The Lage - Paily Times

By Tana Lage Otero  January 11th This winter has started with very low temperatures in Spain. Tons of snow are covering not only the mountains and the roads, but also the streets and the cities all around the country. In fact the heavy snowfalls and the low temperatures are breaking all the records.     The storm responsible for this situation is Filomena, a storm that has been visiting Spain for more than a week now. As a result you can see white landscapes that resemble Christmas cards and kids  are making snowmen and playing with the snow all around our country. The problem is that it is difficult and dangerous to walk or to drive because of the snow and the ice on the ground.     Luckily we live near the sea and it rarely snows in Redondela. Anyway, these days you will find  everything covered in white frost when you get up early in the morning as you can see in the photo of the field in our farm. According to the weather reports, Filomena will stay with us for at least one more we

By Anu Paul January 11th 2021   When Edward Jenner discovered that having cow pox protected you from deadly small pox, I wonder if he had any idea how his discovery would change the world.  Today, this concept of fooling your immune system into developing immunity against a dangerous illness by giving it a milder illness has been developed so far that we now know that you only need the shape of the disease-causing organism to make your immune system develop the antibodies necessary to fight it. I am proud to say that I have gotten the first dose of the COVID vaccine.  I have now joined the group of 1.6 million people in the UK who have already been given a vaccine against COVID -19. Since I work in a hospital, I belong to the priority group that is being vaccinated early. But truth be told, I am yet to see a single patient with corona virus. Working as I do in the children's hospital in a specialty which doesn't see many lung infections, I am relatively shielded from the madnes

By George Matthew Paily 6th January 2021   US politics is currently in great turmoil, but the seeds of the current situation were sowed many years ago. For roughly the last 150 years, politics in the United States of America has revolved around two political parties: the Democratic Party - commonly linked with the color blue and the animal symbol of the donkey - and the Republican Party, often called the GOP (Grand Old Party), and associated with the color red and the symbol of the elephant. Various third parties have cropped up from time to time, with varying degrees of influence and importance, but with little staying power. While over the years the viewpoints and policies espoused by the two parties have changed, in current times the GOP is associated with cultural conservatism, a strong support of the military, a belief in ‘small government’, and supporting the rights of States over the power of the central federal government. In contrast, the Democrats are seen as culturally progr

 By Rosa Lage Otero 6th January 2021   This is one of the most delicious jams you can taste and it is very easy to prepare at home.   You will only need two ingredients - “mano de buda” fruits and sugar. You will need 700 grams of sugar per kilo of fruit.   First you need to wash the fruit carefully and then grate it. I use a box grater and only discard the white central part of the fruit.    After that you need to weigh the ‘mano de buda’ with the sugar.  After you mix them together, put the mixture in a saucepan and let it simmer until it is golden brown. You will need to stir the mixture with a wooden spoon every few minutes.    To store the jam, once it is ready, I use recycled glass jars (e.g. olives jars) that I have previously sterilized in boiling water.   Once the jars are full I cover the top (of the jar) with baking paper before putting the lid on. To the right is a image of ’mano de buda’

  By Anju Mary Paul Jan 5th 2021 Do you know which British movie won the 2020 Oscar for best original song? ( Rocketman ) This is one of the questions asked on Christmas Day 2020 when the extended Paily family organized a global trivia quiz spanning three countries - the United States, the United Kingdom and Singapore. There were six participants in all, with one quizmaster (Daniel) and four teams (George in the US, Anu in the UK, and Paloma and Anju in Singapore as one team, and Sebastian as another Singapore-based team).  The quiz was broken into several rounds, with each round containing questions on a single theme. In the first round, the team of Anju and Paloma took the lead, but they faced stiff competition from Anu who eventually won the game with a whopping 4-point lead.  The Christmas Day quiz was so much fun that the family continued to organize quizzes on the following days. Sebastian was quizmaster the following day, and then Paloma took her turn. George is expected to serv

By Anu Paul 5th of January 2021    My friend (Kate) first introduced me to Panic Rooms in 2018, and I have done 3 live rooms with various friends. I have always enjoyed them even though I am not very good at them. So, when Kate told me that an online version was available during lockdown, I was very excited and wasted no time in booking one for the (Paily) family to take part in the Escape Room. Getting the whole Paily family to take part was a bit more difficult to do though. Major problems like how there is a 13 hour difference between George in Connecticut and the Lage-Pailys in Singapore made it more difficult but we still did it! In the end, it could only happen because Uncle George very kindly agreed to stay up till 2 am and Master Daniel promised to wake up at 6.30am just to tackle a panic room. That is dedication! We had a full house buzzing with excitement, on Sunday when we started our mystery hunt. It was very quickly clear that there are some great, crooked minds in this fa