Blog Day 2006...

Apparently it's International BlogDay2006 today and it's all about the sharing...

1. Find 5 new Blogs that you find interesting, preferably different from your own culture, point of view and attitude
2. Notify the 5 bloggers that you are recommending on them on BlogDay 2006
3. Write a short description of the Blogs and place a a link to the recommended Blogs
4. Post the BlogDay Post (on August 31st)... etc etc (Blog Day Website)

Like I've got time to do all that...

For a start, there's the whole "interesting" debate. I find about five blogs interesting, primarily because they are not different to my own culture, point of view and attitude, because they are written by my friends. But this probably makes me insular and short-sighted and monomaniacal, so I shall broaden my horizons and recommend...

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Found this because she was wittering on about mobile phone masts and I thought she was doing so from an "I-don't-use-a-mobile" standpoint. She didn't, but now she does. So she uses a mobile but objects to the masts. Apparently, mobile phones worry her because "common sense tells me that they can't be good for you."

If you use a mobile phone at all, you can't object to the masts. Even if they're near you.

End of.

Well not quite, because you also have to eat nothing but raw food, be open to "infinite possibilities", discover your "soul purpose" and "upgrade your life"....

Blog off.

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Yup, it's well-known right-wing Daily Mail/Moral Maze/Question Time rent-a-gob Melanie Phillips. I disagree with virtually everything she says, particularly when she witters on about how crap education is in this country.

She's got a bit bogged down recently by only slagging off anything she might consider pro-Islamic, mainly, I guess, to publicise her latest book, Londonistan. (Not providing a link, in vain attempt not to publicise it any more..)

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Found by chance, Alice's Rabbit Hole. Great rant about Virgin Mobile customer service with points of agreement on pedantry and an admiration of Lynne Truss.

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Number 4 is Nottinghamshire Notes, which I just happened to find when I was looking for pictures of Mansfield Market Place. I'm from Mansfield and I just spent a week there with my family, walked through the market place twice and didn't notice that they had done anything to it. I must pay greater attention next time.

It's also got links to places I know I ought to have been to again and haven't for ages. For example, the Crich Tramway Museum looks like there's more to it than when my Gran and Grandad took me there 30 years ago...

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This is the badscience.net blog, by Dr Ben Goldacre who writes in the Guardian. It doesn't really follow the recommendation rules, as I agree with most of it. Particularly about Brain Gym and Gillian McKeith... (And about mobile phone masts...)

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Floored...

As seen in Mablethorpe...



I presume you would have to expect...

• two carpets where you only needed one, or
• one where you actually wanted two, or
• a completely different carpet to the one you actually needed...

0° 00' 00"

At 9.21am today, my left foot was in the Western hemisphere and my right foot was in the Eastern hemisphere.

Traditionally, people do this at Greenwich, but there are lots of other places in England you can do it too.

I was officially at (roughly) 53° 22' 3.00"N, (exactly) 0° 0' 0.00", which is Eastgate in Louth between a fish and chip shop and a drycleaners.

Apparently neither my GPS nor Google Earth would have said that's where I was, but as it's only a few metres off, I'm not going to quibble.

My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming... Damn!!!

This is all very bizarre.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Pluto loses status as a planet

I somehow feel cheated out of a bit of my general knowledge, something I've known since primary school and which isn't right anymore.



It almost seems like science should always be forging ahead and today it unexpectedly lurched back.

Another branch of science leapt forward at the same time though, 'cos the BBC report is timed 13:34 today and it was documented gospel on Wikipedia by 13:36...

Pluto is the ninth and smallest of the traditional planets of the Solar System, though its status as a planet has been disputed in recent years. It qualified as a planet under the draft definition but it failed to qualify under the final draft, voted by the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union on August 24th, 2006. (Wikipedia).

So, there are now only 8 planets in the Solar System and a few irregular lumps of rock. It still keeps its name, but it's now just a pub quiz question for 50 years time and a dog.

And what of the mnemonics?

Earlier in the week when the draft proposed keeping Pluto and a few other newly discovered rocks, they were getting longer...

Most Victorian Euphoniums Make Cats Jump Suddenly Unless Neighbours Play Calming Xylophones. (The Times).

...but now they can be shorter. My favourite is...

Make Vanessa Eat Massive Jam Sandwiches Until November...



I clearly have too much time on my hands...

Walking to the Isle of Wight...

...or at least that what it seems like when you walk to Hurst Castle from Keyhaven.

I shall demonstrate with this rudimentary map...



...and with this photo...



But it's worth it when you get there because, TARDIS-like, it's bigger on the inside than it appears from the outside. For a kick-off, it's very long and has two looping sections...



...to the east and the west of Henry VIII's orginal fort in the middle. The end of Hurst Spit is much bigger than I thought, too, with room for a lighthouse and a couple of cottages. (Briefly considered that it would be nice to live there, but then weighed up nice view against no Tesco home delivery, no broadband and 1½ mile walk to car and decided against it.)

The central fort was completed in 1544 and then it was added to and modernised during the Napoleonic Wars and then used again in the World Wars...



Evidence of all this "Changing Rooms" activity can still be seen and explored and it gives the whole structure a very hotch-potch kind of style...



...but you get a real sense of what it must have been like as a working fort. Not least when you use the toilets, which are the original outisde urinals used by the garrison and even have a plaque telling you about them.

You can see how the fort made this part of the Solent easier to defend. Just over the water on the island are...



...Fort Albert and The Needles, the latter helping to funnel ships into the cannons of the former. Not forgetting, of course, the cannons and guns at Hurst, which were (are still ) big...



And when you've seen enough, there's also a ferry back to Keyhaven...



...which is probably the best £2.50 I've spent all holiday.

Slideshow of all photos on...

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OCD Footnote: This is the second Henry VIII-themed tourist attraction with the initials H.C. I have visited in 48 hours, which beats other attempts at organised tourism hands down...

Court Report...

This is only my second visit ever to Hampton Court.



I don't know why I'm making that sound unusual. Once is probably enough, as it's not somewhere that's going to change much now. This opens up the debate about whether historical buildings should continue to be adapted and modernised. For instance, Henry VIII didn't establish Hampton Court, he just, well, adapted and modernised it...

Henry VIII was prolific in everything, from marriage to palace building. In just 10 years he spent more than £62,000 rebuilding and extending Hampton Court. This was a vast sum worth approximately £18 million today. (Hampton Court Website)

However, when he did it, he was allowed to because it was his and he lived there (part time) and he was the King. It wasn't a tourist attraction to be preserved for visitors. And we all know that clamorous objection has welcomed other attempts at modern additions to historical buildings at, for example, The Louvre.

My first visit only took me as far as the gardens, so it was good to see the inside of the palace this time and learn it was the largest palace in Britain. This is Fountain Court...




...and is named after either a riffy pub in Hythe, or the fountain in the middle. It's the only photo I have of the inside of the buildings because you're not allowed to take photos of all the delicate stuff which might get flash-bulb damaged (tapestries, curtains, carpets, attendants etc). Then you can buy 50p-a-go postcards of them in the Tudor gift shop, served by a student dressed up in a Tudor costume.

The gardens, however, you can take photos of, and they are stunning. Trees like the trees you would draw if you were 4...



...Capability Brown style gardens (he gardened here and lived here in a grace-and-favour apartment)...



...and the famous Royal/Real Tennis Court, which you can't take photos in either. But sod that, I've paid my money...



Obviously you have to go to the maze too, but it's a pathetically small and uninteresting maze, made all the more pathetic and uninteresting by the knowledge that if you keep turning right, you will get to where you're supposed to...



Still, if anyone ever asks me if I've done the world-famous maze at Hampton Court, I will be able to say "yes". (It being one of those things you ought to be able to say yes to if you're British.)

The ponds in the garden also provided evidence that Hans Christian Andersen was right...



And the other birds in so many words said "Quack!! Get out of town!!"

See also...

Does what it says on the tin...

The summer can't end officially until I've seen...



You have to wonder how many less obvious titles were mulled over in the boardroom before they finalised via the Plain English Campaign. I'm going for...

• Ophidiophobia
• No-Legged Freaks
• Lord of the Fangs
• The Poisoned Adventure (Almost an anagram...)
• Slytherin' (Cash in on the Harry Potter crowd...)
  

Please feel free to add yours.

More interestingly, I wondered what this approach might throw up if applied to other films. Would you have gone to see...

• Bomb on a Bus?
• Prats on a Boat?
• Monsters in Space?
• Christians in Bedroom Furniture?

But the best thing about the film is the website, where you can persuade people to go and see it (even though it will be utter toss of the highest order), by leaving them a personalised voicemail narrated by the totally bona fide (or possibly a fairly convincing sound-a-like) Samuel L Jackson.

How can I resist?

Jersey revisited...

I thought I was about 10 when I went to Jersey last, but checking, I was actually 16. Funny how memory plays tricks on you. I also knew how to check, because we flew back from Jersey on the day Corbiere won the Grand National, which was Saturday 9 April 1983. And I know that, because as we flew out, we flew over Corbiere Lighthouse...



...and we thought it was a coincidence so we backed the horse. And won.

Not much has changed on Jersey since then. Certainly the picture of the lighthouse could have been taken 23 years ago. I wouldn't be blogging it then, though.

What makes Jersey a good option for holidays?

Well...

1. the money is the same shape and size (apart from their curious adherence to the quaint pound note) and worth the same and things are a bit cheaper because there is no VAT;
2. the island is small and you can drive to its four corners in a morning...

3. Bergerac (whose face is the same shape as the island, apparently);
4. it has a range of German Occupation themed tourist attractions, which it wouldn't have if there had not been the German Occupation. I imagine they contribute to the island's economy to a fair degree. They include...

German Tunnels, Signage, Bunkers...



Guns, Swastikas and (eventually) Liberation Monuments.

5. Neolithic Past...

The first picture is Le Dolmen des Monts Grantez and the second is La Hougue Bie. La Hougue Bie is definitely worth a visit. Le Dolmen des Monts Grantez probably isn't. And you'll never find it anyway.

6. Quaint stuff

The Shell Garden (which is really someone's garden) and the Amphibious thing which brings you back from Elizabeth Castle when the tide has come in.

7. It's close to Guernsey
8. The Gerald Durrell Zoo (which is expensive and rubbish - don't go...)
9. It's the real seaside...

...so you can get a '99. Can't complain!

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Lots more photos on flickr...

Day 2 in the (Not Big Brother) House House

24 has finished and its second-rate replacement, The Hades Factor, is hellish. Big Brother is not interesting this year because Nikki will go back into the house, but Pete will win. Unless Glyn does.

So there has to be some interesting addictive TV to watch otherwise I will have to pretend I have read lots of erudite and worthy books during the holidays.

Fortunately, thanks to Nicky Board, I have discovered...

...which I have being watching in 4-hour blocks and will have to keep watching until I have finished all 6 DVDs. (And then I will have to get Series 2 on e-Bay...)

Part of the appeal was to see if Hugh Laurie could carry off anything other than wacky upper-class Englishman against Stephen Fry. And he totally can. Within five minutes you forget it's him and believe he's Dr Gregory House MD. Accent, limp, walking stick, attitude.. all good.

And then you are sucked in. Was the Nun allergic to her tattoo? Or something else? Is that really a tapeworm in the kindergarten teacher's brain? Just how did that woman get African Sleeping Sickness? Did those students really get poisoned by their jeans?

It's a bit like Casualty in that...

Most episodes start outside the hospital, showing the events
leading to the onset of illness for that week's patient. (Wikipedia)

But instead of some (stunt) woman falling off a ladder or rolling (unconvincingly) over the bonnet of a speeding car, House and his team (the dead one from Dead Poets' Society and someone from Neighbours) have to deal with very complex and rare things which they normally solve within the last five minutes, probably accompanied by some very graphic CGI shots zooming internally to focus on organs failing in Dolby Digital Surround Sound.

And then getting better.

Usually watched over by cranky and unbelieving relatives who have to admit, grudgingly, that House was right all along.

Only another 40 episodes to watch before Sky show series 3. Thank goodness for the summer holidays...

Mistaken Identity...

This has now happened to me twice in one week...

Firstly, someone has my email address and thinks I want to work at Barclays...

From: ********@barclayscapital.com

Ian

Apologies I did leave a message on your voicemail about 2 weeks ago and I thought it strange you didn't reply.

Unfortunately we have decided not to progress with your application. The feedback on the day was positive from Damien and it is obvious that you are very keen and ambitious however the lack of experience in a sales environment is a concern for Carl and myself.

Good luck with your future career and please give me a call if you want to chat through

Regards
Carol

...which I don't. (But I am harbouring some dislike for Carl and Carol who obviously think I am not good enough. I may not have the necessary sales experience, Carol, but I know it's a concern "for Carl and me", not "for Carl and myself"...)


And secondly, someone has my mobile number and thinks I am Tony Gowers, National Trail Officer for the North Downs Way...



...which I am not. Although if I got a free yellow hi-viz jacket with my job, I might want to be...