Not Long Now

Shush... don't tell anyone but it's only a few more days until we can step back inside the (remodelled) Tardis for more adventures in time and space...


Matt Smith and Karen Gillan as the 11th Doctor and Amy Pond, inside the Tardis.

As these pictures from the Radio Times listings magazine show, it's even bigger on the inside this time!

New York City Tourism

Whatever you are looking for in a big city vacation, you will find it in New York. The city has a rich history, from the arrival of early Dutch settlers and the swearing in the George Washington as the first U.S. President to the influx of millions of immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Today’s New York city is known around the world for its distinctive skyline – even post – September 11. 2001 – its first rate museums and performing arts companies, and its status as the capital of finance, fashion, art, publishing, broadcasting, theater and advertising. And of course, New Yorkers themselves are world famous – if not always or their charm, at least for their panache, ethnic diversity and street smarts.

New York has 150 state parks. The Empire State Passport, permitting unlimited entrance to the parks for a year (April-March), is available at most parks; you can also contact the State Office of Parks and Recreation or write for an application.

The New York Botanical Garden, a 250 acre botanical treasury around the dramatic gorge of the Bronx River is within Bronx Park. Its 40 acre forest, conservatory, museum and outdoor gardens draw nature enthusiasts from around the world. This park is closed on Mondays.

Better financial arrangements

The financial arrangement usually accompanied the mode of payment will be of periodical type where a claimant agrees to find a solution for a personal hazard tort claim is called structured settlements. This is a way of compromising a statutory periodic payment recommendation. These structured settlements where introduced in United States and Canada in the year 1970 replacing a lump sum settlement. The Genex capital who are in the field of settling structured settlements for more than seven years and are offering maximum amount to the sellers and thus useful for those annuity payments. The Genex is supporting those people wanting to sell their structured settlements based on low interest rate. Due to above minimum rate of interest and thereby giving lower discount rate on future but benefiting good amount presently and paving way for future settlement of payments. You can also avail free quotation detail when contacting the above site and submitting the personal data. This is the right time to get connected with Genex capital and be advantageous.

A Girl's Life :) :)

She Was An Innocent Child

She Was Very Fond of Everyone

She Had An Inherent Talent.....

But, She Couldn't Exhibit Her Talents

Because of Few People, Who

Who Never Supported & Failed

To Notice Her Talent!!!!!!

Here Is Her Life Story :-

Her Home Was A Sweet Home In Everybody's Eyes. But, She Was Scared of Everyone In That House. Her Grandparents Were Extremely Orthodox & Conservative. She Had Huge Restrictions For Everything. Nobody Were Allowed To Enter House. Whenever Her Friends Used To Say That, We Come To Meet You At Home, She Always Lied  Them Saying She Would Be Busy or Going Out With Her Family. She Never Had Any Good Fond Memories of Her Childhood.  

Her School Education Was Terrible. Her Classmates Used To Hate Her A Lot. Her Teachers Used To Fail Her Purposely. Even Her Parents Failed To Notice The Truth Which Their Child Would Always Reveal. But, Parents Kept On Increasing Their Faith Only With Her Teachers & Used To Curse, Scold & Sometimes Even Terribly Tortured Her By Beating Repeatedly. 

This Went On Till She Reached 10th Grade. As Usual, Teachers Had Failed Her In Her Second Test & Had Called Her Parents. Her Father Was Busy So Mother Went To School. As Her Mom Reached The Door of Principal She Heard Terrible Howling Cries of Her Daughter. Her Mom Started Moving Slowly And Saw What That Teacher Did. Teacher Was Tearing All Her Answer Scripts & Burning Those Pieces of Paper. Her Mom Seeing This, Couldn't Control Her Emotions, Since That Girl Was Narrating Each & Every Happening. But, The Day She Saw By Her Own Eyes, She Rushed Into The Principal's Room As A Thunderstorm & Blasted Her Teachers For Ill- Treating Her Daughter Very Badly. 

Her Mom Was Also A Teacher Working In Different School. But, Now Knowing The Truth She Brought Her Back Home & Started Tutoring Her At Home. Finally She Passed Her 10Th Grade With Distinction.

Her Dad Got Transferred &Entire Family Shifted To Another State. Where She Had A Better life & Enjoyed Her Life By Seeing Kids Playing In Her Colony. By Seeing Her Friends Blog, She Started Writing Stories, Poems & Finally She Learn't Different Forms of Poems By Different Bloggers, Writers. 

Dearies, Tomorrow's Post Is 200th Post. A Surprise To Everybody. Don't Miss 200Th Post. 

PS :- Dearies, Thanks A Lot For All Your Cherishable Compliments For Previous Post, "Bird's Life".

Echo

This is Echo Helstrom, Bob Dylan's high school sweetheart in Hibbing, Minnesota (copyright Toby Thompson) .It is a grim iron town that experiences harsh mid-west winters. For five decades, Dylan has endured as a truly gifted songsmith and yet references in his songs to his 1950's childhood, high school years and hometown are remarkable because of their absence. Finding out about Echo is very tricky - partly because there is an Oregon-based band who adopted her name. However, it is claimed that in Echo's home - in a gold-coloured picture frame - she placed the following song lyric which, more than any other, harks back to Dylan's early years and the life he left behind. Almost certainly and with some wonderment, she will have frequently considered the young man who slipped out of her life and out of her town in the summer of 1959. He will be sixty nine years old on May 24th - my late mother's birthday, the day Shirley's mother died and the day on which Hull City made it to the English Premiership. I've always loved this plaintive song....

Girl Of The North Country

If you're traveling in the north country fair
Where the winds hit heavy on the borderline
Remember me to one who lives there
She once was a true love of mine.

If you go when the snowflakes storm
When the rivers freeze and summer ends
Please see she has a coat so warm
To keep her from the howlin' winds.

Please see for me if her hair hangs long
It rolls and flows all down her breast
Please see for me that her hair's hanging long
For that's the way I remember her best.

I'm a-wonderin' if she remembers me at all
Many times I've often prayed
In the darkness of my night
In the brightness of my day.

So if you're travelin' in the north country fair
Where the winds hit heavy on the borderline
Remember me to one who lives there
For she once was a true love of mine.

Bird's Life.

Huge Trees, Each Branch

Decorated With Birds Nest

The Path Was Decorated With

Spring Flowers, Fragrance of

Sandal Trees, Beauty of Various Flowers

Different Types of Greenery In Each 

Tree......I Was Speechless With The

Beauty of Nature.


The Path & Its Surroundings

Were Occupied By 

Varieties of Birds & Their Families :) :)

Their Continuous Conference Went On

 And On And On........Till The Point I Reached

Their Destination From A Distant Far Kilometer.

A Beautiful Multi-Colored Parrot

Approached Me, Saying

Please Don't Hunt Us....We Don't

Have Any Place To Stay, Our Places

Have Been Occupied By Human Beings

Our Nests Were Buried After Cutting Down

Trees For Commercial & Non-Commercial Purposes..

Moreover, Human Beings Kill Us,

To Feed Their Tummy......

We Have Lost Many Members

 of Our Family....And Now, We Are....

Are Brave Enough....We Fight With You 

If You Harm Us....

I Was Standing Without

Any Lip Movements.....I Was

Still, Like A Statue......Then, A Crow Approached

Are You Fine ?? Why Are You Not Talking ??

With Tears Filled & With Heavy Heart

I Saw The Unity of All Varieties of Birds,

All Carnivores & Herbivores Birds Were Staying Together

Was Extremely Happy To See Their Togetherness

I Compared Them With Human Beings For Just A Second

But, I Felt Ashamed of Myself, To Compare Those

Pure Souls With Bad Evils of Human beings, Who Were

Torturing Those Birds, Who Took Away Their Pleasures

Who Killed Them For Their Meat, Who Cage Those Beautiful Birds......

My Lips Were Shaking, MY Hands Were Shivering

My Heart Beat Was Increasing Rapidly

I Could Hear My Own Heart Beat & Even

Birds Also Heard My Heart Beat & offered

Me Sweet Cherries, Plucking From A Tree....

After Having Sweet Juicy Cherries,

Parrot Started Questioning Me.....

Are You Alone ?? How Come You Came Here ??

Why Are You Crying ?? Whats Wrong With You ??

With Shivering & Whispering Voice

I Told Parrot That, I Have Not Come Here

To Harm Anybody......But, To Stay With My Lovely Birds

I Don't Have Anybody, Since I Myself Hate Human Beings

I'm A Pure Herbivore......Please Don't Be Scared of Me......

Starting Tears Were Over Boiled Tears

Those Tears Came By Hearing To Your Problems....

Later, When I Saw You All Staying Together

Those Were My Cool Warm Tears......

I Wish You All A Happy Long Life.

Many Generations Are Yet To Come

Let All Your Lost Members Come Back To You

In Any Form.......Now, Got To Go!!!!!!

Now, I Could See Tears From Those Birds

They Pleaded Me To Stay With Them

But, I Didn't Wanted To Trouble Them In Any Manner

So, Saying Everybody Takecare. Maintain Your

Togetherness Forever & Ever, I Came Back To This Cruel HUMAN WORLD!!!!!!!

PS :- Dearies, Thanks A Lot For All Your Cherishable Compliments For Previous Post, "TECHNOLOGY".

PPS :- Dearies, Lets All Save Birds.......They Are Becoming Extinct. Don't Kill Them.....Feed Them Grains....I Love Birds A Lot :) :) Next Part of This Post Would Be Posted IN My Next Post!!!!!

Dearies, Recently My Friend Smt.Anupama Had Posted A Post About Her Lovely Sparrows. Click Here To Read :) :)

Wish You All A Very Happy Weekend :) :)

My New York City

Memorable New York City moments....

- A little girl, maybe 3 years old at most, in sparkling gold tights and very dramatic pig-tails, sits next to me on the subway just like a grown-up, with no help from her care-taker, and happens to sit on the edge of my coat. She doesn't notice, of course, but I feel a significant pull on my right side, and for the rest of the ride try not move too much so as not to disturb this little person, who sits quietly observing others in the subway, more like a grown-up than I've ever known myself to be. I am relieved when her stop comes before mine, so that I won't have to disturb her when I have to get up, and she gets off my coat and walks out with the same self-importance with which she had sat down on my coat earlier. I smile.

- My first day at Yoga to The People. Donation-based yoga (essentially, free yoga). Forty people in an unpretentious room, sweating, chanting, breathing, creating, moving, being moved, opening themselves up, all together, and all alone, with different missions but the same movements. I feel a sense of belonging and independence all at once, with such intensity I start to laugh, loudly. And no one, not one single person, judges me or asks me to be quiet. Most of the people around me, in fact, without knowing why, join me in my laughter.

- A spring day, always a relief after winter, and Washington Square Park is crowded as can be. I sit on the grass, get out my lunch, and eat it while soaking in the happiness and relief that surrounds me. Then a bunch of people get together, and start singing songs and playing instruments. They are fantastic, and crowds gather. A very old man is dancing along. Everyone is happy.

- It is summer in Bryant Park and on Monday nights they screen old films for free. I get there early, before the grass opens, and stand around, with hundreds of other people, all of us holding our blankets out, waiting for the grass to open. No one steps on the grass until the guard lets us. And as soon as he announces, "The Grass is Open", we all rush out, screaming, running as fast as we can to get the best possible square foot of grass that lets us see the screen. I sit close to the screen, I spread out my blanket. I pull out my pic-nic, my book, and take off my shoes. It's only 5pm. The movie doesn't start till 9.

- I perform a Greek Comedy throughout the parks of New York one summer, for free. We are wearing togas and many layers of sunscreen. It's hotter than anything I have ever known. We have been rehearsing this play for several weeks, we have songs and dances and jokes and many cute moments. There are people gathered in the grass waiting for us to perform it. They're sitting in the shade. We're under the sun. We do it, and the crowd loves us, even though our only thoughts throughout the whole performance are "Please, God, don't let me pass out". It was that hot.

- My friend Ashley and I go out drinking one night. We are looking for boys. We decide we're gonna pretend we're southern, because new york men love out-of-towners (they have commitment issues, see). We tell people we're from Tennessee. I think I'm even wearing my gold cowboy boots. People are intrigued. But we don't meet anyone. We laugh really hard though, because everything is funnier when you say it with a bad southern accent. We come home and my other friend, Kerri, who is staying with me during that time, is sleeping. We try to be quiet but we're still talking in a southern accent so everything is funny. The next day Kerri says she dreamt we were speaking in southern accents.

- I have friends over for election night, 2008. We are not very talkative. We are nervous. We eat cheese and crackers and drink beer. And then. Just like that. Barack Obama is elected president. No place on earth, I think, is happier than New York. The city literally explodes in screams. From the 14th floor of my building, we can hear people screaming all over New York. Most of us are crying. We walk to Union Square, and the city is a party. There are people on lamp posts. Everyone is so happy, so genuinely and purely happy, there's no choice but to join in the vibrations of the night. We know we are living through a unique moment in history, and we will be the ones to tell about it.

- I decide to go for a jog. A very unusual event. But it's a nice day, and I am inspired. So I go all the way down to the river and start my jog. It feels good. Then, with no real warning and quite suddenly, it starts to rain. Then it starts to pour. There is absolutely nowhere for me to seek shelter. So I keep jogging. And then I start running. I am running through the rain and it's thrilling. I run all they way back to my apartment, and when I get to my building, soaked and confusing my doormen ( I apologize a hundred times for dripping everywhere, but they're laughing at me), I feel like my soul has been cleansed. It's amazing.

There are hundreds more. These are just a few. In essence, I love New York. And what I love most is when it surprises me with moments of connectedness and truth.

Wedding bells Harbhajan and Geeta Basra getting married soon?

Cricketer Harbhajan Singh and actress Geeta Basra have been dating for a while and very recently Geeta met Harbhajan Singh in his home town where she had gone to attend Harbhajan Singh's sister marriage.

Bhajji had invited very few guest since the wedding was a private affair and out of the very few guest at Jalandar Geeta was also there and was a VIP for Bhajji and his family. Many say that this was mainly to make Geeta mingle in Bhaji's family.When Geeta was asked about this by the reporters she said that there were so many other guests who where at the event.She also confirmed that Harbhajan was a very good friend of her and right now she is more concentrated in her career her first priority is her career. Will the wedding take place between Bhajji and Geeta Basra,well I guess the answer is Yes but it will take some time .

Elementary My Dear Alice

Long story short, last night I ended up booking and paying to see one film, only to have to pay (again) to see a different film at a different cinema 8 miles away. Ended up being quite a late night but very enjoyable LOL.

Reading 1 - 1 West Bromwich Albion

I think the Royals were robbed- I'm pretty sure the Referee was playing for West Brom today.

Anyway, on a humourous but absolutely true note...

You will recall how back at junior school, children in the playground would get into arguments that eventually boiled down to "My dad is bigger than your dad" and "Oh yeah? Well my dad's a truck driver and can beat your dad up."

Well no word of a lie, I was sat at work this week in the kitchen having my lunch, reading my book when two grown men (mid twenties to thirties) got into a row that before too long turned into "My mum is an antique dealer" gaining the reply "Oh, well my mum is a diamond expert. So I should know what I'm talking about."

I was so tempted to chip in with "Well my mum's an angel" but I thought better of it LOL.

Grotto

Come with me through our kitchen doorway.

Across the decking, down the steps to the little stone path between the greenhouse and our underhouse door.

Open the white door. Crouch a little. Don't bang your head. Open the mysterious door.

In we go to Yorkshire Pudding's secret grotto. Turn on the light. What a mess!

What has he been doing down here? There on the desk - what is it?

It's a mosaic...

I just finished it yesterday. It's the first mosaic I have made since 1971 when one of my A level courses was Art. That's a gap of nearly forty years. Now you're probably looking at it and wondering what the hell it's all about. Why this design? Well it harks back to my visit to Easter Island. The central, slightly comical figure is "the birdman" and it's closely based on rock carvings that commemorate the island's strange birdman cult. Each spring, young men from different clans would descend the high cliffs of Orongo and swim out to the islets that lie off the south western peninsula in order to retrieve the first sooty tern egg of the season. This prize ensured that the leader of the winner's clan became the overall chief of the island for that year.

Putting the mosaic together was time-consuming but pleasurable. I have listened to several hours of Radio 4 in the process. Ceramic pieces don't bend and every piece had to be nipped into shape. It was like putting together an intricate jigsaw after first making the pieces. I plan to make some more mosaics this year. This is an ancient and painstaking craft but quite therapeutic with, if I might be so bold, satisfying end results.

Nachtkrabbler

Good evening and welcome to this week's edition of "Tiny Creatures" with me Professor Pudding. This evening we are looking at a sadly maligned and misunderstood little darling called, in German, the "nachtkrabbler" or night crawler. We know it as "cimex lectularius" - the common bedbug. It has been a faithful companion of the human race for millennia and it was one of Europe's first exports to North America. That's why they sent us the grey squirrel and Kentucky Fried Chicken!

Normally living for six to nine months, the bedbug is an infrequent feeder. They like to gorge themselves with warm blood for five minutes and might not feed again for several days. Adults may measure 4/5mm in length and as some readers will testify, they are visible to the naked eye - as are the itchy red spots they often leave on our bare flesh. Their preferred feeding time is just before dawn. Like mini-vampires they detest sunlight.

Sex is something special for bedbugs. Instead of the usual tried and tested method, the male whips out his hypodermic organ and simply pierces the female's outer shell, depositing semen directly inside her body cavity. It's called traumatic insemination. I doubt that it will ever catch on with human beings but stranger things have happened at British Conservative Party conferences.

It would be eminently possible to begin a new blog devoted entirely to bedbugs, their lives, new discoveries about them, rates of infestation, control methods and so on. Undoubtedly it would receive many hits. I suggest that this is something that "Anonymous" who commented on my last blogpost might like to develop.

This may be hard to believe but over in The States there are such creatures as bedbug detection dogs that are able to sniff out the sources of bedbug infestations, allowing better targeting of pesticides. During the daytime, as bedbugs await the return of their kind hosts, they tend to gather in bedroom crevices or in the edge piping of mattresses. They're probably just listening to bedbug music, socialising or comparing tactics ahead of nightfall.

Don't you agree - entomology is fascinating? And if you're interested in bedbugs, a good place to begin your studies is the next hotel room you book. They're especially fond of the varied diet provided by an ever-changing succession of guests. Next week - the head louse. Don't have nightmares!

!

TECHNOLOGY!!!!!

Technologist

Enhancing

Capability Level of

Highly 

Nourished

Organs By

Locating

Ownership of

Gigantic

Yacht of A Heart.

PS :- Dearies, Thanks A Lot For All Your Cherishable Compliments For Previous Post, "CHILD ABUSE".

Written For Acrostic Only.

Prompt #7

FAMILY :) :)

Friendly

Aunty's & Uncle's

Mom & Dad,

Inlaws [if Married]

Lovable, Affectionate......

Yes Indeed A Blessing Heart Of All Our Elders :) :)

That Makes A Complete Family :) :)

PS :- Dearies, Thanks A Lot For All Your Cherishable Compliments For Previous Post, "SPEAKING OUT". 

PPS :- This Post Is Exactly A Informal Acro,  Just Exhibiting The Love & Affection of  FAMILY Members :) :) 

Michael

Yorkshire pudding batter

I don't regret leaving my senior teaching post with all its attendant pressures and responsibilities. To tell you the truth, I have hardly thought about my last school at all. I was there for twenty three years but it almost seems like something I dreamt, somebody else's life.

On Tuesday, I was helping our son Ian greatly reduce the size of a privet hedge that grows between his back garden and next door. We gave it what Ian described as a crewcut. He got me talking about "difficult" schoolkids I had known and I related the story of a lad I encountered in the late eighties during my first couple of years at that last school. Let's call him Michael - well that was his name - so why not?

Academically, Michael wasn't very bright. At the age of fifteen, with eleven years of compulsory schooling behind him, he wrote with all the ease and confidence of a torture victim in some Iraqi cellar. He was placed in my pastoral tutor group and I was also timetabled to help him to improve his very limited English skills in a small class with six or seven others who presented similar literacy problems. It was as if they had all only started to read and write the previous month though a year later they would be out of compulsory schooling altogether.

Physically, he was an imposing presence - barrel-like with thick muscular arms and a shock of chestnut red hair. He had piercing dark blue eyes in which the pupils appeared permanently dilated and therefore unnerving - like he was always spoiling for a fight, always angry.

I knew Michael's track record. He had a file in the school office as thick as the Yellow Pages. Only a handful of these pages covered his academic slow motion, mostly they were about his long history of unpleasant behaviour - bullying and intimidating other pupils, stealing, ripping up school books, never attempting homework, fighting, truancy, refusing to follow reasonable instructions, walking out of lessons, swearing, damaging staff cars etc.. He had been shown such kindness, such goodwill and yet he had thrown it all back. I was determined to win him over and at least, when in my charge, to stifle his old behaviours.

It was easy enough in a very small class. I jollied him along, gave him positive strokes, didn't make a song and dance about little blips in his behaviour, tried hard to make the work fun. Though I say it myself, in my lessons it was working - he was behaving even if his English writing skills remained just above the level of a well-stimulated laboratory chimpanzee. However, in other lessons and around the school, his behaviour was worsening if anything. He was suspended a couple of times and given strong warnings as to his future conduct.

As his form tutor I was asked to keep a detailed record of any behaviour reports I got - pending future action. As if I didn't have enough to do! Anyway, over half a term and unbeknown to Michael, I compiled a list of any reports I received from other members of staff- both oral and written. It was the same old stuff with a few new misbehaviours thrown in - including spitting in the face of a dinner lady who insisted he couldn't jump the lunch queue, setting fire to a bin in Science and, rather disgustingly, standing on a concrete gatepost at the neighbouring primary school and urinating on some five year old girls. Sex was beginning to feature in his catalogue of misdemeanours and I recall shudderingly how he once confided in me that he liked little children - especially girls.

The straw that broke the system's back was when he ripped up his meticulously assembled annual school report. The headteacher asked for the behaviour dossier I had been compiling and I sent it down to his office. Michael was carpeted and informed that the time had come for a parting of ways. He was to be expelled. The Head of Year who was also in this endgame meeting told me that the headteacher had said several times "Mr Pudding has made a detailed list of your wrongdoings... Mr Pudding has written this down for February 5th...Mr Pudding this, Mr Pudding that..."

Instead of leaving the head's office with his head bowed in shame, Michael came looking for me. In his mind I was now the villain - the one who had dared to list his various misdemeanours. I wasn't in my classroom . I was on a free period, printing lesson materials in the school's reprographic room next to the library. Suddenly, there he stood - a barrel of aggression. I said something like "What do you want?" And he said "You know why I'm here!" - his fists clenched at his side, his face flushed, his pupils even wider than usual. Fortunately, the Head of Year also appeared in the doorway and she was able to intervene both physically and with calming words before leading Michael away.

I never saw him again but for a couple of years I was ready for him, ready to attack rather than be attacked if he appeared in my room. The stupid headteacher said, "Oh you shouldn't worry. He was never really aggressive" but some four years later he received a prison sentence for grievous bodily harm - though not, I am happy to say for battering a Yorkshire pudding!

Freebie

I don't know about you but I love those freebie mail order magazines that come stuffed inside other publications. You know the sort that sell all sorts "reader offers" such as electronic gadgets you never thought you wanted, rather unfashionable/unflattering clothes and an eclectic mix of garden products...


Anyway I really enjoy leafing through these magazines, checking out all the "wonderful" items I won't be ordering before consigning it to the recycle bin.

Now given my feelings that us British just aren't patriotic enough, you can imagine my delight when I found this flagpole for sale at a "bargain" price of £59.99 this week. I mean it's 6 metres (about 20 ft) high and comes complete with a flag for instant patriotism, what more could you want?

Well for one thing if you happen to be Welsh or Scottish, you won't be too happy that it is supplied with the English St. George's flag and if you want either St. Andrew's or the Welsh Dragon flag you have to pay extra LOL.  



Leicester 1 - 2 Reading

SPEAKING OUT!!!!!!!!!

Satisfactory Words Giving 

Pleasure To

Ears Increasing

Anxiety To Enhance

Knowledge By

Inspirational

Notes Spread By

Gigantic Knowledge

Owning & Sharing The Knowledge

Unknown To Many By

Teaching Through Various Means. 

PS :- Dearies, Thanks A Lot For All Your Cherishable Compliments For Previous Post, "CHILD ABUSE".

Written For Acrostic Only.

Prompt # 1

Mary's Story

This was the very first poem I wrote in my very first poetry class in college, 6 years ago. I sat down and wrote it, and edited very little ever since. It is completely simple and yet I have always felt an attachment to it. It wasn't about me, I didn't actually know the circumstances of which the narrator in this poem speaks, but it seemed to all just come to me, like a fiction story that was somehow personal. And a couple of years later, I would play a character who went through these exact circumstances, and this same poem would surface again to help me find her heart. I share it here with you now.

Mary’s Story

So Mary came to me in a dream.
She told me how she lost her virginity.
You wouldn’t believe it unless you heard it.
She lost it to some guy, Doug,
who said she was a pretty girl.

He liked her lips.
She liked the way his hand felt on her cheek.
He said I love you baby.
She said Don’t you tell ok.
And then she was knocked up.
Mary wasn’t allowed to be knocked up you see,
and guess what, she went to
the same Doctor I went to!

But instead of digging into her and yanking it out,
Doctor said,
Mary I’ve got a brilliant idea.
Mary, legs spread open, naked and doped, couldn’t wait to hear this.
Doctor said,
I’m going to make you the mother of a prophet.
I’m going to give you an eternal virginity.
Mary, well she thought this sounded just swell.
But in my dream, just to me,
she confessed that maybe it wasn’t the best idea after all.

See, Doctor didn’t have any brilliant ideas for me.
He just shoved the whole world inside me it seemed,
and then I guess my vagina vomited it all out,
and somewhere in that mess was
my slaughtered baby.

Maybe he could’ve been a prophet too.

Memed

That Welsh rare bit - Jennyta of "Demob Happy Teacher" discovered a piece in "The Independent" newspaper which she has turned into a meme challenge for we inhabitants of Blogworld. Like a relay runner, I also pass the baton to you dear reader. For insomniacs, here are my responses...

My parents were ... the best of friends and had great respect for one another. They were - like me - both Yorkshire born and bred.

The house I grew up in ... was a Victorian schoolhouse that Dad rented from the local council. He was the headmaster of the village school and we lived next door. There was a coalhouse, a wash-house and an outside toilet. In the garden there were three tall sycamores and a craggy apple tree. The school playground and field were our exclusive play territory when school was not in session.

When I was a child I wanted to be ... a man. Perhaps a poet or a teacher and later I thought I might like to be a famous rock star.

If I could change one thing about myself ... I would like to always remember to zip up my flies before going out and maybe also lose a few ounces of flab around the middle.

You wouldn't know it but I'm very good at ... drawing cartoons.

You may not know it but I'm no good at ... remembering numbers. I can remember my date of birth and home phone number, our house number and the fact that the Battle of Hastings was in 1066 but that is just about it. Numbers don't much interest me.

At night I dream of ... mostly rude things which I wouldn't wish to share with you.

What I see when I look in the mirror ... I see the vessel in which I have voyaged thus far through life. It has been a dependable ship but I guess it has seen better days.

My favourite outfit ... well clothes and fashion mean very little to me. I despise the western cult of fashion and "looking good" in a world where the vast majority of people are still very much focussed on simply surviving. Let's say a cowboy suit with a sheriff's badge and stirrups on my boots. I would look a right prat but who cares?

My house is ... comfortable and it's on a hill. Similar to so many pre-war semis in the suburbs of northern cities except we have a very big garden

My favourite work of art is ... "The Garden of Earthly Delights" by Hieronymous Bosch

A book that changed me ... "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding. I read it when I was fourteen and suddenly realised that a work of fiction could do far more than simply tell a story. There were layers and veils and half-hidden psychological and historical truths to discover.

Your idea of movie heaven ... a film that holds my attention so that I forget about time and become thoroughly absorbed - like "Once Upon a Time in America", "The Road" , "Schindler's List" or even "Titanic".

The last album I downloaded ... I have never downloaded an album in my life and have no intention of ever doing so. As years pass, music means less to me than it used to do.

My greatest regret ... that I never got to see my paternal grandparents. They were both dead before I was born which was, I think, one of the unspoken legacies of World War II.

My real-life villain ... Margaret Hilda Thatcher. Butcher of the trade union movement, warmonger and milk snatcher. She who said, "There is no such thing as society"

The person who really makes me laugh is ... Sergeant Bilko.

The last time I cried ... was earlier on today when I was watching a programme about missing people and it told the tale of a Down's syndrome man who wandered off into some woods. He was missing for thirty six hours. It was heart rending how his local community missed him, searched for him, found him and welcomed him back. He was much loved.

My five-year plan ... I have never believed in five year plans. You never know what life might throw at you. I would love to see both of our children happily married and one day I would love to cuddle my grandchildren. I am also keen to visit New Zealand. Are these plans?

What's the point? There is no point. You just get on and make the most of things, avoid unhappiness and seek out happiness and do unto others as you would have done to yourself because there IS such a thing as society.

My life in six words ... Came. Saw. Didn't Conquer. But Lived.

Roadtrip

If one were to undertake a roadtrip in the USofA one might prepare a CD filled with songs referring to the places listed on one's travel itinerary. For example on the west coast you could listen to "Do You Know The Way to San Jose?" sung by Dionne Warwick, "If You're Going to San Francisco" by Scott McKenzie and "The Little Old Lady from Pasadena" by the Beachboys and so on.

Moving eastwards there'd be "Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa" by Gene Pitney, "Show Me The Way to Amarillo" by Tony Christie, "Stars Fell on Alabama" by Billie Holliday, "Galveston" by Glenn Campbell, "Georgia on My Mind" sung by Ray Charles, "New York, New York" by Frank Sinatra and perhaps "Down by the Banks of the Ohio" made famous by Olivia Newton-John. The overall theme music would naturally be "America" by Simon and Garfunkel.

This CD which will shortly be available from Yorkshire Pudding Enterprises (only £27.99 + pp) will undoubtedly enhance the roadtrip - providing a soundtrack for the strangely familiar passing vistas of The United States. In addition, I am happy to announce that a parallel CD is being prepared for American visitors to Yorkshire. The album will include...

"Do You Know the Way to Cleckheaton?"

"If You're Going To Heckmondwike"

"The Little Old Lady from Pontefract"

"Twenty Four Hours from Filey Brigg"

"Show Me the Way to Wetwang"

"Stars Fell on Thorngumbald"

"Grimethorpe" by Bert Campbell

"Penistone on My Mind"

"York York"

"Down by the Banks of the Humber"

and the theme music would be "Yorkshire (On Ilkley Moor Bah'tat)" by Geoff Boycott and the Dinnington Colliery Brass Band.

How is it that American place names seem to sit happily in song lyrics but put English names in their place and unbridled mirth is created! Do Americans feel the same way I wonder? Do they squirm when they hear a new song about their city or state? And any other suggestions for songs for my Yorkshire roadtrip CD?

Vijay in Tamil remake of 3 Idiots

Vijay is 3 Idiots is a confirmed news.Actor Vijay has finally decided to act in the remake of the Aaamir Khan starer Hindhi movie 3 Idiots.The sources confirmed that it was Vijay who was very curious to do the 3 Idiots movie in Tamil. Vijya watched the movie and was quite impressed in 3 Idiots. Vijay Antony could be the music director for the movie.

Rancho's character played by Aamir Khan is the important role in the movie and I feel it is quite tough for actor Vijay to get the perfection that Aamir Khan got.I am expecting a change from the usual masala from Vijay. Ratnavelu a very good caneraman has been approached to do the camera work.

Apart from Vijay in 3 Idiots the other two roles are also important and Jeeva has accepted to do one of the roles.There are rumors that Simbhu was asked to Madhavan role but Simbhu politely refused it.Well Simbhu is in cloud nine after his recent success in VTV.

CHILD ABUSE....

Cultured Children
Highly
Intelligent 
Lovely, To Whom A
Drench of Blood

Approaches With
Brutality
Unruliness
Straining Their
Energy Level To Fight For Justice.

Written For ACROSTIC ONLY.  

PROMPT 2 :- CHILD ABUSE.

PS :- Dearies, Thanks A Lot For All Your Cherishable Compliments For Previous Post, "HESITATION".

New York City's Best Hotels

New York is the restaurant capital of the country, may be even the world. Dining options run the gamut, from small, out of the way ethnic eateries to formal French temples of gastronomy. You can spend $5 on dinner or $500 and some of the better restaurants offer real deals at lunch. When they are accepted, reservations are essential when they are not you may have to wait. Don't fret. In general though not always a long line augurs a good experience.

Daniel: Open the lengthy, predominantly, French, prix fixe only menu to being one of the most memorable meals available in Manhattan today. Choose from modern classics such as cashew nut crusted venison with braised red cabbage and sweet potato puree. The service is fittingly excellent. The neo-Renaissance dining room provides an extremely formal setting; dinner in the lounge is a more relaxed experience.

Gramercy Tavern: Gramercy Tavern Hotel is urbanely rustic restaurant is divided into two rooms - the first come first served tavern in front offers a light menu. Some choices are prepared in the wood burning oven while you watch. The more formal but still intimidating dining room in the back features a carefully conceived American table d'hotel menu. Friendly service and a dessert menu that rivals any in the city complete the experience.

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Ten Years Ago, or Laly meets Larissa

Since my last post was about my vision of myself in 10 years, it has me thinking of who I was ten years ago as well, and what that version of me wanted me to become, and what she'd say to me now. I decided 14-year-old Larissa and 24-year-old Larissa should meet and have a talk, so I wrote it out, and I used my left hand to write out my younger self's dialogue, since writing with my left hand gets me out of my head and lets that younger me really express herself, and then I replied as myself now, with my right hand. I hope this isn't too confusing. Here it is. I'm calling 14-year-old me by Laly because that was my nickname then, and an appropriate description of who I was as well.

Larissa: Hi, Laly.

Laly: This is kind of odd, I have to say, Larissa.

Larissa: You must think I'm old.

Laly: No, I'm relieved that you don't have pimples and that you're so pretty!

Larissa: You're beautiful. You don't know it yet, but you are.

Laly: People say that all the time. I still wish I was blonde. What happened to your nose? And your boobs?

Larissa: Plastic surgery.

Laly: Oh. Wow. It looks great.

Larissa: It'll hurt.

Laly: I'm afraid of pain.

Larissa: That is still the case.

Laly: Are you an actress?

Larissa: Yes. I am.

Laly: I'm so happy to hear that!

Larissa: You've just played Ophelia, right?

Laly: Yes! Oh my god. I loved it!

Larissa: I know. I still love that memory. You will do a loooot of Shakespeare, honey.

Laly: That's so exciting. So, like, what else have you done?

Larissa: Well, you know that TV show that you're completely obsessed with, Inside The Actor's Studio?

Laly: Yes!

Larissa: Well, I'm just gonna say this: you're going to get a lot closer to it than just watching it on TV!

Laly: Oh my god. Ok. That's amazing. What else? Are you married?

Larissa: (laughs) No, darling. I'm not married. I forgot- you're not a feminist yet. Oh, you're in for a ride. But don't worry, you will love so deeply, and you will be loved just as deeply, and it'll be wonderful. And I'm only 24!

Laly: I think I'm in love now. With two guys.

Larissa: I know. You're going to break both of their hearts. It's ok. Enough people will break your heart later on to make up for it.

Laly: That sounds painful too.

Larissa: It's delicious pain. And it's gonna make you a much better actress.

Laly: Ok. I can live with that. It's really cool seeing you. You seem totally awesome.

Larissa: Hah. Yeah. It's really cool seeing you too. I had forgotten how in love with life you are, how eager you are. How in love with life I am, how eager I am, I should say.

Laly: Well, I'm here to remind you. Always. And can you come by more often to remind me that I'm gonna have clear skin one day and nice boobs and pretty hair?

Larissa: Of course. You won't listen. But I'll try my best. And you should eat more. Your metabolism is really good, eat as much as you want. Diet later in life.

Laly: I'll try to remember that. Oh, and remember that there's nothing more important than integrity in acting. Please don't give in to social pressures, ever.

Larissa: Ok. Thank you for saying that. It's hard, being unemployed most of the time, and wanting people to like you.

Laly: I bet. But we're gonna be ok. I think we're doing really well so far!

Larissa: We are.

Laly: Ok, I gotta go call one of my friends and tell them about this because it's like totally awesome.

Larissa: Go for it! I'm totally posting this on my blog, I think it's amazing to talk to you. Bye for now, darling.

Laly: Bye. Hey, by the way, I'm your biggest fan.

Larissa: I know. And I'm yours.

me at 14 with shahar

me now.

Oi! Ginger!

Long standing readers to Mostly Harmless will know I absolutely adore all things ginger. Especially Ginger Beer. So you can imagine my delight when I discovered this in my local Waitrose supermarket. It's come all the way from our colonial cousins living in the Land Down Under. Can't wait to try a bottle later tonight. Strewth!



















And while on the subject of ginger-ness, my very own 'copper-top' in the form of LL (he gets it from his maternal Granddad) has been doing rather well lately. I have him every Saturday and in the mornings he goes to Gym club for an hour or so, where sadly (LOL) I can only join the other parents and watch from the balcony. He really enjoys it and while he's keen, he'll get all the encouragement I can give. They assess the kids about once a term to national gymnastic standards and I'm pleased to say that with some effort he's been able to progress, winning himself this lovely certificate.   

And this afternoon we popped along to the Wycombe Swan theatre where they were having an open day, including guided tours from back stage all the way up into the lighting gallery. Excellent fun and was totally free. Now that's not bad is it?

Since I'm on a bit of a blogging-roll... I found this recently, all the way from the New England area of the US. I used to have one on the back of my previous car, which didn't make a great deal of sense in the UK but you should have seen the faces of puzzled on-lookers! Maybe I should consider it again..?

While I think of it, we don't change our clocks in the UK until 28 March. I checked here on the government website, since there'd been a total lack of coverage this past week. Sorry for any panic/confusion caused LOL. Spring is still due to start tomorrow though.


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