Kalt, kalt, kalt ...

At minus 6*C at 11.00 in the morning with the sun out - believe me, it's cold! It's a dry cold though, rather pleasant if you are well wrapped up, but the ground is treacherous, with a layer of ice hiding in the snow. The birds are busy at the bird feeder and make an interesting mix, with Robins, Tits, Jays and Chafinches all arguing over the bounty our neighbour puts out on a table and we hang from the eaves.

The snow shows the tracks left by rabbit, cat, mice and something else, possibly one of the Pine Martens.

As for Madam Paddy Cat, she has adopted her 'Cold Weather" pose - nice warm spot on the sofa, nose covered by the tip of her tail and her paws well tucked in. There is almost an attitude of wake me when it's warm again ...

Dazzling white ...

As I sat watching more snow waft gently onto my already snow covered drive, garden, street ... I found myself pondering a brief note from the internet provider Nachrichtendienst. I have to say it wasn't supposed to be snowing just then. That is supposed to happen tonight. Mind you, bang on schedule and as predicted, on Montag, it began to snow and by yesterday morning had dumped another 100mm or so - on top of the layer of ice left from the last fall...

OK, my German is still not that good, but reading this news item, dictionary in hand, I had to blink once or twice. Here was an item saying that a scientist from the German Meteorological Service is suggesting that the run of extreme cold and this year and the previous three very cold winters - getting worse according to his data - suggests we could be shaping up to a Mini Ice Age. After mopping up my coffee spill, I wondered how long he'll keep his job. After all, according to the German Green Party, to say something like this is the equivalent of Holocaust Denial.

Then I had a funnier thought. I began to wonder what the AGW mob would say and do if he's right. No, I don't think I'll publish my thoughts on that just yet.

Something to ponder carefully ...

BBC 4 recently broadcast an animated look at statistics which show how national economies have converged in the last 200 years. It makes fascinating watching, but it also demonstrates just how easily some of the policies now being pursued by western socialists and by the "Green" lobby who demand de-industrialisation and totally unrealistic reductions in energy use or such expensive replacement technologies we cannot remain competitive, can destroy the wealth our forebears have built so skillfully.

Student Fees ...

The Gorse Fox has written an outstanding piece on the problem of the perception in the UK that everyone, regardless of ability, has a "right" to Tertiary education. I think his analysis of the problem and of the unrealistic expectation the previous government created (Interestingly they must have known they would need to raise the fees themselves!) in the minds of many school-leavers is spot on.

Having grown up in a country where the privilege of going to university depended on your parents being able to afford it, or your doing well enough at school to "win" a bursary from a prospective employer, I have never considered this a right. It is a privilege and I was delighted in 1996 to be accepted (Aged 51!) for a work based degree. It was awarded in 1999 and I undertook a Masters the following year. Neither were "free" and both, though "work based" were hard work - especially as I had to continue my normal work programme as well as study, research and write papers, reports and assignments.

Watching the riots and the "demonstrations" and all the rest of the appalling behaviour I would, frankly, like to see those involved ejected from their universities and barred from higher education for at least five years - some of them perhaps for life. Any re-application should be at full cost only.

General education, as The Gorse Fox says, is a "right" but tertiary education is not. Nor should it be - the vast majority of people in any given population do not have the skils or the mental capability - or sometimes the maturity - to cope with it. And here I will freely confess that I do have a slightly above average IQ and had it when at school - but I lacked the discipline and the ability to deal with the University system when in my teens and even in my twenties. That was a skill I gained slowly in my thirties and forties - hence my late entry into the university education. I know I am not alone in that - in fact, I think I am possibly representative of a very large slice of the population.

A thought on the "Student" protests...

Many of those causing the violence during the London "Protests" over Student Fees are, in my view, not students. They look like the usual "Socialist Workers Party" rent-a-mob. It is going to be tough for those having to pay and I agree that it is unacceptable that a Scottish student pays nothing, while an English student, whose parents taxes are paying for the Scottish student, pays. This is yet another of Liebore Party's disasterous outcomes arising from Blair's tampering with the Constitution. But the truth is that far too many of the "degrees" offered since Blair and Co decided that universities were too "ellitist" and had to make space for a disproportionate number of school leavers - most of whom struggle to cope with the university style of learning - are of no value at all in the market place for jobs. The "balance" in the UK is still far to heavily slewed in favour of "Arts" and not enough on Technical or Science based degrees.

But here is my thought for the current government and for the "Loyal" Opposition...

An assault on the person of the Sovereign or the Heir to the Throne is an act of Treason. It says so in the law, not that anyone in the Liebore Party would recognise it of they fell over it. And here is the next thought. Treason is still one of only two criminal acts in the UK for which the Death Penalty is allowed. Perhaps a Treason Trial will give some of the layabouts, Socialist 'Workers' Party activists (Socialist Worker has to be the greates oxymoron ever!) and many of the Liebore Party members who take the Oath of Allegiance with their fingers crossed (As Lord Prescott of Pucka Pies did) and every intention of committing treason as the opportunity arises, pause for thought.

Hanging a few of them on Tower Hill will send a much needed message I think.

Snow fun

One of us had to do it. Mausi beat me to it. But then, she also has much more practice at building snowmen...

More snow ...

The Freiwilliger Feuerwehr Station in Watzhahn.
The back of our house - note the Gazebo roof load!
Our back garden - the snow cover is pretty deep.
The snow stopped briefly overnight, but it looks close to 40 cm - around 15 inches for the non-metric. And there is more promised for tonight. Having shovelled the drive twice yesterday, Mausi attacked it last night and removed another 50 - 80 mm, but I still had to clear another 75 mm before she could get the car out to collect her colleague and go to work. Our neighbour's trees have suffered - the one next to our gazebo has collapsed under the weight of snow and another has split, but the Freiwilliger Feuerwehr has been busy all yesterday with accidents and today with more trees down and blocking roads.

Could be an interesting winter at this rate.