ADHD crazy!

So apparently 365,000 children in the UK have ADHD. This would mean that roughly a quarter of UK children have Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Does anyone else think that's INSANE and suggests, more than anything else, either that the diagnostic procedure is faulty or that the diagnosis is pointless.

If this is something that affects so many young people, I really think it can't he a serious problem. Maybe we need to look nito whether this is an adaptive trait rather than a flaw? Or perhaps we should start picking out children who have blonde hair as well - after all, a lot of them will 'recover' as they approach adulthood.


p.s. While crisps on ricecakes is unarguably carborrific it's no substitute for a crisp buttie and far messier.

Surreality and the Real

It's odd, but I find the universe most credible when it's at its least probable. Tonight I was trying to take some photos of the moon. Sadly, this entails all of the failings in the S9600 so it's never quite worked satisfactorily yet. My battery died midway of course - it always does when I've got it on a tripod - and when I went back out to try again I realised that it was utterly futile.

Low clouds; backlit by the moon, which was peeping through a chink; predominantly sodium light pollution underneath, giving them an red cast. It was like something that might happen when playing with Difference Clouds and Lighting Effects in Photoshop, and as such would never work as a photo - well, unless I had a considerably better camera, lens, and was more experienced at night sky photography.

Oh well. So concludes a day filled with, er, nothing. Unless you count playing Spore (which really isn't All That, but I'm giving it a once through before I despair of ever getting a Good New Game) or wandering through the Quartermile in search of excitement or interesting angles.

Oh woe to the wan- I mean, Bankers.

I mean, really. All that imaginary money they were giving people to buy houses with. It was inevitable.

At least it gives us joy like this.

Well, it made me happy.

Last weekend Arno and his pals were demonstrating swordplay in the National Museum of Scotland. Apparently the session I observed wasn't the best of the day, but it seemed to please the masses.

Rachael's bump has now externalised itself, after a 36hour labour and emergency C-section. Came out quite well, is the general opinion. My instinctive distrust and dislike of anything too young to have a higer education was set aside because she sat nicely for the camera.

Thomas has left the choir and now, pretty much, the country. Which is a pity beacause he's friendly and funny and everyone likes him. He had a big leaving mean a Vittoria's on George IV Bridge last night which I only caught the end of. RIP Thomas (well, not exactly dead but probably gone for good).

And finally, on a lighter note, I (eventually (about 15 months after we started planning such a thing)) had an interview for the job I've been doing since last January. And got it. Now we just need HR to get themselves sorted out and give it to me. I think it might end up as a Christmas present...

Oh, and speaking of Christmas - we've started the Christmas repertoire already! How glad am I to have a distraction from the bloody Carver and chunks of Gaelic we need to do for out mini-gig at the National Library of Scotland? (very glad, BTW)

We've got some rousing Arvo Pärt and deceptively challenging Abbie Betinis so far. Can't wait to see what other bizarre modernities Ollie pulls out of the ether! You can keep up to date with the choir's goings-on at rudsambee.blogspot.com, where Claire1 is our jolly blogger.

Censorship

I do like Carol Ann Duffy. I am particularly fond of her poem Valentine.

I am not fond of censorship, although I do like a poet with a good sense of humour.

Ollie and Helen have just been to Iceland with my camera (whimper). I'll have photos up soon...