※SpinalGap24 ※

62% of Bulgarians describe themselves as either 'not very' or 'not at all' happy. (Great Uncle Bulgaria wasn't unhappy though, was he??)

The fourteen unhappiest countries are all in Eastern Europe. (Interestingly, the USA and UK were 38th and 39th respectively...is that the 'special relationship' too??)

22% of New Zealanders have used cannabis.

Australians are the most likely to join charities, educational organizations, environmental groups, professional organizations, sports groups and unions. But only three percent join political parties.

Australians lead the world in hours worked and membership in many voluntary organizations. How do they find the energy?

The five countries with the highest coffee consumption are also the five countries whose citizens trust one another the most. Coincidence? Probably. (Norway, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands)

In all the countries surveyed, women do more housework than men. (Norway No.1 (again!!) and the UK No.6)

Canadians drink more fruit juice than the citizens of any other nation - more than one litre each, every week.

For the third year running, Japan’s capital Tokyo is the world’s most expensive city. Osaka, the country’s third-largest city, is in second place. London, which occupied the number two spot in 2004, is placed third in 2005, followed by Moscow, which also drops one place. Asuncion in Paraguay is the least expensive city in the world.[Mercer]

And this one is truly amazing...
London is actually the 4th biggest French-populated city.
[I heard this tonight, on 5 Live. I would love to know the number of French people in London, as it highlights the still rural nature of France.]

My friends, where would you ideally live, and what lifestlye would you choose?

For me, my ideal would be a suibokuga ink-artist in Japan. (But, I might add, I'm also very happy being in England!)

Most beautiful and shortest-lived of the hues of autumn is the glory of the larch.

Suddenly in some clear November noon, you realise that the larches are at their best, each a landmark in the woodland like a gilded pinnacle. In the afternoon, on your homeward way, you may tread upon a thickening carpet of soft dull yellow, where the larches' splendour is shedding itself, lightly as snow, upon the ground. So autumn passes as you pass.

Under the naked wych-elm your steps crackle on the crisp-curled leaves of purple-brown; under the oak they whisper softly on strewn flat leaves of buff with upcurved finger-tips; under the sycamore there is a louder rustle of dead foliage, lying untidy, loose and grey; under the beech you almost slip upon the shiny coppery blades that cover the brown earth with an autumn glow, though they have lost the blaze of orange and carmine that flung back the sunset scarcely a week ago. So from tree to tree you pass, reading in sound and sight the story of a summer gone, out into the open where the bare brown hedges thinly drape their feet with brambles and their brow with berries-for the winter birds.

-E. Kay Robinson, November 7th.
(Published, 1921)

How beautifully written this is, and how exacting the autumn feel.
It was always thus.

What is your favourite season, blog buddies, and why?

Listening to you, I felt so close, over the distance -where we first met
It seems like the duration of only 1 song, sharing the heaven together
The song which has no words, only our favourite moods and feelings
Though years have passed, the tingling remains
When I hear this song, beating from a heart split by it's freedom
Yes! this song! alas rings through empty streets,
Darkened by autumn's lengthening night, silenced by a dogged moon
The yellows became greys, as winter belays a final summer haze.

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En t'ecoutant, je me suis senti si proche, au-dessus de la distance - où nous nous sommes réunis la première
fois
Il semble comme la durée de seulement 1 chanson, partageant le ciel ensemble
La chanson qui n'a aucun mot, seulement nos modes et sentiments de favori
Bien que les années aient passé, les restes de tintement.
Quand j'entends cette chanson, le battement d'un coeur s'est dédoublé par lui est liberté
Oui! cette chanson! hélas anneaux par les rues vides.
Obscurci par la nuit rallongeante de l'automne, amorti par une lune résolue
Les jaunes sont devenus des gris, comme l'hiver assiège une brume finale d'été.

~~~
A true friend is one soul in two bodies.
-Aristotle

There are more than 2,700 languages in the world. In addition, there are more than 7,000 dialects.

The most difficult language to learn is Basque, which is spoken in northwestern Spain and southwestern France. It is not related to any other language in the world. It has an extremely complicated word structure and vocabulary.

All pilots on international flights identify themselves in English.

Somalia is the only African country in which the entire population speaks the same language, Somali.

More than 1,000 different languages are spoken on the continent of Africa.

Many languages in Africa include a “click” sound that is pronounced at the same time as other sounds. You must learn these languages in childhood to do it properly.

The word, Baby
One of the first sounds an infant makes is "ba." In almost all languages, this sound, changed only a little, represents the word baby. So babies know their names even before they can talk!

Purple
In ancient times, the Romans wanted to show they were powerful. They did this by wearing white togas, trimmed with dark red. But there was a problem - the red dye washed out too easily! They needed to find a dye that would work better. Finally, they crushed and boiled the shells of a fish from North Africa. This dye stayed on the clothes. The name of the fish, pupura, gave its name to the new colour - purple

Picnic
Where do you go when you have a picnic? A picnic has not always been a meal that is served outdoors. Instead, a picnic was a small meal that was eaten anywhere. Picnic is formed from two French words - piquer, "to pick," and nique, "a morsel." So having a picnic means picking out a small bit of food!

“Saved by the bell.”

In 17th-century England, a guard at Windsor Castle was accused of falling asleep at his post. He claimed he was wrongly accused and could prove it; he had heard the church bell chime 13 times at midnight. Townspeople supported his claim and he was not executed. Today we think of the bell that ends a round in boxing, often saving the boxer from injury, or the bell at the end of a class period, saving you from more work. Regardless, this idiom means rescue from a situation at the last possible moment.

Good morning.
How are you my friends?

I find myself constantly reminiscing about this time last year, in the warmth of Kyoto, the sustained excitement of all things Japanese, nattou breakfast's, soya bean and o-senbee, and hot springs.

But reality draws me to fight harder for today, for today two disgusting situations nag at my routine, hourly indeed.
Firstly, the hospital, who one week ago phoned me, after I called-in the help of my excellent MP and press, and he, (at the hospital orthopaedic department), was more than ready to waffle on about HIS difficulties, (I do not like smarmy people), but slow to admit to mine.
After my damning, but never personal, comments, he climbed down somewhat, and the hitherto 10-month wait, suddenly sprouted a miracle appointment, which he said he could fit-in very soon, within several days in fact!
He was a sly tactition, because by thus doing, he had defused me, completely, and on paper he would be seen as 'tackling the waiting list as best he could' but what use is it, when such time elapses, no contact is made by this consultant, he indeed ignores all calls, and I'm left in a heap most days, stuck forevermore on goddamn painkillers, (which help actually, but I had refrained from sinking them before, alas now, I have succumbed, and down I go...I knew it would come to this.)

The hospital seem unwilling to admit I have a damaged spine at all, despite the x-ray results proving this diagnosis.
They did admit to 'not having any of my paperwork' though, and admitted THEIR current diagnosis, or my 'non-urgent' case, (overruling my GP's diagnosis that my spine is a "serious condition"), was only a verbal one, WITHOUT the benefit of medical records, x-rays or ...any paperwork!
How awful is that?
(A man who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it is committing another mistake.
Confucius)

I'm on the attack, I hate injustice to others, and I will defend my own rights!!
I'm a fighter, and WILL be better, but no thanks to them, but to my own efforts...if that is the only way forward, then forward I must go.

As Depeche Mode once sung, staring down the barrel of a gun...in my case, the gun is held by my hospital!!!

Number two, my car was hit last month, head-on, by a reckless man, also smarmy, overtaking 30-40 cars, obviously on the wrong side, and after inspection, details, letters etc, my insurance company declared MY car to be in the wrong.
I just had a 20 minute hot call, (sadly not as nice as the previous hot call I enjoyed), and asked why do they defend someone speeding, overtaking, and crashing into a perfectly positioned, stationary car???
I have my neighbour as witness, but the insurers say, "Your neighbour knows you, so it stands no chance in law."
Does that mean everytime we drive, we must take on-board a total stranger, on the off-chance of having a prang???
Again, I had to fight hard, very hard but not personal, and got the truth out of them...I made him repeat word for word the details he had before him, the 'script' at his insurance office...
it transpired, knowingly or otherwise, that his description was of a totally different street, situation, etc, with his resultant admission to never having seen my detailed map of the smash and locaility.
He could not even supply my address!!!!
So, with that, he went awfully quiet, and asked that 'we' reopen the case, (they had just written me, that the case would be dropped, as they considered the accident all my vehicles fault).
However, they will now, fight on my behalf, due to my fighting for my corner, and correcting their 'little error' which would have saved them even lifting a pen.
How amazing!
I hate the way society works sometimes, if only we could do it all ourselves...instead of having to part with so much money to seek protection that is only given after we prove that we can do it better ourselves.

Oh, sorry dear bloggers, rant(s) over.
I'm happier now.

~~~

Our weather is mild, a blustering south-west wind whirling the lime-leaves into space, and carrying the rooks and jackdaws round Bell-Harry in joyous circles.
-M.S. Holland, November 7th, 1890

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The more laws, the less justice.
-Charles Churchill

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Colour: Dark khaki, sandybrown
Music: Future Sound of London: We Have Explosive
FSOL: Through Your Gills I Breathe
~~~