One door closes, another opens at Nelson brewery  

The beer will continue to pour at McCashin’s Stoke brewery with a new taproom replacing the existing kitchen and bar.

After five years of trading, McCashin’s Brewery Kitchen and Bar will be closing its doors this Saturday.
The operation has run as a separate entity from the brewery since 2015 when Lincoln Womersley and Brigitta Young took over the former café space in the historic Rochdale Cider building on Main Rd Stoke.
Young now runs the enterprise with business partner Tony Cropp.

A post on the kitchen and bar’s Facebook page said the closure was not due to Covid-19 downturn but as a result of its lease being unexpectedly terminated by the brewery.

[Stuff | LINK]

A friend is thinking about buying a new house with extra space for a home office. However, they are worried about finding the extra money.

You say increase the mortgage, to which they reply: It’s easier said than done!

For example:

• You suggest a change of venue for the annual conference but this is interpreted as disapproval or dislike.
  

However, by saying:

• No, I’m not looking for trouble! I was just thinking aloud about changing the venue as we’ve been going there for a number of years and the service isn’t as good as it was.

The expression softens the comment and indicates it was not aggressive or confrontational; merely a personal observation.

This can be used in situations ranging from volunteering for a charity to supporting someone in their professional field.

The key is that the act is done because the person wants to do it and not for payment

However, it’s not only used to talk about official bureaucracy but also when we feel rules and systems are slow to respond. This can be especially true when many people are involved in what seems to be a simple task or decision.

Red tape takes its meaning from the early 18th century: so named because of the red or pink tape used to bind official documents.

The expression is fixed and well known, so frequently the comment made to the person who is criticising could be people in glass houses or You know what they say about people who live in glass houses? or even Glass houses come to mind.

The reference is clear but without the need to say the entire expression.

 Why Lewisham’s plans for Millwall’s Den really take the biscuit
[the article bemoans the Labour council’s approved plans for compulsory purchase of the land around the ground which could threaten the football club’s basic operations]  
 
These same qualities of resilience may be needed again after the decision this week by Lewisham’s Labour council to approve plans for compulsory purchase of land around the Den as part of a mass “regeneration” project. Millwall currently rent the land under threat, the loss of which could threaten the club’s basic operations.

They offered to buy it at a higher price. Lewisham chose to go with the developer Renewal, which is ultimately controlled by offshore companies with mysterious owners and whose plan involves shoehorning in 2,400 homes, the huge majority for private sale, as part of Boris Johnson’s ramped-up “New Bermondsey” vision.  
 
References:
[HITC | 09.09.16 | LINK]
[The Guardian | 09.06.16 | LINK]

It’s frequently used to express relief over something which has been stressful, difficult or unpleasant has now finished and is now in the past.
 
Is the Iran nuclear deal dead and buried?  
 
In theory, the Iran nuclear deal is still in existence. But only just.
 
The country has announced that it will no longer be bound by any of its restrictions in terms of the numbers or type of centrifuges that can be operated or the level of enrichment of uranium that it can pursue.
 
[BBC | 06.01.20 | LINK]

Vegetable prices hit the roof as incessant rains destroy crops   
 
Hyderabad: Heavy rains that battered Telangana consistently for the last two weeks has damaged vegetable crops in several districts and resulted in sharp increase in the prices of tomatoes, lady finger, brinjal, carrot, beans etc.  
 
[The Times of India 25.08.20 | LINK]

You can't have your cake and eat it

Overview
The aroma of flavoured sponge cake is modified following storage in a glass container or paper and plastic packaging, say French scientists, who combined solid-phase microextraction with GC-olfactometry to compare the aroma barrier properties of the packaging materials.

I have long maintained that a good chemist should also be a good cook. Chemical recipes tend to be quite precise about the quantities of reagents to add and to drift from the exact formula can have dire consequences on the yield of the final product. Conversely, you can get away with murder when you bake a cake. How much is a cup of sugar or a pinch of salt? Follow a reasonable approximation of the recipe and you can still produce a masterpiece.
 
[Wiley Analytical Science | 01.04.07 | LINK]

Furthermore, poor eyesight could refer to someone who is inattentive, unobservant or has no interest in their immediate surrounding, when perhaps they should.

Blind as a Bat: A Case of Mind vs. Body:

Almost 40 years before the publication of “Mind and Cosmos,” the philosopher Thomas Nagel laid out the difficulties scientists face in trying to explain how the human brain gives rise to consciousness. His essay, as influential as any in the philosophy of mind, is called “What Is It Like to Be a Bat?”

By emitting “rapid, subtly modulated, high-frequency shrieks” and comparing them with the echoes, Dr. Nagel wrote, bats create a finely detailed, three-dimensional mental map of their world. But we humans are fundamentally incapable of imagining — and understanding — the animal’s inner life. Subjective experience, he concluded, is irreducible to physical terms. And so even the most precise theory of the brain can never fully account for the existence of mental phenomenon.

[The New York Times | 21.07.14 | LINK]

Trump Pardons Former NFL Owner, Jerry Rice Says 'I Take My Hat Off to Donald Trump'

Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice praised President Donald Trump for pardoning former San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. on Tuesday.

“So today’s a great day for him. I’m glad to be here and be a part of that, and it’s just something I’ll never forget. This man, he has done so much in the community, has done so much in NFL football, and today is a great day for him.”

Rice added, “I take my hat off to Donald Trump for what he did.”

[Western Journal | 18.02.20 | LINK]

The Dangers of Waiting Too Long to File Your Personal Injury Claim  
 
After an accident, the first thought is usually to get medical help and try to recover. Trying to balance between doctor appointments and the recovery process tends to put a lot on one’s plate. There is also the issue of trying to file for a personal injury suit to claim damages for injuries sustained.  

[Chiang Rai Times | 02.09.20 | LINK]

It is not necessarily used to insult but to express surprise and disbelief with what has been said or done.

Paul McCartney Does Not Hold Back With His Response to That Quincy Jones Diss

In August, music legend Quincy Jones spent a portion of his wide-ranging interview with New York magazine’s Vulture bad-mouthing Sir Paul McCartney and the Beatles. In the interview, Jones called the Beatles “no-playing motherf—-rs” who were “the worst musicians in the world,” and seemingly reserved special ire for McCartney himself, calling him “the worst bass player I ever heard.”

Now, in an interview of his own with GQ, McCartney laughed off the comments, saying that Jones is “totally out of his tree.”

He then went on to say that Jones called him personally afterwards to both clear the air and deny ever saying the words.

[Time | 11.09.18 | LINK]