Panic!
June 30, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
They’re back!!
Yesterday explosives where found in London, in two cars and only today a car (supposedly burning) drove through the entrance at Glasgow airport.
It’s amazing actually… as long as you do not switch on the telly or surf the internet, you wouldn’t have a clue about those things happening… Outside seagulls are still yelling at each other and everything else, seals just keep on enjoying the sun and wind, sheep are still chewing away on the grass. Nothing would indicate any of this terrorist’s related stress whatsoever. We are - in a way - living in what sometimes looks like a “last frontier”.
Gordon Brown, the fresh Prime Minister, urged the public to be vigilant and added: “I know the British people will stand together, united and resolute.”, according to the BBC.
The country is now in alarm phase “Critical” which means terror attacks could happen anywhere in the country. Well, I guess chances for anything happening on Skye are minute. I will not go on rambling about the things that motivate people to leave car bombs or perform suicide attacks on public objects… I just can’t grasp their motives.
A new ripple of terrorist fear travels the world as now also the US have raised their security measures as well. Let’s see how this one unfolds…
Un-hurry
June 29, 2007 | 1 Comment |
We’re generally in a hurry. To get to the shops, to get to our car, to get to our job, to get home, at work… it doesn’t really matter where or when we are, we are in hurry…
This was an issue on Dutch media a couple of years back, even with support from government funds to have people live at a slower pace. Being in a constant hurry make people stressful, which is bad for your health. So we needed to be more relaxed. We called it “to un-hurry”…
I always thought that when we live on Skye I would definitely un-hurry. Nothing would make me hurry ever again. Well, was I right?
Generally, I’d say “yes” but every once in a while the hurried Roger comes along, like today coming back from doing some shopping in Portree. I was stuck behind a German car doing 35 where you can easily drive 50 or 60. There was no single chance I could overtake the car in front of me. And I started being annoyed telling myself that I was in a hurry and needed to get passed that car. Was I in a hurry? Absolutely not. Time was not pressing on me and there was nothing needing immediate attention but the wheelie bin that I had to roll back from the roadside to the house. Then why was I making such a fuss about this guy in front of me? He was just enjoying the landscape or being extra careful while driving on the left side. As I realized I did not have a valid answer to that simple question I tried to dismiss the hurried Roger and be my un-hurried self again….
Money!! Get away…
June 26, 2007 | 1 Comment |
This evening it struck me: “Do the Brits have an obsession for money?”
I’ve never seen so much commercials for loans, credit cards, banks, interest savings accounts, debt consolidation services, and much, much more money related products and services as on UK TV. Sure enough, we have them in Holland as well, but at least you see some commercials for real products like milk or bread. Maybe I’m rambling on a bit but I think I’ve got a point…
Take a look at BBC programs running during the day from - say 10:00 until 15:00:
Beat the Bailiff: Program about people over their ears in debt, trying to avoid the bailiff
Flog It: Selling your family heritage on an auction
Bargain Hunt: Two teams trying to get the best bargains and highest earnings on an auction
Cash in the Attic: Again, selling your homely artifacts on an auction
And there’s more! Another favorite issue with lots of TV-programs is “How to make money out of real estate”, or how to climb the property ladder as fast as you can, without breaking your legs, that is: “Houses under the hammer” about people buying property at auction, doing them up and either selling them on or renting them out…
Actually most of’em are all enjoyable programs to watch and to be honest, they contain loads of information, especially the auction related programs.
Maybe it’s just a sign of the times that struck me here, and is it not specifically a British thing. In Holland questions have been asked in parliament whether companies selling loans should be allowed to use TV as a means to sell their services, because it’s such a powerful medium…
Like the rocks of Rock said:
Money, its a crime.
Share it fairly but dont take a slice of my pie.
Money, so they say
Is the root of all evil today.
But if you ask for a raise its no surprise that they’re
Giving none away.
Glastonbury 2007
June 25, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
I decided to watch a little television before going to bed and by accident saw a coverage of The Who playing at Glastonbury 2007 (Glastonbury is a yearly music event, comparable to what we have in Holland: Pink Pop, Low Lands etc.). Amazing! These guys just keep on rocking: Pinball Wizard, See me Feel me… all mixed in a great “Tommy” medley. I’m always particularly fond of the opening guitar strum from Pinball Wizard, and I must say Pete Townshend still plays a mean guitar…
One of the striking things was that during some takings of the audience I noticed people in their early twenties singing along with these golden oldies. The music from Tommy must be - well… at least 40 years old and was written and performed when those young ones were not born yet. Obviously their music keeps touching people, like you see with lots of other “bands of old”…
Well… I turned up the volume really high and enjoyed it immensely!!!
Summer on hold
June 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
After a couple of months with generally really nice weather, there’s been a major change since last Friday. By the end of the afternoon the wind turned north and within a maybe half an hour temperatures dropped from around 20C to 14C ~ 15C. Right now it’s even down to just around 10C.
It’s amazing how you live with the weather here and how you start noticing changes. When we lived in Holland I did not bother to know where the wind came from. You just left home or left the office and “Ah, nice weather…” or “Damn, it’s cold today”. When looking out of the kitchen window towards the Loch I’ve found a trick to quickly the wind directions: there’s some boats moored there and a boat’s habit is to turn its bow towards the wind. Just looking at those boats tells you the wind direction… easy!!
I also found out that a southern doesn’t necessarily mean good weather. It means higher temperatures but also tends to bring in rain.
So far the weather chat… Below is a nice picture I took from a sunset. It was taken a couple of days ago, at about midnight or just before… amazing colors…. The mountains are the outer isles Harris and Lewis.
Nasty critters!!! They bite…
June 22, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
Yep, bound to happen… an entry on midges or the biting variety of a two winged fly also known as “Nematoceran Diptera”.
Everything you heard about them is true. They appear out of nowhere, especially when there’s no wind. First you feel an itch and you see this teeny-weeny little black spot on your skin, boldly traversing your skin hairs looking for bare skin… maybe one and half millimeters… and then you see lots of them. And you feel them too… stings and itches and there’s only one thing you can do and get your ass into the house… and fast!!
There are all kinds of midge repellents. One of the most famous is a product called “Skin So Soft” which is produced by Avon as a skin moisturizer / skin-care product. But it should also repel midges…. makes you think… Well I tried that, while happily working on our new rabbit run during a completely wind still afternoon… and it definitely repels… myself! Gosh, it smells! And the midges, you might wonder… were they repelled? Well I’m not yet sure. For now, I just leave that bottle and flee inside….
Other options, if you persist in being out there when they are as well, are the midge burners. Impressive machines that produce CO2 which attracts the midges and then “collects” them in a container. As CO2 is compound we’re not keen on nowadays, this doesn’t sound like a very environmentally kind solution. So for the time being… no midge burners. Just go inside and try to forget that pretty, silent summer evening…. quick runs in-and-out the house to flip the meat on the bbq and eat inside…. bummer!!
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Latest music...
Hair (1968, Original Broadway recording). Some naughty lyrics for that time!!
An Rathad a Bhatarsaigh, by the Vatersay Boys