2007 - Almost there

So. almost another year gone and I am still above ground. I guess that will have to be the Good News. I have never understood the drive to come up with a set of Resolutions at the start of a New Year. If something is a good idea or in need of implementation into one's life then it should be set in motion without awaiting a new season. There are many other new beginnings in a year; why not choose Spring to plant new ideas or ideals?
I suppose that I have always been lucky enough to be able to recognise the things I can achieve, differentiate them from those that I cannot and then leave that selection process alone. No point in tilting at windmills whose vanes are rusted in place. This property and attitude means that I can ignore much of what goes on outside my own immediate circle. The events in the wider world still interest me but neither inspire or demand that I actually do anything. I do reserve the right to be critical but doubt that I would respond to any call for les citoyen to storm the barricades. This must, in personal terms, be a Good Thing. The world is a totally fupducked and there are very many barricades that would have attracted me in previous years. This reticence (or acquired wisdom?) is something I find comforting and unpleasant in equal parts. I would dearly like to be part of that comradeship of combat but can get by with standing at the window shaking my Zimmer frame.
This life-style of mine seems to have been carried over into the genes of my children. They have encountered problems but attack these as challenges and do not see them as burdens. I hope they will always realise that a difficulty only becomes a problem if tolerated.
What would I ask for in the New Year? Leaving aside the obvious Peace On Earth of course. Has to be a selfish personal request. My Black Dog is incapacity - either mental or physical. I doubt that I'll be reciting Plato at 93 whilst engaged in pleasuring some young lady of 65 but that would be the ideal. I hope that what I have done with my medical notes and in other ways will ensure that I do not end up plugged into a 13 amp electrical outlet like a coffee machine. Please can I have the bed nearest to the cleaner's station.
That is about all I would really ask for.
As for anyone who has stayed the course and got this far. What about them? The answer has to be to hope that they all get whatever they might ask for. So - there you are; a free hand. But remember the other old adage, be careful what you ask for.

Big event - do not miss this

Just in case your boss refuses to give you time off for the Big Drop Day, make do with this.

Nice thing to know

When sudden disaster strikes, it is comforting if one knows what it is that has gone wrong. Believe me.

This old feller must be grateful he stuck to his work all those years ago when his work was being threatened by young girls with pony tails and jitter bug routines to set the blood racing.

TODAY'S GUEST BLOG
Physician - heal thyself

Be a good boy

My mum used to say when I was a small lad that if one complied with social conventions, no harm would result. This was just after she caught me 'writing' my name in the snow by peeing. However, that sort of thing was always reputed to have other associated angers - electrified fences for example. I was often tempted in the wilder parts of my hill-walking jaunts just to splash and dash on the sheep control fences. Maybe it was the story of this sort of thing?

Sabotage

Without going into the rights and wrongs, there is a large body of opposition here in UK regarding requirement that we all have ID cards allied to all sorts of gizmos such as iris recognition. So, may be an idea to think of a way to have a ID card but not have it identify you - know what I mean?

Thank you. You can go now

Sometimes, just sometimes, I think that the internet tells me more than I really wish to know thank you.

Hang 'em high

Gets more like a spaghetti Western every day! And, this is the administration that we think is the thing that will run the country keeping it stable enough for long enough for us to say "All Over" and run for the roof to get on the helicopter. Oh no - that was how the other place ended wasn't it?

Get serious - II

This follows on neatly from my last previous post.

Nuff said?

Get serious

Nice to see that we are really serious with this anti-terrorist thing.

The police side is that it is no offence to hold extremist views. We have - it seems - evidence from intercepts but cannot use it because of concerns about civil liberties.

And all this when the boss of the Met police has said that the threat level of a significant terrorist action is high and increasing daily.

TODAY'S GUEST BLOG
Not evil - just misguided

I've been robbed

I wrote an e-mail to a friend the other day in which I expressed my preference for Gingerbread Men as there was always “that little bit extra” Seems I am going to be denied that luxury now the p.c. police have struck. Surprised they were allowed to retain the description 'Ginger' which is sometimes used as an insult.

So near and yet so far

I had heard bits of the story of the family who got stuck in snow in America but only a very small bit. The husband decided after some days with his stranded vehicle to hike out and see if he could get help. His wife and kids stayed with the car. A cell-phone engineer's tip was not heeded for two days and a hotel refused to give credit-card and cell-phone information to police in the search for the missing California dad. It is chilling to think just what was going through the minds of the lost family in those last moments. Eventually, the mother and kids were found almost by accident but the father died from hypothermia just a very short distance from salvation. As a wanderer in the sandy deserts, I was instructed to stay with vehicle in the event of any problem and to set fire to the spare tyre so as to attract attention to myself. We always carried extra water. Who the heck would imagine that those sort of survival skills would be needed on a vacation journey in one of the most advanced countries of the world.

Wanted

I know I was supposed to be having a duvet day but this item (below) made me fall out of bed laughing so I'll let you have it while it's hot.

My main and first thought is how the heck the relevant police department will find a way to display an illustration of the stolen item in the Crime journal? And what about the future of the Turin Shroud Enterprises Inc if we get good DNA from any recovered item?

TODAY'S GUEST BLOG
Any useful leads to Madonna please

It's Holiday Time

Whether you are a Winterval person, a frantic Happy Christmas-er or attender of Midnight Mass

HAVE A GOOD BREAK

Hostilities are suspended until the whole thing is over and I feel safe to venture out from under the duvet.

Follow that star

I don't think it is blasphemy.

Different folks - different strokes

We here in Europe have to see things American through the media filters. The papers print what sells.

The US Marine Corps stand charged with employing soldiers responsible for a considerable number of civilian deaths at a place called Haditha. It has been presented as troops running riot following an attack upon them. My guest blog sets out to show just how difficult it is to get truth in such cases. Note especially the comments of the US contractor as to veracity of Iraqi witnesses. This has a resonance with me. We knew that it was very likely that a civilian "witness" would lie and did the extra digging to get to the truth.

TODAY'S GUEST BLOG
Another view of events at Haditha