From death to life... in blackpropaganda

Anyone not au fait with cricket may not have heard that Phil Hughes, a 25 year old professional cricketer from NSW in Australia, and a member of the Australian team has died after a bouncer, delivered by a fast bowler. hit him on the neck, an area unprotected by his helmet.
He was in a coma for two days, but the internal bleeding and damage was too great for anything to be done. Such a sad loss from what was a pretty freak accident. Helmets can never offer full protection, but it has brought home the danger of such injuries in sport.

Hopefully that is the bad news out of the way. The neighbour’s ginger tom (actually deprived of his balls) is still alive - but not on top form.

I have booked flights to go to Spain in the New Year - hopefully for some sun. It is nice to get out there for their main festival on January 5th/6th - the Three Kings’ Festival. In the economic crisis things have been cut back - but always good to see the dancing girls doing their stuff around the floats. I am sure I could have got cheaper flights if I could have been arsed to book earlier - but we wait a bit to see what turns up. So that is one job done - as is buying a halogen heater to use when we don’t want to have the heating on. Getting ready for winter - although it is only C2 degrees outside at the moment - and foggy. Not good if you have a bad chest.

We rarely go the the cinema - mainly because the sound system is so loud in any action film. However, we did go to see Mr Turner, Mike Leigh’s film about the artist who challenged all the conventions of painting - and left all his works to the nation. Timothy Spall as Turner is really good - and although it is 150 minutes I really enjoyed the superb film making and colours - there is no way you could reproduce the size and colour on tv. And there was very little music!!!! Recommended for anyone who loves art. Life affirming!

They go through all the main aspects of Turner’s life, including being roped to a mast to capture this snowstorm in his mind.

And I found this and thought it was just what I needed

and I love this