Blue Witch

Me and the elephant

Oh dear.

Good Friend BW and I seem to have just been fed 3 bottles of this by Step-Son's neighbours. He finances a TV chef's businesses. Initials clue - 1.22.20.

Wine is very expensive out here. 3 or 4 times the price in the UK. But it doesn't seem to be stopping them. Apparently the coke's cheaper than the wine. I'm glad I listened and learned during all the many late-night drinking binges we used to have with the Very Good Friends BW when they lived next door but one (he was in the wine trade). I think I impressed :)

I can definitely have a new career as an 'empathetic listener' to the stinking rich musicians in their late 50s with at least one divorce behind them who are currently licking their wounds (that could be code) in this part of the world. So far I've managed to attract three, two of whom's stories I heard while floating around the pool (it's good being a Witch). I must say that I think the average 19 year old is more emotionally mature and intelligent than them. I think I might need an alcohol and drugs counsellor to work with me in this new career, but I'm sure it would be a lucrative and most, erm, interesting business. The only slight problem is that an 8MB broadband connection is £400 a month here, as no-one else in town (ie a small fishing village) has or needs one. As Step-Son said mournfully over dinner, "And I don't even feel I get value out of it as I only use it to sent and receive a few large files a month." I'm always happy to help add Value to an investment :)

There's also room for a decent (part-time, couple of trips a year out here with a bag of goodies from PC World) IT consultant as the current one is set to run off with the maid as soon as he's bought his parcel of land for his house, and both of them will get the sack at the same time. So I guess there are several vacancies. I can put in a good word for anyone interested ;)

We seem to be heading off to C@mbodia in a private plane sometime soon (could be in half an hour or 3 days, time is that liquid round here, which is slightly disconcerting until one learns to just go with the flow, man) as Good Friend BW happened to say to someone that she'd always wanted to go here and someone offered to take us...

Oh, you want to know about the ele riding?

Well, it was hot and lumpy, and pales into insignificance compared to most of the rest of the events of the day. As Good Friend BW said, "I'm jolly glad Step-Son's Dad couldn't make it out here... he'd have died of shock seeing the Den of Iniquity his son inhabits!" She, however, is fascinated.

Life's a beach...

Have unsecured wireless network nearby, will blog...

Left: Breakfast, from the garden. Fresh bananas.

Right: Flowers, from the garden - they grow like weeds here and young plants are pulled out in handfuls. And before you ask, I'm not sure we'll get them through customs...

Lunch, in a local expat club. Banana flower garnish on the right. You can tell it's an expat club because you get knives. And I can happily confirm that Thai Thai food is absolutely nothing at all like anything purporting to be the same thing in the UK.

Dinner, in the boutique hotel a few miles down the coast. Host Good Friend BW's step-son did a 3 mile detour so that he didn't upset me by driving past either of the T£$sc's that have recently sprung up in the town. Those prawns had more lobster in them than the pathetic specimens that pass for lobsters elsewhere. I don't think there were any form of bananas on that plate though.

Ele riding had to wait until tomorrow because we spent too much time eating and drinking.

Good Friend BW and I are thinking about each bringing a Thai girl home (it seems to be the done thing round here anyway ;)). For less than we pay our cleaners each month for 3 hours a week we could have 24 hours a day, 7 days a week service with a smile. I suppose they might miss the sun...

On a more technical note... can anyone tell me why I can't send email out, but it's fine coming in? It seems to be sending OK, but then, a few seconds later I'm getting a McAfee pop-up telling me that it can't be sent as there's a protocol error, but clicking the 'click here for info' button is producing a page not found error. I'm using my normal setup to connect to my normal provider, as I noramlly would at home (and as I have sucessfully done from other locations than home in the past). I suppose I could use webmail, but I've not got it set up and really, I'm just too lazy.

If you want me, I'll be here...

I've discovered that, sooner or later, if you say, "Can I come - I'll carry your bags?" at every opportunity, someone will say, "Yes!" :)

So, I've planted a few new trees to offset the environmental impact of my journey, in advance, thrown some clothes suitable for 30C, some swimming cossies, dive boots, mask and snorkel, some paint and some drawing paper, and a camera, into a bag, and I'm off.

I'm hoping that there may be wireless internet access in Good Friend BW's Step-Son's tropical mansion (pics above - but they are 3 years old, taken soon after the house and pool were built, so hopefully there will be water in the pool by the time we get there), where I'm staying - if there is, you'll hear from me... if there's not, well, I'll be back in a couple of weeks. Make sure Mr BW behaves himself in my absence, won't you?

Thought for the day

Every man who possibly can should force himself to a holiday of a full month in a year, whether he feels like taking it or not.

- William James

Thought for the day

Circumstances do not make the man, they reveal him.

- James Allen

Snow Joke

I'm told that the London Data Centre overheated, hence why the server that hosts me has been down most of the day. The rest of us are freezing while the server overheats. Hmmmm.... could it have been a spell misfiring?

It snowed in the night.

Only a bit - not even enough to cover the green tips of the wheat sprouting in the field behind The Coven.

It's cold outside. But inside it's nice and cosy.

We've got two woodburners - one downstairs, and one upstairs (currently burning leftover and salvaged wood from last year's extension), and oil central heating, and a small generator, acquired only recently as we were sick to death of life being disrupted by the frequent electric power cuts we get. We have no gas here, in common with many rural areas. I'd never be happy to rely on just one fuel source.

One local family I know have only electric, and spent a very cold 5 days when last week's storms took out the power line to 8 houses. Despite having three children (11, 3 and 8 months), the mum thought that she wouldn't, "Make a fuss," (her words) and force the electric company to provide her with a generator. Instead, she travelled over 500 unnecessary miles in the 5 days taking the children backwards and forwards to her mother's for meals and baths.

Last week, the oil tank was down to its last 500 litres. Some people have tanks that only hold 500 litres, but ours is the largest domestic size and will take 2,500. I rarely let it go below 500 because one just never knows what might happen, and I like to be prepared for any eventuality. Plus, never having to order in an emergency means that I can take a look at oil price trends, ring around for quotes, and and order at a good time. I usually ring 4 places, and get the best price by playing them off against each other. In the past I've saved £40 on a tankful in this way.

I signed up to BoilerJuice when it first came out last year. This is a free service which aims to group local orders for heating oil together to get a better price and save on delivery miles. Put your requirements into their website (which is extremely easy to use and doesn't keep asking you to re-enter details or remember passwords the way many do), and it's done online and confirmed by email. A great idea in principle, but I've never found it to be cheaper than the most expensive quote I've got using my system, which only takes 15 minutes. As I can't earn £40 in 15 minutes, up until this week, I've looked at Boilerjuice but not used them.

Then, at the weekend I got an email saying that the price was xp per litre, but would be xp minus 0.58p if another 1000 litres from local postcodes were added to the order. A quick phone call determined that this was 4.1 pence per litre cheaper than the supplier who often gives me the best price, and they said they couldn't match the quote. So, £41 saving on half a tankful, which we needed anyway, so I placed an order.

The oil was delivered yesterday afternoon. The driver arrived in a new tanker, equipped with satnav, so managed to find us without getting lost and ringing up 4 times for directions the way most new delivery drivers do. He was polite, took care not to trail his heavy pipe over any plants, didn't moan about the obstacle course of gardening paraphernalia between the drive and the tank, and didn't stick nasty "To re-order call us on..." labels on the tank (all areas in which past delivery drivers have failed to meet Witchy customer expectation).

All things considered, you'd think I'd be a Happy Witch, wouldn't you?
Oh.
You wouldn't?
You know me too well ;)

There's just one teensy weensy problem.

The oil actually came from Watford. From a depot 66 miles from here (acording to multimap). How can oil go all the way from the coast where it comes ashore, to Watford, and back to me (much nearer the place it comes ashore than Watford) for £41 less on half a tank - which is almost 15% - than the local supplier (less than 3 miles away) is prepared to supply us? Just think of all the environmental pollution caused by tankers ferrying oil about, to play some stupid commercial game of quantities devised by the Oil Barons.

This is just one example, of one commodity.
It happens all the time.

Someone was telling me the other day that mushrooms, grown just down the road from us, are transported to a packing plant near Birmingham, from where they are transported to supermarket regional depots, from where they are sent back to individual supermarket branches. Meanwhile, last week, our local supermarket, 2 miles from the place where mushrooms are grown for the same chain, was selling mushrooms grown in Ireland. Why?

If this 'Goverment' is really interested in green issues rather than just jumping on a green bandwagon that some of us have believed in, and worked ethically towards, for many years, it's time that some thought was given to outlawing such ridiculous business practices.

That's where the real carbon economies could be made.

Thought for the day

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.

- Winston Churchill

Three Wheeels on my Blue Broom

Nasty shock yesterday afternoon - there's been a quiet humming coming from my car for the past few weeks. Didn't sound dire (in fact, it sounded quite pleasant and innocuous, and you could only really hear it when the radio wasn't on), and as I rarely go more than 10 miles in it (I use the newer BW Blue Broom on days I go further) I hadn't done anything about it. Plus, when it was serviced, less than 800 miles ago, they told me there was a tiny hole in the exhaust, that they'd been able to fill, but which wouldn't last forever. So, I just assumed it was that.

Took it to the Value garage I've been using since they started up nearly 16 years ago to get them to listen, and then arrange to have it in to sort it while I am away.

Ooops, the wheel could have fallen off at any moment. "Gosh, I've never, ever, seen a wheel bearing crack across like that in 30 years!" said the mechanic. Not thinking about that...

And then... walking into Small Not-So-Local Town from the garage (about a mile and a half, and it was bitterly cold) to kill some time while they got the part and fitted it, I could see an enormous juggernaut thundering down the road towards me. I heard a noise behind me and turned around. There was another huge juggernaut, coming in the opposite direction. I assumed that they would both slow down to nearly stopped and edge past each other. But, oh no.

The one going in the same direction as me simply mounted the pavement where I was walking, without slowing (and he was doing at least 40mph). Had I not jumped back, into the Dogs' Muck Verge that fortunately ran alongside the pavement, the side of his lorry would have done more than brush past me, leaving dried mud on my top and trousers. By the time I had picked myself up, he was too far away for me to get his registration number. Not that the police would have done anything anyway. Why are people so impatient and irresponsible? And why, depsite there being streams of traffic in both directions, did no-one stop to see if I was OK? I would have done so in a similar situation (mind you, I'd probably also have got the registration number of the lorry, and rung the police, had I seen an incident like that).

Needless to say, I am being very careful today. Particularly as Mr BW has just rung me, having got to work, to say that the council have chosen not to grit any of the roads (even the A roads), so there is black ice everywhere. How much warning have the councils had? Days? So *why* are they so bad at gritting? Oh yes, penny pinching, silly me.

Weekending

Well, all the weekend spells seem to have worked, which is most abnormal.

Plus, after a week of being locked up in the workshop together (which now-17-week-old new Black Fluffy Familiar spent growling and hissing at her new step-sister), new Black Fluffy Familliar appears to have decided that the old Dark Tabby Familiar can be her friend after all. This is the first friendly meeting yesterday afternoon.

The only casualty of the successful spells episode appears to be one of the mailboxes on the domain I use just for mail. And, annoyingly, it's the non-public one that those of you who are privileged (ie those of you I accidentally once sent to from the wrong address) get to send to, as it redirects into my work emailbox and is the only one that gets attention when I'm busy. So, anyone who has sent me mail into anything other than blue-witch@ since last Tuesday or Wednesday, would you please resend into that address? Ta. And if you've sent something into blue-witch@ that I've not responded to yet, sorry, I'm just chasing my tail trying to get everything sorted before I vanish at the end of the week.

Thanks to another spell (and counting in far off places, for which, muchísimas gracias), I now have the results of last week's bededness/handedness survey. When I've worked out what they mean, I'll post them. Or maybe I'll post them and let you work it out... Yes, that's a good idea...

Interpret it yourself

Bededness and Handedness Survey Results

Thought for the day

The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity.

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

The Wind in the Bananas

The wind has still not dropped completely here at The Coven, and the clouds are scudding across the sky in the oppostie direction to normal. Fortuantely, and amazingly, given the amount of unsecured 'stuff' that we have around, the only casualty so far has been the top part of the fleece wrapping around one of the bananas, which is now totally inaccesible 20 foot up in a tree over the road. Complete with its securitory pegs. It looks most ghostly at night.

Meanwhile, I'm very busy making marmalade and doing spells. Involving suncream, sombreros, black fluff and 5000 words. All for different spells. I can see that there's plenty of room for error there...

Please explain

How many people are there in this country?

About 60 million by now (leaving aside those the 'Government' can't account for that some sources would put at an additional 1 - 3 million)?

So how come the ludicrously manufactured and highly-edited-to-make-good-TV and fuel a good controversy, that only around 5 million people choose to waste their free time watching, is being forced on the other 55 million of us in every radio and TV news or current affairs broadcast, in every newspaper, and even on Question Time last night?

How come precious and limited police and House of Commons time is being allowed to be taken up by something that 92.66% of us couldn't give a flying fuck about?

And no, it's not about the wider issues it raises. It's not about socio1ogy and psycho1ogy or any kind of discrimination, group dynamics or inappropriate behaviour. It's all about how the mass media control this country through invoking mass hysteria, and will milk every cent* they can out of any opportunity.

The sad thing is that most people apparently can't see this for what it is. If you're one of the people watching or talking about it, you've been had.

* I know we still use pounds and pence, but the day will come... and sooner than you think, given the hysteria and wall-to-wall coverage that this has been given, compared to, say, real and important issues, like our continued presence in Iraq, the state of the NHS or the EU, inequalities in government between countries in Britain, the future pensions crisis etc etc, where most people can't be bothered to even form an opinion, let alone voice it...

Thought for the day

The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.

- William Arthur Ward

Thought for the day

There ain’t no answer. There ain’t gonna be any answer. There never has been an answer. There’s the answer.

- Gertrude Stein

Thought for the day

Sometimes I feel like a figment of my own imagination.

- Lily Tomlin

...continues...

Particularly when a Commissionaire ticking names off a list of invitees to an art exhibition private view party in London last night accused me of being a member of the film set going under an assumed name... Must have been the entourage. Oh, and I know this will excite some of you, Dick Strawbridge (he of Scrap Heap Challenge and It's Not Easy Being Green fame) and his moustache were there as well. And a lot (way more than the local Fire Officer would have liked I'm sure) of very boring tedious people, only out to be seen, who stopped me seeing the pictures properly.

Which side of the bed do you sleep on?

This is a little question that may or may not involve handedness, which is one of my particular interests as long-term readers may know. It arises from a discussion in a far away and highly secret corner of blogland, and I said I'd give it more publicity. None of the free poll software renders properly on here, and I'm too incapable to install the MT plugin that someone kindly told me about last time I had this problem, so, in the comments box can you please put:

Which side of the bed you sleep on if there are 2 people in the bed, whether you are right or left handed, and whether your partner is right or left handed.

And, as a subsidiary question, whether your side varies according to who you are sleeping with and their handedness (no other info is required, thanks all the same, as I don't need my Blue Crystal Ball to see how 'information' could become 'too much information' very easily here ;))

As bed side depends where you are looking from, presume that you are in bed, on your back, with your head on the pillow.

And, if it's unclear from your name what your gender is, could you state that too? Ta.

If you want to answer anonymously, that's fine, just put a made up name or 'Anon Female' or 'Anon Male' and a made-up email address (the system won't allow you to post without).

Honoured

Strange day today. Something weird is going on with my computer. Or maybe with the underskirt of my blog. I'm unsure, yet. Whichever, I ended up at a MT page I rarely go to, and found that there have been 3,517 entries in this blog, and 19,771 comments (that's real comments, not spam as they go to spam hell). Plus all the comments from the first year at blogspot with Enetation. But almost 20,000 comments in 3 years. Only 19,000 of which were from me ;)

Wow! I shall have to calculate carefully to see who gets the honour of the 20,000th comment, won't I? Oh. No. I remember now. I'm not that sort of blog, am I? ;)

Talking of honours (tenuous link number 417 there), I appear to have won an award for the second year running in Timbo's Swampy Awards. He says:

"Next up is the Award for Best Informative Blog, which amazingly has been won for the second year running (some feat considering I've only been doing this for two years) by the inimitable and oh so discerning Blue Witch.

You want to moan about shop assistants, crap builders, or all those things that generally hack everyone off? Go see Witchy. However, the difference between her and all those other blogs is that she is very clever and knows lots and she actually tries to make the world a better place in her own way, and I like it."

In my acceptance speech I said:

"she actually tries to make the world a better place in her own way"

Someone noticed at last. Thank fuck. The last 4 years haven't all been wasted time after all ;)

It's weird, one little piece of validation from one blogger or commentator in one little corner of blogland means more to me than any award as a result of mass blog marketing and mass multiple voting. Stick your competitions - in my perception, they are bad for people individually, and bad for blogland collectively - this is the way to go. Thanks Timbo, and thanks to all the past commentators.

Thought for the day

The present was an egg laid by the past that had the future inside its shell.

- Zora Neale Hurston

Bloghuh? The final entry

Thank you to all who participated - 20 21 22 (with apologies to NiC at Planarchy)(and to Ally Bean at CrazyDustInMyCoffee - well, I think we've found the number of participants one Ageing Witch can handle without losing it ;)) of us in total.

As bob said yesterday, "It's been good to find some new bloggers … to wander out of my own cyber-neighborhood, as it were."

Hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.

Plenty of mysteries to read about in all of the following places: Alley Kat Aprosexic Blue Witch bob's yer uncle Changing Places Crazy Dust In My Coffee Depthmarker In the Aquarium Jen&HerBoat Kitchen Witch La Que Sabe London Daily Photo Pewari's Prattle Planarchy Purple Pen Quixotic Evil Santiago Dreaming Tabula Rasa Tiger Feet Who Knows Where Thoughts Come From? wintermute

Another kitten pic

It was a nice sunny afternoon, so the new Black Fluffy Kitten Familiar was allowed to venture out into the Coven Grounds. Despite being 4 months old, this was, I'm told, her first outing into the outside world.

I always train kittens to understand a left to right horizontal movement of the hand to mean "No!". I was really saddened that she jumped and cowered into a corner when I made the sign to her for the first time. I've never seen that before in a kitten, and suspect that someone in one of the 3 previous homes she has had this week has hit her. Good job for that person that I don't know who.

If she wasn't jet black (even her pads and skin are totally black), she'd be called quicksilver, because once put down, she is. If she wasn't a girl, she could be called Mercury, but that's a boy's name. If she didn't move so fast, there'd be better pictures... If, if, if.

Meanwhile, in other Coven Madness this afternoon, two D'Oves were having sex in the Henhouse while I was trying to clean it out, and another was looking on. I have a suspicion that a couple of spells have got muddled up, again...

Bloghuh? 8

What's this?
Last day today and I currently have more items left on my list than I started with. I'll have to see about making them into a list of 'ones that got away' .

I think I'll leave all the substantial ones that could make a post in themselves if I ever get the time to get back to serious/controversial bloogging. So, here's another fluffy mystery from me:

Why do multipacks of items that are available singly in supermarkets cost less per item than the single items, even though they are overwrapped, which must make their production cost higher?

I'm thinking about things like bottles of water or soft drink, packets of instant custard, multipacks of tins such as baked beans, and multi-packs of sweets.

And why do they have to be overwrapped? It's such a waste of plastic (and the sort of plastic which almost all councils are choosing not to recycle at present - another mystery on my list is why recycling is so piecemeal in this country, and why we don't have a national policy on recycling, but I'll save that one as I could write several thousand well-informed words on the subject off the top of my head without doing any research at all). Surely supermarkets could offer permanent reductions if one bought, say 6 of an item? It's only a case of programming their till systems.

Read more about things that mystify others at participating Bloghuh? blogs this week (and there are the best part of 100 posts to choose from now!):

Alley Kat Aprosexic Blue Witch bob's yer uncle Changing Places Depthmarker In the Aquarium Jen&HerBoat Kitchen Witch La Que Sabe London Daily Photo Pewari's Prattle Purple Pen Quixotic Evil Santiago Dreaming Tabula Rasa Tiger Feet Who Knows Where Thoughts Come From? wintermute

Bloghuh? Dave's 3

What's this? Join in!

One final one from Clear Blue Dave which he sent over yesterday, but I've not got round to posting before, in all the feline excitement. How a small black fluffy ball can growl non-stop for 18 hours is beyond me. She must have a very sore throat. Pointy Velcro Claws thinks she's mad, but is still looking on good-naturedly.

I haven't really had the time to write anything for Bloghuh? over the last couple of days so here's a round up of what I might have written:

1. Why are politicians rarely held accountable for not answering the questions asked of them? " So, Prime Minister, can you tell us why so many hospitals are facing budgetary deficits?" "Look, since we came into power, funding for the NHS has been massively increased and waiting times have reduced significantly." "Er, okay. What about education? Why are so many pupils not achieving satisfactory grades in English and maths?" " Since we took over from the Tories, we've put more money into education than anyone else has ever done. And we created the City Academies to help out in some of the worst areas." "I see. And law and order? Why the increase in violent crime?" "We've been pouring more money into the police service since 1997 than the previous government did and the number of police officers has vastly increased." "Right. Lastly, Prime Minister, what about your record on taxation? "In the last ten years, taxation has increased enormously and, er... oh. Can we start again?"

2. Why are children's toys packaged inside so much cardboard and vacuum formed plastic and held together with so many wire ties (that are dangerous if a toddler gets hold of them) that it takes hours to open them properly?

3. Why didn't my phone come with a 'normal' ring?

4. What's the point in the whole Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD format war when the technology is likely to be superceded in a few year's time?

5. Why is it it so difficult so move house? The whole process is fragmented and unorganised and very, very stressful.

That's about it from me. I won't be around over the weekend but I'll catch up with the remaining entries next week.

Read more about things that mystify others at participating Bloghuh? blogs this week:

Alley Kat
Aprosexic
Blue Witch
bob's yer uncle
Changing Places
Depthmarker
In the Aquarium
Jen&HerBoat
Kitchen Witch
La Que Sabe
London Daily Photo
Pewari's Prattle
Purple Pen
Quixotic Evil
Santiago Dreaming
Tabula Rasa
Tiger Feet
Who Knows Where Thoughts Come From?
wintermute

We interrupt Bloghuh? to bring you... New Kitten Familiar Pics

See just below for further details...

Rather difficult to photograph as the flash bleaches her fur and makes her eyes look evil (and I don't want to get too close and scare/blind her), so these are the best I have so far...

Poor liittle mite must have had a horrid time in the 3 days she was in her last home with the cat who hated her (PVC's mummy) as she's learnt to growl and hiss. And is doing so to good effect in the utility at present. I don't think I've ever seen a 4 month old kitten who knows how to hiss, but, with everything she's been through recently, one can hardly blame her.

Meanwhile, PVC is sitting in the sink looking totally nonplussed. "I've been here before when I was new, only it was the big cat doing the hissing then, not me..." she's thinking. Hopefully they'll be friends soon.

Seems like only yesterday that PVC arrived (it was April 20th last year, believe it or not!).

Desperately need a name related to black holes (not sure that any of the previous ones you kindly came up with quite fit) as Mr BW has started calling her 'Sooty' and 'Blackie', and I absolutely REFUSE to have a black cat called something as common and unimaginative as that!

Coming later...

... kitten pictures :)

Just been to collect one adorable black fluffy 4 month old kitten. Now on her 4th home in a week, poor little mite. Long story of young bloke in flat in Local Large Town that is being pulled down getting her for christmas but not being allowed pets in the new flat he is going to, so gave her to someone who'd never had cats before who turned out to be allergic (actually, I think the poor mite has fleas *applies Frontline* so that may have been the problem), so gave her to a boy he knew who took it home but found his cat hated it, so the boy's mum told a lady she knew from dog-walking in the park, who told Cleaner BW, who knew I was looking for a kitten.

But... and here's the amazing coincidence... the last person to have her, from where I've just collected her, was the same lady who was the mum of the cat who was PVC's mum!
Twas meant to be methinks.

It is the Ginger Familiar's half birthday today too. I think she sorted this out as she knew we've missed fluffiness in cats since she was murdered by a speeding motorist 14 months ago.

And... another spooky thing... the kitten's name (at present) is Sa1em. Just about to consult the list of astronomical names you came up with when we got PVC to pick a suitable new one. Unless anyone has any other ideas? Something to do with black holes would be good...

Hopefully she might pacify PVC, the nearly-year old now, Dark Tabby Familiar, who has been inconsolable since her step-sister GT&WF, the Ginger Tabby & White Familiar was driven away (literally, on the school bus, I'm told by one of the Pupi1s BW) a year to the day since she came to live with us last November.

Bloghuh? 7

What's this? Join in!

Today's mystery to me (it's no good, I keep hearing Toyah lisping that line every time I write it) is what happens to all the stuff shops can't sell in sales? Or, indeed, what happens to all the stuff that doesn't sell in pound shops or boutique shops?

Where does it all go? Landfill? Third world countries?

Years ago, when I was a student and worked in M&S, they used to send stuff they couldn't sell in London and the south east up to their branch in Birmingham. I can remember going into M&S in the Bullring while doing a research project for a government department I worked for one summer, and being totally amazed that they were selling stuff we'd had on the racks a year before. I doubt they'd get away with that these days...

Another related mystery is why people buy stuff in sales that they didn't either want or need when it was 10p more than the 'amazingly low price' that has now been attached to it by the ever-so-kind shopkeeper who is just desperate to give something away at less than he bought it in at. Not.

Read more about things that mystify others at participating Bloghuh? blogs this week:

Alley Kat
Aprosexic
Blue Witch
bob's yer uncle
Changing Places
Depthmarker
In the Aquarium
Jen&HerBoat
Kitchen Witch
La Que Sabe
London Daily Photo
Pewari's Prattle
Purple Pen
Quixotic Evil
Santiago Dreaming
Tabula Rasa
Tiger Feet
Who Knows Where Thoughts Come From?
wintermute

Bloghuh? Friday Morning Update

What's this? Join in!

We were joined yesterday by wintermute, Alley Kat, Pewari's Prattle, and Tiger Feet - making a total to date of 20 particpants (19 blogs plus an ex-blogger, for those counting ;)). Gosh - this has been much more of a success than I envisaged! Hope you're all enjoying visiting a few places you may not have ventured before. I know I am.

Lots of great posts out there on mysteries concerning everything from the focal lengths of camera lenses, to Iraq (thank you, I shan't need to write that one now!), to doggie doodoos, to buses all coming along at once, to lesbian dreams, to driving habits, to birds roosting sites, to the ridiculous bonuses and pay-offs of CEOs, to the price of milk, to lost pink teddies, to differential rates of movement in queues, to comparative prices of music downloads in different countries, to how Ozzy is still alive, to the reason for cannabis incense... Those are just a few that come to mind (and I'm madly hoping that no-one feels left out if I haven't managed to immediately recall one of theirs - it's just that I'm ageing and my memory works less well than it used to)... but, if anyone has too much time on their hands, then (as was suggested in the comments the other day), they could make a complete list of subjects, with hyperlinks ;)

New cut and paste text for the end of Bloghuh? posts here.

With 3 days remaining, there's still time to join in this group blogging project. Just drop a comment in somewhere and I'll add you to the list next time I update it.

Directing

I've seen the future of IT in education. It's bloody scary. It's the first year I've felt that things were moving on so fast they were leaving me behind. And I'm not *that* much of a luddite.

Not many stationery freebies around this year (although there were loads of nasty sweets and chocolates), but I did get a free tree. They tried to give me a Scots Pine, but I made them look through until they found an Evergreen Oak. Ever the English nationalist, me :)

Great to see some more Bloghuh? joiners today... I'll update the cut'n'paste list in the morning when I'm less tired.

For now, can I direct those of you who like maths and logic (and I know there are quite a few of you) over here for a feast?

Bloghuh? 6

What's this? Join in!

Today I have two; brief ones as I am off to London to procure my annual range of free stationary supplies. Say hello if you see me, but I may be quite hard to spot as I lost my Going Out Hat a while ago (although DG has since found it, as detailed last weekend, and pictured here).

Mystery 1: How does organic milk stay fresh well past its sell-by date when pharmaceutical-laden milk often goes off on, or before the sell-by date? That fact alone should be enough to put you off non-organic milk for life - even before you consider that dairy cows are often injected or fed 'preventative' chemical substances, and human mothers are always told to be very careful what they consume when breast-feeding as it goes straight into the milk.

Mystery 2: How do weeds that look similar to non-weeds frequently manage to end up growing right next to the cultivated plants? Given that seeds are generally dispersed by either the wind or birds, does this suggest that it's a natural conspiracy to confuse novice gardeners? (I reckon the D'Oves are in on it, but I can't make them admit it.)

Read more about things that mystify others at participating Bloghuh? blogs this week:

Aprosexic
Blue Witch
bob's yer uncle
Changing Places
Depthmarker
In the Aquarium
Jen&HerBoat
Kitchen Witch
La Que Sabe
London Daily Photo
Purple Pen
Quixotic Evil
Santiago Dreaming
Tabula Rasa
Who Knows Where Thoughts Come From?

Bloghuh? Thursday Update

What's this? Join in!

After 3 days, we're now 16!

New summary code to cut and paste at the end of posts is here.

There's still plenty of time to join in... Leave a comment and I'll add you to the list.

There are some great mysteries and comments out there, have a browse around and see.

Bloghuh? 5

What's this? Join in!

Another thing that mystifies me is why people believe that the 'Government' is capable of running any national IT system competently and securely.

How many times do they need to prove their incompetence?

Only today there is the M15 e-mail alert balls-up.

Look at the shambles that is the Child Support Agency.
The operation of the DNA database is outsourced.
The ID card scheme is a complete mess.

Do you want your medical records automatically put onto an insecure, non-proven database by your local GP surgery? It's about to happen - and with no notification whatsoever to you.

If you want to keep your private medical details safe from other government departments, the porter in the hospital who's bored on a night-shift, or your teenage neighbour who happens to be a computer wiz, and any other commerical organisation who may be sold your data in future (think insurance companies etc), write to your GP to opt out of the scheme, NOW. Suggested pro-forma letter is here (although I think this could do with a bit of alteration).

There is lots of noise around about ID Cards, but very little about this.
To me, this is potentially much more sinister.

Read more about things that mystify others at participating Bloghuh? blogs this week:

Aprosexic
Blue Witch
bob's yer uncle
Changing Places
Depthmarker
In the Aquarium
Jen&HerBoat
Kitchen Witch
La Que Sabe
London Daily Photo
Purple Pen
Quixotic Evil
Santiago Dreaming
Who Knows Where Thoughts Come From?

Bloghuh? 4

What's this? Join in!

The Apollo moon missions will always have a place in my heart. You see, they were the first time that I was ever allowed to stay up late to watch something on TV. I was six and a half when Neil Armstrong took those first steps on the moon. I diligently cut all the news stories from the newspaper every day, and stuck them into a scrapbook from WH Smith (that cost 1/- 6d). By the time Skylab came along, I made my own cuttings book with a lino printed cover. Yellow and black inks on white paper it was. I know that because I found it a few weeks back when I was tidying out.

I've written before on here about the moon conspiracy theories. But, given my childhood investment in the space programme, I want to believe, I really do. As the X Files would say, The Truth is Out There.

But it's not, is it?

Despite all the space junk we left on the moon, no-one is able to find any traces of it now, despite the fact that we apparently have spy satellites that can read what you are reading in your garden, from space.

Why? It mysifies me, and I need to know.

Read more about things that mystify others at participating Bloghuh? blogs this week:

Aprosexic
Blue Witch
bob's yer uncle
Changing Places
Depthmarker
In the Aquarium
Jen&HerBoat
Kitchen Witch
La Que Sabe
London Daily Photo
Purple Pen
Quixotic Evil
Santiago Dreaming
Who Knows Where Thoughts Come From?

Bloghuh? Wednesday Update

What's this? Join in!

Another two members have joined in, bringing the total to 14.

Welcome to In the Aquarium and London Daily Photo.

New summary code to cut and paste at the end of posts is here.

There's still plenty of time to join in... Leave a comment and I'll add you to the list.

There are some great mysteries out there, click around and see.

Amidst all the Bloghuh? hooha...

...I haven't had time to write about what we did on Sunday afternoon.

So I did a spell, and NiC's written about, and pictured it instead.
Gosh, what a clever Witch I am :)

He forgot some very important facts though... on the way we saw lots of BW Blue walls, Tim turned up wearing a BW Blue top, and Tom Robinson had a BW Blue beaker to drink from on stage :)

Great gig; thanks to Tim for reminding NiC, and NiC for reminding us.

Actually... that's another Bloghuh? mystery...
Why doesn't anyone contemporary make music that makes me feel young again the way that did?

Bloghuh? Dave's 2

What's this? Join in!

Dave has emailed in another mystery for us... which, by coincidence, is along similar lines to at least one Bloghuh? post elsewhere... Great minds and fools I always say ;)

This is something that's mystified me for as long as I can remember. Why do so many people have trouble remembering numbers? PINs, phone numbers, dates; we are constantly surrounded by strings of numbers so you'd think that it would be easy to learn how to remember them. But no, people have real trouble when it comes to recalling even the simplest set of digits.

It's not something I can easily relate to because, quite simply, I don't have the problem. Numbers have always been my thing. If you found my primary school teachers and told them I'd gone on to do a degree in maths, I doubt they'd be surprised (if they remembered me, of course). It was something I was very good at from an early age. My real passion, though, lies not so much in maths but in the numbers themselves. The concept of prime numbers fascinates me and I love playing around with the Fibonacci sequence. And I find I can quite easily commit strings of numbers to memory and recall them later.

My Mum has always found it amusing that I can remember the dates on which all of their cats were born, or exactly when we all moved into the house they still live in (though I was only 4 at the time). Anniversaries and birthdays are a cinch and my head is full of phone numbers that I rarely, if ever, have to dial any more.

And it's all as natural to me as walking, so how so many find it so difficult, I don't think I'll ever understand. To be honest, they probably feel the same way about how I find it so easy.

Read more about things that mystify others at participating Bloghuh? blogs this week:

Aprosexic
Blue Witch
bob's yer uncle
Changing Places
Depthmarker
Jen&HerBoat
Kitchen Witch
La Que Sabe
Purple Pen
Quixotic Evil
Santiago Dreaming
Who Knows Where Thoughts Come From?

Just a reminder to any lurkers, sometime commentators, or other ex-bloggers that any of the Bloghuh? participants will happily post anything you email to them (and will respect your anonymity or use any alias you choose).

Bloghuh? 3

What's this? Join in!

It's just occurred to me that I'm going to run out of week before I run out of mysteries. Maybe I'll concentrate on some of the more unusual ones on my list...

Regular readers will have deduced that I am a bit of a perfectionist.
Or, at least, perfectionist in what I do.
If I don't think it's going to be perfect enough when I've done it, then I don't do it at all.
If you see what I mean.

One of my little most perfectionist insistences is that where walls meet ceilings there must be no over-spill paint. Many's the time I have insisted on repainting of less-than perfect points of multi-coloured contact on Coven interior walls.

I am always secretly happy when I spy a less-than-perfect join somewhere.
And there are many such examples around house interiors.
Even those painted by so-called 'professional' painters and decorators.
I don't ever say anything to the owners of such imperfect surfaces, though, I just revel in the knowledge that ours aren't like that.

However, and this puzzles me enormously, how is it that people, who cannot paint straight lines inside their houses, manage to paint straight lines on the walls outside their houses?

I've studied this extensively, and have never yet seen a non-straight dividing line between two semi-detacheds painted in different colours. Have you?

Read more about things that mystify others at participating Bloghuh? blogs this week:

Aprosexic
Blue Witch
bob's yer uncle
Changing Places
Depthmarker
Jen&HerBoat
Kitchen Witch
La Que Sabe
Purple Pen
Quixotic Evil
Santiago Dreaming
Who Knows Where Thoughts Come From?

Bloghuh? 2

Another thing that mystifies me...

What has happened to all the wonderful traditional home cooks that used to work in Britain's pubs and cafes, turning out delicious and nutritious hot meals, from scratch?

Now that the majority of places buy in ready-cooked food (or at least partially-prepared) and simply reheat it, not a lot of skill is required. I'm constantly amazed by the products that I see going in the back doors of local establishments - including some that proudly proclaim "Home cooked" on their signs and menus.

Maybe all the skilled personnel have got to retirement age and the current trend just mimics the ready-meal culture prevalent in the majority of homes?

Read more about things that mystify others at participating Bloghuh? blogs this week:

Aprosexic
Blue Witch
Changing Places
bob's yer uncle
Depthmarker
Jen&HerBoat
Kitchen Witch
La Que Sabe
Purple Pen
Quixotic Evil
Santiago Dreaming
Who Knows Where Thoughts Come From?

Bloghuh?

What's this? Join in!

Progress Report: After the first day, we now have 11 12 participating blogs (including 3 that are totally new to me, which is a great spin-off of this type of group blogging project), and a couple more who are hoping to join in, time permitting (who I will add to the list as and when):

Aprosexic
Blue Witch
bob's yer uncle
Changing Places
Depthmarker
Jen&HerBoat
Kitchen Witch
La Que Sabe
Purple Pen
Quixotic Evil
Santiago Dreaming
Who Knows Where Thoughts Come From?

To encourage readers to click around...
The Mysteries described so far include:

• How wires self-tangle (DSM IV Wire Dysphoria (unspecified type))
• How young children acquire and differentiate language
• How bananas got connected with chimps
• Why those in 'authority' are so hypocritical
• Simultaneous acquisition of colds by partners
• Why more troops are being sent to Iraq
• Why people drive with foglights illuminated on clear days
• Rising costs on public transport in London
• Self-holing socks
• The comparative price of petrol and milk
• Stealing from work
• Varying pronunciations of international brand names in different markets

The project is running until Sunday, so there is still plenty of time to join us... leave a comment below and I'll add you to the list.

Updated code to cut and paste for inclusion at the end of your posts here.

Bloghuh?

What's this? Join in!

[A guest post - lovely to hear from Dave, in extended format, again]

For those that don't know me, I used to write a blog called Clear Blue Skies. I stopped over 18 months ago but I suspect BW has me grouped as one of the "extended temporary" absences. Whatever spells she's been ccoking up to get me to start writing there again have failed miserably and I'm certain there's nothing temporary about it. Was it a coincidence that I stopped blogging shortly after my wife and I had our first (and so far only) child? Probably not, but it wasn't the only reason I gave up. Anyway, on to the point of this post...

My son (who's known as Cirrus in this corner of Blogland) has, of course, given me plenty to be mystified about in the last 21 months. I mean, how can he scream for so long without drawing breath? And why doesn't he understand that sleeping during the night is a good thing? Then there's the thing that's mystified me since I noticed it a few weeks ago.

Cirrus isn't talking much yet, by which I mean he isn't talking intelligibly. He has a few words; yes, no, bye, see ya, why?, nigh-nigh (just started that one and it's ever so cute), and he uses them largely correctly (except he usually says 'no' when he means 'yes'), but that's about the extent of it. The rest is a rich variety of syllables and tones that sound like speech but aren't understandable. That will change, probably very soon, but for now, communication is rather one-sided because he understands us pretty well.

For instance, if we tell him to put something back, he does so or if we ask him a question, he'll spout out some long, complicated answer that I'm sure would make perfect sense if only I understood the language he's using. Actually, that second one's not quite accurate. If you ask him what he's doing, where this piece of the jigsaw goes or why he wants to run around naked instead of have another nappy put on, you'll get an unintelligible string of sounds in reply. If, on the other hand, you ask did he have a nice day, is he going to eat his dinner or does he want to go for a sleep, you'll get a yes or no answer.

In other words, Cirrus knows the difference between open and closed questions and responds in the correct way to each. Surely, that requires a pretty sophisicated understanding of how language works. I could understand it if it were a few specific query/responses that had been learnt by repetition but it goes way beyond that.

So, how does a toddler, who can't yet put many words together, learn something like that? It's mystified me.



Read more about things that mystify others at participating Bloghuh? blogs this week:

Aprosexic
Blue Witch
bob's yer uncle
Depthmarker
Jen&HerBoat
Kitchen Witch
La Que Sabe
Purple Pen
Santiago Dreaming
Who Knows Where Thoughts Come From

Bloghuh?

What's this? Join in!

On a light note to start off this week of group blogging...

The first thing that mystifies me is what Mr BW *does* with his socks to cause them to erupt religiously.

No matter what they are made of, or whether they are 50p or £5 a pair, no sock is indestructible to his feet. This pair (100% cotton, M&S) lasted about 8 wearings. And the worst thing is... he doesn't even realise that he is wearing holey socks!

I tend to buy navy socks for me (as sadly they don't come in BW Blue) and he wears these too (nothing is sacred), so I often unexpectedly find myself in compromising situations with holes in my soles.

There is now a Coven Rule - inspect the bottom of your socks before removing them at night, and, if they are thin or holey, tie a knot in them before putting them in the washing basket - then they can go straight in the textile recylling bin when they are dry, and not creep back into circulation. Does Mr BW obey this rule? Does he hell.

Read more about things that mystify others at participating Bloghuh? blogs this week:

Aprosexic
Blue Witch
bob's yer uncle
Depthmarker
Jen&HerBoat
Kitchen Witch
Purple Pen
Santiago Dreaming
Who Knows Where Thoughts Come From

Bloghuh?

Starting today, for 7 days, a group blogging exercise in which some of us share details of things that mystify us.

Declared particpants to date are:
(Correct at 8.00pm Monday, I will update the list and cut and paste text later)

Aprosexic
Blue Witch
bob's yer uncle
Depthmarker
Jen&HerBoat
Kitchen Witch
La Que Sabe
Purple Pen
Santiago Dreaming
Who Knows Where Thoughts Come From

Still time to join us... leave a comment below and I'll add you to the list.

More confusion details in Saturday's post just below.

But basically - it's an attempt to reinspire the uninspired and revive some of the old bloggy community co-operative spirit that frequently seems to be so far away these days.

No rules, but one suggestion to help make things run smoothly... join at any time during the week, but please make a minimum of one post on the subject of 'things that mystify me' (which can be interpreted as broadly as you wish) during this time, using the 'Bloghuh?' title, and please paste the list of particpants at the end of each post - code to copy and paste is here for ease (I'll update it as necessary during the week).

If any lurkers or blogless commentators feel like joining in (and it would be good to hear from you!), just email your contribution to any participating blogger and they will post it for you - anonymously, or under any pseudonym you like.

Any questions - don't ask me, I'm just making it up as I go along after all, and I'm not taking responsibility for this - it's a group thing that has to run itself! But - most of all, let's have some fun!

Bloghuh?

Here's a graphic for any 'Bloghuh?' participants to grab and upload if you want.

Let's all get together?

I sense a certain malaise in many of the blogland quarters that I visit.

I've always, maybe cynically ('Informed Cynic' is my middle name after all), thought of this quarter as being inhabited by 'People who blog for blogging's sake, without any view to getting tangibles out of it' or maybe 'Bloggers Without Groupies' (if you've been around for more than 10 minutes you'll probably understand what I mean by that, and if you don't, you're probably in the wrong place ;)).

The absence of some (actually, an ever-increasing 'some') of the other inhabitants of this quarter (permanent deletion, temporary unexplained absence, or extended temporary (ie announced hiatus)) seems to have become very pronounced. Some of it seems to be former inhabitants changing lives - moving house, getting jobs, changing jobs, getting partners, changing partners, having babies etc etc. Some, that is, but not all. There does seem to be a definite sense of uninspiredness. Witchy loves made-up words :)

It's a while since we've had a group collaborative thingy in these parts.

Past examples have included Blog Me! (September 2003 - ah, them was the days!) and Blogichef (January 2006).

Now, the idea of such group collaborative thingys is that everyone can get involved and get something out of it. It largely organises itself, and no one person is left doing all the work, or taking all the glory and credit, as so often happens with these things.

Lurkers and other blogless individuals can email things they'd like to post to any of the bloggers taking part, and see them posted (anonymously if they'd prefer), and bloggers who take part display a list of all the other blogs taking part at the bottom of each post (or in their sidebar if they can be bothered to play with it, which, from looking at the outdated nature of my own, it's obvious that I can't :))

With a bit of a theme going, people will hopefully think of something to write, and, with a link of participating sites at the end of each post, will hopefully click around a bit more than normal, maybe to places they don't usually visit, or where they don't usually comment as they feel outside of the commenty cliques that so often appear to have built up (I say 'appear', because I had a e-conversation with one of my lurkers the other day that made me realise that just because I don't think there is a strong commenty clique here, there is to people who don't regularly comment, and no doubt this is the same in other places).

I've been thinking around a few ideas, and have come up with one that I think will allow lots of scope and hopefully inspire people who are otherwise currently blogilly challenged.

As ever, I haven't come up with a catchy title (any ideas welcomed in the comments box below), but the gist of it is: "Things that mystify me."

For example - how you can put 4 pairs of socks into the washing machine, but take out just 7 socks and only 4 that make into matching pairs, at the end of a wash. But that's just a poor example (I'm not giving away the good examples I've thought of - I'm saving those for next week - and the more I've not deliberately thought about it, but kept it in mind, the more things have come to me); anything that even vaguely fits the title will do.

These things usually run for a week, so I suggest starting on Monday (8th) to Sunday (14th) January.

People are invited to take part as often as they want - once in the week, every day, ten times a day, it's up to you, and it's fine to join it at any stage during the week.

In order to get things up and running, what is needed is:

• Anyone interested to leave a comment below (I'll make these up into a clickable list so you can simply cut and paste the code into the end of your participating posts - like this).

• A catchy title - the working title is, "Things that mystify me..." and that's not catchy, is it? :)

• Some sort of small logo to easily identify participating posts (like the Blogichef hat last year). Google images will provide, if one can only think of what to ask for.

Well... that's the idea... over to you... any and all additional thoughts and ideas welcome...

Food photography

Something I've always fancied doing... because it's incredibly difficult.

Just so I don't lose the link.

Thought for the day

Most of us can read the writing on the wall; we just assume it's addressed to someone else.

- Ivern Ball

Two-thirds of a devil...

... or my 4th Blogday, on the 4th, at the age of 44...

God, you lot were slow ;)

444

Thought for the day

I have enjoyed greatly the second blooming that comes when you finish the life of the emotions and of personal relations; and suddenly find—at the age of fifty, say—that a whole new life has opened before you, filled with things you can think about, study, or read about. . . . It is as if a fresh sap of ideas and thoughts was rising in you.

- Agatha Christie

Thought for the day

Those who do not learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.

- George Santayana

Happy New Year one and all!

I'm Old (and Grumpy - bugger, no sensible link seems to exist yet - did you see that on TV? So true; had me rolling on the floor laughing (well, nearly)), so I'm off to bed (probably) - well, at least until our neighbour's bombs grenades unnecessarily large fireworks wake us up - so will forward date this post... :)