Day 2: a picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest

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Well, I’ve been close to a lot of people, some of them longer than I’ve known my dear wife, but she is without doubt the one I am currently closest to, and that should last a lifetime even if other friendships fade away.

So really, she is the only one I can include in today’s picture.


That said, I have included the top of Middle Godson’s head just to show that we are looking at something and not just demurely casting our eyes downward. He’s on my Facebook friend list and I’ll be interested to see if he remembers where this was taken …

30 day photo challenge – day 1

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Here’s the rules:

And so here’s the picture for Dee Wurn, me (last summer in Gothenburg) with ten facts (presumably about myself).

  1. According to Chinese astrology I am a snake dominated by wood. I don’t believe a word of it, which is typical of us Aquarians.
  2. I’m a Belfast child, though you might have difficulty believing this if we ever met.
  3. Of my father’s three best mates in his early army days, two were selected as my godfathers and the third became a multi-millionaire. Nice call, Dad.
  4. My first school was Hampton Dene primary school, Hereford.
  5. My first professional sale was “Digital Cats Come Out Tonight”, to the anthology Digital Dreams, ed. David V. Barrett, 1991.
  6. 1 September this year will be my decimal birthday – 17,000 days!
  7. My grandfather fought at Kohima, of which fact I am dead proud.
  8. If there can be too much chocolate in my life, I have yet to reach that stage.
  9. I have never met the Queen, the Pope or the President of the USA. I have however shaken hands with Richard Dawkins and have a dedicated copy of Tom Baker’s autobiography.
  10. I am a Christian.

Political pensées

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I’m currently feeling quite well disposed towards our elected representatives in Westminster so I thought I’d mention it while it lasts.

There are of course drawbacks as well. Things like the expenses scandal are just background noise by now: no, current reservations centre around the Hoff’s new buddy.

  • Guess what – he’s making the rich richer. He is not an evil man and he’s not doing it for the sheer thrill of putting money into his friends’ pockets. Thatcher was motivated by spite and ideology in equal part; with Dave it’s just ideology, sadly misplaced. He is sincere in his belief that everyone benefits by making the rich richer, just as his predecessor but one was sincere in his belief that you can create paradise on earth with a web of ever more restricting legislation on every aspect of human affairs that will be perfect if everyone only obeys it in exactly the spirit they’re meant to. And they’re both equally wrong.
  • The Big Society: see above. Lovely idea and fine in a world where everyone is as Dave would like them to be. Which they’re not, as brilliantly put by Philip Pullman in a speech mostly about libraries but covering other bases too.

At the moment that’s still more plus points than minuses, which is a nice feeling.