Other jottings

I just love Open Diary though my diary is anything but open. I now only have one public post which is just a hi there complete with sunflower smilies. Other than that it's just private thoughts and they are helping too.

It's nice when someone puts enough trust in you not to behave like an absolute shit. Though isn't that just the truth.

Writing about things helps you to see things more clearly.

I've also started a couple of LJ's. Not that I'm writing in them. That art magazine had a poster in it that reminded me of MK. Not in what she's wearing but just the face and hair. MK'd be more likely to be wearing a Princess Peach frock. The poster's used a lot in that issue. And I worried again because she's so fricking vulnerable and I wished that I'd made more effort to stay in touch. Not that MK is very good at keeping in touch either at times.

She's with that guy though and things are fine but it's just knowing how vulnerable she is. Hopefully there's no need to worry and I suspect that there isn't. He is pretty cool.

She's going off to study law.

!!

Today

At the moment I'm scanning the disc from the Sci fi art magazine which ofcourse is affecting what I write here. I scanned it this morning too and then turned the computer off to go out without checking the results of the scan.

Do I usually scan discs? No. But the security on the computer is so intrusive now that I'm reminded of it all the time so there's one disc being scanned now. Gone are the days when I could just turn the computer on and in no time at all get the train times up or whatever. It takes ages and I have to plan ahead which means, I suppose, that I might actually start learning to be on time for things. I suppose I could take Webroot off now as Norton covers what it does. I put Webroot on first just to get that sorted out and then updated NIS. Occasionally it does work through relatively "quickly" but generally it takes a while to be able to get on the internet.

I'm still on dial up. Just received the umpteenth call from my internet provider asking if I want to change to Broadband and said to them as usual I'm moving soon and will sort that out when I've gone.

Well, not surprizingly the disc is fine. Hadn't got around to watching it before because the last two days haven't been that great though I'm starting to feel better again. Walking's a lot easier so I guess I'm slowly getting on the mend.

And you can kind of dance on one foot and be careful with the other one. The music's coming back through the tiredness and bugginess.

Went over to the care home for the first time for quite a while today. Took usual gift. They've done some really artistic decorating over there. Going back in a couple of days to leave a card and present for someone.

Feel a bit strange after not being there for a while because the memories came flooding back. Couldn't stay for very long in her room as the person who has the room now was there though they seemed to be asleep.

Still sorting things out here

Doing my best to get things moving here. I just want to get things ready to go. I'm glad in some ways I didn't go as soon as I could've because it's given me time to think about things. I would rather not have been so ill but maybe the time it's given me just to think things through has been good.

Tomorrow I'll be looking at the disc that came with the sci fi computer art magazine. I was almost prowling around it this morning but still felt really tired so thought I'd leave it. But I'll look at it tomorrow.

Meditation

I used to meditate but over the years kind of reduced it to just going into a state of relaxation for my mind and body at moments in the day when I needed to chill out a bit. And I really do it that often anymore.

I decided last night that I'd start meditating again this morning. So this morning I meditated for ten minutes and found, as I'd expected, that my mind was wandering a bit. Usually does when you start meditating. But I wasn't as twitchy as I thought I might be as my body destressed a bit as I started to relax into the meditation.

I was quite surprized because it seems to've eased some of the discomfort from the inflamation I've got from this virus.

Infact

ThankQ everyone who has put themselves out on a limb for me one way or another.

In retrospect

ThankQ.

Eventually.

Ducks and bird flu

Just a pointer

http://news.netdoctor.co.uk/news_detail.php?id=15130548&date=11/01/2006


Quote:

"Dr Rob McCracken from the British Veterinary Association told the Today programme that ducks were the birds most likely to pass the virus on to domestic poultry before it could be detected as they show no symptoms of the disease"


They shed virus before they look ill it seems.

The new blog

The new blog is working now. You can get to it by clicking on "View my complete profile" and clicking on the link there.

Edit

Just edited the repetition out of the poetry and pop post. I was trying to remember if Donovan had recorded Do Not Go Gentle because I've left it off the computer because I didn't like it, though I knew he had really, but I thought I'd better go and check that it was actually that I hadn't recorded and that I wasn't getting it muddled up with Van Morrison's version. I didn't.

Cannabis

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4630938.stm



More or less my introduction to on line chatting was to get a young guy over in Canada some help because he was smoking a lot of dope and seemed to be developing a psychosis. He was and is still on medication though things are a lot better.

I believe that some people who are affected this way develop a temporary illness whereas for others it appears to affect them for a long time if not for the rest of their lives.

The general opinion about whether cannabis will affect a person negatively in this way is that it only will if the person has a predisposition to a certain type of mental illness. Most of the talk is about schizophrenia. There is cannabis psychosis which is much more prevalent these days because of the change in street cannabis from the mild weed of the 1960s to including the very potent skunk that you can buy today.

I do know that it can make people paranoid. I smoked for a while back when I was young and even then people knew that this happened so it can cause problems. Yeah, I did have one bad experience and that just put me off.

I became a 1960s/70s meditating and lentilling hippy instead.

I read the reports when it was first thought that there could be problems which kind of clued me up when I met someone who appeared to be having them.

Poetry and pop

This just perplexes me. I find a lot of difference between the rhythm of poetry and the rhythm of words set to time of a musical beat. I'm writing because of an article in The Times about new indie bands and the lyrics of some of their songs. I'd written before about how difficult I'd found poetry reading and writing at school though I have to say I did write a long poem based on the style of Omar Khayan's Rubaiyat. But apart from that all my other efforts tended to head for the Edward Lear school of rhyme because I just used to feel a kind of bewilderment when faced with most poetry and found it almost impossible to write no matter how often the mechanics of sonnets etc were explained to me. But stick me infront of Folk Songs Of Europe or it's equivalent with work that came from the same eras as some of the poetry and I was content. I guess it had something to do with the way the work was expressed to fit into certain contexts. Also I guess with lots of music there's a great difference in how the medium is there to connect with people as it comes in from different expression both for the listener and artist than the wording of poetry.

Hey nonny no.

Occasionally poetry is put to music as in Van Morrison's version of Dylan Thomas's Do Not Go Gentle. Donovan has done that too quite recently. The only track I didn't like on the album, Beat Cafe.

I'm afraid I don't like the poem and it doesn't seem to matter to me that it's now been set to music. So maybe with me things just stand as they are. And I really like Van Morrison's and Donovan's music on the whole.

Some of the music that's attracted me in later years as far as lyrics go is rap which could be seen as a sort of cross between poetry/lyrics/prose. In it's many different forms it seems to mix everything in it's expression. Unfortunately the really amazing rap doesn't do as well as the sensation seeking type that sells so much better. There is some really deep and soulful rap out there that is really wonderful.

I can't say anything about the Artic Monkeys because I don't have any of their albums so for newer bands/artists lyrics I'll choose The Doves because I've got some of their music on cd and dvd. Because I'm older now I have to ferret around the younger people I know to get more information. I don't listen to much radio now so I'm just lucky if I hear something I like.

But verses like The Doves

You break me gently
Break me gently
Break me gently

Break my fall in vain
Pain won't go, rest in peace
And I look, and I see you could be breaking souls again.


Shows that there's depth in the lyrics.


This type of music is being taken notice of again. I know that nearly all music gets slammed at some time or other, it's just the way of things but indie bands really did have a bad time of it for a while didn't they. But people are more interested in playing guitar again and it's going to be really interesting to hear the future.

So ..... Respect

Bit late in the day I guess but I didn't feel like writing about it when it was in the news because I felt so ill.

My first reaction was one to the name. When I think of it being used as a single word it just brings back times when I've heard it used as gang slang on the streets. I just found it rather strange.

The next reaction was to the minor assault that Mr Blair used to illustrate the fines that are going to be handed out, the ones he's raised from £80 to £100. I just wondered how often the police were going to be around in instances like this. You know you can wait hours and more for a response to a burglary. I just found the instance he gave rather shall we say unstreetwise. Doubtless there will be instances where everything falls into place at once but I wouldn't think that it's going to happen very often.

I read comparisons to Zero Tolerance but there's quite a difference between the way the two iniatives have been constructed. See instance above. You'd need more feet on the streets for a start.

The ASBOs. Well, almost half are known to be broken now.


I was interested to see that there are plans for arts and sports facilities. But where are they going to take place. It's quite a commitment to say you're going to open them in places where there aren't any facilities for young people. It was suggested years and years ago by an expert in The States that the UK needed to start opening facilities like this because he thought that this country was going to have the same problems that were surfacing in America but that they would start years later. His advice was to start preparing now and hopefully change the direction he saw for this country in these matters. He was ignored completely.

I read an article on the BBC news site that told about one young man's life and I can't find it now so I'm having to write from memory. But he'd been badly abused and hadn't been supported by the social services. I can't remember quite what he'd done but I think he was involved in car crime so I suppose taking and driving away and things like that. When he wanted help to try and turn his life around it just wasn't there.

I know about kids who are more or less on the street bringing themselves up because their parents are crack users. I take it the support isn't there for them either so they're just going to have to rely on the people they meet on the streets.

I know about eight and ten year old kids who are used as drug runners virtually.

Another thing that I found strange about Mr Blair's reactions was that he was apparently aghast at children taking mobile phones into school and apparently couldn't believe it. Mr Blair kids take weapons into school.

I haven't read back so I'm just going by memory on this bit but didn't he also make a reference to the "good old days" so to speak and then say that ofcourse he wasn't comparing the past to the present day. I mean you can't compare life in that way in this instance can you because society has changed so much. It's just totally different now and it'd be better to cope with todays problems without making "wistful" references to the past.

Some people said that the new iniative was just a total rehash of past ones. Well, that's not quite true is it and I suspect if some of the things said are implemented with care that some will help in some instances but I feel that perhaps respect should be seen to be going two ways. I don't think that taking kids on holidays abroad when there's been trouble and then dumping them back in the same situation that they were in before is the answer either. I read articles where people are complaining about the trips. It'd be better really if something was sorted out at home really than just sticking a plaster on a wound.

Kids when they're asked often say they want something to do. Some kids don't have the facilities at home to do what they'd like and also for some there'll be homes where they'd rather not be because of trouble and abuse. I'd've thought the answer would be to give kids some respect and start early providing interesting and fun things for them to do out of school. And also I'd think that some care should be given to providing a happy and secure time at school as far as possible.

Feeling much better

Was out for some time this morning and it's obvious that all the stiffness is starting to go. I walked up to Sainsbury's out of town and back. I've rested for a couple of hours afterwards and though I still feel ill I can see I'm getting a lot better.

Tracking around the web

I have to say that I'm pretty easily recognised if people know me from somewhere else where ever I go as it doesn't take long before the same subject comes up. Though I had slowed down a little for a while. And had done a bit of silly editing on one post which I hope hadn't been noticed but if it was is now back as it was before over t'other bloggeroo.

I am branching out a bit though am well settled at ezboard's Empowering Womyn. Place that started the healthy eating off again. Guess the other problem was a bit out of the board's scope really, still that's being sorted out as well with a bit of help from an achy foot.

So, blogging here, blogging there, blogging round the blogosphere.

And even if my foot prevents me from exploring the great outdoors I'm off around the net possibly going to be posting there n there n there.

The next week

Will be spent getting ready to move. I have a buyer for the flat as I mentioned before. I'll have slowed the sale down a bit because I've been ill again. But I guess this illness has done me a favour hasn't it. The foot's a lot better though not back to how it was. It wasn't just the foot to be honest, all my muscles were affected to some extent but getting over it now and have started doing some very gentle yoga to help things back to how they were.

Am a bit whoozy still. That comes and goes at the moment. I was very clear headed last night but wrote down some things I needed to remember which was just as well as I felt rather lethargic this morning and couldn't concentrate well.

So, what needs to be done?

Throw things out that have got to be thrown out.

Give anything I don't want to charity.

Pack up the rest.

Clean place out.

Have chat with people who are buying the place to see if they want any of the furniture left.

Hire removal people to take the rest of the furniture away for charity.

Hire removal people to move the things I'm taking with me.

Won't all be done this week ofcourse but that's what's got to be done here.


And ofcourse go to the solicitors and get all the legal stuff sorted out.

Problemos on new blog

There's something wrong on the server where my new blog is. I thought they'd sorted it out and they have as far as the initial problem goes but ............................... they're obviously still working cause I can't post at all now.

They said the engineers would be in and I guess they are.

Testing

testing

And just started a new blog that's on my profile here. It's a more general one, not that I'll post on it much for now I guess.

But it's there if I want to.

Resting!!!!

Spent a lot of today resting cause that's what I've gotta do!!!!!!!! Oh dear! It doesn't come easy!!

But still I know I've got to do it. Had loads to do today and haven't done it and am not fretting ... (much).

Manyana ..... manyana!!

Boards

Been having a look at some of the boards on ezboard. There're some interesting ones out there.

Empowering womyn at ezboard is where I've been posting and it's sure helped with a problem in my life. Posted and posting mainly on the music threads after the neffing/introductory ones.

Haven't had time to read much on the new boards though.

Will still be popping into Empower.

The conference

Bird flu precautions funding conference

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4619060.stm

8'o'clock start

Well, I was out by eight this morning to go and get the papers and some food. Just fancied a walk in the early morning. Foot still a pain but things are getting better. I had a good night's sleep last night though still felt tired when I woke up.

Couldn't believe the morning. It was so pleasant out there ... well, if you know what I mean. Very, very mild. I remember being really happy if the temperature hit 11 degrees for a day at the end of February when I was younger cause it was a sign that regardless of how awful the weather was for the next couple of months we were at least heading towards summer again. Been looking at the London 5 day forecast and it seems we're getting a high of 11 degrees this week there. Well, tomorrow actually. Huh.

Just checked for Brum too and so are we here. 12 degrees the day after.


So, I guess lights off when not needed, kettle with not too much water and don't keep things on standby. I guess every bit helps.

I saw the headline in the Independent yesterday about someone saying that things have gone too far now. I haven't read it yet because I was doing other things yesterday ..... and ofcourse resting!!! quite a bit in between. Think it was something to do with James Lovelock author of Gaia. He's sort of a green, and I suppose you'd say holistic in some senses, scientist.


At the moment I'm very bleary cause I'm still ill. What I'll say without reading the article is all credit to him for publicising this again and putting it back out for debate yet again. It needs to be there because I'm still amazed at the number of people I come across, mainly on the net now, who still don't think global warming is a reality. They're generally Bush supporters or the type of person who says they don't support Bush and are a commited Democrat but have a right wing agenda that would make Mrs Thatcher blush.

The eco system is doing things that are making things harder especially where the absorbtion of carbon is concerned which point to things being more difficult to control. But we really need to start to doing things to limit the damage and at the moment I'd there's still a margin there to be able to do this. But people still aren't being encouraged to take any personal responsibility in the effort to get things under control again, not personally or in business. Though as I mentioned once before that in the States some buisnesses are taking their personal responsibility seriously and are finding against all expectations apparently that it's cost effective, and some developing countries are starting, China for all it's environmental pollution is investing in solar power for domestic use though this doesn't offset the industrial problems there which have to be addressed too.

Public bodies, think tanks, that give the impression that things are all right in some places when they are most decidedly not are a problem too. Pointless really because the reality is there for anyone who wants to know. I guess they're a bit like the people who used to insist, for a political reason/for money, that cigarettes weren't a factor in cancer. I can remember reading all that while the major debate was going and it's just amazing how obvious reality is denied.

As far as global warming/climate change goes the damage needs limiting. And as with global warming I guess no one really quite knows exactly what will happen when this happens to any great extent. Maybe things will progress better than anyone's expected if it's sorted out quickly. The talk about having targets to stabilize the situation that won't happen for fifty years or so is just passing the buck really isn't it. And just looking at the way the eco system is reacting totally unrealistic.

Mr Bush has come round to voicing an opinion that global warming is a reality unlike many of his quasi/ supporters. There's the problem of trying to keep a stable economy and stem global warming that governments are having a big problem with.

What we still haven't got though is the inclusion of everyone to help and the truth is that we're all in this together.

So there we are ..............

So there we are. I guess I've been running a temperature for a couple of days but I'm starting to feel better. And I've spent a lot of the time resting, not that I had much choice with my foot the way it is really. I feel quite a bit better, though not well, but I'm just going to take things day by day and see how they go.

It's Thursday and on this blog we all know what that used to mean!!

Well, I don't know if that goes back to the deleted blog or if it carried on over to this one. Can't remember when I stopped writing about it. Well, it's Thursday and that means there's a new edition of New Scientist on the news stands. And, yes, ofcourse there're differing opinions sometimes, but I launch myself into Smiths or somewhere on a Thursday and go to pick it up. Only magazine that I'm conscious of doing that with. Friday is vaguely Economist day but I might forget. The other magazines I read are just there to browse and decide whether I want to read them or not.

Course bird flu is leading the agenda again. This time in connection with taking control of the bird livestock around the world. Seems a pretty good idea. In the Netherlands there was an outbreak of another strain of bird flu in 2003.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/4412932.stm


From this the Netherlands decided to keep birds inside when the new virus started to make the news frequently and was found in Russia but reversed the decision after the European Commission decided that this was unnecessary which at the time seemed strange to me.

In this country there were reasons given why it was much easier for the Dutch to move their poultry indoors than it would be in the UK too.

I thought of other countries then and just felt bad. I mean if the virus mutates to one that can be spread between people then it can do that anywhere and spread. Why wasn't Europe leading the way in trying to keep bird livestock away from wild birds.

Eventually birds were to be kept in around migratory routes in EU countries.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4338490.stm


The New Scientist suggests that if domestic and wild birds are kept apart then there's a chance that the virus moving around the wild bird population could mutate into a weaker strain with time.

I said when I was writing about the flu before as money seems to be one of the deciding factors about just what is done (?!!) why not ask for donations. We're willing to give money for other causes so why not this one.

Well, they're asking governments to donate now to try and implement some sort of domestic bird control around the world. The World Bank is asking rich nations next week to donate money to help fund measures across the world to try and stop a pandemic. Scientists believe this is a way of preventing one. The World Bank is interested in implementing measures in countries in migratory flight paths across the world.

I've just gone back to read it again and it appears that people have been asking for a global initiative like this for a long time.

Plantains

When I was writing about the menopause I mentioned that soya was thought to help ease the symptoms some people get. Plantains contain the same elements that help. But as I said there are places in the world where there isn't language to cover menopausal hot flushes because they are more or less unknown. Maybe it's just eating a healthy basic diet that is the key. Brown rice, barley,oats, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, garlic,broccoli, celery, sweet peppers, chick peas, haricot beans, kidney beans are among other foods that could help. But really it just seems that having a healthy diet is the answer. If I remember rightly, it's not just in Japan, where lots of soya products are eaten, where Western menopausal symptoms are lesser, but in communities were a healthy but basic diet is the norm.

I don't know. I was 51 when I had my last period and didn't have any night sweats, hot flushes or any of the other symptoms associated with the menopause, nothing apart from the fact that the last few periods were just totally out of sync and heavier/lighter, longer/shorter than usual.

It's not long ago and I'm still ok.

and...........

Perhaps make up strange concoctions of cabbage, garlic and ginger. I'm sure I could manage that quite easily!!

I can't remember what the receipe was that was thought to help birds in this situation and though I'm totally sceptical about it all it did sound as if it might be of some use to people with colds and things.

Turkey

I suppose it must be difficult to get everybody to give up their birds because a lot of the rural population wouldn't have been aware of bird flu and it's dangers before officials came in to ask them to dispose of their poultry.

I'm not really thinking that much about it anymore. I hope that people will soon be advised about health precautions to take. Not much else to do.

It's different from the illness that the possible pandemic would be because at the moment the method of passing on the illness is different.

Not stocking up on anything. I just hope that if the illness does mutate that by that time the vaccine will have been produced in sufficient quantity to reduce the severity of the illness. The other tablets are thought to be needed to be given at a higher dose than before as there is thought to be a certain amount of immunity build up. The New Scientist did say that there were question marks about the drug and that's because it's still thought that it can be viable at a higher dose than was thought to be needed before rather than being useless in all cases.

Guess I just won't be out getting close to the water birds.

My fringe and then, ofcourse, the music ............

My fringe needs trimming and I'm not doing it myself while I feel like this or I'll end up having loads of hair cut off again after styling it in so I'm just leaving it til I'm not as tired and whoozy and can have a good look at it. Not that I've got as much hair as last time.


Seem to be having a thing for atmospheric music at the moment. Just played Odetta Sings Dylan which was beautiful though I was too interested in the music and her lovely voice to really sit back and enjoy it. It's quite unusual and'll take another couple of playings to really fall into it. It's lovely though.

I'm listening to the album Grand Theft Parsons now and am listening to Gram Parsons singing Song For You. I love this song.

Now Gillian Welch singing Hickory Wind. Beautiful.

I started writing this because an instrumental piece of music was playing, Parsons' Boy, and it was just so atmospheric. Got me after listening to Odetta. But then those two songs too.

You know I could have my wrist operated on but I don't really want the hassle and it'd take some time to recover from the op and then there's no guarantee that it'd be that much better I guess, though I think the odds are that it would be. Puts hands back on keyboard.

My voice is getting better too, even with my being in the state I'm in at the moment.

And another thing, the wrist's not painful so I think it might be just as well to leave it. But sometimes it just kind of gets me.

This album is excellent, just listened to Love Hurts and now on to another instrumental by the guy that did Parsons' Boy, Richard G Mitchell.

Feeling a bit better

Slept more last night and do feel a bit better this morning through I'm obviously still going to be somewhat "grounded" for a while. Got so much to do here that it's really quite good that I'm back sorting it all out.

I've just been told to rest .. by everyone. So that's what I'll do for most of the time. I really do feel tired.

But, I'm eating well and am quite happy with that.

Now, I just need to sort myself out and get better.

The Dutch cannabis cafe debate

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4595018.stm


Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarghh!!

If there's one topic that makes me want to head off for the hills this is it.

I know the arguments for both sides. I agree with points from both sides and disagree with points from both sides and am not sure if this means that I want to see them closed or not or just changed.

There've been coffee shops in the Netherlands for over 30 years now. And yes I did for a while. Now I don't.

I'm sure that having the cafes has cut down smoking dope in the Netherlands because it's kind of mainstream and has lost it's rebellious image. It's more a tourist thing.

Unfortunately the tourists it brings in aren't just those interested in the cafes. Some people from other countries believe that the Netherlands is soft on all kinds of drugs so you get some Eastern European junkies coming in. Though I don't know if you'd call them tourists or not. I guess not. The Netherlands isn't soft on hard drugs though it does have a lot of debate going on about the best course of action with addicts. The present situation also brings in lots of dealers who don't mind what they're supplying. The dealers are often part of criminal gangs.

Also Dutch grown cannabis has been growing in strength and this has led to opposition to the cafes and calls for cannabis to be reclassified.

But at the same time there has been calls for legalisation of low strength cannabis. And politically this has been quite well supported.

But some people only want the sale of cannabis to apply to Dutch people because they are tired of the problems that the cafes are causing. This is a right wing attitude politically. A few people have called for them to be closed altogether stating that they are really just there for the tourists and it's just not worth the inconvenience.

Some people don't like the idea of the cafes because they think they are just there for the tourists who aren't interested in the Netherlands at all (and can't speak a word of Dutch!!). Considered bad manners but that is because so many people in the Netherlands speak foreign languages. Language learning is very popular there. (Gives you so much more to be interested in and you can watch lots of TV in the original languages and listen to music and, and, and ....)

Well, here're a couple of easy words.


Hi .... Dag

Goodbye ..... Dag

the g is pronounced like the ch in loch.


Should get a smile.


You can use Hi or Hallo for Hi but Dag sounds more Dutch.


There's the debate that having the cafes isn't giving out a good message as far as drugs go.

Then there's the medical argument that cannabis can start schizophrenia off in those predisposed to the illness and can cause psychotic incidents. This is much more prevalent these days than it used to be because cannabis has changed from the drug it used to be back in the 60s and is much more potent now in most of its forms.


The tolerance stems from the Dutch tradition to "live and let live" known as "gedoog" .. difficult pronunciation that one!!!!


The debate will ricochet round in one form or another I guess until all the questions have been answered politically and laws passed.

The argument goes round and round.

Ecology again

The Independent headlined with an article about Tony Blair's intention to close the three environmental centres here in the UK.

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article337399.ece

I'd've thought the environmental centres might've been something he'd have liked us all to be interested in because there sure as hell isn't much to focus on here in regards to the changes that global warming is bringing about.


The other connected article was in The Express and here there were photos of government buildings, closed, but with the buildings a blaze of light from all the lights that had been left on. What can you say really? Not exactly a picture of inspiration is it. These are huge office buildings.

The Lib Dem leadership

Following politics here isn't much fun to be honest and I do wish that new policies would be written up in plain language for people to follow. If this doesn't happen it tends to keep politics away from the people to some extent. Statutes are always bogged down in legalese, partially because of the need to include everything that has to be included and excluding everything that has to be excluded and to provide the legal system ample guidance in following and interpretting the Act of Parliament as it was meant to be interpretted by the people who put it together in the first place.

Unfortunately this means that it becomes very complicated and interpretation only becomes relatively simple after you've mastered the art of reading the legal language employed by the people to write the statutes.

There seems to be no fun in this country as far as politics goes, nothing to draw people in. And in general politics here is still very wrapped up in legalese whenever it's discussed in detail.

I've been reading about Charles Kennedy's resignation and I think I've read virtually every viewpoint that could be expressed now though ofcourse I could be wrong.

I never know quite what to make of the Lib Dems though was put off them by something Mr Kennedy said. I don't think they are pointless or that being leader of them is a pointless position as I read one columnist stated. I think in the last election, even though they attracted more voters, that they missed an opportunity to become a greater political force in this country. Have to say that I didn't vote for them because they had alienated me rather so I just went to vote to keep Labour in.

Now I've never had a drink problem, doesn't mean that I've never drunk cause I used to but I'm t total now. The only time I've really got into alcohol was after another set of injuries, not the ones I've mentioned before, and I just got totally pissed for a month. Pernod, Brandy etc, etc. I was drinking a lot. And I mean a lot. People wouldn't believe I was drunk though because they thought I didn't drink at the time. Only one person cottoned on and I'd turn up having downed half a bottle of Pernod or something and people would refuse to believe I was drunk because everyone knew at the time that I didn't drink!!! Someone eventually asked me if I was pissed and I said yes. He said I thought you were but everyone says you can't be because you don't drink.

Folks I'd like to say don't do this at home. Drinking like that is bad for the body. Not a good idea at all. Underlined.

I stopped after about a month. One day I went off to buy more drink and I just decided I didn't want it anymore and came back with a large bottle of Diet Coke and that was that.

But I have had people in my life who have had problems and I've been through the A.A option with a couple of them, going to meetings with them and listening to what's said there. I remember hearing that they reckon it'll take a year or so from when you stop drinking, if you have a problem there, to really get back into the flow of things. And this is why some people have problems giving up. There're loads of reasons but for some people this is a problem.

Just going by that and the focus of attention that Mr Kennedy is under I'd say that he has done the right thing for himself and his party in resigning. It'll give him a better chance of coming back strongly later on. I don't think it would've been at all easy in his position to stop drinking and I believe he'd tried and failed a number of times before.

That's just the way I see it. He was already having problems coping with his job and that would've added to the stress and being in the spotlight as a politician and knowing that he could eventually be very publically outed would have made for a very stressful time.

Best to try and sort it out now or many political years are going to be lost.

I'll watch the leadership being sorted out as I did with the Tories but will be more interested when it's decided.

Bird flu.

As far as my concentration goes I guess things are almost back to how they were before I began having problems some weeks ago. Happily back to browsing New Scientist again after a few weeks of just stacking it up in a growing pile of things that I was just too tired to read.

Bird flu was the subject of one of the main topics in the magazine. Remember going through this before I deleted my last blog. Things are still much the same. There is a vaccine in trial that is related to the new deadly strain of this flu which while not protecting against the new strain might still be able to save lives by muting the response of the immune system and cutting down on some of the more serious problems the illness causes. Together with a drug to help with lung infections the two could stop a lot of damage if the present bird flu combines with another flu virus in the human population and becomes easily transmissable as an airbourne illnesss between people.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4586534.stm

Producing a vaccine that would protect against catching a strain of flu that has combined with the new strain of bird flu and become transmissable as ordinary flu would only start once the strain of flu was recognisable and the vaccine would take some time to produce.

It was stated in the article that the response to the danger posed by bird flu has been slow and this is right. You can only hope that they are thinking of setting up multiple means of production for any medication that might be useful in combating a pandemic resulting from the combination of bird flu and a human flu virus, or if the bird flu mutated into a form easily spread between people.

Possibly the problems inTurkey might provoke more discussion as the danger is being illustrated more vividly than before as more cases of the flu are apparently coming to light. At the moment it's thought that all the cases are bird to human transmissions. As a result there is a call for culling all avian livestock in the country. To start with quite a few people refused to believe that the flu was a reality and were refusing to cull or have their birds culled but apparently there is a growing sense of alarm in the country about the reality of the situation.

I expect more countries will be expecting to see the illness now that Turkey is having multiple outbreaks. The reality had probably seemed distant to a lot of people before. Maybe Turkey's problems will be the catalyst for countries to have a more alert approach as more people become aware of the dangers of the bird to human form of the disease spreading into the West. It probably seemed rather remote before.

Incidentally the New Scientist article is very informative.

Sunday or should I say Zondag

Well, I'm .. er.. resting. Well, that and getting the flat sorted out while I get ready to move. I've told people that I should be in London within the month and that's how I hope it's going to be, though I guess there might be a couple of weeks more, just depends on my health. Contracts haven't been exchanged yet but I expect that to happen in the next couple of weeks when I've a reasonable idea of how long I'll be here.

Just trying to get my Dutch a little better. Still have the problem that I speak it more fluently than I understand and that's because of my memory loss. Apparently it's quite common with that type of problem for only the most used language to stay intact. The problem has it's funny moments to be sure but hopefully most of that will be sorted out in the next few months as I get my head stuck into my Living Language course and the other language courses I've here and my pile of Dutch novels. Some people are refusing to talk to me completely in English now and that's kind of helping a lot. (Humph).

My foot's still a bit tender. It got very hot while I was ill and I've just got to wait until it's sorted itself out. I don't think I've a cold at the moment but I'm still not well.

I'm eating healthily and even surprizing myself there. I don't see it as some kind of difficult thing anymore and am starting to enjoy sorting out healthy eating. Not cooking from scratch or anything. I mean how could I with my foot like it is!!! But as far as eating healthily goes I see it as the difference between being ill and feeling better and being able to do more and to be honest there's no contest.

My foot is making sure that I'm not tiring myself out cause when I start overdoing things it starts playing up more. I'm taking pain relief for it but I don't like to take too much because I know that I will overdo things. The healthy eating has been much easier to sort out than trying to stop being up and around and out as much as I'm used to being. The foot is keeping me in check.

School and community work

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4583234.stm


Interesting. But it's very similar to Labour's plans to pay people to stay on at school and have them doing community work. I wrote about that in the part of my blog that I deleted. There was an article in the news about Labour's plans to build on after school activities in secondary schools and also to have people at school doing community work.

I wrote saying that the after school activities needed to be thought through well so that they'd appeal to the people doing them. And I also thought that something similar should be thought of for junior schools too because some people really don't have much to do at home and also because some homes are unhappy places. I've experience of the latter.

The Lib Dems

Who?

What?

How?

When?

Why?

Where?





Why won't they tell us.

Yeah .. what have I been doing

Had quite a long talk with a friend from Amsterdam today.

He said if I don't look after myself I'm just going to be ill and not doing anything when there's no need for it to be like that. Have to say that was just starting to dawn on me but no one else had actually put it that way.

I am looking after myself much better. I was out today but got in and leafed through the papers then went and lay down because I felt tired. Rested for about three hours. Still tired though.

The cold has affected my left side a little,the foot's still sore and there's a slight tenderness that side of my body. My left eye was very sore when the cold really took off too. It got into the nerves that side of my body. It's gone now but I'm still not feeling well.

Just off to put a prepared but healthy meal in the oven.

Mr Cameron

Thinking back over some of what Mr Cameron has had to say, didn't he say something about trying to draw young people to the Tory party. Ah, kind of explains why he's developed this green attitude apparently rather quickly. Why he's building a group on the policy of Live 8 and trying to get Bob Geldof involved.

I've noticed though that he's still carrying on in the same vein as William Hague with personal jibes rather than political statements in his attitude towards Gordon Brown. William Hague really surprized me when I watched TV from the House of Commons by his constant use of personal put down instead of political speech.

Mr Cameron has called Mr Brown old fashioned hasn't he. Strange that as it's happened at the same time as Mr Cameron has publicity from employing Geldof and setting up these groups and displaying how green hoping to be elected leader of the Conservatives has made him.

Wonder if all this has something to do with him trying to "attract" young people to his party.

The article

Actually the article just made me angry. It did ofcourse cover Bob Geldof but was just slamming a certain group of people from the Arts as having no social interests even if they appeared to have. Bob Geldof was just put up as an example really because he's in the news now and is advising a Tory Make Poverty History type group.

Exactly the same type of slamming that he got over Live 8 for being seen with Tony Blair. There you go doesn't really matter if it's Labour or Conservative does it. I didn't like the way Live 8 was staged but there you go, it was staged in tandem with political talks about global poverty and it'd been strange if the PM wasn't seen with Bob Geldof somewhere.

Didn't get to mention Bill Gates I notice who has been the poster boy of far left ire regardless of the fact that he's donated a fortune to charitable causes. I know he's a techie rather than in the Arts but you get my drift.

Can't be bothered to write how Live Aid got off the ground and the people involved again. But whoever wrote the article was either unaware or didn't care.


Whatever I might have thought about the staging of Live 8 I know that the event itself will have highlighted and raised interest in some people about world poverty and trade.

I mean I know the political input is questionable and promises are already being broken. And I have my suspicions that some of the political interest has rather a lot to do with opposing China's interest in developing industry in Africa.

There you go.