Posted:
May 15, 2012
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The British Monarchy… still puzzling people after all these years

Queen Elizabeth II.

Plans are well under way for a plethora of patriotic street and garden parties as Britain and the Commonwealth prepare to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

THE timing of the Diamond Jubilee celebration is a bit of a puzzle. It’s four months after the anniversary of the Queen taking the throne and 59 years after her coronation in 1953.

The Queen has already spent more than 60 years as head of state. She ascended to the throne on February 6, 1952. But she wasn’t actually crowned until June 2, 1953, 59 years ago. So having the celebration in June 2012 seems like a strange cobbling together of the two anniversaries.

Of course, it’s not the only date deception in the Queen’s diary. Britain celebrates the Monarch’s ”Official Birthday” on a Saturday, usually at the start of June, when in fact the Queen was born on April 21.  The royal website doesn’t specify why the Queen has two birthdays, but according to Wikipedia,  the official birthday was established so that people in the northern hemisphere would be able to celebrate in fine weather.

Sadly, by some meteorlogical accounts, Britain’s “monsoon season” comes in June and July, so I’m not convinced relying on warm June weather is the best course of action.

The Queen’s official birthday in other parts of the Commonwealth is held on different days. In Canada, Victoria Day, the Monday before May 25, is recognised in statute as the Queen’s Official Birthday. In many parts of Australia, the Queen’s Official Birthday is celebrated on the second Monday in June. New Zealand uses the same date as its antipodean neighbour. An official birthday is marked in Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha and was marked in Bermuda until 2009. Breaking from tradition, the Falkland Islands celebrate on the Queen’s actual birthday.

Got that? I bet you she doesn’t.

It means, the Queen, at 86, has celebrated approximately 483 birthdays. Not bad going.

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Posted:
May 12, 2012
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What foal would disagree? This baby budget horse is the cutest

Spring is definitely here – and the proof is all around.

I snapped this mother and her foal near our house this morning. I’m no equine expert, so I don’t know if they’re Shetland ponies or miniature horses, but I do know they’re extremely cute. Enjoy!

 

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Posted:
May 9, 2012
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Seven-and-a-half years in the UK, and it’s still a mystery

The English muffin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is neither English nor a muffin. Discuss.

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Posted:
Apr 30, 2012
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Maybe it’s time for a ringtone revolution

THEY can interrupt a tense moment in a film, drive stage actors to distraction and set teachers’ teeth on edge. Still, more and more people seem to think it’s okay to leave their mobile phone ringtones on when they’ve been asked not to.

IT was a Monday morning.

Like a lot of people out there, I’m keen on maintaining work-life balance. I believe a part of that is doing active, healthy things, like going for walks and heading to the gym every once in a while. It clears your head and puts you in a more positive mind-frame.

So last Monday I found myself lying on a mat at the LC2 in Swansea, feeling a zen-like calm after a yoga session. We had just done 45 minutes of stretches and I was starting to feel ready to take on the week ahead.

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Posted:
Apr 27, 2012
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It was love at first sight when I saw my first okapi

Okapi

One of Marwell Wildlife Park's okapis. Picture by David Connop Price.

Their stripey hind-quarters and velvety coats mean many people think the okapi is a cross between a horse and a zebra, but in fact the okapi is the giraffe’s distant cousin.

BECAUSE of their shyness, okapis are not necessarily a zoo favourite, but I became enamoured with them from the moment I set eyes on one - at London Zoo.

I was accompanying my sister, Kim, on one of her regular trips to London Zoo with the boys she was looking after at the time. We’d gone to the Into Africa exhibit where towering giraffes, beautiful zebras and strange-looking tapirs are housed.  

Then we came across an enclosure which I’d not been to before.

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Posted:
Mar 30, 2012
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Breaking the 140-character barrier is going to take a kind of stamina I have never tried to muster

With Twitter, Facebook and other blogging platforms, every written word and published item is increasingly rushed. That’s why I have decided that it will be an interesting experiment to try to slow down and write something that has length and, hopefully, longevity.

AS a modern journalist, I have been trained to have a short attention span. Twitter has taken that to a whole new level. It’s a self-styled “micro-blogging” platform and lets you share the interesting things going on around you in 140 characters in an instant.

But I have been thinking seriously about trying to write something more substantial than a tweet or a few paragraphs of a blog.

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Posted:
Mar 6, 2012
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Welsh, it turns out, isn’t at all like French

I have learnt a lot of things since moving to Wales. Chief among those is the fact that the Welsh language isn’t at all like French.

THERE has been a flurry of St David’s Day celebrations across Wales this week.

Although most celebrations were on March 1 – the patron saint of Wales’s dedicated day in the calendar – many more have continued throughout the week.

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Posted:
Mar 3, 2012
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Two very different ways to react to rioting: Comparing the English legal system to Vancouver’s slower response

Riots were a huge talking point last summer. Although we saw inspirational images of people rising up against tyranny in Africa and the Middle East, we also saw – in Vancouver and England – people perpetrating mindless acts of vandalism and violence for no discernible reason. In the aftermath of those horrible riots, I think it’s interesting to compare Vancouver’s response with England’s.

CONSIDER this: The first rioters from Vancouver’s Stanley Cup disorder are only beginning to hear what they will face as punishment. Ryan Dickinson, from Surrey, B.C., was the first to be sentenced – eight months after the riots.

He was given a 16-month jail sentence for his part in the riots, which saw him, among other things, throwing a newspaper box at a car.

But some people are speculating that many of the other convicted rioters will get off lightly.

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