Get Well Soonest AusGrl!

Just a short post to let you know AusGrl has not been feeling well lately and I want to wish her a speedy and complete recovery.

If you haven't seen her blogs lately, she's been busy and you may have been missing out on things like Australian foods (something that she calls "tucker") and some yummy recipes as well as Australian lingo - which has many entries on things Australian - like their national anthem, colorful birds, actors and actresses, historical characters, and of course their lingo (for example, they call redheads, blueys, isn't that odd?)

A Rainy Day's Musings

It's a dreary rainy day day here, so I thought I would sit and recount my visit with Mr. Earthworm that took place a couple days ago. Even after I nearly stepped on him, he graciously allowed me to pick him up and place him on a nearby bench - where I sat next to him and we chatted about things, you know, things like the world's problems (all of which we solved), the new football season and other sundry topics.

What Wormy had to say was really interesting and got me thinking that, if and when I ever get reincarnated, I want to come back as a earthworm.

There are a great many pluses.

Earthworms are invertebrates. That is, they do not have a backbone. So this means they experience no lower back pains, no neck pains, no sacroiliac troubles, sore knees, and never have achy dislocated shoulders.

Earthworms do not have a nose, eyes, ears, or hands to gather sensory information about their environment. Instead, they depend on sensory receptors in their skin to "feel" their way through the soil.

This would be wonderful! To never have a runny or stuffed up nose and never worrying about being poked in the eye. And never having conjunctivitis or irritated eyes from allergies as well as never having ringing in the ears, or ever hearing any nagging.

In fact, you would never hear dumb songs like the "Popeye the Sailor's Mam" and "King Henry the Eight I Am!" Without hands, you could never get arthritis in the fingers to boot! All of this is just for starters!

Oh! How can I forget! you'd never need to buy contact lens solution, or a nose or ear hair trimmer! Gosh! The list seems nearly endless!

Cooler still, earthworms have both boy and girl reproductive parts - they are, like snails and slugs, hermaphroditic. The brilliant Woody Allen once said, "The good thing about being bisexual is that it doubles your chance of a date on a Saturday night." Of course, being hermaphroditic takes things to a whole 'nother level. Oh, I hear you thinking "simultaneous orgasm" two times over... but you don't have to admit it and please don't comment on what you think about this.

Earthworms have simple brains which specialize in directing body movement in response to light, and not much else. To show how simple the brain is, if an earthworm's brain is removed, changes in its general behavior are hardly noticeable. Now, wouldn't that excuse a lot of my silly behavor? I'm also thinking earthworms don't get migraines or other headaches - or at least not really big ones.

Earthworms have no lungs. Their "breathing" consists of oxygen from the air passively diffusing through the skin into the body. So, no asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, infections like influenza, pneumonia and tuberculosis, lung cancer, and many other breathing problems. It would be really hard to beat that!

There would be no taxes or rent or mortgage to pay, no baby diapers to change, no worries about gasoline prices or car repairs or rush hours, no listening to endless ads placed by politicians shamelessly slinging mud at one another, no telemarketers, no agonising over what to wear or even what clothes to buy and how to pay for them, no teeth to brush and never getting cavities and no root canal surgeries... In fact, nothing is expected of a worm other than they eat and poop (and have that aforementioned mind-boggling sex).

This list is by no means all-inclusive - the absolute best thing about being an Earthworm, I would think however, would be playing in the mud all day. Now that would be a whole lot of fun!

There are, a course, like with anything else, some downsides.

• No arms for hugging or for tattoo'ing if you are into that sort of thing.
  
• Not being able to do the breast stroke or to be able swim at all for that matter.
  
• Having to remember to get out of the house when it rains and not vice versa.
  
• Having dry skin is worse than the heartbreak of psoriasis.
  
• Being eaten by something like a robin or a mole.
  
• Getting put on a hook and tossed into a fish's mouth.
  
• Getting stepped on by some worm-splutters.

Worm Facts

Mile 0 - Land's End, England

After parachuting from the obliging courier aircraft into Tori_Z's backyard to deliver her stuff, I found myself patting Kero on the head and shaking his paw - pondering what to do next, when down the road came the rattle of a light tank tread, and with it arrived the Royal Welch Fusiliers led by Prince Andrew who was overhead flying a helicopter.

A loudspeaker hailed me, saying "Remain motionless and put your hands up!" and who but Prince Charles pops out of the tank turret (taking much care not to bang in long royal nose on the rim of the hatch combing) to speak to me saying, "I've reassured Ambassador Nutkins that you would be escorted to the place your Virtual Walk begins without allowing for any dilly-dallying nor delay. Nor will you be allowed to mosey about after your walk starts."

And with that I was forced into the helicopter and taken to Land's End, England, where I was unceremoniously dumped.



It being late at night, this is what I saw at Mile Zero. I took a deep breath, gathered up my courage, find my bearings, and take my first step... and so the walk begins!

Land's End (Cornish name: 'Penn an Wlas') is a headland on the Penwith peninsula, located near Penzance in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.

The Cornish language is one of the 'indigenous Briton' Celtic languages. The language continued to function as a community language in parts of Cornwall until the late 18th century. Today there are perhaps a couple thousand people that speak the language.

Cornish exists in place names, and a knowledge of the language helps the understanding of old place names. Many Cornish names are adopted for children, pets, houses and boats. There is now an increasing amount of Cornish literature, in which poetry is the most important genre, particularly in oral form or as song or as traditional Cornish chants historically performed in marketplaces during religious holidays, public festivals and gatherings, and executions.



Visible from Land's End is the Longships Lighthouse. The Longships, a few miles off-shore, is a serpentine and quartz island.

The Sun Never Sets On the British Empire

As of September 8, 2008 at 8:00 PM
Steps: 53,118
Miles: 22.62
Miles To Go: 2682.38


The Flag of the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain, is an island country located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. The UK spans the island of Great Britain, the northeast part of the island of Ireland, and a great many small islands.

Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a land border, sharing it with the Republic of Ireland (Southern Ireland.) Apart from this land border, the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea. The largest island, Great Britain, is linked to France by the Channel Tunnel.

The United Kingdom is a union of four constituent countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It is governed by a parliamentary system with its seat of government in London, the capital, and is a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as the head of state.

Great Britain is the larger of the two main islands of the British Isles, the largest island in Europe and the ninth-largest island in the world. Great Britain is also the third most populated island on earth (after Java and Japan). It is also the second richest island in the world (after Japan) with the world's 5th largest economy and 58 million people.

Traces of early humans have been found in Great Britain from some 700,000 years ago and modern humans from about 30,000 years ago. Up until about 9,000 years ago, Great Britain was joined to Ireland. As recently as 8,000 years ago Great Britain was joined to the continent as the southeastern part of Great Britain was still connected by a strip of low marsh to the European mainland in what is now northeastern France.

In the Cheddar Gorge near Bristol, the remains of animal species native to mainland Europe such as antelopes, brown bears, and wild horses have been found alongside a human skeleton, 'Cheddar Man', which has been dated to about 7150 B.C. Thus, animals and humans are thought to have moved between mainland Europe and Great Britain via a land crossing.

The island of Great Britain formed at the end of the Pleistocene ice age when sea levels rose due in part to the melting of glaciers. Its Iron Age inhabitants are known as the Britons, a group speaking a Celtic language, and most of it (not the northernmost part where the majority of Scotland lies today) was conquered to become the Ancient Roman province of Britannia.

The United Kingdom retains sovereignty over 14 territories outside of the British Isles, collectively named the British overseas territories, which remain under British rule, some of these territories might be side trips as the Virtual Walker will be walking through England, Scotland and Wales which are (mostly) situated on the island of Great Britain, along with their capital cities, London, Edinburgh and Cardiff respectively.

I do hope I've not messed this up! Otherwise MarmiteToasty and Tori_Z will be around to straighten me out! :)