GRUMPY OLD MAN

In response to:ROOM WITH A VIEW

2009-11-02T22:50:30+01:00

The dog keeps very still!

In response to:ROOM WITH A VIEW

2009-11-01T22:02:31+01:00

A wonderful scene.
It goes on forever,
So very clever!

In response to:UP! UP! AND AWAY!

2009-11-01T17:25:39+01:00

OK for younger children, but I think most modern teenagers would have grown out of that sort of thing.

In response to:TROMPE L'OEIL

2009-10-31T19:10:25+01:00

I am not sure of the prices, but you could check from the website.

I intend answering your recent comments tomorrow.

I have been very busy the last few days and I am now putting up an outside display for Halloween.

Three children have already called round for "Trick or Treat?"

In response to:TROMPE L'OEIL

2009-10-31T18:51:23+01:00

I would love Janet's 'Tuscan View' at the end of our great room.
I did find a stream, amidst greenery, and David pasted it up, a good ten years ago.
Now, nothing like that can be found anywhere, and ours is beginning to come away from the wall in bits!
It would be nice for everyone to have something like this in their living rooms.

In response to:UP! UP! AND AWAY!

2009-10-30T18:11:59+01:00

Reminds me of Peter Pan too.
This painting is adorable.
Just the thing for a child's room.
I love the peaceful green colours.
Very soothing. Thank you, Colin.

In response to:THIS TAKES THE BISCUIT - PC AT THE BBC

2009-10-30T01:58:19+01:00

Total insanity. The humourless PC lunatics are in charge of the asylum.

In response to:THIS TAKES THE BISCUIT - PC AT THE BBC

2009-10-29T16:38:45+01:00

I despair at this runaway train of PC anti-racism and it's ability to totally over-react to 'implied' racism.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels like he is being painted further and further into a racial corner. Great Britain WAS a bastion of free speech when I was growing up but shows like Question Time reveal that you can say whatever you want as long as the PC gang say it's OK!!!
Progress is one thing and equality is paramount but bullying the population into submission is only likely to cause a serious backlash. 99.9 percent of British people are sensible , well adjusted and able to discern true racism and genuinely do NOT need to be told and nannyied by the PC Hydra.
BigD. Portland

In response to:THIS TAKES THE BISCUIT - PC AT THE BBC

2009-10-29T14:07:08+01:00

In response to:THIS TAKES THE BISCUIT - PC AT THE BBC

2009-10-29T11:24:23+01:00

What a lot of Twaddle. We are going just too far with politically correct. "My dad's bigger than your dad" type stuff that kids get into. No one can take tongue in cheek anymore. As a WW11 baby I grew up learning to laugh at myself first, and take things with a pinch of salt. As my parents always used to say. "Consider the source and then move on. Life is too short" Jean Brit in America.

In response to:6-PACK AT 5 - CRUELTY TO CHILDREN?

2009-10-27T23:46:03+01:00

Yes - It is disgusting and cruel. I am glad you agree.

In response to:6-PACK AT 5 - CRUELTY TO CHILDREN?

2009-10-27T15:53:04+01:00

OMG - that's horrible! Surely that must be interfering with his natural development! I agree with you.

In response to:WANT TO SAVE THE PLANET? START BY EATING YOUR DOG.

2009-10-26T19:55:07+01:00

I expected complaints from dog owners -but there have been none so far.

In response to:WANT TO SAVE THE PLANET? START BY EATING YOUR DOG.

2009-10-26T17:37:27+01:00

We are the ones to start tightening our belts and cut-back on reproducing.
We spay our animals. More of us should do the same to ourselves.
I still think it would still take a good 200 years to get everything back in balance again, on this over-populated and polluted planet.

In response to:ADAM'S TWO WIVES

2009-10-25T23:20:27+01:00

It still has!

In response to:6-PACK AT 5 - CRUELTY TO CHILDREN?

2009-10-25T23:05:20+01:00

I agree. As I suggested, it is cruelty to allow and encourage a child to do that.

In response to:ADAM'S TWO WIVES

2009-10-25T22:34:41+01:00

I didn't know either.

It could be a very good quiz question.

In response to:CATASTROPHE! CATASTROPHE! PUT THE DATE IN YOUR DIARY

2009-10-25T22:24:27+01:00

I am not sure about that.

It seems that although the Mayan calendar is often said to end at that date, it will not necessarily mean The End of the World.

There is an interesting article at:

http://www.planetpapp.com/br21december2012/

I also read in a detailed, complicated article at

http://www.greatdreams.com/2012.htm :

THE MAYAN CALENDAR DOES NOT END IN 201

The date December 21st, 2012 A.D. represents an extremely close conjunction of the Winter Solstice Sun with the crossing point of the Galactic Equator of the Milky Way and the Ecliptic path of the Sun - what the ancient Maya recognized as the Sacred Tree.

This is an event that has been coming to resonance very slowly over thousands and thousands of years. It will come to resolution at exactly 11:11 am GMT on that day.

NOTE: The astronomer Philip Plait has stated very clearly that the Mayan calendar does not end in 2012 at all, that it is like the odometer on your car, as each section of the odometer reaches 9 and then clicks over to 0, the next number to it starts a new cycle, so that when all the numbers again reach 0 all the way across the odometer - the last number will change from 1 to 2 and the new cycle starts all over again.

I don't know whether this makes any sense!

In response to:ADAM'S TWO WIVES

2009-10-25T18:27:52+01:00

I don't think she was the only woman missed out of the bible. The early Catholic Church have much to answer for.

In response to:6-PACK AT 5 - CRUELTY TO CHILDREN?

2009-10-25T17:43:50+01:00

That is most horribly unnatural. He will end-up with high blood pressure at an early age.
The things people will do to be 'famous.'

In response to:ADAM'S TWO WIVES

2009-10-24T21:19:56+02:00

I had no idea! Thank you for this story, Colin.
Fascinating.

In response to:CATASTROPHE! CATASTROPHE! PUT THE DATE IN YOUR DIARY

2009-10-24T14:34:30+02:00

I was assuming that the catastrophe theory was based on the numerical oddity of the date 21.12.2012 (English) or 12.21.2012 (American).

In response to:CATASTROPHE! CATASTROPHE! PUT THE DATE IN YOUR DIARY

2009-10-24T05:30:14+02:00

everything is in God's time

In response to:CATASTROPHE! CATASTROPHE! PUT THE DATE IN YOUR DIARY

2009-10-24T05:26:53+02:00

what is sure to happen is that the world will end, the question is, where have you planned to spend your eternity?

In response to:CATASTROPHE! CATASTROPHE! PUT THE DATE IN YOUR DIARY

2009-10-23T21:35:31+02:00

"The abrupt ending of the Mayan Long Count Calendar on December 21 2012 has been described as a prophecy of the end of an age and maybe the world. There is no such prophecy in the Mayan calendar pointing to 2012 as the end of the world. This idea is merely some people's interpretation; an interpretation that many do not believe. It also needs to be said that Mayan scholars themselves say this idea misrepresents Mayan history.

However, while it is quite a jump in logic and hard to prove a December 21 2012 doomsday from this calendar, is it still possible that the Mayan understanding of the universe and how it effects life on earth, still has something to teach us. Can it still help us to predict, if not to the day and year, catasrophic events yet to happen on earth?

After all, Mayan beliefs about the universe reflect similar but more detailed discoveries which modern day scientists have made as they observe the known universe today.

One similarity is the Mayan's understanding of the cyclic nature of our solar system as we move through the milky way galaxy. The Mayans speak of a dark rift or galactic plain. They say that the end of an age, which can bring about world wide catastrophes is caused by the world sitting on the what they call a dark rift. Modern scientists speak of the earth passing through this dark rift, or galactic equinox or central plain. This event refers to the cyclic and destructive gravitational influence caused by the massive black hole at the centre of our galaxy."

Read also:

http://www.adishakti.org/mayan_end_times_prophecy_12-21-2012.htm

In response to:THIS FOOD LOOKS GOOD - BUT DON'T TRY TO EAT IT

2009-10-23T17:37:42+02:00

So true. Often much less appealing… and still tasting like plastic

In response to:CATASTROPHE! CATASTROPHE! PUT THE DATE IN YOUR DIARY

2009-10-23T17:15:46+02:00

Read the Bible that's a pretty good guide AND it doesn't specify any dates. What will be, will be. Jean. Brit in America.

In response to:CATASTROPHE! CATASTROPHE! PUT THE DATE IN YOUR DIARY

2009-10-23T13:32:53+02:00

Let me get this straight: the Mayan civilisation was in decline from the early sixteenth century, but they were making catastrophe predictions using the Gregorian calendar which was introduced in catholic Europe in 1582 and slowly adopted thereafter - in many countries not until well after the Mayan decline was complete? Is that right? Interesting.

In response to:JESUS IN THE GENTS

2009-10-22T18:21:12+02:00

Go and have a look, it is a real culture shock. Our lives have been spent wholesaling and retailling, Ikea is the best concept we have every seen. So efficient, and so different!

In response to:JESUS IN THE GENTS

2009-10-22T13:51:46+02:00

A little bit of interest I would say