The Settlers Arms is one of my favourite places.  It is a atmospheric convict built sandstone inn, dating back to 1836, it's in a remote and unspoiled valley reached by crossing the Hawkesbury River by vehicular ferry,

it's almost a given to spot at least one kangaroo in the MacDonald valley (I saw several), the birdlife is amazing - and the garden setting is quite lovely.  I took my mom there when she visited us - it's a lovely place to take overseas visitors.

MissN still has an injured hand (torn ligaments which she hurt while playing goalkeeper) so no soccer yet.  Thus we were "free" from soccer commitments and could take a long drive for lunch.  The food is good quality pub food - not very innovative but fresh, tasty and so much nicer for being eaten in the sun.  I had a beer too - something I seldom drink.  Cascade Light, if you are interested...

Working clockwise, C had a chicken pie, I had a smoked salmon and potato salad and MissN had a spicy sweet potato soup.  It was a bit TOO spicy for her, and she is used to spicy food.  (I won't share that both C and MissN had dessert!) So I thought I would share MY sweet potato soup recipe, photo below taken when I made it a week or two ago.

Roast Sweet Potato and Red Capsicum Soup with Rocket Pesto

Peel and dice 2 sweet potatoes,  deseed and dice 2 red capsicum (sweet/bell/red peppers), peel and quarter 2 red/Spanish onions and peel a few cloves of garlic (choose large cloves).  Toss all the vegetables in olive oil and place in a roasting dish.  Roast for about 20 minutes.

Tip all the vegies into a pot.  Pour some boiling water into the roasting dish to deglaze it, and add it to the vegies.  Cover the vegies with water and add some stock concentrate if you like (I use Plantaforce - Vecon is also good) and bring the soup to a boil.  Simmer for about 15 minutes.  Blend the soup.

Serve with a dollop of pesto.  I made rocket and walnut pesto, as rocket is a cheaper option in winter, and walnuts were on special too (I stocked up for my brownie cake!)

Pesto (from The Harvest Pantry by Barbara Beckett - a great recipe book I use for a lot of my basics)

2 cups basil (or rocket) leaves

half cup extra virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 tablespoons pine nuts (or walnuts)

1 teaspoon salt, optional

6 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons freshly grated Pecorino cheese (I omit this if I don't have any)

about 2 tablespoons hot water

Put all the ingredients except for the cheese into a food processor (I use my hand-held Bamix) and blend.  Add the cheeses gradually.  Gradually add some water until is is a smooth thick paste.  Serves 6.

This will keep well in the fridge for some weeks or longer.  Make sure it is covered with a layer of oil.  Pesto originates in the Ligurian area of Italy where it was a way of preserving basil in the winter and adding some "fresh" greenery in winter when other greens are scarce. We had a magical 4 days in Liguria on our first trip to Italy in 1993 (C had been before but it was my first trip) when we stayed in Tellaro, visited Portofino, the Cinque Terra and ate at the wonderful Locanda Miranda.  Memories...

Our day on Sunday was special.  We laughed and talked, enjoyed great music in the car (a lot of Talking Heads), were refreshed, renewed and restored and nourished by food that was more than just physical.

Blessings...

I had not realised until today just how hideous the whole proposed store and its surroundings would be. A 3921 m² store, which Tesco calls a food store but is expected to sell 28% non-food items, thus it is a superstore. The design is ghastly. But that is of course just one point among many. The application has been rejected on the following grounds:

1. Inappropriate scale, size, design (would not integrate into the area)
2. Loss of Locally Listed properties
3. Application does not adequately demonstrate site's impact. Inadequate measures to provide access by public transport, on foot and by bicycle - i.e., it is essentially a car-based scheme. (By the way, does "the applicant" really think the locals will swallow that 'Many people shop in surrounding towns rather than in St Albans'? But then supermarkets are not noted for their sensitivity to locals.)
4. The entrance gates would interfere with flow of traffic.
5. Would harm some adjacent residential areas (loss of daylight and sunlight) and and is thus contrary to several policies of the St Albans Local Plan.
6. Would harm some adjacent residential areas (noise and disturbance)
7. Insufficient detail about the risk of pollution to controlled waters
8. In the absence of financial contribution and provision towards green spaces etc. would harm existing community facilities.
9. Negative impact on the city centre
10. Decrease of air quality.

The last two points had actually not been included in the recommendation of various consultants, which is something I fail to understand. New store = more traffic, large store = a lot more traffic, a lot more traffic = a lot more air pollution. Crystal clear.

I would estimate that there were about 300 people in the audience and it was interesting to watch how everyone streamed out at the end, with copies of the agenda in their hands and strode purposefully home, to the utter bewilderment of several girls taking a smoking break outside a dance hall.

There is a webcast of the meeting at the St Albans City & District website.

I do not mean to turn this blog into a campaign noticeboard, but I consider this cause very important. (And I also got this story even before the StopTesco website, so this blog is bringing news.)

Enough of "real life" on this blog for now, back to photography, painting, physics, and archery.

To whom it may concern

I have seen what a superstore does to a functioning city centre. In Decin, Czech Republic, there are two superstores close to city centre, one of them is Tesco. The small shops in the centre are struggling, closing down, and have almost no customers. The centre itself is half empty and you certainly would not want to walk there after dark. These changes occured very quickly after the superstores opened. I do not wish this to happen to St Albans and therefore I strongly oppose the Tesco application.

Building of the Tesco in St Albans would bring heavy traffic, air pollution, job losses, noise, closure of local shops, even possible loss of the St Albans market (which had survived hundreds of years) and as a consequence of these changes loss of visitors and hence loss of income for the city.

Tesco says that they will allow some small shops on their premises. But what will the conditions for these shops be? Will they be able to survive? How much rent will they have to pay to Tesco? Besides, Tesco superstores are not noted for their fine architecture and design, so the shopping experience would be much worse than now when it is possible to walk through the beautiful St Albans centre to shop.

Because some support for the new superstore comes from the fact that it is difficult to reach a supermarket in St Albans without a car (and I have the same experience), I suggest that the existing superstores pay for a shuttle between, for example, the train station, the city centre, and Sainsbury's or Morrison's. This shuttle would be free for passengers. It works for IKEA, so it could work for Sainsbury's and Morrisons as well.

Any new job opportunities in Tesco will be offset by job losses when the small shops will close. The site where Tesco would be could be used to build new housing, which is sorely needed in St Albans.

It does not matter to Tesco whether they will have one shop more or not, but it does matter to local residents and even to visitors to St Albans!

Best regards, etc.

• 1975. One of my earliest memories is of a peculiar experience I had while having my nappy changed. My changing mat was on top of a chest-of-drawers in a small room that looked straight on to the upstairs landing of our house in St.Albans (where I was born). Halfway through being changed the phone rang (or someone knocked on the front door, or something) and Mum left me for a couple of minutes. As soon as she was out of sight, I heard something very big and heavy and invisible come charging down the landing towards me (maybe it was one of the Wild Things, Mrs. G?).
• 1976. Doggy was a cleverly named stuffed toy Great Gran (who was completely brilliant) gave me for my first Christmas - he went everywhere with me, and I slept with him every night. Doggy accompanied me well into my teen years (though not to the same extent), by which time he had no eyes, one ear and all his fur had fallen out. My Mum threw him away one day. R.I.P. Doggy.
• 1977.
• 1978.
• 1979.
• 1980. My Sister was born when I was five. On the way to the hospital, Dad bought me Batman and Superman action figures - the kind with tons of joints and capes made from actual fabric. When I was playing with them in the hospital room later that day, Superman took a dive from a filing-cabinet and his arm fell off. That's what I remember about my sister being born.
• 1981. I think my fear of dogs (cynophobia)can be traced back to a friend's wayward teenage brother, who was always threatening to set their dog on me, even though I was only little.
• 1982. We used to have these incredible street parties on Wynchlands Crescent. One end of the road would be blocked off, and all the adults would set up drinking tents cleverly disguised as colourful marquees. The kids would have chalk-drawing competitions on the pavement (I even think I won one once), and clowns came and made balloon animals. I have no idea what occasion we were celebrating (if any) - I'll call Mum and ask.
• 1983. When I was eight, we moved from Hertfordshire to Nottinghamshire with Dad's job (he worked for Elstree Studios which is where they made the Star Wars movies, Jim Henson's Labyrinth - which is one of my favourite movies along with, oddly, Takashi Miike's Audition - and The Muppet Show, amongst other things).
• 1984. One day, when I was about nine, Mum and Dad were going to town shopping for the day. It was just after Christmas and I had a little money to spend, but I couldn't go for some reason (probably school), so they asked me if I wanted them to buy something for me with my money. I didn't have anything in particular in mind (and probably didn't have enough for the Soundwave Transformer toy I always wanted and never did get), so I told them to get something they thought I'd like. When they got back, I was utterly dismayed to find they'd bought me a motorbike toy that zoomed across the floor when you pulled out the little rip-cord. I had a total tantrum, hurt both their feelings, and still feel bad about the whole thing to this day.
• 1985.
• 1986. My appendix nearly burst when I was eleven because my doctor said the excrutiating pain I was suffering with was caused by nothing more than 'wind' (that's 'gas' to you Americans). I still don't trust doctors.
• 1987. My school years were the worst years of my life. We moved about a lot, for reasons not apparent to me at the time, and I'd gone to eleven different schools by the time I was ten, which made it difficult to have settled friendships with anyone. Secondary school (eleven to sixteen) was worse. A kid with a weird accent that doesn't listen to pop music tends to get picked on a lot.
• 1988. My first computer was a Christmas gift from Mum and Dad to my Sister and I - it was a Sinclair ZX Spectrum +3 (the one with a disk drive). After years of wanting a computer, I freaked out like someone in a clip from America's Funniest Home Videos. One of the first games I got was Magnetic Scrolls' 'The Pawn', which I have on my PC now and still haven't finished.
• 1989. My Mum and Dad got me Bolt Thrower's 'Realm Of Chaos' (one of the greatest death metal albums of all time) tape for Christmas when was I was sixteen and they actually let me play it on the stereo in the living room on Christmas day. Much like anyone, we often had family to stay for Christmas, and my Gran (my Mum's Mum) thought Bolt Thrower had a "good beat".
• 1990. I was a member of the Napoleonic Association for a little while. You know the type of thing - we got dressed up in period costumes and re-enacted Napoleonic-era battles. I was a standard-bearer. The flag-pole fit into a tube that I had to strap on like a belt and which rested dangerously in my groin area (I tried googling for the proper term but couldn't find an answer). I remember trying to march up a hillside like this, once. The standard was extremely heavy, and the hill was rather steep. The combination made it a struggle for me to keep the whole ensemble upright and I was slowly pulled forward, which caused me to stick my bum out awkwardly, much to the crowd's amusement. I was rescued by a fellow soldier quite quickly, but, lamentably, not before my pride suffered.
• 1991.
• 1992. My first job after school was a YTS (Youth Training Scheme - which is supposed to mean you get practical, paid, work experience at the same time as going to college, but which, for me, meant being treated like a dog, often working six days a week for fifty quid a week, and not getting to go to college) position at the local Way Ahead record shop/ticket office in Nottingham, which was mostly known as a rock and metal shop (although I did pick up Front Line Assembly's 'Tactical Neural Implant' and Skinny Puppy's 'Last Rights' LPs - yes, actual vinyl LPs - while working there). I got to meet quite a few bands (Love/Hate, Bang Tango, Electric Boys, Danger Danger, Enuff Z'Nuff, Napalm Death and Carcass are the ones I can remember) when they did signing sessions, and also got free tickets to most gigs at Rock City, so it wasn't all bad.
• 1993. My cousin Steve used to come up from Southampton to Nottingham at the weekends sometimes. One particular Friday night I thought I'd take him to Rock City (he was a huge AC/DC fan and had never been to a rock club). I had crazy long hair at the time and had been going to Rock City for a couple of years (one of the benefits of working at the record shop was getting tickets in a way that didn't require me to prove my age), so I had no problems getting in. Steve, on the other hand, had short hair (he was in the Vehicle Corps of the Army, at the time) and was a new face, so the bouncers took him to one side to check his I.D. In a moment that will live with me forever, Steve pulled out his tank drivers license and the deflated bouncers had no choice but to let him in. The rest of the night was a complete success, and Steve went ballistic when I got the D.J. to play 'Highway To Hell' for him.
• 1994. My parents' second divorce when I was nineteen truly broke my heart (I didn't find out about their first divorce until the second was inevitable).
• 1995. After my parent's divorce, I wanted to stay in Nottingham (my Mum and Sister moved to Cornwall to be near my Mum's family - I'll always regret not going with them) and ended up living with my Dad at my future step-mum's place for a while (which was as bad as you're imagining). One day, my Dad brought a tape home for me. Apparently my Dad and his mate had been having one of those 'my son's into that weird goth stuff' conversations a couple of days earlier and my Dad's mate had given him a demo tape of his son's band for me to listen to. It came with a note about a gig at the Cookie Club (which wasn't then where it is now) in Nottingham. I played the tape and liked it, so I went along to the gig and met my Dad's mate's son, Mike. It turned out that Mike and I had a lot in common - because of where our Dads worked we'd lived in the same places and moved to Nottingham for the same reason - and we hit it off instantly. I spent one of my favourite periods of my life, so far, hanging out with, and roadie-ing for, Mike's band Manuskript. We travelled all over the U.K. for gigs and I got to meet tons of really cool people and bands (Die Laughing, Night Moves, The Horatii, Redemption, Children On Stun, Gethsemane, Vendemmian). A lot of water's gone under the bridge since then, but Mike and Paul are the only people I've lost contact with whose friendship I wish I still had.
• 1996. One particular Manuskript gig sticks in my head more than others. It was in Glasgow (I think the place was called The Cathouse) with James Ray's band The MK Ultra. Why was it so memorable? Well, it turns out that James Ray and I had similar jackets (well, they seemed similar to him in his highly inebriated state, anyway) and when he claimed my jacket (which a friend had painted Death, from Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics, on the sleeve of) instead of his at the end of the night we nearly came to blows. I did get my jacket back after a long argument, but not before discovering an old tobacco tin containing a picture of a goat in the pocket of James'.
• 1997.
• 1998.
• 1999. Until I came to America, I'd rarely been without work. During one summer of unemployment, I decided I needed to figure out a career, thought web design looked promising and maybe I should teach myself HTML. I bought myself a book out of my next dole checque, and so began my web design career (which is on hold at the moment, thanks to America's insane immigration red-tape).
• 2000. I got my first professional job as a web developer when I was about twenty-five. The experience was not a good one. My boss was an impatient, unreasonable and impractical Irishman with a very short fuse. Things went further downhill when Lee, who I'd become good friends with, left for pastures new. I found out a few months later he'd been killed. Lee's replacement at work, Phil, casually remarked, one day, about how his American friend's friend, whose name was Lee, had been killed in a car accident. Turned out that, although Lee and Phil didn't know each other, Phil's American friend had been friends with Lee.
• 2001. When I'd finally had enough with working for the mad Irishman, I was lucky enough to walk straight into another web design job. It was a huge improvement over the last place, although the company was run by Christians who, upon discovering I wasn't religious (I'm not anti-religion, I've just never thought about it much), thought that must mean I was a Satanist.
• 2002. Began my DeviantART page On June 14^th. A quote from my stats page: "safetycopy has 1,465 page views total and his 34 deviations were viewed 1,498 times".
• 2003. The strange story of Mr. and Mrs. G. One day, Mr. G pops along to his local metal CD shop to inquire about a particular band (I forget who it was now). "I've no idea," says the man at the counter, "but you should check out this website called Glitzinet - if those guys don't know..." So, Mr.G hits the website, finds the info he needed and decides to hang out in the forums there more often. Then, along comes Mrs. G, drawn to the website by equally coincidental circumstances. After much forum foreplay, Mr. and Mrs. G become "email buddies" (yes, that's actually what we cagily called it at the time), eventually move to ten-hour phone calls and fall deeply in love. After carrying on like this for a couple of months, Mrs. G invites Mr. G over to America - they couldn't stand being separated any more. In a most uncharacteristically certain move, Mr. G marries the lovely Mrs. G and they still live happily ever after.
• 2004. For a while we lived in a not-so-charming carriage house in Kentucky, sharing the space with shadow people and strange scrabbling sounds in the roof. We eventually decided enough was enough when we were plagued by very boisterous killer spiders (that actually came at you looking for a fight) and a black snake fell through the study roof (we found out too late it was illegal to kill these snakes).
• 2005. I played Neocron and Anarchy Online until I was bleary-eyed, L downloaded so much music we didn't know what to do with it all. We all look back on this time fondly simply because our internet access now is coal-powered. Eventually, the money ran out, the fight for my naturalization dragged on, and we suffered the worst of all humiliations - we had to move into my mother-in-law's place, where we remain, hoping we'll get everything sorted one day.
• 2006.
• 2007. William Gibson was my favourite author for ages and I feel a bit guilty that I prefer Haruki Murakami these days.
• 2008. Apparently, wood is the traditional gift for a five year wedding anniversary. 'Nuff said.
• 2009. ?

PBHS vs. St Albans on Friday 6 June at 15h00 at St Albans

This was an amazing game; it was a final in itself with the crowd, the 3 lead changes in a matter of minutes and the overall emotions of the players at the end adding the spice to the event. When you watched the 1^st half, St Albans were up by a basket on the back of some exciting drives from St Albans number 7 Khaya Thomo but Pretoria Boys high were always in it on the back of some hot shooting and fast breaks from Fhumalani Mobobo and Brian Tsabadi. After some missed opportunities from both teams, St Albans were up by 5 points after the 3^rd quarter but after some resolute defending from the PBHS team, they managed to catch up the lead and build it up to a 6 point lead with 2 minutes left. In the end, the never-say-die attitude of the St Albans boys and their experience saw them edge out a narrow victory over their opponents and the home crowd went crazy. College remains unbeaten at home this year so until the 4^th term when they play in the Johannesburg league they will keep that record. They moved to the finals on Saturday at DSG with a lot of confidence in the hope that they finish first this year.

My prediction: St Albans College – Actual winner: St Albans College

Rosina vs. Willowridge on Friday 6 June at 16h00 at St Albans

With all the banter flying around before the game, you thought that this game would swing in the favor of Willowridge to set up a final against St Albans College. But after watching a 14-0 run by the Rosina team in the 1^st quarter, this game was over early. The highlight was a put back dunk by the Rosina number 10 post, Tsepo who was using his height both on offense and on defense. The willowridge blocked couldn’t take a shot without it being blocked by the big man. Even the willowridge point guard seemed shell shocked and the game was really lost in those 1^st five minutes. But after that dunk that reminded me of Lebron James by Tsepo I called it a day….

My prediction: Rosina – Actual winner: Rosina

U16 Boys section

Willowridge vs. The Glen High School

Yet again Willowridge came into this game full of confidence and talking about meeting St Albans in the final. The Glen High School players have kept their heads under the radar, putting in the hard work and building their confidence. With their coach Isaiah Monyamane putting in all the preparations necessary for this game, including a friendly against their opponents which they won, he was quietly confident. Willowridge were always trailing in this game and but always had the belief that they could overcome the deficit. In the end their pre game overconfidence cost them the game. But it was a close encounter with The Glen winning it by 3 points.

My prediction: Willowridge – Actual winner: The Glen High School

St Albans vs PBHS

St Albans put their disappointing loss to Willowridge during the group phase to the side and brought their game faces to the party. PBHS were in control of the match throughout but with their star player out with 5 fouls in the last quarter and some inexperienced mistakes from the team, they blew it at the semi-final stage. St Albans have some exciting talent at the guard positions and this proved to be the difference between the two teams. Never underestimate College on their home turf, especially with the loud support they get from those passionate fans and parents.

My prediction: PBHS – Actual winner: St Albans College

U14 Boys section

St Albans vs. Prestige

My prediction: St Albans – Actual winner: St Albans

Willowridge vs. Clapham

Willowridge were undefeated coming into this game and were looking forward to a place in the final with a win. They duly obliged and made easy work of Clapham.

My prediction: Willowridge – Actual winner: Willowridge

If the title of this piece means nothing to you, the photo on the left (and the photo at the top) may possibly give you a clue.

Yesterday (Saturday), we visited the Hertfordshire town of St Albans (affectionately known as "Snorbens") and that is where these photos were taken. The Clock Tower is a fascinating building to visit and it is of historic interest. The gargoyles appear along one of the sides of the Cathedral.

There is a lot to see in St Albans without even leaving the centre of town, such as the curious building that houses the local branch of the Café Rouge. This is especially true on a Saturday when the street market is in session.

Today, we were not looking for the usual and the photos that follow show some of the interesting things we did see.

First, however, as St Albans is, of course, a cathedral city, I suppose you will be expecting a couple of photos of the Cathedral. Let's get it over and done with, then.

St Albans Cathedral from the Vintry Garden	Facade of St Albans Cathedral. Note the Buddhist monk in the foreground

For me, the highlights of the day were our two visits to Verulamium Park. If you wonder at the name, the explanation is that Verulamium is the name given by the Romans to their settlement in what later became St Albans. The name comes from the original Celtic name, Verlamion, but I have no idea where that comes from. The Park is a beautiful green space with grass and trees, with a huge ornamental lake in the centre. It is home to a large population of water fowl and other birds. Some of our encounters, later facilitated by the purchase of a packet of seeds, are shown below.

White dovers on a signpost	Moorhen with a beautiful red face-blaze	Pretty goose but I don't know of what species

The coots are very bold here and even sometimes chase ducks away!	This coot chick is begging an adult for food	Coot chick swimming on swirling hypnotic waters

It was a beautiful sunny day and there were lots of people on the banks, especially parents with their children. There were families among the birds too.

A family of Canada Geese	Mother and ducklings	A family of herons on the island in the lake

There were some characters among the birds, too. Some liked to boss the others about but the more indivualistic kept to themselves.

Old Curly Tail	Old Blue Eyes: "Got any bread?"	Old Red Face: imperturbable

We had very many fascinating encounters with water fowl and other birds but I risk boring you with any more avian pictures. Here are some other sights we saw on our explorations.

The old ford beside the bridge that replaced it	Church clock dial: I think it is unusual to find them without numbers	Is this a big fish or a dolphin? Seen in the garden of the museum

Oh, all right. Just one more bird picture, because this one seems to symbolize a happy lazy afternoon spent en famille. Moments after this photo was taken, a dog came and chased them all into the water but as soon as he had gone, they climbed back out and resumed snoozing!

St Albans is a fine place to go on a warm and sunny day. There is plenty to see both in the open air and indoors: there are two museums, a free one - my favourite, obviously! - and a spanking new one with an entry fee though, regrettably, this was closed when we visited it. For lunch we went to the Waffle House on the site of the old water mill. We had a Thai vegetable curry.. on a waffle... and a naughty dessert of sliced banana and cinnamon sugar with ice cream. This was not served on a waffle, fortunately.

Will we be going back to St Albans? Oh yes, definitely. For one thing, we want to go up the Clock Tower again, something we did not do this time around but have done before. Knowing my fascination with clocks, you will understand why. The views from the top are splendid too!

I will post the solution tomorrow. Bonus points for figuring out where exactly this wall is. ;)

I've said it before and I still believe that mini-schools will never work without a disciplined environment where students are held to higher educational and behavioral expectations. No one should be surprised about the consequences of creating mini-schools.

This isn't a matter of us versus them because the students that went to my alma mater came from the same neighborhoods and socioeconomic backgrounds as those who would have gone to Jackson. Some schools like Jackson will always have a bad reputation for out of control behavior of students, and low academic performance, but don't close it and think that by virtue of small class sizes that problems will disappear. I really wonder at what point educators and administrators are going to realize this.

Samuel G. Freedman's article in the New York Times about the destructive impact Lafayette High School in Bath Beach, Brooklyn is having on its neighbor, John Dewey High School in Coney Island.

UPDATE 7/4/08 - Thanks Jonathan.  Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice in Fort Greene is being seen as successful: they have a 93 percent graduation rate - the school only has 79 students....

Jennifer Medina's article in the New York Times on June 30, 2008.

The disappointment was failing to win Northwick (South Oxhey) by eight votes. But you can't win them all. At least it didn't go to the BNP, unlike the next door ward of Ashridge.

In Watford Borough we've done really well too, holding off Labour in Holywell and the Tories in Park and Leggats. A shame about Nascot, though. But with the Tories winning just one seat out of 17 in the Watford constituency, it seems clear that their challenge for the Paliamentary seat is dead in the water.

Across the country, the results are a little up and down for the LibDems, but all in all we've confounded those who said we would lose hundreds of seats, with a net gain of 30 and gaining councils such as Sheffield and Hull, as well as St. Albans and Burnley. A good day's work folks!

The news overnight is mixed. LibDems lose Liverpool and Pendle, then regain Liverpool. Delighted about Liverpool, which is a very difficult place to run, but sad about Pendle for my old friend Tony Greaves.

But the best news is that we've taken back overall control of our neighbouring council of St. Albans, with excellent results in the St. Albans constituency itself. A good sign for LibDem PPC Sandy Walkington. Now control of St. Albans changes about as often as a Premiership football strip, but this is still great news, particularly in the current political climate.

In the under 16 Boys section, Pretoria Boys High School are the defending champions and after defeating St Albans in their preseason game by a basket this year, the title is going to go down to the wire. Watch out for the dark horses in the two groups, Clapham, The Glen and Willowridge who won their under14 section last year…

At this under14 Boys section, the teams that have started their basketball early will be the favorites to win this division. Pretoria Boys High School, St Albans and the defending champions Willowridge will be up there in the end but expect a few surprises in this group as well.

]]> http://alongwalk.wordpress.com/?p=60 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 17:04:48 +0000 gleavem http://alongwalk.wordpress.com/?p=60 This weekend, as mentioned below, we were in St Albans. A lovely town with plenty of shops and some great restaurants. We just fancied a random weekend away, but while we were there did a spot of shopping too! We bought ourselves a BIG rucksack each; maybe for walking when we build up the courage to carry all our stuff, but also for trips away and mostly for festivals...anyone who's done the trek from car to campsite at many festivals knows the pain, and a big rucksack seems the least painful way to get everything from A-B. We both favoured the Berghaus models and went for similar versions, though mine is slightly smaller and meant to be better for girls :) Also got some myself some spare boot laces (thought they could have given us them for free as we were spending £200, but alas no luck).

While we were away we did a nice little walk near St Albans...a circular starting at Lemsford, incorporating the Lea Valley Way and Hertfordshire Way (I think). A nice easy walk with good sights and views and some rhubarb for sale as a bonus!

Spokesmen Simon Grover has said: “It’s an opportunity to recycle a huge amount everyday”.

However, I find this new system somewhat strange. Placing recycling bins in train stations may reduce the amount of newspapers being littered, mainly the free London papers, but I don’t think it will reduce the amount of paper being used in total, if anything it will increase it.

I’ve always liked the idea of reusing anything that can be reused, and a newspaper is one of those products that can be reused numerous amount of times. So why place a bin which is going to encourage commuters to dispose their paper rather then leaving it on the seat for someone else to read. Seeing as we all do pick up newspapers on tubes, trains, trams and busses I think it’s an unintelligent step to take.

That is my opinion and I would be very interested in hearing some of yours, some comment away and let me know of your thoughts.

=)

This Sunday, after considerable planning and practice, the 2008 BAFL Flag season kicks off with the 2007 ESFL Champion  Sharks taking on the Mildenhall Mayhem and St Albans Kings in a double header.

The Mayhem are hosting the event at the US Air Force base in Mildenhall.

The Sharks will be traveling with a squad of 10 players.

Please can all Chichester area players meet at the usual car park at 7.30 a.m. PROMPT. Bring along your white Sharks shirt, plus any spares if you have them. We'll be playing on grass so don't forget your studded boots.

Toby and Neil and driving from Chichester, so if you're a passenger don't forget some petrol money!

Dayle, Dave and Sean will be making arrangements from Horsham.

See you all on game day!

That got me wondering about how common it is for people to use the "devil made me do it" excuse for committing heinous crimes. I didn't have to wonder for long, since another man was sentenced just yesterday to 40 years in prison, for killing a three-month-old and breaking bones on a three-year-old, and he used that same tired excuse.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - A St. Albans man who said the devil made him be cruel to his children has been sentenced to four decades in prison for the February 2007 shaking death of his 3-month-old son.

Thirty-three-year-old Joseph Edwin Dawson pleaded guilty in January to charges of child abuse by a parent, guardian or custodian causing death and child abuse by a parent, guardian or custodian causing injury.

The 40-year sentence handed down yesterday by a Kanawha County Circuit judge is the maximum possible for the fatal charge. Dawson also received a consecutive one-to-five-year sentence for the injury charge, which stemmed from an incident in which he broke the clavicle of his 3-year-old stepson in May 2006.

In a June letter to his now ex-wife, Dawson detailed the abuse of the children but said it was Satan who was controlling his actions.

Just for the record, in my opinion, anyone who kills a child through violence or gross neglect should get an automatic sentence of life without parole; and in especially heinous cases, such as Nixzmary Brown, they should get the death penalty. Either way, anyone who is violent toward the most helpless in our society - children, the elderly, or the disabled - should be removed from society permanently to ensure it never, ever happens again.

Is the devil really making people commit murder? Or are people blaming ol' Beelzebub to avoid taking responsibility for their own actions?

I personally think the answer to that question is pretty obvious. However, I would be very interested to hear from anyone who believes these people really are possessed by the devil.

We also had a pub lunch at Ye Olde Fighting Cocks - apparently the oldest pub in England - or so a former manager claims he found proof that a pub stood in the same spot in 795 AD. (I wonder how many pubs claim the "oldest pub" title.) Regardless it sure was delicious! Our last stop was at one of the local pubs for a pint, called The Lower Red Lion. It was filled with friendly locals and a cozy fire, and it was the perfect ending to a perfect day.

One of the best things about St Albans is that it's only a short 30 minute drive away, and you can see everything in just a couple hours or less. So you can fill your day with other plans and still step into St Albans for some lovely sights. It's also perfect if all you want is a low-key and relaxing day. I'm definitely taking everyone who comes visit us to St Albans.

The National Server and Storage Framework Agreement (NSSA) has announced that the firm, chaired by Apprentice star Sir Alan Sugar (now it all becomes clear), is among its list of companies which have been recommended to provide Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) with a range of server and storage products. Viglen was awarded two framework supply positions.

Viglen’s place on the NSSA, which facilitates contracts worth around £14m annually, takes immediate effect with the company having made both the ‘Server Providers and Resellers’ and the ‘Storage Providers and Resellers’ lists.

Viglen, which is based in Colney Street, St Albans, Hertfordshire, now becomes the first UK company to appear on both lists. Its inclusion on the register was confirmed following a six month shagfest evaluation for this national agreement. Viglen says its underlying value proposition - ‘It’s personal’ - was key to the success. Wow! That is powerful ...

St. Albans is a quiet middle-class neighborhood in eastern Queens, but just beneath lies a level of culture, politics and heritage that not all New York neighborhoods can boast.

PS 136 Roy Wilkins School at 201-15 115th Ave ST. ALBANS is named in honor of the prominent African American civil rights activist who was assistant NAACP secretary during the early 1930's. (RJ Mickelson / amNewYork)

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