Mad security

This is a tale of mad security or security gone mad or the ultimate avoidance of risk. The Eskimo (Inuit) peoples of the Arctic used to hunt seals through the ice. They waited at a "blowhole" and harpooned the seal when it came to the hole to breathe. The harpoon , and all the attachments, were made of bone.

I acquired a harpoon with all the attachments some forty years ago, (how this came about is another story), and now wished to donate it to the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada. They were delighted to receive this artifact and I carefully boxed it and arranged to send it to Canada via a reputable carrier.

I declared the item as an historical artifact that was being returned to its country of origin. Imagine when to my surprise (chagrin) none of the carriers would take the parcel because it was a dangerous weapon, that is a harpoon!

One carrier was persuaded to transport the item but it has not yet arrived at its destination and has still got to surmount the customs and excise barrier on both sides of the Atlantic ... Watch this space!

Walter V.

An epic journey

Having written a post a few weeks ago in praise of the documentary, The Frankincense Trail, and having seen two of the episodes, I turned on the television ready for the last one.

It was just as enjoyable as before and Kate as charming and tactful as she always is. When the end of her journey drew nigh and the midnight mass was about to start, the excitement in the church could almost be felt.

The Patriarch arrived with much pomp in magnificent splendour and proceeded to put the incense, that Kate had carried for so many miles with her, into the thurible and then started the Mass in earnest having blessed the altar.

How pleased Kate must have been to feel that her journey had such a successful ending.

And now, I at least know where frankincense comes from!

Polly

Antidote to gloom

I seem to be surrounded by GLOOM. Gloom is everywhere, global gloom, then there is autumnal gloom and something called SAD which comes with Christmas. So, I say, lighten up a bit, take precautionary measures to counteract gloom. I recommend any activity, provided it is done badly, strive for incompetence and above all read nonsense verse thus:

There was an old person whose habits
Induced him to feed upon rabbits;
When he'd eaten eighten,
He turned amazingly green,
And thus he relinquished those habits.

For copyright reasons the above has been cribbed from A book of nonsense (Everyman's Library) Walter V

French President on Economic Growth

President Sarkozy and his views on Economic Growth and Prosperity seem genuine and to find out more about the economic growth and cycles, he has recruited two Nobel Prize winners on economic growth. The two eminent professors are Amartya Sen and Joseph Stieglitz.

He is a proud French man and likes to see France come out the recession and his people have a high standard of living. But how do you measure growth? Some would say when the house prices start picking up, some say when the unemployment start falling, some say when there is a balance of payment surplus, and many other views. But Dr Sen is well known for his views philosophical, ethical and balance between market economy and social justice. As President Sarkozy wants to be the president of all the people he wants to combine his views on growth on prosperity, social justice and less gap between have and have not’s. Beautiful wife Carla Bruni by his side he is determined to make his mark as one of the great French Presidents

Classification

I had a quick look at the HCA web page. Congratulations HCA! Very informative. A slight grumble! Activities are age specific? That is, under 50, over 50, over 55, under 60, over 60, under 65, over 65 etc. Why not just active or inactive.....
Anonymous.

In praise of the BBC

I am normally not in praise of television in general, in fact the last post I wrote I was grumbling about it! But now I am full of praise of it and certainly of three documentaries they have put on and are still showing.

The first and foremost is Kate Humble in the Frankincense Trail. I feel she was certainly the perfect choice. She was tactful with some of the difficult questions she felt compelled to ask. I look forward to the last (unfortunately) showing of it tonight.

The other two I am really enjoying are TheLast Chance to See and Lost Land of the Volcanoes. Both I enjoy - seeing all the new small animals and insects which have never been seen before.
I did feel sorry for Stephen Fry breaking his arm though!

I do hope there will be many more programmes like these.

Comment on child poverty

I read a newspaper report recently (probably the Guardian), discussing ways in which child poverty could be eradicated. The report concluded that a poor family in which only one parent was at work, the earnings of this parent were insufficient to raise the family out of poverty. The reasonable solution to this problem, as far as I am concerned, would be to raise the income of the single working parent. Oh no! Such a solution is too simple and too sensible. So the "obvious" solution in the report was to suggest that both parents should work. I thought that this was April 1st in September. I hope the report is a joke and does not warrant serious comment

Walter V