453 days ago
Yesterday I lamented how my 250 olive trees needed a drink as it had not rained all month . As it happens it almost never rains here in the Mani in August but I am sure that the lack of rain will be attributed to global warming by the BBC’s Verify unit. On Friday, God provided a brief shower and we said thanks. Today… wow.
454 days ago
Or at least those of our olive trees I mentioned earlier. Yes it has rained. Not heavily but its a start. The top photo is from the balcony decking. The second is of the dark clouds higher up in the mountains behind us. We are promised more rain today and tomorrow. It is still easily hot enough to swim but my poor trees are getting a drink which is the main thing, as I explained this morning.
588 days ago
I hope that heroic T will be back for his third harvest with me this December but I am still looking for up to 4 other volunteers to join us. Free accommodation at the hovel is provided for any volunteer prepared to harvest for about a week. We dine in Kambos and it is fun. Honest.
773 days ago
My late uncle had a facebook page, thanks to his eldest son and, though he died more than three years ago, I wake up to a reminder to wish him Happy Birthday. He would have been 85 today and would, no doubt, have thought the world had become an even sillier place since his death. For starters there have been massive advances in the numbers of women with penises ands facial hair over the past three years. And our Universities have made great strides in purging Shakespeare and other dead white authors from the curriculum and eradicating folks with any link, however obscure to the evils of colonialism from the history books. All hail progress!
1372 days ago
I am not wildly happy about having the jab. It has not been tested on folks who, like me, have had Covid. We also do not know if there are any serious long term side effects on all sorts of patients – yes, I know that all vaccines can produce some side effects. And having already had covid, all the evidence suggests that God has already vaccinated me and so there is no need for a second dose organised by the stupidest man in the Western world, Welsh first minister Mark Drakeford. But…
1391 days ago
My late Uncle Christopher Booker wrote for the Sunday Telegraph for almost half of his life and almost to the bitter end. But in his last years, he and my aunt V cancelled their subscription to the Daily Torygraph because it had become such a lightweight rag. If I read it, which I do not for many of the same reasons as Chris, I would be cancelling my sub today in protest at this vile headline about new laws in Poland restricting the right of folks to murder unborn babies.
1406 days ago
Like others who have had Covid, I am pretty sure that my vaccination from God is about as good as the one Matt Hancock wants me to take but the Government seems desperate to make us think otherwise and the BBC is acting as its propaganda arm in this aim. Yesterday, it reported – as you can see below – that a new study showed that having Covid could protect folks for at least five months! Putting this 5-month figure in one’s mind is an utter deceipt.
1431 days ago
I ask you not as an expert virologist, like Piers Morgan or Christopher Biggins, but as one who spends his working days looking at numbers and who has a simple question for the real experts.
1441 days ago
In these last days before the UK confirms how we leave the EU, many of those on the losing side of the referendum in 2016 are suffering recurring bouts of Brexit Derangement Syndrome. Pity folks like Steven McKellen for he is not well. But at least he knows why his side lost.
1472 days ago
For now, Basketball England is rowing back a bit on its menacing campaign to get 13 year olds to take a knee for Black Lives Matter. It seems that too many parents said they did not want to defund the police, abolish capitalism, boycott Israel and close down jails. But Basketball England reserves the right to reconsider the position and will do so at Christmas after “consulting with members”. Ahead of that consultation, it has lied to its members about the whole basis of taking a knee. That, I suggest, rather devalues the “consultation.”
1551 days ago
Yesterday I showed how, thanks to God’s intervention, Joshua and i were able to pick our neighbour’s damsons without leaving our own garden. With c250 damsons picked and weigfhed up to 1.5kg exactly it was time to play with the new toys ordered from amazon.
1552 days ago
I have used most fruit known to man in my cooking over the years but never, until now, damsons. I just viewed them as small, not very pleasant to eat, and altogether rather pointless. We have a tree in the area formerly known as the jungle but which is slowly becoming a large vegetable garden and which runs alongside the lane down to the hovel so I had pondered what to do with its fruit. I stumbled across a recipe for jam which refers to windfall damsons but, in this case, my fruit arrived thanks to lightning.
1781 days ago
I found this in Pickering in the far North of England. I am sure Titania McGrath would not visit a place like this as it is horribly white and full of Brexit supporting racists. But there does appear a voice of sanity in this sea of fascism. Meet poet Howard Owen Griffiths.
1848 days ago
So far five folks have indicated that they are up for assisting with the olive harvest at the Greek Hovel. But before finalising dates I thought it worth checking whether there was any point harvesting after the near washout of last year.
1919 days ago
Young Joshua loves blackberries. But it seems that the summer rains mean that this year’s crop is late. So we have scoured the numerous bushes around the Welsh Hovel and in its fields and most are still green or red. But God works in mysterious ways…
2053 days ago
George the Architect sends over photos from the Greek Hovel where there is good news and bad.
2218 days ago
Apple boss Tim Cook has won massive applause from legions of Godless liberals. The sort of folks already working out how they will celebrate happy holidays around December 25th in a way that offends no-one of religion bar Christians, love the billionaire for suggesting that the Almighty does actually exist. How is this possible? Simple Cook has proclaimed in his latest sermon on the mount that the Greatest Gift God gave him was making him gay. Where to start?
2225 days ago
As I noted yesterday the olive harvest will be pretty good and the first photo below is evidence of that. But the second shows that it could have been even better, a true bumper crop.
2226 days ago
Nicho the Communist is sitting with me in the Kourounis taverna in Kambos and says that his harvest this year will be so so. Pride comes before a fall but I think mine is, all things considered, looking good. Nicho says he will come and inspect this weekend which may be a reality check.
2465 days ago
The man dubbed America's pastor has passed away aged 99. It did not take the Guardian more than a few hours to accuse Billy Graham of the most heinous crimes "In his early years as a preacher, Graham expressed racist and antisemitic views" and also attacking him for his unswerving hostility to communism. In the eyes of the liberal elite, opposing a Godless faith which cased the death of tens of millions of folks is a bad thing, being a spy for the Czech secret police is a minor issue. Whatever
2467 days ago
I discuss the history of me being reported by Mike Walters and other morons to the FCA (FSA as was) for market abuse and in that vein I am reporting myself, Waseem Shakoor and Lucian Miers because of our comments over UK Oil & Gas (UKOG), the grossly overvalued, financially challenged mega ramp so loved by morons. Elsewhere I look at RockRose Energy (RRE) - time for a Cynical apology - Kin Group (KIN) and at Inspirit (INSP). Oh yes, and God is punishing me for being smug.
2479 days ago
My twitter feed is set up to track what is trending in New York. I used to live there and feel as much affinity with that City as I do with any other City, i.e. almost none. And so this morning I find out that what is trending among the the snowflakes of the Big Apple is #ReplaceLovewithAnal. Cue a series of tweets God is Anal, Jesus anals you #Replacelovewithanal etc etc etc.
2571 days ago
My one year old son Joshua delights with playing with mobile phones and TV controls. Thus poor Sam Antar got a 3 AM call from me in New York when my son managed to press a few buttons in the right order. Just a few minutes ago I got a phone reminder of something important. I do not actually know how to set such a reminder but Joshua has managed it. At least it was not at 2.58 AM like last time.
2640 days ago
From the suffering of the flooding caused by tropical storm Harvey comes one sory showing what a touching sense of humour the almighty might enjoy. Tony Perkins is a preacher in Louisiana whi is noted for his strong views on gay folk, or the LGBTQIFGHTYUCS community as they wish to be known today. Put it this way, if Perkins lived in Britain he'd probably right now be one of those battling to become the next leader of UKIP.
2690 days ago
In England life is so clinical and clean and removed from nature. Our food is covered in plastic. Seeing your cat wander through the cat flap counts as a wildlife encounter. How different life is for me in Kambos, Greece.
2721 days ago
I always carry my camera with me as I wander round the Greek Hovel. This is because of the snakes. If I meet one my first instinct is to flee. My second instinct is also to flee. Just conceivably, if I am carrying a pick axe I might go on the offense. But I have nightmares about snakes and, on balance, I know that I am told that they are more afraid of me than I am of them but I think that is bollocks. Though an official snake killer these days I am still shit scared. And I also recognise that I might just tread on one by accident. Hence the camera.
2868 days ago
Oft accused by folks who do not like what I write of being an alcoholic, the sad truth is that these days my poison of choice is ginger beer and I drink almost nothing. When in Greece I might have an ouzo at the end of a hard day, here in the UK I drink almost nothing.
3057 days ago
Andrea Leadsom wishes us to think that juggling her City7 career and bringing up kids makes her a role model. Okay her City career was not quite a high flying as her CV implies in terms of what she actually did and in that it was often part time but even were she to have been full time why should I admire her. I am sad to see that the wonderful Elaine Craig, normally about the only sane commentator on matters political from Scotland, also sees this as a plus point for Andrea.
Bringing up kids is always challenging and so being a good mother, as I am sure Andrea was, is something that earns our respect. But when you have shed loads of money the burdens of parenting can be that little bit easier.
I grew up in a single parent household
3161 days ago
I shall leave Paul Scott to battle with Malcolm Stacey about the existence of God. But I hope that Paul as a non believer shows no hypocrisy by devouring any Easter Eggs. Now it is my turn to bash Malcolm over his daft views on women on boards. He is wrong, my wife and the public sector "experts" are wrong. The grim reaper will achieve what quotas will fail to do and will make Britain wealthier in the process.
3447 days ago
All world something days are a joke dreamed up by fools in the non-productive sector to waste our time. Okay, not all. #WorldGinDay was a serious occassion which the Mrs and I duly celebrated. But today is a joke of the highest order.
3613 days ago
For some reason I dozed off between the end of Skyfall and the tome to go to midnight mass. As such when waking up on Christmas day the stockings of myself, the Mrs and the cats were opened in something of a rush. Santa clearly thought that we had all behaved well in 2014. Clearly he does not know about how Oakley, the three legged cat, likes weeing on the inside doormat. And thus we were all well rewarded and after a splendid breakfast cooked by yours truly we wandered off to St Cuthbert’s Brislington.
Built in 1933 this church could easily hold 350. As it was with the Mrs and I in attendance there were 15 in the congregation plus vicar and organist. It is not as if midnight mass at Brislington is packed – there cannot have been more than 35 in attendance in 2013. One fears that a couple of cold winters could see just the mrs, the Vicar and I attending Christmas day 2018. We were the youngest in the congregation by a long chalk: what is happening to the C of E?
It is just that Christmas has become one great big godless consumerfest celebrated across the world by folks of whatever background. My 13 year old daughter Olivia – deprived of the alternate Christmases promised by her mother Big Nose 10 years ago, has never once attended Church on Christmas Eve or Christmas day. That I rather regret.
The Mrs and I do not take communion as I am very much lapsed in my faith and the Mrs has grave doubts. But we try to think of what Christmas is about and it is not as the Radio DJs insist on saying “all about family and friends”. However much the PC brigade insist otherwise Christmas is about Jesus. The fact we celebrate this festival and the traditions involved are down to Jesus. We give each other presents because we are celebrating God giving us his only son, whether we regard that as fact, belief or fantasy. To deny the involvement of Jesus in Christmas seems fatuous to me.
The sermon was bland enough but at least this C of E vicar managed to resist the urge to pray for peace in Palestine, the C of E codewords for “all power to Hamas”. And with that
3946 days ago
Having objected to the demands that the Money Tree bail out the spongers of the Somerset Levels I am accused of wanting to drown the inhabitants of East Anglia as well. I think that is a bit of an exaggeration, but….
Spending billions of pounds fighting nature seems pointless to me. The UK coastline is always changing. In some places coastal erosion eats away at land. In others silt is deposited and the land grows. That is God’s way, or the way of nature depending on how you look at it.
You can spend a fortune delaying the inevitable but in the end a mega storm and high tide will have its way one day. The coast will move. Locating houses on land that is doomed is ultimately not a good idea. Equally building new housing on flood plains is asking for trouble. Yet we continue to do just that and in both cases those living in affected homes demand that the taxpayer do something to stop nature, that the Money Tree be milked again.
Surely it is better simply to accept that nature will win in the end. If
4532 days ago
Today comes the sad news of the death of a being I have met – Lonesome George. He was the last of his species, a type of tortoise from the Galapagos Islands ( the Pinta Tortoise). I had the pleasure of visiting those islands some years ago and met George and a raft of other Tortoises at a sanctuary on the island of Santa Cruz. I cannot say we were best mates or chatted for long, just that I looked at him and he looked for some food.
