Botany help???

GeoTagged, [N54.59782, E5.69016]

What on God's green earth is this plant?

Howard Marks Interview at Beautiful Days Festival 2010

Legend Howard Marks interview at Beautiful Days Festival (Run by The Levellers at Escot Oark, Hunington, Exeter).  Two men and a sofa talking drugs, music and random observations.  Interviewed by John Rob of Goldblade on a miserable wet August afternoon on the band stand.

Cute kitten Video

Cute kitten video with a healthy dash of venom at the conditions in which these kittens are kept!

Can you Write Sex?

Can you Write sex?

First of all there’s way too many pronouns and chronology:  he did this, then she did that which made him blah…

Secondly there are not enough synonyms in the English language for anatomical attributes and not enough fitting superlatives for expression – unless you’re writing really bad sex!

His arm wrapped around her waist while her hand drew soothing patterns on his skin.  His hand found her face and turned her to face him.  With a hand in her hair he held her face tenderly and the look on his face was so expressive and loving….blah blah blah

Lips and mouths are even harder, how can you describe a kiss without awkward repetition?  Then you find yourself with the dictionary open and you’re replacing mouth with orifice or mandible or worst, some clichéd turn of phrase like, ‘the door of his wet heat’, ‘his tongue’s tormented prison’?  Ah the metaphors!  Even the word love is so easily over used and you get more clinical and descriptive – affection, adoration, attraction, amorousness and none of then really mean the same until you’re replacing love with desire as the thesaurus is more forthcoming – adulation, infatuation, yearning, longing, passion, rapture, trembling loins!!!

The problem with physical intimacy is its physical and the emotional connection is powerful but instinctual.  How do you describe the feeling of romance or tenderness or delicacy or the myriad of hope, anticipation, excitement, thrill, fear, insecurity and even technical logistics without losing the heat of the moment?

Answers on a postcard please?

Or a comment

Anniversary of the J. F. K. Assassination

47 years to the day after the infamous assassination of the 35^th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy and still no reconciliation of the masses to the proposed facts of the case.  What do we know?

We know:

1. J. F. K. was fatally shot at 12:30pm on the 22^nd November 1963 on Dealey Plaza,
   Elm Street
   in Dallas, Texas.  The shots were fired just past the Texas School Book Depository (where Lee Harvey Oswald worked) AND the accursed ‘Grassy Knoll”.
2. The last words Kennedy probably heard were “Mr. President, you can't say Dallas doesn't love you?” spoken by Nellie Connaly, First Lady of Texas.
3. According to wikipedia we have an overly accurate description of how he died, “as President Kennedy waved to the crowds on his right with his right arm upraised on the side of the limo, a shot entered his upper back, penetrated his neck, slightly damaged a spinal vertebra and the top of his right lung, exited his throat nearly centerline just beneath his Adam's apple, then nicked the left side of his suit tie knot.”
4. Howard Brennan, a Steamfitter testified that he saw Oswald with a rifle (a ‘Carcano’) make the second shot from a sixth floor window of the Depository.
5. Osald was arrested only 40minutes after the assassination, for the murder of a Dallas police officer, J. D. Tippit with a pistol after running into a movie theatre after dodging buying a ticket.  Oswald denies both murders.
6. The ten-month investigation of the Warren Commission of 1963–1964, the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) of 1976–1979, and other government investigations concluded that the President was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald.
7. Two days later Oswald was killed by Dallas nightclub owner, Jack Ruby during a prison transfer.
8. Ruby was convicted but appealed the death sentence but soon died of lung cancer 3^rd Jan 1967 before his appeal was ever heard.
9. According to Wikipedia “polls conducted from 1966 to 2004 concluded approximately 80% of the American public” were unconvinced by the official judgements.

Many would describe the details of that day to be more than coincedental.  Bill Hicks, Comedy legend and opinionated fellow with remarkable intellegence and passion, often called into question the official beliefs of that event, playing out the absurdity of the government’s claims: “They have the window set up to look exactly as it did on that day and it’s really acurate ‘cause, Oswald’s not in it…Back and to the left…back and to the left… I know it looks to the layman our someone who might dabble in physics would be caused by a bullet coming from well…up here (pointing in the opposite direction to the sixth floor window).”

He only echoed the conspirary theorists over the decades that claimed the government to be lying to its people.  Of course if the government is lying then such a powerful body could easily fabricate evidence, buy witness statements and doctor reports.  Is it our patriotic pride and trust that makes the possibility so inconcievable especially in light of the various scandals proving the humanity and therefore sometimes lack of moral conscience or ethics of politicans.

All the jokes and stories that stereotypically lump all politicians into liars and disassemblers but society needs a structure, a security and foundation of belief.  Many also claim that the 1969 moon landing was a fake, mentioning the blowing American flag in the supposed atmospheric gravity bubble of the satelite.  What are the reasons behind these lies, if that indeed is what they are?  A powerful man would probably say protection of the populace, steering humanity the way it needs to go because the idea is stronger than the facts that attested it.

On an episode of Bones recently, the lab of the Jeffersonian was taken over by official looking types who brought the gift of an unidentified corpse dating back to 1963.  I have to wonder if today’s medical science could illuminate some shocks and facts?  However could the results of any such examination be trusted?

All together I feel frustrated as humanity often phrases the meaning of life itself as discovery and knoledge and the confusion rot by potential lies rips into so many basic truths that society is blind and free thinking misinformed.  Where do we even start, as a layman and not a genius scientist, when faced with the possibility of years of evolved knowledge being wrong?

Youtube video of Bill Hicks:

Let Sleeping Cat's Lie

Ten Ways to Annoy your Cat

Cat’s are cunning creatures full of hazardous curiosity if the idiom is too be believed and lucky to boot with almost as many lives as Timelord regenerations or seasons of ‘Friends’.  They comfort us when we cry; claw us when they are happy, overheat us in our sleep and are more effective than an alarm clock if you’ve fallen into bed without feeding them.  They posture at being proud, nick the best seat in the house, pounce on your feet unless duvet secured and always stand where you’re about to walk.

We love our cats; we feed them, play with them, stroke them and vacuum the house repeatedly in the summer when they are losing more hair then that baldly uncle you know but sometimes it’s fun to push their buttons and get the upper hand clever Cheshire cat smile.

So without further ado here are ten ways that are sure to drive your kitty crazy.

1.)    Buy a laser beam pen and dance it around the floor until their curiosity is peeked then turn it off when they pounce on it and watch the look of sheer bewilderment, confusion and injustice on their faces.

2.)    Let that perfect pet get all comfy and snugly on your knee while you’re watching your favourite show and get up and change chairs at every advert break.

3.)    Feed the dog first and shut the cat out of the kitchen; pay more attention to the dog; simply have a dog in general and if you don’t own one invite your neighbour dogs in for a bow-wow and watch your cat ruffle its feathers and get all territorial on their doggy bottoms!  Oh but don’t leave them alone as blood stains are far too hard t get out of the carpet.

4.)    Shut a door, any door and that will be the one they want into. 

5.)    Buy a bird bath and place it in front of your cat’s favourite window sill though if you’re cat’s completely clueless this may result in head to glass damage but at the very least you can watch their aggravation and disgust grow as they click their teeth and natter at the winged chancers that are beyond reach.

6.)    Buy a cat harness or lead and hire out your cat to the young children of family and friends to complete their witches outfit at Hallowe’en.  Actually trying to manoeuvre your cat into a collar or harness is betrayal enough.

7.)    Dress your cat up in dolls clothes complete with bonnet and take pictures to cement the embarrassment making sure to use a flash that they can’t help but look at ‘til their seeing sun spots!

8.)    Rattle their food bowl, tap that fork against their tasty meat tins or use their dry food like maracas to get them to can running and then plug in your ear phones and ignore the mewling meows for an hour or simply sit down to a steaming dinner of salmon or tuna, let them jump on your lap and slowly spoon feed yourself above their heads.

9.)    Throw their preferred cat toy, rubber band, pen, your favourite lipstick etc into the shower cubicle, close the door/curtain and turn on the water.

10.)                        And always, always encroach on their personal space especially when they are sleeping.  This could take the form of blowing on their ears, pulling their tail or just holding onto their tail when they want to swish it back and forth like a light sabre, tickling the pads of their feet or lightly plucking on their whiskers.  Have fun with it.  Experiment.

Review : The Giant's Causeway Hotel

The Giant’s Causeway Hotel exudes history and charm.  Over one hundred and fifty years old, this sturdy, white washed building perches on the majestic cliffs of the Antrim Coast in Northern Ireland.  The Mountains of Mourne Coastal Route is known as an area of natural beauty and is steeped in geological and mythological lore.

Location, as they say, is everything and you can’t quantify the priceless scapes of the strange, hexagonal pillars of the Giant’s Causeway and the sea caves and picturesque walks that abound throughout.

The Hotel stands beside the National Trust Visitors Centre.  It is free entry to the Causeway however (unless you are staying at the Hotel) the car parking is charged.  The story of the Causeway as many variations passed down from oral tradition over the years.  A favourite, more Irish in tone, goes as follows:

Finn MaCool was a family man who also happened to be a Northern Irish giant, who lived on the North coast of the Island.  Finn bragged about his giantly heroism and combat, slandering Scotland’s giant, Benandonoor in the process.  As one would imagine, Benandonoor was not pleased or privy to having his good name debunked and fuming with rage he built a bridge (Causeway) between Northern Ireland and Scotland to challenge Finn to a dual.

When mighty Finn heard this he was rightly, afraid and ran back to his wife and baby at home (probably from the pub!).  MaCool dawned his baby’s bonnet and climbed into its crib, rocking back and forth, snuggled in a blanket so that whenever Benandonoor barged through the door and caught sight of the, apparently sleeping, baby, he fled for fear of the size of the father that would bare such a child. 

As he retreated he tore up the middle of the causeway, throwing huge chunks of land into the sea (that would later be known as the Isle of Wight and the Isle of Man) so that he couldn’t be followed.

Now-a-days thousands of visitor’s journey for all walks of life to see the weird rock formations left behind.  Many choose to stay in the isolation Hotel that stands weathered and white against the night sky on the edge of a cliff.  The vista’s from the rooms are indeed spectacular however if you are seeking modernity and neutral, minimalistic accommodation, the Causeway Hotel is not for you.

The Hotel shows signs of age and the passage of time.  It is large and was very grand in its day, opulent, with rich warm décor.  Now the wallpapers peeling slightly and the carpets are worn but the cosy, friendly atmosphere is welcoming and friendly.

Photographs and landscapes of the area adorn the walls.  The restaurant bar and pub is old fashioned with brash family crests and heavy mahogany furniture.  The space is large, yet has private booths and a good range of drinks.  The food is fairly priced and of a high quality, if not haute cuisine, it is none the less a hardy and enjoyable meal.

The restaurant proper is a little sparse and less attractive but again the service and food on offer is of a high standard.  The Hotel also offers many conference rooms and suites.

The rooms are large and in keeping with mid-eighteen hundred style though with a lot less opulence.  There is an historic feel throughout and the rattlely, prominent windows are a little drafty and spooky, the corridors, echoy and lengthy.  The ambience is enchanting for ghost stories and watching sea frets move in over the coast and the whole building retains a level of dignity and splendour of a bygone age.

For a period escape with epic scenery and outdoors walks the Causeway Hotel is most apt however if you are not interested in the countryside or the Causeway, the Hotel is fairly remote and you would be better staying in the touristy sea side town of Portrush a few miles away with 24 hour shops and good public transport, many a traveller has been stranded at the Giant’s Causeway without transport.

Leaping Leonids!

Don't you just love this time of year?  The living verdent hues of a green and pleasant land morphing magically into vibrant russets and crimsons, blanketing the earth with a crisp rustle of leaves of Time and change; the lengthening nights and golden diffused ambers of twilight; the season of impossiblitiy and myth and colourful lightning flashes of fireworks, ghostly ghouls and superstitious old wives tales that haven't quite abated even through centuries of history and learned logic?  And now, nature adds her own phemnominal display of celebration.

Tonight thousands will be watching the skies, whether we are alone in the universe or not, the universe is vast and enchanting, beautiful and mysterious.  Tonight the Leonids coome out to play!

The Leonids are possibly the most famous and favoured of meteor showers.  The annual light show peeking around the 17th and 18th November.  They're associated with the comet Temple-Tuttle as it orbit strays too close to the sun (closer than Jupiter's orbit - apparently!), like Icarus and his waxen wings.  Clumps of froozen matter, called metorites, break away from the streaming comet as it rounds the constellation of Leo (thus Leonids).  Wikipedia, everyone favourite online encyclopedia tells us that these fireballs which impact the Earth at 72km/hr "may be 9 mm across and have 85 g of mass and punch into the atmosphere with the kinetic energy of a car hitting at 60 mph. An annual Leonid shower may deposit 12 or 13 tons of particles across the entire planet".

So where to look?  Hang on as I open my Star App - no seriously!  Ok!  At the moment 17:02, the moon is rising in Pisces to the East, but hte best marker for most is probably the 'Plough' - Ursa Major - the Great Bear and at the moment it is on the horizon to the North West (of me - Newtownards - Northern Ireland) and Leo is directly below it, just under the horizon.

The Leonnids will cross the horizon in the NE at 22:39 and move East then south to hit their highest point in the sky at about Seven in the morning, again the best marker being Ursa Major directly above Leo in the sky. The Moon will have set by 03:08 and the Sun doesn't rise again until 07:56 so you're best bet is to scale a neighbours (you don't want to fall through your own- do you?), bring a flask of hot soup and ring in the dawn with some shooting star watching! 

The Leonids are active from the 10th to the 23rd of November but this is the peek of the activity so to all star gazers out there - have fun!

Doctor Who Day

As an avid and unashamed Whovian I have to report the petition to create an official Doctor Who Day!  For nearly 50years, which is like 'L' in Roman Numerals, DW has fluttered heartbeats and aspired dreamers, humanists and geekchic science nerds alike with its madcap mayhem and mania of its protagonist and the imaginative, moral, monstrous stories and plots.

Who of us doesn't silently dream of escape in a 'bigger on the inside' antiquated bobby blue, police telephone box hiding a universe of untempered discovery, stars in supernova, galaxies beyond the eagle eyes of the finest telescopic lens in the biggest and best earth observatories, anywhere, anywhen, adventure, self-worth, making a difference and seeing sights inconceivable to the human consciousness?  And top it off with an enigmatic, celery totting, cricket playing, badguy busting, Gallifreyian genius with the interpersonal skills of a puppy and backbone of Clarke Kent and the Hulk combined and the magnetism and prescense of Ret Bulter meeting the stereotypical sexy science teacher and fly me to Austen's England 'cause I'm going to swoon!

My love for the show isn't just the larger than life, heroic and tormented character of the Doctor, nor the epic episodes of creative fantastical genius but it is the potentiality of humanity and the idea that we can all be more than we are, better, stronger, braver and more complete and of course that dreams can come true even tot he most socially insignificant recluse living in their four walled cage.

So set the date ladies and gents 23rd NOVEMBER - the day of the first ever screening of William Hartnel, first fabulous Doctor way back int he eons of time, 1963!

Join the group of facebook and shares you're whovian celebratory ideas and spread the word.  lets sell out the fashion stores of brown pinstripes and bowties and tell really bad jokes like: What do you get when you cross a Dalek and a Vampire: 'Exsanguanate' and have fun before the festive season buries us all in sticky tapy, credit cards bills and the incessent repetition of one line of that Christmas Carol that you just can't get out of your head!

Libido vs Jealous?

Libido versus Jealousy?

Who wins?  In the cold light of day and social anthropology, jealousy – I’d say.

“Mummy, where do babies come from?”  Well ickle, mini – me, when a mummy and a daddy love each other…

Love there are so many different types of love that the Geeks had at least four words for our one and since poets and artists, and angry rap singers alike have been trying to define love for eons I’m going with the Greeks, ‘love’ is far too vague and universal a word for the specifics and is said so often that it almost loses all meaning.

“Oh, I love chicken teriyaki…I love when I wake up before the alarm and realise I can sleep for longer…I love my job, my car…I love my sister…I love my dog…I love my partner.”  But how?  How do you love them?

Those three words, ‘I love you’ have become a terrifying supernova spiralling out of control due to societies associations.  You can’t tell someone you love them now without alarm bells clanging in your cranium.  I love my friends but I’m not American and the ‘I love you guys’ comes more difficultly because we give love a bad name.

It seems impossible to me that you can date and get to know a person for months and never say that you love them because if you do it means you’re IN love with them, and like frightened bunnies in the highlights our neural synapse jump to commitment, marriage, mortgage, kids and yet the love is no more less true or honest ten minutes before it’s verbalised.

Mankind are amazing and capable of such love and not just romantic love but unconditional love for the family member you wouldn’t even be friends with except for blood, compassionate love for the sick or lonely, heroic love for the complete stranger on the battle field.

But ‘love’ has become an embarrassment.  Such an amazing emotion and nothing in this world has more complexities or limitations and restraints pressed upon it.

We love so naturally why would loving two people be so wrong?  And it’s not.  Socially, anthropologically in family units it’s dangerous and counter-productive perhaps but I don’t see how anyone could ever blame someone else for falling in love.  It’s not something we have control over.  But I suppose it’s not the ‘love’ that destroys monogamous relationships but acting on that love.

We make a choice and stand by it through foul or fair weather in a marriage but it is illogical, when we have spent years looking for the ‘one’ and been in love maybe countless times, that we will never be in love with someone else again.  So what?  We draw boundaries in order to never get to know anyone well enough for that ugly threat of love to become a problem?

How much are we missing out on?  Biological there is the need to procreate and to possess and protect, to build a safe, home for those we love but how many couples could ask their partner to love only one person?  To choose between family or friends and their betrothed?  If we easily admit that our love ones need their space, their mates, their ‘girl’s nights out’ and communion with other beings in order to keep sane and to bring stimulus to parts of their personality that can’t be fulfilled in marriage then how stupid is it to veto a huge part of a persons physically and desires?  To allow that no one person can’t complete another person in every conceivable way including sexually?

And more importantly why must infidelity comment on love?  There are so many different types of love why would we assume that one must diminish in order for another to thrive?

So many futuristic novels, movies etc show a more relaxed view on monogamy but humanity is complex.  In a quote from an episode of ‘House’ paraphrasing here: Your husband may be 90% of everything you need but why settle for never having that full and complete life.  If we suddenly had paralysis in a limb we would do everything possible to cure that problem so why in a truly loving and devoted relationship wouldn’t our partners wish us to cure than 10% of us that isn’t fulfilled.  Why does sex have to be such a stigma especially when the act itself is more beautiful, intimate and honest than most of our actions that our conscience battles with.

We are such social creatures is it reasonable to believe that one person will satisfy us for the rest of our lives and I’m not talking just sexually.  If you think about how much we change and adapt and our intrinsic need to learn and develop, how likely is it that two people will go through their entire lives wanting and needing exactly the same thing?

Marriages seem to consist of the blissful honeymoon period, the getting to know every part of a person and loving the discovery to a beautiful and cherished companionship but no matter how good the book is, do we really want to read it a thousand times?  No we’ll never want to throw it away but doesn’t mean we’re not ready to move on to another phase of learning.

Love doesn’t have to diminish but it can change and does and to deny that fact folly.  By the way I’m not talking about careless one night stands or the ‘eternal bachelor’ I’m talking about love and how there’s too much of it in our hearts to put it under curfew.

Why can’t two people love one another and want to grow old together but be honest enough to admit that even the best relationships can become stale, precious and priceless but stale.  We wouldn’t want to have the same meal for dinner every night of our lives, or do exactly the same thing without variance or challenge in our work places and the home and love is so much more important than these.

But having said all that, two people’s agendas and insecurities are hard enough but adding a third into the mix or a fourth?  Surely happiness is even harder on the percentages then?  Degrees and quantities of love matter because we want to matter and can love for two people ever be equal?  Can our insecurities and jealousies ever go away?  Can pain and hurt ever be avoided?  And so jealousy wins out but how terrifying would it be for most people to admit that as the crux of monogamy?

And while we struggle and bend and mould ourselves into these social constructions, emotions, physical and uncontrollable attractions and needs are winning out more and more:

http://www.womansavers.com/infidelity-statistics.asp

Infidelity statistics have varied drastically over the past 50 years. The problem with obtaining accurate statistics on adultery is that most people will not tell the truth because it is such a sensitive subject. Controlled cheating surveys are scarce and the below infidelity percentages have been randomly collected from various sources.
Infidelity statistics
it’s tough to get a handle on how many of us are having affairs, given the inherent secrecy.
22 percent of married men have strayed at least once during their married lives.
14 percent of married women have had affairs at least once during their married lives.
Younger people are more likely candidates; in fact, younger women are as likely as younger men to be unfaithful.
70 percent of married women and 54 percent of married men did not know of their spouses' extramarital activity.
50 percent of Americans say President Clinton's adultery makes his moral standard "about the same as the average married man,'' according to a Time-CNN poll.
61 percent of Americans thought adultery should not be a crime in the United States; 35 percent thought it should; 4 percent had no opinion.
-One in 10 respondents said they are addicted to sex and the Internet, according to an online survey of 38,000 Internet users.
MSNBC.com and Dr. Alvin Cooper
-Results show that internet users devote three hours each week to online sexual exploits. Twenty-five percent have felt that they lost control of their Internet sexual exploits at least once or that the activity caused problems in their lives.
MSNBC.com and Dr. Alvin Cooper
-Up to 37% of men and 22% of women admit to having affairs. Researchers think the vast majority of the millions of people who visit chat rooms, have multiple "special friends".
Dr. Bob Lanier, askbob.com
-Only 46% of men believe that online affairs are adultery.
DivorceMag
- About 60 percent of men and 40 percent of women will have an affair at some point in some marriage
"Monogamy Myth", Therapist Peggy Vaugn

BUT

90 percent of Americans believe adultery is morally wrong.

As a Northern Irish resident I have grown up in a very sexually repressed community.  So mush of the REAL but embarrassing or socially unacceptable problems in EVERY person’s life are rarely discussed which leads to feelings of immorally, shame and loneliness.  It emphasises our differences instead of our similarities and leaves society disassociated and disconnected. 

Adultery is morally wrong but is morally judged by the masses or religion?  If a global shift in opinion were to occur would we be more healthy psychologically, admitting naturally, if morally reprehensible, feelings.  Would the bright light of honesty assuage the guilt?  How many lies do we tell others and ourselves about our true natures?  (Not just in sexual desires!)

I for one, am a hypocrite, understanding the psychology and physically but needing the reassurance and stability of that fairy tale, white knight horse love that I learned in my formative, childhood years.  But I often wonder if a beautiful lie harms more than an unfortunate truth.

"Why do I always find the holes?"

“Why do I always find the holes?”

“Why do you always find the holes?” he says, after pointing and laughing at my twisted ankle and soppy, wet, grass stained knees!  Thank heaven the car has a heater with ‘point at feet’ option.  But this lead me to wondering firstly,  do I really find holes in EVERYTHING but I don’t feel like analysing my insecurities and self-destructive tendencies right at this moment and secondly, if men are from Mars and women from Venus, is Mars main mode of entertainment, slap stick comedy?  Charlie Chaplin and Frank Spencer, ‘Ohhhh Betty!’ slipping on banana skins and failing miserably at D.I.Y.?

Is it some kind of evolutionary tell tale from when men spent their days metaphorically, whacking things on the head with rubber mallets?  More controversially, what does it say about the complexity, or lack therefore of the male psyche and levels of intelligence when related to emotions such as happiness?  Should we be surprised that a man is total, insensitive tosser during ‘Auntie Flows’ visit when at the back of his mind he’s thinking ‘Ha-Ha!’ (In Simpson-esque manner) or desperately holding in the joke of, ‘Never trust anything that bleeds for five days straight and doesn’t die’.

Taking this further, can the level of ‘Y’ chromosome, the level of ‘daddy’ originated genes in a women be determined by the number of times she laughs at ‘Jackass The Movie’ versus the number of eye-rolls or squeamish grunts of disgust or incredulity?

Then thinking about the popularity of things like Jackass and reality T.V. mediaising the pain and happiness of others in extreme situations and getting worried how far away we are from snuff movies for public entertainment.  I recognised a modern trait that seems to be increasing.  In this day and age of technological, medial, scientific and even Thomas Cook travel advancement, does the average man, woman and child feel impotent in the natural human need to discover and adventure?  A hundred years ago people seemed so much more content, is that because their lifestyle opinions were so much fewer, whereas now there’s always something bigger and better to be having or doing, a wide screen plasma T.V., a trip to Australia for the weekend?

We are still living by the old rules of happiness, the white picket fence, car, job, family and dog but now there’s so much more out there and there’s less satisfaction in the thrill of discovery as like the misnomer of ‘Avant-Garde Theatre’, it’s all been done before.  We’ve achieved freedom, equality, wealth, science, even been to the moon – well at least in the developed west.   

Have we become complacent and apathetic, shutting off all those childish dreams just to survive because we’re so much more logically and grounded these days than to believe in dreams.  Like the drug addict do we need an increasing bigger hit just to feel something, to feel connected perhaps, especially with the growth of autonomous cityscapes and high rise offices?  Is that why more people seem to drink ‘til their plastered, take drugs, experiment sexually and physically in adrenalin junkie activities, or it is just because we can?

If you think about the most popular, ‘Box Offices’ smashes in our lifetimes, how many of them involve Superheroes – men with great power and responsibility that bear the irksome weight of the martyr to protect and save, to show unconditional compassion and hope in the potentiality of mankind?  Does this harken back to hunter instincts that psychologically point to a simpler time of honour and valour and the regret and guilt at the cut-throat world we now live in.  I know I want to be a hero, to make a difference, to fly into the heavens with Kyrptonian blood or in a ‘bigger on the inside’ police box and escape the daily grind and for the first time in centuries seems meaningless and void of true advancement on a social level.

How many of the movies are set in space again nodding to man’s need to explore and escape and how debilitated so many in society feel that they have to turn to the cinema for cathartic release.  Do you realise how many applicants to jobs there are in dangerous and self-proving jobs such as fire fighting?

Yet having drown attention to the desperation of our times and the often negative results of violent crime, alcoholism, promiscuity, it’s also so amazingly hopeful that something undefined within us all seems to rebel against the nature of our world and need to be the hero, the carer, the lover, to make a difference but those dreams are so easily stilted and euthanized in so many ways when faced with capitalism and economy, how do we pay the mortgage and keep up with the ‘Jones’?

I fear at some point the global psychological of the world is just going to snap and either properly embrace indifference and selfish ambitions or self-destruct in the face of the guilt and inadequacy of these feelings and hopefully then change can happen.

Oh this is way to depth thought for 6.00am on a Sunday morning, let me just punish my body with some nicotine for blogging and not doing!!!

Tesco Embarrassment

Tesco Embarrassment

So I’m out for a walk for the first time in 3 weeks after a killer, common cold that secretly I do believe scientists can cure but are procrastinating due to revenue from sickly sweet, cough mixers, Lemsip (which tastes so good and is so addictive) and a fondness for Strepsils (Common place brand name that reassures their suckers you that might have Streptococcus, “Have a Nice Day” – “Gee Thanks”).

So basically, feeling lousy but quietly confident and enthused at the prospect of seeing sunshine for the first time since the visit from the in-laws that probably made me sick in the first place (!) I head out in my new 8squid jeans from Tescos – hating the fact that they are yet another size bigger and blaming said cold for inactivity and after bopping along happily to Lady Gaga for 15mins I hear a quiet, “Excuse me?”

I cease bopping and turn to see a fashionable 40something, pleasantly smiling woman,

“You have a great big yellow sticker on your leg?”

“Oh?” and I’m twisting that a poor copy of a contortionist to see the offending item and low and behold, I got the price tag and the sewn on cardboard ‘F&F’ barcode thingy but missed the whopping great fluorescent yellow “Now only £8, buy me, buy me, I shop at Tescos for quality ‘cheap as chips’ denims” sticker.

Well I pulled it off and as I am always non-sensically honest and really not bothering by label louts or Paris Fashion say, “D’oh!  I pulled off all the other labels but you always miss one, thanks!”

And that’s fine right?  No, lovely random lady ignores statement and says, “Oh you must have sat down on it somewhere or something”.

Because I obviously ‘sat down’ on a large round, up turned Tesco sticker while buying groceries (which are legitimate to buy at Tescos???????)

If she hadn’t said that I would have thought nothing of it but now there’s that sinking realisation that a perfect stranger ‘enabled’ you to buy cheap clothes from Tescos by making up an obvious lie to make me feel better?  Like societies automatic response was to ‘excuse’ and wash over my shopping cart needs?  Like saying to a plastered, drunk at 2.00am on a Sunday morning who’s just gone flat on his face, “Oops, mustn’t have seen like pot hole there?  Damn Irish pavements”.

Ok so I don’t drive a BMW, actually I don’t drive, so that avoids THAT social faux pas but I do shop at Tescos ‘cause one they’re cheap, two I hate buying new clothes as I either a.) Spill something on them the first time I wear them or b.) hate to admit what size I am and am always planning to start the diet ‘tomorrow’ so why spend a fortune on ‘temporary’ clothes and three it means I avoid the ‘knowing’ looks from fashion gurus in high end stores, ‘You don’t belong…’ they whisper.

P.S. I put 'social psychology' on the tags list and then thought - isn't that sociology???  And Calvin Klein Jeans from Amazon anyone !!!!  Only 40 dollars?

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Tesco launches 'couture' high-end fashion range

 

LONDON - Tesco is preparing to launch its first high-end fashion range in March, with items selling at up to £140.      LINK TO: http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/990126/Tesco-launches-couture-high-end-fashion-range/