A time of worry and concern

It's a strange time make no mistake.

Secret Courts
We now have the drive to secret courts in the UK. A court where you can be tried without knowing what you are being accused of or what the evidence is against you. If this was in China we would be berating the country but here? Most people barely seem aware of what is going on.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21885811


The drive to war.
Our Government seem intent on furthering a war in which we have no interest. In this case it's in Syria (but Mali also applies). The UK has supplied training, bullet proof vests, armoured vehicles and now potentially guns too. Yet this is plainly a jihadist war; Muslin fundamentalists from around the world fighting to 'free' Syria. From what for whom are the questions that should be answered.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21763345


Freedom of the press ends.
Many newspapers did completely disgusting things by invading the privacy of people to write headlines. The Leveson enquiry has now turned into the Leveson stitch up. In a late night deal promoted by the group 'Hacked Off',   a new set of draconian press rules are to be put into place not with new laws but with Royal  Charter.

These new rules say that if you opt into the regulations any fines for press transgressions will be limited but if you don't opt in, they could bankrupt you. The trouble is no one seems to know if this applies to blogs or Facebook updates or Twitter messages or personal web sites. It's a bloody mess concocted in a hurry by people with lots of vested interest.

Again the UK has become a model for how not to do things in the free world; because we are no longer free. No more can we admonish other countries for their restrictive press laws when ours have become the most controlled of all.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21833462

Your money does not really belong to you.
I know you thought that once NI and PAYE had been deducted from your pay packet the rest of the cash (or virtual cash) was yours; but you were wrong.

As the people of Cyprus found out this week, a bank does not hold your deposit for safekeeping. No. Because of our fractional reserve banking system where money is lent and re-lent continuously there is only about 3-4% of real cash in a bank. The other 96-97% is out on loan or in bonds. You actually LOAN your money to a bank. Normally they promise to keep it safe, sometimes to pay interest on it. Now however it becomes clear that as your money was only LOANED to the bank, a Government or other organisation (ECB) can simply take what it wants, call it a tax and you lose 10% or more of your capital. Hard luck.

If they can do it in Cyprus (and Italy in 1992), they can do it anywhere. How is your pension pot looking? That may well be the next juicy morsel to be grabbed.

http://www.apfn.org/apfn/bank_loan.htm

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/21/cyprus-deposit-tax-eurogroup-chief_n_2922327.html?1363874423

It's snowing!
We are about to enter British Summertime and Easter is nearly here so of course we have.............snow drifts.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/interactive/2013/mar/11/uk-snow-your-pictures

It sure is a time of concern.

Not more snow?!

There was a very dicey moment for me in the car going up, rather than down Vagg Hill, Yeovil. I pressed the brakes and nothing happened...or rather the wheels just locked. Not a nice feeling at all as you slide towards a road junction, even at just 5 miles per hour.

I took this picture today, it's the view from Vagg Hill looking towards Yeovil.

Part of me is dissapointed...

Part of me (probably my inner child) is just a bit disappointed by the lack of snow today.

Others will explain that their business has taken a financial hit and that people are frustrated because they can't get to where they would like to be but...

Even so, I would still love to see, great big fluffy flakes of snow fall from the sky and cover everything with at that all enveloping, perfect whiteness that only new snow can bring. I know that it causes problems but aren't people just a tiny bit happier when they share their 'awful' snow stories. Perhaps it's just me finding some good in what for some will no doubt be a miserable experience. (I'm glad I'm not attempting to travel by air for example.)

Sadly for my inner child, sleety rain seems to be the best I can hope for tomorrow but Wednesday...could be more snow then.

What's happened to the water?

Confused ducks at Ninesprings, Yeovil

Icicles

There are some beautiful things to see in the most unlikely places.

Here are the icicles hanging from the edge of my shed roof in Yeovil

Do they have a death wish?

It seems that a warm car negates common sense on icy roads (God I sound like an old fogey).

It's -5 degrees C outside, roads are only slightly gritted and yet I see people driving as if it were a warm and sunny day. My guess is that many of them are young enough not to recall the last really cold winters we had in the early 80s.

My prediction for the day: lots of small traffic shunts and a large pile of insurance claims.

Use the snowy weather to make plans

More snowy weather today and a quick trip in the car (very slowly) this morning had -10 degrees C registering on the dash display.

With lots of people working from home it's a great time to be putting together your plans for 2010. You do have plans for 2010 don't you?

Snow in Yeovil

The snow has now arrived in Yeovil. A good fall of about 2 inches came down overnight although it does not feel that cold outside.


















I expect that the usual traffic chaos will ensue. The weather forecasters say there is a better than even chance of more falling through the day.

I looked out the window and saw SNOW!

It still makes me feel like an 8 year child when I look out the window in the morning and see snow.

Just for a moment everyday cares and troubles are brushed aside by the luxuriant covering of pristine white snow. I check for footprints, I want to be the first, even the only person to make a mark on this new and transient environment.

Today I had some errands to run first thing in the morning and so I drove in the snow. What was so beautiful and white was quickly turning into a grey and watery slush but since I had a camera in the car I took a couple of pictures. The driveway in the picture leads to Montacute House near Yeovil in Somerset. It is owned by the National Trust and is open to visitors during the summer. You don't often see it covered in snow though.

Snow and how it makes you feel

Here in the UK snow is something of a rarity except in the north or over high ground. But this morning snow is falling in London, buses are not running and in my home town there is light dusting of snow with more promised later today.

The adult in me is concerned; travel arrangements will have to be changed, people will struggle to get to work and economic activity will be hit.

But the kid in me is secretly delighted! Nothing looks more wonderful than a landscape draped in pristine, shining white snow. Even sounds are damped so that the world sounds different. The kid in me is waiting for the big flakes to fall so that we can build a snow man.

I know that the snow will cause all kinds of problems but just for today I'm going to celebrate that child like joy again that only a snowfall can bring.