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!'