Pumpkin’s father captured!

September 17th saw us publishing a picture of a three year old New Zealand girl called Pumpkin (real name Xue Qian Xun) who’s father had apparently abandoned her at a railway station.

We later learned that Pumpkin’s mother had been found dead in the boot of the car outside the family home and that her father [...]

Feb 29th…

Today is the day when women can traditionally ask men to marry them instead of the more usual practice of the guy asking the girl.
This is based on some obscure reference to the Scottish Paliament having passed a law in 1288 to that effect. Further, it would seem a man who refuses can be fined [...]

Prince Harry on duty.

Questions have been asked if Prince Harry should be ‘allowed’ to go on active service in places where could come under fire and thus be placed in serious danger. Last year there was talk of sending him to Iraq, but that was rejected eventually for a variety of reasons, not least the publicity surrounding [...]

Weird weather marches onwards

The weird weather patterns we’ve been receiving (both gratefully and grudgingly) have continued apace for the last few days. The skies have been *very* reminiscent of September in the UK i.e. grey and overcast. The rain has drizzled down or worse for what feels like months and to cap it all… the temperature this morning [...]

Problems?

Slight snag. The PDA wireless modem is refusing to connect to the telco WAP… which makes it a bit of a bugger trying to do *anything* online.
Since we’ve had a lot of thunderstorms lately I’m giving the telco the benefit of the doubt and accept the slight possibility there might just be a problem with [...]

More development.

After yonks struggling along using Internet Explorer Mobile, I finally ‘bit the bullet’ and bought Opera Mobile which is US$24. Why? Functionality is why.
For simple surfing… *very* simple surfing… IEM is just about adequate. For anything else it is worse than useless. Quite often it’s actually obstructive!
The main selling point for Opera Mobile is that [...]

Ok I give up.

Basically I’m so tired I can hardly keep one thought following the other. I think I’ll just call it quits for now and go get the kids from school. They’ll be standing in the rain, steaming like horses, and waiting to be collected.
I think I really need a good night’s sleep. To that end I [...]

So.. what’s new?

Well I’ve told you I’m blogging using what is really a pretty good piece of kit, but it’s even more versatile than I’d realised with some *really* nice plug-ins that extend and enhance it’s versatility! Do I sound impressed?? I hope so because I still am!
Trouble is same as always, for all the [...]

End of an era?

Still using the new software… working fine… does as much as I need and more! In fact it’s far easier to use that the entry page for the software itself as the wordprocessing functions are far more extensive.
Of course some of them may not work… so trying them out would be ‘a good thing’. For [...]

Trying something new!

I’m having a go of the new software from Microsoft… well new to me anyway. I think the idea is that it’s a mobile way of entering info easily on the Blog.
I can see how it’s an improvement on what I do now, because the interface is more like a traditional word processor… perhaps it [...]

Telstra service chaos.

It seems to me the service industries are providing less and less in the way of ’service’, at least as far as customer interaction is concerned. My beef this time is with the national carrier ‘Telstra’ who, since they are trying on the one hand to become commercially viable whilst at the same time pander [...]

Reminiscence

Tell me if you’re getting bored with this train of thought? Better yet… add a few comments in that’ll set me off in yet another direction!
I’ve remembered what it was that started me off this time. Yet again I’d remembered the old, old TV series “Champion the Wonder Horse” (a series from 1955′ish) [...]

Old comics never die…

Thinking of Fred Emney got me thinking about a couple of other old British comedians from my youth that I remember being very funny… at least they were funny in the limited exposure that I had to them since it came from their occasional appearances on the TV!
Two that come to mind immediately were Richard [...]

Remembering Fred Emney

I was thinking today about Fred Emney who was a well known and quite famous comedian and character actor. I read a little about him and discovered his father, (also an actor and also called Fred) died whilst appearing in a Pantomime a week after slipping onstage on some soapsuds that were part of the [...]

The rise of the wasp.

Reports in the ‘property press‘ suggest the common paper wasp has increased in numbers to almost plague proportions. The wet summer hasn’t just benefited the plants it’s benefited the animals that live off the plants… and by extension the animals that in turn live of them!
Paper Wasps live off nectar *and* other insects etc so [...]

The heady feeling of freedom.

Out I went revelling in my newly restored ability to drive and thought since the wife is out to the theatre tonight I’d wander around the local store, pick up a few choice nibbles and once the kids are in bed… setle down to watch some of the crap movies we have on DVD.
So into [...]

A bearded monster.

For the first time in years I’ve let my beard grow a little. I wouldn’t call it a ‘beard’ as such… yet. Currently after not shaving for a few days it;s more of a ‘long stubble’ kind of look.
Of course the look has changed a lot since I last had one, for example (sadly) there [...]

Diana Ross

Whoever told her she could sing needs a good slapping. That whiny nasal voice of hers has always driven me up the wall and time and distance isn’t improving things.
Ok some of the earliest Supremes songs were really good, but that was before her whine dominated the sound. These days when I hear here on [...]

Quiet… too quiet!!

On the strength of the specialists suggestion I can now drive safely again, the wife has gone off to work… and thence to the theatre. The kids are naturally at school, and each has an ‘extra-curricular activity’ tonight so won’t be around until gone 4:00. The visitors are running out of the cash they need [...]

Toe the line.

Had the x-ray. Toe still cracked.
Saw the specialist. We were there on time… he was an hour late. He is also quite mad, utterly bonkers… and quite probably certifiable.
I can’t quote specifics, but from the moment he said hello… which he didn’t… he clearly wasn’t quite the full loaf. No doubt the wife will be [...]

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