Humph! This is making me feel more grumpy than ever. I think I'll just publish and be damned. Perhaps tomorrow will see me in a happier frame of mind. I hope that you have a nice week ahead of you.
I suppose that I should have had my wrists severely slapped for some of the things I said yesterday particularly about girls from Crawley but after some of the horrible people we have met today, I don't think that I am going to retract a single word of it. Basically we, the human race, are a despicable lot and I think that I can include myself in there somewhere. I thought, rather naively, that the role and desire of the human race is to become more civilized; to leave behind the animal stage but as time progresses I see that I am wrong. Why is it that the people I chance to meet in day to day life seem to be regressing to the animal state. Simple things like cleanliness for example. Most of us have showers fitted into our houses so why don't we use them on a regular basis? More, rather than less, frequently? There is little excuse to say "we don't have a bathroom fitted in our house" as there are now relatively few houses that don't boast an interior bathroom. Clothes need to be clean too. Donna makes sure that there is an ample supply of freshly laundered clothes available to us so that we can have fresh underwear, socks and shirts / blouses each day. Granted that others might not wish to change that often but there are people (I can think of one family not so far from where I type this) who wear the same clothes for several days of the week. Having dealt with personal hygiene, lets talk about how our actions affect others. If I have created a piece of litter, let's say I have used a tissue or finished drinking a small bottle of water, it is incumbent on me to put the detritus in a litter bin. If there is no litter bin then am I not honour bound to carry it with me until I can find one? At worst, I can take it home and put it in our dustbin. I do not just throw my litter onto the ground willy nilly. It reflects badly on me, spoils the view for others and means that someone else has got to pick it up and dispose of it for me. Yet there are people who not only allow their children to do it but do so themselves. I can point the finger at certain parents of babies who change their offspring in the car and then open the door of their vehicle and put the soiled nappy under the car before driving off, leaving their reminder of how civilized they are lying for all to see. It used to be the role of the heavy smoker to tip his butts out under his vehicle now that goes to parents in a hurry. Everything just seems to be done for the moment. It's almost as if everyone is thinking "If we are on the Titanic then we are going to go first class". Isn't there a moral and ethical point of view to be taken into consideration? Are we no better than animals? Is life about nothing more than doing what is right for the immediate me or us? Is there no thought and consideration for others? It doesn't look like it to me.
Humph! This is making me feel more grumpy than ever. I think I'll just publish and be damned. Perhaps tomorrow will see me in a happier frame of mind. I hope that you have a nice week ahead of you.
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This last week I have been getting around a bit to several local towns but nothing gelled until today. I was wandering around Horsham on the scent of some second hand books when I became aware of some very fat women, pushing babies and toddlers around in pushchairs (or buggies as they seem to be called today). More often or not the mothers were in unsuitable clothing that showed off too much of their many curves (more curves than the Michelin man), their tattoos and bra straps. Invariably they were smoking and / or stuffing their faces with crisps or Real Cornish Pasty Company produce, being very loud. In a word they could be described as "common". Having noticed a similar selection of these mothers in Haywards Heath, Burgess Hill and Crawley as well as Horsham, I thought that it would be fun to hypothesize how they had come to have such a wide distribution in the style of a 1950s documentary. I added an imaginary David Frost style narration and I was in seventh heaven thinking of how they might have originated as a subspecies of the female of the human race and then spread from a central point and hence from town to town. I didn't determine where that central point might have been but I decided that as a centre of vulgarity, Crawley would do for starters. Then I had to work out how they managed to travel and came to the conclusion that they were pelagic at first, fastening themselves to any fast food delivery vehicle and only dropping off when they came to a suitable habitat. Later they managed to enslave menfolk and force them to transport said mothers and offspring from town to town, hunting out their prey; Gregg's Bakers, Poundland and Wilkinsons but making do with Aldi, McDonald's and Lidl if they had to. As a further flight of fancy I hypothesized setting up a Kon Tiki style expedition to see if my hypotheses could be proved. First of all, I would have to find several brave volunteers to come with me, dress them accordingly in track suit bottoms, trainers, hoodies and baseball caps to see if they could lure some of these oversize maidens into using them to get them from town A to town B and to document their trials and tribulations. That's where my theory fell to pieces because I couldn't think of four male friends who were desperate enough to tackle the task of attracting the female tattooed blubber without the knowledge that they could get rid of it at the end of the voyage. Oh well; as I said it was only a flight of fancy. Now if you excuse me, I will make myself scarce before I get beaten to a pulp by some of these chunky beauties. It has nothing to do with the previous subject but I thought some photographs of a Russian icebreaker making one of its epic voyages to the North Pole might not be a bad idea. The pics of Polar Bears enjoying condensed milk are quite cute. Polar Bears are also attracted to submarines as these pics show. Unfortunately as the ice melts due to global warming, Polar Bears are having a harder time. This article notes a huge swim performed by a Polar Bear just recently. This YouTube video is about how we are all connected. Finally a non environmental video. This one warns of the need to slow down and enjoy life. Second Hand from Isaac King on Vimeo. So why don't I just take one? What and leave you peeps with nothing to read or to look at? Not on your nelly! If I don't irritate the heck out of you, you will probably abandon this blog and go and read someone else's. If anyone is going to bore the pants off you it might as well be me! I can't lay claim to having done anything particular today apart from play with my new studio lights and meet HH for a chat. I haven't put my lights to good use as such, I have only used them for general lighting (see pic below) but I really need to have a play and see if I can't do some vanity lighting instead, get some shadows and highlights going. I'll see what I can do over the weekend. Then I will probably have to pack the lights away because they are dominating the sitting room. Actually, I could do with some models to play with. Any volunteers? I hope that all of you are going to have a splendid weekend. I had a choice of two links today. One was disgusting things about swimming pools and the other was disgusting facts about food. I chose the food related one because it was less vile than the pool one. Are you old enough to remember Pathé news at the cinema? If so then you will be glad to know that their film stock is available on the Internet. What do you do with a park full of old cottonwood trees? Why you fetch the chainsaw to them, don't you? Yes, but normally not like this. Screaming baby - how do you shut it up? Well, watch this short video clip and find out. Finally a dance with death in "Mortys" For HH - it's in French so you can practice! For the rest of use there are subtitles. MORTYS from Bad Kidow Company on Vimeo. Ladies and gentlemen! We are at a milestone here. We are halfway through my litany of likes and dislikes. Yes! We have reached the letter 'M' (it's all downhill from here...) So let's get busy shall we? Things that I like beginning with the letter 'M': Mozzarella - a grand cheese, one that makes Italian food go all gooey. Mosquito - De Havilland plywood aircraft. Did you know that they hired dwarves during the planes manufacture to be able to get right up into the tail portion to check for build quality? Well you do now. Maserati - Everyone seems to think that only Ferrari make fiery sports cars. Money - (and Monty Python) - the combination is wonderful. Marston's Pedigree - What a beer. Things that I dislike beginning with the letter 'M': McDonald's - nutritionally suspect. Mosquito - The insect. The shrill, piercing whine that keeps you awake at night but you never hear when the little beggar bites you. Mini Metro - A truly despicable little car that only the British could want to manufacture or drive. MP - Elected representatives of the masses. Sometimes not elected and most times not representative. I love to see them squirm. And that is pretty much it for the letter M. Once again more likes than dislikes. I'm probably getting mellow in my old age. Now I have to go and play with my new studio lights so I will leave you with some Metallica "Nothing Else Matters" It is amazing what one is called upon to perform these days and also it is amazing how much knowledge one retains from the past. Today was the day when I had been asked to help a friend to install a stair handrail. According to the communications I had received I would just need to bring myself because all tools and fixtures would be provided but having been caught before many times in the past, I loaded a comprehensive collection of tools into the car "just in case". On arriving, it was evident that some of the work had been done for me but on closer inspection I knew that I would have to undo / redo some of it. I set to and soon had all the brackets in place but on inspection the fittings for attaching the rail to the wall were not the right ones. Thus a trip to the nearest hardware superstore was in order to get the right ones. On return, I set to with a will and soon the rail was installed satisfactorily and everyone was happy. Thankfully the friend's pair of hands came in very handy for holding the rail and passing tools to me so life wasn't as awkward as it could have been if I had been trying to do it single handed. I also had some help from the past. As I mentioned, isn't it amazing how much knowledge one retains? I refer to the DIY knowledge that my dear old Dad has imparted to me over the years. I was always willing to watch and learn whilst DIY jobs were being done and Dad, being Dad, would also let me practice what he preached (as long as it wouldn't impair the job being done). So I learned pretty quickly the proper way to drill a hole, how to ensure that a screw tightens and holds two pieces of wood firmly together, how to remove a stubborn screw even if it has lost most of its head. The host of little tricks that Dad had learned were passed on to me which was fantastic seeing as he had no-one to teach him. His own father ran off, leaving his mother to fend for Dad when he was very young. Of course the tricks imparted to me as a boy have been honed by the mistakes I have made and needed to correct plus the new techniques I have learned over the years but still the base for all of the things I have had to do was taught to me by good old Dad. So let's hear it for our fathers and mothers. Without them the knowledge and wisdom of the past would progress no further. Well done Mum and Dad for raising me the way you did! One of the valuable lessons I learned form Dad is that rarely is something classed as rubbish. This means that scraps of wood and odd screws are collected in case they come in handy later. This can be taken further and this chap has built a fence out of old road signs.
One thing my parents didn't have to teach me is what underwear not to wear! Here is a heart warming story about Jasmine the Greyhound. It even has found itself as an entry on Snopes proclaiming it's veracity. How about some clever outside advertising? Finally another one of those film mash ups. This time it is Movie Mirror Pep-talks. Today has been one of those in a rush, "bitty" sort of days when I never seem to catch up with anything and lots of things get left lying around waiting for that final "finishing" touch. Out of chaos comes order or so it is said but sometimes out of chaos comes worse chaos - especially if you have cats. The day started badly when the alarm on my side of the bed didn't go off so we got up half an hour later than usual. This meant that Donna rushed her way through her ablutions while I made her packed lunch and then she had breakfast while I threw myself under a hot shower and brushed my fangs. In the end we got her to the station in time for her train and I went home at a reasonable pace to start the days tasks. I looked at my task list and thought "that's easy". So first things first, clean and feed the cats. Fine - apart from the hairball and stomach contents all over one of the sleeping rings, a fleece rug and then over a chair and onto the floor. So I had to stop what I was doing and clean and disinfect before continuing with the cats feeding. Attempted to put the soiled kitty items into the washing machine - it's full all ready with last nights washed load. Stop everything and go and put the washing on the line. With the soiled kitty items going through a boil wash on the washing machine (you can never be too careful you know) fed the cats and emptied the dishwasher. Time for breakfast before tackling the ironing from yesterday. An hour and a half later I am ready for a cup of coffee but there's no time to sit down because I have to go and get a form from the Post Office so that I can replace my old driving licence with a new, photographic one. Get home, start filling in the form and because of my diabetes I need to fill in an extra questionnaire which is available online - can't find it so another loose end to catch up on. Go out into the garden with all good intention of sawing up some logs but the chainsaw won't touch some of these New Zealand tree offcuts that I brought home from Ruth and Ben's. I'll need a brand new chain and bar to continue because the wood is so hard. Round up Timisoara and get her into a basket and whisk her down to the vets surgery to have her bald patch examined. Nothing conclusive so another bottle of jollop and "come back next week". Back home, quick lunch and then off to Hillier's to pick up some woodstain for the hedgehog's des res box. Back home once more and cut back the wisteria before it strangles someone. Out to the front of the house to de-weed the bit of land in front of our fence, adjoining the fence and the pavement. What is it about the locals around here? If I start to do anything at the front of the property, very rapidly a bunch of slack jawed, drooling locals will come and sit in the bus shelter opposite and gawp at me doing things. Buses come and go and yet they remain. Well, all they saw today was me weeding and displaying my builder's cleavage. Does anyone else have a problem with staring, vacuous locals? Having entertained the yokels, I went into the back garden and painted the hedgehog box where I know that I couldn't be watched and then brought the dry laundry in. It has been a busy day but not a productive one as I seem to have spent most of my time catching up with things and creating more work for tomorrow. Ah well, c'est la vie. I'm sick and tired of DIY but it is a matter of fact that as the purse strings of the population get tighter then more and more people are starting to DIY. Here's some hints and tips on what to do.
Something I am most definitely not going to do is fold towels for a living. Why? Just lay the thing out on the bed thanks. I am only going to use it and make it soggy. Who is watching you on the Internet? Want to find out more about who wants to find out about you? You need Ghostery. How about a cat basket with a difference? How does such a big cat fit in that? Lastly a video "Jean-François" Isn't it typical? Last week Donna was at home and the weather was horrible. Today? Well today was the first day back at work for Donna and the weather has been gorgeous! Never mind. It isn't always about the weather, is it though? We did have a smashing time regardless but it did come as a shock when the alarm went off at four twenty this morning because we had rather grown used to having a lie in until six thirty or seven o'clock... After dropping Donna off at the station, I came home and tackled part one of the ironing mountain. I have only myself to blame for there being so much because I didn't do any last week. Donna did do some at the weekend, so it wasn't too bad a mountain after all. Following that, I decided to mow the lawns and the world went crazy from there. After the lawns came the clearing out of half of the pond weed to allow our fish some swimming space. It almost made me weep because if you go to a garden centre, they will charge you five pounds for three feeble strands of Canadian pond weed. On this basis I must have thrown away several hundred pounds of the stuff. After the lawns and the pond came the stripping out of one of our problem areas in the garden. It grows a dense covering of trefoil or cinquefoil which is the very devil to keep under control. Every once in a while I pull it up by the handful just to slow down its inexorable advance. Today I hit it with a vengeance but it has still left roots and runners all over the place. I will need to take a garden fork to it and dig down deep to extract as much of it as possible to stem the tide. Finally I started work on the desirable residence - our des res. It's a one room dwelling that I have been meaning to get around to building for quite a while. Yes - it's the hibernaculum for our resident hedgehog who we heard last night - we didn't see it but we certainly heard its progress through the undergrowth. A hibernaculum is where a hedgehog overwinters. Last year I disturbed a sleepy hedgehog when I was stripping down the side of the garden which borders the Nasty-Neighbours. We gave it an expanded polystyrene box filled with leaves and shredded paper and we fed it all winter. Donna has been on at me for some time to build it something more durable to go round the outside of the polystyrene box. Because the sun was shining so nicely I spent a happy couple of hours outside building a very sturdy wooden box into which the plastic one will fit. All that remains is to paint it to match the garden seat it lives under. Which probably means after all of this effort the spiny little wretch will not return this year! Apart from that, booking the catteries for the Madeiran break, booking an appointment with the vet for tomorrow and ordering up another year's supply of salt toothpaste I haven't done a great deal today! I hope your Monday has been as productive. I suppose that I had better find you a couple of links to keep you quiet! First of all, are you old enough to remember dancing like this? Well, unfortunately I am and I used to strut my funky stuff at school discos.
When we think of abandoned cities we tend to think of the third world but there are some in America. Take Gary, Indiana for example. One of my photographic course compatriots came up with this next link. It's a short timelapse about holidaying in Northern California. Lets end today's links with some wise sayings. Twenty nine wise sayings to be precise. Finally a music video. "The Body" Look... I know that people regard Sunday as the first day of the new week but ever since I was a little boy I knew that the week begins on Monday and ends on a Sunday. If that isn't the case then why is Sunday part of the weekend? The weather was beautiful first thing so I chivvied Donna out of bed when she would much rather have been snoozing and we made our way to the bird sanctuary at Pulborough Brooks for a nice walk. The first thing we noticed was that the local youth had been in and done little bits of mischief and we started to put that to rights but as we were working on getting some of the benches upright again we found that possibly the youth weren't human. There were a pair of well appointed bullocks that had managed to get split from the nearby heard and had managed to cross the fence and onto the bird sanctuary land. They were 'worried' about being isolated but they were inquisitive and crashing about in the undergrowth and coming to see what we were up to. We had to drive them away from the hide before we could enter which isn't that easy when several hundreds of pounds of prime beef doesn't particularly want to go in a certain direction. In the end we succeeded. They proceeded to crash too and fro in the undergrowth beneath the hide, scaring the living daylights out of the local birdlife so we didn't see a great deal today apart form a pair of agitated green woodpeckers. After a nice walk we left the sanctuary and drove on over to Brinsbury college (near Billingshurst) where there was a classic car exhibition on. It cost us a reckless pound each to get in (all proceeds to the The Dame Vera Lynn Trust for Children with Cerebral Palsy) and there were some gorgeous examples of a variety of cars, everything from the turn of the twentieth century to some examples of cars that we knew and loved (or hated - such as the Austin Maxi). I had a field day taking photographs, however, I did get stopped by one delightful old boy who wanted to know what magazine I worked for. I had to explain to him that I didn't and that I just do it for fun. That took about fifteen minutes. Photographically I was in glossy paintwork and chrome heaven. Lots of excellent reflections although there was one chap who seemed to want to get his reflection in every shot I took. The rest of the day has been a bit of a let down since then. I popped over to Park Cameras to pick up a 50mm lens but despite their website saying that they had one in stock, they didn't and I have to wait until next Friday before the next delivery. Oh well, so I have to wait for a few days. So what? Donna has to go back to work tomorrow and our week break is over. It will be back to doing the ironing and cleaning for me. At least, until we go to Madeira that is! Links? Today there is a slideshow instead. Enjoy. Despite the fact that Donna has had the week off so we could relax a bit and celebrate our wedding anniversary, it has been a hectic time so Saturday is, as always, welcome. We were in town on Thursday and did a trawl around the charity shops with our eyes open for books and didn't come away with anything but here we are two days later and there were books galore. I came away with seven reference books on diverse subjects (world war related) such as the events leading to the battle of Verdun (WW1) through to Popski's Private Army (WW2); Donna came away with a few books of what she refers to as 'holiday reading' i.e. that which will be taken away on holiday and read by both of us. If it is any good, it comes home, if it isn't it is left in whichever hotel we stay in. Not surprisingly we leave many more books in holiday hotels than we come back with although there have been notable exceptions. We discovered the books of authoress Jacqueline Winspear whilst on holiday in Crete as we did with Julian Roach in Madeira last time. I always find it sad that people take so little reading material with them when they are relaxing and often we find that our 'discards' are snapped up overnight but nothing is left in their place. Surely it is good manners to do swaps rather than just take books? The net result of all of our holiday reading is that we leave a good dozen or so books behind us at least. It would be nice to think that others would do something similar. We are rather looking forward to our break this year. I mentioned that we are back off to Madeira for the umpteenth time - it is like going home for us. We know the western end and centre of the island rather well so this time we are hoping to explore some of the eastern end too. There are so many lovely places to see, so much walking to be done and then there are those joyous moments when we discover something new or just lie back in the bracken and watch the butterflies chasing each other. It just takes us away from the Saturday routine. You never know - I might have some pics for you tomorrow. There is a Classic car show on at Brinsbury College on the A29. I might even waste a reckless bit of cash and go there (if the weather is nice).
Seeing as I have mentioned classic cars let's start off with what the Americans would call "hood ornaments". Next, let's have a giggle. What would have happened if the band on the Titanic had sung it like it really was? You can see the result here. We haven't had a cat video for a while. Here are some super moggies. What does our choice of cat or dog say about us? Check it out here. Finally, today's music link came from HH (bless her tiny, white, cotton socks). Enjoy Ben is my father in law. He has a terminal cancer and is losing weight fast. He doesn't have long to go but he still soldiers on even though most things are very difficult for him. When I cut his lawn this afternoon it took me twenty minutes. That would have taken him all day. Ruth is my mother in law. She is devoted to Ben and will be devastated when he dies. She has looked after him well but it is taking its toll on her. She keeps on smiling. Both of these lovely people agreed to sit for me for part of my sixth photographic assignment. In fact they have been positively supportive of my efforts and think that it is a privilege to have their photographs submitted as part of this assignment. Driving down to see them was a right pain due to roadworks and traffic but I may not get the chance to photograph them both again as they are very private people. I may not get the chance to photograph them again because Ben isn't going to be around for a lot longer. That's why it was a pleasure to lie to him today. He wouldn't let me cut the lawn because he knows he has to do it but I insisted (and persisted) that after lunch, my blood sugars were too high and I needed to do some physical activity to lower them. That was what swung it; because he doesn't want to see me suffer as a result of my diabetes and despite his pride he let me do the job. I feel that he knew I was lying but it was the only way to salve his pride. They are lovely people and need to have their picture taken... before it's too late. Seeing as today was just too dark and miserable to play with my new photographic toys (apart from one or two test shots which show that the new lens is capable of some marvelous things) we decided to go into Horsham to do a few odds and ends such as food shopping and booking this years holiday. We decided that we would go back to our favourite hotel on our favourite island, Madeira, for eleven nights. Eleven nights sounds odd but apparently the cost of the return flight over ten nights was so expensive that it was cheaper to stay an extra day. Once again we went to see our favourite lady travel agent, Naina, at Select Travel in Horsham and told her what we wanted and despite the lateness of the booking she managed to find us a room in our hotel, the flights, hire car etc all for a reasonable price. We left her doing the business whilst we trawled the second hand bookshops and charity shops and bought the week's food supplies. On returning to the travel agent, I whipped out my debit card and passed it over the counter... Oh dear... NatsPee bank did it again. The dreaded bank referral. It is SO embarrassing to have to wait on a call centre somewhere in India before talking to a bank authorization centre over here where they asked the same questions as yesterday (note to bank security centres - if I had access to the information you asked for yesterday, wouldn't it be wiser to change the questions you ask to try and catch me out?). Eventually the deal was done and I could heave a sigh of relief but just what is it that NatsPee have against me spending my own money? They were damned quick off the mark, realizing that I had paid off my loan well in advance judging from the phone call this morning asking me to put some money into an instant access account. I'll bet that there would have been absolutely no problem with moving money from my account then, would there? No questions asked. I suppose that the only thing I should be grateful for was that I didn't have to talk to the fraud centre again. So... NatsPee - get your act together! I won't tell you when we are off until nearer the date. Who knows? I might even do another blog special animation for you, like last year. Holiday is a wonderful thing to look forward to but have you ever seen a picture of somewhere and wondered where it is? On this website, they put up pictures and if you know where it is you can leave a message letting the world know. I've already located one place for them (Meteora in Greece). Don't ask me why but some people like to pose by the swimming pool. These people pose over the swimming pool. When you go abroad, you are often called upon to eat strange foods. Here is a list of ten weird meat dishes that fall into that category. If that doesn't motivate you to travel then take a look at these pictures. Finally some holiday music. Typically Tropical, Barbados 1975 Donna wasn't feeling too special this morning so she made a doctor's appointment for tomorrow and then went back to bed where a few hours extra sleep left her feeling much better. I went to the nearest ATM to check and as I thought a small windfall came my way this week. Enough to allow me to do two things. The first of these was to go to my bank and to close down an existing loan which saved me some interest payments and the second was to go and splurge a bit on some photographic equipment that I have had my eye on for a while. Donna was feeling well enough to accompany me to Park Cameras in Burgess Hill but after the length of time it took me to make my purchases, I reckon she would have been happier back at home in bed! I spoke with one of the assistants and collected the new lens, tripod, and odds and ends and went to pay. It wasn't a small amount of money nor was it a huge amount but my bank, of course, played silly b*£@%$s when I put my chip and PIN card in. So I had to go through the pain of having a bank referral done in the shop with loads of other people watching (most embarrassing). It was the standard referral "for my protection" which involved a call to America which was then rerouted to England where I spoke to a member of staff and had to confirm a set of security questions ("date of birth", "mother's maiden name", "inside leg measurement", "was I breastfed as a child", "who won the FA cup in 1929" - you now the sort of thing) before an authorization code could be given. Eventually, they begrudgingly admitted that I had the money and gave the code. That's when the fun really began because the code was invalid so everything got turned down. Thus ensued another few minutes of phone calls to try and sort it all out. Eventually I managed to secure the goods and I drove Donna home. When we got back, the first thing awaiting us was an answer phone message from the bank... Would I please phone the anti-fraud people at NatsPee bank? So I did and went through the nausea of saying that yes I had attempted to make a payment of xyz pounds but it had been referred. Yes I had attempted to make a payment of xyz pounds but it had been declined. Yes I had made a payment of xyz pounds and it had been accepted. Yes I had purchased a DVD this morning for abc pounds. Yes I had bought a meal in a restaurant on Friday for pqr pounds. Finally they told me that my card had been locked down for two hours so I couldn't use it again! These people are always trying to protect me from spending my money. I suppose that I ought to be grateful but somehow I can't do it when I see other folks splashing out ten times what I did today without any problems. Come on NatsPee! Get your act together! What makes you think that I have had the time to take any photos using the new lens yet? That's right - I haven't so no pic today. If it's pictures you want, how about some forced perspective photography?Not that it's happening over here at the moment but what do ou do when you get back to your car and it has been so sunny that the inside is like an oven? Here's a video clip (all oriental with no subtitles) that show's you how you can reduce the internal temperature of your car fairly quickly. Talking of cars, this is a video clip of a 1936 car production line. I found it quite fascinating if a little long at a tad under ten minutes. Now for one of those "Awww!" moments. A yawning baby sloth. Finally a bit of animation. The Tooth Fairy Affair. Tooth Fairy Affair from Izabela Melamed on Vimeo. Donna has the rest of this week off so we have plenty of time to celebrate our twenty four years of marriage and thankfully today's weather was a vast improvement on yesterday. As soon as we saw that the weather was improved, we made plans to go to the Arundel Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust where we had an absolutely fabulous time. We saw an abundance of wildfowl and the reedbeds are a mass of scents and colours with Meadowsweet, Vetch, Willowherb, Mugwort and the like. We took a boat trip and were treated to the sight of a swimming grass snake, water voles and a good sighting of a pair of little grebes and their nest. We wandered for about three hours and had another picnic which this time, because it was in the sun, was a lot more pleasant than the one yesterday. We were accompanied on the boat trip by a small child of about four years who sat quietly and intently, pointing things out to his parents and being generally inquisitive about what he saw and it was a real pleasure to come across such an intelligent and interested little child. His parents were showing the same degree of interest and were connecting with the child. This however could not be said for some of the children and their parents who were out and about today. The children were shouting and screaming unnecessarily and the parents were bored senseless and seemed to be more interested in their mobile phones than their offspring. I find it particularly hard to handle these irresponsible adults and their foul mouthed offspring, particularly when the brats are actively trying to stamp on some of the birds and the parents just ignore their behaviour. It beggars belief doesn't it? Still, we are back home again where we have had a wonderful day and we are gently contemplating what we might have for an evening meal tonight. The takeaway curry last night was truly magnificent but I don't think that we ought to do that again so soon! ![]() Water Vole. Click for a larger picture. Beards. From underneath. Don't ask me why. I find this vaguely disturbing. Bears. From all angles. This I can relate to. Here is an excerpt from a Japanese quiz show. Don't ask me why several men are trying to get to the top of the stairs whilst other people throw slippery gunk and balls at them. I really don't know why. Dirty car artwork. You just have to love it because it is so ephemeral. Electron microscope images. I doubt if I will be able to get down to anything this small. And now for one of those wonderful utilities. Print a blank piece of paper. A novel use for money. Making weapons of war out of it. Finally, lets have some nineties music - acapella style. Twenty four years ago today, I did something that I have never done before and will never do again. I got married. In the heaving rain, in the middle of July. By now I was trying to get used to the strange feeling of the new wedding ring on my finger (and these days it feels strange if I ever take it off). We had a small registry office wedding and a reception at home before my new bride and I set off for our honeymoon in the Wet Country - sorry that should have been West Country but wet will do. We stopped off at a pub for our evening meal and most of the prawns from my prawn curry disappeared down the gullet of the pub cat, Princess. Today we decided to go out for the day and despite the shocking July weather we decided that we were going to have a picnic. We went to Sheffield Park first for a walk around and I got attacked by a gaggle of Canada geese who decided that I wasn't feeding them enough bread fast enough. They have quite a vicious peck on them. Following that we sat having our picnic lunch, outside, in the grim weather. It didn't matter how grey it was nor did it matter how windy it was, we are British and we were going to have our picnic outside come hell or high water. Following a very breezy and drizzly picnic we went for a trip on the Bluebell Railway which we thoroughly enjoyed even if the heavens did open when we returned to Sheffield Park station. I took a variety of photographs but I am busy downloading them as we speak so I can't tell you if any of them have turned out well. One sad bit of news to relate is that Vandal, the Bluebell Railway cat died peacefully in her sleep ten days ago. She was a smashing old cat and will be missed. No replacement has been spoken of yet but I feel sure that there will be one. The only other thing to report is that we are going to treat ourselves to an Indian takeaway and a bottle of wine tonight to celebrate the longevity of our marriage. See you all tomorrow. ![]() Bluebell Railway Sheds. Click for a larger picture There won't be any links today as I can hear that curry and a beer calling to me. I'll see what I can drum up for tomorrow. Byeee! I woke up this morning.... (cue a blues song here) and I made a horrifying discovery. Regular readers might remember that just over a year back I had to start wearing spectacles more or less full time for reading and computer work and that I wasn't too happy with it. Alas, with old age settling in, these glasses have become a necessity and with them come all of the problems like "Where are my glasses, darling?" ("On top of your head!") and trying to keep the b*ggers clean! Along with this has gone the need to keep them by the bedside so that more or less as I get up, I can put them on to see the alarm clock or whatever. Today I made a frightening discovery. I look better with my glasses on. I look really weird without them. Many years ago when I was a young Civil Servant, one of my colleagues used to wear very thick and noticeable glasses but one got used to seeing him in them. Then came the day he swapped to contact lenses and he looked like a piggy eyed freak (he still does, as a matter of fact!). This morning as I looked into the mirror before donning my specs, I was horrified to see a piggy eyed freak looking back at me. Oh no! It has happened! I look better in my glasses than without them... Actually, I have this theory that if you are a regular spectacle user, that the small pieces of plastic hat help them to sit nicely on the bridge of your nose are, in fact, a face changing apparatus and that more or less constant wearing causes your eyes to become small and shifty - more like a pig or chicken. Should I be crying "Help I've been framed!" or would that be making a spectacle of myself? Now... if I could only blame greying hair and baldness on using a comb and dental caries on using a toothbrush every day then I think I would be in seventh heaven. Still, I can't complain. I am at least better off than Peter D who has been rushed back to hospital with haemoglobin problems (I hop you are out soon Peter) and Cheryl M who has contracted glandular fever and has ripped the tendons in her shoulder (get well soon luvvy). Enjoy the rest of your soggy weekend! Links time once more. This chap had the audacity to (illegally) climb onto the Golden Gate bridge to take photographs. I take my hat off to him, not for the fact that he broke the law but because he had the balls to do this in the first place! From the ridiculously large to the incredibly small. What a vicious looking beast! And then from one vicious looking beasty to another. I'm not sure I would like to tangle with this leviathan. Now... Bark! No; not a doggy link. Just some fascinating pictures of bark. Lastly a picture to ponder on and the video of one of these being built. |
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May 2015
AuthorPaul Everest - Shining wit (at least that is what I think they said) |