PhotoHunt - Beautiful

This photograph comes with an interesting story. I posted this rose from Alnwick Gardens on my Flickr page which led to someone asking me what the rose was called. This was my response to that question:

I am waiting to see if I get a reply on what type of rose it is... In the meanwhile I thought I would check out flickr to see if someone else had posted one and put the name against it...

I had a spooky moment, travelgraham-p has posted a picture taken on the same day of the very same rose taken at almost the same angle as me!!!! The photos were taken an hour apart, how weird is that?

I had emailed Alnwick Gardens to see if they could help me with the name. The Asst. Head Gardener came back to me very quickly with the following response:

The rose is 'Just Joey' and is a hybrid t which can be pruned in late winter to about 10 inches. It has a lovely perfume and repeat flowers well!

For more PhotoHunt pictures check out tnchick.

What Were You Doing When?

I saw this over at Blaney's Barney and thought it looked fun:

Princess Diana's death - 31 August 1997
I went out in the car first thing in the morning and spent the whole day in the countryside. When I got home around tea time I switched the telly on. It was a shock to say the least, I couldn't believe that I had gone all day without knowing.

Margaret Thatcher's resignation - 22 November 1990
I would have been working. I watched it on telly in the evening.

Attack on the Twin Towers - 11 September 2001
I was at work and one of my colleagues was on the phone to her husband. He was watching the telly as the news broke. She gave a little gasp and relayed the news to us. We then went down to the training wing and watched it unfold on the telly in stunned disbelief.

England's World Cup Semi-Final v Germany - 4 July 1990
I have no idea I was living on my own and sport doesn't interest me in the slightest.

President Kennedy's Assassination - 22 November 1963
Even I am a bit to young to remember that ;-)

F is for France

Well more specifically Paris, which is full of hidden gardens.

This first photograph, is a lovely quaint B&B called the Hotel Flaubert, it is built around an indoor courtyard garden. To get to the rooms you have to wind along the walkways and through the garden. It is a long time since I stayed there and finding this has made me want to visit again. I see they now have a funky website. Last time I booked it had to be by phone in French!

How about a garden outside Les Invalides (the French National Army museum). This view was taken from inside one of the rooms. Well what else would a girl do inside an army museum ;-)

Maybe you would just prefer a more traditional view? How about the Jardin Du Trocadero? I am sure all of you recognise this one!

Cross posted @ ABC Wednesday

Mr Linky

Defence Training Review Over Budget

The latest edition of Private Eye reports that Brigadier Geoff Nield has let it slip that the cost of the Defence Training Review programme had gone up and is now over budget.

"At a local “Stakeholders” meeting in the Vale of Glamorgan, home to a proposed new defence academy, the Ministry of Defence’s officer in charge, Brigadier Geoff Nield, let slip that the price had gone up from £11bn to £ 12bn. As the deal was slated to save the MoD just £400m at the old price, it seems the scheme will not only expose the armed forces to serious operational risks (see Eye 1213) but will actually cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions more than keeping training in-house."

Further on into the article I noticed that it mentioned that the Vale of Glamorgan's Labour MP, John Smith had told the South Wales Echo how good this would be for the Vale economy and that Private Eye had double checked this with the MoD who confirmed that the extra £1bn was not investment but a revised cost of the project.

"This is great news for the vale economy. The extra £1bn will be felt by people and businesses in the vale. It will mean that the Defence Technical Academy will inject more money into the local economy each year than previously thought."

I thought that can't possibly be right it must be a misquote. But on further investigation I found the original article on WalesOnLine. Surprisingly not a misquote, the headline is "£1bn investment boost for training academy". Somehow the bad news of the project going over budget has turned into good news.

In addition to that John Smith thinks that it would be a good idea to build a new dedicated rail stop to service the Academy in St Athan, saying it will benefit the Welsh economy and ease congestion. This will obviously add more cost to the project! And that's not all a proposed road link to St Athan could cost up to £135m of tax payers money.

Currently there are approximately 600 Civil Servants plus many military and private sector workers employed at RAF Cosford, the majority of these staff would be expected to move from Cosford to St Athan if the Metrix plans go ahead. Cosford is situated 800 meters from a motorway and already has it’s own railway station. Is it right that so much taxpayers money is needed to support the Metrix bid is surely a question that needs to be asked.

PCS members are now writing letters to the NAO to ask them to scrutinise this project which has already cost the tax payer millions in wasted consultant fees.

PhotoHunt - Wrinkled

Stretching the point but, the roses are a bit withered and wrinkled. I would have loved to have seen them in full bloom.

When you sing of the joy only love can bring
Heaven knows it's in my heart and my soul
Caught in a world full of tears
So many bad times and fears
So while there's a chance and you're near

Let's dance
Let's dance

There's a world far away from the one we see
There's a dream I will never let go
One thing is certainly true
This moment's for me and for you
So while there's not a thing that we can do

Let's dance
Let's dance

Chris Rea - Lets dance lyrics

For more PhotoHunt pictures check out tnchick.

A Bit of This and That

Last nights visit to the Italian restaurant was fun and the food was delicious. Some people came dressed up in what was supposed to be Italian costume. To me they looked more like typical Brits holidaying in Italy ;-)

Today I found out that I get to keep my job along with the other two people on my section. We were surprised 'we all' got to stay as our department merges with two others on the 1st September and some of the people on other sections are being moved all over the place to make sure there is an even spread of experienced staff.

I also found out that my eldest nephew has passed all his exams. He got 1xA, 8xB and 1xC I am really proud of him.

Finally a fun photograph for SkyWatch Friday. It was taken in Birmingham Botanical Gardens during my visit last weekend.

Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet
Eating her curds and whey,
Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away

Erddig Hall

Following yesterday's post Alwyn has kindly explained that Erddig translates as "little garden". I think it is rather a nice name, but agree that 'little' is a relative term.

The hall was built in 1684-1687 for Joshua Edisbury who was the high sheriff of Derbyshire, it was designed by Thomas Webb. In 1718 the master of the chancery sold the building to John Mellor who in time enlarged and refurbished the house. John never married so when he died in1767 the house passed to his nephew Simon Yorke. Over the years the house passed down through the Yorke family until March 1973 when it was given to the National Trust.

A few years earlier a mineshaft from the nearby Bersham colliery had collapsed and caused severe structural damage to the property. The subsidence caused was 5ft deep and required underpinning to stop the house collapsing. To enable the work to take place the National Trust were able to obtain £120,000 compensation from the National Coal Board. In addition 63 acres of the parkland were sold off which gained an additional £995,000 which paid for the restoration work of the house.

The house is completely furnished and offers a unique insight into servants’ life during the 18th and 19th centuries.

More information and a number of interesting links can be found on Wikepedia.

I will leave you with the following poem which still hangs outside the still room inside the house:

May heav'n protect our home from flame.
Or hurt or harm of various name!
And may no evil luck betide
To any who therin abide!
As also who their homes have found
On any acre of it's ground.
Or who from homes beyond it's gate
Bestow their toil on this estate!

PS: I will catch up with replying to comments and visiting you all later. I will soon be out visiting an Italian restaurant :-)

E is for Erddig

The Erddig Estate is situatuated approximately 2 miles from Wrexham city centre. Within it's 567 hectares are 70 acres of woodland and 61 hectares of parkland. In 1973 Philip Yorke, the last Squire of Erddig gave the house and estate to the National Trust as neither Philip or his brother Simon married and there were no direct heirs.

Today in keeping with my ABC theme I am going to concentrate on the gardens. Erddig's walled garden is one of the most important surviving 18th century gardens in Britain and was planned around a canal, and features a Victorian parterre and yew walk, as well as the National Collection of ivy. The walled garden has many rare historical varieties of apples, pears, apricots and plumbs training along its walls. The park was landscaped by William Eames between 1768-1789.

There have been some instances of unconfirmed possible ghostly experiences on the estate.

Tomorrow I shall tell you a bit more about the house but for now why not check out some more of the ABC Wednesday posts.

Cross posted @ ABC Wednesday

Mr Linky

The Perception Personality Image Test

My result for The Perception Personality Image Test...

I was a bit sceptical about this quiz but it seems to be spookily accurate in my case... What do you think?

HFPS - The Humanitarian

Humanity, Foreground, Big Picture, and Shape

You perceive the world with particular attention to humanity. You focus on what's in front of you (the foreground) and how that fits into the larger picture. You are also particularly drawn towards the shapes around you. Because of the value you place on humanity, you tend to seek out other people and get energized by being around others. You like to deal directly with whatever comes your way without dealing with speculating possibilities or outcomes you can't control. You are in tune with all that is around you and understand your life as part of a larger whole. You prefer a structured environment within which to live and you like things to be predictable.

The Perception Personality Types:



Take The Perception Personality Image Test at HelloQuizzy

A Bloghounds Roundup

Just a bit of fun, something from everyone.

Wolfie, Andrew and Cassandra have posted on developments in South Ossetia. Although not a Bloghound, Ellee also has a really interesting post on this.

Donal reports on some appalling customer service on American Airlines, Gallimaufry reports on the attitude of ticket inspectors and Richard tells us of some health and safety madness. Which leads me to Rick's post on the angry receptionist and why lunch cannot be cancelled...

Alwyn is not convinced about the Asda sporting chance promotion and Liz has the answer to which sportsmen look pretty in Pink.

Ordovicius tells us the actual cost to redesign the Downing Street website. Is it just me, or did the old one look better and more professional? This one looks a bit Facebook meets MySpace.

Rob tells us of some more alarming new technology, Jams reports on the strange goings on of Joyce Mckinney and here be Dragons and the most amazing sunrise.

Mrs Nesbitt takes us on an amazing journey through the Yorkshire countryside, Welshcakes shows us why she loves Sicily and James reports from his corner of Sicily. If you think the countryside looks spectacular look what Sally has been up to! And Calum has left us all in suspense wondering what he got up to on his holidays.

After seeing those Yorkshire views who would want to follow the advice of the Think Tank report that Sackerson reports on, it suggests that people from poverty stricken areas in the north of England should up sticks and move to the south of England.

Meanwhile Steve is taking a blogging break, and Guthrum is still 'gone fishing' lets hope they both come back refreshed.

The Gardens

The Birmingham Botanical gardens are well worth a visit. There are lots of different garden areas and habitats including large climate controlled glasshouses. It is hard to believe you are in the middle of a built up area. Against all odds it didn't rain at all during my visit yesterday.

Here are two views of the cottage garden. The second photograph shows an unusual planter, it is made of iron and its original use was as a horse trough!

I will be showing you more photographs of the garden soon and I will be using some as my entry for ABC Wednesday letter G. I wonder if you can guess how my garden theme entry can turn from Birmingham Botanical Gardens into G for...

PhotoHunt - Colourful

It has been such a busy week I have had to rummage around in my archives to find a suitable photo for this weeks photohunt.

Now as part of some birthday celebrations with camera in hand I am off to visit the botanical gardens at Birmingham. Hopefully I will be able to catch up with you in between the celebrations.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend :-)

I do not fear to tread the road I cannot see, because the hand of One-who-loves is leading me.
Negata

For more PhotoHunt pictures check out tnchick.

The BBC Big Read

I saw this over at The Poor Mouth and thought I would see how many I had read!

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they’ve printed.

1. Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2. Italicize those you intend to read.
3. Underline the books you love.
4. Strike out the books you have no intention of ever reading, or were forced to read at school and hated.
   
5. Reprint this list in your own blog so we can try and track down these people who’ve only read 6 and force books upon them.
   

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

I make that 37! I managed over 6 so at least I am above average ;-) Why not give it a go yourself?

D is for Dorothy Clive Garden

Dorothy Clive garden is near Market Drayton and gives extensive views over the Shropshire countryside. They were designed by Colonel Harry Clive who in 1940 embarked on the transformation of a discussed quarry. He was assisted by Kenneth Midgley (landscape designer) and Frank Knight (Director of Wisley).He wished to create a beautiful garden so his ailing wife could enjoy daily walks. The gardens are named in his wife Dorothy's memory after she died prematurely in 1942. Later in 1958 Harry set up a trust fund to preserve the garden as a place of rest and recreation for the public.

The garden covers 12 acres and is quite delightful. It has many aspects and features including, a woodland garden, an alpine scree, a hillside garden and a spectacular quarry garden waterfall. There are lovely spring walks featuring Daffodils and Tulips followed by brightly coloured summer borders eventually transforming into golden Autumn colours.

Of course it wouldn't be complete without it's tearoom with is lovely selection of sandwiches and cakes. Or maybe you would just like to sit and rest a while on one of the many benches.

Cross posted @ ABC Wednesday

Mr Linky

Campaigning - Part 2

As promised here is part two of the campaign video. Just in case you wondered the campaigners used their own time and leave to take part in the events. They were not on strike!

I know lots of people (including me) have trouble with You Tube so I have also included links to an article one of my colleagues wrote. Although I am sure you will recognise the montage on the front cover as one of mine ;-)

Defender - Front Page
Defender - Page 1
Defender - Page 2

Part Two...



This previous post gives my thoughts on the day our success was announced. It also gives reference to a previous related successful campaign. We are still working on another related campaign ;-)

Campaigning - Part 1

Recently I have seen lots of comments on different blogs about campaigning and making a difference. People thinking they can't effectively campaign if they are a lone voice or they can't make a difference with what they perceive as a low hit count on their pages per day. Campaigning and making a difference means getting the right person to hear your message. The message will then ripple out and different people will read it and talk about it.

You have to be prepared for a long haul, but you can make a difference!

Here I share with you how a handful of people managed to get their voice heard and win a campaign.


Part One...

I will conclude tomorrow with Part Two and also include an article that covers the whole campaign.

PS: I made this slide show and was one of the campaigners ;-)

PhotoHunt - Dark

This week everyone seems to be having problems with blogging. JMB was locked out of her account along with quite few other bloggers who were told their blogs were spam. And something or someone is eating Mutley's comments...

I rather stupidly I managed to overwrite my blog template with another. and when I tried to re-install it from a backup it wanted to delete some of my widgets. I had to start again from scratch. That will teach me to meddle with things! A bit later blogger decided to eat yesterday's post just as I tried to post it. So I gave up with what I had intended to write especially as blogger started playing up big time and wouldn't let me post or make comments. Eventually I managed to post a shortened version and as You Tube was playing up as well I posted the lyrics alongside just in case everyone else was having the same problems as me!

Do you ever get the feeling you just shouldn't be doing something?

So for PhotoHunt I share two pictures that were taken in the dark, although they both look quite bright to me. The second one was taken in the lovely town of Bruges.

For more PhotoHunt pictures check out tnchick.

Sweet Dreams

James got me thinking about the things I love in life. From his wonderful description of the area, I know I would love to be here!

Dreaming lyrics
When I met you in the restaurant
You could tell I was no debutante
You asked me what's my pleasure
A movie or a measure?
I'll have a cup of tea and tell you of my dreaming
Dreaming is free
I don't want to live on charity
Pleasure's real or is it fantasy?
Reel to reel is living rarity
People stop and stare at me We just walk on by - we just keep on dreaming
Feet feet, walking a two mile
Meet meet, meet me at the turnstile
I never met him, I'll never forget him

Dream dream, even for a little while
Dream dream, filling up an idle hour
Fade away, radiate

I sit by and watch the river flow
I sit by and watch the traffic go
Imagine something of your very own
Something you can have and hold

I'd build a road in gold just to have some dreaming
Dreaming is free
Dreaming
Dreaming is free
Dreaming
Dreaming is free

Lyrics by Blondie

Blog Awards

My blog friends have been really generous and I have received 3 awards in the past week. Thank You xx
Now I need to follow the rules and share the linky love :-)

JMB awarded me with the "BFF Gold Card".

The rules for this award are:

1. Tag 5 people.

2. 4 have to be dedicated followers of your blog

3. One has to be someone new or recently new to your blog and live in another part of the world.

4. You must link back to whoever gave you the award.

For this award I choose - James, Welshcakes, Nunyaa, Sally and Crashie (new and from another part of the world ;-) )

Crushed has awarded me with the "Brilliant Weblog Award".

For this one I need to think of seven people to pass the award on too. So I nominate - Jams, Eve, Jmb, Calum, Dragonstar, Aileni and Ginro.

Dragonstar has awarded me with the "super commenter award" I nominate this award to - Crushed, Mutley, Denise, Ellee and Liz.

I think I need to create a separate page so I can permanently display the awards.

C is for Cragside

Cragside was the home of William George Armstrong. He started his career as a lawyer and later changed careers to become and engineer. As an engineer he applied hydraulics to the lifting of weights, then he moved on to gun-making and finally to ship building.

William employed the London architect Richard Norman Shaw to extend the existing house. You can probably see from the picture the different building styles to the house, the inside is just the same. It was the first house to be lit by Hydro Electricity.

The grounds are extensive and have formal and rock gardens, lakes and parkland. Far too many things to see in a day.

Cross posted @ ABC Wednesday

Mr Linky

System Failure

More joy with train journeys, or on this occasion rail tickets. I was given meticulous instructions for ordering on line rail tickets to Clapham, it was supposed to be easy and hassle free. It took me over 30 minutes, it would have been quicker to drive to the station and buy them direct from the ticket office.

Fast forward to yesterday. I had a nice leisurely walk to the station, bought the ticket for the first leg of the journey and hopped on the train. My colleague joined me along the way and we alighted the train at Wolverhampton, there was half an hour before the connecting train so we had plenty of time to pick up the pre ordered tickets from the machine. Unfortunately the ticket machine had other ideas and only supplied my colleague with a return journey ticket. Ok! No problem, someone on the help desk should sort it out, or perhaps not there was nobody to be seen. Oh dear we had to join the back of the very long ticket queue.

When eventually we arrived at the ticket desk my colleague was told that the ticket machines didn’t work properly and then was informed that, “You should really ring this number but we can help”… They delved into a box of what looked like business cards, scribbled something on it and passed it across. What he received was a card pre printed in large red letters with the words ‘SYSTEM FAILURE’. The outward journey details were hand written underneath. He still had no underground ticket, which could only be purchased in London. We dashed across the bridge and by now I am sure you have guessed we missed the train (by about 20 seconds). There was plenty of time for a coffee and to witness another incident….

A little while later my colleague spotted someone filling up the machine with blank tickets and helpfully told them that the machine wasn’t working properly and the reason it was empty was because half the tickets just had the word 'VOID' printed on them. The response he got was ‘I am only here to fill up the machine’.

Utter madness, why didn’t they just turn them off and put up a sign saying ‘Out of Order’?

I Am Not a Number...

The Financial Times have reported that on Friday the Home Office awarded Thales a four year contract to help deliver the national identity scheme project. The contract is worth £18 million and Thales have been tasked with designing and testing the computer system that will deliver the national identity database and the cards.

Firstly what a surprise yet another scheme being pushed through without a proper public debate. Secondly I can see this being another Public Sector IT disaster, which will cost far more than expected and will ultimately be undeliverable. Another huge waste of tax payers money.

PCS are strongly against the national identity scheme and consider it a threat to our personal data. They are not prepared to sit back and let the scheme sail through unhindered.

"After the loss of 25 million people's personal details and National Insurance numbers in the past last year, and the recent revelations that DVLA has already made £15m by selling our personal details to car park operators and wheel clampers, the Identity Cards Act of 2006 now looks less like a sensible way of serving the public."

The current estimated bill of £19 billion, greatly exceeds the originally proposed estimate meaning the government has to seek efficiencies in order to deliver the scheme.

"While computer consultants continue to be paid private sector rates, the first 100 Identity and Passport Service (IPS) jobs have already been axed in Glasgow and pay rises stifled."

Actions you can take to oppose the scheme:

• Ask questions, demand answers and protest – email Union Liaison for advice

• Visit no2id to download more about he campaign and join NO2ID

• Visit NHS Confidentiality for a model letter to demand your name is not placed on the NHS Spine database ‘automatically’

• Renew your passport now, before it gets irrevocably linked to the national identity register

• If you have children in education, tell the school you forbid them to fingerprint your child; if they’ve done it, ask what is being done with the record.
  

More on the PCS Campaign can be found in the latest edtion of Activate.

PhotoHunt - Cloud(s)

These were all taken in the Lake District on my holidays last year. The sky looks quite ominous, but it didn't rain once whilst I was there. I love lake Buttermere and the way it changes colour every time I see it. I shall have to collect some of my photos together and share them in a blog post with you.

For more PhotoHunt pictures check out tnchick.

From THE CLOUD
I BRING FRESH showers for the thirsting flowers,
From the seas and the streams;
I bear light and shade for the leaves when laid
In their noon-day dreams.
From my wings are shaken the dews that waken
The sweet buds every one,
When rocked to rest on their mother's breast,
As she dances about the sun.
I wield the flail of the lashing hail,
And whiten the green plains under,
And then again I dissolve it in rain,
and laugh as I pass in thunder.

I SIFT THE snow on the mountains below,
And their great pines groan aghast;
And all the night 'tis my pillow white,
While I sleep in the arms of the blast.
Sublime on the towers of my skiey bowers,
Lightening my pilot sits,
In a cavern under is fettered the thunder,
It struggles and howls at fits;
Over earth and ocean, with gentle motion,
This pilot is guiding me,
Lured by the love of the genii that move
In the depths of the purple sea;
Over the rills, and the crags, and the hills,
Over the lakes and the plains,
Wherever he dream, under the mountain or stream,
The spirit he loves remains;
And I all the while bask in Heaven's blue smile,
Whilst he is dissolving in rains.

THE SANGUINE sunrise, with his meteor eyes,
And his burning plumes outspread,
Leaps on the back of my smiling rack,
When the morning star shines dead;
As on the jag of a mountain crag
Which and earthquake rocks and swings,
An eagle alit one moment may sit
In the light of its golden wings;
And when sunset may breathe, from the lit sea beneath,
Its Ardours of rest and of love,
And the crimson pall of eve may fall
From the depths of Heaven above,
With wings folded I rest, on mine aery nest,
As still as a brooding dove.

Percy Bysshe Shelley