Wee bit longer

Friend coming tonight so no written update just yet.

Meanwhile................here's a picture of my friend Vicki being playfully attacked by Bart the Cockatiel.

Not long now

I shall be updating properly soon but in the meantime, here's a picture I drew in work on Paint.

If you double click on it, you can see it better.

As requested.......

Here is a picture of the very large wine glass.

HERE'S A PICTURE OF ME DOING WHAT I DO BEST.......

And now for something completely different.........

Here's a silly picture

Drinking a Bottle of WIne From a Very Large Glass

Well, that's exactly what I'm doing and trying to ignore the sound of police and army helicopters outside and pretend that all this pointless violence isn't happening.

Trying desperately not to care and get upset about it all.

The wine is quite nice. It's white. A whole bottle fits into my very large glass. Isn't that great?!!

No, it's not that great really, is it?

I can still hear the helicopters.

Bonfire Night

It's the eleventh night, so time for bonfires here in Northern Ireland.

Traditionally, this involves alot of alcohol being consumed around bonfires and things can sometimes get out of hand, which is putting it mildly.

There is a massive bonfire just up the street from me, which means a huge crowd of drunken people or rather "youths" as they are often referred to on the news. Hopefully, there will be no trouble, but considering at least two cars nearby have had their windows smashed in the last few days, there probably will be.

The neighbourhood was really quiet today. Many people decide to go away over the Twelfth in case there is any trouble. However, as I pointed out to my mum today, they are leaving themselves vulnerable to burgulars who seem to be thriving at the moment. It was pretty obvious even to me today which houses were empty.

Anyway, this is all sounding very negative. Bonfires aren't always bad. When I was little, my dad used to take me round the bonfires with my friends and we had sparklers and sweeties and it was great fun.

Northern Ireland

In keeping with the serious tone of my blog at the moment:

As I seem to have be having more international visitors, I thought I should point out that anyone who thinks terrorists in Northern Ireland are no longer active are sadly mistaken http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4670697.stm

This sort of thing still happens regularly. The general crime rate here for robberies, physical assault, racketeering etc. has risen as well while the nasty terrorists find other outlets for their violence and hatred. The huge Northern Bank robbery a while ago is is believed by the British and Irish governments to be the work of the IRA and Loyalist terror groups are constantly engaged in power struggles with each other resulting in violent and fatal consequences.

Yes, life is better for the ordinary people going about their own business and there is a moderate calm, but the terrrorists are still active and my fear is that once they get bored of petty crime, they'll go back to their old tricks.

I think the British and Irish governments are too quick to remove security measures that have been in place for years, even decades. Army bases and many rural police stations are being closed all over the country. We are leaving ourselves vulnerable. Perhaps that is what the terrrorists are waiting for.

Birmingham

This huge evacuation was due to a credible threat apparently.

Was this security paranoia?

Apparently the police have been criticised by some for taking this action which i think is unfair. Surely it's better to be safe than sorry!!

So what if 20,000 people had a crap saturday night and didn't get pissed and vomit in the street after kebab and chips? At least they are alive.

We've had plenty of bombscares in Belfast. Nothing major for quite a while thank goodness. It's a pain in the arse, but no-one really minded.

The public know these evacuations are for their own protection.

A cool thing

This is very cool and amazingly it's free.

Check out the Eiffel Tower and Orly Airport. You can see lots of little planes sitting about!!

Religion and Death

Such a strange feeling after yesterday. When I woke up this morning, my mind was blank. I reached for my phone to turn the alarm off and noticed I had a text message. It was from my friend Jax saying a friend of ours who lives in London was nowhere near the bombs and was ok. Then yesterday's events came flooding back into my mind.

My friend is ok, but others have lost friends and family and loved ones. It's so cruel and hideous. No-one has the right to take away someone's life.

Human nature is such that there will always be those who will steal, murder and inflict pain on others. This is freewill. Every religion seems to be able to explain away the bad stuff. Religion to me has become a bad word. We don't know if Islamic extremists are responsible for this yet, but it looks likely. If this is the case, then religion has produced evil.

Similarly, if we are to believe that Loyalists and Republican terrorists have murdered and terrorised in Northern Ireland and Britain in order to protect their religion, then belief has given birth to barbarism.

There are many more examples of religion causing hate around the world; those who read newspapers will know of conflict around the world in the name of religion.

What is religion??!

The Oxford Popular Dictionary defines religion as "belief in the existence of a superhuman controlling power." Yet, if people from whatever faith believe in such a power, why do they undermine this power by assuming control themselves!!?? Surely this is blasphemy whatever God or power they believe in.

The truth is, the people who commit assaults and murders in the name of religion are enemies of their own God. They don't realise this; their minds are contorted and twisted so much that they think they are serving their God by carrying out these atrocities. It only takes one insane fanatic to turn 50 decent God loving people into misguided murderers.

I believe Al Qaeda were behind the attacks on London. I think we should pity suicide bombers. Their minds have been destroyed by other evil beings. They are merely brainwashed. They are not the evil ones. They are the victims of religion along with the people they murdered. They are tools and slaves of evil. Those who command such carnage are the epicentre of evil, not the ones they send to do their dirty work.

This is my perception. If anyone has other views, please let me know. I'm not that well versed in world affairs and accept that I may perceive things inaccurately. I am always open to other people's views and opinions.

Actually, I would really like some feedback to gauge opinion. Would be good to know what people think around the world.............although only UK people ever post here!!

Bombs in London

The attack that has been anticipated for some time has finally happened. London has been preparing for this. The emergency services are reportedly doing an excellent job. I know there are people from London on forums that I post. I hope they and their families are ok.

All the news is quite uncertain at the moment. No-one seems to know for certain how many attacks there were or how many casualties there are. It will take days to understand what happened I expect. Sadly the number of casualities is rising. It's really difficult to comprehend all of this.

News

I went to see G4 on saturday night. They were brilliant as I knew they would be. I went with my mum, but we weren't sitting together as separate seats were all I was able to get hold of. We were closer to the stage and lower down then I expected we would be. Although it wasn't close enough for me!!! I wanted to be down in the front row!!

Voices With Soul were the support group. I don't like their kind of music, but they are really good singers. There were a couple of old women sat beside me and one of them kept leaning over and saying things to me throughout the whole thing, but I couldn't hear what she was saying because there was so much noise, so I just kept smiling and nodding. It's annoying when people keep speaking to you when you're watching something, especially strangers and especially when you can't hear what they are saying.

Anyway, afterwards we just went home because mum didn't want to hang around. Next time I'll make sure I get a ticket near the front and I'll bring my camera and I'll stay behind afterwards to get hugs from the boys!!

I am two days away from having gone a month without a drop of alcohol!! I have to say, I don't feel any different. I expected to feel a bit less lethargic and be able to get up easier in the mornings. (That sounds like I was an alcoholic before haha!!) I just found myself drinking a few glasses of wine nearly every night and once a week drinking a couple of bottles and I decided it was unhealthy and there was no need for it really. Friday is the official day when I can drink again having completed my task. (Now it sounds like I'm in Big Brother). Speaking of Big Brother, that Orlaith woman in it is on one of our new tourism posters at work. If anyone remembers a couple of years ago, there was a Scottish woman on Big Brother who no-one liked and who was evicted in the first week or so. She was about 30 and was really nasty to some bloke in the house. I think her name was Lynn. Anyway she was in some of my History of Art classes at uni.


We have a new Tourist Information desk now. It's very professional looking and has about a million intensely bright white lights and light boxes with posters in. People keep coming over with clever comments like "You'll be needing your sunglasses in here" and "You'll get a good tan sitting there" In fact, all the airport staff who come past say the same thing. It's starting to get annoying now.

My precious little nephew, Ravin!!

WEE DARLING

BEAUTIFUL RAVIN