it seems that when i joked that we had the worlds shortest summer in ,march i wasnt kidding...the weather has been totally hellish in every way possible, yesterday...the 15th of may! it hailed and snowed, and many people had to scrape their cars this morning as there was an overnight frost.  for the preceeding weeks it has rained, and rained, and there have been gales, and it has rained...it was lucky that i took those photos of the blossom when i did as it is now all gone...blown away, pounded to the pavement with torrential rain back to pink-petal-paradise or wherever blossom-soul goes when it becomes winter again in may! trouble is that this is usually the best time of the year...and while everyone is pretending that things are gonna get better, im not convinced.

and then there is eli. siitting in a vest at midnight in carolina while im still bundled up in winter fleeces and with 3 layers on, telling me that i was right all along, constant sunny weather makes you a happier person! not having to own 11 pairs of different weather shoes, scarves, gloves, hats, wind-cheating coats and thermals even in may is beneficial. whod a thought! leaving the house in the morning with only one layer on knowing that that is all you will need in the whole day just seems like heaven to me, and its no wonder that the only people who want to travel to the cooler regions of the world,  are the ones who live in places where you can do this.  (derek, binni and kim...fucking antartica, i dont think so for me, ever). am i jealous of people who live in more clement climates...oh, fuck me, no! scotland is a fabulous place to live...its almost totally dark for 8 months of the year, when you leave the haven of your home its almost impossible to stand vertically as the hurricane-force wind and horizontal rain lash you in the face, the people are  so white, due to the lack of sunlight that they are almost luminous, and given that its dark so much of the time, no one cares how they look,  lets not even mention the gingers! on top of this we have sectarian..ie, religious, bigotry so strongly integrated into our society that it even affects football, that most pointless of social cares,  racism, sexism, homophobia, fear of any food that involves garlic or anything healthy, like greens, fear of praising anything, but especially yourself or your children, as this will get you struck down by god, and lets not forget the old favourites...alcoholism and drug addiction!  hell, scotland, its a heaven on earth...im amazed that immigrants are not queuing at our borders right now trying to get the tartan passport to shangri-la!

so, enough scotland-praise. now for something horrible! bill has been in court this week for the trial of the weasel-faced youngster who murdered his down-stairs neighbour. its all been a bit weird, as the defendant has refused to speak...to anyone, including his defense, so they have had to resort to some strange legal thang, where the prosecution lawyer has to become a friend of the court and represent both sides of the arguement. im not even sure how you  could do this...but presumably lawyers have no morals, and so can jump to either side. anyways...bill had a very stressful day giving evidence, setting the scene, as that is all he can do. and im so glad he doesnt have to go back for the whole thing, especially as it seems that the defendant not only broke the gas meter and left a burning candle, but also put a metal container of lighter fluid into the microwave...! luckily he didnt notice that it wasnt switched on at the wall!  perhaps bill will enter a 'final destination' movie...how many ways can you cheat death.....a lot apparently!

and im gonna jump back to my previous blog entry..as i finished the book about ankh-en-aten and tutenkhamen and all that. i suppose i thought he would come up with something i didnt know...but there is nothing new, nor will there ever be, about ankhnaten. his records were erased...and to be honest, tutenkankhamen...well he was the last of the line, and i think that most people were glad to see them go. but he was a minor pharaoh, died at 19, and if thats what he had in his tomb, what the fuck must the others have had, that all got robbed years before.  one thinks of ramses 2...lived till 80 had 500 children conquered the known world...fuck me dead, imagine those wonderful things that have been lost in the mists of time.  howard carters main annoyance when finding the tomb was that there were no papyri...he thought there would be, and it would all become illuminated...but it didnt. we dont, and  we never will.  this is ancient history...i studied it, we dont know,  we never will...make up your own mind about what happened, its as relevant as anything  else! just like what happened when roger was murdered...we will never know.....