Little Girl Lost

It is easy to point fingers at a parent who looses a child, well if you do not have your own that is. When a little girl well known by now went missing, I just shrank inside of myself thinking, that could be me, what if my boys crossed a street and were killed, the grief would be the same, but the self-recrimination would still surpass the publics' ire.
My very first question when the news broke was, "Who leaves a child alone in a foreign country? "The answer is probably lots of people who are not like you and me, and I suspect lots of the people at that fateful dinner party amongst them. I really feel they have paid for their mistake now, and only wonder how long does the pain go on, for the rest of your life? The future for Madelaine is very grim and dark, but there is no more chance of redress now than of getting struck by lightening at this point. Can we just bury this child now, I think we have all learned our lesson.
Conrad is not a happy person right now over all this news, if I pick up a paper I need to take an anti-depressant too.
I am wondering if the government (nanny-state) know how to look after their children anymore. They tell parents that you may not strike your child, should teach British values to them, and skip out the bit about going and getting married in a church. We are event told what kind of light-bulbs to put in with a real display of having lost grip when 25 million children's details are leaked through the mail.

The last one to be in a position to criticize UK government, I was surprised by the resignation of the HMRC chief. Similar to the Northern Rock CEO resignation case, the captain should never be allowed off the ship before the water covers her decks totally. I believe the UK govt it-self is not at fault, but rather the mentality on the ground needs bolstering. The child-benefit data (our boys birthdays are out there now too) is like a customer database, most companies guard theirs with their lives, since it's their revenue stream. The silly paranoid stuff about bank details being given, come on gentlemen, do we know how valuable this data is on the street? Even encrypted this data is usable regardless of it taking 5 years to decrypt, because that is when it will be most valuable to fraudsters who want to pose as our sons and daughters and phish and defraud them just as they start out in new jobs. To then spam and attack them through all manner of means when they are gullible and have money of their own to be robbed of. At least re-issue the NI numbers at no cost? Staff at child-benefit unfortunately have been lulled into thinking that children are not customers, but rather a burden on the taxpayer, so scarring off future claimants is not necessarily an evil thing if it lightens the load on the war-chest. Rubbish!, Lets all pull our fingers from our arses, smell the aroma, and then get back to the work at hand instead of staying stuck on a missing girl who, even though we still cry for her, is really lost to us all.

Thanks mom

I suppose I need a thanks-dad post, he also deserves one, and why it is important to spel wel is another. My mom, Julia Beatrice Kretchmer ('nee Walton) was born in the UK, that's important, because it currently makes me immediately eligible for citizenship. Something that was not "fully" the situation when I came to the UK almost 2 years ago. To apply involves proving model citizenship, something that will probably take a while, but untill the time is right, we will move forwards; things like buying a home are next in line if possible. My mum was born in Shropshire, I've been there once, it's probably a bit prettier than Cambridge, but memory tends to do that to anything when you are on holiday bouncing around. So, thanks mum, because according to immigration law, applicants probably need to be Here, for about 3 years to take up the option, and be able to provide references. It's not a simple or cheap process, but much faster than staying and working for 8 years. And in reality, buying a home is probably out of the question until then.

My help-meet (doormat) tells me I write about grumpy things, but it's my diary. And years from now I will say it's my diary, so chew on that! I cannot understand how destructive the boys are lately, not a week goes by and something is damaged. They get spoken to, and they spread flour about next week. The week after it will be crayoning the floor, the future destruction is unpredictable. My mum was patient, very patient; but she never lost her hair. Thanks mum.

Electronics
Still hacking about, I am amazed that I remember so much, and am building small IC circuits, using trannies again, and now am hungry for more parts to project/bread-board. I've got quite a bit of vero, but have not "committed" much to it yet. The nice thing is the old parts are still very much available, and new things like the CIC (circuit in chip) make to possible to build sound-effect generators for toys for instance, with pretty much 1 semiconductor only. Right now I am building a traffic-light toy. It's not exactly 1/32 scale at all, since this one is a prototype, and I am still working out a way to make it robust enough for kids to play with.
TODO: attach photies :-)