Walkers with the Dawn

Being walkers with the dawn and morning,
Walkers with the sun and morning,
We are not afraid of night,
Nor days of gloom,
Nor darkness--
Being walkers with the sun and morning.

Langston Hughes

Do the Super Rich Matter?

The TUC have just published a report entitled 'Do the Super Rich Matter?'

The report analyzes the reasons for the growing gap between rich and poor and show that in recent years a very few wealthy people have never had it so good. This is in stark contrast to the many who are modestly off or poor.

It traces the rise of the new super-rich class in Britain. A class that is making money in land, property and finance.

Today’s economic convulsions have exposed the reality behind the City’s claims to have increased world liquidity and reduced investment risk. They reveal how much City decision-making has been geared to the process of personal enrichment, with damaging consequences for the wider economy.

The report concludes with the following statement:

Pumping in funds to prop up the ailing banking sector may help to get part of the financial system moving again but it will do little to stem the upward march of the super-rich. It would take much tougher measures and a more decisive political lead to halt and reverse the increasing concentration of wealth that has occurred in recent times. Without these, the likelihood is that some of the world’s super-rich will take a back seat for a while, while quietly restructuring the system to suit their medium-term interests. If so, one of the best opportunities for decades to tackle the root causes of rising national inequality will probably have been lost.

O is for Orleton Hall Gardens

These gardens are privately owned so they are not open for general public viewing. The owners very kindly allowed the local gardening club to hold a cheese and wine evening there. The lady of the house even treated us to a personal guided tour of the garden.

For more ABC pictures check out Mr Linky.

Brrr...

...It was suddenly very cold today, so cold it snowed! When I left work my car was covered in snow and I had to clear the windows for safe driving. It was so cold in fact that on the way home one of my hands became numb. I can't remember the last time that happened, it was years ago.

& I am still struggling with technology. After having a new computer at work (Friday) my personal contact list in Outlook has been lost. Also the corporate email list has missed off half of the people in my local office workplace and all of the people in the wider network. I don't seem to be able to send emails to my external contacts either, and sending them internally is a bit hit an miss too. It is making my life complicated. Ten minute tasks are talking over an hour to complete!

I shall leave you with a video of snow from my office window today.

Mobile Phone Hazard

After reading this on the BBC website I am not sure how safe it is to use a mobile phone. Or maybe it was just operator failure as one of my colleagues did the same thing with their phone recently. Luckily that one was retrieved without any personal injury! Maybe the instruction manual should have some sort of health warning about having a mobile phone too close to a toilet?

A passenger on a French train had to be rescued by firemen after having his arm sucked down the on-board toilet.

The 26-year-old victim was trapped when he tried to fish out his mobile phone, which had fallen into the toilet bowl, and fell foul of the suction system.

The high-speed TGV train had to stop for two hours while firemen cut through the train's pipework.

The man was carried away by emergency services, with the toilet still attached to his arm.

"He came out on a stretcher, with his hand still jammed in the toilet bowl, which they had to saw clean off," said Benoit Gigou, a witness to the man's plight.

The incident happened on Sunday evening, aboard a train travelling in western France between La Rochelle and Paris.

Busy Busy Busy...

It has been a hectic weekend and I think it is going to carry on like that for the next two or three weeks. A lot of my time will be taken up with PCS work because there is a lot going on at the moment!

Last night I was boardgaming with friends, who enjoyed themselves so much they didn't leave until 2 in the morning and that was after the clocks had been put back! I was a bit tired this morning...

But I do have my new new mobile phone (it was a present) :-) It is taking a bit of fathoming out at the moment though ;-)

PhotoHunt - Scary

Today is my Blog Birthday, but it doesn't feel a year since I started blogging. I find it quite scary how time flies by so quickly. For those of you who are wondering why there are posts before that date you will need to read my 25th October blog post from last year.

For more PhotoHunt pictures check out tnchick.