Traffic lights - are they any good?

On my way to work I have to turn right onto a busy dual carriageway. When I got there this a.m. and saw that the traffic lights were not working I steeled myself for a long wait. But actually I got through much quicker, and I couldn't see any large build up of traffic either. I've seen this happen before at Brian Bevan island in warrington - much quicker when the lights are out of order. Perhaps some kind of a crusade is in order? There are probably situations where lights are useful (blind corners? humpback bridges?) but I'm certainly going to write to my MP about this blight on our city streets.

Recipe - Polenta

For tea today I had polenta, chopped up into small chunks (approx 8cm³) and fried in olive oil with

• finely chopped red onions and sun-dried tomatoes
• coarsely chopped mushrooms and cherry tomatoes

Not very exciting but I wanted to make the blog more visually appealing and putting a picture in should help

Recipe - Vegan Yellow Coconut Soup

I had something like this in Cachumbas on Burton Road, Manchester and have tried to reverse-engineer a recipe. Other people seem to like it

1. Boil up 250g of mung bean dahl for 10 minutes or so, then rinse it.
2. Chop up 1 onion, 1 red pepper, 4 stalks of celery and fry with 1 tsp crushed chili, 1 tsp coriander seed, some lemongrass to taste and 1 tsp cinnamon. Don't let them get too soft
3. Add a tin of chick peas and a tin of coconut milk, 1 tsp turmeric and a pinch of saffron
4. Finally add a squeeze of tomato puree and some stock (I use a vegetable Oxo cube made up with about 200ml of boiling water) and leave to simmer

I think it's better if you blend it before serving, but it works as it is. It will probably serve 4 people if you put some boiled rice with it.

Laura Cantrell songs

I found a couple of MP3 files on the website of Laura Cantrell's record company. At some point (or in response to reader requests) I may put something up about the fantastic concert I saw her play in Manchester on the 7th December 2002.

Laura Cantrell - '14th Street'

Laura Cantrell - 'Hammer & Nails'

Making this playable has been quite a learning experience, but I think it works now. I should say by way of disclaimer that the MP3 files are stored on Matador Records' website and are perfectly legit. You should visit their site straight away to see info about Laura and many other fine bands/artists

the winter celebrations

people have been asking me about a gift that i might like. gift giving is traditional this time of year though personally i see no reason for it. I'm not religious - i'm practical. It would be better if people bought gifts for others when they saw something good. this would stagger the gift-buying over the year and avoid the

• over crowded shops
• expense of buying a year's gifts out of one pay packet
• panic buying of horrible tat

which is the main feature of december in these parts. anyway, there isn't anything i really need & most of the things i want are too obscure for anyone to guess e.g. a universal sink plug would be handy but more helpfully

1. oxfam have things to spend money on
2. any vegan food which got here would be unlikely to go to waste
3. as a last resort, i have a wishlist on amazon

Outdoors

It's invigorating to be outside. especially when you can see a fine example of limestone pavement

ManLUG beer and curry session

I went out tonight with some people from ManLUG. the format of beers at the Clarence, followed by a vegetable curry at one of the nearby eateries, has been tried before, and didn't fail tonight. Many computer topics were discussed, and one I'm keen to investigate further is honeypots

Hello world

I wouldn't feel like a proper techie if I didn't have a website. but a free blog and a free gmail address will save me about 60 quid a year. With the adverts it may even make me money. And the publishing is a lot easier. okay world -brace yourself for my opinions...