Toadfish Monastery

I find it tough enough directing equipment - this sounds like it takes some real skill.  Good work, Ops, and bravo to the cast!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11447399


Now, I wonder who could have told them about "newts and badgers"....

Admittedly, Poots is a clown, but the Environment Minister bitching about a "sudden interest"?. Both protected by the Wildlife Order from 1985 onwards.

Couldn't give a toss whether the store is built or not, but this time they got caught out not playing by the rules, and are desperately trying to cover their own arses.

Bravo Patchy!

Don't you love (!) Environment Ministers who don't give a poot about the environment?  Ours sees eye to eye with Sarah Palin on the Mackenzie Valley pipeline. 

.........and John Lewis are supposed to be the good guys !

I spent the afternoon in the forest picking mushrooms.

On Saturday night we had the charity's 20th anniversary dinner dance.  Over 100 people came, mostly our participants, and we had a really good time.

In preparation, I spent 4 days last week in the office making  100 place-cards like this



which were to let the waiters see what people had ordered, plus all manner of other graphic items like the free drink vouchers of which each diner was given one.

On our table were me, Mrs H, one girl with Downs, 2 men and 1 girl with learning difficulties plus A, a very severely handicapped woman in a motorised wheelchair, and A's carer.  What touched me was that when A was wheeled in, a little after the rest, all the participants at our table immediately demanded we have A and her carer to sit with us.

The girl with LD used my spare camera all evening and took some lovely shots, including this one of A and her carer:

So sweet! It looks like a lovely party, and the guests sound very nice, as well.

Looks like a really nice party!

It was!  That last shot was taken before it really started.  How about this?

A happy soul, I feel.

People on the dance floor make it a successful party. And that lady in the satin dress- whoot!

Today I'm playing in a charity golf tournament. The basic decision was along the lines of "You're Scottish, you invented the damn game, so it's all your fault."

I have attempted to play a round of golf once in my life. My uncle took me to the club he's a member of. The first hole had a water hazard. After I successfully managed to hit six balls in a row into it, it was decided I should just drive the buggy.

Went to a driving range to "practice" last weekend. Managed to hit the wall behind me. This bodes well....

You hit the wall?  You're a lot better than me, then. 

My son was always planning a career as a CEO when he was a teenager. So he went and had some pot shots at a local golf course to practice, seeing it as a requirement for the job. He also practiced smoking cigars! His progresss up the slippery path to CEO is going well (more news of that later) but so far he hasn't had to fall back on golf or cigars.

As to significant things, I bought a winter coat recently and have been fretting I may have bought the wrong one. I only buy winter coats once in 20 years or more (cost), so it damn well has to fit the bill. Today I went back to the shop as I couldn't stand the worry any longer. Of course, I had bought the right one. The others were all wrong. Sort of a wasted journey.

The problem arises partly because this years fashion is too silly for words. All outer garments (coats, jackets, etc) have large padded lumps fixed to the back of the collar, sticking up at the back of one's head. This pushes one's head forwards so one looks very odd walking along, and it is very irritating feeling like one has a cushion attached - horrid. And they mostly don't have any use (ie. some outdoor jackets store hoods away in roll up lump around the collar, but this is completely different). Anyway, the one I've bought does have a hood (most don't) so because of the bulk of that and the large padded lump I have to walk with my head bent forward almost reaching my navel. You can see why I am worrying about the coat being the right one. Fashion! bagh! humbug! And I'll have to cut the lump off when next years stupid fashion replaces padded neck lumps so no one will know how old my coat gets (I should be rising 80 by the time I need another one).

I (hope) I managed to successfully order a DVD from Iceland.
This is significant for the following reasons
1.The website is pure Icelandic*
2.The few available dictionaries are at best mediocre as far as tech vocabulary goes (and Iceland emphatically does not use English terms)
3.Orders from abroad are seemingly uncommon enough that the address masks etc. are 100% tailored to Icelandic customers and highly intolerant of deviation
3a. e.g. I had to press country and city into the street name (without using a comma) and could be happy that the postal code accepted more than 3 digits
4.I hope the German mail service is able to make sense of the garbled address

*which may sound like ordinary Scandinavian but is so archaic that deciphering it is like Old High German to a beginner in present day German.