Saturday 25 December 2010

Hope.

May you in whatever circumstance you find yourself
find also a sense of hope in the Christmas message.
Remember also that this baby grew up to be a man
who was accused, condemned and executed
by the religious establishment of his day.
So don't excuse or flatter yourself
for throwing this baby out with the bath water
because of the religious establishment of this day.

Thursday 25 November 2010

Thank You For America.

Thank you.

Thank you for America not being the World
and the World not being America

Thank you for human leadership not being greater
than the mind of God or the conscience of man

Thank you for the Media not being the whole story

Thank you for the 99 per cent of people
who choose peace and community

Thank you for kindness everywhere and anywhere

Thank you for Family
for Grandfathers and Grandmothers for Fathers and Mothers
for Brothers and Sisters for Nephews and Nieces
for Uncles and Aunties and Cousins

Thank you that you are the Father of us all.

Wednesday 17 November 2010

Monday 15 November 2010

Birlinn: Ship of Burden.

Govan GalGael Birlinn.


Don't wait for a Ship that will never come in
Build your own Ship and become it's Captain.


A carving of a Bìrlinn from a 16th century tombstone in MacDufie's Chapel, Oronsay.

Sunday 14 November 2010

Remembrance.


The ruthless greed of the Bosses of big business

The despotic ambition of Politicians

The slaughter of the innocents for the control of the World's resources

Good family men conscripted to kill Good family men

Evil called Good Deception called Transparency Lies called Truth

The powerlessness of ordinary men and women

God will remember them.

Saturday 13 November 2010

The Millbank Mandate.


There have been violent scenes as tens of thousands of people protested against plans to treble tuition fees and cut university funding in England.

Demonstrators stormed a building in Westminster housing the Conservative Party headquarters, smashed windows and got on to the roof.

Outside, a crowd of thousands surged as placards and banners were set on fire and missiles were thrown. (from the news)

Why was there so few police positioned outside the Tory HQ?

1. Those in command of the police operation were incompetent?

2. The powers that be have now established a mandate for heavy handed tactics
in dealing with expected future protests engendered by their policies?

Thursday 11 November 2010

Saturday 6 November 2010

Maelstrom.

Dada.

When I was 20 I thought that 50
was a thousand years away
and now I'm 50 I think that 60 and 70
are tomorrow and the next day
and now I'm 50 (no matter what you say)
I know that 20 is a thousand years away

If I was 20 again
I would Get out Get out Get out
and you should do the same
Relatives are a wonderful childhood accompaniment
and in adulthood they are also good
but on a different continent

Don't become the Hobby horse
from your Father's carpentry box
ridden into the ground for the rest of your life

Don't become the wedding dress
from your Mother's pattern box
another Wedding another Bride another Mother

Don't become the chattel
of a Priest or a Mullah
When all they are teaching is
Be me Be me Be me
Grasp your God given right to
Be you Be you Be you

Break the mould
shatter it beyond repair
leave no ambiguous pieces of doubt
and Get out Get out Get out.

Sunday 31 October 2010

New Group.

I was listening to the Radio one day and the DJ said - "Here is a song by a new group called The Beatles" and he played this song.

Impassioned impatience.


Moriarty.

You are a Bastard
and I've decided to kill you
I've thought of many different ways
and from these I've chosen - Time
I'm going to kill you with time
and then you will be dead
as dead as Marlene Dietrich.

Impassioned impatience
is not my style, I'm a patient man
patient enough to kill you with time
and get off scot-free.
I can wait, I can while away the hours
sit out the days endure the years
until the last day, last hour, last second.

Until your time and my time
until the Reichenbach Falls
and there will be an end
an end to this life lived in this world
an end to all this life's reasons
for you being a Bastard
and for me killing you.

Thursday 28 October 2010

Beloved.

Beloved.

It's strange after all these years
to find myself thinking about you
It began about a month before I met you
in the Hotel lounge after the funeral

We stood in the middle of the room
making polite small talk
and the whole world receding around us

It was in your eyes
it was written all over your face
the spark the chemistry the attraction
whatever it is named
or indefinable without a name
that makes a man and a woman
want each other

It was you all along
it was you I've been drifting from
you were the one
My Dearly Beloved
and I never knew until this moment of clarity
thirty seconds watching thirty years
go down the Swanee

If I could go back
I would not walk across that bridge
I would not leave you standing there
so distraught and so alone
But I can't go back
and we can't go forward
there is nothing for us
there can be nothing between us
we met too soon and now too late
it's all perfectly fucked up

Only this mutual comprehension
of what could have been
can perhaps be counted as something
And all I'm left feeling
is that I'm walking
away from you again.

Monday 25 October 2010

Appointment.


At the Doctor's

I'm afraid you have
a very difficult to pronounce illness
complicated by the fact
it is also very difficult to spell.
Because of this all I can do
is prescribe a medication
which is equally
difficult to pronounce and spell.
This may or may not
alleviate your symptoms.
We'll see how it goes.
I appreciate your confidence in my ability
to pronounce and spell these unfamiliar words.
And for your convenience
Medical knowledge of your condition
has been abbreviated to N.I.L.
and the name of your medication
has been abbreviated to C.R.A.P.

Friday 22 October 2010

Osbourne.


Paranoid lyrics.

Finished with my woman
cause she couldn't help me with my mind
People think I'm insane
because I am frowning all the time

All day long I think of things
but nothing seems to satisfy
Think I'll lose my mind
if I don't find something to pacify

Can you help me, occupy my brain?
I need someone to show me
the things in life that I can't find
I can't see the things that make true happiness,
I must be blind

Make a joke and I will sigh
and you will laugh and I will cry
Happiness I cannot feel
and love to me is so unreal

And so as you hear these words
telling you now of my state
I tell you to enjoy life
I wish I could but it's too late.

BBC News.

Yesterday on the News.

A BBC reporter interviewed four students seated outside a bistro in Sheffield Hallam Nick Clegg's constituency. They were all asked the same question - What was their opinion of the Coalition austerity measures. The four of them in turn agreed that something had to be done to pay back the deficit and that they were in agreement with the public spending cutbacks.
I found this reassured me that these cutbacks are in fact a good thing.

Today on the News.

A BBC News story regarding Dr David Kelly has reported that someone found blood in the wood where he died. This is evidence that he did take his own life.
This report coupled with two short videos of Dr Kelly looking unhappy have convinced me that this must be the case.

So I commend the BBC for the integrity their impartial investigative journalism.

Wednesday 20 October 2010

The Maze.

The Maze.

Too many variables to be very sure
Too many Doctors to find a cure

Too many Politicians mouthin' sound bites
Too many human beings denied human rights

Too many Millionaires applauding austerity
cheering the deepening entrenchment of poverty

Too many sociologists narrowing the gap
trammel through the maze into the mouse trap

Too many Priests going through the motions
reciting liturgical unfelt devotions

Too many Poets who have never been read
lost like pearls from a broken thread

Too many blind to worth - wanting to be rich
Masters of Life in designer kitsch

Too many deaf standing on the shore
there's a hurricane coming and they can't hear the roar

Too many refugees to calculate the cost
country and home and dignity lost

Too many smug regarding their future
counting the cost of a food voucher

Too many young men eager to be brave
learning to fight while learning to shave

Too many being taught in segregation
denied an interactive rounded education

Too many claiming the authority of God
twisting youthful ideals into innocent blood

Too many children cut down while they play
Too many hearts broken like clay

Too many fragments of shattered dreams
caught in the vortex of a Mother's screams

Too many standing in numbed disbelief
surveying the altered landscape of grief

Too many stumbling attempting to regain
a foothold in unfamiliar terrain

Too many walking the desolation
of their social isolation

Too many waiting for things to get better
until it finally doesn't matter

Too many on the outside looking in
on Churches barbed by subtle sin.

Tuesday 12 October 2010

W. H.


I wrote this ages ago, this is what I remember of it.
I wrote it after reading a particularly flowery poem of Auden that had nothing to say, just an exercise in words that nobody speaks.

Bad poem on a Bad poem.

I'll never be aw dun wae Auden
I admit it's probably my fault
this image of walking through a desert
carrying a bottle of salt

I've accosted you in sobriety
I've even plied you with vino
at the last you have helped me with Shakespeare
because you make him read like the Beano

My dictionary is dog-eared
teasing out revised brocade
only to find the woven gold
serves to disguise the nothing said

Old Oxonian verbiage
with an empty page to fill
composed of so many darlings
you could not bring yourself to kill

I hold you in my work worn hands
and want to know you very much
but find I am a common man
and you don't have the common touch.

This poem by Auden has more to say.

NIGHT MAIL
by W H Auden

This is the Night Mail crossing the border,
Bringing the cheque and the postal order,
Letters for the rich, letters for the poor,
The shop at the corner and the girl next door.
Pulling up Beattock, a steady climb:
The gradient's against her, but she's on time.

Thro' sparse counties she rampages,
Her driver's eye upon the gauges.
Panting up past lonely farms
Fed by the fireman's restless arms.
Striding forward along the rails
Thro' southern uplands with northern mails.

Winding up the valley to the watershed,
Thro' the heather and the weather and the dawn overhead.
Past cotton-grass and moorland boulder
Shovelling white steam over her shoulder,
Snorting noisily as she passes
Silent miles of wind-bent grasses.

Birds turn their heads as she approaches,
Stare from the bushes at her blank-faced coaches.
Sheepdogs cannot turn her course;
They slumber on with paws across.
In the farm she passes no one wakes,
But a jug in the bedroom gently shakes.

Dawn freshens, the climb is done.
Down towards Glasgow she descends
Towards the steam tugs yelping down the glade of cranes,
Towards the fields of apparatus, the furnaces
Set on the dark plain like gigantic chessmen.
All Scotland waits for her:
In the dark glens, beside the pale-green sea lochs
Men long for news.

Letters of thanks, letters from banks,
Letters of joy from the girl and the boy,
Receipted bills and invitations
To inspect new stock or visit relations,
And applications for situations
And timid lovers' declarations
And gossip, gossip from all the nations,
News circumstantial, news financial,
Letters with holiday snaps to enlarge in,
Letters with faces scrawled in the margin,
Letters from uncles, cousins, and aunts,
Letters to Scotland from the South of France,
Letters of condolence to Highlands and Lowlands
Notes from overseas to Hebrides
Written on paper of every hue,
The pink, the violet, the white and the blue,
The chatty, the catty, the boring, adoring,
The cold and official and the heart's outpouring,
Clever, stupid, short and long,
The typed and the printed and the spelt all wrong.

Thousands are still asleep
Dreaming of terrifying monsters,
Or of friendly tea beside the band at Cranston's or Crawford's:
Asleep in working Glasgow, asleep in well-set Edinburgh,
Asleep in granite Aberdeen,
They continue their dreams,
And shall wake soon and long for letters,
And none will hear the postman's knock
Without a quickening of the heart,
For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?

Friday 8 October 2010

One Flew Over.


Bad Egg.

I don't want to hate you
it would be too easy
and if it wasn't you
it would be someone else

There is always someone
a Cuckoo of hatred
laying it's egg
in someone else's heart

Hatching and thriving
demanding and greedy
evicting nobler emotions
from their birthplace

I don't want to hate you
it would be too easy
and that is why
it's so difficult not to.

Saturday 2 October 2010

Tuesday 28 September 2010

Day Trip.




Enjoying the view
from a falling Cable Car
is an indication
of not knowing where you are.

Monday 20 September 2010

Love your enemies.

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.'But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect"
Jesus - Matthew 5.

Leviticus 18:21
'Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.

Saturday 18 September 2010

Lead kindly light.

Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home,--
Lead thou me on!
Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene,--one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that thou
Shouldst lead me on:
I loved to choose and see my path, but now
Lead thou me on!
I loved the garish days, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will: remember not past years.

So long thy power hath blessed me, sure it still
Will lead me on;
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone;
And with the morn those angel faces smile
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.

John Henry Newman.

Wednesday 15 September 2010

Sunday 12 September 2010

Edinburgh U S Consulate Protest.



Something I thought of when watching this protest on the news was that the people protesting have no idea about how to get arrested. All they are doing is confusing the police. What you have to do is try your best to live a quiet life, attend to your own business, care for your family and be a Scottish Traveller - This has always worked for me.

Friday 3 September 2010

"Precision Air Strike"

2 September 2010.

Afghan election campaign workers 'killed in air strike'

Ten election campaign workers have been killed in an air strike by Nato-led forces in Afghanistan, officials say.

The governor of the northern province of Takhar, Abduljabar Taqwa, told the BBC that two people were also wounded in the attack in the Rostaq district.

President Hamid Karzai condemned the incident, saying that "pro-democracy people should be distinguished from those who fight against democracy".

A Nato spokesman said a "precision air strike" had hit a militant's vehicle.

I find this report distressing. It seems the allied occupying forces in Afghanistan
can choose to kill anyone with impunity.
I also find Hamid Karzai's statement (if he did say this) to be chillingly inane.

Link to this news story.

Tuesday 31 August 2010

"Beep Beep"


"Beep Beep"

I hope I don't die stupidly
for no apparent reason at all
by deciding to prune a tree
or crossing the road for a ball

I hope it's not like Luney Tunes
or a Laurel and Hardy flick
falling like Wile E Coyote
or met by a falling brick

I hope I'm not a victim
of some botched act of crime
or cut down by an illness
too ignorant to bide it's time

A man should die in age
with his family around his bed
and they should weep and hug each other
when the Doctor says - "He's dead"

They should bear him up like Joseph
solemnly to his resting place
and remember him joyfully
in a new born baby's face

This doesn't always happen
it isn't always allowed
some are dragged to execution
through the midst of a baying crowd.

Ten ways to die:

1. Illness
2. Accident
3. Medical Incompetence
4. Act of Violence
5. Victim of War
6. State Judicial Execution
7. Suicide
8. Old Age Health Decline
9. Natural Disaster
10. Giving Your Life to Save Someone

Monday 30 August 2010

Harvest.


Harvest.

Autumn is here
and there is no harvest
The trees have leaves but no fruit
The wheat has ears but no grain
and if you should return
I wouldn't know
how to begin to explain

I would offer you a gift
but of all the things I own
all I have is my sin
all I have that's mine alone

Spare me - I pray
another year or two
if you will extend your hand
I will fill a harvest basket for you

I have laboured in these fields
among this bracken, broom and whin
and a lifetime to understand
all you wanted was my sin.

Friday 27 August 2010

Wednesday 25 August 2010

Debbie and Donna.


Debbie and Donna

I saw you at the bus stop
on my way back from the chip shop
You were wearing your
'Don't you want to go out with me dress'

You were going to meet your boyfriend
the one who works in the off licence
the one who left his wife and kids
And she was screaming and kicking your door
at two o'clock in the morning waking up half the street

A chance to stop and chat
mostly about last night's episode of Corry
I actually watch it so that I can chat to you about it

A dog pisses on the bus stop
"Marking it's territory" - you said
A girl is throwing two balls against a wall
making it look like an Olympic sport
"She never misses" - you said

Sitting at my coffee table
I unconsciously begin placing my chips
in little rows and shapes
in a kind of cold chip mathematical equation
I'm trying to figure out
how long it will take the Adonis from the off licence
to go back to his wife and kids
That'll be some rebound
and I fully intend to be there to catch you
to comfort and console you

The phone rings
it's Donna - I bumped into at the chippy
(We used to call her 'Marry Donna' she talked about marriage so much)
She asks me if I have the tv on
Jimmy White has levelled and it's nine frames each
"Thanks Donna" - I tell her
finding the remote under the chip paper
"I didn't know you were all that interested in snooker'
...Okay...see you in about five minutes"

She's on her way round and this place is a mess
It could do with a woman's touch and then again...so could I.

Tuesday 24 August 2010

Angel Song


Angel Song

I hear the harmony
of their wings
resonating in the air
like the breeze on my face
I can feel they are there
They are rising in harmonics
turning like a flock of birds
in the choir of their wings
I can hear these words

'The poor man's wealth
is in his heart
collected treasures set aside
a lifetime of feeling and thought
of joys to share and grief to hide

The poor man's wealth
is in his soul
fashioned by a life of care
when there is nowhere to turn
calling out to God from his despair

The poor man's wealth
is in his hope
for heaven's pasture
and a camp to pitch
in the gift of God
who spares the poor
the poverty of dying rich

The poor man's wealth
is in his faith
upon this staff his burdens lean
and walking taps along the way
finding evidence of things not seen

The poor man's wealth
is in his need
though wealth and power
their virtues flaunt
the place where the God is found
is in the sigh of abject want'

Then gradually I became aware
of breathing again
there was less pressure in the air
and the sky just looked like rain
I called out and I listened
but I knew they were gone
so I sat beneath an oak tree
and wrote down their song.

I posted this in March, but you can always sing a song again.

Monday 23 August 2010

Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning

This is a post I happened upon by Mario Vittone.
There is a 'share' icon I clicked and it appeared here - magic.

Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning

Saturday 21 August 2010

Man is good by nature ?

Third verse of - "Why should we idly waste our prime"

Robert Burns -
The Golden Age we'll then revive:
Each man will be a brother;
In harmony we all shall live,
And share the earth together;
In Virtue train'd, enlighten'd Youth
Will love each fellow-creature;
And future years shall prove the truth
That Man is good by nature:
Then let us toast with three times three
The reign of Peace and Libertie!

Solomon -
There is not a righteous man on earth
who does what is right and never sins.
Ecclesiastes 7:20.

Jesus -
"What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean."
Mark 7:20-23.

Paul the Apostle -
Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Romans 1:28-32.

I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
Paul - Romans 7:18.

It is better for ideals to die than people.
"The golden age" is a yellow brick road that can lead to an Auschwitz.

Friday 20 August 2010

Stefin Spelbug.


Very Good.

I read your poem last night
it was very good.
Apart from the incongruous cocktail of metaphors,
the tortured crunching of words in the second stanza
and the indiscernible (or non existent) structure.
Apart from this it was very good.
Did you purposely write - 'Stefin Spelbug?'
Do you have any more or is this your first attempt?

Ps - Ammonium nitrate, which I assume you mean by - 'Aminaume netraite'
would not be generally considered the only cause of holes in latex.

Thursday 19 August 2010

The Express.

The Avonbridge Express

From the Forest of indifference
walled within the briers of distress
rest turns to sleep and sleep to dream
of the Avonbridge Express

The Engineer is in his glory
amid the toil the heat the mess
his heart is in his service
for the Avonbridge Express

Families and their loved ones
emerge from an ephemeral egress
they are gathered for the boarding
of the Avonbridge Express

The Guard surveys the platform
opens his watch with finesse
then announces "All aboard"
the Avonbridge Express

A phone is ringing in the Station
an increasing urgent duress
but this is the departure
of the Avonbridge Express

The Debutante delicately poised
at an angle to impress
gazes from the window
of the Avonbridge Express

The young man on the platform
has three choices to address
aboard beneath or wave farewell
to the Avonbridge Express

Bless me Father for I have sinned
and ashamedly confess
my every thought has ever been
of the Avonbridge Express

To Avonbridge
via Findo Gask
then on to Port Na Fane
Speeds the Avonbridge Express

never to return again
never to return again
never to return again

Wednesday 18 August 2010

Forgive.


We see the light reflected
from the moon upon a pond
and reach to touch the circles
from an instinct to respond
and the grace to forgive
within the heart forgiven
reaches out beyond the stars
to touch the light of heaven.

Monday 16 August 2010

Sunday 15 August 2010

The willow trees

Omagh

A day
can seem like a lifetime
a moment like a year
hopes and dreams
contained and lost
in one exploding tear

Caught
in the freeze frame
moving in slo-mo
another imagined
retrospective scenario

When those loved
more than life
do not survive
the deepest wound
is the hurt
of being alive
To stand beneath
the willow trees
and weep aloud
lost in grief
wander Market street
among the crowd

Caught
in the freeze frame
moving in slo-mo
another imagined
retrospective scenario.

Friday 13 August 2010

Economy.

Change:

"Hierarchy"

Should read:

"Economy"

Change:

"Safeguards in hierarchical structure"

Should read:

"Fears of continued economic gloom"

Wednesday 11 August 2010

Away.

When the seagulls sing.

I didn't know
where you came from
I didn't care
where you had been
no questions
no answers
imagined to be real
interpretations of the past
permitting us to feel

You accosted my life
You deconstructed my mind
You rearranged my heart

The first noticeable change of a spring day
an unheralded rush of light and warmth
throwing open windows and doors
expelling the chill from the air

Filling the emptiness with the joy of living
breaking the silence with the sound of laughter
sharing the magical gift of unconscious forgetfulness.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

But now memories amount to one
The fact that you are gone

Your beautiful body
away from me
Your beautiful body
away from me
Your beautiful body
away from me

It was like when the seagulls sing
it didn't mean a thing
like when the seagulls sing
it didn't mean a thing
when the seagulls sing
it doesn't mean a thing.

When I wrote this poem I was living in a second floor flat in Paisley.
After the last line I was sitting looking at it and I heard this squawking sound.
I looked out of the living room window, three seagulls were flying in a circle and squawking outside the window.

Tuesday 10 August 2010

The Beach.


The Beach

We sat in the shade
and drank lemonade
and watched the sun going down
We talked until dawn
of hope and of fear
then walked to the beach
to watch the sunrise
We saw the Earth turn
on it's flight round the sun
and the glimmer of stars from space
We saw the sunrise
turn the sea into wine
and intoxicated
We played on the sand.

Andy

Rudy.


In a feeble attempt
to break the blues
I bought a new pair of shoes

Before walking out
I looked at the receipt

It said

The most beautiful dancers
have the ugliest feet

Larry Grayson.

Friday 6 August 2010

Camouflage.


Camouflage is an important word and practice in the military.

Camouflage is also an important word and practice in politics.

To begin to understand War you must first begin to understand
who or what is ruling the world, who or what is in control.

The world is ruled and controlled by the faceless and unaccountable
Executives who sit on the boards of world corporations.

The Leaders who sit in these boardrooms have no concern for people,
they have no concern for justice, they have no concern for peace,
they have no concern for democracy and no concern for the environment.

What concerns them is the control of the world's resources
for the purpose of establishing and maintaining their power and wealth.

If killing people and destroying their property is peace then they bring peace
If imposing upon a people a puppet Dictator is democracy then they bring democracy.

When soldiers are in the theatre of conflict
it is no longer about why they are there. It is about their Regiment, their friends,
it is about watching each others back, about killing or being killed.
It is about surviving and coming home to their families.

When the bodies start to come home it becomes disrespectful to ask why.
Now it becomes about service and duty and honour.
People appear on the news saying - "That's what they wanted"
And families who do not say the right things don't get to appear on the news.
The reason for this is that the corporations also control the media.

Politicians are the mediators between the boardrooms and the public.

When they retire from politics they graduate to the boardrooms.

If any Leader in the Christian church in Scotland
would like to explain to me how our Wars of the past few years
is bringing freedom, peace and democracy to the Nations of conflict
then I would be willing to listen.

Thursday 5 August 2010

Dr Robert Ritter.


Robert Ritter's explanation of how the Gypsies came to be of "inferior blood" is a startling example of science driven by ideology. The Gypsies who left India in the 10th century, Ritter argued, were pure Aryans. However, as they migrated westward and intermingled with inferior races -- e.g., in Persia, Armenia, the Slavic countries -- they lost their pure Aryan characteristics. The inferior blood gave them racial characteristics which predispose them to a set of asocial and criminal tendencies. He recommended the segregation of all gypsies and the sterilization of those who were of obviously impure strains. Ritter's research came to the attention of Himmler and, by mid-summer, 1937, he called for a careful evaluation of the research on the Rom.

In September 1939, Reinhard Heydrich organized an official conference of racial policy. The conference was held in Berlin on September 21. While the primary concern of the meeting was to plan the systematic deportation of Jews to Poland, it was also decided relocate 30,000 German Gypsies. In preparation for that deportation, the conference called for the segregation of Gypsies in special camps. While the deportation of Gypsies took a back seat to the deportation of Jews and the desired 30,000 was not immediately achieved, several thousand were deported.

At this point it is important to remember that on September 1, 1939, Hitler ordered the invasion of Poland. Under Heydrich's command, the Einsatzgruppen, or mobile killing units followed the regular Wehrmacht troops into Poland. Their assigned task was to eliminate political criminals, asocials, undesirables, communists -- anyone who posed a security threat to the Reich.

It is not known how many Gypsies were killed by the Einsatzgruppen charged with speedy extermination by shooting. For the sake of efficiency Gypsies were also shot naked, facing their pre-dug graves. According to the Nazi experts, shooting Jews was easier, they stood still, `while the Gypies cry out, howl, and move constantly, even when they are already standing on the shooting ground. Some of them even jumped into the ditch before the volley and pretended to be dead.'(Raul Hilberg, The Destruction of the European Jews. Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1961:439
According to Helen Fein, Accounting for Genocide, 1979:

In 1939, resettlement of Gypsies was put under Eichmann's jurisdiction along with that of the Jews. Gypsies were forbidden to move freely and were concentrated in encampments with Germany in 1939, later (1941) transformed into fenced ghettos, from which they would be seized for transport by the criminal police (aided by dogs) and dispatched to Auschwitz in February 1943. During May 1940, about 3,100 were sent to Jewish ghettos in the Government-General: others may have been added to Jewish transports from Berlin, Vienna, and Prague to Nisko, Poland (the sight of an aborted reservation to which Jews were deported). These measures were taken against Gypsies who had no claim to exemption because of having an Aryan spouse or having been regularly employed for five years.

On December 16 1942, Himmler ordered the deportation of all Gypsies to Auschwitz. This is the official beginning of a "Final Solution" to the Gypsy Nuisance. At Auschwitz, the Gypsies were held in Camp B IIe. This is the designation for the larger Camp at Birkenau. Many were used in Joseph Mengele's medical experimentation, others were used in the German Air Force tests on reactions to extreme freezing temperatures, thousands were sent to the gas chambers. Similar fates for Gypsies are reported at Treblinka, Chelmo and other extermination centers.

Link here.

Monday 2 August 2010

Eva Justin.





Eva Justin's dissertation was approved by the German ethnologist Richard Thurnwald. After the completion of her studies the 41 children used in the study were deported to the "Gypsy Camp" at Auschwitz on May 9, 1944. Soon after their arrival Josef Mengele arrived at Auschwitz. Link here.

Saturday 31 July 2010

Dale Farm.


Link to video and story about Dale Farm.

Careless Words.

Careless Words.

They talk about them
like they are not there
they talk about them
like they do not hear
they talk about them
with a wink and a nod
as though everyone agrees
and everyone knows what they mean
when they say "traveller"

They make grandiose statements
career ending statements
hounded out of public office statements
if they made them about any other group
any other group in the world
apart from "travellers"

They would gladly load the cattle trucks
all that's lacking is a law
all that's lacking is the paper work
the corporate abdication of personal responsibility
and the police would obey the law
and the army would obey the law
they could muster an Einsatzgruppen in a day

And if you stand perfectly still
in this slip of the lip
you can feel humanity slip
you can feel the Earth slip
toward oblivion.

What is said about and the treatment of the marginalized
is the thin end of the wedge and people need to consider this.

"But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."
Matthew 12

Robert Burns.

Man Was Made To Mourn

When chill November's surly blast
Made fields and forests bare,
One ev'ning, as I wander'd forth
Along the banks of Ayr,
I spied a man, whose aged step
Seem'd weary, worn with care;
His face was furrow'd o'er with years,
And hoary was his hair.

"Young stranger, whither wand'rest thou?"
Began the rev'rend sage;
"Does thirst of wealth thy step constrain,
Or youthful pleasure's rage?
Or haply, prest with cares and woes,
Too soon thou hast began
To wander forth, with me to mourn
The miseries of man.

"The sun that overhangs yon moors,
Out-spreading far and wide,
Where hundreds labour to support
A haughty lordling's pride; -
I've seen yon weary winter-sun
Twice forty times return;
And ev'ry time has added proofs,
That man was made to mourn.

"O man! while in thy early years,
How prodigal of time!
Mis-spending all thy precious hours-
Thy glorious, youthful prime!
Alternate follies take the sway;
Licentious passions burn;
Which tenfold force gives Nature's law.
That man was made to mourn.

"Look not alone on youthful prime,
Or manhood's active might;
Man then is useful to his kind,
Supported in his right:
But see him on the edge of life,
With cares and sorrows worn;
Then Age and Want - oh! ill-match'd pair -
Shew man was made to mourn.

"A few seem favourites of fate,
In pleasure's lap carest;
Yet, think not all the rich and great
Are likewise truly blest:
But oh! what crowds in ev'ry land,
All wretched and forlorn,
Thro' weary life this lesson learn,
That man was made to mourn.

"Many and sharp the num'rous ills
Inwoven with our frame!
More pointed still we make ourselves,
Regret, remorse, and shame!
And man, whose heav'n-erected face
The smiles of love adorn, -
Man's inhumanity to man
Makes countless thousands mourn!

"See yonder poor, o'erlabour'd wight,
So abject, mean, and vile,
Who begs a brother of the earth
To give him leave to toil;
And see his lordly fellow-worm
The poor petition spurn,
Unmindful, tho' a weeping wife
And helpless offspring mourn.

"If I'm design'd yon lordling's slave,
By Nature's law design'd,
Why was an independent wish
E'er planted in my mind?
If not, why am I subject to
His cruelty, or scorn?
Or why has man the will and pow'r
To make his fellow mourn?

"Yet, let not this too much, my son,
Disturb thy youthful breast:
This partial view of human-kind
Is surely not the last!
The poor, oppressed, honest man
Had never, sure, been born,
Had there not been some recompense
To comfort those that mourn!

"O Death! the poor man's dearest friend,
The kindest and the best!
Welcome the hour my aged limbs
Are laid with thee at rest!
The great, the wealthy fear thy blow
From pomp and pleasure torn;
But, oh! a blest relief for those
That weary-laden mourn!"

Friday 30 July 2010

The Gift.

The Gift.

Yesterday morning
I opened my blind
and looked out from a different window
I was standing in the window
of the empty flat across the street
looking back at myself
I was holding up the lid of a shoe box
with these words written on it
"New Shoes"
Someone else was in the room
they came to the window
and looking over smiled at me
he looked like Kurt Cobain

I decided to do four things
leave the blind open
put up a washing line
wash my clothes
and tidy my flat

This morning
I opened the blind
and looked out from my window
A woman was moving into the flat across the street
I went over and helped her with her things
it wasn't difficult

Sitting on the steps drinking coffee
she said to me
"I don't care what I have
as long as I have peace"

I replied

"You know you're asking a lot"

"I know" she said
"But at least I've made a beginning"

"Well you've come to right place
this is the street of new beginnings"

"Hurt" she said
"Is like an opening in the soul
it can be a matter of windows
from one window it looks like a pit
but from another window
it can look like the ground
has been dug out and prepared
prepared for the foundation
of a new beginning

To this I replied

"In my flat I have a sofa bed
I never use it in fact it's just in the way
I'd be grateful if you'd take it off my hands"

"I'll pay you for it" she replied

"Only if you pay me what I gave for it
I got it as a gift'
it's not much to look at
but it's comfortable and practical"

"Comfortable and practical'
sounds just what I need"
she said, slipping off her shoes
and then she said
"Look at my feet'
they look like two victims of trying to fit in
both carrying the marks of the past
I swear if I have to go barefoot
I'll never wear these shoes again"

"I doubt if you'll have to if you're willing to go barefoot"

She looks at me "I'm also willing to get new shoes"

"I know the very place"

"I believe you do and you can take that as a compliment
because right now that is one of the few things I do believe"

"Compliments, that is something I'm not used to"

"Well here is something for you to believe
you haven't missed much"

I looked into the face
of this world weary woman
and could see the eyes
of a hurt little girl welling up with tears
I struggled for something to say
and then realized I didn't have to say anything.

Wednesday 28 July 2010

The Abyss.

The Abyss.

This is my personal
Event Horizon
standing at the edge
looking down into the Abyss
A young Mother
holds up her child
her face an anguished plea for help
slipping back and disappearing
within a singular convergence
of myriad images

As much as I want to
I know that following her
will not help her
I stretch out my arms
and lean forward

It's a bracing Spring morning
and I'm walking a dog
the dog seems to know where it's going
we come to a house
I put my hand in my pocket
take out a key and open the door
the dog bounds along the hall
I follow it into the kitchen
A young woman is standing at the cooker
she is making breakfast
I put my hands around her waist
and kiss her on the neck

I'm sitting on a chair
in a large stark room
a man is sitting on a chair facing me
he is writing into a folder on his lap
He stares at me for an age
as though he is staring through me
then he says "Are you going to talk today?"
he then looks down and continues writing

I'm sitting propped up in bed
an old man is in a bed facing me
he is eating bread and soup
I have to look away
A woman walks up to my bed
with one hand she is carrying a chair
and in her other hand she has a book
She sits down and begins to read to me
her voice has a kindness about it
and I'm glad to listen to her
She gets to these lines
"Whose woods these are I think I know
his house is in the village though"
and I hear someone screaming
screaming and screaming
people are fussing around my bed
for a moment I think it is me.

I'm sitting on a bench in a large garden
it's much too tidy for me
everything is in order and in it's place
the grass is institutionally cropped
I like the tall grass
I like to see the tall grass in the Summer
untouched except by the earth and the sun
by the breeze and by the rain.
A man walks up to me he is leading a dog
the dog is all over me
jumping on me and licking me
I become agitated and push it away
A family spread out a blanket in front of me
and sit down to have a picnic
they ask me to join them
they give me food and a cup of tea
and then they want to play a game
they will all tell me their names
and then it will be my turn to tell them my name
As I watch them drive away
I wonder if I will ever see them again

I'm sitting on a chair looking down at my feet
I have my walking boots on they are covered in mud
I hear someone saying "Are you going to talk today"
I look up the room is full of people hundreds of people
every face is fixed on me many of them grotesque
I realize this is my one chance
jump up from the chair and leap over then
landing in a heap in an open circle in the midst of them
Sitting beside me on the floor
is the young woman and her child

I put my arms around them and say
"I have found you I have come to you"
The young woman says to me
"You have not come to me but I have come to you
to appeal to you to unburden your heart
you are not God to bear such a weight of grief
lay down your burden at His feet
and find comfort for your soul
God is not God of the dead but God of the living
God is life and all are alive to Him
Awaken to this truth
find trust in this assurance of hope"

I open my eyes
a nurse is standing at the foot of my bed
She is reading my chart
I sit up and say to her
"Could you tell the doctor I'm going to talk today"
She looks startled and hurries away

I get up and walk around the ward
some of the people look very ill
I go over to the window and look out
it's snowing.

Tuesday 27 July 2010

The Greatcoat

The Greatcoat
 There is a big blue overcoat lying on the lawn Jonathan placed it there for Jane to sit upon before he was urgently called away Jonathan did not forget his coat but Jane has forgotten it just as she has forgotten Jonathan Everyone knows he loves her even the boy I have sent to fetch his coat I wanted to tell him but how could I say "Jane is a flirt" to a parting friend Johnathan tonight You play Wars game of chance Jane tonight You will laugh and dance And everyone will notice you and every man will flirt with you and everyone will love you and every woman will hate you I alone will not notice you and you will not flirt with me not even one unguarded glance until I retire to wait for you.

Sunday 25 July 2010

Celia



in our lives in this world
not everything that happens has an order or a purpose

within the lost gaps inexplicable tragedies befall us
and we cannot even begin to ask why because there is no why

we need order we need purpose we expect it we depend upon it
when the structures fail we seek answers but there is no answer

in our lives in this world
there is a palpable forfeiture of order and of purpose

within the lost gaps there is no will there is no why there is no reason

Saturday 24 July 2010

Our Lily.

Fear of the inexplicable.



But fear of the inexplicable has not alone impoverished
the existence of the individual; the relationship between
one human being and another has also been cramped by it,
as though it had been lifted out of the riverbed of
endless possibilities and set down in a fallow spot on the
bank, to which nothing happens. For it is not inertia alone
that is responsible for human relationships repeating
themselves from case to case, indescribably monotonous and
unrenewed: it is shyness before any sort of new,unforeseeable
experience with which one does not think oneself able to cope.

But only someone who is ready for everything, who excludes
nothing, not even the most enigmatical, will live the relation
to another as something alive and will himself draw exhaustively
from his own existence. For if we think of this existence of
the individual as a larger or smaller room, it appears evident
that most people learn to know only a corner of their room, a
place by the window, a strip of floor on which they walk up and
down. Thus they have a certain security. And yet that dangerous
insecurity is so much more human which drives the prisoners in
Poe's stories to feel out the shapes of their horrible dungeons
and not be strangers to the unspeakable terror of their abode.

We, however, are not prisoners. No traps or snares are set about
us, and there is nothing which should intimidate or worry us.
We are set down in life as in the element to which we best
correspond, and over and above this we have through thousands of
years of accommodation become so like this life, that when we
hold still we are, through a happy mimicry,scarcely to be
distinguished from all that surrounds us. We have no reason to
mistrust our world, for it is not against us. Has it terrors,
they are our terrors; has it abysses, those abuses belong to us;
are dangers at hand, we must try to love them. And if only we
arrange our life according to that principle which counsels us
that we must always hold to the difficult, then that which now
still seems to us the most alien will become what we most trust
and find most faithful. How should we be able to forget those
ancient myths about dragons that at the last moment turn into
princesses; perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses
who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave. Perhaps
everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless
that wants help from us.

Rainer Maria Rilke.

After Glastonbury.

Friday 23 July 2010

Christian Convention Last Day.

community leaders’ praise for religious convention
Travellers’ gathering seen as a success

By calum ross

Published: 23/07/2010 Press and Journal.

A religious convention for travelling people in Aberdeen has been hailed a success by community leaders and the event’s organisers.

About 150 travellers are expected to start leaving Calder Park today as a week-long Christian gathering comes to an end.

Grampian Police, which has had a mobile unit stationed at the site since the weekend, said no incidents had been reported by last night.

Nigg Community Council chairman Alan Strachan had been outraged when details of the event emerged last week, but said yesterday he was “delighted” with the way it had been managed.

The convention was organised by the evangelical Light and Life Missions church.

Asked if there had been any problems, senior pastor Jackie Boyd said: “A bit with the weather but that’s about it, and that is our boss’s fault.

“It has been a really, really good time.

“I didn’t know there had been a bad relationship up here but what can be better than people seeing that not everyone is going to steal your daughters and children.

“The locals have been very good. If you invite them down and people are open enough to come to our meetings then you will see you can’t judge everyone.”

Mr Boyd did not rule out a return to the city, but said they would not be back next year.

“We don’t have them in the same place every year. We try to move them around,” he said.

Aberdeen City Council heard that an unofficial gathering was being planned for Nigg Bay earlier this month and asked its organisers to move the event to Calder Park.

Local authority environmental health officers have visited the site this week and found no problems.

Mr Strachan praised the handling of the event.

“As far as I am led to believe there have been no problems whatsoever,” he said.

Incandescent.

A DECISION to allow up to 1,000 travelling people and gypsies to gather on the outskirts of one of Scotland's major cities for a religious convention has sparked a furious outcry.

Travellers from all over Scotland are expected to arrive in Aberdeen this weekend for the start of a five-day "outreach mission" being organised by Light and Life, the "gypsy church".

The organisers have been granted permission to camp at the council-owned Calder Park on the southern outskirts of the city.

But the decision by Sue Bruce, the council's chief executive, to give the convention the go-ahead without consulting councillors and the local community was condemned yesterday.

Labour councillor Neil Cooney, one of three councillors for the Kincorth and Loirston ward, said: "To say I am angry is an understatement. I am incandescent. I was never consulted and nor were the local community. The first they knew this was happening was when they were told on Tuesday night by the local police liaison officer.

"They were told it was the only way to control the situation, otherwise there would be encampments all around the city."

The North-east of Scotland has already been at the centre of a series of disputes involving illegal traveller encampments in recent weeks which have affected local residents in Stonehaven and at Loirston Loch, Queen's Links and Dyce in Aberdeen.

"Something of this importance should have gone to a council committee," said councillor Cooney. "Even if you want to run a gala day you have to go through a massive paper trail to get the go-ahead."

Alan Strachan, the chairman of Nigg Community Council, said: "We are disgusted and appalled that this is taking place. I had no idea about this at all until the police liaison officer arrived on my doorstep to tell me. I was told there could be as many as 1,000 travellers."

A spokesman for the city council confirmed that the decision had been taken by the chief executive.

He said: "The decision was taken by her because this unfolded really quickly and we had to act.""

The spokesman added: "The figure of 1,000 people attending the convention is the very top-end estimate. It is more likely to be few hundred."

Shane Lee, a minister with the Light and Life church, told The Scotsman: "It is only a small mission. We have organised toilets and arranged for all the litter to be picked up daily and for the field to be left in the condition that we find it."

He added: "We are trying to preach the gospel to everybody. In our churches we have gypsy people and non-gypsy people. We are trying to preach the gospel and get the people saved.

"We are hoping for successful event and a successful event for us is if people get saved and get delivered from drink or drugs or whatever the case may be.
We want the people to understand that there is a better way."

The Light and Life Gypsy Church tours Britain preaching the Gospel to Gypsies and travellers.

The church was born out of a post-war Gospel revival in Europe and came to prominence in the UK in the 1980s.

There is a network of around 30 churches throughout Britain including three in Scotland located in Montrose, Edinburgh and Cauldercrux in Airdrie.

Worshippers claim the established churches in the UK have yet to attract the Traveller community partly because of the deprecation of their culture coupled with a lack of outreach concern.

Frank Urquart.
Scotsman.com.

Sunday 18 July 2010

Hope.


I have more hope in my heart than there is water in Loch Ness.

Loch Ness contains more water than all of the lakes and rivers in England and Wales combined. It also has a greater volume of water than any other Scottish Loch.

Christian Convention Aberdeen.



Published: 16/07/2010.

A senior Aberdeen councillor has defended the local authority’s handling of plans for a major gathering of travelling people which has provoked anger across the city.

Up to 1,000 travellers are expected to arrive at the city’s Calder Park for a five-day religious convention to be held next week.

It is believed to have been organised by the Montrose and Mastrick branches of a travellers’ church called the Life and Light Missions.

Former council leader Kate Dean, who represents the area and lives nearby, was one of the few elected members to be told about the event before the details emerged on Wednesday.

She said that the organisers of the Christian gathering did not ask for the council’s permission, but officials had decided to take control and manage the event after being informed late last week.

“From what I understand the organisers hadn’t contacted the council, the council has had to take the initiative,” she said.

“If you find something like this happening and have the chance to manage it, then that is better.”

An unauthorised event was originally planned for Nigg Bay but council officials asked for it to be moved to Calder Park.

Mrs Dean found out by chance last Friday after she phoned the council’s traveller liaison officer to alert her to an illegal encampment in Nigg.

She was told it was a “suggestion” that would be taken to the authority’s chief executive, Sue Bruce.

“I said that, given the circumstances, I would not raise an objection,” the Kincorth and Loirston councillor said.

“To me it seemed better to have them in one place where they could be policed"

“I understand the various groups of travellers in the city are going to gather there.

“I do understand the community’s concerns but we have had various undertakings from the council and police.”

Mrs Bruce has written to councillors to “apologise” for not informing them about the gathering before it was revealed exclusively in yesterday’s Press and Journal, and to clarify the chain of events.

Meanwhile, the Church of Scotland minister in Mastrick has distanced herself from the event, after an advertisement flyer said it was being held “on behalf of Mastrick Church”.

The Rev Lesley Risby said: “When you see ‘Mastrick Church’ on a flyer the assumption is that it’s Mastrick Parish Church of Scotland.

“Nobody from Life and Light Missions contacted the minister of Mastrick Parish Church about the event.

“It has never had, nor will it ever have, anything to do with Mastrick Parish Church. We do not support this event.”

Life and Light Missions is believed to have a base in Cairnwell Place, Mastrick, but the group could not be contacted yesterday.

Travellers have already started arriving at Calder Park in advance of next week’s event.

About 10 caravans were at the site last night, with dozens more expected to arrive over the next three days.

Published: 17/07/2010.

Pastor pledges travellers’ religious gathering will be trouble-free
church elder ‘shocked and surprised’ by furore plans have caused

GROWING CROWD: Travellers arrive at Calder Park for the Light and Life Missions convention.

A pastor organising a religious convention for hundreds of travelling people in Aberdeen pledged last night that it would be trouble-free.

Jackie Boyd, an elder from the Light and Life Missions church, said the group was only coming to the north-east to preach the gospel.

He said he had been “shocked and surprised” by the furore plans for the five-day event have caused – and he only expected about 150 people to arrive at the city’s Calder Park.

Police initially told community leaders in Nigg that up to 1,000 people were due to congregate at the park, prompting an angry response throughout the south of the city.

Aberdeen City Council said last night it now expected between 50-70 caravans to arrive over the weekend for the Christian gathering.

Mr Boyd said: “We haven’t come for trouble – we’ve come to preach the gospel.

“The marquee we have sits 150 people. Some come in caravans on their own, some come with two or three.

“We work in 47 countries around the world – we do not expect trouble. If there has been trouble with other groups then that’s nothing to do with us. I am shocked and surprised to see such furore about people coming to preach the gospel.”

He added that the church had its own security and that it had been hosting similar events for 50 years.

Local residents have also been invited to attend the daily gospel meetings, after Mr Boyd said the event was not just for travellers.

Nigg Community Council chairman Alan Strachan was outraged when he was told about the event earlier this week.

He said last night: “A thousand travellers were expected for the week, that’s what I was told.

“Even if it was 100 caravans that is less than half that amount.

“We will just have to play it by ear. It is very unclear how many people are coming.”

A mobile police unit is to be stationed at Calder Park next week, while officers from the local authority’s environmental health team will also attend, although Light and Life Missions has promised to clean up the site after the event.

It has been scheduled to run from Monday to Friday.

A council spokesman said: “The current situation is that there are eight caravans at Calder Park. We are expecting a further 17 by tomorrow morning. The latest estimate is that we are expecting between 50 and 70 caravans in total, however that could change.”

By Calum Ross.

One of the comments on this Press and Journal story:

Let us all good citizens dump our asbestos, PCB's and garden waste at Calder Park.
Then blame the travellers for the mess
Fiona Cooper.

This is one of many vitriolic comments.
If the word Traveller was replaced with the word Pakistani
then there would be no such comments alowed in the Press and Journal
and any information regarding those who made them would be
handed over to the Police.

A positive comment:

No Dorothy, I think the residents of Aberdeen are missing the point here!!! These are not travellers who are working in the area, or here to cause any harm or disruption to Aberdeen. This is an organised event to which they have been given permission to hold their religious convention. I have worked for Acc for may years and I can assure you that I know what I am speaking about. We are not speaking of unauthorised encampents, this is an organised event. I just wonder if the residents of Cove would be holding such a fuss if it was anything else than a Traveller event. On that note this event is open to all, it is not purely for travellers so please feel free to come along, and may I also stress that I am also a resident of Cove, in fact I live practicaly across the road and as a resident I have no problem with this event taking place. I have more of a problem with the youths that are walking the street of Cove at present causing trouble!!!!!
Amanda Farquhar.

Saturday 17 July 2010

Friday 16 July 2010

Fonda.

When Jane Fonda wanted to change the World.



Now Jane Fonda wants to change the aging process.


She is consistent, with both campaigns being ineffective.

Thursday 15 July 2010

Happiness.


Happiness Is The Good Management Of Our Unhappiness.

Tuesday 13 July 2010

Huge wind farm parts shipped from Fife.


Huge steel foundations each weighing as much as 80 elephants are being shipped from Fife to an offshore wind farm.

Energy company, Vattenfall, is ready to take delivery of the first four of 31 steel foundations for its 150 megawatt Ormonde Offshore Wind Farm.

The structures will be as high as two giraffes and each turbine blade weighing a wildebeest.
A spokesman for Vattenfall said today "This is our biggest undertaking to date our last structure was highland cow weight."

Read more on this Hippo+ of a story - here

Saturday 10 July 2010

Super Market


Famine.

A man in Ethiopia
picks up a piece of thrown bread
eats it and lives
to till again the tortured soil
in the forlorn hope
of a bland subsistence

A man in Scotland
who could pick up his phone
and have a van load
of delicacies
delivered to his door
Picks up a rope
and hangs himself

It isn't easy to understand
why a man in great need
clings to life
and a man with no apparent need
takes his life
It is said
"A man cannot live on bread alone"
and it would be reasonable to suppose
he considered the supermarket to have nothing
to comfort the torment
of his hungry soul.

Note for Sue.


Note for Sue

Your family sized tin of tomato soup
I ate it along with some bread
(you need more bread)
I shared it with Jo
we were hungry after making love.
Sorry, to have to break it to you like this
but as we once agreed in a conversation
about ex boyfriends/girlfriends
there is no easy way.
I found some money
in a tin behind the tomato soup tin
"Craig's Birthday" was written on a sticker
as it's near my birthday I took it
let me know if you want it back
I should have some money next week.
We're going out to the pub
the one with the karaoke (Jo's idea)
you know how she morphs into a karaoke Diva
after a couple of drinks.
I left your keys with Bill at 2/3
he was the only person in
you know Bill
the one you say Lear's at you
and gives you the creeps.
I'm moving in with Jo
I'll get my stuff tomorrow
could you leave the keys with someone
if you don't want to be in.
This one set of keys is a pain
if I find the set I lost
I'll send them back to you.

Chin up Babe

Luv Craig.

Friday 9 July 2010

Teatime Dilemma.


Teatime Dilemma

"Mummy" Now that Graham's dead
can I get his bed
can I get his room
I'll open a window
to get rid of the stink
of his girlfriend's cheap perfume

Can I get his clothes
not everything
just the things I like
and his mountain bike

Can I get his college fund
that integral part of your great design
can it be mine

Can I get the car
you were going to buy him
when he graduated
can my life be celebrated

"Mummy" What are you doing
get away from the phone Leave it alone
"Daddy" Is that you
There's been a terrible accident
Graham's dead
I think Mummy is too
and there's nothing made for tea
on the way home could you stop and get
a take-away for me.

Saturday 3 July 2010

Chameleon.


Chameleon of virtue.

The chameleon of virtue
studies nature
with the natural eye
in unnatural light
defining matter
by an illusive
immaterial association
imputing credibility
to the incredulous
and approval
to the applied morality
of immaculate self deception
in blatant derision
of innate truth.

Reflected on a shop window


Window Shopping.

They glare at me
their faces a cauldron
of seething belligerence
I always seem to bring out the worst
I'm an expose' to their lack of grace

They notice I see them
instantly all smiles
stopping to chat

My response is tempered by grace

I see many things
the man with the camcorder comes to mind
"This camera" He explained
"Is focused on the human heart
from the inside to the outside
motive and intention
reason and emotion
thought and feeling"

It didn't dawn on me at the time
but in retrospect
I believe that man was an Angel.

Friday 2 July 2010

Corridors.


This is not our life
or our time
this is an illusion of reality
composed of moments
when you still haunt me

You open a door
into a corridor within my mind
leading to another door
and into another life
a life lived in another time
mirrored in the memory
of what is to come

Time itself is an illusion
time is not outside us
time is within us
returning all things made
to the origin of substance

The body returns to dust
and the soul returns to God
we leave upon the Earth
the immortal human seed
and leap into timelessness

Where the past and the future
are remembered together
and the present invades all time

Where the light
floods the dungeons of hell
and the roar reverberates
bouncing off worlds

It is there that all are found Alive

Another door opens
and you are there
the love that never was
and always is
the passion that never lived
and cannot die
captured in the amber of youth

Tainted, by being virtuous
Prodigal, by being dutiful
Lost, by being found at home.

Monday 28 June 2010

Saturday 26 June 2010

Insalutary Tale.


From John Snow's blog:

As we sweat ourselves through what is promised to be the most painful UK budget in thirty years, there is an insalutary tale from far afield.

Ken Talbot and the entire Board of the Australian Sundance Resources company has been wiped out in an air crash in the Congo. Their plane, piloted by French and British pilots was flying from Cameroon into the Congo to visit a mine.

Ken Talbot was worth a billion Australian dollars. In flying in the same plane he and his board broke corporate protocol.

Talbot had also been mired in a corruption scandal, and was due to appear in court in August. He was the CEO of Macarthur Coal, but had stood down after being charged with bribery in his home state of Queensland. He had pleaded not guilty to all alleged charges.

At one level it is of course the most terrible tragedy. But on another it may say something about finance, politics, wealth and the frailty of human life.

Talbot faced some thirty five charges of paying ‘commissions’ to the disgraced Australian Labour MP Gordon Nuttal, jailed last year in Queenland for corruption. Named in his trial was one Ken Talbot.

Mr Talbot now only has to make his reckoning with the grim reaper, the charges against him are wiped from the slate.

But how fickle life is. By all accounts Talbot had everything. But there it is, it’s all over. He leaves an awful lot of money, a lot grief, a company with no Board, and criminal charges the outcome of which we shall never know.

Why do I blog about it?

Because on Budget day it tells us something about our transitory lives. Perhaps too that money isn’t everything – whatever the Chancellor may do about it – and that we are all well advised to play it straight.

Oh, and if we care about those we leave behind, we shouldn’t all be found aboard the same plane when flying in inhospitable conditions on a twin turboprop a long way from home.

John Snow.

Luke 12.

Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

And he told them this story: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'

"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '

"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'

"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."

Friday 25 June 2010

Appleby Fair Question Time.

Appleby Fair Question Time from Travellers Times on Vimeo.


The Appleby Horse Fair is a horse fair which is held annually at Appleby-in-Westmorland, Cumbria (until 1974 Westmorland) in England.
It is held every year in early June and has taken place since the reign of James II, who granted a Royal charter in 1685 allowing a horse fair "near to the River Eden". Since then, around ten thousand Gypsies and Travellers have converged each year to buy and sell horses, meet with friends and relations, and celebrate their music, history and folklore.
Another thirty thousand people visit the fair during the week.
The fair is one of the oldest horse fairs in Britain. The fair is held outside the town on what was formerly called Gallows Hill (named after the public hangings that were carried out there), which is now known as Fair Hill.
The fair customarily starts on the first Thursday in June, unless that is on the 1st in which case it starts on the 8th. (From Wikipedia.)

Thursday 24 June 2010

Letter of the Law.


Letter To A Young friend.

I Lang hae thought, my youthfu' friend,
A something to have sent you,
Tho' it should serve nae ither end
Than just a kind memento:
But how the subject-theme may gang,
Let time and chance determine;
Perhaps it may turn out a sang:
Perhaps turn out a sermon.

Ye'll try the world soon, my lad;
And, Andrew dear, believe me,
Ye'll find mankind an unco squad,
And muckle they may grieve ye:
For care and trouble set your thought,
Ev'n when your end's attained;
And a' your views may come to nought,
Where ev'ry nerve is strained.

I'll no say, men are villains a';
The real, harden'd wicked,
Wha hae nae check but human law,
Are to a few restricked;
But, Och! mankind are unco weak,
An' little to be trusted;
If self the wavering balance shake,
It's rarely right adjusted!

Yet they wha fa' in fortune's strife,
Their fate we shouldna censure;
For still, th' important end of life
They equally may answer;
A man may hae an honest heart,
Tho' poortith hourly stare him;
A man may tak a neibor's part,
Yet hae nae cash to spare him.

Aye free, aff-han', your story tell,
When wi' a bosom crony;
But still keep something to yoursel',
Ye scarcely tell to ony:
Conceal yoursel' as weel's ye can
Frae critical dissection;
But keek thro' ev'ry other man,
Wi' sharpen'd, sly inspection.

The sacred lowe o' weel-plac'd love,
Luxuriantly indulge it;
But never tempt th' illicit rove,
Tho' naething should divulge it:
I waive the quantum o' the sin,
The hazard of concealing;
But, Och! it hardens a' within,
And petrifies the feeling!

To catch dame Fortune's golden smile,
Assiduous wait upon her;
And gather gear by ev'ry wile
That's justified by honour;
Not for to hide it in a hedge,
Nor for a train attendant;
But for the glorious privilege
Of being independent.

The fear o' hell's a hangman's whip,
To haud the wretch in order;
But where ye feel your honour grip,
Let that aye be your border;
Its slightest touches, instant pause-
Debar a' side-pretences;
And resolutely keep its laws,
Uncaring consequences.

The great Creator to revere,
Must sure become the creature;
But still the preaching cant forbear,
And ev'n the rigid feature:
Yet ne'er with wits profane to range,
Be complaisance extended;
An atheist-laugh's a poor exchange
For Deity offended!

When ranting round in pleasure's ring,
Religion may be blinded;
Or if she gie a random sting,
It may be little minded;
But when on life we're tempest driv'n-
A conscience but a canker-
A correspondence fix'd wi' Heav'n,
Is sure a noble anchor!

Adieu, dear, amiable youth!
Your heart can ne'er be wanting!
May prudence, fortitude, and truth,
Erect your brow undaunting!
In ploughman phrase, "God send you speed,"
Still daily to grow wiser;
And may ye better reck the rede,
Then ever did th' adviser!

Robert Burns.