An Apology

Sorry I haven't blogged much since returning from holiday. Holidays are wonderful things, but they have two problems associated with them. The first of these is the fact that you have to go back to work after them. The second problem is the fact that the poor buggers that have been snowed under while you have been away often have the audacity to go on holiday themselves when you go back. This unpleasant behaviour often increases the stress levels of vulnerable individuals suffering from post-holiday depression. It's fair to say that I have been pretty busy with "real life" since returning from Egypt.

Another particular problem was the sudden death of my elderly desktop computer shortly after I came home. Although I also have a laptop, all my photoediting software was on the old machine, somewhat interfering with the post-processing of my 400 images from the holiday! Fortunately, after a period in intensive care at the computer hospital, the old boy is back on his feet---in fact I'm typing on him now.

Hopefully, next week will be better!

The Joys of the British Housing Market

The housing market in the UK is barking mad. I am so glad I am not a first time buyer these days. With talk of pig sties in the Cotswolds selling for ridiculous fees, I thought the worst excesses of the market were restricted to England.

Prices in St Andrews in Scotland have been rising fairly steeply in the last few years, but this article about the sale of public toilets there shows that things are getting distinctly out of hand. The guide price was £50,000, but the "property" actually sold for almost £200,000! It apparently has three doors onto the street and was described by the sellers as "being in need of extensive renovation.".

You don't say....

Tampering With Nature

Vegetarian Haggis?!?!?! How is this possible?
Originally uploaded by The Rocketeer.

This picture from my good friend The Rocketeer on Flickr illustrates one of my pet hates. I'm not a vegetarian, although I do like some vegetarian dishes. I'm really a bit of a hypocrite, because if I had to kill the animal myself in order to eat it I probably couldn't bring myself to do it. When the meat comes to me nicely packaged on my supermarket shelf I don't have the same problem.

I don't mind other people being vegetarian, but what I do object to are vegetarian dishes that should really be meat dishes, but the meat has been substituted. Quorn sausages and "vegetarian chilli con carne" (sic) fall into this category, but I only found out today that one of Scotland's national dishes has been "vegefied". Vegetarian haggis: what is that all about? If these people really want meat, why don't they have the guts (if you pardon the expression) to admit it?

There! I feel so much better for having got that off my chest!

What's In A Name?

I was fascinated today to read that Google.org has appointed a new executive director who goes by the name of, would you believe, Dr Brilliant! I hadn't previously heard of Larry Brilliant but, as befits his name, dear Larry is a veritable polymath: "a medical doctor, epidemiologist, technologist, author and philanthropist" according to his Wikipedia entry. I'm not sure I would have wanted to go through life called Mr (or Dr) Brilliant. The name would certainly create certain expectations among one's contemporaries that might prove difficult to meet. However, maybe having a name like that gives one a certain self-confidence that others find elusive?

One of the "chosen ones" in the new UK government under Gordon Brown rejoices in the name Ed Balls. I can't imagine growing up in the West of Scotland with a name like that. I suspect it would have been a pretty painful experience. Having a somewhat provocative name does not seem to have hampered Ed's progress though life. He's certainly a rising star just now. Here we see the nice Mr Balls talking about his efforts to help disabled children.

Sometimes tell-tale names can be a bit more subtle, though. It took us years to notice that Blair was an anagram of "B liar", for example....

I Love Paris

I was pleased to hear that Paris Hilton has decided to accept her prison sentence, and is not going to appeal against it again. She is said to "learning and growing" from her ordeal.

Paris says that "Being in jail is by far the hardest thing I have ever done." but that's not saying much is it?

No doubt she's already toting up in her evil little brain how much she can sell the story for.

Romance Is Not Dead

It may surprise you to find out that I am a bit of a romantic. However, I'm also a Scotsman and, as you know, romance can be a bit on the expensive side. An elderly patient that I looked after a while ago told me that her husband, when he was alive, used to buy her flowers every week. I made the grave error of mentioning this to Wosog, and she keeps bringing it up from time to time!

Imagine my delight, therefore, when I stumbled across a Zen Habits post entitled "50 Ways to Be Romantic on the Cheap". Zen Habits is a great source of what the geeks call "life hacks", or what you and I call survival tips. This article is no exception. Flowers are mentioned, for example, but they are wild flowers. Many of the other examples cost nothing too----although some are a wee bit time-consuming. I can't really see Wosog and I reading poetry together, but snuggling together on a rainy day sounds easy, and could even lead to savings on heating costs.

Wosog better not take me for granted, though. One of the nurses on the ward where I work said that one of the patients told her I was "a bit of a looker."

Admittedly the patient was 92 years old, but she did have some of her own teeth.

Why Complain?

Like many British folk, I don't like complaining. On a number of occasions in the past I've been in a restaurant, say, and been served food that was not quite up to par, but I've just eaten it or left it, rather than make a fuss about it. Many Brits don't like to attract attention to themselves in public places, and in restaurants there is always the possibility that your food may return to you having been, let's say, adulterated in some way.

I've been in a few hotel rooms that I wasn't entirely happy with too. Again, I don't remember complaining often: too embarrassing. I much prefer the anonymity of slagging them off on Expedia when I return home.

On the subject of hotel rooms, some people seem to love all the little soaps, bath oils etc. that are commonly found there. I've recently developed hand eczema, so I now have a little collection of bottles of moisturisers from hotels, but apart from this aspect these things don't really register with me. I recently came across this account of a hotel guest's unhappiness with the soap supply in his hotel bedroom. It certainly wouldn't encourage me to start doing any more on-site complaining!

I think the moral of the story is "If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging".

Back from the grave---again!

I've decided to revive The Voice of Reason. It's the fault of my brother in law, Bilosog. I met him in a shop in Glasgow at the weekend and he berated me for not blogging. He's retired, the lucky bugger, while I am still dragging myself out of bed every day to earn an honest shilling or two. I should be telling him to take up blogging since he's got plenty of time to do it!

I'm not sure what has made me "take up the cudgel" again. Many (both?) of you probably think it's a false dawn, and that I won't keep it up---well, we'll see! Anyway, I've decided to change to Blogger's new, improved system and appear to have lost many of my page elements (including all the old comments) in the process! Please bear with me while I try and find at least some of them. I've got a funny feeling that the old comments are gone for ever, though, since I'm probably just going to use Blogger's commenting set up.

Anyway, there we have it: the new, improved (well, eventually) Voice of Reason: God bless Her and He who rants in her!

Back From The Dead

Wosog's Little Friend
Originally uploaded by Son of Groucho.

I'm not a very disciplined individual. I find it difficult to concentrate on one subject for long. Bearing that in mind, it is probably surprising that I have managed to keep blogging for 2 years. Recently I've had pretty severe "blogger's block". There is also the small matter of "real life getting in the way". Once you get out of the habit of posting, it's really quite difficult to get back into it again, but I'm going to make a concerted effort to do so.

As a start, I present this intriguing picture of The Bold Wosog confronting a plucky little ghost in the Catacombes de Paris recently. What happened next was reminiscent of a episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Wosog may be small, but she's not phased by a bit of ectoplasm.

There will be more of our Paris trip, including visiting the dead, both above and below ground, in future exciting episodes of The Voice of Reason.

A Close Shave

Shaving is a pain: not literally, usually, but metaphorically. Some day, when I've got a bit of time on my hands, I'll work out the number of hours of my life I've spent doing it so I can drop the figure into the conversation when there is a lull at a very dull dinner party. Still, if a job's worth doing it's worth doing well, as the saying goes.

The market for Razor Blades for wet shaving in the UK is dominated by Gillette. Wilkinson Sword and Biro Bic Razors have a much smaller market share. Over the years the male adult population has watched with some bemusement as the number of blades apparently required to perform the task has risen from 1 to 2 to 3, and even to 4! The corresponding rise in the price of these hi tech little items has meant that special security precautions directed towards them have been necessary in supermarkets! Some nerd has even extrapolated forward to conclude that we'll expect a 14-bladed razor in 2100!

Recently Gillette seems to have decided that the delicate art of shaving only needs 3 blades but the movement of these can't be entrusted to the the average hand alone. An electric motor is also required to achieve "the best a man can get".

If shaving really is as complicated as this I think I'll grow a beard!

Intimations Of Mortality

I know you won't believe it, but yours truly is 50 (yes, fifty) in 4 days time! I didn't seem to be bothered about it until quite recently , unlike my 40th birthday which plunged me into the slough of despond for months. It's when you find yourself attracted to web pages like this one that you realise that you are getting a bit morose.

I'm afraid I become almost impossible to live with when my mood turns in this direction. I'd just like to put Wosog's name down for canonisation now if I may!

Blogger's Block

I know I've been a bad blogger recently: not posting nearly often enough. I'll try to perform better, but meantime here's a handy link via Bifurcated Rivets.

New Year Resolutions

I never make New Year Resolutions. I do make resolutions at other times of year---then it somehow doesn't seem quite so bad when I fail to stick to them.

I've been badgering Wosog to stop smoking for years, but it seemed the more I pestered her about it, the less likely it was that she would stop. I've been a passive smoker all my life: my late father was a pipe smoker and my mother, who is now over 80 years old, still smokes! Wosog, however, smokes those nice menthol cigarettes, and when we found to our horror some time ago that Gsog had started smoking it was the smell of his ordinary cigarettes, among other factors, that finally made Wosog decide to stop as from 1 January 2006. Gsog says he is going to stop at the same time, but because Wosog has pressured him to do it, I'm not completely convinced that his heart is in it.

I'm not sure that the first part of 2006 is going to be entirely stress-free sharing a house with two people coming off cigarettes, but I'm certain it will be worth it in the long-term.

If there's anybody out there, I'd like to wish you a Healthy, Happy 2006!

Turning Japanese

My new car is a Honda Accord. For the last 8 years I've had 2 consecutive Audi A4s and, although I didn't have major problems with either car I did have several minor gripes with both of them. I've also been aware from consumer surveys over the last few years of how Japanese cars have retained their excellent reliability record while German cars have fallen in reliability. This seems to be particularly true of Audi. As you can see from the What Car? Reliability Index, Audi is among the Worst Ten Performers, but it shares that dubious distinction with several so-called "quality" marques----with Porsche as their least reliable brand! BMW is among the Best Ten Performers with an index of 85.95, but it is still a fair bit higher than Honda's 63.73.

I know that reliability isn't everything, but to my mind it's pretty vital when it comes to spending hard-earned cash on a depressingly depreciating asset----especially the amount of cash you need to shell out for a Porsche. The Porsche Boxter has a reliability index of 277.46, and the Audi TT's index is not much better at 251.2. The Audi A4's figure is considerably superior at 115.34, but this is still very poor compared with the Honda Accord's result of 41.71!

So why isn't everyone buying cars from Honda, Lexus, and the other members of the What Car? Top Ten? Why do people consider that they have "arrived" when they purchase a Porsche, an Audi, a Jaguar or a Saab (all among the worst ten performers for reliability)? Why did my son obviously feel the family would have less "Street Cred" when we moved from Audi to Honda? The answer, my friends, is snobbery, pure and simple----and some of you are paying a very high price for it!

A Good Christmas

Well was Santa good to you all? He was certainly very good to me. As well as my iPod, which came as a total surprise, I got a Crumpler Formal Lounge. Believe it or not, this is a bag made by a company in Australia that has one of the most eccentric websites I know. Their bags tend to have strange names, but they are widely regarded as among the best camera bags available. The formal lounge is really well designed: both from the security and the ergonomic points of view. I'll just need to get more equipment to fill it now (hint! hint!).

To come back to the iPod, I'm really impressed with the sound quality and I've also started looking into what podcasts are available. So far I've only listened to the New Scientist's podcast, and I think it's one I may well subscribe to. I downloaded a video podcast just to try out the video capability of the machine: simply amazing! It's like being able to carry a tiny televison around with you.

Got lots of other nice presents too, so all-in-all I'm feeling quite smug.

No Place To Hide 1

If there is one theme that epitomises modern life it seems to me it is the Cult of Celebrity. The availability of mass media has allowed people who in the past would have been total non-entities to make, often very lucrative, careers out of----well----practically nothing! Like everything else in life, however, instant celebrity has its disadvantages. One of the main adverse effects is the constant scrutiny of so-called celebrity magazines like "Heat" here. I'd rather not say how I acquired this (actually, Wosog bought it) but, as you can see, having bullied the poor celebrities for years into getting as thin as possible, Heat has now started a campaign criticising sundry superstars for being too thin. The chosen few who have a bit of flesh on them are now entering a golden age where they can eat their chip butties with impunity without looking over their broadening shoulders for the flashes of the probing paparazzi.

If I were them, though, I'd enjoy it while I can. Next month the happy snappers will have stopped looking for sneaky pictures of protruding ribs and bony spines. They'll be back looking for tell-tale bulges as of yore.

As if the celebrity mags weren't bad enough, the poor wee souls have the prospect of high definition tv to look forward to----but that, as they say, is another story.

Typing, Not Journalism

I was interested to read today two articles that focussed on the increasing popularity of blogging: not only as a participation sport, but as a source of entertainment. I have read several articles both online and in old fashioned newsprint by professional journalists slagging off blogging and bloggers. The basic thesis appears to be that if you haven’t “learned your trade” in journalism school, and climbed the greasy pole to end up writing a column for “guardians of the truth” like Rupert Murdoch, your opinion just isn’t worth listening to. The CBS News article “Blogging As Typing, Not Journalism” is fairly typical of the genre.

You have to ask yourself why, if professional journalists are so good and bloggers are so bad, the pros feel the need to criticise us. Could it possibly be that they’re feeling a wee bit insecure?

The article “Blogs vie with news for eyeballs” recounts the increasing influence of bloggers in reporting aspects of major stories. Bearing in mind that there are only so many hours in the day, it must be occurring to the media moguls that eventually even bloggers’ coverage of much more minor subjects may take readership away from them.

“Blooker rewards books from blogs” records the creation of a prize for books that have stemmed from successful blogs: yet another outlet for the creative juices of these “citizen journalists”.

The truth of the matter is that there are good and bad journalists, just as there are good and bad bloggers. The insatiable appetite of the population for information and entertainment will provide an audience for all four groups: the question is who will get the biggest market share in the long term?

Building Jumpers

Gsog showed me this video clip of building jumpers. These guys need their heads, not to mention their knees, their hips and their ankles examined!

Gsog says he does some of these things on skates, but I don't think I want to hear any more....

Now We Are One....

Well I never thought this day would arrive: I have now been blogging for one whole year! Although I appear to have regressed recently in evolutionary terms from a Crawly Amphibian to a Flippery Fish in the TTLB Ecosystem, I did manage to cross the 6,000 visit barrier by my first year, so I'm reasonably encouraged!

I still am not sure why I do it, though! Over the past 12 months I've come across a few blogs that have bitten the dust, and I've also seen the situation where bloggers threaten to give up, but have their spirits raised by their erstwhile silent fan base, gird their loins and carry on. I'm sometimes tempted to threaten to pack it in, but I think if I did suggest it, and it became apparent that nobody out there cared one way or the other, it would be too savage a blow for my fragile ego to withstand!

And so for now I'll carry on. I'm sure the birthday cards are in the post....