Blue Witch

Apologies to anyone coming in from one of the NTL London area servers. I banned an idiot, anonymous, commentator, with a made-up URL, last night and it appears that I may also have inadvertently stopped you from commenting. Sorry. Hopefully freedom of speech is now restored. Thanks to dave for alerting me to this.

Devaluing the currency

(NB Over-generalisations and over-simplifications are rife in this piece, in true journalistic stylee :))

23 years ago this year I went to university.

In those days, there were no tuition fees, and grants were made for living expenses, based on parental income, by LEAs.

Entry to courses was dependent upon gaining A levels at set grades. This criteria was generally also applied to mature students. If you wanted to go into Higher Education, you had to go down this staged route.

There was a clear 'pecking order' of universities, and large employers, by and large, understood what a certain class of degree, from a certain type of establishment, meant.

If you missed the required A level grades to get into your university of choice, you either went through clearing and went to a 'university of lesser status', waited a year and did retakes, or settled for a place at a polytechnic or college of HE/FE.

Then things changed.

From Higher Education being available within a system comprising 'old' universities, 'red brick' (newer, founded in the mid 20th century) universities, polytechnics and colleges of HE/FE, where everyone knew where they were, gradually, over perhaps 10 years, names and boundaries blurred to the current position where, after the 1992 Further and Higher Education Act, any place of Further or Higher Education in the UK can now use the title 'university', with the permission of the Privy Council set up by this act. Many more educational institutions are now able to apply for degree awarding powers in their own right.

As it says here,

The UK does not have an official system of university rankings. The UK HE sector is very diverse and this makes any rankings difficult and subjective. The Higher Education Funding Council for England on behalf of all the UK funding councils produces a set of performance indicators for teaching and research, but these do not rank universities and colleges.

Several newspapers produce rankings using a variety of sources for their data. However, these may not have had input or support from the universities themselves. Those publishing 'league tables' include the Financial Times, the Guardian, The Times, The Times Higher Educational Supplement and The Sunday Times.

It is now extremely difficult for anyone (including employers and prospective students) to effectively compare different institutions of Higher Education, or the courses and qualifications they offer.

If I recall correctly (and I can't find this information anywhere - but I'll happily correct this if anyone can), back in the 1950s, around 2% of people went into Higher Education. In the 1970s it was 12%.

Now, the Government have a policy of expanding Higher Education, so that 50 per cent of young people enter Higher Education by the time they are 30. Much of this expansion is to be through two-year Foundation Degrees, to be developed in collaboration with employers. The first Foundation Degree courses began in September 2002.

Progress towards the 50% Higher Education target is currently measured by the Initial Entry Rate (IER).

For those who like statistics, here are some graphs of how things are progressing (requires Excel). Chart A shows that the IER figure has risen from 19% in 1990/91 to 34% in 2001/2.

The total number of HE enrolments at UK HE Institutions was 1,859,600 in 2001/02, an increase of 3% between 2000/01 and 2001/02. Between 1997/98 and 2001/02, UK HE enrolments increased by 9%. The latest comparable data available for HE enrolments in Further Education colleges in the UK is for the 2000/01 year. This data shows that there were a further 241,200 HE enrolments in FECs in the UK that year, of which 32% were full-time and 98% at undergraduate level.

I was told by an informed source in a newly degree-awarding college where I was working yesterday that the Initial Entry Rate into Higher Education figure is now 47% of under 30s (although, looking at the figures in the DfES charts there, I'm not convinced it's likely to be as high as that, yet). "It's bums on seats BW," I was told. "Once they're in, we can count them in our IER, it doesn't matter if they drop out after a couple of months."

I was querying why a 25-year-old student, with no A-C grade GCSEs, had been allowed to enrol on one of their degree courses. She had approached the college learning support department saying that she was struggling with her course. There are huge (and in my opinion, quite obscenely huge) pots of government money available for students with particular difficulties. I had been asked to assess this student to determine whether there was a discrepancy between her academic skill levels and her intellectual levels, which would make her eligible for funding from this source (such an allocation model is fundamentally flawed anyway, in my opinion, but that's the system, and I either play along with it or stay out of it - and, to be honest, it's easy money for me). This student had a reading comprehension age of 11 years and 1 month and intellectual ability in the range 78 to 84 (at the 10th %ile for her age group) (therefore no discrepancy - if one subscribes to a discrepancy model, which I don't, except for the purpose of this kind of assessment).

"Should this student be doing a degree course?" I asked. "Years ago, BW," my source went on, "when I started at this college, by and large we took the bottom of the 12% of students who went into HE. Now we're taking the bottom of the 47%. You work it out." "But," I countered, "when I first entered my profession, children with IQs below 85 were routinely found in special schools or special units, not doing degree courses!"

Soon, 50% of people under 30 will have a Higher Education qualification. Many of these qualifications will be called 'degrees'. I have no problem with 50% of young people having access to advanced study. I think it's great. And, let's face it, there are no jobs for them if they leave school at 16 are there? What I do have a problem with is the nomenclature of the awards.

Every August when the GCSE and A-level results come out, the media delights in attempting to prove that the exams have got 'easier'.

This, to me, is much less of an issue than something I haven't seen them pick up. That is, whether a 'degree' awarded in 2004 is equivalent to a 'degree' awarded in 1984, and whether a 'degree' from an 'old' university awarded in 2004 is equivalent to a 'degree' awarded by a one-time College of FE (with newly acquired degree awarding status) in 2004. I suspect they aren't. But I suspect that most people wouldn't know how to tell the difference. The system is now so complex that it is misleading and confusing.

I was discussing this with Mr BW last night. He summed it up beautifully. "At one time a degree would get you a job. Now it gets you an interview, if you're very lucky."

And don't even start me on how people can now be allowed to undertake Masters degrees without having completed any previous formal post-16 study.

Degrees are a devalued currency. Discuss.

Things to come

Tomorrow I'm going to rant about the state of Higher Education in the UK.

Right now I'm going to bed because 15 hours out of The Coven in That London yesterday, and 10 hours away from The Coven today (7 of them working on a 1:1 level without a break) have left me feeling like my legs and arms aren't joined to my body. And that's before I have a nice glass of wine...

As the White Rabbit said...

I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date! No time to say 'Hello!' Goodbye! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!

"I am your Lady and you are my Man"

10 years ago today an event occured that I never expected to happen.

I never expected it to happen because I never thought I'd meet a man who would so complement me, and bring out the best in me, that I would want to give up my feedom and independence, and spend the rest of my life with him. But, I did, and everything that he promised me on that day, he has done. And so very much more.

I believe that very few people in this world ever find their perfect soulmate. Someone who loves them, respects them and supports them, unconditionally. Someone with whom they can talk, someone who can understand, yet challenge; someone who can brighten the light, but also make the world seem bearable when it doesn't feel it will ever be.

I am one of the lucky ones. Thank you Mr BW. For everything.

The whispers in the morning
Of lovers sleeping tight
Are rolling by like thunder now
As I look in your eyes

I hold on to your body
And feel each move you make
Your voice is warm and tender
A love that I could not forsake

CHORUS
'Cause I am your lady
And you are my man
Whenever you reach for me
I'll do all that I can

Lost is how I'm feeling
Lying in your arms
When the world outside's too much for me to take
That all ends when I'm with you

Even though there may be times
It seems I'm far away
Never wonder where I am
'Cause I am always by your side

CHORUS

We're heading for something
Somewhere I've never been
Sometimes I am frightened
But I'm ready to learn
Of the power of love

The sound of your heart beating made it clear
Suddenly the feeling that I can't go on
Is light years away

We're heading for something
Somewhere I've never been
Sometimes I am frightened
But I'm ready to learn
Of the power of love

Garden project

Take a 7 foot length of large diameter bamboo, a jigsaw, some 'blue with blotch', white and mauve pansies, some bronze grass, some hellebores, some John Innes No. 3 compost, a bit of time, a bit of imagination, and a bit of patience, and this is what you get.

Ooops...

You know how my spells can be somewhat variable in success?

Well, it appears that something has gone badly wrong.

Latest addition to The Coven Pond is this prehistoric creature (captured here through its plastic bag on The Coven Kitchen floor). And she thought she was moving to France. Teehee :)

Post

Yes, we really do have our own personal (genuine) postbox at The Coven.

Rescued from a Dead Postbox Yard in rural Norfolk a couple of years ago, it stands outside the front door and confuses people. Because, you see, Mr BW has sealed up the posting slot lest stray birds or bees take an interest.

And the object in the lower right corner is the blade of an old plough. I do like my objets :) I have lots of them (all picked up for very little) all round The Coven Grounds. All form focal points for various plantings.

The Anvil Garden

My great-grandfather was a blacksmith, so when I saw an anvil at a farm (auction) sale 7 or 8 years ago, I just had to have it. It now forms the centrepiece of the 'hot-coloured' part of The Coven grounds.

This picture was taken 11 days ago, and there are a lot more bulbs (mostly red tulips) out now.



Update: and here's one Mr BW took when I wasn't looking...
Just downloaded the pictures from the weekend, and this magically appeared.

Note to self

It is not a good idea to try recording the answerphone message for your new phone system when you have had a particularly large glass of wine and several Archers and lemonades (we'd run out of Pimms - disaster!).

The 48th Make Blue Witch Laugh Award

This week, surprisingly, considering how the week started, there are 7 contenders.

Only it's going to take a while to sort out the mess that is my folder of snippets. I haven't been coding them as I go along as I normally do as I spent less than 10% of the time I usually spend blogging this week in an attempt to get some normality back into my head and get on top of a pile of outstanding paperwork, and I still have one piece of work to complete before Mr BW gets back from Las Vegas at lunchtime.

So - see you later. Or rather, you'll see them later.

Later - sorry, much later than planned - blame BA for losing Mr BW's baggage, then providing a loss number that wasn't in the format the website would accept. And blame Mr BW for having a significant amount of 'uninsured in checked baggage' camera equipment in that bag, for some unknown reason best known only to him... but, don't start me off again... I still have my digital camera (he had that in his laptop bag). But that is all. Case, tripod, about 1GB of Sony memory sticks, all gone. It had better turn up...

Contender 1: NiC

Teen Dee went to a demonstration against animal testing on Saturday (not against try before you buy pet shops but tests upon animals I think).

She came back proudly announcing that she and her two friends were now vegans. Since Zee and I are non-meat eaters this is perhaps less of a prblem than it might be in some households. Nevertheless it took a major act of restraint to bite our tongues and say nout. She spent much of Sunday researching recipes and how she could best still get everything needed for a healthy diet. Hats off to her for that...

This evening Zee, Kay and I had Gorgonzola & Walnut Tortellini with a pesto and mayoniase sauce. Dee had some Quorn burgers in pitta bread.

Over supper she put forward the view that perhaps she should start off by just being a veggie for a few months and then if that went OK try being a vegan. We said that sounded like a very good idea but it was entirely up to her. When

She took that as a yes and helped me finish off the remaining tortellini with a healthy sprinkling of parmesan.

Contender 2: Jen. This one was last week, but I read it this week and it made me laugh.

away message

..Jen's computer has been turned off and will be briefly functioning only as an expensive piece of new age art until further notice.

This is her fridge speaking. If you would like to leave a message, please speak slowly so I can write it on a post-it note and stick it to myself. Alternatively, feel free to use the fridge poetry magnets to get your point across.

Please remember to close my door on your way out so the mad cow does not escape and the vegetables can open the whipped cream and fool around with the lights out, they are a bit shy.

Thank you.

Contender 3: dave.

Perhaps in 'retaliation' for my previouis theft(s) of Edward, dave stole my sunset picture and supportively graffiti'd it (see Tuesday's post).

Contender 4: Invisible Stranger is having a little break. In common with me and half of the rest of my blogroll I reckon. God, what did I start? Ah yes, I remember now. *I* didn't start it *ahem*. But, like me, he's still posting the odd comment. I started the week posting around and about under the name 'Invisible Blue Witch', but, after posting here on Tuesday, changed it to 'Semi-Invisible Blue Witch'. Nigel then left a comment under this post from "Semi-Blue Invisible Stranger".

Contender 5: drD:

"Best before 21st April"

If a friend of yours found a sticker with the phrase above attached to his willy during a mid-morning visit to the toilet he might be excused for:

a. Laughing out loud.
b. Wondering if it was a sign.
c. Resolving not to stick those bread bag sticky tape things to the edge of his kitchen worktop and then leaning against it whilst drinking tea first thing in the morning.

Contender 5: DG's moved the ongoing reports about the Bow Road tube station renovation into this comments box. I know that drD and I, if no one else, are following this closely (do you know, drD even complained that the mini-comment-box-bloglet was "moving about more than Kylie's bum" which deserves a mention, if not a point, yesterday). Me, because I'm interested in how well my spell is going (blue walls are my performance indicator), he because *thinks* well, probably because he can, I'd guess :)

Monday 19th April

It's possible to see behind the blue wall as you walk down the steps onto the westbound platform. There is nothing to see.

Tuesday 20th April

A sign on the scaffolding outside the station reads "Danger, Men Working Overhead". The sign is wrong.

Contender 6: Alan wrote about the BBC reaching 40. I can remember it starting. Well, no, I can't, because we didn't have TV until I was about seven or eight, but I could have remembered it starting. If I'd been watching from my pram. Anyway. Tellytubbies got mentioned (oh Alan, the VRS didn't know that word and just provided "Telly Tubby Scott mentioned" - is there something I don't know? ;)). Vaughan commented:

Mind you, we should all be grateful that the huge success of Teletubbies didn't take over BBC2, as looked all too possible in the late 90s, when they were flushed with pride at this new children's programme. They planned to integrate Teletubbies-like themes into the rest of the schedule . . .

- Our Teletubbies In The North
- Meet the Teletubbies Ancestors
- Two Fat Teletubbies
- Big Teletubbies Diary
- Gardeners' Teletubbies

I'll stop now, before someone hits me.

And then....
Contender 7: Alan excelled himself building on Vaughan's comment. Actually, Alan claims that he left the UK because of the threat of Teletubbies taking over BBC2.

Following the success of Teletubbies, BBC Two had planned to roll out the same approach across a significant part of its programming. I was lucky enough to download some information on this at the time -information that has subsequently been withdrawn from the Corporation's web site. Indeed, if you talk to anyone employed by the BBC at the time, you will find that they have been sworn to secrecy, and will almost certainly deny that this proposal was ever mooted. However, I saw it, and saved it, and then lost it in a hard drive crash.

This is what I can remember of it, though:

- The test card to be replaced by a smiling baby's face in the middle of the sun

- Evening programmes were to be introduced by the now-famous pale blue "2" popping out of the ground and proclaiming "Time for Television"

- Gardeners World was to feature rabbits every week, grass was to be slightly greener, and the sky was to be slightly bluer

- "Food and Drink" was to air a special edition focusing on custard and toast
Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson to carry a "magic bag"

- Lala and Dipsy to co-present a cookery show, provisionally called "Two fat... things, really"

- Po to join the cast of "This Life"

- News footage on Newsnight was to be shown twice, with an enthusiastic Kirsty Wark shouting "Again! Again! Again!" between showings

Difficult decision - but the winner is Jen. One point each for everyone, but 2, and the trophy for the week, for Jen. Well done to you all.

And, as a special treat for your patience in waiting for this to be posted, I have finally got round to updating the scoresheet (in the sidebar). Actually, I did that first thing this morning, so the winners have been hiding here all day :)

Special Event

I have to write this in magic ink as Mr BW isn't allowed to see it.

So unless you are Mr BW, please highlight the white space below.

I need your advice and suggestions.

Thanks for any help.

And Mr BW, you're not allowed to look in the comments box either.

Saint Dragon's Day

Not a rose in bloom in sight at The Coven.
Must be a sign.

From today, the Royal Mail are no longer collecting from the post box outside my local Post Office (3.4 miles away) at 6.30pm. If I want to post anything after 5 p.m. (which I often need to at the end of a working day) I now have to make a round trip of 19 miles.

The lyrics of life

Applying the sound behaviourist principle that one completed task = one reward, as I've been a Good Completing Witch, I am allowed a little blog :)

For me, in common with many others I suspect, there are a few particular lines from certain song lyrics that speak volumes. Often, I've found, it's just the coincidental timing of first hearing and life events that have made them assume a special place in the recording library inside my head.

I was commenting to Vaughan that one of my favourite "personal theme lines", as I call them, is from a Helen Reddy song. This came out at the beginning of 1975, at a time when I finally decided to give up trying to be like other people around me and accept that I was different. I've been struggling with this concept ever since. At that time, in an attempt to be as 'socially acceptable' as possible, I pretended that my interests were theirs. Then I went through a phase where I quietly let people get on with it, hoping they wouldn't notice. This was followed by a phase where I was quite happy to say what I thought and sod the consequences, and finally, came resolution. I am who I am and now accept that:

" It's so nice being insane no one asks you to explain " :)

There are lots of other personal theme lines in my library, and their relative popularity changes over time. But, my second and third favourites are always:

"Rebel Rebel, you've torn your dress
Rebel Rebel, your face is a mess
Rebel Rebel, how could they know?"

and

"Make a little birdhouse in your soul"

What are your personal theme lines?

Spot the phrase?

Lovely phrase in yet another *yawn* article about blogging in the Guardian on Monday, I thought.

I don't usually condone graffiti, but dave has pinched and scribbled on my sunset picture. I think I prefer his version, it's making me laugh when not much is, so I'm pinching it back so it can sit at the top until I next feel like posting. Thanks dave :)

Update: and mike, bless him, says he "couldn't resist" playing a bit more:

Thoughts for the day

There are 'truths' but we can only approximate a realisation of them in language.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein in 'Philosophical Investigations'

- John L Austin in ''How to do things with words'

- BW, somewhere between darkness on 19.04.04 and dawn on 20.04.04, inspired by conversations with him, him, him and him. Thank Blog for the mature thinkers in blogland, they're keeping me sane.

When there are no words

Zeitgeist angst

Here's one I wrote a month ago, but didn't post, largely because I feel that ignoring is generally the best way of dealing with people intent on furthering their own issues or personal needs by attacking others.

However, the phenomenon appears to have become more widespread. I've seen evidence in other places that suggests I'm not the only one feeling uneasy and guarded. And my initial feelings of hurt and injustice have grown rather than subsided after a period of logical analysis, which is unusual for me. I can't relieve my acute frustration by going and knocking hell out of the punchbag in the workshop as I might otherwise, due to my RSI, so, I need to say this now. Not that those who ought need to read it will get to see it, but, at least I'll have said it.

In fact, I've been so upset by this that it's radically altered what I've been writing here, and I've seriously thought about pushing the bye-bye button on several occasions recently.

The only reason I haven't is because my couturier didn't tell me where that button was, because over 60,000 visitors can't be that wrong, because in my head I've always had an image of a puff of blue smoke with a suitable caption as the final farewell. Google images hasn't been able to supply a suitable picture and I haven't come up with a good-enough caption. Maybe I should run a competition.

Anyway.

Gordon's post yesterday and my growing unease with the nature and content of an increasing sector of 'the medium' have prompted me to dig this rant out of my draft posts pile. It originally contained bits from an article by Giles Turnbull entitled "Why do people give up weblogs?" that Vaughan brought to my attention. But, I've decided just to provide the link. If you haven't seen this before, read, digest, and take something from it.

Now, the overdue post.

****************************************

At the moment I am struggling with a desire to keep up the momentum of what I started here 16 months ago, against a changing environment, everywhere, but particularly in blogland. It is a very different place to what it was then. It has grown along pyramid-selling lines. I don't want to sidetrack with this analogy, but I hope that there are others who have an inkling of what I am saying here.

My major unease is simple.

I am sick to the back teeth (to put it very politely) of some people thinking that they have the right to constantly prod, prod, prod, criticise and dissect what others write, without the decency to comment on a particular post in the place in which it first appeared.

Why do people feel they have the right to pass judgment on what others have written in their blogs, on their own blogs? Surely the comments box under a post is the place to comment?

It's not only happening to me, but I will use myself as an example.

After I had a moan about what I saw as declining etiquette and language in this extended corner of blogland on my return from Australia, by tracking back referrals, I found SEVEN references to what I'd written on sites I'd never read before. And more in places I had. The critics were people who seemed to think they knew me and had the right to name me and criticise my opinions, even though I had named no-one, and made it amply clear that I had no intention of so doing.

Because, despite how some people construed my message, it wasn't a one-person, or a two-person, or a three-person (or indeed any number of people) issue. It was a general issue, which was (and still is) about respect. A value that I hold very dear.

None of the people who delighted in believing they understood what I was saying (which they clearly didn't, by virtue of what they said, and how they said it) had commented here on more than one occasion. Anyone can lurk, yes, but, when I read what these lurkers (or maybe one-time visitors) had had the audacity to take away and write about I suddenly understood what it must be like to be someone suddenly in the media spotlight who unexpectedly finds their life dissected in the press by people who have only second hand (at best) and very partial information about them.

I can rise above that sort of petty-mindedness.

I think I did.

Quite frankly, their criticism of me says more about them and their insecurities and inadequacies than it ever will about me.

*********************************

However, despite what I wrote then, a month ago, it has affected me.

So, for a while I'm not going to be posting.

And for anyone as paranoid as me, who might feel that I'm having a go at them personally, I'm not. It's a general thing. Nor am I wanting this to be a 'throw enough nice compliments and she'll be back quicker' post. It's not. It's a not-very-well-put expression of...well, something. I hope it makes sense to somebody. And, I will be back.

Thought for the day

*Thinking*

Former presenter Caron Keating has died at the age of just 41 after fighting a secret battle with breast cancer.

The ex-Blue Peter presenter and daughter of Gloria Hunniford was diagnosed with cancer seven years ago.

She kept news of her illness from all but her family and closest friends.

She finally lost her fight with cancer at 6.15pm yesterday, surrounded by loved ones at her mother’s home in Sevenoaks, Kent.

More details.

Bed bugs

I really, really, hate staying in hotels, because I always spend the night imagining things biting me.

I really, really, hate hotels that don't have any sort of underblanket or mattress cover.

And I've stayed in plenty of those. Higher star rated ones seem to be the worst in fact.

Now I know I am right to be worried.

Night night, sleep tight... :)

The Coven Greenhouses overfloweth

I do hope that Mr BW put up the shelf above the Aga securely because there are the equivalent of about 10 trays of seeds germinating up there at present. We do have a couple of heated propagators, but this method is much quicker and makes use of existing heat that would otherwise just dissipate.

It's really exciting, every time I walk past I have a peek and something will have popped its green seed leaves up above the brown compost.

Trouble is, we then have to find it a space for it somewhere in the greenhouses. And they are full.

Spacehooks, that's what we need...

Tulips from The Coven

Sometime in the year 1637, a Dutch farmer was in the market for a tulip. Upon finding a bloemist who carried the specific variety of flower that he desired, the farmer entered into negotiations with the flower-seller. When an agreement had been reached, the farmer acquired his flower-bulb.

The purchase price that the farmer apparently deemed reasonable for a single tulip-bulb of the Viceroy variety included “two [loads] of wheat and four of rye, four fat oxen, eight pigs, a dozen sheep, two oxheads of wine, four tons of butter, a thousand pounds of cheese, a bed, some clothing and a silver beaker.”

It's a glorious day here, and I've just taken this picture of a veritable curiosity. A 5-headed tulip. I can't remember what variety this was, offhand, but it was definitely only meant to be single-headed. Would that it were still the 17th century :)

Thought for the day

Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.

- Oscar Wilde

Seasons in the sun

Why does it always seem to be snowing or wintry on ER?
Did they invest in a snow machine that needs to provide value?
I know that Chicago is called "The Windy City", but it's getting ridiculous.

Beeing there

It's lovely working in The Coven grounds when the weather is warm because the air is filled with the hum of buzzyness. Our little stripey friends are busy collecting pollen to feed their young. Some amazingly bright yellow pollen was being brought in on Sunday (the yellow blobs that you can see on some of their legs).

Thought for the day

Treat your friends as you would a bank account; refrain from drawing too heavily on either.

- Samuel Johnson

Monday at The Coven

Mr D'Ove and his babies were on the roof of The Inner Coven, thinking they were near me.

Sadly for them, we were outside, planting beans and many other seeds, repotting sempevivums, and generally enjoying ourselves.

We also sprung cleaned the buzzers, and I got the first sting of the year on my little finger (I decided to see whether venom therapy works on RSI) and dislocated and relocated my little toe. I now can't cross and uncross my little toe over my next-to-it toe, which Mr BW is mightily pleased about as he says it's my most annoying habit.

Hot cross bun count = 6.
But Mr BW has another day off tomorrow, so I'm sure they won't go to waist waste.

Spring flowers at The Coven

These are the Blue With Blotch pansies that I mentioned before.

Hot Cross bun count at The Coven this morning = 10.
The Missing 4 still have not reappeared.
They may need to be toasted henceforth.

Thought for the day

600 Iraqis, including civilians, have been killed in the besieged city of Fallujah, in the past week.

52 American service personnnel have been killed in Iraq, in the last week.

13 Greek workmen have been killed while trying to ensure the Olympic Complex in Athens is finished in time for this summer's games, in the last week.

3 Japanese civilians have been taken hostage in Iraq, in the last week, and the Japanese people wail in the streets.

Who has the better grip on reality?

It's a mystery

Hot cross bun count at The Coven at the beginning of yesterday = 22.

Hot cross bun count at The Coven this morning = 14.

I had 2 yesterday.
Mr BW says he also only had 2.

Therefore 4 have gone missing.

Where did they go?

Thought for the day

Don't get cross today.

The 47th Make Blue Witch Laugh Award

This week there are 4 contenders, only Mr BW isn't allowing me time off to put the finishing touches to the code, yet. It could have something to do with lack of chocolate in ovoid format...

Number of hot cross buns at The Coven at the beginning of the day: still 22

Later: Whew, I remembered a large bar of White Chocolate with Smarties left over from christmas stashed in a cupboard. Pressing this into Mr BW's hot paw has allowed a temporary reprieve from garden slavery of enough time to post the contenders.

Contender 1: At last, Dino Features is back blogging again. And admitting she's really called Dino Features, as I've always presumed:

Dinosaur Feature

I've found some nice sites with pictures of dinosaurs.

Search 4 Dinosaurs is a directory of hundreds of dinosaur pictures, indexed by species.

Even better, Early Image is a collection of dinosaur pictures published before 1923, before they figured out quite how the fossils fitted together. Excellent stuff.

I also found this site about Lewis and Clark's journey in the early 1800s across America, refuting the idea that they expected to see dinosaurs on the way. I'm saving this for another day; I've never heard of Lewis and Clark (Lewis and Short is as close as I come), but it all looks jolly interesting.

Nice piccies, you think? I feel a new design coming on.

And, a couple of days later, there was a nice new design. Bluey tones too :) She says it's an icthy-thingy (as I'm not a small boy I haven't the faintest idea about dinosaurs, and prefer to think of it as a bottle-nosed shark). Except after you've commented, when it currently reverts to the original orange dinos. As NiC said, henceforth she'll be known as Variable Features. And it's her birthday today. Many Happy Returns Variable Features :)

Contender 2: dave - you need some context - dave, Darren and Edward came to visit The Coven because I wanted to dognap Edward they wanted some plants to cover the retaining fences that surround Spellcnut Towers and I know a Value supplier. Whilst here, Edward attempted to secure himself a chicken dinner but reckoned without the protective electric netting we have.

We had a lovely day in the country yesterday visiting garden centres and tasting home made soup with the BW's. Apart from them torturing our dog with electricity and then trying to kidnap him we had a great time.

*Acts innocent* That's defamation of character isn't it? They're in Blackpool, so I'm nicking a pic of Edward as recompense :)

Contender 3: Alan does a lit crit of contemporary usage the term "milkshake".

You need to read this one in its entirety.

Contender 4: Nigel. Do read it all, but here's an excerpt:

At this time of year, I always feel a bit of a fraud, taking time off for a major Christian festival, when I stopped believing all that Roll-Away-The-Stone nonsense years ago. I think I started to stop believing when, as an infuriatingly precocious kid, I asked Father McCann why we couldn't do something for the poor people by selling all the pretty pictures in the Vatican, and he couldn't come up with a convincing answer.

I can't quite understand what stuffing yourself sick with Terry's Chocolate Orange has to do with the supposed Resurrection of You-Know-Who. In fact, the only thing making this weekend special to Joe Public seems to be the fact there are more Judy Garland movies on telly than is heterosexually healthy, and the shops are full of hot cross buns.

One point to each contender, plus one for NiC for inventing this week's winner's new name. 2 points and the Trophy for the week to the Birthday Girl Somewhat Variable Features.

Hot Cross Buns

Number at The Coven at the beginning of the day = 26

Number at The Coven at the end of the day = 22

In between: Lots of weeding, planting, Mediterranean Garden wall repairing, pond replanting and covering with plastic mesh (anti-heron), raspberry frame construction, minestrone soup eating, seed tray and plant pot filling, heavenly pie making, D'Ove flight watching, hen squabble refereeing. And it was sunny. Can it really be a Bank Holiday weekend?

Thought for the day

Iraq.

A year on.

Did the Americans learn nothing from Vietnam??

Weekend blues

Well, you can all stop feeling sorry for Mr BW and thinking I'm denying him his marital chocolate rights. Our cleaner (bless her) has provided not only a lovely M&S chocolate mother hen and eggs, but also a box of chocolates. Mr BW is happy.

Apparently, as well as all the seed sowing, plant planting and fledgling D'Ove watching (my babies are flying now - it always amazes me how quickly they become real, flying, birds) that I'd planned, we're also painting the hall, walls, ceiling and panelling, making some new raised beds for the new fruit trees for the orchard (it's so wet down there that the original fruit trees have been dying - but, fear not, in true Value stylee, we've been chainsawing them into logs to fit the wood burner) and polishing knobs.

BTW, would the last person out of this corner of blogland please turn out the lights? You're all off somewhere, it seems to me. *jealous*

Sweet dreams word thingy

I need your help.
I need you to supply an easter present for Mr BW.

Chocoholic BW that he is, he won't be getting any easter eggs, because:

(a) Chocolate bought in that way must be the least Value product available
and
(b) The over-packaging is against my environmental principles, particularly as much of it won't recycle
and
(c) He doesn't need the calories

So, today the word thingy is chocolate, and other sweets. As usual, each new addition must start with the last letter of the previous submission.

Any confectionery product from any time is allowed - it doesn't still have to be in production.

To start you off: Black Jacks
(I can remember when they were 16 for an old penny. Then they went to 8 for an old penny, then decimalisation came along in 1971 and they immediately became 8 for a new penny (so doubling in price overnight). Daddy BW still dines out on his tale of what I said to the sweet shopkeeper (I was 9 at the time, but Value Witch started early) :)

Thought for the day

Growing old is unavoidable.
Growing up is optional.

- Anon

"Botched procurements"

Oooh look, the Government's wasted another £259M pounds of the defence budget, plus £127M for repairs.

"The Chinook helicopters could be a risk to fly in cloudy weather because the software which enables them to do this cannot be properly tested."

For goodness sake, they bought a machine (no, actually, 8 of them) that can't fly when it's overcast? Have they never heard of the Sale of Goods Act? Leonardo da Vinci came up with the idea of the helicopter over 500 years ago; I'm sure it shouldn't have taken another 500 to sort the friggin' software.... (ah, I see, more lucrative jobs for the IT boys, silly me :))

Did anyone else see that amazing programme about Leonardo and his ideas on C4 recently? I'm convinced he was a time traveller.

Today's word thingy

If I was a tabloid journalist, I'd surmise that BW readers prefer music (145 entries) to eating (31 entries). Fortunately I'm not.

Thanks to Elsie for dreaming up today's challenge.

This time, it's names of blogs, and each new addition must start with the last letter of the previous submission. Each blog title can be used once only.

And, of course, we'll start with Blue Witch

I wonder how many blogs beginning/ending with x there are? I have every confidence in you finding them :)

And if you find you like hunting for blogs, do visit Dave at lunchtime for today's bloghunt.

Thought for the day

Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Do you run through each day on the fly?
When you ask "How are you?"
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done, do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores, running through your head?
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Ever told your child, "We'll do it tomorrow"?
And in your haste, not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch, let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time to call and say "Hi"?
You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift…thrown away.
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

- David L. Weatherford

Nicked this one from Ian yesterday. Thanks for locating the correct source Ian.

Blamestorming

"When people start to talk about problems, they easily fall into the trap of “blamestorming”. Now I have been asked a lot about why we tend to do this, why we have the tendency to blame one another when we are trying to solve problems. But what do we benefit from trying to answer that question. The risk is that we only end up starting another round of blamestorming. We would do blamestorming about blamestorming. I tend to think that the tendency to blamestorm rather than brainstorm is built into our system. When we are faced with problems, we tend to analyze them and once we start doing that, we naturally slide into blamestorming."

"The problem is not the real problem. The real problem is how we talk about the problem."

"In my view, resolving conflicts is the pivot, the key to making this planet a better place."

- Ben Furman

There's a huge difference between working on problems and working on solutions, isn't there? The difference, I suppose, between trying to make the past different and accepting that it cannot be, and moving forward in a constructive way.

Today's word thingy

Through the alphabet as many times as you can with foods. But they have to be complete dishes rather than single ingredients, and if you want to be flash you can link to, or provide, a recipe.

I'm a little concerned about the X-s, but I'm sure you'll find a way :)

A = Apple Pie

Update: to complicate matters, there are now 2 games... see comments box for details.

I can remember the days when I wasn't behind the times

Ever felt a stranger in your own comments box? (and no, Nigel, no funny comments ;)). I did vaguely think about restricting yesterday's commentathon word association thingy to music from the 70s and 80s. But then I didn't. And, as a result, I've never even heard of about half of what you lot came up with!

Back in my day I was the font of all knowledge about music in my year at school. I was the one who encouraged others to break the rules and smuggle in radios for use on Tuesday lunchtimes (for the benefit of younger, and overseas, readers, that used to be new chart announcement day), I was the only one who could write fast enough to get down the chart in its entirety, I was the one who'd read Record Mirror and the NME from cover to cover before most people had even bought them, I was the one who always knew the release dates of the most potentially valuable picture sleeves and picture discs (and I was correct - not that I've ever sold any of them mind you), I was the one who always knew someone who had, or who could get hold of, a spare ticket for whichever sell-out gig, and I was the one who knew all the bouncers who knew all the roadies so could always wangle a backstage visit.

But, yesterday, if finally hit me. Today's music has absolutely no attraction for me. It's probably because I am totally immune to advertising and the media, and today's music seems to me to be inextricably tied up with commerical dictation to people about what and how they should, or shouldn't, be. And then I read Vaughan and felt better that I wasn't the only one :)

And then I saw mike's Witch Which Decade is Tops for Pops? results. And smiled.

Thought for the day

No one can become really educated without having pursued some study in which he took no interest.

- T.S. Eliot

Time for a new word game

As the last one was so popular...

This time, it's names of singers or groups, and each new addition must start with the last letter of the previous submission.

Your starter for 10 (except that there are no points, sorry):

Sex Pistols

Thought for the day

Knowledge must be gained by ourselves. Mankind may supply us with the facts; but the results, even if they agree with previous ones, must be the work of our mind.

- Benjamin Disraeli

It's not what you say, it's how you say it...

Mr BW (busy writing birthday card and book token for 8 year old nephew's birthday the week after next before we go off to a family lunch chez Mummy and Daddy Mr BW - saves 29p postage see, if you plan ahead so you can deliver in person): What shall I write inside the book token BW?

BW: How about, "We've no imagination"?

Mr BW: Or, "Couldn't be fucked to think about what you'd like and couldn't be arsed to look round the shops, so get it yourself"?

BW: He's only 8... his mother might be offended by a word or two in there!

5 minutes pass. Much chewing of pencil end is heard.

Mr BW: OK, how about, "Dear Nephew, We couldn't decide which book you'd like best so thought we'd let you choose, Love from Uncle BW and Auntie BW xxx"?

Now, all we need is an excuse for getting away from the little gathering soon after lunch so we don't have to stay all afternoon. "It's a lovely day and we'd much rather be in the garden than sat here with a bunch of whining kids, proud parents and OAPs" just won't do, will it? :)

No time to post

Busy doing dognapping spells.
He's adorable.
Even Mr BW thinks so :)

The 46th Make Blue Witch Laugh Award

This week there are only 2 contenders. Because it's actually quite hard to make me laugh at the moment. I'm still feeling desperately ill and lacking in energy and motivation so cancelled everything I was meant to be doing, work-wise, this week. That's one hell of a virus. It even got to Mr BW, which is really unusual.

I can't choose between my two contenders this week, so mike and DG can have two points and a trophy apiece for their little April Fools capers, which, I think, will take a lot of beating in future years. Thanks to both of you for all the time you spent putting these together. I know they amused a lot of people. And mike - do tell us how you did it?

And, oh look (well, you could if I had updated the scoresheet, which I haven't, Bad Witch), Mr 2-Agas finally gets his honey :)

The Coven is about to be invaded by 2 bloggers (in search of BW Garden Value) and a dog, who has promised to be on his best behaviour, so I'd best be getting along now. However, I'm not sure whether my egg supply is in danger as I'm informed that Edward's favourite meat is chicken. I've informed Edward's humans that there is a posh Indian restaurant in the nearest village, whose favourite meat is dog (so I'm told). We'll see, and I'll let you know :) Mr BW keeps saying to Fluffy the Ginger Familiar, "There's a woofer coming, so you'd better watch out!" Cruel.

Oh, and by the way, medium sized, original pastel yellow Post-its seem to be the preferred option of BW readers, with each taking roughly 50% of the total vote.

And the word association thingy is still going strong... although I have to admit that I've been a bit lost once or twice along the way... :)

Ring ring

"Things like novelty ringtones are for the cranially decrepid." so he said. Without much conviction :)

That made me think.

I'd love my phone to provide a normal, traditional, ring-tone, or a normal sound for incoming text messages. But, it doesn't, so I'm stuck with an annoying (but nondescript) ring tone and, currently, a birdy rainforest noise for text (great when we were in Queensland, but not so good in town - alternatives include pigs, cows and foghorns, all equally awful), because I refuse to pay for anything more normal. Even though my good friend Mr Wiz is in that market.

What is your ringtone? And did you pay for it?

I just love the way the word association game from yesterday is still going on a couple of posts down :)

All one has to do is wait...

A couple of weeks ago I received criticism from certain quarters for saying that graphology can be interesting and revealing. Nothing unusual there then :) But, it did amuse me that, shortly after, pieces of handwriting appeared on several blogs out and about. I was tempted to provide analyses, but thought better of it. Largely because I was very busy at the time.

I have a very old book on the analysis of handwriting that was produced by Parker Pens that I have always found very useful. Now it is so much a part of my brain that I rarely need to refer to it. I just look at handwriting and know things. Like I just look at people and know things. Not always the most comfortable of 'talents' to have, but, I've learnt to live with it. What else can I do?

Well, mike now agrees with me, it seems, after his April Fools stunt yesterday was analysed by Emrys at the Handwriting Lady site.

Oh - and I've just seen, Elsie's giving it the thumbs up too.

That's good enough for me :)

I've had a quick look at Handwriting Lady and it seems to pick on the main distinctive features when getting you to analyse your writing. My one criticism would be that it suggests you use a piece of writing that is specially produced. I'd suggest that using a piece of writing such as a page of notes would be much more enlightening. We can all do 'neat' writing when it's demanded, after all, and this is much less revealing than a page of your normal scribble.

Update: I've just tried it out - and here are my results. That about covers it :)

Thought for the day

I shall tell you a great secret, my friend. Do not wait for the last judgment, it takes place every day.

- Albert Camus

Word association

blue

Funny White Bunny Day

Don't miss geezer de jour. Pity that those with real talent got overlooked by that crap (I mean, in its original form, of course), isn't it? (and PS Cynthia Payne agrees with me. I'm not sure whether that is good or not).

And someone's been busy with his colouring pens :)

And do go Bloghunting with Dave, starting this lunchtime and continuing all month.

Thought for the day

Laugh at yourself first, before anybody else can.

- Elsa Maxwell