Moo Brew and other things that go in your mouth

My friend Jurgen is kind of like my Blog Guru. And he's come up with a pearler, courtesy of the fab boys and girls at Moorilla Estate winery, who now also own a brewery called Moo Brew.

For the benefit of any english people here, a 'bogan' is like a chav, but Australian instead of English.

Job perks that make you smile

Some of you will know already that I have a kind-of new job – same gorgeous people (!) but working to reduce carbon emissions from big public sector bodies, like government departments and the whole of Her Majesty's Prison Service. It’s so lovely to have a job that offers a mind stretch again.

One of the perks of the job is a company laptop, which is great for getting stuff done on the train between Oxford and London – I head down on average once a week. We've got this funky wireless internet connection thing happening, which picks up random networks as the train passes. You’ve gotta laugh at the things people call the networks… today my browser found one called “Big Floppy Donkey D!ck”. It’s an unsecured network, which means anyone can get a piece of it… if you dare...

‘Nother upside is the company sponsored travel. I’m sure I’ll tire of it in time – I’d hate to commute daily - but I’ve had some cracking nights out after work, catching up with friends who live in the big smoke. Today’s bonus came in the form of meetings at Elephant and Castle (yes this IS really a London suburb… see pic below!) then Denmark Hill, the latter needing a train from London Bridge.

Copyright Bert Hardy

Walking from one to the other takes about 15 minutes and really demands a deviation past the Borough Market, which for my money is London’s best foodie spot bar none. It's officially London's oldest food market, said to have been established by the romans. It's occupied its present spot, tucked in next to Southwark cathedral and not far from the Thames, for a measly 250 years.

But such food! Think French cheeses, polish sausage, tapas ingredients, seasonal game meats, sweets, ciders, organic veg and a wicked selection of baked goods. My first ever Chelsea Bun came from Borough Market – I’m yet to taste better.

They were out of Chelsea buns today, so I had to settle for some duck legs, venison sausages and poussin stuffed with chestnuts.

Yum....

A bad day for re-enactors everywhere

One of the most-oft-asked questions of historical re-enactors is whether swordfighting is dangerous. We talk about the strong emphasis on safety, the training we undergo with sword, axe, spear or lance before we can take part in combats, and the way our weapons are modified to make them safer.

Yes, we acknowledge, bruises are common, but even a small cut is uncommon and very rarely, someone is seriously hurt as a result of a freak accident (and, occasionally, a bit of stupidity). Until today I knew of no re-enacting fatalities, although I'm sure they exist.

To the family of the chap that passed away recently after a freak jousting accident at Rockingham Castle, in Leicestershire, my deepest sympathies. I hope that, if anything can give comfort at such a sad time, it's the knowledge that he no doubt died doing something he loved enormously, and in all likelihood with a massive grin on his face.

GEEK alert: Carbon tax vs carbon trade at the London School of Economics

My friend 'Alex from the AGO' (who doesn't actually work for the Australian Greenhouse Office anymore, cos he lives in London) suggested we go see this debate at the London School of Economics, which is near where we both work.

Geeky, I know, but we're like that.

First thing I noticed was there there wasn't a presentation aid in sight. Some spoke without notes. This was proper old fashioned oratory and highschool-style debating, except that the protagonists were blokes of clout in their 40s and 50s, like the head of carbon trading at Merril Lynch (big global firm).

I realised that, as a society doing business, we've gotten too reliant on powerpoint.

Then there was one of those 'holy crap I'm in London moments', where I looked up at the ornate, soaring ceiling and realised that I was in one of the leading schools for business thinking in the world, and that not only did I understand what was going on, but I had a bunch of questions I wanted to ask. So I did - skite!

If anyone's interested, the general arguments seemed to be that trading supposedly encourages businesses to be more innovative (although I've seen some companies come up with innovative ideas for getting out of paying the UK carbon tax, called the Climate Change Levy), while a tax gives business more certainty about the 'price' of carbon. However trading is bad because you can't trust businesses to do the right thing... and taxes are bad because you can't trust government to do the right thing.

In the words of one debater: "We can argue all we like about one or the other, at the end of the day we have to have something and in practical terms we'll probably have both".

At the end of it, the issue seemed to be less about what mechanism you use to raise funds/put a price on carbon and more on the fact that we have to do that somehow if we want people to recognise that emitting carbon is bad, and that the most important thing is that the money raised should be used (as it is in the UK) to help businesses and others embrace a low carbon economy.

I wrote an essay that reached broadly that conclusion during my masters - I confess I had a moment of smugness...

Why Garlic is Good For You

My mum used to make us take garlic tablets for colds when we were young - they stank your breath for days. Then they invented odourless garlic.

Then I learned to cook real food.

Now, after having centuries of wisewomen having good hunches, medicoes have it sussed. The Age reveals just why garlic is good: it makes your body produce rotten egg gas (H2S), just enough to make your heart healthy, but not enough to smell... apparently

Warning: don't die in the snow this winter

with love from... your boss xo

After the crappest summer on record, now the weather people are predicting the coldest harshest winter in years for England this year. Mind you, these are the same weather people who promised us one of the hottest summers on record... so maybe I shouldn't be too worried!!

My employer, however, is doing the right thing and getting us all to be careful out there this chilly season. This official warning from the government tells conscientious drivers how to stay safe this winter. My advice? Stick to public transport - if it's cancelled, you get your money back and have a great excuse for being late to work!!