A walk in the park

DollisValley 008
Originally uploaded by enrico_cadillac.

Considering that we are completely skint, we've had a splendid weekend. Most of the time has been chilling out in one form or another, but despite the overall lack of activity and dawning realisation that we need urgently to reduce expenditure, we have enjoyed ourselves.

Today, just because it was nice and there is a little bit of green to be had nearby, Miss Furtle and I went for a wander down into the Dollis Valley, which is that patch of greenery down the hill from where we live on the High Road, and through which the Northern Line, High Barnet Branch runs the last few miles of its course.

To prove that such a place exists, I attach a few photos on my Flickr account. Nothing too strenuous, simply there to show that there is a deal of green to be had in these parts if you only look for it. The drably named DollisValley 006 (nothing to do with a group of felons appealing a conviction) is not a picture of a tree with a deep shadow under it. The Dollis Brook is actually flowing around the tree and I took the picture in the hopes of showing that at least one stretch of running water in the metropolitan area does not have a stolen shopping trolley deposited in it.

Anyway, enjoy the picture of the 15.24 from Totteridge and Whetstone as it makes its way up to High Barnet.

This evening, we watched Doom on DVD. Oddly, not as bad as we'd feared and probably just about worth the £4 colonel_maxim paid for it. We followed that, much to the bemusement of ellefurtle with March of the Penguins. I think she is now, belatedly, convinced of the truth in the phrase "everybody loves penguins".

Oh well. To bed now, I guess.

This concludes my 16th cigarette-free day. The walk around the Dollis Valley would have been more fraught 17 days ago.

A walk in the park

DollisValley 008
Originally uploaded by enrico_cadillac.

Considering that we are completely skint, we've had a splendid weekend. Most of the time has been chilling out in one form or another, but despite the overall lack of activity and dawning realisation that we need urgently to reduce expenditure, we have enjoyed ourselves.

Today, just because it was nice and there is a little bit of green to be had nearby, Miss Furtle and I went for a wander down into the Dollis Valley, which is that patch of greenery down the hill from where we live on the High Road, and through which the Northern Line, High Barnet Branch runs the last few miles of its course.

To prove that such a place exists, I attach a few photos on my Flickr account. Nothing too strenuous, simply there to show that there is a deal of green to be had in these parts if you only look for it. The drably named DollisValley 006 (nothing to do with a group of felons appealing a conviction) is not a picture of a tree with a deep shadow under it. The Dollis Brook is actually flowing around the tree and I took the picture in the hopes of showing that at least one stretch of running water in the metropolitan area does not have a stolen shopping trolley deposited in it.

Anyway, enjoy the picture of the 15.24 from Totteridge and Whetstone as it makes its way up to High Barnet.

This evening, we watched Doom on DVD. Oddly, not as bad as we'd feared and probably just about worth the £4 colonel_maxim paid for it. We followed that, much to the bemusement of ellefurtle with March of the Penguins. I think she is now, belatedly, convinced of the truth in the phrase "everybody loves penguins".

Oh well. To bed now, I guess.

This concludes my 16th cigarette-free day. The walk around the Dollis Valley would have been more fraught 17 days ago.

Cutty Sark

Some bastard has burnt down the Cutty Sark!

Cutty Sark

Some bastard has burnt down the Cutty Sark!

You gotta laugh...

I wonder what the redundancy package was like....?

You gotta laugh...

I wonder what the redundancy package was like....?

Double Plus Ungood

I am vaguely surprised that no-one has picked up on the latest piece of statist nonsense to emerge from the rump Home Office. Now that they have been divested of any useful function by the creation of the ominously Napoleonic sounding Ministry of Justice, there is nothing to fill their time other than the continued pursuit of ID Cards and other bizarrely repressive ideas.

It is interesting and somehow ironic that the concept of justice has been surgically excised from the rump Home Office whilst responsibility for policing, immigration etc has stayed where it is. Lady Justice is blind, see, and separates out right and wrong with impartiality (not to be confused with the application of the law, as often it is, which is something else entirely). It doesn't always work, but at least the ideal is there behind the procedure. The rump Home Office no longer needs even to be squeamish in ignoring such a concept - that is the job of the Ministry of Justice, so they can start dedicating themselves whole heartedly to instruments that benefit the state rather than the individual.

Expect further pushes on the increasingly expensive and unwanted ID card scheme. It will become more closely linked (if possible) to passports, which are at least voluntary and subject to the entry requirements of foreign immigration services.

In the meantime, seemingly unnoticed in the detritus of other potential instruments of repression is this little gem. Council staff, charity workers and doctors could be required by law to tip off police about anyone they believe could commit a violent crime. Innocent until proven guilty? No, profiled into criminality more like, on the basis of hearsay and conjecture.

There's almost a Minority Report feel to it.

What happened to the country I was born in; where'd it go?

Double Plus Ungood

I am vaguely surprised that no-one has picked up on the latest piece of statist nonsense to emerge from the rump Home Office. Now that they have been divested of any useful function by the creation of the ominously Napoleonic sounding Ministry of Justice, there is nothing to fill their time other than the continued pursuit of ID Cards and other bizarrely repressive ideas.

It is interesting and somehow ironic that the concept of justice has been surgically excised from the rump Home Office whilst responsibility for policing, immigration etc has stayed where it is. Lady Justice is blind, see, and separates out right and wrong with impartiality (not to be confused with the application of the law, as often it is, which is something else entirely). It doesn't always work, but at least the ideal is there behind the procedure. The rump Home Office no longer needs even to be squeamish in ignoring such a concept - that is the job of the Ministry of Justice, so they can start dedicating themselves whole heartedly to instruments that benefit the state rather than the individual.

Expect further pushes on the increasingly expensive and unwanted ID card scheme. It will become more closely linked (if possible) to passports, which are at least voluntary and subject to the entry requirements of foreign immigration services.

In the meantime, seemingly unnoticed in the detritus of other potential instruments of repression is this little gem. Council staff, charity workers and doctors could be required by law to tip off police about anyone they believe could commit a violent crime. Innocent until proven guilty? No, profiled into criminality more like, on the basis of hearsay and conjecture.

There's almost a Minority Report feel to it.

What happened to the country I was born in; where'd it go?