AGM

On Tuesday to the Queen Elizabeth Conference Centre for the AGM of the campaign for dignity in dying, my first visit since that to the Chilcot inquiry reported on January 30th 2010 in the other place. Where I see today that I commented positively about how the inquiry (about how we got into the invasion of Iraq in 2003) was not dragging on too long, unlike some others one could think of. While yesterday or so, more than four years later, I saw a report that we are still struggling to publish the report, with the leader of the inquiry being the one doing the foot dragging, aka maxwellisation. Read all about it at http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/.

Be that as it may, this was a well run AGM in a building which served well and which no longer includes any rat traps, at least none that I could see. But more of that on another occasion.

The sky was rather threatening from the off, but I got off at Clapham Junction, despite even more threatening cloud having loomed into view in the west and it just having started to drip. By the time I got to Grant Road East the drip had turned into drizzle. Still not deterred, got a Bullingdon out of its stand and pedaled off, but by the time I had got to Falcon Road I had decided that sitting wet in an AGM was not going to be much fun and returned the Bullingdon to the very same slot from which I had just removed it. Back on the train to get out at Vauxhall where the drizzle seemed to have eased off a bit and from where, in any case, I was not too sure how to get to Westminster in the time available without taking a taxi. Shock horror. So back on a lucky Bullingdon from Vauxhall Cross, a stand which is quite often empty or near-empty, and pedaled off to Smith Square.

Next thought was tea and I had the idea that one could get into the café attached to Westminster Abbey without paying to getting into the Abbey itself, but found that this certainly did not work by pushing through the rather crowded shop (with wares not that different from those you might find in any other metropolitan attraction). So off to Central Hall across the road where I made it to the café OK, but to find something of a queue, lots of tourists and school children, so decided just to take advantage of the warm and dry seating for a few minutes before pushing onto the conference centre (read all about it at http://www.qeiicc.co.uk/).

Conference done a few hours later, rather than refreshements in the Westminster Arms which would have been the order of the day a few years ago, took a Bullingdon from Storey's Gate and made my way, rather slowly through the heavy traffic, to the the Tea House Theatre at Vauxhall Walk, an establishment which was once run by a rather tough lady from Chard who offered a rather different kind of service. Impressed on the way, first by a large lorry, the sort of four axle truck used to move dry goods for builders around, for example rubble, sand or aggregate, who behaved very properly while turning from Parliament Square into Great Smith Street. That is to say he was overtaking me on my right, just prior to his turning left, but he paused on the turn for long enough to let me get safely away down Great Smith Street before making the turn himself. Second by a panel lorry, a three tonner, which was dressed up as an ambulance, complete with flashing blue light. What sort of casualties does such an ambulance get to deal with? And I learn in passing that while I think I know what a three tonner looks like, I have no idea what the ton in tonner refers to as Wikipedia talks of all of volume, weight and power.

Leaving that aside, I find that while the Tea House Theatre does a lot of tea and a lot of circular sponge cakes with lots of goo, it does not do any of Chelsea Buns, Eccles Cakes or Toasted Tea Cakes. But they could do a bacon sandwich, so I settled for that and tea. Tea arrives in leaf in pot with sieve and bacon arrives toasted in brown, adequate but nothing like as good as not toasted in white. But good that it did not come with lots of unwanted trimming, cheap at £5.20 exclusive of tip and a change from the nearby Madeira Café, where the bacon sandwiches are indeed done with untoasted white. And so onto Falcon Road.

Started out by being rather intimidated going around Vauxhall Cross (it was just as well that I had not read the bit in the day's Metro above at that point), managed to get out on the wrong exit and found myself in among the various large building sites in Nine Elms, the things you see from a safe distance from the train. But then, as luck would have it I found myself in Battersea Park Road and all I had to do was keep going until I got to Falcon Road, which I did, with the traffic thinning out nicely as I went along, avoiding any sweaty pull up any part of Lavender Hill. And passing on the way the Masons' Arms which had once served for a section party during my days at the Treasury and where we favoured the staff with a signed copy of the Treasury Christmas card which had featured in the 'Sun' of the very same day, this being the time when Leader Brown thought to up his cuddle factor by having his official Christmas cards prepared by infants.

Alighting at the stand at Falcon Road, I found a Turkish flavoured convenience store where I thought to investigate quinoa, but failing there, got some interesting looking Turkish Delight instead, taken from the impressive range of Turkish packaged foodstuffs. The quinoa having been brought on by an article in a recent DT which said that milk products were very bad. The argument went something like 'Chinese ladies do not drink milk, Chinese ladies do not get breast cancer, therefore milk products bad, especially cheese' and was a touch scary as I eat lots of cheese.

The pedigree of the article look reasonably respectable, but this morning I thought to check in my trusty copy of the global perspective on 'Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer' which had been published by the World Cancer Research Fund and others back in 2009. Their panel concluded that 'the evidence on the relationship between milk and dairy products, and also diets high in calcium, and the risk of cancer, points in different directions. Milk probably protects against colorectal cancer; there is limited evidence suggesting that milk protects against bladder cancer. But there is limited evidence suggesting that cheese is a cause of colorectal cancer. Diets high in calcium are a probable cause of prostate cancer; there is limited evidence suggesting that high consumption of milk and dairy products is a cause of prostate cancer'. And a quick peek at the bit of the report about China suggested that while the men seem to get a lot of stomach cancer, the women get breast cancer just like the rest of the world. Which all goes to show that in these matters, as in so many others, it is hard to know who or what to believe.

Scored a quick two at Clapham Junction at the aeroplane game but then managed to get onto a train going to Surbiton, only managing to get off in the nick of time at Wimbledon, rather to the amusement of the passengers round about. And so on to Epsom.