Salad Days

I'm in a whimsical mood today. The above pic (thanks again Annette (hope the belly dancing this weekend in Bognor goes well)) is of two of the Jacobs sheep I see when I am delivering to Damhead. It has taken years, but they will now come quite close to me. A neighbour feeds them BREAD! And they love it.
The title of this piece comes from a Julian Slade musical. He went to Cambridge and was involved with the Footlights, who regularly perform at the Edinburgh Festival. I am shortly going to expound about Cambridge, but I first have to give credit to the originator of "Salad Days", a Mr W Shakespeare of Stratford Upon Avon. Good on you sir.
I have been recently musing about my time at Girton. It was one of the best periods of my life and I just want to share it with you. One of my greatest pleasures was driving about in my little Mini and exploring the shire. English country pubs are the bestest in the world. I even found one which sold "Nooky Broon" (Newcastle Brown Ale) my next favourite to sherry. Most nights I would drive to a chip shop which sold unusual fish. Not just your boring haddock and cod but sole and hake and others. Then I'd take my meal and motor down to "The Backs". This refers to the fact that some of the colleges back onto the river Cam (hence the name Cambridge). I would sit on the grassy banks eating my fish and chips (or fish supper as we call it in Scotland) and watch the fellow students punting on the river. A "punt" is a vessel similar to a gondola in Venice. It is propelled in a similar way, by use of a pole. Heady days.

Letter Bomber Et Al

In case my last post made no sense to you (no change there then) I will explain. Shilpa Shetty was " arrested" at Mumbai airport recently. It seems the Hindus are jealous of the Christians and Muslims for cornering the market in religious bigotry so they have picked on Shilpa's snog with Richard Gere (originated by him), weeks ago, in an effort to increase their share. Get a life, the lot of you.
I love Teresa (the sister of a good friend) for her disdaining ability but I am going to go much further than that. Criminal and arsepiece (you know I am upset when I resort to language like that) Miles Cooper has been found guilty on eleven counts. They relate to him sending letter bombs. Sending packages through the post that will explode when opened by the recipient is obviously bad in sane peoples books. Yesterday I was loading a package into my van and it burst open as I was handling it. Luckily it only contained a bottle of spring water. But what if had been one of Mr Cooper's bombs! I am only the messenger but I could have been "shot". Let the bastard rot in jail for a long, long time.

Shilpa Schmilpa

I am not a major fan of Ms Shetty,she's far too attractive for my liking, but give her a break guys. OK, she had a bit of a snog with Richard Gere at that charity gig. I have to say.It got people's attention to the cause. And I am jealous.
Take care my dears.

Reflections

A fellow blogger wrote some very complimentary words about me recently. I am deeply touched and have written back to thank her. This incident got me thinking about my whole blog experience. I love language, I'm creative and I like to communicate. All basics I would like to see in any Blogger. And then there is my sense of humour ( or humor, just for you LK). As you can see I can do straight, but humour is always waiting in the wings. I can't help myself. From feedback I have had, it seems my attempts even succeed occasionally. I am totally gobsmacked at the whole global camaraderie of it all. I have "met" people from lots of places I will probably never visit. Awesome. I set out with the simple hope of being noticed. To get praise is cake icing I never expected to receive. I like it, and I want more. To that end, I have started writing my acceptance speech(es) for the "Bloggies". I hope to be nominated in the category of "Best Newcomer". Probably going to have a lot of stiff competition. I live in hope though. I reckon the "Bloggy" for "Best Sherry Fueled Blogger" on the other hand, is mine for the taking. As is traditional, I will be thanking various people who have helped me along the way. There is the afore mentioned blogger who I will thank for her kindly words. I would like to thank my mum. Not for the corny "for having me" reason. It was her that got me involved with computing. It's a long and not very interesting story so I will spare you the details. And lastly I would like to thank my old pal Deacon Barry. It was him that encouraged me to start Blogging, so if you're looking for a scapegoat, he's your man! Take care my dears.

Intrigue

I was discussing Damhead with a customer today, and bemoaning its lack of exciting lawlessness. He came up with a very interesting hypothesis. His idea was that the area would be a good hideout for a terrorist cell. It might be secluded enough to evade the detection of the security forces. When I thought about his comments I did start to wonder about one of my customers. Mr Osama Bin Smith at No. 42 does seem to lead an unusual life style. He gets a lot of packages of sugar and weedkiller delivered to him and his "lodgers". I presume they are just very sweet-toothed gardening fanatics. He frequently gets boxes labelled "AK 47 Made in Russia" delivered. Not sure what they contain but his face always lights up when I deliver them. He seems a bit eccentric, but I am sure he is not into blowing up things, unlike a friend of mine. But his inflateable "pal" seems to make him very happy so who am I to criticise.

On Yer Bike

Meant to say last week that I have given bicycle riding a go for the first time in years. It has sat out on the landing for longer than I would like to admit but I thought it was time to give it another try. Although my balance problems involve my legs rather than my ears I am still jerky and apprehensive about cycling. As it happened I was able to go up and down my street without too much trouble. I was a bit wobbly ( and I swear I had not touched any sherry that day Diana) but I did it. I am pleased. I was certainly better dressed than the ladies in the picture, although the gentlemen around them don't seem to mind! Talking of ladies and things that can wobble, maybe I wasn't but I was certainly thinking about it. The gorgeous Fern Britton is on the cover of Woman this week. It appears she has been loosing weight. Don't do this girl! I have some girlfriends who are proud to be comfortably upholstered women in an age of stick insects. They look up to you. Please don't let them down. This isn't coming from me. I'm slim. I just want my friends to be happy and not beat themselves up about their bodies. (As a codicil: I always like to give photographers credit but I have no idea who took this one).

Finally Done It

It seems I have finally got my head round the uploading of pics thing. About time too. The animal in the foreground is called Polo. As you can see he is a llama. Not the sort of animal you come across frequently in the Scottish countryside. He lives on a smallholding, with three of his relatives, in Damhead. He has a habit of walking up to you and pressing his nose up against yours. Sadly he has yet to discover breath freshener! Alternatively he might shove his muzzle up into your armpit. It must be some sort of llama thing. On a different note altogether, is it just me, or are there other people with Blogspot experiencing spurious bits of German filtering onto their pages? I don't mean common stuff like zeitgeist or kindergarten, I mean real non-understandable German! And last, but certainly not least, a big thank you to my good pal Annette for providing the picture.