Football England 1969

This post is for Kahless and everyone else who is interested in football. Now don’t ask me what sort it was, cause I don’t have a clue.

I was living in London at the time and someone (probably male) suggested I go to an English soccer match. I think it was soccer. In Canada, in 1969, soccer was unheard of. So I decided to go. It was quite exciting. Lots of noise from the crowd. Lots of shouting and singing.

When I think about it now, and the number of people in the stadium and all the things I’ve heard on the news about soccer crowds, I feel quite a sense of anxiety and probably would never go again. But hey, I was 22 years old and invincible. And I’m glad I went. I’m glad I took the photos. Even though I don’t remember much about it. I don’t even remember who I went with. I did have a Welsh boyfriend around about that time.

Kahless, I have no idea who was playing, where it was held, when it was, or anything else about it.

Madeleine

Saturday, 14 June 2008

Double standards

Recently in Australia, a female primary school teacher was “dismissed” and eventually investigate for posing nude in a photo in a sealed section of a woman’s magazine. She posed with her husband, also a teacher and also naked. The photograph is very tasteful. It is beautiful. (Check it out).

" “Mr Tziolas said his wife's decision to take part in the Cleo feature, in which she revealed intimate details of her marriage, had resulted in her being asked by the department to prove why she did not belong on a prohibited employment list.

That list includes paedophiles, child pornographers, convicted drug dealers and incompetent teachers. It's pretty much like a criminal record as far as teaching or working with children is concerned," Mr Tziolas said." (full story)

There was an interview with them on the news just now. She was fired, investigated, and eventually reinstated in a special needs school where she says, she is not qualified to teach. Her husband, has not had anything said to him, has not been fired or suspended or investigated.

I presume that putting her into a special needs school hits a chord for me. The education department sees it as a demotion for her, putting her out of the mainstream, I don’t know. Punish your teachers. Put them in charge of the retards!! That’s what it feels like to me. My daughter went to a special needs school, and I find this sort of thing totally distasteful.

However I am getting off track and onto my soap box.

And why, why, was nothing done or said to the husband? Well, we all know the answer to THAT question, don’t we !

Madeleine

Friday, 13 June 2008

Sorry

I've had to turn on the word verification for comments. Lotto person, piss off.

If that doesn't work, I will have to restrict who can comment.

Madeleine

Memories 1968 Scottish Highlands

I’ve been scanning some of my really old UK photos. I want to take them with me and possibly go back to some of these places. I came across this one and a memory.

When I first arrived in the UK, I was there, with a friend, for a 2-1/2 week holiday. I ended up staying in Europe for over 2 years. We had organised a bus tour so we could see as much as possible in the short time we thought we would be there.

This apparently is a Highland Cow. I presume they are so furry to protect themselves from the cold.

I was fascinated by this cow and had to have a photo. I wandered into the field, the intrepid little photographer, even then. Stood on a stone, or so I thought, and then realised that this stone I was standing on, was not actually a stone, but a very, very large cow patty, probably from this very beast !!

Took ages to get it off my shoe. I was only 21, totally embarrassed, and very, very aware of the smell. Even then, I could see the humour in the happening.

This last one is not a photo I took. In those days, I wouldn’t have taken a photo of a cow patty. Much too embarrassing. Nowadays I would. Also, in those days I was using film and was much more selective about the photos I took.

Madeleine

Thursday, 12 June 2008

People are funny !!

I stopped to get petrol on the way home from work today. My local station had relatively cheap petrol, so figured I would top up the tank. I pulled into the petrol station to find quite a queue of cars waiting.

Now this station is one of these sorts of stations (wasn’t quite that bad. This is Perth!!). I cropped out the petrol station name – don’t want to advertise them !!

So while I’m sitting in my car, watching and deciding what to do, I realised that the outside bowsers have no queue. I have discovered in the past that people avoid those bowsers. They are a pay before you buy deal. They are the pumps that people use to fill their tanks and then drive off without paying. So the petrol station has decided, wisely, that to get petrol from these bowsers, you have to pay first. For some reason, people don’t use these ones as often. They don’t like the idea of paying before they get their petrol.

I looked at the car in front of me and realised that I was not going to be able to get past him to get to the outside bowsers.

So I reversed out, got back into the traffic, and came in by another entrance. As I drove in, I realised that people were queuing for the two inside islands and there were two bowsers with not only no queue, but no cars at all. So not only do people not want to pay for their petrol first, but they won’t use bowsers that aren’t on the same side as their petrol tanks.

I drove out of the petrol station, back into the traffic, back into the station, topped up my tank, paid and was out of there while the two cars who had been waiting in front of me were still fiddling around getting theirs.

People would rather wait, than pay before getting their petrol, or pull the pump thingee across their car. People are funny !!

I do like it when a plan comes together.

Madeleine

Wednesday, 11 June 2008

Coffee with a friend

I went out to have coffee with a friend this afternoon. We usually meet at the same place. We’ve tried other places, but this one seems to suit the best. On the way, I had to stop to photograph this:

Very nice you say. A kid’s playground. However, this is what was around it.

There’s about to be a new estate and they’ve built this lovely little park. I doubt whether anyone is using it yet.

When K and I go for coffee we often order "wedgies". Funny, not of the staff seem to find it funny








A Wedgie

Wedges

I guess people just don’t have my weird sense of humour.

This is where we go:

I figured it was time to take a photo in case the place burns down or disappears or changes owners or something.

Madeleine

Sunday, 8 June 2008

Birds and sunsets

It was beautiful down by the river tonight. Took some great photos (if I do say so myself).

At one stage, the mossies were so bad I stopped to spray myself and ended up with drops all over the camera lens so had to get rid of a couple. Overall I’m very pleased with the way they turned out.

This is the reflection of the sunset in the water

Sunsets

I got a kewl video that I hope works. I've not put a video on a blog yet.

A large flock of birds took off down the river, full of noise. The reason it stops so abruptly was that I met up with someone I knew and she sort of grabbed me to say hello.

Madeleine

Saturday, 7 June 2008