BAN CLUSTER BOMBS NOW

It's a sad indictment of our "civilised world" that such frequent campaigns as this should even need to be contemplated.

I hope you will consider signing the above petition.

If you're in doubt as to its likely effectiveness, you can take it from me that Avaaz.com does carry considerable weight. You might like to read about them here.

Better yet, see the co-founder of Avaaz.org, Ricken Patel, being interviewed on the BBC programme Hard Talk.

Mike.

Burma Cyclone: an update from Avaaz.com

You might be interested to read this report from Avaaz. It seems they have been able to get very significant amounts of aid into Burma - and successfully ditributed - via the monks.

Very welcome positive news in the midst of so much sorrow.

Mike

China Earthquake

Photograph courtesy of The British Red Cross.

The disasters seem to be never-ending, and on such a monumental scale, but having made very good friends in various parts of China, I was especially affected by this heart-rending tragedy. It was also vividly brought home to me by a video clip, on the BBC News website, of the moment the quake struck. (When I visited China last year I changed flights at Chengdu, and I believe I may have stood at the exact spot where the cameraman was.)

Please be as generous as you can. Click here to donate via the British Red cross.

Many thanks

Mike

Early-morning bike ride in Tatton Park

I'm trying to get fit by cycling through the park. But as I have to stop every few yards to take a photo I'm not sure how effective it's been. Never mind, it was a beautiful morning.


And here's the trusty machine that got me there. (No, I didn'tg mean "rusty" ... that's me!)


Cheers
Mike

Words are not enough - please help the Burmese People

Venerable U Uttara, General Secretary, International Burmese Monks Organization.
Photograph: courtesy of Aavaz.org.

Please consider making a donation to assist the Burmese people following the devastating cyclone. Just click on the Aavaz.org link.

Many thanks
Mike

Still the same after all these years (?)

Not for the faint-hearted, eh? The "Tattonland Jotter", aged umpteen ... before the beard and baldness had really kicked in! By jove, I was a handsome devil, was I not?

And just to prove the family connection with the Royal May Day, here I am again in several cunning disguises:

These were both taken in our back garden (but in different years, obviously) prior to the May Day festival. First as a Farmer's Boy; then as a "Cranford Gentleman" - with my mate Steve, who that year was a Coster (AKA "Pearly King").


In the procession; and on The Heath, after the trek, with sore feet, some kind of novelty toy and cousin Joe (right of picture).


Believe me, this really was me as a "Beefeater". Honest.

Cheers
Mike

Another fine Royal May Day in "Cranford"

And the sun shone - in spite of dire predictions to the contrary.



Above: the (shortly-to-be) May Queen in her carriage, attended by her Ladies-in-Waiting. The two small gentlemen up front are Pages. Later in the afternoon, the May Queen will receive her crown. And here's the lucky lad who'll be officiating - The Crownbearer:



The "Queen" has an entire "Court" to attend her every need. This consists of numerous colourful characters, such as "Will Scarlet", Forresters, Yeomen of the Guard ("Beefeaters") ...



Heralds, "Robin Hood", "Maid Marian" (I'm not sure why, exactly!)...



"The Royal Falcon-Bearer" ...



Court Ladies, Trainbearers (similar to Pages) ...



Maids of Honour - and yet more Train-Bearers ...



In addition to all these there is a rich panoply of other splendid characters, portraying not merely traditional English culture, but also representing just about every country in the world! Far too many for me to do justice to, in a blog post. (It would take me all night uploading photos!)

Here are just a few impressions:

























And here (above) are some of "King Henry VIII's wives" accompanied, as it happens, by my (only) wife, Caroline. She's the tallest one, by the way. Actually, she's a steward - one of several adults enlisted to attempt to keep order (some hope!). The procession meanders through the town, eventually ending up on The Heath (ie the common), for the crowning of the May Queen. The whole journey takes well over an hour, and as there are something like 450-500 children taking part things can tend to get a bit fraught. So the stewards are a necessary addition, acting as chaperones and givers of moral support; no doubt issuing such helpful encouragement as: "we're nearly there now". That sort of thing.

I remember (just about) pounding the self-same route myself as a little lad. The one thing that you never forget is the aching feet.

For those who aren't familiar with Knutsford's "Royal" May Day festival, incidentally, it got its regal title from the fact that (so the legend goes) it was once attended by actual real royalty.

Now for some video of the varied forms of entertainment en route:





The last clip above depicts a scene, and characters, from Mrs Gaskell's novel Cranford, which was adapted and broadcast by the BBC as a highly successful costume drama starring Judi Dench as famous local heroine, "Miss Matty". The novel described daily life during the Victorian era (late 1800s) in a fictional small market town that was in fact based on Knutsford: my hometown; one with which Mrs Gaskell had a particularly close relationship, and wherein she is buried. It is just such a great shame that Knutsford itself could not have been chosen as the location for filming. (That honour went to Laycock Abbey in Wiltshire which, while unquestionably a splendid location, is not even close to Knutsford geographically). There were all sorts of reasons for this, including the fact that Manchester Airport is less than 10 miles away, thus on many occasions, when the wind is in a particular direction, hardly a minute goes by without a low-flying aircraft scraping the town's roof tops and donating some 98dB of unwanted sound. Also, our town has changed out of all recognition since Miss Matty's days; for one thing, it now appears (at least to me) to be virtually gridlocked with traffic for much of the time.

A well, c'est la vie! Still, hopefully the subtitle to my blog will now make more sense to you (assuming you hadn't already worked it out).

You can see more about this year's Mayday festival here, on the website of The Knutsford Guardian.

And finally, for previous postings of mine relating to the Knutsford Mayday, try this link; or this one.

Bye for now.

Mike