I WANDERED LONELY AS A CLOUD AMONGST 10,OOO ....CONES!

They are back! Just when I thought it was safe to venture further afield than Ramsey. You know what I'm refering to don't you? Those damned cones! Yes ladies, gentleman and wallabies, the killer cones of the Isle of Man are back, and this time it's war.

It's not just Laxey now. There seems to be an infestation(not sure what the collective noun should be) of cones running the length of the coastal road from the Hairpin(part of the TT course) to Laxey. It doesn't end there is either. Leaving Laxey onto Onchan and into Douglas... Cones.

A new terror is upon us now, the "Town Cones." These are the specialist group. Highly adept at disguising themselves as harmless objects guarding manhole covers. Oh no, beware this particular cone. Today I saw one lurking in an empty shop window. Empty apart from this lone cone. How did a cone get into an empty locked shop, and why? So be on your guard against the evil that is as pointy as a witches hat, as orange as the sunniest sun and as plastic as well, a cone.

Today I have a T.T. photo. It's 2006, Sidecar race. I cropped it a little differently to how I normally would so you can see some elusive locals. Guess where they are watching the action from, the pub called the Swan, the one where I was a member of the Quiz team.

WALLABY WATCH!
Rounding up those cones before the tourists get here.

FLY, MY PRETTIES, FLY

Yippe, it's officially British Summer Time. The clocks went forward an hour, which of course I forgot and wondering who had pinched my missing hour this morning. Now not exactly like being jet lagged now is it, but always takes me a day or two to climatise. It was lighter an hour later than usual, which meant the lovely birds who I feed to keep sane, were still around and ravenous.

Now don't get me wrong, I love my little array of feathered friends, the siskins, goldfinches, chaffinchs any so much more. Even though the little buggers, just turn up and sit on the fence outside the kitchen window, staring at me manically until i replenish the feeders and water, I love them all. However they frighten the bloody life out of me and here's why.

When the sun shines( rare but it happens) they fly into the kitchen window, and plop onto the ground. So first sunny day, a mad little male siskin, flew straight into the window. So bird nurse Babooshka of Ramsey, to the rescue. Have to pick the little buggers up as gently as you can, put then up the right way and basically sit with them, fending off sparrowhawks and pussy cats( and tail less manx cats) until some three hours later they fly off. Which he did. Had a chaffinch once that basically refused to fly away. Just hopped on my hand. I spent two hours wandering round the garden, like the bird woman of Alcatraz, talking to this bird and waving my arm around running in spurts to try and coax him to fly away. No idea what the neighbours thought. They think we're bananas anyway. Eventually he flew off without so much as a thank you tweet. Not exactly well mannered our graden birds, very manx.( I couldn't resist that one)

So today pic, is er todays pic of the siskin. What a grumpy little bugger he was too. Well I suppose I would be too if I'd been flinging myself headlong into windows. Again not a thank you tweet.

WALLABY WATCH!

Slept in due to the clocks going forward, with a raging hangover.

THE SEAGULL HAS LANDED

"The seagull has landed" should actually have been applied to yesterdays pic but after the bank false impriosonment( liberty taking with the truth i know) my puns weren't up ( or down depending on your viewpoint) to scratch. So today i will enlighten you as to how and when this pic was taken. Again it's a genuine pic, not a particuarly good shot, in fact it's crap technically and too dark, but it's an opportunist shot.

So, at my old house, there were these two herring gulls went into a pub. No i mean fighting in the back garden. Why they chose my garden i do not know. Tried to seperate them with a broom, and the weaker one flew into the house and proceeded to have a mad half hour flying about. Managed to shoo the other one away. By this time the gull above had decided to sit where you see him now. At this point in the proceeding i just had to take his pic, having texted Barker to tell him we had a gull in the kitchen. Now even for me this seemed in the realms of fantasy, as only so much can happen to one person, so pictorial evidence was required.

Now getting him out was another challenge in itself. More shooing with brooms until he retreated to the garden , straight behind the oil burner. More problems. He sat there for about 2 hours, came out of his own accord, flew off and left me with big pile of seagull shit as a parting gift for my trouble, and you have no idea how much a scared seagull can poo. Thus ends another one of my "it really happened, no i'm not lying, drunk or on drugs, this is just my life" tales.

Well, we are still none the wiser as to which way the train will run. No logical explanation given for the powercut. I think it might be somekind of X Files secret tagging thing they were doing. Probabaly whole island kidnapped and tagged, and we have been implanted with this false scenario of a powercut and lock in. Ok just me then?

WALLABY WATCH!

It's not a wallaby, it's an alien with a cloaking devise, thus explaining why he is so elusive.

BERK IN A MERC

Jeremy Clarkson, you know one of the 3 presenters of the fabulous, best car programme ever, "Top Gear" has done it again. No, not for shooting his mouth off again about what he's like to do to the ramblers on his land, motorbikers, or environmentalists, although it does involve his vocals.

Jeremy was pictured talking on his mobile phone whilst driving his merc at 70 per hour. Now we are not talking hands free,we are talking one hand on the wheel, the other gripping his moblie. No doubt he was looking for ramblers to run over and getting the info as to their whereabouts from the other person at the end of the mobile.

Jeremy is another Isle Of Man resident. One of the reasons he loves the place is that it isn't governed entirely by UK rules. An example of this is the speed limit. We don't exactly have one. Well yes we do, say when you are approaching the few towns we have, but basically it's carte blanche. So you can drive like a maniac on the mountain road and believe me drivers do. If you like rollercoasters, take a Isle of Man bus ride. It's cheaper than a rollercoaster ride, lasts longer and is far less predictable. I mean at least on a funfair ride you are strapped in, know the highs and lows and that it will at some point reach it's destination. None of the above can be said of taking the bus. For all those that watch Top Gear, it wouldn't surprise me if The Stig was an Isle of Man bus driver.

Top Gear latest news under links.

Todays pic is " Storm Clouds Of Ramsey." No we didn't have the storm, gales and floods that were predicted last night, so here's one from last summer.Took this one with a wide angled lens and chose black and white to emphasise the contrast of the white clouds and severe greys of the sky. Iso was 4oo. ooh getting technical, will stop it.

WALLABY WATCH!

Wallaby found to be the person Jeremy Clarkson was talking to on the mobile when he was driving. The Wallaby, however, did not commit an illegal act as his set was hands free.

PATRICK SWAYZE

Firstly let me say best wishes to Patrick Swayze and good luck with his latest health battle.

Patrick Swayze is another fim star who graced our shores. He filmed the rom/com "Keeping Mom" on the island not so long ago. Apparently he was quite taken with the island and described the place as and i quote, " a magical place with magical people". Now who am I to disagree with a Hollywood legend. He even managed to get up here as far as Ramsey, in fact he was to be seen doing a spot of the old " dirty dancing" at the legendary Nightspot some of you have mentioned in your comments, Nightlife.

Ok, some of you have given it it's alternative names of er, the very uncomplimentary Fightlife or Shitelife. Nonetheless it remains as Ramsey's premier nightclub. Ok, premier is manipulating the figures somewhat as it's Ramsey's only Nightclub. Really you have to go there iF you are up this way. It's a real throwback to a bygone era. It attracts all comers, whatever age, musical taste, aliens and wallabies. You will find the population of Ramsey who haven't stayed in or still standing after the pubs close(not me remeber i fell off my heels and into a taxi) doing there own version of dirty dancing into the small hours. Be warned no trainers, but otherwise, if you have a pulse and the entrance fee your'e in.

Pic today is a "Moonlit Blackbird."Sure you can work out why that's it's title. Even he could get into Nightlife. Honestly it's non exclusivity is it's er charm.

WALLABY WATCH!

Got turned away from Nightlife for wearing trainers.

LADY ISABELLA ,THE LAXEY WHEEL

Laxey Wheel, or The Lady Isabella(named after the Lieutenant's Governer's wife ot the time) was designed by John Casement in 1854 and used to pump water away from the mines. It still remains the largest working watermill in the world and is now one of the main tourist attractions on the island. If your'e brave enough for a small fee you can go to the top and survey the land around.

The Triskelion, the 3 legs of man symbol displayed is the national image of the island and is actually the wrong way round.They forgot to reverse the image when it was transfered and so remains the opposite to it should be. Incidently you may have seen the 3 legs symbol on another islands flag, that of sicily. As Micheal Caine would say, not a lot of people know that. The Wheel even has a piece of music dedicated to it by Stuart Slack.

So Andy Kershaw has left the island, one less celebrity. For all you Top Gear fans remeber, we still have Jeremy Clarkson fighting those ramblers. Top Gear Link added today For all those suffering withdrawal sypmtons whilst it's off air. Yes that would be me too.

WALLABY WATCH!

The elusive wild wallaby remains just that.Maybe he was asked to leave with Andy Kersahw.

ROBERT DE NIRO. YOU LOOKING AT ME?

Following on from Uma Thurman, Duck With Quiff, here is a Robert De Niro. Ok, so strickly speaking it isn't De Niro. You have to admit though the baby blackbird bears a strking resemblance to "Travis Bickle", De Niros' character in Taxi Driver. You know the famous scene where he is seen repeating "You looking at me?" Perhaps this is just me then? Anyone with me on this?

The blackbird above was one of 4 that was actually nesting in our garden, under the kitchen window tucked away in a conifer. For days i had that eerie feeling of someone was watching me, only to discover a mother blackbird popping her head out to look into the kitchen. All 4 chicks hatched and the one above is 2 days old in this pic. This was his first outing away from the nest. After a week all birds flew safely away to explore the island.

Latest Isle Of Man news is congtatulations to Zoe Gilling being voted 2007 Olympic Athlete of the Year for Ski and Snowboard by the BOA. Quite an achievement when you consider the island isn't exactly on the hotspot list of places than spring to mind as being a mecca for snowboarders. Lucky if we get 3 snowflakes a year.


WALLABY WATCH!

No. Far too clever to be seen. Think they are now masquerading as manx residents!

VERTICAL SKYLINE

This blog started out as a "mainly photography" blog with others items thrown in but seems to have meandered. So, here's one of my proper, arty farty, photographic images, obviously black and white and a ironic title.

No, not the Isle of Man either, ( shocked aren't you?) but Nice in France. Here's the science bit. Stood as close as i could to the foot of the building, lent back and shot at a slight incline upwards.This emphasized the vertical lines and horizontal lines that break into curves, almost gripping the buliding like hands.Or is it me that just sees that?Obviously had to be a black and white to give it that retro, but timeless feel. Hope you agree?Do you really care? Should i get back to the pretty colours and escaped Isle of Man wildlife? Answers please.

Todays link is my own stumbleupon. Do think this i great site, you can come across the most amazing sites. Try it, you'll like it!

Added a poll if you'd like to check that out too, about Amy Whinehouse, just for fun.

Todays tip, don't write anything on facebook when drunk. I have done, it sure ain't pretty.

WALLABY WATCH!

Well, a sighting. Wallaby crossing the mountain road on the approach to Ramsey. This was a fairly upstanding member of the teaching community, who wishes to remain nameless. Of course teaching is stressful and he could of just imagined wallaby. All getting a bit Donnie Darko isn't it?

The voices in my head are telling me to go and get a coffee, so bye for now.

J