"Today we have seen a tremendous and historic victory for the gallant Gurkha veterans of Nepal. "This is a victory that restores honour and dignity to deserving soldiers who faithfully served in Her Majesty's armed forces. "It is a victory for common sense; a victory for fairness; and a victory for the British sense of what is right." Lawyer Martin Howe

Labels: Gurkhas

Posted by Miladysa at 6:35 PM 20 Comments

This photograph was taken on Friday evening as we travelled the old road from Hebden Bridge down into Oxenhope on our way to spend the weekend with Sir H's parents.

We enjoyed a fun filled couple of days helping to raise funds for a local hospice. I hope you enjoyed your weekend as much as we did!

Labels: Photographs, Yorkshire

Posted by Miladysa at 3:00 PM 17 Comments

I'm not sure if I surf the web, I suppose I would describe my experiences more like a mystery float where I often wash up somewhere completely unexpected and interesting. In fact, that is exactly how I got into blogging in the first place!

The other day I found myself on an mammoth web voyage and docked at the shores of The Web Fiction Guide.

My first thought was to submit Refuge Of Delayed Souls and then I realised that it was not simply a directory of web fiction but that they also review the web fiction listed there. Call me a coward but I am not too sure how well RoYds would go down with the Editors and I think I am probably more interested in a critique than a review. Maybe I'll feel brave one day and surprise myself, you never know!

During the past few days I have visited several sites from the WFG and have also enjoyed the time spent wading through the reviews there as well. One of the things I have noticed is that the majority of stories seem to have started out with an author who had every intention of creating a web fiction site compared to myself where I simply started writing a story which to my surprise took on a life form of its own.

I would certainly recommend the Guide to anyone interested in online fiction and I have no hesitation in recommending two of the stories I have discovered so far.

The first is Winter Rain, my intention was to read a few chapters, I read all 47 in two sittings! I refuse to tell you anything about the story, it would ruin the surprise. If you are looking for something interesting and different you will not be disappointed.

The second is Winter's Mercenary, no connection with the first site, the similarity in the titles is just a coincidence and the stories are completely different. I am currently reading my way through this one but what I have read so far is very entertaining.

Now I have seen how it should be done I am thinking about revisiting the first dozen chapters of RoYds or may be the whole thing...

Labels: Web Fiction

Posted by Miladysa at 10:00 PM 17 Comments

I consider myself an animal lover and over the years I have held some strong views regarding animal welfare.

When I was younger I used to be steadfast in my views - I positively knew without thinking what was right and what was wrong. Now, as I have said before in an earlier post I am not so sure about everything, I admit to there being grey areas.

I was once firmly against hunting although these days I am able to distinguish hunting animals for sport from hunting animals for food. If you kill an animal to eat you are more honest than someone like myself who buys their meat neatly packaged and desensitised. If you wear the fur or leather of that animal then as far as I am concerned it is a lot kinder to this planet than wearing the man made pleather product which Zombieslayer talks of here. On the other hand, I am totally against breeding/hunting an animal purely for its fur or battery farming.

Like Zombieslayer I think the Native American Indians and other such cultures of this world had/have the balance right, take what you need and no more.

If you go out to kill an animal for sport and in turn deprive another animal of its survival then you rate very low in my estimation, about as low as you can get.

Apparently the University of Alberta and the Canadian Government believe that it is just fine to put the pleasure of hunters before the survival of wolf pacts when proposing their "Wolf Management Scheme". They are making a few considerations towards the wolf though, they merely propose to sterilise the Alpha Male and Alpha Female, kill their pups apart from two and execute other members of the pack. That way, there will be more Elk for the hunters to shoot because there will be less competition from the wolves!

Wolfie drew attention to their immoral proposals here and I thank him for highlighting the plight of these threatened wolves.

I live in a country where a vast majority of our wildlife has been hunted into oblivion and what little is left has to be protected fiercely. Wolves used to roam the moors around here but the last one was killed over four hundred years ago. I only hope that there is enough public opinion against the University of Alberta's proposal to force them to reconsider their plans.

Labels: Miladysa, University of Alberta, Wolves

Posted by Miladysa at 11:13 AM 27 Comments

Twenty five hospitals throughout the UK and the USA are taking part in the AWARE Project which has been launched by the University of Southampton. Unlike the Hadron Collider which sought answers to the origins of life AWARE seeks to answer what happens to us after death.

Did you know that there is no moment that defines death and that death is a process that only begins after the heart stops? Once the heart ceases to beat, the lungs stop working and the brain enters a flatline state, it takes several minutes or even hours for the brain cells to die. During the dying period our brain cells enter a 'panic state' before they are damaged to a degree that they actually die.

What will we experience during these final minutes or hours? Can our minds continue to function after our brain has shut down?

Many people who come back from the brink of death report what are commonly known as Near Death Experiences, some even claim to have overheard conversations or seen events taking place while undergoing an out of body experience.

AWARE seeks to investigate these experiences further and have strategically placed images in hospital bays which can only be seen from the ceiling looking down. Over the next three years AWARE will examine the accounts of 1500 survivors of Near Death Experiences in the twenty five hospitals taking part.

Will anyone accurately report the images? If they do, how will this effect the way we perceive Near Death Experiences and our understanding of death?

I know which experiment interests me the most. How about you?

Labels: AWARE, NDE, Near Death Experience

Posted by Miladysa at 9:15 AM 17 Comments

I have mentioned before how much my children love to partake in one of their favourite pastimes, a blood sport known as Mother Baiting. Ideally, they prefer to be in a pack when indulging in this sport nevertheless, they are happy to embark on an individual basis should the opportunity arise. Either way, I am but a helpless target for their riddicule.

For many years I was unaware of the Red Tracksuit Incident (TRTI), although I recollect the day's events clearly my mind had filed it under Perfect Mother Responses. It is only in the past few years that the error of my ways has been repeatedly pointed out to me.

TRTI took place sometime within the first few months of 1990, the 1980s and their fashions had not been fully extinguished and some embers were burning brightly. Prior to the incident my parents-in-law had presented me with a red tracksuit as a Christmas gift. In my defence I would like to offer that I was not then and never have been a fan of the tracksuit but at the time they were quite fashionable.

I knew when I received the gift that although it was not something that I would have chosen myself my parents-in-law had given it with love and it would have been terribly ill mannered of me not to have worn it. I made the decision to wear it around the house whilst I was doing the housework, it seemed to be the perfect solution to a tricky situation.

All went well and as the weeks passed the red tracksuit became less and less offensive to my sensibilities. One day, shortly after lunchtime I received a telephone call from the school informing me that my eldest son had been injured during a game of rugby and would need to visit the hospital to have his injury treated. Like any other perfect mother I reached for my car keys and made my way straight to the school to collect my son and take him to hospital.

So what is all the fuss about? Well, my children remember the day's events in quite a different light:


Child 1: "Do you remember that day you got kicked in the mouth whilst playing rugby and had to have it stitched?"

Child 2: "OMG Yes!!! What a nightmare that was!!!"

Child 3: "I remember that day too, in fact I'm still having the bl**dy nightmares!"

Perfect Mother: "Why are you having nightmares? It was your brother that had to have the stitches."

Child 3: "It's got nothing to do with the stitches - that pain was not long lasting and life damaging!"

Child 4: "What did she do? Was it awful?"

Child 1: "Only traumatised us all that's what!"

Child 2: "There I was, bleeding to death looking like a bulldog chewing a wasp and SHE turns up wearing a pillar box red tracksuit!"

1,2,3 & 4: "GROSS!!!

Perfect Mother: "You needed my help and I immediately rushed to your aid! I don't know what was so bad about that day apart from the visit to the hospital."

Child 4: "You should have changed first! We'll never live that down!"

1,2 & 3: "Exactly!"

Sir H: "Stop baiting your mother the football's about to start."


Guilty or Innocent - What is your verdict?



Next Perfect Mother Confession - Fight at the School Gates.

Labels: Confessions of a Perfect Mother, Miladysa

Posted by Miladysa at 10:57 AM 31 Comments

I just fancied a change... again :-D

Never fear, my other templates are safe and sound and merely sleeping.

Thank you Luna!

Labels: Blog Design, Blog Template

Posted by Miladysa at 8:58 PM 9 Comments

"Our staff are fully trained in customer service and will always be as helpful and friendly as is possible. If you have any issues with a staff member please speak to a Duty Manager who will always try his/her best to see that any issues with staff are corrected and that you as a customer are happy."

The Big Apple Entertainment Website

• The Big Apple Family Entertainment Centre, Metro Hotel, Chameleon Bar & Quake Nightclub Woking, Surrey
  

• The Big Apple Family Entertainment Centre & Chameleon Bar Wokingham, Berkshire
  

• Strikes Bowl MultiPlex Kings Lynn, Ely and East Dereham
  

• The Big Apple-Horsham Superbowl & Shelley’s nightclub Horsham, West Sussex
  

• The Big Apple Sudbury, Suffolk

• The LA Bowl & Balcony Nightclub Ryde, Isle of Wight

• The Riverside Bowl & Laser Quest Wallasey, Merseyside

• The Big Apple Rugby, Warwickshire
  

Labels: American Amusements, Corporal Tomos Stringer, Metro Hotel Woking

Posted by Miladysa at 11:35 AM 17 Comments

According to the BBC News Corporal Tomos Stringer, 23, from Gwynedd was refused a room at the Metro Hotel in Woking when they learned that he was a serving member of Her Majesty's Forces! Corporal Stringer had no choice but to spend the night in his car after being told it was management policy not to accept military personnel!

Corporal Stringer of 13 Air Assault Support Regiment, The Royal Logistic Corps has now returned to Afghanistan where he is serving with his Regiment. At the time of the incident in June corporal Stringer was visiting a friend while home on leave following an injury to his wrist whilst serving in Afghanistan.

To say that I am outraged is an understatement! Shame! Shame! Shame! on the hotel and the member of staff that refused Corporal Stringer the room.

American Amusements Ltd [also of Woking] owners of the hotel have yet to comment. Well I for one, am waiting to hear what they have to say about their indefensible and totally deplorable treatment of one of our soldiers and if there is not a law in place to prosecute these corporate vermin there should be!

Chris Merriman has called for a boycott of the hotel on his blog and suggests that people voice their disgust by telephoning the hotel and leaving a civil message requesting that their disgust with the management is noted and passed on to them.

If you are thinking of sending a civil email to the hotel to express your view on their treatment of Corporal Stringer you can do so here Thanks to Rantman for this link.

***Update***

The Metro Hotel morons have apologised for their "mistake" although where, when and how remains a mystery.

The Armed Forces Minister, Bob Ainsworth has written to the hotel requesting an explanation of their policy. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said,

"We are very surprised that any company would adopt a policy to exclude members of the armed forces who generally enjoy great respect and gratitude for their professionalism, courage and bravery.

"Our service men and women make great sacrifices on behalf of us all, and they deserve our wholehearted support."

According to the latest BBC News Corporal Stringer was turned away by the Receptionist as late as 10 p.m., after requesting to see some form of identification, she told him "military personnel were not welcome."

Words fail me!

Labels: Corporal Tomos Stringer, Metro Hotel Woking

Posted by Miladysa at 9:42 AM 22 Comments