Madeleine McCann

This entry is for Madeleine McCann. She has been missing since May 3rd 2007. She was taken from her bed in a holiday appartment in Pria de Luz, Algarve, Portugal.



She has a 'bleed' in her right eye, which looks like the pupil has bled into the Iris. Even if the 'person' that took her cut her hair short, or dyed it, they would be unable to disguise this fact.

Why has this affected me so much? I find myself thinking about how the poor little girl might be feeling and wondering why she was taken. I believe the McCann's press strategy has been spot on thus far by keeping Madeleine's face in the news, but with fewer and fewer details being put in the press, they will not be able to sustain the publicity that has led nearly 100 million people to have visited the website www.findmadeleine.com.

I ama regular listeber to BBC Radio 5 Live. Madeleine has all but disappeared from the news there as well. Apparently Mars has upset a few vegetarians and women who eat apples during pregnancy can help their unborn child. What about helping a 4 year-old child? Keep her face out there!

Sustaining the publicity in mainland Europe is not going to be the main problem they face. What if Madeleine has indeed been taken to africa or asia? How far can the coverage go?

A british child, also on holiday on the European mainland, was returned to his mother 8 weeks after being taken. Let's hope that this tragedy has the same outcome. Let's hope it happens sooner.

Paris Hilton: The Edge of reason

I can't get the image of Paris Hilton dishing out her bras, scavving for fags and singing madonna songs out of my head. Somebody help me.

Why is Easter on a different day each year?

I have always wondered this. I am quite a cynical person [No - Really!] and I was wondering if the church could ever decide on the exact date when Christ gave his life to save us. I am also not a follower of mainstream religions so I am constantly wondering why he bothered. I never did anything my Dad told me.

It turns out that the church have decided the date on which Christ was crucified. I always thought they were hedging their bets.

"In 325 AD, the Council of Nicea set the date for the celebration of Easter as the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox, March 21. For this reason, the date will change each year and can fall anywhere from March 22 to April 25."

(http://www2.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=2876, accessed on 22/02/07)

There you go, see. Clear as you like.

I always thought they were hedging their bets.

Some people have it bad

I sat there over the weekend looking at pictures of Britney Spears shaving her head and I felt really bad for her. She is obviously searching for herself at the moment.

I wonder where Paris was?

And I also wonder where her Mom was.

There was talk on our Local Radio station, BRMB, this morning that she courts publicity and that if she wanted to she could live quite an anonymous life but this is crap isn't it. She has paparazzi camped outside her house, how can she live a private life? How can she be photographed in her car 10 minutes before a haircut, sobbing uncontrollably if she can live a private life?

No I feel really sorry for her and her family and it's time the press showed a bit of humility. I would just love it for a member of the paparazzi to live in her shoes for just one day and see how they cope!

Saying that, I'm not a Britney Spears fan especially but I hate the press in the UK and the US and the way they idolise the stars of the moment but as soon as the star begins to fade they make a career point of kicking the celeb when they are down.

I hate gossip columns and magazines like 'Closer' who dish dirt on stars. They just spread (often untrue) stories. I don't read them because it shows the 'kick them when they're down' culture that I hate. Who cares what sells papers, think of the ruined lives. And don't even start with the argument that as soon as someone puts themselves in the public eye they are fair game. Who says? Who says that someone with talent should be slagged off in the press? Imagine how you feel at work whe there is gossip being spread about you and multiply that by a factor of a million.

What do Big brother contestants (jade goody excluded) do to be booed by thousands of people when they come out of the BB house?

Some papers actually employ people to be crap about BB contestants. That's responsible and impartial journalism!!

6 Weird Things About Me

I was tagged by Serendipity

These are the rules:

1. Each player of this game starts with the “6 weird things about you”.

2. People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly.

3. At the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says “you are tagged” in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

Weird Things

1. I can bend the top knuckle of my middle finger of each hand independently of the rest (i.e. the rest of the finger is dead straight) If you press the lower knuckle the whole finger bends.

2. I can wiggle my ears without touching them with my hands.

3. I regularly get all the coins in my pocket, pile them up in size order, then put them back in my pocket. I don't know why I do this. It just happens.

4. Like David Beckham, I have to have regular numbers of cans of pop (soda for my american brethren) in the fridge. If there is an irregular number (i.e. not 3x3 or 2x2) then I have to move it out of the way.

5. I have 2 phobias. the first is of spiders (arachnophobia) and the 2nd is of dentists (Dentophobia).

6. There are less than 6 things weird about me. (What?? It's not cheating!!)

I tag Veronika, Madman, Captain Beardy, Shipcreak and that's all the blog friends I have in the world that haven't already done this.

Sorting through the mess

We were sorting through my dad's filing system last night. I have never seen so many CCJ warnings and final demands. LoL. My mum didn't know anything about them. We found out that he didn't pay the mortgage for a year.

Ah well time to look ahead. She looks to have found a good benefits advisor and things look better with housing. Everything is slowly sorting itself out.

I wonder if he's up there somewhere looking a bit sheepish and embarrassed.

V and I were out looking for houses at the weekend. Nothing was any good.

Oh and it was our 4 year anniversary yesterday. Valentine's Day tomorrow. On the surface I must be the luckiest bloke on the planet 'cos V told me not to get her anything 'cos we are supposed to be saving.

Of course if I fail to get her anything, it will be remembered. If I actually do something I will be shouted at because I am supposed to be saving.

Women!!

Part of the healing process I guess

This is photo of one of the happiest days of my dad's life.



I'm not going to dwell to much on the blog 'cos there's nothing like a depressive blogger to make people want to read someone else's.

I'm just trying to work out all the things that will change for me and my family. My mum doesn't drive, has angina and the beginnings of cataracts so she is going to be dependent on my brother and I for a good while, even if it's only for lifts. My dad was to finance what Fat Rick is to hang-gliding (see, humour) so my mum is now in a shit state. Talking of state, we are going to have to sell the house because her state pension isn't enough to cover mortgage and bills and my dad rubbed off on her a bit.

If that was January I can't wait to see what February has in store