The first time I have seen the sun rise over Stonehenge in several years worth of visits!

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The Population is thought to be around 7 billion now and to be 10 billion by 2050!

The cover of Canvas Under the Sky by Robin Binckes

I was lucky enough to meet Robin Binckes in 1993 when I was out in South Africa.  I went on a tour with him to a few interesting spots in Johnasberg.  He took me around of the poorer areas of the city, to a monument to the white settlers near Pretoria, to an early home of Nelson Mandela and to a farm where some of the many atrocities that haunt the apartheid years happened.

It was very interesting and I was able to see and photograph places where normally people aren’t overly welcomed.  Some of the photos I took are on Robins site – spearofthenation.co.za.

He has been busy in recent times, and his interest in the recent history of his country have moved him to writing a book called Canvas under the sky.

I am sure the book will be very interesting and I hope to get my copy soon.  Robins enthusiam, interest and massive knowledge of the history, politics and people were very much evident in the tour and I am sure the book will be just as revealing.

Robins site describes the book :

It is 1834. The Eastern Cape frontier is burning. Rauch Beukes, a young Boer of seventeen,
returns home to find that the marauding Xhosa have invaded from across the Great Fish River. So begins a tale of violence and warfare, of love and lust across racial divides, all painted against the sweeping backdrop of the Boer migration north into the hinterland that became known as the Great Trek, the result of British duplicity and injustice.

The dramatis personae are Boer and Brit, Xhosa, Griqua, Matabele, Zulu and Cape Malay slaves: from the Xhosa chief Hinsta, Colonel Harry Smith, the Zulu tyrant Dingaan, to the Boer trekkers Potgieter, Trichardt, Retief, Maritz, Cilliers and of course, Pretorius. And in young Rauch’s life are three astonishing women: Amelia, the daughter of an English settler; Marietjie, the beautiful meisie from Graaff-Reinet; and Katrina September, the sensual ex-slave.

Robin Binckes was born in East Griqualand, South Africa in April 1941. After matriculating in
Umtata, Transkei, he did his national service at the South African Navy Gymnasium, Saldanah
Bay. In 1970 he opened his own PR company to promote major sporting events ranging from
international cricket to Formula One Grand Prix during the period of sports isolation. In 1990 he started The Gansbaai Fishing Company and spent ten years in the food industry. During the
violence that swept this country in 1993 he volunteered as a peace monitor in the townships.
Sparked by the passion of the late historical orator David Rattray, he qualified in 2002 as a
historical tour guide, which he does in the Johannesburg–Pretoria region through his company
‘Spear Of The Nation’.

More information about Robin and his book can be found here: 30degreessouth.co.za and on his site spearofthenation.co.za.

Here a SimpleViewer Flash gallery should be displayed. Click here to open the post in your browser to see the gallery.

Woods used include Rosewood, Bamboo and Ebony with Buffalo Horn Knocks.

Gary Evans Longbow top detail

Gary Evans Longbow handle detail

Gary Evans Longbow signature detail

Gary Evans Longbow bottom nock detail

Arrows from Wales Archery

This is the prototype longbow stand, made from found ( not cut ) Beech, a huge nail I found ( over 15 cm long ) and yacht varnish. A little too shiney, so the next antler topped one will be a little more matt, but more garish in other ways !

Homemade Longbow stand 1

Homemade Longbow stand 2

Homemade Longbow stand 3

The second version of my longbow stand, using antlers from a deer. It boasts two ( so you can share the stand ) foam footings to protect the bow and a rather obvious antler head to hold the bow upright.

Longbow Stand Mark 2

Longbow Stand Mark 2

Longbow Stand Mark 2

donkey is as donkey does

I own several domains and I look after many more for customers, one of these was “previously enjoyed” and its previous owner had set up email addresses. One of which he gave to ING Direct for an account he had with them.

A few years later he let the domain go and I registered it. I own the domain, so I get to say what addresses go to who etc. All the addresses of the domain are funnelled to my main account. If you send anything to any address of the domain it comes to me. Not difficult to understand really and pretty common.

So if its so easy to understand, why to ING Direct get so funny with removing the old address that comes to me from their ING Direct spamming systems ?

I asked twice by phone for them to stop sending someone else’s banking stuff to me, I was ignored and only after a threat to publish the banking mails did they even start looking into it. Even now they are dragging their feet and I think that means ING Direct are breaching the Data Protection rules.

4. Personal data shall be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date.  ( They know the address is incorrect or no longer valid, but don’t stop sending mails to it )

5. Personal data processed for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes. ( They know the address doesn’t work any more, but keep it anyway)

So they know they are not updating their database of personal information and they are keeping addresses that are out of date.  Double FAIL !

A simple check of the whois directory will tell you that I own the domain and have since July 2008, a check of the web archive shows it was let go around 2006!  For at least five years the address of the original owner and their customer hasn’t worked.  I have sent them this information, so they cant plead ignorance.

As I promised them, I will publish on this page all the mail they send to me.  I might remove the secret or important bits so Paul ( the intended recipient ) doesn’t have issues, but then again I might not.  I have warned ING Direct that I would do this, but they don’t seem worried.  They certainly haven’t asked me not to, and as my children know a simple please goes a long way!

If you google ING and Data Protection you get this page at the very top.  The power of the internet!

Why should I have to threaten such a large company as ING Direct, heaven only knows, you would think they would be able to sort things out, it says in their mail footer that their customer services people can sort this sort of thing out,

We hope you find this e-mail of interest. However, if you wish to unsubscribe from future ING Direct marketing material please call our Customer Services Team on 0845 603 8888.

you would think their IT people could sort it, maybe someone in marketing will see this and go and bang some heads together !

Personally I would never bank or invest in anything ING Direct does if this is an indication of how they treat their customers and their customers data.

It doesn’t seem like “a decent way to do banking” does it

July brought a new email  -

sent to paul@…..

Dear Mr Rowlands

Your quarterly savings account statement for the period April 2011 – June 2011 is now ready for you to view online.

Please login to your account at ingdirect.co.uk. If you are a new customer and have not yet received your PIN, your statement will be waiting for you once you have received and activated your PIN.

To view your statement, simply click on the ‘View quarterly statement’ button shown on-screen once you have logged in. Online statements are available to view for one year. Please print a copy if you wish to retain the information for your records.

Please note that you will not be able to reply to this e-mail, however if you do have any questions, please visit ingdirect.co.uk or call us on 0845 603 8888.

Yours sincerely

Des McDaid
Savings Director

ING Direct will never send you emails asking for your confidential or personal
security information such as your PIN or memorable date. If you receive any
such request, please contact one of our Customer Service Team immediately
on 0845 603 8888.

******************************

Isle of Wight Weather Webpage

isleofwightweather.co.uk are using my images on the header of their site.  Best still they are allowed to use them !!!

The site is one I have used for many years, it gives information about tides on the island and has a cool lightning page, showing storms all around the UK.

A bigger version of the image can be seen here. Or you can look at my flickr pages to see more of the wonderful island.

Basing View Development Brochure page 22

Its my image taken from flickr.com. No name check, no permission asked, none given !

IronMum 2010 Medal Winners

The photos of the event are here.

Below is a film he made travelling from Leeds to Quetta in Pakistan.

He is mentioned in a few places on the web and I was lucky enough to have two stories forwarded from a long lost cousin in Australia.

The Mercury (Hobart). Tuesday 10 June 1913. Page 4.

Mr. Montague Redknap, of West Norwood, who was married last month at St. Martin’s-in-the-Field, Trafalgar-square, to Miss Alice R. Houghton, of Southport, met his wife as the result of motoring without goggles, says the “Daily Mirror.” He became temporarily blind, and was sent to Newmarket Hospital, where for some weeks he had to lie with his eyes bandaged. Though unable to see her he at once fell in love with the voice of the nurse whose duty it was to look after him. In due course the bandages were taken off the patient’s eyes, and he found that his nurse was quite as attractive as her voice had led him to believe she would be. Before he left the hospital, Miss Houghton had promised to become his Bride.

( I love this story ! )

The Argus (Melbourne). Friday 1 May 1925. Page 19.

North Australia, British Expedition, London, April 29.

Mr. M. Terry, who drove a motor-car across Australia last year, and his colleagues, Mr. R. A. Prescott, topographical survey expert, and Mr. M. Redknap, cinematographer, were the guests at Luncheon of the Guy Motors Co., which is providing cars for an expedition in North Australia. The chairman (Mr. Sydney Guy), who proposed the toast of the expedition, said that the “all-British project” would traverse 3,000 miles, of which 500 would be across unknown territory.

Mr. Terry said that in addition to Mr. Prescott and Mr. Redknap, a member of the House of Commons would accompany the expedition, and two other persons would be picked up in Australia. Two caterpillar motor-cars and a motor-cycle would be used.

The Agent-General for Western Australia (Mr. Colebatch) said that he hoped that more rapid and cheaper transport would be provided for developing the unoccupied north.

He was a cinematographer who went on an expedition from Darwin to Broome with Michael Terry in 1925. Terry was also born in England but spend most of his life exploring the outback of Australia, mainly by car. He wrote a number of books ( which I will try and track down ).

I have also found mention of him here at harappa.com. I have mailed the site to see if they have any more information.