A typical day

Get up at the crack of noon.
Mooch about a bit, have something to eat.
Huge mug of de-caf.
Feel like crap*
Go to bed.

*The last week has seen yours truly become infected with a nasty little cold. It started out as just a man sniffle, something a woman would hardly notice.
Then on Wednesday it became a man cold.
But today I am forced to upgrade it to full blown man flu.

Today is the great south run in Portsmouth and K from down south is running in it to raise money for Marie Curie, but she's running with a cold and it's supposed to be bucketing down in the Pompy area today, poor thing.

Nothing particularly blogworthy has been happening in the world of Ed lately, except that the tax man recalculated the amount of tax I pay on my pension. For the last 6 months I've been paying too much tax. So my tax code was recalculated and sent out to me and behold, nothing changed.
Shit!
I'm going to phone them back next week, after my head stops feeling like it's stuffed with cotton wool.

I think I'll risk it and have a lemsip, then put the heating and the fire on and channel hop for a while.

Chin chin.

Here kitty, kitty.

You're all mad, you do know that?

You know who you are.

What the...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt692UuRMyg

Blog stalker #5

The assignment is supposed to be an interesting statue.
Well this is interesting in a "Feck that's ugly!" kind of way.
I could have taken the pics of this in better light on a sunnier day, but I'm afraid this waste of metal and money doesn't deserve it.
Click on the pic for the large version and just look at it for a few moments, then imagine yourself as a small child who has been naughty, now imagine your parent(s)/guardian saying that if you didn't stop being naughty then your punishment will be to visit the prom at New Brighton!


When I was a kid there used to be a huge fun fair and an open air swimming pool in New Brighton and going even further back there was a smaller version of Blackpool tower, a go-cart track and a pier. But all those things are gone now.
The pool was removed because it would cost too much to repair the damage caused by the river undermining it. And the "funfair" is more like a collection of slot machines in various guises, rides that are fun don't generate enough money.
Welcome to New Brighton entertainment HELL!!!

But that statue is only No 3

This next piece is not truly a statue as it's a little on the large side and isn't truly art as defined by most people, oh and it serves a practical purpose unlike art. And for those modern and conceptual fans, I don't want to here about your crack pot (crack head) ideas of what is art in the 21st century. People like Tracey Emin deserve being whipped naked thru' the streets of Aberdeen.
Anyhow I give you Fort Perchrock Lighthouse...


The light house has been automated for ages and so no one stays there, but a few years back it was hired out to newly weds for the honeymoon night, I don't know if that still happens tho'.
Any how this sentinel of the Mersey has made it to the number two slot.

So what is number one?

Staying with a nautical type theme, this next statue (and this next one is) is of "Mother Redcap" and two of her helpers.
Here is a clip from a longer text on smuggling in the North West of England...

The port of Liverpool in the 19th century. Click picture to enlarge

NORTHWEST ENGLAND

According to a revealing customs report dated 1750...

'Smuggling into the coasts around Liverpool ...is generally from the Isleman (sic)...in small boats that never appear on the coast but fall in with the land just in the dusk of the evening, that by their observations they may run in the night time into the place intended for the discharge of their goods where persons are always ready to assist and convey them to a proper place of safety...' [216]

One such place of safety was undoubtedly a Wallasey pub called Mother Redcap's , which stood 'on the promenade between Egremont and New Brighton ferries'. At that time Wallasey was wild and desolate:

Wirral up to the middle of the 18th century was a desperate region. The inhabitants were nearly all wreckers and smugglers — they ostensibly carried on the trade or calling of fishermen, farm labourers or small farmers...Then for smuggling: fine times the runners used to have in my young days. Scarcely a house in North Wirral that could not provide a guest with a good stiff glass of brandy or Hollands — Formby was a great place for smugglers. [217]

That part of Wallasey was separated from the rest of Wirral by a tidal pool, so the pub was more or less free of unwanted observers on the land side.

Mother Redcap's was riddled with storage places, and was stoutly defended against attack: the door was five inches thick, and heavily reinforced, and the windows had shutters in a similar style. A customs officer who succeeded in entering the door could be precipitated into the cellar via a trapdoor on the threshold: forcing the door released a catch that opened the trapdoor.

Opening the front door closed off the entrance to one of the rooms, so visitors unfamiliar with the layout of the pub would either walk upstairs, or into the north room, unaware of a second ground floor room to the south. Numerous other hiding places were concealed in a well and in the chimney breast.

The proprietor of the Inn, Mother Redcap herself, was said to be 'a comely, fresh-coloured Cheshire-spoken woman...a great favourite with the sailor men'. The inn was popular not only with smugglers, but also with lonely revenue men, who, to avoid suspicion, were entertained with the same hospitality as any other customer. This sometimes caused difficulties:

They were thus installed on one occasion when the smugglers were desirous of getting a cask of rum or some other merchandise away from one of the hiding places, but were prevented by the unwelcome presence of the officer. So it was arranged that one of the smugglers was to creep down to the shore from the Moor, and lie down in his clothes in the water, at the edge of the receding tide. The attention of the solitary officer at Mother Redcap's was called to the supposed body which had been washed ashore, and he made his way to it as quickly as possible. He had removed the watch, and was going through the pockets when the corpse came to life, sprang up, and laid out the surprised officer. By the time he had come to, the rum had been removed from Redcap's, and started its journey to the moss. No blame could be attached to the 'drowned man' who said he was walking along the shore, when he must have had a fit, for the next thing that he became aware of was that he was lying in the sand with his pockets being rifled. [218]

There used to be an inscription around the base but that was nicked almost instantly. The statue sits between a McD's and another shop in the small shopping centre in Liscard village. By rights it should be nearer the old site of Mother redcaps. Anyhow it's my favourite local statue.


And now as promised (lots of times) here are two pictures of the LYS near where I live and as you can see they're all geared up for Halloween.

I did have a couple of pictures of some coloured wool in the window but when I got home to edit the pics I had took that day, the wool was out of focus, I must remember to switch to manual when photographing through glass. Ho Hum.

I have Lately re-installed "Oblivion" on the laptop in the kitchen and as a result am finding it difficult to get things done. This time though I'm cheating my way to the top. My avatar looks like a Syth Lord and can kill with the lightning out the finger tips gag. I haven't used my sword in ages, cool.
Anyway got to dash, more bad guys to electrocute, dontcha know.

TTFN

Nobby, read this, you'll love it

http://twopalms.blogspot.com/2007/09/he-made-what.html

Love and Hate...

Well isn't that a question and a half?
What do I love.
What do I hate.

It would be easy to say the obvious. So family, little dogs/cats/baby's/the 1:infinity tax person who is actually helpful. They are all in the NO LIST.

What do I/WE hate, after all we are pack animals at heart.

Tricky!

Hmmm.

I hate bugs that are smaller than my hand!
Dentists can all roast in hell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(look I don't drive, but) Parking Nazis/traffic wardens (the world is a horrible enough place without those Goons!)
And trust me I could go on but 3 is the imposed limit(damn!)

Now onto the things I hate.....

what?

I've done that already?

you sure?

oh heck



Three things I (are you sure about this) like/love.

1. Knowing why the sky is blue
2. Being able to breath in and out unaided.
3. CH₃CH₂OH

Next.

Blog stalker

What is the fourth question?

I'm a card, I'm a card. What kind of card am I?

I was over at Dulcedosa's blog and thought this was kind of odd in an interesting spooky kind of way. While her card is Death, mine is something a little less dramatic...

You are The Hierophant

Divine Wisdom. Manifestation. Explanation. Teaching.

All things relating to education, patience, help from superiors.The Hierophant is often considered to be a Guardian Angel.

The Hierophant's purpose is to bring the spiritual down to Earth. Where the High Priestess between her two pillars deals with realms beyond this Earth, the Hierophant (or High Priest) deals with worldly problems. He is well suited to do this because he strives to create harmony and peace in the midst of a crisis. The Hierophant's only problem is that he can be stubborn and hidebound. At his best, he is wise and soothing, at his worst, he is an unbending traditionalist.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

That girl needs to slow down, not a little but a lot.

Those who know me and read this but who never leave a comment, please de-lurk and leave a comment. The question is this, did the computer get the right card for me?

This is where I find that none of my family read this blog.

Blog stalker #3- How do I get about...

This wont take long, trust me.

I mostly get about on these....
but sometimes I use one of these...


and every once in a while, when I need to travel hundreds of miles, this is how I get there...


If it's raining and I need to do a big shop then I make a phone call and beckon one of these...



but if it's not raining and I want to go somewhere local, I sometimes resort to this...


but of late it has started to feel like one of these...

But mostly I get from A to B on these...


TTFN
----------------
Now playing on Windows Media Player: arctic monkeys - a certain romance
via FoxyTunes

A visit to see Niece #1

This is a bit of an epic, you may want to get a drink, there are lots of pictures to click on, have fun.

Big sis and M where going up to Lancaster to see K (the freshman) on Sunday and asked if I'd like to tag along.
Having nothing better to do and wanting to see K and her new stomping grounds I took Big sis and M up on their offer.
The drive up to Lancaster was quicker than I expected and the weather was less than spectacular, but at least I wouldn't need the coat I had in my rucksack
And as you can see there is a torch in the net, like I said I always carry a torch when I'm travelling, you never know when you'll need one.

One thing I can say about Lancaster is it's quite hilly, K will be a lot fitter by the time she graduates. No matter where you are in the place you're on a hill and given the choice of either up or down.
And considering it was a Sunday town was quite full
Seeing as it has just gone 12 noon we decide to get a bite to eat, unfortunately it's in Mac Donald's, I'd have preferred Burger King or at a push a sandwich from Sayers or Greggs, ho hum.
You'll notice though, that the shop (they're NOT restaurants) isn't as gaudy as the ones you find elsewhere, it's almost as if they tried to make it blend in with the rest of the stone buildings surrounding it.
I had a Big Mac™ meal.

We do a circuit of the town, it's a lot smaller than I had imagined and doesn't take too long to walk around, here are some views of the town...
While we walk around the town I see that they have a Victoria monument in a square in front of the town hall, but we're going in the wrong direction, not a problem as I'll get to see it later once we've been to see the castle.
A castle! Brilliant! I haven't been to a castle since I was about 14, this day is getting better and better. But like most castles it's on a hill, OK around here it's on a bigger hill. Onward and upward...
On the way we pass this cross
and here is the Lancashire rose at its base (a red rose for Lancashire and a white one for Yorkshire).
Anyway, onwards once again
What was the name of that street again?

And now for the smallest building with the thickest tiles I have seen in quite a while...

Just next door is a fine example of an early free hospital

Anyway, behind me and up the hill just a bit more I can see the castle, I can't wait to start walking around it and asking the curators all sorts of damn fool questions.
Hang on a minute, some thing's not quite right here, if I could just put my finger on it, hmmm.
The doors are shut, that's what's wrong. The entrance must be through a postern. Here's a look at the figure 2/3 up and set into the wall.
No, things are still not right here, what does that sign on the left hand side of the entrance say? I'll have to get closer.
YOU HAVE GOT TO BE TAKING THE PISS!
It's a smegging prison!?
Bloody cons in this country are pampered as it is, now they're living in grade 1 listed buildings and stopping the general public from looking around it's heritage. It's just not fair.
So as I stand there thinking really bad thoughts, there is a rattling of keys in the little door, the door opens and a bloke with a huge grin on his face steps through the door and the prison guard behind him wishes him good luck before closing and locking the door.
I think that if I ever get sent down for anything, I'll ask if I can be sent to Lancaster castle.

It's not a complete washout, there is a walk way around the out side taking you to the rear of the quite small castle and to a church.
And just in case there is any doubt about who all the castles in the UK belong to there is a small sign just above head hight.
Below is the walkway from below, you go from right to left and on down the steps.

and now for a close up of the fountain, fitted to celebrate queen Victoria being on the throne for 50 years (one hell of a potty break).
and here's the church
In the next picture you can see the Lake district
Can you see it?

Anyway, at the back of the church is an overgrown footpath that will take us down to the river and back around to town.
About half way down we come across this sign...
COOL!
Here we have the foundations of the Roman bath house, this is fantastic, I've only ever seen them in books or on the tv
This is all there is and it's behind a rusty fence, oh and the board explaining the archaeology is hidden from view by the overhanging branches of a tree and the 4 foot tall grass, grass that's buzzing with even more airborne insects than the rest of town.
You sort of get the feeling that it was only discovered when they where digging the foundations of the concrete monstrosity that squats over it, regard...
If I had my way I'd tear that building down and develop the site as a heritage site. Some town planners just need shooting.

Off we go again, this time in a downwards direction...
at the bottom of this path is a small river, no pictures of that though, well once you've seen one small river, you've seen 'em all.
But here's a signpost for you all to enjoy...
And of course no trip to Lancaster whilst visiting Niece #1 would be complete without a trip to ...
...so that Big sis and M can make sure K has some more supplies, more free food for the impoverished student, aren't dad's great.

Once out of the supermarket we head straight to halls...

...so that K can put the shopping away and get the frozen stuff into the fridge. Niece #3, N, came with us as well, so after the shopping had been put away N&K catch up and do each others hair while the grown-ups go for a bimble. I want to see the Victoria monument and Big sis and M want to find a decent hotel. On the way back into town we have to pass the monument, we're taking a different route than the one we took earlier.
Here's the monument.
and now from the front
As you could see there are some friezes around the base, here they are for your pleasure (and mine)...
but in this next one you can see where some wags have scraped the oxide away or used chalk in certain areas giving some of the people moustaches, including Florence Nightingale and some poor chap has been given horns. The little tykes.
So we've seen the queen and now we have to find a hotel. We find one and go in to check it out, well Big sis and M do, I just follow on behind just looking at stuff. They start talking to the receptionist and I continue to look around me, place looks nice. I can't remember the name of the place because of what I next see sitting at the end of the counter, something in my head goes "Fizzzzt!"
A bloody Christmas tree!
(checks the month on the paper in the lobby, just in case the front door was the Guardian on the edge of forever, no it's still September 2007)

Come on! we haven't even had Halloween yet!
Or bonfire night .
The fact that retailers (and small groups of nut jobs), keep bringing important festival dates forward each year in order to squeeze yet more money out of the general public, well it just presses all my buttons and grinds my gears.
I start to splutter indignantly and can't help the expletives that get past my teeth. The shops have had the Halloween stuff out for the last 3 weeks as it is, what's next Easter eggs in july, get them early, avoid the rush!
GITS!

Anyway, big breaths (yeth and I'm not even thixteen yet), I'm calm again and we're walking down the road when M points this out to me...

All that's down there is this closed coffee house and here's the ally from the next street...
But this next one had me gasping for breath in between snorts and giggles...
And in this next one you would think that the holiday company Thomas Cook would think of moving.
It's nearly time to go home and so we head back to halls to pick up N and say goodbye to K.
On the way we come across this pub
You'll notice the brass plaque and the scroll like thing on the right. The building is reputed to be one of the most haunted places in England...

We say our goodbyes, drive off and promptly get lost.

We got home eventually.

TTFN