Twinkle, twinkle . . .

Just as many households find that when they come to test the Christmas tree lights, there is one which is failing to light; that the whole string may then fail, if wired in series; those Council illuminations that bedeck various lamposts are just as bad, but fail to be fixed.

Are there no standards left anymore?

Waterstones Job 30th September 2006

Kylie Minogue - and Magic!


In the last minute of this film report there is an interesting meeting of the entertainer at this event with its star.

The Quirkiness of Folk

Click here for Brian's account

Whilst the ceremony to remember those who lost their lives here was indeed moving (see Brian's account above) and the inscription on the unveiled, memorial stone, not only thought provoking but also a tribute to the caligrapher's art; I was fascinated to observe the behaviour of those in attendance.

The memorial stone is essentially a two dimensional piece, and none the worse for that; so why do people feel compelled to look at the back of it? Have a look at the video clip to see just what I mean.

It's rather like those recipients of the 3D. Pop-Up Greetings cards who look at the reverse of the image to see if it too, is printed ~ I know I do, and am pleased, and satisfied when it is!

What people look at

Athens on the move . . .

My first experiment in uploading a video clip, tricky for a non technophile!


Athens from the hotel rooftop. Evening September 2006



Just like any city in the world, I guess, there is the background wail of the emergency vehicle siren

Click here for more images from Brian's Blog

First Cuckoo?

Time was, when 'The Times' always published a letter from the first person to have heard the first cuckoo of the year.

I think it time to add to this idea of first hearings, or in this case sightings, with the first Christmas decorations of the year.

I claim the honour!

Tonight, 15th October 2006, in Gosling Way, Kennington, London I saw the first Christmas decorations of the year, not only up, but illuminated too; courtesy of Lambeth Council.

Ten weeks before Christmas and lit decorations ~ I think that someone within the council has gone quite cuckoo.

Parking Rant, the First.

I am driving down a road and find that so many cars are parked on either side that there is only room for one vehicle to pass by at a time.

Residential Parking Scheme Announcement

Those that have parked here, have had to pay the council for the privilege of doing so on a road near, if they are lucky, to where they live. 'Residents Parking Only' is what the plethora of posts each with their plate, lining the street, announce.

The thinking about controlling parking in this way is to avoid irresponsible parking and ensuing there is no obstruction caused by selfish and inconsiderate positioning of vehicles.

In this there has been a conspicuous failure of policy, I think, as I pull over, yet again, to allow an on-coming vehicle to squeeze past.

The council planners have ensured that congestion is guaranteed to be caused in their planned provision of parking spaces. Perhaps it is really about making money and charging the motorist simply to leave their vehicle unattended.

Research says . . .

so it must be true.

Back in June I suggested that children who have too little contact with their parents but grow up with nannies and toys instead, suffer.


I read in the paper yesterday, that research shows children such as these now lack the conversation skills needed, when they go to school ~ many find it hard to string words into a sentence. The reason given is the lack of parental, quality time; the use of electronic baby-sitters; and the all pervasive television set.




Many electronic games, it seems to me, do not engage the player in dialogue but only develops thumb skills. Mobile phone texting often seems to replace vocal communication, which is ironic given that the telephone was invented to communicate via the voice!

What this means, the report went on to say, was that more resources (money and time) will have to be spent within the education system to make up for this initial deficit.

What a bonkers world we have created! Greater potential to communicate than ever before, but a generation who find speaking coherently a real challenge.

Nonsense

One fine day in the middle of the night
The sea caught on fire;
The blind man saw it, and the deaf man heard it,
And the man with no legs, ran for the engine,
Which came along drawn by two dead horses
Ran over a dead cat and half-killed it.
My next song shall be a dance, told to you by a female gentleman,
Sitting at the corner of a big round table, bare-footed
With his father’s boots on, eating soup with a fork.

Perfection?

Today at a party, the parent of the birthday child observed that another, visiting child, was in tears because the bubble tail on the miniature bubble balloon I had made for her had burst.



When I make balloon toys for children I always say that if they break they should sing ~ ‘Da da-da da daaa daaa’ and resist the impulse to cry.

The mother explained that this crying child was:
a) robust, as she was the youngest child in her family
b) a perfectionist which is why the burst part of the balloon dog was so upsetting.

I responded that if she were a perfectionist then she would suffer constantly as she went through life as things were seldom perfect.

The mother was having none of that defeatist talk; ‘there is nothing wrong with wanting perfection’. I agreed but added that the little girl would need to find a way to respond and to deal with things when they were less than perfect.

Days later an elderly and most experienced magician friend declared that he would never perform again. Teach and coach others, yes; but not perform himself. The reason was that when he performed he never reached the level of perfection that he sought.

I find this sad as there is joy and fun to be had on the part of the spectators if the performance is good. Yes. yet more fun if the performance is outstanding.

This magician is denying himself and his spectators that chance. That chance will not pass his way again.

Dog-shot

A cycle of rant

Last week I wittnessed three near accidents involving cyclists, who were breaking the law and the highway code ~ all within 15 minutes, and a mile of each other.

Image


Today, I saw an elderly pedestrian complain to a cyclist who was weaving around on the pavement. The cyclist responded by telling the man that it was legal for him to cycle on the pavement so, as he pedalled past me, I added that he was breaking the law.

This cyclist, by now feeling that there was conspiracy against him, screamed, "F*ck Off".

So much for reasoned discussion.

The pedestrian shared with me the regret that we had no means of identifying these anti-social hooligans.

I get tired of hearing that it is only a tiny minority of cyclists who give the rest a bad name.

Give them ID plates and then we might get somewhere.

Weather

It is true to say that if you predict that the weather in the UK will be much like the weather yesterday, then you will be correct more times than you are wrong.