In the West we take having clean, running water so much for granted that when we can’t drench our gardens in the stuff we complain like the world is about to end. And this is in the London area where most people don’t even have gardens!
Maybe it takes something like World Water Day to make us realise how lucky we are.
B introduced me to PhotoFriday. The idea is they post a theme and you reply with a photo. I have entered a couple of entries so far (in the “PhotoFriday” category of this blog). Please vote for me!
Some people seem to think that I visit new places just so that I can increment my Country Count. I guess going to three countries in one weekend a couple of years ago doesn’t do much to dispel that accusation, but it’s not true. What can I say? I like to see new places.
create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands
Having said that, hopefully I’ll hit my thirtieth country this year!
This is a big subject and one where I’m increasingly of the opinion that we’re going too far in the wrong direction. ID Cards and imprisonment without trial are bad enough but things seem to be going even worse on the other side of the Atlantic (or the UK Government is better at hiding their nefarious plans).
Last weekend I came across an article in the Washington Post that says that the Bush administration is trying to pass a law which would restrict the rights of the press. It would, for example, make it possible to prosecute reporters who found that the President did something illegal or to publish information about a wiretap.
This has been doing the rounds, but I still think it’s amusing.
Norwegians plumb in beer-dispensing kitchen sink | The Register
Having said that, if a strange brown liquid came out of my taps I’m not sure that my first instinct would be to drink it. Mind, Norwegian beer prices — about £5 a pint last time I was there — probably skew your thinking somewhat!
red
n.
- The hue of the long-wave end of the visible spectrum, evoked in the human observer by radiant energy with wavelengths of approximately 630 to 750 nanometers; any of a group of colors that may vary in lightness and saturation and whose hue resembles that of blood; one of the additive or light primaries; one of the psychological primary hues.
- A pigment or dye having a red hue.
- Something that has a red hue.
- often Red A Communist
- A revolutionary activist
(From dictionary.com.)
I watch a lot of movies but I don’t usually review them. This makes “Irreversible” unusual. This word, in fact, describes much about the movie and my reaction to it.
The movie starts at the end, with a death that the blurb proudly describes as “one of the most violent murders ever portrayed on celluloid” and then works backwards detailing the motivations for it and the complex relationships between the various characters.
Last year I went on a walking holiday in France with two friends. We started in Nice, got the train to Sospel and then walked to the coast at Menton. Between them we saw some beautiful scenery, drank some lovely wine and ate fantastic food. I can’t share the alcohol or steak, but you can see the pictures…
We started the week in Nice. I’d heard great things about the place but, on the whole, I wasn’t terribly impressed. I’ll be positive and say this is probably because they were digging the whole town up to install a new tram system, or because we didn’t spend very much time there. Anyway, this means that there are no decent pictures.
Rather than just provide a link to the news that Nick Park’s “Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit” won an Oscar, I thought I’d also point you to an interview:
NETRIBUTION – OSCAR WINNER NICK PARK — Wallace, Gromit and Me
The care and attention that goes into these films is, no doubt, exactly why they’re as good as they are.
On the other hand I have no idea why “Crash” did so well. It wasn’t a bad movie by any means but I thought it lacked the cleverness and brilliance that characterised most reviews I saw of it.
I was sad to see the passing of Linda Smith. I never saw any of her stand up work but I heard her frequently on Just a Minute and The News Quiz, where she was always sharp and funny.
Jeremy Hardy called her “the wittiest and brightest person working on TV or radio panel games” which really isn’t very far from the mark.
Guardian Unlimited | Obituaries | Linda Smith (Jeremy Hardy)