“whiff it tae me, whiff it tae me an ah’ll whuff it back again.”

Translated:

whiff, whuff: drive or carry by blowing.

“Blow it to me, blow it to me and I’ll blow it back again.”

Cast iron baths. I owned one not too long ago. How big and heavy they were.

Modern plastic one’s are small and may save on water but are not even half the fun.

The plastic canoe is a memory of a toy I had in the days when a bath seemed the size of a swimming pool to me. Before domestic central heating.

Cosy bath times in the winter back then were accompanied by the smell of paraffin – from the heater.

As for the spider, speaking metaphysically, I think baths would cease to exist if we did not have spiders.

“Yir pallie-fittit, auld an dwaible, use ma skateboard man or ye’ll nivir mak it hame alive.”

Translated:

pallie-fittit: one with a damaged, delicate or stunted foot.

“You are troubled with an injured foot, old and a weakened person, use my skateboard man or you will never make it home alive.”

perspective.

The downside of age is that old injuries become more bothersome.

Strength decreases if you do not work to maintain it. The same goes for brainpower.

But worst of all, as Ellen Langer showed, helpful good intentioned busy bodies who start doing things for you, rob you of the ability to last the distance.

If you have already become dependent then it’s not too late. Start doing more for yourself now.

As part of a research project in 1979 Ellen Langer took a bunch of decrepit oldies and put them in an environment that mimicked what they were used to twenty years in the past. All forms of help that they’d become used to were removed.

They rose to the challenge, did more, and enjoyed life more. Afterwards both the physical and mental abilities of the people involved showed marked and permanent improvement.

Read a full overview on the BBC here.

Use it or lose it.

If you’re a young freelancer sitting on your butt chasing a deadline, the time to start is now.

“Aye ah can see yer in the glaur plantin mangroves tae restaur the environment and gaird agin the effecks o changin sea levels and as a penance for imperialism but ah still need tae tak a swatch at yer passport an visa – NOO. Wiv a global war oan agin terrorism ye ken.”

Translated:

glaur: soft sticky mud, ooze.

“Yes I can see you’re in the mud propagating mangrove trees to restore the environment and to mitigate against the effects of sea levels rising and as a penance for imperialism but I still need to see your passport and visa – NOW. We do have a global war going on against terrorism you know.”

propagate.

The majority of campaigns fail.

This is due to not looking into the history of what caused the problem in the first place and if that same cause is still there.

Another obstacle is not winning the hearts and minds of the local population and ensuring that they can see that there are sustainable benefits to be had from the campaign, both environmentally and financially.

Success is better if they are well informed and have the power themselves to fix, manage and control their own situation directly.

The best locations are on gently sloping hill bottoms that are above mean sea level and flooded by the tides less than one-third of the time.

More information on ways to ensure successful mangrove restoration campaigns can be found here.

Also American mangrove secrets here.

I wonder what the benefits would be if we funded a global war on poverty that matched the funding of the global war on terror?

“Dinni fash yersel. Me an Rover here have navigated this river man an cub for over twenty year.”

Translated:

fash: trouble, vex.

“Do not trouble yourself. Rover and myself have navigated this river man and cub for over twenty years.”

Before roads and wheeled transport you can think of our rivers and coasts as the motorways of the (not so) ancient world.

The Vikings used to navigate from the North of Europe right down to the South by River and Lake and as far as China some claim.

Next time you look at major historic buildings such as grand houses,  farms and castles, have a look at how they are situated in relation to the nearest waterway.

“Ah goat the idea frae a schule web site whaur they completely masked all the wean’s swatches tae forbid inappropriate enjosement o the photies. So ah thoucht ah’d dae the same tae the pentins tae protect the airtwork ah own frae the wrang een.”

Translated:

wrang: wrong.

“I got the idea from a school web site where they completely masked all the children’s faces to forbid inappropriate enjoyment of the photographs. So I thought I should do the same to the paintings to protect the artworks I own from the wrong eyes.”

Politically Correct?

It’s mad that people are starting to destroy or diminish the things that they and a healthy society love and value just to thwart the possibility (not the certainty just the possibility) that a few bad people might get some evil benefit out of these things.

I think it’s a perverse sort of self centredness. It amounts to extreme selfishness, fear and lack of any effort at gathering facts and thinking it through.

See article here; Schools bizarre ploy beat internet perverts… in the UK’s Daily mail online.

“G’aun yersel Andy.”

Translated:

g’aun yersel: go on yourself, you have it within you to do it; a warm and friendly term of encouragement.

“More power to your elbow Andy.”

focused. Most of Scotland and much of the UK and Switzerland’s attention will have been focused on Australia this weekend. As was the interest of all tennis fans.

Alas the skill of Federa outmatched Andy Murray and he will have to try another time.

Needless to say the focus of both players was on winning.

“Sorry pal nae darg fur you. Ye’ve nae degree in sheugh howckin an are lackin cerificates tae be baring a quarry or biggin a dyke an yir health an safety license is oot o’ date.”

Translated:

darg: work, a days work.

“Sorry pal no work for you. You do not have a degree in ditch digging and you are lacking certificates to allow you to clear a quarry or build a wall and your health and safety license is out of date.”

By Robert Burns who ascribed to the landless and near destitute labourers of the Ayrshire Countryside the virtues of literacy, intelligence and a sufficient social and spiritual grace.

You need a lot of learning but probably not much intelligence to get a chance at a job nowadays. What’s happening to those with real practical experience who don’t care for bits of paper to prove it?

It seems nurses will need a degree in nursing soon to keep their job. Is it to improve the quality of nursing? No! It’s a scam so educational institutions can further justify their overweened existence.

“Crivens! whaur huv they skinnymalinkies come frae an what have they done tae oor plantation?”

Translated:

skinnymalink: thin person, bones and skin only.

“My goodness! Where have all these dreadfully wasted starving people come from and what have they done to our plantation?”

wilderness. What constitutes wilderness is a point of view. Often grassland, jungle, wetlands and forest are not wild at all but are managed carefully by the locals and yield a great harvest despite appearances to the untutored eye. Ask Rae Mears.

I can now say the same for the slum in Mumbai after watching a programme on UK’s Channel 4.

Unfettered Capitalism.

Slumming It with Keven McCloud is the programme (two episodes). Watch it while you can at Channel 4 UK. It is an example of seemingly unfettered capitalism — the wet dream come true for many a corporate executive — no health and safety, no pensions to fund, no insurance, no regulation and no taxes.

These slums have a business turn-over measured in the tens of millions of dollars and more than 80% of the local population are employed. Despite all this developers intend to demolish this hive of entrepreneurship to get rich themselves under the guise of getting rid of an eyesore. The indigenous population will be recompensed (only the ones who live at ground floor level)  by being moved into high density, high rise, concrete flats.

It is back to who should define a wilderness (slum). To those on the outside it is a criminal unhygienic eyesore to be feared. To those in the inside it is a booming economy with loads of jobs, safe though dirty streets, and a close knit multi generational thriving community. What they want most is a better sanitation system and less rats.

Social Scientists should get in there now and watch the community turn from a perceived problem into a real problem of crime, unemployment, drugs, family strife, social isolation — all the ills of bad multi story living we see in the West. Don’t worry it will all be hidden in tall concrete boxes and no longer spread out and visible.

I’ve spoken to a resident from Mumbai who having seen the programmes is now going to go and visit the slums despite previously being afraid to go near them.

Don’t take this information from me go and watch the programmes while they are available and let me know what you think.

“Ooooyah! That soonded like a twa hipper skite tae me.”

Translated:

twa hipper skite: two hip slip (both broken).

“Ouch! That sounded like a two hip slip to me.”

confined. See all my IF thumbnails and IF links here.

Trapped indoors. Heavy snow and prolonged cold is causing problems in Scotland and the UK stranding some people in their own homes. Cold and the effects of cold also increase the number of deaths above the average expected, mainly amongst the elderly.

Luckily our country has a cold weather payment policy to avoid vulnerable people putting themselves in danger by worrying about heating bills. But they need to claim.

This makes me think of the American president. He struggled to get health care for the poor but had no problem imposing more security methods upon his people when there was a terrorist attack.

If we made a graph and plotted the deaths from a sudden terrorist attack against the slow creeping terror of the number of children in the world who die every day from malnutrition, neglect and war then I doubt the spike on the graph from any terrorist action would rate a blip above the daily average.

We initiate all sorts of things when there is a sudden deaths event. But how many of us can claim to have made a sustained effort against the slow creeping deaths that exist in the world? Obama tried.

“Ah’ll pirl the poke wi a shairp pyke mithtreth an wi yin splatter the maithter will be guid as new.”

Translated:

splatter: sprinkle about, spatter.

“I will thrust at the bag of blood with a sharp pointed tip mithtreth and with one sprinkling the marthter will be good as new.

renewal - Happy New year to all for the new decade.

Sadly only four percent of the available population in the UK donate blood.

You can start giving blood when you are 17. As long as you are generally fit and healthy and weigh over 50kg (7st 12lbs) you should be able to give.

The gift of blood is the gift of life. There is no substitute for human blood.

Every two seconds, someone needs blood.

Blood fights against infection and helps heal wounds, keeping a patient healthy.

Anaemic patients need blood transfusions to increase their iron levels.

Cancer, transplant and trauma patients and patients undergoing open-heart surgery require platelet transfusions to survive.

People who have been in car accidents and suffered massive blood loss can need transfusions of 50 units or more of red blood cells.

The average bone marrow transplant requires 120 units of platelets and about 20 units of red blood cells.

Severe burn victims can need 20 units of platelets during their treatment.

Children being treated for cancer, premature infants, and children having heart surgery need blood and platelets from donors of all types.

Here there are some well designed examples of campaign posters to encourage people to become donors.

Here you can find out from the NHS all the English and Welsh facts you need to know about giving blood. The Scottish blood donor information is here. There is American Red Cross blood facts information here.