Trophy Wine - Day 2

I suppose he could get more handsome. Don't know how, though.

Trophy Wine - Day 1

Shoot me, Diane - but I think the psych session was the best part of this one - apart from the Size 13 sequence.

This is quite a pleasing shot, though.

One tragedy of many

I'm sure none of us thinks the gun lobby will really let there be any change in the gun laws in the US. After all, why shouldn't everyone have the right to own assault rifles and automatic weapons?

I must say that I don't agree with those who say this is the single most important thing for Obama to achieve in this period in office. What is the point is saving lives that will ultimately be lost to the earth being ravaged by global warming, something no politicians anywhere seem to want to deal with as the matter of urgency anyone can see whose only axe to grind is the future of the planet, rather than growth, consumption and making money.

What will be the point of all their money when there's no planet to spend it in? Even the children of the rich will be condemned to suffer with every other creature on the planet, and their parents will be sure to make it all happen sooner because of their self-seeking attempts to deny any of it is really happening.

Happy Christmas...

Last Street In Manhattan - Day 11

Sorry, ran out of posts without realising.

Thought I'd finish up this episode with Bobby with a shock of pink hair.

Last Street in Manhattan - Day 10

Forget Eames' dad, look at Bobby's pose!

Last Street In Manhattan - Day 9

Now Bobby looks angry. He needs a cuddle even more.

Last Street In Manhattan - Day 8

Bobby needs a hug.

Last Street In Manhattan - Day 7

Bobby agonises in his own inimitable way.

Last Street In Manhattan - Day 6

Bobby's looking a bit stern with Eames. What's the naughty girl done?

Mini Monster

Today I finally saw the new female tiger at London Zoo today. She's adorable - and really tiny!





Best thing about her was the look she gave to the hordes of child visitors. I felt the same way, Melati!

Last Street In Manhattan - Day 5

Don't you just love seeing those arms straining against the jacket sleeves?

Last Street In Manhattan- Day 4

So distinguished in his white shirt and tie.

So distinguished without them...

Last Street In Manhattan - Day 3

Bobby is auditioning for Mr Handsome Hunk 2011, 2012 and every year from now to eternity.

Last Street In Manhattan - Day 2

Mmmm. Not stunt claw but could be a stunt hand. The nails are a bit clipped, the thumb may not be curved enough, but the wrist looks right.

What does everyone else think?

Trapped!

The gas man was late this morning, shortly before 8am, because of bad traffic. I thought no more about it till I was on my way out of the house just after 11am to drive to the pet store to stock up on heavy supplies. He told me there was an accident down on the main road, and the traffic was backed up. So I drove the other way along the street, only to meet with a row of cars that had got stck after using my road as a "short cut". I turned round and went back home.

By 1.30 I was sure it must be all cleared up, and left the hosue again, only to witness car after car whizz past me, obviously still trying to find a way out of the jam. I went back in. Luckily I am not in dire need of these supplies. But it feels really horrible to be imprisoned in your street for such a long time.

I hate to think how bad things must have been for the poor souls involved in the accident.

Last Street In Manhattan - Day 1

Bobby doesn't look down on anyone - unless they are dead.

How...

...can a cat eat a whole dish of food with a pill hidden in the middle and finish every morsel except the pill?

Boots On The Ground - Day 20

Another twofer.

First we see some tongue:



Then we get treated to some hand action:

Boots On The Ground - Day 19

Bobby contemplates how to pass the shrink sessions.

Boots On The Ground - Day 18

Time for some necking.

Boots On The Ground - Day 17

These people are really annoying our Bobby.

If I annoy you, will you punish me?

Boots On The Ground - Day 16

Feigned surprise. Just waiting for the eyebrow wiggle.

Lifeboat Ahoy!

When I was a child, we had yearly visits at primary school from the River Police. They had a flipchart of colour pictures showing the dangers of the River Thames - the dangerous muck you could cut yourself on and get blood poisoning, the current and the tides. A girl at my secondary school had a father in the River Police, and we were all shocked when he died in an accident while on duty.

I'm not sure exactly when they lost their rescue function, to revert to being a plain old police force, but in 1989 when the dredger Bowbelle hit a party boat, the Marchioness, capsizing it, with the loss of 51 young lives, it was not in a position to do much to help.

In the aftermath, there must have been some decision (though I can't remember it receiving much publicity) to employ the lifeboat service to supply search and rescue on the Thames.

The RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Insitiution) is best known for its rescue work around the coast of Great Britain and Ireland. Its Severn class lifeboats cost £2.7 million, all raised by public subscription, all manned by volunteers. They can go up to 50 miles out to sea.

They can also handle the roughest of seas, and can capsize completely, then right themselves in less than ten seconds.

During our recent floods, however, the RNLI has been helping to rescue stranded people in flooded areas.

And today they were at school telling the kids about their service (and of course letting them try on jackets, lifebelts and helmets!)

Don't we do fun stuff?

Boots On The Ground - Day 15

Two for one. Bobby doesn't know whether to look at the blonde's face...



...or her boobs:

Insanity

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that the government was planning to close Accident and Emergency and Maternity at my local hospital. It's getting really hard to get anyone outside the local community to sit up and take notice. A march last Saturday was briefly reported as having as few as 2,000 people taking part, whereas best estimates are between 10,000 and 15,000. The news coverage was minimal. It was raining, so the cameras didn't stay beyond the first few minutes, and didn't show the rally at the end or the "hands round the hospital".

Last night there was another public meeting in the local theatre.



It's clear that the stated aim of "reorganising local services to improve them" is a complete crock. The only plans are those which allow for these closures and the sale of two thirds of the hospital's land to developers. There is an assumption that there will be a fall in the number of people needing these services, though all the evidence is to the contrary. To get to the alternative hospitals, there being no decent public transport and relatively little (and rather expensive) parking, more people will need to call for an ambulance. There is no mention of the effects of the increase in these calls on the mortality rate of people such as heart attack victims. If the ambulance is dealing with another, less critical (but still very serious) case, it will be delayed. People will die. But hey, they won't be Conservative Party voters, so what the heck?

The person who produced the report didn't ask local people about how they would get to the alternative hospitals. They suggested we look on the Transport For London website. Yes, that's the first thing you do when you need to get to hospital urgently. They also consulted Deloitte's, a tax and corporate services company, to come up with travel times for an appendix to the report. Again, these geniuses didn't consult with the people who might be able to give them an accurate answer. They used online information, and came up with timings for conditions of "no traffic". THIS IS LONDON! Such conditions will only apply at about 2am, when there are no buses anyway. Multiply the time by three or four for most of the day.

Sadly, I think the government will nod this through no matter what we do. The only possible hope is that it is supposed to be put into practice over three years, by which time there will have been a general election, and with luck this bunch will have been kicked out and the next lot might listen to reason and stop it in its tracks.

Don't hold your breath there either.

Anyone who wants to see if they can sign the online petition please follow the links on www.savelewishamhospital.com

Boots On The Gound - Day 14

Did I surprise you, sweetheart, when I appeared naked in front of you like that?

Best Ever LOCI Scenes?

I love Chinoiserie, especially the scenes where Bobby's having so much fun. It was on last night, and I smiled all over again, just like I always do.

Boots On The Ground - Day 13

Bobby looks like he's about to swear.

Brilliant Video

Just saw this on Cheezburger and had to share - it made me cry with laughter.

Watch It If You Can

Last night there was a fascinating documentary on Channel 4 about two brothers suffering from a form of the genetic condition Leukodystrophy so rare they are the only people in the world known to suffer from it.

The Clark brothers reached their 30s before begining to lose their faculties, and are reverting to childhood. It was extremely moving.

 

The Clark Brothers

Many of you will remember my student Alex who suffers from Adrenoleukodystrophy, a form of the condition that generally strikes boys aged between 5 and 10, disabling them comletely within months, and usually killing them within two years. The condition figured in the film Lorenzo's Oil. Alex, like Lorenzo, is a long-term survivor, and is now 19. He, his mother Sara and his brother Ayden featured in the programme (so did their dog JJ). The link below will take you to the programme via the online on-demand facility. Sadly, I doubt if it works outside the UK.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-curious-case-of-the-clark-brothers/4od

It's also repeated on Thursday at 11.25pm on Channel 4.
















on Channel 4 at 11.25pm on Thursday. I highly recommend it.

Boots On The Ground - Day 12

Back to basics. Woof!

Boots On The Ground - Day 11

This is a bit like that pose when he was a guest on that show with the fake Hillary Clinton before the 2008 election. Would have spilled the beans to him then, would spill the beans to him now.

Boots On The Ground - Day 10

What's Bobby thinking here? Answers on a postcard, please...

Boots On The Ground - Day 9

Bobby offers us his neck and chin to nibble.

Boots On The Ground - Day 8

Bobby's in the spotlight, where he belongs (after he's got out of my bed...)

Perfect Island Getaway

Here it is, off the north-west coast of Australia, but in French waters - the amazing Sandy Island:

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?ll=-19.119219,159.724731&spn=2.683137,5.410767&t=h&z=8&lci=com.panoramio.all

Sadly, the only sand is 1400 feet down under the sea, because Sandy Islad doesn't exist. No one knows how it got on to various maps - including, obviously, Google maps - but when some folks tried to sail there they found nothing but empty ocean. Som a oerfect way to get away from it all.

Boots On The Ground - Day 7

Bobby looks worried - or did he just burp?

Boots On The Ground - Day 6

Yes, I will tell you whatever you ask, Det. Gorgeous.

Come Fly With Me

Most people have heard of the Red Arrows aerial display team, but the Red Devils aerobatic parachute regiment are less well known.

The other day at school we had a visit from the Red Devils. Some of the children were disappointed that they wouldn't get to see them skydive off the roof, or that they wouldn't get to do that themselves (mm, where some of the darlings were concerned, some of us were disappointed about that too!)

They showed us their two kinds of parachute packs, standard and tandem:



They linked themselves up to show how a tandem jump is done. The guy behind lifted the guy in front off the ground by the shoulder straps!



They got some of the taller students to help them display their parachute:



Several of the children can't wait to turn 16 so they can do a tandem jump. One or two even want to join the armed forces. Hate to tell them they'll be lucky to join the newly renamed Reserves at the rate this government's cutting everything.

Boots On The Ground - Day 5

"Congratulations! It's Post 3900!"

Boots On The Ground - Day 4

"So I tried to fit a boob in each hand, but Val's just too well-endowed."

Boots On The Ground - Day 3

From serious to having fun. I love to see Bobby running the gamut of emotions (except misery).

Boots On The Ground - Day 2

Bobby's on the case, and he's taking it very seriously.

Boots On The Ground - Day 1

Now these are the boots I really want to see on the ground. Off his feet, which are up on my bed.

The Consoler - Day 10

This was going to be a pcture-free page till I found out how to go back to the old Photobucket.

Gotcha!

Treat for UK readers

Watch Flog It tomorrow afternoon! It's the episode with my neighbour selling her painting and I am in the background in the first part.

At least I hope it is.

Owl be seeing you

Just for a change I went to the zoo today. I was supposed to be taking my friend as my membership card admits two, but sadly (and even more sadly not for the first time) she phoned at the 11th hour to cancel, as she and her mother were poorly. I'd already turned down a day's work so as not to let her down, so I felt a bit peeved.

But you cannot stay annoyed or upset for long when you have a day like this. It was sunny, and really warm for November. The big cats loved it, and gave us great show. Then there was the gorgeous soft owl to scritch.



Head keeper Dan is training Jae Jae to position himself conveniently on the fence so that he can be visually examined or sedated without darting, to make intervention less stressful. He didn't like it when Dan left - he wanted more grub!



A bit later he went for a stroll calling - don't know what this particular moaning cry means. Maybe he wanted his lady to come outside - she's being rather shy.

Happy 90th Auntie Beeb

Today marks the 90th anniversary of the first radio broadcast by the BBC (then the British Broadcasting Company rather than Corporation as now) though the lack of a special Google page logo display means this illustrious tax-cheating organisation does not recognise this as an important landmark in the history of electronic communication). Damon Albarn of Blur was commissioned of write a piece of music to celebrate the occasion. He incorporated various iconic sounds, such as birdsong, the chimes of Big Ben and the time signal ("pips"). At 5.33 this afternoon every single BBC radio station, national, regional and international, joined together for Radio Reunited to broadcast the piece from the Science Museum in London. I think it's quite good considering...

The Consoler - Day 9

No prizes for guessing why I chose this one!

What price manners?

Today I had an unexpected work booking, and because it was unlikely I'd make it home and then back out again with Dandy to get to the vet's by his 5pm appointment. So I did the polite thing, and phoned up to warn them I might be late. There was a 6.50 appointment, and I asked them to book me into that as well in case I was too late for my 5pm. In the event, the traffic was not too bad, and I got home, managed to box Dandy up, parked right outside the surgery (across the car park gateway...) and stepped inside at 5pm on the dot. Booked in. And waited. And waited. And waited. And saw person after person who'd arrived after me go in to get their pet seen. Eventually I asked what on earth was going on. I mean, I was patient, because when Dandy and Beano went along last month they took 45 minutes instead of the usual 10. That's when I found that the nurse I'd spoken to had actually cancelled my five o'clock. And the practice manager with whom I'd booked in (the practice manager) didn't wonder why I'd arrived nearly 2 hours early, or think to mention I'd have to wait so long to be seen. Happy bunny I was not. After 50 minutes I finally got seen. Poor Dandy. As I left, I told the practice manager that next time I thought I might be running late, I wouldn't bother to phone them and let them know. When I got home, I found I'd dropped my fleece on the way out. Damn. So much for the dignified superior exit.

The Consoler - Day 8

This is more in his comfort zone.

The Consoler - Day 7

Bobby is NOT looking happy at his first therapy session.

The Consoler - Day 6

He could be puckering up ready for a little shortie like me...

Sorry, folks, I'm having to redo all my S10 posts as the new Botophucket made me delete the album. I'm busily restoring it as I type. But at least I've made it give me back the old PB!