My Word 1

YOU WILL BE ENLIGHTENED

2012-01-28T18:36:00.000+01:00

An all African Christian enlightenment band set up in the small town precinct at lunch time. You have to know that this is a very compact space and does not compare with the usual expansive high street pedestrian-only shopping areas found in larger urban areas. Also, it is place where people live in maisonettes above some of the shops.

So, there was this band and several large speakers. The decibels were seriously awful, the sound levels hurt. The singing was abysmal, unusually so, it was not what I would have heard elsewhere from African singers.

Apart from a very few young people, who, probably already have damaged hearing from loud noises constantly flowing at full blast through their MP3 players into their ears and the experiences of night club sound abuse, the band was making a good job of keeping people away. Like us, people were skirting around the centre, or rushing past the noise. The few local shopkeepers there are in the precinct will not have been at all happy with their trade being disrupted.

I think enlightenment is a multi-way, personal process. Inflicting injurious levels of auditory pain on people is not a particularly useful step to guide anyone to voluntary enlightenment.

SCENES IN THE BLOOD DONING PLACE

2012-01-24T19:15:00.001+01:00

Since they have reduced doning blood to one day when the mobile unit arrives in town, (it saves on overnight accommodation costs for the team) the Blood Doning staff have had to close its doors to people for brief periods during the two, two hours sessions they receive potential donors. The volume of people arriving who truly wish to give their blood, now overwhelms the resources the workers have available for the task, and it makes progress to the donation couches extremely slow.

Unfortunately, and sadly, a percentage of people who are turned away, and those who leave because of the congestion and the extraordinary long wait, do not return to donate their blood. As yet, losing good will and donations is not an issue. Perhaps with a cost benefit analysis, it has been decided that the proportion of donations lost, is worth it!

Very eventually, having succeeded getting to the final waiting row, I found myself sitting next to a young primary school child, who was with her dad. Like me, he was patiently waiting to donate blood. I moved up a seat as one at the top of the row became free,leaving a seat free for the little girl, who had run off somewhere.

.....No, no, .....said dad,.... she's gone to see her mother whose up there, (he indicated at a split level floor ahead) she can sit on my lap if and when she comes back.

The little girl soon returned and in evident distress, crying.....they won't let mummy give, they won't take any. Dad looked at me, totally bemused, while comforting his little girl. He reassuringly told her, they would definitely take some blood from him!

TESCO YO YO PRICING .....MOSTLY UP

2012-01-20T19:31:00.000+01:00

I'm not surprised that Tesco's Christmas period and end of year sales figures significantly dropped, if my experience doing business with my local and not so local Tesco stores is anything to go by. All major shopping chains play price games. Customers have become price aware, while at the same time their budgets have become tighter.

A re-engagement with the customer is needed. There has developed a distinct lack of respect for the food shopping public. The senior management, wherever they are based, do not seem to be of this world and so have taken their eye off the ball. The yo-yo pricing games have been crude and offend our basic intelligence.

Autumn 2011, my Tesco shopping basket was radically effected. For example the dairy items I buy, suddenly were offered at two items for exactly double the price, but, an individual pack of the same thing was more expensive. I did not want to double up on dairy produce shopping in order to get the previous equivalent price paid. The same pricing mechanism was initiated with many other products in store, I would not have doubled up my shopping on them either.

Next, while massively advertising there were to be prices drops throughout the store, my single unit items increased from late Autumn 2011 prices by 25% - 35%. I now buy the same type of dairy products elsewhere, weight for weight, no obvious quality difference, at or close to the prices I paid prior to Tesco's Autumn hikes in 2011.

The latest Tesco wheeze is to increase the cost of the 'budget ranges' of foods, pricing them at or close to the main range items. The more expensive foods now advertise a price reduction bringing them closer to the new higher prices of the budget foods! Surely shopping habits of customers must tell the retailer something more constructive than how to alienate their customer base.

IS IT OR IS IT NOT?

2012-01-07T20:36:00.000+01:00

An exhibition I recently saw did not stir me, it left me cold, with no real interest. I got to thinking about this. Is a sensible lack of connection, a lack of interest, an emotion in its own right?

A definition of emotion is ...

An instinctive state of mind deriving from ones circumstances, mood or relationship with others.

'Others' in this circumstance were inanimate objects with which I had no relationship.

'Mood'...it was initially one of curiosity which given the circumstances, changed to one of disinterest.

Based on the definition as given, my overt experience did not qualify as emotion.

GOLDILOCKS IN COURT!

2011-12-20T17:38:00.000+01:00

You should have seen Mummy Bear's boots! They were knee high with the most enormous rubber wedge sole; Mummy Bear looked, and was, Gigantic. Daddy Bear was a bit leaner and the weensiest bit shorter. Baby Bear wore a nappy (Ghandi style) held with a dominating bespoke blue safety pin. For his comfort, a matching blue dummy was attached to Baby Bear with a pale blue ribbon. This baby could sure run when he had to.

And as for that floozie, Goldilocks, with her shoulder length mop of fuzzy gold hair, bright yellow skirt and selfish eyes, well... she deserved to be brought to the fearsome Judge Bailey's Court, (The Old Bailey) to be tried on the charge theft and vandalism at the house of The Three Bears. After all the police, some polite, had found her there asleep in Baby Bear's bed. Forensic officers had collected their evidence and samples for the case against Goldilocks. Poor, poor Mummy Bear, many of her special possessions, ideal for the Television Antiques Road Show, were damaged, even Baby Bear's special collectable chair was broken.

The Floozie was befriended with good references in court by teachers, Cinderella and the two Ugly Sisters, Red Riding Hood and her friend. In his summing up to the Jury, it was evident that Judge Bailey saw through Goldilocks' subterfuge. Indeed, Goldilocks was sentenced to twelve months hard labour. Then Judge Bailey told us that because the actual story was different, he couldn't really do that. Prince William, his wife Kate and Elvis Presley, who were also in court, were very surprised.

So, Goldilocks got off and then made no secret of her guilt and her glee at the jury getting it wrong in her case. Where's the fairness in that?

The Three Bears were worse off and baby bear was so very angry that with his dummy flailing, and growling loudly, he chased after Goldilocks.

SALT OF THE EARTH AND THE SEAS AND PLENTY OF SKY

2011-12-16T19:00:00.000+01:00

Everything was covered in a layer of grey dirty-looking salt after the recent severe storms. What you see out of this window is the remainder of the snowfall we also had. I got the hose out and rinsed off the car so I could see where I was going through the windscreen . The salt covering made it like I was looking through smog. The windows here at home were equally as opaque. It cut down the access of the little bit of daylight we have in the Winter. This is a picture taken through the window, just after the first attempt at cleaning the windows with the hose spray. Stronger stuff was obviously called for.

I was struck by the variation of colours, density and the portents in the skies on this morning. There were totally different skies between the front and the back of our house, the one thing in common you could see, was the amount of movement and wind up in the cloudscape.

On the other side and over the fields was a sunrise.

The skies were fascinating though threatening. They gave us plenty of warning that there was a weather event to come.

As I watched and waited the sky scene very swiftly changed. Then as I turned towards the North I saw this;

It was like a refracting bolt. And yes......we have the weather, we are having the threatened weather, and there is plenty more to come.

THE RUNAWAY BUS CAME OVER THE HILL AND IT BLEW...

2011-12-12T23:48:00.000+01:00

Because of the storms last week, post and other deliveries have been seriously delayed. No commercial planes were flying passengers, nor to distribute post to outlying areas, or, to heavily populated ones either. Just imagine the bulky back-up of Christmas and business mail that resulted. Some long distance passenger buses tried to maintain a limited service when the trains could not. The bus drivers were brave, and the buses that battled with the weather, were extraordinarily late in their arrivals. They did, however, arrive. Passengers had some hair-raising tales to tell. It is just possible that a mail van limped through the stormy trail as well, though one of those, by no means, would have dented a sizeable backlog very much.

Trickles of mail arrived here at home by Friday evening. Apart from one letter, everything else was local. Is it possible that the bosses had allowed the local sorting office to do their own local sorting rather than bag everything up to travel hundreds of miles South, only to return North again I still have difficulty mentally sorting out the economics of that exercise.

At about 4.30pm, Monday 12th December 2011, a wadge of mail landed on the mat, mostly Christmas mail. No packages or parcels have arrived. Don't get me wrong, I am not expecting tons of presents, I am however, expecting our usual arrivals of mail order, which haven't shown up. It is this current pattern of deliveries that leads me to believe that there is quite a backlog of mail somewhere in the system, much of it caused by extreme weather conditions. Now, we are waiting for the next severe weather experience that is forecast, which, is bound to have a further impact on mail and courier services.

From past experiences, especially that of last Winter here, I am sure the individuals who work for most of the delivery services will do their level bests to meet the extra demands of Christmas and get their post and parcels to businesses and households.

I cannot speak highly enough of the local postal services and the efforts they made in the severe Winter of 2010/2011 with the most difficult of weather conditions - blizzards, ice and deep snow underfoot.

SCOTLAND...165 MPH WINDS

2011-12-09T17:58:00.001+01:00

The headline of a Northern Scottish Newspaper, the Press and Journal, stated "Winds 165 MPH". Under this startling factoid, (and I have no doubt that it was carefully placed) was a picture of a couple at a place where sea spray could be seen dropping over the esplanade. The couple were looking a bit blown about, not best dressed for the situation, and in a risky place for the conditions. But, to protect themselves from the elements, they were pictured holding a completely intact umbrella!

Yeah right....

ST MARTINS-IN-THE-FIELD...WHAT FIELD?

2011-12-01T22:11:00.001+01:00

It was a pleasant chat with the representative from St Martins-In-The Field; the best bit of all was when he said he had no time for certain other charities that mobbed and bothered for donations and persisted in various ways to obtain more donations from their givers thereafter. He felt that his donations would be being misused, diverted away from their primary purpose.

I know about the Vicar's Fund that St Martins is involved in all year round, a fund that can give emergency help quickly, what I did not know was that the fund is nationwide and does not stop and the Welsh, Irish, or, Scottish Borders.

The all-year work with vulnerable people and the destitute, has a great record of giving purpose and meaning to many peoples' lives. St Martins is not just for Christmas, though as the coldest time of the year approaches and many hostels have reduced capacity, the support of St Martins is in ever greater demand.

The BBC are about to begin their annual appeal for the nationwide network of help that St Martins quietly provides. I hope they do well.

I got to thinking about "The Field". An old picture does show the old church of St Martins surrounded by some greenery. Now it is not even a faded memory. There is no sign of it. The Church is overlooked, overshadowed even, by the Portrait Gallery and The National Gallery at the bottom of The Charing Cross Road and the busy daily life of Trafalgar Square.

(Courtesy of Wikipedia).

THERE'S NOT ENOUGH WISDOM.

2011-11-21T00:11:00.000+01:00

Philosophia, ( Philosophy) was in the original Latin term, defined as the love of wisdom. Today there are many more threads, (more than can be named here) in areas, such as the philosophy of politics, philosophies of various sciences and as an academic discipline, the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, of reality and existence; this last one is huge and I question whether a definition of it, or for it, can be fixed. By their own place within existence, the various wisdoms must surely wax and wane, change their nature and be constantly redefined.

In Malmesbury this year a festival of Philosophy was held. It has been suggested that there is a lack of wisdom today, that there should be a drive to raise the profile of philosophical study amongst people. Perhaps a festival is one method of doing it. When reporters obtained popular local thought on the general topic, a few people admitted to not knowing what philosophy is, a larger number made a stab at an answer, some expressed disinterest. Those making an attempt to define their understanding of the subject gave varied answers, and under the huge umbrella of all the philosophies, none, it seemed to me, could have been wrong.

So, where does that leave us when trying to determine how much wisdom there truly is around us today? Who is to determine whether there is a lack of wisdom, or to measure how much wisdom there is. What acceptable measures could be used? It appears to me, the very nature of philosophy, esoteric as it can be, is tied up with subjectivity, and determining measures to measure wisdom is unlikely to be entirely successful, (if at all) because the discussion would in all likelihood be embroiled in endless philosophical debate.

BACK TO BLANK

2011-11-18T16:19:00.000+01:00

Very recently I was thinking I hadn't got much to say, then two blog thoughts arrived.

I'm back to blank at the moment and waiting to see what occurs.

A RECIPE FOR MAILING

2011-11-13T18:31:00.001+01:00

How to avoid a small letter becoming a large letter.

1) Iron the folded contents flat.

2) Once the paper/card is in the envelope, Use the iron again and iron it very flat.

3) If you haven't got an iron handy and there's no breakables or other issues, hammer the envelope.

4) Otherwise, prepare everything a day or two in advance of posting and spend some time sitting on the envelopes to flatten them.

5) When you are sure all your mail is slimline and will easily slip through the wafer thin Post Office measuring template, stick stamps on it and post.

A HIGH TIME FOR GARDENING AND WALKING

2011-11-08T22:42:00.000+01:00

Dear Diary,

We're under a high at the moment....no, not on a high, though being where we are, it does help to get on one, (a high) if you see what I mean. The barometric high pressure, (not to get confused with any other kind) means we have had two bright crispy days. Nightfall delivered a ground frost giving us a crispy day with just that extra bit of wintry nip. If we had not had to turn the clocks back by an hour, we would get more time in the day to enjoy this weather, notwithstanding, I was up early this morning when it was still quite dark. I was therefore, able to enjoy all the daylight from when it dawned to when night drew in.

Yay! I got most of the laundry damp-dry over the two good bright days. It will keep the fuel costs down and reduce the amount of moisture circulating in the house while it finishes drying. The things that please us now,(getting washing dried without the use of utility fuel) we would never have dreamt of pleasing us just a decade ago. It's a sign of the times.

As there is a recycling collection this week, I rolled the bin up to the border of bushy perennials , which, to coin a phrase in today's economic parlance, definitely needed a haircut; clearly, a short back and sides. Metaphorically I pushed up my sleeves and started lopping off branches. After 7/8 of the work was completed, the bin was very full. I briefly held onto my aching back, then indulged in some gentle seventh innings stretches. That did the trick and I felt re-energised. If we get more gardening weather, I'll trim back the one eighth of remaining bush life in time for the next garden waste recycling collection. The Dahlias still look quite colourful, but, I can see from the leaves that the frost is getting to them. I wonder if I should pull them up or let the Dahlias die off.

The border is definitely looking sadly denuded. Even so, the perennials did need tidying up. The weeds that were hidden by the overgrown bushes are now totally visible. They have had a field day, growing stealthily and prolifically, many beyond my reach, and out of my sight. Dear diary, it seems I shall have to summon up the energy to weed them out.

We went for a leisurely stroll Sunday afternoon. The orchestrated tinkling sound we heard was Oyster Catchers lifting and turning stones and pebbles with their distinctive beaks on the banks of the river; it is their way of foraging for food. A sparrow was free-loading, following behind, gaining the benefit of the other birds' feeding habits.

Down at the sea shore, there were loads of foot tread marks, all overlapping and in one corner of the beach. It must have been the main viewing point of the community bonfire and fireworks display on the 5th November. I had to screw up my eyes because the sun was very bright and low. It was sod's law my sunglasses were sitting in the car parked back at home.

COUNTER WITCH AND BROOMSTICK MAIL

2011-11-08T11:09:00.003+01:00

Spurred on with the Xmas wrapping and posting, a couple of calendars left these shores by surface mail, two days after the last posting date.

My package for Western Europe was in good time - Halloween- and I requested surface mail for it from the orange headed wigged witch - cum - counter - clerk. After tapping her counter computer box, she informed me the rate was not available. She could not have written or read the enormous hand written last posting dates notices stuck on the counter windows. "Western Europe", I read, "last posting date 22nd November" .

She shook her head, and then there was light..."It's right at the end of the list" she stated

The cost was £5.40p......"Really...so, how much will airmail be?" I asked, incredulously.

A bit more tapping around on the counter box; obviously happy, she had found Western Europe, Counter Witch triumphantly announced.....£4.60p. It didn't take high level maths calculations to work out that airmail was a whole £1 sterling cheaper!! I refrained from asking if transit by broomstick might be more economic.

I asked her to check the surface mail cost again. Counter-witch's brow furrowed. A moment, and a few taps later....yes, she said, that's right. It doesn't make sense does it.

I opted for airmail, even if the package got to it's destination far too early, reminding counter witch to deduct the cost of the stamp I had already stuck on the package. She forgot to do it.

Was I paying in cash...if so, the transaction data could be input and some plus and minus keys could be tapped out at the end of the sale. There was a quick explanation on how to do it from the manageress, which got muddled up. Patiently, I waited till counter-witch and I got the all-clear.

THE OTHER END - JOHN O' GROATS

2011-10-21T16:15:00.002+02:00

One fine day I found myself in John O' Groats, a corruption of a the name of a Dutchman, Jan de Groot, who settled there about the 15th century, so the story goes, and ran a ferry that plied its trade to The Orkney islands. De Groot had seven sons. To minimise confrontation and to give equal status to all, Jan had built an octagonal shaped table for all to sit at when they had their business meetings.

On the site where the de Groot family lived, grew a hotel known as The John O' Groats Hotel. Over recent decades the hotel has been allowed to fall into disrepair. A community project, it is not clear which community, was officially sanctioned to 'tart it up'. That meant some outer walls were painted in various mismatched styles. The local community indicate they do not like it. In many ways, the decaying building seemed much more in keeping with the ancient history of the area. The hotel is now undergoing re-modelling and refurbishing.

Because of the 'end-to-enders' as they are called, (they are the large numbers of people who cover the miles from Lands End to John O' Groats annually by various means of transport) there is a mistaken belief that John O' Groats is the most Northerly habitation and/or the most Northerly place in the U.K. Neither is true. The most Northerly point is five miles away.

I heard a local photographer has rights over the iconic signpost used to take photographs of arrivals to Groats. When the photographer is not there, neither is the signpost. Even when the photographer is there the post is not always erected till there is obvious business. Another trader has created an alternative signpost with distances, which is fixed to his shop wall.

It is very popular with visitors. I saw people taking pictures of themselves by it with their mobile phones. It adds to the interest of the John O' Groat Harbour for present day ferry passengers, when the seasonal ferry plies its trade to and from Orkney; the fixed post is permanently there, and that was more than one could say for the 'official' signpost and its photographer.

LIAM FOX,OLIVER LETWYND AND POOH BEAR

2011-10-15T21:53:00.002+02:00

In part, I can understand the muted responses at this point in time to Liam Fox's political behaviour. The internal Government enquiry is incomplete. His resignation does not and should draw a line under the matter. It is too serious for that. Meantime the other party foxes are creeping out of the lair to bark for replacement ministerial representation for their views in the Cabinet.

Even without knowing the full story of the money trails, there is substantial evidence that Liam Fox was running a parallel government office while in senior office (more like a parallel government) and he was Emperor of the domain. If it is so, it could be construed as treasonable behaviour. This behaviour would not be tolerated by many left or right wing governments across the globe. What information has been given light of day so far, has been publicly described as fit for a Courts Martial if Fox were a military man,(14th November 2011, BBC Radio 4 Any Questions).

Meantime, this week in a public park near Downing Street, where he has his office, we have another Government Minister, Oliver Letwynd disposing into the park bins, or, into an opened plastic rubbish sack, correspondence from his constituents and also copy government papers. Oliver Letwynd is described as cerebral, but, I do wonder what planet he is living on and where he has left at least half of his brain.

Has Oliver Letwynd not heard of security and the Data Protection Act? He clearly did not treat any of the material with the respect and confidentiality it required and deserved. Surely, he is not so physically weak that he cannot walk the short distance to the office with the batch of papers following his regular sojourn in the park. If he collected his papers from the office to work on them in the park, (or anywhere else) then it is conceivable, following his little rest, the Minister, who is quite a young man, could gather up all the papers then trot back into his office with them. A request can be made to his staff, (if there are staff left following all the redundancies in the Civil Service) to appropriately dispose of the papers. If that is not feasible, the Minister himself should be trained in his office ethics and housekeeping .

The beleaguered Minister, appears to be liked across the parties. If he lies low, and his constituents don't create too much fuss, which, after the cavalier fashion in which their communications have been treated, they do have a right to do, he might just be able to totter on and become invisible again.

Likeable Pooh Bear comes to mind....the bear with half a brain. Oh dear!

YAY OR NAY, THAT IS PART OF THE QUESTION

2011-10-13T11:06:00.003+02:00

According to a community newsletter, a retired man of the cloth is offering enlightenment with aspects of philosophical thinking. As I was wheeling my trolley around the grocery store, I was silently debating about whether to come out of the closet of greyness and participate. Turning into a new aisle, I bumped into the man himself.

"Oh", says I, "I was just thinking about you".

Retired man's bushy eyebrows rose in a mix of surprise and I thought I detected a glimmer of alarm. After all, we did not know each other from any regular community contact or distant friendship. I sensed a quick explanation was called for.

I said quickly, "I read you were interested in developing a philosophy group"

He visibly relaxed and with a drawn out "Ye-e-s" he explained he was thinking about throwing a quote into the arena, which he thought might be more at the level of ethics than pure philosophy. At the height of the recent riots in London (UK), he explained, someone described the rioters and looters as 'feral rats'

Exhaling with a long "So-o-oh",the ex-man of the cloth said, "if we examine the meaning of feral, as it relates to animals, do we get into the nature or nurture argument"?

I'm still thinking.... have you any thoughts

OLYMPIC FEAT.

2011-10-09T19:01:00.001+02:00

A happy bleat, for a change, about drying washing and restricting the use of the tumble dryer. The weather has been playing massively manipulative games, getting to the stage where no sooner is a load of washing out on the line, it gets horribly wet by courtesy of Mother Nature, not to mention that I get soaked speedily rescuing the washing from the line. It is also noticeably colder, about 10 degrees Celsius with an icy nip. We'll be lucky to get 12 degrees at any high noon from now on.

Running in and out to the washing line is becoming an unpleasant Olympic feat. There should be an athletic category for it in the Olympic Games. There are times when I feel I deserve to receive a gold medal for all the effort that goes into external laundry drying!

This is what I would really like to have. I cannot have one because there's no suitable space for for it.

With a basket of washing ready and going nowhere fast, I chatted with hubbie about the ongoing difficulties with drying our laundry. He remembered that we stored under the house a square four section metal dryer frame on wheels, many years ago It was brought out into the daylight and on examining it, we found there was one broken rod, probably the reason for storing it, (rather than discarding the airer). A metallurgist was required....well, not really. A quick soldering job on the broken rod has the airer erected and in use. Yay! Not that I am bothered, but, hubbie thinks that the airer needs a cosmetic touch to conceal the point of repair.

My dryer bears some likeness to the one below, but is not as tall. I don't have as many racks.

A VERY FINE CARROT HARVEST

2011-10-07T21:56:00.000+02:00

For the last two weeks we have been seeing fine arrays of carrots appearing at the part of the farm nearest to us. They are carefully lifted out of the trailer, which is usually hitched to a tractor, and are laid out, again with care, onto the tarmac. The soil is then washed from them with a high pressure hose.

Not long after the cleaning treatment, the carrots with their long elegant green fronds, are deftly tied by hand into presentation bunches. When the shallow boxes arrive from local retailers, the bunches are gently placed in them - there's no rough handling - and the carrot boxes are lifted into the vehicles. That is the last we see of them.

These are some of the carrot harvest :

General Farm workers have to be multi-skilled and multi-taskers on some farms. At the farm near us, they usually work in the agricultural machinery repair business, and fulfill the tasks required to keep the farm running.

Checking two kinds of stock:

I buy eggs from the farm; one of the workers who lives on site keeps chickens and collects eggs from favourite laying places, about three times a day. Having seen those gorgeous-looking carrots, I decided it was time to return some empty egg boxes, buy anew, and see if there was any other fresh farm produce for sale. The shop at the farm is not a farm produce shop, it is an agricultural vehicles spare parts business. (Farmers have to be versatile and be able to diversify these days to make a living). The eggs are sold from the spare parts shop and sometimes, if I am in luck, I'll be able to pick up some other fresh farm grown vegetables while I am there.

I was lucky, not only were there some eggs left for sale, there was a small stand outside the shop, on which rested some swedes, lovely big light green cabbages and guess what.....a couple of bunches of those luscious-looking carrots. My purchases of six eggs, a swede and a bunch of carrots cost me the princely sum of two pounds sterling.

P.S The pictures were taken from a distance.

IT IS EARLY OCTOBER - SNOW! SNOW! SNOW!

2011-10-04T20:37:00.000+02:00

The weather forecaster mentioned the dreaded Winter "S" word last night, (October 3rd) taking me and the news presenter totally off guard. She exclaimed in long drawn out breathy shocked vocal sounds, "S--N--O--Wwww! And I jerked out of my chair exclaiming "SNOW!" in a higher pitch and in unison with her.

There have been really heavy sleet-filled showers today and there is a definite nippy edge to the blustery wind. Is this the weather that is the precursor of what is to come, what we have been led to wait for and expect this week.

My snow tyres have been promptly put on order.

DON'T THEY LOVE SEX AND THEIR OWN VOICES

2011-09-30T00:07:00.002+02:00

Don't they love the sound of their own voices. Don't they hate a story that produces some better news than they wanted to hear. Don't they love spending time on prurient irrelevancies when there are really important weightier concerns around to hear about.

We are hardly short of noteworthy news in all its forms at the present time. Instead, as there is a court judgement given that is favourable to the media, what do we get, a headline and discussion on someone's private life, because it gives the media a chance to indulge in a 'holier than thou' frenzy of righteousness.

Meantime, a relatively good news story, the decisive yes vote in the German Parliament supporting Euro emergency funds gets the 'if it [the vote] had gone the other way' treatment, which it decisively did not, 'there would have been ruination'. Well, Armageddon did not make a visitation today and the media did not get the story that they had so hyped up and hoped to report on.

There are three other world stories:

One is about a pastor in Iran who is threatened with the death penalty for his Christian faith. The death penalty will be lifted if he renounces his Christian beliefs. The penalty meted, is outwith the state and Sharia laws. It sounds like exemplary and dangerous posturing.

The second major concern is the sentencing to hefty terms of imprisonment of Bahrain medical staff who treated injured people at the time of the protests there. As far as could be seen, the nurses and doctors were performing humanitarian acts to save people's lives. That's what they are trained to do. Many protested about the types of injuries they saw appearing in the emergency units. The apparent silence from the Americans, Europe and the UK on this issue is shameful.

And another little matter of some interest. Rev.Desmond Tutu invited the Dalai Lama to his Birthday party in South Africa. The South African Government have a delegation in China at present. The Dalai Lama's visa request to attend the celebration is now on the back burner....no guesses needed as to why. The retired Archbishop is not at all amused by the political antics. There were no blocking tactics in the past, when The Dalai Lama was invited to the South Africa for Nelson Mandela's celebrations.

A MIDWINTER VISIT TO GRANADA -1

2011-09-27T21:50:00.001+02:00

Selected perspectives of Granada in midwinter:

A roof line at The Alhambra Palace with a stunningly forceful sky as a backdrop.

The fine detail of design work on a pillar. Wherever you looked there was beautiful pattern work. On walls, in particular, these finishes seem to have been the equivalent of our decorative wallpaper. It is possible to see how the patterned surfaces could be removed and replaced/refreshed with other designs. Undoubtedly, the artisans had a real pride in what they produced.

How timeless this Moorish floor tile pattern in the Alhambra Palace is.

The contrastsof Granada in Winter. The nearby Sierra Nevada Mountains, which are smoothly carpeted in deep snow and bathed in sunshine, provide a winter sports playground. In the town people live and work, visitors explore while enjoying the sun and the midday warmth.

In a courtyard that was a contemplative part of a religious house, there are artisans showing and selling their work.

Inside the house there is a Bélen, one of many finely made nativity scenes that are well supported with visitors, and families with excited children. Perhaps because it is a Mediterranean depiction, the characterisations are more realistic to the Middle East than the religious artistic representations you see in galleries and churches in other parts of Western Europe.

The pomegranate tree in the courtyard is pregnant with ripe and over-ripe fruit. some are dramatically splitting. The miniature fruit tree adds to the delight of this little corner of Granada.

THE PAST AND THE PRESENT

2011-09-25T13:50:00.002+02:00

My radiators are covered with items of clothing at various stages of drying. It's not that I am stingy about using the the tumble-dryer and using fuel; it is that my consciousness has been assaulted with being economic with the earth's resources. I work much like the local farmers do, observing weather patterns, waiting to quickly take and use any windows of opportunity. In my case, I wait for half decent weather so I can peg out the washing to dry in what nature can provide for the purpose. As the season changes the opportunities to dry the washing outside will contract.

I am almost wistful for bygone days when rooms in houses were large enough to sustain a wooden dryer fixed with a pulley, which rose to the ceiling. We had one, when I was young, and it settled in a high area in line with the rising heat from the coal range, mostly used for heating. Those were the days of city smog. I would not wish that back. With the thought in mind, I have been eying up any spaces that might accommodate a pulley dryer/airer. The obvious one would be our utility area, but that is far too narrow.

Damp is another issue to think about. These days, with smaller room sizes and the encouragement to insulate houses well, ventilation is more restricted. On the other hand if a house is heated with dry heat, a little moisture might balance things off a bit. The correct balances could be difficult to achieve.

Increasing heating costs focus the mind and the purse. Where I live, there are very limited periods when the heating is completely off during the year. The thinking cap will have to go on again. Meantime, the airers over the radiators and the radiators themselves will have to do their best to support the ecological argument on the basis that every little helps it, and also, every little helps to support the domestic economy drive.

IS IT SERENDIPITOUS?

2011-09-18T21:14:00.000+02:00

The excretions from a bird that is flying above, landing on your head, is said to be lucky; is it also serendipitous? It is not any of those things when the muck lands on the freshly washed laundry hanging outside on the line to dry, or, on a newly washed parked car.

It raises the question of why some obscure events are said to be lucky, yet the same or similar happening is anything but desirable when occurring slightly differently.

One very wet day, when it was raining forceful tapfuls of water, someone asked me if it was as wet outside as my coat suggested. "If it’s there to see, yet is is", I said. In truth though, yes it was horribly wet outside, but I had walked under a fully laden hanging basket of flowers when I was going in one direction, and the darn thing plumped its own puddle of water onto my hooded head. On my return I walked as far out as possible to avoid said basket but it swung and plumped another puddle onto me.

Now the question here is, was that serendipitous, or what?

AN IMPERFECT SHOW - FOR A CHANGE

2011-09-15T11:14:00.002+02:00

Not all that grows in a garden is totally perfect. It can clearly be seen every time we survive a gale, a storm, or a long period of indifferent weather. So, for a change, I am posting a mixed pick of the beauties of nature. The photos were taken in limited time opportunities between long bursts of rain.

These nasturtium leaves are the ones that were not blackened with windburn by the storms, however, you can see, like the flower, they have suffered some singeing and wind damage.

Nature has its own way of giving weather warnings, and if I am not much mistaken, these calendula flowers were protecting themselves by clustering together. Are there tiny black bugs sheltering on leaves and the underside of a petal or two.

Another one of nature's creatures taking the last of the Summer wine perhaps.

A brave burst of vibrant colour. I wanted a picture of it, just in case the flower does not survive the severe weather that is expected,

Is this insect visitor seeking food or shelter, or both from the yellow calendula flower. I think the bloom has been got at before, but, hey! Whatever size creature you are, you don't turn down easily accessible and probably desirable food.

WHERE DID IT GO?

2011-09-13T17:21:00.000+02:00

The boat was hiked out of the water, along with other small boats, as protection against the effects of the threatened tail end of Hurricane Katia. At the end of August, there was havoc in the small harbour when the sea swell, the winds, strong tides and the torrents of rain pulled larger boats from their anchors and small open boats were in difficulties with the copious amounts of rain that fell. One such small boat was pulled out to sea, never to be sighted again. Thus, we battened down the hatches, here at home too, as best we could, and waited for the storm.

We appear to have been in the eye of the storm, and apart from a breezy day and night, and down pourings of rain in a windless morning, today, we have, this time, been spared.

The cleaning of this boat is almost complete. Then, a protective cover will be put over the boat while it is in 'dry dock'.

A WEDDING, INSURANCES AND THE HEREAFTER

2011-09-10T22:35:00.005+02:00

HALF A WEEK:

A wedding dance! That's an evening 'do', or, celebrating knees up style the rite of passage of the happy couple, which happens after all the rituals of the feeding of the masses and the speeches from the close few. While the hall was being re-arranged for the evening celebrations and dance, dad of the bride proudly gave me a tour of his hi-tech speech prompt, an iPad.

The bride, with her glorious figure and her dancer's deportment carried herself beautifully. The groom was a classic picture in his dress kilt. The wee flower girls, dressed in white party clothes, must have been fed with 'bounce'. They stole the show.

In the late evening snack interval, half of the local pipe band rendered high quality traditional entertainment with bagpipes and drum.

Today's Post: Because I have been a loyal customer, for forty years or more, to reward me for my loyalty, the insurance company are waiving any further premiums on my policy. There is a clause called new provisions and conditions written in insurance-speak. I was meant to pay the premiums up to 2013, except if death intervened a bit earlier.

Reminder to self to contact the insurers to clarify what it means. Whatever, it is a saving of money. It stays in my purse.

Uncannily, the second letter was marketing funeral cost insurance with a plan called 'Dignity'. I have already covered myself, or rather, sorted out the meeting of costs for those who have to deal with my mortal remains and pay for an appropriate send off for me. However, there was a free pen being offered if you made enquiries.

One noticeable point about these particular 'Dignity' funeral plan details, the wording was not deviously constructed like another mailshot I received for the same plan from Age UK. the literature was straight to the point. As it should be.

DO YOU WANT TO DEAL? THE EXCITEMENT COULD RUN AWAY WITH YOU...

2011-09-07T10:25:00.000+02:00

I was caught by an eye-catching advertisement on a website, which advertised fun deals. (Its business name is actually a reversal of the two words). However, the fun before the deal gives you a clue to its magnetic form of operation.

It is a curious dealing forum which is supposed to be selling overstocks of items or liquidated company goods. The dealers even offer international shipping. The first hook is the introductory page where you see iPads, iPhones, Kindles, etc. marked 'sold' and at low prices, while counting down continues on attractive deal prices with other items. It looks fun and appears exciting; it is meant to entice you in to to buy what seems to be a real snip of a bargain. Before you can join in the bidding/dealing, you have to register to participate. I didn't go that far. Instead, I did some research. Things that look too good to be true, usually are just that, too good to be true.

The punter has to pay for every bid s/he makes. The bids are priced at 60 cents, (presumably, there would be additional exchange rate costs for every bid if you are in the U.K). Every time your bid is topped, the countdown, whichever stage it is at, has time added to it, (about 15 seconds) to allow for further bidding. The 'winning' bid is that of the last bidder where no-one has come along in time to top the bid. This system leaves open many ways of manipulation, inside and out.

You would have to be a pretty clever clairvoyant to work out when to bid and get what you want without spending a lot of money on trumped bids, or, you will need to have devious software that can read the bids and dive in on the last second to obliterate the gazumping hordes, trusting that there would be no manipulation of the system elsewhere.

The company sweats the assets in bids to take good profits from the sales - as that's what they are, as far as the company is concerned - while you, the bidder, have the fun of next to impossible odds of paying for lots of unsuccessful bids. The aim of the process, is to sell 'desirable' goods based on many bids to obtain the profit the company wants.

Those people who do obtain what they bid for in the forum, may visibly have a good deal, say $250 for an ipad, the cost of their [numerous] bids, plus exchange rates, if you live abroad, and possibly import taxes. In the final reckoning, there may have been no real purchase advantage. One thing you can be sure of, there will be a lot of disappointed bidders having to pay for their empty bids.

This is an interesting retail business model. The excitement of the game could run away with people, and an awful lot of 60 cents bids would yield nothing. This is, in reality, a commodified gambling forum where the odds of getting anything are likely to be a lot less than winning the sweepstake or the lottery.

AN AMAZING SEND OFF!

2011-09-04T00:30:00.000+02:00

Now here’s a story; it is a true story I heard about from from someone who was there.

A local man approaching his 90th birthday died last week. Plans were well in hand for the deceased’s 90th birthday celebration, which, would have been this week.

The relatives arranged for a graveside service, a rarity here, these days. The coffin was respectfully and with local tradition, lowered into the grave by the people selected to take the cords with which to do it.

Just as the minister stopped speaking, a man stepped forward, saying he would like to speak. He approached the edge of the grave and stated to the group of assembled mourners, “I bought Peter a bottle of ten years old single malt whisky to give him for his birthday”. So saying, the mourner then revealed the bottle, opened it, and to everyone’s utter amazement, poured the golden liquid contents over the casket.

JUST THINK - IT COULD HAVE BEEN WETTER

2011-08-31T13:59:00.000+02:00

I thought about photographing the burnt black and torn leaves of my nasturtium plants, the bowed bunches of chives and my urn-shaped strawberry pot, which was being used for a bit of floral colour rather than soft fruit. What is extruding from the urn looks pretty sorry for itself.

Then I changed my mind about creating pictorial evidence of the havoc wreaked on my plants, because of the storms and the torrents of rain that ripped through this area last weekend. Instead, I started to tidy up my salad and herb patch as best I could in between more showers of rain.

Meantime, on the washing line, where washing swayed in the wind while the weather looked deceptively promising, with the next unexpected rain fall, the towels got damp and the bedding ended up as wet as it was when originally pegged out to dry. It could have been worse, the washing could have been wetter.

(A wash from another time drying in the wind).

COMMUNITY CARE - LET'S TALK.

2011-08-30T19:56:00.000+02:00

The deaths of a number patients in the community led to fatal accident enquiries,(FAI's) during which a number of community physicians were cross-examined about their practice and abilities and their patient care. These enquiries are similar to those of the Coroners' Courts in England and Wales.

The clear message that came out of the FAI's was, the communications between hospital specialists and the community physicians was totally unfit for purpose. The term 'woefully inadequate' would have been too gentle a criticism of the virtual blank wall between hospital knowledge patient requirements for effective care in the community.

The standard discharge from hospital letter that followed a patient's movements, was inadequate and it relied, in the majority of cases, on someone handing this outline letter to a GP practice reception. G.P's had difficulties contacting specialists and obtaining information. It was a sorry state of affairs.

Sadly, the patients who died had special medical needs or rare conditions understood in some depth by specialists and not by general practitioners. Some of the consultants would have been based in the regional hospital and others would have been out of region. The latter offered follow-up out-patient services in the regional hospital. This system still pertains. GP's started to tell patients with special needs that the hospitals, sometimes hundreds of miles away, had to continue their care, they, the GP's could not. Since the FAI's and the GP 'work to rule', there have been changes to practice. There has been a major overhaul of information technology and consultants are more readily accessible to the G.P's, BUT, only within region.

The General Practitioners can now obtain reports of consultations and diagnoses, also the medical care required, all at the press of a computer button. This arrangement does rely on the individual at the hospital uploading the information and doing it promptly. Blips occur, though in my limited experience, they have been rectified relatively quickly, once noticed.

Likewise, and this relies on good practice pertaining within hospitals, essential community G.P. practice information about a patient can be accessed through the I.T network, for example, about drugs intolerances.

It is a big improvement on what happened in the past and the technology can work. The I.T. systems seem to be up to the job. The weaknesses though, are obvious, the system is not infallible, but then nothing is. The access to information is dependent on timely recording onto the computer systems; it is dependent on hospital staff seeking community information and also checking on in-patient medical history, all being good medical practice.

One of the largest weaknesses is that the sharing of vital information is limited to the hospitals and community medical practices based in the regional health authority. A major communications gap exists, fraught with old dangers because a range of specialist expertise is based outside the health authority.

The regional I.T. system is, to a large extent, doing what it was set up to perform, to share important health care patient information, so, community health care professionals in theory, can provide appropriate care in the community. I say in theory, because the other major weakness lies in what resources are available to continue supporting specialised care requirements in the community.

PHONES, PHONES AND CONNECTIONS. WHAT IS GOING ON?

2011-08-25T21:01:00.003+02:00

I can understand the occasional check on the bloggers' sign-in page, as much for security as for the occasional data cleansing exercise. ....... Does data cleansing happen?

I was mildly irritated to have my usually smooth pathway to my blog site hindered by Google wanting a phone number. Surely, I did not want to miss all the shimmering excitement of cell phone connections to the cyber world. Well, here's news, I sure do!

In the tiniest ever, almost diaphanous print, even smaller than that which is found in a telephone directory, I just about discovered the option to choose to click to move on without divulging a phone number. It was blatantly obvious that by such a devious, miniscule, printed option, the designers of the page intended to frustrate as many individuals as they could, in any intent to decline such a questionable magnanimous offer.

Another development, (it should not affect me) anyone with smart phones, or relatively up-to-date phones, who is a registered user of Facebook, (FB) will have their cell phone numbers published with their names and personal avatars on their friends sites. To opt out of this feature, (note, no-one was asked if they wanted to opt in) you, the Facebook user, must find the pathway to request removal of your cell phone number, which could take some time to activate, and not only that, on some phones, something else has to be switched off, or, be negated by the user. Do not ask me what has to be switched off, as I have not got the merest idea.

It begs the question as to how Facebook has access to the users' cell phone numbers. I can only assume, (though I could be wrong) that if Google is requesting their bloggers cell phone numbers, then the cell phone numbers displayed on the FB social networking site may have been supplied by the users themselves when subscribing to it. Also, if you have to request to opt out of the publicizing of your phone number amongst the vast global numbers of contacts, contacts that some people seem to collect as trophies, you have to ask what is a personal privacy setting worth. To paraphrase The English Bard, ....Trust, trust wherefore art thou?

DISAPPEARING PUBLIC TOILETS

2011-08-18T15:47:00.001+02:00

Public toilets are a necessary requirement and should be, I believe, in the forefront of public issues. Suffragists, (of the 20th century) in the U.K. were instrumental in gaining the provision for women and of course, men have benefitted too. Rightly, no gender preference in this matter. However, there do seem to be comfort disparities, especially for ladies.

Where there is public toilet provision, (it is not universal) there always seems to be more male toilet provision. That is more, in the sense that the male structural and natural need is well provided for. The same cannot be said about women's needs.

The female toilets have inadequate provision and are always furthest away.

Women do take longer in using the cubicle, and with accepted natural more complex reasons. Consequently queues form in women's toilets sooner than in men's, and they move more slowly because of the natural requirement. Other reasons for this, must, in certain environments, include the towing of children in buggies and meeting their toileting needs. The nappy changing facility is a blessing where it exists, even so, it is not appropriate for all family toileting. Fewer men than women are involved in children's personal hygiene activities.

Some of the slowest moving and longest queues are to be seen in shops (which provide customer toilets) cafés, bars, cinemas, and theatres.

Many municipal facilities have closed permanently. Others open seasonally. On street provision of the ubiquitous circular pay-as-you-go facilities, are often out of order with technical problems. I almost got a shower in one of those and was lucky the door slid open to let me exit. 'Out Of Order" dutifully flashed up on the electronic sign, following my departure.

Do you think public unisex toilet provision would be an answer?

NET COMMUNICATIONS-THE JUDGEMENT OF SOLOMON.... IRAN AND CHINA INTERESTED

2011-08-16T20:34:00.001+02:00

It didn't take long for Iran and China to comment on our home-grown scenes of destruction. Iran, (mischievously) suggested that David Cameron should be reported to the United Nations for, I can only presume, supporting physical criminal acts committed by the police against 'protesters' and further, also human rights violations. It's the old chestnut of a revolutionary or terrorist is someone else's freedom fighter. Anyone would be hard pushed to describe what happened as either of those. It cannot be said that what occurred in some of the English cities was anywhere in that league. Perceptions are interesting, as is how they are reported.

The apparent role of social networking in the recent rioting, arson, thieving and looting, has ratcheted up, by several notches, the debate about controlling this specific element of the internet, to the point, where, closing down social networking sites, or, perhaps, blocking the ability to access the internet, has been openly suggested. China perceives double standards and sees a [re-trained] future ally in controlling the freedom of the internet. It reduces by one the number of Western democratic political critics of China's totalitarian methods and its imposition at will, of the isolation of its country from the global internet.

The closing down of cell phone networks has already occurred, following the bombing atrocities in London about five years ago, and with good reasons. The Madrid bombs were set off by cell phones. I could not phone mobile-to-mobile to find out how a relative was, who travelled daily in to central London using at least one of the underground lines affected.

It is not beyond the realms of reality to believe that security services together with police are going to be involved in setting up emergency procedures which will contain instructions not just about shutting down cell phone networks - this would neutralise Blackberry encrypted messaging - there would also be operating codes of conduct with social networking sites - coded language for possibly, temporarily, (UK wide) switching them off - in case of any future civil unrest. This is a murky area full of pitfalls. Does the scenario make China's moral stance a smidgin more familiar?

The dangers in closing down messaging networks also works against the innocent people caught up in situations who need help and have no other means of calling for help than a cell phone to do so. Someone or some group will have to make the judgement of Solomon.

SCOTLAND IS PEACEFUL - DECENT COMMUNITY SPIRIT LIVES ON!

2011-08-12T11:23:00.000+02:00

SCOTLAND IS PEACEFUL and will remain so. Despite the buckets of rain that have been falling, the Edinburgh Festival is drawing confident and relaxed visitors from England, who say they are glad to be where they are; and there are other visitors from around the globe, who also say, sincerely, they are happy to be in Scotland.

Two males living in Scotland attempted to incite unrest, announcing on Facebook it was now UK wide. To reassure you, THE DISTURBANCES ARE NOT AND NEVER HAVE BEEN UK WIDE. The Scottish authorities stepped in fast. The two individuals are awaiting the process of the criminal justice system while in custody. Meantime, Scotland has sent specially trained groups of police officers to England to be deployed where they are considered to be most needed.

With the high human cost of the criminality and disruption, (disruption that now appears to be quelled) clear up is underway in which we have seen the wartime spirit of community. Individuals have been remarkable, some have lost their lives or been injured. A Turkish food outlet owner in N.E. London spoke of how his community defended their people and livelihoods, describing the cultural motivations that led to their self-defence. Similar drives prevailed in areas like Southall in West London and in Birmingham, in the Midlands and about eighty miles from London, sadly, three brave 'defenders' died. Almost instant visual media has widely accessed the best and worst of our society for us all to see.

My hope is, that the beautiful spirit of community that so many people of all ethnic groups are demonstrating, will be constructively harnessed for good, and be supported in every constructive way possible. Politicians, unfortunately, have a history and a habit of getting in the way!

E-READING WITH THE CAT

2011-08-12T00:08:00.001+02:00

There has been the worthwhile remains of a money voucher waiting for some months to be used. Because of the type of voucher it was, winnings, it had to be used up in a year. It's now close to that time. I had not, in truth, given the voucher much thought, however, it flashed into consciousness and I made a flash decision about what to use the voucher for. I have ordered a Kindle e-reader. The e-reader will have a bright pink leather cover. It's not that I am smitten with bright pink, I quite like the colour for certain uses; it is just that the colour of the cover will avoid confusion in the household.

My reasoning for getting an e-reader was, that I want to cut down carrying weight when I go out. Often there is time to read while waiting for someone to arrive at a meeting place. The weight issue can apply to distance travelling too. Occasionally, I travel with a laptop, though I have not taken it abroad, yet. The ubiquitous internet cafés have generally met my needs.

Believe it or not, I dislike reading articles from a computer screen, though there are times when it is inescapable. I hate reading from a 13" laptop. Even with its clever gizmos and capacities, I could not justify the cost of an iPad, or similar, from which, reading would be like reading from any other visual display unit. Being unsure about its viability, I held back from the idea of using an e-reader.

The computer and e-reading technologies are different and e-reading is less likely to strain the eye, in fact, from what I have seen, the screens are very gentle to read from. Unlike one relative, I am not thinking about a lightweight bed time reading machine to rest on the cat!

THE GREAT OUTDOORS AND BIRDS

2011-08-11T20:45:00.000+02:00

I got to thinking about the seasonal visits we get from Geese, either going North or South. According to where they rest for any given period, fields can be carpeted in them as the geese stop to rest and feed on their long journeys. The signal defining feature of these birds, (apart from the tremendous and distinctive sound they make) is their pattern of flight. If you see a large number of birds flying in a 'V' formation, (and it can be quite a flock following leader birds)you are probably looking at geese in flight. They are not quiet, they will call in their inimitable manner.

Wild Geese:

Every year sportsmen arrive near where I live, about August-September time, mostly from abroad, in particular, from Italy and France for their hunting and shooting trips. The few that do not go fishing spend their time shooting geese and other birds. It has been true to say that the French shoot anything with feathers, which is why, very few birds have been seen in flight in parts of France.

The Italians did not do much for their sporting reputations either. One year there was a general outcry at what can only be described as indiscriminate bird shooting. Many geese were found dead where they fell. While sporting activities in general are supported in rural parts of the UK, there are rules to follow, like not killing more livestock than can be bagged and used. and certainly not leaving a multitude of dead carcasses littered around the countryside.

Whatever your views are about hunting sports, it is a thriving affair, but, not to the exclusion of appropriate regulations. Complaints were submitted to legal authorities about the amount of indiscriminate shooting, and the complaints were investigated. It was probably hard to deliver particular culprits to answer for their actions, however, the organisers of the events were taken to task. The incident that sparked off the complaints occurred many years ago. Since then, there has evidently been better control of hunting activities as no more complaints have been generated. I can assure you, they would be if the situation repeated itself.

CHAMPIONS AND OTHER THINGS , EVEN.

2011-08-06T12:54:00.000+02:00

The journey to the regional agricultural show was dire. It's 'interesting' enough that we have to cope with sea haar when it descends upon us, however, this time it was low visibility in long stretches of very low lying cloud. When we were above the cloud we were into clear visibility, and apart from lots of different kinds of traffic on two-way roads, (it would be so much safer to have dual carriageway) the cloud was an extra long-lasting hazard. It was a tiresome journey.

By the time we were close to destination, about 11am, I was fascinated to see various staked notices leading towards a church, one invited you not for evensong, but, 'even coffee'. Bar the fact that we were in a guided motorcade by this time, I might have stopped, even!

It couldn't have been wetter. My poncho did a sterling job but was overworked. The the show tents were busy. They were a great place to escape from the constant downpour. Every time I put back my hood, the rain started up. I gave up and left it where it was, safely on my head. A number of people enviously eyed my poncho and one person without a jacket, asked where I'd bought it, thinking I might have found it at the show.

Our farming neighbours obtained championship accolades for their sheep.

The lady farmer pointed out to me the overall champion was the one who normally stopped and talked to me through the chain link fence. She can get most demanding of communication if I am slow to respond. Today though, she had done her bit and wanted to rest on her laurels.

Young black Dougal with his mum. He was born on Hogmanay,(31st December 2010).

Look at Dougal now, at eight months old. Dougal came away with a respectable 2nd place. He is already twice the size of the farmer's previous champion Suffolk lamb of August 2010.

I noticed the young lad bounding up to a different Suffolk Lamb. The lamb almost jumped the fence as he became aware of him. They greeted each other like long lost friends.

THERE MUST NOT BE A HIDING PLACE FOR ABUSERS

2011-07-28T10:49:00.001+02:00

There is no place for institutionalised pedophilia. There should never be. I will offend some people, no doubt. I trust that right-thinking people will not be offended and will support my view and that of countless others. I highly applaud Enda Kenny the Irish prime Minister for his straight-speaking to the Catholic hierarchy on the subject of the systematic... "abuse and torture of children" by the Catholic Church. The abuse of children in all kinds of disgusting ways has gone on too long under the long black cloak of tacit support of the Papacy and its representatives. It has been further compounded in the guise of the sanctity of the priestly confessional. When will that element be un-knitted? Until this weak area is dealt with, there will be continuing protection for abusers. There is no clear leadership from the Vatican nor its senior clergy on preventing the abuse of children by its own ministry. They provide a continuing defence for their structural inadequacies and criminality.

There have been too many cover-ups of unacceptable institutionalised structures and behaviours. The media has been the latest institution, where we have witnessed the media taking freely unto itself the right to hack victims phones, be the victims dead or alive, be they celebrities, or, you and me and our families. The media barons have always had power without responsibility. The present unpacking of it, shows a broader and deeper corruption of power than some suspected, few appreciated and the majority had no knowledge of.

Notwithstanding the fresh outcries of current gross abuses of trust and power, there is still the outstanding, currently unresolved, Steven Lawrence case and the institutionalised racism demonstrated by the British Police in the handling of his murder. This matter still rumbles on.

What kind of society have we mired ourselves in, allowed ourselves to be manipulated into? The Police at the highest levels, have shown at best lack of judgement, at worst, institutionalised racism and corruption. Our Parliamentarians have not performed any better and it has suited them to let things ride. Do we get the Press that we want and deserve, or have we got a media that has manipulative, controlling, corrupt structures, to suit their needs? If that is so, they have taken power we did not give them that they did not have any right to take. Can we say did not notice? If we did notice, I would say, as small cogs in the machine, we were disempowered and therefore, individually, rendered powerless

Now the The Catholic Church is being confronted with its sexual criminality in the strongest terms. We are witnessing some fracturing of the power of the media. British politicians are cautiously tip-toeing around a media circus 'crime-scene' from one which some of them have derived great benefit. In a few cases politicians have been victims of media telephone hacking and blagging. Senior police officers are also in a very uncomfortable place.

As quoted on the 30th April 2011 by lawyer David Pascoe "JUSTICE HAS NO TIME LIMIT", (source: Birmingham N. Post & Courier 1st May 2011). And neither should it.

THE LEGACY OF THE FREUD FAMILY AND OTHERS

2011-07-22T21:57:00.001+02:00

Lucien Freud, a rather interesting artist, died yesterday, 21st July 2011. It made me think about the wealth and cultural legacy to the U.K. of the Jewish refugees who came to Britain, fleeing from Nazi Germany and Austria during the 1930's. Lucien and his brother Clement Freud, both well known personalities on the national and international stage, were the grandsons of Sigmund Freud, who was one of the forerunners of the development of psychoanalytical thought. Sigmund was one of a fertile group of intellectuals forced to flee Vienna. His daughter, Anna Freud, continued her father's work in Britain after he died.

More recently, Britain has greatly benefitted from the well educated and entrepreneurial adept Ugandan Asians who fled from the tyranny of Idi Amin.

The British do not realize what valuable assets we have gained in the process of immigration to these shores. It is not a popular thought for many, indeed I wonder if the majority of people even consider it, especially at times of financial constraint and impending austerity.

DO YOU KEEP BUSINESS CARDS?

2011-07-22T21:18:00.000+02:00

The appointment card had written on it, as clearly as anything, Thursday 22nd July at 3pm. It was better, I decided, to forget the day, it was bound to be a mistake, after all the appointment was made a couple of months ago. Anyway, Friday the 22nd July 2011, is today. Off I toddled the twenty miles to keep the appointment.

There's a receptionist for the evenings but not day time. When the therapist is busy, there is a notice on the door telling you so. I was five minutes early. I sat and waited patiently in the car for the salon door to open. I let ten minutes extra go by. I read my book. By the quarter hour I was a bit concerned. A few minutes more and I phoned and left a message. For good measure, I wrote a note and posted it through the salon letter box.

Having completed my grocery shopping in the supermarket,(a larger one than ours) I started on the drive home. My cell phone rang just as I reached a tricky bit on the road. I parked the car, (I will not take or make calls if actually driving). "I don't have you in my book for an appointment today", said the therapist, equally as puzzled as I had been, and now I was puzzled even more.

Tonight, I checked my diary and all the current appointment cards I have. Do you keep business cards, as I do? They are always handy to have for obtaining the contact details for the enterprise you want. Just one problem arises, I have found, when the business card is also an appointment card. On checking the 2010 Calendar, I discovered that July 22nd was on a Thursday last year. Need I say more!

A SUNDAY AMBLE AND CLAMBER

2011-07-19T20:53:00.001+02:00

That Sunday was too nice a day not to take advantage of. There was a breeze, (by soft Southern standards, it would be windy). At the top of the day, temperatures were about 20.5 degrees Celsius, dropping later to about 16 degrees. Most of the time there was bright sunshine, under which the countryside and the sea glowed and glinted.

At the Lodge where we stopped for refreshment, we saw haymaking, (while the sun shone).

The view through the trees was really tranquil.

It's surprising what you see at your feet.... this was a well and truly dessicated form. I wonder why it was there on the walkway.

The rock glowed with the sun on it, yet as quickly as the radiance appeared, it disappeared before the camera lens could capture the moment.

I knelt to get this picture... result, wet trouser legs. But then it is bog cotton and what would you expect if you kneel in a bog.

More bog cotton. I didn't kneel for the photo this time!

A pod that has split. Can anyone say what kind?

By this time, on our return walk, it was much to cool to stop and sit on a beach, even though it was ever so tempting.

THIS IS NOT AA....IT IS aa - IF NOT THEN WHAT?

2011-07-06T14:53:00.000+02:00

It was really nice of this team to write to me and in pidgin too. At least this way I can read their notification and gauge all the nuances that underly it. There was a link contained within the email which, of course, anyone would chomp at the bit to deal with, wouldn't they.

In the circumstances I thought I would share this super[ficial] little email notification with lots of people so that they could spend as little time as possible figuring out the message contents and so that everyone who does see it, maybe even receive one of the same notes, can consign it to where it belongs. IT BELONGS WELL AND TRULY REPORTED AS PHISHING SPAM AND DELETED.

"Your login Notification

Dear aalabels Customer,

As part of ensuring privacy of our customers login information, we, AA-Labels, has changed the password credential in our database in encrypted form. This means that you should be able to login with your current Login ID and Password but your password in our database will eb stored in encrypted (undecryptbable form). In case of any login failure, you can reset your password by using "Forgot Password' option.

Should you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us at ... aalabels.com or [phone number last 3 digits] 390

Kind regards,

The AA Labels team"

LIFE'S LITTLE SURPRISES

2011-07-04T10:23:00.000+02:00

I haven't ordered anything from these people for a long time, so, why did I receive a package from them last week? The only way to find out what was going on was to open the padded envelope. When I saw the book inside with order details, I couldn't help but be surprised.

In November 2010 - nearly seven months ago - I ordered the book as a Christmas gift for a young relative. The book would be forwarded to me, I was informed, when it was received in stock; I promptly forgot about the order. The relative got something else.

It is already too late for a birthday present this year. It is not ideal for the older sibling. I will have to put on my thinking cap.

ANNUAL OPEN GARDENS - GENEROSITY-SEARCH AND RESCUE

2011-06-27T22:16:00.000+02:00

There were some gardens open a few miles away, for the annual visiting Scotland's gardens. It would be hard to describe all that we saw. There were four gardens that were milling with interested people; each of them were very different. I marvelled at the generosity of house owners giving over their pride and joys to the tramping feet and ogling eyes of absolute strangers. We were all very well behaved, even the children.

One show of flowers and bushes was planted out on the most exposed and arid plateau of land, just over an old quarry. the common question here was, "How do you get it all to grow?" Another husband and wife team had organically developed their elements of gardens over twelve years. I came away with the name of an unusual plant which I must note down for next year. A third was a complete surprise, one kiddie cried "It's a magic garden". All developed and terraced on a slope down to a little river that used to run some miles to long gone mill. There were so many nooks and garden corners to discover.

Out at sea, a rescue helicopter was searching, hovering and searching. It was rising and descending, moving onto clifftops and the scrub of the headland; more hovering and searching. The search and rescue helicopter is usually not good news, not unless the crew are successful with a live result.

At tea with home baking, in the village hall, all part of the end of trail refreshment, I got talking to a disabled elderly lady and her husband who are visiting to help their daughter look after the grandchildren while son-in-law is being treated for a serious medical condition. During the conversation, I was told that the son-in-law was a local church minister. I soon realised that this was the man who kindly helped me and drove me home, in December 2010, when my car came off the road due to black ice.

Here was the generosity of families supporting their loved ones. The couple had taken time out to view the open gardens, to benefit, even in the rain, from the different beauties in nature and also benefit, insofar as they could, from the welcome and friendliness of strangers, and also the calming distraction of those lovely and interesting gardens.

THERE'LL BE A WELCOME IN THE HILLSIDES...MAYBE

2011-06-24T22:18:00.001+02:00

I enjoy people watching; without fail something of interest arises. Yesterday, was no exception. Two Welsh ladies,(the accents were immediately recognisable) who were tourists, were in a small cafe. One busied herself with her requirements and took semi-control of the other lady who had need of a walking stick. They were such different personalities; the moment the 'busy' one was asked by the counter assistant if the two of them were together, a firm loud 'no' confirmed their status. The woman quickly separated herself from the other one and scuttled to a table, which she settled at.

The other lady, a quiet sweet-mannered person, did need assistance, so I gave it, both with relating back prices, (she said she had two hearing aids) and carrying her tray. It seemed to me, this sweet soul wished to have space of her own. The lady's hesitation at where she might sit was her undoing. The first woman half stood to tell me very loudly they were staying in the same hotel, therefore, they would sit together. The two ladies were Welsh language speakers. One spoke Welsh like a song, the other was coarse.

They got up to leave as I did.

We're Welsh, said the loud one... have you been to Wales?
Yes .... I replied.
Where did you go? I listed a few places.
That's different .......and continuing at a higher pitch than before she stated....
most people here don't know where Wales is!

As I closed the cafe door, I looked at the three members of staff, two of whom were grinning, and if looks were anything to go by, the third one was ready to toss the caber and give her best shot!

DOES THE END NECESSITATE THE MEANS?

2011-06-21T23:56:00.000+02:00

£95 17/- 6d believe it or not, would have been, (if you had the money and the forethought to pre-plan) the total cost of your funeral in 1970, according to the grand announcement on a leaflet. Enticingly, it goes on to enlighten that yours and my funeral would still cost the same now, in 2011, in the United Kingdom. Did we appreciate the value of the pounds shillings and pence in our pockets, (if we had any), or is this information advising us that the funeral market has been stagnant, funereal even, for forty-one years? No, it is telling us that if we had planned for the ceremonial departure of our mortal remains that long ago, we would still be charged the original cost, the price for that time.

Having digested the first page, inside the leaflet you are told that "never mind the £95 17/- 6d, the average funeral cost has increased in the last ten years by 94%". This is certainly meant to be a reality check and like all advertising, works on the emotional senses.

The best bit of all is the special offer that goes with the eye-catching historical information. You are offered a guaranteed funeral plan, at a price quoted that is based on today's costs, for whenever you die. The other conditional highlight is, if you are over fifty years old when you apply for the offer, you are guaranteed to be accepted.

I nearly forgot to mention, how remiss of me; you get a stylish pen for requesting an information pack, [and adding yourself to the endless mailshot database].

WHAT...YOU REALLY DID THAT!

2011-06-16T20:46:00.002+02:00

Out of the mouths of babes:

Junior was looking at some photos taken about nine years ago, noticing that dad was looking that much younger, sprog commented..... doesn't dad look old now.

And turning to me....... You've got on a bit too.

With a quick afterthought, junior added, I'm the only one in this family who is aging well!

Just wait till you get to our stage of life.

A N D :

Expressing genuine incredulity... more pearls slipping forth from the mouth of Junior.

"Mum it is incredible, you experienced the 60's the first time round!"

DOZILY HOOFING IT WITH SHERLOCK HOLMES AND DR WATSON

2011-06-12T21:26:00.001+02:00

The weather maps did not look brilliant from Friday through till Sunday. I do not know where the heavy plumps of rain fell that we were to expect. Thus far, we've had a few raindrops and one inconsequential shower which passed by. Unheard of I know, but I actually watered my few plants, my herbs and the edible flora I have planted.

This afternoon I sat on a cushioned recliner in a warm corner of the garden intending to read. I did read, just one short article, following which, I fell asleep in the warmth soaking up lots of natural vitamin D in the process. Good while you can get it. To my amazement, I roused over two hours later. Resolving to go back to my reading, I completed a short detective story by the master of 20th Century mystery, Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle: Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson, what a perfect team they made!

There is bright evening sunshine now. The neighbours are busy strimming and tidying their flower borders. Another neighbour is watering his garden.

Over at the farm, in the penned off area of the field for the lambs, a very stocky and large Suffolk lamb called Dougal, who towers over his younger compatriots, is very noisily signalling that he wants more feed in the empty trough that he is hoofing and banging. It is hoped he will be show championship material. In any case, he looks as if he is going to be quite a character.

2011-06-03T00:46:00.001+02:00

It can't be easy to open a public space that all sorts of people and children can get something from. What is 'dumbed down' for one person is accessible for another. We can all take something from what our senses experience, and as we inevitably do, we can pick and mix.

I like the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow. It has had the highest attendances of any museum in the UK. One year a group of blind people set up a walk in a house and garden all being totally in the dark. There were helpers on hand to assist anyone who needed guidance, a quiet word of explanation, or a helping hand. it was so dark, you couldn't see them but they could hear you moving around. The experience made a huge impression on us. This experience demonstrated very sharply what the sighted take for granted. It's only when you have had the sense of sight that you know what you have lost. If you have never had sight then the world is a different place and all other personal abilities are refined and honed to a high level of sensitivity.

These pictures show a flavour of the museum and what caught my eye and my interest on this visit:

Finding Egypt - Become a Mummy

Grand organ pipes well preserved - I would love to hear their sound:

I'll let this ceiling picture speak for itself.

Time for tea:

YOU ARE HERE ->

2011-06-02T11:21:00.000+02:00

We had visited the Trevi Fountains in Rome then wandered around the little streets nearby, momentarily stopping off for good Italian ice-creams,(yum) and to buy some black and white post-cards that were on display, for sprog's Audrey Hepburn collection. These pictures of course, were La Hepburn pillion on a Vespa, or, perhaps a Lambretta, or looking elegant in some other setting.

Time, we thought, to go somewhere else. We walked aimlessly, arriving at some classic styled white steps that obviously arrived at a higher level than we were. We climbed them and at the top, found ourselves in a piazza, where, to the left of us was a decorative period mansion.

One or two policemen were casually walking around near the steps and in the piazza. I stopped one to ask in my best Italian, "Where are we please?"....quick as a flash the reply came....."You are in Italy!"

...AND THE BANK IS?

2011-05-31T22:36:00.000+02:00

The Phone rings.

Hello....

Can I speak to Ms Pollyana Smith? says a male Scottish accented voice.
Whose calling?
Answered with speed.....??????Research.
Regarding what? .......It's about Ms Smith's Bank. May I speak to Ms Pollyana Smith?
Who did you say you were?
Centre Three Research.....I've never heard of you......He repeats he wants to speak to Ms Pollyana Smith about her bank.
...And the bank is?......I can't tell you that, he says, till you confirm whether or not you are Ms Pollyana Smith.
How did you get this number? .....Again, I can't tell you that unless you confirm you are Ms Pollyana Smith.
No, I will not confirm that.
The phone is replaced on its stand.

RELIGIOUS SEXUAL AFFAIRS

2011-05-29T23:25:00.000+02:00

Apart from a Geordie talent show hostess whose talents - and in all likelihood regional speech - the Americans have not taken to, the other recent non news item was a feature on, Shock,horror, senior clergy, Bishops no less, in the Church of England who are said to be closet homosexuals. With the homophobia that is extant in the churches, (this is not exclusive to the Anglican Community or Christianity) it is not surprising that there are people who keep their sexual orientation firmly private. However pluralistic and tolerant we profess to be in the UK, the the vigorous vocal phobic clerical detractors do mirror society. Are these the same clergy who are intolerant to women taking an active and responsible role in faith? I could be wrong, but it seems to me that the same tactics used against women officiating at all levels in the Church of England, are now being employed about the sexual orientation of some of the senior clergy, by a vociferous few.

It is just possible that there is a caucus of churchmen, (it is men who are fronting up media arguments) who are determined to force a schism in the Church Of England by any means at their disposal. If so, the politics of it are positively medieval.

It would be curious if the latest wave of dissenting clergy try to absorb themselves into the other church, the Roman Catholic See. Perhaps they would not be invited, because it might be that their views would be considered too 'controversial'.

CANNONING DUMBO

2011-05-27T13:30:00.001+02:00

We went out last Sunday, (22nd May) just before noon, in temperatures a bit unfriendly for me for the time of year. I tempted fate by wearing pink cropped trousers, and a red cotton V-necked Tee top. Because we are in the far north, I also slipped on a zip up micro-fleece and over the top of it, a quilted gilet. My visible homage to late Spring was what could be seen of my bare calf muscles to my ankles, bordered with my trainer socks peeping out from my trainers.

The strategy was to walk away from the direction of the wind. We passed a bay of well camouflaged basking seals,continued tramping along the edge of a field, then came to some sloping grassland that curved round to a rocky outfall. That is when we got blasted by heavy rain! We beat a hasty retreat the way we came, the only way, getting very wet before we reached the shelter of the car, where, we took stock of our washed out plans.

My last thought when we went out on Sunday morning, (before shutting the door) was whether I should have got some washing done 'in between weather’ for putting outside on the line to dry. The blunt and obvious answer is, with hindsight (in this case foresight) very definitely, “no”. We really have been blasted with fierce chilly winds this week. When the weather has been dry, the winds have been forceful enough to dry heavy towels very quickly, so long as they were well pegged. Sheets that were rinsed because bird muck landed on them, also benefitted from quick drying.

I had visions of me being clawed and lifted by the winds as I grappled to get billowing washing off the line; it, (the winds) blasting me off to the Outer Hebrides with a heavy towel and a bed sheet following in my wake. I would be no Mary Poppins, umbrella held high floating elegantly off into the hazy distance - I would arrive more like a startled cannoned Dumbo The Elephant.

WHAT VOLCANIC ASH DOES

2011-05-25T17:38:00.002+02:00

The volcanic ash from Grimsvoten, Iceland, that descended on us, is sticking like a limpet to any surface it has landed on. This morning, I spent time rinsing the car, it was absolutely no use. That stuff does not come off with water alone. No wonder rain was not much assistance. The car windows and the windscreen were in need of special attention.

The volanic ash is abrasive: I have no desire to etch the car windows with doodles from attempted cleaning.

The car roof was equally as resistant to the clearing of volcanic ash: I lifted a layer of ash with a soft tissue napkin. Where it lifted, another skimming of ash has descended. Everywhere else, the dust has increased in density.

The car windscreen responded to a soft tissue napkin quite well, till the next ash coating formed. If this is what I am finding, likewise my neighbours, I can only think that an aircraft would be subject to a greater deluge of the stuff. There had better be an international inspection of remote flying controls. On board visibility could become severely restricted.

O'Leary, (of Ryan Air) ex-sidekick, Walsh, has had an aircraft flying on behalf of British Airways and Iberia. We do not know what type of aircraft, or any other essential data about the flight. After giving out a load of science-speak, which he knows the majority of journalists and media groups would not be able to question knowledgeably, nor would a large proportion of the general public, we are left with less understanding than before. We do know that there are gaps in Walsh's report as it stands and that there are vested financial interests to keep going at any cost. What we do not know, because we are not scientific specialists, is what all those gaps in the report are. It should not be forgotten that the UK sits in a small space by comparison to other continents, and there are fewer ways to get round any ash clouds.

As this is the second eruption in a year to affect Northern Europe, one useful aspect of all the posturing, is that research into the affects of volcanic ash is now being given a higher profile.

Air space in Northern Germany has been affected today, planes in the area affected are grounded. No-one is doing this for perverse fun. Thank heavens, I say, for a far-reaching aviation safety inspectorate.

If it's good enough for the American President to re-arrange his travel itinerary around the volcanic ash cloud, it is certainly appropriate for everyone else to have to do the same.

I trust to my eyes and in addition my throat. I can see and feel what the ash is doing. In simple every day language, the volcanic ash sticks and is very difficult to remove without abrading the surfaces it sticks to. That says quite a bit in my book.

The silver lining in the ash cloud is that it should provide a boost to agricultural and small growers by improving their soil no end.

GO AND GET DUSTED!!!!

2011-05-24T21:46:00.001+02:00

He says there's no volcanic ash; he cannot find any. He is going to fly his planes!
They say, he probably believes the earth is flat.
Someone else says, you can't buy publicity like that...
His airline name gets a mention every time he makes some disingenuous pronouncement.
I say, who wants publicity like that....
He demonstrates a cavalier disregard for staff and passenger safety.
There is a dirty tinged yellow colour in the sky, it is like a light smog covers us.
For any disbelievers these pictures show a covering of volcanic dust from Iceland, which has dropped from the atmosphere.

The Car Windscreen:


			The Car Roof

REALLY SEVERE WEATHER HAS ARRIVED

2011-05-23T18:29:00.000+02:00

Oh boy! we're supposed to go out tonight, to a child's birthday tea. He lives on a very exposed hill. Storms are raging. Heavy rain has arrived as well. There have been destructive winds up to 100mph recorded south of where I live; mind you, I don't think we've fared much better. We just have fewer standing trees than most other places, therefore, there won't be the same devastating outcomes if trees are felled by these fearful winds. Undoubtedly there'll be structural hits. We have baited breath wondering if it will happen to us in our own exposed place. All our roof tiles are nailed down. Apart from hearing the whole roof move, we have never lost a tile. We did lose a concrete wall a few years ago, a heavy, pegged down Wendy House 'flew over the rainbow', landing in another part of the garden, and we sustained damage to the pebbledash/harling at the front of the house.

I hear all ferries to various islands have been cancelled, no surprise there. Better safe than sorry. Hopefully, any fishing boats have had time to get into a port or a safe haven. On land, bridges will be closed to all traffic in the current severe weather conditions. I truly hope any long distance truck drivers and their high-sided vehicles are parked securely off the roads. This is no time for pedestrians to be out walking either.

As regards our outing, we will have to assess the weather conditions at the time.

UNLIKELY MEETING PLACES

2011-05-22T21:37:00.000+02:00

One of the private dental surgeries has a capacious long reception area, with one high straight backed dining chair, which can be really uncomfortable after five minutes. There is a three piece suite made in those really low deep sitting styles that make it awkward to rise from them, whatever adult age you are. I developed a knack for getting up off this awkwardly designed furniture, not from regular attendance, but from the need to avoid indignity. There is a marble fireplace with mantel at the end of the room near the deep seats. The fireplace is not used. It is well preserved. Near the reception desk at the opposite end are two Edwardian (early twentieth century) children's desks. When a child opens a hinged wooden desk lid, there is a treasure trove of pencils, crayons paper and colouring books.

The surgeries, like the waiting room, are panelled in dark oak. Whereas the dental surgeries are well lit, the waiting room appears dark and oppressive, yet, it can be the most sociable meeting place. When that happens, there is a buzz about the room, with friends greeting one another, people engaging with individuals they haven't seen for a long time. The pall of any nervous tension, any quiet respectful demeanour, disappears.

The modern local medical practice was built to resemble, I think, a Gothic church hall. The architects were very careful to appoint as much light into the patients' waiting space as possible. Interestingly, with the amount of wasted height, there is no echo. That may be due to the quantity of wood used in the finishing. It's a strange space which is difficult to make more intimate. Various large green plants have been tried in different positions to try to break up the expanse. The plants are now sitting like sentinels by various doors. Notwithstanding these odd features, if people see others they know, even across the ocean of width, they will acknowledge them, or they will sit by someone, as I did today, when I spotted a person who I had not seen for years.

A SALUTARY TALE

2011-05-21T18:36:00.001+02:00

My cell phone signalled that I had received a text message. The message invited me to claim a sum of money for my car accident.   There was the usual guidance to text 'yes' or 'no'. I asked my insurance company if they had passed on my details to accident chasers. Was the text, I was asked, suggesting I could obtain X number of pounds sterling if I claimed? To my surprise, the question mirrored my message . This person had received the same text, she said. I was advised to delete it and not reply, as there was no knowing from where messages emanated; it could be a costly reply.   I was profoundly disturbed by this news as I had already replied, with a 'No'. It was the very first time I had received a scam text and I fell for it because of the lack of experience and because it fitted circumstances that were not so distant in the past.

On my bill were three calls outwith the cell phone package charges. One I recognised the other two were expensive 0870 phone numbers, and I puzzled over them. A bit of research showed, to my amazement, that these numbers were based in France! I had been charged for receiving a text and I was charged a higher amount for transmitting a response saying, 'No'.

Your cell phone tells you there is a text message to open, so, that's what you normally do. I have received yet another one of the text messages, and unfortunately, I opened it, though, this time I immediately deleted it. In all probability I will be charged for receiving the message. I now feel I can no longer freely open any text message I receive. In future, I will have to treat all text messages as suspicious.

MY BOOKMARKS HAVE UPPED STICKS

2011-05-19T20:33:00.000+02:00

I reckon I've got Google Chrome under another guise. I've just downloaded the update for gmail, which up till very recently was a beta product that I was not interested in experimenting with. Although I downloaded Chrome, I have never opened it up. I really quite liked what I had got comfortably settled with.

Tabbed browsing has taken on a new lease of life. If I want to have two mail programmes open side by side, I can. This, I heard, was possible with Chrome too. I just have to get used to where everything is now. My eyes keep creeping up to the familiar places and find the old style tabs are not there. As well as these excitements, (ooh, I'd best be careful, in case it gets all too much to have in one go) there are some other goodies, like my bookmarks have upped sticks to another bit of the bar and I have a purple coloured icon for my 'most visited' places. As if that were not enough, there is a little orange square with a white outline of the letter 'B', associated with blogger. I'd swear the little character wanted to jump up and down. We'd better not get too frenzied about this.

I understand that everything will work six times faster than it did before. How will I manage to keep up with it all, and at such a pace, it sounds positively speed of light: I guess I shall cope, I'll have to. (Wipes sweated brow).

WHAT THE HELL....GO FOR IT!

2011-05-18T10:47:00.000+02:00

It's obviously that time of year again when all the would-be dissertation and essay writers start their scatter-gun spamming. (Should I have written these words, they can be tracked...oh dear, what the hell... Go for it!) These self-appointed writers flatter your blog in about half a sentence - I doubt they read it - and if they are really into brevity, they can flatter in three words!

The the self-styled writers who try to dump their spam on me, do not seem to promote thesis production. Perhaps a thesis could be too challenging. Do any of them offer scientific writing including all the formulae? I don't believe this lot have the specialist skills for anything quite so esoteric. I would think that anyone wanting assistance in producing work at such levels, already has tried and trusted sources they use.

At least the wannabe who fired off the latest offer of work could write in regular English language, there were not any spelling errors, all of which leads me to be a bit more hopeful that the English language in its many interesting forms of daily use and practice, is alive, though, it is not always well.

BOVINE BLING

2011-05-14T13:42:00.000+02:00

Social life in a village post office.

She was needing reassurance. "It's ma first day out wi'out ma wig...ah got some wispy beets at yon back that need cuttin'". She was assured that she and her natural elfin-style hair looked great.

....How long did it take to grow?... I asked.

....Aboot fayve weyks, ah haid a raight bald 'ead wi bitty bits on before 'at ....

Five weeks, that's quick....says I.

Ma wig wer a beet beeger and fluffier laike, and I could wear yon beeg 'oop earrings wi' it. I had ter find sommut a beet smaller for ma ears ... wi yon beeg 'oops in ma ears wi' out ma wig, I looked like a heilan' kuh wi' its tags on.

(If anyone would like a translation I shall be happy to give it - just let me know).

DO-IT-YOURSELF

2011-05-09T22:39:00.002+02:00

This may be a sensitive subject, so the leaflet told me, but I wasn't to worry, it was all quite normal. Why were these comforting words right at the back of pack? A first page flyer greeting you with those kind words might cause fright and flight, a good reason for offering supportive notes somewhere along the way, after you have started to handle the items in the pack, find they don't bite, and read the 'what we want you to do, how to do it and why' literature.

What is this all about? There is a do-it-yourself national bowel screening programme in Scotland for certain groups of people.

THE DEED IS DONE!

2011-05-04T18:35:00.000+02:00

I voted last week in peace and quiet. My sealed envelopes were handed over to the postmaster in his little dark corner of a post office, which doubles up as a village police station. The premises also provide second hand book sales, local information and village news, (Gossip).

Unless he is in animated conversation with someone, in which case, you will be served without his searching pleasantries, you are unlikely to get away from the postmaster without some convivial information-gathering banter. His local knowledge must be invaluable, although, I think his descriptive powers would hampered by his dimly lit service area.

I could so easily have been disarmingly entrapped into telling all. However, knowing how he operates, I determined that any conversation with the postmaster would, insofar as it could, be about anything but me. It's a long time since I visited, and the man did not show any recognition. While he managed to extract from me that I had an uncomfortable eye, excusing my not seeing the collection times, it was as far as he got. The postmaster gave me a quizzical look while scrutinising the postal vote correspondence. My head voice questioned whether he would dare to ask me anything about it. I am sure he would have loved to, it was soon clear however, that even he knew where the boundaries were drawn.

There is something intrinsically pleasing and comfortable about having already voted. I can rise above all the Alternative Vote referendum information and disinformation, the political squabbles, the media, the hooha and hype....I'm out of it. The deed is done!

TRANSPORTED THROUGH DIVERSE THOUGHTS AT THE ROYAL WEDDING

2011-04-29T20:50:00.001+02:00

Unexpectedly, as I watched the spectacle of the Wedding of Prince William to Catherine Middleton, I found myself thinking back to the first major state occasion I ever saw. It was courtesy of a friend that we saw the 1953 coronation of The Queen, relayed through a small TV screen, in black and white. Then I was a young child. As an adult, I remembered my curiosity felt much the same as I peered then and now into a surreal world.

In these theatricals there must be uncountable project managers with departmental stage managing-directors to report to. Can there be an executive CEO to pull things together? These things are so big and diverse, I think that the State occasions in the UK, would be more than Cameron Mackintosh, (Phantom Of The Opera) could handle.

As I watched today's events, I was fascinated by the structuring of them, the type of policing control I saw, limited by what the BBC media cameras focussed upon.

The 'Wing's' company buses used for the extended Royal Family were a curiosity. Anyone from the grandparent generation and their offspring, populated those, (except that is, The Queen, Prince Philip, and their family line). One commentator said that the mini-buses would give a connection to the people. London Taxi drivers will probably have some thoughts about the chosen mode of transport. One or two red London Buses,(low level entry platforms) would have been perfectly acceptable and easier for the less agile guests. I think seeing London Buses in use, would have been a delight.

A JINGLE BELLS COCKTAIL FOR THE EASTER WEEKEND

2011-04-26T10:55:00.000+02:00

We missed out on the good weather during the early part of the long weekend break away from home. A North Atlantic sea haar suppressed any hint of warmth, and where it did, the sun struggled to break through.

There was an almighty rainfall, just as I was treating myself to a bit of pampering at the hairdresser's. The stylist sprayed some product over her finished handiwork to deter the affects of humidity; in this case it was more like the affects of heavy precipitation. My hair really frizzes up in the damp. Apart from having lots of hair out of place, the spray seemed to work for the day. Restoring hair order the next day was more difficult.

However, Sunday and Monday were lovely weather days, quite mild, great for getting washing out to dry and for exploring the world around us. Our explorations have led us to gorgeous scenery, a working Vintage Bus Museum and an Abbey dating back to 1072. It is known that there was an ancient religious order on the Abbey site dating back to about 800AD. Apart from the development of worshipping formats at the location, 'plus ca change'.

The Easter Bunny left a little metallic balloon on a stick for the neighbour's three year old grandchild. She gave it to me. I suggested she might like to save it for me for another time. The little girl took it back, exchanging it for the tiniest sliver of chocolate Easter egg. Then, saying "Bye, bye" the little girl cheerily sang 'Jingle Bells' as she disappeared indoors, having secured a very satisfactory conclusion to her gift transactions

ELECTIONS......THE STUFF OF FARCE AND COMEDY

2011-04-13T16:38:00.001+02:00

A great deal of election material is appearing through the letterbox with our mail. A Scottish election and a Westminster vote takes place on the same day, May 5th. The first is an election to vote for political party representatives for the Scottish Parliament.

There has been a Scottish Nationalist Party,(SNP)minority government for the last four years, who weirdly, got into bed and stayed in bed, in the main, with the few Scottish Conservative party parliamentarians, who, are fiercely anti some of the most profound causes dear to the hearts of the Nationalists. It’s amazing what you do to stay in power with a majority of three.

This election should be interesting in view of the current UK and Scottish political picture. You probably know that no one party in the UK elections had a clear mandate to govern in last year’s Westminster elections. To accede to government, the Conservative party had to form a coalition, which, they did with the Liberal Democratic Party, a party that has been strong in Scotland. That picture is likely to change, as the Scots did not like the Conservative party getting in by the Scottish back door through a Westminster coalition. It is paradoxical, as effectively, there has been much of the same mix in Edinburgh fronted by the SNP, though the extremes of Conservative dogma have been checked somewhat by the Nationalists; the same can be said vice-versa. Because of the current feelings of Lib-dem betrayal that persist, the general thinking is, that the SNP may make large gains.

There does not seem to have been one electoral visit planned with the English leader of the Liberal Democrats - The Deputy Prime Minister - in Scotland's Parliamentary Elections. He is viewed as too toxic for the Scottish Liberal Democrats to present to the Scottish voting public.

The other vote on the day, is for a ‘yes’ or 'no' for an Alternative Voting system (AV) in UK Westminster politics to replace the first- past-the-post voting principle that has been around since year dot. There was some concern about the vote taking place on the same day as voting for the Scottish parliamentary election. Four years ago when the minority government got in to power in Edinburgh, there were three separate votes on the same day; some ballot papers with all the candidates and their details, were longer than a toilet roll!! There were many accidental votes, many accidentally ruined papers and much confusion around a few devious descriptions on the ballot papers. You can, therefore, well understand the concern around having more than one thing to vote for at the same time.

Fun and games...it's the stuff of farce and comedy:

ANACHRONISMS AND CONUNDRUMS...THE LAST SUPPER

2011-04-10T18:27:00.003+02:00

The painting of the Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci (1470-1516), a Renaissance artist, and polymath has undergone a major restoration during the 1990's. The painting was executed between 1495-98. It covers an end wall of what became the refectory at the Monastery of Santa Delle Grazie, Milan.

In certain academic art, religious and possibly culinary circles, there has been great curiosity about what was shown on the plates of the Passover meal that Christ is depicted as attending. With the masterpiece now to be seen almost in its original glorious colours, there is greater clarity about the food on the table.

The lead restorer, Singora Brambilla, is definite that there is fish on the plates. Also oranges are on the table. There appear to be some anomalies with the repast. Some people who have closely viewed the work are sure that it is eel that is being eaten, decorated with citrus fruit. These are considered to be two artistic anachronisms.

1.How much, I wonder, did Leonardo Da Vinci know of Kashrut, the Jewish dietary laws? Eel is not Kosher. It should not have been eaten Might the artist have been playing a joke on the Church and Ludovico Sforza, who commissioned the painting?

2.Oranges are said not to have arrived in Europe till the fifteenth century, brought in by Dutch sailors from the Indian Subcontinent. Leonardo, therefore, would have seen oranges in his time. The Last Supper occurred centuries before oranges were seen in Italy.

3.However, a further dilemma arises about this artistic anachronism. This fruit may have been introduced to the Roman Empire around the 1st century B.C. so, could have been a legitimate item of food on the Passover meal table, although it might not have been the sweet variety of orange that we eat today.

There are some practical considerations about the food that is presented in the painting, if you accept that there is eel and that there are oranges. In Da Vinci's time, bringing fish overland for a journey of many days was not viable, whereas, eel could live about five days and could be transported for a 'fish supper'. The oranges remain a point of conjecture, as it is possible, if not for the right reasons, that Leonardo Da Vinci was correct in his depiction of this citrus fruit. It could have been available as a sour fruit at the time the meal took place.

If the artist, who was a bit of a joker, was not exercising his humour in the painting of eel, there are three other possible explanations for the type of food there is, being present.

a).First, the picture is describing the kind of food that monks at a particular monastery would eat It was not uncommon to do so;

b).The other explanation is a religious one. It could have been a determined attempt to distance Christ from his Judaic heritage and Judaism, which the church was actively doing for centuries.

c).The third explanation is that both of the above apply.

The painting should be thought about at the time it was painted, its cultural time. That said, it still raises conundrums. Is that what Leonardo Da Vinci wanted to do; he was certainly capable of it!

HACKED AND HACKED OFF.

2011-04-06T15:31:00.004+02:00

Recently, two companies that have widespread businesses, which hold enormous databases of customer information, managed by third parties, have had their information databases compromised, dare I say it, by hackers. The emails informing customers of this uncomfortable truth, though not the same, do have much the same terms of conciliation and flavour of apology. It might be difficult to vary too much, a straightforward every day style of vocabulary in a potentially worrying message. In both cases, access was, we are informed, solely to email addresses.

The first company carefully stated that payment and financial information had not been accessed or compromised in any way. There is no suggestion that there was anything more than an uncovering of email addresses with the latest problem. We may, the advisory email warns, receive unwanted emails.

The first company that sent notification to its customers about the breach of confidentiality, approximately a month ago, followed up with a reassuring email, assuring customers that there really was tight security with financial information and that it was held in a separate and different database storage facility.

The newest advice, so far, is only about access to email addresses. Both organisations named their database management company. Does naming the 'culprit' make it easier, I wonder, for the contractor to appear to be less responsible?

There are other questions worth raising. The suggestion is that our financial data is more secure. If that is so, why is it so? If a particularly high, or, more secure level of security is installed in one area of commerce, why is it deemed less necessary to offer the same level of security for customer personal contact data, which, should be of equal importance?

THE FEEDING POST

2011-04-04T22:14:00.001+02:00

This morning I saw the cutest thing at the bird feeding post. I was so wrapped up with watching the interaction, I did not even think of grabbing a camera. A green finch alighted on one of the perches of a peanut holder. On the ground below head turned up expectantly, a wood-pigeon waited. Its patience was rewarded as the green finch pecked out bits of nut, turned to look down at the wood pigeon and let the pieces drop at its feet. This happened several times, then the green-finch carried on pecking and feeding itself, uninterrupted.

Another wood pigeon espied the dropping of 'manna from heaven' and ventured towards the feeder post and its pigeon compatriot to see if it could muscle in on the favours awarded to the first pigeon. The unwelcome visitor was swiftly dismissed, by being chased off in no uncertain manner, for daring to attempt to muscle in the already claimed turf.

THE GREAT ESCAPE.... WITH A DIFFERENCE!

2011-03-31T22:59:00.000+02:00

Escape!

You might even meet this cheeky chappie.

TELEGRAMMATIC MEMO TO SELF

2011-03-28T18:15:00.000+02:00

Tea time and sensing it.

Re-training self to new slots.

Could be worse if I hadn't prepared for time change (BST) and allowed creep to meal times.

Time to creep to kitchen to make meal, quickest possible!

CHAMPIONS... YEAH!

2011-03-26T09:52:00.000+01:00

A variety of champions.

A platform with attitude:

ALIVE OR DEAD

2011-03-23T19:07:00.000+01:00

This is so ridiculous you couldn't dream it up...or, may be you could.

I received an email asking me to complete a survey of my experience of a live chat experience with a utility company. At this juncture, I must enlighten you all to the fact that the live chat was dead, as dead as a Dodo. There were absolutely no vital signs. A crash team would have to have performed a miracle to resuscitate it.

I worked my way through the survey form process, much of which was irrelevant to the experience, and arrived at the last two questions.

Your Phone Number:

Your Email address:

Uh Oh......did this survey not arrive by email

I figured that as the utility company has my contact data in their records, the company should make an effort by expending a little natural energy, to check their customer database and that they could write to me. As the form with my vital words of wisdom could not be sent without completing the two boxes, I resorted to tricks and off it went.

Next: I received an automated voice telephone call, except, I picked it up as a message on the answering machine. The call was, the voice said, in response to my request for telephone contact. What telephone contact request? It would call back or I could pay for a call to them with the number given.

2011-03-21T13:33:00.001+01:00

The majority of the lighthouses that I have seen have round towers, this one stood out because it is a castellated square tower lighthouse.

Further on, along the natural cliff strata, sea birds had taken up their bijoux residences. Fulmars, not the most pleasant bird characters to cross, were staking in their real estate claims. They are related to the Albatross family and other bird life wouldn't want their 'sticky torpedoes' to land on them.

This settled couple look as if they wouldn't say 'boo' to a goose.

But, this one is not too happy at being left alone:

Close to the coast line the Guillemots bobbed around on the water and a number of Fulmars flew above.

Wandering much further on, these stacks came into view, shrouded in a light sea haze.
.
In the Sandstone cliff face, we saw 'Guillemot Tower'.... was there going to be room for newcomers? It looked a very overcrowded.

NUMB AND WORLDLY-WISE

2011-03-17T22:08:00.003+01:00

In somewhat numbed conversation with the dentist today. I was the numbed one.

He was explaining why I would have had "excruci...excruci... (ating)..er, high levels of pain." On the other hand, I could not work my sentence round to 'crown', (my brain was a bit anesthetised I expect) so, I talked about 'dental prosthesis' instead. He nodded giving me a worldly-wise look and continued to discuss the pros and cons of the treatment thus far.

Conversationally-speaking, we got to a mutual understanding. Now I hope and wait for a comfortable conclusion.

WARS OF NATURE AND MAN

2011-03-12T23:22:00.000+01:00

As if it is not enough that the horrendously damaging brutal forces of nature are being unleashed on man with hurricanes tsunamis and earthquakes, man, in addition, imposes horrendously brutal damaging forces of man, on on man.

Lest we forget, the ordinary folk in Libya are suffering awful upheaval, injury and death, as are other people in the world. This is through man-made force and restriction imposed on them by their own and other societies.

A MEMORY LANE OF SPECIAL MOMENTS

2011-03-07T23:56:00.002+01:00

As I was browsing through a raft of picture files from recent years, a memory lane of moments in some days that took enough of my interest enough to want to make a visual record, I thought I would like to share some of those times. The pictures are randomly chosen.

You see below a frozen loch (lake) and snow covered peat lands in
Scotland, December 25th 2009.

These three hooded crow siblings, still fluffy fledglings, liked the position high on the neighbour's rooftop. They seemed to be enjoying an animated gossip.


This rock, worn like a sea wave and was embedded into the white sands of a secluded beach, reminded me -without the seaweed - of Italian pastries called Svogliatelli. The pastry would be filled with baker's cream. I used to buy them on a Sunday morning still warm from the oven, from a central London Italian pastry and pizza restaurant. I also had the delightful pleasure of munching one in a little cafe close to Herculaneum, near Naples, in Southern Italy.

FIXING THE HITCH

2011-03-06T14:23:00.000+01:00

To those of you who kindly responded to my crie de coeur, I am pleased to tell you that I appear to have fixed the hitch. It took a bit of thinking about and much eliminating of possibilities. Should the hiccup recur, I won't have to spend so much time resolving it.

PLEASE, CAN ANYONE HELP?

2011-03-05T13:15:00.000+01:00

Help please! Can anyone tell me how I can restore my Firefox browser to give me access to my gmail account without having to always go through 'safe mode' when firing up Firefox? It is a problem that arose just this week, when after a hard disk format (clearing out the whole previous history and everything else on the system) I downloaded Firefox 3.6 to my machine. It is the version I previously used together with Adblock Plus.

My laptop has the same version of Firefox and Adblock Plus, and there is no difficulty accessing my gmail with it on that machine. I use Applemac OSX etc. Snow Leopard on both machines.

No amount of re-loading, deleting off the system and downloading again - which I have done uncountable times - seems to resolve the problem.

Thanks.

DESSERT COFFEE AND NO COMPUTERS

2011-03-04T17:01:00.001+01:00

The computer-age truly tests honest-to-goodness sanity, not to mention domestic harmony. There are far too many experts, the majority of whom are anything but... and they certainly are not, in the main, expert in the general utility of the tool. When you put your total faith in someone designated to be an expert, you can be in a precarious position. Indeed, you become vulnerable, and with it, so does your computer set-up.

All I wanted was assistance with migrating three systems folders to my computer. I guessed that a simple transfer by flash pen was not going to work.
"You're right,” I was told by one expert. Total supplication from me to the expert... bad mistake.

My nicely developing system configuration was completely supplanted by everything from another machine, I had a clone, it was definitely not what I asked for or wanted. My keyboard suddenly stopped working. With expert number two, Saturday became a lost day. Monday, I did a system format and re-load with the aid of a third expert. The keyboard still did not work, but hey! I no longer had a cloned computer.

Four ‘experts’ later, I reached a dangerous overload of frustration. Having finally exploded, the department of experts field one of their senior experts. Senior! This gem of information, I shall not forget. Thirty minutes later, a major difficulty has been resolved, one that took days, including delivery of new parts, then new parts having to be returned by me. (I shall not mention the travel to our poorly managed Post Office and the queuing for a service point).

In the midst of all this fiery emotion, hubby avoids asking the in-house computer back-up service a big question. He asked it today. The big question remains unresolved for now, even though, I believe I know the answer; it's not one, hubby will like too much.

Personal and domestic harmony is being re-established. Hubby invited me out to a lovely lunch, during which there was a silent pact not to mention anything relating to computers. Dessert and coffee never tasted better.

BLOGS I FOLLOW HAVE DISAPPEARED

2011-02-25T22:01:00.000+01:00

That's odd, I thought, my Blogger page seems empty. Even odder, all the blogs I am following are missing. That is why my Blogger page looked so pristine. How could that happen; is blogger giving my site an early Spring clean?

Just as you settle down and feel you're happily jogging along, a gremlin pops in to alert you to the vagaries of programming and the unexpected oddities of the internet. If my page stays looking like like a white washed wall, I shall have remind myself how to create a following list.

Has any one else experienced the interesting phenomenon of the disappearing list of blogs you follow?

BRITAIN'S RESPONSE TO RESCUING PEOPLE

2011-02-24T21:17:00.000+01:00

When British and other Nationals were advised to leave Egypt, the advice to them was the same, (when you could obtain information) as people have been receiving in Libya. The means of getting to an airport (or other exit point) was up to the individual. This guidance is very limited at the 'best' of times, and hardly works for for people who are stuck in the centre of bombarded areas (like war zones in or near Tripoli)or marooned in a desert or anywhere else construed to be the middle of nowhere.

The word has got to the British media by various means, that the response of the British Government to helping our citizens and anyone else, is woefully inadequate, indeed it is pathetic. While other countries have been getting their citizens and other nationals out of the danger zones, where they can, under media pressure, the very best Britain could offer, and very late in the proceedings, was one plane which got stuck on the tarmac for 10 hours going nowhere. Meanwhile, in television interviews, the Foreign Secretary of State, William Hague, sat in a high-backed winged leather armchair, looking serious and important, making disingenuous statements about Government concerns and rescue activities.

While the revolutionary turmoil continues apace in the Middle East, cut backs have been announced in the maintaining of, and staffing of British foreign embassies and legations. We will be told, no doubt, that the services given, (I think we now need to know what they are)can be offered in a more progressive,(which means radical) and efficient manner. If a large number of countries take the same view, there will be no-one to merge with, no country on which we can piggyback minimal services, or ask to act on our behalf for British nationals abroad. What value is Britannia, when she is internationally sinking into an abyss.

WHAT DO YOU UNDERSTAND BY THIS?

2011-02-22T18:27:00.001+01:00

Request to a waitress:

Do you have filter coffee? ......

The waitress nods and says ...yes

May we have either a cafetiere each of filter coffee please and a small pot of hot milk or,
A cafetiere for two and a little pot of hot milk, please.

That's fine, she replied and she trotted off to deal with the order.

What is your understanding of this request?

GAMBLING, SAVING, SHAREHOLDING - ITS BUSINESS

2011-02-21T00:24:00.000+01:00

This is not a defence of shareholders, savers,or anyone who gambles in any shape or form. It is time to try and set the record straight, get some balance, into the subject. There are a lot of misconceptions being peddled and myths being encouraged, because its suits various groups to deflect the attention of the masses as to what is really happening in the U.K today.

Time and again, denigrating pronouncements and insulting jibes are thrown at various sectors of the population when it suits particular pressure groups, Unions and Government. The media grab at it,and if not already provided, create sound bites that are bandied about till the myth that it helps create, is established as fact. When you take a closer look, the cracks and flaws in the comments and the myths become evident.

Savers have had a roller-coaster of a ride in recent times in the various banking institutions with which they tried to build their nest eggs. No-one considered it a gamble, trusting those who worked in the global financial markets, to care for personal assets, of any size. It was and it is a financial gamble. The banks have a compulsory financial guarantee for savers, whereas, other money building models do not. Risk for bank savers is therefore, reduced.

Many individuals and families take a flutter on market stocks and shares, with various amounts of money they have saved. The buying and selling of stocks and shares is mainly managed by an industry of brokers and fund managers. Investors take the risk, they can win or lose.

There's the flutter with various alternative forms of gambling: The Lottery, bingo, cards, games machines, raffles and horses. All these flutters have spawned a vast supporting gambling industry. It is an avenue from which Government can divert money to the Treasury coffers. This financial risk is entirely yours; you can win or lose.

Bank and building society savings accounts appear to be less of a gamble than other forms of investing, however, it is clear from recent and ongoing events that there is a risk attached to them, though much less than with other forms of gambling.

A very large number of shareholdings are held by people who have invested modest amounts for a medium or long term, (years). The investment may accrue in value and there may be dividend payments for the loan and use of the money during the time it is invested. It is all taxable. When the investments work well, they contribute to a person's or family's income, at various stages of life. The largest shareholdings are corporate ones. There are issues around corporate power, which in recent times have affected the small and individual shareholder. This is a matter for another discussion.

The quick flutter will involve the exchanging of modest or large sums of money for the high risk strategy of early gratification. The winnings, like the shares income, can be taxed. Huge numbers of people enjoy the quick gamble, some are addicted to it. The vast majority lose lots of money. Financial gains, if any, will not reflect the aggregated amounts gamblers lose. That is how this style of gambling is meant to work.

What is the difference between the groups of gamblers? It is convenient to peddle the myth that all shareholders are wealthy greedy pigs. The small shareholders, of which there are many, have chosen to gamble, (many with relatively modest amounts of money that they have saved) in a different manner to the other groups of gamblers. Like the bank account savers, the aim is to save and benefit from the gamble, (investment) over time. They are not looking for the excitement of the racetrack. The bank savers and shareholders have similar aims but the shareholders do not have the cushion of the banking financial guarantee.

Buying a bet on a horse or dog, buying lottery tickets regularly spending money on bingo, is an extremely short term risky investment strategy. The quick gamble, gives short term excitement, generates an adrenalin rush and over time, will leave most punters well out of pocket. What the overall spend is in the quick gambling arena, is hard to assess. We do know that the quick gamble instinct is tapped into with great success. This can be seen in annual healthy profit figures produced by the gambling industry.

As things stand, following the global financial crisis, the short-term gamblers, the savers and individual and family shareholders are all in similar positions.

MANY FEET IN A SMALL PLACE

2011-02-14T18:28:00.001+01:00

During one of the Summer/Autumn walks I went on to learn about the existence of, and to admire the remnants of the ancients, the group stopped off on the way at an old but not so ancient cottage. The landowner, on whose land and water paths we were trailing, and who was our knowledgeable tour guide, wanted us to see original features that were retained in the sympathetic restoration and refurbishment of a dwelling, now used as a holiday cottage.

About a dozen of us arrived and started to trudge around the nicely prepared homestead, at the same time as the holiday-makers turned up with their very sociable hunting dogs, plus their hunting,shooting and fishing luggage. As we stepped into the sheltered garden to inspect the original three hundred years old stone wall of the house and the reconditioned roof line, we were met with an array of hunting birds on static perches stretching their wings. The birds were also part of the holiday group's outdoor pursuits accoutrements.

We talked to the bird handlers about the birds, finding out that they were reared in captivity (under license) especially for the purposes they were going to be used. The dogs and the birds had travelled by road, about 500 miles, from Derbyshire - not in the same vehicles - to the remote estate where we saw them.

ENJOYING THE PLEASURE

2011-02-14T01:04:00.001+01:00

There were no surprises at the BAFTA Awards ceremony (British Acting Film And Theatre Awards) when it came to the accolades for the selected films, their production teams, the actors and the actresses, who all excelled in their roles. I am happy that I saw three of the films that were feted. That is not easy for me, as we do not have a cinema within 120 miles.

There was one surprise, the 2011 award of the Fellowship of the British Acting Theatre And Film Awards Federation. When Christopher Lee took to the stage, my memories of him as a strong erect man were brought up-to-date. Christopher Lee is an elegant elderly gentleman, who is now quite frail. nevertheless, he was able to summon good energy to make a gracious acceptance speech,which had a rallying quality in its delivery. All his stage skills were in evidence; his timing, his use and projection of his voice, and above all, Lee's diction was clear. At the end of his speech, Lee was determined to lift a quite solid masque award. He was not, however, able to carry it off the stage and at the same time, support himself with his walking stick.

Posthumous awards may bring comfort and be pleasing for close relatives of a departed award winner. It is even better, indeed, it is great to see that a major achievement and appreciation award from ones peers can be given during a person's lifetime, and while that person can enjoy the pleasure of it.

THE FEEDING POST

2011-02-12T22:02:00.001+01:00

The wee garden birds and the not so wee ones, have not been visiting my garden bird feeders in any number and I have been puzzling about this. Could it be, I wondered, the change of feed. The local shops were out of packets of seed as so many people were putting out food. So, in the depths of the Arctic blast we had, I went to a local farm shop and bought about 20 kilos of their ordinary bird seed mix. Could the seed really have been totally different...surely, bird seed is what it is. The peanut house, which holds a kilo of nuts was not going down very fast either. I had not changed my nut supplier.

Perhaps the birds were well supplied with the thoughtfulness of all the other people feeding them and they did not need my offerings. I continued to wait and watch. The other morning, I believe I was presented with the true and not so palatable answer. As I gazed through the window a sparrow hawk flew close by; close enough for me to see a small bird being carried in its claws.

A RUDE AWAKENING

2011-02-07T01:02:00.000+01:00

I now know what it means to be rudely awakened. I wish I had not found out. I came out of a deep sleep, my eyes opened quickly and I had a panic thought, all at the same time. "Oh S**t......the bins, I haven't put them out" They are emptied by the collectors about 7am as a rule.

So, at 5.40am I was out of a nice cozy bed, slippers and dressing gown on, I, heavy headed, went out to the bin, opened the gate and wheeled it out to the front of the house. All was quiet, most windows had curtains drawn; it was cold and dark.

Next, I carried the empty paper box to sit beside the refuse bin. It's easier than carrying a loaded box. That done, I re-entered the house and retrieved all the paper to be disposed of, flattened a cardboard carton and carried it and the paper collection out to the box. The paper box lid behaved itself for a change, unclipping and clipping back on smoothly. Then I emptied every basket and bin there is at home, including the one in the bedroom, and repeated my nocturnal visit to the refuse bin. It was 5.55am when I returned to my snug bed.

I dozed but didn't get back to a proper sleep. When it was light, I got up, still sleepy. I sat in a chair for a bit. Then came the awakening.....the bins are emptied on Mondays, and this was Sunday, all day.

SEE HOW THEY GROW

2011-02-04T16:14:00.000+01:00

Do you remember this little fellow from one of my posts in 2010? I am sure you don't. His name is Angus. In this picture he is with his mum.

Here he is again with his little cousin Skye.

Both Angus and Skye grew into lovely first year Suffolk lambs, Skye winning prizes in her own right;

Young Angus received first year lamb Championship and Supreme Champion accolades at a large agricultural show in 2010. This year, Angus will be fully grown. There are high hopes of him achieving some prizes in 2011.

There is a new kid on the block, a Suffolk lamb born Hogmanay. This wee chap has been called Dougal. He looks sturdy. It will be interesting to see how he develops. He is pictured here in the field with Skye, who is not his mum: she was not nearby.

And here is Skye sticking her head through the dyke slab to pose for the camera and 'baaa-baa' at the photographer.

The Suffolk breed of sheep is fast becoming a rare breed. It is being maintained by 'hobbyists', or in this case, the interest of the farmer's school-age grandson. The farmer grandparents, support his interest. The reason for the reduction in the rearing of the breed, is that they take about two years to mature. There is a very similar breed, (the name of which escapes me) that mature in a year. Economic times being what they are, very difficult, and weather conditions being tough, farmers like everyone else are having to seek out efficiencies in what they do.

RADICAL CHANGES - WHAT WILL WE SEE?

2011-02-01T23:04:00.001+01:00

The global financial crisis, a reduction in farming to create food, failed and late harvests have all taken their toll on the ability of people to afford their basic living necessities. In the wake of all of this has ripened dissatisfaction and movements for change.

Radicalism and radicalisation has become common descriptive currency. There seems to be, globally, (from a U.K. perspective), acceptable and unacceptable radicalism. There will be much manipulation of strings in the political stage wings, which you, nor I, will be privy to. It has led me to thinking about the meaning of radical and how the term is being used today. What is radicalism? As there will be numerous perspectives on the subject, I am not sure I can truly answer my own question.

There are a number of definitions, including a mathematical one. Bear in mind that the starting point is, of or from the root:

• (esp; of change or action): Relating to or affecting the fundamental nature of something. e.g an overhaul of an existing regulatory framework

• Radicalism could also be characterised by departure from tradition; innovative or progressive: a radical approach to electoral reform.

They sound familiar. These two points appear to be the progressive conviction politics of the present British Government

• Advocating complete political and social reform; representing or supporting an extreme wing of a political party. ('Left wing' is an exemplar in the Oxford English Dictionary. However, extremes of left or right are unlikely to be so different).

What we are currently witnessing in Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia, are restless, mistrustful, angry movements that appear to come from deep within the roots of their various peoples. There is deep desire for change, different social politics to that with which they have lived for decades. All this, as defined, is undoubtedly radical.

In the UK we too have witnessed protests. Like elsewhere there is a deep anger lying at the root of the protests against policies that are being imposed by a Government that did not obtain a decisive mandate to impose its radical ideology on the population, an ideology that they define as ‘progressive’. ‘ Progressive’ can be an element of radicalism. (See bullet point 2 above).

Police, who use force against their people in other countries, are described by our media as authoritarian; yet, our own civil police are being allowed to exert a level of aggression that could otherwise be actionable. I fully appreciate that safety for all is paramount, as it should be, and that there are provocations. However, it does look as if there has been a radical regulatory shift in what is currently legally acceptable public policing in our own country.

There is money being offered by the British Government to fend off the radicalisation of students at the British higher education (H.E) campuses. The focus appears to be generally towards stemming young British students from becoming influenced by Islamist fundamentalist proselytizers and to prevent Moslem students from being motivated by radical orthodoxy. There is a belief, suggested by H.E. educators that there is a desire from the centre for all student radicalism to be suppressed. I would find it difficult to believe that our present political leaders were not young radicals in their time. If I were to be advised that those same people were not radicalized by their earlier social political experiences and influences, it would be totally unbelievable.

In today’s environment, it seems that radicalism is constructive, only if it is supported by both internal and external powerful influences. Whether the end result of the revolutions in the Arab countries fits in with the real -politique of other nations is yet to be seen.

'UNQUIRKING' COMPUTER QUIRKS

2011-01-30T13:47:00.002+01:00

Not quite up with the lark, but not far off it....and this is Sunday. Where we live, Sunday is meant to be a day of rest..... fine if you can get it.

I HATE COMPUTERS, ESPECIALLY P.C's. Why on earth did I spend so much time educating myself about them....it can be a real bain. The joy of giving a special present is subsumed into total frustration when configuring the darn things.

This one has Windows 7 as its platform. It was nice to play around with when the reselling company adverts didn't dart and flash out at you all the time. The computer companies are determined to stuff the buyer with subliminal and not so subliminal advertising, trial products, and, of course, place theirs and others cookies onto the system. This is one purchaser who can deal with those tricks, though it takes hours, nay, days, to do everything.

Getting into and using a browser of your choice,was a doddle. The next hurdle was hopping through the maker's presentation internet page with all its advertising and flashing gizmos. The internet settings were hidden deep, probably on purpose, to make it difficult to set a clean blank browser page. I've got one!

Finding the Microsoft email application was like seeking the exit to a maze. Why? (I am used to not having a stand alone email client like Outlook Express, though I could have one if I wanted it). It beats me why finding the email application has to be so circuitous, to the extent that I had to search for advice as to its whereabouts, on the web. Once located it was a matter of setting up the mail connection to the internet service provider.

Fun and games (not!), the damn thing would send email but not receive it. I wasted hours going through the configuration of the email connection. I checked every dot many times, tried variations of the input details; phoned brother-in-law who covered exactly the same ground I had many times already.

In the quiet of the early morning, sitting on my own, I found the solution to the problem that was stopping us receiving email. It was nothing obvious; all the data inputs were correct. It was a quirk of the pre-loaded operating programme, which had to be manipulated. If there is such a description, the application had to be .....'unquirked'.

SPEAK TO DAD

2011-01-28T21:22:00.000+01:00

It is not too much to expect, is it, that when you phone a line that is called a technical help-line, you speak to someone who has a bit more than a modicum of knowledge about the subject matter. Failing that, it would be quite alright to assess a help call and pass it onto someone who can understand the simple issues, in this case, about new P.C's.

Instead, I found myself speaking to a lady, (woman-to-woman) who admitted to not having the basic understanding, even for the questions I was asking; that her dad who is more knowledgeable sorts out her needs

Each question I ask, necessitates the help-line lady disappearing in order to feed me back an answer someone has given her. I do learn that these days, the computers sold by this store have the platform and the software pre-loaded, and that there are no support or back-up disks. I have to download the system and programmes etc. onto disks of my own.

I should need about three CD re-writables, just like the lady's dad used.

Surely, I ask, there's every risk of a re-writable disk being over-written or deleted.....and do CD's have enough capacity for the download? "Oh yes, my dad found it enough"......Any reason why I should not use CD writables instead of re-writables, or should I use DVD recordable disks? The telephone assistant waffles.

There were some other queries, which I didn't pursue. If I have to call the company's technical helpline ever again, I do hope I speak to someone who is conversant with the basics, or maybe, if I am lucky, I'll get to speak to 'dad'.

THE DEMISE OF SECURE AND REPUTABLE DELIVERY SERVICES.

2011-01-25T22:35:00.001+01:00

I should be £5 credit better off for my trouble, said the service operator at Amazon, based somewhere else in the world other than the U.K. I haven't checked the application of the credit to my account yet. My concerns were going to be escalated to the management group, I was told, also I was given an email address and a postal address for the managing director in the UK, so I could personally escalate my deep concerns. I will be sending a letter as I had a rubbish reply to my 'very urgent' email. It suggested that the reader had not read it properly and had probably pressed a button for a standard reply that had little relevance to the email.

What's this all about? I discovered via an email this afternoon that Amazon U.K. were going to use a delivery firm called Home Network Delivery Limited,(HNDL) to courier and deliver a high value item to me. Over the years I have chosen not to do mail order business with companies that use the firm. My experiences of their service past and recent, have been totally unacceptable.

-I have found goods strewn around the back garden;
-parcels have been left on the back step while I was away for a period, no knowing how long they had been there;
- cartons left at the front door, again no idea when they were delivered;
- last year a guy at the door said his dad (in the van) would sign for our parcel on an electronic tracking device!!

There are uncountable numbers of Amazon customers who are dissatisfied with HNDL, who are posting on the Amazon site about their abysmal experiences. I cancelled my order, having realised my experiences were not isolated ones. I am now awaiting a refund. I have cited as my reason for cancellation, the use of HNDL for delivery of my order.

I have also checked which delivery services are used by some other mail order retailers to supply what I wanted to buy. Sadly, a lot of reputable companies are now switching to HNDL in order to cut their costs. They will no longer have any business from me and from what I can see, an extremely large number of other unhappy people.

THE WINDOW

2011-01-22T17:27:00.002+01:00

This was a view through the window, at home, yesterday morning.

By mid afternoon the rain had cleared leaving the remainder of a dreach damp day behind.

Today we have fared a bit better, though it has remained overcast.

The spiders, obviously know where they are best off, out of nature's elements. Their tell-tale trails are to be found in the house. I was so taken with the artwork of the web that before I took my cleaning tools to the evidence, I decided to take a picture of it.

WHAT A STUPID EUPHEMISM!

2011-01-21T21:36:00.002+01:00

The arrogance, or is it ignorance, or both, of some web-based suppliers is highly annoying. Having ordered a specific item, you are sent something else, not at all as described on the web site, nor as described on the invoice. As it is, they have the means to communicate with the customer to check if an alternative item would be acceptable, but, they choose not to, hoping they'll get away with selling what they send.

When querying the product that arrived, mis-described on the invoice, as if it were the item originally ordered, I was told that what had been ordered was no longer available as their supplier had "upgraded" the item. If I had wanted this so-called upgrade, I could have ordered the same but unwanted design which was also on their website, described as what it was.

My dander was up, I was not going to be fobbed off. At my expense I had to download a 'reasons for the return' form, which I completed in no uncertain terms, and then had the inconvenience of returning the unwanted purchase for a refund.

Upgrade..... my foot! What a stupid euphemism. I do not think much of the customer service. They picked on the wrong person, if they thought they were going to get away with this, admittedly inexpensive element of the sale, (part of a larger order) through customer inertia.

JUST A LIGHT BULB

2011-01-19T21:33:00.000+01:00

I switched on the kitchen light tonight, there was an immediate bang. Not a genteel 'pop'. It made me jump. Half the house lights went off as a result. Just what I needed when arriving home with arms full of bags and items of shopping...and the bunch of flowers I treated myself to.

A poke around for a torch, a visit to the fuse box, which is in an awkward place, with the ends of two full size oars resting on it, revealed two fuse switches were off. That job done, I discovered when I gingerly switched on the lights again, I need to replace one little light bulb! ..... All that for one light bulb.

SUPREME NIGHT SHELTER

2011-01-17T20:29:00.001+01:00

The younger Lordships and Dames In the House of Lords are aged around 70 years old, many others are much older. The old codgers, (oops, the elite assembly) are about to embark upon a physical marathon. Not, I hasten to add, in anticipation of the 2012 Olympics, but for a debate on legislation changing the electoral arrangements of The Commons Parliamentarians. Bringing the nasty habits of the house of Commons in to the Lords Chamber, has not pleased a large number of the Lordships and Dames.

For the anticipated House of Lord night sittings, resting (sleeping?) arrangements are to be put in place for their mature Lordships. The Long Room will be providing all night refreshment and the Bishops Bar will provide sandwiches teas and coffees.

This has definitely got to be the supreme up-market Church Army soup kitchen and night shelter.

DISSERTATION FEVER

2011-01-16T17:25:00.002+01:00

Have you noticed that we are at the time of year to be inundated with offers from self-styled expert essayist in the English language, who seek the honour of writing yours and my dissertations, whether we want one written or not. Their written introductions to their abilities are usually linguistically weird and many are dire. Some invitations sent to write on your behalf, have at best the strangest syntax, but more usually, they are a jumble of meaningless vocabulary. If it wasn't sad, it would be most amusing. None of the offers to write for me, which purport to be in English, make the grade.

International students on foreign campuses often ask native-speaking friends to check over their work for grammatical errors and for general editing help. The work though, has been done by the student and not someone who is as far from the from the course work as is possible.

The offers to write dissertations (it is specific) are made to hook students, the very people who should have the capability to do their own research, compile it and present it. If you require a dissertation to be composed and written for you, (I do not include here, editing, or digitisation for presentation, nor people with specific disabilities ) there is no way, in my opinion that you should be in a higher learning environment.

If someone is negatively challenged, they may as well employ a ghost student on their behalf who will, at the right time, ghost write their qualifying papers for them. There is an easier option, but, far be it for me to recommend such a course of action. There are plenty of dubious sites in strange places that will make it even easier; they will, at a price, design a course, college and qualification on lovely parchment for you to flaunt far and wide, ad nauseum.

PEEDIE TRANSPORT IN INVERNESS

2011-01-09T22:25:00.000+01:00

We were recently in Inverness. Now, I know Hogmanay is thought to be sacrosanct in Scotland by those South of the border, and the rest of the globe, but not to the extent where a bus company, Stagecoach, can disconnect a whole city and then offer a Sunday service, (read highly limited into that) for the remainder of the period. Taxi services were on tariff three for two days, that means they could charge sky high sums for journeys on those days and a bank holiday tariff for the other days. Workers could not get into work without begging favours and lifts if they happened to live outwith reasonable walking distance from their places of employment. I heard of some workers being bused in by a taxi mini bus, paid for by their employers, if they lived a certain distance out of the city. Others had to pay excess taxi costs from low wages to get into work.

If you want to get around and about when staying in or near the city of Inverness, think twice before visiting the Scottish Highland capital during a holiday period without access to private means of transport. Its public transport services, in any case, are rather limited to its conurbations after about 6pm. If you're happy to be in the centre and take a tour when tours are functioning, you may be suitably catered for.

In Summer 2009, I met an Australian couple who had arrived in Inverness by car. They were seeking a city visit hop-on-hop-off bus. It only runs on Wednesdays, the tourist office said, and this was a Friday.