Food Glorious Food

I am back, and I will let you know about the canoeing, the aquarium visit, the crabbing and more. But for now I will go with a restaurant review. It was particularly interesting taking a 5 year old (very well behaved) who normally goes to bed at 1915 hours but stayed up for evening meals every night and didn't get to bed until 2200 hrs most nights. In order of excellence/enjoyment:

1) Res Nova - a floating restaurant in the middle of the Dart. We have been trying to get there for years but a succession of disasters (theirs not ours) have meant that we could never get a table. This year we managed and I so wish we had managed before. First sat out on the deck drinking a Pimms in the sun and a lovely evening. Then inside for a lovely meal, including the best ever sticky toffee pudding (of which I only know from one small mouthful, although a very large portion arrived "A" had ordered it and finished it off, I have never seen her eat so much). We told the owner how much "A" enjoyed the meal, he then took "J" and "A" to meet the chef. After which the chef came out and made a carving of a swan out of an apple for "A".

2) Al Fresco - a wonderful cafe. A regular for the locals and a great place for breakfast. Also occassionally does lunch and even dinner but all opening hours can be cancelled if the surf is good. Great atmosphere and a fun place to go. Cinnamon toast (reminds me of school) and speciality. Bacon sarnies which surpass anything experienced elsewhere.

3) Anzacs - another place that has been on the list for a long time. "J"s meal was great, I have to admit my steak wasn't the best, but the friendliness made up for it. All the staff were helpful, the meal wasn't rushed. A good evening out is made up of both good food and a good atmosphere, they scored highly on the second.

4) The Floating Bridge - good food rather let down by service that was in chaos. In some ways the opposite to Anzacs. They couldn't remember which table had ordered what. We ended up with an extra apple juice and I am sure they never found out who it was destined for.

5) RBs - I had an amazing seafood platter as a starter with langoustines, crayfish and crab all in their shell, followed by a lovely lemon sole. "J"s lamb was a bit fatty. "A"s choclate pudding was too chocolatey and she gave up and fell asleep.

6) The Castle Hotel - overpriced for what you get. Used to be good but has gone downhill.

7) The Station - used to do the best cooked breakfasts you could imagine. Times have got hard and now can only claim to be mediocre.

8) Twentyfour - a passable lunch, but only redeemed by "J"s pasta, my savoury pancake was poor. Didn't even stay for coffee and pudding.

And two places we didn't eat but that get minus points. "Sails" says on its blackboard "everyone welcome" whcih turns out not to be true as they only allow children of 10 or over. I wouldn't mind if they were honest, it is the misleading nature of the sign that annoyed me. And "Jan and Freddies", say that they allow children but when asked if a five year old could share a course put me on hold and then came back and said "that would be difficult", which you could understand if Dartmouth had been heaving but things were quiet and we went past on the way back from where we did book in and they had five empty tables.

Cough

An unexpected drawback to the new laws against smoking is that the smokers are now congregating on the street. The reason this is a drawback is that you can find yourself innocently wandering along when you are suddenly enveloped by a fug of cigarette smoke. I actually thought a lot more people had started working the streets. Interest rates had gone up, people struggling with mortgages, and all of a sudden more people hanging around street corners. It seemed pretty obvious to me.

Hello

Internet cafes. Places where I can get free access to the internet while I have a coffee. Excellent idea, although the rest of the family might not think so. Anyway, time to brave the weather again (Hard to believe that I am thinking of buying some more Oakley sunglasses, not as though there will be much use for them, but I spotted some berry "Dart"s, not seen them before and they really are rather nice).

Splash

This weather has to be aopn the verge of ridiculous. A day on the beach A day wher ethe rain stopped any fun (and us winning the cricket), a day where we could be outdoors all day and have a pleasant Pimms on a boat in the evening, then another day of rain. Grateful for the good days but when you wake in the morning it is a lottery. Previously we have always come to Dartmouth out of season but we have probably never seen such bad weather.

Alfs

So I am now sitting in Al Fresco in Dartmouth having brekkie (bacon sarnie and cinnamon toast). Always a good place for breakfast. Good atmosphere to start a holiday

Wet Wet Wet

They weren't joking about the weather. Friday evening we drove down from Northampton to Cardiff. A journey that normally takes 2.5 hours took over 4. At one point I considered abandoning it and staying at a hotel. One flood we came too I hoped to get through but when there were four cars stuck in it I decided that discrepency was the better side of valour and turned around to find another route. One of the floods I did drive through wasn't too deep on the "wrong" side of the road so I started driving through on that side until a Landie came towards us and obviously couldn't wait, as he drove into the flood at us I had to move over (and I thank him for being so courteous). We saw mini fountains as water gushed up out of drains. We saw slip roads under water. I lost count of how often I had to revise route plans.

Facelift

Minor change to my blog. "Work" blogs are being removed. Something I should have done a while ago but it is time to be a bit more sensible. In everything else I work hard to make sure we get the correct message across, this is not the place to let all that hard work down.

Hi

I really don't think that this should qualify as news. So some ministers used drugs when they were students. What is the deal with that? They were students. Why would anyone be surprised? OK, so I didn't indulge in drugs while I was at uni but that is because I am completely unobservant and never saw the opportunity. Different if they were doing it now but, as a general rule, I don't believe you should hold someones past against them. After all, only start slinging if you know that no-one can throw something back at you.

I Win

Previous readers will know I am not a fan of Labour. But Ed Balls (what an unfortunate name for an education minister, can you imagine the playground "you're name is what? Balls? Boy are we going to have fun with you") has won me over.

We have descended into a compensation culture. One that stops us living. What do we teach our children when they can't ever take a risk? Risks are important, the teach us to strive forward, to excel. When school trips are cancelled then something is drastically wrong. I grew up going on outward bounds courses, pot-holing, canoeing, archery, scuba diving, abseiling. In fact I used to go and play in the disused signal box across the way (my mother only recently discovered this and nearly had a heart attack). But it pushed me, made me find things I thought I couldn't do and then realise I could try anything. At a time when we are complaining that our children are becoming more housebound we should not be limiting their adventures.

I am very grateful that the school "A" goes to does not seem to suffer from the PC culture. The headmistress is strict and rules the place - and in turn the children respect her. She does not cancel school when there is some snow and actually lets them go out in it to play. She allows them to compete.

So the headmistress at our school and Ed are doing the right thing. Challenge our children and make them grow.

Calling Noah

Even in adversity, find the positive. At least it kept us away from the rest of Europe.

More Money

The gap between rich and poor is growing. It seems strange after Labour have been in power for so long. I always thought this was a key area for them.

What really interested me was a survey reported on Radio 4 this morning. Asking people in London how well off they were, almost all didn't think themselves rich. But a high proportion of the nations money is concentrated there. The reason they didn't consider themselves rich was because their peers were all in the same position, they didn't meet anyone who was poor.

And I can relate to this. In the cold light of day I know we are well off. But it doesn't feel like it. Friends and neighbours afford better (and more) cars, better holidays, bigger houses. And I end up feeling I don't provide for my family. But the reality is that we pay our credit card bills off every month, we have a manageable mortgage (when interest rates go up I think of the increase on my savings not the impact on the mortgage), we don't borrow. We are secure, and a long while ago I stopped working for the money as I realised there are more important things to life, but sometimes, just sometimes, that bug for more green paper creeps in.

Just A Small Prick

Dr Wakefield is up on disciplinary charges. This is the doctor who sparked off the controversy about the MMR vaccine. It has to be said, that whether or not the MMR is linked with autism, more children are being harmed through not being vaccinated than would be from using the vaccine. It is incredibly difficult however.

No medicine can be 100% safe, no medicine can be 100% effective. For vaccines to work it requires a certain percentage of the population to be immunised. We are looking for "herd" immunity, so that the disease can't get established. If not enough are vaccinated then the challenge mounts and will get to a point where any immunity can be overwhelmed. And in London there is a definite rise in the numbers of children with measles. Last year a child died from measles, something that hadn't happened for quite a while. So the difficulty is that immunity is a "herd" thing, while side effects are an individual thing. For the "herd" to be safe then individuals have to take the risk. And that is a tough decision for any parent to make.

What caught my eye though is that Dr Wakefield was taking blood samples from children at a brithday party. Brings a whole new meaning to "pin the tail on the donkey" doesn't it.

Cough

Sometimes I despair of our legal system. This was the wrong decision. For generations the rule has been simple. If a cow tests positive then it is slaughtered. This one decision in the High Court now sets a dangerous precedent. Why should anyone let the government slaughter their cattle? It may not be a religious cow we are talking about next, but is a cow that is someones livelihood any less important.


TB is a disease that ravages humans and animals alike. And a disease on the increase. Not only on the increase, but drug resistant forms are on the increase. So those who are thining that they can happily continue looking after Shambo because if they get TB then they can go on antibiotics had better be really sure they know the risks.

One of the arguments is that Shambo isn't showing signs. Well no. That's the point of the test. Catch the disease early on. Perhaps BEFORE it spreads elsewhere. And although the test itself may not be 100% accurate the fact that there are other reactors in the same herd suggests that there is a problem. Do we have to wait until the community has a mass outbreak of TB? Well I suppose it would make sure we really knew.



Lastly, they talk about Shambos welfare. He isn't doing any harm. Look, they say, he can't spread anything because he isn't in contact with other cattle. Well, those who think that is a good argument should take a look around. You might just notice that cattle are herd animals. Do you really think you can use a welfare argument when you are preventing an animal from being in contact with his own kind? I think that you are breaking some of the Five Freedoms there.

On The Run

I went to Tesco today to buy some whisky. Very rare for me to run oout but the travel restrictions are making duty free more difficult. Anyway, paid and walked out. As I left the alarm went off. I thought "hmm, don't remember seeing the cashier take the tamper seal off the bottle". Kept walking however. Put my things in the car. Went and got a sandwich from the sandwich bar. Went back to the car, drove home. Opened the box with the whisky in (what do they call those tubes they pack the bottttles in?). And sure enough one tamper proof seal.

I'll return it AFTER I've drunk the whisky.

Eddie

For as long as I can remember we have been Eddie spotters. I am sure you know what I mean, we watch for Eddie Stobart lorries on journeys. Bit of a competition thing. You get a point for being the first to spot one. And I am good at it. Very good. I almost always win. But now "A" is joining in. And there is this great conflict in my mind between having to win and letting my daughter have a chance. So now I end up whining like a dog when I see one, desparate to call it but having to wait. Very undignified.

Giddee Up

Having got the computer temporarily working again, I can give you an update on what we got up to yesterday.


At work we help out the Riding for the Disabled Association by providing vaccine. So we were invited to the National Championships at Hartpury College. We got VIP parking and an invite to a lunch reception. It was a bit of a rush taking "A" to ballet and then getting over t Hartpury but we made it in time. We got to rub shoulders with some of the equine paralympians (something that impresses me more than would any pop or film star). So far so good.


Unfortunately it was dressage day. There was a display of carriage riding at 1930 hrs but we weren't going to hang around that long. The thing about dressage is that I think they are very good and have incredible control but, let's be honest, it isn't a spectator sport. "A" would agree, having being looking forward to seeing the horses, it didn't really hold her attention. However by the time we started thinking that we needed to find something else it was mid-afternoon. Obviously it had to be something fairly near. Then I had a brainwave.


On the way to the college we had gone passed a brown sign pointing towards a "Bee Shelter". That sounded fun. See loads of bee hives. Learn a bit about keeping bees. I imagined a bee version of St. Tiggywinkles.

Maybe a bit of research would have been a good idea. The "Bee Shelter" is simply a stone structure for holding bee skeps. It sits in the grounds of Hartpury church. Very pretty but maybe not a 5 year olds idea of a good day out.

B.....y Computers

Nuff said

Dreamtime

Trying to see
That moment
When dreams
Become reality
To stop it
Halt
Hold it
Never let it slip
And float
Suspended
Between

Here, There and Everywhere

I am, of course, not a proud parent. I am not going to bore you with stories of my daughters exploits. Oh, by the way, she received a certificate of merit today. For 100% attendance throughout the academic year. Only two children in her class got one.

Heads Up

There are some very weird blogs. Why would anyone want to be able to recognise Dutch helmets

Whizz Bang

It is good to see that in Canada at least the airport security are going to allow a level of discretion when deciding if a comment presents and suggests a serious threat. However I am reminded of going through Heathrow last year. Obviously security is high. Everything is very intense. I was on my way to a conference in Oslo. At this conference I am presenting a scientific poster. The poster needs to be displayed so I decide to carry it rather than risk losing it in the hold. So me, holding long cardboard tube, approaching the x-ray machine. Long queue, we have been there for 30 minutes or so. All getting tired. Just want to get through. Security guy takes one look at me and says "is that a surface to air missile in there?".

I'll Stick Please

It seems that you have better odds playing poker than you do tendering to be the site for the first super-casino. After councils had spent time and money (around £150k each) putting together a proposal, and after Manchester were awarded the tender, it appears that a U-turn is ripping it out from under them. It is one thing to lose money when you are bidding for something that exists, but when you find it was never a possibility then you might have a sour taste in your mouth. I would even think there might be a legal case for misrepresentation (although I will bow to the superior knowledge of the lawyers out there). It seems a bigger version of the TV phone-in scandal to me.

Oceans 14 - George Clooney against Brown - "It's all in the trust"

Where Is It

Have you noticed how we trust pilots to fly us half way around the world but they can't even find the arrival gate? I mean, once they land it takes them at least 10 minutes to taxi there. You'd think that they would land a bit closer wouldn't you?

Sick

No blog yesterday as the computer was really struggling. Not sure if it was a virus or Vista. Any help appreciated. The computer seems to lock up and nothing will work. Ctrl-alt-del doesn't bring up the Vista equivalent of the task manager. Instead after 30-60 second the screen goes black and then, after another 30 seconds or so, an error box comes up, headed "Logon process has failed to create the security options dialog" and containing the message "Failure - security options". Clicking on the "OK" button does nothing and the only option is to turn the computer off at the mains.

Blissful(ly Unaware)

OK, the words "straws" and "clutching at" come to mind. £20 a week for being married. If that is all it takes to keep you together then (a) you don't deserve it and (b) you shouldn't be together. Stupid. I heard one married mother being interviewed talking about how everyone else gets something so why shouldn't she. That's not the b....y point. We don't all deserve hand outs from the government. We aren't all entitled. It b....y well infuriates me. The conservatives could be trying to do something good, trying to raise everyone up to a higher standard (remember, I believe the labour aim is to brng us all down to the gutter so at least they can say we are equal) but instead they get themselves all wrapped up in a stupid stupid stupid policy. (are you getting the sense that I may be a wee bit aggravated).

Mind you, this couple will probably need more than twenty quid.

Hurray

While hating to come over all proud, I have to continue the theme. Yes there were 65 areas of work for the teacher to grade. But in addition there are another 13 as part of scale point scores. I didn't tell you "A"s scores because I wasn't exactly sure what they meant. But now I can tell you that she scored 8 in every one. That's a good 8 out of a maximum of 9. Yes 9. Wow, she's good!

Please No

She might write more. After promising to stop at seven she is threatening to come back with further Potter stories. Possibly uite perceptive of her to say that she might return to him in ten years. That's when she realises that she can't find another winning formula. Am I being harsh? Ignoring the fact that the stories have got longer and longer (it would only take another two and she would be challenging War and Peace), do we have to be put through more. They are not good literature. They aren't well written. I would look this bored if I was having to write about the little twerp. It is time to let go. Please, whatever you do, don't sign the petition.

Under The Stars

We went and bought a new tent today. For the last few years I have been a wimp and hired a caravan for Greenbelt. This year I am going to go tough again (OK, so by the time I got around to phoning they had hired out all their caravans, but that's not the point). Saturday workers have to make you smile don't they. Or you would cry. He tried to describe the taped seams as "tapped seams". Fire retardant as "well, it doesn't stop fire" (as someone who watched a tent go up when the owners tried to put out a candle with a glass of vodka this particularly amused me). The lighting system (yes, a tent with a lighting system) as "the lights are good because they, well, give you light". The guy ropes as "the stringy bits" which, once I had explained to him he then insisted on calling "guide ropes" (an image of loads of girl guides holding tents down definitely raising the quality of my day).

Class Model

On the plus side, I have to do the proud father thing and let you know about "A"s first school report. "A is a cheerful, bubbly and helpful member of class". "A is always enthusiastic about everything she does". "A loves sharing her news with the rest of her class". "A has been an absolute delight to teach".

Then she got 21 "exceeds expectations" and 44 "meets expectations", with no "below expectations".

As she is one of the youngest in the class I reckon that's fairly good. No, I reckon that's wonderful. Yes, I admit to being biased. She is so proud of her report though. She keeps asking us to read it to her again.

As someone who almost always got "could do better" I can relate to a good report. Very proud.

Infected

I seem to have spent a large proportion of the day fighting with the computer. It appears that overnight I picked up a virus. I have been running the virus checker, deleting viruses (? viri) and using system restore. With only vague success. Frsustrated, and wondering what the g..s who write these things get out of it.

Cropping

Before going to see Cats I had a haircut. Talking to the hairdresser I mentioned where I was going. She said she had "only been to the theatre once as she had never had a cultured boyfriend". A comment I could have understood more if I was going to an opera or Shakespear. I am not convinced that the theatre is cultured per se. There is some fairly bad stuff available at the theatre if you pick badly. It revealed a perception that I hadn't really thought people may have (and I know my leftie friends {you know who you are} are now going to be cheering, saying "told you so" etc).

Meow

We've been to see Cats this afternoon. "J" and I saw it years ago and we thought "A" might enjoy it. It is long, over two and a half hours, but even so "A" loved it. She watched spell-bound. At one point she turned to us, and remember this is someone who has recently had to do three dances for shows, and said "they have been practising a lot"! Good to know she appreciates hard work and effort.

Poor Charlie

No, not Prince but Kennedy. He is a martyr to his addictions. This time smoking has caught up with him.

Charles Kennedy had voted in favour of the smoking ban. That, however, does not mean that he is able to abide by it. Only days after the smoking ban is imposed he has been caught out. It appears that he thought smoking out of the window of a speeding train was not breaking the law. Some kind policemen had a word with him at the end of the journey to dissuade him of his mistaken opinion.

Clamp Down

there are currently proposals to extend the legal rights of staff at secure training centres (a politically correct way of saying Borstals) to use force in order to restrain children. It seems the response to an inquest questioning how much restraint is being used is to increase the amount that is legally allowed. What raises an eyebrow is the terminolog used. The aim is to grant powers to use more "distraction techniques". By the term distraction they mean sticking your fingers in someones eyes or up their nostrils. Yep, think that might distract me.

2B Or Not 2B

Today beekeepers and experts met together in order to discuss the shortfall in funding for bee research in the face of new threats to Britain's bee population. Apparently DEFRA are only putting £200k a year into research. And let's be honest, for £200k you could be struggling to buy a house. It really is nothing. Bees are important, ignoring the pain they can inflict and the fact that they try to get into your jam sandwiches, they are essential for keeping our flora flourishing and for helping crops. The veroa mite may not seem as big as the spread of TB, but we would be a lot worse off for no bees.

But bees are also being taught how to sniff out bombs. Just think how that would have been for the guy at Glasgow. First he sets himself alight. Then he falls oout of the car. He proceeds to be given a Glasgow kiss by a baggage handler. Finally he gets attacked by a swarm of bees. Now that really wouldn't have been his day.

Youthful Looks!

Someone at international that I met for the first time today said he was surprised how young I was. I am still trying to work out whether this means I have a remarkably mature and insightful head on my shoulders, or that I am remarkably bolshie for my age.

{and those of you who consider yourselves my friends and who are tempted to add your comments, please remember that I am a delicate beast and easily wounded}

Sybilllll

There used to be a rule about visiting international head office. If you were booked in to hotel a you were OK, but if you were booked in to hotel b then you were about to bid adieu to your job. Things have moved on from those days and we can now chose our own hotel. And I usually chose hotel b. It is more amusing. It is a dutch Fawlty Towers. I turned up once and there was a fire engine in the car park. The firemen had brought it around because they wanted to clean it! Service is hit and miss. They often forget to charge for things (and I do tell them, honest). And there is always an air of chaos. And the owner has the perfect qualities of Basil about him.

Well, no more. Amusing it might be but I was booked in tonight. My plane was delayed so I turned up late. By late I mean 2105 hrs. And they wouldn't cook me dinner. The best they could manage was a sandwich. After a long day that did not go down well. Hotel a for me from now on.

Honest Guv

Michael Grade wants to adopt a "zero tolerance" policy. He won't accept any film company trying to mislead the public. They need to win back our "trust". It's an interesting line because, after all, TV is entertainment. And should we ever trust entertainers. The reason they are there is to suspend belief and transfer us to another world.

I listened to his interview on Radio 4 this morning. he was talking about how it was wrong for "reality" shows and interviews to use actors. But the "plant" has been in common use for magicians, theatres, comedians, andgenerally all types of entertainment since the concept was first founded.

TV should be about suspending belief, that's what it is there for.

Words

glumbert.com - Literacy is cute

Terrorists 1 Me 0

I don't like other people dictating how I live my life. I normally fight against it, to the level of doing things in spite of other actions. But this time the terrorists won. I was supposed to fly to Brussels today, in fact I even got as far as a hotel at Hathrow last night. However I was acutely aware of a meeting that I ahve to attend later this week. And I have been stuck on mainland Europe before thanks to terrorist activity. I really couldn't afford to get stuck again. So I drove back this morning and cancelled my meetings in Brussels. On the plus side I had plenty to be getting on with, it wasn't as though I spent the day twiddling my fingers. On the minus side, this time they won.

No Smoking

So it is here. No more smoking in public places. I have spotted a few people standing in the rain but I am afraid I can't feel sorry for them. Immediate benefits of the new law are experienced in that one of our favourite restaurants did allow smoking because its owner smoked. And that was the one cloud on its horizon. Well, we went there for brunch today and enjoyed a smoke free atmosphere. Great.

Up We Go

Ikea-Man strikes again. Up to Nottingham (MK doesn't have what we want) and find a new wardrobe for "A". This is the last bit to completing her bedroom after the great redecoration. Bought the wardrobe, got it home and managed to put it up in 2 hours. Without swearing. And despite help from a certain cat. Scooby might think he is good at DIY but his attempts at measuring leave a lot to be desired (he hasn't grasped the difference between metric and imperial).

Here We Go

I must be honest, today I should have been in Cheltenham for a meeting sorting out a festival in a month or so. I hope my friends can all forgive me for not going. I have been travelling so much recently that I really didn't have the energy. I hope they have all had a good time (although the BBQ this evening might be a bit wet).



Instead I went to the school fete. They don't just have a fete though. They crown the June queen. At first I wondered how such an americanism managed to make its way into a village school. But when the children started dancing around the Maypole I realised that this probably went back a long way as a tradition. At the end all the school do a dance before the fete opens properly. As "A" had to do the main dance but also another one beforehand, very traditional country dance (surprised not to see any Morris men), I was a very proud dad, she has learnt three dances to do in the last two weeks, at her age I think that is quite impressive (yes, yes, yes, biased I know).

Stones

I built these walls
Thinking
To protect,
To defend
Futures,
To harbour
Happiness.
Only now
Do I realise
How we stand
On different sides.

New Start

A tough start for Brown. A baptism of fire. Floods, bombs, deaths in Iraq, postal strike. Then, to top it all, the Spice Girls get back together.

Beep Beep, Beep Beep, Yeah

Sadly the majority of politicians fail to live up to what we can expect of them. All the more reason to talk of Marco Zambuto, the mayor of Agrigento. Sadly I can't give you a link so you are going to have to trust that I have this correct.

In June of this year Marco was elected to Mayor of Agrigento. With this prestigious role came a very nice car with a chauffeur. Marco got in the car and asked the chauffeur to drive to the local car dealer. The chauffeur was more than happy, thinking "goody, we will get a brand new car, excellent". He was in for a shock. Instead of getting a new car, Marco handed over the keys of his very nice car and asked to exchange them for the keys of a school bus. The school bus has then been given to the elementary school to help the pupils get to school.

I think the phrase is "RESPECT"

Desert Time

Tony Blair as Mideast envoy. Interesting. It is what he wanted, sure enough, but is he the best person for the role?

On the positive side, his experience with Ireland should serve him well. That has been a constant struggle, trying to bring two sides together, while terrorists have done their best to block the way for good politicians. Many lessons can be learned and transferred, a roadmap lightly redrawn.

On the negative side, well, Iraq and close links with America shouldn't be too much of a surprise.

The real problem is that those who don't want to move forward have many excuses that they can make. It doesn't matter whether or not they are true, but the excuses can be used. He can be accused of acting for the wrong reasons, of being short sighted, of being unable to plan, of being the American puppet. All of those options, cards to be played by Hamas and others whenever they feel things aren't going their way.

Another World

Fingers touch,
Brief,
Momentary,
Then away.
And you wait,
Unknowing,
Expecting.
Lips touch
And again
Only fleetingly.
In your darkness
Wondering.
A soft stroke
Over you
Longer,
But o
(Gasping)
So short.
Pulling against bonds,
Suddenly stopped
By intimate ice
Then time
Slows,
Your breathing
Echoing
Skin
Needing.
Sense
All.
The next touch
Beginning the dream.

Out Of Void

A hollowness
More devoid
Than emptiness,
An absence of pain
Itself screaming
In its sheer lack,
A nowhere
Made deeper
By the enclosing.
Ecstasy
Turned to delirium,

Taking the knife
Removing each finger
To know
A moment of reality.

Hole

Am I simply
A ghost in your bed
Fainter than a memory
A touch, faded
A scent, washed away
A concavity
Gradually filling in

A ghost
Replaced
By the living

Up Up and Away

So, the reason we were delayed (and if you are now confused then you are reading from top to bottom and are therefore chronologically inverted) was that the plane was a new one and had only been delivered from Toulouse the night before. In the morning the engineers had taken three hours checking it over before releasing it, hence everything was out of synch. Now, the first thought was “oh good, a new plane”. But then you have to question that a bit further. I mean, if you are on an old plane then you know it has stood the test of time, the probably hadn’t forgotten to put a bolt in the wing or to put on some tyres. A new plane however, well, you just don’t know do you? We were its third flight. The more I thought about it the worse that seemed. Two flights would be just enough to loosen any bits not firmly attached. The third would be the one where they dropped off. Cheery flight.

Hunger

Lunch was supposed to be a three course meal. Bit more than I want when I know I am going to be travelling in a couple of hours. And, anyway, I was expected to bring fish and chips home. So I had the pasta starter but turned away everything else. The person next to me said “don’t turn food away, you never know when your next meal is coming”. Oh I laughed. “Ha ha” I said. Not laughing so much now my plane has been delayed by 4 hours and I am not going to get back to Luton until after midnight.

Clean Clean

On the subject of hotels, I note bidets seem to be coming back into fashion. They are becoming more and more common. But I really have to wonder if they are ever actually used. Why do hotels think they are good things to have? I also suspect that the modern bidet somewhat misses the point. I don’t want to lower the tone, but didn’t bidets used to fill from the bottom up (if you see what I mean). I am sure the inlet was set in the base. Now they seem to have taps at the back which would, well, dig into your back. Maybe I’m worng. It isn’t a bidet, it’s a dog bowl!

Gold

The hotel we stayed at was nothing like what I would imagine for Budapest. I understand that some of our group were upgraded. I find it difficult to see what more an upgrade could have provided. I had a drench shower, and a walk in wardrobe (obviously not together, that would be silly). Two massive windows, air con (that worked, note to London hotels), the bathroom was bigger than my daughters bedroom and the bedroom was, well, massive would describe it. And everywhere dripping with opulence. All for the same price that would get you a pokey dishevelled room in London. Congratulations on those who decided we should go to Budapest.

Views

I did manage a couple of hours walking around Budapest. Walked down to the Danube, crossed the bridge so I have been in both Buda and Pest. And while the UK was undergoing severe storms and weather warnings, the sun was shining down and it was approaching the unbearably hot (my apologies to Budapest at this point as I took my shirt off). It is a strange city. I am not sure why the roads were built so wide. Very handy for tanks I grant you but surely when the city plans were made they weren’t thinking of anything more than horses. Houses with shrapnel damage from the very difficult past of the place. But what was really strange were the eerie buildings. Big, imposing buildings, boarded up, and nothing to indicate what they had been, but from the size and dominance they must have been important. I suspect they were communist buildings, ones whose memories are screams not laughter.

One More

One of the problems of travelling with work is that the cities I visit don’t really get a fair chance as I don’t see them but feel I have been there. Budapest is a case in point. I have wanted to go to Budapest for years. Now that I have been there for 48 hours (plus a delay at the airport) I feel I have seen it. In fact, the reality is that I have seen more of the airport than I did of Budapest itself. But I have seen enough to know it has MacDonalds and Burger King like every other city in the world (and that people eat at them which is even worse). And now I don’t really feel like going back. I am sure I am not doing it justice (and it is definitely better than Hannover) but it has the “tick” of being “done”.

Down

Would you let me lie you down
Softly lie beside you
And talk of clouds, of trees, of dreams.
To hold you close, feel your heat
Your beating heart beneath my hand
As we think of a different time.
To allow our bodies to melt
Dissolve together
Merge into the forever.

Boss Day

Back at Christmas "J" was given a spa day as a present. It ahs taken her a while to be able to use it but today she went off. This meant I was left in charge of "A". I am pleased to say it ahs been a very pleasent day with no arguments. Busy. Ballet first (OK, that's routine, I always take "A" to ballet), then out for lunch, then the cinema, 15 minutes of me time while we popped in to PC World, then back home to play the Magic Tooth Fairy Game, followed by me having to stitch a foam purse for "A" to decorate. Amazed we fitted it all in.

Peek-A-Boo

Long time readers of this blog may remember me talking about having a new conservatory. At the time we decided to have a cat flap installed, which ended up more as a cat tunnel as it went through the wall. Well I am pleased to report that the cats love it. Mainly because they can lie in it, keeping their bottoms warm while they watch the passing of the world outside.

{And, for the observant amongst you, yes the cat flap is held open by string. I am hoping that they will finally go outside enough that they will stop using the litter tray but, when they have to push the flap open the effort just seems too much}

The Aftermath

That was really extremely predictable. I was at the receiving end of many jokes today, and those who weren't even there were able to comment on my colour. I made no excuses, all fully deserved. Self inflicted injuries after all, court martial offence I believe.

Please Sir

How strange is this? Gordon Brown has asked Paddy Ashdown to be his Northern Ireland secretary. Why? This is supposed to be a strong government. Does Gordon really believe that none of his own party are up to the job? Added to the fact that they couldn't find someone to stand against Gordon you really have to start wondering what the party is made up of.

It's not as if Paddy has ever given any indication of supporting Gordon. Certainly Paddy doesn't support Labour, otherwise he would be a member of the Labour party, not the Lib Dem. Maybe Browns next job offer will be to Cameron, after all, in an odd way, their views are probably more alike.

Hic

That wasn't clever. Sales meeting yesterday and today so we all had a dinner together last night. And the alcohol flowed. Flowed rather more tahn it should. And I didn't take any notice of the fact that the first glass of wine hit me more than I would normally expect. And kept drinking. I suspect it is something to do with the fact that every aspect of my life seems quite intense at the moment, in one way or nother, and that I haven't had a decent nights sleep for a couple of weeks. Anyway I was rough this morning. Really rough. Probably the roughest I have been for 20 odd years. And absolutely no use to man or beast. Not something I could hide in meetings so everyone knows as well. B....y stupid really.

Almost Goodbye

One episode away from completing the last season of "The West Wing". I really don't want it to end. They have managed to keep the tension throughout and the desire is always to watch the next episode. The loss of Rob Lowe was a bit of a blow but they coped (unlike ER which went downhill once they started losing the main actors) and the death of John Spencer was moving. One advantage of being away from home with work and of having a daughter is that I haven't been able to completely overdose on it. It wouldn't have taken much for me to sit down of a weekend, order in pizza and beer and simply watch from start to finish. If you haven't watched this series then I urge you to do so.

Clunk Click, No Trip

The reporting of the u-turn by the government on early release of prisoners has certainly been confusing, if not misleading. The government can only blame themselves as they tried to spin the story from the off and no-one really understood what they were announcing. It seems that prison overcrowding has now reached an unmanageable level (even allowing for those prisoners they are loosing) so they are going to release up to 25000 prisoners in the next year in order to free up 1800 places.

But this is been a problem that has been waiting to happen. The government have been repeatedly warned and, just a month ago, were still saying that early release was not an option. Now, days before Gordon takes over, they have had to change tack. Probably not the start he wanted.

The idea of the prisoners being released early seems shocking at first. They have been given a sentence, they should serve it. On closer inspection it appears that they will only be released 18 days early (and, according to the Lord Chancellor they are still "under licence" although it is difficult to see how that will be effective). 18 days doesn't seem bad, after all, if you have served 4 years what is two weeks between friends. However, for those on shorter sentences it becomes more important, 18 days might not sound much but if you have been sentenced to 4 weeks then it is half your sentence. More worryingly is the precedent it sets, if 18 days why not 3 weeks, then why not a month etc.

Now, you see, if I was a judge I would simply start tacking an extra 18 days onto every sentence I set.

A Long Way Away

My uncle was in the Falklands. He was a senior captain in the Royal Fleet Auxillary. So I admit to being biased. He was on the RFA Resource which picked up survivors from the HMS Sheffield. I also have a picture of a bomb exploding just a hundred yards or so from his ship. I was at school and I had a poster with all the navy and RFA ships on my wall (and, if you want to know something spooky, it fell off the wall each time something happened to one of our ships).

I remember trips on this, and other, RFA ships. I remember seeing the stores. Seeing them packed with bombs. Being told if they were ever hit then they would need parachutes not lifejackets. I remember parties, and the fact that the favourite film on board was "The Jungle Book". The stories of war games and hunting for Russian subs.

So I have watched the memorial services etc with interest. And I saw how Maggie was greeted by those who had been in the war. I'm not going to glorify the war, lives were lost, but I bet you don't see Tony being greeted like that in 25 years time by those who were in Iraq.

Bigger Isn't Better

The oompa-loompas came out last night. Finally the day of the show arrived. Ballet/dance school was putting on Charlie and the Golden Ticket. It was an "interesting" night (I now have an increased amount of sympathy for my parents who used to watch my shows). As well as children the school does adult tap and adult jazz. Men were remarkable by their absence, obviously it is a real girls night out. Anyway, I digress. "A" was an oompa-loompa, and dressed up appropriately.

Apparently, and I hadn't realised this, oompa-loompas spend a lot of time playing the maraccas. At least so it seemed last night. The amazing thing was how much "A" enjoyed it. She got a real buzz out of being on stage and didn't seem phased by it at all (usual parent thing coming up) and knew her stuff better than anyone else in her class. Her part was finished in the first half but she insisted on staying for the second half. She loved watching every moment. After the finale there were a lot of thank yous and flowers given out. Then we were given the option of seeing the finale again. "A"s face lit up, she just didn't want it to end.

Initiation

Last Wednesday was a great evening. My first ceremony "in the chair". I think it went very well and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I am taking the fact that we finished almost an hour earlier than normal as indicating I ran a tight and efficient ship (there may be other possibilities but I refuse to consider them).

It was an initiation ceremony and I had quite a lot to learn for it. I can't claim to have been word perfect, I may have embellished a few times and a few of the sentences may have been in a slightly different order than in the book, but we managed to cover all the important bits. The candidate did well, after some initial trepidation (which he can't be blamed for) he soon settled into it and proceeded with firm but humble confidence. And my officers, who have to cope with learning the ceremonies without me, were all extremely good.

The Festive Board afterwards went well. I had asked for the intiate to sit on the top table, which I think is nice as he won't get there again until he is "in the chair". We had just rediscovered our banner (which had been mislaid) so I decided to talk about how banners can be inspirations and rallying points when I had to give a reply to the Toast to the Master. That might sound serious but I have come to learn I am better giving that sort of toast/reply than trying to make it funny. The Toast to the Master itself was given by the Brother who had seconded me into freemasonry and he said some very nice things about me.

Yes, an excellent night.

Getting There

All credit to Power Internet, my service providers. I contacted them to let them know I had a problem with connecting to the internet onmy new computer. They talked through the problem. Decided that my modem was simply to old and not Vista compliant. Did they then say that it was my problem. No. They had a new modem configured and ready for me to pick up this morning. Hard to beat that service.

Still sorting out a few other things but normal service expected to be resumed tomorrow.

No Ma'am

I hear that Cherie Blair thought herself above curtsying to the Queen. At the Falklands Memorial service Cherie effectively snubbed the Queen. Perhaps she thinks that being married to old Tone makes her more important. I think it shows her as rude and arrogant.

Out With The Old (Almost)

I had a new computer delivered yesterday. My old one was in the process of dying so it seemed time to upgrade. I suspect the new one is great but I am having a few problems. Namely some of the hardware and software I had before doesn't particularly like vista. This includes my modem, so I am actually typing this on my old computer. Hopefully will get the correct modem tomorrow. It just takes so long transferring files across. It really isn't my favourite occupation.

On Wednesday night I conducted my first ceremony, an initiation, as Master of the Lodge. It was a wonderful night and I plan on giving you more details once I have a fully functioning computer.

Scratchy

It isn't often that someone is going to ask you to scratch their car. But this is exactly what happened yesterday. While most of us try to park somewhere where they won't see their car damaged, Chevrolet parkled a car in the middle of Covent Garden and gave people a chance to scratch off the paint. The lucky person who found the correct part won the car.

There were 18995 scratch panels, to indicate the price of the Captiva in the UK, and the car was positioned on a bed of 16995 pennies. Chevrolet had coated the car in the latex used for scratch cards, a job that took 2 months.

It would have all gone horribly wrong if the first person to take part had uncovered the winning symbol. In fact it took 14 hours before someone won.

I hope they will give the car a new paint job before they give it to him.

A Short History Of Tractors In Ukrainian - Marina Lewycka

Although still learning my lines, or at least revising them, for tonights initiation, I made the mistake of picking up this book last week when I was at my parents for the rehearsal. Mistake because, as ever, once I start reading then I don't like to stop. So I may have promised myself a book after the ceremony but ended up reading one before.

I have to say I was disappointed with this book. It has had so many good reviews ("outstanding" from the Mail, "Extremely Funny" from the Telegraph). I did not find it funny and I didn't find it well written. It wasn't funny because the only way that you can find it funny is by laughing at others misfortune. The characters have very sad lives and it takes more shadenfraude than I have within me in order to laugh. The main feeling I get is how wars still have an effect on families 60 years down the line. How the actions of ruthless men can impact on so much that they never even knew would exist. The old father in the book, who is the centre of the plot, acts as he does because of years of oppression by both Russians and Germans. And because that is the reason behind his actions it makes them anything but funny.

Magic

ooo ooo ooo. I have a bit of a cold at the moment. Took a big sniff just as a little mozzy thing came at me. It came a bit too close to my nose. Now I don't know where the mosquito has gone. ooo

(I always wonder at these people who are brave enough to let mozzies feed on them while they take photos)

Here, There

And the thing about travelling to foreign climates is that everyone thinks it sounds fun and glamorous. The reality is that you don't get to see much more than airports and hotels and it can be incredibly frustrating to go to what are, reportedly, nice places but never get to see them. For the last two months "J" has been telling everyone how lucky I am to be going to where I have just been. Having not seen anything other than the hotel rooms (oh, and one restaurant outside the grounds) I now want her to go telling her friends how it wasn't a jolly. It was a good trip, good meetings, learnt a lot, but most definitely not a jolly.

Delays

Sunday meant travelling again, and another flight. The thing is, although I enjoy flying, I really am not a good traveller. I normally want to be at the airport hours before I need to be. However, for once I was running late. I got a text from a colleague telling me there were massive queues. Not what I wanted to hear. So I got to Luton Airport, got to arrivals and, sure enough, massive queues at check in. But I was so late that they had opened a desk for late check in for my flight. Short queue, excellent. As I was checking in my colleague walked past, he had been in the long queue all the time and had only just checked in himself. The mad thing about that is that it almost encourages you to arrive late. I made it to the airport an hour or so after he had and our check in was within minutes of each other. Crazy.

Tribulations

As pointed out by 1iz, Paris Hilton isn't having a great time. But it has got worse, as she has been sent back to prison. Having a nervous breakdown was not enough to keep her out. It is tempting to feel sorry for her. Well, not really. But initially you think of her having to rub shoulders with the commoners. You can understand how the shock would have unhinged her. Experiencing a world she didn't know existed, must have been unsettling.

But, and what a big but (please refrain from all innuendos at this point), then you have to realise where she was sent. She was at the Century Regional Detention Centre. The CRDC is no ordinary prison. Oh no. It has a special unit for celebrities, public officials, police officers and other high-profile inmates. Basically these are the people she speds her time with when she is out of prison anyway. I suspect she would have found some friends in there. It must be the height of fame to have a prison built for you. Somehow doubt there is a prison for plumbers, one for accountants (too may to fit in one place anyway), one for middle managers. Maybe instead of sewing mail bags they have to sew ball gowns. Instead of walking around the compound they go around in a golf buggy.

Don't Let The Bed Bugs Bite

I have spent the day building a bed. Well, it feels like I have spent a month doing it. Great idea to have a bunk bed! Overuse of an allan key has left me with a very sore thumb. And I have sworn I will now only buy furniture from Ikea. This wasn't from them and I deeply regret it. Ignoring holes that don't line up etc, I almost cried when I opened another box to find different instructions showing some fairly major parts in different places than the first set of instructions I had been following for the previous 4 hours. And before anyone says, yes we only ahve the one child but the bottom of the bed is a desk and a sitting area.

Thankfully not quite as complicated as this one.

Fade

Losing
Gradually
Slowly
Losing

Unable to prevent
The aching dissolve
Failing to hold
The stones together

My fingers no longer
Tracing
My lips no longer
Feeling
The scent, the sound
Forgotten

Brrr

Is it just me? Or does anyone else think we are entering another cold war? Obviously Russia is not happy. But can they be blamed? For the last 5-10 years they have seen the west flexing its muscles. Over oil, over land, over democracy. But ultimately repeatedly flexing muscles. And trying to dominate the world. Russia woould have reason to be afraid, to be worried. And the problem is when you make a nation like Russia feel afraid then they are simply going to retaliate. No wonder Blair got a cold reception. There is only one person that Putin would be less likely to talk to, and that is Blairs owner.

Tag, You're It

This is an interesting piece of legislation. It starts off fine, fathers who haven't paid maintenance can be named and shamed. No problem with that. Then they can be blacklisted for credit. Bit more dubious, that blacklist already contains a number of mistakes which make peoples lives a misery. But then you read further and learn that people could be tagged or curfewed. This starts to get really challenging. It is starting to feel wrong. I am stuggling to say why, after all they are technically breaking the law and therefore criminals, but it seems draconian in the least. Yes, they should be held responsible but a working and decent legal system has to be based on a measured response to the problem.

Let's ignore the fact that the tagging system itself has failed to work. That there isn't the manpower to run it properly as it is. Even ignoring that, is this an appropriate response? The child support agency isn't exactly perfect. It seems quite possible that people will be wrongly tagged. That maybe they are trying to appeal but the choice is taken out of their hands. Tagging has a role, but it has to be for reintroducing people into society, people for whom setting curfew has a sense, a reason, or those whose actions mean they need to be monitored. Setting a curfew on someone who has not paid for their child is not setting a punishment to fit the crime. It can almost be seen as churlish. A case of sulking and being heavy handed because someone isn't playing ball nicely. It almost strikes me that a previous failure to be successful in dealing with this problem has lead to a response of throwing heavier weights at it rather than addressing the issue itself.

Where does it stop, tagging for speeding tickets or parking fines? Curfew for dropping a chewing gum wrapper in the street?

Greeting

I was only away for one night. Arrived back this evening, parked in the drive, got out and walked around to the boot, only to be hit in the solar plexus by a blue whirlwind. Which may not sound very good. But when I explain that the blue whirlwind was my daughter, rushing out to me because she was so pleased to see me (blue because she was still in school uniform), then you will understand how that just made my day. It's nice to be welcomed home.

Practice Makes Perfect

Last night was the final rehearsal before the initiation ceremony next week. Well, the final rehearsal for me, the others have one on Monday. In fact it was only my second rehearsal. Living so far from Cardiff really makes this difficult. It never ceases to amaze me that I can be word perfect in the car but then I start to stumble when other people are there. It is because of the extra bits, adding the actions on to the words, when to stand, when to knock, when to step down to the candidate. Learning a play without ever going on the stage. Not ideal. I am really looking forward to my first ceremony "in the chair" but it is nerve wracking as well. I haven't read a book for ages, just concentrating on my lines. I am promising myself a book immediately afterwards.

Watching You

Is it right that Emily Parr should have been kicked out of the Big Brother house? Most seem to think so. I am not so sure. Right from the outset I want to be clear I am not defending her words. I agree they are racist and I do not believe that they should be used.

But Big Brother is a "reality" show. And, if there is one thing it should be able to do it is to challenge us and the way people act together. By kicking her out we are simply trying to brush what we find offensive under the carpet. It isn't tackling the issue, it isn't admiting that racism is a way of life for a lot of people. And it isn't being honest about the society we live in.

They could have done so much more. They could have made this into a debate as a task for the contestants. They could have made them think about what lay behind the words. They couldhave brought an important topic into the forefront of peoples minds. Instead it is hidden away, a skeleton in the closet not to be opened.

Silence In Court

I might be cheating slightly by categorising this as "news" because I can't relate it to a particular story, but I think it relevant to the topic.

It seems that adverts for "ambulance chasers" are on the increase. You know what I mean, the "if you think you might have a claim then come to us because it won't cost you anything". yet another great export from America. These really annoy me. They annoy me because they encourage people to take a punt on whether or not they might be able (note I say "able" not "entitled") to get some money off someone else.

People don't want to accept responsibility for their own actions these days. People want there to be someone to blame. By taking away consequences we make it easier for people to blame someone else, and not to think about their own involvement. We are becoming more and more a litigation culture. If something happens that we don't like then there must be someone we can sue. If we hurt ourselves then there must be someone we can serve a court order on.

No. Stop and think. If you tripped on a kerbstone maybe you should have been watching where you were going. If you burnt your mouth on a cup of coffee maybe it was your fault for not waiting for it to cool down.

We need to have a due legal system which means that people can claim and set the wheels in motion when they are entitled. But the way things are going people don't have to worry about any repercussions for themselves. And this is wrong. It might not cost them anything but the same cannot be said for the person, or company, getting sued or the tax payers.

This is not right. It isn't healthy for society. If clever lawyers are given more opportunities to twist gestures of goodwill into admissions of liability then more companies will stop helping their customers when things go wrong. More and more the line will be drawn that once it has left the door then it is the purchasers problem. One clever individual may get a nice payout by pushing a court action but society as a whole will be worse off.

No Lumberjack

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