A conspiracy!

While at work the other day, my friend made a shocking discovery. A jigsaw, labeled as a 100 piece jigsaw was found to contain no less than 104 pieces! Assuming that this must be some error on our part we counted and recounted the pieces then assembled the jigsaw to make sure no pieces were missing or belonged to another jigsaw. But there it was, a completed jigsaw with no less than 4 pieces extra to the number clearly displayed on the box. Another jigsaw was checked, it too had four pieces more than displayed on the box. Such widespread deception can only be part of some dark scheme.

Be vigilant - check your jigsaws, if we can't trust Ravensburger it may be too late for all of us!!

In trepidation,

A Figleaf of your imagination.

Word of the post: Ramboesque - adj.

in the aggresive, mindless style of the fictional character Rambo

Weekly Quote W/E 24/11/07

Well since there's not much to actually say about my goings on then I figured some kind of repetitive easy post would come in handy for keeping the blog looking all new and used. Since a dictionary of quotations was bestowed upon me a "quote of the week" seemed like a good idea. OK so most of the quotes will likely come from the Simpsons and other such media, but you never know I might get something good and deep out once in a while.

I'll start off with what's decorating my Facebook page for the first few weeks

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose" - Jim Elliot

See you, either in a week or if something interesting happens!

More from Chester

I was brought again to the town of Chester by an unfortunate event. On Impulse I decided to go bowling with my friend Tim. Read more about him at his blog - link on my sidebar. But as we arrived at the alley we discovered that the bowl was fully booked until six (we were there at about two) - an unheard of situation. Left with nothing around us but furniture shops we decided to walk from the out of town retail park into chester itself, a good twenty minutes walk or so. Then we walked around chester for a bit grabbed some food and left.

Such events, annoying as they are, can often be quite fun in and of themselves and I must admit that despite the freezing cold we did have a good time. a highlight was listening to a rather extreme street preacher who was denouncing Islam as we passed and then within the same sentence moved on to the evil of materialism, explaining how the sin of sex, drugs and rock 'n roll came about in the sixties, led by "those four horsemen of the apocalypse from Liverpool, John Lennon Paul..." It was certainly an interesting interperetation, though I can't exactly see how the Beatles were sent from God and brought war, pestilence and the like to Earth!!

It certainly made the day out more interesting!! By the way, this isn't the african guy who is regularly in Chester - that guy's a legend!!!

Word of the post: Pugnacious - adj.

fond of fighting, belligerent

Squirrel based musings

I recently took a trip to Chester, which working afternoons only now affords me. As well as perusing the shops I decided to take a little stroll along the walls adjacent to Chester cathedral.

Whilst approaching the walls I noticed there is a designated pigeon feeding area featuring a dovecote type structure and a mass of the undying lords of traffic dust, commonly known as pigeons (if I haven't already posted by pigeon theory I shall do so soon). But creeping towards them, excellently disguised in similar colours was a squirrel, creeping amongst the birds to access the free food. This incident prompted me to remark to myself - "aha! A fox in wolve's clothing!" and it wasn't for some time that I realised that it wasn't quite the phrase I was looking for!!

Later I was reminded that, pests as they may be, squirrels are rather cute too! I observed one licking itself clean in the usual manner of such animals, but then it decided to dry itself off, and grabbed it's own tail and rubbed it's face clean, much as a human would use a towel. Such innovation got that individual squirrel my attention and respect.

Till next time!

Word of the post: Antidisestablishmentarianism -noun

opposition to the withdrawal of state support or recognition from an established church, esp. the Anglican Church in 19th-century England.

There's a new hero in town!!

Caption reads: Time Travelling Secret Agent Dinosaur For Hire

When you can't think of a post to write you can always steal content from Penny Arcade. Penny Arcade is an excellent website featuring regular updates in comic book form and indepth reviews of games both table top and video. If I had the remotest bit of artistic talent I would be doing my utmost best to rip them off, but as it is you're stuck with this blog for now!! The character above was created in a recent comic discussing the Writer's Guild strike - which left Gabe, the artist, on his own to come up with something to write about!!

Better than reading my explanation would be to visit the site itself - you'll find a link in my sidebar

Writer's Bloc 4 - Delusions of Grandeur

This rather unusual item here is a Hugo award, given to the best writers of Science Fiction every year as well as artists, editors, filmmakers and other contributors to the genre. As an aspiring writer of Science Fiction my heart is very much set on getting a Hugo, Nebula or ( a ta more realistic since it's British but still very much in the far distance) Arthur C. Clarke award.


I do like to entertain the vision that my first publication will so wow publishers and readers that it will win the prize and that fame and fortune will no doubt follow. This is almost certainly to be a delusion, especially for a debut piece, though I do hope that I can continue to improve in standard and create a work worthy of rememberance.

As such having a trophy like this is good so there's something to aim for. If I hope for the cool trophy (and hold the realistic expectation that I won't get it in mind) then it will act as a spur not only for me to write, but for me to ensure that my writing is the best that it can be. In Uni it was simple, I wanted to do the best piece of work to get the best grade, the award will hopefully provide the same kind of motivation, and once a piece is finished if it even gets published I'll be most pleased.

But the whole thing does raise the issue of motivation, especially as I'm in the middle of deciding what to to with my future. I would love to be a writer and since I passed my degree I obviously have some competence in the field and I guess it would be good to make use of my three year's training. But there is also the call of teaching, which I've also got a lot of experience in and I also know I'd be making a difference if I went into it.

I believe that my actions should serve not only myself but the God who made me, and this is where motivation comes in. If I'm just out for the glory and the award then I'm probably better off not bothering 'cause there's a decent chance I'll get neither. But at the sime time, the ability to write is a gift from my maker and I want to be able to use it to his glory.

So there are decisions to be made and things to think through...but it still would be cool if I got the trophy!!

Word of the post: Venerable –adjective

1.	commanding respect because of great age or impressive dignity; worthy of veneration or reverence, as because of high office or noble character:

So it DOES make a difference!!!

Well I was a sceptic about the effects of Blogger Action day and in particular my contribution to the events but it seems that I have indeed made a breakthrough as mere days after discussing whether recycling should be made law the government have brought in new initiatives to enforce recycling and to try and drastically reduce the amount of waste going into landfills in the UK. Since the UK is significantly behind the rest of Europe in waste reduction we could end up facing sanctions unless something is done, more reason for the government to want to put this scheme forward.

Essentially the scheme would involve fining people who put too much waste in regular bins instead of recycling. There is of course opposition to the scheme from those with large families whose bins fill up by necessity, but by and large the scheme seems to be put forward positively and sensibly. One aspect that is good is that it can be locally controlled by councils so that the nature of the order can be locally sensitive. Of course whether this works will depend on how MPs implement it and if it is seen to be more for fining people than the environment it may end up being retracted. While fining people isn't always a good option, and it is yet to be seen how this will be met once enforced, it is good that the government is listening to me...I mean seeking practical ways to reduce this nation's waste.

Read more in this BBC report on the issue.

Another plan put into use is for districts to have "travel advisors" or something of the kind to help people plan efficient, environmentally friendly routes to work and to be made fully aware of the options available. This seems positive and looks to be cost effective too.

Anyways, that'll do - we live in interesting times indeed.

Word of the post: Quinquagesimal - noun

the Sunday before Lent; Shrove Sunday.

Just keep swimming...

Ok so I've not blogged for a bit after that epic Blogger Action Day post which I'm sure contributed to doing...something. I may have to check up on some kind of feedback for what the day achieved or my overriding cynicism may take over. If you're reading this and wondering what on earth I'm blathering on about and what it's got to do with the title then you may be interested to know that I have resolved to keep typing whatever comes into my head in an effort to create a semi-worthy blog post and this is just the introduction so let's hope someone calls "lunnch!" before I run out o things to say and...ah - there we go!

a brief introduction into the pysche of Aled there. You may be interested to know that I typed the whole thing without looking at the screen and only two typos - woot!!

Word of the post: Conglomerate - noun

2.	a corporation consisting of a number of subsidiary companies or divisions in a variety of unrelated industries, usually as a result of merger or acquisition.

Silly Me!! Blogger Action Day...a bit late!!

OK I'm a bit shamefaced as I thought the 15th was a tuesday when it was in fact a monday meaning that I completely missed it. But nonetheless I will contribute some environmental based blogging today in the hope that it makes some kind of a difference even if it is a bit late!! I offer no expert knowledge or even a fully formed opinion just a debate on a point which I have wondered about a bit.

Recycling and energy saving: Free choice or by law?

I've always wondered whether recycling would one day become law. As a follower and sometime writer of Science Fiction I often envisage a future where recycling is strictly enforced and is even more of an ever present reality than it is now. But whether it should be a present day reality I'm not quite sure.

Encouraging people to recycle is all well and good but most of us have enthusiasm in short bursts not like the myriad environmental campaigners that seem to have a constant source of energy and concern (and full respect to them by the way.) Anyway, my point is that encouraging us to recycle with things like Live Earth will work but the enthusiasm will die away after not too long for most people so should more be done?

Some things do work. Our local council, and doubtless many others, send lorries to collect paper and plastic recycling every fortnight on much the same basis as a bin lorry i.e. you put your stuff outside your house and they take it away. The paper goes to a factory that produces sheets for newspapers and something similar happens to the plastic I'm sure. This system works, but it only works if people choose to do it. Most people I've seen do, but doubtless (like in our house) many paper and plastic items go in the bin and then to the landfill.

Should recycling be enforced then? The problem lies in enforcing the law because it would be unfair to punish people just because they forgot to put their newspaper in the recycling or accidentaly slipped a can into the plastic bottle bank. And I most definitely think it would cause unrest if the police were sent round or hefty fines were applied because of this problem. But I do think the government could perhaps put sanctions on excessive waste (though again you'd have to debate what is "excessive") or restrict the amount of waste that goes out.

How about positive enforcement? I think things could be done on a more positive basis to enforce recycling. For example waste could be taken away not to be dumped but to recycling centres. No doubt this is already taking place, but if Recycling facilities were to completely replace landfills then it would at least get rid of the eyesores that landfills are if nothing else. It could also encourage people to sort their rubbish more if it was all going to be recycled. Again logistically and in terms of energy consumption this may be impractical at the moment but I think it's something we should be heading towards. They could also start things like encouraging companies to only make/sell energy efficient bulbs.

A last point. OK so I clearly don't know everything and not all my points have been followed through and have more to do with the government that most of my readers. But I guess if we show an interest in recycling then the powers that be are more likely to do something about it. Anyway to close, there's something I know should be enforced. Standby lights on VCRs and whatnot should be abolished. We have a DVD player and a Freeview box, both of which display a constant red light when plugged in. This is totally unnecessary, I can tell whether it's on by pointing the remote at it and seeing if something changes - I don't need a red light constantly on and it's a great waste of energy when you put all these units in the UK together. They're not needed and companies should stop installing them.

Enough from me for now - I hope that some of it was worthwhile

Word of the post: Mega

pref. Large:

Making notes

Reading the diaries of Alan Bennet has made me note that it's often the little things that pop into your head that make interesting reading as well as larger issues like the one mentioned in the previous post. So I will endeavour to articulate a thought I had now in the hope that it will be readable and that maybe some of you will sympathise with it.

I frequently have the experience of listening to the start of a piece of music and immediately I start bopping my head or tapping my feet only to realise a few seconds later that it's a tune I loathe and that feeling of "ooh this song" is brought on by a subconcious recognition of a despised tune. One I get frequently at the moment is the new song by James Blunt. Like many others I hate James Blunt on principle (though I'm not entirely sure what the principle is!) but the opening riff on the new record is very catchy and it takes a while to clock on to the fact that I don't actually want to listen to this song!!

I do think it is an interesting phenomenon (well a slight oddity at least) that I should, on recognition of a piece of music, immediately think I like it. Perhaps it shows my character, always willing to give the benefit of the doubt - but then since I have a more or less written law forbidding myself to listen to Atomic Kitten for more than 10 seconds under any circumstances I'm not entirely sure that's it!! Maybe it shows that hated tunes get more ingrained on the mind than loved ones, or maybe it just shows that I'm picky about music and I get muddled sometimes - who knows. There are no answers today, only thoughts and questions.

Anyone else have similar experiences?

Word of the post: Mottled - noun

2.	a diversifying spot or blotch of color.

Could be good

I don't know if any bloggers read the blogger buzz page but you do find some interesting items there - such as blogger play. Well I found a new one - Blogger Action Day. This is a day for bloggers to unite about one issue - the environment. I think the general idea is for everyone involved to post something about the environment and what can be done on their blog, thus flooding cyberspace with a wealth of information and opinion on what is wrong with our world and what might be done about it. The date is Tuesday the 15th and I will try and get involved and add the two or three readers I have to the several million expected viewers of the event.

Well - here's a banner for it - t'is pretty good, saves me thinking of something from real life to post up!!




Word of the post: Countenance - noun

1.	appearance, esp. the look or expression of the face

Hinter zu normal

Just a quick point noting that blogger now shows the "post published page in English once again...just as I was starting to get used to the German. Ah well!

On the box

With a bunch of new shows on their way I have become more aware of the slightly alarming amount of television I expose myself to and this is set to increase this week. With three new shows on arrival in addition to several I'm commited to already this will add up to a fair few hours per week in front of a screen - not that that's anything new! Anyways, just to demonstrate the issue and show you what I'm interested in I'll give you a run down of the programs I'm watching and plan to watch over the next few weeks - links to official sites included.

Coming Up:

The Sara Jane Adventures. 30 mins. BBC1 Mon 5:00This has already started but I missed the first episodes because of forgetfulness and commitments at the time of broadcast. The series is a Doctor Who spinoff, similar to Torchwood but aimed at children instead of adults. The lead role is taken by Sarah Jane Smith, a former companion of the Doctor, who investigates and halts the plans of aliens in her neighbourhood with the help of her adopted son and his friends...but not of the Doctor or his TARDIS. The first episodes featured the return of a Doctor Who enemy, the Slitheen.

Ugly Betty. 1hr. CH4 Fri 9:00A surprise favourite of mine, I tuned in to series one to see what it would be like and quickly fell in love with the characters and the show itself and am eagerly awaiting the arrival of series two on friday. Ugly Betty is the story of a fassion obsessed Latina who gets her dream job of working at Mode Magazine by being the only applicant her boss Daniel wouldn't be compelled to sleep with. Her unbridled optimisim gets her through every day working in a place where her matted hair, braces and lack of coordination (both in clothes and in general) are scorned. What I love about this show is it doesn't spend the whole time preaching about how beauty isn't skin deep, it just tells Betty's story and along the way we learn that all the characters have a history and at least a hint of depth below their shallow facade.

Robin Hood. 1hr. BBC1 Sat 7:30 The adventures of everyone's favourite charitably minded thief continue on BBC1. I wouldn't class this as a favourite, but it makes very good saturday evening telly and tells the story with heart, humour and something else beginning with h that doesn't come to mind. I think that Keith Allen steals the show as the Sherrif and the creators have been good to put a unique spin on things. The show will generally feature Robin defeating a far superior number of soldiers (one wonders how they still manage to recruit soldiers in Nottingham!) but it has been intelligent enough to stop before becoming formulaic and remains a worthwhile program.

On now:

Heroes. 1hr. BBC2 Wed 9:00 I tuned into this expecting to hate it but soon found it compelling viewing. The show features a collection of characters who all develop unique powers from flying to reading minds to absorbing other powers...through various means. Some hide from their powers, others embrace them, all of them want to know why they have them. But they have to deal with real life, the authorities and a superpowered killing machine who wants to take what's theirs. Through the means of time travel and foresight powers the story revealed that there was a big threat to combat, namely that of a nuclear explosion and as the individuals take their seperate paths we know they will join and they will all have to face their destiny.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. 1hr. MORE4 Thurs. 10:00 A new show from the creators of West Wing. The show is a behind the scens look at the running of a comedy program, from the floor of the sets to the high towers of the corporation behind it all. The show is clever, witty and engaging and is great viewing as well as a good insight. The show features Mathew Perry of Friends fame who manages play a completely new character, retaining some qualities from his former role but certainly not repeating him and I've lost all feeling of "Hey that's Chandler" and now I'm quite comfortable watching Matt (character's name) in his own right. The show tackles a lot of religious issues and is quite disaporoving of Christianity, in particular the Christian groups who can control the media in America. Sometimes I feel it's just being negative for negativity's sake and the Christian character on the show is as feeble as they come, but the show raises important issues and I applaud it for doing so and find it very intersting viewing.

Well all this, plus regular viewings of Simpsons, occasionally dipping in to Scrubs and strolling through a fourth box set of 24 should reshape me eyes in no time, anyway must dash - i want to grab a shower before Heroes!!

Word of the post: Serendipity –noun

1.	an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.

No more a learner

OK, I would have liked to have posted up a picture of me actually setting my plates on fire, but since my sister is going to use them I won't be having that pleasure. Nonetheless I am pleased to inform you that I have passed my driving test. It feels good to have got it out of the way and I'm certainly glad not to have failed. I was never that fussed about driving, most of my contemporaries having long passed their exams, but it is a useful skill to have and being able to go to meetings and outings without requiring a lift or public transport is quite liberating.

It was an interesting day as it started in omen like fashion with the arrival of my Degree Certificate. I thought nothing of it at the time and still do not, but it was nice to have both areas of my life rounded of nicely in one day - a day for certificates it would seem. It also showed that I am no longer a "learner" in more than one sense. I have often joked that I'm "never going to learn anything else again now" but it would almost seem to have a sense of truth to it, now that I won't be having lessons of any kind for the forseeable future which is strange to think of and indeed I am finding it strange without the imposed structure on my life that learning provides. But nonetheless I am glad to have passed both my degree and driving test and to have recieved trophies for both.

And before closing I'd like to quickly apologise for being absent - it's been hard to choose what to talk about, but you have to acknowledge I've done faily well - I mean I did three posts in one day, that's gotta be a record!! more to come I hope, it's probably about time i did another Writer's Bloc and I have an idea brewing for one.

Word of the post: Modicum - noun

a moderate or small amount

Well whaddya know...

I was just playing around on Blogger Play again and, against my expectations, it turned up something familiar. I'm almost tempted to make this into a game - keep playing until you spot something you recognize - 1 point if it's from TV or whatever, 2 points if it's somewhere you've been etc and 5 points if it's someone you know or posted on a blog you read!! I think that a) it won't take off and b) if it did everyone would just be watching it all day and end up doing nothing else!!

Well anyway this is what I turned up whilst flicking along - an image of someone on the Logos 2, a missionary ship I visited a while ago.


We still get semi-regular updates on the work of the ship as it goes around the world stocked with books and manned by a crew eager to serve God. I recall there actually being a Logos 2 poster of some kind up in church so it's definitely something I'm familiar with, though I haven't seen the ship for a few years now. The blog is run by an American with connections to a mission organization - I had heard of neither before so it's quite a connection that a random image search should bring up something I visited in the UK.

Well it's not quite enough for a game - but it'll fill the odd rainy day!!

Word of the post: Truculent - adj.

1. Disposed to fight; pugnacious.

Is it just happening to me or...

is anyone else having the "Post Published" page come up in German?!!

Caption Competition anyone?

I was just ruminating as to how to encourage more interactive blogging when I came across this on the "Blogger Buzz" section of the homepage, announcing new additions to blogger. This latest one announces Blogger Play, a program that shows the latest pictures to be uploaded to Blogger in an unending slideshow. It can be quite fun to see what is uploaded the worldwide web each day, though of course it is done at your own risk. Blogger run all the pictures through a filter, but there is always a risk one might get through so use with caution. But the wealth of random images could surely lead to a wealth of caption competition type games.

I'll try and think of some game rules, but for now if you're reading this why don't you have a go at this beauty I found...

Anything strike you...do comment with appropriate captions or some such if this takes your fancy. Anyhow - here's the official post from Blogger detailing the site

"Today we’re pleased to launch Blogger Play, a neat little toy we’ve cooked up to show you photos and blog posts as you’ve never seen them before.

Image credit: kiwisweden

Shortly after Blogger launched photo uploading two years ago, one of our engineers whipped up a web page that would show us the pictures that were being uploaded in real time. The result was fun, often beautiful, but above all, compelling. We couldn’t stop watching.

Over the years we’ve kept this photo scroller as part of the Blogger offices, on a monitor or projector, as an interesting (distracting?) slideshow, and a reminder of the diversity and vivaciousness of Blogger blogs. The fame of the scroller spread within Google, until one day we were asked, “so, when are you launching this?”

“Um...,” we replied. But we knew a good idea when we heard one. We got our UI people to come up with buttons and fadey effects and we got our engineers to make the whole thing fast and robust. A bit of work later, and now we can share it with all of you:

http://play.blogger.com/

Blogger Play will show you a never-ending stream of images that were just uploaded to public Blogger blogs. You can click the image to be taken directly to the blog post it was uploaded to, or click “show info” to see an overlay with the post title, a snippet of the body, and some profile information about the blogger who uploaded it. We also wrote a Blogger Play FAQ with more information.

A caveat: we use many techniques, including Google’s SafeSearch technology, to keep the images clean. Nevertheless, on rare occasions an image that you may find vulgar or obscene will slip through our algorithmic filters. Google does not pre-screen the images that appear in Blogger Play, nor is it responsible for their content. To report a terms of service violation, you may fill out this contact form.

— Pete [14/09/07 12:30]"

Feels good to do a bit of C'n P again

Word of the post: Feasible –adjective

1.	capable of being done, effected, or accomplished

Notices

OK, I'm just popping up and noting a few things that have been going on and what I have noticed whilst they were going on.

The first notice I must make is that SAM of The Great Gig in the Sky is the triumphant winner of my Blogger's Challenge with a magnificent score of 7 - well done to you sir!!

And back to me...I made my first attempt to escape the void yesterday, as expected it wasn't as easy as I'd have liked and nowhere near as productive. My methos involved walking into shops, standing around for 5-10 minutes and seeing if I could stand being in there all day - if so then I'd hand them a CV. Constant loud music and busy queues put me off a few and lack of vacancies denioed me other - in the end GAME was the only one that I liked and that had an opening so I duly handed in a CV, whether anything comes of it we shal see.

Whilst not very forthcoming in the primary goal it did succeed in both secondary and tertiary goals. The secondary goal was to get me out of the house and let me do something productive in my afternoon, the tertiary goal was for me to get the latest Star Wars Legacy issue from town (see my SF Blog for more details) which it achieved well and gave added justification for travelling out to get it. I made one other purchase, a rare impulse buy - even rarer a book which I know nothing about, a book whose title and cover drew my eye instantly.

The book is Ringworld by Larry Niven and it struck me because it's name, premise and cover are very reminiscent of the computer game HALO. Doubtless I'm not the first to notice this and I'm sure Microsoft managed to wrangle out of any legal problems as soon as they arose, but it is interesting that a computer game I remarked at being so original should have such a close paralell in this book.

The last thing I noticed whilst reading Alan Bennet's diaries is the term bric-a-brac. For some reason (possibly the "a" in the middle) the term seems inherently Welsh and hearing it used in English conversation seems almost odd, though the term is English...or possibly French. I might look it up some time, but for now I bid adieu.

Word of the post: Mezzanine - n.

1. A partial story between two main stories of a building.

The Void

So I done me coursework, got all graduated and now I'm left in what I have decided to term the void, more commonly known as unemployment. This new state is only just starting to become a reality in my mind. This is partly due to having a fairly full and varied summer, had my time been dull and samey then by now I would be crying out for an occupation, but as it is I still sort of feel on holiday with a vague sense I should be doing something.

Another reason I'm not suprised at being idle is because I've been idle for quite some time. Uni was never demanding in terms of time consumption so I'm already used to having lots of days in the week to spend on myself. Had I been on a more demanding timetable no doubt this new state of affairs would be more of a shock to the system.

A third reson for my lack of unease is distractions. Empty days can while away much easier when you've got Facebook, a new series of Battlestar Galactica (series 1 so no spoilers you who've seen further!) and four series of Red Dwarf freshly purchased. These activities each demand at least 30 mins of your time and put together can fill a sizeable chunk of the day. This combined with some slightly more noble pursuits such as reading (currently Alan Bennet's diaries which makes my blogging feel very inferior) can help make those clock hands swing faster.

The last reason is that I'm not completely idle. I have been given a lot of responsibility by my church, some of it already existing, some if it completely new and not a little bit daunting such as running the youth work with a few friends that are the same age as I am. It's going well but we still have a lot to learn and there's a lot of preparation involved which helps give a sense of purpose.

But still I have reached a point where I see the need for work and a structured day (especially after buying said TV series!!) and so I will put my efforts into finding work of at least a temporary nature from hereon in.

Word of the post: Albeit - conjunction

although; even if: a peaceful, albeit brief retirement.

Squirrels!!

Well I was gonna start with a more common picture of a squirrel but when an image search turned up this beauty I just couldn't resist posting it! I haven't done a rant type post or talked about life in general for a while and this post struck me as an opportunity to do both without being too dull or aggressive - we'll see how things go.

Squirrels are a common feature of my life, given that one or two will visit my garden on a more or less daily basis. They gain access via a tall tree which connects to a tall hedge which connects to some small apple trees which connect to our lawn - all easily traversed with a squirel's natural agility. So common is this intrusion that it's hard to think of life without it and odd to speak to more urban folks who don't have bushy tailed visitors like we do.

While the squirels are very cute, especially in photographs, nature documentaries and Grosvenor Park(?) in Chester where they gladly come and eat nuts out of your hand, they do represent a problem and can be something of a pest. In my younger years I was an avid reader of nature books and attended various clobs which taught how the common greay squirrel has drive the much more attractive red squirrel into near extinction in our isles - something which needs to be addressed. The problem they represent in our garden is that they view the bird feeders as a ready source of food. Why these feeders should remain exclusive to avian visitors is not quite clear, but nonetheless squirrels go for them and are often particularly aggresive when they do so, mauling the containers open and scattering the precious grain to the floor. It is notoriously difficult to make things squirrel proof as they are seemingly born to be able to break into things - there seems to be nothing they can't climg up, swing down, hang upside down off or stuff their little faces into!! I also noticed recently that they produce a noise which seems to represent Daffy Duck being strangled to death and not the cute squaks you'd expect. All this makes them a dominating and annoying figure in the garden and they need to be warded away.

Which is where the fun starts! A cry of "Squirrels!" will drive our dog into a frenzy of speed unlike anything else. Commands like "Walkies", "Outside", "Biscuit" or "Hooshagabooshywa" will certainly increase his pace and have him barking and jumping around. But "Squirrels" puts him on an alert level and sends him scurrying into the garden at speeds no other command can produce. This is always amusing to see, especially when he heads for the base of the large tree (the common source of squirrels) and misses the nearby squirrel completely!! He has never caught a squirrel yet and we doubt he'd know what to do if he did, but it's good to watch.

So Squirrels: a cute pest that can be very amusing!!

Word of the post: Murine - adjective

pertaining to or resembling a mouse or rat

Edit: The word of the post is a random choice, picked from a list I add to as an when words take my fancy, given my negativity towards squirrels in this article this posts's word is a bit of a coincidence!!