Latest Moan From You and Me 2025

Why is it so hard to make a GP appointment? When I turn up there is usually only me and two others in the waiting room with three GPs named as being on duty. Nothing happens for nearly an hour with no one exiting. Then it is in and out even when the GP told me last summer I had lung cancer (turned out to be a false alarm but took a month to notify me). Sent home after open heart surgery in December last year and told GP would be in touch to discuss pills etc. ASAP. 5 weeks later letter arrived to say he can see me this Wednesday. Yes I did contact surgery to be told the GP would be in touch. Well that is my moan for Monday morning.

 

The butchers my nan went to still had sawdust on the floor when I used to visit as a kid, so that will have been 25-30 years ago.

I'm not a meat eater but the only thing that really seems to turn my stomach is tongue. My mother eats it, rolled up, with salad inside.

 

I worked in Hong Kong for a short while. The bits that we throw out are what the chinese think are the best bits - the bony, chewy, gristly bits, including chickens' and ducks' feet. They thought we were strange preferring the breast meat without bones.

 

@shiney cow heel pie?

 

My future MiL (she of the roast giblet bag) had spent several years as a prisoner of the Japanese during WWII. Even when I knew her she still drank the cooled cooking water that she had boiled cabbage and carrots etc in. She swore that it was what had saved her from dying of starvation in the camps.

 

I remember going to the grocers with all the packets piled high and muslin wrapped wheels of cheese, which were cut with a wire. Hams were sliced on a manually turned slicer with no apparent loss of any fingers.
Mum's family were farmers who ate 'nose to tail', but I draw the line at tripe.
When I was born, there was still some rationing, so 'sweets' were out of the question.

 

@Penny_Forthem, in my youth I had a Saturday job in a shop which sold cold meats, cheese, pies etc. We cut the cheese with a wire and carved ham on the bone with a knife - not always very well! There was an old lady who made sandwiches in the cellar - if you had seen her you would never have bought them.

 

There was one of the TV chefs doing something with with a cows nose, that big rubbery bit, a while ago, I think he was using the cheeks as well.

 

Beef cheek is delicious, if slow cooked, much tastier than steak.

 

Beef Cheek is now available in M&S in the Tom Kerridge range of foods.

 

I am not a great meat eater (except chicken) but there is a fabulous Portuguese dish with liver marinated in garlic, white wine and piri piri.

 

I was quite upset to read an opinion columnist's comments about the Trump threat of economic war. Donald is not in power yet and may be all hot air so this was a bit pre-emptive but it is going to rile up a lot of Canucks. I don't think it should have been published. Yes, it is just an opinion but it is inciting.

"The fields of France, the Netherlands and Belgium are soaked with the blood of Canadians who gave their lives to free Europe from fascism in two world wars. Yet there’s not a flicker of concern from them that this country is about to be punished for what? Exporting oil, gas and natural resources at reasonable prices to our neighbour.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been silent. Yet we’re part of the Commonwealth family. We share their parliamentary tradition and head of state. Hundreds of Canadian pilots took to the skies to defend England during the Battle of Britain.

Euopean nations could be peeved that Justin Trudeau unhelpfully shrugged when they needed Canadian energy to fill the gap caused by the war in Ukraine. In 2022, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz came looking for liquefied natural gas and went away empty-handed. That smug isolationism may be coming back to bite us. It may be the reason we’re getting the cold shoulder, while Greenland is a cause célèbre.

Last week, Scholz said, “the principle of the inviolability of borders applies to every country … no matter whether it’s a very small one or a very powerful one.”

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot noted, “There’s obviously no question that the European Union would let other nations of the world attack its sovereign borders.” Greenland, an autonomous region within Denmark, is part of the European Union.

Scholz and Barrot said nothing about economic coercion against a fellow member of NATO. Under Article 5 of the NATO charter, an armed attack on one member is an attack on all members. But what if one NATO member decides to subsume another NATO member economically with tariffs?

Thanks for nothing, guys. Canada gave blood, sweat and tears in defence of European democracy. Now that our democratic rights are threatened, we’re getting crickets. Well, we’ll know better next time."

 

It does seem a bit incendiary, @CanadianLori. I’m not sure reference to the second world war is very relevant in relation to economic tariffs today. A better argument might be, look, if Trump does this to us, do you think he will stop there?

The US has always been a trade bully, but generally it has been large corporations playing dirty, rather than the White House itself, though, of course, these are linked.

I think Trudeau’s very unfortunate links with the WEF and his brand of far-left authoritarianism has maybe changed opinions here about Canada and its trajectory. With Trudeau out, it remains to be seen how things lie politically.

 

Yes, @ViewAhead I guess there is an "expiry date" on reciprocity of past support. It just seemed ridiculous to try to light this fire before the the juiced up orange gets into office!