Truth ...

In a recent conversation with a friend, we discussed the correct placing of punctuation within parentheses. My friend, a follower of Ms. Truss, wrote, "I am merely a seeker of truth."
I believe that his soul may be in danger.



I wrote as follows:

Surely, you've been on this Earth long enough to realise that 'truth' is ephemeral.

First we had God. He was followed, after a 14,000,000,000 year-long gestation, by Jesus. He said, " ... I am the truth ..."

Many mortals came after.
Bishop Ussher declared that the world was created on 23rd. October, 4004 BC, (by the Julian calendar).
Darwin caused uproar.
Thomas Malthus said we should be extinct by now.
Richard Dawkins confounded everyone with 'intelligent design', while Noel Edmonds engaged in 'cosmic ordering'. (He needs it.)
NOW even the Pope confesses to fallibility! (We all knew that, anyway.)

The only absolute truth, according to nobody else but me, (in whom I have complete faith), is as follows:

If you wish to parenthesise a complete sentence, perhaps as an afterthought, the final full-stop belongs before the closing bracket.
See below:

(Otherwise, truth is nothing but myth, legend and superstition.)
It would silly like this: (Otherwise, truth is nothing but myth, legend and superstition).

In Memoriam...

Another cat died yesterday. This was unexpected and untimely. It must have been shocking for her carers. Holly was rescued and nurtured to become the much-loved companion of my good friends Berry and Brenda. I have reason to share their pain.

This is for them...



Sand and Water

All alone, I didn't like the feeling.
All alone, I sat and cried.
All alone, I had to find some meaning
In the center of the pain I felt inside.

All alone, I came into this world.
All alone, I will someday die.
Solid stone is just sand and water, baby,
Sand and water, and a million years gone by.

I will see you in the light of a thousand suns.
I will hear you in the sound of the waves.
I will know you when I come, as we all will come,
Through the doors beyond the grave.

All alone, I heal this heart of sorrow.
All alone, I raise this child.
Flesh and bone, he's just
Bursting towards tomorrow,
And his laughter fills my world and wears your smile.

All alone, I came into this world.
All alone, I will someday die.
Solid stone is just sand and water, baby,
Sand and water and a million years gone by.

This is for you, Berry and Brenda, with our love and sympathy.
Don't worry, Misty will be looking out for her!
xC&J.

Who's got gold these days?

Youtube has fallen foul of the Performing Rights Society (PRS) in UK.
I had to upload this before it disappears.

I haven't a clue what Neil Young's lyrics are about:
Drugs? Armageddon? UFOs?
Does it matter?



I woke up to this rendition by Prelude on the radio the other day.

I remain stunned!

Listen NOW!
This video might self destruct, taking your PC with it, within the next few days.
THEN, blame the mendacity of PRS!

Something about "Quantitative Easing" ...

Now, look here, Mervyn, what load of nonsense is this?
Here is my government's banker proposing to print money!
Surely, money has to be earned, not just printed!
















I could print money.
"I promise to pay the bearer b***** all," it would say.

I am no academic economist, but I derive from some earlier-received wisdom that such a strategy is a recipe for inflation. That would mean higher prices, increasingly widespread poverty and a devaluation of the odd pound in my pocket. I can put that pound in my bank (risky) or I can secrete it beneath my mattress. Wherever, it remains at risk of devaluation.

I have every sympathy with those who are threatened with redundancy, unemployment and repossession of their properties. I acknowledge my own good fortune in not being so threatened (yet.) Unfortunately, now we are witnessing the fruits of an overconfident, credit-orientated economic system which has come to disadvantage us all.

In youth my parents encouraged me to save. I did.
In adult life my bankers invited me to borrow. I did.
Now, in later years, my government implores me to spend.
I suppose I must!

What's your terminal bonus going to be, Mr. King?

....

On top of all that, I learn that the Royal Mint (with my government's approval) is to abandon the image of Britannia on our coins of the realm.

"Shame on you," I say, "How very dare you?!"

I wonder: what does the Queen have to say about this?



Rule Britannia! (But mind where you're putting that trident!)

Pompey wins the FA Cup ..

Most of you probably think the Portsmouth striker is a bloke, don't you?



Actually, I am married to her!

I am the chimp on the left ...

The person who sent me the following clip prefaced it with a derogatory title about Irish people and their Darwinian heritage.

PC requires that it do NOT reproduce that introduction.

This sender should be kneecapped, tarred and feathered.
(Is 'tarred' a correct verb?)



I complain to the director that, apart from the opening frames, I receive minimal exposure. What's the one in the middle got that I haven't!

Now look here, Bill (1.however-many decimals,) this is parody in the extreme. The Riverdance productions were a complete delight.

I remain very fond of my Irish friends.
Darwin was pretty bright, too!

Anyone for tea? ...

Good,eh?!

Kipling and vampires...

Philip Burne-Jones' picture, "The Vampire" (first exhibited in 1896,) depicts a woman mounting a sleeping/unconscious man.

(Oh, lucky man!)




In 1897 Rudyard Kipling was reputed to have been inspired to write his poem “The Vampire” after viewing this image. Here it is:

The Vampire

A fool there was and he made his prayer
(Even as you or I!)
To a rag and a bone and a hank of hair,
(We called her the woman who did not care),
But the fool he called her his lady fair--
(Even as you or I!)

Oh, the years we waste and the tears we waste,
And the work of our head and hand
Belong to the woman who did not know
(And now we know that she never could know)
And did not understand!

A fool there was and his goods he spent,
(Even as you or I!)
Honour and faith and a sure intent
(And it wasn't the least what the lady meant),
But a fool must follow his natural bent
(Even as you or I!)

Oh, the toil we lost and the spoil we lost
And the excellent things we planned
Belong to the woman who didn't know why
(And now we know that she never knew why)
And did not understand!

The fool was stripped to his foolish hide,
(Even as you or I!)
Which she might have seen when she threw him aside--
(But it isn't on record the lady tried)
So some of him lived but the most of him died--
(Even as you or I!)

And it isn't the shame and it isn't the blame
That stings like a white-hot brand--
It's coming to know that she never knew why
(Seeing, at last, she could never know why)
And never could understand!

(I don't understand either!)