A tale of two cities

In which city was a man executed last week for the murder of a policeman in 1989, protesting his innocence after most of the witnesses changed their testimony? All appeals were rejected as far as the Supreme Court and back.In which city was a woman sentenced to 10 lashes for driving a car but with her sentence overturned by the King who has just decided that women can have the vote?

Makes you think.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/22/us-usa-georgia-execution-idUSTRE78K2O620110922

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15102190

the survivor tree

There is something almost primeval, like the movements beneath the earth's crust just before an earthquake, as we contemplate the anniversaries of  two life shattering events on 9/10 and 9/11 coming together one after the other  in a week's time

9/11 and the collapse of the twin towers at the World Trade Centre in NY. Who cannot remember where they were on that day.  9/10, and the deaths of FLN and El Pasto on the M6. No international repercussions, but life never the same again for those who loved them greatly and miss them sorely. Just as for the families and friends of all of those who died in the Twin Towers and the planes which flew into them.

The redevelopment of Ground Zero is now well underway. Freedom Tower as it is called now tops 80 floors and will eventually be 104 floors high. And there at the heart of the new development is a pear tree. This is the survivor tree. So-called because it survived the mayhem and madness of 9/11. The NY Parks Department took it off site and carefully looked after what seemed to be just a charred stump half dead and merely 8 feet tall. Replanted at the beginning of this year it is now over 35 feet tall. President Obama laid a wreath there in May.

There is a parallel here. For those of us blackened and beaten by our 9/10. Who have known the care of faithful friends. Those who will stay in there for the long haul.   Because we do not know how long it takes to blossom again in a landscape for ever changed. What we do know is that by God's grace and mercy we will grow, slowly may be, but we will grow.

You never know...

.....just when it might come in handy. Insurance that is. Apparently some 35,000 of our brothers and sisters across the pond took out insurance in 1994 against being kidnapped and eaten by aliens.

You may think that the value of such a policy might have been figuring more highly in Timelord's mind than usual as a result of:

- watching the latest episode of Doctor Who
- the start of the football season and the names of the latest imports to the ranks of our premiership teams
- forgetting to hit the mute button when the Go Compare advert hit the TV screen for the fiftieth time this evening
- spending forty eight hours in Yorkshire

Make an urgent appointment with your broker. Premiums are on the rise.

Mutton Bustin

You may wonder what drives a well balanced Herdwick sheep to dial up long distance and speak to our resident ambassadress in Dallas.

Could it be he thinks Mrs FLN is missing his good looks? Is he worried that she might have become a tea party goer thinking somehow that she might have been lured to one of their rallies by the thought of a cup of best Yorkshire?

No, the truth is he wanted to pick all the news from latest Wool Riders Only Mutton Bustin championship in Dallas. Mutton Bustin is Bronco Bustin for the very young.Riders must be under the age of 6 and weigh less than 27 kilos. The aim is to stay on board the sheep for 6 seconds and with 13,000 competitors over 13 events there is $15,000 at stake in the world championships in California this autumn.

Health and safety, animal welfare, child protection, who cares!!

Wesley has been disappointed that the latest odds are not quoted at Corals in Mere Green and has decided to promote an event at the Coppice School summer fair next year. Sheep weigh in at 200 lb or so which means Wesley need to put in some serious grazing over the next 12 months.

Need your grass mowing. You know who to call!

Out for a Cup of Tea

There was a touch of P G Wodehouse about Sunday's goings on at the Test Match at Trent Bridge when Ian Bell was run out going for a cup of tea.

Just the sort of rum thing that you might have seen at a game of cricket between Bertram Wilberforce Wooster and his friends at the Drones Club.

It was very fitting that Teapot should have been there to witness Mr Bell's sacrifice of himself to the leaf, and even more so when our Indian opponents recalled him to the field of play some 20 minutes later after they had supped their own brew during the afternoon break in proceedings.

What seemed to clinch this demonstration of sportsmanship was the revelation that Mr Bell only drinks the finest Darjeeling. Sadly for them Tim Bresnan the Pontefract all rounder only drinks the Yorkshire variety and is said to oil his bat with the stuff. 90 runs and 5 wickets followed with the Indians slumping to one of their heaviest defeats in years yesterday.

Which left Teapot with the job of explaining Sunday's goings on to her French tutor in his native tongue. Now that is a challenge: even with a three cups of best Yorkshire under your belt!

Hacked Off

Am I the only one on this scepter'd isle to have had it up to the gills over phone hacking, the Murdochs, News International and the media and political frenzy surrounding it all.

I did wonder at one time that the one thing worse than blood sports was the sight of the press and paparazzi in hot pursuit of their quarry. But a pack of self righteous baying politicians turning on their tormentors is something else.

Why should we be surprised at the tricks and stratagems used by journos to get a story? Are they called hacks for nothing? Why do we need to spend a fortune on a public inquiry to tell us what we already know about right and wrong in all of this. Am I the only one to detect a faint smell of opportunism in the air as MPs sense the time is right to put the newshounds firmly in their kennels and make it that bit harder to ferret out the stories which they would rather we did not know.

Last Saturday  the solemn last rites were played out over Wapping and the closure of the New of the World on the BBC to such an extent that the Reith lecture from Aung San Suu Kyi was removed from the evening news channel. You would think from listening to it all that something like the works of Shakespeare was to be lost to the nation for ever. My friend the Cornish wizard was so incensed he bought me a copy of the NoW to bring home. Rest assured mon ami it will make an excellent litter substitute in the cat's tray.

The cartoon from Peter Brookes of the Times says it all. So Messrs Cameron Clegg and Miliband get a grip and get some focus on what really matters in our world.  

Those whom the gods wish to destroy...

....they first make mad

But why oh why choose the owners of AVFC! And what greater sign of madness than to interview the bluenose manager or ex manager a certain Alex McLeish.

There is rejoicing in the Holte End over every bluenose who repents but as they say is the Pope no longer a Catholic? Will a Capulet become a Montague? Can the Texans lay down their guns? Will Teapot give up the leaf? Have the French abandoned their croissants?

We must be living in a parallel universe. The realm of anti matter has arrived. Morgana le Fay has cast her spell and Deadly Doug must be recalled to break it
.
But until that day man the barricades in Witton Lane. Sound the trumpet. Beat the drum. The bluenose shall not pass!