Call for Reviews

Some reworked classics have recently crossed my desk. Should anyone care to review any of them please get in touch.








(I really like this last little guy - somehow he reminds me of me.)

Eyjafjallajökull

Anyone care to guess how that might be pronounced?

Is this the end?

There is a cloud of volcanic ash drfiting across the UK, from recent eruptions in Iceland. Here's a picture from the BBC, which makes it look rather lovely.


It isn't all lovely though, it has been bad enough to suspend flights across the country. This might sound like an over-reaction, but I've been reading about this and apparently if the ash particles get into a jet engine they melt and clog the engine with molten glass. That's got to be a bad thing.

There's worse to come. Look at this picture:


See how happy the dinosaurs are, scampering about in the prehistoric sun? See those volcanoes in the background? It was volcanic ash that finished off the dinosaurs. All gone. Extinct.

Dinosaurs were great big burly beasties. What chance have a bunch of puny humans got? How long have we got left?

I do hope I last until tea-time, we're having takeaway tonight. Perhaps I should start heading home now.

Volcanic ash and the potential loss of life as we know it is not the only gift this country has received from Iceland in recent times. Last winter, after hearing a news report about the deprivation suffered by pensioners in Hull, the kind folk of Iceland sent a container-load of jaunty knitwear to that city. Doesn't it look snugly?


And isn't it good to see that not everyone wastes their knitty skills creating spare body parts?

PS I'm not the least bit apologetic about nicking photos from the BBC. All that licence-fee money they get, and then they squander it on a gang of hard-faced Dorothy-wannabes? Pfft!

I have been to the hills

I have roamed far and wide, oohed at the views, and now I have loveliness burned on the backs of my retinas, there to delight me whenever I close my eyes (which is frequently as work is a bit on the dull side today).


(More from the lovely Judy Horacek here.)

Actually, there was one descent that was every bit as steep as in this pic. Except for about the last four metres, which was a sheer drop. I'm brave but I'm not stupid - in the end I crawled to safety through some strangers' back garden, which was very small, very steep and very overgrown. Doing this sort of thing is quite cute and funny when you are seven years old, but in one of my advancing years it is undignified, and perhaps even a criminal offence. For this reason I cannot tell you where I went walking yesterday. You will just have to trust me that 1). it was lovely, and 2). I had a lot of fun.

About five miles earlier, before things all became tangled and desperate, I met one of these little fellas:


He was as surprised to see me as I was to see him.

Two weekends back-to-back

Isn't Easter great?! Two bank holidays with a weekend sandwiched in between - brilliant!

Those of you of a religious bent can spend Good Friday with a rock rolled in front of your door. Worthy folk can go to B&Q, then spend the rest of the weekend painting their kitchens. Others may wish to make an early start on their chocolate eggs.

We spent Good Friday in a time-honoured and traditional manner - a road-trip to the seaside.



And in the way of all great traditions, it pissed down all afternoon, clearing just long enough for a quick scamper on the beach.


Dunno where that tiny little dog came from.

In case you are wondering: 1-1. Robbery!
Fish & chips for tea. Of course.

Happy Easter

Isn't Easter great? A special holiday just for eggs!



Sadly, as with most things in life, even eggs suffer some unnerving moments:


Oh dear.

Best of all, no-one has to come to work for the next four whole days. Hurrah!!

Happy Easter everyone!