To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

Posted on behalf of Moggsy who has some technical difficulties with Blogger!

Sighs.

 I had the weirdest dream last night. There was this plague or something that made    people into zombies, tho I don’t remember them eating anyone or looking all zombie, just shuffling a bit, going “nUunnhhh”. I remember being scared of catching it.

 Most everyone (who wasn’t a zombie) was in army camouflage fatigues.  Not desert, or  Russian grey style but with dark greens and browns, and armed with this gun, well rifle, made with dark metal and green impact resistant plastic/rubber stuff where you would expect wood. You could set it so it fired single shots, bursts of about 3 to 5 shots or it just blasted away till you ran out of ammo.

 I remember the gun was much lighter than you would have thought, almost feeling like a  toy. I had mine set on single shot at first when I got it, but changed it to shoot bursts after a bit. 


Does the gun make sense anyone?  Or did I just imagine it. Maybe from TV/movies?

The thing was I wondered if they had got it all wrong and they were not all unreasoning zombies or if they might recover. And some not lose it really in the first place.


It was a horrible dream, but really self consistent and seeming real.  I even woke up to go to the bathroom, but I was back there as soon as I nodded off where I had left it. It seemed to go on all night and was in my head when I got up.


Now I lay myself vulnerable to psychoanalysis over it or being looked up in some dream book says I want to rule the world or marry a relative or something. “Do not approach – report sightings to the authorities”.

Gosling Daycare?

Normally Canada Geese lay 6 to 8 eggs, so imagine my surprise when I saw this lot on a recent walk at Granville Island.  I counted 22 goslings which would be a incredible number for one family, but they were different sizes. Hence the whimsical title of my post.

I wasn't the only one amazed by this sight as a young father showed the little geese to his little ones.

The gardener had gone to lunch so it was a good time to investigate the good things to eat in his area.

The adult geese were chasing off the other geese in a very parental fashion but if this were truly one family it would surely be a record!  Look how small the one on the left is compared with his "siblings".

Click to enlarge the photos

What's in a Name?

This is a post from Miss Moggs who had trouble with the format / publishing of this post and asked me to "fix" it and publish it.  I have to say some things are easier with the "new" Blogger but many are a mystery to me.  eg.  I cannot get text to appear besides the photo above.   Grumble, grump!  JMB

What’s in a name? This post came from something I said in a comment. I googled to see if I could back up something I was convinced must be true about hygiene and bathrooms. 

Thomas Crapper. Unsung hero. His Father was a sailor. He was born in Yorkshire, England about a year before princess Victoria became queen. He grew up to become a very successful London Plumber and Victorian business man. Water closets had been around for ages , or at least some of the ideas, and simpler versions. 

Thomas Crapper didn’t invent it but improved, promoted and popularised it. Made it practical and fashionable and popular. He was an entreprenure. He made some of the very best flush water closets in the land, the world even, so good he was awarded royal warrants “by appointment”. He sensibly patented his improved Water closets making good money while he did it as sales took off. After all what was good enough for the Prince of Wales... Thomas Crapper & Co had the world's very first bath, toilet and sink showroom, in the famous King's Road, Chelsea, in London. 

Thomas Crapper

In promoting his own interest so well and promoting good hygiene he probably did as much good and saved as many lives as ever Florence Nightingale, or Alexander Fleming did. It seems a poor reward that his good name is now the “butt” of jokes and .. well I am sure you see what I am thinking. Weirdly it may be that he did not for sure give his name to what gets flushed round the bend, and talked sometimes. There is some suggestion it might be from Dutch or related Middle English originally. I expect the word was there but did it mean “you know what”. The first time the Oxford Dictionary lists it is 1846 talking about a privey. Whatever. 

To me Thomas Crapper is one of the great benefactors of mankind and should get some credit for it. He should be looked up to like his fellow Britons James Dyson or Richard Branson. A hero even. So here is to Thom Crapper. Yaaay!! What started this whole post? I argued it is more hygienic to close the lid before flushing. Instead of leaving the seat up. I found this to say I was right.