GETTING UP A HEAD OF STEAM - AND BEING WISTFUL

When you really want something you know you have stored somewhere, that’s when you can never find it. So it was today, I hunted high and low for a canvas bag I wanted to use. Anyone within earshot of me would have heard me muttering all sorts of unrepeatable phrases. There probably was also a steady head of steam around me instead of my usual equable aura. I peered in places I knew the bag was unlikely to be, I pulled out stuff that had been shoved, er, fitted, into tight spaces. Could I fit them back; NO. They were forced back and the door was quickly shut. 

Time for a break; just then hubby returned home. He made helpful suggestions of places I had already looked and one or two I had avoided. A few packages fell out on top of me as they do when you’re ploughing through a pile of ??? years' collection.

One more look in the cupboards, I decided, then, I was going to give up. Yeah okay, you’re already there. I found the bag. It was lying neatly under a h a t. (I’m not even going to go there. The bag was found and there’s an end to it).


One of the local charity shops is going to benefit from some of the howking out of long forgotten bits and pieces that I thought might come in useful one day. The haul includes a couple of carrier bags of wadding, created from reducing over-stuffed pillows, good for quilting and other craft work. Another stored bag contained weird shapes of fine wool fabric in two colours, together with flattened pieces of brown paper. Many memories flooded into my mind when I remembered what it was all ‘attached’ to. It made me a little wistful. Someone might get some use out of a dressmaker’s brown paper pattern and the left-over material of the garment that was made, which has long gone.

WALKING OUT OF YOUR SOCKS

Have you ever walked out of your socks?  It's a strange sensation. 

When you walk out of your socks, it is about time you walked into a different pair.

WHY DID LEMMINGS DO IT?

We celebrate with great fanfare past wars, we celebrate the lives of those lost in past wars. Why oh why do we not celebrate peace? 

Having followed our political masters' instructions to top up fuel tanks and in some instances taken some to spare, thus creating a shortage in many places for a fear suggested rather than an actual fact, we have demonstrated that as a nation, masses of people are able to be manipulated. How will that knowledge and ability now be used?

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.

ALL AT SEA - EXCEPT THE ROYAL CRUISE

At the risk of being boring, I am about to write another fishy post.  We live close to the sea and in these months, (Summer and Autumn) people who like messing about in small boats, take their opportunities, weather permitting.

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip (Consort) hired a small cruise ship to take a sail round the Northern Isles of Scotland.  It was a Royal annual trip when they had the provision of the Royal Yacht Britannia.  On route, the yacht would berth in the Far North and the Royal family would all disembark, (lots of them) to go and visit the dowager Queen Mother, who would be resident at her Northerly castle.  She died nine years ago aged 101 years.  According to one of the newspapers, Prince Charles took over the role of the [deceased[ Queen Mother, by greeting his parents at the quayside. What a macabre thought.  Then the whole entourage disappeared off to the 

 castle.

We went out in the small boat.  Hubby to fish, me to observe him doing so.  We passed the berthed cruise ship, dressed overall,  off-loading large well covered containers, likely to have been luggage  and right royal rubbish.

There were strong tides and out at sea, the small boat rolled, vigorously at times, from side to side.  One fish was caught on the line.

Sea birds began to cluster round the boat to be in a position to grab any fishy spoils that might come their way.  The boat continued to sway and move quickly with the tide towards the bay.  

We motored out again into deep tidal waters.  Two small fish were returned to the sea, though one was not  very sprightly and was taken by a Great Skua.

Mollymacks, (Fulmars) appeared, the only birds that challenge the Great Skuas, attempting to get a bite of the unexpected catch.   The boat continued to roll.  Some more fish were caught and my camera recorded the scene. 
 
The tide became stronger still, the boat continued to sway.  A headache developed and I began to yawn.  Hubby noticed.  I sipped some bottled water and carried on taking pictures. The yawning continued.  "We're going back, you don't look good," hubby said.  

More birds arrived to battle for the fish and  to join the current waiting group.  Some young birds were  calling to parents to feed them.  I urged hubby to gut his fish and feed them.  He did so, very quickly.  More pictures of sea bird behaviour, the boat listed and swayed, and I felt really queasy. 

 A young herring gull swooped attempting to take the fish held by the Skua;  the Herring Gull can swallow a fish whole.  The Great Skua is more interested in breaking the skin to get to the nourishing fish liver and pecks at the fish, sometimes dropping it.  This is the point where it could lose its prize and nearly did.

To our surprise Gannets showed up.  They also wanted a share of the food chain, it was becoming quite a scrum.

Nearing the harbour, a Great Skua flew towards us,  swooping close to my head, I moved to protect myself; a close-up photo opportunity missed.  I prepared the camera in case the bird returned: it did.  No picture that time either of the Skua...... I had to dodge away from it, the darn thing was mobbing me!  I was obviously a better looking morsel than hubby. 

GETTING TIED UP IN KNOTS

It was not quite the kind of visitor I would have expected to be introduced to, but there it was, being offered a morsel of fish.  "So, will Arsenal win their next football match?"......  no recognisable response, the visitor  obviously was not going to play ball.   He was too busy tying himself in knots.

There before my disbelieving eyes was an Octopus.  Paul, the football eight-leggéd foreteller, much revered by the Germans who have him, and even more deified by the Spanish, who he foretold would win the Football World Cup and want Paul,  has nothing to worry about.  My unexpected guest has a long way to develop and grow in global and physical stature. 

  





It is highly doubtful that this ,junior octopus will be as gifted as his German counterpart.  His tastes in mates is a bit suspect.  He was tempted by a lure that looked a bit like him in miniature, however, it had many more fronds, than he has legs!

ALMOST A PORPOISE-LESS TRIP

There was some query as to where the ship started out, was it from Tilbury Docks, many miles East of London, or was it Southampton U.K. on the South coast of England. Whichever port this cruise liner came from, she was more than a delightful sight when I saw her.  The passenger I spoke to joined the cruise ship in Edinburgh!

  She has an elegant hull, a good old fashioned shape that makes this boat a real romantic cruise boat, in my opinion.  This beauty far outstrips the clinical-looking Cruise liners that pack people in container boxes piled high on a barge base.  The ship currently takes about 800 passengers, considerably fewer than the other monstrosities that sail the seas.

The main comment was that the passengers, thus far, had not been in a port for any length of time.  On the future itinerary, was a visit the Pharoes, Iceland and Poland.

As it was a relatively calm day, we motored around the bay.  Some small working boats were moving around,  one guy was stretched out on his open boat, having a rest.

 

A couple of intrepid canoeists wisely hugged the coast line.  Knowing their craft were not suitable for going out any further into exposed deep waters, they turned at the cliff head and set on their return to base.

I was hoping to glimpse some water life, including porpoises at play.  The first bird I saw  was a puffin, too far away to photograph.  I watched a Bonxie, (also known as the Great Skua) land on the sea like a skimming amphibious craft.  These birds have voracious appetites.   They are related to The Arctic Skua.






 It seemed it was going to be a 'porpoise-less' trip, then all of a sudden a pair of fins broke the surface of the sea, then arched dark shiny bodies appeared.  In the blink of an eye they disappeared, re-appearing moments later in a different spot.   Further over, I saw another pair of porpoises diving together.  The porpoises moved so fast, and because I had no real idea where they might re-appear from the deep dives they indulged in, (they were probably feeding) most of my photo shots are of disturbed whirls of water where the porpoises had showed up.  Just one picture shows a fin and a little of the body, in the far distance.  Hopefully, you will be able to make out the disappearing porpoise to the right of the picture.

CREATING A NEW ZEST FOR LIFE

Anyone who follows my posts will know that I rarely offer video links.  They have to be, in my view, something outstanding and/or exceptional.  This link, I believe, meets those two requirements; it is a poignant and clever piece, and depending on the time of your life, perhaps, what you are currently doing in life, you are likely to take a range of differing messages and feelings from it.  The piece is in English, (made in Ireland) and has Italian sub-titles.

http://en.qoob.tv/video/clip_view.asp?id=13056

If the link does not automatically take you to the site, copy and paste it into your address bar. 

GOING SOUTH

Would you believe it!

As the hearse came into view bearing the coffin with flower tributes, and a stately cortège behind, a hitch hiker stepped forward, left arm outstretched with thumb cocked, and in his his right hand a notice upon which, was writ large, 'Going South'.

IT HAD TO BE VERY MUCH BETTER THAN GOOD

At a funeral service I attended, I was really impressed with what I heard about the life of the deceased, who I will call M. The service was very well attended by people from all over the county, indicating how well thought of the man had been.

This man was the one of the sons of a shepherd. He in turn was a shepherd. A short period in the RAF brought in into contact with the lady who became his wife. They returned to his home and produced a family that today, comprises of grandchildren and nine great grandchildren, very few of whom, had dry eyes during the service. The minister spoke of what the man had enjoyed in his life, his manual dexterity and his voracious appetite for reading. When M retired he returned to farm work.

It is what was not said the was so impressive. We knew, and so did the people who paid their last respects, that M spent a large part of his working life in an organisation that required absolute reliability and ability in the auditing of specialised working materials. His work had to be 100%, and some more.  It was not just internally checked, the accounting had to be good enough for national and international review as well. The well-being of a large working community was dependent upon M's work and he unfailingly met the exacting standards of the challenge.

DO NOT IGNORE WARNING SIGNS

It does not do to ignore warning signs.  Some months ago, my computer would not undertake a full malware scan with one of the programmes I have installed.  It was happy with the quick scan.  My other malware programme, which takes a long time to perform a full scan was okay. I had one that did and one that didn't do the whole job, I was comfortable with that.

Next, after leaving my computer for, say half an hour, I would return to find it had closed down and re-booted. Very odd, I thought. If I set it to sleep mode (standby) I could return to my earlier work.  Answer...use sleep mode.  However, irritating things happened, like freezing of programmes just a little too frequently. 

The last straw was my newly updated and paid for anti-virus programme could not complete a full scan,. though it was able to trot through a foreshortened scan.  It was definitely time to speak to an expert.  

The diagnosis is a corrupted hard disk, the damage appears intractable.  I can't complain though, it is the original drive and my computer in I.T. terms should be on life support.  Fortunately, all my data is on another disk drive.  The fix is to get a new hard disk and move my programmes onto the new one.  It has been explained to me how it will be done.

The silver lining in all this is, I shall obtain a much larger capacity drive, I won't need to ration my programme updates and downloads and my computer won't need resuscitating again for a good  long while. 

It was fortuitous that a long time ago, I had  installed a second disk drive, separating off my data from the main disk drive to  avoid the problem of corrupted data.  But.......and it is a big 'but', I should not have ignored the warning signs.  

I'm off now, to do a back up of all my data on my external drive.

 NEARLY A DAY'S DIARY

Up with the lark, it would have been good if I could have seen it. Daylight started to dawn somewhere around 08.45.

Left a recorded message at a place, that according to its own beautiful booklet, should have been open at 10am. They must be keeping Winter time: a real voice spoke to me at 11.02am.

Computer Housekeeping:

Why the hell can't I get my browsers (note plural) to find anything for me! Switched the router on and off, no change in behaviour....gave up.

Pleased with myself because I burnt an archive disk, the first of a few.

Scanned for malware - because of browsers malfunctioning, couldn't update the programme. Mental note to do it later. Why is it, one malware programme finds nothing, the other finds two 'not nice' cookies. Proves its worth having them on board.

Out And About

Gathered stuff up for my favoured charity shop. I had to use one of my large shopping bags for some of it; it was heavy to lift.

Stopped off to spoil myself at one of the local hotels, for a coffee and my first Xmas mince pie this year. Read book, what a luxury not to be disturbed.

Why didn't I check my prescription before I got to the dispensing counter at the pharmacy? Had to return to surgery so arrangements could be made for the correct item to be given to me.

Hacked off, I decided to buy myself a bowl of soup with a crusty roll, by which time, it was starting to get dark.

The town Christmas lights were in their glittering, colourful glory. The tree is draped in twinkling white lights and is surrounded by trees with blue curlicues of light. It is one of the prettiest decorated small towns. The wind was rising and there was underlying chill.

Shopping, must keep it to a minimum and only replace what I have used. If not, I'll end up with more than I need. A couple of seasonal items have sold out. Did buy Xmas mince pies....better watch waistline!

Later...At Home
Vigorous discussion tonight about dressing up an envelope returned by the post office, so it can be re-sent with the right address on it. You can never find an envelope the right size for a floating card.

Back to computer to finish off I.T. housekeeping. No problem with browsing tonight. Heaven only knows what was going on this morning in cyberspace. Oh, and I also did a disk defrag in no time at all, with the new programme I just downloaded.

PREMATURE LAST RITES

This is  rather sad.  The other day I met a young woman I have known sometime, to say 'hello' to.  We stopped for a rare chat.  Her hair was wispy and very thin. There was enough to still create head cover. She was dark around the eyes, the expression in them was weariness and anger.  I commented she appeared to be recovering from a cold.

"Yes......I am also being treated for colonic cancer, it's come back for the second time in twelve months.  It was never really fully treated the first time".

The poor woman comes from a family with who have all recovered from different cancers.  She felt she has drawn the short straw.  Not surprising really, as following her first round of therapy, it was assumed she had been cured, rather than been fully checked and given an accurate clean bill of health.  Sheer accident had taken her to the GP who had got her checked out immediately.  The second cancer growth was discovered.  There appears to have been a trail of poor communication with an oncology registrar, who also seemed to be talking of her 'last rites'.  Back with the GP, the registrar's notes were brought up on computer. An immediate referral was made to the senior consultant oncologist who now has this patient under his care.  There is no doubt she is fighting to live and is letting the oncology department know it.

Various thoughts went through my mind, I kept them to myself.  I am sure, this lady would be thinking about all the possibilities anyway.  She has certainly been checking up on treatments.  Sadly, she is in a state now, where she does not feel confident in seeking further practical or medical advice from support agencies.  It is clear she feels her trust in those who could help most has been betrayed, and she has not got the physical or mental energy to try to communicate endlessly by herself with other organisations to obtain practical help.

Perhaps getting her frustration out in the open may have been useful....I do hope so.

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

LIVING LIFE TO THE FULL

Death is a strange concept and is one that is part of the fabric of life. Without life there can be no extinguishing of it. When you are young, unless you have seen death at close quarters or had some experience of it, there is nothing to draw upon that really enables you to comprehend it.

Our youth think they are invincible and the majority in our society, live modern life to the full. Sometimes, it is so full they hurtle towards the very state of fallibility they believe they have no stake in. Was it always thus? Living conditions of earlier societies would have introduced quite young children to the notion of loss. If then, as young adults, they did make the most of what life they had, bearing in mind that they did not live to ripe old ages, and rarely beyond the biblical three score years and ten, what would living life to the full have meant?

For men, would 'living' have been 'sowing their seed', making the best use of any and every haystack in the rural fields. Would it have meant becoming 'a man' by being enlisted into the militia. For women, apart from spurning the local yokels' charms, as and when they did, it was probably a different story. Either you were home-making with your mother, assisting with other young ones in the family, and working on the farm, or in the factory. A woman may have been in service somewhere, helping to support those at home by being away and one less mouth to feed, probably also supplying a few pence into the family budget. As a woman in the 18th, century, for example, you may even have been a militia or naval follower.

Whatever living life meant before, whatever our ancestors did before they died, they made sure that mankind continued into the present day. We, like them, procreate for our posterity. It is curious, but what I take from this, is that the path of life leads to death, but, both nurture new life.

SO WHERE ARE WE NOW?

There is an increasing trend, I think, for people to subscribe to blog sites and use them as twitter boards. Is this a reprisal against the 'oldies' of 17+ years who may be easing the youngsters out of their fora? There again, is it those same people re-defining the format of blog posts?

There are people who post other people's ideas, usually those of dead people. Little, if any, development or discussion of the material they post, takes place. I cannot believe they are incapable of some original thought of their own.

There are people who are purposely provocative when they post, mostly, items of the day, local issues, politics. They then take up the position of barrack room lawyers, who, when probed, even challenged a little, have no substance to offer to their stances.

This is familiar.... it is a mirroring of social life outside of the cyber zone, or is it another social dimension of limited proportions, or something else ?