Shocking and sad news from the UK.

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* Man shot dead by police on Tube *
A man is shot dead by armed officers at Stockwell station in south London, as police hunt four would-be bombers.
Full story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/uk/4706787.stm

I am deeply saddened by this story. While I appreciate that the Police have to do whatever they can to maintain the safety of the public, the news that they have shot someone to death is like a punch in the stomach. I suppose I always felt that the British Police would do whatever they could to avoid using fire arms to apprehend someone. Now it seems that line has been crossed. I really hope that the country doesn't plummet in a downward spiral where the public are afraid of the police the way so many people are in the US.

Dragonflies vs mosiquitos

I took the Buntster for a walk yesterday, it was a beautiful afternoon. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and there was a nice cooling breeze. I coated myself with deet before leaving the house to be sure, but I still expected to be attacked by mozzies as soon as I walked out of the house. I was not disappointed. Anyway, Bunty and I went up to Churchill park, the river has burst its banks there, and last time we were there large areas of the park were under water. Well yesterday the river had receeded probably by about 3 feet. So although there were still lots of large areas of water on the grass, there were also large areas of muddy grass. To be quite honest, the park stank of rotting vegetation, but Bunty didn't seem to mind.

I let her off the leash (illegal in Winnipeg I know, but I thought what the hell, everyone else lets their dog off the leash) and she headed off into the bushes. Well of course she picks up the trail of a bunny and off she went, disregarding my whistling and calling, until eventually she lost track of the rabbit. I wasn't too worried, except she was right by the river, and I was worried she might fall in. The current is very swift with the extra water, and I was worried she might get washed away. She didn't and we soon settled in to a routine of her running head and then running back to where I was.

By the time we got past the bridge to the larger areas of grass Bunty was having a whale of a time. And I was being bombarded by dragonflies! Thousands of them. It reminded me of last summer in Maryland when the cicadas came out (the ones that come out every 17 years), and there were so many of them that they swarmed around and you had to wave them away from your face. I had to wave the dragonflies away from my face. But sadly there were still not enough to keep the mozzie population down to a tolerable level. I was attacked by mozzies constantly, unless I was in the direct sun. It is a great shame, but the Province has now ordered the city to fog the entire metropolitan area. This means that the dragonflies and fireflies, and probably a lot of the small song birds, will also be killed off. As much as I admire the attempts of the city to treat the mozzie plague with biological predators, clearly it didn't work this time around. I wonder how much the rain, that we have had so much of, had to do with that.

So even though there are thousands upon thousands of dragonflies flying around the area, they are still not a match for the mozzies.

Meanwhile, Bunty got to run, play in the grass, and splash through the water left behind by the over flowing river. Suffice it to say that she still wanted to go out for a walk last night.

Update to Bloody Hell

So the plumber has been. A very nice man called Kurt. Cleaned up after himself very nicely, and was very careful whilst he was here. He was here for over 4 hours!!! But he has fixed the loo. We now have a nice new stack in the basement. He replaced the old steel one with a nice plastic one, so that will fix the problem once and for all. He also replaced the wax seal on the toilet because the last jerk didn't bother, and the loo was leaking water down into the basement ever since! So 750 bucks later, we have a fixed toilet. Except for the flush lever and ball cock. I have to replace those myself. I will think about that later in the week. But I am glad that we went with a plumber that charged by the job and not the hour, and also one that provided us with a guarantee that the work done would solve the problem!

He even wore little booties when in the house!

Bloody Hell

The plumber is here again. A different man, from a different company this time. He actually had a good explanation for the toilet being blocked on an intermittent basis. He thinks that when the roofers did their job they accidentally dropped a piece of shingle down the flue and it is now acting as a sort of valve, flipping around with the water flow, which is why the loo blocks up from time to time and is fixed by augering. Bloody hell!!! I feel like contacting our solicitor and having her sue the roofers!!! I have to talk to him about finding out if that is the case and seeing how to fix it because we can't afford to pay out 200 bucks a month to have someone come out and auger the lav.

Bloody hell!!!

As good as it gets

I took Bunty for a walk yesterday. She has been whining a lot the last few days and someone suggested that I exercise her more :( Anyway, we walked up to Safeway (I had to buy Deet) and then back along the river. In total about 4 miles. I let her off the leash in the park by the river (shhh) so that she could run a little, and she did. She had a whale of a time. The river has burst its banks along the park that we were in, so there was lots of shallow "lakes" for her to paddle in and drink. At one point I thought she might got for a swim, but she got up to her chest and then when her bum got wet she decided not to go any further. But I digress. It was quite amazing walking along. Even walking along the streets to the river from Safeway. Because there was no one else around. No one even in their back garden. The only people I saw were roofers. And there were several lots of roofers at work. It was truly beautiful. The sky was blue, the trees fluorescing with energy, and the birds seranading us as we strolled along. Then in the park, being dive bombed by the dragon flies as we walked in the dappled shade of the large trees, to be near the water, in the silence of nature, was so relaxing. I know Bunty enjoyed her walk, and her run, and enjoyed being able to sniff at something for longer than I wanted to stand still for. This is what we should all be living for. The chance to just be at one with the planet, to enjoy the natural sounds of wild life going about their daily business. Last night, on our evening perambulations, Bunty and I saw a pair of pelicans on the river! I have only seen Pelicans (outside the zoo) in the Mediterranean, so I was awestruck by the sight of them, gliding over the water, landing and then being swept back downstream by the strong current. An awesome sight.


Our back garden is full of birds and dragon flies too, but because we live on a busy street, there is always the sound of other people driving by on their way to do something irrelevant to me. And then when there is a moment of peace, the fire engines blast their sirens to alert the traffic of their intentions to turn onto the Avenue. Oh and I forgot the trains! As if to remind me one is now blowing its horn as it approaches the junction. But even all that man made noise doesn't stop me from enjoying my garden. I spent several hours reading a George Baxt novel (The Bette Davis Murders) in the sun yesterday. Bliss. I might retire to the garden to sit beneath my blue floral umbrella, and read Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage. Then again, I might just sit and enjoy the sounds of nature, the sight of the river rushing past at full speed at the bottom of the garden, and the blue skies above.

This is about as good as it gets.