Whilst working in the garden, there is lot of time to think. So, I can’t help comparing my life at the moment to my life last year in May, when the preperation for the anti-G8 mobilisation were running high. Working in the garden is actually quite destressing, and it is nice to see at the end of the day what has been achieved. It is also satisfying to eat your own, self-grown, organic vegetables and fruits. Also, it makes me happy to share my products, such as rhubarb, and to exchange seeds and seedlings. The other day, an allotment neighbour offered me some mint and lemon balm plants, and I have already planted them in.

Apparantly a leading politician has called for Scotland to back Trinidad and Tobago in the forthcoming Football/Soccer World Cup in Germany, instead of neighbouring England. Of course, there has been a mild outcry by the shocked rest of the British Islands, mainly London, that Scotland would dare to support anybody else but England, and anti-english sentiments are blamed for it. Most of the mainstream media is based in London and often focuses on news in England, with the British Parliament based there as well. Because of the history of oppression, many Scottish people seem to tease nowadays some Southerners with weird results of the devolution.

We have here in Edinburgh a vibrant community of Freecyclers. Freecycle is a loose network of email groups, running on Yahoo (unfortunately), with the aim to reduce landfill. Basically people just announce when they want to get rid of something (furniture, pets, … kids…- just joking- ) and then anybody who wants to, can reply and try to persuade the person to give it to him or her. Whilst it works sometimes really brilliantly, and I got a lot of stuff from it, particularly for the G8, it can be sometimes a bit frustrating. For the G8 we got computer(s), monitors, sofabeds, minidisk recorder, video recorders, dictionary, office chairs and desks and so much other stuff for free, it was really helpful.

Just bottled the last exam this year. It’s really, really embarrassing, but I feel I totally let myself down. First I could not find the notes or had lost some of the handouts. Then I just could not remember who the academics were who kind of opposed each other for some decades with their research. However, I remembered a bit of the practical relevant outcomes, but all the theory stuff just didn’t make it into the exam. Comparing the stuff I wrote with the notes, there is just too much of a discrepancy… whilst I got the gist of the commentating discussion we had a bit as students, the other stuff I just forgot.

Stewart has written a new article about “Jack of Jumps” by David Seabrook (Granta Books 899) featuring theories about the identidy of Jack the Stripper, who murdered several prostitutes in the Sixties, and was never caught. Stewart is hitting out at the British Libel Law, The Observer for sloppyness, lack of research and the uncritical literary review. Good article. And it is only available on he website of the Stewart Home Society. So, read it! Stewart is a real clever bloke, though he has dropped out of college and doesn’t have a university education. He proves that you don’t need to go to Oxford or Cambridge to be clever or a good writer, a bit of intelligence, good research and a willingness to kick arse will do.