Category Archives: thoughts

current affairs, thoughts

Management Fun

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Jilly over at jillysheep is having a little local difficulty with management. Her manager keeps changing: “Who’s our manager this week?”. I’ve had some fun of my own this week …

Anyone who works in a large organisation will likely understand the following (paraphrased) conversation with a senior manager:

“We’ve got an interesting challenge with project X and I need someone strong to sort it out. Would you like to do it?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“No, not really.”

So you end up clearing your desk, handing off everything you’re currently doing — in mid-project; very unsatisfying! — to people who already have too much to do, ready to start on the new project “tomorrow”.

“What’s in it for me?”
“You get to do what you’re good at: be a PITA to Z!”

Oh gee thanks. The words “frying pan”, “fire” and “jump” come to mind.

What has been really touching tho’ is that a number of my colleagues — including several I would never have expected — have not just wished me well but said how sorry they are to see me move on and how much I’ll be missed. It’s almost enough to make me feel quite emotional.

medical, science, thoughts

Measles Endemic in UK

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Apparently Measles is now endemic in the UK. Well now there’s a surprise — I thought it always had been! But according to an item the other day on ProMED Mail (the mailing list of the International Society for Infectious Diseases) which is interested mostly in emerging diseases, Measles had become a rarity but is once again endemic. To quote from the item …

Measles once again endemic in the United Kingdom

A total of 14 years after the local transmission of measles was halted in the United Kingdom (UK),the disease has once again become endemic, according to the Health Protection Agency (HPA), the public health body of England and Wales. In an update on measles cases in its weekly bulletin last week, the agency stated that, as a result of almost a decade of low mumps-measles-rubella(MMR) vaccination coverage across the UK, ‘the number of children susceptible to measles is now sufficient to support the continuous spread of measles’.

In an earlier update, the HPA reported that all recent indigenously-acquired cases with a genotype in England and Wales had been found to have the same D4 sequence …

In May [2008], a 17-year-old with underlying congenital immunodeficiency died of acute measles infection, the first such fatality in the UK since 2006 … The total number of confirmed measles cases in England and Wales so far this year [2008] is 461. In Scotland, there have been 68 cases of measles reported in 2008, of which 51 have been laboratory-confirmed. All of the cases in Scotland were either not immunised or of unknown immunisation status. Only 2 of the cases were imported from abroad …

The HPA has recommended that health services exploit ‘all possible opportunities’ to offer MMR vaccine to children who have not received 2 doses … Europe is facing a measles epidemic, with large ongoing outbreaks for instance in Switzerland, Austria and Italy.

Why am I not surprised? Moreover I don’t understand this fuss; we’ve always had Measles. Yes, I know it can be nasty, but so can ‘flu. Why do we have this fetish that we must always rid ourselves so permanently of all diseases. Are we not beginning to get evidence that the population as a whole is healthier for being exposed to all these things?

medical, natural history, personal, photography, pleasures, science, thoughts, topographical

What I Done on My Holidays

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At the beginning of June Noreen and I had two weeks holiday (well time off work anyway). For a variety of reasons, not least that we couldn’t get anyone to feed the cats, not even our local cattery, we didn’t go away. As always we intended to have lots of days out but due to basic knackeration and idleness we failed. So here is what I did done on my holidays …

  • Took lots of photographs of the garden and especially the roses
  • Supervised the gardener reconstructing the compost heaps
  • Got a boot-load of old stuff (dead printers, garden shredder) taken to the tip
  • Proofread Anthony Powell Society quarterly Newsletter and sent it to printer
  • Paid loads of bills
  • Turned out the toot from our wardrobes and threw out a load of old shoes, underwear, etc.
  • Reviewed the draft new Anthony Powell Society website (still under development at the time of writing)
  • Got a haircut
  • Tidied up my PC hard disk
  • Photoshopped lots of photos and posted them to Flickr
  • Caught up on the pile of magazines to read by the bed
  • Had some extra sleep
  • Cooked lamb curry, vegetable curry and trout & pasta
  • Decided not to buy a new bike (‘cos I know I’ll end up not using it, like I didn’t use the last one)
  • Attended a charity trustees meeting, and unexpectedly had to chair it
  • Went to London Zoo
  • Went to the garden centre and bought loads of plants (some acers, a rose, a passion flower, lots of small things) and some terracotta pots for the patio
  • Had a major tidy-up and repotted lots of plants on the patio
  • Stayed up late but still got up fairly early (at least on some days)
  • Had several siestas
  • Went to Kew Gardens
  • Spent lots of time pottering in the garden
  • Got slightly sunburnt
  • Wrote several weblog posts
  • Had sex, several times
  • Totally buggered my sleep pattern and failed to get up early on the days I wanted to (which is why we didn’t have as many away-days as planned)
  • Processed a raft of literary society membership renewals and other admin; three afternoons worth!
  • Tried to agree what we should do for an autumn holiday – and failed!

Such is the stuff of doing nothing.

food+drink, memes, photography, thoughts

Friday Five: Drink

We’ve not done a Friday Five for a long time, so here’s this week’s …

1. What drink wakes you up best in the morning?
Tea. It just has to be a pint mug of tea. Strong tea, with very little milk — you have to be able to trot a mouse on it! 🙂

2. During the day, what do you drink to keep going?
Mostly tea and Diet Coke. Sometimes fruit juice.

3. Do you drink the recommended 8 glasses of water per day? Why/why not?
No. Why not? ‘Cos I drink plenty of other liquid (usually at least 4 pints of tea a day, without anything else) and I don’t like plain water — well neither would you if you had to suffer London’s recycled liquid concrete.

4. What are the ingredients of your favorite mixed drink? (Doesn’t have to be alcoholic!)
It has to be Gin and Tonic!

5. Are you a coffee drinker? How do you take your coffee, if so?
I hardly ever drink coffee these days, and haven’t for 6 or 7 years. I used to like on coffee in the office, but a dowser & healer I knew worked out that coffee wasn’t good for me (except possibly in homeopathic quantities) so I stopped drinking it. (And no he wasn’t anti-coffee as many of these people are; asked him and he actually dowsed it there and then.) These days I drink coffee probably about once a month — occasionally I fancy a coffee (has to be strong, like the tea) and I’m almost always left disappointed.

[Brought to you courtesy of Friday Five.]

history, people, personal, thoughts

Ah, Those Were the Days!

I’m not long home from an interestingly nostalgic weekend — I’ve been to a school reunion for those of who left Cheshunt Grammar School (Hertfordshire) in 1967-68-69. I was the youngest of these years as I left in ’69. The reunion (arranged by one of the ’68 leavers on his own initiative) was in the Red Cow pub, Windmill Lane, Cheshunt — about 5 minutes walk from the site of the old school, which is sadly no more, the site now being houses! Yes, the Red Cow was one of the pubs frequented by the 6th form at lunchtimes — except when we were banned, or the headmaster found out, when we went across the road to The Maltsters or into the town to the Rose & Crown.

We had a great time with about 40-50 people there (including some non-CGS partners) — not bad from an audience of probably 200, especially as many of us have lost complete touch with our school-friends. Being today there wasn’t as much beer being sunk as there would have been a few years ago — people were either being good or driving, or both! The pub laid on a good array of finger food. Having arrived about 4.30 we left soon after 9pm and the group was still going strong — if they were true to form they continued well into the night!

There were several people there I was quite friendly with at school as well as many I didn’t remember. Our deputy head (who unsuccessfully taught me History) also came along; I guess Kate must now be around 80, but she looked extremely fit and well, remembered us all and was interested to know what and how we’d all done. Richard who did the organising had arranged for our “all school” photographs from 1963 and 1968 to be printed up and displayed, so fun was had by all identifying the people (pupils and staff). Someone else brought their scrapbook of school memorabilia — I must look mine out! — which was another good conversation piece.

Everyone there seemed to be retired or on the point of retiring. Sadly I have a few years to go yet, unless I can magic together that big lottery win!

The reunion, plus a couple of drives around some parts of the town, turned it into a really nostalgic weekend, especially as I’ve not visited the area at all for 20 years. Indeed I left with quite a pang of home-sickness in my stomach — something I’m not used to and was quite disturbing. Let’s hope we can all meet up again sooner than another 40 years! We certainly should have a big bash for our 50th anniversary!!

Those were the days — the happiest days our our lives! Maybe an overstatement but they must certainly come close.

(Maybe some photos later.)

amusements, current affairs, thoughts, topographical

Great British Duck Race 2008

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Sponsor a duck and raise money for charity – that’s what the Great British Duck Race 2008 is asking us to do. It’s British, it’s wacky, it raises money for all sorts of charities and it might get in the Guinness Book of Records.

In 2007 GBDR smashed Singapore’s world record by racing 165,000 yellow plastic ducks down the River Thames and in the process raised over £100,000 UK charities.

This year the aim is to go even bigger and better by attempting to race a quarter of a million little yellow plastic ducks down the 1 kilometre race course. If successful this will break the record GBDR set last year.

When is it? Sunday 31 August.
Where is it? The ducks take to the water at Moseley Lock, near Hampton Court Palace.
Can I go and watch? Yes, absolutely you can. It looks like a fun family day out.

How much is it? It’s just £2 to adopt a duck and this includes a donation to GBDR’s three nominated charities. Added to which you can choose to make additional donations to any of over 500 participating charities. And there are 30 prizes for the winning ducks with a first prize of a “whopping” £10,000.

It’s just a shame the course isn’t the length of the Thames from Hampton Court to (say) Tower Bridge. Now that would be fun!

Adopt a duck now!
Only in England would we do anything quite so mad!
freedom of speech, medical, memes, nudism, photography, science, thoughts

Full Frontal Mirror Tiles


Full Frontal Mirror Tiles, originally uploaded by kcm76.

This week’s self-portrait: 52 Weeks 16/52 (2008 week 24).

Yes it’s horrible, and I’m seriously over-weight … but not as much as I was; I’ve lost 28kg (almost 4.5 stone) since October. That’s not fast, but it is fast enough considering I am diabetic and while controlling calories also have to be careful to keep my blood glucose stable. Actually losing the weight has helped a lot with my blood sugar levels and my blood pressure, so although it isn’t easy it is worth doing; I do feel lots better for it. But I really need to get rid of at least that much again if I possibly can.

Oh and yes, the tile effect is a shameless abuse of Photoshop – just to save the worst of the blushes of the innocent. Being nude, anywhere, anytime, bothers me not at all ‘cos I was brought up as a nudist! But I know it does bother others, so out of respect for them there is nothing here that you wouldn’t see in a swimming pool.

beliefs, people, personal, sexuality, thoughts

Rules for Living Life

I recently came across a weblog posting by Jonathan Fields over at Awake at the Wheel where he suggests “Six timeless rules for my 6-year-old daughter“. Never having had children, let alone a six-year-old, I’m not going to discuss the merits or otherwise of Jonathan’s rules. But they set me thinking: What rules for life would I commend? And I came up with these seven.

  1. Change happens. The only thing which doesn’t change is something which is dead. We all change; it’s called life. Some change is good, some is bad; that’s called evolution. You can either fight change or go with it. Fighting it is destructive; you can’t stop change, so much better to go with it and see what opportunities are presented.
  2. Life isn’t fair; deal with it. Things aren’t always going to go your way, and neither should they. If they did we would never learn. There is nothing you can do about most of the unfairnesses and stupidities, so quit worrying about them and let them flow over you. Accept it when things don’t go your way, try to understand why, and move on.
  3. Live the now. Go for it; grasp opportunities when they’re offered. As my wife’s favourite aunt used to say: “I take my treats as they come.” That doesn’t mean you should always live for the here and now, and never plan ahead. Clearly there is a balance. But don’t shut yourself off from the present and from opportunities because you’re worrying about what might happen – it might not and you will have missed out!
  4. Trust your gut instinct, but consider the consequences of your actions. We all spend too much time thinking and worrying. Yes, we must be aware of the consequences of our actions – not to do so is selfish and would ultimately lead to anarchy (as well as violating rule 7). But don’t over-analyse. There comes a time, usually sooner rather than later, to make a decision. Go for it. Sometimes despite your head’s better judgement your gut instinct will say: “but that isn’t the right choice for me”, “it doesn’t feel right”, “I know it’s risky but that’s what I really have to do”. Trust your gut and your heart to make the right choice. If we only ever trusted our heads, we’d never fall in love!
  5. Learn; don’t regret. We can only ever make the best decision we can at the time with the information available. We usually don’t have enough information or we’ll make a wrong choice. There is no point looking back and regretting your decision, or worrying about what might have been; you can’t change the decision; you did the best you could at the time. Try to understand why your choice was not the best and move on. I always say I have no regrets; I admit there are things I have done which I should not have done and wouldn’t do again, but I hope I’ve learnt from them and that is valuable – so why should I regret having done them, except perhaps in as much as it hurt other people.
  6. Communicate. Probably the biggest cause of things going wrong or misunderstandings is a lack of communication. We always say that communication is the most important factor in any marriage/relationship; and it’s true. But it applies equally to everything we do. If you don’t communicate, how do others know what you think, what you’re going to do, or what you want them to do? And communication doesn’t mean just talk; it isn’t all one way: you outwards! It means listen as well; listen hard and properly to what is being said to you; make sure you understand it.
  7. Treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself. This is perhaps most important of all; if you can achieve this most of the rest will follow. It is the cornerstone of my personal management method (which I call “Ethical Management” although it’s really about getting the best from people – but that’s something for another day). It isn’t “do to others before they do unto you” as seems so common today. It is “do to others what you would like them to do to you”. If you treat other people fairly then the wheels will turn more easily. People are like wasps: they’re essentially good; respect them and they’ll respect you; they only get vindictive when you get snotty with them. Don’t just screw someone for your personal short-term gain. Don’t do things to gratuitously annoy someone. Try to understand the world through their eyes. Why are they in a grumpy mood? Sympathise – better empathise — with them. Understand that it isn’t they who made that error and try to help them to help you to put it right. The Dalai Lama’s word is compassion, meant in its broadest sense. Treat others with compassion.

I do try to live by these rules myself, although I have to admit I didn’t always; I’ve had to learn them for myself, the hard way. I don’t always succeed, but that’s part of learning: if you’re not failing occasionally then you’re not taking enough risks to move “the business” (whatever that is; read “life”?) forward.

I would commend these to anyone. OK maybe not in this form until that someone is in their teens, at least, but I’m sure they can be packaged in suitable words for people of any age.