peripathetic

Something potentially very significant for the future of Northern Ireland's handling of crime and the peace process in tandem could happen on Wednesday, handled more or less exclusively by little old me. It'll only be the start of things in that respect, but I'm excited. Meanwhile, however, a student at home for the holidays gets murdered with two twenty-somethings charged (the lack of sectarian motive leading me to suspect yet another example of the 'they all did it in the past, so we can' mentality under the surface here), a family in Carrickfergus gets pipe-bombed - and a large consignment of smuggled cigarettes is seized.

I don't mean to imply here that Northern Ireland is all bad. But I do mean to paint a picture of the crime everyone usually associates with the place and the extent to which it continues under the watchful auspices of the peace process, and also the type of crime which happens everywhere else - and shouldn't be happening in the first place if our police were completely up to the job, which I don't feel they are yet.

Still, life isn't all bad. Ed's visiting in a week's time (yay!), and I've got juicy links to supply. [1] - roomsixteen has a lovely lovely self and a lovely blog too. Check the boy out. [2] - a good place to get images online. If you need to get them, that is. And finally, [3] - wilco - have as the cover of their latest album (below) a picture of two towers, the exteriors of which are formed by multiple balconies.


I'd seen a similar tower in Croydon, memories flashed, I thought the cover was pretty, so had to show you. Photo's pretty too.

And finally...

a scan of (I think) a cat's arse. Don't ask. Because I don't know. Okay?