Rambling to the shops

The other day the sundial in Exeter's Cathedral Close didn't allow for British Summer Time but otherwise was spot on. But what do you do on a day like today when it's dull and raining?

I really dislike AAA batteries. Almost everything I own uses AA batteries. Even on holiday I have enough spare and rechargeable AAs to fill a suitcase. But I don't carry spare AAAs. And that, I have just discovered, is what the mouse for my laptop uses. And it's raining. What is the relevance of that last comment? It means I'm going to get wet taking a trip to the shops. Ah well. I needed a lettuce any way!


It's funny the things that pop into your mind at odd moments. I was talking to myself as I flicked through making notes from a book. (What do you mean you don't talk to yourself - how weird is that?) One of the notes was on page 123 and into my mind jumped:-

One, two three mother caught a flea;
Put it in the tea-pot, made a cup of tea.
The flea jumped out; Mother did shout;
And in came Dad with his shirt hanging out.

To my surprise Daughter-who-takes-photos had never heard this nursery rhyme. I wonder if a number of the old nursery rhymes are gradually dying out as we fail to pass them on.

I don't know how I got there but I ended up on a myspace page for Solveig's music yesterday. I'm impressed. I thoroughly enjoyed 'Draumur n 2' - the first piece of music that came on - and was then led on to other music sites like Eponym's 'Sans Fin Vers La Lumiere'. I hadn't realised there was so much wonderful free music on the internet. Yes, I know, I'm a bit slow to catch on.


Friend-who-loves-Otters has gone off to Washington and the Bahamas to give talks on the environment. How else do you start such a journey than in an eco-friendly taxi? Unfortunately, while the taxi was on time the plane wasn't and he was still stuck in Bristol airport five and a half hours after the proposed take-off time with no chance of catching his onward flight from New York to Washington. Fortunately he had allowed himself time for such an eventuality but a night in New York had not been on his agenda!

Meanwhile, aliens have landed in Macclesfield, Cheshire. They are brown skinned with beautiful green markings, have long tails and lizard-like faces. (Actually they haven't just landed - they have been there for six years living in a garden. ) Scientists have given them the name Triturus marmoratus and if you want to see what they look like you can visit Andy Harmer's page.

Alternatively, below, there is a sneak preview courtesy of Clara Cartier (2006) whose image is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 License. (In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of the file under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license identical to this one. Official license.)


Marbled Newt (Triturus marmoratus)

P.S. For the first few hours of this posting Ian was described as Fiend-who-loves-Otters - Nothing personal, honest!