360 no 40

Entry for December 20, 2007, 360 import, Christmas letter to santa
Dec 20, '07 9:30 AM
for loretta's contacts
 
DEAR SANTA
You probably don't get many letters from grown-ups but there are some things I really do need. You must be awful busy with all those kids but I would be so grateful if you could let me have some stuff too.
Just like all those kids, I spend the whole year trying to be good and ...... well to be honest I'm not that successful. But I do try, so I just hope you can overlook the times when I haven't been that good. It's usually stuff like getting mad and yelling at people, I never mean too but I just find people so difficult at times, I'm a grown up so I know there is no real excuse for getting mad and yelling at people, but I do find it all so difficult. And that brings me to the stuff I really do need for Christmas;
Santa I need to find a way of living my life without leaving this enormous Eco-footprint that seems to follow me around.
I need to find a way of surviving and working that does not contribute to the inequalities and injustices of the world.
I need to find a place to live where there are like minded people who understand why constantly buying new things is not good, who can relate buying fashion clothes at rock bottom prices to sweat shops and child labour, who are thoughtful and considerate toward their environment and who instinctively understand the principles of 'reduce, reuse and recycle.
I need to live some place where there are no racists, homophobics xenophobes, misogynists or bigots of any kind (these are the people I yell at most)
I need to be free of people who deliberately gossip, bitch about and deride others at the slightest opportunity (I think I maybe yell at them more).
I need to find a way of contributing that is valued in ways other than monetary.
I am a grown up and I live on my own. I have no one who depends on me so I really could go anywhere you find these things for me.
This is my Christmas list Santa.
PS............ OK....... sometimes I yell just because I'm bad tempered, sorry for that. Can I have my wish list anyway please. If you manage to stop by my hoose on your way around the world I will have hot mince pies and wee dram waiting for you and carrots n' neeps for Rudolph.
Thank you Santa
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE
Tags: 360 import, christmas
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360 no 39

Entry for December 19, 2007, 360 import, Friends at christmas,

Dec 19, '07 5:54 PM for loretta's contacts

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Hello everyone it’s so nice to be back even if it is for such a short while, and at this point there really is no guarantee this will even make it to my 360 page but I will do my best. I haven’t managed to replace or properly repair my decrepit old computer but, on a whim, I just decided to switch on and see what happens…… so far so good, the response remains sluggish to say the least but for the time being it appears to be humouring me. So……. Strike whilst the iron is hot as they say.
I just can’t believe its only 5 days to Christmas. My house is festooned in red and gold, the tree is small but brightly lit and my red Christmas candles emit this beautiful scent of oranges, cloves and cinnamon. I have presents all wrapped and ready to go, pink and sparkly for the granddaughters, Bob the Builder for the youngest grandson and a collection of transformers for the older grandson. There are the customary ‘smellies’ for the daughters and their partners and something a little special for my two best friends. Both of my friends are an inspiration to me.



They are both registered disabled. One, a lady just two
years older than me has so many health problems I have absolutely no idea how she finds the strength
to get out of bed in the morning never mind any thing else. She has not had a happy life; she had a miserable childhood followed by an abusive marriage followed by chronic ill health. She lives alone with scant support from her grown up family and I live in the next town so I just don’t get to see her as often as I would like. This year she has become increasingly frail, she has no hope of any improvement in her condition, just a steady decline into the inevitable. Yet this lady never fails to ask how I am, to take an interest in my general well being and to offer support and sympathy when I’ve had a bad day. Compared to her, I never have anything that remotely resembles a bad day but that doesn’t stop her being supportive and saying just the right thing. Many, many thanks and a multitude of Christmas wishes to you Agnes for being my very dear friend. My other friend is a chap who is 4 years older than me. He survives with about ½ of a working lung. He has suffered more bereavements in his life than most of us could imagine and now has virtually no relatives left. He cared for terminally ill relatives, he fought in the army, he saw his comrades blown up in front of him, he brought up his child on his own and now, when he should be free to enjoy what is left of his own life, he is incapacitated and severely limited in what he can do. Does he ever complain?? NO! Does he ever let things get him down? NO! He is funny and makes me laugh when I feel down (which is very often). He spends his life joking and laughing, I must admit his jokes are NOT very PC and if anyone else said the things he says I would be greatly offended. But in his case I make an exception, mostly because I know he doesn't really meant it and partly because he has a heart of gold. If ever there is anything he is able to do to help, he is there. What a great guy, and how lucky am I to have two such wonderful friends? So thank you and Merry Christmas to you too.

Now compare these two wonderful people with my not so wonderful work colleagues. My work colleagues bring whole new meanings to superficial, they plummet depths of superficial I could not, in my wildest dreams have imagined. If asked what constitutes an international disaster I’m pretty sure at least a couple of them would say a bad hair day. They see no irony or sadness in their utter devastation caused by red wine stains on a brand new cream carpet when millions will spend this Christmas without a roof over their heads never mind carpets under their feet! They covert designer labels without a thought to the sweat shop where they are made or the children who live in poverty making the damm stuff. They are not only ignorant of what goes on in the world they are adamantly determined to remain ignorant just in case a little knowledge upsets and intrudes into the orgy of consumerism that constitutes their Christmas. These women are shallow, ignorant, racist, homophobic, xenophobic and mean spirited. I walked in on a conversation that went along the lines of its ‘ok’ to call ‘them’ Pakies because they all come from Pakistan and its just an abbreviation so that’s not racist!! If I hadn’t actually heard this conversation I would not have believed people I work with could say such things. They text each other vile, offensive racist jokes on their mobiles and see nothing inappropriate or offensive in this. They seem to believe people are not really ‘British’ unless they and their parents are white and have lived here for generations. The concept of black British or Asian British or Muslim British just seems to remain outside the realms of their understanding. It seems dear old Enoch’s ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech may be 40 (ish) years old but its essence is alive and well and living on the east coast of Scotland. And what these women think of any gay couple who have the audacity to be seen together in public is not printable!! Oh shame on us!!! I suppose I should be grateful that, of all the men I work with only one springs to mind as an out right misogynist. That I believe, is called being grateful for small mercies!
I have amused and distracted myself from the horrors of my colleagues by getting involved in something called Eco-Schools. In brief; the aim of Eco-Schools is to bring the ideals of sustainability, environmentally sound actions, recycling, energy efficiency etc into schools, to involve pupils and staff alike in making the school more ‘eco-friendly’. Well our efforts seem to have paid off because the School now proudly displays the Eco-Schools Bronze award which will soon be joined by the Silver. The ultimate award, the much sought after Green Flag, may just take me a wee bit longer, but not that long!! I calculate about this time next year we should be flying the Green Flag which is something worth working toward despite what those miserable women think. They relate to Eco-Schools as something that may be useful to them in some way.

Oh how I have missed these pages as a much needed outlet for the frustrations of every day life. Not that I intended this to be some sort of tirade against the wicked, It was meant to be a ‘hello and happy Christmas’. And on that more cheerful note I think I should call it a night. My computer has been kind to me but now I am beginning to feel I shouldn’t push my luck. Time for me to quietly, leave and quit while I’m ahead.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Tags: 360 import, friends, health, mental health, christmas

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360 no 38

    Entry for October 08, 2007, 360 import, Goodbye for a while.
Oct 8, '07 5:24 AM
for loretta's contacts
 Hi everyone, well this is absolutely going to be my last blog entry for a while. Woke up today to a totally non-functioning computer. Nope, not a thing, won't turn on!! And yes ....... it does have power, and yes the battery is fully functional. Maybe this is just mechanical, maybe the on/of button just doesn't work, just do not know. So, guess this is some sort of omen that I should spend more time with my books and less time in front of a monitor. Am using a friends computer right now, just didn't want to go with out saying why. Hope to get the dam machine repaired or replaced asap..................until then, good bye my friends, I have enjoyed this 'blogging' thingy very much and fully intend to resume in the near future. I will be back. And thanks to every one for every thing.
Tags: 360 import, friends, computer, internet
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360 no 37

Entry for October 03, 2007, 360 import, Re-reading Hesse
Oct 3, '07 3:57 PM
for loretta's contacts
 
A very strange thing happened to me today. I decided to sort out my books and pack some up for the charity shop. I always find sorting through books difficult because no matter how resolute my intention it inevitably ends with me sitting in the middle of the floor surrounded by open books, deeply engrossed in at least one of them. This time was slightly different. I was sat, as predicted, in the midst of half open books when one book, with no provocation or encouragement what so ever, quite literally threw itself from the top shelf of the bookcase and landed, face up and open in my lap.
This book was a very old paperback. This book was just about the first 'serious' book I ever read. And there, in my lap, sat the original copy of the book I had bought in the early 70's. I was still young and impressionable with a mind ripe for education. This book changed the way I think, it introduced me to my long term all time favorite author. I have not read his work for so long. But, as I sat reading this, every thing I felt then just came flooding back. And the strange thing is, this particular passage is just so apt.............this is how I feel when I try to write
''However, the more pages I read of my handwriting, the less did I like the manuscript. Even in my former most despondent hours it had never seemed so futile and absurd to me as now. Everything seemed so confused and stupid; the clearest relationships were distorted, the most obvious forgotten, the trivial and the unimportant pushed into the foreground. It must be written again, right from the beginning. As I continued reading the manuscript, I had to cross out sentence after sentence, and as I crossed them out, they crumbled on the paper, and the clear, sloping letters separated into assorted fragments, into strokes and points, into circles, small flowers and stars, and the pages were covered like carpets with graceful, meaningless, ornamental designs. Soon there was nothing more left of my text; on the other hand there was much unused paper left for my work. I pulled myself together. I tried to see things clearly.''
Just a small excerpt from
'The Journey to the East', Herman Hesse, pub Panther Books 1972. (this particular version has an introduction by Timothy Leary which is worth reading too)
I had forgotten the pleasure of reading Hesse. I don't think so many people read his books now. So.... now rather than packing books up for the charity shop I have sorted out all my old Hesse books with the intention of re-reading ASAP.
Tags: 360 import, hesse, literature
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360 no 36

Entry for September 28, 2007, 360 import, 360 FRIENDS
Sep 28, '07 5:48 PM
for loretta's contacts
 
Oh I am such a bad, bad 360 friend, people have contacted me, asked where I am, been worried about me and still I havn't answered. I am soooooo sorry if I didn't get back to you. I have just been kinda busy with work 'n stuff and have found it really diffucult to find the time to get back here long enough to do any writing or catching up. As I've already said to a couple of my friends, I have been feeling rather down lately which doesn't help, it doesn't make for good writing and communication when you just feel down all the time, well, not writing that I want to put here anyway.
Now tonight I had it all planned, I knew exactly what I was going to do. The plan was to do a very brief update on the budgie thingy and then make my excuses and close the page down for a while. I just didn't have the energy or the inclination to carry on while feeling so low in myself. I just didn't feel up to keeping this blog going right now. Mmmmmmmmmm, well plans are wondeful things but they don't always work do they?? The budgie thingy went ok, thats the first thing I have written in a couple of weeks and once that was done it just occured to me that maybe I should update this page on the recent development re the 'needle injury'. So I did that too. Well by this time I had quite gotten back into the swing of things so to speak, then I remembered this letter from my great aunt.
She is a fabulous old lady, can still walk most people off their feet and she is one of the most cheerful and happy people I have ever met. She always has a smile and never has a bad word to say about anyone. Oh if only I could be such a nice person..........yeah I wish!! So then I thought I just had to put in a bit about her request for help with her friends sponsored walk. And there you have it, my conversion in one evening from 'determined to close the page', to 'I'm really getting back into this again'. Now at some point this evening I remembered I still have a half finished entry on Glamis Castle laying around somewhere in one of my compute folders. So, providing I don't get sidetracked for another couple of weeks with work, chores and depression, I hope to actually finish it and post it soon.
Untill then my friends, so sorry to those of you I have ignored, I really really will make the effort to get back to you.
Tags: 360 import, friends
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360 no 24

    Entry for July 26, 2007, 360 import, Transfering Photos to Flickr
Jul 26, '07 3:13 PM
for loretta's contacts
 
 I have spent the last couple of hours or so transferring ALL of my many, many pictures of Buildings, Seascapes, landscapes, Townscapes, Parks and Gardens from all over Angus and the surrounding areas from the old yahoo albums to brand new ones right here. If you want to take a look the best way to make sense of them all is to go to my photos on my page and then go to 'collections'. There are 13 collections with 3, 4 or 5 sets to each collection. I think there are over 2000 photos in all, I really would like you to just dip into these collections and take a wee look at what is there. I haven't quite finished sorting them all out and some may still need turning, but just take a look anyway and feel free to leave as many comments as you like. Thanks for taking the time, I really do hope you like the photos.
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/forget-me-not5275/
Tags: 360 import, photo, picture perfect
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360 no 22

Entry for July 23, 2007, 360 import, Yahoo is not behaving!!
Jul 23, '07 1:28 PM
for loretta's contacts
 
Another apology and yet again NOT MY FAULT!!
Apparently Yahoo is not content with disrupting my 360 messages and friends, now it wants to wreck havoc on my personal emails and messenger!! Over the last couple of days friends, relatives and acquaintances alike have mysteriously disappeared from my Yahoo address book and messenger list. I don't know why, I don't know how, and I'm not even sure exactly when, but disappear they have.
So................if you are one of those names mysteriously erased from my lists.............what can I do but apologies and assume Yahoo will graciously return us to normal service as soon as possible.
In seriousness, if anyone IS having a problem contacting me, for now at least, I can only suggest you try MySpace because so far there have been no strange goings on over there!
Tags: 360 import, computer, internet
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360 no 21

    Entry for July 17, 2007, 360 import, internet/yahoo? problems
Jul 17, '07 4:39 PM
for loretta's contacts
 
I think there must have been something wrong with Yahoo recently. Tonight my mail box is absolutely flooded with 'new mail', the problem is some of this supposedly 'new mail' is in fact anything up to 3 or 4 weeks old!!! Some of it I have seen before and some of it I haven't . So, to all of my friends who I have not replied too over the last few weeks I do humbly apologise, but I have only just received your mail!! I will answer all of these messages, it may just take a few days! Not my fault, honest!! 
Tags: 360 import, computer, internet
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360 no 20

Entry for July 17, 2007, 360 import, computer & internet problems,
Jul 17, '07 4:10 PM
for loretta's contacts
 
What a very stressful few days this has been. As I have said I do have technophobe tendencies and stuff like this just brings out herds of nasty little gremlins to haunt me. And of course the simplest of solutions just evade anyone when they are totally stressed out. I think it was sometime Saturday afternoon when the blindingly obvious slapped me in the face. I have (had) a completely unused pristine 1 gig memory stick laying around in a draw somewhere. So, immediate problem solved. After frantically emptying draws full of junk all over the house I located this beautiful unassuming little black memory stick at the back of the kitchen draw, I promptly and unceremoniously shoved it into a spare USB and immediately transferred ALL of my pictures. That was immediate cure for growing waves of paranoia and gave me a bit of breathing space, whew……………..

And now, crisis over, rational service was resumed, I do feel a bit of a fool for panicking so much. I have a Toshiba laptop and an external Sony rewriter. I have never used the internal rewriter, I’ve always used the external one. Then one day my beautiful, pretty shiny external Sony stopped working!! Ahhhhhhhhhh 
I did what I normally do, disconnected and uninstalled everything, reconnected and attempted to reinstall everything. Then I discovered a problem, this beautiful, pretty, shiny external rewriter was supplied with something called a ‘link’ cable used only for installing the software, and it appeared to be hopelessly lost!!, ummmmmmmmm 
More frantic turning out of draws all over the house but this time to no avail, it remained absolutely, utterly and completely lost. Bright Idea!!..............look up Sony support number and/or web page and ask to order another ‘link’ lead. Simple enough I thought, not so said the man from Sony, not simple at all. In fact his exact words were ‘’well if you have lost the lead there’s not much I can do about it is there?’’, ‘’can’t you supply a replacement lead’’ I asked, determined not to be intimidated by this rather abrupt man, ‘’no, we don’t do that’’, said the man from Sony. I don’t like being rude or getting angry, so I hung up instead. And then ‘PING’ another bright idea and another frantic search, this time for the receipt, which I found and, oh halleluiah, I was right, this appliance is less than one year old (just). Ok so now I thought contact Sony again but this time lets try another tactic. ‘’’ hello’’, said I, ‘’I have a problem with my Sony rewriter, it simply doesn’t work and it is less than a year old’’. There followed an inquisition any intelligence organisation would have been proud of. Can you tell me the date of purchase?, the place of purchase?, the model number?, the cereal number?, describe in detail what the problem is?, (what a dam fool question! It doesn’t work!) can you supply proof of purchase?, do you have the original packaging?, have you tried uninstalling & reinstalling?’ is it connected via a USB port or are you using a hub?, have you tried it on another computer?’ (Implication here was obviously that MY computer was at fault), and on and on and on, more and more increasingly mundane and irritating questions. Sometimes she asked the same question with slightly different wording, thinly veiled as a new, unasked question. I watch CSI too you know, I know when someone is trying to trip you up with trick questions. But, happily she ran out of steam and presumably questions, well before my determination expired. 
And finally RESULT, I swear I detected the tone of defeated resignation in her voice,
‘’What is your email address please?’’
‘’We will email you a return form and postage label, please complete the details on the return form and email it back to us with a copy of your proof of purchase, and then print off the return label and return the rewriter to us. As the rewriter is less than one year old we will send you a replacement one once we have received your old one’’.
Yep that is what I call a result. I would recommend you bear this little story in mind if you ever have the misfortune to call the Sony help line, as HELP lines go, this is defiantly NOT the most helpful I have ever encountered. 
So, email arrived was filled in and returned, returns label was printed and attached to rewriter, rewriter was posted. Sorted!! 
The final task was to get the as yet unused Toshiba internal rewriter to work. I tried all ways imaginable just to coax my machine into performing the simple task of copying pictures from file to CD, and every time my machine told me nope, no can do. The machine seemed to be saying I could only copy to DVD’s and not to CD’s but I knew it was lying, my machine often lies to me. I have gotton to know the little tricks my machine plays on me and I knew it was hiding the little tick box that would allow me to copy to CD as well as to DVD. I looked and I looked and I looked but I just couldn’t find it, by this time I had grown very weary of the whole process. I thought; well if I can survive the rigors of the Sony helpline or customer support or whatever it was then talking to Toshiba will be a walk in the park. And so it was. The Toshiba man turned out to be a very nice young man who understood the problem immediately and took me directly to the elusive little ticky box that allows me to copy to both CD and DVD. Well thank you Toshiba and your very nice and incredibly helpful young man. 
And that is what I have been doing with myself these last few days. Those of you who have absolutely no insight into the daily dilemmas of the technophobe will probably be rolling around the floor laughing at my ineptitude by now. But for me…………..this has been a learning curve and if it brings a little merriment in its wake, well that’s ok too.
     
Tags: 360 import, computer, internet
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360 no 18

Entry for July 13, 2007, 360 import, computer meltdown and Panic!!
Jul 13, '07 4:36 PM
for loretta's contacts
 
Oh..... I find myself in the terrible position of not being able to save anything to disk, my writer/re-writer has, for some reason known only to itself totally refused to work.............nope .... nothing. Now I have been in this position before and as a consequence lost loads of really nice pics, so folks, no points for guessing what I shall be doing this weekend. I shall be uninstalling and re-installing just about everything in the vague hope that doing so will solve the problem. Oh I just hope so because having no means of backing anything up makes me soooooooo paranoid. 
So...............sorry but guess I'm just not gonna be around this weekend, I shall be otherwise occupied. Hope you all have a great weekend, I shall check my emails once or twice but I don't think I shall be signing in to 360 or myspace till this little problem is solved. And the way I deal with computer problems this could take some time so wish me luck.
Have a nice weekend, any advice and/or condolences gratefully received via my emails.
Tags: 360 import, computer, internet
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The True but Bizarre story of Garry Mckinnon

I’ve just been reading the latest episode in the rather bizarre story of Garry McKinnon; the Scottish born man who suffers from Asperger's syndrome, ( which is one of the Autistic Spectrum conditions) and managed, with simple, commercially available software to hack his way into top secret American military sites !! Stuff like this you couldn’t make up.

If there is any one who has not heard of this chap, this, in a nutshell, is his totally weird story.

Seems the chap, like many people with Aspergers, has an extraordinary high IQ coupled with a tendency toward compulsive /obsessive behaviour. His particular obsession turns out to be a fixation with extra terrestrial activities covered up (he believes) by the United States Administration. In the late nineties, McKinnon decided to use his hacker skills for, as he called it, “research”. He told the BBC that he started his “research” because he was convinced that Congress was denying the public critical information about unidentified flying objects and life on other planets. He believes that extraterrestrials have passed on knowledge of ‘free’ and unlimited energy and this information is being withheld from the rest of the world by the United States. In order to research his beliefs he used his computer expertise and experience as a system administrator (presently unemployed) to hack into a total of 97,  (the figure claimed by the united States), computers of the American Army and NASA, all between 2001 and 2002. The computer network that Garry apparently  “entered” and hacked, comprised of servers and PCs owned by NASA, the American Army, the American Navy, the Defence Department and the American Air Force.

Understandably this really seems to have irked certain individuals away on the other side of the pond. McKinnon was originally tracked down and arrested under the ‘’Computer Misuse Act’’ by the UK National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) in 2002’ who informed him that he would face six months community service. At the time the Crown Prosecution Service refused to charge him. However, later that year he was indicted by the United States government. Some where around this time the United States asked for the extradition of Garry McKinnon under the terms of the controversial 2003 Extradition Act, which makes provision for the extradition of UK citizens suspected of terrorist offences, to, (among other places), America without the need for ‘’prima facie’’ evidence. Which basically means the United States can ask for any one they want from this country if they say that person is a suspected terrorist and there is no requirement under this treaty for them to provide any evidence to support the accusation. The controversy was further fueled by the absence of any reciprocal arrangement in respect of anyone being extradited from the the United States to the UK.

Gary McKinnon was accused of being a cyber-terrorist responsible for the 'biggest military hack of all time’, and this, we are told, is why he must be extradited to stand trial in the United states where he faces a sentence of around 60 /70 years in prison !!!

For the last seven or so years Garry Mckinnon has been fighting this extradition and gathering quite a collection of supporters and protesters along the way. These supporters come from both sides of the pond; they include a whole heap of people from a political and judicial background, they include the almost obligatory rich and famous musicians, pop/ rock stars etc and the whole lot happily campaign alongside the not so rich or famous members of different Autism support groups. Garry himself has apparently become withdrawn, depressed, possibly suicidal, often unable to go out and completely terrified of being extradited. His doctors are now concerned for his health and mental well being. All of which is a pretty understandable reaction to being hounded for the last seven years.


The story is in the newspaper again today because it is the subject of discussion in parliament when MPs will be asked to vote in support of Garry and block his extradition.

My thoughts on this story??
Well, for a start, bizarre though his beliefs are, he is not alone in thinking them. These beliefs are the subject of countless books and conspiracy theories which does explain how easy it was for him to become so convinced and obsessed in the first place.
BUT; most importantly……………………….how the hell did an unemployed system administrator with Asperger's Syndrome manage to hack into some of what should be the most secure computer systems in the world??

watch the videos of his interviews and then see what you think.

A TOTALLY UNBELEIVABLE STORY

Random Thoughts; and think I would like Chickens.

The new computer is great, no problems here, but would you believe.................as soon as  I downloaded all the photographs from my camera......the camera died!!!!
Looks like I am camera-less for a while unless I get it fixed because, having just paid out on a computer, I don't think I'll be paying out on a new camera for a while.
I loved my camera...........a Fujifilm finePix S5000, a very much appreciated gift from a friend.
Even with a new efficient computer I don't seem to have the time to spend here the way I used too, there always seems so much to do. I am organising a whole school 'Green Awareness Day' at the school which is very time demanding, I've also bought lots of bulbs and wild flowers for the pupils to plant. The wild flower patch at the top of my garden is beginning to look good. For the first time I have a thick patch of forget-me-nots growing in the corner under the old apple tree. There are wild, old fashioned primroses behind the composter and bluebells poking up through the periwinkle. Oh how I wish I could go photo it all for you  .....SIGHHHHH
I have managed to cut the hedge to a level I think will be easier to maintain and I'm hoping this will help it to grow thicker and encourage the birds to nest.
Now.............I don't know a lot about bumble bees but I seem to have a resident one in my garden (are they Territorial??) Every time I go out there I hear the low steady drone of a pot bellied, fat little bumble bee, and then I always see him in the same area of the garden. Actually I always thinking of 'him' as 'him', but in reality this could be me seeing lots of different bumble bees every time I go out...........SO...........ARE they territorial? is this the same one I keep seeing??

The chicken at the top is a Scotts Grey, Apparently an old Scottish breed and particularly suitable for this climate. I love her..........she is so cute...........just wish I could keep her but I'm still not at all sure my garden is big enough.
And now...............since I don't have lots of pictures to show you, I'm off to do a bit of an 'Art' blog...........this has been a while in coming and I'm really looking forward to it.

Something very strange has happened !!!

Today I came home from work determined to find an hour or so to spend here. I was really feeling the need to catch up with a few people and get down to reading stuff from friends, reading comments and maybe leaving a few comments of my own..........
So, I came home, ate tea, watched the news, logged on and almost passed out with shock. For the first time since November..... yes I DID say November, I have access to my media locker, I am able to customise my front page, delete old empty photo albums and ALL my comments appear immediately, yes my site seems to be working in real time AND it seems to be working perfectly, utterly perfectly!!!!
WOW & OMG..........I have NO  idea why this should happen, I haven't changed any thing, added any thing or deleted any thing. All of which confirms my belief that the problems never were any thing to do with me in the first place. It wasn't any thing I was doing or any programme I had running.  What ever unknown force has been bugging my site for so long has spontaneously and miraculously disappeared, I still can't quite believe it, but I'm very, very grateful to what ever or who ever has made this happen.  Has this miracle happened to any one else recently or am I the only one  ???

I SAY AGAIN.....................
HOW WONDERFULLY WEIRD!!!