My first YouGov cheque, originally uploaded by Mark & The Zebra.

Received my very first cheque from YouGov this week. I have been doing surveys online for YouGov for almost 2 years now. Not exactly a ‘get rich quick’ scheme but if they are happy to pay for my opinion then I’m cool with that.

If I’m totally honest it’s because every time I thought about posting my thoughts were diverted to the ever growing mystery surrounding the ‘disappearance’ of Madeleine McCann and that is a subject that I find puzzling to say the least. I didn’t really want to make my feelings on the matter known but the more it goes on the more I think that there is something wrong with the picture.

Kate McCann has not shown one fragment of any emotion. Not a tear, not one. Even when she has made ‘pleas’ for her daughters return. Gerry McCann has remained calm and composed whenever he has made his statements to the press. The only time Gerry’s emotion seemed to appear was when they arrived back in the UK. During his statement, his voice trembled a little, but not where you would have expected. His tremble came at the part of his speech when he says they had nothing to do with the crime, not when talking about his missing child.

They have spent the last 4 months on a world tour, almost rivalling that of our ex beloved leader, Tony Blair. They even got to meet up with the Pope. They have wandered along, past crowds behind barriers, shaking hands and receiving gifts as if they were on a royal visit. They have appeared to be enjoying the spotlight.
Unfortunately, for them, the spotlight has started to burn them and they don’t like it. They may ask the media to give them some privacy but they aren’t going to get it. You can’t unleash a tiger and then ask it to behave. The McCanns stirred up the media into a frenzy but know the suspicion has turned to them, they aren’t having as much fun.

You may think I sound harsh, and maybe I do, but I don’t like them. I don’t know why or what it is about them but there is something about them that doesn’t sit right.
Maybe it’s the fact that they think it is OK to leave 3 toddlers alone in an unlocked apartment in a foreign country while they go off with their friends (who, by the way, have also left their children alone) Something that, as a GP in the UK, Kate McCann has a duty of care to report to the authorities if she suspected it of one of her patients.

I also don’t like the ignorant xenophobia that has been spouted from their family. Some of the family members have said, when things started to point to the parents, that the evidence was either planted or contaminated and that the Portuguese police were all incompetent and were making ludicrous accusations.

It could just be that the evidence actually does point to the McCanns.

To my very untrained eye it looks like a classic case of Munchhausen’s. Hurt your child and revel in the attention.
Maybe I’m wrong. I guess time will tell.

Enjoy, originally uploaded by Mark & The Zebra.

We managed to get a couple of portions of broad beans from the four we planted.
There’s possibly another meals worth still to pick.

We’re not quite Tom & Barbara Good yet.

Tune!!!, originally uploaded by Mark & The Zebra.

I have bought a USB turntable so I have been spending the last few days digitizing all my old vinyl records.

They have been in a box in the loft of every house i’ve lived in for the past 15 years & I have wanted to have a listen to them for ages, Thinking that they would bring back fond memories.
Unfortunately what has been running through my mind the most is the fact that I haven’t half bought some crap in my time.

There were quite a few Stock Aitken Waterman type songs (well I was a teenager in the ’80′s so you can’t really blame me for that) & some decent club anthems too (yes, I was a raver too!)
The very 1st record I ever bought was in the box too. ‘Motor Bike Beat‘ by The Revillos. Bought 21 years ago & I still knew every word.

He died on September 26th 2006. Yesterday 3 people were convicted of assault and false imprisonment. Charges of murder against them were dropped as it couldn’t be proved that Kevins death wasn’t caused by his epilepsy, although experts said this was highly unlikely.
2 of the guilty were sentenced to 10 years, the other received 9 years. They will probably only serve half their given time.

It saddens me to think that these 3 will enjoy more comfort in their incarceration than they allowed Kevin in his.
I hope they receive the welcome they deserve when they arrive in their cells.

Full Story

Yippee!!

As we do almost every year, Peter & I are going away for a long weekend to escape from people singing that bloody song at me and expecting me to be cheerful. Which I never am.
It’s not that I’m miserable about it but I just can’t bring myself to get excited. It’s just another day. The only real different is that the percentage of junk mail in the post is lower than it is every other day. Once I have opened the post & tried to balance the six cards that I get, then the day turn back into an ordinary one.
Only six cards!! I hear you cry! How sad!
Actually it’s because I’m not one of the Waltons and I don’t tell people when it is.
In fact I tend to get more cards from companies & shops than I do from real people. Naturally, they go straight into the recycle bag. I can’t imagine how sad I would have to be to display cards from Matalan or my bank.

So today the cats went to the vets for their jabs before going to the cattery (I now have 5 deep scratches in my arms) & tomorrow we fly to Madrid for 5 days.

Hasta Luego

Today, I was making a sandwich for Peter & myself for lunch and the kettle was on for a coffee. As the kettle was about half way up to boiling it suddenly cut out. It hadn’t gone bang so I didn’t think it had blow a fuse and the washing machine was still going so it wasn’t a power cut. I plugged it into a different socket, nothing. I changed the fuse in the plug, again nothing. The kettle had simply died.

I hadn’t told anyone, living or mechanical, about admiring another kettle. Could it be that the, now deceased, kettle was psychic, had sensed my thoughts and seen fit to commit hare kare?

Thankfully, last year, I had bought a whistling hob kettle although only for show in enamel blue to match the kitchen, so we weren’t left gagging for a brew. As the hob kettle started to whistle as it came to the boil I was suddenly transported back in time. I said to Peter, “It’s like being back in my granny’s kitchen”.
Peter smiled and said, “Funny, I was just thinking of my grandmother too”