Shooting Parrots

One in Seven Billion

Friday, 28 October 2011

I’m a big fan of the visual display of quantitative information, but which I mean using pretty pictures to illustrative complex concepts and facts. On the left is a classic example of the art. Produced in 1885, it depicts Napoleon’s advance on Moscow and subsequent retreat, the battles and distances involved, his rapidly diminishing army [...]

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Sorry

Thursday, 27 October 2011

There are times when we all act rashly and say and do things we regret and only a public apology will do. So here goes. I’d like to say sorry to this man in India who keeps calling me. I apologise for my rudeness in putting down the phone before you’ve said no more than, [...]

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O is for Ostrich, Ou Tronk and Obz

Wednesday, 26 October 2011

Can I complete the whole of Round 9 of ABC Wednesday based on our four week stay in South Africa in February? Click on the photos to enlarge. South Africa is rich in ostrich and has made people rich too, particularly in the town of Oudtshoorn that made pots of money in the 19th century [...]

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Out of the Arc

Tuesday, 25 October 2011

I was following some of the debate in Parliament yesterday on whether there should be a referendum on whether the UK should leave Europe and become part of Polynesia or one of the Galapagos Islands.

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Danger Mop

Monday, 24 October 2011

I had to pop over to see a friend at Pear Mill yesterday afternoon and took along my camera as it was a reasonably bright day. Left is one of those incongruous sights you come across. I’m not entirely sure what is so dangerous about a mop. Sexism alert: unless it is when in the [...]

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In Mourning

Sunday, 23 October 2011

If I had anything in my wardrobe that was black, totally black, I would be wearing it tonight to mark my respects for the passing of the all-time great tv shows. Tonight saw the very last episode of Spooks on BBC1. After ten years of ‘MI5, Not 9 to 5′ our national security and Sunday [...]

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The Accident

Friday, 21 October 2011

Linwood Barclay is one of my favourite writers of fiction and each of his novels that I’ve read has been better than the last. The Accident continues that trend. Barclay’s stock-in-trade is small-town America, the secrets behind the facade of respectability and the seemingly harmless vices that can lead his cast of characters down paths [...]

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N is for Newlands, Neptune and Nobel

Wednesday, 19 October 2011

Can I complete the whole of Round 9 of ABC Wednesday based on our four week stay in South Africa in February? Click on the photos to enlarge. One of the things I promised myself before we arrived in Cape Town was to watch a cricket match at Newlands, the test match venue that was [...]

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Clocking Off

Tuesday, 18 October 2011

I haven’t been in the best of moods for a few days. I started with the sniffles and sneezing of a cold on Friday and by yesterday I was feeling particularly sorry for myself. I think it may have had something to do with the weather. A cold always feels that much worse when it [...]

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