‘si monumentum requiris, circumspice’ – Photo Competition (the longer way)

Please bear with me on this one or feel free to skip it and cut straight to the chase as you so wish. Tonight, I’m feeling just a tad backward-facing, as in the sinister profile of Janus. It does seem only yesterday when I was a student sitting in a caravan in deepest Colinton, straining every sinew to secure a Conservative win in the sincere certainty of thereby saving my country from the scourge of socialism. Continue reading “‘si monumentum requiris, circumspice’ – Photo Competition (the longer way)”

Winners, non-winners and losers

I am an epicurean. Or at least that is how I think of myself, based on a quick perusal of the Wikipedia page that deals with epicureanism (not the Freedictionary definition). (It’s a topic I would be happy to pursue if anybody is interested. But that is not what I want to write about just now.) My lifestyle affords me the freedom to visit bookshops and browse a range of publications covering a variety of topics. One such book that I came across today and subsequently purchased, is titled, somewhat confusingly, ’50 Ideas you really need to know the future’.

One of the ideas discussed is that of ‘Gamification’. I confess that when I saw the title I envisaged a discussion on the merits of the hanging of pheasants: 1 day or 7. Of course it was nothing of the sort.   Continue reading “Winners, non-winners and losers”

Poetry Competition February/March 2013

I am cold, no matter how I warm
Or clothe me;
O Winter, greater bards have sung
I loathe thee!

Final stanza from “To Winter” by Eugene O’Neill

The theme for your literary gems this time is Weather: any poetic form is acceptable. May I please have your entries by midnight on the 11th March 2013.

Just add your entries to this thread or link your own posts.

Wetlands

It has been a beautiful day. Sunny and cold early on, warming up as the day progressed, up to about 8 c.

However, after the snow melted last week, there was no where for it to go and the fields are saturated.
These swans were making the most of it

??????????

Later today the sun set in a glory of red: so here’s to tomorrow.

 

Results…..

Sorry to be  a little late, but I was called away to lend a hand with a new baby and only returned, rather shattered yesterday : tired but happy.

There were very few entrants to both competitions: in fact only one in the short story section. But what a story, Mr Royal! I’ll never be able to see a giraffe again without thinking of you.
SO, although you had no competitors, you are the worthy winner of the short story competition, and I look forward to a theme set by you for the next round.

There were a few more entrants for the photography side of things – I had expected photographs of little hands clasping larger hands, hands undertaking tasks, such as cooking, knitting, painting…. but no, you had other ideas…

OZ had this contribution: viar amoozing take on the ‘hands’ theme, and viar topical on the equine theme!

Ara posted this a beautifully side lit picture of Alice, Duchess of Suffolk who resides in her resting state in the church where PapaG was Christened, no less!

Christopher posted this, though sadly the hands were not very clear in the size of image.

Last, but not least, JM posted here with a vair amoozing piece, full of puns and several pictures – (the bananas nearly won, hands down, but for the misplaced figure in the background which to my eye spoiled the composition)

But in the end the prize does go to JM for the most unusual take on the theme: the graffiti handwriting of Clarice Cliffe (nee Shorter).

So I  hand the baton to you, John: your turn to set the next photography competition.

??????????

Oxfordshire sunset, tonight

February 15th Poetry Competition – A Winner

All Rise!  Well that’s what they shout here when the judge arrives in the chamber.

All you who entered should be rightfully proud of yourselves.

We had THREE quick entries from Janus, first a muse on the word including some lions, then a brief visit from Jane A. without prejudice and finally a modern bit about football. All as  different as chalk and cheese and all well up to his usual high standard.  Then Soutie arrived with his pride  handing out some summary justice in poetry.  Araminta stepped back to Jane’s era also with her tale of the debutante tripping the light fantastic before the inevitable fall.  Finally and with minutes to spare John Mackie offers us a personal take on the little enjoyed but undoubted advantages of  Scottish Presbyterianism.

I liked them all but I best liked Ara’s take on the coming out (or coming down) of her deb, a finely crafted piece that had just the right flavor of pride before the fall.

So well done Araminta and over to you for the next.

I am no lawyer but….

I have just been sent a copy of Zimbabwe’s new constitution which is due to go before a referendum sometime next month. I have not read more than a small part of it, but one element caught my eye, that which relates to ‘War Veterans’ and the ‘Liberation Struggle’. It seems that anybody who fought in the Liberation Struggle must be honoured and protected and receive some sort of pension. (The fact that it was the awarding of vast ad-hoc pensions in 1999 which precipitated the collapse of the local currency and brought about the country’s economic ruin, seems to have been overlooked.) What my quick perusal has not uncovered, though it may be there, is that there does not seem to be any distinction with regards to the opposing factions of the war. I fought in the Liberation Struggle, albeit on the losing side, and am therefore a War Veteran. Is there any reason why I should not be awarded the same benefits that those against whom I fought? Would a constitutional lawyer be able to make a case?

It does seem to me to be very ill-thought out document. I note that women must be afforded equal rights and that all government commissions etc. must comprise at least 50% women. Thus technically, there can be more women than men on a commission, though not the other way round. Not exactly equal. Of course, I don’t suppose any of that really matters. The purpose of this, as with so many African constitutions, is to determine the powers of the President and the number of terms he can serve and the protection from prosecution he can expect.

Here is a site from which the Constitution can be downloaded.

http://www.copac.org.zw/index.php?option=com_phocadownload&view=category&id=10&Itemid=157