|
Red Writing
|
|||||||||||||
A Vortex of Emotion Links Blogs BlogHop Blog of the Day Dio Bach Dusty Grooves Fantastic4Edinburgh Following My Feet George Monbiot Hollyism... Green Fairy Homeless Guy I live on your visits Indigoblur Julia's Blog Laughing Knees Little Red Boat Notes..Dovecote Nu-produkt Sevitzdotcom Sloe Wine Outside Infinity Pacarras Pocket Movies Reflections in D Minor Raising Hell Stories Plus Wil Wheaton Wild Skye Web Rings |
Today in 1889 the Eiffel Tower was officially opened. Designed by Alexandre Gustav Eiffel, the 985ft Tower, costing £260,000, took two years to construct. Eiffel also supervised the construction of the inner framework of Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi's (aka New York's) Statue of Liberty, and the French now want it back.
It never ceases to amaze me how easily misunderstood people's reactions can be and how easily it is to colour others opinions by what is written. Blogging is a very interesting use of communicating what you want others to hear, but like all propaganda, sometimes it should be taken as misconstrued and misunderstood subjectivism. This made me laugh I sent it to a friend and she retaliated with this CNN/Reuters: News reports have filtered out early this morning that US forces have swooped on an Iraqi Primary School and detained 6th Grade teacher Mohammed Al-Hazar. Sources indicate that, when arrested, Al-Hazar was in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a set square and a calculator. US President George W Bush argued that this was clear and overwhelming evidence that Iraq indeed possessed weapons of maths instruction. Ok, so it's Friday afternoon and I've have a pretty busy week.....resorting to mild hysteria to hold off the nervous breakdown for another time. The biggest threat to the British troops still seems to be the US troops. But the US have cracked the problem of their fighter jets being locked onto by our missiles - take out the launcher! Is it better to do six jobs at the same time in the hope of finishing some of them or finishing one job after another until all six are done? Does blogging count or is it merely a displacement activity?
Thanks to Green Fairy for this link to the civilian Iraq body count. Let us not forget what is happening on the other side of the world whilst we carry on our daily lives. There are some sceptics who dispute the source of the information. The project states that it "relies on the professional rigour of the approved reporting agencies. It is assumed that any agency that has attained a respected international status operates its own rigorous checks before publishing items (including, where possible, eye-witness and confidential sources). By requiring that two independent agencies publish an estimate before we are willing to add it to the count, we are premising our own count on the self-correcting nature of the increasingly inter-connected international media network." If I ever come back in a different life, I will come back as a man. I am fed up multi-tasking. Fed up pretending this is possible 18 hours a day 24/7. I don't want to multi-task. I want to do one thing at a time and spend quality time on it. I want to think about it first, plan it, perfect it, then and only then will I do. It's not that I can't multi-task.......I just don't want to anymore. The bombing did start last night. Just before 02:30 British time. One hour later President Bush was on television in the US saying that the war would take longer than anticipated.!!!!! What, in reality did he think was going to happen? Did he honestly think that hitting a couple of targets on the outskirts of Baghdad would have Saddam running out with his hands up in the air. How long will it take? When the body bags start being sent back in their hundreds? If it goes on for more than a few weeks, then any support that was left for Bush in the US (and I am assured, that is not a lot) will surely deminish. He is already talking about the sacrifice his troops are making and how proud we should all be of them. It sickens me. And why is it that the parliament which has sent our British troops to war is in England, but the front line soldiers are always the Scottish regiments? I confess to knowing very little about army life, regiments and who and where they are based, but I did hear two names which made me sit up and listen. Unfortunately I missed the whole radio report and would welcome any comments on this - on the radio this morning I heard a snippet of which regiments were in the front line in the desert and I am praying for the regiments of Royal Scots who are out there and the regiments of the Black Watch. I cannot be sure they are all directly from Scotland because I don't know enough about it but at the back of my mind I suspect they are. After all according to Westminster, we Scots are expendable aren't we? As I go to sleep for the night, it is a sad thought that by the time I wake up in the morning, war with Iraq will have started. I dread the news the morning will bring but pray for the safety of the innocent.
This morning, I received an email from a long-standing and dear friend and her family in Seattle. She was writing to all her friends around the world and I wanted to post what she said because it touched me deeply "This evening, President Bush, declared that the United States would start attacking Iraq within 48 hours. We have participated in peace rallies in Moscow, Idaho and here in Seattle. In Seattle, their are many, many people who oppose this war. We believe that all lives are sacred, regardless of the country or race. People in other parts of the world are just as important and valuable as people in the United States. We belive in peace in Iraq and peace in the world - NOW and in the future. We are very sad about the steps our country is taking. We are still hoping for a last minute miracle, although it appears that time is running out. We appreciate all of the peace rallies and marches that have taken place world-wide. Our hope was that our government would find a peaceful solution to this situation. We just want you to know that we do not support this war in any way. We hope for peace very soon. Please understand the universal law that what you focus on expands. Therefore thoughts of anger and hate only increase this and other conflicts. Join us in thoughts of peace, love and resolution for all participants, even those we may disagree vehemently with. Love is not just the answer, Love is the way. Who can argue with that? To know that Bush has decleared he will take his country to war, regardless of world opinion is more frightening than knowing what other war criminals in our time have done. Tony Blair will follow him and thousands of people will die. Nothing short of a miracle will stop the wheels of fate moving now that they are so slowly underway. But let George and Tony know that whatever they are about to do, "love is not just the answer, love is the way". Thank you C, R & V. Exhausted after a busy weekend, Sunday evening should be a time to chill our and relax. But no, I decided to watch Cold Feet and although I knew there was never going to be a happy conclusion to the last of the present series, I wasn’t totally prepared for the emotional onslaught which awaited. (Nor was I expecting blogger to lose the posting I wrote immediately after it finished.) Killing off Rachael seemed a cruel twist of the writer’s mind. From the black comedy of spilling her ashes in the pub – my family laughed. I didn’t - to the total break down of Adam when he eventually and inevitably realised the full extent of his loss and grief. Anyone who has an ounce of empathic hindsight or even macabre foresight, would not fail to have been moved. Normally I would expect to be sitting there secretively wiping tears from my face with a tissue but more unexpectedly for some reason, I was faced with trying to control the body shuddering sobs which were erupting from somewhere deep within and trying to surface in huge noisy uncontrolable, gulps. (Stifling them was hard but I think I got away with it!). For some the ending may have been happy. Jo went back to Oz , older and perhaps a little wiser. Pete and Jenny decided to give things another go. Karen and Ramona were plotting their Spanish holiday, Thelma and Louise style. David decided who he really wanted to have dinner with therefore sealing the fate on a new phase in his life. And Adam and baby decided to go back to Ireland and make a new start for themselves with Adam’s father. It struck me as the ghost of Rachael jumped into the taxi with Adam that we can take the ghosts of our past with us. Even though we all move on, whether for better, worse, intentionally, accidentally or subconsciously, somethings, people and places will always remain with us. It’s how we all learn to cope with the most traumatic events in our lives. I would imagine that once Adam had come to terms with Rachael’s death (whatever coming to terms actually means?) then her ghost appearances in his life would start to diminish, as he realised his future was not so dependant on her being there. Or would they? Saturday, 15th March
If I was a mind-reader I would have known that today was going to be a bad day. If I was a mind-reader I would have taken work home with me last night so that I didn't have to dash into work before 8am this morning to upload files to my web space so that I could download them again and work at home. If I was a mind-reader I would not have made the hair appointment I had hoped to dash to in my lunch hour. If I was a mind-reader I would have predicted that both children would now be ill and given them lots of vitamins, tlc, good food and whatever else it takes to keep them well. If I was a mind-reader I would have known all about it and not been so frustrated, disappointed, harrassed but generally resigned this morning. .....but I'm not. So I am. And in between the runninng around preparing food, drinks, hugs, soothing words and entertainment I am actually managing to work and get a lot done. If I was a mind-reader I'd predict that working from home was the way to go. Have a great day. Really believe you can do it all and you will ..........either that or you won't. Don't tell anyone and who will know apart from you? Why set yourself new challenges if you already have hundreds of unfulfilled ones? My theory is that for each new one, another old one bites the dust and will be forgotten about in a few months - apart from the niggling guilt that is. Is yesterday's new challenge not tomorrow's unfulfilled task waitng to happen? There is another spin on the enthusiasm of the daily motivator, as read on the oh so apt Garfield poster on SED's door. "I could but I don't want to..." There is nothing worse than trying old-fashioned methods of mindless escapism - reading, tv - and finding that they are as upsetting as real life. The book I have just finished was upsetting in it's ending and one of my favourite tv programmes, Cold Feet, has just finished with a tradgedy which had me shaken and sniveling into a tissue. More happy endings please. What's your favourite flavour? Are you confident enough to choose just one? Then why not enter the Jelly Belly competition to win a hamper worth over £150. And you must do the survey to get some free jelly belly, jelly beans. 100 free samples are given away each day, 365 days a year - unfortunately the only one per household rule applies, but mine are on their way! I'll let you know if I win a hamper. Yesterday's Scotland v Wales match at Murrayfield was a successful outcome for the Scots, even if the last two tries they allowed Wales to score were a bit surprising, if not down right lax. I promised some that I would put up a few pictures, so not wanting to disappoint, here is a little glimps of yesterday's match and the Irish match - two weeks ago - at Murrayfield. How can it be Friday?..........Where has the week gone? Tempus Fugit? There is definitely something very strange going on...
|
