by Fern Shaw | Dec 24, 2014 | water cooler, Water Coolers
The Tradition of the Christmas Pudding
We all should know by now that I have a great love of food, celebration, festivals, traditions – I can wax lyrical for hours. Waxing the floor (i.e. domestic work), not so much.
I was hard pressed to choose what Christmas dish to blog about, but seeing as there are so many, I had to choose, so I girlied up and made a decision.
*Christmas (or Plum) Pudding is the traditional end to the British Christmas dinner. But what we think of as Christmas Pudding, is not what it was originally like.
Christmas pudding originated as a 14th century porridge called ‘frumenty’ that was made of beef and mutton with raisins, currants, prunes, wines and spices. This would often be more like soup and was eaten as a fasting meal in preparation for the Christmas festivities.
By 1595, frumenty was slowly changing into a plum pudding, having been thickened with eggs, breadcrumbs, and dried fruit and given more flavour with the addition of beer and spirits. It became the customary Christmas dessert around 1650, but in 1664 the Puritans banned it as a bad custom.
In 1714, King George I re-established it as part of the Christmas meal, having tasted and enjoyed Plum Pudding. By Victorian times, Christmas Puddings had changed into something similar to the ones that are eaten today.
Although Christmas Puddings are eaten at Christmas, some customs associated with the pudding are about Easter. The decorative sprig of holly on the top of the pudding is a reminder of Jesus’ Crown of Thorns that he wore when he was killed. Brandy or another alcoholic drink is sometimes poured over the pudding and lit at the table to make a spectacular display. This is said to represent Jesus’ love and power.
In the Middle Ages, holly was also thought to bring good luck and to have healing powers. It was often planted near houses in the belief that it protected the inhabitants.
During Victorian times, puddings in big and rich houses were often cooked in fancy moulds, like those one would pour jelly into. These were often in the shapes of towers or castles. Normal people just had puddings in the shape of balls. If the pudding was a bit heavy, they were called cannonballs.
Putting a silver coin in the pudding is another age-old custom that is said to bring luck to the person that finds it. In the UK the coin traditionally used was silver ‘six pence’.
The tradition seems to date back to the Twelfth Night Cake which was eaten during the festivities on the ‘Twelfth Night’ of Christmas (the official end of the Christmas celebrations). Originally a dried pea or bean was baked in the cake and whoever got it, was ‘king or queen’ for the night. There are records of this practice going back to the court of Edward II (early 1300s). The bean was also sometimes a silver ring of small crown. The first coins used were a Silver Farthing or penny. After WW1 it became a threepenny bit and then a sixpence.
I remember with great fondness, the pouring and lighting of the brandy over the Christmas Pud (only time I could ever stomach brandy) and then the anticipation of carefully searching your slice to see if you had the lucky silver piece in it. I’ve put the suggestion forward to HOD, Mrs Furtheringstoke, to see if we could have a Christmas pud lighting ritual around the water cooler before we close up shop this year, but, meanie that she is, as soon as she heard me mention ‘brandy’ and ‘set the pud alight’, she deep sixed that idea. Pfft! It’s fine though, I’ve already started up a secret society of the Papa Uniform Delta. Instructions to follow. Foxtrot, Echo, Romeo, November, out.
*excerpts from a delightful article at Why Christmas
by Fern Shaw | Oct 23, 2014 | water cooler
As you may have gathered by now, I spend an inordinate amount of time water cooling. This doesn’t mean cooling by water (although this does play a part if you get what I mean, kind of, sort of) but rather that I lurk a lot at our office water cooler.
Before you get the idea that this is all about me skiving off, let me assure that this not.
Being at the water cooler garners a number of positive results – here are just a few for you to consider:
- It can mean a very effective manner of garnering office info (apart from all the current skinny endemic to an office environment). Because most people tend to socialise when they’re being watered or fed, you’re sure to pick up on some hot tips about what’s happening in the workplace.
- Setting a routine that involves you moving away from your work station; moving around and replenishing your water can only be good for your posture, well-being and hydration health.
- This in turn will keep you feeling refreshed, more ‘switched on’ and more likely to handle workload pressure.
- You get to meet colleagues that you perhaps haven’t met before past the ubiquitous e-mail contact.
In extreme situations (i.e. being around me), being around the water cooler can also mean:
- You get to lighten up your day by lounge-lizarding around the water cooler, who knows, you may well hear a cracker joke that will just make your day.
- You can play {safety first people!} water cooler games e.g.
- Who makes the best water bottle gloomph;
- Have a 20 second corniest word association face-off with a colleague – will keep you sharp witted if nothing else;
- Play a water version of beer pong where you have to down water in place of beer – borinnnng I know, but mate, you are at work!
- In the autumn and winter months, buy some tropical island type, neon coloured corkscrew straws and offer them up to colleagues when they come for water refills.
Told ya, loads of reasons to hang around the water cooler and most of them are good for you. See you there!
by Fern Shaw | Oct 8, 2014 | Charity, water cooler, Water Coolers
When you type blogs in English English (not a typo), but your Office is set to American English (default for the globe it would seem) you very quickly develop a sense of humour or humor, with all the typo’s in the different spellings e.g. organise vs. organize; and then with measurements – litres or liters vs. gallons, etcetera, etcetera.
So, imagine my delight when I was advised that the AquaAid Group were water winging their way across the Atlantic and opening up a bottleless water cooler company in the States. The United States of America that is. This meant that for once, when I typed a blog, my spell and grammar check would take seconds instead of minutes.
Even more amazing is that their flagship company HQ is in the City of Luuurve, San Francisco. We will be supplying bottles water coolers all around the San Francisco and (can it even get any better!) San José and Sacramento, all in the (uno momento as I remap my map brain to see states vs. counties) very fabulous (translate), rather marvelous State of Californ I A. Yessiree Bob, we’ve arrived!
Before you get all worked up and think your fave blogista is in town, sadly, this is not the case. When I heard that AquaAid was opening up in the City of Love, I did suggest that perhaps I should be on the scouting party list, but I gathered from the deafening silence that this was unlikely to happen. That’s OH KAY though, as I get to be involved in the manner that I’m best accustomed to – in cyberspace.
As you may have noticed from the different spelling in the logo above, AquAid in the States will be known as AquaAid, to avoid any confusion as to its pronunciation.
As Uffe Hansen, Group Manager of AquAid, says, “We really believe that our mix of high quality products, great service and charitable donations will be a winner in the US Market, as it has been in the UK. We are starting with one office in San Francisco, but hope to open a second in Los Angeles within 18 months”,
More relevant information about us:
Water coolers are our business, and making the world a better place is our passion. That’s what drives us to deliver exceptional products and service to all of our customers.
The AquaAid Group has been supplying bottleless water coolers since its foundation in 1998. Today, we supply an estimated 30,000 customers with 55,000 water coolers from 26 depots.
Our day to day focus is based on solid business principles:
- High quality water coolers, from US manufacturers.
- Environmentally friendly products, removing the need for deliveries of bottled water around the country.
- Most advanced filtration in the bottleless water cooler industry.
- Six-monthly servicing of water coolers, offering peace of mind that your water cooler will always dispense the highest quality water.
- Next day call-outs in the rare event your water cooler develops a fault.
- Local service. No call centers, no sub-contract engineers, just good honest service from a company you can trust.
So, there you have it – we’ve gone Stateside. If you’re planning to relocate to the States, you can now ‘take’ AquAid or AquaAid, rather, with you. If you’re already there, get in touch, we have a dynamic team happy to assist.
by Fern Shaw | Oct 7, 2014 | Health and Hydration, Water, water cooler
There I was, playing with the water cooler bottle (I love making the water gloomph, Mrs Furtheringstoke not so much) when it suddenly occurred to me – what makes a water fall a waterfall? Is it a height, volume, water per second thing or what?
Inspired, I made the water gloomph one more time before racing back to my station and hopping on web. The nitty gritty:
Height
The primary qualifier is the height of a waterfall as it is the most visually indicative of a change in elevation. Depending on the average discharge of the stream along which the waterfall occurs, there are two different qualifiers for the height of a waterfall:
- Perennial Streams – Waterfalls occurring along streams which maintain a discernible volume of water throughout the year must drop at least 15 vertical feet (4m) to qualify for inclusion.
- Intermittent Streams – Waterfalls occurring along streams which run dry for part of the year must drop at least 50 vertical feet (15m) to qualify for inclusion.
Additionally, the drop of the waterfall in question must conform to the definition of Waterfall:
“A well-defined change in slope, velocity, aeration or agitation of the water within a stream over an immediately abrupt distance, where an identifiable loss in elevation may be perceived due to non-uniformity of the underlying geologic structures.”
… and as such must have an easily identifiable top and bottom, and must fall as a result of contacting or being interrupted by solid bedrock rather than talus, boulders or rock lying on top of the earth.
Seasonality
Should a waterfall along an intermittent stream qualify based on height, it needs to meet a secondary requirement of flowing consistently for at least one month out of the year. This stipulation is meant to prevent rainstorm fuelled waterfalls (such as those seen throughout Arizona’s Grand Canyon) from being included when they meet the 50-foot requirement.
After all this fact, being me, I got totally distracted by all the pretty waterfalls. These are 5 of the most beautiful around the world:
Nohkalikai Falls is found in India. Water falls down for 1100 ft. (335 m). Although the feeding stream is only 1.5 miles (2 km) long, Nohkalikai is still very impressive. A pool is formed below the fall, in which the water receives its green colour.
Sutherland Falls are located in Fiordland, New Zealand. With its 1902 ft. (580 m) plunge it is one of the tallest waterfalls in the world. It falls in three cascades that create this unique landscape. It was named after its discoverer Donald Sutherland in 1880.
Yosemite Falls is the highest waterfall in North America. It drops 2,425 ft. (739 m) in the Sierra Nevada, California. The source of water is melting snow, therefore sometimes the stream may cease due to a little amount of snow. Plitvice Falls are found in Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia. They are not very high falls, but are stunning due to the many cascades the water has to overcome. There are hundreds of waterfalls. The colour of water varies from crystal clear to azure, to turquoise.
And finally, we have the Gullfoss (Golden Falls) in Iceland. Gullfoss is a magnificent waterfall located in southwest Iceland. Not particularly high (two 36 ft. /11 m and 68 ft. /21 m plunges), however, it is very beautiful. Due to a crevice, the river Hvítá seems to disappear into the abyss.
Next week we have a look-see at the top 5 out of 10 most beautiful waterfalls around the world. As for me, I’m back off to make the water gloomph again. Shaw out.
by Fern Shaw | Oct 7, 2014 | water cooler
Yes, it’s come to that. I’m addressing my fears. I know I’m probably one of millions of arachnophobes the world over, but when it comes to this particular fear, I’m only really interested in how it applies to me. And in case you were wondering as to why there’s a pretty photo of a spider’s web and not the topic at hand, all I can say is ‘are you barking mad’ that you imagine an arachnophobe would add to their misery but pasting an image of the dreaded creatures anywhere.
I read recently that apparently spiders are repelled by peppermint oil. Joy abounded, until I did a little research and found out that the peppermint oil doesn’t work. Hmpf – back to square one. You might wonder why I’m going to such lengths to use a natural repellent vs. a manufactured chemical and it goes something like this: your average tin of Raid is chock full of serious chemicals (that most creatures are resistant to anyway) and you’re willingly spraying them in your home. As per some pop speak of today would ask – what’s up with that? Of course, when it comes to a pathological fear, one must take into account that in the past I was known to empty an entire tin of bug spray onto a spider – we don’t mess around spider size where I live – and then spend the next few days sleeping on the patio because of the fumes generated from the attack.
Another idea was to buy those cutesy little bubble type spray bottles – brightly coloured, of course – we all know what a sucker I am for the colourful – fill them with lemon water and try spraying the critters into submission. Ya, right – that went down like the proverbial Hindenburg.
So, for now, it would seem that I’m pretty much stuck. Not prepared to get in close enough to handle the things, which means no guaranteed outcome and also not prepared to chemical the nasty 8 leggers into submission. ‘Tis a quandary.
It’s such a shame, really, as when I think about the beauty that spiders produce – what’s more delicate and feat of nature gasp out loud amazing than a dew spread spider web I ask? Or the facts that spiders will munch most of the other in-house nasties like mozzies and flies?
I’ve had my ideas laughed at (a lot) around the water cooler and when the riff-raff heard of my water bottle spray deterrent, that provoked roars of laughter heard as far as the mailroom underground. But it’s fine, I’ll come up with something. They’re a pretty useless bunch anyhow, I’ve noticed that not one of them has come up with any useful ideas as it is, so what they’ve got to crow about, I’ve no idea.
by Fern Shaw | Sep 12, 2014 | Water, water cooler
Summer is winding down to a close – we’ve all had (hopefully) our summer hols, gloried in our blooming gardens and green spaces, watered the lawn, rejoiced in the warm temperatures and generally had a jolly good old time.
Now late summer progresses into autumn and with it comes a new set of to-do’s for your gardens in preparation for the winter months –
September is generally a cooler, gustier month than August and the days are noticeably shorter. While there’s not as much to do in the ornamental garden at this time of the year, if you have a fruit or vegetable patch, you’ll be busy reaping the rewards of harvest. It’s also time to get out and start planting spring-flowering bulbs for next year and you can collect seeds for next summer’s colour too.
1 – Divide herbaceous perennials.
2 – Pick autumn raspberries.
3 – Collect and sow seed from perennials and hardy annuals.
4 – Dig up remaining potatoes before slug damage spoils them.
5 – Net ponds before leaf fall gets underway.
6 – Keep up with watering of new plants, using rain or grey water if possible.
7 – Start to reduce the frequency of houseplant watering.
8 – Clean out cold frames and greenhouses so that they are ready for use in the autumn.
9 – Cover leafy vegetable crops with bird-proof netting.
10 – Plant spring flowering bulbs.
* Excerpts from an article in the Royal Horticultural Society
