With the Governments e-petitions initiative in the news I thought it was time to have a closer look at the site and see what it's all about. I've signed a couple of them in the past after receiving tweets and emails asking for support but I haven't really paid much attention to any of the content apart from the petitions in the links forwarded to me. You can check the site out for yourself by clicking here. At the moment there are some 468 pages of live petitions that you can sign. They are sorted in order of popularity and at about twenty per page that's almost ten thousand of them. I reckon there are over 1400 that have so far achieved just one signature and 6,400 (about 64%) have ten or less. You would have thought that anyone media savvy enough to set up a petition might also have a couple of Facebook friends or Twitter followers. Blimey, even I reckon I could drum up twenty or thirty signatures.
When you think of all the millions using the internet (over thirty million are logged onto Skype as I write this) it's a sad indictment that for example only ten have taken the trouble to support a petition to prevent employers discriminating against diabetes sufferers whilst the same number support "No Dubstep To Be Played On The Radio Between 5am and 11 am". Spend ten minutes on the site and it appears to be pretty much an abject failure. Most of the popular petitions seem to be from Daily Mail territory (stop immigration, brig back capital punishment, tax travellers, and the like). I signed one to stop legal loan sharking and another to ban scrap metal merchants from making cash payments.
If you want five minutes amusement have a look through the rejected petitions. Pity the poor sod who has to read this sort of stuff for a living "THE TAZER IS BY THE UNTED NATIONS OWN COMITTEE ON TORTURE ,AN INSTREMENT OF TORTURE. IT WAS INTRODUCED INTO THE UK POLICE FORCE INITIALY AS A LAST RESORT AS AN ALTERNITIVE TO A BULLET FIERING GUN. NOW IT HAS BECOME THE POLICE FAVORITE MEANS OF COMPLIANCE. THE POLICE ARE NOW AUTHORISED BY THE HOME SECETARY ( TERESA MAY) TO USE TAZERS ON... CHILDREN, PREGNANT WOMEN, OLD AGE PENSIONERS, THE DISABLES AND THE VUNERABLE. YES ANYONE AND EVERYONE IS FAIR GAME ITS OPEN SEASON ON THE BRITISH PUBLIC. THESE EVIL TAZERS ARE NOT BEING USED FOR WHAT THAY WERE ORIGIONALY BROUGHT INTO SERVICE FOR, ONLY TO BE USED IN A SITUATION OF LIFE OR DEATH ............"
Don't forget to watch episode 3 of Josephine's Sorority Girls tonight at 9 on E4. If you haven't seen it yet it's a fun and light hearted show that highlights the differences between university culture for girls here and in the USA.
I see that Martin Kelner devoted almost his entire column in yesterday's Guardian to slagging off Paul's A League Of Their Own. He did pretty much the same hatchet job on the show when it launched two years ago but it is now in its fourth series and the ratings are strong. I sympathise with a lot of what Kelner says - Freddie Flintoff's recent response to another panelist "f*** off " is hardly Oscar Wilde - but it appeals to its target 10pm Friday night audience and that is paramount.It's an original format and long may it succeed. Criticising the show in The Guardian is a bit like The Sun sending a reviewer to Covent Garden to report back on La Boheme.
We managed to get out to the cinema for the first time in a couple of weeks today when we travelled to FACT in Liverpool to see Drive. The story of a very complex and nameless Hollywood stunt driver (Ryan Gosling) who moonlights as a getaway driver, it's not all Vin Diesel or Jason Statham packed with car chases and crashes. No, it's a lot more sophisticated than that with Gosling playing one of the most taciturn characters seen on screen since Clint Eastwood's man with no name (there is another similarity to Clint with Gosling constantly chewing on a toothpick instead of a cheroot). Although the dialogue is sparse there is enough to tell a pretty complex tale of mafia mobsters with a little romance thrown in to lighten what is otherwise a very dark film. It's a good thriller and well worth seeing but, be warned, it is extremely violent in parts and I felt that the violence overstepped the mark in at least one gut turning scene that had me closing my eyes.
The old routine included getting a day out with the metal detector yesterday when my detecting partner and I travelled up the M6 to Cumbria for a search around some fields near to where I found that piece of Roman gold a month or so ago. Having bombarded the farmer with regular phone calls since the end of July asking if the fields had been harvested, he finally (like the man from Del Monte) said yes. Unfortunately the anticipation exceeded the results and, apart from a worn fragment of a Roman coin I only found this Roman mount which would probably once have been fixed to a piece of Roman furniture. Although I have not found tons of stuff with the detector this year, I think that, barring a couple of hours in Scotland, most of our outings have turned up at least one historic or displayable coin or artefact. It would be good if we could increase that to three or four.
Yet another part of our regular retirement routine is going to Victoria Leisure for an hour or two work out. I've managed three visits so far since getting back from Italy and Marion has done almost four hours of intensive classes. As a result of this and sticking to a healthy diet, we're both almost back to our pre Torcello weight and ready to start eating (and drinking) a bit more.
We'll miss the routine of The Great British Bake Off which reached its climax last night when Jo was deservedly crowned winner. After weeks of effort surely she deserved something better than the ghastly trophy comprising an assortment of kitchen implements and half a dozen eggs in a goldfish bowl with a lemon squeezer on top. Great show. Shame about the prize.
Only three nights now before Holding Out For A Hero airs on ITV1 (and ITV1HD). Excitement is mounting here in St Andrews as this is yet another show created by our daughter in law Josephine who has already had recent success with Nick Knowles' Perfection for BBC and the currently in production Sorority Girls which should be shown in the autumn on E4. We hope that the show is the huge success that Josephine deserves. I have been reading presenter Gethin Jones' tweets on the show and he is very upbeat about it. We usually have a party to celebrate Paul and Joesphine's show launches but we've got nobody to invite and will have to do with a bottle of champagne and some nibbles in the caravan.
Mind you we are not entirely alone here at Craigtoun Meadows this week. Although none of the caravans in our little corner of the park has been occupied since Sunday, I looked out of the car window as we set off this morning and spotted two small brown creatures. Initially (and inexplicably) I remarked to Marion that there were a couple of wallabies by the trees but on close inspection they turned out to be baby deer. You won't spot them in this photo as it is but if you click to enlarge you should be able to see them. What with the rabbits and all the birds we are living in a veritable wildlife haven.
We did our own bit of heroics again this morning as we went on a ride as a recce for our planned trip to the famous Michelin starred Peat Inn, Scotland's Restaurant of the Year in 2010. It only took us just over thirty minutes and most of that was up hill but the views were well worth the effort. The food will be just reward for our pedalling when we return next week although I don't know if bicycle clips and helmets will be appropriate wear in such a fine establishment.
I went on another ride this afternoon. Again the scenery was glorious and I discovered a great circular route that is a bit of an effort to start with but ends with about a mile of freewheeling downhill on a very straight road ending up travelling at quite some speed. With all that riding and fresh air I reckon I will sleep extremely well tonight.
A friend sent me a link to a great Flash Mob video. I won't put it on the blog today as it will be more fitting for another blog. However it got me searching for flash mobs on YouTube and what with today's sightings of deer and bunnies I thought that this might be appropriate.
