Green Conscience?

What would you do?

 

If you had the power would you lower peoples household expenditure, although probably only temporarily, or try and make a step to preserving the planet for the future of mankind?  Tough call?  Put like that probably not, but nevertheless not easy.  Given recent press I expect Gordy to cancel the fuel duty rise because he's a gutless wonder, not for any other reason.

Bond is Back

Feeling My Age

I think there are times in everyone's life when you realise how old you are compared to those around you.  I had one of these the other day, when I realised that some of my work colleagues are significantly younger than me, and that perhaps I am to there eyes becoming an old fogey.  Now I fully admit there are times when I take on my grumpy old man persona to the full, normally when shopping in the supermarket and there are loads of screaming kids running around totally out of control of parents who are not willing / too lazy to make them behave.  At these times the urge to kill does rise, but it's mainly directed at said parents, particularly as I was never allowed to behave that way when I was there age.....there see that's probably all the proof you need....."When I was your age"!

 

I have long since lost the urge to frequent a nightclub, preferring to stay at home and put up my stomping shoes in front of the TV watching a DVD, since my GF has been ill we have been doing more of this than normal and watching most of our movies at home rather than catching them at the cinema, but when we did we would try and save money by catching them on an Orange Wednesday and getting in for half the normal admission price.....there more proof......watching the pennies!

 

Then there is the garden.  Check out my blog in detail and you will see an increasing rise in the number of posts about gardening.  Now admittedly alot of the things we are growing are vegetables to feed ourselves with and reduce our reliance on supermarkets, and lining their pockets with our money; however I swear that a few years ago, gardening was not on my list of spare time activities.....there proof point three.......gardening!

 

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not moaning, honest.  Just stating that I am starting to notice my age more than perhaps I did say a year or two ago, and make note that tastes change over time.  Who for example could say hand on heart that the first time they drank, say coffee, that they liked it?  See tastes change, and so do interests.

Close Encounters of the Wild Kind

While we were walking the dog yesterday in our local forest, we came
across a pack of 'Brownies' (the girl scout variety, not the chocolate
version). They were walking in a long crocodile and making loads of
noise.

When I led school groups on forest hikes, there were times when we all
walked as close to silent as we could get, to see what we could see.
Often this meant that we would see far more wildlife than if we were
walking normally. I say normally because it's actually very difficult
to walk silently if there are twenty of you and most are under
sixteen! Anyway I digress.

As the brownies approached I saw just off the path less than 50 metres
away a young female roe deer. She was in the open and standing stock
still watching the brownies approach, I don't think she'd seen us.
Quickly I clipped the dog back on his lead (he doesn't tend to chase
deer but I didn't want to take a chance). As the brownies drew level
with us I put a finger to my lips and pointed, heads swivelled as
slowly one at a time mouths fell open in amazement. Magical.

The deer stood for a while and then eventually turned and walked back
under cover.

Later that evening I had a second close encounter. I was sitting in
our conservatory looking out at the garden, when a large shadow came
overhead. Surprised I looked up to see a heron landing on our garage
roof. Now he's probably the one who's been killing the fish in our
pond, but nevertheless I wanted to get a picture. I didn't manage it,
he flew off (fish-less, I hasten to add), before I could get the
camera organised.

News Links

Both www.independant.co.uk links

 

Wildlife and the Iron Curtain

 

Tiptoe through the tree tops article & pictures

Some Blog Housekeeping

I've making a few changes to the side-bar of the blog, deleting some stuff, and adding some other new (hopefully cool) stuff.  So now, courtesy of those nice people at Feedburner, you can subscribe to my blog feed via email!  This means that you don't have to keep coming here to check whether or not I've updated.  Feedburner will send you an email with the post instead.

 

I've also been accepted to join the natureblognetwork, which is pretty much what it says on the tin.

Urban Hawks

Over the last week I've seen buzzards circling near home.  Now given that we don't live in the middle of the countryside, that is a little surprising.  I've only seen a single (male?) on two separate occasions, so conceivably it could have been the same bird on both occasions.  I can't help but wonder whereabouts they actually are, given the distance probably they are actually circling over the agricultural fields towards the edge of town, but still they are close enough to see with the naked eye, and close enough to identify through binoculars.  If I have the time next time they are around, I will try and get a little closer to see if I can identify where they are more precisely.  That said I wouldn't be at all surprised if they were actually quite close to town, as it seems that birds of prey are by, far-and-away one of the most adaptable species in terms of living in close proximity to humans.

 

Probably the most famous of all urban hawks are the Red Tailed Hawks of New York City.  Who I think have probably been been around, nesting close to central park since the mid-1990's.  For more information I suggest visiting either Marie Winn's website (author of Red Tails in Love) or for some absolutely stunning photographs Palemale.com.

 

Urban birds of prey are on the rise in the UK too.  This Guardian newspaper article covers this today.  Closer to my home, you can also see the live cam-feed of the Chichester cathedral peregrine falcons here.

Wild Flower Meadow

Finished preparing the ground, and have sown the seed for our mini wild flower meadow.  I'd include pictures, but at the moment, it just looks like bare earth.  When things start to grow and germinate I will.

Don't Slate My Country of Birth, Unless You're All Whiter Than White

I wonder if this guy worked for Rough Guides too?  Go figure.

Sad News

Yesterday my GF found one of the baby goldfinches dead in the garden.  We thought that they had fledged and left the nest on Tuesday, so we're not sure if this one didn't make it or whether he came back to the garden and something else happened.  As he was lying quite close to our pond, I am wondering if his first flight from the nest ended in splashdown in the pond, and as a consequence he drowned or became exhausted by the time he had escaped? 

 

Really quite upset that he didn't make it, I only hope that his brothers / sisters did, having watched the progress right from the time their parents built the nest.

 

 

Spread Out The Good Times

For days now I have been waiting for a few things to come in the post, four secondhand books and a couple of CDs.  They were all ordered separately, and from different places at different times spread out over the past week or so.  Everyday around lunchtime one of the texts to my GF has been any post?  I like getting things in the post, that aren't bills it adds a little something to the day, particularly if it's been a bad one.  Each day I've had a reply of nothing for me, or that a bill or bank statement has been delivered, but no signs of books or CDs.

 

Now I know that they will eventually turn up or I'll get my money back, 'coz that's the deal.  What is looking more like happening though is that they will all turn up on the same day, and I'll get all my excitement in one go, rather than spread out over a few days.  If might sound like no big deal, but sometimes it's the little things.

Three or Four?

Have a look at this photograph, do you count three chicks or four? Having looked at this and the other photo's I took this evening I'm pretty sure that there are four chicks in the nest, although it's hard to say because to know for sure would mean we are too close to the nest.

Oops

Oh dear, I really am a bad blogger, not one new post in over two weeks (this originally said over a week, but it's taken me so long to getting around to finishing this post that it's now two weeks)!  I can put this down to a number of other things that have been taking up my time some of them mean that blogging really does have to take second place, but the others just seemed to have edged it out.  The latter I am a little annoyed with myself, because as I have said before I actually like writing things here.  It's never going to be a blog award winner, and there are many, many far better blogs than mine (hint: have a look in the side-bar under regular reads), but I enjoy it.
 
So what are those multitude of things, well actually I could probably get the list down to about four with out trying hard, and split that equally between the higher priority than blogging and the lower/equal priority to blogging.  The former are work and looking after / supporting my GF who is still not well.  Work is the 9 to 5, and then being tired in the evenings.  Supporting my GF is much more complex as there are many things that she is simply not well enough or able to do, and obviously these are why they are more important than sitting down to right a post.
 
The less important are the garden and gaming.  I've written several posts about the garden, and as GTA IV came out this week I could write lots of posts about that (but other blogs are there well ahead of me so I won't).  The last couple of days however given the fact that it's a bank holiday weekend have meant gardening.  The work started last weekend, with clearing an area of patio to plant some wild grasses and flowers for insect habitat has been going on a-pace.  The ground has had to be lowered a bit, and this has meant multiple trips to the tip with bags of mainly builders rubble, as this seems to what was under the paving stones.  Fortunately there is enough soil there too, so at least we won't have to bring in loads of soil to finish the job off.
 
Anyway I think suffice to say, I am a crap blogger, and if I am ever to improve I really must write more often, which I will try to do, but I make no promises.  In the meantime however, I am alive, just time stressed!

Gardening Weekend

Well the weather was pretty pants yesterday, forcing me to spend the time I had planned to spend in the garden, in the potting shed instead.  This was however time well spent, with planning what I might do in terms of a different layout.

 

Last year most of our tomatoes succumbed to blight, as did many peoples' who kept them out of doors during the summer.  This year we are planning to bring them on right through the summer in the potting shed, to try and avoid this.  So yesterday was spent moving pots and things around in order to create the space that we will need.  I finished that this morning and am quite pleased with the result.

 

It meant that today, many of the flowering plants that we had planned to plant out, had to do just that.  So out into the flower borders went three roses, two fuscias, and a trailing carnation.  Taking their place in the potting shed, are some more tubs of tomatoes, lettuce and leeks (in toilet roll tubes).  The sweetcorn that was planted in this way is going great guns, and has been planted on into bigger pots, with their toilet roll tubes, as these haven't completely rotted through yet.

 

I notice that my broad beans aren't doing as well as some of those growing on the local allotments, but I assume that this is because those on the allotments were planted before the winter, and have had a few extra (albeit cold) weeks to grow on a little further.  That said I am rather proud of mine.  My runner beans have also just poked their little leafy heads out, so soon they will probably start to grow up the can pyramid, that I put in the pot when I planted them from seed.

 

I've stopped for the day now because I wanted to get to the garden centre for more pots before they close.  The lettuce that was planted a few weeks ago didn't take too well to being transplanted on, so instead I thought of sowing the seed in large troughs, and letting them grow straight through without the need to transplant, hopefully they will then produce some nice plants without the need moving between pots as they get bigger.

Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock

I did something this morning, that I have probably only done about three times since Christmas. I put a wristwatch on. I'd like to say that I have just gotten out of the habit of wearing one, but it's not that. It's more that I care less about time passing. Now I still get to work, meetings and most places that I am supposed to be on time, barring circumstances beyond my control, and I am still (almost anally) someone who makes sure that I have "enough" (sorry maria) time to get there. I still broadly know what the time is most of the day (there are clocks everywhere, plus I still have my mobile phone and that has a clock), but I'm not so bothered anymore.

It's liberating in a way. Less tied to modern convention, slightly off-grid. It started with an extension of my weekends, I've never worn a watch at weekends and one day it extended into the week. Since then it's been a daily thing, except for a few odd days. Despite having it on all day, I've not looked at it, instead referring to where it has now been a habit for me to look; wall clock, mobile phone, computer screen.

It might also be something wider than that, my txt comment to my GF today that I'd rather be doing something else than work, despite the fact that the wages pay the bills!

In the meantime though if it is a symptom of something more than just not wearing jewellery, I'll keep my off-grid ways.

Where Do Goldfinches Go At Night?

It's fabulous that we have a pair of Goldfinches nesting in our garden. Most of this week one of them (the female, according to the link above) has been siting in the nest constantly. The male bird has been visiting regularly, and looks as though he been feeding his mate as she sits. I assume there are eggs in the nest and they are incubating them.

The rest of the time he sits in the top of the Hawthorn tree nearby and stands guard. He sees everything, but is very tolerant of our comings and goings. As the sun sets he disappears, I am assuming he just drops down the hedge, and gets in, out of sight and into relative safety.

With the weather we have had this week and last, with everything from storms to blizzards, he's been on station, and she's been on the nest. Their perseverance to succeed makes me proud, to think they chose our garden to build their nest.

As they have very kindly built their nest in full view of our conservatory window, it's possible for us to see what they are up-to without disturbing them in the slightest. It's a kind of reality tv wildlife show.

@willkay

Gingko

Exactly What It Says On The Tin?

When I buy something I expect it to at least contain what it says on the label. A while ago I brought some shower gel that said if would reinvigorate my skin with the "gingko and volcanic mineral extract".

So you think it would be safe to say that it would contain gingko and volcanic mineral extract, or at least have gingko and volcanic mineral extract or perhaps even volcanic mineral extract and gingko in the ingredients list someplace ? Perhaps not surprisingly however neither ingredient appears on the list on the bottle.

So no gingko and volcanic mineral extract, I guess means no reinvigorated skin.

Audience Participation 3

Will picked the following Twitter

Just about to unpack my birthday chiminea

and asked:

Was it fun? Have you lit it? Did you have a good b'day?

Well, actually Will asked that ages ago, and I didn't really want to type a post that said, "No, because the weather's been lousey and we didn't want to sit in the rain just to try it out."

However on Friday, after we'd got back from the hospital, the weather was good, and we had everything we needed so I unpacked the Chiminea, filled it with combustable material, and the rest speaks for itself. It was only a light dinner, with a couple of burgers each and some beer, but I'd say we christened it perfectly, and it kept us nice and warm as the sun went down.

I can see it getting a lot more use too, as it's way more convenient than getting out the whole barbeque when there's just the two of us to cook for. All we need now is the right weather, and not the snow that we've had all day!

We Have Logers

This guy is one handsome chap, and is siting at his guardpost watching over the nest that is in the neighbouring tree.

We realised a few days ago that the Goldfinches were back in the garden, and I checked that the niger seed feeder was in good order and that we had plenty of stores to keep it topped up.

It wasn't until yesterday however that we noticed that they were busy building a nest in our cherry tree. It's difficult to spot because it's well hidden, but from a distance (we're giving them loads of space because we don't want to disturb them) it looks like a tight little ball of twigs and fluff.

Anyhow they've been really busy today, still nest building I think, and so watch this space (and my twitter feed) for Goldfinch watch:

The Results Are In (Nearly)

Tomorrow we make a trip to the hospital for the results of all the tests my GF has had to try and find out what is wrong with her.

If you have nothing better to do around 2pm GMT, please keep your fingers crossed for her that;
1. The results are a diagnosis
2. That there's a treatment

Not Just Any Football Match

So this weekend is the FA Cup semi-final.

Surprisingly my local team are favorites to win at the moment and lift the cup overall. Can they do it? I sincerely hope so, but you never know. I shall watch with bated breath the whole march.

Play up Pompey.

Spatial Squeeze

Stopped by the allotments while I was out walking the dog this morning, and added my name to the waiting list: 

 

"Don't hold your breath."  I was told.  That said apparently the waiting time is single figures of years, rather than double!

 

In the meantime, back in our garden we are rapidly running out of room.  The veg bed is full.  I need to replace those seedlings that didn't survive being transplanted (or have been chomped by slimy invaders), but otherwise there is no room at the Inn.

 

Today the following progress has been made:

 

Potted on leeks into drainpipe tubes (can be grown in the pipes, and makes them grow straight apparently).

Potted on swede into an outdoor planter (no room for them in the veg bed)

Potted on lettuce into pots.

Potted on rocket (which smelt amazing) into planters (kept in potting shed for the time being because they have been germinated indoors)

Sown a tray of radishes (french breakfast variety).

Sown some cabbage directly outdoors to replace those that were chomped by the slimy invaders.

 

Also yesterday, started a second crop of tomatoes.

A Larger Garden

From my Twitter feed Neil h selected the following Tweet and asked:

 

If I won the lottery, I'd definitely have to have a bigger garden

Go on then - what would you put in your bigger garden?
 

This was prompted by having spent the day in the garden, doing all those little jobs as you do, just trying to keep things up together.  We've been spending quite a bit of time planting seeds and potting things on with a variety of different vegetables, we're trying to grow more of our own this year, rather than buy from supermarkets where the produce has been shipped or flown miles from overseas.  Part of the plan is to grow our own and then supplement that with locally grown produce.  We do however seem to have rapidly run out of room, and so first on the bigger garden list would be more room for veg!

 

Following that, I've always been one for structures and sculptures in gardens.  Now that's probably not everyones cup of tea, but given our climate you have to have a shed or two to escape to when the rain comes down, and sculptures add variety to the plants.  I've always had some kind of artwork in the garden, but I hasten to add I am NOT a fan of gnomes.  We do have seven dwarfs in our garden, although I fear one has drowned himself in the pond because I can only find six at the moment. 

 

That brings me nicely to the third thing, water.  A pond.  Or in the case of a big garden a lake.  It would have to support wildlife though, so it wouldn't be a boating lake, no sir, no pedalos in my pond!  We currently have a small pond, which is home for an amazing collection of different species, including the resident fish and frogs.  I find myself actually loosing time when I'm out feeding the fish, because I just like to watch them.  My GF has named them all and we have seven orange goldfish (goldies 1 thro' 7), two white goldfish (whitey one and whitey two), and two shubunkins (Tom and Clancy).  I guess the beauty of a small pond is you can actually see the fish, so maybe I'd have to keep something smaller for therapy value to!

 

The final thing I would have to have in my large garden is time.  Time to look after it and time to enjoy it.

 

Thanks for asking Neil, hope that explains the logic behind the tweet?

An Unconventional War - but great food!

I invited my audience to review my twitter feed and pick a tweet that they would like me to expand on.  So far three people have taken me up on the offer, and I'll spread the replies over three separate posts, in the order they were received.  So first up:

 

Three Legged Cat asked:

 

"Cauliflower and broccoli cheese war awesome. Bonus, made enough for tomorrow night too :-)"

Hi Alan, I arrived here via Will's place. Can I cheekily request a post about the Cauliflower and Broccoli Cheese War?

Pleeease don't tell me it's just a typo, a cheese war sounds most exciting

 

Confession time, I'm afraid the "war" is a typo, it should have been "was", predictive text can at times be the bane of my life!  Perhaps what worries me the most though must be the number of times I use the word war, mistakenly or otherwise in texts for it to become the first choice of the predictive text algorithm. 

 

That said there has always been debate around how to make the perfect cauliflower cheese in our house, it doesn't quite border on war, but can lead to some heated debate.  So here for the record is the perfect way:

 

Place six eggs in a pan of water and bring to the boil, cook until hard-boiled, drain and cool with cold water.  Leave to one side in shells for later.

 

While eggs are cooking, take a head of cauliflower (add broccoli and/or leek if you wish), clean and separate into florets, include leaves if they are in good condition.  Place in a pan of cold water and heat.

 

Whilst vegetables are cooking, put two ounces of butter into another pan and melt of a low heat, add to this two ounces of self-raising or plain flour, mix together to form a roux.  Slowly add a pint of milk to the roux a little at a time, stirring continuously, and allowing the milk to combine, when all the milk has been added slowly bring to boiling point, without allowing to boil over or burn.

 

When vegetable have been partly cooked turn off heat under vegetable pan and allow to stand.  They should still be firm, and not allowed to be overcooked and go soggy.

 

Return to the cheese sauce, as it reaches boiling point start to add about half-a-pound of strong mature Cheddar cheese, a little at a time.  Allow cheese to melt into the sauce and keep adding until all the cheese has been combined.  Next flavour to taste.  Depending on your personal tastes now it's time to add something to the cheese sauce to give it a little bite; options include but are not limited to adding any or a combination of the following:

 

2 teaspoons of ground cumin and/or cayenne pepper

2 teaspoons of strong English mustard

1 tablespoon of Worcestershire Sauce

 

Stir in seasoning well, and turn off heat.

 

Peel eggs and slice lengthways and place in the bottom of an ovenproof dish.  Next drain vegetables and return to their pan.  Add the cheese sauce and gently stir to thoroughly mix sauce and vegetables, when mixed spoon out into ovenproof dish on top of eggs.  Sprinkle a light grating of cheese on top and then add six strips of rolled, smoked back bacon on top.

 

Place all in oven and cook at a low to medium heat (120 Celsius), until bacon is cooked and top is pleasant golden brown.

 

Serve with crusty wholemeal or granary bread. 

 

Will feed three to four people.

 

So there you go, sorry, Three Legged Cat if that is not what you were expecting, but take it from me there is debate about the cheese sauce, but this IS the definitive method.

Audience Participation Time

OK here's the deal.  I could be blogging more than I am, nuff said.  I do however Twitter, so go to my Twitter page, find a tweet you like the look of, copy and paste it into the comments of this post, and I'll write you a post all about it!

 

That should mean there is at least one post to read (courtesy of my resident stalker).

 

Go on, you know you want to!

Numb3rs M4th For Beginners

Exercising My Green Thumb!

So it's a bank holiday, and like all good Englishmen, I was out in the garden, or in this instance mostly in the potting shed because it was raining.

There were lots of seeds to plant, and seedlings planted earlier in the year to pot on. So I've planted:

Sweetcorn (in Blue Peter style in cardboard toilet roll tubes, to promote straight growth, see pic),
Runnerbeans,
Rhubarb (long term investment, as it probably won't be in a condition to eat for two years),
Peppers,



Potted on:
Lettuce,
Rocket,


And planted out into the great outdoors (hope we don't get too many hard frosts):
Cabbage,
Swede.

I've also be training our Wisteria, so that it grows over the arch, above our front gate, rather than trys to entangle itself with every passer-by.

Finally I moved the sensor from our digital weather machine, so that it is not in a little micro-climate that makes it read 15.7 Celsius when it's actually snowing!

Noises

Reading someone else's blog recently I came across a post about noise (since reading it, I've forgotten who's blog it was, otherwise I would put up a link). It reminded me how I hear different noises now to before we moved.

Birds Singing. Every morning on my walk to the station I can hear bird song. I hear it at other times too, but in the mornings when it is early it is most noticeable. Recent weeks it has been the male birds, staking out their territory and seeking pretty female birds to make more beautiful music with.

Trains. A constant tune in our lives, as we can hear the trains pulling into and out of the station. It's actually quite a therapeutic noise.
[Update: Just as I'd finished this post, and hit publish, a steam train came through, whistle blowing, engine puffing]

Fire Station. We are close enough to know everytime they have an emergency call, and here the fire tenders leaving the station.

Police Spotter Plane / Coastguard Helicopter. Both of these are based at an airfield near us, and it's quite common to hear one or both at all hours. Either taking off or coming back into land.

Football Club. Just nearby, most noticeable when the local side is doing well!

Royal Mail Sorting Office Air Conditioning. When the wind is blowing in the right (or wrong, depending on your point of view) direction we can hear this running when we're in the garden. It's a low hum and so easily tuned out.

Fog Horn. Only when it's foggy but easy to hear many a ship in The Solent. Strange because I never really considered that we were that close to the sea.

Middle Name Meme

Someone half-tagged me while I was away on holiday (and goddammit I think he might have done it here too.  The same person then twittered at me, about writing a post or two.  Now there are a couple of posts in the offing about our holiday, but given that it rained all week I need a little time to make them interesting!  So in the meantime, I will pander to the demands of my audience (does that work in the singular or should I have said fan or perhaps interested bystander? ) or at least because Will nudged me, respond to the tag.

 

Here goes:

 

 The rules: You must list one fact about yourself for each letter of your middle name. Each fact must begin with that letter. If you don't have a middle name, just use your maiden name. After you've been tagged, you need to update your blog with your middle name and answers. At the end of your post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name.

 

My middle name = Richard

 

R is for  Radio.  I was once on the radio.  A little local radio station it is true, but for about half-an-hour I was a special guest on the mid-morning show.  At one point I was actually running the whole thing when the DJ answered a phone call as the last record ran out and the producer got me to improvise for what seemed like an hour-and-a-half but was probably about 90 seconds.  Sadly the radio station went out of business but somewhere I have a cassette tape of my moment of fame!

 

I is for  Inventive.  At work I have a nickname; "The font of all knowledge".  Not because I know very much but I am normally the go-to-guy when someone wants something done quickly and they have no idea where to start from.  I seem to be able to be inventive at short notice and start things off.  Like any thought process they evolve over time, but I have started so many work strands that sometimes it seems like I know alot.

 

C is for Creative.  I wish I could blog more.  More often that not it is a time thing, I simply run out of day, and sadly at the moment there are more important things to be done, and I have to prioritise.  At the end of the day the ole' blog falls down the priority list considerably. If I could ever get my pda to work properly with gmail then I might be able to blog more often in the meantime I just have to make do with my pc at home and occasionally lunchtimes.  However, I digress.  Why I chose creative was that writing is something that l like to do.  I like to write my blog, I'd some day like to write something more grand.  I know many people who think they have a book in them, and I count myself amongst them, but with the realisation that at the moment it just ain't there.  I need improve.  In the meantime I write here.

 

H is for  Hotels.  I've stayed in a few.  Mostly for business trips, and as a result they are often paid for by the person or organisation that I have travelled to see.  It's interesting that when someone else is footing the bill they often put you up in style.  Trying to impress, which I have to say is very nice.  Fortunately I don't have to travel far too often, however when I do it's nice to be so well treated.

 

A is for  Alan.  Which is my first name but would have been my middle name if my parents hadn't realised that my initials would then have spelled RAW.  So they swapped them around.  I've never been able to decide whether or not that was a good thing, but I do like them the way they are.

 

R is for  Reading.  I read, alot.  I never have a shortage of unread books, in fact this morning I added to that collection with a nifty 20% off voucher that I had for Waterstones.  I always have at least one book on the go, more often than not more than one.  If I haven't got a crime or thriller novel, then it'll be natural history or travel, and usually there will be a science fiction paperback lurking about too for good measure.

 

D is for  Disaster Recovery.  In a former work existence I was responsible to dealing with emergencies that result from spillages of oil.  This meant quite an unpredictable existence for the time that I was doing it as you never quite knew what was going to happen when or where.  That said it was quite a fulfilling job and never a dull moment.

 

As it's taken me so long to get around to writing this I'm not going to tag the seven people I am supposed to.  That said, if you want to have a go please do, and post a link to your response in the comments here so I can stop by for a nosey.

H is for Holiday

Gone away for a few days, so no posts until I get back.

This Fragile World - Martyn Joseph

Letter to Orange Customer Service

My phone appears to have developed a fault.  I keep getting a message which says "Inactive SIM" on the screen.

I have tried turning the phone off and on again, and turning it off removing the battery and SIM and then replacing them and turning the phone back on again.  This seems to solve the problem temporarily but then it reoccurs later.

I tried to call customer services from a landline, and after completing all of the press 1 for this 2 for that, was told that all operators were busy and was cut off.

To say the least I am extremely unhappy.  This is not the first time that I have had a problem with contacting orange, and I am seriously considering leaving once again.

Please can someone contact me to resolve this current problem.

Thank you.

tonto

p.s. I can be reached on either 0**** *****7 during the daytime or 0**** *****4 - no point in you calling my mobile because it isn't working again!

Just Waiting

Finally we have a hospital appointment for my GF, if you are a regular reader you'll know why I say finally and I won't need to go into it further.  It's this coming Friday, now all we have to do is wait.

 

Waiting for the appointment is not so bad since it's soon, but I am not expecting any instant answers at the moment, although I might be wrong.  Instead I am expecting tests, consultations and a follow up appointment.

 

The downside is I can't go.  I have a work thing that is difficult to get out of, and this was the only appointment they were able to offer.  Thank goodness for relatives.

The Frog Chorus

No not the Paul Mcartney song. The chorus of frogs that have returned to our garden pond, and are spending their evenings chirruping away in ecstasy!

Needless to say we know have lots of frogspawn ;)

Not Little Rubber Ducks

It would seem that some comedian has emptied they're entire ball pit into our local stream. At a guess I would say sometime last night, possible drunk on the way home from the pub me thinks?

Anyway this morning when out walking the dog, I noticed lots of these little plastic balls all over the stream. I managed to get those that I could find out and into a bin, but I wonder how many had already floated downstream?

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Trailer

He's back (With his pension book)!

Valentines Day

Today is Valentine's day. I already know what my GF brought me as a gift to celebrate, because I can never wait for presents, so convinced her that as it might rain this coming weekend, I should have my present whilst the weather was good last weekend. My present is attached to the side of our garage and is a sparrow nest box.

As however this blog is Wild Tales - here is another nest-box link. Enjoy and Happy Valentines.

Another Lovely Day

With the sun out again, and most un-February-like weather bringing out Hoverflies into the garden, spent this morning sowing some seeds, so that we will have some fruit and veg later in the year.  Hopefully, if they all germinate and grow we will have Leeks, Parsnips, Spring Onions, and Tomatoes.

Nice Start To Saturday

Woke reasonably early, and after the dog had been let into the garden, and the coffee had been made, lay back to start reading a book that I had purchased early in the week. "Curious Incidents In The Garden At Night-Time" by Allan Shepherd , is almost a book within a book. The first part of the book, which I started and finished in about an hour is really a short story of the moth collector (although he doesn't collect moths merely counts them). The second part is extracts from the moth collectors "memory book", line drawings and notes from the notebook that the moth collector uses to remember things. I have a book like this, one in which I scribble notes to remind me to do things, ideas for blog posts, lists of books that I am looking out for. His however is much more detailed and fascinating. With all sorts of notes about his "night" garden and how it is set out specifically for attracting moths. I really enjoyed the short story and am learning lots from the memory book extracts. Recommended.

After I had finished my second coffee I put my book down, and took the dog out for a walk now that the sun was rising, and likewise the temperature. We didn't go far, mainly because we are going out for a longer walk shortly. We did however make it through the woods to see the mist rising from the stream (picture above), and then back round to see the dew on the crocuses (picture below). When we got back I hung a couple of pictures that I had been meaning to do for a while, and then made pancakes for breakfast. Anyway now, once I have published this post we going out again to walk the dog, and pick up some supplies from the pet store.

Have a great weekend everyone.

History Deleted

Updated: I tried twice to post this from email yesterday, being unsuccessful on both occasions. The reason being that in doing what I was posting about I had also managed to delete my "post-to" email address for my blog. Doh! Anyway, because it's still relevant here is the missing post.

I bit the bullet today and deleted my old blog. I think everyone who wants to find me (and who I want to be found by) has done so. Plus it was getting hard to comment on people's blogs with the right blogger id, having to log on and off all the time, so that if they clicked on my profile in a comment it took them to the right blog.

Anyway I know a few people still have links to the old blog in their sidebar, just to say that link won't work anymore so please feel free to delete it, and I am very happy, should you wish to, to replace it with a new link to here.

It's More Than Eggs, Milk and Flour You Know

Holy 5h1t.  For the first time ever in my life we missed Shrove Tuesday.  Now I am most certainly not religious so the whole Shrove Tuesday thing is completely about the food for me, but we missed it.

 

My GF and I were standing in a well known supermarket last night, and she turned to me and said "We must buy eggs for pancake day", when it hit me.  It was Ash Wednesday and we had missed the whole pancake thing.  Crap!

 

Not to be undone, we of course purchased all of the required ingredients, and fillings (lemon and sugar for me; maple syrup, raisins and jam for her).  It got me to thinking though why had we missed it?

 

In short I think it's because my GF is still not well, and the unbelievable amount of pointless rubbish that our much beloved National Health Service have put her through.  We've had an Internet appointment (for a hospital consultant) which (in theory) allows you to book an appointment that is at a time of convenience to you. Great idea, except for the fact there are no appointments at all ever, or so it would seem.  There is also a phone number which allows you to do the same thing, but there are no appointments there either.  So just how are you supposed to get an appointment?  Beats me.  How has our national health service become so utterly and completely shite? 

 

I have lost all patience with the system now, the theory and principals behind it are fine but the practice is a complete joke.  We have no idea how sick my GF is, but I'd hazard a guess and say it is not immediately life threatening, however what if you were and you log into a system that is unable to give you an appointment ever?  Not a case of one that's a few weeks (or even months) away, but not one at all ever.  It's a complete and utter joke.  How have we gotten to this kind of pathetic stupid shitty system?  Is this the way that they get around having long waiting lists now.  Give people a letter that in theory gives them an appointment, but because there are no appointments available they will never get to see anyone?

 

So we have no appointment (and no pancakes).  My GF is going back to see her GP next week (again she has to wait a week for that appointment) to see if there is anything that she might be able to do and try and speed to the process up.  These of course are not the things that you want to be doing if you are feeling unwell, you'd like to think that the health service is there to support you in getting well. 

Half-Light

As the days get longer it starts to be lighter on my way to work. As I
look out of the train window I can see the skeletons of the tops of
trees in the half-light.

--
Sent from Google Mail for mobile | mobile.google.com

Sad

This is a post that I have thought about writing a number of times, but have never gotten around to.

 

Since we moved into our new home some 11 months ago, I have found myself thinking a number of times that people are just not as friendly as they were in our old neighbourhood.  Now I don't mean our immediate neighbours, most of whom recognise us, I mean those people who we only meet once or twice.

 

Now call me old fashioned but when I'm walking along and I meet someone coming in the other direction, I will normally smile and often say "Hello".  I have however noticed that if I do that here, it is rare that my smile or greeting is returned.  More often the reaction is that I get a look that says 'Who let you out of the asylum?' That's if I'm lucky.  More often there is no reaction at all.  What has happened?  Have the body snatchers invaded?  Is there some new disease that means people aren't civil to one another anymore?  I must admit to be quite taken aback.

 

What's even stranger is that the same thing happens when I'm out walking the dog.  Now normally that is something that makes even the most harden misery-guts smile.  If you're walking a dog with character people smile at you.  They can't help it.  Not here it would seem.  Sure other dog owners do, it's that kind of comradeship that dog walkers have together, but no one else does.

 

Now I know that I shouldn't draw comparisons to where we used to live, and I don't mean to, suffice to say, that I don't care about the reaction, I am still going to continue in my smile and say "hello" mode and see if it has any effect on those people that I meet more than the once.  Viva community spirit!

Ladybird Love Dust

For Christmas I was given a Ladybird house.  When I was given it, it came with an apology that a bit of it was missing, but that the missing piece would be acquired and forwarded on to me in the post.

 

The missing piece arrived this week.  I wondered what it was because it was only a small envelope, and I was expecting something bigger, and probably made from wood.  The envelope however, contained another little package of fine brown powder.  Fortunately before I called the drug squad I realised that this was the missing piece of my ladybird house - Ladybird Love Dust!  Or to be boring "an attractant powder that when mixed with water and poured inside the ladybird house will attract ladybirds to their new home".

 

So look out neighbourhood ladybirds, my house is on the pull!

Everyone Likes Their Routine!

Having been working from home this last few days it becomes apparent that everyone has their own routine, and that I have to be involved in it if I'm here. Take the dog for example, his day starts with a walk, followed by playing with his toys. If he plays so does everyone else!

Anyone for Goose?

Remarkable new footage of Canada's Arctic wolves has been caught on camera by a BBC crew.

Borneo Orangutan Survival

Please sign the electronic petition (person information is optional).

There is no need for the palm oil used everyday in so many products we use/consume to not be orangutan friendly.

I hope you will join me in helping to save one of our closest living relatives!

Just Like The End Of Term

We're moving office at work this week. As a result we have no office
at all 'til Monday. Most people are working at home. To compensate we
had an extended meeting of our whole team followed by lunch together.
Afterwards as everyone was going their separate ways there were calls
of see you next week etc. Feels just Like being back at school and the
last day me term where you didn't see alot of people for six weeks and
said your goodbyes until the start of the new school year.

--
Sent from Google Mail for mobile | mobile.google.com

Why I Won't Have An i-Phone

As regular readers will know I don't tend to follow the crowd, and don't have an i-pod, (instead I have a Walkman and that is less than a pleasure to own).  That said when it was announced that the i-phone was going to be launched in the UK I hoped that it would be on the network that I use, because I was interested.  Disappointingly it was on O2.  I guess O2 must have paid mega-bucks, because I was once a customer of theirs and I know just how poor their network availability is and how poor their customer service was when I was a customer.  If other people have the same experience it would take a very tempting offer to get them back! 

 

I won't therefore be buying an i-phone.  Unless of course they change or expand on network(s) availability.

 

Now I know I could get an i-phone and have it unlocked (hacked) but given that Apple have ways and means at their disposal to prevent you using an unlocked phone (and who can blame them), I can't be bothered.  I would want the full functionality and be able to update it as needed, but I won't use O2, it's a case of never again! Shame I can't help think that Apple have missed a trick, and at least one customer. 

Soundtracks

Wil Wheaton wrote a post about being a geek. Now everything he includes, I can lay a claim to have done, and some that I still do (does that make me a geek too)? Here I would lay comics, science fiction and movie soundtracks. I lurve my soundtracks.

Soundtracks make a movie, where would Star Wars or Indiana Jones be without the music of John Williams? Or The Godfather without Nino Rota and Henry Mancini? For a while you also used to get the complete soundtrack as an extra when you bought the film on DVD - not sure whatever happened to that though?

To me they are memories of a particular movie or just cracking good tunes. I've discovered new bands from hearing a track on a soundtrack. I play them in the car, on my Walkman on the PC (if we had a working stereo I'd play them there too)! I do go through phases though. I will listen to the same soundtrack for days or even weeks or have the same one in the car on repeat for many, many journeys and then I won't listen to one at all for ages.

I'm going through a "listening to" phase at the moment. My Walkman is on "shuffle-play all" for "Genre: Soundtracks". Star Wars IV, V, VI and II & III are there, (EP I has rights management so tight it won't play), I also have The Transporter, Crank and War (notice an actor link here)? Bond movie themes and soundtracks from Japanese Story and Antarctica (never seen the films but love the soundtracks), there are more there yet to play so I don't know what's coming up. How long this phase will last is anyone's guess, it could be a day or two or weeks.

If this means I am a geek, then so be it.

Big Garden Birdwatch

This weekend is the Big Garden Birdwatch.  The idea is for an hour you watch the birds in your garden and record all that you see.  Not counting those that are merely flying past.

 

In my hour I saw:

 

Collared Dove x 2

Wood Pigeon x 2

 

For the hour that I was counting all the birds that I often see deserted the garden.  I did see flying past:

 

Magpie

Black Headed Gull

Herring Gull

Crow

Starling

Blackbird;

 

but as I've said they don't count.  Shame.  I can't help thinking Ratty might have put the frighteners on a few birds, but as he is now in the great rat cage in the sky, perhaps they will come back.  Oh well there is always next year :)

Do I Really Need All These Things?

It's that time of the year when subscription renewals fall due. My flickr account has lapsed from a "Pro" to a standard account. (It always felt a bit odd having that "Pro" tag because my photo's are nowhere near what I would regard as professional). It's not expensive, but I kinda think so what? Do I need it at all? I've given Facebook the heave-ho (or at least "deactivated" my account, because you can't delete it. Wish I'd known that when I signed up), and I can't say I've noticed any difference. There hasn't been a stream of emails from people saying they miss me.

Flickr is different however, because I do enjoy photography. I don't take anywhere near as many pictures as I feel I should or would like to, it doesn't however increase the number of photo's I take and the level of feedback I get is minimal so there is little interaction there with anyone else. So do I really need it? Well I don't know. For the time being I'm going to leave it as it is. (My GF is still off sick from work, and has reached the point where her sick pay runs out so every penny saved is a good thing). I'll see whether I miss being a "PRO".

There are many other places where I wonder if my "presence" would be missed. I'm a member of a couple of on-line book discussion groups. One for mystery books, and another for travel books. I post occasionally, but mostly I "lurk", so I'm not sure whether or not to keep them going. There are only so many emails that you can read after all. The same with bookcrossing, I started out with the best of intentions, but I haven't released a book in months, partly because of some the fellow bookcrossers I met at a local meet who were, shall we say a little clique all to themselves and didn't really appreciate a stranger affecting their group dynamic.

Then of course there's blogging. Here I stay for now. I don't post nearly as much as I would like to but I do enjoy it. I doubt if I gave up all of the things above I would have anymore time online to blog. I don't think time is really the issue here, it's more a case of am I wasting other peoples time. So for now things stay as they are, no subscriptions renewed for online stuff, at least for the time being at least, we'll see whether I miss any of it or not.

Windy, Wet and a Day Off

My timing was never very good :(

More Risks Than Shark Infested Custard

Given that nearly a year ago we moved house, it is also nearly time to renew our house insurance.  Sure enough a reminder arrived from our broker with a quote for the upcoming twelve months.  Looking it through it seemed a reasonable price, but since there are so many adverts at the moment offering a third off or free contents insurance if you have buildings cover I thought I would shop around.

 

I found several quotes that were close to the one offered by our broker, slightly higher (a few pounds) but offering a greater level of cover.  Given that we would rather be slightly over insured that under insured, I phoned our agent to give them an opportunity to match the quotes. 

 

They seemed reluctant to do anything.  I explained that our particular concern was with our buildings cover, and wasn't prepared to proceed without at least increasing that.  I also asked for an up-to-date policy booklet so that I could see exactly what we were buying.  I'm not sure whether or not I will see that.

 

I'll wait and see what they send out, if anything, but I won't be holding my breath!

More Hiatuses Than a String Vest

Every year since I've been a blogger, I've made a New Years resolution to myself that I would write more posts.  Sometimes I've shared it with those people who read my blog, more often I haven't because I always seem to let the side down.  No change there then I see!  Much the same as each we I promise to take my "Thursday Walk" photo for Utata and never do!

 

The main reason this year is because most of the posts I could write, would be about work, and as you know I don't write about work.  That said I know some reader (s) who would be interested in those posts, but would also email me and act as my blog "conscience" about not blogging and from time to time I really need that prompt.

 

Anyway, what else has been going on?  Well my GF is still off work sick, and the doctors (plural because she has yet to see the same one twice) all seem reluctant to do anything except write a sick-note that says "flu-like virus".  For f**** sake get a life - if someone has been unwell for over 8 weeks surely there is a bit more that you can do?  Having said that we are waiting for the results from a blood test which they finally agreed to do, but it took almost camping out in the surgery to get them to do anything.

 

In other news I see that Creme Eggs are on sale again (and I think have been since Boxing Day)!  I note the change in slogan, gone is the "How Do You Eat Yours?", in is "Here Today Goo Tomorrow".  I also note the special offer, but in line with other New Years resolutions, I'm not biting!

 

"Ratty" as he has begun to be called, (I think it might be bad news to name a pest that we are trying to eliminate after a character from " Wind in the Willows") is proving not only to be elusive, but also a bit of a comedian having dumped a whole load of soil from his burrow, onto  the trap.

 

Booked a holiday, going here, sometime soon.

 

 For those who purchased Christmas present from Amazon.  This might be of interest to you.

 

Think that's all for now!

2007 - The Year of the Move

Last year on the 28th February, we moved house. As readers of the old blog will know, it was a pretty near run thing that almost didn't happen. Our first home "failed" it's survey and we had a mad rush to find something else before our buyers pulled out.

Looking back on the move, we had a number of things that we were looking for. Some of them had some leeway in, others very little. I was thinking about this, this afternoon, and reflecting on how closely we had stuck to our criteria.

Off-Road Parking

We had this as an absolute no compromise, and have our own little secluded garage (known as the bat-cave).

Close to a railway station

Again another no compromise for us. My GF doesn't drive and I wanted to drive less, and walk and use public transport more. We are now 10 minutes from the railway station and about the same from town, so we pretty much walk everywhere. I read more, I listen to more music as a result. All round success here.

Secluded

We had to compromise here. We have a pavement to the front and compared to our old home, which was at the end of a cul-de-sac, we have quite a lot of passing traffic. However we are above the road, so the majority that we see are pedestrians.

Garden of our own

Another success. Our old place had a communal garden, and although the grass was cut by someone else, there was little that we could do. Now we have out own, and could do what we like.

Bigger

Many people move because they need more space or want to downsize. For us it was the former. We had out-grown our old home. We now have more space, but I suspect that given time we will come to fill that too.

Dog walking area

We had lots of walks for our dog where we used to live. We still do, although they are different walks, but one of them still has a pub within easy distance :)

Overall I'd say the move went well and mostly we have what we wanted. There are a few things that we'd like to change, and are changing, but on the whole we like our new home.

Four Days of Freedom

Have to go back to work on Monday.  As usual have a list as long as my arm of things I wanted to get done whilst off over Christmas.  Some have been completed, but alas I have failed miserably on most of them.  Just wondering how many I can pack in over the next four days?

Man-Flu

Will, bless his cotton socks, sent me this to show to my GF. Thanks Mate! I can honestly say I have never had man-flu this bad!

Voyageur - Robert Twigger

 

I was given this book as a Christmas present, it's one that I had previously added to my Amazon wishlist, using my "photo-reminder" system (standing in a bookshop with no money and seeing a book that I want to read, photograph with cameraphone to remember for later. It works the photo in this post is the one I took at the time).

I've been reading it since the Thursday after Christmas (yes I know I read slowly)! So far I am about a third of the way through. I say a third because the book covers Twigger's three attempts to follow in the paddle splashes of Alexander MacKenzie, across America in a birchbark canoe, and I've only just finished the first attempt.

I'm enjoying the book and I think I would recommend it to anyone who like me, likes travel and adventure books. I thought it might be simialr to Bill Brysons, "Walk in the Woods", and indeed to a point it is but perhaps Bryson writes more for laughs than does Twigger. Still I like Voyageur enough to buy another one of Twigger's books "Being a Man"

Nearly 2008

This Christmas will probably be remembered as the one where everyone was sick, and nobody really felt up to much. I remember telling a colleague just before I started the leave that I'd booked for over the Christmas/New Year period, that I fully expected to be ill. It's always the way it happens, you work hard for months with no break, and then the moment you lift your head up, it hits you - cold/flu, manflu whatever. Sometimes it's good to be right. This is not one of those times.

So what else will I remember 2007 for? Well the only other thing is work. I had a whole page here before I deleted it, about what I felt about work, but just in case (and I don't wanna get dooced until I have another job) I won't mention it - if you're really interested email me, but otherwise let's just say it's memorable for all the wrong reasons.

In summary then I hope 2008 will be better than 2007, I really do. Starting with my family getting well, and putting the Christmas cold / manflu season well and truly behind them.

I hope you all too (however many of you there are) also have a good 2008 and it is better than 2007 (even if 2007 was your bestest year ever, I hope 2008 will be even better for you). So until then....

Is It Wrong...

To enjoy a Brandy Cream laced coffee at 2 in the afternoon?

Rats!

Not a fox in the garden helping itself to the bird food, but a rat!

Not really surprised given the abandoned railway, and number of large gardens around.

Trying to block up his entrance points didn't work - he dug around them, so it looks like we will be trying traps and chemical warfare.

Christmas Eve

Reindeer fueled and ready to fly. Presents wrapped and under the tree.
Ham and Turkey roasted and ready to carve. Merry Christmas
everyone.

--
Sent from Google Mail for mobile | mobile.google.com

Typical

The moment I relax after working flat out for months, I get man-flu.
So much for having leave over Christmas.

--
Sent from Google Mail for mobile | mobile.google.com

Invisible Angel - Martyn Joseph on Jericho Beach BC Canada

Most Excellent My Precious

Hobbit Movie to be made

Someone's Seen Sense Then

Link to BBC Online

At Least Radio 2 Maintains it's CHristmas Spirit

Link to BBC News online.

Comic Revival

When I was a kid I was a Dandy reader.  I never read the Beano, always the non-conformist me!  I was introduced to it when I was home sick from school one day and my mum was going to the local shop and asked if there was anything I wanted.  She probably expected me to say Lucazade, but like I've said ever the non-conformist, so I said "A Comic!".  She brought me a copy of the Dandy, and so from then on, every week (I used to collect mine on a Saturday morning, with if I was lucky the change from twenty pence to spend on sweets).  I used to read Korky the Cat, Desperate Dan (I am a member of the Cow Pie Eaters Club) and all the other characters.  As time progressed Dandy merged with other comics and became the poorer for it (IMO).

 

I progressed to other comics, Eagle, Warlord , 2000AD and the mini (in size) Commando stories, also Peanuts (or Snoopy as I preferred to think of it) and Calvin & Hobbes, Tin Tin; and....

 

I hold my hand up, I still read them today.  I don't buy the comics per se, but I buy the collections of my favourite characters.  Strontium Dog, Snoopy, Tin Tin, Commando, and others as and when I can.  For me it's escapism, they don't require the concentration of a novel, but they are as detailed.  They can be subtle or blatant in message and IMO the artwork better than anything likely to win The Turner Prize. 

 

Most of the comics I had when I was a kid are now long gone.  There are some that I can remember to this day for one particular reason or another.  Interestingly those that stick in my mind where those that I read when I was home from school sick (I was quite a sickly child).  Perhaps because I read and re-read them, have nothing better to do than cough and splutter my way through yet another bronchitis infection.  Those memories could now however be enhanced by the Internet.  There are many comic book dealers who are able to supply me with copies of those that I remember the most.  The question is, should I, or might it harm a beautiful childhood memory? 

Something in the Garden is Feeding

We have a nocturnal visitor.  Every night for the past week something has been coming into the garden and dining on whatever the birds have left from during the day.  Said visitor doesn't seem to be bothered about what it eats, seemingly rather partial to both stale bread and dried mealworms.  We suspect that it is probably a fox although the jury is still out, but given that our garden is completely enclosed it seems unlikely that anything else would be able athletic enough to make it over the potting shed/garage roof.

 

So in order to try and catch our visitor "on film" we have come up with a cunning plan.  We are turning our web-cam around to record the comings and goings in the garden.  Now the resolution won't be great but we should at least be able to find out who our visitor is.  That's so long as whatever it is, is big enough to trigger the infra-red sensor on the garden light.  This will work if the animal is indeed a fox, as we know that our dog (approximately fox sized) already triggers the light when he goes out after dark.

 

The only flaw (I think) is that we might not have enough hard-disk space to record for long enough, given that we'll have to leave the camera running.  In theory if we make the picture as small as possible and turn down the number of frames per second that will help, however anyone with technical know-how your thoughts would be appreciated.

 

I plan to try tonight, as our visitor seems to be very consistent, and we'll see what happens - if it works will try and post the video here.

I am Legend

It's Wet Out,

and so windy that it was difficult to draw breath as I walked across the fields with the dog this morning. It's rained so much these last few days that I've begun not to bother trying to hard to dry my coat out between walks. I wear it damp instead, dry on the inside!

In between walks it's on with preparations for Christmas, getting the card list out, bringing it up to date, adding people who I now have an address for. Working out who we still have to buy presents for, and wrapping those we have already brought.

There seems like a 101 things to do before the day itself. As this is our first Christmas in the new home, we're entertaining on Christmas day. We invited 14 people at one stage. Thankfully 10 of them had plans so that means that there will be 4 humans and 1 dog here for Christmas dinner after which all 5 of us will probably join 70% of the population and go to sleep for the afternoon!

Click By Click

From here to here and finally here.

Dog / Cat Diary

Excerpts from a Dog's Daily Diary

8:00 am - Dog food! My favourite thing!

9:30 am - A car ride! My favourite thing!

9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favourite thing!

10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favourite thing!

12:00 pm - Lunch! My favourite thing!

1:00 pm - Played in the yard! My favourite thing!

3:00 pm - Wagged my tail! My favourite thing!

5:00 pm – Had a bath . . . . bummer.

7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favourite thing!

8:00 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favourite thing!

11:00 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favourite thing!

Excerpts from a Cat's Daily Diary

Day 983 of my captivity.

My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects.

They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength.

The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet.

Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a 'good little hunter' I am.

Bastards.

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of 'allergies.' I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage.

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow -- but at the top of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released -and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded. The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicate with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe. For now. . . . .

Who Covered These Tracks?

For a Secret Santa, I've burnt a CD. Can you guess who covered these tracks (without resorting to the Internet! Or looking below.)

City of New Orleans

Rhinestone Cowboy

You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling

Forever in Bluejeans

Blue Bayou

California Girls

Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head

California Dreaming

These Boots Are Made For Walking

La Isla Bonita

Country Roads

Love Me Tender

New York, New York

Amazing Grace

America

Knight Rider Theme

That's Right:

It's The Hoff

Mr Shouty

UPDATE: I was asked to hang on to this post for a few days, so please ignore the time discrepancy.

The gig we went to on Sunday was excellent, one of the best we've been to for some time. Martyn Joseph was inspired. He played for well over two hours covering all of the new album and many of his back catalogue. The mix of vocals, acoustic guitar, wit and humour, along with some serious messages in subtext made for an amazing performance.

I will take away many things from the evening, in particular what sticks in my mind at the moment is the passion and dedication to his art. Once a signed artist by Sony (I think) and now with his own private label I can't help but think that Sony lost out big time, but as readers of this blog will know I have no love for Sony, so that works for me. Oh and the improvised session about Travelodge - just inspired.

There is a subtext to this post however. A while ago we took my parents to another gig for this group, where MJ was playing a support set. When we came away we obviously asked my parents what they thought. To paraphrase, my mum said she liked the main act but thought the support was a "bit shouty".

Now I know the lady who does PR for both groups and I happened to mention this her, and well I have a confession to make. It's gotten back to his crew and it's kinda stuck. Martyn I'm really sorry. In his honour, Martyn's crew have created.....Mr Shouty.

What do you think?

Martyn Joseph / Mr Shouty