So....an apalling quality image I'm afraid, even some degree of manipulation can't disguise that, but you get the gist......the biggest, boldest winter sunset I think I have ever seen.
Monday, 6 February 2006
Winter wonder
In typical gemmak fashion, when presented on the way home from work on Saturday with one of the most stunning sunsets I have ever seen, I only had my phone with me! I really must invest in a second camera....or remember to always have the one I have with me.
So....an apalling quality image I'm afraid, even some degree of manipulation can't disguise that, but you get the gist......the biggest, boldest winter sunset I think I have ever seen.
So....an apalling quality image I'm afraid, even some degree of manipulation can't disguise that, but you get the gist......the biggest, boldest winter sunset I think I have ever seen.
Sunday, 5 February 2006
Saturday, 4 February 2006
Saturday silliness Tilliness
Last time it was PG that had inflicted this look of silliness on Tilly but of late she has taken to turning just one ear inside out herself when she cleans.....and leaving it in that condition until one of us unravels it for her. She seems not to notice!
Friday, 3 February 2006
How utterly, utterly typical!
You may remember, or you may not, the incident last September when a cretinous fool caused me to have to attempt to run a small marathon in order to detain him for theft.
A time later I was required to attend an identity parade, which I duly did, and then it was a waiting game, waiting to hear if 'Joe Toe-rag', he of idiot proportions,would plead guilty or not and whether I would be called as a witness.
Time went by and I forgot about it, or rather I persuaded myself forget about it. The whole hoo ha, and particularly my employers response to my efforts at saving their expensive stock, annoyed me intensely, their only reaction had been to chastise me for 'not adhering to company policy, blah, blah, blah' in giving chase, not a word of thanks, absolutely zip gratitude! So, to save myself mulling and fidgeting about said response I stopped thinking about it....that was until today.
Today the inevitable happened, a letter requesting my presence at court arrived with a plonk on the doormat, of course Joe Toe-rag hadn't done the decent thing, of course he hadn't pleaded guilty, do they ever?
This in itself is not a problem, I will happily potter into court and say my bit, what is a problem though, is that having moved heaven and earth for PG and I to get a few days off work together and visit my parents for the first time since last summer and the only time we can, before this coming summer, the court date is smack, bang in the middle of our planned week away in London!
Bloody, sodding typical! There are 365 days in the year, almost any other one of them would have been just fine and dandy with me but no, that would be way too straightforward, it just had to be in the middle of our holiday didn't it!
Our traveling dates and the length of visit make it pointless to go sooner in the week or later, as much as I love to see my parents an 800 mile drive for one or two days just isn't viable.
Bugger, bugger, bugger!
So I have done what I can, I have alerted my parents and I have called the 'powers that be' in the world of court dates and they are 'seeing what they can do'. Quite what they can do I don't know but I suspect not much. Forgive my cynicism but I imagine I would have more chance of consideration if I were on the opposite side of the law.
So that's it, my efforts have earned me a telling off from the employer who's gear I was recovering, half a day fiddling about going to an I.D. parade, damn sore legs at the time (I'm too old for this running malarky) and now likely the cancellation of a much anticipated holiday, probably only to go into court, hang around for a morning and hear that the case has been adjourned for one thing or another.......... and I don't have to appear yet afterall! Oh and of course, there is always the possibility the Joe Toe-rag will change his plea at the eleventh hour.
Arghhhhhhhhh!
A time later I was required to attend an identity parade, which I duly did, and then it was a waiting game, waiting to hear if 'Joe Toe-rag', he of idiot proportions,would plead guilty or not and whether I would be called as a witness.
Time went by and I forgot about it, or rather I persuaded myself forget about it. The whole hoo ha, and particularly my employers response to my efforts at saving their expensive stock, annoyed me intensely, their only reaction had been to chastise me for 'not adhering to company policy, blah, blah, blah' in giving chase, not a word of thanks, absolutely zip gratitude! So, to save myself mulling and fidgeting about said response I stopped thinking about it....that was until today.
Today the inevitable happened, a letter requesting my presence at court arrived with a plonk on the doormat, of course Joe Toe-rag hadn't done the decent thing, of course he hadn't pleaded guilty, do they ever?
This in itself is not a problem, I will happily potter into court and say my bit, what is a problem though, is that having moved heaven and earth for PG and I to get a few days off work together and visit my parents for the first time since last summer and the only time we can, before this coming summer, the court date is smack, bang in the middle of our planned week away in London!
Bloody, sodding typical! There are 365 days in the year, almost any other one of them would have been just fine and dandy with me but no, that would be way too straightforward, it just had to be in the middle of our holiday didn't it!
Our traveling dates and the length of visit make it pointless to go sooner in the week or later, as much as I love to see my parents an 800 mile drive for one or two days just isn't viable.
Bugger, bugger, bugger!
So I have done what I can, I have alerted my parents and I have called the 'powers that be' in the world of court dates and they are 'seeing what they can do'. Quite what they can do I don't know but I suspect not much. Forgive my cynicism but I imagine I would have more chance of consideration if I were on the opposite side of the law.
So that's it, my efforts have earned me a telling off from the employer who's gear I was recovering, half a day fiddling about going to an I.D. parade, damn sore legs at the time (I'm too old for this running malarky) and now likely the cancellation of a much anticipated holiday, probably only to go into court, hang around for a morning and hear that the case has been adjourned for one thing or another.......... and I don't have to appear yet afterall! Oh and of course, there is always the possibility the Joe Toe-rag will change his plea at the eleventh hour.
Arghhhhhhhhh!
Thursday, 2 February 2006
We need us some of these!
Ok, so doubtless I am setting myself up for some seriously negative, if not abusive comments here but Ditto's is old and raggy and Tilly is just about big enough to need one. Methinks these are a necessary purchase!
Hardly Harrods I know but hey, that's one hell of a journey..... and even I, with my cat obsessive nature, don't go to the extremes of the real deal in carat weight for cats! ;o)
Hardly Harrods I know but hey, that's one hell of a journey..... and even I, with my cat obsessive nature, don't go to the extremes of the real deal in carat weight for cats! ;o)
Scrub the last six months please?
Whilst I may bemoan my lot here from time to time where my day job is concerned it is very much the 'company line' that causes the anger and resentment, as it probably is for most of us, not those that I work with. There are of course one or two individuals who I am less than fond of but it is always thus, not everyone can like or be liked by everyone and for the main part our little band of approximately fifty employees, are in my experience, quite an exception in that we really are almost an extended family to one another.
Why that should be I am not sure, I suspect it is because the lack of employment in these parts means that staff turnover among us is very minimal in comparison to most areas and the small community, whilst it's lack of anonymity can be aggravating for a city girl like myself, also dictates that we know rather more about one another's lives than is the norm elsewhere.
We may have our issues with those in the ivory towers off site, we may feel 'undervalued, overworked and a lack of loyalty from on high..... but on site we are a pretty close bunch who work together well and look out for one another. Loyalty and support among those of us at the sharp end is unusually strong for the main part and we potter along like an over extended and slightly stressed family, day to day.
Maybe because of this the last six or so months have been particularly difficult, for in that short period it seems the work God's have not been smiling on our merry little band. I doubt any of us have experienced a time like it before and I hope none of us will have to again. We all have sad or bad news occasionally, colleagues who suffer one problem or difficulty another, but in the few months to which I refer, we barely seem to have picked ourselves up from one trauma before the next is presenting itself.
It began at the end of July with the sudden death in suspicious circumstances of a long time colleague. On the previous evening he has been at a works party, the next morning he was dragged from the sea, to this day the circumstances surrounding his sad demise are unclear. Just weeks later a colleague with whom I am particular friends was diagnosed with cancer, she is still fighting that brave battle. In December we lost another colleague, though this time only through resignation but again under very sad circumstances and now, yesterday, we learn that another of our number is facing the battle of a lifetime in having just been diagnosed with motor neurones disease. He too, like my friend battling cancer has chosen to continue working, these are very courageous individuals but come on, upsets of this magnitude are supposed to arrive in three's, what is going on? We are onto number four in only seven months! :o(
I can honestly say I haven't ever experienced this before and neither have any other of my colleagues, once in a blue moon in the workplace we all receive terrible news but never before have any of us encountered four incidents of such in such magnitude in such a short space of time.
I don't know if we are such a close and supportive little group because of, or in spite of all this sadness and upset but one thing I am sure of is that I am damn glad we are, not only because we can help one another but because those that are most affected by these incidents, those who have had their lives turned upside down feel they not only have the support of their nearest and dearest but also, in our small way, the added support of this unusual little 'extended family'.
Why that should be I am not sure, I suspect it is because the lack of employment in these parts means that staff turnover among us is very minimal in comparison to most areas and the small community, whilst it's lack of anonymity can be aggravating for a city girl like myself, also dictates that we know rather more about one another's lives than is the norm elsewhere.
We may have our issues with those in the ivory towers off site, we may feel 'undervalued, overworked and a lack of loyalty from on high..... but on site we are a pretty close bunch who work together well and look out for one another. Loyalty and support among those of us at the sharp end is unusually strong for the main part and we potter along like an over extended and slightly stressed family, day to day.
Maybe because of this the last six or so months have been particularly difficult, for in that short period it seems the work God's have not been smiling on our merry little band. I doubt any of us have experienced a time like it before and I hope none of us will have to again. We all have sad or bad news occasionally, colleagues who suffer one problem or difficulty another, but in the few months to which I refer, we barely seem to have picked ourselves up from one trauma before the next is presenting itself.
It began at the end of July with the sudden death in suspicious circumstances of a long time colleague. On the previous evening he has been at a works party, the next morning he was dragged from the sea, to this day the circumstances surrounding his sad demise are unclear. Just weeks later a colleague with whom I am particular friends was diagnosed with cancer, she is still fighting that brave battle. In December we lost another colleague, though this time only through resignation but again under very sad circumstances and now, yesterday, we learn that another of our number is facing the battle of a lifetime in having just been diagnosed with motor neurones disease. He too, like my friend battling cancer has chosen to continue working, these are very courageous individuals but come on, upsets of this magnitude are supposed to arrive in three's, what is going on? We are onto number four in only seven months! :o(
I can honestly say I haven't ever experienced this before and neither have any other of my colleagues, once in a blue moon in the workplace we all receive terrible news but never before have any of us encountered four incidents of such in such magnitude in such a short space of time.
I don't know if we are such a close and supportive little group because of, or in spite of all this sadness and upset but one thing I am sure of is that I am damn glad we are, not only because we can help one another but because those that are most affected by these incidents, those who have had their lives turned upside down feel they not only have the support of their nearest and dearest but also, in our small way, the added support of this unusual little 'extended family'.
Wednesday, 1 February 2006
Hell, it's cold!
We were promised the coldest winter in memory this year by those with the meteorological models, temperatures the like of which most of us don't recall but thus far it seemed it hadn't materialised.....until yesterday morning that is. Ok, so to be pedantic it may not be the coldest in memory at minus seven, but it's damn cold! Even when the sun had been shining most of the morning the mercury couldn't struggle any higher than minus two and it never made it above minus one before darkness fell again, taking the temperatures back down with it.
The frost prevailed all day, last nights having added to what was already clinging to every surface, shining and sparkling like a million jewels in the bright sunlight.
I promise you this is frost not snow:
(Images clickable)
The frost prevailed all day, last nights having added to what was already clinging to every surface, shining and sparkling like a million jewels in the bright sunlight.
I promise you this is frost not snow:
(Images clickable)
Tuesday, 31 January 2006
Four years on
Today, the 31st of January, is the day PG and I consider our 'anniversary'. We obviously don't have a wedding anniversary and neither of us recall the date of the day we first spoke to one another, at the time the significance was not apparent, and so the day we first met face to face, after the months of 'hoo ha' and difficulties is the day we mark....and what a day it was. Not only is it the day in my life I recall with most fondness but also it was one of the scariest.
In essence this was the day that having already left my husband and never having met one another 'for real' we were about to finally meet at 6.30 am at Marble Arch.
After much thought I blogged it last year on this date and as I am still asked about it more than anything else, whilst I won't write it all again if you want to read the tale it's in two parts, part one is here and part two here.
*Happy anniversary PG.
In essence this was the day that having already left my husband and never having met one another 'for real' we were about to finally meet at 6.30 am at Marble Arch.
After much thought I blogged it last year on this date and as I am still asked about it more than anything else, whilst I won't write it all again if you want to read the tale it's in two parts, part one is here and part two here.
*Happy anniversary PG.
Monday, 30 January 2006
The best and the worst!
The best, sleeping.....
Tilly at her best
Video sent by gemmak
....and the worst, her more usual behaviour!
Usual behaviour
Video sent by gemmak
Tilly at her best
Video sent by gemmak
....and the worst, her more usual behaviour!
Usual behaviour
Video sent by gemmak
There's always one!
What is it with some individuals?
It seems that for some the only pleasure in life is causing trouble and making mischief. I do not talk of the Tilly kind of mischief here, madness and mayhem created in the wake of high spirits but of those, who for reason best known only to themselves, see fit to trample rough shod through the lives of others and blunder their 'sweet' way into places uninvited.
Those of us in the blogosphere welcome our readers happily, it is afterall the whole point, to have others read our thoughts and most of us, if we are honest are 'comment whores'....what we are not is game for all!
Certainly for myself I welcome heated discussion, I would never want for comments to only ever be in agreement with me, the whole idea for me is one of free speech and of listening to the opinions of others. This differs however from the half wits who persist in making inappropriate, rude and insulting comments to salve their own need for attention.
What motivates these people I wonder? Maybe it is merely the need for attention they feel they are missing in other areas of their lives, maybe they feel it is their 'five minutes of fame' in a strange way. Whatever the reason it confounds me. These are not people spamming comments, that is done automatically and whilst it may be annoying, at least it is not an individual with and axe to grind sat in front of a pc typing unpleasantness unendingly merely to cause offence.
Really, could you be bothered? I certainly couldn't and I doubt many of us could. Ok, so maybe one reads something that hits a nerve, maybe leave a comment to 'say your piece' but to keep on going back, time after time??
Hell, life's way too short!
It seems that for some the only pleasure in life is causing trouble and making mischief. I do not talk of the Tilly kind of mischief here, madness and mayhem created in the wake of high spirits but of those, who for reason best known only to themselves, see fit to trample rough shod through the lives of others and blunder their 'sweet' way into places uninvited.
Those of us in the blogosphere welcome our readers happily, it is afterall the whole point, to have others read our thoughts and most of us, if we are honest are 'comment whores'....what we are not is game for all!
Certainly for myself I welcome heated discussion, I would never want for comments to only ever be in agreement with me, the whole idea for me is one of free speech and of listening to the opinions of others. This differs however from the half wits who persist in making inappropriate, rude and insulting comments to salve their own need for attention.
What motivates these people I wonder? Maybe it is merely the need for attention they feel they are missing in other areas of their lives, maybe they feel it is their 'five minutes of fame' in a strange way. Whatever the reason it confounds me. These are not people spamming comments, that is done automatically and whilst it may be annoying, at least it is not an individual with and axe to grind sat in front of a pc typing unpleasantness unendingly merely to cause offence.
Really, could you be bothered? I certainly couldn't and I doubt many of us could. Ok, so maybe one reads something that hits a nerve, maybe leave a comment to 'say your piece' but to keep on going back, time after time??
Hell, life's way too short!
Sunday, 29 January 2006
Not the safest place to play!
Or for that matter to sleep, but despite all manner of 'Tilly-proofing' devices and all efforts to dissuade her, the back of the computer remains one of her favorites! Unfortunately the desk is against a small alcove and no matter how we board up the back, she merely hurls herself off the desk top into the abyss if she can find no other route!
Oh, and just in case you wondered, the large and inelegant blob of blue-tac jammed into the skirting is a cheat....there was a time when many a large spider advanced from the gap under that blob and I figured that given no-one sees it, to 'fill' the hole with the cure-all blue stuff was the quickest fix! What a bodger eh?
Oh, and just in case you wondered, the large and inelegant blob of blue-tac jammed into the skirting is a cheat....there was a time when many a large spider advanced from the gap under that blob and I figured that given no-one sees it, to 'fill' the hole with the cure-all blue stuff was the quickest fix! What a bodger eh?
Saturday, 28 January 2006
Friday, 27 January 2006
An unpopular view
I watched a film last night, you know how you do, kind of by mistake, I flicked over to a channel, coincidentally at the start of this particular offering and became enthralled, if that is the right word in this case, in what I was watching.
The film depicted the life and crimes of serial killer Ted Bundy and I
think almost without exception, it was one of the most disturbing films I have ever had the misfortune to go see. From start to finish I wanted to turn off the TV but somehow I couldn't, so half asleep I remained glued to this horrific tale until 3am, barely able to watch it in some parts and completely and utterly horrified by what this man had done.
I was of course aware of his crimes but not in the detail I am now, I can't find the words to describe just how despicable his crimes were, as I'm sure is the case with anyone familiar with even the briefest of details. I have no idea if this particular film was produced in a manner that would increase the shock value, it was indeed particularly graphic but no amount of 'toning down' the reality would have detracted from just how utterly and truly terrible Bundy's reign of terror was. I can honestly say this film, and the information contained in it, of the heinous specifics of the mans actions really affected me, is still this morning affecting me, I can't express how utterly terrible this man's crimes were but that is not all that has affected me...... and this is where likely I will fly in the face of popular opinion.
I don't profess to have the answers so maybe I shouldn't be posting this at all but the aspect of the film that disturbed me almost as equally as the crimes themselves was the ultimate execution of Bundy. Despite my gut reaction screaming 'kill the bastard, make him suffer as terribly as he made others suffer' I cannot for the life of me see where executing anyone, particularly in the manner he was executed, is a positive or good step.
For me it reduces us to being barely any more humane than he himself was, there is no excuse in the world for his actions but there were perhaps reasons, in the main psychosis. The man was blatantly, profoundly psychotic, one only has to have a basic knowledge of psychiatry to recognise that and whilst it still doesn't excuse his crime to any degree, psychosis is not something one chooses any more than the rest of us would choose any major illness.
By contrast, we the civilised educated world chose, with all our faculties intact, to kill him and put him through a terror and albeit he had inflicted worse on many, try as I might I can't accept it as suitable retribution by those of us standing in judgment.....and judged he certainly needed to be and punished to severe degree.
As I said earlier, I don't have the answers and the debate surrounding execution as a legal punishment will go no forever, everyone has differing views but for my part I felt almost as horrified and ashamed to be part of the human race by the execution, as I did by the original crimes. Retribution needed, without doubt, to be severe and I accept that execution nowadays isn't as barbaric as it was in the 80's as a rule, but by carrying it out at all I can't see that we solve anything, we merely lower ourselves, knowingly, to a similar level as the perpetrator.
Some will say that had one of my loved ones been a victim of Bundy I would want revenge, I would want to sit and watch him die in terror. Of course one can't really know the answer to that unless, God forbid, one is faced with the situation but I truly believe, that whilst my initial reaction may well be that an eye for an eye would be suitable punishment and that revenge would assist my pain, I don't honestly think, that ultimately I could wish to have someone executed for anything.
Maybe I'm weird, maybe I'm the odd one, certainly I don't think mine is a popular view but I can, hand on heart, say that despite the utter horror of crimes like Bundy's, and there are few worse, I can't find justification in my own heart for execution. I could regale you with many of the horrific images avaliable of Bundy's execution to help make my point but I won't, though believe me if you haven't had the misfortune to see them and I don't recommend that you do, death by electrocution is pretty barbaric in itself. Thankfully we now more often deal out this punishement by lethal injection, which is marginally more 'sanitised', but still we are killing someone and is that not the very crime we are punishing the individual for in the first place?
The film depicted the life and crimes of serial killer Ted Bundy and I
think almost without exception, it was one of the most disturbing films I have ever had the misfortune to go see. From start to finish I wanted to turn off the TV but somehow I couldn't, so half asleep I remained glued to this horrific tale until 3am, barely able to watch it in some parts and completely and utterly horrified by what this man had done.I was of course aware of his crimes but not in the detail I am now, I can't find the words to describe just how despicable his crimes were, as I'm sure is the case with anyone familiar with even the briefest of details. I have no idea if this particular film was produced in a manner that would increase the shock value, it was indeed particularly graphic but no amount of 'toning down' the reality would have detracted from just how utterly and truly terrible Bundy's reign of terror was. I can honestly say this film, and the information contained in it, of the heinous specifics of the mans actions really affected me, is still this morning affecting me, I can't express how utterly terrible this man's crimes were but that is not all that has affected me...... and this is where likely I will fly in the face of popular opinion.
I don't profess to have the answers so maybe I shouldn't be posting this at all but the aspect of the film that disturbed me almost as equally as the crimes themselves was the ultimate execution of Bundy. Despite my gut reaction screaming 'kill the bastard, make him suffer as terribly as he made others suffer' I cannot for the life of me see where executing anyone, particularly in the manner he was executed, is a positive or good step.
For me it reduces us to being barely any more humane than he himself was, there is no excuse in the world for his actions but there were perhaps reasons, in the main psychosis. The man was blatantly, profoundly psychotic, one only has to have a basic knowledge of psychiatry to recognise that and whilst it still doesn't excuse his crime to any degree, psychosis is not something one chooses any more than the rest of us would choose any major illness.
By contrast, we the civilised educated world chose, with all our faculties intact, to kill him and put him through a terror and albeit he had inflicted worse on many, try as I might I can't accept it as suitable retribution by those of us standing in judgment.....and judged he certainly needed to be and punished to severe degree.
As I said earlier, I don't have the answers and the debate surrounding execution as a legal punishment will go no forever, everyone has differing views but for my part I felt almost as horrified and ashamed to be part of the human race by the execution, as I did by the original crimes. Retribution needed, without doubt, to be severe and I accept that execution nowadays isn't as barbaric as it was in the 80's as a rule, but by carrying it out at all I can't see that we solve anything, we merely lower ourselves, knowingly, to a similar level as the perpetrator.
Some will say that had one of my loved ones been a victim of Bundy I would want revenge, I would want to sit and watch him die in terror. Of course one can't really know the answer to that unless, God forbid, one is faced with the situation but I truly believe, that whilst my initial reaction may well be that an eye for an eye would be suitable punishment and that revenge would assist my pain, I don't honestly think, that ultimately I could wish to have someone executed for anything.
Maybe I'm weird, maybe I'm the odd one, certainly I don't think mine is a popular view but I can, hand on heart, say that despite the utter horror of crimes like Bundy's, and there are few worse, I can't find justification in my own heart for execution. I could regale you with many of the horrific images avaliable of Bundy's execution to help make my point but I won't, though believe me if you haven't had the misfortune to see them and I don't recommend that you do, death by electrocution is pretty barbaric in itself. Thankfully we now more often deal out this punishement by lethal injection, which is marginally more 'sanitised', but still we are killing someone and is that not the very crime we are punishing the individual for in the first place?
Thursday, 26 January 2006
Google censorship
I could spout on and on about this issue, but I won't. It angers me immensely, I'm disappointed in Google, they aren't the creature I thought them to be but I can maybe also see a little credence in their argument for going this route.
Whatever my vacillation........ I am damn glad I live in the UK and not China!
Whatever my vacillation........ I am damn glad I live in the UK and not China!
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