Overheard in Davos

No.1 Son: "Children don't cost that much - it's just food, water and clothes."

Chairman: "What about vet's bills? Hayley - have we arranged for him to be neutered yet?"

They're holding some economic mega-forum, where the fate if the universe will be decided on the basis of astrology, in a place called Davos. The place just sounds incredibly evil, doesn't it?

Talking of money, the political parties are busy blaming each other for the £1m bonus that the Royal Bank of Scotland Boss is to contractually receive. At the same time, he's being told he needs to: "Think like a public servant who has a duty to his country, not just his own wealth." I guess that means he should go on strike.

Pointless in Scotland

Those little coats for dogs; what the hell is the point?

If they came with pockets where dogs could keep their loose change, smoking implements and condoms then fine, but otherwise they are totally useless in the British climate - arguably in any climate. It may have escaped some dog owners, but most animals come with built-in coats.

Just because you're a bit chilly, it doesn't mean to say your pooch is. More than likely he will be highly embarrassed in front of his mates with one of these daft coats on.

The chap above's doggy kilt reminds me that Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond, has set out the question he intends to ask voters in a referendum on independence. While I firmly believe people should be democratically free to vote for whatever they desire, my own question would be: "Why?"

Reading this analysis of the benefits, it seems to me that the key benefit is 4,500 more jobs for politicians and the like - and I'd call that more a drain than a possible benefit.  This would be off-set by an additional 7,000 private sector jobs - and they'd need at least that many to fund the first 4,500. Like hosting the Olympics, independence is something that's driven more by bare emotion than logic - Salmond knows that and plays to it.

I could understand it if the drive for independence was driven by a memory of independence, but the last time the place was independent was 300 years ago, and the Scots are not exactly an oppressed minority. Silly, blatant jingoism.

New Job

The ex captain of the Costa Concordia, Francesco Schettino, started his new job as a bus driver yesterday.

Thanks to my mate Phil for this.

Human Shields on Sepia Tuesday in Holland

The bishops are saying the coalition government must ensure that the proposed benefit cap doesn't put children into poverty. While I agree, methinks a small number of feckless parents who have never worked  hide behind a human shield of tens of children.

Following from Sunday's post (and Alan Burnett's suggestion that I might be joining Sepia Saturday), I've posted another photo received from my Dutch cousin in France.

This one shows me with (left to right) cousins Joopie, Nan (who sent me the photo and is the elder sister of Joop), Henny and my elder brother Jan. It must have been taken in around 1957, possibly in Vlaardingen (on the outskirts of Rotterdam).

Only one Dutch cousin is missing - the other Joopie, Henny's younger brother.

My brother was originally also called Joopie (the diminutive of Joop - short for Johannes), but on moving to the UK my mother changed it to his 2nd forename of Jan (after my dad), as the kids at school kept calling him Dopey Joopie.

Unbalanced Advertising

I hear that following the PIP breast implant debacle, the plastic surgeons' professional body wants to stop the advertising of 2 for 1s. 

I trust they are not referring to breast implants, where I would expect a client would be offered 2 for 1 as standard. 

Dutch Cousins

I have been talking via FaceBook to my long-lost Dutch cousin who has lived in France for many years. She and I have shared some family history - specifically photos. She has some I had never seen and I have some she had never seen. 

We're going to arrange a family reunion of the English, Dutch and French contingents over the next 12 months. 

This one is one she gave me and is of my grandfather and grandmother - or opa and oma. Opa was born in 1882 and died in 1947.

Salad Days in Irish Chipping Sodbury

I'm really impressed by Israeli wines. They don't go in for bulk production, being mainly made by small, boutique vineyards. Being limited in production they aren't cheap, but of exceedingly good quality.

I can particularly recommend last night's libation - Binyamina Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2007, which accompanied my lamb kebabs and roasted vegetables. 

Having starved since the previous night, I ordered what was shown on the menu as lamb kebabs with salad, thinking it would be just a small dish. Wasn't expecting the feast that came. Only managed about half of it before feeling fully sated.

A hideously healthy concoction of seared egg plant with tahini, a very nice avocado and garlic dip, a platter of roasted peppers, sweet potato and fennel, marinated sweet peppers, marinated tomatoes, deep-fried potatoes and bread to die for. Total bill, 139 Shekels, or £23.68, including the half bottle of wine.

Eat an Israeli salad and you'll never touch a Greek salad again; a plethora of different compositions, each having multiple, complex layers of flavours and comprising a cornucopia of vegetables. Greek salads are quite pedestrian and bland by comparison. 

Israeli food has so many influences; Mediterranean, Arab, Ethiopian, eastern European, Berber and western European - as many as the peoples that came together to forge Israel.

Talking of food, Hay and I are attending an Irish-themed (don't ask) Chipping Sodbury Yacht Club Burns Night dinner on Saturday evening. Dress is meant to be a melange of Scots and Irish, but I don't have anything suitable. Thinking of going in a DJ and tarting up my travel bum-bag as a make-shift sporran. It promises to be a raucous night, and if you know Chipping Sodbury Yacht Club, you'll know why - a condition of membership is that you cannot own a boat or have pretensions to becoming a member of a real yacht club. The annual regatta held on the river Frome (a stream at best and a puddle in droughts) is a sight to behold.

Caesar Salad

About 20 of us went out for a meal in the old port of Caesarea last night (it’s a ruin which has been partially reconstructed as a tourist attraction and houses a couple of restaurants). I always return from one of these Israeli dinners feeling hungrier than when I first went out. 

You get a variety of disgustingly healthy small courses which don’t really add up to much and are shared between three or four of you. Not wanting to appear greedy, the natural British tendency is to restrain oneself and take only a small amount from the shared plate. 

I’d rather have a mountain of steak I can call my own and fill my belly, but there again I am trying to lose some weight while here for the week by cutting down dramatically on what I eat.

Leave it to Mum

Israel / Iran

Flying out to Israel today for our 2012 kick-off sales meeting at HQ. Just hope the Israelis don't decide to have a go at Iran till after I return on Friday.