Bang Bang II

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/5344652.stm

What can I say - horrrific. Oddly though in the US this would have been a tragedy but not unexpected. It does reflect badly on the US gun culture that when I saw the item on the news with the sound turned down I assumed it had taken place there and I was only shocked when I realised that it was Canada!

Bang Bang!

After a gentle anniversary at home we were shaken from our bed at midnight by huge explosions! Not some terrorist group destroying the Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre (chance would!) but being struck by a massive thunderstorm. What had been gentle rain suddenly turned into horizontal slush and hail. It was so heavy you couldn't see past the next block of flats. The only time I've seen rain so heavy was in a major tropical storm in Fiji! A bit of a shock.

I am old….

A work trip to Birmingham I will not dwell on the day itself, apart from the firemen who turned up to rescue us. Unexpected but rather nice! The train journey found me sitting next to a couple of respectable gentlemen. One was Japanese and the other reminded me of Brian Sewell together with his upper middle class trill (No – not birdseed). We spent the journey discussing multiculturalism and modern architecture and he was quite confused that I didn't work for either area. Particularly for someone my age! Apparently you have to be in your 60’s before you can have any informed knowledge! We also went into brutalism, transport, politics, privatisation and London (with an emphasis on Southwark). I was quite impressed with the range of the conversation in an hour and a half! It was a bit of a shame when I had to get off the train.

Androzani Minor

I caught sight of this some days ago

GUARDIAN WEBSITE - BEST ARTICLE FOUND
BBC NEWS TAKE ON THE SITUATION

and I have to say I was quite stunned I hadn’t heard of it sooner. I’ve tried reserching the topic but all I can find are reports of what’s happening, rather than why it’s happening. Many reports describe the stuff as toxic but not in any particular way and it does seem to be spreading quickly. I just wish there was more information. There are suggestions that they pipe it into the nearby sea but there are significant environmental problems with that.

I suppose we’ll have to wait and see.