Wot i did on mi holida

Well, I wasn’t actually on holiday, of course, but I was in Turkey, in the sun, at a very nice resort. Sometimes my line of work does have its compensations.

After a frantic few days of planning for different disaster scenarios because of the disruption to air travel, everybody got away from Moscow on the Monday with little fuss. The boys and girls from St Petersburg couldn’t travel and the only downside of the week was that they didn’t make it to the conference – no matter what we tried, something screwed it up. Still, given all the confusion last week, only 123 people out of 1500+ were affected, so, all in all, it wasn’t too bad. impressions of Turkey

Green stuff

My garden is smallish and nothing special at all –  but it is organic. Always has been, for 20 odd years.

I don’t worry about snails and slugs. They can get on and do what they do. I don’t grow hostas any more because the slugs loved them just too much and turned them into lace, which while pretty and unusual, wasn’t the point.

Bird are what I worry about;  the extraordinary and disappointing change in the bird landscape of the average garden. Continue reading “Green stuff”

More on my holiday

We climbed up to this amazing castle. Got right to the top after a difficult climb.

Peyrepetuse castle

Built by Saint Louis, Louis IX canonised for his participation in the crusades, for a long time it protected our border with Spain. Work commenced in 1242 on a site that  had been in use since Roman times. In the 17th century we moved our border south and the castle was no longer needed. Though it was occupied up until the Revolution.

World Cup stats

There have been 18 (Football) World Cups so far … South America (Brazil 5, Uruguay 2, Argentina 2) and Europe (Italy 4, Germany 3, England, France) have won 9 each.

Ten tournaments have been held in Europe, four in South America, three in North America and one in Asia. No European team has won the World Cup outside Europe, but Brazil have won on four continents. Of the 24 nations to reach the semifinals, only two have been from outside Europe and South America.

It’s not easy to join the club of World Cup winners … before France in 1998 the previous first-timers were Argentina (1978) and England (1966). All seven previous winners are in the South Africa tournament, and it’s very likely that one of them will win again.

If there is to be a new name on the trophy, it will probably be Spain (the European champions) or The Netherlands. Countries with an outside chance are Serbia, Portugal, Ivory Coast and Ghana. The rest are making up the numbers. 🙂

The duck and the lawyer

A big city lawyer went duck hunting in rural Tennessee . He shot and
dropped a bird, but it fell into a farmer’s field on the other side of a
fence. As the lawyer climbed over the fence, an elderly farmer drove up
on his tractor and asked him what he was doing.

The litigator responded, “I shot a duck and it fell in this field, and now
I’m going to retrieve it.”
The old farmer replied, “This is my property, and you are not coming over
here.”

The indignant lawyer said, “I am one of the best trial attorneys in the
United States and, if you don’t let me get that duck, I’ll sue you and
take everything you own.

The old farmer smiled and said, “Apparently, you don’t know how we settle
disputes in Tennessee . We settle small disagreements like this; with the
“Three Kick Rule.”

The lawyer asked, “What is the Three Kick Rule?”

Continue reading “The duck and the lawyer”