We watched 'Blood Diamond' on Saturday night....for light entertainment, not!
Don't be fooled by the fact that Leonardo DiCaprio takes the lead, this is most definately not of the romantic, lightweight, chick flick genre of films, it was amazinng and if you have a couple of hours to spare well worth a watch.
It's not fun, it was one of the most harrowing films I have ever watched, in parts I thought I was going to have to stop watching such was it's power, but it was an education and from one who always believed in the saying 'Diamonds are a girls best friend'....believe me if I ever get lucky enough to buy another one I will do with much more 'attention to detail' than just the cut or the clarity!
Sunday, 3 February 2008
Defining the moment
There are moments in our lives that bring us to a point from which we cannot recoil, from which, regardless of the seemingly insurmountable ahead of us, we cannot ignore, moments that in an instant but also in a lifetime of traveling to that time and place, move our lives, our minds and our physical being from everything we were to everything we are about to be.
A moment, a fraction of a second when with unexplained clarity we know our path, it is not asked for, it is not bidden, it is inherrently all that we are, the end of a journey, the single option, an understanding of the unexplained, the touch of a lifetime's experience amalgamating with powerful frission.
There is no option, in the quiet sunlight, in apparent peace, turmoil fear and hope collide within, in utter silence, in deafening simplicity, one defining moment in a swirling darkness of timeless search , from which we know that which we sought in confusion, in denial, in fear.
There is no gentle return, there is no place to hide, there is no longer ignorance, comfort or masking veils of reason. Bereft of choice, courage and hope sustaining against an unknown void, the path is set, immovable, unquestionable.
With pounding heart and mind and blood, with only love and life in which to place our trust, alone we face our clarity, our life and mind's dictated course. In cold bright light, with new perception we take a breath, we close a soundless door and tread a road of hope and faith and fear, of clarity and profundity, the only place we know, the only route left for us to go......
*For two very important people in my life the title of this post should be 'Jump', if you understand why then you are one of those people.
Saturday, 2 February 2008
About Charley
Charley is a beautiful tabby cat with a difference, Blogger seems not to like the code to display the video clip but if you hit THIS LINK it will take you there. :o)
Friday, 1 February 2008
I don't have a good record...
....with technological hardware! Phones, computers, you name it and I can break it...or to be more specific I expect it to work like it says it will on the box! That seemingly is too much to ask, and furthermore, over the years I have learned that if I want technical help on one of these subjects the place to go is most definitely not the manufacturers or providers technical helpline, for it is there that one is most likely to get nothing in the way of technical help!
Mobile phones, my current case in point. My last one lived for three months before the email client died. I updated the software, I reinstalled the software, I called the helpline for further assistance and I was told I knew 'more than he did' (jeez) and so finally (and this is not the first time believe me)I 'persuaded' the provider to exchange it. Quite a feat of persistence in itself.
The replacement arrived. I charged it, I turned it on, I saw the email client for a moment.....and then the software died again and it fell off the phone completely!! FFS.
More phone calls, two and a half hours worth to be precise and a replacement of a different model was agreed. This was promised for two days later, in actual fact it took another two hours of phone calls and six days to get it to me in reality!
And they call this service????
Among all of this the most ironic and amusing aspect was that the guy I was dealing with gave me his email address and asked that I mail him instead of call because it would reach him more easily. Here is the ironic, frustrating, amusingf*ucking ridiculous bit.....
This was o2, I have an o2 contract, my phone emails through an o2 server.....but 'Sonny Jim's' o2 work email server classifies this server as spam and wouldn't let my emails through!!!!!
Give me strength. Is it just me that finds all this unbelievably aggravating and stupid??
But finally my new phone arrived, a Nokia 6500c, intact and apparently working (touch wood), I can email, I have the joy of Opera Mini (they have this sussed, it's so easy to use and surfing the web is such a good distraction from the daily white van grind that I have felt it 'appropriate' that I add to my monthly contract unlimited downloads! See they know how take our money, no problem there), the email works....and works well, I can even blog and comment from this little marvel, in fact all would be hunky dory, save for the fact that the 3g connection seems defunct and despite copious amounts of setting changes and calls to the un-help guys at o2 it remains defunct!
Maybe I just expect way too much in my assumption that technology does what it says it will on the box!
Mobile phones, my current case in point. My last one lived for three months before the email client died. I updated the software, I reinstalled the software, I called the helpline for further assistance and I was told I knew 'more than he did' (jeez) and so finally (and this is not the first time believe me)I 'persuaded' the provider to exchange it. Quite a feat of persistence in itself.
The replacement arrived. I charged it, I turned it on, I saw the email client for a moment.....and then the software died again and it fell off the phone completely!! FFS.
More phone calls, two and a half hours worth to be precise and a replacement of a different model was agreed. This was promised for two days later, in actual fact it took another two hours of phone calls and six days to get it to me in reality!
And they call this service????
Among all of this the most ironic and amusing aspect was that the guy I was dealing with gave me his email address and asked that I mail him instead of call because it would reach him more easily. Here is the ironic, frustrating, amusing
This was o2, I have an o2 contract, my phone emails through an o2 server.....but 'Sonny Jim's' o2 work email server classifies this server as spam and wouldn't let my emails through!!!!!
Give me strength. Is it just me that finds all this unbelievably aggravating and stupid??
But finally my new phone arrived, a Nokia 6500c, intact and apparently working (touch wood), I can email, I have the joy of Opera Mini (they have this sussed, it's so easy to use and surfing the web is such a good distraction from the daily white van grind that I have felt it 'appropriate' that I add to my monthly contract unlimited downloads! See they know how take our money, no problem there), the email works....and works well, I can even blog and comment from this little marvel, in fact all would be hunky dory, save for the fact that the 3g connection seems defunct and despite copious amounts of setting changes and calls to the un-help guys at o2 it remains defunct!
Maybe I just expect way too much in my assumption that technology does what it says it will on the box!
Thursday, 31 January 2008
Ever ready!!
A battery, nothing unusual about that I hear you say. Well it might seem slightly more unusual when I tell you where it came from.
This battery came from the doorbell at my parents house, it was removed only last week. The doorbell was replaced because said battery had expired, died, was no more.
Still nothing odd, other than maybe it seems a little extreme to replace the whole thing for the sake of the battery?
Ok...what is odd and pretty impressive by today's standards is that the bell was replaced because this kind of battery is no longer available.....the one pictured had been in the doorbell and working up until a few days ago, since 1968!!! That's 40 years...never replaced, it just carried on all that time!!!!!
And yes, we have had visitors over the years, it was used! ;o)
Hmmmm....and today's batteries last about a week if you get a good one!
Wednesday, 30 January 2008
Is nothing ever straightforward?
I need to find a way to write this post a little 'delicately' and to that end I will try carefully to choose my words but forgive me if I fail a little.....diplomacy has never been one of my strongest points!
So....where to start with this delicate subject?
Here goes. I was off work yesterday, sick, yes really and honestly, no sickie, no ruse, I was poorly, my cold got the better of me and at five in the morning when I got up for work I just knew I wasn't up to it....so I went back to bed.
Unfortunately I also had an appointment for one of the 'women tests' at the quacks, you know the one, 'the routine, once every three years, lie back and relax please while I put the fear of God into you with an enormous speculum test'. I know, we none of us look forward to it but it's necessary and it's a simple procedure, right?
Wrong!
It's a simple procedure if one's anatomy is where it all should be, which in my case, isn't the damn case (wouldn't you know it). Apparently I have a very tilted womb, it wasn't always and they don't know why it is now, it's usually caused by a trauma i.e being involved in a car accident....I haven't been involved in anything that could cause that kind of injury but nonetheless it ain't quite where it ought to be!
This is problematical for the poor doctor attempting to carry out aforementioned procedure, despite my always fore warning them. Believe me I have suffered some amusing debacles in the past and what usually takes 5 minutes seems always to run into half an hour or more in my case. Ugh.
This time was no different, out came the 'alternative' and more scary apparatus of torture, suitable for my apparent deformity, and after the usual kind words telling me to relax (who the hell is gonna relax half naked in a cold room when someone is coming at your most delicate of regions with something that looks like it's stolen from a meccano kit, I ask you?) she got on with the job....only she didn't, and that's the problem.
I'm not a nurse or a doctor, I don't know too much of the specifics and I don't know that I want to but I do know that historically for me, and this experience was no different, it takes way too much faffing and fiddling around in there to try and locate the 'apparatus' where it needs to be located and get the job done. To be precise 25 minutes on this occasion....not my idea of fun, particularly when I already felt like crap.
Eventually it was done and by her own admission the doctor declared she was 'quite glad that was over'......she was glad??? Hello??? and that I had been a star given the difficulty and that was that, off I went to my car.
....and I drove home fine, if feeling a little yukky, walked through the back door happily........and promptly fainted!
So....where to start with this delicate subject?
Here goes. I was off work yesterday, sick, yes really and honestly, no sickie, no ruse, I was poorly, my cold got the better of me and at five in the morning when I got up for work I just knew I wasn't up to it....so I went back to bed.
Unfortunately I also had an appointment for one of the 'women tests' at the quacks, you know the one, 'the routine, once every three years, lie back and relax please while I put the fear of God into you with an enormous speculum test'. I know, we none of us look forward to it but it's necessary and it's a simple procedure, right?
Wrong!
It's a simple procedure if one's anatomy is where it all should be, which in my case, isn't the damn case (wouldn't you know it). Apparently I have a very tilted womb, it wasn't always and they don't know why it is now, it's usually caused by a trauma i.e being involved in a car accident....I haven't been involved in anything that could cause that kind of injury but nonetheless it ain't quite where it ought to be!
This is problematical for the poor doctor attempting to carry out aforementioned procedure, despite my always fore warning them. Believe me I have suffered some amusing debacles in the past and what usually takes 5 minutes seems always to run into half an hour or more in my case. Ugh.
This time was no different, out came the 'alternative' and more scary apparatus of torture, suitable for my apparent deformity, and after the usual kind words telling me to relax (who the hell is gonna relax half naked in a cold room when someone is coming at your most delicate of regions with something that looks like it's stolen from a meccano kit, I ask you?) she got on with the job....only she didn't, and that's the problem.
I'm not a nurse or a doctor, I don't know too much of the specifics and I don't know that I want to but I do know that historically for me, and this experience was no different, it takes way too much faffing and fiddling around in there to try and locate the 'apparatus' where it needs to be located and get the job done. To be precise 25 minutes on this occasion....not my idea of fun, particularly when I already felt like crap.
Eventually it was done and by her own admission the doctor declared she was 'quite glad that was over'......she was glad??? Hello??? and that I had been a star given the difficulty and that was that, off I went to my car.
....and I drove home fine, if feeling a little yukky, walked through the back door happily........and promptly fainted!
Tuesday, 29 January 2008
Global confusion?
On a day when snow (yayyy) is forecast for later in the week I find this in the garden:
So, has spring sprung and the forecasters are just wrong again or is it that the global warming malarkey has everything a little confused?!
So, has spring sprung and the forecasters are just wrong again or is it that the global warming malarkey has everything a little confused?!
Monday, 28 January 2008
The perfect marriage!!! (for 30 days)
If you only read one blog post this week read THIS ONE
I'm not sure if I should laugh, cry or scream but whatever, it's the ultimate proof that the world really has gone mad!
I'm not sure if I should laugh, cry or scream but whatever, it's the ultimate proof that the world really has gone mad!
Sunday, 27 January 2008
Man flu!
Ok, there are two of us here, Fletch and myself, it's not been the best of weekends from a health point of view, there has been much sniffling, coughing, sneezing and other associated unpleasantries going on. We are not well.
One significant difference is apparent tho, I'll give you one guess who is making the unending cups of coffee, who has been asked in that oh so familiar to we women 'poorly man voice', "please will you get me my laptop from the car babe" (three floors down and back up again in the cold) and who is fighting with the broken washing machine....yup the difference is that I have a cold and himself has the dreaded and much more severe and debilitating of infections, MAN FLU! ;o)
One significant difference is apparent tho, I'll give you one guess who is making the unending cups of coffee, who has been asked in that oh so familiar to we women 'poorly man voice', "please will you get me my laptop from the car babe" (three floors down and back up again in the cold) and who is fighting with the broken washing machine....yup the difference is that I have a cold and himself has the dreaded and much more severe and debilitating of infections, MAN FLU! ;o)
Saturday, 26 January 2008
It's my turn...
.....to have the dreaded lurgy it would seem. For a fortnight I have felt 'under the weather' like some unpleasentness was about to
invade my physiology....and finally yesterday it did.....with bells on.
Bleugh :o/
Nothing startling, the usual, snottiness, hacking cough, sore bits and a general feeling of overall nastiness but I'm not the worlds greatest patient, I'm feeling sorry for myself, somewhat pathetic and.....would someone please pass me the Benylin!
invade my physiology....and finally yesterday it did.....with bells on. Bleugh :o/
Nothing startling, the usual, snottiness, hacking cough, sore bits and a general feeling of overall nastiness but I'm not the worlds greatest patient, I'm feeling sorry for myself, somewhat pathetic and.....would someone please pass me the Benylin!
Friday, 25 January 2008
Thursday, 24 January 2008
My fifteen minutes of fame....not!
My post yesterday on the subject of John Hogan, today caused me an hour or two of slight panic when the B.B.C. got a hold of it!
Halfway through the day a B.B.C. researcher emailed me to ask if I would be prepared to take part in a World Service radio broadcast, 'World have your say', on the subject of 'Is insanity any excuse for murder'.
I didn't really take it seriously but mailed him back late in the afternoon saying yes I would....almost immediately he called me, chatted to me for a few minutes and then said he would like to try and fit me into the programme if he could...to air in 45 minutes time, from that point!
Jeez! Vallium anyone? ;o)
Ok, joking aside, it's a serious subject and one I feel passionately about so I agreed to wait by my phone while the show aired, ready in case they could find a spot for me and my opinions.
As it turned out it didn't happen, my five minutes of fame didn't materialise and without doubt those who did take part in the programme were way better qualified than myself to do so.
I may not have made it to broadcast but nonetheless it's kinda pleasing just to know that my little blog got noticed at all .......and I have to confess that in the end, my relief at not having to string a coherrent sentence together live on air was tangible!
Sorry Mr Warhol...it just wasn't my time!
Halfway through the day a B.B.C. researcher emailed me to ask if I would be prepared to take part in a World Service radio broadcast, 'World have your say', on the subject of 'Is insanity any excuse for murder'.
I didn't really take it seriously but mailed him back late in the afternoon saying yes I would....almost immediately he called me, chatted to me for a few minutes and then said he would like to try and fit me into the programme if he could...to air in 45 minutes time, from that point!
Jeez! Vallium anyone? ;o)
Ok, joking aside, it's a serious subject and one I feel passionately about so I agreed to wait by my phone while the show aired, ready in case they could find a spot for me and my opinions.
As it turned out it didn't happen, my five minutes of fame didn't materialise and without doubt those who did take part in the programme were way better qualified than myself to do so.
I may not have made it to broadcast but nonetheless it's kinda pleasing just to know that my little blog got noticed at all .......and I have to confess that in the end, my relief at not having to string a coherrent sentence together live on air was tangible!
Sorry Mr Warhol...it just wasn't my time!
Wednesday, 23 January 2008
Verdict - John Hogan
Though I am sure there are many who will disagree with me strongly, I am glad to hear that a verdict of not guilty has been returned in the case of murder against John Hogan, the man who leaped from a balcony with his children in Crete in 2006, resulting in the death of his son.
That in no way suggests that I don't understand the seriousness of the act or the anguish caused to all involved but rarely it seems is depression truly understood, in this case it seems unusually that it was.
The quote by a representative of the charity Sane at the bottom of the linked page (and repeated below) sums it up:
That in no way suggests that I don't understand the seriousness of the act or the anguish caused to all involved but rarely it seems is depression truly understood, in this case it seems unusually that it was.
The quote by a representative of the charity Sane at the bottom of the linked page (and repeated below) sums it up:
"We welcome the verdict in the trial of John Hogan, and the judge's acknowledgement of his disturbed mental state and his need for psychiatric treatment.
"This case highlights how extraordinary mental pain can tragically distort a person's perception and judgment.
"While in no way underestimating the terrible consequences of John Hogan's actions we should not automatically condemn him without considering the depth of mental anguish he was suffering.
"Severe depression is not simply a case of feeling 'blue' and those at its mercy cannot 'pull themselves together'. It is a serious illness and a debilitating psychiatric disorder that changes personalities and wrecks lives."
Tuesday, 22 January 2008
(Un)Health & (Un)Safety!
My place of work is a nightmare at times and at no time more so than last week!
There was constant 'infighting' and fallings out among staff and management, I use the term 'management' very loosely here because not one of them has the slightest ability or training in management and one in particular has even less in the way of people skills than the average bull in a china shop, the result being that two people did a 'no show' for a couple of days and the rest of us had to work harder and in an atmosphere that was somewhat less than congenial!
I tried my best not to become embroiled in the carrying-ons, thank the Lord I am on the road for the most part of the day (though driving through floods constantly and spending eight hours a day soaked to the skin did little to lift my spirits) but I couldn't help but say my piece on one issue.
For two hours before I hit the road I have the unenviable task of making an array of boringly filled sandwiches, for this a sealing machine is required, we have a sealing machine, just the one mind you, the other two are defunct and seem to have remained that way, the sealing machine seals very well, nay it seals exceptionally well, so where you might wonder is my problem.
Take a look at this picture (very poor quality I'm afraid, you will understand why it was taken 'poste haste' on my phone in secret) and you might just begin to understand where my complaint is coming from. This is the mains cable on the sealing machine....that sits on a wet, steel work surface all day long!!!! (and incidentally the inner insulation is damaged too)
Apparently I am being picky in making a complaint!!!
Add to that someone saw fit to put descaler in the water urn without bothering to put a notice on it to that effect. Yours truly arrived back at the premises cold and wet, made a cup of coffee, took two mouthfuls before realising just how horrible it tasted and the only response offered was that 'at least if my arteries are 'furred up' they would now be clear!!!
FFS!!!
Ok....I'm looking for another job!
There was constant 'infighting' and fallings out among staff and management, I use the term 'management' very loosely here because not one of them has the slightest ability or training in management and one in particular has even less in the way of people skills than the average bull in a china shop, the result being that two people did a 'no show' for a couple of days and the rest of us had to work harder and in an atmosphere that was somewhat less than congenial!
I tried my best not to become embroiled in the carrying-ons, thank the Lord I am on the road for the most part of the day (though driving through floods constantly and spending eight hours a day soaked to the skin did little to lift my spirits) but I couldn't help but say my piece on one issue.
For two hours before I hit the road I have the unenviable task of making an array of boringly filled sandwiches, for this a sealing machine is required, we have a sealing machine, just the one mind you, the other two are defunct and seem to have remained that way, the sealing machine seals very well, nay it seals exceptionally well, so where you might wonder is my problem.
Take a look at this picture (very poor quality I'm afraid, you will understand why it was taken 'poste haste' on my phone in secret) and you might just begin to understand where my complaint is coming from. This is the mains cable on the sealing machine....that sits on a wet, steel work surface all day long!!!! (and incidentally the inner insulation is damaged too)
Apparently I am being picky in making a complaint!!!
Add to that someone saw fit to put descaler in the water urn without bothering to put a notice on it to that effect. Yours truly arrived back at the premises cold and wet, made a cup of coffee, took two mouthfuls before realising just how horrible it tasted and the only response offered was that 'at least if my arteries are 'furred up' they would now be clear!!!
FFS!!!
Ok....I'm looking for another job!
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