Bel is thinking

While going through the UK news from last week, I happened upon an interesting story.

A not-so-merry band of thieving women were up before a judge to be sentenced for their role in a robbery. In handing out his sentence, the judge described them as behaving like “a bunch of over-the-hill slappers”.

Inappropriate, no doubt, given that their “slapperiness” (or otherwise) had nothing to do with the robbery. However, what caught my attention was the response to the judge’s comments. A friend of the women took exception to her buddies being described in such brutal terms. Springing to their defence, she claimed:

“Mel’s still in her 30s and none of them reckon they are over the hill. They might have let themselves go a bit but they still reckon they could pick up a fella given half a chance.”

Pick up a fella given half a chance? Now, if that’s not the definition of a “slapper”, I don’t know what is.

Beginning to stir from my long blogging slumber. And a deep slumber it has been. Nothing seemed to rouse me, not even the increasingly desperate state of affairs currently obtaining in the United Kingdom. However, the time approaches for me to return, even if gradually, to the world of political blogging.

First things first, I have upgraded this blog to Wordpress 2.5. After reading of Tyger’s upgrade experiences, I decided not to attempt it myself. Justin of Webbleyou kindly sorted it out for me. He has helped me out on numerous Wordpress matters in the past, and I am really grateful to him. I don’t know what it is with me and Wordpress. I can take anything Movable Type throws at me, installation, upgrade, you name it. The same goes for Joomla!. But the very thought of upgrading a Wordpress blog, and I want to lie down and take my vitamins. So thanks, Justin.

I hope you’ve all been doing fine. More later, definitely.

A gradual return to blogging.

Sorry for the silence. Emigrating from the UK is no easy matter, but here I am now, observing UK life from the relative calm of The Hague.

I will try to blog more regularly, but kindly bear with me just now.

Sorry for the silence, dear readers. I’m working outside the country, and haven’t yet sorted out proper internet access. I hope to be back blogging soon.

Heartened to see that the place hasn’t completely fallen apart in the last few weeks, although, from what I gather, not from want of trying. Children are still shooting each other, soldiers are still dying needlessly in unnecessary wars, politicians are still up to their deceitful self-serving ways …

Still, it’s good to be back.

Away in Africa for a few days so this blog will be taking a break. It will be fairly quiet here unless I get internet access and have something to write about.

I’m involved in a few educational projects out there. It will be good to go back, if only for a short time, to a place where education really has value. In some of these countries, education (or the lack of it) really can make a difference between life and death. No need to bribe the local kids with vouchers to attend school, or legislate to force them to remain there until 18. Many can see for themselves the value of education, and were it not for the poverty, war, or famine that blight their land, would gladly take their seats in the local school.

I hope also to have an opportunity to discuss French West African poetry with a sixth form class. That should be fun, and I’m looking forward to that.

Comment moderation will be enabled (sorry, dear readers). However I hope to have access to the internet from time to time.

Have fun, and please visit the blogs in my sidebar. I will be back in mid-August.

Many apologies for the lack of posts. Taking a blogging break, and will be back next week. In the meantime, I will be reading other blogs, and discovering some new ones. I will be sharing any interesting articles via my Shared Items page on the sidebar of this blog. Also, feel free to check out all the interesting blogs listed in the sidebar.

See you next week.

The Blogpower Awards will soon be kicking off in Second Life. The appointed time is 2pm London time. The venue is the Air Liner ‘Limoncello’ (named after the lovely Welshcakes Limoncello). Unfortunately, I can’t make it, as I’m busy at work at the moment. Bad enough that I am working on a Sunday, I am also missing the opportunity to fellowship with my fellow Blogpowerers, and of course, pick up my award.

Please feel free to drop in on the awards. Everyone is welcome. To get to the venue, please click here.

For a few minutes earlier today, I couldn’t access this blog through www.beltoday.com. All is well now, but should that happen again, you can also access this blog through www.belisthinking.com.

I would like to thank everyone who voted for this blog in the recent Blogpower awards. I feel honoured to have won the poll for the Best Political Blog or Column. This is all the more so, given the exceedingly good blogs in that category. Thank you.

I encourage you to continue to visit Blogpower blogs, and to support them through your readership and comments. Within Blogpower, we have so many wonderful and well-written blogs. I have discovered so many of them, and look forward to seeing many more join us. For a list of Blogpower blogs, please check out my sidebar.