Category: Uncategorisable

A (different) place for us?

‘Hey, Pancho!’ quoth Don Quixote. Or was that the Cisco Kid? Any road up, the house on the harbour turned out to be a goldfish bowl. Great location but overlooked from every angle and at the mercy of marauding German sailors of a mid-summer’s night. But undaunted our heroes found an 1850 ship-owner’s pad on the town square; big enough for us at 2,000 squ.ft., fully restored and with a glimpse of the sea from upstairs. Its walled garden backs onto the church with the wonky spire. Negotiations in progress.

A War Monkey Called Sue! (Further adventures on the Internet.)

Yesterday I read Charles Moore’s review of Stephen Spielberg’s latest film, War Horse. Having seen and thoroughly enjoyed the play, which I saw inLondon, 18 months ago, I read the review with some interest. Without going into details,Moore was less than enthusiastic, criticising Spielberg for the gratuitous sentimentality. What was perhaps more interesting, was the comment section, some of which dealt with aspects of the Great War and the vast tragedy attached to it. Continue reading “A War Monkey Called Sue! (Further adventures on the Internet.)”

Sign of the Times?

Back in the late summer the Creekers met and decided to pave our access road. It had once been maintained by the County but about ten years ago they decided the last half mile or so was not theirs and abandoned it to its fate. Several of us appealed the abandonment, pointing out that the road had been regularly plowed during the winter and the local school bus used it when there were schoolkids to be hauled. “Nope” they said “If we did that it was a mistake, it’s not ours and we don’t want it”. The road had never really been paved, it was made by spraying tar and rolling fine gravel into the surface repeatedly over the years and twenty years of unmaintained use had almost destroyed the lot.

We got some estimates from several local paving outfits and decided on who would do the job. Not a cheap process building roads, they all proposed stripping the surface completely and relaying the lot in two three inch layers of hot rolled tarmacadam.

Continue reading “Sign of the Times?”

Then die, Facebook!

Today is a red letter day for me in that I have finally managed to have my Facebook account deleted. Rather foolishly I signed up for it a couple of years ago as a result of pressure from family and friends. I seldom used it, but realised that others did and it was sometimes the only way to contact people. Then in April this year, my internet connection went down and I was forced to use an internet cafe. Continue reading “Then die, Facebook!”

Xmas Morning

I must have mentioned it before. Xmas morning in these parts is all about cold turkey. And that’s quite a feat when duck was on the menu.

I’m up early though, because, abstemious as ever, I can’t just lie in bed. And as I write I’m sure the youngest members of the clan back home are already up and rooting in their stockings to unearth untold delights.  And, I muse, children in Vikingland don’t get that pleasure. They had to see off the duck and rice-pud last evening before they could get at the goodies piled under the tree, ablaze with real candlelight (only the tree, I trust).

I wonder why Xmas starts too early here? It means today is a bit of an anti-climax, punctuated with visits to and from family and friends. At least in the UK the next day offers the best shopping of the year. Here normal life is cancelled.

I can report however that we gave our local 18-month-old (amongst other things) a pair of maracas. Some gifts have to be taken to bed – ready for an early start! And by now she will have put them to good effect, encouraging the whole family at short range to continue the party. Attagirl! Continue reading “Xmas Morning”

What a load of bollocks!

I have just watched the film, ‘Black Swan’. What a completely crap, pretentious load of bollocks it was. That it won an Oscar for Natalie Portman baffles me. Except it didn’t, once I saw the names of the people involved in its making, at which point, I am afraid my worst tendencies came to the forefront. I am not a particular fan of Mel Gibson, especially following such films as Brave Heart and Patriot, but I think he and Charlie Sheen have a point.

End-of-term report

Mr Fitch has given Nicolas a special place on the naughty step. His problem is fundamentally one of character, rather than behaviour, although his recent outbursts of name-calling and foot-stamping have been duly noted.

Nicolas is desperate to be liked, especially by Angela, perhaps because she comes from a wealthy family and likes to keep supplies of his favourite sweeties hidden about her person. But Angela knows what he’s after and openly resents his snide remarks about her friend David. What upset Nicolas was the fact that David hadn’t promised all his sweeties (a different variety) to the rest of the class, as Nicolas had. In fact Nicolas had promised far more than he could possibly afford to buy from the tuck-shop. He only did it to impress Angela. And when David happened to mention it, Nicolas said David was just as poor as he was.

It has been noticed that the jar of Nicolas’ and Angela’s favourite sweeties in the tuck-shop is now empty – which is anticipated to lead to even more difficulties in class next term. Some, poorer pupils will probably change their allegiance altogether; others, including Nicolas, will be compelled to beg from Angela. Which won’t worry David one bit and could lead to more unpleasantness, no doubt instigated by Nicolas again.