Saturday, 27 June 2015

SOPPY SUNDAY

38 comments:

  1. I know this is meant to be a relaxing, destressing post, but I can't help but point out that red foxes were imported because the native grey fox had been hunted to extinction, and somebody wanted foxes to hunt.

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    1. Well, in Scotland at least, the remaining foxes are safe, becasue we banned the barbarous sport of killing them to amuse the well off but morally bankrupt. Not perhaps in England where the ruling classes still rule and the prime minister is a morally bankrupt rich boy.

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  2. Illy, this is a Scottish blog...

    There is a kind of reverse importation though; the North American Grey Squirrel has almost usurped the Red.

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    1. True Conan. There are some pockets particularly around Dundee, where the red survives. Backmuir Woods at Muirhead has a rare collection of the wee fellas. We leave monkey nuts from time to time, and they are gone in no time.

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    2. Last time I was there, Dunfermline Glen had some reds as well.

      That was a good few years ago though, so I'm not sure if they're still there.

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    3. We certainly have reds in Calais Muir Wood, because I have seen them. I do not know how long they will be there as I lived less than a mile away and had a visiting grey to my bird table. I have not seen any sight of them in the Glen but have a dog who completely ignores them, not much for vermin even in ermine is my dog.

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    4. There are little pockets and there are signs up all over saying... If you see a grey squirrel, note it and its location and let the authorities know. It means them coming out and shooting the wee fellows, but it's the only way the reds will survive.

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    5. http://scottishsquirrels.org.uk/squirrel-sightings/

      ISTR some red's at Hunters Quay Holiday villiage last time I passed through there.

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    6. Useful information, Gerry. Interesting to see the map of sightings.

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    7. Too late it must be a few years since I saw the red, had to stop taking the wee fellow into the woods, too many people exercising unleashed Staffies, with an apology to Taz (nine to Niko). As I have had to say to many a Staffy owner, it isn't really yours more mine, he is a bit of a battler and he stands not a bit of a chance should the Staffy take umbrage.

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  3. Oh god now they are moaning about Scotland's wildlife
    being driven out by English....Wildlife
    I just dont believe it

    spose Nicola will wave her magic wand and bring them all back

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    1. The north American grey squirrel isn't English it is in fact north American I suppose it's an easy mistake to make though it's not as if it's name tells you where it's from. But good try at being a swivel eyed loon this early in the morning.

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    2. Well, that'll you telt, Niko.

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    3. anon

      Thanks for your kind words will try
      harder next time..have a nice day

      tris
      yeah but it was an Englishman/lord which brought them to
      Scotland...........So it say in the snps big book of grievances

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    4. Well, I didn't know that Niko... Some more education for me.

      I'm not in the least worried about the guy being English... Some of my best mates are.

      None of them, however, are Lords, thank goodness!

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  4. I love orang utans - my favourite animals so good to see a picture. If you can find any baby ones for next week, that would be grand. The lion is like daddy day care and the fox is lovely. Apparently there are foxes (and mice) in Parliament. Maybe that's why they want to end the ban - so they can have a workplace gym :-(

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    1. panda

      you love conan then he he he

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    2. oh Conan, unfortunately you are not actually orange and thus are not a real orang utan!

      anyway here is a baby one from youtube

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVoChbgcJL8

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    3. I'm more like a silverback gorilla...

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    4. He's a wee cutie... No, not you Conan!

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  5. I'll certainly keep my eyes open for babies for next week, PP.

    I'm not surprised to hear about mice in parliament. Every building has mice. My garden shed has a colony, due to the fact, I suppose, that I feed them and put down dishes of water, so that they don't have to go out and risk being killed by the cats. They are incredibly cute little things and if you open the door and they are around, they look up at you with inquisitive faces. I think they have worked out by now that I'm not a danger.

    I'm surprised about the foxes in parliament though. Still I suppose the quality of food there is very high adn I don't suppose the foxes know that their almost human cohabitees are likely to vote for them to be torn apart by Beagles in the next few months.

    I can offer a shed, if they don't mind sharing with mice...although the diet is a lot less expensive and the surroundings very considerably less palatial.

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  6. Re the 2nd photo - The Supreme Court in in the United States of America is now allowing them to marry.

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    1. LOL...awww, that's nice!

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    2. I was wondering what was behind the sea lion and the penguin picture, I somehow did not immediately think love, more dinner. I like the idea of marriage though I do not think the offspring would favour either.

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    3. Nope, I'm sure it's not dinner. There's no sign of battle so I'm taking it that there's affection there.

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  7. I really like the Japanese garden.

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    1. Yes, me too. It makes the one we built in my friend's garden look a little insufficient!

      Thank you for sending the daisy. It's funny how such ordinary things can be so pretty...

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  8. tris and them lot

    In my unappreciated endeavor to inform and educate the nats
    I will tell this not so long ago in Jamaica they banned all scrap
    dealers from collecting scrap. The reason being some were tearing
    down any copper cables metal drains etc etc as soon as they were
    laid down and selling to the scrap trade...
    and then the merry go round would start again.

    All told in the usual sanctimonious better than you English middle class
    superior way as how uncivilised peoples behave
    so yo can imagine how a laughed when i read this


    Stone thieves are dismantling Yorkshire’s heritage, warn police

    Some of Yorkshire’s most beautiful rural areas are reporting a plague of stone thefts, with homes, schools, farms, churches and chapels all being targeted by thieves. The situation has become so dire that police have launched a PR drive to raise awareness of the threat to their region’s heritage.

    Jason McCartney, Tory MP for Colne Valley, has warned that his constituency’s heritage is being “systematically dismantled

    theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jun/27/yorkshire-stone-thieves-region-heritage

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    1. LOL Niko. Thank goodness we have you to educate us. We are simple people... but you're right. Some people would steal anything and then look down at foreigners for doing it.

      HSBC comes immediately to mind.

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  9. I always like what you do of a Sunday.

    You'll not be old enough to know, but the blessed BBC, way back then, between programmes had a thing called an 'Interlude" which were still lifes in some ridiculously low definition. I mention this only because the idea of an interlude, instead of crass advertising between programmes, or in your case weeks of fighting the cause, is a complete delight.

    It reminds those of us that care about mere details that there is more to life than politics,

    [I know lions are supposed to be majestic, but that is ridiculous!]

    Thanks for sharing some amazing photographs, not just this week but every week.

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    1. Thanks Douglas.

      Looking back to the beginning of the blog in 2009, it wasn't always about politics. During the referendum campaign it became more concentrated on that and when it was over it occurred to me that maybe we should go back to a less political basis.

      The BBC's interlude sounds a lot more interesting than many of its programmes!!!

      Thanks again for your kind words.

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  10. A wee bit more, about the interlude:

    http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/bbcone/1950s_continuity.html

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    1. Thanks Jim... i watched a few. Very different production techniques and values back then, but to be honest, I bet the telly was of a higher quality.

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    2. jimnarlene,

      Thanks for that trip down memory lane. The London to Brighton in three minutes thingy had been, for me, in some back brain place. It was nice to let it see the light of day again.

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  11. tris

    One in five MPs employs a family member: the full list revealed


    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/11706561/One-in-four-MPs-employs-a-family-member-the-full-list-revealed.html

    Any snps MPs I do believe there is

    choo ! choo ! all aboard the Westminster gravy train

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    1. Appear to be 5 who do Niko.

      Although it is not illegal, I disapprove of it, because it seems to me that public service jobs should be advertised and the best person get them. There’s also the suspicion that it’s a fiddle to get more money out the tax payer and that the person doesn’t do any work at all… ie Mrs Duncan Smith, who had a title, drew a salary but had, according to the rest of the staff, no input at all into her husband’s work.

      Of course with any political party, you have to have someone who is a believer in your cause. You can’t just have the first person they send along from the Jobcentre, otherwise IDS would doubtless be instructing them to send along Tories who would sabotage everything. And we wouldn't want a UKIP supporter as PA to a Green Party MP.

      Bbut largely I think it is unwise, regardless of who is doing it and what party they belong to.

      It can probably be quite genuinely the best option, as Nigel Farage pointed out...his wife was on hand 24/7, he said, to deal with things (except obviously when he was …erm…otherwise engaged).

      In summary, I take your point that the SNP are doing what the other parties do. Do I disapprove? Yes.

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