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I must admit that  my image of Bronze Age and other ‘ages’ people are more primitive than they may have been in reality.  I imagine cavemen with clubs. This portrayal I now see is far from accurate.  Were they less intelligent than us or just differently informed?   If we look at so-called primitive or indigenous societies today we find they are far better able to take care of themselves in for example times of shortage then us ‘civilized’ people. They had no supermarkets or convenience stores. What would we do without them and how long would we be able to sustain life?  I’m sure our future would be far less certain than these historic people

See above the ‘amazing’ facial reconstruction of a Bronze Age woman discovered crouching in a 4,200-year-old grave
More than 4,000 years ago, a young woman who died in what is now Scotland was buried in a crouched position within a stone-lined grave. She remained buried for millennia, until excavators at a stone quarry unexpectedly unearthed her bones in 1997. Read the article if you wish.

A quote for a gardening job – with a twist

I spoke to someone yesterday and agreed to come round at 10 o’clock today  for viewing the job.  I expected to see a man of middle to late 60s appear at the door but instead it was what turned out to be his mother.  She was well dressed, well composed and articulate and it turned out she was 84 years of age.

The job – When people plant hedges they often mix varieties and we had the normal private hedge with a foreground of four bushes that had been planted far too close.  People should speak with an expert before doing any such planting because the expert will know what the genre will look like in 10 years time and what their requirements will be in terms of physical space and nutrition needs.   Putting it another way  that through making the wrong choice you can make a rod for your own back in the longer term because of more expensive maintenance costs.

This is the first time in my gardening career that I would have preferred to deal with the mother  of the client not the actual client. The son, with whom I arranged the visiting time, was not there.  That should have rung alarm bells.  I quoted between £100-£150,  the majority to be spent on re leveling the five meter long dense hedge which, my dear reader, is far more difficult than you may think.   The mother had been trying her best with shears but you cannot do such a job without fairly heavy equipment.   When we left, she said she would have a word with her son.   I am not holding my breath.

Is this a warning or a scam?

For those of you that are not aware of things that are going on behind the scenes the overall plan is to reduce people’s dependency on meat to an occasional treat and encourage people to eat bugs, crickets, meal worms, grasshoppers, flies and the like. Anyone any idea why this should be the case?

NOT all it says on the tin – Mince pies

Francoise discouraged me  from buying a packet of six mince pies as an early Christmas celebration. I love mince pies and eating  them makes me sentimental.  Curious, I went back to the store to see exactly what was in the tempting Christmasy  package. Normally I never read the ingredients if I am in a hurry and/or like the product.

The main ingredients are (roll of drums)  mince meat filling 46%, apple puree 17%

The puree needs preservatives namely potassium sorbate, sodium
metabisulfites and also sulfites, sulphur dioxide

We then have Sultanas 16%, raisins 12% glycose syrup, sugar, humectant: vegetable glycerine; currants 5% ,dextrose, candid mixed peel consisting of orange peel, glucose-fructose syrup, sugar, lemon peel

We then have for some reason an acidity regulator: citric acid

We then have preservatives: sulphur dioxide then rapeseed oil vegetable suet (vegetable oils both palm and sunflower)    then we have fortified wheat flour (wheat flour, calcium carbonate, iron, niacin, thiamin)

 We then have black treacle, ground mixed spice ( cassia, coriander, ginger, nutmeg, caraway, clove)

We then have a acetic  acid

and for good measure  fortified wheat flour (wheat flour, calcium carbonate, iron, niacin, thiamin)  vegetable oils, palm and rapeseed,   glucose syrup, butter – cows milk 3%,  sugar, salt.

Raising agents: disodium diphosphate, sodium bicarbonate

I don’t know how much research has been done on substances added to preserve the life beyond its natural span, I don’t know about the origin of the ingredients and whether they react with each other in a way that is unfavorable to the body. I don’t know how much of the flavoring is safe or necessary. In fact, there is a lot I don’t know. Should I trust food manufacturers to have my best interests at heart?

I asked myself that if I were to make these from ingredients, how long this list would be. Picking one or two at random: