Autumn leaves... well actually it's just arrived

Autumn is here, there is a nip in the air, but there are compensations. I love the colours of fall.







What I don't understand is why all these conkers are lying on the ground. Its sacrilege. When we were kids, we'd practically fight to get one of these in our hot little hands. We'd tread warily into gardens and throw sticks up into trees, getting caught many a time by irate homeowners. Once we'd gathered a few conkers, we'd pick a decent one and ferment the beastie in vinegar for a while, put a skewer through it without destroying it entirely and lastly rig a foot of string through the middle. We'd then have a sure fire winner when it came to the illegal school conker competitions. What gives these days? I never see anything like that. I need answers please....

Anybody out there?

Well change of pace today, in case any aliens are dropping in. On the left is a pictorial depiction of the Arecibo radio message beamed in to outer space in 1974. It will take 25000 light years to reach its destination and 25000 light years for any response to come back to earth. OK. I'm wondering if there will be anyone left down here to pick up the phone in 50000 years. I'm thinking of beaming this message to our local free newspapers providers as clearly they are from another planet.


On that subject, there is good news. There have been no free daily newspaper deliveries for a week in our neighbourhood, you'll be pleased to know. I don't think this has anything to do my complaints. I'm not privy to their littering strategy but I'm ready if they come back. Wow this picture is blurry, anyway I counted 16 newspaper boxes outside the blog station. In addition, each morning, there are at least five or six people trying to hand me a free newspaper. Some of them are getting a tad aggressive, jockeying each other to get in a good position in front of the commuters. The JimmyBlog distributor I chewed out the other week hasn't appeared for at least a week. I wonder if she has decided on an alternative occupation.

Steven hasn't been found. That's the young man who disappeared on the island of Crete without a trace on September 1st. Family and friends handed out 20,000 leaflets at a Liverpool soccer match to try and raise awareness. A lot of folks go to Crete on vacation so it was hoped it would jog someone's memory. It seems strange that he would vanish with no sign. There are rumours swirling around about aggressive security guards around Malia, the resort he was staying at. Apparently he is not the kind of person to do a runner. It turns out he was on a pub crawl the night he disappeared. A side of me is less sympathic when I read that but then I think that he's a young man, whose parents are going out of their minds with worry. It would be good to know what has happened to him.

One of my favourite websites is Craiglist, originally started in San Francisco but now available for numerous cities across the world. Its intended as a forum for people to connect, barter, exchange, you name it, without being bombarded with advertising content. I like its simple, easy to use format, with no frills. So for example if you want a lot of free pinecones in Nashville, a bicycle in Lima, or a printer with suspected feline damage in Milan, then this might be the place for you. It also has a best of section, though be warned, some of the entries in there are a tad raunchy. Ah, so that didn't stop you...!

I have taken down the rant about SPAM from my blog description as clearly a lot of the spam is automated, with no live person on the other end. I still nuke those spam comments with links as soon as I see them. I read some useful information about it on Wiki. Typically I get 3 or 4 for every posting, which although tiresome, is not that much of an inconvenience as I'm getting a dab hand at hitting the delete key.

STOP PRESS! I found an option in the blogger template settings which is word verification for comments, which hopefully will stop the automated spam comments. If you're leaving comments, this will involve a minor extra step, but hopefully will not be much of an inconvenience. Comments, as always, are very welcome.

So I haven't quite worked out what JimmyBlogs delivery schedule is because there are no new freebies on our street this morning. It looks like they are operating with one or two deliveries a week instead of everyday. There's lots of paper on the lawns and sidewalks but it has been worse, as sometimes we get a mass of McCardBoard wrappers and Kentucky Fried Horrors. As for this morning, we now have rain into the mix so we're looking at a soggy mess.

Crap came back, the very next day....

The free paper was delivered again this week. Same spot on the bottom of the path of all the houses on our street. I phoned the distribution line and left a polite message asking them to phone me back. Later in the morning, Minnie called from JimmyBlog paper and apologized for delivering it our house. Apparently the delivery driver had forgotten to bring his list of homes to ignore. Which explains why the paper is at the bottom of the path. They just throw it from the delivery van.

I launched into ways they could improve the litter situation. First, don't deliver the paper to anyone at all, ever. Strangely enough, Minnie didn't seem taken with that option. Second, put the paper through the mailslot rather than on the ground. As in, don't be lazy. Third, if there is already a paper on the ground, don't add another to the pile. Unfortunately that would require some common sense. Fourth, go round the neighbourhood and pick up stray papers on the road and sidewalk and be a good corporate citizen. Minnie, who has obviously been through customer service training, sympathized saying she'd feel the same if she lived on the street and said she would discuss all this with her manager. I suspect nothing much is going to change.

I asked what their distribution plans were, and somewhat surprisingly, she told me. JimmyBlogPaper is using our area as a six week trial, then they are going to move on and deliver to another area in the city. Ah so we are guinea pigs. Oink oink. We are in week two. Four weeks of bad litter to go. Unless, of course, I can think of a way to combat this. Biting the hand that feeds them might work. I am thinking of photographing the street with papers on it and sending them to the main advertiser. Suggestions on a postcard please....

I'm pleased to report that there have been no further freebie paper deliveries to our street since Wednesday. I'm not sure if my complaints had anything to do with it, but its good that JimmyBlog Paper has desisted, for now at least. We had a big windstorm last night and everything has been blown around. Chairs and plants on our deck got overturned. The street is rather littered with bits of rubbish today but it would have been far worse if there had been four days worth of newspapers on the sidewalks.

I've been following the story of Steven Cook, a university student from the UK who disappeared a week ago on the island of Crete. He went there with a group of friends but on the first night he never showed up back at his hotel in Malia on Crete and missed his flight home a week later. His bank account hasn't been touched, his money, passport remain at his hotel and apparently it would be completely out of character for him to disappear of his own accord. Now family members and friends of his have flown back to Crete to search for him, so far coming up emptyhanded. The holiday company has offered free flights from the UK for people wanting to help in the search. Some people have flown to Greece to help even though they don't know him. His brothers have been posting on a forum, giving the latest updates on their search for him, the ground they have covered, the people they have interviewed, but no clues have yet emerged as to where he is. I must admit it doesn't sound good. I've been impressed with the way family and friends and people completely unknown to Steven have rallied around to try to find him. I hope this story has a happy ending.

Quick post this morning. I was on a packed downward escalator yesterday when it screeched to a halt. People fell on the person in front and there were frightened screams. The frail elderly lady beside me produced some four letter words I'd not heard in a while. The escalator did not move again. The woman was in trouble as she usually doesn't do stairs. Ever so gingerly she took a step at a time, with a huge long line-up anxious to get past her but unable to do so. I stepped slowly in front of her, giving her encouragement as she was obviously upset and frightened of falling. Instantly the group behind were patient once they realized the situation and eventually she got to the bottom of the stairs. She smiled and joked, thanking people around her for helping. The crowd surged past her again, in a blinding hurry to get to their day jobs.

I've turned into a three headed monster. Yesterday morning I set off to work but I was stopped dead in my tracks by a newspaper lying on our path by the sidewalk. It was the JimmyBlog, one of those useless free daily newspapers which had been delivered to our house. Its never been delivered before. You pick up the paper at one of the numerous outlets round the city, if that's your cup of tea. I looked up and down the street. The paper was everywhere, on the sidewalk, on the lawn, not exactly hanging from the treetops, but you get the picture. Red rag to a bull or what? I fumed. This paper has a target audience aged six and 3/4 and we are not it.

I recycled the aforementioned litter on my way to work. Once in the office I looked up the name of the paper's distribution manager and sent him a polite e-mail describing the mess in the neighbourhood and stating that we did not want the paper delivered. There was no response. Free newspaper delivery was one of the main topics of conversation around the water cooler in the office. Some suggested mailing a whole pile of newspapers back to the paper, stamp free of course. Another was to approach Mr Jimmyblog directly as he works in the next building. Somehow I don't think they would allow me into his penthouse office suite.


This morning another paper was on the path, same place. Papers were on neighbours lawns, in the middle of the road, on the sidewalk, everywhere. There's an elderly lady a couple of doors down who never comes out the front door of her house as there are difficult steps. Lying on her path were two crumpled papers that she will never read, and she won't be able to pick them up. I grabbed one paper and brought it with me to the blogtrain station. Every day there are free newspaper distributors eager to hand you a copy as you enter the station. Often you have to run the gauntlet of jousting papers before you can actually get into the station. Today I gave JimmyBlog Distributor a paper before she could hand me one. And then, totally unfairly but I was steamed, I ranted about papers all over our street and asked what would be done about it. She shrugged and followed the Distributor's Rule 101 - do not engage in any confrontation with a crazy commuter.


Anyway I felt badly when I got on the train. Chewing someone out who is not to blame is not my thing. Still, I was mad. At work, I wrote again to the distribution manager detailing the worsening litter situation on our street and again asking for the paper delivery to be stopped, and demanding the courtesy of a reply. Finally later in the morning one of his minions wrote, apologizing for the mess, said they would clean it up and confirming they would not deliver it to our home. I thanked her. Now the problem is how I can prevent delivery of the newspaper to the entire neighbourhood, but I guess someone would suggest that is a suppression of rights, free speech or something. I'd prefer to save the trees.

I asked the distribution manager whether they intend to deliver on a daily basis to a large number of homes in the city but that question has so far gone unanswered. I imagine they are not keen to share their marketing strategy with the likes of me. They probably think I would take it straight to the local government. They would be dead right. But if the widespread daily goes ahaed, the other two freebies will probably follow, and the deteriorating litter situation will go off the scale.

Ok I know this is ridiculous and decadent but I am dedicating this blog posting solely to a pie. Exhibit A to the left to be precise. A group of friends gathered last night and for dessert this pie emerged.

ORIGINATOR
My friend, Sylvia was the creator. She's artistic and a fantastic cook.

COMPARISON TO MCDONALD'S APPLEPIE
I'm not even going to go there. There's no comparison.

SLICING
It cut like a dream, thankyou. Slices came and went and were demolished like there was no tomorrow.

TASTE
Strawberries and peaches in a deliciously tangy sauce, lying on a ginger biscuit base. Perfection.

COMMENTS BY THE DINNER GUESTS
"Oh my God! That is wonderful!"
"A thing of beauty!".
"Poetry should be written about a dessert such as this."

So to get on the blogtrain you have to walk over this message indicating quite firmly I would say, that you have to pay to ride the service. While there are more ticket inspectors these days, it is an honour system rather than there being any mechanism to force payment for tickets. Apparently it has been considered many times, but proved too expensive to retrofit. It constitutes a primary flaw in the transit system if you ask me. It would be great if everyone paid their way, unfortunately life is not like that.