An empty void

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Los Picos de Europa

The village of Arenas de Cabrales

A vulture rides the thermals

Cares Gorge

Pictures by Frank Thomson

Farewell to Pugwash…(and Seaman Staines and Master Bates)

On hearing that the cartoonist John Ryan, best known as the creator of the popular childrens cartoon series Captain Pugwash passed away on 22nd July at the ripe old age of 88 I was reminded of that old well-travelled urban myth from the late 1980s/early ’90s.   According to this myth Captain Pugwash was laden with sexual innuendo and included characters with double entendre names like Seaman Staines, Master Bates and Roger the cabin boy.  Totally untrue, but quite widely believed.

According to his obituary  in the Guardian Ryan was a devoutly religious man with conservative views who preferred the old style traditional Latin mass and was a regular contributor to the Catholic Herald newspaper.  So it’s not surprising that wasn’t happy about the slandering of his creations in this way and got his lawyers to order the papers which published these scurrilous falsehoods to issue a full retraction. 

Still, it was funny though.

Alright then, mildly amusing.

Darts is shite

There are certain sports that I firmly believe shouldn’t be shown on TV. This isn’t necessarily just sports I don’t like though. I don’t like cricket for instance, but I don’t object to it being on the TV. There’s a certain passion to it and a cause that people can sympathise with in supporting their team – watching the skill of a batsman hitting the ball for six – or a fielder diving from a diffcult angle to catch the ball and end the batsman’s session – or a fast bowler toppling the stumps.

Darts on the other hand is an abomination which has none of the passion or excitement of other sports. I’m not getting into the old argument of whether or not darts should be classified as a sport. Whether it’s a sport or not is irrelevant. Dog-fighting and bear-baiting are no doubt considered sports by their followers, but that doesn’t mean they should be on TV. Darts is basically a pub game which has somehow found its way on to our TV screens. Who wants to watch tattooed beer-bellied neaderthals throwing aerodynamic nails at a rubber circle in between downing pints in one go?

Besides there are much more interesting events going on at your local that would make excellent TV. Why not make Pissed-Bloke-Trying-to-Chat-Up-Busty-Barmaid a sport and start a world championship in it? Why not have Pissed Bloke Throwing Up In The Urinal of the Bogs a sport? An international championship in Pissing on the Soap Ball in the urinal to see how far it dissolves? How about the Two-Drunken-Slappers-Fighting Tooth-and-Nail-After-One-Accused The-Other-Of-Eyeing-Her-Bloke Masters live from the Red Lion sponsored by WKD?

Admittedly if there were world championships in these pursuits certain countries would have distinct unfair advantages.

Still, it’s worth the suits at the BBC/ITV/RTE/Sky/Setanta discussing it over the boardroom table.

Phrases like “bullseye”, “treble 20″ and “180!” could take on a whole new meaning.

An unsuccessful phishing expedition

I received the following e-mail, despite never having had an account at this bank:

Dear LloydsTSB Online Account Holder During our usual security enhancement protocol, we observed multiple login attempt error while login in to your online LloydTSB account.

We have believed that someone other than you is trying to access your account For security reasons,we have temporarily suspend your account and your access to online banking and will be restricted if you fail to update.

Please click on the reference below to initiate the verification process and re-confirm your membership details.

https://www.lloydstsb.com/customer.ibc?action=update#2

Thank You.

LloydsTSB Online

They haven’t cod me out, but I suppose there’s plenty more gullible phish in the sea, who will swallow this hook, line and sinker.  When they find out they’ve been had they’ll be gutted.  Not a very interesting blog post, but I did it just for the halibut. 

America Awaits…While the World lives in Hope

With just over a week to go before America decides on the next occupant of the White House, it looks like Obama’s victory is in the bag.  After the unmitigated disaster in Iraq and the financial crisis in full swing the country is ready for change.

It seems that Citizen McCain’s biggest mistake has been his choice of running mate.  Palin, despite her obvious appeal to the ordinary worker and moose hunter is – it’s fair to say – not the sharpest tool in the box.  What was little more than an attempt to win over disenfranchised Hillary Clinton supporters is backfiring on the Republicans.

Meanwhile, on the subject of Republicans and Obama’s alleged connections with terrorists, the PSNI should note that he seems to have inside knowledge of the Belfast Northern Bank robbery:

“let’s help families right away by providing them a tax cut — a middle-class tax cut for people making less than $200,000, and let’s allow them to access their IRA accounts without penalty if they’re experiencing a crisis.”

Cue eerie, deathly silence punctuated by the swoosh of tumble weeds in the whistling wind and the distant clanging of a funeral bell…I’ll get my coat.  Not even Joe the plumber would find that one funny.  Still, better than your average Dylan Moran gag.
 
With the economic gloom engulfing the world like 1992 all over again, (when significantly a Democratic, with a first name beginning with B was elected to replace an outgoing president called Bush – deja-vu perhaps?) the presidential elections have taken something of a backseat on this side of the Atlantic.  

Still, whatever critiscisms can be levelled at Obama, at least he’s interesting and intelligent – and after eight long years of its outgoing occupant the world needs someone interesting and intelligent in the White House...

 

Sarah Palin - has this vice presidential campaign ceased to be?

 Or better still – Palin to insignificance?  A whiter shade of Palin?  Cue eerie silence, etc, etc…

 

 

Freebies and the Sunday papers

Hardly a week goes by these days without one of the Sunday papers giving away a free CD, DVD, book or squirrel. I must admit that I do take advantage of these offers to the extent that I end up buying papers like the Mail or News of the World which I would never usually touch with a bargepole let alone read. In fact my Sunday morning trip to the newsagents now consists of a perusal through the press where I decide on what paper to buy on the strength of the freebie it happens to be giving away. Many of these free gifts end up in the charity shop eventually as once I’ve had my fill of listening to the CD or watching the DVD I have no further use for them. However, as I type these words, in the background I can hear the strains of Nigel Kennedy’s violin playing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, courtresy of a free CD in one of yestereday’s rags. I’m no expert or conoissuer of classical musical, but I have a particular fondness for Vivaldi after either reading or hearing something on the radio to the effect that his music helps stimulate creative thinking.  For the record (no pun intended), Pavarotti, Blondie, The Stranglers, Ray Davies and Peter Gabriel have al made their way into my CD collection via the Sunday press. However I’ve also accumulated a backlog of DVDs over the years which I struggle to find the time to watch. Menzel’s Closley Observed Trains, Lang’s Metropolis, Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much, Wargnier’s Indochine, Halstrom’s My Life as a Dog, the news events of 1978, Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin and Galton & Simpson’s Hancock’s Half Hour/Steptoe & Son all await with baited breath. But no doubt I’ll be scouring the newsagents next weekend to see what delights lie in store. It’s becoming almost like an addiction.

A new experimental post

Just testing.

For older material by this author, please visit the original Dreaming Arm by clicking here.