AbsoluteShower's blog

Tagged by Great

"Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 23 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 6 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you." (or because I enjoy bothering you)

1) I worry too much ... If you don't mind me saying that... Because I can always retract it ... You know.... Don't want to offend... And then there's the cost of cheese in Zurich.... Shocking! Why did I write that? Ooops! Where's the backspace key....? ;-)))

2) As I get older I'm more gregarious. I used to be shy, but not any longer.

3) I am an engineer rather than an artist, but I can appreciate art - especially quality art.

4) My kids are wonderful - and scary at the same time. A typical male view I guess!

5) I like the colour blue

6) I am strangely drawn to pens and pencils... I have a collection. Nothing organised, just a lot of them!

7) The first thing I do when I get home from work is to make a cup of proper coffee!

8) I have had approximately 20 jobs .......... So far! Watch this space...

9) I have owned 15 motor-cycles but only 6 automobiles - no two at the same time!

10) I love mysteries because they show us we don't really know everything. Just because something is called a "conspiracy theory" it doesn't mean it's not possibly true. I keep an open, but sensible, mind.

11) I haven't seen my Brother for 8 years, nor my sister for 6. I have no other siblings or extant parents. This grieves me.

12) I can stand on my own - but love the company of my friends

13) I work equally well as a part of a team or by my self.

14) Sadly I don't respect money. I need it; I work for it; I use it, but I don't overly like it. Probably the main reason why my close friends are all very wealthy and I am not...

15) The Wren is my favourite bird.

16) I miss having a decent railway system in this country. So many branch-lines and stations closed that we all have to use cars or smelly buses now. A crime. The infrastructure was there. No need to destroy any more land just to build yet more roads...

17) Jack of all trades - Ace of none

18) I like red wine, not white

19) More often than not I wear blue socks

20) Women are beautiful; Men are ugly... But I'm biased

21) Quality never goes out of fashion

22) I enjoy writing

23) The sexiest part of a woman is her smile

Anybody else going to join in?

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/7969515.stm

We did this last year and though I doubt very much that anyone else in my vacinity will be bothered to show support, I plan on trying to record it some how - hereabouts - tonight.

20:30 local time should, in theory, cause a wave of darkness to circumnavigate the globe. Sydney in Australia has already done their share and the band of darkness (not Darkness !!!) is making it's way westwards.

For all my friends at Ipernity I've dragged a few amazing (at least I think so!!!) facts and figures from the 2008 BBC News archive. All are a bit beyond belief and a sign we are all decending into total madness - and have been doing so for at least a hundred years!!! :-D

Know what "unbepissed" means? No me neither! - news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7654511.stm

I try not to waste too much food - and being a parent means I'm constantly reminding my kids not to leave food too. 1.3m unopened pots of yoghurt are disposed of each day apparently, not in our house, but in Britain it seems - news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7389351.stm OK, I'm not going to waste them any more... So what do I do with out-of-date yoghurts?!?!

I love my American friends but this just can't be true, can it?!?! - news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7270607.stm

This one just goes to proove how bonkers we Brits relly are! There's no easy link for this because it was a broadcast, so I'll just post the snippet... "Victorians believed smokng cleared the lungs and struck off Dr Thomas Allinson, who founded the bakery of the same name, for describing nicotine as a "foul poison" and advocating healthy eating." His company makes great bread to this day!

This one is clearly so true - I have never eaten a woman!! "Men eat more brussel-sprouts and broccoli than women... " - news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7305505.stm

What isn't recorded anywhere at the BBC is that I really enjoy my friends here at Ipernity - it is so much more friendly and personal than Flickr - and would like to wish them all, wherever they may be, a prosperous, happy and healthy 2009!

:-D

At the weekend my Icelandic friends reported snow... Well, today Tuesday 28th, it is Snowing here in the UK too as I write!

So winter has finally arrived!

The kids are on holiday this week as it is what they call "half-term" at schools here. The clocks were set back to GMT from British Summer Time last weekend, and here it is, after a cold and stormy week, snowing!

Time to put the central-heating back on then!! :-D

Of course we now have Halloween, Bonfire-Night and then Christmas to look forward to!!

Aren't you glad I reminded you?!?! ;-)

 Well this evening I've been randomly travelling around Europe - within Ipernity! What a great way to spend some time (there are thunder-storms outside!!)

It's clear Ipernity have been "cleaning up their act" quite a bit. No longer do I inadvertently stumble across those "swinging-couples" pages that for a while were getting everywhere. Don't mis-understand me, I'm not in favour of oppressive censorship, but on the other hand I don't want innocents just tripping into those pages by mistake and getting an eye-full! So though the pages might still be there (and I hope the creators are enjoying their, er, hobby) it's good that if you want to go there you have to make some form of deliberate concerted effort.

Other pages are a pure delight to look around. Normal people going about their work or leisure, going on holiday or visiting relatives. It's a great cross-cultural experience which our world needs so badly.

Then there are the closet Pro-Photographers who really know what they are doing - there are some among my contacts. They seriously know what they are about and stun me with the quality and quantity of their work. I know I don't have their "eye" for a photo so I just look on in awe and admiration!!

I also notice "art". I have to admit here too that I don't have an artistic bone in my body, but I can recognise it at roughly twenty-paces! Not being able to create any myself doesn't mean I can't appreciate the work of others!

Then there are the portraits. The aggressives; the pretties or handsomes; the pensives; the joyful and the energetics! The egos. The beautiful. There don't seem to be any journalistics though.  Perhaps that's not appropriate for the community here, but with the ability to smartphone or email pictures in, is entirely possible, if not perfectly now, then surely in the future.

And then, simply, there are the friends we make. They are usually virtual-friends of course, the distances so vast and wide that it would be very hard to meet everyone in person. Some stick around and some leave. A good friend of mine left recently and there will be an echoing void left by his absence... However one of my contacts - Sherry - is actually visiting her friends in person! Now that takes some courage I can tell you. The nature of the Ipernity beast is that we must all be sitting, peering at our computer screens, travelling virtually, safe at home or work or behind our cameras. Sherry is putting her feet where her eye is (what a confused metaphor that is!) and going out in to the world. I can only salute her! :-D

My apologies for the brief absence. One fact I have been rudely reminded of is to never save your passwords within the built-in Windows or Mac repositories. Other people can simply log-on and do irreparable damage...!

I don't have the heart or inclination to reload all I had posted before, so let me treat this recovery from disaster as a "Spring Clean"!

I'm also glad my friends and contacts were willing and able to return to me! Thanks! (You know who you are!)

And at least the guys and gals at Ipernity were able (and kind enough) to re-enable my "Pro" account :)

I'll write more once I have recovered from this rude shock...

As ever

Nigel