If we were having coffee I’d tell you how exciting it was to watch the live stream of the Mars Perseverance landing this week. Purely by luck I stumbled upon the details about 30 minutes before it was due to land and even joined by the young adult in the house.
How great it was to see it at as the main first news item on the News at 10 rather than another story about politics. The decisions that the bureaucrats are making for the greater good of everyone and everything. It just struck a chord with me in relation to the feats of human kind.
I then saw the cost this morning, roughly $2.7 billion and thought….yikes that is a lot of money and then I saw another article about the prospect of a tunnel between Scotland and Ireland (about 31 miles/50km) and wondered how much that would cost. As it’s merely thoughts at the moment….I thought I’d take a look at the channel tunnel costs and came across the wonders of the world databank….a rabbit hole if ever there was one for the inquisitive mind. The channel tunnel according to this site was $21 billion.
Back to Perseverance and the cost, I came across another site, putting the cost of perseverance in context and like the comparisons. The same amount of money that Disney made in global box office revenue for avengers end game and the amount of money Google makes in 6 days (which is so it’s eye watering it’s unreal). So the cost of perseverance, seems like a steal, spent over a long period of time, funding science and moving us on with wonder.
Obviously these figures and facts are from the internet…it’s got to be true! And I don’t have the budget to check whether the facts are indeed true, I’m just sharing the thoughts!
Managed to re-open the black box this week with an impromptu-start, it’s been nagging at me for some time, an exploration into grannies recipes . When I first started a good while a go (I’m embarrassed to say when) I’d definitely entered into the challenge with rose tinted spectacles. However a certain reality hit this week that the recipes. They are definitely of a time and it’s not due to the units. The ingredients are for items that just don’t feature in our house and I think have long gone out of fashion like corned beef and Campbells condensed soup. Some of the recipes are (I want to use the word terrible) just not to our current tastes like liver creole, salmon pudding and chicken mousse. Discussing this with the boss we then realised it was more about the memories than anything else. I’m going to persevere though, ditching the ones that don’t appeal and writing up the ones that do.
Last weekend we were marching through a foot of snow, today though at 9°C we made a great loop round the citi on the bikes. A few muddy trails…but lots of snow drops. Have a great weekend and hopefully you can get out where you are!
The #WeekendCoffeeShare is an informal weekly link-up hosted by Natalie the Explorer that serves as weekly heart beat and sort of of a mind-dump. Helps me reflect on my week, with a list of achievements, thoughts and rambles normally whilst drinking a beverage probably listening to music.
Love this about the recipes of your ancestors. I’ve got many of my Gr. Grands, and Granny’s favorites. I did an experiment about 10-15 years ago when times were extremely hard for us. We were on the verge of losing our home, our car, and our employment… that kind of hard. This experiment involved using the depression era recipes I’d inherited from Gr. Grand and Granny. I did so. It wasn’t fancy food…looked horrid, tasted great! Mostly potatoes, veggies, and whatever meat was at hand. I did so, using just her recipes for two monthes. I saw our food budget decrease by 75%! What a difference. Also, I noted that we ate well, enough that we felt full after a meal. We didn’t gain weight, but then, we didn’t lose either. All in all the end result was a reduction in expenses that allowed us not to lose our car. We did lose our employment and had to move back home and sleep in a tent for a few weeks, but we survived and came out stronger for it. Now, those recipes are staples for us. We often substitute pasta for pots, and such, but the original recipes are so easily adaptable. I wouldn’t give up entirely on the old recipes, I guess is what I’m trying to say.
I’d never thought of the circumstances that these recipes might have been used in and really appreciate the different lens you have given me. I was sorry to hear of the hardship you were put under, life does throw some terrible curve balls. Thank you for the push.
So nice to already see snow drops in your location. I expect to see them here at the end of March at the earliest. Thank you for linking with #WeekendCoffeeShare.
How lovely to see some snow drops! I’ll have to plant some spring bulbs for next year.
The idea of a tunnel between Scotland and Ireland sounds interesting although it would have been more relevant earlier! Now with Brexit the idea seems kind of ridiculous to me…
How interesting to go through old recipes, such a difference between our food culture and that of the past! There was a Swedish TV show where they talked about past times and what people used to eat during the medieval times, Victorian era, and lots more. It was very interesting, especially for me as a history geek. 😉
I loved your post. I followed the links about the space flight, and the cost. Great things to think about. About the recipes – food scarcity used to be a bigger thing. Can you imagine trying to raise your food yourself? You would eat less food, and more weird stuff. Pigeon might look good… And you might eat the bones (shudder)…
I to am pleased that our latest effort to explore Mars is going well. I’ve been a space fan for most of my life and seeing the pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place is just plain exciting and right. But about that new tunnel. is someone in government having issues with the ferries that must run back and forth with great success with few of no tax monies?