Boom-Bang-a-Bang

I've just got back from watching the Festival fireworks. These happens every year as a final full stop to the Festival. It is sponsored by one of the large Scottish Banks and to get into the Princes Street Gardens you have to buy a ticket which usually costs a fortune. However, the landscape of Edinburgh means that most locals go to the top of Calton Hill to look across at the castle and the display, and if we remember to take a radio we get to hear the music as well.

Last year was a pretty spectacular show using Tchaikovsky ballet music, so there was nice music and the firework display was visually pleasing. This year they tried to be too arty for their own good, lots of coloured lighting effects and showers of sparks tumbling down the castle walls, that were supposed to give atmosphere to the music (Mussorsky's Pictures at an Exhibition) and next to nothing in the way of "proper" fireworks. It was a complete disappointment, especially as the council had closed off all but one entrance to Calton Hill and the police were directing people from the Leith side of town all the way around Royal Crescent to another entrance that was also closed, so we had to walk several times further than we would normally expect to, or even needed to.

The best show all night was the moon, who despite being at last quarter was huge in the sky, and was a beautiful red colour. There was a band of cloud across the middle looking like a veil of sorts. The old girl was stunning, and it didn't cost a penny to look at her.

????

I've mentioned that I am pagan, and in true witch style I have all sorts of spells and things written down as reference. Most witches have all their accumulated knowledge written in a nice Book of Shadows. I on the other had have various bits of paper that are all lumped together in any old order in a box (Walkers smokey bacon crisps box to be precise). The result is I can never find anything when I want it.

So today I have bought myself a nice hardback notebook, a new nib for my pen, and some other bits and pieces and I am going to get the whole lot in order. Sounds good..........

BUT..........

I haven't a clue where to start. On one of the pagan mailing list someone recommended a book, however, that is out of print and unavailable in the UK. I tried the library but they haven't got it and are not sure they can get a copy.

Maybe I should just sit and stare at the big pile of papers and hope that they sort themselves out.

Boo Hoo

Boyfriend has gone back to Manchester, and despite the fact that he was getting under my feet and into the bits of my life that are mine (and mine only), I am actually missing him already.

I suppose it just goes to show that you never know what you have till it's gone.

At Last!!!

I took a couple of days leave from work (and a huge amount of pleading that took) as boyfriend was visiting and the weather was nice (for a change).

Edinburgh appears to be getting back to some semblance of normality. Princes Street wasn't anything like as crowded as it has been during the festival, you aren't accosted by people thrusting show flyers into your hand every few metres, and the prices in the cafes have dropped down to something akin to reasonable, which is nice for those of us who live here.

Today is the official last day of the festival, so all the venues that haven't already packed up will be doing that over the weekend. And just to prove that the festival is finished we are having a torrential downpour. I think summer in Edinburgh lasted about 4 weeks this year, which is not surprising seeing as we were having intemittent snow and hail storms right up to the middle of April. I just hope that we have a mild winter.

Thought For The Day*

If we all follow God's will - who gets the bulk of his estate?

* Probably copyright to the BBC

Honey, I'm Home...

My significant other is here visiting. He arrived last Wednesday and goes back to our Manchester flat on Friday. I couldn't get holiday though, so I was working, leaving him to his own devices during the day. Having been, to all intent and purpose, living on my own for the past two years, this was a scary thought. Boyfriend is now like a stranger to me, he has acquired a whole new set of habits and foibles. Added to which there are things that I have been doing that I have become quite possessive about. One of these things is the computers. I have over the past two years been learning a new operating system (linux). I was perfectly happy using it as a user, in fact, when I was a University I became very friendly with the VAX/VMS system. However, in the last two years I have had to learn how to be a system administrator, keeping the firewall running, setting relays, etc, etc, the bits that are usually referred to as "the hard stuff". I frequently make a mess of it, which then involves running downstairs and pleading with the resident geek to please come and tell me what I have done wrong. Boyfriend is much more computer savvy than I am. So I have been spending all day worrying about the things he could be doing to my computers, and will any of these things have a knock on effect that I won't be able to fix. I am getting to the point where I can't wait to see the back of him because then my nice little flat will be mine, and if I want to slob around in yesterday's clothes there is no one tutting at me and commenting that I'm wearing the same clothes two days running.

Today, it took him two hours to get ready to go out because he kept stopping to "just do something", whereas I was washed, dressed and ready to go. Fortunately we managed to get all the things I wanted to do done but it was a close call, I only just got to one shop in time to get the fabric and binding needed to make a corset, and he had the nerve to complain that I was dawdling.

I have actually come to the conclusion that I like living on my own and I am dreading the time that he moves up here permanently. If only things could stay as they are.......

Oh Well

I've had my little reflection and have decided what the hell if I sound like a self indulgent whinger. Having looked at other blogs out there in the big bad internet it would appear that I wouldn't be out of place, so I can have my own little piece of self gratification, combined with miscellaneous side swipes and the odd funny thrown in for good measure. I will be going back over the old posts to try to correct some of the grammar and spelling errors, and I will probably add some relevant links as well.

Meanwhile, I am starting to get into my research relating to Paddy Slade (See previous blog entry). Some one has mentioned that her dream is suspiciously like a Rudyard Kipling story but they can't remember which one. If it is true I can throw plagiarism at her as well. The best of all was finding that she is going to be one of the main speakers at the Pagan Federation Scottish Conference next year. I think if I supply the rope there is likely to be a very willing lynch mob.

Happy, happy, joy, joy, joy, joy JOY!!!!!

Pagans...... Feh!

I was involved in a very animated discussion on a Pagan list relating to sexual mores, where it would appear that I was on the losing side. Now I don't mind losing a reasoned debate, because I've at least given the grey matter a good work out I'm had to find evidence to support my case and the same is true of the other person(s) involved. What I don't like is arguing against someone who has decided that I am wrong no matter what I say and will then take the very argument I used and quote it back at me as though it was their original thoughts. For example, if you say coal is black, these people will proceed to tell you how you are wrong, for what ever reason they come up with, you reply to their argument and get a scathing response along the lines of "you are so - stupid coal IS black". I sent a long email explaining my thoughs on the over reliance of penetrative sex and how this places too much pressure on people to "perform", I went on to explain that it is possible to have a fulfilling sex life without the need for penetrative sex by developing a fuller understanding of your partners needs and desires, and by using that knowledge even living hundreds of miles apart wouldn't detract from a full love life. I got a scathing reply from some woman who in telling me I was wrong proceeded to give me a lecture on how you can have "sex" with your partner 24/7 through email, text, phone calls etc and didn't I know the brain was the biggest sexual organ? I wondered if she had actually read my mail. I doubt it.

Of course, in the middle of this I decided to change my mailing list settings on the groups web page and I hit the wrong button unsubscribing, (doh!) and the list owner/moderator has publicised this to the whole list without any reference to me. So now I either look like a sore loser or a bimbo who can't operate a web browser without getting it wrong, whereas I was taking multi-tasking too far and got distracted by one job whilst doing another, resulting in them both going wrong.

Life.... Don't you just love it?

List of Lists

Okay I'm starting the list of lists here. There is a new link to the home page of one of the lists. Beyond_EM is I think one of my favourite lists, it is supposed to be about discussion of electronic music, but the list membership is very much a community so we end up discussing all sorts, (past discussions include cars, computers, Lord of the Rings, Charlotte Rampling, Charlotte Church etc). The noise to signal ratio is high but the noise is so entertaining we wouldn't do without it. There is also an associated chat channel on Undernet, where a few of us hang out on a Friday night.

You might find if you are lucky that you are chatting in a message thread with one of the many musicians there, but then there are so many musicians on the list it would be hard not to speak with them.

Hmmmm

I'm at work, I have a lot of work to do, yet I'm hoovering the cat. Reminds me of a Mary Little quote "There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it."

Couldn't have put it better myself.

Ooo Errrr Missus

I subscribe to a lot of mailing lists. And I really do mean a LOT. At last count I think I was subbed to about 50 or so. Some of them you are lucky if you get a message once a month and at the other extreme there are some that have a couple of hundred messages a day, though the bulk of these messages are people "me too-ing". At some point I will list the lists so that the world can see just how sad I really am.

But I digress....

I received a mailshot from one of the mailing lists which turned out to be more entertaining than I though for a number of reasons.

First off, there is that well known children's hero Bob the Builder. Perhaps parents might want to take a closer look at the things the Bob is teaching their kids based on the evidence of this series of links. Maybe the local Child Protection Agency should be notified.

Whilst on the subject of innuendo there is a nice research paper on the distribution of the labial flap, though this is not to be confused with Jackie Stallone's study. (Yes, that is THE Jackie Stallone mother of Sylvester).

Finally there is news that THOMAS DOLBY (he of "Hyperactive" fame) is still alive and made one of his rare live appearances "hosting a 350 Euro-per-headseminar on COMPOSING POLYPHONIC RING TONES in Finland". Before you breath a collective sigh of relief, he's doing two sessions in London this week. There's more info here

Charity Work

The lady that is the fundraising co-ordinator for the Charity we were helping last night is wonderful. She has more personality that half the comedians that were performing last night. On the two big shows the comedians forgot to mention that the charity was collecting so we got a really poor response to the buckets. However, at the other site, the comedian at the big show there has said that we should get somebody into the auditorium whilst he is on stage and he will "pass the bucket around for us". The guy actually approached us whilst we were outside and chatted saying what great work we were doing. Suddenly, I was no longer cold and wet, and my feet miraculously stopped aching, so never under estimate the power of a compliment.

The politics are still going on within the Order. There is so much "he said/she said" going around and no two tales are the same so it is impossible to know what is the truth, although everyone will tell you that they are telling the truth and everyone else is lying.

Oh well!

Argggghhhhhhh

It's that time of year again. Edinburgh is full of tourists doing the festival, so there is lots of opportunities to shake buckets under their nose to get them to part with the money for a good cause. That the good cause is one of the local HIV/AIDS charities means that the bucket waiving is being done by the local order of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. One of my friends is a Sister and as a result I tend to get roped in as a henchperson. Sometimes though the roping in as an ad hoc volunteer gets way out of hand and you are expected to take sides in the petty squabbles and power struggles that happen now and again.

And wouldn't you know it ust as we are heading towards World AIDS day, for which we have to source a huge number of condoms, dams, etc that we have to make up into safe sex packs it would appear that the squabbles are happening again.

The order has a new novice, who is not gay but is very heavily into the fetish scene and seems to want to use the order to get more gays to join fetish events. This novice is also so overbearing and bossy that I have expressed that I don't want to be at any of the event with him. The head sister has similar concerns, and doesn't want to loose me as a henchperson (because I'm more committed to the work than some of the nuns?), but my friend is on the side of the novice. I am trying to stay out of this but it was organised with the head sister that I would help with some bucket waving tonight and of course today my friend had a swipe at me over that. I think if this is going to get to the point were I'm being got at just for doing voluntary work I think that I should withdraw my goodwill.

Which as far as I see it leaves them with one real henchperson and henchperson who forgets he's henching and does other things whilst out with the nuns.

What a set up!

Sanity Break

I'm having a brief break from updating this blog. The reasons are twofold.

Firstly, I want to take time to stand back and work out what I'm trying to do here. I started keeping a blog at a time when I wasn't exactly in the best frame of mind to do anything, and most of the posts are probably full of self indulgent whinging. Which, understandably, is not the image that I want to portray.

Secondly, I really have to get my web pages sorted out, which means I have to work out how to put stuff on the ISP's web server without the html being munged into FrontPage hell, and if it can't be done then I will need to find an alternate web server to host my site.

And then there are the niggly little problems with the workstation here at home that need to be sorted out, and I need to get proper backups done (backing up to the server may work but it isn't a good idea).

Back soon.

Murder in Mind

I have been given the job of transcribing some interviews for one of the senior lecturers, and the guy is driving me nuts. He has got this special equipment for putting the recording onto the computer and a footpedal for playback attaches via a USB port and the headset is pluged into the soundcard, but he comes over each day to take the stuff off me, as though I can't be trusted with it. This is on top of coming to see how I am getting on every hour or so, then whinging that it's going to take too long to do. I feel like telling him that if he left me the equipment so I could get on with the work as soon as I've got my coffee, and then stayed out of my hair all day it would be done a lot quicker, but I suspect I will get into trouble if I do that.

Of course, I could just kill him.

Monday, Monday

I hate Mondays. Don't know why because the work on Monday is just the same as on any other day, except that there is usually less of it.

But today is a Monday I could really do without. I am supposed to be transcribing some interviews for one of the research fellows who was supposed to be here at 9:30 am. It's now 11:00 am and there is still no sign of him. On top of that I have a migrane, my vision is distorted and my balance is off kilter, even with the blind drawn my office is too bright and I've taken as much in the way of painkillers as I dare without talking to a doctor. All I really want to do is find a quiet corner where I can curl up and die.

*sobs*

Big Birds of Prey

Macho Man was here again today. This time he had two birds of prey, the eagle and a falcon, and was posing in front of the trust headquarters again. I had to pass close by Macho Man when I went over for my mid morning coffee break and I don't know why he bothered. Okay from the back and from the distance he looked like a well build athletic type, but up close he was old, and had beer gut pouring over the top of the waistband of his jogging pants. Okay his shoulders and arms were well built as you would expect of someone who handles big birds, but the rest of him was a right old wreck. Butt ugly as well.

Any way the seagulls have the measure of him and his birds of prey, so it's Seagulls 2 Eagle 0

Hehehe

Seagulls 1 Eagle 0

The hospital that I am based at has now brought in a man with a BIG bird of prey (an eagle). The seagulls mobbed it, the eagle flew back to it's handler, who then proceeded to pose and posture with the bird on his arm.

I am absolutely disgusted with the health trust here. The seagull on the building opposite my office only "attacked" people when they got persistantly close to it's nest. Of course, the people it "attacked" most of all were the crowd of smokers who were constantly winding the poor thing up. So not content with killing themselves with their cancer sticks, they are trying to have the gulls killed as well.

Everytime something new is tried it just winds the gulls up and makes them "attack" more people. Then the increased gull "attacks" are an excuse to try something else.

Not to mention that the money spent on Macho Man and Big Bird would have best been spent on the patients.

This is from our local compassionate carers. At the moment I don't think I would trust them to care for a house brick.

Now I remember why I stopped working for the health service in the late 1980's, and it was upsetting to see that nothing has changed. Maybe I need to work elsewhere.

Ouch!

Trawling through Ananova I came across this story.

I suspect it was a form of weird sexual experimentation, though you may have other ideas.

The Seagull

I have spent the past couple of weeks watching the seagull chick on the roof of the building opposite and as it got older I was looking forward to watching it make it first attempts a flying. Well, it isn't going to happen now. Apparently at some point yesterday one of the adult seagulls attacked one of the hospital's car park attendants wounding his arm, so this morning a couple of men went onto the roof and removed the chick. Not in a carry cage so that it would be allowed to finish growing up and see the world - no, it was wrapped up in a blue plastic bin liner. The assumption is that one of the men strangled the chick. I was so angry and upset at this. Of course, the people from the other building keep saying "well it was a nuisance" and "what about the poor man it injured?". I have had to walk across the adult gull's territory several times each day - to get lunch, to get work from my boss and so on - and I have only been swooped on once.

The adult gull had a pattern to her behaviour, first she would give warning cries, then she would give a couple of high level swoops that didn't necessitate you to duck, if you didn't get out of the way she would try to shit on you, after that she would make several lower passes that you still didn't need to duck from and if you were still in a position she thought was threatening to the chick she would make the really low passes that you did need to duck from. A couple of times I saw it get worse than that, but in each case the person being attacked was moving back towards the nest and usually waving something at the bird and were basically winding it up. So in terms of this wounded car park attendant, I want to know What was he doing to the gull?

Of course, now we do not have just one seagull defending a nest, we have three or four other angry seagulls who are attacking everything in sight and no real reason to stop, when if the chick had been left alone the single adult would have started to chill in about 10 days or so when the youngster fledged.

If we show so little humanity to something as helpless as a chick, then what hope is there that we will be able to show humanity to other humans?