Boadicea's Chariot

Pedro is Taking the Pish!

I haven’t fumed this much since Wavey Davey Cambuffoon revealed he was thinking of selling the next generation of UK nuclear power plants to the same Russian monkeys who ran Chernobyl.

Pedro is rattling his sabre over Gibraltar. The sweaty little afternoon napping, paella chomping grease ball is getting into bed with the Argies and persecuting the British people of our sovereign turf. What is Wavey Davey planning to do about it? Go crying to mummy in Brussels of course. Arrrrrghhhh.

Here’s what we do. Pedro has significant interests in the UK. First off, Santander. If you have an account with them, switch. If you have savings, withdraw the piggin’ lot. If you see any sport with the Santander logo on it, support some fecker else and let the team know that you will not return your patronage until they tell Pedro to blow it out of his lazy trasero. Get your onions from somewhere else. If you have a holiday booked for Benidorm, cancel it. Go to Greece or better still Gibraltar. If your neighbour is Spanish, pour weed killer over the fence.

Don’t wait for our slack jawed gubmint to do something about this because you will pass that on to your great grandkids. Get Spain now where it hurts in Pedro’s pocket.

Incidentally I have been telling Fernando Alonso where to get off for years but that is a whole other kettle of chorizo.

Mules to the Slaughter

The latest development in the case of the British girls caught smuggling in Peru has a sinister twist. The girls claim that they were forced at gunpoint if they didn’t go ahead with the transportation. Their families were also targeted as the bandits said they had their home addresses on file. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/10240751/British-drug-mules-claim-they-were-forced-at-gunpoint-to-carry-cocaine-by-Colombian-gang.html

I’m not sure how this will wash with the Peruvian authorities. No doubt, their jails are full of foreign drug smugglers that say they were set up.

Never in a million years, not for all the money in the world would I ever contemplate running through customs with illegal narcotics and I‘m positive I can vouch that everyone else here is of the same mind. The only experience I have of overseas jails (I don’t have any of British jails either, in case you were asking) is through TV shows like Banged Up Abroad and stuff like that. As it’s TV you don’t know if they are deliberately making them out to be worse than they are. The newspapers are printing that the conditions in their Peruvian cells are harsh and unclean. Other reports state that the gangsters might get to the girls in jail to stop them from testifying. Possibly, this could be why the girls are on hunger strike to avoid being poisoned.

The late Pablo Escobar only used a courier once and once only. The mule had only one shot at the title before the crime baron employed a new runner. It’s high stakes and there’s winners and losers in the drug game. There are no such thing as draws as those languishing in the abyss will tell you.

Another 15 minutes with Backside

A woman receives a brain scan

Like yours, my hate level depends on the importance of the issue; so I really really hate pseudo-philosophy. This time it’s the Beeb seeking to link physical illness to the concept of free will.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23666726

As far as I can see (which on a clear day is forever), this article is a PC attempt to forgive (oh no, not again) people for behaving badly when they get ill. Er, excuse me, but the law of the land does differentiate between the healthy and sick with its rulings on being ‘fit to plead’ and for me that will do. Don’t necessarliy lock up the deviant in a regular jail, just keep him out of (his own) harm’s way. That’s the only concession necessary because the concept of free will is about normal people under normal conditions – not when they are sick or constrained to commit felonies or wha’ever. And your or my deliberate (that is free) decisions about diet, narcotics, social behaviour and sexual preferences are not excuses for lenient treatment from the rest of society. So get over it and find another get-out-of-jail-free card.

Alzheimer’s test

Apparently forgetting names of famous people is an early indication of the brain malfunctioning, to be honest I often forget the name of some one I met just yesterday but I did rather better with this simple test.

those in need of glasses can click for a bigger picture

To be honest I got 3, 4 and 15 wrong 😦 but to be fair 4 & 15 were never big over here and way before my time!

solution here

Sandy Hook to Barnegat Inlet – Monday August 12

Off the hook at 7 am, The work boats went at 6.

Round Sandy Hook and off to the South, had a sharp rainstorm at 8 then largely clear.

Our route South is about three miles off the beach in around 70 feet of water, we had a shock at about ten am, the engine suddenly overheated, red lights and alarms everywhere. A quick look below showed a broken V-belt which powers the engine’s primary cooling water pump. A spare was located, in one of my many bins.

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Hemispherical variations

Mid-August is somehow on the cusp – either of Autumn in Europe and some parts of the Americas or of Spring in the Antipodes. The equatorial tendency of course never quite differentiates.

So cherished versifiers, kindly be inspired to celebrate either the promise of summertime or its passing; both thoroughly deserving of your attention in the next two weeks after which you’ll be judged on the quality of your efforts.

https://charioteers.org/2013/07/25/summertime-the-august-poetry-challenge/

Pic by PS Krøyer, one of Denmark’s Golden Age painters who lived and worked in Skagen

Make Hay while the Sun shines.

Yesterday, England mangled the Aussie batting and won the Ashes for the third time in a row. Much has been said about how much England should gloat. the PC brigade think it is not a good thing to relish victory.

If the boot had been on the other foot, you can imagine how the Aussie press would have reacted, bleating on about softie whingeing Poms!

So, as the famous line from the St Trinian’s school song goes,

“Trample on the weak and revel in their plight!”

In a few years time, if the ICC have not completely killed off Test Cricket with their rules and regulations by then, the boot might well be on the other foot, with the English taking a walloping. So, sons and daughters of St George, make hay while the sun shines, for it will not shine forever 🙂

Haverstraw to Sandy Hook – August 11

Tide challenge today, need to arrive at The Battery New York on something other than a rising tide, slow boats like us make miserable progress against strong currents.

Too many variables to calculate so we leave at the usual time, 8:00 am off the dock.

Cool and calm to start across the Tappan Zee

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15 minutes with Backside, 5

“In Greece tax inspectors have found that one in two businesses are cheating them. The rate is 56% on tourist islands like Mykonos and Crete, ” quoth Gavin of the Beeb, as if we should be shocked or otherwise impressed by the new-found diligence of the taxman.

Now bear in mind that I’m just a cynical old businessman who visited the Med and Middle East for 25 years from around the time the UK joined the EU (or somesuch). So I could be considered unduly aware of these things, eh? But to my certain knowledge business in those parts has long been conducted in ways least likely to benefit the Revenue or conform to local regulations.

My pic shows Mykonos mills used for public servants to tilt at.

Continue reading “15 minutes with Backside, 5”

Lullaby with a Y

When children are knee-high to a grasshopper it is customary for responsible parents to put their babies to sleep with relaxing stories or music or to hum to them. After exhausting my supply of exhilarating tractor tales (and this was long before Bob the Builder, by the way) it was evident that sleep was not on the agenda for the offspring. The only thing for it was to sing to them. The following song always done the trick for my boys. I got the feeling they fell asleep so I wouldn’t sing any more songs. The vocalist in the video sings a wee bit better than me.