Tuesday, June 26, 2007

A new addition to the family

Her name is Sophie and she`s ten weeks old. She belongs to my daughter and as they have to work and she can`t really be left on her own for any length of time or go out into the garden yet, we look after her during the day. Isn`t she Beautiful?

Monday, June 25, 2007

The UK alliance of indiginous peoples

What would the requirement be to join such an association. I know there is an American indian and aboriginal australian version, All indiginous peoples etc, what is their personal history/requirements to belong to such an association I wonder? I was born in the UK as were my parents grand parents and great grand parents, and great great grand parents, would I be suitable to join such a UK association. bearing in mind that I havent set it up yet?

Sunday, June 24, 2007

The Foresters

I had a great meal in the Foresters in the new Forest on Saturday evening. It was Bloody raining and miserable but the meal certainly brightened the evening considerably! :o))

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Well the Hydrogen project is off and running

Finally I got the electronics and with water spewing out everywhere ( it is a protetype after all) she fired up. I had enought time to fill a two litre plastic container with hydroxy and a mosfet (200amps) blew (Its OK, I can sort that ,or rather my electronics man can) I placed the container of hydroxy in a rubbish bin (dust bin) and placed a firelighter on it. I lit the fire lighter and retired to a safe distance 20 foot? withing a couple of seconds I had the biggest bang that I could possibly have had in my garden without the police being called. My ears were wringing for about an hour . I had my story ready that an aerosol can had been burnt accidentally on the carden bonfire :o) how does that sound? would it stand up? I couldn`t I was dizzy for about five minutes. All the electronics guy could say (having said that it couldnt possibly work right up to yesterday ) was "Christ! whoo hooo! that was definitely hydrogen!
Now its back to the refinements and build a better cell that doesn`t leak water everywhere. boy was that successful or what! perhaps I shouldn`t say too much more?:o)))))

Monday, June 18, 2007

Another weekend around the Marina! Yawn.








The Dregers back into the marina and again and all the boats in the way are sent off around the marina to temporary berths. I took this photo when the tide was pretty high but not the highest tide, which is the eqinoxal tide and its about a meter higher. so you can imagine just how much of the inner breakwater is showing above the water! and what happens if the sea is rough at this time. I have seen the spray coming over the wall to a height of thirty feet or more!
The picture above this one shows the chalk cliff where the Marina was dug down into the sea. There is a true cross section of boats as can be seen too!
The second photo shows the entrance road into the Marina and some of the shops and restaurants along the way! the palm trees have faired well considering they were "planted" only 12 months ago approximately! also note the orange Tuc Tuc whih do a roaring trade much to the discust of the Cabbies, great fun they are too! :o))
I thought it was about time I did a bit of gardening on my pontoon so I spent a couple of hours making some molluscs etc, homeless by hoeing them off the surrounding pontoons! unfortunately the older couple on the boat next to mine are really inferm and haven`t had their boat out and scrubbed for, must be, ten years and the weed growth is a metre long on the bottom which of course effects mine! so Ho hum! I thought that if my pontoons were a little clearer I might just benefit a bit!
last year I "got in" and scrubbed the bottom myself but that was four months after the antifoul had been applied. now ten months on I think I would need a shovel and the marina has a lead time of seven weeks before they could pull me out!! :o(( ( Blo*dy useless disorganised lot) Ah well!
The palm trees I mentioned above are of course artificial! ( but great copies) unlike those that were installed in "port aventura" in Salou Spain, where I tried to disuade them from having real ones which they intended to dig up each fall and transported them to their own fifty foot greenhouse! imagine the cost each year!
I am oftem asked "why Brighton" and "where can you go from brighton" to which I reply "at 24 knots" anywhere! Within a short distance there is the solent newhaven, eastbourne, Facom, a middling distance and there is the whole of the french coast and the english coast and given a long cruising distance, the Scilly Isles and who knows where else? I delivered a gin palace to Jersey on route to Spain via biscay but the weather was too rough, so it sat in Jersey for a month, after which time I was on another delivery and couldn`t finish the trip so I don`t see Brighton as having too much problem with its location unless you are a sail boat and I guess that the solent is where you want to be. I did when I had a sail boat with a berth in the Beauleiu river ! Dartmouth and Brixham! Ah the joys of the powerboat two hours to the solent two days to the scillies! I wish I was back sailing though :o(( I really do.
Something that is worthy of note, it is claimed that Brighton can accomodate a couple of super yachts if they are small, although I wouldn`t like to try to "swerve them around the main wall in a south easterly 5 and up as the entrance needs to be approached with caution when the weather is up! a boat found this out a few weeks ago when they ran aground at the entrance ? the Brighton RNLI inshore lifeboat couldn`t help them, so a larger one came from Shoreham, I believe, and took them to the Solent where their keel finally fell of and they burst into flames. Not entirely the fault of the marina antrance I know but once the chain of events starts, things can happen fast at sea. I felt so sorry for the crew I believe that they had come all the way from the Baltic without incident too.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Things I have done

I walked over to the reptile house where we were about to film a short piece for "the six oclock show" to feature Danny Baker in an aligator enclosure (yes they wanted him to enter the "cage" with the aligator) and report back to the studio. I spotted the Butty wagon (as you do ) and headed to the lamps and general melee associated with a TV crew I met with the producer,the camera man, and sound lady (girl) and the star himself (a nice but twitchy guy, who wouldn`t be under the circumstances our alligator at the time was 3 plus metres nose to tail and had featured in a James bond film with his actual owner, we were just looking after him for a while) the head Keeper was waiting by the entrance to the enclosure armed with a short broom handle and we made our approach towards him I requested that the crew "made it in one" as I doubted that a second chance would be forthcoming, they shook hands with the head Keeper recieving their safety brief and I entered the humid and well light enclosure which consisted of four walls decorated to look like a swamp area, a deep but smallish pool, four walls which consisted of a large area of glass for public viewing and a ceiling that produced UV light and fine water sprays as we wished it.

The aligator was settled in to the bottom of the pool unaware as yet as to what was going on and facing away away from the 750mm X 1 metre high door which lead to a narrow walkway around the pool terminating in a basking area under UV and heat Lamps at the farthest end of the enclosure. This area was where the camera man, myself and the sound recordist were to carry out the filming from, Danny Baker was due to squat in the corner to the rear left of the Aligator and made his report. the contents of which I don`t fully remember as on our entry, I had been given the short broom handle by the head Keeper to control the aligator "in the event that he made a challenge upon us ?" ( and why wouldn`t he as they are reknowned for their territorial nature), I went to my predetermined station and assisted the camera man and sound recordist to their positions alongside of me ( the camera man and recordest were to my left hand side. I was marginally between the aligator and them)

The camera man took aim and the recordist emptied her carry bag and put togeather the "mike stick"plugging it into her recording gismo firmly strapped acros her body and lowered the Fluffy gerbil like mike over the water pionting it toward Danny baker. I noticed that she was shaking uncontrollably and that the length of the support boom exagerated this so that the fluffy gerbil (mike ) on the end was swaying about and shaking furiously. They announced that they were ready and Danny baker started his report with something like "Hi folks guess where I am "(yea right nearest the door sprung to mind remembering also that the aligator was between us and the miniscule door) "I`m in" (pan back) the Aligator cage at ????????. at this moment the aligator ( lets call him reg for the purposes of this post ) decided that it was time to float to the surface to have "a shufty" at what was going on, which he did. Danny Baker having suddenly taken in the true size of him, stopped mid sentance visibly shaken the fluffy gerbil now only being supported by one of the recordist hand, as the other one was positioned firmly into mine holding on as tight as if she was in child berth. The camera man a seasoned guy with many war theatre scenarios to his credit just carried on filming oblivious of any threat and why wouldn`t he after what he had been through.

The sound recordist turned towards me and asked if we were OK in a very shaky voice to which I replied sure he just likes the look of your Gerbil ( which incidently you should try to control) and anyway I`ve got this, and shewed her the broom handle. stating that he wouldn`t come anywhere near us all the time I have this. My hand was now white and all feeling had gone from it.

Danny Baker believeing that I had it all under control carried on. I took the oportunity to look around for the head Keeper only to find that he had made his way to the front of the public viewing area and was watching through the glass ( afterwards he told me that it was important that he could acess Reg`s mood at all times and the front of the viewing area was the best vantage point (yes like the time he shut me in with a stunned sun bear because it had suddenly sat up and started to convulse, he said later that he didn`t want it to escape, what about me? I was deep in the den behind the bear and had just removed the anesthetic dart and was in the middle of applying Tetramycin spray to the unfortunate bears arse, I think I probably would have sat up too! I will remember forever the look on the faces of the other keepers as one at a time they peered in at me through the small barred ( prison type) viewing window to see if the bear had savaged me and if it was possible to get the remains out? I told them not to be so silly and let me out. My legs did feel a bit weak later on I have to say)

Anyway I digress, More power to his elbow Danny Baker duly finished his report the camera man duly stopped filming and it was time to remove ourselves from the enclosure. the gerbil had kept Reg occupied as he slowly opened and closed his vast mouth, working out speed, distance and velocity for his mighty leap to devour it (he was a slow thinker bless him) and having done that, it all of a sudden dissapeared into a carry bag and was now out of sight. He started towards the place he had last seen it (the recordist carry bag) at this time Danny baker was being helped out of the enclosure by the head keeper and I had moved to the other side of the couple with me so I was the last out, the sound recordist having briskly walked down the narrow pond side was nearing the door when Reg decided to turn around (not easy in a pool a little larger that you are but try he did and he startled the camerman who I believed banged his head on the top of the low door as he evacuated at a newly found speed. now it was my turn after all I was the "safety man" .

I started my walk I thought quite nonchalently, around the narrow path along side the pool and as Reg finally made his turn half in and half out of the water , I was approaching the door, at any moment I expected to feel his teeth in my calf or backside. he crashed back into the water and nothing happened except I got a little wet, Reg was by now a bit confused ( not dificult if you are an aligator living in a human world and treated as a pet) but hey! OK! nobody was hurt and the show got its footage. we shook hands, Danny Baker duly signed autographs, I went off to the main gate to refuse entry to some gypsy types who wanted to fight me (another story) and off the film crew went rejoicing. It went out that night and only Danny baker and Reg ( obviously) were seen, and due to a very good professional camera angle showing him almost sitting on Reg`s back. even though it was only a three minute spot it looked great! The things I have done in the name of profit :o))

Monday, June 11, 2007

Would I be classed as a racist if

I mentioned that some time ago I read a discussion report about the need for and eventual formation of an american indian association (for want of a better way of explaining it) in the US, for the very reason that they were the indiginous specis and believed that they needed to speak with one voice. I also read a similar document regarding the Aboriginal tribes in australia where they as one nation negotiated a considerable amount of their land back via the government.

My next question has to be that we the English must now be fast approaching the point of no return where our next step, must be, to ourselves form an association or federation of the indiginous specis of England and start to do some negotiating of out own.


Clearly our own form of democracy doesn`t work with our debt to the IMF rising in leaps and bounds, and certainly allowing our country to be occupied and our commerce taken over by former enemies must be the last breaths of our once great and free country? Where do we go from this point. there is no suitable party for us to vote for? the current one is headed by an invader, The national front is (and I am no expert) exactly that, a fighting force to keep britain british at any expense, I stand to be corrected of course! The liberals were only ever set up to divide and separate the main parties allowing for the manipulation of the masses. and the conservatives who had set up all the policies (before being voted out) that were then expedited by "the current party now have no wind in their sails and no real leader .

A lot has been said about the importance of the "grey vote" Why? pensions funds are depleting, hospital care is reducing, stealth taxes are increasing, (and I include the paying for parking when visiting Town halls, Hospitals and many other already "paid for" establishments. I don`t mention taxation as that is a blog on its own and some, but regarding death duties, one pays tax all our working life and then when we die the government takes it away. This just reinforces the comment regarding JOB, one definition as to the formation and meaning of the word job is that it stands for Just over broke! All of our lives (and I include those of great wealth) we strive and accumulate in our own particular manner for the future and for what, the national trust gets our grand houses (they own , yes own, more real estate and coastal frontage than MacDonald's ) the tax man takes our financial equity and relations etc received little if anything and if they do it is again taken from them in stamp duty on property etc and once again the eventual death duties.

I therefore have to ask again are they really worried about the grey vote? not a bit. embarrassed yes to such an extent that because so may old folk were found dead in their homes suffering from Hypothermia they gave those over 60 a fuel subsidy! great eh? shutting the door after the horse has bolted, given that most of the grey majority are from the indiginous sector.

I have gone a bit off track but think that I have possibly formed some of the foundation as to why I feel the way I do about the indiginous peoples of England and their reducing rights. I am a Royalist and cringe at the thought of a president of this country, of a single person with the responsibility for life and death both here and abroad. Whilst the queen is only figurative head of state she is human and kind and rich in her own right although of the house of Hanover!

So would I be called a racialist if I called for the indiginous specis of England to stand up for its rights. would I be classed as racialist if I, as Idi Amin did called for all government commerce and industry ( what industry we have given it, yes given it, to our colonies and former enemies) be returned to English ownership. would I be racially pilloried? if the English kids with families, currently homeless were given priority over the immigrant population. am I being unjust if I asked for all immigrants not having been granted british citizenship by a fixed date be returned to their own countries by force if necessary (even though it is possibly too late for the British economy to recover for at least the next one hundred years)

Neither am I a communist ( once defined as a man with nothing that wants to share it with everybody) I am not a Maoist or an Idealist in any way. Yes I don`t want children dying in wars over oil and I believe passionately that soon (this year) an alternative fuel will emerge to reduce oil consumption possibly replacing it! Just watch this space.

I`m not a revolutionairy unless the queen is leading the revolution but I do believe that we need to change our constitution, that those agrieved, indiginous people, need to be heard, before we loose control of our small green and pleasant land!

I am actually of Norman descent ( more like an Eric you might say) but given that both France and England once had nothing but a forest as a boundary and because the English channel didn`t exist back then, I do claim to be a member of the indiginous specis,

Rant over! indigestion gone! its 03-30 and its time for sleep! maybe just one more blog to read :o))

Monday, June 04, 2007

A visit to the broker

Things are moving on and I have now seen a boat that I may have to have, so out of courtesy,I wandered up to the brokers to explain that he hadn`t yet recieved my signed contract because I had changed my mind To which he loudly said WHY! I explained that I was now maybe going to part exchange my boat for another, with cash ajustment, somewhere else. His immediate and quite agressive reply was, WELL YOU WILL STILL HAVE TO PAY US OUR FEE!

Wow!!!! I didnt expect that but I calmly asked him how so, to which he replied, sneering, Well WE HAVE A CONTRACT WITH YOU! could you show it to me? i said, I am now beginning to think that maybe there is something in the verbal contract side of things that I have missed ("a verbal contract isn`t worth the paper its written on") so he stormed off to a filing cabinet and got a contract out and turning to the contract side of document he pointed to the signature and said quite cockily. so who`s signature is that then? to which I replied, not only is that not my signature the 37 Bavaria (my boat is a 41 foot princess a completely different vessel) isn`t a boat that I would own, let alone try to get you to sell.

He deflated completelywas silent and confused for a few seconds and then started to try to repair the damage done. I am so sorry I mistook you for someone else (given that I`m sixfoot one bald and nearly eighteen stone) dont try that on with me there aren`t many of us about I said, I am afraid that I couldn`t do business with you, on a basis like that. Where is the head off ice of your company? (as I was about to write to them to explain my discust at his action. he had only visited the boat to explain how I would carry out my part of putting my boat on to their brokerage list) I walked out and continued my day. which was to include a search for a nice bottle of expensive red wine to give to him for not taking up his original efforts, needless to say I didn`t go there or never will.

A couple of hours later whilst walking back from the Brighton bus I was suddenly accosted by the Broker who was more than apologetic and commence trying to explain that he had issues with my twin and that they were trying to rip him off etc, etc, I listend as politely as I could and thanked him for his concern and assured that he neednt worry about offending me, as his brokerage was the very last place in the world that he would have any need for exercising his limited customers skills on me as I will never darken the dooor again.
Why cant things be easy for a change???? :o))