"Cookery - Roman"

Not being skilled as a cook with historic propensities and thinking that I should start somewhere I picked up Jane Renfrew's "Roman Cookery - Recipes and History". That was a couple of months ago. The pocket-sized booklet has about 96 pages which includes parts on Recipes (31 pages) and History (44 pages) of food in Roman Britain, techiques of preparation, equipment and serving food. A rich harvest of photographs illustrates the text in an appropriate manner - many were taken by Peter Williams. For the would-be devotee of Roman cookery the author has provided a short Bibliography and an Index of about 60 recipes in the book

Wanting to treat my grandchildren to a special breakfast my first attempt was boiled "White Mice in a Green Herb Sauce". I left out the green herb sauce as being likely as not to be too tart and alcoholic for breakfast. The children were not squeamish about the mice! (I should say that no mammals* were used in the recipe.)

At breakfast we adopted a traditional modern style of eating - none of the lolling about on cushions with entertainment as per banqueting Roman style - the exception, perhaps, was me as a both a "slave" and non-Roman entertainer.

The Romans in the British Isles and Romano-Britons (all of wealth, I suppose) seemed to eat to an exceptionally fine menu including: milk-fed snails, "dormice" (recipe not given), partridge, oysters, venison and various cakes. Honey was a favoured ingredient as too was liquamen - fermented entrails of fish - the least appertising item for my palate!

* To doubly reassure my readers I add that the "white mice" were hard-boiled eggs!

Published by English Heritage 2004 (revised edition) ISBN 1 85074 870 5

Dispute Resolution 1 - "The Supreme Court of of the United Kingdom"

The Times gave us a pullout - "The Supreme Court" - on 1 October 2009, ie as a supplement. I found the subject matter momentous and moving - such that I have become a fan of it..?

Constitutionally - under the Constitution Act 2005, we seem to have split the judiciary from the executive. ("Figuratively" - I have a hunch that we have moved (been nudged) towards USA-style justice system - if only in name - and ultimately to a new form of constitution..?)

Our newly called "Justices" will not be called "Lords" but will be addressed "My Lord" / "My Lady" as appropriate. They will not sit in the House of Lords but in the refurbished former Middlesex County Council building in Parliament Square. Their sittings may be filmed for popular consumption and , hopefully, we, the ordinary folk, will be able to take our children or grandchildren to see and hear the machinations of the hightest court in the United Kingdom.

I was a "fan" of the old-style Appellate Committee of the House of Lords (now the Supreme Court) in the sense that I found the contents of some of the cases interesting as to law and containing in some instances a historical record etc. This happened when I was writing rights of common for the Common Lands Handbook.

However, my interest was partial in that only certain topics interested me at any particular time, eg rating, council tax, common land and town or village greens. I did find it difficult to access cases which might interest me. Unless I knew the subject matter of an on-line reported citation I had found on the House of Lords website, I had to guess it from the citation's "names".

The solution (it seems to me) merely requires the webmaster to initiate a scheme of employing an impercunious student who for a bit more than the minimum wage; he or she would categorise all the cases and record his or her results against the list of citations on the website. Readers would be able to quickly scan the list and find say, council tax, common land etc...?

Given that about 100 appeal cases will be heard a year, it would be pleasant to access themon-line by subject matter - incidentally that number is about twice the number that the Infrastructure Planning Commission should hear on nationally significant infrastructure projects each year - if it survives the post-election period of the new Parliament.

The court is entitled as the "Supreme Court of the United Kingdom" but only covers civil and criminal appeals in Great Britain. Its work includes the devolution jurisdiction for the Judicial Committe of the Privy Council. Scotland fit in somewhere but at this stage of my understanding I am more than a little ignorant!

"War Graves"

As an estate manager I was delighted to come upon a book by Philip Longworth entitled "The Unending Vigil - The History of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission". In 270 pages or so he gives a comprehensive account of the origins and development of the world-wide estate from its early days to the mid-1980s. From 1915 Fabian Ware's Red Cross unit took the first steps towards what are the principles, policies, procedures and practices of the present day Commission, ie circa 1980.

As a study of a time continuum of horticulture and war grave architecture in different situations and there are many lessons to be learned. Instances include:

• dealing with plantings in very different geological locations and endeavouring at the same time to reflect both: a) what might now be called a "house style", and b) a reflection of the "homeland" of the deceased (which was not always the United Kingdom);
• tackling the preservation of headstones, walls, buildings and monuments from the ravages of very different (for example) climates and subsoils;
• handling many very different national "tenurial" and other legal nuances, ie of the states where the war graves are situated;
• progressing established but changing principles and practices in times of changing geo-political multi-circumstances; and
• endeavouring to grapple with the Treasury in times of international currency wobbles and changing fortunes of the economy of the United Kingdom and virtually every economy of the world.

For me the book raised many questions of horticulture, architecture, construction management, "business" management and so on. Space did not provide all the answers but gave limited insights and a sense of wonderment that there is more to tell about "The Unending Virgil". Upto 1985 at least the Commonwealth War Graves Commission acquits superbly well.

Some 84 black and white illustrations (between pp 131-132) display the dignity and stature of the sites where lay more than 1.7 milllion servicemen and women from the British Isles and other Commonwealth countries.

First published by Pen & Sword in 1963 and revised and updated in 1985 -it was reprinted by Leo Cooper 2003 ISBN1 84415 003 6

"Square Foot Gardening"

Having downsized the allotment to half a regular one. (The other two halves are now being harvested by two seeming experts! I am learning much from them.) The down-sizing has resulted in a sense of being cramped - my feel for the allotment's "psychological capacity" has been diminished. So I was delighted recently to read Mel Bartholomew's "Square Foot Gardening" (2005) but the thought of making 12" square beds was daunting. Luckily a neighbour is having double-glazing installed so I now have about 15 sashes and fanlights without glass and other timber strips to make-up the 1/xth of rods that I need to create. (Allotmenteers tend to use rods and the like - rather than inches and feet or centimetres and metres.)

The book has cleverly described how I can increase capacity and reduce work (I hope it works) - I have just noticed that is what the author intends from the long title of the book which is "Square Foot Gardening _ A new way to garden in less space with less work". The book is a 18 x chapters with all kinds of gardening topics. It is written for the USA but I am able to discern much to excite the reader on this side of the Atlantic.

(It is published by Holtzbrinck Publishers ISBN 13 978-1-57954-856-8 and
ISBN 10 1-579954-856-3)

Books For Job Clubs No 1 "Successful Manager's...

Thirteen authors have given us "Successful manager's handbook" in 864 pages! (I must admit to being a dipper on this one.) The page presentation is superb. Numbered check points run through the chapters of each Part. Each of 12 parts comprises four chapters plus an extra chapter in the first part which is on "Getting Organised". By way of illustration I briefly describe "Managing Your Career" with four chapters: 1 Mapping the Future; 2 Exploring Career Options; 3 Developing Your Career; and 4 Achieving Career Success. It does not have a bibliography but the index is extensive - about 30 pages.

Dipping to pages:

• pp 282 -285 presents "Assessing Your Inflencing Skills" - a practical self-assessment;
• p 542 tables "Differentiating Writing Styles"
• p 807 gives "Indentifying Methods of Learning" with 11 items and each has the "Factors to Consider";
• pp 826 - 829 provides "Assessing Your Career Management Skills".

The range of the book is extensive. Depth will vary with the reader and his or her range of management knowledge, skills and experience. As a boy my father gave me a book on organisation and methods and Gowers on "Plain English" - I know they served me well. How I wish he could have given me this one! It is utterly practical, relatively jargon free and the reader may interact with exercises, points to ponder, charts etc, etc, etc....
A copy or two of later editions will be on my gifts list for Christmas - probably as early presents.
Published by Dorling Kindersley Limited (2002) ISBN 978-1-4053-4155-4 http://www.dk.com/

"Submarine"

Jean Hood's book Submarine - An anthology of first-hand accounts of the war under the sea, 1939-1945 - was picked up dauntingly for it has 592 pages! (I hate long books.) I dipped in once (no pun intended) and immediately immersed myself for three or four weeks -utterly pleasurable reading. The book is a compilation of stories, yarns and memories of several dozen submariners of all or almost all combatant nations in World War 2. It covered:

• a) life under the waves;
• b) running, maintaining and repairing a submarine;
• c) armaments, tactics:
• d) you name it...

Like most groups of close-knit combatants the submarine's crew considered themselves special, every member of a submarine service considered themselves especially special. The sense of an esprit-de-corps bubbled up from of the pages. Other almost unstated attributes of submariners were a pride of service and an unstated, unspoken but carried knowledge of the risks and reliances.

The tales in the book take the reader though every year of the war - in all the relevant undersea theatres for the year. Some stories are sad, some incredible some touching and others amusing. For instance, an Italian boat was damaged in combat but escaped into home waters for repairs: surfacing near the shore rowboats came into view carrying a teacher and charges - they were royally entertained on board!

[First paperback edition 2009 : published by Conway (imprint of Anova Books Company Limited, London W14 0RA) ISBN 9 781844 860906) http://www.conwaymaritime.com/