This blog entry marks the 100th thing I have written about beginning with the letter D. I started with a blaze of enthusiasm a few months back, but I feel that this landmark number should be a place where I make a departure - perhaps temporary, probably temporary but possibly not - from this particular form of bloggeration. Other writing ideas are floating around my mind, but I shall leave them mysteriously swimming until they launch themselves into some kind of actual activity. I feel that this blog entry should in some way mark the things that I have written about by looking back upon them and wondering how hindsight affects my thoughts on them, particularly the entries that were about something that was in the news at that time, so here goes.
Blog Entry 1: Democracy
I dallied with the the possibility of voting Liberal Democrats in the election, but I couldn't bring myself to put a cross in the Lib Dem box and I'm glad I didn't because I think that I'd now feel that my 'x' had been tippexed out by a compromising Clegg. I want to believe in democracy and I do, but had I followed the momentary wanderings of my heart my belief would have received a painful kick.
Blog Entry 4: The Duffalo
The scary and fearsome Duffalo, Damien Duff, met a similar fate to the wart-nosed Gruffalo - defeat. The Duffalo's defeat was at least a little less embarrassing as they lost to a pretty good footballing team: Atletico Madrid in the Europa League Final and not to a feeble lying mouse.
Blog Entry 14: Duffy, Gillian
The electoral moment that swung me back into Brown's arms was his infamous "bigot" comment directed towards Gillian Duffy. He probably wasn't right to call her it even if her views verged on bigotry. An honest debate over the subject of immigration, this was the gripe that earned her the b-word, would have been better. But, what this moment revealed to me about Brown was that he is passionate about equality. It was interesting to see Gillian sitting listening to Ed Miliband's speech the day after his victory over his brother. Her presence seemed a slightly cynical way of saying, "I'm not like that Brown bloke" and was surely a moment of spin-doctory. Perhaps I'm the cynical one though and she just fancied coming to see whether the new Labour leader thought she was a bigot too.
Blog Entry 17: Debate
My moment of standing in for the absent Labour leader in the school election proved to win very few votes for Labour as they were smashed into third place. The Lib Dems won by an absolute shedload.
Blog Entry 24: Davids (An Ode to England Internationals Called David in the Last Twenty Years)
Unless David Bentley gets a lot better quickly the England football team face the future without a David. I wondered as the World Cup sat on the horizon whether David James would be the first English David to lift the World Cup. The only previous David to have lifted the trophy was David Trezeguet for France, but England were their usual tentative and torturously bad selves and two other Davids got their hands on the World Cup instead: Villa and Silva.
Blog Entry 42: Digestive Brain
Lots of fairly reputable websites seemed to affirm the digestive brain, but when I discussed it with a Science teacher at school he acted as if I was wasting his time with quackery and I felt, without just cause I think, a little bit ashamed of myself as if I was a spreader of wild unverifiable Science nonsense. I hope that's not what I am.
Blog Entry 62: David Ngog
I made a few wild and unlikely claims in this blog entry: one: that David Ngog would scored more goals than Fernando Torres and two: that I would also score more goals that Fernando Torres. The season is only a few weeks in but Ngog's got seven, I've got four and, oh dear Fernando, Torres has only got one. The chickens are being counted nice and early.
Blog Entry 72: Deity
This blog entry sparked someone who didn't believe in God to create their own blog to write about why they disagreed with the fact that I did believe in God. The idea that people who I don't know read my blog is very exciting. His blog, which only became a blog because the comment box wasn't big enough to include his objections, wanted some verifiable proof that God existed. I told him how I believed God had answered prayers that I had prayed and suggested that he read Tim Keller's The Reason for God, but acknowledged that an element of faith is required to believe in God, although an element of faith is required to not believe in God also.
Blog Entry 95: Drusillas and the Escaped Llama
It turns out that it wasn't a llama that escaped from Drusillas, but a lemur - that makes much more sense. My friend had misheard the radio broadcast and when he gave me a subsequent call earlier this week, I started to doubt that it was a llama when he described it as red-bellied. No wonder I couldn't find anything about it online. Someone else had made a similar mistake in mishearing the obviously inarticulate radio presenter; my blog was found on Google by someone who typed in 'escaped lama drusillas'. Surely they don't cage Tibetan teachers of the Dharma at Drusillas. I apologise, that is a terrible joke about a spelling mistake.
And, so farewell for now. I will pen my thoughts on some subject or other in the future I'm sure.
