Today in bring you greeting from Kent. Oh yes, for the first time Diana Watch is being written from outside of Dorchester. Now whilst I agree this this is in no way interesting to anyone I thought I would tell you anyway, after all a lack of entertainment value or interest hasn’t stopped me before. We are here to visit Significant Other’s parents. Kent is a place that confuses me. It is, in parts, very beautiful. The country side is lovely but the new houses that have been built here are just so ugly. They are all about size of frontage and nothing else. They are not aseptically pleasing and they do not fit in with the size of their plot or their surroundings. It’s all about size and how much you can spend. What I did find amusing was that Significant Other turned back into a London driver as soon as we got onto the M25. Accelerating hard at the 2 ft gap in front of us lest anyone else should try on get into it.
Anyway we have not come here to discuss Kentish architecture or driving styles, oh no, we want to know about Princes Diana based headlines and this week there where……….. none, again. It’s getting a bit boring now to be honest but, like James Blunt, I shall carry on despite the pointlessness and futility of it all.
I did watch the BBC’s young musician of the year last week and was going to talk about it then but I was waiting for clips to turn up on Youtube and it is there now so here we go. It was won by Peter Moore, a 12 year old trombonist. The sight of a child playing an instrument that is bigger than he is is at first amusing and, to be honest, remains so but his playing is incredible.

You can check it out on the BBC iPlayer as well, it is worth while.
If you ever wanted to know why football fans are held in such low regard you only have to look at the behaviour of Rangers on Manchester this week, not when their team lost but when a big TV didn’t work and they could watch the match. Annoying I grant you but I think you’ll agree that their response was a little over the top. At one point about 200 fans rounded on approximately 6 Policemen and the officers in question rather sensibly decided to retreat. One of their number became separated from his colleagues and was set upon by around 20 fans, punching and kicking to the ground where the beatings continued. The moment is captured here.


This is sickening behaviour and these people are animals. The problem is they can all breed and raise other little thugs. Violence begats violence whether it is within a family, a community or between nations. It is a continuing cycle.

To more cheery events now.

Baffling award of the Week,

George Lamb, 6music presenter, won a Sony award in the Rising Star category. Have you heard the show? V poor. Lowest common denominator radio. Oh well, I still listen because I love the station.

Flower of the Week,

Elderflower. I love Elderflower because I can cook with it and it has stated to flower profusely this week and that means I can make Elderflower cordial. Here is the recipe if you want to make it yourself and why wouldn’t you? It’s lovely.


Ingredients
20 heads of elderflower
1.8kg granulated sugar, or caster sugar
1.2 litres water
2 unwaxed lemon
75g citric acid

Method
1. Shake the elderflowers to expel any lingering insects, and then place in a large bowl.
2. Put the sugar into a pan with the water and bring up to the boil, stirring until the sugar has completely dissolved.
3. While the sugar syrup is heating, pare the zest of the lemons off in wide strips and toss into the bowl with the elderflowers. Slice the lemons, discard the ends, and add the slices to the bowl. Pour over the boiling syrup, and then stir in the citric acid. Cover with a cloth and then leave at room temperature for 24 hours.
4. Next day, strain the cordial through a sieve lined with muslin (or a new j-cloth rinsed out in boiling water), and pour into thoroughly cleaned glass or plastic bottles. Screw on the lids and pop into the cupboard ready to use.

I think that will do for this week, oh but do check out the website www.guerillagardening.org, it’s fantastic.