Bird Bag Lady

She is over 70, looks respectable and she knows that what she is doing is against the law. Ok, her crime is not great - she feeds the birds.
Here in this seaside town, Seagulls are so used to being fed, that they often attack people holding and eating food. Pigeons mass and mess the town buildings. The edict has gone out. Do not feed the birds.
The "Bird Bag Lady" knows this. That is why she gets up early each morning to drive her green Nissan Micra to the Town Car Park, where she feeds the hoard of pigeons that wait for her. Then to the sea front gardens, to feed the seagulls. Lastly, she goes to Tesco, where another crowd of gulls know she is coming. She walks across the car park, trailing more bread from a hidden bag and then into the supermarket, to buy bread for the next day's round of feeding.
Sad or happy? I would not presume to know. It goes on daily. Oh yes - you can even see her on the Exmouth Webcam at about 7am.

Her name is lost - but her nose lives on. 

Driving me mad.

Yesterday I drove behind a gentleman along a quiet and far from narrow country rode. He kept his speed at between 20 to 25 miles per hour. I would have liked to overtake him, but it was never quite safe to do so. After about 15 minutes of following him at this speed, I felt a sense of frusration building up, but was not rude enough to display it. However, as we reached the outskirts of town and a 30 mph limit, he increased his speed to 40 mph. I sent him a thought message of intense disrespect.

The Power of Innuendo.

We are so used to not quite believing everything that people say, that we have almost gone to the extreme of believing the opposite of what they say.
If you think I am exaggerating, just try telling a falsehood by prefacing it in a serious voice with the words "there is absolutely no truth in the rumour that..." The rumour will then spread like wildfire.
The other day someone was telling me about their child winning a gold medal for maths. They asked me if our son had won a medal. In replying that maths was one thing that he did not excel in, I managed to imply that in all other subjects he was a genius!
How does this sound? "I sped down the road in my blue opalescent convertible with the hood down." Did you understand that I ran down the road with my blue plastic raincoat open and the hood down?
The possibilities for misinformation are boundless.

Public Servant Interest.

Throughout history there have always been cases where those who hold public office look after themselves first. We fondly assume that such persons are in a minority and we always hope that most people holding office are honest.
Despite this, we do get insights of some murky doings, where some public servants display an unseemly interest in advancing their own personal causes.
Amongst politicians the names Aitkin, Mandelson and Blunkett spring easily to mind. In each case, we are far from sure how much indirect influence they have asserted.
Even in local politics, there are examples which leave us wondering whether individual cases are totally impartial. If for example a councillor is developing his of her own property and is on the planning committee, this is not illegal. They take no part in the deliberations pertaining to their own planning application. It is however, far from ideal. We are left wondering about indirect fraternal bias.