05 November 2010
04 November 2010
A fun packed day
Apart from watching all 14 episodes of Season 10 of South Park I discovered that Robyn, our alpha cat, loves peanut butter.
Life is sweet...
Life is sweet...
Some Tayside Tragedian
LINES IN PRAISE OF PROFESSOR BLACKIE
by William McGonagall
Alas! the people's hearts are now full of sorrow
For the deceased Professor Blackie, of Edinboro';
Because he was a Christian man, affable and kind,
And his equal in charitable actions would be hard to find
'Twas in the year of 1895, March the 2nd, he died at 10 o'clock.
Which to his dear wife, and his adopted son, was a great shock;
And before he died he bade farewell to his adopted son and wife.
Which, no doubt, they will remember during life.
Professor Blackie celebrated his golden wedding three years ago,
When he was made the recipient of respect from high and low.
He leaves a widow, but, fortunately, no family,
Which will cause Mrs. Blackie to feel less unhappy.
Professor Blackie will be greatly missed in Edinboro;
Especially those that met him daily will feel great sorrow,
When they think of his never-failing plaid and hazel rung,
For, although he was an old man, he considered he was young.
He had a very striking face, and silvery locks like a seer,
And in the hearts of the Scottish people he was loved most dear;
And many a heart will mourn for him, but all in vain,
Because he never can return to them again.
He was a very kind-hearted man, and in no way vain,
And I'm afraid we ne'er shall look upon his like again;
And to hear him tell Scotch stories, the time did quickly pass,
And for singing Scotch songs few could him surpass.
But I hope he is in heaven, singing with saints above,
Around God's throne, where all is peace and love;
There, where God's children daily doth meet
To sing praises to God, enchanting and sweet.
He had visited almost every part of Europe in his time,
And, like Lord Byron, he loved the Grecian clime;
Nor did he neglect his own dear country,
And few men knew it more thoroughly than he.
On foot he tramped o'er most of bonnie Scotland,
And in his seventies he climbed the highest hills most grand.
Few men in his day could be compared to him,
Because he wasn't hard on fallen creatures when they did sin.
Oh, dearly beloved Professor Blackie, I must conclude my muse,
And to write in praise of thee my pen does not refuse;
Because you were a very Christian man, be it told,
Worthy of a monument, and your name written thereon in letters of gold.
Don't forget McGonagall Online for all your poetry needs
by William McGonagall
Alas! the people's hearts are now full of sorrow
For the deceased Professor Blackie, of Edinboro';
Because he was a Christian man, affable and kind,
And his equal in charitable actions would be hard to find
'Twas in the year of 1895, March the 2nd, he died at 10 o'clock.
Which to his dear wife, and his adopted son, was a great shock;
And before he died he bade farewell to his adopted son and wife.
Which, no doubt, they will remember during life.
Professor Blackie celebrated his golden wedding three years ago,
When he was made the recipient of respect from high and low.
He leaves a widow, but, fortunately, no family,
Which will cause Mrs. Blackie to feel less unhappy.
Professor Blackie will be greatly missed in Edinboro;
Especially those that met him daily will feel great sorrow,
When they think of his never-failing plaid and hazel rung,
For, although he was an old man, he considered he was young.
He had a very striking face, and silvery locks like a seer,
And in the hearts of the Scottish people he was loved most dear;
And many a heart will mourn for him, but all in vain,
Because he never can return to them again.
He was a very kind-hearted man, and in no way vain,
And I'm afraid we ne'er shall look upon his like again;
And to hear him tell Scotch stories, the time did quickly pass,
And for singing Scotch songs few could him surpass.
But I hope he is in heaven, singing with saints above,
Around God's throne, where all is peace and love;
There, where God's children daily doth meet
To sing praises to God, enchanting and sweet.
He had visited almost every part of Europe in his time,
And, like Lord Byron, he loved the Grecian clime;
Nor did he neglect his own dear country,
And few men knew it more thoroughly than he.
On foot he tramped o'er most of bonnie Scotland,
And in his seventies he climbed the highest hills most grand.
Few men in his day could be compared to him,
Because he wasn't hard on fallen creatures when they did sin.
Oh, dearly beloved Professor Blackie, I must conclude my muse,
And to write in praise of thee my pen does not refuse;
Because you were a very Christian man, be it told,
Worthy of a monument, and your name written thereon in letters of gold.
Don't forget McGonagall Online for all your poetry needs
The great ideas just keep on coming
The Telegraph carried a report on a major new initiative to cut waste. Cabinet Office minister, Francis Maude, has said that any officials who took over the functions of axed Non Departmental Public Bodies should use up their old letterhead and notepaper to save money.
Mr Maude said he wanted civil servants to “cross out the old name” and write the name of the department instead. He said: “It is a very good idea. It should be an absolute iron rule.”
Mr Maude told the MPs he wanted officials to follow an example set by Margaret Thatcher when she split up the Department of Health Social Security into two departments in 1988.
Mr Maude: “The then-Prime Minister said to Ken Clarke, its new Health secretary: ‘I don’t want you to have any new stationery until the old stuff has been used up…For months afterwards, letters went out with ‘Department of Social Security’ carefully crossed out by Department of Health staff. I would expect the same approach to be taken today.”
Hmm the DHSS was broken up in the late 1980s when desktop computers would have been rare and correspondence was produced in typing pools (or by a secretary if you were very lucky) so there would have been far more pre-printed headed paper than there would be nowadays
Most headers would be stored on a pc and printed directly these days so I can imagine this iron rule will save far less than the value of his sound bite.
Then again if this is the best that Maude has to offer in the first six months of office then I shudder to think what he will be saying when he runs out of ideas!
03 November 2010
Governor Moonbeam is back...
Who'd have thought that the first line of this old classic would be topical again
02 November 2010
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