It is the Soldier, not the minister
Who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the Soldier, not the poet
Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the Soldier, not the campus organiser
Who has given us freedom to protest.

It is the Soldier, not the lawyer
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the Soldier, not the politician
Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag

Somewhere over the rainbow goes the song
Yet my heart soars up high beyond even that
To a land I hear of once when my mind cried
For a soft lullaby can go unheard of in the night
But someday I’ll awake and make wish upon a star
Wake forever where the clouds are far behind me
No matter that my troubles melt like lemon drops
As they fall away upon the tall chimney tops
I’ll always be there waiting for you to find me
As bluebirds fly so high over the rainbow in the sky
Why oh why, can’t you fly there and be with me too

Silvered animate shapes reflect the moons light
Cast long blue shadows that now herald the dawn.
With solid ground underfoot, ethereal musings overhead
The earth lays a path for free, chosen hearts to follow
I follow the path though I do not know the way
I follow the path though I do not know the reason
I follow the path because I must not lose sight of you
For I am destined to follow wherever your wake moves
For I never forget you are ever the last warmth before
The world must awake into the stillness of winter

24th Nov 2010

Been a busy couple of days at work while BSI were in checking we haven’t been naughty. All about ERICPD and for you that don’t know (which is most I’m guessing,) ERICPD is an acronym and stands for:

Eliminate
Reduce
Isolate
Control
Personal Protective Equipment
Discipline

Or the other acronym

Plan Act Do

PLAN -Establish the objectives and processes necessary to deliver results in accordance with the expected output. By making the expected output the focus, it differs from other techniques in that the completeness and accuracy of the specification is also part of the improvement.
DO - Implement the new processes. Often on a small scale if possible.
CHECK - Measure the new processes and compare the results against the expected results to ascertain any differences.
ACT -Analyze the differences to determine their cause. Each will be part of either one or more of the P-D-C-A steps. Determine where to apply changes that will include improvement. When a pass through these four steps does not result in the need to improve, refine the scope to which PDCA is applied until there is a plan that involves improvement.

See how fabulous my life is...oh well they’re not back till April so let focus on that.

I haven’t done very much on here lately but I haven’t forgotten. Hope you like the picture of Robbie...he's 1 in a week. See how the time flies by

16th Nov 2010

It must be the time of year but it is hard to get motivated in the morning. I don’t have any problems getting up but going to work that’s another issue. It is so tempting to think about putting another 2 crumpets in the toaster and saying ‘the hell with it.’ Well I guess till the bills began to roll in.

I think I’ve begun to hit the wall health wise – you know that time in your life when everything just doesn’t work or behave how it used to. Whether that’s teeth, hearing, sight, aches and pains or a bad back (I got them all now.) I only thought of it because at the weekend I was cutting down the Gunnera and covering the crowns to protect them from the frost. Got a bad back now….should have paid more attention to how I was doing it. But you know we think we can go on the same old way as before however old we get.

I’m still writing my sequel to Lord of the Rings; albeit slowly. But no matter the speed I am enjoying it. Not posting anymore of it...you’ll have to wait for the book. We need hobbies to soothe our thoughts in a world gone mad and getting madder every day...because where’s the pig gone to? Well won’t find one in the Early Learning Centre anymore that’s for sure. You might need to look that up

November 9th 2010

Well here we are in November so soon…the clocks have gone back for winter so it is now dark at around 4.30pm. No more trips to the garden after work. All the little monsters have now hung up their Halloween costumes and bonfire night came and went rather like a damp squib. I heard a few fireworks but nothing like the 1812 overture some years bring. Drove to the Lake District over the weekend and took the road down from Keswick to Windermere. (This is one of my favourite roads in the National Park.) It takes you past Thirlmere, Rydal Water and Windermere The colours this autumn are rich and vibrant with high yellows and polished ochre bronzes. Simply stunning and I got the feeling I might never see it so wonderfully coloured again. I could live here and every day would be another chapter in the continuing episode of Lord of the Rings. The Lake District is a magical place. No more so than the Highlands or mountains of Wales are but they are pretty remote and not easy to get to from here.

Garden is now settling down for the winter. The new pond is full (and overflowing,) I’ve chosen the next trees to trim and got my fleece and hay ready to cover the tender plants against the frost. That’s going to be Sunday work from here on in.

News is mostly the pantomime, cyclical financial stories (it bad, no it’s good, no it’s bad again,) or new lows in violence against people. One gets the feeling that the news misses lots of the grim stories and instead seems obsessed with the endless talent shows and soap operas rather than news. If you ask people they tell you they don’t want doom and gloom all the time but it seems to me that some of the media is pandering to the lowest common denominator all the time. Am I a grumpy old git or what?

Check out these websites

http://www.stevebulman.f9.co.uk/cumbria/keswin_f.html

Alamo Car rental have just voted the route from Keswick to Windermere the 3rd best route in Europe beating the legendary Amalfi drive which only merited 12th place!

http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/index.php?title=A591

A thousand years passed without note...

Long since did the fellowship of the ring part company in the Grey Havens. Gandalf, Frodo and Bilbo set sail with the high elves unto Valinor whilst the hobbits left behind returned home. Samwise Gamgee and Rosie, Pippin and Merry are now but distant a memory of the hobbit consciousness. The songs sung in the Green Dragon of the heroism and valour that saves Middle Earth from Sauron now long forgotten. Hobbits themselves are a now fading race that inhabits the hostile margins of middle earth shunning contact and readily able to hide from those they are wary of. To you or me they would seem but a rustle in the undergrowth, or a flash of brown akin to a hare that is disturbed in the grass. Yet make no mistake, these reticent creatures suffer no fools. So warned then take note and leave them be; for they are a fading race and will suffer the long road ahead for no-one less than a descendant of the king.

The king had indeed returned at the end of the third age and with him came once again order and a return to the pastoralist notions that Hobbits so welcome. After the world mourned the passing of Aragorn and the noble, beautiful Arwen their half Elven kin took control of middle earth and for the first centuries the world was renewed and all rejoiced in the peace that settled therein. The shadow had failed utterly at the end and it retreated behind the impenetrable passes of the east to gnaw on its defeat and brood for millennia on revenge.

So what now of the Elves and Dwarves, Hobbits and Ents and Men and Orcs? Here is the story of the fall of all to the shadow that ended the fourth age of middle earth...but it is not the part of this story to tell of the intervening years through this age. Of the great, enduring peace and the swift rise of men to now take dominion over all others in middle earth. But in the end men faltered and waned despite the promise shown at the inception of all they created. So it is now as the world changes and once again a dread creeps into the forests and plains that the shadow has again returned does the story begin.

The autumn was advancing borne aloft on the demise of summer. Long shadows crept across shorter days and the Mallorn long bereft of Galadriel’s care cast down their foliage and held up their boughs to the western wind. On such a day came three wanderers from the west and their rainment was of the hues of fall. Long bronzen cloaks swept away the leaves at their feet and their hooded features shrouded old, grey eyes. For once again the Istari had come to middle earth.

A thousand years passed without note...

Long since did the fellowship of the ring part company in the Grey Havens. Gandalf, Frodo and Bilbo set sail with the high elves unto Valinor whilst the hobbits left behind returned home. Samwise Gamgee and Rosie, Pippin and Merry are now but distant a memory of the hobbit consciousness. The songs sung in the Green Dragon of the heroism and valour that saves Middle Earth from Sauron now long forgotten.

The king had indeed returned at the end of the third age and with him came once again order and a return to the pastoralist notions that Hobbits so welcome. The shadow had failed utterly at the end and it retreated behind the impenetrable passes of the east to gnaw on its defeat and brood for a millennia on revenge.

So what now of the Elves and Dwarves, Hobbits and Ents and Men and Orcs? Here is the story of the fall of all to the shadow that ended the fourth age of middle earth...but it is not the part of this story to tell of the intervening years through this age. Of the great, enduring peace and the swift rise of men to now take dominion over all others in middle earth. But in the end men faltered and waned despite the promise shown at the inception of all they created. So it is now as the world changes and once again a dread creeps into the forests and plains that the shadow has again returned does the story begin.

It's not been a great few months but life goes on in its own unstoppable way. We buried my Dad Tuesday and had a wake at my brother’s house. Dad would have been in his element with all those meat pies and ham sandwiches. Still don't understand how people can be warm and vibrant and then gone in minutes. It is so like the summer as it passes to autumn.

I have to confess I was late for my father’s funeral. I thought I knew the way but got mixed up. I turned around and came back and passed a hearse and car heading back the way I had just come. Got to be them I thought so I did another swift turn and followed them. After a few miles down a narrow country lane they stopped at a picturesque church and I realised it was another funeral. Luckily two hikers were passing and they gave me the correct directions. I was mortified at the time but somewhat funny in retrospect. I wrote and did the eulogy for the service - it is only shortbut it was so hard to compose. It made up for being late anyway. If I am glad of anything it is that he did not suffer and for once we all came together as a family and did him proud.

Here’s the eulogy

Dad was born in 1933 on the 21st June to Bridget and Thomas and was soon after joined by his 2 sisters and a brother. Life was hard then with the war and rationing but it was easier than it was going to be once he’d married mother and between them raised seven children. They didn’t do it all without help and to those that helped – we say thank you. It was some family tree they made and it continues to grow strong.

Dad worked for over fourty years in the local paper mill and despite what modern medicine tells us now you can actually go a long way on the wrong diet. He was robust in constitution and apart from one problem he was always healthy right up to the end. This was in no small part due to the loving care of Trevor and Eileen and we his other children thank you for taking such good care of dad for so many years.

Dad like the now falling autumn leaves, you let go all your familiar ties and started a new adventure. Have a swift journey to it now and say a big hello to Mum who’s been waiting for so long to see you. Follow now where your heart leads you and think of us all as you walk together again in places that are forever blessed in springtime. Oh and make sure you enjoy the peace and quiet while it lasts. Goodnight and God bless.

You might have noticed all the government cuts announced yesterday – wonder how they'll affect us over the coming years. The only thing sure is it won’t be in a good way, but just how much may it hurt us remains to be seen. More taxes and carry on working till you drop seems to be the outward message from it all. Not that it is just us in the UK. The whole world has gone into austerity mode. Well so long as I can eat simply; but well, and keep warm I shan't really mind.

Well here we are in the middle October so much sooner than I imagined. How time flies so soon across a year and it’s not shaping up to be a great year so far. I think we all become a little more obsessed with time as we get older. I remember watching the film ‘the Time machine’ by H G Wells as a child. I was amazed by the shot where the machine flies into the future and the seasons come and go in the blink of an eye. As I grow older it feels a little akin to that now. Where did the spring and summer go? How come it is getting dark so early and why is the morning drenched in cool misty sunrise so late. Everything becomes a why as you grow older and despite all the thought no answers come.

Bathed in stardust and set adrift on the solar winds ride the Valkyries into a red sunset. Lofty helms grace grim countenances and their feminine guiles are not toothless; being girded by stout shields and broadswords. They are fell maidens, ghostly white as a snowy wilderness with eyes blue as a clear sky looking with a sharp perception deep into the clarity of a greater understanding. No injustice can blanch or intimidate these sirens and all pain is swift to set right under their gaze. They stand with one foot in the heavens and the other under the sea. They are caught inexorably between two worlds and the pull of the heart between both is like the flow of the spring tides. For they come to earth only to gather up the fallen and bear them swift to Valhalla.

Dad (1933-2010)

Like the now falling leaves; you also let go of all your familiar ties and drifted away through the sunshine into a new adventure. Have a swift journey Dad and say hello to Mum for us. She’s being waiting for you to join her for so long. Think of us as you walk together again in dappled lanes that are forever blessed in springtime. For you have left our world the colder now you’ve gone.

Wed 6th Oct 2010

Mike’s off to see Michael Buble tonight in Manchester so I took Robbie out on my own for a lovely walk in the woods. Robbie for the greatest part is gentle and loving and he is very well behaved in the house. His training outdoors needs to be done sooner rather than later though. He’s a tad too enthusiastic off the lead.

I am beginning to warm to this time of year now especially as the beech tree leaves fall to the floor covering all the paths in a russet carpet. It helps that the weather is currently mild and dry and the colours are fantastic already; I think the autumn will be very vivid this year.

I wrote a nice thing at work but forgot (again) to email it home so here is a piece of it. Don’t know where the thought of Valkyries came from.

Bathed in stardust and set adrift on the solar winds ride the Valkyries. Lofty helms grace grim countenance and their feminine guiles are not toothless; being girded by stout shields and broadswords. They are fell maidens who injustice cannot blanch and are swift to set right into any wrong. They stand with one foot in the heavens and the other under the sea. Caught inexorably between two worlds and the pull of the heart between both is like the flow of the tides.

Can’t believe it’s nearly a week since the holiday. Had a good time in Dorset opposite Poole harbour with Nick and the lovely ladies. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Since I got home the weather has been a bit of a mixture, (it was sunny all week on holiday.) Still managed to get a photo of a rainbow this evening so maybe a good sign for the £82 million on offer on the Euro millions tomorrow. I also got some ripening grapes, bamboo and a sunflower and a stumble which looks quite artistic.

Hope you’re well and will be back soon.

Tuesday 14th Sept 2010

Give it a rest for a couple of weeks as I'm off on holiday today...well Friday but got to attend some training first. Promise to take loads of pictures.

I like this shot as it could be a tree line boulevard in a Paris park

9th Sept 2010

Been out for a brief walk tonight around the cemetery but it is getting colder so I tarried long enough only to take a few sunset pics and 1 weekend and 2 days and it's holiday time. I can’t wait for that to come around. The birds seem very awake this dusk and sing loudly as I pass. Maybe they are just trying to cheer for they know we are missing the brighter nights and wish to ease some of the pain. The world gives me a beautiful sunset and the trees hold out their boughs like limbs.

The temperature was 14oC with sunny spells weaving in and out of the blue-grey clouds. I looked at the clouds and you know it must be something to do with the curve of the world but the clouds furthest on the horizon lay the lowest. It created the most beautiful layered effect like scales upon the side of a salmon. These clouds are the veritable leviathans of the aether, which seems to me a good way to describe them. As I went around the cemetery it became sunnier despite the dulling skies and the Himalayan Balsam along the path edges lay pinkly resplendent in the light.

These very paths are now marked in gold walls as trees make ready for autumn, but I wait eagerly for my exuberant feet to once again tread them in spring. To stroll along the bluebell scented paths among the new-emerged leaves that holds the sunlight within emerald discs that shimmer overhead almost celestially. I shall feel again the message that floats down to me through tremoring, dripping branches of green sparkles.

I took lots of photos today and sat on the bench after the walk. Just to be there with the sun on my face and the birdsong ringing in my ears looking over a mottled sky falling down between green hills. There are not the words to convey it all. I wish you could have seen it with me.

Hope you enjoy Mike’s pictures below…he has a better eye for a good photo that me I think. I love the photo of the sunflower.