Reflecting on Global Warming

The Gorse Fox has been reflecting on the various revelations we have seen of late regarding the fraudulent adaptation of data - and must conclude that a degree of Global Warming is indeed man-made. Man-made by the discredited (but still worshipped by the BBC) scientists.

Global fraud

So we learn from Devil's Kitchen (click link in title) and Bishop Hill that the University of East Anglia's systems have been hacked and their files and emails made public on the web. What they appear to show is that the numbers and predictions that the Global-Warming-fundamentalists have been using are fraudulent.

Are we surprised? Not at all.

Will we hear this part of the story on the BBC or the main news media? Not a chance.

Are we still being conned? Absolutely.

Fluid

Plans for today were fluid. We had to hang around during the morning to await the Ocado delivery... and this gave the Gorse Fox a chance to write his annual appraisal while the weather was still somewhat hostile. We decided to see how things went. Well for Ocado they didn't go well. Their delivery van was involved in a road accident and we had to await a replacement van. This pushed us past the point where we could go to the cinema and still be hope in time to go out for the evening with the Gorse Fox's sister and brother-in-law.

And so it is that we are having a quiet afternoon.

Relief

What a relief... the EU decided not to select the execrable Tony Blair as President. That honour has been given to the Belgian Herman van Rompuy

Gunwharf

Thursday saw a trip westwards. Perhaps not and exciting trip, but a simple trip to Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth to meet up with friends, have a something to eat and do some retail therapy. We were lucky to be travelling west as a breakdown on the eastbound carriageway had caused several miles of tailbacks.

Meeting up with Betty and Barney Rubble we stopped for coffee before strolling along the Loch Fyne restaurant for a splendid lunch. After that we wandered around the shops and picked up odds and ends.

Oh Drear

Having left the charms and delights of Rye the Gorse Fox decided to take an alternative route back to the West. He headed towards the coast at Hastings with a view to following the road through Bexhill and Polegate.

What an eye-opener that was. This area was like a Victorian version of Beirut without the charm. The Gorse Fox knows there was a battle at Hastings, but you would have thought they could have spruced it up a bit by now.

Mermaid St

Possible the most photographed street in Rye is Mermaid Street. We had stopped for lunch in a bar down by the river... the sound system leaked Coldplay into the room and slowly diners lost the will to live and asked for strychnine chasers or razor blades for their wrists as Chris Martin droned on and on. We couldn't wait to escape, but left the number of the Samaritans on the table - just in case.

We then headed back into the town and up Mermaid Street. This is delightful and the houses are wittily named "The House with Two Front Doors", "The House with the Seat", "The House Opposite", "The First House" and so forth. As you can see we had the place to ourselves and wandered to and fro' to make sure we saw all there was to see.

Rye is well worth the visit.

A Pocketful

Despite seriously inclement weather in the North (where it's meant to be) it was still 15C and dry down in Sussex - though to be fair it was very grey. The question that we struggled with was where the day would take us. An early favourite was Chichester, but that seemed too easy and too close.

The Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen headed out to the east again. Since the wall came down between East and West Sussex neighbours from the west have become regular visitors to the east to see how our fellow county-men used to live under earlier regimes. Our destination was Rye.

Rye was one of the Cinque Ports and an important town in the early middle ages. Now many miles inland, it used to be on the coast until serious storms in the 13th century silted up a huge area and left the town, quite literally, high and dry.

Rye has been well served by its council and has been cleverly preserved such that it it still functions perfectly as an old style town and a torist attraction whilst accommodating gradual and sympathetic change. We made the most of this strolling back and forth through the lanes and streets and delighting in the lack of "High Street names".

Critics

The Gorse Fox found it a little disconcerting. We had stopped for a coffee and enjoyed a lobster sandwich. A trip to the rest room seemed to be in order, prior to the journey home. As he walked into the Gentleman's convenience he was aware of some framed newspaper article on the walls, and thought little more of it. When comfortable again he glanced up to find the article in front of him finished with a quarter page advert with a srtap line shouting "Endowment Shortfall"

In his defence he would point out that there was a very cold wind and he had been wearing lightweight trousers.

Beachy Head

A trip to this part of the downs is not complete without looking down on the Beachy Head Lighthouse. There was a stiff wind blowing as the Gorse Fox edged toward the cliff to get this photo - he couldn't help but wonder what it must have been like on Saturday with a full-blooded storm battering the cliff tops and the storm-driven waves crashing against the lighthouse.

GF found the trip somwhat nostalgic as he remembers coming to Eastbourne on holiday as a young teenager. AT the time the family would stay at the Imperial Hotel, and it always seemed to be sunny! He also remember one year (1966) rushing home to North London in time to watch the World Cup Final.

Seven Sisters

The week's vacation continues. The Silver Vixen was due at the hospital, but once the appointment was over we headed east along the coast. deliberately sticking to the coast road. We passed Brighton Marina, Roedean, Rottingdean and Saltdean before climbing over Telscombe and dropping through Peaqcehaven to Newhaven. Thus far, one community had pretty much merged into the next and there was little to distinguish between them except the road signs.

From Newhaven we climber through Seaford and then burst into open downland. Wetsdean, Friston and East Dean revealed their quaint churches as we turned south and headed for Birling Gap and then east again to Beachy Head.

As you can see, we had the downs almost to ourselves as we looked west past the Belle Toute lighthouse along the Seven Sisters

Sinking

It was around this time (as we continued our walk around Rottingdean) that the Gorse Fox got that sinking feeling. You know how it is. Someone (in this case the Silver Vixen) says something quite innocuous like "Let's get a cup of tea and a snack". You think, "Good idea" and autonomically your hands move to you pockets.

The sinking feeling began. Trouser pockets did not contain a bulging wallet. Check jacket, he thinks. Side pockets, breast pockets, inside pocket... all conspicuous by their absence of the bulging wallet. Check inner fleece jacket. Side pockets, inside pockets all empty.

Mental checklist started - where was it last time it was seen (on desk in study, when GF picked it up to come out). No jackets on at time... must be in trousers. Trouser pockets re-checked. Nada.

What was in it? Cash (but not a lot), credit cards, debit cards, train pass, Tottenham Hostspur membership card, National Trust Membership card, stamps... this was going to take a lot of sorting out. Despite the Silver Vixen offering to pay for the tea - the Gorse Fox was sufficiently concerned to spurn the offer of a snack and we headed back home. It was evident that there would be many calls to make.

Arriving home he went straight to the study... and there, sitting nonchalontly on the desk, smirking mischievously at him, lay the absent wallet. The Gorse Fox gave it a stern talking to and suspects it won't have the affrontery to try that trick again.

Pond Life

Continuing our walk we passed the church and ended up outside the museum, looking across the village pond. This serene setting would once have been the heart of the village and the source of drinking water for both the villagers and their animals.

We went into the museum for a nosey about - the Silver Vixen finding an exhibition of Threads, the Gorse Fox one on Kipling (who once lived in the village).

The village really was a most charming spot - and yet was only a couple of miles east of the hub-bub that is Brighton.

Rottingdean

The early morning winds had dropped and the torrential downpours that plagued the rush hour were over. It seemed like an opportunity to take a run out with the Silver Vixen and see some of the Sussex villages. She had visited Rottingdean during the summer and suggested we start there as the Gorse Fox had not been there before.

Parking down by the front - getting a bit of a shock as we saw an ex son-in-law wander by - we put on our coats and prepared to stroll around the village. Ex son-in-law wandered back past the car. GF looked very carefully - it was not him after all, just a doppelganger.

We wandered through the lanes and found our way to this superb (but private) courtyard. It was too pretty to ignore. Despite its apparent age, it is only some 80 years old and was built as an hotel. It was billetted by Canadian soldiers during the war, and has now been split into individual dwellings.

Sussex vernacular

The Gorse Fox doesn't know if this is a Sussex vernacular style of architecture - or just a gorgeous old cottage. It was charming, nestling in West Street opposite the church.

Ditchling

The Silver Vixen had a not in her diary about a show in the Village Hall at Ditchling. We had commented that it was strange to have an event on a Sunday & Monday... but checking on the website we confirmed the dayes.

We headed out in the low winter sun and made our way past the Jack & Jill windmills at Clayton and on into Ditchling. We managed to find a parking spot behind the Village Hall and then made outr way to the entrance. It was closed. In fact all of the entrances were closed. There was no sign of the event, no people, no posters, nothing.

Rather than waste the trip we took a stroll around the quaint little village.

Matchwood

The storm continues. The Gorse Fox has just run an errand of mercy to Worthing (The Silver Vixen was out of Jasmine Tea) and even in the time he was out the fury of the storm has wreaked havoc. A squall line turned the sky black and dumped huge amounts of water as the wind intensified. Struggling to hold the car door he headed back from his sortie passing bins, hoarding, trees, and shrubs blown and blowing across the roads. Armour would not have been out of place as he tried to avoid flying debris.

Along the beach front at West Worthing several beach huts had been damaged, one was lying on its back and several others had been turned to matchwood. Even here on the Gorse there's debris near the pond blocking half of the road.

What is all the Fuzz About?

We read today in the BBC headlines:

The growing number of private security companies policing UK streets is a worrying development, senior police figures say.

Well the Gorse Fox would suggest that there is an easy remedy for their concern, achieved through a number of simple steps:

1. Spend more time on patrol
2. Spend more time on your feet instead in cars
3. Accept new technology to reduce paper-work
4. Ignore targets - just do what is right (not what is politically expedient)
5. Stop relying on cameras and CCTV to do your job for you
6. Be polite
7. Cuff hooligans round the ear
8. Target known/suspected criminals
9. Make the lives of suspected troublemakers and pushers intolerable

Then people wouldn't need private security patrols. Seemples!

High Tide

Well, strictly speaking, the Gorse Fox missed High Tide by about 40 minutes, but the storm was still pounding the beach. Spume was being driven like kamikaze bubble bath across the shingle and slammed into the Gorse Fox and his camera several times.

A few hearty dog walkers braved the elements, hanging on to their dogs in case they decided to do kite impressions.

Zephyr

The fury of the overnight winds has not yet abated. Trees are wildly thrashing from side to side as rain smashes against the house. The forecast says it will get worse during the day, before blowing itself out this evening. GF may have to put on some waterproofs and stroll down to the beach as high tide approaches. There is something  elemental about the fury of a big storm at the coast.

All change

As the Gorse Fox starts a week's holiday he has embarked on some change. After 10 years with his current web host he has decided that there are more cost effective hosts available. The process has now begun to move his web sites and domain registrations to the new host. He suspects that this will not go smoothly!

Wind

Strong winds are buffeting the coast. It looks as if a neighbour has lost a large tree (well, not exactly lost it - the Gorse Fox suspects he knows exactly where it is as it overhangs his driveway).

This is just the precursor to the 70mph+ winds that are forecast for Saturday. Definitely a case of battening down the hatches.

Council

The Gorse Fox can barely contain his excitement as the time approaches for another riveting Parish Council meeting. Probably needs to take a paper bag with him in case he hyper-ventilates.

Recovery

One of the features of many Microsoft office tools is their uncanny ability to crash at the most inopportune moments. Having said that they are quite good at finding the crash files and offering them to the user to examine, rename and continue. In general this works well and recovers most (if all) of the work.

The exception to this is when you select the wrong file, and throw away the alternatives... then distribute it to your colleagues.

Afternoon has been spent re-writing the file. Ho hum!

Propaganda Minister

According to the article linked to in the title line, Lord Mandelson is to become a modern day Joseph Goebbels as he becomes the Minister for Information. He could also make history as the first minister to make weekly televised briefings. They would be broadcast direct through the Downing Street website.

At this stage they are not mandatory viewing and are not being beamed on all channels, internet streams, cinemas, sports stadia, and billboards simultaneously. One would guess that it will come as the Government gets ever more desperate. (Probably at about the same time they start filling in the voting papers for us).

Shhhh

It's been a quiet day in the home of the Gorse Fox. He has been working on a number of bits and pieces related to the (hopefully) upcoming project. Various governance, project, and configuration aspects... ready for calls tomorrow. There was a flurry of phone calls late in the day - but the rest was quiet.

What fun

GF has spent the last hour transcribing questionnaires into the computer - it would appear that filling in an online questionnaire is just to difficult for many. Understandable in the case of the more elderly... but not the rest.

Bad start

The Gorse Fox has not had a good start... he has spent the last hour working on the development of a project plan for a sub-project... and the software has just crashed, and the file is corrupt... so GF has to start again.

Death throws

The Gorse Fox notices that Rupert Murdoch is threatening to block Google from indexing his newspaper sites. Sounds like the the death throws of dead tree media that has been unable to adapt to the new world of the internet.
Smatterings of the recording industry and movie industry.

Plans

The Gorse Fox has had a busy day reviewing project plans and developing additional detail for aspects of the project. Unfortunately it looks as if the decision regarding the project is being delayed. Given some of the deadlines that the project faces - delays at this stage are not helpful - and it may mean that Starfleet are not going to be chosen to do it.

Once finished, plans continued to feature in his activities as he reviewed various plans in preparation for this week's Parish Council planning meeting on Thursday.

Content

It has been a most pleasant day with friends.

Waiting

As a gentle rain washes the south coast, the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen await the arrival of Betty and Barney Rubble. A pleasant day is planned with lunch at the Thai restaurant in Rustington.

Continuing a theme

Continuing the theme that Gorse Fox started earlier today he has just read Clarkson's latest missive. Pure genius. GF only wishes he was as eloquent and reached as many readers.

He finishes:

I see no reason to be miserable. Yes, Britain now is worse than it’s been for decades, but the lunatics who’ve made it so ghastly are on their way out. Soon, they will be back in Hackney with their South African nuclear-free peace polenta. And instead the show will be run by a bloke whose dad has a wallpaper shop and possibly, terrifyingly, a twerp in Belgium whose fruitless game of hunt-the-WMD has netted him £15m on the lecture circuit.

Ah, maybe not

The Silver Vixen pointed out that it was bonfire night and that the barrage that had been going on for the last hour or two wasn't the Estate Defense Force snapping into action... but just neighbours having a parties.

Protection

Obviously the recent debate over security gates for the Estate has left some concerns over protection. Tonight the Gorse Fox has witnessed what seems like a scene from the first few days of the invasion of Baghdad. Rockets and various incendiaries rent the night sky as neighbours tried to get the range of some hidden intruders. Small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) patrolled the skies over the estate looking for targets as the next barrage of missile was fired into the neighbours. Evidently there were some casualties as you could hear whoops of excitement across the gardens. (We have put the flak-jacket on the cat).

We take Estate security seriously here.

Upgrade

Whilst the Silver Vixen has been out with her coven, the Gorse Fox has made the most of the time and upgraded her laptop to Windows 7. Being and Acer, like GF's desktop, the driver disk he received yesterday was equipped with all of the relevant code. All went remarkably smoothly... and the long standing printer sharing problem we had experienced with Vista has melted away.

Research

Research published this week showed that when the sick give up hope they actually feel better. The Gorse Fox wondered to himself if that was the Government's strategy for the next election. Finally reduce the population to utter despair, hope that they give up - and then feeling better they vote again for the government that:

• Destroyed the nation's pensions
• Gave away its sovereignty
• Sold its gold reserves at the low point of market
• Presided over the biggest recession in living memory
• Took us to war
• Made us the most watched in the world
• Added nearly 4000 new laws to the statute book
• Promised a referendum in their manifesto - and refused to go to the country

and if the Gorse Fox could be bothered he could probably add several thousand more items to the list.