Wednesday 10 December 2008
This Is a test to see if the system will work . I was quite keen to work out how to use all the features of this new phone . It took me a bit of time to get the email to work. I have even had a very long distance chat over the internet to sort out connection issues! This Is all very exciting (I know I need to get out more) but I have to be able to use every possible phone feature.
Wednesday 19 November 2008
Masters of Creation
Ripped from Orbital who ripped it from Russel Davies; just about sums it all up I think:
“You are becoming gods. There's a new master of creation; and it's you! You've unraveled DNA, and at the same time you're cultivating bacteria strong enough to kill every living thing. You think you're ready for that much power?”
"You Lot,?”
”You Lot ?”
”Cheeky bastards... You're running around science like kids with guns, creating a new world, while the world you've got is stinking, but, hands up, hands up; anyone who thinks you've got it right?”
”Yeah, there's always one. I can see you.”
”If you want the position of God, then take the responsibility!”
“You are becoming gods. There's a new master of creation; and it's you! You've unraveled DNA, and at the same time you're cultivating bacteria strong enough to kill every living thing. You think you're ready for that much power?”
"You Lot,?”
”You Lot ?”
”Cheeky bastards... You're running around science like kids with guns, creating a new world, while the world you've got is stinking, but, hands up, hands up; anyone who thinks you've got it right?”
”Yeah, there's always one. I can see you.”
”If you want the position of God, then take the responsibility!”
Sunday 16 November 2008
panem et circenses
The alien anthropologists admitted they were still perplexed and
On eliminating every other reason for our sad demise
They logged the only explanation left
This species has amused itself to death…
Roger Waters: Amused to Death
This seems strangely apt in the face of a rash of advertising for the rather-less-than-erudite “Zack and Miri make a porno”. We truly have reached the peak of human achievement in that case; haven’t we? I would also like to think that it rather weakens the case for evolution as it would appear that we are taking deleterious steps rather than making progress.
... iam pridem, ex quo suffragia nulli
uendimus, effudit curas; nam qui dabat olim
imperium, fasces, legiones, omnia, nunc se
continet atque duas tantum res anxius optat,
panem et circenses. ...
Richard Dawkins might like to think we are developed to such a degree that we no longer have need of religion and that the power of rational thought will carry us forward to a glorious new future but I give you “Zack and Miri make a porno”.
On eliminating every other reason for our sad demise
They logged the only explanation left
This species has amused itself to death…
Roger Waters: Amused to Death
This seems strangely apt in the face of a rash of advertising for the rather-less-than-erudite “Zack and Miri make a porno”. We truly have reached the peak of human achievement in that case; haven’t we? I would also like to think that it rather weakens the case for evolution as it would appear that we are taking deleterious steps rather than making progress.
... iam pridem, ex quo suffragia nulli
uendimus, effudit curas; nam qui dabat olim
imperium, fasces, legiones, omnia, nunc se
continet atque duas tantum res anxius optat,
panem et circenses. ...
Richard Dawkins might like to think we are developed to such a degree that we no longer have need of religion and that the power of rational thought will carry us forward to a glorious new future but I give you “Zack and Miri make a porno”.
Saturday 15 November 2008
Catching up
12th June 08
Try this – marvellous!
http://www.therightfoot.net/mystuff/whatever/swf/bubblewrap.swf
This is going to be one-of-those-days. No-one here seems capable of performing even the smallest task without requiring my input – very frustrating. It would also appear that a person who left a couple of months ago, did not leave adequate instructions for certain of their tasks and this is creating significant confusion.
I am still not managing to keep this up. It would appear that it takes up too much of my time. I do actually have better things to do. Reading other peoples blogs can be quite fun. There are, I discover, some people who do this on a semi-professional basis. This, as I have said before, is strictly for my own consumption. Anyone else who reads and is offended or otherwise can just “Jog on”.
This is now the 5th of July and I have just watched “Control”. The film is just excellent and whether you like the music or not, or whether you know the ending or not, are just irrelevant. As a biopic with bias (Its based on Deborah Curtis’ book so you can work it out), it works very well indeed. I felt that it appeared to deal fairly with both Ian and Deborah.
Last Sunday we had a climatologist here for lunch. He was here to represent the A-Rocha charity for the church. I think I may no-longer be in global warming denial. I am slowly ploughing my way through the IPCC 4th Report. It is very convincing. We’re all doomed so live with it.
I read Jpod by Douglas Coupland. This is a most strange book. Quite compelling in its organisation but the story was shallow and uninspiring, and despite the component parts to create a truly excellent ending from the material, Coupland fails to do this and seems to be happy with an ending more worthy of a secondary school literature student.
“Dogs” by Ray Coppinger, is a much better read. Being non-fiction does not stop its content being challenging and surprising. I would love every “dog-breeder” to read it and be chastised, and you can add all those idiots who think that dogs descended from wolves. This book turns a lot of those ill thought-out notions on their head and looks at it from a more logical and biological perspective with less basis on emotion than fact.
27th October 2008
This is not being kept up – all sorts of reasons really – I have lost focus with it and only have a limited length of time to devote to it. It would, perhaps, be better if I spent less time surfing the net and a bit more time recording the minutiae of my life. Who knows – I might even reward myself with a broader overview of what I am actually achieving.
I am, however, using Facebook a lot more and I do like the “Status updates”. This is a helpful way of cataloguing the ongoing bits and pieces.
30th October
Another load of nonsense:
Today I decided that if I had to write my autobiography it would probably be titled “As if anyone was really bothered”. The Evening Mail would probably get very excited about it so I would suspect it would sell well (in Barrow). I could therefore suggest a second title but I'm not going to put it here.
E4B (Electricity for Business) have gone into administration and we are one of the 40,000 customers. BG have taken on the book and by a spot of luck they are able to offer us a very similar deal to E4B. Looks like we might not lose out too much.
Totally random things happen here. So far this week I have seen:
The opening of a new estate agency (In this economic climate??)
The opening of a large leisure / home store (in this town???)
Threats that a charity has had made against it to burn down the kennels because the person was refused a Rottie Puppy. This is an undesirable person to own such a dog and I would suggest that the threats are further evidence of the unsuitability. The person also claimed to have links to Al Qaeda. If such an organisation were active in Barrow I am sure that they would not like their name used in this way. How thick do you have to be?
A puppy called “Nigger”. Neanderthal doesn’t quite do these people justice.
That said, I have tickets to Quantum of Solace on Saturday night and those at short notice as well. I have not got tickets to AC/DC or Metallica. Bit sore about both of those but I’ll get over it in time.
15th November
Another couple of weeks have slipped by. For my books you can keep abreast of the Visual bookshelf on Facebook.
Had a night out at the Apollo in Manchester last night – Danko Jones, Saxon and Motorhead – all extremely loud and all very good. Lemmy was in good form and you knew it would be pretty good after the second track on their set he asked if we would like it “a bit louder”. Dano Jones played some good numbers and very solid rock n roll stuff it was too. The only problem was the lead guitarist / singer who rather let himself down when he opened his mouth. That was almost embarrassing. Saxon were also very dependable stuff , no baldness issues in that band apart from the lead guitarist who has not a hair on his head. I can see why Spinal Tap was based on them – I even thought as much when they came on the stage.
There was a slight amusement as Motorhead appeared – a pint of beer came flying over the top of me and I was somewhat drenched –all part of the enthusiastic experience. Josh caught the drummers’ towel – we had survived the front row for the whole evening. It was very good value for money in that Danko Jones came on at 7-30 PM and Motorhead left the stage at 11-15.
Today we have been very relaxed. One of our neighbours appears to want our discarded bathtub. We have had the plumbers in to do the main bathroom. They have made a start and are beginning to reinstall already. The Electrician comes in to start his work on Monday and the plumbing work should be under control by the end of the week and then the tiler can start to do his bit.
I made another trip to the gym and my legs have largely recovered from the 20+mile run through Grizedale on Wednesday. That run was very entertaining as I saw a very rare red squirrel run across the path in front of me.
Try this – marvellous!
http://www.therightfoot.net/mystuff/whatever/swf/bubblewrap.swf
This is going to be one-of-those-days. No-one here seems capable of performing even the smallest task without requiring my input – very frustrating. It would also appear that a person who left a couple of months ago, did not leave adequate instructions for certain of their tasks and this is creating significant confusion.
I am still not managing to keep this up. It would appear that it takes up too much of my time. I do actually have better things to do. Reading other peoples blogs can be quite fun. There are, I discover, some people who do this on a semi-professional basis. This, as I have said before, is strictly for my own consumption. Anyone else who reads and is offended or otherwise can just “Jog on”.
This is now the 5th of July and I have just watched “Control”. The film is just excellent and whether you like the music or not, or whether you know the ending or not, are just irrelevant. As a biopic with bias (Its based on Deborah Curtis’ book so you can work it out), it works very well indeed. I felt that it appeared to deal fairly with both Ian and Deborah.
Last Sunday we had a climatologist here for lunch. He was here to represent the A-Rocha charity for the church. I think I may no-longer be in global warming denial. I am slowly ploughing my way through the IPCC 4th Report. It is very convincing. We’re all doomed so live with it.
I read Jpod by Douglas Coupland. This is a most strange book. Quite compelling in its organisation but the story was shallow and uninspiring, and despite the component parts to create a truly excellent ending from the material, Coupland fails to do this and seems to be happy with an ending more worthy of a secondary school literature student.
“Dogs” by Ray Coppinger, is a much better read. Being non-fiction does not stop its content being challenging and surprising. I would love every “dog-breeder” to read it and be chastised, and you can add all those idiots who think that dogs descended from wolves. This book turns a lot of those ill thought-out notions on their head and looks at it from a more logical and biological perspective with less basis on emotion than fact.
27th October 2008
This is not being kept up – all sorts of reasons really – I have lost focus with it and only have a limited length of time to devote to it. It would, perhaps, be better if I spent less time surfing the net and a bit more time recording the minutiae of my life. Who knows – I might even reward myself with a broader overview of what I am actually achieving.
I am, however, using Facebook a lot more and I do like the “Status updates”. This is a helpful way of cataloguing the ongoing bits and pieces.
30th October
Another load of nonsense:
Today I decided that if I had to write my autobiography it would probably be titled “As if anyone was really bothered”. The Evening Mail would probably get very excited about it so I would suspect it would sell well (in Barrow). I could therefore suggest a second title but I'm not going to put it here.
E4B (Electricity for Business) have gone into administration and we are one of the 40,000 customers. BG have taken on the book and by a spot of luck they are able to offer us a very similar deal to E4B. Looks like we might not lose out too much.
Totally random things happen here. So far this week I have seen:
The opening of a new estate agency (In this economic climate??)
The opening of a large leisure / home store (in this town???)
Threats that a charity has had made against it to burn down the kennels because the person was refused a Rottie Puppy. This is an undesirable person to own such a dog and I would suggest that the threats are further evidence of the unsuitability. The person also claimed to have links to Al Qaeda. If such an organisation were active in Barrow I am sure that they would not like their name used in this way. How thick do you have to be?
A puppy called “Nigger”. Neanderthal doesn’t quite do these people justice.
That said, I have tickets to Quantum of Solace on Saturday night and those at short notice as well. I have not got tickets to AC/DC or Metallica. Bit sore about both of those but I’ll get over it in time.
15th November
Another couple of weeks have slipped by. For my books you can keep abreast of the Visual bookshelf on Facebook.
Had a night out at the Apollo in Manchester last night – Danko Jones, Saxon and Motorhead – all extremely loud and all very good. Lemmy was in good form and you knew it would be pretty good after the second track on their set he asked if we would like it “a bit louder”. Dano Jones played some good numbers and very solid rock n roll stuff it was too. The only problem was the lead guitarist / singer who rather let himself down when he opened his mouth. That was almost embarrassing. Saxon were also very dependable stuff , no baldness issues in that band apart from the lead guitarist who has not a hair on his head. I can see why Spinal Tap was based on them – I even thought as much when they came on the stage.
There was a slight amusement as Motorhead appeared – a pint of beer came flying over the top of me and I was somewhat drenched –all part of the enthusiastic experience. Josh caught the drummers’ towel – we had survived the front row for the whole evening. It was very good value for money in that Danko Jones came on at 7-30 PM and Motorhead left the stage at 11-15.
Today we have been very relaxed. One of our neighbours appears to want our discarded bathtub. We have had the plumbers in to do the main bathroom. They have made a start and are beginning to reinstall already. The Electrician comes in to start his work on Monday and the plumbing work should be under control by the end of the week and then the tiler can start to do his bit.
I made another trip to the gym and my legs have largely recovered from the 20+mile run through Grizedale on Wednesday. That run was very entertaining as I saw a very rare red squirrel run across the path in front of me.
Monday 9 June 2008
long-winded nonsense.
Another week over. I have finished reading Ruth Rendell “The waters lovely”. It was a weak outing for her and I longed for an ending which was clever and well constructed, but actually got an ending which was as predictable as the story itself. It passed the time, however, and I am now reading an extremely strange book by Connie Willis “To say nothing of the dog”. I’ll elaborate further as I go. “Dogs” is proving to be a very remarkable read. I will never look at an ethological principle in the same way again. Ray Coppinger comes up with page after page of excellent insight. The paragraph on cheetahs (cats in a dogs book; wtf?), made me sit up and take notice.
I am still waiting for EasyJet to come out with their winter flight schedules. I can then complete my bookings for Switzerland at New Year.
What about the chap who has just had his 112th birthday today – quite brilliant – great little video on the bbc website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7439117.stm
The internet provides far too much opportunity for diversion and I do wonder how some of these bloggers manage to get down quite so much on a daily basis. I even learnt a new descriptive phrase “turdspurt”, in reference to unthoughtful vitriolic postings by unintelligent members of the public and with specifically directed at the BBC’s very own Have Your Say comments. I shall now try to include “turdspurt” somewhere every day.
This has been a very long week at work and is still not quite over. It has, on the whole been a lot less stressful than last week, despite having spent more time here. The work load has been quite sane, although I am looking at a very busy evening consulting period – bring me the pounds please!
The only really “off” moment, was the awkward telephone call I made last night. I spoke to a rather irate client, who lambasted me from a number of angles and made some rather nasty accusations regarding the care of his pet. He was adamant that it was me he had dealt with over this matter, but on looking at the records, I was in Switzerland at the time! Truly surreal to be accused of something which happened when I was nowhere near the building. I do almost hope he takes it to the papers, as he threatened, as I would love to set my legal team onto that one. Hang on!!! I should forgive him; or I am as bad as those idiot fundamentalist nutters I ranted on about above. It’ll take some doing but I’m going to have to get my head round it. I can only claim the high ground if I am prepared to “do the right thing”.
The builders have been trying to get me to press the Structural Engineer to come up with his revisions, and indeed I have engaged in a bit of high diplomacy to see if I can move things faster. This is not easy to keep everyone on-side.
Just booked the cinema tickets for Indiana Jones – I know that this is not my usual high-brow art-house stuff but I love all that corny stuff OK?
One of my staff has just handed in her resignation – we couldn’t fulfil her needs for development and she has looked elsewhere. The real potential benefit of this is that it could improve our short term profitability. That is no bad thing but it is still quite sad to be losing a member of staff. Don’t look back, I say.
Now I am going to have to admit to something rather interesting. I must concede a point to the fundamentalists – a small one, but it’s a point. I am bothered. I am bothered because I wonder on what actual evidence we base some of our scientific “facts”. So much is given to us with the assumption that it is actual truth, but the basis for it may (or may not) be erroneous. We could take, for example, the age of the earth. They love this one because they think it was made in 7 days and is only a few thousand years old. The scientists would have you believe that it is an awful lot older than that. I have never been given any conclusive proof in either direction. This puts both as a statement of faith and you must choose to believe what you wish to believe in.
This is indeed most interesting, as I am sure you will agree. I know that I have a science bias and that I am more likely to take an evidence-based approach, but it doesn’t stop me from being a rational person who can look at the whole picture and appreciate the other sides of the argument. This is something which is sadly lacking from the extreme poles of science and religion. Neither would appear to hold the whole answer. Scientific theory is NOT fact. Holy books are NOT fact. Deal with it.
It also concerns me that some science can be hijacked by those with another agenda to pursue. This is very evident in the area of “health scares” e.g. MMR/autism debate. It would seem that these areas become “crap attractors” drawing in those who seek to side themselves with one camp or another. A whole “industry” then appears to peddle some form of quackery based on ridiculous supposition, the only aim of which is to make money. The losers are of course, those who gain nothing from any of this, those with whatever problem is being fought over.
It also concerns me that “peer review” is all very well but if, as mentioned above, the review is done within the “crap attraction framework”, the review will almost always be favourable, and the inevitable publication of the rather suspect science. This “crap attraction”, is seeing its zenith in the internet, as any old idiot can set up a website and give their opinion, be it right or wrong.
The problem here is that anyone with a personal axe-to-grind can find a like-minded group of individuals within a few minutes and seek comfort in their own little bunker. They will then seek to protect themselves from all forms of attack and the battle lines are drawn. Sadly, all reason is lost in this debate, and truth is thin on the ground.
The number of instances where this occurs are not limited to the sphere of science and religion, you could also add politics, sport (although there is extensive cross referencing to religion there), and anywhere the “unsinkable rubber duck” phenomenon pervades.
As much as I cannot stand entrenched inflexible dogma, I also cannot tolerate those who deliberately seek to offend. The whole “cartoon” fiasco in Northern European newspapers is an excellent example of this. This who are drawing these “cartoons” should grow up and move on and those who react in quite an inappropriately excessive manner should seek to become forgiving. In this way we could start to build a culture of mutual trust, where we could all move forward.
Why have we chosen to take our communities into moral decline? I think this has been a matter of choice. We are seeing an increase in the sexualisation of young girls and as this has been facilitated by our own actions, how can we then declare that paedophiles are the largest menace our children face. Don’t get me wrong here; paedophilia is disgusting and incomprehensible to the normal human mind. These people do require treatment and control. Counter to this would run the argument that we are virtually securing their persistence by exposing our children to an overtly over-sexed culture from a very young age. We are therefore to blame for the position in which we find ourselves. The tools for the improvement of our society are all in our hands, we just need to use them.
I have also had a large amount of fun with the pond. On Friday night I decided that the water level was dropping at a rate that was inconsistent with normal evaporation and concluded that there was a leak. I therefore started to drain and empty the pond. In an ideal world I would have done this at the end of October last year, but this did not happen for lots of reasons. I continued the job on Saturday afternoon and eventually had emptied all the water and plants and sludge from the pond. I found no leak. This was perturbing. I refilled the pond with a large amount of tap water and by this morning 9/6/08 the pond was obviously losing water again. I simply do not know what to do know. I would love to provide a conduit for rainwater from the downspout, but there has been so little rain recently, that this would not have added any significant amount. It still remains the most easily implemented solution and I may have to act on this at the weekend. I have contemplated creating a rainwater deposit tank in the garden to act as a reservoir for this, but the excavation could prove quite onerous. Replacing the liner is out of the question as it runs under the slates at the edge of the pond and I have no desire to empty the pond ever again. I am dreading the water bill at the end of the year as I fear I may have further top-ups to provide.
Euro 2008. My Oh my, is there no topic which is safe from my comment? The French were decidedly poor this evening and with Italy and Holland in their group; one would have to put money on them not progressing beyond the group stage along with Romania. It will be very interesting to see how Capello manages to bring a team on, and perhaps we can avoid the embarrassment of non-qualification for future tournaments.
I am still waiting for EasyJet to come out with their winter flight schedules. I can then complete my bookings for Switzerland at New Year.
What about the chap who has just had his 112th birthday today – quite brilliant – great little video on the bbc website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7439117.stm
The internet provides far too much opportunity for diversion and I do wonder how some of these bloggers manage to get down quite so much on a daily basis. I even learnt a new descriptive phrase “turdspurt”, in reference to unthoughtful vitriolic postings by unintelligent members of the public and with specifically directed at the BBC’s very own Have Your Say comments. I shall now try to include “turdspurt” somewhere every day.
This has been a very long week at work and is still not quite over. It has, on the whole been a lot less stressful than last week, despite having spent more time here. The work load has been quite sane, although I am looking at a very busy evening consulting period – bring me the pounds please!
The only really “off” moment, was the awkward telephone call I made last night. I spoke to a rather irate client, who lambasted me from a number of angles and made some rather nasty accusations regarding the care of his pet. He was adamant that it was me he had dealt with over this matter, but on looking at the records, I was in Switzerland at the time! Truly surreal to be accused of something which happened when I was nowhere near the building. I do almost hope he takes it to the papers, as he threatened, as I would love to set my legal team onto that one. Hang on!!! I should forgive him; or I am as bad as those idiot fundamentalist nutters I ranted on about above. It’ll take some doing but I’m going to have to get my head round it. I can only claim the high ground if I am prepared to “do the right thing”.
The builders have been trying to get me to press the Structural Engineer to come up with his revisions, and indeed I have engaged in a bit of high diplomacy to see if I can move things faster. This is not easy to keep everyone on-side.
Just booked the cinema tickets for Indiana Jones – I know that this is not my usual high-brow art-house stuff but I love all that corny stuff OK?
One of my staff has just handed in her resignation – we couldn’t fulfil her needs for development and she has looked elsewhere. The real potential benefit of this is that it could improve our short term profitability. That is no bad thing but it is still quite sad to be losing a member of staff. Don’t look back, I say.
Now I am going to have to admit to something rather interesting. I must concede a point to the fundamentalists – a small one, but it’s a point. I am bothered. I am bothered because I wonder on what actual evidence we base some of our scientific “facts”. So much is given to us with the assumption that it is actual truth, but the basis for it may (or may not) be erroneous. We could take, for example, the age of the earth. They love this one because they think it was made in 7 days and is only a few thousand years old. The scientists would have you believe that it is an awful lot older than that. I have never been given any conclusive proof in either direction. This puts both as a statement of faith and you must choose to believe what you wish to believe in.
This is indeed most interesting, as I am sure you will agree. I know that I have a science bias and that I am more likely to take an evidence-based approach, but it doesn’t stop me from being a rational person who can look at the whole picture and appreciate the other sides of the argument. This is something which is sadly lacking from the extreme poles of science and religion. Neither would appear to hold the whole answer. Scientific theory is NOT fact. Holy books are NOT fact. Deal with it.
It also concerns me that some science can be hijacked by those with another agenda to pursue. This is very evident in the area of “health scares” e.g. MMR/autism debate. It would seem that these areas become “crap attractors” drawing in those who seek to side themselves with one camp or another. A whole “industry” then appears to peddle some form of quackery based on ridiculous supposition, the only aim of which is to make money. The losers are of course, those who gain nothing from any of this, those with whatever problem is being fought over.
It also concerns me that “peer review” is all very well but if, as mentioned above, the review is done within the “crap attraction framework”, the review will almost always be favourable, and the inevitable publication of the rather suspect science. This “crap attraction”, is seeing its zenith in the internet, as any old idiot can set up a website and give their opinion, be it right or wrong.
The problem here is that anyone with a personal axe-to-grind can find a like-minded group of individuals within a few minutes and seek comfort in their own little bunker. They will then seek to protect themselves from all forms of attack and the battle lines are drawn. Sadly, all reason is lost in this debate, and truth is thin on the ground.
The number of instances where this occurs are not limited to the sphere of science and religion, you could also add politics, sport (although there is extensive cross referencing to religion there), and anywhere the “unsinkable rubber duck” phenomenon pervades.
As much as I cannot stand entrenched inflexible dogma, I also cannot tolerate those who deliberately seek to offend. The whole “cartoon” fiasco in Northern European newspapers is an excellent example of this. This who are drawing these “cartoons” should grow up and move on and those who react in quite an inappropriately excessive manner should seek to become forgiving. In this way we could start to build a culture of mutual trust, where we could all move forward.
Why have we chosen to take our communities into moral decline? I think this has been a matter of choice. We are seeing an increase in the sexualisation of young girls and as this has been facilitated by our own actions, how can we then declare that paedophiles are the largest menace our children face. Don’t get me wrong here; paedophilia is disgusting and incomprehensible to the normal human mind. These people do require treatment and control. Counter to this would run the argument that we are virtually securing their persistence by exposing our children to an overtly over-sexed culture from a very young age. We are therefore to blame for the position in which we find ourselves. The tools for the improvement of our society are all in our hands, we just need to use them.
I have also had a large amount of fun with the pond. On Friday night I decided that the water level was dropping at a rate that was inconsistent with normal evaporation and concluded that there was a leak. I therefore started to drain and empty the pond. In an ideal world I would have done this at the end of October last year, but this did not happen for lots of reasons. I continued the job on Saturday afternoon and eventually had emptied all the water and plants and sludge from the pond. I found no leak. This was perturbing. I refilled the pond with a large amount of tap water and by this morning 9/6/08 the pond was obviously losing water again. I simply do not know what to do know. I would love to provide a conduit for rainwater from the downspout, but there has been so little rain recently, that this would not have added any significant amount. It still remains the most easily implemented solution and I may have to act on this at the weekend. I have contemplated creating a rainwater deposit tank in the garden to act as a reservoir for this, but the excavation could prove quite onerous. Replacing the liner is out of the question as it runs under the slates at the edge of the pond and I have no desire to empty the pond ever again. I am dreading the water bill at the end of the year as I fear I may have further top-ups to provide.
Euro 2008. My Oh my, is there no topic which is safe from my comment? The French were decidedly poor this evening and with Italy and Holland in their group; one would have to put money on them not progressing beyond the group stage along with Romania. It will be very interesting to see how Capello manages to bring a team on, and perhaps we can avoid the embarrassment of non-qualification for future tournaments.
Tuesday 3 June 2008
Builders and nuts
OK – the building inspectors… This story is nearly as farcical as the Fawlty Towers episode “The Hotel Inspectors”. It all started because we needed full building regulations approval on our new extension. This apparently is because we are a commercial business, otherwise we could have made-do with a “building notice”. I only learnt this gem of information out, today. Because we needed the full regulation, we had to employ a structural engineer. He was then instructed to create a design. We then received a large bill. I then wanted to know why we had to use him on such a small project.
What fell out of this is, that the builder had pressed ahead with works, without full approval from the building inspector. We were told that the building inspector was happy with changes to the structural engineers design suggested by the builder in order to save time and money. What the building inspector actually said, was that the structural engineer would have to approve any changes. The builder progressed and the structural engineer had no input.
Because I was looking for answers on the bill, I contacted the architect and from our discussions the whole of the story came out. In order to work out this chain of events I made 4 calls to the structural engineer, another 4 to the building inspector and several face to face discussions with the builder. It was a very long day. This was lengthened by the impromptu bitch Caesar at 7PM in the middle of evening surgery.
Some of the changes have already been made and the structural engineer is busy re-working his design to adapt to the changes made by the builder, whilst leaving the building structurally sound. Parts of his original design are to be done as per plan and hopefully my telephone diplomacy will leave us with everyone (relatively) happy. I still have a large bill to pay and I have no doubt this has just grown with the further involvement of the engineer and the adoption of his original plan (at least in part).
But … Just when you thought it was safe to go near the internet….
The fundamentalists are back…It seems that no-one can run from these guys – I thought I had finished with them for a while but this story from BBC website – today 31/5/08 neatly summarises just what is actually wrong with these idiots. It wont be long before one of their pals over here gets hold of this story and starts protesting outside Starbucks businesses in the UK.
Anger at 'slutty' Starbucks logo
US coffee chain Starbucks has come under fire for a new logo that critics say is offensive and overly graphic.
The Resistance, a US-based Christian group, has called for a national boycott of the coffee-selling giant. It says the chain's new logo has a naked woman on it with her legs "spread like a prostitute... The company might as well call themselves Slutbucks". Starbucks says the image - based on a 16th century Norse design of a mermaid with two-tails - is not inappropriate. Rather, the image is a more conservative version of the original Starbucks design, which hung above the chain's first store when it opened in Seattle's Pike Place Market in 1971.
'Rubenesque'
It says the image - the longstanding logo for Pike Place bags of coffee - is appearing on some of its cups as part of a promotion, and will remain "for several weeks". Howard Schultz, who bought Starbucks in 1982, described the emblem in his memoirs as "bare-breasted and Rubenesque; [it] was supposed to be as seductive as coffee itself". Although its share price has plunged in recent years, Starbucks has 16,000 coffee shops in 44 countries worldwide, employing more than 170,000 staff. The chain has just opened its first outlet in Argentina.
Based in San Diego, the Resistance claims to have more than 3,000 members across the US and has gained a reputation for espousing diverse conspiracy theories.
What fell out of this is, that the builder had pressed ahead with works, without full approval from the building inspector. We were told that the building inspector was happy with changes to the structural engineers design suggested by the builder in order to save time and money. What the building inspector actually said, was that the structural engineer would have to approve any changes. The builder progressed and the structural engineer had no input.
Because I was looking for answers on the bill, I contacted the architect and from our discussions the whole of the story came out. In order to work out this chain of events I made 4 calls to the structural engineer, another 4 to the building inspector and several face to face discussions with the builder. It was a very long day. This was lengthened by the impromptu bitch Caesar at 7PM in the middle of evening surgery.
Some of the changes have already been made and the structural engineer is busy re-working his design to adapt to the changes made by the builder, whilst leaving the building structurally sound. Parts of his original design are to be done as per plan and hopefully my telephone diplomacy will leave us with everyone (relatively) happy. I still have a large bill to pay and I have no doubt this has just grown with the further involvement of the engineer and the adoption of his original plan (at least in part).
But … Just when you thought it was safe to go near the internet….
The fundamentalists are back…It seems that no-one can run from these guys – I thought I had finished with them for a while but this story from BBC website – today 31/5/08 neatly summarises just what is actually wrong with these idiots. It wont be long before one of their pals over here gets hold of this story and starts protesting outside Starbucks businesses in the UK.
Anger at 'slutty' Starbucks logo
US coffee chain Starbucks has come under fire for a new logo that critics say is offensive and overly graphic.
The Resistance, a US-based Christian group, has called for a national boycott of the coffee-selling giant. It says the chain's new logo has a naked woman on it with her legs "spread like a prostitute... The company might as well call themselves Slutbucks". Starbucks says the image - based on a 16th century Norse design of a mermaid with two-tails - is not inappropriate. Rather, the image is a more conservative version of the original Starbucks design, which hung above the chain's first store when it opened in Seattle's Pike Place Market in 1971.
'Rubenesque'
It says the image - the longstanding logo for Pike Place bags of coffee - is appearing on some of its cups as part of a promotion, and will remain "for several weeks". Howard Schultz, who bought Starbucks in 1982, described the emblem in his memoirs as "bare-breasted and Rubenesque; [it] was supposed to be as seductive as coffee itself". Although its share price has plunged in recent years, Starbucks has 16,000 coffee shops in 44 countries worldwide, employing more than 170,000 staff. The chain has just opened its first outlet in Argentina.
Based in San Diego, the Resistance claims to have more than 3,000 members across the US and has gained a reputation for espousing diverse conspiracy theories.
Wednesday 28 May 2008
Rant
Facebook – social networking ‘n all that. I have indulged in its delights for a few months now, and found it to be quite amusing. I am a tad sick of “add 20 friends” and then we will give you xxx. The various applications vary from useful to stupid. The “Owned” application is distinctly odd and I am not totally sure how I feel about being ‘owned’ by anyone other than my wife! It seems harmless so I will leave it to run along. Some people do not seem to work out that there are other things you can do with your time – perhaps I am one of them, but I don’t think I am addicted to it just yet.
Monaco GP was fun – usual carnage, but what do you expect for a wet race run on very small roads in a small town. Wentworth PGA Masters also provided a good amount of entertainment for the weekend.
Tuesday:
Driving round here is a thoroughly un-enjoyable experience. The key points of note are these:
jabberjaws – the elderly driver whose lower jaw hangs slack and is fundamentally incapable of making any decision at a roundabout / traffic light.
40miles an hour – seems to be a fixed speed for a lot of local drivers – no more , and crucially, no less. Highly irritating.
roundabout indecision – this slows the traffic no end. This probably makes me a most hated person at a roundabout. They really should try living somewhere where action needs to be taken or your journey will take forever e.g. the south east of England
Dispatches last week – how apt that it should look at the very real issue of “fundamentalist Christianity”. This is, I firmly believe, every reason why religion is in general decline in the UK. Fundamentalism is, to me, about as attractive as Communism or Fascism. These extremists are not interested in loving others, merely creating a culture of hate and difference. They are no better than the BNP. In fact the BNP is probably more benign. We should be looking to show what we are “for” and stop presenting a negative image which plays directly into the hands of the creeping atheist/rationalist agenda. They (the fundamentalists) simply “love” the weak and vulnerable merely because they are the most open to suggestibility. These fundamentalist extremists are themselves chronically incapable of reasonable thought and are completely unprepared to look at other sides. This is because they will probably find that their views are in fact, at best, misguided and at worst, harmful. There is so much that is good in the message of the gospel that their perversion of it threatens to swamp it. This is not to say that I agree with all the issues with which the fundamentalists disagree. I actually am in concordance with some of their ideals, but find their ideology distasteful.
In fact… They miss a great deal in their rather selective reading. For instance they totally subvert the preaching of the fruits of the spirit. I see none of these in their diatribes: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and SELF CONTROL. They ought to learn some of the latter. Now I would say that I have few of these, if any, but I’d like to think I can move on and move more in that direction. To move towards religious bigotry would take me further away from them. They are not the people of God; they are the false prophets we should all be on the lookout for. We should seek to help them out of their foolish ways. They need it. They are just as much in need as the godless sinner. They are as racist as the person who outwardly declares hatred based on the colour of a persons skin or their different religious conviction.
As I said above I do not disagree with all they say. They have some useful points. They are worried about the creep towards Islam in the UK. I also think we could be sleepwalking our way to an Islamic society in the UK. However in some ways this could be better than the society we currently have. Islamic cultures in other parts of the world generally have very ordered societies. Take the UAE for example. We might stand a chance of bringing order to the chaos in which we already find ourselves. We have been a nominally Christian society for so long and a fat lot of good it has done us. Perhaps actually standing firm for some principles as a nation would do us all some good.
We must ask the question “Are the Christian fundamentalists any less dangerous than the Islamic ones”. I think the answer is “no”, but for different reasons. What are these fundamentalists scared of? Perhaps they are scared that they would not be able to freely peddle their rather nasty form of rhetoric – point one in favour of change I think. Perhaps they are scared they may be “persecuted” – point two in favour of change. Perhaps they are scared that the whole nation would turn away from Christianity and look towards Mecca – If these guys believe this, then they don’t even understand what they are doing now.
We are so nominal as a Christian nation, that I severely doubt anyone’s ability to turn this nation Islamic or Christian. Witness the debacle over the Human fertilisation and embryology bill – Frankenstein science at its worst given a free reign – truly jolly frightening. If you can’t stop that, you can’t stop anything. Apathy rules OK.
We are more likely to end up like Turkey – in a state of religious and political deadlock. Perhaps this may lead to the realisation that the populace should actually engage in the political situation. If all else fails the Daily Mail will spout some crap and we will all be OK in the end. Long live mediocrity.
Perhaps if we became Islamic we could stop putting ourselves through the annual horror that is the Eurovision song contest. We had a perfectly good song, but it has become increasingly apparent that voting is not about the song, and is actually about the political bias. Ridiculous.
We could also break our “special relationship” with the USA. What is so special about the USA? We are obsessed with McDonalds and Disney. It is sick making. The might of the Christian right in the USA is what is driving this world toward destruction – dangerous. The fundamentalists of the UK seek their inspiration, not from God but from a bunch of nuts in the deep south of the USA. Everyone who thinks the USA is a voice of reason in a terror based world, ought to read the interchange of letters between George Bush and President Ahmedinejad of Iran. The Iranian guy wins hands down for intelligence. The one who comes out looking dodgy is Bush.
Got to stop – I think I have got it off my chest now.
Monaco GP was fun – usual carnage, but what do you expect for a wet race run on very small roads in a small town. Wentworth PGA Masters also provided a good amount of entertainment for the weekend.
Tuesday:
Driving round here is a thoroughly un-enjoyable experience. The key points of note are these:
jabberjaws – the elderly driver whose lower jaw hangs slack and is fundamentally incapable of making any decision at a roundabout / traffic light.
40miles an hour – seems to be a fixed speed for a lot of local drivers – no more , and crucially, no less. Highly irritating.
roundabout indecision – this slows the traffic no end. This probably makes me a most hated person at a roundabout. They really should try living somewhere where action needs to be taken or your journey will take forever e.g. the south east of England
Dispatches last week – how apt that it should look at the very real issue of “fundamentalist Christianity”. This is, I firmly believe, every reason why religion is in general decline in the UK. Fundamentalism is, to me, about as attractive as Communism or Fascism. These extremists are not interested in loving others, merely creating a culture of hate and difference. They are no better than the BNP. In fact the BNP is probably more benign. We should be looking to show what we are “for” and stop presenting a negative image which plays directly into the hands of the creeping atheist/rationalist agenda. They (the fundamentalists) simply “love” the weak and vulnerable merely because they are the most open to suggestibility. These fundamentalist extremists are themselves chronically incapable of reasonable thought and are completely unprepared to look at other sides. This is because they will probably find that their views are in fact, at best, misguided and at worst, harmful. There is so much that is good in the message of the gospel that their perversion of it threatens to swamp it. This is not to say that I agree with all the issues with which the fundamentalists disagree. I actually am in concordance with some of their ideals, but find their ideology distasteful.
In fact… They miss a great deal in their rather selective reading. For instance they totally subvert the preaching of the fruits of the spirit. I see none of these in their diatribes: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and SELF CONTROL. They ought to learn some of the latter. Now I would say that I have few of these, if any, but I’d like to think I can move on and move more in that direction. To move towards religious bigotry would take me further away from them. They are not the people of God; they are the false prophets we should all be on the lookout for. We should seek to help them out of their foolish ways. They need it. They are just as much in need as the godless sinner. They are as racist as the person who outwardly declares hatred based on the colour of a persons skin or their different religious conviction.
As I said above I do not disagree with all they say. They have some useful points. They are worried about the creep towards Islam in the UK. I also think we could be sleepwalking our way to an Islamic society in the UK. However in some ways this could be better than the society we currently have. Islamic cultures in other parts of the world generally have very ordered societies. Take the UAE for example. We might stand a chance of bringing order to the chaos in which we already find ourselves. We have been a nominally Christian society for so long and a fat lot of good it has done us. Perhaps actually standing firm for some principles as a nation would do us all some good.
We must ask the question “Are the Christian fundamentalists any less dangerous than the Islamic ones”. I think the answer is “no”, but for different reasons. What are these fundamentalists scared of? Perhaps they are scared that they would not be able to freely peddle their rather nasty form of rhetoric – point one in favour of change I think. Perhaps they are scared they may be “persecuted” – point two in favour of change. Perhaps they are scared that the whole nation would turn away from Christianity and look towards Mecca – If these guys believe this, then they don’t even understand what they are doing now.
We are so nominal as a Christian nation, that I severely doubt anyone’s ability to turn this nation Islamic or Christian. Witness the debacle over the Human fertilisation and embryology bill – Frankenstein science at its worst given a free reign – truly jolly frightening. If you can’t stop that, you can’t stop anything. Apathy rules OK.
We are more likely to end up like Turkey – in a state of religious and political deadlock. Perhaps this may lead to the realisation that the populace should actually engage in the political situation. If all else fails the Daily Mail will spout some crap and we will all be OK in the end. Long live mediocrity.
Perhaps if we became Islamic we could stop putting ourselves through the annual horror that is the Eurovision song contest. We had a perfectly good song, but it has become increasingly apparent that voting is not about the song, and is actually about the political bias. Ridiculous.
We could also break our “special relationship” with the USA. What is so special about the USA? We are obsessed with McDonalds and Disney. It is sick making. The might of the Christian right in the USA is what is driving this world toward destruction – dangerous. The fundamentalists of the UK seek their inspiration, not from God but from a bunch of nuts in the deep south of the USA. Everyone who thinks the USA is a voice of reason in a terror based world, ought to read the interchange of letters between George Bush and President Ahmedinejad of Iran. The Iranian guy wins hands down for intelligence. The one who comes out looking dodgy is Bush.
Got to stop – I think I have got it off my chest now.
Sunday 25 May 2008
Ho Ho, on top of this now!
24th May
Still on call L. Doing well on the cake front J. I haven’t had my usual cake and cappuccino for nearly a week and I estimate that over a year this will save me having to burn a whopping 144,000 calories! Perhaps this will be the final bit of work to get rid of the remaining few kilos to get my weight below 70kg.
My ankle is giving me a bit of trouble after an 11mile run yesterday. I am going to stop running for a few weeks and concentrate on rowing / Xtrainer / summit trainer and move back to running once it has settled completely.
We tidied up the garden this afternoon. Looks a bit nicer now and we have potted up some annuals to give a bit of colour for the summer. I must summon the enthusiasm to oil the garden furniture as I am not sure I managed to do that last year.
I’m intrigued. I’m intrigued regarding the possibilities of the power of forgiveness in the context of a justice system. Could it really be that the power to forgive could actually have an impact on the likelihood of re-offending? The figures certainly seem to suggest that this could be the case. If we based a society on love and forgiveness could we do away with the damaging retribution that we seem to seek all the time? Retribution is damaging to both sides. It damages the offender by causing a form of harm and it damages the victim by creating a sore in their heart which never seems to heal. You have to wonder at the very real possibilities of more forgiveness. If the whole of the Christian faith can be summed up in the command “Love thy neighbour as thyself” – (think about this; it all falls into place), then how powerful could that love be and what kind of society could we then build. As we can only rebuild our society from the ground up, this could be a very good foundation stone.
Sun 25th May
Still on call but seems to be fairly sane currently. I finished the “Irresistible inheritance of Wilberforce” last night. An excellent read, but did leave me a touch puzzled in the end. I figure that it is all about friendship, relationships, loyalty and fidelity, but the point is expertly made by leafing backwards through the lead characters life, to look at the decisions he made which led to his position at the start of the book. If you want a neat end to a book, then this one is not for you.
Choice. I have been reminded yet again that we all make choices and that these choices have a major impact on everyone. I believe that we largely choose what we do and therefore what happens to us. I have had a week without cake and cappuccino now. That is a choice which I have made and I am hoping that it will have a positive effect. I heard somewhere that it takes 3 weeks to embed a habit so I have a bit of work to do yet.
Still on call L. Doing well on the cake front J. I haven’t had my usual cake and cappuccino for nearly a week and I estimate that over a year this will save me having to burn a whopping 144,000 calories! Perhaps this will be the final bit of work to get rid of the remaining few kilos to get my weight below 70kg.
My ankle is giving me a bit of trouble after an 11mile run yesterday. I am going to stop running for a few weeks and concentrate on rowing / Xtrainer / summit trainer and move back to running once it has settled completely.
We tidied up the garden this afternoon. Looks a bit nicer now and we have potted up some annuals to give a bit of colour for the summer. I must summon the enthusiasm to oil the garden furniture as I am not sure I managed to do that last year.
I’m intrigued. I’m intrigued regarding the possibilities of the power of forgiveness in the context of a justice system. Could it really be that the power to forgive could actually have an impact on the likelihood of re-offending? The figures certainly seem to suggest that this could be the case. If we based a society on love and forgiveness could we do away with the damaging retribution that we seem to seek all the time? Retribution is damaging to both sides. It damages the offender by causing a form of harm and it damages the victim by creating a sore in their heart which never seems to heal. You have to wonder at the very real possibilities of more forgiveness. If the whole of the Christian faith can be summed up in the command “Love thy neighbour as thyself” – (think about this; it all falls into place), then how powerful could that love be and what kind of society could we then build. As we can only rebuild our society from the ground up, this could be a very good foundation stone.
Sun 25th May
Still on call but seems to be fairly sane currently. I finished the “Irresistible inheritance of Wilberforce” last night. An excellent read, but did leave me a touch puzzled in the end. I figure that it is all about friendship, relationships, loyalty and fidelity, but the point is expertly made by leafing backwards through the lead characters life, to look at the decisions he made which led to his position at the start of the book. If you want a neat end to a book, then this one is not for you.
Choice. I have been reminded yet again that we all make choices and that these choices have a major impact on everyone. I believe that we largely choose what we do and therefore what happens to us. I have had a week without cake and cappuccino now. That is a choice which I have made and I am hoping that it will have a positive effect. I heard somewhere that it takes 3 weeks to embed a habit so I have a bit of work to do yet.
Friday 23 May 2008
Almost regular now!
21st May
Today was a great day for golf and gradually I am making some improvements – getting a consistent 200yd Drive (I know its quite short but better than a year ago). Made Par on 4 holes and made a hash of 7 holes! Total score 104 (Par 72) but hey ho Friday may see another round.
Finished the Keith Ward – got to love his take in the conclusion – Christian fundamentalism is centred on a desire to create an exclusive group for the wealthy western middle class and virtually excludes the dispossessed and those of lower “status”. He also concludes that the fundamentalists seek to return to the kind of religion which was desired by the medieval catholics, they were found wanting and so will the fundamentalists be. He rather hopefully concludes that they will “fade away”; one can only pray that this will be true. All in all I found the book to be very positive, but lacking in references for further reading. That would seem to be the only serious flaw.
Been to the gym as well – putting the orthotics into my running shoes makes all the difference to my ongoing minor ankle injury. I suspect that continued use will see the back of this problem.
Champions League final is in penalties as I write – nail biting…All it needs is for John Terry to miss… And He Does!!! Woodwork takes a battering.
The reds win – glorious!
23rd May
Another morning of golf – very variable – for a start I got stuck behind a 4 ball which was moving very slowly and the guy behind me gave up after the 7th in utter disbelief at the slowness. I hoped they would move off after the 10th, but they were bent on continuing so I headed in as well and had a lesson with the pro. I am making some progress and I worked on approach / transition shots. As ever I learnt some new tricks and I shall try and get some practice in this weekend, despite being on call.
I am reading the Irresistible inheritance of Wilberforce, a slightly strange book but one which is quite appealing. I think I will never look at a glass of wine in the same way again. If you read “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen”; it’s nothing like that! I might have to buy another copy though as my copy went to the charity shop last year.
Still trying to book a New Year skiing break but am waiting on a hotel to contact me after my request – I might have to give up on them and go for someone else.
Forgot to mention that we went to see Deception with Ewan Macgregor. This is an excellent thriller with a great twist or two. I spotted the classic honey-trap but missed the other point until the end of the movie – good scripting – loved it.
Today was a great day for golf and gradually I am making some improvements – getting a consistent 200yd Drive (I know its quite short but better than a year ago). Made Par on 4 holes and made a hash of 7 holes! Total score 104 (Par 72) but hey ho Friday may see another round.
Finished the Keith Ward – got to love his take in the conclusion – Christian fundamentalism is centred on a desire to create an exclusive group for the wealthy western middle class and virtually excludes the dispossessed and those of lower “status”. He also concludes that the fundamentalists seek to return to the kind of religion which was desired by the medieval catholics, they were found wanting and so will the fundamentalists be. He rather hopefully concludes that they will “fade away”; one can only pray that this will be true. All in all I found the book to be very positive, but lacking in references for further reading. That would seem to be the only serious flaw.
Been to the gym as well – putting the orthotics into my running shoes makes all the difference to my ongoing minor ankle injury. I suspect that continued use will see the back of this problem.
Champions League final is in penalties as I write – nail biting…All it needs is for John Terry to miss… And He Does!!! Woodwork takes a battering.
The reds win – glorious!
23rd May
Another morning of golf – very variable – for a start I got stuck behind a 4 ball which was moving very slowly and the guy behind me gave up after the 7th in utter disbelief at the slowness. I hoped they would move off after the 10th, but they were bent on continuing so I headed in as well and had a lesson with the pro. I am making some progress and I worked on approach / transition shots. As ever I learnt some new tricks and I shall try and get some practice in this weekend, despite being on call.
I am reading the Irresistible inheritance of Wilberforce, a slightly strange book but one which is quite appealing. I think I will never look at a glass of wine in the same way again. If you read “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen”; it’s nothing like that! I might have to buy another copy though as my copy went to the charity shop last year.
Still trying to book a New Year skiing break but am waiting on a hotel to contact me after my request – I might have to give up on them and go for someone else.
Forgot to mention that we went to see Deception with Ewan Macgregor. This is an excellent thriller with a great twist or two. I spotted the classic honey-trap but missed the other point until the end of the movie – good scripting – loved it.
Tuesday 20 May 2008
A little quicker outta the blocks..
15th May
Finished “The Book Thief” last night – a remarkable book in many ways but not “breathtaking” as noted by one critic. It could not even be described as enjoyable in the classic sense as the issues that it covers are quite fundamental e.g. death. It is very well written (unlike this blog!) and reminds me of Jonathan Safran Foer’s books. It is unusual in its choice of narration, but this drives the story well and provides the basis to keep you reading until the very end of the book.
The choice of “Death” as the narrator is not totally unprecendented. Terry Pratchett of course uses “Death” as a “character” in his books in a dramatically different way, but still to great effect. Death is of course a barrier we cannot see or experience until we cross it. What happens beyond the demise of our physical form is a moot point and hotly discussed. These constructions of “Death” help us to create a personification of the issue and almost sidestep the grim reality that, in the end, all must die. Cheery huh? By believing in salvation after death, we can at least go to the grave without being scared witless, and if that is all the belief achieves, then it has achieved something.
Moving on…
On the 9th of May took a trip with Josh to see Jethro Tull on their 40th Anniversary tour. They played a good amount of the early blues style numbers and finished with the more well known Aqualung and Locomotive Breath. On the way they did a live version of Heavy Horses, which I do not think I have heard them do live before and perhaps they should avoid it in future as some of the vocals were a touch strained. How many more years can they keep on tour? Ian Anderson is now 61 and Martin Barre 60. Still we were home in time for cocoa and bed and then up on Sat at 3AM to get organised for the K2B. Once again, this epic 40 mile event provided a good deal of thrills and spills and the final entrant finishing list has now been posted on the web. I came a very satisfying 126 from nearly 1900 finishers. Hopefully I can put this to bed and work on the next Gone Fishing event. I also need to get back to full fitness so that up-coming events are completed in good times.
Now there’s a thing – appointments – why is it… that those who are coming for an appointment at 2-30 PM are ALWAYS early and those coming for one at 5-30 PM are frequently late or indeed at any other time of day. Is it because I am more sensitive to the time at 2-30 (ie I have to start work again after the lunch period) or is there some more unusual timing mechanism?
It was a beautiful spring day yesterday so I went for an amble up Steel Knotts and then up Gowbarrow Fell. I took the E510 and took lots of arty pics of Aira Force. Some of them are actually quite good. Spent a lot of time playing with white-balance and exposure factors – the results are variable but on the whole quite successful.
20th May
Accounts are back from the accountant and profits are up! This is very good news as we appear to be in the midst of very difficult trading conditions. By and large it is my impression that we are not suffering quite as much here, as the area has a reduced economic profile generally. I believe that this allows a flattening of the economic peaks and troughs seen elsewhere. I can at least feel quite up-beat about the prospects for the next 12months. We have already seen a strong start to this financial year and I can only hope that it continues.
I can also only hope that I continue to not eat cake. This is saving me about £2-50 per day or £40 per month or for that matter about £500 per year! That is quite a staggering amount. It would seem that I am unable to buy a cappuccino without a cake so I have taken to making my own coffee (like normal mortals). 2 days in and I have not succumbed – we shall have to wait and see…
I am ploughing on with reading Keith Ward “What the Bible really teaches”. This is a very encouraging read, and has some great challenges for the blinkered view held by the fundamentalists. I for one was very unaware of how narrow and un-biblical their “biblical doctrine” was. Whilst I am not a fan of wishy-washy, I now remain more critical of fundamentalism. It does have attractions – it is very simple (for simple people), it is straightforward and unthinking (for those that cannot and will not think), but on the whole you can stick it where the sun don’t shine. Fundamentalism allows the worst excesses of the dogmatic atheists to get a toe-hold and peddle their equally distasteful ideas. The atheists argue that liberalism allows fundamentalism to flourish, and indeed it may, but allowing atheists to flourish is probably worse.
“Dogs” by Ray and Lorna Coppinger is proving an interesting read as well. A little biased towards the sled dogs (the author is a breeder and racer), but some very interesting biological principles nonetheless. I did particularly like the discussion on pleasure vs necessary (for food) hunting and the biological profit and loss account type evaluation. His view is that hunting for pleasure is for those that can afford it both in terms of calories and expense and will remain so. This argument would appear to prove that hunting for pleasure is simply for that end alone, and even if a hunter argues that they are protecting the crops / young production animals, the actual result in terms of calories expended for those saved, does not add up.
That takes me to another little “find”. I was searching for the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics on the web, but could not find their site. I directed myself to the League against cruel sports as the League had co-sponsored a conference on the link between animal abuse and human violence last year. I attended that conference with my wife and it was excellent. On surfing the League’s excellent website I found an article about “sport –trophy” hunting. This “named and shamed” a number of tour companies who offer such “holidays”. This is quite disgraceful and shameful and what is worse, is that one of those companies is no more than a mile away from my house.
This week I have also had the dubious pleasure of visiting a travel agent. Every time I have done this in the past I have come away with a feeling that I have not got a “deal” and have not been satisfied. The travel agent did not disappoint and I am now in the process of sorting my own holiday out; again. The internet has really helped in this regard, but I may find it quite a challenge to sort out a holiday at New Year, as it is a popular time to travel.
Finished “The Book Thief” last night – a remarkable book in many ways but not “breathtaking” as noted by one critic. It could not even be described as enjoyable in the classic sense as the issues that it covers are quite fundamental e.g. death. It is very well written (unlike this blog!) and reminds me of Jonathan Safran Foer’s books. It is unusual in its choice of narration, but this drives the story well and provides the basis to keep you reading until the very end of the book.
The choice of “Death” as the narrator is not totally unprecendented. Terry Pratchett of course uses “Death” as a “character” in his books in a dramatically different way, but still to great effect. Death is of course a barrier we cannot see or experience until we cross it. What happens beyond the demise of our physical form is a moot point and hotly discussed. These constructions of “Death” help us to create a personification of the issue and almost sidestep the grim reality that, in the end, all must die. Cheery huh? By believing in salvation after death, we can at least go to the grave without being scared witless, and if that is all the belief achieves, then it has achieved something.
Moving on…
On the 9th of May took a trip with Josh to see Jethro Tull on their 40th Anniversary tour. They played a good amount of the early blues style numbers and finished with the more well known Aqualung and Locomotive Breath. On the way they did a live version of Heavy Horses, which I do not think I have heard them do live before and perhaps they should avoid it in future as some of the vocals were a touch strained. How many more years can they keep on tour? Ian Anderson is now 61 and Martin Barre 60. Still we were home in time for cocoa and bed and then up on Sat at 3AM to get organised for the K2B. Once again, this epic 40 mile event provided a good deal of thrills and spills and the final entrant finishing list has now been posted on the web. I came a very satisfying 126 from nearly 1900 finishers. Hopefully I can put this to bed and work on the next Gone Fishing event. I also need to get back to full fitness so that up-coming events are completed in good times.
Now there’s a thing – appointments – why is it… that those who are coming for an appointment at 2-30 PM are ALWAYS early and those coming for one at 5-30 PM are frequently late or indeed at any other time of day. Is it because I am more sensitive to the time at 2-30 (ie I have to start work again after the lunch period) or is there some more unusual timing mechanism?
It was a beautiful spring day yesterday so I went for an amble up Steel Knotts and then up Gowbarrow Fell. I took the E510 and took lots of arty pics of Aira Force. Some of them are actually quite good. Spent a lot of time playing with white-balance and exposure factors – the results are variable but on the whole quite successful.
20th May
Accounts are back from the accountant and profits are up! This is very good news as we appear to be in the midst of very difficult trading conditions. By and large it is my impression that we are not suffering quite as much here, as the area has a reduced economic profile generally. I believe that this allows a flattening of the economic peaks and troughs seen elsewhere. I can at least feel quite up-beat about the prospects for the next 12months. We have already seen a strong start to this financial year and I can only hope that it continues.
I can also only hope that I continue to not eat cake. This is saving me about £2-50 per day or £40 per month or for that matter about £500 per year! That is quite a staggering amount. It would seem that I am unable to buy a cappuccino without a cake so I have taken to making my own coffee (like normal mortals). 2 days in and I have not succumbed – we shall have to wait and see…
I am ploughing on with reading Keith Ward “What the Bible really teaches”. This is a very encouraging read, and has some great challenges for the blinkered view held by the fundamentalists. I for one was very unaware of how narrow and un-biblical their “biblical doctrine” was. Whilst I am not a fan of wishy-washy, I now remain more critical of fundamentalism. It does have attractions – it is very simple (for simple people), it is straightforward and unthinking (for those that cannot and will not think), but on the whole you can stick it where the sun don’t shine. Fundamentalism allows the worst excesses of the dogmatic atheists to get a toe-hold and peddle their equally distasteful ideas. The atheists argue that liberalism allows fundamentalism to flourish, and indeed it may, but allowing atheists to flourish is probably worse.
“Dogs” by Ray and Lorna Coppinger is proving an interesting read as well. A little biased towards the sled dogs (the author is a breeder and racer), but some very interesting biological principles nonetheless. I did particularly like the discussion on pleasure vs necessary (for food) hunting and the biological profit and loss account type evaluation. His view is that hunting for pleasure is for those that can afford it both in terms of calories and expense and will remain so. This argument would appear to prove that hunting for pleasure is simply for that end alone, and even if a hunter argues that they are protecting the crops / young production animals, the actual result in terms of calories expended for those saved, does not add up.
That takes me to another little “find”. I was searching for the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics on the web, but could not find their site. I directed myself to the League against cruel sports as the League had co-sponsored a conference on the link between animal abuse and human violence last year. I attended that conference with my wife and it was excellent. On surfing the League’s excellent website I found an article about “sport –trophy” hunting. This “named and shamed” a number of tour companies who offer such “holidays”. This is quite disgraceful and shameful and what is worse, is that one of those companies is no more than a mile away from my house.
This week I have also had the dubious pleasure of visiting a travel agent. Every time I have done this in the past I have come away with a feeling that I have not got a “deal” and have not been satisfied. The travel agent did not disappoint and I am now in the process of sorting my own holiday out; again. The internet has really helped in this regard, but I may find it quite a challenge to sort out a holiday at New Year, as it is a popular time to travel.
Sunday 11 May 2008
Whats that coming over the hill - is it a monster? No but this post is!
Well – the Africa Diary. Here it is in all its detail. I have spared you nothing as indeed I am the only reader and this is after all my personal archive of my current life. If you happen to be reading it, then, “good luck” because it is a bit long winded. I havent bothered with pictures though. Maybe for later posts.....It is currently the 11th of May and now the day after the annual torment of the K2B. I managed to complete in 7h 37min – spot on eh? Anyway the diary…
Tanzania March 28 2008 to 6 April 2008-04-26
Friday/Saturday
This trip started with being collected by our chauffeur drive at 3:30 PM and being taken to Manchester airport Terminal 2 to catch the evening flight to Dubai. The flight took 7 hours and we enjoyed dinner service and drinks and a little bit of modest rest before landing in Dubai at local time of 7AM. We then made our way to a very busy business lounge and on checking in there; found that the flight time for the Nairobi flight had been moved to 11:45 from 10:05. This meant only a brief time in Nairobi to collect luggage and check in for our onward flight to Kilimanjaro (90mins max!).
The flight was then a touch late leaving Dubai but fortunately caught up a little time in the air and we were not too late on arriving at Jomo Kenyatta. We drifted into the arrivals area of JKIA and started to fill in some forms in order to acquire a transit visa (for all of 40mins by then!). As we were filling in the forms a couple of helpful Kenyan staff (Lucy and Karen) spotted us and we briefly discussed our problem. They then kept us airside whilst they went to collect our luggage from the arrivals side and brought it back to us in departures. We were therefore able to avoid “entering” Kenya and the need for visas. This cost us a tip but it was worth it as they also helped to make sure we were checked in for our onward flight. The secretary of state for health in Sri Lanka was on our flight into JKIA and he and his wife negotiated the whole transit visa, collect and check in process and still managed to be ready for the flight in time! He was on his way to a conference on malaria in Arusha and then progressing to a safari afterward.
This did mean that we had our luggage with us in the departures and that we would have to carry it to the plane. The flight was late after all that and there were only 18 people on that flight. It was quite odd being in a departure lounge with only 4 people. The staff had held the rest of the passengers outside the “lounge”. The lounge was very basic, as indeed was the airport but it functioned quite well. Information was not easy to come by. When we came to board the plane we were able to place our luggage in the hold as the plane was sufficiently small to be the kind where you can reach into the hold from the ground. The advantages of having small light luggage were already becoming evident and were only to be more advantageous as the trip progressed.
On arrival at Kilimajaro International Airport (KIA) we had to fill in some more landing cards and head for the “health” desk, where we were asked for our Yellow fever vaccination cards. This was not possible as all the best advice we could have asked for told us that, as we were travelling from the UK we would not require such a vaccination. That was the best we could do, but this did not concern the immigration officer who said that we could have it done there and then!
We were then taken into a side office and duly vaccinated and provided with official cards. This was all done for the princely sum of $150. The person in the queue ahead of us lived in Tanzania and was only returning from a weeks work in Nairobi, to be faced with vaccination! It transpired that the regulation had been enforced for all travellers arriving from a yellow fever endemic zone, no matter that we had only been in JKIA for 40mins! If we had travelled direct from Amsterdam as some flights into KIA do, then we would not have needed the vaccine! Welcome to Tanzania! Only once the vaccination formality had been overcome could we progress through customs and enter the country. The whole process in JKIA and KIA was a credit to African hospitality and nature.
We were then met by the CCAfrica rep who handed us to the Hatari lodge driver who was to drive us to the lodge that evening. A 90 minute drive followed. This took us towards Arusha, but off the main road and through a local village via the Arusha national park. We were tailed by an armed escort – apparently normal for night time transit in the park. This was for our protection and the protection of the park.
The track through the park was quite rough, but on the way we saw giraffe crossing the road and a couple of spotted hyena by the roadside. Rashid was our driver and eventually we arrived at Hatari lodge where we were the only guests that night. This is the rainy season and as a consequence the parks and lodges are quiet. We settled into a comfortable bungalow before a dinner in the main bar, after which we took to bed. But not before we had a bath. This proved to be quite interesting as the water was somewhat brown. It was still great to be washed after more than 24 hours of travel. We lit the candles around the bath and this proved quite useful as the electricity supply stopped on the dot of 11PM, when the generator shut down. If we wanted to leave the room after this time we were told to open the door and shout for “security”, whereupon a Maasai guard would come and help us out.
Sunday
Woken at “daft-o-clock” by the monkeys dashing about on the roof of the bungalow – this apparently is quite normal and we had been warned that it might occur. They were very noisy but it was quite fun all the same. Breakfast was on the terrace at the lodge and was a lovely breakfast with fruit and waffles and bush meats and a fantastic omelette with salsa.
We were then taken on our first “game drive”, which was to end up at Arusha airport for the next stage of our journey. We were taken on a brief tour of a portion of the Arusha national park, up to the Ngurdoto crater and through the rainforest. The national park is over 2000m above sea level. I had certainly thought that the whole of the country would be a savannah type environment and this is certainly not the case as would become very obvious as the days went by. The rainforest is just as you would expect it to be; quite damp and misty with a vast high canopy of trees and a dense undergrowth of jungle. This was great place to find monkeys. We saw Blue monkeys, Colobus monkeys and Baboons here. What followed was an interesting drive through Usa River and Arusha which provided a view of everyday “African life”. So much appears to be going on all the time and being Sunday, there were church services as well. It really is a whole different world and runs in a completely different way from our rather sanitised western culture. This is quite striking wherever we have travelled in Africa and the middle-east and is not without its attractions.
On arrival at Arusha airport we were taken to the Coastal air office and “checked in” for our flight to Kleins camp. Baggage handling is done by hand here and you can watch the progress of your bags visually. It has to be borne in mind that throughout this trip our bags went through a staggering number of systems and we came home with them, whilst at the same time, T5 at Heathrow had just opened into chaos. It should also not be forgotten that our original plans had us flying with BA to Nairobi from Heathrow direct. This would have meant us flying from T5. I am so glad we put our foot down and demanded Emirates from Manchester!
We then boarded our single engine plane with 4 other passengers and 2 crew and took a flight to Kleins camp. We had a stop at Seronera airstrip which is gravel and has a terminal hut. This strip is deep in the Serengeti and serves the lodges there. We proceeded to Kleins airstrip which has but an acacia tree and a grass runway. As we arrived there was a thunderstorm in progress and the pilot made a low pass to check the runway before landing, or we would have been taken to another strip some three hours away by track!
It was very wet underfoot when we disembarked and we were given waterproofs before getting into the waiting open sided jeep. Alex (the driver) and Masanga (the spotter) were to take us back to the camp (some 45mins away by track), but we did digress and tried to find some cheetah they had spotted earlier (to no avail), but we did see plenty of other game and as the weather dried up the day just became quite glorious. On arrival at the camp we were given a glass of Baobab juice with ginger and then taken to lunch. What an eventful start to Sunday! It simply was quite surprising how much we had managed to pack in since our start in Askam!
Later in the day we took an afternoon / evening game drive and saw our first elephants. We also went down to the river crossing we had come over only a few hours before and found the river in such spate that crossing was not possible.
That was OK because we met Brad and Annie there – at the end of their 3 week honeymoon. We joined them for drinks by the river. Their driver had brought a fully stocked “bar”. We made our way back via the riverside and spotted some night game. This kind of activity is not possible in the national parks. Off road driving and night driving are possible here as the Kleins concession is rented from the Maasai – who are allowed to graze their animals there. We eventually returned to the camp for a lovely dinner and then to bed. The kitchens here seem to be able to produce the most amazing soup – beautifully balanced flavours and gloriously smooth – as good as any Michelin starred restaurant. Denis was our butler at Kleins and he looked after our needs and brought us a cup of tea and biscuits as a wake-up call.
Monday
We were up at 6-30 for a 7AM breakfast and 7-30AM game drive. The nights here are pitch black – no light at all – very eerie when waking in the small hours. On waking we were greeted with the sight of a herd of 40 elephants grazing on the meadow below the bluff on which the camp is situated. We drove down to meet them and the solitary bull elephant who was also wandering the area.
We picked up some lion tracks on the way and followed these, eventually to be rewarded with the sight of a solitary lioness. Masanga had spotted her from quite some distance away. Lions are hard to differentiate from hartebeeste as they are a similar colour. The lioness we found was quite lean – this time of year is not good as the migration has moved on and the pickings are lean. There are gazelle and other smaller herbivores but they are also quite fast and difficult to catch. We did find some vultures picking over the remains of a kill on a field which contained the picked clean bones of many wildebeest and buffalo.
We then drove to a suitably open location and set up to take tea and a muffin as a mid-morning break from the driving. I had a coffee with amarula to give it a bit of a boost – all very civilised. Giraffe were not far away at this break and we then took a leisurely drive to the camp to have lunch and an afternoon at rest. By then we were the only guests in the camp. Later in the afternoon we went out for another game drive. The hammerkop bird produces a huge nest and we saw one of these down by the river – it is apparently enlarged each year and can weigh up to 50kg.
There were some ostrich by the airstrip – the male is black so he absorbs heat in the day and can then incubate the eggs at night whilst the female feeds. Impala are said to have an “M” on their backside to indicate that they are the lions’ McDonalds – extremely fast food. Alex was keen to point out that warthog are “lions’ sausages”.
We crossed the Grumeti river at a very steep crossing and tracked along the far bank looking for but not finding leopards. We did see dik-dik and baboons. Leopards tend not to be where baboon are found as baboon will happily see off leopards. These baboon were nit-picking each other and larking in the trees. The nests of weaver birds are very prevalent here and in some species the male can build several nests before the female will accept what has been built. She will also destroy nests which are not up to her standard.
We travelled behind the hill opposite the camp and had a call on the radio to let us know some lions had been spotted. The camp had sent a second set of spotters out just for us as we were the only clients in the camp. They led us to a pair of lionesses in the long grass and shortly after led us to a large male lion lying just next to the track. He was roaring – a sound which is more felt than heard. We were exceptionally close and within a few yards there was another lioness coming in to meet the male.
On our way back to the camp we found the track blocked by elephants. These are not to be argued with and cannot be moved if they don’t want to be. Alex was also aware that there could have been a lot more even if we had overcome the first block. We reversed and drove through the bush only to discover a load more elephants. It was very dark by this time. Further backtracking and a bit more off-road driving took us back to the river crossing. It had been mooted that we might have to return via the crossing we had used earlier in the evening, but that if we got stuck, as was likely to occur, we could call on someone to come from the camp and rescue us! The previous night some staff had been stuck on the far side of the river as the water level had been too much to cross – they had spent the night in the local Maasai village. We had been delayed but in the best way possible and we returned to a great dinner served in the bar.
Tuesday
Up early to get an 8-00AM drive to the airstrip for our 9-00AM flight to Manyara. This had been brought forward as the camp confirms exact flight timings the day before. It would appear that flight schedules are more “guidelines” here in the bush. We were given a fantastic send-off by the staff – indeed all the staff came out to see us leave. We saw further lions on the way to the airstrip and just as the plane was coming in to land a topi strayed onto the runway – this was chased by Masanga but the pilot had to make a flypast to come back for a second run. We then flew to Seronera and had an hour wait in the “terminal” there before the next hop to Manyara.
Whilst wating at Seronera we had a chat with the IT coordinator for CCAfrica – Steven. He was in the process of installing internet into the rooms at Ngorongoro Crater Lodge and trying to improve the email access to the more remote camps such as Kleins. He was also telling us that the Maasai are losing their identity and traditions.
Our onward flight took us over the Ngorongoro crater and gave us a great view of the lodge there before landing on the edge of the rift valley at Manyara airstrip.
We were then transferred to the Lake Manyara Serena Lodge. The CC Africa Manyara lodge is closed in April. Serena is a bit more like an hotel, but very relaxed and our rooms were connecting on the top floor of one of the 4 room huts. There was a very inviting swimming pool here but we never got time to use it. Although it was larger, it was still quite quiet as since it is the rainy season, the majority of tourists stay away. The busy period is June/July /August, but apparently it is very dry and dusty then and not as nice.
We were treated to a game drive that afternoon with our guide Maulid. The birds at Manyara are abundant and varied. The hippos are also quite something – you arrive at a pool full of grey backed humps which then start moving, a lot. There is then a great deal of activity as they jostle for position and defecate all over one another. It is quite a spectacle. We had dinner back at the lodge and enjoyed a quiet night in readiness for another full day drive the following day.
Wednesday
Today was the day we learnt a bit of Swahili. If all you did on safari was look for the “big five” then you could get bored, it is far more interesting to get beneath the surface a little. We had numerous discussions on several issues with our guides, and learnt some Swahili and also looked at the birdlife and flora of the area. This provided for a lot more interest to build up a better picture of the overall experience. Kleins was a place where I certainly got a really good handle on how the whole of an ecosystem works from the highest predator to the lowliest insect. You could really see how each part had its place. That to me was far more enlightening than just going with a tick list of the most popular things to spot. Anyway – some Swahili:
Twiga - Giraffe
Tembo - Elephant
Simba - Lion
Duma - Cheetah
Tumbili - vervet monkey
Nyani - baboon
Jambo - how are you?
Mambo? - what’s up
Poa - I’m fine – reply to above
Asante - thank-you
Mzuri - very nice / beautiful
Asante sana - thank-you very much
Baba - father
Mama - mother
Mtoto - baby
Kaka - brother
Dada - sister
Na - and
Caribu - welcome / you’re welcome
Manyara - cactus
Mbu - mosquito
Chui - leopard
Faru - rhino
We had a long drive out to the south end of the park at Manyara to visit the hot spring there. It is a VERY hot spring. We had a picnic lunch in the land-rover with elephants just outside and at another picnic site we observed a weaver bird actually weaving a nest.
On the way in that morning we had stopped for a whole troop of baboons in the road. Most of them seemed to be making baby baboons. If they weren’t looking after young ones themselves that is! We spent a good deal of time with the hippos again and eventually returned to the hotel in the mid afternoon.
We had quite a discussion with Waulid on the pronunciation of English words. He had asked us if we had tribes in the UK. We answered, that while we do not have “tribes” in the classical sense, we certainly do have distinct regional identities. We explained that this has a big effect on pronunciation of words and we demonstrated the difference between North and South and he was quite taken with this. We used the example of “water” as a word with differing pronunciation. He then expressed his dislike of Americans by poking fun at their rather over-stressed pronunciation of “water”.
I then arranged a trip to walk the site with the resident naturalist – Yotam. The site was just barren farmland in 1993 and now has some fairly mature trees. These trees are representative of the local species and replacements are grown in the on-site nursery. On the way we saw many species of birds and Yotam explained the geology of the area which led to the formation of the rift valley and notably the Western edge of the eastern arm on which we were stood. Lake Manyara is shrinking and is also quite alkaline, but becoming less so. This can lead to problems with the production of the wrong sorts of cyanobacteria on which the flamingo thrive. They are now seeing toxic blue-green algae. The lake is only 6m deep now and recent dry years in 2000-2005 have been a challenge. Farming activity also leads to silting up of the lake bed. Hydroelectric schemes further up the valley have caused downstream problems with the lake. This is a problem which is likely to worsen rather than improve in the near future. The lesser flamingo are pink only because they of the cyanobacteria on which they feed.
The kitchen has a large garden at Serena and they are able to grow nearly all their own fruit and vegetables there and source their meats locally. The garden uses local cow dung and composted kitchen waste as a soil improver. We explored a termite mound and I found out about the abundance of life that these support. The termites “farm” a type of fungus to feed the queen to keep a constant supply of drones for the mound. Snakes, rodents, larger invertebrates, spiders and anteaters also inhabit the mound and the internal temperature is quite warm as I found by putting my hand into one of the vents.
Yotam also introduced me to the parallel “little five”:
Lion Ant lion
Rhino rhinoceros dung beetle
Buffalo buffalo weaver
Leopard leopard tortoise
Elephant elephant shrew
The ant lion forms a small hole with a surrounding cone into which an unsuspecting insect will fall. The ant lion then paralyses the insect and liquefies its insides before consuming it.
Black rhino are distinct from white rhino. The white rhino name is the result of a misunderstanding of the pronunciation of the word ‘wide’ by Afrikaners. The white rhino has a wider mouth and graze widely.
The layer beneath the bark of the African flame tree is quite soft and can be boiled to make a remedy for retained placenta in cattle and this layer can be used to make ink-stamps in much the same way as the cork-oak.
The Manyara cactus is a great plant to use as a boundary shrub as the sap is highly irritant. It is of the euphorbia group which share this feature. Animals do not want to try and breach this barrier. It is also easy to propagate and will quickly take hold from a very small cutting. The sap is also good as a makeshift mild adhesive.
There are 4 main habitats at the Lake Manyara national Park:
1 Groundwater forest
2 Open savannah
3 Water edge wetlands
4 Lake
The town at the head of the lake called Mto Wa Mbu – Mosquito town and it is said that nearly all of the 126 languages in Africa can be heard there.
Our dinner that night at Serena was as good as ever and we enjoyed a South African wine and listened to the band play the very distinctive African rhythms as an accompaniment to dinner.
Thursday
We had an arrangement to be picked up by CC Africa that morning to be drive to the Ngorongoro Crater Lodge high in the Ngorongoro highlands. Vicky was our driver for the morning. The lodge is about 90 minutes drive from Lake Manyara and this took us through some small villages and through the reasonably sized town of Karatu. Karatu is the home town of Maulid our guide whilst at Lake Manyara. The drive through these regions gives quite an insight into the lives of the general population of the country.
We had a short stop at the ranger post on the outskirts of the Ngorongoro conservation area. This contains a number of sites as well as the Nogorongoro crater itself. The crater is actually a collapsed volcano and more accurately termed a caldera. On the road to the lodge there is an excellent viewpoint with a wide vista of the crater. This apparently is usually quite misty, but luckily was not on the day we visited. The clouds hang around the crater rim whilst the floor of the crater can be exposed to bright sunshine. There is a rainforest type environment high on the crater rim and on the outer walls. This is where the female elephants live in herds and the males live down on the crater floor and only visit during the mating season.
The ranger post has a small interpretative display and a lot of baboons in the car park. There is a nightly fee of $55 per person to stay within the conservation area. An awful lot of official looking paperwork seems to be generated. I did notice that whilst the paperwork is organised in one hut, it is then inspected by the chap in the hut not 10m away before entry is granted. Not only do they do paperwork well but they also have large numbers of staff to make sure it is double checked. All the buildings in the national parks also have official numbers stamped on them to identify them. We certainly gave them army efficiency and bureaucracy as a legacy!
The road from Manyara through to the crater lodge becomes the main road into the Serengeti and you can keep driving and find yourself in that park.
On arrival at Ngorongoro Crater Lodge we were taken to the “North” camp. The Lodge is arranged in 3 camps; North camp, South camp and Tree camp. There are 12 rooms in each of the North and South camps and 6 in the Tree camp. Each camp has its own bar and dining area and a separate team of staff. Festo was to be our butler and Irene was the camp manager. We were introduced to Timothy, our ranger who was to take us into the crater that afternoon, for our first experience of the wildlife there.
Our trip into the crater was very interesting. The crater floor is some 600m below the rim, which itself is 2300m above sea level. There are separate crater fees for each vehicle entering. This fee is $200 for the vehicle and is no more or less each time the descent road is used. There is a one-way system with one descent road and one ascent road in current use. The crater is teeming with wildlife. There is a resident herd of about 15000 wildebeeste and 6000 zebra. These have a relation ship which works quite well so they coexist nicely. The zebra crop the grass short so the wildebeest get the short stems they like so much. We saw wildebeeste males performing a most interesting territorial activity. They run in circles delineating the area in which they have the dominance. The wildebeeste had calved in February so the calves we saw were about 2 months old. We also saw some pregnant females. I explained to Timothy the principles of the 5 “F”s of swollen bellies. The bird life of the crater is also abundant and spotting this helps to give a fuller picture of what is on offer. Timothy was an avid bird watcher and was able to point out species which we would have otherwise missed.
The crater gates are closed at six and we were duly out on time. On arrival back in the camp, the bath had been run in our rooms and the masseuse had brought her equipment, so that Debi could have a relaxing massage after so many days having “African 4x4 massage”. It would seem that the butler is alerted to our return by the radio from the rangers and this is how they know when to run the bath.
The bar here is quite something and its associated toilets are some of the most sumptuous conveniences we have ever experienced. The evening was punctuated by an impromptu song and dance from the staff in order to bring out cakes for those celebrating special occasions.
This lodge also requires Maasai escort after dark, as wild animals do roam the lodge environs. The laundry ticket carries a warning that hyena and baboons sometimes raid the laundry yard and the implication is that you might not get back all you send!
The rooms here are quite something, a bit like an elaborate cinema set. Even the loo has quite a view over the crater and the potential to spot a buffalo looking back at you as you are sat down. It is on the whole extremely civilised, with an iPod dock, decanters with sherry and port, and a selection of sweet treats should you feel peckish at any time. The butler also brings tea and biscuits on a tray as a wake up call here. There are also wellies in the closet should it get a bit muddy round the lodge.
On our return to the room after dinner, we found the fire lit and the electric blankets on. This is quite blissful and is a reminder that at this altitude it can be quite chilly at night.
Friday
This was an early start to get the most from our time at the lodge. Breakfast was as good as ever and the themed “crater omelette” was excellent. Debi had the cinnamon pancakes. We took a picnic with us today as we were not due back til the later afternoon.
Our trip into the crater once again took us onto the floor of the crater. Timothy took us through the Lerai forest. Lerai is the Swahili name for the yellow fever acacia. These trees have a distinct yellow bark and are found in the kinds of locations where the mosquito responsible for transmitting yellow fever are found. Leopards have been seen in this area but we were not rewarded with a sighting and Timothy had not seen one there for some months. It was however very good for birdlife and elephants.
The strangler figs are seen here. Each fig tree has its own particular fruiting season and the baboons will exploit a tree whilst it is in fruit. Each type of fig tree also has its own associated wasp responsible for pollination of the tree. The strangler figs are bird dropped seed which germinate in the upper branches of the trees and send aerial roots which aim to reach the ground. They will eventually do this and the original host tree may be killed in the process.
On our trip we were rewarded with the sights of black rhino grazing near the lake and even a baby rhino with its mother. The rhino were also marking their territory by spraying urine. The rhino do not come close to the vehicle tracks and views of them are rather distant. It is still a great privilege to be able to see such a critically endangered species in the wild.
Our lunch stop was at the Ngoitokitok picnic site. There were quite a few vehicles there but nowhere near as many as there would be during the busy times of the summer. The birds here are very cheeky and have learnt to beg and scavenge food from the visitors. The Black Kites are very bold and will take food from your hand and indeed I came close to being attacked from behind but Debi spotted the inbound offender just before it took the chocolate brownie and my fingers. The picnic we took was very large and would have been enough to feed the whole site. It was fantastic and came with all the usual accompaniments expected from the service provided by CCAfrica.
During the afternoon a call came in on the radio that a cheetah had been spotted. There were a few vehicles there by the time we arrived but it was still a marvellous sight to see a cheetah stalking gazelle. The gazelle were very alert to this and were moving to avoid her. A group of warthog passed her nose but she did not attack these. The warthog will fight back and could cause injury to the cheetah which would be devastating to their hunting ability.
Shortly after this sighting we saw a serval cat. We were also rewarded with sightings of hyena. These members of the dog family do like to roll in the mud and live in “dens” which are quite disgusting. That said they are still a major predator and we were very grateful that we had the chance to see them.
There are hippo here as well and when we arrived at one of the hippo pools we were treated to a display of a rolling hippo. This happens because the hippo cannot fully submerge in the shallower water of this pool and must roll to keep cool.
The black bellied bustard has an interesting call an ascending note followed by a guttural popping noise. Josh was able to do a very convincing impression of this.
We returned to the lodge later in the day and once again found our bath run. We had champagne with dinner as a final celebration.
Saturday
This morning was the last in Tanzania and marked the beginning of our long journey back to the UK. We were woken to the now familiar sounds of the butler bringing the tea and biscuits. Our breakfast was as good as ever and our bags were taken to the truck to await our departure. We left with a grand send off from the camp staff at 9-30 AM to begin our drive to the airstrip at Lake Manyara.
We arrived there in good time and the aircraft was early. We were expecting a direct trip to dar-es-Salaam in readiness for our onward flight to Dubai. What actually occurred was more elaborate. Our first stop was in Arusha to disembark and our luggage was left on the plane whilst we enjoyed a one hour wait in the departures area for Coastal aviation. Our pilot remained the same for the whole day and she did a great job given the large number of hours for which she was flying. Our next flight took us to Zanzibar, where it was quite humid and wet, still we could say that we had actually been there and set foot on dry land. We then took a final hop to Dar-es-Salaam airport domestic terminal. On arrival it was raining but this was set to get worse in the next few minutes. This had led the pilot to declare that she would not land after the two larger Boeing aircraft but to come down first as she could see the rain advancing onto the runway. Hence she made a quick loop whilst declaring her intent to the local tower and making a beeline for the runway. She had already been delayed leaving Zanzibar to make way for another larger aircraft.
We were met by the CCAfrica rep at Dar airport who escorted us to the international terminal. This is quite chaotic in appearance but functions perfectly well. The business lounge announcements are almost inaudible but you do eventually manage to get onto your flight at the right time and with little fuss. At check-in there appears to be a somewhat intricate system which involves passing the usual labels to a member of staff who applies them to your bags and then loads them onto a manual trolley for onward movement. Presumably the whole process is very manual but appeared to work a whole lot better than T5 which was still enjoying a rather less than grand start to life.
We then boarded the 17-20 flight to Dubai. This arrived at 11-30PM and we had a transfer to Dubai arrivals as we were not on a short transit this time. We then had to acquire a short term visa for the UAE which would allow us to access our hotel for the next few hours. The whole process was relatively swift. From business desk, to passport control to limo area to hotel took no longer than ¾ hour and we were placed in the Taj Palace hotel on the 10th floor in a massive suite so that we could spend the next few hours grabbing a little sleep prior to our onward flight.
An early morning wake-up call soon brought us round and we transferred back to the airport to catch our onward flight to Manchester. This was quite a long flight and as usual the Emirates food service was excellent. We arrived back in the UK at 1PM and on clearing customs our car was ready to take us home. They had again provided 2 cars, should we need them. However, with so little luggage, one car was more than adequate. Josh could have had his own, had he wished it so. Our holiday was unfortunately over once we arrived back in Askam, but it had been a very memorable experience.
Tanzania March 28 2008 to 6 April 2008-04-26
Friday/Saturday
This trip started with being collected by our chauffeur drive at 3:30 PM and being taken to Manchester airport Terminal 2 to catch the evening flight to Dubai. The flight took 7 hours and we enjoyed dinner service and drinks and a little bit of modest rest before landing in Dubai at local time of 7AM. We then made our way to a very busy business lounge and on checking in there; found that the flight time for the Nairobi flight had been moved to 11:45 from 10:05. This meant only a brief time in Nairobi to collect luggage and check in for our onward flight to Kilimanjaro (90mins max!).
The flight was then a touch late leaving Dubai but fortunately caught up a little time in the air and we were not too late on arriving at Jomo Kenyatta. We drifted into the arrivals area of JKIA and started to fill in some forms in order to acquire a transit visa (for all of 40mins by then!). As we were filling in the forms a couple of helpful Kenyan staff (Lucy and Karen) spotted us and we briefly discussed our problem. They then kept us airside whilst they went to collect our luggage from the arrivals side and brought it back to us in departures. We were therefore able to avoid “entering” Kenya and the need for visas. This cost us a tip but it was worth it as they also helped to make sure we were checked in for our onward flight. The secretary of state for health in Sri Lanka was on our flight into JKIA and he and his wife negotiated the whole transit visa, collect and check in process and still managed to be ready for the flight in time! He was on his way to a conference on malaria in Arusha and then progressing to a safari afterward.
This did mean that we had our luggage with us in the departures and that we would have to carry it to the plane. The flight was late after all that and there were only 18 people on that flight. It was quite odd being in a departure lounge with only 4 people. The staff had held the rest of the passengers outside the “lounge”. The lounge was very basic, as indeed was the airport but it functioned quite well. Information was not easy to come by. When we came to board the plane we were able to place our luggage in the hold as the plane was sufficiently small to be the kind where you can reach into the hold from the ground. The advantages of having small light luggage were already becoming evident and were only to be more advantageous as the trip progressed.
On arrival at Kilimajaro International Airport (KIA) we had to fill in some more landing cards and head for the “health” desk, where we were asked for our Yellow fever vaccination cards. This was not possible as all the best advice we could have asked for told us that, as we were travelling from the UK we would not require such a vaccination. That was the best we could do, but this did not concern the immigration officer who said that we could have it done there and then!
We were then taken into a side office and duly vaccinated and provided with official cards. This was all done for the princely sum of $150. The person in the queue ahead of us lived in Tanzania and was only returning from a weeks work in Nairobi, to be faced with vaccination! It transpired that the regulation had been enforced for all travellers arriving from a yellow fever endemic zone, no matter that we had only been in JKIA for 40mins! If we had travelled direct from Amsterdam as some flights into KIA do, then we would not have needed the vaccine! Welcome to Tanzania! Only once the vaccination formality had been overcome could we progress through customs and enter the country. The whole process in JKIA and KIA was a credit to African hospitality and nature.
We were then met by the CCAfrica rep who handed us to the Hatari lodge driver who was to drive us to the lodge that evening. A 90 minute drive followed. This took us towards Arusha, but off the main road and through a local village via the Arusha national park. We were tailed by an armed escort – apparently normal for night time transit in the park. This was for our protection and the protection of the park.
The track through the park was quite rough, but on the way we saw giraffe crossing the road and a couple of spotted hyena by the roadside. Rashid was our driver and eventually we arrived at Hatari lodge where we were the only guests that night. This is the rainy season and as a consequence the parks and lodges are quiet. We settled into a comfortable bungalow before a dinner in the main bar, after which we took to bed. But not before we had a bath. This proved to be quite interesting as the water was somewhat brown. It was still great to be washed after more than 24 hours of travel. We lit the candles around the bath and this proved quite useful as the electricity supply stopped on the dot of 11PM, when the generator shut down. If we wanted to leave the room after this time we were told to open the door and shout for “security”, whereupon a Maasai guard would come and help us out.
Sunday
Woken at “daft-o-clock” by the monkeys dashing about on the roof of the bungalow – this apparently is quite normal and we had been warned that it might occur. They were very noisy but it was quite fun all the same. Breakfast was on the terrace at the lodge and was a lovely breakfast with fruit and waffles and bush meats and a fantastic omelette with salsa.
We were then taken on our first “game drive”, which was to end up at Arusha airport for the next stage of our journey. We were taken on a brief tour of a portion of the Arusha national park, up to the Ngurdoto crater and through the rainforest. The national park is over 2000m above sea level. I had certainly thought that the whole of the country would be a savannah type environment and this is certainly not the case as would become very obvious as the days went by. The rainforest is just as you would expect it to be; quite damp and misty with a vast high canopy of trees and a dense undergrowth of jungle. This was great place to find monkeys. We saw Blue monkeys, Colobus monkeys and Baboons here. What followed was an interesting drive through Usa River and Arusha which provided a view of everyday “African life”. So much appears to be going on all the time and being Sunday, there were church services as well. It really is a whole different world and runs in a completely different way from our rather sanitised western culture. This is quite striking wherever we have travelled in Africa and the middle-east and is not without its attractions.
On arrival at Arusha airport we were taken to the Coastal air office and “checked in” for our flight to Kleins camp. Baggage handling is done by hand here and you can watch the progress of your bags visually. It has to be borne in mind that throughout this trip our bags went through a staggering number of systems and we came home with them, whilst at the same time, T5 at Heathrow had just opened into chaos. It should also not be forgotten that our original plans had us flying with BA to Nairobi from Heathrow direct. This would have meant us flying from T5. I am so glad we put our foot down and demanded Emirates from Manchester!
We then boarded our single engine plane with 4 other passengers and 2 crew and took a flight to Kleins camp. We had a stop at Seronera airstrip which is gravel and has a terminal hut. This strip is deep in the Serengeti and serves the lodges there. We proceeded to Kleins airstrip which has but an acacia tree and a grass runway. As we arrived there was a thunderstorm in progress and the pilot made a low pass to check the runway before landing, or we would have been taken to another strip some three hours away by track!
It was very wet underfoot when we disembarked and we were given waterproofs before getting into the waiting open sided jeep. Alex (the driver) and Masanga (the spotter) were to take us back to the camp (some 45mins away by track), but we did digress and tried to find some cheetah they had spotted earlier (to no avail), but we did see plenty of other game and as the weather dried up the day just became quite glorious. On arrival at the camp we were given a glass of Baobab juice with ginger and then taken to lunch. What an eventful start to Sunday! It simply was quite surprising how much we had managed to pack in since our start in Askam!
Later in the day we took an afternoon / evening game drive and saw our first elephants. We also went down to the river crossing we had come over only a few hours before and found the river in such spate that crossing was not possible.
That was OK because we met Brad and Annie there – at the end of their 3 week honeymoon. We joined them for drinks by the river. Their driver had brought a fully stocked “bar”. We made our way back via the riverside and spotted some night game. This kind of activity is not possible in the national parks. Off road driving and night driving are possible here as the Kleins concession is rented from the Maasai – who are allowed to graze their animals there. We eventually returned to the camp for a lovely dinner and then to bed. The kitchens here seem to be able to produce the most amazing soup – beautifully balanced flavours and gloriously smooth – as good as any Michelin starred restaurant. Denis was our butler at Kleins and he looked after our needs and brought us a cup of tea and biscuits as a wake-up call.
Monday
We were up at 6-30 for a 7AM breakfast and 7-30AM game drive. The nights here are pitch black – no light at all – very eerie when waking in the small hours. On waking we were greeted with the sight of a herd of 40 elephants grazing on the meadow below the bluff on which the camp is situated. We drove down to meet them and the solitary bull elephant who was also wandering the area.
We picked up some lion tracks on the way and followed these, eventually to be rewarded with the sight of a solitary lioness. Masanga had spotted her from quite some distance away. Lions are hard to differentiate from hartebeeste as they are a similar colour. The lioness we found was quite lean – this time of year is not good as the migration has moved on and the pickings are lean. There are gazelle and other smaller herbivores but they are also quite fast and difficult to catch. We did find some vultures picking over the remains of a kill on a field which contained the picked clean bones of many wildebeest and buffalo.
We then drove to a suitably open location and set up to take tea and a muffin as a mid-morning break from the driving. I had a coffee with amarula to give it a bit of a boost – all very civilised. Giraffe were not far away at this break and we then took a leisurely drive to the camp to have lunch and an afternoon at rest. By then we were the only guests in the camp. Later in the afternoon we went out for another game drive. The hammerkop bird produces a huge nest and we saw one of these down by the river – it is apparently enlarged each year and can weigh up to 50kg.
There were some ostrich by the airstrip – the male is black so he absorbs heat in the day and can then incubate the eggs at night whilst the female feeds. Impala are said to have an “M” on their backside to indicate that they are the lions’ McDonalds – extremely fast food. Alex was keen to point out that warthog are “lions’ sausages”.
We crossed the Grumeti river at a very steep crossing and tracked along the far bank looking for but not finding leopards. We did see dik-dik and baboons. Leopards tend not to be where baboon are found as baboon will happily see off leopards. These baboon were nit-picking each other and larking in the trees. The nests of weaver birds are very prevalent here and in some species the male can build several nests before the female will accept what has been built. She will also destroy nests which are not up to her standard.
We travelled behind the hill opposite the camp and had a call on the radio to let us know some lions had been spotted. The camp had sent a second set of spotters out just for us as we were the only clients in the camp. They led us to a pair of lionesses in the long grass and shortly after led us to a large male lion lying just next to the track. He was roaring – a sound which is more felt than heard. We were exceptionally close and within a few yards there was another lioness coming in to meet the male.
On our way back to the camp we found the track blocked by elephants. These are not to be argued with and cannot be moved if they don’t want to be. Alex was also aware that there could have been a lot more even if we had overcome the first block. We reversed and drove through the bush only to discover a load more elephants. It was very dark by this time. Further backtracking and a bit more off-road driving took us back to the river crossing. It had been mooted that we might have to return via the crossing we had used earlier in the evening, but that if we got stuck, as was likely to occur, we could call on someone to come from the camp and rescue us! The previous night some staff had been stuck on the far side of the river as the water level had been too much to cross – they had spent the night in the local Maasai village. We had been delayed but in the best way possible and we returned to a great dinner served in the bar.
Tuesday
Up early to get an 8-00AM drive to the airstrip for our 9-00AM flight to Manyara. This had been brought forward as the camp confirms exact flight timings the day before. It would appear that flight schedules are more “guidelines” here in the bush. We were given a fantastic send-off by the staff – indeed all the staff came out to see us leave. We saw further lions on the way to the airstrip and just as the plane was coming in to land a topi strayed onto the runway – this was chased by Masanga but the pilot had to make a flypast to come back for a second run. We then flew to Seronera and had an hour wait in the “terminal” there before the next hop to Manyara.
Whilst wating at Seronera we had a chat with the IT coordinator for CCAfrica – Steven. He was in the process of installing internet into the rooms at Ngorongoro Crater Lodge and trying to improve the email access to the more remote camps such as Kleins. He was also telling us that the Maasai are losing their identity and traditions.
Our onward flight took us over the Ngorongoro crater and gave us a great view of the lodge there before landing on the edge of the rift valley at Manyara airstrip.
We were then transferred to the Lake Manyara Serena Lodge. The CC Africa Manyara lodge is closed in April. Serena is a bit more like an hotel, but very relaxed and our rooms were connecting on the top floor of one of the 4 room huts. There was a very inviting swimming pool here but we never got time to use it. Although it was larger, it was still quite quiet as since it is the rainy season, the majority of tourists stay away. The busy period is June/July /August, but apparently it is very dry and dusty then and not as nice.
We were treated to a game drive that afternoon with our guide Maulid. The birds at Manyara are abundant and varied. The hippos are also quite something – you arrive at a pool full of grey backed humps which then start moving, a lot. There is then a great deal of activity as they jostle for position and defecate all over one another. It is quite a spectacle. We had dinner back at the lodge and enjoyed a quiet night in readiness for another full day drive the following day.
Wednesday
Today was the day we learnt a bit of Swahili. If all you did on safari was look for the “big five” then you could get bored, it is far more interesting to get beneath the surface a little. We had numerous discussions on several issues with our guides, and learnt some Swahili and also looked at the birdlife and flora of the area. This provided for a lot more interest to build up a better picture of the overall experience. Kleins was a place where I certainly got a really good handle on how the whole of an ecosystem works from the highest predator to the lowliest insect. You could really see how each part had its place. That to me was far more enlightening than just going with a tick list of the most popular things to spot. Anyway – some Swahili:
Twiga - Giraffe
Tembo - Elephant
Simba - Lion
Duma - Cheetah
Tumbili - vervet monkey
Nyani - baboon
Jambo - how are you?
Mambo? - what’s up
Poa - I’m fine – reply to above
Asante - thank-you
Mzuri - very nice / beautiful
Asante sana - thank-you very much
Baba - father
Mama - mother
Mtoto - baby
Kaka - brother
Dada - sister
Na - and
Caribu - welcome / you’re welcome
Manyara - cactus
Mbu - mosquito
Chui - leopard
Faru - rhino
We had a long drive out to the south end of the park at Manyara to visit the hot spring there. It is a VERY hot spring. We had a picnic lunch in the land-rover with elephants just outside and at another picnic site we observed a weaver bird actually weaving a nest.
On the way in that morning we had stopped for a whole troop of baboons in the road. Most of them seemed to be making baby baboons. If they weren’t looking after young ones themselves that is! We spent a good deal of time with the hippos again and eventually returned to the hotel in the mid afternoon.
We had quite a discussion with Waulid on the pronunciation of English words. He had asked us if we had tribes in the UK. We answered, that while we do not have “tribes” in the classical sense, we certainly do have distinct regional identities. We explained that this has a big effect on pronunciation of words and we demonstrated the difference between North and South and he was quite taken with this. We used the example of “water” as a word with differing pronunciation. He then expressed his dislike of Americans by poking fun at their rather over-stressed pronunciation of “water”.
I then arranged a trip to walk the site with the resident naturalist – Yotam. The site was just barren farmland in 1993 and now has some fairly mature trees. These trees are representative of the local species and replacements are grown in the on-site nursery. On the way we saw many species of birds and Yotam explained the geology of the area which led to the formation of the rift valley and notably the Western edge of the eastern arm on which we were stood. Lake Manyara is shrinking and is also quite alkaline, but becoming less so. This can lead to problems with the production of the wrong sorts of cyanobacteria on which the flamingo thrive. They are now seeing toxic blue-green algae. The lake is only 6m deep now and recent dry years in 2000-2005 have been a challenge. Farming activity also leads to silting up of the lake bed. Hydroelectric schemes further up the valley have caused downstream problems with the lake. This is a problem which is likely to worsen rather than improve in the near future. The lesser flamingo are pink only because they of the cyanobacteria on which they feed.
The kitchen has a large garden at Serena and they are able to grow nearly all their own fruit and vegetables there and source their meats locally. The garden uses local cow dung and composted kitchen waste as a soil improver. We explored a termite mound and I found out about the abundance of life that these support. The termites “farm” a type of fungus to feed the queen to keep a constant supply of drones for the mound. Snakes, rodents, larger invertebrates, spiders and anteaters also inhabit the mound and the internal temperature is quite warm as I found by putting my hand into one of the vents.
Yotam also introduced me to the parallel “little five”:
Lion Ant lion
Rhino rhinoceros dung beetle
Buffalo buffalo weaver
Leopard leopard tortoise
Elephant elephant shrew
The ant lion forms a small hole with a surrounding cone into which an unsuspecting insect will fall. The ant lion then paralyses the insect and liquefies its insides before consuming it.
Black rhino are distinct from white rhino. The white rhino name is the result of a misunderstanding of the pronunciation of the word ‘wide’ by Afrikaners. The white rhino has a wider mouth and graze widely.
The layer beneath the bark of the African flame tree is quite soft and can be boiled to make a remedy for retained placenta in cattle and this layer can be used to make ink-stamps in much the same way as the cork-oak.
The Manyara cactus is a great plant to use as a boundary shrub as the sap is highly irritant. It is of the euphorbia group which share this feature. Animals do not want to try and breach this barrier. It is also easy to propagate and will quickly take hold from a very small cutting. The sap is also good as a makeshift mild adhesive.
There are 4 main habitats at the Lake Manyara national Park:
1 Groundwater forest
2 Open savannah
3 Water edge wetlands
4 Lake
The town at the head of the lake called Mto Wa Mbu – Mosquito town and it is said that nearly all of the 126 languages in Africa can be heard there.
Our dinner that night at Serena was as good as ever and we enjoyed a South African wine and listened to the band play the very distinctive African rhythms as an accompaniment to dinner.
Thursday
We had an arrangement to be picked up by CC Africa that morning to be drive to the Ngorongoro Crater Lodge high in the Ngorongoro highlands. Vicky was our driver for the morning. The lodge is about 90 minutes drive from Lake Manyara and this took us through some small villages and through the reasonably sized town of Karatu. Karatu is the home town of Maulid our guide whilst at Lake Manyara. The drive through these regions gives quite an insight into the lives of the general population of the country.
We had a short stop at the ranger post on the outskirts of the Ngorongoro conservation area. This contains a number of sites as well as the Nogorongoro crater itself. The crater is actually a collapsed volcano and more accurately termed a caldera. On the road to the lodge there is an excellent viewpoint with a wide vista of the crater. This apparently is usually quite misty, but luckily was not on the day we visited. The clouds hang around the crater rim whilst the floor of the crater can be exposed to bright sunshine. There is a rainforest type environment high on the crater rim and on the outer walls. This is where the female elephants live in herds and the males live down on the crater floor and only visit during the mating season.
The ranger post has a small interpretative display and a lot of baboons in the car park. There is a nightly fee of $55 per person to stay within the conservation area. An awful lot of official looking paperwork seems to be generated. I did notice that whilst the paperwork is organised in one hut, it is then inspected by the chap in the hut not 10m away before entry is granted. Not only do they do paperwork well but they also have large numbers of staff to make sure it is double checked. All the buildings in the national parks also have official numbers stamped on them to identify them. We certainly gave them army efficiency and bureaucracy as a legacy!
The road from Manyara through to the crater lodge becomes the main road into the Serengeti and you can keep driving and find yourself in that park.
On arrival at Ngorongoro Crater Lodge we were taken to the “North” camp. The Lodge is arranged in 3 camps; North camp, South camp and Tree camp. There are 12 rooms in each of the North and South camps and 6 in the Tree camp. Each camp has its own bar and dining area and a separate team of staff. Festo was to be our butler and Irene was the camp manager. We were introduced to Timothy, our ranger who was to take us into the crater that afternoon, for our first experience of the wildlife there.
Our trip into the crater was very interesting. The crater floor is some 600m below the rim, which itself is 2300m above sea level. There are separate crater fees for each vehicle entering. This fee is $200 for the vehicle and is no more or less each time the descent road is used. There is a one-way system with one descent road and one ascent road in current use. The crater is teeming with wildlife. There is a resident herd of about 15000 wildebeeste and 6000 zebra. These have a relation ship which works quite well so they coexist nicely. The zebra crop the grass short so the wildebeest get the short stems they like so much. We saw wildebeeste males performing a most interesting territorial activity. They run in circles delineating the area in which they have the dominance. The wildebeeste had calved in February so the calves we saw were about 2 months old. We also saw some pregnant females. I explained to Timothy the principles of the 5 “F”s of swollen bellies. The bird life of the crater is also abundant and spotting this helps to give a fuller picture of what is on offer. Timothy was an avid bird watcher and was able to point out species which we would have otherwise missed.
The crater gates are closed at six and we were duly out on time. On arrival back in the camp, the bath had been run in our rooms and the masseuse had brought her equipment, so that Debi could have a relaxing massage after so many days having “African 4x4 massage”. It would seem that the butler is alerted to our return by the radio from the rangers and this is how they know when to run the bath.
The bar here is quite something and its associated toilets are some of the most sumptuous conveniences we have ever experienced. The evening was punctuated by an impromptu song and dance from the staff in order to bring out cakes for those celebrating special occasions.
This lodge also requires Maasai escort after dark, as wild animals do roam the lodge environs. The laundry ticket carries a warning that hyena and baboons sometimes raid the laundry yard and the implication is that you might not get back all you send!
The rooms here are quite something, a bit like an elaborate cinema set. Even the loo has quite a view over the crater and the potential to spot a buffalo looking back at you as you are sat down. It is on the whole extremely civilised, with an iPod dock, decanters with sherry and port, and a selection of sweet treats should you feel peckish at any time. The butler also brings tea and biscuits on a tray as a wake up call here. There are also wellies in the closet should it get a bit muddy round the lodge.
On our return to the room after dinner, we found the fire lit and the electric blankets on. This is quite blissful and is a reminder that at this altitude it can be quite chilly at night.
Friday
This was an early start to get the most from our time at the lodge. Breakfast was as good as ever and the themed “crater omelette” was excellent. Debi had the cinnamon pancakes. We took a picnic with us today as we were not due back til the later afternoon.
Our trip into the crater once again took us onto the floor of the crater. Timothy took us through the Lerai forest. Lerai is the Swahili name for the yellow fever acacia. These trees have a distinct yellow bark and are found in the kinds of locations where the mosquito responsible for transmitting yellow fever are found. Leopards have been seen in this area but we were not rewarded with a sighting and Timothy had not seen one there for some months. It was however very good for birdlife and elephants.
The strangler figs are seen here. Each fig tree has its own particular fruiting season and the baboons will exploit a tree whilst it is in fruit. Each type of fig tree also has its own associated wasp responsible for pollination of the tree. The strangler figs are bird dropped seed which germinate in the upper branches of the trees and send aerial roots which aim to reach the ground. They will eventually do this and the original host tree may be killed in the process.
On our trip we were rewarded with the sights of black rhino grazing near the lake and even a baby rhino with its mother. The rhino were also marking their territory by spraying urine. The rhino do not come close to the vehicle tracks and views of them are rather distant. It is still a great privilege to be able to see such a critically endangered species in the wild.
Our lunch stop was at the Ngoitokitok picnic site. There were quite a few vehicles there but nowhere near as many as there would be during the busy times of the summer. The birds here are very cheeky and have learnt to beg and scavenge food from the visitors. The Black Kites are very bold and will take food from your hand and indeed I came close to being attacked from behind but Debi spotted the inbound offender just before it took the chocolate brownie and my fingers. The picnic we took was very large and would have been enough to feed the whole site. It was fantastic and came with all the usual accompaniments expected from the service provided by CCAfrica.
During the afternoon a call came in on the radio that a cheetah had been spotted. There were a few vehicles there by the time we arrived but it was still a marvellous sight to see a cheetah stalking gazelle. The gazelle were very alert to this and were moving to avoid her. A group of warthog passed her nose but she did not attack these. The warthog will fight back and could cause injury to the cheetah which would be devastating to their hunting ability.
Shortly after this sighting we saw a serval cat. We were also rewarded with sightings of hyena. These members of the dog family do like to roll in the mud and live in “dens” which are quite disgusting. That said they are still a major predator and we were very grateful that we had the chance to see them.
There are hippo here as well and when we arrived at one of the hippo pools we were treated to a display of a rolling hippo. This happens because the hippo cannot fully submerge in the shallower water of this pool and must roll to keep cool.
The black bellied bustard has an interesting call an ascending note followed by a guttural popping noise. Josh was able to do a very convincing impression of this.
We returned to the lodge later in the day and once again found our bath run. We had champagne with dinner as a final celebration.
Saturday
This morning was the last in Tanzania and marked the beginning of our long journey back to the UK. We were woken to the now familiar sounds of the butler bringing the tea and biscuits. Our breakfast was as good as ever and our bags were taken to the truck to await our departure. We left with a grand send off from the camp staff at 9-30 AM to begin our drive to the airstrip at Lake Manyara.
We arrived there in good time and the aircraft was early. We were expecting a direct trip to dar-es-Salaam in readiness for our onward flight to Dubai. What actually occurred was more elaborate. Our first stop was in Arusha to disembark and our luggage was left on the plane whilst we enjoyed a one hour wait in the departures area for Coastal aviation. Our pilot remained the same for the whole day and she did a great job given the large number of hours for which she was flying. Our next flight took us to Zanzibar, where it was quite humid and wet, still we could say that we had actually been there and set foot on dry land. We then took a final hop to Dar-es-Salaam airport domestic terminal. On arrival it was raining but this was set to get worse in the next few minutes. This had led the pilot to declare that she would not land after the two larger Boeing aircraft but to come down first as she could see the rain advancing onto the runway. Hence she made a quick loop whilst declaring her intent to the local tower and making a beeline for the runway. She had already been delayed leaving Zanzibar to make way for another larger aircraft.
We were met by the CCAfrica rep at Dar airport who escorted us to the international terminal. This is quite chaotic in appearance but functions perfectly well. The business lounge announcements are almost inaudible but you do eventually manage to get onto your flight at the right time and with little fuss. At check-in there appears to be a somewhat intricate system which involves passing the usual labels to a member of staff who applies them to your bags and then loads them onto a manual trolley for onward movement. Presumably the whole process is very manual but appeared to work a whole lot better than T5 which was still enjoying a rather less than grand start to life.
We then boarded the 17-20 flight to Dubai. This arrived at 11-30PM and we had a transfer to Dubai arrivals as we were not on a short transit this time. We then had to acquire a short term visa for the UAE which would allow us to access our hotel for the next few hours. The whole process was relatively swift. From business desk, to passport control to limo area to hotel took no longer than ¾ hour and we were placed in the Taj Palace hotel on the 10th floor in a massive suite so that we could spend the next few hours grabbing a little sleep prior to our onward flight.
An early morning wake-up call soon brought us round and we transferred back to the airport to catch our onward flight to Manchester. This was quite a long flight and as usual the Emirates food service was excellent. We arrived back in the UK at 1PM and on clearing customs our car was ready to take us home. They had again provided 2 cars, should we need them. However, with so little luggage, one car was more than adequate. Josh could have had his own, had he wished it so. Our holiday was unfortunately over once we arrived back in Askam, but it had been a very memorable experience.
Tuesday 22 April 2008
It always seems a very long time between posts..
It has been so long since I last posted that I cannot remember the thread of my thoughts and even if I was to re-read the previous posts, I would still not be able to recreate the point I had reached. A lot of water has passed under the bridge. The laptop HDD died and required recovery by a very expensive team of experts. It is now working perfectly, although it takes time to sort all those little settings out e.g. for instance I am using “Word” at the moment and the default font is Times-new-Roman and I hate it and need to reset it to something more acceptable like Tahoma. At least I have all my files now and that should make the talk to the nursery children on Friday a bit easier – I have a powerpoint for that.
Currently I am reading “More Bollocks to Alton Towers”. If you have not read the first one then you will not understand the second, but it is a glorious celebration of the Great British tourist attraction. I love it as it provides me with masses of potential points for further investigation. I guess you are either a bit of a nerd or you’re not. I am also reading “You don’t have to be evil to work here, but it helps” by Tom Holt – again Tom is a bit of an acquired taste and the only way to describe it is to say that it is absurdist fiction set in a very normal world.
The Angels and Airwaves gig at the Manchester Academy on the 10th of April was fantastic, but very very sweaty. I have not been that involved in a gig since I was 20. The support “You, Me at six” were very good and certainly a better opener than Biffy Clyro for Linkin Park. The next gig should be a lot more sedate – Jethro Tull at The Sands in Carlisle.
The other major event of the last while, was our trip to Africa. I have written a diary and as soon as I have copied it in, I will post it here, as I don’t want to have to do things twice. Tanzania is fantastic and I would recommend anyone to go there. You do need to do it some style to make the best of it though. We went with CC Africa as a tour operator. They are a fantastic company and their lodges are superb. We flew in and out with Emirates business class. Their service is always great and for that distance peasant class would be horrible.
I did however watch “I am Legend” on the flight – avoid like plague. I am so glad I never bought the movie. I have also watched “The last King of Scotland”, since being back home – that is superb, although not a comfortable watch. The Simpsons movie is not bad – a reasonable plot and some good comic moments – not a classic but enjoyable all the same. “The Baker” with Damian Lewis is a great British comedy and is easily up there with the best high-budget jobs, even though it looks to have been shot on a home video with a budget of 20p.
Back at work now though – things tickling along, but as ever could always use a bit more cash.
Running going OK again – need to get ready for the K2B now. The Grizedale10 went well on the 15th March – 77mins for 10 miles and came 78th out of 250. I was quite pleased indeed. Holiday and work have conspired against training for the last month but am hoping to get a good 20mile run in on Thursday. I am also booked on another trail run in October. Firstly need to get that K2B out of the way – less than 8hh this year would be good.
Currently I am reading “More Bollocks to Alton Towers”. If you have not read the first one then you will not understand the second, but it is a glorious celebration of the Great British tourist attraction. I love it as it provides me with masses of potential points for further investigation. I guess you are either a bit of a nerd or you’re not. I am also reading “You don’t have to be evil to work here, but it helps” by Tom Holt – again Tom is a bit of an acquired taste and the only way to describe it is to say that it is absurdist fiction set in a very normal world.
The Angels and Airwaves gig at the Manchester Academy on the 10th of April was fantastic, but very very sweaty. I have not been that involved in a gig since I was 20. The support “You, Me at six” were very good and certainly a better opener than Biffy Clyro for Linkin Park. The next gig should be a lot more sedate – Jethro Tull at The Sands in Carlisle.
The other major event of the last while, was our trip to Africa. I have written a diary and as soon as I have copied it in, I will post it here, as I don’t want to have to do things twice. Tanzania is fantastic and I would recommend anyone to go there. You do need to do it some style to make the best of it though. We went with CC Africa as a tour operator. They are a fantastic company and their lodges are superb. We flew in and out with Emirates business class. Their service is always great and for that distance peasant class would be horrible.
I did however watch “I am Legend” on the flight – avoid like plague. I am so glad I never bought the movie. I have also watched “The last King of Scotland”, since being back home – that is superb, although not a comfortable watch. The Simpsons movie is not bad – a reasonable plot and some good comic moments – not a classic but enjoyable all the same. “The Baker” with Damian Lewis is a great British comedy and is easily up there with the best high-budget jobs, even though it looks to have been shot on a home video with a budget of 20p.
Back at work now though – things tickling along, but as ever could always use a bit more cash.
Running going OK again – need to get ready for the K2B now. The Grizedale10 went well on the 15th March – 77mins for 10 miles and came 78th out of 250. I was quite pleased indeed. Holiday and work have conspired against training for the last month but am hoping to get a good 20mile run in on Thursday. I am also booked on another trail run in October. Firstly need to get that K2B out of the way – less than 8hh this year would be good.
Tuesday 18 March 2008
too darn busy or too darn lazy
6th February 2008
Seems to be a bit of a better day today – perhaps bad weather draws out the chavs from the woodwork. Weather seems cheerier and so far have not had any idiots through the door. Have now downloaded my Digi souvenir pack from the Linkin Park gig on the 27th – excellent collection of MP3s and jpgs and the rest. The “new” PDA arrived yesterday and works perfectly – came with a bonus sat nav software so will have to get a GPS receiver to make it work! Definitely a very difficult week to spend any time contemplating anything deep as have no time for that at all. I need to understand the nature of “reality” better to have any concept of how to fit a “god” into the quantum model of the Universe. “God” is not just “in the detail” I believe that he “IS the detail”. This is so opposed to those who cannot accept that the so called non-overlapping magisteria do in fact overlap and indeed combine to give a complete answer. I also believe that there is no way we as a race will ever fully comprehend the structure of the Universe as our mind cannot expand that far and indeed Roger Penrose hit the nail on the head when he suggested that we need a separate way of doing physics to cope with understanding how the Universe works. The “Emperors New Mind” is an excellent introduction to this topic. Brian Greene’s “Elegant Universe” is easier to read and Penrose “Road to Reality” is unfathomable without degree level math / physics.
8th February 2008-02-08
Got it! I am a non-realist Christian – stick that in your web search and see where you end up – At least that is what I currently believe – I will need to look deeper and study the philosophical constructs behind this but I feel that it may offer me a way of viewing things the way I do. I find the current trend toward muscular atheism to be as inflexible and unthinking as the monotheistic religions themselves. I do not feel able to associate myself with the self-appointed heads of this new way of doing things e.g. Dawkins and therefore need a more considered approach to my theology. We shall see how this all works out in the fullness of time…
24th February
Have been skiing and busy hence no further writings- poor discipline I’m afraid. Tested positive for TATP at Manchester airport on way out to Switzerland – oo-er. Well at least my laptop did but it appears that other substances can mimic this one and it may be my working environment may have contributed. 2nd test was clear so it was allowed through. I have now generated some security paperwork – I hope I do not get any further issues as that was not really all that funny. You will have to stick TATP into google to find out the info but I suspect that GCHQ monitor all instances of this and probably will “flag” this blog as potentially interesting – I can assure you it isn’t.. Still reading “Pies and prejudice” by Stuart Maconie and am working through “The Witches of Chiswick” by Robert Rankin. If you have never read any Robert Rankin – go out and buy some now – you could enlighten yourself by reading “The hollow chocolate bunnies of the apocalypse”.
Had another occasional “Gone Fishing” mens group meeting at Walney church last night – watched the film Amazing Grace – very good indeed – truly uplifting and a film that everyone should watch – I will certainly have a second sitting.
Have had plenty of time to consider matters divine whilst on the drag lifts in Saas Fee - slow progress but I am coming to an understanding. It would appear to me that we choose our particular theology partly based on what we have been exposed to culturally and partly due to what makes the most consistent sense to us. This does not deny a place to the divine but does mean that what we “use” as our construction of “something other” allows us to group together with other members of the same thinking and form a “church”. In my case this happens to be Christianity but it could just as easily be Islam or Buddhism or “Big Box Fella” (see Robert Rankin). It also fully allows science to exist and provide its own explanations of the world around us. Science at the level of the Universe or at the subatomic level quite often slips into “theories” rather than facts and this alone means that by no means does it fully explain our Universe.
12/3/08
From another blog:
The crew of artists on the China project came and ‘enjoyed’ tree planting in a light snowfall and moderate temperatures - above freezing. They stayed at Parkamoor but did complain of cold. I guess contemporary clothing is just not geared up for cold, damp conditions. I usually suffer from being too hot, tweed and wool is just too much in the heated environment. There is no way people will ever be able to go back from the level of heating that is now the norm. I noticed this recently while staying with friends, their house was full of eco stuff, they had carbon offsetting coming out of all ends. Each year they were planting 6 tiny trees which the label proclaimed would offset an average family’s carbon output. That might have been true but it would be 10 years before they jointly offset more than an average families wind breaking. And all this stuff is as nothing if you have your entire house heated to 24 degrees as they did. My recent experience with central heating (I have moved to a central heated house while Lawson Pk is under the builders) has helped me realise a lot about contemporary society. I realise that central heating is the cause of sloth, anger and dysfunctional behaviour. It is impossible to get the temperature right, the non directional nature of it causes the background temperature to inexorably rise, this terrible heat means that if you do anything more than just sit in your vest and pants you become bad tempered. The rise in the divorce rate is - I now realise closely linked to the development of central heating.
Heating is one of my BIG bugbears - my staff complains it is always cold in our building - I maintain that 16-18 degrees would be more than adequate outside (a lovely late spring day) so it should be more than adequate inside (at any time). I draw the line at maintaining "a healthy draft" like some friends of ours do (That IS cold). Everyone seems to moan about their gas bill and price rises, but the way to combat that is to keep the cost the same and use less of the stuff. Despite my inner need for stewardship of resources, I remain in staunch denial over the global warmng issue, particularly CO2 - the human effort is a mere 6% of the total - true we shouldnt produce CO2 if we can avoid it, but our efforts to stem the tide are mere piddling in the wind.
18th March 2008
Slowly plodding on with System of the World and have now finished reading “I predict a riot” by Bateman. That book is mad. How Bateman gets away with writing what he does about NI, I’ll never know, but he is fairly balanced so that may explain it. Now onto Keith Ward’s book “What the Bible really teaches – A challenge for fundamentalists”. This seems to be a very interesting read and quite a challenge. As I have heard said before and will repeat here “The word fundamental has mental at the very heart of it”. I would personally like to dismember anyone who puts the words creation and science together (they do not go together – you would have to be a retard to think that), as that is the kind of crap that fundamentalists come out with all the time. They blind themselves to other sorts of thinking. There is much that we do not understand about the Bible in the same way that there is much that we do not understand about science. To have a blind belief that excludes all of one whilst accepting all of the other without question, does nothing to forward the cause and is a best unhelpful and at worst complete nonsense. My understanding of theology is at best limited but even I can see that we need to consider the views of a wider group and looking at the extremists on either side is only mildly instructive. Well It has been some time but maybe I will add some more rather sooner than last time.
Seems to be a bit of a better day today – perhaps bad weather draws out the chavs from the woodwork. Weather seems cheerier and so far have not had any idiots through the door. Have now downloaded my Digi souvenir pack from the Linkin Park gig on the 27th – excellent collection of MP3s and jpgs and the rest. The “new” PDA arrived yesterday and works perfectly – came with a bonus sat nav software so will have to get a GPS receiver to make it work! Definitely a very difficult week to spend any time contemplating anything deep as have no time for that at all. I need to understand the nature of “reality” better to have any concept of how to fit a “god” into the quantum model of the Universe. “God” is not just “in the detail” I believe that he “IS the detail”. This is so opposed to those who cannot accept that the so called non-overlapping magisteria do in fact overlap and indeed combine to give a complete answer. I also believe that there is no way we as a race will ever fully comprehend the structure of the Universe as our mind cannot expand that far and indeed Roger Penrose hit the nail on the head when he suggested that we need a separate way of doing physics to cope with understanding how the Universe works. The “Emperors New Mind” is an excellent introduction to this topic. Brian Greene’s “Elegant Universe” is easier to read and Penrose “Road to Reality” is unfathomable without degree level math / physics.
8th February 2008-02-08
Got it! I am a non-realist Christian – stick that in your web search and see where you end up – At least that is what I currently believe – I will need to look deeper and study the philosophical constructs behind this but I feel that it may offer me a way of viewing things the way I do. I find the current trend toward muscular atheism to be as inflexible and unthinking as the monotheistic religions themselves. I do not feel able to associate myself with the self-appointed heads of this new way of doing things e.g. Dawkins and therefore need a more considered approach to my theology. We shall see how this all works out in the fullness of time…
24th February
Have been skiing and busy hence no further writings- poor discipline I’m afraid. Tested positive for TATP at Manchester airport on way out to Switzerland – oo-er. Well at least my laptop did but it appears that other substances can mimic this one and it may be my working environment may have contributed. 2nd test was clear so it was allowed through. I have now generated some security paperwork – I hope I do not get any further issues as that was not really all that funny. You will have to stick TATP into google to find out the info but I suspect that GCHQ monitor all instances of this and probably will “flag” this blog as potentially interesting – I can assure you it isn’t.. Still reading “Pies and prejudice” by Stuart Maconie and am working through “The Witches of Chiswick” by Robert Rankin. If you have never read any Robert Rankin – go out and buy some now – you could enlighten yourself by reading “The hollow chocolate bunnies of the apocalypse”.
Had another occasional “Gone Fishing” mens group meeting at Walney church last night – watched the film Amazing Grace – very good indeed – truly uplifting and a film that everyone should watch – I will certainly have a second sitting.
Have had plenty of time to consider matters divine whilst on the drag lifts in Saas Fee - slow progress but I am coming to an understanding. It would appear to me that we choose our particular theology partly based on what we have been exposed to culturally and partly due to what makes the most consistent sense to us. This does not deny a place to the divine but does mean that what we “use” as our construction of “something other” allows us to group together with other members of the same thinking and form a “church”. In my case this happens to be Christianity but it could just as easily be Islam or Buddhism or “Big Box Fella” (see Robert Rankin). It also fully allows science to exist and provide its own explanations of the world around us. Science at the level of the Universe or at the subatomic level quite often slips into “theories” rather than facts and this alone means that by no means does it fully explain our Universe.
12/3/08
From another blog:
The crew of artists on the China project came and ‘enjoyed’ tree planting in a light snowfall and moderate temperatures - above freezing. They stayed at Parkamoor but did complain of cold. I guess contemporary clothing is just not geared up for cold, damp conditions. I usually suffer from being too hot, tweed and wool is just too much in the heated environment. There is no way people will ever be able to go back from the level of heating that is now the norm. I noticed this recently while staying with friends, their house was full of eco stuff, they had carbon offsetting coming out of all ends. Each year they were planting 6 tiny trees which the label proclaimed would offset an average family’s carbon output. That might have been true but it would be 10 years before they jointly offset more than an average families wind breaking. And all this stuff is as nothing if you have your entire house heated to 24 degrees as they did. My recent experience with central heating (I have moved to a central heated house while Lawson Pk is under the builders) has helped me realise a lot about contemporary society. I realise that central heating is the cause of sloth, anger and dysfunctional behaviour. It is impossible to get the temperature right, the non directional nature of it causes the background temperature to inexorably rise, this terrible heat means that if you do anything more than just sit in your vest and pants you become bad tempered. The rise in the divorce rate is - I now realise closely linked to the development of central heating.
Heating is one of my BIG bugbears - my staff complains it is always cold in our building - I maintain that 16-18 degrees would be more than adequate outside (a lovely late spring day) so it should be more than adequate inside (at any time). I draw the line at maintaining "a healthy draft" like some friends of ours do (That IS cold). Everyone seems to moan about their gas bill and price rises, but the way to combat that is to keep the cost the same and use less of the stuff. Despite my inner need for stewardship of resources, I remain in staunch denial over the global warmng issue, particularly CO2 - the human effort is a mere 6% of the total - true we shouldnt produce CO2 if we can avoid it, but our efforts to stem the tide are mere piddling in the wind.
18th March 2008
Slowly plodding on with System of the World and have now finished reading “I predict a riot” by Bateman. That book is mad. How Bateman gets away with writing what he does about NI, I’ll never know, but he is fairly balanced so that may explain it. Now onto Keith Ward’s book “What the Bible really teaches – A challenge for fundamentalists”. This seems to be a very interesting read and quite a challenge. As I have heard said before and will repeat here “The word fundamental has mental at the very heart of it”. I would personally like to dismember anyone who puts the words creation and science together (they do not go together – you would have to be a retard to think that), as that is the kind of crap that fundamentalists come out with all the time. They blind themselves to other sorts of thinking. There is much that we do not understand about the Bible in the same way that there is much that we do not understand about science. To have a blind belief that excludes all of one whilst accepting all of the other without question, does nothing to forward the cause and is a best unhelpful and at worst complete nonsense. My understanding of theology is at best limited but even I can see that we need to consider the views of a wider group and looking at the extremists on either side is only mildly instructive. Well It has been some time but maybe I will add some more rather sooner than last time.
Tuesday 5 February 2008
Grrrnnnnnggggghhh
5th February 2008-02-05
Storming week so far… My staff have been told to f**k off by some scabby chav idiot who I am now going to ban from the practice and today yet another idiot gave a load of abuse to another member of staff after being asked to pay their outstanding account before having further treatment. I really need to find another way to make the same amount of cash as this is really not worth the effort. The other way, of course, would be to double the prices and drop all the charity schemes and see who actually stays – I bet we wouldn’t lose. I am sick of chav scum and skanky dossers; they make a complete mockery of the vast numbers of clients who behave in a reasonable manner. I can cope with complaints but not rudeness.
The Palm PDA died last week and after much messing about I bought a second hand one off Ebay whilst I try and decide on what to do in the long term. It would be just my luck for this one to outlive the first! I am quite taken by the UMPC particularly the OQO Series Version 2. PDAs seem very ahrd to get hold of now and I suspect the market is about the be taken over by the UMPC.
I finished the Stuart MacBride “Dying Light” – very good – but very formulaic – I should not have read it so quickly after the last one. Am now reading “Pies and Prejudice” by Stuart Maconie – a wonderful diatribe on “Northerness”. Am I a real Northerner – I was born in Reading after all..?
Storming week so far… My staff have been told to f**k off by some scabby chav idiot who I am now going to ban from the practice and today yet another idiot gave a load of abuse to another member of staff after being asked to pay their outstanding account before having further treatment. I really need to find another way to make the same amount of cash as this is really not worth the effort. The other way, of course, would be to double the prices and drop all the charity schemes and see who actually stays – I bet we wouldn’t lose. I am sick of chav scum and skanky dossers; they make a complete mockery of the vast numbers of clients who behave in a reasonable manner. I can cope with complaints but not rudeness.
The Palm PDA died last week and after much messing about I bought a second hand one off Ebay whilst I try and decide on what to do in the long term. It would be just my luck for this one to outlive the first! I am quite taken by the UMPC particularly the OQO Series Version 2. PDAs seem very ahrd to get hold of now and I suspect the market is about the be taken over by the UMPC.
I finished the Stuart MacBride “Dying Light” – very good – but very formulaic – I should not have read it so quickly after the last one. Am now reading “Pies and Prejudice” by Stuart Maconie – a wonderful diatribe on “Northerness”. Am I a real Northerner – I was born in Reading after all..?
Thursday 31 January 2008
Hell this is going to be long:
Well - I have posted nohting online since the 5th of January and this is because I am 1) lazy 2) busy and 3)have tried a hard written log. I started that one on the 21st of January and I will put the collected thoughts on here now:
21st Jan:
One queston that I found myself asking was : "Would I be able to write more freely with a pen than a keyboard?". This has now been answered - No. Certainly I had legibility concerns and these are being felt now that I am putting this onto the Blog. They were certainly well founded. The speed of writing may be faster with the pen, but it is a close-run thing. The keyboard has the benefit of edit prior to post, ink is too permanent once written. I think I will have to go back to the "scratch file" Blog again and make more effort. I am hoping to put my thoughts here although not my book idea (Someone could nick it), that I will leave on my desktop.
It would be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that what I write is of any importance to anyone ther than myself; on the contrary it is of the utmost unimportance. The commission of thoughts in an archivable form is what I wish to achieve. So much goes through my mind and so quickly, that I barely have time to dwell before moving on and I would perhaps like to look back over those thoughts. Even now I have altered this written post to allow for new thoughts.... The handwritten posts may not all end up here as there is so much and I need to move on so I will probably slip the rest in, on a later post.
I wonder if I should try and slow down and contemplate, or do I let my mind race as usual. This is a permanent problem for me and I have no way of being able to control it as yet. I did think that takng up slower pursuits may help and I think they might. I may also seek to take a retreat to solitude at some point later in the year. I felt Peter Jones series "Extreme Pilgrim" had a lot to teach us on the benefits of solitude and seeking the face of God. I would like to emulate this at some point. It certainly got me wondering wwhat would happen if I could throw of the shackles of modern life and money and tail-chasing and live in a "monastic" way..
Another question is whether I will improve my writing skills in this way. As stated earlier I am not that good with the English language and have to get my wife to look over any written works.
I was reading "the 13 1/2 lives of Captain Bluebear" , but have now finished this and moved on to another Police procedural "Dying light" by Stuart Macbride - gruesome but good. The "System of the World" by Neal Stephenson is taking a pace and I have at least moved past 100 pages now!
Looking forward to skiing now as is only 9 days to go. I do wonder if a 40yo can improve beyond the current ability - Josh certainly has youth as an advantage. I need to try and take on board all the tips from last year and see if we can move forward.
22nd Jan
Made a decision last night to get a grip on my finances, as the change in drawings at the end of November still hasnt quite sunk in and I am still struggling, but have an action-plan now so should be able to bring it all under control. A new mental state is required and I need to bring this to bear in so many areas of my life. Improvments in my weight are also required and these have been made by cutting out the cakes and reducing what I eat generally. Hopefully I can pull my BMI to the lower end of the normal range rather than the upper end of the range.
I also need to master what I actually believe in as this is fundamental to who I am. The contemplation of this may take time and takes into account that which I have written above. I feel I may be somewaht away from the mainstream and my faith position is based on a holistic view of the Universe and takes inot account all "rational explanation" as well as "faith based ideas". Confused - you bet. I need to embrace this change of pace but it will be a challenge.
29th Jan 2008:
Nothing for the last 7 days again.
The book thing is in my mind again...
Tomorrow looks like a good day so maybe I should get out with the camera - and indeed I did and got lots of good shots - I think I should try and photograph as much of the peninsula as I can.
A long run is out of the question as I did a 26mile epic in 4hours on Friday and 20mins at pace on the treamill was quite an effort last night anyway.
Linkin Park were excellent on Sunday night at the MEN - Josh was very impressed as well. Biffy Clyro were a solid support act, weak in openign but warmed up in the end.
31st Jan 08
Today - finally
Is it me or is it the rest of the world? I feel unable to get on top of all the developments in technology. The story is that my Palm is dying and this is a real issue as I totally rely on it for my working life. Indeed it may now be totally dead as I cannot reboot it at all. I then looked at the iphone as a replacement but this does not yet have 3rd party software ability as Apple have locked this but may release a SDK in the near future. It seems to rely on Web 2.0 funcitonality and indeed some of the Palm's functions may be replaced with web-apps but some may not. I could write my own.... Me write AJAX apps?? Confused - even more so.
Typing all this up has taken so long that I am now going to have to do some work! Maybe I should get back into the habit and it will then be easier...
21st Jan:
One queston that I found myself asking was : "Would I be able to write more freely with a pen than a keyboard?". This has now been answered - No. Certainly I had legibility concerns and these are being felt now that I am putting this onto the Blog. They were certainly well founded. The speed of writing may be faster with the pen, but it is a close-run thing. The keyboard has the benefit of edit prior to post, ink is too permanent once written. I think I will have to go back to the "scratch file" Blog again and make more effort. I am hoping to put my thoughts here although not my book idea (Someone could nick it), that I will leave on my desktop.
It would be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that what I write is of any importance to anyone ther than myself; on the contrary it is of the utmost unimportance. The commission of thoughts in an archivable form is what I wish to achieve. So much goes through my mind and so quickly, that I barely have time to dwell before moving on and I would perhaps like to look back over those thoughts. Even now I have altered this written post to allow for new thoughts.... The handwritten posts may not all end up here as there is so much and I need to move on so I will probably slip the rest in, on a later post.
I wonder if I should try and slow down and contemplate, or do I let my mind race as usual. This is a permanent problem for me and I have no way of being able to control it as yet. I did think that takng up slower pursuits may help and I think they might. I may also seek to take a retreat to solitude at some point later in the year. I felt Peter Jones series "Extreme Pilgrim" had a lot to teach us on the benefits of solitude and seeking the face of God. I would like to emulate this at some point. It certainly got me wondering wwhat would happen if I could throw of the shackles of modern life and money and tail-chasing and live in a "monastic" way..
Another question is whether I will improve my writing skills in this way. As stated earlier I am not that good with the English language and have to get my wife to look over any written works.
I was reading "the 13 1/2 lives of Captain Bluebear" , but have now finished this and moved on to another Police procedural "Dying light" by Stuart Macbride - gruesome but good. The "System of the World" by Neal Stephenson is taking a pace and I have at least moved past 100 pages now!
Looking forward to skiing now as is only 9 days to go. I do wonder if a 40yo can improve beyond the current ability - Josh certainly has youth as an advantage. I need to try and take on board all the tips from last year and see if we can move forward.
22nd Jan
Made a decision last night to get a grip on my finances, as the change in drawings at the end of November still hasnt quite sunk in and I am still struggling, but have an action-plan now so should be able to bring it all under control. A new mental state is required and I need to bring this to bear in so many areas of my life. Improvments in my weight are also required and these have been made by cutting out the cakes and reducing what I eat generally. Hopefully I can pull my BMI to the lower end of the normal range rather than the upper end of the range.
I also need to master what I actually believe in as this is fundamental to who I am. The contemplation of this may take time and takes into account that which I have written above. I feel I may be somewaht away from the mainstream and my faith position is based on a holistic view of the Universe and takes inot account all "rational explanation" as well as "faith based ideas". Confused - you bet. I need to embrace this change of pace but it will be a challenge.
29th Jan 2008:
Nothing for the last 7 days again.
The book thing is in my mind again...
Tomorrow looks like a good day so maybe I should get out with the camera - and indeed I did and got lots of good shots - I think I should try and photograph as much of the peninsula as I can.
A long run is out of the question as I did a 26mile epic in 4hours on Friday and 20mins at pace on the treamill was quite an effort last night anyway.
Linkin Park were excellent on Sunday night at the MEN - Josh was very impressed as well. Biffy Clyro were a solid support act, weak in openign but warmed up in the end.
31st Jan 08
Today - finally
Is it me or is it the rest of the world? I feel unable to get on top of all the developments in technology. The story is that my Palm is dying and this is a real issue as I totally rely on it for my working life. Indeed it may now be totally dead as I cannot reboot it at all. I then looked at the iphone as a replacement but this does not yet have 3rd party software ability as Apple have locked this but may release a SDK in the near future. It seems to rely on Web 2.0 funcitonality and indeed some of the Palm's functions may be replaced with web-apps but some may not. I could write my own.... Me write AJAX apps?? Confused - even more so.
Typing all this up has taken so long that I am now going to have to do some work! Maybe I should get back into the habit and it will then be easier...
Saturday 5 January 2008
too long since last post
Well. Its has been a long time – almost a month – still not totally into the habit of social networking and blogging. It has been a busy time so that might explain some of the slow progress.
I finished the Confusion in the week before Christmas; although it is not a final ending, and I am still completely clueless as to how this extremely large story will conclude. I have started the System of The World and I will keep myself updated with the progress – I don’t actually believe anyone else reads this – it is merely there so I can keep a track on my life..
I also finished “Cold Granite”. That was quite good and I am looking forward to the next one. I have since started and got almost half way through Robert Goddard’s “Name to a Face”. This is typical RG fare with a hapless protagonist finding himself in a series of improbable situations and I am sure it will all be sorted in the end. Quite good.
Back at work after Christmas period,; although I never was away fully really. Christmas was … different… this year. A trip to Lincolnshire for Xmas day was actually quite good. We saw all Debi’s side of the family and enjoyed her mum’s hospitality. The late night drive back to the Lakes was tiring but at least we got back so we could spend Boxing Day with my family.
Boxing day went quietly as well; Nanna failed to say anything outrageous and there were no major rows.
The real interest happened later in the week
A “dinner party”, Oh how the fuck I hate that phrase, with some interesting topics of conversation but when they are being discussed with someone who has all the intellectual capability of a fruit fly, it is well… interesting. If my family happen to read this it is nothing to do with them. Anyone who still thinks docking of dog’s tails is a reasonable process, is a (fill in your own perjorative term).
This is taking so long to post that I have managed to finish the Robert Goddard – a good book all in all and based on a not too far fetched premise. Very typical of his work but good nonetheless. The only question is .. which book next??
This post has taken too long – I am now reading “The 13 ½ lives of captain Bluebear” – very strange but quite compelling – a sort of word cartoon – don’t know where it will end up, I’ll keep myself informed.
I finished the Confusion in the week before Christmas; although it is not a final ending, and I am still completely clueless as to how this extremely large story will conclude. I have started the System of The World and I will keep myself updated with the progress – I don’t actually believe anyone else reads this – it is merely there so I can keep a track on my life..
I also finished “Cold Granite”. That was quite good and I am looking forward to the next one. I have since started and got almost half way through Robert Goddard’s “Name to a Face”. This is typical RG fare with a hapless protagonist finding himself in a series of improbable situations and I am sure it will all be sorted in the end. Quite good.
Back at work after Christmas period,; although I never was away fully really. Christmas was … different… this year. A trip to Lincolnshire for Xmas day was actually quite good. We saw all Debi’s side of the family and enjoyed her mum’s hospitality. The late night drive back to the Lakes was tiring but at least we got back so we could spend Boxing Day with my family.
Boxing day went quietly as well; Nanna failed to say anything outrageous and there were no major rows.
The real interest happened later in the week
A “dinner party”, Oh how the fuck I hate that phrase, with some interesting topics of conversation but when they are being discussed with someone who has all the intellectual capability of a fruit fly, it is well… interesting. If my family happen to read this it is nothing to do with them. Anyone who still thinks docking of dog’s tails is a reasonable process, is a (fill in your own perjorative term).
This is taking so long to post that I have managed to finish the Robert Goddard – a good book all in all and based on a not too far fetched premise. Very typical of his work but good nonetheless. The only question is .. which book next??
This post has taken too long – I am now reading “The 13 ½ lives of captain Bluebear” – very strange but quite compelling – a sort of word cartoon – don’t know where it will end up, I’ll keep myself informed.
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