Welcome back

Welcome back to the world of blogging to the World Weary Detective. Your voice has been missed.

Crime in the 60's

The last line is a classic. ROFL.

Cross posted from Uncle Bill's Canadian Blog

To all those visitors who still visit 'Walking the Streets' (You poor fools you!). I regret to inform you that your Haloscan comments will cease to be on 24th February 2010 and I would like to say this;

Alas poor Haloscan, I knew it well,
Where fellows of infinite jest,
And most excellent fancy laid their views.
And those bores who laid me snoring on my back a thousand times,
Now how abhorr'd in my imagination it is!
My gorge rises at it.

Paraphrased from 'Hamlet' by William Shakespeare

To get Biblical;
"The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All words are glass, and all the goodliness thereof is but echoes and ghosts"

A Bowdlerised Isaiah 40:6

The Moving comment writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure them back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.

A likewise manipulated verse 51 from the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (Fitzgeralds Translation)

Fear not; for I have the e-mail copies immortalised until the sad day that Google purges my email archive. I'd like to export the bloody things but my Haloscan login doesn't work any more.

Such is life.

An answer to your parking problems

New Parking Attendant Uniform

In answer to criticisms about the appearance of many British parking attendants, Council officials today unveiled the new uniform standard for uniforms to be rolled out across the UK.

When questioned about the obvious brevity of the new dress standard, a representative of the British Parking Association commented. "With all the news about global warming, the design committee did not think it necessary for PA's to wear much more whilst on duty."

The response from PA's via their various trade associations was reported as 'mixed' despite a tabled offer of extra 50+ factor sunblock cream for all PA's.

Time to move on

And so, the end is near, well it's here actually. I've got to the point where posting here on "Walking the Streets" about expat life in Canada seems, well, inappropriate; so I have elected to shift all my writings on various subjects to here.

Why? The well of Parking Enforcement stories has run dry, and the newer stuff just doesn't fit into the category any more. The Wordpress blog doesn't fit either. Ergo the new location, and a slightly new look with some nicer gizmo's and tidier HTML. Visit me sometime.

Emergency plan

Western BC, especially over here on Vancouver Island, expects everyone to have an emergency kit and 'escape route' planned in case of forest fire (A real risk) earthquake (Real risk) and Tidal wave (Possible risk). This is not unreasonable as we sit neatly near the 'ring of fire' around the Pacific Ocean where earthquakes and suchlike are not unknown. Mrs S and I were discussing how fast we could get out and to safe(ish) ground within five minutes of a warning.

Being as we have already roughed it all the way across the great divide and back, cooking over camp fires and sleeping in our Windstar, we reckon that we could be up and out of the house, fully kitted up within two minutes without too big a problem. Rations and water for 72 hours the lot. Our neighbours are already so equipped.

All this being said and done, we might never need it, but it's nice to feel that you can cope if there's a real problem. However, when I go back to the UK to see my mother in January 2008, I may find myself frisked everywhere I go if this report is anything to go by.

'Fortress Britain'? I have but one comment to make. It's no good living in a stronghold if the enemy is already inside. To dig out one of the most appropriate flat pack cliche's; door, locking, stable, bolted, horse, the, the, it's, good, no, after, has.

Britain didn't need this kind of thing during the years the IRA were chucking bombs around on the mainland, so what's the point now? It'll be a nightmare to enforce, financially and physically and the nutters will only have to be lucky once, but the security services will have to be lucky all the time. Feel safer now?

The road less travelled

What Path Do You Take In Life? For Guys and Gals! Pics and Lengthy Results.

B:

You take the Road Less Travelled. Who wants to go where everyone else has already gone anyway? You look for the hidden paths, ones most don't see and don't care to venture down. You go boldly and stand proud discontent with what's been put in front of you, determined to find a way perfect for you even no one else will take it with you. You live as you want and not for others, but be careful not become selfish. Others may need you and you should be there for them, especially the ones close to you. You tend to be the leader in most situations and people listen and trust you not lead them astray. Your firm in your opinions and beliefs and unwilling to change yourself to suit other people. By the same token, you can be stubborn to a fault, change isn't always a bad thing you know. Everyone changes and grows, you shouldn't try to stay exactly the same or you could be left behind. Then again, you may change frequently. Some people change to fit in, you my little non-conformist, may change to be set apart. It's great to be different, but it's also just as great to have things in common with people, even if those people are in that "crowd" you seem to have a vendetta against. Don't try to be different, just be who you are, whoever that is and you'll be unique all on your own. So make some time for people, let yourself blend into the crowd every once in awhile, you may just learn something about them and yourself you never knew before.

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I love my dog.......but

Afternoon walk with dog (Off leash) down to the shoreline to see what the storm had done at the waters edge. Dog (See centre of poor picture below) goes out of sight while I'm doing a spot of beach combing. Dog is not required to be on a lead in this area, so I'm quite happy to let him run free.
Stopped to watch Sea Otters fooling around in the water a couple of hundred yards away and didn't notice that Dog had gone his own sweet way. Spent a short while replacing a few rocks in the home made beach stairway (It's a sort of a local thing, everyone who uses the path helps fix it) so I could easily return to the woods from whence we had arrived. I was so busy that I did not worry that Dog was nowhere to be seen. Usually, he never strays far from me, so I didn't concern myself overly with his absence.

A quarter hour later, having finished what I was doing, I set off up the steep slope home. Called dog repeatedly, worried somewhat if some of the more carnivorous local wildlife had invited him for an informal lunch. I couldn't hear or see anything of him, which was less than usual. Swore under my breath at the disobedient animal, then climbed the track and strode down the short lane to our house, hoping that the stupid animal was okay. Went to the back door and called him. No response. Called for Mrs S repeatedly. Neither responded. Turned the air a pale shade of cobalt with my language, shut the door and quickly retraced my steps.

Mrs S was coming up the other path from where we had been beach combing, obviously worried sick because dog had arrived home without me. We returned home, glad that everybody was fine. "When Dog came back on his own, I thought you'd fallen down the cliff." She said. "I waited. but it was getting dark."
"No, the damn animal buggered off without me." I responded, and gave her a hug for caring.

Dog has forfeited post walk biscuit for running off home without me and worrying Mrs S sick. I hope he understands why.

On the lighter side, it could have been worse, I could really have fallen and been unable to call for help. Even so I was carrying my phone to call for help if need be. We're out at the edge of civilisation here, and the downside of living here is that there are Bears and Cougars around, and even I would be an easy lunch for one of them had I really been hors de combat. As Mrs S remarked. "There's a lesson here."

Yeah, keep an eye on the dog, and don't let him prance off on his own to worry everyone else to death. I do love my brain dead mutt, but sometimes, just sometimes.........