General Musings for the week 3rd September 2010

Sad news this week. Susie, my parents cat, passed away after a short illness. She was 14 years old and had been with my parents for 13 of them. Although she suffered from diabetes she actually succumbed to an unrelated ailment which attacked rapidly and left her with the option of a major operation - which she would probably not survive - or palliative care for what remained of her life. My parents chose palliative care and the end came quickly. I lost one of my cats a year or two back and wrote about it here. It really is like losing a member of the family.

Happy Birthday to good friend Jo who celebrated her...(?)... birthday this week. We went bowling at the local alley and, surprise, surprise, I won one of the games. This is unusual because I usually throw a couple of balls down the lane then suffer from swollen fingers. This time I didn't. What was quite  weird to see was the number of rather overweight people who - due to their proportions - were unable to make a 'proper' bowling action (i.e. with the bend from the waist that rolls the ball along the ground) and ended up strolling (or lolopping) to the end of the lane and literally dropping the ball from about waist height onto the ground. The ball would then bounce off line and either drop into the gutter or roll slowly off to one side due to the crown. Bit of a waste of money if you ask me, but who am I to say...?

Favourite story of the week was the golfer in Irvine, California who made a stroke, struck a stone with his club, caused a spark and started a 12 acre fire. Talk about having a red hot golf swing!

The BBC are in a state about a new book which purports to reveal the identity of The Stig. For those of you who don't know, The Stig is a mystery racing driver who tests all the cars that the motoring show 'Top Gear' reviews. He drives them at speed around their own racing track (and sometimes other places) in an attempt to determine the fastest of them all. He always wears white overalls and a dark visored white helmet making his identity impossible to determine. However Harper Collins have put together a book which reveals the identity of the man they say is The Stig. The story is here but do not click if you don't want to know the name of the man claiming to be The Stig. I find it quite ironic that the BBC news site shows an article which reveals the supposed identity of The Stig at the same time as the BBC productions site is taking a publisher to court for doing exactly the same thing.