My ex-RAF Dad once told me of a ‘funny incident’ that happened to him during WWII. His air crew had flown into one of the Scandinavian countries, not realising that the Allies hadn’t reached there yet. They thought they were in huge trouble when German soldiers came out to the aircraft but were bemused when the commanding officer handed over his weapons and surrendered. Some convincing acting on all their parts was called for in order to appear as confident victors in the conflict, instead of a bunch of blokes wondering what the hell kind of hot water they’d gotten themselves into.
This article about war hero Eric Brown (pictured left) appeared in today’s Daily Mail newspaper in which an eerily similar incident in Denmark is mentioned. In fact, I’d say it has to be the same incident and so I’m guessing my Dad was one of the crew standing beside this gentleman, putting on a convincing act of being cool, calm and collected. (Sadly my Dad is no longer around to ask).
I checked Dad’s flying log today and yes, in 1945 there is a sortie listed, to Denmark, with the initials S.O.E. beside it (one of two S.O.E. missions in which he participated that month). Although I’ve read right through his flying log and extracted lots of information for my genealogy research, I hadn’t realised the significance of those S.O.E. initials. I only found out today that they stand for Special Operations Executive which my in-house expert here described as basically the forerunner to MI6. (Wikipedia says: formed in 1940 “to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe against the Axis powers, and to aid local resistance movements).”
Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow.
I thought I couldn’t be any more proud of my Dad …
This gentleman’s story in the paper today has prompted me to start looking at specific missions mentioned in this precious flying log (like Operation ‘Varsity’) and to appreciate all over again the bravery of my Dad and all his young friends.
RAF – my Dad is on the far right (Squadron number unknown for this pic)
I think the girl in the video was very lucky, for more than one reason.
……………
Have you visited my Pinterest boards yet? I won’t keep banging on about this, I promise, but I’m learning so much about so much and I’m particularly chuffed with my ‘Photography’ board where I’ve collected together oodles of creative photographic ideas and inspirational images. …Just thought it worth mentioning for my photographer friends out there …
As I’ve mentioned before, for a long time now I’ve been lacking in creative inspiration and if I’m being honest, actually a bit tired of the internet. I recently discovered something however that has got my creative juices flowing again and opened a portal to a whole new and beautiful world. Pinterest.
I’ve always been a magpie for collecting ideas and images that inspire me, sorting them in files and latterly, saving them on my computer. Recently I wandered on over to Pinterest and I have to tell you I was immediately smitten. At last, somewhere to gather together all my ‘pretties’ online, a place to find other creative souls with similar tastes, and a chance to regularly become absorbed in all the beauty and innovative ideas that are out there to find but so often missed. I love it. Think of it as a place to make ‘virtual world mood boards’ if you will. It’s a great resource if you have new creative projects in mind, or if like me you’re just a beauty and design junkie! Interaction with others is not expected but optional. (Er, just reading this back, I should perhaps say that this is not an ad and nor am I a Pinterest employee). :)
I’ve been happily putting together design and inspiration boards and it’s definitely sparking my enthusiasm again. I’ve put a Pinterest link to my art boards over in the right hand column here. Do, please, wander on over to see what I’m wibbling on about. The only slightly odd thing about this site is that it’s ‘by invitation’. I know that I have some hugely creative friends here in Blogworld so I thought I’d give you a heads up. Anyone wanting an invitation, please just give me your email address (my address is on my contact page at the top of the screen) and I’ll be happy to invite you. Anyone already with art boards up on Pinterest, please point me in your direction.
Doing the rounds here is an email that shows some interesting fairytale doppelgängers. Is this for real, or is someone being a bit of a smart alec with Photoshop? Anyway, it made me smile:
See? …Sometimes fairytales do come true. (Oops, sorry B and E)!
BTW, forgive me if you’ve already heard this… Beatrice has put that hat on ebay, the proceeds going to UNICEF – a very worthy cause. Bidding started at a minimum of £5,000 yesterday and those with a few thousand to spare (not me) have until the 22nd May to snap up this piece of royal memorabilia.
At Christmas time I had an enquiry about using one of my photos in a book. A book people! How excited was I? (Very, actually). I’ve had enquiries before – from a hotel who wanted to use an image … and then shied away when they heard I expected payment, and two enquiries from magazines which similarly came to nought, for reasons I know not. I wanted to get it absolutely right this time, so I contacted a photographer friend of mine (who has been in print) and asked for the low-down on what I should be charging, how I should handle things etc. For the print run described she suggested a figure and I then promptly divided her fee by about a gazillion, because I don’t think the photo in question is really that good, and right now I’m just interested primarily in getting the ball rolling on someone/anyone using my work. (Just so you know, the fee I quoted was about the same price as a hamburger …so hardly a mind-boggling amount). Well then. What happened next? Nada. Zippo. Zilch. It looks like yet another non-starter. It’s frustrating, this selling-your-wares business.
…………………………………..
I’ve just been served with a Summons to appear for jury duty. I am the only person I know that this has ever happened to and this is now the second time that I have been called. I’m clearly on computer somewhere, noted as a good, up-standing citizen, of strong moral fibre (hehe, little do they know). The first time around, to be perfectly honest, I kind of squirreled out of my civic responsibilities by saying that I had a young child and no one to look after her while I was away. The bit about the young child was the absolute truth but the second part was maybe a leetle bit of an embellishment of the truth. In reality, I just didn’t want to leave my baby to others to look after for days and days on end. Over the years I’ve actually regretted shrugging off this once in a lifetime opportunity and as trial by jury is a cornerstone of our legal system, if the truth be known, I’ve even been a little ashamed of myself. Well, it’s come back to bite me on the ankles.
With this current Summons, the length of time I will be needed and the way it is described make it sound like it could be an interesting criminal case. The writer in me – because I am (in my imagination at least) a budding/wannabe P.D. James or Linda La Plante – wants desperately to attend. How fascinating it will be – think how it might inspire new storyline ideas, think of the insight into how these things work and just consider what a profoundly important task this is – someone, somewhere right now is bricking it because he/she has to face a jury of ’twelve good men and true’ (including one squirrely woman).
Royal Square – judicial buildings over on the right
The reality? I’m not sure I can do it. Going from memory, I believe there are granite steps up to the Court and I fear these may be a problem for me. Lunch, which I obviously have to take with other jurors, entails a walk of 500 yards to a local hotel (I have a disabled parking disc which is only handed to those who cannot walk more than 75 yards…you do the maths) and parking is not generally provided. If I was lucky enough to get a parking permit, it would be for the car park about a mile away, up a 1 : 4 hill. I think I’m sunk.
Moral of story: When presented with a once-in-a lifetime opportunity – grab it.
…………………………………..
I’ve said this before but I have a theory that WordPress and Blogger are at loggerheads for Blogland supremacy and that a certain amount of industrial espionage goes on. (Don’t sue me anyone – it’s just my paranoid-tendency brain at work again). For the record – yet again: I hate Blogger. When trying out blogging formats I played with Blogger, Typepad and WordPress and found WordPress to be the most elegant and intuitive kiddo on the block. Typepad was just well beyond my poor monkey brain, Blogger was tired, portly, slow and stubborn but WordPress? Ah WordPress! It was the iPhone of blogs. (A silly analogy but work with me here, I’m on a creative roll…).
With the backing of Google it’s no surprise that most people head to Blogger first and as most people’s brains are wired differently to mine, most people stay with their first love of Blogger. Q.E.D., the majority of blogs I read will be on Blogger. Here’s the rub though: sitting here, on the outside, Blogger hates non Blogger people and really puts them through the wringer each time they visit:
‘Name? …Don’t recognise you. :: Name? …Don’t recognise you (rinse and repeat ad nauseam). :: Not going to show you word verification today …don’t feel like it. :: Oooh, look at that – you didn’t type that in correctly. Feel like deciphering yet more completely illegible text? :: Oh dearie me, I cut you off there now didn’t I? …And I’ve just gone and lost your carefully crafted comment. Oh well. Wanna try again? …DO YOU FEEL LUCKY PUNK?!’
Rest assured, dear reader, that if you are on Blogger and you are aware of my presence / comments / friendship then I must really love you to be putting up with this malarkey. Just lately, in particular, I reckon the knives are really out between Blogger and WordPress, meaning that I have aborted attempts to comment at friends’ sites after [no kidding here] a good half-dozen or more tries at form filling and/or word verification. Sometimes you just have to admit defeat and move on. If I appear to be ignoring you therefore, please know that I am not. Me and Blogger are just going through a particularly rough patch in our relationship.
Before any Bloggerphiles suggest it - sorry, using Mozilla/Firefox makes absolutely no difference. Been there, done that.
…………………………………..
Oh and Disqus Comments? Pretty much ditto the above, but with the added rigmarole of having to sign in on a system that often doesn’t like people signing in. I really dislike you Disqus, but then you knew that already, didn’t you? I have one friend currently using Disqus (yes you over there, you know who you are) and seriously, it is an indication of how much I love you that I persevere.
…………………………………..
Why mention the Blogger and Disqus things all over again? I’ll tell you for why: It’s because they are definitely an element in my current lack of enthusiasm for Blogland in general. I can’t help feeling that life is just too short and precious for all this nonsense and faff. Endless form filling and the fruitless re-loading of pages is time-wasting twaddle. Sorry.
…………………………………..
I am no use at all at styling / product shots, as evidenced by these poor showings.
Zig Zags…
….and Granny Squares
I did however think that you might like to see what has so fixated me for the past 6-8 weeks. I’m not sure about the colour combo on the zig-zag blanket but hey, it’s done and it was fun. The cats have adopted it with gusto however…along with our expensive chair (while I sit on the end of our cheap sofa ..am I stupid, or what)?
The granny squares blanket has been a bit of a surprise.
All-in-all, I’m pleased with how it turned out. Remember how it started from this inauspicious beginning?
I bought pretty coloured wool and a couple of patterns for new projects whilst in Florida but it seems I may have left said patterns on the coffee table in Naples. Ooops. Either that or I’m going to discover them, hidden down the back of the settee here once I have cracked open the wool and am half way through crocheting something else.
…………………………………..
I came across this lady and this video yesterday. I’m open-minded, very hippy dippy some might say because I’m willing to explore the possibilities of all kinds of things that might seem totally ludicrous to others. Just because we don’t understand something right now, or it is beyond our current knowledge and experience, does not mean that it should be automatically dismissed or ridiculed.
Little Grandmother’s basic message is a good one but I have to admit that she did start to lose me part way through this. I find her fascinating and strangely compelling though. Hypnotic almost. I’ve Googled her and let’s just say that from what I read, that all may not be quite as it seems with regard to some of her background claims. She is, however, an orator and skilled wordsmith, using some scientific fact in other videos and plucking at the heartstrings to deliver messages that many people are hungry to hear right now.
Has anyone here come across her before? I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.
I saw this place on telly last night in a programme called The 10 Worst Airports in the World. This is Princess Juliana airport on the Dutch/French island of St Maarten in the Caribbean. Just how low can they go without crashing or decapitating someone?!
A surf bar on the beach just yards away is apparently a favourite spot to watch this spectacular sight and when planes like 747s take off some will ignore the signs and stand at the wire fence in the jet streams of the engines. It’s bad to admit this I know, but this is one of those rare times in my life when my brain’s natural reaction is to bypass most of the safety implications and just joyously scream ‘How cool is that?!’
Joan Collins, Ascot Ladies Day 2010 (Photo: Getty Images)
What a fabulous example Joan Collins sets to all of us women. She looks after herself and maintains the image of old Hollywood with utmost elegance. I believe she will be 77 this year – she looks just fabulous and has so much to teach younger women about good grooming and grace.
I was looking through an article at the Mail Online today, covering this year’s Royal Ascot race meetings and apart from the lady on the left here, who I think looks very elegant, and a couple of other exceptions, I thought most outfits were at best dull, with a couple of downright bloopers. (Swags and tucks of shiny material draped like Austrian blinds across your bum are never a good look). Then there are the usual silly hats – they’re for fun, I know, and good for grabbing Press attention to be sure, so I suppose it is at least mission accomplished there.
Maybe I’ve just woken up in a curmudgeonly mood**, or maybe it was a bad article, not really representative of what was on show, but few people stood out as really looking ‘bon chic bon genre’. There just seem so few occasions to really dress up and wear our finest clothes and Royal Ascot is definitely one such occasion, so why not go all out to look your best?
I’m not at all sure what this last outfit is trying to say. Well, that’s not entirely true – I know what it’s saying to me. (How to look a bit daft in one easy lesson). Was I right? This is Miss England, Katrina Hodge.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
**And in other news…..
Maybe I’m being curmudgeonly because of England’s pretty dreadful performance at the World Cup last night. (Two hours of my life that I will never get back). Wayne Rooney needn’t be snarky because the team were booed at the end – those fans have paid a huge amount of money to go and support their team and the team’s playing was lacklustre and poor. I’m not watching the next [and final?] match. It’s just too painful and honestly, I can think of more exciting things to do with my time (…like changing the kitty litter).
Ever since the Bond film ‘Moonraker’, I’ve wondered what on earth a moonraker is. I looked it up today and it’s quite a charming story. It can be used to refer to the people of the county of Wiltshire in England and its origins date back to the 1700s, when smuggling was rife.
The legend says that smugglers had hidden barrels of French brandy in a village pond and whilst out trying to retrieve them one night, they were caught by the revenue men. When asked what they were doing with their rakes, they saw the reflection of the moon in the waters of the pond and said that they were trying to rescue a round cheese. The revenue men, thinking that they were just simple local yokels, left them to it.
I was thinking about Moonraker today because I was going through my YouTube favourites. Have I not posted this song here before? It’s not in my Media list, so maybe not, and I really can’t think why.
I don’t really see a connection between the song and that Wiltshire legend but, hey, what’s a bit of artistic licence between friends? The lyrics are, however, like all the best ones – poetry set to music. I happen to love this underplayed and therefore underrated piece of musical writing by the talented duo of John Barry and Hal David. Of course it helps that it is sung by the inimitable Shirley Bassey. Oh and then there is also the excellent accompanying title sequence compiled by Maurice Binder, who worked on several of the Bond movies. It’s a package of the best, with the best, with the best.
………………………………..
The Moonraker graphic was from Wikipedia and shows a section from a mural kept in the town of Trowbridge in Wiltshire.
I’ve been waiting for someone to upload the latest Ribena ad to YouTube, and now they have. Those clever advertising people – who ever thought that blackcurrants could be made to look cute?
Snippets that caught my eye today, and my sage-like thoughts thereon:
A Very British Protest: Whilst hot-blooded southern Mediterraneans set up road blockades and arm themselves with sledgehammers in Greece, a very British protest is taking place on our more northerly shores. A Dorset pensioner, fed up at the ever-increasing traffic rumbling through his village, and frustrated at the lack of response from his local Council has taken the law into his own hands.
Tony Fuller and a few like-minded supporters are continually bringing traffic to a standstill by endlessly pressing the button at the automated pedestrian crossing that is situated in his village. The resulting traffic tailbacks can be as much as four miles long and Tony says the reaction of motorists ranges from beeping in support to a one fingered salute.
Oh how I love this country!
Madonna – ‘au naturel’: A new set of photos has been released of Madonna, taken by Mert Atlas and Marcus Piggot for the June edition of ‘Interview‘ magazine. Said to be non-airbrushed, they show Madonna with a body many 21 year olds would be happy with.
Completely free of the airbrush? Well, I have my doubts but, if you say so…. Good lighting? Yes definitely – the photographers have done a great job. Does she look good? Oh absolutely! Madonna can, and has looked a bit rough on occasion (don’t we all?) but you’ve got to admit that she looks just great in these shots. There is no doubt that her tremendous self-discipline and steely will is keeping that bod looking pretty darned fine.
Cinco de Mayo:Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone!
I know this isn’t a public holiday as such but it brings back another constant thought of mine: Oh how we need more public holidays and more reasons to celebrate in this country. If I ruled the world England would celebrate St George’s Day (April 23rd), and I’d throw in a couple more public holidays just for good measure. Ages ago I came across a league table that showed the UK and Ireland were bottom of the European chart for Public Holidays, with substantially fewer public holidays than countries like Greece. I know what you’re going to say: Look at the mess Greece is in. (But then that’s you just being a smartie pants). Seriously, we all work so hard now – I think we deserve at least two more public holidays. Now…who do I write to? …
Art:Rene Gruau
Art:Rene Gruau
