Thursday, December 31, 2009

Happy New Year...


As promised in my last post, here I am back before the new year to wish everyone all the best for 2010.
I hope the new decade brings you health, wealth and happiness.
I'm off to my brother's house tonight with Mrs RToK for a suitably modest libation and convivial company. Whatever you are doing, I hope you have fun - as I propose to do - and get home safely.
See you all next year.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Merry Christmas to one and all...



May I take this opportunity to wish my readers, whether regular, occasional or even accidental, a very merry Christmas. I hope it brings you everything you hope for.

I'll be back before the New Year, if only to mark that occasion, but in the meantime, all the shopping's done (well, all that's going to be done, anyway!), so it's time to have some fun, indulge myself in various different ways (mainly eating and drinking) and most importantly, to spend some time with Mrs RToK and the family.

See you all soon.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Kevin Myers on mob mentality and hypocrisy...

By way of a gentle reintroduction to my ramblings, I've once again linked to an article by the ever-excellent Kevin Myers of the Irish Independent, in which he lampoons both the bloodlust of the (Irish) mob - it could just as easily be an English one, frankly - and the hypocrisy of those criticising middle-aged white men as sexual bigots.

Spot on, as always.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Incongruity...



This is the main gate at Her Majesty's Prison in Preston. As I was driving past it the other evening on my way home, my eye was drawn to the pictured section of it by the presence of three sets of festive lights, two of which - each easily three feet or more in height - were flashing the words 'Merry Christmas' intermittently in gaudy red neon. As far as I could ascertain, the third, central montage appeared to depict a reindeer, or something similarly seasonal.

HMP Preston is a Category B prison, situated on the periphery of the city centre. Is it just me, or is the presence of these lights, charming as they were, not just a little out of place at the front gate of a penal institution such as that?

Just a thought...