100th Post! And it's official, the world has gone mad.

Do I get a telegram from someone?
This is my 100th post.
And I was holding back until I had something worth saying.
I logged onto Yahoo, and saw this story.
So, I thought I'd share,


LONDON (Reuters) - A man has been convicted of racially aggravated harassment after calling a Welsh woman English.

Michael Forsythe was sentenced to 10 weeks in jail, suspended for 12 months, after being found guilty of racially aggravated disorderly behaviour, a court official said.
Forsythe received the sentence at Welshpool Magistrates Court on Tuesday and was also ordered to pay 200 pounds in prosecution costs.
The former lorry driver, who is originally from Northern Ireland, but lives in Powys, Mid Wales, called Lorna Steele an "English bitch" during an argument after he collided with her parked vehicle in the Welsh market town of Newport in February.
Forsythe has attacked the prosecution as a waste of time and money, according to the Daily Mail newspaper.
"I find it unbelievable that I've been prosecuted for this," he said. "I've travelled all over Europe as a lorry driver and never had any problems with anybody and now they're officially calling me a racist.
"It's political correctness gone mad."
(Editing by Steve Addison)

[News story from Yahoo 30/11/07]

What I wonder is; if he'd called her a Welsh bitch, would any of this happened? From how it reads, it seems to be the fact that he called English, that annoyed her.

That's it, it's finally official, the world has gone PC mad. (Politically correct, not personal computer.)
A few weeks ago my friend's husband was told he was making racist comments. Why? Because he had described the people who had blocked his car and motorbike in, so he couldn't move either as Polish. It was the police who told him this. As he correctly pointed out, he doesn't know their names, and they ARE from Poland. (I tend to call them Eastern Europeans, as they aren't ALL from Poland.) And as the news story above shows, some people take offence to being called the incorrect race.
How else do you describe someone to another person, if you don't know their given names, unless it is a reference to the language they speak, if that is the factor that sets them apart?
So, the world is going mad. Shall we all go mad too? Or should we just sit back and have a good laugh?

Only in America

I heard this story on the news this morning. Don't know where they got it from, other than they get a summary of the day's stories, and it was from there.
Right, what is the story?
Apparently, a man is being prosecuted for not stopping after a traffic accident, but driving away from the scene.
Fair enough, I hear you say. Quite a few people do that.......BUT, how many drive away, and all the way home with the victim on the windscreen of their car?

Didn't he notice that he had a body on his car?
It must have seriously compromised his visibility.
Why did no-one say anything?
I can only presume that this incident took place in one of the sparsely populated areas of the US. I know if anyone saw a car driving around with a person/body on the windscreen here, SOMEONE would report them. (Mind you there are areas of Scotland where I suppose it would be possible, but I really can't see how the driver could see where he was going.)
I'm sorry if the driver was a woman, but I have presumed a male driver. (Just using the default.)
Does anyone know more about this bizarre news story? If so, can you please let me know?
I'd love to know how he defends himself in court.

Funny weekend

This weekend is only half over, but it's been a funny one so far.
On Friday, Sam went to catch the train to Bradford, and she's spending her few days off work going round her friends at uni.
Saturday Edwin went to meet Sam and Oliver in Manchester, they spent the day together, then he was back in at 7pm-ish.
This morning, he's gone into Lancaster to meet Becki, his girlfriend, and will be back later. He usually goes to his Dad's over the weekend.
Sam isn't back until Tuesday.
I managed to walk a fair distance yesterday, unfortunately it meant I was in a lot of pain because of it.
There are so many jobs I'd like to get done, but can't at the moment.

Parent's Evening

Yes, tonight was Parent's Evening meetings, for Edwin.
So, I went along, at the correct time, well actually I was early.
Seeing as we were mailed progress reports from school, I know that Edwin is doing ok.
This was a meeting with the form tutor. He didn't have much to tell me, other than he had no complaints.
I know some parents hate going to these events, and will do anything to avoid them. I don't wish to avoid them, but how can you spend 15 minutes talking about how well you child works etc. The one in front over-ran, and Mum didn't look to happy as they left. Edwin was busy playing music over in the music department, and hadn't even wanted to come with me.


On another note, I was looking for something else completely when I found this website http://whowritesthiscrap.com
The title of the site says it all.

UFOs

No, not the strange unexplained flying objects.
Unfinished objects, craft things I started and put aside while I did something more important, and somehow never came back to. As I've said in a previous post I am trying to get these sorted, and I finished one today that I started back in April 2000. Nothing spectacular, it's a mini quilt. It was supposed to be a foundation quilt, which means you piece the quilt together over a paper template. I had started to put it together by sewing by hand. After my first ever go at quilting, I felt confident to make this up using my sewing machine, the QE in it's name actually means Quilter's Edition, so, have made the quilt up, without paper. It's not perfect, but it is a decent second attempt. I don't know what I'm going to use it for as it is only about 22 inches square, but I'm chuffed with it.
Yes, one of my three said, "Oh, you've done another quilt! Too small to do anything with. What's it for?" My thoughts exactly, as it is supposed to be a wall hanging, but somehow I don't think it would look right in any of my rooms, just hung on the walls. Maybe if I lived in a log cabin, but I don't.
It's a little too large to make into a "superhero" dog coat for either of my dogs as well. [They look good in their tartan dog coats.]
So, it's back to the cross stitch UFOs now.

At last

It's come through, at last, the date for my operation.
So now I can order the parrot!
I have to go in the evening before, and will probably be in for 3-4 days after the operation.
So, I won't get to blog while I'm in the hospital, obviously, but might have some funny tales to relate afterwards.
One of the other technicians is having an operation on the 6th of December, a couple of days after mine, so if we manage it to the technicians Christmas meal, we can bookend them. Although I don't know If I'll be able to as I know I have to put no weight on the leg for two weeks, and the meal is just outside the two weeks.
So that gives me two weeks to sort out pressies before Xmas. I have a couple of things for Sam, but need another idea.

When will I learn?

Yes, I mean it.
When will I learn not to try to do too many things with my ankle as it is?
I just end up totally wiped out the next day, and stop in bed half the day.
Yesterday, saw my bloke, then drove back, saw Edwin off to school, went swimming, went shopping , to Post Office, shopping a bit more, came home, made full home cooked meal, had bath, and even then didn't relax.
Is it any wonder I wiped out all my energy?
And today? I crawled out of bed, saw Edwin off, and crawled back into bed, until almost 1pm.
See, it's about time I realised that I need to pace myself.
This is a huge learning curve for me, I didn't realise that physical injury could make you mentally exhausted.
I will get it, probably after my operation, and am well on the way to recovery.

Saturday evening, again

Tonight, so far, there are no crazy Eastern Europeans yelling at each other, or people nicking cars and abandoning them in the street. There have still been fireworks though. I found out why people might still be setting off fireworks yesterday. One of the local supermarkets is selling them off half price. It's really quiet here, Sam has gone out, supposed to be going to a 21st do for one of her friends.

I finished the t-shirts, but the style doesn't suit me, so am not sure what to do with them.
Have been doing some work on one of my UFOs, (cross-stitch,) and it's taking shape nicely, only trouble is that it is on black Aida, and I can only really work on it during the day time as the colours are very close together, lots of subtle shading. I do have a daylight bulb in my lamp, but it doesn't quite replace real daylight.

Parking, easy?

Parking, it's one of the most difficult things to do when you are learning to drive, ain't it?
And it can be a pain. And if you live in a house with a garage and drive way, and only ever park on supermarket car parks, you might never have to parallel park ever again.
http://www.howto.tv/show/how_to_reverse_park
Except, I don't think Eastern Europeans have to learn to parallel park in the same way as we do, or do they? Perhaps they haven't got driving licences, in which case that is a very scary thought, as they are driving HGVs here. Anyway, we have some live up our very short street. And guess how they think the correct way to reverse/parallel park is? You reverse into the space, and stop when you car touches the one behind, then go forwards, until you touch the car in front, etc until your car is in the space that is only 2 foot bigger than your car, if that. My friend's husband wasn't very happy, as his car was one of the ones being bumped. Perhaps they think that is what bumpers are for? At least the one trying to park while I've been writing this decided that the space was too small, and went for a larger one, trouble is, there's a much larger car missing from the street, so it'll be amusing to watch the bigger one get in the space, or perhaps they'll just abandon it blocking another car in, after all, this is a "quiet cul-de-sac"!

I HATE FIREWORKS

OK, they are supposed to be for Bonfire Night, which is the 5th of November.http://www.thehistorychannel.co.uk/site/this_day_in_history/this_day_November_5.phpHas a couple of interesting points about "Guy Fawkes Night", towards the bottom of the link.But I think the lunatic "Chavs" (look it up on Wikipedia,) have got hold of some meant for organised displays.My dogs are going potty, and I'm not too happy, as I hate them. And to my way of thinking, if you are in your own house tonight, and not at an organised display, it's cos you don't want to be there for some reason. So, people should be allowed to buy fireworks so huge that they shake the house, and light up the whole street. Also, there is a police ruling that fireworks should not be used within 50 foot of a highway, that rules out the people around here letting them off behind their houses, but it doesn't seem to stop them. Also, they think it's OK to put them closer to your house whilst keeping away from their house?So, I just hate fireworks, and the idiots who live around here, "Chavs" seem to let them off from around mid-October until around mid-January. Help!!!!

Pirate Sam! and Drummer Oliver!

Sam has gone to work dressed as a pirate wench tonight, as the bowling alley where she works are having their Halloween celebration tonight. Had trouble getting her to stand still, as she was on the last minute, as usual.

Oliver has come home for a few days after some mid semester tests on his Uni course.

I can tell he's home, the drums have been drummed, at least two short bursts so far.

The picture is courtesy of Sam, she does a whole range of "Stick-pic" portraits of people.

What next?

I found the story below on the homepage of my browser. This is proof positive that the UK is going totally PC mad!

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/itn/20071101/tuk-think-tank-says-downgrade-christmas-dba1618_1.html


The think-tank in question obviously haven't "thought" their proposal through properly. Christmas is not only celebrated in the UK, it is a worldwide celebration. I realise that it is the commercial side of Christmas that they are thinking of, but it can't just be banned.
Also, as my friend, Blue said to me; "the reason I want to move to another country is because it is DIFFERENT from my own. What's the f-ing point of immigrating elsewhere if you're going to end up living in the same type of environment?????"

Your thoughts on the matter would be interesting.
Although Xmas/Yule has the most importance to me, due to having children.
There were always larger celebrations around that time of year as it was thought to be the turning point of the year, the "darkest day" after that day nights became longer, the earth started to warm up, and soon things would start growing again, animals would have their young, life would re-start. Just my thoughts.