natural history, photography, topographical

Weasel!

Weasel

Weasel!

Weasel??!!??

Blimey, that is a weasel!

Something I never expected to see in suburban London — at least not in broad daylight. And I think it is only the third time I’ve ever seen a weasel, the previous two times being fleeting glimpses in the twilight as they disappear out of sight at breakneck speed.

This one was running around on the pavement and road (trying hard to get run over – stupid creature) on the busy Greenford Road right outside the Bridge Hotel about 1130 yesterday morning. (If you go to the “Location” tag at the bottom of this page, or to the Flickr image, you can see exactly where this is on the map.) The beastie is here seen lurking under a piece of metal barrier; (s)he’s probably about 15cm (6 inches) long in the body.

It was so fast it was a question of point the camera out of the car window in vaguely the right direction and hope. I got one shot in before the lights changed (and I almost missed that!). This is a tiny crop from the middle of that one shot.

beliefs, thoughts

Secure Your Own Mask Before Helping Others

There is often criticism of Zen Bhuddism for being self-centred, selfish and insufficiently altruistic. This is true up to a point; as Brad Warner explains in a recent post on his Hardcore Zen site it is difficult to help others if you’re woozy yourself because you ain’t fixed your own oxygen mask. Here’s an extract of what Brad has to say …

Zen [seems to be] self-centered. Rather that hearing a lot about how we should be of service to others, the standard canonical texts of Zen appear to focus on what we need to do to improve our own situation and state of mind … They say we need to help others, but don’t go very deeply into how that might be done. This focus on the self is ironic considering that Zen is often portrayed as a practice aimed at eradicating the self.

But have you ever glanced up randomly when you’re on an airplane ignoring the flight attendants safety instructions? When they tell you how to use those oxygen masks they say that you should first secure your own mask before helping others. There’s a good reason for this. If the plane is losing oxygen you’re going to be too woozy to be of service to anyone else until you first get your own stuff together. This is the way it is in life as well.
…
Much of what passes for religion … takes as its underlying unstated assumption and starting point that we ourselves are OK … It’s painful when that assumption is challenged …

The underlying problem is the same as the problem with the emergency oxygen masks on airplanes. In our usual condition we are far too woozy to be of much service to anyone else. When our own condition is all messed up our attempts to be helpful are more likely to make things worse than to improve them.

That’s not to say we shouldn’t do anything when we see someone is in trouble. We always have to act from the state we’re in at this moment. It’s our duty to do what we can with what we have.

One of the greatest and most useful lessons I’ve learned from Zen practice is how not to help … People learn best from their own mistakes and learn nothing when you fix things for them.
…
The problem is not whether we should live for others or not. The problem is how we should live for others … It’s important to discover how to truly help. And sometimes that means not helping.

Immediate take-away moral: don’t jump in and fix things for people but teach them how to fix the problem themselves. Kindness can be cruel in the short-term. It’s a bit like school is dull, tedious, boring and apparently pointless but later in life you realise it did actually enable you to fulfil your dreams.

current affairs

Moral Decay


There’s a thought-provoking post from a couple of days ago by Peter Osborne on the Daily Telegraph blogs site under the title “The moral decay of our society is as bad at the top as the bottom“.

He takes our revered leaders — politicians and businessmen alike — to task for being hypocritical over the recent looting when they have equally been found with their hands in the petty cash box. As the good book says “Let those who are without sin cast the first stone”.

Worth a read.

amusements, current affairs, quotes, sexuality, thoughts

Quotes of the Week

Some odd bedfellows this week …

Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary.
[Robert Louis Stephenson]

Your car is Japanese. Your vodka is Russian. Your pizza is Italian. Your kebab is Turkish. Your democracy is Greek. Your coffee is Brazilian. Your movies are American. Your tea is Tamil. Your shirt is Indian. Your oil is Saudi Arabian. Your electronics are Chinese. Your numbers are Arabic, your letters Latin. And you complain that your neighbour is an immigrant? Pull yourself together!
[Seen on Facebook]

‘chav’ (vogue label of 2004, originally a traveller’s term of address or endearment, from a French nickname for a young fox), who represents an imagined social grouping, a troublesome, truculent, feckless, shameless underclass delighting in petty criminality and conspicuous consumption (of, inter alia, illicit substances, electronic stimuli, pimped technology and ‘bling’).
[Tony Thorne, Jolly Wicked, Actually]

An eye for an eye makes the world go blind. A tooth for a tooth gums up everything!
[Thoughts of Angel]

Sex was an expression of friendship: in Africa it was like holding hands … It was friendly and fun. There was no coercion. It was offered willingly.
[Paul Theroux quoted in Christopher Ryan & Cacilda Jethá, Sex at Dawn]

I had a friend at university who used to propound this latter theory that sex was (and should be seen as) not necessarily more than an expression of sincere friendship and that why should one not have sex with ones friends just as one might have a beer with them. Not sure he ever managed to put it much into practice though.

photography, pleasures

More Pussy Porn : Rosie

Meet Rosie …

Rosie
She is our next door neighbour’s young Persian cat who is currently being fed and watered by Noreen.

She is also about to drop a bundle of kittens. The owners get a female cat, don’t have her spayed and then wonder why every tomcat in the area comes to call. They then bugger off on holiday for 3 weeks – although to be fair they have gone “home” to Lebanon because the husband’s father is seriously ill. So Noreen has had to man the breach. Fortunately they’re due back today, although who knows if that will materialise!?

Rosie
Fortunately Rosie is a placid and amenable pussy, although that lovely soft, long fur needs a lot of brushing to stop it getting matted. I love her Hobbit feet – in this second photo you can just see the tufts of fur between her toes.

photography, pleasures

Pussy Porn : The Lodger

Meet “The Lodger” …

The Lodger
She appears to have been abandoned (she’s been around for some months) and decided about a week ago she wanted to adopt us. She was clearly starving hungry and is very friendly and easy to handle. Sadly our current two felines are very not impressed, so she’s having to live in a box in our front porch for the time being. After a week she is still hungry but is already looking in much better condition.

The Lodger
This morning we took her to the vet (we were taking our two as well for their injections) to get her the once over. It turns out she has been chipped and the registered owners live a few streets away. She’s clearly in reasonable health and as there is no sign of kittens she’s likely been spayed. The vet reckons she’s probably about a year old.

The vet is going to try to contact the registered owners and see what gives; he’ll also hopefully contact our nearest vet’s where she may be registered. If there’s no dice in a week or two we’ll get the OK for her to move in with us @ndash; the present two permitting. It would be nice if she does move in as she’s a lovely, friendly small cat who deserves a good home.

Meanwhile she’s doing sentry duty at our front door.

memes, personal

Ten Things – August

Number 8 in my monthly series of “Ten Things” for 2011. Each month I list one thing from each of ten categories which will remain the same for each month of 2011. So at the end of the year you have ten lists of twelve things about me.

  1. Something I Like: Sunshine
  2. Something I Won’t Do: Eat sheeps’ eyes or tripe
  3. Something I Want To Do: Win £2M (no-one said I wasn’t allowed to dream!)
  4. A Blog I Like: Norn’s Notebook
  5. A Book I Like: AN Wilson, After the Victorians
  6. Some Music I Like: William Byrd, The Battell
  7. A Food I Like: Smoked Fish, especially eel
  8. A Food or Drink I Dislike: Absinthe
  9. A Word I Like: Halberd
  10. A Quote I Like: The gap between strategic rhetoric and operational reality remains dangerously wide. [Prof. Gordon Hewitt]
personal, topographical

No, I'm Not Ashamed

As a result of the current “little local difficulties” being experienced in London (see, for example, here) there are a lot of people around saying they are ashamed to be Londoners.

But I’m not one of them.

Yes, I’m a Londoner. But I’ve never been ashamed to be a Londoner. Because I’ve never been proud to be a Londoner. I’ve always known that London is, under a thin surface veneer, crap. And I have never understood why anyone would have any interest in, or get any enjoyment from, the place despite all it’s interesting history (which I love).

London is crap. It always has been. And likely always will be. All that’s happening now is that it is living up (down?) to it’s true nature. And this is a nature which is probably that of many large cities.

That is not to condone what is happening in the smallest iota. I wish it wasn’t thus. Probably we all wish it wasn’t thus. But it isn’t. Shit happens. Always has. Always will. The best we can hope for is that some semblance of the rule of law returns and we’re allowed to back to being crap in our own, relatively peaceful way.

I recall some proverb about leopards and their spots.

Plus ça change!