JULY 2005
The month has been like a roller-coaster ride; first we had the news that London had been awarded the Summer Olympics for 2012; then we had the Live-8 show and and the G-8 summit, and then the suicide bombers struck; wiping all thoughts of "making poverty history" off the political radar.
"War is the terrorism of the rich. Terrorism is the war of the poor"
Peter Ustinov.
The Government are now strongly pushing the concept of "voluntary" ID card, having indicated that they will again ignore the Upper House if their Lordships don't fall into line. Would the ID cards have prevented the London bombings? Ignoring the fact of a mightmare scenario of scanning all card during the rush hour, what would cause a person to be denied access to the transport system. It would, of neccessity, mean that the card carried an encoded message that the person was politically unreliable, a suspected terrorist or anything else deemed by the authorities to be undesirable. Yet we have firm assurances that no such encoded information will be incorperated in the ID cards. Dare one mention other firm assurances like no University top-up fees would be imposed, that proportional representation would be debated, and the small matter of non-excistent weapons of mass destruction.
What's up with my old Alma Mater? When I was at Leeds, Jack Straw was the President of the Student's Union; he was pretty scary even then. Dr. Shipman, which I have no recollection of meeting, but he was there , went on to kill at least 250 of his patients, and now it seems that a Fellow of the Unniversity was the maker of the London bombs.
What is the difference between Islamist fundamentalists suicide bombers, Christian fundamentalists who bomb abortion clinics in the US and Jewish fundamentalist settlers that spray mosques with gunfire? No difference at all, really. And what is the difference between the fundamentalists and the moderates? The fundamentalists really, really believe in the word of the "God of the Book"; the moderates do not.
Just in case everyone has forgotten; did someone kill Dr. Kelly? Though it was declared to be suicide, none of the people on the coalface, so to speak, seem to believe so. So is someone getting away with murder? We might never know as the police have been told in no uncertain terms that any kind of investigation will not help to further careers.
Death and Taxes
Tax his cow, tax his goat
Tax his pants, tax his coat
Tax his crops, tax his work
Tax his tie, tax his shirt
Tax his chew, tax his smoke
Teach him taxes, are not joke
Tax his tractor, tax his mule
Teach him taxes, are the rule
Tax his oil, tax his gas
Tax his notes, tax his cash
If he hollers, tax him more
Tax him 'til he's good and sore
Tax his coffin, tax his grave
Tax the sod, in which he lays
Put these words upon his tomb
"Taxes drove me to my doom"
After he's gone, he can't relax
They'll still go after his inheritance tax
A Texas poem from the 1930s. Some things never changes
Smokey has taken upon himself the job of being Kiyoko's unofficial guardcat. Last week the neighbour's cat suddenly attacked her and pierced a vein in her arm. Her jacket was drenched in blood, but I managed to staunch the bleeding by slapping on a pressure pad soaked in honey, and drove her to the local Minor Injury Unit where she was put on anti-biotics. On coming home there were catfur all over the garden, and Smokey refuses to let Kiyoko out of his sight. We have not seen the neigbour's cat since the incident.
For the first time in 14 years here at Heimbu, the birds actually left us 2 cherries. And very tasty they were, too.
Kiyoko has decided that something has to be done with jungle that has developed at the bottom of the garden. I've spent a large part of the month chopping down trees and taking the branches to the dump. The other day they were talking about charging me commercial fees, as they couldn't believe that it could all come from one town garden. And then, when we have harvested this year's apple crop, there is some serious pruning in the pipeline.
On the 20th I, together with 25.000 others, vended my way up to the Driffield Farmer's Show, the biggest one-day event in the country, and the highlight of the East Riding year. Apart from a few morning showers, the weather was brilliant, and a good day was had by all. I noticed that all the local hunts had bred puppies this year, so there is still hope that things will improve, despite the Blairites assault on the countryside.
According to the Dear Leader "the rules are now changing"; human rights are going out of the window; the Government will deport any non-British not actively condemning terrorism and strip the citizenship from you if you are British. What wil happen to the former citizens who will now be stateless was not made clear. Looking at the small print the definition of terrorism is now "any activity that is deemed unacceptable by the Government" Look at this again. "Any activity that is deemed unacceptable by the Government" Not by the courts, not by common concensus, but by the Government. What is now the greater threat to the British way of life; the actions of terrorists or the Government?
THE HEIMBU FAIR AND THE SUMMERTHING
After months of preparations and hard work, the annual Heimbu Fair took place on the last two days of the month. While we managed last year to do the fair within the area round the soccer pitch we built for the local youth, and where we have the lease, it was soon clear that this time we needed more ground. So an application to the East Riding Council was sent late last year for the use of the ajoining Council land. As we had no answer we enquired about this in April, but no-one knew anything about it. So a new application was sendt in which the Council promised to deal with as soon as possible. As we had no further response by the 29th we just went ahead.
Learning from last year when we were rained out, we borrowed a large 60x40 marque and a smaller 20x20 on in order to shelter from any problem with the weather. So Saturday morning started sunny and bright with two sets of fairground rides, one set for the little children and one for the teenagers. We also had 5 donkeys for the little ones to ride up and down the green, and Markus Townsend brought his birds of prey, including my eagle owl Arthur, which he has on loan at the moment.
In the bigger marquee we rigged up a sound system, and a local singer soon had the kids dancing and singing along. The M.P. for Beverley and Holderness dropped in together with his wife, and was put to work setting up market stalls in the smaller marquee. He is now on the committee for next year's fair.
When the rain arrived around 3 o'clock, we dismantled the fair rides for the day, and while the music was kept going in the big marquee, the Stav community repaired to the office for the Thing. While several topics were briefly discussed, it soon became clear that the general feeling was that everyone missed the old Summer Course that we used to hold every August, not so much as a course, but more as a yearly get-together. In the end it was decided to explore setting in motion a "Stav Gathering" for next August, combined with the Thing, where all the Stav Masters would be available. As it was felt that Beverley was not so easily accessable, especially for those attending from abroad, it was decided that a venue would be looked for near London.
After the Thing we wrapped the Fair up for the day. Next day was cloudy and with a bitterly cold wind blowing. Half the fair rides failed to make it back, and when the singer called and said she couldn't make it as one of her children was sick we were left with a much reduced Fair. For a while David Watkinson and his students carried the day with a brilliant Martial Arts display, but in the end it was decided to cut the Fair short. One reason was that a yob element arrived that was running riot, and as the police could not be bothered to turn up on a Sunday, we felt that the safety of the public could not be guaranteed. But, all in all, the Fair was successful, and we expect to be back next year.
Several people attending the Stav-thing commented on the all-pervading smell of fish and chips. Now fish and chips is a staple food in Yorkshire, but this is only part of the explanation. As the oilprices have been going through the roof, thrifty Yorkshiremen and women have turned to their local chippie to fuel their diesel cars. In fact, one East Riding company has built a small oil refinery for a mixture of rapeseed oil and old frying oil which they sell at their own petrol stands. Cars do a third more to the gallon than on standard diesel.