By any other name

Seein’ as ‘ow my youngest is due to add Number Nine to the Janus clan in the Autumn, I feel qualified to comment on the theme of naming children, further aroused by the Beeb:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21229475.

Auntie (possibly wishing to avoid some nasty social aspersions being cast) seems to have missed out a very widespread reason for countries restricting the choice of names – RELIGION. Some countries allocate days to ‘holy’ names – so if you are born on 25th December you automatically become Christos/Christina (!); and although I confess to knowing almost nothing about Islam law, I have the impression that babies are only given ‘approved’ names.

What surprises me is that Denmark – otherwise notoriously free of constraint in almost every imaginable respect – has its own list, outside which a child may not be named. The religion or what’s left of it, is Lutheran but its tentacles still reach into daily life by awarding Spring days off work for General Prayer, Ascension and Whitsun respectively, promoting the Confirmation industry among greedy teens and, yes, forbidding one to ‘christen’ a baby with the Liverpool cup-winning team. So there’s the rub – what a pity their holiness doesn’t extend beyond their sanctified monikers!

In Britain of course the rich and famous persist in giving their offspring silly names, often of dubious gender and provenance, like themselves in many cases. But relax, friends, it’s all cyclical and soon the Johns and Joans will be rife amongst us again.

June photos – Tranquility

Click picture for a larger view

She wouldn’t sleep as a baby, boy did she keep me up at nights. I would always do the late night / early morning stint and you can imagine my joy when she dozed off.

Peace and quiet, tranquility, a moments rest, call it what you will but this picture on the left perhaps depicts my feelings best.

It’s hard to believe that she’s now in her twenties, was it really that long ago?

And that’s what I want from you, cherished colleagues, a picture that perhaps describes tranquility in your life.

It can be a special place in the garden, a room, a chair, a holiday destination or as in my case a ‘special occasion.’ (even a ‘rare moment’ perhaps ;))

As usual I’ll accept multiple entries from participants.

Closing date Saturday June 22nd, any time zone, anywhere in the world, I’ll do the judging on Sunday, have fun and good luck!

Woe, thrice woe!

Its happened again!

Everything, but nearly everything happens to me in threes.  It has become quite ghastly waiting for the other shoe to drop. (Okay, so triffids would wear three shoes wouldn’t they?)

Three people dropped dead on the week of October 10th over the recent past years, so that date is finished now!  Three relatives in the 80s died within a few weeks although none were apparently ill.  Three husbands and three dead children, I won’t go on!

This time it is only appliances thank God!  The other day my worthy, elderly, very comfy desk top computer blew up!  Smoke billowed forth, thank heavens I was using it at the time or otherwise it would have burnt the house down.  Needless to say, I ran screaming, (Union rules!)  Spousal unit had it disabled before it could render the office into a funeral pyre.  Seriously pissing off as it held my whole photo archive or so I thought and all my club admin stuff, but a great troll round his mates has found all the material to retrieve data so no real harm done.  So here I am on my laptop which already has my photo archive thanks to forethought of spousal unit, (I knew there was a reason why I married him!!)

Continue reading “Woe, thrice woe!”

The Flood

It was raining cats and dogs and frogs and
Fearing the flood would not abate I built
A boat; And two by two my zoo took shape

Caterpillars shared room with centipedes
But man, I kept the spiders from the flies
No tigers about so no life of Pi
Gathering my flock I prepared to sail
Then the heavens closed to bring sunshine
Thank God for that as I am no Noah
The animals are all female, probably
And it would be the end of humanity

Traffic update

A friend of ours who works for a tow truck company decided to fill his time waiting for an accident to happen by sending his pals updates on traffic and other important traffic info. By other important info I mean the really important stuff, you know? Like where the speed cameras and  road blocks are.

He also considers himself a bit of a comedian, here’s a sample from recent broadcasts… Continue reading “Traffic update”

May 2013 Photo Contest — Results.

Thank you, Araminta, for the chance to judge this photography competition. As the deadline has now passed it is time to announce the results.

Araminta’s picture of a tea pot was a good way to start the competition. My intense addiction to caffeine made my sympathetic to this entry.

FEEG’s two entries were welcome additions, although I must concur with Christina that there is little normal or regular about Washington, DC. If you’re interested I can put you into contact with someone who is an expert on the US Civil War.

LW: thank you for the picture of the boat. The comment about scraping barnacles off the bottom gave me a chuckle. I often spend hours and hours at my computer researching and writing reports.

OZ: your picture made me a bit hungry. Well done.

The winner of this competition is Soutie for his pictures of the vegetable seller and the road to Cape Town. Both captured the spirit of the theme perfectly.

Cul-de-sac

There is a short article in DT by Jane Shilling about the Britons’ love of living in cul-de-sacs and it brought back memories of my childhood in a “no through road” in Aberdeen.  It was unfortunately not signposted as such, so we did occasionally get lost motorists, who then had to do a three or more point turn in a very steep and steeply cambered street.  Entertaining to watch, as were all the learner drivers brought to practise in this particular purgatory.   I don’t think the milkman’s horse was too keen on it either, though he was regularly rewarded.  Taxis used to refuse to come down it in snowy weather.

But the best point of our cul de sac was that it ended in an entrance to a park, “our” park.

http://www.aboutaberdeen.com/victoria_park_gardens_aberdeen.php

At that time there was no conservatory or greenhouse in the park and not many visitors, but there was a small eminence that had been designed to look like a grotto and planted with rhodedendrons and other sizeable shrubs and which was ideal for childrens’ games.  We were in ignorance of the fountain’s history, but it was great for paddling in the summer.  This was our playground and we didn’t bother the neighbours. Very few children from other nearby streets ever came to it, so it was definitely “ours” and our parents knew we were safe there.

Now I live in another cul-de-sac and the driving instructors still bring their pupils to practice three point turns, but there is no camber to speak of and the entertainment is not the same.