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Just read this story on the BBC News website. Man, I don’t wan to live in a world like this! People are f*cking sick and f*cked up!! Please be aware this story is about animal cruelty. If you are easily upset, you might not want to read it.
Read story
I’ve just been reading an article on the BBC News web site about the argument for lowering the legal limit at which you can have an abortion from 24 weeks to 20 weeks. The Health Minister Dawn Primarolo argues that there is insufficient scientific evidence for lowering the limit on the basis that extremely premature babies have not increased their survival rates in recent years.
Surely that is not the point. Isn’t the point that at 24 weeks most medical professionals will do all they can to help a premature baby live? And if that’s the case, surely then at 24 weeks the medical profession believe that child to be at a more established human development? Ms Primarolo also provided statistics which reveal that the vitality of babies born at 21 weeks is 0%, whilst the vitality of babies born at 23 weeks is 11%. Well what about the babies born at 24 weeks? It must be a higher figure? She also says that 89% of abortions take place before 13 weeks. So based on those figures why would you not feel compelled to lower the legal limit to 20 weeks, or even 21 weeks? This seems ridiculous to me. In this day and age, women can know that they have conceived just DAYS after conception. Medical complications in pregnancies are detected earlier and earlier. I for one see no valid justification in keeping the legal limit at 24 weeks. That is almost 6 months into a pregnancy. It’s far too late. I think somewhere like Western Australia have the right approach to abortion. The legal limit is set at 20 weeks. Abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy may only be performed if the foetus is likely to be born with severe medical problems – which must be confirmed by two independently appointed doctors. Read the full article here.
I was sitting around waiting for my turn on the Internet (yes, we are a one computer household – although I can write posts via my mobile phone) watching Em reading RSS feeds of blogs when I was noticing that most peoples blogs have “catchy” names, whereas I had the rather bland “Larelle’s Blog”. I was wondering what made these people choose a somewhat obscure name for their blog and so I thought to myself “what kind of ‘catchy’ title would I use for my blog?”. I use to stick with “Larelle’s Blog” because I was worried people who visit wouldn’t realise it was my blog, but the people who are coming to my blog from www.larelle.co.uk SHOULD know it’s me, so I thought “why not”! And so here’s what I came up with “Antipodean – The Right Side Up”. Don’t ask me why. I was just sitting there still waiting my turn, and it came into my head. I just like the word Antipodean (and that’s what us Aussies and Kiwis get called in the UK). I also thought that although I am Antipodean, I’m now (metaphorically) the right side up. I suppose I could’ve went for something inane like “Down Under Girl” or “Upside Down Girl”…but I wanted something arty-farty.
After you see the list, you’ll see I’m VERY easy to please 🙂
Firstly, I purchased myself a “new” used mobile phone on eBay. When I was in Oz, my niece had a Samsung D520, I thought it was a nice looking phone and had the things I wanted to upgrade my phone for – mp3 playing and ringtones, video play and record and Bluetooth. I knew it was a Samsung, but had to check with her what model it was. After getting her reply, I looked on eBay (before that I’d be chasing a Nokia 5200 but wasn’t having much luck getting one for the £40 mark) and someone was selling a used D520 for £30. I thought great price for a well specified phone, so jumped at it. Now I am EAGERLY awaiting its arrival in the post.
The other thing that is exciting me is the sight of two baby goldfinches in the garden. They arrived yesterday with the regular pair, who I can only assume are mum and dad of these babies.
Last but not least, the prospect of being able to get out and about next week as we might be hiring a car for several days so Em can help out a mate of hers with his computer stuff. Somehow getting around the UK on public transport is just not very appealing. I’ll give you an example why.
We live around 35 miles (around 56 kms) from Cambridge. When we had a car, we might visit Cambridge 2-3 times a year. Needless to say we’ve not been there since being without a car. That journey to Cambridge by car would take around 45 minutes. That same journey via public transport would take at least an extra hour and cost £40 (around $95 Australian) for two people!! We could hire a car for the day and be able to buy the fuel to get us to and from Cambridge for the same amount of money! It’s obscene! That’s why we “don’t do” public transport in Britain. Not because we don’t want to, but because it’s a total waste of time and money.
The are some perks to the English summer, in particular a damp one. Because damp summers mean lots of insects and lots of insects mean BATS! Yes, our little sonar friends are making an appearance again and it’s wonderful. I love standing outside watching them fly around. To see them in flight is amazing, they are so adept at flying, then I suppose you’d be pretty good at it if you relied on sonar. I’m sure lots of people would be put off, as they can get pretty put off at the thought of a bat flying past their head (and they do fly right past us if we stand in the right part of the garden), but I think they are amazing little creatures and really enjoy seeing them each night. A little “wonder of the world” in my own garden. Brilliant!
A Pipistrelle Bat (of the type we think we’re seeing)
I was looking at the BBC News website this morning. I like Fridays on Beeb news as there is a quiz called “7 days, 7 questions” which I like doing. ANYWAY…as I was looking on the website to try and locate the quiz, I came across this story.
Albino Sparrow story (click to read)
Amazing that there is two of them! They are the CUTEST little things! It was only yesterday while looking for appropriate blackbird pics to add for my previous post that I saw pics of a partial albino blackbird, but this little “knees-up” is totally white. I hope they get to live to a ripe old age. Life is tough for albino animals. Here’s hoping to a long life…
We (Em & I) went on an adventure yesterday. Since around October/November last year we’ve been without a car. Our car died and it’s gonna take a lot of money thrown at it to repair it. We just don’t have that sort of money, so when he have needed a car for a day, we’ve hired one. More often its shanks’ pony or taking a bus. We haven’t done any travel like that together this year until yesterday. We went to Hitchin for the day. The bus goes around all the back villages of Hertfordshire. It’s only a short walk to the bus stop from where we are. Anyway, because the route the bus goes around the Hertfordshire countryside, yesterday we got to see a deer leaping across the road as we hurtled towards it! It was a young fawn, still very Bambi-like, but it had some speed. There were about 8-10 of us on the bus and there were gasps and cries of “It’s a deer!”. Fleeting as it was, it was really lovely to see. Bus trips around village backwaters DO have their advantages!
A Beautiful Red Deer fawn.
Hello Everyone,
I have been away for just over 4 months. I went to Australia and had all intention of writing about my travels in another blog I created called “Return 2 Oz”, but I ended up with the most DISMAL Internet connection in Oz. Let me tell you now, if you are planning to stay in Oz for an extended period, and are looking to use an ISP while there, on my recommendation, do NOT use Brown Bear Internet. I thought it was a good deal. It was $9.90 a month for 160mb of use, then something like 5 cents a MB for exceeding that, capped at $16.95. I thought I wouldn’t go over the monthly usage and I didn’t in the end because it was almost unusable! I would have to dial in several times as I continued to be disconnected after around 3 minutes. And the connection…although I know it’s dial-up and I expected it to be slow…MY LORD, was it SSSLLLLOOOOWWW!! As a consequence I didn’t spend any real time on the Internet when I was there as the experience was just beyond infuriating.
I think I only made one blog entry while I was Oz. Not exactly productive.
As a result, there is much to catch up on. I will get to it over the next coupe of weeks. Not much to report really. I spent most of my time at my mums house just wasting the days away.
Well…
I have to say I’m getting a little excited. This weekend is the annual BirdWatch weekend. This is a chance for people in the UK to take an hour out of their normal weekend schedule to observe the numbers of birds visiting their gardens. I partook in last year’s survey and am really looking forward to this weekend.
It’s just a good excuse to sit back and observe the birds for an hour. Not that I need an excuse. One of the daily newspapers helped to get me in the mood by giving away a set of birdsong CD’s in their weekend papers. There are about 50 bird calls on each disc. It was lovely listening to all the different sounds. Some are very familiar like blue tits and robins and blackbirds, but others like the capercaillie are not ones you hear everyday, unless you live in a part of Scotland where they reside.
I feel sorry for birds in winter. It must be tough. It’s so bloomin’ cold out there at the moment, and all they have to keep warm are some feathers, poor little blights. Food is tough to come by at this time of year too. We do our bit, putting out fat balls and seeds and peanuts, and any food scraps that are bird friendly. We put out bread some times as some birds love it as a treat, but it serves no useful purpose for them. It’s like us eating a plate of chips, no real value to it, other than it tastes nice. But the fat balls give them energy and help to keep them warm. Poor little birdies!
I am loving blue tits at the moment. I think they are my favourite birds. They are so little and cute and agile. They always seem to be flying about all day, stopping here and there for food, hopping along tree branches, being very active. I love their little calls and they look tough, like they’d try and give you a little peck, given half a chance! lol I just think they are adorable.
Maybe I should buy myself a t-shirt emblazoned with “I LOVE TITS” on it…just to give people with sordid minds the wrong idea!!! lol
As you may or may not know, I am a couch bird-watcher. That is to say that I love birds and find them fascinating, and dare say have bird-watched, from the comfort and privacy of my own home. I have yet to enjoy the “pleasure” of a true bird-watching experience at a local RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) or similar establishment or park.
Today I was dabbling a bit with the old couch bird-watching from the loungeroom window. It’s been a bit bleak of late, after a lovely little collective of summer visitors. At the moment the resident birds are the ubiquitous starlings, a robin (our first regular robin since moving here, normally only to be seen around Xmas, he has been here since late summer) and a bird that has been making me refer to my birdfeeding book for a while now, in search of its identity. The problem was finally solved today, more in a bit. Also, not as frequently, but still quite often we get a goldfinch visit. We did have a pair for a while during the summer, and it was lovely seeing them visit. A breeding pair seemingly as they were male and female (the male has more red colouring around the head than the female, easy to distinguish through binoculars). After a few weeks, it seemed that only the female was visiting. I thought the worst had happened to the male as goldfinches seem to be seen if not in pairs, at least in number, so to see a lone female was a little worrying. But today, the male was back! Although he didn’t seem to be allowed to eat from the nyjer seed feeder we put out for them, for only she was eating from it and when he would approach he seemed to be told off!
(male Goldfinch pictured)
As for the mystery bird, I have deduced with the help of my trusty birdfeeder book that it is a dunnock. At first I thought it was a sparrow, but then started to think again, as it was always alone (sparrows are way too a communal type of bird for one to always be alone) and any sparrow “like” features I was seeing on this bird were not prominent enough, and the beak was too narrow (sparrows have a broader, finch-like beak than what this bird had). So after weeks of being miffed about its ID, I had it! I read up on it in my birdfeeding book and what a kinky little bird it is! The book said that during the breeding season it would not be unusual to see a female with two males, or vise virsa or even to have two breeding pairs together, swapping partners! Swinging birds!!!
(Dunnock pictured)
Another couple of strangers that are only just starting to make a comeback to our garden are blue tits (just the one so far – we used to have a resident pair) and blackbirds (well, just the one again so far). We used to have a regular female blackbird come round (the female blackbirds are actually mostly brown), who was a real hen-pecker, and the odd male, but not as much a regular visitor as she. But I haven’t seen a female in ages and have only just started to see a male in recent days. Also there was a greenfinch. Haven’t seen one of those since the summer!
I miss Australian birds. I miss (rather bizarrely) magpies and (not so bizarrely) kookaburras. I miss hearing their calls in the morning.
Our neighbours next door went away to America for a holiday recently, and came back baring a few gifts for us – which was a surprise as we don’t know them that well, but it was as a thank you for making sure their house was safe (not that we really did bother anyway, one of their parents was coming around checking on the place anyway). We got a pack of mini oreo’s (what is with the oreo obsession? They are just – not very good I might add – bloody chocolate biscuits!), a pack of boiled lollies (sweets) and this thing called Jiffy Pop. It was popcorn in a pan! So tonight we finally cooked up the popcorn. It was brilliant! The pan has a foil top, which inflates like a big foil balloon as the popcorn starts to pop!! When cooked, you just carefully open the foil top and eat straight from the pan! Lovely warm popcorn, just like from the cinema! It was buttery and salty and yummy! It’s like about $1.00 a go in the USA. We can get it here in the UK at a shop called “Cybercandy”, but they want effing £2.80 per pack!!! Bastardosses!
Anyway, enough boredom from me…I’m outtahere!
PS:
The bird calls I miss
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7nwPZrs5sc]
Magpie.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il98W12WqH4]
The beautiful kookaburra