Thanks giving...

... we don't have that over here in Blightyland.

But what would I give thanks for?
Family, friends,good food, strong drink, pretty girls, learning something new each day, science and tech'y, Star Trek, Star Wars, Babylon 5, clean(ish) air, my small mortgage, this months pension cheque, the fact that babies look like Winston Churchill, optics (both kinds), Japan (for my gadgets), living in a country where fresh water is on tap, BOOBIES!, Hydrogen and gravity fields, living now instead of the middle ages, being able to read, Terry Pratchett, Banksy, my Wii, the ratio of distance that gives us total eclipse's (quote from beeb website "The Sun is, of course, much larger than the Moon. It is 400 times bigger in fact, but it is also 400 times further away. So when they coincide in the sky, the Moon exactly blocks out the Sun."), Family Guy, American Dad, Futurama, Gerry Anderson, the airsoft guns I got before the change in law, the fact that I don't speak German, slightly odd women the world over who knit and even tho' I don't they let me play in their games, the internet, a purple goatee, an English summer (except this year), Malta, the wheel, fire, de-cafe tea and coffee and finally, again BOOBIES!

Breakfast with Ed (Blogstalker 8)

Breakfast is a meal that doesn't always happen in the world of Ed these days.
When I was in the RN I'd have breakfast every day, due to the fact that I was up early to go to work. The repast was normally a cooked one, scrambled egg, sausage, bacon and baked beans, two rounds of toast (with Marmite) and a glass of fresh orange juice. This was a Monday to Friday deal, 07:00 doesn't exist on Saturday or Sunday as far as I know, but lunchtime does.

Now I'm a full time civy and taking a break from work, breakfast is a hit and miss affair, sometimes it happens and some times it doesn't.
Most days see me rising at a time of day that if I where to eat anything, it should be called brunch.
Today is different.
It's a Saturday and I'm up and about before 8am. (Is the bed on fire?)*
So here is what I have for breakfast nowadays...
...oatabix and a big cup of coffee.

* I remember when I was little during the general strikes back in the mid 70's, there was a series of rolling blackouts.
I wasn't fond of the dark, so one night my mum put a candle in a jar and left it on the mantelpiece in the bedroom. What she didn't realise was that the candle would melt the plastic of the jar,oops.
A little while after I had fallen asleep I awoke coughing, I got out of bed and sleepily walked down the stairs into the front room and matter of factly announced to anyone who was listening that the bed was on fire.
All hell broke out and I remember a string of pots, pans and bowls of water being rushed up stairs.
Great days...

Li'l ol' me...(Blogstalker7?)

A few years back, I scanned into the computer hundreds of family photos, I'm fairly selective about me and photographs, so only a few managed to make it out of the box and on to the hard drive.
There where no phots of me as a baby, but lots from toddler upwards. Here is one from my days in nursery, I'm the abnormally tall freak in the foreground, I loved playing in the water.


And here's one of the whole class

I was big for my age.

Chin chin.

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.

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

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 #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

Blogstalker #2

Lets get a couple of things sorted before I continue;-

1. I don't have a purse/handbag (or manbag).
2. Because I'm a bloke.

I do have a small selection of rucksacks however, but when they're not in use they're empty so that put paid to that idea.
Next I thought about my toolbox and I ask myself, how interested will a crowd of knittie heads be in an assortment of small spanners and and odd shaped bits of metal, not very.
Besides I don't carry that crap with me all the time.
So the question becomes this,

"What's it got in it's pockets, precious?"

To wit:-

one wallet
£7.30 in change
house keys
half a pack of gum
and as always seems to be the way these days, some BB's

Nothing very interesting really.
Maybe blokes should have handbags, you know, so we can lug around little nick-knacks, old dolls, first aid kits, cameras, huge bunches of keys, ration packs, note pads, primus stoves, things that make "woo weep" noises, very small churches, apples, crayons, spare huge bunch of keys, tyre iron, kitchen sink etc etc
But I'm not the one to champion the manbag I'm afraid, my wrist isn't limp enough.

"But surely you carry stuff in your wallet?"

Yes I do and stop calling me Shirley.


Just the usual suspects I'm afraid. A variety of plastic cards, some receipts, an expired video club card for a shop 264 miles to the South, some cash, a six pack of stamps (containing 2), an ear bud, a small piece of blank paper and finally a small cocktail stick.

On the up side this little exercise has given me the opportunity to weed my wallet and get rid of all the useless detritus that I don't need or use like the receipts, one of the plastic cards that has gone past it's date, the video card and the stamps.

Blog stalker

Who am I? Hmmm.

I sometimes wonder that myself, although not that often.

Here's a pic of what used to be my computer room and is now my junk room. If you analyse the image all that clutter is me to a T. It tells you the obvious first, I'm into computers, gaming, digital photography on the cheap, I was in the Royal Navy as a CPO, that I like target shooting and that I never read manuals.


Since leaving my last job in the military the Peacock/Rebel in me has come to the fore. I can now grow the goatee that I always wanted...
And then dye it Purple, as you do...

I ordered the dye from a place called Urbanity here in the U.K. I ordered it in the May so that I'd have it for lil sis' wedding, it arrived at the end of August. Go figure.

I got this for Xmas from a friend and first I thought "WTF!", but it works very well at taking the shine off a freshly shaved swede...
Some years back my family "bought" a star for me, and here's the deed...


Here is spare head one...
I love the concept of phrenology, imagine being able to tell someone's personality from feeling the bumps on their heads. In one of Terry Pratchett's books there is a troll who by using a rig and a selection of hammers can change your personality, if only that where possible.

The captain of the B ark said that "you're never alone with a rubber duck". I don't have a rubber duck but don't worry, I'm never alone. When I watch TV my buddies keep me company and we all love the same shows, Dougal likes the cartoons, Marvin likes the factual programmes and Mutley goes nuts for Sci-Fi...


This is one of the other friends I have, Mr Glock 23f.
There are many like him but this one is mine...


I like games and cooking and so I get to play kitchen sink jenga (cheers PK).
Here is the start of a new game...


I can believe a great many things and have done so in my time.
But "intelligent design" isn't one of them.
Go Darwin...


First in line for my favourite non alcoholic cold drink is this stuff, it's even nice in a pint of cider (just a dash)...


My next favourite cold drink is a stein of milky coffee allowed to go cold, stop going Ew ew barf.

Here is my eye on the universe, with this and given the right conditions I can view my property in the constellation of Cepheus.
Cepheus is Ethiopian for king and the constellation looks a little like a simple crown.

My latest waste of a pound...

It's a great zapper and it's also improving my serve. Hang on what does that label say?


Oh dear. I need an adult, I need an adult.

Speaking of toys, here are some of the things from my toy box that I use every day to help keep me sane...


So has that told you anything about me that you didn't already know?

One last thing, here's me on the alternate Enterpise...


Live long and prosper.