Baby Pigeons

Wow. You go away for four days, and suddenly your plants grow enormously large and start flowering!

Blimey!

Well, budding, actually. The bottom photo is that of the original plants (Chocolate Sweet Pepper, Cherry Chilli, Ring of Fire Cayenne), plus one of the Habaneros I moved over from the house. And even that one is doing quite well.

This is all WITHOUT receiving any Chilli Focus! I am impressed. The top photo is that of the plants I moved recently to work. The Habaneros are growing very well. I will have to move some of the chillies soon (taking two to Almapaprika's dad), but work is a fantastic place to grow capsicums!

:-)

On a stranger note, though a happy one, I have requested Almapaprika's top green leaf (the left one, if memory serves me) in leafy union (not onion).

And she said yes.

My gardener's delight.

:-)

Oh, yes. The title to this post. Please do not take the following comment in ill. Whilst in London this week, I saw a young Chinese couple with a small child in the tube. I suddenly looked at Almapaprika and said 'I've never seen that before.' To be honest, all the Chinese parents I know are older folk (must be because I know a lot of uni student parents.), so seeing a couple that could have been in their early twenties with a small child was both refreshing AND a surprise (kind of like spotting baby pigeons in a city centre. Everyone KNOWS they exist, but how many people have seen one?)

Crazy Cat Lady Firing Squad

Just read on the Guardian that the people in the US who created 'Big Brother USA' have a new show lined up with what I can only describe as a horrible premise:

Small companies who have been hit hard by the current financial situation and need to 'downsize' will take all the employees who are potentially 'downsized', allow them to see how much each of their salaries, and let it become a popular vote as to who stays and who goes.

One of the companies involved (I forget if it was an executive producer from the show or one of the 'small companies') said that it was a good idea, because (and I paraphrase) 'He's been in charge of a company before, and it is a sad thing to fire people, so this is a good thing.'

This is truly sad.

IF YOU CAN'T FIRE PEOPLE BECAUSE IT BOTHERS YOU, YOU EITHER KEEP THEM WORKING IN THE COMPANY OR YOU FIRE YOURSELF.

It's called 'management'. That's why they pay you far more than the other people in the company (and if you're the owner, why and how you make a profit).

Let's take the authority and responsibility of management completely out of their hands.

Yes, let us do that.

Because it's not like they are already seen as 'incompetent'.

No, not one bit.

Modern culture done nothing more than praise the resolve of management, specially in these hard times (can't detect the sarcasm?)

Let us turn employment decisions into a popularity contest, devoid of things such as:

-Work Ethic
-Qualifications

Or being that one guy or gal that does more work than three of the other colleagues, but simply fails to 'click' socially with the rest of the group.

I wonder if humanity realises how fast (thing speeding bullet speed here. Or Maximum Warp, or Ludicrous Speed) we're heading into a 1984 style of world (I prefer the 'Running Man' comparison, but only because it was an 'Ahnohld' film), and we just do what sheep usually do:

Be docile and simply accept it as entertainment.

SAY NO!, DAMN IT!

Have we lost any and all sense of decency, of compassion for our fellow humans?

Whatever happened to 'Please'?

I dislike the 'I' generation with a passion. It promotes the self to a new level of narcissism, and disconnects it from the realities of life.

Yes, the realities of life.

'But Aji Chombo, the Internet has connected millions. Brought them together as one! So much has changed for the good of humanity in the last 50 years!'

U-huh. And in this modern day we have more wars and more countries than ever before bickering at one another, while people simply disconnect from everything.

Because we've chosen to lift the individual above the collective, which in a positive way has allowed us to voice concerns which had previously gone silent, but more and more nowadays it's used as an excuse for anyone with a chip of their shoulder to whinge, whinge, whinge.

I'm just going through a morning rant, s'all (whinge, whinge, whinge)

The 'I'-pod...

...'I'-phone

...'Personal' computer

...'Personal' planner (PDA)

Heck, even the single meals are all designed to promote 'individual' independence (sure, marketed as 'interdependence') rather than help bring about a notion of community.

But then again, community doesn't sell, does it (not unless you market it as your 'personal' slice of the community).

Are we that selfish? (well, I could always argue the rampant proliferation of 'sexy' toys in recent years as another log in the fireplace for this argument. But I digress...)

'I' guess with so many 'I' devices, there really is no need to be mindful of the 'other', is there?

We're just a collection of 'I's...

Crazy Pigeons!

Ghaaaaa! The chillies have developed succulent leaves!

Nah.

It's just the triffids. Thought I'd show you what they look like (top photo). They are already taller and thicker than the rest of the chillies.

The middle photo is the of one of the Orange Habaneros, and the bottom one is of the Rocoto Rojo (you can tell because of the hairy leaves). Took these two this morning. They are getting big now. Just need to hope they continue that happy growth for the rest of the season. The ones at the office are quite big now. Two more weeks before I take them over to Almapaprikas' parents (one of the chocolate sweet peppers and the Cherry Chilli at the very least are going over there).

Speaking of titles in a blog, Almapaprika and I waited at an intersection in the city centre recently along with some of the locals. That, of course, included a pigeon (no, not one of the nicknames given to locals here), which behaved like some crazy manic hobo, pacing left and right close to us, but never actually crossing the road.

Until the little green crossing man lit up.

It crossed the road with us, the crazy little bird.

Almapaprika and I (well, mostly me) kept 'speaking' on its behalf. It was mostly making the pigeon sound and act like Donkey from Shrek.

You really needed to be there.

What's eve more amazing is that the paranoid things proceeded to behave the same way on the other crossing light of the intersection, and only crossed WHEN THE LITTLE GREEN CROSSING MANE LIT UP!

Now, mind you, I never got to study ornithology, but something tells me birds can do certain things people can do:

-See better than people.
-Poop green
-Lay eggs

And, oh, yes...

...FLY!

Maybe this pigeon is becoming human...

...it will start hanging out at pubs, go out with its mates and have a pint or two, and take in a game of cricket.

Silly, silly bird...