Life is What Happens to You When You are Busy Making Other Plans

We are delighted to announce the forthcoming publication of a new RHE Media title – Living Together and the Law: A Guide to Cohabitation by David Cobern. For more information on the book please visit our website at http://www.wordstothewise.co.uk/living-together-and-the-law.html  The book provides comprehensive coverage of protective measures and remedies available to you as an unmarried partner. Written for a general readership, it provides clear and straightforward guidance on topics such as: property; children; finances; Cohabitation Agreements; unmarried partners and business interests; the death of an unmarried partner; Alternative Dispute Resolution, etc.

More and more couples are choosing to live together outside marriage. In 2015, out of a total of 18.7 million families living in the UK, 12.5 million consisted of married couples (including same-sex married/civil partnerships) and 3.2 million consisted of unmarried couples.  This is compared with just 2.1 million cohabiting unmarried couples in 2000. This trend is expected to continue and it is now likely that, in the UK, more than half of 20-year-olds will never marry.

Many couples living together in long-term unmarried relationships mistakenly believe they have the same rights as couples who are married. Some cohabitees think of themselves as the ‘common-law spouse’ and they believe they are in a ‘common-law marriage’. So it can come as a shock to discover that ‘common-law marriage’ is a myth and living with someone for a long time gives you no legal rights at all. Therefore, if it all goes wrong and you separate what do you do about, for example:

•  the house you bought or rented together and the improvements you made to it that increased its value;
•  the children you had together;
•  the possessions you bought together or gave each other;
•  the business you ran together?

How can the law help you if you have no legal rights in relation to any of these things?

The author is very clear that this is not a book about how to end a relationship. Instead it is a book that aims to prevent common areas of dispute between unmarried partners from becoming the reason for a breakdown in their relationship. Benjamin Franklin said that ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’ and these wise words apply in spades when talking about the potential legal and emotional costs of disputes between cohabitees. As a result this book could be the most cost-effective purchase you ever make!

This book may seem a bit of a departure from the publisher that has brought you The Dangerous Bookfor Grandads and humorous titles by Heath Robinson. However, Living Together and the Law is closely related to our overall mission to promote wellbeing. Establishing stable and lasting relationships is a key aspect of wellbeing for most human beings and, obviously, problems in relationships have huge implications for personal wellbeing, so the book provides valuable guidance on ways in which you can ensure that legal issues do not undermine your relationship with your partner.

The RHE Media mission statement is ‘Adding years to your life and life to your years’. As a publisher I am delighted to read that research now shows that reading books does exactly this! An article on Wednesday in The New York Times says that reading books is tied to a longer life – see the article at: http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/well/2016/08/03/read-books-live-longer/?smid=fb-share&_r=3&referer=http://www.thebookseller.com/news/benefits-reading-include-longer-life-claims-study-371536

There may be several reasons why reading books contributes to living longer and reducing stress, a key life-limiting factor, could be one of them. An ideal way to prolong your life is therefore to read Living Together and the Law as this will reduce stress in two ways – firstly through the act of reading and, secondly, by providing solutions to potentially stressful issues in your relationship!

Here We Go Gathering 'Nuts' in May!

 

 Goodness me – it’s that time of year again! Spring has crept up on us and pounced. We have been freezing cold since Christmas and my garden, on top of a hill, has been in a snit – refusing to pop out a bud or waggle a leaf while Jack Frost is still stalking the avenue. Then, without a ‘by-your-leave’, warm gusts from the Continent have turned us positively tropical and spring has sprung all over. Thomas Carlyle knew what he was talking about when he wrote:

Long stormy spring-time, wet contentious April, winter chilling the lap of very May; but at length the season of summer does come.

With Chelsea Flower Show in a couple of weeks I am sure the garden designers are heaving a sigh of relief and unplugging their hairdryers as there is no longer any need to persuade their blooms to blossom. I am looking forward to seeing what extravagant and expensive creations the designers come up with this year. 

As it happens, it seems that Chelsea is very much in tune with RHE Media this year. The RHS has designed a garden called ‘Heath, Happiness and Horticulture’ https://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-chelsea-flower-show/2016/Articles/health-happiness-and-healing-gardens and, much to our delight, Diarmuid Gavin has designed ‘The British Eccentrics’ Garden’ that celebrates, among others, Heath Robinson - https://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-chelsea-flower-show/exhibitors/2016/gardens/the-harrods-eccentric-british-garden I must say that I am very pleased that our small efforts, here at RHE Media, to spread the word about wellbeing have reached the ears of the gardening movers and shakers. Gardening is indeed a great way to add years to your life and life to your years.

Also, spookily (as Dame Edna Everidge is fond of saying) the William Heath Robinson Trust posted the following on Facebook yesterday. https://www.facebook.com/HeathRobinsonMuseum/photos/pcb.520361224821457/520361111488135/?type=3 The Hare and Hounds in Waytown is my family’s local pub, well known to me as the place to go for a pint of cider after hay-making. So it appears that the universe is telling me to write a blog post about our Heath Robinson books and, specifically, about How to Make a Garden Grow.

William Heath Robinson and K.R.G. Browne offer some useful advice on garden design and choice of plants in this helpful volume:

Re flowers, now. Before planting so much as a solitary buttercup – which would look dashed silly, anyway – the gardener should give some thought to the general colour-scheme that will result when everything (to his astonishment) has come up. A garden containing only red flowers, for example, is an affront to the eye and a menace to the peace of the home, the irritant effect of red upon the nerve-centres being well known to psychologists, bulls and the retired military. In the same way, an all-white garden tends to induce snow-blindness in the family and neighbours, while an all-yellow one just looks bilious.

The gardener, then, must either work out a preliminary colour-scheme himself or hire a local artist for a small sum in bronze. As a foundation, a few roses, tulips and/or dahlias are generally useful, as these can be had in several pleasing shades and always look well in vases. Among roses, my personal favourites are Mrs. Wapshott (light crimson: very sweet), Lady Bilch-Overspoon (glossy rose: most abundant and continuous bloomer), Prunella Simpson (pink: large), Fifi Mechante (creamy pink: very free and beautiful), General Quacklingham (rich velvety crimson: very strong), and O. J. W. Featheringstonehamptonhaugh (salmon pink: large white eye). Apart from the two last, a jollier bunch of girls one could not hope to meet.

His roses selected, and his tulips and dahlias added to taste, the gardener can turn his attention to his hardy annuals – those tough little growths which can be trusted to do their stuff with the minimum of supervision. The most popular of these, at the moment, are phlox, sox, clarkia elegans (named, I believe, after that Mr. Clark who introduced spats into England), larkspur, love-in-a-mist, fun-in-a-belfry, coreopsis, ellipsis, mignonette, candytuft, bishop’s-nightshirt, nasturtium and echsol … eschscol… (Just a moment, please)… eschscholtzia. The last-named, which is pronounced like a walrus sneezing through a double thickness of felt after a heavy meal on a murky evening in Kirkcudbright, is generally spelt “Cal-i-for-ni-an pop-py”, to the relief of all.

I am sure the Chelsea designers will find such advice most useful and I am going to search the plant catalogues for fun-in-a-belfry and bishop’s nightshirt!

For those without outside space, don’t forget that you can learn much about spring planting indoors from another of our other gardening titles – Room and Window Gardening.

As ever, after an energetic morning digging weeds out of the lawn with a screwdriver (a handy tip from Grandad and using the screwdriver he gave me) and ducking dive-bombing seagulls while rescuing a drooping passion flower, my mind turns to lunch. It turns out that it is British Sandwich Week this week, which reminded me of my blog posts http://www.wordstothewise.co.uk/blog/my-life-in-sandwiches-part-1 and http://www.wordstothewise.co.uk/blog/my-life-in-sandwiches-part-2  Having little in the fridge I looked in the freezer and spotted a box of fish fingers, no doubt bought in anticipation of a visit from my nieces or nephew. Now the fish finger sandwich is much celebrated and there is considerable debate about the correct ingredients. I like to spread the bread (usually brown, but I know white is more popular) with mayonnaise, add the hot fish fingers and top with some tomato ketchup. I have also tried tartare sauce instead of mayo and that is very good too. For more thoughts on how to eat a fish-finger sandwich see - http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/dec/15/how-to-eat-fish-finger-sandwiches

Hand over that fish-finger sandwich RIGHT NOW! By Stu's Images, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27048015

I was admiring my pear blossom this morning and I wondered what Mrs Beeton recommended for preserving pears in Mrs Beeton’s Jam-making and Preserves. Here is her recipe for Pears, Sweet, Pickled:

Select some nice firm pears. To each lb. allow ½ a lb. of brown sugar, and ¼ of a pint of malt vinegar, cloves, cinnamon, and allspice.

Peel the pears and tie the spices in muslin. Place the vinegar, sugar and spices in a preserving-pan; when boiling add the pears, and cook them gently until tender. Remove the pears to a bowl or large basin, boil the syrup for about 10 minutes longer, then pour it over the fruit. On the following day boil up the syrup, and repeat the process the two following days. On the third day place the pears in jars or wide-necked bottles, and remove the spices before adding the vinegar to the fruit. Store in a dry, cool place.

My mother makes pickled pears (I think her recipe is similar to Mrs B’s) – great with ham and other cold meats and my Dad’s favourite. The lovely painting on the cover of our edition of this book shows pears and the equipment needed for preserving them.

Finally, looking ahead, don’t forget that it is Father’s Day on the 19^th June. TheDangerous Book for Grandads is the ideal gift for Dads and Grandads. It includes lots of ideas for outdoor activities with the grandchildren during the holidays so get your copy now (it’s available in all good bookshops as well as online in The Great British Bookshop and Amazon) and start filling your notebook or scrapbook with plans for derring-do! For example, now the soil is warming up and (we fervently hope) the risk of frost is past, you can plant the seeds of your giant sunflower or enormous pumpkin!

With thanks to Rupert Stephenson

Of course, if your Dad and/or Grandad appreciates the outdoors more in theory than in practice then he has much in common with William Heath Robinson and K.R.G. Browne in How to Make a Garden Grow. I think they should have the last word:

The fact that neither Mr. Heath (“Towser”) Robinson nor myself has ever grown any of the flowers or vegetables mentioned in this work will not, we hope, detract from its educational value or its usefulness as a fly-swatter. After all, very few dramatic critics – a curious breed of men, remarkable chiefly for their ability to sleep through the loudest shows – have ever written plays; and, of those who have, the majority are now wishing that they had chosen something easier, such as making little woollen models of the Albert Hall. The looker-on, in other words, sees most of the game; and as onlookers (preferably from arm-chairs, with a large jug of something soothing within easy reach) Mr. Heath Robinson and I acknowledge few superiors below the rank of K.B.E.

THE GREAT (EASTER) EGG RACE! ACTIVITIES FOR GRANDADS AND GRANDCHILDREN TO DO TOGETHER

By Gytha69 (Wish You all a happy Eastermonday!) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Do you remember The Great Egg Race TV programmes from the 1980s, presented by the wonderfully eccentric Heinz Wolff? Several episodes can be viewed in the BBC archive here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/great_egg_race/  Many of the contestants will now be grandads and I am sure they will be enthusiastically passing on their ingenious and devious problem-solving and engineering skills to their grandchildren.

Programmes like this demonstrate that problem-solving and building solutions together can be great fun as well as an opportunity to learn a great deal from each other. The Dangerous Book for Grandads has several great suggestions for such activities, and now the weather is finally warming up a bit Grandad and the grandkids can venture into the shed to try some dangerous experiments, build a Heath Robinson contraption or, perhaps, to create a record-breaking egg-carrying machine.

In the USA egg drop projects are a popular and fun way to teach scientific principles to young children – see, for example, http://eggdropproject.org/ A recent episode of Modern Family featured an egg-drop competition between Manny and Luke, demonstrating what a smashing time can be had by all the family when problem-solving together!

Of course, as TheDangerous Book for Grandads points out, Easter is the best time of year for egg-related activities. There is a section on Easter traditions that Grandad may like to partake in with his grandchildren. For example, painting eggs, egg rolling and pace-egging. What is dangerous about this you may ask? Well before you paint an egg you need to blow an egg – and this comes with the risk of getting egg on your face (and everything else) if you don’t do it correctly. Luckily our friends at the fantastically useful Instructables website (ideal for the creative Grandad) provide a guide to blowing eggs successfully: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Blow-Egg-Out-of-Egg-Shells/?ALLSTEPS

St George slays Bold Slasher - Heptonstall Pace Egg Play - geograph.org.uk - 818905

Pace-egging, a tradition from the north-east of the UK, has the potential to descend into violence as rival teams try to steal pace eggs from each other, although actual violence is rare and is played out in the pace play or dance instead. For more about pace-egging read The Dangerous Book for Grandads.

When I was a child we used to roll painted eggs down the steep hill on which the village church stood. We would blow eggs, paint them and then roll them down the hill to see which would travel the furthest without breaking the shell, with a ‘valuable prize’ for the winner. Dangerous for the eggs, particularly when the dogs joined in and chased the eggs down the hill, and grandads and grandchildren may take a tumble if they run after the rolling eggs. There was also a competition for the best painted egg (which took place before the egg-rolling for obvious reasons!).

Easter egg rolling takes place all over the world and is a centuries-old tradition. There is an annual egg roll at the White House, presided over by the US president:

Also egg rolling is popular in Russia and Slavic nations – they use a chute rather than a hill to roll the eggs, probably because it is still too cold to venture outside at Easter in those countries.

So, what do you do with all the egg you have blown out of the egg shells? Why you make lemon curd of course! Our book, Jam-making and Preserves by Mrs Beeton, includes a simple recipe, as follows:

LEMON CURD

Take 4 eggs, 1 lb. of castor sugar, 4 oz. of butter and the rind and juice of 4 lemons.

Break the eggs separately into a basin, beat slightly, add the other ingredients and stir over a gentle heat in a pan of hot water for about 20 minutes, or until thick. Pour into dry jars, cover down securely, and store in a cold, dry place.

Lemon curd is a wonderful addition to whipped cream used in a spring Pavlova or roulade. It can be used as a filling for lemon sponge cakes and it is super on toast for breakfast.

If Grandma has plans for all her real eggs for her Easter baking then you could make papier-mâché eggs instead. This is very easy – you use a balloon as the base, blown up to the size of ‘egg’ you are after. Then you soak strips of paper in flour and water paste (or some other glue) and lay the soaked paper strips on to the balloon in several layers. Try to create as smooth a surface as you can as this will make painting the finished eggs easier. Dry the papier-mâché eggs thoroughly. When they are dry you can pop the balloon using a pin by the knot (leave the deflated balloon inside the egg or make a small hole in the top of the egg so that you can gently remove the balloon). Once the eggs are completely dry the grandchildren can paint them to create Easter decorations. Varnish the painted eggs and they will last for many years. Please note that using papier-mâché eggs for egg rolling is cheating!

Eggs represent new life and the resurrection in the Christian tradition but eggs also symbolise fertility and the rebirth of spring in many ancient pre-Christian traditions too. Now spring has sprung and the grass is rizz thoughts often turn to love. That old romantic William Heath Robinson took the opportunity to portray Easter eggs as a useful tool in wooing a potential partner. This is a technique that he did not include in How to be a Perfect Husband surprisingly so this is one for hopeful swains to add to their springtime wooing toolkit:

Finally, we are extremely grateful to Kerry Norris for the fantastic review of The Dangerous Bookfor Grandads that she sent me this morning. We are so glad that you and your family grandads enjoyed the book.

http://www.allaboutamininorris.com/2016/03/the-dangerous-book-for-grandads-review.html?m=1

For more reviews of The Dangerous Book for Grandads visit the web page for the book at http://www.wordstothewise.co.uk/the-dangerous-book-for-grandads.html

Have a very Happy Eggy Easter!