Liquorice

You might say that we've already done the Finns. There was the whole Conan O'Brien visit as a result of his looking just like the President of Finland and his alleged winning of the election for her. Dontcha just love gerunds, I might get a subjunctive in before the end too.

Then there's Nokia. Well, I haven't actually posted anything about Nokia, but I'm pretty sure they're a Finnish success story. So, when you play that drunken game where someone asks you what the Swiss have ever given the world and you can't struggle past Carl Jung, William Tell, chocolate and cuckoo clocks only you do it for the Finns, I've got a third one for the pot.

This afternoon I was loitering with intent outside my dentist's, not really, just that the office is in the precinct, and I came across a new shop called Julian Graves. Now had you asked me I'd have said that Julian Graves was a writer, named three titles of books he'd written and the year in which he was nominated for the Booker prize. However I'd have been blagging.
In Palmerston precinct, Julian Graves is a health food shop. Something drew me in. Oh yes, I know what it was, the Chinese walnuts I had bought in Waitrose were not up to snuff, and certainly not as good as the Californian ones we get in BC. I found liquorice, very good liquorice, the BEST liquorice.

Back in the mists of time, you could get Black Jacks for a penny, or maybe it was 4 for a penny. They were sweet and gummed your jaws together and tasted of liquorish. Then there were the liquorish laces, red and black, also a penny I think. And in the sherbet fountains you got a good strong straw of liquorice that you could dip or suck the sherbet through until it became silted up.
My dad loved Pontefract cakes, little round coins of liquorice, less sweet than we kids were used to, but yummy, and the better because they were daddy's.

The Finnish liquorice I found this afternoon has no added sugar, it has a lovely flavour and texture. Panda brand, not you might think a native bear of Finland, but hey, who knows, who knew that their President would look the spit of Conan O'Brien? Thanks Finns, mighty fine confectionary.

On a completely unrelated note, and yet as rare as Pandas in Finland, Austen reported that he had found a Coldpay track that had a tune and was quite good. We listened. I think you need a lot of good will to find tune or value in it, but I admire that he keeps trying to find something, anything they have done that isn't as bland as ... well, frankly, Coldplay.

And finally, I totally agree that both modern private dentistry and veterinary surgery are licences to print money, but get this one. One of Sue's cousins makes her living practising acupuncture on animals and babies. I can't really get my head round this. I can imagine desperate parents trying any thing in a last ditch attempt to cure a sick child, but what in the name of St. Julian of Clary is the excuse for sticking needles into your pooch or hamster? I guess it's God's way of telling you you have too much money and not enough sense.

I'd never wish I were in that situation but should it happen, I'd most likely feed my ailing pet some Panda brand liquorice and avoid Coldplay, and the main reason I'd do that is.... I just HAD to get my subjunctive in - not an easy thing in the English language.