tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34284772008-05-13T22:30:39.498+01:00Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.comBlogger2411125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-39226290768205089432008-05-13T21:16:00.014+01:002008-05-13T22:30:39.686+01:00

It is being 'privately-'admitted (*) that the cost of the planned Inverness southern by-pass could reach GBP200mio, way above the current 'conservative' estimate of GBP120mio (itself well above the initial estimate of GBP83mio). On this basis, I suspect that GBP250mio might be nearer the mark eventually! I know, despite the somewhat narky tone of the previous sentence, that this by-pass is

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-17361968446998845762008-05-13T09:09:00.004+01:002008-05-13T09:39:44.959+01:00

Yes! I'm just about to start going to a gym again, after a break of about a year. Long-time readers of my little blog may know of my long-standing (lifelong, really) struggles with efforts to keep my weight under some modicum of control and my pretty successful efforts with the Atkins diet a few years back to reduce my weight significantly on a long-term basis, and (unlike with previous different

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-86471508046784307502008-05-11T17:49:00.010+01:002008-05-11T21:05:23.197+01:00

Rather than write lengthy blogs detailing the grotesqueries of the past few weeks in British politics, more specifically the fact that Gordon Brown's authority as Prime Minister is being increasingly called into question, even by supposedly loyal memmbers of the Labour Party (plenty of other bloggers across the UK are writing such posts) I thought I would continue a recently-started experiment

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-9836156637404175602008-05-09T12:51:00.004+01:002008-05-09T13:10:32.654+01:00

... I wrote a brief post earlier today about a delayed exit visa from Cuba for a critic of the regime there, who is a blogger, and who has been unable to travel to Madrid to collect a prize given for her blog-writing. Already I notice in my blog stats a couple of visits from Cuba, but I won't identify who the visitors' [servers] are, just in case anyone from the island's state security apparatus

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-42935558319027845602008-05-09T10:15:00.006+01:002008-05-09T10:24:24.733+01:00

... and a (despite it being in exceedingly poor taste in the circumstances) realisation that the old pantomime chant: "Look behind you!" can sometimes be of real practical value. I hope the woman wasn't injured too badly and that the shop's owners were suitably punished financially. (thru kenneth in the (212) )

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-23305492740587248302008-05-09T08:05:00.004+01:002008-05-09T08:12:41.522+01:00

Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez has had to miss out on collecting her Ortega y Gasset digital journalism prize from Spain's El Pais newspaper in Madrid, for her blog which is often critical of Cuba's government, because the Cuban authorities "were unable to process her travel visa application in time". A likely story!

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-6631737671917080582008-05-09T07:07:00.007+01:002008-05-09T07:27:10.879+01:00

I think this must be relatively new on Channel 4 (I don't remember it being mentioned before I left for Spain in January), but I saw it referred to between programmes a couple of days back and this struck a chord when there was a 'plug' later for next week's episode of Brothers and Sisters, to which I became addicted when the last series was run last year on E4. That 'plug' made me realise I had

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-1369724898047802982008-05-07T22:17:00.007+01:002008-05-09T07:05:10.081+01:00

Margaret in a withering folow-up comment on Michael, the Jewish/non-Jewish contestant on this evening's The Apprentice episode, who apparently studied at Edinburgh University. Classic! (Personally I would have fired Michael, too. The only one I would have reprieved from the final 3 tonight was Clare. The two who were fired - totally justified!) UPDATE:(Friday 9MAY08 06.57 BST) Well I suppose

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-32681335081565054422008-05-07T11:13:00.004+01:002008-05-08T09:14:17.366+01:00

I arrived back in Nairn yesterday afternoon, after a pleasant sea-crossing from Zeebrugge to Rosyth and a very easy drive back up north - the road, specially after Bruar, was not very busy in my direction so I made pretty good progress. I won't write more now because I seem to have internet connection problems at home - I don't think it is a problem with my equipment, or my broadband wi-fi modem

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-86437308798805687892008-04-30T22:40:00.010+01:002008-05-01T00:14:24.243+01:00

The euphony of the title above appeals to me! It also has the virtue of being factual as I am currently in Beaune in the Burgundy region of France, nearing the end of this stage of my return to Scotland. Since I last posted here, whilst spending a night in Valencia at the start of my journey back north, I have spent two nights at a very nice bed and breakfast in the hills outside Sitges, a little

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-30827479730435744032008-04-26T20:32:00.012+01:002008-04-26T21:35:14.827+01:00

It is now clear that the Zanu-PF attempts to try and change the results of the elections they lost recently have failed! The BBC report here and Sokwanele: This is Zimbabwe has a post about the latest development in the election saga, too. Of the 23 re-counts being carried out, the results are unchanged in the 18 so far announced and Zanu-PF needed 9 of the 16 held by the MDC (of the 23 being

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-30088701371327492232008-04-25T18:00:00.008+01:002008-04-25T18:45:43.883+01:00

I shall be departing Mazarron tomorrow morning to begin my journey back to Scotland, which I am scheduled to reach on Tuesday 6th May after having driven north through Spain, France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands, spending some nights in hotels, others with friends and/or family. Earlier today I recorded a couple viedos of my preparations for my final lunch in the house here; the last

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-76383428696096759672008-04-24T13:26:00.004+01:002008-04-24T13:34:41.978+01:00

Another of those interesting online quiz things - this time to assess how well you can tell a fake from a genuine smile, and vice versa. I got 15 out of 20 correct, perhaps slightly better than I thought I might get - but still with enough mistakes to realise I can be fooled rather too often. Of the five I got wrong, 2 were genuine smiles that I thought were fake, 3 were fake smiles that I

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-29322149291110366182008-04-22T23:04:00.007+01:002008-04-22T23:30:04.813+01:00

Happy St George's Day to all my English readers! G K Chesterton: St George he was for England,And before he killed the dragonHe drank a pint of English aleOut of an English flagon - now I can't promise I'll be drinking ale tomorrow, but I'll certainly raise a glass of wine to my English friends. Cheers!

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-68677769927535622922008-04-22T14:28:00.007+01:002008-04-22T15:11:26.390+01:00

After reading about Prince William's recent use of a Chinook helicopter to hop across to the Isle of Wight for his cousin Peter Phillips's stag do, I was interested to read that Spain's Crown Prince Felipe likes to fly too, though in his case it was a Eurofighter. I'm not certain whether the similarity between the UK and Spanish royal families in their love of flying carries over into other

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-32776648722323079702008-04-20T19:15:00.005+01:002008-04-20T19:25:11.923+01:00

I took a trip down to Almeria last Tuesday (on the AP-7, then the A-7 motorways) and today I went up to the monastery near Aledo, not very far from here (the new RM-3 motorway from Mazarron to Totana means this is a much quicker trip than before, although beyond Totana it is still the same twisting road with lots of hairpin bends up to Aledo, of course). You can read about these trips, and see

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-73748216572747527772008-04-20T07:42:00.009+01:002008-04-20T08:27:10.686+01:00

... his contradictory views on homosexuaity are so off-the-wall that it makes me question his suitability to be London mayor. On balance I probably still think he is the best of a poor choice of candidates, but his temporising and double-speak on homosexual law reform are troubling, to say the least: I ceased being a subscriber to the Spectator magazine in 1999 or 2000, when Boris was still

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-4295606472017134192008-04-18T22:05:00.013+01:002008-04-18T23:29:10.775+01:00

I haven't donated blood in a long time, since about 1984 I think when I lived in Hong Kong - I used to donate regularly when I lived there (my blood is AB+, apparently in quite short supply). The UK and many other countries have banned blood donations from gays, however, since the 1980s in the immediate reaction to the new disease at the time HIV/AIDS, then effectively a death sentence - I think

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-80588198095430370252008-04-18T15:23:00.006+01:002008-04-18T15:32:13.087+01:00

A very touching short film from Japan about a young girl called Mika and her dog Marimo: - this did strike a chord with me as it will very soon be the first annniversary of the death of my own little dog Tara. (thru Toby at Vividblurry)

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-1232828562175917542008-04-18T08:40:00.012+01:002008-04-18T09:25:16.388+01:00

I thought this was some kind of April Fool's joke when I first read it, but it seems that eight local authorities in Wales took part in a Welsh Assembly Government scheme in 2004 to try and persuade (aka 'bribe') long-serving councillors not to stand at elections again, as a way of bringing in 'fresh blood' and 'fresh thinking'; payments of between £16,000 and £20,000 were made to Councillrs who

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-79313175978620231642008-04-15T07:45:00.009+01:002008-04-15T21:36:17.762+01:00

(Please see UPDATE at end) ... which is, I suppose, fine - specially because the crowd of incompetents, misfits and latterday socialists are so badly lacking in this area themselves (and the few who have any talent have long ago been sacked or resigned) - except that one of these 'talents' has just announced he will resign before the next election because he is not prepared to support the 'chief

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-49145624380286804602008-04-14T23:07:00.007+01:002008-04-15T00:00:54.631+01:00

At the end of February I wrote a post about the "Some People are gay. Get over it!" poster campaign being run by Stonewall. Predictably enough, this poster campaign generated a significant number of complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) on all sorts of [spurious] grounds, generally from people with a 'religious' axe to grind, in short 'homophobes'. I am pleased to read that the

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-49781389827218496612008-04-12T07:48:00.008+01:002008-04-12T08:21:51.250+01:00

Well, who wouldn't be appalled by what Mugabe and his Zanu-PF goons have been doing in Zimbabwe for many years, and are still doing? However he, and everyone else, will probably continue to do nothing of practical importance; just read his 'nuanced' remarks quoted in the linked article - pathetic! Well, I'm pretty appalled, too! By the situation in Zimbabwe, of course, but also by what ditherer

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-10296292357246385462008-04-10T20:35:00.003+01:002008-04-10T20:42:56.343+01:00

... it! I haven't watched Lost in quite a long time; this quite amusing compilation video encapsulates nicely why that is: See more funny videos at CollegeHumor (thru Andrew Sullivan)

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-26859397771979292952008-04-10T18:36:00.005+01:002008-04-10T21:20:40.515+01:00

Strictly for YouTube addicts! I thought I would share with readers the sight of me preparing my lunch earlier today. Usually lunch for me, even when I'm in Scotland on a cold winter day, is cold - either cold meats or fish, accompanied by a mixed salad. What I decided to have today was some Serrano ham (a Spanish dry-cured ham) and my usual salad. I always prepare the salad first, then the meat/

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.com