Oops

Reading Zinnia's post made me realise that I'd missed my own Blogiversary. The phrase 'time flies when you're having fun' is clearly appropriate here!

My first post was on the 8th July last year as I was in the final stages of planning our wedding. Next week will be our wedding anniversary - it seems a life time away and yet, at the same time, it's gone by in the blink of an eye.

Hubby and I have known each other for six and a half years, been living together for about five and married for one. We've moved to a big city away from family and friends. I've gone through various health issues. We're still learning about each other, what it means to be married and about this journey we're on .. but we're still going strong and the scenery is fabulous. :o)

Happy Journeys

The Duchy of Cornwall

The BBC is carrying a story entitled MPs press Charles to quit Duchy. Now I don't pretend to understand the implications of capital gains tax but this story made me think, "hang on a sec".

Here is our future king who actively manages his private estates. (I'm sure he would be criticised if he left them to rot.)
He no doubt employs countless people to manage and maintain those estates.
His estates produce a range of organic/traditional foodstuffs which are very nice and which presumably have VAT on them.
He actively encourages his tenant farmers to be involved in organic farming, biodiveristy, good land management, recycling and conservation.
He voluntarily pays income tax on any income he makes (at 40%) and has increased the estates capital value (something which is held in trust for future heirs to the thone). He also makes his Accounts Reviews available online.

So tell me, what on earth is wrong with any of that?

Just sounds like sour grapes to me.

Repliee Q1 - Human Cyborg relations

The BBC is carrying this fascinating story about an android called Repliee Q1.

At first glance at the picture on the BBC's site, there is a moment where you think you're looking at two humans. In fact, before posting this blog, I did a bit of a search to verify this story from other sources as I wasn't entirely convinced!

"She has flexible silicone for skin rather than hard plastic, and a number of sensors and motors to allow her to turn and react in a human-like manner. She can flutter her eyelids and move her hands like a human. She even appears to breathe. ... She is designed to look human and although she can only sit at present, she has 31 actuators in her upper body, powered by a nearby air compressor, programmed to allow her to move like a human."

Whilst her movements at present don't appear to be as sophiscated as other robotic units, the attention to detail is quite incredible. I find it amazing that they've designed the unit to not remain still. We humans are never still, we fidget, we adjust our centre of gravity, we blink, we breathe, even our pulse produces measurable movement (as demonstrated by the heart beat scanners used by Immigration Officials). It will be the attention to that sort of detail that could produce truly life-like robots.

This leads me to think about the Star Trek Next Generation episode
"The Measure of A Man" in which Data's status is challenged.
(Note: for those strange and unfathomable people that don't watch Star Trek :o) Data is an android with a positronic neural net.) Is he an individual with rights, is he alive? Or is he a machine to be possessed and controlled by Starfleet?

(As an aside, this is one of the reasons why I enjoy Star Trek - behind most episodes is a moral question, a dilemma, something to challenge and provoke. I also think this is why I don't enjoy Star Trek Enterprise as much - this series doesn't have the same depth.)

Many people that disparage Star Trek and other similar programmes fail to see that often real science follows in the footsteps of science fiction.

To boldly go ...

Why are weekends too short?

Just got back to London having spent a great weekend with friends.

Friday night - chinese take-away followed by a couple of episodes of the Long Way Round for me and L; several hours of gaming for Hubby, I and C.

Saturday - C lent me A Certain Chemistry by Mil Millington ... very amusing! The author uses an interesting style where the protagonist speaks directly to the reader in an everyday chatty style. This is a giggle-out-loud book. I've also brought Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About home with me.

Saturday evening - L's birthday party complete with helium balloons. Have you ever tried to tie several helium balloons together for table decorations? Hehe ... tricky. Evening concluded by midnight pizza :o)

Sunday morning - bit of a gentle start followed by some Star Wars Galaxies until we had to catch our train home.

It's such a bummer that weekends go by so fast - I can't quite believe that it's almost Monday morning already.

Having a bad day?

Blackrat has done it again. A very powerful post obviously written from the heart. Go, take a look ...

I'm angry

I have a love-hate relationship with London.

I wasn't too keen on the place when I first moved here - it was too noisy, smelly and crowded compared to where I'd grown up.

Since then, it's grown on me a little. It's still too noisy, smelly and crowded but I've come to appreciate that sometimes the noise is of music from all corners of the world; smells can be from exotic foods and spices; the crowds are tourists coming to see the world-famous attractions and residents who make up the varied multi-cultural population that makes the city so vibrant.

I may sometimes hate London but she's my capital city and my home.

How dare they attack this city that has stood for over two thousand years? This city that has withstood invasion, plague, fire and war?

The Final Frontier

James Doohan otherwise known as Montgomery Scott (and if you don't know who he is, hang your head in shame) has died today.

He certainly lived long and prospered.

And he will continue to live in the hearts and minds of many.


Peace and Long Life.

Harry Potter Mania

Well, I got my copy yesterday morning and finished it last night (sometimes I wish I could read more slowly to make good books last).

I think JK has produced another excellent book. Her characters are growing up convincingly. The relationships between the main characters is evolving and their personalities are developing, especially Harry's. Whilst still having a reckless disregard for school rules, he takes some important decisions and we also see him stand up to authority figures.

Without giving anything away, there are some significant changes in the status of some of the main adult characters. The book ends very differently to all the others and will leave you hoping that we don't have to wait so long for book seven.

To anyone who might think, "I can't read this, it's a children's book" I would say: Yes, the language clearly isn't highly complex but neither is it dumbed down. She uses ordinary vocabulary and doesn't shy away from painful or emotional scenes. It's not going to be the most challenging thing you've ever read but her books are well written and rewarding.
(Note: start at the beginning of the series as you need to understand prior events to get the most of out of it.)

I think I enjoy them so much as they are fantasy at it's best. Classic fight of good against evil, a reluctant hero with his close companions fighting an unbeatable foe. Pure escapism.


Which leads me onto this article on the BBC site:

'A primary school cancelled a Harry Potter day over complaints it could lead children into "areas of evil". ... the event - to mark the launch of the new JK Rowling book - was scrapped after parents and a local rector expressed concerns about witchcraft.

In a letter to parents, headteacher Paul Martin wrote: "When I received a letter from the rector which suggested that I was 'seeking to lead our children into areas of evil', I felt that the situation was escalating disproportionately. May I reassure parents that my staff and I only wished to raise the profile of reading."'

The rector in the story has completely missed the point of the books and I would make a guess that he's probably not read any of them. JK puts strong emphasis on the loyalty of friends and the power of love, light and goodness over "evil".

I first read The Hobbit when I was nine years old. I understood that it was a story. I might have daydreamed in the garden about meeting elves and fighting dragons but then I went inside and had my tea! I could distinguish between fiction and reality. Providing that the book is read with parental involvement - i.e. to reassure a frightened child or to discuss the difference between stories and real life - there is no harm.

I'm sure there are many fantasy fans that have explored the occult. However, I think the link is reversed. I would argue that it is not necessarily fantasy literature that "leads" people to the occult but that perhaps people who have a general interest in other-wordly things are more likely to be drawn to fantasy literature.

It would be very interesting to know whether the rector would voice the same mis-givings about Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Cinderalla, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Hans Christian Anderson Fairy Tales ... all of whom contain magic in some form or another?

We all need a bit of magic in our lives so I wish you ...

Magical Journeys.

Help!

I work in a corporate Customer Service role. As a result, a lot of my time is spent talking to call centres, tech support and customer service departments of other companies.

I have picked up a horrible saying but I can't think of a suitable catchy phrase to take it's place and now I am fearful that I will be stuck with it forever ...

... ok, deep breath ...

"Bear with me."

Urgh!!

Please help me!

The sound of silence

My workplace is in north east London - you don't have to go too far down the road and you're in Essex - and today we all filed out at a few minutes to twelve and took over the pavement outside our offices. The usual rowdy lot stood quietly and respectfully, joining hundreds of thousands over the city doing the same.

The thing that really heartens me today is that this scene was echoed not only all over London and in other UK towns and cities, but also in France, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands, Scandanavia, Malta, America, Canada, Bali ...

Our governments may not be perfect but we live in an imperfect world. I may not agree with my neighbour over the war in Iraq and our involvment or non-involvment in hundreds of other international issues but I accept that because I want to live in a democracy. There are no easy answers but answers must be found.

Ken Livingstone said,
"When you see people standing around today you see that Londoners are Londoners first before they are Jewish or Christian or Muslim."

I look forward to a day when we can all be world citizens first.

Bomb suspects arrested

It seems that the terrorist attacks have suceeded in frightening some British people - unfortunately those people are their own families, friends and neighbours.

The family of one of the alledged attackers appear to be devastated by the news.

I do hope that people in the Leeds area and, indeed, all over the country don't take any retaliatory action against the wider muslim community.

As promised ...

I'm going to try and include a picture or two from our recent hols. Fingers crossed ...

This is the pier runing from our hotel's beer garden into Lake Windermere (taken by me):



And this is a beautiful sunset (taken by Hubby). What you can't see in this one are the hundreds of midgies flying around!



Oh, it worked :o)

New Look

Tested in a couple of browsers - hope this works. Please let me know if you have any issues.

Power of Blogs

We live in an age when "joe blogs" can easily publish his/her thoughts to a worldwide audience. For many of us, it's simply our everday ramblings or vanity publishing. But events that have happened in London show another side to blogging. This egalitarian form of dissemination gives us access to eye witness accounts and news uncensored by official sources.

I've found this remarkable account from someone on one of the trains which I would urge you to read.

This blogger makes the very valid point about the design of the trains - the inability of people to get out of trains or at least get air into the carriages when such events occur.

As someone who experiences claustrophobia on the tube, it has always struck me how sealed the carriages are. Now clearly I understand that you don't want passengers to be able to easily jump out and run around over live rails but thought needs to be given to how trains can have breakable windows (like on overland trains) or perhaps emergency release hatches or something similar. Features such as these may not increase access time or prevent injury but I think that they would definately alleviate panic and also help by providing air flow into the carriages.

I'm sure there are far more intelligent and well informed people than me who can comment upon this. I only hope that, in the weeks and months to come, this aspect of the incident is examined carefully.

London's response

I'm in awe of London's emergency services - the more I read about yesterday's events, the more proud I am of them.

I'm also so very proud of the way the general public came to the aid of those in need. This is clearly an emotional response on my part, but spontaneous acts of kindness and compassion such as these bring light to dark events.

Tom Reynolds has posted some comments from an unofficial LAS message board which is interesting reading - go take a look.

I've had a wander to my local shops today and life goes on. There were people jumping on buses and getting on the tube. I cannot even put into words my thoughts on those who witnessed and experienced some horrific scenes yesterday. My heart goes out to anyone affected. I think the best way we can honour those who were injured and killed is to carry on. Easier said than done for me as I already find travelling on the tube a claustrophobic experience, but we must demonstrate that Britain is proud of our way of life and will not change it.

London - my thoughts

Firstly, thanks to Random Acts of Reality and Going Underground - I was frequently unable to access news sites due to traffic but was able to access their blogs.

Tom's three entries and Annie's continually updated one have some wonderful messages of support and praise in the comments - go, take a look.

And here are a few of my thoughts, in no particular order.


Ken Livingstone made a very passionate statement before leaving Singapore. It made me think, for some reason, of Winston Churchill. It was a powerful and patriotic speech. Excerpts:

"This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty or the powerful, it is not aimed at presidents or prime ministers, it was aimed at ordinary working-class Londoners. ... That isn't an ideology, it isn't even a perverted faith, it's mass murder. We know what the objective is. They seek to divide London. ... London has been the target of a cowardly terrorist attack. Londoners have responded calmly and courageously. I commend the professionalism, courage of the Metropolitan Police, Transport for London staff, the Ambulance, Fire and other emergency services. Innocent people going from all of London's communities have been targeted by this indiscriminate attack. I urge Londoners from all of this city's diverse communities and faiths to support one another and stand together against terrorism."


I was touched by an intervew with a Savlation Army Major. They have a centre very close to one of the incidents so they made themselves known to the emergency services and asked what they could do. They offered immediate support and counselling to anyone affected and later on, their mobile "soup kitchen" was used to provide refreshments to the emergency services.
Off duty medical and emergency services staff called in and offered their assistance.
On the TV, I saw members of the public helping each other.

It's this sort of reaction which reminds me why I am proud to be British. I think it comes of being an island nation - we might bicker amongst ourselves, we might moan about this and that, but when we're attacked we unite and demonstrate remarkable strength in the face of adversity.


A big, big thank you to all the emergency and support services. From what I have seen, their reaction to today's events appear to have been exemplary.


Mr Guiliani had some very kind words, "Every New Yorker would join me in saying we know what you are going through. London has responded with bravery." He explained that he had modelled his response to 11 September in New York on the way the British people had coped during the bombing of London in WW2, and that Londoners were showing that same spirit today.


Seeing Tony Blair standing with the other G8 leaders and five other world leaders, making a statement backed by those nations was a very powerful image. It gives a glimpse of what wonderful things we could achieve if all nations could unite.


It's very sad that many ordinary citizens in the UK, may now feel afraid because of today's events. And I'm not referring to commuters now worried about their journey to work, although I can whole-heartedly understand their concerns (I'm so very glad I don't work in central London now). I am referring to the Muslim community in Britain.
References in the media to Islamic extremists or Islamic terrorists may put many normal, law-abiding people in danger of abuse or violence. I do hope that people use their brains and can see the difference between those two types of people.


It's been good to receive e-mails, phone calls and texts from family and friends today, all concerned to make sure that we were both ok. It's nice to be cared about. :o)


I never want to see a repeat of today but the war on terror seems to have such a long way to go. I can see no quick fix solutions, I only hope that I live to see a day when ideological/religious/nationalist terrorism is eradicated and we can put all our efforts into issues that really matter.

Goodnight London, here's hoping for a more peaceful tomorrow.

London Update

Just watching the joint statement from the emergency services:

Liverpool Street/Aldgate - seven confirmed dead
Kings Cross/Russell Square - twenty one confirmed dead
Edgware Road - five confirmed dead
Tavistock place (bus) - unconfirmed fatalities

At least thirty-three people that won't be going home tonight.

There are no words to describe the perpetrators of this atrocity.

Terror in London

Attacks on London have left me feeling quite shaken this morning. I'm thankful that we're both at home today.

All Londoner's are aware that we are under threat and we've been hearing for some time that it isn't if but when ... but it's still incredibly shocking when it happens, especially after all the preparations leading up to G8 and the Olympics announcement.

My thoughts are with anyone affected by this.

London 2012 ... mixed feelings.

As a Brit, I'm happy that the Olympics will be held in the UK in 2012 - it's a great achievement. It will hopfully result in new superior sports facilties in different parts of the UK; a better transport system for London and a desperately needed economic boost for east London.

However as a resident of north east London, as soon as the exact date is announced I'm booking time off work and making holiday arrangements! It's going to be madness.

In addition, that's put paid to any hope of us buying our own home in the immediate future as house prices are going to go through the roof.

Mixed feelings.

I'm back ...

Had a fab time in the Lake District - what a beautiful part of the world ... a picture or two to follow.

Whilst we were away, the Live8 concerts took place, of course. We watched a fair bit of it - what an awesome event. And Pink Floyd ... wow!

Bit of a shame that some protesters in Scotland marred the so far peaceful events. I think that sort of protest is not appropriate. The G8 leaders are now well aware that their people are looking for action on poverty and climate issues. They need to know that we are watching, they do not need to be distracted by violence.

If you haven't already, add your name to the millions that have already signed the Live8 list:
http://www.live8live.com/list/
http://www.one.org/ (specific to USA)

Or text your name to:
00 44 7717 999 999 (worldwide)
86483 (in USA)

The world is watching and waiting ...