Well there was some interest in this morning's post, so I thought I'd treat you all to the fuller version and pad out the story a little. My dreams last night went something like this...

I’m standing on a top of a cliff and looking straight out. There’s nothing to see, just sky. The cliff is obviously very high and I’m scared of going near the edge, but am drawn to it like a moth to a flame.

I’m lying on my belly, head over the cliff edge and looking down – it really is a very long way down and the ground is just a blur. I’m even more afraid of the edge and am trying to scrabble backwards, but my head just seems to stay hanging over.

My voice is telling me to be careful and get away from the edge, but it’s not my voice, it’s me and I’m floating about twenty feet from the edge of the cliff looking back at myself. I reach out and fall.

Then I’m falling and looking up at myself floating and when I look down I’m falling into an inverted cone, or vortex. The walls are solid and painted with black & white stripes curling down and away, smaller and smaller as they head into the distance, like an odd sort of helter-skelter.

The walls are closing in as I fall and then I’m wedged at the bottom. My head is jammed into the bottom of the cone and my shoulders are wedged against the sides. The rest of my body is heavy above me and I can’t move.

This is where I woke up the first time. Back to sleep and the dream starts all over again and is exactly the same only this time when I get wedged at the bottom the cone starts filling with water and I try to scream, but the water just fills my mouth and nose and I wake up again.

The third time the dream is the same and the bottom of the cone is dry again. I’m aware there’s a door above my legs. I can’t see it and I can’t reach it, but I shout and try to kick the sides of the cone to make someone hear. No-one comes.

Water starts to fill the bottom of the cone again and I kick harder; I hear the door opening and shout and kick for help. The hinges on the door squeal and it clangs shut as the water covers my face and I’m drowning when I wake up.

So there you go, now you know why my sleep last night was disturbed time after time after time...

Any dream interpreters out there in Blogland?

More to the point, anyone mad enough to try interpreting last night’s very strange and recurring dream involving conical structures, falling, vortexes, spirals and being trapped?

No, seriously, I’d really like to know.....

In Memoriam

The quiet bliss of Sunday morning
Though some long time from day’s grey dawning
Soft and gentle diffused light
Casts no shadows among erections

Rests in peace
From pain released
In loving memory
Sleeps with God

Squirrels play among the trees
Springing quick between the knees
Of bending mourner as she tends
Her loved one’s monument

Pine and yew green and lush
Oak, elm and ash extend the hush
With naked boughs
Rocking gently in the forenoon breeze

Quiet time and I reflect
On the scene where I elect
To spend my morning slowly walking
Among these celebrations of death

When Father Time calls end of play
I sincerely hope there’ll be no way
The ones I leave behind me
Will feel obliged to erect a stone in my memory...

Not a Bear vid it's true, but I think some of you folk out there in Blogland might find this amusing.

For all those who've missed his little adventures, here's a new Bear cartoon for you.

Enjoy him while you can...

I suppose we can all be a bit woolly headed at times and for most of us, some days are worse than others; particularly true as we get older in my experience.

Imagine what it must be like for any unfortunate individual where that muddle-headed feeling has been transposed from inside to out, visible for all to see.

How it must feel to be encompassed by a weave of thought sapping tendrils whose root structures burrow into the flesh itself.

To be the host for some parasite, slowly devouring your face.

The stuff of horror movies no doubt.

Well not if you happen to be a monument in a city cemetery with an ivy problem. Notice how the parasite attacks only the head and shoulders, leaving the rest of the body apparently normal and appears to start at the top of the head and work down; how sinister is that? Is the ivy trying to tell us something?

Dead Head

I find parts of Bradford interesting, architecturally; it has something to do with the beautiful Yorkshire stone used in the making of the older buildings, but a lot to do with the neo-gothic style used by some of the builders.

Then you come across something like this, Bradford’s famous Alhambra Theatre. Out of step with its surroundings maybe, but an interesting building none-the-less and one of my favourites in a strange sort of way. Why? Because I feel it would be better suited sited at the end of Brighton Pier. The Alhambra just reminds me of holidays and happiness and the sea-side; well nowt wrong with that then.

Na then, anyone fancy joining me for t'matinee performance?

The Alhambra Theatre

I was in Bradford over the weekend and having woken reasonably early on Sunday morning I decided to go for a walk to help with my head-clearing process. As usual I took the opportunity of packing a camera, so I left the hotel armed with my little Fuji E900 and took to the city streets at 7:20am in the cold and the wet.

The following image was shot in quite low light conditions at 7:40am and as you can see the streets really were wet. With no tripod the camera was hand-held and the long exposure of 1/25 sec @ f2.8 resulted in a little camera shake. I've deliberately enhanced this "error" in Photoshop to create a soft-focus effect. My apologies to any Bradford residents, but I forgot to note the name of the street - it runs along one side of the old Wool Exchange and has Starbucks on the right.

I like the image because it reminds me almost exactly of how I've been feeling - woolly, wet and out of focus...

I promised to post a Bear vid this morning and here it is.

Some of you will already have seen this short vid, but when I posted it previously it was rather poor quality and hosted on YouTube. This is rather better.

Unusually for me I seem to have found myself short of time for my morning blog these past couple of days. No particular reason really, it's just the way things are.

So what am I doing here now? Well quite simply an apology to all Bear fans for the lack of Bear cartoons and a promise to post a new one when I get home from work this evening.

My Mum had a fall this morning and fractured her wrist.

She’s almost 90 and lives in shared accommodation with a bunch of other elderly folk.

Unfortunately she was outside when she fell and lay in the rain in pain, getting wetter and colder for approximately half an hour before she was able to summon help.

An ambulance was called and she was taken to the local hospital; Mum was ‘admitted’ to A&E at 10:35.

I was contacted just after midday and of course dropped everything and headed into the city. The hospital car parks were all full. The unmarked roads around the hospital were all full of parked cars. The nearest public car park with spaces was almost a mile away. What did I do? Well I parked in the public car park and walked back to the hospital.

Arriving at A&E I gave my name and my mother’s name to the receptionist. She told me my mother wasn’t on the system. I explained that the hospital had ‘phoned me and somehow Mum suddenly appeared on the system: how can this be?

Having located my mother, I waited while the medical staff did those things they still needed to do. At about 2:30 they said she could go and would I please take her home. I explained my car was parked some distance away and that I’d need to go and collect it. Oh yes, that’ll be fine as long as someone stays with your mother. I explained it wasn’t possible for me to be in two places at once and was told to speak to the lady at the desk.

I went through my story with the lady at the desk, who shook her head and said she didn’t see what it had to do with her. Well because I can’t be in two places at once that someone who is going to sit with my mother has to be one of your staff. Oh no, we don’t have enough staff to just have them wait around with patients, you’ll have to wait with her. Um, no that won’t work; I need to go and get my car. I can’t go and get my car if I’m waiting with my mother. Well can’t someone else wait with her? No, I’m here by myself. We’ll have to put her in a cubicle by herself...

I went to collect my car as quickly as my little legs would take me. Returning to the hospital I drove in through the main entrance and told the security operative that I needed to collect a 90 year old, physically unstable lady from A&E. He was very helpful and suggested I squeeze my car as near to the ambulances only bay as possible. I did exactly that.

Back inside the hospital I eventually found Mum sat in a wheelchair all alone in a cubicle. I looked for someone to tell them I was about to take her away; things were obviously busy and I’m not sure the nurse I spoke to had any clue who my mother was. I looked at the woman on the desk, thought better of it and pushed Mum outside and installed her in my car.

While I’d been with Mum at the hospital earlier, we had been given a piece of paper with details instructing her to make a follow-up appointment. We had been expressly told to ring as soon as could and to make sure the appointment was within seven days.

Having got Mum home and settled, I rang the number on the paper to arrange the follow-up appointment. They asked my mother’s name and the reference number, which I gave and guess what? My mother was not on the system and a follow-up appointment could not be arranged!

The medical staff had done their job, despite being extremely busy.

The security staff under duress because of the number of people trying to park cars inside the hospital grounds had done their job and helped me collect Mum.

So how come the member of administrative staff who’d had Mum’s details since she arrived at the hospital some five hours previously hadn’t managed to get her “on the system”?

Am I a tad pissed off? You bet I am!

Apologies to any hospital administrators reading this, I’m not tarring you all with the same brush, honestly. I am just frustrated by today’s events and suspect you would be too had this happened to you.

I mentioned on Nate's blog earleir today the birthday anniversary of one David Bowie: 60 years old today.

Anyway, I thought perhaps I'd just blog a piece about Ziggy Stardust...

David Bowie was born David Robert Jones on 8 January 1947.

People know Bowie best for his music, but he's done a bit more than that. David is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, actor, producer, arranger and audio engineer whose work spans more than four decades. Throughout the 1970s he took cues from art, philosophy and literature and appeared to elevate pop and rock to a more sophisticated level. He is also a film and stage actor, music video director and visual artist.

Quite a list really isn't it? Multi-instrumentalist I hear you ask? Yes. David sings, of course and the voice is an instument after all, but he also plays: guitar, piano, keyboards, saxophones, synthesizers, drums, percussion, harmonica, koto, marimba, violin, cello, organ, vibraphone, and stylophone - always assuming you include Rolf Harris' favourite toy as an instrument.

Bowie the actor is probably best known for his role as The Man Who Fell To Earth, but did you also know he played John Merrick (the Elephant Man) on the west-end stage? David has appeared in no less than 38 film/television roles and a number of stage roles too. He's been a busy boy!

For more information check out:
http://www.davidbowie.com/
http://www.bowiewonderworld.com/
http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/davidbowie/biography

Good old Auntie Beeb has a list of interesting Bowie facts too...

Happy Birthday David!

As it's Monday morning I thought you might enjoy this Bear.

We've all been there of course, but somehow this little guy always seems so hapless....

Here we are then, Monday morning and for many it's return to work after an extended Christmas break day; some of us went back to work much sooner, while others worked right through of course.

So while you're sipping your morning coffee and munching your breakfast cereal or toast bear this fact in mind: more people start divorce proceedings in early January than any other point of the year.

Divorce proceedings in early January can be 50% higher than at any other time of the year and the added stress of Christmas is partly to blame. Infidelities at Christmas parties also rate highly it seems, so someone somewhere is obviously having a lot more fun than me!

If you're feeling sad and blue this morning and blaming it on the thought that you have to go to work, just stop and think a moment; maybe it's not work that's the problem at all, it may be your marriage!

Happy Monday All!

Well it seems Dear Daughter has arrived all safe and sound in Yorkshire, unpacked her car and installed herself back in her digs.

So now that my mind's at rest I think it's time I slipped away into the kitchen and did something about cooking up some dinner. A man's gotta eat hasn't he?

See all you bloggers later!

It seems I'm not the only one here in Blog-land that doesn't actually know what this whole TAG thing is about: I assume there's a post somewhere that explains it all and was hoping someone could see their way to pointing Carenter's Daughter, myself and others in the right direction.

Much appreciated - happy-rest-of-Sunday all.

Typical! Having posted a comment on MrFlighty's blog earlier this afternoon about non-tag activity, I find I've been tagged...

Oh well, here goes then:

I am - a middle-aged person of average intelligence not much ambition left in my life.

I will - endeavour to continue helping others as I progress through life's mystery.

I want - to see my daughter succeed in her chosen field and be truly happy with her life.

I see - many wrongs in the society in which we live.

I need - to make improvements in my personal life and achieve the happiness that I know lays dormant.

My five nominations are:

Lonemum
Menhir
MrFlighty
Pollygarter
Welshceltgirl

She's gone, finally.

Bags have been packed and unpacked.

Boxes and containers have been sorted through and contents repackaged.

The car loaded and weight distributed; why do students need so much stuff these days?

Lily Allen was playing on the stereo as she waved her way up the road and disappeared around the corner at the top of the hill. So that's it then. My baby is on her way back up North. At least it's finally stopped raining.

It’s Bear movie time again and I have a real epic for you this Sunday morning.

Well okay it’s not exactly of epic proportions, but it is a biggie.

At least, I think it’s a biggie.

That is to say it’s longer than some others....

And fatter too....

Are we still talking about Bear movies here?

Well I was, anything else you may have imagined is just in your mind....

No I haven’t turned into a raving Bay City Rollers fan overnight, so you needn’t worry on that score. Strange I may be, but not that strange!

Once again the lounge resembles a scene from a transit camp as Daughter’s stuff is piled on the carpet waiting to be packed into her little black car this morning in preparation for her return to university.

The weather is absolutely foul; I can hear the rain lashing against the window pane as I write and I’m mindful of how hard the journey from here to Yorkshire can be when driving conditions are poor. Thankfully there shouldn’t be too much traffic on the motorways it being a Sunday. I'll still worry though, until I hear she's safely installed in her house at Bradford.

With Daughter departed this house will seem very quiet again and although it’ll be nice to have our space back, I’m not exactly looking forward to it. I’d thought it would get easier, but I always seem to miss my little brat so much when she’s not here...

On a positive note, the girls finally got their broadband connection sorted out up in Yorkshire so I bought a couple of VoIP phones during the Christmas break and installed Skype software on the various computers; at least we’ll be able to chat freely for long periods from now on at anytime of the day or night.

There’s a couple of things I want/need to do for a while, but once complete I’ll put another Bear video up for you all to enjoy so see ya later!

There's a certain perfect irony to this story, which I felt bound to share with you. Talk about the evils of the Demon Drink!

Soft drinks manager drink-driving

A soft drinks manager, who fell asleep on the hard shoulder of a motorway in her car, has started her two-year driving ban for drink-driving.

It took police five minutes to wake up Julie Lowes, 40, Bridgend magistrates heard.

Officers were called after motorists on the M4 reported seeing a Renault Espace "all over the road".

They found the car parked on the hard shoulder with Lowes, from Cardiff, slumped over the wheel.

Lowes, a manager with Britvic soft drinks, was breathalysed at the scene near Bridgend and found to be almost three times over the legal limit.

'Fine to drive'

Prosecutor Deena Loynton said: "It took two officers more than five minutes of constant knocking and shouting on the window to rouse her from her slumber.

"When she stepped out she was very unsteady on her feet and had to be supported by one of the officers."

The court also heard that when her car was examined two open cans of lager were found on the front seat.

Vincent Williams, defending said: "She had been to a friend's birthday party during the day and thought she would be fine to drive in the evening."

Lowes, of Llanedeyrn, Cardiff, admitted drink-driving and was banned for two years and fined £350.

As a child living in Wales, I grew up drinking Lowes pop.

Although the business passed out of the Lowes family in 1909, I can't help wondering if there's a connection between a once great name in the Welsh soft drinks industry and the Julie Lowes, soft drinks manager, mentioned here.

I think it's time I subjected you good people to a little more of my friend Bear. After all, you've had a couple of days respite!

Well I finally managed to get a decent few hours’ kip last night and feel blooming marvellous today as a result.

Apologies for my recent absence; I simply didn't feel much like blogging this last couple of days. Anyway, on with the theme...

I’m not convinced that it was sheer exhaustion that eventually laid me down since it could just as easily have been the copious and varied amounts of alcohol consumed in the way of cocktails yesterday evening.

Now I’m usually a good British beer or red wine man. I do enjoy an Irish whiskey or a decent brandy and of course the occasional glass of Nelson’s Blood (rum). Gin and Tonic is usually as exotic as it gets for me though, so the Blue Lady, the Pink Whoteveritwas (bloody lovely that one) and the rum/apricot brandy and mystery thing were very much out of the ordinary.

The cherries, olives, bits of cucumber and pineapple that appeared on or in glasses were fascinating. So were the sugar frosted glasses themselves and the nibbles that accompanied these liquid delights.

When cocktails were offered I imagined a poor attempt at a vodka martini, shaken, not stirred, so the whole experience was unexpected and extremely pleasing.

I can say this without fear of contradiction; if it really was the varied cocktail mix that put me to sleep last night, I shall certainly be repeating the experience VERY soon!

People seem to like these Bear vids, so I thought I'd offer you the chance to start your day with a chuckle at:

Bear's Revenge!

Stay tooned for more Bear madness.

Well it's back to work for me today and typically I've only managed around 7 hours sleep in the last 3 days. Bloody typical, I'll be going in this morning with black bags under my eyes and look as though I've been on the razz for the last couple of days: bugger!

I really thought I'd got the whole insomnia thing cracked, or at least had it under control, but not so it seems. Can't make up my mind whether the current lack of sleep is due to my not wanting to go back to work, or something else. Damn nuisance whatever.

In preparation for my return I’ve accessed my work email, cleared out all the dross that’s accumulated during my absence and answered a fistful of queries that had been left for me: wonder if anyone will notice the reply times are between 2:30 – 4:00am? At least I’m ahead of the game today, but I suspect I’ll be nodding over my keyboard by early afternoon.

Frustratingly the central locking has packed up on my car, or to be more precise all the doors lock except the driver’s door and none unlock remotely. The service department at my local dealership has been closed during the holiday period (December 23 to today) so I need to contact them when they open this morning and hope I can drop my car on my way into the office. Of course this means I’ll be late in and I just know people are going to take one look at my eyes and decide I overslept. Oh well, they’ll just have to get on with it...

I really could do with a tidy sized lottery win so I can retire and live my life doing those things I want to do: what a nice dream that is.

Well I think it's time I posted the second part of today's Bear cartoon.

Are you sitting comfortably?

Good!

This is a quite a large video, so please be patient...

Bear meets ET (Part 2)

In case you missed Part 1

It's