An absence of lobsters

The youngest was a sheep in the infant nativity at school. I kept pretending to be confused and saying she is playing a lobster, and then getting into discussions with her as to how many lobsters there are in the nativity play and expressing surprise when learning that there are none. After awhile she would come out and say she is not playing a lobster before I could start. She also wandered around singing songs from the play. Some of them I recognised from the three years I went to see the first born in the nativity play and from listening to the first born wandering around singing them prior to the plays. The one she sang most often about the sheep I think is new to me.

The first time I went to see the first born in an infant nativity it made me cry, especially the line about Mary being a little bit scared. It surprised me that a children’s production, dimly seen due to the heads of other parents could touch me so. I put this down to being ‘heavy with child’ at the time. That does not explain why I felt weepy again the next two years. The head teacher, in his speech to introduce this year’s play said: ‘The mystery of the birth of Christ is best told by children.’ Maybe he is right and that is why it affects me so powerfully.

Doctor Who and the First Law

This week I have finished reading the last book in Joe Abercrombie’s ‘First Law’ trilogy. It reminds me a little of both Eddings and Erikson. The nasty parts however are way more in your face in Abercrombie than in Eddings. (Anyone who thinks there were no nasty parts in the Garion/Belgareth cycle was not paying attention). The mentor wizard character in the trilogy makes Belgarath Beldin Torak's disciples Torak seem sweet in comparison.

I got some answers to my musing on the latest Dr Who.
http://inanerantings.blog.co.uk/2009/11/29/quick-hits-7480395/
In the first David Tennent Christmas special, the 'monsters of the week' are talking in their language and earth is using some translator machine. Then suddenly everyone there (most of whom have not traveled in the Tardis) start hearing them in English, due to the Doctor having come around and him being a vital part of the Tardis translation circuit. The translation thing was only a minor whine, while I was on a roll with the complaints. After my obvious main complaint of missing the last few minutes, what I am uncomfortable with is the events being there being a fixed point in time. The concept of such fixed points seems reasonable, but the explanation for that being one seems woolly.

Welly Wanging

I have only been to a Welly Wanging event once. I was about 4 at the time, so I recall little about it. I have a picture in my head of a big grass sloping field, maybe with cars parked on part of it, lots of people and some sort of posts and ribbons to mark the welly wanging arena. I do not know if I did any welly wanging myself - probably not. My father's sister however was apparently rather good at it.
Welly wanging is a sport that probably originated in Yorkshire, but is done in various parts of the world, and is known as gumboot tossing in New Zealand. It involves competing to see who can throw a wellington boot the furthest. The Annual World Championships are held in Upperthong in Yorkshire. Maybe I should go along and watch one day.

Rain and The Waters of Mars

It has been raining. The river by where I work sometimes flows so slowly it seems not to be moving. Sometimes, if the wind is blowing upstream, you have to look carefully to determine that it is not flowing backwards. On Wednesday it was flowing quickly. It was quite hypnotic watching the things carried along the center of the river. In the minute or so I paused to watch I saw a football, some orange plastic thing, a large branch and a plank. Later on I saw a gull floating rapidly fast. It seemed, though I might be anthropomorphising about this, rather surprised about the river's behaviour. When it got close to the weir, it took to its wings and flew up-river.

I am still trying to get my head around the latest Doctor Who installment. Part of the problem is that I missed the very end of it. Just after there was the flash of blue light in the window, the TV switched over to another channel that had been set up to record something starting at 8 o'clock.
Theoretically I could have then switched it back to watch the end without disturbing the recording. However that relied on knowing where the remote control was and knowing which buttons to press when I found it. I suppose I could work out the finer details of how all the electronic equipment the beloved buys works. My current method though for such details is asking the beloved to do it.
One of the fixed points in time was Adelaide Brooke blowing up the Mars base, killing herself and the others on it, but saving Earth.
This was a fixed point, because it inspired her granddaughter, who went onto do great things.
The Doctor changed this fixed points in time by saving Adelaide Brooke, Yuri and Mia from the base.
Adelaide then apparently returned the timeline to how it should be by shooting herself.
A darlek in Adelaide's childhood had spared her. The Doctor suggested this was because the darlek had known her death on Mars was a fixed point in time.
The darleks were in the middle of a scheme to destroy all existence making there be no future. Why should the darlek care about this fixed point in time?
How would Adelaide's suicide restore the timeline? I can just about see how her destruction of the Mars base might inspire her granddaughter, although since it was never known why she had done it, that is rather thin. I cannot see inspiration in her being found dead at her own hand in her own house on Earth when she was supposed to be on the Mars base, which had just exploded. Plus what was the part about them recognising the Ancient North Martian language, since the Tardis translates? Maybe the Christmas installments will answer these questions.


PS I'll write about welly wanging next week.

Snake Boats

My team at work contains Indians, Americans and me. In our (conference phone) team meetings, we have started the practice of having a cultural exchange slot where we take it in turns to talk about some aspect of our culture. The boss (American) had me explaining welly wanging. I had forgotten I had ever mentioned it to him.

Last week we learnt about Snake boats and the Annual Boat Race in southern India. Trying to work out what snake boats are, I asked if they were sailing, rowing or what. Apparently they are rowed. 'Like very large canoes then?' I asked. So some links to pictures of Snake boats were sent around. Oxbridge boat race eat your heart out. These are seriously long 'canoes' with 100+ people in them. http://www.keralabackwater.com/festivals-in-kerala-backwaters/snake-boat-races-in-kerala.html http://www.dancewithshadows.com/pub/nehru-trophy-snake-boat-race.asp

Sarah Jane Smith Adventures and Black Gold

The beloved mentioned that when I blog about environmental issues I tend to lose him. Here therefore is an environmental story from the point of view of a field he understands better than me: economics. This article http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/edmundconway/6505670/North-Sea-oil-is-dragging-us-into-the-red.html claims that the UK's economic prosperity since the early 1980s has been due to 'black gold' - i.e. North Sea oil and gas and the money it has brought into country. With these supplies now running out and the UK no longer being self-sufficient in energy, we are going to have economic problems.

I am not convinced with the Doctor's inclusion in the Sarah Jane Smith Adventures. In the episode he was in all he seemed to do was hang a lampshade on the fact all stories with The Trickster in them have basically the same plot, and tell the 'meddling kids' how wonderful they and Sarah Jane Smith are and how important what they do is. Is that really the best they could come up with?

But, the kids liked it so, since it is a children's program, maybe I should not complain.

President of Europe

Tony Blair would appear to be angling for a job that does not yet exist that of the first permanent President of the European Council. Already it seems to have been decided that he is not going to get it.

An idea I had for who could take the position was Marta Andreasen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marta_Andreasen). She might be good for Europeans because:

• She seems to have integrity
• She is prepared to stand up for what she believes
• She is intelligent
• She understands the EU’s financial accounting system and knows how to fix it

There are various reasons why the people who will chose the President will not consider her:

• She seems to have integrity
• She is prepared to stand up for what she believes
• She is intelligent
• She understands the EU’s financial accounting system and knows how to fix it

OK, so who do you think might get the job/ would be good at the job? (Two completely different questions).