Moonraking

Slaithwaite Yorkshire 2005
Originally uploaded by Georgei Mabee.

Despite being busy recently one of the things I have been doing that has been a pleasure is reading about the village where I'm getting married. The idea being that because I have friends and relatives coming up from the south I wanted to gather some information about what happens and what there is to do in the area.

In doing so I have come across some 'interesting' festivals that take place either in Marsden or the Colne Valley. Possibly the most,...erm...shall we say 'interesting', is Moonraking. Before going of to find out about it I had heard of it but knew nothing of it. Talking to friends in the pub it was explained to me in one particular way, reading about it later showed in in another light. Both versions say a lot about the power of local rivals.

What you need to know is that Slaithwaite (I think pronounced Slou'wit) is a typical industrial Pennine valley village with the Huddersfield Narrow canal running through it. The story I was first told was that in the 19th century late at night someone walking along the banks of the canal came across a man slightly under the influence of a few beers using a garden rake on the canal. When asked what he was doing he said that the moon had fallen in the water and he was trying to use the rake to get it out. To an outsider this was simply further proof of the lack of any intelligent life in the Slaithwaite.

After doing some looking around on the web I discovered arkingback.org. This explains the story slightly differently. In this version of the story the man doing the raking was a smuggler who confronted by the local militia had the enough wits to act witless.

Which is the true story? I haven't a clue.

Two Men and Wheelchair

Two Men and Wheelchair
Originally uploaded by SmithersJones.

I posted this photo back in November last year and for some strange reason it has bought a lot of people to my blog from around the world. For example, it often gets picked up in google image searches. But its recently been spotted by Glenn from Whitby (close by where the photo was taken) who blogs about every thing fishing realted in that part of the world.

I know nothing about fishing, prefer to go under the water if possible, but he likes my photo so thats as good a reason as any to add a link to him.

Whitby Sea Anglers

Way Too Busy

I have been too busy to post here of late.

So far we have finally sent out our first wave of wedding invites, yes we know its early but we wanted to make sure that people were aware of the date as it clashes with a bank holiday and half term.

We also became aware that the hotel was not going to have the additional 10 rooms we were hoping to have by the time of the wedding. Combined with the fact that we dicovered that many of the B&B's in the village were all closing. Seemed that they all decided to retire at the same time. This resulted in a stressful run around making sure that we had rooms for those who needed to be in the hotel rather than near by. It also meant diplomatically talking to some relatives inorder to manage expectations. We wanted to be able to squezze some friends into the hotel. We are still going to disappoint some as it is.

Fearing that accommodation might be scarce during the wedding there was also some terse conversations with immediate family to get them to make some decisions. As I stated during one converstation there will only be 2 prima donnas allowed at the wedding and thats J and I. I did afterwards realise that I was pushing a little too hard and will need to make it up to them later.

I also finished the web site for the wedding as well. So thats now up and running in time for the invites going out. We also had a chance to scout out accommodation in the area so at least we were able to put some information about what is going to be around. Doing this we did discover enough good quality accommodation in the area so we should be able to meet most peoples needs.

While doing this we have had torential rain sweep recently. As a result the roof in the back of the house leaked which also went into the boiler. Meaning that we are currently with out hot water until we can get it fixed.

Oh and my MP responded to my mail. Well to be honest he didn't as I found out he is on holiday in Miami. More of that later.

Oh and my diving trip this weekend didn't happen becuase someone wasn't able to communicate. So phoeeeeeeeeey, thats all I have to say.

Call me cynical

But while there may be some truth in this plot (it is still an alledged plot despite the fact that the media and police are reporting it if we have had the investigation and trial already, or have we done away with due process, evidence and trials? Is this the freedoms we will apparently need to sacrifice according to John Reid only last night, hmmm) the timming seems judicous.

Governments on both sides of the Atlantic seem to have jumped on this like a drowning man coming close to a life belt.

All the news about Iraq, Lieberman's defeat, Lebanon seems to have been replaced with news on how we are all going to die. And all the armchair anti terrorist police have popped up saying well they knew this was a problem all along.

As I say i'm not saying that there is no plot, I'm damn sure there are people out there who want to kill me. I'm just saying something smells very very very funny.

Oh and to answer John Reid's questions about am I willing to give up any freedoms, NO. If i did then some one else other than me has won. Why would I give up what I want to defend?

One Way Discussion With My MP

Barry Sheerman is the MP for Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, and my local MP. I've never written to an MP before now. As I was rather annoyed that my government wasn't calling for a ceasefire in Lebanon I thought I would finally do something about it. Yeah the revolution starts with an email - that'll scare em.

So on the 22/7/2006 I sent the following email:

Dear Sir, as one of your constituents I would like to know if you agree with the government and believe a cease fire would do no good for the people of of South Lebanon?

On the 24/7/2006 I recieved the following reply:

Please provide your full postal address to enable Mr Sheerman to reply
to your email.

Kind regards,

Parliamentary Researcher to Barry Sheerman MP

--

Ok, so on the 22/7/2006 I sent the following:

--, on the whole i'm usually quite happy to comply, however, before I do
could you please explain why you need my postal address before my
consituency MP is willing to respond to a simple question?

To which I recived the following response on the 27/7/2006

Parliamentary protocol means that MPs can only follow up the concerns of
their own constituents. We therefore require your full postal address
so that we can establish whether you are a constituent.

Kind regards,

Alright, I'll accept that so I respond with my address on the 28/7/2006

[address, yeah like i'm going to put that on the web]

So by now I'm eagerly awaiting my response.

Still waiting, and waiting..............and waiting.

Got fed up and sent the following mail on the 2/8/2006

I'm very disappointed not to have received a response after providing you with my address. Given the passage of time could you please arrange for an answer to a slightly different question. Does Barry Sherman support the Prime Ministers stance on the Israeli/Lebanese war. Does he believe that Tony Blair is/was correct not to call for an immediate ceasefire?

I would appreciate it if you could arrange to have my questions answered promptly.

Thank You.

Guess what? I'm still waiting to hear from Mr Barry Sherman.

Sky, George.......no contest

Don't usually like George. Like Micheal Moore he is often feckless in his allegencies and reckless with some of his statements. The kind of bloke who your never sure if you want him on your side in an argument. But when he is on fire he will rip a hole in an interviewer the size of Wales.

In this clip he does what we should all do. He doesnt just questions the assumptions of the news we are given he rips them apart, and then stamps on them for good measure.



Just a pity he is such a prat much of the rest of the time

My First Crop Circle (and probable last)

The Uffington Crop Circle
Original Image from Cropcircleconnector.com.

Crop circles have been popping up all over now for a couple of years. For many in the alternative, tree hugging, crystal chewing community they have been a sign of the mystical power of the earth. What utter bollocks. They are testament to the power of cider and the lack of proper entertainment in English rural pubs.

Any way camping this weekend I encountered my first crop circle. While traipsing around the Iron Age site of White Horse Hill and Uffington Castle we also went off in search of the above crop circle. It was a choice between a) go looking for a pub or b) go looking for a crop circle, I lost.

Now there are several things to consider about crop circles. First they look large and spectacular from the air or in photos. When you're stood in one though you realise that they are quite small and desperately underwhelming. More importantly it just looks like a field of crushed corn (wheat, barley, oats or whatever you want I'm using corn in its generic sense). Second, from a distance and with out any reasonable explanation of how they were created they are a bit of a mystery. However, since as Wikipedia states on the subject,

In 1991, more than a decade after the phenomena began, two men, Doug Bower and Dave Chorley, revealed that they had been making crop circles in England since 1978 using planks, rope, hats and wire as their only tools.

Its not really a mystery any more is it. So when you see some hippy dippy types communing with the spiritual other while sat in a crop circle you have to think, "what a plonker." It just shows that these people are deluding themselves through choice and really should be placed on some kind of mental health register. The field was full of them. Again if any one mention giant flying spaghetti monsters or any other spiritual being I will get really really really angry.

Any since my visit to the crop circle I can report that despite my negativity I have had no karmic comeback. The fact that my camera has stopped working is nothing to do with it and the fact that my car was broken into is shear coincidence. Better go find my crystal and realign my chakras just in case.

Happy Yorkshire Day

Happy Yorkshire Day.......yup I have no idea what its all about either.

But i guess as i'm marrying a Yorkshire lass i'd better join in. Ey, by eck lad, and all that.