Counting beans
Spring, and the daffodil-laced strip-parks of this very nice, Corbynite, northern suburb stop abruptly when you step out onto Holloway Road––a dart of reality, that cuts from the permanently screwball Highbury and Islington squareabout, and deposits you on the A1 past Archway, where should you persist, you'd hit Edinburgh in around seven hours. Walk south where my street intersects instead, and in under ten minutes you reach the natty Nag's Head market where its all-weather, connected cabanas host micro-business operations like a single basin lavado and cortado, two table sushi bar, and empanaderia with 100% tatty, rattan interior.
Local supermarket Morrisons, dedicates shelf space, aisle by aisle, to cuisine of the ex-colonies with which, starting with Gungo peas, I plan to experiment. Hopes of becoming some kind of exotic, woman-of-the-people, bohemian Buddha of Suburbia, scuttled by the discovery Sea Isle Gungo peas are a product of Italy, owned by a UK company and could just as well be plain old lentils like I've, you've, we've all been eating for years. Inspired by the Panama Papers, I did a search on Sea Isle Limited and found, like any good English company, it's owned by an enterprising Indian guy. Well, was. It's been consumed by KTC Edibles, also owned by an Indian family, but in which the RBS is heavily invested. So like all of us, I guess they're 'owned' by the banks, and who the crap owns them? I know I'm talking Gungo peas (at 38p a tin!), and using layman's search skills, but still it's worth asking.
Thank god there's someone on the important stuff with investigative mettle (go direct to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists for less BS – https://panamapapers.icij.org/). While watching their words incredibly carefully, it's pretty clear once you start reading, that obfuscating financial offshoring activity is either criminal or grossly greedy, and to my mind, in this day and age, neither are defensible. Unfortunately, they're also utterly unsurprising. What's at stake here isn't whether what's exposed is ultimately deemed legal or illegal (by a system inevitably playing catch-up), but whether irrespective of legality, there's any change, recompense, redistribution, or other action taken on what is and isn't ethical. If not, minor embarrassment for the mega-rich will abate in days, and another layer of apathy inducing impotence will be cast over the general populace as another episode of leaks simply affirms what we know, while life goes on. And by life, unfortunately I mean growing disparity and continued arms production. What do you think's going to happen... seriously?
While you think about it, I'll correct the record on my previous assertion re: the uniformity in dick and ball doodling. It seems not all men are created equal after all, this beautiful gold rendition is for me, in the lead by a long shot.
Golden dick and balls by the N19 'highline', London, and Sea Isle Gungo peas.