My Mate Marmite

You either love it or hate it tm. New Year I mean LOL.

Have a splendid 2009 everyone. May all your dreams be realised and goals achieved.
















(You have to love Marmite. It's the law LOL.)

Last

This is my last blogpost of 2008. Outside the ground is frozen "hard as iron" and the thermometer reads minus three. I was the last patient in the doctor's surgery today. Nothing real bad just an irritating cold sore/fungal infection in the corner of my mouth. Just when I think it's healed, I laugh too much or open my big gob too wide for an apple and the corner cracks again and I'm back to square one. Possibly my last act of kindness in 2008 was insisting that a distressed young woman, who arrived in the waiting room after me, saw the doctor before I went in.

I just wish I'd gone down there with the book I'm reading at present - "The Road to Nab End" by William Woodruff. I could have devoured three chapters in the time I had to wait. It is a brilliantly observed autobiography - mostly set in the poor streets of Blackburn, Lancashire in the 1920's. The last chapter gave a child's eye view of the General Strike of 1926 - fascinating.

Wonder what 2009 holds for us all - both in the macrocosmic world that fills our news channels and in the microcosmic worlds that we really inhabit, surrounded by our possessions and the souvenirs we have gathered, affected by our friends and neighbours and the precious ones we call "family". One of my friends - Ian - told me that his mother had died on December 23rd, just six weeks after his father was buried. To lose both parents in such a short time must be really awful. Though he may wish to, I don't think he'll forget 2008 in a hurry.

What do we want for 2009? On the world stage, I want Barack Obama to get off to a good start, I want to see justice and peace in Gaza, I don't want to see any more natural disasters or Japanese whalers pretending to be engaged in scientific research. No more destruction of the Amazon rainforest. No more gas guzzling 4x4 vehicles on city streets. No more second homes sitting empty while homeless people shiver. No more unwatched computers flickering through the night in empty public buildings. No more "terrorism" such as mindless and cowardly suicide bombings.

And on the home stage I want us all to be healthy and bright, making the most of life, enriching our inner selves with interesting experiences. Patience. Goodness. Humility. Laughter. Noticing fundamental things like cloud formations, spring bulbs breaking through the top soil, birds moving across the sky, the sweetness of honey. And I want us to be kinder to ourselves. Less self-doubt, less self-recrimination, less beating ourselves up. To be alive is a wondrous thing. Let's get to December 31st 2009, fully intact, feeling we have achieved some things that are worth acknowledging - if only to ourselves.
Happy New Year Everybody!

Happy New Year

2008 sucked!!!
hope 2009 turns out better!!!

Send Happy New Year Scraps on Orkut Welcome 2009

Send happy new year Orkut scraps images to wish welcome 2009
Orkut Scrap Image : Lighting ball , Colourful background
Happy New Year Image scrap text msg : Happy New Year

Send happy new year Orkut scraps images to wish welcome 2009
Orkut Scrap Image : Glitter Text animation graphics
Happy New Year Image scrap text msg : Animated Happy New Year

Send happy new year Orkut scraps images to wish welcome 2009
Orkut Scrap Image : 31st december 12 am pm clock , New Year Celebration cap , Glitter Graphics
Happy New Year Image scrap text msg : Happy New Year

Send happy new year Orkut scraps images to wish welcome 2009
Orkut Scrap Image : Space Nasa
Happy New Year Image scrap text msg : Happy New Year

Send happy new year Orkut scraps images to wish welcome 2009
Orkut Scrap Image : pink background
Happy New Year Image scrap text msg : Happy New Year

Last Of The Year

Have a great New Year's eve people, no matter how you intend to spend it.

Nature

Don't you think that Mother Nature is wonderful? Inspired by Katherine's recent New Zealand fruit photos (Last Visible Dog) I give you some of more of the Earth's bounteous fruits below:-

From top to bottom - The Daphne Pumpkin, The Sweet Katherine Fruit (lovely and juicy), Stunted Clewley Peppers, The Robert Hybrid Brague Carrot and The Pudding Fruit (Grows well in Yorkshire)

Something New

Tried something new today, all the way from the shores of Australia via my local Tesco.

Not quite up there with the Bucket List of things I should do before I die but nevertheless not so bad LOL. Now the question is, will I give up the UK's older cousin in favour of this young upstart of a Yeast Extract? Answers on a postcard or back of a sealed down envelope to the usual competition address.






Southampton 1 - 1 Reading.

Eleventh Sucks!!!

ELEVENTH SUCKS BIG TIME!

Why does it always feels like that the previous class rocked, and the current one sucks ( most people say, may be not but hell I say it)

I am in the 11^th grade for more than half a year, and it seems that I am rusting and decaying in the walls of 11^th for more than a lifetime., though my text books and refreshers refuse to agree… some display their dew-fresh untouched pages (they aren’t wet) and some torn apart (I don’t blame myself for testing the effects of gravity on them, in fact damn CBSE and NCERT for the screwed up quality of the books, the books with the hologram)

My perspective towards studying/cramming changed a lot in the past few years. My favorite subjects switched their positions, from Science to S.St to English to IT to nothing.

Even though I have chosen Sciences-Non Medical (forcibly) it is hard for me to digest more than one paragraph at a time.

My most hated and dreaded subject from the last decade used to be Mathematics, until Science took an unexpected turn and absorbed numbers and gave birth to the two new demons in the Science, The Chemistry and The Physics, where the fusion of the numericals and the good old concepts took place.

And now Physics and Chemistry have taken more grim avatars, their books might not be king sized but the reference books that may not enhance your mind but regular lifting and dropping of it may enhance your biceps.

In fact Physics and Chemistry have formed new definitions in my screwed up mind.

Physics: Baat ka Batangarh Banana (Making a mountain out of mole hill).The concepts which were sometimes interesting for me have turned into crappy derivations with triple x’s and y’s v1’s and v2’s and lot of weird greek alphabets that keep on getting add as constants.

Eg: If something falls, according to physics “OMG it can fall! Let’s put some g’s and G’s over it”

Chemistry: If it was fiction it could be much better but alas it’s a collect of false facts and hypothetical bullshittin’ concepts that were given by drunk homo-genius scientists. Chemistry is a whole damn’ branch of lying on lies.

Eg: A dog Is peeing @ a pole , according to chemistry it is pouring some H₂O on Fe

With tremendous increase in the stinkin’ tendencies of Physics and Chemistry, The fear of Maths has reduced somewhat.

LONG DIE P.C.M.

Hiatus

hiatus
an interruption in the intensity or amount of something [syn: suspension] .
a missing piece (as a gap in a manuscript)

I love Christmastime. It has absolutely nothing to do with Christ, wise men from the East or stars shining above Bethlehem. It has everything to do with the winter solstice and people feasting and drinking - marking time, saying - "We are alive here and now, travellers together. And there is too much stress and misery in the world so let us eat drink and be merry!" I feel some bitterness towards Christians who hijacked our pagan festivities and then had the sheer gall to lambast those of us who choose to overlook the fairytale about Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus born in a stable. Sheer bollocks!

Before Christmas, the excitement builds. You rush around buying presents, crackers and chestnuts. You order a big fat turkey and post cards to far flung corners of the world. You ask friends and work colleagues what they are doing for Christmas. Your wife gets the lights down from the loft and tinsel bedecks your home. And then the great day comes and the streets are quiet and there are no thoughts of work and the humdrum world. You rip open your gifts and stick the turkey in the oven, pull your crackers and watch "The Royle Family" on TV. It's great - Christmas.

Then you enter the hiatus between Christmas and New Year. Over-eating has caused unfamiliar rumblings in your bowels. You sleep late. You gather up empty bottles and cans for recycling. You notice gifts scattered near the fireplace and the carcass of the turkey you assaulted on Christmas Day sits in the kitchen like an offbeat advertisement for Amnesty International. Eager anticipation is replaced by a certain emptiness. You look ahead to the next year looming. There is nothing on television worth bothering with. No cards drop on your mat and nobody phones.

Today I made a turkey stew that Jamie Oliver would have been jealous of. Complete with swollen pearl barley, chunks of celery, carrots and turnip, six fat dumplings floated on the surface. A dash of red wine, a couple of bay leaves, mixed herbs and a rasher of grilled bacon. I served it with flat bread coated with sizzling garlic butter. I might have called it "Hiatus Stew".

Down at "The Banner" tonight, the atmosphere was subdued. Christmas over. The feasting done. Waiting for New Year's Eve and 2009. Not everybody makes it. Some of us fall by the wayside. This gift of life is something we should not take for granted.

I dedicate this post to the displaced Palestinian people of Gaza murdered by the self-righteous Israeli war machine - children and women, the elderly and the poor. Over 230 dead and 700+ injured. Indiscriminate and unforgivable killing that should, by rights, attract fierce international reprisals but of course that won't happen. Words will be twisted and legitimate Palestinian freedom fighters will once again be portrayed as the wrongdoers.

Money For Nothing

Just how nice is it to receive money at Christmas? Chocolate money that is LOL.















Mmmm.

Boxing Day Sport

Reading played host to Cardiff today at the Madejski Stadium and for the most part had run of play. Points were even until the 89th minute when Chopra scored for the visitors and looked to have secured only their fourth win of the season. In the fifth minute of added- on time for injuries, Reading Goalkeeper Adam Federici left his position for a corner and leveled the scores. Phew!

The Royals took a deserved point and remain second in the league above Birmingham on goal difference and in line for automatic promotion back to the Premiership.

The Coca-Cola Football League Championship : Table
Friday, 26 December 2008

			| Home					| Away
	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Wolverhampton	25	10	2	1	28	10	8	1	3	24	18	24	57
2	Reading	25	10	2	1	32	8	5	3	4	20	15	29	50
3	Birmingham	25	9	0	3	18	11	6	5	2	16	12	11	50
4	Burnley	25	7	4	2	21	13	5	3	4	18	20	6	43
5	Cardiff	25	7	3	2	20	11	3	8	2	15	14	10	41
6	Crystal Palace	25	7	4	2	21	9	4	3	5	17	18	11	40
7	Preston	25	10	0	3	21	12	2	4	6	14	19	4	40

Chaplin

Chaplin on the shoulders of Douglas Fairbanks at a Liberty Bonds rally in New York (1918).

Charlie Chaplin died on Christmas Day 1977 at his home in Switzerland. Although he was by no means a "communist", he departed the USA in 1952 feeling bitter and anxious about hysterical accusations that flocked around him. This clownish little man was a giant of the silent movies. His place in American history and the history of film should have been assured but it wasn't until he was an old man, two years before his death that he was finally knighted by our queen. Until then, the question of honouring Chaplin had been a thorny one, given America's post war witch-hunts. Similarly, it wasn't until the nineteen seventies that Chaplin was honoured with a star in the pavement on Hollywood's famous "Walk of Fame".

Clearly, Chaplin always had a social conscience. His famous bowler-hatted tramp gave more than a nod of sympathy to the downtrodden masses and some of his films - including "The Great Dictator" and "Modern Times" had political undercurrents beneath the ribald laughter they evoked. Chaplin once said, "The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish." These were not the words of a clown even though that is how he would often describe himself. There was more to Charles Spencer Chaplin than met the eye.

Chaplin met Ghandi in 1931.

Season's Greetings

Happy Christmas everyone.

Peace and Goodwill to all.

Solstice

The Green Man - A mythical winter visitor long before the invention of Father Christmas.

Yesterday was the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. In electrically lit homes with central heating and televisual entertainment, in our pulsing veins we no longer feel the ancient significance of the winter solstice as we return from the supermarket - our cars laden with the pillaged bounty of the earth.

For thousands of years, even from neolithic times, the winter solstice was a special moment in the annual cycle of time. This is reflected in the very archaeology of Stonehenge in Wiltshire and of New Grange in Ireland. A big part of life was about planning to get through each winter. You stored or preserved food. Cattle were killed to avoid having to feed them and thus at ancient festivals around the time of the solstice, there was often more fresh meat available than at any other time of the year.

Evergreen plants bedecked the primitive hovels and Yule logs became centrepieces in community-based rituals - dancing and singing in defiance of the coming trials and tribulations of deepest winter or perhaps appealing to pagan gods. Starvation was common in a world where there was no fall-back, no safety net. Only by binding together with your extended family and neighbours could you hope to make it through to the spring.

Today the sun is beginning its slow ascent into the northern sky and our days will gradually become longer but there is still so far to go to the vernal equinox on March 21st.

Many of England's oldest chuch sites were selected simply because those places were held dear by our pagan ancestors. Architects of Christianity believed they could plug in to the fundamental powers and beliefs of that mysterious ancestry. But like the supermarkets and the flickering images on our plasma screens, Christianity was only a thin veneer, disguising basic truths such as the rising of the sun, our essential relationship with nature and the cyclical nature of time.

Here endeth the Yorkshire Pudding Xmas Lecture 2008. Please put a charitable donation in the box as you leave - yes, that's right... in the box marked "Pudding Holiday Fund". Now I'm off to find me a Yule log!

Winter solstice at Stonehenge

For Lockerbie

270 people lost their lives, 20 years ago today. We remember you.

Bombs R Us

So it's been announced today that the government has sold it's remaining shares in the AWE (Atomic Weapons Establishment) based down the road at Aldermaston to an American company. Can't have got a particularly good price in the current financial climate can they? So despite having a so-called "independent nuclear weapons" policy, control of designing and building these things is now in foreign hands. I'm not going into whether the UK should have nuclear weapons but since we do, shouldn't we at least have control of the things from start to finish?

Our nuclear energy generation is now controlled effectively by the French government (see previous posts) but now our weapons are to be run by an American firm. Just look what a cock-up a private company made of our school exams this year...

Elsewhere, despite having a terrible cold and feeling really miserable Little Lad was pleased to meet perhaps the most important man in his life (at least for the next week or so). Yes you got it the man in red himself. Queue was awful at over an hour and a half and nothing to keep the kids spirits up (some dancing Elves would have been nice LOL). But he was happy by the end of the experience. Please excuse the camera phone image.

Reading travelled to second placed Birmingham today for an early kick off match and came away with the full three points. Final score Birmingham 1 - 3 Reading. Nice.

Fairytale

It was at Christmas 1987 that The Pogues' "Fairytale of New York" first became a Christmas hit in both Ireland and the UK. Twenty years later it is still going strong when other Christmas songs have faded into obscurity. It is a weird and peculiarly evocative song. But what does it mean? In Wikipedia they say this:-

The song takes the form of a drunken man's Christmas Eve reverie about holidays past while sleeping off a binge in a New York City drunk tank. After an inebriated old man also incarcerated in the jail cell sings a passage from the Irish drinking ballad "The Rare Old Mountain Dew", the drunken man (MacGowan) begins to dream about a failed relationship. The remainder of the song (which may be an internal monologue) takes the form of a call and response between two Irish immigrants, lovers or ex-lovers, their youthful hopes crushed by alcoholism and drug addiction, reminiscing and bickering on Christmas Eve in New York City. The lyric "Sinatra was swinging" has been taken by some to suggest an unspecified period after World War II; however, it is possible that the song is actually set in the early 1980s, when one of Sinatra's last chart hits, his 1980 recording of John Kander and Fred Ebb's theme from the movie "New York, New York", was a fixture of New York City airwaves and a standard singalong record in the city's many neighbourhood bars. The title, taken from author J. P. Donleavy's novel "A Fairy Tale of New York", was chosen after the song had been written and recorded.

For me it is a song about lost dreams, regrets and underachievement. All of us have suffered the buffeting of life's roller coaster ride. We could have all "been someone", just as we could have all ended up in "the drunk tank" on Christmas Eve. Whenever I hear this song, I think of Kirsty MacColl who died so tragically and needlessly in Mexico eight or nine years ago and I think of her father Ewan and the subtle way his lyrical brilliance infiltrated Shane McGowan's masterpiece.

Valentine Holiday Card

Valentine's Day is celebrated every year on 14th February as a day of lovers. Many countries host this day as a public holiday to let couples enjoy quality time together. On this Valentine's day take your special someone to a luxury break for holidays to beautiful destinations of the World. Have some valentine holidays break from work and have complete fun and pleasure with your sweetheart. Apart from our Valentine holiday cards, visitors can enjoy our another new segment of honeymoon cards for wedded couples.

Valentine Quotes

Are you in love with someone? If yes then celebrate your day "Valentine's Day" with your dear valentine. Let your heart speak what all it had. Use our quotations from famous poets and writers made for lovers to express their love. Be open and lead your words come out. You can use our valentine quotes to impress your lover. These cute and romantic love quotes will work their own. Find few famous valentine's day quotes :

"If you love someone, let them go. If they return to you, it was meant to be. If they don't, their love was never yours to begin with..."

"Love is not finding someone to live with; It's finding someone you can't live without "

To Raise A Smile

Thought I'd share an image of the Headington Shark in Oxfordshire, not far from me. Anyone not prepared for it as bound to say "WT..." as they drive past LOL. It's been there 22 years now.
















Have a good weekend everyone.

Bus stop guy was back today. Welcome back fella, missed you.



I've also noticed a sign on my way to work: "Slow Troops Crossing." Methinks conflicts might be over a bit quicker if we used brighter troops..?

Present

Christmas and that annual head-scratching anxiety as we wrestle with the eternal conundrum - what to buy for people who have all that they need? Here's a suggestion for useful his and her gifts:-Available from Pudding Enterprises at £33.50 each. Send cash only.

Get well soon greeting card

Download Free Glitter Get well Soon Animated Greeting Card and send as orkut scrap
Get well soon card image : Injured dog with Thermometer in mouth
Message in the Greeting Card : Get Well Soon

Download Free Glitter Get well Soon Animated Greeting Card and send as orkut scrap
Get well soon card image : Flowers of Different Colours
Message in the Greeting Card : Get Well Soon

Download Free Glitter Get well Soon Animated Greeting Card and send as orkut scrap

Get well soon card image : Colourful animated text , flowers, Honey bee , Butter fly
Message in the Greeting Card : Animated Text 'Get Well Soon'

New Doctor Named!

OK Maybe not. Just me aged about 10 and my youngest cousin LOL.

Football

From yesterday, Reading 2 - 0 Norwich.

Orkut christmas glitter graphics Myspace

Download Free Animated Orkut christmas glitter graphics Myspace Merry Christmas Animation
Orkut Christmas Image : Animated Flowers , Animated Text
Animated Glitter Text Graphics message : Merry Christmas

Download Free Animated Orkut christmas glitter graphics Myspace Merry Christmas Animation
Orkut Christmas Image : Bells , Tiger Santa Clause , Animated Text Wishes
Animated Glitter Text Graphics message : Jingle Bells Jingle Bells Jingle all the Way

Download Free Animated Orkut christmas glitter graphics Myspace Merry Christmas Animation
Orkut Christmas Image : Golden Star animations , Animated Text Wishes
Animated Glitter Text Graphics message : Merry Christmas

Download Free Animated Orkut christmas glitter graphics Myspace Merry Christmas Animation
Orkut Christmas Image : Colourful backgound , Animated Text , Lightings , Stars
Animated Glitter Text Graphics message : Merry Christmas

Download Free Animated Orkut christmas glitter graphics Myspace Merry Christmas Animation
Orkut Christmas Image : Teddy bear , Christmas Gifts , Christmas tree
Animated Glitter Text Graphics message : Hope your Christmas wishes come true.

orkut birthday scraps greetings glitter

Download Free Orkut Birthday Scraps , Myspace graphics , Glitter animations
Orkut Birthday Image : Colourful card with Text ub rainbow colours
Birthday Text Message : Happy Birthday

Download Free Orkut Birthday Scraps , Myspace graphics , Glitter animations
Orkut Birthday Image : Smileys in Round , Heart and star shape
Birthday Text Message : Happy Birthday to you , Wishing you a day filled with Laughter , Love , and Fun Times.

Download Free Orkut Birthday Scraps , Myspace graphics , Glitter animations
Orkut Birthday Image : Cartoon Character Mickey Mouse with Birthday Gift
Birthday Text Message : Happy Birthday

Download Free Orkut Birthday Scraps , Myspace graphics , Glitter animations
Orkut Birthday Image : Animated Glitter Background , Birthday baloons
Birthday Text Message : Happy Birthday

Download Free Orkut Birthday Scraps , Myspace graphics , Glitter animations
Orkut Birthday Image : Happy Birthday Candles Burning
Birthday Text Message : Happy Birthday

Feel Free to download Free greetings and send as orkut scrap - orkut images .