Holiday Online Planning

A few tips to help get the best of an online search (2016 advice).

Air flights: Always clear the search history on your computer. Most sites use cookies to keep track of whether you've visited before and will boost the prices each time you go back. Change your country of residence to the destination - airlines often have better rates for locals. Skyscanner.net has a price alert feature to notify you when prices change on a specific route and their 'Everywhere' search tool finds the cheapest destinations for your specific date period. [Serena Guen of Suitcase magazine.]

Tuesdays are the cheapest days to book flights, and Fridays are consistently the most expensive. Generally the best fares are advertised 50 days before departure. Flights between 6pm and midnight are usually cheaper. Seatguru.com shows seating charts on all sorts of flights; details include whether a row does not recline, which seat is closest to the loo and where there is extra legroom. [Phil Bloomfield of cheapflights.co.uk]

Feature in Glamour, August 2016

Spices as Health Aids

Turmeric: The yellow pigments, especially curcumin, have an anti-inflammatory action. Add it dried or fresh to Asian dishes, smoothies and juices.

Ginger: Fast-acting compounds called gingerols and shogaols can calm nausea. Grate into stir fries, soups or porridge. Or ad 1cm sliced root to 500ml water for a hot drink.

Garlic: Contains germ-fighting phytochemicals allicin and ajoene. Can decrease frequency of colds. It becomes active when cut, so chop or crush first when adding to recipes.

Cinnamon: Helps regulate blood sugar, improves insulin resistance and helps metabolise fat, and studies show it helps if you have type 2 diabetes. Add a teaspoon or more to porridge, smoothies or baking. The sweet flavour makes it easier to cut your daily sugar intake.

Fennel seed: It can help with pre-menstrual symptoms. Seeds are packed with essential oils that help relax muscle spasms, so can help with various cramps, from menstrual to digestive to mucular. Drink strong fennel tea: use 1 to 2 teaspoons of seeds, crushed to release the oils.

Found in Glamour, Sep. 2016

Petition for a Second Referendum on Leaving the EU

Thr Leave campaign was not at all sure of winning the EU Referendum, and in May 2016, before the vote, one Leave supporter set up a petition on the government website calling for a re-run if certain conditions were not met, ironically by citing an EU regulation.

EU referendum Rules triggering a 2nd EU Referendum. We the undersigned call upon HM Government to implement a rule that if the remain or leave vote is less than 60% based a turnout less than 75% there should be another referendum.

Following the Leave campaign's narrow majority in the referendum, this was discovered by Remain voters and, since the wording made no mention of a link to the Leave campaign, decided to use it to register their anger and dismay. This became the most successful petition so far, with 3,604,489 votes registered on the 27 June (just 4 days after the 23 June vote) rising to 4,014,235 just two days later. On 9 July, with petition votes at 4,126, 424, the Goverment response was that there would be no re-run as the Referendum Act had received Royal Assent with no threshold or minumum turnout required (in retrospect a disastrous mistake).

As the petition continued to receive votes, a Parliamentary debate was scheduled for 5 September (sadly this was held in a small meeting room attended by a small number of MPs rather than a full debate by the House, and was only broadcast on Parliament TV not broadcast by BBC or ITV). The debate came to the same conclusion as the government response. At the time of the debate, votes had risen to 4,144,422 and though smaller numbers were voting each day, people continued to register their feelings about the result, so that when the petition closed on 25 November, a total of 4,150,259 people had supported the petition.

END

Changing Mobile Phones, Tablets or Computers?

Before you pass on or sell an old device, make sure you clear it of all pesonal information.

iPhone or iPad with an iCloud account? Sign out before getting rid of the device. Go to Settings > iCloud, then scroll to bottom and tap Sign Out. Press Sign Out again from the warning displayed on screen.

Remove SIM card (and MicroSD card if you use one). Run a factory reset; this will remove any files stored on the device, and erase any accounts such as Facebook or Twitter.

• On iPhone or iPad. Go to Settings > General and scroll down and press Reset. From here, select Erase All Content And Settings. If you have a passcode on the phone, you will need to enter that before the resest can take place.
• On Google. Go to Settings > Backup & Reset. From here, select Factory Data Reset, then Reset Phone on the screen displayed.
• On Windows. Go to Settings app and select System. Choose About, and press Reset Your Phone to make a factory reset.
• On a Windows tablet. Go to Settings > Update & Security > Recovery (in options on left hand side of screen). Under Reset This PC, tap Get Started, then Erase Everything from the options displayed.

Computers with hard drives or solid state drives (SSD). These have a type of memory that cannot be wiped as easily as smartphones and tablets. You should remove the hard drive before selling or recycling and smash it with a hammer to ensure your personal data stored on it cannot be retrieved. You can buy a replacement hard drive, or state that the device does not have one when you sell it.

Feature in Good Housekeeping, May 2016

Bacteriophages

Growing numbers of bacteria are becoming resistant to our most powerful drugs, evolving into new strains – often called ‘superbugs’ – that we can no longer kill. Already drug resistance kills over 700,000 people globally every year and could cause an extra 10 million deaths a year by 2050. A completely different approach to killing bacteria is to use viruses.

Naturally occurring viruses called bacteriophages (from the Greek meaning ‘bacteria-eaters’) are harmless to people but lethal to bacteria. When a phage encounters its prey, it latches onto the outside and injects its own DNA inside the cell. This reproduces inside the bacterium and then the ‘daughter phages’ burst through the cell walls, before latching onto more bacteria and repeating the cycle until all the bacteria have been killed – and the infection has been dealt with.

First discovered by two different scientists – the Briton Frederick Twort in 1915 and the French-Canadian Felix d’Herelle in 1917, but it was d’Herelle who pioneered phage therapy. Abandoned in the west when antibiotics were discovered and came into common use in the 1940s. In Stalin’s Soviet Republic however, access to antibiotics was limited, so phage therapy continued and a phage therapy centre founded in Tbilisi, Georgia, became a leading centre for phage research.

Unlike antibiotics, which target a broad range of bacteria, each phage kills only one type or strain, so scientists begin by taking bacterial samples from patients and finding a phage from the lab that can kill that particular bacteria. It is much harder for bacteria to develop resistance to phages due to their diversity, their ability to evolve and their sheer abundance. Bacteriophages are actually the most abundant life form on earth – there are far more phages than there are stars in the visible universe. So if bacteria evolve to resist a particular phage, the scientists simply turn to their extensive phage library, or to nature, to find another. They also create what are known as ‘phage cocktails’ – mixtures of different phages that attack bacteria from different angles and make it much more difficult for them to develop resistance.

Currently phage therapy is not approved or regulated in the west and this is the next big challenge. The good news is that the first large scale, western standard clinical trials have now begun, so hopefully in future we see this incredible 100 year old therapy returning to Europe to help us beat the superbugs.

Related links

• George Eliava Institute of Bacteriophages, Microbiology and Virology (www.eliava-institute.org)
• Phagoburn – European clinical study on phage therapy (www.eliava-institute.org)
• Phage research at the University of Leicester (www2.le.ac.uk)

[My note: The pharmaceutical industry has little or no interest in bacteriophages as they cannot be patented.]

Could viruses called bacteriophages be the answer to the antibiotic crisis? BBC 2 Trust me, I'm a Doctor, Series 5, Episode 1 (1 Sep. 2016). 

Loud TV Background Music

Every now and again the Radio Times has letters from readers expressing their problems with overloud background music to documentaries. Here is a response from a reader describing a possible reason for the problem.

The writer works in the field of Applied Psychology, specialising in speech intelligibility,and was previously a programme maker in both TV and radio. "A great deal of robust scientific evidence indicates that theproblem lies with sound processing in the Freeview service, watched in 19 million UK homes. Viewers can hear this ... by comparing programme sound on Freeview to the sound of the same programme played on BBC iPlayer. There is a solution - or at least a simple step forward the broadcasters could take. Their people working on the sound balance should listen to the results of their work after it has gone through the Freeviewprocess. Better still, they could do it without a script in front of them, which is how people listen at home. I have raised this before with the BBC and would like to think that those responsible would address the issue." Chris Rees.

Letter in Radio Times, issue 27 Aug. to 2 Sept. 2016

Rule of Three

Fast, Cheap, Quality - pick any two.

So if you want something fast and good quality, it won't be cheap. If it needs to be cheap and fast, you won't get best quality. And cheap but good quality means it will take time.

Source: I first came across this saying as a library cataloguer but have since seen it applied in other situations.

Community Land Trust Housing

As UK house prices continue to rise, it becomes increasingly difficult to get on the housing ladder. Community Land Trusts (CLTs) exist to provide affordable homes, both for rent and for purchase. The 175 CLTs in England and Wales have provided 560 homes to date. Land is acquired as follows:

•  Land for development given to CLTs, free of charge, by a local authority.
• CLTs working with developers, who donate the freehold to the CLT after they have made their profits.
• Scottish focus has been more on the community ownership of land, rather than homes, after the law was changed to allow residents to buy land that comes up for sale.

Most CLTs are in rural areas rather than urban ones, typically set up where local house prices have risen far above what residents can afford. Re-sale value is limited to 31.3% of what it would be on the open market, ensuring future affordability and helping communities retain younger people.

The government is expected to announce a programme of support for coastal and rural CLTs in the Autumn Statement (2016), funded out of the extra stamp duty chargeable on second homes.

London example. An old mental health hospital in Tower Hamlets has been converted into 23 flats. Buyers pay a third of market value. When they come to sell, the price they are allowed to charge will be limited by the increase in local wages, as measured by the Office for National Statistics.
Amongst the buyers are a young couple with one child; despite their joint income of £33,000, and savings of nearly £70,000, they have been unable to afford anything in the area. But the wage link is significant as typically, wages have risen by less than 2% a year over the last decade, while despite a few dips, house prices have soared by up to 9%. If that trend continues, the relative value of their flat will decline, making it hard for them to move elsewhere.

If Rachael and Nathaniel eventually decide to sell, their property's value will not have gone up in line with the market. Linking house prices to wages requires a different attitude, believing that the security of owning a home is more important than its value - no letters saying you've got two months to leave. The mortgage for the flat will be lower than their current £1,000 a month rent, allowing them to save something each month, to help if they move out at some point, and house prices have risen.

Critics say CLTs are not a solution to the UK's housing crisis, as they can only ever build a relatively small number of properties and often rely on land being given away for free, or at a discount and that access to land is the real issue.

Source: How to keep house prices low for generations to come by Brian Milligan, 18 Nov. 2016 [Read in full on BBC website]

Vitamin D and Psoriasis

Vitamin D  is a common deficiency among people who suffer from psoriasis, so taking vitamin D supplements seems sensible.

One reader reported that her son, who suffers from the condition, has started taking vitiamin D and finds his skin looks less red and his legs no longer sting in colder weather.

Healthspan's Lifespan magazine, issue Summer 2016

Truths About Women Drivers

There are many jokes about women drivers, but here are the real statistics.

Women can park. Parking, like other skills, is developed over time. Research using surveillance camera data shows that while women may take longer to park, they are more likely to thoughfully leave their car in the middle of a bay. They were also found to be better at locating a parking space, more accurate in lining themselves up before manoevring, and more likely to follow driving instructors' preferred method of reversing into bays.

Woman are good drivers. They are less likely to drive too fast, then brake a lot (11% less likely to brake hard) but control speed with gear changes, thus being kind on the car.

Woman are less likely to crash. Some 57% of male drivers have crashed, compared with 46% of women. Then 46% of men have had a close call with a cyclist or pedestrian, compared with 35% of women. And 68% of women have a clean driving licence, but only 64% of men.

Women do buy cars. The majority of car dealers are aimed at men and 85% of women surveyed by Good Housekeeping said car dealerships were sexist. The GH survey also found out that nine out of ten women are the sole or joint decision maker when car buying.

Women can navigate.

Useful information

A 2015 investigation found that women are often charged up to 30% more for repairs and car maintainance than men. The Foxy Lady Driver Club has over 250 approved dealerships and garages that have signed a charter promising not to overcharge, patronise or sell women services they don't need.

If you want to get a quote before arriving at the garage, use car maintainance comparison site WhoCanFixMyCar.com with its useful problem-solver tool.

The GH survey shows 44% of women feel anxious about driving on motorways. Boost your confidence with the Skill for Life course run by the Institute of Advanced Motorists, with eight one-hour sessions behind the wheel with a trained observer offering advice and instruction. They run other courses on winter driving, parking and speed awareness, plus Momentum, an education programme aimed at new drivers whose lack of experience puts them at highest risk.

Learning to drive. Find a great instructor; it is far too stressful to be taught by a family member or friend. Visit the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency website to find a local instructor, who should have one or more of DIA, NSA or IAM qualifications. Choose an instructor who will give you a free taster lesson, to see how you relate, as building a positive relationship is key.

Worried about an older driver? There is no age limit for holding a licence, drivers over 70 simply renew it and self-certify their fitness every year. One suggestion is for mature drivers to take an annual driving assessment with an independent instructor; assessments are available via the AA, ROSPA and the Institute of Advanced Motorists.

 Feature by Zoe Williams and Ginny Buckley in Good Housekeeping, March 2016

Christmas Facts

How did our Christmas celebrations take shape? Two books I read some time ago make interesting reading.

Christmas past: Gavin Weightman and Steve Humphries

Pre 1837 Christmas was not celebrated in the UK. Winter feast days (wassailing, Plough Monday, etc.) tended to be local and took place between All Hallows on 1st Nov. and Candlemas on 2nd Feb. Our Christmas ritual was the invention of the Victorian middle class. For Scots, Christmas was an English festival, resisted partly for nationalistic reasons, partly as the Presbyterian Church regarded it as essentially pagan; Scotland and other northern regions celebrated the New Year or Hogmanay. Until late 19th c., in all regions and social classes, Twelfth Night was still observed.

As Christmas developed, it concentrated on just two days of the twelve, Christmas day and Boxing day. Essentially a domestic, family festival rather than a village event. As it became more popular, the rural customs died out being inappropriate to urban life. Victorian middle class not content simply to enjoy Christmas themselves but took Christmas to the poor. Middle class fashion for charity giving at Christmas replaced the Christmas box; for centuries masters and householders had given gifts of money to servants, and tradesmen had rewarded loyal customers with free goods.

First Christmas cards 1843, Henry Cole. At that time, annual greetings were exchanged at New Year. First cards were often pagan with nymphs, etc., and derived from New Year cards. New Year was never a religious festival. Tom Smith, sweetmaker, introduced the cracker in 1840 as a sales gimmick, originally as a wrapper with a bang for his sweets; sold even better when he added paper hats and trinkets. Christmas tree from 1840’s, a German custom popularised by Prince Albert. When introduced into UK, turkey took over from swan or goose or beef as the bird for feasts. Mince pies date from Elizabethan cookery. Christmas cake was originally the Twelth Night cake.

December 25th became Christmas Day when the Christian church took over winter solstice celebrations. Evergreens were magical plants that did not die in winter. Many winter celebrations were raucous and ribald with cross-dressing and temporary social disorder (eg. boy bishop). Victorian middle classes sought to replace the excesses with a demure, family-centred celebration. The cross dressing of 12th night transferred to Pantomime along with the risque jokes.

Victorians made it a family festival and created the compulsion to return home for it. For a long time this was not possible for many people. Domestic servants were needed to keep the household running, transport was limited and weather and roads bad. At the time, family reunions were mostly in the summer, such as Whitsun and Michaelmas.  Wakes weeks (common in Lancashire, Cheshire, Yorkshire and Staffordshire) were short summer holidays when all the factories, mills or mines in a village closed; travelling fairs moved in for the local revellers. Cheaper travel by rail gave the option of spending these holidays away at Blackpool and Bournemouth, increasingly the family reunion transferred to Christmas. For urban working class families, Christmas Day dinner unlikely to involve anyone other than immediate family of Mum, Dad and children.

St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra in Turkey in 5th c., became patron saint of children; his name evolved into Santa Claus. Poem ‘The Night before Christmas’ by Clement Clark Moore of USA in 1822 first described him and the 8 reindeer (Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder and Blixen). Legend developed to dress him in red bishop’s robes. Pre 1870, Father Christmas was a regular character in mummers’ plays, representing a general spirit of revelry and festivity. Santa Claus was more appropriate to family Christmas; the terms are now interchangeable.

Pre 1830, exchanges of gifts were usually at New Year. From 1840’s increasing emphasis of 25th Dec. as birthday of Jesus united established tradition of gift giving at birthdays and New Year. There was also a pre-Cromwellian tradition of giving sweets and small gifts to children on Christmas day.

Adults now recalling the magic of their childhood Christmasses imagine that the magic has been lost. As a rule children do not agree. However, higher standard of living means the significance of a feast and gift giving are lost. Still remains the single most important annual festival in Britain today. Being on your own at Christmas is regarded almost as a tragedy, though this may change as Christmas has always been changing. Only recently has it been enjoyed by the mass of the population - this is its most remarkable feature.

Hogmanay and Tiffany: Gillian Edwards

In England, only the learned spoke of Epiphany, season commonly called Twelvetide or Twelftide, and Jan 6th feast as Twelfth day. Dates back to King Alfred, who is said to have promulgated a law ... with relations to holidays, by virtue of which the twelve days after the Nativity of our Saviour were made festivals ... later known as the 12 days of Christmas. In medieval courts and great houses, feasting and celebrations continued until final revel of Twelfth Night. Nowadays the superstitious mark Twelfth Day by taking down Christmas decorations. Twelfth Night precedes Twelfth Day; increasing confusion over this as we have forgotten the ancient custom of starting day not at midnight but at six the previous evening. This last great festival of Christmas - eating, drinking, dancing, mumming, foolery and plays - of Twelfth Night was actually on what to us would be the night of Jan 5th/6th.

END

Freezer Tips

Tips from Justine Pattison and Susi Richards, plus some from other sources not recorded.

Flat Freezing: Label a plastic freezer bag with food type, number of portions, freezing and best-before dates. Pour sauce, stew or soup into the bag, flatten it on a baking tray and freeze.

The frozen bags can be stacked, are quicker to thaw and you can snap off the amount you need. (JP)

Use an empty fruit juice carton as a holder for a plastic bag. Fill the bag with fruit or puree or vegetables. Then freeze. Once frozen, remove carton and re-use. (Source not noted).

Freeze meat in strips: Whole chicken breasts, thick steaks and large chops take time to defrost, so cut chicken, beef and pork into 1.5cm strips. Toss in some sunflower oil and seasoning, then open freeze in a single layer on a foil-lined baking tray, cover with cling film and place tray in the freezer. Once frozen solid, peel away the cling film (it comes off easily) and transfer them to a rigid container or airtight freezer bag and use within a month for stir-fries, pasta dishes, curries, wraps and salads. (JP)

Freezing fish: Cut very fresh raw fish into thin fillets or small chunks. Interleave with easy-leave sheets (Justine uses packs of 300 sheets, lakeland.co.uk) between each fillet to stop them sticking together (baking parchment can also be used). Pack into two freezer bags, one inside the other, to prevent fishy smells in your freezer. Once frozen, use the amount you need and cook in minutes in a hot pan with a splash of olive oil, or stir it into a soup or sauce and simmer until cooked through. (JP)

Stock cubes: Use silicone ice-cube trays to freeze citrus juices, pesto, tomato paste or wine in small cubes that can be stored in an airtight freezer bag and dropped into your cooking as needed (SR).

Soups, stocks and sauces: Larger quantities of liquids can be frozen in a silicone muffin tray to produce handy small portion sizes. Once frozen, pop them out of their flexible trays and into an airtight bag for storage. Defrost and reheat in a microwave or saucepan as needed within six months. (SR)

Line containers: Line ovenproof pie dishes and casseroles with aluminium foil before cooking a cottage pie or pasta bake for the freezer. Once food is frozen, you can lift it out in one piece, wrap it in more foil, then seal it in a plastic bag. When needed simply drop the block of food back in the dish to defrost and cook through. (JP)

Avocados: Remove skin and stone, then mash with one tablespoon of lemon juice per avocado and freeze for up to two months. Use in guacamole, dressings and spreads. (JP)

Bananas: Peel, slice into chunks, freeze uncovered on a baking tray, then store in a bag. Defrost and use in cakes or whizz in a sturdy blender, still frozen, to make instant banana ‘ice cream’ or smoothies. (JP) ## Use within 3 months. (Good Housekeeping magazine)

Onions: Chop and freeze in bags, then add to dish straight from freezer. Keeps for up to 6 months. (Good Housekeeping magazine)

Butter and margarine: Can be frozen for three months. (JP)

Cheese: With the exception of low- fat, cream and cottage cheese (which, because of their fat-to- water ratios, tend to go watery once thawed), most cheeses freeze well. Hard cheeses can go a bit crumbly when defrosted, so grate them before freezing for best results. Soft cheeses such as camembert and brie should be frozen at their ideal ripeness and defrosted in the fridge overnight. (JP)

Citrus slices and grapes: Lemon, lime and orange slices and grapes freeze well and make perfect ‘ice cubes’ for alcoholic drinks, as they don’t dilute as they defrost.(JP)

Cream: Single cream with its high water content tends to split when it’s defrosted. Double cream does better; although it doesn’t whip well when defrosted and is quite grainy, it’s fine to use in sauces if you freeze small amounts in ice-cube trays. Store in a well-sealed bag as the flavour can easily be tainted by other foods. (JP)

Eggs: Raw eggs in their shells will expand and crack if frozen. Instead, beat lightly and add a pinch of salt (savoury dishes) or sugar (sweet dishes) per egg, which will help to stop the egg splitting once defrosted. Store in muffin trays or in batches in freezer bags, stored flat. Eggs will keep well for a month. Egg yolks tend to go rubbery if frozen separately, but whites freeze well and can be used for meringues, etc. (JP) ## Thaw in a covered bowl overnight in the fridge. Can be frozen for up to 12 months (Good Housekeeping magazine)

Milk: Skimmed and semi-skimmed milk will freeze well for a month. Full-fat, unless homogenised, will probably split. Never freeze in a glass bottle, as the liquid will expand and could crack the glass. Defrost frozen milk in the fridge overnight and shake well before using. (JP) ## Use within six months. (Good Housekeeping magazine)

Bread: Most bread, except crusty varieties such as French bread, will freeze for up to three months (crusty bread tends to lose its crunch after a month in the freezer). Sliced bread can be toasted straight from frozen. (JP)

Herbs: Finely chop soft herbs such as mint and parsley and place in ice-cube trays, top up with water or a little olive oil and freeze. Woody herbs such as rosemary can be frozen whole in plastic food bags. Use from frozen. (JP)

Pesto: Freeze fresh pesto in freezer bags laid flat so yu can break off the amount you need, or spoon into ice cube trays (each cube is about 1 tablespoon). Keeps for about 6 months. (Good Housekeeping magazine)

Nuts: Will keep in a zip-seal bag in the freezer for up to six months. (JP)

Wine: Leftover red and white wine can be kept frozen but is best for cooking rather than drinking, as freezing can cause potassium tartrate crystals to form in the wine. While harmless these ‘wine diamonds’ don’t look great in a glass. Never store wine in the freezer in a glass bottle, as it will probably shatter. Because of its alcohol content, wine will not freeze completely but remain a little soft, so make sure that the container is sealed properly. (JP) ## Use within 6 months. (Good Housekeeping magazine)

Potatoes: Baked potatoes, roast, mash and gratin will freeze well for up to four months. You can reheat the roasted and baked potatoes from frozen. Roasted will need to be roasted in a little oil to get them crispy again but can be placed in the oven direct from the freezer. Defrost mash and gratin in the fridge before reheating. (JP)

• Use freezer contents regularly as freezing can affect the taste and texture of food.
• Freezing can damage food that hasn’t been wrapped correctly, alter the taste of some herbs and spices over time, and some foods can split or go mushy when they’re defrosted.
• The longer a food is frozen for, the more likely it is to degrade. For best results, only freeze foods that are in top condition. 
• Wrap carefully, squeezing out any excess air before freezing to prevent deterioration and transference of smells from other foods.
• To preserve texture, freeze everything as quickly as possible, using the fast-freeze button or fast-freeze compartment, and thaw slowly, preferably in the fridge.
• Label things clearly with the date a food was frozen and when it should be used by.

Justine Pattison’s book Freeze: 120 Recipes and Fantastic New Ways To Use Your Freezer and Make Life Just That Bit Easier, £15.19, amazon.co.uk

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3118935/Who-knew-freeze-avocados-wine-cheese-eggs-revolutionary-ways-use-freezer-ll-mean-never-waste-food-again.html#ixzz3cley0284

Further information in Good Housekeeping, June 2016.

Lily Pollen Stains

If you are given lilies, remove the anthers in the centre of the flower as the pollen will mark any fabric it touches. Use paper tissue to hold the anthers and dispose of carefully - the pollen can be poisonous to cats.

If you do get lily pollen stains on your clothing, here are some tips:

DO NOT

• Do not try to brush off or rub off the pollen, as this will ingrain it into thefabric and make it more difficult to remove.
• Do not put your fingers directly on the pollen stain as the oil in your skin will cause the stain to set.
• Do not dab or rub with water as this will spread the stain as the pollen dissolves.

DO TRY

• Shake the item first to remove as much powder as possible.
• Gently place adhesive tape over the pollen (but do not press down) to remove more pollen.
• Expose the marked fabric to strong sunlight for a few hours; it should fade - sometimes to nothing.
• If there is still staining, soak in cold water for half an hour,then rinse and dry in direct sunlight.

Various sources

Natural Sweeteners

Sweet cecily (Myrrhis odorata) is a culinary herb and useful natural sweetener, especially for diabetics. The flavour is sweet and aniseed like.

All parts of the plant can be used: the leaves can be cooked like spinach, the crisp stalks make a good substitute for celery after light cooking, the roots can be eaten raw or boiled and the seeds can be used as flavouring. 

Add it to fruit when cooking - it neutralises the acid which means you need less or even no sugar.

Growing hints http://www.hayloft-plants.co.uk/Myrrhis/odorata-%28Sweet-Cicely%29/prod11440.html

Love Quotes

Some quotes on love.

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.
Jimi Hendrix

We have just enough religion to make us hate each other and not enough to make us love each other.
Jonathan Swift

END

CVs, Application Forms and Interviews

Here are some top tips for selection processes.

CVs.

• Don't write your CV as if it has imaginary boxes (experience, skills, etc.). You should control how you present information. Decide on what is most relevant for the specific job and highlight that.
• Keep things relevant. Dates are important, but it could be more useful to display experience in order of relevance, rather than chronologically. 

Applications forms

• Your CV needs to match the requirements of the job. If they ask for 'team working skills', make sure you illustrate that, not another skill which you might prefer to write about. Then you have a much better chance of landing an interview.
• Use the blank space 'tell us more about your application' to sell yourself. Treat it like a covering letter, and cover motivation and enthusiasm as well as relevant skills, knowledge and experience.

Interviews

• Hiring is a big risk for any organisation, large or small. They need to believe that not only can you do the job but also that you want this specific job. Research the role and the organisation beforehand.
• Prepare for possible questions. Look at the person specification and think of questions that might be asked. Lookatyour CV and identify some possible questions they might ask about your experience. You will then feelmore ready to tackle questions in the interview.

Laura Brammar, careers consultant, writing in CILIP Update, July/August 2016