3am. No lessons from history!

Fleck
Wed 1 May 2013 13:33
1st May, 2013
 
Position 12:42.3S 09:07.6W
 
3am. Yes, awake, and yes, boat banging about, but tonight lots of bubbling sea and breeze trying to bend my overextended whisker pole into a boomerang. Furl Yankee, shorten pole, unfurl yankee leaving three rolls around the forstay, peace restored. But not entirely, as something is spooking the Sea-me. Every hour or so, but not precisely, I am painted by someones's radar for about a minute at a time. No visual sighting, AIS screen blank. I suspect that some medium sized ship below the horizon is turning his radar on and off, mayby to check up on me? It lasted 5 hours, so he must have been moving quite slowly. Unsolved mystery.
 
May day then, and in Revolutionary France M. Guilloten's clever device is hard at work. Having never been to see Les Mis., either on stage or screen, I know nothing about the French Revolution, except, were they not the best of times / the worst of times (Never got the hang of Dickens either!)? So H Mantel's take is welcome: the whole thing orchestrated by middle class tinklers with a mix of idealism and avarice: who would have thought it! Hilary (she knows what we like) is fascinated by the sexual mores of the time, the normality of adultery, and the acquiescnece of both sexes to the status quo; and the terrible facts of maternal mortality. You would have thought that the novelty 'English overcoats' would have been a welcome addittion to the boudoir, but, then as now, they were objects of derision. I don't think that it is 'telling' to explain the title: the 'place of greater safety' does indeed turn out to be the grave!
 
St Helena veg.curry:
Soften sliced onions in olive oil, add thin sliced potatoes (shuffle them first to stop them sticking together), garlic, cumin seeds, ginger, star anise, maybe some chillis, curry powder if you must, and stir fry until potato slices begin to soften. Add a tin of coconut cream, some ground almonds, and a tin of Ratatouille. Simmer until the potatoes are exactly to your liking. The bad news: I only have one tin of ratatouille left, I wonder what it will be like with mushy peas (6 tins).