Busy, Busy, Busy...

10:59 AM

Been a busy week or so. My brother came to stay and we've been doing DIY stuff like crazy. Wired in a new shower, a new water-heater, built cupboards, bought (but not yet fitted) guttering, tiled the living room fireplace in preparation for a wood-burning stove, painted, drunk wine and beer, played guitar...

I'm knackered!

Dave's gone home now, so I'm gradually settling back into my normal routine - one aspect of which is writing this blog.

We stuck a few vids on YouTube while he was here. Anyone interested can see them here.

I'm Not A Number - I'm A Free Man With Internet Access!

06:21 AM

When I was a kid back in the late 1960s I fell in love with a UK TV series called The Prisoner. It was filmed in a unique Welsh village called Portmeirion, which was designed and constructed by a guy called Williams-Ellis between 1925 and 1975.

It's a wonderful place, incorporating fragments of demolished buildings, including works by a number of other architects. Portmeirion has been noted as an influence on the development of Postmodern architecture in the late twentieth century.

I spent much of yesterday wandering through the place with my sister and brother-in-law, and all kinds of vague memories from the TV series kept trying to surface. Through the wonders of You Tube I was able to refresh my memory when we got back to the converted chapel in which we're staying (many thanks to Alex Keegan for that).

YouTube Video of The Prisoner

Pics Taken Yesterday

I love the fact that the technology now exists to make these exotic trips down memory lane so much easier.

Fill Me Up With The Energy of Chi & Prana...

11:54 AM

My thoughts about Pleasant Shivering led to a long chat elsewhere on the net about various aspects of New Age and Eastern philosophies.

Someone said they get these shivers, too - but they get them when doing Kundalini Yoga.

This morphed into a long discussion about 'energy' - and I said I'm sceptical about the various misuses of the term 'energy' I find scattered throughout the literature relating to meditation.

Someone said it was just a word, and words evolve. They used the example of 'blue' and noted its various meanings.

Now, I have no problem with using a word like 'blue' to describe colour, mood, or a style of music. Nobody can manipulate others by expanding the meaning of 'blue'.

But the concept denoted by the word 'energy' - when used correctly - is in a different class.

People are frequently manipulated by the sellers of New Age (and Old Age) 'energy fields' because they have no real understanding of what energy is.

An understanding of 'energy' - as used in physics - opens doors that lead to a deep understanding of how the physical universe functions. I think anything that muddies that potential understanding by reducing the explanatory power of the word is a Bad Thing.

01:46 PM

Recorded and YouTubed a new song: Thanksgiving Eve

Pleasant Shivers Down the Spine

11:18 AM

I think most people will know what I mean when I talk about the sensation of a pleasant shiver running down the spine. Nothing to do with being cold - everything to do with a welcome release of tension.

In my own case, these were always very rare - as in once a year if I was lucky. But since I started meditating (and especially since I started calming the Thought Monkeys) I'm getting these shivers several time a day.

I wondered about the physical cause of such shivers, and I assumed there'd be lots of info on the Net, but all I can find is an article on something called Post-Micturation Convulsion Syndrome!

Post-micturition convulsion syndrome, also colloquially known as piss shivers or pee shivers, is a phenomenon in which one feels a shiver running down the spine following urination. The shiver can produce a brief twitch, which is a form of myoclonus. It should not be confused with post-micturition syncope, a feeling of faintness following passing urine.

To date, despite years of discussion and theorizing, there is no agreed-on explanation of the phenomenon and no medical research into it. However, it has been mentioned occasionally in columns, and in one Internet poll, where about 83% of males and 58% of females reported experiencing it. By 6 Jul 2007, more than 24,000 males and more than 1,200 females had responded to the poll on the syndrome.

Not what I'm talking about at all. I don't think I've ever experienced that one - although I live in hope.

Anyone got info on the physiological casuses of Pleasant Shivering?

Spam in the Wind

09:55 AM

According to my morning crop of email spam, the secret of happiness and success with women is simple: I just need to buy whatever it is they're trying to sell and it will give me a far more impressive penis. An additional three inches, no less.

Wow. I'd be a four-inch super-stud, then.

Windy and wet today, so I shall huddle away in my cabin and try to get some writing done. Suppose I ought to put a little effort into my Tame Your Computer business, too. No new clients for ages. A Ravenscroft Ad Campaign (i.e. cards in Post Office Windows) would seem to be in order.

11:31 AM

Can't put it off any longer. Gonna have to walk the dog, get shopping etc. I love rural isolation, but there are times (especially wet, windy times) when I wish the nearest shop was a little closer than 2.5 miles...

06:24 PM

Took Kate the Dog to the vet this afternoon. She's going into kennels next month, so she needed a booster for kennel cough. New vet, and Kate didn't take to her. I'm ashamed to say she had to be muzzled!

I have a Football Hooligan for a dog.

Daddy Jack

12:26 PM

Enough dog talk. A little Dad talk instead, on this fine, grey, September afternoon.

Two reasons: one, I bumped into an old chap with his dog this morning. He reminded me of my father - the man, not the dog. Similar eyes. And two, I was chatting to my sister (that's her on Dad's lap) through the wonders of FaceBook yesterday. He came up in the conversation and we both said how much we missed him.

He died in 1999.

April, I think.

Just looked at my old diary for 1999. There are only three entries!

11/04/99 - Dad died.

03/05/99 11:06 - Just heard the first cuckoo.

06/05/99 - Paid £8,000 off the mortgage.

Not big on diaries, me.

We called him Daddy Jack. His name was John - John Edward Ravenscroft - but we called him Daddy Jack. As human beings go, he was one of the better ones. Not perfect, but a decent man with a good heart and a working brain.

That pic must have been taken in 1954 or 1955. I know, because my mother is sitting next to him and I'm on her lap.

How old am I here? Nine months? If so, that would make this January 1955.

God, old photographs.

Ain't life strange?

Dad used to say: 'The lesson to learn in life is this: Be Content...'

He was right - but I don't think he ever quite managed it himself.

Me? I'm working on it.

01:53 PM

Just seen this (thanks, Hazera). Art from the cardboard inner tubes of toilet rolls! Love it!

Running For The Joy Of It

12:58 PM

More dog thoughts. Live dog, this time. Kate the Lurcher.

She doesn't always shift into top gear, but during our walk this morning she decided to have a two minute crazy run - up and down the path we were on at full speed. I've learned not to move to the side when she does this. Stay still and she'll miss you, but if you try to step out of the way there's a good chance she'll take your legs from under you and you'll be flat on your back.

Like all lurchers, she usually looks miserable, but when she's crazy-running there's an expression of complete joy on her face. Lovely to see. Running for no reason. Running for the joy of it.

Dogs could teach us a thing or two, I reckon. How many people do anything at all for the sheer joy of doing it? Unless we're very young kids, we never crazy-run. We just plod on, getting done what we have to get done (or failing to get it done).

Sad.

03:37 PM

Recorded a new song.