planet impiazzi

Woke up to the news that over 60% of Brits told a BBC survey that they approved of keeping terrorist suspects in jail indefinitely without charge. Depressing. You could talk to the wrong person in the supermarket queue and find yourself banged up for years.

Anyway, I've had a busy week, hence no blogging. Most of the time I've either been out at work or decorating the bathroom, which is beginning to seem like an endless task. Perhaps I've inadvertently slipped into a parallel universe where I spoke to the wrong person in the supermarket queue....

But last Monday (an eternity ago) I ventured out to see Nick Harper play at the New Roscoe. A truly excellent gig. Nick, son of Roy (of whom I have been a fan for many years) must have learned to play the guitar before he could walk. And he can sing too.

I didn't go to any gay bars at the weekend, in fact I spent most of my time in the bathroom. We did go out for a walk though, which was beeoootiful. Armley park is a mass of frothy blossom at the moment and cowslips are blooming in Kirkstall Valley Nature Reserve. Pity I forgot to take my camera.

I've finally come up with a nickname for my son for when I blog about him. Taken from the middle name of UK celeb Jonathan Ross's daughter - "Kitten", and my warning to my son that if he didn't drag himself off the sofa to come for a walk yesterday he would turn into a pale sweaty fungus, we now have Fungus Kitten. Or FK for short.

Had a Google hit from someone searching Kim Impiazzi. I don't think I know of Kim, and there are very few of us Impiazzis around so I'm curious. But the Google search mainly brought up my blog which isn't much help in identifying the mysterious Kim. So Kim, if you're out there, drop me a line!

I've got beer. I've got cats. What more could a woman want? I've finished the tiling in the bathroom and have done more than half the painting, and its looking great. I'll show you when I've finished. So am I going to get wound up by this text from the man who pursued me all last weekend? - "Can't make sun. Soz, need 2 return book and earing." He can't even spell earring. No. In fact I might even hit the gay bars next weekend. My slight disgruntlement with the male of my species doesn't apply to NiC, Robin or Bud, as cyberspace exempts them from any obligation to do anything other than provide me with interesting reading which they all do admirably.

Meanwhile, the men in Iraq (not necessarily, or even probably, Iraqi men) have managed to kill 350 women and children over the past couple of weeks. I'm lucky to live in the north of England, and I know it. I count my blessings everyday. And I won't be voting for Tony when the time comes. Murdering B**tard.

Hi. I'm Gael's cat. You may remember me from such classics as "parallel pets" and "gone fishin" . I've been a loyal and faithful member of the family for 9 years, and have given Gael cuddles when she has felt sad and entertained her when she's been bored. And how does she thank me? On Wednesday I came downstairs to find THIS . The cheeky little sod even hisses and growls at me! Can you believe it??

Spring is definitely here. We escaped bathroom decorating for a hour and went to the park.



I'm a very happy easter bunny today. Had an excellent vegetarian meal last night at Hansa's Gujarati restaurant with the tall, slim, fit new man in my life. We had a lovely evening and I want more! I think it might be Sunday before I get chance to see him again though. Oh well, they say patience is a virtue. I don't want to wait that long though, and I must admit patience has never been one of my strong points.

Have a look at Baghdad Burning. People shouldn't have to live like that.

Met a new man on Friday. We're going out for a meal tonight. He came round last night and we chatted til the early hours. Its quite different starting a new relationship as an adult (a proper grown up with a child and a mortgage) than it was 20 years ago. I suppose I'm more self-conscious (and out of practice) now, and didn't really know what to do when he put his coat on to go home. Invite him to stay? Grab him for a snog? Didn't do either of those though I would have liked to - I think. I suppose I'm being careful because he is just venturing back into the world of women after a couple of years of licking his wounds from his last relationship. And careful because I've got my own string of disasters behind me.

Springtime. New beginnings. And Beltane is not far away.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to tonight even though getting ready will be a bit difficult. I'm in the middle of decorating the bathroom and had some plastering done this morning around the bath and the wash basin, which means I can't use either at the moment!

Having a bit of a nostalgia moment. I've been listening to 'Drivetime' on BBC radio 2 and they've been inviting listeners to select tracks to play. Bob Harris played Van Halen's "Jump" from 1984. Takes me back to the spring of that year when I spent many a happy evening and quite a few Bank Holiday weekends drinking in the Kings Head in Enfield. "Jump" was often playing on the juke box. I wonder what happened to my drinking buddies of those days? Ted Wallis, tall long haired, big blue eyes, tight jeans, was my man for a while til I stuffed it up. Pete Sutton, my flat mate who put up with lots of high jinks from me and Russ, our other flat mate. Roger, Treacle, Matt and all the other boys. I can't remember there being any other girls but I'm sure there must have been.
Me, Pete and Russ (and Lesley who didn't come drinking with us) lived in a flat in Palmers Green. I used to catch the no 29 up to Enfield and at this time of year there would be lots of cherry trees coming into blossom along the bus route. At the end of our street was Broomfield Park, also full of beuatiful trees, and a lake with swans, where I used to go and read when I couldn't face a day working in Wood Green dole office. It was Russ and his smoking cronies who took me along to the Stonehenge festival in 1984 - the last time the festival happened before Maggie put the boot in. And at Stonehenge I met Lee who had the big Norton Commando that I rode around on the back of for a couple of years. Oh those were the days!

I wonder if the Iraqi people will be able to vote in the US Presidential election? After all, they are under control of the US, as Naomi Klein points out:

"At the end of March, building on his Order 39 of last September, Bremer passed yet another law further opening up Iraq's economy to foreign ownership, a law that Iraq's next government is prohibited from changing under the terms of the interim constitution. Bremer also announced the establishment of several independent regulators, which will drastically reduce the power of Iraqi government ministries. For instance, the Financial Times reports that "officials of the Coalition Provisional Authority said the regulator would prevent communications minister Haider al-Abadi, a thorn in the side of the coalition, from carrying out his threat to cancel licences the coalition awarded to foreign-managed consortia to operate three mobile networks and the national broadcaster."

The CPA has also confirmed that after June 30, the $18.4bn that the US government is spending on reconstruction will be administered by its embassy in Iraq. The money will be spent over five years and will fundamentally redesign Iraq's most basic infrastructure, including its electricity, water, oil and communications sectors, as well as its courts and police. Iraq's future governments will have no say in the construction of these core sectors of Iraqi society. Retired rear admiral David Nash, who heads the Project Management Office, which administers the funds, describes the $18.4bn as "a gift from the American people to the people of Iraq".

He appears to have forgotten the part about gifts being something you actually give up. And in the same eventful week, US engineers began construction on 14 "enduring bases" in Iraq, capable of housing the 110,000 soldiers who will be posted here for at least two more years. Even though the bases are being built with no mandate from an Iraqi government, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, deputy chief of operations in Iraq, called them "a blueprint for how we could operate in the Middle East".

The US occupation authority has also found a sneaky way to maintain control over Iraq's armed forces. Bremer has issued an executive order stating that even after the interim Iraqi government has been established, the Iraqi army will answer to US commander Lt General Ricardo Sanchez. In order to pull this off, Washington is relying on a legalistic reading of a clause in UN security council resolution 1511, which puts US forces in charge of Iraq's security until "the completion of the political process" in Iraq. Since the "political process" in Iraq is never-ending, so it seems is US military control.

In the same flurry of activity, the CPA announced that it would put further constraints on the Iraqi military by appointing a national security adviser for Iraq. This US appointee would have powers equivalent to those held by Condoleezza Rice and will stay in office for a five-year term, long after Iraq is scheduled to have made the transition to a democratically elected government. "