Friday, February 27, 2004

Friday at last. Even the possiblity of some snow. My my, I won't stand so many emotions!!! Id' better not keep writing, in case I were to have a heart attack.... perfect excuse when one does not have ANYTHING AT ALL to say!


Por fin es viernes. Hay incluso la posibilidad de que nieve. No se si soportare tantas emociones juntas!!! Mejor dejo de escribir, no sea que me de una parada cardiaca.....la excusa perfecta cuando un@ no tiene NADA EN ABSOLUTO que decir!


The weather today:
Partly Cloudy
6C
UV Index: 1 Minimal
Wind: From the North Northwest at 14 mph
Dew Point: -3C
Humidity: 51%
Visibility: Unlimited
Barometer: 999.7 mb

Thursday, February 26, 2004


The weekly shopping list:
3, Wholemeal Delicatesion Rolls 4 Pack
1, Finest Large White Choc/Chunk Cookies 4 Pack
1, Seedless Grapes Selection Pack Class 1
1, Gala Apples Pack
1, Tomatoes 750g
1, Spring Onions Bunch
1, Red Peppers Loose Each Class 1
1, Asparagus Bundle Pm Class 1 Each
1, Supersweet Sweetcorn Pm Twinpack
1, Closed Cup Mushrooms 250g Pack
1, Bigger Pack Better Value Leafy Salad & Tatsoi 165g
1, Iceberg Lettuce Each Class 1
1, Lamb 4 Cutlets
1, Honey Roast Ham 125g 10 Slices
1, Cooked Chicken 125g 10 Slices
1, Finest 8 Winter Warmer Sausages 454g
1, 2 Quarter Pound Burgers 227g
1, Healthy Living Lemon Sole Fillets
1, Smoked Salmon Slices 100g
1, Whole Milk 2.272ltr/4 Pints
1, Irish Creamery Butter 250g
1, Irish Cheddar Medium Mature Small
1, Grana Padano Portions
1, Leerdammer Slices 200g
1, Creme Fraiche 500ml
1, Dried Thyme 16g
1, Indian Basmati Rice 2kg
1, Wild Rice 250g
1, Buitoni Spaghetti 1kg
1, Sliced Black Olives In Brine 340g
1, Bigger Pack Better Value Frosted Flakes 1kg
2, Kettle Lightly Salted Chips 300g
1, Leaf Spinach 1kg
1, 4 Southern Fried Chicken 380g
1, Dr. Oetker Ristorante Pizza Pollo 355g
1, Coca Cola Regular 24 X 330ml Pack
1, Coca Cola Regular 4 X 2 Ltrs Pack
1, Diet Coke 4 X 2 Ltrs Pack
2, Appletiser Fruit Juice 1ltr
1, Ariel Color Liquid 1.5ltr Pouch
1, Comfort Passion Flower 2 Litre


The weather today:
Sunny
-1C
UV Index: 0 Minimal
Wind: From the West Northwest at 7 mph
Dew Point: -4C
Humidity: 73%
Visibility: Unlimited
Barometer: 1,005.4 mb

Wednesday, February 25, 2004


News from New Zealand. Six-week jail sentence for shooting native pigeons welcomed. A conservation group has welcomed the six-week jail sentence given to a man for shooting six protected native wood pigeons (kereru). Previously in court Cassidy had admitted possessing the pigeons but claimed he had found them, along with a shotgun and cartridges, while pig hunting. He was convicted of two counts, under the Wildlife Act, of hunting and killing the birds. That is really really rich! He just happened to find the dead pigeons AND the gun AND the cartridges!!! Ha ha ha! I'll go right now to the woods and see if I find a shiny gun and cartrides for free. I bet the woods are full of them. OK, I know this is not what one would call BIG news, but I thought the man's allegations were amusing and it happens that we have a kereru. Don't prosecute me now! It is a ceramic kereru, for decoration in the garden.


Noticias de Nueva Zelanda. Condenado a 6 semanas de carcel por disparar a palomas nativas. Grupos de preservacion de la naturaleza han expresado su satisfaccion por la sentencia contra Robert Cassidy, quien disparo y mato a seis palomas nativas (kereru) protegidas por la ley. Cassidy se defendio en los tribunales alegando que si lo encontraron en posesion de las palomas era porque se las habia encontrado junto con el rifle y la municion, mientras iba a cazar cerdos salvajes. El hombre fue considerado culpable de cazar y matar las palomas bajo la Ley de Proteccion la Fauna y Flora Salvajes. Muy bueno, realmente muy bueno. El tipo dice que se LAS ENCONTRO. No solo a las palomas muertas sino TAMBIEN el rifle. Y, ya puesto, TAMBIEN la municion. Muy bueno. Yo no me encuentro esas cosas por el bosque, no. Y limpias y brillantes, acabadas de usar, oye. OK, ya se que no es lo que podriamos llamar una GRAN noticia, pero me hizo reir y, ademas, resulta que yo tengo un kerenu (la famosa paloma). Antes de que se me lancen encima los grupos de preservacion de la flora y fauna, aclaro que es de ceramica y de decoracion para el jardin!


The weather today:
Mostly Cloudy
3C
UV Index: 1 Minimal
Wind: From the Northwest at 10 mph
Dew Point: -6C
Humidity: 52%
Visibility: Unlimited
Barometer: 1,012.9 mb

Monday, February 23, 2004


I thought finding the perfect skin for my blog was difficult... months ago, I spent hours and hours trying to find a skin which would be The Horror. I finally found it in The Twilight Zone skin by MayStar Designs (link above in the "Out of this world links" box and have not changed since then. It's perfect! I love it! But I never imagined finding the appropriate blogskin for another person would be even more difficult!!! I thought I would create a blog for a friend of mine. Without telling them anything, of course. It's a surprise. Now...which is the most appropriate blogskin? I thought about the friend's interests, likes and dislikes...and realised I do not even know their favourite colour!!! Oh horror of horrors!!! Errr....it used to be purple, but that was when we were teenagers...and will my friend like a dark skin? or something full of light and colour? This is going to be difficult, very difficult! Now I can only think my friend does not like cheese! That's not very userful when looking for a blogskin, is it? The next time I think :"oh they do not really know me!", I will have to add: "but I do not know them either!!!"


Y yo que pense que encontrar la skin para mi blog era dificil...have meses, me pase horas y horas intentando encontrar una skin que me gustara y que, a la vez, reflejara donde esta y quien es The Horror. Finalmente la encontre en The Twilight Zone, diseniada por MayStar Designs (el link arriba, en la ventana 'Out of this world links' y no he cambiado la skin desde entonces. Es perfecta! Me gusta! Poco me imaginaba que aun seria mas dificil encontrar la skin perfecta para otra persona!!! Hace poco se me ocurrio crear un blog para una persona amiga, sin esta saber nada, claro. Es una sorpresa. Y cual es la skin mas adecuada? Empece a pensar en los intereses, lo que le gusta, lo que no le gusta...y me di cuenta de que ni siquiera se cual es su color favorito!!! Horror de horrores!! Estooo..... era el violeta, pero eso era a los quince anios!.... y....le gustara un blog con colores oscuros? o bien claros? un blog con mucho colorido? Esto va a ser muy dificil! Ahora solo se me ocurre que a esta persona no le gusta el queso! Por supuesto, el dato mas inutil para buscar una blogskin. La proxima vez que piense: "Ah, pero esta gente no me conoce, realmente!", tendre que aniadir : "pero yo tampoco los conozco a ellos! Empate!"


The weather today:
Mostly Cloudy
6C
UV Index: 0 Minimal
Wind: From the North at 13 mph
Dew Point: -4C
Humidity: 50%
Visibility: Unlimited
Barometer: 1,022.7 mb

Friday, February 20, 2004



The modern pure grass lawn is artificial... you need effort and chemicals to maintain a monoculture.
Misuse and the inherent toxicity of standard pesticides cause short and long term poisoning, cancer and disease in people and wildlife. Extensive use and overuse of fertilisers (due to lack of restrictions) causes water pollution problems and wastes resources. Endless summer irrigation to keep lawns green wastes massive amounts of water and depletes water tables. Lawnmowers, strimmers and other lawn machinery unregulated for environmental emissions, use vast amounts of petrol and are a significant factor in urban air and noise pollution. The lawn is the worlds third agriculture. It is probable that westerners spend more person hours, energy and resources on their lawns than any agricultural resource of the third world. And last but not least, I am lazy! So I've decided we are going to have a wild flower meadow in our garden. You can buy the seeds in boxes just as in the normal lawn seed but the difference is you only have to mown it twice a year!! I also looks completely different than the standard lawn, as you can see in the pic.


El cesped de hoy en dia es totalmente artificial...hay que poner esfuerzo humano y productos quimicos para mantener este tipo de monocultivo. El mal uso y la inherente toxicidad de los herbicidas usuales causan toxicidad a corto y largo plazo, ademas de cancer y otras enfermedades en humanos y animales. El uso extensivo y repetitivo de fertilizantes (porque no hay restricciones) es causa directa de la contaminacion de las aguas y es un gasto inutil de recursos naturales. El riego diario durante el verano para mantener verde el cesped gasta cantidades exhorbitantes de agua y agota rios y pantanos. Las cortadoras de cesped y otras maquinas de motor usadas en los jardines no pasan ningun tipo de control de emisiones toxicas (como hacen los coches), por lo que usan grandes cantidades de gasolina y expelen humos que contribuyen a la polucion de las areas urbanas y semi-urbanas, sin olvidar la polucion acustica de tanta cortadora los domingos por la maniana! El cesped es el tercer tipo de cultivo del mundo. Con toda probabilidad, los habitantes de los paises desarrollados gastan los mismos o mas recursos, tiempo y dinero cuidando de sus cespedes que los habitantes del tercer mundo en cultivos esenciales para su subsistencia. Por todas estas razones y por una mas: mi vagancia total, he decidido que nuestro pequenio jardin tendra un cesped 'alternativo' de flores y hierbas salvajes, lo que en ingles llaman 'wild flower meadow'. Se planta con semilla, igual que el cesped normal y corriente, pero la diferencia es que solo hay que segarlo dos veces al anio!!. El aspecto general es tambien muy diferente al cesped standard, como podeis ver en la foto.


The weather today:
Cloudy
3C
UV Index: 0 Minimal
Wind: From the East Northeast at 14 mph
Dew Point: -4C
Humidity: 61%
Visibility: Unlimited
Barometer: 1,018.6 mb

Thursday, February 19, 2004



I am currently reading the English translation of the 2001 Spanish best-seller 'Soldados de Salamina' - 'Soldiers of Salamis' which has also been shot in film by the Spanish director David Trueba. The book is a slightly fictionalised "true tale" about three people: first, Rafael Sanchez Mazas, the writer and senior Spanish Fascist Party member who escaped during the war from a firing squad and afterwards became a senior member of Franco's government; second, the soldier who inexplicably spared his life; and last Cercas himself (the writer) who in the late 1990s went in quest of the truth about that moment in 1939 in a forest outside Barcelona, when the Republican soldier who was searching for the escapees found the hidden and terrified Sanchez Mazas, looked him in the eye, and after a moment of silence called out, "there's nobody over here", and went away. As Cercas sifts the evidence to establish what really happened, he realises that the hero of his story may not be Sanchez Mazas at all, but the soldier who chose not to shoot him. Who was he? Why did he spare him? Might he still be alive?


I have not finished the book but it seems to me that Cercas-the writer might be slightly stupid. Of course the true hero of the story was the soldier who spared the fascist! Who could doubt that? Nobody, except maybe the exceptionally short-sighted...or a Fascist, of course. Anyway, the book was celebrated in Spain two years ago as something really BIG so when I saw it in the Library yesterday I thought I'd borrow it and have a look. I would say it is not well written or well constructed. Also, it is obvious the translation is too literal, with never-ending sentences which are comprehensible and maybe elegant in Spanish but that in English sound as garble garble garble. Ah translators...some of them should learn to maybe 'interpret' a little bit the books they translate, instead of acting as the Babel Fish translator - which is amusing to use for a laugh but please, don't try to get any real sense out of a whole text or use it to send a letter abroad...you may receive a very rude answer, believe me!



Estoy leyendo la traduccion en ingles del best-seller espaniol del anio 2001, 'Soldados de Salamina' del que tambien se ha filmado una pelicula , dirigida por David Trueba. Es una 'historia ficticia' pero basada en hechos reales sobre tres personas : La primera, Rafael Sanchez Mazas escritor e ideologo de la Falange Espaniola que escapo, por los pelos, de ser fusilado por los Republicanos al final de la Guerra Civil espaniola y que luego se convirtio en uno de los ministros 'sin cartera' de Franco. La segunda, el soldado republicano que vio al fugitivo cuando le buscaban en el bosque y decidio no matarle y, por ultimo, la tercera persona : Javier Cercas - el escritor del libro - quien, a finales de los 90, investiga la verdad de lo que sucedio en aquellos bosques alla por 1939, cuando el soldado republicano se topo de bruces con Sanchez Mazas, escondido y aterrorizado, escapando del peloton de fusilamiento, le miro directamente a los ojos y despues de un interminable minuto de silencio, grito a los demas perseguidores :"Aqui no hay nadie!" y dando la vuelta, se marcho. Durante el proceso de investigar, comparar y tratar de descubrir la verdad, Cercas se da cuenta de que quiza el verdadero heroe de la historia no fue Sanchez Mazas, sino el soldado desconocido que decidio no matarle. Y quien era este soldado? Por que no le mato? Seguira aun con vida?


Aun no he terminado de leer el libro, pero me da la impresion de que el personaje de Cercas - el escritor- no es muy inteligente. Para mi es evidente que el autentico heroe de la historia es el soldado republicano! Quien lo dudaria? Alguien muy corto de... vista o un fascista declarado, por supuesto. De todas maneras, el libro fue muy celebrado y
batio records de ventas hace dos anios en Espania, asi que cuando ayer lo vi en la biblioteca, decidi tomarlo prestado. Mi opinion personal es que no esta muy bien escrito y que la estructura tiene muchos fallos. Ademas, la traduccion al ingles es penosa. Lo que en espaniol pasaria por una frase medianamente larga, de construccion decente y quiza elegante, en la traduccion inglesa es larguiiiiiisima, penosa e incoherente. Cuando aprenderan los traductores que no se puede traducir literalmente? Que lo que se aplica y suena bien en un idioma no funciona en otro? A veces me recuerdan las hilarantes traducciones que se obtienen de Babel Fish, que estan bien para eso, para morirse de risa un rato, pero no para tomarlas en serio y enviar, por ejemplo, una carta a otro pais. A menos que se desee recibir una respuesta insultante, por supuesto.


The weather today:
Partly Cloudy
7C
UV Index: 1 Minimal
Wind: From the Northeast at 22 gusting to 33 mph
Dew Point: -4C
Humidity: 46%
Visibility: Unlimited
Barometer: 1,026.1 mb

Wednesday, February 18, 2004



The weekly shopping list:
4, Wholemeal Delicatesion Rolls 4 Pack
1, Finest Large White Choc/Chunk Cookies 4 Pack
1, Seedless Grapes Selection Pack Class 1
1, Gala Apples Pack
1, Tomatoes 750g
1, Spring Onions Bunch
1, Red Peppers Loose Each Class 1
1, Asparagus Bundle Pm Class 1 Each
1, Supersweet Sweetcorn Pm Twinpack
1, Closed Cup Mushrooms 250g Pack
1, Cooking Onions 1kg Class 2
1, Bigger Pack Better Value Leafy Salad & Tatsoi 165g
1, Iceberg Lettuce Each Class 1
1, Beef Steak Mince 250g
1, T.12 Smoked Wiltshire Cure Streaky 250g
1, Honey Roast Ham 125g 10 Slices
1, Cooked Beef 125g 10 Slices
1, Healthy Living Lemon Sole Fillets
1, Corn Fed Chicken Thighs
1, Whole Milk 2.272ltr/4 Pints
1, Irish Creamery Butter 250g
1, Medium Mature Cheddar Small
1, Grana Padano Portions
1, President Emmental Slices 200g
1, Creme Fraiche 500ml
1, Corngold Free Range Eggs Box Of 10
2, Lasagne Sheets 250g
1, Olive Oil 1 Ltr
1, Schwartz Nacho Cheese Potato Wedges 38g
1, Hovis Strong White Bread Flour 1.5kg
1, Wrights Parmesan & Sun Dried Tomato Bread Mix 500g
1, Buitoni Spaghetti 1kg
1, Bertolli Green Pesto Sauce 185g
1, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce 290ml
1, T.Temptations Thai Curry Crisps 150g
1, T.Temptations Steak/Marsala Wine Crisps 150g
1, Walkers Variety Doritos 10 Pack
1, Mccain Southern Fries 907g
2, Potato Croquettes 907g
1, Youngs Chip Shop 4 Large Haddock Fillets 540g
1, Diet Coke 24 X 330ml Pack
1, Coca Cola Regular 4 X 2 Ltrs Pack
1, Diet Coke 4 X 2 Ltrs Pack
2, Appletiser Fruit Juice 1ltr



The weather today:
Mostly Cloudy
Temperature : 4C
UV Index: 0 Minimal
Wind: From the North at 9 mph
Dew Point: 3°C
Humidity: 92%
Visibility: Unlimited
Barometer: 1,031.2 mb

Tuesday, February 17, 2004

Now this is quite amusing. It's a website where you create a map with the countries you've visited. My my...I'd better start packing my suitcases, there is A LOT to see out there and I've only been in 15 countries...what a shame!


Aqui hay algo divertido para pasar el rato. Es una pagina web donde puedes crear un mapa de los paises que has visitado. Y que mal...ahora mismo empiezo a hacer las maletas, hay UN MONTON de sitios por ver y yo solo he pisado 15 paises, que verguenzaaa!!




create your own visited country map
or write about it on the open travel guide

In a far off Galaxy the 12 Colonies of Man have come together to end a 1000 year war with the machine race known as the Cylons. The peace mission is a trap concocted by the Cylon’s Imperious Leader and a power hungry human by the name of Baltar. An armada of Cylon ships catch the Human’s unprepared fleet of Battlestars off guard. Only the Battlestar Galactica, under the command of Commander Adama, is able to launch it’s fighters in time to defend the fleet. Commander Adama sends word for every man, woman, and child to set to space in whatever ship could carry them. In all, 220 ships containing the last remnants of the once proud 12 Colonies of Man set course to deep space. Lead by the last Battlestar Galactica, Commander Adama announces to his people that they would go in search of a long lost 13th colony of man, on a small blue world known as Earth. Sounds familiar? Of course. It is the plot of Battlestar Galactica(1978) the famous (and slightly naff) film and tv series. Did you like it then? Did you think Apollo and Starbuck were REALLY cool? OK, now you have a new opportunity to live all that emotion and adventure again! The series has been remade and is now showing in Skymovies 2 in the UK. This new Galactica is quite different to what we were used back in 1978...Starbuck and Boomer are ladies, Apollo and Adama have a very bad relationship father-son, some of the cylons now look like human beings, the new Intergallactic president is a tough but very humane lady, Baltar the traitor is a programmer who betrays the humans for love (errr...better lust!) of a female cylon, Battlestar Gallactica was almost a museum exhibit and was going to be scraped when the cylons attacked... and all the general look is grey and tough. Very noughties, very!


En una galaxia muy lejana, 12 colonias humanas se reunen para acabar una guerra milenaria con la raza robotica de los Cylones. La mision de paz es, en realidad, una trampa ideada por el Emperador de los Cylones con la ayuda de un humano traidor, Baltar. La armada de naves cylones ataca y destruye la desprevenida flota de naves humanas. Tan solo Galactica, al mando del comandante Adama, es capaz de responder al ataque cylon e intentar defender la flota. El Comandante Adama informa a los supervivientes de que deberan huir de las colonias a bordo de todas las naves disponibles. En total, 220 naves abandonan las colonias, escoltadas por Galactica, poniendo rumbo hacia lo desconocido, en busca de la colonia humana numero 13, un planeta azul llamado Tierra, en donde se origino la especie humana. Suena familiar? Claro, es el tema de la famosa (y un poquito hortera) serie de tv y pelicula Battlestar Galactica, estrenada en 1978. Si por aquel entonces pensabais que Apollo y Starbuck eran realmente el no va mas y no os perdiais ni un episodio, ahora vienen las nuevas noticias. Ayer se estreno el remake de la serie en Skymovies 2, para los abonados de Sky en el Reino Unido. Esta nueva Galactica es diferente a lo que estabamos acostumbrados...agarraos...Starbuck y Boomer son mujeres, el comandante Adama y Apollo se odian a muerte, el nuevo presidente de la federacion intergalactica es una mujer muy humanitaria, algunos cylones tienen apariencia humana, Baltar es un programador que traiciona a la raza humana por amor (mejor dicho, por sexo!) a una cylon, la nave Galactica era casi una pieza de museo e iba a ser desmantelada cuando los cylones atacaron... y, en general, los escenarios y la atmostfera de la serie son mucho mas grises y duros. Muy del siglo XXI, vaya.


The weather today:
Mostly Cloudy
7C
UV Index: 1 Minimal
Wind: From the North at 7 mph
Dew Point: 5C
Humidity: 87%
Visibility: 4 miles
Barometer: 1,029.1 mb

Monday, February 16, 2004


According to old wive's tales, eating primroses is supposed to enable you to see fairies and touching a fairy rock with a primrose posy opens the way to fairyland and fairy gifts. Now I understand why one of the primrose plants in our garden had most of its flowers eaten overnight! It weren't slugs or snails, but somebody who wanted to see the fairies. I won't, after all, have to go hunting for snails, what a relief!.... Now seriously, slugs and snails are a big problem in the garden. In countries like France and Spain, they have a natural and powerful predator : human beings. Snails are considered a culinary delicacy and are offered in many restaurants at medium-high prices. I remember when I was a child that children were encouraged to take a stroll in the fields when the rain had stopped to catch as many snails as they could. Sometimes, while driving on country roads, one would see adults and children busy at picking snails beside the road. They just happened to drive by while it was raining and saw the snails. And if it were not snails, they were picking asparagus! As a result, you don't see many snails in any garden. Unfortunately, this doesn't happen in this country, so for the sake of my plants, slug pellets it will be, as it is no good picking them up and moving them to any other patch of land. They have an incredible homing instinct so will come back 'home' no matter if it takes them a couple of weeks!


Segun antiguas tradiciones, comer primaveras (Camisonnia primiveris) daba la capacidad de ver a las hadas y tocando una piedra encantada con una primavera se abria la puerta al mundo de las hadas y a la concesion de magicos deseos. Ahora entiendo porque una de las primaveras de nuestro jardin tenia casi todas las flores mordisqueadas cuando les he echado una ojeada esta maniana! No eran caracoles o babosas, sino alguien que queria ver a las hadas. Asi que no hace falta que vaya a la busca y captura de los caracoles, que descanso!....Bromas aparte, los caracoles y las babosas causan gran danio en el jardin. En paises como Francia y Espania, estos animalitos tienen un poderoso enemigo natural : el ser humano. Los caracoles son considerados manjar exquisito y los precios acostumbran a ser elevados si quereis degustar un plato de caracoles en cualquier restaurante. Recuerdo que, en mi infancia, se animaba los ninios a salir al campo, cuando habia parado de llover, para recoger caracoles. A veces, conduciendo por las carreteras rurales, se veian adultos y ninios con el coche parado recogiendo caracoles al lado de la carretera despues de la lluvia. Y si no eran caracoles, eran esparragos! Como resultado, no se ven muchos caracoles en los jardines. Lamentablemente, aqui no comen caracoles, asi que para salvar mis plantas, tengo que recurrir a las bolitas anti-caracoles. Porque no vale recogerlos y tirarlos por ahi...los caracoles tienen un instinto brutal para volver 'a casa'. Puede costarles una semana, pero volver, lo que es volver, vuelven!


The weather today:
Haze
8°C
UV Index: 0 Minimal
Wind: From the North Northeast at 1 mph
Dew Point: 3°C
Humidity: 68%
Visibility: 5 miles
Barometer: 1,030.1 mb