Thoughts on love, sex, death and everything else.

The town of Swindon has decided to switch off it's fixed speed cameras, to divert the maintenance costs to other safety measures such as training and education. I am very much in support of that. I have always believed that education and training should be the priority rather than using the punishment strategy which does not actually educate but makes drivers resentful. The selfish minority who refuse to behave can then be targeted by patrols.
The Institute of Advanced Motorists support this approach, and so I say it's hat off to Swindon!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire/8178347.stm

When I write a post I sometimes wonder if it is worth it. Does what I write have any meaning and is anyone else interested in it. I wonder if I want to clog up the internet with dross, but perhaps someone somewhere will be interested in what I write, although there is often not a lot of evidence to show that, i.e. by the lack of comments. If blogging is no more than a catharsis for the soul then perhaps that justifies it? Or perhaps if it amuses people?

What do you think?

I was ready to flex my fingers today to write another blog, but I am stuck for words at the moment, I could blog about what I did at work today, but I prefer to keep my work and private world separate. I could blog some more about my visit to Chester Zoo yesterday, but I don't think I can improve on yesterday's blog. Sometimes I like to write to practice my typing. I taught myself to touch type using a CD on my computer. It was very hard work to begin with, and it still is hard work to keep the accuracy up; it is often tempting to try and speed up when I am not ready to go fast, and the accuracy goes to pot. I have good days and bad days, but in general I can type about say 50 words a minute on a good day, and it's such a joy not having to keep looking at the keyboard. I would recommend it. an added bonus is that if someone asks me to spell a word that I know, I can spell it out quite easily, because one of the techniques of typing accurately is to picture the word in your mind's eye as you are typing it, and spell the letters out aloud. A drawback to accurate typing is that I may seem a bit too 'perfect' in chat rooms, where people usually miss- spell words and use texting language. But I'm not a perfectionist, i'm quite down to earth. If i'm going to type I have to keep up the habit of doing it properly because I also type letters to people at work, and these letters have to be seen to be mechanically perfect to set the professional standard.

ps see this video of FAST typing ha ha!

I've just been to Chester Zoo today, my main aim of going was to take a friend who really enjoys animals. It's the first time that I have been to such a place since I was a very young child, and I quite enjoyed it. I have always up until now had a slightly negative view of zoos, imagining that the animals are not happy; for example those that pace up and down continuously in their cages, or pick their own fur out are obviously stressed out. I'm glad to say that I saw none of that today, except for a cheetah that was pacing up and down because I think it had been separated from it's mates and they were in the compound next door; there must have been a good reason for this.

My favourite animal was the giraffes, you have to see them in real life and close up to see just how beautiful they are; their coats look like exquisite velvet, they have such serene looks on their faces, and they move around in a very majestic way, as if they have been given lessons at a finishing school on how to walk around gracefully!

Here's a You Tube video (not mine) of some giraffes at Chester Zoo.

Has anyone seen a meerkat being taken for a walk on a lead?
Am I mad by asking this I hear you wondering to yourself?
Well in fact I have seen just that, I think it belongs to some people in the houses opposite to where I work. I was setting off home from my office one day when I saw the meerkat on the grass verge just outside my office. I had to look again to make sure I was not seeing things. There was a young lad stood with it, and the meerkat was on a lead. My colleagues have also seen this so I'm not just seeing things, and they have also seen a wallaby on a lead. I suspect that the lad just stands there showing off his exotic creatures. Well in my opinion I think it is sad that some people have to acquire such animals for their enjoyment. I know that meerkats are very social creatures, they live in burrows together as one big family and there is a strong social bond between them. So to take a meerkat out of that situation and have it on a lead is cruel and selfish.