The legend of Gelert

It's Wales's most famous legend. The story of Gelert the Dog.

I was reminded of the story just recently, and will relate it here for the benefit of those who may not know of it.

In the 13th C, Prince Llewelyn the Great, of Caernarvonshire, was renowned as a great hunter, he would go hunting daily.

On one such occasion he called for his dogs, but his favourite 'Gelert' did not appear. Llewelyn went off hunting regardless.

When he returned to his castle, Gelert came bounding over to greet him, but Llewelyn saw that he was covered in blood. Fearing the worst he rushed to his one-year-old son's bedroom and found the walls dripping in blood, with no sign of his son.

He at once came to the conclusion that Gelert had savaged and killed the small boy, and immediately drew his sword and killed his beloved dog with a single strike through his heart.

It was when the dog was making his final pained death howls that Llewelyn heard the faint cry of a child. He found his son lying under his upturned cot, and lying by his side was a giant dead Wolf.

It soon became obvious that Gelert had killed the Wolf who had been trying to savage the small boy. Gelert had bravely saved his young son's life.

The distraught Llewelyn was so upset that he buried his beloved Gelert outside his castle walls, and raised a large cairn over the dog's grave so that the people of the village could see what a brave dog he had been, and also to express his own remorse.

That's it; the legend of Gelert!

 

Complete bloody madness

 

I mentioned yet again, recently, about our Chagos Islands, after President Tru*p pointed out how stupid Starmer is being.

The UK owns some strategically important islands in the British Indian Ocean, which the Socialists want to give to Mauritius, along with a golden handshake of £35 Billion. Yes, you DID read that correctly, but do feel free to read it again if incredulous.

Mauritius is well known to be a China friendly country; and the Chinese are obviously very happy.

It has also been revealed that Starmer has given the go-ahead to Communist China to build a HUGE MEGA-Embassy in the heart of London's financial district (below). They already have an enormous embassy in Portland Place, London W1, so why do they need another even bigger one? For heaven's sake; just look at the bloody size of it. It's the size of a small town!

We hear that there are to be all sorts of 'secret underground rooms'. When the plans were submitted along with the planning application, did no-one ask what these secret rooms were for?

Foreign embassies serve several purposes. They look after the interests of their own nationals, they hope to improve trading links, and they gather information. Foreign diplomats are also afforded special dispensations.

Now that this dreadful decision has been made, it only remains to be seen who will be building this vast edifice (if, in fact, it does go ahead). Will they bring over their own builders and do everything in secret, or will British builders be involved?

China has already 'bought' much of Africa, and it won't be too long before they are doing the same in the UK. Does it come as any surprise that Starmer is wanting to end the production of Petrol/Diesel cars, and is encouraging us to buy EV's instead; knowing that by far the majority of these cars come from China!

As with the Chagos Islands saga, the British people are HORRIFIED at this extremely dangerous decision. I, along with so many others, have serious doubts about Starmer's loyalties.

Tru*p may be wrong about many things, but on the subject of The Chagos Islands and the new Chinese Embassy, he is absolutely RIGHT. Even MI5 agrees with him!

Starmer will visit China at the end of the month! Hmmm.

Spirits

When I left school, I was summoned to The Headmaster's study, and, along with a few fellow leavers, was given a short lecture on 'life after school', etc.

He gave us two particular pieces of advice, the second (I won't mention the first) of which was NOT to drink spirits, as they should be regarded as 'medicine', and should be reserved for later in life when such things might be needed!

Well, I have followed his advice (plus the one I won't mention), and have restricted my alcohol intake to moderate amounts of Beer and Wine.

However, these days I have found myself drinking tiny amounts of either Single Malt Whiskey, or more often Rum. Just a thimble-full before bed.

We do also have quite a collection of Gins in the house. Not my tipple at all, but I'm pleased to see that there's a bottle of Brighton Gin amongst them. These are mostly reserved for Lady M's Friday Night Girl's Club Gin Parties.

I think most of the spirits in this house, are used for culinary purposes. I don't think anyone actually drinks either Cognac or Armagnac, but the bottles seem to empty quickly enough; especially around Christmas.

In France I have several bottles of 'Eau de Vie'. People make far too much (illicitly) and give it to friends, who tuck it away at the back of cupboards, waiting for the day when they need to clean some old tarnished brass. It's lethal stuff, and comes either made from Grapes, Plums, or Pears. It's best use is (diluted) for preserving Prunes or Greengages. Otherwise.... DANGER!

It's a bit dark and miserable at the moment, so I might well have a tiny tot of Captain Morgan tonight..... CHEERS.

 

Water water everywhere, nor any drop...

The Waitrose Supermarket that I visit is positioned very close to the Hove Greyhound Stadium, in fact I have to go past the stadium on my way out.

For the past year or so, this big blue 'SpotlessWater' container/dispenser has been positioned outside the stadium, but I have yet to see anyone use it.

You may have heard about the trouble they've had in Tunbridge Wells and East Grinstead, with their water having been turned off for weeks. South East Water have messed up the system, and residents have been given bottled water instead. If you have no way of collecting rain water, or have no access to a stream, then bottled water would have been your only way to flush the loo, as well everything else. Luckily here in Brighton we have Southern Water, and are not affected.

So, what is this SpotlessWater that one can buy for between 4.3p and 6.3p per litre?

Well, the answer has to be; I have no idea. Yes, it's probably been filtered or zapped with UV light, but what is the point. A few impurities in the water probably does us more good than harm (as long as they're not Russian impurities).

Personally I want my water to be 'drinkable', with no taste of wet dog, or showing the colour of mud. It should be transparent, and tasteless, with (hopefully) all serious impurities removed.

In France we have Spring Water, and we are issued with a Water Purity certificate, so that we know that it's as pure as possible, yet we still see lots of people buying masses of very expensive bottled water (which are probably filled from a tap elsewhere). 

As long as it still flows from the tap, I shall keep drinking the water I pay for. I certainly won't be buying SpotlessWater, or those expensive plastic bottles at Sainsbury's or Leclerc.

 

Where your money goes!

                        "I know, let's give £18 Billion to Mauritius".

It wouldn't be quite so funny if it wasn't true! This is £257 per man, woman, and child UK resident that we're giving to Mauritius. And, of course, we're throwing-in our sovereign Chagos Islands as well.

We all know how stupid this gift to Mauritius is; other, of course, that the Socialists.

Even Tru*p knows how stupid it is, and has made his feelings known. Maybe Starmer will now see the light, and scrap this very very very silly idea.

Tru*p may be wrong about many things, but he's right about this!

 

Men in Tights

I have said it many times; I am a very liberal thinking person, and have nothing against men dressing as women, or women dressing as men. Here in Brighton such things are a part of everyday life.

I'm not familiar with the magazine 'Glamour UK', but I imagine it's a fashion mag' similar to many others. This front cover popped-up on my news-feed, and celebrated their 'Women of the Year'.

The only thing they failed to mention on the cover, was that none of the 'Dolls' is a woman.

It might seem a trivial thing to many, but I'm not sure what message this gives to genuine 'biological women', who have recently seen their gender being debased at the toss of a coin.

Teenage girls and young women are much more aware of their gender and attractiveness than their male counterparts. They are body conscious in a way that males aren't. To be female is actually 'important', whereas to be male is just 'blokey'.

So why would a fashion magazine, who's readership I imagine is 99% female, put a bunch of cross-dressers on their front page cover, and refer to them as 'Women of the Year'? It doesn't make sense, and at worst it is insulting.

Gender has been under attack from the dungaree-wearing, do-gooder, snowflake, wokey-folk for some while. They really don't like the idea of distinct genders. In fact I imagine that 'Chromosomes' are viewed as the enemy.

I now see that the all female Newnham College in Cambridge has fallen prey to the wokey-folk, and are allowing cross-dressers to enter their once sacred single-gender halls. At the same time I hear that nurses at a Darlington hospital have won their case about having to share 'changing facilities' with a cross-dresser. Just occasionally the cause fails, then in return it occasionally advances.

I don't wish to enter the ins and outs of very rare hermaphroditic genders, but why can't we return to the days when cross-dressers didn't claim to have genuinely changed sex (which is impossible anyway). They just enjoyed their preferences, wore women's clothes, and we all accepted it.

 

More unfinished work.

I've just been up in the loft; or, I tried to get up into the loft!

There are things I need to find, but it was impossible for me to get further than the top step of the ladder.

However, I did find this unfinished portrait of my daughter Tenpin. So many of my family portraits are unfinished; presumably because the sitters were too impatient.

I also found a painting of Lady M, which contained 'sections' that I really liked. The hands were particularly nice, as well as some of the overall painting. I hadn't seen the picture for years, and had forgotten how 'satisfactory' it was. I might bring it down, and photograph some of the best bits.

I am trying to devise a plan for the loft, using the rafters on either side to create shelves, which would house all the junk, and leave an empty aisle down the middle. It's do-able, but not (I fear) by me.

Something MUST be done, it's a nightmare up there; and it's filled with stuff that I value!