In the minority.

Are you in a minority?

If so, do you feel safe in that minority?

You don't have to be in the majority to be right. In fact the opposite can be true in many cases.

Copernicus was in the minority with his views on the Earth's position in regard to the rest of the planets and the Sun. He knew that the Earth was round and not flat and that the Earth spun around and not the stars and planets.

Leonardo D' Vinci too, was almost on his own with his thinking and futuristic design.

Arthur C. Clarke foretold the orbital communication satellite system while the majority of others doubted both feasibility and use of his foresight.

The Wright Brother's KNEW that heavier than air flight was possible even before perfecting their art in the face of vast scepticism from the general public and even the so-called experts. Even the armed forces couldn't see the full potential.

The electric light was always going to fail, in the minds of the majority, the doubters, until Thomas Edison cracked the problems and the people saw the light. The same too with the telegraph, the telephone, radio, X-Ray, TV, Radar, the computer and many other - at one time - "fanciful contraptions!" which were almost destined to be the province of minority groups, or even individuals.

After the birth of air travel and even after it got to be cheap and popular, the sound barrier would never be broken, but it was. And now the vast majority of the educated populous believe that it's only a matter of time before we crack the light barrier, that we will be able to travel through space at 186,000 miles per second. I'm in the minority who says it will never happen.

Up until World War 2 the moon was still too far away for the majority to believe that we were even close to getting there. That war produced great advancements in rocketry but doubts of space travel still existed in most sane peoples minds. They were truly amazed when we human-beings actually landed there in 1969 and one day soon (cosmologically speaking) we will make it to other planets. I have no doubts about that.

Who would have bet, only a few decades ago, that a submarine would be able to circumnavigate the globe without surfacing even once?

Who would bet that a man would fly a heavier than air, solar powered flying machine around the world. Bertrand Piccard in Solar Impulse will attempt to do that in such a plane, flying some some 23,000 miles in 15 days powered only by rays of sunlight. How many people doubt that this can be achieved in this age? Not many, I would have thought. But only a few decades ago it would have been unthinkable.

Darwin was poo pooed for his belief in natural selection and the ascent of man through evolution. There were only a handful of people who agreed with him at the time. That number has been steadily growing but may still be a minority number if taken throughout the world.

But I'm also in the minority that includes those who dismiss gods as sheer fantasy, though I'll never be proved to be right - or wrong - on this matter.

So don't be scared to be thought of as odd. You may be odd but you may be right.

The Pennine Way

The Pennine Way UK

This is a copy of a letter of thanks that I sent to:Countryside Agency 4th Floor, Victoria Wharf, Sovereign Street, Leeds LS1 4BA

Date 28.04.05 FAO Steve Westwood.

Re: The Pennine Way by Helicopter DVD.

Thank you for the DVD Steve. I've just watched it with my wife alongside and it must be good 'cos she only yawned twice! I filled her in on just a few details, like spending a gale lashed night in Gregg's Hut and the regaled her with yet another gale lashed night spent in a Ram battered hut on the Cheviots with just half a candle for warmth and company. I can hardly wait to get the whole family in for a nights viewing. It's pay-back time for all those wonky xenophobic amateur holiday videos that I have stifled yawns through over the years.

This helicopter filmed view of my favorite walk (I've done it both ways) is absolutely beautiful. The music suits it well and the commentary too. Neither is obtrusive, both are complimentary. If the film lacked one thing it was maybe optional running O/S coords in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen and a visit or two inside some of the most beautiful and genial pubs for a welcome pint of the black stuff.

I say again, excellent. Can't wait for some more heli video made of other walks I've done such as the Coast to Coast (St Bees Robin Hoods Bay), Isles of Man and Wight and John 'O Groat's to Lands End. They will keep me company when I can no longer walk the walk as will this Pennine one.

Thank you, thank you, thank you,

Anthony W. Allsop.

PS. I'm off to do - in my usual solo back-packing style - the West Highland Way this June when I'll be sixty-five. And now I've seen the Pennine film it has inspired me to have yet another bash at the Pennines next year. As I still have the dog-eared remnants of my Footprint maps it seems a shame not to put 'em to some more use.


Please note that this You Tube Vid isn't anywhere near the quality of the original Pennine Way by Helicopter DVD which I cannot reproduce due to copyright laws.

*CLICK TO RETURN TO MY PROFILE*

UFO over Britain.

Flying Saucer chased by cops over Cardiff!

Goes the headline in my Sun newspaper 20.06.2008.

Stunned police gave chase to a UFO after it attacked their helicopter near a military base. The mystery craft zoomed straight at the chopper as the three man crew prepared to land. The police pilot banked sharply to avoid a collision and then the high speed aerial chase was on. The police chase had to be called off after a few minutes because it was in danger of running out of fuel.

All the crew described the UFO as being "flying saucer shaped?" They also said that it was encircled by flashing lights. They reported it to Britain's UFO investigators. They say that: "It came in close at 500 feet, it closed right in at great speed, aiming straight at the helicopter. The chopper had to swerve to avoid being hit. The guy's say that if they hadn't taken avoiding action that they may well be dead, now - as it would have been a direct hit."

The incident happened as the observation helicopter, crammed with cameras and other high-tech surveillance equipment, returned to the MoD's Saint Athon base near Cardiff, where it is stationed.

The officers are convinced that it was a UFO. It sounds far fetched but they know what they saw and they are certain it was a UFO.

A spokesman said: "After the near collision they decided to follow it to find out what the hell it was. They belted across the Bristol Channel in pursuit but it was too fast. They got as far as the North Devon coast but then had to call off the chase because they were running low on fuel."

Strangely, the crew could not see the craft with night-vision goggles - but they all said that it was clearly visible to the naked eye.

(Even stranger was the fact that despite all the cameras, surveillance equipment and men, not ONE picture was taken of the object. Anthony W.)

The thieving bast... Magpies.

It's an odd coincidence

that one of my MySpace friends should choose today to write in her blog of Magpies.

Yesterday I was out in my garden and there was such a kerfuffle in the trees around me. There was the screeching of Maggies and loud chattering of the blackbirds as they panicked and tried to defend their nest of eggs and young from these murderous thieves of the bird world.

I was sorely tempted to fetch my gun and help the Blackbirds defend their brood but it suddenly occurred to me that this action has been going on for hundreds of millenia BEFORE Man came along.

It was sad to bare witness to the predictable outcome. The Magpie's flew to a nearby chimney stack to feast on their ill-gotten gains while ma and pa Blackbird flew around the heads of the attackers in frenzy.

Isn't nature both beautiful and ugly all at the same time.

I'll see you then then.

Wouldn't a coin operated time kiosk be wonderful?

Step inside, dial up the require period of youth, slip the relevant coin in the slot and.......... BINGO!

I'd like to be transported to the war years to see how we coped with Christmases.

I'd like to be transported back to 1955 so I could kick my bullying teacher's arse.

I'd like to go back to the time I was a fumbling virgin and get it right first time.

I'd like to say my proper goodbyes to my mum and dad, both long deceased.

I'd like to go back and right any wrongs that I've done BEFORE they happened.

I'd like to go back to the time when property was cheap and buy up a whole street for what it cost me to buy this house.

I'd like to court my wife again, and again, and again.

I'd like to go back to just before we got married so that we might have a grander wedding, this time with photographs.

I'd like to..........

Thank Maddwich for inspiring me to write this.

Thank you Maddwich and thanks to author unknown of: "I wish I was six again."

Ghost of a Chance.

A Ghost of a Chance?

I read in my paper that a paedophile was caught eleven years after committing indecent crimes against three young girls, one of the girls, now adult - who was at a seance - heard the medium say that he had a message from her dead gran, urging her to reveal the abuse.

The paper reports that Terrance Dunstan aged 61, had escaped justice for eleven years after abusing the three young girls at his home. Apparently he was nailed when one of the victims attending Patrick Hutchinson's seance, heard the appeal - through the medium - from her grandma.

The girl, who had never mentioned it to anyone before, rushed out from the meeting in Morley, West Yorkshire (UK) in tears.

She later confided to a friend, who had also attended that seance, and it was then discovered that she too had been abused by Dunstan. The girls, now 19 and 20, went to police who discovered a THIRD victim! Their abuser was found guilty at Leeds Crown Court of FIVE indecent assaults on children.... sentence is pending.

Sounds a bit spooky to me.

But I have heard of these "Mediums" and their "Seances" thus I am NOT convinced. Most "mediums" front an audience of gullible people who are searching for comforting messages from the "Beyond" and they throw up something like:

"I have a message here from someones grandmother....... she saying..... somebody in her family has been abused..... as a child"

He then addresses the audience in general:

"Is there anyone here who may have been abused as a child." If there is no reaction, such as some member of the audience waving or standing up and walking out he goes:

"Hang on...... not ABUSED....... she means AMUSED! Is there anybody here who was amused as a child?"

These people are fakers. You might also get:

"I'm hearing Smit.... Smick....... is there a Mrs Smith in the audience?" One or more hands go up. "I have a message here from your husband." Some of the hands go down 'cos hubby is sitting in the hall. "He's asking........ what have you done with my carcass..... car keys?"

Charlatans, every last one of 'em.

Up,up and away.

The helicopter ride.

Morris and his wife Esther went to the state fair every year, and every year Morris would say, 'Esther, I'd like to ride in that helicopter'.

Esther always replied, 'I know Morris, but that helicopter ride is fifty dollars, and fifty dollars is fifty dollars'.

One year Esther and Morris went to the fair, and Morris said, 'Esther, I'm 85 years old. If I don't ride that helicopter, I might never get another chance.'

To this, Esther replied, 'Morris that helicopter ride is fifty dollars, and fifty dollars is fifty dollars.'

The pilot overheard the couple and said, 'Folks I'll make you a deal. I'll take the both of you for a ride. If you can stay quiet for the entire ride and not say a word, I won't charge you! But if you say one word, it's fifty dollars.'

Morris and Esther agreed and up they went. The pilot put the craft through all kinds of maneuvers, but not a word was heard. Up, down, back and forth, even sideways, he did his daredevil tricks over and over again, but still not a word.

When they landed, the pilot turned to Morris and said, 'By golly, I did everything I could to get you to yell out, but you didn't. I'm impressed!'

Morris replied, 'Well, to tell you the truth, I almost said something when Esther fell out, but you know, fifty dollars is fifty dollars!'

The West Highland Way (Aborted)

Date 20.06.05 This is a letter I wrote to the Scottish Sun newspaper.

I've just come back from Scotland

after aborting my attempt at back-packing the West Highland Way. I made it just over halfway to the little village of Tyndrum.

What beat me? Well it wasn't the hills and it wasn't the walking, even with a heavy pack. It wasn't even the scraping of my shin and thigh on a slippery stile in slippery style. It may have been a little to do with my age (65) but only a little. The price of a pint of "black stuff" at £2.80 didn't help none and neither did a bacon and egg sandwich at £4.95, and the £5 I was charged for two square yards of soggy ground for my tent (with full use of filthy toilet and shower facilities).

No, what really got to me was a combination of the foulest of weather imaginable and the ever present midges in their trillions. Setting up camp was like a nightmare of being chewed alive by the little blighters who then made themselves at home in my tent before I had got myself and my gear in out of the drizzle. They were in my eyes and ears all night long, really getting up my...... nose. And de-camping was even worse 'cos they seem to prefer breakfast to supper.

I was alright whilst walking but if I sat to rest for a couple of minutes it was MURDER!!! So I retired hurt, damp and dishevelled. Caught first bus out of Tyndrum that was bound for Glasgow, Mull-Guy and my car. But one day I'll return and have another bash from the beginning.

That will be the day that Scotland has solved the monster midge problem by installing giant Midge-Munchers at twenty yard intervals along the wonderful bonny bonny banks of Loch Lomond and the effects of global warming has turned that beautiful land that is Scotland into another Costa.

By the by, I set up my second nights lonely camp on a slug infested level-ish piece of ground about the size of a fireside carpet just a few yards north of Rob Roy's cave, for there was no room at the inn. And do you know? even though I was miles from anywhere the traffic noise from the A82 across the loch kept me from sleeping the sleep of the dead. Mind you, the bloody midges didn'y help none neither.

PS. Please ask the landlady at The Clachan Inn, Drymen, why there was no breakfast for me at the agreed time of 08.00am. I was pissed off with waiting for the cook to arrive at way past the appointed hour and pissed off myself without paying the agreed money for the bed and BREAKFAST! I did leave my name and address for her to send me the amended bill.

NB. I did in fact return to Scotland in September of that year and redid the West Highland Way from start to finish. It took me five days in total and included the climb to the top of Ben Nevis and back. There were nowhere near as many of those pesky midges and the weather was beautiful - with just a little rain shower now and again - from start in Mull-Guy to the finish in Fort William. I heartily recommend it to anyone who feels fit enough to tackle it.

Church of England to be banished.

Jeremy Clarkson. You either hate him or you hate him.

(Well I don't rate him, anyway.)

But in today's Sun newspaper he makes a point that I am at last in agreement with.

The Church of England has to go.....sorry!


He writes:

This week, a Church of England bishop popped out of his pulpit and announced that Terry Wogan is no different from Austrian cellar maniac Josef Fritzl.

Bishop of Stafford, Gordon Mursell says that anyone who refuses to believe in climate change is condemning their children, like Fritzl, to a life of darkness and misery. So its not only Terry then. It's also the man who founded Greenpeace, environmentalist David Bellamy and a great many respected scientists (and me).

"They are all murderers!!!! Murderers d'you here..... And God will strike them down with furious anger!!!!!!"

Like his boss, the Canterbury clown Rowan Williams, Mr Mursell is nothing more than a bonkers bishop, as stupid and dangerous as the mad mullahs we hear so much about.

But he has given me an idea.

Back in the early Eighties, a lot of Church People like Mr Mursell, said that the Cold War could be stopped if Britain unilaterally dismantled its nuclear weapons, that if we were the first to jump, the Russians would follow suit.

Well, how's this for a plan? In the current climate of global religious tension, why don't we unilaterally dismantle the Church of England? I'm being serious. Over the years, religion and the wars it caused, has killed more people than any other single thing. It is more dangerous than riding a motorcycle bollock naked at 186mph, through a razor blade factory.

So if we in Britain can demonstrate that we can get by without an army of bishops, vicars and campanologists, maybe the hard-line Muslims in Iran and Iraq would think: "Yes. We will abandon our mosques and this morning, instead of attacking the British soldiers, we will go into their camps and give them a biscuit.

Who know, it might even spread. The Pope could decide to hand over the Catholic Church's vast wealth to the poor and get a job as an aid worker. Or better still, an AIDS worker. This would allow people everywhere to use condoms and have abortions. It'd be brilliant.

Of course, unilaterally getting rid of the Church of England might achieve nothing at all. The Muslims, the Catholics and those loonies in America's southern states might carry on as normal. But at least we will be free from the tyranny of noisy church bells on a Sunday morning, and we'd never again have to listen to a load of Left-wing nonsense from the pulpit.

*Do you agree with Jeremy? Have your say now at thesun.co.uk/columnists

Malta.

Danny, one of my MySpace friends asked;

Have you been to Malta?!

Yes thank you, THREE TIMES!!! Three holidays we have spent on Malta, my wife and I. It's one of those places that you either like very much or you detest. I like Malta very much. I love the aspect of "Time Travel" and the islands give you that in spades (you'll need the spades for filling in the potholes in the neglected roads). We love the laid back attitude of the Maltese and the weather is for the most part gorgeous.

We've not been for a few years now but when last there in the 90s the place hadn't changed since our first visit in the 80s. Still the same heap of gravel and sand in exactly the same place where it had been left on a street corner for at least ten years to my knowledge. I think they are still waiting for the cement. The Maltese are so far laid back that it's a wonder they don't fall over.

The very first time we holidayed on Malta we arrived at two o'clock on a drizzly morning at an airport consisting of one or two dilapidated sheds. Our shuttle buses picked us up and set off through darkened streets along what appeared to be a ploughed field (the roads were very bad at that time). From the steamed up bus windows the place reminded me of Beirut as we sped past what appeared to be numerous bomb damaged buildings. WE eventually arrived at our hotel, shaken but stirred only slightly.

After the usual rigmarole of checking in we found our room and flopped on the bed, glad to be able to relax and get a bit of welcome sleep before getting up for breakfast at eight. We both went out like a light. What seemed all too soon we were awoken by the sound of traffic and car horns. (They do have a sort of automobile official test system on Malta. If the horn works they pass the car as fit to drive.) The room was still in almost pitch darkness with just a chink of sunlight filtering through the heavy ceiling to floor curtains so I made my way over to the french windows and drew them back. Christ almighty! It was a beautiful bright sunny morning and the panoramic view over the vast sweep of azure Sliema bay was breathtaking.

I returned to the bed and my wife and I just sat there and drank in the view. Spectacular. I fell in love with Malta because of that view alone.Though there are very few sandy beaches on Malta (there's no tidal activity as such to create and maintain them) though there are plenty of smooth flat rocks that soon are heated by the sun. The water is crystal clear and shelves off quite steeply to almost fathomless bottoms which is ideal for aqua diving. But there are many smaller coves and pools that are replenished continually by the Mediterranean and very safe for none swimmers and children.

We aren't Hotel Bar people, my missus and I, so we went walkabout around the streets nearby. And just at the rear of our hotel we found an ideal little taverna with a small courtyard set out with a few tables and chairs. That was to become our "local". The beer was low alcohol but very cheap which is ideal drinking in hot climates. We were in heaven.

The really old rickety buses and matching cars are an education. I almost got tired of spotting an old banger, a model that I had either owned or driven at some time in my younger days. And with them driving on the left hand side (or the shady side of the road on really hot days) same as us, it made it even more nostalgic.

Thanks for reminding me Danny.