Not my finest hour!

It is a year exactly since Tilly departed for her new home and the last time I saw her....


...and if that wasn't enough for a Monday, I have managed to spend this morning humiliating myself to a degree which I don't ever want to repeat! No details, trust me on this one!

Is it Tuesday yet? It can only be an improvement....can't it?

Harp seal cull: retribution?

I make no apology for feeling that the incident in Canada yesterday, in which a capsized fishing vessel resulted in the death of three seal hunters, is somehow a rather well deserved kind of retribution, karma, justice, call it what you will.


I don't profess to be qualified to know if the cull of Harp seals is necessary from a survival point of view for the indigenous population who undertake the massacre but I doubt it. It may well be part of the culture but I suspect that the motivation has much more to do with greed than necessity but the true motivation aside I find it impossible to believe that if it has to be done at all, it has to be done in such a brutal manner (video link).


This is not an issue for me of 'cute cuddle baby seals' I would feel the same if it were something very much less attractive, say crocodiles, that were being treated in this manner, it is utterly needless to cause such suffering to anything. I know for sure that given the choice I would far rather be on the receiving end of bullet in the head than have someone repeatedly club me to within an inch of my life and then leave me to die slowly. Those involved in this practice maintain that death is quick, the evidence is sadly very different in many, many cases.


I'm sure there are those that will feel that the loss of three human lives is somehow more important than the deaths of hundreds of thousands of seals every year but again I make no apology, I don't, I feel that somehow just for once the tables were turned and maybe justice was done.

Do those that believe we as humans are somehow of a higher status in the natural world than animals not do so because our minds have the ability to rationalise, to consider and make decisions based on that and to behave therefor, in an appropriate manner? Where then is the rational in causing such horrendous, unnecessary pain and suffering? How does that make us superior to animals in any way? Does it not make us worse, in that we flout the very abilities we consider make us superior and utilise them in a manner that no other creature in the natural world would?


I don't usually support the eye for an eye principle but I can't help but feel in this instance that just a tiny bit of retribution was bought to bear.

Perhaps there are valid reasons this massacre continues in the way it does but I have yet to hear them!

'Corpsing' at it's very best

Yesterday, during a news bulletin on Radio 4, the usually very stern and proper presentation that is the norm for this most revered bastion of British seriousness was utterly lost, when Charlotte Green got a fit of the giggles on air, unfortuantley whilst reporting the death of Abby Mann!

Maybe it's just me but every time I listen I too can't help but dissolve into stupidity...it's hilarious, Ms Green 'lost it' completely and help from a colleague only served to worsen the situation.

To hear it click this link and then the 'listen' link on the page. This is corpsing at it's very, very best!

I defy you to not be highly amused! :o)

T5 traumas

Sorry, I don't mean to snigger but really, day one of Heathrows T5 could barely have turned into more of a debacle could it?!

I know I have absolutely no knowledge of how one runs such an operation but I am assuming that BA's Director of Operations Gareth Kirkwood has at least some inkling given his vast salary!


It was hard to tell watching at the footage of the pigs ear that unfolded as the place fell apart yesterday and rarely have I seen anyone look quite so uncomfortable and unconvincing while desperately trying to explain it away to the media.

Over thirty flights cancelled, baggage arriving hours late, or not at all, baggage handling systems that failed almost completely, poorly trained (by their own admission) staff who hadn't seemingly got a clue, poor information, closed check-ins and queues that made the first day of Harrods sale look like utter calm....the list just went on and on!

"We always knew the first day would present a unique challenge", were some of Mr Kirkwood's own words when interviewed by the press...... a challenge apparently that he didn't rise to with much in the way of spectacular success!

....and thus far today at LHR seems to be getting off to an even more abonimable start!

This is becoming....

.....particularly un-funny, yet another sleepless night meandering aimlessly around cyberspace instead of 'dreamspace' where I ought to, and would far rather, be!

I have tried everything I can think of, save for drugs and I'm not going there, but to no avail, still my knowledge of the bedroom ceiling (no smutty comments from the back please) is far greater than I would like! I have even succumbed, horror of horrors, to purchasing a box of those very odd herbal tea bag things,


specifically the ones that promise blatantly lie they are 'calming' and 'aid restful sleep'!

Claptrap!......they are about as much use in the aid promoting slumber as a nice hot cup of freshly brewed, caffeine laden Ristretto, with one significant difference, the Ristretto is at least enjoyable as opposed to the bag thingys which are particularly insipid, uninteresting and very un-enjoyable!

Hey ho, I'm off to make that cup of strong coffee and find myself some chocolate as it seems I am destined to spend another night in the virtual world....at least tonight my connection is playing the game!

One of those nights!

Here I am again, the dead of night when all normal people are fast asleep and cosy and I'm not, instead I am here, this is becoming way too much of a habit!

What's that all about then, for the last three weeks, off I go to bed, bleary eyed and feeling nicely tired but to no appropriate avail....the moment my head hits the pillow my eyes spring open and my mind turns back onto wide awake mode. No amount of lying there counting sheep or whatever makes even the slightest difference, the eyes stay firmly in the open position! Gah!

Add to that I seem to be having a 'spell' of that damnable fiddly legs malarkey, ok,so that's not a technical term, it's called Restless legs syndrome, but that barely sounds any more technical does it?, which in turn doesn't help any attempts at restful sleep, to put it mildly.

I know, I'm not exactly overworked right now, I'm probably not really very tired in comparison to usual but please, if I'm not to be allowed to sleep the least the technical gods could do at this late hour is allow me a wireless connection without an hours lost fight, resulting in the bloody wire having to be heaved from it's hiding place and poked into the back of the machine!

This all of course has to be undertaken in super quiet style so as not to wake himself who, just to rub salt in the wound, is happily sleeping like a baby!

Grumpy? Who me? Did I mention the PMT already?

*N.B.

My last post seemed to have caused a little confusion in various quarters, a few emails later it seems I gave the impression I am leaving here.....well I'm not, sorry but you don't get shot of me that easy! ;o)

I am only getting rid of my domain and web space, none of which will directly affect this little patch.

'gemmak' the blog, lives to harass you for a sometime to come...... :o)

The death of a domain

'gemmak.co.uk' is about to bite the dust.

Still un-gainfully employed and trying to save money I made the decision to no longer maintain my domain and the webspace I have enjoyed at a cost, for years, reasoning that I don't make enormous use of it and the money could be better spent right now.

In the way that things seem to transpire, it wasn't quite as straightforward as it should have been. My initial, um.... 'bright idea' that involved the simple principle of 'well just don't pay the host and the registration guys and they will kill it all off' was fine until I realised just how much I have used it, just how much how much of my blog was hosted there and how many bits and pieces of other peoples blogs were loitering there from the days when it was just easier to host the stuff myself rather than keep opening accounts for others.

Arghhhh.

So yesterday, the whole of yesterday, I spent trying to find where all the odd bits from years of blogging belonged, moving them, putting them back in, making sure no links were broken and mailing those whose sites were about to collapse unexpectedly along with the demise of the domain. Thus far only one has got back to me, I did a redesign on that to make up for her aggravation and finally I think I have my own stuff all safely relocated....save for the few bits of course that are file types no-one seems to want to host for free. What's the issue I wonder with 'ICO.' files? There just doesn't seem to be anywhere that will have 'em!

I'm kinda sad to lose the domain, it's been mine for years and years but common sense must prevail. Doubtless I have also missed something along the way in yesterday's fiddlings and there will be a glaring 'red cross' somewhere in my blog (if you see one let me know!) but on the up-side I have saved myself over £50 and let's face it, I can hardly say my time is worth more right now!

Still remembering....

....Karine of Graybar, the third anniversary of who's very sad loss is remembered today.

My thoughts are with those she loved and who loved her.

This is it....

.....the snowstorms and blizzards that were forecast came to only this pathetic offering where I was:



It lasted about long enough for me to turn my camera on and then stopped again within seconds! Perhaps it was more impressive elsewhere but I think for this winter I should be giving up on my hope to see any real snow, it ain't gonna happen!

The snow aside Easter was good, relaxing and fun and full of chocolate....there is little more blissful in life than Montezuma's excellent, 72%, organic fare.

If you have a passion for the strong stuff I promise you it's well worth the cost, this is chocolate how chocolate should always be! ;o)

Happy Easter!

Ahhhh...Easter....chocolate! Ok, I'm a heathen I know.

We are off for a day or two by the sea visiting relatives for Easter, there is even a little snow forecast for the south coast and chocolate by the bucket load is permitted, things are looking good! :o)

Have a good one guys!

Snow and sods law

Sunday we are forecast for heavy snow, the first of the winter, long awaited in gemmaks-ville and unusually agreed by more than one source, it's looking very hopeful....but we won't be here! We are going away! That is a good thing, the weekend away, but still, it's sods law!

Still mad!

That's a reference to Tilly before the wisecracks start!

I got an email from Tilly's new mum yesterday, news has been long awaited for various unavoidable reasons but yesterday I finally got news and new photos....my week was made :o))

I still miss her badly, I still feel guilty that I let her down and I still wish massively that it could have been different, but it wasn't and so now, though it is always with mixed emotions, getting any news of her and hearing about her carrying-on's is always a highlight and makes me smile.

One day I will feel able to visit her, I'm getting there but that day is not yet.

She hasn't changed, she's still a mad little thing, ok ,not so little anymore, she still has a passion for worms and caterpillars, she still has to sleep in bed with her human, she still steals bath sponges and carts them around with her......and she still hasn't grown into her ears!

She's as happy as a little pig cat in muck and that's what matters most.

(Click image to enlarge)

A glutton for punishment

That's me, a glutton for punishment, I was not going to let the service pack issue beat me and so last night I tried again, all seemed well and I went to bed thinking I had cracked it on the 5th try....but no!

This morning Microsoft popped me up an oh so lovely little message informing me it hadn't actually been installed! That will be why the machine was still working then?!

So, back to it, I won't bore you with the number of 'windows has recovered from an unexpected shutdown/serious error/memory problem yada, yada, yada' messages I have been through, or how many blue screens I have been witness too (I thought we had seen the back of those with the demise of M.E!) or how many times I have had to fight tooth and nail to get a connection along the way but finally it is installed!

It's been something akin to getting blood from a stone, but it's in and the machine is still alive this time, my AV is even working (for those that don't know M/S have released this service pack knowing it has compatibility issues with various AV software packages! Hmmmm, impressive).....how long I wonder until the first evidence of Vista's usually flakiness rears it's ugly head again?

Me? Skeptical? nah! ;o)

Oh...but I did find a MOV. file converter that works....well it did previously, it remains to be seen if it still does! ;o)