This is an update for those of you that live in the US and may be interested in alternative gifts. Brad of ‘The Sound of a Soft Breath’ very kindly left a link to the same sort of ‘World Vision’ scheme that’s running in the US.
Thank you so much Brad
With Christmas coming very soon, I thought that I would post about this great ‘World Vision Gifts’ idea.
Instead of receiving lots of gifts that you don’t really want or need. Gifts that will probably end up in the back of a drawer or cupboard until next year, when you can pass them on to other people, so they can put them in the back of their drawer, why not suggest another option.
Tell people that, for your gift, you would like them to buy a World Vision gift that will help fight hunger and poverty.
Gifts start as low as £5. For that you can supply a life saving mosquito net. For £9 you can buy a water tap for clean running water or ten fruit trees. For £18 you can buy a goat! There are many gift ideas for a variety of costs, so there is plenty to choose from. 
It is a very simple online process. A card is sent to the recipient with a photograph and details of what has been sent, on their behalf. You haven’t just given money to a charity, you have bought something very specific and had it sent to them. It feels really good when you open the card, knowing that you have contributed to such a great cause, and the person who buys the gift also has the knowledge that their gift won’t end up in the back of a drawer!
I don’t know if they do this outside the UK but it’s certainly worth looking into, if you are interested.
Images taken from the World Vision web site.
Mo and I have been following the X Factor (UK) this year again, as there are a few brilliant singers in the ‘over twenties’. This week was Mariah Carey week, and she was present, and worked with all the singers.
There is just no understanding the way the public vote. There is a chap who, although a very nice man, is a bit like the old Tom Jones, if you know what I mean. In no way is he, or could he be, a pop singer or a recording star. He is getting a lot of sympathy votes, while good singers are getting knocked out.
We are now into the serious stuff, with the cream of the singers left to battle it out. He should now be gone, and we were fairly confident he would go yesterday. Did he? Noooo! Two really great female singers, Laura White and Ruth Lorenzo were in the sing off. That in itself was a shock, but what followed has really infuriated me!
Mariah Carey said of Laura’s rehearsal “No notes”, which apparently is the best compliment she could give, and basically means ‘Perfect’.
You need to watch this video. Listen to the remarks at the end.
This lady is world class, as the judges continually said. Then why, tell me, did they vote her off?
I’ll tell you why. Ruth Lorenzo is a good singer, but not to the standards of Laura. She is Spanish, which Simon finds sexy. She knows how to play her body while performing, and Simon Cowell makes no secret of the fact that he fancies her rotten. He says it every week! The deciding votes were with the two men. Need I say more?
They spent weeks building this poor girl up and telling her she was “special” and “a world class singer”. When it came time for them to ‘put their money where their mouth is’, as the saying goes, they totally crushed her, and voted from their trousers (Pants)!
If I sound a tad upset, it’s because I AM, and more than a tad! What would have been nicer, is for them to have gone to a split vote, which would revert back to the public vote. That would have been a more fair way to do it, and something they have done twice before. But no, crush the girl, why don’t you? It wields more power!
The decision, not surprisingly, brought a lot of booing from the audience. No consolation for Laura though.
Oh, I expect she’ll get a recording contract, but this experience will have totally knocked her confidence.
I am doing a ‘One post for all’ here, as I got several awards recently.
Thank you VANILLASEVEN
Thank you Crystal @ Smoothie Land
Thank you Shinade @ The Painted Veil
Thank you DrowseyMonkey
I got this for chatting a lot on her blog ;O)
I know you will forgive me if I don’t pass these on to individuals. It would blow my mind if I tried. So, if you are on my ‘top commenters’ list please take whichever you would like. I can do this, because all those in my top commenters list are blogs I read and love. You are all deserving of an award anyway!
Having received that stupid Penalty Charge the other day, I emailed the appropriate department, stating what idiots they were querying it. This was their reply.
*The Penalty Charge Notice was issued because the Civil Enforcement Officer was unable to read the details on your Disabled Persons Blue Badge because it was not correctly displayed in the vehicle so all the details could be seen.*
Nicely written, don’t you think?
Was the enforcement officer blind? The details are written in huge letters! Mo is always very careful to leave both parts in full view. More importantly, if this was in any way true (which it isn’t) why didn’t the ticket state ‘Failure to display Blue Badge’? Since when has ‘Not parked correctly within the markings of the bay or space’ meant I can’t see your blue badge details?
They cancelled the ticket.
I think I can safely say that this was a bit of ‘face saving’ on their part, because they knew how stupid the ticket was in the first place.
This is one time when I will not be pointing out the obvious errors in their reasoning. We will just happily accept the decision and be £50 better off.
In the words of a very old Tom Paxton song…..‘Peace, we need peace. Let it begin with me’
I am posting three different versions of this song - one on each of my blogs.
Just click the orange triangle to listen.
For more peace globes go here
Mo went out today to buy a few bits an pieces and it turned out to be an expensive few bits and pieces.
She went to park the car in the parking bay and, as usual, some of the cars were badly parked. People never give a thought for others. They park just where they want, with far too much space between the cars.
Mo drove to the end of the bay and parked. In order to give the other driver room to open his/her door she had to park over the bay markings. Now you have to realize that Mo’s car was the last in the bay and it was a dead end. This was off road parking, so nobody would need to, or in fact could, drive past.
Look what she found when she got back to the car!
We know that she was parked outside the markings, but for goodness sakes! Do you think this was really petty? Someone who wanted to notch up another penalty charge for the day?
I have written to them to see if they will cancel the ticket, but I don’t hold out too much hope.
Months went by. I don’t remember how many but eventually I was to go to court as a witness for the prosecution. I’m not just talking about any court here, this was The Old Bailey in the center of London. The main court for England and Wales, and where the more sensational cases were heard. The trials of Oscar Wilde, Dr Crippin and the Yorkshire Ripper are just a few that were heard at the Old Bailey. Our trial was somewhere between Dr Crippin and the Yorkshire Ripper!
This was the mid sixties and gun crime was very rare in the UK, which may be why it went to the Old bailey.
I was very glad that my younger sister came with me for moral support. It was very daunting to see all the black robes and white wigs!
We sat outside the courtroom waiting for it to start. A lift door opened, in the middle of the hallway. I hadn’t noticed it was a lift. We turned to look and, for the first time since I had been a guest in their home, I saw Shirley’s husband (Graham) being led out of the lift and into the courtroom. His face was ashen and he looked tense and scared.
I had been warned that the defense barrister would try to discredit me, but I had no idea how horrible it would be. He fired lots of sarcastic questions at me and tried to make me out to be a liar. I stood my ground, even though I was very nervous.
Finally day one was over, and my sister and I travelled home to Kent. It was all cut and dried. He was guilty and justice would be served.
Day two was much the same as day one, and was quite uneventful.
On the third day we sat outside the courtroom, again the lift arrived and the doors opened but now we saw a different Graham exit the lift. He was smiling, no longer pale and tense, but looking confident. His whole manner was different. We were confused. What had happened to make this difference?
Once in the courtroom, the defense barrister stood and requested that the jury be excused at this point. The judge agreed. What followed was unbelievable. We heard all the evidence, statements, admissions by Shirley. A whole host of incriminating evidence, including forensics, the gun, along with Graham’s overalls, found in their home, which has fibers from my aunts bed on them, his own incriminating comments. So much proof!
When this was all over, the Judge allowed the jury back into the courtroom. Once they were seated, he said… and this is where it really gets weird…he said “Case dismissed. Insufficient evidence” and immediately thanked and dismissed the jury! We sat stunned. Not knowing what had just happened or why.
Accepting that I was only nineteen, and uninformed about the finer points of law courts, it was understandable that I have no idea what happened or why. The unfortunate thing was, that nobody felt the need to explain to us what happened either. My sister, aunt and I travelled home in a daze. Did any of this really happen? Did several months of our lives, and three days in court really just end with a bang of a wooden hammer - Case dismissed?
They got away with everything. It could have been on a genuine technicality or, as we were informed does happen, a pay-off from higher up the criminal chain! All we knew was that my aunt had lost a great deal of money and had been through a terrifying ordeal. Graham left the court smiling, and had obviously known that he would, when he came out of the lift that morning.
I had learned two valuable lessons. Friends are not always what they appear to be, and can’t always be trusted, and justice is often not served!
I suppose, I started to grow up at 19.
**Note** I did NOT change the names, It made me feel good to use their actual names.
One more thing. I lost my diamond some years later. Actually it got thrown out in the rubbish, never having been mounted!
Photo credits: The Old Bailey - http://www.infobritain.co.uk/Old_Bailey.jpg Courtroom - http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/07/in_pictures_the_old_bailey_at_100/img/2.jpg
This is a very old family video. The Halloween party was almost 25 years ago, at our house.
It’s my dad with the bolt through his neck. Bless him, he had only recently lost mum but he still took part, even if he did look a little lost at times. He did well.
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Hope you enjoyed this little sample :O)
Christa at giggle on tagged me for this meme - List 7 weird or quirky things about yourself.
This will be a fun meme to do. It should be easy to find seven weird things about me so here goes…
1. I hate root vegetables because they taste too sweet to eat with a savoury meal, yet I love Chinese food with as much sweet & sour as I can get.
2. ??? Er…….oh, I know……. er…….wait a minute……I seem to remember saying this before somewhere.
“Mo, can you tell me something quirky about me?”
Mo: “Oh have you got that again?”
Realisation that I have already done this meme slowly creeps back. I’m thankful that I couldn’t find seven more quirky things or I would seriously worry! Finding one more was bad enough! I don’t think forgetting stuff qualifies as quirky does it?
Sorry Christa, one quirky thing will have to do.
|| EDIT ||
I have decided to post the previous meme here. It was a six quirky things meme, so it now makes seven. Now please don’t tell me off any more ;O)
2. I have sudden bursts of silly, spacky dancing for no reason, or sudden bursts of loud, operatic singing! Is that quirky enough?
3. I talk with my hands, apparently. I took note of this last night and - yes, it’s true!
4. I’ve been told that I lift my left leg up and down when playing my guitar, and that it looks - cute?
5. I never read instructions. The only exception to this is when trying to put flat pack furniture together - those instructions are always wrong anyway, and I could draw them up much better ;O)
6. I have a ‘thing’ about teeth and examine everybody’s teeth on TV. I can definitely tell who has had cosmetic dentistry, and usually ruined their teeth! Of course I verbalize my views all the time.
7. I never go to bed before 3am, unless I had no sleep the night before……then maybe 2am.
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