Crow vs Heron

In the last couple of days, I have been privileged to see our local young swan practise its flying, but I didn't manage to get it on film.

Today, I was determined to get some footage of another event that keeps taking place on the river.

There are two or three herons (not usually together, but as there is a youngster, there must be two parents) and today one of the parents was looking rather fine amongst the reeds.

There is also a rather enterprising crow that comes down and eats the bread people throw down for the ducks and the swan. This is the first time I've ever seen a crow do something like this.
Of course, the swan sees it off if it gets too near.

Sadly, the heron, despite its far greater size, is a bit more nervous than the swan:

What the letter F is for

Forney-cation.


OK, there is no F involved in this one, except maybe

F*** me (please) he's gorgeous AND HE'S ASTRIDE A CHAIR!

Good enough?

As the actress said to the bishop

Sorry if the saying is only known on this side of the Pond, but:

Eye, eye.


What's this 'ere?

If Vincent as Bobby goes commando, what were those boxers I bought on ebay?

Fools and Wise Men

Great minds think alike...

...Fools never differ.


Which is how our magnificent detective catches them out every time.

Big, Bigger, Biggest

He looks so big next to little Alex.


He's definitely bigger than the measure makes it look.


His size 13s indicate that he is the biggest in other departments, too.

High and Mighty

Very High
and Mighty sexy.

His hair looks like he just climbed out of (my) bed.

It was 6 years ago today

It was 19th April 2004, and it was a Monday. Having risen at sparrow-fart, I was ferried to Orpington Hospital, where I continued to starve till 2pm. (They'd changed my operation time after trying unsuccessfully to change the day. I fight dirty.)

I was barely turned 51, and here I was having a new hip fitted. My surgeon, Mr Walczak (he had the goodness to have a couple of vowels in his name...) preferred ceramic joints over tungsten ones.

I must say, I concur - fall over with a massive spike drilled down into your femur and you're looking at a completely shattered thigh. The ceramic version is embedded using glue, so I can take as many tumbles as I like and still retain a thigh bone.

Sadly, I have waited in vain for the other hip to go, so that I could have my leg length discrepancy addressed. If it does, I hope Mr Walczak is still available. His patients were the only ones to get visits daily - morning and evening - from their surgeon, and his bedside manner was charming. He built up quite a fan club. This picture doesn't do him justice. OK, he's no Vincent D'Onofrio, but he was exactly what you'd want for a doctor at a time like that.

Just so you know across the Pond, in Britain, doctors don't necessarily have PhDs, they are more likely to be BMeds, and Doctor is a courtesy title. But the top doctors (Consultants) are no longer addressed as Doctor, but as Mr. So don't worry if you end up in a British hospital and find you are treated by a Mr - you actually have one of the best.

My local hospital had a consultant who murdered his wife. He pushed her out of an upstairs window because she had cooled to him and wouldn't give him a kiss.

He got 6 years. That's how it works for men who kill "unreasonable" wives. Wives who kill abusive husbands get life. (Life over here is 10 years upwards.)

Wow, that post got off track, didn't it?

Gobbledegook

New toy. Not yet used it to record. Watched Digital TV through it.

Sorry, JoJo, things are not transferable one to the other, at least not in any way that requires fewer than about 10 additional connections. As I can't even work out how to copy videos from the VCR on to the hard disc drive while watching what I'm doing through the TV (can't do it blind) I'm sure I'll have to leave the old recordings where they are.

Apparently I should be able to use one remote control for both the TV and the DVD recorder, if I connect them using an HDMI connector, and taking advantage of the Anynet+ system.

Right.

Well, it turned out that even though I connected them using a SCART cable, the remotes were operating each other's machines anyway. This meant that when I tried to change digital freeview channels on the recorder, I actually went over to the same channel on the TV. As I had already discovered that the recorder had a stronger and more reliable signal, I didn't want to tune away, but I couldn't get it back.

This meant I had to go into the Setup and disable the connection. On both machines. At great length.

When is someone going to design gadgets for the middle aged non-technical woman, and write the manual in plain, jargon-free language?

Black and White

Black T-Shirt of Hotness

White Shirt of Lust.

Be Prepared

It has come to my attention that my DVD recorder with hard drive will not record things in widescreen. In theory you can change the format to widescreen, but only to watch stuff. Once you try to record something, it squashes it down to the old-fashined screen size and shape.

This made my Prof. Brian Cox DVDs look very peculiar. There is this tall, slim man made even taller and slimmer.

You can guess, can't you? I may be skint at present, but one day soon I will be able to record Bobby from the TV in widescreen when Season 7 goes on to Channel 5. (Season 6 got lost when my Sky+ Box died last year, or I would have discovered this shortcoming sooner.)

So I went and blew some dosh on a new recorder:

(Sorry there's a big gap, it's all part of the picture.)

First, I had to get as many copies as I could find time for of everything I have on the old player. Along with Season 8, I had Guy and Pelham.

I decided to record the S8 episodes in the order in which they were shot. Now, although I don't intend to ditch the old machine, if being unplugged leads to its losing the programmes on the hard disc, it won't be a complete tragedy.

Meanwhile, I can't understand a word in the instruction manual for the new one!

What a shock!

I was sitting here in my garden in the uncustomary silence of a warm spring Sunday afternoon, when - horror of horrors - the sound of an engine in the sky assailed my ears!

Bloody helicopter.

I'd bet money on its being a police one. Somehow the engine didn't have the same sense of urgency in its throb as the air ambulance has....

Thanks for the information about Eric Moody, the BA volcano-pilot's website, Diane. Sadly, the world and its ninety-seven million cousins has tried to have a look, and it's exceeded its bandwidth!

The Gossip and the Art Expert

I wonder which role Bobby preferred?

I think Vincent probably preferred the Gossip.