A tale of a Scotsman living in SW london...

Friday, October 17, 2008

Well, an interesting week really. After all the mad rushing about it's been nice to have a bit of sanity restored to the world! Been trying to get the head back into gear for the next piece of work, but as with all these things it can take a little bit just to catch up with yourself - all sorted now though.

Haven't seen that much of the missus this week. She's been doing a lot of driving this week so we've only seen other one night since she left for Worcester on Monday morning, but that'll be rectified today when we add to our carbon footprint with a drive to a delightful village north of York where we're going to visit some friends. The midlands base is ideal for this, as instead of a 6 hour hike up the M1, it's only (in theory anyway, this is the M1 northbound we're talking about!) 3 hours from here. Can't wait to see them as they had a baby girl just 3 weeks before the wedding and despite their best efforts they didn't feel up to the travel, but did watch online via the webcam we had running. Actually, the webcam was well used, what with family in Scotland watching, and the missus old flatmates in Australia and New Zealand who got up in the middle of the night to watch it, texting each other all night as they watched. Technology is wonderful sometimes for bringing people closer together!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Politics

This sums it up nicely to me...

A little boy goes to his dad and asks, 'What is Politics?' Dad says, 'Well son, let me try to explain it this way:
I am the head of the family , so call me The President. Your mother is the administrator of the money, so! we call her the Government. We are here to take care of your needs, so we will call you the People. The nanny, we will consider her the Working Class. And your baby brother, we will call him the Future. Now think about that and see if it makes sense.'

So the little boy goes off to bed thinking about what Dad has said. Later that night, he hears his baby brother crying, so he gets up to check on him. He finds that the baby has severely soiled his diaper. So the little boy goes to his parents' room and finds his mother asleep. Not wanting to wake her, he goes to the nanny's room. Finding the door locked, he peeks in the keyhole and sees his father in bed with the nanny. He gives up and goes back to bed.

The next morning, the little boy says to his father, 'Dad, I think I understand the concept of politics now.'

The father says, 'Good, son, tell me in your own words what you think politics is all about.'

The little boy replies,
'The President is screwing the Working Class while the Government is sound asleep. The People are being ignored and the Future is in deep ****'

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Fish

Well, I was doing some research last night on the fish I'd eaten in Mozambique. For those who know me, this was a big deal as I've only really started to eat fish in recent years, and even then it's not a regular thing as I'm still picky. So if the missus has fish, I'll try a bit and through that I've learned that I really don't like prawns.

But Mozambique was something else. The fish there are big game fish, much meatier and with less fiddly bones to contend with. But the best thing are the names, Wahoo, Prodigal Son and the like. Brilliant.

So I did some reading on these fish. Wahoo (surely the best animal name in the world?) is actually one of the fastest fish in the sea, having been clocked about 60 mph. That's a fast fish! But also quite a big fish at up to 2.5 metres! I'd also add, they are very, very tasty when served with fresh salad, cooked by an open fire BBQ ;-)

Prodigal Son has proved to be more of a challenge. I think it's another name for the Travelli fish, as if you enter Prodigal Son into google you get all sorts, mainly Bible related, but there is not much out there on it. So if you do find anything, let me know!

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Busy old weekend. Saturday was spent doing "house things". So an early morning trip to deli for some lunch items was called for. The deli is fantastic and one of the things I'll miss about London is the ability to get pretty much anything, at any time, within walking distance of the flat. I mean, with 5 minutes walk of here I can go to the theatre, cinema, gym, a multitude if restaurants and bars - and yet if I'm in the garden it's quiet - just what you need!

Apart from that, lot's of little jobs done really, stripped and painted the back door (which is a job I've wanted to do for ages!), lot's of photo printing as we got so many picture frames and albums when we got married, and are only now sorting them out! It's one of the great things really, we can look back on them all and it still only feels like yesterday.

One thing I have done in the last week was watch Big Cat Diary on BBC1. I was never a fan really, my brother watched it all the time, and as a result went to th Masi Mara on honeymoon, but having been to Africa on safari now, it really gives you a different perspective on just how lucky they are to tape the animals they get. We spent three days tracking leopards, and saw one every day we were there, but yet they get a family with baby cubs, that's very lucky. You also don't get a feel for the area, just how loud it can be with animal noise, and how remote it all feels from civilisation, and watching it brought it all back. I want to go again!!!

A sample of the pictures we took while we were in Botswana: