Boggis

I have been troubled by the name Boggis for some time.
I had grown used to the fact that, in Hackney, small children would walk past me, in the winter especially when I allowed my beard to grow, and mutter
"...it is init, Father Christmas?"
However, when I walked into, one, of our locals in Suffolk and ordered a pint of bitter there was a silence and some sniggering and the telling phrase; -
"it is 'im init?"

'im was Boggis - who, allegedly, had done something to the coastline which was regarded by God, the established church and the planning authorities as unnatural.

I never ventured further. I have a delicate constitution and suffer as you know from extreme paranoia and nervous dyspepsia.

Now, any wavering faith in the name Boggis has been dispelled by the excellent and highly commendable John Boggis QC, I noticed in the Grauniad.

He is reported as dismissing a prosecution for theft brought by DEFRA against a Ms Tree-Hillman for ".. brown chantrelles worth £28"

How so,when the aforemetioned dam was caught yellow handed, as it were?

The case was, according to the Grauniad, dismissed on the grounds of pettiness as Boggis claimed he was there to try muggers and drug dealers not ladies who pick mushrooms!

The article, by Peter Marren, points to other aspects of fungal cropping on an idustrial scale which may cause problems, but it does reassure me that there is good in Boggis!

Amigos, Paz y Amistad

So then Uncle Fidel, been a bit poorly lately.
Well it catches up with us all, believe me. You'll just have to cut down those interminable speeches.

You may not remember but I did say hello 25 years ago.
I still have the poster: -

No los olvidaremos, queridos y entranables amigos.

I will not forget you but I'm not sure how the rest of them will remember.


I have to admit I was, as is frequently the case, under the affluence of incahol.
The best Cuban rum I have ever tasted before or since.
I was wandering around the park in Habana quite happy and mellow and there you were.
In the front seat of a jeep, surrounded by oficionarios and guardespaldas.
As I waved and said hello one of the said guardespaldas picked me up bodily, gently and with no malice, and set me down out of the path of the jeep.

Although I probably only weighed 95 kg at the time and had only reached the height of 1.82m
your man had no difficulty in moving me out of harms way.

I wish you well in recovery. Perhaps you have done evil in your life and you don't have the benefit, like Che, of dying a hero before the hard bit. I do think you have done some good in the world.

Who knows how long it would have taken to defeat apartheid without Cuba's intervention!

No los olvidaremos querido y entranable amigo.

Trees 1

Justus ut palma florebit ; sicut cedrus Libani multiplicabitur.
Psalm 91: 13, 14 for Catholics;
Psalm 92:11-13 for followers of King James;
for we are nothing if not sectarian.

Cedars and just men seem to be in short supply in the area at the moment.

The horror of what is happening is beyond belief but reinforced daily by pictures and reports.
To put a further emphasis on the obscenity I hear the drone of planes daily to and from Mildenhall.

Where is Masefield's Quninquireme now.
Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine?
I doubt its cargo would contain ivory, apes and peacocks,
Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine.

It does not make a difference if a child's life is cut short by what comes out of a Katyusha or an F16 or if it just dies of starvation and terror. It is still a smaller, meaner and more terrible world when that happens.

Somebody makes these weapons, sells them and uses them!

Banana Straits and Level Seas

OK! Jokes about bananas aside, there was a recent story in the Grauniad to suggest that EC regulation may not be all bad.

It seems clear to me, when sober anyway, that the way to a calm sea and a prosperous voyage is to start at sea level.

The bloody Belgians and nasty Netherlanders could not agree.

Inspire (www.ec-gis.org/inspire/), a European directive, seeks to end the situation in which neighbouring countries cannot make plans to deal with common issues because their national geographical databases do not line up. These differences can be as basic as the height of sea level. For example, notes Dr Max Craglia of the European commission's joint research centre in Ispra, Italy, there is a two-metre difference between Belgium and the Netherlands in the official height of low tide - essential data for flood prevention.

Michael Cross, Thursday July 27, 2006, makes the point that, of course, the perfidious Brits are trying to kill this at birth!

Obviously what the Brits want is a measure of compromise and the bloody Belgians have to drop the height of low tide by 1 metre and the nasty Netherlanders have to raise their sights and sea level by 1 metre; or make that 39.37 inches if you would.

I see the Commissioner for Sea Level in the distance festooned by white pullovers, hats and wrap around sun glasses, crying -
"Over"!

Is it time for tea already?