We watched a documentary on French television last night that made me itch just watching it. We were treated to scenes of clothing, jeans and shoes, being manufactured in Asia, mainly China and Bangladesh, during which the products were liberally sprayed and impregnated with toxic chemicals. We were also shown what can happen to people who buy these things. One woman who bought shoes in Paris ended up with feet that looked as if they  been trampled on by a herd of cattle.

Well then, what’s going to happen to the magnificent stadiums now that the world cup is finished?

Ours has been designated the home of Eastern Province Rugby! We had our first home game last Friday and although the crowd was disappointing (FIFA hangover perhaps) it is the start of something big.

But there’s more,  last week it was announced that the Super14 is to be expanded to a Super16 format and that our Province is a shoe in for the 16th place. Oh, to be able to watch The Crusaders,  Reds, Chiefs, Bulls, Brumbies et al performing here in my home town. Continue reading “What next?”

See, the problem is that God gives men a brain and a penis, and only enough blood to run one at a time.
Robin Williams

Goodnight everyone, sleep well.

Honky Tonk Woman – The Stones

Good evening.

It is with a heavy heart that I have to tell you that a state of war now exists between Embra and Glesca.  We have agreed the rules and have launched our fleets. Please feel to ignore this whole intra-Jock nonsense, but please feel equally free to join in and/or  heckle from the sidelines.

The aforementioned rules are absurdly simple. Basically, the  usual ‘Battleships’ game with which we are all so familiar. A grid of 20 x 20 = 400. Aircraft carriers 2 x10 =20, Battleships 3 x 8 = 24, Destroyers 4 x 6 = 24,  Frigates 5 x 5 = 25,  Submarines 5 x 4 = 20. No ships on the diagonal and of course, the standard  no contiguity rule. Slight variant in that the names of all my fleet relate to classical music pre 1960  – composers, performers or the names of entire works,  JW has rock post 1960 on the same terms.  Tracks definitely not allowed.  The rest will become clear as we play.

Please  shout out suggestions for the names of any of our vessels at any point. Won’t sink them and might not even be acknowledged by us but rest assured that we will both be touched by your participation.

So, without further ado, and in the immortal words of Rear Admiral  David Glasgow Faragut at the Battle of Mobile Bay, ‘Damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead!’

JW,  in honour of the fact that we have done this once already, B4?

Thanks to Boa for the grids.

Hits on JM’s Fleet

C2     by   OZ                    Submarine                    4 letters           A

Q7           JW                    Destroyer                       6                         W

Q11         JW                    Destroyer                        6                         O

D5           JW                    Frigate                             5                         E

J18          JW                  Carrier                           10                        W

Q9           Ferret             Destroyer                     6                          L

D2           OZ & Boa       Submarine                    4                          C

Q10        JW                   Destroyer                      6                           O

E2           OZ                   Submarine                      4                          H

Q12        Ferret            Destroyer                       6                           N  (Ship sunk)

N18        Soutie            Carrier                            10                          I

J14         Jaime              Destroyer                      6                            L

B2           OZ                     Submarine                    4                             B (ship sunk)

N5          JW                     Battleship                     8                              E

N3          JW                     Destroyer                     6                              I

H7         Ferret               Battleship                     8                              D

S15         JW                     Frigate                           5                              D

L3           Soutie                Destroyer                    6                             E

M3         OZ                       Frigate                            5                            L

H8        Ferret                 Battleship                     8                             O

H9         Ferret                Battleship                      8                             T

K3          OZ                       Destroyer                      6                             D       (ship sunk)

O5          JW                      Battleship                      8                              L

Hits on JW’s Fleet

F8           JM                    Carrier                          10                         I

K 8          JM                    Carrier                          10                         O

I8          Ferret               Carrier                          10                          Y

R4         JM                      Battleship                      8                           R

H8        OZ                        Carrier                         10                           B

E8         Boa                      Carrier                         10                           V

G8         Ferret                Carrier                          10                           D

D8        Ferret                Carrier                          10                            D

R6       JM                        Battleship                      8                            G

K4      JM                         Frigate                            5                             R

K2       JM                         Submarine                   4                             M

R5      OZ                           Battleship                    8                             E

D8      Ferret                    Carrier                         10                           A

J8      Ferret                     Carrier                         10                            R

L8      Ferret                     Carrier                         10                           N  (Ship sunk)

I18     JM                           Frigate                           5                            E

R8      OZ                            Battleship                   8                              /S

R11    Soutie                    Battleship                     8                              B

I15      Soutie                  Submarine                    4                             O

R10     OZ                          Battleship                     8                             O  (Ship sunk)

L2       OZ                          Submarine                     4                            U

M14    JM                        Frigate                             5                            A

G18     Soutie                 Frigate                               5                             A

L2        OZ                        Submarine                       4                              U

The Ship Spotters Roll of Honour

HMS Walton                       Embran                                     identified by Boa and Ferret

HMS Bach                            Embran                                    Boa

HMS  David Byron           Weegie                                      Ferret

HMS Delius                          Embran                                    OZ

HMS Bob Seger                 Weegie                                      Soutie

HMS  Turandot                  Embran                                    OZ

JM – Embra

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Bullfighting could be banned in Barcelona

“The Plaza de Toros Monumental is the last of Barcelona’s three bullrings to still stage “corridas” and even it struggles to fill a third of its 19,000 seats, often attracting more tourists than locals.”

“anything capable of arousing passion in its favor will surely raise as much passion against it.”

I readily confess to being a life-long marginalist. For as long as I can remember I have been unable to read a non-fiction book, be it on politics, economics or management, without scribbling notes of dissent on several pages. So, it is a new experience for me to go through a book without reaching for the pen. Ironically, I bought the book that gave me this experience fully expecting to disagree with the author from beginning to end. That was because I discovered the book through a very misleading review by a journalist.

To anyone interested in what is happening to the global political-economy I strongly recommend ‘The End of the Free Market’, by Ian Bremmer, an American analyst. It is a very important, readable book.

Apparently, a democracy is a place where numerous elections are held at great cost without issues and with interchangeable candidates.
Gore Vidal

Goodnight everyone, sleep well.

The other day I needed to go to casualty. Not wanting to sit there for 4 hours, I put on my old Airline uniform and stuck a patch onto the front of my shirt that I had downloaded off the Internet.

When I went into casualty I noticed that 75% of the people got up and left. I suspect they decided that they weren’t that sick after all. Cut at least 3 hours off my waiting time.
Here’s the patch.

Feel free to use it the next time you’re in need of quicker emergency service.

It also works at the DSS. It saved me 5 hours.

At the Laundry, three minutes after entering, I had my choice of any machine, most still running.

Don’t try it at McDonald’s though…..The whole shift got up and left and l never got my order…