For The Hunter Gatherer In Any Family
What is it about men and barbeques? Some innate, caveman instinct crawls out from the deepest core of man’s inner being at the slightest suggestion of outdoor cooking. The invention of fire put man in control, his hunter-gatherer urge finding a new direction. It dictated where he could camp, affording shelter and warmth against the elements; it could protect him and his family from the wild animals that once roamed freely, albeit in greater abundance, on this planet; and it provided a meeting place where comfort and safety were made available to his fellow men. This was the beginning of early society, where people would gather around the campfire to cook the hunter’s catch and listen to the horror stories that described what he encountered in securing that death defying catch.
Not much has changed though. In modern society and with the introduction of the butcher and the supermarket, the great and fearful challenge for man to hunt down his food has been replaced. Even the convenience of the modern oven does nothing to incite the blood of primal man to boil. But set the barbeque alight, watch the smoky burning charcoal waft towards his nose and observe the almost immediate, primitive chain reaction. While much of our behaviour is hard wired internally, deep within our psyche, the basic objectives of all human beings is to ensure survival and procreation while at the same time providing satisfaction and pleasure. The act of eating creates the platform or starting point from where all these instincts are launched.
The sad downside to all of this is modern reality. While the man is content in the belief that he is providing and feeding his family, it is generally the woman who does all the hard graft – the shopping, the carrying, the preparing and the cleaning. A friend of mine recently sent me a great quote: ‘A husband is someone who after taking the rubbish out gives the impression that he just cleaned the whole house’. I love it!
There is a certain sense of glee in a man’s face when he is standing at the barbeque, tongs in one hand, bottle of beer in the other. The smug sense of pride and accomplishment in his performance, as if it was the only meal cooked that year and the only one that mattered, will bring a smile to even the most hard nosed, humourless of beings, his selective memory conveniently forgetting the other 20 meals in the week that have to be prepared. But give him a pound of sausages, a plateful of steaks, chicken drumsticks, and a skewer or two and he’s off to his own planet. It’s the only thing in the world that will drag him away from his beloved footie!
It’s also the only thing that will get him enthusiastic about shopping. The range of barbeques out there is pretty staggering but after much research the resounding reccommendations all point back to one make – Weber Barbeques. I found a great range to choose from online but don’t be overwhelmed at the variety, choice, or even size of these cookers. Be sure you know what your requirements are: gas or charcoal? How many do you intend to cook for, when and where? What is your budget? Answer these questions and you’ll find Weber Barbeques have just what you’re looking for.
Altons offer a comprehensive range of Weber barbecues and weber bbq accessories. Check them out their selections online today.
Reducing Your Costs By Using Energy Brokers To Negotiate Your New Gas Supplies Contract
Having grown up in an old house that boasted an old four door, oil fueled Aga cooker, it came as quite a surprise to me years later when I discovered that most of the new models had been adapted for gas. Every morning we used to bring our school uniforms down and roast them atop the cooker until they were toasty enough to wear. Old houses and insulation did not go hand in hand, so the dash from our cosy beds, through the draughty house, to the welcoming warmth of the kitchen, was both hasty and competitive as we each vied for priority position at the warmest place available.
In those days everything took place in the kitchen, eating, chatting, TV, homework, you name it, we did it in the kitchen (….well almost everything). My father even held his business meetings there while my mother provided tea and biscuits to his work colleagues, whilst at the same time making the dinner.
In our science class at school we learned about liquids, solids and gas. We learnt that as a solid is heated, it melts into a liquid, which at boiling point gives off gas, which is colourless and odourless. Now I’m not about to give anyone a science lesson, but suffice it to say that the importance of gas in our lives has become ever more significant.
Natural gas has been known to man since around 100 AD, when gas leakages, ignited by lightening, continued to burn non-stop in the wild. William A. Hart was the first person to dig beyond these surface seepages in his quest to find larger supplies, which in turn would increase the flow, and in 1821 he dug down 27 ft to secure the first well. Early gas distribution was limited as there was little or no infrastructure or piping in place, and its initial usage was restricted to the lighting of street lamps.
William Bunsen (think Bunsen burner) introduced new methods by which gas could be used, such as cooking and heating. But it is only in the last 50 or 60 years that extensive pipelining was put in place allowing natural gas to be distributed over greater distances.
With this in mind, when it comes time to arrange a new gas supplies contract for your company, why not get in touch with an energy broker, one who has experience of dealing with the gas supply network. Energy brokers are independent companies that negotiate the supplies of various utilities (including gas) from any number of suppliers. They are free agents who are not tied to any particular source, and are therefore totally at liberty to go where they can find the best deal for any particular end user, but that’s not all.
It doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re the one that has to do all of the research; in fact you almost certainly will not have the expertise to do so. Let the experts do the hard work. Go online and research the new breed of energy brokers you’ll find listed there. You’ll find that new gas supplies can be organised significantly more economically by contracting a broker to do the deal for you.
Commercial energy brokers and utility brokers, Apollo Energy, can get you cheaper gas, electricity and calls. Call today to find out how they can save you money.
How To Choose The Right Barbeque For Camping
Last year our finances were fragile to put it mildly. The usual annual trip to the Canary Islands had to be postponed indefinitely, cancelled if the truth be told. My energetic and adventurous teenagers were dumbfounded. ‘But it’s not fair’ they wailed, ‘we never go anywhere’, their immature belief that money grows on trees still very much in evidence. As guilt flooded my mind I struggled to find a solution. I checked the airlines for cheap flights only to discover them masquerading as specials, hidden behind various taxes and surcharges. I scoured the travel pages for ideas and deals but to no avail.
Full of despair I was about to give up all hope when a fortuitous phone call, placed by a friend of mine, saved the day. Call it synchronicity or whatever you like but this call, a bolt out of the blue, came at the perfect moment. ‘Why don’t you bring them camping?’
Now I have to admit that my first reaction to this insane idea was one of horror, but as she proceeded to explain just how far modern camp sites had come, I have to say I was more than a little intrigued. Just as I was giving up all hope, there was my answer on a plate.
To say it was a learning curve would be an under statement. Out went the suitcases in favour of the rucksack. Out went the selection of fashionable beach and poolside swimwear; restaurant guides were replaced with ordinance survey maps; and silver service dining was replaced with enamel cups and barbecue smoke. I never thought I would say this but, at the end of each day, having roughed it outdoors for hours on end, trekking and tripping through the prolific undergrowth, the simple pleasure of sitting around the camp fire at night, watching my normally bickering teenagers engaging in meaningful conversation and my hubby poking at the sausages on our portable Weber Barbeque, was second to none.
An immense sense of achievement and satisfaction flooded through my veins. Gone were the modern conveniences of urban living. We were stripped to the very core of what makes us human, and it was all good.
With no refrigerator, we bought our food as and when we needed it. With no kitchen sink we scraped our crumbs on the ground, fresh pickings for the thriving wild bird life all around us. And our meals, they tasted better than ever. The scent of the meat sizzling on the barbecue pushed our senses to the limit. I ate like a cave woman, tearing at the juicy flesh of the spare ribs as if I had never eaten before.
The advice we received was excellent in ensuring that the charcoal Weber Barbeque model we chose for this trip was appropriate for our particular needs. For our family of four we had plenty of grill space (57cm to be precise) to cook a great selection of meats and baked potatoes. We even had enough room to throw a bit extra into the pot so we could invite our newly found best mates over. And although they had to bring their own cups, there was plenty of wine, laughter and song.
Such was the experience, as agreed by all, that we have decided to make this our annual event, and with Weber Barbeques use of a unique porcelain finish on all it’s products, the barbecue will be eagerly pulled this year from its place of hibernation in the garden shed, and not a speck of rust will be found.
Altons offer a comprehensive range of Weber barbecues and weber bbq accessories. Check them out their selections online today.
Tapping Into The New Electricity Supply Brokers For Electrifying Results
There are many natural phenomena occurring in our earthly atmosphere all over the world every day. Some of them are beautiful to watch, others are not. Tornadoes, hurricanes, volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis and electrical storms; these common episodes instil fear in some, and awe in others. Ranging in extremes of ferocity, these events can cause mind blowing destruction, and serious loss of life. Horrendous news items bring us pictures of the destruction that these phenomena wreak. Cities collapse, villages are flattened, and people’s lives are destroyed. Communities battle to restore their homes from the wreckage inflicted on them by nature’s extreme moods.
I remember once sitting in a beautiful sprawling villa (not mine sadly) years ago on the south coast of Spain, where I witnessed the most spectacular thunder and lightening storm ever. Looking out over the Meditteranean Sea, my friends and I whooped and wowed vociferously at every crack and clap, lighting the sky and horizon with dramatic displays of fork and sheet lightening accompanied by incredibly loud explosions of thunder, and torrential rain.
Ever since time began, man has marvelled at the remarkable power of nature. In the mid 1700′s Benjamin Franklin tested the early theories of electricity using a kite. Studies over the following decades showed how electricity was generated and eventually captured and harnessed for use in the home and office as we know it today. Lightening itself is an atmospheric discharge that can travel at speeds of up to 140,000 mph, and can reach temperatures of 54,000F.
There are an estimated 16 million lightening storms in the world every year. Fortunatley they do not always cause mayhem and are often minor enough to stir the dog into a bit of a frenzy, like fireworks at Halloween.
Enter Thomas Edison, an American inventor in the late 1900′s who invented the light bulb. He was responsible for setting up the first commercial generating station which provided electricity to central New York. His dream was to bring electric light into every household and factory. In just over one hundred years it is incredible to see just how far this story has come. Today’s commercial electricity providers are plentiful, and engage in endless price wars offering a range of cost structures geared at the discerning end user, and discounts are offered as incentives to pursue new customers. Their tarriff schemes are complicated and full of catches, and most business owners or managers become bamboozled at the intricacy of the machinations they are presented with. However, help is at hand.
A little online research will lead you to the energy brokers; the new electricity supply service providers that procure contracts on behalf of their customesr. If a business re-tenders its contract at the end of its agreed term, the energy broker will actively go about seeking the best terms available in the marketplace, tailor making any new contract to suit the individual needs of your business. All the dreary leg work is completed on your behalf; analysing your usage, seeking the most competitive terms in the market and collating the information. Admisitration of new electricity supply contract is also managed for you, leaving you and your company free to get on with your other commercial activites.
Apollo Energy provides a full electricity contract procurement service for new electricity supplies, giving your business cheaper electricity bills. Start saving your business time and money today.
Wedding Entertainment That Never Gets Forgotten
One of the best weddings I was ever at turned out to also be one of the worst. As the bride and groom stood at the altar, the priest proceeded to ask them to repeat their vows to each other and it was at that point that my girlfriend got a fit of the giggles. Actually it was more like hysteria than a bit of harmless giggling. With her back to the congregation we could see her shoulders moving up and down as she all but collapsed into fits of silent, subdued laughter. After a while and with no sign of the emotional outburst abating we all grew more and more concerned for her, and our own laughing subsided into embarrassed fear as she struggled nervously to recite her lines. After what seemed like an eternity, she turned to face the crowd, her expertly applied make up forming blackened streaks down her face, her nose, bright red, and dribbling, as she clutched the arm of her new husband in a display of infantile dependence.
The choir sang Pie Jesu, Ave Maria, and some other beautiful choral hymns, (one or two in the Capella style), lending an almost haunting vibe to the church. I often wonder did she ever really get married as no one heard her say those immortal words. As it happened, the marriage, which produced two kids, lasted but three short years.
But I digress. We moved from the chapel to the hotel in hushed silence. Even the pre-drinks reception was a little stifled, every one fearful that she had regretted her trip up the aisle. I felt even worse as it had been me who had introduced them only five months earlier. A whirlwind romance it has to be said, but they both seemed sure of what they were doing, so who were we to comment or cast aspersions? The integrity of their feelings was for them to decide. And so we sipped Champagne and got on with the task of socialising and making merry. Not too difficult. My friend emerged, seemingly unscathed, from the safety of the bathroom, make up expertly reapplied, and smiled at us pals citing all the ‘I don’t know what came over me’ possibilities. Any way, she seemed happy enough, so we settled into the delicious food, and relaxed into our seats.
Well oiled and raring to go it was the turn of the first of several acts to perform, in what was to be a fantastic night of expertly chosen wedding entertainment. Normally, as soon as the speeches begin, I descend into what I call an ‘open-eyed sleep’. It’s a specialist technique that I have mastered over the years and enables me to catch forty winks without any one even noticing! The only problem is that afterwards I find I have to ‘hoof it’ when I compliment people on their orating skills. This time however the speeches were brief, making way for the excellent comedian who regaled us with real stories of humour and who, tongue in cheek, made reference to the not so hilarious episode in the church only a few hours earlier.
This of course had the effect of relieving the tension believe it or not, and the audience breathed easier. The guy knew his trade. The next act was a short but brilliant selection of Irish ‘Diddly eye’ traditional music and dance, for the benefit of the groom’s family who were all from The Emerald Isle, but equally to the delight of all the guests present. The upbeat mood they created was contagious and had every one up doing jigs, arm in arm around the dance floor.
As the evening progressed, a live band swung into gear with its ‘first dance’ offering of Frank Sinatra’s ‘It had to be you’, paving the way for the rest of us romantics to take to the floor. And later still, as the midnight bells chimed, the elder members retired to their beds, and the babies to their cots, leaving the way clear for us young ones to boogie the night away with a superb DJ. All in all, it was the best selection of wedding entertainment that I had ever had the pleasure to experience.
My friend had booked the whole thing online with the help of a wedding entertainment agency that had supplied all the ideas and made all the arrangements. She assured me that the whole process of booking had been the easiest bit about the whole day. There was a huge selection of bands and acts to choose from, all under the same roof so to speak, (the online one-stop-shop concept).
Live wedding music and wedding entertainment including live wedding bands. Book or check availability instantly online now.