Saying

I have a question to you, dear bloggers...

I was reading the newspaper this morning as I do most mornings when I came across a saying I've heard many times before and its meaning I understand but don't follow the word play exactly. The saying is:

"Don't cut off your nose to spite your face".

There is a saying in Switzerland for the same meaning: "Cut off the branch on which you sit", which to me makes more sense.

So, what's with the nose and face thing?

Can anyone explain it to me,

Cheers,

Bill

Baby like Beyonce

Somebody sent me this great video. I love it. I hope you do too.....

I need a good night's sleep!

For over a week, we've had a visitor. Once a year the 'Common Koel' a migratory bird visits us. This bird is very hard to spot as it is extremely good at hiding, but boy, do you hear it! Yesterday it was in a tree near us and singing it's little heart out, but no matter how hard we looked, we couldn't see it. It has a monotonous song that sounds something like a wolf-whistle directed at a pretty girl coming from a building site. Only this one won't stop, it goes on and on.

It did finally stop at around 7 pm. We watched a little TV, went to bed around 10.30pm and woke up at 3.45 by, you guessed it... our visitor. Both Diane and I dived for our ear plugs and tried to go back to sleep. Me, without success because I could still hear that annoying sound.

It did eventually stop at around 5 am and I haven't heard it today, so hopefully it went back to New Guinea or wherever it came from.

The Common Koel

Here is a short video to show you how annoying that sound is. Bad enough during the day but at 3.45 in the morning? Boy that plays havoc with your sanity.

Redlands - This is your Life

Diane and I recently joined the camera club of the Redlands' U3A (University of the 3rd Age) and we attend the monthly meetings of like-minded amateur photographers. Well, word got out that I am also a videographer, so the 'Footlight' theatre company also part of U3A, asked me if I could video their annual musical, this year called 'Redlands, this is your Life'. I enlisted the help of Diane and another videographer also called Bill, and armed with 3 cameras, we decended upon their stage in Cleveland and filmed the production.

The two Bills are setting up the cameras

Filming the musical

The final song of the musical

The production was fabulous. The entire compamy is made up of senior citizens some over 80 years old, but boy, can they still belt out a tune.

Sonya and Bernard in 'New Idea'

Our famous offspring (well Bernard, anyway) have been asked for an article in this week's 'New Idea' magazine. Sonya, our daughter was a little reluctant to have her picture in the mag but eventually relented. So walking past a news stand, I couldn't help myself to buy a copy.

Click on the pictures to enlarge

I'll probably get into trouble putting these on my blog but, hey... I'm her proud dad!

More about the new Bear Park in Bern

After yesterday's post on the Bear Park, here is a video showing more about this new Swiss Attraction. The video is by Swissinfo, formerly Swiss Radio International.

The famous Bears of Bern have moved

If you have ever visited Switzerland's capitol, Bern, chances are you went to the famous Bear Pit, the 'Bärengraben'. For people growing up and living in Bern, this was just an acceptable fact that bears were living in a relatively small enclosure, but many overseas visitors were expressing doubt that this could be good for the bears. Diane included.
So now the two remaining bears, Finn and Björk have been relocated to a brand new park, adjacent to the old pit. They now live in a 6,000 square metre park along the banks of the River Aare. They can still access the large pit, now a historic monument. Two more bears will soon join them.
Not only do they have more space to roam, but they also have million dollar view over the old town of Bern.

Yesterday, a man climbed onto the fence of the new enclosure and fell into the bear area. He was then attacked by 4 year old Finn who felt threatened by the intruder. A policeman fired a shot at the bear and injured him. The man was taken to hospital with head and leg wounds and the bear was operated on to remove the bullet. It is not known why the man climbed onto the fence according to city police sources. The Bear Park announced that Finn is doing well.

For more information on the Bear park Bern, click HERE