I always feel sorry for the birds at this time of year. One day rain, the next frosty, then fog, even hailstones. It can’t be easy to find food, so I always make seedcakes for them. My random recipe basically includes seeds, nuts, suet and any spare cereal at the bottom of the tub. It’s always a great success and I get a lot of pleasure from watching loads of different species of garden and woodland birds arriving to get stuck in.
Having finished all my housewifely tasks this morning I sat down for, in my opinion, a well earned cup of coffee and a bar of chocolate. I was staring, trancelike, at the bird table watching a cute little robin nibbling away happily. Suddenly a squirrel ‘flew’ in from an overhanging branch, the robin flew off in a hurry, our mental collie saw the squirrel and launched himself at the dining room window, barking and growling, the old spaniel joined in in sympathy[ but had no idea why she was barking]. The scrabbling at the window caused the squirrel to panic and he ran back towards the houses. At this point the collie became so excited he dashed along the window ledge, scattering my three Christmas cactuses, which had decided to flower early this year, in all directions. Pots, plants and petals spread all over the floor. I jumped to my feet and before I even got the first syllable of ‘ who did that!’ out the collie had skulked into the utility room and hid his eyes in his paws; his favourite ‘I’m sorry I’m an idiot’ pose. There was only one thing to do: sit back down, have a laugh at it all and finish my coffee. The mess wasn’t going anywhere, but by now the spaniel was definitely eyeing up the last of my chocolate!
Wasn’t it delightful to see that the man about to take control of the free world is totally under the thumb of his little daughters? In the middle of the most momentous victory speech for decades he announced that the White House would be hearing the patter of tiny puppy feet- as promised to his girls in exchange for their hard work over the campaign; Barack has been blackmailed by his daughters and quarter of a million Americans were there to hear him make that promise.
So what do you think? Will they be tempted to get an all-American Pitbull ; even better they could call it Sarah- hopefully that’s as close as Mrs Palin will ever get to the White House.
The newest crossing over the River Forth will be officially opened on 19th November and after a vigourous campaign the citizens of the ‘ Wee County’ can celebrate the news that the dramatic and awe inspiring feat of engineering will be known as the Clackmannanshire Bridge. Just think, it will take you longer to type the name in to your GPS than it will to cross it!
The 26-span crossing weighs in at 32000 tonnes and has an overall length of 3/4mile. One of the biggest ‘deck-push’ constructions in the world - a process whereby each section of bridge ‘pushes’ the previous section out over the water till the other side is reached, it has been amazing to watch the growth of this structure on my frequent trips in the area.
On the 16th November there will be a charity walk over the bridge in aid of Strathcarron Hospice so, if you want to help a worthy cause and get some amzing photo opportunites, then sign up for the walk: Contact 01324 826222.
In all the doom and gloom of banking collapses, recession and rising costs there is one group in society that seems to be forgotten. The press is full of the woes of the pensioner or the first time buyer or the young family but what about the group who do not fall into any of these categories but are unable due to chronic ill health to work, the married over 50s with no dependant children but not in receipt of a pension. Not poor enough for working tax credits because their husband/wife is earning more than the minimum wage, not old enough to get any paid up pensions, not “disabled” enough in the terms required by the Disability Living Allowance forms to get disability allowance - yet unable to go out and survive a full days work. These couples have been left to face rising costs for fuel and food, they get no help to pay for council tax, prescriptions, dental care or eyecare. They have lost all chance of saving for their ‘real’ retirement. People seem to assume they got some huge pay-off when they were forced out of their jobs - the reality is most are fired ‘on the grounds of capability’- a fantastic get-out-of-jail free card for employers. Many of these people have suffered from cancer and it is the drug treatment or chemotherapy which has damaged them to such an extent that they are no longer able to work - and yet the hospital authorities only treat the disease, they lose all interest in the fall out that treatment causes. Truly, the forgotten people. In this cancer awareness month it is time for the authorities to consider the aftermath of cancer. It’s not enough to get people through the disease only to leave them living in abject poverty for the rest of their lives.
So Glenrothes is going to hold its bye-election on 6th November. That’s handy, because the media will still be so busy in America, watching everybody blame each other for the outcome of their election two days earlier that nobody will notice what’s going on here. Give him his due though- the Prime Minister is trying to drum up some interest by breaking with tradition and offering to do a bit of campaigning round and about - well it is just a few miles from his home town of Kirkcaldy, so he’ll probably visit the family while he’s at it. Wouldn’t want him to think he’s had a wasted journey- but I don’t think he should hold his breath waiting for that result.
I’ve only been on holiday for two weeks and in that time the world has witnessed the collapse of the western empire. I, however, have been completely oblivious to it all - no phones, no internet, no newspapers and no signal on the tv. I didn’t worry about the dropping shares and the collapsing economies because I didn’t know anything about it. No news definitely was good news for me. In fact, I think we should all be encouraged to leave behind every possible link with the outside world at least once a year - it’s amazing how good it is for your soul.
The downside, of course, is I have now had to catch up with world events - and there have just been too many in the last few days to be sure I’ve covered them all. As far as I can tell, Bush has thrown all the dolls out of the pram, Barack is back in the lead, Palin still thinks she’s a dog, Brown is being bailed out by Blair’s buddies, McCain still needs new dentures to stop him whistling before the next debate - oh and the ghost of Nero has looked out his fiddle.
After the collapse today of Lehman Brothers, the buy over of Merryll Lynch and the partial bridging loan to AIG, it’s no surprise that many investors, large and small, would fancy a drink tonight. Well, I hope they didn’t decide on a glass of wine to drown their sorrows.
I’ve just watched a tv documentary about wine production world wide and it seems that not only are we drinking the fruit of the vine; we’re swallowing pesticides, preservatives, flavourings, fake aromas, plastics, metals, babies nappies and doggy pooh sacks! In fact, in Italy a wine producer is under house arrest right now for adding sulphuric and hydrochloric acid to 160000 litres of wine. The Champagne region of France regularly tipped the rubbish from Paris over it’s fields to encourage natural compost - unfortunately they kept the practice up even after plastic containers and polythene bags were thrown out with the garbage- yummy - and only £50 a bottle!
Now, I really need a drink - water, anyone?
The delightful story in the paper today about the new playpark for pensioners in the north of Scotland made me smile. I know it’s been done elsewhere so it’s not news exactly, but it’s a great idea - not only from the physical activity point of view but also the social interaction which is so important for older people. I did just wonder, however, do you get old bullies at these parks in the same way as you get teenage bullies? I can just picture some grumpy old men blocking the roundabout with their zimmers, poking all the grannies with their sticks as they play on the swings and so on- probably the same ones who hogged the witches hat when they were fourteen.
Reverting to childhood can be fun. I remember being invited to a pool party for a fifty year old- but not a water pool- this was a foam pit pool. I’ve never seen grown women giggle and laugh so much as they launched themselves into ten feet of foam balls in an old swimming pool, then stuff their faces with crisps, jelly and birthday cake. Mind you maybe the adddition of a few bottles of champagne did help! Yep, we all used to be young and some of us still are.
I would never claim to be a financial whizzkid or banking expert, but don’t you just think there is something fundamentally wrong when a country the size of America piles all its eggs into the same giant ‘Fanny n Freddie’ basket?
The leviathan mortgage guarantee companies who sound like a vaudeville act have certainly proven to have come up with the joke of the millenia: ‘Let’s advise the banks to give vast amounts of money to people on low incomes, knowing that they can never afford the monthly payments, then let all our investors lose the shirts from their backs too; and then for good measure we’ll get the government to bail us out because we ‘own’ half of the mortgage debt of the USA and they couldn’t let us collapse, could they?’
How much will it cost? A lifetime of misery and despair, but not for Fanny or Freddie.
And the joke is on: - the whole world economy. How did this happen?
As an aspiring Edinburgh Singer Songwriter, the road to accomplishment may seem tough to travel as you begin your journey. Knowing where to start can be a large part of the battle when you are new to guitar. Read the rest of this entry »
I always feel sorry for the birds at this time of year. One day rain, the next frosty, then fog, even hailstones. It can’t be easy to find food, so I always make seedcakes for them. My random recipe basically includes seeds, nuts, suet and any spare cereal at the bottom of the tub. It’s always a great success and I get a lot of pleasure from watching loads of different species of garden and woodland birds arriving to get stuck in.
