Today was bizarre - a day at school where I didn't teach a single lesson followed by a dash to get Elliot from his school in Matlock and take him to his swimming lesson in Bakewell, a return to my school for a meeting and then home via Sainsbury's!
This wall is outside Bakewell Swimming Pool!
Alongside the A38, near Alfreton, I often see these Weldex cranes. It's a sign of being nearly home!
Nothing to do with that Blondie song that's been driving me mad lately (it's was a set work for A2 Music Technology this year - the students had to do their own recording of it trying to replicate the original as closely as possible) - this glass heart is in our front window.
The season may have finish but Bill Halstead keeps mini-rugby training and fun games going through the summer at Matlock Rugby Club.
Today there was games of Bulldog and Rounders as well as a tag rugby match including parents!
At a match against Tupton the coaches saw these mini posts and got a pair. So now, after scoring a try, they can attempt a conversion.
This is Elliot kicking a conversion. It didn't score!
www.pitchero.com/clubs/matlock/
We went to Sheffield for the day; swimming at Ponds Forge followed by lunch at Nando's and, finally, a little bit of shopping.
www.worldtouristattractions.co.uk/wta_wheel_sheffield.php
This is from a couple of years ago but several people have looked at it on Flickr recently.
Another busy day at work and the results of the General Election (yes the British public are more stupid than even I had reaslised!).
Here is a photo I took through the blinds in the dining room of our washing line in the garden. Yes, I know, I added a lot of effects!
It was the Matlock Rugby Club Junior Section Awards Evening today - here's Elliot with his medal and certificate.
Today is, of course, General Election Day in the UK.
Polls opened at 7 a.m. and close at 10 p.m. The first exit poll predictions of who will form the next government are due at around five past ten.
I have a postal vote so don't get to go into the booth and vote. My vote went in a week ago.
This photo was taken as polling opened at the Imperial Rooms, Matlock. It's in the Derbyshire Dales constituency - a new constituency broadly the same as the old West Derbyshire one. The sitting Tory is likely to win despite his expenses, his payments to his wife and his house flipping. I guess that's democracy for you...
As a result of a tweet, I was asked by @thesamosa to write a response to this article.
Here is my response:
Religion has been sidelined in the current UK general election in a way that Americans, for example, could probably never understand. In the USA the idea that someone running for President could, publicly at least, be an atheist is just not conceivable to many and yet, at this election, we do have one party leader who is openly non-religious. This is a major breakthrough and has, perhaps, been one of many reasons for the sidelining of religion in political matters in recent months.
Personally I find it scary that the most powerful man in the world, a man who has his finger on the nuclear button and who controls the biggest economy in the world, also believes in a superbeing for which there is absolutely no evidence. Shouldn’t he be offered help, guidance and psychotherapy instead of being given the ability to blow up the world? Isn’t this putting the crazy man in charge? Isn’t “faith” in such matters simply a lunacy?
And yet the religions, despite their blatant lack of sense, fact and evidence, want to be taken seriously and want to hold sway at election time. To me this is wrong and dangerous for a number of reasons.
It seems, many people of “faith” abandon their “faith” when it gets to an election. We’ve all seen those little bracelets with WWJD on them – “What Would Jesus Do?” – well, let’s be honest, Jesus, had he existed (and there’s no contemporaneous evidence – but that’s another whole article!), would not be voting for any right-wing/capitalist party and yet few in the Tory ranks would say they are atheist or agnostic – most would say they are Christian. Jesus WOULD have voted for some sort of socialist party – the communists even.
The most religious parties are often the most bigoted and extremist parties. Take a look at parties like the British National Party (BNP_ and the English Defence League (EDL); these are both parties who many consider to be fundamentally racist, xenophobic and highly bigoted. Does this fit with the “love your neighbour” message of Christianity? Of course it doesn’t. And yet it is these extremist parties who, as well as the national flag, often proclaim their support and defence for the national religion. Why? Is it because religion is also fundamentally bigoted and divisive? I would say yes.
So why do people of “faith” struggle to see the contradiction that so often exists between their belief and their politics? This is harder to explain but, in my opinion, it is because they are confused, ignorant of the facts, brainwashed or simply lunatics. Take your pick!
Faith may have been justifiable in the 14th century when society as a whole was ignorant of so much about the universe but today, in the 21st century, it has no place.
It is right that, in this election, “faith” has been sidelined. We need to grab politics back from the mad men, the ignorant, the bigoted and the confused, and bring it into the modern world – a rational world of fact and the principle of genuinely loving your neighbour.
A very long day at work - 12 hours - collecting coursework, burning CDs, invigilating an exam and a meeting in Nottingham.
On my way home I saw these balloons from the A6.
A long and stressy day in Loughborough today with computer nightmares and coursework hassles.
Didn't get a chance to take a photo whilst I was out today.
These are our Denby mugs.
This is now my most viewed photo on Flickr.... it's overtaken the rollercoaster rescue pics from Alton Towers from a few weeks back!
A mosaic of the first month of my Project 365.
Riber Castle was built in 1862 by John Smedley who had made a fortune through the textiles industry and Smedley's Hydro (which is now County Hall).
This photo is taken from Jackson's Tor.
For more information about Riber Castle click here.
