulness, fear and distress.

Surprise, surprise.

Clarins are one of the manufacturers that make the amazing weight-loss products I mentioned in an earlier post: "Total Body Lift not only reduces the volume of existing fat cells but also limits the formation of new ones". "Encourages the drainage of fats" - what on earth does that mean?

On the move

I am just about to disconnect the computer from all connections as we leave in about 30 minutes time to travel back to England. I may be back on line tomorrow but as I need to go into work it's unlikely until the evening, roughly 36 hours from now.

I am aware that Papillon has posted again after a long time but with all the preparations for travel I've been unable to do anything other than have a very quick look. Something to do over the weekend.

Moving the goalposts

It was blogging for the environment day yesterday, so only a day late...

African farmers have been encouraged to produce organic crops, both for the price premium they command and because, as the Soil Association says "Organic farming is better for wildlife, causes lower pollution from sprays, produces less carbon dioxide and less dangerous wastes. This has been proven in a number of studies."

Organic production is still gaining popularity, an example being Kenyan coffee producers. The farmers use farm manure instead of fertilisers and natural pest control. The process of becoming organic is slow but ultimately fully organic coffee earns farmers up to $20 premium above the normal rate for every 50 kilo bag.

It is expensive to convert for two reasons:

• During the first four years there is considerable drop in production and almost the whole crop can be lost.
• Farmers have to pay $4500 to be audited for certification.

Having made this sort of commitment, it is no surprise then to read that farmers in Uganda, Ghana and Kenya are worried at the Soil Association's consultation on the question of whether they should remove the organic certification from any product which is air freighted. Reading the summary, I think most people would seem to think that it is unreasonable to ban air freight outright.

It seems especially unreasonable when Africa as a holiday destination is becoming increasingly popular. How galling to see tourists flying in when you are not allowed export your goods by the same means.

Insect life

Yesterday was a glorious sunny day, so I set about tidying up the garden in preparation for leaving. I found it hard to trim things back when there are still some flowers around, like this lavender.

As I was examining it, out jumped this grasshopper on to the vine. Easily led astray, as I am, I picked up the camera and started snapping.

It flew into a bush where it was remarkably well camouflaged.

And another grashopper was making a noise about 100 times bigger than its body.

Finally a green shield bug, basking in the sun on our (one and only) pear.

Basking in the sun sounds like a good idea. Sunny and 23 degrees C here today.

PhotoHunter: smelly

About 10 years ago, or slightly more, we took a short holiday in Turkey, in Istanbul. It was a fascinating place. We didn't have a digital camera in thosae days so these are scans.

We saw the entrance to the University of Istanbul

The Hagia Sophia, originally constructed as a church.

The Ortaköy Mosque

Rumelihisarı or the Rumeli fortress

But my abiding memory is going for a walk in the attractive gardens bordering the Golden Horn, an inlet of the Bosphorus - and being almost overwhelmed by the dreadful smell. So much so that not a single photo was taken! Apparently it used to be well-known for being smelly.

[I know, I know - I cheated!]

Updated to add: if you click on the link I gave above you will see that the cause of smell (pollution) has been sorted out:

"The Golden Horn, once renowned for its green grounds and the unique sea creatures in it, but losing its popularity due to bad smell and pollution in 1990s has regained its unmatched beauty."

Istanbul is a wonderful city and I was not intending to put people off visiting.

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